May 6^th, 2011

Hey Family and Friends!

Just FYI I only have 30 minutes to both read and send an email. I have however possibly found a way around this dilemma but I am not sure if the MTC Presidency would approve so I am going to ponder it a little more. In other words please try to refrain from sending me lots of emails unless you want a short email per week…. Thanks to everyone who has been sending me letters I will respond as soon as I can.

This week has been incredible. In the MTC I have found out just what serving a mission is really about. I want everyone to serve a mission. If a missionary is successful in his call it is impossible to have him come home the same person that left. I love it out here. I have recently been able to learn more about repentance. Repentance is not something to fear, it's something to rejoice!!! I want everyone to look at "repent" in their scripture study and change it to "godlike change" because that is all it is. It is the process of changing from something less godly into something a little more holy. It may hurt some but the result is well worth it. … I recognize I have a lot of "repentance" to do. I love it out here though. I am growing. I admit that mission has made me aware and therefore sad some days and it is a painful and agonizing process to try and root out the natural man. I have no doubt that this is the only place that it can be done in so fast a time.

Prepare yourself for the missions of life! Go to your own MTC!

-Elder Curtis Hanson

May 1, 2011 Sunday

Hola Familia y Amigos,

....I love it here at the MTC - the Spirit is so strong and consistent. It makes a world of a difference for spiritual progression when all you have to worry about is whether or not your conversation in your dorm room is condusive to the Spirit. The latest problem: arguing whether or not Canada or the US is better. ha ha. …. Oh! Funny experience! I was laying in bed the other night and I looked up at the bottom of my companion's mattress and had the strangest urge. I then put my feet on the bottom of the springs and pushed up and down up and down! Elder Benson got some good air and the whole room was laughing even Elder Benson who said afterwards that it felt like a roller coaster. Another funny thing with the MTC is that everyone is gaining weight and it takes a ton of effort to stay thin. It's not good when all you do is sit in a room all day with a bunch of other guys and have all you can eat food in the cafeteria with quite a bit of good stuff. We do have the opportunity to go to the gym and that is awesome! I have been running and working out a lot with another Elder from my district. We have made a "goal" to have abs in three weeks time when he heads of to Honduras.

We had the opportunity to go to the temple today and it was an awesome experience as a missionary. I am beginning to realize how amazing the gospel is and how much I have taken it for granted. It is so true and I have only scraped the surface. I am afraid what makes things unachievable is the idea that if we can't see it, it isn't there. When we are at the bottom of a hill or even on the side of the hill we can't comprehend the view on the other side until we make the effort to climb higher.

Striving to climb a little higher,

Elder Curtis Hanson

April 23^rd, 2011 – Saturday

Hola!

It has been so crazy out here. We only get triente minutos to email home so this is just going to be a splurge of emotions and thoughts. I recognize so much I need to work on and the overload of the language lessons and gospel study is really intense. I love my companion, when I first walked in to my classroom after getting my name tag and the introduction process I didn’t realize how tall he is until he stood up. He is huge! 6' 7" and really nice. Both of us were initially concerned with how we would get along but we are very grateful that we aren't too bad.

I think one of the biggest things for me to learn in the MTC is to have charity. Today we had an amazing discussion and it seems that the key to missionary work with the investigators is to 1) listen to the spirit and 2) listen to the investigator. Growing up in the church with the family I do I feel I have had quite a bit of experience with the Spirit as for the listening to the investigator it gets a little harder because there is something that happens when you are listening with the spirit and to the investigator. You need both, if you do any violations to the priesthood power as found in D&C 121 then the spirit of the Lord is grieved and amen to the priesthood power of that missionary.

The first day my companion and I had the opportunity to teach investigators in a huge group. We had three different investigators each with different problems and concerns. It's interesting because the investigators were real, despite being a member they were retelling their personal stories through their acting, things that they actually faced. ….. My life has been so blessed and I never recognized what I have been treating so lightly as a member can cure the deepest heartache of an individual, the gospel of Christ or Evangelio de Cristo.

I have recognized that I have been so selfish even in trying to be selfless. In the classroom Hermana Anthony had a lesson on Charity and I recognized what Charity being a gift really means. It is not available through any facet of mind that can be created by man, it is only through the reliance on God and Jesus Christ that we can get this wonderful gift which is necessary for missionary work. I challenge all those back home to start your own missions of love and charity the most valuable lessons in life cannot be found within one's own head. I have sadly wasted a lot of time there and it will be a hard trial to get out of there. Asking for God's help is necessary.

As for the rest of the MTC experience it is crazy. I have never worked so hard! I sleep and dream of Spanish. Yesterday, my roommate said that I was speaking in Spanish! It's everywhere. We are already contacting and I take my dictionary practically everywhere. I have run out of time, until next time....

Hasta Luego! Amo Ustedes!

Elder Hanson

The MTC Drop Off and Run

Well, we dropped Curtis off at the MTC in Provo today at 12:45 pm and it was every bit as quick and effecient as we were warned it would be. Curtis was bouncing off the walls of the truck as we drove down. I think he is a bit excited. Jim and Lisa are working on the "excited" part but it was an emotional, good day.

Elder Curtis Hanson's Mission Scripture

Doctrine and Covenants 84: 80

"And any man that shall go and preach this gospel of the kingdom and fail not to continue faithful in all things, shall not be weary in mind, neither darkened, neither in body, limb, nor joint; and a hair of his head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed. And they shall not go hungry, neither athirst"

Curtis' thoughts:

This scripture gives me both a promise and a call. A promise that I can be a super hero in the Lord's work, a promise that I will not be saddened, a promise that I will not be wearied, and a promise that my honest seeking investigators will "not go hungry, neither athirst". It is also a call and it comes in the first part of the scripture: "go and preach this gospel...fail not to continue faithful in all things". I need more faith.

The Call