Hola familia y amigos!

I had a fantastic week!

Last Wednesday was transfers, so we drove in to San Diego.  It's about a two hour drive. That was an adventure, and the weather in San Diego was super nice. Elder Carlson went to Logan Heights, which is right in the heart of San Diego, its kind of "The Hood". Church is held in an elementary school.

My new companion is Elder Hawkins! He's super awesome! He's from South Jordan Utah, and he's been on his mission about 21 months. He was just in Logan Heights where Elder Carlson is now. He's such an awesome missionary! It's going to be an awesome time here in the next few weeks.

Highlights from the work:

We are still teaching the Maris brothers. They are very solid and it's really exciting! They came to church on Sunday even though they were in different houses the night before. We thought they might not make it because of this, but they did!

We are also teaching Derrick Castaneda, he's so excited for his baptism at the end of this month, and we are too! Their family is doing very well, we love going over there because there is always someone to teach!

Next P-day we are planning to go to San Diego, and hopefully some recent converts can go to the temple to do baptisms and then take some people to the Mormon Battalion site. That should be exciting. We have to get members to take us, since it would be so many miles to put on mission cars, but I think we have that all arranged! It should be awesome.

Today all of the missionaries are having a little Carne Asada at Hno Silvas house, that should be pretty exciting! It's always fun to have Carne Asadas. I think that's my new favorite food. REAL Carne Asada tacos. :)

The weather has been cooling down a bunch! The mornings and nights are super cool, which is awesome. Elder Hawkins and I even wore our sweaters yesterday!

Anyway, I'm having an awesome time here in Calexico! Love to hear that you are doing well! Love and Miss you!

Elder Hansen

I miss the rain! I'm jealous that you guys get the fantastic Seattle weather!! It's still pretty hot here...which is weird because it should be chilly Halloween weather...

I miss Maplewood! Send my love to any teachers that are there that I know.

Our week was good!

Here's a short summary.

We had a couple of Halloween activities. One stake Trunk or Treat and one ward Halloween party. We had investigators at both of them, which was exciting! I love to see them interact with the members and stuff! It was also fun to spend time with the members and gain their trust. I'm excited because I think we will be getting some awesome referrals from members soon, this is the best way to find solid investigators so its always exciting to have members doing missionary work.

We also had a couple of days completely eaten up by service, but those days are super good too! Service is fun! :)  We helped out at the food bank, helped our bishop clean up his yard, poured a sidewalk (this took 2 different days). But it was all fun!

We have been teaching an awesome family! The 4 brothers are all very interested and one of them (he's 13) came to church all by himself! It made my Sunday. Also it was the primary program which is always exciting at church! :) Love the kids. Can't wait to have a family.

We have been having more success in Anna's home. We are still teaching Derrick and he is on track to be baptized very soon, but we are having more success getting others to sit in on lessons too, which is very exciting! We should see the fruits of that soon! :)

My companion is getting transferred tomorrow, so I'll get a new one, which should be interesting... we will see how that goes! It'll be an adventure, but I'm always nervous for the unknown!

Anyway, those are some highlights from the week!

los amo y los extraño, (I love & miss you)

Elder Hansen

Hola mis queridos padres!!

That picture of Crew on the bench at the temple is the cutest!!! I've seen the Seahawks have been doing pretty terribly, it's sad  :(. Oh well, they have the rest of this season and next season to figure it out so when I get home they can get another Super Bowl :)

It's so great to hear from you again this week! It sounds like everything is going well back at home! It's awesome to hear that you are working on the missionary effort in our ward! Missionary work is impossible without member help! We had a fantastic last week!

It's been a little bit crazy, we have had meetings and such so we haven't had as much time in our area as we hoped, but we make the most of what we have!

Last Wednesday we had interviews with President Schmitt. He's awesome, so it's always great to talk with him. He served his mission in the Laotian language, but somehow he speaks amazing Spanish. We did most of the interview in Spanish. Hopefully I've improved from the first one!

Thursday, our district had two more baptisms in our ward, which is exciting! And we have 3 coming up this Saturday. Calexico is on fire!!! We have also added some pretty cool investigators, which is great. It's awesome to have an abundance of people to teach!

Friday we had a fantastic district meeting. And it was Sister Brady's birthday (she's in our district). So we set up a little birthday party with the stuff you sent me! She really really appreciated it. We had a really great member lesson on Friday. We decided to have the Garzon family set a date, to invite someone to their home for a family home evening with the missionaries. It's something that would be awesome for you guys to do as well. They can do a simple get together and we will have a casual lesson with all of them. It's a great opportunity to introduce friends to the missionaries in a super casual setting! They are really excited to invite someone in the next 3 weeks.

Saturday was a fun day full of service! In the afternoon we helped a member family with a little path they wanted in their yard. The family is so awesome! They also made us some Carne Asada tacos, which were suppppper good! That evening we helped Anna clean up her yard. All the missionaries in the ward came, which was super fun! She also made us Carne Asada tacos which were also fantastic! Some of the best meals I've had so far! Both in one day!

