I wrote this saturday, but it looks like it didn´t get sent, here it is, have a good week.

Hey family,

how is everything going?  Sounds like you´re all doing good and healthy.  I´m healthy, every once in a while I wake up and feel like my stomache´s gonna explode, but then after that it goes away, haha, usually it´s something I ate or I Don´t know.  But this week was a good, postive week, and went by pretty fast as well. On tuesday the new missionaries came, and there was 12.  Also, we changed areas.  We actually live in the area we changed to, but we were working in Las Américas, but now we´re working in Panorama, and it´s really good.  We don´t know too many people, but there are two other elders, and one of them was in the area the last two changes, so he´s helping us out. 

   There´s one family, I can´t remember the last name, but they have a son that´s in the pocatello mission, so I thought that was pretty cool.  They said that he knew english before the mission pretty good, but I told his mom that it´s an awesome mission, and that it has two temples!  I don´t think there´s very many missions where there´s two temples!  But everything is going good, there´s not really any investigators, we found one new last night, but other than that we´re kind of starting out fresh, but it´s good, and it´s fun, working there.  

     Also, two of the new missionaries left their luggage in Guate, and so a guy had to bring it up from the capital, but we got to meet him halfway!  The president had some meetings or conferences with the assistents, so he sent us to get it.  And the meeting point was mile marker 102, and I¨m sure jody knows where that is, it´s the restaurant chichoy.  We went there with jody and everything before so I thought that was pretty cool. We bought hot chocolate because that´s what we had when we went with Jody.  But it was pretty cool too, because i met miriam de Cajas, and she was natessa and romney´s math teacher or something when they lived in Guatemala.  And her husband, someone de Cajas, was the bishop of the ward Vista Hermosa there by the temple a little while back, the ward where Richard goes when he´s there.  So we talked for a little bit, she speaks english too, but we all just talked in spanish, but it was cool to meet them.

   I had actually met the guy before, because he works in the CCM, but I never really talked to him.  So we had a fun little time there, bought two little toys for the fairbournes, the couple in the office, and then came back to Xela.  

     On Wednesday the old missionaries left.  One was elder frodsham, who had this job before I did, and one also was elder Bergquist, President bodily´s nephew.  He said he was going to rupert for a family reunion or something, so I told him to stop by our house, but he said he might look for it, haha.  

    You´ll have to send me some photos of the family or something that you´ve taken recently so I can see if you´re all the same or not!  Just send them over the internet because we have good computers here that can process that kind of file!  But we´re excited to work in this new ward, and we have a plan to try and get more referrals from the members and everything.  I hope that you´re all doing good.  Take care and be safe.  You´ll have to give all my nieces and nephew a big hug for me, and all the family.  Also, you should just talk to the DeHut family, that would be good.  I was talking to Elder DeHut about it yesterday.  He said that that´s his mom and stepdad living there.  He was excited to hear it, haha.  Anyway, have a good week, and let me know if there´s anything else new.

love,

Elder Hansen

hey family,

i was reading your letter, but I just saw Elder DeHut´s name and skipped to that part.  That´s crazy, haha, i never would have guessed that, but ya i´ve met and talked with him and stuff, just in a zone meeting, but I don´t know him too well.  That´s awesome though, haha.  But I was here and everything when he came, because I know all the news that come in, and get to meet them.  Anyway, I´ll probably have to ask him about it so that I can change his ward and stake information, haha.  I can´t even believe that Romney left, it´s so crazy!  I know he´s gonna be such a good missionary, and his spanish is gonna be amazing by the time he´s done!  haha, but that´s awesome, I remember when I got set apart like it was yesterday, that´s so crazy, but I´m glad it was a good experience.  

  The Castro Family didn´t end up going to church this week, I don´t think they will, but we talked with their son that´s 19 I think, and he said that he´s going.  About Benjamin, I don´t think he´s going to progress at all, we put an appointment with him, but he wasn´t there or anything.  But we did meet a kid, he was walking in the street with football pads and a helmet, so we decided to talk to him!  His name´s ever, and we invited him to an activity last night with a member, and he came, so it was really good.  He´s from Guate, we haven´t taught him or anything, but he´s a potential to progress.  He´s here studying, and just lives by himself, so we´ll see how that goes.  Also, I´m pretty sure that on Tuesday when there´s changes, we´re moving areas.  We´re in Las Américas, but it´s actually pretty far, and takes alot of time to get there.  We actually live in an area called Panorama, so I think that´s where our new area´s going to be.  We´ll be able to work alot more, and I think even have lunch with members, so that would be nice.  I love Las Américas, just cause we know alot of people there, non-members and members, so it´s like a second home, but I know that Panorama will be good as well. 

   Also, I saw that Tess got her mission call!  Nicaragua, from what I hear, is really hot, but I know a few elders from there and they´re really cool.  Elder Monge is from Managua, and he was a good elder.  There´s some slang language they speak there, but it is not like normal spanish. I haven´t really heard it, but it´s called Escalinche, and it would be interesting to learn that. I would imagine it´s something like ubonics in English.  

    Elder Fairbourne and Sister fairbourne were born in Idaho Falls, I think both of them, and he was a newscaster guy for like 3 or 6 years there or something, but then they moved to Oregon, and then eventually to Minneapolis, because he got an offer there.  He´s a weather man! so if you want, you could look him up on Youtube maybe, michael dee fairbourne.  

  Today we have an activity in the Church.  I need to make some things for it and everything, I´m going to do a ´pin the tie on the missionary´ haha, I´ll let you know how it goes.  BTW, how is Bryce doing?  I hope that he´s gotten better, cause it´s no fun being sick, ha.  Here´s a picture, we found a big mouse/small rat in the house, so one of the assistents killed it.  There´s not too many little animals or anything, so we were excited to get some action!  

     I know that this missionary work is the Lord´s, and that his hand is guiding it.  Even though it seems like sometimes we´re alone, I really like the story of the man who when he got to the judgement, looked back at his footsteps in the sand, at times he saw two sets of footprints, and at times just one.  He asks Christ where he was through all that time when there was only one set of footprints, and Christ said that He was carrying the man in those times.  I love that because it´s true, and literally we can´t do anything without the atonement of Jesus Christ.  It´s something I want to understand better as well.  I know that he did everything for us.  I heard a talk in a byu devotional, it was by Brad Wilcox about the atonement.  But I learned that Christ didn´t just pay the majority, and we have to be obedient to pay for the rest.  Christ payed for everything, we don´t have to pay anything, so that´s why we´re saved by grace.  But to be able to be better people, and to be able to have our body resurrected to a celestial state, we have to use the atonement of Christ.  We use His atonement through following the steps of the gospel and making covenants.  Christ paid everything, and He sets the requirements, because He is our mediator.  We have to have faith, which includes being obedient to which God has commanded us, repent, be baptized, and endure to the end to be able to change to be worthy to leave with Him forever.  It´s something I´m still learning about, but I know that this gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon´s true.  What a great way to know that Christ´s church has been restored.  I hope that I´m able to continue learning, and continue to have the guidance of the spirit with me.  

   I hope that you all take care, and thanks for everything you do.  Good luck this next week, it sounds like you´re going to be busy, but hope that all goes well.  Elder Bench says THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE.  It was funny when he told me about it, cause he said, ´i thought they got it mixed up or something I read Hansen and thought for sure it was a mix up!´ haha, Thank you all and have a good week.  I love you all.

Love,

Elder Hansen

family,
hey, thanks for the letter, I´m glad that you all are doing good.  That´s awesome that you went on the trek, great.  I understand with the way you had to dress.  There´s some americans here that have two, maybe more, bake shops, and it´s really good stuff.  But the owners are mennonites, they speak, spanish, and so I see them every so often, because we go there sometimes with the Fairbournes, the missionary couple here in the office, (it has it´s benefits to go with them, mostly because they pay, haha)  and also there´s a bake shop in our area. 
     The weather is the same here, it´s for sure colder here than in idaho.  right now, it´s about 70 degrees, and that´s when it´s not raining, but usually when it rains, it´s not too heavy, it´s just kind of a normal rain.  And it gets colder too.  It says that tonight the temperature will be about 50 degrees fahrenheit.  Last night, we found some new people to teach.  I haven´t been with them yet, because e. maldonado and us did divisions, and so he went with a member, and they found about 3 new people.  I went with another member, and we found a 20 year old kid named benjamin, whose mom died, and I believe he´s having a pretty hard time with that, so I´m gonna try and keep in contact with him, to see how that goes, and I´ll let you know or not.
    I think that´s so awesome that jared and sarah are the same age, and then they always have someone to hang out with.  That´s always fun.
  Gonzalo is really ´pilas´ as you would say in spanish.  He always wants to leave with us, and work and everything.  It´s going really good here in this area.  Tonight, we have a family home evening with a less active family, so we´ll see if we can get them to come to church.  That would be really great if they started to come.  They´re named the castro family.   
   Here´s some pictures of the baptism of first Álida, and also gonzalo.  We had to put a bag around his leg and everything so water didn´t go in, but it still went in, but that´s alright, I think he´s getting it off in a week or something, so it´s all good.  But I hope that you all have a great week.  Thanks for everything, and hope that you enjoy your week home, after being gone for most of this past week.  I´m always praying for you and hoping that you´re doing good, staying safe,
Love,
Elder Hansen

