December 30, 2013, Brazil Goiania Mission, Uberlandia Week 48

Dear Family,


Hey guys!!!!!! Lol this week was super funny hahahahaha. I loved talking with you guys on Skype and seeing all of you on Christmas! It was honestly so hard to say goodbye. I was thinking this time around that I wasn´t going to cry but then I started bearing my testimony and for some reason I just lost it haha. Irmã Paula was bawling as well haha you guys couldn´t see her in the background, but she totally started crying. It was so good! I don´t remember if I said thank you for the packages but thank you, thank you, thank you so much!!! You have no idea what those packages mean to me.

Colin and his companion on Skype

Merry Christmas Colin

Sooooooo....... my birthday. Yeah..... haha one of the most interesting birthdays of my life. It was great. I think it´s just the greatest present ever to be throwing up all day because of food poisoning! Haha yeah I haven´t thrown up since I was like 8? It´s the worst feeling ever(especially when you ate Swedish fish the night before and that´s what you see in your vomit the next morning haha. So Elder Neeley, Elder Loureiro, and me all got sick that day and we were just dying haha with diarrhea and vomiting all day. I got the worst bit of the diarrhea, and Elder Loureiro got the worst bit with the vomiting lolz for days. Everyone thinks that it was because of the mayonnaise that they put on the salad on Christmas. Our lunch also fell through on my birthday so I ended up eating one apple for lunch. It was my favorite birthday that I´ve ever had haha. I had no appetite either to eat anything and we still had to work that day. But I´m over it and I´m fine now with my stomach and everything haha. It was so funny. Of course, this would only happen on my birthday. IT WAS JUST FOOD POISONING. Don´t worry about anything. 

Me after totally destroying the banheiro, feeling like total dump on my barfday.

This week we had 4 investigators and 1 less active who went to church. It was good! Usually there should be a lot more, but the members were really happy with it, because usually they don´t have a ton of investigators there. We had Arley, who is this 18 year old, who I told you about that will be baptized on Saturday! We had two kids, and their mom, Elisangela (but Elisangela had to work on sunday) has a baptismal date on the 18th, and an elderly lady named Flora, who went to church for the first time yesterday and she LOVED it. We went and visited her after church and she had a lot of family over. There was this other lady there that was thinking that our church was just another church that the pastors just scream and preach the entire time, and Flora was like defending it and everything. She invited her to come to church with her the next week! Haha it was awesome. The lady actually accepted the offer at the end, so we´ll see what happens lol. But Flora told us the other day that we had a countenance that´s different from everybody else´s. She told us that she has so much trust in us. I think it was because of the blessing I gave her the other day. She has super bad back problems, and so a member asked us to give Flora a blessing. I gave one to her, and ever since then, she has been loving our visits and gained a lot of trust in us. It´s amazing to see the power of a Priesthood Blessing and how it helps people according to their faith. I´m really excited for her and she´ll be a great investigator.

Other than that, we didn´t do anything for my birthday (which I´m fine with! Don´t worry about me haha) and Christmas was awesome. Love you guys so much and thank you for all your support!  Os amo demais!

Brown Santa that an Elder gave me for Christmas hahahaha

 Elder Lee and Colin

Alguns Elderes lolz

Elder Thomas with Presidente Kuceki creepin in the background hahaha

Elder Hanson

December 23, 2013 ~ Brazil Goiania Mission, Uberlandia ~ Week 47

Dear Family,,

Hey guys! I was transferred, but just to the other ward in Uberlândia in the same church. I´m still living in the same house haha. The ward is called Parque do Sabiá. This ward is a lot more challenging, according to other missionaries that have passed by here, because it is the smallest area in the mission (last year the ward had 3 baptisms throughout the entire year) but I´m excited for the challenge! I´ve been feeling like I could have tried even harder with the Aurora ward, and so I´m repentive (not sure if this is a word haha) and I want to change this ward. On Sunday there were 28 people at church. Crazy! But I am super blessed to be put in a ward that´s challenging and I´ll just put all my faith in the Lord and I know that I´ll have success.

