He's back!!!

He's back!!!
HE'S BACK!!!!!

Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year!

Hello errbody....  sup?   Well it was awesome to talk to you all and see you on google hangout on Christmas!! I loved seeing Samuel smile. :)  It was great!  I can't wait to meet him one day! He will be almost 2 by then though! ha ha oh and it was good to see all of you as well . . :)  anyway,  Merry Christmas!
This week was good.  Christmas was fun.  Just chilled and ate good food with members.  Then Wednesday was alright. Had some good lessons.  But then on Thursday morning I got sick.  I don't know if it was something I ate that gave me food poisoning or if it was stomach flu, but I was like dead for 2 days...  I didn't eat anything for those two days and I could hardly keep any water down.... It was just not fun. ha ha but Im better now!  Still haven't eaten a lot yet, but I'll get there.
 
Other than the sickness, we taught some great lessons and built trust with our investigators.  Also our investigators husband got here from Kentucky and we started teaching him and he seems very open to it all! So I am excited for that.  They even came to church, even when she had her gall bladder removed on Wednesday. 
 
We talked with our branch president, President Dennett a lot and he told us about a lot of people to go see and try to teach.  He is a great man.  We ate with him and his family yesterday as well.  It was good.
 
Well.... not much else happened.  Its been an interesting week.  My finger has been giving me a lot of trouble lately.....  Like last night it hurt so much that I couldn't get to sleep... I didnt get to sleep until 4:15 am . . ..      So I got less than 2 hours of sleep last night. .  It sucked.. but I went to the doctor for an appointment this morning and they gave me more medicine and told me to take it easy on the therapy so that the cut can actually heal.  Its been bleeding lately too . .  and a lot of the skin on my finger is dead and falling off .  ha ha . Its all really annoying.  ha ha but its all good.  Im over it.
 
Hmmmm.  Well.  Happy New Year!!!!  I'll miss eating freaking awesome snacks and stuff with you all and stayin up late playing card games!   Have fun!  Hope you all are healthy and happy.
Love you all.
God lives and He loves you too.
Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
The Church is true!
 
Godspeed.
 
-Elder Hansen
 
Peak The Strategy

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Swahili Elders

Hello my family.  How are all of you?!?  I hope you are all doing well and getting excited for Christmas!  Im excited.  It will be a lot different than a normal Christmas though, but its all good. Thanks for all the packages you have sent!  I haven't opened anything from your package yet Natalie... should I wait for Christmas??  Anyway, thanks so much.
Well this week has been an interesting one.  We have done some missionary work and helped some people, but we have had a lot of personal troubles and stuff.  We went to the doctor 10 times in the last 2 weeks....  Its annoying.  Mostly physical therapy and other appointments for Elder Helmstetter, but its been just very time consuming.  Also just not feeling well at all.  I am doing pretty well now, but Elder Helmstetter had trouble for a lot of the week.  I'll probably tell you more in the email next week about some changes that are probably going to happen.

Anyway, enough of that.  
Life is okay.  Just trying to work and stay focused and keep feeling well.

I've been working out more because Elder Helmstetter was as trainer at a crossfit gym in California so he makes me work out and wants me to get strong.  Its pretty funny.  He would punch me in the stomach for 1 minute straight to try to toughen up my abs.  He doesn't hit as hard as he can of course, but enough to make it very red and even bruise a little... ha ha he is funny. 
Anyway, I don't know why I am even telling you all this.  My mind is a little scattered, and I don't remember what all happened this week.  

We drove up to bountiful though and went to a pawn shop to buy a guitar for our recent convert Pascal!  He played in the Congo, but hasn't had a guitar since, so we were going to buy him one.  The owner of the pawn shop is mormon and he knew we were missionaries and so he asked why we were getting a guitar.  We told him the reason and he ended up giving it to us for free!!  It is a $300 guitar and he gave it to us for free!  It is awesome the spirit of giving and love that comes with Christmas time.  I love it.  That man really blessed the life of this refugee from the Congo and he doesn't even know him.  Its great!!

Well Im going to send you a picture of my stitches and of Elder Helmstetter's leg (about 3 weeks ago when it was really bad) so that you can see what happens to the Swahili Elders.  Ha ha its awesome.

Im going to keep it short.  I don't know what else to say anyway.  I'll let you know more next week.  
Keep on being awesome everyone.
I love you all!

The church is true.
God lives and He loves us.
Jesus is the Christ.

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Monday, December 10, 2012

Hello!

Hey there! how are are all of you?  i decided not to capitalize because i can only type with my left hand...   .    .
so yeah...   I had surgery this week on my hand.  It went well!  I was put under for it and stuff, but they reattached the tendon.  The other thing is that when i cut my finger, i destroyed the A4 pulley in my finger so i won't get all my strength back in my pinkie, but it doesnt matter.  Its fine.    I am having physical therapy twice a week to loosen it up and to try to get full use of my finger back...  so thats cool i guess.  It hurts a lot.   I don't like physical therapists.... they are mean.  ha ha but its all good.
Hmmmm well what else happened this week.....  It takes me forever to type and write because I can only do it with my left hand so this email will probably be shorter than usual.   sorry...   

Well I got to call Mom and Dad the day after my surgery to let them know that I am alright!  so that was fun :)  it was short but great to hear your voices and hear your reactions when I called and told you it was me!!!! ha ha ha I love you all and miss you a lot.  

So the day after my surgery, a man from the missionary department (mtc) came to observe us doing missionary work all day.  He only went with 4 elders total from our mission and President Winn chose elder helmstetter and I as 2 of them!  So that was pretty cool.  It was also really hard though because I was in a lot of pain from the surgery the day before, but I couldn't take any heavy medication (percocet) or else I couldn't focus well enough to teach or anything..... But it worked out alright! He paid for our dinner at crown burger that night as well, so it was worth it :) haha

This week we also met some white people, tina and joey.  They were a wreck..... Joey came home from war a couple weeks ago and he has just been drinking a ton to drown out the horrible memories he has from the war... He got shot multiple times and a car bomb went off and blew out most of his teeth... Tina's husband passed away about a couple months ago.  When Joey got back from war, he found Tina and she hadn't eaten any food in 27 days.........  She was almost dead.  He took her to the hospital and they taught her how to eat again and helped her.  We were referred to them to go give them a blessing. We got there and Joey was sooo drunk.  and tina wouldn't come to.  Eventually after 5 minutes of Joey shaking her trying to wake her up she started to come around.  we gave them both blessings and there was a very noticeable change in Tina.  She is not a member, but she got a lot better and wants to be baptized!  She went to the hospital again this week and almost died.   She flat lined.  But they brought her back.  They both need to quite drinking and smoking quickly...  but as of now they are doing alright. We passed them to the english elders so that they can be taught and get help.    So that was a very interesting experience!

Hmmm what else......   

We taught people.  We took a lot of drugs so that we wouldn't hurt so bad, both me with my hand and elder helmstetter with his leg.    So yeah.   still trying to learn swahili!  Its not very easy. But its getting there.    
Oh! also funny story..  Right when I came out of surgery the nurse who was helping me wasn't a member.  I was still very out of it, but I taught her some of the lessons!  I talk about Christ, then about priesthood, then Word of wisdom and tithing......  they didnt really fit together, but I was really drugged so its not my fault.. ha ha :)  I also invited her to church.   She said maybe sometime... so probably not.   Oh well.  ha ha I just thought it was funny that that was the first thing I was talking about.  I also was talking about learning swahili.  ha ha    anyway....

A new family just got here from Uganda 3 days ago! straight from the refugee camp!  We are going to start teaching them this week and the church is going to help them get food etc.    Should be awesome! If all goes well, they will be baptized in a couple weeks :)  

I probably have more I should say, but I can't type anymore... my hand hurts, and I am out of time...
But I love you all!
Things are going great.  I love the work.  I am currently on 0 medication and its feeling okay so thats good.  The physical therapist was impressed that it can move so much already, so everything looks good.

also here is a picture that they took at church.  I forget the young boy's name, but the little girl's name is Fortuna.  She is the cutest little kid ever! :)  ha ha anyway,  I love the swahili people.  they are amazing.   
well
God lives and he loves us.
Jesus is the Christ.
The church is true.

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen.

Peak the Strategy.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Habarigani?! (Hows it going? / Whats the news?)

