Elder in Argentina

Week 7 //

Hola familia!

Week two gone by already... santo gatos... But this week has been a lot better. Ive learned a lot about myself and this gospel just over these past couple of weeks. I love it. Im starting to settle in here now. Its definetly taken some getting used to and it still is but overall Im doing great. haha now when things get weird here, like when I butcher spanish or when some drunk guy is staring at you with the weirdest look on his face as he keeps drinking his wine, or when motorcycles sound like gun shots. I always find a way to laugh about it after. Because in reality it is quite funny haha.

Argentina is great. The people are great. The foooood is soooo good. We taught a lot of lessons this last week and met with a lot of menos activos and have been working with them to go to church again. Theres this HUGE guy here who when I first saw him and Elder Bean told me he was a less active I wondered how the crap they got him to be baptized in the first place.... haha but this guy has a dreadlock mohawk, with shaved sides. The mohawk goes down to like mid back and the guy is pretty strong. But he had the biggest smile and was so welcoming. aparently he used to be a bishop and even served a mission! He just had some problems with the members after he was bishop and he stopped going. So we are on his tail now and have made them promise us that they will come to church with us the sunday after general conference. Way cool guy. He and his family are one of my favorites. He always calls me the "grande yankee" (thats what they call white people down here, yankees) haha so funny. We have met some gold families who just dont go to church! its so frustrating! but they are slowly starting to come around...

Fast sunday,

Last sunday was fast sunday. I fasted, but Elder Bean didnt because he was pretty sick. Hes been sick for a few days now, but he seems to be feeling a bit better. so then we went to church and we were excited because we had had menos activos tell us that they were coming. I believe we had like 3 tell us that and only one showed up... but thats one life that is changing! So we dont even have a ward in our area! we have a branch! there were 14 people total on sunday including us 2... haha so everyone bore their testimony and then ended the meeting 10 to 15 minutes early. Then this is the best part... We all went to the kitchen and broke our fast together as a branch. Because lunch is so big here, we all had lunch together and talked! it was soo cool. And some of the old ladies (the realllllly good cooks) had already prepared all of the food. Wherever we go the old ladies always look at me before a meal and say "tu es muy flaco, tu necesita mas comida".... haha kills me everytime. I swear Ive gained at least 2 to 4 pounds in just 2 weeks. These people know how to cook!!

So Ive got some funny stories....

one is at the luncheon thing on sunday. we had a blind investigator come to eat after. one lady made these fried ball things. Like fried cake batter. best thing ever, I had like 10. But she is sitting there waving it in front of abraham, the blind guy... hahahaha just sitting there saying "coma" or "eat" and hes just sitting there staring straight not knowing what is going on... hahahaha elder bean and I and another member lost it... she was like "what is his name?" we all said abraham so she said "Abran, coma" soo funny

next,

we were waiting for a colectivo to come and these two homeless looking guys are waiting too. We start talking and find out real fast that the guy sitting down is just destroyed(super drunk) like roasted hardcore. and so he was saying that his mom died and stuff so we gave him a pamphlet about the plan of salvation saying like oh he will read it tomorrow when he is thinknig or something.. haha so then these 3 girls show up that were like 20s and he gives them this pamphlet... hahaha so we were like oh great, whatever, we tried. Got on the colectivo and it happens these girls were taking the same one. and about halfway through the ride I look over and they still are holding this pamphlet!! so I was like we gotta give them a number to call if they read it and want to know more. So elder bean writes our cell number on the back of a picture of christ and I did a little pick pocket and dropped it in a bag. haha soo cool and funny. turns out this guy was watching me the whole time and we made eye contact with this guy after and just looked at eachother for a solid minute... haha and then nothing happened. So who knows maybe we get a call sometime this week... haha imagine that conversion story.... way funny, yet kinda cool!

Anyways, Im adjusting and I am fine. I sent this to Mac, Its a little challenging everyday. I feel like crap one day? work harder. I think of home or something not mission work every now and then? work harder. I feel tired or want a break? Work harder. When I feel these I know these are the times where I can grow the most. I am so blessed to be out here on a mission at this time. I could tell you so many more stories of the humble people here. And I know that this is Gods work. I love him and Im so glad I have his name and my familys name on my chest all day everyday. Love you guys! Love this place! Thanks to everyone and their emails and kind words! I will write next week!

