12/29/13

Dear Family and Friends

            We just got back to our apartment after having Sun dinner with one of the families in the Branch.  Actually they probably have us for dinner more then anyone else.  We had make your own pizza.  I think that we go there so often is that we have a lot in common with them and they seem to enjoy having us come for dinner.

            We have three more chapters to read to Judy and we will complete 2^nd Nephi.  I really wish that we could find a large print Book Of Mormon for her but since the church is not printing any more for a while I guess we will continue to read until we have to leave to go home.  She and Lloyd will be getting married next Sat. afternoon.  Bro. Dunn wanted her in a wedding dress, but Judy was resisting and wanted to wear a pants suit so I’m hoping that her sisters found either a dress or a skirt and blouse for her to wear and everyone is happy.  They were starting to depend on us to take care of things so we went to the family and asked for help.  We are trying to take a step back and be supportive but not the ones in charge.  We still need to give her the rest of the lessons and then she can be baptized.

            We have had really warm days that always takes me by surprise that it can be almost 70 and it is Dec. and then dip down to 38 for a daytime high.  But since the last rainfall it has been clear most of the time and no rain even in the forecast.  I noticed that there is rain off the coast of Florida so I’m sure that it will eventually make it’s way up here.

            We are still helping at the Senior center most days excepting for holidays.  That get us up and moving relatively early in the morning.   We can then start going to visit our less actives that are now active.  We also visit people who are not members but we are giving our friendship.  We have visited almost all of the less actives on our list.  We have only a few that we need to visit then we will have everyone at least visited once.  We continue to invite, invite and invite to come to back to church.  Each month we have an activity to reactivate people.  So for January we will have a manly man banquet of exotic meat like Alligator, Rattlesnake Crawdad’s and venison and etc.  The ladies are not invited and that is alright with me.  Elder Hansen would probably like to bow out but can not because we are here to be supportive.

            I reminded Pres LaVetter that he really needed to find some one else to teach the youth class.  Especially since I will have about six twelve year olds in the class and that is on top of six that I already have.  The classroom is not big enough and that is way more then I feel that I can teach at one time.  That means that I would be teaching twelve young adults from the ages of twelve through seventeen.  I am having a hard enough time as it is trying to teach 13 through 17 and make it interesting and a learning experience for all.  He promised to find another teacher to relieve the load but since he doesn’t have a huge pool of people to choose from and he just plains forgets or thinks that all is well I’m not sure which but it never gets done.   I’m not sure what his older daughter tells him and since she texts on her cell phone during class time I wonder if she is ever actually

listening to anything that I do say.  So I have been doing lessons that requires looking up scriptures and writing answers down on paper then telling why that scripture is either important or why they liked that particular scripture.

            It is hard to believe that we have been here for three months and only have three months more.  Already we have people telling us that we can’t go home we have to stay longer.  They already know that Elders and Sisters come and go but we are always here.  The Elders are not nearly as fun as the Sisters have been.  Now there seems to be a bug around that is making the Elders and Sisters very sick.  It is almost like food poisoning except there are a lot others that have it also.  Sister Cooke spoke today in Sacrament meeting, she has been so sick and so weak that she was holding on to the pulpit for dear life.  We do not want to get sick, we have been enjoying good health.

            We had a good Christmas and thanks to Sara with her box full of a bunch of wrapped presents it felt like Christmas at home.  We were invited to a members home for Christmas Eve and then Christmas night to another members home.  We got to talk to everyone or Skype it was great to see familiar faces.  It was great to talk with our loved ones.  I took all the Christmas decorations down and  packed them away and gave back the tree today.  I have two boxes that are full of letters, cards and clippings from the news paper that I will be sending home soon.    Just put them in our bedroom.

            Dad here, Last week when we went to Blytheville the other senior missionary couple took us out to eat at a nice steakhouse. On that days special they had listed alligator (something they fix when it is in season.) Anyway, I thought: “It’s now or never” and I ordered the alligator. Mom ordered chicken, Elder Locket ordered steak, and Sister Locket ordered Alfredo. Everyone enjoyed their meals, even me. However about 3:00 in the morning my stomach was really churning. I guess the alligator “was not loving me back”.

            A few weeks ago in our gospel principles class one of the full time elders started out the class by saying “Hello my name is Elder Duron, I am from Tucson, Arizona, and my favorite color is red”. It then went to his companion and all around the room, each on stating their name where they are from and what their favorite color is. Last week it was “Hello my name is Elder Duron, I am from Tucson Arizona and my favorite thing about Christmas is ……” This week it was “Hello my name is Elder Duron I am from Tucson Arizona and my new years resolutions is ……” It is so amazing how this activity sets such a good tone for the class. Our gospel principles class has a lot of new and different people each week and this activity just brings us together and makes everyone feel a part of what’s going on.

 It was wonderful to hear from all of you last week. Christmas is such a great time to have family around.

Love Mom and Dad,  Grammy and Papa, Elder and Sister Hansen

 

12/23/2013

Dear Family and Friends                                                                    December 23, 2013

            This last week was very warm, by Thursday it was up in the high sixties. That night it started to rain. The weathermen predicted a soaking rain. It was a soaking rain. It poured down buckets. Roads were flooded, water was everywhere. The car got really washed. It had been getting quite dirty from all the sand that they had spread on the ice the week before.

            We had an half mission Christmas Conference this past week over beyond Memphis, Tennessee. We had training, which was pretty good. Then the Relief Society there fed us a good lunch (the only thing Mom could eat was the white rice.) then they had a missionary talent show. It was an all round good day. All missionaries got a mission tee-shirt, and some small gifts. We were told that during the next six months all the missionaries will be given an electronic device, to use in our missionary work. The gap between us and the new generation widens.

            The sister missionaries rode down with us. Now instead of having just mom screaming in my ear when I make a bad driving error, I have three ladies screaming. Actually it is more like three guardian angels, helping me get to where I need to go, safely. We told the sisters about little Douggie playing with miniature car and going “EEERCH   D-A-V-I-D,  EEERCH D-A-V-I-D” so now when I miss a turn or turn the wrong way the sisters say: “EEERCH D-A-V-I-D” When we got back from Memphis, the sisters which live next door moved out to the branch mission leaders home and the next day the elders from Piggott moved in. So now we have elders next door. On January 1^st the sister will move into another apartment complex.

            Yesterday we had wonderful branch meetings. We had over 85 people in attendance, and considering some families were gone for Christmas that was pretty good. We had members talk about Christmas in their families and that carried over into gospel principles class and we went around with each person telling something about what mean a lot to them about Christmas. After Church a girl that had been a foster child in a family had her adoption finalized last week so she was baptized and confirmed. Baptisms are usually a very spiritual meeting, and this one certainly was.

