April 27, 2009

Bret's First Baptism: Julia (in white) & her brother, Marco (in tank top)

Yummy missionary breakfast

Subj: hola
Date: 4/27/2009 6:03:00 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: bretchansen@myldsmail.net

So I just heard about this whole influenza thing yesterday for the first time. We were eating at someone's house and a soccer game was on, but nobody was at the game. I asked why and they said the city is quarantined for the influenza. Today I heard more about it from other missionaries. Nobody here in this pueblo seems concerned about it, but in the city, Cuautla, where we went today there were some people with surgical masks. Suposedly, nobody in Morelos has got this sickness, but that information may not be correct. We have been told to wash our hands a lot, but the people here don't ever have soap in the bathrooms or running water. I will try and see if I can find some sort of soap that I can carry with me. But I am surprised to hear all this about this flu thing, because I really knew nothing about it.

Mom, I am pretty sure my weight is more stable now. The last time I weighed myself was the second week and I wasn't eating a lot then and was more sick. I never really got sick this week, so don't worry. The only weight I lost was what I gained in the MTC.

Well, I will begin with a funny story. I was on exchanges with a Mexican companion and we were sitting in the back of a combi (a van that takes people places in town). Our driver was about twenty, had an earing and looked like he thought he was pretty cool. So at first he was just listening to some Mexican music, but the next song that came on was Shania Twain's "Man I feel like a woman." I started laughing, but I was the only one in the car that could understand English. My companion asked me what the song was saying and I explained that usually girls only like that song, but he didn't believe me and said he liked that song.

So, this week I got my first baptisms! I baptized a woman named Julia and her son Marco. It was awesome. This woman came from an inactive family, but recently her sister has started coming to church. So we went to visit the family one night, and we talked with them a lot. We found out that the missionaries kind of stopped teaching Julia after they found out she was living with someone that she wasn't married to, but she used to come to church a lot with her kids. But a few months ago her boyfriend left her. We started teaching her and found out that she has a strong testimony of the church, and we invited her to be baptized on Saturday. We also invited her nine year old son Marco to be baptized. Marco was so excited, and he was really helpful in motivating his mom. During the baptismal service Marco was smiling the whole time even though he was wearing white pants that were way to big for him and a beater. Julia was a little nervous, but afterwards she said she felt really good about her decision. It was so cool to be part of that experience, and it made me really grateful to be here as a missionary.

Dad, I was glad to hear about Kevin Butler. He was one of my good friends in the MTC. It was also cool to read Steven's letter last week. It is interesting to hear how different the work is. He was so excited that he had taught nine lessons to new investigators. In our mission we are supposed to find 25 new investigators a week and we to teach 25 lessons a week. It usually is a little less than that, but that is the goal. But I think the difference here is that a lot of people will listen to us and invite us back, but they have no intention of changing or acting upon what we teach.

This week we had stake conference which was way cool. Our mission president and his wife sang a song, and they both have really good voices. They sang that Kenneth Cope song "I believe in Him" in Spanish.Ok well, I love you all and keep me updated with all that is going on out there.

Elder Hansen

P.S. attached is a photo from the baptism and one of the missionary diet