Sundays are some of the best days. It's so great to partake of the Sacrament and renew our baptismal covenants. Before my mission I'm not sure I fully understood how important the Sacrament really is. I'm so grateful for it now! This weekend Elder Carlson picked up a little flu bug. He was the only one of us who didn't get a flu shot last week. He has definitely learned his lesson.  Follow the council of your leaders!! (President Schmitt suggested we get flu shots). He's hangin in there but he still doesn't feel too great.

Monday- we spent a bunch of time cleaning our apartment, which was exhausting but it's amazing how much better it feels to have a clean apartment. Studies are always way more effective when we have a clean apartment. Then we went and had a great member lesson and Elder Carlson interviewed a young boy for his baptism this week! Sisters Brady and Squire have been teaching him. As of Sunday his mom wasn't going to let him get baptized because he was acting up at home, but last minute she decided he could and so now he's interviewed and all ready :) 

We also taught Derrick, Anna's son, which is awesome. We love that we are able to work with them both, and Anna is teaching him along with us. He will be getting baptized in the next month :)

Anyway, this is the last week of the transfer, and we will be saying goodbye to Sister Squire (she's going home). And most likely to my companion Elder Carlson (he's been in Calexico forever). It will be interesting to see how transfers go next Wednesday! I'm having a great time out here! I love you all! 

Thank you for all the birthday wishes last week! Have a great week!

Love Elder Hansen

Feliz Cumpleaños

Happy Birthday to Elder Hansen

Hello familia!

 

Thank you so much for all the birthday stuff! I got my packages last week but saved them til Sunday night to open them! I loved all the wonderful stuff you guys sent me! Thank you so much!

 

I didn't have a chance to use the birthday party stuff, so we are going to use it this week in District Meeting! It will be tons of fun!

 

Thank you so much for the ties and the treats and the hat and the music and the pictures and everything! You guys are the best!!

 

Thank you also for the new camera, I will try to take more pictures! :)  

 

This week was fantastic!! Anna was baptized last Saturday! It was a wonderful baptismal service. Some of her family came. One of the members of the ward, Sister Garzon talked about baptism. It was a fantastic talk even though she was nervous to give it in English. She is awesome! Sister Squire, one of the sister missionaries in our ward/district talked about the Holy Ghost and then all of the missionaries sang Love is Spoken Here. It was really good :) Elder Carlson baptized her! He forgot to unplug the drain, so we let Anna's son Derrick go do it after the meeting. He's excited to be baptized here in the coming weeks.

 

Sunday I confirmed Anna in church. Elder Carlson and I taught the Youth Sunday School class about Christ-like attributes and we had a big "Break the Fast" with the 8 missionaries and our ward mission leader Halim

 

Yesterday our district went to Ihop for lunch and then we went and got flu shots (happy birthday to me). We then went to the Stake Center to do some Mormon.org stuff and the zone leaders came all the way down there to give me cookies that they made which was super cool! Love them! Then We went and did some missionary work and what not. Talked to some peeps, knocked on a lot of doors to people who didn't answer. laaaaame. but it happens. We went to Anna's house for dinner. We had an awesome little party. She made us some really good Chicken Fettuccine and got me a sweet Seahawks cake! She also got me a 49ers colored tie since she's such a big fan! It was a wonderful birthday!

We got to see the movie "Meet the Mormons" in Zone conference a while back. It was awesome! I loved it!! 

 

Love you all so very much!

Elder Hansen 

 

Conference Was The Best!!!!

This week was another awesome one!!! 

We had some really great member lessons last week! I love having good member lessons, and increasing the members' trust! It's impossible to do any missionary work without the trust of the members! It's awesome sharing spiritual experiences with them and their families! We were talking about service, and shared the latest Mormon Message called "You Never Know". I really love it! The members really love it as well and are excited to search for more opportunities to serve in their everyday lives. I challenge you guys to watch it and look for small opportunities to serve as well! It's amazing how many blessings we receive as we serve those around us! We shared this lesson with the Garzon families. There are 2 of them (the dads are brothers). They both are super awesome! And fed us as well! :) 

We planted some Palm Trees at Jose Cunningham's house. He's been meeting with missionaries for a very long time. He and his family are amazing! It was fun service, and his family felt bad for how long it took so they cooked us dinner on Sunday :)

General Conference- General conference was the highlight of my week!! It was sooooo awesome! If I had to pick a favorite talk it would be the one by Elder Jorg Klebingat. I loved out bold and straightforward he was, and learned so much from him! I also really loved Elder Holland's talk and Elder Bednar's in the last session. We watched Conference in the stake center, we had a room just for the missionaries, which was really cool! Anna came and watched it in there with us. She had a great experience. On Friday we told her to come with a question in her mind. She said she had been praying for a while to know that baptism is the right thing to do, and she was looking for confirmation of that. During Elder Anderson's talk, she said she got hit by the "warm fuzzies" and felt as though someone was hugging her. It was awesome to hear her talk about this when we went to her house Saturday night. She knows that baptism is what is best for her and her family! She also loved Conference on Sunday! Dang it was such a spiritual weekend!!!!!!

