3/2/14

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                   March 3, 2014

            Woke this morning at 6:30 am to a world of white. Thought I would go down and sweep the snow off the car. Got on my sweatshirt, coat and gloves, took the broom and headed down stairs. Opened the front door, no one had been out of our apartment building yet this morning. Took my first step, my feet went up, my bottom came down hard, and I slid to the bottom of the steps. They weren’t really steps, just a filled in sloping sheet of frozen sleet. The sidewalk had a buildup of about 3”, but not with snow, but 3” of frozen white sleet. My feet didn’t even make a depression. I unlocked the car but all doors were frozen shut. I banged against all of them until I finally got a back  door to open. I crawled into the back seat, reached over the seats, put the key in the ignition and started the car. As it was warming up I tried to sweep of the snow, but the white stuff didn’t budge. It was a solid block. As the windows got warmer I was able to get under the white stuff and start chipping off small chunks. I heard a guy down at the end of the parking lot trying to get his pickup with big tires, out of the parking lot. It wasn’t moving, just a lot of spinning tires. After about 10 minutes he got backed up enough to start forward motion. Our drive way has a gentle slope up to the road. He didn’t make it. He had to back down and get another long run at the road.

After that I finally got the white stuff off the windows, I got into the car and thought I could back it up a bit , to make a path. It never even backed up one inch, I tried forward, again not even an inch. Guess we are what you called ice bound. My body still hasn’t recovered from the sudden jolting motion of coming down hard on my bottom.

            Came back upstairs and decided to write to my family instead of battling such a formidable foe.  Then the Elders and Sisters came over to use our computer to write emails to the president and their families. They have stayed for lunch since no one can go anywhere. I finally have the computer back. Its hard to get things done when your apartment is full of missionaries.

            Last Friday there was a senior missionary meeting in Little Rock at the Mission presidents home. There are about 13 missionary couples in the mission. We were all interviewed by the president. We had a pot luck lunch. We had a meeting with instructions. We all got a chance to talk about what we were doing in our areas. It was over 3 hour drive down. We met the Lockett’s from Blytheville, Arkansas in Jonesboro and they rode down with us. We got back to Jonesboro about 5:00 pm. Got home about 5:30. At the meeting we were told that the five stake presidents all got together and decided to increase the number of convert baptisms for 2014 to 800. We had the goal of 636 that was set by the missionaries  which was very do able and realistic. Last year we attained 521. So with increased missionaries we felt we could reach 636. Our missionaries are willing to take on the new challenge. They are faithful.

            We get a new mission president this summer. He is a native convert from Fiji.

And has two children ages 17 and 10 that will be coming with their parents.  President Peterson isn’t worried about the new President but he is worried about his wife.  She will have to decide on all medical problems, help all the sister missionaries, be very involved with the mission by traveling all over with her husband plus have to give talks at every specialized meeting.  I’m sure tho’ that they will both do well.

     Dad didn’t tell you that we are being released on the 24^th of March and need to be out of here on the 26^th which is the mission transfers date.  They are going to move another set of Elders into Paragould so even though they won’t be living in this apartment they will need our furniture and what ever else that belongs to the mission.  This will allow us to do more then we thought we would have time for.  We were going to start packing, which I have already started to do but now it will be more in earnest.  Dad keeps saying that we still have a month but I really don’t like being in a rush to pack up.  I have seen to many missionary apartments where all kinds of things have been left behind and the departed missionary wants what was left behind.

     We will have the Sisters again this week, so far we can’t take them anywhere but since it will be getting up to the 60’s at the end of the week the roads will clear out and we will be going to all of their appointments and waiting or we should plan better and go and do our own things while they are doing theirs.

       Judy will be getting baptized Sun. so that is still on.  We aren’t done reading The Book of Mormon with her but if we read more then six chapters and if we can get her to do more reading on her own then we will be done before she is baptized.  She has had all of the lessons in kind of a sideways way.  She did not like cut out figures or illustrations that missionaries like to do.  We have already gone through the questions that will be asked at her interview, so we are hoping that we have her as prepared as we can.

     We were invited to go to a MidSouth Farm Credit dinner by the director that is here in Paragould.  We obviously couldn’t vote but we did enjoy the meeting from a southerners point of view.  We were introduced to the CEO of the bank in this area and to many other farmers.  We were also introduced to a lady that works for Farm Credit that is LDS she was so excited to be able to talk to someone who belonged to the same church.  It didn’t take long for us to talk about church things and I noticed that everyone around us just melted away.  They gave us a weather warning device. At first we never heard an alarm but a couple of mornings ago at 4:30 in the morning the alarm started to buzz and yes it is loud enough to wake up the dead.  It was telling us that a massive winter storm was on it’s way.  Most of the afternoon and evening yesterday the alarm kept going off giving us updates on weather and road conditions.  So it’s almost tempting to leave it here but who knows maybe we can use it some other time.

