October 22, 2008 Letter from Hermana (sister) DuVall (Wife of the mission president)

Dear Brother Hanson,

 

Elder Hanson told me that he finally had the chance to e-mail you yesterday, so I am sure you are relieved and glad to hear that he is doing better.  What an amazing miracle that took place in the lives of he and Elder Fowers.  As they explained to us exactly what happened to them, we are more and more convinced that they truly did have angels watching over and protecting them from serious harm.  We love these young men and women like our own children and we were so shocked and scared when we received that frightening phone call.  We also felt so blessed that we just “happened” to be on their side of the country so we could go there and see for ourselves that they were going to be okay.  We are also so grateful for the wonderful sacrifice of the Ferrol Branch President who spent the entire night in the hospital with them despite having put in a full day of work and for his help in finding crutches, arranging meals, rides and other things to make sure they are completely taken care of.  They living angels that Elder Holland talked about in his conference talk have certainly continued that loving care.

 

Elder Hanson said that his ankle is doing a little better each day and he feels like he will be fine.  We continue to talk to them every day to ensure that they are improving and following the doctor’s advice.  They are getting a little stir crazy in the apartment, but we have asked them to make sure they take it slowly so that they don’t cause any further damage to their injuries.  I am so amazed at how positive and upbeat both he and Elder Fowers are, despite the circumstances. 

 

We have sure enjoyed getting to know your wonderful son.  He has such a humble personality and is a pleasure to work with.  He is a hard worker and is focused on doing what he should.  Spanish has not come particularly easy to him, but he continues to work hard as he studies and practices every single day.  The quality that stands out more than anything else to me is his desire to be obedient.  He knows what is right and he has chosen to do that even when others around him may not chose that way.  He even had the courage to advise President DuVall of a situation that he didn’t feel was right so that a change could be made.  We are very proud of him for his honesty, his love of the Lord and his strong testimony.  Thanks for teaching him these important principles and for raising him to be such a good young man.

 

If at any time you have questions or concerns about his health, you are welcome to e-mail us.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Hermana DuVall

October 22, 2008 Letter of explaination after the accident

Sorry family, you already know most of the story, but I don’t have any time!

Ask any questions you have and I’ll try to answer them!

It was nice talking to you! What were you doing all together? Anyway here’s the story:

Ok, well sorry for not getting back to you on time; I had an interesting experience last week. My companion (he had only been here 2 days) and I were walking across the street at a crosswalk, and it was a 4 lane street; 2 lanes one direction, and 2 lanes the other. Well, we safely crossed the first 2 lanes but as we were crossing the last 2, the first car in the first lane stopped, but the second one I guess didn’t. My companion started shouting, and since he was closer to the car, it hit him first, and then HE hit me until I rolled up onto the hood, and then it threw us both pretty far. I didn’t see the car coming at all, so when I found myself on the ground, I didn’t know what to think really, just that my ankle was twisted up under my back, and I was bleeding. I started to get up, and shouted "you’ve got to be kidding me" as I looked at my companion a ways off and then back at the car. I could see that his head had cracked the windshield, but my companion was walking over to me! Then a ton of people started coming over to us, and shouting things in Spanish that I couldn’t understand.

They took us off to the side and talked to us and the police and the ambulance came, then the woman that was driving came up to us, she was crying and all that, she looked worse off than we did. We called the mission President, and some members to meet us at the hospital. We rode to the hospital, and there we met everyone, and waited in wheel chairs for a few hours until they could check us out. We got x-rayed, and bandaged, and it turns out that nothing was broken! We were just really beat up. My companion; who is 6'2 and a lot bigger than I am, took a lot of the beating and has a lot more injuries to his knees and ankle, and shoulders and arms and stuff, where as I was just mainly concerned with my ankle. 

Well the fact is that we spent 9 hours in that blasted hospital, it was ridiculous! But we missed zone conference that a general authority was at, but the President and his wife came over to our apartment, and checked everything out, let us call home,(which was way cool) and we’ve just been sitting around the apartment talking and keeping our feet in the air. 

We keep finding new bruises every day, and getting a litter sorer every day, but we’re overall ok. We couldn’t walk until today, so we just came to do a quick email, and then we have to go back. I’ll write up a bigger and better email next time, when we have more time, instead of paying to use these computers that cost way too much, we’ll be at the library where I can write a good one.

Just know that we are very watched over, and very blessed as missionaries, and that I know that it isn’t just luck that we are pretty much alright, without any broken bones after a car accident like that. 

Thank you for the emails, I promise to write more next week!

Until then I probably will be in my apartment not doing a whole lot until at least Saturday!

Take care!

Elder Brett Hanson

October 13, 2008

Wow, that´s unreal!

I don´t even know where to start, that whole story is so crazy. But i only

have questions. What about the attic now? How do you think it started?

