Week 78 - January 29, 2018 - Buena Vista, Virginia

Ayyyy y'all!! Okay time is so weird. I literally feel like I was JUST writing you guys a new email like yesterday. And because this week went by so fast I don't know what to put as my subject title so i'm currently having my good friend help me out with that. So shout out to her. 

Also, this week I was thinking about it...and I honestly cannot wrap my brain around the fact that I hit 18 months this week. I was thinking of all the memories and relationships I've gained on the mish and I could not be more grateful for this experience. These next 6 months are gonna fly by so I'm gonna make the most of it!! Let's goooooo.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Larry. He's doing better! He is just currently finding a job that pays pretty good so that he can start paying child support. That's his biggest hold up. We're playing basketball with him today for Pday so we'll get to talk to him more about it. Just keep praying for him please. He needs it.

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So I'm gonna attach a video to this email. The video is about Christ-like attributes. The challenge this week is picking a different christ-like attribute to work on from the list the video gives! That's our purpose on Earth right? Become more and more Christ-like and eventually become perfected in Him.

YOUTUBE: Christlike Attributes

FUNNY MOMENT:

So I was at a member's house for dinner on TUESDAY and man was I tired. They asked me to give the prayer and so as I was saying the prayer I said, "We are grateful for this beautiful sabbath day.." and then to top it off I said at the end, "Please bless this home that it may nourish us and strengthen us and do us the good that we need."....yeah I was tired. Also, don't let your prayers become routine. Moral of the story hahaha.

I sure do love all of you. Thank you for everything and I hope y'all have a good week :) stay safe and keep on keepin' on!!

"You can either become bitter or you can become better through God."

- Elder Noah Hanson

Distorted Faces

Trump/Pence goin' strong

Exchanges with Elder Sorenson

Week 77 - January 22, 2018 - Buena Vista, Virginia

New Mission Home Address:

West Virginia Charleston Mission
839 Chestnut Street
South Charleston, West Virginia  25309

Noah's Mailing address:

Elder Noah Hanson
2754 Maple Ave, Apt E20
Buena Vista, Virginia  84416

Hey y'all!! What a week it has been holy cow. We drove to Charleston for MLC (mission leadership council) on Wednesday and that's like 500 miles there and back to Buena Vista. It was a good meeting though! Also, the weather here is super bipolar. Like Utah. It was 15 degrees on Friday and then it shot up to 60 degrees yesterday. It's been an adventure let me tell ya haha.
Heck Yeah the PATRIOTS are in the Super Bowl! People are gonna hate me but whatever right? haha. I am sure I'll hear all about it!

Something very important that I learned from a member and a couple of missionaries this week: Don't relive sins. What I mean by that is don't constantly think of the mistakes you've made in the past. Because if you do that, then you won't be able to truly move on. Yes, use them as a reminder of what you learned from that experience but move on. You don't live there anymore. The Atonement can have a much bigger impact on you if you let things go and forgive yourself. 

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Buck & Sue. They're new investigators and they're an older couple. They've been taught by missionaries in the past and they were VERY grateful that we came by and taught them again. They said they're very set in their ways but they are willing to do anything we ask them to do...so we'll see how that goes! :)

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So I've done this one before but the challenge this week is to list ALL the strengths that you think you have. And then ask someone else what your strengths are too. Because we always focus so much on what we need to improve on but take a moment to think about what your strengths currently are! That way you can bless someone else's life with those strengths. 

FUNNY MOMENT:

So basically, the funny moment this week is just an Elder Garrett quote because this kid is freaking hilarious with everything he says. So every night, after we say our prayers, Elder Garrett and I do something called "pillow talk" for those that don't know what that is, we just lay in our beds and talk about anything and everything for a good while before we say "goodnight and love you" and go to bed. Haha weird I know. But we always regret it in the morning cuz we're so tired haha! So a couple nights ago we get in our beds and I prepare for the pillow talk session and I hear him go "Well we should probably say goodnight and love you before we keep talking." And that was the end of the conversation hahaha!

I sure do love all of y'all! Keep on keepin' on! Stay safe and stay true!

D&C 121: 7-9

- Elder Noah Hanson

At the MLC conference

MLC conference with Noah photo bombing

Fun district meeting

The road to Charleston is LONG!

Mates at the conference

Hey we woke up!

Love Lincoln!

On splits with Elder Basteen

Week 76 - January 15, 2018 - Buena Vista, Virginia

Whattup whattup whattup y'all! It's your boi Elder Hanson just chillin over here in Buena Vista! It was a pretty good week here! We finally got our car back this transfer. I've gone a whole 6 weeks without a car basically and I just wanna say bless those who don't have cars on their missions. More power to ya. So now we can actually see more people throughout the day instead of having to walk everywhere haha! I'm loving it here!
I'm hyped for the Patriots! There's a member here that loves the Patriots and he updates me about them too. Wahoo!