Elder Hansen

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, by Kailin.Beck

Week 6 // Argentina, Enseñada

Hello everyone!!!

how have you all been? It´s been a long time since my last email... haha lot´s of changes and happenings...

First off, Argentina is NOTHING like the US... Nothing... It´s actually kind of chaos... No street rules, riots, zombie dogs, crazy people, just the regular.

There are like no rules for driving... Whoever gets to the intersection first, wins. normally the bigger one wins... haha it´s pretty crazy.

We travel on Colectivos allllll of the time. They are these buses that travel everywhere. They are insane as well. They slam on brakes, almost take people out, especially bikers..

I don´t even know where to start... haha Sooooo many things and so little time. So we got here at 9 Argentina time (3 hours ahead) and we met presidente and the assistants in the airport. They loaded our stuff and we went to pick up other new missionaries at a different airport. We then went to presidents house for lunch. Lunch here is HUGE... the biggest meal of the day. But we had like these beef chops. Really good actually... Then we traveled further to the church to meet our trainers. By now it´s like 6 at night. So I had a quick briefing and interview with president and then we left at like 8!! haha sooo crazy. I loooove Presidente Nuñez... He said at the end of our interview he looks at me and says ¨Be the missionary your mother thinks you are¨. Hit me right in the feels. haha

It´s reeeeeally hard here. Reeeeeally poor and run down. But I always try to be positive and put a smile on. But there is garbage everywhere, crazy drugys, sketchy dudes on Motorcycles, and Zombie dogs, some that look like they are satans pets.... like no joke we would be walking on some of the streets and the dogs are doing just weird things, and then they´ll stop and growl and bark at you haha. I feel like we are so protected here though. God protects his missionaries. About 80% of our mission is sketchy, especially at night. Our dorm is really safe though. You have to go through a locked door at first, and then our door lock down and up the stairs a bit.

The first night I couldn´t speak. I was so shocked at everything. Culture shock hit hard. My comp kept asking what was up and what not and i just said I was fine, I was just in shock... haha

So we are in Ensenada, don´t look up pictures if you haven´t already. haha just so you don´t worry. I´m completely fine and safe. But my comp said that this is presidents FAVORITE area for some reason... haha he said that the people are really humble and love their portion of life. It´s a huge area with almost no members. We´ve had one member lesson this whole week and that was because the member was the mother of the investigator.. So we are having to go tract a lot and find and try to teach. People here can be really prideful, but that is the exact same as the US... haha They just dont see the need of our religon. Elder Bean said that he hates taking investigators to church because there is only like 10 constantly active members... and when he walks in with an investigator, they are kind of taken by the low amount of people... but we are still working hard at it!!

My Comp! he´s great, he´s been out about a year and speaks actually really good spanish or casillano... haha he´s about 5´5 and he´s from Price UT!! Went to Carbon High. I told him that my school has played his in mulitple sports.. haha he hates wasatch hahaha he said we always beat them! But he´s a way cool guy. He´s 20 so we went to a bit of school first. I am soo young to everybody out here! Everyone went to school for a bit first.

My zone has 20 missionaries in it. and about half of them are sisters! We don´t have any sisters in our area because it´s a bit dangerous. But ya! And Elder Moore is in my district and zone as well!! Way cool! I already am good friends with multiple elders including my Zone leaders! They´re great! Elder Clark and Elder Tolman, both from UT... haha

So I´ve talked about some of the sketchy stuff, but the good stuff is there too! I have felt the spirit constantly! We´ll be walking down the street and it´s like we know exactly where to go! super cool! My first time using this direction was on that next day, wednesday. We were walking down this path and this lady was coming the other way, and I was just like ¨Elder Bean, aqui...¨ He does all of the talking because I know nothing about Castillano.. and she accepted all of these pamphlets and what not!! He was like I would have never thought to talk to her. He´s said that he thought he had taught her daughter but that this lady rejected everything before. Waayyy cool. The rest of the day was patterned after this. So cool