Hello.  So I went to the doctor today and they told me that I will have surgery on Wednesday to fix my pinkie finger.   . ..  so yeah  .. Should be pretty simple.  Hopefully.  Swahili is crazy.  Jina lako ni nani?  (that means what's your name?)   . . .   Mimi ni natoka Mmerikani.  (that means "I come from the United States(America).")  . . .    I am trying to learn a lot, but my brain just can't handle it sometimes. .  When I get to about 19 words while memorizing them, and keep going, I can't fit them in....  But I try to push past it anyway.  It's been about 4 days and I have learned 61 words, along with some other random words and phrases and I have learned some grammar and conjugations of verbs and stuff. ..     but not too much. . .  (Hapana kidogo.)    . .    Ugh . . and I don't have much time to write today because I spent 45 minutes filling out online paperwork for the surgery on Wednesday  .. .  So yeah.
What has happened  . ..  .hmmmmm
Well first off, thanks for all your emails! You are all awesome!  I miss you all .   Especially with the Christmas season coming up.  I'll be thinking of you guys.  I'll also get to call you!  Or maybe even skype..  we'll see.  

This week was transfers.  The night we got here we took one of the members to the hospital.  He had a stroke about 3 years ago, and didnt have any medicine left so he was really sick.  . .  So that was interesting . . especially when him and his wife speak swahili and very, very little english..  . .   ha ha but it worked out okay in the end.. He is doing better now.  
Hmm what else?

Well, we taught some lessons to investigators with translators that speak different tribal languages, french, swahili, english, and other crazy languages like lingalik.  Its pretty crazy out here. But yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and it was pretty cool!  The branch is swahili, so the speakers usually speak swahili, or french, or english..  So I don't understand much of the meeting.  . . . Church is pretty different . . The youth out here are very disrespectful.   They talk in their classes and leave and come in whenever they want and are ALWAYS on their phones. ..  .  Plus they always have a stupid response to what the teacher is saying.  We taught one class yesterday at church and it was nuts.  No respect.  We were teaching the word of wisdom because at the moment every single youth in that class drink alcohol except for 1 (Pascal - a recent convert who is such a boss...He is only 16 but is super excited to go on a mission!) .  ..  They wouldn't listen.  It was very frustrating. They still think drinking is okay.  They said that champagne is just apple juice and won't get you drunk!  Hahaha  . . . yeah right.  And we tell them that it is not allowed and they ignore us.  They are pretty stubborn, but the swahili people as a whole are soo awesome!  Nicest people ever.  They love everyone.  They are great.  Im excited to work with them!  I think I want to stay in this area for 6 months and then come back here for the last 3 months of my mission as well.  Hopefully that can happen :)  I'll cross my fingers.  

Pia (also) I met an older gentleman named Brother Hansen.  He is awesome.  He is making us business cards!  Apparently he does that for a lot of missionaries around here... :) he is a great man.  I think we will be friends and stay in contact even after my mission.  He is awesome.  

Alright.  I don't know what else to say.  My companion is freaking sweet.  Elder Helmstetter from Orange County California.  He is 24 yrs old.  His leg is pretty screwed up . . just the muscle is torn in a lot of places . .   but I think he'll survive.  He will have physical therapy to try to help it.    He has already owned a company and done a lot of cool stuff before his mission.  He is a convert of about 5 years.  . .  I love him . . We are going to have a lot of fun together and we will get a lot of work done as well.   

Okay.  I don't have time to write anymore.  I love you all though!  Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season!  The lights at temple square are beautiful.  . .    I love it.

Keep it real.
Tutaonana! (See you!)

Kwaheri. (Goodbye)

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

Monday, November 19, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey there!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!
Thanks for all your support and love and prayers! They help us a lot. 
Alright.  This week was actually a pretty slow week.  Most of the people that we work with rescheduled appointments or just weren't home.  It was rough.  So yeah  . . 
On Tuesday we ate at a Greek place.  It was really good.  Its called Mad Greek.  I liked it a lot. 
 On Thursday we had District Meeting that I think actually went very well.  I trained on the Book of Mormon and its vitality in the conversion of our investigators.  It was pretty sweet. 
Hmmmmm  . . . what else. . .  Oh!  One of the Elders who went home about 3 months ago came back to visit and we hung out with him for a bit!  His name is Clay Lanier. .  Its still weird to say his first name though . .  ha ha but its all good.  He is doing well!  But he brought a girl with him . . .   they are dating ha ha but she was pretty cool so its all good.  I just think its funny, I could see him married in like a couple months! ha ha!
Anyway,
We told two of our investigators this week that they couldn't drink coffee and they freaked out and didn't want to get baptized anymore....  It was really lame.  .  .    over a stupid cup of coffee . . . .   ugh  .  . .  but we tried to explain to them about the word of wisdom and that it is revelation from God, but they weren't listening  . . .    But we are still going to try to help them.  They are still great people, they just need some more help and guidance. 
What else  . . . .
Well I was going to not tell you all this because I thought Mom would be a little freaked out, but I'll tell you anyway . . . ha ha it wasn't very bad anyway.
2 days ago on Saturday night, we were walking around and it was getting late so we were going to head in soon.  We were walking and this guy saw us and said "Are you the Mormons??!!"  He came up to us and we were like "ya we are!"  and he was like, "just the people who I needed to see".  He was an average height black dude and he was holding a beer with a white shirt wrapped around his hand.  As we listened to him, I noticed there were a lot of red spots on the white collar shirt that was wrapped around his hand.  Yeah . . it was blood. ha ha we started talking to him and he was sooo drunk and he told us that he had just gotten into a fight and had just gotten stabbed! He showed us his hand and there was a pretty deep cut in it and it was bleeding a lot.  At this point I started to get a little nervous because as we talked a man walked by him and he stepped back into him and then yelled at him using all manner of profanity (ha ha) and got very angry.  I thought he was going to do something bad to us or the other guy, but for some reason he didnt do or say anything bad to us.  He just wanted us to show him where the nearest bus stop was.  I am glad he didnt turn on us like he did on that other guy.  He was callin us his "niggas"  . .  it was funny.  and then at the end he said group hug, and hugged us . . .  it was so random.. and a little crazy ..  ..  ha ha but Im glad the Lord knows us and is protecting us, because I could have seen that situation going a lot differently if we werent wearing these tags and serving Him and being watched over by the Lord.  So yeah!
Well thats about it for this week....
Oh but one more thing!  This week some Tongans fed us horse meat!!!  ha ha! It was actually very delicious.  I liked it a lot and they gave us some to take home! So we have been making horse sandwiches and my companion Elder Driskell even put some on a slice of cheese pizza!  Horse Pizza!  hahahahaha  sounds weird, but he said it was good. :)  I like trying different foods! Its funny to think that when I was little I wouldn't try anything! 
alright,
gotta run!
Love you all!!
 
Godspeed.
 
-Elder Hansen
Peak The Strategy

Monday, November 12, 2012

Madet Manyiel Dut

Hello Family!  How is errbody???  Well I wish I had time to reply to all your emails individually, but I dont have much time.  But thanks so much for your emails!  Especially Dad and Mom.  They were great.  I am glad to hear that all is going well.  So yeah.
Wellllll  .  .  this week was good!  We got someone baptized!  Joseph Thoker!  But we actually baptized him by his African name Madet Manyiel Dut (hence the title of the email...)   so yeah!  It was great!  He was ready and he is going to be a great member.  We challenged him to go to the temple in one year and so I hope he does!  Also he is going to get the Aaronic Priesthood next week.  So that will be sweet! He can pass the sacrament.   . .   anyway . . . 
What else happened this week  . . ..    oh!  we had zone conference.  It was great!  Learned a lot.  We are asked now to envision all our investigators three times in white.  Once at the baptism, once at the endowment in the temple, and once at the sealing in the temple!  It helps us see how we can help our investigators make their commitments and keep them.  So yeah.  It was a great zone conference. 

Alright. . .  Well also this week two of our investigator didnt have the money to pay rent so they made a deal with their landlord that they would clean and paint the upstairs apartment so that they could stay.   . . .  they are both on disability and have a lot of problems.  So we actually did a lot of painting. . . .    im pretty sure we painted for about 10 hours total.  .   We were there one day and Margie (one of our investigators) fainted . ..   She just straight up passed out.  And she wasnt coming to . . ..  it was scary!  Daniel (her husband) called 911  . .   Eventually she started to come back.  She was fine and now she is doing okay.  She has diabetes and high blood pressure and she is on oxygen . .  so its hard.  But she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met.   They are trying to quite smoking now so that they can get baptized next weekend!   Hopefully it all works out well.

