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!

Week 17 - November 28, 2016 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Hello everyone! How y'all doin? It's been a very rewarding/challenging week here in Gallipolis, Ohio! Fetch. It's getting so cold here every day now but it gets me excited for Christmas. It's chill (literally lolz). Our Thanksgiving dinners were FIRE!! I wanted to throw all over the walls but it was still great! No, I didn't eat anything too weird. I was actually hoping I would haha! But it's chill! It's good to hear that the family is doing well. How old is Annie again? Could you give her a message for me? "My cousin is less than yours." She'll know what that means haha. And I also forgot to tell you guys! My companion, Elder Christensen is the District Leader. So I guess that makes me Assistant District Leader...or the Assistant TO the District Leader. (Only people that watch The Office will get that reference so don't beat yourself up if you don't get it lolz). He's super dope! We get along great! 

I miss putting up Christmas decorations but it's awesome to see everone here do it! I love it here! It's so pretty. And YES I received my watch on Monday of last week actually, right after emailing you. I guess the mail comes super fast here lolz! Thank you so much! I needed a new watch so bad, goodnessss.

We are almost done with the Book of Mormon! How are all you doing with the Book of Mormon challenge?? Thank you to all those who took on this challenge and those who are planning to! I know you will be greatly blessed because of it and your relationship with Heavenly Father will increase and your Testimony of Jesus Christ will be strengthened as well! 

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

Casey. She is so FIRE! She is progressing really well and we were going to set her on date for baptism last week but she got REALLY sick! Like it was bad. She couldn't even hold a 5 minute conversation without throwing up 3 times. So yesterday, I gave her a priesthood blessing with our Ward Mission Leader. It was an amazing experience and was such an honor. Hopefully she'll feel better so that she can continue to progress! Pray for her that she'll feel better and will still want to learn more! She's incredible! 

Donna. So I told you guys last week how we set her on date for baptism on January 14th. She's very committed! She's almost done with all the preparations for marriage! WAHOO! Yesterday she started crying because she was so excited to get married and then be baptized! Keep praying that she stays committed to that date and that everything goes well :)

Chance. So he's a new investigator we started teaching. He's 17 years old and lives with his mom who has cancer. Its just the two of them. He's going into the military but needs to take care of his mom first. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and then we shared the message of the Restoration. Then in like 3 days, we went back and he said he was 1/4 of the way done with the Book of Mormon! Whaaaat?? GG (good game) Chance! It was awesome! He said he loved it and wanted to know more! We're seeing him today so pray that everything goes well with him this next week :)

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So did you guys watch the LIGHTtheWORLD video on mormon.org? It talks about different ways we can serve others throughout the month of December and bring Christ back into Christmas. Every day in December there's a new challenge or a new way to serve someone the way Christ served. I'll list them off in my emails every week so you guys can participate in it! It's awesome! 



A Christmas Message from Mormon.org #LIGHTtheWORLD ...

mormon.org

Jesus Christ is a perfect example of serving others. We invite you this Christmas season to #LIGHTtheWORLD and to serve others as Jesus did.


-December 1: WORLDWIDE DAY OF SERVICE


-December 2: Jesus Honored His parents and so can you! (call parents, write a letter to your parents, etc.)


-December 3: Jesus Helped others to see and so can you! (point out a virtue in someone they don't see in themselves)


-December 4: Jesus worshiped his Father and so can you! (pray day and night, attend church, etc.)



FUNNY MOMENT:



So last night, Elder Christensen was on the phone with the Zone Leaders and literally out of nowhere he asks them, "Hey Elder Hanson would LOVE to recite D&C 4 at Zone Meeting this week. Can he do that? He's begging." I literally threw almost everything on my desk at him and then the Zone Leaders were like, "Oh yeah sure! Thanks Elder Hanson!" Elder Christensen just laughed and my salt level was off the charts! But then I realized I have D&C 4 already memorized so it's chill. Haha!



Thank you all for your amazing examples! I love you guys so much and I KNOW Heavenly Father does too! Hope you all have a great week :)


James 1: 5-6

3 Nephi 9: 14


- Elder Hanson

Elder Christensen

Handing out "Light the World" cards

Gallipolis lights

Week 16 - November 21, 2016 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Hello everyone! Wow this has been one crazy week with transfers, getting a new companion, finding people to teach, and seeing the progress of our investigators! First off, it's hecka cold here now. I have to wear a sweater over my shirt and tie now and I look like a nooooob. Haha it's chill though and it snowed for 30 minutes the other day. I love the snow though! Literally lolz. ANYWAY, yeah this week was amazing!


Sooooo how's the Book of Mormon reading coming along?? It's crazy to think that we are almost done with it! The reason I challenged you all to do the 8.5 pages a day Book of Mormon challenge is that I know God wants us all to be unified as followers of Christ. He knows how happy reading the Book Of Mormon will make you and He will bless you more than you can possibly imagine! 

Also, I have a new companion! Elder Christensen! He's sooooo sik! Just these past few days, he has truly helped me realize my full potential as a missionary. It means a lot! He's a hard worker, he's obedient, and we get along great so no worries here! He's been out 16 months. And yes, we have 3 Thanksgiving meals scheduled on Thanksgiving day so I think we're good haha!!

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

D----. She's doing great! We committed her to her baptismal date on January 14th! I know it's a little ways away but we know she will be ready with the marriage thing by then and she says that she is "DETERMINED to be baptized in January!" So keep praying for her that she WILL be ready by that date! 


