September 26

Hey family,

how is everything going.  This week was good.  Noone got baptized, it was just too quick for this lady named Mirna, but i think later she will be ready.  This week was good, it flew by pretty quick.  That´s awesome that dad got a new pickup, hope all goes well with that, haha.i´m excited for jeffrey.  That´s awesome that he´s serving, and it´s hard, but i think a mission is the only place we can grow this fast spiritually. I also am looking forward to general conference.  It´s going to be great, i know it. 

Happy birthday, btw, mom and alysha, i forget the dates, one is on the 25th I think.  But hope all was well with that, and that you both had a good birthday.  The same goes with Romney and uncle Gary, I didn´t know his birthday was in september.  Sounds like Jared and Alysha are doing good, so that´s good for them.  I heard about the crash with the semi truck, that´s too bad, i feel bad about that.  I feel like right now for language, my spanish is bad, and my english is worsening, so i can´t wait for the day that i understand better and speak better, but i know this stage is necessary to improve.  This week was pretty good though, as far as that goes. 

  Also, can you send me some pictures that i took at mirador, and just some pictures of a tractor or combine or something, so i can print them off and show them to whoever wants to see them.  Also, mom, did you change my facebook page that has my addresses to say that anyone can e'mail me? If not,when you have time, just change that if you would.  That´s so funny that britanny is in the same ward as brianna, and also that´s cool that she got a new car, i wish i could see it.  i don´t think i have much else to say, but that i´m trying, sincerely, as hard as i can.  I know that the Lord will bless me, and it´s sometimes hard to see those blessings, now and later, but i have a testimony of this.  I´m trying to change and be better in everything to be more christ like.  a mission helps you realize your weaknesses though, haha, so that´s good i guess.  i´m trying to love the people, and i have felt this love for them.  Thanks for everything, and i´lll try and send some pictures to yáll.  Btw we eat lunch with memebers every day, so that´s great.  Thanks for all, and have a great week, i look forward to reading your email next time.

Love, your elder

Elder Hansen

SEPTEMBER 19

Hey family,

how´s everything goind.  Right now i´m trying to send my pictures, but none of these adaptors are working, and i brought the wrong adaptor, fr my camera, which isn´t a problem, because i can use other stuff, but it would just be easier witht he adaptor.  I talked to alysha about her part for clara, that´s so awesome, and i´m proud.  Who did jared go with to the football game?  and i´ve realized how much you helped me mom growing up and everything, so thanks for being such a great mom, your family´s successful because of you.  I also do have brigham´s address, he sent it to me, so i´ll try and write him, i bet he´s doing pretty good.  thanks for keeping me up to date with the family and stuff, i love hearing all that, even though i don´t have time to reply to all of it.  i hope brianna´s doing good, is she dating anyone yet? haha.  Also, me and my comp can go to the temple open house if we get 10 investigadors so we´re trying to invite everyone we can.  This week flew by it seems like, or at least time is going by faster, and everyone night, i can´t believe it´s night already, so that´s good.  The hardest thing for me is eating with the members sometimes, and that´s only because they talk to me and i don´t know what they´re saying alot of the time so i feel bad, like i´m shunning them or something, haha, but i think they all understand.  I just try and be happy all the time, and that´s the best  solution. 

My companion´s great, he´s so friendly to everyone, and he loves talking to people.  Also, it seems like he has an answer for every question, so i´m trying to learn all that i can from him, especially how to talk to people, how to get return dates, how to interact basically.  He´s good at those kinds of things, and at not being intimidated by other people, that´s mostly probably cause he speaks spanish though, haha.   he´s a funny elder though, and that´s funner than being with someone that´s dead serious, but he is also serious when it comes to the gospel and those kinds of things.  Mirna said she wants to be baptized, but said this saturday is too soon for her, but we´ll see today when we meet with her.  She also has a daughter who´s nine, and she said she would be baptized as well, so hopefully that works out, otherwise we may have to wait two weeks for them to baptized, after general conference, so we´ll try and work that out. 

There are some funny sayings here, like if somone doens´t know an answer to a question they just say  saber´ which means to know, but translated as who knows i guess, and que le vaya bien, which is travel safely basically, everyone says it, and of course provecho for meals and everything.  There´s others, o ya, people say hombre alot regardless of gender, they´re just like, si hombre or calidad hombre, even if it´s a woman, haha.  And calidad means quality, but they use it to mean cool, but everyone says it, even grandma´s.  Can you imagine G'ma saying something like ´that´s cool man´ cause i can´t, but that´s what they say, so it´s great.

Thanks for everything, i´ll try right now to send pictures, good luck with everything, and i look forward to hearing from you next week.

