Zone Conference

Hello family!  How is everyone?  I hope things are good.  I am so grateful for all your emails and letters.  Thank you.

Well this week was pretty good.  We had trouble finding new people to teach, but we witnessed a lot of miracles with the people we are currently teaching.  We put a lot of our investigators on date.  Currently we have 9 people on date to be baptized.  We have 4 on date for this Saturday.  I hope they all get baptized.  It is so great to see people enter into this promise with Heavenly Father.  

We had a baptism last Sunday.  Travis Olmsted got baptized.  It was so powerful.  He has come a very long way.  He has truly changed and now he is so much happier.  This gospel really brings happiness to our lives.  He will be confirmed this coming Sunday.  We spoke in another ward last Sunday.  It was a cool sacrament meeting to be in.  To learn so much and to try to encourage these people to become more like Christ and share the gospel with everyone.

Anyway, we had zone conference down in Salt Lake yesterday.  It was really good.  Learned so much.  It was President and Sister Winn's last conference.  They are amazing.  They truly love all of the missionaries and the people they come in contact with.  I want to become like that.  We got pictures and a medallion that has 3 Nephi 5:13 on it.  Its sick.

So yeah.  Over all this week was good.  Just heading into another.  

Well, I'll attach a picture or two.  Hope you all have a great week this week!  Love you all!

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

General Conference

Hello errbody!  Hows life??  Thanks for your emails and letters and support.  I really appreciate it.

Well this week was good!  As far as teaching and finding new people to teach this week was pretty slow.  It was a struggle because we had to go down to Salt Lake twice and to Lyman once for a Zone Meeting.  But we did have some great teaching moments and saw some miracles.  On Tuesday we went down to Slat Lake for Zone Leader Council.  It was a good meeting.  We talked a lot about how to improve ourselves and inspire and build the faith of all the missionaries in the mission.  It was great.  Then on Friday we had Zone meeting.  We got up and gave a training.  It went pretty well.  Its hard to keep the attention of a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds though.... ha ha!  But overall I hope they learned something and that because of it they can be better missionaries and disciples of Jesus Christ.  The training was on preparing people to be baptized and confirmed.  So ya.

General Conference!  It was sooo awesome.  We went down to Salt Lake and saw 4 of the 5 sessions in person.  It was great!  Also some of our investigators came down and saw the prophet speak as well.  I was so happy they came.  I really liked every single talk that was given.  They were all so inspired.  This was the first conference that I have been to that it was easy for me to pay attention the whole time and that it felt like it went really fast!  I am so grateful for living apostles and prophets that are led by the Savior himself to show us what we need to do.  I saw some people at conference as well!  I saw Britlyn Compton who went to school with us in Colorado!  It was crazy.  I also saw some people from BYU that I had met last year.  They are friends with Ashlyn Mills.  They roomed with her.  So that was random, but sweet.  Then I saw an elder from my MTC district that is serving in the Ogden mission.  Elder Maynez!  He is a boss.  I also saw another elder from my MTC district that went to New York!  He was home on medical leave because he is having trouble breathing while he sleeps.  But he is going back into the field soon.  It was cool to see him.

Last thing, we had some great lessons last night.  Taught a part member family about the restoration.  Then taught a single lady and gave her a priesthood blessing.  It was very powerful.  She knows that we are bringing light to her life and I think she will be baptized soon.  So yeah.

Well, I love you all very much.  I am so thankful for everything you do for me and your support and encouragement.  Have a great week!

Love you!

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

John Moore's Baptism!

Alright sweet.  How is everyone???  This week was pretty great!  We had a baptism!  John Moore is a 12 year old boy that got baptized on Friday.  His baptism was so powerful.  The spirit was there very strongly.  We watched a video while he was getting changed.  It is "The Patterns of Light" by David A. Bednar.  It is really cool.    I'll send a picture of the baptism.

Hmmm what else happened this week...  It was Easter!!  Happy Easter errbody!!  And it was fast Sunday.  It was cool to have them on the same day and hear everyone bear testimony of our Savior and his resurrection and what that means for us.  I love Easter time.  We bore our testimonies a lot yesterday. 

We had some amazing lessons last week.  We found a new family of 3 that is going to be baptized on the 20th of April.  They even came to church yesterday and really liked it!  It was awesome.  I am so excited for them. They are the White family. Kathy, Joe, and Ethan.   Anway,

What else happened this week....  Oh.  one of our baptisms cancelled.  It was lame.   He cancelled 10 minutes before.  The font was already full and everything... but its okay.  He will get baptized soon.  We went out and found 9 new investigators this week.  It was soo cool.  The Lord is blessing us.  Thank you for all your prayers and everything you all do for missionaries.  Trust me, it helps.

Well this week was pretty similar to the rest so I will just leave it at that.  Thank you all for your emails and letters.  I truly appreciate it.  

