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