Week 25 - Rafael and Reyner

Hey Fam!

I know I say this every week but this was honestly the fastest week of my mission. I really hope it slows down soon because in two days I'll hit six months, and I'm not really sure how that's possible. But it was one of the greatest weeks we've had in a while. We had two baptisms, Rafael was baptized and Reyner, the boyfriend of a member we've been working with for the past few weeks. We really didn't do too much to be honest haha we just explained the doctrine, made the committments and he took care of the rest. But the best part is that he was baptized on his birthday and he's almost the same age that Elder Hernandez was when he was baptized so that was really special to see for me. Two and a half years after his own baptism, he's doing the same for other people. Really good story. 

This week we set a goal to find 36 new investigators, which just so happened to be very close to the goal set by Elder Ferrin and Elder Xicara (not that we were competing or anything). Easily the highest number of new investigators I've ever set, but we felt good about it so we put our heads down and got to work. I've never offered more prayers in one week in my life. We were just hoping to expand our area and find people who would really progress and be able to attend more often. And I've never felt more guided before in my life. We finished this week with 41 new investgators. And I know without a doubt that every single one of them was prepared for us to find in this week. Such an absolute blessing to be here.

This week was also very humbling in terms of my language. I can't tell you how many times I heard this week that someone doesn't understand a single word I say. It was so tough to hear that, I gotta be honest. But I just learned to take it in and humble myself and whenever I heard that I just tried to smile and laugh and avoid my typical sigh of disappointment haha. And that was tough let me tell you, but every time it got easier. I still don't think people understand me very well and I think a lot of people think I'm speaking English, but hey at least I can just show them the pamphlets and let the Holy Ghost speak for me right?

We had transfers yesterday and Elder Xicara left. Not gonna lie I was pretty sad because he was the last of the 6 elders that were here when I got here. We were really good friends and I'll miss him a ton but he's on to bigger and better things so it's all good by me.

Well Fam I love you. Hope you all have a great week and as the drunk guy told us on the way here, "Love everyone because that's what Jesus said", really good advice if you ask me haha

Elder Hansen

Week 24 - Temple Trip

Fam!

Well sorry if I don't have as much to write this week, but this week was a really good one for us. The temple was amazing. Just absolutely beautiful inside and it was so nice to get away from all the noise outside and finally have a little bit of time without hearing a motorcycle or truck barrelling down the road haha. And we cashed out at the temple store. It's a goldmine for us because they have so many things that we all want for our investigators. It's this tiny little store but it just gets crammed with missionaries. And you can tell we're missionaries because never before in our lives would we have been so excited to buy a book about gospel art haha. 

So anyway on Wednesday we got to go through the temple and that was the greatest. After that we headed home and did some missionary work. 

Thursday was pretty normal too. I was sure that it wasn't going to rain because when we left the house there wasn't too many clouds but at about 6 it started to pour and we had left our umbrellas in the house. After waiting for a taxi to pass by for about 5 minutes we decided to just book it for the house. We were soaking wet by the time we got to the house and in the moment we put the key in the door, it stopped raining. But it was still funny haha

Friday was super good. Loved Friday, not sure what happened but it was a great day.

Saturday we had a Priesthood activity. They made the best pizza and we watched some Mormon Messages and talked about how they made us feel. A few of our investigators and less actives actually came and they all shared something about how they felt which was really good.

Sunday I gave a talk in church and taught Priesthood. We had almost nobody in church which made me less nervous to give my talk but it's tough because we're working to get a ward out here and if we can't keep a steady attendance of 120 then we can't do it. Other than that it was a really good day though.

Well that's about all I got for this week. Hope you're all doing great and that everything goes perfectly. Sorry it's so short. Love you!

Elder Hansen

Made some pancakes with Krusteaz!

Week 23 - Officially a Tico

Hey Family!

Well it's been a pretty crazy week. Totally forgot to mention we'd be writing today instead of Monday, my bad. But here I am! We're in San Jose right now, waiting to take the train to the temple. Super super pumped for it. Gonna watch it in Spanish so wish we luck haha. 

So, Monday we didn't have Pday because we had to go to San Jose last Thursday so that was our Pday. Really don't remember much of what happened other than that we visited a family we had contacted in the street and they seemed super excited about the gospel and accepted a baptismal date.

Tueday we had District meeting and Elder Ferrin challenged us to start talking about baptism and inviting people to be baptized in the first street contact. He explained really well that it will help us find the people who are really ready to listen to us and to accept the restored gospel. That helped us a ton because that day we had decided to open up a new area that we had never gone to before. Most people didn't accept right away, but they accepted to have us come back. At about 6 we decided to grab a little dinner (by dinner I mean snack) and as we were sitting down I heard someone call for us, in English, to come sit down with them. Usually when someone calls to us in English, I prefer not to go because it's someone who just wants to practice their English or say crude things.... haha but I felt like we should go talk to them. It was three men sitting around a table and when we sat down, the one who had called us over said he just wanted help to solve his problems. Gold. For the next hour we just listened to these three guys explain all their problems and offered help the best we could. Two of them had been left by their wives and the other one was really into drugs and wanted to quit. They kept looking for specific answers of what they could do and didn't accept to well that they could just pray for help. After a few minutes of trying to convinve them of that, I just stopped and bore my testimony that God answers prayers and that no matter what we need, if we ask in faith, he will give it to us. And in that moment, one of the men who had been left by his wife got a call from his 4 year old son whom he hadn't spoken to in 5 days. Really powerful witness to me of God's power and love for every single one of us. They all accepted to have us come back and they accepted baptismal dates. Love being a missionary.

