12/15/13 Baptisms for Christmas!

All right so hello everyone!! Let me just start off by saying that this week was amazing!!! Even though at times as you are walking around its a million degrees you have a ton of people always saying hey joy and americano.......I have never done anything more rewarding than serving a mission. I had an amazing exprience this week where it just hit me, even though we had just got punted and we were now heading out to a really far area, the thought just hit me where I was so happy and I could just feel the spirit so much. It was a very amazing experience for me and I was very grateful for it. I know that our Father In Heaven knows our needs and will help us and give us strength when needed. So last saturday we had three investigators who passed their interview so we will now be having a baptism three days before Christmas!! White Christmas no??? yeah even though I won't see the brilliant snow that is just reflecting the wonderful sun, I will see three of God's Children with the biggest smiles on their faces and witness something even more beautiful than a fresh white Christmas. I'm not gonna lie,  at times I do miss the cold.......like I always say it is so hot here in the Philippines. We also have our awesome part member family who has now returned to church!!!! Four weeks in a row they have gone to church. And their kids will now be baptized on the 28th!!! Me and Elder Flores are definitely seeing the blessings of our hard work. I have never been happier to be serving. and I am also way excited to skype my family on Christmas!!! That will be absoluteley amazing!!! It has been seven months since I have talked to them!! But yeah that is about all that I have to report!!! I love you all

Happy Holidays!!

love Elder Hansen







 

First Group Email! 12/09/13

So Unker, (that would be Elder Unker) has been talking me into doing a weekly letter or something so that people know what I'm doing out here in the mission.....I'm not the best at expressing what is happening here but I will try my best. So last p day our whole zone went to a mall. Keep in mind its the Philippines, not America.  But we went to a mall and decided to go inside and Christmas carol because its December....in the Philippines, once its September that means it is now Christmas! It's the BER months octoBER novemBER.... which just means that it is kind of cold....but anyway we went caroling.  No one wanted to at first but once we all started singing it was actually way fun! I enjoyed it...the people gave us weird looks though...and some took our pictures so it was fun. But this week was good.  An Elder that was in my house in my first area just moved into this house so we get to be together again in the apartment.  He is way funny. We also decided to stop by a school that has a bunch of home made Christmas trees out front and we took some pics.  The people were a little shocked we were doing that but its okay....they wanted pictures too. The members are way nice here though and the work is so much better when they come along. We are trying to get them more excited about missionary work especally since we have some baptisms coming up we feel that they will be more excited to do missionary work. One of our families we teach is actually a PM family who went less active in 2008 they have now been to church 3 times and two of their kids will be baptized. Hopefully in December but if not the first Saturday in January.  The Mata family (mata means eye by the way in Tagalog) but they are way sweet! So that's about what is going on so far right now.....but yeah I hope you are all having a great holiday season! Love Elder Hansen

 Elder Hansen and some Missionaries apparently play basketball at 5:00am twice a week. So they made jerseys.  29 is Elder Hansen's baseball number from High School.  Staying in the spirit of the Gospel, his team are the Nephites!

Below:  This must be one of the homemade Christmas Trees that was in front of the school.  Oh to be wearing short sleeves at Christmas time!

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Update 12/02/13

Dear Family!!!!!!!!! Happy late Thanksgiving!!!!  I'm sure you had a great

Thanksgivbing with lots of food and what not!! I  took Elder Flores out to Pizza Hut for Thanksgiving hahaha it was soo good. I payed for him because he has never eaten there before. This email will just be a gratitude email.....

Thank you for the opportunity you gave me to be here on the mission. Thank you for the love you have shown me through out my entire life. Thank you for the support, advice, counsel, partys, baseball games, Lake Powell trips, going to Arizona, Cali, Georgi, New York etc.....Thank you for teaching me how to be the  person that I am today, with out you two in my life I would not be the person I am.   Heavenly Father gave me to you because he knew that you were the right parents for me and through your guidance I would be doing what I am doing now for the people in the Philippines. I want to thank you for taking me to church as a little kid and doing your best to keep me in the church. The changes you and dad made before I was born has now changed many life. If I wasn't a member of the church, if I didn't grow up in the church maybe Brother XXXX would not have been baptized...our decisions effect the eternities. Maybe if we were not sealed in the temple in 2009 I wouldn't be here right now and I would not have been able to help the people I have met so far. Maybe some of my friends would not be on missions at this time...so I want to thank you for all of the great decisions you have made in your lives. I am very thankful for my mission and all of the things that I have learned and how I'm am changing in my heart.  Look up the definition of repentence in the bible dictionary it is really a perfect definition. I have so far had a great time in my mission I have not only blessed the lives of others but I have been blessed by so many other people. All of the members I have met,  all of the investigators,  it really is an amazing opportunity!! I love you all so much and I am very excited to be able to speak with you whether it be on skype or phone! This week has been a great week but there is always more work to be done. One of my batch mates just got called to be a zone leader so that is way cool I'm way proud of him!!

I love you all so much! Dad I will read all of the references you have given me so I will write you a letter with my interpretation or insights about those scriptures, you are really the light in my life keep up the good work at home.  keep your testimony bright, remember we are always being watched so let your light so shine forth!!!!! I love you all love your son

Elder Hansen

 

11/30/13 Thoughts on Typhoon Haiyan

11/08/13

Typhoon Yolanda as known in the States or Typhoon Haiyan as known in The Philippines hit land fall on November 8 2013 early in the morning.  This was the largest ever recorded storm to hit landfall.  When a satellite image of the storm was superimposed over the United States it covered about 1/3 of the country, this may give you some idea of the magnitude of this storm.

Needless to say we watched as the Typhoon approached, at first without much thought.  Elder Hansen has all ready been through several Typhoons since being in the Philippines.  They just stay indoors and no big deal, so I wasn't very worried.  However, as news was released we realized that this was not an ordinary storm.  A typhoon is just another name for a Hurricane.  The force of this storm was in line with Hurricane Katrina only much, much larger.  We prayed and watched the news footage anxiously as the carnage became clear to the world.  We were told via Church news reports that the missionaries had all been moved to safety a few days in advance, however, several of the missionaries from the Tacloban mission were unaccounted for.  The death toll was enormous there and we watched and cried and prayed while waiting to hear of their fate.  We knew our son Riley was accounted for again through church broadcast, but we had not heard from him and did not know what kind of condition he or his surroundings were left in.  The wait was excruciating.  Luckily and really Miraculously all of the over 200 missionaries were found and returned to Manila for reassignment.  Our son Riley was not one of them, he was safe in Urdaneta and it turned out that they just had rain and some wind.  They had heard about the missing missionaries and the devastation, and were very concerned for all of the people and very sad.  But, I don't think they quite grasped the horrendous condition and death etc... as they are not able to see tv or hear radio or read the news.  All of their information came from their Mission Presidents or talk around the towns.  I was thankful that Elder Hansen and his area was spared, I am extremely grateful for that blessing.  At the same time I am so torn up and saddened by the plight of the Philippine people in the affected areas.  There was a massive loss of life and injury.  Whole cities were destroyed.  I am also very grateful for the missionaries all being saved.  After hearing several of their stories, it is nothing short of a miracle that they all survived.  I am also sad for the horrific images they will carry with them and for the fear and physical and emotional toll it took on them.  Riley has one personal friend that was one of the rescued Missionaries who was injured and will need to come home and have surgery.  Elder Hansen is quite concerned for him.  Our prayers and well wishes are with him and his family.

After all of that, the broad concern of the missionaries in the hard hit areas was having to leave the people they love behind.  Realizing that many people they knew were killed or had loved ones missing.  That said, I want to follow up with what is being done to help.  Many missionaries were on sight helping with supplies and comfort from the beginning.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were there almost immediately trying to set up communications, shelter, supplies and love.  There are several other wonderful countries and organizations who are helping in the effort.  This is a time when we see how Christ uses his people as his hands.  People come together in love from all walks of life.  This is when we see goodness in the face of tragedy.  This is when we realize that we are all brothers and sisters in this world, and it is so important to "Love One Another" as the commandment states.  "Out of trials our strengths are shown to us" (Unknown) My love and prayers go out to the Philippine people.

Sharon Hansen

***If you would like to help with the Philippine Relief there are several ways.  There are many well known and reputable organizations that would love your help.  The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints has a humanitarian aid fund that anyone can donate to.  Prayers are continuously needed!

