Time winding down

Familia y Amigos,

This week was decent, our baptism ended up falling which was a bummer but we had a couple miracles happen, we should have a couple baptisms this week.

So Monday through Wednesday not a ton happened.  We just worked in they area, tried to find some people but didn’t have a ton of luck.  Tuesday in the afternoon I got a text from one of the APs that they would be bringing me a missionary to work with me.  I guess there were E changes and he had done something, he ended up staying the night.  Worked hard with us, who knows what happened.

On Thursday we had a super awesome day.  The ward decided to have this thing called Noche de Hermanamiento, it is just like an activity where you bring your investigators and the new converts so the members can get to know them better, it was definitely a success.  We had a good lesson about tithing with one of our investigators that is preparing for baptism this week and it was a great day.  The best thing happened though right after our last lesson.  It was like 9pm and we were walking home, when all of a sudden we heard someone yell "hermanos, hermanos!" So we saw that it was one of our investigators.  She is the investigator that I was talking about a couple weeks ago that was progressing really well back in May, but she got a job and had to work on Sundays.  We continued teaching her and for the past couple months we had been visiting her on Wednesdays, her free day.  So the day before she had told us that they hadn’t given her the new job as she was expecting, and was kind of disappointed because she really wanted to get baptized and be strong in the church. Anyway back to real time, she called us over, and I was a little surprised because she usually works until like midnight.  I asked her if she got off work early, and she told us that she had quit her job that morning and was going to go to church on Sunday.  We set up an appointment with her for the next day and we were stoked!

On Friday we passed by, she was there and she committed to baptism.  We went over the baptismal questions with her and she was good, she has a strong testimony from the long time we have teaching her.

Saturday was a little rough, with the baptism falling, as well as a couple investigators dropped us but nothing too horrible.  It was a really slow day but we were able to get the majority of our investigators committed to church.

Sunday we had an awesome turn out in church, we got our investigators interviewed so this week we will just be busy locking them down.

It is crazy to think that the time has come here to an end, but I am so grateful for the chance I had to serve the people here of Nicaragua.  I love this place with all of my heart and am grateful for all of the experiences that I have had here that have not only changed me but also the people I have had the opportunity to teach.  I know and have seen the influence of the gospel in these people’s lives, and I know that God continues to lead and guide us through living prophets.  I’m grateful for my savior Jesus Christ, for his Atonement that applies to us in each day of our lives. 

Want to give a quick Bday shoutout to my mom, happy birthday!!! Love you lots!!

Thats all I can think of, love you all.

 see you at 7 in 7.

Elder Hanson

bad news... no pics this week. sorry!!

Egged

Cake the members made.

Familia y Amigos,

This week was super crazy, a lot of stuff went down and we didn’t have a ton of time in the area, but we made the best out of the time we did have.

Tuesday started the madness.  The APs called us on Monday night and told us that we would be having interviews on Wednesday, so we had to get it all set up.  So in the morning we had the news training meeting for Elder Peterson.  It went really well, he is doing a great job.  In the afternoon we had to run up to the stake president’s house and get his office key, President needed the office on Tuesday in the afternoon so we had to get that all ready, and then we got things ready for the next day.  We also had mission correlacion and ward council too it was just a super busy day.  We were able to have a super awesome lesson though, with one of our investigators that is progressing for the 6th of August.  We got him locked down for baptism so pray that it happens!

Wednesday were interviews, we had to be at the church all day making sure everything went well, I went around with Sister Brown and Elder Alcerro to check the houses.  I got to know Sister Brown a little more and that was cool. Everything went well. My interview with President Brown was my last interview, it went really well and was a spiritual experience.

Thursday was normal day of work, we didn’t find a ton of people but it was overall a good day.

Friday was a good day, we worked hard, found some people and then ex-Elder Copeland was in town so he came and passed by to say hi.  It was great to see him and his family.  He dropped off a package so thanks mom for that!  One of the guys that we found, his name is Leonardo, showed up to church alone. I really didn’t think that he was going to, but he ended up coming and was really interested!

