May 27, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Rio Verde ~ Week 18

Dear Family,

Hey Guys! How are you all doing? This week has been super great!! We had one baptism!!!

Have Dad tell Flavia that I'm going to email her today! I feel so bad that it's taking me so long to email everyone back right away because we only have 50 minutes! I'll eventually write everyone back though. Tell everyone to keep emailing me & writing me because it keeps me sane haha. By the way Connor doesn't leave until July 5th lol!

Anyway's, we baptized Clarisse this week!!  It was a miracle because no one else in her family was baptized. Her brothers don't understand, no matter how many times we explain to them that they can't enter The Kingdom of God if they're not baptized, they still don't want to be. It's so sad. But I feel like the worst person ever because I completely forgot to take a picture with Clarisse before her baptism :(  We were so busy getting everything ready for the ordinance of her baptism that it just slipped my mind. But Clarisse baptism went great and the Spirit was super strong!

This GD (Gosh Dang) language is getting better but I feel I should be fluent by now! 2 months in Brazil is enough time to be able to be fluent, right? But today, we had to practice the first lesson (The Restoration) with our district. I thought I sucked a fat buttcrack teaching so I was super pissed after but one of my zone leaders, Elder Comsa, is so Awesome, and he told me that my Portuguese is the best out of all the new American missionaries that he had seen in the mission. He said that I probably will be a senior companion soon and I think he was sincere haha. You know me, I'm a perfectionist, and so I want everything to be perfect now lol. But this made me a little bit happier haha. There's a brand new sister missionary in our zone and she doesn't speak Portuguese very well so that's comforting for me haha JK!

By the way, I ate LITERALLY the most REVOLTING thing of my life this past week. OX stomach! Yes, OX stomach! It looks like chicken but it's NOT Chicken haha. This nice lady in our branch made lunch for us the other day, but she had to do something so she dropped it off at our chapel and we ate it at our house. The ox stomach was mixed in with rice and so I thought it was chicken. I literally gagged when I tried to swallow it. I was thankful we weren't eating it at her house haha. It was so awful, you have no idea. Anyways! Not much else has happened this week.

SEND ME PICTURES! You guys get mad at me for not taking a lot of pictures haha lol. Tchau! Eu amo voces and miss you all like crazy! Congrats to Noah on singing his Les Mis solo like a champ! That's cool that FJH Choir sang a Les Miserables medley. Love you Noah! Happy Birthday to all the cousins this month! Annie's 12 What? Congrats to Molli on graduating from USU! That's cool! You guys have no idea how much I love you all and I pray for you all EVERY SINGLE MORNING AND NIGHT!!!!!!

Elder Hanson

May 20, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Rio Verde ~ Week 17

Dear Family,

ESTA SEMANA PASSADO FOI LOUCO DEMAIS!!!! NOSSA SENHORA!!!

Hey Guys! How are you all doing? This past week was CRAY to say the least. We had two more baptisms this week!!! One was this 17 year old guy who is super awesome. We just barely started teaching him a week and a half ago. I actually thought that he was a member before we started teaching him because he went to all the youth activities. The youth members of the branch are really good at inviting non members to these activities. He honestly is the nicest kid in the world! His name is Rafael and Elder Lima baptized him on Saturday.

The other baptism we had, I think I've already told you guys about her. Her name is Habyta (pronounced Abita) and she is 11. She is super cool and I've loved teaching Habyta and her family. They are such a great family!!! Her mom is funny and swears like it's her job haha! She literally swears with every sentence she says and she drinks a lot of coffee. Habyta drank coffee before we taught her about the Word of Wisdom but then she stopped and accepted everything that we taught her. She's sooo cool!! I baptized her on Saturday:) which was the biggest blessing ever! Her mom wants to be baptized so bad and she loves hearing the lessons and says 'Amen Jesus' with ever prayer that we say haha!

Baptism of Habyta and Rafael

We actually would've had 5 baptisms this week but 3 fell through. They are all of the same family, Clarice (15), Mateus (12), and Marcos (9). The only reason Mateus and Marcus fell through was because Clarice is the oldest and she backed out at the last minute, so they followed her example. But we brought Clarice to the baptism of Habyta and Rafael and I think that she really felt the Spirit strongly there. I have a feeling that she and her brothers will want to be baptized this week. Say your prayers for them again and thanks for putting their names on the Temple prayer roll as well as Habyta's, Abadia's, & Rafael's names. I really appreciate it!

A little bit of drama with a family that we are teaching. Their uncle lives with them and doesn't like us AT ALL. After the baptisms on Saturday, we went back over to this house to teach a lesson there and the uncle was outside in front. He was angry and was like I need to talk to you. He said something to me but I didn't understand Portuguese Swearing and stuff like that haha. I did understand him saying that he didn't want us coming over anymore. For some reason, I just didn't have any fear at all. I think the Holy Ghost is comforting me when stuff like this happens, that I know everything will be okay because I am a representative of Jesus Christ and Angels will protect me. The mom talked to the uncle and everything is cool now haha. I hope these stories aren't making you guys worry because I promise that I'll be fine.

Anyways! That's so sad about President Monson's wife! I'm surprised I hadn't heard anything about it because we had church yesterday and nobody said anything about it. That's super sad.