            We had the elders over for supper last night along with a single member, mom made turkey enchilada’s they were good like always. Then with the missionaries we delivered Christmas present to needy families in the branch, that the members had purchased.

            This afternoon we plan on driving over to Blytheville, AR to see the “Lights of the  Delta” display. It is suppose to be the biggest Christmas Light Show in the South, I guess it covers 40 acres of lights display. It cost $10 a car to drive through it. We invited another senior missionary couple to go through with us. They are new to the mission field and could use a little companionship I think.

            This is now Mom.  Dad needed his morning nap.  He hasn’t been feeling very well but could be that we are in several peoples homes and children going to school always bring home everything that is going around.  We have already been in a home where the youngest daughter was running a temp and then at the dinner table started to upchuck not a pretty sight.  I thought that the Sisters were going to join her at first but we decided that we did not want that so we left relatively soon after the dinner.

     This week the Sisters are without a car so we are their transportation.  Next week it will be the Elders.  Because Elder and Sister Hansen have a car that no one gets to use we become the taxi service.  I usually don’t mind when they have a set appointment but when they don’t we are driving around so they can try to think of someone to visit and it is after dark it is a little irritating.  It gets dark very early and then it is almost impossible to find addresses.

     We are teaching and reading the Book of Mormon to a lady who is a live in companion to an older less active man.  Bro. Dunn wants to marry Judy legally and they have plans to do so on Jan. 4^th.  If she doesn’t chicken out, when we were there Sat. she said that she was getting cold feet and wasn’t sure that this was really something that she wants to do.  Right now she is his common law wife but she cannot be baptized until they are married.  She has been taught by the missionaries but when she wouldn’t commit to be baptized they left.  So we arrived at the right time because now she is getting ready to be married and then a little later she will be baptized.  She told us that she now wants to be baptized.  She has a hard time reading the small print of the Book of Mormon so we read it to her about 6 chapters at a time.

     With Elders in Paragould it is getting a little harder to separate out the area that each of us work in.  Because we go all over the city and surrounding towns we cross over even the Sisters at times.  The Sisters want separate areas that we work in but that is not our calling so right now it is more difficult but I’m sure when we leave in three months that will all smooth out.

     We sleep missionary, we eat missionary, we think missionary, we work missionary so at times thinking anything else is hard to do.  I’m thinking that when we come home we will still be in the missionary thought pattern for awhile.

     Well we need to close and I need to do more house cleaning before we leave for Blytheville. So my dears have a wonderful Christmas and remember that Christ is the reason.  Enjoy your New Year as you think of changes or anything else because you can now have a new beginning.

                                                         LOVE

                                                Mom and Dad

                                               Grammy and Papa

                                               Elder and Sister Hansen   

12/16/13

Dear Family and friends,                                                                    December 16, 2013

 

            Time just keeps moving on rather I am ready or not. Wendell Walker thinks time is speeding up, I really think it has more to do with myself getting a lot slower. Mom and I celebrated our 45^th wedding anniversary by driving to Searcy, Arkansas, over two hours away for a zone conference, with the sister missionaries. The roads were still very icy and we had to drive with much care. Sometimes I’m glad we don’t have a big van or we would have to drive the whole district places. Scot knows how much I hate driving and it is about all I do. Mom hasn’t drove since we left home. We have to fill up the car every week with gas, but I haven’t had to spend over $3.00 a gallon in the last two months, which is a good thing. On our way home from zone conference we stopped at IHOP and had an anniversary dinner with the sisters. They might be small but they still can eat like missionaries, they ate more than Dad and I. We had a birthday card and cookies we had to drop off on the way home. He lives about 15 miles south of Paragould, so we plugged his address into our GPS and let her guide us on the way back. The sisters are determined that Gina is trying to kill us. We did arrive at the member’s home alright. I think we were the only ones that remembered him on his birthday and stopped by for a visit. He and his wife are divorced and he lives alone. He has a beautiful home he built himself. He likes to hunt and he has four stuffed deer heads on his walls. The week before he had killed a large bobcat, that he put in the freezer and plans on having it mounted sometime in the future. Nice guy used to be in the branch presidency.

            We did take time to go to the Greene County  Technical High Schools play production of “Catch Me if You Can”. For a week without practice because of the ice storm the kid’s did a real good job. The ending turned out different than we had expected. That was on Thursday night. On Friday night we went to a Christmas Musical called “Santa Conquers the Martians” that the community put on. It was a bit cheesy, but considering that a local person wrote all the music for it, and played the piano for all of it, it was okay and a lot of fun.

Yesterday at church the branch had the Christmas Program. A sister in the branch planned it all out and it turned out to be a very good Sacrament Meeting. We didn’t have church last week due to the storm. This week we had almost 100 people in attendance. A branch record I am sure. After the meetings they had a branch potluck meal. I was sure that there wasn’t going to be enough food for everyone, so we held back, but there was enough food to go around with plenty leftovers.   We went to a cookie exchange Sat afternoon.  There were trays and trays of cookies.  I was only going to take 12 in exchange for what I brought but she started loading me up.  So we had two persons in the Branch that had birthdays yesterday and I already had plenty of cookies to share around.  We do have to travel sometimes several miles to take the cookies but not one has turned down the treats and I know that that might be the only celebration that they will have.  For the birthday today he will get muffins that are low in sugar.

    We went to Mid South West Farm Credit to pick up the year calendar, I stayed in the car.  Dad came out and told me that the manager really wanted to meet us, his secretary had told him about us so he was so excited when we came in.  He had had a LDS secretary who had just retired so he knew about the church and the whole office was okay with it.  He was primed with magazines, maps, and articles about Idaho and Utah.  He wanted to know about all kinds of things.  He was interested that we were missionaries for the church and wanted to know what we did. Then as we were leaving he made us promise that we would be back to visit more.   Then today at the Senior center that we do service at a elderly gentleman came over and asked Dad if he liked ties.  He has about 50 ties that he used when he worked at a Funeral home, so we will go and visit and look at ties.  There is also a lady that has asked us to come and visit her several times so we really need to do that.   This is all friendshiping, I don’t  know if the gospel will even be mentioned but at least they know who we are and what we represent.

     Yes we got through the storm and most of the snow around here has melted as has the ice.  I am very glad that there is no ice to speak of.  The temperatures have really started back up this morning at 9:30 it was 42 and now it feels like it is in the high 50’s.  That sun can be hot even when it is suppose to be winter.