     Dad is downstairs trying to get the car to move so he can go and get a shovel to get rid of 3inches of ice on the steps and walk way.  Then maybe we can get the missionaries out of the apartment.  They have been playing games for most of the afternoon and one of us have to be here to chaperon them.

           Well my dears I need to close. I have clothes to fold up and as soon as the missionaries leave I will clean the floor.  They keep talking about not cleaning or doing their laundry so what do they do?

      Love to all  We will see you soon

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

2/24/14

Dear Family and Friends,                                                       February 24, 2014

 

            Had another wonder week in Paradise, or is that Paragould. The Elders were without a car this last week, so they were with us a lot of the time. A couple of good stories from this past week. I love a good story and these were good stories.

Friday we were with the Elders driving around visiting the less active and investigators. We had about exhausted our visiting pool, since we were close to the Chapel we decided to stop in and check out the church. A couple of months ago the Branch President had given us the assignment to check on the church several times a week , or if it was really cold to check on it every day. It had been a few days so we decided to stop and check out the church. When we pulled into the church we noticed a car in the parking lot, with some one in it. As we were getting out of the car, we told the Elders we will check out the church while you go and check out the lady in the car. They later came into the church and we asked them how it went. They said the lady was crying. They asked her if there was anything they could do to help. She said no, she was just having some problems in her life and had pulled into the parking lot to have a good cry. They felt impressed to give her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it. Then they came into the church. After we checked it all out we left to go, she was still in the parking lot and she was reading in the Book of Mormon. So far that is the end of the story , but I think that is not the whole end of the story. We will have to see.

       Mom here

     We have been having warm delightful sunshine and warmer temps. although the wind may still have nip to it.  The children are praying for more snow so that would be more school closures but since they already have to give up Spring break and any other days that would be a break from school, having school closures might not be a good idea right now.  The parents are praying that there not be any more snow or ice so the children can stay in school.  The missionaries are praying for good traveling weather especially after last week.

     The birthday cookies did their magic again.  We have a black man and his family that live in our Branch.  So far no one has been able to reach him or even meet him face to face.  He was just another less active who was listed on the Branch rolls.  This time we caught him home, we didn’t try to make an appointment we just showed up.  I had given up on the cookies because he was never home.  So after we visited with him and found out that he had six children living there, we came home and took over 1 ½  dozen cookies.  We were suddenly the families very best friends.  So now the Elders have their work cut out for them.  The father told us that they would be at church Sunday but as with most less active ,it is hard to come back to church after not going for a long time.  They were moved here after Katrinia and decided to stay.  The family got separated and they have been reunited recently.  Judy is progressing towards baptism.  When she was told about the Word of Wisdom, she had no problems because she doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink alcohol, doesn’t drink coffee ,then the but came, she does drink tea.  I was so surprised, she had a glass of tea that she had been drinking from, she picked up the cup looked at it and said “bye, bye I won’t be drinking you again”.I don’t remember what I was going to say.  Anyway we have just come back from visiting Judy.  We reviewed the First Vision with her and everything is ready for her baptism on the 9^th of March.  It is so exciting to see how truth and light has filled her spirit and she knows that the church is true.  She was ready before we arrived here she just needed someone to help her find the way.

     We are still teaching the Youth SS classes.  This last week I had four and Dad had five to teach.  I had to do some readjustments because the two boys are not great readers but we managed to have a discussion and that was what I was aiming for.  I wish that I had paid better attention when Bishop Walker was introduced the new Youth lessons.  It never even entered my head that we would be teaching the Youth at any time.   Apparently President La Vettar  has called one teacher but not another one and that could really cause some problems because the older youth are now used to more advanced lessons where we discuss in detail more then Dad does.   Dad has two more stories to tell you.        Dad Here

2^nd Story:  Saturday morning we where out at the church cleaning. We had taken the Elders with us. Some of the primary leaders were also there helping to clean.  The phone in the hall started to ring. Sister Hansen was close so she answered it. The person on the phone asked if the people from Idaho were there. She said she was one of those people from Idaho. It was a man that we had visited in December from Farm Credit Services here in Paragould. We had stopped in to see if they had one of those cool all year calendars that Farm Credit Services puts out. They did have them and we picked one up. I use it on the wall above my computer. Anyway the manager had asked us a lot of questions about what we were doing in Arkansas. What farming in Idaho was like? He wanted to talk to us again and invite us to the annual meeting tomorrow. He had lost our name and number from December, so he had called the LDS Church out at Purcell Road in hopes of contacting us. Amazing that Sister Hansen was the one that answered the phone. We stopped in today and visited a bit. Tomorrow we have a meeting in Jonesboro, and that is where their meeting is going to be held, so we are going to go their meeting also.

