Merry Christmas - 12/25/12

We were surprised to get this e-mail from Brett on Christmas day after speaking with him on the phone.  He is looking good (even with a super duper short hair cut) and seems to be extremely content and happy.  Here is what he had to say:

Its so weird to be in the mission during holidays. You do the same thing every single day, so sometimes you forget that its different from every other day.

Today was a really cool day. It was full of stress and problems, and I think that's just the way life is. But in the end it all turned out great. I got to talk to my family.  I got to show them my sweet hair cut that my comp gave me, and I even got to meet my sister-in-law. Cool beans. I´m pretty happy right now.

So we didn´t write yesterday because as the district leader, I had to take one for the team. There were 6 computers and 8 elders. I asked her to reserve us 8 computers, but she forgot, but that's okay. After the district wrote, we left for the temple. It was cool and all, and I took some pictures. I also got to see some friends from the other zones. Turns out lots of elders wanted to go to the temple for Christmas Eve.

In cool and exciting news, one of my fillings fell out and I got a new one put in. It cost me $40 to do it, and it was an adventure to say the least. But now its all said and done, and they´re aren´t any side effects from it. We also had our Christmas Activity with Pres Fortuna, and that was pretty cool. We had a gift exchange, and I gave away a little painting that I bought at a souvenir store. I recieved chips. Yup, it wasn´t that great, but one of my good friends was the one who gave it to me, so I won´t complain.

I left on interchanges with the Zone Leaders, and that was fun. I left with Elder "H", and he´s a nice chap and all, but to be honest, I really don´t like his sense of humor. He´s a great missionary and leader, but I don´t know if we´d hang out after the mission. Its just really funny to me, because the other ZL, Elder " E", is one of my best friends in the mission. Oh well, it's all good, and I´m really excited to be here.

I think that just about wraps up this week. Thanks for everything guys.  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for all the gifts, you guys make me feel loved.

Elder Hansen

It's the most wonderful time of the year - 12/17/12

This week was a pretty cool week. I´m starting to understand my area a little better, as well as the members, and things are starting to smooth out a little bit.

On Friday I drank 3 raw sea turtle eggs in a tomato sauce. It was absolutely disgusting, but they say that they are full of vitamins. She gave me 2 more to take home, and I tried frying it up in the skillet, but that didn´t work out too well. Turtle eggs are a lot different than chicken eggs, and to be honest, it was better raw. I still have one more in the fridge, and I´m going to drink it raw, but this time in orange juice. Hopefully it won´t kill me.

These past few days I´ve also had really bad gas. Maybe there is a connection between the turtle eggs and the gas.

The district is going really well. I have 2 pair of elders that are training and a sister pair. That's pretty exciting, and its really weird having sister missionaries. I´m still getting used to it. But I really do love my district. Each of them has a special place in my heart, and I´m really happy to be here.

On Thursday we have a Multizone Christmas Activity. We´re going to be doing a little skit of the Christmas Carol, and I´ll be the Ghost of Christmas Present. I´m pretty excited to see all of my friends that are in the other zones. We´re also going to have a present exchange, so it´ll be exciting to see what I get.

On Saturday we had a baptism of "HB". He is a really special 10 year old, and he´s incredibly intelligent. Both of his parents are teachers in the university, so I´m sure that helps. We played chess one time, and he almost beat me. His mom is active in the church, and his Dad is the kind of guy who thinks that religion is a crutch for the weak. We´re working with the Dad, and he´s been to church a ton. He just has a lot of doubts, and to be honest, he thinks that he is wise. I feel bad that his pride and so called knowledge is holding him back from the blessings of God. Hopefully we can help him change, and I know that all things are possible with God.

My companion is really cool. He loves playing soccer, so on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we wake up at 5am to go play at the church for an hour. Its nice to change things up a little and get some fresh air.

 Life is going really great right now. I love you guys, and I´m grateful for this chance to serve. Thanks for the prayers, and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas

Elder Hansen

La Pradera - 12/10/12

So on Monday night I think I had one of the saddest phone calls of my life. The Zone Leaders called and the first thing they said was ¨We´ve got the changes¨ I felt my stomach drop, and before they even told me, I knew I was going.

My companion was upstairs washing clothes, and I walked up there and he said that my face was pretty depressing. I really, really didn´t want to go.

So I went and prayed, and immediately I felt a calm feeling coming over me. I know that everything is going to be alright, and it will all work out in the end.

The ZL´s asked for me to stay, and they also asked if they could stay. President told us that the Lord inspired him to change me and to change them as well. A cool thing that happened is that Elder "E" and I both left Torocagua, and we both went to Comayaguela. So he´s still my ZL, and its going to be great working with him.

President taught a really cool lesson at the changes. He said we can choose to be like Nefi y Sam, or we can choose to be like Laman y Lemuel. Both groups went to where the Lord told them to go, the difference is in the attitude that they had

My new area is called La Pradera, or the prairie. Its pretty big, and its in the Comayaguela Zona. Turns out that my area is right next to the temple, so I really like seeing it every day. This week they announced the date that the Temple will be dedicated, so we´re all pretty excited. Open House starts up in February, and the Dedication will be March 17. Chances are that I´ll still be in the Pradera in March, so I´m pretty stoked. Now we´re just waiting to hear if President Monson is going to come.

While I really don´t know my area that well just yet, I do know that it is really big, and that it hasn´t had very much success. This zone has always been a hard zone, so I´m glad that the Lord trusts me enough to send me here. We´ve seen several miracles this first few days, including that we put 3 baptismal dates when we really didn´t have anything going for us. I´m pretty stoked, and things are looking great. Hopefully we can meet our goal of 20 baptisms, which will be the most baptisms this zone has had in a couple of years.

My companion is Elder "A". He´s from El Salvador, and he is my 4th companion from there. He´s got a transfer more than me, but he is really cool. We get along really really well, so I´m excited. He comes from a family of 8 and the country, so its really good to have a humble companion. He shares everything, and I´m blessed to be here with him.

Thanks for everything guys. You´re the best. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Elder Hansen

Don't go chasing waterfall - 12/03/12

So this was the last P-day of this transfer, and there's a good chance a large group of us will be going. So for our last P-Day, we decided to go hit up a waterfall that I went to when I was in this same zone last year. It was pretty cool, and it brought back some memories, and this time I remembered to bring my camera. I'm attaching a couple of the pictures we took. It was tons of fun.

This week we also had a baptism! We had the privilege of helping a sister enter the waters of baptism. She's pretty freaking awesome, and it was really cool hearing her testimony after her baptism. She started investigating the church because of the change she saw in her mom (who's a recent convert as well) and she has gained a lot of friends in the church. Really, it was the YSA that saved the day and helped her to make this important decision. Members are the key to success in missionary work. The Elders can't do everything.

Thursday was a really hard day for me. We snuck out of weekly planning to go buy some chips at the store in front of our house. We found out that one of our investigators was killed, and that they left to go bring the body.  We've been working with him and his family. We baptized four of his brothers and sisters, and we were working with him and his parents. He was a gangster trying to get out and learn more about God. Sadly, he doesn't have that chance anymore. The police found his body Monday morning, but because his face was so badly disfigured, nobody could identify him. His parents found him in the morgue on Thursday. I can't imagine what they are going thru. We offered to have a funeral service in the church, and I ended up speaking. I shared Psalms 23, and talked a little about how he always smiled at us, and how he always was willing to listen to the lessons. I'm going to miss him. We're currently in the dry season, and it hasn't rained in over 2 months, but on Thursday it starting to rain. It seems like even the heavens were crying.

It's good to know that while we never could convert him here on this earth, there are better missionaries on the other side of the veil that are working with him. I'll leave it to God to judge, and just pray that he will accept it there.