        Need to close Have a merry Christmas remember that Christ is the reason and don’t forget your birthday gift to Christ.

                                           Love you all

                                         Mom, Dad, Sister and Elder Hansen, Grammy and Papa

12/1/13

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                   November 30, 2013

            Sometimes things happen in our lives that are unplanned and we are really unprepared for. Yesterday was such a day. Yesterday we had the birthday of a forty six year old inactive male on our list that lives in Piggott, Arkansas. Problem #1 Piggott is 34 miles to the north. The Elders live in Piggott, that’s their jurisdiction. Problem #2 the Sister Missionaries are without a car this week and we have to take them with us where ever we go. Problem #3 this guy might not even live there and there will be a slim chance of catching him home, during the day. Never the less we piled into the car and headed for the Elders in Piggott. We had called them earlier to see if it was okay to take this birthday guy some cookies. They had never met him and said that it would be fine, in fact they had met an older gentleman up there that had joined the church years ago, that they wanted us to meet. We arrived at the Elders apartment, they had an appointment they needed to go to. We plugged in the address of the birthday guy into the GPS. No results. Oh. Boy. The Elders plugged it into their GPS and got a hit. They lent us their GPS and we took the Sisters and headed up the highway. We drove over 5 miles to the north and came to a small town called St Francis, didn’t even know it existed. The man actually lives in St Francis and not Piggott, that’s why our GPS couldn’t find him. He was at home, but very busy and couldn’t take time to talk, so we gave him the card and cookies and wished him Happy Birthday. We headed back to Piggott, just as we were leaving St Francis we saw a Marker Sign that read “Chalk Bluff Battle Park.” We asked the sisters if they wanted to go, they said yes so I turned off the road, we read another sign that read 5 miles. We turn back onto the highway, not wanting to drive that far. Then something seemed to say: “you really need to go”. So we turned back around and followed small country roads until we got to the park. The State has built a nice park with picnic tables, cook sites and a small covered area and restrooms. There is a trail that leads out through this wooded area. Along the trail were markers that tell the story of what happened there during the Civil War. As we walked and read we became aware that this really was a special place. Many men both on the South and the North had fought and died in this area, many more were severely wounded. We walked until we got to the St Francis River. Across the River was Missouri. Before the Civil War this was the place where most people going from Missouri to Arkansas crossed the River. A ferry boat had been built to take the people across. The major road from the north came here and the road going south into Arkansas started here. The town of Chalk Bluff was built on this spot, with stores, supplies buildings, and homes. It was here that the Confederate Army crossed and fought the Union Army in Missouri, beating them. It was here that later the Union Army crossed and fought the Confederate Army beating them and burning the ferry and Chalk Bluff to the ground.  Nothing remains, except this park to tell the story. And an old yellow dog that must live in the area, he comes down to the park each day and escorts people through the park. He didn’t take us because there was another couple that got there before us and he showed them all around. When they left, he talked to us for a while, as we left he went over and sat on the grass waiting for the next people to come so he could show them around.

(These are pictures that Dad just sent.  They are of their trip to Chalk Bluff Battle Park.  The top picture is the Sisters, of course.  The bottom picture is Dad trying to get to a good place to take the top picture.  Mom said it was a very precarious perch and they were all afraid he would fall into the river.)

            We then drove to Greenway , a town about 4 miles south of Piggott and met the Elders at the Lemmond home. Brother Lemmond joined the church years ago along with his children. He is now 82 and he and his wife live alone, but he still has a testimony and remembers the Elders that brought him into the church. They fed us all an after Thanksgiving Dinner, and we had an enjoyable visit.

            Today was a typical missionary day. Drove lots of miles finding people either not home, or not interested, or not living at that address anymore. I find days like today a lot more tiring than days like yesterday, where we were busy all day long, going and doing and seeing wonderful places and people. Tonight we taught Judy Chesterfield a 2^nd discussion with the sister missionaries. Seemed to go well. Went to visit the Layton Family. They are less active but invited Sister Hansen and the Sisters back on Dec. 14^th to make Christmas cookies.

            Today is Fast Sunday. Good meetings. Love the branch here and the way they take care of us.  We ate at the Edler’s today since Bro. Edler will be out of town this week and Sister Edler doesn’t want to feed us on Tues., which is the day we usually eat there.  My Sunday School class went pretty well considering that I usually have only about three, today was different we had a young man who really didn’t want to be there and although he somewhat participated , he is a very poor reader so I won’t ask him to read again.   We had a birthday for someone again that I have never seen or knew and the Sisters didn’t know who she was either.  I called the visiting teacher and had her introduce us all.  Of course we don’t usually know who we are going to see when we take the birthday cookies.  Dec. is a full month of birthdays.

     The back end of the car is making a terrible noise, bad enough that even Dad is bothered.  There is man in the Branch that has a car lift and he has agreed to look and try to figure out what the terrible noise is.  We also have a slow leak in one of the tires and that will have to be fixed.  It is the bad news gravel roads that we sometimes have to travel on that probably caused the problem with the tire.  The Sisters are afraid that the whole back end is going to fall off so they are uncomfortable going any place with us .  Their problem is that they don’t have a choice since this week is their week without a car.  They only have three cars that has to be shared with other missionaries in the District so that usually means three weeks with a car and one week without a car.  Since there are no shoulders along the roads and no bike paths, it is dangerous to have the Sisters on bikes going to appointments all over this spread out city.

            As you may have noticed, sometimes dad is writing sometimes mom is writing, I guess it is up to you to figure out who, and if you can’t figure out I guess it really doesn’t matter. After all just like Jesus said: “and they twain shall be one flesh, wherefore they are no more twain, but one.”  

11/24/13

Dear Family,                                                                                       November 22, 2013

            To night we got in early, so I thought I would start the family letter a little early. Last night we had a pie night for the branch. The sister missionaries came up with the idea, to promote missionary work. They made the invitations and passed them out to the branch. Bring a pie, bring a friend. That was their motto. It turned out to be a very fun activity. The branch got behind the idea and we had about 40 people attend. Grammy Lou and the Branch Mission President did most of the work, setting up and getting everything in order. The Sister missionaries are young and they think things somehow happen by magic. Not realizing that worthwhile things happen because a lot of work goes into it.

