January 20, 2015 - Go Hawks

Dang I'm sure Seattle is goin crazy! My heart gets pumping just reading that article about the Seahawks Packers game! That's a crazy game... People ask where I'm from and they get all excited when I tell them I'm from Seattle because the Hawks are in the Super Bowl! It's a good conversation starter.  I wear my Seahawks PJs every night to support my squad!!! 

Mom & Dad - Good job being so willing to speak in church! That's awesome. I remember how much I hated it, now I feel like I wouldn't mind too much. Even in Spanish if I had to. We teach the Gospel Principles class, and that's some good practice.

I'm doing great! We had a good week! Taught lots of lessons, had a good time! Me and Elder Browne are like best friends right now... I'm super sad because he's leaving tomorrow. :/ transfers are so annoying. As soon as you get comfortable...they mess everything up!  I also found out I'm training...so that will be a fun adventure! We will see who my new companion is! I get to show him all around the area! So that's pretty much all that's on my mind right now... transfers are pretty stressful! 

I'm training?? Super scared about that...I hope my trainee knows Spanish. Ha that would be nice! But whatever I get will be fun! I feel like I've gotten along with all of my comps so well...and yet I haven't stayed long with any of them. Me and Elder Browne were working so hard and tearing it up this last couple weeks and now he's leaving. WHYYYYYYY

Oh well, I'm sure this will be a good learning experience. Did you ever have to train on your mish?  I feel like I never heard stories from your mission. WHAT THE HECK! I'm the worst! I never read your journal or anything!! Send me stuff about your areas and your investigators and your problems and your funny times and all that! if you find time in the next week. :)

Did you get my letter?  I sent you one like last Wednesday or Thursday, so hopefully you get it soon! I feel like it should be there!

also:  Sister Bickley recently sent me a big tin of cookies! I can't find the card so can you tell her thank you for me? Also the Calkins, I think I forgot to write them. Send them my love and thanks! I'm so sorry I didn't get to write them!

Thanks for all your love and support!  Go Hawks!!

Elder Hansen

Chula Vistaaaaa - January 13, 2015 and January 6, 2015

January 13, 2015

Another great week in the books!

The weather this past week has been awesome! Back to typical San Diego weather, in the seventies and sunny for the most part!

This past week we met a really cool family, it's kind of a weird situation, they aren't married but they are a family so let's just pretend they are. It's Larry, Rosio and their 11 year old son Sam. They are super awesome! They have been meeting with missionaries for 3+ years, and Rosio was baptized a couple years ago, but for some reason they lost contact with missionaries. We found their teaching record and went and stopped by! They are super nice, and we keep meeting with them, they are so chill! And they love to feed us! We have had 3 meals with them in the 3 times we met with them, so they are a tender mercy family!

We found 7 new people to teach this past week, which is super exciting! One of them is Johnny. We met him on the street, and he actually asked if we could come over and talk to them. He's in his mid 50s. He was one of those people who look like they wouldn't want anything to do with you, but then they turn out to be so sincere and humble! We passed by on Saturday for our appointment but he wasn't there, so we knocked on the neighbors door, which was kind of weird, we don't normally do that. But they are super cool too! They told us that his wife died the past week and that he was at the viewing. It was sad to hear that. We passed by on Sunday and he was sitting on his porch just thinking. He was so sad! We talked with him for a while about his wife and shared little tidbits of the plan of salvation. Mostly though we just let him talk to us. He's such a strong guy! He had been taking care of his wife for the last 2 years because she had a stroke. PLUS his mom has Alzheimer disease and so he takes care of her too. He would go to the clinic where his wife was and rub her feet, do her hair and help her eat. It's crazy how much he loved her! It was the saddest conversation I have had on my mission, but he's really open and so we can't wait to teach him about the plan the Lord has for him and his wife.