I guess that raps up this week. We're starting the Christmas Season, and I hope that we can all remember what its really all about. I miss you guys, alot, but I'm glad that I'm here serving. Thanks for the prayers, I feel a lot better. I can't wait to talk to you guys in 3 weeks! Woo hoo! Take care

Elder Hansen

Make it work! - 11/26/12

This week was pretty fantastic. Not going to lie. I´ve made some friendships even stronger, and its been a blast. We´ve developed a new motto in the zone. Its from that white guy off of Project Runway. So now we are always telling each other to ¨Make it work!¨ It gets me every time.

We had a couple of exchanges this past week. Actually, we had them from Tuesday until Saturday, so it was pretty much the entire week. They sent Elder Timmins to go work with the ZL´s, and I got to be the babysitter here in my area. The other ZL went with all of the trouble companions in their own areas, and it was fun to switch things up and spend more time with the elders. They are really good guys, and I really enjoyed hearing all of their testimonies. It was a little weird doing all of the planning all by myself, but I got over it.

We were going to have a baptism this Saturday, but it was postponed.  She just told us that it´ll have to wait till next Saturday. I wasn´t too bummed, but the ZL´s are, and I think its because this Saturday was the last Saturday of the month. To me, its her baptism, and it should fit her needs/wants, not our desire to meet the monthly goal.

We finished this past month with 1 baptism in the district and 10 in the zone. I think its a record low. The good news is that we will have 7 this Saturday, so I´m not too bummed. You just have to always look on the bright side of things.

Transfers are on the 5th of December. I´m kinda bummed, because I´ll be saying goodbye to my trainer and 2 other companions that are ironically in my district right now. They´re all really good friends, and it´ll be weird not seeing them around. I´m trying not to think about it too much and just lose myself in the work. But I´m not going to lie, its hard to be making such good friends to just say goodbye.

I´m going to ask permission to stay in my area for another change. I´ve already got 4 1/2 months here, but I feel like I still have a lot of work to do. That, and my comp needs help to get to know all the members so that we can work with them in this new pilot program. The ZL´s agree with me, so they´re going to ask as well. They generally accept what the ZL´s say, so its a good chance I´ll be staying here. I was talking to the ZL´s, and they told me that they like the work I´m doing, and so does the President. That makes me feel really good inside.

So we´ve been humbled, and we´re happy, and we´re working. Thanks for everything guys. Be of good cheer.

Elder Hansen

New pilot program - 11/19/12

This week was a pretty interesting week. We had our fair share of surprises and experiences.

On Thursday we had a Zone Conference with President Fortuna. Before the meeting we had a small meeting with the leaders. He isn't very pleased with the work that is happening in the Zone and in the District. The truth is that the other Elders aren't working as hard as they should, and he told me that I should be more involved in their work. So it looks like I'll be leaving in a ton more interchanges these upcoming weeks. I'll be leaving in interchanges for the next four days to try and help them out. My companion isn't too excited about it, but that's life. The conference was really good, and I could really feel the Spirit there. It was nice.

We also were chosen to start up a new pilot program in the mission. There are about 10 pairs of missionaries that were chosen to start it up. Its a program that is currently in affect in Mexico, and it's having a lot of success. It's cool to me how Central America is the guinea pig of these new programs. Mexico was also the first nation to start sending missionaries at 18. Cool beans.

So the program consists of working more with the members. We aren't allowed to knock doors. Yup, all of our investigators are going to come from references. Its actually not as bad as it seems, seeing as how almost all of my converts were references. But yeah, the way the program is designed is to force the members to be more involved with the work. If the missionaries don't receive support from the members, they pull out the Elders and they'll put them in a ward that is working. There is a member in our ward who has a daughter doing this program. She has "killed" her last 3 areas, meaning that they didn't help them, so they pulled them out. It's an interesting idea, and we're excited to work more with the members. 80% of references get baptized, and 1 in a thousand contacts get baptized. Number wise, we'll be more efficient.

Today we had an activity with the mission president. He throws a party for the Elders that baptize a family. So we went to his house today, and that's why I'm writing so late. It was fun and all, but I got sunburnt on my nose. But it was totally worth it, because I scored 4 goals today in soccer.

The temple will be finished on December 6. The dedication is in June. I'm pretty stoked that I'm going to be here for the Open House and for the Dedication. Supposedly the Prophet is coming down. I think I might wet my pants.

Life is good. I'm happy. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Elder Hansen

Dinner Dash - 11/12/12

This week was a pretty cool week. Its starting the ¨cold season¨, but really its not all that cold. Showering is always fun, and my companion laughs at me when I let a little yelp out. The water is always freezing cold, so its fun. The good thing is that it helps wake me up.

I left on interchanges with Elder "L" this week. It was really nice to go leave with him. We used to be companions back in Pedregal, so it brought back a lot of memories. We taught some pretty powerful lessons, and he told me that he was impressed in how much my teaching style has changed. It was funny, because I felt like the Spirit was guiding me in that lesson, and to be honest, I used words, phrases and scriptures that I normally don´t use. It's really cool to feel the Spirit guiding your words.

On Saturday night, we had an activity. Bishop gave us invitations, and we´ve been giving them out to everyone. What we did was a dinner for less actives and investigators, with the guest speaker, President Fortuna (mission president). We gave out around 40 invitations, and a ton of people told us that they were going. We had 14 people show up, and we were shooting for 15. So I was pretty happy about that. We were in charge of giving out the food to all of the people there. I was a little upset at how we told the active members that this activity was not for them, and that we didn´t buy enough food for them, but as soon as the closing prayer was finished, about 15 active members showed up looking for food. And of course, they were first in line. In the end, we almost didn´t have enough food for the less actives and investigators. In the end, none of the missionaries got any food, but everyone else did. I was cool with not eating.

Out of those 14 investigators, only 3 showed up to church. We were kinda bummed out about that, but we´re not letting that get us down. We´re working hard, and we´re hoping to finish this month with baptisms. Thanks for all the love and support. You guys are amazing

Elder Hansen

An answer to prayer - 11/05/12

This week was pretty cool. We worked really hard this week, especially in contacting. The Zone is focusing on finding new investigators this month, so my companion and I decided that we would try and set an example and go to work.  This week we contacted like crazy. It felt really good actually and while we came home exhausted, we also came home content. Nothing like a good day's work.

Our investigators are doing pretty good. Right now we´re working on finishing a family. We baptized the mom, Hermana "F", and right now we´re working on her daughters. The dad is still hiding from us, but we´re hoping to get him out of the house with an activity that we´re going to have. On Saturday we´re going to have a dinner and the Mission Pres is going to come down and give a little lesson. So that should be pretty interesting. I´m pretty stoked to be honest, and right now we are inviting the entire world pretty much to come and eat free food. Hopefully we´ll have a big turnout.

My companion told me that we should pay one of our investigators to make us lunches. Its something that a lot of Elders do, but to be honest, I´ve never done it. It never really entered my mind because I like to eat and I like to cook. But he told me that we should ask Hermana "F" to do it. She´s been going through some really hard financial times, and was pretty down about it on Saturday. We could tell that something was wrong when we entered the house. So we told her our plan, and her face lit up. She told us that she has been fasting and praying to find a job to help support her family. It was really cool to be an answer to her prayer, and I´m glad that my companion recieved that prompting and that we followed it.

Life is going really good right now, and I´m loving every minute of the mission. Thanks for all your support.

Elder Hansen

Miracles are happening - 10/29/12

This week was probably one of the biggest weeks of my life. So much happened this week, and I´m not sure that I can write it all down today. So I´ll just try and focus on all of the big stuff.

My companion was called to serve in another area. I was happy to receive a new companion. It was a good learning experience, but I´m glad for the change.  His last few days, he just decided that he didn´t really want to work as a missionary. He only wanted to take pictures with the members and some of the investigators. We didn´t teach any lessons on Tuesday or Wednesday, and that was frustrating.  Another Elder in my district was also giving me some problems this week.  But he´s in his house right now, and things are alot more peaceful with him gone. He wanted me to give him permission to go to another area to ¨visit members¨ when I know for a fact he left a girlfriend there. Yeah, I told him no, and he wasn´t too happy about that.

