Elder Hansen and district arriving in the Utah Ogden Mission

Alright, I'm in Farmington Utah!

pffffffffff ha ha sooooo Mom you said I would probably have a lot of emails?? turns out I only got two and they were both from you!  haha sure would be good to hear from some of my sisters maybe??? ha ha ha it only takes a quick minute or two to send a little email right? ha well anywayys!

Sooo much stuff has happened! I dont think that I can even fit it all in this email, but I will try to tell you most everything!

So,  yeah .   We left the MTC on Tuesday morning at 6:00 am . .   we got up early and finished packing and checking out and all that stuff and then got on the bus to Ogden! I only got a couple hours of sleep so I was pretty tired but I was too excited to sleep much on the bus.  We passed by Provo and Orem which was just sort of weird in general since I was at school only a couple weeks ago, but then we drove to South Ogden to the mission office!  We got there and they gave us a lot of training all day about pretty much everything we would need to know about this mission and what we all need to be doing.  Then we were told that the Odgen mission was going to be losing the bottom section from the edge of Syracuse (highway 193) and that anything bellow that was going to become the Salt Lake mission.  I got a pretty weird feeling and it was pretty strong that I might be going down there when they said this.  So when I had my interview with the mission president I told him about those feelings and that I would be willing to go down to that mission if that is what he feels inspired to do.  Some missionaries were not very willing to go down there because they thought that since their call was to Ogden, they should be serving there, but I didnt mind.  Anyway, we went out that day to go contact some people.  It was sweet!  We went to a homeless shelter in Ogden and just started talking to people.  I was a little nervous and since I am usually pretty shy I didnt know how I was going to talk to people.  But we walked up to the shelter and I had the feeling we should go down the ramp on the side and talk to the group of people way down there.  I didnt want to, but my legs kept movin and we were suddenly down there talking to people.  To make a long story short, we found a lady down there that had been evicted recently and in the process had lost her Book of Mormon! She was a member but she didnt have one, so in my hand was a Book of Mormon that she needed.  It was a great experience to know that the Lord wants me out here and will direct us to find people who need our help!  It was sick :)  haha so yeah anyway, we slept at the mission presidents home and I slept in a tiny little fold out bed and the matress was like 1 inch thick . .   so that wasnt too pleasant so I didnt sleep well then either.  But I got up the next morning and got ready and we went back to the church for more training and to find out who our new companions would be and where we were going! Sooo long story short, I was the last name called and I was called to the Farmington area which is going to be in the Salt Lake mission as of July 1st and my companion is a 6'5" bro who reminds me a lot of Garrett Jones! He has dark hair though.  His name is Elder Sam Miller.  He is awesome.   When we found out that we were companions we went up to the front and hugged and he picked me up! ha ha he is funny and like I said, oddly similar to Garrett Jones.  Anyway, we have talked a lot and it turns out we like exactly the same things and are incredibly similar.  We are basically the same person except he is like 7 inches taller than me.  He is from Winslow, Arizona.  Like the Eagles song Winslow.  haha but yeah we get along really well.  The work is pretty hard right now though because we opened a new area . .   soo white washed . .    and we cover two stakes.  Farmington stake and Farmington West stake.  It is crazy.  We cover like 15 wards and 3 branches!  So we met both stake presidents already and talked a lot with them because we dont have anything to go off of before.  And we have talked to probably 8 to 10 bishops already. Soo yeah! we have just been tracting and contacting and finding constantly.  By the way we are on foot at the moment but we are trying to go to the mission office today to pick up bikes. Soo yeah . .  no car . .  and the rumor is that the salt lake mission that I will be in will not have any cars either . . . .  :(  dang . . . . . just tons of walking!    it'll be tight .  .   
Soo what else.      Well we got to our area and we had to start from scratch . .   but we are staring to get the work going!  We had a lesson last night with a guy named James Lui.  He is Korean I think and he is going to BYU in the fall.  But he is a nonmember!   We taught him the first lesson and used the spirit sandwich (something we learned in the training at the mission offices that is used throughout the mssion)  and then commited him to be baptized.  He said yes!!! :) so that was exciting.  I hope he really does pray about what we have talked about and reads the Book of Mormon like we asked him to.  We assigned him to read 3 Nephi 11 so hopefully he gets a lot out of this chapter!   We are going to meet with him again tomorrow.   So yeah!!
Errbody in Utah sees the missionaries walking around and honks and waves and yells! Its funny . .  We are like rock stars out here :)  but the people who dont like us, reallllly dont like us  if you know what Im sayin . .  Everyone we talk to that is not a member just says I dont want to hear it, Im happy where im at, and then shuts the door.    its sorta lame, but we are still movin on and trying to help a lot of people.   We are focusing on less actives also while trying to keep the baptism numbers up!  Its cool .    sooooo yeah.We have been flipped off a couple time too   . .   just in case you wanted to know haha but other than that I dont kinow what else to tell you people! haha I miss you guys!  Happy Belated Birthday Jamie and Mom!!!!!!!!  sorry I missed those.    . .  there was a lot going on over here!  and I am sooo sorry to hear about Grace.  That is horrible news, and I hope Paul and Jennie and all of their family can find comfort in what I am out here teaching.  The plan of salvation is an amazing thing and I feel so blessed to know that we will see those people that have passed on again in the next life.  It is comforting :) so yeah.  Guess what?? I met a man named Brother Childe out here.  He fed us on Memorial day (yesterday)  and we found out that he is one of the people that President Thomas S. Monson sends out to look for new temple locations!!!!  crazy right???  He is a really cool guy.  Everyone out here is sooo nice and funny and sweet.  It cool . . I already love the people.  its sick.  Anyway,    . . .  not much else to report . .

