Iaorana to'u mau hoa!!
Man, it's been busy couple of weeks!! But I'm sure you could say the same thing, haha!
Two weeks ago was the last week of my first transfer in the field, and we did so much. We met with so many people to goodbyes, because Elder Smart left for home at the end of that week! It was so awesome for me to see all the connections and relationships that he had with the ward for the short amount of time he was here, I want the same for me!
My birthday was also that week! It was super awesome, there were so many people that really made it the best day they could for me. We were with the Christensens the day before my birthday and they found out it would be the next day and Sister Christensen made me a lemon cake!! I was really really good and it made me so happy. The Carling family also dedicated their dessert to my birthday at dinner with them and that was super sweet. I got a couple letters and a package from home that I opened that night that really made my day too:)
Before the transfer ended, we had two baptisms on Saturday the 12th!! It was so amazing, quite a miracle to experience in my first transfer. Kaylee was so excited and she has been so happy and proud ever since then, which makes me so so happy for her. Patrick got baptized too, and it was pretty amazing for me because it was with him that I had my first real lesson on my mission. He may not want to admit it, but this gospel and the baptism has been changing him since I first met him. He has the desire to be better and I love that, that's what the Lord wants too.
Sister Powers is amazing, she's gone through so much in her life and yet everything she does is for God and Jesus Christ. She has amazing faith. She has two cancerous tumors in her spine that cause her tremendous pain, along with a new injury of some dislocated fingers. She has two sons that we love to talk to that need the influence of the gospel.
Brother Castillo is probably the most amazing person I could ever meet in my life. Almost everyone that comes to this mission has heard of the legendary Brother Castillo and only dream to meet him. How grateful am I to know such an inspired instrument of the Lord. He is an inspiration to me. Without spoiling his story, which is probably the plot to a movie, he loves the missionaries more than anything and gives everything he has for our benefit, because they helped in his conversion twice to the church. I continue to learn more through his stories and experiences that change my view of the world.
We dropped off Elder Smart at the mission home to go home! It was bitter sweet, we had such an excellent transfer to end his mission and to start mine. I'll remember it forever, that's for sure. Elder Larson got transferred to Yuma and we stayed together for a day before transfers.
My new companions are super awesome! Elder Dryden is 23 months in the mission, he's from Virginia and we are pretty much the same person to be honest. Elder Hafen was in my zone but got transferred into my companionship! He's hard working and is a little over a year old in the mission. We are an awesome companionship, it's going to be an awesome transfer.
Christmas was awesome!! We got to go caroling for almost 9 hours last week and I really hope we made lots of people happy, it definitely made me happy and enjoy the true spirit of Christmas. My package from home hasn't arrived yet (update: arrived on December 28), so many packages and mail is being delivered around the country that it's really lagged behind but it should be coming soon. To be honest it was a really good experience for me to not have any presents for Christmas. There are so many people around the world that don't get gifts. I realize even further how spoiled I am!! I got to really focus on the reason for the season, Jesus Christ!! Honestly, it made me so happy. When you serve others and focus on them, it can be pretty easy to forget about yourself, which I'm grateful for.
No updates on Tahiti. The cases are definitely down from the spike, some days are zero but some days are 100+ cases. We do hear of some that are getting sent to their original missions, but the process is not clear and kind of random. We'll see what happens I guess. I am pretty happy here, if the Lord wanted me to stay here for the whole 2 years I would know it was for a good reason.
With this new year starting up soon, I encourage you to look back at all the things that you've learned and apply them to this next year. Things may not get better, but that doesn't mean we can't stop pushing hard through it!
I hope to have the time to write you all next week!!! Happy New Years and make some awesome goals!!!
A faaitoito, nana!!
Elder Hansen
