Pancakes! - 03/25/13

So we recently bought a 10 pound bag of Krusteaz pancake mix. It was the best 7 bucks I´ve ever spent, and it has made breakfast a million times better. Something that we´ve also discovered is that  cinnamon pancakes are delicious. I think its funny that pancake in Spanish is panqueque, which translated to english means bread-what-what.

This week was a really, really, good week. We taught 15 lessons with members, which was pretty amazing. We also found a new family this week, and they are AMAZING! So she is a less active member who contacted us in the street asking where the church was so that she could go. They just moved in a month ago or so, and they have 2 little kids. He isn´t a member, and he is really friendly to us and he is also very intelligent. We played soccer with him today, and that really helped to gain his trust. He´s 23 years old, working and studying at the University, and really I can tell that he´s going to be baptized. They were going to go to church, but the alarm didn´t go off. Dang you Satan! Oh well, they told us for sure that they are going next week. They are the best, and we are so stoked to help them come unto Christ.

We also had a really cool experience with another investigator this week. She has been praying and waiting for an answer to her prayer for about 2 weeks now, and on Saturday she told us that she got her answer. She knows that it's true, and she wants to be part of the church. She was going to go to church yesterday, but her uncle, who is a member, didn´t pick her up! I was so sad, because we are taught that we should have the members pass by, and its her own uncle. Oh well, she´s rock solid, so I´m not too worried about it.

As a district, things are going pretty well. We have banana bread in the oven right now, and we´re going to go make some baleadas for lunch. Yummmy! 

Things are going great. If you guys want to pray for our investigators, here is a list of the ones we are focusing on and their problems.

Jose - smoking
Karla - church assistance
Luis - answer to prayer
Karelia - answer to prayer

Elder Hansen

Temple! - 03/18/13

So yesterday was the Temple Dedication! Woooo Hoooo! It was a really cool experience, and I loved it. I´m pretty excited to go with President and do some sessions. Life is really good right now.

So me and my comp are doing really, really well together. We´re teaching tons of lessons, and our zone is doing amazing right now. We´re doing lots of good to lots of people. It feels good. 

We´ve still got 92 references from the temple to contact. Sadly we could only contact 5 of them this week. There never is enough time.

I´m not quite sure what else I should write. Things are going great. The area is amazing, my comp is amazing, the district is amazing. I´m loving it
Elder Hansen

Como? - 03/11/13

So I was surprised at what happened this week, but I´m glad it happened.

On Tuesday, they called and told me the changes, but told me that my area was still in the works. That kinda freaked me out a little bit. They called later that day and told us that I was staying and that my comp was leaving. Everyone was shocked at that, including me. I had already said goodbye to almost everyone, and I had my bags packed. It's pretty ironic because this was the first time that I´ve packed in advance. But that's okay. Anyway, I´m happy to still be here in the Pradera, and the ward is really happy as well. My ex-comp is pretty upset with me. I told President everything that happened, and my ex-comp had an interview with President. He got sent far away to a little pueblo, but I´m guessing he won´t stay there very long. I talked to his new comp and wished him luck. Elder "G" is really good at working with disobedient elders, so I know he´ll do good. 

My new comp is Elder "R". He is from Burlington, Iowa. I think he might be in the same stake as Aunt Pam and Uncle Jerry because he told me his stake center is in Nauvoo. Cool beans huh? We get along pretty well, and he likes making goals, which is cool with me. He´s obedient and he likes working hard. This looks like its going to be a great transfer. 

We had two baptisms last week and we´re going to have two more this weekend. I think this might be the first time that the district is going to meet the goal. I´m pretty stoked. 

All of the Elders in my district are training, except for me. It's great to see all of their excitement for the work. I would love to train again. I think it would be a great way to finish the mission. And no, I´m not baggy. 

Thanks for the letters and the prayers. I´m feeling a lot better. If you´d like to pray for one of our investigators, it would be José.  We really need him to come to church, but he´s got a hernia, so it makes it hard.

This weekend is the Temple Dedication. I´m so excited and privileged to be here. I really feel like things couldn´t be better.

Adios mis amigos. Cuidense mucho

Elder Hansen

Humbled unto the Dust - 03/04/13

This week was great. I grew a lot and also learned a lot.

I´m sick, like most of the family. I´ve got the flu, and its been hard. Right now I don´t have my voice, and this is the third day that I´ve been like this. It's hard to do missionary work when you can barely whisper, but we´re doing it. I really liked how the investigators pay even more attention to what I say. I try to say it more simply and with less words, and I really like it. I think I´m going to continue after I feel better, because I feel like its more sincere and to the point.

We had the baptism of Sister "B" on Friday. She asked me to baptize her, and I felt honored to do it. She´s awesome, and her husband wants to get baptized as well, but he can´t until he stops smoking. We´re working with him as well, but he told her that he didn´t want to hold her back from the blessings. I really wanted to baptize them together, but its cool. I know that he´s going to get baptized one day. I love them. They´re very dear to me.

My companion has been very rebellious lately. We played soccer on Wednesday, and he started playing a little physical with me, so I returned the favor. He didn´t like it when I started to push back, especially because I´m bigger and stronger than he is. Probably wasn´t what Jesus would do, so I´ve still got some work to do. He doesn´t study, wake up on time, or plan with me, and he refuses to leave until 3:30 in the afternoon. He doesn´t like walking long distances either. I´ve been very patient and loving with him, I didn´t blow up on him this week.

Wednesday is changes, and while they haven´t told me that I´m officially leaving, I feel like its going to happen. I started packing my bags today. We won´t know until Tuesday morning, but that's okay. They´re opening up a new zone and 10 new areas, which is pretty exciting. They are also dividing a ton of already existing areas, but everyone is hoping to be sent to the 10 brand new ones. I think it would be cool to make history like that.

Happy Birthday Tyler. I hope it was great!