Snow Bear

Yo's-

Action Items-

1. What time do y'all want me to call on Christmas? 

2. Everyone is getting married and it's weird. I feel like I don't know half of the people in the Christmas party.

3. I am not getting transferred, I'll stay here in Euless for 7 more weeks (long transfer because of Christmas).

4. My new companion is Elder Hepworth. Yes, that Elder Hepworth, the one I served with before. I am so excited, I love him. 

5. Nothing too new happened this week. Pretty boring I'd say. 

6. Fun fact- "snowman" in Spanish is "oso de nieve" (which means snow bear).

7. It's still about 70-80 degrees here.

That is all I've got for you this week. Love y'all!

Love, 

Cole

A man, a plan, a canal; Panama.

Howdy Y'all. We've had a good week. I only went on 2 exchanges this week, so it was a little slower haha, but it's been good. It was one of thoooooose weeks, where Sunday night you just take a deep breath, and then go to sleep. 

New format- Key points (there's not enough for a weekly breakdown)

I went on exchange with the Cleburne missionaries- It was good. 

 

Elders Kremer, Siniscalchi, HANSEN, y Cook

Christmas.mormon.org is pretty cool.

On Tuesday, one of our visa waiters is leaving to Panama, so we are going to be in a trio for 8 days with a missionary who is going home. It should be super fun. 

Yep, that's about all I've got for this week. Next week we are going to spend at least 2 full nights caroling, so that should be good. 

P.S. on the way to Cleburne we drove through Arlington, and passed by Cowboy stadium. It's HUGE haha. I want to go there soo bad. One day. 

 Love y'all,

Cole?

P.P.S. Thank you so much for the package mom, it was awesome! Y'all never told me who I have this year for Christmas as well! Merry Christmas!!

Toploftily

Hello Family. Gobbldy gook and whatnot. Happy Thanksgiving week/start of the Christmas season. My week was pretty good, here goes the breakdown (I kinda like this style now).

Monday- Nothing really happened.

Tuesday- Lots happened. I went up do Denton on exchange! Woo! (speaking of Denton, I used to go to Aubrey all the time, but they recently were swallowed up into the Dallas mission. Boo.) It was so fun! Haha, it was like going home kinda, I got to see a lot of members I used to visit, and even one of the people that got baptized while I was there. It was a super awesome day for sure.

The Barrera Family (Elder Long and I found them on my first day in the mission. She told me I looked a lot skinnier than the last time she saw me... #fatcole).

Denton! Elder Burningham, me Brown, and Cook

Wednesday- We went to an english district meeting up in Denton and it was really weird. Haha, it felt super weird to be in a meeting like that. We drove home from Denton (bye home), and right when we got home we started another exchange with one of our district leaders, so I was in our area doing the day Elder Cook had planned the night before. Haha, it ended up going really well. I forgot to take a picture of that exchange whoops.

Thanksgiving- We exchanged back in the morning, then went to a thanksgiving lunch. It was a pretty traditional one with turkey and whatnot, and the family had invited their non-member friends as well as a craftily disguised ploy haha. It was really cool though. Then at night, we went and saw a mexican family and had a really nice mexican dinner with no turkey involved whatsoever. It was cool to get the both sides. Haha, we taught the family why we celebrate thanksgiving and whatnot, and they started to tell us about all of the weird traditions that different parts of mexico had and it was super funny haha. 

Friday- We went on exchange with the Arlington zone leaders and it was really fun. I was with elder Ostlund in Arlington , who I had served around before, so we had a really great exchange. 

Cook, Leavitt, Ostlund, Hansen (that is my exchange box I carry all my stuff in haha)

Saturday- a really good day, but I don't remember any specifics.

Sunday- So every sunday, the bishopbrick + 1 other family rotate through feeding the missionaries, but this week was 5th sunday, so there was no food. When the first counselor found out that there was no food for us in ward council, he flipped his lid and was legitimately angry hahaha. We told him we were fine and whatnot, but when they started sacrament meeting, during announcements the guy conducting said, "The missionaries don't have a dinner tonight, and they are hungry, so everyone please take the snacks out of your purse and give them to the missionaries." Hahaha, it was so awesome. Jose and Erica got baptized, and either there was a leak in the font, or we didn't fill it up enough, so they had to do it kneeling down. Other than that, everything went smooth. 

