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