Week 38 - April 24, 2017 - Princeton, West Virginia

Heyy y'all! So first of all, just wanted to update you guys on how much weight I've gained so far on my mish haha! I've gained literally 21 pounds! Haha! I weighed myself this morning and I was like, "Ohhhhhhh crud." I work out and everything but I guess I just like food too much. Anyways, just thought I'd update y'all on that. You're welcome.

I wanna remind everyone about the loving plan our Father in heaven has for us. It's called the Plan of Salvation. This plan tells us where we came from, why we're here on earth, and where we go after we die. As I've come to know this plan since I've been on my mission, it has given me so much hope! Why? Because it's given me an eternal perspective on things when times get tough. There's a reason it's called the "plan of happiness". I invite all of you to study up on Heavenly Father's plan for us. I promise you that you will gain a stronger testimony of the Plan of Salvation and a greater understanding of God's love for each of His children.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Christel. So the other day, we taught her the law of chastity. Man, that was a very interesting lesson. Her neighbors walked in right in the middle of the lesson! She invited them all to sit down and listen to what we had to say.....I was like, "Dang." Haha. It was a good lesson though. She committed to living that commandment so that's good! We also gave her a priesthood blessing that she could live it and everything. It was a huge testimony builder for her and for me as well! She didn't come to church though :( please pray for her that she'll be able to make the date May 13th for her baptism!

Vanessa. She came to church again!! Her baptism is next week and that's so crazy! She's progressed A LOT these past few weeks! We're really excited for her :) just keep praying that she'll be able to overcome any obstacles the adversary throws at her! :)

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

HOW DO I GET CLOSER TO GOD (part 2)? Diligent Scripture study. Thomas S. Monson taught, "If you are not reading the Book of Mormon, please do so now!" There's so much peace that comes from that book. It testifies of Christ. My challenge is that we all start reading the Book of Mormon again right from the very beginning! Remember how I extended that challenge to y'all a couple months ago? I'm doing it again! Start from the very beginning and read 6 pages a day! You WILL feel closer to God I promise!

FUNNY MOMENT:

So the sister missionaries in my ward here brought an investigator to church yesterday and he's 18 years old. He came up to me and shook my hand and said, "Hi my name's Kris. Yours?" I replied, "Elder Hanson." He looks at me in shock and says, "Whooooaaaaa man. You have the lowest voice on the planet!" I just laughed haha mainly because I'm awkward and didn't know what to say. Then he asked, "How old are you?" I replied, "18". His eyes went wide open. He's like, "DUUUUDE NO WAY! YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'RE 25!" Hahahaha! I died! That's happened to me quite a bit actually on my mission haha. His reaction was the best by far though!

Anyways, love all of you so much! I cannot thank you all enough for the wonderful examples that you are to me. Keep being awesome and have a great week :)

Alma 26: 36-37

- Elder Hanson

The Slender Man Forest

West Virginia is GREEN

Green West Virginia

My Princeton/Bluefield District

Week 37 - April 17, 2017 - Princeton, West Virginia

Heyyyy y'all! Hope you all had an amazing Easter! What a great time to remember the resurrection of our Savior and Redeemer. I'm so thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the true hope that it brings into my life. The knowledge that I have that someone knows EXACTLY what we have gone through, are currently going through, and will go through in the future brings me a sense of peace. He loves each of us so much! I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES!

Holy cow. Okay, it's SO GREEN here! Haha! This is the first time I've been able to see West Virginia in it's "green" stages! My camera was being super weird this week so I haven't gotten a chance to take pictures of it but I will send some next week!! Literally it's so pretty! But if you're DYING to see what it looks like, just google it. Haha! 

Yes! I got mom's package :) (Easter Basket) it was awesome! Except a lot of the eggs broke and candy went everywhere! Haha! I thought it was funny :)
So transfers are on May 4th. So I'll skype for Mother's Day AFTER transfers. 
I'm glad to hear Easter was good :) I miss that tradition of going to grandma's house! Looks like it was fun :)

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Vanessa. So it's been a while since I've mentioned her. She kind of fell off the face of the earth for a little bit but now she's back! She came to church yesterday and her baptismal date is May 6th! It's really really soon so if y'all could pray for her that would be great! She is such an incredible person! 

Christel. (I spelled it wrong last week and said "Crystal" lolz). So she's still super awesome! Unfortunately, she didn't come to church yesterday :/ but she was in the emergency room so that's why. I don't know what exactly happened but as far as I know, she's okay! Haha! She is fully committed to being baptized though! Just keep praying for her that she'll make her baptismal date May 13th! :)

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So a lot of people have been emailing me and asking me, "How do you get closer to God? How come missionaries are so happy and so close to God?" So for the next couple of weeks, I'm gonna do a "HOW DO YOU GET CLOSER TO GOD?" sections of my email too haha! But to start it off, I'm gonna give a simple primary answer. Prayer. When was the last time that you truly felt a connection with heaven while you prayed? My challenge is that, during the good and the bad times, you KNEEL! "The distance between you and Heavenly Father is as close as your knees are to the ground." Pray to Him. He wants to hear you and what you're going through. Turn to him for EVERYTHING! I promise that you will feel his love surround you. 

FUNNY MOMENT: (more like a "gag me" moment)

So for those of you who don't know, I HATE mayonnaise. Like I hate it with a passion. Anyways, we were at our ward mission leader's house last week and they always feed us. This time, it was GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES. I was like, "Yes! Grilled cheese is so fire!" But as I'm eating the grilled cheese, I notice that it tastes a little funny. It tasted more creamy than cheesy. I looked at the sandwich and I noticed that they had just SHOWERED the grilled cheese sandwich with mayonnaise. I started gagging. I tried to hide it as best I could. I definitely think Heavenly Father helped me get through the meal. Cuz I have no clue how I did it haha!

