April 29, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Rio Verde ~ Week 14

Dear Family,

So this week was interesting. We had a baptism planned on Saturday but it fell through.  His name is Wellington and he is an investigator that Elder Lima had been teaching and working with before I came. Wellington had a problem drinking and smoking, so Elder Lima and the other Elder helped him stop and he was doing really well. But unfortunately on the very day of his baptism, he drank AND smoked. Elder Lima was so frustrated. The Adversary works hard on people when they are so close to being baptized. All we can do is pray harder and work harder.

My District

The other day I was feeling super down for some reason when I came upon a guy in the street who was calling for us, I just ignored him because I thought he just wanted some money for drugs. However, Elder Lima followed the Spirit and went over to him, I was like what are you doing???????? But the guy asked us what we preached because he knew we were part of some church. So we talked to him for awhile and he told us that he lives alone, is super lonely and wants our company and said God is always welcome in his house. I honestly almost started bawling right in front of him. He is so nice and he really doesn't have much of anything, his house is the size of my room back home. I realize how selfish I was being and I'm so excited to teach him. We haven't exactly taught him yet because every time we go to teach him, he is smoking and drinking outside his house.

Another cool thing that happened yesterday, we went down this dirt road and it looked pretty rough. We came to a house, knocked on the door and the people that lived there let us in. We taught them the lesson and afterwards the lady that lived there said she had been looking for the true Church and had read in the Bible in James 1:5 about asking God if you lack wisdom...so she prayed to know what Church was true. She has apparently attended a ton of churches but felt that they weren't correct, then a couple days later Elder Lima and I show up at her door!!!!! She said she hopes that we are the answer to her prayer. It was Awesome!!!!!!!! Exactly like Joseph Smith! Joseph Smith wanted to know what Church was True and which one to join and Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to him to tell Joseph that he was to join none of them.....This lady wanted to know which Church is true and 2 Mormon missionaries appeared to her to tell her that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was really cool. Haha

Also, I taught English to the kids of the ward this week haha. It didn't go amazing because I'm still struggling with my Portuguese but I have to teach every Saturday so hopefully this will help the kids learn English and help me with my Portuguese as well. We taught 33 lessons this week which is pretty good AND we have a baptism set for this Saturday. His name is Washington, which is a strange name for Brazil. He is Black and is super Awesome and accepts everything we teach him. He is the same age as me:) Please pray for him.

Nothing much else has happened this week. Here's my daily routine, even though I thought I told you guys already haha. We wake up at 6:30 am, exercise for 30 minutes, sometimes we eat breakfast, then I take a shower, study at 8am until 10:30 am, then proselyte until usually around 12:30, then lunch which is the same thing everyday (beans & rice) haha, then we proselyte until 9 pm. We have to be really careful around 8 pm because there's people that are always asking for money for drugs on the streets. BTW we walk everywhere!!!!

Anyways! Love you all so much! Sorry if my letter this week is boring haha. Eu amo voces! I don't know yet what the plan is for Mother's Day but I know it's for 1 hour and it's on Skype. Love you!

Elder Colin Hanson

Also, I heard what happened in Boston! WT Heck??? They were Russian right? Losers!!! Is another war going to happen? I also heard that North Korea is threatening war? Is this true?

GD Cockroach (Gosh Dang Cockroach)

My Companion, Elder Lima

April 22, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Rio Verde ~ Week 13

Dear Family,

Oi!!!! Transferred!!!!! Haha yeah, I was already transferred. I'm now in the city of Rio Verde  (pronounced He-u Vehej), which is about 5 hours South of Goiania Brazil. I don't know if the Assistants to the President emailed you guys to let you know but yeah, I am now in Rio Verde!

I wasn't transferred because I suck at being a missionary haha! They had this mass transfer type thing in our mission because there were 10 missionaries in my mission that went home and only 2 new missionaries arrived in the Goiania mission; so there were a ton of missionaries who were transferred.