Love you.

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

Billy Brazelton's Baptism!

Sup Family!  How is everyone doing?? Thanks so much for your emails and letters this week.  I truly appreciate everything you send and say to encourage me.  It is such a blessing to have such great friends and family.  I love you all and miss you very much.  

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, the place we email at was closed so we had to take a little time today to write.

This week has been very good.  We have experienced some miracles that I wish I had time to talk about today, but I will have to share them another time.  This week we were supposed to have 3 baptisms.  Because of the inclement weather 2 of them got moved to this next week.  One is a boy named John. His family lives in Tooele (Toeele? I have no idea how to spell that!) anyway, in Utah! And they got a lot of snow or something so they couldn't make the drive out here last weekend.  So next weekend it will happen!  But one person was still able to get baptized.  His name is Morris William Brazelton Jr.  He is sooo cool.  He goes by Bill or Billy, and he is a great Christian man.  He loves the church and loves how he feels so accepted there and how we follow Christ so fully as members of the LDS church.  He was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday.  I'll attach a picture.  He is 4' 11"!  He is strong though.  He has had to struggle through a lot of things in his life, but through the Lord and his help he has become strong.  I am so grateful that he was open enough to listen to us and that the members referred us to him!   We met him only 2 weeks ago and now he is a member of the church and moving forward very quickly.  The Lord truly is at the head of this work and it is true!

So ya.  We also found a lot more people to teach which was such a blessing.  We hit the Standard of Excellence as a companionship this week.  Which is having 1 baptism, 1 confirmation, 3 on date for baptism, 5 at church, 8 lessons with members present, and 3 new investigators.  

We had been praying all week for a miracle that we would be able to achieve the goal of hitting the SOE as a zone.  Which would mean, 8 baptisms, 8 confirmations, 24 people on date for baptism, 40 people at church, 64 lessons with members present, and 24 new investigators.  Through our prayers and faith we were able to achieve it!!!  Here were the numbers this week.  8 baptized,  8 confirmed, 26 people on date for baptism, 54 people at church, 94 Lessons with members present, and 30 new investigators!  

I am not all about numbers, trust me. I actually hate them because it distracts from the actual people you are finding, teaching, and baptizing.  But they are good to help focus our efforts and help us stretch and grow to be even better missionaries and disciples of Jesus Christ.  

"The Lord always blesses the exercise of Faith"  That is what President Winn always says.  I have come to know this week in particular that this is true.  As we exercise faith, we will be blessed!

Well not much else to say, and I don't have much more time.  Gotta go out and do the work this afternoon and find more people to teach.

One more thing.  Last night we had an amazing lesson with a couple and their child.  The Wright family.  They are so prepared.  It was one of the most spiritual lessons that I have ever had on my mission.  As we shared the message of the restoration and the first vision in particular the father, Jake, was able to feel the spirit so strongly testify to his heart that this was true.  Also when we told him that he could have the opportunity to have the restored priesthood himself to bless his family, he started to cry.  I love the Lord's work.  It has changed me in every single way.  I will never be the same because I know the joy that comes from sharing the gospel with others and helping them in the crucial steps to receiving eternal life and eternal happiness with our Father in Heaven and with their families.

I love you all.  I hope you are feeling the blessings that the Lord has for you as you continue in keeping his commandments and improving yourselves to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ.

Have a fantastic week.

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak the Strategy

Is it real??

Dearest Family,

Hey.  How is everyone???  I miss you all.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes and packages and things!! I sure appreciate everything you all do for me.  Thanks so much!

Also Happy St. Patricks Day!!   I feel ashamed though.. I forgot to wear a green tie...... oops.  There is always next year right?? 

Well cool.  This week was flippin sweet.  Seriously.  We saw some amazing miracles.  We did exchanges with a district leader over in Lyman.  I stayed in our area and we were able to pick up a new investigator and it turns out that she has a pet Racoon!   So she let us touch it and pet it and it was like licking our hands! It was nuts!  We took some pictures of it, but they are on another missionaries camera, so i'll send them next week!  We also taught some great lessons that night and put another person named Theron on date to be baptized on the 13th of April.  The work is moving forward very quickly!  We have 3 baptisms this week!  Its going to be awesome!  

As a zone this week we hit the Dry SOE. Which means that we hit the standard of excellence as a zone except for in baptisms.  Next week we should have 13 baptisms as a zone.  So we will hit the Standard of Excellence which is (as a zone) 8 baptisms, 24 people on date, 40 people at church, 64 lessons with a member present, and 24 new investigators.  It is so exciting! 

Well hmm what else happened this week.  I am just jumping all over the place in this email... but on my birthday we went to Salt Lake for an all day training. It was pretty good. Then we had dinner with Elder Edstrom's family because they were in town and his sister was going into the MTC the next day.  It was great.  Olive Garden.  Mmmmm.  Then we went back to the Winn's house and they made me brownies for my birthday, got me a tie that matched President Winn's, and a really soft blanket.  It was very nice of them.  I am so grateful to have such an awesome mission president and his wife!