3^rd Story,  An older member of the Branch was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. He told about the time his wife and him had been asked to serve in the St Louis Missouri Temple, when it opened years ago. Then when the Memphis Temple was built they were asked to head up the baptistery here in the Memphis Temple She has since passed away and he misses his wife terribly. He is the Executive Secretary in the branch. He also volunteers down at the seniors center. We work with him every morning packaging the meals on wheels. Any way back to the story. When the St Louis Temple was having its open house, he was working as the head of parking. A bus load of protesters showed up at the temple from out of town to protest the temple. One of the protesters approached him as was saying disparaging things about the temple and how only members could go into the temples. Brother Mode told him that that wasn’t true during the open house and that anyone was welcome to go into the temple during the open house. Of course he would have to leave his anti-material outside and he would have to behave himself while in the temple, and he invited him to come and tour the temple. The man took him up on his offer. After he had toured the temple he came up to Brother Mode and told him he had seem what he wanted to see and he left. Over a year later Brother Mode was working at the recommend desk at the temple and the man that was previously a protester was there with his family to be sealed in the temple.

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

2/17/14

Dear Family and Friends                                                                        February 17, 2014

            What a busy week, we got to go to the temple last Monday, Tuesday started a week of driving the Sisters around, because they were without a car this past week. Wednesday Sister Hill was transferred out, “we are going to miss that girl”. The new Sister is Sister Mazeika, she is from Pleasant Grove, she is of Lithuanian descent. Her name means short person and she lives up to that, she is also very quiet, haven’t heard four words out of her in the back seat all week. Sister Hill screamed more than that, especially if I missed a turn, or turned left on a red light, or ran through a stop sign.

In this mission both missionaries don’t share driving. One member of each companionship is chosen by the mission as the designated driver and they do all the driving, for that companionship. For a sister, Sister Hill had amazing directional skills, Sister Cooke on the other hand does not. She is lost most of the time. This week will prove interesting as she drives the companionship around. From the day we left Weiser Sister Hansen made me the designated driver, she hasn’t driven once since we left home.  That is not exactly true, I took my turn driving on the way out.  I would much rather have Dad do the driving then he has no one else to blame for some of the crazy driving that we have to do.

Mom here: We had a Branch Valentine activity on Wed. night.  It was started on time and an hour later it was over.  I wanted to do this on a weekend but got outvoted so because it was a school night it only lasted an hour.  There were many happy parents who wanted to get their kids to bed or to finish their homework.  We had Valentine cards made then we put positive thoughts in side the card something about each person.  We tied the cards to three trees one for the adults, one for YMYW and one for the Primary. I put piles of pink, red and white paper, stickers, lace doilys  in the middle of each table with scissors so that everyone could make a valentine and then we had the cards judged.  We also had a table with that new craze rubber bands to make bracelets, necklaces, or key chains.  I think that table was the most popular.  We had cookies that the kids frosted with about 1-2inches of frosting and pink elephant punch for refreshments.  It was enough, kids went home full of sugar.

The Branch doesn’t have a good schedule for cleaning the church so Sat. we took the Sisters with us and gave that building a good cleaning.  Probably the best it has ever had.  The Sisters kept complaining that the girls bathroom didn’t smell good so I went exploring to find out the reason well I found the reason and took care of it.   I was so glad that we did because we had our new Stake President Pres.Burkheimer, the Stake Missionary coordinator, The Stake Executive  Sec.and the High Councilor for our Branch attend Church.  There will be some changes very soon since Sister La Vetter has been called to be the new stake YW Pres.  At least we won’t have to worry about it.

After days of grey gloomy days that were just plain down right cold we now are back to warm days and plenty of sunshine.  Everyone says that spring starts in Feb. there for awhile I was wondering how could that be since it was so cold.  But the one farmer in our Branch is going to plant potatoes starting today.  We would never think that this a good time but he is certain that spring has sprung.  We are suppose to have lots of rain this coming weekend so I hope this works out for him.