All in all, a very good week. Sounds like y'all had a good time at the buffet. Leena looks a ton bigger and older than before. I am secretly celebrating the fact I don't have to eat curry for at least one more year. Hansen out.

Love,

Cole

A Crazy Week!

Howdy. This week was super good and stuff. We had a crazy week. Breakdown time.

Monday- We had a mini MLC (mission leadership council) in the mission office (which they just renovated woot) about a new church initiative to help people come unto Christ. It is called, "He is the Gift," and you'll probably hear more about it soonish.

Tuesday- We woke up early, and caught a ride down to Waco for a district meeting (like 2-3 hours). It was Elder Hepworth's (my old companion's) meeting, so that was really fun. After that, I went on exchange with Elder Melville. It was really cool to be in such a small town. They serve in an english branch haha, so there are very little members period, not to mention spanish members.

 

Elder Cook, Hansen, Hepworth, and Melville

​

 Wednesday- They picked me up at 8:00 A.M., and from Hillsboro we drove even further south all the way to Kileen. Haha, it was like a St. George trip. We were in Kileen for about 30 minutes, and then we drove all the way home to Euless. It was super weird to be in the car for that long haha, it's been since that one time I went to San Francisco. We drove by Baylor's stadium on the way home it was way cool. 

 Baylor!

 Thursday- We had interviews with President Ames. We got to the church a little bit before 8:00 A.M., and then we didn't leave until about 8:00 P.M.. We were giving trainings and whatnot during interviews, and then after interviews, President trained all of the ward mission leaders in our stake, and invited us to help. It was pretty cool, but a super long day at the church.

Friday- We did weekly planning instead of on Thursday because of interviews. Jose called us, and told us he needed help to grab the cake because he was scared it would tip over haha. Long story short, there was tons of traffic and it took forever to get the cake, so we got to the wedding a little bit late. Bishop married them in the church, and then right after we went into the ward thanksgiving party haha. NOBODY parties like the Hurst 3rd ward. Hahaha, it was so crazy. They even played Pitbull haha, Everyone was dancing and having a good time, and like 200-300 people got to meet Jose and Erica, so that was awesome.  Best. Ward Party. Ever.

 

Estephanie (their daughter) and the Cake

Saturday- I went on an exchange with Elder Saaga, originally from Hawaii, but he lived in saratoga springs right next to the hot pots/lehi bridge for like 5 years. We drove up to Roanoke to visit a member, and he was super funny. He was way worried because he was teaching the gospel principles class on the millennium, and the sisters have an investigator who is a Jehovah's Witness. Haha. 

Sunday- Normal day. The bishopbrick (not even going to try to spell that right) feeds all 10 missionaries in the church every Sunday, so that is always awesome. 

It was a good week all in all. 

Love,

Cole

More pictures- The Wedding, and my angry eyes. 

​

You're welcome mom for all the pictures. Pogo Stick Adventures. 

That is all. Hansen out.

​

Blue Team GO!!!

Howdy. 

So, on Monday we got Truck back, just in time for a cold front. It got real chilly here. Last night it even snowed (kinda haha. It's called snow when you're in Texas). I'm rockin the sweater every day, and it is pretty great. Other than being cold, it has been a great week. 

Jose and Erica will be getting married on Friday this week woo yay! That will be super fun haha, my first marriage on the mission. Speaking of marriages, I got my first wedding announcement, from Elder Henderson. Atta boy. 

So Elder Cook and I are going to be doing a ton of exchanges this transfer. We are going all over the mission. This week, I'll be going down to Waco, to go on exchange with Elder Hepworth (my old comp.), and next week I'll get to go back to Denton (yay!!). It should be a really fun transfer. 

Whelp, as dad would say, "That's all the news that's fit to print."

Elder Hansen, signing off.

Love,

Cole

Truck

Hi.

So this week was pretty good. We've been without truck all week, so that has been pretty rough. Probably like half of the work in our area is just out of bounds on bikes haha, so we've been riding around and finding new people and whatnot. It's been pretty fun. We have transfers this week, but Elder Cook and I are staying here in Hurst, so that should be fun. All is well, we should get truck back today (I named our truck, Truck, so that sentence is grammatically correct). I can't think of a ton more that happened. Have a great week!

