11 9 09 Crocs & Smashed Toe

Hola,
Wisconsin weather sounds pretty great right now. People keep telling me that the weather is supposed to cool down soon, but it seems like it's just as hot and humid as it was 2 months ago. Oh well, I'm kind of getting used to it.

Last Monday we went to Lazaro because we were going to do divisions with the zone leaders. We went up there Monday morning to play soccer with the elders over there. First we went to this place where the river meets with the ocean. Apparently in this place there are always crocodiles that hang out there. We got there and there was a big group of people and like 4 big crocodiles on the beach and another 10 in the water. Some kids had some meat on the end of a string that they would throw in front of the crocodiles to get them to leave the water. When they did that another guy would run and grap their tails. Things like that make me love Mexico. In the US there would be a park ranger there in 10 seconds to yell at everyone. After a while two trucks of federalis came and started taking pictures with the crocodiles.

After that, we went to go play soccer on the beach. We were playing in the sand without shoes on. It wasn't a great idea. My foot got smashed pretty hard by Elder Wiggins' companion. My foot was pretty swollen and I couldn't walk on it at all. After a while the pain was localized to one toe. I didn't know if it was broken or not. I spent the afternoon being carried around on Elder Querry's back. People were looking at us like "who are these two gay gringos?" We eventually decided to not do divisions, so we went back home. My foot still hurt pretty badly, so we decided to go to the doctor in Zihua. I hopped into the general hospital and the waiting room was full and there were a ton of people outside. They told us the hospital was full and sent me to the clinic. I thought I was going to have to hop there, but luckily a nice guy helped us out and gave us a ride over there. The doctor told me it's probably not broken but it received a pretty hard hit. He said to come back for an x-ray if it didn't get any better in 3 days. He gave me a shot in the butt and sent me on my way. It is impossible to go to the doctor in Mexico without getting a shot in the butt. It doesn't matter if you have a hurt foot or diarhea.

Well, for two days I couldn't really walk so we didn't do much. But on Wednesday we discoved that I could move on a bike because I didn't have to move my toes. Some members lent us some bikes and we were able to get back to work. We were on bikes for two days. I felt like I was in Best Two Years. It was cool, but the dogs attacked us more often on the bikes. I can walk better now, but I still have a limp. My toe isn't that purple anymore, and my foot doesn't swell up.
In other news, we are teaching a cool family. The wife was baptized at 8 years old, but has been inactive for about 15 years. We are teaching her and here husband. They are both really interested. We found them because the bishop decided to visit some inactive members in the area. Because of their visit the whole family came to church. Always do your visits. It doesn't matter how long they have been inactive for.

Now I'll answer Dad's questions. I don't know why that Elder doesn't talk. He just doesn't. He's Mexican and definitely knows how to talk. When he talks, he whispers, so I had to repeat everything he said.

My companion and I get along for the most part. He works a lot better than my other companion, so that helps. But he is pretty frito, which means he doesn't really care about the rules. But he usually respects me. The only days we kind of have problems are Sunday and Monday because Sunday he doesn't want to do anything and Monday he wants to stay on the internet all day.

There is now another gringo in the Zihuatanejo area. In the zone, there are 5. There are no sisters here. The sisters are all Mexicans. There are some zones that they don't send sisters to. The mission is about 70 percent Mexican. There are only 2 from South America.

Pantla is definitely not a tourist area, so there are no tourists in church. Pantla is a pretty ugly little pueblo that is kind of far from anything appealing to a tourist. Maybe in Zihua tourists might show up.

I enjoyed Mom's letter a lot. Keep up the hard work. Echele ganas.
Clint do you like your job? It doesn't sound like too much fun.
Dad, when do you have to stop riding your bike? Is there ever ice on the road?
Ok well, that's all for this week.

Love,
Elder Hansen

PS What is heveled? I know what disheveled is, but not heveled. (inside joke from Ross's letter)

11 2 09 In Lazaro Cardenas

It sounds like everyone is busy back home. I enjoyed Kelli's story a lot. [EDITOR'S NOTE ABOUT KELLI'S LETTER...Summer and Ali were sitting in their high chairs and Summer unzipped her pj's and said to Ali, "Here's Summer's tummy, where's Ali's tummy?" Ali then unzipped her pj's and pointed to her tummy and said, "Here's Ali's tummy!" Summer then pointed to her belly button and said, "Here's Summer's belly button, where's Ali's belly button?" and Ali pointed to her belly button and said, "Here's Ali's belly button." Then Summer pointed to her ...ahem,.. and said "Here's Summer's booby, where's Ali's booby?" Ali then sharply said, "NO! I'm saving mine!" ]

Halloween wasn't too eventful here. There were a few little kids that dressed up and they had a neighborhood party. I hear that in some parts of Mexico Halloween is pretty big, but not really in the pueblos. The kids walk down the street or go to doors and yell,"Queremos Halloween" or we want halloween, instead of saying trick or treat. Today is Dia de los Muertos. Everybody has their shrines out with food and flowers for their deceased family members. Tonight I think there might be some big parties.

I am in Lazaro Cardenas right now. I am going to be in divisions with the zone leader until Wednesday. It should be pretty cool. I haven't been with another gringo since my dad, Elder Johnson. Elder Wiggins is in my zone again. He is here in Lazaro. But he goes home in 6 weeks.

This week we had zone conference. It was cool. I finally got the package. My mother knows me too well. I've been craving cinnamon toast crunch and nutri grain bars for months. Where were those pictures taken?

This week went by pretty fast. We had zone conference one day and divisions another day. I was put with a companion that doesn't talk, so that was an interesting experience. I had to teach all of the lessons alone. But I was surprised that I could actually do it.

I got Jenny's jackalope postcard. It was pretty cool. Mom said she wrote an email, but I don't think I got it.

Ok well I need to go, but I might write more later.
Elder Hansen