Elder Bret Hansen's Mission Blog

Bret's Homecoming Details

2010-12-26T16:16:00.000-08:00

Bret flies into SLC Tuesday (Dec 27)! E-mail Janice if you want more info: jh4homes@aol.com

So far there isn't a homecoming scheduled since he won't be able to come back to Sugar Land before school starts. Maybe some future weekend.

12/20/10 Last Letter

2010-12-26T16:14:00.001-08:00

Dear Family,

It's kind of hard for me to believe that this is the last letter I will write. I remember when I entered the MTC, and how I thought that this day was an eternity away. I can’t really believe that it’s finally here. The mission has become my life. Mexico has become my home, and Spanish has become my language. Starting the mission, everything seemed so foreign to me: the mission schedule, the language, the culture, the people, and the food. But slowly all of those things have become a part of me.

It’s difficult to explain what the mission has meant to me. It has been the most difficult yet rewarding experience I have ever lived. But I have come to learn that that is how life must be when one dedicates their life to the service of the Lord. The testimony truly comes after the trial of our faith. I have also learned that Christ has indeed suffered so that can know how to succor his people. The saving of human souls is the most rewarding work that one can do on this Earth. To see lives change for the eternities is a joy that nothing in this world can offer.

I believe that the greatest convert of my mission is myself. By accepting a mission call one accepts to be molded and perfected by the hand of God. It is a long and sometimes painful process, but in the end one can look back and see the masterpiece the Lord has created. I’m not saying that I am that masterpiece, but I accept that the work that the Lord has done for me in these two years has truly been a work of art.

Throughout the mission, a missionary always has this day in the back of his mind. But I never thought I would be this sad when it finally came. I have grown to love these people and this country. I think I understand now how Alma and the sons of Mosiah must have felt as they worked among the Lamanite people. These are truly a chosen people. I now understand what caused the three Nephites to ask to be permitted to serve until the second coming of Christ. I feel a little guilty that I decided to cut my mission a month short to start school, but what’s done is done. There are more things waiting for me back home.

I would like to conclude this letter with my testimony. I know this is the true church of Christ. I know that because I have asked and received an answer. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and is the most important tool that we have in these latter days to bring to pass the salvation of human souls. I know that God lives. He loves every one of His children. He listens to us, and will answer us. I know that He has a plan for us. Part of this plan is that we can have eternal families.

Thank you for raising me in a home where love and righteous principles were always taught. I love you and look forward to seeing you soon.

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” Joseph Smith

Love,

Elder Hansen

12/13/10 Turtle Service Project & Alma Nelly's Baptism

2010-12-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

Hola,

This week was a pretty fun week. On Tuesday we did our Christmas service project. Our zone went to help out the Save the Turtles foundation. We went and painted and fixed up this little house where the run the turtle saving stuff. It was a pretty simple house. They had a big bathtub think where they kept the new born turtles, and they had a big fenced in area where they keep the eggs buried in the sand. At the end of the day we each got to free two turtles into the ocean. It was pretty cool. But we were pretty disappointed to hear that only 5 out of every 100 turtles live to adulthood.

The week got even better after the turtle saving. On Wednesday we had the interview for Alma Nelly's baptism. But as we were there I started talking to her kids and they said that they wanted to be baptized on the same day. My district leader interviewed them and said that they were ready. The kids had only gone to church once, but President always says that whenever possible we should baptize the whole family together. So we had the baptism on Saturday, and the three of them, Alma Nelly, Marcos, and Abraham, were baptized together. The baptism went really well. With them we also completed the goal of baptisms for the month. Hopefully we can pass it, but we'll see because we don't really have anyone right now.

Well, everything is going well here. Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Elder Hansen

12/6/10 Teaching Almaneli

2010-12-26T16:09:00.000-08:00

Hola,

This week went pretty well. We were able to bring 4 people to church yesterday, and we should have a baptism this week. The person who is going to be baptized is named Almaneli. She is super cool. The missionaries were already teaching her when I got here. She's already read like half of the Book of Mormon and has a strong testimony. She was in an accident a few months ago which has made it a little difficult for her to go to church. But lately she's been doing better which has allowed her to go to church. We are also teaching her two kids Abraham y Marco. They came to church for the first time last week. We hope that they can also be baptized this month.

Thanks for all of the emails. My birthday was alright. The day was pretty routine. But at night we went out for Tacos al Pastor with a recent convert who's pretty cool. We ate half a kilo of meat between the three of us. Half a kilo for 100 pesos. It was a pretty good deal. We all took turns eating habanero peppers. It was pretty fun. Then we went to McDonald's for some ice cream. On Monday we baked the cake in the church. It was supposed to be super moist, but it came out super super moist. It was a bit more like flan or pudding. But it was still pretty good. Today we went and played bowling for the second week in a row. It was pretty fun.

Last night we watched the Christmas message. It was pretty good. The translator had a bit of trouble translating the grinch references. But I am really glad that I get to spend one more Christmas in the mission. I'll be able to really focus on what Christmas is all about.

I like Jenny's idea. We should have a second Christmas. I already started buying some gifts. Who all is going to be there?

Do you want me to call on Christmas?

Ok well Feliz cumpleaños a papa y feliz navidad para todos.

Elder Hansen

11/29/10 Thanksgiving at Applebee's

2010-12-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

Hola,
Well, this week went pretty good. We started the week with zero progressing investigators, so we dedicated most of our time to finding people. We found 14 new investigators and a few of them seem pretty cool. But the bad thing is that none of them came to church this week. We hope to have that change this this week.

To answer Mom's question: yes Luis had been to church a lot of times and yes we taught him the lessons. The kid was ready and wanted to be baptized, so we didn't wait. His family is becoming active again. This week we helped them scrape the mildew off of the wall of a room they're going to rent out.

On Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving by going to Applebee's. I splurged and got some baby back ribs. I was left with almost no money left for the month. Last night I decided to check my suitcase, because I thought I had hidden 50 dollars in there a long time ago. Much to my surprise I found a hymn book hidden under the zippers. Inside the hymn I found $1200 pesos. I then decided to check my other suitcase and I found 90 dollars and 200 more pesos. I had completely forgotten about that money. It looks like Santa came early.

It's pretty weird that Steven is now married. I think the last time I saw him we were blowing up a cantaloupe on our old lacrosse field. I guess things change.

Clint, you might want to let my clothes start to air out. I'm pretty sure the moth ball stench is pretty strong by now.

Well, I don't have much more news. Peace ya'll.

Love,
Elder Hansen

11/22/10 Luis Baptism

2010-11-29T00:08:00.000-08:00

Saludos de Acapulco,

This week went ok. We had a baptism. It was a niño magico. A member told us to visit an inactive family last week, so we did. And we found out that the youngest kid had just turned eight and had not been baptized. The kid lives with his grandma who is a member, but his mom is dead and his dad left them. So it counted as a convert baptism because his parents aren't members. We were going to do the baptism in the ocean, but the bishop never showed up. It then was too dark to go to the beach, and we needed another witness. So we called just about every member in the ward looking for a witness untill we finally found one. We then had to clean and fill up the font. Then our investigators went to go eat, and took forever to come back. We thought they had ditched. But in the end it all worked out. After three tries the kid, Luis, was baptized, and yesterday he was confirmed.

The week was a little rough. A lot of our investigators died on us. We're starting this week with almost nobody, but we have a lot of ideas, and we're going to try new things other than knocking doors.

It's weird to think that Thanksgiving is this week, because it feels like summer here. Today we got the two zones together to play football on the beach. It was our Turkey Bowl. It was a lot of fun, but the water looked very tempting. The beach was gorgeous. We should come back some day. It's called Pie de la Cuesta. I think to celebrate Thanksgiving we're going to eat at Applebee's on Thursday. Yea there's an Applebee's in Acapulco. It's pretty incredible.

This new ward is a little less organized than my last area. On Sunday they called on us to speak without warning us beforehand. I pretty much gave the same talk our president gave in the zone conference last week.
Also, the primary is preparing for the Christmas program, and they are going to sing Christmas songs in English. It is pretty hilarious. I'll be sure to take a video on the day of the program.

Well, that's all for this week.

Ciao
Elder Hansen

11/15/10 Transferred to Acapulco!

2010-11-29T00:07:00.000-08:00

Hola,

Big news. I got changed. I am now in Acapulco Centro. It looks like I'm going to end my mission in sunny Acapulco. I actually got changed on Tuesday. There were some special changes, and I think because President knew that my comp and I were having problems he changed me. I am so happy here. I was starting to get kind of depressed in my last area because of our problems. But I'm loving it here. My new companion is Elder Harley from Saratoga Springs, Utah. He's kind of a quiet guy, but we get along really well.

I have a completely different opinion of Acapulco from the last time I was here. When I left Acapulco, I swore that I never wanted to go back to that ugly place. But now I am in the centro, which is a pretty nice area, and the weather is a lot better in November than it is in July. My area covers the a lot of the coastline, and almost everywhere in my area I have an ocean view. I now only have 6 weeks left, but I'm going to make the most of it. We have a number of cool investigators, and I think we could baptize a lot in the coming month.

On Sunday we had a regional conference for the whole country of Mexico. Elder Christensen of the 70, Elder Bednar, and President Eyring spoke. They all gave really great talks. Bednar spoke of how we recieve revelation. There are three ways we can receive revelation. One comes suddenly like turning on a light switch in a dark room. The next comes gradually like a sunrise. The last type comes without us really knowing it like a sunrise on a foggy or cloudy morning. President Eyring spoke of creating a heritage of righteousness.

Well, I hope all is going well back home. All is well here.

Love,
Elder Hansen

11/8/10 Virgilia's Baptism

2010-11-29T00:04:00.000-08:00

Hola,
This week went pretty well. We had a baptism on Saturday. The old lady I wrote about, Virgilia, was baptized. The baptism went really well except for when the Bishop started rambling and going into deep doctrine. But overall it turned out fine.
This week we found a new family that we started teaching. It's a single mom with three kids. The mom had a stroke 6 years ago and can't speak very clearly. But they are really cool, and they all came to church on Sunday. It was kind of difficult to bring them to church because the mom was afraid to leave the house by alone. She said that they never leave the house alone because someone might come in and rob them. We were able to convince her to come for just the first hour, but she was still pretty unsure. I hope we can find a solution to that problem.

We should have a baptism this Sunday. Her name is Mayra, and she is the mom of the two kids that were baptized three weeks ago. We had a cool experience with her this week. She is currently separated from her husband, but a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to teach him when he came to visit the kids. This week we were talking about her relationship with her husband and she told us that he called her and told her that the lesson we taught had really touched him. He said that in a month he is going to visit for a few weeks, and he would like us to teach the lessons and be baptized.

This week we had a cold front come in. I think it has gotten down to the 40s at night. I know that's not much for you Wisconsinites, but when you live in a cement house that's pretty dang cold. During the day the weather has been gorgeous, in the 70s and sunny. And in the evening I've been able to use my sweaters for the first time since the MTC. But the cold front has caused quite an uproar. Apparently, it never gets this cold this early in the year, and everyone thinks the cold is just unbearable. I'm enjoying it while I can before I have to face a cold January in Utah.

I liked Dad's story about the old man that won the marathon race. I guess sometimes we've just got to keep on keepin' on.

Well, I hope all ya'll have a great week.

Love,
Elder Hansen

11/1/10 Dia de Muertos

2010-11-29T00:02:00.000-08:00

Feliz Dia de Muertos,

It's a holiday here in Mexico today and tomorrow. Everyone puts up a shrine in their houses for their deceased family members. The shrine includes all of their favorite food. The tradition is that the dead come on November 2 at mid-day and eat the food. Outside of every house there is a trail of yellow flower petals leading to the shrine. Then on the night of November 2 everyone eats the food, and drinks the alcohol that they put for their dead grandpa. But nobody celebrates anything on the 31, so yesterday was pretty uneventful.

Yesterday was the day of changes, but neither my companion nor I got changed. I guess Elder B will be my last companion. I guess that's alright. I think God wants me to learn a little more patience before I go home.

This week went alright. We were both expecting a change, so we didn't work as hard as we could have. But yesterday we planned really well for this change, and I think that we should have success. We should have a baptism this Saturday. It should be really cool, because she is an old lady that almost everyone in the town knows. Everyone seems really surprised that she accepted to be baptized. Apparently she used to be really Catholic, but ever since her husband died she has been looking for answers that she could never find in her religion.

There's not much new here in Cocoyoc. I hope all is well back home.

Love,
Elder Hansen

10/25/10 Virgilia

2010-11-28T23:56:00.000-08:00

Hola,

This week went pretty well. Last Sunday an old lady sister from the ward brought her friend to church with her, so we set up an appointmet to visit her. We went and challenged her to be baptized in the first lesson, and she accepted. It was a good way to start the week. Her name is Virgilia, and she's an old widow. She's pretty lonely and loves when we go to visit her. Last time we went, she had little sandwiches prepared for us when we got there. She now has two times in church and should be baptized on November 6.

This week we tried out a new idea to find new investigators. We put up a stand near the market of Cocoyoc. We set up a table with all of our different pamphlets, some Book of Mormons, some DVDs, and the special Liahona about temples. We also put up posters with different questions on them: What is the purpose of life? How can my family be more happy and unified? What does Jesus Christ expect of me? So we spent the whole morning in that stand contacting people. It went alright. We got a few appointments out of it. But it's nice to try something different every now and then.

There are a lot of new missionaries arriving to the mission right now. I heard that half of the mission is going to be new missionaries and their trainers. Two weeks ago like 12 new gringos came. Today 9 more came, and next Monday 14 Mexicans arrive. A lot of the Americans had visa problems and that's why they're getting here right now instead of on their original date. My companion is a little bummed out because a lot of people are being made trainers and he's still junior comp. We had a good talk yesterday. I think our relationship has improved drastically. We went the whole week without a single arguement. I don't think that had happened since our first week together.

Today I saw one of my MTC buddies for the first time since the MTC. He's had a pretty difficult mission. I think he's had even more difficult companions than I've had. But I was glad to see that he still has a good attitude and was just made a zone leader.

Well, there's not much new. I finally brought my cable, so I'll send some pictures. (note from mom--didn't see any pictures???)

Love,
Elder Hansen

10/18/10 Jonathan & Bryan Baptisms

2010-11-28T23:54:00.000-08:00

Hola,
Well, this week was another good week. We had two more baptisms,
and we found quite a few new investigators. The two people that were
baptized are named Jonathan and Bryan. They are the nephews of a
member in the ward. We are also teaching their mom. She is really
cool and wants to be baptized, but she has only come to church once.
She works nights and going to church at 9:00 am has been a little
difficult. But I think that after seeing her kids' baptisms she will
be more willing to come to church.

We also have another family that we are teaching. But they are kind
of special. They just came here from some little town in the
mountains in Guerrero. They're from the "sierrra" as they say it
here. Sierra means mountains or hills. The sierra is kind of it's
own little world, and the people there have difficulty interacting
with other `people. They are super poor, and none of them know how to
read. The oldest son is 17 and is pretty out of control. They just
moved in to a little room next to the bishop's house. They've come to
church with us twice, but I'm not sure how much they get out of it.
This week we got the youngest girl to say a prayer and the grandma
said one once. It's been pretty difficult trying to teach them, but
we feel like they have made some `progress.

I haven't really written much about my companion. These 2 changes
that we've been together haven't been very easy. He's very different
than any other companion that I've had. With my other companions, our
disagreements were almost always over obedience or work issues. But
this companion works hard, is obedient, yet he's probably been my most
difficult companion so far. He is very sensitive, and I have to be
careful about everything I say and do. He also gets angry very
easily, and it seems like every other day he gets angry at me. It's
been a challenge. Last night, he exploded and started yelling at me.
I wanted so badly to just get up and walk away, yell back, or hit him.
Butt I just waited for him to calm down and I started thinking of what
I could say to calm him down. I asked if there was anything I could
do to serve him. His attitude changed immediately. We were able to
find a solution to the problem and make plans to prevent future
arguements. Today we have gotten along really well.

Well, I think that's all for this week. I forgot my camera cable
again, so sorry i still don't have pictures.

Love,
Elder Hansen

10/11/10 Ruby's Family Baptisms

2010-11-28T23:47:00.000-08:00

¡Feliz Dia de Cristobal Colon!

Happy birthday Zac and Brooke.

Clint, keep telling the missionaries in your ward that they're dumb. We don't do that here.

Well, this week was a week full of blessings. We had three baptisms on Saturday. Ariel, Martha, and Jose, who are the siblings of Rubi that was baptized two weeks ago, were all baptized and confirmed. It was really cool. I had never had three baptisms on the same day before. On Sunday, Ariel even came with a white shirt and tie. But wait, it gets even better. We had 10 investigators at church on Sunday. It was great. I had never had that many in church before. Right now we have seven with baptismal dates for this month. Our goal was 3 confirmations, but I think we could double or even triple it. But wait there's more. They made me the new district leader. On Sunday, we fasted just to give thanks for an amazing month, but as we did that God blessed us even more. We can never give sufficient thanks.

Today we went to this cool town called Tepoztlan. We hiked to this temple that's built on top of a mountain. The hike was more difficult than I thought it would be, but it was worth it. It's pretty amazing how there's this pyramid on top of a mountain. It wasn't that big, but it was still cool. The town is pretty tourist friendly, and we even saw a few white people there.

Well, last week was a good week and I think this week will be as well. If all goes well, we will have two baptisms this Saturday.
That's all for now. Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Hansen

PS next week i'll send pictures. i forgot the cable today.

10/4/10 Conference & Questions from Mom Answered

2010-11-28T23:45:00.000-08:00

Hola,
This week went really well. I was able to watch all of conference, and I watched all of it except for one session in English. It is much more interesting to hear the speaker's actual voice. The talks were great. I especially enjoyed priesthood session. I felt like every talk was amazingly well prepared and well delivered. I liked when Elder Nelson asked all of the missionaries to stand. I thought about how 52,000 people standed when he said that. I imagined all of my friends in different parts of the world that were standing at the same time as I was. The prophet, President Uchtdorf and President Eyring all delivered very powerful messages. The whole conference was excellent, and the best part was that we brought 8 investigators to it. I think that this month we will have many baptisms. The three brothers of Rubi, the girl that was baptised last week, have a baptismal date. We also have a super cool family that we started teaching that came to conference with us this week.

Well, rainy season ended here in Mexico. All week it's been super sunny but not too hot. In the morning and at night it's pretty cool. Last night it even got a little chilly. Now, I will answer Mom's questions. Yes, I got your package. Sorry, I forgot to write that I received it. Thanks.

Now that we're in a fairly large ward, we eat with a different family every day. One month we eat with one ward, and the one month we eat with the other ward.
Yes they do have markets here, but I don't think I have ever bought anything in one. The only thing I ever buy is cereal to eat in the morning, and maybe something small to eat at night.

I haven't had any problems with dogs. If they bark, you just have to throw a rock or pretend to throw a rock. But the ones that don't bark are the ones that bite.
In Morelos, I haven't seen much crime at all. I'm in a pretty safe area. When I was in Acapulco, it was pretty bad. We had to be careful about what neighborhoods we went to and which streets we could walk on at night. My area in Acapulco was the ghetto of the ghetto. The streets were always full of military trucks.
Our house is pretty nice. It has two rooms and a kitchen. We have hot water and we live next to some members who let us wash our clothes at their house. We cover two wards. The wards are fairly large. One has about 160 attendance that sometimes reaches 180 and the other ward has between 100 and 120 attendance. Our area covers a number of colonias on the outskirts of Cuautla.