Love,

Cole

Photos from the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/texasfortworthmission

Elder Cook and Elder Hansen

November Missionary Leadership Council

As we are marching towards the end of the year, similar to Zions Camp march, we as a mission have learned many lessons and have been spiritually refined. Our Zone and Sister Training Leaders provide great leadership!!

Elder Foster from the Second Quorum of the Seventy visited with the Missionary Leadership Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders from both the Dallas and Texas Fort Worth Mission. He gave some training on Vision, Leadership and the important responsibility we have in being leaders.

No Truck No Problem

Hi family! Hi others. 

Hey mom, which email do you use? I got emails from like 5 different moms haha. One of them went into the spam box somehow, but I finally found the one from last week luckily. 

We were without the truck all week, and Elder Cook's been having some bike troubles, so we have probably had the biggest walking area in the world for the last week. It's been pretty great. We've come up with some great last-minute schemes and plans to get to far-away investigators, so that has been really fun. Haha, we have really just been leaning on the members really hard for the last couple days, which is a little harder in a Spanish ward with 12 missionaries. (harder on them, not on us).

I thought you would be proud of me, I swooped in on the post-halloween candy sales and I am definitely going to be #fatcole if we get the car back anytime soon. 

Jose and Erica are doing really good. They're going to get married on the 22nd, and baptized the next week. They are super cool. We have some fun lessons planned out for them this week. 

Thank you so much for the halloween package. Mom always knows exactly what to put in there to keep it fun. You are the Best!

It got kinda cold and I broke out the sweater again. It was super cute.

Love,

Cole

Elder Foster and the Truck

Heye guise,

Elder Foster of the second quorum of the seventy came to Texas and did a combined MLC with us and the Dallas mission in Colleyville (inside the Ft. Worth mission). It was super cool. Elder Foster seemed like the stern old grandfather that would beat you at chess, but then take you out for ice cream.

Other than that there is no newz for da week. Jk, I just remembered we are taking the truck in today to get fixed and so I'm going to be a bike missionary again. woot.

All is well in Euless.

Love,

Cole

 Missionary Leadership Council

 Cole is chatting in the background

They love to have fun!

Inside Voices Please

Hay.

We had a pretty cool week. Elder Cardon of the 1st quorum of the 70 came and we had a huge mission conference, so that was pretty cool. He talked all about the abrahamic covenant and the scattering and gathering of Israel and it was super cool. Also, he gave a huge fireside and there was like 300-400 people there and because it was in our church building, we were the ushers. It was pretty fun to tell like 200 missionaries to use their inside voice.

Not a whole lot happened this week, so I'm gonna tell you about our investigators-

1. Juan and Maria- They are a really cool young couple. They have a super cute 2 year old daughter. They have been to church a couple times and even went to conference. They really like it when we teach them and take everything really well. Maria promised to drop coffee halfway through teaching the word of wisdom, so that was really cool. They just barely bought their marriage licence, and they want to get married in November. Every time we pray they kneel down and they daughter does too. Super freakin' linda.

2. Santiago- Super cool guy, he's 31 years old. Very analytical. He's from Coahuila. He's a Texas talker sometimes, but he loves learning from us and he's been to church like the last 5 or 6 weeks straight. He's basically a member, the only thing that holds him back is that he works in a... gentleman's club. Ha ha, every Sunday he leaves right from church for work, and I think it is just really really funny, even though it's really bad for him spiritually. He's working on changing his job.

3. Juan Pablo and Teresa- Juan is a super cool guy, he is ready to be baptized, but he needs to be married first. His girlfriend is learning and whatnot still, but she is kinda being a big old stumbling stone right now. We are trying with them. They LOVE our visits.

Also I forgot to tell y'all I am driving a 2012 Colorado and it's pretty fun to drive a truck everywhere. Makes me feel like a big ol Texas boy.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Love,

Coal

Zone Conference

Fun Times

THE Trinity

Hey there. So to settle the family debate, I literally went running with Pres. We ran like 3 miles on the Trinity High School track (yes, THE trinity high school). Ha ha, I miss the good old family debates. Elder Cook is from Ft. Collins Colorado, and is a pretty cool guy.

