Feliz Dia de Acción de Gracias (Happy Day of Thanksgiving)

Here's a summary of my week!

Last Wednesday I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. This time I stayed in my area with Elder McChesney from AF Utah. He's a super cool guy and an awesome missionary! I love exchanges because we always learn so much, and it's a fun chance to get to know other missionaries! We had a good time, taught some good lessons! We also interviewed Derrick Castaneda and Gilbert Mares for baptism and they are all set to go for this weekend! It's going to be an awesome week!

Thursday we had some super sweet lessons! We first talked to this guy Omar when I first got to Calexico, like the middle of August, and he said come back at the end of September, so we did. And ever since then we have been trying to set up a solid appointment and every time something has come up and we couldn't meet. This week he got sick (miracle), so he was able to finally meet.  So we taught him and his wife the restoration, and they were stoked about it and about the Book of Mormon! They weren't able to make it to church this week, but he has already read the chapter we left him, and we are stoked to talk to him again! We have an appointment with him tomorrow. We are also teaching a bunch of youth right now. I don't know how it happened but most of our super solid investigators are 13-17 right now, which is cool! They are super honest seekers of truth so its fun to teach them!

Friday-Highlight was the Priesthood activity at Brother Garzon's house. We watched a movie in his back yard and had Carne Asada. They were going to watch Church Ball, but the disc didn't work so I threw in a couple church movies about the book of Mormon and the Mormon Battalion. It worked out nicely, because we couldn't have watched Church Ball anyway. Authentic Carne Asada tacos are the most delicious food on the planet. I am completely converted to Mexican food. It was sweet because Gilbert went, and a couple of the deacons came with him, so the fellowship was fantastic! I'm super stoked about how he loves the ward!

Saturday-Saturday we had a member drive us around (we donated our van to the bike elders for the day). It was sweet to have a member there to testify of what we say!   He also bought us a little bit of lunch while we were out :). While we were coming out of a lesson some kids took the tops off his tire inflator thingys... it was pretty funny. He was mad!

Sunday we got to teach the Elders Quorum lesson... that was an adventure! But it went well though! We taught about prayer, and it really helped strengthen my testimony of prayer...especially how when we pray with the intent of following the will of the Lord and his answers.  Our prayers will be answered! I think it's really cool how we are promised that whatever we ask the father in the name of Jesus Christ will be given to us, as long as we ask in faith and intend to act!

Yesterday we had a surprise meeting with our mission president about a new initiative called "He is the Gift". It's super cool! They are really encouraging everyone to listen to the message of Jesus Christ! I love all that they're doing with it! Check it out!Christmas.Mormon.Org!

Tell all of the family I love them and miss them (extra special love for Gloria ;) )

We had a fantastic past week! And it looks like this week will be awesome as well! 

Thank you all for your love and support!

Love,

Elder Hansen

Elder Hansen, Elder King & Elder Takke

November 18, 2014

Here is a short little summary of my week. Next week I will try to be a little more prepared and have more to talk about!

Highlights were teaching some kids that are going to get baptized a week from Saturday! That's super exciting! We got a new missionary here from Salt Lake in our district. He served in Mexico City but went home because he got sick, and he came out here! He's super cool, and he speaks great Spanish, so we are learning a lot from him!

Cool experience- We have been working with a member family, the Garzons, and we have been helping them come up with a date to have a lesson with some non-member friends in their home. They have been praying to know who to invite and he decided to invite a family that he is friends with through his son's basketball team. He invited them, and they're reaction was super cool! They said that they would love to come and that they have been needing something like this in their family. It was cool how Heavenly Father answered their prayers, and it has really excited them about doing missionary work as a family! We can't wait to teach them together in their home, it'll be awesome!

We have had some packed nights lately, we teach lots of lessons and have found some super solid investigators! I went on exchanges yesterday with the bike trio, which was fun. I like being on bikes a lot! It is pretty nice being in car though. haha

The weather has been cooling down a lot. It actually gets pretty chilly at night and in the mornings. We have been wearing sweaters, which is not anything I expected coming out to the Imperial Valley!

Love,

Elder Hansen

Here's my week! 

For starters, Last Tuesday after P-day sports we had Carne Asada at a members house, with all the missionaries. It was so much fun! And dang, Carne Asada tacos are the best food in the whole wide world. It was awesome.

Wednesday we had a normal day, planned for our week. Taught our investigators. It was sweet. I exchanged that night with Elder Takke. I love Elder Takke, we had an awesome exchange. I love exchanges, it's a great chance to learn from other missionaries and also get to know them! 

Friday was MTEs (missionary training experience). That's where President Schmitt comes and does a training in the morning, and then we go out with a coach for the rest of the day. We had an awesome training about inviting, and how important it is to invite others to take steps to bring them closer to Christ and help them repent. Elder Hawkins and I taught a workshop type thing on the invitation to church. It was pretty cool. That night I went to Brawley with Elder Fiso and Elder Oakley. It was teaching in English this time which was kinda nice. It was such a fun day! We taught a bunch of lessons, and it was cool to meet other investigators. 

Saturday we exchanged back and went and contacted a referral we got. He was super open and let us come in and teach him right then and there, which is rare. So we taught a sweet restoration lesson. He's a super cool guy. That night we had the adult session of Stake Conference. It was sweet because we had couple of members of the Quorum of Seventies there to change the stake presidency. They did a panel about missionary work, one with converts, one with ward mission leaders and one with a couple who talked about how getting sealed in the temple has blessed their lives. It was super cool. 

Sunday we had the normal session of conference! Again it was awesome to hear from the Seventies! I never realized how cool it is that our church is the same organization that Christ had when he was on the earth. When we were inviting people to church, we were stressing how when Christ was here he called his Seventies as well, and that we had the opportunity to listen to current members of the Quorum of Seventies in PERSON! I had never realized the significance of this before. Unfortunately none of our investigators came, because it was in El Centro and so it was a bit of a drive.

Yesterday was an awesome day. It was one of those days where you really see the Lord's hand in His work, because of the way the day happened. Finding different people at home, just arriving or just leaving, who we wouldn't have seen if we arrived later or earlier, just worked out the way it was supposed to! Which was cool.

I love the work! Thank you so much for all of your love and support!

Love Elder Hansen

Elder Hansen & Elder Hawkins

On Exchange with Elder Takke

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