WEEK #46

Things are going great here! I dont know if I already told you this but I am training again so I am just waiting for my new comp. to arrive from the mtc right now. I'm pretty excited to see who it is.. maybe a new gringo or mexican or Brazilian. Yeah, I have no idea but I guess will see here in a few hours.

Other than that, all is going well, I finsihed strong with my last comp. and learned a ton. We found a kid named Matias that started coming to the church in the beginning for a girl but i'ts funny cause she is 19 and he is 17, so he lied to everybody and said that he was 19 just for the girl haha and now he doesn't know how to tell them all the truth. But anyways since he is 17 he needs signed permission from his mom to be able to get baptized, but his mom refuses to give it to him because he was baptized catholic as a baby and she doesn't want him to change his religion... and it's super hard to accept that sometimes especially when you hear his prayers asking the Lord to let him get baptized then you seem him cry everytime that he thinks about not being able to get baptized. He has so much desire its crazy so that is what has kept my mind busy for this last week.

Yeah, that is something that has really called my attention lately as I have been reading the scriptures.. we always see the all of the basic commandments like the word of wisdom, the law of chasity, tithing etc. but sometimes we dont realize how important it is to develop christ like attributes which I think are just as important.. and sometimes  it's the hardest thing to do,  but for that reason we have these experiences in the life to help us find the attributes and characteristics. but anyway, that's just a thought haha

The family that has helped us so much here in the last transfer, one of the nicest ladies I have ever met. The family Ledesma.

WEEK #45

This week was like a roller coaster, is about the only way I can describe it. In terms of the work, things went great. We had 3 baptisms and 2 confirmations so by far my most successful week until now. Really, these last few weeks have been great in terms of the work, I have gone to a wedding, had the oppurtunity to baptize 2 of those people, and do a confirmation. It was awesome! (again I am using a couple crummy computers that wont let me send photos, so I'll have to try and figure something out for the next week)

But the only bad part is that I let a few things get so deep under my skin with all of the pressure and my companion that kind of took away from the joy that I should of had with all of that success. First of all our ward mission leader should prepare the baptismal service and he didn't do anything, or even tell us that he couldn't do it until 10 minutes before the service.. so we had to find some people to help with the talks and prayers and all of that in 10 minutes. Then we talked with the stake president to talk with the bishop about all of the things that are happening and he did it.. but the bishop still didn't even listen so we talked with the stake president again and now he is going to give it to him good talk I think haha.. then I had to get after my companion because all of my food that I bought, I walked into the room and he was eating it all..I dont know why latins think that that is okay.. then this morning we were going to go get together with the zone but my companion said that he didn't want to last second and went and layed down in bed, then tried telling me that he only wanted to write our families for 30 minutes... uhhh, it's tough hahaha but it's alright I'm sure I'll live.

And apart from that this is my last week with him, becuase this next week my president has already told me that I am going to train a new elder again so I guess we will see who it is this next week!

Like I said, my comp. is cutting my computer time a little short today so I can't write much but I do have a picuture from the sister Ayre that I can forward.. I don't know if you have already received it but oh well.

Jake

WEEK #44

Things went alright this last week.. we had a great wedding and everything but just after the wedding there were a few complications with their relationship and they didnt make it to the baptismal interview and all of that, so we have to wait until next week to  baptize them which is a bummer and it kind of put a damper on the conference mood that I had. But either way we are going to try and get them ready for the next week.  So, if everything goes right we will have 3 this next week.

 But yeah the  talk by Elder Hales was my favorite. I know I'm still in the mission but man that gave me a lot of excitement to get home and start my life which I'm not sure is a good thing  hahaha but it had me thinking a lot.

I also liked the talk by Jeffrey R Holland that talked about the love of mothers haha That was a really powerful but everything that he said was true. Mothers are incredible! (:  

Argentina has the worst government I think and it's because they are handing out money like crazy to all the lazys...so I'm definitely against that now that I have seen the results here in this country.

But yeah, this week has gone by way too fast. We are teaching a ton of   good lessons and we have a lot of investigators but we are starting to struggle to find new investigators  because we are teaching so much in  the houses. Sooo, yeah it's a little bit of a struggle in that aspect but everything will turn out fine...   That was also a good talk that talked about how everything will be alright.

I don't have much time to write and we are using ancient computers so I can't send pictures but I will talk to you next week !

 Elder Hansen

WEEK #43

This week I get to go to a little wedding on Friday and we are going to baptize this Sunday between the sessions of conference, a young couple named Leo and Nair and they have one little boy(: And the Sunday after that we have 2 more people that are going to get baptized, my comp. and I are being super blessed right now, especially for being in an area that didn't baptize very much in the past. But we are baptizing almost every week. This area is great but man, the Bishop is a convert of only 10 or 15 years and he hates us for some reason which sucks.. but he is always trying to get after us for something. I think I like the country a little bit more.. the people are a lot more humble and chilled out. But the mud does suck a little bit, haha. Yeah, I'm super excited for this conference.. it's going to be a special one that's for sure. With 3 new apostals and 2 baptisms in between, I don't think it could get any better.. I'm going to be one happy kid.

Love Elder Jake Hansen

WEEK #42

This week went great! We had a baptism yesterday and we have a couple that are getting married in two weeks, then baptized during conference or the next week! 

Haha I think in Argentina there are dangerous places in every town, you just need to know where to be and at what time and it all turns out fine. 

Argentine food is just alright.. like it's not amazing. But their are a ton of Peruvians that have the best food I have ever tried in my life I think. 

I think I am getting a lot better at futsal here to tell you the truth, now that I am playing with a ton of good Latins and I am keeping up with all of them, so I'm sure it will be fun to see how I do when I get back to Utah.

Well, I will see what I can do to send a picture of the baptism, sorry I don't have a ton of time to write but really writing I think is my favorite time of the day its always good to know how the family is doing back home. 

WEEK #41

I'm still in the country with mud and all of that good stuff! The weather has been really weird.. one day it's super hot and humid, and the other it storms all day. I love the companion I'm with right now, Elder Nina is a perfect example of a dedicated missionary and we get along great. He just barely finished his training but it seems like he has been in the missionary for a year already, he came prepared haha.
Has Justin gone out with the missionaries yet? Really, if their was one thing that I could say that would really help his testimony, it would be to share it. And there isn't a better place to do it but with the missionaies in a lesson.
Well,I dont have more time to write sorry! And I'll send some pictures next week I promise you, but it's just that this area is even more dangerous..so, I have to be careful. I should have some pictures of a baptism as well!

Elder Hansen

WEEK #40

Things are going great for me here. I couldn't write yesterday because this week we had transfers.. and I left to another area called Jose C Paz as a District Leader! And I have a new comp. named Elder Nina from Bolivia.

He seems like a stud, so I'm pretty stoked.. and a little bit nervous because being a leader in the mission is a ton of responsibility, but I know God called me for a reason so really their is no reason to be nervous as long as I'm giving all that I can. 

Lately the weather here has been perfect.. I'm not sure how many degrees exactly cause it's all in celsius. But it feels basically the same as San Diego. but yeah we are only finishing winter right now and the heat and humidity are only going to get worse, so I'm not so exctied for that either. Winter here is definitely better than the summer. But still high 70's with Utah humidity sounds pretty nice to me about now. 

Well, sorry I dont have much time to write..  I let you know how it all goes here in the new area next week

Elder Hansen