In good news, this week I got to go to the temple. We gave service on Wednesday, and I was there all day long. It was pretty amazing, and because my companion didn´t want to go, we left on interchanges. But yeah, they gave us a tour, and I even got to go up on the roof. We helped put up painting for a few hours, and it was really cool. I could feel the spirit there, and it gave me the boost I was needing. The guy in charge gave me a piece of the painting, and now I have a piece of the temple to take with me.

My new companion is a solid 250 pounds, 6´3 of pure white man. We get along really, really well and he just finished training. I´m stoked to be with him. We´re working really hard, and its nice to have him here. Its funny to see peoples faces when they see the two white giants walking around. This will be a fun transfer.

I did three interviews this week and those are always special. After the interview of one of the investigators, she asked me who was going to baptize her. I told her that its her decision and that she could choose any of the members in the ward or one of the Elders that is teaching her. She asked me if I could do it. I was shocked and it really caught me off gaurd. I asked her three times if she was sure that she wanted me to do it and not Elder "M" or "Elder F". She said that she was sure that she wanted me to do it. My companion explained to me that night that she probably felt the Spirit really strong in our interview, and for that reason she picked me. Anyways, it was a really cool experience for me. After her baptism, she also broke down crying when she bore her testimony. We went to her house afterwards and shared a cake. We sang her, "Mas Cerca Dios de Ti", and once again she started crying. It's really cool to be a positive influence in peoples lives and watch the Spirit work inside of them. I´m glad that I´m making a difference.

I also got to bless the sacrament on Sunday. That brought back a ton of memories. I miss the Spartanburg II ward. But I´m glad I´m here, and I´m glad for everyone who helped me to grow up into the person that I am.

Thanks for everything guys. I love you all. Take it easy

Five baptisms - 10/22/12

This week was AWESOME! On Saturday we had five baptisms! I think that's a record for me for the most that I´ve had in one day. But yeah, we baptized Familia "F" and their two step-siblings. It was a very stressful and long day, but it was a great day. We were in the church for seven and a half hours straight, without lunch or dinner, but in the end it was all worth it. What really hit me was the fact that the Dad didn´t want to be baptized. We convinced him to at least go to the interview and talk with the Zone Leaders.

They fasted and prayed, and at the end of the interview he told us he wanted to be baptized. NOW. So we put on some clothes, and we went into the water and I baptized him then and there. It reminded me of the story of Philip and the Eunuch in Acts. After his baptism, he shared his testimony, and I watched a tall, burly grown man sob as he told us how he knew this is what God wants him to do, and how he´s doing it all for the good of his family. It was a very powerful and moving testimony, and it was awesome to be a part of it.

We still haven´t heard anything about the changes. They are happening on Wednesday, but the AP´s haven´t said anything. I´ll let you guys know when I know. I love you all. Take care!

Elder Hansen 

Go Honduras Go - 10/15/12

So yesterday I was taking out some paperwork for my residency. They finally fixed all of my paperwork, so that's a relief. But yeah, I spent all yesterday in downtown Tegucigalpa. Boring

Right now Honduras is playing against Canada, and the whole world is watching, so we decided that this would be the best time to write. Its funny to hear the whole world scream with joy when they make a goal. Right now its 4-0, and we haven´t even made it to half time.

This week was pretty amazing. We had our fair share of district drama, including me finding some Elders watching The Avengers. But we have 5 baptisms this Saturday and 1 more on Sunday. We put all of the baptismal dates on Sunday, so Sunday was a pretty special day.

We were also surprised to see the daughters of Hermana "F" come to church. They haven´t really shown any interest in us or in our message, but they came to church all by themselves and they stayed the whole three hours. I was shocked. They later told us that they wanted to start hearing the messages. They said that they were impacted and amazed at the change that they´ve seen in their mom. They told us that she is more patient and loving. They also laughed as they told us that the Doctor couldn´t get her to stop drinking coffee, but that we could. It was a testimony builder to me on how big of an influence we can be to those who are close to us and the importance of being a good example.

So yeah, this week is going to be pretty amazing. And busy. We´ve got our work cut out for us. Next Wednesday is changes, so maybe I´ll be getting a new companion pretty soon here. Life is good, and I´m loving Honduras. Take care guys

Elder Hansen

Trust God - 10/08/12

This week was full of highs and downs. I have had a ton of spiritual moments, that I don't think one email can do it justice. I feel overwhelmed at how much my Savior loves me. He showed me this week his love, and now I need to show him my love with my diligence.

So we have had a really hard time teaching this week. This week we probably had the lowest number of lessons taught, and the rest of the district as well. We also had a goal of finding a lot of new investigators this week, and instead of breaking a new record, we had record lows as well. That was a little depressing. I left on interchanges, and after leaving a really really well planned day for my companion, I came home and found out that he didn't go with any of our investigators. He didn't even try to pass by. They just visited members. I did get to go and work with Elder "V". He's got a few weeks in the mission, and it was really fun to work with him. He's got a ton of energy for the work, and I could tell that he loves his investigators. He and his companion are working their butts off in their area, and they have 3 families that are progressing, which is amazing. They are showing an example to everyone else, and it was really nice to spend a day in their area. When we started the week, we weren't even teaching a family in our own area. Now we have 2 that we aren't only teaching, but that are progressing and want to be baptized.

The Bishop took us out to lunch after the Saturday session of General Conference. We might've left our mission, but I think the Lord will understand. Ha ha ha. But yeah, we had an amazing talk with him on the car ride there. We talked about our goals for his ward. We told him that our goal was 3 baptisms, and we explained how we have about 5 people that are really positive and that are most likely to be baptized. He told us, "Okay, these guys are solid candidates, but where is your faith? Where is the extra mile?"  He talked with us about how our goal of 3 is what we think we can achieve, but that we shouldn't rely on our own knowledge, but trust in God and receive His vision on what the ward should baptize. He also gave us a reference of a family of 4 that has a baptismal date for the 20th of October. He didn't just talk, he also acted on a impression he received, and he is inviting others to come unto Christ.

The other family came from a mom that originally was against the church. Her husband and son are recent converts, and her son will actually be leaving on a mission in December hopefully. She was so anti Mormon mostly because she was raised Catholic. She told her son that he can't go on a mission and was all in all an enemy to the work. One of her best friends was baptized the other week. Since then her hard heart has been melted. She gave permission for her son to go on the mission.  She went to church for these past two weeks, cried during the lesson last week and participated in it. It looks like very soon here she will be entering the waters of baptism and preparing herself to go to the temple with her family.

We also had interviews on Thursday. It was really cool. We also had House Inspections on Friday. Needless to say this week was a little busy.

So yeah, we went from nothing to having a lot of success. I'm very grateful for the blessings we are receiving. I know that we have to Trust in God, and press on with Faith in Christ.

I really like this quote from Pres Hinckley

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. It all works out in the end. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future."

I love you guys. Take it easy

Elder Hansen
 

Fifteen months - 10/01/12

This past week was a pretty cool week. On Friday I hit 15 months, which means from hear on out I´ll be in the single digits. That is pretty weird to me. This is all going by so fast.

On Saturday we had the baptism of Hma "C". It really was a miracle that she was baptized, because honestly we stopped visiting her because she told us she couldn´t make a decision. The Bishop and the Ward Mission Leader passed by last Sunday, and she accepted the invitation to be baptized. She is pretty amazing, and she´s been going to church since April. She broke down crying bearing her testimony in her baptism. It was a very spiritually powerful moment. She was also deathly afraid of the water, so it took my companion three times to finally get her under. All in all it was an amazing day finished with an amazing service. On Sunday I had the blessing of confirming her. Normally someone from the bishopric does it, or at least that's how they do it here in Honduras. So all of my mission its been like that, but for some reason, I knew that the bishop would ask me to do it. So I reread the words and thought about what I would say. So when the Bishop asked me on the stand if I could do the confirmation, I smiled and said yes. It was pretty cool.

