Renewed my Visa

Sunday night I took a bus with my companion back to Santa Maria to renew my visa. It´s a six hour bus ride. We left at six in the afternoon and got there at midnight. We then slept in the house of the Mission Secretaries. Our bus back to Quarai was for eight at night and so after we renewed my visa and ate lunch we helped around the Mission office and did contacts in the downtown area.  So last week I introduced myself to the ward in Sacrament meeting and gave a talk on obedience. It went well. Mission experience and solid scripture study really helps with planning a talk  
Some Elders and members think I´m Brazilian when they first meet me because I'm starting to speak really well. Of course, when I speak for long periods of time, everyone knows I´m American but it´s something cool to have some people think I´m from Sâo Paulo for a minute or two.        
I've always wanted to go to college then round up a spouse somewhere and come back to carry on the Hanson line in the Shoreline ward. Too bad Shoreline is such an expensive place to live. Rick should end up back in Shoreline too. We´ll make  mini-houses of Israel. Except they´ll be houses of Hanson.
My companion goes home in October and maybe I´ll stay in Quarai until he completes his mission. Quarai isn´t as bad as people say. We´re trying to work hard and we should be baptising in no time. I´m really pushing myself to be a better, more understanding teacher. I´m trying my hardest to never lose hope, even when an area is difficult. In the end of John, Jesus says how when we preach the Gospel we have to let the Lord carry us to places that we wouldn´t have gone to before.  
I love all of you. I know that this Church is true.
Elder Hanson

Quarai

I´m the companion of Elder Carmo (from back in São Borja) again. This doesn´t normally happen but it´s happening now. Elder Carmo goes home in just a few months but we´re working hard. 
I was transferred to a place called Quarai, It´s not as tough as some other Elders said it would be. A majority of the Elder´s who call it the pit of the mission have never been here. There used to be five branches and they were fifteen priesthood holders away from a stake. Unfortunately many of the members moved away and many went inactive and now there is only three branches.
Our branch is in the Center of the city and has a decently sized group of members who are active. In the other branch areas here there are streets named after Joseph Smith and Zarahemla etc. but most of the people have already heard the message there. In our branch, there´s a fair amount of people who haven´t received the missionaries before.
I know we´ll have success here.   
The area is large. We´re on our way to baptizing a young man (18 years old) and he just needs to come to the Church again and progress a little more but he says he wants to be baptized. We´re doing a lot of contacts here to try and find new investigators.
We live really close to Uruguia and some of the other Elders went there today for P-day. I think we´ll go next week and we´ll take pictures of some things around there. There´s supposedly lots of cheap stuff around there.
We´re living in one decently sized apartment with two other companionship's (we´re six in total) and unfortunately there´s only one bathroom. How fun.
I think I´m going to eat some Churasco today.   
Love ya!

Phone Home...

We spent a nice afternoon talking with Elder Hanson. He truly is loving every minute of his mission.  He shared many spiritual insights.  His testimony is growing abundantly as he is helping others to find theirs.  He works with leadership in the Church who are young in their callings but are learning.  He is always busy and is happy that he is.  Since they're always on the move, he's really thin but says he loves the food, other than things with mayonnaise.  Fall is just beginning and soon it will be cold there until about September.  He will be transferred on Tuesday, May 15 and at this juncture, didn't know where he will be.  Although he will miss out on up-coming baptisms in TrancredoNeves, he knows transferring is all part of the mission and is looking forward to the next part of the journey.  Since he talked to us on Sunday, he wrote a short excerpt this week:
Oi,
Well I loved talking to you guys yesterday. I won´t be able to
find out about my new area until around 3 or 4 in the afternoon here.
I´ve already talked to you guys a whole bunch because of Mother's Day
and I´m a little busy today. I will go visit some of the people who
have dates marked for baptism and I´ll also visit the recently
baptised couple. It will be tough leaving this area. I love this
Church and I love this work. Stay strong at home and remember to pray
for me.  Love, Elder H.

TALK TO YOU SOON!!

Oi Family,
I hope everything is going well at home. This last week was a lot of
fun. We had a family night with some investigators and Lucas and
Lenize were there. Lucas bore his testimony and said how he´s only been a
member for about two months but he´s happy to have been baptized
during the "dispensation of the fullness of times".  I was real happy
to see that he´s already progressing and talking like he´s been a
member for more time.
We had scheduled for a member to give this older woman who´s our
investigator a ride. About twenty minutes before Church she called and
said that she was on the other side of town. We ran to the members
house to tell them about the change. They went to where the woman was
supposed to be and didn´t find her.
We´re teaching a few people and we should actually baptize this month.
Knocking doors is bearing very little fruit. We´re on the hunt.
I´m hoping to stick around here for the next transfer. I love to see
Lucas and Linize and we´re helping them study and progress. If I stick
around I´ll also be able to hear what they think of their first temple
trip when they do baptisms for the dead.
Cross your fingers for me so we can find new investigators this week.
I´m in a hurry.
So six thirty here in Santa Maria we´re going to call. It will be
right after Church. I think we´ve got about four hours difference.
Anyways `ll call you on Sunday. Love - Dev
 Love you guys,

_ Elder Hanson

Elder Holland Came!!

