The Last Arkansas letter-- 23 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

    To quote from "Bye, Bye Birdie" 'The day I knew would come at last, has come at last'. this is our last Monday in Arkansas, at least on this Mission. Mom has boxes strung all over the house. I will need something and ask her, "where's this" she will say "oh, I packed that away." Yesterday at church our mission president showed up. he was interviewing the missionaries in Paragould. So we had our closing interview. Thankfully he came at the third hour of church, so we were able to give our Sacrament Meeting talks, without worrying about him being there to hear us. In some ways it is really hard to leave here. This place and these people have become a big part of our lives.  

    This is funny, at least I think so. Last night as I was getting ready for bed, I noticed my 'Old Spice' deodorant stick on a shelve above the toilet. I noticed some writing on the back and read it. It says: 'Contains odor fighting "atomic robots" that "shoot lasers" at your "stench monster" and replaces them with fresh, clean, masculine "scent elves" '. That is funny.

    Last night we were watching a PBS documentary  on history and the Bible. On the program it said that concept of a one god teaching didn't come about untill about 1200 BC, before that all people believed in the multiple gods and idols concept. They had their religious scholars and archealogist spouting off all these facts and discoveries. Finally we couldn't take it any more and turned it off. I'm reading in "The Pearl of Great Price' right now. So I read Moses chapter 6 right before going to bed.  I am so thankful for the restoration of the gospel, I'm so thankful for the Prophet Joseph Smith. I'm so thankful for all the truths that were restored through him. I haven't spent years digging up ancient ruins nor spent years studying ancient script, but I do know light and truth when I see it. So thankful for all the light and truth that has been restored.

    Saturday the branch elders quorum had a shooting activity. It was scheduled for last fall and most of the branch showed up for it, but the gun range was closed because turkey season had opened and they were afraid all the shooting would disturb the wild turkeys in the area. So Saturday was a good day and they held the activity. This time we only had about half the people that turned out last fall. Mom stayed home and packed and cleaned,  I rode out with Cowboy, although neither of us shot any guns we did have a good time socializing and eating grilled hot dogs. One of the guys had a 50 caliber gun. I don't know much about guns and I don't know what 50 caliber means, I only know when that gun went off, it was like someone set off a stick of dinamite. I was 30 feet away and had in ear plugs, but the concussion physically hit me.

    Mom here  The packing goes slowly onward.  Sister Kirksey offered to come and help me pack and clean the apartment then she said that since she doesn't want us to leave so soon she maybe won't help.  I think that most of the packing and cleaning I can take care of without a lot of help.  If I waited until the last min. then things would end up just being thrown into containers and I wouldn't know where anything was.  I'm hoping that the few things that will be left here will help when it comes to loading up the car.

     We have completed all the things that we were called to do.  We have done our ahomteaching\ Visiting teaching, Dad taught his last Sunday school lesson, I have taught my last 4th Sun. lesson and we gave our farewell talks yesterday.  All of the birthday cookies have been delivered and I made cookies for the seniors Sat., that they will get today.  We still have to pick up our Arkansas flowers that I am really excited about.  I am going to put in an Arkansas flower bed where the sign is.  That spot always has weeds so I am going to try to fix that this spring.

     We have made so many friends here and it is hard to leave them behind but it is time for us to go home.  I guess the 6 months is good because no one get tired of us before we leave again.  We didn't have the tears as much this time but it was still hard to say goodbye to everyone again.  They wanted us to promise that we would be back but I'm not sure that  is even going to happen.  Actually I am ready to stay at home and do our last 6 months at home, not sure about Dad tho'.

     We still have missionary work to do.  We have our last District meeting tomorrow at the church.  Elder Cook said that it was going to be a farewell party but I will be very surprised if he really means that.  Wed night it is our turn to do the Scripture class, I don't just want to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon randomly and then discuss what it is talking about, most of all that comes meaning the three sets of missionaries should already know what the scripture is saying.so I would like to try something a little differently.  I'm not sure if it will work or not.  President Wakolo  wanted all the missionaries to read the New Testament.  Then using the New Testament we were to show how Christ taught the same thing in the Americas by using the Book of Mormon.  I hope that makes sense but anyway that seems to work better here in the Bible Belt area.

     We saved a little boys life Thurs. late afternoon.  The weather was very warm and the little boy went outside without any supervision because his babysitter was fast asleep in the house.  This little boy decided to either cross the street or to play in the street we don't know which since he might have been 18months old.  Thank goodness the other drivers on this very busy street saw him also so most everyone came to a stop.  We pulled over and I chased him back to his front porch and then I started looking for the care giver.  The older brother or what ever was sound asleep with the door wide open waiting for a little boy a way outside.  It was a tragedy waiting to happen so we were able to help this little boy.

     Well my dears this will be the last letter that you will be getting from Paragould Arkansas We have enjoyed writing to you, I guess that we have to depend on phone calls when get home

Love Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister Hansen 

16 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

    Mom here: Well the snow is gone and now we are having more spring like temps.  I was dressed in winter type clothes today and about roasted I had to get into something that was much cooler.

     We took the Sisters to the temple today.  This will be out last temple trip to the Memphis temple.  I had Jill send us 4 names so that we could do some family history done.  We might as well since we are going to be there anyways.  The temple workers were having problems getting things to run right.  We sat in one room for about 30 min. at least waiting for them to figure out what was wrong.  Remember girls camp?  All the huggging going on and the tears and talking.  We found our Sisters and we left relatively early.  But we did find out that President Wakolo is coming to Paragould to interview the missionaries that are here and best of all it will be at the church.  I did not want him to come here because it is a mess. 

     I have some things packed but I really have to get serious about packing everything up.  If it is in the kitchen I have anything that I can get along with out , then it is packed up.  Some things we will not be taking home.  We have been so careful not to buy anything that will take up a lot of room in the car.  Unlike other Senior couples we do not need a trailer to bring home everything extra that we bought.  I'm still not really comfortable about luggage on the top of the car but Dad is very sure that it will all work out.  So I hope that it will work out as well as he thinks it will.

     Dad gets his toenails worked on tomorrow.  Of course they tell us that it is easy and won't be a problem and he will be able to drive to Searcy the next day.  I hope that  they are right.  The Elders might not be impressed if I am doing the driving.

