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