It's the Best

July 7, 2014

Elder Simpson is great. He is from Battleground Washington.  He came out the same day as I did.  He's a really nice guy. This is his first time in Ireland. The work has slowed down even more because of all the moving around and me being busy all the time with helping other missionaries. Over all it was just a crazy week. We got to talk to a couple of people and and gave out a few Books of Mormon, we just keep working at it. I don't know what else to say about finding and tracting because that's pretty much all we do. Nothing especially exciting has happened this week, we have a couple of people that we might try by later to see what they thought of the Book Of Mormon. I'm still kinda keeping the letters up, I just keep forgetting to send them. I knew that when the summer picked up that things would get pretty exciting. 

This week was just crazy.  So Elder McDonald left on Monday and then I was with Elder Benson because his comp went home also (Elder Holbrook) until Tuesday, then I was with Elder Dalton and Fisher for a day and THEN I was with Elder Carter, oh man, I love Elder Carter.  The zone leaders needed us to drive people and get their luggage back and forth all day and I haven't had more fun. We also had service in the middle of this so we had to change and do a bunch of stuff but the Bangor elders (Elder Benson and Burch) let us borrow their car for the day and I miss being in a car so much.  I couldn't drive because my licence won't work over a year. That's just crazy that I've been out that long. Elder Carter and I just had a blast being busy non-stop and helping people all the time. But since Friday, I finally have Elder Simpson and things are going really well. He is amazing at the guitar.  The ward is helping us out a lot this week with a lot of service projects.  Bro. White also got released as ward mission leader and he was the best one I've ever had, but now we have Bro. Sheerer but I just know he's going to be amazing. I love you.  I love this mission, it's the best in the world. 

Love,  Elder Hanson

In a car!  Going to do service.
Elder Carter and I in the front, Elder Burch and Benson in the back.

I love Elder Burch!  He's huge!

June 30, 2014

My birthday was actually pretty lame. Elder McDonald was sick so we ended up going in early that day and other than that, it was just a normal day. Later this weekend it made up for it because members had us over because they wanted to say goodbye to him and I got a t-shirt from the Bryson's that says Belfast on it and I've just had a blast every day since then because we were just packed with things Elder Mcdonald wanted to do before he went home. On p-day we went to a couple places, we went to the dark hedge and the carrick, a red rope bridge and it was pretty amazing that's why our emailing was cut a little short. 

We haven't gotten in touch with Sam again for a while but we are going to keep trying. Yeah I'm going to miss Elder McD like crazy!  It was probably the hardest to say goodbye to him than I have had before.  My new companion is named Elder Simpson coming from Paisley zone and I won't get to meet him until Wednesday.  

People blame God for the struggles they've gone through here, but they don't really understand everything behind it.  I've seen that people see the church more as man-made, if you look at all the churches around here that were set up by people, and they just connect the two, and I think that they blame God mainly just because its easier. 

That's also their choice. I am inspired by the steady members in this ward. 

PIZZA!

This week was a fun one.  We had a lot to do.  My companion, Elder M. went home and he just explained that it doesn't feel like it's possible and that time passes so fast. I am now starting to see time move like crazy and there is just so much I have left to do and I feel like there is so little I have done, but I'm just excited for my growth. 

Love, Elder H.

The suspension bridge!

Ehhh, I'm used to rain

I'm just going to keep on working

Yeah, I got the card in the mail on Saturday. 

The world cup is massive over here and you can't go a couple of feet without seeing something about it. England already got out. 

For the last couple months in this ward the Priesthood and women has been getting a big toppic and it's just amazing how the fathers and husbands all respect the women here and praise them for all they do.  

We have not seen Sam recently but we will hopefully see him in a couple days. It's pretty hard out here and I'm pretty sad because of how much I love these people and their hearts are so hard because of all the conflict this country has gone through.  It makes me admire those that are strong right now so much because they are so much stronger than I am and they go through a lot more than I think I can, but I know that no matter what, I'm just going to keep working. 

Elder McDonald goes home, next Monday will be his last day.  I assume I'll stay here in Belfast, that's pretty much what happens.

Love you all!

Elder H.

Interesting Week

So this week was an interesting one. On Wednesday we had zone interview training and when I was interviewed by President Brown, it was like a movie, like it didn't really happen, but he read to me the email Mom sent him saying that Dad has cancer. I didn't really react to it or it didn't really hit me but it's all I could think about all day, but through it all, I was just really calm and knew everything was going to be OK. 

I also got sick on Friday night and was throwing up all the time and I was still sick until Sunday, but now I'm a lot better. 

We also got a new investigator whose name is Sam. He started off reading the Bible, just to bash with religion but since he had kids, that changed things for him. He knew nothing of the Book of Mormon and agreed with everything we said. He just said "You know, it would make sense for there to be prophets still" and he said he was going to read and we are going to see him again on Saturday.

-Elder Hanson 

  

A Blessing

So this week we went on a bunch of exchanges and one of them was with the zone leaders. When I was with them, it was just a day of everything falling through, even our back-ups fell through. I was with Elder Brown for the day and he just came from Aberdeen. It was a pretty long day of tracting non-stop.  But, it was ok, I’ve learned how to make anything a good time. At the end of the night what we did was in Bangor they challenged the members to write their testimonies in a Book of Mormon and pray about a name or street and the missionaries will give it to that person. Well, at about 8:00 that night. a member, Bro. Peacock, prayed about a street and we just went and chapped it.  When we got there it looked like we were just going to be getting a lot of doors in our face. the odds weren't really looking good.  The zone leaders already chapped the entire side of one street and so when we got there, there were only a handful of houses left.  I was pretty doubtful because I haven't had a lesson on a door step in a long time, let alone given a person a Book of Mormon.  Just right on the door step. we started chapping some doors and it looked like everything was going as I thought it would.  But, I was more than happy to be proven wrong. We knocked on a door and a woman answered and we just said "Hey, we are sharing something that will improve your life." and I just thought right after saying it ‘Who in their right mind says that?’, it’s pretty much telling her that we think her life sucks.  She just answered "Actually, yeah that's interesting because I’ve just been going through a lot in my life and that's just what I need."  Every single word we said was exactly what she needed. We gave her a Book of Mormon and we explained that we actually had a member pray about this street to find her individually and that his testimony was in the back. I haven't seen someone so promising and needing the gospel. I know that she might not be in my area and I may never see her again, but I know I needed to see that miracle. 

