Feb. 21, 2015

Elder Collins and I at the Llerenas

With Brother Llerena

With Sister Llerena

The church during our activity. Our breakfast burritos on the left.

Hey Fam!

Things continue to go great here in the office! Glad things went well back home for you all as well this week, always good to see the family so happy! How blessed we are to have the Gospel eh, sometimes I don't even realise that all the happiness that we have comes from it. Thanks a ton for all the cool stories you shared with me! I know that I often don't respond to them but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate them! It is always awesome to hear the inspirational stories and little miracles that happen daily!

That's so awesome about Uncle Robin and Aunt Melanie! Would you mind sending me their email address so I can send them something one of these days. They have always been a great support to me and I'm super excited for them.. they are gonna love it for sure! 

So this week has been a blast and has gone by just as fast as usual, but it was super great. Last Monday we had a big ward activity. We have a bunch of families from different countries so each family was assigned to bring food from their home country! And we were assigned to bring something from North America! So we cooked breakfast burritos! The cheapest and quickest haha, but they actually turned out pretty good. I'll send some pics. We fried up about 60 tortillas and then cooked the meat, eggs, potatoes, onions, peppers.. and then of course some hot sauce! There was food from so many different countries. Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia. It was definitely a success! I ate so much.. had a little bit of every flavor in my stomach. It went super well as far as investigators and less active members as well. We saw a ton of people we invited show up so that was super cool, it's awesome how activities like that can bring everyone together so well! Its so crucial in the conversion of a new member.

On Tuesday and Thursday we did splits with a couple different Zones, and on Wednesday and Friday we had Zone Conferences. So to say the week was busy would be an understatement haha but it was super fun. It has been a blast for me to get to know so many great missionaries and to learn from so many different people. Its also awesome to make so many life long friends. Its amazing how Heavenly Father has given each one of us so many different talents, and I love learning from the talents of others. I love doing splits. It has become one of my favorite things to do. The other day I was with an Elder from Argentina, Elder Manzano. We had a great day but it was also super interesting.. I usually don't tell these kind of things so be prepared mom haha. So we were leaving a members house and walking in the street when we heard a bang and then we heard this loud whizzing sound pass our ears... and then something drilled the tree in front of us. I was super shocked. As we came to our senses we realised that somebody had shot some kind of pellet or BB at us! haha crazy kids. Seriously hey! But what can you do right? Right after this the Lord blessed us and we found and taught an awesome new family! It's true when they say that the trial (or the moment of doubt) always comes before the blessing.. and that we always have to show our faith!

This same night Elder Collins and Elder Young had a family home evening with our bishop and 2 young couples that we are teaching! I was sad that I couldn't be there but Elder Collins said it went really well and that the 2 couples really enjoyed it! He said they really opened up and loved seeing how the Gospel has blessed our bishops family and how happy they are thanks to the church. They are both progressing really well, but we are working a full to try to get them married! Its looking really good though, just need a little more faith right!

So I'm not sure if I told you too much about it but we are teaching another family and the little girl should be getting baptised next Saturday! She is going to have her interview today. They are cousins of a member family, which is super nice. The little girl is named Daiana, she is super funny and is super kapa! Her parents are progressing too but they need a little more work to be able to be baptised, so we are hoping that Daiana's example will help her parents make the next steps that they need too! So ya I'm super excited about that, it will be awesome!

Also Elder Emry my old companion told me a couple days ago that a couple of the investigators we were teaching in Catan should be getting baptized today.... so I'm hoping to hear good news!

It's amazing how everyone has their time. The other day when I was in Lujan I heard that a kid named Juan that I was teaching while I was there (he's a cousin of the Alvarez family) got baptised just a couple weeks ago! I was so happy to hear it. I learned the importance of the scripture in D&C 64:33 .. that we should never get tired of doing our best, working hard, and being good people because we really are "laying a foundation of a great work" I hope you guys always can have the faith and the attitude to continue even when things get hard, and know that the Lord WILL and HAS to bless us as we are obedient, but He doesn't have to bless us now. I have learned that everything has it's time and that He knows when we will really need the blessings... but we need to be diligent right now to receive them.