Saturday was a good day as well. Some members were nice and bought me a cake for my bday, they also got me good with some eggs.  Its a Nicaraguan tradition to throw eggs at someone on their birthday.  I saw it coming but they did it good.  We got all of our investigators committed to church, had a couple of good lessons. Thanks for everyone’s birthday emails and everything!

Sunday we were able to get our investigators to church, they are progressing really well and we are continuing always to look for new people.  This week should be a good one, we will have the majority of the week to be in the area and find new people. 

That’s about all that happened, I hope you all have a great week, love you all!

Elder Hanson

Piñata the members made.

Las Buenas Nuevas

Some dope shirts a convert gave us

Familia y Amigos,

Hope you all had a good week this week, my week here was good and we were able to find some new investigators!  I’ll give you the run down on what happened.

Tuesday we were only able to proselyte until 3 pm, there is a national holiday here on the 19th of July, it is the day that 37 years ago the new government came into power.  This year is also elections here in Nicaragua so supposedly it was going to be crazy, nothing really happened just a lot of drunk people.  The streets were dead because everyone went to the plaza.  We were able to get a little caught up on things.  In the short 2 hours we had to work me and my companion were able to find this awesome guy who has a big desire to change his life.  He went to church on Sunday with his kids, we didn’t have to pass by for him so we are going to be working with him and his family.

On Wednesday we had a good day as well.  One of my investigators that I have, someone we have been teaching since April has been doing well.  She went to church 2 times right at the beginning of the teaching and then got a job where she works on Sundays, hasn’t been able to go. We have been teaching her on Wednesdays and she told us that her boss was going to give her a new job and that on Sunday she was going to be able to go to church... so we were stoked.  Anyway in the moment it was a miracle buuuuuut she didn’t actually have Sunday off so we´ll keep working with her hahah.  Hoping that she did actually get the job and that she will be able to get baptized here soon.  We also are teaching the cousin of a member who is progressing well.  He has 2 times in church now and is going great with the teaching.

Thursday we had the first Consejo with President Brown.  It was very different for a couple reasons, first of all the people there, I didn’t really know a ton of the zone leaders, they are all new.  Second was what he talked about.  It was very focused on spiritual power and repentance.  He showed us some parts from the new mission president’s devocional, mainly from Elder Andersons talk.  It was really good, we talked a little bit more about establishing the church, and quality converts. It was definitely different, I´ll leave it at that.

Friday we had zone meeting, that was good.  Our training was on using inspired questions (I swear like the thousandth time) but it was really good and was more focused on bringing the spirit.  It all went great, we took a zone pic and then ended it..

Saturday we had a baptism in the area of a convert’s best friend, he was super ready and came to us so we could start teaching him, we committed everyone to church and all that fun stuff.

Sunday was a good day, got a good amount of people out to church and we are working to have some baptisms for the next month.  Sunday was probably the best day this week though, right after second hour I got a call from one of the APs (who were in Bluefields with president) and I was able to talk to some of my converts there.  I got to talk to Curt and his wife, the ones who were just sealed and they are great.  But then I was able to talk to Ayoleth and her husband, and they told me that they are going to get sealed in December, they were going to get interviewed right then for their temple recommends.  Super awesome! I was able to talk to a couple other members and things are going great.

That’s about it, this week should be another interesting one, we will have the training meeting for Elder Peterson and we might have interviews, we will see!  Hope you all have a great week, love you all!

Elder Hanson

 La Zona Universitaria!!!

 Baptism

Cambios

Baptism

Familia y Amigos,

How is it going, hope you all are doing great.  This week was cambios, so it was the usual routine, nothing changed at all really the way they did it with the new mission President.  Tuesday we got the call that Elder Hall would have changes (going home) and that Elder Chacón would also be training.  They took out one of my dls from the zone, and there weren’t too many changes.

Anyway Tuesday night the new missionaries came to our area to work, I was able to work with Elder Diaz from the Dominican Republic, that was cool and it was fun to see the energy the new missionaries all have!  We found a cool lady that accepted a fecha super fast.  We haven’t found her since, but were hoping we can!

