To Nick from the Family
dear Nick;
Guess I get to start your letter today, I've been trying to get
vacation pictures in order and I see I have been really remiss about
dates--especially years. when looking through some of my old letters I
see my cousin's daughter and her husband were mission presidents in
Argentina. now I guess I will have to write my cousin Stirley and ask
Sue's married name and what year they were there. we had a re4ally
nice 4th of July- it rained and was so cool and comfortable. yesterday
dad came in with the goofiest smile on his face, I knew he wanted
something but everything I suggested was not right so finally I turned
TV on so he could watch the news- about 1/2 hour later he said he was
hungry (he had thrown away his dinner) I went through the list of what
I could fix, finally he say's "what about a taco" guess that's what
he had been wanting all day and didn't dare ask for. the Diamondbacks
are not doing well so we are not getting free tacos, hope things pick
up soon. that's all my exciting news. Love you, grandma
Dear Big Little Brother,
I gave you a synopsis of what I would like to have done over the
course of the last week. I did it. Those 2 dates were good. The first
was a double date with me and sammi, Micheal and Mary and we went to a
new movie called Brave. It sucked… but afterwards we went to ice
cream and that was delectable. Then I went on a date to go bowling,
and it was awesome. Liz Gunnel is a twin, went to westwood, and is
really, really awesome! Institute was good on Thursday. The fourth of
July wasn't as good as I had hoped though. Basically life is good. I
am going to ask you Once again what did you do to my Tie!!!!
Hahahahaha Don't worry bout it. I like a good story though.( Feel free
to embellish it as much as you want.) I am off to California this
weekend. Keep on Keeping on.
-Alex Hansen!
Nick,
Nothing much happened this week. Matt just really wants to know what
you thought of his letter to you from last time.
Sam and Matt
Hi.
A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
Mohandas Gandhi
I copied that off the sticky note on the computer. You're welcome.
- Matt
Hi Nick,
I guess everyone is trying to keep it short since you have 2 emails to
plow through. We are doing ok. Dad and I are tired of the HEAT. It
was even below than 100 for the Fourth. First for a lot of years.
So, only 6 more shifts until I'm done with work. Dad taught
priesthood lesson today. He was called to be the employment
specialist. I'm the Provident Living Specialist. I've heard they've
changed things up at the cannery. Guess I'll find out the details on
that now. Sort of funny. I don't need any food storage at all since
we moved. Probably not for the next 10 years or so at least. Oh
well….
I'm struggling to know what to write. You can expect a package in the
future - about a month or so. Did you ever get the last package I
sent before you went to Argentina? I hope so. It had some fun stuff
in it - at least Alex and I thought so.
Not sure what pics to send. I'll work on that either tomorrow or
during the week. Love you lots, Mom
Nick,
Mom said it all. Priesthood lesson was on missionary work. We keep
praying for you. There are pathetic letter writer in your family. I
think you do the best at writing, which I find humorous since before
your mission you always tried to give inadequate responses to
inquiries.
Dad
From Nick to the Family
What a week. Woof. The space bar is crazy weird on this keyboard. Make do, will I. Trying to think of what to write. One thing that I´ve been doing round these parts is going on exchanges every week, because my comp is the district leader. A little bit harder to get used to, but a good experience. Get to know some other areas a bit better, and get to know other missionaries a bit better. For example, I learned I need to speak more Spanish with my comp, because if I don´t and I get a native comp, I just won´t do as well as I could. Overall, I´m still alive. And an interesting fact I thought you might like to know. The fruits they have here are no different than in the states. Bananas, apples, oranges, pears are the basics. Not really anything else. It really doesn´t taste any different either. It is cheaper though, overall. Thank goodness. Today we are going to make chocolate chip cookies. We finally found out where to buy chocolate chips and brown sugar. Pretty exciting. Welp, on to the next.
Gma & Gpa - Wonderful wonderful. I haven´t seen any Taco Bells around these parts. They´ve got McDonald´s and Burger King, but not Taco Bell. In general, they really don´t have Mexican food as it is generally know - tacos, burritos, quesadillas. A little sad, but I will make it through. I can make it if I find the ingredients easily enough. Good to know you´re enjoying the golf cart though.
Matt & Sam - What an interesting thing to read. Sounds like San Diego was quite the interesting trip. I liked the part about how you went to the aquarium place and saw the same animals as they did in San Diego. Very clever. I can only imagine how much time it took you to write that. I´m also just imagining how much faster I could type on an uncrippled keyboard. Bleh.
Alex - Seems like you had quite the little festival the past two weeks. Dates and work and movies and frisbee and fun. And as I said, I´ll explain the tie a few years down the road, perhaps.
Matt - And thus end the days of PayPal. Dun dun dun. As a missionary I´ve learned the value of impulse food purchases. They are often quite nice. Strawberries and dipping chocolate sounds pretty nice. Strawberries aren´t in season here yet though. When they are though, I´m going to eat them with my cereal in the morning. And as for pizza dough, our branch president here showed us how he makes it when we went over to eat. I´m thinking we might try it sometime. Make a barbecue and chicken pizza, something unseen round these parts. They don´t have ranch here though. Someone should send me a recipe to make ranch, if that is possible. If not, might have to experiment with mayonnaise. Hmm. Remember to send it.