Dear family,

good luck in the trek, that should be alot of fun. We have a baptism today at 530, Gonzalo de Leon is going to get baptized, so that should be good.  Supposedly he´s been having some problems with his family or something, so he was looking a little sad today when he saw him, but he knows and recognizes that it´s a trial, and that he needs to do what he knows is right.  That´s gonna be a good baptism.  He has a cast though, so we need to put a plastic bag on it so that it doesn´t get wet.  I think  i told you that four investigators went to church on Sunday, but antonio we haven´t really been able to visit this week, we hope that he is able to come tomorrow as well.   Keep praying for him and for Enrique as well. Also, Elder Monge went to the Nahualá zone, and so he´s not in our trio anymore, but there´s another elder named Elder Furnell, he´s from Lewiston Idaho, and I think he´s gonna be with us for a little bit.  But elder monge is coming down for the baptism, so i´m happy about that. 

    This week I kind of learned more about the Holy Ghost, that it´s important to have it´s guidance and everything.  I think i´ve been able to recognize when he is with me strongly, and when he is not with me as strongly.  I also have learned how to be happy no matter what happens, that there´s always going to be a light at the end of tunnel.  Sometimes in life that´s hard to see, in any moment of our lives, but there´s always blessings that come, and there´s not any time in our life that we can´t be happy, or at least have comfort.  And that´s what the gospel is all about, being happy, living the principles that God has given us, making a covenant with God, and doing all these things so that one day we will be able to return with our Heavenly Father one day.  I´m grateful that as a family we´ve been sealed to be able to live with each other for ever.  It´s a great blessing to have the knowledge of the gospel.  The thing i´ve realized is that the knowledge that the gospel contains has not been made up by somebody, but they´re eternal principles that have always existed, and that we have to live to be able to become perfect.  I´m glad that we´re able to have that knowledge.  

       Jared, good job getting up on one ski, that´s awesome, you´ll have to practice alot to be able to backflips like me, no, haha.  But good luck with that. 

     I hope that you all have a good week.  Everything´s going good here, and i´m having a great time, and having great experiences.  Thank you all for everything, and good luck this next week on the trek.  Love you all,

Elder Hansen

family,
how is everything going?  This week was good, on saturday we went up to Momos and played soccer with some members there, the assistents had to go up for a wedding, so we decided that we might as well make some time to play while we were up there.  Then after we played, my companions and I took a bus back down to xela.  So yes, I´m still in a trio with Elder Monge and elder Maldonado, and that´s all going good.  I hope that everything went well on saturday, that´s exciting that Romney´s getting ready to leave. 
    We have a baptism for this Saturday, Gonzalo is getting baptized.  He´s one you would call very ´pilas´ which is really smart and a person that´s ready for baptism.  I think that later on his family will get baptized and everything took, his mom, is already a member.  We are also working with other people, this guy named antonio is from barillas and his wife, and they are living here and working in xela, he speaks spanish as a second lanuage, but he understands and still speaks it.  Also, there´s a guy named Enrique, and i´ve known him since i came to this area, and almost every sunday we´ve invited him to church i feel like, and so this sunday he came, and we´re going to visit him tonight, so we´ll see how that turns out.  Tomorrow four missionaries are leaving so i just need to send them out and that´s it, and then knew missionaries don´t come until july 31.  The office life is going good, there´s 5 of us, before there was like 8 i guess, so i´m not sure what they did, but ya, usually there´s 4. 
    You´ll have to let me know about where natessa goes, i´m saying that she´s coming to this mission, even though i already said that about romney, and it didn´t happen, haha, but that´s alright.  That´s great.  I´m glad that all the cousins are getting along (bowen, hallie and malea)  That´s so funny, i can imagine them all being there together.  I remember watching the stadium of fire on the 4th of July. 
   Well, i think that´s about it, everything´s going about the same, always looking, and finding, and teaching, my favorite time is when we have a baptismal date with someone, because you know that it takes alot to say yes, and take that step of faith.  I hope that you all have fun on the trek, that should be a good experience.  I did get the package that you sent, thanks, and elder bench´s, i haven´t seen it, but i´ll have to look.  I hope that you have a great week, and that you all take care.  Love you all,
Elder Hansen

family,
i don´t have much time to write, but hope that i´m able to share what i want.  But i can´t believe a year´s gone, to be honest it´s exciting, but at the same time when you think about it, it´s really sad, because it´s not fair that it goes by like this, really fast.  LIke they say, that at the end of your mission your ready to serve a mission, and that applies right now too, i´m ready to go and start my mission, haha, but i guess it´s all a learning process.  It´s such a blessing though, even in the hard moments, you know you have to go through them, and that´s what i say when i feel like things are going hard, i have to do it, and there´s going to be an end, and there always is, but it´s amazing how blind we are sometimes to the future and everything.  I hope that you all are doing good.
    It rains every day here, but nothing hard, it rained pretty hard today, just for a little bit though.  the annoying thing is when it´s not raining to hard, kind of drizzling i guess, but it never stops, and you just get soaked.  We did, however find an umbrella in an old missionary´s house, because we sometimes go and clean out stuff, and so maybe we´ll start to use that. 
   I´m glad that i don´t have to say bye to romney, like you said it´s really hard, so i just will write him one of these weeks to wish him luck and everything. for my own farewell it wasn´t too hard, but when someone else is leaving it´s hard.  I hope that you have a good farming year, what is the new building that they´re doing for mart produce? 
   We have quite a few investigators, this week we will probably weed some out to see which ones are going to progess, it´s always a process, finding teaching commiting, and if they don´t keep commitments, you can´t keep teaching them, just visit them once in a while to see if they are ready, and president has talked alot about that. 
      I hope that you all take care, i sure love you, and hope that i can learn to be a more loving person. 
have a great week, right now we´re going to teach oswaldo, a 25 year old who is looking for a job, and says that he has had some accidents in his life, so pray for him, and pray for the family of Gonzalo and for fernando. 
love,
Elder hansen

Querida familia,
hey sorry about not writing you again, it seems like tuesday is kind of my new day to write, but that´s alright.  Everything´s going good here, It has been a pretty busy crazy week, so it might me a little tired, but that´s alright because it was good.  There were changes on Tuesday, and then on WEdnesday we had an awesome conference with Elder Amado from the area presidency.  it was really good and inspirational and everything, so i was glad that i could go.  WE were gonna do a musical number, but then at the last minute they changed the one conference and divided it into two, so the other missionaries weren´t able to come to the meeting i went to.  Everything´s going pretty good.  WE´re teaching some guards in the temple and hoping that some are able to come to church and everything.  on Friday i hit a year which kind of seems way too fast, but that´s alright, I think is it already a year, and what have I been able to accomplish, because i have so much more to do, but that´s alright.  But elder monge is still with us here in the office, but i´m not sure for how much time, but it´s fun to be in a trio.  It sounds like you guys are having too much fun, haha, in the cabin and then the trek should be fun, i always wanted to go, but our ward never ended up going, but that´s alright, i hope that you all take care on it.  We haven´t been able to visit gonzalo yet because he´s been out of town, but we´re hoping to visit him.  I´m not sure when we´re going to the temple, but i think it´s soon, so that should be cool. 
     But I hope that everything´s going good up there with the family, i´m grateful i was raised in a good family, and with the gospel in my life because it makes a big difference in everything.  Thank you for everything, and hope that you all have a good week.  I hope i can write on this saturday as well.  but take care and good luck with everything.
love,
Elder hansen
p.s. tell tyson crane hi for me, i heard he talked a couple sundays back so that´s good.

Hey family,

How is everything going?  Sounds like you´re all doing good.  We went to Momos this saturday witht he assistents and got back about 2 o clock, and so we never got back in the office.  But the baptism was good, I was able to baptize her, and so that was a good experience as well.  We have some pretty positive people right now, we´re hoping that they´re able to progress.  There´s a guy named fernando that is interested and likes it when we come, his only problem is that he can´t really come to church i guess because of his work, but he says if he gets his car put together then he would be able to arrive, or at least to the meeting  of the other ward that shares our same building.  Today are changes, so things get pretty crazy.  There´s 14 missionaries coming in about an hour, and then 21 are leaving tomorrow.  There´s two that are going home early for health problems, so I got the tickets and everything.  