We also had a wonderful miracle yesterday! We were on exchanges yesterday with Elder Dudley and Ramirez, the zone leaders. Elder Dudley came to my area, he's a stud. He's been out for 2 years, he extended for an extra transfer. We stopped to talk to this lady that was in her car, taught her the first lesson, and turns out she lives in Elder Dudley's area, which is cool! And then we asked if she knew anyone we could teach, and she pointed us to her friend Carolina. So we went and knocked on the door, not expecting her to be super interested, but dang, we were wrong!!! She let us in right then and there, which never happens. Then we taught her about the restoration and she was stoked! She's preparing to be baptized on February 21!

Those are the biggest highlights of this week!

I love you all!

Elder Hansen

January 6, 2015

Hi family! How's it going?

We are on early this morning because we have interviews with president really early so we are using the waiting time to email. Because of some weird scheduling conflicts we had our interviews at 7:00, and while we were waiting in between he had us email a little bit, so I got a little head start :)

 

Interviews were cool! The more I talk to president the less intimidated I get, and the more I'm able to talk to him and really have a conversation with him (in Spanish), which is cool! He's a super cool guy. His family is amazing! They're like perfect I swear.

 

One of the counselors in our mission presidency just got called to the Chile Santiago mission. That was pretty cool! I'm jealous of those missionaries...He's super awesome! I wish he could still be here with us.

 

We went down to La Jolla for a doctors appointment today too, for Elder Browne, so it's been a little different "P" day. I'm not sure what we are doing for the rest of the day... Just hangin out I guess.. We just follow around the Elders with cars...haha  We probably won't use our full two hours, but it's nice to get a little head start while we are here :) 

How was everyone's week?

We had a good week! Elder Browne got a little of the sickness going around so that knocked out a couple days this past week, but we still made the most of our time!

Wednesday night we went out to dinner as a district for New Years. We went to Chili's together, it was a ton of fun! The food was super good too :) Then we were in our apartment by 6 pm and we made some yearly plans and got to bed pretty early. It was kinda nice to catch up on a little sleep.

Thursday- We had weekly planning, which we did down at a park in our area by the beach! It's super nice!!! I love it there. That was cool, because usually weekly planning is kind of a bummer, but on the beach its not a bummer at all! 

Friday- I had an exchange with Elder Najera in his area, we had a fun time. Their area is a lot different than ours, so it's always kinda fun to have time outside of the area and have a little break. 

Saturday Elder Browne was down for the count, so we couldn't leave. Poor guy. He got super tired of being in the house, so we went to a baptism that the sisters had, which was fun! The bishop asked me to give my testimony on the spot while we waited for the little niño to get changed... which is always fun in Spanish. It was good though! Elder Browne sang...they always ask him to sing for everything.  Poor guy wasn't feeling good and he still nailed "Grande Eres Tu" (How Great Thou Art).

Sunday was a good day at church.  Our ward changed from 1:30 to 8:30... super early, but it's pretty convenient for us. Except that Elder Browne shouldn't have gone out on Saturday or probably to church Sunday so after church he pretty much died...

Monday was a miracle day! We went around with the mindset that we were going to talk to everyone, which we did. At times it was frustrating because some people wanted nothing to do with us... but then 3 people in a row asked US if we could come over... that like never happens so that was cool. We ended up meeting some really cool people and got a bunch of return appointments to come talk to them!

That about sums up my week. Things are getting back to normal after the holidays. Last week was really cold. Down in the 40s and 50s. But today is back up to 80 and sunny :) It's beautiful down here in Chula Vista :)

Love and miss you all!

Elder Hansen

December 30, 2014 Felize Año Nuevo

It was awesome to talk to you all last Thursday! How was your Christmas and weekend?