On Friday we gave service to a family in Cerro Grande, my old area. We helped them put a second floor on their house. It consisted of mixing up concrete, shoveling it into buckets, and they passing the buckets to the guys on the roof. I spent the four hours on the ground level, shoveling and then lifting the buckets. It was hard work, and I left with fifteen blisters on my hands. Its been a while since we´ve given real service. My companion had a good laugh when he watched me pour rubbing alcohol on it. I didn´t think it was too funny, but afterwards I laughed about it. I´m tired of all the attention. Everyone is like, "Oh My Goodness, what happened to your hands?" Oh well.

I love you guys, thanks for the love and support.

Elder Hansen

Living the Good Life - 09/24/12

This week was pretty stinking fantastic. It had its fair share of ups and downs, but it was a really really good week.

On Tuesday we had a cool meeting with Elder Duncan. He´s a 70, and he came down to visit us, which was pretty cool. We had to wake up at 5:00 to get there on time, but it was worth it. We had a meeting for the DL´s and ZL´s and that was pretty cool. He helped us understand some crucial points like service and love, and also explained that our missionaries are like our investigators. We should make plans, prepare lessons and help them to progress. I never thought about it like that, but it is a very interesting point of view. Then we had the general meeting, and it was really nice. I liked when he talked about the what, why and how of the Gospel. I think that he must´ve talked to Elder Pieper, because I read in Tyler's letter that he also talked about that. He focused a lot on the Doctrine of Christ, and I learned some cool things that I´m going to apply to my teaching. The biggest thing was that we need to focus more on Repentance. Muchas veces we focus on Faith and Baptism that repentance gets left in lower priority. But it shouldn´t be that way.

On Saturday we had four baptisms in the ward. We had two, the other pair of elders had another, and there was also a 8-year old boy that go baptized. It was a very beautiful service, and we had the room packed with people. We baptized "OB" and "FM". They are both very special to me, and I am very pleased that they were able to be baptized this weekend. "OB" has a brother that got baptized a few weeks ago. Thanks to their examples, their brother and sister are investigating the church and have accepted baptismal dates for the week after General Conference. Hma (Sister) "F" has been receiving the lessons for two months, and she was finally able to stop drinking coffee and be baptized. Her family thought that she rushed her baptism, so they told her not to, but she did it anyways. I´m very proud of her, and I know that she is doing whats right. She is one of my favorite converts, and its been really cool to see her faith grow as she listened to the lessons.

Bishop called us up last night and told us that we will have another baptism this Saturday. He visited Hma (Sister) "C", and they talked and she agreed to be baptized this Saturday. Things are looking really good here in Bulevar.

I am very close to the temple. It is in my mission, and they haven´t announced when the Open House will begin. I am best friends with the member that will be the translator for President Monson/Eyering/Uchtdorf. The temple was actually in my last Zone, but I´m still 20 minutes from the temple. I don´t know if they will let us work in the temple Open House, but I sure hope so. The temple is ready, everything is finished. The service activity was putting in the furniture in the guest room. We are all very excited to hear some news.

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Hansen

Life is looking really good - 09/17/12

This week was amazing. On Wednesday we had transfers, but we didn´t change. I'm still in Bulevar B with Elder "M". What did change was my district. I got 4 more Elders added to my District, and 2 of them are ex-companions, so that's pretty cool. Now we have the areas of Carrizal and Jardines de Carrizal in our district, so we went from one of the smallest districts to one of the largest. I'm really excited to be here and work with these great guys. Life is looking really good.

Our mix of Elders is pretty funny. We have two greenies in Bulevar A that have had 2 and 3 changes (transfers) in the mission. Then we have the old dogs in Carrizal. This is the last and second to last changes (transfers) for those Elders. My ex comp, Elder "L", is training a new elder in Jardines, and he will finish his mission training his new elder.

We have 2 baptisms planned for this week. Hopefully everything works out. Sorry that this letter is a little short. I had to run a lot of errands during my internet time. The ZL's (zone leaders) left for a service project on the Temple Grounds, so I was left in charge of the keys. I don't like having to do all of these errands, so being a ZL doesn't really interest me all that much.

Thanks for all of the prayers and support. I love you all and I hope that you guys have a great week!

Elder Hansen

Another transfer together - 09/11/12

This one came a day late:

I´m not sure what I´m going to write about this week, but I´ll give it a shot.

First off, I´m writing on Tuesday because on Monday we had to go and do some paperwork for my companion. He´s legal now, I´m still waiting for my residence card..... He´s got 7 months and I´ve got 14..... I´m not quite sure whats taking so long. Last time I asked they said that in the system it says I´m from Columbia. I´m hoping that the office elders will actually do something besides playing solitaire on the computer.

Saturday we had the baptism of "NB". He´s a pretty cool guy. He´s 15 years old, and he went to church all by himself. He´s been looking for God, and he found Him in our church. We taught him and it was picture perfect -- three straight assistances, all of the lessons in order and the baptism to finish it off. We´re working with his brothers and sisters right now. There are 12 of them, so its a little interesting. Most of them aren´t interested, but we´re trying to help them out. We´ll see how it goes.

Today we found out that my companion and I will be staying together for another transfer. Wooo hooo! Hopefully we won´t kill each other before the transfer ends. Ha ha ha ha, I´m just kidding, I love Elder "M"! He´s the best. Maybe my district will be a little larger after this transfer. They are putting sisters in another district in our zone, so they might be changing around the district boundaries, meaning that I could have four more elders in my zone, including one of my ex companions, Elder "L". I´m hoping that we can be together again, but we will just have to wait and see.

Its cool to hear how great you guys are doing. I got the letters from the reunion, and I´ll try and put together an organized letter this week.

Love you guys. Take it easy

Elder Hansen

It's a girl - 09/03/12

Here is Elder Brett's week in a nutshell:

This week was pretty cool. We´ve had our fair share of trials for the week. We woke up today to find out that all of the power outlets don´t work. It made cooking breakfast interesting. We also didn´t have any toilet paper, so that made my morning even better. And then there wasn´t any water. I love Honduras. I was really happy that I was able to laugh it off and not get too stressed out over it.

In other news, our recent convert, "GA", had her baby girl this week. She headed in last Monday and had a C section. Thankfully everything went great! They have a healthy happy little girl. They named her Alma Valentia, and she is the cutest little thing.

My companion and I have been waking up at 5:30 to go and run. I actually feel a lot better now, and it sure beats the heck out of situps and pushups. And, it hasn´t affected my studies, and I´m not sleeping during the day, which is a big relief. Just another testimony to me of the importance of taking good care of our bodies. There is so much more to the Word of Wisdom than not drinking beer or coffee.

We have two baptisms planned for this Saturday. We are planning on baptizing Sisters' "F" and "N". Hopefully everything turns out great and we can finish this transfer with baptisms.

Oh yeah, this is the last full week of this transfer! Time is going by way, way, way, too fast. I remember starting this transfer and feeling overwhelmed and inadequate. Now here we are 6 weeks later, and I feel like a completely different person. But I feel like this past 6 weeks went by in the blink of an eye.

I love you guys a ton, and I hope the best for everyone who is starting up school. Take care!

Elder Hansen

Grace 08/27/12

To start things off, I think that time is going by entirely way too fast. I remember starting this month and thinking, "Wow, it's August!" Now I´m like, "Wow, it's gone!"  This past 4 weeks have been crazy! But I´m loving it.

This past week was pretty cool. It was actually rather comical to me how we had amazing days on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and really really bad days on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. In the end it was a really good week, even if it was a roller coaster of emotions. We did have a baptism in the district, bringing us to a solid 2 baptisms for this month. The goal was 16..... but we´re happy with 2. The satisfaction comes not from the number, but from the effort that you give. I´m convinced that as a district we worked our little butts off. We invited them to come unto Christ, they just didn´t accept. But its okay, because we did our part.