We also took Stacy (another investigator) to temple square!  It was really awesome.  We had a lot of fun and she learned a lot ..  She is very scared to commit to things though :/     but we'll work on that.

I had exchanges with the zone leaders this week . . I went into their area and they are spanish speakers . .  so it was a little weird. . . but it was fun. 
Anyway.   Other then that, we went to the temple this morning!  it was amazing.  I always love going to the temple . .   I learn new things every time I go.  Its awesome :)

Well I think that is just about all.  I love you all!  I love being a missionary.  It is going by very quickly too. .  I don't know what to think about that .   . .           
Anywho,

God lives and He loves us.
Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
The church is true.

Godspeed.
-Elder Hansen

Peak the Strategy

Monday, November 5, 2012

Hey!

Hello Family!  So Jennie had her baby!?!?!?!  Samuel Kenji Peterson??   That is soo cool :)  I saw some pictures already.  Looks like he will be one cute kid!  I am glad that he is healthy and doing well and that Jennie as well as the whole family is doing great.  I wish I could be there to celebrate and see Samuel!  Just give it a couple years.  It'll happen :)    I hope everyone is feeling well and happy as always.
Alright.  Well, this week was alright.  We had some struggles with appointments falling through and not being able to find many new people to teach . . . and only one person showed up to church.  But its okay.  We worked hard and the Lord knows that.  He blesses us in many other ways, and in time we will see more fruit.
Anyway, this week was very similar to other weeks.   . .     Although there was Halloween!  Happy late Halloween everyone!  ha ha we couldnt even go out that much to work.  If we had set appointments we could be out, but if not we couldn't tract or anything, we had to go back to the apartment.  So we had one appointment, then we went home.  On the way home someone pulled over and held a giant bowl of candy out the window and told us to take a lot of candy!  Isnt that awesome??  We didn't even need to go trick or treating!  People just handed us candy on our way home!  ha ha so that was pretty freaking sweet :P
We also put 4 more people on date to be baptized this week.  So right now we have Joseph 10th, Daniel and Margie 17th, Edgar and Kelsie 24th, Joli 1st.  We are going to try very hard to keep these people on date and help them to be baptized on these days.
Hmmmm other things that happened this week . . . .      . .  well there was a pretty sad thing that happened.  A less-active lady who we talked to about 3 weeks ago for like an hour and a half on her porch passed away...  She was such a sweet, kind lady.  She was in her 70's I think.  She was a widow.  It was a sad thing to hear about, but now she is with her husband so in the end I think it is better for her.  Her funeral was on her birthday! November 2nd.  We went to the funeral to help try to support the family and see if there was anything we could do to help.  The family is taking it pretty well though.  So thats good.  
Anyway, Other than that, not much else.  I went to a baptism for someone I taught with Elder Miller in Farmington!  Her name is Ashley Allred.  It was so exciting to see her get baptized and to just be there.  It was a great time :)  I'll send a picture of that. They are a little crazy but I love them. The picture is a little weird ha ha.
In church on Sunday an investigator, Augustino, went up and bore his testimony!  He has been investigating the church since 2001 when he came to this country from Sudan.  He already has a testimony of the gospel and that it is true, but for some reason he wont get baptized.  We have worked with him for a while now and even gave him a blessing this week to help him get over his sickness, and yet he still wont get baptized.  Its confusing.... but we are praying very hard for a miracle to happen and for God to help push him in the right direction to be baptized soon!!  Your prayers along with ours would be greatly appreciated.  
Alright.... well thats about it.  I taught a short 15 minute training to uor whole zone last week.  It was interesting.  I think it went pretty well.  Im not as nervous anymore to talk in front of a larger group of people.  So thats good I guess.
Well I love you all!!  I hope you have an amazing week!  This work is real.  God lives and He loves us.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. This is His true church restored to the earth today.  I love being a missionary.  It is an amazing opportunity.  I can't believe that I have been out for 6 months already.  It has gone pretty quickly, and yet so much has happened that it has felt like a year or two has already passed.... ha ha but its all good.  maybe I'll adjust to the time out here when I have been out longer. 
Love you all!
Godspeed.
-Elder Hansen
Peak the Strategy

Monday, October 29, 2012

Hello!

Well hey there.  How is everyone??    Jennie hasn't had her baby yet!!!!!????!?!?   well pfffffff.  ha ha let me know when it happens!!  Its weird to think that I won't even meet the kid until he is almost 2 years old!  Thats nuts..   But im so excited for you all!  Hope everyone is happy and doing well and having fun.
 
Alright.  Well this week has been the usual.  I can't even remember what happened . . .   ha ha
I went to a couple trainings this week.  One for just the zls and dls that President Winn just talked to us for almost 3 hours straight.   It was actually really good though. He is trying to help us work harder and more efficiently.  He has asked us to plan for someone or a time every single day to invite someone to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized.  It is going to be really cool.  We will start to see a lot more people to teach and a lot more people coming unto Christ.  Its exciting!
The other training was a usually, weekly, district leader training done by our zone leaders... but President Winn showed up to our little meeting.  Ha ha so it was the two zls for cannon zone, and us three district leaders and President.  It was great.  Learned a lot more of my responsibilities to help every missionary in my district to come closer to Christ and build their faith in Him.  It is sweet.
 
Hmmmmmm what else. . . .
We had district meeting and I think that it went pretty well.  Its weird to be in charge of it though .  .      hopefully im doing an okay job. 
We picked up 4 new investigators this week.  So that was great!  We are teaching a lot more and everything is going well.

Alright.  Thats about it.   oh actually one more thing!  It was actually a really cool miracle.  We had been trying to talk to people all day with not much luck and then for some reason (the spirit?) we decided to drop by our ward mission leaders house without calling him ahead.  We knocked on the door and his son-in-law answered and said "Well that was fast!"  We were a little confused... then they went on to tell us that Bro. Mataele (our ward mission leader) , his wife was very sick and needed a blessing!  Bro. Mataele told us that he was three words into typing a text message to send us so that we would come over to give her a blessing.  Ha ha no need. . .  we were already at his door.  So that was pretty awesome :)  and she got better very quickly and even went to work that night!! So that was a nice miracle to see after a pretty frustrating day. 

So yeah.  . well I think thats about it.  Thanks for the letters Mom! Everyone have a great week!  Good luck with the baby stuff.  ha ha
Love you guys,

-Elder Hansen
Peak the Strategy

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Really?

Well Hello!!! How are you all?? I hope everything is going well!  Has Jennie had her baby yet?!?!?!?!?! it should be this week right??? I can't believe she is already about to have her baby!  Ahhhhhh!  I wish I could be there with you all.
Anyways,
This week was nuts....  Monday night I got a call from President Winn.  Transfers were on Wednesday... and he told me that I would have the opportunity to be a district leader this transfer.... soooo yeah.  Im a district leader.  Still in the same area.  But yeah.  I get to be in charge of some peeps. . . .   its sorta stressful.... but its all good. ..    I didn't / don't feel ready to be in this position, but if it is what the Lord wants then I will do my best.  So yeah.
Other than that.   Not much.  Elder Driskell and I are still together.  Two brand new missionaries came into our district.  Elder Espinal and Sister Rogers.  They are great missionaries already!  They are both converts and have solid testimonies and are really helping other people see the blessings that the gospel of Jesus Christ has to offer.  It is sweet. 
I did my first district meeting.  It was just setting a lot of goals, getting to know each other, and sharing some miracles and experiences from our missions thus far.  It went alright. 
Overall, things are going well.  Our area needs a lot of help.  We need to find new people to teach this week.  But we can do it!  I love this gospel.  And it is true!  I am so glad to be a part of sharing it at this important time.  Anyway,

Hmmmmm what else......  well we went on a hike today as a district.  I organized it and got permission from president to go out of our area to do a short hike.  It was cool.  We actually went to the top of the mountain.  So yeah! It was cool.
Well  . . .   I think thats about it!  Sorry this is so short.  Im sorta boring... I'll try to make it more exciting next week! 
Love you all!  Be safe, have fun, and share the gospel.  (seriously... do it!)   
Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen
Peak The Strategy

P.S.  Here are some pictures from the hike! hope you like them.    At the top of the mountain it was soooo flippin windy . . ..  so yeah . .  Thats why I look sorta weird in that picture . .  just FYI......

Monday, October 15, 2012

Juan . . . Peterson??