I LOVE RIO VERDE SO MUCH!!!!!  My new companion is so Awesome! His name is Elder Lima, he is Brazilian and he's from Northern Brazil somewhere haha I don't know how to spell or pronounce it so I won't even try. He speaks a tiny bit of English but not enough to help me with a lot of things. However, he tries his best to help! Which is something my companion in Jardim Curitiba didn't do. Honestly, not to be rude but he wasn't the best trainer because he didn't help me with anything and didn't teach me anything so that was a huge set back? But Elder Lima is Awesome! He reminds me of Colton Steele haha. He really is helping me a ton and my Portuguese has already improved with him. Sometimes he gets frustrated with me when I can't understand what he says to me haha but it's all good. Everything is so much better here.  Maybe it's just cause I'm getting used to everything!

Rio Verde is a little bit more dangerous than Jardim Curitiba. Already, I sort of got robbed haha. There was this guy who came up to us one night and asked us to buy him a coke or he would hurt us. He said he was willing to kill or rob anyone else but he said that we had a 'LIGHT' about us, so he wouldn't hurt us. We bought him a coke, just to be sure haha. He was so High it wasn't even funny! The next day we saw him again and this time he wanted me to give him money for drugs. What was I supposed to do? I gave him only 2 Reais haha but he was happy with that. Freaking Loser! Lol I told Cooper this story and he said when that happens to him in Guat, they have learned to just walk away or they never stop asking. But please don't worry about me here! Nothing has ever happened to the missionaries because of the exact reason he said " missionaries have a light about them" and they are afraid of what God would do to them if they hurt us haha. I'm going to be fine I promise. Elder Lima has been here for awhile and he says that The Lord has protected him throughout his time in Rio Verde and nothing has ever happened! We just have to be a little more careful at night.

I feel really bad for Hellen & Djanete because we had Baptismal dates set for them and then both Elder V. Santos and I were transferred! I pray that the new missionaries in Jardim Curitiba are able to Baptize both of them. It's sucks to bond with the members & investigators in the area and abruptly leave. That is 4 Baptisms that I missed out on because of being transferred. But lessons here are going great and we have a baptism set for next week! Awesome Right! I'm excited and it will hopefully be my first baptism.

Eu sei que a lgreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias e verdadeira. Eu sei que Joseph Smith foi um profeta de Deus, sei que Cristo vive. Eu sei que atraves a Expiacao de Jesus Cristo, nos  podemos voltar a presenca de Deus. Eu sou muito grato por esta oportunidade que eu tenho para ensinar o evangelho para as pessoas do Brazil. Eu amo esta lgreja com todo o meu curaçao! Eu sei sem uma duvida que esta lgreja e verdadeira. English> I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, I know that Christ lives. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can return to God's presence. I am very grateful for this opportunity that I have to teach the Gospel to the people of Brazil. I love this Church with all my heart! I know without a doubt that the Church is true.

Pictures......I don't have the right tools for pictures! So I can't put them on! I honestly feel so bad because I have good pictures now! I don't know what to do about it. But I love you guys and I miss you so much! I pray for you guys every single day and I hope everything is going well. Email me soon! Eu amo voces!!!!!!!!

Elder Colin Hanson

April 15, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Jardim Curitiba ~ Week 12

Dear Family!

Oi!!!!!! How the Freak are you guys???? I freaking miss you all sooooooo much.

This week has been another hard week for me.  I feel like I didn't progress in the language AT ALL this week and it's the most frustrating thing in the world. I'm definitely doing my best to study hard. I'm trying to love it and I know I will in time but for now it's just hard. Before I forget PLEASE SEND ME ALL MY FRIENDS EMAILS if you can find them. I need my friends to email me:(  Thanks to Timmy, Sam Merrill, Uncle Dave, Aunt Jacque, and Grandma & Grandpa Hanson who all wrote me this last week. I really need emails to keep me going.

Anyways! We are really worried about our baptism with Hellen. We're going to have to reschedule her again because she didn't go to Church on Sunday. So frustrating! Thanks for your prayers & putting Hellen's name in the Temple, Mom. For some good news, we set another baptismal date with this 30 year old woman named, Djanete (gee-shan-echee) haha. I love her, she is seriously my favorite person to teach haha because she is so entertaining and says the weirdest things (she says Gracas a Jesus instead of Gracas a Deus haha). Djanete is louco but she went to church on Sunday and we have a date set for her on April 27th. I'm really praying that it goes through!!! We are still teaching investigators like crazy & I really feel like our lessons are going well, I guess haha. Still  can't understand some of what they're saying lol. I can teach a little bit better than before but just talking with people on the street is hard for me, right now. I'm staying close to The Lord and I'm studying my butt off so I'm hoping for some miracles:) with these baptisms.

