Nick - Tennesee 04/30/2012

First off, so I don't forget it.  Thank you much for sending the address.  I'm supposed to report it to the mission office, the change of it.  But could I also get what stake and ward you're changing to?  They're a bit picky, it appears.  If you send letters or a package, it would be to the mission home and then they'll forward it.  But I don't really remember the address.  I'll find it out right now.  It's on LDS.org but that's one of my allowed sites.

 

105 Westpark Dr. Ste. 190

Brentwood, TN 37027
United States

 

By the way, that map function is quite handy.  It's nice, too.  And just because I'm already on it, the one for Argentina is:

 

Ballesteros 1076, Moron

Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires 1706

Argentina

 

No, I don't know why it's named Moron.  A hand-me down from the Lamanite culture, perhaps.  You can also check on the blog for the mission if you so desire.  I think the name is something like buenosairesoeste.blogspot.com.  It's highly possible.  If you care to, it might have something interesting that they know about the visa situation that they can then relay to me.  I've heard they have a pretty big shortage of missionaries there right now.  But I can't look at it, so if there's something that could be good to know you can pass it along.  But this week has been good.  The first thing I'd like to share is that possums, if you were wondering, are not raccoons.  Nope, not really even close.  They really like being road kill.  I really want to kick one.  I almost had the chance earlier on Thursday when one ambled by, but there was a car coming.  But to visualize what they look like, just think of the R.O.U.S.'s from Princess Bride.  Exact same.  They might be half to three quarters of the size of an ROUS, but they look the exact same.  It was actually quite exciting when I noticed that fact, because I've always wondered what in the world they looked like, and that is what they look like.  Some people around these parts eat possum.  I've never had the opportunity nor will have the opportunity because the Spanish members certainly don't eat it.  Speaking of Spanish members, we had a wedding on Saturday.  Just an in church one where the bishop married them, but it's a start.  We helped set up a good amount.  I'd also like to reveal something to you known as Hispanic time.  Mormon Standard time is generally ten to fifteen minutes late, I believe.  Hispanic time is 30 minutes to an hour late.  It makes for slightly frustrating times for missionaries that actually want to do things.  But I could count it as good thing, because it means we were able to leave right when they started dancing.  I'm not big on watching dancing or dancing myself.  Especially with crazy Hispanics and strobe lights and colored flashing lights and Spanish music blasting through the cultural hall.  But it's alright, because Hispanics are generally far nicer with the missionaries.  Americans can be quite mean.  Hispanics will talk to you at the door, at least.  Even ones who really don't care to listen.  We're teaching some cool people.  Cool families.  Weather's been a bit weird here.  Getting warmer, either way about it.  And there are some mean hills.  I rode the bike a good amount this last week.  I understand how important gears are now.  Sticking it on the very lowest happens quite frequently.  But going downhill is quite fun.  We had exchanges in our district this last week.  And there was also a leadership training meeting.  So my companion and the other senior companion in our district of two companionships went to that.  Which left Elder Eppich and I in Columbia here doing our thing.  It was pretty cool.  We're both visa waiters for Argentina, the same mission, so we've both only been out a few weeks.  But either way, it was no problem.  We were able to understand the Spanish spoken, which would have been the biggest barrier.  We know how to teach, how to plan.  It was fun.  And yes, his name is pronounced like the word epic.  Pretty cool.  We were a companionship in my area here for a day and a half.  Taught a lot.

 

Sam & Matt - So what I'm geting is that you could live a pretty good life as a dwarf.  Nice and cool underground, few plants.  The swimming pools around here are all above ground ones.  It took me a bit to figure out why, but it was pretty obvious - the flooding.  I haven't yet seen someone use them yet.  The temperature is almost getting the 90s here, but it's been going back and forth, which is good for tornados.  I also greatly enjoyed your car problems.  It only runs when AC is off and the parking brake is on.  I also wondered how you thought to keep the parking brake on when driving.  Do you just always keep it on, or was it some kind of guess?  And dear sister, it appears that your entire garden is some kind of Word of Wisdom temptation.  You have teas, several hallucinogens.  Thank you for the Twinborn info.  I wondered if I'd read a different name, but I'm probably mistaken.  It probably hasn't been said yet.

