These posts are from the last two weeks as I was on vacation and did not have access to a computer. Hope you all are having a happy day.

Oh, I commented to Curtis that we need him to put the English translation with the Spanish he uses - hopefully that will help those of us who don't speak Spanish!

¡HOLA FAMILIA!

Hey mom and Dad sorry we have had a bit of a hectic day and it was good to hear a little bit about the cruz and the questions are awesome! I do however need to go because I am out of time and needed to write the President a little more this week.
Crazy news is that I am getting a new companion tomorrow. Elder Perez is being sent to Mexicali, sad, but my new companion is Elder Martinez, I think, and he is hispanic but born in Estados Unidos (US). So he is fluent in both English and Spanish. He is supposedly amazing and is really about the rules so I expect to be getting a lot of work done which is great and exactly what Ribera Del Bosque needs.
I wanted to quickly bear my testimony of the basics. In a world that is filled with so many bad and good things we often forget to do those things that we need as Children of God, Heirs to the Kingdom. Remembering who we are and where we are going and what this life is all about is what makes meaning and significance for our very souls say that we are the children of God. Read, Ponder, and Pray! Then act upon the testimony you recieve! Suerte Mucho! (Luck Much) Sorry lots of spanish doesnt have a very good translation
Les Amo Mucho!
Elder Curtis Hanson

Losiento! (Sorry) for the Espanol

Hey Familia (Family),
I will try to write in english but it gets difficult when I have to go really fast. Meses means months and Rama is branch. We dont have a ward we have a branch in a ware house. Speaking of which if you guys have any ideas for what could be purchased or done to help with the reverbrating noise of the warehouse I would love your input. I am starting a budget with the mission money and putting aside money to help with the branch or ward I currently in so if you have any ideas please tell them to me! That would be awesome. I was thinking of hanging giant blankets on the walls and my companion had the idea of better speakers. Currently we have a karoke machine. For some reason its difficult to get investigators to come to church every week. ha ha. No, I think a major reason is that its difficult and people dont want to change.
Wow! thats awesome! Have fun in the Bahamas I have been researching places to go in Mexico and asking people and people say that Cables and Cancun are great but I will keep asking. Also I think that Tijuana is not the greatest vacation spot when I return. It will be a great experience if you guys want to visit but it isnt really a vacation spot. A lot of the other missionaries and citizens dont like but I do!

The Questions

1. Are you eating well? Do you fix most of your meals or do the members feed you and are you adjusting to Mexican food?

Yes usually the members feed us and the food is difficult at times ha ha. I got really sick one night because I think I ate Moleh on accident. There is plenty of food but there is also a lot of walking and a lot of sun. I have actually reached the smallest hole on my belt and may have to purchase another. I didnt even think I was out of shape before my mission!

2. Tell us what a typical missionary day is like and what a typical P-Day is like

Sorry, running out of time, Typical day

Wake up

Run or play soccer with the locales for a little

Return and shower

STUDY STUDY AND STUDY SPANISH

Prayer is in there too

Go proselyting

Lots of contacting and walking, lessons with investigadors, service, etc.

Return to the house

Plan tomorow

Area Book

FRee time, I usually study because I am new and need it, Plus I like it

I also am a big fan of organizing and I may be obsessed

Write in Journal

Go to bed

3. How far are you from the mission office? Did you get your recipe package yet?

We dont receive mail very often but I hope to get some today so I will see if your package is there. THANKS!

4. What is your branch/ward like? Where do you meet? How many members and what is the ratio of Priesthood holders to sisters?

See above

hasta luego!
Elder Curtis Hanson

Lisa's update

Dear Friends and Family -

I have slacked off once again on up-dating Curtis' blog. Please forgive me. Following are his two recent e-mails. I was struggling to get more information from him so I wrote his e-mail in a question format. He seemed to like this and responded with much more information than usual. Hope you find it interesting. Thanks again for your interest. Take care! Lisa

¡Yo tengo tres meses!

Hola Familia!
The baptism went amazing and I was the one to baptize and Elder Perez confirmed in church this last sunday. Things are alright right now my compañero and I have a lot of work to do in our small little Rama. Its really interesting because we don't have a chapel we have a warehouse. Its really hard to hear the speakers sometimes because of the reverberating walls and its even more difficult for me while I am still getting the hang of spanish. We have great hope for our small little Rama despite its small size and long way to go. One of the best things is that we don't wonder about what we have to do next, we have direction and a whole lot of hope and faith. Gracious para la informacion! Glad to hear Bear lake was awesome. My shake was either raspberry brownie or strawberry brownie. So good guess.
¡Hasta Luego! ¡Les amo mucho!
Elder Hanson
P.S
A lot of the people here pronounce my name like Handsome so I get an ego boost a lot. ha ha. And they like to make jokes when they know the english word for handsome.

