Week 8 - Feliz Navidad!

Family!

So good to see you on Christmas! I have to admit I felt my first twinge of homesickness after I ended the call. Then I walked into the bright sunny day, and somehow I felt better, not sure why.... And it might have just been a leftover stomach ache from all the food we ate. I honestly have never eaten so much.

Other than Christmas, this week was pretty normal. Everyone was super excited about Christmas and was cooking tamales and lighting off fireworks so teaching was a little harder than usual, but it was hard not to just be happy walking around seeing so many people so excited about the same thing.

Saturday was easily the most interesting day of the week. We'd set some really high goals for this week and we felt super confident about them and we'd had some success with our investigators earlier in the week so we thought we could just build off that. We had our whole day filled up and I left the house with so much energy. But by 2:00, every single one of our appointments had fallen through. So we decided to call the rest of our investigators and see if we could meet with them, or invite them to church. By 2:30, we had called all of them and either they didn't answer, couldn't meet with us, or couldn't come to church. At that point, I was ready to go home and just crash. I was feeling so deflated and discouraged. Since there was nothing else to do, we went contacting. We didn't find anyone so we decided to say a prayer. After that, we walked around a little more and then Elder Duran had the idea to go to a new area we hadn't been to before. It was farther away than I felt like walking, but we just started walking anyway. When we got to the area, there were a lot more houses than I was expecting, and at the second house we found a family of four who were incredibly nice and welcoming and we taught them part of the plan of salvation and they were really excited about it and told us that they'd love to have us back again. Feeling a little bit better, we went to the next few houses and had a similar experience. By the time we left that area, we had 15 new investigators. We went back to Siquirres and had some time before our we were going to meet with "H", who had called us back thankfully, so we went to this park and contacted more. We found 4 more investigators there and 2 of them told us they would come to church that Sunday. 

When I was thinking more about it that night, if our appointments hadn't fallen through, we never would have found these amazing people and they might not have ever heard our message. It's amazing because the Lord really does always have a plan for us. I just didn't have the faith to see it. But I know He was just preparing us to carry out His plan.

I love you all. I hope your Christmas was fantastic! And I hope you all have a happy new year's! Not to rub it in, but I get to spend the entire year of 2015 as a missionary. But anyway, love you all, I'll talk to you soon!

Elder Hansen

"A typical meal"

"Our house"

"Our adorable Christmas tree"

Christmas Skype call

Conference call with the two missionaries!

Merry Christmas!

Joyeux Noël!

Feliz Navidad!

Week 7 - Big News and a Baptism

Shamaikel's baptism

Familia!

This country is just amazing. It's weird and crazy but amazing and I love it. Everyday I learn something new about it, like how there's never a bad time for fireworks. Seriously, it's just constant. Or that when people said I would eat rice and beans everyday, they were serious. Still have yet to go a day without it haha. Or that stop signs mean nothing. It's more just like a rough guideline, like if you want to stop that's great. If not, no big deal. But I love being here more than anything. 

This week was a busy one. On Wednesday, we went to a Christmas party at in San Jose after a really really cool baptismal session in the temple. We got the the party a little late, but they still had plenty of food for us and it was soo good. I didn't realize how much I missed mashed potatoes haha. We had a little Christmas program and then President Wilkinson got up to give a talk. He thanked us for all our hard work and then told us that they're going to add another mission to Costa Rica!!!! The rush that went through the room after he said that was indescribable. Everyone just erupted into cheers and tears and it just was amazing to be a part of that. Those missionaries had worked so hard and they were finally seeing the results. President said the Prophet and the Quorum of the Twelve were taking notice of us. I was so excited, but I couldn't help feeling a little detached, because I hadn't been there for the success, but then I just felt inspired to get out and work and do my best to fill the shoes they've left for us. I just feel so lucky to be here. They gave us these little ornaments with Costa Rica San Jose Mission, because after June of 2015, there will be 2 missions. I'll definitely hang them on my tree every year haha.

Oh and we had our first baptism this week. His name is Shamaikel and he's the coolest 11 year old I've ever met. He had already been to church enough times and finally agreed to be baptized. Elder Duran let me make the commitment and then let me baptize him too. It was such an amazing experience. I had to do it 2 times of course, but it was so special to bring someone else into the church. He has such a sweet testimony and was so excited after his baptism haha. I'll send a picture next week.