          I was standing talking to the branch president and a less active fellow, the branch president’s 11 year old daughter went through the pie line and brought her dad a plate of his favorite pies. After she went back to get herself a plate of pies, he commented; “When she was a baby I blessed her that she would be kind, thoughtful and loving, I wished I had thought of blessing the rest of my kids with that blessing.” I’ll have to agree, I know the rest of his four other kids, they are not that way. Later that night as things were winding down, I heard piano music coming from the Relief Society room. I looked in and there was this 11 year old, playing a piano duet with the white haired Relief Society Presidents husband. He showed her how to play a certain piece and they traded places on the piano and they played another duet. She was just as much at ease with that old man as she is with the primary kids her age. A couple of weeks ago the music people weren’t at church yet and the young mothers were tending to their babies so she got up and lead the music for Sacrament Meeting. She looks a lot like Lorin and Chelsea’s oldest daughter.
          Today Mom and I went to visit an older couple in the branch we have got to know. They are not married, she is a non-member, he has been inactive for years and divorced. But he still remembers the sister missionaries that taught him the gospel when he lived in California. He wasn’t home, so we talked to her.  She said she would like to take the missionary lessons. So we have an appointment to teach the restoration lesson tomorrow. This will be our first lesson taught so far. Pray for us.
          For some reason our mission decided to go from 10 zones to 5 zones. I’m not sure why, but traveling to zone conference has gone from 20 minutes to over 2 hours for us. One new thing that has started, there are two sister missionaries in each zone that are called as Sister Trainer Leaders (STL) that serve in each zone. They work with the Mission President’s wife and the sister missionaries in their zone. So if you thought of those sisters as zone leaders, we still have 10 zones. We just got an email yesterday that lists all the missionaries in the mission. I counted them, there are 14 couples, 86 young sisters, and 117 elders. (a total of 29 of  the elders and sisters are Spanish speaking.) Quite an army of missionaries hasting the work here in Arkansas.
          Having a nice new meeting house for the branch is really helpful. It is not a multiphase building that is intended to be built onto later. It is just a small building that will stay that way. If the branch outgrows it, they will just create another branch in an neighboring town and build another building there. There are 10 towns that attend our branch. Paragould is the largest town with a population of about 26,000 people. There are other towns in the thousands, and some are only in the hundreds. Our branch list printout is 12 pages long, it is very hard to navigate through. So last week I took a pair of scissors and cut the branch list into families. I then took card stock and a glue stick and put the list back together according to the different towns. It is so much nicer to work with now. When the Elders up at Piggott heard what I had done. They asked for a copy. Thursday the wife of a counselor of the stake president that lives in our branch asked for a copy. It’s so nice to go to a town and find all the families that live in that town. I probably could have done that on a MLS program, but I am not allowed that kind of access. Sister Hansen bakes cookies for people in the branch that have a birthday. I have to manually go through the list and find all the birthdays for that month. I’m sure MLS could generate that for me. Once you’ve been an executive secretary or ward clerk it’s hard to go back to no access to the membership programs. I’ve become close friends with the branch executive secretary but he’s old and doesn’t even know how to turn a computer on, let alone run it. I finally got a key to the branch building after I gave the branch clerk a blood and hair sample, and signed my life away.  I think the only reason I got it then was that a local theater group uses the church for play practice and they needed someone to open the building if the branch clerk was out of town.
            I’m so glad we have our own car. We do, do a lot of traveling around, the branch is about 50-60 miles long and about 20 miles wide. To day we go up to Rector to deliver some cookies to people with birthdays up there. Just got back from Rector The one lady just moved out and we couldn’t get a forwarding address. The other birthday lady was not at home. So we visited 3 other families in Rector while we were up there. Each place was a positive experience. After coming home and having lunch, we went and taught our first discussion to the Dunn’s. It went pretty good for our 1^st discussion.
          Today is now Sunday. We were surprised to see the Dunn’s come to church. The first time we met them last month they were so crippled they could barely move. He uses a cane and just shuffles around, she just had open heart surgery and uses a walker to get around. When we knocked on their door they just called out to come on in, because they couldn’t get up. Their health has been improving and now they are taking the lessons.
          Well Dad told you what we have been doing here.  Good thing that we now have our warm coats since the high today is 38 that is not very warm.  If we were back in Weiser I would be predicting snow but the weather prediction is that we will have a warming trend and it will warm up and rain.  Apparently it does get very cold here and now I am a believer.
          We have been invited to a members home for Thanksgiving.  I was surprised that a family thought of us.  It is the Edlers that invited us, he is the Elders Quorum Pres and they are originally from the Tri-cities in Washington.  We have a turkey but it is small and turkey is good no matter when you eat it.   I’m not sure about Christmas, we do have a tree that a member is loaning to us.  But I don’t think that there will very much under it.  It is hard to do any shopping since we are both together all the time.  I will have to be tricky to get something past Dad.  I really don’t think that he is even thinking Christmas.

        Well my dears it is time to close take care and have a good Thanksgiving

                 Love Mom and Dad

                 Sister and Elder Hansen

                 Grammy and Papa

11/18/13

Dear Family,                                                                                                   Nov. 18, 2013

            What a busy week here, we got to go and do so many things. Last Monday was Veterans Day, the library was closed. That’s where the sister missionaries go to read and write emails to their families. So they knocked on our door wondering if they could use our computer to do their emails. Well we have the computer plus Mom’s laptop so they both got to do their reading and writing at the same time. We left them and went and did out shopping. They were still here when we got back. The Relief Society President called us and asked if we could go visit her cousin that just moved into the branch. Her cousin just moved from Utah, she is staying out here taking care of her 6 yr old grandson while her daughter is deployed to kosavo. (nothing like spelling the countries name phonically) They were delightful people.

This is Mom, I don’t know where Dad was going to and he is taking his afternoon nap.  I don’t usually get a nap because he wakes up just as I am trying to take a nap.  Okay enough of that.

     This last week we went back to the Threlkeld farm and this time we rode in a combine that had a soybean head on it.(It is a 35 foot wide grain head). The soybeans are planted in 30” rows They run polypipe along the head of the head of the field and poke a hole for each row to water the field. According to the read out in the combine the beans (as they call them) were yielding about 60 bushel to the acre and were at 12-13% moisture.  This time I rode with the son Josh and had a great conversation about soybeans and about the church.  He asked questions I answered.  He could not comprehend the idea a 6 month mission let alone any other of the times.  His idea is to do mission work for maybe two or three weeks.  I ran into that in the kitchen at the Senior center.  When they found out that we are in this for 4 ½ more months they had a hard time figuring that one, then they wanted to know if we were planning on helping that long, when I assured them that we were, well the atmosphere cleared and now we are all friends.