B----. We were only able to teach him once this week. We did get to read with him Alma 7 which talks about baptism and following Jesus Christ. But for some reason, it just didn't feel right to ask him to be baptized at that moment. So... we are pretty sure we'll ask him to be baptized this week because he wants to follow Jesus Christ and is willing to do anything! Again keep praying for him that he will keep having the desire to follow Jesus Christ!


C----. Okay. HOLY COW! She is truly incredible! She came to church yesterday and we've only taught her once and that was on Friday! She said she just wants a church she and her daughter can call home. And yesterday at church she said that she did. She found home. Also, during gospel principles class, everyone was sharing their conversion stories and she basically shared her conversion story! She told everyone how she met us and how she already knows that this is where she wants to be! AHH! And we're planning on inviting her to be baptized today so we hope that goes well! Keep praying for her that she will continue to progress :) she's awesome!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

Okay so I've kind of already done this one but in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like you guys to write down a list of EVERYTHING you're grateful for. Literally anything you can think of. Then afterwards, share that list with a friend or family member and share why you're grateful for all those things! ALSO, on November 25th (friday), the new LDS Christmas initiative "LIGHT the World" video will be up on Mormon.org. I challenge you all to watch it! I've heard it's an incredible video!

FUNNY MOMENT:

So these past couple of days with Elder Christensen, I've been introducing him to investigators, members, etc. Literally every single time I introduced him to someone, they thought he looked like he was 18. Haha he's 19. And they would be like "And Elder Hanson, aren't you like 21?"  I would have to break the bad news to them every single time and say, "No. I'm a young one, 18." Elder Christensen got so frustrated at that and it was hilarious! This happened alot this week. Hahaha!

Thank you all for your amazing support! I love all of you so much! I am truly grateful for all of you in my life! I pray for you guys every single day and I can't thank you enough for your examples! Hope you guys have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving!

Helaman 3: 35
Helaman 5: 8-9

- Elder Hanson

Noah and Elder Christensen

Noah and his new companion Elder Christensen from Orem!

Week 15 - November 16, 2016 - Gallipolis, Ohio

Herro everyone! Okay so this week was kind of a slow week for us. I got a little bit of a cold on Friday and Saturday. Then Elder Hallewell got sick on Sunday and all of Monday! And let me tell ya, being sick on the mission stinks! Literally lol. But yeah, so not a ton happened this week but it was still a week full of many miracles and cray cray events!

So TRANSFERS! Transfers are this week and I found out on Sunday that I'm staying here in Gallipolis, OH. But, sadly, Elder Hallewell is leaving. He's going to Flatwoods, West Virginia. I also found out who my new companion is going to be! Elder Christensen! From what I've heard, he sounds like a dope guy. It's going to be weird taking over the area. I don't really feel ready for it but I know it will help me stretch and grow! So I'm pretty hyped!

How is the Book of Mormon reading coming along? I literally just finished Alma this morning! Fetch! That section is long haha! But I loved every word of it! 

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATORS:

R----. Okay soooo on Wednesday, R---- texted us and said that she wanted a break from us teaching her for a while. We were kind of shocked to be honest. She was progressing so well and then she just randomly texted us that. I think she just needs time to figure it all out! I'm not too worried about her! Things will pick back up eventually :) just pray that she figures everything out so that we can continue to bring her closer to Christ!

D----. So she's pretty set for January. She says that she's 100% sure that it's going to take until January to figure this whole marriage thing out. We made a list for her of the things she needed to do in order to get married! She said that now that she had a list, it will be easier to be motivated to accomplish the things she needs to do! She is really hyped for her marriage AND her baptism so just keep praying for her :) she's doing amazing!

C----. So this is a potential investigator that we came across but I want to tell you a little about her. She's a single mom who has one daughter. She just moved into this house. She yelled at us to come and talk to her and so we did. She said that she really wants to find that "right church" for her and her daughter because she can't seem to find the right one. So we gave her a Restoration pamphlet and she seemed REALLY excited about it! Haha! It was awesome! So we're gonna be teaching her a lot more this week! So I'll give you guys more of the deets on how that goes on Monday!

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:

So there's this Mormon message that I saw this week that really touched me. It's called "Because of Him". It talks about what Jesus Christ did and how literally everything is now possible because of him! It's truly amazing! I ask you guys to please watch it! It's so good! I promise it will lift your spirits if your feeling down or it will make you feel even better! 

FUNNY MOMENT: (not really funny more like traumatizing)

Haha okay so we met this kind lady this week and she lives in this tiny house. So Elder Hallewell and I stepped into her house and....oh my fetch. Bugs. Bugs literally EVERYWHERE! Roaches, spiders (of course), centipedes. You name it. But the traumatization doesn't stop there. I walk into her bedroom and I kid you not, two fetching spiders fall from the ceiling and onto my face. I SPRINTED out of that house. I just literally couldn't do it. I starting tearing up and my companion was pretty scarred too. She's a really sweet lady but MAN! Ugh okay I can't talk about this right now. I'm terrified just thinking about it.

Thank you all so much for your amazing support! Hope you all have a great week :) Love you all!

Alma 32: 16-18

- Elder Hanson

P.S. I think I can literally feel myself getting fatter. Ugghhhhhhhhhhhh. It's fine.

Methodists are funny about the election

Speedway is the BEST!

Beautiful OHIO sunset