Hey there.  How is everyone doing??  Good?   Alright sweet. . I hope all is well in your lives. 
This week was crazy...   Like  . . yeah soo much random, ridiculous stuff.    
First off, last Thursday my bike got stolen . . .    .      .       from right in front of our apartment....  We came home to eat dinner but we only had 20 or 30 minutes to eat because we had appointments to go to.  The bike lock was upstairs and so we just left our bikes outside (like we had done like 100 or 200 times before) unlocked. . .  We came back out and my bike was just gone.  I thought it was our zone leaders just being funny err whatever, but upon further investigation I found that my bike had actually been stolen....   But the other bike was still there!  It was ridiculous.  So yeah  . .    Now we are on foot for a while until I get another bike or fix this really crappy broken one in our apartment.  Anyway,  then on Friday we went on exchanges.  And I was with Elder Weurtenburg.   He is sorta crazy . .  and pretty weird .. and not obedient.  Ha ha so we didnt get as much work done as we should have, but I pushed him so that we at least did some work and talked to people.  so yeah. 
The best part of our week was that Juan got baptized!!!!!  It was awesome!  There were a LOT of complications that were just so ridiculous that I didnt know how to handle them... 
Basically, long story short, he was baptized as Juan Peterson because thats what the church media referral place had told me his name was and he also told me himself that that was his last name!  But it turns out that Peterson wasnt his last name  . . . .      .          .. . .. .       . .    And he didnt even say that that wasnt his name when he was being baptized. .     It was ridiculous.  He is a really shy 14 year old kid so he didnt speak up at all.  He also had told us that he had gotten permission to be baptized from his brother, but he hadnt!  Sooo . . .  it was a huge mess. . .   . .  I was on the phone from 7:00 pm till 10:30 pm trying to figure it out.   I talked to Mission President a lot to figure out what we should do. We also went over to Juan's house and met with him and his brother and his wife (who are the legal guardians of Juan right now)  and sorted out the problem.   He didnt need to be re baptized, we just needed to put the right name on the record and make sure that when he was confirmed that it was by the correct name!  So, we figured it all out, and he actually got confirmed last night so that his brother could make it.  It was an overall good experience though.  :)  He is a great kid and he didnt mean to not tell or ask his brother, he just doesn't have the best communication skills.   So yeah.  
Anyway, It was good to see him be baptized and confirmed and I will never forget this experience!  It was quite a lot to deal with.
Well.   Life is good.  We achieved what they call SOE (which means Standard Of Excellence) this week.   It means that we got 1 person baptized and confirmed, have 3 people with a baptismal date, have 5 people at church, have 8 lessons with a member present, and 3 new investigators.   We fasted and prayed that we could achieve this on Friday and the Lord really helped us make it happen.  We only had 10 minutes last night before we had to go in for the night and we still needed to find 2 new investigators!  We stopped for a second and then walked over to an apartment, knocked a door of someone that I had heard we could maybe talk to, and him ad his brother decided that we could meet with them on Saturday to teach them!  So yeah, the Lord's hand is most definitely in this work.  
Well I gotta go, but I'll try to attach a picture form the baptism! 
I love you all!  Have a great week! 
 
God live and He loves us.
Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
The Church is true.
 
Godspeed.
Love      
-Elder Hansen

Monday, October 8, 2012

General Conference!!

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well holy cow. . .   first off, the mission ages changed!!!!! That is probably the biggest change in the church that has happened since I have been alive!! It is such as blessing to have continued revelation now on this earth through a living prophet of God.   Soo cool . . . that means all my friends who are younger can leave earlier and all the girls from our senior seminary class could leave whenever they wanted!  Its freakin nuts!!!  I hope this creates a surge in missionaries and a raise in the bar for missionary work throughout the world, INCLUDING MEMBERS!!!!      They hit that pretty hard and multiple times at conference.  We all need to be missionaries.  No matter what.  It is a commandment (3 Nephi 18:25)      . .   I love hearing from the general authorities and receiving revelation for my investigators and myself at conference.  I am so grateful for it!
Anyway,   How are you all doing?!?  Good I hope!
This week was pretty crazy.  Helped do a lot more service, painted some cabinets for a lady, had exchanges with our district leader and found a lot of new investigators.   After all our many prayers and our patience and our work, the Lord blessed us this week to find 7 new investigators!!!  :)   It was amazing. .   5 of which were in one night!  It was such a blessing and I know it came through our faith and prayers and the faith and prayers of all of you!  All my Friends and family.  So thank you so much for your efforts.  They are greatly appreciated and they actually do amount to something! 
We also were able to take Juan (a 14 year old investigator)  to the Saturday afternoon session of conference!  It was awesome!!  I saw the Rice family from our home ward in Louisville!  It was funny to bump into them and talk with them for a minute!  I also saw Garrett Jones!  He ran up to me and picked me up! haha :)  It was so good to see him and talk with him!  AND I saw Brother Davis!  who knew that going to conference I would see so many people from Colorado!  And from our home ward no less!  It was cool :)    I also saw some missionaries from the Ogden mission and my trainer Elder Miller.   It was a great time!  And the actual talks in conference were amazing!!!  So many great things to learn from!  A lot of very BOLD talks by the 12 Apostles . .    It was so cool  . . And our seats were really close!!!!!  Like 10 to 15 rows back for the podium!!  Seriously.  We waved to the prophet and all of the apostles a lot when they came in and when they left.  It was such a great experience.  Well  I wish I had more time to talk!   But I am running out already. . .         But I am grateful for everything I have been given and the opportunity I have to serve as a missionary at this time.  It will be very interesting to see a bunch of 18 year olds coming into this mission and to try to help them become great disciples of Jesus Christ.   I am excited though :)   I love the work .  I love all of you!  I'll try to send some pictures next week or later today if I can get them to work . . . ha ha
 
God lives and He loves us!
Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
The church is true, and President Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God.
My best regards,
-Elder Hansen
 
Godspeed.
Peak The Strategy.
 
Word. 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Same old

Hello!  This week was a pretty typical week to be a missionary.  Worked hard, tried to find people the teach, tried to get someone baptized.  We did okay this week though.  No baptism still :/ which makes me feel like a horrible trainer since we haven't had a baptism since Elder Driskell got here.   But we found some pretty solid leads this week!  Some new investigators that seem like they could be pretty solid and some referrals that could lead to something.  So yeah . .  but it was a pretty typical week . .  Did a lot of service which was nice (and Mom my side is fine! ha ha it hurt for about a week, but it is great now. so no worries.)    Hmmmm what else. . . .   we actually got people to come to church this Sunday!! We had 3 investigators show up! so that was good.  Still not quite to the Standard of Excellence (SOE) which is 5 but its a start!  And now we have General Conference this week!! We are going to the Sunday PM session and maybe to a session on Saturday with an investigator!  So that should be sweet.  Im excited.  General Conference as a missionary will probably be a little different, but still pretty much the same.  I mean we get to hear the Prophet speak and the other General Authorities, but we will mostly be listening for how we can better help our investigators and how we can be better teachers.  Word.  hah.
Well not much else happened this week!  We got to go to the temple this morning! That is always freakin awesome! :) ha ha but other than that mostly just being a missionary!  We had a good training on Thursday about 12 ways we can find people in our areas! So we are going to do 7 of them this week, one each day, and hopefully find a lot more people to teach!  It'll be tight.
So yeah . .   what else . . . .     . .  .        I mean, on Sunday morning, riding our bikes to church we saw a random dude just not wearing any pants . . . .   Seriously. . .  He was just naked . . I was like PFFFFFF What da heck???!!  but yeah . . There are some pretty crazy people around here.     Its all good though. 
 
Well on that note, I love you all!  hahaha . .  but yeah. . I miss you guys, and I hope you are all doing well!!
God lives and He loves us.
Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
The church is true!
Wordski.
 
Godspeed.
-Elder Hansen
 
Peak the Strategy
 
P.S. Mom!  Thanks soooooo much for the package!! It was amazing.  The cookies were freaking delicious!  ha ha note that I said "were" because we already ate them all! ha :)  but thanks soo much! I love you!!!  Oh and if you ever have a spare moment and would like to send me some Mormon Tabernacle Choir, I would like that, since that is all we can listen to....  ha  yeah . . oh well.     Thanks!
P.P.S.  Natalie!!  Thanks for your package as well!!!! It was sweet!  I'll use that photo albulm sometime, I just dont know what pictures to use or when or where i'll get them printed! ha ha maybe in my next area there will be a walgreens or something I can do it at.  Right now there isnt anywhere close so thats why I can't send pictures   . .   but thats why I email them! 
 
