March 25th, 2024 - 31st Email - I don't like sand

 Hey

Sand might be rough and coarse and it might get everywhere but it's okay because the mission is awesome

I say that because we totally drove through an epic sandstorm on Saturday evening and I was on an exchange and all my stuff was in the trunk of this truck and I was really scared it would get my stuff all sandy but then when we stopped later my stuff was not sandy so it was an epic milagro

Anyway this week was great

District leading is pretty cool ngl it's hard tho but it be pretty cool

Also my dad's birthday was on friday so that was cool he's old or something

We've got some people getting closer and closer to baptism they just need to take that next step and that's what we're here to help them do

I did my first baptism interview so that was grrrrreat (as the frosted flakes guy says) the guy was super awesome and totally ready for baptism

I was gonna do a baptism interview on saturday too (that's why we did the exchange so I would be in the area) and then the interview proceeded to not happen because the lady didn't get home from work on time and it's really sad but those sisters are still working with her and it'll happen eventually

Taught an awesome plan of salvation lesson at church class yesterday to a bunch of friends (investigators) and recent converts I love God's awesome plan for us isn't it super awesome how we can like go back to live with Him some day

Also Elder Jones is awesome we get along grrreat

Alright see you guys later

Ok pictures

-weird cloud in the sky at night (probably a rocket launch)

-cool view in La Quinta

-mountains

-elder jones and i

-we hiked "the cross" this morning

March 18th, 2024 - 30th Email - We are so back

 Hey

So we had transfers last week which was pretty crazy

Like literally so much happened last week

We had a billion lessons so that was fun

And we also deep cleaned our apartment

It was a really busy week overall and also we put some bikes in the shop cuz they were brokey fr

So everything about transfers

Elder Allen left :( to hesperia up in the high desert

My companion is elder jones and he is epic and from arizona my first companion from not utah, he has family from spain so that's cool and also he's only one transfer after me

We don't have bikes anymore (w) we got a rav4

Like 20 missionaries finished their mission last transfer and only 5 came in so a lot of areas were closed and that's probably why they had enough cars for us to have one

The work is gonna go crazy fr

Elder Pittman lives in our apartment too lol we arent companions but he's zone leader

And also I'm district leader over an all spanish district and I'm doing a baptismal interview on wednesday

So this'll be fun

I'm just glad I'm in a car before it gets to 100 degrees in a couple weeks but I'll miss the exercise too

Also we went hiking and bowling today

And Sunday was stake conference which was epic and we got a new stake president since our old one is going to Boston on a mission as president

We bible bashed with a flat earther last night

What was super cool was at transfers I actually knew people and was able to say hi to a lot of people

It was funny because elder arvidson and I had to go up for transfers even though we weren't leaving Indio so we were confused, people thought I was leaving and I was like "nah I don't know why I'm here" but it was cuz I had to drive the car

Also I have the largest district in the mission (six companionships)

Ok that's everything bye

Pictures!

-cat

-me and elder Allen

-me and elder jones

-chipmunk

-us hiking

March 11th, 2024 - 29th Email - The nights are pleasant now

 Hey hey hey

This week was really long not gonna lie but we work hard

We had like 20 lessons this week and we had like 7 friends set up to come to church and none came but but but we got someone on date for baptism on the 31st so that's epic

I realize that's easter but we'll make it work

Also funny story

We were at a friend's house giving a lesson and a random totally drunk guy walked up to their door and wouldn't leave and was a litte aggressive so we ended up calling the police

That was a first

The night weather is so good but because of daylight savings we don't work as long in the night, probably safer but it's stil hot

Also we had dinner at a family on Sunday where this guy from New Zealand was there and he was super cool to talk to ngl

And on Saturday we had a member come with us to a lesson and he proceeded to offer us dinner and accompany us (meaning drive us) to the rest of our lessons so we barely rode our bikes that day which was great

And we did exchanges with the zl's on friday and I was up in like palm desert area

It was funny because we ran into this guy who was a member but left after the church stopped boy scouts (which to me doesnt make sense but ok) and he was (probably illegally) breeding reptiles and was hoping to breed a "new breed" of lizard and then a cat killed the female after like three years before he saw results which is lowkey sad but at the same time it was probaby illegal

He had a cool albino snake though

Transfers are this week, nobody has any idea what's happening so we'll figure out friday

Something that's been cool is seeing how hard some people are struggling and just knowing how much the gospel simplifies your life and keeps you away from so much bad junk and so we don't have to deal with it, I'm really thankful for that

Ok Elder Hanson signing off

Pictures:

-us knocking a door

-mcdonalds rainbow

-elder wardle holding the albino snake

-elder allen and I in our rain bike fits

March 4, 2024 - 28th Email - A little cooler this week

 Hey hey hey

So this week was pretty good

On Tuesday a fly got in my eye somehow that was pretty gross

Honestly this week was totally packed we had so many lessons lol

We had a guy on date for baptism for last Sunday and it fell through :( because his family is going through a lot pray for him k

The weather this week was epic gaming fr it was so nice

Also ran into this dude who was like "nah I don't want to be preached to rn" but bro's wife gets out of their car and tells him to be nice lol and we found out she's a long lost member of the church who's been through a ton in her life and now we're all like best friends and we gave their family a book of mormon and we promised them their lives would improve (they don't speak spanish though and we really don't want to pass them off...)

Also found a kid who plays geometry dash and told him the name of my account to play my levels lol

For our pday activity we raced to see who could complete a puzzle faster and we totally won

Bike is getting easier every day I'm learning to enjoy it but it's boutta get really hot and I still miss my truck but we still work hard

Also we had dinner yesterday with a member in the ward who knew my parents since before they were married so that's cool

Ok bye

Singular picture, I scraped my foot really bad on this sand dune about a half hour ago