Baptisms for December 21! 11/24/13

11/24/13

 

 

 

> wow my family had a very busy week this week!! Two farewells!! Haha that is so sweet! ( His friends Josh and Koa both had their farewells the same day.)  But man this week was so awesome! We had 10 investigators at church, one full family!! They are scheduled to be baptized on the 21st of December! They are so willing to follow anything commandment wise!!  They are seriously so golden. Back in 1999 they were taught by missionaries but a Baguio (storm) came in like that week they were supposed to be baptized so their house was destroyed......so they lost contact with the missionaries until now.....so as soon as we started teaching them they were so receptive.  It has been so awesome and we have now got Tatay or the dad to join in the lessons and the whole family was willing to extend their baptismal date just so that they could all do it together. So even though sometimes the work is hard we do have blessings like these. We do have other families that we are teaching.  They are really nice as well.  Hopefully they will be be able to start going to church pretty soon. As for me I have been doing great.  We wake up at 5 in the morning two days a week to play basketball and I work out all the other days....trying to get my six pack back again!! In the mission there is a thing called the six month to sexy plan....yeah I'm just starting on the 1 yr and stay sexy plan hahahahaha but I'm having a blast here in Aguilar.  I'm hoping that my companion does not get transferred.....that would suck it would be like six transfers in a row where I have had a new comp.....and that is not fun because you have to adjust to new comps all the time. but I will try and send you some pictures from the past couple of weeks so you can see my beautiful faces here!!!!!!! haha but I'm glad you are doing great.  Have a great Thanksgiving! I will have a great one here working hahah love you guys love
> Elder Hansen

Through God we receive all Blessings 11/17/13

11/17/13

(He was writing this email at the same time I was writing him one and neither of us realized it.  So, yes, I NEVER miss emailing Elder Hansen)


So my family doesn't want to email to me huh?????? haha well its okay I understand you don't really love me!! But as for me I'm doing great. We had another really good week we now have 8 IBDS  so hopefully those will continue to progress and what not. One thing that happened was that some of our investigators were not able to go to church yesterday so that was a bummer.....I was really frustrated at first.... but me and Elder Flores were asked to give talks yesterday...like 10 min before sacrament so its like okay prepare a talk in ten minutes.....in Tagalog ready go>> haha!  I shared two example of people in the scriptures. One person Ammon boasts of his God because he knows that because of him he receives all the blessings. And the other is a group of Nephite dissenters that would boast in their own strength. What happened was  that when danger and problems came God left them in their own strength so they all basically died or got messed up and the spirit left them. But Ammon continued to receive many blessings. So that is what I talked about yesterday. But I don't know if you heard but my friend that was one of the missing missionaries in Typhoon Haiyan,  is going home because he messed up his hand way bad on a knife in the middle of the typhoon....so he will get it operated on in the states and then head back out. He also saw a lot of death so he is very sad as all of us are......but as for me I'm doing just fine here in Urdandeta mission. I really am doing great here we have a FHE at families house later on tonight.  They are some of our investigators so hopefully this should be way fun!!! I'm buying ice cream too so it should be great!!!! But hopefully you can email me before I have to get off...anyways love you guys love

Elder Hansen

 

 

2nd email

alright thanks for that amazing email! I got it late for some reason....I don't know why but I'm doing great! I sent an email all ready but I just want to say thank you for everything and I hope you have a great week.

Tender Mercies 11/03/13

11/03/13
Wow so that is some great news!!! Its awesome to hear how you are doing and the changes that are happening in your lives. I hope the blessings will continue for you all!! that is way awesome!!! Please tell them that I'm very proud of them and to just keep up the great work and to know that all blessings come from obedience! (This was in reference to some close relatives who were able to receive the Aaronic Priesthood, not mentioning names for privacy!)   Congrats to Alex for passing the first test.  I know he can pass the second one too. They might not give him his license though because he has a receding hair line. haha just kidding. (That is in reference to his brother who passed his Real Estate test and is now licensed!) I will be sending you letters later on today! So about me! So my third area! Holy crap time flies by its crazy I'm on my third area now. I was kind of bummed that I got transferred but its okay. But my new comp is awesome! Elder Flores. We get along really well. The area itself is kind of hard we don't have any progressing investigators or IBDS so we have some work to do here....but I'm ready for the challenge. The members have been really nice though and for the most part they are willing to work with us. Its just the fact that our area is pretty wide so we have been working on finding people but its kind of difficult. As for teaching though it goes good. We have some good potential investigators. I have been doing really good here and I'm very grateful I have a Filipino companion so that my Tagalog will get even better.  (He is also learning a new dialect called Pangasinan or something like that, most of the people speak that but also Tagalog in his new area) Hearing such great news about (close relative)  as I just read dads email makes me very grateful for the tender mercies we receive each day. I don't think we could count how many we receive each day like ever but those little blessings like getting a text from someone you love just as it seems that things are at an all time low can completely change your attitude and maybe your life. I know that XXXX sending that text at that time to dad was not a coincidence, our Father in Heaven knew that you needed to hear that amazing news about XXXXX dad. All I know from what I have experienced is that you cannot give up on people. If we put it in terms of our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ, they have never given up and will never give up on any of us, the gospel of Jesus Christ is there for us.  All we need to do is put forth a little bit of effort and test our faith a little bit and grab on to the hand of mercy that is extended endlessly out to us. I just want you to know that I love you so much no matter what happens.  Whatever happens I will be here to lift up the hands that hang helplessly down. If you are ever sad or depressed send me an email because I'm here for all of you.  Please if you need help ask your Heavenly Father.

I love all of you please take care of yourselves this week have a great week. I will as well.

Love Elder Hansen

Forgiveness, Conversion and Exerise! 10/20 and 10/27/13

10/27/13

Mom and Dad

 Well freak let me first start out with I got transferred!!!!!! yeah last Friday so I missed the baptism of (The Brother who had a stroke)....he was awesome and I didn't even get to say goodbye to him....I feel bad but its just how it happened.  (This has happened several times during Riley's mission.  He gets investigators ready for baptism and they transfer him before they can be baptized.  I told him that his job is obviously to prepare and then move on and not to worry) But my new area is in Lingayen zone.  Its called Aguilar. I'm assigned to the first branch...its a way cool area but we have no ibds right now and no progressing investigators so I'm here to do some work!!! My new companion's name is Elder Flores.  He is from Bacolod area!! He is a great guy.
So far I have only been here for three days so I don't really know the area and stuff but it seems way fun. We taught a great lesson last night about repentance. It seemed to really help this Less active out. Hopefully it did.  (In speaking about working hard and homesickness or troubles on your mind Riley says the following) I find that when you are working hard you don't really think about your problems or home.  No offense but when I'm out working I don't really think about you guys.....hahahaha but I do love you guys of course. I'm glad that you guys had a good time at Uncle Bears Memorial tribute...I can't believe its almost been a year now that he passed away from us for a short period of time. I say a short period of time because to him it is a very short period of time and if we look at things in the eternities we realize how short our time really is. Dad the bands I want you have to order from the store. The bands down stairs are old now so they would just break anyway.   I'm having a great time here I'm in a new house and turns out that another Elder from my batch and district in the mtc is in my house.  He is from Kearns,  Utah his name is Elder Uhi.  He is a great guy. Anyway I will be writing you a letter and sending it next week so I won't put too much more in here. I love you guys so much

Love Elder Hansen

 

10/20/13

 

In this email he is referring to someone that he knows personally who was struggling to overcome some sins and problems in their life.

 

Hey guys I'm glad you are doing great!! I know that because of the savior we can over come
anything in our lives. I have some talks that I will be sending to you guys that are
about repentance and the Saviors' mercy. The talks are absolutely amazing. This coming Saturday I have a baptism of a Brother. He is
awesome.   He is the one who had a stroke a couple years ago!! That was
the thing that opened the door for him for the gospel. His wife has
said that he has changed so much because of our teaching to him. Alot
of the other religions have gone to him but nothing ever changed
except for when we went to him. His wife I believe will follow him in
membership!! This was a great experience for me to see. Yes mom I did
get the Halloween package. DAD will you please send me some jaeger arm
bands. They are baseball bands. I want to work out my arm and stuff. Pres.
Monahan wants to play catch!@! haha But this has been a great week one
of our zone leaders goes home tomorrow Elder Beckstrom he lives in
Spanish Fork, try and find him! We got really close these past two
transfers!! I don't know if I will be transferred or not this transfer
I doubt it but it is possible. I love
you guys keep in touch like always!! haha Love ya Elder Hansen

10/13/13 Surgery and Happy Families!