You know how I talked about that Jungle that's close to where we live? Yeah, we walked through the jungle a few days ago and we saw like 30 little monkeys. If I would've known we were going to go through the jungle, I would've brought my camera with me! They were all baby monkeys, we didn't see any mothers but it was still pretty cool. It was really beautiful, I swear they filmed Avatar in that very jungle haha.

We don't ever have dinner here. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and we have rice and beans everyday, YUM!  I'm always hungry haha and I know I've lost weight because we walk everywhere and we never eat. If I haven't lost 20 lbs by the time I come home I might have to punch someone lol. My pants are starting to fall off me and I'm almost to the last hole thing on my belt....anyways, I'm not as obese as before. Although my companion called me fat at least 4 times this week which I was super stoked about to say the least :/ Not.

Haha We ran into a guy last week while street contacting and his name was Ignacio (like Nacho Libre) hahahahaha. I almost started laughing:):):) but he wasn't interested in our message anyway lol. Also, we saw a lady nurse her baby right in front of us, so yeah, there's that haha. Other than that crap I'm doing fine & haven't been sick at all this week.

I hope you're all doing okay! Love you all so much and I just now looked like a freaking retard because I had to talk to this Brazilian guy and I have no idea what he said, so anyways,
 love you! Eu amo voce!

Love, Elder Colin Hanson

REMEMBER TO SEND ME PEOPLE'S EMAILS AGORA!!!!!!!(Now)

April 8, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Jardim Curitiba ~ Week 11

Dear Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel really bad that I didn't  send anything for Erik :( I honestly feel so so so bad but I haven't figured out the whole postal thing in Brazil yet. It's complicated and I don't know the words yet for postal service in Portuguese haha. But I FREAKING LOVE YOU ERIK! And I just barely got your letter you sent like 3 weeks ago haha. Also, letters in Brazil aren't delivered directly to the house, so I can't give you my address :( so just send letters & packages to the Mission office. I still haven't received your package and probably won't until next month because they give out the packages at zone meetings and I didn't get your package in our meeting on Friday. Haha sorry! 

Anyways! Portuguese is freaking hard. I don't feel like I'm progressing with the language like I should even though I study a ton every day. It's super frustrating! The native Brazilian missionaries make fun of the way I talk haha. 

This week we rescheduled the baptismal date with Hellen. She is scheduled to be baptized on April 20th now. Honestly, I hope that goes through because when we went to her house yesterday to take her to General Conference, she didn't want to go and was kind of weird about it. It was so strange because our last lesson with her was really great and the Spirit was strong. Anyway, she has to go to Church next week if she's going to be baptized on the 20th. 

Haha I honestly didn't even know it was Easter last week.  I guess Pascoa means Easter in Portuguese and I didn't know that's what people were saying lol. I felt like such a retard because I didn't know it was Easter until the next day:/  I'm struggling!

I really love being a missionary! The lessons with investigators are going really well!! We teach at least 4 lessons every day and most of the time, the people are accepting of what we teach. The biggest challenge is people say that they have to work on Sunday all the time. 

I am literally the only white person here haha other than a couple missionaries in my zone. It's awesome though. The Brazilians in Goiania are either black or like a typical Brazilian (mulatto) like Flavia.

We watched General Conference in Portuguese on Saturday and I didn't understand much haha.  But on Sunday, they let a few of the English speaking missionaries watch it in English. I miss English so much! I enjoyed Conference so much. My favorite talk was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's. His talks are always amazing but this talk is my new favorite. I liked Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf's as well, it seems like they are always my favorite speakers at Conference. 