We went to a concert Sat. of the Paragould Jazz band and some professional players.  It was music from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and the 80’s.  They had singers, backup singers and a band teacher that was an act in it’s self.  This teacher came here 5 years ago and had 71 band students.  Now he has over 300 members in the band.  Of the incoming 7^th graders three out of every four students signed up for band.  I could see why the kids are flocking to band, right now it is the class that everyone wants to be a part of.  He works with the kids makes them feel like they can do anything.  I wish that his personal life was better but his professional life is doing very well.  The concert was so loud that I had to take Kleenex and stuff my ears so I could tolerate the sound.  It was good, two hours of good oldies.

The Seniors had a Sweethearts party and dance Fri. afternoon.  Dad just had to go and then he didn’t want to dance.  If he didn’t want to dance then why were we there?  He finally did dance two dances then we had to go but we could have been dancing more if he would have gotten up.  I think that he thought that there would be a lot people dancing but there were only a few and he didn’t want to make a spectacle of himself.  We so enjoy serving at the senior center, the people that we work with and the friends that we have made there.  They are so accepting and  welcoming, one lady asked us especially to pray for her son.

Okay my dears I need a nap.  What has happened to letters to your parents?  All of a sudden everyone but Evan has stopped writing.  The mailbox has been very empty and you should remember how excited you were when you received a letter, well it is the same for us.  Thank you Johnny and Emma for your Valentines card and Jill and Wanda thank you for the cards that you sent.

Take care and keep on trekking  that is what we are doing we just keep on going forward.

 

LOVE

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

Dad here again: To misquote from a song we heard the other night  at the concert,

“We are lost between two shores,

Weiser’s fine, but it ain’t home,

Paragould’s home, but it ain’t ours much more,

We are our selves, and no one else.”

Mom says you won’t know what song that’s from. I say, you will all know what song that is from. She says I need to give you the hint of Neil Diamond, I say they don’t need a hint they will know.

An other song that was sung on the program was by a sister member of the branch here. She sang “I Will Survive”, by Gloria Gaynor. When she was singing, one of the verses goes

“and so you’re back from outer space

I just walked in to find you here

With that sad look upon your face,

I should have changed that stupid lock,

I should have made you leave your  key.

If I had known for just one second

You’d be back to bother me”

When I heard her sing that verse, I said to my self “I know that verse” “Where do I know that verse from” For the life of me I couldn’t place where I had heard that verse. It bothered me the rest of the night. I finally called Evan and asked him where I knew that verse from. He said “It was from “Men in Black II” The bulldog riding with Will Smith sings that verse.   Evan is so smart.

2/10/14

Dear Family and Friends                                                                    February 10, 2014

            Today was our first time to have got to go to the Memphis Temple to do an endowment session. We went two weeks ago with the youth in the Paragould Branch to help them do baptisms for the dead. That was a really nice experience, we rode down to the temple with a member family. Today was an all missionary day at the temple. Monday’s the temple is usually closed, but every 6 weeks they open the temple for just the missionaries that are going home that week, which also includes their companions and sometimes their ride to the temple. Our District leader Elder Bluth came out two years ago with a set of missionaries that are going home this week, he got sick in the mission field and went home for six months and then came back on his mission. He received special permission to come to the temple to be with the missionaries he came out with, even though he has 6 months to go. We were his ride down to Memphis so we also got signed up to be in the temple. Since we were the only couple at the temple besides the mission president and his wife, we were asked to be the witness couple. It was one very full session, they brought in about eight extra chairs to accommodate everyone. The prayer circle only had 8 people in it, us, the mission president and his wife, a couple who where temple workers and two other members who were rides for the missionaries. I guess they don’t let the elders or the sisters participate in the prayer circle. Afraid the missionaries might take it as a sign, I suppose. We got to see the second new temple film. We saw the first new film when we were at the MTC last fall. I liked this one better.

            In two days it is transfers in the Memphis part of the mission. Out of our District Sister Hill is being transferred out. We are so going to miss her, she came to Paragould the day that we did. She and her companion Sister Cooke have become very dear to us. They are kind of on the nutty side, but so delightful. I think Sister Hill spent most of today crying. She will leave a big hole in our lives.

            Yesterday, at church Danny Van Fleet spoke in Sacrament Meeting along with Elder Freestone. Last week Brother Van Fleet was called and set apart in the Elders Quorum Presidency as second counselor. We are so glad we were able to get to know him. We are still reading the Book of Mormon with Sister Judy Dunn while we are waiting for her Baptismal day on March the Ninth. We are up to the part where Alma just blessed his three sons.

