Week 21 - December 28, 2016 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Hey y'all! I truly hope you all had an awesome Christmas! Thank you ALL who sent me packages and letters wishing me a Merry Christmas! Truly meant a lot!! And always remember, that just because Christmas is over now doesn't mean we shouldn't think about Christ and serve like Christ did throughout the year! But anyway, Christmas DAY was pretty good! I got to skype my familia which was pretty sweet :) however, Christmas EVE was a different story. Also, I found out that I will be in Gallipolis for another 6 weeks since neither me nor my companion were transferred. Yeah! Now I can stay for hopefully the baptisms of people we have been teaching for so long.

So Christmas Eve, I woke up with a huge stomach ache. I thought it would just go away after a while but it didn't. Then (that's right, you guessed it) I threw up like an hour later. I had the stomach flu lolz. I literally laid in bed all Christmas Eve. haha. However, throughout this experience, I've gained a strong testimony on how the trials we face in this life are for our benefit. As I laid there in fetching agony, I thought of the lyrics to one of my favorite songs now, "Blessings" by Laura Story. At the very end of the song she says, "What if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise?" I know that Heavenly Father was aware of my situation and helped me gain that testimony of how hardships are for OUR good. Even when we don't realize it.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Kasey. She's doing great! I'm seriously so hyped that she's back! She is just struggling right now with her parents because they're druggies and she's not. And they tempt her DAILY. She's very strong though and very faithful so just keep praying that she'll still be able to overcome those temptations as she prepares for baptism on January 28th!

Donna. We are still currently trying to figure out a wedding plan for her haha. It's kind of weird to plan a wedding as a missionary. Like what the literal do you do? But it's ok! The ward's helping out! Anyways, she's doing really good! She gets married next week!!! WAHOO!!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

Listen to the song "Blessings" by Laura Story. It's honestly one of my favorite songs now. It helped me so much! It's also helped me understand how sometimes the Lord blesses us and we don't even realize it and that every trial we face throughout life are "mercies in disguise".

FUNNY MOMENT:

So this morning, our phone goes off and my companion picks up the phone and looks at the text. As I'm studying, he tells me, "Hey Elder. (Investigator) needs a Chastity pamphlet." I was like, "What? Why?" He said, "Well here's what they said. 'Hey guys. Y'all have a chastity pamphlet I could borrow? I really could use one right now.'" We both just sat there in silence for a solid 10 seconds. Then we both burst out laughing and then reply, "Sure.". Haha! 

Thank you all for your love and support for me! I love you guys so much and I hope you all have an incredible week! Talk to y'all on Monday!

John 16: 33

- Elder Hanson

My fun district at Christmas!

Thank you for all of my great gifts!

View of my street

Park near our home in Gallipolis

Week 20 - December 19, 2016 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Everyone,
Okay how in the world is it already almost Christmas? That's nuts! I guess it just doesn't look like Christmas here because there's no snow lol! But it sure is cold as fetch! Hawt dang! It makes it really difficult to stay motivated when it's cold BUT I've found that if I push myself just a little farther even when it's cold, then that's when the blessings come! I know that to be true! Anyways WOW it's Christmas on Sunday holy crap that went by fast. I'll be Skyping with you at 1:30 PM your time on Sunday. Can't wait!

I hope you guys have been remembering the true meaning of Christmas as you've strived to serve as the Savior did with this LIGHTtheWORLD challenge!

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Hey good news!! Kasey's back! So apparently she was just struggling with Word of Wisdom problems and felt guilty talking about it with us and so she avoided us for a little bit. BUT we were able to contact her again and teach her! It went really well. She still wants to be baptized and knows that the church is true! Her baptismal date is gonna have to be postponed but I'm just happy we get to see her progress again! Keep praying for her that she'll be able to overcome any temptation that might be thrown her way!

Donna. She's great!! It's actually pretty fun right now because we're planning her wedding on January 7th! AH! I'm so happy for her! Thank you guys for your prayers for Donna. Keep praying for her though that she'll be able to have the strength and the good health to be baptized on January 14th!