Food is great, Actually really great, I´ve liked everything that we´ve had. And some of it has been kind of weird and sketchy. My inerds seem to be holding up fine as well... hahaha My favorite thing so far is something called ñoquis or something spelled like that. I can´t really describe it but you should look them up! super good. oh and Alfahorz are A-MAZING. i´M bringing like 3 boxes back to the US with me... haha they are soooo good. They are like these little cake things in wrapping that you buy anywhere and everywhere.... Dulce de leche is amazing. It´s carmel and we put it on everything and anything. hahahaha sooo good

The language is coming but is really hard. it´s spanish gone wrong. People talk in so much slang and don´t finish sentences and everything. Really hard. But I´m starting to catch on and speak little by little. Everyone around me has told me not to worry about it and that it will come in time. So that´s nice. But I just want to speak so badly!! I´m going bonkers!! haha Some people sound like they´re speaking chinese it´s so bad...haha

All in all, I think I love it here... I can´t say I do yet to be honest, because part of me is sketched out and part of me is so excited and ready. But President said after 3 weeks it will all be normal. So I´m looking forward to that! I really want to love it here and I already love some of the familias here!!!

Anyways that´s about all I have for you right now, I´ll write next week with more!! Sure do love you guys! I´ve been having some homesickness but I know that will pass... haha Time is already starting to pick up. And I really want to enjoy this and have a great time! Thank you for the prayers and the letters! Sure appreciate and love you guys!! Oh, real quick. There´s a way to get packages!! Get on facebook someone and find Argentina Buenos Aires East mission. Apparently you can talk to people that travel back and forth regularly and they take packages and stuff in their bags for missionaries. So apparently you make a small package or bag or something and you send it to them and they stick it in their luggage and give it to the missionaries!! So just if you wanted to send candy... That would be reallllly nice... American candy is way good....haha so maybe you could ask around or talk to someone! Love you guys!!! I´ll write next week!!!

-Elder Hansen

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, by Kailin.Beck

Week 5 // MTC

Hola familia!!

The MTC life is almost over!!! I leave Monday at around 9:00 am!!! I know that there are 4 others going to my mission. Elder Fox, Elder Visick, Elder Moore, and some other dude who is our travel leader. So out of everyone in the MTC there are 5 of us.... haha how cool is that?! I'm really excited to go one minute, and the next I'm freaking out because I don't speak spanish.... hahaha But over all I'm way excited. I don't know exactly when I'll be able to call, but I know I will be able to sometime during my travel. Our plane leaves at like 2:00 PM and we go to Georgia and leave there at 10:00 for Argentina.
We are looking at about 23 hours of travel that day... hahaha we get there at 9:20 Tuesday morning. But it's all good, I have plenty I can study... So we will be able to call either in the salt lake or in Georgia!!! So how some people are doing it, is their families send a prepaid phone that has like 40 or so minutes on it. And then they'll use it to call at the airport. Others just buy phone cards in the bookstore here and we use the pay phones. I don't really care either way, but if you could let me know your thoughts later today that would be great!!!

Ummm lets see.... I think everything is pretty much the same here!!! Lots of food... I take it back when I said the food here is pretty good... It's not good like at all... hahaha but it's all good only 5 more days!!! Sounds like more bank problems... So are you sending 2 cards? one credit, and one debit?? I guess I'm a bit confused.... haha but all is good. Everyone is starting to get healthy. No cama gusanos (bed bugs... or at least what we say). The Hermanas had bats in their dorms, 4 of them have rabies aparently... haha but everyone moved out and none of the hermanas from our district had problems. Everybody is just really excited and ready to get out there. Haha it's so crazy and almost weird how close we all are right now... so it's also a bit of a touchy time. We've all written in each others journals and what not. Our whole district leaves at 3:50 am on Monday!! haha there's us 4 that leave at 8:50 am.