     We have five more birthday cookies to deliver.  We delivered cookies to the upper country Sat.  When I see grown men get emotional over a little bag of cookies and their hearts have been touched that someone cared enough to make them cookies.  Then I know that even though I can get tired of making cookies the miracles start to happen and it is worth it all.  Two men told us that no one has ever done that before for just them.  So as silly as birthday cookies are, it does make a difference.  We went to one home, this the lady who wanted to do the fireside, her children were watching Book of Mormon stories.  She so wants to come to church but it is a long way to come.  The children had most of their cookies eaten by the time we left.  I want to make a batch for our senior friends then I think that I will be done until after I get home.  I am about cookied out

     The lady that we worked with last year has been having a hard time with her foot.  They thought that it was healed but she now has more infection in her foot.  So she is on complete bed rest.  Her husband on the other hand is trying very hard to die.  He is tired of constant pain , unable to breath well, and no quality of life.  He has given up and just wants to get it over with.  Dad will give him a blessing of comfort tomorrow morning.  They have made no plans about what needs to be done so I hope that the blessing will help.  Lloyd just flat out says that he will not be around much longer and I think that he knows.

     We have baseball games going on next door, finally it has gotten warm enough to play ball.  We saved an 18 month little boy this afternoon, he had escaped the babysitter and was walking unto an extremely busy road.  We stopped and the little boy ran back to where he lived but could not get into the door.  I woke up the teenager that was suppose to be watching the little boy and told him to take better care of his charge.

Dad Now: We left at 8:00 am this morning and got back about 4:00 pm. The sisters used our computers for a couple of hours then we took them home. The sisters are grounded from using their car for a week because they slid into a pole. it didn't make any dents just scuffed the paint a little, I took a rag and some cleaner and rubbed off the scuff marks. At least they weren't red dotted. That means they don't get to drive the rest of their mission. The Samoan sister doesn't even have a drivers license. I guess there aren't many cars in Somoa.

    I sure am looking forward to having my two nice big toenails yanked off tomorrow. After they are ripped off they put some dehorning type salve on the nail so they won't grow back. Today at the temple we were asked to be the witness couple. I was very careful how I got up and down, but I made it through. As soon as I got home I took off my shoes and socks. That has become a daily ritual, plus soaking my feet in hot water and epsom salt. For the past two weeks I've had very clean feet, sore but clean.

    Yesterday at church they had a potluck dinner afterwards. Instead of about 40 people a church we had about 80. If it works, it works. Gonna miss this little branch.

    On the 28th we plan on driving up to Chuck's. Spend Sunday with them and then leave for Joyce's Monday Morning, hopefully getting there late that night. Tuesday we plan on driving to Christie's for supper then out to Sharon's at Tooele. Leaving Sharon's on Thursday morning and heading for home. The timing seems awful tight maybe it won't work out as planned.

Love Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister Hansen

9 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

      Time is drawing to a close. Big news here, we got about 9" of fluffy white snow on Wednesday night -Thursday morning. The wind blew, so it made drifts that were even deeper. Over at the Elders apartment it was about 12" in front of their place. It hadn't been walked on. Elder Fisi'iahi a Tongan from California couldn't resist. It was his first snow. He gave a flying leap into the snow landing on his stomach then he rolled in it. White shirt, tie and all. The Elders found a game of Risk in their apartment. Neither of them had played it before. Since they had been told not to go out that day. They invited me to play with them. While I played Risk mom packed up more of our apartment. (Just so you know, there is a reason why Tonga has never taken over the world.) I got the car swept off but we never went out anywhere all day. The next day we ventured out to visit a few members, but stayed close to home.

    On Saturday we decided to make an escape. The main roads were mostly clear so we drove about 60 miles to the south and visited an Arkansas State Park Museum. We have wanted to go since last year,but it never worked out. The only day we have a little time off is on Mondays and the State Parks are always closed on Mondays. I decided if we are going to go at all, we will just have to do it. So we didn't tell anyone we just got into the car and fled. The Park is in Parkin, Arkansas. It is built on the site of an ancient Indian Village. We could still see the moat that surrounded the village. The village cover a seventeen acre plot. They had dug a moat about 60 feet across and about 8 feet deep. Then they built walls out of vertical poles and then applied a hard clay to the poles, that was just inside the moat. It must have been an impressive fortress. The reason all this is known is that when Hernando De Soto (in the 1600's) and his men explored America they came to this village and three of his men kept journals of their travels and they are preserved and translated. Since no one ventured out to the park that day we had it all to ourselves and the Rangers spent time with just us. I bought a DVD of the film that they showed at the museum. It is real good.

   Mom here: This day light savings time is doing me in.  I went to sleep alright but was woke up at 3:00 am by someone singing, it was Dad.  I finally said shush and told him to stop.  I did not want to get up this morning.  We had our missionary correlating meeting at 8:00am so they can have Branch correlation by 8:30 or 9:00 am.  I'm not really sure why we all have to be to the Branch correlation since we have just discussed every thing with the Branch mission leader and he is in both meetings.  We didn't really want to say anything since we are leaving so soon and will have no part in the future activities.

     We will be very busy these next few weeks.  When I started taking things off of the walls Dad thought that I should wait and do all that the last week.  I plan on being all packed the night of the 27th so we can leave relatively early on the 28th and that means I pack most of everything these next couple of weeks.   I have lots of birthday cookies to give out plus there are a few that still need cookies from other months.  I also want to give birthday cookies to our friends at the Senior Center.  I plan on making a batch of cookies and taking them to the Seniors this week.

     Well Dad's swollen up toes are still sore but on Tues. he will have his big toe nails removed and the Doctor will drain any pus that is still there.  The Doctor wanted Dad to take antibiotics before he surgically removed the toe nails..He probably should have planned a little better since we have to be in Searcy for Specialized training Wed. morning.  He thinks that it will feel so much better that there shouldn't be a problem but I'm thinking that perhaps this won't be as easy as what he remembers from 30 years ago.  Next week we go to the temple on Mon. and on Wed we go back to Searcy for Zone meeting.  We will then finished with driving missionaries to all of their meetings.  The Branch members will have to pick up the slack or the mission will have to let them drive their cars to meetings.

     The huge snow fall is now dirty and melting very quickly.