 

Alex - Welp, being sick is no fun.  My companion has been a little bit sick, but it's less of an achy sick and more of a stomach sick.  Apparently the food we ate last night, seviche, was basically raw fish.  It's "cooked" with lemon juice, but that just means the fish is soaked in lemon juice.  No heat involved.  Plus some other stuff and probably mayo in it.  It seemed to have held over though, so we're safe.  It'll be interesting that y'all're moving.  Not too bad.  The different stake will sure be interesting, but you'll find a way.  Also, advice for being sick like that:  don't do things the days after you can actually move.  It can be fun to play basketball or ultimate frisbee the day after, but it will just prolong the feeling.  Also, on a different, random sidenote, feel free to save up money for your mission and put your extra money towards buying me a laser engraver, or a CNC machine, or a 3d printer.  Any of them will do.

 

Grandma & Grandpa - It's true, it's interesting to actually put yourself in the position of them.  It's been cool as I've continued reading through the New Testament all the things I've never seen before, because I haven't really read it through as I'm doing.  It can be a bit harder to understand than the Book of Mormon, but I work through it well enough.  Learning interesting things about that original church that Christ had established and that the apostles were helping to run.

 

Mom & Dad - Women's Conference sounds good.  And about moving.  Just be reasonable and civil, if you would.  I do realize that's harder to do, especially with household items that involved more than just money.  Like that poor little desk in my bedroom.  It survived well enough, with all it's lovely little scratches and names or whatever carved in it.  Please throw it out or give it away.  However, keep my bed for me.  Actually, I'll leave that one up to you.  And mother, whatever do you mean?  I love eating black beans.  Hispanics love eating them as well.  They taste good.  I also suffer through whatever is on my plate.  I even ate that weird seviche stuff, and I shun raw fish, and heavy amounts of mayo.  Tell Matt to stop being a bum.  He can type it out on his phone while using the restroom, slowly throughout the week, and then send it to you, whereby you can copy and paste it in to the email.  Easy and simple, no wasted time.  And that can replace the Dilbert which he finished reading as a bathroom activity.  Glad to know you enjoyed Women's Conference.  You should wrangle up the family and watch a conference talk on Sunday, and then talk about it.  Don't be shy, just throw out what you want to actually change after hearing the talk.  It's amazing how different people think differently, as well.  And believe me, Alex and Dad think differently than everyone else. 

 

Well, mi amada familia, have a good week.  Love y'all.  Do some good things.  Be patient and loving and kind. 

 

From the fingertips of,

Elder Hansen

Family E-mail

Hey Nick,

So I got the results of my allergy testing.  Turns out I'm allergic to at least half of what they tried.  Not allergic to cockroaches, mold, or dust mites.  I can still have a horse, rabbit, or bird as a pet too.  No cats or dogs.  I'm allergic to all the grasses they tested, nearly all the trees (not pine trees though), and all the weeds.  No wonder I've been having trouble.  We had a storm come in recently and it's not been nice.  I've got my usual hacking cough and I've lost my voice for at least three days now.  If you took away all the allergy stuff then I'd be feeling really good though. 

We got our pool set up and had a bunch of people over to swim yesterday.  Only Jerah's family and Matt and I swam but the parents showed up and chatted.  The pool was nice, if a little cloudy. 

My car had to go into the shop again.  It was only running when the AC was off and the parking brake was on.  Not sure how those two things are connected.  It sounds like the answer is to do with the wiring and it shouldn't be too expensive to fix. 

Your plant of the week is Hemerocallis fulva, commonly referred to as the Day Lily.  Eating large quantities of the leaves is known to have a hallucinogenic quality.  It has 5 out of 5 in the edibility rating and 2 out of 5 in the medicinal rating.  When the foliage is dried it can be plaited into cord and be used making footwear although it is normally considered just a bulb plant that is commonly used as a med-low ground cover in flower beds or for erosion control. 