      Also, maldonado and I have another companion, his name´s elder monge from nicaragua, but i´m not sure how much time he´s gonna be with his.  Also Dad happy father´s day! hope it was a good one!  I hope that alysha had a good time at this dance camp.  That´s awesome also about Zuli gutierrez, i´m glad that you were able to talk with her and everything, that was funnny when I read the story.  Anyway, things are going good here, i´ll write you all on Saturday for sure and let you know more about what´s going on.  There was supposedly suppose to be alot of rain and stuff yesterday and today, it just rained in the morning some, but otherwise it´s just been normal today.  Pray for the work here, and for fernando and his family, and also another guy named Gonzalo and his family.  HIs wifes a member, but the rest of them aren´t and so we visited them one time, but we are gonna try and go this week, but the thing is his schedule doesn´t allow us to visit him much, but i´m hoping that we´re able to.  Hope that you all have a good week and take care.  I´m good healthwise, and the work´s going good.

love,

Elder hansen

Familia,

I loving hearing how things are from the hansen family. I`m glad that things are going good over there for you.  I`m excited that you have your summer, even though you`ve hard rain and snow and everything, but it`s still good.  I can`t believe Jared`s gonna be a Junior, that`s crazy to think about, and when does alysha go to the high school, after next school year right?  But Àlida is actually getting baptized tonight in an hour.  We should probably get ready to go, haha.  I feel like i`m always running, but it`s good.  Anyway, we talked with her on Sunday, after church, and she said that she wanted to get baptized.  Then we had lesson with her again on this tuesday, and she was saying that she was looking for a good church, and wouldn`t you know it, she found the true one!  So she was excited about that, and she is really smart and everything, she`s 26 and doesn`t have a family or anything, and i guess she broke up with her boyfriend too, because they don`t have the same beliefs and everything, so i thought that was great.  But i`m gonnna baptized her, she asked the bishop to, but he said that he might not make it on time, because he`s in Guate, so she asked one of us 2 to do it.  But i`m excited, and i`ll have to send some pictures.  Did I ever send any of vincent`s baptism?  If not, i`ll have to look for them.  

     Elder Bench`s first name is Kaden, but you don`t need to write the first names if you don`t know them, because i don`t think that there`s 2 gringos that share the same name, only the latinos.  The transfers are on the 19th so in about 10 days, those are always fun, ha, but i think i`m more ready for them.  But Brigham wrote me, and was telling me about that stuff.  I think Elder Bench is about the same, he said that he was stressing out some, but i think if you sent him a package, that just said happy birthday and stuff, then he would like that. Also in the baptism today, we`re gonna sing some baptism songs that are in the primary children`s hymnbook.  I`m really excited for Tess and romney both, that`s great.  

   There are alot of intelligent people and everything in Xela, so I love to mention Uncle Richard, and have people say ^REally he`s your uncle?^ haha, but there was one guy, he`s not a member, that was really interested and said that he would like to go and everything, ha.  

  anyway, I had getter get ready to leave, but I hope that you all have a great week, i`ll have to write jared and mark.  keep praying for juan pablo and his family, and also for a guy named Fernando Ramos-sakchè.  They live in our area, and they live with a bunch of family, in-laws and stuff, but we found them one day, and are hopefully going to have a lesson with them tonight.  But just pray that they can listen and everything and I think that will help.  But love you all, and hope that you have a good rest of the summer too!

love,

Elder hansen

Fam,

that`s awesome that you`re all doing good.  I`m excited that you all are out for summer, that`s so great, so enjoy it i guess while you can, haha, but everything here is good.  We`re trying to put more baptismal dates with people, sometimes it`s hard though because we only are able to have like 2 appointments a night, or sometimes even one.  But it`s alright, i`ll send you the newsletter for this month, that i`ve been working on alot.  That`s good that romney`s getting ready to go, it seems just like yesterday when the same was happening to me, but i`ve been over a year since  i first went to the temple.  Tell tessa to get GOING ON HER PAPERS, haha, nah, i`m excited where she`ll get her cool to. 

     That`s awesome that mark got a new job, I bet he`ll love that position, but ya he`ll have to tell me more about it, so I can see exactly what he does.  I think that would be better though, to be in a smaller company, but have higher postion and stuff.  And good job STephanie! I think i would die right now if i tried doing a race like that right now.  we`ve found some new people, but we`ll see how positive they are, there is a girl that came to church and said that she wanted to be baptized.  I think she`s about 24 or something, she`s not married or anything, but hopefully that can work out great for her, and for us as well.  Her name is Àlida perez, so if you could please prayer for her that would be great. and also pray for Juan pablo and his family, because missionaries need to go visit them, we can`t because they live in momos.  But there`s a youth group right now in the office, that we`re going to teach how to be missionaries, so we`ll go show them everything we know, haha. 

Take care family, and I love you all, hope that you have a great start to the summer, and what are your plans?

love,

Elder hansen

Family,

it sounds like mostly everything is going good.  Here this week, we had the conference with president Bautista, which was really good.  I went to the one last night, but I missed the talks because I was getting stuff ready and everything, but I watched most of the movie, and we watched tangled.  I had never seen it before, and i thought it was pretty funny.  Then today we went again, because the assistents had to talk, and today is p´day.  so I was able to hear the talks but I didn´t see the movie because we had to do more stuff. But like I said, it was good, and i was able to see alot of missionaries and everything, and talk with them.

   Good luck mom with the recovery, did they have to clean out your nose and everything like they did to Mark?   that couple that got married is from momos, so no we didn´t teach them or anything, they investigators of other missionaries.  I´m glad that Brian´s liking the sprayer and everything, i´m sure bowen loves it too, haha.  

My companion´s doing well too, so everything´s good.  This week has pretty much been normal though, it was a pretty big race though.  Only one elder went home this week, he didn´t get sent home he just is ending his mission, so it wasn´t too much of a problem.  

     How was Shane´s talk, and when´s he going back to school.  What has romney been up to?  and when is tessa´s call gonna come?  yesterday it rained pretty hard so that was cool to watch as well, the street´s were pretty covered with water.  Anyway, everything else has been good, and life goes on.  I hope that you all have a good week, and thanks for everything.  Love you all,

love,

Elder hansen

--

family,

hey, i just wanted to write something real quick because i don`t really have that much time.  On saturday, the lds mail website wasn`t working, so that`s why i`m writing now.  But on saturday also we went to momos to take a lawyer up there to marry a couple, so that took about 3 or 3 and a half hours.  Buteverything`s going pretty good.  The mission had to get 40 contacts this week of people who wanted to learn more about the gospel, so that helped us out i feel like. just to answer your question, this last week there was a lady who before had worked for the missionaries in the office, making breakfast and lunch and cleaning, etc.  and she starting working for us, but it was inside the house, and then President found out that we couldn`t do it, so now it`s back to normal, cooking and everything for ourselves, but it`s fine, it doesn`t take too much time.  But we coudln`t have been able to pay for her to do that anyway, so it`s alright.  But for lunch we go and buy food, and there`s some pretty cheap places, but mostly it`s a restaurant or fast food, because we wouldn`t have time to cook or anything.  

    That`s awesome that natessa`s putting her papers in, we`ll see where she goes!  But i attached a picture of what our pickup looks like, it pretty much looks exactly like that, just a different color.  it`s a diesel too, a lot of cars here are.  

    Anyway, it was good to talk to all of you too, i`m excited that shane was able to get home safe and everything, that`s great.  The rainy season has started, so it rains every day, but it`s alright, it keeps things cooler.  Have a good week all of you, and hope that you take care.  love you all,

love,

Elder Hansen

hey family,

how is everything going?  Sounds like everyone has their own things going and everything.  I'm thinkin i`m gonna call you all at about 3.  And also, elder andrade, one of the assistents, is trying to get a camera set up, but i will be able to use skype, so i guess you can call mark and brian and marissa to be able to figure out how we can do that, so that should be fun.  Sometimes though, it doesn't work that well, so we may not be able to use the camera, but oh well, we'll see how it works out tomorrow.  I'll call you probably a little before hand just to make sure that you're there and everything.  But today was good. We went to a lake called Chikabal? I think, is what it's called.  It was really cool though, up on the other side of xela.  But ya, vincent got baptized last week, and his cousing baptized him, it was a pretty good service.  We're still looking for more positive investigators always.  pretty much this week has been normal and fun.  I can't believe that shane has so few days left, it's so weird, I know i've said that already, but it's true.  Anyway, the weather here is pretty nice, it's perfect, cause it doesn't get too hot or anything.  Elder carter went to be the zone leader in xela centro, so i'm here with elder maldonado, and you'll probably get to talk to him tomorrow too.  