Dad again: Word to the wise, when you go to the bathroom don't just let you pants drop to the floor, especially if you are barefoot and have an ingrown toenail. Those belt buckles can cause a lot of pain. In all actuality I have gone barefoot this past week longer than I've gone barefoot in the past year all put together.

    Well it has started raining, the snow we leave even sooner.

Love Mom and Dad

2 March 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

    It is so good to get your letters and emails, We love hearing from all of you.

    In the musical "1776" Ben Franklin says "I wish King George felt like my big toe." Well I wish President Obama felt like my big toe. For over 30 years I have not had to worry about ingrown toenails because I have had nail fungus so bad they just turn all narly and gross and fall off. This past summer I took that nail fungus medication and I now have nice fingernails on my right hand. It also cured all my toenail fungus, only it took twice as long, because toenails grow twice as slow. So now I have nice toenails, but I now have two nice ingrown toe nails. I am always in dress shoes and I wear socks always except in the shower. Since I haven't had to worry my toenails I wasn't paying that close attention to them. This last week all of a sudden, bamm, there where two bright red swollen toes. Going to the temple last Saturaday and wearing my temple shoes that are 30 years old. (Feet and ears are the part of the body that keeps growing as we get older) so my shoes are extremely tight. By the time I got out of the temple I was in pain. Yesterday I had to cut the end out of my sock so I could wear my shoes to church. I have been soaking my feet in hot water and salt and it helps. Scot told me Travis Youngberg told him to stuff toilet paper under the toenail and it helps hold them out. It works on my right toe nail. But my left toenail hasn't grown out enough to stuff anything under. "I wish King George felt like my big toe."

    Saturdays temple trip was a wonderful experience, the branch had scheduled it. President Milne asked us to help get Danny VanFleet prepared for the temple, we gave him the lessons and helped get all the clothing he needed ordered. It is always scary the first time not knowing what to expect. It seemed to go well. Another member of the branch that has always been active since we have been out here also got himself ready with the help of the branch president to go back to the temple for the first time in 25 years. He use to live in California and his dad was a Stake President and Temple Sealer. That was a good thing also.

     We had a new member of the branch over for supper last night. He moved into the ward about a month ago, he has been out to church the last three weeks. He recently suffered a stroke, he has been working on getting better, he can now get by without using a walker, however he moves very slowly.

    We had transfers this past Wednesday, Elder Brich finished his mission and left for Rancho Cucamunga,California. Sister Foster from Nampa was transferred to Jacksonville, Arkansas where she will be a trainer again for her last six weeks of her mission. Elder Cook was made a new trainer and our new district leader, his new companion is right out of the MTC Elder Fisi'iahi a Tongan from Oakland California. Big and quiet. Sister Taylor new companion is from Somoa she is small and extremely quiet. They are both very cold here.

    Saturday I finished reading the New Testament. Before that I read the Book of Mormon clear through. Now I'm in the D&C. Mom and I have been asked to speak in sacrament meeting here in Paragould March 22.

Mom Here: It is so hard to give a talk and have the 4th Sunday lesson to give.  This happened the last time we talked here.  I think that they kind of forgot that we will be going home soon.  I don't even know if there is a topic that we are to speak on.  We didn't have church last week because of the frozen parking lot at the church.  I had the lesson to give but since there was no church I just put it aside and forgot it.  Bad choice, I was asked to give the lesson yesterday because the person that was suppose to give the lesson did not come to church.  I wasn't asked until we were seated in Relief Society.  I had prepared for last week I should be able to do this and remember what I had planned on doing.   Well I gave the lesson and with a lot of inspiration was able to remember most of what I had prepared.  The one thing that I really  wanted to have was a downloaded version of Gethsemane.  That song really is beautiful and would have fit perfectly into the lesson but since I didn't know in time I was unable to use it.   No one here even knows about the song but I am thinking that it won't take long and there will be others that will have heard it now because it is on you tube.  I told everyone how to find it and I think that they will now look

     We have had bad weather and because it is so cold we still have snow that has turned into ice.  It will melt eventually but without warmer weather that is unlikely for much longer.  I am tired of walking very carefully so I won't slip and fall.  At the Seniors I just about slipped under the car sideways.  The ice on the curb was very slippery and it was all I could do to grab onto the car.

     Well it is true we will be leaving soon and I have started packing anything that is not being used.  The Sisters are here to use the computer so I need to close.   We love you all

                                                                   Dad and Mom

23 February 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

       Kind of a bummer week here in Paragould. Last Sunday evening and night we had that bad snow/rain/ice storm that left everything encased in about 3" of white ice, it reminds me of the white ice that forms in old freezers. It looks white and soft, but it is white and hard. We still have it on the ground, but it has melted off all the main roads. Mom now: Except on Fri. our canceled Zone Conference was suppose to be on Wed. but because of the ice and snow on the roads it was decided to cancel all Zone Conferences.  To make a long story short.  Memphis went on Thurs. the one day that was warmer.  We drove done to North Little Rock Thurs. night to stay with a Senior couple that works in the office.  The reason for that is that both sisters were to go to a Trainer training meeting at 8:00am  and we would have had to be up at 4:00 am if we would have left from here.  The weather was not nice on Fri.  We had freezing rain all the way home and the roads were not exactly without ice.  We had ice on the windshield, along the sides of the car and all over the outside mirrors.  We had a dinner appointment that the Sisters got invited to because it was to far to come home just to turn around and go back to Jonesboro.  We had a Chinese New Years dinner.  I don't know what I ate that didn't like me(meaning Mom) but the next morning was not nice.   We made it home safely but at times it was tense.  So Church was canceled, we got the call Sat. afternoon after I had spent all Sat. morning working on the RS lesson.  Oh Well I still have a lesson in March.  Also our temple trip was canceled, what a big bummer that was.  We were really looking forward to going to the temple.  We don't know if it was Pres. Wakolo or the temple Presidency that did not  want to open the temple.

     It looks like there is no school but has to be that the side roads are not good.  It is the attitude that it will melt eventually so not to be concerned.  Well the temperatures are at a big 23 so there won't be much melting today and it has clouded up so not much sunshine.  If there is no school we don't work at the Seniors.  We are starting to go stir crazy.  We do have birthday cookies that should have been given out on Sat. but it didn't happen. 