Speaking of which, here are some pictures! ha
They are both from the trek!  yeah  . . .pretty awesome :) 
sick . .
Peace!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Pioneer Trek!

Hey!! how is everyone doing??!?!  Thanks for your letters and stuff.  ..     word. .  Anyway,
This week was packed with good stuff!  We played ultimate frisbee last p-day which was fun to play for the first time in a while!  Then we had a mission training meeting on Wednesday!!  It was great!  Learned a lot about how to be a better missionary and how I can help people more fully come unto Christ.  I learned how to be more bold in what we have to offer.  .  This week we even invited a couple people on their doorsteps to be baptized!  They said no, but it was still good to know that we have to be bold in our invitations for people to change or else they won't especially in this area.  Anyway, I also learned how I could improve my efforts more and just try my hardest and renew my efforts to give it my all for these 2 years.  It was a great meeting. . It was from 8:00am till 5:00pm though . . So we were pretty dead afterward, but we still managed to find a new family that we are going to try to teach the gospel and get baptized.  So that was a blessing!  We had plans to take an investigator to temple square again, but they cancelled 30 minutes before we were supposed to go . . :(   it was lame, but we'll try to get them to go again soon. 
We had the opportunity to do a lot of service this week!  We helped 2 non-members who love missionaries prepare their house to be painted by moving a lot of furniture and taping the baseboards, etc . ..  Im glad I painted for those summers back in high school cause now I can do these things pretty quickly and we might get the opportunity to help someone else paint their house as well.   Anyway, that was fun and we taught a little to them and he bought us pizza for our service.  It was good!  He is an awesome guy! He has  some tumors on his spine so he couldn't walk well or do much of anything, but he has been getting better lately and they gave him some more shots of cortezone and other steroids and things to help him.  So yeah.  And by the end we said a closing prayer and he was crying when we left because of this seemingly simple thing for us to do that he appreciated so much.  So that was good. ..  But then we went to do more service for someone in the ward. . . . . .  They are hoarders . . . ..    errr whatever you call them .. .  .They have soooooooo much junk!  We cleared out a whole garage full of just random stuff. . . . It was ridiculous and it took quite a bit of time. . .  And some of this stuff was heavy like the 7- 94 puond bags of cement that I carried and the bench saw that was just solid iron . .    and a bath tub . . . .   and some other big stuff. . . . well in the process I think I may have pulled a muscle in my side. . . .   its like behind my ribcage or in it . .  or somethin . . .basically it hurts a lot when I try to sleep at night so I haven't rested well for the last 3 or 4 days . ..  like sunday night I woke up at 3am and I never could get back to sleep because I was so uncomfortable. .  I took 12 advil yesterday throughout the day, but it didnt help much.  Im sure it'll heal sometime soon so Im good, it was just a little lame for the trek we did yesterday! It made it a bit harder to pull the carts and stuff. 
Anyway!  I dont have much more time to write, but we did get to go on the pioneer trek yesterday at "This is the place"   . . It was fun! We got to experience a lot of cool things and we were at the top of this mountain and could see the whole Salt Lake valley just like when Brigham Young was up there!  It was sick . . I'll try to include some pictures if I have time!   
Also the Brigham City Temple dedication was on Sunday!  I loved it :)  It was the first I have ever seen (we just watched it at the stake center where it was broadcast)    . .  but it was soo cool!!  Boyd K. Packer was there, L.Tom Perry did the dedicatory prayer, Russel M. Nelson was also there!  It was sweet.  :) I love the temple.  I can't wait to go there again soon.
Well I love you all!!  Wish I had more time to talk!!
You all have great weeks!  miss you guys,    Godspeed.
 
Love,
-Elder Hansen
 
Peak The Strategy
 
P.S.  Mom, could you ask our stake president, president Williams,  if there are any tickets left for conference in Salt Lake?? And if so can you see if you can send them to me so that we can take more of our investigators???  Thanks!  Love you all!
 
Peace.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Sup

Hey Family!!!  Well holy cow. .. .    . . . . my fingers are like spazing out from all the emails I am writing!! Thanks for all your emails!! They mean a lot to me and make me happy :)    So good to hear from all of you!
Well  consequently . . . I have like no time to write this email today  . .. . .  oops!!  but i'll try to type super fast and get out as much as I can! 
This week has been good, but hard..  Still can't get anyone baptized. . .    people are so flakey . . it drives me crazy sometimes, but we just keep our heads up and help however and whenever we can!  We gave 3 or 4 blessings this week, so that was cool :)  The priesthood is such a blessing in my life and I am grateful I am able to use it and actually witness miracles happen out here!  A girls ankle was sprained and we gave her a blessing and then at church this Sunday she was completely fine!  I feel so blessed that we get to see things like that happen by the power of God!  Its so real .. .  This gospel is true . ..  it has been true, and it will always be true no matter what happens in these last days. . .  All the smartest people in the world can't disprove this church, Christ's church on the earth today and they cannot dampen our faith . . . I am so grateful for this gospel and that I get to be out here serving at this important time.  It is such a blessing.  Anyway,
We tracted a lot, but nothing good came of it really. . . . so that was lame . . .    but we are trying.  We did service for some people . . My hand got some crazy blisters from using a pick axe to take out a stump for an old lady . . It was good though . . .oh and we had a crazy dinner this week!  We ate with a Pakistani family and their food was sooooooo spicy!!!  It was nuts  . . . Elder Driskell and I were like sweating and our sinuses we all crazy and it was just intense . . . but it tasted really good actually!  We hace rice and curri and chicken and stuff it was great..  Then for desert we had this weird dich named Kied . ..  it was some sort of wheat thing . . .it was good though.  . .  Anywho,
I think that is about it for this week . . We are still super busy which is good, but it is getting really hard to find new investigators to teach in this area . . so yeah  . .
Well I think thats all!! 
I love you guys!  I hope you are having great lives!  haha . . .  word
Here is a picture of my new comp Elder Driskell and I!  Oh and a picture of our apartment.   sick . .
Love,
-Elder Hansen
Peak The Strategy

P.S.  Last week we got $100 just from people giving us money!  It was crazy!!  Looks like we will be eating well this week! :)  haha
 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Not a letter from Michael

(Monday, September 10, 2012)
Well, this week POOR Elder Hansen lost his whole email at the library when something happened unexpectedly to the computer he was using. He was also frustrated because he lost the email he was writing to President Winn.

Here is an excerpt from his brief message explaining that he lost everything:

ANYWAY . .. .
What I wrote in my other email.    . . . .       Stake conference happened.   We got to go to the conference center to see it in person because it was a regional conference including 69 stakes . . .   so yeah . . It was sweet . . Elder L. Tom Perry spoke and it was amazing. . . . . .   but I wrote a lot in my other email about it, but now all that is gone and I dont want to write it all over again . . . . .. . sorry . . .. . . . but yeah . . My new comp is Elder Driskell.  He is a boss . .  He is already a great missionary so yeah .   . .     I am glad I get to "train" him.     word . . . welllllllllllllll . . hmmmmmmmm . . . .. . .         .   .           .





ughhh . . . not much more to say. .   We played a sorta mean prank on my new comp. . hahaha it was awesome.  There is a family in one of our wards that loves missionaries so they had us over and I told my comp that they were nonmembers and that he had to teach them the law of chastity.  It was awesome hahaha sooo funny. . Their son (an RM) was pretending to be gay. . haha it was a little mean, but it was all in good fun! And I think my comp has forgiven me :)  haha hmm

 well . . .     .     I love you all! Thanks for all your emails and letters. .  You rock . .
The church is true . .
Godspeed.
-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy
 



It's me, Christie, again - since tomorrow is Monday, we should get an email from him! I sure look forward to Mondays now!! :) :) :)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Transfers

Hey just a quick email today.  Transfers happened, I am staying in the
same place.  Cannon Zone B - Pioneer Stake - 32nd ward and 25th ward.
      Its great.  There is one difference from transfers though.  I
have a new companion.  Elder Allen left to the South Salt Lake Zone,
and I am training a brand new missionary.  Crazy right?  I haven't
been out for very long, but president wanted me to train apparently so
thats what is happening.  My new companion is Elder Driskell.  He is
from Nashville.  He is a great guy.  We got to street contact in
downtown salt lake yesterday.  It was a great experience for the both
of us.  I love this gospel.  Well . ...  . .    I'll write more on
Monday.  Love you all.  Have a great week!
Godspeed.
-Elder Hansen