Dad - Hehe. Good to know. Good luck with your calling as Ward Employment person. Maybe you can fill me in with info when I get back.
Mom - And the mom, provident living specialist. I´ve always known what it meant, but it wasn´t until now that I really thought about it. What in the world does provident mean? Providence. Ummm.. Seems like provident living would be when you´re living very well. And I would love to say that I received the package you had sent. I´m about very certain that I did receive it. But my memory ain´t always so sweet. I accidentally wrote sweet instead of good because my companion was talking about cookies. Pics would be cool when you could get em off. Hope all is going well there.
And thus, dearest family, is this letter ended. Love you all!
With sincerity,
Elder Hansen
Monday, July 9, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
To my family 7/02/2012
Badump. It comes around again. I´m currently in a different cyber (internet place) so I can use apostrophes. It appears to be an American keyboard, just with Spanish as the language, like the MTC. It really isn´t a very good keyboard however. It´s fairly frustrating. Need lead fingers for it. And the computer is slow and being dumb too, a bit. But so be it. This week went by well. Last week was tough because we had a whole slew of meetings come up. This week we didn´t have that so much, which was good. We are finding new people to teach, and things go fairly well. It really all focuses on a few key things the investigators need to do to be converted. Read the scriptures, especially Book of Mormon, pray, and attend church (and keep the commandments in general). Those are a start, and very good indicators if someone is doing what they should be doing. And, of course, they are the same things you look and ask for from those people who are already baptized, to the recent converts. The very base blocks to gaining, or keeping, a testimony. I really enjoyed this last general conference because it pretty well emphasized the need for action from church members. Less passive, more involvement. I especially liked Elder Bednar´s talk from priesthood. Quite straightforward. The reference to D&C 58:29 was also quite blunt. In seminary verses 26 and 27 are scripture mastery, but it sure isn´t bad to read the verses before and after it. All we have to do to break our baptismal covenant is do nothing. Verse 29 is good to describe that. All in all I can surely emphasize how grateful I am to be on a mission. It makes things much clearer when you are in the position to teach them to someone else. Even if it is in a different language. And if you ever want to study something interesting, just study the plan of salvation using only the quad. In Sunday School it focuses so much on the whole drawing, with the chart and all of that jazz. But that really isn´t the plan of salvation. Moses 6, towards the end, gives what was revealed to Adam as the plan of salvation. It is all centered on Jesus Christ and his Atonement. I´ve got a long way to go to understand it perfectly, but it was sure a good study session earlier today. Now my challenge is thinking of how to describe it simply to investigators. And to my companion, because the huge majority of members grew up with this picture of the plan of salvation as that drawing everyone does. In the mission of one of my MTC teachers they weren´t even allowed to draw that picture when teaching that lesson. An interesting insight that took me a bit to come to terms with, especially because I´d used the drawing the day before to teach the lesson to him. Another interesting food I ate this week - morcilla. Known to gringos as blood sausage. Regretfully, I ate it cold. I really don´t like cold foods like that, so I didn´t really find it enjoyable. I don´t even like pizza cold. Hot it wouldn´t have been too bad, I don´t think. I´m trying to think of other interesting things to talk about. This week I feel like I have a bunch of free time because I don´t have a letter from y´all to read, and I finished my other duties rapidly. The drain in our shower has started clogging up. We´ve tried to unscrew the screw and remove the drain cover thing, but we are lacking a screwdriver. Even with the screwdriver it might just be impossible to remove. So we were going to check if anywhere around here had that liquid drain cleaner magic stuff. See how well translating that will go. The shower head itself is also a poor fixture. I might tinker around with it as well. Our vacuum, as well, functions not. It´s a star head bit, so I´m thinking we might just take it somewhere or talk to someone about fixing it. So many things I want to fix, but I´m primarily lacking time, and the tools. I´m afraid it will be like this my entire mission. Take it as it comes. Most nights all I want to do when I get back is sleep. Means we walked a good amount that day. I am most definitely just writing whatever comes to mind right now. But time comes to an end soon. So I believe I´ll just finish it off here.
Mom - One more thing! That quote is directly from almost every episode of Jackie Chan Adventures, if you were wondering. I don´t know how to spell the other quote because it is a Chinese chant. Ty might understand it. Either way, I´ve forgotten to write about this for the past three weeks here. But it is a good thing here to have photos from home, to show to people here. I have that sheet of pictures that is magically put together, but it would be a swell thing if you could send some choice photos over here. You can just send them as attachments so I can put them on my SD card and eventually print them out on photo paper. Like 15-20 photos if possible. Pictures of family, of home, of pets, of activities, of things like that. Me playing tennis, if that exists, just something. You have decisive eyes. And because I´m currently unwilling to look at sent mail, I might be resending information. But if you ever try sending a package, make sure that you look at the mission blog first. It has a section on how to send it right, so I don´t have to pay for it or something like that. The preferred method, I´m told. Just to note.
Argentina - 6/25/2012
From the Family to Nicholas:
Nichols
Wait! Why is Obi-Wan wearing my bathrobe? How long have you been
listening Obi-Wan? Did you hear me say I like the notebook? Because I
don't. I see you got barbeque sauce on my bathrobe.
You have done that yourself!
I think I'd remember. I'm very neat. We both know I don't eat
barbeque. I absolutely don't eat barbeque!
Only a Sith deals in absolutes...
A Sith?
