Kingdom of Ebeye

Another week in the heat of Ebeye. It rains quite a bit but I can't tell if it is a blessing or not. It cools down when it rains but then it gets so much more hot and humid. Also when it rains no one does anything. All the marshallese just go in their houses and sleep, so the work slows down. It rained all day on Thursday. Thursday was also manit (culture) day. It was super cool. We got invited to a celebration at the school we teach at. It was cool to see all of the cultural dances. During the celebration they brought us mõñã in Majol, which is the cultural food. It consisted of a whole cooked fish that I just had to dig into, some raw fish on the side, some hermit crab, breadfruit, and coconut. If you know me then you know I don't like sea food but I'm not soft so I ate it. I'm starting to like it more and more each time I eat it. The AP's came to Ebeye this weekend. We went to Kwaj on Saturday to pick them up. It's always a good time when you get to go to Kwaj. Also this weekend was Stake conference, so we greeted Elder Johansson who is a pacific area 70. At stake conference he talked a lot about how we must minister to our neighbors. His talk was super good and applicable because 66% of the stake is less active. Stake conference was a great time. I think that's about all that happened this week! I love you all and hope all is well. 

-Elder Hanson

Ebeye Boi

Another great week on Ebeye. It is so hot and humid here. As soon as I get out of the apartment I start sweating. I am still getting used to not seeing the mountains wherever I go. So this week we did a lot of studying and finding. Ali and Peter have baptismal dates for the 12 but we're still working with them on some things so we will see what happens. We are studying with an Rm's wife but every time we go to study with them the power is out. So we have been going back almost everyday to try and find a time that works with them. Marshallese people will never say no. Even if they don't want to study with us they will set up an appointment then just flake. So this week when lessons fell through we would go finding. We picked up some new investigators this week so that is good. One of the people who wanted to study with us is a deacon at a different church here. We taught him the restoration and he wanted to know who had the authority today so we told him about President Nelson and showed him a picture. He was in awe. It was a super cool lesson. One night we were walking back to our apartment and this guy just calls us over. He starts saying he wants what we have. Elder Nelson and I thought he was trying to rob us. We asked him what he wanted and he said he wanted the glory that we had. He said he had been watching us walk around for a couple of days and said that there was something different about us and that he wanted it. He lives in the Central area of Ebeye so we reffered him to the Central elders. It was such a cool experience. Another thing happened yesterday. We were going to a dinner appointment with Elder Garr and Elder Jormeia and this guy starts talking to us. Elder Jorby is from Majol and the guy we started talking to lived in Utah for a while. Turns out this guy and Elder Jorby are cousins. So we give him a book of Mormon and he said that he had been looking for us for a long time. He says he knows a lot about our church because he is from Utah and he is very interested. He works at the US military base on kwaj so he can only study on Mondays and Saturdays so we have an appointment for Saturday. This week was good. I am loving the work. The language is getting better day by day. I hope all of you are doing great! I love you all and thank you for the continuous emails and support!

  

With love,

Elder Hanson

pictures will come soon. I don't know when, but soon.

First week in Ebeye

I finally made it to the Marshall Islands!

Iakwe aolep. 

Man I can't believe I am in Majol. It's been a pretty crazy week. 

On Thursday we got to Majol. I was on Majuro for a couple days. As soon as I stepped off the plane I realized how hot it is. It is so hot here. The AP's picked us up and took us to the mission home. President and Sister Foster are in Fiji so I haven't met them yet. I met up with Elder Peterson and it was so good to see him. I figured out I was going to Ebeye. I'm pumped. 

Friday we just chilled in Majuro, went shopping, and packed for Ebeye. 

Saturday we got to Ebeye. It is even hotter here than it is in Majuro. Also the power will just randomly go out. The past 2 nights it has gone out right before bed so we have no ac. 

Sunday we just went to church. That night we had a dinner. We ate sashimi and it wasn't too bad. Most of the time we just eat chicken rice and potato salad. 

Monday we had some lessons. Peter is one of our investigators and has been taught all the lessons. He just needs to throw away cigarettes. One of our other investigators is Ali. She's super quiet but seems pretty receptive. Since I don't know that much Marahallese I usually just pray and bear my testimony haha. 

Today was p day. We went to this island called ñeñe. We took a taxi to it. We ate some coconut and walked on the beach and just chilled. Then we walked back. It took us about 2 hours but it wasn't too bad. 

Anyway all is well here in the Marshall Islands. Thanks for all the emails! I love them. I will talk to you all soon!

With love,

Elder Hanson

Me and my trainer Elder Nelson

Week 6: Last week in the MTC

Elder Jepsen, Elder Halliday, Elder Taufa and Elder Hanson.

Wow I cannot believe I leave in just 3 days. Me Elder Jepsen, Halliday and Sister Ameto will be leaving the MTC on Tuesday at 3 am. We are going to fly to Phoenix, then Hawaii, and then to the Marshall Islands. We stay a night in Hawaii and then in the morning we have a flight to Majuro. I am so excited. 

This week was good. Honestly it was kind of a long week but it was worth it. Pretty much we had class and that was about it. This week I tried to learn as much as I could and made sure to take advantage of the MTC. I started reading the Book of Mormon in Marshallese and it is pretty rough because it uses a lot of ancient words that I have to look up in my dictionary. I have noticed that ever since I have started to read the scriptures in my language that I can speak a lot better. 

We had a TRC yesterday and we prepared a lesson on families. Right when we were about to call we realized we were teaching the same person and that we had already taught on families. So we had to improvise and come up with a lesson on spot. We decided to go with faith. We quickly found a scripture and jumped right into it. It was super rough, but during the lesson I said a prayer in my heart that I would know what to say. She asked us a question and I had no idea what she was saying. I had a feeling that I should bare my testimony on faith and how it helps our lives. So I did. To be completely honest I don't even know what I said. Something along the lines of how if we have have God will bless us and how God has blessed me here in the MTC and how God loves all of his children. It was such a cool moment. After the TRC my teachers told us that she was asking us how we started our faith haha. So I guess I answered her question wrong but my teacher said that what I said was super good and how even though I answered her question wrong it still applied to her life. 

Not much has happened here. I am so excited to get to the islands. I promise I will have better stories haha. Everyone should go read Mosiah 26. It is a super good chapter and I love it. I read it a couple of weeks ago during study but I keep coming back to it. I love you all and am praying for you. I'm not sure how much I will be able to email in the Marshall Islands but I will do my best hahah. 

Jerraman!

Elder Hanson

Me with Elder Taufa and Halliday.