Week 6

Hello and Magandang Columbus day!
All is well here in the MTC. I have been speaking Tagalog like a maniac.. As I type there is a Tagalog Jeff trying to translate everything that I say to tagalog lol.. Speaking the language really helps me get it down. We taught our first Teaching Appointment in Tagalog. It was amazing!!! Elder Muller and I Rockkkeedd it!! Totally OWNED the investigator and invited him to church and to pray about baptism. All in Tagalog!! It was amazing! I loved it!... But it's so weird speaking tagalog. Like I feel as if the English Jeff is different from the Tagalog Jeff, lol, cuz there is absolutely NO SARCASM in tagalog, it's so weird. So, like I have no idea how to joke around or anything. But yeah the tagalog is coming so well!
But yeah, big changes in the district this week. I got released as district leader, and Elder Brown, the one that lives across from Grandma and Grandpa got called as district leader. He is such a good guy! And I got a new companion. His name is Elder Petrucci, he is amazing!! I love him and i have only been his comp for 1 day lol. He plays the guitar too, so we talk so much about it, but not too much cuz we focus on spiritual things lol! But yeah it's amazing!

Um thanks for the memory card Dad...... NOT!!! I got your envelope dad and there was a huge hole in it and I could see where the memory card was but it ripped out of the package. So, yeah next time you should totally send it in a padded envelope so it doesnt happen again. I am down to 2 memory cards now. I was using one just for videos but now I'm gonna have to use it for pics as well..

So you wanted to know about my daily schedule. ok, here it goes. I wake up at 6 every morning. Shower, shave and get ready. After that I either have class, personal study, or comp study (Depending on the day). Our classes are taught by our amazing teachers, Bro ward and Bartholemu. They are so amazing!! I attribute a lot of my Tagalog skill to them! Our classes usually last anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours.. usually about 2, but yeah, we have 2 class blocks a day and personal and comp study for an hour. I dont really like personal study in the morning cuz it's really hard to stay awake sometimes lol.. If i could I would just take class all day!! but anyways, we have a time called MDT usually for an hour or 2 a day, it stands for Missionary directed Time. Its where we can sign up for Teaching Evaluations where you teach a teacher and they give you feed back its really helpful or you can just get stuff done that you need to, AKA clean your room, bookstore etc... Every sunday and Tuesday we have a fireside. And on tuesdays its ALWAYS a general authority. IDK if I told you but Elder Holland spoke to us a couple weeks ago it was amazing!!! WOOT! lol.. But then Every Thursday night we have our Teaching Appointment. Its where you do a MOCK lesson with an investigator. Right now I dont have the luxury of teaching them in english anymore which isn't fun, but it's all good. Anyways, thats a lil' bit about my schedule at the MTC.. Oh, and the foood BLOWS! If you want to survive here you really have to lower your standards for food. Oh well, it prepares me for the Philipinas.

Anyways.. the older districts are all leaving for the Philippines today! It makes me want to go and it's hard at the same time, cuz I love them and have become really good friends with a lot of them. But yeah, they all leave at 4 today. It kinda blows but we get NOOBS on Wednesday! lolololol.... Our district gets to Host them and take them around campus on their first day.. What NUBS.
But yeah, the MTC is amazing but not as amazing as the Atonement of Christ! or the Philippines!! I love you all so much I hope you are all doing well. And Kell, I loved your letter that you sent. Send me more letters! yours are my favorite! Oh, and Lindsey, one word of advice for you. When teaching the gospel make it Simple. Thats what I had a hard time with at the beginning. Keep in mind that these people won't know very much about the gospel. "The gospel is Simple, not Easy but simple" -Elder Holland. Thats what Elder Holland said when he spoke to us. But yeah, I love you all! Keep the letters coming, I love hearing from all of you!!! I love you and alam ko na totoong ebanghelio ni Jesu Christo!!

Paalam
Elder Hansen

Week 5

Hello family and friends!!

Kamusta po kayo?? I hope you all are doing well, I am finally done being sick and done taking those nasty pills. This week was awesome! Mainly because of conference!!! WOOT! I loved it! I took 19 pages of notes lol.. My hand hurt so bad! I wanted them to talk slower so i could take more notes!! The MTC needs Tivo. lol.. But yeah my favorite talk was Elder Uchtdorfs talk about love. I loved how he said love is at the center of all of Gods commandments. It applies to everyone in every situation, with Christlike love all of the worlds problems will go away!! It was so amazing! I love Elder Uchtdorf, he dominates. Also, I loved Elder Hollands testimony on the Book of Mormon! I pretty much held my breath through the whole thing cuz it was so amazing!!I didn't even take notes really cuz he was talking way too fast and I was way to interested in listening. It was pretty amazing!! Anyways.. I loved every second of conference.

We listened to conference in the big room where we had devotionals and stuff, but we had to get there at least an hour and a half early to get the cushioned seats. I calculated that i spent at least 16 hours watching and waiting for conference! It was amazing!!! lol..

But yeah, the language is coming along nicely!! It is owning my spelling capabilities tho. I always spell "C" words with a "k" and mix stuff up cuz the way you spell in tagalog is so different than english.. I started reading the aklat ni mormon sa tagalog! It took me 25 mins to finish the first chapter of Nephi, but hey, you gotta start somewhere! I had to look up every other word in the tagalog-english dictionary lol. But I did it and I understood it!! The second chapter is coming a long quite nicely too :).. But yeah, I can now testify, teach lesson 1, pray, and hold a pretty good conversation in tagalog. I can understand like 85% of what my teacher says. Whenever I dont get a word, I always raise my and and say "Ano ang _____ sa tagalog ba?" That way I learn at least 20 new words a day! It's so amazing! the gift of tounges is so real and I love it!!!!

So its been quite wet and rainy here this week. Yesterday we did our temple walk and it was pouring rain... Just my luck, I go out in my 100% wool suit with the $4 umbrella. And guess what happens... yeah,, my unbrella totally broke... The first time I tried to open it it friggin broke! so I had to practically hold it open so the rain didn't ruin my suit lol.. Yeah good times, the Lord just loves to test us. And sorry, I got the suit a little wet.. ooops!! I took some gnarly pics tho! woot!

Speaking of pics! you need to send back the memory card cuz the one I have is getting pretty dated and I want to send more pictures to you guys!

But yeah, thank you so much for all of your letters and for the goodies this week!! I loved them!!

Until next time!
Elder Hansen!!

Mahal Ko Kayo!!!