Oh, we had Elder Christofferson come yesterday to our devotional!! super cool to hear from him. He said some really cool things. "as we accepted our call, we accepted the companionship of the 12, we stand side by side with them.". "Where we go and who we teach, the kingdom of God comes with us. We are offering it to every and anybody.", He quoted David o Mackay, "it is greater to be trusted than to be loved." He said that God loves everyone, but that doesn't mean he trusts everyone. And asked how we can know or gain the trust of God while we are serving missions. I have really focused on this now, but even before the mission I would always include in my prayers what I need to do to have or gain his trust. How can I gain enough trust and faith to go to areas not every missionary can go to or have success in. i want that so badly, and I know the lord knows that I want it. And the last thing I have about his talk is, "we have the Authority to bear Christ's name and take it to all the world.", every night I take my tag off, I look at it for a long few seconds and thank my Heavenly Father for the chance to be a MISSIONARY. I have to constantly pinch myself to make sure that this is all real and that this is my tag. It already has a few scars or scratches on it which I like, because I can look at it like progress that I'm working harder and harder each day.

Well that's really all I have for you guys. I have some pictures too!! haha but I'm just really excited to go out there and just do it. It's hard to be patient until Monday...

I loved Getting that dearelder from dad. It cut of the quote!!!! So I don't know what it is... I'm sad that happened!! but i still love getting those updates. Let me know what you want to do about the airport, I'm fine either way, I just want to talk to you. I have a billion things to say!! hahaha I love you guys!! I'll check the email tonight one last time if you are needing to tell me stuff!! Love you!

-Elder Hansen

The top pic is us saying goodbye to our teacher in the middle. Done with classes!!!

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, by Kailin.Beck

Week 4 // MTC

Hello family!

To answer those, Alma 42:31 is what I think I want as my scripture. And yes, I am leaving the 12th, but I don't know times yet. We get our travel plans this Fri, Sat, or Mon at the latest. I'll try to let you know as soon as I can. Guarenteed it will be in the morning. No ron saltmarsh, but his band played. Santo Gatos there was actually a lot going on this week! So first, Elder Hughes and Hermana Beck were REALLY sick.... It came back to them some how 10x worse. They were struggling for a few days but seemed to have fully kicked it. There was a little scare, when at like 10;15 PM sometime last week, an ambulance came and carried a missionary out of the building from right down the hall from us.. So there are 2 bathrooms on each level with a lot of showers and bathroom stalls. Apparently there was some sketchy bacteria or sickness in the bathroom where this Elder was. He got super sick and couldn't breathe. paramedics shut down that bathroom and investigated... Apparently its all clean, but it's still a bit sketchy to all of us, so we haven't gone in there.... haha but Others in the district are a bit sick, It's spreading a bit again, but I'm still going strong!! Every night when I feel like I might have a little something, in my personal prayers I just simply say, "Heavenly father, I'm not feeling too well. I want to serve without distraction or sickness. But if it is your will for me to be sick at this time, then I will." And almost every single time I wake up feeling fine and energized. out here I am completely at the mercy and will of the lord. So why not talk to him and trust him with everything??

Ummmm let's see.... Language classes are ending!!! yikes!! They said they've taught all of the material, so we just review now. We also are starting to teach other companionships in my district. Which is cool! I'm still super busy here, nonstop we are doing stuff, but I like it and I'm getting used to it! I LOVED that last package... those orange rolls were straight from heaven... I think I legit ate 5 that night.... non-intentionally... I just kept eating and eating and I looked down and I only had like 3 more... haha they were so good thank you!! I also love those dear elders as well! It's like birthday presents throughout the week.

I've also run into a ton of Heber kids. Jace Griffeth, Connor Clark, Jared, Mike Malstrom, Josh Rheese, Jake Breeze. And probably others I can't think of right now... I Can't wait for Hunter to get here!! I'm going to be looking all week for him!! I run into jared a lot. So I have really good chances of seeing some tall gringo....

Now for the fun part.... hahahahaha sooooo we (My district) were supposed to skype to our missions to teach a lesson to a member there! Way cool right! So me and Elder Moore would have skyped to Argentina!! but we had a speed bump... Elder Adams has woken up every morning with some itchy skin. So he finally went to the Health Clinic and the Doc said he had bed bugs... Like legit bed bugs, in the MTC... hahaha They say it's common because they get missionaries from 3rd world countries with them. and they are just used to them biting and stuff. So they carry the bugs from their country to the MTC beds... And Elder Adams happened to have the only bed with Bed Bugs...So long story short, they had our whole room (6 of us) go and spray and wash EVERYTHING in our room. So this was yesterday, and we have class right? They flat out told us that we can't go to the class that day because we had to clean and move rooms. We even had to open our suitcases and spray... On the plus side we got free Dry Cleaning for our pants and suits. But it took like 6 hours because we all had like 3 loads of laundry each. We had to was our clothes that were in our suitcases still!!! I asked them about my vaccumn packed stuff and they said that it was probably fine, so that was nice, but I had to was a lot. Not nearly as much as others because we packed so well. But ya. It was a long day. So there's probably the first funny story of the mission. Everybody was laughing and making jokes along the way! Elder Charette has pictures of the "Bio hazardous bags" and us as we are cleaning. But I don't have them. I'll make sure to get them.

