Mar. 21, 2015

I bought myself a hammock!

At the Mercado Central!

Hey ya'll!

Thanks a ton for the letters this week, sounds like a pretty intense week! So crazy about basketball, too bad they came up just a bit short but it sounds pretty exciting! Good for them. Always good to see the family is doing well, you guys are the best.

Argentina is as great as ever. My birthday was great, thanks again for the videos are for all the support! I definitely appreciate it a ton. I got spoiled on my bday. On that day a new missionary came from the US. so in the morning we went and picked him up from the airport with President and Hermana Robertson and then spent the morning training him about the mission. President always takes the new missionaries out to eat, and since it was my birthday they took Elder Collins and I with them. I feel so spoiled. So we went out to a restaurant for some lunch with President, Hermana, and the new missionary. It was super awesome. I ate fish for like the 2nd time in 19 months. Crazy eh. I thought being close to the ocean I would eat a ton but its not super popular here. Then a couple members made me cake so pretty much every house we visited we ate. I finished the day with zero desire to eat. It was a great day though.

Today we went to a place called "mercado central". Its a super famous outdoor market here in Buenos Aires. It is gigantic. It has rows of fruit and all kinds of food and then it has a ton of little shops and places to buy clothes and whatever you want. So I may have spoiled myself and bought myself a birthday present. Hope thats alright with you guys. Just a little something to remember my sweet Argentina!

This week was super exciting as well. On Wednesday we did divisions with the Zone Leaders in Ramos Mejia. I went to their area (La Tablada) with Elder Puschel. He is actually from Vancouver! His parents are from Chile, but he has lived in Canada almost his whole life. He is super awesome. He was like a famous rapper before the mission. Such a stud! haha. But we had a great division and I learned a ton from him. It is always super cool to go with other missionaries and learn. They have a couple ghettos in their area that are super crazy.. one is called "la villa santa vega" and it is literally like a maze. Their are just buildings stacked up and there is no space in between them, and their are just little pathways here and their. It was like another world! We taught a couple awesome lessons though. They have an investigator who is getting baptized next Saturday who is awesome. The cool part is that he only has 1 leg, showed me that the church really is for everyone.

As far as our area things continue to go greatt. We have had a few struggles with some of our progressing investigators but they are still right there, we have so much faith that in these next couple weeks they will get baptized. Jonny who was pretty much a for sure for the April 11th relapsed and did drugs and now moved out of his moms house and they haven't heard anything from since. It was a really sad moment for us, I really couldn't understand I was so in shock. Sometimes it is so hard to see how people choose poorly, but we have lots of faith that he will come around. His mom is still doing well and so is his little brother, we are working with them so they can get baptized in April still. Ruben is still doing good, he is one of those investigators that once he gets a testimony is going to be really strong in the Gospel. The truth is that he has a testimony, but as I said before doubts it. He really wants to get baptized... yesterday he said "how does the baptism work exactly, I want to know because it's next week right?" so that was super cool! The only problem is that he has a few doubts about prophets, and he drank a little last Sunday so he is right there, just needs to stay strong and I have so much faith he will get baptized.

We have an investigator Walter who also had a baptismal date for the 28th of this month, but he literally hadn't seen him for like 2 weeks. He's always working or at his moms house since it's really hard to have contact with him, but the great part was that 2 days ago we finally got to sit down and talk to him. What was even greater is that we helped him remember why he wanted to get baptized and he is still really excited. He understands he might need more time but he is excited to do what is necessary to make these steps. We have a couple other good investigators as well that we are working with. One is Oscar. He has had one of the toughest lives I have ever heard of in my life, yesterday he was telling us about it and I literally felt so sad for him. His dad was abusive so he practically grew up in the street, when he was older one of his twins died, and after that his wife left him. It has all been super hard for him to let go, and I really have no idea what he must feel or what he has gone through.. but I do know their is also hope and that the past is the past. That is something that we are helping him to understand. That the Lord has always loved Him and been there waiting to help him. He needs to go through a lot of repentance but he is making the right steps. He went to church last Sunday and loved it! He said he felt so great so that was super awesome.

Last Sunday was also very successful for us when it comes to reactivating. There was about 3 less active or inactive families that went that we have been visiting. It was super special to see how the Lord touched their hearts and they made the choice to go.

The other day I was reading again a talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ" and it has to be one of my favorite talks. I don't know if you guys have ever read it.. but I am going to attach it and sent it to you all so you can. It just has such a deep powerful meaning and it really has helped me change my outlook on my life, and on my Savior's life as well. The mission is one of the best environments to try to develop this kind of love and character, I come way short but it has been such a blessing to try every day to put others before myself. I hope you guys enjoy this talk and that you can feel the joy that comes with putting others first.

Love you guys so much. Thanks for always putting my needs before your own, I will forever be grateful for this example.

Elder Hansen.