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