The rest of our Christmas was fantastic! We had some menudo after I hung up with you. Then we talked with them about Christ and his birth, I like to share 1 Nephi 11 when Nephi sees the birth of Christ in a vision. After that we went caroling with our district to some members in the Loma Verde branch. The Sanchez's are so nice! I'm jealous they aren't in our ward.   After that we tried to go to Chili's, but it was closed, and then we went to iHop and the wait was too long, so we went to Subway. Oh well, the guy made me the best subway sandwhich I had ever had Merry Christmas to me!!! haha 

I've still been a little sick the last few days which is annoying but it hasn't bothered the work too bad. Most people are out of town in Tijuana right now, so hopefully we will be able to find more people home after the new year. Friday was district meeting which is always a blast :)

Saturday we helped a lady move some stuff from one storage to another, it was a ton of stuff!!! But we had to leave early because of Yuridiana's baptism. It was awesome :) Yuri and two little kids from the branch were baptized. We helped a member named Haylie write a talk about baptism and she KILLED IT!!! She's super awesome, we love visiting her house!!! That pretty much took up our day but it was a good one!

Sunday we sang in the Loma Verde branch (because my comp Elder Browne has the voice of an angel). So we had to go to church at 7 (because our ride Elders Takke and Strong had ward council). That was soooo early!!! But it was fun going to both sacrament meetings, and we did a pretty good job singing "Mas Cerca Dios de ti" or "Nearer my God to Thee". That night we had a sweet lesson with Kimberley, Yuri, and their parens. Our stake president, President Dixon and his wife came and taught with us. It was super cool having them with us. He speaks amazing Spanish, and his wife is a native Spanish speaker, so she does too. haha  We learned a lot having them with us. Missionary work is so much more effective when there are members there to testify of what you are saying and connect with the investigators! 

Yesterday was cool, we went to contact some former investigators and both the houses we went to were super nice and told us we could come back! One wasn't even the people we were looking for, they were a different family, but we have appointments with them so that was cool!

Today we went to the temple!!!!!!! It was so awesome! It had been a while since I was out in Calexico and couldn't go from there, and it was the first time going into the SD temple. It's as beautiful inside as it is outside! The Celestial room is incredible. It was an awesome session! Plus I got to go with my boy Elder Takke :) 

How was your week?? Let me know how everything is going!

Love Elder Hansen

December 23, 2014 Felize Navidad

We had an awesome week this past week.

We are working with a recent convert named Kemberley (25). She got baptized a couple weeks before I got here, and her sister Yuridiana (15) will be baptized this Saturday! Also, her parents have recently changed their attitude and are really thinking about getting baptized, which is awesome! Before, they didn't even think about it, they just knew it was something good for their daughters. They have really cut back on the drinking, and we haven't even taught the parents the word of wisdom! And they LOVE church! They always talk about how much they feel the spirit there, which is great! They are continuing to pray for answers and say they will set a baptismal date when they are more sure! We are super stoked about that whole family! (that is the family we are Skyping with) They are excited to see our families, even though they only speak Spanish.

The ward here is awesome! We have some super great members and we love visiting them! We visit this one girl Haley a lot. She was baptized a few years ago, but went super less active, but recently she has been super active! We have been helping her read the Book of Mormon, and understand it. She's super good at baking so she makes us a bunch of desserts, which is awesome!!! She's very cool!

Other than that we have just been walking around our tiny little area in downtown Chula Vista trying to share la buena palabra de Dios! (the word of God)  It's pretty sick! There is a park in our area that reminds me a lot of Edmonds Marina, it's very pretty! There's a bay with a ton of boats and stuff, we went down there a few days ago.

We also went to this area called Christmas Circle, with a ton of Christmas lights and we sang Christmas carols as a district! It was really fun! We are also going to go caroling to less actives and investigators as a district on Christmas Eve, which I'm really excited for! :) I'm super stoked for the rest of this week! And I hope you have an awesome Christmas!

Love you all! Elder Hansen

Yes I Got Transferred Last Week!

I'm in Chula Vista! It's awesome. I actually feel like I'm in the San Diego Mission now.  Before I was in the Mexicali North mission!  But I still miss Calexico and the great people there.  Transfer meeting is basically a couple of short talks by missionaries (on the spot) and then President Schmitt speaks a little and sister Schmitt talks and then he announces who's going where and we go to work!  It was nice not having a 2 hour drive to the Imperial Valley this time, we just went about 20 minutes down to Chula Vista. 

