Puro Chontales

Compañero 

Familia y Amigos,

How is everthing going?  Things are going super good here in Juigalpa, Chontales.  This area of Nicaragua is kind of the cowboy center, so it has been a little interesting. 

This week they had a huge party where everyone came from everywhere with their horses and there were rodeos and stuff all week.  There were also a lot of parties, and the main place they had them was a couple of blocks away from our house.  It was pretty crazy walking home every day, but the craziest thing that they did was during the rodeos.  They pretty much had a rodeo going all week long, but the most interesting part is that in the arena thing, they threw a bunch of drunk people in and then would let the bull out.  Obviously some of the people did not have the coordination to get out of the way and got trampled, but it just didn’t make sense to me why they would let people in like that.

This week wasn’t that great, and we lost a lot of time in the area so it kind of suffered.  Monday night me and my companion went and worked with the Hermanas in their area.  I was supposed to do an interview but the lady hid, and the husband isn’t supportive so it didn’t work out.

Tuesday was one of the 3 days I worked in the area.  We went out to this family super far away that had been going to church.  The head of the household doesn’t want to give up smoking, and the kids won’t really do it without the father, so we kind of had to drop them.  We had given him so many chances.  The worst part is that the family (like 7 people) were the people that we had for baptism this month, so we kind of are going to take a hit.  They are super far and probably won’t be going to church after baptism anyway so we will survive.  We have an investigator that is the older brother of a convert and he is doing well, so we are working with him for September.

On Wednesday we just contacted more.  My companion started having a little pain on Monday, and it got worse on this day.  We called the nurse and she told us we had to go to the hospital on Thursday.

So on Thursday we took the 3 hour bus to Managua and went to the hospital.  We stopped and had a nice lunch, and then went to the cita (appointment).  Things went well, but Hna. Russell called us and told us that we had to stay the night.  I was planning on going to Boaco on Friday, so that killed the plans there, and it meant that we would be losing another day in the area.  We went and worked with the APs in their area and then stayed the night with them.  It all went well, and we went to the cita the next morning.  We found out there wasn’t really anything we could do so we went back to the area and got home late on Friday.

On Saturday we just tried to get some new people and commit everyone to come to church.  We found a couple of cool people but like always, everyone says yes until Sunday comes around.  Sunday was successful, we got the 12 people to church and have a couple of new people progressing.  The zone is doing well, and we are trying to find as many investigators ready to progress towards baptism as possible!

Thanks for all of your prayers, and I hope you all have a good week!

Elder Hanson

Pizza

Juigalpa... I'm Back!!!

 Bautizo (how the nicas say bautismo);)

Familia y Amigos,

First of all, I want to wish my mom a Happy Birthday, Love you lots and thanks for all you do!!!

Well, after thinking that I wasn’t going to have changes, I ended up having changes. I got the call on Tuesday that said that I would be having changes and training, so I said by to everyone in Trinidad (not too many people) and then packed up to go.

Wednesday was changes, and they have changed it up a lot.  The meeting is super short if you aren’t training, but I found out that I would be coming back to Juigalpa after a long 1 change outside of it.  I am now companions with Elder Hartley, who is from Idaho and was trained by Elder Collado too, Elder Salazar, who I am training and is from Costa Rica, and Elder Vasquez, who is from Guatemala.  Elder Hartley has one more change than me in the mission and we are the Zone Leaders together here.  It is a similar situation like my training, where there are 2 zone leaders who are each training an Elder.  The rest of Wednesday I had a training meeting, which was until like 1, and then we took the 4 hour bus back to Juigalpa.  Yay for being far away!  We contacted the rest of the day.

On Thursday we just contacted more.  I kind of have to learn the area by myself, and we lose a lot of time in the area because we are constantly doing divisions.  We still have to complete norms (goals) for 2 companionships, which is super hard and isn’t really going to happen.  Which means 12 in church, a la grande (oh my goodness).  We didn’t have a ton of success, but we’re working hard!

On Friday I went to the District meeting here, it was all right.  The zone isn’t doing the hottest right now, but we are trying to lift it up.  Our goal for the zone this month is 40 baptisms, so we will see what we can do.

On Saturday I had a baptism, a 9 year old son of a Menos Activo (less active) family.  They didn’t really want to support him in the baptism but we got the mom to come to the service, hopefully she starts coming back to church.  He is super funny, they do piano lessons here every day at the church, so he is learning and loves it.