The foot is doing fine now don't worry!! I want to send you a picture of what it looks like now though.  I'ts just a beautiful looking toe!!! They had to use three shots to get the thing numbed up though!  I hope Kalan is doing well.  I havn't been able to email him very much>  ( I had told him how Elder Cantwell uses Facebook in his mission to post about the Gospel.)  Pres. Monahan said we might be able to use Facebook next year here in the Urdaneta mission. I'm glad you fasted for me.  I probably needed it.  But McDonalds made up for it! (He got to go to McDonalds after the surgery, which is a treat as he does not live near a city with fast food etc... Yep, he is still my Riley!)

 

In this next email Darin, Riley's dad, told him the story about John Rowe Moyle.  He was called as a stone Mason to work on the Salt Lake Temple and walked 22 miles there and 22 miles back each week form Alpine Utah.  He would awake at 2:00am to leave to make it to work by 8:00am, stayed with his son all week and then walk home Friday night to arrive at midnight.  He would then work on his farm Saturday and do the same thing again the next week.  All this after crossing the plains by handcart and never allowing anyone to help him push or pull his cart.  He was always worried about someone else needing help.  He did this for 20 years.  Then one day his dairy cow kicked him and broke his lower leg requiring it to be amputated from the knee down, at his home, with a saw while laying on a door!  After healing he formed a prosthetic leg out of wood.  He learned to walk around the house and then the property and soon decided to go back to work.  He told his wife he was never released from his Stone Mason calling and again took up the 22 mile trek weekly using a prosthetic leg.  He had to climb ladders to do his work.  He carved on the East side of the Salt Lake Temple, the Gold carving saying "Holiness to the Lord"  He was doing this at 77 years of age!  He died four years before the completion of the Salt Lake Temple!  This was a dedicated Man of God and a true hero!

 

Riley's email

 

This picture is at a dinner appointment that members invited us too. They are way good at cooking and make delicious food haha! But yeah the members are way fun here. One thing I started doing instead of writing in my journal is I'm just doing a voice journal it's way easier and faster but I can also get a lot more info down.  If I ever want to write really personal experiences I will just do it in my journal. About the work. We  are doing pretty good.  Pres. Monahan is having us change our focus a little bit again. Our focus has been on less actives but this past week he told us that we cannot teach a less active lesson unless they bring an investigator to the lessons. So we will be working on finding a lot more. That's one thing I would like to ask if you will pray for us to have missionary opportunities to meet new people and to serve people. Dad,  he is one tough son of a gun!! (Meaning John Rowe Moyle)  I have heard his story before and what he experienced is a lot worse than what I went through haha! But that just shows his desire and determination to do good and serve the Lord no matter what happened to him. That's one way how we need to show our appreciation is to be willing to serve him diligently every day. Now I say diligently because of what diligent truly means. When you think of being diligent you think of working hard.....what I think of in diligence is working hard and never complaining. When we were baptized it is what we covenanted about. It is  our promise to Heavenly Father. He loves and supports us as long as we serve him. I'm very excited to hear you say that, (Referring to Darin saying he may want to serve an adult couples mission someday) though dad I'm gonna hold you to it though!,  about serving a couples mission. Honestly you would do great and would have a great time! I see the couples missionaries here and they have a blast. And I promise you don't live how we do.......you can basically do whatever you want hahaha but I love you guys.  Thanks for all the good news.  Tell Jordan that I'm praying for him always and that I love him. You can tell Alex that too if you want! haha But wish him good luck on his exam if it isn't over yet. But I love you all.  I'm excited for tomorrow. All of the foreigners go to  Urdaneta to get finger prints. Oh and by the way we don't get to go to the Manila temple anymore when we go home.....so I would like if you deeply thought about picking me up here so we can go to that temple together!!

love Elder Hansen

 

He has my vote to go pick him up!

 

 

"I'm doing great! I have some bad news..." 10/06/13

Dear Friends,

I have been slacking on keeping up with this blog!  That life thing!  Anyway, to catch up you will need to start on September 16th!  Sorry!  But, a ton has transpired in that little time!  Pray for the people of the Philippines!  Pray for all the missionaries everywhere! Thank you for your support!
Sharon

haha Hello Mom I will address this email directly to you because I think I'm sensing that you feel that I'm not caring about you haha No I'm just kidding! But thank you for delivering those letters for me and you can tell them that they can email me if they would like but I'm doing great!  (referring to the Bishop and Stake President)  I have some bad news....I'm going to the hospital today because the ingrown toenail that I have had on my foot they just keep coming back worse after I remove them at the salon.  So they are going to remove my entire nail and I will probably have to rest a little.  I'm not sure though. But yeah hopefully they will be able to numb my foot. The hospital is nice though and very clean so don't worry about that!! (Ya Right!)  but I do have to use my own money so I will either be using it just at the hospital or I might have to withdraw. But don't worry about me I will be fine. Just keep saying your prayers for my foot haha and for my investigators if you would like! As for bro. Capitle he is doing great!!!! His wife told yesterday that he wakes up early every morning to read the BoM and he also wakes her up to read with him! So right now he is doing great. Every time we see him he has a huge smile on his face I love it so much!! Did you guys get the pic that I forwarded to you of the baptism??? Oh and yes my camera works and I have been taking pictures its just super slow to upload them to an email so it drives me nuts! But I will send you some pics in letters and stuff as well as emails. I'm glad that conference was good and that dad went to priesthood! We don't get to watch it until this following Sunday but it will still be good! I can't believe that I'm all ready on my second general conference of the mission!! It blows my mind how fast time goes by. When you work hard and stay focused on the work that is exactly what happens. You turn around and it surprises you that I'm all ready eight months down the mission line. As for one of our other investigators I don't know if I told you about him but his name is Bernard and he is a doctor, very smart and very rich and also very interested in the church. He actually happened to preach by the way or a street contact to us. We were in church and he walked up and asked if he could listen. GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR haha Before we had even taught him he texted us and asked if he could get a BOM in English because he is very good at English. that's how we teach him is in English and I honestly can't do it haha When I try and speak in English I sound like a turd!! because all I use now is Tagalog so its like what I'm used to doing, especially in teaching. I would like to ask if you guys will pray for the less actives and the other members here in Malasiqui they need more prayers in their lives so please help us out with your prayers!! I'm doing very good though here.  I just bought a sweet hand made bamboo hymn book holder basically like a scripture case but for my mini hymn book!!! It's made by a member in a different mission but we told him to come today so I placed an order!! So I will send pictures in probably two weeks of this souvenier and maybe one other but I won't tell you what that is yet hahah but I hope you guys have a great week love your son Elder Hansen

 

Hi Elder Hansen!

About your toe They should numb it and take the nail off. I had that done as a child. Just keep it clean after and hopefully antibiotics! I will pray right now for your mini surgery! I will also pray for and put the less actives on the prayer roll. Get a blessing before your surgery! Very cool about the " golden" investigator and brother capitile. Glad you are taking pics! I don't feel neglected but thanks for paying "special " attention to me ! I love you so much!  You will be ok and I will secretly be holding your hand and giving you a hug through your toe surgery! Love ya lots 

Mom

haha thanks a ton mom love you so much and I also get to eat at Mcdonalds today so I'm way pumped!!!

(I guess the trip to the Hospital in the city is worth it for Mcdonalds!)

 

Elder Hansen's First Baptism! Happy Day!

 

(Referring to the Chili Pepper incident!)

hahaha yeah it was the craziest thing!!! it hurt so bad I'm not even kidding. Too bad though that mom forgot to put it in her talk haha (Mom did not forget to put that in her talk, she wisely chose to not talk about that in Sacrament meeting!) but I hope the talk was good.  I"m sure it was because mom is an angel. But thanks for the mlb schedule even though I can't watch it! but yeah those yanks just suck maybe in two seasons they will be better. That's soo cool that your doing stuff like that in the ward keep up the good work! How is the ward doing by the way?? Do you have any missionaries assigned there? But anyway as for my week it was awesome!! The baptism did continue and let me just say that  the experience was awesome!! I was the one to baptize him so that was really cool standing in the font guiding him and his family to eternal life. Before the baptism as we were waiting for like the people to get here for the baptism I could tell that he was nervous even in the picture we took before the baptism he wasn't smiling and stuff because I believe that Satan was trying to stop him. He has been an investigator for six years now and he finally made that change of heart and desired to be baptized so you know that Satan was trying to do anything to stop him. But literally right after the actual baptism we were eating a snack or a mirenda and he had the biggest smile on his face and was shaking everyone's hands etc....you could just see the change on his face or a change in his countenance!! IT WAS VERY UPLIFTING I'm way excited to keep working we actually found or he found us but an investigator that showed up to the church and wanted to listen. He is golden because he is very smart,  rich and speaks fluent English. He is progressing very quickly its funny how the Lord works in the details.  But yeah later on today we are going to play basketball with a bunch of members and also some investigators!! I'm way excited!  On Saturday we had a branch FHE which was way fun!! We traveled to different barangays to do a FHE and had the last one at the church. we played games ate a bunch of food and had a great time!!

