Week 95 - Baptisms, McFlurries, and Mother's Day activity

Hey guys!

Well another great week out here! I'm kinda short on time again so this will be a short one, but this week we had a few baptisms! Eric, Jean Carlo, and Sherlyn were all baptized on Saturday. Eric is the friend of one of the priests in the ward who has been coming to church for the past 4 or 5 months, but hasn't had permission from his mom to get baptized until now. I've never seen someone so happy to be baptized. He gave me the biggest hug after the baptismal service. He was so pumped up and it was a really special experience. 

Jean Carlo is the brother of Monica and Alexa, who were baptized in July. At first when we were teaching them, he'd hide in his room, but little by little, the Spirit worked with him until he came out, listened to us, and decided to get baptized. And Sherlyn is the daughter of a few less actives who have been coming back to church and she wanted to get baptized. The sisters also had a few baptisms and the elders from the other ward had some later that night so it made for a pretty special Saturday haha. 

So obviously we went and celebrated with some McFlurries haha. Also that night was a Mother's day activity, so we helped serve some food and they gave us bowties, which looked awesome haha. We also helped out with a small activity for the Primary (see pictures), and I'll just leave that up to your imagination haha but it was super fun. They even invited a mariachi band, but they didn't show up until later so we had to take off before they got there. I was super bummed.

But I'm out of time so I'll just cut it there! Love you all a ton! Hope everything goes well this week!

Elder Hansen

Week 94 - Denny's and a magician

"Cool snap with my boy Elder Winders"

Hey guys!!

Well this week was great -- way too fast as always, but it was great. This week President was out of town at a leadership training in Guatemala, which for us means that someone is going to go to the hospital, and sure enough, Tuesday night we were there until 1 in the morning, but we made a quick trip to the only place open at that time, the American classic: Denny's. Go America haha I got some really good french toast which made it all worth it. Haha good times. 

"Denny's trip"

Then Wednesday, the nurse needed some more help getting people to and from the hospital and with some money so Elder Vasquez took Elder Jones, the financial secretary, to help them out and I stayed with Elder Winders, the migration secretary. We were in a part of San Jose that neither of us knows so, instead of wandering and getting lost, we decided to go wait in a park and see who we could talk to. After about five minutes a guy that looked really drunk came up and yelled "hey friends! I'm a magician!". Remember, he looked drunk so you can imagine what we were expecting. So he came over closer, pulled out his deck of cards and told me to pick one. After I had seen it, he told me to put it back in the deck and he shuffled them together. He pulled out some cards and went through a few ones that weren't my card so I was losing faith in the guy. Then he went through them again and threw them down on the table and told me to pick whichever one I wanted. AND IT WAS MY CARD!!!! It blew us away! Then he did a few more tricks and surprised us even more. Then when he finished, he walked away and said a line I will never forget. "Magic isn't real. It's just an illusion. The real magic is..." clapping and pointing up dramatically, "Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!" Haha it was awesome.

Then on Thursday, we went to Los Santos, and I went with Elder Winders, again, because he was there before and showed me the area a little more haha I spent a lot of time with Elder Winders this week -- it was crazy.

But I'm almost out of time so I'll let you guys know what else happened next week. But I'm doing great out here! Life's awesome! Love you all a ton!

Elder Hansen

Week 93 - Stew, progressing investigators, and go-karts

Hey hey!!

Well this week was another super fast week so honestly I don't remember much, and today kinda stole the show so that's not making it really easy, but here goes.

Well I'm still struggling so I'll just skip to the highlights haha

On Saturday we went with one of the families we're teaching, the one I talked about last week with the dad that had promised to come to church this week and they decided to give us dinner. They said that we needed to come hungry, so I was thinking it was going to be a little more than normal, but they gave us a huuuugggeeee bowl of stew. It was the biggest bowl of soup I've ever seen haha but it was super good. And then in the lesson, one of the kids who we've been working with these past few days to say a prayer finally agreed to say the last prayer. While he was praying, a strong feeling of peace came over me and I just thought about how people can change so much. It's something I've been seeing so much in these past few weeks especially. The gospel and the good news it brings has the power so change the lives of so many people if they will only open their hearts and make room for the Spirit.

Then on Sunday, the dad finally came to church!! They showed up a little late so we were stressed they weren't going to show, but when I finally saw them walking through the doors, I felt happier than I've ever felt before. It was just such an amazing feeling to see again how the gospel can help people make small changes in their lives that bring so many blessings. 

Then today. The best pday I've had on my mission. Last month the zone hit their goal so we got to do a zone activity and the zone leaders got permission for us to go to a GO KART TRACK!!! It was so awesome!!! All the Need for Speed I played finally paid off because I got fourth place haha I just wanted to keep going around and around all day haha it was so much fun.

"That's me!"

But I'm out of time so I hope you all have an awesome week!! I love you all a ton!