The fall leaves looked really cool. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. I agree that Dad looks younger with his shaved head.
Well, that's all for this week.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Ross's Eulogy for his Father 9/25/10

2010-11-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

Here's the talk Ross gave at his Father's funeral:

A year and a half ago my wife and I moved to Wisconsin. The area where we live still qualifies as “America’s Dairyland”. About 20 miles from our house is a town called Black Earth. It is called Black Earth because of the deep rich topsoil in the area. The neighboring community of Arena has a type of soil named after it. Ever since moving to this part of the Midwest I have wished that my father could come and see what it is like farming in this area. When they plow the fields I never see a single rock laying on top of the earth. The dairy cows provide a never ending supply of natural fertilizer . None of the farmers in our area irrigate their crops. And yet, their corn is eight feet high, the alfalfa seems to get gets cut at least once a month and the vegetable gardens produce amazing yields.
I wish I could invite some of the Wisconsin farmers and gardeners to come to Utah and see what they could do with a little plot of ground at the mouth of Mill Creek Canyon. I have never seen any “black earth” and if they were to name a soil type after what was in our backyard I am sure it would include rocks in the title. There is never enough rain to grow anything other than weeds, so constant irrigation is a requirement.
It was in this soil and this environment that my father was able to raise prize winning tomatoes, corn, carrots, potatoes, asparagus, Chrysanthemums and Orchids.
In addition to fruits and vegetables it was on that plot of ground at the mouth of Mill Creek canyon that my parents raised a family. Today we are here to memorialize the life of Russell Hansen and I think it is impossible to discuss his life without discussing his passion for gardening. To my nieces and nephews I hope that I can share with you some of the lessons that I learned from my father hoping that you can learn from his life and his example.
No one becomes a Master Gardner over night and I know that my father learned many of his gardening skills by trial and error. I think he always was trying to improve upon what he had done before and to learn from what others had done. A few years ago my father finally gave us a copy of his life story. After reading his story I realized for the first time that he did not have a lot of good examples teaching him about how to be a good father and raise a family. I was shocked when I read about him and his mother hiding in the back of their small home from a drunken brother looking for money with the husband and father nowhere in sight. In spite of this start he managed to raise a functional family that works together and care for one another.
I remember a cold spring storm was predicted to come one night just as the cherry tree was about to blossom. Having recently returned from living in southern California my father was very familiar with the smudge pots used by the Southern California citrus growers to protect their trees from freezing . He figured he just needed some warm smoke to protect the cherry tree during the night and thought he could create his own smudge pot by burning a tire in the wheelbarrow. A tire was found, the wheel barrow was rolled into place and the fire was started. The next day I remember seeing one-half of the cherry tree burned black and one side looking okay. As time went by obviously nothing grew on the burned side but the other half of the tree blossomed and bore fruit just as he had intended. I suspect depending on your attitude it could have been considered a success because he got fruit would otherwise have been lost but at a price of burning half of his tree. At least it was a learning experience.
In all he did I think my father was an example of commitment. Real commitment means that at times you cannot be concerned with what others may think. Many years ago our Stake experimented with a welfare project that never really got off the ground. As a result there was a green house left in the Mahoney’s back yard. Through some negotiation my father acquired the rights to the greenhouse and he resolved to move it to our yard. The proposed idea for moving the greenhouse was to remove the glass then put the frame on scaffolding with rollers and roll it down the road to our house a distance of nearly a mile. As a young teenager my biggest concern with this experiment was fear that someone might recognize me participating in moving this aluminum beast down the road. It was truly a horrifying experience. But my father committed to this project saw it through to completion and I participated although I am sure I never raised my eyes from staring at the road as we rolled along. I think the same commitment was demonstrated in the years of church service and willingness to serve two missions after his retirement.
Succesful gardening also requires determination and a willingness to keep going when things don’t turn out right. Not every crop that is planted is going to grow and sometimes the bugs and worms win. I am sure my father hoped that his children would develop a passion for gardening. If that happened it would be news to me. If lemons grew at Marsha’s house I am confident that she had nothing to do with it. And last time I checked out Kent’s condo there was no place he could have been hiding a garden. But, in spite of such a failure to produce gardening children my father never seemed discouraged and was truly thrilled when in-laws and grandchildren showed interest in what he was doing. I am sorry that I don’t think he recognized the fruits of Sheri’s garden this summer or saw Clint’s new beehive. In spite of my failings as a gardener I never felt that I was less in his sight he accepted me for what I was “a spoiled city boy”. I would like to suggest that the gene for gardening simply skipped a generation but I don’t think that would be honest or accurate.
Reaping a bountiful harvest from a garden requires attention to detail and patience. Certainly there were times when Kathy may have crashed a car into the carport or I demonstrated a reluctance to put forth a 100% effort towards pulling weeds that I felt my father was not as patient as he could have been. However, anyone who watched him starting seeds under his grow lights and transplanting seedlings in the winter knows these were efforts requiring great patience and attention. I never recall expressing an opinion on a religious or political topic and feeling like I was not being listened to or that my thoughts would be criticized. Certain family members loved to argue the opposite of whatever opinion may have been previously expressed and even they were listened to. Tolerance and patience in listening to others are attributes which seem to be in short supply in today’s world. My children always felt comfortable talking at my parents home.
I think some of the efforts at being a good father worked in kind of the same way. I have wonderful old memories of going to basketball games at the Einer Nielsen Fieldhouse at the University of Utah and sitting in general admission seats in the end zone at Utah football games –those would be successes. I also have memories of being asked whether I wanted to work in the garden or do the dishes after ose not working in the garden. That was probably not a success. In fact, I am sure Russell felt badly that none of his children developed a passion for gardening. His rewards came later as the daughters in-law and sons-in law came and were actually interested in what happened in the garden and really did want to go outside and dig up vegetables. I am sorry that he wasn’t really able to see his grandchildren brag on their blogs about their wonderful vegetable gardens and even the beehives in their backyards. I guess the gardening genes skip a generation.
Beside trial and error every garden needs some fertilizer to help it grow. I recall more than once going off someplace to retrieve a load of fertilizer to spread around the garden. If I was lucky the fertilizer was mixed with sawdust and didn’t smell so bad. I suspect that within our family there was fertilizer in the form of humor and fun. I suspect Kent was the primary purveyor of fertilizer within our family. At the family dinner table we could discuss most any topic relating to politics or current events and we were sure that Kent would provide the contrary opinion regardless of the topic. I remember travelling in the brown station wagon and singing songs on the way to California. One song was about Ragtime Cowboy Joe who lived out in Arizona. I certainly could never imagine someone from our family actually moving to Arizona. But most of all I remember singing about Quennie the Cutie of the Burlesque Show. It was only later in life when I was singing that particular song to my wife that I started to wonder about what sort of a song that was that my father had taught us. The funny thing about it is that I suspect my children probably are also familiar with the song although the tune got lost somewhere in Nevada.
No Utah garden grows without lots of watering and irrigation. I remember various irrigation methods tried over the years. There was pumping water out of the irrigation ditch at night and funneling the water down the rows of vegetables. Finally there was a new source of water up on MiIlcreek road that required us running pipes through the neighbors yards down to the garden. Within our family the essential our Out in Arizona where the badlands are lies and how they were supposed to workThings in my life that I remember
1) Going to Scout Camp
2) Weeding for one hour a day and picking up rocks in the garden
3) Being given a choice of working in the garden or doing the dishes
4) Planting flowers at my grandmothers house on Memorial Day
5) Fathers and Sons outings
6) Being encouraged to work at a scout camp
7) Filing topical law reporters in his office downtown
8) Going to the downtown library and then getting ride home
9) Business people telling me how helpful he was when I was doing computax
10) Going to Utah Stars basketball games, University of Utah football games (endzone) the old Einer Nielsen fieldhouse, Derks Field
11) Learning to ride the ropetow at Brighton then Alta
12) Family Ski Passes at Park City
13) Bishop when I returned from my mission and when I got married
14) Giving blessings to aunt in her later years
15) Backpacking to Havasupai
16) Hiking in Buckskin Gulch
17) Burning the cherry tree with the tire smudge pot
18) Dinner table conversations with Kent arguing for whatever was the opposite side
19) Handyman projects
20) Vacation to California

Ways I am like my father

1) Obsessed by hobby outside work
2) Picking up chairs after meetings
3) Reading books
4) Watching basketball
5) Trying to be helpful
6) Wishing I had children who would do the outside work
7) Exercise – heavy hands walking in the canyon

Ways I am not like my father

1) Hate gardening
2) No handyman projects

9/27/10 Comments about Grandpa and Rubi's Baptism

2010-11-28T23:29:00.000-08:00

Hola,
I enjoyed reading Dad's talk. He was right. I may not have ever known my grandfather too well, but through my own father I have learned who my grandfather was. I can now see that as I grow to become more and more like my father I am really becoming just like my grandfather. I think that's a good thing. I can already see how Clint is becoming his father, and I imagine that I will as well. I am grateful that my grandfather created a chain of righteousness that is being passed on to many future generations. It is amazing to see how one person's life influences countless amounts of people without them ever really noticing it. I know I had never really thought about it before.

Well, this week went pretty well. We had a baptism. She is a thirteen year-old girl named Rubi. Even though her parents don't go to church she has demostrated true dedication to the gospel. Since we started teaching her she has come every Sunday and to almost all of the other church activities. The baptism was a really spiritual experience. My companion and I sand the baptism song, I like to look for rainbows. I rememberd how that song was sung at my baptism. One of the eternal investigators from the ward attended the baptismal service, and we hope that she was able to feel the strong spirit that was there.

I got my flight plans. It's weird to know the exact day and hour I'll be home. Three months from today. I'll try not to be trunky.

Ok well, I don't have much else to say. I know my letters get shorter and shorter every week. Ask me questions if you want me to write more.

Love,
Elder Hansen

9/20/2010 Mexican Independence Day & Funeral

2010-11-28T23:27:00.000-08:00

Hola,

Well, this week was Mexican Independence day which made it a little difficult for missionary work. A lot of people left on vacations, and a lot of other people were drunk and partying or hung-over and sleeping. I promised a good story about drunks this week. On the 16th there was a group of men drinking outside of a store. They called us over and offered us a soda. I said no, thinking that it would be an alcoholic "soda." They proceeded to look for a soda among all of their beer. They were unsuccessful, so they gave us 20 pesos to buy a soda. I thought there might be a catch, but no I had in fact met the world's nicest drunks.

The work is going well here. We had 5 people at church on Sunday. We have one with a baptismal date for this Saturday a couple other possibles.

I'm sad to hear about Grandpa's death. I may not have had the best relationship with him because we always lived far away. But even though I didn't see him too often, all of the memories of him are good ones. He was a good man and a righteous priesthood holder. I know that right now he is being greeted by many friends and family members in spirit paradise. About a month ago, I had to speak at a funeral. The woman that had died was not a member of the church. A few of her children were members, but they are all pretty inactive. It was very hard for me to give them words of comfort, when it is most likely that they will never have an eternal family. They all seemed absolutely devastated thinking about how they will never see their mother again. I know that this is not the case with our family. For the righteous decisions he made in life, Grandpa will be waiting for all of us to join him. If we do our part and live righteously, the covenants we have made in this life will be honored for all of eternity. I'm sorry I can't be at the funeral, but as Dad said this is the best place I can be to show my love for him.
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Love,
Elder Hansen

9/13/10 Work & Effort

2010-11-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

Howdy,
Well, this week was kind of a let down. The week went really well up until Sunday when nobody came to church. Right now we have 23 investigators we are teaching. Of those 23 we had 13 that had commited to come to church this week. Of those 13, I figured a few would fall, but I thought that for sure we would pass our goal of 5 investigators in church. We passed for a few of them in the morning, but they either weren't home or had a lame excuse. It was a little frustrating, but we were blessed with a miracle. A man showed up to church that isn't a member. We set up an appointment with him, and he gladly accepted.
In Preach my Gospel it says that a successful missionary isn't measured by the number of baptisms he has or any other number. It says that a successful missionary is measured by the effort he puts in and whether or not the spirit works through him. Often we think that if we aren't baptizing we aren't having any success. Right now, we have more investigators than I have ever had in my mission, and I think that we are definitely having success. When we are working hard and don't see immediate results, Satan attacks us and tells us to quit working hard because nobody cares. Far too often in my mission, I have seen that the miracle happens in the last house on the street, the last minute of the day, or when we feel like we can't go on but we do anyway.
September 15 is Mexican Independence Day. It should be fun. I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell next week about drunk people.
I don't have much else to say. All is well in Zion.

Love,
Elder Hansen

9/6/10 Zone Conference

2010-11-03T00:57:00.000-07:00

Hola,
This week, I started paying more attention and I realized that my recipe for making salsa was pretty bad. I hope Clint didn't eat any watered down salsa. Oil, chiles, tomatoes, garlic, and maybe some onion. Just throw stuff in the blender and see what comes out. That's what they do here.
This week ended pretty well, as we were able to bring 5 investigators to church on Sunday. It was really unexpected. We had several people that we thought were pretty sure for Sunday that ended up being lame. There was another family that we had taught a couple times but seemed kind of lame, so we hadn't really thought that they would go to church. But on Saturday our appointments went through and we went to see that family and they agreed to let us pass for them on Sunday. On Sunday we went and brought all of them to church. It was pretty cool. This week we had zone conference. It got us pretty pumped up to find a lot of new people. In the conference we talked a lot about the importance of always finding people. We also talked about how we can have a sure foundation, and how we can help our investigators to begin to build a sure foundation.
Yesterday, we ate with the sister of Elder DeHoyos. They live in this really nice private community. Walking in their house, I felt like I had left Mexico and wlked into a house in the United States. We ate salmon, with salad, and steamed vegetables. Afterwards we ate ice cream. I was in heaven. In their house I was looking at the book The Mission that has a picture of Jon Hansen in Australia.
Today we went to the house of Emiliano Zapata, the leader of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. I thought it was going tot be one of his mansions, but it was the house where he was born. It was just the remains of an old, small dirt,house. It was pretty big let down. At least we didn't pay.
I'm sorry that my letters are short lately. I don't have much news. The reason why I haven't sent pictures is because I left my camera charger in my other house. I think I might have to buy a new camera.

Love,
Elder Hansen

8/30/10 Jalepino Peppers

2010-11-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

Howdy,
Well, this week went pretty well. We finally had an investigator in church. I think I discovered that it is necessary to find like 30 new investigators just so that one will go to church. But this lady is progressing and has a baptismal date. We found here one day walking in the street. We saw her carrying a lot of bags and offered to help her. As a result she let us into her house. We shared a quick message and she quickly began to tell us of all the problems she has. Before leaving we sang a hymn and gave her a blessing. After the blessing she said she felt a feeling of peace run all through her body.
Clint asked for suggestions on using jalapeño peppers. In Mexico we call them rajas, and you can eat them with pretty much anything. Try them with eggs or on a sandwich. Or put them in a blender with water, oil, and tomatoes and you got yourself a salsa. That salsa can be used in every meal.
Mom, it sounds like ya'll had a crazy, good time up in Noth Dakota. I'm sad I had to miss the giant buffalo. Maybe next time.
Sorry, this week hasn't been too exciting. I used my good story last week.
Take care,

Elder Hansen

8/23/10 Lows and Highs

2010-11-03T00:51:00.000-07:00

Buenas tardes,
I'll start off telling how this week went. Well, on Sunday during our weekly planning session we discovered that we had zero progressing investigators. So we made a plan of how we were going to find new people to teach. The goal we put was to find and baptize a family before the end of the transfer. We talked about how we were going to find this family and the sacrifices we were going to make. We wrote down all of the sacrifices we were going to make, and how we were going to meet the goal. So the week started and we were finding tons of good people. We found two complete families that seemed like sure baptisms. By Friday we had found 18 new investigators, and we had a day full of appointments for Saturday. The day didn't have a great start because no one showed up to the English class. We proceeded to go to every appointment and one by one they started falling. A few weren't home and others simply told us that they didn't want us to visit them anymore. We got to our last appointment at 8:00, and they pretty much ran us out of their house. After that I was at an all time low. I started to wonder what I was doing here. While walking back home I started to pray in my mind, pleading a miracle, something to show me that all my work had not been in vane. Then we passed by two women talking. I overheard as we passed one of them say to the other, "I'm just looking for a church. I just want to find somewhere that can really help me understand the Bible." My companion and I stopped immediately and turned around to contact them. She gladly accepted an appointment. Do all that you can do and the Lord will do the rest. This is the Lord's work and He does not forget those who work in His vineyard.
I hope all is well back home. Dad don't break your hip again while rollerblading.

Love,
Elder Hansen

8/16/10 Getting the Members Involved

2010-11-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

Hola,
All is well here in Cocoyoc. Well, last week I didin't tell you about my new companion so I thought I would this week. Elder Bautista is from Catapec, Estado de Mexico (the state of Mexico) just outside the federal district which is only like 2 hours away. He's 26 years old and has been a member for four years. Only half of his family are members. Because he's a lot older than everyone I think he has a tough time relating with the other missionaries. We get along pretty well. He's kind of nerdy, but he's a hard-worker.
This week didn't go too well. We've had a pretty tough time finding people to teach. But yesterday we planned really well what we're going to do. Yesterday we started a project with the two wards in our area. We put the goal for them to give away a box of Book of Mormons (36 copies) in the next month. The two wards are going to give away a box and my companion and I are going to give away another box. We gave the members two questions they can ask to any person in order to give away a Book of Mormon. 1. Do you like to read? 2. Would you be interested in reading a book that talks about Jesus Christ visiting the Americas? If the person says yes they give them a paper to write their address, and then we go and give them the book with the testimony of the member that gave the reference. I'll tell you how it goes. We really hope the members get excited to work.
Dad congrats on the long bike ride. Sorry, but I don't think I will ever accompany you on one of those rides.
Sorry I don't have anything else to write about. I don't have any pictures to send either because I left my camera charger in my other area. Hopefully they send it to me soon.

Take luck,

Elder Hansen

where am I flyin Home?

2010-11-03T00:48:00.000-07:00

mom,
hey you need to decide where i'm going when i come home, if i'm going to utah or wisconsin
because they're going to buy my ticket pretty soon, and i don't want them to send me to the wrong state.
write me back so i can tell the offices.

thanks

8/9/10 New Comp & Guillermina's Baptism

2010-11-03T00:46:00.000-07:00

Hola,
So today was the real day of transfers, and much to my surprise my companion was changed. So I now have a new companion, Elder Bautista. His name means Elder Baptist so I hope lives up to the name. Well, I don't really know the guy yet, so I can't tell you much. He just got here like a half hour ago. The last few months have been full of a lot of changes, but I think things are going to calm down now.
President has been making a lot of changes lately, and one of them is that the districts are all a lot bigger now. Our zone now only has two districts. My district got combined with another, so I'm no longer the district leader. It was a fun two weeks. I was a little disappointed because I really liked giving the district meetings, and last week I also did a few baptismal interviews which was a great experience. Oh well.
We had a baptism this week. It was a really special baptism because her son who was baptized 3 weeks ago got to baptize her. It took him 3 tries, but he did it. The hermana that was baptized, Guillermina, told us about how many years ago when she lived in Mexico City, she had an lds friend that was always trying to get her to go to church. But she always said no. This week she was able to call up her old friend, and tell her about how she was going to get baptized.
Other than the baptism the week was pretty rough. This area is very different than any other area I've had. There aren't many people that live here, but there are a ton of members. I think I could easily knock all of the doors in the area in a month or less. So we started to do so and had pretty much no success. I think this area has been knocked every 6 weeks for the last 20 years. I think we're going to try a different approach. Yesterday I read a book that my companion had called Already to Harvest. It talked a lot about how to set and reach goals, and it also talked a lot about the member's responsibility in missionary work. My companion and I are going to make a plan of how we are going to involve the members more in missionary work, so that they can be the means by which we find more investigators.
I don't have much else to say. All is well down here.
Love,
Elder Hansen

8/2/10 Transfer to Cuautla

2010-11-03T00:45:00.000-07:00

Hola,
I've got big news. I got changed out of Acapulco. I am now in Cuautla, Morelos in the area of Cocoyoc. I am also a district leader. It was a pretty unexpected change. What happened was a group of like 10 new missionaries came from the US, and because their visas were delayed they came a month late. So they had to move around a bunch of missionaries, and because I didn't have a comp I was first on the list. I was a little bummed because I had just got to my last area, and I was just starting to have success. But I am very glad to get out of the terrible heat of Acapulco. My new companion is Elder Funk. He's pretty new in the mission, and still doesn't really know any Spanish. He's from American Fork, Utah.
My new area is pretty cool. Right now we are covering two wards, so our area is really big. The wards are also pretty big. The weather is amazing. It usually doesn't get too hot during the day, and at night it cools down really nice. The area covers a lot of towns and colonias on the outskirts of Cuautla. The area has some of the richest and poorest people I have ever seen in my time in Mexico. The other day we went looking for a reference, and we ended up in this super rich neighborhood. All of the houses were massive. We finally found the reference, and the house was incredible. But the people we were looking for just worked in the house. But then the next day we went looking for some other reference and ended up in this little colonia with houses made of sticks and cardboard. It was a pretty drastic change. I'm excited to be here. I think we can have a lot of success. We have a baptism for this Saturday.
I saw the pictures you sent. I especially liked the float o graphs pics. That's cool that Mom is the new RS president. It looks like there's a reason why you had to move to Wisconsin.
Well, that's all my news for this week. Bye

Love,

Elder Hansen

7/26/10 Member Companion From California

2010-11-03T00:38:00.000-07:00

Hola,
It seems like everyone had a fun trip. I didn't know you were planning on going to jackson. It sounds like you had a great time. I need you to forward me some of those pictures.
This week went really well. I had a good time with my companion for the week. He is from Anaheim and just moved to Mexico like three weeks ago, so he is more American than Mexican. It was funny because he didn't know any of the words in Spanish because he had never been to a Spanish ward before. We worked hard and ended up finding sixteen new investigators, and we had three investigators in church on Sunday. Two of them have baptismal dates.
I kind of like not having a real companion because that means that I can work however I want. The bad thing is that I have to teach almost the whole lesson every time. By the end of the day my voice is pretty much gone.
This week we had interviews with President Spannaus. We started started talking, and he asked me if I had any questions for him. I told him that I was feeling a little frustrated. I told him that I felt frustrated because I feel like I am working hard and being obedient, but I can never complete my goals. It seems like everyone else is baptizing, but I can't. He then asked me how many baptisms I had had. I went through my mind and counted them and told him. He told me that in every mission there is an Elder Hansen. There are missionaries that work and are obedient but don't see the fruits of their labors. He then told me a story. He told me about how about 60 years ago a pair of missionaries in the Patagonia of Argentina found and taught a large family. They spent a lot of time with this family, but despite of their efforts none of them were baptized. One of the daughters, Iris, believed the message and desired to be bapitzed, but her parents wouldn't allow it. Fifteen years later after she was married she was baptized in the church. As a result, four of their five children were also baptized. Each of them later served missions, are now married in the temple, and now have children serving missions. Iris was the mother of President Spannaus. While President was attending BYU, his mother told him to look up one of those missionaries who was now a professor at BYU. They met and President was able to thank him for teaching that family many years ago. President told me that many times we don't see the fruits of our labors, but if we are trying our best and living worthily the Lord will use us asn instrument in His hands. He told me to consult this matter with God, and make sure that He was pleased with me. If He is pleased with me, then I can be sure that I am having the results that I am meant to have.
Placentero nos es trabajar en la viña del gran rey Jesus.
Take care.