I had the privilege of doing my first baptismal interview, and it was actually pretty cool. His name is Jared.  He´s 8 years old and wears glasses, so the little guy reminded me of my family. I showed him the picture of Jacob at his baptism, and he thought it was pretty cool. I like being a DL. The blessings that come make up for the extra stress and responsibilidad (responsibilities).

My studies lately have been focused on developing Christ like attributes, and more precisely, charity. Love is all you need.

Sorry this letter is kinda short, I had to do a survey that took up a good chunk of my time. I hope everything goes great with school starting up. I love you and miss you all. Take care!

Elder Hansen

 

Suffer with Patience - 08/20/12

So the title comes from Alma 31, verses 30 and 31. I really like how he prays for strength to suffer with patience. I had a couple of opportunities this week to do just that.

This week was really, really, really good. It was also really hard. But, I´m learning how those two characteristics are intertwined. Its pretty cool, and even though it sounds crazy, I know it's true.

So to start things off, this week we had a baptism! We baptized Familia Amador! They are the family that we married last week, and they are some of my favorite investigators. She wasn´t too excited about baptism, but on Monday we had a really cool lesson. She amazes me on her spiritual progress. We started teaching Lesson 3, the Doctrine of Christ, and before the lesson I gave her an outline of what we were going to teach and also the promise that she will know when she should be baptized. So we get to Faith, ya know, first principle, and we explain what Faith is and how we have to show our faith with our works. She then asked us ¨So I have to show my faith in Jesus by getting baptized?´ I was shocked and amazed that she made that connection without us telling her. I was a little stunned that she understood where we were trying to go. So we said "Yes" and she agreed to be baptized. Yup, it was that easy. She understands things really fast, which is such a blessing.

Her husband was a less active, but he´s been going to church and supporting us in the lessons.  It was probably one of the most beautiful moments of my mission when I watched him baptize his wife. We helped save a family, but the cool and amazing part is that they are doing the work for themselves. He helps explain the gospel to his wife, and they read and pray together. She is expecting any day, and they have 2 small children, and I know that they will be faithful and active members inside the church. I love this work

I also managed to catch the same sickness my companion had. The good part is that I skipped out on the vomiting, but the sinus pressure hit me pretty hard. Its hard to smile and be happy when you feel like your brain is going to explode and that your eyes are going to pop out of your head. It was a little hard.

A lot of our investigators are really progressing rapidly. The only problem is that everyone is scared of baptism, and on Sunday almost everyone skipped out on us. But, they really did show lots of improvement in their daily reading and praying, as well as their testimonies. We had a couple of lessons where we brought the investigators to tears, which is generally a good sign that we are doing something right.

I had my first official intercambios (splits) as a DL, and it was pretty cool. This Saturday I´ll be doing my first Baptismal Interview. Wish me luck!

I love all you guys. Be sure to have tons of fun for me at the lake and at the reception.

Elder Hansen

Paying the Price - 08/13/12

 Here is the latest on Elder Brett Hansen:

This week was pretty cool. We had a really inspiring training meeting from Presidente Fortuna. He likes to use videos, and I like to watch them, so I think we are going to be friends. He showed us a couple of really cool clips, and then we talked about how we should apply them in the work. He also gave us a really amazing sermon on how to be a leader, and more important on how to have success. He told us that the difference between us and the amazing prophets and missionaries of the BofM is in the price we pay. We can baptize hundreds and thousands of people if we are willing to pay the price that the Lord has put out there. I realized that if I want to change the results, I have to change the way that I do everything, from studying to contacting to praying to teaching. If we want to have 16 baptisms this month we have to work harder and smarter. We´ve been faulting in the working with members. Its not that we don´t like the members, it just takes double if not triple the planning to effectively work with the members. The Bishop called me this morning, and we had a nice chat about how we are going to fix this problem. If there is one thing that I´ve learned as a District Leader its that you never have a second to stop and catch your breath. Not only that, you need to push yourself farther every single day. I feel like the phone is always glued to the side of my face, but I really like it. I´m working my little butt off, and I know that there is always more that I can give.

In other news, we married a family this weekend. We drove out to this little town called Talanga, because apparently its easier there. So we get there, and our lawyer had her phone turned off. So after an hour of running around frantically looking for her, we decided to go to her house. Its a small town, so everyone knows everyone, but the thing is that she lives out in the boonies of the boonies. So we paid a good 300 limps out of our pockets to go in taxi, to find out she wasn´t there and that she was going to meet us at the courthouse. So we bought a taxi to go there and turn around. Fun stuff. Lots of stress, but in the end it worked out, like it always does.

My companion is a little sick, so please keep him in your prayers. His name is Elder "M". 

Elder Hansen

Bulevar - 08/06/12

I had changes this past week, which was pretty cool. We didn´t find out until Monday night, and it was pretty crazy because out of the 4 Elders living in our house, 3 of them had changes. Needless to say, we had a little party Monday and Tuesday night as we were packing until midnight both nights.

Saying goodbye was really hard for me. I´ve grown really close to my families that I´ve been teaching and my converts. I´m going to miss them like crazy, and it was really sad to see how depressed they were because I was leaving. It was also hard to leave my companion. We´ve been through a ton, and he started his mission with me. I know that he will carry the torch and keep on baptizing there. He said the 2 biggest lessons I taught him were patience and humility. I´m happy with that.

Wednesday we had changes, and I got called back to my previous Zone, or Stake. I´m in Bulevar B, in Zona Torocagua. My companion is Elder "M", and he´s really nice. He´s actually from the same city as my last companion, Elder "A" They are both from Santa Ana, El Salvador. He´s got 6 months of his mission, and his entire mission he has been with a District Leader, so its nice to have him here helping me out and answering my questions. I´m also the District Leader here, which is pretty cool I guess. I´m still figuring it out, but things are going pretty smooth here. This area is amazing, mostly because the bishop is amazing. He has big plans, and he works his butt off. We have a goal of 16 baptisms this month as a District. Our goal is 10, and to be honest, I really think we can do it. We´ve got 4 baptisms planned for this week with another 2 following and about 8 others that have potential to be baptized the 25th. Things are looking really really good here in Bulevar. The members are really helping us out here, this week we received 10 references, which to me is unbelievable. I´m stoked.

Well, I´ve got to go write President. I love you guys. Take care!

Elder Hansen

Leave it better than you found it - 07/30/12

Here is the latest from Honduras:

Hi guys. It was good to hear about your adventures. I´ve had a few myself, but nothing too exciting. Just the usual, knocking doors, teaching and preaching, ya know, that kind of stuff.

This was the last full week of our companionship... maybe. They still haven´t announced the changes. Normally they tell us Sunday night who is the lucky duck that gets to pack. But on Sunday they told us that they still haven´t done the changes, and that we might get them on Monday night, but that its more likely that we´ll get them on Tuesday. I´m not too happy about that. The chances are that I will be leaving, but then again, there are always surprises. My trainer had 6 months, and I left before he did, so you never know. I´m a little bummed because today is P Day, and it would be nice to pack today, but it would suck to pack everything up only to find out that I´m not leaving. Who knows, maybe both of us will stay.

So we both have decided that we are going to work our butts off this last week. My companion really wants to leave this area, and I´m not going to lie, I´m a little antsy for some new scenery as well. We have a baptism planned for this Saturday, so that is a plus. The thing is that Pedregal is a really small area. I know this place inside and out, but I know that I should stay humble and keep on knocking doors, even if I´ve already knocked them several times. We both decided that we are going to leave Pedregal better than we found it, which actually isn´t too hard because there was NOTHING here when we got here, but thats okay. Hopefully there should be 5 or so baptisms in August, which will be the most they´ve had in years. It was really good to break the ice in this area and show them that yes, miracles do happen, yes you can baptize and that nothing is impossible.

Here is a cool quote from President Uchtdorf

What we love determines what we seek
What we seek determines what we think and do
What we think and do determines who we are and who we will become.

You are the master of your destiny
Love you guys, take care! Hasta Luego!

