Ankles and arms

So you know how I was talking about last week being a crazy week. Well this week got even crazier. Here's the basic gist of it. I got a bad sprain, I was on crutches, I had an amazing miracle, and... I am no longer serving in viera I got moved. Now to cover all of that. 

So Monday was pretty gosh darn fun. We played gator ball which is soccer mixed with rugby and it is incredibly fun. The goal is to kick or throw the ball at a chair and it is a workout. Then I emailed and did some shopping and it was great. After all of that we went to a families HFE and that was pretty cool. I ate delicious tres leche. 

Tuesday we had ourselves an exchange day. Elder gooch, whom I have know since the beginning of my mission, came down to me and elder Bagshaw. It was an ok exchange. That was the day I actually rolled my ankle. So we were walking back from a house we just visited and the sidewalk was kinda off and so I rolled it. It swelled up soooooo bad. It was the size of an egg in 30 min. And then Bagshaw made me tract all day long. By the end I could barely walk. It sucked. 

So Wednesday I have penfold back with us and I was talking with momma Schaefer to get some crutches and then I was thinking I should prolly call the mission office to get this taken care of and boom they told me to get an X-ray which I was honestly surprised. So that's going to be coming up on the insurance :). But I got my X-ray and the doc walked in said it was a sprain and tried to walk out. I said whoa whoa whoa man come back. I'm paying for you and your going to actually talk to me. He was a little huffy after that but oh well. So I had crutches and a brace to wear. And the we had BOM class and everyone was asking what happened. It was fun. 

Thursday was pretty uneventful during the day. We had district meeting and then we all went to eat at taco bell as a district. Pretty good all around. I burned some dried palms for service and man if you think dried dried stuff back home burns really good you have never burned dried palms. You light one end and all of the sudden you got a big fire going. That's a hot fire on a hot day. And then later that night we had a miracle. So we had a referral for a blessing and we went to said referral and met the family a mom, a dad, and a 13 year old daughter. So we gave all three said blessings and the spirit was really strong in short we challenged them all to be baptized, come to church, and take the lessons. They said yes to all three! Wahooooooo! That was a spiritual awesomeness. 

Friday I got up and got ready thinking it was going to be a normal day. At 8 I got phone call from president. Here's how said call went: hi president. "Elder Hanson! How are you and the companionship going?" Great! We just had an amazing miracle! " working hard?" Yes sir! " good good. Well elder Hanson I'm going to need to move you to Palm Bay. Elder ostler broke his hand and elder Vaughn doesn't have a license. I need you to be the designated driver." Oh uhm. Ok. "Elder Hanson I'm going to need you to leave today." Oh can I leave on Sunday so I can take care of a few things? "Elder I don't feel safe with elder ostler driving." Ok I'll go. Bam. I left 2 hours later. That was crazy. Pretty much after all of that we planned because I was new. And also had a really sweet lesson about temples. I have never had a stronger testimony until this past month. 

Saturday was a normal missionary day. 

Sunday I completely met a brand new ward and that was a little tough but I'll get over it. 

I know you'll all ask so. I am now in the Palm Bay 1st ward. It's a ward where only good missionaries get sent. So I'm flattered. I now have a son. I'm actually elder ostlers mom. Sooo. 

Elder Vaughn is 20. Convert of 5 years. Nice guy and he smart. I like him a lot. He's from Texas. And he's been out for 19 months. 

Elder ostler is 18. Shy but sweet guy. I like him. He's from Provo. And he's been out for 1 and 1/2 months. 

So yea super exciting. See yall in 15 months. 

This is that family.

New stuff

I'm tired. This past transfer flew past. I forgot that on Thursday
that I hit 9 months. Man. Have I really been out that long? Three
months or so till Christmas! And then you will see me for the last
time on a Christmas. Can you imagine that? That insane!!!!! Wow.

