April 29th, 2024 - 36th Email - Lemon leaves smell like fruit loops

Hey what's up you guys

So not a whole lot happened last week

Especially after the week before we were kinda chillin ngl

We found a good amount of new people and we worked really hard at getting members to our lessons and we saw a lot of miracles from it

Something I noticed was we had a ton of fried chicken last week from members

It was really funny actually I mean I'm not complaining fried chicken is fire, we also had to drive a ton to get to this one member's house, it was so out of the way honestly the drive to their house reminded me of the drive from Victorville to Barstow, it's kinda crazy how different certain parts of the area are, Bermuda Dunes (which is basically Palm Desert) vs Indio vs La Quinta vs Coachella then all the way down to like North Shore (which is basically the Salton Sea) it might be the most interesting combination of communities in the mission

Anyway crazy story for the week we almost got in a car accident yesterday

There were two right turn lanes and we were in the left one and some other lady was in the right one and she ended up turning into our lane as we go and we had to swerve left into the other side to avoid the accident luckily no cars were there

Then it merged into one lane and she was going super slow so we tried to pass her but she sped up with us in oncoming traffic so we gave up and went back behind, Elder Jones was driving and she ended up turning left at the next stop light and Elder Jones had a fat stare down with her as we went straight (her passenger window was down too)

Ok little more wholesome story

Yesterday evening was funny because we were in the middle of nowhere and we didn't want to go back yet just to waste gas so we visited some grey dot (someone who had been stopped teaching a while ago) and he was asleep but the rest of his family was up

So a teenage girl opens the door and is like "wassup" and it's like 8:15 or something so it's super awkward and we're like "where's this melquisedet (not spelled wrong) dude" and she's like "asleep" and so we're like "dang want a message about Jesus" and she's like "yeah"

And then Jones does a funny and asks if they would be more comfortable outside or if we could go inside and he even told me after he felt super awkward asking that question

Then that proceeded in a goofy discussion/argument within the house and then finally the girl's like "just come in" and we go in and there's a mom and two other kids so there's four people all staring at us super awkwardly

They're taking up like the whole couch too like weirdly spread out with their own corner so we were just standing there with them staring at us like we had covid or something

Finally the mom was like "make room for them (but in spanish)" and so we sat on the corner of this L shaped couch and then the mom was on the other end next to two other kids and the girl that opened the door was actually standing up behind us

We started with a prayer and afterwards I was immediately just like "sorry for being hecka awkward" and they laughed and then we had a good enough lesson but it still felt super weird

We finished up feeling like it went okay but as we were leaving the mom asked "so uh when are you coming back (but in spanish)?" And so now we have a return appointment and we'll see how that goes

Uhhh I went on an exchange to palm desert so that was fun we met a dude that spoke kekchi (a dialect from Guatemala) it sounded super weird, also there was an insane dust storm that day (every time I go up there I swear)

Probably going to go on an exchange this week to salton sea too

Also another funny experience

So elder pittman and I went on an exchange the other day and went to a gas station

We went inside and found a huuuge stash of posters so we bought a minecraft one and one with a bunch of shoes on it

Then elder jones hears about the posters and is like "i want one" so we go and we're going to grab one when a random dude walks up to us and is like "hey what are you guys doing here when are you gonna come to my house again"

But the problem is we have no idea who this dude is

And then I realized

This dude was a friend of the other elders (the same guy whose guitar I broke) and he went MIA for 2 weeks because he was supposed to get baptized but didn't show up to his own baptism after confirming it the morning of and so we got the other elders in contact with him because he was asking us why we weren't visiting (unrelated side note: the other elders had knocked on his door about 10 times in the last two weeks and called him about 30 times) but then he came to church on Sunday! We love miracles! So moral of the story go buy posters at sketch gas stations or something

Also stagecoach happened which is coachella fest but country music

I've never seen so many RV's in one place in my life

Also apparently post malone is making country music now cuz he went to that (tryna convert him I mean he does live in utah)

Ok that was my week lol

Pictures!