I hope you are all doing good!  I love you!

Elder Hansen

Add on to 9/23/13 This is HOT!!!

Also something funny that happened to me yesterday.  After we went to church in our little meeting house out in Palapar they fed us which was awesome!! But they had this thing called Sili.  It's basically chili peppers but I just squished one and was rubbing it in my hands and all the members were like elder don't touch your eyes its gonna kill and  stuff like that.  Of course I'm not stupid right?! I'm not going to touch my eyes, but what did happen was this....I forgot to wash my hands and I decided to go pee..........yeah right when I finished going pee...........I was on fire!!!!!!!! ...my comp was laughing like crazy and the two Single Adults priesthood that worked with us that day were dying as well....let me just tell you it hurt very badly......just thought I would let you know how I'm doing!!!! hahaha

Letter To Our Ward 9/23/13 Lesson in Patience!

Dear Ward!

So this is the new and IMPROVING Elder Hansen, just a couple things I would like to tell you. First its either hot or it rains but I love it all the same, the work is hard the sleep is great but peace and joy still remain. I was trying to make a little poem on the top of my head but I ran out of ideas. Well I'm here in my second area its called Malasiqui 1st branch the people are very nice and extremely helpful. My companion is half Filipino half German...yes really weird mix but he is awesome he is from Springville Utah and actually goes home in December.  Although he is very close to going home he is still very diligent and I have learned a lot from him. As I have been serving my mission I'm pretty sure the lord has been trying to teach me patience and how to do things his way and not base it off my own carnal wisdom. It's taken me up until this point to really realize what patience is. And why missionaries need to develop Christ like attributes in their work. In the life of our Savior like it says in 1 Nephi 19:9 how the world judged,  smote and spit upon our Savior but he suffureth it, because of his loving kindness or charity and his long suffering towards the children of men. He was our perfect example on how to truly love those we serve no matter what they do to us. In my mission it has been until Sept. 28th that I did not have a baptism.  My very first baptism is almost eight months into my mission so it has definitely taken some patience and diligence on my part as a missionary but I did also need to become humble because as a missionary I don't feel that I was ready to bring someone into the church until I became humbled enough to do things the Lords way. 

 

Love,

Elder Hansen

Family

So that's some of my thoughts that you can share with the ward it's just a little bit but you can take things from other emails but I want you mom to search your thoughts and your feelings about my mission so far....if that makes sense. haha!  (Which I did and loved reporting on Riley's mission to our ward!) 

but yeah so this Saturday the 28th I  have my first baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited and so energized its awesome!!!! All of these blessings are happening at once the branch is working with us I'm finally getting my first baptism Brother June Capitle.   And I couldn't be more happy! Being a District Leader is all ready helping me grow, I will be the first person the president will come to if there is a problem in one of their areas in my district if their stats are low it will be me first. So I'm responsible for not only showing my district an excellent example of my area but also I'm responsible for giving them training each week, interviewing their baptismal candidates etc....I actually have my first interview on Friday so I'm nervous for that....but yeah I'm doing really great. Here is something funny that happened I think my old temple pants  got left in the mtc or I lost them somehow but I didn't have any and we have a baptism this Saturday.   But I don't have clothes to wear.....and I really doubt the baptismal clothes will fit me here. (With a nickname like Thor, tiny framed Filipino clothes will not fit him!) But I had ordered some new pants a couple weeks ago from lds. org and they happened to get to me today the p day right before the baptism!!! so this is definitely perfect timing hahaha (I refer to this as a miracle!  It takes about six weeks for us to get a package to Elder Hansen!) but yeah I'm doing great! I did get the journals and stuff today as well. I don't know if I got the letters fromm dad or not.... love you guys 

love Elder Hansen

 

09/16/13 District Leader/ New Companion

Hey family thanks for the great email!! Well hey I'm just so glad you
guys are having a great week so far and having the opportunities to
share the gospel.  That's cool that you saw Tav at Cafe
Rio....you shouldn't have told me at Cafe Rio though you should have said
at some vegetable restaurant that way it wouldn't make me miss food
hahaha just kidding! But yeah so I had a crazy week with lots of ups
and downs that I will write a letter to you about.  I don't want to send
it over email. (We still do not know what that was about!)  But I'm doing great. I have another new companion.  Elder Delapaz
 was transferred.  My new companion goes home in three months so I will
probably kill him in the mission or send him home haha! He is way cool!
He is from Springville Utah.  He is half Filipino and half German.  I'm
not quite sure how to spell his name but its elder Frishnicht or
something haha! But he is a great elder. He looks Filipino but speaks
normal Utah English haha!  But yeah I am now a district leader here in
Calisao District so I'm excited.  I  will be giving workshops every week
to my district,  I interview people for baptism and interview all the
companionships in my district. So far it  has been going great. The
members are getting more excited about missionary work because I'm
actually involving them. We had mcm last week and every day we have
member signed up to work with us. We also received five referrals
last week that we will contact this week and actually later tonight we
are going to contact one of them. Random thought real quick two girls
are singing a cranberries song right now I have no idea why the
Cranberries are popular here, they are so old! Haha! but yeah so
hopefully we will get some new investigators this week. Bro. June
Capitle is going to be baptized on Sept. 28 as long as the interview
goes good on Saturday but our other Brother investigator had to extend his ibd
because he drank a little beer.   He
totally understood, he still goes to church every week and said that
he will stop now and completely  understands that it is bawal or
forbidden.
My Tagalog is coming along really well, my comp who is about to go
home said that I'm all ready pretty fluent so that's pretty cool!!! So
yeah that's about it for the work oh one really funny thing I saw
yesterday was a dog had his head stuck in a fence and he was jumping
up and down trying to get it out I wish I would have  filmed it or
something haha but yeah were doing good here in Malasiqui!  I love you
guys
love Elder Hansen

September 9 2013

Mom and Dad,  I have not received any of the packages or things that you have sent yet because now that I'm not in Urdaneta it takes a lot longer to get to the missionaries. because all the letters and stuff go to Urdaneta first and then to the other zones...so it will be a little while! But I  hope I get it soon. Of course I'm excited to hear from you guys I love reading your emails but more lengthy letters like dad was saying would be really nice too!! (By the way, I have sent a couple and he has not received them either!  Very frustrating and expensive!)  I sent you guys a letter for you and one for Jordan so please relay that letter to him.  As for the area its doing good we need to find new investigators but other than that its good!! Most likely my companion will be transferred and I will get another new comp. and I will most likely be a district leader next transfer.  I don't know if I told you guys that. Yesterday at church since we have our normal church and then a little meeting house that is far away with about 20 members we went out there at like three for sacrament again. But imagine this. Your just out in the mountains a little bit with mango trees banana trees all other kinds of trees some little bamboo houses and a bamboo little roof outside where we meet.  There are about 25 of us just under this little roof. And all of the sudden right when we started the opening hymn the rain came down so hard and the lightning and thunder was nuts!! It was so strong you couldn't hear our voices at all, but when the rain would die down a little you could hear our voices so well it was like angels were singing!  I felt the spirit like crazy. And just to know that all over the world no matter the meeting house people are renewing their covenants to come closer to our Heavenly Father.  I'm changing so much in my thoughts and desires so far on a mission its crazy!! I love serving so much!! 

Alex

hahhahahaahahahhaahhahahahaah! (This opening is because Alex teased him about how often he says Haha! in his emails, now if he quits, I will be sad!)  Just kidding!  I won't put haha! anymore in my emails but yeah you suck at writing back!! Just kidding but its all good.  I'm glad your summer was a blast! Now its going to start getting cold again out in Utah....don't worry it might cool down to about 85 degrees but trust me it still feels like a hundred! As soon as it hit September all the malls play Christmas hymns not a joke!  Sept 2 I was listening to jingle bells so yeah the Philippines is worse than mom at starting Christmas music early!! But yeah the work I'm doing out here is really awesome!! I was able to do a service project while on exchanges where we packed 1500 different sacks of food and like it was a ton of food and way fun to see all the members participating!!!! I have also seen some huge spiders here!! You can hear them running on the walls!! It literally blows my mind!! But keep doing good out there and let me know who all goes into the playoffs for baseball!! 