    Well, we'll have to talk tomorrow, i'm excited too to be able to talk to you all, and you'll have to figure out things on that end, I heard there's a program called logitech hd, that may be better than skype.  You'll have to look into that, and I think i will too today, to see what it's all about.  But take care and love you all.

Love,

Elder hansen

Familia,

everything´s going good here in Xela.  Today, we thought about doing internet in Momostenango because we had to drive up there today.  We drove up at 7 and dropped off Elder Maldonado with the Assistents (Maldonado is my comp from Mexico, because we´re in a trio now with Elder Carter from Sandy, Utah, but Carter's leaving this tuesday).  So we did that, but we were only there about 20 minutes, then Elder Carter and I came back on a bus, so that was more or less fun.  I had never been to momos so it was cool to see what it was like.   Today´s p-day and the baptism, and I think i´m going to be playing the piano with another kid that plays violin, but we have to practice a little bit today.  It´s kind of nice, cause I can print off sheet music here.  Elder Maldonado also plays piano,and he brought some music with him as well. 

    That´s so funny about bowen, how he fake laughs and everything, I can imagine that.  That´s cool though that alysha has a dance competition there and everything, that´s good.  I for sure understand when you talk about track season.  Track season means wind and dust and rain, snow, and Everything else.  But it is fun so I'm glad that jared's doing it.  Also, I think I told you, there's a kid named Juan Quintanilla that's from rupert in this mission.  He was in rupert 4th ward, he went to declo, so he knows kord whiting, mckensey murray, all these people, so it's kind of crazy.  I think I told you that but i couldn't remember.  I saw him on tuesday because we went to a zone meeting with the assistents and I was able to talk with him there.  this tuesday there are changes, so I have to send off all the old missionaries and bring in the new ones.  There's 15 leaving and 13 coming.  

     Also, on this computer there's google earth, so we can look up addresses and everything, but i was looking at the one in rupert, and it was funny cause I saw grandpa driving on the minidoka highway and also three of our beet trucks, so I showed my comps and everything, I thought it was prettty funny.  I  think that i had seen that though before the mission, but I couldn´t remember.  

    also about the call, that would be cool to do it on skype, I wouldn't have a camera or anything cause there are none, but I can ask, because it would be free that way, and plus we could all talk.  But if not, i'll just use the cell phone.  the rainy season isn't here yet, I think it starts more towards the end of may.  Since november, it's probably rained 3 inches, so it's pretty dry. But I like the dry season alot better, just cause the more water there is, the more messier everything is, but either way it's good.  I also can't believe that the school year is over. that's crazy.  that went by way fast, so that means summer is gonna be like the blink of an eye.  Also, what day does shane get back?  I think you told me the 17th, but I wasn't sure, that's way crazy I can't even believe it.  It's sad actually how fast time goes sometimes.

    Pretty much in the office I just call people, and we're also doing a newsletter so I need to do that.  For example, this week they're closing some areas, and also moving around some stuff, so I need to call the guy that does that, and other little things like that.  In the ward, I don't have a calling or anything, there's six missionaries and probably around 200 members that come, but I don't know to be honest.  Also, I know some of the changes already that are happing and I found out that my son (elder besendorfer) is coming to Las Americas, my ward, so that's awesome, I'm excited that he's going to be coming, unless, of course, it changes at last minute.  But if not, then he'll be in the same ward.  Also, I don't know when we're going to the temple, i'm pretty sure almost every zone has already gone, except the office, but I'm pretty sure we're going soon, but the mission only goes once a year, and I suspect also that misión retalhuleu goes as well.

    pues, take care family, we're going to have an appointment with a guy that my companion contacted on the bus, so we'll see what he says. Here's a picture of the temple I snapped the other day.  It's not that good, but i like it.  Take care love you all.

Love,

Elder hansen

Recent Pics

hey family,

this week went by really fast i feel like, so it was good.  But we have two baptismal dates for the 5th of may, so we´re hoping and praying that everything goes well with them.  One is a guy from momostenango, and other from here, juan pablo and vincent, so i hope everything works out there.  But we are also looking always.  The truck kind of took a hit this week, but we weren´t driving it, or in it.  the office couple got hit by a motorcycle when they were driving it, so it kind of hit the bumper and stuff, but it´s fixed already i think.  

     I can´t believe that jared is going to prom, that seems so weird.  i remember my first prom i went with jenna bingham ( it took me a while to remember, haha, it´s been a long time).  So that´s crazy.  my little boys growing up so fast!, haha.  I feel bad about the beets though, hopefully everything can get back on track with those, but there´s opposition in all things, so i guess we can´t worry too much. 

    The work in the office is good, i feel like i´m in the tv show, ´the office´sometimes.  No, not really, but it kind of does remind me of it.   I have learned everything i need to do.  most of it´s not too hard, it just takes a little bit of organization and it´s easy, but pretty much the secretary before set it up good for me.  At first it was kind of stressful just because the day after the other secretary left, i was in charge of getting a missionary back to his house, he was finishing his mission, but now it´s not too bad.  There´s 15 missionaries leaving in this next group, and 13 coming, so i have to be in charge of getting them here, and also sending the other ones off.  

     1.  my license expires in october on my birthday i think, but i´m 98.9 percent positive that i won´t need it by then, because i´ll be out of the office, but if you want to renew it that´s fine, if not, that´s perfect too. but maybe just renew it in case. 2.  i did get my bankcard and everything is good with that, I bought some corte, so we´re going to see if we can make pants out of it somewhere, and some ties.  3.  my health is better than it was in the u.s. 4. i don´t need anything here, i have more than i had in the u.s. haha, no just kidding, but you don´t need to sent anything down.

   to be honest, i´m pretty far behind in my reading of the Book of Mormon, but i for sure will catch up, but some days it´s hard, because I don´t have time for language study in the afternoon, but I know i´ll finish it.  anyway,  evwerything is going good here, i´ll have to get some more pictures sent offf, and i hope that you all got the other ones.  That´s cool too that jaime and riley are going to be living close to mark, that´s great.  But I hope that you all take care, and have a good week. I look forward to hearing from you the next week.  

love, you all,

Elder hansen

hey family,

sounds like you´re all doing, que me alegre.  But i´ll have to ask my companion about those people.  pretty much my responsibility is to get people to and from the mission, so it´s fun, i´ve already called some parents from the u.s., i´ve called the ccm a couple times, i called the mtc in provo yesterday, and i talk to president and everything to get everything coordinated.  I like it alot, at least so far, some people say they don´t like it too much, but that´s probably after about 4 months, haha, but i´m liking it.  We always try and get out at about 4, and that´s not too bad, it hasn´t happened so far, but this week we want it to happen.  my companion is the retention secretary, and he pretty much just takes all the dats and everything, but this next change he´s leaving, and to be honest, i think an elder hales is coming to be my companion, but i´m not sure yet, it´s too soon to tell, haha.  But we live with the assistents, so that´s pretty fun, the house is nice, i´ll have to take a video tour of it.  i just uploaded like 7 pictures, but the computer just deleted them off the email, so that´s awesome!  let me upload them again, but i´m on the computer alot, right now i´m just pretty much trying to understand everything and what´s going on, so that´s why it´s taking a little bit more time.  But we also do little errands and everything, we went to toto on thursday i think, cause we had to run some phones up there, so i was in my old area, and i talked witht eh bishop´s wife and everything, it seemed kind of weird, but i liked it.  

  But this last week we challenged a kid to baptism, he´s 17 so not quite priesthood, but he´s a good kid.  we put the date for april 5, so i hope that he´s able to reach that.  He wasn´t able to come see a baptismal service last night, but i´m pretty sure that he´s coming to church again on sunday.   our ward is almost like a ward in the u.s. 

    i´ve pretty much had warm showers my whole mission, except that one month, so it´s not too big of a deal, haha, but it is nice to have burning water.  hey, and our house is getting fixed too, the electricity is only 110, so pretty much  only the microwave and washer work, but they changing it to 220, so that´ll be good.  

anyway, other than that, everything´s prettty good, the president said i would be here 5 to 6 months.  i´m learning alot, and enjoying life.  i hope that all ya´ll are doing good, and thanks for your support always.  i think i´m calling you next month right?  or i could just call you whenever i want, and say it´s for office business, haha, no, but anyway, take care and love you all.

love,

Elder Hansen

On Sat, Apr 21, 2012 at 1:12 AM, Doug Hansen <dhans10@hotmail.com> wrote:

hey family, how is everything going?

ya, sorry haha, that I just wrote that haha, but i moved into a new area...the office, so our preparation day is on saturday, just for us.  I'm getting trained to be the next general secretary and an elder named Elder Frodsham is the current one, so that's pretty fun.  I got a call on wednesday morning and they said to come to xela at 3, and so i came down with elder posas.  Then we came to the office and they told me, but i actually knew earlier that morning that i was coming to the office because an old assistent to the president told me, who was in my district in toto.  So i traded spots with an Elder de Lora, who came with me in my group, who now is in toto with elder posas, and i'm in the office.  But there's three secretaries because elder carter broke his foot about 4 weeks ago or so, and also elder de lora had a broken foot, so there were three secretaries two of which had broken foots, but now there{s three, two of which are healthy, haha.  