Love,
Elder Hansen

PS I got your fourth of july package. Thanks Mom.

July 19, 2010 Flooding and Companion Change

2010-11-03T00:31:00.000-07:00

Hola,
This week was pretty interesting. I was with my recent convert companion. He didn't know much, so I mostly did all of the talking. But it wan't too bad. He had a good attitude. One day we got rained on super hard. It had only been raining for like 20 minutes and already the whole town was flooded. It was pretty crazy. We ended up taking cover in the church and waiting for it to die down.
Well, I have news. My companion had special changes, so I will be with a different local companion every week until transfers. It's going to be a little difficult, but I am pretty relieved to be done with the problems that were happening with my other comp. My companion this week is pretty cool. He's from Anaheim, California and is here in Mexico visiting his family for a while. He's a pretty recent convert too.
The work here has been a little slow. This is probably because of all of the changes of companions and because I got sick last week. We do have a few investigators, but I don't know what it is about this place but everyone always promises they will go to church and then they never show up. We have this great investigator that really wants to change his life. He has accepted eveything. He had a baptismal date and always tells us how we were sent to him from God, but he hasn't come to church yet. It's pretty frustrating.
I'm sad I missed the family reunion again. It might be a while before I see all of them again. Tell everyone I said hi. I have a question. What's bum charades?
I think that's all for this week. Have fun on your vacations everyone.

Love,
Elder Hansen

7/12/2010 Antonio's Baptism

2010-10-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hola,
This week went pretty well. We had a baptism. The man I wrote about last week, Antonio, was baptized last Thursday. It was great. I have never had a baptizm go so perfectly. In the whole time we taught him, he accepted everything. The interview went fine and the day came for his baptism, and everything went perfectly. He had really been prepared by the Lord. It was really special for me because I got to do the baptism, and on Sunday I got to confirm him. It was the first time I had ever done a confirmation.
Dad mentioned that starting next year there wil be a lot of changes in the way the mission is run. My mission president decided that it would be best if we started some of the changes immediately. So from now on we will have zone conference one month, the next month interviews and a training camp, and one month when we don't see president at all. The training camp is a four day seminar in Cuernavaca for all of the zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers. This week we are having the training session, so my companion who is district leader is going to be gone all week. This week is also youth conference, so there was nobody in the ward who could stay with me. The only person there is is Antonio, the man we baptized last week. He agreed to work with me this week. He says he wants to go on a mission, so I think this will be a great learning opportunity. Next week I will tell you about how it went.
There's not much else new here. It's been raining a lot, and the other day we got completley soaked. But we got to our appointment on time. My area is really flat, and I think it is technically below sea level, so that means with any rain the streets start flooding. When it rains a lot, the poop water rises and mixes with the rain water. It makes everything smell super great.
Well that's all the news I have for this week.
Take luck,
Elder Hansen

6/28/2010 Transfer to Acapulco

2010-10-25T18:17:00.001-07:00

Hola,
I don't have much time to write today, so this will be kind of short. I got transfered. I'm now in Acapulco in the area of Renacimiento. It's like a suburb of Acapulco, and is pretty ghetto. I'm about 20 minutes from the centro. It will be pretty different working here. It's the first time I've been in a city and the first time I've been in a real ward. There are 4 elders in this ward. My new companion is Elder Cuevas from Campeche. I've heard he's pretty dead, but I guess president thinks I'm good with dead comps. I still don't know much about the area, so I'll tell more next week.
My last week in zumpango was pretty cool. There was a big storm that came through and blew off the roof of Karina's sister. We ran over to help them while it was pouring rain. It was pretty intense. The next day we helped them reconstruct their roof. It was cool.
Ok well, I'll write more next week when I know more about what this area is like. All I know is that it is really, really hot.

Take care. I love all ya'll.

Love,
Elder Hansen

6/14/2010 World Cup / Sick Week

2010-10-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Howdy,
I really liked the story Mom sent me about that guy Christopher. It is interesting to see the effects that one missionary can cause. I think that the persucution and suffering is many times necessary for someone to have a strong testimony. I have definitely seen that in the cases of many people here in Mexico. The people that are willing to be persucuted to follow the truth are the people that go on to do great things in the work of the Lord.
You asked about the world cup. Everyone is pretty crazily into the world cup right now. It's pretty hard not to get into it. Mexico played the opener, and they tied. The US played England on Saturday and also tied. I don't really like how soccer allows tying. My father always said tying is like kissing your sister. But anyways it's pretty intense. Our mission president gave us permission to watch all of the US and Mexico games, which may not be too many considering how they are playing. I think Pres is letting us watch it because during the game pretty much everything shuts down, and everyone gets drunk. It would probably be a bad time to go contacting.
This week didn't go very well. I got sick on Tuesday and had a fever. Then from Tuesday on I got really sick to my stomach. For three days I spent the majority of my time in the bathroom. I finally couldn't take it anymore and went to the doctor. He gave me some antibiotics and some anti-diarhea pills. It worked, but I'm still not back to normal. But anyways for that reason we didn't have much success this week.
Mom said I sounded bitter. I didn't mean to sound bitter. I just think it's funny all of the stupid stuff Catholics do.
Jenny, let me know how Nashville is. The little town in Missouri sounded cool.

Ok well I'll talk to ya'll next week.

Love,
Elder Hansen

6/7/2010 Pictures

2010-10-25T17:59:00.002-07:00

Here's some pictures of a parade I saw.
the top one shows a lady holding the doll that everyone is worshipping. (i don't think the world has progressed much from the golden calf)
the second one is a drunk, homeless guy who also wanted to be part of the parade. if you look closely you will see he has only one shoe, and is carrying a 2.5 liter bottle of mezcal (moonshine)

don't you just love apostasy?

6/7/2010 Co-Senior Comopanions

2010-10-25T17:59:00.001-07:00

Hola,
Thanks for sending me the family stories. If you have more I would love to hear them. Wisconsin sounds pretty nice in the summer months except for the neighborhood bears. I guess it might be effective in preventing stray dogs. I think we could use some bears down here in Mexico. Last week one of the elders here got a nasty dog bite on his leg.
Not much new has happened. Karina got confirmed yesterday, and she passed in front to bear her testimony. She has a firm testimony. She already volunteered to give us food during the week, so starting tomorrow we will eat with her every Tuesday. We've been teaching her kids. They haven't accepted baptism yet, but we are going to challenge them again tomorrow and hopefully they will accept for this transfer. Other than them, our investigators have been kind of dying on us. We hope to find some cool, new investigators this week.
So I don't nkow if I mentioned this before, but my companion and I are co-senior companions. My comp goes home after the next change. So far we've been working alright together, but I kind of hope I get changed next change so I don't have to be with a dying comp.
I honestly cannot think of anything else that is interesting. Sorry this letter is pretty lame. I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. I don't think about it too much, but sometimes it bugs me. Any suggestions?
I'll send some pictures to make up for my lack of writing.

Cuidense.

Elder Hansen

Karina's Baptism / Should I Join Military?

2010-10-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hola,
We had a baptism this week. Yeah! The lady I wrote about last week, Karina, was baptized. It was awesome. She's going to be super strong. The baptism was held after the stake conference yesterday, so we had a good turnout. The conference was pretty good. We got a new stake president, so there were two general authorities there. The first one, Elder Avila, gave a pretty boring talk. But the last speaker Elder Johnson gave an awesome talk and saved the conference. Elder Johnson is from Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua. This week we also had a zone conference. It was a great conference. Presidente Spannaus is great. I love how he has improved the mission on so many levels, and he did it without having to be mean or super strict. He just raised the spirit level in the mission which made the missionaries want to do things correctly.
Now that Karina has been baptized we are hoping that her kids will also want to be baptized. They came to the conference as well. We are also teaching Karina's sister who seems interested. But other that them, we don't have many investigators. This week we will focus a lot on finding new investigators.
So I thought you were going to tell me stories about my first ancestors that joined the church and their stories. The reason I ask is because people always ask me how long my family has in the church, and I just say a long time. I think there were pioneers in our family, but I don't even know. I'm not asking for an entire book, but just information about who were the first ones.
I'd like to explain the comment from last week about the military. Since I've come on the mission I have been trying to think about what I want to do with my life. I've had a lot of different ideas. First I thought I wanted to start a business. I wanted to open up an outdoors shop. Then I decided that that is very risky. I thought I wanted to be a doctor, because I wanted to help people. But then I realized my hands shake a lot when I get nervous, so I probably would never get through med school. Then recently I decided that the money doesn't really matter, and I should just study what I want to and become a teacher. I've discovered that I really like teaching, and I thought teaching would be an enjoyable job. But then I was thinking and I realized that teachers make no money. My friend who just finished his mission is in the national guard, and he likes it and says that he makes pretty good money. He only has a 6 year contract, and only has to be in Iraq for one. I thought it might be an interesting experience to have while I'm still young. But I don't even know what I want to do anymore. The fact that the US might be starting another war in Korea doesn't sound too appealing. I just don't know what I want to do, and I think I was thinking that the military would be a good way to spend my time while I thought stuff out. But that doesn't sound like a very good reason. Maybe I'll just do what thoreau did and go live in the woods for a while.
But anyways, the mission is going great. We are finally seeing successes.
Take care and have a good week.

Love,
Elder Hansen

5/24/10 Gringo Companion / Teaching Karina

2010-10-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hi,
So I have a new companion, his name is Elder Hooker. (I wonder what he will say when someone asks him what his name means) He is from Eugene, Oregon. We're working alright together. We have very different interests, but we get along alright. It is really weird being with another gringo. My companions have always had good Spanish. We usually talk in English, even though I think I would rather speak in Spanish. It's definitely going to be an adjustment. I had gotten pretty used to being with Zozaya.
We are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors. We have a baptism scheduled for next Sunday, and we could possibly have 2 more this week. But the lady that is going to be baptized this week is really cool. Her name is Carina. We found her one day contacting. She has had a pretty rough life. Her mother left them when she was young, and she was left to raise her younger siblings from the age of 12 I think. She got married fairly young and had an abusive husband. One time he broke her nose so she called the cops and they sent him to prison. She said one time she was about to commit suicide, when she felt what she describes as two arms that began to hold her. Recently her life has started to get back on track, and she has studied a lot of the Bible. We arrived and began teaching her, and she just felt like everything made sense. We asked her to be baptized, and she said she's been prepared for this for a long time. Her baptism will be really special. We're going to do it after stake conference, so it should be full of people. Last week she took us to meet her sister and then her brother, and we are teaching them as well. I think this family could make a big difference in the branch here in Zumpango. I think I've realized that the mission isn't about baptizing tons of people. It's about finding those people that have been prepared by the Lord who are really going to accept the gospel. The mission is about making a difference wherever you go. In some areas that may mean baptizing many people. In other areas that may mean helping just one person who will go on the make a big difference.
This week we had a record high attendance in church. We had 50 people there. I hadn't seen that many in all my time here in Zumpango. An inactive family that hadn't been to church for nearly 8 months came to church. It was because the branch president has been cracking down on the members to do their visits.
Next week maybe you could write me a little about our family history. Who were the first Hansens, Drechsels, Wiggins, Saunders to be baptized. Also I would like it if you could send me my line of authority.
We get the Liahona here which contains most of the articles from the Ensign. You could send the new era if you want.
Take care.

Love,
Elder Hansen

PS How's Iraq right now? I was talking to another Elder, and the military sounds kind of appealing

New Companion 5/17/2010

2010-10-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

Hola,
Remember how I said that I was going to get changed this transfer, well they changed my companion instead. I wasn't expecting that, but it's cool. I think this change we are going to finally see some results after 3 changes without much success. Today as we we're leaving in the morning we saw one of our investigators, Juan, and he told us he's ready to get baptized. Yesterday we had seven investigators in church, which is the most that we've had in my time here in Zumpango. I think we will have a lot of baptisms this change.
My new companion is Elder Hooker. It's the first time I've been with a gringo in over a year. I heard he is a pretty difficult. I think I was sent another difficult companion because I still haven't learned what I need to learn. For four changes straight I've been with hard working companions, and I think I'm ready to take on a new challenge. They just made an Elder that I was with in the MTC the new assistant. He's also had a number of difficult companions. But I think the difference between him and I is that he has always remained positive and he works just as hard no matter who he's with. I think this time I will do better.
This week I learned an important lesson. We had been praying a lot for this one family that has been coming to church. This week we decided to fast for them too. On Friday we decided to re-teach the restoration and challenge them for baptism again. We taught the lesson perfectly. When it came to the part of first vision the spirit was incredibly strong. We could all feel it. We finished the lesson by challenging them again. They said no. I asked if they believed what we said, and they said yes but they couldn't make that change in their lives. What I learned from this experience is that the Lord saw our efforts and blessed us with His spirit, but he will never take away the agency of anyone. If they have the idea set in their minds that they're not going to accept then there is nothing we can do.
Ok well that's all I have for this week. Happy birthday Jenny. Take care.
Love,
Elder Hansen

5/10/10 Day After Mother's Day Short Letter

2010-10-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

Stomach Soup

Well, I talked to y'all yesterday, so I don't have much news. I think I realized that the third phone call in the mission isn't nearly as exciting as the first. I think we've both run out of questions.
This week was alright. We have some new investigators. Last week we found a cool family. The mom is way cool. She's already read a lot of the Book of Mormon. We talked to her about baptism and she says that feels like she's been prepared a long time for this. They're cool, but didn't show up to church this week. We're not sure what happened. Another family has been to church several times and could be baptized, but they have a lot of doubts. But we're going to see if we can motivate them to do it this week. Another lady and her two kids want to be baptized, but the mom just got operated on and can't go to church. Hopefully soon she'll be able to go. So we have investigators and we're working, but we haven't seen many results. But we hope to see some soon.
Ok well I don't have much news. It was nice talking to you yesterday.
Take luck.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Spider Bite- Swollen Arm - Passing Out 5/3/2010

2010-07-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hey,
It sounds like everyone will be having fun this week in Utah. It seems like Mom and Dad are in Utah like every other week. I'm guessing that life in Wisconsin isn't as exciting as it sounds.

This week I had an interesting experience. We were out contacting, and I had my arm leaning on a tree while we knocked a door. I then felt a sharp sting on my arm. I looked at my arm and there was a mark where some insect bit me. (I'm pretty sure it was a spider). It swelled up at first but nothing too out of the ordinary. But as the day went on the swelling didn't go down at all. It was swollen up pretty big by the evening and it was bugging me a lot. We went and talked to a doctor and he just told me to take some allergy pills. I did that, and I ignored it. Then next morning my whole arm was massively swollen, and was itching like crazy. I took some more allergy pills and the itching went away, but the swelling didn't go down. We went out to work, but my arm was bothering me a lot. We decided to go back to the doctor. She prescribed me some pills and an injection. We went across the street to a member's store and asked her if she could give me the shot. If the bathroom in the back of the store she gave me the shot in my butt. That was awkward and incredibly painful. As I left the bathroom, all the blood seemed to leave my head. They gave me a chair, and I blacked out. I couldn't see anything, and I felt like I needed to vomit. But I didn't. While this was happening there were a lot of people in the store. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at me. They just kept saying he's so pale. (ps Mexicans don't go pale). I'm sure I was the whitest gringo they had ever seen. Well, eventually the swelling went down, but my butt hurt for a while.

Other than that not much else happened. We are teaching two cool families, and hopefully they will progress. On Saturday we found a cool lady to teach.

Also this week I read the whole Book of Mormon. As a district we decided to read it in one week. It helped me to understand the book on another level. By reading it quickly, I was able to see how fast the people were corrupted by their pride. Time after time they repented and then fell in the same dumb mistakes. I was able to see how quickly pride destroys nations.

Ok well that's all for this week.
Here's the number you can call on Sunday. 01-747-47-8-17-52. Is 4:00 PM ok? That's central time. So 3:00 Mountain Time.
Write me back if there are objections.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Spitting Bug 4/26/2010

2010-07-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Howdy,

Well, I'm sorry if my letters are getting boring, but there's not much new going on here. We're still having a little trouble finding investigators that actually progress. The cool family that we we're teaching is kind of dying on us. This week only the two youngest kids went to church and they left early. I don't know why it's so hard here in Zumpango. The thing is that a lot of people listen to us and want us to teach them, but when we talk about baptism they get scared because they can't let anyone find out that they don't want to be Catholic.

The other day we were walking around and I saw some weird bugs on a branch. I decided to take a picture of them, but I think it made them angry when the flash went off. One of them spit something on me. It was probably poison or something. It was really weird. But that was my most exciting story from this week.

I'm sorry that I have no news. I appreciate the letters. I liked the story from your stake conference. And I liked the story about Zac.

I'll send you some more pictures to make up for my lack of writing.

Zone Conf - Elder DeHoyos 4/19.2010

2010-07-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Hey

Well, this week we had a zone conference and a member of the first quorum of the 70 came, Elder De Hoyos. He gave a really good talk. His wife also gave a really good talk. His wife talked about how we need to focus all of our lessons on the atonement. She said that if our investigators really understand the atonement they will understand the need to be baptized. And if the members really understand the atonement none of them would go inactive. And if the missionaries really understand the atonement they would all obey the rules. It was really good talk. Elder De Hoyos talked about our purpose as missionaries, how we can be more focused, and how we can baptize more often. It was cool to be with a 70 in such a small group.

We started teaching a family that is pretty cool. All of the kids came to church this week. The mom didn't come because she was working, and the dad is pretty Catholic and I think he's a drunk. (Those two usually seem to go hand in hand.) But it seems like they liked church a lot. This week we had the church full again with over 40 people. But other than this one family we don't really have investigators. It's a little frustrating because this zone baptizes a lot, but I don't know what's up with zumpango. It's pretty much just us and the branch president running the show here.

Well, I don't have much else to say. Not much happened this week. I complete 15 months in 2 days. Sorry, I would write more, but this computer is completely retarded, and I can't write anything.

I got the package. Thanks mom. The ties are cool and the cds are great.
Well, take care.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Tough Going 4/12/2010

2010-07-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hola,
I got your letters and the pictures Mom sent. Summer and Alli are really big now. That will be cool if you get a trampoline. I'll have to come try it out.
Well, it's pretty dang hot here in Zumpango. It's not as bad as the coast because there's no humidity, but still I'm pretty sure it's been in the 90s all week. Vacations are over so everyone here has gone back to normal. Last week was kind of rough for us. Our investigators are dying on us. Our only cool investigator is going to have an operation this week and is not going to be able to leave her house for a while. On Sunday I was feeling pretty sad because we didn't bring investigators to church and only about 25 people showed up to church. I felt like for the past 3 months I've been knocking doors and talking to people all day every day, but I still haven't found anyone. I kind of felt like giving up. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't just give up. In our weekly planning session we talked about what we need to do in order to have success. We realized that we are doing evgerything good, but we could do it better. We set a lot of goals for this week. If we do it, I know we're going to see results.

I also really liked that talk in conference that talked about adversity. I think it really applies to me right now. Sometimes I wonder why I've been put with difficult companions or in little pueblos in the middle of nowhere. I don't know why, but I just need to accept it and do the best with what I've got. There are many times that I could have given up in this area, but something keeps me going. Something keeps me waking up on time and keeps me working. I've seen a lot of missionaries that start out good but get put with a tough companion or in a tough area and just die. I think I've learned that life's tough sometimes but you just have to keep going and doing the right thing and have faith that everything will turn out well.

Sorry I don't have much news this week. Hopefully, I'll have more news next week.
Has anyone seen the Alice and Wonderland movie?

