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

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

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......

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

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.