Continuing

So they are having us do family history for an hour a week so have Dad check on his side because I added people and I’m not completely sure if its correct so check it so I don’t screw it up.

Tell Devin he needs to message me. 

So this week was pretty alright, right now I have one of my knee braces on because I twisted it during zone development when we were playing sports.  I’ll be fine, I just need to keep the brace on.  I also hurt my back falling on it after an Elder threw me over his shoulder. It knocked the wind out of me and I was having that 10 second freak-out moment where I thought I would never breath again, haha.  Other than that it was a lot of fun. For zone development other than sports, we did an old western murder mystery and we all dressed up and it was a lot of fun. My character was Ol'Bar, an old crazy trapper from the hills and my goal was to pretty much just act crazy, it was pretty funny and I found a pretty gnarly beard at a costume shop. It turned out McDonald was actually the killer, haha.

As for the work, it’s been the same with this area probably being the slowest area I have been in.  I think that every area I go to the slower/ harder the work has gotten. The ward is amazing though and it just sucks because I want to help them so bad and they are always willing to help us but there is nothing to help us with haha.  Oh well, no work is wasted just as long as we are trying and working hard, then it’s ok by me because I’m not really in complete control of what happens.  The Lord is.  

I found another one!

Come-on Members! Drop Us a Bone Here!

Sorry for not writing until today.  We had ANOTHER bank holiday so all the libraries were closed. Well, we just finished a five week transfer.  That only happens once a year in order to match up with the MTC and how it needs to get cleaned and all that stuff. So it went by incredibly fast.  I can’t even believe it, just to show you that missions aren’t easy, we only got one other lesson in all the 5 weeks and we still don’t have a single investigator!!!  That’s crazy! The other day I was down on myself because we literally have nothing to show for all our work and the ward probably thinks we are just wasters even though we are finding like mad, but that being said there really isn’t much we can do.  It's okay, it's really not that bad.  When you get used to a hard difficulty all the time, it becomes the norm. There is no reason to get upset about something you can’t control and I’m still having a blast. The ward still loves us and we work with a lot of less actives and it's nice being there for them. 

Some cool stories: we went over to the Bryson’s and found out that the day before, Bernie (the mom), works as a special needs teacher and was in the middle of a school stabbing.  She was not stabbed, but she was covered in blood from one of the students that did the stabbing.  The student didn’t fully comprehend what he did and it was all too much for her.  The other kid that was stabbed was in critical condition.  When she told us and we just were there and she just vented to us.  When we got there, she was just shaking with stress but after listening to her, in the end we were joking and having fun. 

Another story, we went over to a part member family and their son is deaf but he went on these crazy adventures in Africa and told us all about them.  After our visit he gave us a ride to family home evening. You wouldn’t have been able to tell he was even deaf unless he spoke, which wasn’t even that bad, but he could just read lips so well and he could drive!  I would be terrified. 

The other day I was looking through my T book.  It’s pretty much just like a year book where you have missionaries write in it when they leave, and I noticed that all of them told me that I taught them how to have fun and enjoy their mission and not to be so stressed out, but I would have never seen myself as fun or stress free. It’s nice to reflect on all those things. 

On Wednesday we went to a castle for p-day because it was moves week and it was a lot of fun.

Love you!

P-Day Visiting a castle

A balancing act

Me, Sister Brand, Elder McDonald

It's Good to Talk to People

This week has been pretty good.  I’m just having a blast. Our neighbor is doing well, we say hello every time we see her but every time we do, one of us is always in a hurry. We had a lot of really good conversations with just a bunch of random people, but none of them really ended up going anywhere, but it was still nice to just have a talk with people and get to know them.

Kilts are more of a Scottish thing, but we have seen a couple of kilt shops and a guy in the ward wears one on Sundays. It’s the same with bagpipes.  I’ve just gotten so used to potatoes that I’m not sure if they eat a large amount, but yeah, I guess they eat a lot more than us. Just send anything and everything to the mission home and they will get it to me. It might take longer but it’s just easier.

Nothing too out of the ordinary happened this week.  We were stalled by a march again, so we sat behind it on the bus.  So a 10 minute bus ride took over an hour.  We also went to the Bryson’s and Berney, (Sister Bryson,- they don’t like being called Brother or Sister) started going in a panic attack when she heard Elder Mcdonald might be moving on Wednesday.  Then she also went off saying "I’m going to call the mission president and tell him that his Irish mum says that he can’t leave." It’s pretty funny how much she loves us. But we got moves call today saying that we are both staying! So I’ll be killing him off.  We also did service with Brother Goodie and put together a motor cycle and we actually finished a project on one of them and I was pretty happy with myself.  We also played football (soccer) with some YSA and just got schooled.  They went pretty easy on us but it was still a lot of fun and every time we messed up, we just blamed it on being American because everyone here is amazing at football and that’s like, all they ever do.  

Entrance to Holywood [Suburb]

Belfast District

I did the table challenge where you need to climb under and over a table... its really hard. 

Service