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

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

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