Wednesday was a pretty great day, moved up our baptism with Rafael to this Friday so should be a really good day.

Thursday we went to San Jose to pick up my cedula [identity card]. I'm officially a Tico!! My picture looks like I'm just a little bit too happy haha I'll have to send a picture. We got to go to Price Smart, the Central American version of Costco. So so so much good stuff. We bought two things of Krusteaz pancake mix so we should be set for about 2 months haha again I'll have to send a picture. That night we got back at about 6 and managed to squeeze in a few lessons. Met one of the friends of a less active and he said he really needed help and direction in his life. Puro oro. [Pure gold]. Accepted a baptismal date. Love being a missionary.

Friday was fantastic. We went back to the new area we had opened on Tuesday and re-contacted the three men we had met. We also met with one other contact we had made, but I'm not sure how much we'll be going back there. Basically he told us that he had seen Christ twice. Not entirely improbable, but he then told us that he has a system in his eyes that can calculate the mass and distance of stars in the sky. And he doesn't want to work for NASA because he doesn't want to only focus in on one part, but rather perfect all of his body. But he was a really nice guy so maybe one day we'll pass by again. That night we found another family who were really interested in the gospel and in the restoration. Accepted a baptismal date and everything.

Saturday was a super great day. In the morning I was reading in Helaman 3 verse 29 and there's a part that says the man of Christ and that hit me super hard for some reason. I guess I've just never heard it like that before but it made me think about being a man of Christ and so I wrote in my agenda "Be Men of Christ." Other than that, don't remember much of what happened but it was a really good day.

Sundays are always great days. Went on divisons with Elder Xicara for the first time. Elder Hernandez and Elder Ferrin went to do Rafael's baptismal interview. Super good day, learned a lot.

Monday we got to go to San Jose for the Check of the Mes for all the new missionaries. It's basically just a meeting with President so he can see if we're doing our job as trainers. And then we get to go eat at President's house. Had the greatest hamburgers I've had since my own Check of the Mes haha. The miracle of that day was that we made it to the bus in the morning. We had to take the bus at 5 and my alarm didn't go off. Woke up at 4:45 and it takes about 15 minutes to get to the bus stop walking. Barely made it becuase one of our taxi friends was just waiting in the road. He took us all the way there and didn't charge us. We got back to Siquirres at about 3 and got straight to work. That night we fianlly put a date with a couple we've been working with since January. They had always said they were going to get married so we finally just sat them down and put a specific date.

Tuesday we had a zone conference with President and it was absolutely phenomenal. He taught us a lot about how to plan better and how to teach better. He also taught us about respecting the Sisters and it made me think a ton about Mare Bear. Such a good day. That night we found a few new investigators in a part I thought we had already contacted entirely. Got back to the house and was the most tired I have ever been in my life. Hit the bed like a rock and was out haha.

And now we're here. Really good week. Love you all! I'll send pictures next week, promise.

Elder Hansen

Week 22 - Easter and General Conference

FAM

So has conference always been this good? Really wish someone would have told me sooner...... haha but I was officially humbled this weekend realizing how much I had missed out on (or slept through) in my life. It went by way too fast for me and I was genuinely sad when it was over. Elder Farnsworth, Elder Ferrin and I got to watch it in English in the office which was so nice because I could understand everything, but the connection was super slow so it stopped about every ten seconds haha It actually helped though because then we had time to take notes (yes I took notes). A few times it froze and we missed some parts of it, like Elder Holland's talk, but for the most part we got to watch it all. We were jamming out to MoTab all week to get ready and it was so amazing to hear them singing. Almost my favorite part of conference. 

But other than that, this week was pretty normal. Elder Hernandez had to go to San Jose for some visa stuff on Monday night, so I went on divisions with Elder Farnsworth and Elder Lopez. It was really good to see how they work as missionaries and to learn from them. I still feel like I'm learning more and more every day and it was really good for me to see how other missionaries work. 

Wednesday we got to work in our area again so we just went to work inviting everyone we possibly could to conference. We wanted to get as many people there as possible, but this week is when a lot of people leave on vacation for the weekend so a ton of people couldn't. But we had a stack of invitations and we wanted to get through as many of them as we could. 

Thursday was more of the same. Had a great lesson with Rafael, the man in the wheelchair and he committed to basically live every law and commandment we could teach. He was really receptive and we were a little worried that maybe he wasn't understanding exactly what we were teaching, but when we asked him if he understood what everything meant, he gave us perfect answers and told us he knew that if God had commanded it, it must be important. 

Friday went by like normal, can't remember much of it.

Saturday was fantastic. We got up early to play basketball, but the kid we were going to borrow it from had lost it, so we played soccer instead. Then we made breakfast with pancakes, eggs, and BACON. It's been so long since I've had bacon and it was so nice haha. Then we got to watch conference and it was the fastest but greatest session I've ever watched. After that we had lunch and then more conference and then we worked for about an hour and then we had more conference and then we had dinner and then slept haha. Such a good day.

Sunday was just as good. More conference in the morning. Then lunch then more conference. This session was tough to watch because it froze almost every 5 seconds, but we got to see most of it. After that we just went to work and had a great day.

But that's about it. Hope you all had a fantastic Easter and conference! Love you so much!

Elder Hansen