My second companion coming up

I used to think this mission was especially hard because the Church is so far behind in it and there are so many problems. But,I know that no mission is too hard and that it is meant to be this way. "Nothing good in life is easy". I get that now. I know that until I am done with my mission I will still say, "Why is this so hard? and "Why does this have to happen to me?" But that's okay because I know it's going to happen and it's only to make me better. Heavenly Father won't give me too much to handle. This week had its ups and its downs. It is moves week next week and we found out that I'm getting a new companion on Wednesday, Elder Howie, and he has about 6 months left, so I'm really happy to get an experienced companion. Also some change is nice just to mix things up.  I'm going to miss Elder Holbrook like crazy. He is amazing and he has taught me so much. But that means this week I will be leading out the area.  So pray for me to know what to do, haha.  I hope my letters home will fill you in more

We see people playing bagpipes all the time. They are pretty cool and I don't see that much dancing. There are a lot of people wearing kilts and I got some tartan from Brother Kind (the guy that designed the kilts for Brave Heart) and Sister Condie made a scripture case for me out of it.  

Aberdeen is split pretty much in half, pretty much like Shoreline and Lake Forest Park. There is a just a road that divides us. 

Aberdeen has me and my companion, the zone leaders and their trainee, and two sisters

The Bridge of Dawn has two elders and two sisters.

So our ward building has 7 missionaries in it. 

It's starting to get super cold here I found out its one of the coldest places to be here and the wind chill is crazy. So I'm going to need some thermals around winter time after all, haha. 

Love, 
Elder Hanson

You know I love WHOLE milk and that's all I drink!

Handwritten letter home from Sept 9 - 15:

Dear Family                                                                                             Aberdeen

September 9, 2013

For P-day it is usually a day to reset and just mix things up but today too many other missionaries were busy so we just played Uno in our flat and listened to talks which was pretty boring.  We had dinner at Sister Parks and that was good.  She is a Filipino lady that makes super spicy food and we are there to be examples to her young boys.  Her husband isn't a member but he has gotten very comfortable around us, which is amazing and we can talk a lot.  I've been doing a lot of reflection today and just noticing my improvement is amazing.  The way I think is better and the way I act is more thoughtful.  I want so bad to bring someone to Christ but I feel the reason the Lord hasn't given us amazing success is because I still need to learn.  One thing I need to work on is always having a good attitude.

September 10, 2013

Today was really good.  It's sad that the most effective days don't look good on the records, like we only taught one lesson but we did service and tonight we had auxiliary members at our missionary correlation meeting and the ward is getting really included with an activity we are putting on in October.  It's going to be amazing.  You can't really measure that but I can feel the ward getting along better with the missionaries.  This day was just really enjoyable.  We got a lot of dinner appointments this week also and it helps loads.

September 11, 2013

Today was nah' bad, we had to give Elder Kinard another blessing.  We have given him like one every week just because he is getting not able to handle the mission and just stress and things like that.  We did a lot of chapping that was unsuccessful and got invited to a Catholic seminar thing by Polish people.  Then we had lunch at the Rays which was awesome.  Then we did more chapping and then had dinner at the Haynes and they cooked good Southern food because they are from the south and cooked really good brisket.  To end the night we did a mini MTC with the WS and that was super effective and good.

September 12, 2013

Today was awesome!  We met a super solid potential girl named Anna that speaks Portuguese and she is Catholic but her dad is a member so she knows the Church.  I showed her Devin's name tag in Portuguese from my backpack and she sounds super interested and she is even going to see her Dad in Mozambique on the 4th so he will probably watch conference with her!  Then we met Carrie, a very interested person that wants peace in her life.  I also learned why the missionaries are so separate from the ward because they have just gone through some terrible missionaries in the past and we are still trying to fix the mess after like two years.  But now I know I just need to start fixing that.

September 13, 2013

Today was very interesting.  My mind is just always going crazy with thinking what I should do, how I should do it and why.  I'm just so confused about everything.  I'm also just super tired of being more of a salesman than a servant of the Lord.  I'm tired of giving out cards and having to like, sell the Gospel.  That's not how it should be. We shouldn't have to chase people to talk to us, then when we get them, they won't want to talk to us.  I'm tired of not having investigators that want to actually learn from us.  We are always forcing people but that's what we are trying to fix  That's what missionaries did here before, was forced people and it put off the ward and it's against people's agency and it doesn't work.  I just want success, I just want help.  The problem is just me, I don't know how to get people interested from off the street.  We haven't had a single progressive investigator since I've been here.  We work all day and no one will listen.  But I know that this is all happening to strengthen me.  The only way to get better is to keep going, and I need to remember it's all in the Lord's time.  I'm actually glad it's so hard because it makes everything I do worth more.  But I can tell that I am preparing people for future missionaries and I have helped and that I have been doing a good job and no work is going to waste.

September 14, 2013

Yesterday’s blab sounded a little extreme.  Today was just a sign that everything was going to be okay.  We actually have three really good investigators at the moment.  Unfortunately, they are all in Bridge of Dawn boundaries so we will hand them off.  Today we taught some really good lessons.  We got Steve to invite a friend from South Africa and it was amazing.  He asked amazing questions there and we had Lewis there to bare his testimony and it helped a lot.  I see promise with Steve's friend.  We also had the YSA all GQ with us and Bridge of Dawn invited themselves so there were too many people at Castle-gate so we scared people away. So me and Elder Sewell and Holbrook split up and went to the college and had just a perfect lesson with a guy and all three of us just work in harmony.  I could see this man getting baptized...but he lives in Bridge of Dawn boundaries so, yeah...  Elder Sewell is awesome.  He's from Bristol England.  We ended the night with all the Aberdeen missionaries at the Brewster’s and their house is huge and that's saying a lot for Scotland.  That was super fun.

September 15, 2013

Today was a good Sunday.  They had a good primary program and Priesthood taught me just that when I am called to the work, I just need to do it.  Things have been getting better and tonight is moves call so I will find out where I am going and my new companion is Elder Howie and I'm super excited to see him. The zone leaders tell me he is really good.

-Rick