Love,
Elder Hansen

Easter 4/5/2010

2010-07-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter,
So I kind of forgot it was Easter yesterday. They don't celebrate it here. They celebrate the death of Christ but not his resurrection. So the big party was on Friday. They took the giant cross out of the catholic church and carried it through the town, and everyone followed behind it. Then everyone met in the center of town. First all of the women came, and then the men came from another entrance. They were singing some creepy chant. It was weird. There had to have been like 10,000 people there it was nuts. I tried to take some pictures, but some lady got mad at us. We didn't stay for long because it kind of creeped me out. But there was no one in the street that day. At night everyone got together to get drunk. What a way to celebrate the atonement of Christ.
This week was kind of difficult because everyone was on vacation. We didn't get any investigators to church because no one was willing to go to Chilpancingo for the conference. I didn't get to see much of the conference. We didn't go on Saturday, and someone told us the wrong time of priesthood so we got there an hour late. I think I saw Nathan Harris singing with BYU choir. I hadn't seen him since he was 12. But from what I did see of the conference on Sunday and Saturday night, I liked it a lot. I liked how they focused on the resurrection instead of the death of Christ which is kind of the tradition in Mexico. It's sad how the people here really don't understand who God is. They don't believe you can actually pray to God and receive an answer. Or they think that we aren't worthy to talk to God, so they pray to the virgen or their santitos (saints?).
Dad asked if I have an exercise plan. I usually use my exercise time filling up my bucket and heating up the water. Sometimes I do pushups, but I figure that I'm not too concerned about losing weight. I think walking all day and diarhea a couple times a month keeps me pretty thin. If I want to lose weight I'll just go eat at Tacos de Cuernavaca again. (We had a bad experience there.)
Well, there's not much new here. No, I didn't know there was an earthquake. I'm pretty far from Mexicali. There were changes, but we didn't get changed. It will be my third change with my hijo. But it's cool, I think we'll have some baptisms this change.
Ok well, peace out.

Love,

Elder Hansen

3 29 10 Holy Week

2010-04-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

¡Feliz Lunes Santo!

So it's semana santa here in Mexico (Holy Week). That means that all the kids get two weeks off of school, and almost everything closes for a week. This week might be kind of tough because everyone is going on vacation. It will be interesting to see the celebrations here. The pueblo I'm in is really traditional and really, really Catholic. I heard that they take the giant cross out of the church and walk it around the whole town. A couple weeks ago I saw a Jesus statue that was placed inside of a glass coffin and carried through the town. The celebrations usually start based around some religious theme but end up with everyone getting drunk and passing out in the street.

This week was awesome. We met this super cool lady named Elena. We started teaching her and we gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to pray about it. When we came back, she read and analized the whole chapter and prayed about it. She said that after praying she dreamed that she was preaching about the book to all of her friends. She came to church this week with her son, and said she wants us to talk to her whole family. She has a huge family! We also met another cool lady this week named Lidia. We were walking in the street and she whistled at us. Usually, the people that whistle at us are teenage girls or gays, so we didn't turn around. She kept whisting, so we turned around. She waved us down and we walked over. She told us that she met some missionaries in another pueblo a few weeks ago, and she wanted to meet with us. She came to church too. In our gospel principles class we talked about eternal families. The class went went well, but Lidia was pretty quiet. We asked her a question at the end of the class that caused her to let out all her feelings and talk about her family problems. We kind of lost control of the class and went like 20 minutes over time. It was kind of uncomfortable yet funny at the same time. But it was good. Both of them want to come back to church next week.

I think we had good results this week because we really made an extra effort to reach all of our goals and be 100% obedient. We set a goal of 35 contacts every day even if we had a lot of appointments. A couple of nights we were contacting people at 9:00 to complete our goal. On Saturday we had a lesson and we got out at 9:22. We were pretty far from home, so we decided to run home. We got there at exactly 9:30. I think God saw our extra effort this week.

Thanks for the letters. When did Jenny cut her hair? Are there really more people wearing skinny jeans? I'm not a fan. I'm glad you're making friends with crazy, old ladies. They always make for good stories.

Mom, I liked your story, and I've had many similar experiences.
Ok well I gotta go.

Love,
Elder Hansen

3 22 10 Tough Going in Zumpango

2010-04-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

Hola,
Congrats, Brooke & Aaron, on the new baby. Mom said I should call the baby cute and hot healthly. I'm not sure what hot healthy is, but I feel even more uncomfortable calling the baby hot than I did calling it cute. That's just weird. Anyways, congratulations on the new baby. (note from Mom, that was a type-o)

It sounds like life has changed a lot since I was there over a year ago. Zac and the twins look really old. It will be fun to see all the kids and how much they've grown.

I'm glad to hear that the creepy, old guy is no longer cruising the streets of Waunakee. Although, I did enjoy the stories.

This week didn't go very well for us. On Tuesday, I got really sick. It was really weird. Throughout the whole day my knees were hurting a lot. But other than that I didn't feel too sick. In the afternoon, I got a bad headache that wouldn't go away. Then I started to feel really light headed, and I didn't have energy to keep knocking doors. We got back to the apartment and I discovered I had a 103 fever. I took some tylenol, but it still took like five hours for the fever to go down. But that's not all. I also got some crazy bad diarhea. I was going to the bathroom every hour all night. The next day the fever was gone, but the bowel problems lasted for a few days. It was pretty bad. So yeah, that kind of threw off a lot of our plans this week.

So I've realized that Zumpango is kind of hard. I feel like we are working really hard, but we haven't seen much results. Well maybe we haven't had many baptisms, but I think we have helped the area. For three weeks straight we've had over 40 people in church. The first few weeks when we got here we had in the high twenties or low thirties. Even though, we didn't bring any new investigators to church this week, I think the Lord saw the effort we put in and blessed us with three non members that either showed up or came with members. One of the non-members that came brought her three kids and stayed the whole time. She accepted to meet with us this week.

Ok well, I need to go. This hour goes by really fast.
All is well down here in Mexico.

Love,
Elder Hansen

" Ey guero echale ganas!" 3 15 10

2010-04-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Hey yall,

That's nice that the weather is warming up in Wisconsin. It has become rather unpleasant here. I loved Mom's story about the creepy, old, stalker guy. Is he as bad as cough cough man from Encinitas? It seems like every neighborhood has one of those guys.

This week went alright. We tried out the service thing. It didn't work out very well. Nobody wanted to let us help them. I also was kind of sick, so we only tried it out one day. I think we might try it out again this week. We did realize that working with the members really is the best way, but it's kind of hard here because there aren't many members. We brought a member with us to teach a lesson this week, and it went really well. The member passed for our investigator to bring her to church. I realized that we need to have more lessons with members present. They are usually willing to help us with that, but the problem is they usually don't give us referrals. And the names that they have given us have been pretty lame. Oh well, I think we need to help them a little more.

On Saturday we had a day full of appointments. We actually had 11 appointments scheduled for the day. But throughout the day all but one of our appointments fell through. We were feeling pretty bummed out. We were walking in the street and this old man stopped us and said, " Ey guero echale ganas!" In English that would be something like " Hey white guy. Get excited!" It made my day. I don't know if the spirit inspired that man to talk to me, but I liked it. It made me laugh. Sometimes it's the little things like that that keep my from losing it some days.
I'm sorry. I really can't think of anything to write, and my time is about be up. I sent a hand written letter that you should be getting soon.

And about the cds. You can send me an efy from 2007, 2008, or 2009, michael mclean, maybe some kenneth cope or something, and a good enya cd is always nice.
I'm sorry this letter is so lame, but I have to go.

I love you. Take care.

Love,

Elder Hansen

Getting the Members to Help 3 8 10

2010-03-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well howdy ya'll.

This week wasn't too exciting. My companion and I haven't been having too much success in finding people or in bringing people to church. We realized that we needed to change something. Last week we made a plan of how we are going to work with the members. We had tried it before, but it didn't work too well. But this week we planned out a lesson to give to the members and we had them join us in a special fast this Sunday for missionary opportunities. A few of the members are excited and want to help us. On Friday, we had zone conference, and one of the themes of the conference was how to work with the members. It made us realize that members are essential in missionary work. It is a big adjustment for me. For almost my whole mission we've worked without the help of the members. Many of the members here also think that missionary work is just knocking doors. I'm excited to try this out. I think if we can get the members excited, we're going to have a lot of success. On Saturday, we had an awesome lesson that helped me realize how important members are in missionary work. We brought a member with us to teach the Plan of Salvation to an investigator we had found on Tuesday. The lesson went amazingly well. The spirit was strong as the member shared her testimony. Our investigator, Delfina, told us that she had been praying for a miracle in her life, and she feels like her prayer has been answered. We challenged her to be baptized and she accepted.

So we decided that we wanted to try other things instead of knocking doors. Our president gave us an idea that we're going to try. He said we could leave our house in normal clothes for 2 or 3 hours in the morning for several days straight and look for people to help. I think we're going to try it out tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Dad wants to know about the food. The food really isn't too interesting. It's usually just chicken with some rice and beans, but prepared in a lot of different ways. The people that we eat with aren't really poor. We usually eat pretty well. Sometimes we get pork or beef. I don't know. There's not really a standard meal. The only thing that is always there are the tortillas. I don't know how I'm going to eat without tortillas. I love em.

Ok well. I gotta go. Thanks for the letters.

Love,
Elder Hansen

If you send another package, send me more cds. Thanks.

Life in Zumpango 3 1 10

2010-03-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hola,

So it's already March. When does March madness start? How is BYU doing? So it sounds like spring is starting in Wisconsin. I think summer has started in Zumpango. It's been pretty hot lately, but fortunately it's not hot like Zihuatanejo. It's dry heat. I don't sweat nearly as much as I did on the coast. I can usually get two days out of my shirts and my pants last a while. In Zihuatanejo, I had to wash everything every week.

I think Clint should let the missionaries know how lucky they are to have a ward mission leader. I think I've had one for one change in my mission. I think he should use Brother Young's POOF. I don't remember what it stands for, but I remember that he talked about it every Sunday.

Not much new has happened in Zumpango. We found some cool people this week, but for some reason we couldn't get any of them to church. We have one investigator that is pretty cool. His name is Juan, and he's dating a recent convert. He hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet, but he's way excited and comes to church every week. Other than Juan we don't have many other investigators that are progressing.

Dad asked about our apartment. It's the nicest apartment I've lived in. It has two bedrooms, a living room, a little kitchen area, and a bathroom. The only bad thing is we don't have furniture. I bought a hammock a few weeks ago, so yeah that was exciting. And Dad asked about the food. The food is pretty good. We eat with different members everyday.

Today we were playing soccer, and while we were playing soccer Elder Collins hit his head on the bar getting out of the players' box. It started to bleed a lot. He fainted for a few seconds, so they took him to the hospital. Only in Mexico can you walk in the hospital and walk out 15 minutes later with stitches and for less than $15.

The other day I found a book in our apartment. It's called The Day of the Defense. It is set in a court. There are two missionaries and like 15 religious leaders that attack them. It's pretty cool. I learned a lot reading it. The other day a pentecostal guy started bashing on us, and I was able to make him be quiet. It was pretty satisfying, but a waste of time. The majority of those guys are so close minded that they really don't want to hear what we have to say.

Here's something funny. One of missionary friends here is teaching a clown that used to be a Jehova's Witness. He says that his wife gets mad because he's always making jokes, but his response is always "well I am a clown."
Ok well, I gotta go.

Love,
Elder Hansen

New Email Address 2 22 10

2010-03-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hey,

They made upgrades on the myldsnail account and they gave me a new account. It's bret.hansen@myldsmail.net .

There were changes today, but I'm still in Zumpango with the same companion. I kind of expected that. Dad says my letters are getting shorter. Sorry. I'm trying do everything in under an hour. Mom says I needed to say the baby is cute. I'm not really comfortable using the word cute. Saying he was healthy was the best compliment I could think of.

I appreciate the letters this week. I can't always think of how I should comment of them, but thanks.

So this week I again learned how the mission is full of ups and downs. When we got here, the other missionaries left us with some investigators that had already been to church and received the lessons. They are three brothers and we baptized them a couple of weeks ago. But because we didn't know them very well, we didn't know they were lame. After their baptism, every time we went to visit them they seemed uninterested. The other day they told us they don't want to go to church any more or have us teach them. They never could be confirmed because they didn't go to church. It made us feel pretty crappy. I learned an important lesson from that experience. I learned that I never again want to baptize someone that is unprepared. We actually talked about that in the zone conference. If there is one thing for Satan to attack in this mission it is baptism. He knows it is the most important thing we do as missionaries, and he wants to take the sacredness out of it. I've learned that it is a lot more satisfying to baptize one person that is really converted instead of 5 people that really don't understand the significance of what they're doing.

To answer Dad's question, no I don't really struggle to talk about stuff in Spanish. Sometimes I say stuff wrong or I don't know a word, but I can usually talk fine.

This week we found a cool family that just moved here from Indiana. The kid speaks English. If they are cool I'll pass Tanner some references of their other family members that are in Indiana.

Today we went to a members house in Chilpancingo. They had a drum set and an electric guitar. My companion played the guitar for a while. I was pretty impressed. He's really good. Apparently he was a prety big metal head when he was at home. He played the solo in crazy train which was pretty sweet. I don't know if that's allowed, but it was pretty cool. It's funny how missionaries all seem the same when you look at them, but everyone has a different history.
Well, I don't have much else to say.

Have a good week everyone.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Juan Carlos 2 15 10

2010-03-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

Feliz Dia de Amor y Amistad!

Happy Valentine's Day. To be honest, I kind of forgot it was Valentine's Day yesterday. In Mexico they call it the day of love and friendship. I had no idea that there were Olympics going on right now. I don't think Winter Olympics are too popular in Mexico. But I'm sure the World Cup will be a pretty big deal. I'm glad to hear that the baby is doing well. When is Kelli due?

So everything is going well here in Zumpango. This is the last week in the transfer, and I think I've learned a lot in these 5 weeks. At first it was pretty tough being with a companion that really didn't know how to do anything, and in an area that I didn't know. But now I've got Zumpango memorized. I've seen a lot of progress in my companion. He now can teach pretty well, and he's not as afraid to make decisions. I've also learned to be more decisive, and I think I've improved a lot in my teaching abilities.

This week I learned the power of The Book of Mormon. We have an investigator, Juan Carlos, that we've been teaching for a few weeks. He's become a good friend, but we've had trouble setting appointments with him and he we weren't sure if he was progressing. One morning I was reading Preach My Gospel chapter 5 where it talks about The Book of Mormon. At the end of the chapter there's a story that talks about how some missionaries decided to read 3 Nephi 11 with an investigator one day and it caused a change in his heart that eventually lead to his baptism. My companion and I decided that we would try the same thing. We began to read with him, and we explained the significance behind what was read. He was really interested, and seemed to understand and appreciate what we taught. We set another appointment 2 days later, and we taught him lesson 3 (The Gospel of Jesus Christ). As we talked about baptism and the change that it would bring in his life the spirit was really strong. Again we used The Book of Mormon to teach that principle (Alma 7). He accepted a baptismal date. As we were finishing and about to leave. He asked us how he could be sure if it was the right thing. This allowed my companion and I to each individually testify and share our own personal conversion stories. The spirit filled the room.

Ok well, have a good week everyone. Cuidense.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Guillermo's Conversion 2 8 10

2010-03-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Brooke and Aaron on the new baby. He'll probably be walking by the time I get home, but that's ok. I don't really like it when all they can do is lay there and poop.

Well, we had another good week. We had a baptism. Guillermo passed his interiew with President Spannaus, and was baptized on Saturday. It was an amazing experience. I'll tell you a little bit about Guillermo. Guillermo is about 65 years old and has been an alcoholic most of his life. For that reason, his life hasn't been too great. His family life struggled because of his addiction, and he has made a lot of mistakes that have haunted him for years. He had tried to quit several times, but had always fallen back in the same problem. A little over a month ago he met the missionaries that were here before us. They brought him to church and taught him about the word of wisdom. Since that visit he hasn't had a drop of alcohol. We've been teaching him for a while, and he is always waiting for us when we get there. He walks pretty slowly, but he gets to church by himself every week. He was so excited for his baptism. It's amazing to see the change that has happened in him through the gospel. It's hard to believe that this nice old man was not too long ago a drunk that lied passed out in the street. I know the Lord works miracles, and perhaps the biggest miracle of all is the change that he can make in the life of someone that accepts the gospel.

This week a huge storm came into the area. It was pretty awesome. Apparently it never rains in February, but last week it rained for almost 2 days straight. There was some pretty bad flooding in Chilpancingo. One of the churches flooded. There's a river that runs through the city that is usually just a dry canal, but last week it was almost over flowing. It actually had some sweet rapids. I thought it probably would have been pretty fun in a kayak even though the water had a lot of trash in it. But everyone here thought the world was ending. Oh and speaking of the world ending, I'd like to read that book that explains the book of revelations. The jw's sometimes throw out some crazy ideas about revelations, and I don't know what to say. A lot of people here believe in stuff that the jw's say even though they still say they're catholics. I don't really get it.

Ok well, I don't have much else to say. Happy Valentine's Day, and have a good week.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Lions Club Service 2 1 10

2010-03-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hola,
So, Brooke is going to have the baby this week. That's exciting. Do they still not have a name?

This week was interesting. They say the mission is full of highs and lows. This week I felt some pretty high highs and pretty low lows. But I guess that's how the mission goes. This week, the missionaries here from Chilpancingo were sent to help in a service activity. A group from the Lion's Club in Indiana came here to Chilpancingo to give away free glasses. None of them knew Spanish, so we translated for them. My companion and I went for the whole day on Wednesday. It was pretty fun. It was nice doing something different for a change. It was weird being around Americans that aren't missionaries. Sometimes I would catch myself speaking in Spanglish. So that was fun, but that night I think I got a stomach virus. I threw up a few times in the night and in the morning too. I felt pretty bad, so we didn't leave the apartment. I still felt pretty sick until Saturday when I started to feel a little better. But on Saturday morning we had three baptisms. We baptized three brothers that the other missionaries had found. That was a pretty experience, and I was feeling good about it. They were going to be confirmed the next day, but they didn't show up to church. So that was really lame. It's amazing how one day you can feel so good, and the next so horrible. I guess that's what happens when you spend all day with people trying to help them to make good decisions. In the end they all have their agency, and it's up to them what they really want to do.

Most of our investigators are kind of dying on us. We only have one solid investigator, Guillermo. He comes to church by himself every week. He has his special interview with Presidente Spannaus this week, so we'll see what happens. Yesterday we did some planning and we thought of a bunch of new ideas for finding new investigators. We're going to start an English class. I'm pretty excited for that.

I'll answer some of Clint's questions. I don't know if I've ever really felt homesick. I think that's mainly because I don't even have a home anymore. I definitely have had moments when I've felt depressed or frustrated. But I think that's pretty normal with any missionary.
No the people here don't make fire from car tires. That's kind of weird. I think cardboard is a lot easier, and there's a lot more of it lying in the street.
Preach my Gospel is pretty cool. Sometimes I kind of fall in the habit of teaching the same lesson. It's hard to keep it different especially with the first lesson.
Ok well. I gotta go. Cuidense mucho.
Love,

Elder Hansen

1 Year Anniversary

2010-03-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

1-year anniversary. Half way point. time to burn a shirt.

Burn that shirt!

City View Zumpango

Hola,

Things are going a little better here in Zumpango. This week went a lot better than the last. We aren't too lost anymore, and we have more `people that we are teaching. My companion has also openend up a little more.

We were going to have a baptism this week, but we found out that our investigator needs a special interview. His name is Guillermo and he is awesome. He's pretty old and has had a pretty rough life. He's been an alcoholic for years, but after he met the missionaries he decided to quit. He's been clean for over a month. He walks pretty slowly, but he arrives to church on his own. We are also teaching a man called Oswaldo. He works as a cop in Chilpàncingo, and he accepted a baptismal date. The way we found him is pretty cool. Last Saturday, we had a day full of appointments, but as we went through the day almost all of them fell through. It was about 6:00 and we didn't have anything else planned. I was pretty frustrated. I sat down on the curb to think, and I said a little prayer asking what to do. After finishing my prayer some kid came up to us and asked me what we were doing. He said he had been to our church before. I asked him where he lived and he gave me a pretty vague address. We decided to look for it because we had nothing else to do. On the first door we knocked we found Oswaldo.

I've been using the miracle book clint sent me. I've realized the little miracles that God gives us every day. I think I've seen a lot more miracles lately, now that I have to be in charge. I've also learned to rely a lot more heavily on the Lord's help. I can no longer depend on my companion when someone begins to attack our beliefs or when someone presents us with their problems or doubts. It has been difficult, but I think I am learning a lot.

You asked about the area. The branch here is still pretty weak. There aren't a lot of priesthood holders. The branch president feels pretty overwhelmed with everything and depends on us a lot to help him. The area isn't that big, but there are quite a few people. We eat with a different member every day. I think it's good because we get to know all of the members. In the six houses that we eat in we cover almost all of the active members.

