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

November 25, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Uberlandia ~ Week 43

MOM DIDNT SEND ME AN EMAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Haha what the heck? That just totally shattered my entire Universe. It's okay mom. I Still love you. But I'm so sad that mom didn't email me. :(  (This is Colin's mom! I did email him but I accidentally sent his email to his hotmail.com instead of his myldsmail.net account. I feel horrible!!! I'm like the worst mom ever. We emailed the mission office to tell Colin what happened.)

This week was not my favorite week in the entire world. Our Freaking investigator (Acinom-name chane) was so excited about her baptism and then all of the sudden on Friday she was like, "Oh Eu Quercia falafel com os irmaos, eu nao query conhecer sua igreja mais." ( This means- I wanted to talk with you guys, I don't want to know anything more about your church.) So Sad! She didn't even give us a reason why and then she didn't show up for church, so there's not a whole lot we can do. The Adversary at work again. I was so bummed after she told us :(. But everything will be fine.

We are teaching these two rapazes (young men) who have been to church a few times, but they still aren't sure about being baptized. Their names are Jeferson and Lucas. They are really cool! We are trying to encourage them to read the Book of Mormon and to come to Church. We have a new rule in the Mission that if you're teaching somebody under 15 years old, they can't be baptized for 3 months, unless they have a parent that's being baptized with them. Jeferson is 15 and Lucas is 13, so that makes it a little hard. Which means, this week will be spent on finding new people to teach. We'll keep working on the boys though.

I'm going in today to get my pants altered hahahaha. Yesterday, my suit pants were literally falling off of me lol. I have 5 or 6 pants to alter! The other two are fitting fine. I'm so excited to get them altered, you have no idea. There's this lady in the ward that's going to do it, so I don't think she'll make me pay for it, but I don't know.

Other than that, nothing else happened. My companion and I are getting along great. They say I can speak the language really well! Everyone tells me that they only know that I'm American because of my hair lol. Have a great week!

Love you guys! Tchau!

Elder Hanson

November 18, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Uberlandia ~ Week 42

Dear Famly,

Good News!!!! Rairanne finally was able to be baptized :)  Elder Thomas & I marked her baptism date again right before I was transferred, so I wasn't able to baptize her, but I saw pictures of her from Elder Thomas at our Conference in Goiania, anyway, she went under the water all the way.  It was her Fourth try haha because she was afraid of the water. She was baptized in Presidente's Carlos pool. I'm super happy for her and her family.

Rairanne (Next to Colin)

Apartment where we planned and studied in Rio Verde

Outside Colin's house in Rio Verde (Check out the missionary shoes!)

Nothing really happened this week. Haha I feel like I was just in this Internet cafe like two days ago, writing you guys. I really don't have too much to write about this week :/ sorry! We only had 3 days of proselyting this week, because we went to Goiania for that Conference. We finally found some new people to teach on Sunday. That always happens, we find people on Sunday right after Church has ended for the week.

My area is not very big. At least it doesn't feel nearly as big as my area in Rio Verde. My area was massive there! So far  I've only been sent to very humble areas in Uberlandia. there's an area that I think I told you guys about last week that's a favela (ask Flavia what a Favela is). It seriously is so poor. We are teaching a wonderful family there and they went to church :). But seriously, count your blessings.

Favela in Uberlandia

People in Uberlandia UNDERSTAND OUR MESSAGE!!!  They get what it means to have a living prophet on the earth today. Everyone pays attention and asks questions during our message here! It makes it so easy to teach people! But like Rio Verde, no one is married and in Uberlandia, it takes longer for people to get Married. But I'm loving this area so far! The name of the street where the Church is located is actually called Rua Joseph Smith haha.

We are teaching this lady named Monica who is very funny. I really do like her! She wasn't sure a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to be baptized, but she told us yesterday that she really wants to, now. So hopefully, everything will work out with her this week and she'll be baptized on Saturday. I don't really know her all that well because the missionaries had already taught her before I came to the area. But pray for her that nothing will prevent her from being baptized this Saturday.