Monday, September 3, 2012

. . . Word

Hello Family!!!!! I am emailing pretty early this week because we are gonna go play disc golf in Holladay!   cool right?  Yeah and then right after that we are going to the Bee's game!!   As a whole mission.  It will be sweet.   But yeah Im excited for those things.  Thanks for the emails and letters.  They are truly appreciated.    Word.
Well . .   this week was pretty much the same. .   We didnt get to teach with President again!!  Its ridiculous.   Errbody cancels on us when he wants to come teach with us.   Its lame.  But oh well!  We had interviews this week which was nice and a zone meeting to try to pump us up to find a new investigator every day of September!  It will be super hard, but it is possible with the Lord's help and the help of the wards.  So yeah ....  hmmm what else.   Well transfers are on Wednesday.  I am pretty sure I am staying in the same area, but I won't know for sure until tomorrow morning.  And then I think I will email quickly on Thursday about it.  So yeah.  Oh and the stake president asked me to speak at the priesthood leadership meeting on Saturday at 4 . .   Its a stake wide thing.   So that will be interesting I spose.     We have stake conference this weekend, but its also a regional conference so there will be 22 stakes attending and it is held in the conference center in SLC.   so that'll be fun to go to!  And then on the 23rd is the dedication of the Brigham City Temple!  Church is cancelled and we go to the stake center for a broadcast of the dedication.  Im excited! I've never seen a temple dedication before. So yeah  . . its gonna be sick.   ha ha anyway . . . .
hmmm I think that is about it for this week.   We were supposed to have a baptism this weekend, but the Lady cancelled on us. .  She has been pushing back for the past 4 or 5 weeks now!  Its super frustrating.  But I think we finally figured out her real concern and so we are trying to resolve it soon.   But other than that we are teaching a lot of people.  The struggle is that nobody comes to church!!!!! We have like 7 investigators in the 32nd ward, and only 1 of them showed up to church yesterday when they all said they could and would come the day before. .  .   Its ridiculous.  But we're tryin.    .      Well I gotta go.  sorry this email is pretty boring. . .  just the same old stuff. .  ya know??  haha well I love you all! Have an awesome week everyone! 
Peak the Strategy
Godspeed.
-Elder Hansen

Monday, August 27, 2012

Mission Tour

Hey Family!  How are you all doing this week??  I hope everyone is
doin well.  Thanks for your emails and letters.  You guys are awesome.
Well this week was interesting.  We taught a lot more and found some
new people to teach which was awesome!  We also had Mission Tour!  Its
basically like a zone conference meeting, but with more like 4 zones.
It was sweet.  Two elders from the first quorum of the seventy came
and spoke to us.  Elder Foster and Elder Whitting.  They were awesome!
 It was a very good meeting.  A little long (3 hours straight)  but I
learned a lot and got a lot out of it that applies to where I am
serving right now and how I can be a better missionary.  It was great.
  We also heard from our mission president and his wife.  They both
gave great talks.  It was cool :)
Hmmm what else was this week.   We did service for a couple people. .
.  We just worked every day . .  Same old.  haha.
So I forgot to tell you guys that President didnt end up coming out
with us the other week to teach, but he is coming out to teach with us
tonight!! So hopefully it will be a great lesson and we can invite
this new investigator to be baptized and he will accept.
Anyway,   not much else . . .  I spoke in sacrament yesterday.  They
told me I was going to speak about 1 or 2 hours before it started.  So
I didnt really prepare anything specific, but I think it went okay.
We ate at a Brazilians house and we are supposed to eat with them next
week as well and they are planning a Brazilian barbeque.  mmmmm  Im so
excited for that!  haha . .
Oh yeah! we were supposed to have two baptisms last Saturday, but they
both cancelled on us.     :(  One was sick and the other one fell off
the face of the planet. .   Seriously.  we can't find him anywhere!
hah . .  but I did get the opportunity to go back up to Farmington on
Saturday and see one of the investigators I taught, Tiffany
Montgomery, be baptized!  It was great!  I got to see Elder Miller
again too. It was sweet.  I hope to see them get sealed in the temple
in a year err so.  I will still be out here and I asked if I could go
and they said yes.  So Im gonna try to make sure it happens.  Word.
 Well  not much else to report.  Life as a missionary is great.  Very
rewarding.  also very draining . . haha Im getting pretty tired, but
its all good.  The Lord will help us have strength to do all the work
He needs done here.    So yeah . .  Well I hope you all have a
fantastic week!  I love you all.
Godspeed.
-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

P.S. This is a picture of Tiffany and her family and us.  Wordski. .
That was probably pretty self explanatory, but whateva.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Yo

Hey Family!! 
Thanks for all your letters and emails!  I  miss you all.  Hope everything is going well for you guys.  I can't believe school is starting.  Woah.  Soo weird.  Anyway, some stuff happened this week.  Just the usual.  There was a baptism for the elders right next to us and the woman who got baptized was super prego!   yeah she was pregnant.  like a lot .     . . like she was in labor when she came to the baptism!  It was crazy! She was in the hospital and they were going to give her drugs to help the pain and stuff but she said she had to leave to go get baptized so she made it back to the area and was like 2 hours late, but she still got baptized and once she did she stopped having contractions and was doing much better! It was a miracle!   Still a little weird though. .   a woman who is in labor getting baptized.    Word!

Well other than that, we are trying really hard to get the work going in this area.  We are fasting and praying and working hard. . I just want it to pay off soon . haha  .  but anyway,  we found out that some other elders are teaching someone in our area..... they call it poaching!  Its stupid.  Its not supposed to be that way, but he is not "comfortable" in our ward so he is going somewhere else.  Bleh   its okay though. . Whatever is best for the investigator!!!  Anyway. 

Im gonna make this short today.   Cause I want to go play basketball and stuff for a bit..... wordski.  But I love you guys! 
I got to go to the Salt Lake Temple today!! :) it was awesome!!  Its so cool that we get to move room to room and it is done live! :)  Its fun.     We also went to temple square with an investigator this week.  It was sweet too!!  Went to downtown Salt Lake City a lot this week.      Also we teach a lot of Sudanese people!  We can go out of our zone and even out of our mission to teach the Sudanese people actually!  because they have a program in our ward for them.   So yeah. .  Its sweet :)

well have a great week!!!!
Love you,
Godspeed.
-Elder Hansen
Peak the Strategy

Monday, August 13, 2012

Unexpected

Hello Family!   Hows it goin?!?!?!  haha soooo yeah . . Im sure most of you if not all of you have heard by now that I saw Paula and Brian and their kids this week!  It was crazy.   Basically I was reading during personal study and I moved my study journal and saw the invitation I received to Caleb Cox's wedding!  I opened it up again to look at what day it was on and it was that night, Friday night!  i thought hey maybe I could go, but didnt think much more about it till later.  Then at dinner we were eating with a really chill family (the Easters) so I randomly was like hey you guys want to go to Bountiful tonight?  And they said that sure they would take me if I got permission.  So I texted the APs and asked them if I could go up to Bountiful for my friends wedding reception for a couple minutes and they said yes as long as I got a ride with a member!!  So basically 30 minutes later we were in Bountiful up at the reception!  I walked in and everyone was so surprised.  Sister Cox was so happy to see me :)  Their whole family was.  It was so nice to see them and see Caleb.  I can't believe he just got married!!  Thats soo nuts.  Anyway.  Then Emily said oh your sister is coming in about an hour.  So I thought, well I should probably leave before then.   (Not cause I didnt want to, but cause Im not really supposed to see my family.)  Anyway, I talked to a lot of people then went to go get my camera to take a picture with the Cox family before I left.  On my way over I saw Steven Loveday! So I talked to him for a minute and then Paula and Brian walked in!!  It was crazy! haha it was nice to see them.  I can't believe how different Christopher looked already!  So yeah.  It was pretty unexpected but it was fun :) Then I talked to Natalie on the phone for like 2 minutes.  Sorry I couldn't wait for you guys to get there Natalie and Jamie!  I had to go.  And sorry if I was awkward or anything.  It was weird to talk to you guys and see you as a missionary!!!  So yeah . . forgive me,  but I consider it a blessing that I got to see some of you and know that you are still doing okay :)  
So yeah . . that was a great part of the week!   but as far as missionary work goes, this week was not the best . ..     but our recent convert got out of jail!! so thats good hahaha . .  His wife should be getting baptized this Saturday.   The problem right now is that we can't find anyone home.  And then the wards are not helping us at all.  I find it funny how a lot of people even though they are so poor here will feed us anyway when I would rather not eat or just eat ramen everyday if they would give us a referral instead!!! Seriously, nobody is trying to help us. .  . .  even the bishop of one ward seems very unwilling to help us.  I think that he thinks that we are not doing our job... which sucks cause I dont know what else we can do.   We go out and work hard everyday and we teach lessons in church if they ask and we are trying to do service when people will let us!!!  Seriously we ask to do service for everyone and it seems like around here it is obviously needed, but nobody will let us help. . . . . . Its weird.   So right now Im frustrated with how the work is going in these two wards, but I am trying hard to change the sterotype / false traditions of our fathers  so that people in the ward will like us and want us to help them and be around them and teach their nonmember friends!! 
Anyway, not much more than that!!!  I love you all!! Miss you guys.   I hope you all are doing well!  Good luck with school starting!  I dont have to go this year . . .   for the first time in a lot of years . . So thats weird!  But its good. . I'd rather be out here doing the work of the Lord :)    sick .
Alright, Have a great week!!!!
Love,
-Elder Hansen
Peak The Strat.
Godspeed.
Word.
P.S. I'll try to send some pictures soon!!! sweet


