Dear Family,
This week was a tiny bit stressful. Next week will be a lot better, because pretty much all of the areas in the zone have baptismal dates and will have at least 1 baptism, so that will be good, but the zone didn´t end the month that great. The zone only had 8 baptisms the entire month of May. That´s not good at all. But, the zone should have like 10 next week so that´ll be good to start off the month of June.
Ricardo wasn´t able to be baptized this week because his girlfriend didn´t leave haha. He was super sad, but it is what it is. He´ll be baptized next month. He actually gave us lunch this week, which was super good cuz he´s a super good cook (by the way, our lunch appointments with the members this week fell through EVERY SINGLE DAY. So I just had ramen for lunch every day haha (it was awful) and I took a few pictures, but I forgot my link cable haha so you´ll have to wait until next week to get them.
We´re teaching this family right now from the state of Maranhão in Brazil. They´re super humble, and we´ll baptize the daughters this Saturday, Thalita and Vanessa. We had a super spiritual lesson this week with them where Thalita got an answer that this church was true right in front of us. She was saying the closing prayer at the end of the lesson and just started bawling. She couldn´t stop and then she just ended the prayer. Ever since then, she´s been super excited about her baptism and is intergrating herself well with the other young women in the ward. It´ll be great!!
I am worried about the World Cup and how crazy it will be here. Some Elders are asking to be able to watch it. I'm like, No way! President Kuceki will not allow us to watch it. I am seeing the name of a famous Brazilian soccer player everywhere now. Naymar? Anyway I could not care less about soccer lol.
Other than that, nothing else happened. My shoe size is 10 and a half. Love you guys!
Elder Hanson
Monday, May 26, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
May 19, 2014 - Brazil Goiania Mission - Uberaba - Week 68
Dear Family,
This week was super cray! Actually I don´t have too much to write about this week haha not that much happened.
First of all! I can´t believe that they (Colby and Shannon)had Elder Cook do the sealing ordinance!! That´s so nuts! I always look at the pictures first before I read the emails and I saw that picture of him with Colby, and I was like, wow that looks a lot like Elder Cook (I thought it was like Shannon´s grandparents or something) and then I read that it was actually Elder Cook who did the sealing!!! That like blows my mind! Also, Noah is starting to look exactly like Erik!! I saw that picture of him, and I thought it was Erik when I first saw it. What the heck? Everyone´s changing :(. Noah is starting to look like Erik, and I am starting to look like nobody :(. Haha I honestly think I was adopted. I don´t look like any of you at all.
We were all over the place this week looking for new people. Ricardo is progressing really well. The only thing is is that he isn´t reading the Book of Mormon, but he´s already told us that he knows it´s true and that he really wants to be baptized. He has one cigarette left in his house, and so we asked if we could see it. we wrote on it that the cigarette is the enemy and that he will not smoke it. Haha he said that it would stay in his house forever as a reminder that he won´t ever do it again. We´ll acompany him tonight with all of that and see where it goes. He´s gotta get rid of his girlfriend!
My first experience this week!! haha it was nuts. It didn´t scare me, it just gave me horrible feelings. We passed by this lady´s house earlier this week, and her daughter (or we thought it was her daughter) told us that she wasn´t home and to come back another day (we never really got a clear view of her) We came back and she was saying that she wasn´t sure if she wanted to let us in, but we talked with her and eventually she let us in. Then all of a sudden she started ranting off about her and her husband and how they were super "sick" and everything was going wrong in their lives. She was acting super strange and kept repeating the same things over and over. Turns out, she doesn´t have a daughter and she told us that she "changed her voice" so as to get us to leave because of all the bad things that were happening. but I know that she couldn´t have changed her voice like that. She´s a chain smoker, and her voice is super deep, and the girl´s voice that other day was super high and clearly wasn´t her. Haha then my companion stopped her and was like "sister, there is something behind you right this minute, that´s bringing all these horrible things into your life. What you need to do, is keep the commandments of God and go to church, and these things will be gone from your life. If you don´t keep the commandments, these evil things will continue to control your life. We´re going to give you and your husband a blessing in the name of Jesus Christ, and then we´ll leave." She agreed, and I gave her a blessing, and Elder Bezerra gave the dad a blessing, and the horrible feelings went away. They were super different after, like super calm. It was really weird haha maybe you guys would have to be there to understand it :/.