A Sith.
What'th a Thith?
A Sith.
Thith?
A Sith.
That'th a pretty nathty lithp you have there. Might wanna do something
about that.
I will do what I must.
So, this week's letter is going to be special Nick. Why? Because it's
time for an update on my toenail! You of course remember how you
stepped upon my toe whilst playing basketball shortly before fleeing
to the MTC. Well, after being black and nasty for a while the nail
underneath started to grow back (due to my Wolverine like powers). It
grew in this unusual way for a while and I made the medical decision
to shave off the dead black part with a razor knife. Sadly, the
surgery was only able to remove about 3/4 of the blackened
Nicholas-squashed nail. Subsequently, I gave it time to grow out more
before taking further action. You will be pleased to hear that in a
fit of pure manliness I ripped off the offending remainder with my
bare hands and a slight grunt last night. I now just have to wait for
the healthy nail to finish re-growing itself in a few months. Yes, of
course I will keep you updated.
I don't have much more to say. I have been making an abundance of
smoothies. I also tend to going swimming at 3 in morning. It's a good
way to relax after work. And since you seem to be getting trunky for
food I will let you know I intend to make garlic breadsticks and pasta
tomorrow. Be righteous!
-<MATT>-
Nick,
Plant of the moment: Freesia: The genus was named in honor of
Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese (1795–1876), German physician.[1]
They are herbaceous plants which grow from a corm 1–2.5 cm diameter,
which sends up a tuft of narrow leaves 10–30 cm long, and a sparsely
branched stem 10–40 cm tall bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided
spike of fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped flowers.
Freesias are very popular garden plants, grown for their often
strongly scented flowers. The most commonly cultivated species is F.
refracta, which was crossed with F. leichtlinii in the 19th century.
Numerous cultivars have been bred from these species and the pink- and
yellow-flowered forms of F. corymbosa. Modern tetraploid cultivars
have flowers ranging from white to yellow, pink, red and blue-mauve.
They are widely cultivated and readily increased from seed. Due to
their specific and pleasing scent, they are often used in hand creams,
shampoos, candles, etc.
The 7th wedding anniversary flower, in the language of flowers,
freesia are said to symbolize innocence and friendship.
Well not awake enough to tell you more at the moment we got back from
San Diego today after going on vacation.
Good luck,
Matt n Sam.
Dearest Nickolas:
It sounds like you are doing alright out there. I doubt you would be
jealous of the work I do though. I have become the mexican's favorite.
They like me for two reasons. I am the strongest white guy that does
good work, and I don't talk to good in Spanish and so they can make
lotsa jokes about me. Life is still good, except I find that I have
become a lot more lonely. Mom and Dad are gone or sleeping, and matt
doesn't usually come over. Kevin has been looking for work and has
found options that means he won't come to California with me and
parker. I guess there isn't much more to do with my life the rest of
the year besides build up a bank account and read books. I am
currently picking what I want off of sam and matts shelves and I might
have another couple months of choices there. Logan Groscost got back
today and gave a inspiring homecoming talk. It seems just yesterday
that he caught his shoe on fire at the survival campout… Good times
those. Anyway I think that I just need to keep living. Life will be
better soon enough. Anywho later bro.
-Alex
P.S. Have you worn that incredible tie I gave you yet and how many
compliments have you received from it?
Nick,
Went to New Mexico and seen Russ & Keri. It is such an ugly drive - I
hope to never drive it again. Bought the bike that Ty wrecked back
from Russ.
You may be cold, but I'm hot here - I'm still getting up at 5:00 AM and walking.
Dad
Hi Nick,
So, to expand on other's sketchy details. Sam and Matt went with
Jerah, Abby, Sam, Noah, and Kim to San Diego. They all stayed with
Jeanne and Bill. I guess they had fun. Sam was really tired and
didn't give any details.
Dad got this wild hair notion to buy back the motorcycle from Rus
because he had heard he was going to sell it. They were planning on
going to Sierra Vista over the 4th, and then eventually Galen would
bring it up to us. But, Dad knew I am yearning to go camping and
thought for some reason driving through Show-Low and Greer and showing
me the forest I couldn’t stay in would take care of the yen. It
didn't work. He rented a truck, picked the longest way to get there
because he thought it would be a prettier drive than going through
Gallup. It wasn't. It was just longer. We both agreed going to
Sierra Vista would have been preferable.
It was good to see Keri & Rus though. (and yes he spells his name
with 1 s). The kids are a little bigger and smarter but still as
friendly and clingy. All over you when you are in the room with them.
I punished Dad a little for taking me on this trip by making him go to
quilt shops. Then we went to Santa Fe. About an hour's drive.
Wasn't impressed. Won't need to go there again. or to Albuquerque.
If we do, we're flying.
Grandma"O" called me. (which isn't usually for good news). She has
pneumonia again. Not in the hospital, but probably should be. Send a
few extra missionary prayers her way.
Alex is becoming big. Got his checking account by himself. Completed
his on-line traffic school for his ticket. And yes, he is getting
bored. Although he seems to be gone a lot. Works all day, Institute
on Tues and Thurs. A date on Saturday. More or less seems to be
keeping busy. But it is a change from last year when we had people
around all the time. Sometimes I miss that too.
I only have 4 weeks left until I'm off for the summer. No agenda yet.
