Week Nine Letter

"Work work work! the days here blend together, when you lose yourself in the work time flies! Our investigators are progressing, we had two come to church this week! André is in his 40s and had tons of questions for us, primarily why are there so many interpretations of the bible? we´ve been teaching him how the book of mormon and the bible work together to testify of christ, the missionary pal book that papa gave me is really helping! Álvaro is another porgressing investigator, hes about 70 years old, and immedately believes whatever we say! we´re explaining to him that he needs to pray about it, but if he beloieves right off the bat then fine by me! Both of these guys are champs, now we just need to get their wives on board! 

I had a really cool experience this week: last wednesday we worked in the street all day in the heat, and that night we had a meeting with our bishop. after the meeting, we usually swing by the relief society and gorge on their sweets, but as our meeting closed, we got a call from a sister in our ward whose little boy was extremely sick, and needed a blessing. we agreed to come over, but after hanging up we realized we would not onlt not be able to eat the delicious cupakes and other goodies, but we would have no time for dinner as well. this sister lives near the end of our boundries and we had no money for a bus, so we began hiking our way to her house. over rivers, bridges and highways, and the enitre time is was thinking about my gut. then it started raining on us.  when i say rain i mean buckets! i was miserable, i completely regretting leaving the safety and comfort of the chapel. after more than an hour of trudging through the storm (she lives way far away haha) we got to the house. we came inside and i saw the condition that this child was in and i was completely humbled. this small boy was very ill, and needed our help, but all i could think of on the way over was how much i didnt want to answer the call for aid. i immediatly prayed for repentance and asked for the spirit to return. the blessing we gave was one of the most powerful spiritual experiences ive ever had. I would walk across all of Rio to help that child of God again. lesson learned: quit thinking about yourself!

PS i gave my address to my house the other week, dont send letters there! not only will i not get them, i´ll get in trouble. send them to my missions address!!"

-Elder Kelland Hansen June 25, 2012

Week Eight Letter

"This week will be short since i want to send you guys come pictures, but things are starting to become routine! Im getting to know our investigators better... theyre pretty flimsy for the most part! hahaha we teach thyem and the spirit is there, and we commit them to read, ponder pray, etc. And in our next lesson(if we can even contact them again) theyver completely forgotten their commitments and the things they learned in the previous lesson! Its dificult to deal with, but im learning to love the people even if they dont love me! But every time we put our backs into the work, the Lord blesses us in some way. 

We have an aweosme ward! They just got a new bishop... they havent had one in three years!! Almost everyone is a convert, so it puts a twist on the way things operate. Todays been really annoying haha i forgot all my stuff at the house so we had to go all the way back, and then i was printing off photos to send and they charged a boat load! But Im not letting too much get under my skin, it drives the spirit away! I am eating three meals now, thanks to all for the concern! haha We dont have bikes or cars... that would be a funny joke! Icant even take pictures around here in fear of getting robbed, i can get shanked for much less than a bike! 

But im doing well here, i filmed a little video of our house this morning, hope everyone enjoys! Vai com Deus!

the address to my house is:

Rua Lauro Sodré, 148 Casa 2

Nilópolis, RJ

Brasil

i dont know the address of our church, but its in olinda on Roberto Silveira. If youre using google earth, check out Beira Rio, thats where we do most of our tracting!"

-Elder Kelland Hansen, June 10, 2012

Week Seven Letter

"Ups and downs for Elder Hansen! First off is the language, my companion and i ALWAYS speak Portuguese!! i mean always, we study, teach, converse, joke, write in my journal and even think in portuguese! Its honestly awkward right now typing in english haha. its a blessing and a curse, im picking up the language really quick! But when im stressed, or have an important question, or anything, we never use our native tongue. Ive got a pretty hard working trainer, he expects a lot outta me and we work with everything we have every  day! 

Our eating schedule is really weird, we have a tight budget, so we only eat lunch, no breakfast or dinner!! we go to all you can eats or members houses to stock up for the day. im either starving or stuffed!! Nilópolis is really cool, its got everything from nice neighborhoods to some really ´interesting´ areas! our area is huge, apparently we have around 200,000 people in our area!! our daily routine is like this:  wake up, study, eat, work, sleep. thats it! its difiuclt at times, but such a blessing when youre serving others all the time!

 The Manaus temple here in Brasil was dedicated this week, we got to watch the dedicatory sessions here in Rio! it was really spiritual, my testimony was strengthened and i recieved strength to continue the work!! i got  couple letters this week too, that helped a lot! my new address is

Elder Kelland Hansen

Brasil Rio de Janeiro Mission

Rua Dois de Dezembro 78 salas 703/704

Flamengo

Rio de Janeiro

22220-040 RJ

Brasil

Thanks for the support everyone!"

-Elder Kelland Hansen June 12, 2012

"Can someone say.... RIO?!?! Haha im finally here!!! i awoke at 3:30 in the morning to catch a bumpy bus ride to the airport, and i said my goodbyes to my companions, the comforts of the MTC, and São Paulo! the flight was great, i slept through it haha went i awoke i saw to my left the famous Cristo de Redentor, way cool to see in real life. its beautifulç here!!! we were picked up by our mission president and travelled to the mission home. the mission home has perhaps the most stunning view a house can have, we could see the Cristos, the bay, and sugarloaf mountain all in one extravagant view, i´ll send some pics! There we had lunch with the president..... im still thinking about it!!! it was filled with meat, mashed potatoes, italian dishes with a brazilian twist, and other delicacies!

then i met my trainer, Élder Rumsey! Hes from Seattle, hes way cool but we havent spoken a word of english to eachother! its a bit weird at times but im learning the language really quick!! Élder Rumsey is a really good companion, hes on task, teaches with the spirit, and i very patient! We´re serving in a suburb called Nilópolis, about an hours busrided from downtown Rio. Its very different here, houses are the size of small bedrooms, trash is everywhere and horse drawn chariots are common! I really like it here though, the foods good, the people are humble and the members are giants in Spirit!! Im really honored to serve here. the language has thrown me through a loop, the people here speak with a `carioca,` an accent that throws a spin on portuguese! Its really dificult to understand, and even more dificult not to zone out when you have no idea whats going on haha. Ive learned so much though! my language skills have grown exponentially, my trainer does his best to involve me in the lessons.

We have some awesome Investigators! these people have definitely been prepared to hear the gospel. on my third day we ran into Mateus and his family, and tought them of the restoration of the gospel. We commited them to baptism in our first lesson! theyre set from the 24th of June.... i cant believe its already june! we have other progressing investigartors as well, i´ll talk about them in another update haha i love this work. We´ve already had some dificult days, but the payoffs are worth it! every day i become more of the man that ive always aspired to be, my progression cant be charted! I dont know if you´ll recognize me when i get back haha im excited for my end product!!!"

-Elder Kelland Hansen June 4, 2012