The members here are AWESOME!!! Ala Aurora was actually Elder Di Giordano's first area he served in on his mission. So he talked about how great this area was for him. The members are always willing to help and it's not hard for investigators to feel comfortable in the ward, which is amazing.

November 13, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Uberlandia ~ Week 41

Dear Family,

TRANSFERRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha I was finally transferred after 6 and a half months in Rio Verde. I was so so sad when I got transferred! I loved the people in Rio Verde so much. I will miss everyone I taught and baptized more than anything. The Assistant to the President called me and was like, "Do you know why I'm calling Elder Hanson? Because I just wanted to tell you that I love you."  I said, "Love you! Goodnight!" And then hung up. Hahaha He called me like a half an hour later and was like, "Just kidding! You're being transferred!" They all know that I've been in Rio Verde for like, my entire life. I was so mad and super sad :(.

I was transferred to this huge city called, Uberlandia (oober-lan-gee-a). It's seriously so big! I'm surprised that it doesn't have it's own mission. It' has a population of 800,000, while Goiania's population is 1,300,000. The ward that I'm working in is called Ala Aurora (Aurora ward). I've only been to the church here one time. But the people here seem really great! The only thing that's a tiny bit frustrating is that Sacrament Meeting is first and not last here. Makes it a tiny bit more difficult to get people there at 9 am, but it'll be fine.

My new companion is AWESOME! I seriously love him so much! I'm still Senior Companion but he is an awesome missionary and probably will be a senior companion soon. His name is Elder Loureiro, and he's from Curitiba, Brazil, but his family is currently living in the a different city in Brazil called Santa Catarina. A lot of people think that I'm from Santa Catarina because there's a ton of white people with blonde hair haha that live there. There's a lot of German descendants who live there, so everyone thinks I'm German. Anyway, Elder Loureiro is great. He's been on his mission for about 7 months, but he is well trained and it seems like he's been out for 18 months. I think we'll get along well. Elder Thomas and I really became great friends and so I was really sad to say goodbye to him. But, I'm excited to be here in Uberlandia! Also, Elder Wallace (a missionary from my district in the MTC) is in my zone here in the city, and so it's nice to see him and talk to him every once in a while.

Nothing much happened this week because we were hardly in our area at all. We went to Goiania to have a conference with President Costa (a member of the seventy). It was so good! I seriously loved it so much. And I realized at the end of the conference that I understood everything that President Costa said! Haha So that was a confirmation to me that I'm solid with the language. Anyway, he said many things that I'm going to apply in my work here in the field. That's the reason why I didn't email on Monday, because we were in the conference with him on that day. I'm seriously loving my mission! I'm realizing that everything is always better when you’'re positive. This past week I have been reflecting on my mission and analyzing everything I could do better and what I'm not doing...always room for improvement! I'm working as hard as possible to bring this wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ to these people. I've decided to forget myself and just completely devote my time, talents, and love to others. I want to be worthy to always have The Holy Ghost with me. I'm very grateful for this amazing Truth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

There is this new American Elder who arrived in the mission this week. He and his companion live with us. He's super stressed out and so I've tried to do everything I can to help him. He's struggling with the language and not understanding anything. Also, he got extremely sick this week. His stomach started hurting like crazy and it spread to his back. They don't know what's wrong with him, but he'll be going to a better hospital sometime this week. Pray for him because he's so stressed out about it. I feel so bad!!! I didn't get sick, but I remember how hard it was when I first came to Brazil, with my Trainer and everything, so I want to help him out the best way I can.

Also, I think I need to get new pants haha. My suit pants barely stay on me and I don't want to get them altered because it costs money :'( but maybe I'll have to do that haha because it's getting scary. People are telling me that I finally have a neck lol. I'll have a better letter next week because more things will happen I'm sure haha. I'll send some pictures next week because this computer is super slow with the pictures. Desculpe. Love you guys so much! I hope everything is going well with you guys....thinking about you ALL...all the time! Tchau!