Week 26 - January 31, 2017 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Hellooo everyone! Wow. I honestly can't believe I've been out for almost 6 months. It kinda feels like I have been out for that long but at the same time it definitely doesn't. I also have transfers next week. I will most likely get transferred haha! I find out on Saturday this week if I'm leaving or not! And President Salisbury kind of hinted at me yesterday during our interview that I'm probably getting a leadership position...soooo that's happening most likely. Haha. But this week has been awesome and cold! 

We FINALLY got a huge snow storm on Sunday! There's snow now! haha. It's super sketchy here though because the snow freezes to the roads and they have no idea how to plow the snow here haha! So pray that we don't slide lolz. Sorry mom. Didn't mean to worry you.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

The Rhodes family. It's a husband and a wife with 2 children. So we've been teaching these guys for a while now but they just hadn't made any progress. That is until last Sunday!! They came to church and stayed the full 3 hours and LOVED it!! Wahoo!! The wife has always had a lot of doubts about the church but now she can't wait to go back! We're teaching them on Wednesday this week and hopefully inviting them to be baptized! So pray that all goes well for them :)

Ariel. So we taught Ariel about Prayer and Scripture Study and committed both her and her atheist boyfriend to do both! We're going back Thursday to follow up with it but the boyfriend seems to be more and more interested every time we go over! So wahoo!!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

This week, I've taught a lot about temples. It's made me realize how blessed we truly are to HAVE temples. Especially out west where there are SO MANY! So my challenge for you is to go to the temple at least once this week. When you go, I promise you will be able to find true peace and comfort and you will feel a lot closer to your loving Heavenly Father. Man, I miss going to the temple.

FUNNY MOMENT:

So on Saturday, Elder Christensen was texting Ariel about setting up an appointment for later that night at 7. So then he texted a member asking him, "Hey brother white! Wanna come to a lesson with us to see someone who is in dier need at 7?" But he accidentally sent that to Ariel. I was like "You're kidding. Why did you say 'dier need'??" It was the most stressful 6 minutes of my life trying to fix that but we were able to eventually! haha! It's all good! Hopefully that funny moment made sense. Lolz.

Thank you all for your amazing Christ-like examples! I'm truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life! Love you all!

Alma 1: 25

- Elder Hanson

Elder Wilson and Noah

Huntington Bridge

One hour tracting in the rain!

After the snow!

Week 25 - January 23, 2017 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Heyyyy everyone! This week has been a pretty good week for me and my companion! We taught 21 lessons total this week which is straight NUTS in this mission haha! On average, I teach like 15 lessons a week. Soooo yeah this week was pretty bomb. I also went to this place called "Hill Billy Hotdog" and it's the most redneck place I've ever seen. Like I'm most definitely gonna send pictures because I can't put it into words how redneck this place was. But anyways.....

Jeffrey R. Holland taught, "However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have NOT traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement shines." Heavenly Father lovingly provided his perfect son Jesus Christ to be our Savior and perform the Atonement. It's because of Him that we can be forgiven and feel the peace that God wants us to feel in our lives. He knows exactly how everyone has felt, is currently feeling, and is going to feel in this life. It's only through Him that we can be saved and live in the presence of our gracious and merciful God again.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Ariel. She's is so fire!! We taught her the Word of Wisdom on Saturday and she was totally accepting of it. Around here, that's a really hard commandment to accept. She said that she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and whatever he says, goes. Heck yeah! We also met her atheist boyfriend this week and he's actually super chill but he doesn't want anything to do with us. We'll see. Just keep praying for her! She's doing great!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

3 Nephi 14: 7 "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." I've kind of already done this one before, but I feel impressed to do it again. Any question, concern, or doubt you have about anything, ask God. I promise that if you ask Heavenly Father with a sincere, humble, and open heart, he will answer you. He loves each of you so much and is more than willing to hear and answer your prayers. He is there.

