What a week.

Wow.  I don't even know where to start.  This week has possibly been the busiest, most crazy week of my entire mission.  So much happened.  I feel like we didn't stop.  Not even once.  Just going and going all week.  

Thank you for all the emails, letters, love, and support that you have shown me.  I can feel your prays lifting me and helping me to become a more consecrated servant of Jesus Christ.  Seriously, thank you so much.

Well this week was nuts. First off on Monday we had some really great lessons with Breeana Becksted and Jamie and Sage.  With Breeana we had her baptismal interview so that she would be ready for Saturday.  Everything went smoothly and she knows her stuff.  Then the next day, Tuesday..... For morning exercise we woke up at 5:30 and ran from some elders apartment in Tooele all the way up to the top of the "T" on the mountain and back.  It took about 2 hours.  We stopped 2 times and only for about a minute or two each time.  It was intense.  Not easy thats for sure.  I was actually impressed that we did it.  Im not really a runner, but this was a fun time.  It made me really sore for the next couple days though.  Afterwards we got ready and went to do some service for a cool family. --> the Demke family.  Pulled weeds and did yard work for a couple hours.  Then missionary work and some great lessons with a lady named Goldy (she is like 75 years old) A girl named Dayra, and a man named Alex.  Alex wanted to be taught by elders.  He lives in Tooele in a sister missionary area, but they handed him over to us to be taught.  We will do the teaching but all the key indicators (numbers) will be counted for the sisters.  So it works out well.  He is preparing to be baptized on the 17th of August now!  Sick.

Wednesday!  Pioneer Day!!!!!  :)   We went down to the parade in Salt Lake City.  Contacted at the parade for 2 hours and got a lot of referrals.  It was a competition throughout the mission to get the most referrals.  Then came back to Tooele and had our P-day.  word.  Then Dinner with a Less-active/part-member family.  They fed us stake.  It was good.  Then taught a little boy named Kaden Wyman who is getting baptized on the 24th of August.  Then ended with the Demke family again.  Had a brief lesson and celebrated the 24th.  They lit off some small fireworks and we had a good time.  Had a little war with those little  "Pop its" things.  They exploded on our shirts and left little marks on them... oops :)  ha ha anyway...

Then Thursday.  District Leader Training.  We gave a training on Improving our teaching skills using chapter 10 in Preach My Gospel.  It went well.  The rest of that day was good.  Talked to a lot of people.  Went on splits with some ward mission leaders.  We went to a family who is from Colorado!  They moved here a couple months ago.  They are not members.  Christians.  Very nice people!  Their names are Jeremy and Kari Ell.  Awesome people.  I think over time they will let us teach them and may join.  So yeah.

Hmmmmm Friday... This is where everything just starts to go crazy!  We had district meeting in the morning as usual.  I took an Elder from Tonga (Elder Kolomalu)  to the chiropractor because his back was hurting him a ton.  Then Weekly planning.  Afterward a short celebration for a sister missionaries birthday!  Sister Pratt.  She is great.  Had some cake and sang and all that.  Then went home and changed clothes to regular clothes. We had a baptism interview for a girl named Marti Marie Vail, the other girl who got baptized this weekend.  We went to their house and had the interview. Then we left with them right afterwards to go to Vernon, Utah to go haul hay.   So we did!  Its about 45 minutes away.  Hauled for a couple of hours.  We did about 100 bales.  Lifted em up and threw them onto the truck.  Stacked them up and took them back to Erda.  Then we had a quick dinner and then unloaded all the hay.  So yeah.   Pretty nuts.  Then came home and got some presents ready for Sister Pratt's birthday the next day.  Slept for just a little bit.... ha ha   

Now Saturday!  Baptisms!  We had one at 10:00am for Breeana!  It went great!  Such a good spirit there and so many friends and family showing support. It was awesome.  Then came home for 1 hour.  Had a cool barbecue outside our house cause we happen to have a barbecue.  Invited a bunch of missionaries over and had a birthday barbecue for sister Pratt.  It was fun.  Couldn't stay long though.  Left for the second baptism.  Marti Vail.  She is such a funny, cool little girl.  Her family who is not active in the church came.  It was awesome!  The spirit was there and we were all able to see her make such a big step and be such a good example to her family.  Then right after the baptism we helped some housing missionaries from the mission office move some beds to a new apartment in tooele for new missionaries coming in next transfer.  From there we met the Vail family again and went back to Vernon to bale hay again!   yes.... x2.  It was fun.  This time we threw 160 bales.  Loaded up the trailer and truck and then brought them back.  Ate at a tiny place in Vernon for dinner, then unloaded all the hay back in Erda.  Then ended the night at coldstone.  It was crazy........... so much service this week.  I LOVE IT!   