Elder Hansen

Doing really great - 07/23/12

Another week in Honduras:

Its good to hear that you guys are doing great. I´m also doing really great here in Honduras. This was another week full of great experiences, and I´m grateful that the Lord is blessing us.

This week was the week I got to sit back and let my companion show his decision making skills and lead us. I was hoping to be left smiling and proud of my companion, but I ended up learning that I am not as good as I thought I was at being a teacher. I know that everyone has their own free agency, but I was hoping what I was teaching would´ve stuck with him. I´m not saying he´s terrible, but it was far from what I was expecting. There were a few times where he just gave up and I had to save us. He had trouble making decisions, and while I gave him a list of 5 or so options, none of them pleased him, so he just paced back in forth in the house, made a sandwich, and then we left to go visit a member. I was sad.

I´ve been reading a lot from the 2009 October General Conference, and I must say holy cow, it was divine revelation. That added to a few quote from Elder Holland and I was overcome by the spirit. Henry B Eyring talked about how Christ is our perfect example, and how we must allow love to be the center of our lives. The prophet then followed by one of my favorite talks ¨School Thy Feelings Oh my Brother¨. Add that to the quote where it says that we have to bring all that we have, possessions, ambitions, pride, vanity and put it on the altar of the Lord, sit there submissively, and then walk away. I realized that I need to forgive. I needed to let those bad feelings go. It was a continuation of last weeks revelation, and I´m loving feeling the spirit in my life. There is no point in thinking about or focusing on anger, frustration, pride, or anything really that isn´t love, Jesus, or God. We need to ignore the bad and look for the good.

Changes are August 1, which is weird. About 8 or so Zone Leaders will be leaving, which means there will be several new ones called. People tell me that I´m next, but I don´t think so. I don´t feel like I´m ready, but I know the Lord has greater plans for me than I can imagine. I just know that I don´t need to be a leader to be great in his eyes or to do his will or to make miracles happen. Just Elder Hansen is fine with me.

I love you all, and I can´t wait to see you guys in a year. Be happy

Elder Hansen

Humbled unto the dust - 07/17/12

What an eye-opening week.

This past week was by far one of the most stressful but rewarding weeks of the mission. I have really been humbled unto the dust, and I have seen and felt the love of Christ in my life. I don´t know how if I can explain it in words, but I´ll try.

So to start off, this week was full of drama. Lots and lots of drama. My companion decides that he isn´t going to visit a certain members house because she is always insulting us. She insults us because she thinks that we don´t like her food, and since we don´t like her food we don´t pass by. The truth is that the Relief Society passes a food list around, and we have lunch and dinner for every single day of the week, and to be honest, we don´t have enough time to visit very many members.

Anyways, her sister moved in this week, and wants to hear our message. Definitely an answer to prayers, but due to my companion's hurt feelings, he refused to leave. I decided that I wasn´t going to deny this opportunity, and it turned into an argument, ending with me leaving with one of the Zone Leaders to go teach her. I felt bad afterwards, because I totally went around it the wrong way. My job isn´t to force my companion to do what is right, but to teach by example and instill within him the desire to do what's right. "G", the investigator, accepted a baptismal date that very first lesson, and she has accepted every single "assignment" we have given her. If everything goes well, she´ll be baptized August 4.

After that, my companion criticized my teaching, and once again, another argument. But after we cooled off we were able to talk things over, and I saw things from his point of view and he saw it from mine, and we felt really dumb for arguing over something so insignificant and dumb as that, even though the lesson we were talking about was crucial to the lives of the investigators. For the first time they really opened up to us and expressed a desire to not only listen, but to change their lives.

And then the very next morning we left to go give service, which was amazing, but when we came home we found out that the Zone Leaders had freaked out and called 911 to all of our members.

 On Sunday, we lost 8 of our 10 baptismal dates. And to put the icing on the cake, Monday I got hit really hard by the flu, which is why I didn´t write yesterday.

Needless to say, it was a great week.

BUT, on the good side, I´m having an amazing time and I´m feeling the spirit really strongly.

I realized that I was being prideful, and when I asked the Zone Leaders for forgiveness, it really was relieving. I can´t explain how good it felt to let it out. I felt like I had the reason (and was justified), but when I finally realized and confessed, a peace entered into my heart that really was amazing. The spirit told me to ask that same Elder (the one that I was arguing with just days before) to give me a blessing. Before the blessing I wasn´t able to walk from one side of the house to the other without taking a break, but after his blessing we left and worked for the last 3 hours like nothing had happened. I felt my Savior´s love. I felt his support, I was sustained by angels. I cried like a baby. You guys know that I don´t cry, but I couldn´t hold back the tears. I know my Savior loves me.

I love you guys a ton, and thanks for the prayers. They´re working. God is listening.

Elder Hansen

Cool conversion stories - 07/09/12

This week was pretty cool. We had two baptisms this week, and both of their conversion stories are pretty cool.

We´re going to start off with Ivonne. She is the larger and older of the two that we baptized, and I can easily say she has been one of the funniest people I have ever taught. She is a reference from the 2nd Consejero in the Bishopric, and he straight up told us that she gets bored of the missionaries.  So we decided we would try and be her friends first, and then once we established the friendship is when we started the teaching. It worked out really well, and she is a very dear friend to me. She surprised us by her dedication to reading. We left her a chapter to read one night, and we came back the next day and she had not only read the assigned chapter, but also the following 6 chapters. She reads more than my companion! Ha ha ha, I´m just kidding, but seriously, she would also go above and beyond with all of our assignments. She has tons of friends in the church, and I´m very proud of her progress. She really has come a long way, and I know that she will continue to grow and that the ward will take care of her.

We also baptized Alicia this week. She is a very sweet 10 year old girl. We have been teaching her since I got here, so a little over 3 months now. Their family has gone through a lot recently, and it was really moving to see how grateful they were that we passed by and brought them the gospel. They still aren´t exactly living in paradise, but they have the peace that comes from the Spirit and the desire to endure to the end. It was very exciting to see almost the entire ward show up to her baptism and support her. I was privileged to baptize her, and I´m grateful for the opportunity I have to help her along.

So basically this week was focused on having these past two baptisms. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, but I´m used to it. Satan always has to try and ruin everything, but in the end we came out on top, like always. It was very stressful, but we are learning to cultivate patience and love. Oh yeah, I also had to give a 15 minute talk on Sunday. Moroni 7:43

I love all of you guys. Jesus does too

Elder Hansen

Just over the hump - 07/02/12

Hey guys! I´m happy to hear you guys are having the family reunion. Wish I could be there, be sure and tell them I love them.

Things are pretty amazing here in Pedregal. Last week we knocked on a lot of doors, and this week we reaped in the blessings. We received 3 super positive references, all 3 of which are looking like they will be baptized this month. We also found a family of 6, and they are escogidos, or in English, chosen. So things are looking really really good. We´ve got 2 baptisms planned for this weekend, and my fingers are crossed that everything works out.

As far as cool experiences goes, Hermana Pati came back from El Salvador. She said it was a really spiritual experience for her, and she is even more devoted that her family needs to come back to church. She was praying for a new job, and she got one.  During the lesson, she broke down crying telling us how grateful she was that we came and shared the gospel with her. She didn´t even know she needed it, but now she knows, and she said she won´t ever let go. It was really powerful, and it touched me and made me feel like I am making a difference. We saw the Lord´s hand many times this past week, and I´m grateful for all of your prayers.

I had my hump day on Friday, and surprising I forgot until that night when we were in a lesson and someone asked me how much time I had in the mission. I said the usual, "Oh, I´m just starting." Then I remember that it was my hump day, and that I already ate all the candies and goodies that Mom sent a week ago. Ha ha ha ha, I guess I´m still a kid at heart. Patience never was my strong suit.

The Lord is blessing us in countless ways. I´m so grateful to have grown up in the church in such an amazing family. I know that this Church is true, that the Book of Mormon is the words of Christ and that Christ Lives! Amen Hallelujah! Woo hoo!