Thats really it for interesting stuff... Oh me and Elder Moore got the Callling of sacrament meeting coordinators for our whole zone... There's like 6 districts with about 10 people a district. So we pick who does sacrament and we set up and take down. It's cool because the prayers are in Español!!! But ya that's about it!! I love it here!! Oh and also I remembered my camera!! So I'm sending a lot of pictures!! Love you guys! This gospel is sooooooooooo true!! I love it here but I really want to go!! 1.5 semanas left!! A speaker at our devotional last night said, "have more faith than fear out in your missions, and God will work wonders with and through you". Couldn't help but think of Blake getting sent to the harder parts of his mission, because he had more FAITH than FEAR. I love you guys!!

con amor

-Elder Hansen

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, by Kailin.Beck

Week 3 // MTC

Hola Familia!! How is everyone doing!! First off I want to thank you for the letters and the packages!! I love them!! Those cookies were/are a little tender mercy!! I got donuts as well from Brother Larson and they were sooooo good, Dunfords!!! I have pictures of that and a few other things, but forgot my camera AGAIN in the room!!! haha Sorry about that.... But I have a few to send you today. 3 weeks down, 2 and a half to go!! I leave on the 12th on a monday. So sad to hear about Brother Fillerup!! That sounds like its a tender time in the ward. But he is needed elsewhere. The Lord knows and has a plan for everything and everyone!!

Let's see, I have a decent amount to talk about, but it's hard to recall everything when the weeks feel like days... haha ummm first off, everyone is starting to get healthy again!! Almost everyone was sick... I had a little something for a day, but it left because I was keeping up on vitamins and stuff. 3 missionaries in my district, Elder fox, Elder hughes, and hermana Beck were all suuuuper sick. It started with Elder fox, he has been sick for like 2 weeks. I went up to him and asked if he had thought about getting a blessing. He said that that he had and that he wanted me to give it!! Holy Gatos!!! I was super excited. We can give blessings for sickness whenever but have to go through the branch pres. for anything else. So all of us elders were in one of the dorm rooms and Elder moore was able to anoint and I gave the blessing for the first time! The spirit was sooo strong with all of us in there! I felt like it went well, and he has improved. Hermana Beck and Elder Hughes have been in and out of sickness.... So they came to us for a blessing. Elder Hughes could barely get out of bed one day he was so sick. So that night he asked if I would anoint and his companion gave the blessing. Again really spiritual. 2 other elders administered to hermana beck. It is really cool to be able to be apart of such an eternal power. I love the priesthood and know it works and is real. Elder Hughes and Hermana Beck were both fine the next day. A little sick, but better.

Next. On tuesdays we teach like 5 lessons!!! all in Español!! We teach 2 members and our investigator, and our teacher who acts like an investigator. What was really cool about that was when we taught our investigator, Marco. Marco is awesome. There's something called TRC's here, which is where non members, less actives, or members come and act like investigators but normally use real examples from their lives. The cool thing, is when we taught him for the first time, we asked him questions about his life, religion, background... and he was talking about how in the catholic church if your baby isn't baptized, they are lost forever. He told us a story about how his sister died when she was 3 months old, and how he wanted badly to see her again. There was a special, powerful spirit... We explained about how she didn't need to be baptized, but that she needed other work done for her in the temple. and that the only way to ensure that it's done is by doing it yourself. To go into the temple, you have to be baptized. What happened next, I can't really explain. Words came to my mind in spanish... and I somewhat knew what they meant... I said them anyways. In essance saying that your sister is here right now, and she wants you to be baptized. She is waiting for you to do her work further, and she is waiting to see you again. Nobody said anything for about 10 seconds, because he was crying... Like legit tears fell... I too had a tear or two in my eyes. We then further explained that what he was feeling was the holy ghost confirming our words. He was so grateful, and we committed him to baptism first lesson. When everyone else in the district hasn't even to this day.