Then Sunday.  We found out on Saturday at about 4pm that the lighthouse ward wanted us to speak in their sacrament meeting.  So we gave talks in that ward in the morning.  Then went to the batesville ward to confirm Marti a member of the church.  I actually got to do the confirmation!  It was great.  such a blessing to get to use the priesthood to bless someones life for more than just a short time, but for eternity.  So ya.  Then Silver Spur ward.  It was a missionary farewell.  Its weird to see those now.  It doesn't even click in my head that I did that not too long ago.  weird.  Then we had a short dinner.  Had a couple appointments.  One with a new lady we will be working with that is just hungry for the gospel.  The bishop told us about her and we taught her and the family she lives with (that are Catholic)  about the restoration of the gospel.  It was a wonderful lesson.  The grandmother that was in the room love us. She wanted me to write you mom and let you know that you raised a great son.  Ha ha but yeah.  It was fun to teach them.  Then it rained really, really, hard for about an hour.  We got soaked. It was legit.  Then went to the Heder's home and talked to them about an activity we are doing for the youth on Tuesday for their youth conference.  Then home......

WHAT A WEEK........    I feel so tired.  Lifting those hay bales and that run earlier in the week was rough.  My body still hurts a bit.  The bales were about 80 to 100 pounds a bale, but they said this was a heavier load for some reason.   Packed tighter or something?  No idea. Im not really a farm boy, but i sure enjoyed it!  Its a lot of fun.  

Well that is about it.  I have a ton of pictures to send!  I'll get working on it.   Love you all!  Hope you have an amazing week. 

much love,

godspeed,

-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

Hello

Alright.  This week was good!  Very busy as usual.  And the sad thing is I have like no time to email this week.  P-day will be on Wednesday for the 24th.  So we just get to email today quick then go work.

So yeah.  Started with Laser-tag and bowling last p-day.  It was awesome.  Then some great lessons throughout the week.  Have another couple people preparing for baptism now.  Such a blessing.  Answers to prayers for sure, and thanks for all your prayers as well.  

Had District Leader Training.  It went well.  

Then Thursday we had Mission Leader Council in Rose Park.  Had some great conversations and talked about where the mission is at and what the plan is.  What the vision is for the Utah Salt Lake City Mission. Awesome meeting. 

Friday was district meeting and planning and all that stuff as usual.  Some other great appointments teaching some less-actives.  Very spiritual.  It is so great to see a family that still has a testimony, but lost their drive feel the spirit strongly again and recommit themselves to living the gospel and attending church regularly.  Word.

Then Saturday morning we had a conference call with our whole mission!  All the companionships in the mission called a number and put in the pass-code and we were all on one phone call together! President Hansen spoke to us and introduced the mission goal for baptisms from July 1st till the end of the year.  It is 750 baptisms.  So that was really cool to use the technology we have to make an important announcement to the whole mission at the same time.  

Alright.  Then church and all that.  It was good.

Oh one last thing!  One of the sister missionaries in our zone is on a trial mission.  The one we got the live chicken for!  She just got her mission call and guess where she is going?!?!  the Colorado Fort Collins mission!!!!!! :) So awesome!  She could even serve in our ward?  Don't we have sisters right now??? So yeah, that was pretty sweet.

Well thats all I have time for. Looks like you wont get any pictures this week..... Sorry!!!!

Thanks for everything!  

Love you all and miss you!

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak the Strategy

Erda Days

Hello family!

Thanks for all the emails and letters as always.  I love you all!

Well I seriously have like no time left to email.....  oops.  We submit our key indicators (numbers) online now.... and since I am a zone leader we have to make sure that everyone puts in their numbers.  So pretty much half of my computer time is spent doing that.......  Lame right??  But its all good.

This week was awesome.   We did exchanges with Elder Serrao and Elder Kolomalu.  Both are Polynesian.  It was fun.  We got a lot done and I learned a lot from one of our District Leaders -->Elder Serrao.   

We also just taught lessons as usual and got some things organized for the baptisms coming up on the 27th of July.  We should have 3 if everything goes well.  

Hmmm what else?  

Oh!  Erda days! That was on Friday and Saturday,  There was a short parade.  It was realllly small. ha ha then there was a barbecue / picnic.  It was fun.  Met some good people and made some contacts.  

Well.  Other than that we had church on Sunday as usual.  There was a missionary farewell and a missionary homecoming and we taught a lesson during church as well.  busy busy.  Dinner was awesome.  It was with the Heder family.  Such a nice family.  Their home is so full of the spirit and they are just amazing people.  So willing to follow the spirit and follow whatever the Lord tells them to do.  

Alright.   No more time. :( sorry.

Love you all!  Keep being awesome!  Tell Daniel I say hey! and that he is a boss. 

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak the Strategy

Happy 4th of July!