My companion now is Elder Neeley, who is American haha and I´m finishing out his training because he had already been trained for six weeks, but now I´ll finish it out. He´s from Connecticut and he´s the missionary that I told you guys about who had a lot of  trouble with his back. He´s improving now, and I´m trying my best to help him with everything.

We went to Goiânia on Tuesday for the Christmas devotional and it was really good. We had transfers right after and it was crazy! Haha it was really irreverent too and it was in the chapel. But everyone was freaking out because they called two new assistants (one of them is Elder Moreno, the missionary that I lived with in Goiania) and it was just nuts haha. Elder Loureiro was made District Leader here and he´s just awesome. I´ll miss being companions with him.

On Christmas, I´ll skype you guys at 5 o clock Brazil time (which I think is noon back home?) and so I´ll just make a new skype at the members house because I don´t remember my password haha but this time, it will only be for 40 minutes. :(. Dumb! But it´ll be great still.

I can´t wait to see you guys on Christmas! Thank you so much for the packages and the letters and everything. I´m so blessed to have a family like you guys and I hope you have a great Christmas! It literally does not feel like Christmas at all down here haha because it´s so flippin hot. Love you guys!

Elder Hanson

December 16, 2013 ~ Brazil Goiania Mission, Uberlandia ~ Week 46

Dear Family,

Sooooo........ guess what........ I think I´m going to be transferred again haha. Already! The zone leaders called me on Saturday (which is strange, because usually the assistants call and tell us if we´re transferred or not) and told me that I was going to be transferred this week. So weird! I´ve only been in Uberlandia for one transfer! We´re going to Goiânia this week on Tuesday and they´ll do the transfers there. There´s also going to be a Christmas devotional there with all the missionaries of the mission and so that should be good. I'm nervous to see where I get transferred! The weird thing is that they told me not to pack my bags. They said the missionaries that were transferred in Uberlândia will come back to get their things and then go to their new areas. I have no idea what´s happening! They´ve never done transfers like this before.
The sad thing about being transferred from this area is that I´ll miss the baptism this week :(. We marked a baptismal date with this girl that is 16 years old and I think I told you guys about her last week. She doesn´t have a ton of support from her family and the members that are helping fellowship her are having a tough time coming to church. So it´s kind of rough, but I know that everything will work out. 

We had interviews with President Kuceki this past week and I really liked my interview with him. Every time I talk to him, I feel so relieved, and I just feel like everything will go better from here on out. I wish I could talk to him every day haha. But they had us do what is called a Santificação Pessoal (personal cleansing) which is when you start a fast, pray, and then during your fast, notice the things that are preventing you from growing spiritually. For me, some of these things may seem harmless, but they really do take your mind of the work. Like music, sports, things like that. So I did this and it honestly is SO HARD. I never realized how much I think about music or sometimes I sing music and don´t even realize it haha. So then after the fast, you go 40 days without doing those things that prevent you from growing spiritually. I´m trying my best with it and I know that I'll be able to grow faster and that I´ll have more success with this. 

A Cheesy Christmas photo that the mission asked us to send in. lolz for days!

I have no idea what´s going to happen now with the whole Skype thing because I´m going to a new area. I didn´t think that I would be transferred so I set it up with Paula (the member in our ward that sent you an email), but now that won´t work out haha. I'll let you know next week haha. Don´t worry! Tudo vai dar certo kkkkk. I received two of the 5 packages this week so that means I won´t get the rest of them for awhile. But whatevs, I´ll get them sooner or later lol.

Love you guys! Thank you so much for all the support and I can´t wait to talk with you guys on Christmas! Tchau!


Elder Hanson

A Family of recent converts that were baptized last February and they are super strong in the church and they are preparing to go to the temple this February.

December 9, 2013 ~ Brazil Goiania Mission, Uberlandia ~ Week 45

Dear Family,

This week was about the same as last week. Nothing too exciting happened haha. We did have this girl go to church this week who is really nice. She's 16 years old and she´s a relative of some members in our ward. The only problem is, that those members are inactive :(. We were teaching them throughout this week and they all said that they would go to church, but we ended up having to go and get her because the members didn´t go. Dumb! It would be so much easier for her to go, if she had the support. We haven´t invited her to be baptized yet because she is a part of another church and we wanted to wait until she went to church first. But she came to church, so we should mark a date with her either today or tomorrow. I just hope that we can reactivate those members too.