Well the last thing is the pictures this week!  Sooo YES! It is real!  Those are REAL academy awards.  This man who is letting us teach his friend in his home pulled them out yesterday.  They were given to his Grandfather.  His Grandfather got 7 Oscars! He has three of them.  He got them in set decoration!  And guess what movies for?  Hello Dolly, Cleopatra, and one other one I can't remember.   It was sooo cool!!  The only time I'll ever get to hold a real Oscar!!  I bet you are jealous Jennie... :)   ha ha it made me think of you.  ha ha So yeah.  Just another random cool thing that happens to us.  I love being a missionary.  And the man we are teaching in his home should be getting baptized this weekend.  His name is Billy.  Im excited.

Well I think that is it!  I love you all!  Miss you tons.  Hope you have an awesome week!

The church is true. 

Word.

Godspeed,

-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

Happy Birthday Jennie!!!!!!!!!

Hello my wonderful family! How is everyone?????  I hear there was a pretty awesome birthday party last weekend!!  Wish I could have been there. But its all good.  There will be plenty of birthdays in the future that we can party for!   Thanks for all the emails and letters and birthday stuff.  It really has made my week so much better.  So thanks!

Well this week was kinda the same as usual... The beginning of the week was great! We had a lot of lessons and helped a lot of people progress in the gospel.  Then the second half everything like stopped..... it was hard.  Everyone was gone or was ignoring us and cancelled all the lessons we had set up.  It was frustrating.  But in the end the week was good.  We had 5 people come to church which was a miracle.  We added 3 new investigators this week and one is already on date to be baptized on the 23rd of March.  We had our first lesson with him last night and it was sooo powerful.  He is so prepared and we are so excited for him.  His name is Bill.  So ya.  

We spoke in 2 wards yesterday.  The 2nd and 3rd wards.  It went pretty well.  I still don't like speaking that much, but it has gotten a lot easier since we do it soo much.  

Well what else....  I think that is about it!  We did cook the fish that we caught last Monday and it was soooooo good!! It makes me want to go again just so that we can eat it again!  But It was kind of a lot of money and time to get up there.... especially when you can just buy fish at the store.... ha ha :) but it was fun anyway.

Here are some pictures at the state line. Utah and Wyoming.    Its still funny to me that I am serving here, but I love it.  It is a great area and the people are phenomenal.  It is awesome.  

Love you all!!! Miss you! 

God lives and loves us.

Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.

The church is true.

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen

Peak The Strategy

Ice Fishing???

HELLO!!!  Well today was crazy.  We got up early and went ice fishing! Drilled holes through the ice and just fished.  It was like 15 degrees.  It was actually pretty fun! I caught two myself.  We stayed there for a long time.  Till like 2:00pm. But I actually liked it.  More than I thought I would.   So ya. I'll send a picture of that as well.

Anyway...  This week was sweet.  We had Zone Leader Council down in Salt Lake at the mission office on Tuesday.  Learned a lot and had a great time. Then on Wednesday we had Zone meetings and interviews with President Winn.  The Winns picked us up at 7:30am and we drove out to Rock Springs and gave our first training to District B. Then right after we got done we drove back to Evanston and gave the same training again to District A and President had his interviews with them.  It was crazy. Giving the same training twice in a row was weird... but it went well. The training was on studying for our investigators. The Lord really does inspire our leaders in the mission to help us succeed and become better missionaries.  I am so grateful for that.  We got done at about 4:30pm that day....  So yeah.  

A lot of great lessons with our investigators this week.  They are progressing! We have 4 people on date to be baptized and a couple more to put on date this week. The Lord is truly blessing us for our efforts and for our faith which is in Him and His Son Jesus Christ.  I love this gospel. And I love being a missionary.  

We also found three new investigators this week.  They are going to be solid. One is a girl from the family we gave blessings to last week.  They are all non-members, but they had a loss in the family and we were able to give them blessings.  The kids asked me to do all of theirs.  So I did 4 out of the 6 and bishop kennedy and my companion did the other two.  Gods love for them was soo incredibly strong and real.  It was an amazing experience.  One of the best on my mission so far.  

Well what else happened...... oh.  There was stake conference this week.  And we had to speak in the Sunday morning Priesthood Leadership meeting at 7:00am.... It was early.  But it turned out well I think.  A lot of the members are listening to us and willing to help us out which is awesome!   My companion's testimony has effected many people in this area very strongly.  I hope mine will do the same. 

Alright. I don't have any more time to write.... sorry!  but I love you all!  I miss you tons and hope you all are doing great!

Keep the faith,

Peak the Strategy,

Much love, 

Godspeed.

-Elder Hansen