Well, I'm glad to hear that it's warmed up a little in Wisconsin. I think winter ended this week in Zumpango. It's been pretty hot.
Mom, I liked the picture a lot. I'll have to buy one before I go home.

Cuidense mucho y les amo un buen.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Jan 18 10 New Greenie & Area

2010-01-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

Hola,

Thanks for all the letters. I had a lot to read, and yes I do read them. A lot has happened this week. I apologize for not writing, but I have a good excuse. I got transfered. I am in a pueblo again. I think I am destined to live in a small town, because I haven't left small towns my whole mission. I am in the area Zumpango, Guerrero. It is like 15 minutes from Chilpancingo. Chilpancingo is the capitol of Guerrero. You should be able to find it on a map. On Sunday at 10:00 pm I left Zihuatanejo and I arrived in Cuernavaca at 6:00 am. It was about 85 degress when I left and about 50 degrees when I got there. I had to go to Cuerna because I got a kid. I'm training a greenie, and we opened an area. The two missionaries that were there before finished their missions at the same time and went home. They were good missionaries and left us a couple good investigators. We should have a baptism this week.

The area is very different than my last one. The entire pueblo is built around two hills. All day long we are climbing hills. The town is really Catholic. There is a giant Cathedral in the middle of the town, and there is a church on every corner. It's been pretty hard tracting. This week was kind of an eye opener for me. I realized all of my weaknesses.
My companion is Elder Zozaya. He's from Merida, Yucatan. He has 8 brothers and sisters, and he is the sixth to serve a mission. He's pretty quiet and kind of serious. That has made it kind of hard because I'm not much of a conversationist either.

The area was just opened to missionaries 3 years ago, so the branch is pretty small. The services are kind of a mess. There was about 30 people there on Sunday. We meet on the second and third story of a building. There is a wearhouse on the first story. It's pretty ghetto, but we should be moving to a better house in a month. We're still pretty lost here. We don't know our way around very well. We have a map, but still it's kind of hard.

I think we're going to have to try out some new ideas in this area. Knocking doors hasn't worked out too well for us here. I think we're going to start visiting the members to try and plan some family home evenings. We did that in my other area and it worked out pretty well. If you have ideas in how to find new investigators I'd be happy to hear them.

The weather here is great. In the morning it is cold, and it usually stays pretty cool during the day. Today we played soccer and then football. There are a ton of gringos in this zone. It's the biggest zone in the mission.
You asked if I know Elder Nichols. He was an AP, and I think he's going home this change or maybe he already went home.

I got Brooke's package. The tie is pretty awesome. I like the calender too. I think almost all the pictures of me were taken in the same week.
I'm glad to hear that everything is good at home. I just barely met some JW's that were from Wisconsin. That was pretty weird.
Well, everything is going good with me. We are working hard, and hopefully we will get the hang of things soon.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Two Baptisms and Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

Jaquelin's Baptism

Blanca's Baptism

Happy New Year! It's weird that a year has already passed. My New Years Eve wasn't too exciting. We got invited to eat pizza, but unfortunately it was Mexican style with a lot of chilis and hot sauce. Some investigators also invited us to a party and they killed a pig. It was pretty cool seeing them gut the pig. The Mexican tradition at midnight is to go in the street and shoot your gun, so that kind of woke us up.

Well, this week was great. We had two baptisms. We had been planning on one, but the other one came unexpectadly. I think those are blessings that came from trying to be 100% obedient. On Saturday Blanca was baptized. She was really excited, and had been waiting a really long time. On Sunday Jaquelin was baptized. She's the one that came as a surprise. We have had her as an investigator for a long time, and this week we decided that we were going to drop her. We talked with her ande beared our testimonies, and she told us that she really did want to be baptized but her husband was holding her back. We talked with her husband, and he told us that he wasn't ready but that he would let Jaquelin be baptized if she wanted to. So this weekend was really busy. We hadn't had a baptism for two months and then we had two in the same week. It was kind of a crazy week, but everything turned out well.

The other day we got a ride from two Spaniards. They talked pretty funny. They said that they started in Las Vegas and went to Tijuana and are going down all the Pacific coast surfing in as many places as possible until they get to Panama. They have 9 months to complete their trip. A while ago I met an American guy that lives here for 6 months of the year surfing and then goes to Alaska for six months and works as a guide on fishing trips. I look at those guys and sometimes am envious because I am probably doomed to living in the suburbs and working in a cubicle all day. But those guys will one day be old and alone without families. I guess it's worth it to make some sacrifices to have a higher level of happiness.

It sounds like everyone is doing well back home. I think I'll have a lot of movies to catch up on when I get back.

Love,
Elder Hansen

Ps Here's the pictures from the baptism of Jaquelin (first) and Blanca (second)

2009-12-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

Wow. It sounds like the weather in Wisconsin is pretty rough right now. The other day we left the apartment at 7:30 in the morning, and it was mildly pleasant outside. I think that's the coldest it will get all year.
I got Clint's package on Sunday. It made my day. I'm loving the Celine Dion Christmas cd. And in case you were wondering missionaries can have a lot of fun with dollar store toys. I didn't get the packages from Mom, but I'm sure I'll get everything in the zone conference on the 22nd. Three zones are meeting together in Acapulco. It should be fun, but it will be 8 hours in a bus and 400 pesos to go and come back in the same day.
Yesterday we had stake conference. We had to travel an hour and a half to Lazaro. It was the first conference since being made a stake. The building wasn't designed to be a stake center. We couldn't all fit inside, so we met behind the church on the soccer/basketball court under a giant circus tent. It was a pretty cool conference. It had the theme of missionary work. Presidente Spannaus came and gave a great talk. I hope it motivated our two investigators that were there.
This week went pretty well. We found a lot of new investigators. We found a family that is way cool. The mom already accepted to be baptized.
I'm sorry I don't have much news to tell. I'll try to start writing things down during the week to make my letters more interesting.
I'll find out the number you can call on Christmas and what time you should call.
Take care,
Elder Hansen
ps I included some pictures of a cool sunset, a kid in a bucket, and me doing some contacting

12 07 09 I Hate Gringos

2009-12-28T17:06:00.000-08:00

Hola,
Dad might have thought that his birthday was pretty boring, but I had to check my planner to remember what we did that day. One family in the morning let me blow out a candle. When we ate, the mamita's family gave me some candy. And at night another family sang me the mañanitas. It was pretty exciting.

I got a new companion this week. His name is Elder Mendez. He is from Merida, Yucatan. I'm pretty excited to be with him. He is a good worker and obedient. I think we can have a lot of success together.

This week was kind of messed up and we didn't get much done because we had to move out of our apartment. But our new apartment is located in Pantla close to the church and the mamita. And the best part is the new house has air conditioning. It's amazing. It's just a little box air conditioner in the window, but I don't know if anyone else in the mission has air conditioning.

I talked with Elder Wiggins the other day. He goes home in a week. That's pretty crazy. Time goes by fast. His English isn't that great, but it should come back in a week or two.

Christmas is coming up, and yes Mexico does celebrate Christmas. Well, everyone except for the Jehova's Witnesses. The traditions are pretty much the same. But the people don't get as into it as they do in the US. I think it's hard to get into it when it's 90 degrees outside.

There's a lot of white people that have come here for the holiday season. I don't like them. The other day some lady yelled at me for hitch-hiking. And getting yelled at always hurts more in your native language. Then after yelling at us she didn't give us a ride and left us to continue hitch-hiking. I hate gringos. I'm so glad I'm a missionary here and not in the US because Americans are jerks and think they know everything. The people here are so much more receptive.

Today I found out that my old companion, Elder Macias, got his two suitcases with all of his stuff stolen on the day of changes. He went to help some sisters put their stuff in the bus, and left his bags unattended. He apparantly forgot about his bags for about an hour and we he went back they were gone.

Well, that's all the news I have for this week. I should get the stuff you sent me in the zone conference on the 22.
Love,
Elder Hansen

11 30 09 Tomorrow is my birthday

2009-12-28T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hola,
Thanks for all the letters. Other than the car accident it sounds like things went well over Thanksgiving. That's cool that you all got to meet together. I am glad to hear that the cougars won. I heard the game was pretty exciting and that the fans rushed the field afterwards.

I liked the pictures. Everyone looks the same except Zachary is bigger and Brooke is bigger too. I'm excited to see the new house. It looks pretty fresa (fresa if translated literally means strawberry, but it also means fancy or preppy).
Today we had changes. My companion got changed. I was kind of happy about that. I thought I was going to be made senior companion, but it looks like I'm going to be junior comp for a while longer. I just hope my new companion isn't as frito as my other companions have been. Our baptism for this week fell through because we found out she's not married. And one we had scheduled for 2 weeks from now is falling too. I hope my new comp can help me make some things happen in this area.

No, I did not sell my Mr. Mac shoes. I sold my $25 running shoes that I had had for over a year. The man that I sold them to is named Tamakuk. He has one eye, long hair, and walks around holding a crocodile. All the locals know him. I thought he looked homeless, but apparently he has a lot of money. I'll send some pictures next week. I finally bought a cable to upload pictures, but I forgot to bring it.
No, teaching in Spanish is not difficult. Some times I mix up my words or make stupid mistakes, but I can talk about whatever I want pretty easily.

It is weird that tomorrow is my birthday. I've never had a birthday in summer weather before. I'm no longer a teenager. We should have a zone conference this week or the next. I guess I will be getting several packages. I'm kind of glad I didn't get changed to another area because that means I can spend my birthday and Christmas in an area where I actually know people.

Well, I don't have much news. I can't think of any cool stories or anything interesting that happened this week. Oh, I learned how to use a machete. We helped clear out a field with some machetes. We also helped gather cement blocks to help build a tomb for the wife of some inactive member that died.
Ok well, take care.

Elder Hansen

11 23 09 In Pantla

2009-12-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

Hola,
Thanks for the letter Grandma, and thanks for keeping me in your prayers.
Clint, yes I did sell my shoes for $300 pesos, but I only had to walk barefoot until we got to the taxi. I found some other shoes in the zone leaders' apartment, so I ended up gaining $300.

That should be fun having almost the whole family together for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving will be pretty lame here. Maybe we'll go out for tacos or something.
That was interesting about the Rough Stone Rolling guy. I'll have to read that book when I get back.

This week went by pretty fast. I left Tuesday morning for Guacamayas for divisions with the zone leaders. Elder Querry went to Pantla with my companion and I went to Guacamayas with Elder Arevalo. I was there until Thursday morning. It was an awesome experience. I learned a lot. We worked way hard, and we got so much done during the day. We didn't waste a minute of our time. I've always asked myself, "how is it possible that the zone leaders consistantly baptize 5 or more every change, and we seem to always be struggling to find one?" I learned that the zone leaders aren't any smarter than me, and they really don't do anything that I couldn't do. But they are obedient, work hard, study hard, and plan well every day and week. Maybe I will never be able to control what my companion does or force him to be obedient. But that should never be an excuse for me to slack off.

Things in Pantla are going good. We have someone scheduled for baptism this Saturday. Her name is Blanca and she is way excited. Her husband is an inactive member and her father in law and his family are good members of the ward. She is excited and already has a strong testimony.

We have two baptisms scheduled for the next Saturday. They are Jaqueline and her husband Albert. Jaqueline has come to church two times with the kids and Albert only once. They are also very excited. This week we helped them clear out the lot behind their house with machetes. That was pretty awesome. They have four little kids and one more on the way, and Jaqueline is just barely turning 22 this week.
We are teaching another man named Luis who is also way cool. He has come to church twice, but he needs to get married before he can be baptized. They are getting married in two weeks. He is way cool. His wife and mother in law are members. This week we helped them knock down a palm tree in their yard. All we had was an axe, but we got it down. My companion got pretty into it, but now his hands are blistered.

There are changes again next week. Time is flying. It will be sad if I get changed and won't be able to see our investigators get baptized, but we'll see what happens.

Ok well take care and have a great Thanksgiving.

Con cariño,
Elder Hansen

11 15 09 Sold My Shoes

2009-12-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

I don't think this letter will be too long because I am kind of in a rush, but I will try to write as much as I can. Thank you for all of the letters. I really do appreciate them. I usually don't have much time to comment on everything, but I do enjoy reading them.
We are finally starting to see results here in Pantla. This Sunday three families that we've been teaching came to church. We have a lot of people that we are teaching right now.
Today was a fun day. We started out playing soccer at the church. I was stuck as goalie because I still can't run very well. Then we walked to the beach. Then we decided to go to the nicer beach by climbing on the rocks. We climbed for a while, but eventually they stopped and it was just the ocean hitting against the cliff. There was a nice hotel above where we were stuck. We decided to climb in the back entrance, and I think we bugged the rich white people laying out. We eventually got to the other beach where we played volleyball for a little while. There was a guy that was walking on the beach with a baby crocodile. We walked up to see it, and he asked me how much I wanted for my shoes. He offered 300 pesos which is about 30 dolars. I only paid $25 for the shoes when I ought them over a year ago, so I thought it was a pretty good deal. He also let us take pictures holding the crocodile for free. Now, we just finished eating with a member and she gave us heart, kidney, and stomach soup. yummy.
Brooke, thanks for the letter and the pictures. Zach is growing up fast. It will be exciting to see how much he's changed when I get back.
Mom, I don't have a picture with president. We really only see him when we have zone conference every six weeks. But he's awesome. I like what he's done with the mission.
I don't remember which pictures I sent.
Jose and his family moved to Monterrey. We haven't heard from them, but we hope all is well.
Thanksgiving doesn't exist in Mexico, and yes I have seen a couple Christmas things. But it's still pretty early.
I think the swine flu left Mexico and went for the US, because I haven't heard anything for months.
Dad, of course we played with the crocodiles.
Last year I saw BYU women's soccer play agaisnt New Mexico, and there were some pretty crazy Mexican girls.
I like reading your letters about what's going on the world. All week I study church stuff. Sometimes it's nice to have a break. I especially liked hearing about the guy from Weezer. I always new he was smart. You should listen to the song where he talks about falling in love with the half japenese cello player.
Ok well I ran out of time. I love you all.
Elder Hansen

11 9 09 Crocs & Smashed Toe

2009-11-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

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

Bret's Address For Sending Stuff His B-Day is Coming Up

2009-10-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hi This is Bret's mom. His B-Day is Dec 1 and it takes forever for the mission home to distribute mail or packages. So...if you planned on sending a birthday card for his B-day or a Christmas card, now's the time. Don't send anything of value, it won't make it or will cost too much in tarrafs. Things he would like are: Photos, cards, letters, church CD's or appropriate music, rice chrispy treats (wrap in twos in plastic and then zip lock to keep butter inside), candy. I've found the US Post office to be the most user friendly for me. You may want to pay a little extra and get a tracking number.

Here's the address:

Elder Bret C. Hansen

Mexico Cuernavaca Mission

Ave. Palmira #35

Col. Palmira

Cuernavaca, Morelos C.P. 62490

MEXICO

9 Months - Still Barfing

2009-10-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

This week I completed 9 months. That means if I began my mission as a zygote, I would now be a fully functioning human being. That's kind of weird to think about.
This week was kind of slow again. A lot of our investigators are kind of lame. In fact this week we dropped four of our baptism possiblities for this month. But I think this next week will be very busy. We have a lot of appointments scheduled. Tomorrow we also have the zone conference in Lazaro. That means we probably get to sleep on the floor of the church and leave at 5:00 am. Yay.

I found Clint's letter interesting. In our mission our Book of Mormons last us a while. We give them out on the second visit and only if they're not really lame. Finding them for a second visit cuts out like half of the new investigators, and those that read the pamphlet or are not really lame narrows it down to just a few every week. We have to be pretty careful with the stuff we hand out because they don't give us new stuff very often. Yes, we do find a number of people that have talked with the missionaries before. Pantla and Barrio Nuevo which is where the church used to be have been contacted to death by the missionaries. It seems like almost every one in Barrio Nuevo has talked with the missionaries before. But there are only 2 active families that live there.

I thought I didn't have any stories, but I just remembered a good one. So I thought it was kind of unusual that I hadn't thrown up for a while, but I think the Bomba cleaned out my system and gave me a sissy stomach again. Anyways, last Monday we were in centro of Zihuha. My companion was dragging me around to some stores, and I was feeling pretty sick. We went to the photo store, so he could print pictures. I started to feel really dizzy, and I ran outside. There was a lot of people outside, but I couldn't hold it in any longer. I found an empty spot between two parked cars and threw up a few times. Everyone was looking at me like "who is this drunk white guy throwing up in the street?" I'm sure the girl that was smashed up next to me on the bus on the way home loved the way I smelled. I felt sick the next day too, but I'm better now.

In response to Dad's questions:
This area is different from the last in that it is much more spread out. The houses are further from the church, so it is hard to bring people to church. But the people seem to be a little bit more receptive here. In my last area we got a lot more doors slammed on us. I say that figuritively, because most of the houses don't have doors.

We eat a lot of sea food. I've learned how to eat the fish that every one eats here. It has a lot of "espinas" (pokey things).
I still do eat frosted flakes or corn flakes in the morning. We have a mamita in our area. That means we eat with the same lady every day. If we have time, we also eat with her in the morning. But lately we haven't gone much in the morning. She cooks really good.

Yes, a lot of people work at the resorts. That is dream job everyone wants. But it is bad for us because they usually work on Sundays.
A lot of people are kind of familiar with the church. They know who the mormons are. They know we have "another Bible" and sometimes they throw out the name Jose Smith. But other than that they usually don't know too much.
Ok well that's all for this week.

I love you,
Elder Hansen

October 19 Secret Beach

2009-10-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

Not too much happened this week. In fact, it was kind of a bummer week. None of our investigators came to church. And the church was pretty empty again. We had about 30 again. The biggest problem for us is getting people to the church. In the ward there are about 5 families that come every week. There are another 5 or more that come once every couple of weeks. Then there those that only come when the missionaries bug them a whole lot. And then there's the other half of the baptized members that never come.To me it's weird how there are people that have a testimony of the church but won't go to church or think they're good if they go once a month.
We finished six weeks here, but Elder Macias and I are still together. That wasn't a really big surprise.

On Saturday we went to visit an hermana that lives far away. It took us about an hour to get there, but it was worth it. She lives on a amazing beach. I found out where all the gringos have been hiding. The area is called Troncones beach, and it's apparently a pretty famous surf spot. The waves looked pretty sweet. There were a bunch of big houses owned by Americans. I saw two heavily tattooed white guys that run a surf school down there. At first I thought one of them was Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I read a little bit of Tanner's blog. I couldn't help but laugh hearing him complain about their car's mileage limit being reduced. Occasionally we get a ride in the back of the pickup, but for the most part it's lots and lots of walking in 90 degree heat with 90 percent humidity. I guess everyone has a different mission experience. He was way pumped to find 6 new investigators in one day. With President Gardner, we were required to find 5 new investigators every day. There have been days when we find 10 or 15 in one day. I think the difference is that here in Mexico a ton of people listen to us but nobody will commit to anything. So we can be really busy visiting people, but none of them are going to go anywhere.

I appreciate the letters. Brooke, I remembered your birthday, but I couldn't really do anything about it. Also, it seems likes old age is hitting Dad pretty hard. He can no longer stay awake through a tv show or movie or anything past 9:00 pm.

Ok well, I don't have much more news. Thanks for the letters. Cuidense. Les amo un buen.

Elder Hansen

October 12 2009 Baptism This Week

2009-10-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Outside the church at Jose's baptism

Jose's Baptism

Happy Columbus Day! Happy birthday Zac!

Everybody seems to be complaining about the cold weather, but I'm pretty jealous. It's sooo hot. I'm wet from sweat all day long.

I guess I am pretty fortunate to be with all native speakers all the time. In this mission there are a lot more Mexican elders than gringos, and the sisters are all Mexican. So it is pretty likely that I will be with native companions my whole mission.

This week was pretty good. We had a baptism on Saturday. The baptism was cool, yet kind of sad at the same time. We have been teaching a family for a while and we challenged them for baptism on the 10th. It was going to be the dad, mom, and the two oldest kids. They all seemed to be way excited. On Friday, the day before the baptism, my companion and the district leader went to do the interview. The mom told them that she wanted to wait and that she wanted her kids to wait until they were older. But Jose, the dad, still wanted to be baptized.

The baptism went well. On Sunday he was confirmed. Later as I was teaching the gospel principle class, he started to tell me about the challenges he has had lately and he bore his testimony to me. I have never met a recent convert with such a strong testimony. I know that he is going to be a faithful member, and in time his wife will accept. I hope that one day he will have the opportunity to baptize his wife and children.

I will beging to answer Dad's questions. I am in a ward not a branch. This Sunday we only had 30 people in the church, but last Sunday we had almost 80. We don't have a chapel. We have a casa de oracion (house of prayer). It is a house turned into a church. It has a baptismal font behind it. And yes it is much more unified than the branch in my other area. (I forgot the word more in the other letter). The bishop is a convert of about 6 or 7 years. He's a good guy, but is a little awkward teaching a class. He tends to spit out every piece of information he knows which can kind of scare an investigator.