   I also got to drive for the first time in 9 and a half months, so it was kind of scary when i first started, but i just drove last night, it was fun. there's only two cars in the mission, so i feel priviledged to be able to drive one.  But we pretty much only get to drive because of elder carter's broken foot, but when he leaves, which i think he is in three weeks, then it's back to walking and everything, except when we need to move stuff and everything.  But it's not as fun to drive as i thought it was going to be, just because it's really slow here and everything, especially when there's alot of traffic, which is pretty much always, haha.  But our house is pretty nice, i feel like i had a huge change of houses, environment, everything, it's pretty crazy.  I pretty much speak english all day, but there's an assistent from el salvador, so i try and talk to him alot, just so i keep learning, and don't lose any spanish.  But there's a hot water heater in our house, which i haven't used for a while.  

     pretty much we are in the office after our studies in the morning, and then until 5 or 6.  The last couple days have been pretty slow because there hasn't really been much to do, but as soon as elder frodsham leaves, then i'm gonna probably have a ton to do, just working on projects and everything, which i'm pretty sure that he's leaving on tuesday.  But everything's going good, and i love the area that we're working in, it's great.  i'm still getting to know it and everything. 

   But my companion officialy is elder carter from sandy utah, but then the assistents are elder becerra, whose dad is the mission president in the california arcadia mission, and elder andrade from el salvador, i think?, and then elder frodsham who's the general secretary, was.  

    but also, everyone has a baby picture, or whatever picture of them when they were little, here in the office, so if you could send one of me when i was little, with whoever, or whatever, it doesn't matter, just when i was little.  also in the office are an elder and sister fairbourne, and they're from idaho falls idaho, originally, but they have lived in minnessota for 35 years or something.  anyway, everything's going good, and you can send me a picture whenever because i'll be able to look it up any day of the week and print it out or something.  But i hope that all of you have a great week, and have fun with mark and everything.  i'll be writing you then from saturday on, but you can probably send an email whenever, i could read it, but just not respond or anything probably until saturday.  anyway, i love you all, and i'll have to let you more about the investigators and or members when i get to know them better. take care,

love,

Elder hansen 

familia,
sounds like everything´s going good.  I´m glad that Brian and Ashlee
are doing good there, I feel bad that some beets blew out, you never
want to hear that happen. I planted some corn and beans this week with
a family where only 3 of the kids are members, the familia cóp.  So
that was fun, brought me back for sure, haha.  But noone came to
church this week, no investigators, but we´ll have to get some for
next week.  The papers for rosa are done by the government, but it´s
just about impossible to get a divorce here, but hopefully it can
happen soon.
   Today we went to those same waterfalls that we went to about 5
weeks ago, it was good, we hiked up to the top, and just kind of
stayed there a while.  But i left all my stuff to be able to send you
pictures at the zone leaders house, so that´s kind of lame, but i´ll
have to get it for next week, if i can get organized and everything.
But i´m learning alot always, and having good experiences.  that´s
awesome that that lady vivian was baptized, maybe you guys should
invite her over or something, for dinner or whatever, or a family home
evening, that would be good.  we have a family home evening tonight
with some investigators, so we´ll see how that goes, i hope that it´s
good.
     The next 40 days we have a challenge to read the book of mormon,
so i´m gonna try and do that in spanish, I really need to read every
page, and also this week we are trying to contact 40 positive people
that want to know more about the gospel, and those are the mission
goals.
   I don´t think that they have easter here, because nothing happened.
 They just have the semana santa (holy week)  where the catholics like
reenact the death of jesus christ and everything, but to be honest I
didn´t see anything, but I guess the reenact everything, and i don´t
know, it´s really lame, and mostly it´s just a vacation and an excuse
to drink alcohol, but that´s the tradition here.  But I pretty much
just had a normal week.
  i´m proud of jared that he´s doing track, that´s good for him, I
hope that he continues to have success.
   i played the piano this sunday, the guy that usually plays the
piano didn´t know that i could i guess, but i think that from now on
i´m going to be playing on sundays,
   about uncle richard coming, to be honest I don´t need anything, my
shoes are fine, they should last my whole mission, and i have
everything, no need for anything else, so don´t worry.  But i hope
that all you guys have a good week, send pictures when you can.
love,
Elder hansen

 hey mamaita linda, and all the familia chula,
> how´s everything going?  What a great letter, and what a great
> conference too that we had.  Ya, we were able to watch every session.
> in our zone, i think there´s 16 or 18 elders, so that´s good.  We were
> all able to be there and the english white people all watched it in
> one room, there was only 6 of us, so not too big, but it was good to
> hear it in english and everything. Before, last week, i downloaded all
> the sessions in spanish from the last conference and listened to
> almost all of it, that was good.  But ya, i loved every talk, and they
> really applied to me, and helped me out alot actually. i´ll have to
> read over the notes and everything i took, but it was great and i
> liked it alot.  And one thing we said is that the themes were really
> interesting, and kind of different, some of them, then they have been
> before.
>    i´m glad that you guys were able to go to florida, that´s awesome,
> i´m sure it was alot of fun. and also i can´t believe shane´s coming
> home in a month, that´s really weird, and went by fast.
>   i´m happy for brian and ashlee too, i hope they enjoy it there, the
> farm was a good place to grow up, haha.  But that´s great for them,
> and i hope that everything continues to go well.  Tell brian to plant
> the beets straight, so that we look like professional farmers, haha.
> the weirdest thing here, mostly they plant corn here, but they make
> huge rows of dirt, the hills,  like twice the size of the potato
> hills, and from there they put about 5 or 7 corn seeds on the side of
> the little hill, and they do that on both sides of the hill, and about
> every 3 feet they plant seeds, so it´s really different.  I heard of
> one family here that they just plant it normally like us, and that it
> grows better, but i´ll have to take a picture so that you can
> understand it better what they do.  They do everything with those big
> hoes, but no one really has a lot of land anyway.  like i´ve said,
> i´ve just seen one tractor here.
>    as far as the missionary work, Rosa is still just waiting for her
> divorce papers to go through and everything, it´s just waiting, she
> can´t do anything else, so that´s a pester, but there´s not much else
> anyone can do.  also, yesterday, a guy in a wheelchair came to church
> with us, his name is samuel.  He liked it alot and said he felt the
> spirit, and he recognized it.  His life is harder than i can describe,
> but i know that the gospel and the priesthood could help him if he
> allows it to.  And that´s really what the gospel is about, to be able
> to bless us, because God wants us to be happy, but he can´t just give
> us certain blessings without reason, he allows us to learn and I think
> to see the cause and effect also, and of course we always need to
> practice faith.  But conference helped my testimony too, and i was
> just thinking about how lucky we are to have such guidance, the world
> doesn´t have that surety and it´s sad, but the Lord offers everything,
> if only we ask him, and do His will, it´s just that simple.  Like
> president Uchtdord said, if you have any feelings of hatred or have a
> grudge against someone, Stop It! it´s just that simple, so it´s great.
>     Anyway, the package should come tomorrow because that´s when the
> zone leaders go to xela, and also i´m the district leader now, there´s
> 8 in our district.  It´s good because i get a cell phone, which is
> nice. I´ll have to send some pictures when I can, but you guys should
> send me some of whatever, just by email and i´ll get them and also am
> able to print out photos here.  have a good week everyone, and thanks
> for everything.
> love,
> elder hansen

Hey fam,
i´m glad to hear that Brian was able to move without harm or injury,
and I hope that you can continue working on the house, and that
everything goes well there.  That´s fun to have them there, and plus
all the cousins in the acequia 2nd ward is fun.  I´m happy for romney,
and I don´t think i would have guessed mexico, honestly i thought he
would have gone europe like Landon, but that´s awesome.  isn´t
chijuajua by the border, or where is it?  The cool too about Uncle
Julian, I hope that they have luck in finding a house and in moving
and everything.
    It sounds like it´s warmer there than it is here, and it might be.
 Today and yesterday have been pretty cold.  Usually in the afternoon
here, the sun is really bright, and it gets pretty hot.  But this week
has been kind of cold.  Yesterday it rained a ton, and hailed a little
bit too.  A little further up the mountain in an area called chiax, it
hailed so much that it was pretty much like snow, and one of the
elders made a snow man, and took a picture of it, so that´s great.
But this girl named Rosaura, we haven´t really had a chance to talk
with her, because she was gone almost the whole week, but we´ll talk
to her this week, and I think we´re putting a baptismal date.  But
we´re working, and i´m excited for this weekend for General
Conference, it should be good.  I´m looking forward to it, and hope
that a couple of investigators are able to come.
    I´m jealous that you´re going on a trip to florida, that´s
amazing.  You guys are lving the good life, haha.  I can´t believe
it´s almost april already.  I´ll have 9 months in 3 days, so this
month went by pretty fast.  And shane has like a month and a half,
that´s crazy to think about.  I honestly remember the talk he gave
still, and it was on mother´s day, so that´s weird to think about.  I
think i remember just about everyday that my friends have left on
their mission, haha.
     But today I think we´re just gonna hand around.  Changes are
tomorrow, but i´m staying here, and with Elder posas.
   Have fun with everything, and I hope that you all have a great week.
love,
Elder hansen

interviews

hey family,

sounds like everything´s going good.   I still can´t get pictures sent but i think next week i can.  But everything here is going good.  We talked to fredy, just because we ran into him.  He´s only 16, so not a priority one i guess, but he can´t go to church until april anyway, so maybe we will invite him to general conference, but I don´t think he´s that positive.  This week at church, this lady that is from momos came, and she´s kind of in a bad situation, she´s pregnant, but just from her boyfriend, but we´ll see how we can help her this week.  But we´re always looking for new people, and just working on references, so I hope that we can find someone new and positive this week.

