The mtc here is great.

hey, its good to hear from you

i love the mtc here, especially at the beginning.  its hard to believe its already been a week, so it has gone by fairly fast.  i feel like the time here is slow, just because im studying all day and everything.  this last month has gone by fast, but at the same time, it feels like i have been doing this forever, so time in the mtc and ccm is warped or something.  That's good though, so i will be able to learn everything i need to.  About the blog and everything, you can do that, i think, but ya just pick and choose whatever you feel is good to put in there.  Usually i'll just try to put random stuff in the first paragraph, and then the others, you can share and forward and everything.  Also, what is my address for my mission home in Quetzaltenango, i'm trying to send a letter to Zac, and want to give him that address but i don't have it.  For the address here, you can just put my name and then the mtc address, and they said that it will go to a pouch in SLC, then that leaves SLC on a friday i believe. 

     I actually was thinking of you all when it was july 24th, cause some kids from utah and stuff remembered it was pioneer day, haha.  I was humming the song 'i know that my redeemer lives' when i read that jared played it, haha, thats good for him.  I do wish i had some time to practice the piano, but i'm glad i'm still able to play the hymns and everything.  Ya, i hope everything went well with marissa's baby, it's weird to think i wont really know for another week how things went, but i wish her the best.  The mtc here is great.  I love the food, its better than provo's i feel like, and i don't have a stomach ache all the time, haha.  There's really good chicken and bread so its good.  In our room there's six kids, two going to quetz, and my comp is going to retalhuleu.   and i cant remember where the other two are going, they only speak spanish, haha, so its good to try and speak with them.  One is from Republica Dominicana, and the other from honduras, and the latino culture is pretty interesting at times.  The Elder from Republica Dominica cuts off his words way bad, so he'll say something like 'a la se' really fast, instead of 'a las seis' but i've started to develop an ear for it.  i also have a latin companion who i'm supposed to sit with at meals and meetings, and he speaks way fast.  He's from chile, going to guat. Central mission, but he's started to slow down his spanish for me. 

   It was way good to see uncle Richard, haha.  I just walked into church, and he was sittin there singin in the choir with a big smile on his face, haha.  We talked for just a few minutes, but it was good to hear from him, and it just made my day, and helped remind me of all you back home who are supporting me and praying for me and everything.  Anyway, church was good after that, and everything is good here.  Say hi to kade and ryan thats good you talked with them.  Travis Ganoe is ryans neighbor so i know him a little bit. 

     When are you goin start Wheat harvest and everything, let me know how thats going.  real quick, did i tell you my mission president is brand new in Quetz, and is from minnesotta? youll have to research that.  My new glasses i got are bent a little, so idk how to fix that.  and also andrew nilsen and Garth Crane were in the same district at the mtc and that was cool to see them alot.  Some questions for dad, how can i get to know a person and meet their needs and keep the burning desire to share the gospel.  How can i focus on the needs of the investigator while im in the ccm, and also how can i keep the spirit always and what things distracted from the work and the spirit.  Let me know what bryce's address is also. 

I love you all, and hope i didnt miss anything, i have little time on the computer, but thats alright.  Please have a good week, and wish marissa well.  I love you all alot.

Love,

Elder Hansen

guatemala is the coolest place ever...

Hey fam,  how is everything going? im typing on a spanish keyboard, so its a little different, its cool though. Im so glad im here, guatemala is the coolest place ever, and as soon as we landed it felt just like home.  i honestly dont feel out of place at all here, so im glad im able to be here and hopefully learn more about teaching, and of course, spanish.  the view is about 100000000000000000 times better from this mtc than it was in provo.  you can see the temple right outside our window of our room, and see the houses and hills and everything, its really awesome. in provo, i was able to see a tree outside of our classroom haha.  So they did have us go with new campanions, idk why, but its good.  My companion is from payson utah and his name is Elder Deuel (pronounced duel).  They said after three weeks if we´re excelling in spanish, then they might trade us to a latino companion.  So if that doesnt happen to me, don´t judge me haha.  the first day was pretty long, as usual, and hopefully I can get into the swing of things pretty fast.  My preparation days here are on Wednesdays so i probably wont see a letter from you till then.  i´m not sure of the address here at the CCM.  They told us that its a pouch address though, so maybe call up salt lake or something, i don´t know.  Maybe its in the pamphlet, but then if you just put it in the mail, it obviously wouldnt go to slc, so maybe just call there or something.  But if you just put my name, and then the address it will get to me, i dont have a mailbox number or anything i dont think.  Well, i have to get off now, but i hope everything goes well for you all back home.  ya, next prep day, well be able to go the temple and everything, so that will be fun.  Good luck with everything, i love you all.         love, Elder Hansen