FUNNY MOMENT:

So this is a story I heard about an elder in my mission that recently happened. So he was up at the pulpit at church giving a talk and he just started swaying back and forth. He started stuttering a lot and sweating. Then, his legs went straight noodle and he fainted. He woke up like 5 seconds later and said to the Bishop hovering over him, "I have to finish my talk!". He gets up at the pulpit and stares at the shocked congregation and says, "I don't remember anything that I've said the past 10 minutes, but I say it in the name of Jesus Christ amen." HAHAHA! An elder emailed me that story of his companion and I died!

The Patriots are in the Super Bowl?! Heck Yeah! Honestly, I'm in such a bubble I don't hear about ANYTHING. Like I didn't hear anything about the inauguration with Trump until yesterday. Thank you guys for your support and love that you've shown to me throughout my mission so far! I truly appreciate all of you and thank you all for being true followers of Jesus Christ! Have a great week!

3 Nephi 11: 9-11
Alma 34: 31

Elder Noah Hanson

My awesome District

District Meeting

Fun at Hillbilly Hotdogs

HillBilly Hotdogs

HillBilly Hotdogs

Inside of HillBilly Hotdogs

Week 24 - January 17, 2017 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Heyyy y'all! WOW what an incredible week! Donna got baptized and confirmed this weekend and it was incredible!! I'll talk more about it in a sec. We had 6 investigators come to church on Sunday which was super dope! Heavenly Father truly has blessed us a lot this week. No doubt about it! We got a referral also to place a Bible to a person named Holly. We are currently teaching her too!

So Donna's baptism. Holy cow. I've never felt the spirit more strong than I did in that moment. She came out of the changing room all in white and it was just incredible. When she was coming down into the baptismal font, she started crying. After I brought her out of the water, she looked at me with the biggest smile and said, "WE DID IT!" and gave me a hug. The whole baptismal service was just the best! She bore her testimony at the end of it and that was probably one of the most powerful moments I've ever experienced on my mission so far. She is amazing!

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Ariel. She came to church on Sunday! She said she really felt the spirit answer some of the questions and doubts she had. She believes everything we've taught her so far is true and she even told her boyfriend (the atheist) about it and she said it went, overall, well. He's not mad but he just doesn't want to take part in the lessons. We'll see about that. Haha! But yeah just keep praying that she keeps receiving answers to her prayers and that she'll be able to overcome any obstacles thrown at her.

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So we're all gonna have certain questions about the church throughout our lives. BUT if we exercise our faith and turn to God for our answers, He WILL answer us in his own way and time. Throughout this week, think of a question that you have about the gospel. Ponder and pray about it. Bring that question to church with you on Sunday and I PROMISE that any question you have will be answered as you listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

FUNNY MOMENT:

So as most of you know, I picked up a lot of different vocabulary from being a Student Body Officer. I say things like, "GG" (good game), "salty", and "guy" (I use guy when I'm describing an object instead of saying the actual name of the object). Well I still say all of those even out here on the mission and I've gotten everyone in my district and past districts to start saying those sayings. They all kind of hate me for it because they can't stop saying them haha! Anyways, I thought it was pretty funny realizing that this week haha!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers for our friends that we teach. You are all amazing and I hope you have a great week!

Alma 5: 45-47

- Elder Hanson

Noah and Donna and Elder Christensen

My Freakin' Cold sweatshirt from the Sister Missionaries

Donna and Billy at Donna's Baptism

Love my new sweatshirt!

Week 23 - January 9, 2017 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Hey all my peeps! I hope you all had an awesome week! My week was pretty great! Stressful, but great! Also, it hit like 5 degrees yesterday and we had to tract. So that was fun. And we had to get rid of the truck we were driving :( the missionaries in Hazaard, Kentucky took it. We now have a 2016 Toyota Carola haha! It's pretty fetching nice except it's white and so it looks dirty a day after we wash it which kinda stinks but it's ok! 