     The birthday cookies are making a big hit here.  It is almost like most people in the Branch don’t make cookies except for Christmas.  We took some birthday cookies to this lady that lives on a primitive road with her daughter and live in boyfriend oh yes and his mother.(Actually the mothers family owns the land and the home burned down and her son Carl moved a double wide house onto the place for his mom and him to live in, the lady is a live in girlfriend and she has a girl that attends college at Arkansas State).  Anyway Carl uses this 140 acres as an reenactment place for a Roman fort and a celtic village. People from all around America and Canada come there once a year for this reenactment. Once the people enter the area they dress and do Roman things. Carl has built Roman type enclosures and buildings.  They took us to the fort.  It is overgrown with grass but it is so cool.  I could see something like this say in Germany or France when the Romans were trying to take over Europe.  There was brush, blackberry bushes, and lots of tall grass.  I brought home a creepy crawly thing on my leg but it went down the drain.  We stripped and took bathes, I didn’t want some unwelcome guest moving in.  I have tick, chigger and mosquito repellant but I didn’t know that we were going to hike to the fort. Actually we had a good path to follow so it wasn’t so bad.

     We went to a play at the Paragould high school. They wanted to know who we were there for.  Well actually we are not there for anyone the play was advertised in the paper so we decided to go.  It was called “Our Girls” it was about a rich aunt that wanted to leave money to what she thought were three girls but they were actually boys.  The boys had to dress up like girls to make her think that they were girls.  The maid was probably the funniest.  Anyway it was cute. 

    It has now turned back to hot again.  Yesterday we were on a tornado watch until 7:00pm.  Everyone was saying this is tornado weather so make sure you sit in the bathtub for protection.  But since we are the middle apartment, that is not much comfort.  Early Sunday morning we had winds that slammed against the building and pouring down rain like in buckets.   Then we had 82 degree temperatures and today is in the 70’s, it doesn’t feel like the third week of Nov.  Last week it was clear weather but it was cold so cold that I really wanted my warm coat.

     We received a phone call from a lady in St Peters Mo. Fri. night.  She wanted us to go and see her friend Pat and see what we could do to help her out.  Pat’s husband has alzheimers (don’t know how to spell the word and the dictionary didn’t help) and can’t do anything.  Pat wanted someone to put a mulching blade on her riding lawn mower well Dad is pretty handy  so he replaced the blades.  She has a beautiful home on 6 acres, the house is full of at least a bzillion glass and porcelain collections of every kind.  I thought Grandma Hansen had a lot of stuff but Pat’s collection puts Grandma’s to shame.  I did pick up pinecones to put in a basket so I have something that looks like a holiday spirit.  I need some Christmas ribbon to make things look kind of festive.

     Sister Skinner will be transferred tomorrow, Sister Hill stays here until at least the next transfers.  There have been a lot of new missionaries that are coming in so Sister Hill will probably be a trainer, even though she and sister Skinner have only been out 4 months.  We knew that we were getting two new missionaries we just didn’t know which ones.  So that means that probably Elder Pederson will be transferred since he has been here the longest.  The Elders are in Piggott which is about 35 miles from here on a crooked road that is not very wide. The branch here has about ten towns within its boundries. Last week Dad took the 12 page branch list and cut it up into individual families then he pasted them onto cardstock dividing then into the different towns. So there are 4 pages of families living in Paragould, a page for Rector and Maraduke, a page for Greenway and Piggott, a page for Jonesboro and Brooklyn, and a page for Lafe and Light  and Corning, and there where two pages of people who have moved away from their listed address. It is so helpful to have the families broken down into towns.

   We now have another assignment in the Branch, we have been asked to help the men of the Branch learn how to do their home teaching.  I’m not sure how I am supposed to help with that.  I go with Bro. Edler and Dad when they do home teaching, I mostly don’t say anything. Brother Edler is the elders quorum president, his family comes from Washington State where he ran a church farm. He now has a job out here managing a non LDS farm. They have thousands of acres of potatoes and other crops they grow here. There are about 3 or 4 LDS families that have moved from the west out here, they make up the backbone of the branch.

Love all you guys, keep the letters coming. Grammy loves to get mail.

Elder and Sister Hansen,  Dad and Mom   Papa and Grammy

PS if you want to see what we are doing go to the church website lds.org, at the top click on resources, under callings click on missionary, then click on senior missionaries and they have about 6 interviews with senior missionaries that your family will love to watch, it is all about what we are doing.

Nov 10, 2013

 

Dear Family,                                                                                       Nov 10, 2013

            Here we are again, your weekly letter.  We have enjoyed all the pictures and letters from the grandchildren and especially the school pictures.  We have a wall dedicated to only drawn pictures and then another wall dedicated to photo’s.

     We have met more less actives and have gone all over so much that we are getting to be free of Gina.  I really don’t like trying to find an address in the dark especially if we have no real idea of where the people live and most addresses are not marked real well.  Going over a railroad track is a bone jarring experience, I don’t know why it can’t be smoother.

     Yesterday we went to Mr. John Miles cotton farm.  He had us go to a field and watch the picker up close, we watch them pour cotton into a machine that packed the cotton into huge bales.  He picked some cotton to show us the bolls and how it is formed.  He had a captive audience since we were in his pickup.  He even took us down to a soybean field to see if it was dry enough to combine.  He is the same age as Dad and I so it was very easy to talk and he and Dad really connected.  He wants to go out and eat as soon as his farm work is done.  We will be here long enough for that.

     We car pooled into North Little Rock to the Mission Presidents home.  There are two other couples that are serving in this area so there is no sense in taking all of our cars.  We met the Musick’s in Walnut Ridge and went down with them.  We had a great visit and best of all Dad could take a nap so he wasn’t so tired for the dinner, speakers, and interview.  There are a lot of Senior missionaries, we were surprised.  We have CES, Military relations, Service, Family history, and the Member, leadership strength which is most of us.  It was great to get together and visit and exchange ideas.  The Musick’s are leaving next week and the Browns will be headed home in Dec.

Dad here, When our mission President came out he had he had 97 missionaries, 8 of them were sisters. By next month there will be 92 Sister Missionaries, over 110 Elders and 14 Senior couples. I think “the Lord is hastening his work in its time”. We had Stake Conference today, We are part of the Memphis Tennessee Stake, which is over two hours away. Luckily they broadcast conference to 3 outlying areas. One of which was the Jonesboro AR., which is only 25 miles away. So today Grammy and I drove to Jonesboro and went to Stake Conference. The chapel was pretty full. Great meeting. Sitting behind us was a dad with two little girls and a little boy. As the meeting started the kids broke out the coloring books and crayons, they were busy all during conference, at the end of conference the dad told them to put up there books and crayons. The little boy said real load: “Yeah! we get to go home.”