I honestly don´t have like anything to say this week. I love the mission, loving the people, the culture, it´s all just great. The only thing that prevents me from living in Brazil is that it´s too hot. Haha I couldn´t handle this heat for the rest of my life. The Lord is blessing us in many ways and my testimony has grown so strong. Looking back, before my mission I was a straight up retard. I honestly didn´t know hardly anything about the gospel. It´s honestly something that I regret. I feel like I could have had a lot more success in helping these people at the beginning of my mission if I knew what I know now. But it´s all good! The Lord has a plan for me and is just helping me progress. I just gotta trust in Him every day and I know that I´ll keep growing.
Love you guys! Thank you so much for all that you do and I´m so grateful for all you guys do.
Elder Hanson
This week was super cray! Actually I don´t have too much to write about this week haha not that much happened.
First of all! I can´t believe that they (Colby and Shannon)had Elder Cook do the sealing ordinance!! That´s so nuts! I always look at the pictures first before I read the emails and I saw that picture of him with Colby, and I was like, wow that looks a lot like Elder Cook (I thought it was like Shannon´s grandparents or something) and then I read that it was actually Elder Cook who did the sealing!!! That like blows my mind! Also, Noah is starting to look exactly like Erik!! I saw that picture of him, and I thought it was Erik when I first saw it. What the heck? Everyone´s changing :(. Noah is starting to look like Erik, and I am starting to look like nobody :(. Haha I honestly think I was adopted. I don´t look like any of you at all.
We were all over the place this week looking for new people. Ricardo is progressing really well. The only thing is is that he isn´t reading the Book of Mormon, but he´s already told us that he knows it´s true and that he really wants to be baptized. He has one cigarette left in his house, and so we asked if we could see it. we wrote on it that the cigarette is the enemy and that he will not smoke it. Haha he said that it would stay in his house forever as a reminder that he won´t ever do it again. We´ll acompany him tonight with all of that and see where it goes. He´s gotta get rid of his girlfriend!
My first experience this week!! haha it was nuts. It didn´t scare me, it just gave me horrible feelings. We passed by this lady´s house earlier this week, and her daughter (or we thought it was her daughter) told us that she wasn´t home and to come back another day (we never really got a clear view of her) We came back and she was saying that she wasn´t sure if she wanted to let us in, but we talked with her and eventually she let us in. Then all of a sudden she started ranting off about her and her husband and how they were super "sick" and everything was going wrong in their lives. She was acting super strange and kept repeating the same things over and over. Turns out, she doesn´t have a daughter and she told us that she "changed her voice" so as to get us to leave because of all the bad things that were happening. but I know that she couldn´t have changed her voice like that. She´s a chain smoker, and her voice is super deep, and the girl´s voice that other day was super high and clearly wasn´t her. Haha then my companion stopped her and was like "sister, there is something behind you right this minute, that´s bringing all these horrible things into your life. What you need to do, is keep the commandments of God and go to church, and these things will be gone from your life. If you don´t keep the commandments, these evil things will continue to control your life. We´re going to give you and your husband a blessing in the name of Jesus Christ, and then we´ll leave." She agreed, and I gave her a blessing, and Elder Bezerra gave the dad a blessing, and the horrible feelings went away. They were super different after, like super calm. It was really weird haha maybe you guys would have to be there to understand it :/.