Hey!!!!  Happy late 4th!  I miss and love you all.  I hope you had a good time, shot off some fireworks for me, and played games like we used to on the 4th of July.  

Well this week has been pretty busy! A lot of things have happened and Im not even sure that I can remember to include all of it in this email. But I'll try my best.  

Alright.  First was Tuesday.  Mission Leader Council in the morning.  That is a meeting with President and his wife, the assistants, the zone leaders, and the sister leader trainers.    It was a great meeting.  We got to meet President and Sister Hansen for the first time.  They are awesome.  I already love them. They are both very inspired and straight forward people.  It is such a blessing to see the inspiration that is given to ourselves and others from the Lord.  I am grateful for the confirmation that I have received that President and Sister Hansen are called of God and that they are here for a reason-to help us improve and become even better disciples of Jesus Christ.  So ya.  The meeting was great.  Not many changes in our mission.  We talked about technology and the vision that may be achieved in our mission if we are prepared and ready.  They talk of us having smart phones and mini i-pads.  No more writing everything down in an area book and trying to figure everything out by hand.  The catch is we don't know when these things will be implemented in our mission.  President Hansen says it could happen in 6 weeks, or 6 months, or even over a year.  So Im not too sure what will happen.  I have seen how useful it would be for us, especially lately in our area.  Our stake president wants to pretty much do away with our correlation meeting and change it to just going out and visiting people.  He wants us to correlate in real time.  When something happens, let them know.  With just our stupid flip phone that doesn't work well in the first place that could prove to be difficulty.  But Im excited for the new vision for our mission and the vision of work in the specific stake where I am assigned.  We should see a tremendous growth in work here over the next month or two and another set of Elders assigned to this stake.  Cool right?  Should be awesome.  We will just try to do our best and do our part and let the Lord provide the rest.  

Next I got sick.  Just a bad cold or flu or something.  Some members in the area thought that I had strep, but one of our bishops is a doctor and he swabbed my throat and I didn't have it.  It took a couple days but I am almost feeling 100% again.  So yeah.  Wednesday was a pretty normal day.  Still felt pretty bad, but got to teach some lessons and meet some people.

OHH!!! I almost forgot something that happened on Tuesday.  It was a sister missionary's Birthday in our zone on Tuesday. Her name is Sister Cardon. She is on a trial mission here for 12 weeks.  She is from Bountiful, Utah.  So yeah.  Being the undoubtedly awesome zone leaders that we are (ha ha just kidding, but we try!) we asked her about what she wanted for her birthday.  She kept on saying nothing, but after our persistence she told us she had been wanting a sweet potato. So we bought her a sweet potato.  Then asked what else she wanted with it.  With more persistence, she called us back during dinner and left us a message with a long list of things that she wanted for her birthday.  Just ridiculous stuff!  SO, of course we decided it would be the best thing to do to get everything that was on the list for her.  We had 3 lessons to teach that night as well.  So we went and taught two lessons.  At the second one we asked our investigators mom (who we have built a great relationship with their whole family) if we could borrow something that she had asked for.  This was the hardest thing to get.  She asked for a chicken.... a live chicken.   So after the lesson we asked her and she said of course!  Our third lesson cancelled and we had less than 30 minutes to get all the other things she wanted before we were supposed to meet them and give them the sweet potato.  So we went to the dollar store.  Bought the peas, carrots, pencils, watermelon sour patch kids, and then got a bike seat from one of the bikes at our place, then got them 2 more miles to use for their car, and got some shoes-heels from the same family as the chicken.  She asked for all these things.  

In the end we got it all, went and gave them the potato first.  Then said, "would you like the rest of your presents??"  walked to the car and pulled the rest out one by one.  Then at the end said didn't we forget something.  And her companion thought about it and said, "oh yeah! the live chicken!"  We went to the car and they were like nooooo way.  Yup.  We got a chicken.      So that all happened in 30 minutes.  Crazy.....  word.

Then Thursday was the 4th of July!  Party / Picnic in Bountiful for the whole mission.  It was awesome. Got to see President and Sister Hansen again.  It was fun.  Made little rockets and stuff as well.  So yeah.  There President informed us that he wouldn't be able to make it around to the apartments the next day, so those visits were cancelled.  Then friday.  Zone meeting.  Gave a training on improving ourselves as servants of Jesus Christ. Then in the evening appointments and the usual work. 