            I’m now half way through the Book of Ezekiel. Every time I read another chapter in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, or Ezekiel I think how can the Lord tell Israel again in another way that the are an unfaithful and stiffnecked people, but each chapter I have to say: “Well he did it again” then I read the next chapter: “Well he did it again” It is amazing to me who many different ways the Lord can say the very same thing.

            This is Mom:  It was so good to be in the temple again.  A person doesn’t realize how much we can miss not being in the temple.  We will go again in March before we leave for home.  I’m not sure if we will take anyone with us or not.  Elder Bluth had a lot friends that he was saying good-by to and Elder Freestone just stood by as a good Elder does waiting for his companion.  Since we didn’t stop in Memphis for lunch we were very hungry by the time we reached Paragould.  We had plenty of left-overs so we shared with the Elders.

            The weather has not been nice and so much for warm temperatures.  The mission President sent all the missionaries straight home because of another impending storm.  He has already put a ban on driving after the last snow storm.  Now that the ice has melted and the snow is starting to disappear we are to have more snow and the missionaries will have another ban put on them.  They don’t say anything to us so we are out and about most of the time.

            We are suppose to have a Valentine activity on Wed. night.  But if we have snow then no one will come because they are all afraid to drive on any amount of snow.  We have already postponed the activity from last Fri. because of the weather so we will see how Wed. works.  I will be very glad when the activity is over and I can think of something else.

             It is so unbelievable that we only have about six more weeks left of our mission.  I though that Oct. would never get over with and now the time is flying by so fast.  I have to start thinking about packing up and sending lots of things home.

            Well Elder Bluth needs to use the computer to start getting ready for college.  Since everything has to be in by this month.  They are playing Dad a game of rummy while they are waiting for me to get done.

            We did laugh our heads off reading of Ryan’s driving and scaring Grant and Reagan.  We also have to laugh at Katieisms and Porterisms .  Don’t forget to write it is a sad day when the mailbox is empty most of the time.  We love emails and letters

                                                Love to you all

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

 

2/3/14

Dear Family and Friends                                                                    February 3, 2014

            I have finished Psalms and gone through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. I now know why they put those last two books in the Old Testament, it is because by the time you wade through them, you rejoice that you are finally in Isaiah, at least it makes a little sense. I’m still pushing to be done with the Old Testament by Valentines Day. I am sorry I haven’t written more letters, this rush reading of the 4 Standard Works in 5 months has taken a lot of time. Elder Bluth our District Leader is a few days behind me in his reading and I have to keep ahead of him. As I finish a book, I give him my synopsis or my slant of the book and then as he reads it he says: “I think you are right.” Like when I read the Book of Job, I commented: “I think that Job was a real person and he really did exist. However I think the book was written in the form of a production that was preformed on a stage to an audience of Jews of that time. There was a narrator and people took the different parts of those involved in the story.” When he got done reading it, he said: “I think you are right.” Now maybe he just says that to appease me, but it does feel good to have someone that agrees with you.

            This last Friday we had a special church meeting. Four General Authorities were at the Memphis Stake Center and they held a Ward & Stake Council Meeting that was broadcast to 85 locations in the South. All Branch, Ward and Stake Councils and all missionaries were invited to attend. Elder L.Tom Perry, President Rasband of the Seventy, Elder Zwick and a new Seventy from England were in attendance. We drove 20 miles to Jonesboro, Arkansas to watch it. We took the Sister Missionaries with us. They are so funny, as they rode in the back seat on the way down they got talking about how hard they strive to follow all the mission rules and how hard it will be to be released at the end of their missions when they return home. They could imagine themselves confessing to their moms: “Mom I’m so sorry, I left my area this afternoon, I don’t know what came over me, I just started to drive and before I knew it I was is Salt Lake. I went without my companion, I shopped for hours, I met a boy and talked with him, alone. I didn’t share my testimony or get any discussions taught. I didn’t get any call backs or referrals. I’m so sorry mom, it will never happen again. Will you please forgive me.” It is just fun to be around the missionaries, they are so good, as we talk to people of other faiths, their young people don’t really care that much about their church, they are not a moral force for good in the world.

            We are trying very hard not to get sick, The sisters and elders have been very sick, some of our investigators and some of the members have been very sick. We keep our distance, wash our hands and faces a lot. This morning we woke up to a blanket of white snow on the ground. Schools will be closed, so will the Seniors Center, so no volunteering this morning. Really miss meeting with those old people each morning, we have really come to enjoy being around them.