UPDATE ON OUR INVESTIGATORS:

Donna S. Or should I say "Donna D"? She got married on Saturday!! Wahoo!!! The wedding went really well! Planning for it was kinda stressful but it worked out! I'll send some pictures. She gets baptized this Saturday and I'm so excited for her! She asked me to baptize her. I truly feel so humbled and honored to have the privilege of baptizing her! She is so ready and has been waiting for this moment for a LONG time! So thank you all for your prayers and love for her! Keep praying for her that she will be ready for Saturday :)

Ariel. So she's new. We found her while tracting on Wednesday at 8:45 pm and she is so cool! We've already had two lessons with her and she believes it's all true! We'll set her baptismal date this week so pray it all goes well with her! She has a boyfriend who's atheist and he doesn't know she's been taking the discussions. Soooo yeah defs pray for her! That would be awesome!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So the theme for the youth this year is "Ask of God". It quotes James 1: 5-6 and there's a music video that the church does every year for the youth theme. I strongly encourage you all to watch this year's "Ask of God" mutual theme music video. It shows how the youth all over the world asked God different questions and HOW they all received their answers! It's incredible!

FUNNY MOMENT:

So it's like 9:30 at night right? And we hear a knock at the door. We were sketched out of our minds. So we answer the door and all we see is this big guy in all black carrying a AR-15 rifle. I thought, "So this is how it ends?" But turns out it was one of our neighbors wanting to show us the new gun he purchased! Haha! He's a cool guy but I was about ready to cry out of fear. But it's ALL GOOD!

Thanks for all your love and support! It truly means a lot! Always remember that Heavenly Father loves you and so do I! Stay strong and have a great week!! 

D&C 6: 34-37

- Elder Hanson

Donna's Family

Cake!

Noah Hanson - Wedding Planner/Missionary

Donna's wedding

Donna's Family

Celebrating with a HUGE Reeses!

Week 22 - January 2, 2017 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Happy New Year everyone! I literally don't understand how it's already 2017. Like how did that happen? 2016 feels like it lasted for approximately .2 seconds! Oh well. 2016 was one crazy, but incredible year! I got to be an SBO at Viewmont, prepare for a mission, graduate, then go on a mission! Super hyped to see what 2017 brings! We celebrated New Years by having some amazing Sparkling Cider and planning!

I'm super hyped for the new theme this month for the youth! James 1: 5-6. If any of you are struggling, confused, or worried, just ask God to help you. I can promise you that He will answer your prayers and. It might not be in the way you expect or in the timing that you want, but He WILL answer you! Not only that but it will also bring comfort to you. That's a promise!

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Donna. Okay I'm so hyped I can't even tell ya! Her wedding is this week and I honestly can't wait! Thing is, we have to plan the wedding...haha. I don't know if you guys know this but I've never planned a wedding in my fetching life. I guess they're a pretty big deal. But next week, on January 14th, she's getting baptized!!! Wahoo!! Keep praying that everything works out for her and her baptism! She's the best!

Chris. So I don't know if I've mentioned him before but he's awesome! He's had a ROUGH past and wants to change really badly and believes that the gospel can change him for the better. We've taught him a couple of times and he really enjoys it! Only problem is, his wife is not too happy we're teaching him. She does everything in her power to make sure we don't meet up with him. So please pray that her heart might be softened so that we can teach Chris and potentially her as well! 

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

Got any New Years Resolutions? Whether you do or you don't, why not have one that could bring you closer to your Father in heaven? Whether that's praying more sincerely, reading scriptures daily, or doing something good for someone once a day! I promise that as you strive to come closer to your Heavenly Father, you will feel a greater peace in your life. It's never too late to strengthen your relationship with Him.

FUNNY MOMENT:

So we walk into this sketchy house that's FULL of teenagers and there's 10 of them and they're all in a relationship with each other. So there's 5 couples. We introduce who we are and they seem pretty interested in what we have to say. My companion says, "What we teach you today will bless your life more than you can imagine." So my companion goes to reach for a Restoration pamphlet in his bag but instead pulls out a Law of Chastity pamphlet. I bend over laughing and he's just embarrassed. Literally it was my favorite thing ever. I laughed silently to myself throughout the rest of the lesson. Man it was so great!

Thank you all so much for being such a blessing in my life! Each one of you has made an impact on me one way or another. Love you guys! Hope you have a great week!

Matthew 5: 43-45
1 Corinthians 13: 2

- Elder Hanson

New Years and Sparkling Cider

Doing some planning while having some awesome cider!