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