Love Elder Hansen

 

Labor Day email 2013

hey mom I actually didn't know that you emailed Pres. (I emailed his mission president after being concerned about him being sick!) but next time you dont need to do that haha I'm the one that will tell him or text him if I need help haha cause we do have cell phones for our investigators and emergencies.  That's cool you guys are going on so many trips and stuff!! Even if they are little trips to random places its good to go on those!! I was thinking about how fast time is going by and if you think about it this way,  next month in October marks the year mark of when I started my papers! Talk about how fast time goes by right?? As of now we have two ibds for Sept. 28.   We need to get more investigators but right now its pretty likely that I will have two baptisms next transfer, and a new companion again haha!  Its weird I will be getting another comp. but its because my comp has been in this area for a while now so he will be transferred. President Monahan stopped by our house to study with us last week and after the studies he pulled me outside and told me that next transfer I will either be a district leader or training someone, but I honestly think it will be both! haha I'm nervous to be a district leader but excited as well!!! I've been happy! Nothing too crazy has been happening here.  I have just been really busy and focused on the work. It did rain a ton last week. I hope you are all praying for all my friends out on missions even if you don't know all their names!! I have a ton now out on missions it blows my mind. Make sure you fill me in on the class below me thats going on missions.

Dad-

haha that is a great movie!! ( A reference to a comment Darin made to him, inside joke.)  I just first want to say how much I appreciate your support that you have given me. As I go through my mission I am realizing all the sacrifices you have made for us your children. And I realize how ungrateful I have been at times. So I'm sorry for that dad because I love you so much and I appreciate all that you have done for me. My health is all good now!! I'm still waiting for the letter that you said your were going to send me! Were you able to send it to me yet or no???

Keep up the great work in your job but don't get too stressed,  it is just a job.  Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Don't worry about what you will eat or drink the next day. We are blessed more abundantly when we do that.

love your Son
Elder Hansen

Yeah...they hurt!

Hi viewers!  This is mom speaking.  I have struggled with even having the desire to post this week's email.  Why?  Because it was a reality check!  Because it is so hard to not be able to reach out to your kids when you know that life is especially trying for them.  Some of us new mission moms have this grand illusion that their son or daughter will have the time of their life!  Baptisms every week, lots of warm and fuzzies from everyone and of course not dangerous!  Well new mission parents, get over it!  Missions are, yes, dare I say?, HARD!  There was such flooding from the Typhoons in Manila that around 19 people died!  One of my friend's sons has had his apartment in another area flood twice in the last couple weeks, now they are being invaded by rats!  He has not been able to sleep and is exhausted!  And with the water comes...the mosquitos!  With the mosquitos comes the Dengue fever among other disease!  But they convey very little to you and there are several HaHa's! following sentences including the words fever.  Yes, my nails are shot, I've gained 10 pounds and am now a regular on the mission mom website!  But here is the weird thing.  I feel at peace.  I am comforted beyond what I deserve to be.  I get feelings about things to send and find out the next week that oh and I could sure use whatever it is I sent.  Crazy?, Maybe.  I am absolutely happy that my son gets to see another part of the world and live as they do and be strong and empathetic.  Despite a small quip here or there about the rain or whatever, his letters always include things like "I love it here!"  "I love the people" "Wading in knee deep water is fun!" "mangos are my new favorite fruit" "I'm so happy for or thankful for..."  "And always, always..."I love this Gospel, I love the plan of salvation."  And hope and prayers that those people he has grown to love will receive it, and almost every letter, "I'm happy!, don't worry about me!"  Hopefully within the next year and 1/2 I will learn to take his advice.  Thank you to all of the missionaries out there in the world!  And just for the record, they could be assigned to Disneyland and parents would still worry!

Here is the email!

8/26/13

hey family let me start out with the bad news first!!! I  have nine blisters total on my feet yeah it hurts....also I had a 102 fever for two days but I still worked hahaha freaking rain is killing me out here!  Just kidding,  but I did have a 102 fever I'm just fine now though!!! When will I be getting those pics of Powell,  in the package???? I'm very glad you guys went to Ben's farewell that is very important to me and to him!! I'm sure he did great!!

As for here,  yes it has rained a ton!! I have walked through knee deep water like five times now!! haha but its all for the work and its a fun experience its a lot worse in Manila, look up baha sa maynilla on youtube its crazy!!! But I'm doing good now.  I'm not sick or anything so don't worry about that!!! I'm glad C Will (his friend on a mission in Spokane) is doing good.  He emailed me so I need to email him back.  But I hope your doing good.  I'm going to try and write you guys a letter so I can express some things to you guys in more depth.. But as for the area its good. We need more investigators but we have two ibds right now for Sept 28.  Their faith is awesome. I love it! I know they will be baptized!! (in answer to Darin's question about his investigators from his previous area Riley says)  I'm pretty sure they ended up getting baptized. Elder Barney hasn't told me yet... I'm happy here.   My comps okay.  The plan of salvation is awesome!!!! I'm so happy for you two that is quite a long time but imagine eternal happiness with each other!! even better right!!! (talking about us celebrating our 28 year anniversary) I love you guys so much and I'm very happy I'm sealed to you!  love Elder Hansen

One Happy Elder!

Notice how the first words out of this email exclaim his happiness for his friends!  Not Dear Mom and Dad, or How are you?  And...that is exactly what I love about this young man!  He wants happiness for others and is truly overjoyed by his friend's good news!

8/18/13

Josh got his call to Argentina!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so awesome!! He has been talking to me about going on a mission for about a month now.  I didn't even know that he turned in his papers!! Ben leaves in a couple of days and Koa is expecting his call in a couple of days!! This is crazy!! I am so excited for all my friends. As I have looked back on time I have seen so many people accept the call of President Monson and of God for all worthy able Priesthood holders to serve a mission. That is honestly the coolest thing in the world to me!! Josh enters the MTC Dec 8 so that is way cool!! I could never be more proud of him than I am now!!

So I'm so glad you guys had a great time at Powell and I'm glad Alex was a great help!! He is a great kid for sure! and  so is Jordan.  Being on the outside looking in I see all the little miracles that are happening in our family.  I know that Heavenly father is looking over you guys. Hopefully Alex  can get lined up with a good looking LDS girl.  But I'm having a great time.  I was a little down last week but that was because i was being selfish. I understand that all missionary work is a process whether your planting or harvesting. Its the same work. we have two ibd for sept 28 and a couple Sundays ago I received a witness from the spirit that they would be baptized. He is really awesome and I'm seeing the changes he is making in his life to become clean and repent of his sins in order to be baptized!! I love this gospel and I love serving here.   I learn so much every day its really cool. Dad that rig looks super dangerous hahah I'm surprised you didn't wear out the brakes. But I'm so glad you are all safe now and I'm glad that family is safe!! Yes,  I got my ingrown toenail removed.

things I need in my package.

Shaving cream

Deodorant

and whatever else you want to put in it. love you guys so much I will send some pics this week hopefully it works.

Love Your Son

Elder Hansen

 

 

(  During his email time he found out where his friend Koa was called.  Background story on this is that Christmas of his senior year, Riley's friend Kyle invited Riley and Koa to spend Christmas in The Philippines with his family, they are from there.  They went and had a great time!  Riley fell in love with it there.  So, it was quite a surprise when Riley was called to the Philippines.  Then the spring of this year, Kyle turned in his papers and was also called to the Philippines, a different mission, in Naga.  A side story to this is that Kyle's dad served a mission in Manila and served with and Elder Anderson.  Now Elder Anderson's son, Ian also got called to serve in the Philippines in Naga, same as Kyle.  So two dads and two sons each serving in same missions in the Philippines!  Now on with the story.  So Koa decided to serve a mission.  He turned in his papers and just received his call to yes, The Philippines!  In Manila! More than a coincidence in my book!  Why?  We have yet to find out!  The Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways!)

 

8/18/13

Koa is going to Manila Philippines Mission!!!!!!! How nuts is that all of us went to Philippines together two Christmases ago and now we all return!

 

Love, Elder Hansen

 

 

 

New Companion!

 

 

 

 

 

Typhoon!

A super Typhoon hit The Philippines and we were not able to hear from Elder Hansen during the storm, but thank goodness, everyone was ok!