     We went to the fireside in Piggot Sat. night.   I asked Sister Vaughn if she thought that the weather might be a drawback but she didn't think so.  Considering that this was something that this branch has never done before I guess we were lucky to get one person besides the missionaries and a member of the Branch Presidency.  We introduced ourselves and said one thing about ourselves that no one else knew.  Then Bro Van Antwrep showed the video on Sacrament attendance and partaking of the Sacrament.

Dad here again. Mom is now conversing on the phone. The sisters are coming over soon to use our computers to send e-mails home. So I will try to be fast. Wednesday our District Leader here in Paragould is going home, his mission is done. His companion will become a trainer missionary and get a greenie to train. Both our Sisters are also called to be trainers, Sister Taylor will stay here and Sister Foster will be sent to an new area to train. Oops not fast enough the Sisters showed up so I had to putter around for an hour and a half so I could get back to writing this letter.

Mom again: There isn't really any news because we have been home bound for most of the week and it looks like most of this week will be much the same.  The Sisters called us to tell us to stay inside because of a huge storm was coming in.  The weather report says no storms only bone chilling cold.  So I don't know who called them but it was wrong.  They were getting ready for this really bad storm.

     We are still teaching Bro Van Fleet the Temple Prep. lessons.  Last week we had most of his temple clothes and he took them home.  We suggested that he open only one set of two piece garments and try them on.  He then thought that he was suppose to start wearing them, no no no.   When we told him that he would be dressed in the temple and then he would be wearing the garment for the rest of his life.  He looked at us like we did not know what we were talking about.  Today is his last lesson before he goes to the temple.  We will then have the lesson after his first time there.  This is something that he really wants so he is willing to do what needs to be done.  He has to drive to Searcy to talk to our Stake President Wed night and then he should be good to go.

     At the Zone Conference we were told to be prepared to bear our departing testimony March 10th and that we have his permisson to leave March 28th.  He will come to our apartment to visit with us and to release us.  I am not sure exactly what day that will be, but this apartment will be a mess of boxes every where if he waits until the day before we leave.  We were told that there will be no Senior couple coming any time soon.  I have to have everything packed up for the mission and of course for us. What ever that is left will be thrown into the dumpster.  That I guess is enough incentive to do it right. Elder Bowling I think is wasteful but we don't have his job and we are glad that we don't.

Dad again; Sorry for all the jumping around, mom is now on the phone again. "I think I am getting cabin fever" "I got it tooooo." We were suppose to read the New Testament in January and February with all this extra time I might get it done. Right now I'm getting close to the end of Paul's Epistles. I'm afraid I almost agree with Festus when he said "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad." Acts 26: 24.

     Don't know if we told you but we got a call on Friday that my cousin Ed of Hiko, Nevada passed away. They had his funeral on Saturday. Sharon, Mark, and Verne drove down to the Funeral. They said it was really good. We would have gone if we had been home.

Love Elder and Sister Hansen

16 February 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

      Today is the first day of winter, at least in Paragould. It has gotten cold a few times but this is the first morning we have woken up to a white outside. There was kind of a frozen white rain off and on during the night. The missionaries have been texted not to go out today. The Sisters just called and asked if they could use our computers today to write emails home. They will walk over from their apartment complex. I guess not going out means just not with their cars. Today the library and Seniors center is closed because of Presidents Day. But even if it wasn't Presidents Day there would still be no school, no library, no seniors because of the snow on the roads. We are out of milk and potatoes, so I'm going out no matter what any one says. Wal-mart is just a mile down the road. One just can't exist without milk and potatoes. Hope all this melts off today because we have to drive down to Little Rock for Zone Meetings tomorrow evening. The Elders need to be there at 8:00 am Wednesday morning so they have made arrangement for us to spend Tuesday night with another Senior Missionary couple down at Little Rock so we don't have to get up at 4:00 am to drive them down. That's our first time for that kind of adventure. It will probably snow for two more days so they call off Zone Meetings altogether.

                We have been teaching Danny VanFleet the Temple Preparedness Lessons, we have taught 4 so far and have two more to go. We ordered him all the temple clothes he will need to go on the 28th of this month. He has had his interview with the Branch President and will meet with the Stake President next Sunday over at Pocahantas.  He wanted to know if he could just use the underwear that he already has.  Well no that is not possible if you want to go to the temple more then to do baptisms.  I think that he is getting to understand better about temple work.  I was thinking the other day, how we don't really think about what is required, we just go and do.  It is a lot easier to take your own child to the temple then one who wants the temple blessings but has no concept of what it is all about. I really think that we came back here to get him ready to go to the temple and then go with him.  We do more strengthening the Branch then actual missionary work.  With two other sets of missionaries they are going out and teaching and they prefer it that way.  I think that they think that we get in their way.  Our approach is totally different from theirs and we don't ask people that we meet if they would like to be baptized on the first visit.  We are not that bold and we have had to smooth down ruffled feathers at times.

     It is hard to believe that in 6 weeks we will be home.  If the last 6 weeks go by as fast as the first 6 weeks then it will all be over before we know it.  I'm starting my lists of things that we have to do before we leave.  What to pack for the mission and what to take home.  Dad has a big brainstorm to put a bag on the top of the car so that we can take everything home and not mail anything.  I won't tell you what I think other then this bright idea that he has  probably will not work half as well as he thinks.  But it is an oh well.  We will just have to see.

     The clouds have lifted, the snow and sleet has stopped.  We didn't get the 6-9 inches of snow here I don't know if there was that much snow in the upper country but we maybe have about 4 inches.  Even if this day wasn't a holiday the children here would not have been in school.  Paragould has a fancy dancy snow plow but we sure haven't seen hide nor hair of it but it seems to be melting because things are starting to drip.

     One of the semi-active couple that want assistance so are coming to church more often, there is a  warrant out for the man.  He was arrested for doing hot checks.They moved from Marmaduke and moved in with his wife's sister.  But since we were trying to find them because of their birthdays and did find them. They are no longer hidden from view.  Now we know why they were unwilling to really give us much information.  We know that there is a warrant out for his arrest because not only was his picture on the front page of the paper there was a note about what he was wanted for.  Why am I not surprised.  This is Arkansas after all.  We find all kinds of people here.  I just put this tidbit into the Branch Presidents hands to do with as how he sees fit.