Haven't heard a definite on Nicaragua. Would like to though. Well I
better get this off before you send one to me. Love you, Mom.
From Nicholas to the Family:
Nichols
Wait! Why is Obi-Wan wearing my bathrobe? How long have you been
listening Obi-Wan? Did you hear me say I like the notebook? Because I
don't. I see you got barbeque sauce on my bathrobe.
You have done that yourself!
I think I'd remember. I'm very neat. We both know I don't eat
barbeque. I absolutely don't eat barbeque!
Only a Sith deals in absolutes...
A Sith?
A Sith.
What'th a Thith?
A Sith.
Thith?
A Sith.
That'th a pretty nathty lithp you have there. Might wanna do something
about that.
I will do what I must.
So, this week's letter is going to be special Nick. Why? Because it's
time for an update on my toenail! You of course remember how you
stepped upon my toe whilst playing basketball shortly before fleeing
to the MTC. Well, after being black and nasty for a while the nail
underneath started to grow back (due to my Wolverine like powers). It
grew in this unusual way for a while and I made the medical decision
to shave off the dead black part with a razor knife. Sadly, the
surgery was only able to remove about 3/4 of the blackened
Nicholas-squashed nail. Subsequently, I gave it time to grow out more
before taking further action. You will be pleased to hear that in a
fit of pure manliness I ripped off the offending remainder with my
bare hands and a slight grunt last night. I now just have to wait for
the healthy nail to finish re-growing itself in a few months. Yes, of
course I will keep you updated.
I don't have much more to say. I have been making an abundance of
smoothies. I also tend to going swimming at 3 in morning. It's a good
way to relax after work. And since you seem to be getting trunky for
food I will let you know I intend to make garlic breadsticks and pasta
tomorrow. Be righteous!
-<MATT>-
Nick,
Plant of the moment: Freesia: The genus was named in honor of
Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese (1795–1876), German physician.[1]
They are herbaceous plants which grow from a corm 1–2.5 cm diameter,
which sends up a tuft of narrow leaves 10–30 cm long, and a sparsely
branched stem 10–40 cm tall bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided
spike of fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped flowers.
Freesias are very popular garden plants, grown for their often
strongly scented flowers. The most commonly cultivated species is F.
refracta, which was crossed with F. leichtlinii in the 19th century.
Numerous cultivars have been bred from these species and the pink- and
yellow-flowered forms of F. corymbosa. Modern tetraploid cultivars
have flowers ranging from white to yellow, pink, red and blue-mauve.
They are widely cultivated and readily increased from seed. Due to
their specific and pleasing scent, they are often used in hand creams,
shampoos, candles, etc.
The 7th wedding anniversary flower, in the language of flowers,
freesia are said to symbolize innocence and friendship.
Well not awake enough to tell you more at the moment we got back from
San Diego today after going on vacation.
Good luck,
Matt n Sam.
Dearest Nickolas:
It sounds like you are doing alright out there. I doubt you would be
jealous of the work I do though. I have become the mexican's favorite.
They like me for two reasons. I am the strongest white guy that does
good work, and I don't talk to good in Spanish and so they can make
lotsa jokes about me. Life is still good, except I find that I have
become a lot more lonely. Mom and Dad are gone or sleeping, and matt
doesn't usually come over. Kevin has been looking for work and has
found options that means he won't come to California with me and
parker. I guess there isn't much more to do with my life the rest of
the year besides build up a bank account and read books. I am
currently picking what I want off of sam and matts shelves and I might
have another couple months of choices there. Logan Groscost got back
today and gave a inspiring homecoming talk. It seems just yesterday
that he caught his shoe on fire at the survival campout… Good times
those. Anyway I think that I just need to keep living. Life will be
better soon enough. Anywho later bro.
-Alex
P.S. Have you worn that incredible tie I gave you yet and how many
compliments have you received from it?
Nick,
Went to New Mexico and seen Russ & Keri. It is such an ugly drive - I
hope to never drive it again. Bought the bike that Ty wrecked back
from Russ.
You may be cold, but I'm hot here - I'm still getting up at 5:00 AM and walking.
Dad
Hi Nick,
So, to expand on other's sketchy details. Sam and Matt went with
Jerah, Abby, Sam, Noah, and Kim to San Diego. They all stayed with
Jeanne and Bill. I guess they had fun. Sam was really tired and
didn't give any details.
Dad got this wild hair notion to buy back the motorcycle from Rus
because he had heard he was going to sell it. They were planning on
going to Sierra Vista over the 4th, and then eventually Galen would
bring it up to us. But, Dad knew I am yearning to go camping and
thought for some reason driving through Show-Low and Greer and showing
me the forest I couldn’t stay in would take care of the yen. It
didn't work. He rented a truck, picked the longest way to get there
because he thought it would be a prettier drive than going through
Gallup. It wasn't. It was just longer. We both agreed going to
Sierra Vista would have been preferable.
It was good to see Keri & Rus though. (and yes he spells his name
with 1 s). The kids are a little bigger and smarter but still as
friendly and clingy. All over you when you are in the room with them.
I punished Dad a little for taking me on this trip by making him go to
quilt shops. Then we went to Santa Fe. About an hour's drive.
Wasn't impressed. Won't need to go there again. or to Albuquerque.
If we do, we're flying.