I honestly don´t have like anything to say this week. I love the mission, loving the people, the culture, it´s all just great. The only thing that prevents me from living in Brazil is that it´s too hot. Haha I couldn´t handle this heat for the rest of my life. The Lord is blessing us in many ways and my testimony has grown so strong. Looking back, before my mission I was a straight up retard. I honestly didn´t know hardly anything about the gospel. It´s honestly something that I regret. I feel like I could have had a lot more success in helping these people at the beginning of my mission if I knew what I know now. But it´s all good! The Lord has a plan for me and is just helping me progress. I just gotta trust in Him every day and I know that I´ll keep growing.
Love you guys! Thank you so much for all that you do and I´m so grateful for all you guys do.
Elder Hanson
Monday, May 12, 2014
May 12, 2014 - Brazil Goiania Mission - Uberaba - Week 67
Dear Family,
Hey guys! Holy poop I freaking loved skyping you guys yesterday! Dad you said that I was quiet, it´s because everyone was in the freaking room with me and I felt super awkward with them there! I couldn´t really do anything about it though, they wanted to be there lol. But at least you guys got to meet my companion and everything.
Oh, before I forget, I need American food!!!! That´s what I really miss haha. It would be great if I could get some Reeses, Cookie dough Oreos (best thing in the world), Mac and Cheese (Kraft, not Great Value por favor), and some chips (Lays), you know, all the unhealthy stuff.
This week was full of milagres (Miracles)!!! We had a baptism like I told you guys about yesterday. It literally came out of nowhere this baptism!! There´s this guy named Pedro that has been going to church for a couple of weeks now but we could never find his house. Then finally, a member was able to find his house and took us there and we invited him to be baptized and he accepted! It was such a blessing. He´s super humble and super nice and it was just awesome. The only thing is (you´ll all hate me), I forgot to bring my camera to the baptism :/ . But I´ll get a picture with him so that you guys can see him someday. Don´t worry.
We´re also teaching this guy named Ricardo like I told you guys yesterday too. Really humble guy. He absolutely loved church on sunday and is super excited to be baptized. We discovered yesterday that he smokes, but he promised us that he would stop so that he could prepare himself to be baptized. It´s a weird situation, because he lives with his girlfriend. (that´s the thing that I love about Brazil, there are no secrets haha) and they just act like it´s a normal thing. She´s going to move out soon to São Paulo and then he´ll be able to be baptized. So awesome!
Well, other than that, I´ve pretty much told you guys everything that is going on. We went to Goiânia on Tuesday to have a meeting with president, the assistants, and the other zone leaders and it was a little bit tense haha. President wasn´t happy about the results from last month and so there was a lot of changes that happened. It´ll be good though.
Love you guys!!! Tchau!!!
Elder Hanson
Hey guys! Holy poop I freaking loved skyping you guys yesterday! Dad you said that I was quiet, it´s because everyone was in the freaking room with me and I felt super awkward with them there! I couldn´t really do anything about it though, they wanted to be there lol. But at least you guys got to meet my companion and everything.
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| Colin and his companion Elder Bezerra and the other Elders Colin lives with in Uberaba |
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| Happy Colin on Skype |
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| The Grandparents and family after talking with Colin on Skype. |
This week was full of milagres (Miracles)!!! We had a baptism like I told you guys about yesterday. It literally came out of nowhere this baptism!! There´s this guy named Pedro that has been going to church for a couple of weeks now but we could never find his house. Then finally, a member was able to find his house and took us there and we invited him to be baptized and he accepted! It was such a blessing. He´s super humble and super nice and it was just awesome. The only thing is (you´ll all hate me), I forgot to bring my camera to the baptism :/ . But I´ll get a picture with him so that you guys can see him someday. Don´t worry.
We´re also teaching this guy named Ricardo like I told you guys yesterday too. Really humble guy. He absolutely loved church on sunday and is super excited to be baptized. We discovered yesterday that he smokes, but he promised us that he would stop so that he could prepare himself to be baptized. It´s a weird situation, because he lives with his girlfriend. (that´s the thing that I love about Brazil, there are no secrets haha) and they just act like it´s a normal thing. She´s going to move out soon to São Paulo and then he´ll be able to be baptized. So awesome!
