Tuesday, April 26, 2016

What's up dear family and friends, the end of another sick week here in Logan Heights has come to an end. We are now in week 6 of the transfer, final week! Time is flying by faster than ever.

We have seen some awesome miracles, the Lord's hand is in His work! Last Monday we got chased down by a man named Pablo, apparently he was trying to catch up to us for 2 blocks but didn't catch us until we got to our destination. He stopped us and asked if we were missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ-- we said yes of course, he asked what we had to give him. We were taken aback but quickly handed him everything we had to give him, a Book of Mormon a couple pamphlets and our phone number. He told us he had met with missionaries before in Mexico but had since lost his way a little bit and now wants to follow God. We went to teach him the following day and had an awesome restoration lesson. He lit up as the gospel started to click for him again and he accepted a baptismal date for really soon. He said one of the simplest, most humble prayers I've ever heard at the end of the lesson, earnestly asking for God's help to be able to follow him. As he ended the prayer and tears ran down his cheeks the spirit was so strong! He just sat there and clutched his chest. We continued to teach him the following few days and he was eating everything up, loving all of the reading assignments and pamphlets. Unfortunately he was living out of his work van and his situation wasn't very conducive to progress and he decided to move to Oxnard California with his brother. We are helping him get in contact with missionaries up there, but all in all it was a very humbling and enlightening experience to teach Pablo, even for such a short time.

Veronica and Her nephew Bryan are awesome, they came to mutual with us last Thursday which was good! It's a super cool family, they also came to the Mormon battalion with us yesterday, we had an activity as a branch so we had a bunch of members there and the battalion is an awesome place to feel the spirit. Veronica's sister Rebecca (who was baptized in Oregon a while ago) is doing awesome at helping them along. We are super stoked about them, they are a blast to teach.

Wednesday I went on exchanges with elder Winn in his area, the walking area which is always a lot of fun. We talked to a ton of people, met some really cool ones. Elder Winn was the first elder I met, in the airport in Houston on our way to Mexico, now we get to "die" in Logan together. (Die means go home in mission language). We had a super fun day, he's a stud.


Church was great because we had a lot of recent converts there, it's fun when they are all there participating in gospel principles class.

Those are probably the big highlights of the week, things are going really well. Can't wait to hear from you all!

Elder Hansen

April 19, 2016

             

















Que transa queridos amigos y familia??

Hope you all have had a fantastic week! I know we have for sure!

Here's some highlights of what's been going down in sunny San Diego.

Last week I went on exchanges to the other elders area here in the Logan Heights branch. I was with Elder Diaz, who has been out for about 4 weeks now. He's awesome and it's awesome to see how much fire he has for sharing the gospel. We had an awesome day and met a couple really cool people throughout the day, it's a walking area so it's nice to be out and able to talk to everyone we see.

Thursday I came back to our good old area- we helped Gissel, a convert of a couple of weeks find a name to take to the temple which was sweet, and then we brought Abdi, our recent convert out to a lesson with us and he shared his testimony which was super cool. He's such an awesome kid! We also had an awesome lesson with Veronica Partida- who we met on exchanges and she is just so prepared. Her son is preparing for a mission, and she has a lot of LDS family members but isn't baptized herself. We had some great lessons with her, she's super cool. One of the nicest people I've meet and so humble and open to the Holy Spirit.

Saturday was super awesome. The branch had a temple baptism trip for youth and recent converts and since we had two recent converts going we got to go! (Picture at the bottom) it was awesome. The temple is the best, it's really great to get away from the world. It's like heaven on earth

                               



















Sunday Veronica and her sister Rebecca and her nephew Brian came to church, Rebecca is a member but Brian and Veronica aren't yet. It was a really good sacrament meeting and I think they really enjoyed it. It was cool because they called Veronica in to work, but she said sorry I can't go until later because I have church. That was awesome because that takes a lot of faith, but she really loved it.
Today Anna from the valley was over here in San Diego! We met for lunch, that was a fun surprise. Unfortunately we forgot to take a picture...

Those are pretty much e highlights of the week! Everything out here is good, Elder Burt and I are having a ton of fun an seeing miracles left and right. God's hand is truly in His work and in each and every one of our lives, I love you all!!!

April 12, 2016 Es que yo no vivo en esta área

Buenos Dias family and friends!!

I hope you all had a great week! We did out here in beautiful Logan.

Here's some highlights.


Last Wednesday we had exchanges, I went with Elder Dahl, who is in the other Spanish unit in our zone right now. Fun fact he lived in May Hall at BYU the same time I did, we ran into each other once that we can remember, when we found out we had both been called to San Diego, but it took me almost a year in the mission to find him and remember that. We had a super sick day in Logan, he served here last summer so he knew some of the members and stuff, but the area has changed a lot since then.