Grandma"O" called me. (which isn't usually for good news). She has
pneumonia again. Not in the hospital, but probably should be. Send a
few extra missionary prayers her way.
Alex is becoming big. Got his checking account by himself. Completed
his on-line traffic school for his ticket. And yes, he is getting
bored. Although he seems to be gone a lot. Works all day, Institute
on Tues and Thurs. A date on Saturday. More or less seems to be
keeping busy. But it is a change from last year when we had people
around all the time. Sometimes I miss that too.
I only have 4 weeks left until I'm off for the summer. No agenda yet.
Haven't heard a definite on Nicaragua. Would like to though. Well I
better get this off before you send one to me. Love you, Mom.
From Nicholas to the Family:
Alright. I will figure this crazy keyboard out. Well, actually the keyboard really is not the problem right now. The mouse is absolutely a bother, however. That is how it goes, though. Things go quite well here. We are having a little difficulty actually sitting down with people and teaching them lessons. But we are doing a good amount of contacts, so it will work out eventually. We have to do at least 150 contacts a week. So a bit over 20 a day. Just looking it does not seem all that hard. But when you have all these other appointments, or it is early in the morning, or you are huge and wearing an all black jacket in the dark, it is harder. Especially the last one, because the shortest day of the year was last week. Now we are gaining daylight though. And maybe partially spurred by the pizza you made last week, last Monday, right after emailing, we went to a pizza buffet. A fairly nice one. Seriously, the second nicest place I have been in in Argentina. It runs even with Wal-mart for second, where we also went today. I have some peanut butter now. And other things I needed. They have so many weird types of pizzas. I ate a few of them last week. I was not able to take pictures of them because I was lacking my camera, but so be it. Pizzas covered in hotdogs, bleu cheese, olives, corn, eggs, etc. Quite good, in reality. And when I say covered, I mean it. As in the cheese is not at all visible under the toppings. Covered. Pretty cool. Ah, and french fries covered as well. Speaking of french fries, the Mcdonalds here is outrageously priced. It still gets business, but holy cow. Around 50 pesos for a burger and drink and fries. One dollar is 4 pesos, a little more, so that is like 12 bucks. Plus, regular food is actually cheaper. I can get just a hunk of cooked meat- like steak on a sandwich- for 20 pesos. And a liter drink for 5 pesos more. Crazy. But I will probably try it once in my time here, just to say it is not any different. Peanut butter is pretty expensive. Around 30 pesos for a smaller sized jar. 510 grams, to be exact. But it is not so bad. If you did not yet know, the milk and yogurt and several other things come in bags. You cut the top and pour it out. They come in liter sizes, 5 pesos for milk and 10 for yougurt, which is only a bit thicker than the milk. Pretty sweet. I quite enjoy it. It is a bit weird in a bag though. We cut out the bottoms of soda bottles to put them in. And if you were wondering, and I believe I said it before, there are a lot of random dogs running around. Even if half of them have owners, they just kind of wander around. They are everywhere. Many of them even find their way to roofs. Random dogs will just bark at you from the roofs of houses. And they are of every type imaginable, almost. Quite the variety. I feel I am just rambling, so I will move on now.
Matthew- I have not had a companion who has seen that yet. A little sad. They will see it eventually. I am very glad to see that your toenail is progressing, finally. You made the right decision. I also do not remember that incident at all, if you were wondering. I also have not been able to play any sports since the MTC. Not even soccer. My companion right now does not like it, so we never play. My last companion loved it but we never could find where they play until the last week. There is a tennis court in our area, however, so we might have to get that going one P-day.
Sam & Matt - Good flower choice. Smelly. And the name is interesting enough to merit something or other. I imagine the trip was fun. And I believe I am running out of thoughts, so....
Alex - That just makes me more jealous, because I can understand Spanish. And I can imagine you are a little bit lonely. Since you have such nice open time, you can read the Wheel of Time books I so love. Seriously, take em down. The next one will be coming out soon. If it has not already, it will in the next 6 months. That one does make me a little trunky. I want to read it. But it is easily enough overcome. Crazy Logan is home already. I really want to talk with him. He is so awesome. Sister Matthews had sent me programs from the ward, and I read the little mission letter excerpts. Daniel Merkley and Rosson are awesome. Everyone is doing great. Be good to talk to them eventually. And that tie... I might have to tell you about that after the mission.
Dad - Good thing you figured that out. I will not be inclined to take it now. I am a little sad I never learned how to drive the dirt bike. I was going to until Ty crashed it, but so it goes. Glad for the writing, looking forward to more.
Mom - You are good at making up words mom. It makes reading funny. Glad you were able to take a little trip, even if it was not the best one. I also think those little kids are really funny. Are their voices still so rough and deep sounding? I will pray for Grandma, for sure. I will pray for both of them, even. For the ward thing, the favorite scripture dealio, I will send in D&C 6 36 as the favorite. It is nice and short so it should work quite well. And it rocks, so... Also, one more thing, to keep in mind. When you send packages, keep it to like two a year. For more info on how to send it, look at the mission blog. They have a section on it. You can read the blog, which is nice. Also, one thing I would like is music. Basically any kind of church music is good. But specifically instrumental church would be cool and the church InsideOut songs.
Alright. Time is up, so we will finish there. Glad to write again. Will write again next week. You all are still great. Continue being so!