Wednesday was changes, pretty much all of the leaders of the mission went home.  It was weird being in my last change meeting and saying bye to all those guys.  There is a new Elder in our area, he is Elder Rivera, from El Salvador.  Elder Chacón will be training him.  Funny story, they actually live like half a block away from each other in El Salvador, they are in the same ward.  That would be weird to be comps with someone from your ward haha.  They didn’t really know each other too well because Elder Chacón is a convert to the church so he was home like a year before he left, and he is also 6 years older than all of us.  Wednesday me and Elder Peterson had a super awesome day, we were able to put a couple fechas with families, and the people we found that day actually went to church.  It is always great to see the fruits of the work.

Thursday was normal, Friday we had a mini zone meeting to get to know everyone a little better. The zone wasn’t really what I was expecting it to be, and we lost some really good missionaries.  Oh well. The zone should have a decent month and we are getting ready also for August. 

Friday afternoon we also had a baptism.  It was crazy.  So the baptism was planned for 5 o’clock and we went at like 4:30 to fill up the font.  So as we were filling it up, it started to smell really bad. We decided to quickly clean it and there were some young men there to help us.  We got it all good and then we started filling it up. Still smelled like rotten fish and the water had like gross foam in it.  We had an idea to put some clorox in the water to see if it would take away the smell and so we got a bag from a pulperia (store) and it worked.  So by then it was like 5:30 and we decided we should probably go and see why the baptism hadn’t showed up yet, so we decided to walk the mile or more to her house.  Right when we were half a block there we got a call from Elder Chacón telling us that she was there.  We started walking back, got another call saying that the pila had drained and that Sister Brown and her daughter were there because the youth had invited her.  So we bought another bag of clorox and started the long walk back.  It all ended up great, so we were happy she was able to get baptized.  There is never an easy baptism here!

Sunday we had a good turn out at church, and things are looking good here for the end of this month and the beginning of the next. I am doing great and loving things, I hope you all have a great week!  

Love you,

Elder Hanson

Bye Elder Heileson

Me and my 3 sons that are in the mission

Meet the Browns

With a cool member family that gave us lunch yesterday.

Familia y Amigos,

How is it going?  It was another mas o menos week here, some cool stuff happened though so that was fun!

We were going to have a baptism but he ended up falling.  He was telling us how he didnt feel ready, he wasnt sure, he told us that when he prayed he felt good and everything but we dug down a little deeper and he doesnt really have a testimony of the Book of Mormon so we will be working on that with him.  He and his friend also decided to look up stuff on internet, thats always fun.

The week started out normal, we just started looking for some new investigators because the majority of ours fell and or didnt want to progress.  We didnt have a ton of luck, but we found a couple people yesterday after church so we are hoping we can get things rolling. 

On Friday we had a multizona to get to know the new mission president.  Sister Brown talked about the importance of following the spirit.  It was a great talk.  And then President Brown gave a good talk too.  He talked about how in his 8 months of preparation he prayed to know what to do with the mission.  He shared a scripture in Johnd 5:30 that talks about how we need to do the will of the father. He said that in the preparation, he felt that God wanted 2 things from the mission and the missionaries.  First thing, that Nicaragua needs a temple so we need to do everything we can to get it, and we need to establish the church here not just baptize a ton of people and have them go inactive the next month.  Second, he said that we need missionaries with more spiritual power. The 2 things he talked about are exactly what we need, so it was awesome to see how he has the revelation to direct and guide the mission, and the Lord has a plan for us here. We should always be asking if we are doing the fathers will, and what we can do to improve! Each of their kids gave a talk and after it was crazy to see all the kids running around.  Forgot what that was like haha.

Miracle of the week, there is this girl who is the sister of a recent convert here in the area.  Her sister got baptized a year ago and she didnt really want anything to do with the church.  Sometimes she would go with her sister but would always say that she wasnt getting baptized, etc.  Anyway at the beginning of the month we decided that we were going to teach her because all the missionaries in the past probably just came and talked about baptism, baptism, and baptism, because she had been to church a million times but never really been taught. So we decided to teach her and she was looking a little more positive, but she still was saying that she didnt want to.  Anyway when we showed up to teach her on Saturday she said "Elderes, tengo una noticia. Me voy a bautizar el proximo sabado!" (Elders, I have an announcement.  I'm going to get baptized next Saturday!)  It had been a rough day up to that point so we were stoked.  Anyway she passed her baptismal interview and all is good for this Saturday!