     Dad is contemplating the meaning of life.  I need to clean the kitchen and the floors before the missionaries come for dinner.  We were suppose to eat at a members home tonight but with the mission ban on driving we can not go.  But she made our dinner for tonight and brought it to church yesterday so all I have to do is cook the spaghetti, heat up the sauce and cook frozen beans for dinner.  I made French bread it actually looks and smells like french bread and of course the cherry crisp.  I think that should be enough.  This meal Sister Taylor will eat because there is no meat.  She is a vegetarian so no meat can be served.  The Sisters do not always have a meal because if there is anything different then people just won't deal with it , to much trouble.   I need to go

     We love you and always you are in our prayers.  Have a good week

                                                       Mom and Dad      Grammy and Papa 

9 February 2015

Dear Family,

     We had a very busy morning.  We went to the Seniors to do our job then we went to the church to clean a building that has not been clean for at least a month.  It was disgusting and I was embarrassed yesterday that the Sisters had an investigator at church.  Hopefully she didn't need to use the bathroom because that was by far the worst room.  The Elders came and help us so we were done in an hour.  I just do not get why no one cares enough to show the proper respect to the building.  I cleaned both bathroom and cleared out the garbage in the classrooms.  It actually now smells clean because we tracked down any strange smell.  The next time we do this I will bring my own cleaning supplies.  Supposedly the newly called building coordinator will be assigning families in the Branch to clean every week.  But knowing how it got cleaned before some of the families just can't be bothered to do that.  It isn't that they really don't want to it is that they don't make the time to get it done.

     We found some real red necked Arkansasians  high in the hills.  There are some lovely homes on terrible gravel or dirt roads and then there are the tumble down trailer houses that people live in.  The one we were at on Sat. was bad news.  I guess we should be grateful that we were not invited in.  The Relief Society Pres. told me that the bugs are crawling everywhere inside the house.  She was afraid to sit down because she didn't know what she was sitting on.  The lady wants church assistance but since no one has ever seen her at church that is a far off want.  She goes to the Pentacostal church because they come and get her.

     We went to a Neil Diamond impersonator at the Collins theater.  We met this man last April in Branson.  We would have gone to his concert but we had gotten ourselves hung up with the time share deal and couldn't get away fast enough.  So we watched him here instead.  I'm not sure what he expected but he thought that the audience wasn't responding enough.  If he could have seen the audience he would have seen that most of ones who came were in their 80's.  There were a few that were younger but not many.  It was nice because we did not have blaring music that hurt the ear drums, nor did we have to put up with the real Neil Diamonds vanity.  It was all Neil Diamond music, most we knew some that we had never heard before.

     The water pump went out on the car last week.  We were taking the Sisters to Zone meeting, Dad noticed that the temperature gauge kept moving up to the red then back down then back up.  We were really hoping that we could get to the chapel without any problem, which we did.  We let the car cool down, we didn't want any belly burns again.  The Elders had some water in their pickup so we filled the radiator up.  Then as soon as the meeting was over we headed for home.  The Sisters were going with the Sister Trainer leaders so we could leave as soon as we needed to.  To make a long story short Dad called the Toyota dealership in Jonesboro made an appointment for the next morning.  We spent most of Thur. at the Kirksey home as we waited to get the car fixed.  It was pricey but at least it was done in four hours and done by trained mechanics who understood Toyota.  So everything is now good.  I did not want to be going home always filling up the radiator or being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broken down car.  We are good to go as far as the car goes.

     I will tell you all what we think that we will be doing.  Now this is if President Wakolo agrees.  We will leave Sat March 28 and drive up to Chuck and Nancy's and stay until early Mon. morning, then a very long drive to Parker to spend some time with Joyce and Blaine, then drive through Wyoming and into Salt Lake and Murray, then to Tooele and spend two days there then Fri. we will drive home.  We won't be visiting with any one on the way home because most of you will be coming to Weiser sometime during the summer anyways.  If we can't leave until our end date then this plan changes because we will watch conference in Utah and then come home Mon.  So this is all  still up in the air, we do have 6 more weeks.  I really try not to think to much about going home if I did I would be so home sick.  We still have a lot to do here so that is where our thought have to be.

     We are teaching Temple Preparedness to a man that we reactivated last year.  He really wants to go the temple before we leave.  I think that he wants Dad to be his escort so we have to get the 6 lessons done before the 28th .  The last week of Feb. we will be going to the temple for our missionaries and then for Danny Van Fleet.

Dad's turn: Looks like Mom has covered all the news that has been happening around here lately. One thing about serving a mission away from Utah and Idaho, you are able to see first hand what happens to people when they decide not to live the commandments of God in their day to day lives. That is really prevalent here. Ya think to yourself, I'm so glad I've had the gospel in my life. Not that my life has been that spectactular, but it sure could have been much, much worse.

We enjoy getting all your letters and emails and artwork. It let's us know we are not forgotten here in Arkansas.

Love Elder and Sister Hansen (Grammy and Papa)

2 February 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

       "January starts the year out fine, February you are my Valentine." So goes the song.

I like February because it is short and sweet. Short because of the 28 days, sweet because of Valentine's Day and lots of candy and cherry pie. I already got mom a Valentines present and a hand made card (made with someone else's hands). I was so excited I made her open them yesterday.

    Today was P-day. So after working at the Seniors center, we drove down to an auto dealership to see about renting a van to  take all the missionaries down to Searcy on Wednesday. There are 12 missionaries in the Paragould and Jonesboro Districts. Its over 100 miles down there. Usually the missionaries find rides from about 3-4 members to drive them down to Searcy then the members have to wait all day to bring them back in the afternoon. Thought it might be easier just to rent a van that holds 12 and drive everyone down together at one time. Well, the missionaries were all willing to give it a try. But when I called our insurance back home they wouldn't cover us because it wasn't a personal passenger vehicle with just Mom and I in it. The rental place here don't provide insurance because it cost too much. They suggested I try Enterprise in Jonesboro, they could provide the insurance for 62 more dollars. So with the rental, the sales taxes, the insurance and the gas it came to about $230.00, to go to Zone Conference. I guess its best just to have everyone find a ride. It wouldn't be bad if this was just a one time thing, but these zone meetings happen two to three times a month. So we let the whole thing go.