Monday, August 6, 2012

Crazy!

Well this week was awesome!!  A lot happened  . . some crazy stuff . .  ha ha but thats just how it goes around here I spose :)   . . . First off thanks for the emails and letters Mom and Dad!!  Im sorry I dont have time to reply to youre individual emails right now, but know that they were greatly appreciated and I love to get them whenever you have the spare moment :) So thanks!!!!

Anyway, this week Christopher Good was baptized.   He is a 9 year old boy who just decided to be baptized!!  It was awesome!!  They almost didnt show up though! They thought it was at a different building so they werent there for the first baptism (because we were doing it with stake baptisms)  but we eventually found them after a lot of running around and he got baptized!!  Then they were like 15 minutes late to sacrament meeting soo he almost didnt get confirmed!!  It was scary, but they got there just in time and so he got confirmed and received the Holy Ghost yesterday!  It was awesome :)   we were supposed to have 2 or 3 baptisms this weekend, but some stuff happened soo we couldnt . . .   Basically one of our recent converts, his wife was supposed to be baptized on friday night.  But then she called us in the middle of the night on Friday but we didnt answer because we were asleep.  We called back and finally got a hold of her and she told us that her husband (the recent convert)  was in prison!!  . . . pfff . . so we were like umm . . well why is he there?  and it is hard to understand her because she is from the Congo, but it is something about driving with a suspended license and expired registration and some other stuff that we dont really know about . . so yeah!  That was interesting . .  
We had been knocking on their door all week to see if she was still going to be baptized and had been calling her a ton, and it turns out they moved to another apartment in the same building, but never told us. . .   haha but we have talked to her a lot in the last couple days and called the prison like 7 times to find out where her husband is at and when he will be back ..  its just been a little ridiculous. . . hah . .  so yeah . . hopefully the husband gets out today and we can figure out everything and she can still get baptized soon!!
This whole week has been sorta like what I told you about just now. .   Just crazy . .     We couldn't find our investigators anywhere!!!!!! We stopped by their houses and called them all like 50 times . . its ridiculous . .  but a lot of people dont have phones, or their phones dont work because they are out of money, or they move without telling you . . . hahaha its funny . . somewhat hard to get missionary work done when everyone is so flakey . .  but its all good . . we are trying our best and we have two more set baptisms for the 25th of august and a couple more hopefully on the 18th of august for these people who were supposed to be baptized this weekend.

So yeah!  Not much more to report.  We are workin hard. .  .  President Winn (our mission president) is planning on coming out to teach with us on Thursday night.  So we'll see how that goes. Hopefully we will have some solid appointments that actually are home and we can teach lessons . . thats the biggest struggle in this area . . Its hard to be patient when you lose contact with your investigator for 2 weeks even though you are trying your hardest to talk to them and find them and you go over to their house multiple times everyday. . .   haha but its good .  The church is true.   The gospel really blesses and changes peoples lives!  God lives and loves us!   I hope all is well with you guys!!  Its weird to not really know whats going on out there in the world.   But its pretty nice at the same time :) ignorance is bliss right??? hahaha well I love you all!!
miss you!  Have an awesome week ma familia!
Godspeed.

Love,
-Elder Hansen
Peak the Strategy

P.S.  I have pictures from the baptism but I forgot to bring my camera to the library . . . oops!! but I may have an opportunity to send them later today!    . ..   word.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Hola ma familia!     How is everyone???  Thanks for your letters and emails and love and support!  you guys are awesome.   Sounds like you guys are having fun out there!  Miss you!

Sooo this week has been interesting.   found out that I was getting transferred to Salt Lake City . . Cannon Zone . .  Pioneer Stake.   32nd and 25th wards . . .    we only cover two wards whereas we covered 15 in farmington. .  .  so yeah there is a lot of differences here.    Its a poor neighborhood.     pretty ghetto.   but awesome people. :)   They are a lot more humble than the rich white people in farmington!  hahaha but its good. . there is plenty of work to do here.   I dont have much time to write today because I still have to email president and he asked us to write a lot this week.   so yeah . . but basically  we got to the area,  bought food,  tracted a lot most of the days . . ate with Tongans a lot (there are a ton in this area :) )   So got fed a LOT of food . ..   I might get fat . . ehh whatever!   And then we have been teaching people a little!  We had 3 people on date for baptism, but then none of them showed up for church .. . :(  it sucked . .   but the 2 can still get baptized because they have been to church a lot, but the other one has to be pushed back a week . . . so thats pretty lame, but we really are trying to get the work going faster out here.   And I think it'll work, it just might take a bit of time . . . But thats okay!  The Lord will help us.  Anyway,  the new area is good. . .   Like I said in the other email its just west of I-15 in downtown Salt Lake City!  you can see some of the high rise buildings from most of our area.   Its cool . .  We are only teaching black people, but Im fine with that :) so long as they will listen and want to hear about Jesus Christ and about his gospel .    I dont care who they are as long as they will listen :)  haha but yeah  . .. not much else to report . ..  Mom, the random picture you got from some lady was because she asked to take a picture of us in Smiths and send it to both our moms. . .  so yeah haha it was random but that is me and my new companion, Elder Allen . . He is from Dallas Texas.   He is a cool guy. .  Not too talkative but good at just going out to work and not complaining which I like a lot :)     So yeah . . .     Well I gotta run . .  its been pretty busy and hectic lately but when things calm down a little more I will be able to write more and let you guys know more about who we are teaching and whats going on and stuff . . . So yeah!
Well . . . the church is true!
God lives and he loves us! 
Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer!
Have an Awesome week!
Godspeed

-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

P.S.   Just send everything to the new address I gave to you on Thursday . . (except packages mom . . send that to the mission office!!)   We will just break in to our mailbox to get our mail out :)  hahah  . .   love you all!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Update about transfer

This is not a letter from Elder Hansen but we received a quick update that Michael oops! Elder Hansen has been transferred to Salt Lake City. He is serving in Cannon Zone B which is close to downtown west of I-15. His new companion is Elder Allen who is also very tall and he has been out less time than Michael! 


Elder Hansen will write with more details on Monday:)


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Miracles

Hey Fam.   Sup?   Hah . . thanks for the emails and letters!  I love you guys.  hope all is going well for you guys!  It sounds like Amanda's homecoming was great!  Good to hear.  And the work in the front yard looks good Dad!  Sorry I couldn't be there to help, but ya know  . .  this is a pretty good excuse right?  :)  ha ha anyway . . .

This week was good!  Miracles happen everyday.  That is a fact.  God still talks to and leads his servants on the earth today and helps all those in need who ask for his help and seek his truth with an honest heart and real intent.  Its awesome.  For example.... 