   WE also had interviews with president this week.  They´re pretty simple, they´re just 10 minutes and he talks for us for a little bit, but it was good.  But I was just telling him in my letter that we need to work with the members more, so I really want to do better at that.   I feel like i´m still young in the mission, but i´m always learning, so I hope that´s good enough.  But everything´s going good here, changes are next week, but i´m staying here i´m pretty sure, but elder parry, this other kid in my area is leaving because his companion del cid is training.

    My rent this month was 700, so i played 350 quetz, so that´s not bad.  But we´re thinking about moving to another apartment, i´ll let you know if we actually check it out this week. 

     I don´t know if the papers of Rosa are coming for her divorce, she told us she is divorced, she just needs the papers to say she is or something.  But she said she´s been working on it for 3 years, so that´s rough.

I´m excited for Romney´s call, I feel like he´s gonna go to the last place that he expects, it kind of happened to me, haha.  But it´s a fun time, and I hope that all you guys travel safely and everything.  Have a good week, everything here is good, and functioning. I too am excited for general conference, it´s about 2 weeks right?  But it should be good.  Anyway, thanks for everything and hope that you all have a good week.  Love you all.

Love,

Elder Hansen

Xela

hey fam,
sounds like everything´s going good there.  Just to answer your
questions.  Marta is being taught by the other elders.  She had a date
for this sunday to be baptized, but it fell because she is going
through some hardships,  I don´t know her, I just met her one time in
church.  The other elders live like 200 meters away from us, so we get
to see them alot.  They have a neighbor that´s a member, and I had her
make me a cheese pie, which is way good, but it cost 50 quetz, but it
was worth it, really good.  I haven´t really had to adjust anything
here, it´s all good, and I like the members alot, they´re really
friendly.  I didn´t have to adjust to my new apartment either, it just
felt normal and everything.  It doesn´t have windows, just a piece of
clear lamina for the roof, but it´s like 30 feet above the floor, but
I´ll have to send you all that video when i´m able to get a cable or
some way of sending stuff.
    my compaion´s name is Elder Posas, he´s from honduras, near
tegusigalpa, but he doesn´t live in the tegu mission, but in the
comiabuela mission.
   I think that Rosa is divorced already, she´s just waithing for some
papers or something, i don´t really know, it´s not clear to me yet.
But other than that, we are teaching a kid named freddy, but we
haven´t been able to get ahold of him that much, which is hard.  And
two part member families in a place called xantún.  We´re going there
tonight to have one big noche de hogar with all of them, i hope that
it turns out good.  But everything´s going good here.
   oh ya, today we went to the lookout point for lake atitlán, so that
was cool....kind of haha.  It was just so close, but we weren´t able
to go any closer because it´s part of the central mission, but it
brought back good memories, haha, but it´s alright.  We did see alot
of gringos drive by, there was this one hippy van, so white trash,
with like 8 gringos in it, so that was cool i guess.  Then today we
ate lunch at this one house in a place called san cristobal, we had
some papusas and bareadas, it was good.  But this week went by fast,
and it was good, we just need some new investigators and we´re looking
always.
    This week on wednesday we had a conference with the presdient in
xela. It was good, and it helps to remember the goals and everything.
Also, yesterday we had stake conference, our stake is pretty big, area
and people wise.  And president bautista came and spoke at it, and
macheted the members to help us, no haha, just joking, but he did talk
about how the members can help the missionaries and everything.
Anyway, anything else?  I don´t think so.  I mean, life is just normal
and everything, and I feel like i´m learning alot.  I´m also excited
for general conference in a couple weeks, I think that will be
enjoyable. Just ask mark and brian and dad about the misison life,
it´s fun, but hard sometimes, but more enjoyable than not for sure.
Have a good week family, and good luck with school and everything.
Good job jared in church ball, i was a church baller by heart.  love
you all
love,
Elder Hansen
p.s. has jared grown anymore? or alysha, pictures too?, haha love you all

March 5

Hey family,
sounds like everything´s going good there.  Just, I have been getting
the packages you´ve sent me.  In the night´s it gets pretty cold, but
i´ve never cold during the night, i just throw the blanket over my
head, and I have 3 blankets, so i stay warm.  We pretty much know the
area, but we still haven´t been everywhere.  You could probably walk
all day, and not get everywhere in our area, actually you couldn´t get
everywhere.  Yesterday, we had to walk from a place called xantún,
(shantún)  to a place called chuculjuyup, and we walked for more than
an hour, and fast too, and we finally got where we needed to.  But I
love this area, and the members are awesome too.  We always have lunch
tuesday and thursday with this lady named maría chaclán, and wednesday
with the bishop.  The other companionship is doing good too.  The put
a date for this girl named marta to get baptized, but she didn´t come
to church yesterday, so I feel bad, but i don´t know what happened, so
maybe she will still get baptized.
    We are working with this lady named Rosa, and her husband is named
miguel, but they´re not married, but miguel pretty much told us that
he wants to get baptized, and one of their goals is to go to the
temple.  Just rosa needs to get divorced officially, then they want to
get married, then we´ll go from there.  So pray that everything can go
well with her papers.  I don´t know for how long she has been trying
to get divorced yet, so if she´s just barely starting, we´re gonna
have to wait, or they are, 3 to 6 months.  But there´s some other
people also, but I think it´s all in the question of time, because we
have some pretty positive investigators.  There weren´t any
investigators when we came in, well just a family, but the other
companionship is teaching them.  So i feel pretty positive, and i feel
like there´s a lot of people ready to be taught here.  just this area
is big, haha, but not that big compared to others.  In other area´s
like in momos, you could ride all day in a bus, or actually a flete,
or a pickup that gives rides, and still not reach the end.
     Elder posas is doing good, he has four months in the mission.  I
can´t believe i have 8, that´s pretty crazy.  Normally the time here
flies.  When i wake up and i´m tired, i just say, oh, i´ll be back in
about 2 seconds, and then 2 seconds later i´m getting ready for bed
again, haha, so that´s pretty funny.
   The tractor that i saw was a ford i think, a little one, and it had
like a 10 foot wide disk on the back.  so it was little, but good to
see haha.  Our neighbor wants a tie like the one i have, it´s a
reddish pink or something, and has stripes and everything, idk if you
remember, but maybe just send whatever tie in the next package.  But
other than that i don´t think i need anything.  just some starbursts,
that would be awesome, oh and tootsie rolls, but everything else i can
buy.
     I like the cheap stuff here, because for example, i bought four
bars of soap two weeks ago for 6 quetzales.  I´m still not done using
the first bar, so for four months, i pay  like 85 cents for my soap.
I still haven´t bought shampoo in the mission, so that´s good too,
haha.  Ok then, everything sounds good, hope that you all have a good
week, i love you all.  Good luck with everything.
love,
Elder hansen
p.s. send some pictures when you have time and everything, just of the
family, whatever ones you have.  love you all

Hey family,

sounds like everything´s going good back home.  Im not sure of my exact address, but i live in a colonia called la bendicion.  So maybe if you look that up you could find it, i think its west of the actual city of totonicapan.  But ya, it gets pretty cold here some nights.  Today for p-day, we went a little up into the mountains, and it was sleeting, and pretty cold.  we played soccer, and just hang out for a few hours up there.  But I think its more like 20 or 30 miles outside of quetzaltenango but im not sure, but it does get pretty cold.  ´

   My areas pretty good.  we are just getting to know everyone, especially the less actives, but its fun here.  I saw a tractor on saturday for the first time in the mission, so that was good, haha, but it was just a smaller one, but it made me feel like home.  They plant here in april, more or less, so thats good.  But i like my area alot, and we do a ton of walking.  alot of our area is city, but usually were more where there are less houses.  But my favorite part is when we get on a bus, and theres never space, but we just stand up front because theres no seats, and people just stare at us, well me more, but it makes you feel important, haha.  But here i feel like theres alot of missionary work to do, because theres some places far away that other elders havent really been too, so were trying to take advantage of that.  Thats awesome too, that shane is AP, i know that hell do really good at that, and hes probably gonna end his mission in the office, because once your in, i heard, then you stay in for a long time. 