8/13/13

hey guys I'm doing just fine!! haha What's a typhoon to a missionary!
nothing that's what  it is! But yeah there have been some parts that have
flooded here but it hit a lot harder in Manila so its okay I'm doing
all good though. We weren't  aloud to work yesterday so it was way
boring and to be honest it wasn't even that bad.   We could have gone
out and worked no problem. But that's way cool that your out in lake
Powell now. I hope your having a blast, but that does suck that the
water is low.  That will be a ton of people in one boat hahaha but
it will be fun. That is way sad about Jon's brother...tell them I send
my love and prayers when you get the chance. (Our neighbor's brother passed away) As for the work I do
really like my area but right now we only have two investigators so
its like I've gone into one hard area to another.....its basically
impossible to get a baptism now this transfer because of the rules
that we have as missionaries here in the Philippines. They have to go
to church four weeks in a row to even be eligible so we are now on
week two of this transfer..so its going to be four transfers not
counting the MTC in the field with out a baptism. To be honest that
can be super frustrating. When I look at the fact that I'm six months
into the mission and I don't have a baptism it can be kind of
sad.....all I'm doing is working hard and sometimes I don't see the
success. I know its happening but I need something to help out
myself. My old comp said that Jay Ar and Maricell should be getting
baptized on Saturday so that will be sweet!! That alone will be a
confidence booster for me. as for my Tagalog I can say that I'm doing
really well. Six months into the mission I can easily talk to people
now during lessons, preaching by the way, buying food, really anything
its honestly a miracle and a spiritual blessing. You have to be
diligent in order to get these blessings but they come so that's what
matters.   Tell everyone on facebook and what not
that I'm okay no problems or anything, but you can mention that my
ingrown toe nail has come back again and I have a ton of blisters on
my feet hahaha Its all good though.  I just deal with it. I love
studying the scriptures. I learn so many amazing things each day and  I
love the relevance the gospel has in our everyday lives. Honestly if
you learn to rely on the Savior and the gospel in your life everything
else will be just fine. I just want to tell you guys that I love you
and stay safe in Lake Powell!!  More than
anything stay safe because we know Powell can be dangerous.
Love Elder Hansen

First Transfer!

8-4-13

Still no pictures!  Sometimes they are difficult to send from the computers in the Philippines!  Riley will have been out 6 months on August 13th!  I can't believe it!  I miss him so much, but this landmark has come really pretty fast!  So even though Riley has been in the Philippines for over 4 months, this is his first transfer!  Here is the letter!

Hello family,  I hope your all having a blast vacationing and doing cool stuff like that!! I bet Yellow Stone was a blast!  When do you go to Lake Powell?? I think its this coming up weekend right?? But that is extremely sad news to hear.. please give my regards to their family.  (This was in regard to the passing of our friend's son, Chance Slaymaker.  He was just 14 years old) But as for me I did get transferred to a new area. So I won't see the baptism and marriage of Jay Ar and Maricell....but that's okay as long as they get baptized haha!  Right now my new area is called Malasiqui its a branch but its a sweet area! My new comps name is Elder Delapaz he is from Bacolod.   He is like 26 now so its way weird...just think I'm only 19 years old....blows my mind.  Right now I can all ready tell that I will get a ton better at Tagalog here because I have a Filipino companion and all  I speak to him is Tagalog!! Sometimes its quiet while we are walking around but its all good!! haha I'm in an area where they speak a dialect called Pangalektok its super hard to learn haha ! Obviously they speak Tagalog but its cool to learn things in different languages!! My last area is all Ilocano so yeah two different dialects now!! I'm pretty sure those will be the only two that I run into on my mission! One cool thing is that an Elder from my batch is in the same house as me his name is Elder Manzione!! Me and him got way close in the MTC and our plan after the mission is to go work at Lake Powell for summer 2015!! We had a sweet investigator come to church yesterday. It was his first time going. He had had a stroke a couple weeks ago and is paralyzed on his entire left side. He can barely walk now. But he found a way to get to church.  I have taught him once but I can tell my testimony and the spirit me and Elder Delapaz brought to the lesson gave him the reassurance and faith to go to church. The pictures are way sweet that you sent me!! and I have no idea why the pics I sent didn't work?? I will try again though. But I hope everyone is doing good!! out there in the 801 Don't have too much fun at Lake Powell and yes I do want pictures!! haha love you guys

Elder Hansen

A Real Letter!

7/7/13

As I said we received a letter in the mail from Elder Hansen!  I was grateful for this as last week he was not able to write much other than to say he was fine!  I love these the most, because I know he held the paper, I see him in his writing style, I can see him sitting at his desk writing to us, I run my fingers over the stamps that he touched and placed on the envelope and then placed it in the mail bin to arrive weeks later in my mail box!  These are the thoughts of a mom who misses her son!

I wish I could show you the letter because he wrote two paragraphs of it in Tagalog!  We got to go on a sort of scavenger hunt to find someone to interpret it for us!  Thankfully my next door neighbor also went to the Philippines and did not speak Tagalog, but was familiar enough with the dialect that he could tell us what he was saying!  He told us of his love for the Philippines people and how thankful he is to serve there.  He told of his love for Heavenly Father and that through Jesus Christ we can do all things.  He expressed his love for the Savior and his Gospel.  He also told me that I am the "Safety monitor" of our family (inside joke), but a compliment.  He said how mothers are the safety monitors of the family in general.  He said that the 4th of July was just another day there but he got to sing American Patriotic Hymns like, "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner".

Now for the rest of the letter.  He talked about how his Tagalog has come along a ton in the last while.  He knows it is not perfect, but it is a lot better. He hopes to learn another dialect now.
He has become as he put it a 'world class chef!"  He can now make French Toast!

He talked about the challenge of changing companions.  Not that he doesn't like  him, he does, just getting used to another person's mannerisms, personality etc...  He said it is just the two of them in this apartment though and so getting ready in the am is way easier!  Now this Friday he will all ready get a new companion again!  In this letter he thought he might stay in this area again, which would mean he could see through the baptisms of the people he has set to go the end of July.  But, now in his email he feels he will be moved to another area!  We will see!  He also says he is getting a "rice belly"  Haha!  He is so busy that there is no time to work out or run and they eat rice 3 times a day!

Here is a quote "Doctrine wise I'm learning a ton of things just from studying each day and I love it.  That will be one thing that I recommend you do.  Study from the scriptures each day, there should be no excuse for not reading in your scriptures each day.  We can give 15-60 minutes a day to studying I promise.  But yeah, being out on my mission I've learned so many things that I thought I all ready knew, but you really can never know all the secrets of the Gospel.  That's why we study each day."
I need to be way more diligent and take this advice.

He says his first pair of shoes are holding up and he is hoping they last a year and then he will start on his second pair.  He is definitely putting some mileage on those puppies!  He is thankful that he still has not had to wash his own clothes!  Someone does it for him!  These are the things he is grateful for: 1.  Air conditioning, 2. carpet, 3. Reeses, 4. Cars, 5. Normal dogs like Betty!, obviously a lot  of other things, but mostly family.  Riley mentioned that he felt like he did not appreciate his family enough or spend enough time with us, he just wanted to hang out with friends.  While I am grateful that he recognizes the importance of family, I have to come to his defense and say, he is and has always been a great son and brother, no complaints!  "On your mission you realize how important family is.  that's a big part of our message for others is how the Gospel can bless families and how through this gospel we can be an Eternal Family."  Riley encourages us to remember to be thankful for families and to also think of all the things Heavenly Father has given us and remember to thank him."

Riley feels he is learning the principle of patience very early in his mission.  The work is hard and mentally stressful.  He wants so much to share this message with others and it is discouraging when people are too busy or they just don't receive the message.  He does have a couple scheduled to be baptized the end of July, but may be transferred before that happens.  But, he wants us to know that don't confuse frustration with not being happy to be there.  He says he loves the work and serving!

Side note, he would love some hand written letters!  So if you would like to send him a letter!

He closed with expressing his love again of family and friends!