This week we went and saw "Meet the Mormons" and it was pretty good. I guarantee mom cries and most likely Eliza as well ha ha. It's good though. I heard it's sold out everywhere which is good for us missionaries. 

It's pretty cool to be back in my old ward. The members are good and I had a pretty warm reception. The apartment is pretty big and kinda cluttered, but I've been cleaning it out during lunch and dinner if there's time (there's never time, we are so busy ha ha, it's great).

That is pretty cool mom is gonna be a teacher, I had no idea that was gonna happen ha ha.

We had a pretty good week, here's some pictures. Two of them are the Hansen clan. One is me with my 29 day challenge (they give it to missionaries for their first 29 days, but I just barely finished and turned it in). and One is the Hurst South zone. 

Love, Cole

Zone Leader

We got this letter from President Ames in the mail. Our sweet Cole didn't even tell us about this. Love him!!

Hi From Hurst!

Hi Family, friends, and others! They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a bunch of pictures. It was a good week. We're super busy all the time. This morning we got to go run with president Ames, it was cool. Love you!

Cole

And here is my address furr shurr this time. BOMBARDMENT!

131 Manchester Dr. #127

Euless, TX 76039

This is the Elder Long clan. The ones to my right are my hijos, the tall guy to my left is mi hermano, and his hijos.

Elder Cook and I, directing traffic at transfers.

Elder Munoz came back! woo!

 Bye Northside

Mijo #1 y mijo #2

​From right to left- Me, mijo (elder tulaga) y mi nieto (grandson) also elder Hagen is in the background.

Vale La Pena

Umm.... Hi guys. This week was super rough. Haha, last week, we went nutz and found like a trillion new people to teach, so we were hoping to have this super awesome week. And then this week, holy crap, nothing went the way it was supposed to. Haha, we probably had at least 25 appointments punch on us this week, at least. One day we had 7 appointments, and I called and confirmed four of them the night before, and they still punched. Haha, we got flat tires (17 this transfer now) and it is still super hot. We had crazy anti-mormons yell at us, and a whole lot of other stuff. Haha, somehow, the only thought that kept going through my head last night was, "vale la pena." (It's worth it). I don't know how, but somehow, it always works out. The crappy weeks disappear, the hot days fade, somehow it just all works out. The mission is good. Vale la pena.

In other news, I'm already leaving Fort Worth. And I'm going.... Drumroll please.... Back to Hurst! Haha, I'm going to be in a car area though. I am super stoked, my comp. is Elder Cook and he is a baller. I'm super sad to leave Fort Worth, because my district is easily the best in the whole mission, but an old friend from Denton is gonna replace me (Elder Hagen). New address (I think, don't count on it haha).

131 Manchester Dr. #127

Euless, Texas 76039

It's pretty weird I just did a little (skinny) dip into Fort Worth, but I'm expecting to drop a cannonball into Hurst. Look out, there's a new sheriff in town!

Love,

Cole

 Goodbye Ft.Worth District

Bike Elder Rehydration System, Version 1.0

I Love Lamp

So, I hit my year mark. It was a pretty cool day. We had interviews with President and he asked me how I was doing. I told him, "good." He just paused and waited, so I expounded, "I mean, I'm happy, I enjoy the work, but I am TIRED." Hahaha, he reminded me that I am on a bike in Texas, and that "you're going to be tired." Haha, that made me happy for some reason. 

Later that night, Pres came out with us and we taught 2 lessons. They went super well haha, it was a cool experience. 

A few weeks ago, we helped this guy move, and in return, he gave us a broken lava lamp. This week, we fixed it up, and now we have a groovy lava lamp to light the dark night. I love lamp. I feel like I am quite the handyman. Hahaha. (remember the video Nate and I made?)

Anyway, it was a good week. My district is awesome. The sisters here are young, but they are perfectly trying and are straight up beasts. It is great. 

Pictures!

A real life texas longhorn

Remember how I promised I would never wear a sweater?

Elder Tulaga, all tuckered out.

Doctor Elder, or Elder Doctor?

​A real life black cowboy.

Dallas Temple

Viva Mexico

Cheesin with my 6 shooters