-dust storm in palm desert

-what the heck happened here to this gate

-wholesome picture of us at an activity for kids (big mexican holiday, día de los niños, we made hot dogs and they were bomb)

-broken streetlight lol

-the poster elder jones bought

April 22nd, 2024 - 35th Email - I don't know what's happening anymore

Hey this week was chaos lol but it was so fun

So básicamente

Transfers were last week

And nothing happened

Like literally nothing happened

In my district two people changed and one companionship was discontinued

I'm still with elder jones

Elder Pittman and Elder Arvidson are stil together, our whole apartment is the same except for the fact that they're a trio now so Elder Cutler be pullin up

One of the sisters in my ward changed cuz one finished her mission and down in borrego springs there was one different elder

The english district is a bit more different but that doesn't really affect me so

Ok my week

Bees update

The bees all died pretty horrifically ngl

Well not really

This dude pulled up literally two seconds after I sent my email last monday to tell us they were gonna pull up to deal with the bees

So tuesday apparently they fumigated while we were out or something because we got home and there were a couple dozen dead bees on the floor and crawling from behind the fridge

So we go over to the laundry nook and there's like literally a hundred bees just on the ground it was actually slightly comical

So we humanely slapped them with the flyswatter and vacuumed them up

And now there's no more bee problem

So that's the end of the bees saga

Also we went to the temple on tuesday and that was really cool and me being a silly goofy goober forgot to take pictures

It was fun there was a little drama but its ok

We went for elder jones's friend that got baptized and usually we cant go if it's been over a month since they got baptized but we got special perms to go from the prez himself cuz the temple was undergoing maintenance

Anyway

Wednesday we did zone council

Usually zone council is on thursday but last week was goofy or something because they had mlc on thursday for some reason (mission leader council where zone leaders and sister training leaders go to san bernardino) so we had to move it and we got pizza because my district found hecka people the week before they fr deserved it and that little caesars hit different that day ngl

Then we found out about the trio so we had to build a bunk bed and a desk and a chair for the new guy so our deep cleaning took like three hours

Uhhhhhhh

On Thursday an Hermana in the ward gave us a ton of food

Like 12 packs of chicken and rice bowls that would last a super long time

And then she gave the other elders like 8 more

And then she called us later because she was afraid she didn't give us enough food

Like bro this food is gonna last us for weeks if we're fed consistently by members lol

Oh yeah Friday was so funny

We exchanged with elder pittman and elder arvidson because elder arvidson tore his acl a couple transfers ago and finally got an appointment to get a new knee brace

And I had to do a baptismal interview for them so I had to stay down so elder jones went with elder arvidson and I stayed with pitty

So basically they went up to san bernardino and realized the sister training leaders had actually already grabbed his new knee brace when they went to mlc on thursday so they had to drive down halfway to meet up with them then drive back up for his doctor appointment then drive back down so the exchange was only supposed to be until 1:30 but it ended up being until 5 lol

Ok also that's the day we found out transfer news that we were all staying

Then transfers were saturday

And elder soto is in borrego springs lol

Holy cow saturday was so dumb bruh

So we were tryna go to our dinner

But right now they have coachella going on

Which is this huuuuuuuuuge music festival going on in April in Coachella (we can see it from our apartment) and the member we were eating with happens to live in the neighborhood right next to it

So naturally the management was being very strict on parking in the neighborhood so people didn't just park there to go to coachella so they wouldn't let us in

This guy stops us and says in order to turn into the neighborhood we needed a pass, that we could get a picture of it from people that lived there, so we texted them to get the picture and we did but we ended up having to go and make a uturn and come back

We get back and the chill guy is gone and is replaced by goofy goobers who are mean and tell us that the picture doesnt work and even if they walked out with the physical pass they wouldn't let us in the neighborhood

We explained to them we're missionaries and stuff but they wouldn't buy it so we just dipped

The member told us he would go fight with them lol but we ended up not being able to make the uturn we made before cuz it was blocked off this time for some reason so we had to go really far before we were able to turn around and we just met up at the church building and followed him out of the church building and went in a different entrance to the neighborhood with chiller dudes that let us in

It was all worth it for the fire lasagna they made us I gobbled that up

Also on the way to the church we saw this gnarly uturn by this guy who just turned right into traffic and then someone else (who was probably following him) tried to do the same but a police officer pulled up and started yelling at the guy it was actually kinda funny ngl and he made us miss a green light

Anyway

On a high note 5 people in my ward got baptized yesterday, there was a couple that needed to get married and they weren't even planning on getting baptized until they saw how hard we were working to get them married so that was super awesome

Prezzy P himself pulled up so it was real exciting

They got married on Friday, it was actually really awesome, it was at the churcu building and our Obispo married them

They weren't our friends but still super stoked for that family

It was a fun week and this transfers going to be 7 weeks which will be pretty fun we're boutta get so much work done like D&C 11:3 says the field is ripe and ready to harvest

Yall should send me emails on how yall are doin it gets kinda lonely out here sometimes (just kidding but fr I want to hear how you guys are doin too!)