With love,
Elder Hansen
Argentina - 6/18/2012
From the Family to Nick:
Dearest little big brother. How farest thou out there in Argentina?
I have not heard much from you in a while. Perhaps its my fault for
not checking my Gmail. People around here have been asking how you've
been, and so I need something with which I may answer their inquiries.
I have been working hard each week, climbing and cutting trees,
hauling away the debris. My first check was for aprox $500 dollars. I
went to the bank to start my account. It has occurred to me that this
whole growing up thing has been forth-coming for a long while but
nevertheless is it still a odd, and unexplored future with which I am
confronted. Anyway there is a calling of pizza chef master to which I
must answer. Do good little big brother. Carry On. -Alezander
______________________________
Dear Nick; granddad and I have been traveling! Cindy got a new little
Ford Focus, it's candy apple red, so she and Jerry took us to Idaho
for a funeral. My cousin Myrle died, she is the one I lived with so
many summers and where I met Granddad. anyway I was so glad that we
got to go. We stopped every couple hours and walked around or ate or
shopped. I shouldn't say it was a fun trip up to a funeral, but it
was. Jerry slipped off to the Soda Springs and filled himself a couple
of bottles. Granddad picked one up and took a big swig and yelled
like crazy, apparently he is not a native and doesn't appreciate the
awful stuff. (it is only good with lemonade) while there we saw
several old friends and even a schoolmate, if you can believe another
92 year old still wandering around. we went out to my grandfather
Beus's old homestead, a great grandson is still running it, but I
understand it has been sold, so I was glad to go out and take a few
pictures. On the way home we stopped at Cache Valley Cheese in Beaver
Utah and purchased "squeaky" cheese to eat on the way home. Still
enjoying our mobile home, had our first abooud last night , our pizza
is ready, gota go, Love you, Grandma
Nick,
I'm trying to think of something worthwhile to say. Been tired the
last couple of Sundays - I really need to start writing you a letter
during the week. I should follow your lead an order my thoughts.
Church was good today. I enjoyed the High Priest lesson today - We
went over the fact that we can receive revelation....
I'm going to take a break now perhaps I'll be back to expand on the lesson.
Nick,
I'm going to take a break from all this heat and go visit Bill and
Jeanne in San Diego. Should be a nice change of pace, won't be boring
though because we're going with Jerah and her kids. Not sure what
else to talk about.
Matt (brother) cleaned our pool for us and just as we were getting up
a haboob (a big dust storm) blew in. Matt was a bit ticked off at it.
Not much else going on. Hope all is going well.
Matt & Sam
Saludos saludos amigos! Hello to our friends!
Nicholas, I assembled my dresser last night. I think I did a right
fine job of it. Cherry wood finish, but it is fake. I now have
somewhere to put my clothes and have completed my current housing
needs. Alex is gaining weight, which is probably why he fell out of
the palm tree into the bougainvillea.
I broke in my Ninja blender and made some smoothies last night for Sam
and myself. I also went to my new singles ward, except it wasn't my
singles ward. They told me they just restructured everything and the
ward I am supposed to be in is brand spanking new and just had their
very first meeting today.
Mom is trying to get me to quit my job and run off to Nicaragua with
her. I'm thinking that would be swell, but it is still dependent upon
if they will allow me to come. It would be cool to go on a relief aid
trip down there. I also have enough reward points on my credit card to
get a roundtrip flight to Boston or Hawaii. Which one do you suggest?
I was thinking Boston in the fall, maybe September.
Hopefully there are some girls to date in this new ward. I think I may
preemptively buy some tickets to Les Miserables since they are coming
to town. Girls like to go to plays.
It think it is pretty awesome you got to baptize the kid - was she
frightened of getting baptized by the BFG? Also, do they have coconuts
there? I highly suggest you mix Kool-Aid in with it if they do. (green
ones are my favorite). Keep living la vida loca nge dab kum balyang
eh?
Ciao - Matt
Nicco, Nicco,
Good Morning!! Everyone else wrote yesterday (Father's Day), however
I waited until this am to finish off your letter. Cindy & Galen came
up for Father's Day and came over with G&G for pizza. A bit of an
informal meal for Sunday, but I worked the 4 days previously and it
was a good way to go. So, as Nick alluded to, I may be going to
Nicaragua. I will if they can still take me that is. I offered up
Matt's services but they might not want him as his Spanish is no where
fluent. I told them he is good at handyman stuff, (equipment always
breaks down etc.) and that might get him a slot. If it comes about,
we'd leave at the end of July for about a week.
Summer doldrums are pretty much settling in. It's too hot to want to
cook in the evenings. Dad got up and went for a walk this morning,
but I didn't hear him and he didn't wake me up. Oh well. Had to get
new shoes for walking. Tried on 10 pair at the store, only 1 really
fit so I bought them. Sam told me they are ugly. Perhaps she's
right. They are black with neon orange accents. Not exactly what you
all are used to for Mom shoes.
I guess I need to sign off. I have a skills lab at the hospital I
need to go to to re-demonstrate I'm really a nurse. Sort of a little
silly..... Love you, Mom
I have not heard much from you in a while. Perhaps its my fault for
not checking my Gmail. People around here have been asking how you've
been, and so I need something with which I may answer their inquiries.