    After that I went and got my haircut at Lois', she only charges $8 but they expect a tip so I pay $10. After that we stopped by the store for some milk and groceries. While mom did that I went over to the DollarTree and got two new solar dancers. One is a little cupid angel with a bow and arrow the other is a little devil with pitchforks in his hands. I thought if I attached one to each of my shoulders, it would make a good way to start a religious discussion but Mom would probably not like that.

Mom here:  Mon.is always a busy day.  We still have birthday cookies to deliver and I am not done with my cleaning.  The missionaries don't really clean up their apartments unless they absolutely have to.  I have already

heard how it was to clean up two apartments you would think that would be a good incentive to clean their own.....

Dear Family, Feb. 2, 2015

Not sure if this will all work. Dad started a letter but it took us too long to finish so aol closed down on us. We don’t want to retype everything all over and we are not very computer smart, so some how we will try to piece to letters together. It probably won’t work but we will try anyway.

Mondays are always busy, with cleaning the apartment and typing letters but I am almost done which is good since we have birthday cookies to deliver.

It is so hard to believe that we are already in the month of Feb. But I do understand why Evan thought that the month of Jan. would never end. He had a lot of waiting and that can make anything seem extra long. It seemed like Jan just started and then it ended. We now have 8weeks left of this mission. I do have to say that that does not seem very long before we will be packing up for good. I would like to leave things here but because I really don’t want to take things home that we don’t need. I guess I will just have to see if there is some body that can use the shower stuff and kettles. I could just pack it all in the boxes that the mission will pick up and hope that it will go to a senior couple.

We had such delightful weather the last week of Jan. Feb. started out with a big wind and rain storm.Today tho’ we are having lots of warm sunshine and mostly clear skies. It was cold this morning but no frost so that wasn’t too bad. Sometimes I think that I packed clothes that are to warm and then we will have a day like yesterday where it poured down rain and I think that I didn’t pack warm enough clothes. The church building is always cold. We can only bump up the heat to 71 and that doesn’t heat things up very well. So Dad and I came home very cold and even the apartment didn’t feel very warm. While we were getting ready for church yesterday the power went off. When I was taking a shower I had a premonition that the power was going to go off and that Dad needed to hurry up and take his shower. Well he took his shower in the dark and I was trying to get enough light so I could get my makeup on right. I decided that I would have to go with wet hair but even with all the rain that we were having it would be hard to get in to the car let alone the church parking lot with out wet hair. Of course the power came back on just before we left for church. We don’t know what happened, we will probably find in tomorrows paper.

We spent last week trying to make appointments and then going to visit people mostly to deliver the cookies. I’m not sure sometimes if they want the cookies or if they really want to visit. Maybe it is both. Sat we had an 8 year old Baptism that we attended. There was a birthday party after the baptism..Bro Lamb wanted to be sure

That Sister Taylor and I could eat something there so he went out of his way to provide hotdogs that were vegetarian, they are really gross. The Chips I could eat but after trying to find someplace to get rid of the hot dog which ended up in the garbage I was done. Sister Taylor was having a kidney stone attack so the Sisters didn’t come. Dad and the Elders gave her a blessing but even last night she still wasn’t feeling well.

Sat after the baptism we had to make visits to the upper country (now this is a funny we have everyone here calling Rector, Piggett and Corning the upper country). Some that we visitied was for birthday cookies but others were because Dad and I have a lady that we home teach and visit teach. So we were trying to get her before the end of Jan. For some reason the Branch leaders think that we are staying here for a very long time. Maybe we need to drop hints that we are leaving the end of March. We also visited our non-member friend. She was having a hard time because she went to her brother-in laws funeral he had serious cancer and no chance to overcome it. But Pat is distraught so we listened and she talked. It seems like we have been doing a lot of listening lately not only for Pat but others also in the Branch also. We have to go and see Judy so we can talk to someone who is normal. Judy has health problems but her attitude is so

refreshing and actually restful. After spending time with her, life doesn’t seem so bad There are so many here that have made some very bad choices in their lives and they can’t figure out how to get out of the mess that they find themselves in. It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t go out and make more bad choice and then the cycle goes on and on. The jails are full to overflowing and it never seems to get better. If they would just listen to the missionaries they could have a better life but they seem to be reluctant to make the change that is needed. We have some new converts that are really struggling to make those needed changes. It is easier to go back to what they were doing before and so they have. We see people join the church then when the missionary leaves the new convert leaves also but not back to church. We spend a lot of time trying to invite new converts to come back to church. It is a lot easier to not come then actually have to make the effort to get up and go. I wish the Branch members were a lot more friendlier but that is a problem that we can’t really fix. Love Mom and Dad

26 January 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

    Big news this week is that Evan was put in the Bishopric in Albany, Oregon. Chad Walker was put in Bishopric in Middleton, Idaho, and Chet Walker was put in Bishopric in Michigan the week before. What's this church coming to? putting in primary children into bishoprics. At least that is the way I remember them.

    Remember in Hoodwinked where the frog says; "We don't arrest people just because they look creepy" Well this past week the Elders traded apartment complexes with the Sisters, because they had a guy that lived above them that looked creepy and they felt threatened. It was good of the Elders to give up their two bathroom apartment for an one bathroom apartment.

    Saturday the Priesthood had a service project of cutting up a tree that had fallen into another tree in this single ladies back yard. The whole thing was kind of a comedy of errors as they tried to decide the best way to cut up the tree without it crashing onto a wooden fence, next to the trees. The best part no one was hurt, except for the fence. That was inevitable, with that crew. It was a sycamore tree (camoufloge tree as Scot would call it) about 36" in diameter at the base. I was a very sore man by the time we ended the project.

    Bought a new suit this past week. It was under $100. It looks like my old suits only it is new.

Mom here: The store that we bought it at is an expensive store, but we can also buy things very inexpensively when they have a sale.  So Amanda jeans were $10.00 and Dad's suit for less then $100.00  We couldn't resist.  Dad needed a new suit very badly I wanted him to get a new pair of shoes and a suit but he was resisting unto the end.  For Christmas I bought him new shoes at Bimart before we left for Arkansas.  I was hoping that we could find a store that had suits on sale when we go out here.  All the clothing stores had suits on sale at Christmas but he still resisted until he found a deal that even he couldn't resist any longer.