On Sunday we went around for the investigators.  Things went mas o menos (more or less) there but as a zone we completed the norm (goal), for the first time in 2 months!! That was definitely a miracle.  We will be looking for new people to teach this week, and working in the zone.

That’s about it, I love you guys a ton.  Thanks for all of your prayers, you are all in mine.  

Have a great week!

Elder Hanson

Me and my new comp

Birthday and Stake Conference

Happy Birthday Elder Hanson

Familia y amigos,

Que honda??  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  Not really that much happened here this week, it started out all right, and ended not the hottest but everything is going good!

On Monday and Tuesday things were pretty normal.  We were just trying to find some new positive people to teach.  We have a couple right now, but our big problem has just been getting people to go to church.  It is sad that we have to be passing by for people 3 or 4 times in the morning on Sundays, and then waiting for them to go.  We are working hard, but that has been our main roadblock here.

On Wednesday I did divisions with an area here in my district. Things went well with them, we found a couple people but they didn’t end up going to church so that stunk.  They have been baptizing up a storm, so they are just trying to find new people to teach.  Something funny we have been doing here, that gives us a little laugh, is that everyone likes to yell stuff at us in English.  So my companion always says, "he doesn’t speak English, he’s not from the US!" Haha it is funny to see the people’s faces because they always get a little discouraged.

On Thursday was my Birthday, so that was cool.  There is a tradition here in Nicaragua that they throw eggs on you on your birthday, so when I came back from divisions in the morning, the other elders in my district were waiting in my house and I got 10 eggs to the head.  Later in the day, some converts threw flour in my hair, and a member gave us some dinner at night.  Overall it was a good day!

Getting egged for my birthday!

On Friday we had zone meeting, I had to give a class because one of the Zone leaders had a bacterial infection in his intestines so he was in the hospital.  It went well, was laid back and we are looking really good for this next month here.  Every Month with 5 Saturdays and Sundays President Russell does a BBQ for the zone that has the best ratio of baptisms/missionary.  Chances are that I am staying here this change so we are going to be working hard this change to win the BBQ!  In the night we had cake and a pizza from this place called Price Mart, which is the exact same as Costco so that was good.

The Zone, to my left and right are the other 2 DLs, and to their left and right are the ZLs. 

Pizza and cake from Price Mart.

Saturday we had Stake Conference, we had to go to the Priesthood session.  The general authority, Elder Valladares gave a really good message.  He talked about the church's plan of autosuficiencia (self-reilance), and how it really is about progression.  In order to get to the celestial kingdom, we should be trying to progress daily, and always try to be progressing.  I really liked that because it applies to missionary work, and everyone in life.  Are we progressing spiritually and temporally?

Sunday was the main session, that went all right, but then other than that we just got back to work, trying to find new people to teach. Changes are this week, and I think I will probably be staying!  I hope you all have a great week, love you!

Elder Hanson

Normal Week in Trinidad!

Bus selfie going to the office

Familia y amigos,

Que nota??  I hope all is going well, things are going good here in Ciudad Sandino, but not much has really happened.  Elder Salmeron and I have been working hard, trying to find some new people that will actually progress.  This month of August here is going to be a big one for the mission, so we are trying to find people so we can put in our part.

News on the Mission, things are going really well this year.  We have a goal as the mission for 2000 baptisms this year, and as of June we had 1099.  In May the mission had 275 baptisms, which was the most ever in the time of President Russell.  The mission is still pretty young so we are looking forward to more success here in the next months.

On Monday we finished P day doing a couple of baptismal interviews in another area.  That went well, one of them ended up lying to me which caused some problems later in the week, he didn’t end up getting baptized.

On Tuesday we worked in the area, tried to find some new people.  Cool story, 2 Thursdays ago we couldn’t really find anyone to teach.  In the morning I had prayed and asked that we could find a family of 4 to teach.  It was a rough day, things weren’t really working out, but we knocked this door and this guy answered.  He told us he was busy (which here in Nicaragua means that they don’t want anything) but he told us he wanted us to come back to his house on Saturday.  We went back on Saturday, put a fecha (baptismal date) with him.  So on Tuesday we had a lesson with him, and turns out he has a wife and 2 kids.  Prayer answered.  We put a fecha with the wife, and we haven’t been able to talk to the daughters.  He came to church this last Sunday but we are working with them so they can all come.