I have been working hard each week, climbing and cutting trees,
hauling away the debris. My first check was for aprox $500 dollars. I
went to the bank to start my account. It has occurred to me that this
whole growing up thing has been forth-coming for a long while but
nevertheless is it still a odd, and unexplored future with which I am
confronted. Anyway there is a calling of pizza chef master to which I
must answer. Do good little big brother. Carry On. -Alezander
______________________________
Dear Nick; granddad and I have been traveling! Cindy got a new little
Ford Focus, it's candy apple red, so she and Jerry took us to Idaho
for a funeral. My cousin Myrle died, she is the one I lived with so
many summers and where I met Granddad. anyway I was so glad that we
got to go. We stopped every couple hours and walked around or ate or
shopped. I shouldn't say it was a fun trip up to a funeral, but it
was. Jerry slipped off to the Soda Springs and filled himself a couple
of bottles. Granddad picked one up and took a big swig and yelled
like crazy, apparently he is not a native and doesn't appreciate the
awful stuff. (it is only good with lemonade) while there we saw
several old friends and even a schoolmate, if you can believe another
92 year old still wandering around. we went out to my grandfather
Beus's old homestead, a great grandson is still running it, but I
understand it has been sold, so I was glad to go out and take a few
pictures. On the way home we stopped at Cache Valley Cheese in Beaver
Utah and purchased "squeaky" cheese to eat on the way home. Still
enjoying our mobile home, had our first abooud last night , our pizza
is ready, gota go, Love you, Grandma
Nick,
I'm trying to think of something worthwhile to say. Been tired the
last couple of Sundays - I really need to start writing you a letter
during the week. I should follow your lead an order my thoughts.
Church was good today. I enjoyed the High Priest lesson today - We
went over the fact that we can receive revelation....
I'm going to take a break now perhaps I'll be back to expand on the lesson.
Nick,
I'm going to take a break from all this heat and go visit Bill and
Jeanne in San Diego. Should be a nice change of pace, won't be boring
though because we're going with Jerah and her kids. Not sure what
else to talk about.
Matt (brother) cleaned our pool for us and just as we were getting up
a haboob (a big dust storm) blew in. Matt was a bit ticked off at it.
Not much else going on. Hope all is going well.
Matt & Sam
Saludos saludos amigos! Hello to our friends!
Nicholas, I assembled my dresser last night. I think I did a right
fine job of it. Cherry wood finish, but it is fake. I now have
somewhere to put my clothes and have completed my current housing
needs. Alex is gaining weight, which is probably why he fell out of
the palm tree into the bougainvillea.
I broke in my Ninja blender and made some smoothies last night for Sam
and myself. I also went to my new singles ward, except it wasn't my
singles ward. They told me they just restructured everything and the
ward I am supposed to be in is brand spanking new and just had their
very first meeting today.
Mom is trying to get me to quit my job and run off to Nicaragua with
her. I'm thinking that would be swell, but it is still dependent upon
if they will allow me to come. It would be cool to go on a relief aid
trip down there. I also have enough reward points on my credit card to
get a roundtrip flight to Boston or Hawaii. Which one do you suggest?
I was thinking Boston in the fall, maybe September.
Hopefully there are some girls to date in this new ward. I think I may
preemptively buy some tickets to Les Miserables since they are coming
to town. Girls like to go to plays.
It think it is pretty awesome you got to baptize the kid - was she
frightened of getting baptized by the BFG? Also, do they have coconuts
there? I highly suggest you mix Kool-Aid in with it if they do. (green
ones are my favorite). Keep living la vida loca nge dab kum balyang
eh?
Ciao - Matt
Nicco, Nicco,
Good Morning!! Everyone else wrote yesterday (Father's Day), however
I waited until this am to finish off your letter. Cindy & Galen came
up for Father's Day and came over with G&G for pizza. A bit of an
informal meal for Sunday, but I worked the 4 days previously and it
was a good way to go. So, as Nick alluded to, I may be going to
Nicaragua. I will if they can still take me that is. I offered up
Matt's services but they might not want him as his Spanish is no where
fluent. I told them he is good at handyman stuff, (equipment always
breaks down etc.) and that might get him a slot. If it comes about,
we'd leave at the end of July for about a week.
Summer doldrums are pretty much settling in. It's too hot to want to
cook in the evenings. Dad got up and went for a walk this morning,
but I didn't hear him and he didn't wake me up. Oh well. Had to get
new shoes for walking. Tried on 10 pair at the store, only 1 really
fit so I bought them. Sam told me they are ugly. Perhaps she's
right. They are black with neon orange accents. Not exactly what you
all are used to for Mom shoes.
I guess I need to sign off. I have a skills lab at the hospital I
need to go to to re-demonstrate I'm really a nurse. Sort of a little
silly..... Love you, Mom
From Nick to the Family:
Oh, another week has passed. It is crazy how quickly one can become accustomed to something so different. Right now I feel I more or less have my bearings about me. Things are still going well enough. This week it got pretty dang cold here. The humidity makes it far far far worse than it should be. I really have no numerical value for the cold, because I never see anything like that, and no one pays attention to it anyways. They use the cold as an excuse though. Everyone does. Even the people under 60 who really should not be bothered by it that much. But there are ways to fix that. We have also done a lot, a huge amount of walking this past week. Miles of it. It really is not that bad. Your legs feel really tired, but so be it. It is somewhat like hiking, because the roads are occasionally a bit iffy. The scenery is not quite so nice all the time though. A good amount different. I really cannot think of much more to write about in just general, so I will let it chill right here for now.