Didn´t you just do some work on the attic not too long ago? That is all very

wild.

All the failing car businesses and such, that is also really crazy. Things

all around the world are all bad. That´s all that we hear of all day, is how

rough everything is. But how is the cu? alright?

Here, not too much is new, except that i am staying here for a while, and I

am getting another companion on Wednesday. It should be good. 

The work here should pick up some more with the arrival of the new comp.

I´ll explain more as the time goes by.

I´m glad to see that you got my package! The thing cost me enough I tell

you! But did you like the pics in it? The video of the hot dog water is

pretty good!

Thanks for giving all that to marcus and such. It is much appriciated. I

sent a letter home to the Bennets the other day, it should get there pretty

soon, if you would, pass that along too.

Thanks for the mail, and everything! 

I hope that all continues to be ok, keep me updated on all that is going on!

Thanks!

General Conference was great! Normally it looks like we’d have to go to another city to watch it by a satellite connection. But this year, we figured that here in Ferrol we have a nice enough chapel, and enough members that we could just try and watch it here. So we had 2 laptops, and some projectors all hooked up, to speakers and all that, so we could do it. We had one play it in Spanish, and the other in English, because there are enough people who can speak English, and there is now an American family in the ward, they are here because he’s working for a boat repair company that got hired out here. So that was really nice to watch. We were able to watch Saturday morning live, at 6 at night, and then we watched Saturday afternoon on Sunday morning. We tried to get priesthood, because there is some connection to it somewhere if you have the right passwords and such, but we couldn’t find it. So we watched Sunday morning live at 6, and then we’ll just have to read Sunday afternoon in the ensign, because it would come on live at 8 and go till 10, and we have to be home before that so it doesn’t really work out.

 

Definitely strange not going to dinner after priesthood, and all the traditions. I miss that like crazy.

 

The week beyond that was pretty normal. Not too much to report other than it’s transfer calls this week, so we’ll know who’s going where, and so on. But I’m 99 percent positive that I’m not going anywhere. I’m thinking my companion is, but we’ll know on Thursday or Friday.

 

I sent a big package home full of Logroño things, and pics from the CCM with President Hill, and my planners from the MTC (which are a big waste, and have almost no use, that’s why I sent them home) And a CD that has pictures from first transfer, and my memory card with recent pics. Also there’s a postcard for Marcus Flinton, I didn’t have his address. Plus there’s a bunch of stuff I wanted to keep, but just not have with me on the mission because it’s pointless, and gets annoying to pack up every time I have to move. So like the stickers and books, just put them in a box or somewhere where they can just sit until I get home! That blasted package cost me 18 Euro, so know that everything in there is special.

 

Otherwise I’m glad to hear that things are good, have a good week!

 

Thanks for the mail,

 

-Elder Hanson

September 29th, 2008

Hey, glad to hear that some people came into the CU, I’ll admit I was pretty worried.

 

This week has been one of the longest weeks in the mission. As you know I was in Coruña last week from Sunday night to Tuesday morning. We worked, (or really got lost in a big city,) but it was by a really cool beach, boardwalk place too, so as we were doing contacts, I got some really awesome pics! We were pretty lost, but whenever you are lost in Spain, all you have to do is just go ask an old guy, and they’ll explain where everything in the city is 5 times over, so we just did that, and we found our way around!

 

On Tuesday, we got up, had district meeting, and then came back up to Ferrol. The thing about being in someone else’s piso, is that you don’t have any food, and you end up forgetting something, so we were pretty happy  to be home again. We went out and found a few people and taught some lessons, like normal. We did the same on Wednesday, just normal days. But Thursday, the first thing we did was get up at 5 so we could catch the first bus back to Coruña to do more residency stuff. We were there the whole morning waiting in line with everyone that was looking to get residency papers...you can imagine the crowd, (Spain is worse than the states when it comes to illegal immigration) but then we got back to Ferrol before 12 in the morning. Then a good day of walking, and wow we were a little tired. But Friday, after making food, and planning all morning, having a lesson, correlation with the branch, we went to a funeral. A member had passed away, so we were there setting up everything, passing out the programs, directing the choir, and helping out. We also went to the grave site, and I am just kind of surprised at the way they do things here. They just slid the casket into the side of these walls, and the workers started putting the face of the wall on with the insulation foam stuff, their hammers and everything right there all of us watching. It was a little strange for me.

 

Saturday we still managed to get a few things done, and have a family home evening with a less active family.

 

Then yesterday, President Duvall was here, so we had interviews, and all that. We also set a baptismal date with a child of a less active family.

 

So besides all that, we are working pretty hard here, I really am happy to be getting some stuff done.

 

I’ve heard about the financial mess from some members, and they’ve said that it is a little scary. Wow the political scene looks equally as bad. It would appear that it isn’t too bad of a time to be out of the country...sorry but it’s true.