Sunday was an alright day, church was good, not too many people came.  This week we are trying to find some new families to teach so we can get some more people out to church.  Everything is going well and I love you all!

This week is changes, I am most likely staying here to finish up Elder Petersons training!

Elder Hanson

We bought ping pong paddles so we could play on the table at the church!

President Change

Eating nacatamales.

Familia y Amigos,

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! Hope you all enjoy it!

Well not a ton happened this week, it wasn’t really the greatest week ever, turnout in church wasn’t that great as well.  We tried finding people but not much happened.  This week we are going to bounce back and find some new people and get things rolling again.

We had a couple of cool lessons this week with our investigators. We were able to finish teaching the commandments, and they committed to live them.  This week we should have a baptism, his name is Henry and it would be awesome if you could all pray that he does it!  He has a good testimony and is almost there on doing it.  We continue to look for new people and know that we will find some this week.

The zone is doing awesome and we should have a good amount of baptisms this week.

They changed our mission president this week, President Russell left Tuesday or Wednesday and so our new President, President Brown was here around that same time. I actually was able to meet him 2 times this week, the first I was going to the church and he was there in front of the church in his car. I was able to meet him, me and my companion introduced ourselves and it was quick.  He seems like a nice guy and told us to work hard and be happy!

The second was on Saturday, one of the sister missionaries invited him and his wife to their baptism in the morning, so he came with his family (3 of his 4 kids came.) We were able to talk with him a little more and get to know him a little better. His family is super nice, his Spanish is great and all is going well! I am excited to keep working here and finding some people to baptize!

That’s all that really went down this week, we had a fun p day today, played some soccer and then played with some water balloons. It was a great time.

I hope you all have a great week, love you all,

Elder Hanson

Water ballons!

LA SUPER U!

William!

Familia y Amigos,

How is it going?  I hope that all of you were able to have a good week, this one was pretty chill for me.

Tuesday was a pretty regular day. We spent some of the day visiting the investigators with some members so that they could get a little more comfortable with the church.  At like 5:15 my comp sent me a text saying that at 6 we had a meeting with President Russell and the Stake President, but I didn’t see the text.  At like 5:45 I pulled out my phone and saw it, we had to run back to the house, change into my suit and luckily we made it there on time.  The meeting went well, we talked about how things are going in the zone and the stake.

Wednesday we had Consejo de Lideres, and it was at the chapel in San Juan instead of the mission home.  It went well, President bore his testimony (probably the last one) and it was a good meeting.  Things were kind of weird because I have been used to seeing the same people there for the past year.  There are a lot of new Zone Leaders so it was interesting.  I sat by Elder Nave and we had a good time.

Thursday was another normal day, not much happened.  We got everything ready for our baptism that was on Friday.

So Friday we had a baptism, he is the little brother of a recent convert that got baptized a year ago.  When she got baptized he didn’t want to get baptized so we were able to teach him and he has been doing awesome!  His mom is a member too, we are working on activating her and the whole family.  Before the baptism in the morning we had Zone Conference.  It was a good meeting and we were able to get everyone animated.  July is another 5 week month so they are expecting a lot.  We are hoping to break what we did in May, so it is going to be a lot of work.  We have already started getting to know everyone’s investigators.

Saturday like nobody was home, so it was a pretty long day, not much happened.  On Sunday our baptism was able to get confirmed, and we had a couple of people show up.  We have some cool investigators, but we are just teaching the commandments, so pray that they can be willing to live them! Also, a good friend from Bluefields, William, was in town so I got to see him and take a pic.  He just got his mission call, he is going to South Africa.  He is the first Nicaragüense to ever go to Africa.

This morning we woke up early and went on an awesome hike to watch the sunrise, I have some pics here that I´ll send.  This week should be a good one, the new mission president should be here, so it will be interesting. I’m going to miss President Russell!

Love you all,

Elder Hanson

Baptism

Our hike this morning