            Our Branch President has 5 kids, the first three are girls, then he has two little boys. Last Sunday, their 3 year old boy was eating candy his teacher had given him. I commented, “You have some candy.” (he uses big words) He replied, “Yes. (then he paused and said) Well, ACTUALLY they are M&M’s. His dad said a while back the family was sitting around the dinner table and someone passed gas, and it got real quiet. The little boy blurted out “AWK-WARD”.

            Just so you know, We are busy. We are happy. We are healthy. We love the weather. We love the Branch. We love the members. We love the less active. We love non-members we have met. We love having our own car. We love our GPS. We love our nice apartment. We love having Walmart only a half mile down the road. We love having a nice chapel to meet in. We love having the sister missionaries next door.

Love Grammy and Papa.

           

11/3/13

Dear Family,

     We are starting to learn how it get around. We can usually make it home after we have been out doing missionary work, without the aid of our GPS. We still use it to find places however. As a town Paragould is about the same age as Weiser. It has grown to about 25,000 people. Still a lot of farms in this area. Monroe shock absorbers, struts, under carriage type stuff is manufactured here. The rail cars that haul grain and tanker cars are made here in Paragould. We have met men that work at both places. So far we love the weather and the people. For the most part they are on the conservative side, open and hospitable. We met a man this last week that was an old Catholic Cowboy from Illinois, back in 1996 when the church held a 150 year reenactment of the of the Mormon trail, he hired on as a horseman. By the time he arrived in Salt Lake City on the 24th of July of 1997. He was converted to the church and was baptized in Utah. Wonderful man, wonderful stories. We had him out to church today.

    Friday mom and I were out trying to find an inactive family on our list. They were not home, but their neighbor was out putting up some bird feeders, so we started up a conversation with him. He had heard of the church because he has a son in the marine corps and his son was taking the missionary lessons. His son had told him he needed to read the Book of Mormon because it's true. We asked him if he would read the Book of Mormon if we brought him one. He said yes so we went back to the apartment got a Book of Mormon and took it to him.

    We don't have to lead the Branch here, there are wonderful members doing that. We don't have to teach the missionary lessons, we have wonderful Sisters living next door that do that. We just get to drive around finding inactive members and invite them to come back to church, and many of them do, but not all. We go out into the community and meet people. We volunteer down at the senior citizens 4 days a week helping them package up 150 “meals on wheels” for elderly people who can't get out and around. We have been to the county museum twice and had wonderful visits with the hosts there. Yesterday we went to a community Craft Fair and looked at all the stuff people do. We met a lot of new people and I even bought a painting by a local artist, he's retired, just started painting 3 years ago, he is very good. I got an original 16" x 24" painting, frame and all, for $45. As we left he said now you have a painting, painted by a redneck from Arkansas. I thought. Yes, I do!

    Got a call from Brad Roberts, this last Friday, he and Lyla have been called  the Colorado, Colorado Springs Mission. I am so excited for them. They report the 9th of December to the MTC.

    Mom here.

     For the most part the people in this area are very nice.  We committed that we would reactivate two less actives a month, at first I really doubted that we would be able to accomplish that, but me of little faith, we were able to make it happen.  It was like the two that we have coming back to church was waiting for some one to show them some love and to let them how much they were needed.   The Branch President was very surprised that we were able to get them back at church.  I guess we could say at we had three because we visited with a man from the Bear Lake area who moved here and became inactive but when he saw our little red car and the Idaho license plate he had to go church to find out who we were.  To make  a long story short he now comes to church whenever his job gives him Sun. off.   Some just tell us NO! not interested "I don't need the church"  We don't argue with them we are trying to be a friend and that is all.  We are doing a birthday deal where we make a birthday card and then I make homemade cookies, now that will almost always get us into a home.  Not many turn down the cookies in fact so far no one even if they really don't care about the church has not accepted the cookies

     It is hard to believe that we have been here a month already I'm thinking that we will miss these people when we have to leave.  Today Dad was asked to go and bless a baby that has a spider bite on her leg.  We were told that it was a boil but the Mother thinks it was a bite of some kind.  These people are so poor, they have been living on government help for all their lives.  There are so many that are so poor the church is their only hope for improving their lives.  I don't know who the next two less actives will be but hopefully we will find them.  We have the whole month to find them and get them coming back to church.  We have a list of inactives  and the birthday list so between the two we should be able to find them. 

Love Elder and Sister Hansen

Mom and Dad / Grammy and Papa

10/10/13: Our MTC district, rice farming, and the first week in Arkansas

(from Dad)
 The local Utility company also provides internet and cable service, so on Thursday we went down and signed up for internet services. They scheduled us or 11:00 am the next day. He got here a little late, but he was pleasant and got us hooked up with a modem and all. He use to live in Washington up by Seattle somewhere, so he didn't have that southern drawl that everyone back here seems to have.

    After he left, I called a local farmer, I had contacted the day before. He had invited us to his farm. He runs 6,000 acres, he is very busy. He was in his new big John Deere combine, combining rice. Because the rice is grown in standing water, the rice fields stay flooded all of June, July, August and into September. Then they drain the fields and aerial spray on salt water, which burns the top of the plants back. Then in about a week they go in and combine the rice. They buy special stripper headers from England that mounts to the JD combines for about $30,000 It's 28 feet wide and does an amazing job. I rode in the combine with the farmer Doug Threlkeld, Mom was game and she rode in the 2nd combine with a hired man for over an hour. Doug's son drove the third combine. Because the fields are still very muddy, the combines are 4 wheel drive and the front wheels are dualed up. They hold 100's of bushel of rice. They don't dump into trucks because they would get stuck in the fields, they dump into huge grain carts pulled by huge JD 4 wheel drive tractors, that take the rice to the grain bins where it is stored and dried. While in the combine, I got a call from the sister missionaries who needed us to go with them to teach a single fellow a discussion. So we had to leave

and go with the Sisters.  I am going to try to attach some photo's of the combine and also our district and trainers at the MTC, but I don't see the attach place on this version of AOL. But I will try.