The power of the Spirit is real, he confirms truth, and love. In my opinion he has the perfect calling in life. Bringing love to all the world. We have taught him two other times about doctrine and answering his questions and in almost all of them he has at least teared up in his eyes. How wonderful is that?? I am getting chills just typing it.... without the spirit me and Elder Moore are nothing...

Another thing, was on sunday Nashville Tribute Band came!!!! It was sooooo cool!!! They sang some of my all time favorite mission songs. At the end they sang "the hardest thing I've ever loved to do". and then they had all of us sing along after!! Look it up and listen to it!! It is so good, and describes my mission perfectly so far. We broke the record for the largest choir again!!! haha 1,703 missionaries in that choir. That is more than 5 Tabernacle choirs combined... haha It is so powerful, and is one part of the week I look forward to the most because I feel the spirit really strong.

Last thing is just saying how much I am grateful to be out here. I have grown to love and appreciate and know without a doubt that Jose smith was a true prophet of God. The church has made 2 new visitor center videos to be played in like pennsylvania. But both videos talk about Jose Smith and what he did. It is a reanactment of the story of Jose Smith. I wish so badly you could see it. The only reason we watched it is because the MTC pres. made a special request to the quorum of the twelve to be able to show it to us. It hasn't been released yet!! The only ones who have seen it is MTC presidents and quorum of the twelve!! It is so good.

Yo canto Jose Smith y el libro de mormon. Yo se el libro es verdad. El libro es verdad... Yo canto este evangelio y la expiacion. Yo se JesuCristo es real y Dios. El Espiritu Santo testigó verdadero de la iglesia. Yo estoy agradacido por vosotros.

(I love joseph smith and the book of mormon. I know the book is true, it is true. I love this gospel and the atonement. I know Jesus Christ and God are real. The spirit has witnessed the truthfulness of the church. I am grateful for you all....)

Español is hard, and I'm not very good at conjucating... But It is a work in progress! and we all joke around and have fun with it!!! I love you guys!! I'll write next week!! Could I get more tide-to-go for Argentina??

That stuff is magic and straight from the Celestial Kingdom.... like two more sticks if you could. I just want to be covered when I am down there...there was something else I wanted but I don't remember.. I'll tell you later..

I am so mad I forgot my camera in the room!! I will send a TON next time... Promise...

Love you guys!! I'll write next week!!

-Elder Hansen

0Comments

, by Kailin.Beck

Week 1 // MTC

Mi Familia!!!! It's so great to wake up early and see emails from everyone! I love the spirit here soooo much, I've never felt it stronger in my life, and its only been a week! Ah man, where do I start?? First off I'll answer those questions. the 3 other elders are Elder Fox(one of my favorites), Elder Moore(mi companero), and Elder Visick- All three of them are from Utah!! I think I even played Elder Fox in basketball! He played for Oympus High School. And we played them multiple times in summer leagues!! So we connect well. we also have 4 hermanas or sisters in our district! I was surprised that there were as many sisters as there are here. Ummm my teacher is Hermana Singer. She only speaks spanish to us... It was sooo overwhelming for all of us the first few days, but now I can actually understand her!!!

On last Thursday they had us start teaching an investigator.... in spanish!! Like what the Heck do I say?? Hola? haha but it went ok. Completely bombed it. But it's all good. We teach him everyday except for P-day(today) and sunday. It's really really challenging and hard. But I'm slowly starting to hold a conversation and say a bit. Elder moore, is picking spanish up really fast so it's a bit hard to catch up and stay on the same level. He teaches or says a little bit more than me. But I will just interject every so often and say what I need to say. I am completely shocked how fast I'm learning spanish and how much I can understand. I can't speak it too great. But I understand it.