Alexander - Bum. These emails are meant to be read. And I only send out one every week. So your words were just right. Cool you get to climb trees and all that though. Sounds like a fairly fun job. Well, minus the blazing sun, and the dirt and scratches and all that. There is some guy near us who wants us to come by and cut down a tree. It is a bit tall, and would be an interesting experience. It is iffy that we would do it though. But continue on in your work. You all also made me incredibly hungry, and jealous. I have not eaten lunch yet. And the pizza here is not bad. The branch president makes it pretty darn good. They have weird toppings though. But it is not bad with eggs on top. It just is not the wonderful pizza we made at home, with barbecue sauce and ranch and all of those wonderful meat toppings. Oh, goodness. Carry on, as well.
Grandma & Grandpa - It is wonderful you were able to travel around with Aunt Cindy. Also good that you were able to go to that funeral. And especially good the trip was fun. Funerals can be sad, but they do not need to be a bad time. I would have to agree with Grandpa on the soda water. I also did not really like the taste of it. Weird. Nice you were able to visit so many places. That is the way to go for road trips.
Dad - That could be good. The last few days I have not really written in my journal, and there are various things I just will not be able to write as well now in it in a review. I generally think priesthood quorum meetings for Elders and High Priests are the most interesting, if just for all of the opinions given during the lesson. Makes me laugh sometimes. Hope you can begin to feel a bit better, though.
Sam & Matt - Vacation!!!! Fun fun fun fun fun. Also, I enjoyed the story of the pool and the haboob. I have told some people about haboobs that we have had there and they did not really believe me at first.
Matt - I always feel like I want to fix up the missionary apartments, or make things. But frankly, there just is no time so I never do. My time is nigh out, so I will have to end earlier than desirable. They do not really have coconuts here, either. They have the fruit you generally see in the States, available all the time. We will see as it gets warmer. Today is Walmart day, as well.
Mom - I almost did not get this. When I first logged on it was not there. I was worried. But it came, so that is good. I would love to write more, but I did not notice this until late, so I was focused on writing the letter to the mission president. I almost feel like I forgot something, but we will have to see next week.
You people, family, are wonderful. I miss eating home made pizza. But so be it. I will eat some eventually.
With looooove,
Elder Hansen
I am not in the same country anymore. - Argentina 6/11/2012
Curses. This keyboard is programmed for Spanish. Therefore, it does not have any of those apostrophe things in between words. Conjuctions, they might be called. It is a bother, so far. I will get used to it, eventually. And, well, that about sums up Argentina. A bit different, adjusting required. Mostly the same keys, some similar placement. But there are different keys, some new, some gone, and different placement. But it really is pretty sweet. The food has been fairly spectacular so far. The chorizo (sausage) is wonderful. The second counselor in the branch presidency invited us over to eat, and coincidence of coincidences, it was an asado (barbecue). I quite enjoyed it. Also tried some intestines, and some kidney there. If you were wondering, of the two the intestines was better. But I would not eat either of them with too much frequency. The spaghetti here tastes good. That is not what it is called, but it is just about the same thing. Also, they eat bread here really similar to french bread. And like those little bolillo rolls we used with French dips. Too much french. They usually put it out with their large lunches. Which brings up another interesting point. The people here will eat a tiny breakfast - like a glass of milk and a little more, maybe. Then a big lunch, large. Then for supper or dinner or whatever it is they will just have a small snack. Some cookies, hot chocolate, something like that. Thing is, the big lunch actually does hold you over pretty well, so a little snack before bed keeps you till morning. So that is one thing about Argentina. Something also interesting. Thursday, I believe, possibly Friday, we were over at the house of a family, teaching a little girl who was going to get baptized. She was 9, so it was in the hands of the missionaries. Her whole family are members, if not the most active. The oldest sister is active. The father wanted to baptize the little girl, but he would not be worthy for a good while, if he did ever get his act straight. So as we were teaching, it was pretty startling when he asked me if I would like to baptize her. ]So we set the date of the baptism, and yesterday I was able to baptize this 9 year old girl, Abril. It was pretty interesting because she only goes a little bit above my waist, height wise. That was cool though. Out of the blue. I am getting by here in Argentina. The Spanish is different, I will have to get used to vos form of speech. They also seem to speak a little faster. I am about eighty percent comprehension. Certain words I still am learning. But onward I forge. My companion is Elder Pulsipher, from California. He has been out a bit under a year, and thankfully understands basically everything, can get all his points across, knows how things go here in Argentina, and is cool. In the Spanish here, he is a capo. A stud, basically. Really helpful. Things are different here. I do not have a ton of time to write, so I will probably will not be able to go through everything. Even then, it is just floating through my head. We do walk a good amount. There are buses, called colectivos, that we ride longer distances. It is not too bad, though. I make through. I am pretty sure this is why families think the English of their missionary is disappearing. Because they have to write like this. It is somewhat hard to write without apostrophes. Especially for possession. Next week I will work through what to write better. This I just kind of threw down as I could. Either way, anyway, you all are great. Also, my MTC comp Elder Nilsen is in my same district here. Pretty sweet. You all are great, again. I will be better next time, promise. Yup. Love you all.
Elder Hansen
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