My new comp is great! His name is Elder Browne. We get along super well together. It's a walking/biking area, so far we have just been walking since I don't have a bike. It's fun!  I'm stoked to be in a bike area.  I do need a bike, but for now walking is okay, we are looking for a decent cheap used one.. if you could shuffle in just a tiny bit of money for it that would be sweet. I will try to keep it cheap though. If I can get a good one that would last that would be nice.

Elder Browne is from Maryland, but he went to BYU last year too, he lived in Helaman Halls like me! He is in his third transfer in the field, so I only have 6 weeks more in the mission. I kind of feel like the senior comp is the one who knows the area better, and then there will come a point when we both know it well and we will just be equal, there isn't a super defined senior comp thing here. Since I have more time in the mission there are certain things that I have experience in... but he's familiar with the ward and the people. So I don't really know, it's fun though!

It's pretty fun with him! We have been having a good time, and we get a lot done!  We work downtown, the chapel is far away, we get a ride from the other Chula Elders to all of the church stuff. Our area is right by our apartment, so we work from Second Street to the beach. We live right by a Fuddruckers, and there are tons of other restaurants and stuff on Broadway, which is cool. There are also some good taco shops.  Our apartment is nice. It used to be a hotel building so it's pretty sweet! It's got inside hallways and stuff and it's super secure. Our area is the more ghetto one of the district, but it's not too bad. It's just more downtown ish. Lots of apartments and little houses. We have the most work in the district though, which is cool!  I'm in the Chula Vista 4th ward (Spanish), it's pretty small, about the same as Calexico but seems like it is more solid maybe.

We have a couple of part member families that we are working with, one girl has a baptismal date for the 27th, she's pretty solid on that one, her sister got baptized 2 weeks ago, and we are working with her mom too, she knows the church is true, but is nervous to get baptized because of her family, who are all staunch Catholics. The people in the ward are all really nice and friendly, that's just how it is with Hispanics, they are all super nice! 

There aren't a ton of extra duties right now... we are just regular old missionaries just trying to teach peeps! We try to visit less actives and recent converts a lot. There are some super solid people. The district has 2 sister companionships and 3 elder companionships. Our district covers a ward and a branch, we are in the ward. The zone has one other district in it, I think 10 companionships, but I haven't met everyone in the zone yet. There is a Chula English and Chula Spanish zone, so we are all Spanish which is cool!

P day is only today because we have zone conferences tomorrow with Elder Neilson. It'll be pretty cool! 

This week we have been running around and introducing me to members and investigators. The ward is super solid. We had an awesome day Sunday. Church was sick, it's fun meeting new members and stuff. We had 5 investigators there, which was awesome!

Yesterday (Sunday) evening we had a wonderful Stake Christmas concert. There were tons of members and non-members there! It was packed! They had a Tongan Interfaith choir that sang too, they were super good! We sang in a little Spanish choir, which turned out pretty good too! It was fun to hear all the Christmas songs and see little Christmas videos and stuff!

We have a ward activity tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, I'm going to be Nefi (Nephi) in a little "Christmas from the Book of Mormon" presentation. I'm pretty stoked about that!

Also our district is cool, Elder Takke (was in my district in Calexico) came out here this last transfer too so we are in the same district again! I was stoked at transfer meeting when we both got called to Chula! He's my bud. Love that guy. The other missionaries are cool too! Chula is also one of my dream areas in the mission. This is where they filmed "The District 2" so I have already met a few people from the District. Like Amor Robles and German. The Stake Center and our ward buildings are both in the show a lot too. I've watched so much of the District that I feel like these people are celebrities. ha-ha

We have a mission Christmas devotional, which should be cool, but it's not really a party.  It'll be next week on Monday. 

