Elder Hansgen Takes Honduras : January 20, 2014

Well everyone who was dying and at the edge of their seats waiting to see if I had changes or not, you can relax, I don't have changes and I am pretty stoked about it!

Something extremely difficult has just happened in the mission of little, old Elder Hansgen.

First off, Elder Tingey left, boy was that a hard one to let go. He and I became really close very fast! I will miss him so much. I learned a crap load of stuff from him; mostly about the atonement, forgiveness, and that everyone has their individual trials in this life. He helped me out a whole lot with my own errors and timidness. He and I were forced into situations where we both were young in the mission and both gringos in a not so “progringo” world. It’s weird, when I look back at my mission so far it seems that with him I felt the spirit the strongest while teaching the lessons. He was my comp. for two weeks but he will be a friend for a lifetime, no doubt in my mind. He is going to change and affect so many people’s lives for the better! I'm proud to call him and Elder and friend.

Something weird happens when you're a missionary and you put on a plastic badge with Jesus Christ’s name on it. We're 18, 19, 20, and 21 year-old kids that do not have a clue about the real world! We are still super immature. We have a bunch of stuff to fix within ourselves and we're expected to go out day in day out and preach something that has an eternal truthfulness. We change people’s lives with a freaking book! That freaking book is my favorite book and I probably say I know it’s true 50 times a day! I love it, but, back to the missionary thing… Wow, does the Lord trust us. I don't think I realized how big of a privilege it was until the other day when my comp. and I were at an appointment with J.

Now J hasn't lived a perfect life, and no one has. I don't want people to judge her because she sins differently then you or me or anyone. The problem with J is this… In order to bring her and her kids eternal happiness we have to either break her family or another person’s family apart. (somewhere down the timeline of things in Honduras, someone had the great idea of making it ok to live in two different houses and start a family with two different people and then mentally abuse their wives into thinking that was ok) if you can feel the frustration I have in my words then…well, yeah. Anyways, other than that she, just like every other investigator and went on a confession rant. Now, back to the missionary thing, I'm 19 years-old, I'm not a therapist, a rehab center, or a person that can forgive the things you've done. Why do they trust us? Why are they telling us this information? This has been a real big question in my head ever since the MTC. But you know, I just can't help but realize that the name Jesus Christ does a lot more for people than you or I can comprehend.

I have actually learned out here that being a representative of... Jesus Christ, I take that back, you don't have to be a missionary for this to happen. It’s your choice to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and represent Him, His church, and your Heavenly Father! It’s the way you get up in the morning and start to make decisions in your life, it’s the smile you put on your face, even when sometimes it feels like it shouldn't be there. Anyways people feel that you truly are a representative and they trust you with a lot!

I have had to grow up fast out here, preparing people to marry, helping people with yearlong repentance processes, having to tell people that they just aren't ready yet. And all at the same time teach me. When you go on a mishh you're on your own, you don't have a mom or dad, you don't have your best friend to call up to go and get a Frosty. You have you and you only, and if you don't like the person you are you have to deal with it and make a change, you have to convert yourself out here. A mission is like school for life.

I have learned so much and grown up so fast and have a lot more to learn and grow. But, just to let you know I'm working on it. The world needs more missionaries. But also He needs more people that love Him more than they love the world, more then they love to sleep, to party, and to do stuff that literally has to value. We need more truly converted disciples of Jesus Christ that don’t falter.

I read this quote a while ago on the blog of one of my favorite people. She thought no one was reading but I was! Hopefully she doesn't get mad. Her name is “My amazingly beautiful sister.” (that was the name that came up on my phone whenever she called).Gosh I remember being so mad that on my crappy phone it wouldn't show that whole name when she called. Haha but, whatever! Stevie Zel, thank you for the quote, I took the liberty of changing a few words. Hopefully the dude or chica that wrote it doesn’t get offended, hopefully they get baptized. Hopefully they have figured out what most people including myself are still working on.

"No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is that good people do not know what temptation means, this is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the Satan's army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man, who gives in to temptation after five minutes, simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness and of temptation; they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it"

Well, there it is…you don't need my "Ely depiction or commentary" on it because it stands strong enough by itself! I'm converted and I can say that I know it’s true! I hope all can say the same one day.

I realized something as well the other day, some of you reading this, some of the people I'm coming in contact with here and everywhere else in my life. Maybe I won’t get the chance to see or talk to you again. But, I promise, cross my heart and hope to die that I will be the last one to enter those doors to heaven. Because I will wait until every single one of you figures it out. I'm not going in until I see all of you there first! All the days in this world are hard, tough and frustrating. Heavenly Father will push you to your limits everyday because he knows it’s a mindset, it’s a spiritual choice of the soul. It has nothing to do with physical things in this world. He wants to test you to know if you are ready to come back if you're worthy to come back. So I'm waiting and wishing that my voice touches something.

Oh yeah should probably tell you the other experience I had the today, Wednesday 22, 2014!

So today were changes and Tingey left and our district leader ended his mission! What a stud by the way, he served like 25 months or something like that! Love him and will miss him! Anyways, just a normal p-day! Untilllll, well I'm sitting here writing this email, what? All the sudden Elder Tingeys old companion, that had to go to change meetings to get the new Elder that was coming here, comes up to me and says, in awful, failed attempt of English, "cogrnaduallauuchosshon jew r new disctrct leeeeadder." Well now that I have 7 months I can now translate that in my head in seconds. I'm the new district leader of our district.

HaHa… first off, whoa, whoa, whoa!! I'm super unprepared but, I have faith, I have an awesome district and I know for a fact that we are going to be the best district out there!!!!

Leeetts Goooo!

What up Honduras?

What up district leader?

What up I'm kinda frightened!!!!

Elder Hansgen