Wednesday I did divisions with another area in my district.  We found a cool family, put a fecha with them and they ended up coming on Sunday to church.  The area is kind of slacking, but they were the only ones this Sunday to complete with the 6 in church so that was good to see.

On Thursday it was a normal day of work.  We found this lady who has raised 23 grandchildren because her children just dump them on her.  She is in a really tough situation, can’t read but prayed and asked if Joseph Smith was a prophet.  She really wants to go to church, and sadly she couldn’t go on Sunday.

On Friday we had district meeting, that turned out fine.  I gave someone else the class so it was more chill.  We didn’t have a baptism on Saturday, and the turn out on Sunday wasn’t so hot.

Today we went to the office to buy some scriptures and to see if there was any mail, no luck. :(

This week will be a week of finding, might have a baptism but probably not.  Thanks for everything you all do, and everyone who has already wished me a happy birthday. 

Love you all!

Elder Hanson

Multizona, Sandinista Revolution

Familia y amigos,

How is everything going?  This week ended up going really well, we found a few people to teach, like 1 or 2 that might progress, had a multizona (multi-zone conference) and just overall a good time.

On Tuesday we had the Multizona.  It ended up being a really good day.  I had to give a class on using the scriptures in the Multizona and had to play the piano. The multizona lasted from 9 until like 5, so it was a pretty full day.  In the morning there were messages from Sister Russell and President Russell, which were really good. I learned a lot from the messages and from stories that they shared.  The topic that President Russell shared was about Keeping the Sabbath day holy and how we can, as missionaries, help our investigators to keep it holy by going to church.  I think that a lot of times we take Sunday for granted, when we should really respect the day and remember the Lord in everything we do.  I have definitely learned how important the Sabbath day is here in the mission.  After we had little classes, and then we got to watch Meet the Mormons, which was awesome.  The movie was in Spanish and I’d like to see it in English some time.  

In the night Elder Kleiner came and did the baptismal interview for one of the investigators I had, his name is Kevin.  He wasn’t sure he wanted to come to church a week ago, but it was super important that he came so that he could get baptized.  I had to be really direct with him about it but he ended up coming with us.  Then we just kind of threw him in the interview.  He was a little doubtful of some things and we were having a had time finding time to teach him every lesson.  Anyway, turns out that in the interview he told Elder Kleiner about his brother that had died from a drug overdose a couple of months ago, and what he really needed was the Plan of Salvation.  We were going to teach it the day before the interview but he wasn’t home.  He passed the interview and had the desire to do be baptized.  We finished teaching him everything and got him baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday.  There weren’t any huge problems, except for he didn’t tell his mom that he was going to get baptized, and she was pretty angry Sunday morning when she found out.  He went to church in a white shirt and tie that we gave him and that night was asking us when he could get the priesthood.

On Wednesday I did divisions with some elders in my district and on Thursday it was just a normal day.

Friday we had district meeting, another normal day, and then Saturday was the baptism.  Nothing else really happened during the week, and we were blessed to get 6 investigators at church.  Sunday was also the celebration of the Sandinista Revolution, so a lot of people went to the plaza for all of the festivities.

Today we played a little baseball with the ward because nobody worked today, so that was fun.  This week will just be a normal week, we don’t have any baptisms planned.  I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Hanson

My District (Trinidad 1)

A little kid I met at the pulperia (store).

Church Attendance Struggles, District Meeting Surprise

Luis' baptism

Familia y Amigos,

How is it all going?   I hope everyone is doing well at home, things are going well for me here in la Trinidad.  I am doing well, I got the area down but right now we are just working on getting some new investigators.  We have found some cool people, but the problem is just getting them to church.  I am still trying to find out the best way that I can get people to come to church here, so that has been my struggle recently, but other than that things are going well.

This week went by super fast, and for the majority of the time we were just contacting and trying to find some people that will be willing to keep their commitments.  Tuesday was a normal day in my area so I just worked with Elder Salmeron.

On Wednesday I went and did divisions with one of the Elders in my district.  Their area is like a 20 minute ride in mototaxi so I worked with an Elder named Elder De Leon.  He is from Guatemala, and he has a super cool conversion story.  He was baptized like a year ago and now he is here in the mission.  He is a hard worker and they have some cool people there in their area that are preparing for baptism.