Elder Hanson

Fotos:

-bees lol

-not a lot of shade on shady lane

-we reached the end

-us wearin messi jerseys (the swap meet here is kinda goated) at ward soccer night

April 15th, 2024 - 34th - Email - Buzz buzz

Hey

So this week was purdy fun

We worked so hard this last week we tracted (knocked doors) like literally an hour and a half on average every day so I'm like super tired lol

We found 8 new people which was crazy but it's also what we're supposed to be getting so we boutta run it back again

It was actually really fun ngl we ran into some... interesting people and had some... interesting interactions (with drunk people)

Also we had a wholesome interaction last night we pulled up to this dude's house and he bought us street hot dogs (and they were ) and then we chatted it up for a minute

Also idk if I've ever mentioned daves hot chicken but it's this chicken place here that's absolutely gas but hecka expensive but it's so good so we tryna go like every week and we went last week cuz it's so good

Anyway

We had an english class on Thursday where we invited friends which was super cool and our friend Richard loved it it was super basic but really good

Also we had like a bee infestation in our apartment

So basically

Monday evening we hear a buzz buzz and we see a bee and kill it with a flyswatter

And we were chillin

But then Tuesday morning we wake up to another buzz buzz and elder arvidson stepped on it with the loudest crunch imaginable it was crazy

And then Tuesday evening we had another buzz buzz well actualy like 3

One was in the lamp of our bedroom and we were too scared to deal with that one so we just put a pizza box on top of it to trap it and it got super mad

And then we realized that it being super mad meant it would buzz buzz all night so we were like whoops

So elder arvidson ended up killing that one too

And then we realized it was like kinda a problem

So we call the mission housing coordinators (Elder Avarill and his wife) and they called management and then management proceeded to not do anything

We figured out the bees were coming from a pipe outside the apartment, they definitely have some kinda hive in there but the thing is it's too far from our balcony and too high up for us to deal with and there's an open vent in our laundry room so that's how they were getting in

The neighbors even noticed the problem and called management and they proceeded to not do anything again

The bees are still in that hive thing outside but their numbers in the apartment have dwindled we find a dead one here and there but they haven't been buzz buzzin in lile three days

The housing coordinator thought our dryer ball was attracting them or something and so we up and lost the thing lol so maybe that helped

Oh yeah so on thursday we went to daves hot chicken it ended up being elder jones and i and a random english companionship

So we have our zone council (which was a really good Spirit filled meeting btw) and then we hitch a ride with the shadow hills ward elders because elder arvidson and elder pittman were taking forever and they're all like "ok we goin to daves?" and everyone agreed yeah and we said we were going to the one in indio and everyone ended up going to the one in palm desert lol and then elder pittman and elder arvidson ended up going to popeyes after telling us they were on their way which was pretty funny lol so it was just us and the english elders and then another english companionship pulls up and we're like "bruh we already done eatin lol

Also coachella fest is going on which is like a huge deal (it's a big music concert) and I've never heard of it but all the other missionaries thing it's so sick we're here while it's going on but it also means everyone is staying at family's houses for it so there's like no parking anywhere lol

But apparently the population of the valley "doubles" this time of year lol

Oh yeah we're teaching this lady named Ana and she is super awesome and was super close to coming to church on Sunday but she ended up having to go to LA but we have seen an awesome change in her since we started teaching her so keep her in yalls prayers fr

But yeah the work is kinda popping off we're having kind of a good problem of having too many people to teach so we're having to clean out our teaching pool a ton and it's lowkey kinda satisfying lol

What's crazy is the transfer's already over this week I hope I stay here so much

Also i saw a guam license plate that's a new one

Anyway this email's too long but I like this quote from Jacob in the Book of Mormon

"Oh be wise, what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12l) so don't be dumb ok love yall take care cuidense

Pictures!

