Monday, September 23, 2013

New Companion Elder Howie


I'd love to hear from anyone that wants to write!  RHanson@myldsmail.net

So I’m still in Aberdeen I just got a new companion, Elder Howie.  He’s a really good missionary, I have a lot to learn from him. He is a very hard worker and is just a perfect missionary. Having him here has helped a lot with the work and we both are really into taking action and really wanting to help and change things and the ward for the better. Elder Kinard is in Bridge of Dawn. Anna is just going to be gone for two weeks and Carrie we met in Garthdee, they are both in our boundaries.  

This week was the last with me and Elder Holbrook. We got to let him say goodbye to a lot of people, and it was super fun. We pretty much started with me and Elder Howie organizing. We started off with just going through the books and looking through old investigators and talking to them again. We also met David, a boy about 20 and he was taught by missionaries in the past for a really long time, he actually came up and talked to us. We also committed him to baptism but because of some issues, he can’t be getting baptized for another year in a half, but he agreed at the end of that, then he will and I know for sure he will. Another funny thing was that Elder Howie called Todor and set up an appointment, not knowing he was dropped, so we saw him the next day, haha and long story short, we read a little scripture about the story of Korihor and Todor said, "Korihor is my kind of guy." So we didn’t really tell him what happened to him and it’s really sad seeing how much trouble a person can be in and not know it.  We also have got a new idea of having people to go by and finding on the way and we will be finding always instead of just setting times for finding which didn’t really work and was just very uninteresting. We are going to work with the ward a lot more but since the other missionaries have a car and can travel far places and the other missionaries are sisters, they both had their calendars full with dinner appointments and we only got one, but what can you do. 
The weather has been really nice and we have been doing a lot of walking. Friday was awesome! We were just packed with appointments and running place to place and I loved it! I am officially at my 3 month mark in the field and I wouldn't say it went by fast but it for sure didn’t go by slow, I’m now 1/8 done and I’m ready to just keep getting better and better. We also got a referral named Kirsty Cook and she seems really interested and we are meeting with her on Wednesday. She said she talked to missionaries before but her parents wouldn’t let her see them but now that she is grown, she wants to make her own decisions and we couldn't be more excited to share with her what makes us happy.
William Wallace commemorative statue


An interesting marker we found at the park



Castlegate


   
Elder Hanson

Handwritten letter to home, kept daily Sept 16-22, sent Monday Sept. 23:
                                                                                                             Aberdeen
Dear Family,

Sept 16, 2013
Today has been a really weird day.  So it's moves week so we only got to email today and we have p-day on Wednesday but since Elder Holbrook is leaving, he pretty much packed all day to go to his new area in Perth.  It's kind of a sad day, I'm going to really miss him.  It's weird, I'm seeing how temporary things really can be and I just thought how much I'm really going to miss Aberdeen.

Sept 17, 2013
Moves week has been weird, I'm not used to not working all the time.  Today was another day of packing for Elder Holbrook and it was kind of his farewell so we went around town with him saying good bye to a bunch of ward members and took a bunch of pictures of things before he left.  But we did have a lesson with a 'Golden', just perfect investigator named David, he used to take lessons then he went away for a while and we started teaching him again.  He would need to get things sorted out  but I know he will get baptized.  He's already planning on it.  But there is always a catch, he is in the Bridge of Dawn boundaries.  We had dinner with the McCrays again and he told us how he got ownership of the Baskin Robbins in town and now his son owns it.  On Sunday we also got a new ward mission leader, Aaron Robertson, an RM, and I can see good things happening to Aberdeen.

Sept 18, 2013
Today I got to say good bye to Elder Holbrook, it was a sad day.  Since Elder Howie is coming from Ireland, he won't get him until 10:00 tonight.  I am excited.  So today I was with the zone leaders all day because I was companionless.  That was a lot of fun.  It was p-day but we already emailed on Monday and I can't shop until Elder Howie gets here so we just had lunch and listed to missionary music.  Then we had a bon fire at Mazlehead Park and got to meet the new sisters in the Bridge of Dawn ward, then afterwards we all played apples to apples, but the European version has a lot of words that I don't know, so that was interesting.  Overall a good day in Aberdeen.

Sept 19, 2013
Today was exhausting.  I was leading out the area and we were pretty busy and I got to meet Elder Howie.  He's a really good missionary and a really hard worker and that's just what I need.  He is also OCD so he cleans everything like crazy but that's good because I can learn to be cleaner.  The Condies took us shopping and I just love them, they are life savers.  We taught a less active that just had surgery so he couldn't go to the store for food and we were more than happy to get things for him so he gave us a shopping list and asked us to get bread, sugar, cigarettes, coffee, and tea, soooo...we returned with sugar and bread and a lesson on the word of wisdom.  Other than that it was a really good day.

Sept 20, 2013
Today was a day.  Not much happened.  We taught English and since Elder Howie is really gung ho, we only do lessons for 30-45 minutes which is really hard to get the hang of.  He also suffers from slight OCD so we spent the entire day cleaning and organizing all the records and forms we have.  It was super boring but at least the flat will be super clean.  Oh, he also cleaned every inch of the kitchen for about three hours, or it felt like it, but now that things are clean, we can get to work.  We also did a lot of planning and restructuring how we will do work in Aberdeen and I can honestly see a lot of good in the future.

Sept 21, 2013
Today was  a really good day.  We were packed with lessons and running from place to place non-stop.  I love it.  We met up again with Jewels and Daniela and they had a true desire to know.  Then we met with David and we gave him a date!  But because of some issue he won't be baptized until I am well gone.  Then we met with Steve, and Elder Howie is just amazing!  I want to be as good as him some day, if not better.  He's so experienced.  Then last night he scheduled an appointment for today with Todor, not knowing he was dropped.  So we saw him today and it just saddened me on how lost Todor really is and we did all we really can for him.  Elder Howie also had a really strong feeling that he should talk to the clerk at the store while we were waiting for our bus and the girl said she was actually taught by missionaries before and was interested and we also got a referral from Church headquarters, a girl named Kirsty Cook, and she was super interested and we will see her on Wednesday.

Sept 22, 2013
Today was  a really nice day.  The weather was perfect.  Church was really what we needed.  All the talks were about missionary work and Aaron Robertson (ward mission leader) talked and his talk was so good and powerful.  George came to church and it's really good to see him.  Then we walked all day to find some potentials.  It was really good.  We met a man that really likes missionaries because his grandmother would house the missionaries back in the day and he talked to them all the time, but he wasn't interested in coming to church, so we know the Lord will change that.
-Rick

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