On Friday Elder Holland had a fireside especially for families while
us missionaries had to work. Saturday we had a fireside especially for
missionaries. The entire mission was there. We all took a group
picture with Elder Holland (They haven´t emailed the picture yet).
When he entered for the picture he playfully hit one of the Elders on
the head with the papers that were rolled up in his hand. We all
briefly shook his hand after the picture. He knew I had to be American
and so he said "You look great. How you doin´ Elder?" I stuttered a
bit because I almost responded in Portuguese. Then he complimented me
by saying "I like your curly hair".
He told us in the fireside how we couldn´t draw near to the lord with
our lips and have our hearts far from him at the same time. He gave us
an Apostolic Blessing that´s hard to describe, amazing. The other speakers were
also great.
Sunday with the apostle  was terrific. We had our new convert couple
there and they really know and feel he´s an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
Elder Holland spoke in the Chapel in the downtown area which is like twenty minutes by bus from our area.
The Conference was Friday, Saturday (Just for missionaries then later
just for leadership) and Sunday.
We´re going to baptize a 60-ish year old lady (Who´s SO SWEET) named
Cleuza. We´re also going to baptize a girl named Bruna and her little
brother. Bruna said nothing would stop her from getting baptized. So
we´re excited.
Unfortunately none of our investigators could go to the Church Sunday
because of a funeral for the grandfather of a friend of Bruna and her
brother and then Cleuza's brother has been sick.
I´m really strengthening and renewing my faith. I´m doing everything
to apply what the Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland said. I´m happy.
You can send the package. I never told you, Mckenna sent me a package
when it was it´s hottest here on the mission and the candy came
through fine. I think a big box the candy doesn´t have a chance to
melt. Kind of like that concept Pam taught us about keeping Popsicle
boxes together in the car on the ride home.

Promise I´ll take more pictures mom. Love you. = )

One year to go - and it's going great

So this week we have a few new investigators! A young woman named Bruna and her mother and then we have another family who we´re going to teach tomorrow. Today we have family night with some potential investigators too. It´s extremely exciting to see how Lucas and Lenize are progressing. We also are teaching the mother of a member. Her Name is Cleuza.  She came to Church this Sunday and then we walked with her all the way home after Church. She´s a very sweet old lady.  
Jeffrey R. Holland is coming to Santa Maria this weekend! We are going to catch the bus at five in the morning with our newly converted family so that we can get good seats on Sunday with them. On Saturday there´s a meeting that´s just for missionaries with Elder Holland and the whole mission will be there. I´ll probably be able to shake his hand! How cool.
So one of our new investigators is named Fernanda and she´s just about to have a baby! Her Father also has passed away recently. Tomorrow we´re going to teach her all about the Plan of Salvation. She wants to know what happened to her father.   We´ll also be able to explain pre-mortal life and the significance of this new child. Elder Strout got some pancake mix from home and some Maple syrup too. A lot of Brazilians don´t like them very much. Tonight we´re doing our family night with pancakes though.
Well I´ve been out for a year now. I´m able to speak really pretty well. I´m trying to work on my accent.  I love the members around here. There´s tons of problems in the ward but my companion and I are doing our best to leave the area better than we found it. I´ll have more to write about after this weekend! 
Love, Elder Hanson

A good week!

So this Sunday we ordained Lucas to the Aaronic Priesthood. It was really terrific. There´s a real comfort and truth felt during the laying on of hands. Lucas and his family are very special. I can really feel that the lessons we teach them and the commitments and developments they are making now will be taken with them into eternity. We´ve already spoken with them about Baptisms for the Dead and they will go in a caravan to the Temple  at the end of this month to perform the Baptisms.As soon as they have a year in the Church they plan to get sealed together.
Then there´s Alana. She finally was confirmed on Sunday after not being able to be confirmed because it was conference or because she was traveling. Alana goes to Seminary and is making friends. Things are great. We are teaching an Elderly woman who is the mom of someone who´s been a member since they were 13. This woman’s name is Cleuza. Cleuza´s member daughter Elizangela helps us during the lessons and she has a six year old daughter that she brings along named Bianca. Bianca is in love with my companion and often calls him gorgeous and says that he reminds her of a Brazilian pop-star named Luon Santana. (I saw this pop-star on tv and he´s cross eyed...I don´t think she was saying my companion is cross eyed).We committed Cleuza to baptism! Should all work out!
Then there´s Fabiana who hasn´t gone to Church yet but trusts us and seems to be developing as an investigator. We´re also going to start teaching another Fabiana who has four young daughters who seem interested in the message.
I ate a single mayonnaise salad sandwich the other day at a member's house to be nice. I then said I was full and my companion said I was lying. I said that I was just kidding about being full and ended up eating four. You know, I HATE mayonnaise so much! 
The work's been a bit slow but I know it will pick up. This is the most difficult area I´ve been through, in terms of door knocking. It´s hard to get five lessons out of a hundred doors and then you have to see if they´ll progress. We´re working to get more references. So there´s six or seven chapels here in Santa Maria alone and many of them have multiple wards. It´s interesting because there´s a man in my ward who was converted as a youth and was one of around forty members in all of Santa Maria at the time.
It´s starting to get a bit colder. My Alaskan companion loves it. I´m going to have a hard time when winter really sets in.  I´m not sick now. I´ll send pictures later today. Yesterday was a meeting so P-day was moved to today.Love you! :)