Love you guys!  Thank you for all of your awesome examples to me, without them I would not be on a mission. Erik you better not get married until I get back because I have to be there. So just wait two years lol. Love you guys! Tchau!

Elder Colin Hanson

May 13, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Rio Verde ~ Week 16

Dear Family,

I told you most everything yesterday on Skype. But I'm doing fine and I hope you guys are doing okay as well. Things are getting crazy down in Rio Verde, Brazil.  Like I told you I had two baptisms this week; I baptized Wellington on Saturday and my companion baptized Washington on Sunday!!! Washington is the one you met on Skype haha. They were my first baptisms and I was super nervous haha. My testimony has grown super strong here! Honestly I'm a changed person. My mission is the greatest blessing ever.

Colin Skype Screen shots with Washington and his Companion Elder Lima

Washington is ready for baptism!

Washington speaking to us in Portuguese. Telling us "Good Afternoon"

Colin on Skype

It will be OK Elder Hanson

Great Companions

I was happy when you told me Bryan's going to Houston Texas, Spanish speaking I think lol. He will do awesome.

Okay so Brazil is SOOOoooooo freaking Hot haha, it's always like 95 degrees. But it's not too humid here like other parts of Brazil. We literally walk everywhere, we walk a marathon everyday haha. We don't have a car because people drive crazy in Brazil. I'm so exhausted by the end of the day so I sleep super well.

I can speak Portuguese a ton better than I can understand it lol. Elder Lima, my companion said that the people in Rio Verde don't speak correct Portuguese and it's so frustrating haha.  Things are getting easier everyday and I'm getting used to the Brazil culture.

Anyways, since yesterday, we had district meeting this morning and that was it. Nothing much has happened other than Habyta, the daughter of Abadia and Carlos (I don't know if I talked about them with you guys) but she is going to be baptized this Saturday, along with this other teenager named Rafael and maybe, not sure yet, these kids named Clarice, Matheus, and Marcos as well. So we're hoping for 5 baptisms this week haha and they're all kids or teenagers which is pretty cool.

I loved talking with you yesterday on Skype!!! I hope you had a great Mother's Day Mom and I hope you had a great birthday Dad this past week.  Love you all so much!!!

Elder Hanson

BTW I can't carry my camera everywhere with me in Rio Verde because I don't want it to get stolen :/

Colin and Elder Lima in the Chapel in Rio Verde

Washington's Baptism

Wellington's Baptism!

May 6, 2013 ~ Goiania Brazil Mission, Rio Verde ~ Week 15

Dear Family,

What???? Brice is going on a mission???!!! Why didn't you tell me this!!!! Where is he going? That's Awesome!!!!!

FELIZ ANNIVERSARIO PAI ESTE QUINTA-FEIRA!! Eu espero que voce tem um bom dia e eu amo voce com todo o meu curaçao. Voce e um Melhor exemplo por mim e voce vai ter 50 anos! Que louco!!! English Translation: Happy Birthday Father this Thursday!! I hope you have a good day and I love you with all of my heart. You're a great example to me and you will be 50 years old! That's crazy!!! I can't freaking believe I'm missing my own father's 50th birthday :( That honestly makes me so sad! You better do something crazy on Thursday dad lol.

Anyways, the baptism with Washington fell through :(, he talked to his mom the day of his baptism and she talked him out of it. SO DUMB!!! We were super pissed that the baptism with Washington  didn't happen but I have a feeling that he'll want to be baptized this week. Hopefully he'll change his mind for this Saturday. Our goal is to have 4 baptisms this week, Washington, this woman named Abadia, her husband Carlos, and their daughter Habitha.  They're super cool and Abadia speaks super slow and so I can understand almost everything she says haha. There is another family who we taught this week that was super excited about our message. They're awesome, the only problem is the parents aren't married. The dad speaks a million miles an hour and so I never have any idea what he is saying haha. But we hope to baptize three of their kids next Saturday. Pray for all these souls :) to be baptized.

I don't know what time we're going to Skype this Sunday for MOTHER'S DAY? I've asked but nobody knows for sure. We don't know if it will be at the Church or at the Mission President's house (of the ward, not mission). What will probably happen is I will call you guys first just to let you know that I'm going to Skype for 1 hour but if Skype doesn't work, I can only talk on the phone for 30 minutes, which is a bummer! So, hopefully Skype works!

There was a funny fight that we saw yesterday by our Chapel Haha. They were drunk & High at the same time and they looked completely ridiculous. They were yelling Vai Morrer! Vai Morrer! (Go die haha) They weren't really serious haha. We couldn't hear all of what the fighting boys were saying and my companion wanted to move in closer to hear (my companion, Elder Lima wants to learn English fluently but right now his English isn't the best) so he turned to me and said, 'I want to go to there' haha (30 Rock-Tina Fey) I laughed so hard. We were wise and didn't go to there haha. One of the most dangerous places in Rio Verde is by our LDS Chapel. There's always weird people hanging out by the Church.

Nothing much else happened this week. My Portuguese is improving but not fast enough! Anyways, I love you!!! Tem um boa semana! Have a great 50th dad! You're the best! Eu amo Voces!!!

Love Elder Hanson

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)