We decided to take a member named Valeria out with us to go contact some people and to have her introduce us to her friends. She seems to know everyone and everyone knows her, and she's out here street contacting as if she was a missionary. It was awesome, and she took us to her friend Rita, who is one of the sweetest ladies I've met here in Logan. We had an awesome restoration lesson with her and she even agreed to be baptized in May. She is awesome!

Later that same day a crazy drunk guy stopped us and we were trying to make our getaway, but he was being difficult. Luckily this girl had just gotten off the bus and was running over to talk to us, not only did she save us from talking to that guy more, she turned out to be super cool (more about her later).

A really cool miracle this week- we invited Abdi to pray to ask if he should be baptized last Saturday (we asked him on Monday) and when we finally found him home Thursday we followed up and he said simply "I just know I need to be baptized". He has such a pure desire to follow Christ. So we arranged the interview and had a miracle baptism on Saturday, he's such an awesome kid. The best part was that the ward really rallied around him and are really stoked.

So we went back to the girl who saved us from the crazy guy- her name was Veronica. She had recently moved here from Oregon with a bunch of her family. Turns out her kids, who live with her sister in Oregon are all members and her son just finished putting in his mission papers.
One of her sisters that she lives with is also a member and she has two nephews on missions. She is super awesome and we had one of the most spiritual restoration lessons. She felt the spirit super strong and really has a strong desire to follow Christ. We are super stoked about her and all of her family.

Sunday was awesome, we had all of the recent converts in the branch there all at once which was super cool, the branch is stoked about that, and Abdi was even able to receive the Aaronic priesthood. Things are looking great here in Logan, the members are super stoked about the work right now and so are we.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016 Porque les engaño? (Because I'm Kidding?)

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Hey everyone! Hope it was an awesome week this past week, we had a great one down here.

The highlight was definitely general conference, it's always a privilege to hear from God's servants, their messages are truly inspired.

We had an awesome week as we were able to find 8 new investigators, and teach a bunch of our current progressing ones! Abdi, who will be baptized soon came back from L.A. And is still excited about his baptism and the gospel in general, which is awesome because sometimes people leave and come back and lose the fire they once had. He's an awesome kid and is just praying to be ready this Saturday, and if not, the following Saturday. We also started teaching his little brother Pedro, who is 14. It was cool because he really hasn't shown interest at all, but yesterday when we came by to visit their mom Brenda, a recent convert.  He just asked us "How can I be baptized?"  We were like we can show you and we were able to share the restoration with him. He's a good kid.  It's going to be a little challenging to him go to church because he spends the weekends with his dad in another city, so keep him in your prayers so that we can find a way to bring him to church! But it's really cool to see how the gospel is changing Brenda's family slowly but surely.

General conference was AWESOME! Unfortunately none of the investigators who had committed to come came, so that was a little sad, especially because we worked SO hard to take every obstacle out of their path. But it was great anyway because it's always good to hear the words of modern apostles. If you didn't get a chance to hear it, Check it out at https://www.lds.org/general-conference

 Some of my favorite talks were definitely elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, as well as Ronald A. Rasband and David A. Bednar, Highly recommend those, but all are great. Hope you all had a fantastic week!   Can't wait to hear about it.

  A little S.W.A.T. action in the Barrio.

March 29, 2016

Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Happy Easter

What's up family and friends! Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter Sunday. One of my favorite parts of being a missionary is being able to testify of the reality of Christ's atonement and Resurrection. It's always fun to spend Easter as a missionary.

This week was a good one, we were able to find a bunch of new people to teach, there are PLENTY of people who need the gospel here.

We taught some great lessons this week, it's awesome to work with Gissel and David after their baptisms. It's cool to be able to go over the lessons again, everything is clicking for them!

We are teaching a bunch of cool people right now. A couple of cool kids who are like 15 and super cool. We had a good lesson with each of them this week, it's cool because they are all open and humble .

Things are going good in the area, we are working on strengthening the members in the branch. There are a lot of really cool members and we are getting to work with them here which is awesome.

Brenda (recent convert of two months)'s son Abdi has a date for April, keep him in your prayers. We had an awesome lesson with him this past week and he talked about how he felt the spirit as he read the Book of Mormon and as he attended church. We got to teach the gospel principles class that week and we shared a video about the last week of Christ's life and he said as he watched it it moved him. And at our lesson he actually asked to move his baptismal date a week which was super cool.

March 22, 2016 Es que no tengo horario fijo (I have no regular schedule)

Buenos días!

What's up everyone?? It's the end of another transfer, 7 weeks down in Logan Heights already. The transfer news is in and.......Elder Burt and I are staying together. Thank goodness. We were a little worried, not gonna lie, we have a lot of good things going on in the area and so we were hoping we would stay together. Elder Najera went home and Elder Winn is getting a brand new missionary.

