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
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
8/9/10 New Comp & Guillermina's Baptism
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
Monday, October 25, 2010
7/12/2010 Antonio's Baptism
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
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
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
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