Anyways I hope you guys have a great week :) remember that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you, and so do I :)

2 Nephi 32: 8

- Elder Hanson

Week 36 - April 10, 2017 - Princeton, West Virginia

Whattup y'all! I hope you've all had a great week! This week has probably been one of the most eventful weeks since I've been here in Princeton. And that's not a joke haha! Heavenly Father has blessed me and my companion so much this week I don't even know where to begin. I've also developed a very important Christ-like attribute this week that I will mention later on in this email lolz. But yeah this week has been, overall, pretty awesome.

I feel impressed right now to talk to all those who want to serve a mission but either cannot go for certain reasons or just feel that a mission is not for them. I saw a quote by Brigham Young this week and he said, "There is neither man or woman in this church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote righteousness, to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain eternal life." We are ALL on a mission. Being on a mission doesn't mean you go somewhere in the world and wear a name-tag and preach the gospel. Your mission could be within the walls of your own homes and to lift those around you. Whatever the case may be, just know that Heavenly Father has a specific mission and plan for YOU.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Crystal. OH MY GOSH SHE'S SO FIRE!! We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation this week and she said something after that lesson that has just made this week so amazing. She said, "As you guys were teaching me this, I felt as if I already knew it. But thing is, I haven't ever heard of this before. I feel that it's true. Thank you." We set her on date for baptism for May 13th!! Wahoo! We're really excited for her :) just please pray that she'll be able to have the desire to continue to read the Book of Mormon and make that date :)

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So as I mentioned in the beginning of the email I've really started to develop a Christ-like attribute. That attribute is forgiveness. I've had a really hard time these past few weeks with certain people on my mission and I've realized that I was holding on to so much needless pain and sorrow. I chose to forgive those people and I've never felt so light. It was as if a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders. I challenge all of you this week to please forgive others. Forgive those who have wronged you even if it's hard. Seek for forgiveness. Forgive yourself. You will be so much happier and you will begin to see others the way that God sees them. I promise.

FUNNY MOMENT:

So after district meeting last week, we played a game where we all had to bring a baby picture of ourselves and everyone had to guess who the baby was. Haha. So when my baby picture was shown to my district, one of the sister missionaries gasps and says, "WHOA! That is a CHUNKY baby!" I literally was like, "Are you kidding me?" But it's true. I was chunky. I'll send a pic of the baby picture in this email so y'all can see how big of a tub-o-lard I was. 

Thank you all soooo much for your love and support. I truly love all of you and I hope y'all have an incredible week! 

D&C 98: 1-4

- Elder Hanson

A younger Elder Hanson

Week 35 - April 3, 2017 - Princeton, West Virginia

Hey y'all! Haha okay first of all, can I just say how much I love saying "y'all"?? I've gotten into the habit of saying y'all at the end of every lesson now! I can't help it! But I really love it at the same time. Literally, I don't think I'll be able to stop saying "y'all" for a long while now haha! Second of all, happy birthday Erik on the 8th!! Lol.

So as y'all know, General Conference was this weekend and OH MY GOSH! It was incredible! I hope y'all took that challenge I extended last week to heart about taking notes during conference! Because man! If that wasn't note-worthy I don't know WHAT is! One of my favorite talks was when our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson, talked about how "If ye have not charity, ye are nothing." As a missionary, you find that it's much easier to love the person that you're teaching if you look at them the way that God would see them. No matter the outward appearance or the mistakes they've made, as long as you look at the way God sees them, you'll love them. Without fail.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Michael W! Okay so y'all remember last week when I talked about how Michael left a note on our door? Well we were able to see him twice this week and even put him on date for baptism! We set him on date for April 29th! He is SO ready to get baptized! We still have to teach him quite a bit before that date obviously but he's incredible! Just pray that he makes that date and prepares himself to make that sacred covenant with God :)

Crystal. So she's another new investigator that we found this week :) She, like Michael, is AMAZING! We met her at the food bank that we volunteer at and she told us all about her trials that she was going through. Long story short, she invited us to come over and so we did! She loved the Restoration lesson and didn't want us to leave! She said "This is what I've been waiting for. This is what's going to help me! Thank you!" Ah! She's awesome! She also said that she wants to get baptized :)

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So I don't know if y'all are aware or not, but the church has come out with a new EASTER INITIATIVE! The initiative is #PrinceOfPeace. And there's a video, like the #LightTheWorld video, on mormon.org. The video talks about how everything that Christ did while he was on the earth, was to bring us peace. And my challenge to y'all this week is to watch that video and SHARE it with someone! Not just share it on social media (but you can do that too). But to tell share it with a specific person and then share your testimony on Jesus Christ and how he's brought peace into your life! It's an incredible video!


FUNNY MOMENT:

So on Tuesday, we had zone conference. And there was a part in zone conference when we all had to make a paper airplane and throw it as far as it would fly. I was pretty proud of the airplane that I made cuz I couldn't remember how to make one in the first place haha! But it looked pretty dang sweet and I was SURE mine would go the farthest. When it was time to throw it, I threw mine with full confidence and it, no joke, went straight up in the air and landed 5 inches in front of me. Needless to say, I was pretty salty for about two seconds. Then I died laughing! Haha!

Thank you ALL for your amazing support and love! I love all you so much and I KNOW that Heavenly Father does too! Have a great week :)

"Why should we love God?...God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God! For what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are--and who we will become." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

- Elder Hanson

Noah and Elder Crook at Zone Conference

The Sister Missionaries in our Ward

Love getting letters!

Hey someone finally spelled my name right

Greg Jensen and Noah at Zone Conference in Pembroke, Virginia

Elder Carlton and Noah