week 32

What's goooodddd!!!?? 

How's the 30 degree weather eh? Things this week were pretty crazy!! Everything in the package was awesome! Don't know about calling or skyping, not sure. We don't have a Christmas tree anywhere. I have no idea what they do here. I really won't know because guess what??? I got transferred! Haha I didn't expect it at all man! Elder Myer and I have only been together for 3 weeks! There were like 10 or so transfers this week. I am now going to Seqaqa in Vanua Levu! Haha I am going to another island! Burewai is the bush in Viti Levu, Seqaqa is the bush of Vanua Levu. I am what we call a bush baby! I won't lie, I was kind of disappointed at first because I love Burewai!! I wanted to spend Christmas and New Years with them and we thought I would  but nope. So I said goodbye to Nasautoka yesterday and people I really wanted to see weren't there. That kinda sucks but I'll say bye to Burewai and Saioko tomorrow. We have a mission conference Monday, mission service and talent show Tuesday. We are doing a meke dance and then me and the other three elders that live in the box flat are singing "Mary did you know in Fijian. Haha we can't sing but oh well!  Wednesday and Thursday are temple days. So I will fly out to Vanua Levu Thursday or Friday. Supposedly Seqaqa has been one of the slowest in the mission. But I guess it's kind of on an uprise. My comp will be Elder Yashko, he is from Logan. It could be challenging, but the work is the same. I just need to do what I can and try to change the area. I left Burewai with 11 baptisms and a lot of new investigators that are progressing really well. We have a baptism next Saturday that I'll miss but oh well. I feel like I left Burewai in a good uprising state. So yeah that has been the main thing this week. So this week I saw a 3 year old with a huge knife, cutting fruit, haha only in Fiji that happens. We did service in Burewai Thursday and then went hiking. We were the first missionaries to go that high and carve our names in the trees! Sweet eh? This is sweet Fijian stuff man, I sliced my finger on the machete.  Don't worry, it wasn't bad haha but the member grabs a leaf and crushes it up, then held it on my finger, after like a minute it was done. Healed completely! It was freakin sweet! It's called wabosucu, the Fiji medicine for cuts. We had a fireside in Burewai that night too. Work is very tough in that village so we decided to hold a fireside. It was suppose to start at 7, we started a little after 8 (Fijians don't have a sense of time) and not one non-member showed up. Ha....so we started anyway and then after we started, about 10 guys like in their 20s or so came, and were all interested. We taught the 1st lesson and then watched the restoration movie. It was sweet man! So hopefully we can get some good investigators out of it. It was a very good night. So yeah that was the week this week. My first transfer!  I love Burewai man! I'm just going to another bush where it's pure Fijian again so I am very blessed.  I can't complain. So we'll see what happens when I actually get there. The picture of the village is the Silemi village with the royal family. We will see him Sunday so we'll see how it goes. Kaseni is what the people in Saioko call me.  They gave me that name the first day I got there. Hope you all have a great week! Love you all. Kalougata Tiko!

Elder Kaseni

FYI the dialect in Vanua Levu is they drop the K's..so Vinaka Vakalevu is Vina'a Va'alevu.. haha I was getting good at speaking in the dialect in Burewai but now gotta learn another!

week 31

Bula vinaka family!!