Elder Hansen

Week 92 - McDonalds, Los Santos, and Monthly Check

Hey guys!!

Another week in the books! And another super fast week so we'll see how I do with remembering everything haha someday I'll get good at this haha.

But it was a fun week. Monday night the new missionaries flew in late so we took them to the temple and then to a typical Costa Rican restaurant, McDonalds. And we got a Happy Meal to top it off. We had to ask for our toy.......and got a very disapproving look from the cashier, but it was worth it haha

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal, nothing too exciting but they were good days. I remember that at least.

Then Thursday we took off for Los Santos and got to work with some of the members out there. It was a really good day because the members stepped up and gave us some really good references and helped us get to know the area a little better. Also, we had heard about this really good pizza place down there and we really wanted to try it, but after driving about 20 minutes around a town that takes about 30 seconds to drive through, we gave up and went to the first place we could find haha. Kinda bummed but it was still good pizza.

Then Friday we came back and dropped off Elder Bergen, the elder that had appendicitis, in his area again, which was actually kinda sad because he was really fun to have around, but he was ready to get back out to work. Then that night we had a lesson with a family who we've been trying to reactivate. We brought Gerardo with us and that comes with a really good story -- Gerardo has been friends with this family for years and when they were investigating the church, he was a Jehovahs Witness still and came to their house to try and tell them to stop receiving the missionaries. Then about 5 years later he's trying to tell them to come back to the church haha crazy how the Lord works right?

Saturday we had to take lunch to some members that came up from Zona Sur to the temple and while we were there, who should show up? ELDER DURAN!! The other mission took their outgoing missionaries to the temple this week because the week they have changes, it's going to be closed so I got to see him again. I just can't believe he's finishing his mission already. Gonna miss that kid a ton. Then that night we had a lesson with the family of Monica and Alexa. Their brother has slowly been warming up to us and has now come to church these past few weeks and their parents are just waiting on a divorce to go through before they get married and baptized, but the whole time the dad has said he doesn't want to go to church until he feels good with God, or basically he doesn't want to go until he's married. We'd been just patiently accepting that answer because we both felt that if he just kept listening to us and seeing the changes in the lives of his family he would change his mind, and sure enough, that night we were talking about how he can be the example to his family and that God wants to help them get married, but he has to put in his part first and the Spirit filled the room so strongly and he said that next week he was going to come with us. It was such a special moment. It's just amazing how the gospel and Spirit can change so many lives and help so many people make decisions that will bless the lives of generations.

Then Sunday we had another great day in church. After we went on divisions with some members and went on rescue visits, which have become some of my favorite lessons of the week. The first, third, and fourth Sundays, the ward goes out after church to visit the people that haven't come to church in the past few weeks and it's the best for a missionary because the members bring a spirit so sincere to the houses we visit and the less actives or investigators we teach feel that spirit and almost always decide to come back and the next week they're some of the first people in the door. 

Today was the monthly check for the new missionaries, and you all know what that means!! Burgers and ice cream!! Sooo so good haha one of my favorite days of the transfer!

But I hope you all had an awesome week! Love you all a ton! 

Elder Hansen

Week 91 - Return of President Hayes

Hey guys!!

Guess who's back!!!! President is finally back! Which means everything is back to normal. It was a really good experience to have Elder Arredondo here, but it's so nice to have President back. I missed him so much. I'm sorry my emails have been so lame these past few weeks, but we finished zone conferences and now President is back so I'll try to do better. 

And I'm sorry but now a lot of time has past so trying to remember everything that's happened will be a huge struggle, but here goes. 

So all this week we had zone conferences and then Saturday was leadership council with a surprise special guest: President Hayes. On Friday we went to his house to decorate it before they flew in that night. We made a bunch of signs and blew up about 50 balloons and made it look super good. We were pretty proud of it haha.

Then Saturday night we took off for Los Santos, a small branch a few hours outside of San Jose, where the President is going to send us once a week to go work with the members. It's a really small branch that meets in a little house, which was really cool because it was the first time I'd been in a house for church before and I felt the Spirit really strong in that meeting. I just think there's something really special about the small branches because the people that come are almost always some of the most faithful and dedicated members. They sacrifice a lot to be able to keep the church going and it was a really special experience. After that we met some more members and went out to visit some less actives and investigators and then took off for home. But I really hope we'll be able to do a lot out there. There's a special feel to it.

And today is transfers so it's been a little crazy but it's always fun. We basically wait for someone to call and say that there's been a problem, but so far we're good! Also a few weeks ago we went to Dairy Queen! That was one of the best moments of my mission. It wasn't the same as the States but it was so worth it haha I was so happy!

But it's been a really good past few weeks. I've learned more in these past few weeks than ever before in my mission.

Also I had to get off the computer to let some other missionaries write and I'm kinda out of time now so I'll talk to you guys next week! Love you all!!

Elder Hansen