CHALLENGES:

Dec. 19: Jesus Calmed the Storm and So can you! (review emergency response plans with your family)
Dec. 20: Jesus saw potential in others and so can you! (help someone who's struggling in any way, take a child to work with you)
Dec. 21: Jesus forgave others and so can you! (make a list of grudges you have and let them go, be kind to those who have wronged you)
Dec. 22: Jesus showed gratitude and so can you! (offer a prayer only full of gratitude, let someone know how they've impacted your life)
Dec. 23: Jesus was a Peacemaker and you can be one! (apologize to someone you've wronged , don't gossip for a whole day!)
Dec. 24: Jesus cared for his loved ones and so can you! (leave an anonymous gift for a family member or friend, enter all your friends' birthdays into your mobile device)
Dec. 25: Jesus's Disciples followed Him and so can we! (Turn some of the 25 day challenges into New Years resolutions, find a picture of Christ and hang it up in your room)

FUNNY MOMENT: (more like traumatizing)

At church yesterday, a member (who is little bit on the cray cray side), came up to us and said, "Elders, hold out your hands and close your eyes." Immediately I thought, "Oh fetch." But we did anyways and 5 seconds later I feel something slimy. I literally say, "What the heck is that??" I open my eyes and it's a dead 15 inch snake. He says, "I found it this morning in my air vent." It smelled SO BAD. Oh my gosh. My companion was traumatized and I was just in shock.

Thank you all so much for your love and support you give me each week and every day! Truly blessed with the best family and friends! Love you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Mosiah: 3: 19
Alma 53: 20-21

- Elder Hanson

My Companion studying hard

District Meeting!

My District is awesome!

Not all serious at our meetings!

Using a fake dead guy to scare an Elder who was visiting

My companion getting the "dead" guy ready

Week 19 - December 12, 2016 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Hey everyone! Okay soooo this week was definitely one of those rougher weeks for sure. I'll tell you all why in a minute BUT I wanna start off with something positive! CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE! What the heck? Gosh time flies! Passing out those "LIGHTtheWORLD" cards has honestly been one of the funnest things ever! Cuz you just basically walk up to someone and say "Hey do you want a Christmas card?" And 9 times out of 10 they'll say yes! Christmas is honestly the best. We actually did do a sub for Santa thing this week at some FedEx company haha! It was awesome! I finally (kind of) know how to wrap presents! Also, great to hear Jeff Grandia dressed up like the Grinch for the ward party there! haha

Have you guys been sharing the LIGHTtheWORLD video with other people? And have you been doing the different acts of service challenges throughout the month so far? I promise that as you do so you will grow to love other people more and more and we'll be just that much closer to bringing Christ back into CHRISTmas! 

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Sooooo Kasey. I really don't like putting negative things in my emails but here we go. Kasey dropped us. Like literally out of nowhere. We taught her the Word of Wisdom on Tuesday and she knew that it was a commandment and gave us all of her coffee that she had. The next day she texts us 10 minutes before our lesson with her and says, "Guys I can't do this. I hope you understand". She's been ignoring us completely since then and we literally have no clue what happened. We had to cancel her baptismal interview and everything and it was just really tough. BUT I'm optimistic and I know she'll come around sooner or later! Everything needs to be done in God's time and I know that. Just keep praying for her.

Christine. So she's a new investigator kind of. We just haven't taught her in a LONG time! But we finally got to teach her on Friday night and we invited her to be baptized. She said "YES YES YES YES YES YES YES A MILLION TIMES YES!" Haha! It was awesome! We haven't set a specific date for her yet but we will this week so just pray for her that she'll be prepared to be baptized soon! She's truly an awesome lady.

Jenine and her family. So listen to this. This is cray. So Jenine and the rest of her family are new investigators and we taught them the restoration. But we thought we'd be teaching just her little family but nope. We taught 13 people total in that one lesson because Jenine and her daughters invited friends and neighbors to come listen!! AH! We're seeing them later today and we'll hopefully invite them to be baptized! It's fetching crayyyy! I'm so hyped!

CHALLENGE(S) OF THE WEEK:

Here are the challenges for the LIGHTtheWORLD initiative for the week :)

Dec. 12: Jesus taught others and so can you!
Dec. 13: Jesus showed Humility and so can you!
Dec. 14: Jesus clothed the naked and so can you!
Dec. 15: Jesus worshiped through song and so can you!
Dec. 16: Jesus showed compassion and so can you!
Dec. 17: Jesus cared for His Mother and so can you!
Dec. 18: Jesus Honored the Sabbath and so can you!

FUNNY MOMENT:

So yesterday, we had like 3 appointments fall through in a certain area and we decided to work that area for a little while and tract. So the very first door that we knock on, a very salty looking man answers. So we explain who we are and everything and then my companion asks him what his name was. He replies, "Does that matter?" It was sooo clear as day that he wasn't interested in the slightest so I just asked, "Is there anything that we can do for you and your family?" He replies, "Yes. Get off my porch and move on." My companion just turns around and walks away and so I smile and say, "Alright well you have a good day sir." He then replies, "Don't tell me what to do!" And shuts the door. I DIED laughing! Hahaha! It was so great. 