Sunday morning, we were walking into the chapel and this man calls out to us, so we walk over and start talking to him. It was clear this guy was having a rough time, judging from the beer can in his hand and the fact that he was speaking half Spanish and half English. I had no idea what to do so I let Elder Duran do the talking and just prayed that he didn't focus on me haha. At the end, he said he would go to church with us next week and I thought he was leaving and then he grabbed my hand, looked me straight in the eyes and said, "You're a real gentleman. I love you". Then he kissed my hand and left. A few hours later I saw him talking to Elder Gonzalez and Nielsen and apparently the same thing happened haha. Weirdest moment I've had.

It was a great week overall. I love you all so much and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Elder Hansen

Week 6 - Arrival in Costa Rica

Familia!!

I'm really sorry but I'm probably never coming home. This place is absolutely amazing haha.

Getting here was pretty easy, our flight was delayed out of Salt Lake, but only about half an hour. I stepped off the plane and got blasted with heat but it felt so good after being stuck in Provo for 6 weeks. I met President Wilkinson, love him already, and then went to the office for food and some important stuff that I was way too excited to pay attention to. That night we went out to work and so we got on the bus to go out into San Jose. After I had sat down, a man sat next to me and I got super excited for my first bus contact. And the moment I start to say Hello, he puts in his headphones and boom, he's gone haha. So that was great...... Then later we were knocking doors and the first one, a older man answers and he was talking and talking and I didn't understand a word, and I was thinking, oh no I don't know this language at all but later my temporary companion, Elder Moran, said he was using a ton of swear words so it's good if I didn't understand. I slept like a rock that night haha.

Meeting his trainer, Elder Duran

The next day, we got our trainers. It was super dramatic when they walked in, like we were in Monsters Inc. when all the monsters come to the Scare Floor. But anyway, my trainer is Elder Duran. He's from Mexico City and speaks a little English which helps but for the most part it's all Spanish. He's incredibly nice and has the biggest heart. He's only been out for about 3 months, but he really knows what he's doing and it's been incredible to learn from him. I love him so much already.

I'm in a little town in northern Costa Rica called Siquirres and I love it. Our house is perfect and the people are kind and receptive (for the most part haha). It's rained every single day. Never in my life have I seen so much rain haha. I absolutely love it though. It's a pain when it starts raining and the house has a tin roof, because then we can barely hear each other, and that really doesn't help me too much haha. We walk everywhere and I've already had to bust out the moleskin, but there's so much to see it's all good with me. 

"Our backyard"

My first night we went out to teach someone Elder Duran had met a few days before. We (Elder Duran) taught him about the restoration and it was so so so incredible to finally be here in Costa Rica, teaching real people and changing the lives of real people. I barely understood anything, but I could feel the Spirit so strongly. At the end, Elder Duran committed him to be baptized and he accepted! I was so excited for him I could barely contain it haha. The rest of the night, we just contacted and knocked doors. Most of the people in Costa Rica have gates so we stand outside and say Upe Buenas (upe is like hoop, without the h and with an a on the end). On Friday night, we met with a new investigator and I actually taught a lot of the lesson, or at least I said words and he nodded and agreed so I'm assuming that counts, but at the end we committed him to be baptized and he accepted and then we taught him to pray and when he finished his prayer, he started to cry. Oh man, best moment of my mission so far. So incredibly powerful. His name is "H" and he's 22 and I just love him. He works at a deli in Siquirres and if we pass by while he's working he'll give us some food, it's fantastic haha. Also, the food, oh my, the food haha I've had rice every day and I'm honestly totally fine with that. All the food is amazing and everyone is willing to give us food. We'll be teaching a family and one of them will step out for a second and come back with dinner for us. I love these people. En serio. I'm probably going to live here someday. 

I'm just honestly so happy to be here, finally. It's been kinda tough getting adjusted and I'm still not completely able to understand people and this country is not built for people my height, but I love it so much.

Love you guys!!!!!!

Elder Hansen

At the San Jose temple

With Elder Rosander - another new missionary

Week 5 - Last Week in the MTC

Hi everyone-

Not going to have time for a long email today, but hopefully you got the pictures I just sent you. 

I seriously can't believe I'm leaving already. It's crazy. When did I get here? haha no but I'm so excited I can't wait to join my sister in the field.

I got my travel plans!!! I leave on Monday for Costa Rica!

I'll fly out of salt lake at 11:00 to Atlanta and then directly to San Jose.

Love you!!

MTC companion, Elder Kiel from Corvallis

Elder Paynter

Elder Boston "who helped me get situated"

Week 4 - Best Week Ever

Hola Familia!

