Another week in paradise

Another week another tale. Seems to happen a lot especially when your in a new area. But hey I won't complain. 

So Monday we had an adventurous p day. First off we went to this place called the avenues in viera. And oh my goodness. It's a shopping center with a ton of good stores and places to eat. The closest thing I can compare it to is the gateway in SLC but that's not giving it enough credit. We then ate lunch with a bunch of missionaries and then road tripped to the river front to do some skate boarding. I'm not very good at skate boarding. Like I just decided later on to follow in a car bad. So later on a cop stops us and says he's received complaints of us hooping and howling. False. So now we're missionaries and hooligans. And then we went and emailed and then did some more boarding and I got better. 

Tuesday was good. Taught some less actives got a nickname from brother Nickerson. It's hughey. And members here call me elder handsome the first time I meet them. My reputation follows me. 

Wednesday we met another guy at Walmart. This guy is an alcoholic and he's not in our area like the last guy so passed him off to the other elders. After that I made some amazing looking tie dye cookies. They looked like unicorn poops. It was cool. 

Thursday everyone ate my unicorn poops and thought they were delicious. And after we all ate at Wendy's. And heads up don't get the cheese bacon fries. I felt lethargic and like an american. 

Friday we helped Nickerson with a few things and then later that night I went on exchanges to Melbourne with elder izatt

Saturday we had a three hour lesson with the first guy we met at Walmart Shaun. Turns out he's a drug addict. So we fought through that and then did the normal missionary deal. We then drove far away to eat at Golden Corral because why the heck not. 

Sunday was pretty normal. I wore suspenders and looked great while doing it. Ate food and played games at the schaefers

I love y'all. Have a good week. 

Adventure!!!!

So new area. Uh, that's a lot of change. I don't know where to even begin! So I am serving in the viera first ward. 

That's me I'm right there. Well not exactly but I'm there in that vicinity. That's right the beach is in my area. So is Patrick's AFB which we have ins to get in there. My area is full of rich people and it's a non tracting/ finding area. It's all through member work and it is so much nicer to be in viera. I love leesburg but I love viera even more! There's family's here, nice restaurants,nice stores,we have an absolutely terrific meal coordinator momma Schafer. I literally haven't had to eat dinner at home since I got here. It is so refreshing to have people that want to feed the missionaries. But anyways I'll go into that later. 

So Monday was the end of my victory tour throughout leesburg but that mainly happened at night. For most of the day it was low key. Took a nap. Shopped. Got a hair cut. Emailed y'all. Usual stuff. Later that night I said goodbye to the bishop and his family all of whom I really liked. And then after that I said goodbye to the hulseys whom I reactivated. That was hard. Mainly because they were my favorite family and also their little baby I have seen grow up. Little lily is only one day older than my mission. 

Tuesday was the big big day. So I loaded all of my crap into the car. Said goodbye to my awesome apartment. Said good bye to leesburg and then later on said goodbye to my companion. I was scared. Terrified more really. It was just so new. And also big church news. They are turning an area of the the church ranch into a community for the homeless. And guess who gets to build it. Missionaries. So some missionaries were given special transfer calls. I wasn't but back to the real deal. So I was one of the very last missionaries to receive assignment. Talk about a nail bitter but eventually I got placed in the viera first ward in cocoa zone with elder penfold. Lucked out on that one. Penfold is on his 21 month mark so he's dying soon. But he's cool I really like him. We get along great. We then ate dinner at a flippen mansion. With 7 bathrooms!!! Also fun fact pututau is my new ZL. 

Wednesday was a good day with readjusting. To a new area. Met a lot of really cool people and did some awesome missionary type of things. Saw a rocket launch. That was way cool. We actually watched it with some other elders at the mansion and man that was cool. It just looks like something really small and then it goes out of sight and the minutes later you hear the rumbling which is pretty cool. Later that night I met momma Schafer. 

Thursday was chill. Had district meeting. Ate lunch with the leadership of the zone. Fun stuff really. I also started learning ASL and now I can finger spell. I hope to find a ASL for dummies book and become a tool for that. 

Friday we helped clean the church with the Schaffer family. Man I had no idea how much work it is to clean the church. You actually have to vacuum the benches weekly. Like lift up the vacuum and put on there and vacuum. It really gives you an appreciation of what people do. And also we got chick fil a milkshakes afterwards. 

Saturday. I ate like a king. Lunch at chilis and then dinner at this really good Chinese place. The Chinese place was way fancy. Like the member threw down a hundred to feed us. That what happens when you get fed by an ex mission president. Like all these members are like. You want desert too? Oh mah gosh I love it. Saturday we also had a really cool miracle. So my new apartment stinks so we went to go purchase smelly good stuff at Walmart. So we walk in and this guy shouts after us Latter Day Saints! So we go talk to him. Turns out he's had the lessons before and he wants to be baptized so we talk and do the normal thing and when it's time to go we say a prayer with them and then he starts sobbing. I have always taken the gospel for granted but seeing a man have it in his hands and then loose it and find it again and be so overjoyed by it that is truly amazing. He doesn't live in our area and he isn't our gator anymore but I don't care. He found what is the very best for him and were part of that. 

Sunday I met a lot of people and did missionary work. Met a little girl in our ward and we ate dinner at there house and I am now wrapped around her finger because that's elder Hanson. If there's a little girl and she befriends me I melt. Again I can't have a house full of girls when I'm married because I would become a pushover papa. Also played this game monopoly deal. New favorite card game. If you can find it please send it to me. 

Overall I'm loving my new area. It's the best. Also go and join Orlando Florida missionary moms page on Facebook. And you can see my face. 

Farewell, Hanson 

Big News!