I know that the Lord has prepared people for me, and I want to be faithful and show that I care...

Hey fam,

sounds like everything is going good at home.  I don't think my companion is related to benches in Idaho, just because he hasn't mentioned anything about it.  There's probably 15 or so of us going to the guat mtc, but idk for sure, it's just a conjecture. I did get the package, I haven't really eaten alot of it though, so i'll do that tonight and tomorrow and share it with others.  My flight leaves from slc at 810 so i'll probably call before then and then it lands at 920 I think? that's la time i'm thinking, so i'll probably call you from both places but i'll talk about calling you later when I call you from SLC.  Ya, I was gonna call Mark so i'll do that in slc probably.  They say keep it at 5 minutes but I'll have to see, hahahah, I think they just don't want me to miss my flight. Matt and Melinda sent me an e-mail, do you have there address that you could send to me?

    The mtc is good.  Time has definitely gone by faster.  There are challenges here that I never thought that I would have, and it's pretty interesting to say the least, but I know that I'll be able to push through them.  I know that the Lord has prepared people for me, and I want to be faithful and show that I care about them.  It's a little hard to focus on the people, when you're stuck in the mtc learning all day, and not around any investigators or anything, but I hope I will be able to get better at it down in the guatemalan mtc.  Everything I've learned here is kind of a jumble in my head right now.  It's like I have all the information that I need to know, both gospel and spanish-wise, but now I just need to organize it, and be able to recall it faster. I've never had to try and understand the gospel in the way that I am right now, to be able to teach it and testify to others, so I hope that I'm able to follow the Lord's plan for me. 

     That's crazy that you're 30 year reunion is here, mom, I hope you have fun at that though.  I heard that Macy Broadhead was baptized, that is so crazy, but I kind of felt like she would be one day.  I hope that she is doing good, and she is happier because that's what this gospel is all about. Also, don't worry too much about me because everything is going good, I hope that the harvest goes well and everything, and that Dad and Jared have fun on their trips.  That would be cool if I ran into Uncle Richard, he'll have to give me some tips on Spanish.  Thanks for everything, and tomorrow I'll probably call your cell mom first, then the house if you don't pick up then mark, so probably anywhere from 6 to 8 p.m. i'm not sure.  They said that Delta you can only have one carry on, and a backup is a carry on so i'll have to see what I can get away with haha.  Thanks alot, i look forward to talking with you.

Love,

Elder Hansen  

spanish is going pretty good, and I for sure have surpassed what I learned in high school...

Hey family,

Everything is going good.  Thanks for the goodies, I won't be able to eat them all or else I'll probably become diabetic haha, but i'll try.  The mission presidents came and left before I got here I'm pretty sure, so I haven't seen any.  That's awesome that colton's going, I hope he does good.  I got the contacts and everything and looked for the butter knife, but it's alright cause I have one.  I filled out my college deferement and you put it in an envelope, but IDK if it got sent.  If you send a package, then you might as well send one more pair of underwear for p.e. and stuff,  and might as well send down some more toothpaste, idk how many though, probably 3 is fine.  Elder Bench is my companion's name, and he's from henderson.  I'll try and put stuff you don't need to forward in the 1st paragraph.  Ya, you can send it to family and if someone else really wants it too. 