I don't have too much time to write today, we've got a huge day lined up for Thanksgiving so we had to get up early to do laundry and email. We thought if we got up at like 5:30 then there would be open washing machines, but they were already all full. Why do we have so many morning people here?

This week was by far the best one I've had here. Dad, I found out one of my teachers was in Dr. Swenson's class when I came with you, so we talked about that for a while. Then we taught some really really good lessons and we're really bonding as a 10 missionary zone. I love them so much. I met some more missionaries going to Costa Rica!!!!!!!!! I was so excited haha and then I met one of the teachers who had served in Costa Rica! So I just can't wait anymore. I want to be there right now.

Elder Jonas

The other district left on Monday, which was a lot harder than the last time. I had gotten to know those guys so much more and they were some of my best friends here. Our room was always a lot more calm than the other ones so some of them would come in and just spend time in our room. Elder Jonas was a really good story teller so he would come in most nights and tell us a story about Elder Rowe or some made up character and I have honestly never laughed harder than I did every night he came in. I miss that kid.

On Tuesday, we went to dinner like normal and we sat down and saw all these people running over to the TVs and talking really loudly, which is actually kinda normal, but they seemed extra excited today. I didn't really think much else until they moved away and I saw it was a message for the Tuesday Night Devotional. And it was Dallin H. Oaks!! We all got so excited haha. We ate as fast as we could and then ran back to get in line early and there were already people there at like 5:30 for the 7:00 devotional haha. We got decent seats but it was just amazing to see him and hear him speak to us. He shared a really simple analogy, but one that I ate up. He talked about being an instrument in the hands of the Lord and related that to being a pen. The Lord uses us to deliver his message and the ink is our gospel knowledge and testimony. We're on His schedule and we can't deny Him because it's P-day or because we're tired. I wrote in big letters on my paper to BE A PEN. It really struck me and I just love that analogy. 

One of our investigators committed to be baptized!!! It was the most rewarding feeling. The Spirit was so incredibly strong and I just wanted to hug him. 

Oh also on Tuesday, I had the first warm shower in over a week haha. It was a great way to wake up in the morning with a brisk and refreshing shower, but I was so happy to finally have warm water again haha.

WEDNESDAY. BEST DAY. Definitely at the MTC and one of the top ten in my life. We had a really good training meeting for the zone leaders helping with the service project today and then I got to go be a guest investigator for the other class and their teacher had me play a 9 year-old and it was the easiest thing because all I had to do was be myself haha. Their teacher told me to get bored really easily and always get distracted so I did my best and it was just so much fun haha. We had some extra time after lunch, so we did some personal study and then spent time as a zone just talking and bonding and trying not to think about the fact that in 2 weeks we'll all be gone. For our night class, we practiced door and street approaches and I was really surprised how comfortable I felt doing it. Then we practiced just getting to know people and not trying to share our message or anything right away, but just meeting people. I loved just talking and listening and having normal conversations with people. It came really easily to me and I'm so grateful for that. After class, we had a zone prayer. I had the spiritual thought and I bore my testimony about losing ourselves in the work. I started talking and then the Spirit took over and it was so strong in the room it was like a wave just crashing over me. I almost started crying, but I managed to hold it in so I'm still good. Then we went back to the rooms and one of the Italian Elders on our floor had this huge parade-like balloon or something. I'm not sure what it was but it was massive. We were messing around with that for a while and then Elder Walker threw it down the hallway and it popped on the wall and made the loudest noise so like men, we all scattered and ran back to our rooms to hide haha. It was the perfect end to that night because we just sat there and laughed and laughed for probably 10 minutes. But it was just an amazing day.

Today is going to be special too. We've got a GA devotional at 9:30 and they won't tell us who it is so I can't wait. And then we have thanksgiving lunch and then the service project and then the thanksgiving program and then we're watching a movie tonight which I have a sneaking suspicion is Meet the Mormons, but stay tuned.

Anyway, I love you all so much. I love being a missionary and I love being here. Thank you again for all the support and I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

Elder Hansen

Week 3 - Halfway Already

Hola Familia!!

Another week down and this one went faster than the last one. I can't believe I've been here for three weeks. I can't decide if it's taking longer or shorter than I expected but I'm already halfway done!!

It was a great week even if nothing really exciting happened haha. I didn't get to go on any field trips this week but we got a new investigator on Tuesday named Jorge. He's married with four kids, but one of them died at 14. His wife has cancer and he's had a lot of struggles in his life. We were planning on teaching the plan of salvation, but when we got in there we started talking and we just listened to all his problems and listened to his life story and just talked for about an hour and then we realized we needed to go to the devotional so we just bore our testimonies and left. He definitely opened up a lot to us and I feel like he trusts us now and that we're friends so that's definitely a good start. He talks in English a lot which makes it a little easier to communicate. 