Judging by the title there's big news. Big news is that I realized
that I have under a year and a half left. Jk that's not big news. The
big news is that I am being transferred. That's right. This old horse
has spent enough time in the leesburg and now it's time to leave. I'm
scared but it's understandable after spending more than a quarter of
my mission in one single area. I'm optimistic of my future in my new
area. I have a list of things that need to be done and the lord has
things that need to be done by me and my new companion and I will
gladly do them.

So Monday we were party crashers and crashed a district pday of a nearby
district. Well we didn't crash it. We were invited by majority of the
district because we are so much darn fun. And also well because it was
taking place within our area. It was good. Played some volleyball
which I have come to love and also gotten a lot better at then when I
had started playing it everyday. The one problem with playing
volleyball in the summer in Florida is the horrific heat and humidity
and little air flow. The wind really only blows right before a storm
comes through which is at least once a day. Monday we also ate dinner
with a less active member family and I don't get why people get so
hung up on the fact that someone offended them. I understand the
social aspect of church but clearly that isn't something that you
should be focusing on while your in church on a Sunday. I flat out
laid down why they need to be back and church and it's amazing when
the lord gives you something to say how much power can come out with
it.

Tuesday I stayed up late to make cheesecakes and I am proud of them.
Here's one of em.That is the double layer, chocolate chip brown sugar pumpkin cheesecake. I messed with the recipe last minute and it turned out to be a really really good idea because it made the cheesecake a lot better. I also made my usual orange dreamscicle cheesecake and that has now been dubbed the conversion cheese cake. More on that story later. The final one i made completely from scratch. Crust and all. It was a normal New York cheese cake and then i topped it with multiple berries and it turned out really good as well. Baking has turned into more of a sources of enjoyment and also a slight obsession. My tools now consist of a mixer, a sick apron, a cake pan, a spring form cake pan, and a cake holder. I might have to start a bakery for my career. 

Wednesday everyone ate my delicious cheese cake and enjoyed themselves. I have formed a tradition with cheesecake. The cheesecake usually comes out for either of these two occasions. Its president interviews or the last district meeting of the transfer and it was the last district meeting of the transfer so walah! Wednesday was pretty low key nothing really amazing happened. I took a stellar nap on the way back from District Meeting and it made me oh so very happy. There's just something about sneaking in a good nap from time to time that provides me great joy.

Thursday was a normal Thursday.

Friday was also normal.

Saturday we ate so good ole barbecue with the bransons (clints sister) and just had a good ole time. After lunch we started doing the good ole missionary things and all of the sudden on the car screen it says " Incoming Call: President Berry". Thats the call that you get on Saturdays before transfer if your moving up or your training. So the phone call goes on and we find out the Elder Peay is training and thus it means i'm OUT! I greatly enjoyed that call because afterwards i was screaming at the top of my lungs in the car out of joy and happiness. granted i am going to miss the people in ole Leesburg but man i need a change of surroundings. So we did the usual Saturday thing and i began the goodbye train. Which of course is kind of depressing.

Sunday me and elder peay did the sunday thing and everyone was rather sad that i was actually heading out and then they were shocked that i had been here for so long. And then the whole joke of "we were going to move your records here!" started coming up. After church we had a baptism of two young kids and peay baptized and i confirmed them. I was on a spiritual high and it was a really good confirmation and there were a lot of promises in there that were prompted by the spirit. After all was said and done and we were taking it all down the first counselor attacks and critiqued the confirmation. He said that i was wrong for saying what i said in the blessing. Well excuse me sir for following the promptings of the spirit. Thats one thing that has really made me realize the whole statement about the church is perfect the people arent. Its so frustrating with some of these ward members that you deal with as a missionary and they try to tell you how you should do your work when they have no authority on the matter. They don't hold those keys. gah! Ok rant over. So i said my goodbyes to my converts and all that jazz and to the people that i have reactivated and they all said pretty much the same thing but it really makes your realize that you are doing something right with the area you're in. it really helps you to keep on trucking through the gospel.

So you wont find out about what area i'm in until next week. Tell ya then! BYE!

Elder Hanson

4th of July and DISEASES!!!!

So brief explanation on the title. Just because it says diseases
doesn't mean that I have contracted a disease. I'm healthy as a horse.
But other than that. I. Am. Tired. I'm tired. Just plain tired. I
don't want to talk about how tired I am but man I am tired. I'm really
starting to get tired with this area. We're still teaching lessons but
it is just slowing and it's tough to find the new people that are
actually worth our time. But nonetheless I shall continue.

So Monday was low key. I took a nap and it was legit. It rained like
most days in the summer.  By the way I am so sick of the rain. Geez
what is Florida under the leaky pipe in heaven?! Weather report oh hey
look it's supposed to be hot, muggy, and Rainy today. Shocker. But
then I ate food. Speaking of food so many people are feeding us it's
awesome! It makes me happy.

Tuesday was usual missionary stuff.

Wednesday I had elder Chidister here with me. That was cool. We ended
up doing service in the rain cuz well were awesome!

Thursday we had ZTM and pres. Berry showed up and that was a tad bit
stressful but we did good and afterwards we went to chilis and that
was pretty delicious.

Friday was normal.

Saturday was the 4th of July and we actually spent most of the day
driving because of a couple of baptismal interviews one in leesburg
and one in apopka. After we just hung around a little afterwards since
we didn't have to be in by ten.

Sunday was normal. Got exposed to mersa prolly. We gave a blessing to
this lady who is 58 but looks 93. She looks terrible and obviously
doesn't take care of her self at all. So after the blessing we drove
to the hospital and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. I think I'm
going to survive but whatever I love my mission!

Sorry not too many exciting things have happened this week. I might
have something exciting next week.

Elda Hanson