In Rio Verde, everybody was from the Assembleia de Deus, but in Uberlândia, everyone is from the Congregação no Brasil. Everyone in that church is super firm in it. That´s what makes this area a little harder than Rio Verde Popular. But I still have the faith that everything will work out with these people. 

We had a Christmas party in the ward this past week as well. The president of the primary was putting on this nativity scene with the primary and she asked me to play the piano for them, so I did lol. They had this HUGE dinner as well after. But guess what it was? Haha rice, beans, a type of salad, meat, and guarana haha. It was actually really good though. 

Killin' it at the Fedal de Natal with Elder Loureiro

Guarana Drink

I´m not entirely sure yet on the whole Skype thing because I still don't know if I´ll be transferred or not. I´ll let you guys know on everything.

Oh! Funny story lol. Yesterday we passed by this lady´s house to teach her for the first time, and her husband yelled when we knocked on her door "who is it?" and then we said "the missionaries" and he was like "I don´t know who you are!" and after we heard him inside the house grabbing something, he opened the door slightly and he was turned to the side with a cigarette in one hand. But then he opened the door all the way and showed us this giant knife haha. We were like Whoa! Take it easy! It was so funny. He didn´t let us in needless to say haha but after he was like "Sorry about that, I´ve got problems in my mind" And we were like "No it´s alright! We´ll come back another day." 

Love you guys! I can´t wait to talk to you all on Christmas! It´s sooo weird without snow and it´s five million degrees everyday haha. Love you Tchauzinho!

Elder Hanson

What the trick is this?

December 2, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Uberlandia ~ Week 44

Dear Family,

This week was a little bit rough. The zone leaders asked us to really focus on finding new people to teach. So this is what I had in my head all week, and we barely found anybody new to teach. We only had one person at Church on Sunday. I got super frustrated with everything because I felt like I worked so freaking hard this week trying to find new people. But this morning, my District Leader called me and told me that he feels like our desires were in the wrong place. We have been so focused on the Numbers, that we weren't as concerned with the people. I thought about that awhile, and then I studied more about it during Personal Study and found some scriptures that helped me understand this more. In Doctrine and Covenants 130: I think 19-23, it talks about obedience. How we are only blessed, when we are obedient to His laws. Haha I don't know, my whole life I guess I never fully understood this. Our purpose as missionaries is to help others Come unto Christ. I wish I would've more fully realized this before, but I need to have deeper love for all of Gods Children. My Companion and I will only be able to help others Come Unto Christ as we are obedient and when we really care about the Salvation of these people. Does that make sense? I'm feeling like a tard right now haha because I have a hard time expressing my thoughts in English now. But from now on, I care about the Salvation of these souls sincerely, not just numbers.

Eu sei que com todo o meu coracao que esta e a lgreja de NOSSA Salvador e Redentor, Jesus Cristo, Estou muito Feliz na  missao! Estou muito animado para ajudar estas pessoas a conhecer o Evangelho. Eu amo este Evangelho. Sei que Jesus Cristo a Deus apareceram a Joseph Smith, e por meio dele, Jesus Cristo  restaurou a Igreja Dele aqui na Terra. A missao e tao difficult, mass realmente, vale apnea. Obrigado por Seu apoio e sua ajuda com todas coisas! Voces vao ser muito abencoados durante minha missao tambem. Vou fazer meu melhor com todas as coisas kkkkkkk. English Translation: I know with all my heart that The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints is true and it's the Church of our Savior and Redeemer. I am very happy to be on my mission. I'm excited to help these people know The Gospel. I love this Gospel. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and through him, Jesus restored His Church here on earth. The mission is so difficult but it is so worth it. Thanks for your support and help with everything! You will be greatly blessed during my mission as well. I'll do my very best with everything.

Love you guys!!! Hope everything is going well with you. I'm glad Catching Fire was Awesome. I don't know about the Skype thing because I don't know if I'll be transferred or not before Christmas. Tchau!

You'll love this awkward as poop picture showing off my new altered pants. Lolz for days!

Elder Hanson