I love teaching. Our other investigators are really coming along and finally sticking to their commitments. When one of them told us he had read and prayed, we got so excited. He asked us if we were going to give him a gold star or some candy as a reward haha but it was just really exciting to hear him talk about his experience. One of our other investigators has a daughter who is investigating the Church and he wanted to find out what she was so excited about. We were planning our lesson and the impression came to me to sing Families Can Be Together Forever. At the end of the lesson, we got out our little spanish hymnbooks and asked if we could sing him a song. He looked at us kinda funny but agreed and it was fantastic. That was the thing that finally got through to him. It definitely wasn't our singing (or at least mine) but the simple message of that song that touched his heart and it was just amazing to see him come around and feel the Spirit. Definitely one of our best lessons.

On Sunday, our branch presidency told us that we wouldn't be getting any new missionaries for a few weeks so after the other district leaves on Monday, it'll only be 10 of us for our whole zone haha. Elder Walker, Rowe and I are will be the zone leaders and for 7 people, all of which have callings of their own haha so it'll be interesting to say the least. Our branch council meetings will basically be all of us. But I'm just excited to really get to know all the Elders and Sisters in my zone because they're all so much fun to be around and I know already it's going to be a tough goodbye.

Sorry this is a little shorter, but I tried to upload pictures and it just wasn't working so that took up some time.

But I love you all and thank you all so much for the love and support! I couldn't do it without you.

Elder Hansen

Week 2 - Four square and a field trip

[Apologies, no pictures today - we are still figuring out how to transfer photos from the wifi camera!]

Hola!!

This week went by so much faster haha!

It was an amazing week and I feel like I just learn so much more everyday. We taught a ton of lessons this week and we figured out how to plan effectively for them and it's making our lessons so much better. We have 3 investigators right now, two of them are our teachers and then the other one is just a volunteer investigator. We teach our two teacher/investigators as a trio and then Elder Kiel and I teach the volunteer as comps so it's a really good experience to transition between them. 

This week the oldest district left and that was tough to say goodbye because I had gotten really close with a lot of them and they had helped me get off to such a good start, but I'm so excited for them. Most of them were headed to Mexico so I won't see any of them for a long time, but they're off to bigger and better things.

I've really come to appreciate gym time. I feel like I live for gym time sometimes haha and I've gotten really into four square. Like reeaalllyyy into four square haha. I mean what else would I do? Work out? haha but no it's pretty competitive, and you know me, so you know I'm always super relaxed and calm and I just play it for fun and I don't get frustrated or anything............ I love it though and my days from the play ground are coming back to me haha.

The food isn't as bad as I thought it would be! We all stay away from the fish and anything else like that, but they have this on Chicken Cordon Blue (not sure on that spelling) but it's amazing. I mostly each cereal for breakfast, sorry Mom, and I have yet to get a salad, sorry again Mom, but I eat my veggies when they serve them so there's that. 

My Spanish is coming along better each day. Our teacher had us practice speaking in the past tense by telling stories, so naturally I told them the story of how my uncle ran away on his birthday and a tall wizard gave me his ring and I went on a crazy adventure to destroy it. And then I told them about this old hermit that I met who gave me a lightsaber and I brought balance to the galaxy. But on a serious note, it's amazing to feel the Spirit speaking through me as I teach. In almost every lesson, I just open my mouth and the words just come and I can't even remember what I say, but He speaks through me and guides me to what I should say. It's incredible.

Yesterday I got to go on a field trip with my Elder Kiel to get fingerprinted and then go to the bank to get a money order and then to the post office to get my passport papers sent off. We were with two Sisters and they dropped us off at a Smith's grocery store like 2 minutes from McKay's apartment and then we went in and everyone was staring at us and being super nice and it felt really weird haha. Then we went to a post office right next to the Provo inner city temple and it was great to get to see that again. On our way back we drove past BYU and I saw my old dorm building, where I stayed only 3 months ago. Super surreal because I feel like I've been here for so much longer. But it was so nice to get off campus and see the real world again haha

Thank you all for your support and letters. It means so much to me. I didn't realize how much mail would mean to me but it just makes my day.