      How are landon and Maegan doing, and how was their honeymoon?  That's good he's there for this summer at least to help you all out.  spanish is going pretty good, and I for sure have surpassed what I learned in high school.  I would say after 4 or 5 days, everything I knew pretty much came back so I have been blessed, but I still need a LOT of work, especially to be able to teach the gospel to people and testify to them.  I'm excited for the challenge though.  I'll have to take some pictures and print them out here then mail them, it's really cheap.  I've seen Becca about every other day, and she's doing fine.  She's pretty happy to be here it seems like, and she's funny too.  It's nice to have some relation, even though we're technically not related haha.  

     No, we can't ever leave the campus, which does seem kind of weird because when you think about it it's almost worse than jail. The only difference is that you want to be here, the spirit is here, and you know you will be leaving soon, haha.  The first few days were a little weird, i'm not gonna lie, just because they were long, and I was just thinking about everything what's going on ha.  But everything is good, and I hope to gain a stronger testimony while I'm here. Thanks for helping me understand how to work hard and be committed to something, because it helps alot here.  I feel really bad for Brian, I hope he can feel better, that's too bad.  I'll be praying for him.  I wish I could have heard Andrew speak, he's awesome haha, but that's alright I hope he's doin good, and tell him thanks for lettin' me roll in his car.  I see garth literally every day at least twice but sometimes three times, same for Andrew Nilsen.  They're both pretty cool and as far as I can tell they're doin good.

     I got my travel plans, so next tuesday i'm leaving at 430 pm and i'll be in LA at 9:17 (Local time? idk? i'll look it over and let you know next week)  So I think I can call from both slc and LA for they said 5 minutes or so.  My flight leaves at 8:10 that night from slc.  That was nice of John and Vickie and Dave and Debbie too, I'll have to write them a letter today.  Thank you so much family for everything, I love you, and please keep praying for me because I need help in more ways than one haha.  Good luck with everything, and keep living the gospel.  I hope all goes well for marissa and tanner, I love them.  The gospel is the fulness of Christ's gospel.

Love,

Elder Hansen

I think I get more sleep than at home because I don't have to wake up and move lines...

Hey,

How is everything going!  It's good to hear from you.  the mtc is pretty good, the food's the same as the canon center, but it's good still.  I see Elder Crane and Elder Nilsen about 3 times a day because they have all the same meals with me, so it's good.  Obviously, it takes some adjusting, just because of new people and new situations, but I think I get more sleep than at home because I don't have to wake up and move lines, haha.  My teachers are so awesome, and I think i'm progressing fairly well with spanish, even though it may not seem like it.  Mi companero is de Las Vegas, Nevada, and he's a pretty good missionary, and he works hard in studying spanish especially, so hopefully we can challenge each other with it.  He's also going to quetzaltenango so we'll fly out there in 2 and a half weeks.  Our district is pretty funny, they are all going to chile, so they put up a chilean flag, I just laughed at it haha.

       Ya, I forgot about the parade, hopefully that was good.  We did see the fireworks from the stadium of fire, they were pretty awesome, that was fun when we went to it 2 years ago haha.  Ya, how was portland, that's cool that mom, jared, and lysha were able to go there. Brigham wrote me a letter and told me that, that's awesome, I think he will do good.  I'm also very grateful for the kittens' safety, that's great haha.  yesterday, Jenny Oaks Baker came and played at a fireside, and it was so good.  She played this is the christ, amazing grace, and a couple other songs, it was so good though.  Also, her kids played in a trio, they were 10, 8, and 6 I think and played, respectively, the piano, violin and cello and it was so funny but awesome at the same time to watch.

    It's been pretty hot here too, we're indoors mostly though so i guess it doesn't matter haha.  Let me know if the spuds at oxarango live or die from my watering them haha.  Hope everything is going well for jared and alysha, don't worry about me cause everything is good.  Let me know if you here from Tater Tot or anyone else.  Oh ya, and did Landon and Maegan get back ok?  Have a good week you guys and I love you all.  Tell the whole family hi, and thanks so much for everything.

Love,

Elder Hansen