            Took a couple of days this past week to work on taxes. Angela sent me a Microsoft Money printout for 2013, I’ve gone through it and made necessary adjustments and have the “F Schedule” mostly filled out. I think the accountants can take it from there. It looks as if it was my best year so far. I’m going to have to come up with a lot of money to pay the taxes this year.

It is my turn to write:  Dad gets up very early each morning and on Mon. he will start to write then gets sleepy so he will go back to bed for a short nap.  Today we will have to be quick since the library will also be closed because of all the closures and the Sisters and Elders will need to use our computers for their letters home.

     We had a snow storm that turned to sleet and then icy rain.  I pray that we won’t be without power.  This apartment warms up in the sun but without power it would be very cold.  There is an ice glazing on most things and it hasn’t warmed up enough yet to start dripping water off of the eves of the roof.  So much for a warm Arkansas so warm that we will not need a coat.  We will have to check out the church sometime this morning to make sure that the water is still running.  We are now the building supervisors as of last Fri. night.  It is probably a good thing that we are leaving in about 7 weeks that will finally push Pres La Vetter to get some teachers and some one to check the building besides us.  The only time that teaching is hard is when we have less actives that are coming back or investigators that are coming for the first time.  We need to be with them, not in the Sunday school class.  Dad will go with the less actives or investigators and I teach the class.

         Our one little investigator has been so sick with this wretched flu that she thought that if she could be dead for three days she would get better.  Oh yes she would get better that is a rather permanent solution.  She and her husband have been so sick, I still say that if Elder Bluth would have stayed home when he first started getting sick, Judy and Lloyd probably would not have gotten so sick.  I don’t know how to convince the Elders and Sisters that no one wants the flu so please stay home until you are on the mend. Oh well some times they listen other times they go out any ways sicker  then sick.

     It will be hard to leave here.  We have formed attachments to so many of the members of the Branch and to so many of the seniors at the senior center.  The old adage is true, you love the ones that you serve.  We have been told many times that we need to stay, that the Branch needs us we give them stability.  But our family doesn’t even live anywhere close.  Dad wants to get back to the farm and we both want to get back to our

 family.  We are now going to revisit everyone that we have visited before.  These last few weeks will be full which is good for us.  It does make grocery shopping maybe a little harder because I don’t want to have a lot of food and cleaning supplies left over to decide what to do with.

     Well my dears, I do need to clean our apartment.  This is the day although for us it really doesn’t matter when we clean and do laundry.  Have a happy and great week.

                                                        Love

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

           

1/27/14

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                   January 27, 2014

 

Every week, we write by starting out, dear family and friends.

Has this become an unchangeable habit to go on forever?

Must we go on repeating forever this common song?

Can we not rearrange the furnishings and décor of our homes?

Can we not change our daily apparel and put on new clothes?

Must we continue this same greeting forever and evermore?

Can you tell I’ve been reading this week in the Book of Psalms?

I cannot refrain from expressing myself in this style of prose.

It has overcome me and entered into the creases of my mind.

It has consumed me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.

I am helpless before this form of expression. I cannot refrain.

 

This week passed, has been the longest of our mission.

Not because of the work has been slow and tedious.

But because so much has happened, within these seven days.

It started out with the most spiritual district meeting of our mission.

Our district leader changed the pattern of our district meetings.

Raising and lifting us to new heights and a spiritual level.

We were immediately overcome by the scariest event of our mission.

Our dear Sisters found themselves in great peril and distress.

By the hand of the Lord they were able to “get themselves out”.

Followed by night of much sobbing and many tears from the sisters

And comforting assurances from Sister Hansen and very little sleep.

Since the Elders were without a car this week we became their escorts.

Escorting them to a myriad of homes,

Most of which were filled with smoke and dogs and one hamster.

Mom’s lungs which are already heavy from all the moisture

Were filled to overflowing with all the smoke and dander.

A new policy has been declared.

Where there is smoking, we are staying in the car.

The branch had a youth temple trip this week,

Which we were able to participate in, even though it is two hours away.

Great to be dressed in white. Great to be within the walls of the Temple.

Sunday was a special Stake Conference held three hours away.

We took Danny VanFleet and the Sisters with us.

For the first time in 30 years there was a new stake created in Arkansas.

The new stake got the old stake president.

The old stake got a new stake president.

We are part of the new stake, the Searcy Arkansas Stake.

We met in a very elaborate high school auditorium in Lonoke, Arkansas

Basically there were two stake there.

We sat next to a couple

That were brought into the church by Daniel Perza from Weiser.