Love you all so much,

Elder Hansen

Week 1 - First Week in the MTC

Reese's friends and family: his dad here. Some of you have asked for his MTC address, so here it is:

Elder Reese Hansen
DEC09  CRA-SJO
2007 N 900 E Unit  30
Provo UT 84602

Click on the Contact Me tab if you ever need to find his address. DearElder is a really good way to communicate with him, especially in the MTC. I'm sure he would love to hear from you. 

His p-day is Thursday, and his scheduled departure date for Costa Rica is December 9. Here's his first email from the MTC.

Hola familia!!

Well I did it. I honestly am having so much fun. I love this place, I love my district, my zone, my companion, my branch president, and the spirit here. It's just amazing. It's incredibly hard, but I've learned so much already. 

So I'll start from the beginning. After I said goodbye, I dropped off my stuff, picked my bed (I got bottom bunk farthest away from the door, which is perfect), and then went to class to meet my teacher. I walked in and he gave me the biggest smile and hug. He's a little shorter than me so it was a little awkward, but it was a great start. His name is Hermano Chambers and he immediately started speaking Spanish to me and it took a few seconds to realize that I needed to reply and then I realized I had no idea what to say so I stood there for a few seconds before stammering out "bien", which seemed the best guess. I was the first one to get there so we just talked for a little and then my companion walked in. His name is Elder Kiel and he's frooommm.........you guessed it!! Corvallis, Oregon!!! How crazy is that?? He's going to Georgia, Atlanta North mission. Anyway, we got along really well from the start. Then we met the third and final member of our district, Hermana Bradshaw. She's super nice and reallly good at Spanish so that helps whenever we're stuck on something. They separate us into districts by class level, so there's only 3 of us in the intermediate class. There are 3 other Elders in the other class and 4 Hermanas and they're really easy to get along with and I wish we could have class with all of us together because I don't always like being so separated. But está bien. We just had class and got to know each other and then we went to teach these volunteer investigators and that was really interesting. The first 2 were good, they were pretty easy to teach and it was fun to see how well we could teach, but then the last one was really special. He clearly didn't speak English all that well, but he did his best to answer our questions. Then a native speaker starts to talk to him and she talks for like five minutes all in Spanish and halfway through, he starts to cry and it made me realize that if I can learn to speak like that, I can be that effective, and touch people like that Sister did. Then we went back to our rooms and met the rest of our zone and I really like them and I've made some really good friends with a lot of them already. I slept really well that night which was awesome.

The next day was reaaallllyyy long. We had our first day of classes and it felt like forever. That night we met our branch president, President Doman. The elders in our zone ranted and raved about him and he didn't disappoint, he's an amazing man with an amazing spirit around him. We talked for a while and I wish we could have talked all night because he's that great to listen to. He's like Jeffery Holland powerful, with a President Monson smile. He's the greatest I love him. He asked me to be district leader which was really surprising, but he said he just had a good feeling about me and knew I could do it. Basically I just get the mail, but it was still nice to hear haha.

On Friday, we taught our first lesson. His name is Marcello and he's kinda hard to understand, but he seems interested. My Spanish came pretty well to me and it felt good to speak it again, but it was still kinda hard. He accepted our Book of Mormon though!

Saturday was pretty ordinary, we taught another lesson that went pretty well, but then Sunday was just amazing from start to finish. We had a meeting at the start of the day and President Doman taught us to have revelatory experiences and not meetings, something I really want to apply. He called on an elder to read a scripture and Pres. Doman said that it would be the theme of the day and sure enough, in the Mission Conference we had next, the very first speaker, shared that exact scripture. Then we had a little review after with him and our districts, the 10 of us new missionaries, and he asked us all to share our favorite scriptures and we all shared on that related to that same topic of being willing and cheerfully submissive to the Lord. Really cool. Then we had testimony meeting and I bore my testimony and I managed to get through it without crying. To this point, I still have not cried, so proud of myself haha. That night, we had a personal interview with President Doman and he told me he really loved me and that he was proud of me and that if my dad were here, he would be proud of me too. I almost cried again, but I held it in. Then we had a temple walk and the lake was beautiful and then sun was bursting behind the clouds over the lake. I could just hear the bells from BYU and that was really nice to hear. It was amazing. Best day so far.

Gotta go but I'm doing great. I'm so happy and I'm so grateful to be here. I love you all and thank you for all your support.

I ran out of time for personal letters, but thank you for sending those!

Talk to you in a week!

Elder Hansen

First Day at the MTC

Welcome to the mission blog for Elder Reese Hansen. We'll post his weekly emails and pictures as he serves a two-year mission for the LDS Church in Costa Rica.