Monday was awesome. We were focusing on finding new investigators. We had a zone meeting in the morning and so we were really fired up!! We worked hard to talk to everyone, and were able to add a former investigator! We also had a really great lesson with the Armenta family, who we haven't been able to talk to too much. We had a good discussion, helped them clean their fish bowl, and then they decided to take us to Rally's, which is a local drive in. It's super good!! It was an awesome end to the day and the week!

I love you all so much!

Love, Elder Hansen 

 

Me Encanta la Lluvia! (I Love the Rain!)

It's great to hear from you guys! 

Things with Anna are going great. She is continuing to read and pray, and is looking great for her baptismal date on the 11th. I think she is really excited. We have seen how much more positive she is about the trials that she has had in the past, and the trials she continues to have. It's awesome. You can feel the increased love in her home, even though she doesn't have a ton of support from her family there, but she is strong in her growing testimony. She loves to "water her tree". She says that since we talked about Alma 32 with her. She's the best! Hopefully Derrick will continue to be more and more interested so we can teach him as well! Her daughter Bri, who is six is amazing. She's soooo funny! She's the bubbliest little girl ever.

Funny story- I was playing patty cake with her, when one of her cousins started pulling my pant leg. I looked down, and then when I was patty-caking I accidentally high-fived her face. I didn't even know since I was looking down. It was so funny. And they still both make fun of me for it. We just love going over to their house. We go there every night before we go home, and I can't wait to get there everyday. We have taught her pretty much everything we have to teach her, so we are sharing Mormon messages and sharing scriptures and reading from the book of Mormon now. We should be starting Derrick on the lessons soon!

We are working hard to find more people to teach. Sometimes it is a challenge, but it's fun!

We are teaching a cool 17 year old kid named Angel. It's awesome to meet kids who think more deeply about things, and are so mature. I definitely wasn't that way when I was his age.

There was a huge rainstorm this past week! It was so nice! Ever since it has been much cooler everyday. In the mornings now its actually kind of chilly! I love it!! So much nicer to run now that it isn't 95 and humid at 645 am.

Other than that I don't have anything too interesting to share!

I Have A Challenge For You!!  

I have a little notebook that I want to fill up with quotes! I would love to hear your favorite quotes, any kind. From General authorities or scriptures or anyone!

Also I want to hear your favorite quotes from this upcoming general conference!! 

Love you all!

Elder Hansen

El Horno Está Enfriando un Poco (The Oven is Cooling Down a Bit)

Hello my dear Family and Friends! :) 

I received a bunch of letters forwarded from the CCM today. Thank you to everyone for writing me! It was great to get mail as well! :) it's like my favorite thing! 

Some highlights from the week! 

Last Tuesday we had an awesome Mexican Independence party! We had a sweet turnout! And a few investigators showed up as well! it was sweet!! We had some awesome food there too!

Wednesday was transfers! It was a craaaaaaaazy day! We got a new Elder here, Elder King who is awesome, plus two additional Elders who are opening a new area out here. The work is progressing so fast in the valley! It's awesome! 8 missionaries in our little ward!!! Elder Collins and Sherman are both studs as well. We traded in our Chevy Cruze and picked up a nice ol minivan. I'm the driver this transfer! Its our swagger wagon! :) 

We continue to teach Anna, we have now taught her just about all we have, but we are going to start over to teach her 9 year old son Derek so he can be baptized as well!! They are amazing. We have seen such an awesome difference in their house. I love visiting them so much!!

Saturday we had district exchanges. I went down to the bike area with Elder Takke. We had a blast!! We got to teach some good lessons and we ate some good meals as well! Usually Saturdays everyone is in Mexicali, but we were able to find a lot of people home! It was a miracle!

Sunday was a great day in church!!! Anna's son came for the first time, so we went to primary with him. It was awesome, I missed primary so much!! :)

That night I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Fowler. It was a blast! I learned so much from him, he's an amazing missionary! We had an awesome day. 

Some random lady called us we have never met before and asked us to move a "few things", so we went to help in proselyting clothing. Turns out they had a full storage unit, full of metal, dirty junk in it and it was stinkin hot! By the end our clothes were completely covered in dirt, and we were drenched in sweat, but it was still fun! 

Today we went out to salvation mountain, which wasn't all that exciting but it was a good thing to do I guess. 

Love and miss you all! Can't wait to hear from you!

Elder Hansen

P.S. This is a poem that Elder Fowler Showed me. I loved it so I thought I would share it.

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit

Power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has

been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow

down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense,

and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight

walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions,

mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or

popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised,

regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by

patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my

way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted,

or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the

presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the

pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of

mediocrity.

I won't give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I've preached up, prayed

up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a

disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He returns, give until I drop,

preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My

colors will be clear for "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the

power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.."

Salvation Mountain