12 - 04/22/13

New Companion - Elder "J"
New Area - Guayape A
New Zone - Catacamas

Sweeeeet.

Things are going pretty great in the mission. Wednesday we had transfers, and I´m going to be honest, they caught me by surprise. 

So I heard that we had a large group of Elders from Nicaragua coming this transfer. Just to explain a little bit, we´ve had some really disobedient Elders come from Nicaragua. I was pretty worried that I was going to get one. 

Also, the Catacamas Zone has been closed off for Gringos for quite some time now. Almost 2 years to be exact. They started off in Juticalpa, which is a neighboring city, and Elder Dunlop was the first in Catacamas a few transfers ago. But yeah, I wasn´t expecting to be called there.  It's the first Zone that they announce in the meeting, so first I saw one of my good friend, Elder "L", was called as the new ZL there, and then the next one after him was yours truly.  I´ll be double timing it as DL and Trainer, and Guayape hasn´t had a gringo in it for over 2 years. I´m stoked to be here, and things are looking good.  The Branch is so excited to see us. The last Elders here really screwed things up.  Sadly, Gringos or white elders are generally more obedient and harder workers.  They haven´t had a good pair of missionaries in a while. 

My companion is from Nicaragua.  He is different than the stereotype that they give to all Elders from Nicaragua. He speaks English, he is obedient and we get along really, really well. He´s very independent, and it helps us out alot.  We are working as equals, and that's something I love.  Things are going really, really good in our companionship. 

So I´ve always had the desire to go to Catacamas, and now I´ve got it.  It's really funny out here, mostly because the majority of the people are Latin Cowboys. They walk around with their revolvers and ride around on horses and everything. I´ve also learned that the rumors aren´t true. It's a very peaceful place, and I actually feel safer here than I did in Tegucigalpa. 

I was expecting to have a little break from being DL. Turns out the Lord wants me to work hard until the end. I´m excited for the blessing that will come from being diligent. 

We came here and there were literally no investigators. Nothing. Nada. The area book is pretty empty and pathetic. So we started contacting like crazy. We found 14 new investigators and 3 new families in 4 days. I´ve never had that kind of success in the city, so I´m pretty excited to be here. The people here are more humble. I like that. 

Oh yeah, Catacamas is a 4 hour drive away from Tegucigalpa. I´m pretty far out. 

Well, just wanted to let you know that I´m safe, happy and pumped. Things are going great, and I love you all. Take care guys 

Elder Hansen