My companion is from Chihuahua, Chihuahua. He was baptized when he was ten, so I guess he is a convert. He said his family has been kind of off and on active and inactive, but since he came on the mission his family has remained active in the church. He is good at talking to people.

I'm glad to hear the cougars are doing well. I sing "rise and shout the cougars are out" to get my companion out of bed to have comp study. I don't think he understands, but it works.

Do we know if Kelli's is a boy or girl yet?

Les amo,
Elder Hansen

October 5 2009 La Bomba

2009-10-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

¡Hola! I'm glad to hear everyone had fun on the vacation. Is everyone getting together for Christmas? It's weird how one week I get like ten letters and the next only one, but it's cool.

With respect to your vacation ideas to Ixtapa, I'm not sure if it would be that great. Ixtapa is pretty, but there is only one beach and not much to do. The town is new so there isn't that much stuff there. In fact, hardly anyone lives there. Everyone lives in Zihuatanejo, and Zihua isn't that tourist friendly. I've heard of some cool dive spots in the area, but other than that I haven't heard of much. I'd prefer going to Cancun or Cabo. But if the question is between Acapulco and Ixtapa, I would definitely pick Ixtapa. Acapulco is nasty. I was only there a couple hours, but the city is dirty, overly crowded, and from what I've heard pretty dangerous. I also heard the beach isn't that great. Ok well, I shouldn't think too much about these things.

This week, not too much happened. We were allowed to go the priesthood and Sunday sessions of conference. I enjoyed it a lot. I was able to understand a lot better that the last conference. The Spanish translater doesn't put much emotion in his voice. I could tell Elder Holland was speaking with a lot of emotion, but the translator was pretty monotone. It is true that the Spanish speakers record their own voice.

I got to go on divisions this week and I was senior companion for the first time. It didn't seem too hard. I don't know if I mentioned, I'm the only gringo in the Zihuatanejo area. So now even on p-day I have to speak spanish all day. It's not hard, but I miss having people that could keep me up to date on sports and news from the US. For example, I didn't know about the tsunami until today.

I am currently in the process of taking "la bomba" or the bomb. It is a series of 6 pills that are taken every six months to clean out the system of parasites. I've heard it can have some pretty intense side effects. Day one hasn't been too bad so far.

Alright well, I'm out of things to say. If you have questions about the area or anything feel free to ask.

Love,
Elder Hansen

9 27 09 Burning Roof

2009-10-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry if I make grammar mistakes. I write these letters really fast. I think I'm still pretty far from "going native" or forgetting English. My Spanish still isn't that great. I'm actually surprised how it is for me. In the MTC, I felt like I was pretty far advanced, and I learned to understand really fast. I've gotten to the point where I can understand pretty much everything when I read or listen, but I still speak awkwardly.

Thanks for all the letters. I enjoy hearing from everyone. I especially liked Mom's story. I will write Kelli back in Spanish next week so she can grade me. I don't have much time right now.

This week was great. I will share a cool experience. On Wednesday we went to visit a family that we had taught a couple times. When we went we felt like they were beginning to die on us. We decided to fast for them. The day of the fast while going to their house, it was especially hot and we couldn't get a ride. We walked for over a mile on the side of the road singing hymns as we went to keep our minds off of our hunger. Finally we got a ride. We arrived and the whole family was there. Right off the bat they started questioning us about why an angel would tell Nephi to kill someone. Eventually we resolved that issue and were able to move on. We testified a lot and the spirit was very strong. After almost 3 hours with them, they were committed to come to church and to pray that night. On Sunday we came to pick them up for church and they were ready. That's something that doesn't usually happen. They invited us in and told us that the day before their house had caught fire and burnt a hole in the roof and burnt their Bible and Book of Mormon. I think Satan really doesn't want this family to get baptized. But they had a great attitude about it, and were even joking about the sky light in their house. The whole family came to church and stayed all three hours and are excited to come to general conference next week.

The week ended great when Hermana Vasquez made us tacos al pastor with hand made tortillas. I finally saw the beach today when we went to Ixtapa to eat Domino's pizza. The beach here is gorgeous. I recommend Ixtapa for a vacation destination. I took pictures, but in this internet place I can't upload. I'll send them next week. Ok well, I don't have much time. Thanks for the letters and take care.

Love,
Elder Hansen

9 21 09 Second Week in Pantla

2009-10-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

Well, things are going great here in Pantla. I'm sorry my last letter was kind of negative. My first week was kind of rough, but the second went much better. We are working hard and we are seeing results. We have one investigator named Tomas that we visit almost daily. He has come to church 3 consecutive Sundays and we have himn scheduled for baptism this Saturday. He's still a little unsure, but this week we hope to get him excited. This week we also decided to check out a pueblo called Buena Vista that is like 10 minutes up the road from Pantla. In the first house we knocked, we found a way cool family. We taught them the restoration and left them with a Book of Mormon. They had a lot of questions, but we scheduled a visit for 2 days later. When20we came back on Saturday, nobody was home. We were kind of bummed. We then visited our other appointments and did some contacting, but it went pretty unsuccessfully. Then we knocked the door of this Jehovah's Witness. She was nice at first, but then started tearing us apart. My comp tried to fight back using the Bible, but the JW knew a lot more than him. After a long discussion, I finally got us to leave. We were pretty desanimado (depressed), but before leaving we decided to visit the first family again. They were there, but were working. The hermano told us he had already read through all of 3 Nephi and Mormon, he then invited us to eat with his family on Wednesday and have a discussion about the book. So we have a lot of cool investigators right now, and we are busy searching for more.
So, before I met my comp, a lot of people had told me some bad things about him, and I believed them. For the first week, I kind of judged him and I let his stupid stuff bother me. But this week I realized that as long as we are working I'm happy. I think he has changed a lot recently, and I need to be supportive and help him. He had a companion named Elder Snyder that really helped him a lot. When Snyder arrived, Macias was pretty dead and didn't want to do anything, But by the end of 6 weeks Snyder got him to work hard and have comp study every day, and they had success that change.& nbsp; How he did it was by becoming best friends with him. Macias told me that everyday at 9:00 Snyder would sit in his chair next to the bed of Macias and he would wake him up for comp study. Macias said would lay there, but Snyder would begin to read out loud from the Book of Mormon. Macias said he would pretend to be asleep, but he actually paid attention to what Snyder was reading. By the end of the change, they were having study time each change. The habits he formed with Snyder stuck with him, and now he wakes up at nine and we have comp study and we plan every night. It makes me wonder if I could have done the same thing with my first companion.
So, I will tell you a little more about the area and membership here. We have a ward here in Pantla. It was just made a ward about 2 months ago, and is pretty small. We have about 40 people on a typical Sunday. We don't have a chapel. We have a casa de oracion, which is a house turned into a church. I think we have to first fill this little house before they will consider giving us a chapel. What I like about the church here is that the members are much unified. It seems like almost every day there is some church activity. Last week, we had a Mexican Independence Day party in the church. The members drove around and picked up all the inactive members, and the church was full. We had over 80 people there. I20mentioned a little about the area last week. As I mentioned it is really hot, and unlike Houston air conditioning doesn't exist. It is a very coastal environment. There are palm trees everywhere. There are big hills that are full of dense, green forest. There are 2 big rivers that run through our area. We eat a lot of fish and seafood. Who would have thought that after 14 years in Texas I would eat my first crawfish in Mexico? The beach is apparently really close to Pantla, but I still haven't seen it. Oh well, maybe it's better that I don't. On Mondays we go to Zihuatanejo to use the internet, go shopping, and to have our district meetings. I occasionally see Americans here, which is kind of weird. Today I saw my first Asian person in six months. I have only driven through Ixtapa, but it seems pretty fancy. Right now it's pretty empty.
Alright well, this is getting long, so until next week.
Love,

Elder Hansen

9 14 09 Transfer To Guacamayas

2009-10-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last week in Jona

Sorry my letters have been coming late. I've been writing every Monday. I don't know what the deal is with myldsmail.

Well, where do I begin? It's been a busy two weeks. I got transfered this week, so that's why I didn't write. I guess I will begin with my interesting transfer experience. The day started out good as we all met together in Cuernavaca with President. I got to see some of my friends from the MTC. It was fun to hear everyone's experiences in the past 6 months. One of my friends had been serving as a Bishop for several months. The Bishop had some serious medical problems and his senior companion was a bum, so after only a couple months in the mission and with limited Spanish ability he had to take over the responsibilities as bishop.

In Cuernavaca, I found out I was being transfered to the Guacamayas zone which is the farthest point in the mission. I took a bus ride to Acapulco with a bunch of other Elders. From there I was the only one going to Guacamayas. At 8.00 at night they sent me alone on a bus to Lazaro Cardenas. I was kind of nervous, but they assured me that someone would be waiting for me. I arrived at around 2:30 AM, and nobody was there. I waited and waited, and at around 4 I started to get pretty nervous. I searched my stuff for a number I could call on the pay phone. The only one I had was the number of our neighbors in Jona. At 5 I called them and asked them to wake up Elder Moscoso and have him call the offices and tell them where I was. He did, and they said the zone leaders would be there soon. I waited and waited until about 9:15 two missionaries showed up and told me I needed to get on another bus. I was apparently supposed to get off in Zihuatanejo, but nobody told me that. So at 11:30 after 2 days and 14 hours of bus rides I arrived in Zihuatanejo and found the missionaries.

My area is called Pantla, and we live about 20 minutes from Zihuatanejo. Pantla is another ten minutes from our house. This area is very different from my other area. The area is very big and includes a lot of barrios and pueblos that are located along the freeway. For some reason we don't live in Pantla, which is where the church is located and where about half of the members live. I hope we can changes houses soon. This apartment is pretty terrible in every aspect. First for the location. We start out every morning by asking rides from pickup trucks into Pantla. Also the apartment is probably a little smaller than my room in Texas. And in that room are two beds, 2 tables, a mini fridge, and some racks to hang clothes. We also have two folding chairs that don't fit in front of the tables because the tables are smashed against the beds. The shower works by pulling on a chain and water trickles down. I think I would prefer the bucket method.
This area is very wet, green, and hot. It rains a lot. Imagine Houston in August all year long. I have only seen the beach from the freeway, but it looks pretty cool. Ixtapa looks pretty fancy. It is kind of lame being in a beach town without being able to go to the beach.

My new companion is Elder Macias. He is from Chihuahua, Chihuahua. We've been working pretty good, but I think this companionship is going to be another challenge. With my last comp, we got along really well, but he didn't want to work. With this comp, we work more, but he kind of drives me nuts. Elder Macias is kind of famous in the mission. In just one year he has had 13 companions and 7 areas.

I will throw in a good story from this week. My first night here I woke up with rear end full of bug bites. After about 4 days they still were there, and in fact were getting more swollen. Last night we were with some members, and I explained my problem. The hermano inspected me in the bathroom. When I came out he was heating up some limes on the stove. I was kind of scared. He had me pull down my pants and he placed the hot limes on the insect bites. I don't know if it worked, but I think I need to go back for another treatment tomorrow. In the meantime, I am washing everything.

Ok well I have a lot more I could write, but I think that will do for now. Thanks for all the letters.
I included some pictures from my last week in Jona.

Love,
Elder Hansen

8 31 09 Still in Jona

2009-10-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

I'm glad to hear my fame is spreading. If it requires eating more caterpillars to create interesting stories for my fans to read, I'll do it. I've been informed that Dad began advertising my blog on the family email, and that I have at least one lonely reader in Eager, Arizona.
I also would like to thank Grandma Wiggins for the nice email. It was nice to hear from her.
Thanks for the letter Jenny. I saw your post, and I would like to clarify something. The tamarindo candies are pretty good, and the water isn't too bad. I'm starting to like it more, but I still get a little disapointed when we go to eat and I see the brown tamarindo water instead of a delicious agua de pina, guayaba, guanabana, jamaica, melon, or limon. Even the agua de pepino (cucumber) is pretty good if it has enough sugar.
This week not too much happened. My companion is kind of dead again, but I'm trying to not let his mood swings affect me anymore. Yesterday he turned twenty-three. It's kind of weird that he's almost as old as Jenny. Not that Jenny is old, but she is married and graduated and stuff. I gave him the tie from Brooke's wedding. Ties are pretty much the only gifts among missionaries.
This week we went to Cuernavaca so my companion could donate blood for one of our investigators. I couldn't donate because I don't have an ID. In Mexico, before you can get an operation you have to get two people to donate blood.
Something interesting that I would like to point out about the Mexican people is that they are very superstitious and they believe whatever gossip or thing they hear on TV or see on the internet. This week we were talking with a family and somehow the topic came up about some weird fish that they found in a pond in Cuautla. They showed us the newspaper article, and it had a picture of the weird fish and said it was most likely extra-terrestrial and had reportedly already attacked several local residents. I began to laugh. They asked what I thought, and I said I don't believe in aliens. They looked at me as if I was crazy. They then proceeded to talk about witches and vampires and all the tv shows and internet videos they had seen that prove the existence of those things. I kept my mouth shut to not offend. Also, someone told me that they had seen a video that showed how aliens were responsible for destroying the twin towers.
Well, another change is about to end and who knows what the wind will bring. Next Sunday we will find out. I think it will be very shocking if I leave this place. For about 5 and a half months I have been here in the same pueblo eating in the same houses. The branch members have become like my family. I've been with the same companion for so long I've kind of forgotten what it's like to be with anyone else. But who knows. Maybe President sees another couple of changes out of me in Jona.
Sea feliz. Sea mormon.

Love,
Elder Hansen

PS Here's some pictures of the local scenery and some cows that were walking down the road while we waited outside of an investigators house.

August 24 2009 Hermana Cristina

2009-08-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

Same pretty sky

"We give injections and sell popsicles"

Hello Family,

I don't have any stories from this week that compare to the peanut field or cueclas. But I will try to search my memory for anything interesting that happened.

The house in Wisconsin sounds really amazing, and the weather sounds even better. Those pictures were pretty cool. It is really hot here. It used to rain sometimes at night and it would get cool. But it hasn't rained for a while and it is just really hot. Also our fan died. I bought a little one, but it doesn't help much. If I find out I'm staying another change I think I'll buy a big fan.
A question to dad. Have you given up on the Houston teams and started cheering for Wisconsin teams? Packers, Bucks, and Brewers? How are things looking for the upcoming college football season? How is BYU going to do?

So I found out that I am still alergic to peanuts. I accidently ate a dulce that had peanuts in it. My tongue started to swell and my throat got pretty tight, so I got kind of scared and we left to find a pharmacy and search for benedryl. But I started to feel better before we got there. I think it was just another sign that the Lord protects his missionaries.

I do have one good story for this week. So for the last several weeks or months I have been praying and thinking a lot about what we can do to help our investigators and to baptize. Because with my companion it has been pretty difficult to get him to contact or look for new investigators, I've been trying to think of how we can help those we already have. But it seemed like everyone of them had some problem that impeded them from getting baptized. One family came to my mind a few weeks ago. The husband is a member but his "wife" is not. The problem is they need to get divorced and then married. Because we didn't have money to help them we kind of put them out of our minds. Recently I noticed that even though her member husband only sometimes goes to church the nonmember hermana is always there. I felt impressed to help them, but I didn't know how. Well, on Tuesday for some reason I was given a new debit card, and was told to send the old one back to the office. On the card, arrived enough money to pay for them to get married. We are going to take them to get married next week and Hermana Cristina will be baptized on the 6 of September.

Yesterday I gave a talk. I talked about obedience, and I included a nice river story. I don't know if the people completely understood, because I think the idea of white water canoeing might be pretty foreign to the people of this pueblo. But I couldn't resist the temptation of throwing in a river analogy. Later in the day we were talking with our neighbors. She told me that when we talk like we're talking now you talk pretty normally, but when you speak in church you have a very strong gringo accent. But she said it was understandable. The Mexican people tend to talk a lot more directly. Oh well, I guess I will keep practicing.

I'm sorry I don't have much else to write. If you have more questions, send them my way.
Love,

Elder Hansen

Here's a picture of a funny sign I saw. It saw we give injections and sell popsicles. The other picture I think I might have already sent, but I wasn't sure. I took it while walking back from where we eat.

August 12 Caterpillars

2009-08-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

I'm glad to hear that Dad survived the Dairyland Dare. It sounded pretty intense.
Last week we weren't sure if the baby was a boy or girl. Are we more sure now? Does Aaron's new job mean no more Marriott discounts?
This week not too much happened because I got sick. On Tuesday night I began to get sick, and after a night of a lot of sweating and weird dreams I woke up with a 103 fever. I had to miss the zone conference which was held Wednesday. I had a fever all of Wednesday and part of Thursday. It was pretty boring being in the apartment, and I am glad to be back out.
But something cool did happen this week. Last Monday I was just about on the point of losing it with my companion. But on Tuesday morning he surprised me. He woke up early and then we had companion study for the first time in a very long time. It changed the whole day. The whole day we talked and got along well. The next day as I was sick he cooked me food. We are now consistently having companion study and we are working better and getting along better. I think I learned the importance of never giving up. If I had quit waking up on time or quit studying just because he wasn't I don't think he ever would have been motivated to change. Well, I don't know if I had anything to do with his desire to change, but now I need to support him so he doesn't fall again.
This week our random service act was helping our neighbor along with her son, daughter, and nephews search for cueclas. Cueclas are large caterpillars that live in a certain type of tree. We filled two buckets of them. My companion climbed the trees along with the 14 year old kid. I was in charge of catching them as the fall or picking them off the ground as they fall. It's great, because they emit urine as the fall or get picked up. So that was a great time. Later we were invited to eat some. They didn't taste that great, but they didn't taste as bad as I thought they would. I'll add some pictures at the end. Oh yea I also got chiggers all over my legs.
I'm sure if what we did was really that much of service, but it was good because it gave us a chance to get to know our neighbor's son and his kids that aren't members of the church. His wife was baptized but is now inactive. His kids go to church occasionally, but their Dad won't give permission to be baptized. Last week we wen't to their house to give the Dad a blessing and the house a blessing because they had been seeing things in the house at night.
You asked if there are any foods I like. I like pretty much all the food we get here. What I don't like is nopal (cactus) and tamarindo (a nasty thing they make candy and juice out of). I'm pretty much one of the only gringos that like chicharron which are pretty much pork rinds with chili on them. Last week I discovered that I love pitjaya which is the fruit of the cactus and tastes like raspberry. I love all the fruit here. Everybody has at least one fruit tree in their yard, and so we always get fruit. There are a bunch that don't exist in the US, and I don't know what they are called in English.
Ok well that's all for this week. Take care.
Love,
Elder Hansen

PS Here's some pictures of cueclas, but before you eat them you gut them and fry them. They say that with salt they can last for a year. If your interested I'll send you some.

August 10 2009

2009-08-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

View while walking home from Tenango

We all got PRI Party t-shirts

I finally got the package with the rice crispie treats. I thought they might have gone bad, but Mom did a great job seran wrapping and double ziplock bagging them. They taste fantastic.

This week wasn't too exciting. On Wednesday we did another all day service project. I found out my companion actually likes doing service. I think he likes it because it is something different. This service project was much easier than the last one. Our convert Esteban takes care of a house, and he needed our help trimming some trees. There were a lot of trees. But this time we were fed twice, had one coke break, and we had all the water we needed.

So Dad asked me to talk more about the branch. Presidente Pedro has been the branch president since the branch was started about ten years ago. He is currently single because his wife left him over a year ago. Many think he might get changed in the upcoming ward conference. His brother, Ramiro, is the first counselor and is a returned missionary. His second couselor is named Ysaul. The secretary, Jose Luis, is a way cool guy. He is a convert of about five years. I always love going to eat at his house. Every time we go we end up getting out the scriptures and talking about about some doctrine. He has an amazing testimony and a great desire to learn. I think he is destined to become a bishop one day. In the branch there are two large families of members the Torres family, to which the President belongs, and the Espitia family. Together they make up at least a third if not half of the members that come every Sunday. The Espitia family is way cool because they all live in a pueblo that is pretty far away, but they come to every church activity.

This week as we were eating with Jose Luis and his family, a returned missionary that served in Jona came to visit. We talked for a while with him. It was cool to hear his stories, and to hear how much his mission has had an impact on his life. He also said before his mission, his family didn't even have money to buy him clothes for his mission, but now they have been blessed financially and even have a truck. He spoke of how his mission has put him ahead of his peers as he was looking for a job. He also talked about how he had a number of very difficult companions. Twice he had companions that were on the edge of going home and president told him that it was his job to help them finish their missions. He said that at the time he often did not enjoy the time with those companions, but looking back he can see that that he learned from those experiences.
Ok well I'm running out of time. I'll answer the other questions later.