7/29/13

Haha! First thing is first don't judge my Tagalog it is far from perfect, and I'm all ready a lot better now than when I wrote that. Its crazy how fast I'm progressing to be honest.    My hope for people who are struggling with anything is that they may be able to find our Savior the one and only healer of our souls. Our true Redeemer and Savior. People's true healing will come when they know that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God who died to save us all. His whole mission in life was to redeem us from the pains and afflictions of the world. It would be very important for us to know that in our lives. It is very important that as we come closer to the Savior, we will be farther from temptation. I'm to the point now in my life where I have realized that if I didn't have the Savior in my life I wouldn't have anything. I could have all the money in the world all the riches and I would still be desperate in the soul. THE GOSPEL IS WHAT SAVES LIFES. I can not stress that enough. Sometimes its hard getting that across to people here because what they want to do is work in the Bukid or they will say may pupuntahan kasi elder....which basically says I have somewhere to go or in other words they have excuses to not put the trust in the gospel and give three hours to our Heavenly Father and go to church. It can be very frustrating at times because you tell them look brother you will be more blessed if you go to church than if you go to work in the Bukid for a few hours. Its the same thing in our lives with all trial. We have time for the gospel we  need to give that time to it we need to be disciples in all that we do or we aren't being truly active. People  need to search out for themselves who the Savior is. What he really did for us.   As for the work I will most likely be transferred this transfer to a new area so I wont be there for the baptisms but they are still getting baptized!! and that is what really matters. I still don't know for sure if I will be sent to a new area but for sure I will have a new comp. by Friday. and yes I am super jealous that you guys are going to Powell.   That will be way fun hopefully you will have a blast! Right now we have 8 ibds we went from 4 to 8 in one week so that work is going good but it can be super frustrating at times as well. Today for our zone activity we went to San Rocque Dam supposedly its the second biggest dam in Asia!! pictures to come shortly!

I had a great week I'm very happy and loving life not sad at all so don't worry about that.  Sorry I went on a tangent but I love you guys keep strong and always pray for opportunities to share the gospel in any means necessary which means by being a good example to your peers.

as Pres. Monson said "Dare to stand alone!!"

 

 

Love, Elder Hansen

 

This is a family Elder Hansen is teaching, the young couple are hoping to be baptized this week!
The pictures of the dam would not download, so I'll try and get them from Riley next week.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GREAT WEEK!!!

July 21 2013

Alright so let me start out with how our week went. It went a lot better than the week before lets put it that way. haha Yesterday at church we had a nanay come to church for the first time and also a new investigator named Omar who is a teacher at a high school here. He is really smart and has great questions. He seems super interested in what we have to teach him so that's good. We also had a funny lesson with him last night, we were talking about where we came from, and Elder Barney asked him, " brother do you know where this baby came from?" as he was pointing to the plan of salvation pamphlet. And Brother got kind of awkward and said well yeah from biological parents and then he got super awkward and said that he was shy to talk about stuff like that. So it was just funny the train of thought he had when we asked him that question, because he thinks more scientifically, {he is a teacher} he thought more worldly.   But then I told him "brother did you know we have a Father of  flesh and a Father of our spirits?" Then I expounded on that. He just seemed really enlightened about where we came from so it was a fun lesson. I am also seeing great improvements in my Tagalog so far this transfer and since I have arrived here my language skills have improved immensely!! We have four ibds right now.  Our couple are planning on getting married on Aug. 10 so that is their baptismal date as well. The girl's mom has been super hard headed always nice but hard  and stubborn. But ever since we went over to their house one day and pulled weeds she has softened up a ton and even went to church on Sunday. And then our last ibd is a little kid of a less active part member family, so if we can return the family we will be able to baptize her as well. The work has been really fun and I'm very happy this week. I cant believe that July is like 10 days away from being over.. it blows ;my mind how fast time goes by. But yeah I've been doing good now that I have a nice ole package here and what not haha. But I honestly don't need anything material wise, it would be cool if you could send me a new journal just like the leather one you bought me before my mission so that I can continue later on. Because yes dad for the most part I have been writing everyday. This transfer I have so for the rest of my mission I will!! But yeah I'm pretty sure I will stay in my first area for one more transfer after this , so that will be from March 29 to Sept 10 or something like that. haha a long time in one area but its all good. We have one area in our mission now called 100 islands the Finnemans will know what that is. Ask them about it hopefully,  I will go there in my mission.!!

 Anyways I love you guys a ton keep strong and try to become missionaries for our ward back home. 

The missionaries need your help I promise!!

Love,  Elder Hansen

Early Pictures from Elder Hansen's first days in Urdaneta!

Back Row 4 from right

Center Back

Back of picture

Left of picture

Back Row

 

These are some pictures from Sister Monahan's Blog from Riley's first days in Urdaneta!  Very tired, hot but also excited!

 

Elder Riley Hansen reassigned to the New Urdaneta Philippines Mission! Updates June-July 2013

Elder Riley Hansen as of July 1, 2013  was reassigned to the Urdaneta, Philippines Mission.  He has actually been there since he first arrived in The Philippines, but it is now its own new mission.  There is a Temple due to be built there, so the work needs to move forward!  They are really working on strengthening the members as well as spreading the Gospel to those who do not have it in their lives yet!

 

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  6-9-13

 

Hello Family, the only one out of that group that I know is Elder Christiansen he was in my district at the MTC, he is awesome!! That is way cool that you are able to speak with other missionary moms from my mission that is actually way cool.  But yeah the temple they have been talking about building one here forever, but the members need to pay there tithing more here before it actually gets built.   I believe that the ground breaking will be around the end of this year. but it won't be finished while I'm still here....so oh well. haha The fact that there will be a temple here means that the work is going forward here. Thats all that matters. but that is way cool that we have had people from all over reading about it, too bad I don't have much to say yet hahahaha just kidding. This week was really cool, we had one investigator who said that she relates herself a lot to Joseph Smith because he was searching for the correct religion and didn't know where to find it and stuff like that but then later on as she was talking to us she said I have been looking for the right church and she said that I have found the right church. So it was way cool.  The thing is we have to get these two married before they can get baptized, so hopefully by the end of July they will be able to be baptized, the thing is either me or Elder Sikat wont be here. An interesting thing was said to us last week by one of our APs he quoted one of the prophets I can't remember who, but he said no matter what part of missionary work you are doing they are all steps. finding, teaching, baptizing they are all steps to get them to the final goal which is Salvatino. So it doesn't matter as long as you serve with all your heart, might, mind and strength you are bringing people to Christ.

I'm having a blast here though each day is a great day, except today hahah because I have to get an ingrown toe nail removed....its going to kill hahaha but oh well.   It means I'm working hard ! I hope the family is doing good it sounds like everyone is doing great, Tell Alex to email me with more detail about what he is doing with school and life and stuff. If you see Tav and Druce and Lund tell them I love them and also tell them congrats again, and I definitely want to know what Brennan gets drafted at, are they expecting a high draft or no?  Hopefully I get transfered to Baguio because rumor is there is an American burger joint there!!!! So I'm hoping hahaha but anyways I love you guys so much keep working hard in all that you do and remember to always become like Christ. He told two fisherman to follow me and I will make you fishers of men. That is exatly what I'm trying to do out here. I'm trying to become more Christ like in my life.

I would invite you to do the same and just you wait and see all the blessings in your life emulsiify if that make sense haha!

Love Elder Hansen

 

 

6-17-13

 

hahaah mom don't worry I'm doing just fine my toe is just fine and yes I'm taking care of it no need to worry! Yes I got the tie as well. I'll try and send you a picture later on.  I think I have a couple of pics for you!! This Friday I will be getting a new companion.  It's going to be weird.  So next Monday I will send you a picture of him.  You know what's weird is that I got an email from some random elder saying that his mom read your blog about me and he asked me about my mission.  He was using an lds account so I think he is on a mission right now too. But who knows, his name was like Elder Taylor?? So I don't know ahha but I hope your doing good mom, don't miss me too much I'm doing just great over here in the Philippines!! But yeah if you ever feel bad about me just read my patriarchal blessing it will give you comfort I promise, and I think I know why yours says you will have a love for the islanders, a lot of my best friends are Tongan and Samoan,, so tha'ts cool!! haha Ben should be getting his call pretty soon make sure you get a hold of him and go to him when he opens his call!! Everything is going good here though mom I promise.  Things are going great with our investigators there are a couple who are really close to baptism now, so that is really exciting!! This gospel if you think about it is hope for us. The plan of salvation is all about how we can return to our Heavenly Father and have eternal families, this message gives people hope and this hope is brought to the hearts of others by the power of the Holy Ghost through us as missionaries. They feel of the hope and then they start remembering the plan they have all ready accepted once. I'm very grateful that I'm sealed to you and dad and it brings so much comfort to me to know that all the temple and missionary work for every single person will be finished during the millenium so even though some people might not accept the plan here, they most likely will in the spirit world.

I love this work I love you guys tell everyone that I   love them and Happy Fathers day again

love Elder Hansen

 

6-17-13 Father's Day!

 

 

6-23-13  We got home late and Riley had all ready checked his email when I sat down to write him.  BIG MISTAKE!  This was his response.