Well life's good. The mission is great. My comp is a stud I learn a ton from him everyday. We have such an awesome staff here and I'm so happy to be around them all everyday. Hope you all are great and just changing lives and stuff.

The other day President Robertson shared a cool story. About how he used to have to meet with a general authority like twice a week to talk about some church issues. He said that EVERY TIME that he met with this general authority he asked him "what did you do to change a life today?" It's such a simple question, but so powerful.. and I have been putting a lot of thought into it lately. I want to invite you all to think about it too, I know if we can come to understand it and live up to the invitation that we can changes lives daily.

Love you all!

Elder Hansen.

Elder Bustamante and I 

Dear Fam,

I am just going to apologise before I ever start this letter, its gonna be super short haha. We traveled home from Chivilcoy today so we are super short on P-day time, we have a couple important appointments tonight.

So ya this week has been super great and amazingly satisfying. Just has been such a blessing to be able to work everyday in whatever it may be. This week was definitely highlighted by the Zone Conferences and the splits we did. On Tuesday we did splits with Catan, Elder Collins went there and I stayed here with Elder Van Liew. It was super awesome. The absolute best part of being a missionary is being able to learn from others through splits, it is such a great opportunity to learn about others and see what they do to be successful. Its amazing how God has given us all so many gifts and talents, but how all these gifts and talents are different.

Then Wednesday we had Zone Conferences here with a couple zones. Yesterday we had Zone Conferences in Chivilcoy so we had to drive out there (like 2 hours) so not to bad. Then after we did splits with them as well. I went out to Bragado which is a small little town with Elder Bustamante and Elder Vargas, they are super sweet. We had to borrow a 3rd bike and the person who we borrowed it from didn't have another bike helmet.. and it's a rule to use a helmet. So Elder Bustamante ended up riding with a motorcyle helmet! It was the funniest thing ever.. below I put in a picture! It was a great split and we so a ton of miracles!

Elder Collins and I continue to work hard and have success in our own area as well. The other day we contacted this guy named Ruben. He is super awesome. His kid lives with his mom who is a member so he knows a lot about the church, but never really was super interested. So we asked him if we could share a message with him and he accepted, and we talked a lot about the family and the importance the church plays in helping us become closer to our families for this life and the next. It was a pretty good lesson, but seriously nothing out of this world. But at the end we invited him to pray and he was super hesitant, but we kind of insisted because we knew it could help him.. and he said ok. As he finished the prayer he just broke out in tears, and as we asked him what he felt he said "I don't know, I have never felt this way in my whole life" it was seriously one of the most powerful spiritual experiences I have witnessed in my mission. It was so amazing to see the power of prayer in action, and just how big of a difference it can make in ones life.. and just how close one can feel to God if they pray with a sincere heart.

It seriously is such a great time to be a missionary and I feel so blessed! We have this Sister in our ward named Sister Horna, she is super awesome. The other day she gave us like 4 referrals of her friends and her neighbors and we have visited and taught a few.. it is so amazing to see the importance of members in missionary work. Because we contacted one of her neighbors named Ermenia.. and she said she was busy and didn't have time to receive us, and wasn't to interested.. and when we went 2 days later with Sister Horna, this lady Ermenia just let us right in and we had a great lesson! It really is like night and day. Letting in 2 random strangers, or letting in your friend who tells you they have 2 people who can help you out. I want to thank you guys for all the support you give to the missionaries, and encourage you to keep helping them out because you guys can make the difference! And I hope Carter can go out with them one day.. seriously would be so cool :)

Hey I gotta run, we are going to go teach Ruben right now I'm super excited!

Have a great week, love you all!

Elder Hansen.

Elder Collins and I at the Robertson's house

Feb 7, 2015

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for the letters of support this week, it has been an amazing week for sure! Glad to hear that things back there are going good and that everyone is doing well! Glad you were able to party a little bit for moms birthday haha. This week has been crazy but I have loved learning my new responsibilities here in the office!