Well, other than that, I´ve pretty much told you guys everything that is going on. We went to Goiânia on Tuesday to have a meeting with president, the assistants, and the other zone leaders and it was a little bit tense haha. President wasn´t happy about the results from last month and so there was a lot of changes that happened. It´ll be good though.
Love you guys!!! Tchau!!!
Elder Hanson
Monday, May 5, 2014
May 5, 2014 - Brazil Goiania Mission - Uberaba - Week 66
Dear Family,
Another super busy week haha. We had a baptism this week! So awesome! Her name is Carmem, and she´s about 45 years old. A super sweet lady. Super shy as well, but she was really excited for her baptism. I got the opportunity to baptize her so that was really cool. Our chapel is super old, and super tiny, and so there´s not really a baptismal font haha it´s like a tub. So sweet! I took a picture of it so you´ll get to see how it is.
This week, Elder Bezerra and I are going to Goiânia to have a meeting with President Kuceki and the rest of the zone leaders in the mission. It´ll be sweet! I´m nervous because I´m not quite sure what to expect haha but I´m excited. (By the way grandpa asked, if the zone leaders had cars, and the answer is NO) haha We also have a zone meeting on Thursday that President Kuceki will attend so I´m super nervous for that. Today, we went to McDonald´s!!! the first time I´ve been to McDonald´s in over a year! It was the best thing of my life, but instead of Dr. Pepper, I bought Guaraná haha (Dr. Pepper doesn´t exist in Brazil) We also went to WalMart, so.... yeah. That´s what we do for fun.
First of all,.... FELIZ ANNIVERSÁRIO PAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VOCÊ É O MELHOR EXEMPLO PRA MIM NA MINHA VIDA E ESPERO QUE TUDO SEJA ÓTIMO NO DIA 9. ESTOU MUITO ANIMADO PRA VOCÊ. OBRIGADO POR TUDOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another super busy week haha. We had a baptism this week! So awesome! Her name is Carmem, and she´s about 45 years old. A super sweet lady. Super shy as well, but she was really excited for her baptism. I got the opportunity to baptize her so that was really cool. Our chapel is super old, and super tiny, and so there´s not really a baptismal font haha it´s like a tub. So sweet! I took a picture of it so you´ll get to see how it is.
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| Carmem's Baptism |
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| Baptismal font in Uberaba |
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| Carmem's Baptism with Elder Bezerra and other ward members |
We are ALWAYS doing splits. Always. I think I worked with Elder Bezerra 2 days this week haha. It´s something that I´m not used to yet and it´s a little frustrating because I´m not even getting to know my companion all that well yet. I really like him though! He´s super upbeat and excited all the time, even when we´re teaching. When I teach, I teach super slowly, and super calmly, to be able to feel the Spirit, and so it´s really interesting when we teach together haha. I think that we´ll be good for each other though. I need to be more excited and not be so awkward with people.
We´re having a lot of success! We´re teaching a lot of people here and working our butts off every day. Just trying to do my best and help out the zone. We have a lot of plans to help them out so it´ll be great. Our goal for the zone is 35 this month,and so we´re trying our best to get to that goal.
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| Outskirts of Uberaba |
So happy for Elder Neeley too! He´s having so much success here as well as district leader. He´s marking millions of dates and talking with everybody so he´s doing awesome. Me and him have become like best friends on the mission. I seriously look forward to going on divisions with him because we always have so much fun. Everyone is saying that he´s going to become zone leader soon and it would be so crazy if we became companions again haha.
On the whole mother´s day thing, not sure what´s going to happen yet. I literally have no idea. Sorry! Just be ready the entire day haha.
Love you guys! I hope you guys have a great week and that everything´s going well with you all. Have a great birthday dad!
Tell Liz and Erik congrats on everything that´s going on in their lives haha. I can´t believe Liz is married! That´s nuts!
Elder Hanson
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