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

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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