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Larry. So he's doing awesome still! He got really excited this week about his baptismal date for February 9th! It's the first time he's actually been excited for his baptism. He just didn't fully understand the reason why he needed to be baptized until we talked a little more about it this week. So keep praying for him! He's doing great!

We're currently working with the members here (there's a lot) to help us find more people to teach. Please pray that we'll be able to find more people to teach and bring them closer to Jesus Christ!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

Yesterday, I got to watch the YSA conference yesterday with Elder Uchtdorf speaking. It was so good! I highly recommend looking it up when you can. He talked about how you can't connect the dots (events that happen in your life) looking forward. You can only connect the dots looking backwards. He was talking about how even if we don't feel like God's guiding and directing our lives, when we look back, we can definitely see that he WAS directing us all along. It was such a good talk! That's the challenge this week! Look up that talk! I promise you won't regret it!

FUNNY MOMENT:

So there we were. Just trying to bring people closer to Jesus Christ by tracting a street in Buena Vista, and out of nowhere, we looked to our left at this house we had knocked on before. What did we see? A life-size, decapitated Santa Claus. I guess when they say that Christmas is over, it's OVER. I'll send pics.


ELDER GARRETT QUOTE OF THE WEEK: 
"I don't normally do this but part of me just really wants to wing it." (we didn't don't worry).

I sure do love you guys so much! Thank you for everything you've done for me! Keep on keepin' on and stay strong! Have a good one!

2 Nephi 32: 8-9

- Elder Noah Hanson

Whole Armor of God

Dew Pong

On Splits

We found a decapitated Santa

I Guess Christmas is REALLY over!

Week 75 - January 8, 2018 - Buena Vista, Virginia

Hey y'all! So sorry I don't have much time but I'll give you as much detail as possible and sorry if you see spelling mistakes because i'm typing like a frickin cheetah right now so bear with me. Transfers are this week and Elder Garrett and I are staying together for another six weeks! I'm super hyped! I love that kid!! Also it's really cold here. I know I talk about that like every week but I really don't like it when the temp says it's 20 degrees but the wind makes it like 0 degrees. Hahaha but we're just chillin. It's fine. 
Dad is being released from the Bishopric? That's going to be weird not having him on the stand, but hey he gets to sit in his fav spot again so woot woot!

Also, as most of you know, President Monson passed away. I'm going to miss him and his Christ-like manner. I know without a doubt that he was a prophet of God. He will be missed dearly but the Lord's work will go on and it won't slow down! God's in the details. The members here are coping better than I thought they would. The Plan of Salvation is real so that's been comforting to me.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Larry. So we weren't able to see him this week but he has been reading the Book of Mormon! That's been a struggle for a while but he's finally doing it! So he's progressing slowly but surely. Just keep praying for him and his progression!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

When was the last time you went to the temple? Well, regardless of the answer, I challenge you to go this week! But bring a family name with you! 

FUNNY MOMENT:

So y'all know who Dwight Schrute is right? The guy from The Office? Anyways, Elder Garrett this morning decided to do Dwight's hairstyle. And he's going around like that the whole day today. I'll send a picture of him hahaha. It's so great!

I sure do love y'all! Stay safe and have a great week :) keep on keepin' on!

Moroni 10: 32

- Elder Noah Hanson

On Splits

Tracting in Buena Vista

Fun on splits

Elder Garrett

Weel 74 - January 1, 2018 - Buena Vista, Virginia

Happy New Year y'all!! It's honestly mind-blowing to me that it's now 2018...I can't comprehend time any more on the mission. I literally come home this year...ahhhh heck I'm not even gonna think about that. Anyways, this week was COLD. Like on a scale of 1-10, it's cold as 10 here. It's all good though. I just can't talk in the cold so it's a tad bit awkward tracting now because I slur my words together it's fine. The Spirit will back up my slurs. It's so cold I'm just numb all the time. haha Anyways.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Larry. So we set him back on date for baptism for February 9th. He is starting to understand that he needs to have a DESIRE to obey commandments instead of just obeying them to obey them. He's coming a long way! Please continue to pray to him. He's going through some struggles right now.

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

Got any new years resolutions? I know a lot of them don't exist after March usually but hey! How about a new years resolution to develop a certain Christ-like attribute? Like faith, hope, charity, virtue, knowledge, humility, obedience, etc. Pick one attribute and work on it for the rest of the year!

FUNNY MOMENT:

So we were on exchanges with the Lynchburg, VA elders this week and I realized it had been a while since I've played Dew Pong. So that's naturally what we did. We played...until  we all threw up. All 4 of us threw up. If you want me to send you a video of me tasting Mountain Dew after I had already swallowed, hit me up with an email. But if not, your loss.

Love you guys! Thanks for everything and thanks for the love and support :) keep on keepin' on!! 

Mosiah 4: 9

- Elder Noah Hanson

On Splits with Elder Rudd

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!