Isa man, that wind sounds crazy!! The weather definitely nice and warm here! Haha I finally got your box!!! Thank you very much! It was awesome! We ate those peeps and man, can you say sugar rush!? We were acting soo weird man! The caramel melted a little bit but it's all good! Elder Myer is awesome! We get along very well! We are already teaching well together. It's awesome! We both have the same goals and we decided to be true preach my gospel teachers. A lot of missionaries teach things that are not in PMG.  PMG is given to us for a reason and we should follow it. So we decided to teach right out of preach my gospel. We are also a Fijian speaking companionship. I have spoken more Fijian to him in a week then I did with Elder Key in the 4 months I was with him. Its sweet. We think a lot of good things will happen soon. We had a baptism Saturday, Jonasa, a 8 year old who we thought was a member already.  He would go to church every week, knows stories from the Book of Mormon, and come to find out he has never been baptized! His dad passed away a few years back and his mom is not a member. He is the smartest 8 year old I have ever met. He is like the only one that can speak English in the village, Haha. We have one scheduled on the 17th also. She was supposed to be baptized with Jonasa but the day before she drank tea.  She is 11 years old!! Crazy Fijian kids man. But we talked to her and her parents which are two waiting on the divorce and they want her to be baptized. That's sweet that Mark is the mission leader, he will be good! We can't just go door to door in the villages. The chief doesn't allow it but we just talk to people on the street, members sometimes help. Wednesday we gave out 10 pamphlets and 1 dvd.  We have been just trying to talk to as many people as we can. Invite, invite, invite! Yes, you guys need to do branch council! We are just starting it in this area. It's very tough to do it consistently, but if you have everyone involved, it makes it so much easier. I am keeping my journal, don't worry! I have actually done really well on it lately, everyday man! Not studying anything specific right now. My study journal was falling apart because it was just a little notebook, so I bought a hard cover legit journal from the distribution center, so I am just copying into that from my other one and making it organized. Once I get done copying then I will get back on my study schedule. We are practicing a nativity to do for the Christmas party in Nasautoka.  Elder Myer and I are the angels because we are the only two white kids! Haha,  it's funny. Oh yeah, the other day, we were just walking in the village and we pass this group of people around 18-21 years old. We were just talking and then they were like man you guys are maleka!! Uro uro uro!!  All this stuff! Haha Maleka means delicious and uro literally means fat, but to say someone is "hot" oh what not, girls just yell out uro uro. It was so funny! Because we were two white kids that know Fijian. Hilarious man! Guess what though!? We totally got an appointment to see one of them!!  She was asking questions about kava and marriage and stuff and we were like hey, let's meet again next week and we will talk about the church and she said yes! So this is the coolest part of the week. A guy from Nadi, that Elder Myer baptized, gave him a note for us to give to this guy that lives in a village called Silemi, right between Burewai and Saioko. They are a royal family and a member in Burewai. He is the kings son, too. So he came with us to see this guy. The note said, please take care of these elders and receive them. So we go to the village, gorgeous! Literally on the water, coolest looking village I have been to. We ask around for this guy, everyone is just staring at us in the village. The village isn't open to preach in so we had to find the guy, talk to him and then leave right after. So we talked to him, he was kind of sketch with us at first and then we tell him about the note and he reads it and said "Welcome" You are family! It was soo sweet that this royal guy just told us we are family. So we are going Sunday to teach him and his wife. So we very well could be opening up this village and if this guy gets baptized, he will be the first in that village and then who knows what will happen after. So we are praying very hard and seeing what happens! It was sweet though! So yeah, that was this week! Haha, a very good week!! This week really made me love being in the villages and not the city. We experience the village culture and the family culture. Its sweet! So yeah that's the week! Hope you guys have a great week! I love you all!! 

Elder Kaseni! 

P.S. I will probably email Saturday around 5ish again, we have a conference Monday so Saturday is our next p day.

week 30

Bula Family!! 