This past week was a blur, last week elder Winn sprained his ankle pretty bad so we have been on bikes some of the time so they can use the car. It's been kinda fun but also kind of inconvenient because our area is pretty big! It feels good to be outside in the area though, you get to know the area better and talk to more people.

It's been a crazy week. Gissel got baptized, and there were a lot of miracles leading up to that. Gissel has a rock solid testimony, and it's super clear that Sagan was trying really hard to keep her from getting baptized. We went by Friday night, the night before her baptism just to talk to her and she had had some problems so bad that she had packed her bags at one point and was ready to go to Rosarito (Mexico), we were able to share some scriptures with her and give her a blessing and she got baptized Saturday morning. Sunday her 1 year old burned his hand really bad and she said she wasn't going to make it to church to get confirmed, but out of the blue she called and said she was on her way. So we confirmed her and she was able to receive the Holy Ghost. Thank goodness. Then Sunday night we had a mission president's fireside where she was going to share her testimony, but last minute she called and said she didn't have a ride, we scrambled and got a member to take her, but the address we had for her was suuuuuper wrong... And so we had to scramble to get the member to the right place. Luckily she made it there just as the first song was being sung and she bore a beautiful, powerful testimony. She's an awesome inspiration and she's super happy she persevered through all of these trials. A lot of people could have used those things as an excuse, but she made it!

That was probably the highlight of the week, Elder Winn and I had an awesome exchange on Saturday, we had an awesome day at church, even bough Elder Burt and I had to teach gospel principles last minute, they told us as we walked to class... It turned out to be a really spiritual lesson about the Life of Christ. Super fitting for the week before Easter.

I hope we call all remember the Savior and His atonement and resurrection this week as we approach Easter. It's an amazing opportunity to reflect on the love our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ have for us. Christ lives, he overcame everything for us and  because of that can help us to overcome everything.

I love you all!
Elder Hansen

Tuesday, March 15, 2016 Qué onda (Cool)

Qué onda!!

Whats up fam and friends??

It was the end of a fantastic week here in the Logan Heights Spanish branch. every Tuesday we have dinner and a lesson with a recent convert, Maria. The one we went to the temple with a few weeks ago. She is the sweetest little Mexican grandma ever. She's the best. She makes awesome food, always gives us tons of salsa and has one of the most solid testimonies ever. I always leave her house so happy, because you can really see the light of the gospel in her life. She met the missionaries at a really low point as well, so it's awesome to see her progressing so much. It's so funny when we read the Book of Mormon with her sometimes she will realize she zoned out so she makes us read it again, she always wants to understand everything, and she's whip smart so she does. She's also running a smog check business while she's at it, she's always going going going. She got sick last week and said she woke up sick so she got up a little earlier and started working until she felt better, she's amazing.

Wednesday we had exchanges, I stayed here in Logan with Elder Gunther, from Mapleton Utah, we had a lot of fun. I'll include a picture of our exchange. We taught a bunch of good lessons that day and talked to a Ton of people. We had a great lesson with Giselle who is getting baptized this weekend, she's so awesome!! That night David also had his baptismal interview, he's the coolest little guy every, such a good example of child-like love. His mom was really excited, too she's a returning member. They are an awesome little family. It took a little work to get them feeling the spirit so Joana would be excited about David's baptism and let him do it but it all worked out in the end.

Thursday we had a zone meeting, Elder Burt and I taught about working with members, and we also had training on helping people receive revelation through prayer. It was a little scary because President Schmitt came, but it was super good, it was awesome to have his insights there.

Friday was mostly us running around getting everything put together for David's baptism, it was kinda stressful because it was a bit last minute, but we got it all together pretty well.

Saturday was cool we a had a busy morning and afternoon teaching lessons Abd got to go to a little carne asada with one of the returning members we are teaching, which was perfect because we didn't have a lot of time to grab dinner before David's baptism. We went and got everything set up and then waited, and waited and waited. Joana and David came eventually but we were a little worried for a while because it was like 30 minutes after it was supposed to start. But it all went okay and we had good support from the branch.

Yesterday the niño got confirmed! It's always good when they get confirmed and recieve the don. Aka the holy ghost. Always a relief. Besides that it was a pretty normal day at church, afterword we had studies and dinner with a member, Carmen who feeds us every Sunday, we will try to take a picture at her place next week, she's awesome. We had 2 awesome lessons that night, one with Sara and her son Jonathan who is 15, they are super sincere, we are stoked about them.

Yesterday was pretty normal, had some good lessons. Taught Giselle and her husband George, she's getting baptized on Saturday, we are super excited and so is she. She's so solid, her testimony is super strong.

That's about all I got, everyone go check out followhim.mormon.org and check out the video on there! It's like 2 minutes long but it's super cool.

Love you all, hope to hear from you!

Elder Hansen