    Thats so crazy that richard is in dubai, isnt that over by iraq and iran and everything?  that´s good though, that he still has Mel on his side.  But I like to say that my uncle is an arceologist here, I think some people find it pretty interesting.  and that´s good too that romney´s got his papers done and everything, that´s exciting.  And when are you going with aunt jody and her sister, you´ll have to let me know more about that. 

  the spanish is going good, there´s always things that i don´t understand, and i´m not sure that there´s some things that the people don´t understand what I say, but i think having a companion that speaks spanish helps with that too.  But it´s fun to learn new things, but there´s always something, that i just say, ´how do you say that?´ But it´s fun, and it´s a good thing to have.

    I was thinking that I haven´t seen a picture of you all lately, so you´ll have to send me some pictures of you all, and then i can print them off in a photo shop or something.  But today i feel pretty tired, we did alot of walking this week and everything, but it´s good.  Oh, and i forgot to bring my camera, but i´ll have to bring it next week, and send some pictures of my companion, elder posas, and everything. 

    Everything´s good here, we´re still searching for some good people to teach, but I know we´ll get there, so it´s good.  I hope that you all have a good week, and thanks for everything.  I love you all, and good luck in all your school work, and in everything that you´re doing.

Love,

Elder Hansen

familia!!!!!! what´s going on,

papaito lindo, i hope that everything´s good there.  BTW that is the saying for the week because we contacted some lady, and she said papaito lindo to my companion at least 11 times.  Say we´ve been saying that, and papito lindo as well.  But everything´s going good here in totonicapán.  i´m right on the other side of the lake atitlan, pretty much, but it´s sadly not in our mission, which i´m actually bummed about, but in 2 weeks, i think that we´re going to hike up to the mirador, so that will be cool.  but ya, i´m in totonicapán central, and my companion is elder posas from honduras, tegucigalpa, but his house is in the comiaguila mission.  So he has 4 months in the mission about, and i´m going for eight, so we´re both pretty young, but i don´t really feel like he´s that young, so it´s good.  i think that´s funny, sadly the varisty lost, so you guys haaaaad to go to the cabin.  Actually you did have to if you haven´t been there for 3 years, that´s just sad, sad, sad.  Get in the system, or get up to date as aunt jody would probably say. 

    This week, i won´t lie, has been kind of slow, i thought it would go faster with transfers, but no, because anything new makes things go slower which is kind of weird.  But today was good, we went to some waterfalls, but i can´t send the pictures, because this computer doesn´t work so great, and doesn´t have a place to put the stinkin´ card or anything.  But here is the coldest zone in the mission, but i´m guessing that some nights it has gotten down to high 30´s or low 40´s but correct me if i´m wrong.  it was alot colder before we got here i guess, but i think it´s just perfect for me, and it doens´t get too hot during the day, but it is starting to warm up.  i like this area, because there´s more country, kind of, i mean there´s actually small fields and stuff, but they are only usually about a quarter of an acre or less.  i think they grow potatoes here too.  But we are trying to find investigators because what happened is there were two elders here, but they both left, and left 2 family´s kind of, but i feel like we´re kind of starting over.  but i´m also here in this area with elder del cid from the capital, and from elder parry from holladay, or whatever, utah. elder parry is in my  group so it´s fun to be able to talk to him on almost a daily basis. But i like this area, they just built a new stake house in january, and in our ward i think there´s about 80 active members.  But i think we have a lot of work to do, and mostly it´s just organizing things, putting things together.  here there´s alot of corte people, the skirt ladies, and they speak quiché here too, but probably 97 percent of the people in this area speak spanish, but i´m not really sure because our area´s big, and i haven´t gotten to know all of it.  But there are alot of people that speak both spanish and quiché.  But i like our ward and everything, and everything´s going good.  But i hope that you all have a good week. let me know what´s going on, and if jared´s doing track, and wow, with the varsity! that´s impressive, you´ll have to let me know more about that.  But i love you family, and i´m doing great down here, and there´s actually buses that we sometimes take instead of walking which is nice.  love you all.

love

elder hansen

Is winter over?

hey family,

sounds like everything is going good.   This week was good, we had a conference witht eh president, and that was good, i learned alot.  I do have changes, but i don´t know where i´ll be going, because we don´t find out until we go there.  how it works here, is wetake a bus to the terminal in xela, if we´re leaving the city, huehue for example, and then in the terminal they tell us to get on a bus and we go there, haha.  But it´s been fun being in this area, i know almost literally everyone. It´s so funny, cause i think i know how my companion feels, because whenever i went shopping with mom, she would always stop and talk for like 15 minutes with every single person in the store!  Well, now i kind of do the same thing with everyone here, haha, because almost every time we go out, i see someone who i know, or a friend of someone i know or something, so we stop and talk and try and set up an appointment or something.  But ya, my companion´s going to be staying here, but i think he´s glad, because he now has a good foundation here in this area,but he´s doing good, he´s funny and stuff, and i´ve learned alot from him.  

  all my clothes are fine.  my shoes are wearing down on the heels, moreso on my pair of red winds.  I usually wear my b oots about once a week, and then when we go with maria espital too.  i´ll have to send you a video or pictures when we went there.  

  

    For Grandpa and grandma, pretty much i always remember them at the family parties and how funny they always are and everything.  And that they always remembered everyone´s birthday.  i also remember one time when i drove them home from the cabin. That was really fun to just talk with them, and get to know them better, and learn more about them.  i remember all the times when grandpa would hop in the tractor with me, or the combine, and just tell me how things worked and why certain things are the way they are.  I remember specific things too, which is funny, just like when i was combining, for example, and he told me why there was a reel on the combine header, something that I didn´t know beforehand.  But i have always enjoyed going to the house.  Whenever i was working out on the farm, sometimes i would just walk in and say hi to them, and they would give me lunch or something, and ask me how everything´s going.  I´ve also always admired the testimony that Grandpa has had of the church.  Every time he bore it, i never doubted that what he said was true, because i could feel the spirit in the moment and everything.  I have always been grateful for the decision´s that grandma and grandpa have made in their lives, because i know for a fact that some of the blessings that i have in my life, come directly from them.  I have always admired Grandma´s good attitude about everything, and no matter what, she´s always happy and laughing and everything.  She likes to know what´s going on in our lives too, and she always asked me about what i´ve been up to, and how work is going, or how basketball or track or football was going. And they always came to the basketball games.  Especially the church ball ones, haha, they were always there so i always enjoyed seeing them come out, and talking with them and everything, they always make me laugh.

    love you family, thanks for everything.

love,

Elder hansen

hey family,

sounds like you´re all doing good.  that´s cool that craig got his call that´s exciting and he leaves pretty soon, so that´s great.  But everything this week was good.  esturado, i have no idea what he´s been up to.  We´ve been trying to call him and everything but never answers us or anything.  i think he got scared or something all of a sudden, so it´s been hard, but i guess it´s alright, there´s really nothing much more that we could have done.  but everything´s doing good, elder besendorfer and i are having a good time.  if i have changes it will be on valentine´s day, yes that is a holiday here, but idk if i do or what.  But we had a pretty good lesson last night.  We were talking with this guy named alex, who´s from a place called san juan ixcoy, (ishcoy) but he said that pretty much every church is the same, and that sure the book of mormon´s true, and he believes that joseph smith was a prophet. But it´s one thing to just say that and another to really believe, and feel it, and use your faith to act on the answer.  But then my companion just bore his testmony and in that moment it brought the spirit, and it was obvious that it came in and everythig.  i´m not sure how positive the guy is, but it was cool to have the spirit in that moment.  