Ok, before I forget I NEED A NEW CAMERA!!! I found the stamps! but I need a camera...The one I brought like blew up the first day... It won't charge, it turns on and says battery exhausted and thats it... I've tried everything.... There's a girl here with a camera that is a canon powershot. Apparently, her parents have an app on their phones and she can send it straight from her camera! I dont know, just an idea... I just need one to take lots of pictures.

I've seen EVERYONE! I've seen Jace Griffeth, Jared, and like 3 kids from wasatch and like 4 kids from AF. It's way cool to see them all at random times of the day! I don't have a whole lot of time because we're inbetween laundry loads right now. We are constantly busy, even on P-day.

K so i don't know how I haven't gained weight.... haha there is this elder in my district and room(6 to a room) that is soooooo funny. He is one of my favorites as well. His name is Elder Nonu. He and Elder Fox are my favorite. I have compititions with him at meals. Like for instance yesterday we had a challenge on who could eat the most ice cream sandwhiches after the meal. We both tied at 5!! hahaha We also had a chocolate milk drinking contest. We tied again at 4 glasses after our meal... haha he keeps saying that I've earned his respect after each challenge. I've tried to eat a ton like this because I want to gain weight!! Elder Nonu always come up after a meal and says, "Lista?" or "ready?" I nod, and just like that the challenge starts! It's one thing I look forward to each day.

The food isn't bad! its actually quite good! It's not like amazing... but it is a step or two up from cafeteria food. Elder Moore doesn't like the food too much. But I'm just so hungry that I eat anything and everything....

So in my district there is

Elder Fox, Elder visick

Elder Adams, Elder Nonu

Me and my companion

Elder hughes and Elder Charette

and hermana lord and Elwood

hermana beck and jordan

I feel like we've known each other for years, not just a week! We've all just grown to love each other. And we let each other know that every night before bed. I like my district because we can have a ton of fun, but yet be super spiritual. So each day we have cieclo or in other words 1 hour personal study, 1 hour companion study, 1 hour language, and daily planning. This is everyday, and it's at a different time each day. Well daily planning doesn't take a whole hour so we all watch someones favorite conference talk for the rest of the time. we have a computer in our classroom that we pull it up on

Elder moore is good- we think completely different, but thats a good thing!! We are still able to joke around and have fun a lot. He's skinny like me, except a bit more and hes like 6'.

There were 800+ missionaries that came in last week when I did! and on top of that, on sunday, there was a meeting thing with all of the missionaries in the MTC. Guess how many missionaries were in the choir?? 1,557!! the record for the biggest MTC choir ever! I was in line, but they ran out of room... haha I did sing at on Tuesday though with that same choir. I'll explain a bit later in the email...

On sunday, we watched a recorded devotional called the "character of christ" by Elder Bednar. This is in my top 3 of favorite talks. Pleeeease see if you can watch it. I think you can, and if you have seen it. I want you to all watch it again. It is so boostful and inspiring to follow christ. And not only to follow christ but to be like him. I love the spirit that is here. And when there's a devotional it's even better. I love it when my district sings in spanish at the beginning of meetings or study. Although none of us really understand the hymns yet, there is a special spirit that I've never felt before. It is so cool to be apart of...

Last night we had a devotional given by Elder Anderson!! LIVE!!! It was so good!! he said, "Being a missionary is not complex. It's not easy, but it's not complex" basically saying that a mission is hard but really simple. Simple because our job is to INVITE not necessarily to CONVERT, but to invite. He also talked about keeping your spiritual flame alive before, during, and after your mission. and lastly he said that we were personally saved for this push and effort in missionary work. That we were hand selected and prepared in heaven for these last days. That we, the elect, are to go out and gather the last of the elect from the four corners of the earth. He said that prophets of old saw us and saw the work that we would be fulfilling. That's crazy to think of... He said they have SEEN us. I can hardly read and write these words without crying. They saved us for this time.

Well, I think that's about it for the low down. I'm out of time too. Thanks for writing me! please keep it up! And you can use Dear Elder and send me letters and stuff through that and I get them and read them that day!! it's free too!! I am so grateful I can at least talk once a week. Just know that I am always busy and working hard in the Lord's work!! I love him so much, and we owe him everything, I do mean Everything... Anyways, Let me know how that talk is, and I'll write next wednesday!! love you all!!

-Elder Hansen