We can email friends and other missionaries starting next Monday! I'm so happy because it will be so much easier to communicate with a lot of friends & missionaries. Let Cooper know we can email again. Also, put it on Facebook that I WANT FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO EMAIL ME NOW!!!! This is the best way to talk to me once a week. The Goiania Brazil Mission just changed this rule and it sucks for this one missionary in our District lol because he goes home next Monday. ** Elder Colin Hanson's email: colin.hanson@myldsmail.net

I'm doing everything that you asked me in your email, Mom haha I promise! I know I said I'd send pictures but I don't have very many and they're not very interesting. I'll try send them next week. Desculpe!

                                             Colin won't send us any pictures :(

                            Elder Colin Hanson- So we don't forget what he looks like :/ 

That's crazy that Cody's going to Africa!!!! Tell him that he's going to love it and I'm super proud of him! That's weird that it's English speaking. Miranda is engaged!!! That's crazy haha. Congrats though!

Anyways! Love you guys so much and I miss you so much! Email me soon! Eu os amo muito!!

Elder Colin Hanson

April 1, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Jardim Curitiba ~ Week 10

Dear Family,

     This week went a little bit better but not much haha. I'm beginning to understand people a little better but it's hard to get what they are saying completely, if that makes any sense. I'm still homesick but not as bad as I was last Monday. Once I can finally have a coherent conversation with the natives, I think my homesickness will go away completely lol.
     I really like the ward here. The Chapel is new and there's only one ward using it. They built the Church planning for three wards haha so they project that there will be three wards soon. The members are really cool and there is a couple that speak English haha.  I can understand better when they're giving talks and when the natives are teaching as well. The hardest people to understand are kids and the elderly just because they slur their words and mumble like crazy. Nobody in the ward plays the piano, so last week they sang the Hymns without the piano in sacrament meeting. But the Bishop here asked me to play the piano in sacrament meeting now Lol! Mom's wish came true.
     They gave us a credit card when we got here.  They didn't really explain about it very well though. It's in Reais, so when we take out money it's in Reais (which is obvious haha). They haven't said how much money is on it but I'm pretty sure they put money on it every month or week, something like that. This is something that I've been needing to ask the other Elders because the Mission President didn't explain it at all.  I'll let you know next week. Are we supposed to pay rent or does the Church pay it with our money...not sure about that. I might be retarded but I have no idea. Also, I will get you guys pictures next week!  I promise haha I completely forgot about them today.
     The apartment we live in isn't too bad.  It's above a bread store haha and is on a busy street, so people play really loud music and it wakes me up at night when they drive by. But I've gotten used to it. The toilets are stupid and there isn't a dryer so we just hang our clothes up to dry.  But other than that the apartment is fine lol. I really like the roommates that I have.  I can't ever understand my companion and he doesn't speak English at all, so yeah, there's not very much communication between us right now haha. He speaks a million miles an hour. But I really like the other two Elders that I live with. I love talking to missionaries who are from America because they speak Portuguese correctly  and I can actually understand them. I talk to my roommate from California a lot and it's comforting because he speaks English and if I don't know something in Portuguese, I can just ask him and he understands lol.
     We don't do much on P-Day. We're not allowed to play soccer and nobody plays basketball or volleyball. There's not very much to do around here because our area is mostly residential. There's a jungle type forest thing a few miles away that has monkeys and stuff in it but not much else lol. I've only had diarrhea a couple times because of the food I think Lolz. We have rice and beans and some type of meat every single day.
     We are teaching a lot of lessons every day and they are going well.  We have a baptismal date set for this girl named Hellen (pronounced el ang haha) who's about 15 years old for April 13.  She didn't come to church this Sunday because it was Easter and she was traveling. My companion is timing my time on email and I literally want to punch him in the face. He is reading this right now haha but he can't read English so it's okay.
     What's weird is that when we meet people and we ask them how they are doing, they say, estou bom, gracas Deus (which means I'm good, thank God). It's so weird haha that is like the most unnatural response ever.  Anyways, my companion is freaking out and so I'll hurry and end this.  I wan't to know what's new with your lives? I miss you guys so much! You have no idea at all how much.
     Love you all so much!  Hope you are all doing well. Love you so much! Eu amo voces!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Colin Hanson