Respuestas

Hola Familia,

Here are the answers

1. What is the weather like?

• Hot...Hot...and hotter. The day usually goes from alright in the morning to burning in the afternoon and then to a nice temperature again in the night. It's been really nice as of late a little cooler than usual.
  

2. I see from the photos you are wearing your glasses. I hope that is for convenience and not because there is a problem with your contacts.

• I always wear my glasses because of the water here and eye infection and also for convenience sake. One day I plan on wigging out my investigadors and los otro elderes.

3. How are the headaches and ear pain? How is your back?

• The headaches and the ear pain are all but gone. You do have the Urimm and Thummin Mom, my back has been having a little bit of pain as of late but I am doing my exercises and having promises of health so I am not to worried and neither should you be.
  

4. So do the places you tract into have guards as well as the gates? How do you manage to get past them?

• Yeah they have guards, usually. It used to be that they didn't have any guardias but as of late more and more of the privadas have them. Gratefully, my companion is very amable and we usually make friends with the guards. One I like to call "Hefe" (Boss in espanol) and I think he really likes that. The otro is one that asked us questions about our church and we gave him a book of Mormon. He is reading and last week we invited him to church but wasn't there when we tried to pick him up. We hope that it wasn't on purpose. As for the getting past them we simply talk with them and I say a prayer in my heart and we usually find a way. Most of them let us through when we have a cita (appointment) and are very amable. Contacting is almost impossible now but we are making new efforts to find different solutions to this through the ward and other means. We have started to teach ingles for free to try to attract those who want to learn. And I am afraid that I am going to be a teacher. ha ha.
  

5. It looks like you are serving in a more affluent area? Is this the case? Are most of the communities you tract into gated?

• We have the whole range. The privadas are pretty nice but nothing compared to houses around home. Usually they have a small kitchen, a small dining room, a small living room, a bathroom, and I think two or three bedrooms. Very compact. We have some slums but rarely go tracting there. Mostly our work is in the privadas so they are usually gated and all the other houses are usually individually gated.
  

6. What is your house, apartment, flat, like? Do you have other missionaries living with you and Elder Perez?

• We have a nice apartment! It's amazing! I have plans to make it into mission head quarters some day. We used to have two other elders living with us but they moved into a different apartment so now we have an "office". We are in the process of organizing and cleaning. It's pretty nice though and we have a washer! Most other missionaries wash by hand so we are very lucky. Nobody has a dryer really and the sun does a really good job.
  

7. So do you have a new mission president yet? What do you think of him?

• We do have a new mission President and I think he is awesome. He only speaks Spanish and I am still working with my spanish so it's rather difficult to really get to know him. ha ha. He is really awesome though and very clear headed. I am probably going to get to know him better as time goes on. Also, his wife is an ex-missionera. Entonces, understands the work and our job. This is apparently a big deal with the other elders.
  

8. How long has Elder Perez been on his mission? Where is he from?

• Elder Perez is pretty old in the mission and has 5 meses mas en la mission. He is from Tabasco, Mexico. I am his first trainee and we are going to do awesome in this area with the Lord's help.

Lo siento, I don't have my camero with me hoy because I was traveling to and and from the Mission office and stuff. I hope to be able to send you more next time. I am sorry for not explaining a whole lot but I think you can find my area by using Google Maps and typing in Florido.
Gracious! Les amo mucho!
Elder Curtis Hanson

P.S.- I loved the question format
P.S.S- I have my first bautismo this week on wednesday, Sabrina and her Mother Lorenna. Mom, Lorenna is like another mom and never forgets to invite me to eat food or have a drink. She was an answer to prayer my first day tracting the privadas.

Finally Another E-Mail!

LES AMO!

So I don´t have much time! Sorry I was unable to write last week. Things are a little crazy and I am just trying to keep going and understanding the language. I think I am proggressing really fast and the people here are incredible. There is a ton of work to do and I am barely comprehending it because everything is in a different language. My companion is great, even when we don´t get along, I know that he just wants to be a good missionary and help the people. His name is Elder Perez.

Right now we have quite a few investigators and I will send some pictures of some of them, I hope. The latest challenge in our Area is the guardias. Nuestro area is almost totally privadas so the difficulty is getting past the gate. I don´t have much time but I will try to send those photos. I am grateful for all of you and I hope you are all doing well. I am fine and I am sorry for not writing last week.

Hasta Luego!

Elder Hanson