-fire mailbox

-us having too much fun

-broken sprinklers

-cat

April 8th, 2024 - 33rd - Email - I broke somebody's guitar lol

 Hey yall

Hope you guys had a great week! This week was pretty good overall, general conference was epic gaming

But also my birthday was last week so that's really cool

Lately I've been reflecting on the fact that it's been two whole decades since I graced the world with my presence and it's acthally kinda wild how fast time goes by and I honestly felt like time went super slow before but now it's like danggggg I've been out almost eight months already like waddaheck

So conference was great and the new temples are cool shoutout to my byu roommates from iowa that wont have to drive to nebraska anymore

Also my brother served his mission in rosario so thats cool

And our friend we got to general conference who is from Venezuela was super stoked for the maracaibo temple and was texting his family about it even tho he's not a member and not even from maracaibo

Some cool stuff happened like on my birthday we did a quick exchange with the other elders in the apartment after dinner and then we went to a dudes house and he asked me to tune his guitar and it was like going well for the first three strings and then the fourth string goes and snaps and then the guy's just like "you can take it lol i got like 3" i felt so bad tho

Lets see what else

We had a spanish zone conference where every spanish missionary in the mission (like 60) met up in san bernardino and we had pretty much a normal zone conference but in spanish and it was super cool to see people I know like elder gonzalez (my trainer)

I did my first interview in spanish for this guy named jose and he was awesome no problems but he was stressed his boss wouldnt give him time off to get baptized and so I told him to pray to get time off and he got time off and got baptized

And lowkey spanish work is kinda popping off rn there's a ton of stuff to do and people to find and it's really fun so yeah

Ok pictures

-lizard

-me with a cake on my birthday

-elder jones got a 95 eco score in our rav4 (he usually gets like 50)

-another rocket launch

-me and the boys (elders) watching general conference

April 1st, 2024 - 32nd Email - Nobody lives in Salton City

Hey

So this week was kinda crazy so we'll go day by day

This week was freezing cold at night it was crazy but the weather overall was so chillin so that's awesome

Wednesday was cool we had an epic miracle that involved bringing the english ward's bishop to a lesson and it went crazy well (because one of the people we're teaching was baptized in his ward) and they ended up coming to church so that's awesome

So we did an exchange on tuesday with the elders in Salton City (where nobody lives) the area is super weird there's like four towns along the highway and most of the day is spent traveling between the towns

(Desert Shores, Salton Sea Shores, Vista Del Mar, and Salton City)

It's so weird down there but the work is popping off so that's epic

Anyway so the day started off great we were about to go work out in their garage (the house down there that the missionaries live in is really nice on par with the house I lived in in Victorville)

And then we didn't end up working out because elder malloch noticed that we had a flat tire

In the 40 minute drive the night before we didn't realize we had a flat tire so it mustve happened overnight

So we changed the tire and unfortunately it was a donut spare instead of a regular wheel so we couldn't just deal with it

There is NOTHING down there, the only store within a half hour radius is a gas station on the reservation so we drove the 40 minutes back to Indio to go to a pep boys and get a new tire (which took them 2 hours to replace and I took a fat nap) and then we went to subway and then ate lunch at my apartment lol and then took the 40 minute drive back so that took like 5 hours out of our day

But they have awesome people they're teaching down there

It was actually a two night exchange because wednesday was zone conference so we reexchanged at zone conference and it was definitely the best zone conference I've had yet I recognized like everybody although the drive from salton city sucked (it was in Yucaipa, a two hour drive, so we had to wake up at 5:30 to get ready)

Also the food was good it was pollo loco and the trainings and talks were awesome

Including from the new stake president in palm desert who told us his dads conversion story

And then we watched an hour and a half musical thingy of the Savior's life and stuff which was really really long and it had like not even acting it just had people singing but they also still had roles so it was kinda interesting but still long but also really spiritually uplifting

Uhhhh what else

Thursday we had a ward activity we called it a noche de empanadas (empanada night) and we had a lot of friends there which was great and we made a game for them to play which was fun

Friday was taken up by us helping someone move for like 3 hours which normally we wouldn't do but we got lost getting to his house for like 20 minutes lol and thennwe had a lesson halfway through so we had to leave and then the lesson canceled so we went back and helped him more

And we went to subway again lol

Saturday was also thanks day (if you remember that from my second email in the field) where we tracted from 9 am to 9 pm and it went by wayyyy faster than the first time, but also it was cool cuz we were inviting people to the easter services

Easter was also awesome and we attended both wards because we had friends who were trying out the english service

I love Easter, I shared 3 Nephi 11:10-11 countless times (which is why I threw it on the facebook)

Got some epic new people from thanks day which is super exciting and the work it boutta pop off

Also we had a barbecue as a zone for our activity today that was fun

Ok this email is hecka long

Pictures!

-me and elder barlow in salton sea

-my mom sent me my clarinet so that's cool

-i tracted with elder harris (an english missionary) on a quick exchange on thanks day and we took a video and elder pittman took this screenshot and posted it in our zone chat and this picture got posted on the missionwide messenger chat by president

-elder pittman holding a turtle

Other pictures