Take care guys,
Elder Hansen

A Year Later - 06/25/12

Brett will be coming up on his hump day this week.  Friday to be exact.  We asked him what meal he would like us to eat in honor of him that day. Here is what he said:

Tanner guessed it right. If I could have any meal right now it would be the typical Sunday dinner with the family. Roast Beef, taters, gravy and corn. What more could you want? Ha ha hah

Wow. A year later and I still feel like I´m just starting my mission. Granted, I´ve grown more in this one year than I have my entire life, but I still feel like this has been the fastest year of my life. Everyone always said that the time flies on the mission, but I had no idea it would go by this fast.

So this week was a great week. We ended up finding a ton of new people to teach. We knocked on a few doors, and it was actually really nice to be invited in a couple of times right then and there. There were also some not so nice people who said some not so nice things, but that comes with the blessings. I´m just happy that the blessings outnumber the trials.

I heard something really cool from a pastor of a different church. He said ¨You want an easy life? You want to have less trials? The answer is simple. Die¨ While it sounds really strong and negative, it actually has some truth to it. One of the biggest reasons we are here is to be tested. We need our trials, we need sufferings, we need this to be hard. It's a cool perspective to think about and ponder.

Alicia left for El Salvador this week. On Wednesday we called to verify the lesson and they told us they were going to El Salvador for a few days. They were supposed to come back on Friday, but they are still in El Salvador, so we didn´t have our baptism this week. Hopefully they´ll come back soon and we can talk to them and see how they are.

Things are going great with Elder Aguilar. He´s a great guy, and we have tons of fun. Today we´re going to go play soccer, again. Hopefully I won´t break both my ankles. Ha ha ha ha ha

I love you guys and I miss you. Be of good cheer!

Elder Hansen

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - 06/18/12

Things continue to go well.

Wow, my big brother got married. I´m happy for you Jared, and you guys sure looked fancy in your matching ties.

This week was pretty chill. We had a reunion of all the trainers and all the greenies. They separated us and asked us about the good bad and ugly that we´re experiencing. It was then that I realized how awesome my companion is. He´s amazing, and we really haven´t had any problems with our companionship. Listening to all the other trainers complain about how their companions don´t want to do anything or are disobedient or don´t participate was kinda sad, but it made me grateful, so I guess that's good. Life is great

We are planning a baptism for this Saturday. Her name is Alicia, and she´s been begging to be baptized since the beginning of this month. The thing is that we have a rule that you have to go to church before baptism, and she hadn´t had the chance to go sufficient times to be baptized. Her mom is less active, but we helped her become active as well. They´re pretty cool,  and I´m  excited to see them both grow.

The temple open house will be at the end of November. I´m actually in the stake where the temple is, so that's pretty cool. Its about 10 minutes from my house, which is cool, but it would be cooler if I was here in about 5 months from now. Chances are that I´ll be moved to another area right before the open house, but at least I can prepare my investigators and converts to go.

I found this quote today during my personal study. I like it alot, and its from President Dieter Uchtdorf:

"Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope."

I love you guys, and I know that love is the center of all things. Anger only dwells in the bosoms of fools. God is love.

Take care!
Elder Hansen

Happy Days - 06/11/12

Both Tyler and Brett had baptisms this week.  Pretty cool!

This week was pretty freaking AMAZING! I´m not sure where to start, but I guess I should probably start off with the baptism we had on Saturday.

Entonces, the picture I sent you guys is of me, Bryam, and Elder Ahlborn. The story behind Bryam is really cool actually. So his grandparents are the founders of the Catholic church here in Pedregal. The Catholic Church here in Pedregal is about the size of a football field, and no I´m not exaggerating. Its HUGE, and everyone and their dog either goes there or to the Aposento Alto, an evangelical church that is just as big. Needless to say Pedregal is very religious. So, anyways, he´s got some pretty strong Catholic roots. The other Elders were out walking one night and Bryam comes running to them to tell them that the Catholic church isn´t filling his needs and he wants to check out the Mormons. Due to his work, the office elders could never teach him, but he came to church for a month and a half without anyone bringing him or inviting him really. The office elders recently got emergency transferred to a new area, and we got all of their three investigators! Woo Hoo!  So we taught Bryam, and in the first lesson we challenged him to be baptized and he accepted! So yeah, we taught all of the lessons to him this week, which was pretty interesting/hectic, but it was worth it. His testimony is amazingly powerful, far beyond that of your normal recent convert, and his willingness to be obedient to every commandment shocks me. When we talked about tithing he said he has been waiting for us to talk about it and that he´s more than ready to start contributing. Teaching him was probably the easiest teaching I´ve done on my mission. He wants to learn and he´s willing to change.

Another cool thing that happened this week is that we started teaching Ivonne, a reference that we received from the activity a week ago. She is also progressing amazingly and we are planning her baptism for the 30th of June. She really is ready for it this week, but she´s afraid of it, and she wants to wait it out to make sure she isn´t rushing in to it. The thing is that she knows its true, so now its just a matter of time and telling her to conquer her fears and show her faith. We´ve already told her that we think she´s ready, but we´ve also told her that we want her to feel ready, and if she doesn´t feel it we won´t do it. We invited her to pray about a specific date (she´s already received the answer that she needs to be baptized) so hopefully tonight we can set a date with her. Fun stuff.

Also, this morning I killed a mouse with the bottom of my shoe. It felt really weird squishing him, but I know that we can´t have mice living in our apartment, especially when we know they are coming from the sewer.

Life is good and I´m loving every single second of my mission. The time is going by so fast! Holy cow! The 20th is exchanges, and I feel like it was yesterday when we went to the last exchanges. Everyone says the second half goes by faster than the first half. I still feel like the first half went by way too fast.

I love you guys, you´re all amazing. Remember that the Atonement doesn´t only clean us, it can transform us

Elder Hansen

Plan of Salvation Party - 06/04/12

 Things seem to be going well for Elder Brett.

Hi guys. I´m kinda shocked that its June already. I´m wondering right now what happened to the months of April and May. Holy cow the time is going by so stinking fast! Before you know it I´ll be home! Ahhhh!

This week was pretty cool. We put in a ton of hours into this activity that we had on Saturday, but in the end it was worth it. Saturday we literally spent all day in the church preparing the different rooms. The organizations asked for our help, so we figured it would be like an hour or so. But it turns out we were there from 2pm until 9pm. Fun stuff. The good thing is that we had 4 investigators show up and 5 Less actives! Our tour guide took them to the Terrestrial Kingdom first, but other than that everything went smoothly. One of the investigators started crying after she left the Celestial Kingdom, so I guess you could say it had an impact on her. I´m just really glad that we got the members out of the house and we received some new positive people to teach.

This is the last month that we have with President Flores. Its a little surreal to me that he´ll be leaving and that this month I´ll hit my hump day. Its true that time flies when you are working hard, but right now I just want it to slow down so that I can catch my breath. But I love being busy and working my little butt bone off. It feels really good at the end of the day when you are completely exhausted and you can say ¨Today I gave it my all¨

My comp is amazing. Both the DL and I have recommended him to start training at the end of the 12 weeks. He´s got a maturity that at times is above that of me and the ZL´s. He´s amazing, and I love him so stinking much.

This month we have a goal of baptizing 4 people. Right now, we´ve got 3 positive potentials, but we still have to go and find our lost friend. Wish us luck that this week we can be guided to him/her.

I love you guys a ton! Have fun at the wedding and be sure to send me a picture of Jared and Allison.

Love, 
Elder Hansen

Lovin It - 05/28/12

For those of you who can understand Spanish, try translating this first paragraph.  Good luck!