Love you all and miss you tons!

Hope everythjing is going well out there!!
Thanks for all the emails and letters mom! you are the best :)  miss you

God lives and loves us, Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  I know this gospel is true.
Godspeed.
Peak The Strategy

Love,
-Elder Hansen


P.S. Mom since I am changing missions the mission office will be different and so I will give that address to you when I get it.  Then could you give it to friends and people or put it on Facebook??  Sweet,  and I will try to send pictures soon.  wordski . . 

Almost done at the MTC!

Hello family!!! :)  How is everything going?  How is life?  Work? School? Life???  haha i miss hearing from all of you.  Thanks for the letters and emails Mom and Dad!! They are greatly appreciated! I love hearing from you and I am so thankful to have such loving and supportive parents! Thats not always the case here, but I know you guys support me in serving a mission and I am incredibly grateful for that!    Anyway . . .

So I have been here for two and a half weeks!! Its nuts.    The first week was probably the longest week of my entire life, but the second week was so fast and the third is almost ending!! I am leaving to go to Ogden at 6am on Tuesday morning.  . . ..    a little early ...  but its okay .     soooo yeah . . . .   guess what????   Elder L. Tom Perry came to our devotional on Tuesday!  It was awesome!     I had no idea he was soo tall! He is like 6' 5" ish! and he is still pretty agile. ( cant  find the right word for that)   but he pretty much jumped up the stairs up to the podium! Oh and   did you know that he is remarried????   His wife spoke first and talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how our message should be centered around it because its main message is of Christ and his teachings.  It was sooo good. And L. Tom Perry's talk was even better.  . haha his testimony was sooo powerful and it was such a great opportunity to hear from an Apostle of the Lord and now I can testify to others that I have seen these apostles and I know that they have testimonies of this gospel and this work and that it is real!   ehh that didnt sound very good, but there isnt much time to write so I cant think of the best way to say things. . . . . 

anway,                         ....      I cant believe i am going into the field   next Tuesday! ahhhhhh  its so exciting! I am learning soo much here and I cant wait to learn more and be able to better help  the people in Ogden and introduce the gospel into their life.  :) 

We have gym time most days and it is probably my favorite time (dont tell anybody :) ) I play volleyball like everyday, but I also run sometimes.  Its random  . . . .    but I lost pretty much all the weight I gained the first week . . .    I think my body just adjuasted to all the food and now I just weigh what I did before.   Soooo yeah .. . 

gahhh 11 minutes left . . .    hmmm  I dont know what else I want to tell you guys . . .   I did a handstand for 2 minutes and 4 seconds a couple nights ago . .   it was sick :)   haha oh and I am supposed to get another hep A shot today . . . .  so thats cool I guess!   Oh and we went to the temple last week and did an endowment session! It was awesome :)   I love going to the temple.  I think we will just go do initiatory today but either way it is so spiritually uplifting and just makes me more happy in general. 