So I am sorry. I have not received the package yet. We email in the mornings then the ZL's bring all the mail in the afternoon for sports. So I am hoping today! My new comp is here. He is awesome. We have gotten along really well and already have a good unity just in a week. Its going be very fun and we both feel some good things are going to happen. We both said that we want to help each other learn and change this area. Elder Key never did progress records or anything. But Elder Myer and I talked and we are going to do everything we can to get the members involved and do everything we are suppose to down to the last little thing. So we gave the branch presidents the progress records and they had no idea what it was. Its going to be good!! We are both excited. We got a new fridge in our baby flat. Ha, it's awesome! I love it! It barely fits but its nice. Have you guys seen 17 Miracles? Its freakin sweet! You need to! We had our baptism yesterday. Lanieta, she has been waiting 8 months to be baptized. She was soo happy. We couldn't do it under the waterfall because it has been raining like crazy. There has been a little flooding and the water was flowing way to fast so we did it just right above the waterfall. We found 4 new investigators this week, too. It was sweet. 2 of them asked for Book of Mormons the first time we met them. We had 3 interviews scheduled but one lady's husband wouldnt let her get baptized. Sala, we have been teaching her since my first week. Also 2 kids. One 11 year old girl happened to drink tea the day before the interview so now she has to wait 2 weeks so we will only have one this Saturday. Crazy people man! We only had 4 people go to church in our unit.  We didn't get there but one of the members told us. The ones who didn't show up were sleeping in the house that we have it in! Ha if it wasn't for two of the members church would not run there at all. Oh yeah, I heard about your skyping experience dad. Haha, I will be able to skype you guys most likely on Christmas. Yeah I have been slacking a bit on working out.  I have definitely gained some fat! President Klingler is good. Yes I write him every week. He's been in New Caledonia and Vanuatu so I haven't seen him forever. I rarely do anyway though. So I am glad you guys had a good week! Oh yeah if possible, I don't now if it is or not please send shredded cheese!?(only Shane would ask me to send shredded cheese!!)  Talk to you next week!! Love you guys! Have a good week!! moce!

Elder Hansen

week 29

Bula Vinaka!!! E A KOE?? haha E A KOE is how are you in Tuvaluan...

The first couple of lines is referring to a DVD Ashlee made for Teague's 50th B-Day.

Man that sounds awesome!!! Mom and Dad how does it feel to have the best kids ever!!?? Haha.  That's sweet though! I wanted to send a better birthday video but it was too big :( Sorry! I am glad you still liked it though! I knew when Ash told me what was going to happen Mom would cry. I am glad it fulfilled my prophecy! I do have access to a DVD player, each comp has one now. So send it!! The little boy said Happy Birthday in Fijian,  Elder key said it in Samoan and I of course said it in English. That sounds like an awesome night! I have been getting the newsletters from Grandma and Grandpa.  No worries about that. Tell them thank you so much for the Christmas gift, too! I haven't received the box yet. I am hoping to get it today or tomorrow! Tell Jordyn I miss her! Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie will not be the same man! Oh well, I'll just stick to eating leaves, Haha. The thing by Elder Bednar is sweet, I just printed it out. I'll definitely find ways to use it.  Well, this week has been a crazy week! We have hardly been in our area because Elder Key got transferred. He is the ZL in the Lautoka zone. My new comp is Elder Myer from Idaho. He was Elder Inu's, my comp from the MTC, trainer. Inu is now with Moaalii's trainer. They just switched.  He is a sick kid though and a great elder, hard worker. It is so nice to have someone else drive too! I love it!  I think some good things will happen. So a guy he just baptized in Nadi and his cousin owns some land by Burewai and in another village. He wrote a note for us to give to this village that pretty much says, take care of these elders and listen to what they have to say.  So we don't know what will happen. We are going to check it out but we might be able to open this village and have a lot of work from it so we'll see. I am excited to see what happens. We have 4 baptisms, one this Sunday, and 3 the next Saturday, the 3rd of December. I don't know if I told you about this, but the one divorce situation, is now settled because the husband was sent to prison and so she is the one getting baptized this Sunday.  It was kind of an interesting situation, ha. We met the new intake (new group of missionaries)this week too. So they put the pictures in the office of the new intake and every time I have gone to the office, one of them always looks familiar.  I have seen him somewhere. Well I started to talk to him and we were in the same mission prep class at institute. Ha it was weird! He seems pretty chill though.  He reminds me a lot of Nache.  Oh yeah,  if you ever want the best mango and pineapple, come to Fiji! We always pick mangos from the tree and eat them and then fresh pineapple...SOO GOOOD!!!!  So today we are suppose to be going to Bau Island. It's a small island by our zone. We are taking some boats across and spending p-day there. I can't wait! I hear it's pretty sweet. So yeah, not too much happened this week since we were in Suva. Because our area is so far away we have been staying in another area and helping them out this weekend. It kind of sucks that Elder Myer won't  be in the area until next week because we need to go on splits for a baptism interview. I also spent 17 bucks on McDonalds in Suva too! It was soo delicious! Except  I was still hungry after I had a double cheese, chicken nuggets, large fry, large coke, and then half of a big mac. Haha not good! Well Pops it sounds like you had a great birthday! I am happy for you! I am glad everyone is doing well..Hope you have another good week! Love you all! Kalougata Tiko!

Teague asked him if he is hungry a lot. His response was:  Man nothing has been filling me up lately. Ha not good! Like last dinner I got full after I had a full loaf of bread, two full plates of chicken curry and rice.

Elda Hansen

week 28

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Even though its on Wednesday but big 5-0!!! Its weird not celebrating our bdays together man! I'll drink some coconuts for you! Haha but yeah I am not a teenager anymore!!!!!!!!! What's going on my amazing family!?  As always, things are great here!! We are celebrating my birthday today because it was Sunday here and we couldn't buy anything. So tonight you know what it is... Cake and ice cream!! Can't wait! The AP that just went home was Elder Malo. His brother played at Cottonwood. They were the poly family that lived in Chillys house in Park Place. It was crazy when I met him and started talking about it. Transfers haven't come  yet but this week probably. Our President is out of the country,  I think in New Caledonia. The village drama has settled down now so we can baptize the one who was waiting on the divorce because the guy is in prison for rape I guess. The couple Saula and Aliti, who both wanted to be baptized and then said to stop until they were married and they would take the lessons together...well they got into a fight and Aliti cut Saulas finger with a machete so she left, but Saula still wants to be baptized. He just has to stop smoking than he's set. So out of all the drama, some good came out of it except we lost Aliti as an investigator. But this week we have found like 4 potential investigators. So its been a good week. The work could be picking up alot soon. We have three baptism dates for Dec 3 and possibly two more in December. In the Burewai village, the new Methodist church just came in. There are 4 girl missionaries and one of them is a preacher, I think haha. So people say they are the mission girls and we are the mission boys. We haven't met them yet. Ha, I want to though!! We talked to the Methodist preacher this week just for the heck of it.  He was a nice guy but he brought up experience. He said you need experience to live and know Christ. He said he knows because he was spent 30 years doing it.  We didn't argue or anything but the main thing that we said was that we were going to walk through the village and talk to the people in his church. Haha. He was ok with it though. So listen to how old school Saioko is. So they are suppose to start church at 11 and so we go up at 12:30 to see some people after. They had not started yet.  They said that they run on the old time from daylight savings. So to them it was only 11:30.  Well they are still late on the old time!  They said the new time is time of man and the old time is the time of God so that's why they don't change their clocks at all. So funny man!!  Freaking Saioko men, I love them though. They are awesome. So yeah that's about all! Hopefully I will get the package today! Thanks so much for sending it.  You guys are awesome!! One thing I have learned, is attitude is sooo big! You need to know what you need to do, do everything you can do that you have control of,  and leave everything else to Heavenly Father. If you sulk, things are not going to get better. If you keep moving forward, things will pass by. I love this mission! Its freaking awesome! Good days and bad days, I love it! Well I hope you have a great bday dad  and everyone else have a great week! Talk to you next week! Love you!!

Elder Hansen

week 27

Bula bula!!!

Yeah this is the only email I got but no worries! What's going on? How was st jeezy?? What did y'all do? This week was a bit of a crazy, fun and slow week at the same time. Haha. Slow in the work because we have hardly been in our area because we had our mission tour this week. I will tell you more about that in a bit! So the past couple of days we were in our area, this is what happened. The Saioko Branch president now knows that there are 50 states in America haha, and they say I am getting fatter!! They say iko sa levulevu! But in Fiji that is a good thing.  Ha, it's weird!  We had some big time village drama in both Saioko and Burewai this week. It's not been good! One of our investigators husband, one waiting on the divorce, went to prison last week but the good thing is now we can baptize her, but they can't live together when he gets out until they marry. So I don't exactly know what is going on with that! The family that we have had come to church at in Burewai is all messed up.  Let's just say, if things go as they are, work will go nowhere in that area. It sucks and we can't do anything about it but we did get a really good new investigator this week from there.  It would take too long to tell you everything and I have other things I want to tell you. It's been a bit of a crazy week so we'll see what happens. We are done with the training program now.  Transfers are this week and we are pretty sure that Elder Key will get transferred so I'll let you know more about that. I haven't got the package yet but maybe later today or tomorrow.  Oh yeah also, two investigators in Saioko need to get married and they both want to be baptized Saula and Aliti. But they decided, they want to stop taking lessons until they get married and then start all over again and take them together. It will push everything back but at the same time, I think it will be better for them to take the lessons together. Now to the good part! We just had our mission tour this week and so that is what I want to share with you this month. Our mission tour was bomb!! All the missionaries came to Suva. We had a training on Saturday and a presentation Sunday. Elder and Sister Watson came to it. Elder Watson has been a secretary for 7 prophets and now is in the area presidency for the Pacific. It was awesome. I learned a lot of things that strengthened my testimony. I have a whole list of things that I am going to share...so yeah!

1. Elder Watson said Moms are the reason why we are on missions. Without moms, the church would die. I agree with this big time! Thank you sooo much Mom for all the help and support you give to me. You really are a BIG reason why I am here today!

2.Sister Klingler said, "Never be the student who never studies and wants help on the big test." She talked about how important it is to study and what not." She also said, "We need to have a vision of who we are and what we want to do." She told us to think about what our vision is for investigators. That was good, too.

3. Talking about the spirit and doing things by the spirit, President Klingler said "The single biggest obstacle for missionaries to help investigators feel the spirit, is not knowing what it feels like."

4. So this is Elder and Sister Watsons training. Sister Watson talked about the articles of faith. She broke down each one and explained it. It was awesome. It really build my testimony on using them more in our teaching. It was sweet. Elder Watson talked about PMG and the first vision. AWESOME! So he showed us a video of Elder Holland explaining PMG when it first came out. He said President Hinckley got up in a meeting and gave the reason for PMG. When missionaries come home and go inactive it shows there's a problem in the missionary program. So really the foundation at first was to help keep RM's active. Its crazy! I love PMG!! Elder Holland then said" We need to convert you first, then you figure out how to convert the investigator." So now, here is the freakin best part!! Elder Watson was talking about the First Vision and we read it verse by verse in the JSH. He explained what was happening and it was sooo sick!! One thing I loved was in 1803 Lucy Mack went to a grove and prayed and asked for the truth to be presented. 17 years later Joseph, her son, also went to a grove and prayed to know what church he should join. Look at it now! Its freakin awesome! He showed us another clip of Elder Holland and he was holding the exact book that Hyrum Smith had when he was killed. He folded a page where he was reading and the fold was still here in the book Elder Holland was reading. It was soo sweet! Elder Watson was talking about how Joseph and Hyrum were willing to die for the church and The Book of Mormon. He said why would they die for a fictional church or book? He told us a story of a temple meeting with President Hinckley and President Hinckley said ' I went to the grove...I didn't have a vision or hear a voice, but a statement came to my head....it happened or it didn't.....I testify to you that it did happen! MAN! I had the biggest chills!! It was awesome! Definitely strengthened my testimony of the restoration and the Book of Mormon. It was such a good conference! I loved it! Saturday, we presented all of our areas to Elder and Sister Watson and then had lunch and chilled.

So it was a great weekend! So that's about all! Things are awesome! I am happy and I love this work! I love reading the scriptures, PMG, everything. I love studying. SO I hope this helps all of you somehow and strengthens you. I am very grateful to you, my awesome parents, for raising me in the church and helping me get here today. I will be partying it up this week for my birthday, drink some coconuts and what not.  I hope you all have a good week! Love you all! Tell everyone hi! Moce!

Elda Hansen

week 26

What's up  "handsome" family!?  Haha funny thing huh?  I went on exchanges in another area and we went to teach a 13 year old girl and she said the same thing Elder Handsome. Haha. People liked the chicken feet huh!  Haha.  They were really good to be honest. It's weird at first thinking you are eating chicken feet but it was very good!  I was thinking this week how someone must have prayed for me to like the food or something because I have been surprised how much I have liked the weird stuff cause we all know I am picky! They don't celebrate Halloween here! They just celebrated an Indian holiday Diwali.  We didn't because there are no Indians in our area but it's like the festival of lights and the story behind it is weird.  I don't get it. There were a bunch of lights in town and eat a lot of Indian sweets. Fall cleaning huh?? FUN!!! Living in the flat we live in has made me really want to be clean and organized.  It's much easier... so mom I see what you have been saying these past 19 almost 20 years. Haha. This week was a slow week in the work. We had stake conference so we were only in our area for like 3-4 days. We had 2 fall through with a couple. We don't know what's going on. We talked to the father of the guy and seems like something might have happened so we are hoping to meet with them this week and see what's going on. We had stake conference so we came to town Saturday and Sunday for that. It was really good. Pres Klingler spoke at both of them and gave really good talks.  He even bore his testimony in Fijian during the Sunday session. It was sick! Everyone was just listening, it was very powerful and very impressive. There were some really good talks about the priesthood and not losing the one. Also the stake president got up and just straight up said DONT DRINK KAVA!! Haha, it was sweet! Everyone drinks kava wayyyy toooo much!! But it's one thing that is very tough for the missionaries to talk to them about because it's a cultural drink so they don't listen to us. It starts with the leaders though, even our leaders drink it so it makes it even harder. So yeah overall the meetings were very good. We had a huge lunch with all the wards and branches in the stake after and the stake pres wife who lives in Korovou where the flat is, told the Korovou elders to get Elder Key and I.  The four of us ate privately with her and she fed us beef, cake, juice.  I was in heaven!!! It was soo good!! Also I forgot to say this earlier, but some little kid got a hold of my camera and somehow deleted all the pictures on my camera. I still have no idea how he did it. Not happy!  All the ones I wanted to send, I already had so it wasn't too big of a deal.  So I won't be sending the memory card home for a while! Guess what?? We had a nail in our tire, guess what I did? I changed it all by myself. The first one I have ever done. So I can check that one off the list of things to learn on the mission. Change a tire..CHECK! My next one I figured out this morning was to learn how to play chess..We slept at Wainobokasi today and me and this kid was teaching how to play. So I am going to become a chess master! Fun fact for the week! My studies are going good, I continue in my study journal. Any suggestions on it?? I have organized my studies so I can get15-20 of each thing so I try to study PMG every day. It's been very good to get an overall study of everything. It's awesome. I love studying them...I wish there could be a day where that is all we do. I want more than just an hour! This is the scripture for the day. 3 John 1:4...This is mostly for the parents, but for us children as well.  To keep us in check in our lives and when we have children! Things are going well still, unfortunately still thinking in English a bit but the confusion of the two is starting to come which I'm happy about. So yeah I am good and healthy and most important, HAPPY! I'm glad everything is going well at home! I love you all and miss you all!! Kalougata Tiko! 

Elder Handsome (Hansen)