 

where's my family???? haha

 

My Response

Elder Hansen!
We are on line!
We just got back into town, and was just sitting down to write you a letter when your email came through!  You usually don't email us until around midnight or later!
Are you officially in the Urdanta mission?  did you get your new companion?  How is he?  I put yours, Elder Sikat's and your unkown new companions names in the temple this week!  We received your letter and it was marvelous, I treasure it!

 

haha okay sweet write me a long letter and i ll write you one at the same time!! but yeah im in the urdaneta mission im still in my first area my companions name is Elder Barney from Arizona. I like him a lot but what day did you get my letter?? That seemed kind of fast but not really ahaha

send me a long letter though

 

(I sent him a long email and a very long letter in the mail!)

 

So this week was a super long week.  I was really hoping to get transfered so I could experience a different area but it will be good being here for another transfer.  Hopefully we can get a baptism this transfer. Cause it definitely does get a little hard or you start getting a little down on yourself when you feel like the work isn't doing good. But its okay me and my new comp are going to do work here!! I'm excited, as for Elder Sikat he is in a zone called Rosalles zone.  He is still in the Urdaneta mission but not in my zone!! As for the finals I all ready know who won...dang heat! haha but yeah its all good! Lets see,  my new companion is from Mesa Arizona and he has been in the mission for a year and 4 months. so he is starting to get close to the end of his mission! he is a great kid very nice etc. But no I'm still in the same apartment so its kind of like home now! haha But this week like I said earlier was kind of rough, just with the transfer and having to adjust to a new companion for the first time and now I'm leading out the area so I don't want him to think that the area sucks and stuff like that so I'm a little stressed out but I'm okay! Hopefully we have two inv. that are close to baptism if we can get the permission of the husband and then get the okay by the zone leaders, I know that if I get those baptisms that my hard work is paying off! We are in the branch and trying to help develop it here!! I'm hoping to strengthen this branch a lot by the time I leave the area! We need to get the members more involved in the work and hopefully that will get some good inv. and LA coming back to church!! Kyle is doing great in the MTC.  It's funny seeing the pictures there cause even though the MTC is fun I don't miss it because it isn't like the field at all, its WAYYYYYY to comfortable hahahahahahahahaha but yeah he is doing good there. I'm doing good as well!!!

I'm excited for this transfer but also kind of nervous....but yeah I hope your doing good mom and dad I love you guys and yes mom I'll start another letter just for you hahaha that definitely is a mom thing about the whole I touched the letter I wrote you so you love to touch it kind of thing.

anyways love you guys love Elder Hansen

 

 

haha thanks family I hope what I say can help bless your lives back at home!! Just know that I love you all and I'm very blessed to have you in my family hopefully I have a sweet week and hopefully you can be able to send me a package pretty soon! haha just kidding but if you want to you can. Love you guys keep up the work and remember that anything is possible through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Bad relationships with others, overcoming sin, or addictions, even physical, mental and emotional pain if we learn to rely on our Savior every day.  That is when we grow closer to our Savior and truly feel happy. love Elder Hansen and make sure to write me letters as well it is nice to get letters from people just send it to the mission address and its the same address but its just changed from Baguio to Urdaneta! Everything else is the same!! love you guys love Elder Hansen again haha

6-30-13

Okay its going to be way hard for me to reply to everything but I will try!! Let me first start off with a I'm getting fat here....hahaha Its all the rice and not working out...its sucks!!!!!!!!!!! but once I hit my six month mark in the mission I will start working out more to keep my self in shape. But as for the package no stopping it now!! haha but I hope I will stay where I'm at in the mission until I get it then I can be transferred haha but I definitely am doing a lot better now I'm not worried anymore we are now more organized in our planning but we definitely need more new investigators so that we can have more success here in Asingan. As for my companion I like him a lot it just took some adjusting. Its definitely weird its like getting used to a new roommate but your forced to be with him at all times haha But its all good.   We have hung out with some of the same people and we like the same music and stuff so that's good!! I have been having fun! The work was good this week we can always do better but yeah hopefully we will have some better success this week, hopefully by July 27th we will have two baptisms, we have one couple who are planning on getting married but hopefully their date for marriage is in July. The sister is pregnant so it will be sweet to baptize them so they can start their family off in the right way!! Then hopefully a year from now they will get sealed in the temple!! if that is all I would do in my mission I wouldn't care!! If I could just get that one family sealed I would be pleased!! I did have one dream early in the week that I went home from my mission after two years of course but I couldn't speak Tagalog and I didn't get a single baptism but I didn't want to tell you that had happened so I would lie to you and it was one of the worst dreams I have ever had. It felt like I was a complete failure, but I know that I'm doing a great work and the success will come with my diligence!! I hope the family is doing good! I hope that you are all safe and getting along!   Boating with the Diamonds sounds like a blast and that will be way fun for them to go to Powell with you guys, too bad Pam and Dave can't go that isn't fun at all....but I'm sure the Diamonds would love it! Maybe Brooke will be able to go with you guys again to Powell two years in a row! that would be funny, might as well take Kenna as well to fill in my space at Powell!! haha just kidding! but those dog things are nuts they look crazy!!  I know how Jacob feels the dogs here drive me nuts!! There are some of them that are crazy and they will run after you but all you have to do is act like you pick up a rock and they will run away, or hit them with your umbrella!! haa but yeah dogs drive me nuts here!   As for the work it's fun!   The broadcast was way sweet we watched it on Sunday because we are a week behind of everything. yeah it was way cool but we won't be starting some of that technology here for a while...but yeah I was thinking about what dad said abut how I am leading out a new era of missionary work,, that really is true!! Making history here in the Philippines!!! I am having a blast here but I need to email Alex now so I love you guys keep on studying the scriptures and do member missionary work it truly is needed!! the members have to be involved in the work so I would like to invite you guys to follow the teachings of the apostles in the broadcast and always be looking for missionary opportunities and try and find people you can refer to the missionaries, then join them in the lessons, it will strengthen your testimony and the investigators so that is what is really cool!! but study,  study,  study, I promise you can never read the BOM to many times! and I promise Dad I will check my t's and dot my i'.  s .... I will be safe though so don't worry,

love Elder Hansen

7-7-13


Hey guys Happy late Fourth of July as well!!! hahaha I hope you all had fun at Utah Lake!! I bet it was HOT! but I bet swimming and stuff felt way good! Was there a lot of people there or not really?? I would imagine that there was a lot but I don't know?   As for my Fourth of July I got to sing some good ole American hymns from the hymn book that was about as exciting as my Fourth of July got!! haha but I hope your having a good Sunday right now! and I hope that you both remembered to fast today!! haha Cause I fasted! But yeah so I sent you guys a letter today so you will probably be getting it in about three weeks its not way long only three pages but hopefully that's okay for you! and no I have not received your package or letter yet. but that's okay. Do you remember when you sent it? The pictures of all of you  are way cool I bet you had a blast!

As for the work here we had a pretty rough week I'm not gonna lie but we were able to find a lot of new people to teach so the week was still effective. But what matters is that we are still pressing on in the work of the Lord. and I hope that you can both begin your missionary work there at home with all the people you meet. Like it said in the video conference the other week members need to be more involved in missionary work, there cannot be any boundary between missionaries and members. so I would suggest that you guys try and get referrals for the missionaries and help them teach them and then become the fellow shipper for that person. It would be so awesome for you both to be part of the missionary work out in Utah. Oh and I also heard that they get to have iphones and ipads there....lucky for us we get a nice 1990s Nokia cell phone hahahaa but at least its durable...but yeah I'm still happy as a clam but the work can be stressful!   I had one of the weirdest dreams last night, I dreamed that one of my friends was my companion and he was chasing me trying to kill me with a shotgun he ended up shooting me in the arm and I had a huge chunk missing form my arm it was a way crazy dream. But anyway that's about it that has happened so far. But I guess a ton of my friends are heading into the MTC really soon now so that just blows my mind!! Tell dad to drive safe to Elko and that i love him.  Tell Jordan and Alex that I'm proud of them and that they need to read their scriptures and you can also tell them that I love them if you want...hahaha and I love you too mom thanks for all you have done for me and for all that dad has done for me I love you all 

love Elder Hansen

ps Elder Lipscomb is my zone leader now, I think you know his mom from that website haha

 

 

I just have to make one little comment!  OOOOOOHHHHH YUCK!

A special thanks to Brian and Deon Williams (Connor's Mom and Dad) for giving Riley this tie!  If you look at it closely it has Temple Spires and windows on it.  This tie was designed by Brian's brother who through an accident is paralyzed and blind.  After this accident, he pictured this design in his mind and had it made!  What a special gift!