Saturday was fuuuun.  We did service from 9:30 till 4:00.  We got to tackle cows down after they are roped, tag their ears, cut off the tip of an ear if they are male, castrate them, and then brand them.  It was super cool.  And it was a good time.  That was for the same family that we borrowed the chicken from.  And also we helped get their chicken that was about to die, stay alive and get back to normal.  I don't know if I told you about that either, but it was funny.  I love that family.  So awesome.  Their daughter is getting baptized on July 27th.  Should be great.   But yeah.  We might get some pictures that someone took of us branding the cows later.  Everyone that was there was either not a member or not active in the church.  So it was a good opportunity for us and them!  So great. :)

Sunday was a blessing.  Had a meeting with the stake president where we discussed the changes that I mentioned earlier in his stake.  Then had church all day.  And for the first time in this area we had 5 investigators at church!!! :)   I was sooo happy.  It was a great blessing to finish a busy, intense, good week.  

Last thing.  On Saturday evening we were told that we would be giving a training in our zone conference on Monday.  So we had like one day to plan a training to give yesterday (hence the reason I am emailing today.  We had zone conference yesterday so our p-day is today. :)  )   

So zone conference was amazing.  Learned so much.  The trainings were sooo inspired and were exactly what I personally needed. We gave our training on having Perfectly Prepared Plans, and Spiritually Successful Studies.  We used alliterations.  Or whatever they are called.  sick.  

Then came back last night.  Had dinner.  Made visits.  And finally got to relax a little knowing that P-Day was today. :)    

So that was my week!  That was like Jennie-style from all those years ago when she would call us every Sunday night. :)    Those were good times.   

I hope you enjoyed the email.  This week was good. :)  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  

Have a great week!!!!

Love,

-Elder Hansen

Peak the Strategy

P.S. Here is a picture of us and Sister Cardon and all the stuff we got her for her birthday.

Mission Splitting

Hola!  Sup errbody.

Well I have a lot I want to say, but not too much time slash my brain is a bit all over the place.  But I'll try to gather my thoughts enough to write a letter that hopefully you all can understand.

This week was great.  On Monday we said goodbye to President and Sister Winn.  We all played laser tag and went bowling.  It was a blast!  I am going to miss them so much.  They have taught me so many things that I will always remember.  The biggest thing is the importance of becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ.  It is a life-long process, but because of them I have learned how to become better and really, truly learn to represent the Savior.  I have loved having them as our mission mom and dad.  I'll miss em.  Then the next couple days were just filled with working hard.  We are biking right now to save miles.  Since its the new month we are going to use the car again.  But this week was sooo hot!  Like 100 to 105 every day.  It was the wrong week to have to ride bikes.  But its all good.  We visited a lot of people and taught some great lessons.  I love seeing the miracles that we see every day as missionaries.  They are always happening, as long as we are working hard, being obedient, and having the faith to invite.  

We had District Leader Training and District meeting.  The usual.  We are trying to be more involved in the zone and the people that they are teaching.  We took the time this week to call all the missionaries in our zone and ask them who they have on date and how those people are doing and what we can do to help.  I sure hope that they know we care about them.  I don't know how much longer I will get to be a zone leader, but I appreciate the opportunity to try to serve other missionaries and help them in their work.  It has taught me a lot about how to love everyone no matter what their personality is.  Its taught me some patience.  Some missionaries make stupid decisions, and won't listen or respect us (especially when we are younger in the mission than they are....)  But I have found that there is not much you can do.  Just be patient.  Love them.  And do your best.  so ya.

What else? I think the last thing is that we taught a combined relief society and priesthood lesson yesterday at church.  It was the 5th Sunday so the bishop invited us to teach the 3rd hour lesson.  We used some movie clips from the worldwide broadcast "The Work of Salvation".    It was super cool.  We taught about member missionary work, and some of the changes for the members and missionaries in the broadcast.  We will find out tomorrow in Mission Leader Council what changes will be integrated in out mission.  They told all the zone leaders and sister leader trainers to pray about and seek revelation for the vision that the Lord has for our mission especially regarding the new announcements made at the broadcast.  Then tomorrow morning we will council about it and discuss what will happen in our mission.  As you know we have a new Mission President.  President Hansen.  We will meet him for the first time tomorrow.  Then we will see him on Thursday for a 4th of July party thing in Bountiful.  Then he is coming to meet all the missionaries in our zone on Friday.  Then next week is zone conference.  And the week after is interviews.  So we will get to know President and Sister Hansen pretty well over the next 3 weeks.  I believe that the transition will be good.  Hopefully smooth.  Wordski.

Alright.  I think that is about all!  Today isn't even P-day.  We get to email, but then it is a usual proselyting day.  Thursday will be our P-day ---> 4th of July.   

Well,

I love you all so much!  I hear a lot has happened this past week!  I hope everyone is doing well and that you are all blessed with happiness and opportunities to share the gospel with EVERYONE!  

God lives and loves us.

Jesus Christ is our Savior.

The church is true.  Fo real!

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak the Strategy

P.S. Here is a picture from Jordan Sutton's baptism.  It was a couple weeks ago.  sweet.