I think I have attached our district picture. The older couple Elder and Sister Stucki have been called to be Employment Missionaries to the Navajo Indians. The white haired sister is Sister Graham, she went on a mission when younger, never married, teaches accounting and economics, she is called as the financial secretary to the North Carolina Mission. Sister Mortensen is a convert from

her youth. Her husband died 3 years ago, she was called to work in the Virginia Mission Home. Elder and Sister Gordon are called as Military Relation Missionaries in Germany. He was a career army man and his wife was a military nurse. Our MTC trainers were Sister Mart an unmarried RM and Brother David ????? a married RM and a convert to the church.

Love,

Elder & Sister Hansen

the grain cart being filled by the combine

the big 4 wheel drive JD tractor pulling the grain cart through the mud

 the stripper header looks like from underneath that's a stainless steel drum with rows of stainless steel strippers that strip the rice heads off the stocks.

across this huge rice field, if you look close you can see levee after levee across the field following the contours of the land so that flooding the field all summer can take place

Mr. Threlkeld standing on the platform of his Combine

 (from Mom)
So yes we are settled in our apartment and starting to get settled in our new life.  We met the mission Pres. Wed morning.  He is enthused about missionary work but a little overwhelmed with all the missionaries that will be coming into the area in the next couple of months.  They are trying to figure out where to put everyone.  In this area there are a set of Sisters, a set of Elders, and Dad and myself.  It is almost over kill but the Elders are in another little town that comes to Paragould for church.  We met the Branch President Wed. night.  Dad and I are teaching the youth the Sunday School Lesson.  That is our first assignment plus we were given a list of people that the old set of missionaries want us to contact and reactivate back to church.  We found out rather quickly that if you want to meet anyone you will find them at Wall Mart, well they find us and introduce themselves.  The Branch President is young but he is doing his best to fill positions but I think that the problem is not enough active people that are dependable.

    Well Dad wanted hot and we are trying to get used to this kind of heat.  It has been in the high 80's so I am looking at my closet to find clothes that are cooler because that kind of heat this time of the year is something that we are not used to.  We had a humdinger thunder storm this morning with rain coming down in sheets of water.  It is now clearing up and it feels like there is a lot of water in the air.

     Yesterday we went out on a friendship experience to a rice farm and met the owner.  He offered us a chance to ride in the rice combines which we did for about an hour, we asked all kinds of questions and they answered them.  I was told by the hired man that he liked going to church on Sunday, come home to good Sunday dinner, and spend time with his kids.  We weren't trying to act like missionaries we were acting as a friend and just introduce them to the church in a non threatening way so if they are approached they might listen to the missionary lessons. This was a man that Dad found by calling the Farm Bureau office here and they suggested that Dad call Mr .Threlkeld  who owned rice fields and soybean fields.  He thought that we were a branch of the Amish or Mennenites  but if he had really known about the Amish he would have know that we weren't dressed the right way.  Anyway it was a great experience.   We went with the Sisters to visit a man who has been taking the lessons for at least 5 years. He has some big issues and the Sisters really need to stay away from him.  I don't think that they realize what pornography entails because they are very naïve and have no idea what that really is about..

     The Sisters and Elders are coming to dinner tomorrow, I have a roast so it should be pretty easy meal to fix.  It is so good to fix my own meals.  After the MTC food I was ready for something that I could eat.

     Yes we like e-mail but we go to our mailbox and there is nothing there.  So this is our address

                                                                                                  Elder and Sister David Hansen/or Elder David Hansen and Sister Luella Hansen

                                                                                                 2626 Erin Way

                                                                                                Paragould, Ar. 72450

The Farewell Talks

These are Mom and Dad's talks from Sacrament meeting, or at least they were the talks that they prepared.  They didn't have a lot of time for their talks and did a lot of summing up and testimony instead.  I really felt bad that I couldn't make it to listen to them speak, but feel a little better that no one else got to hear these talks either.  So enjoy!