Love you,
Elder Hansen

PS here is a picture of us with our neighbors supporting the PRI party because they gave us free t-shirts. Also, the other is a cool picture I took while walking home from Tenango, which is a pueblo where we eat on Tuesdays and Fridays

August 3 2009 Working In Peanut Field

2009-08-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

El Campo
Hillside near El Campo

Mural tribute to Michael Jackson

I'm glad to hear all is well back home. I appreciate the advice from everyone. Although right now I often feel like I can't take it, there must be some reason why I am still here. Apparently, the president has told several people that he wants to keep missionaries with their companions for longer periods of time. I guess it will just be something we have to get used to. On the bright side, we will all be better prepared for marriage by the time we finish.
This week I had an interesting experience. So I've mentioned that we have been teaching a man named Jose Cruz. Jose and his uncle grow peanuts. Because he is always busy, this week we told him that if he ever needed help we would be willing to do whatever. After a while he gave in and said the next day we could meet help him work his field. I didn't think it sounded too difficult when he described what we would be doing. We met him at 9, changed our clothes, and walked down the road until we got to the very last field. At about 10 we started working. The field had already been plowed and the plants were growing well in the soil. What we had to do was make little mounds of dirt around the plant until it was almost buried with a few leaves sticking out. We each had a little hand hoe thing, and we went to work doing two rows at a time. After about twenty minutes I wanted to die. After about an hour I already had some good blisters developing and some pretty sore legs and a sore back. We finished the first set at about 1:30, and we took a short break to drink some coke because we didn't have water. I thought we were done, but to my dismay we got up to start again. We didn't finish until 5. One can only go for so long on just coco puffs. We finally got back to the apartment and bought some tacos at around 8:00. The next day, I couldn't walk. From being in a hunched over position all day, my hamstrings were pretty tight. For the next three days, I could barely walk, and today is the first day things have begun to loosen up.
I learned a lot from my day in el campo. The life of a campesino is no easy task. I commented to my companion that I now understand why it is important to have an education. The campesinos or field workers are usually considered the lowest class of citizen because those that work the fields usually have little or no education and live in poverty. That day I learned the difficulty of the life they live, and now I understand more why so many turn to alcohol to take away the pain of life. I think my views definitely changed a bit. Also, I was given just one more reason to hate peanuts.
Ok well that's my big story for the week. I don't have much else to say.
I included a few pictures of the campo, some mountains near it, and a mural I saw in Cuautla in memory of Michael Jackson.

July 27 2009

2009-08-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

6-month anniversary tie-burning

Bret burning his tie

Chapel in Jona

I am writing today which means I am here in Jonacatapec for another change. President didn't change anyone other than those that finished their mission or had their area closed. This president has some new ideas because he closed a number of areas, and I imagine he opened a number of areas as well. Apparently, president wants little movement in the mission right now so that he can formulate a plan.
I must admit I was disappointed to find out that I would be staying in this area again with the same companion. Two weeks ago he got way excited to work, but this past week was pretty much back to the way it used to be. Sometimes I get frustrated because I don't know what I can do to help us do what we need to do. But I will try to stay positive and not complain, and just hope it all will work out. I was pretty confident that some change would take place because with President Gardner he never kept two missionaries together for more than two changes. I guess this president has different ideas. But there must be some reason that I am here for another six weeks.
This week I had a cool experience. We have been teaching a man named Jose Cruz for a number of weeks. We have already taught him everything, and he recently started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning. Every day we ask him if he has received an answer to his prayers, but every time he says no. On Tuesday, we met with him and we talked about what he had read. He said that he had read up to chapter 15 of First Nephi. I then asked if he understould Lehi's dream. He then began to tell us that he had had a dream very similar to Lehi's dream. He said that over the course of several years he has had the same dream several times. As he described his dream, it was exactly the same, and he said that he and his uncle were eating the fruit of the tree of life. We then proceeded to tell him that he had received his answer. He has commited to a baptismal date and came to church this Sunday.
To me that was a cool experience because it shows that God began preparing Jose to receive the gospel years in advance. It made me wonder who else is out there that has been prepared to receive us. I also learned from this experience that many times God wants to see how dedicated we are before he gives us an answer. It wasn't until after we had taught all the discussions and he began to read the Book of Mormon for himself, that he received an answer.
Yesterday, the US lost 5-0 to Mexico in the Gold Cup. This means that I have to some really hot chili. My companion and some member set the terms of the bet and I was pretty much forced to comply.
Next week if you can, I would like to know my line of authority.
I included some pictures from when I burned my tie and one of our chapel here in Jona.

July 13 2009

2009-07-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

Apologize the inconvenience, we are working to improve our community (per google search by mom) Or in other words "Detour" That's what the sign has said.... Detour, there's a muddy road ahead.... (as sung by Grandpa Wiggins on our Wiggins Mexican Adventure)

I finally got to meet the new president. He is awesome. He has a very different personality than President Gardner. President Gardner was a tall, intimidating, powerful man. President Spannaus is a short, funny, sensitive man. I really enjoyed President Gardner and I have a lot of respect for him, but I am excited to see the changes that will take place with the new president. I can tell that he has great plans in store, and over the next few months we will begin to see a lot of changes take place.
President Spannaus is from Argentina, and speaks with interesting accent. The Argentine accent is Spanish with kind of an Italian accent. He is 48 years old and has 12 year old and 9 year old daughters. His wife is taller than he is. She is also a returned missionary. President Spannaus received an MBA from BYU, so although I haven't heard him speak English I imagine he speaks pretty well.
Today we played soccer in one of the oldest LDS churches in Mexico. It used to be school, and it still resembles a school in many ways. The institute building is also attached, so the entire thing is pretty huge. I got to play pool in the institute building which is something I thought I would never get to do.
This week it has been big news that a church leader from the mormon colonies was murdered by a drug lord. The Mexican news isn't too reliable, and the people that tell us the Mexican news are even less reliable. So maybe you can tell me how the real story went.
So last change I went on exchanges a lot with Elder Corzo in his area because our companions were lazy and wanted to be lazy together. Anyways, in those few days we got to work a lot, and I really enjoyed it. Today, I found out that three of the people that I found and taught a few times got baptized this month. Two brothers were baptized and are actively involved in the youth program. One of them went to the visitor's center in the temple last week. Their parents also attend church, but need to get married before they can be baptized. The other baptism is an old man that we found sitting on the corner. Apparently he is very excited and loves the church. It was very exciting for me to hear that news. It shows that I have made a difference in this area. I now know that with a few days of hard work miracles happen. Now, I just need to get my companion to help us do a few days of hard work here, in our area.
I am always surprised that Dad can write such long letters even when he is home living a normal life. I can't seem to write long letters even though I am in Mexico living an adventure. I figure he has more time to think write and think about it.
Jenny, I would not not think that a king trip would be too fun in a raft. It is late in the year and king is probably dead. Red moose is the only thing to hit, and it's not really anything in a raft unless you all sit the back and tie your throw rope to the bough line to see how much air you get. But I guess if you have nothing better to do and want to relieve memories, go for it. I am glad to hear you aren't selling out, and still can hang out with hippies at concerts. Maybe things will change in a few years when you become a mom.
Ok well, I don't have much time left, so bye.
love,
Elder Hansen

PS Ask Kelli to translate the sign. You will laugh when you understand what it says.

July 6 2009

2009-07-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is kind of late in the day. We had a late district meeting.
The big news here in the mission is that President Gardner is now gone and President Spanaus is now in charge. A few people have met him, but I will have to see for myself what he is like. This Saturday we will have a zone conference and get to meet the new president. I am excited to see the changes that will happen in the mission.
This week nothing too exciting happened. Last week we found an investigator that is really progressing. We found him because we were looking for someone in the area book. We found out from a neighbor that the person in the area book moved, but I decided that I wanted to knock the house next door. It was a house with a big gate and a wall all around the property. My companion thought a narco (drug dealer) lived there, but I knocked it anyway. A man answered and let us in. The man named Jose Cruz takes care of the house during the week. We taught him that day and since have returned almost every day to teach him. He is not a typical investigator. He reads everything we give him, and he is understanding everything. He has accepted a baptism date. This is really exciting for me because I have never had a contact progress before. All the people we've baptized and many of our other investigators were found by missionaries before us.
Fourth of July was Saturday, but surprising as it sounds they don't celebrate it down here in Mexico. I did wear my red tie, white shirt, and blue pants to celebrate. But that was the extent of my celebration. Oh, I also wrote "the fourth of july" and drew some fireworks in my planner. We were going to buy a pizza in the night, but it was fast Sunday.
In other news, I ate my first chicken foot today. It actually didn't taste too bad, but it is mostly bone. Also, I've begun to eat more chili. Food without chili seems bland and boring now.
If you do send another package, send the best two years soundtrack and any other church music you think I could use. Candy is also nice.
I received a letter saying that our somewhat relative Jeff Wiggins got his mission call to Brazil, but I don't remember which mission.
Well, Wisconsin sounds pretty cool. I'm excited to see it.
I don't have much else to say, I sent the pictures I missed last week (Janice posted them on last week's blog a week later.)
Love,
Elder Hansen

June 29, 2009

2009-07-01T12:14:00.001-07:00

I saw the pictures of the house. Wow. It is pretty dang fancy. I am excited to visit. It is weird that when I come home you will have lived in that house for a year and a half. My only suggestion would be a nice outdoor hot tub for Christmas in Wisconsin.
This week something happened that made me feel very stupid. I lost my wallet for a second time. I have no idea how but somehow it fell out on a bus again. I have never lost my wallet before, yet somehow I have managed to lose it twice in 2 months. I was very angry with myself. But I decided to pray and ask if Heavenly Father would forgive a stupid missionary a create a way for my wallet to return to me. Two days ago the office missionaries called me and told me that a man has my wallet in Cuernavaca, but he left to go to Mexico City. It might be a little harder to get my wallet this time, but I know I will get it soon. And I know that God made it possible for me to receive my wallet a second time after being lost twice on a Mexican bus.
I lost the wallet Wednesday as we were going to a large conference. My president gathered three zones together as he gave us his final advice before he goes home. He tried to fit everything into the conference. He talked about finances, marriage, the changes that will happen with a new mission president, and many other things. It was a great meeting. It was also nice because I got to see my MTC companion and other friend as well as Elder Wiggins. It is sad to see President Gardner go. I have a lot of respect him. But I am excited to see what the new president brings.
Sorry I don't have much else to say. I was able to read the letters sent to me, but now I can't open myldsmail. So Dad's questions will have to wait until later.
I attached a picture of Trevor and I for Grandma to put on her fridge. Also, some pictures of when my companion completer one year in the mission.
Love,
Elder Hansen

June 22 2009

2009-06-23T22:31:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's Day! This is the third consecutive Father's Day I have been away from home, and I don't know if I will ever be home for another. But I hope you had a great day Dad.
Congratulations Brooke! Before I left, I predicted 2 new babies and one in the oven. So far, I think I am doing pretty well.
I enjoyed reading about the trip to Italy. The pictures are gorgeous. It made me laugh thinking about you on the trains that you thought were gross. I imagine the buses in Mexico are probably pretty similar. Did you have to sit next to any chickens or a woman breast feeding?
This week I want to thank Clint for the advice he gave me. He told me that if I ever got really angry at my companion to iron his shirts. Well, I hadn't been getting along with my companion very well, but I thought I would just tough it out until the changes then I would leave and all would be well. But I ended up staying, and I think we were both kind of disappointed. Anyways, it was the first day of the second transfer, and my companion was sleeping in a lot later than usual. I thought he had given up, and I was just sitting in my chair getting angry. Then as I saw my companion's clothes hanging up in the other room, I remembered what Clint said. I ironed his two white shirts while he slept, and then I hung up one of my shirts with his.
He never said anything, but I noticed things were different that day and the following days. We talked a lot more during the day, and we actually contacted and worked. I hope it lasts. If anyone ever wants to give me advice feel free to do so.
Elder Wiggins is now my zone leader. I'm excited about that, but I still haven't seen him.
The rainy season started here. Before, it rained occasionally in the night, but now it rains every night and often during the day. I really like it. The rain isn't hot like it is in Texas. It's been much cooler lately. The other day I wore my long sleeved shirt for the first time since the MTC. When we left in the morning it was in the 60's. But it turned out to be a bad idea becasuse later in the day the sun came out and it was in the 80s.
I will respond to a couple of Dad's questions. I would definitely say that the people of Mexico have greater faith. We always begin the first discussion by asking if they believe in God, and so far nobody has ever said no. God is very much a part of the culture here. The problem is that everyone has faith and believe in God, but that doesn't mean that they keep his commandments.
One cultural difference is time. I have yet to get out of priesthood meeting on time. In fact it usually ends about thirty minutes late. Last week it ended about 45 minutes after church. Those 30-45 minutes can be a long time on a fast Sunday. Also when we visit people, it is expected that we stay for hours. We are not supposed to do that, but that is the way the people think and the way my companion thinks.
The people here also look for any reason to get together. There is a huge party for every occassion. For example, if my cousin's baby has a birthday then I have to go to the party. Also, the women have a relief society activity every week, and the once a month enrichment meeting is a pretty big deal. For the enrichment meeting last month pretty much the entire branch came including the men and children.
Ok well good luck with the house search. I will keep you all in my prayers.
Mom, if you can, try and update the blog. My fans are getting anxious. If you don't have time give the assignment to Jenny or Brooke.
Here's a picture of the road to one of the pueblos. Everything used to be yellow, but now it is green and pretty. I had to take a picture of the Texas sticker I saw on a mini van.

Elder Hansen

June 15 2009

2009-06-23T22:25:00.001-07:00

It is kind of sad to hear that you are officially out of Sugar Land, but Wisconsin sounds pretty nice. I could go for some Wisconsin weather right about now.
Today we had transfers, but nothing changed here. I am still in the same area with the same companion. I was a little disappointed. I was pretty positive that I was leaving, and I even started packing my bags on Wednesday. It is a pretty unusual situation. Apparently, President Gardner doesn't normally keep missionaries in one area for a long time, and he usually doesn't keep two missionaries together for more than one transfer. But I think he is testing me. Thursday we had interviews, and president gave me a lot of praise and said he saw great things in me. I was kind of surprised. He proceeded to give me a blessing and promised me many great things. I think he feels that this second change will show if I've got what it takes.
At first I was kind of kind of depressed to be in the same area again with the same difficult companion. But I've realized that my life here isn't too bad, and I have a lot to be grateful for. My apartment is way nice even though right now we can't afford to pay for gas to heat the shower. But I've become pretty used to the cold water. President says it is the nicest house in the mission. We don't have to wash our clothes by hand, and our neighbors give us gelatin almost every night. We get food every day, and I still haven't received anything too gross. The food is usually pretty good. Also, I get to spend the majority of the summer in a place where it isn't too hot and only rains at night time. Ok, it is really hot, but at least it's not humid. I will try to remain positive throughout this change and not allow my standards to fall.
This week I spent two days on divisions with another Elder. It was a great experience. We worked way hard and I learned a lot.
I don't have much else to say so I will answer some of Dad's questions from last week.
The town I live in isn't very big. The highway runs down the middle of it, and it maybe has a thousand people. Our area includes the main town of Jonacatapec and four other pueblos. One pueblo is within walking distance and the other three we have to hitch hike or take public transportation to get to them. We usually work in the main town, because we have found that it is very difficult to get people to church that live in distant pueblos and don't have cars. But we still have to travel out there to eat three days a week.
The town is pretty quiet and relaxed. I couldn't imagine being a kid here. There is absolutley no forms of entertainment other than a couple soccer fields. If anyone wants to do anything they go into the city 40 minutes away.
I'm not sure if there really is a nice or bad part of town. The nice houses are put right next to the little run down shacks. But if have a nice house that means you usually have a 20 foot wall surrounding the house. Usually the wall has barbed wire or broken glass bottles on top. We live in the only apartments in town. There are only six of them, and they are right along the highway which is really convenient.
There are dogs on the streets, but I've never had trouble with them. Occasionaly at people's houses dogs can get territorial, but if you pick up a rock they run away.
The food we receive is usually pretty good. I don't really like the candies with chili on them, but maybe in time I will. I do like the pork rind chips with chili and lemon. I also really love apple soda. I'm not sure why apple soda doesn't exist in the US. Also, there is so much fruit here. Mangos are delicious, but I still can't eat them with chili powder.
I don't think tourists come to Jona. Most people that live somewhat near the church are familiar with it, but it is kind of hidden. The church is just over a year old and is way nice. It is definitely the nicest building in town. The Catholic churches are hundreds of years old, but I bet their jealous of our soccer/basketball court and air conditioned building.
I received Clint and Grandma Hansen's letters. I always enjoy a good river story, and I am working on learning that scripture for you Grandma. And happy birthday to Clint.
I'm not sure if you can send cd's across the border, but it would be nice to have some more music. If you could make a copy of the best two years cd and maybe a kenneth cope or something would be nice.
I included pictures of me and President and Sister Gardner, our district in which I am the only white guy, and Esteban and Arnulfa's wedding/baptism party.
Take care.
Love,
Elder Hansen

June 8 2009

2009-06-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

I can't help but think that today Teton High Adventure Base begins training. It is probably cold, rainy, and snowy there, but last year those were my favorite two weeks.
It is interesting to hear about Dad's fascination with turkeys. There are tons of them here, but I don't really like them. Maybe it's a little different when they are in forests and not walking down the road or in someone's yard.
Jenny, I hope you can make friends with the old people. As missionaries we talk to a lot of old people. Old people are usually in their houses during the day when we contact. Sometimes people don't want to talk to us, but will invite us in to entertain their old grandma.
Clint, it sounds we do a lot of the same things you did on your mission. We usually yell into houses saying, "Buenas tardes" (good afternoon). We teach a lot of first lessons but rarely a second one. People will set an appointment for us to come back and usually won't be there. Everyone always offers a cup of water and a lot of times food. You gave me some good ideas about having a group meeting in a neighborhood. I have learned a lot from my companion about the culture. I often wondered why everyone loves my companion when he is so lazy, but they don't like me. But I have begun to realize that he always relates very well to the people and he can always make conversation. I have started trying to speak more even though it makes me uncomfortable.
Brooke, I still want to hear about the Italy trip.
This week I had a weird experience. We went to eat with a member and before eating I felt fine, but after eating I felt terrible and threw up a few times. After throwing up I felt perfectly normal again. But Mexicans tend to overreact to such things. The family we ate insisted on driving me to the emergency room. Only in Mexico can someone go to the emergency room, receive doctor's consulting, get an injection, and a box of perscription pills for under five dollars. I was still kind of mad that I had to spend five bucks when I didn't even feel sick. I forgot to mention that the injection was in the butt. That was kind of awkward.
Yesterday I had a cool experience. We had just eaten with a family and we were sitting around. After a while of sitting I finally got us to leave. We went to visit a sister from the ward that hadn't gone to church in a while. She let us in and invited us to eat. What I didn't realize was that she invited us to an Herbalife salespitch meeting. We got some free smoothie things, and I got my body fat measured. I gained back a few pounds and I'm at what I was when I entered the MTC, but the man said I am still under weight. Anyways, the supervisor guy started talking to us, and the conversation turned towards religion as it often does with missionaries. We ended up giving a first lesson to the Herbalife guy, and he is really interested and wants to come to church. He asked when he could go to church before we even brough it up. I think finding this man was an answer to a prayer that I had made earlier in the day.
Yesterday we had two baptisms. It was a really cool experience. Esteban and his wife Arnulfa were baptized. Arnulfa's three daughters have already been baptized and are active in the church. Esteban and Arnulfa have been coming to church for over a year, but couldn't get baptized because they needed a divorce and then to get married. A divorce in Mexico is very difficult to obtain. But this week after much planning, a brother from the ward drove my companion, my district leader, and the couple three hours away to a judge that could get them divorced from their former spouses and married for a reasonable cost. The days leading up to the marriage were pretty hectic, but it was worth it in the end to see a family completed in the gospel. What was awesome was that everyone helped out. The elder's quorem helped pay for gas. Hermano Chucho volunteered his car and to drive them three hours to Guerrero and three hours back. Esteban is awesome. Every week he would come to church with his boots, big belt buckle, and nice cowboy shirt with the top two or three buttons undone. But yesterday after his baptism he wore a tie for the first time. I couldn't help but smile seeing an old tough cowboy wearing a tie. They are both so excited and are having a party to celebrate tomorrow. I was glad to be part of their baptism and I am appreciative of the missionaries that originally found and taught them over a year ago.
Ok well I'm running out of time, but it was nice to hear from you all.
Love,
Elder Hansen