This week Elder Miller and I were planning for the next day and contemplating what we should do after dinner the next day.   We had seen a young man in the 1st ward a lot lately and Elder Miller said that he felt like we should go see him and ask him to invite someone to be taught in his home so that he could get the experience of being a missionary before he leaves in September and so that we could teach someone!  The next day we went over there, but we were a little later than we had planned.   He wasn't even home, so we talked to his parents for a while about their other son who had just arrived home from his mission.  We stayed there for a while and around 30 minutes later the young man we planned to talk to walked in.  We asked him to do what I said earlier and he said he would.  We haven't even heard if he has done it or if any success will come from that specifically, but what happened next was in direct relation to Elder Miller following the spiritual prompting he had to go see this young man at that time specifically.   After we left, we rode down Lagoon Trail (a little pathway that goes behind lagoon where a lot of people go for evening walks and stuff)  and we were just riding along when we saw an old man sitting on a bench and for some reason we stopped to talk to him.  It ended up getting a little contentious because he didnt believe that God still talked to prophets on the earth today.   As we were talking to him, a young lady (i'd say about 25 or 30)  walked past and heard us talking to him and heard him ask, "What is your definition of a prophet?!"  . .  She kept walking past, but she felt like she should walk back and talk to us.  But she ignored the feeling and kept walking . .  We finished talking to the man and rode on down the path and passed this same woman again and just said hello and kept on riding.   We got to the end of the path and both Elder Miller and I stopped and decided that we should go back and talk to that lady.  The spirit prompted us to go back to talk with her.  We rode up to her not knowing how to approach the situation and just said straight up "This may sound weird but my companion and I just got the feeling that we should come back and talk to you..."   As we said those words, she started to cry...  she went on the tell us that she had been praying for help because she had fallen away from the church and she was trying to get back into church and get her and her family going back to church.   She told us that she had been fasting and praying all day asking Heavenly Father to help her.  We were able to be that help because of the promptings of the spirit.  The most crazy part is that we would not have been there at that time if it weren't for all the things that led up to it . ..  Like talking to the old man for so long. . . .  or even going down that trail   .. . .  or in the beginning feeling like we should go to that young mans house the night before!        The Lord led us before she had even been fasting so that we could be in the right place at the right time to talk to her and listen to the spirit and help this young lady.   It truly was a miracle.   I feel so immensely blessed that Heavenly Father could work through us (two 19 and 20 year old guys)  to help bring back one of his lost sheep.   It was an amazing experience that I don't think I will ever forget.     We planned to meet with her this Wednesday and teach her family a little more about the church and why it is so important.   Its exciting!!

So yeah . . That was probably the highlight of my week :)    we spoke in another ward on Sunday,  went to some ward councils and talked to the stake president in the West stake.   We talked about how Satan really is doubling his efforts to try to stop this work . . especially in Utah.  . .   And to counter that, Heavenly Father has called 350 to 400 missionaries to come to the all the Salt Lake missions and the Ogden mission this summer!  Its incredible.  This work will triumph.   Gods power and his work on the earth is always more powerful than Satan.  So we are trying very hard to help people come unto Christ and achieve the goal of 3,500 souls.    So yeah . .

Wellllll   This is a pretty long email already so I think I'll leave it at that.   Not much else happened this week anyway.
The Church is true!  God lives and He loves us and shows that by blessing us in so many different ways.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer!
Love you guys!  Miss you!  Hope all is well and that you are having a fun summer!!
Godspeed,

-Elder Hansen

Peak the Strategy

P.S. Transfers are this Wednesday so we'll see if Elder Miller and I get split or not.   Hopefully we wont because I haven't even finished being trained.  But yeah.  wordski . .

Monday, July 16, 2012

Zone Conference


Hey!  How are you all doing?   I hear a lot of you were in South Jordan this past week slash weekend???  Sounds awesome.  Hope all is well with you guys, keep up the good work.
Anyway...
This week we had our first zone conference in the Salt Lake City Mission  . . .  It was loooooong . .  we got there at 8:30 am and left at 5:30 pm . . . .   It was a lot of training and stuff . .   .  This new mission is a lot different . .   its interesting to see the difference between the two missions just based on who the mission president is.  .  ..       .  there are a lot more random rules that dont make too much sense to me . .   but dont worry I am still obedient and am trying my hardest to do my best it just seems like in this mission the best isnt good enough. . .   They made a goal to baptize 3,500 people this year in the Salt Lake City mission.     meaning if every companionship baptizes once a week until the end of the year we will reach that goal . . .       But its just difficult.  We have tried really hard since getting to Farmington and we have only had two baptisms . . . . .   soo  It just makes it seem like our best effort isnt good enough ..       in all honesty, this mission just seems a little more prideful than the Ogden mission was . . .      like . .  I dunno just a bunch of little things make it seem that way . .  like in our training at zone conference the president said and I quote, "If you go to an appointment with a less-active member and don't come out of it with a referral then it was a waste of your time."    That sounds pretty harsh to me considering the worth of EVERY soul is great in the sight of God...  I understand what he was trying to say, that we should get a referral from anywhere/everywhere we can, but the way he said it was bad . . .   anyway, enough of me complaining about the new mission!

Well the week was actually very good! we taught quite a bit, helped a lot of people with random things and had a baptism on Saturday that counted on our records, then a baptism on Sunday that didnt count for us, but we taught her because her mom isnt a member and we are trying to get her baptized too!  So yeah . . Things are starting to pick up a little.  The Lord has started to bless us because of our efforts here.  I love just being a missionary out here.   It is just the best thing that I could do.  I love teaching and constantly learning more about this gospel and about how I can better bring souls unto Jesus Christ . . We have such a great, happy message to bring to everyone and I love being the one to tell people about it!  I am quite under-qualified though.   But the Lord helps us and strengthen us as we try our hardest . . thats for sure! 

Hmmmm . .well  . not much else to report!    OHH!  I just remembered dont send the letters to the mission office in Salt Lake!   They said they won't forward our mail to us . .   (Stupid right?  I dont even understand why . . . its really not that hard. . . .    pfffffff anyway)    Just send them to Farmington till the 25th and the day after I should get to email you if I am in a different area and give you the new address to send stuff to.   So I'll let you know when my address changes and mom you can put it on the blog err whatever so that other people like maybe some friends err someone can write me where Im at  . . .   If you send anything to the mission office its okay,  I just wont get it till the zone leaders go there to get it.  (We can't even pick up our own mail there . . . pfffffffffff)        


Well I think that is it for this week!   There was a parade in Farmington that we walked around and talked to tons of people and then we also saw some fireworks that night for this festival days thing.   It was sweet! 

Miss you guys!   Love you all.    Have an awesome week.
God lives and loves us.
Jesus Christ is our Savior.
The church is true.

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

P.S. Here are some pictures of us at the two baptisms!

Monday, July 9, 2012

4th of July!
Well hey ma familia . . .   How are you guys?? It was great to hear from you guys! I dont have time to reply to you all individually this week :/  but I read through all your emails and they were great!  I can't believe you are going to Hawaii Jamie!!?!?!?!?!  Soo nuts!  You are one lucky duck . . I am a little jealous . . . But its good out here!

Hmmm welll this week was alright!  It was the 4th of July soo that was good! We went down to Salt Lake and went to a park for Mission Conference and just ate a bunch of food and played sports.    There are a bunch of polys (Polynesians) in our mission and I was the only white kid playing volleyball with them! It was sweet :) they are good ha ha so its fun to play with them. 
Oh and that morning we met our Mission President.  It was cool . .  Him, his wife, the APs, and our zone leaders were all crammed into our tiny apartment thing. . .It was weird . . and they didnt seem like they wanted to be there . . The whole thing was a little weird and seemed sorta unnecessary,  but it was nice to meet him.  He is a very loving man and I am glad he is my mission president!
Well what else . . .
We have been teaching a little more,  and mostly still trying to find people . . I wish the wards would start helping more . . but its alright, we just keep trying to get them involved and stuff.  it'll keep getting better. 
OH!  A crazy connection was made yesterday!  I met a Brother Smith at one of the wards yesterday and guess who his brother is?!?!  Everett Smith from the Louisville Ward!!!!!! It was awesome :)  He was my young mens leader for a while and stuff . . So that was cool :)  And Yeah this lady that was a little crazy asked us for our parents numbers and called you guys to tell you we are doing well . . ha ha she was a little nuts, but she insisted on calling you guys so yeah . .
Well Not too much else has happened.   A lot of new rules in the new mission . . Like no caffeine (good thing I stopped drinking it and decided not to for these 2 years before I left.)  and only Motab and church hymns .  And nightly call ins instead of weekly . . and just different stuff all around .. It will take some getting used to but its all good.

I love you all and miss you too!  Hope you guys had a wonderful 4th!  
God lives and loves us.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
The church is true.
Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen
Peak the Strategy