Mom's Talk

When I was 12 years old, I received my Patriarchal Blessing.  I was promised that I would serve a mission.
All through my life up to this time, that thought was always in the back of my mind.  As we sent six of our eight children on missions, that thought was there. 
How have I prepared for this opportunity?
I was baptized when I was 8.
I was taught by my parents and good teachers.
I was able to attend seminary.
I went to Ricks and that's when I learned more about Priesthood blessings, temple marriage, and my own testimony.  I met David at Ricks.  I was married in the temple.
I am a wife and mother.
I have served in the wards that I lived in.
I am now ready to do something different to step out and serve in a way that I have never done before.
Paul wrote in 1 Cor 13:1-8 what charity is:
1.  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4.  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5.  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7.  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8.  Charity never faileth:  but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
Moroni 7: 46-47 expounds on charity:
46.  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth.  Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--
47.  But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
Moroni goes on to explain in Moroni 10: 20-21:
20.  Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.
21.  And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope.
All of these things tell us that we need faith, hope, and charity or we are nothing.
We have to have faith, the ability to believe in things not seen, hope that there will be a better life, charity to have a Christ-like love for each other.  In D&C 19:18 it is very straight forward:
18.  Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-- and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink--
All we have to do is to look around at all people on the earth and know that they chose to follow Christ's plan of redemption.  It is our job or calling to have Christ-like love for them.  There are times when it would be easier not to care, but that isn't what we are supposed to do.  We have to have unconditional love.  Christ never said, "I won't love you if you don't do as I say."  He said, "if you keep my commandments, I will bless you."  He keeps his promises and he always loves us.
We have to open our hearts, have ears that hear and eyes that see.  We have to be aware of the people around us that need to know about the pure love of Christ.
I don't know anyone who exemplified charity any better than Christ did.  there are stories in the scriptures that show his love and compassion for the people of Jerusalem and the Book of Mormon people.  So my in calling as a missionary in Paragould, I need to have faith, hope, and charity to serve the people there.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Dad's talk:
Years ago when Lou and I were first married we basically had nothing.  I had just gotten off my mission, I had nothing except some clothes.  Dad helped me buy a used car.  Lou had been living with her parents.  She worked, but all the money went to attending college.  Now I have never been what you would call a really smart person.  So being a not smart person and having nothing, I asked Lou to marry me, not at some time in the future when I had finally accumulated something, but right then.  Now, I knew Lou was cute and I thought she was smart, but as I look back I wonder how smart she was when she said yes, she would marry me, however she was very brave and we started our life together with basically nothing.
In the book of Luke chapter 14 verse 28 it states:  "For which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counted the cost, whether he hat sufficient to finish it?  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."  Now I'm not sure why the Savior told this story or exactly what it means, but I think over the thousands of years and the many translations of the Bible, the text has become corrupt and the name David Hansen was lost and the words "which of you" has been inserted.  Because this story is me.  Every time I read this scripture or hear it read and her the words "which of you" I feel like raising my hand.
Like building a tower, this holds true with having children.  Lou and I have never asked ourselves, "can we afford to start of family, or can we afford to have another child?"  We have never, ever, asked ourselves or discussed those questions.  Maybe because we know the answer would be no, we can't.  The same thing holds true with buying the farm, building a home, sending our kids on missions, paying tithing, or serving in the church.  I simply am one that "sitteth not down first and counteth the cost".  I am one that has simple faith, that somehow things will work out.  That might not be very smart on my part, but so far it has worked for me.
This also holds true with going on this mission to Arkansas.  We have not asked ourselves, "Can we afford to go on a mission and pay all of our own expenses, or can we afford to be gone for six months for the next three years?"  Our mindset is simply "let's do it!"  Most of you remember Bishop LeeRen Walker.  Visiting with him after his and Beverly's first mission, he gave us this advice about serving a mission.  "Set a date when you will leave on a mission and then don't let anything get in your way of meeting that date.  There will always be a reason you can't go, but go anyway."
A lot of my grandchildren are here today. How are you guys doing down there?  Is the coloring and drawing going Okay?  Have you ever noticed how little children draw?  When children first learn to draw a person, they usually first draw a circle, then they draw to eyes and a mouth, then sometimes they draw some hair on the head, then the legs come right out of the head.  At home we have a toy box I made when our first kids were very little.  I asked them to draw a picture.  Mark drew a car.  Two year old Jill drew a picture of a person.  I then routered those pictures on to the toy box.  Jill's person has two eyes, some hair, and legs coming right out of the head.  That's the way it starts almost every time.  As they mature and get older, their pictures improve and they become more realistic and recognizable.
The same holds true with many of the principles of the gospel.  A child has a really hard time feeling things like empathy, that is, putting themselves in someone else's place or situation.  As we mature and prepare ourselves, that ability can become easier for us to do.  When I was first called to serve on the high council, one of our assignments each year was to speak at the prison in Ontario.  I was a little apprehensive about the assignment and going to prison, not knowing what to expect.  My assignment fell on Mother's Day so I carefully prepared a talk and felt good about giving it.  However I found out that I was not prepared emotionally and mentally for that experience.  I came home feeling sick and I was physically ill for about a week.  As I tried to put myself in their place and their situation, it became overwhelming for me.  They were men just like me.  They had mothers just like me.  They honored and loved them just like me.  They had weaknesses just like me.  They hadn't always listened to the Spirit's promptings just like me.  They gave gospel lessons just like me.  They loved the Lord just like me.  They sang the songs of Zion just like me.  They prayed to Heavenly Father just like me.  They pleaded and sought for forgiveness just like me.  Each year as I went back to the prison it got a little better; I had prepared myself better.  Then finally the prison branch was given to the Weiser Sake and Brad Roberts was called to be the Branch President and he asked that I serve as his executive secretary.  I really had my doubts in fulfilling that assignment.  It was still hard to attend those prison meetings.  President Roberts shared with me some advice he had received years before.  He said, "We are not called to judge these men for what they have done, that has already been done by the courts.  We are called to serve these men and help bless their lives through the gospel."  That was good advice.
It has been three years now since I started serving at the prison.  That has been a life changing experience.  I have learned so much about serving in the church.  I have had the opportunity of working with some wonderful people in and out of the church.  The people that volunteer at the prison are amazing, not that's not the word, wonderful, no that's not the right word either, special, not that is also not it.  I guess the best description for them is that they are Christ like.  They give of their time, without any pay or reimbursement to help those in need.  Not only do those in the church do that, all of the volunteers that I know, do that.
The apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians made it very clear:  "For as in Adam all die, even so in  Christ shall all be made alive."  Not just those who confess Christ as their personal Savior, not just those that are baptized in his name, not just those that are married in the temple, not just those that live a good life.  Every man that has ever been born, every man that has ever lived, every man that has ever died, Jesus Christ saved them all, after all He is the Savior of the world.  He is the Savior of all mankind.  That was his calling long before this earth was ever created and he fulfilled his calling.  He paid the price, he atoned for the sins of all mankind.  The scriptures are also clear, he did not do this for His glory, he did not do this so he could boast, he did this out of His pure love for all mankind.  That is was Lou talked about, charity.  The pure love of Jesus Christ, the perfect love that Christ had for all mankind.  So what did the Savior save us from.  He saved us from death.  "As in Adam all die, in Christ all shall be made alive".  All will be resurrected.  Not of works, lest any man should boast.  Not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. (Eph 2) it is a free gift.
If salvation is free, then why should we strive to live a good life?  Why should we keep the commandment of God?  Why should we abstain from indulging in the lusts of the flesh?  Let's read from the writings of Abraham to understand this a little better, starting in Abraham3:24:  "We will go down for there is space there, and we will take of these materials and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell:  And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever their Lord shall command them:  And they that keep their first estate shall be added upon: and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever."  Being the Savior of all mankind and freeing them from death and sin is something Jesus Christ chose to do, and He did it and he did it perfectly.  On the other hand, becoming exalted and having glory added upon our heads forever and ever is something that we must choose to do.  Of course, we could never do this if it wasn't for Jesus Christ who overcame death and sin.  He opened the way, He is the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father but by Jesus Christ.  John 14:6.
Jesus Christ mad it possible for us to choose to follow Heavenly Father and to keep his commandments.  He gave us someone to have perfect faith in.  That is Himself.  He gave us the principle of repentance, which is a way to overcome our personal sins.  He gave us the ordinance of baptism so we could have our sins washed away and become clean before the Lord.  He ordained men and gave them the power and authority to confer upon us the gift of the Holy Ghost.  A gift that can enable us to have the knowledge and power to avoid the temptation of the adversary.  A gift that can help purify and sanctify us from the sins of this world.  He gave some apostles and prophets, stake and ward leaders for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  Until we all come in the unity of faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Romans 10:13-15 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they be sent unless a prophet shall send them.?
Lou and I are going on a mission, we are willing to go.  However we did not call ourselves, we are not sending ourselves.  Our call came from a prophet of God.  We have been sent to Arkansas by a prophet of God.  We did choose the length of time we would like to serve.  We are grateful for that.
I am so grateful that Jesus Christ has restored the fullness of the gospel to the earth in these the latter days.  I am so grateful that He directs the direction of His gospel through a living prophet and apostles.  I am so grateful to have the health and the means to be caught up in this wave of missionaries that are being sent throughout the world this last time before He cleanseth the world with fire.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen