Entrevistas, getting chilly

Me and one of my converts that got baptized in December. 
He is going to Guatemala today for a job training the church is doing.

Familia y amigos,

There’s not too much new to tell you guys, I feel like my emails are all the same and not too much happens every week but ill try to spice them up here. It has been a little cold here lately, I don’t know if you all remember but in my training it would get cold at night.  It is the same here, it feels really good but we don’t usually have to sleep with fans which is nice, I usually turn it on though because it puts me to sleep, can’t sleep without one.

Tuesday we had interviews with President.  We got to the chapel to find out that the bishop’s office didn’t have ac.... That was not good at all so we had to find a way to get the place with ac.  We realized that we could do them in the salon sacramental, but we only had some dumb church tables that weren’t going to look very good.  We saw that in a room there was a good desk that we could use, but the door was locked.  Turns out the room was the stake patriarch’s office, so we went to call the stake patriarch.... but there isn’t one.  So we ran around found the key and everything ended up being ok. hahah great start.  The interviews lasted all day and were super long, so that was kind of tiring.  I went around and inspected all of the houses and everyone in the zone passed :)

Wednesday we had divisions in our area.  The church has changed things up and now the missionaries will be coming to our area to do divisions, see how we work and then apply it in their areas.  Well me and Elder Wagstaff planned it out to be a super great day and it was like the worst day ever, every single one of the citas (appointments) we had fell so it turned into a day of contacting.  We didn’t find a lot of the people in the end but at least the sisters that came and worked with me and Elder Wagstaff could see how to recover the worst day ever.  Funny story, we were contacting and trying to put a baptismal date with this lady who was like 40.  Her mom walked in and saw us and you could tell by the things that they had in their house that they were Catholic.  We kept teaching, but the lady got scared.  The mom walked over and walked through us and turned on the tv, and switched the channel to a catholic mass.  My companion lost it and was trying to hide his laughter but it was impossible.  hahah we ended up leaving because nothing was going to happen.  I also saw one of my first converts here in San Marcos. He drove by and shouted out to me, I went over and we talked for a minute, that was cool!

Thursday to Friday not much happened.  I went to Diriamba on Friday for the district meeting and it was normal.  The zone is struggling a little bit right now baptism wise but we are trying to get all we can out.

Saturday was the usual commit people to church, we were knocking doors again and we found a little gift from God, it was a less active member (turns out she is the daughter in law of the second counselor in the Bishopric from my first area in the mission) and she has a son that is 11 and isn’t baptized.  She also gave us a reference to teach her sister in law so we are going to teach them together!  The kid came to church on Sunday which was great.

Sunday was also normal.  It was Valentine’s day and here in Centroamerica they have something called Dia de Amistad y Amor but they don’t really do anything.  Thanks to granny and grandpa for the awesome package, I loved it!  Also thanks Lily for the drawings, they were great.  I hope that you all have a great week, I love you lots!

Elder Hanson

Consejo, raising the bar

Consejo with Elder Heileson and Elder Merrill

 Familia y Amigos,

Que nota? Not much is new here in good ol san Marcos, this week was pretty chill and things went all right.  We are already on week 4 of this change..... super crazy!!

Anyway on Tuesday we had Consejo. The goal for January was 300 baptisms and we came no where close.... we ended up getting 167 which was pretty bad for a 5 week month but it was an improvement from the last 2 years so the mission is going up still.  We also found out that there are now new normas de excelencia which is going to be a challenge.  We are now expected to have 8 lessons a day, 5 lessons with converts and less actives, 26 contacts a day and 7 or more people in church...  This Sunday didn’t go so hot with that but we are doing our best to be able to find new people to teach and baptize.

On Wednesday it was a normal day in the area.  In the night time I went to Diriamba for a baptismal interview.... he didn’t pass.  People think they can just throw their inviestigators into the interview with a million doubts.  Sometimes it is possible to answer them all, but other times no.  It’s the worst. That day we also had a cool lesson with a testigo, they were really interested in the Book of Mormon and didn’t end up reading it but the lesson was cool.

On Thursday everything was normal too, nothing too cool.

Friday we had zone meeting and it went pretty well.  We were able to see how things are going in the zone and this month shouldn’t be too bad, even though we didn’t baptize this first week.  We had some cool lessons Friday too, we are teaching this lady whose husband is a pastor.  He doesn’t want her to get baptized but their daughter is super cool.  She is like 30 and we put a fecha with her.  She is really interested and has gone to church in the past so we will see how things progress with her. 

Saturday we just tried to get people committed to church and Sunday was the usual running around trying to get everyone we could.  Didn’t have the best turnout ever but we´ll bounce back this week!  I hope that all is well there.  We have interviews as a zone tomorrow with President Russell so we will see how that goes.  Thanks for all you do!!!

Elder Hanson

Zone selfie without San Rafael (there is a special in the grocery store where if you buy 2 deodorants they give you a free selfie stick so some elders bought some haha)

Back to 4, Breaking records

Elder Wagstaff, Elder Hanson, baptism this week, Elder Lambson, Elder Hernandez

 Familia y Amigos,

This week was super crazy, I don’t know when the craziness or tiredness is ever going to end. Not a ton of things happened during the week but it was a good one.

Last Monday we had that conference so we just started the week out super tired without p day.  We got back to the area, wrote, and then started working.

Tuesday I went out to Diriamba to do some divisions there.  I wanted to get to know all of the people that were getting ready for baptisms and try to do some jarrones.  It was a super unsuccessful day, nobody was home, all of the jarrones fell through so it wasn’t really what I was hoping. We needed por lo menos 7 baptisms to beat the all time record here in Zona Carazo so we were trying to get all that we could in the water.

Wednesday was a day in the area.  It was all right, we were able to put a lot of fechas but they really weren’t too positive.  I don’t get how someone can commit to be baptized, but then not want to go to church at all, makes no sense.

Thursday we found 2 cool families, one of them chuped (fell through) Saturday night because they said they were Catholic and the suegra(mother in law) told us never to come back, but the other one is still going good, didn’t go to church but we still have faith they are going to end well.  We also got a call on Thursday saying that I was going to be working with the APs on Friday so my whole day there went down the drain.

Friday Elder Hironaka and Elder Alcerro came out to animate some possibilities and work in the zone.  It went pretty well, we were looking at 8 possibilities that could be baptized, everything was going really well.  Our baptism started saying that she didn’t want to do it, that she  "couldn’t andar en dos caballos" (ride two horses) but we got out her doubts and were able to commit her to do it.

Saturday was the baptisms, we had it at 2.  All day long we were verifying with the companionships to make sure that everyone went down in the water so that we would be set up.  Last second a dad showed up for one of the possibilities and said he was catholic and took him off to Managua so that one also chuped (fell through).  It was down to the wire to break the record, nobody could fall Sunday morning which is very rare.  We also ran all over the place because the APs told us we had to find another baptism, we were SO CLOSE, but she wouldn’t commit to live the law of chastity. COME ON!!!!!

Sunday morning it went smooth, all was good and everyone got confirmed.  We were really hoping to do better this month, but there were a lot of baptisms that fell, kind of disappointing.  The zone didn’t do too hot in church either.  This Tuesday is Consejo (leadership training), the mission didn’t start the year too well so we will see what happens.  Thanks for all you do! 

Elder Hanson

Aguacate (avocado) picking with the APs hahaha

Elder Hanson and Elder Kendrick

Beach pictures from the Mission activity in January

Cambios, Multimision

Me and Elder Collado at the last zone meeting

Familia y Amigos,

Not much too exciting happened this week. I´ll try to make it as exciting as possible. I have some new comps so anyways on Tuesday we got the call for cambios, Elder Kendrick had changes, Elder Henriquez was dying and so me and Elder Avila were going to stay. They also let me know that I was going to be training. We went and said bye to everyone, Elder Kendrick was a little sad but all turned out well.

We got up super early and did the recorrido, going out to San Rafael, Diriamba, Masatepe, so much fun.  I was super exhausted and the cambios meeting also started early because of a worldwide mission capacitation that there was.  So I got my new companion, he is Elder Wagstaff, he is from Kaysville, Utah and went to Davis, he is the other ZL.  And my son (the 5th one) is Elder Lambson, he is from Cortez, Colorado.  He is good and seems like he will work hard.  We stayed there for that capacitation, and I liked how Elder Bednar talked about how we are the instrument of the Holy Ghost, lots of times we think the Holy Ghost is our instrument.  We need to do everything we can so that we can be worthy to be used.

Thursday was a normal day of working, we got to teach a couple of the people we have, the majority aren’t doing the hottest, but we are working to find more.

Friday I went to Diriamba to the district meeting.  Elder Kendrick got changes right over to Diriamba so it was fun seeing him.  The district is doing alright, this month we could make history here in Zona Carazo so all your prayers would be greatly appreciated.  The APs called and told us that Elder Avila was going to have changes so they came and picked him up.  We are now in a trio which makes things a lot harder.  We have plans for this week to go out and do divisions with the zone, it is going to be easier than when I was in Juigalpa in a trio.

Saturday we just committed people to church.  On Sunday we had an alright turnout, got blessed by the Lord, a couple people just showed up.  

But the most interesting was today.  We once again did not have P day due to a Multi Mission conference (like the 30th one) and Elder Christensen of the Presidency of the 70 came.  He can speak Spanish so that was cool.  He shared a couple of experiences and his main focus was on how we need to baptize people that are actually converted and not try to convince, force, or put pressure on people that aren’t converted just to do it.  The North and South Missons in Nicaragua are the highest baptizing in Central America, so a lot of what I just talked about is happening.  He asked our mission president and he said that like 60-70 percent are actually converts.  He also went over the devotional from Thursday.  It was overall pretty good, trying to keep my eyes open from the tiredness. I’m super tired.  That’s all that is going on, I hope you all have a great week, love you lots!

Elder Hanson

Diriamba is having a big party so the streets were super crowded

I forgot to send this photo last week, we surpassed our 2015 goal

I live in microbuses, Semana de Playa

Three Musketeers

Familia y Amigos,

I hope that all went well this week, mine was super crazy and it flew by. I am a little short on time so I am going to write quick.

Monday we didn’t have P day, it was just a normal day to work but we could write home and get the stuff we needed.  We got everything ready because Wednesday was going to be a crazy day going to Playa Gigante and back.  We talked to a couple of our investigators and tried to get them animated, it wasn’t the best day ever but we didn’t end too bad.

Tuesday I had to go to Diriamba to do an interview for the sister training leaders.  The lady tried lying to me hahahah.  She had to get married and was trying to tell me she and her husband had separated.... wasn’t true.  Everyone in the night was super excited for the next day, because the whole mission would be getting together at Playa Gigante.

Wednesday was a fun day, got to see all of the friends from the mission and we had a good time hanging out.  My companion wanted to leave super early, at 5 in the morning when we had to be there at 10.  They said we had to wait in Rivas until 10 if we got there early.  I calculated it out and I knew we were going to get there at 8:30.  I told my companion, he didn’t believe me so it wasn’t a big surprise when we showed up at 8:30 am and had to wait a while.  It was a cool day on the beach and president put the new goal.  It is going to be 2600 baptisms.... I know that we can do it, it is going to require a lot of work, but I know it is achievable.

Thursday I worked with the APs, we went around the whole zone animating people for baptism.  We visited that girl I had interviewed earlier in the week, and we committed her to get married, she said she was willing - we just had to talk to her husband.  It was a good time and some of the people we visited were super happy.  I love seeing the nicas smile and get excited because there is no way it doesn’t make you smile too.  Me and Elder Kleiner had some good laughs with them and it was a great day.

The next morning I had to get up super early to go to Diriamba because we had a cita (appointment) with the husband at 7am.  I showed up and it was like a 5 minute lesson, things went well.  We got that all set up and then I had to go all the way to Masatepe for a district meeting.  So many buses... I live in them.  Things went well the rest of the day.

Saturday was just committing people, and then Sunday was church.  The zone did super awesome and I am really happy how we are progressing.  On Sunday in the morning I also found one of my first converts.  She is active and things are going super well with her!  Every month with 5 weeks the zone that baptizes the most por misionero goes to a BBQ, and we have a legit shot so pray that we can get things going!!!  

Today I had a super fun p day with Elder Collado, his last one so we went big. I hope you all have a great week, love you!!!

Elder Hanson

Me and Merrill

With my convert on Sunday

P Day Fun

Elder Collado, my trainer, goes home this week

Consejo, San Rafael, we´re going to San Juan :)

Consejo with the pals (missing Naisbitt :()

 Familia y Amigos, 

This week was super crazy, not that much happened but it was a pretty fun week. Here’s what went down.

Monday I had an interview with president, that was fun and an after mission story :)

Tuesday I went down to San Rafael del Sur to work with Elder Collado and his district.  I did 3 interviews for him and got to work with Elder Petty.  Haha the interviews were all different and unique, the best part was that one of the guys I interviewed told me that he had 2 wives hahaha.  Silly Nicas. I still haven’t understood them.  Things aren’t going the greatest there, they are struggling to get the church started up so we have been trying to help them out.  I stayed the night there with them and got up in the morning to head back to San Marcos.

Wednesday was a really slow day, my companion had his last interview so just me and Elder Kendrick worked in the area. We got to talk to one of our investigators that is progressing, his mom who is a member doesn’t really want him to get baptized so we are working with that.  We couldn´t really find anyone so we said a specific prayer and asked the Lord that we could find someone.  We found this guy who was super nice, let us in and listened.  We had a couple other citas (appointments) with him throughout the week.  He didn’t end up going to church, but we are going to see what we can do there.

Thursday was consejo de liderazgo (leadership training.  It went well, we didn’t have the best month ever in December, but we have some pretty high goals set for here in January.  It is a month of 5 weeks, so we are trying to get everyone in that we can. I hung out with the usual people, some old companions and all that fun stuff.

Zona Carazo! Puro fuego.

Friday was zone meeting, we did it in Diriamba.  There is a nicer capilla (chapel) there and it went pretty well.  We have a pretty good zone so they are all working hard, and have good visions for right now.  That night we were working, and it was like 8:45, we were about to head back to the house but there was this house that caught my attention.  We went and contacted it and turns out it is a family to complete.  The wife was baptized a while ago and the husband has never listened to the missionaries.  They need to get married so we will be working with them.

Baptism

Saturday we had a baptism that was a blessing, this kid is the son of a convert who has been going to church for like 8 months but has never wanted to get baptized.  He finally did which was awesome.  He asked for me to baptize him so I did. We had a cool lesson with this family we are teaching.  We talked about the Book of Mormon and they were interested.  The wife in the family (they are married, miracle!) says she was presented in our church as a baby, who knows. That day we also had a cool visit with a less active.  He is super bitter about the church, doesn’t really have plans to go back. They have a rm son who is inactive and the whole family hasn’t been to church in forever.  We got there and I felt like I should share the sacrament prayers with him, it was super random because we weren’t talking about the sacrament or anything.  As he was reading the scripture the tears stared flowing, he couldn’t finish the scripture so his wife did.  He said it brought back a lot of memories but still doesn’t want to go to church. Oh well.

Sunday this old member died, so there was a funeral, we went for a little.  The family is super awesome and the lady had worked as a temple ordinance worker which was cool.  I went and did some interviews for Elder Nave and that was about it.  A couple new investigators came so that was nice.  All is well here and this week we are going to San Juan del Sur because we completed with the goal we had set as a mission for 2015, it was 2060 baptisms and we finished around 2140.  Number one in central America in baptisms/missionary :)  I hope you all have a great week, love you all!!

Elder Hanson

New Year!

Baptism this week

Familia y Amigos,

I hope you all had a super good new year, here things weren’t too different, hahaha.  This week not much happened and I am short on time so it is going to be quick, sorry!

This week we were mostly trying to find new people to teach.  We were mostly contacting, knocking houses and we got a couple of references from some members that all didn’t really turn out to be positive people.  We got to meet with a couple of people that are preparing for baptism, we have been trying to focus on them and visit them as much as possible.

On New Years Eve not too much happened.  A member invited us over for dinner in the night and some fireworks so we went over to her house and ate dinner and then did the fireworks, it wasn’t too special or anything and we just went back to the house to light off a couple of the fireworks we had too - hahah.  But it’s crazy because now it is 2016!!!

New Years Day not too much happened either.  In the morning we had district meeting so I went over to Diriamba to see how things were going there.  Nobody was home, and all of our citas (apt) fell through the day and no one was home so it wasn’t the most successful day either.

On Saturday we had a baptism of another daughter of a less active.  She is super pilas (awesome) and knows a ton.  She was supposed to get baptized in Nandaime (part of Zona Jinotepe) but Elder Copeland was telling me on his last Sunday there she hid. There were no problems with her and she was excited to make the step in her life.  

Sunday the turn out was super low, this week we are going to be looking a lot more, even though I have consejo (leadership training) and I also am going to San Rafael del Sur this week to interview a couple of people.  Should be a good week.  I hope you all are doing well, you’re in my prayers. Have a great week!

Elder Hanson

Me and President and Hermana Russell at the multizona navideña (here you go mom!)