So Monday we went and went to this pretty sweet comic book store.
Believe it or not I had a lot of fun there. They had this wall of
board games and it was so much fun. I loved it. We found his really
fun game called the worst game ever. It's apples to apples mixed with
being ridiculous. It was super fun and super recommended. Then we had
a FHE at momma schaefers house which was fun.

Tuesday we got in the car and drove to the mighty orlando with brother
Nickerson to pick up the new guy. We got him and absolutely hated him.
He was the guy we were hoping not to get but we got him anyway and
he's a nazi!

Wednesday it was a rocky day. Me and elder penfold have been fighting
off elder Bagshaw. He's completely overbearing and really just is
trying to take over the area and we're not to pleased about that. So
we've been resisting a lot.

Thursday we've slowly been wearing away at Bagshaw trying to break him
and Thursday was the day that we saw that he was starting to break.
The down side was that he ratted on us on Thursday to the zone leaders
saying we're too lazy and we don't utilize our time. All of which is a
lie. Also on Thursday we dropped our long term gator. Blah.

Friday was alright. We started getting a lot more rain and storms and
due to the supposed hurricane/tropical storm. And we also bought a lot
of toilet paper and water and such stuff. We also went to this super
awesome pet store and I held a ferret and it was super awesome.

Saturday we went to this one guys house and turned out to be a
hoarding pot head. Who also doesn't clean his bathroom. I'm not going
to go any further because i just really don't want too.

Sunday was usual churchy things.

And today I'm emailing you and playing gator ball.

Lov you all be safe!

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!!

Gooooooooooood morning Vietnam! Just kidding. I'm not actually in Vietnam. But good morning from Florida! Well more accurately afternoon but who really cares about the specifics. I sure as heck don't. Well another week has passed by and that's nice. It's the last week of transfers and this past 6 weeks have gone by incredibly incredibly quick. So I'm back up on the board for am I staying or am I going. 

Monday was rather uneventful. We looked at our schedule and said hey what do you want to do today. I dunno. So we slept. It was glorious. I slept clear until 4 and you don't realize you can do that until you actually try. And then I emailed. And then I went on exchanges with the one and only pututau. It was like getting the band back together. 

Tuesday we did some teaching and did some service and man service outside in Florida is just terrible. Like sweating like a pig. That was fun. Then we decided to extend the exchange for another day. And then I ate some Barbados food which was interesting. And then went to go pick up my suit from home home. 

So Wednesday me and pututau drove down to Palm Bay so that he could straighten things out. So that was fun. So we got done with all of that stuff and ate some McDonald's. And drove back. Later that night we ate some real good Haitian food and then we decided hey let's extend this sucker. So I had the really long exchange. 3 days. It started to feel like old times again. 

Thursday we had district meeting nothing amazing to report there. So here's the highlight for the week. So while I was gone penfold built a potato cannon. Ok. 

Friday is where things got crazy. So said potato cannon launches some pretty good fireballs. So I loaded it with fuel and forgot about it. An hour or two I come back and click it and nothing happened and so I look down the barrel to make sure it is still sparking and boom. It got me with a fireball on my right side of my face. I burned my eyelashes, eyebrows and my hairline so I bough some scissors and did some trimming and I look normal just no right eyelashes. So yea. 

Saturday and Sunday not much happened. 

So it's the last week of the the transfer and there is rumor that penfold will be leaving and that I will be training and that's been back up by the zls so we will see what will happen. 

Peace out from paradise. 

Just another day in paradise

I feel so calm. I guess that's what happens when your only living 9
miles away from the ocean. It's super nice. Somebody call Ronald
McDonald because I'm lovin it!

So Monday we went to the church ranch and that was informative. I
learned that you tell how big a gator is by measuring his eyes to the
tip of his snout. So I measure a gator who visited a taxidermist and
that sucker was 12 inches which means a 12 foot long gator. That's a
big reptile. Also learned that due to the ranch the church owns 2%
percent of Florida due to the ranch. The number one killer of cattle
out there is lightning. I also saw like 6 gators, 2 turtles, 2 deer,
and a possum. Quite the adventure on the church ranch tour bus.