Anyways, thank you all for your incredible support! Thank you for being such great examples to me! Love you all and hope you have a straight FIRE week!

Moroni 9: 6
Ether 12: 12-19

- Elder Hanson

Week 18 - December 5, 2016 - Gallipolis, Ohio

CHICKEN NO SEAFOOD

Wow this week was stressful! But it was also very rewarding! It's insane to think that I've been out for 4 months! Whaaaat? Fetching cray. ALSO, we met this guy named Justin at a less actives house and he RAPS GOSPEL!! We taught him the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he said he believed it all and then right before we left, he stopped us and said "Hey! Y'all wanna hear somethin?" Then he started spittin straight gospel fire at us and was actually really good! If at all possible, look him up on youtube.

 My driving isn't as bad as I thought it'd be! lolll. I'm actually super fire at driving here even though the roads are narrow as fetch! Seriously, the roads in Utah are so wide it isn't even funny. That's awesome to hear how you had the missionaries over for dinner. Trust me. Missionaries LOVE IT when we get fed by members. So keep doing it!! Gronk's out for the year??? Fetch! That stinks. Brady is still fire becoming the winningest NFL QB of all time!!! Go Patriots!!

I finished the Book of Mormon! How are you guys doing with that challenge?? Crazy to think that I gave that challenge almost 3 months ago! Hopefully you've seen the blessings that come from reading the Book of Mormon and hopefully your testimony has grown about the truthfulness of it. 

UPDATES ON INVESTIGATORS:

Kasey. Okay so she is why this week was so stressful haha but I don't mean that in a mean way! She's still so FIRE and she accepted the invitation to be baptized! We originally set her on date for December 17th but then literally today we decided to move it to December 21st. We moved it because she has only come to church once and we'd have to teach her ALL the lessons by Friday this week. That would mean we teach her every day this week which wouldn't be possible. BUT she is for sure getting baptized on the 21st! So just keep praying for her that she can prepare well for that date! Yes!

Brian Coleman. So he's a new investigator we picked up this week through a member. We taught him the restoration of the gospel on Tuesday and he said he believed all of it to be true and wanted to be baptized! AHH! So we set him on date for December 31st! Hopefully I don't get transferred before then or I'll be as sad as I was when I found out Dobby died in Harry Potter. Anyway, he's so sik and he came to church yesterday and was really involved with everything! It was awesome!

CHALLENGE(S) OF THE WEEK:

So my challenges throughout December will just be the LIGHTtheWORLD challenges! They are new ways to serve like Christ did every single day in December! Hopefully you guys have watched the LIGHTtheWORLD video and can already see how doing service for others is a simple way to bring Christ back into Christmas!

Dec. 5: Jesus healed the sick and so can you! (sign up to be an organ donor, pray for someone that's sick)
Dec. 6: Jesus read the scriptures and so can you! (study the scriptures in the morning, post favorite scripture on social media, text a scripture to someone who's feeling down)
Dec. 7: Jesus fed the hungry and so can you! (Invite a neighbor to dinner, read John 6: 35)
Dec. 8: Jesus prayed for others and so can you! (say a prayer for someone struggling, pray as a family for loved ones)
Dec. 9: Jesus visited the lonely (invite a widow or widower to dinner, call someone you know is feeling lonely)
Dec 10: Jesus Helped people to walk and so can you! (help an elderly person cross the street, donate old crutches)
Dec 11: Jesus Ministered to children and so can you! (purchase a picture of Jesus for your child or sibling's room, teach your child or sibling about how much Jesus loves them)

FUNNY MOMENT:

Okay so most of you know that I'm allergic to seafood right? So anyway, we went to a chinese buffet on Saturday and our waitresses name was Junie. She barely spoke english. I tried to explain to her how they need to be careful when cooking my chicken along with seafood next to it so that it doesn't touch my chicken. She was SO confused. She finally just looked at me like I was stupid and said "You confused bout chicken? No worry. Chicken is not seafood." I finally just gave up and said "Ok." Haha! Don't worry I'm fine! My chicken was not seafood! 

Thank you all for your love and support! I love all of you so much and pray for you guys every day! Have a great week!

Ether 12: 27
Moroni 8: 3 (a message from me to you guys)

- Elder Hanson

My favorite "BIRD" tie!

Holding my end up in Gallipolis

Me and Elder Wasden on a split

Me and Elder Wilson - He's the Best!