Love,

Elder Hansen

SEPTEMBER 12

Hey family, how is everythinjhg going.

This week was pretty good.  My pday is monday, the food here is amazing, and I haven't had a sketchy meal yet.  Our ward is so good, so we eat lunch at a member's house everday.  We eat breakfast with a lady named zoila vasquez, the bishops mom, but we pay her monthly for breakfast and for rent.  This morning we had hot chocolate that was so stinkin' good, probably the best i've had, haha.  But the apartment where we live is on the 2nd floor more or less, it's different because the streets are up and down and everywhere pretty much here, so basically is on the 2nd floor, and the building i think is four floors.  The city here is kind of similar to guatemala city it seems like.  Just hilly, and cement like houses everywhere,  But most of the houses we have been in are decent, and aren't dirt poor.  I don't really know what people do for work, just the normal stuff i guess.  IN the area where i'm at, its all city, and it's not a huge area, so we haven't ridden buses everywhere, we just walk.  I'll have to ask someone if they know where santa eulalia is.  That's cool that it's pretty close, and also I think Barrias is close, or whatever it's called where Ramos was from.  But that might be closed to missionaries because it's dangerous, idk.  Things here are really mild though, at least where i'm out, because there's never any incidents, or drug people, or anything that we have run into.  Idk of anyone that's been robbed here either haha.  In the ward i'm at there's like 4 missionaries serving from that ward, and 3 more got there calls this past week, so they are a strong ward.  I think the hardest thing about the language is just trying to understand the members and stuff when we're at their house eating and stuff.  And also, i have a hard time remembering alot of people's names, because i'm not use to them, so i'm working on that.  I hope we have a baptism soon, i feel like we might.  There's this one youth named jordy that could be baptized, another older lady name Mirna, and maybe another kid named Margarito, but who knows.  Anyone, we're working hard, and i'm starting to enjoy it more and more.  It seems like my eyes are opened everyday, because at first when i came here, it's just surreal because everything is so new and stuff, but now i'm starting to get more used to it so it's good.  that's so funny that they call jared bruce junior, haha, It seem sweird to hear my name, cause i don't feel like a bruce anymore, elder hansen is just normal now, haha. It's great though, I hope all goes well with marissa and the baby, and especially with aunt colleen, tell her sienta mejor, from Bruce.  I hope all goes well this week, and give everyone my best.  Also, could you do me a favor, if you don't have time it's alright, but  i want the emails for ferny, kris, and Zach, and bryce, just because now i can e'mail them,and i 'm not sure what their email is exactly.  Thanks for everything, and have a good week.  Thanks for the prayers.  Love you all, good luck with harvest.

Love,

Elder Hansen

SEPTEMBER 5

Hey family,

how is everything going.  This week was kind of crazy being the first one and everything.  I'm serving in Huehuetenango in the area Brasilia and ward Calvario.  My companion is latino we speaks no english, and his name is Elder Rodriguez.  He's from San marcos in Guatemala.  He's good, but i feel like he's still not sure what the mission is all about, which is pretty understandable because he hasn't been a member that long, but he does have a strong testimony. He got in a bible bash with a lady, and was really confrontational with her, and I felt so uncomfortable in the lesson.  But that's not what the gospel is all about, it's about them feeling the spirit, and them desiring to hear more, not bashing on other people's relgion and everything.  But I think the rest of the time has been pretty good.  Time is kind of slow, so you know what that means.  Dont' worry though, i'm doing good, and all your support helps me so much, just to think that you want me to succeed and are rooting for me.  I hope i can grow during this time, and that I can learn spanish, and work as hard as I can to share this with others.  Anytime we don't work, everything feels slow, and I am seriously anxious to just go work.  Coming from the farm, as well as the CCm, i'm not used to just chatting with people.  I'm glad everything is going good at home.  I'm happy that Malea was able to be blessed this week.  I do have everything i need, and my bedding is fine, i think i just left the bed sheet or something, which i don't need anyway because i have two flat sheets.  The food here is so good, and we usually have lunch and dinner everyday with a member.  I feel spoiled because we haven't cooked once, but that's good though. The trip to xela was about 4 hours, we rode a little bus over there with about 15 of us then we got to the mission home, chatted, and then stayed the night in a hotel.  The next day, we got up and then had a meeting, and then rode a chicken bus for about two and a half hours to huehue.  the whole day was pretty fun.  You probably finished up grain harvest today, so that's awesome, good luck with potatoes, and I hope all goes well with that.  I have  testimony of this work, and am trying my hardest every day to understand how it works, and to understand the what i need to do.  Thanks for everything and for your support, and I know that this church is true, and it's message is powerful. Love you all and I hope to hear from you next week. 

Love,

Elder Hansen