    We really wanted to be with Evan and Christi at this special time but it was nor to be.  And I can say that I am not to keen at being sick with the stomach flu so maybe it was a good thing that we were unable to be in Albany.  We are just happy for you Evan and we know that you will do just fine and when Heavenly Father is on your side you can do what is required.

     The horrible and cold winter that we were told that we would have has not happened yet.  The northeast is being hammered again but it so far has not come south.  We are not complaining either this is great weather.  We have had warm enough temps that a light jacket is all that is needed so all the heavy winter clothes that I brought are not being used.  Oh well better to be prepared then not as we were last year.  The seniors are saying to not celebrate yet we still have Feb and March to get through.  According to Farmers Almanack Feb is suppose to be stormy and cold, we are hoping not.

     There isn't a lot of news other then what has already been written about.  We just keep on doing our birthday visits and inviting the less actives to come back to church.  It is so easy to become less active but it a whole lot harder to get back into gear and start coming again.  We didn't have very many at church yesterday.  The Elders invited an older man to church but we noticed that he didn't come.  They never could commit him to attend.  He is supposedly looking for a new church after his disagreement with his minister.  But he likes to talk and the Elders are perfect to talk to.  They finally asked us to go with them but even Dad could not make him commit.  If he won't pray or read the Book of Mormon then I can't see him committing to anything.

   So my dears I need to close.  Dad is "contemplating the meaning of life" by laying down and sleeping and I am hungry and need to eat something.

                    Love to you all and know that we pray for you every day

                                Mom and Dad

19 January 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Mom and I had a letter all written, however the Sisters came over today to use our computers, since the library is closed for civil rights day. So I saved your letter so I could address it and send it after the Sisters left. Bet you can't guess what happened? Oh, you guess it. I can't find our saved letter. so I guess we will start all over again.

    It was a very busy week. Last Monday we headed out to the Temple in Memphis. We stopped at Jonesboro and picked up Sister Hill and her companion Sister Howton. At Memphis we got to meet the other missionaries what were going home. It was good to see Sister Cooke again. and also Sister Skinner and Kalahiki. These Sisters have become very dear to us. After the Temple Session the missionaries that were going home all headed for Little Rock, where they send the night and then head for home on Tuesday. Tuesday the new missionaries arrived and were sent out to companionships on Wednesday. In Paragould no one was transferred. contrary to some speculation. When we came back from the Temple we brought back Sister Howton so she could spend the next day with the Sisters here until she was sent to Mississippi on Wednesday to be with one of her old companions until she finishes out her mission in 6 weeks. She is one of the Spanish Speaking Missionaries serving in this mission. Wednesday the mission also created a new district in our Zone, called the Jonesboro District, so now they have 6 missionaries and we have 6 missionaries in the Paragould  District.

    On Thursday Sister Hill stopped by with her parents and we had a nice visit. Her dad has been working for his copper company in Mongolia, so they flew all the way here to pick up their daughter from her mission and also visit places around the mission where she served. She will go back to Mongolia with them for a little while before going back to school. That will be a neat experience.     

    This past weekend was the Searcy Stake Conference, with Elder Thompson of the Seventy visiting. We could have attended four different meetings, driving to Searcy and Jacksonville 3 times. However we chose to only go to the Sunday Session of Conference. Even then we had to leave here at 6:45 in the morning to get to conference. We arrived early enough to be able to set three rows back in the front of the chapel.  We had no distractions.  There were many speakers but no one took very long including our Stake President.  Elder Thompson talked about family patterns, family scripture reading, family prayers,  family home evening, wholesome family activities, and family traditions.  Does that sound familar?  It should because you were all taught these very things.  What does make a great difference is you all are teaching the same things to your children.  These teachings will then be passed on to your children's children and they can be taught from generation to generation.  All that he talked about sounded so very familar.

     We ate lunch at the covered pavilion that was the back of the church.  8 hours is to long to wait to eat .Dropped the Elders off at their apartment and we went home and crashed.  We were so tired and sleepy that we both took a nap but I only slept a short time I needed to get dinner going.  I fix just about every meal this time.  Actually there are not many people here that even want to fix a meal for any set of missionaries very often.  I think that since they can't feed all three sets of missionaries at the same time they compromise and don't feed anyone.

     We did stop and visit with one of our inactive sister that had a valve in her heart fixed.  She told us that she was going to start going back to church.  I don't know if she made a promise other what she told us was that when she woke up she was here and that meant that she needed to come back to church.  Her family considers her active but we have never seen her at church.

     We have another less active that wants her children baptized in our church but takes them to the Baptist church because it is closer.  We don't know if she is married to the man that she is living with we really do hope so.  He is a very nice friendly man he is a farmer so he and Dad had a lot to talk about which was good.  Darla wanted to know if we could have a fireside (her words not mine) with all the members in Piggot, Greenway, Lafe, and Rector.  We can't see why not but we will have to visit with Pres. Milne to see if he is okay with that idea.  These families or individuals all have a long ways to travel to church.  She wants to know who the members are so there can be a support group in the (upper country) our term for the people who live a long way from Paragould.  It just becomes easier to stay home then to get a bunch of kids up and have to travel a long distance to go to church.  Most members that live a long ways away  do not have that kind of committment.

       The weather has been so warm and mild.  Who would have thought that it could be 70 or 66 degrees in the middle of January.  The Seniors keep telling us that this typical Arkansas winter weather, not what we had last year.  Bro. Lamb keeps saying that a cold bad winter was predicted and that we are only half way through winter so be prepared for the bad winter.  So far so good, this is already warmer then any time during last winter.  I now know why they said that we wouldn't need a heavy coat if this is what they normally have.  We have another week of good weather then we might cold temps again.

    The Sisters got a scare from a creepy man that lives above them.  The apartment manger doesn't want to tell the man to leave so the Sisters have decided that they are not going to stay in the apartment any longer then necessary.  The apartment above us will be empty soon but that means moving everything three stories upstairs.  We have already done that and it was not easy to move Bro. Lambs's brother upstairs.

     Well my dears we need to get this letter sent so I need to close.