On Thursday we just worked again in our area, still finding people.  And then on Friday I had a nice surprise.  It was district meeting as normal, and Elder Kleiner told me that he was going to be coming.  I thought that it was going to be a chill laid back District Meeting because the APs came last week, but it wasn’t.  I was there on time getting everything ready to start and next thing you know President Russell and Sister Russell showed up.  Definitely not expected.  I was prepared and everything so there weren’t any problems.  Who knows who will show up next week!

Saturday we had a baptism of this guy named Luis.  Elder Olsen and Salmeron were kind of teaching him.  They had dropped him because he was preparing for a baptism before, got interviewed and everything but the day before his baptism he drank.  So they gave him another chance.  But the day of his interview they showed up, and he was drunk.  So they dropped him.  When I got there, I didn’t know anything about him, or what had happened so I just put a fecha (baptismal date) with him.  We saw a big change of heart, and he ended up getting baptized and confirmed. When we got to the church to baptize him there was nobody there, and it was closed.  Here in this Area we don’t have keys to the church, so we had to call someone to open the church.  Kind of sad that nobody showed up.  I ended up having to baptize him and then just finish working in my wet clothes.  We don’t really have time for extra excursions to the house so it was a nice way to finish off the night.

Sunday we had the struggles bringing people, typical Nicaraguan Sunday!

And this morning I had to go to Managua for a choir practice.  We have a Multizona (multi zone conference) tomorrow, and last night at 11 Elder Collado called and told me that I had to play the piano for the choir.  I also have to give a taller (workshop) at the Multizona so we will see how it goes!  I love you all and hope you have a great week!  We might have a baptism this week, we will see what happens.

Elder Hanson

PS This week, the 19th is the day of the Sandinista Revolution, so it could get crazy!

Elder Salmeron`s shoe broke working in the rain, so we took a picture

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July

Familia y Amigos,

I know that the 4th of July already passed, but I wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July.  Things are going really well here in Ciudad Sandino, and I am loving it here.

This week was a pretty good week.  On Monday night Elder Kleiner came and did a baptismal interview in my area.  It was cool and kind of weird working with an old companion again, but the investigator passed the interview so all was good!

On Tuesday we just got to work. In the morning we had a meeting with all of the district leaders in the Zone so that we could all get on the same page and get to work in the month.  Our goal is 35 baptisms, so we will be doing all we can to reach the goal.  There are 20 missionaries right now in the zone, so it is a pretty high goal.  Elder Salmeron and I contacted a lot, trying to find some new people to teach.  We found a couple, but not really anyone has turned out to be super cool.  I went and did a baptismal interview in one of the areas in my district.  The guy was doubting the Book of Mormon hardcore, so it was definitely a testimony builder to be able to testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  It was hard to resolve his doubts but in the end he ended up getting baptized!

On Wednesday and Thursday it was the same contacting, not really anything too great happened.

On Friday it was my first district meeting here in Trinidad, and of course there was a nice surprise.  The APs ended up showing up to the district meeting, which wasn’t too bad because my district is doing well, so they came and helped us out a little.  Elder Collado wanted to work with me too, and I was doing divisions that day so we went and worked in one of the areas in my district.  All went well and it was a successful day.  He gave us some things to work on, which was definitely helpful!

On Saturday it was the 4th of July.  We didn’t really do anything fun or exciting but we had a baptism which was great!  His name is Jimmy, he is 14 and told us he wants to go on a mission.  Super awesome.  Everything went smooth with the baptism.  But nothing can ever go perfect with a baptism, so Sunday we had some problems.

On Sunday we passed by his house and his family had sent him to the market to buy things.  That pretty much meant he wasn’t going to get confirmed.  We had the faith that we would find him, so we passed by 2 more times.  On the 3rd time, we realized that he had come home, but was hiding from us.  He didn’t have any clean clothes, and his family was being really dumb.  His older sister even dumped her baby on him and left so that he wouldn’t be able to go.  Luckily his mom showed up, he gave her the baby and went in dirty clothes.  It really affected us bringing other people too, so we didn’t do so hot.  We ended up with 6 people, but it was like grabbing people off of the street.

That’s all that really happened this week.  You are all in my prayers and I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Hanson

Baptism

Pizza on P day!