 

 

 

 

I do not write Poems so this will just be a regular letter from me nothing poetic.  Since Dad has been reading Psalms he has been waxing in prose.

We spent one week taking the Sisters everywhere and then the Elders everywhere.  Elder Bluth is very sick but thinking that he was invincible he kept right on going until he had to admit that he was way to sick to continue going out.  I was very glad that he finally decided to get some help.  The mission Doctor lives in Georgia and follows Sister Peterson’s  prescription suggestions, then he will call in the prescription to Walgreens.  The drug of choice is always a z-pack, I suppose it is because it is relativity in expensive and in five days the infections should be basically cleared up.

     Last Tues. was eventful.  We had probably one of the best District Conference’s ever.  I think all of the missionaries found it to be inspirational and uplifting.  It was a breath of fresh air blowing through the room.  The day ended not so good.  The Sisters even though they had been prompted not to go to a certain apartment did not heed the prompting and went anyways.  These naïve girls saw up and a little to close the seamier way of life.  They were able to get out of the situation that they found themselves in but they were scared out of their wits and hysterical by the time we got here.  Sister Hill refused to sleep anywhere else but here.  They had decided not to tell the President what happened but they didn’t remember that Elder Bluth is the District Leader and responsible for the missionaries under his direction, he called the mission President.  They had a good learning experience one that I don’t think that they will ever forget.

     I told Elder Bluth that if I had to go into those homes  where you could cut the smoke with a knife I would wear a mask so all the smoke could be filtered out.  Look funny oh yes but health wise a good move.  Everyone here that can barely support themselves have dogs.  The have big, hair shedding dogs.  

     We got up super early and drove 3 hours to attend stake conference and then drove home for 3 hours.  The Sister just went to sleep in the back seat and I joined them.  Dad had Bro. Van Fleet to keep him awake.  The conference was good even with the speaker system blowing up and scaring everyone listening.  All the babies were crying, children were trying to find protection and the adults were stunned and covered up their ears like I did.  Dad was scared badly enough he thought he would wet his pants.  Good thing that the janitor was there and saw and heard what happened.   I had packed a little lunch which we ate at a gas station.

     I don’t believe in coincidences but we sat right next to a couple that had joined the church because of a missionary from Weiser.  What a great experience to be able to visit with them.  The man asked where we were from and I told him Idaho then he asked if I knew where Weiser was Why yes I do.  We live there.  Did I know Elder Perza?  Yes I do his parents live in our Ward.  They have not forgotten him and are so thankful that he taught them.  So the conference was extra good because we were able to visit with them.  What is so amazing there was 1,700 people there and we were sitting next to Bro and Sister Wirt who knew about Weiser.

     The temperatures are so crazy here yesterday it was 67 degrees today the high is 28 degrees.  That means that we have to go to the church and check the water and make sure that it doesn’t freeze.  I’m not sure why the church didn’t put in insulation around the pipes especially in the kitchen area.  We have had to fix faucets more times then we should have to.  So tonight we will go back and let the water dribble in the kitchen.

     Yes indeed it was wonderful to be in the temple.  It was like coming home  It was only the second time that I have helped with youth baptisms.  We combined with another branch and a ward so that there would be enough to make it worth while to fill the fount.  We didn’t have to drive so that made it even better.  The Memphis temple is about the same distance away as the Boise one is so it is about the same except for the traffic.  It is so much more traffic then Boise that driving makes Dad very tense.

Well my dears I have written enough.   We pray for you and we move forward doing our Missionary work.  Love you all

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

1/20/14

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                   January 20, 2014

 

            Since it is Marty’s Birthday today, the seniors center is closed today. So we get to sleep in. As if that would every happen. I woke up at 4:30 am, read the Book of Esther. I started the Old Testament after Christmas, so I am averaging 26 pages a day. I ought to be done with the Old Testament by Valentines Day. Then it is on to the D&C and The Pearl of Great Price. That would make all the standard works in a 5 month period. Never done that before. However, I do have a greater appreciation for the Lord’s dealing with His children here on the earth.

            Yesterday after church, there were three baptisms in the branch. Melonie Goodwin, a woman about 42, she found the sisters and was taught the lessons. She had to wait to get 1^st Presidency approval, because she is on parole. After her final interview she was so excited about being able to be baptized, that she was jumping up and down. She has a long time friend that did not like her learning about the church, so he gave her an ultimatum, either me or the church. She told him without hesitation, the church. The other two baptisms were a father and son. Dad about 40, the son twelve years old. Really nice people. Good understanding of the church. There were at the baptism about 5 non members. One of which was Judy Dunn who we are working with towards baptism, she has set the day of March 9^th (her mothers birthday) as her baptismal day.