 

Also, yes Ferrol is a city that is surrounded by big ship repair things. I’ll have to send you some pictures of them, but I can see some cranes right outside my window in my study room. There really isn’t the prettiest beach here, but the ocean is still cool to be around. Also my companion and I were talking about how Ferrol is really the typical city that people think of when they think of Spain. The streets are narrow, and of cobblestone, it’s really busy, with cars and buses, and people walking in the same place. Not to mention that it is on the coast, and sort of on a hill, so you get the whole sloped buildings, and cool streets. It really is a beautiful city.

 

Well I’m off to the day, thanks for the info, and thanks for writing!

 

Take care!

 

Elder Hanson

September 24, 2008

Thanks for the mail!

Here’s the thing. I’ll send the card home from last transfer, and then ill send the one with the movies on it home a little later on once you send me mine back.

The other thing is I need that journal paper that is from the distribution center...you know the ones with the lines and the dates? I keep forgetting to tell you, but I’m running out! I don’t know when you could send it, but I sure could use it!

Glad to hear about Morgan, (Morgan turned 12 and went for her Bishops interview, and to get a temple recommend to do Baptisms for the dead next week!) but everything else...sorry. Things are tough everywhere. Here in Spain things are on the downside, and everyone’s complaining. I don’t know what to say sometimes other than the message that we share is much more than our money; that things like family and our real happiness don’t depend on money.

But in other news:

Things are going pretty well. I am actually writing you today from A Coruña, a bigger city about 45 minutes away from Ferrol. We came down last night, and we are here for a few days doing some of my companion’s residency things, so I feel kind of strange walking around, lost in a big city, but it’s kind of fun too. 

This week in Ferrol has been pretty good. We found some new investigators, and we set a baptismal date with a guy who has been investigating the church for years. He needs to stop smoking, that is always a tough one, but he’s pretty motivated, and there seems to be a lot of hope. We’re pretty blessed.

The other thing that we are so blessed in is our eating appointments here. We are fed almost everyday! It’s something that is extremely rare out here in Spain, but in Ferrol, there are a lot of members, and only 2 Elders, so we are spoiled. The only downside is that I still can’t cook, and I don’t really have to learn anything right now, maybe in the future...

Thanks for everything! Take care!

Elder Hanson

Well, it's good to hear that Michael is doing well, I have been thinking of him this week. I love newt's article! (For those of you who don't know, Newt is Nate, his brother)  I'm glad to hear his article got in the Salt Lake Tribune. But tell that kid to write...

Glad to hear that Morgan had a happy birthday! And that my letter to her took 11 days to get to the states...wow that's a little more than it was back in Logroño. I think this new city is too far away from the rest of the world, but it is an awesome city.

Have you seen it on a map? (And that's why I added the map above)It's on the west northern part of Spain, and it's a pretty good looking city. I am happy to be here taking all these pictures and all that. 

(Personal message to Mom and Dad) Quick question, did you see, or take off those videos of the MTC, and the CCM on my first memory card that I sent to you a while back? I don't want to delete them if you haven't...but if you just left them on to let me look at them, that is cool too.

I have a card that I am going to send home pretty soon, but I want to know the answer to this question before I do it. I also will be sending home a little package pretty soon; it is just a bunch of papers and my first planners, and some pictures from the CCM. I also will put in the CD of pictures from first transfer in it. So I don't know how much that will cost, or how long it's going to take to get to the states, but I am just trying to cut down on all the things that I have here with me, I am finding that this is the secret to packing, so I am going to send home this soon. I have some cool little tourist things from Logroño, and some stickers that I want to save. So I don't know if you want to just put it in my room or somewhere for the next year and 7 months.

But thank you for sending the pictures, they will be used almost everyday, so thank you, thank you.

Guess what, we are teaching this girl that just got baptized in a less active family all the follow up lessons, and she has a cat whose name is Lucifer. (Our cat's name is Lucy-Fur. Brett came up with it and it stuck!) It's awesome, so I am showing her pictures of the cat, we all thought it was funny.

But the work here has picked up a little. We had 4 people in church, and 2 less active families, so we saw some of the fruits of our labor here; I just hope it keeps going.

Zone Conference was pretty good, I saw a ton of people from my MTC group, and that was really great. It was in a city called Santiago, it is a little more south of us, and is probably the biggest tourist city in the mission. It has this big catholic cathedral, so we went and checked it out yesterday, it was pretty cool, but I didn't get any pics... next time.

Sorry to hear about the work. More banks are going under? I thought things might be getting better? The exchange rate turned around, so I thought things were headed in a little better direction, but they'll get there sometime.

Get Quang there in the CU! And tell everyone hello for me!

Take care, thanks for everything!

Elder Hanson