The spirit is pretty strong in the MTC all the time.   It is like an overdose.  Our district jokes that we are becoming spiritually obese because we are feeling the spirit so much everyday.  .     It is even a little exhausting because  there arent really any breaks.    but its good! Im always tired, but I just keep chuggin along and trying to learn as much as I can while I am here :)   so if any of you want to write me before I leave the MTC you should do it through dearelder.com <http://dearelder.com>     because then they print them off for us very quickly and I can read them and then have more time to reply during my email time . . . (which is like 30 minutes ish)   speaking of which I only have 5 minutes left  . . . ahh

Welllll   I just love you  guys a lot I spose :)  and I miss you and I hope you are all doing well!   I know that this gospel is true and I know that Heavenly Father loves me and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  I am absolutely excited to go tell the people in Odgen that they can have a very personal relatinship with their Heavenly Father through prayer.  I know that prayer works and  that He wants to hear from us whenever we can talk to Him. When we were waiting in the Celestial room after our temple session I had some time to just ponder and pray and talk to my Heavenly Father and I was able to feel his love and recieve an answer to my question, even if it wasnt waht I expected.  Also our teacher had us go out and pray for  45 minutes straight.    It was soo cool!!! and such a good experience :)  you should all try it sometime and just pray and oponder dor like 15 minutes if you get the chance or the time. . . . Alright  Im out of time..  but I love you guys and I hope you have a great week!!!!!

Godspeed.

Peak the Strategy

-Elder Hansen

P.S.  I will try to send pictures soon! but I dont know if I will be able to before I leave the MTC.   But I'll try!  

Wordski :)

Week One at the Missionary Training Center

It's P-day!!
Hello my family!  How are you guys?? how is school and work and everything?? Man, it feels like I have already been gone for a year.    . . .       The days here go on forever! But at the same time, overall I can't believe that I have been here for a whole week. Its nuts!  
Wellll . . . . lets see . .    I have been learning a lot!!! They are cramming everything into our brains right now so that when we go out into the field we can actually do work!  Its a lot to learn though! We have 2   3 hour classes pretty much everyday, and then a bunch of teaching investigators, less actives, and member refferals.  It is sooo busy! There is hardly even a spare minute to sit down.  By the end of the day you go back to your residence and it has been around 16 hours since you left at 7am  . .    .. .   It is crazy! I get pretty tired throughout the day because I always want to write in my journal and write people letters so I end up getting like 6 ish hours of sleep a night . ..  Its hard, but with the Lord's help we can do anything! :)    

So, this week has been fun.  I have learned how to identify the investigators needs and then how to try to teach to those needs.  I have also learned how the gospel really relates to every single person out there because it can help them in so many different ways.  Also! Elder D. Todd Christofferson came on Tuesday night for our devotional!!! It was awesome! He is such a good speaker and it was very interactive.  We basically got to have a lesson with him about the Doctrine of Christ, and repentance, and our purpose in serving the Lord! It's exciting to be out here!

Oh . . .. .  so the food . . . .    it was pretty good for about 2 days . .  but then it gets old very quickly!   haha Im pretty sure I gained like 8 pounds the first couple days, but then I decided the food wasnt very good and I was tired of being full all the time! So Im pretty sure I lost it all again . . . ha.    Oh and on another note, I ran during gym for the first time in forever, and I still ran a mile in less than 7 minutes! so that was good to know Im still somewhat in shape!  ha ha

Well I guess I should tell you about my companion!!! His name is Elder Thomas Clarke.  He is a skinny white kid a little shorter than me. He played trumpet in band for a long time and he isnt too coordinated when it comes to sports! hahah its funny :) but he is a great guy and he is very good at asking the right questions when we are teaching investigators.  He is awesome!!

Our teachers here are completely awesome! One is Brother Ang, (which would be funnyif you have seen Avatar the last airbender, Jamie should get it!)  and another is Brother Clements.  Bro Clements is soooooo energetic and excited all the time!! It is cool andit makes me more excited about what we are here to do and how we can best go about sharing our message! I sorta think I will be like that for most of my mission.  I usually am peretty energetic!  

On another note, thanks for sending the letter and emails mom! you are awesome and I love you so much. Oh and thanks Jamie for the update on the Braves! and the rest of your letter was good too! Oh and the rest of you, I love you guys too!!! :)   I hope you all had tons of fun at Natalie's white coat ceremony!!!! I saw the pictures! They were cute :)  Love you guys and miss you!!

Well I only have 4 minutes left . . ... ahhhhhhhhh so I guess I leave you now but I want to let you guys know how thankful I am for you guys and encouraging me to go on a mission! I love this gospel and I know it is true.  I cant wait to share this happiness that I have with everyone in Ogden!  Sooo great :)  anyway!

Love you . . .  Miss you  . .
God lives . . .   .      Jesus Christ is our Savior and he loves us.

Godspeed.
Peak The Strategy 

Love,
    Elder Hansen


P.S.  Natalie, did you put the pictures on the flash drive for Melissa yetÉ   Just checking, cause she is leaving for Belgium in a week and a half so maybe Jamie could get them to her by thenÉ


okay bye :)