June 1 2009

2009-06-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

It is kind of sad to hear that I will never be going back to my house, but it will be interesting to see what Wisconsin will be like.
Today we hiked to the top of a mountain. I'm not sure if it is a mountain or a really big hill. At the bottom of the hill there are a few ruins, but they were kind of lame. But at the top it was pretty cool. There is a big metal cross on the top. From the top you can see Popocatepel which is a huge volcano near Mexico City. Either the first missionaries or a group of apostles climbed to the top of that mountain to dedicate Mexico for missionary work.
This week, we worked a lot with a few people to get them ready for baptism. On Wednesday, we are taking two people to get married and then they are getting baptized this Sunday. These people have been going to church for about a year and a half, and all their children are baptized. They couldn't get married before because they both needed divorces, and a divorce is very expensive here. But we found a judge in a town 4 hours away that knows the missionaries and will marry someone if they have been separated from their former spouse for five years.
They are both incredibly excited.
I will try to answer some of Dad's questions. This week we didn't have much success contacting, but there are a few people that we have been teaching for a while. We found them knocking doors. I haven't ever had success contacting in this area before. I still haven't had a new investigator come to church. We usually teach a few lessons each time we contact, but they usually don't want a second visit or aren't there. Some want us to keep coming back and like talking with us, but for some reason we can't get them to church. Sunday morning we pass by the houses of our best investigators to take them to church, but they are never there.
My companion is from Tobasco. He is twenty two years old. He was born in Veracruz, but when he was three he was sent to live with his aunt in Tobasco. The missionaries converted his family and he was baptized at 13. His older sister, which is technically his cousin, served a mission as well. He told me when he was 18 he began to loose interest in the church, and he became a heavy drinker. But throughout this time his aunt made him go to church every Sunday even if his was in just jeans and a t-shirt. He began to be very miserable as he was no longer allowed to take the sacrament and lived unworthily. But one day he realized the cause of his misery, and he quit drinking and started wearing his white shirt and tie to church again. After some time, his bishop called him one night and told him that he had noticed his progress and repentance and called him to be the ward secretary. A few months later, he put in his mission papers. He plans on returning from the mission and studying petrochemical engineering and aspires to work for pemex.
The branch president is a long time member and his brother is the first counselor. His family converted many years ago, and they make up a large part of the branch. I don't really know the story of the second counselor.
I attached some photos from the top of the mountain.
Take care.
Love,
Elder Hansen

May 18 2009

2009-06-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

The myldsmail keeps messing up so I'm using this one.
Happy belated birthday Jenny. I did receive the package. It was great. I haven't had good old fashioned American sugar in a while.No I did not loose my driver's license. I thought that my wallet story was pretty cool, but you guys seemed to not think so. For me it was a pretty big testimony builder of prayer, and proof that God's watching out over his missionaries. It's pretty impossible for it to just be chance of another member happening to find my wallet on a bus in Mexico.Well, I got my new companion. His name is Elder Moscoso from Tobasco, Mexico. He has eleven months in the mission. He has been entirely on the coast in Guerrero with almost six months in each area. Apparently he has developed a coastal accent. He is kind of difficult to understand. He talks really fast and doesn't annunciate, but we can communicate. His family are converts to the church and he was baptized when he was thirteen.We get along pretty good, but he is definitely different than my other companion. I kind of have to be in charge and keep us from wasting hours at people's houses. He's a good missionary, but he has his times of laziness. But I have noticed that the people are much more receptive now that I am with another Mexican. I think that's one reason why a gringo is almost always with a Mexican.I really enjoyed hearing that story about the Janke family. I didn't know there were cool stories like that in our own family. I would also be interested to hear about Dad and Clint's missions. I've never really really hear them talk about how the work was in Asia. Where was the most success found or whether there was much success at all or some stories about converts. Today I am writing a little later than normal because we went to this castle thing today with a bunch of people from the zone. It was just a giant huge, old Spanish castle with tunnels and stuff. You just pay ten pesos to go in and then you can climb all over whatever and explore the whole thing. It was covered with a lot of graffiti, but was still really cool. I have no idea about the history of the place. But it is called La Sienda and is located in Cuaixtla, Morelos.Yesterday we visited with a member and he told us his conversion story and I thought it was way cool, so I'm going to tell it. One night this man had a dream. In his dream there was a large river, and across the river was a really happy family. Also across the river was a large building with pillars. Out of the building came two personages dressed in white, with white beards, and white skin floating in the air. One of them asked him where he wanted to go. He replied saying that he wanted to cross the river and see how this family was so happy. The personage said it's not yet your time, and he woke up. For a while after the dream he had an unsettling feeling. Then, about a month or two later two missionaries showed up to his house gave him a Book of Mormon, sang a hymn, and left. When they sang the song all of his bad feelings went away. Months passed without seeing the missionaries again. He read the Book of Mormon one and a half times before he saw the missionaries again eight months later. He saw two missionaries sitting on the curb outside his shop and he approached them and told them his story. They told him that his dream meant he needed to be baptized and he was baptized that week. When he went to church that Sunday he was given the Gospel Principles book. In it he saw a picture of Joseph Smith's first vision, and he was able to identify the two personages he saw. Not long later, his entire family was baptized.Well, I will include some pictures of my adventures in Meixico.The computer is not working very well today so I could only upload one photo of the castle thing.
Love, Elder Hansen

2009-05-14T22:17:00.000-07:00

The back of my convert, Julia's house

Anti-government graffiti in Jona. It says, "This is how the government treats the pueblo".

My first alacran I killed in the apartment. Alacran is just the name

of a scorpion that is pretty common in Mexico.

That phone call last night was nice, but it was kind of hard to hear everyone. I'm in Cuautla right now waiting for my new companion to arrive. I am currently on splits with two other gringos. The large mass of middle school girls getting out of school had fun seeing that. But everyone is pretty certain that my new companion will be a Mexican. It will definitely be a learning experience.

This week we found a family that just moved back to Mexico after living in Saint George, Utah for thirteen years. Their four kids are US citizens and the two oldest speak better English than Spanish. The mom joined the church a while a ago, but none of the kids or her husband joined. The whole family is way cool, and we hope to get them to come to church this Sunday.

I felt like I didn't get to answer some of the questions very well last night. So, you asked what are some of the main differences I notice. One thing, almost nobody owns a car, but almost everything you need is within walking distance. There is a little shop like every block, and a bigger stores in every neighborhood. And if you need to go farther to get something there is a bus or van or taxi that passes every 30 seconds. Another thing, there are animals everywhere. Almost every home owns a couple chickens or turkeys or a pig. Of course there are lots of dogs too, but I haven't ever had problems with the dogs here. Also, public drinking is something that just isn't seen too much in the states. Being a white guy, I can usually just pretend I don't understand and they will go away. Another thing I have noticed is that every single person here claims to be religious. The same guy that is passed out on the corner one day will claim to be the most devout christian when we knock on his door. If I think of more I will write later.Or if you have more questions I will try to remember to answer them.

I really enjoyed Clint's letter. It might have even been better than Dad's pirate story. Sorry, I don't have much else to say this week. It was a pretty typical week.But here are a couple photos.The first one is the back of my convert Julia's house. The other is anti-government graffiti in Jona. It says This is how the government treats the pueblo. The last one is my first alacran I killed in the apartment. Alacran is just the name of a scorpion that is pretty common in Mexico.Ok well I will be sure to write all about my new companion next week, and this time I won't have to be nervous that he's reading it because he won't understand it anyway.

Take care and good luck with the house and stuff.

Elder Hansen

Swine Flu May 4 2009

2009-05-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Elder Hansen's sick companion - it's the flu, but not swine flu

cbre bocas or mouth covers

Quarantined and a little stir crazy

Last week I didn't know much about the influenza thing, but that is all anyone talks about now. My companion has been sick for a while, and he was very sick just in time for the peak of paranoia here. Our landlords are also doctors and own a pharmacy. My companion went to the pharmacy to buy some medicine and was coughing a lot. Later in the night one of the doctors knocked on our door wearing a surgical mask. He started questioning my companion about his symptoms and then made him promise that he would go get checked at the health clinic. The next day we went to the clinic, and the doctor said he has the flu but not the swine flu. But because he was sick he would be more susceptible to the influenza thing. He ordered him to stay in the house for several days until he got better. The mission president then called him and said to stay in for two days. Two days later we went back out to work, but my companion was still really sick. We went to some member's house for something and she got way mad at us for being outside. We continued to work, but every person chastised us for working while sick. The mission president then called and said we should probably stay inside until he gets better. So, this week was pretty boring. I stayed inside almost the whole time. One can only read Jesus the Christ for so long before loosing it. For me, it was after about 20 pages. But I read every Liahona in the apartment. This includes the October conference issue. I read every talk including General Relief Society. After reading for several hours one day I was kind of going insane, and I built a fort in the bedroom. It was pretty sweet, but my companion is lame and wouldn't go in.

On Saturday I got to go on splits and actually work. It was great until I got back to the apartment and realized I didn't have my wallet. I have searched every inch of the apartment at least 50 times, but it's gone. I'm pretty sure I must have left it on the bus. Well, I lost my church credit card, but I didn't lose my personal card. The church card had zero money on it and has a very small credit limit. But in total I lost my driver's license, my temple recommend, 100 pesos, a pizza hut gift card, and a target gift card. I was pretty mad about losing all that, but oh well life goes on.

There have been some interesting theories being spread about this influenza. Some people think that it doesn't really exist and it's just made up by the politicians. Others believe Obama brought it when he came to Mexico. Some think it's a sign of the apocalypse.Sorry, I don't have too much to say. This week was boring. We are being careful about washing our hands and being clean and stuff.

I'm glad to hear people like the letters, but it would be nice to get some in return. This week it was only Dad. But last week I got five, so I guess it's ok. Also, some kids have been asking if I have any female cousins or friends. If Amanda or Allie want to practice their Spanish or help a Mexican kid learn English send me some email addresses.

Included is a picture of me and my companion with our cubre bocas (mouth covers), my diseased companion, and me doing Dad's napkin trick with a tortilla.

Next Sunday is Mother's Day and this is the number you can call to reach me 01-735-355-1054. Don't hang up if you hear someone talk in Spanish. It is the number of our neighbor's phone. Just say something and she will realize it's for one of the gringos. I will write later in the week to see what time you should call. You should buy a calling card so it's not so expensive. Ok well, take care and I will talk to you soon.

Elder Hansen

April 27, 2009

2009-04-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sign posted on several doors around town. Translation: (courtesy of sister-in-law, Kelli) "This house is Catholic, we don't accept proselyting from Protestats, Jehova's Witnesses or any other sect"

The Elder's version: "This house is Mormon, we don't accept proselyting from Catholics, Jehova's Witnesses or any other sect" Ha Ha

Lovely photo. If only Bret had told us where it was taken.

WEEK 3 IN MEXICO

I guess I should start writing down things throughout the week because I usually can´t think of what to say when I write this. This week I went of exchanges a few times. Last week I only did it for two hours, but this week I went for a whole day. I was with Elder Altuzar, and I was in his area. It was interesting to be in a new area and with a companion that didn't know English. He also has a really thick accent and talks fast. But by the end of the day I felt like my Spanish had improved and I was better able to understand my companion. I also learned something very important from the two occasions I spent with this elder. Most importantly, I learned the importance of planning. We wasted so much time as he walked around thinking of what to do next. I couldn't help because I had never been in that area. I am grateful that I have a companion that is willing to plan the night before, so we never waste time.

This week we had zone conference. It was way cool, and president Gardner is really good at motivating people. We had a person scheduled to be baptized yesterday, but she was not home when we went to pick her up for church. It was pretty disappointing. She was way excited for baptism, but then her family came into town and gave her a lot of doubts. I think her family leaves soon, so we will be able to talk to her alone and get her back to church. But something way cool happened. There is a kid that is about 16. He has known the missionaries for about two years and has received all the lessons multiple times. He plays soccer with the kids from church every Wednesday. But he has never wanted to commit to a baptism date. His sister got baptized in December, but him and his mom wouldn't commit. But on Wednesday we had a really long talk with him and got him to commit to this Sunday. I think if his mom can see her son baptized it will help her a lot in her desire to be baptized.

Last night we talked with a preacher for a while. We were pretty nervous to talk to him, but he was really nice so we decided it would be alright. He sort of preached to us for a while, but everything he was teaching was Mormon doctrine. We showed him some scriptures in the Book of Mormon that matched exactly what he was saying. He didn't let us talk too much, but want to return and talk to him. It sounds like this man is more than prepared, but he may have to get over his pride to allow us to teach him.

This week was pretty tough to find people, because everyone was on vacation. Lots of people went out of town, but even more people came into town. This little town was packed with people from Mexico City. They all came to their big weekend houses or to see relatives. There is a town near us that has a big water park, and there were thousands of people there. For some reason everyone in this town has either lived in or has a relative in Minneapolis. I didn't know there were Mexicans there, but apparently everyone from Morelos goes there. I heard they even have towns named after towns here in Minneapolis. Here, Easter Sunday isn't really celebrated too much. I was kind of surprised. I heard there was a really cool parade thing on Saturday that we didn't see. But I'm glad holy week is over and all the rich people are going home. I'll try to send more pictures but it takes forever to load.

I love you all,

Elder Hansen

Elder Hansen's Address

2009-04-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here's Bret's address for all you who want to write him or send packages:

To write to Bret, send letters only (only plain paper, no photos or any other stuff) to:
Elder Bret C. Hansen
Mexico Cuernavaca Mission
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150
Our Tel. 011-52-777-314-3653

And to send packages, send to:
Elder Bret C. Hansen
Mexico Cuernavaca Mission
Ave. Palmira #35
Col. Palmira
Cuernavaca, Morelos C.P. 62490

Week 2 - Adjusting To Mexico

2009-04-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Next door neighbors with noisy roosters

Bret in the MTC
Bret & his MTC Companion, Elder Collins, hamming it up

This was a long week. I feel pretty adjusted to the whole Mexico thing. It´s not really weird to see chickens everywhere. Turkeys still kind of scare me. My companion said his first companion was attacked by a turkey and has scars to prove it. The other day I saw a man herd like 15 cows down the road on a bicycle with a stick in his hand. It was pretty impressive.
This week is semana santa (holy week). The kids all get out of school for it. There were a few parades last week, but there will be a lot more this week. There was a parade of high school age kids all wearing creepy masks that looked a lot like the burger king guy. They were doing this weird dance, but when they walked past us one kid yelled out a very flamboyant "Hi!" It was pretty much the funniest thing I have ever heard. If people know any English here they love to show it off. There is one cab driver that sometimes follows us around. A group of drunks offered us some beers and shouted random English phrases at us.
We have an investigator, Maria, that is scheduled to be baptized this coming Sunday. She is kind of old but she is way awesome. We have another lady that has come to church for a while and really wants to be baptized but her husband must first get divorced and then married to her. But it should't be too long. We also found two new people this week that have a whole lot of potential.
On Thursday I went on divisions with Elder Vargas from Veracruz. It was interesting being with a native companion, but I learned a lot. I feel like I am improving a lot in listening, but my ability to speak hasn´t improved much. It´s probably because my companion likes to talk in English all the time.
Conference was pretty hectic. The drive is about 45 minutes on a bus. We drove back and forth between dearly every session. I couldn´t really understand anything. But the very last session on Sunday we got to watch in English.
Mom, could you please take some money out of my bank account. Take all of it out except for like $150. I don´t really feel safe with all that money on my card.
I can´t think of much else to say. I attached some pictures, but this service is incredibly slow so I only did 3. The first one is Elder Collins from the MTC, the next is me at the MTC, and the next is my neighbors with the roosters that love to make noise all morning.
Well it was nice to hear from you all. Mom, please don´t become the crazy cat lady. From your letter it sounds like you´re venturing a little too close. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Hansen

2009-03-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is Bret's Mom. Sorry I haven't been updating this blog. We are getting ready for a move to Wisconsin and remodeling the house to get it ready to sell. The blog has kind of taken a back seat. Here's Bret's first letter from Mexico. Looks like he will have some adventures to look forward to. And to think he wouldn't eat left over spaghetti at his own home. Here's the letter:

First Letter from Mexico: March 30, 2009

Wow a lot has happened this week. I arrived in Mexico City at 4:00 AM and took the bus to Cuernavaca at 6. I threw up like seven times on the bus. The president's house is super nice with a pool and a great view. I met my trainer there. His name is Elder Johnson from Irvine, California. He has been in this area for five months so he pretty much knows everyone and everything about this town. He is a really hard worker and was excited to get me because his last companion often refused to work. My area is called Jonacatapec. It is a little town with one main road and a bunch of neighborhoods around the road. We also cover two other little towns down the road from Jona which are kind of a pain to get to. Currently we are covering two areas. The other one is called Amayuca. I haven't been there yet, but that area has a ward and a branch. In Jonacatapec we have a brand new nice chapel for our branch. It's only like a ten minute walk from our apartment. Our apartment is apparently one of the nicest in the mission. When I first saw it I was little grossed out, but after visiting other houses I realize how nice it is. I kind of like it now except for the roosters that live next door. We actually have hot water in the shower. We have a neighbor that is a member. She is an old lady that lives with her daughter who is a school teacher. She lets us wash our clothes at her house. She has a machine that gets the clothes soapy but then we rinse them by hand and hang them up. This place is definitely another world. We are the only white people for miles and people like to let us know that. There really isn't anything American about this place, but I'm already starting to get used to it. There are definitely some really poor people here that live in some of the neighborhoods. There are also a few really rich people too. In a couple neighboorhoods there will be a huge house with a pool and a really tall gate surrounded on either side by shacks. Rich people from Mexico City build big houses here and live here on the weekends because the land is so cheap out here.Every week the same members feed us. I've had some interesting foods but I have been able to eat everything so far without getting sick. My companion got pretty sick from this fish we ate. It was pretty interesting to have a whole fish in my bowl. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. But all the members here are way nice. And my last name is so incredibly hard for them. They all make some comment about the sunburn I got on the first day. One woman calls me Elder Quemadito which means little burned one.The language isw pretty dificult. I can usually follow along with a conversation, but it seems like whenever someone directs a question at me I don't understand. I kind of feel like I don't even know where to start studying. Today was P-day so we went to the big city Cuautla. We played soccer at the stake center with all the elders from the zone and then we ate at Burger King and shopped at Wall-Mart. It was pretty awesome. Apparently this city has three stakes in it even though it's really not that big. I heard they have had missionaries there for like almost 100 years. This week we did a lot of contacting. We taught a couple good lessons. And with a few follow up lessons. But it is really hard to get people to come to church here. Every Sunday morning during church the market starts. Everyone uses that as an excuse. The people here are mostly pretty nice and we usually get quite a few appointments with people. But people like to not be home when we schedule appointments. Right now we have one woman with a baptism date but she needs to come to church one more time. We have three or four investigators that come to church regularly but need to get divorced or married before they can get baptized. I'm excited for general conference but I don't think I will be able to understand it. Also, I think it will be really tough to get investigators to the stake center. Well, we've got our work cut out for us here. I was going to send pictures but I forgot my cable so hopefully next week. I'm glad to hear all is well at home. I only get letters or packages every three weeks at zone conference. As far as I know packages will get there if you use ups or fedex. But, don't worry about sending me stuff. Ok well I love you all, and I will write again next week.

First Letter Home

2009-02-13T22:21:00.000-08:00

1 21 2009

Dear Family:

Well it's kind of strange writing this letter because I saw you all this morning. But so far everything has gone really well., Today we just went over the rules and did other things to get settled. They say the first 3 days are the hardest, so I'm looking forward to that I don't think it has really hit me yet. It sort of feels like EFY right now, but we'll see how it feels in a week or so. I met my companion today. His name is Elder Collins and he is from San Diego. He seems pretty chill. I think we will get along really well. I was made the senor companion, but I don't have that much more responsibility. Well, I don't have that much news since this morning. Keep me posted on Dad’s interview.

Love,
Elder Hansen
PS I left my iPod in my backpack, so please store it in a safe place.

First Day at MTC

2009-02-13T22:08:00.000-08:00

With the family on check-in day at the Provo MTC. L to R Brooke O'Farrell, (Mom) Janice Hansen, Clint Hansen, Bret Hansen, Jennifer Axelgard, (Dad) Ross Hansen

Clint's wife, Kelli, helped out by babysitting Bret's nieces & nephew

Ali

Summer

& Zachary

Preparing to Serve

2009-02-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

Bret was set apart as a missionary on January 18, 2009. Here he is with (L to R) Bishop John Quinlan, his father, Ross Hansen, Bret Hansen, President Gifford Nielsen.

Bret with his parents, Janice & Ross at President Nielsen's home.

Bret receiving counsel from Pres. Nielsen

2009-01-21T15:21:00.000-08:00

Bret reported to the MTC January 21 at 12:00 p.m. Our family had the usual photo shoots in front of the Missionary Training Center sign. His immediate family was all present, even Brooke who flew in from California. Bret was given his name tag with a green "dork spot" as Clint called it. He will get to wear the green spot until the next week's Elders report in. This indicates he doesn't know anything yet and needs special attention. After a week he reportedly gets to remove his green spot and blend in with the other Elders.

If you want to write Bret, here's his address for the next few weeks:

ELDER BRET CHRISTOPHER HANSEN
MTC Mailbox #270
MEX-CUER 0323
2005 N 900 E.
Provo UT 84604-1793

We'll post some pictures shortly. If you post messages, I will copy/paste them in our family's emails to him.