Este semana fue una semana buenisimo. Tuvimos algunos desafios encontrando personas, pero Viernes encontramos un hombre que tiene mucho potencial. El se llama Manuel Ulloa. Le encontramos tocando puertas, y la primera cosa que el dijo fue ¨Hola Elderes, entren¨. El estaba orando por direccion de Dios en su vida, y nosotros tocamos su puerta la misma dia. Nosotros enseñamos La Restauracion la primera visita y El Evangelio de Jesucristo la segunda visita. El quiere ser bautizado, pero dijo que primero necesita una respuesta a su oracion. El tenía planes para ir con nosotros a la iglesia, pero el es el dueño de un restaurante y algunos maderos estan dandoles problemas, entonces el se fue al policia, pero espero que este proximo Domingo va a ir a la Iglesia.

I figured I´d send you guys some Spanish. I know it's not perfect, my grammar isn´t the best, but they say I have a good accent for a gringo.

So basically up there it says that we had a really good week. We´re still struggling to find new people to teach, but the good thing is that we found one this week. His name is "M", and he is awesome. He is 22 and he owns his own restaurant, and is pretty successful. He was assisting an evangelico church, but he says it doesn´t satisfy his needs, so he hasn´t gone in about a month or so. He was praying for some help from God, and we knocked on his door. It was pretty funny, because when we knocked he yelled ¨WHO IS IT?¨ I was like, "Oh no, not again!"  My companion and I braced for the foul language that we thought for sure would come, but it didn´t. Instead he said. "Oh, Hi Elders, come on in."

What? Ha ha ha ha ha, it was AWESOME! He´s doing really well, and we taught him Friday and Saturday. He doing great considering we´ve only taught him 2 times, and while he had some things to work out with the police, he should come with us to church this next Sunday.

Other than that, things are pretty chill. We´re planning a ward activity for this Saturday. We´re going to decorate the church to the Plan of Salvation. The different organizations are in charge of decorating a room to one of the 3 Kingdoms of Glory, so it should be pretty cool. I´m excited and stressed, but that's the mission in a nutshell.

Also, the Zone Leaders are moving into our house today. They´re changing areas because a bishop was complaining about his misionaries. He blamed all of the wards problems on them, so now he´s getting the ZL´s. Basically, I´m upset mainly because these two Elders are two of the best Elders in the mission, and we´re really good friends. They´re office elders, so they only work from 5pm and on, but they still manage to teach tons of people and baptize as well. Its just frustrating because they really are two of the best Elders in the mission, but the bishop is convinced that they need to go. Lesson to be learned, don´t complain, and don´t blame your problems on other people.

Also, our bishop decided that its our job to be in charge of hometeaching. So we got assigned 8 pairs of hometeachers and 18 families. Fun stuff. More work! Woo hoo!

I love you guys, and I know that Jesus is our Savior. We show our love to him thru our works, so go out there and do something.

Elder Hansen

Santa Vaca

Here is the latest from Honduras:

Hi guys. Thanks for all the letters. I opened my account and found 11 letters waiting. Needless to say I´ve been a little busy copying, pasting, and printing off so that I could have a few minutes to write you.

Life is really really really good right now. I´m so stinking happy with my companion, Elder A. I´m sending a picture of Elder L, Elder A, and me. I hope you guys like it.

The work is going slowly but surely. We brought 3 investigators to church yesterday, and we´ve got our hopes up high. We had 2 people tell us that they want to be baptized, so now we just have to finish teaching them everything and prepare them for the big commitment that they want to make. We have been rained on every single day this week, but we bought some nice big umbrellas for 4$ that are keeping us nice and dry. They also work as a nice beating stick to keep the dogs away. I like walking around with an umbrella. The only problem is that a lot of times we forget that we have them, and we leave them in our investigators houses, but that's okay.

I´m glad that everything is going well over there in the States. I miss being with you guys, and I´m excited to see you guys again. But I know that this is where I´m supposed to be and that there are people that need me, including my companion. Now I just need to put my shoulder to the wheel and give it all I´ve got.

I love you guys times a trillion. Thanks for everything

Elder Hansen

Mothers Day Skype

 It was so fun to see and talk to Brett via Skype on Sunday. Isn't technology great?!?!?! We really enjoyed seeing and hearing his excitement. He is really enjoying serving the Lord, and it shows in his face. He is a Trainer now, meaning his companion is brand new and Brett has the responsibility of teaching him how to be a good missionary. Here is what he wrote to us:

Hi guys! Long time no see huh? Not much has changed since yesterday. I´m still in Pedregal, and my new companion is Elder A. He´s from El Salvador, he´s 21 years old and we share the same birthday!!! Isn´t that awesome? I was pretty stoked to find out that we have the same birthday, just 1 year apart. He is the only member in his family, and I know it was a huge sacrifice for him to come out here on the mission. He came really prepared, and he knows his stuff. I think my favorite thing about him is his desire to learn. He is very humble and he is always analyzing and pondering on the scriptures and PMG. He can speak English like a gringo, which is pretty fun so we can communicate secretly and I can give him advice in the streets and nobody knows what we´re talking about. Its pretty much the greatest.

Pedregal is the same. We have tons of support from the members, but like always, its really hard to find investigators. The ward is really unified, but against the bishop and his family. Its kinda sad, but hopefully we can teach them to start loving and stop gossiping. All in all there needs to be a little bit more humility in the ward, but putting that aside I love this ward. They really are a blessing to us and I´m really lucky to be here.

As far as cool new things... I don´t have any. Just working hard and praying harder. I really like this scripture that I found this morning during my personal study. D&C 121:44

Love you all
Elder Hansen

Happy Mother's Day!

We're looking forward to talking to (and hopefully seeing) Brett on Sunday for Mother's Day. We're going to try to Skype with him, so we'll get to see each other (hopefully!) Kinda sad that he didn't get to spend more time with this companion - they seem to work well together.

Here is his email from today -

First off I´d like to wish all of the mothers out there a happy mothers day! I love you Mom, you´re the best. I´m excited to see you guys.

This week was a pretty good week. It was a hard week, but a good week. Saturday and Sunday we had some pretty awesome experiences. All in all, this past transfer was amazing. I love my companion Elder L., and I´m going to miss him like a fat kid misses cake.

This past transfer has been really fun but really hard to find new people. This area is one of the oldest in Honduras, and its pretty small and concentrated with lots of members. Translation, everyone has heard the Mormons, which makes contacting a little bit more interesting. We've struggled to find people to teach, but on Saturday we had an amazing day. 6 lessons taught, 4 new investigators and many hearts touched by the Holy Ghost. One in particular happened when we were reading 3 Nefi 11 with a woman that told us that she was born catholic and was going to die catholic. After reading the part where Jesus told everyone to go check out his hands and feet, she began to tear up a little bit. We asked her how she would feel if she was there. She couldn't respond. Later in the lesson she said that this passage impacted her soul. She´s having second thoughts about the whole dying catholic thing.

On Sunday I had a meeting with the Stake President and Mission President. Basically we had a meeting on how we could have more success in general in the Stake.  The plan is to baptize more families, and the Stake told us that they will take care of every financial problem. Holy crap, this is one of the greatest blessings we have seen. Money is always on of the biggest stumbling blocks so its nice to not have to worry about where the money is going to come from. Also, President drove me back to our ward building where we found one of our families out in the foyer. Familia R. is super positive and they´re progressing amazingly in all aspects, but their problem is they have absolutely no desire to be married. They stopped smoking, drinking alcohol and café, they read every assignment and have gone to both Church on Sunday and the weekly activities, but they refuse to be married, even though they've lived together for more than 13 years. Strange huh? The sad thing is that this is super common here. Anyways, President Flores talked to them about it. He said You want to be Happy? Get Married. Hahaha, it sounds a little blunt in the email, but in person it was really powerful and really spiritual as well. He talked for another 4 minutes or so, and then we went inside. During the meeting I saw them holding hands. They don´t even sit next to each other in our lessons, but on Sunday they were holding hands. I know the Spirit is working in their hearts and changing them.

Life is good. Wednesday is transfers. I´ll be receiving my new companion on Wednesday. Wish me luck!

Elder Hansen