Tuesday was a normal day nothing eventful happened.

Wednesday we helped paint all day. It was quite the task. We had 4
rooms to paint in one day. No choice. We started at 10 and finished at
1030. Quite the task. Eventually we did get it all done but man I've
mastered the skill painting the color white. So now I've got great
skill with that.

Thursday I picked up the phone and we got the assignment to talk on
church Sunday. Greeeeeaaaat so whatever. We then had ztm and ate lunch
afterwards and you'll never guess what I found. A pita pit!! Oh my
gosh that was so great! After lunch I did a mini exchange and hung out
with elder Honda and had a pretty fun time.

Friday was normal.

Saturday also was normal.

Sunday was Sunday. I spoke. Hated that. And the did normal stuff.

So that was my week. It was good and I'll see y'all soon

Elda Hanson

No pictures!

Oh let me regale you with great tales of my past weeks adventure. I
mean it's all pretty much the same to me but to everyone else it's a
different tale so we shall continue onwards with story time now.

Monday was the pday just like how every Monday is. So I lent my bike
out. Now before you get mad here's my story. So elder Hondas bike was
sadly destroyed on the way to transfers because a missionary didn't
get on the bike rack good enough. And this certain brand of bike rack
is terrible. So a semi destroyed his bike poor guy. So we drove him
and his comp to get a new bike after a few days and he got a new bike.
I noticed on his destroyed bike days later that it had the fantastic
CTR Bikes sticker on it and I asked him if he had the replacement
option. He said he was gonna check and days later he gleefully says
he's getting a replacement bike from CTR. That's right I remember the
small details. So this brings us back to Monday. He asks if he can
borrow a bike because he needs to turn in the one he bought and the
mission won't let them borrow a car or spend the 120 miles to go pick
it up. So me being a kind soul lent him my bike. Here's my reasoning
why. He offered if my bike was wrecked or damaged he would pay for
repairs or pay the 75 for a new bike. He would also re buy all the
accessories I have on there and pay for the assembly of my bike. Up
score for me is I get my bike burned in and I earn a favor with a
missionary. So it was a win situation if I did it so I took it. Now I
am picky with loaning. No members. No gators. Very few missionaries.
So there that's the story of the bike.

Later we went with Nickerson and tried to buy a Honda. No luck. So the
only logical thing to do next is go to the Porsche dealership. So
went. Tried and failed. So we settle and bought a kitchen table
instead. For dinner we ate at the Beasleys. They fortunately live on
the Air Force base which borders the ocean. So guess who got to tour
the military base. Me. I did. Nice base. Golf course, movie theater,
library, marina, campground, auto shop really everything. So we have a
few rules. One of which was ask before we take a picture. So we drive
past the airfield and see 5 C-130's and 3 Apache's. Naturally we want
to take a picture so we ask. Our answer. No. That blew everything I
was hoping for. That moment he said no we both silently and sadly put
our cameras away. So after the base tour I did the thing that every
missionaries hopes he can do. I visited the beach. That's right I saw
the ocean. And touched actual beach sand. It was cool.

So Tuesday we were supposed to have interviews with president berry
but we had a doctors appointment in Orlando so we kinda missed that.
And since president doesn't give a crap about penfold that much and he
knows I'm a responsible missionary we may or may not have passed
through.

Wednesday I ate with some Columbians. I really like the Columbian
people. There super friendly and super funny. After that we went to a
part members house and he showed us all of his guns. I fell in love
with his kimber 1911. Don't really like the smith and Wesson shield
too much. He had a really beautiful AR-15. All in all the man is
really good at building guns.

Thursday and Friday nothing really happened.

Saturday we helped this nonmember family move and I have decided no
heavy wood, iron, or glass in my home. Such a pain. Also the wife was
reaaaaally bossy about it too.

Sunday I went to church imagine that. Made some cookies. And ate on base.

So that's my story. Today I'm going to the church ranch and I'll make
sure to take some cool pictures if there are any. Love y'all.

Elder Huey.

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