Just to answer some of your questions. First off I do have another pair of shoes that are good so don't worry haha. What happened is a missionary left those shoes behind when he went home and they were in pretty good condition so I decided to use them.. but one day we were running home from an appointment and they just completely ripped open haha.. so now I am using my other ones.

My new companion is named Elder Collins (I don't remember if I put that in my other letter) below I attached a photo. He is from Wyoming, a small town boy as well so we have lots in common. He's an american football superstar haha, but actually.. he's super cool and we get along really well.

As far as the responsibilities here in the office its a lot different than before, it's super great. We pretty much take care of the spiritual side of the mission. For example this month we have Zone Conferences so Elder Collins and I had to plan what we wanted to talk about with all the mission in general. Pretty much just thought of our strengths and weaknesses as a mission and then planned something out. I definitely was nervous the first time, I am not a good public speaker but I'm learning haha. It's an awesome experience though I'm learning a lot from the missionaries here, they are all such great people with such unique talents!

Besides that we are in the office just in the morning usually. We take care of planning for the meetings and conferences and then we also have other little jobs we do. We usually leave to our area around 2 or 3 o clock which is super nice, gives us lots of time to get out and work!!

I don't think I told you but my ward is Caseros 2. So I'm in the same chapel as I was before in Caseros when I was secretary but now I just am in a different ward.. it's super weird! Last Sunday I was sitting in the chapel and all the kids from Caseros 1 kept staring inside the glass and waving at me, it was super cool to see everyone again though and nice that I will be able to see them every week.

But this week was seriously so filled with miracles I don't know where to start. Probably one of the most spiritually uplifting weeks of my mission. Last Saturday night we went to visit one of our investigator families, and as we walked in the first question the little girl asked us was "when can I get baptized?" We were a little shocked but she asked us again.. haha it was so cool. We are teaching her parents as well and her cousins live right next door and are members so there is a great support system. She went to church with her cousins last Sunday and loved it, she has a baptismal date for the 28th of this month!

On Monday we had some really good plans but literally none of our investigators that we had planned to visit were home.. for like an hour we just walked around but nobody was home. And as we were walking in the street a powerful feeling overcame us to talk to this guy who was walking in the street with his little kid. As we started talking to him and testifying of the importance of the Restored Gospel and how it has made us truly happy he just started bawling. We asked him what was wrong and he began to explain how he had made so many mistakes in his life and how he hadn't felt that kind of happiness in a long time. We asked him if we could pass by his house later that night, and he accepted.. and we went by and taught the Restoration and how a living day prophet could bless his family and help him be a better person! His name is Horacio and he's a super stud!

We also saw some pretty awesome miracles with members as well. We have been working a lot with less active members and this week we started teaching three new investigators who are family of less active members. Such miracles. It is amazing how important members in missionary work. If someone investigating the church has a good support system it is so much more likely that they will be baptised and stay active in the church. Those are just a few of the miracles that we saw this week, it truly is so incredible to see how merciful the Lord is. Sometimes I just feel so humbled to see the things He can do, if only we have the faith to see these miracles.

So in the Zone Conferences we are showing the movie "Meet the Mormons". I don't know if you guys have seen it or not, but if you haven't you need too! It is seriously so amazing, it just displays how simple and normal mormon families are. But I got 2 main points out of the movie. First is that a lot of people really have no idea who we are, so it's sooo important we always represent the church in a good way. The 2nd is that being a member of the church is such a blessing, and being a member is a happy thing! It just helps us realise how big of blessings we have in our lives. I hope you guys are able to watch it, it truly is incredible.

Well that's just a quick update on my quick. I have a million other things I'd love to share but the time is short. Life is great though. I love being able to work closely with President Robertson again, he is a true leader and example to me. He has helped me develop a true desire to serve the Lord and be a person who is filled with charity. I feel so blessed. Hope you guys always remember just how blessed we are and just how much the Lord loves us!

And how much I love you all!

Take care,
Elder Hansen.