Matt and Sam

PS. the mistborn word referring to a person with one allomantic and one feruchemical ability is twinborn.  They didn't mention if the name would be the same if the person had more than one feruchemical ability and was mistborn.  I'm guessing that will appear in subsequent books. 

pqpqpqpqppqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp

Hey Buddy,

                I am afraid that its begun. We are moving! Crazy stuff right? I am almost done with high school, and I believe that I am almost ready for the next step. I have of late been unfortunately ill. I can still move and the like but at the cost of protest from what seems my entire body. I am really tired and things have been going bad. I have prayed to get better, but nothing yet. Perhaps soon. Mother and father have done good with the move so far as in they have planned it out. I hope they keep the tempers cool. I am going to do my best to work with what I have got. And soft ball sized hail? That would be no bueno!  I am sorry but my brain isn't working. So I am going to go lie down. Thanks for serving the lord brother.

- Alex Hansen

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

dear Nick;

institute classes are about over, I sure will miss them through the summer. the pool is beautiful right now, there are only about 4 or 5 of us left who do 6:30 exercises, so we have lots of room. I especially like St. John too, especially the last chapter where a resurrected Christ comes back and builds a fire to cook some fish for the others, I can just see Peter getting so excited he flings himself into the water and swims to shore to greet Jesus . several of the artists have done pictures of that, I had one on our calendar last year. not much of anything new going on with granddad and I, glad you're keeping busy and getting in a lot of practice. Love you, Grandma

*************************************

Hi Nick,

Women's Conference was a great respite before the storm of moving.  Already a little tense discussions about what to move when or whether to move a specific item at all. Oh well, we'll get through it.  Dad has been weak/short of breath/tired for about 2 weeks.  Probably exacerbated (good word) by the heat (it's about 90+ already) and by the stress of our life now. 

I taught the lesson Sunday - Dad did a short wrap-up.  Thought it went well.  How can you mess up King Benjamin's address though?  Bittersweet feelings as it was our last lesson. 

In your last e-mail you recommended we make green stuff for the missionaries.  Did you mean salad?  Can it be your time in the MTC brought you around to the benefits of vegetables?  I'm pretty sure the green stuff didn't mean beans or peas, although that would be great if you learned to like them also.  I was pretty stunned by that little tidbit.

Matt has been lazy about writing to you.  Seems it's too early to get up on Monday morning before I need to get this sent, and Sunday just doesn't seem to happen for him.  Alas.  He is moving toward finals.  Many of his teachers are piling it on as they realize they haven't taught the requisite amount of content.  He is also looking for a place to move.  Debating on getting an apartment in his name and finding roommates himself or whether to just move in with someone else.  He hopes to make that decision this week.

I'm starting to move my sewing stuff over to the new house.  Just load up the car every time I go over there.  Plan to switch to the bathrooms and some of the bedroom stuff after that.  Alex is going to move his bedroom over there on Tuesday night along with the fridge.  He will then sleep there since Dad doesn't want the house to be empty.  Our address will be 4109 E. Adobe, 85205.  Halfway between Val Vista and Greenfield.  Sort of overwhelming when I stop to think about it all.  Hopefully if we just keep at it steadily, it will come together and not be such a major thing.

Women's Conference.  Went to an amazing talk about perfection and repentance.  Perfection is an ongoing process.  Just keep up with the repentance and it will come.  The guy that talked was funny, but serious when needed to be.  Quoted tons of scriptures and prophet quotes and didn't use one note.  Seriously amazing.  Easily the best talk of the conference for me.  I drug Jeanne to a talk about Women of the Covenant - also we went to one President  Monson's daughter and granddaughter.  The final speakers were Elder and Sister Neil Anderson.  It was funny.  She is so tiny they had to drag over a riser for her to be seen over the podium - like for the primary kids.  The music the last day was also great.  Good song to sing together - like Sister's in Zion & I Know that My Redeemer Lives, and a guy with real talent did a couple of solos.  Now  if only I can keep some of that alive and put it into action.

Well, need to get this off to you.  If I were to mail you a package, should it go to the mission office or to you?  If there, what is the address?  Let me know.  Love you lots, stay well and have a great week.  Love, Mom & Dad