                                                       Mom and Dad

12 January 2015

Dear Family,

      It's now 4:15 pm. Left at 7:00 am this morning to pick up the Jonesboro Sisters and head for the Memphis Temple. It was a full session of just missionaries, most of which are going home, tomorrow. Some of them we worked with last year when we were here. Good to see them and get to visit before and after the session. Sister Hill and her companion rode down with us. But Sister Hill is going to Little Rock for her release and her parents are picking her up there. Sister Howten rode back to Paragould with us and then joined up with the Sisters here, who will be her companions for two more days, when she will be transferred to Mississippi. None of the Paragould missionaries got transferred this week. Sunday will be stake Conference for our stake, meetings are 2 hours away, we think we will skip Saturday Meetings and just go to the Sunday Meeting. We don't want to drive all that way two days in a row.

     Last Monday we had our district P-day activity where Miss Arkansas Rice spoke to our District in jonesboro at Riceland foods. It ended up a really nice activity. Jenna Martin (Miss Rice 2013-2014) gave her presentation to us 12 missionaries. The Elders and Sisters are close to her age, so she really enjoyed being with them. We got a thank you letter from her today in the mail telling us how much she enjoyed the activity.

    Mom here: While we were at the temple waiting for our missionaries, I was visiting Sister Smith, they live in Albany.  They go to the wealthier ward in Albany.  They have 9 more weeks until they will go back home  We have 10 more weeks before we go home, so I think that we will be leaving about the same time.  Because March doesn't have any transfers, we will be about the only ones leaving from the mission.

     We got a stern talking to from our Branch President.  We have to make appointments to any one that we visit.  The missionaries have to decide which families they will be visiting and they are to visit only the ones that they have agreed to work with. This makes it hard for us because we visit any one who has a birthday or a 6 month birthday.  We don't always get inside but no one wants to go with out the cookies either.  The Sisters thought that he was talking to them, the Elders thought the same as we did .  I would almost rather be told straight out then the round about way.   So we are making more appointments.  One lady ran us all around Paragould before we finally caught up with her.  Someone complained to Pres Milne so he decided to fix the problem, if it really is a problem.

     We have been having typical Arkansas winter weather, at least that is what they tell us at the senior center.   Last year was not typical.  We did have a little freezing rain but by the time that church was out there was no ice any where and we just had rain.  We had rain most of the way to and from Memphis today.  It is warmer tho' hard to believe.  We have grey skies and rain it warms up but then it clears up and it is freezing cold.

     I am so tired that I can hardly even think of what to write.  Mostly we are doing our job delivering cookies for the birthdays and we have several people that we visit on a regular basis.  As far as going out with the Sisters or Elders that still hasn't really changed.  We did have a media referral but as soon as we deliver the Bible and Book of Mormon and leave our card, we are afraid that will be all we can do other then call back once in awhile. Love Mom and Dad

4 January 2015

Dear Family,

     We have to write tonight since tomorrow is already very full.  We work our shift at the Seniors, then come home and do a little housework and laundry then get ready for our adventure in Jonesboro.  All the missionaries in our District are excited that there something new planned for them.  Our fear is that someone will do something stupid and become offensive but we are hoping that they will be on their best behavior.  They are going to learn about rice.  Now that doesn't sound very exciting but I think that they are just happy to do something different.

     Dad lost his bet, gas in Jonesboro is now $1.94. Since that is under the $2.04 that gas was last week, he had to pay up.  He decided that the bet was off for the new year but on the last day of Dec. the price dropped.  It makes filling the tank full of gas a lot more enjoyable meaning the price of gas of course.

     We had a wonderful holiday season.  For New Years we were invited by the manager of Farm Credit to his home for a traditional southern New Years dinner.  We had the blackeyed peas, hog jawl, ham, turnip greens, sweet potatoes, cabbage cooked with bacon, butternut squash, corn bread, cornbread stuffing,and dill pickles that had chili peppers in it.  The dill pickles did not taste like dill they were so hot from the pepper that my tongue was burning.  I seemed to be the only one that was having a hard time.  The food was very good and most of it I could eat,  Dad of course could eat all of the dishes and enjoyed it all.  Mr. Holifield introduced us to everyone that was there.  There were two ladies that would not talk to us or have anything to do with us.  I got the feeling that they wondered what the Holifieds were thinking about to invite Mormon missionaries into their home.  Grandma tried to engage me in a religious discussion about baptism but since we were guests in the home I didn't feel that it would be proper thing to do.  Now if she were to invite us to her home that would be another matter.  We would take one set of missionaries with us.  She is a Nazarine they do not smoke, drink, or even serve coffee.  But they like sweet tea.  They are a very nice family and we enjoyed our time there.   They invited us to stay longer but we felt that we had stayed long enough and truth to be told I did not want to face a bunch of people talking about what they thought about the church.

     I didn't realize how many non-member friends that we have.  I am hoping that we have been able to influence them so that they will listen when they are approached by the missionaries.  All of them know that we are Mormon missionaries and they accept us without any problem.  During the Christmas holidays we spent a lot of time with our less active couple and the nonmembers.

     We are sending you a card in the mail that President Howard W. Hunter said at the Christmas Devotional.  We want you to read it and ponder what he said.  This will help you to become a better person if you will do what he has outlined.  When I first heard him say that in his talk I was so impressed and have never forgotten what he said.  So when I found it in the Ensign I wanted to share it with all of you.    

    Dad Here: Sunday was long here, I woke at 4:30 and listened to a session of conference then went back to bed. Got up got ready for meetings starting a 8:00. We had meetings after church and then went and helped a sister of the branch move to another apartment, we got home about 4:40 pm. As mom said tomorrow is going to be a big day so since we have a little time tonight we thought we had better get a letter off tonight. As I have mentioned to some of you already we have invited Miss Arkansas Rice 2014-2014 to speak to our Paragould Missionary District. There are 6 Elders, 4 Sisters and mom and me. We will meet at the Riceland Facility in Jonesboro which is the largest rice facility in the world(I think). Riceland has given to us their conference room for the meeting. Miss Arkansas Rice is a Senior in high school and her family has agreed to come from Hickory Ridge, Arkansas to speak to us. Her name is Jenna Martin. She spoke last year at the Annual Meeting of Farm Credit Midsouth in Jonesboro, which Mom and I attended. This could be a great experience or a bad experience. Tomorrow night we will know.

Love Mom and Dad