Week 34 - Last Mission Conference with President Wilkinson

Zone photo with President and Sister Wilkinson

Hey Fam!

So sorry I couldn't send off a big one last week, but it's been such a good last two weeks. Last week we had some of the most spiritual lessons I've ever been in where we challenged our investigators to pray in that moment and we promised them they would receive an answer and every single person that we challenged, got an answer. Also we had a baptism last week! Her name is Marcia and she's so funny and I love it. She knows some English and every once in a while, if her dogs are acting up she yells at them in English. Other than that not too much happened last week.

This week was just a blur. Monday we had pday and got to go have lunch with President.

Last mission conference before the mission split

Tuesday we had our last zone conference with President Wilkinson, one of the saddest but most powerful meetings I've ever been to. President and Sister Wilkinson both gave some amazing talks and got us super pumped up to get to work and go baptize the whole world, but then made us all cry when they talked about how much they loved us and how much they'll miss us. President gave us his 7 spiritual essentials which were 1. Prayer 2. Scripture study 3. Temple Attendance 4. Taking the Sacrament worthily 5. Tithing 6. Institute (thought of you mom haha) and 7. Our missionary goals for after the mission. He promised us that if we would set goals for each of these and stick to them, we would never go inactive and never lose our testimony. Then after the meeting, we all went up to give him and Sister Wilkinson a hug. I'm gonna miss them so much. Oh and they did tell us which mission we'll been in and I'll be in the East. happy now? haha

[Click here for an article about his new mission president, Randy Hayes, a religion professor at BYU-Idaho]

Wednesday we had zone conference and then had some great lessons that night. 

Thursday we had some awesome weekly planning and did some great missionary work.

Friday I went on divisions with Elder Olson again to do a baptismal interview which ended up falling through, but it was fun to get to spend some time with him.

Saturday I can't really remember, sorry I'll try to get better at this.

Sunday we had church and then after they gave us pizza and juice boxes for lunch which I enjoyed very much. In the 6 appointments we had, 5 of them gave us food so by the end of the day I was feeling a little sick haha, but we've decided to fast a few times a week so hopefully I'll get rid of this little gut I'm putting on haha.

But hey love you all so much! Hope you guys are doing so great and that everything is going your way. Enjoy the pictures!!

Elder Hansen

With Elder Duran (trainer)

Four Generations - with his "father, son, and grandson" (plus two other elders)

With Elder Stott

With Elder Lemon

Week 33 - Bautismo!

Reese didn't send his weekly email today, but did send us a few pictures, with captions:

"Bautismo!! Se llama Marcia! [Baptism - her name is Marcia]"

"Lunch at Price Smart (like Costco and basically the greatest thing ever)"

"Lunch at home, brought right to us"

Week 32 - First week in Desamparados

Hey team!

Well first week in La Loma and it was a blast. Didn't get stuck on a train like Maren, but I've got some good stories haha. So my area is actually called Desamparados. La Loma is the ward, and I work more in a little part called San Antonio. Sorry for the mix up haha but I love it so much. Our house is a lot smaller than in Siquirres, but it's next to a few tennis courts so I get to wake up to the sounds of a bunch of old guys trying to play tennis haha, but I love it though. I wanted to play but its about 40 bucks for one hour a week....so I'll stick to soccer I guess. We live right next to the chapel (which is about the size of the chapel at home) so we've been playing almost every morning. Elder Maldonado is one of the funniest guys I've met, we've been having such a good time, and the area is stacked with some really good investigators. But anyway, here goes.

Monday, said some final goodbyes and then took off for San Jose. Met my new comp, said goodbye to Elder Hernandez and then headed for our house. Dropped off my bags, went to write, and then went back to San Jose with the district to see some stuff. Got back to the house and unpacked a little and then headed out to work. Did some good visits, got a little lost, and then finally made it home.

Tuesday we did divisions and I went with Elder Olson to his area with one of the new missionaries who was just starting his mission. It was cool because that area is the same place where I spent my first day of my mission. Oh how time flies.

Wednesday got to work in my own area and we were doing great until we decided to go stop by an old investigator. When we got to the door, his dog came out and started barking at us. I'm used to that by now, so we just kept waiting for him to come out. After a few minutes, we decided to leave and his dog kept following us. I didn't think anything of it, until I felt it bite down on the back of my foot. It hung on for a solid ten seconds before I finally got it loose and it took off running. It didn't pierce through my shoes, but it left some solid teeth marks haha I've lost a lot of my love for dogs out here in the mission haha. 

Thursday I had to do divisions again to do some baptismal interviews for the zone leaders. Their area is basically straight hills which is brutal, but it was good to get to know the area a little more.

Friday was a normal day. Got to get out and work, but some guy passed us and in broken English yells "Hey my crazy boys!" Then we had a lesson that night and a self proclaimed pastor showed up and tried to out preach us. Yeah. Good try, haha. The worst part was that he took up a ton of time and we almost didn't get to play soccer that night, which was our last time, because we can't play during the week anymore. 

Saturday we had a wedding and a baptism, second week in a row. We helped one of the members make a dog house, which was an adventure. Also, this weekend was a big celebration for something, so naturally a bunch of people used it as an excuse to celebrate in their own way. While we were walking to an appointment, we had to pass through this little alley which leads to a bridge that connects to another part of our area. When we got closer, we saw a group of about 20 people standing and sitting around the entrance. Preparing ourselves for a nice dose of friendly persecution, we passed through with the usual calls and phrases I'm trying to not understand haha. When we got to the bridge though, we heard them start yelling and running down the hill, so we stepped aside and watched as all of them booked it out of there. One of them, as he was running, started to stumble and just ate it coming down the hill. He got right back up and started running again, but it was super funny haha when we got across the bridge, two motorcycle cops had shown up and were stopping some people. So kids, don't yell at the missionaries or you'll trip down a hill and get arrested. 

Sunday was a great day too. Got to know a lot of members and we had seven people in church. A new personal record. Did some great visits, but the best one by far was our last one. We showed up at his house and were planning on having a quick 15 minute lesson. We got through the teaching just fine and he accepted to say the last prayer. He got down on his knees and started to pray really quietly. Five minutes passed. Then 10. Then 15. Then 20. Then 25. Then 30. Then 35. After 40 minutes of praying he got up and thanked us for coming and we left. The longest prayer of my life haha. I was hoping he was going to have some super spiritual experience, but he just got up like everything was normal haha such a good night. 

So anyway, it's been a good week. Really excited for the next one. Love you guys! Hope everything is going great!

Elder Hansen

Picture from last week in Siquirres

Reese has been having issues uploading images, so it was nice to get this email and photo today.

Hi Missionary Moms & Dads,

Elder Petersen & I were visiting Rama Siquirres yesterday & had the pleasure of seeing your great sons. It looks like Siquirres is very close to being made a ward thanks to these great Elders. Sister Vargas (standing in front of me) is one of the members there in the branch. We absolutely love mingling with these fantastic, young missionaries here in Costa Rica!!

Thought you'd enjoy the foto : )

Con Amor,
Senior Hermana Petersen

Week 31 - Transfer to La Loma

Helloooo!

Well big news everybody. After six months of the greatest, most interesting, exciting and crazy months of my life, I packed my bags and took off from Siquirres. I gotta say I'm really gonna miss it. I learned so much and met some of my best friends, but now it's on to the next adventure. I'm moving to an area just outside of San Jose called La Loma. Not sure exactly where it is, but I'm sure Dad will figure that out. [Or not - doesn't show up on Google Maps] It's a lot colder and a lot more city than I'm used to, but hey gotta learn sometime haha. It was super tough to say goodbye to Elder Hernandez, he's become one of my best friends, but as a dad I couldn't be more proud. He's gonna take my place as district leader and he's gonna train. My new companion is Elder Maldonado who was in the MTC at the same time as Elder Hernandez which is awesome. So it's been a big week to say the least.

Monday was a pretty great pday, not too much happened, but it was nice.

Tuesday, we had district meeting and we cranked out some solid missionary work.

Wednesday we went to our favorite part of the area again called the Alegria, or the happiness. There's no other area with a better name because there's defintely a special vibe there, everyone is just a little bit happier, it's absolutely gorgeous, and there's a ton of members. I'm gonna miss it haha. That night we played soccer with the youth in the branch and it started pouring, but we played on. We had to call it early because too many people were slipping, but it felt so good to get in the rain again. Been fighting off a little cold for the past few days but it was worth it haha.

Thursday we had some really good lessons.

Friday was the same haha

Saturday, Elder Ferrin and Elder Macias had a baptism, and then we had a wedding that night. Busy day haha.

Sunday was a little tough. We were fasting and I was sick and just had to push through. But it finshed a good day. Was tough to pack everything up, but exciting at the same time to think of what's in store.

Well fam, love you so much. Won't be the same this Friday without you guys, but it'll be one of my favorite birthdays I already know. Hope you have a fantastic week and everything goes amazing.

Elder Hansen

Week 30 - Washing machine mishap

Hey fam!

Well sorry again, but I don't have a whole lot of time. Not too much exciting happened this week, but one funny story of the week.

Friday I was just finishing up language study, when Elder Hernandez comes running in from the zone leaders' house and whispers, "I'm in trouble" and then runs back out. I ran after him and when we got to the back door of their house, I saw a smalll puddle of water next to the washer, which as I got closer, turned into a lake of water that had filled the room where the washer was and then the room where Elder Ferrin and Elder Macias slept. They were still finishing up weekly planning so we, thinking we could pull it off, tried to get all the water out without them noticing. Silently we started sweeping all the water out of their room to try and make it easier to just push it out of the other room into the backyard. Every once in a while we would hear them say something and just pray that they hadn't noticed yet haha. After about 10-15 minutes, they finally noticed and came running out. It was the most fear I have ever felt in my life haha luckily they weren't all that mad and helped us clean it all up, but they took away washer privileges from Elder Hernandez.

Other than that, it was a great week! Love you guys!

Elder Hansen