    This morning we played ultimate frisby, so that was pretty fun, then we ate at zumba´s, then we came here.  if you want to look up zoomba´s on facebook, you can find it and see what it is and everything, or have mark or somebody look.  We found alot of new investigators in this last week, so i think that we can hold on to them.  one is a family, but we just need to talk with the dad first, that would be alot bettter, haha.  But this area´s pretty fun, the ward members are good, and the ward is really strong.  We bore our testimony´s yesterday, and then three other people including the bishop, thanked us and for what we do, so i felt really special, haha.  There´s this one guy that speaks pretty good english, named alfredo rios, who has a coffee finka, and he just barely started becoming active after like 13 years of being inactive, which is pretty crazy.  But he´s so funny, his wife´s not a member so we went to visit him one day, but his wife hid from us, which is kind of weird, but it´s alright.  And we pretty much shared a lesson with him in english.  But one thing that´s funny, is that one day this guy just decided to plant flowers in the church grounds.  And so he planted some in front, and kind of out back, also.  But he planted types that need to be watered regularly, like every three  days or something, and he doesn´t rain here right now, until idk what month.  So he took his backpack sprayer thing, and watered the flowers from the street, because there´s a fence around the church.  one of those pump sprayers, where you manually pump, haha, so that was pretty funny when i heard that, just this guy watering flowers from like 30 feet away.  But anyway, i´m having a good time, and i´ll let you know if i have changes next week.  But have a good week, let  me know of any new things that happen.

love you all and love,

Elder hansen

Hey hansen family,

sounds like everything´s going good at home.  Everything´s good here.  Estuardo hasn´t gotten baptized yet.  But obviously we´re hoping before the end of the change, I would love to see him get baptized.  We found this other kid this weeknamed hugo martinez, and he´s from a place called todos santos where they wear the clown pants and everything, uyou´ll have to ask aunt jody about it.But he went back to todos santos this week because his family lives there and they´re potato farmers and everything so that´s cool.  But I think the mission´s probably the hardest out of those choices, haha.  But I know that jared is pilas, so he´ll do good with everything.

     The conference with Elder Falabella was really good.  I got a picture with him so I ´ll try and send it.  But it was really inspiring of course.  But their was a really good spirit there, and it made me excited to do missionary work.  It was just all around good.  He talked about that we should work with members more and with recent converts and less actives and everything, and he also talked about being the member´s friends.  That´s something that I´ve been trying to keep in mind this week.  But the musical number went well.  Elder Hales who played the violin, is from Orem or somewhere I forget in utah.  But it was good, obviously it wasn´t perfect, but I thoughtj that it brought the spirit well. 

   The members here are nice.  There´s very few that are dirt poor.  The rest have a decent home and everything, and pretty much everyone here has food to eat. There´s a couple members that struggle, but they don´t really give lunch anyway, but the one´s that have enough give lunch.  But there are a few rich people, for example the bishop and willi, the ward mission leader and a lot of others are well off. Not rich probably according to U.S. standards, but they have cars and everything.  Willi, hermana zoila´s son, and her own a company where they make the iron doors and window panes and everything, so that´s all that anyone uses, and they´re well off.  I think it´s different then what I imagined that to be.  But there are for sure places where every person is poor. But my area is all city.  Just the only person I can go to outside the city is with maria espital, but the next time we go, we´ll have to take a few photos and everything.  

  But on the 14th are changes, so i´m assuming that I´m going to be transferred so we´ll see what happens there.  But i kind of want to stay here, now that we´ve established some good ways to work and everything. 

    But wow, I cannot believe that jared has like 6 girlfriends now, good job!  But that´s crazy that he´s at that age and everything. That´s a really fun age though, so J, you should enjoy it while you can, haha. But that´s good.  Ya, i´m excited too for Brian to move back, that´s fun, and i´m sure that you all will enjoy that, and I hope that craftons are able to find a new house and that everything works out smooth.  But  that´s great. And also, if there´s news or anything you want to tell me, and stuff that´s going on, just tell me, and i´m able to print out stuff, so I can just print it out and read it later, after using internet.  There´s kind of a lack of investigators right now.  We are teaching an excommunicated member, so that´s interesting.  He says that he knows the church is true, but i think that just how his character is makes it hard for him to come back.  But his wife celebrated her brother yesterday, Ana de Galindo, so we went and sang happy birthday, and later they gave us food and cake, so that was awesome.  But our ward has 150 to 160 that assist, so that´s pretty good.  But everything her is good.  It´s pretty much normal, and not much new has happened.  But I hope that you all have a great week.  I love you all, and I´ll let you know how this week goes.  Take care, and pray for estuardo please, and also for Eluvia, she´s having a hard time coming to church for the question of her work.  But take care!

Love,

Elder Hansen   

family,

how are you doing, it´s sounds like all great.  Wow, that´s great about Brian and Ashlee, I don´t think that I ever would have expected them to move there, but if feel good about that, that´s great.  But anyway, this month has felt a little bit slow, and probably because I am in the same apartment that i´ve been in the whole mission. haha.  But every missionary says that after the year mark, time goes by extremely fast, haha.  But i´m enjoying it alot, and I feel like i´m learning alot.  Elder Bench is typing next to me, and he just gave me some awesome analogies that we can use with Estuardo.  We haven´t put a set date yet, but we´re thinking this next weekend.  In our last lesson that we had with him, Elder Besendorfer promised him that if he read 10 minutes a day for a week, or 8 days i guess, and if after every time he prayed to know that the book of  mormon was true, then he would receive an answer that it was.  But anyway, we´re thinking that we´ll put a date for this weeekend or for the next.  But, walter and paola are supposedly married, but who knows, if someone lives together here, then they´re spouses.  But they can never come to church because they´re always gone away selling and everything.  But we need to explain to them the sabbath day and everything, even though they have heard it already, but another time would be good.  

   We got a new mission leader, he lives 2 meters from us, so that´s pretty convenient.  his names willy vasquez and he´s the son of hermana zoila, and us three live in that house.  But he does speak english, he learned it in college, so that´s good.  But I think he´s gonna help us alot.  I think i told you that changes are in february 14, so that´s not too far, and I want to work hard to try and get a few more baptisms if it´s possible.  But we´re looking and everything.  Elder Besendorfer´s doing good, everything´s pretty much normal and everything.  

   But good job jared with basketball.  I wish my coaches would have done that, haha, those who had good grades could play.  But they just no hacen caso (ask mark).  Haha, but those are more important anyway, but that´s awesome that you get to play.  My companion reminds me of jared in alot of ways also. This wednesday Elder Fallabella is coming, he´s the area president of central america, and I have to play the piano, or i get to, i´m excited, because we´re playing a poor wayfarying man of grief, but i need to practice alot more, i haven´t had much time.  This elder hales is playing violin with me, and that´s where i got the music from, so it´s good.  But i´m excited for that.  That was an awesome story that you told me about the lady that had the dream, that´s great, and I know that that´s the true nature of God.  This week i´m going to focus more on having Faith, and I know that that will help me alot.  anyway, thanks for everything that you all do, you´re great and a great support.  I love you all, and hope that you week goes well.

love,

Elder Hansen

hey family,

sounds like everything´s going good.  Can I have some more details on Brian´s and Ashlee´s move, for example, why?  haha, just wondering some details, but anyway,  everything´s going good here in old huehue.  I feel like I´ve been here forever, except for the spanish part, but I can pretty much understand everything, there´s just some words and everything always.  But I did get that christmas package, thanks, that was awesome.  I especially loved all of the pictures.  I could tell in one minute exactly who malea was, I hope that was her, haha, because she looked alot like marissa did when she was little, so awesome. transfers are in a month  on Feb. 14 so I have a couple weeks left, and then I think Elder Besendorfer will be training in this same area.  But everything's good here, just normal.

     We are teaching Estuardo Mendez, I think that I've mentioned him, but he said that he wants to get baptized, he just doesn't know what day yet, so we're working with him on  that.  But we found a  couple of new  investigators this week, but I'm not sure if they're positive so I will let you know the next week. Walter and Paola we haven't visited for a while, just because they haven't been home and everything, but we will see if they come to church next week.  today, we  went to some ruins in Zaculeu, so those we're pretty awesome.  But nothing like El Mirador, haha, but it was cool to see them. There, they are made out of cement, with rocks mixed in with the cement, so pretty much like their modern-day sidewalks here.  But it was cool.  Eluvia's doing good, she and her husband are really happy now, so that's good.  

   Our ward's doing good and everything.  I feel like less actives have been coming more and more, so the attendance is about 170 right now, but we hope that it stays u p higher.  For sunday, the only responsibility that I have is to go to the ward council after church, we don't have jobs or anything in this ward.  

   That's so funny about bowen, haha, I can just imagine that, and I'm sure that he's growing so much everyday, and learning alot too.   But jared's going on a date this weekend, then right?  haha, i'm sure he's already been asked out, but don't give in to the pressure Jared, no, haha.  It's all good to date and everything.  But wow, that's crazy, and he can drive at night now, I know I was more excited about that, haha.  But ya, today was good, everything's normal, we're jus t sitting here in an internet place in huehue, and we came from eating at Zumba's, that restaurant that that guy owns, who lived in Arizona for  a while.  But ya, let me know if anything new's going on in the states, and here too actually, since we never hear anything, haha.  but thanks for everything and I love you all.  Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Hansen