            The branch here really goes out of their way to make converts feel welcome and important. The branch president leads the way in making that happen. He has been the branch president here for over 6 years, he is only an Elder, but he really cares for his branch. Next Sunday we drive to Lonoke, Arkansas where they are going to create another new Stake in Arkansas. First time in 30 years that that has happened. Long drive, but neat to be here while history is being made. I’m afraid we might lose some branch leaders in the creation of the new stake.

            We just keep plodding along, we continue to meet new people and make new friends. This past week the sisters have been without a car, so we had to drive them around a lot to their appointments, They are a couple of dizzy young ladies, but one just has to love their crazy ways. They are so intent and focused on missionary work.

            Yesterday at church we were assigned to give a lesson on gaining a knowledge about God and sharing that knowledge with others. As I prepared, I thought of this statement to make at the being of the class. “I know all there is to know about _______.”

I gave the class time to think about what they considered themselves to have a great knowledge about. (No takers) I then shared with them my knowledge about siphons, I do know a lot about siphons. I know what they look like, what they are made of, what sizes they come in, I know now to gather them, I know how to bundle them, I know how to scatter them, most importantly I know how to set them, I know how to adjust them for different flow, I know how to set the appropriate amount to handle the flow of water into the ditch. I don’t know everything about siphons, but I do know a great deal. It was my father that taught me about siphons and how to set them, I in turn taught my children about siphons and how to set them. I then bought the discussion back to the knowledge we have about God. Who he really is, what he is like, how we can learn about him and how we can share that knowledge with others. It ended up being a very fun exercise  and learning experience for the class.

            This Mom now:  The class that Dad was talking about was Priesthood.  Since we had investigators at church I taught the Sunday School class and he took the investigators to Gospel Principles then I had Judy in Relief Society and Dad had Lloyd in Priesthood.  It was a very long day for Judy especially since they stayed for the baptisms.   Judy wanted to see what was going to happen to her.  We will go and see them today and see how she is doing.  Judy and Lloyd are in poor health and so we try not to over do things.  But they did get married and she set her own baptism date long before she was asked to be baptized formally.

     We are enjoying the sunshine and somewhat warmer temps.except for the winds.  If we didn’t have a wind it would be very comfortable.  I would rather have winds then socked in fog all the time.  When we have sunshine it tends to be cooler then when it rains.  The rain here is heavy and can cause floods in no time.  It is deceptive in our apartment because the sun shines in and warms up the apartment then we go out side and it is cold.

     I have prayed that hearts would be pricked so that less actives would feel a desire to come back.  We have some that have said that they will come back but it is hard to come back after not being in church for awhile.  We only have a little over a 2 months here and that will go by very quickly.  We continue to visit all that we can catch at home or will let us come and visit.  We really try to be a friend and support them as best we can.  There is one lady who informed me yesterday that she was going home with us.   No, no and no.  She has problems and is slow so, she and her husband have already wrung the branch dry and now it is the missionaries that are slowly but surely being wrung dry.  It is only Dad and I that can actually do anything but if we do to much then they think that we will bail them out of their millions of problems.  Sometimes we walk a very thin line to help the members help themselves without enabling them more then what we should.  It is so easy to get caught up in lots of drama.

     The branch President has called certain members to take over from where we left off.  Almost everyone that we can get in to visit we have done so.  But I am really hoping that they can keep the ones that have come back and keep them active.  Who knows we may be sent back here and maybe not so the branch members will have to step up to the mark.

     For the last week we had the Sisters.  We take them to their appointments and sometimes we are invited in especially if they want some moral support.  Usually tho’ we drop them off and do our own things then go and pick them up.  On Tues after District Meeting they will have a car again but then it will be the Elders with out a car.  They are usually not as dependant as the Sisters are.  The Sisters had exchanges with the Training Sisters last week.  The Sister Trainer decided that they would ride their bikes.  Sister Cooke got major lost and the trainer did not realized that Paragould sits right on top of Crowley’s Ridge  with little narrow roads that go up and then down.  The Trainers thought that the Sisters were far to dependant on us, after that experience nothing more was said.

     I have started to pack up things that we really do not need to take back home in the car and sending it home.  One of the Senior couples that were in Blythville did that and I thought what a good idea.  We were so jammed pack coming here that whatever we can do to be a little less jammed packed would be good.

     Well my dears we must close     Love Dad and Mom, Papa and Grammy, Elder and Sister Hansen