That's exciting to have the family up in Seattle again! I can't wait to Skype you all together!

I'm happy to hear the ward is having good activities now!

I miss my little Crew! You should send me videos when he's in Seattle! Send me pictures of the lights and the tree and stuff!  

It's been a crazy week! But a good one for sure! How is everyone doing at home??

Love
Elder Hansen

Transfer From Calexico

How's it going?  We had an awesome last week! Still lovin it out here! I got the phone call today and I'm getting transferred tomorrow. We shall see where I go! I'm a little bit sad because I was supposed to baptize Ricardo, he's 21 and he's a super cool guy. He hangs out with the missionaries all the time! I love the guy. I would totally hangout with him after the mission! But now I don't get to baptize him this weekend :/ 

I'm also going to miss tons of the recent converts and members in the ward! I feel a little bit like I wasn't completely done here in Calexico, but I'm excited for whatever the Lord has in store for me! We will see how it goes. It was a big surprise. Elder Hawkins and I were both counting on me staying.... CRAZY!! never know what's going to happen on transfers!

You two are hilarious for going and getting turkeys in Moroni at the turkey plant.. haha 35 lbs is crazy!! that's so much food!  I got my box before Thanksgiving! Thanks so much!! :)

Glad to hear everything in Utah went well, and that you got the lights up at home! It's awesome to see Christmas lights and everything up! Even though it doesn't feel like Christmas season at all...It's like 75 and sunny everyday. haha love it though!

So sad I missed getting the decorations down from the attic.. haha my back hurts just thinking about it! I bet it was tough with just you two though!

Nothing else I need! I'm doing great! Thank you for all your love and support! Anything I can do for you while I'm out here??

Love you all so much!

Elder Hansen :)

We also received a great email from a good member of the Calexico ward.  She and her family have been taking good care of the missionaries and Alex has written often about them.  She was baptized in October and her son Derrick was baptized 2 weeks ago. We really appreciate all she has been doing for Alex and his fellow missionaries.  She also included some pictures of his last night in Calexico before the big transfer.

Hello Hansens, I'm sure Elder Hansen already gave you the news....he is being transferred, I'm super sad, we were totally not expecting or prepared for that...but I wanted to let you know that you have done an amazing job...you've raised a great young man...I'm sure you already know that!  I hope I can raise my son to be as awesome as him...so far so good. It was an honor to have met Elder Hansen and have him be such a great part of my life...we loved having him in our home and our family...I pray Heavenly father takes care of him and keeps him safe...thank you! We love him and he will be missed in our home...Here are some pics of his last night in my home and if you should ever find yourselves in Calexico...Mi casa es su casa (my house is your house/you are always welcome here) I hope all is well in Washington and Go Seahawks...Merry Christmas!

Love always

Anna

We had a super awesome week! Thanksgiving was super good! We had a lunch with some members, and then Dinner at Anna's house. It was super good, all her family was there, and it totally felt like family for me too!. I loved it!

Derrick was baptized on Friday! It was an awesome service. He's nine but a stud! He even remembered all of the ten commandments in order...I can't even do that! A lot of their family was there. Anna gave her testimony at the end and it was best thing ever!!!

Saturday Gilbert got baptized! He's awesome. We have been teaching him and his 3 brothers (25,16,8). He is a stud! He loves being a part of the youth and he's already an awesome example for the rest of the ward! It was also an awesome service! A good amount of people were able to come which was awesome! We even had some investigators there!

We are teaching a lot of youth right now, which is cool! It's fun to see them get involved with the youth program, and it will bless there lives a lot in the future! Two of the youth, Mia and Zandra came to church, and it was good! They liked it a lot. They are doing super good! Another youth, Jadrien went to the baptism on Saturday and thought it was cool! I love when investigators come to baptismal services, they get to see how awesome it is!

I'm super excited for the Christmas season when we get to focus a ton on Jesus Christ! It's an awesome time to share the gospel!

Thank you for all of your love and support!

Elder Hansen