Happy Birthday Week Momma!

Hey y'all. Happy Birthday week Momma. 

So yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. day so no libraries were open, so we get to write today. This week was good. The weather has been in the 60's and 70's all week, so we have been driving around with the windows down and just trying to be outside as much as possible. It has been so nice and fun to have warm sunshine, but it does not feel like January. At all. Ni modo.

Euless is great. I really love this area and am going to be super bummed when I have to leave. In a couple weeks, I'll have spent 8 months in this ward, just like I did in Denton. Also, I will have spent more transfers outside of Denton than inside of Denton (finally haha). I miss Denton.

We have a crazy week scheduled this week, and we've got Zone Conference tomorrow. I don't have to train or anything, so I'm pretty stoked to just sit back and learn haha. We have some sweet new things for the mission that we are going to be talking about. 

We just found out that the temple baptismal font is open again, so we're going to try and go with some of our new converts here soon. Should be sweet.

Love,

Cole

Texas on Fire

It's always hard to hear of people dying when you're out here. It is a reality check for sure. It makes me grateful for the gospel and whatnot though. That's cool about the twins though, James and Jack. Tell uncle D and aunt Jen I say congrats. 

Pretty average week I'm pure tired. Our church starts at 8:30 so ward council starts at 7 so we have to wake up at butt:30 to pick up the other elders and get there on time, and then last night we were doing numbers and we didn't get home until pure late and this morning I was soo tired I almost just slept all day but then I didn't. We had to stop at the mission office this morning, so that is why we are emailing so late. 

Other than that, there isn't a whole lot going on. We spent most of the week working on this new report we use to work with the stakes, and it was the prototype so there was a ton of bugs. It's a really cool report, it just took forever to work on aka pure paperwork/officework all week aka super boring. 

Hansen out.

Love,

Cole

P.S. Check out this awesome church sign we found. Texas Forever.

Going Rogue

Happy New Year, and more importantly, Happy Birthday month Momma!

Sounds like y'all had a great new years. It's been kinda cold here, but dry. No snow (yet, I've still got my changitos (fingers crossed)). We had a super tranquilo new years eve. It was a good one though. Probably my last one in Texas. 

I definitely want to come back to Texas, but it'll probably be at the start of next December for some sealings and whatnot. 

We found this really cool new investigator. She was a referral from the phone. We contacted her, and found out her mom had just moved in with her. Her mother was baptized almost a year and a half ago in Juarez, and the church helped her a lot. The mother's husband recently passed away, and the missionaries and relief society helped the mother a ton. They brought her food for 40 straight days while her husband was in the hospital. Needless to say, Martha has had great experiences with the church, and she even went this Sunday and had a great time. We hope to continue with her.

Sometimes, being a missionary is pure hard and sucky. You have to work plan and coordinate with so many different people that a lot of times people get lost in the shuffle. So, I've decided to become a vigilante, batman style. Only as a missionary. Nobody needs to know how the investigator got to the church building, they just need to help them feel welcome. Still flushing this idea out, any thoughts? 

Anywhey, I hope y'all have a good week.

Love,

Cole

Jesus Lives

December 29, 2014

It was pure weird to call y'all for christmas. Haha, it just felt really weird. Phones man. Anywhey, it was super fun, but now I'm pure confused about what I want to do when I go home. Good thing I have like a whole year to think about it. Haha, by the way, I think its way funny, but everytime anyone asks me how long I've been out, I say, "oh, about a year more or less." Haha, the funny thing is I've been saying that for about a year now haha, and nobody has ever asked me again haha. Also, do I really have an accent? There's no way I have a mexican accent, and just a little Texas one, but it's not that bad I don't think.

So for Christmas, one of the girls in the ward who is um... uh... "special" gave all of the missionaries a present, and it was a little pebble, with some suckers taped to it. Written on the rock I grabbed was simply, "Jesus Lives." Wow. Haha, at first I was joking around and laughing about it, and when I got home, I tossed it on my desk. A few days later, as I was sitting at my desk, I picked it up, and started to think about it. What a short, sweet, powerful, and sincere testimony! That little rock, worth almost nothing, has been changed into a prized possession of mine.

In addition to that simple testimony, there is another. On Main Street in Grapevine, Texas, there is a dumpy little shop, in an unassuming location. On the side of the shop, there is a sign (the kind where you put up individual letters and combine them to make a word). On the sign, the shop owner put "Jesus Christ Lives." The best part is that one day, someone stole the "s," so it said, "Jesus Christ Live." Hahahaha. Genius. 

Anywhey, love y'all (yes, it's a part of my vocabulary now, it just comes out so naturally). 

Love,

Cole

Happy Half Birthday, Me

December 22, 2014

Yo's nothing really happened this week plus I'm gonna call y'all soon, so yeah, I just want to tell you about one of our investigators-

She is 17 and her parents won't let her get baptized until she's 18, and she is so freaking ready haha. She goes to church every week, has read the book of mormon (multiple times), has done her family history, is currently reading the doctrine and covenants, and I believe she has read Jesus the Christ. We don't see her too often, because she lives super far away and sometimes goes to the english ward, but this week she texted us to say she was bringing her friend to church (in the english ward). Haha, that was so cool to see her, a non-member, be so involved in missionary work. 

Also, today we were in Subway and a member paid for us. It is pure nice and I love members. Being a missionary is like being famous, it's the best! Tender mercies. 

Anyway, I think I'll probably have to be calling y'all at like 2 pm Texas time, so 1 pm Utah time. We have an hour again on the phone. Talk to y'all soon!

Love, and a Merry Christmas!

Cole