Elder Matt Hansen

March 31
I'm glad that you got to go to Andrew's farewell, I bet he did really good. When does he leave? You should get me his address
so I can write him. I haven't heard from him forever. That's cool that Cody got his call, Bolivia sounds way fun, when does he leave? Things are going good here. We have been teaching a few people this last week. One day it rained so hard that we just had to stay in all day, it was pretty boring. We aren't teaching any families, it's mostly just single people. But we have one family that has just a baby girl and they are ready to be baptized but they just have to get married first. It will take a long time though because they don't have the money right now so the church is going to help them with a marriage certificate but it is a long process. Hopefully it will happen soon though. The work is still kind of slow but things will be picking up, slowly but surely. We can only teach people in English because if we taught in Swahili things could get misinterpretated. One word in Swahili could be a lot of words in English so we have to be careful with that. I love you so much and I miss you a ton, I hope you know that. It was good to hear from you. Remember I like letters too. Anyways I better get going. I love you.


April 7
Hey mom, whats up? How are you doing? I hope everything is going good for you! Things here are just fine, everything is going good. I'm going to try and answer all your questions. As usual you have a lot. I sometimes wish I was there just for the cool weather. It is very hot here. It's the rainy season and it's still hot. The rain cools it down a little bit, it also makes everything very muddy and it can be hard to get around sometimes. It makes everything filthy! Last week we got caught in the rain when it was pouring! It comes out of no where and it comes down hard. We were on our bikes on our way to the chapel coming from an appointment and it started to pour.
We had an appointment at the chapel so we just rode as fast as we could, ha, we got soaked and we were dirty from the mud flipping up from the bike tires. It was pretty fun though. Yes, I sleep with a mosquito net around my bed at night. At first it was weird but now I'm used to it. Also, my bed is pretty short (for me anyways) and my feet hang off the end. Funny uh. At the foot of the bed it's wood, which is way hard so to fix that I put a towel to cover the wood so at least its soft. Elder Byaruhanga is really funny and nice. He has really helped me out a lot. He always tells me I have huge "Rocky" hands. NO matter where I go I can't escape it. I guess I'm just a freak that way. He is ten times the missionary I'll ever be and has taught me so much. Unfortunately, we didn't get to listen to conference. I wanted to really bad but I guess I'll just have to read about it in the Ensign. We have been able to do lot of teaching but not a whole lot of people progress towards baptism. A lot of people are pretty firm in their own church so we just try to be patient but it's frustrating at times. We did give one investigator a baptismal date though which was pretty good. He's about my age and his name is Frank. He is very nice and willing to learn. I really like teaching him. Other than that, we are just teaching as many people as we can hoping and praying they gain a testimony for themselves through the spirit. The Swahili is still pretty tough for me, hopefully I'll be able to catch on sometime. This week we had zone conference so Pres. and Sister Taylor came here for it. I love those people, they feel like my grandparents away from home. They are so nice and really look out for me. The zone conference was really good. We also got to eat pizza! Ha, it was so good. We also had choc. chip cookies and rice krispie treats. I miss the food from back home a lot. The food here is ok, it just gets old sometimes. No matter what I do I get stared at by everyone. I am the only white person in this whole big city. Especially when we ride our bikes. I'm sure I look very goofy and it's probably hilarious to see. I have a helmet, pant leg tucked in, hunched over on the bike, white as can be, what's not funny about that! If we have an appointment far away we take the
"dala dala". It's like a mini bus. These things are crazy. They cram like 30 people in them and they're not even that big. It's so dirty too. I usually have to stand and that sucks cause of course, the ceiling is about as tall as my shoulders. So there I am again hunched over because I'm too big and awkward. I wish you could see these things, you wouldn't believe it, they all look like they're going to break down or explode. But it gets us where we need to go, ya know! I love the people here though and especially the little kids. Everyone is so happy and the poverty is so great. Most people's homes are as big as my bedroom. It's so sad to see but the people are still so nice and happy. It really makes me grateful for what I have back home. I am learning so much from these people.
Anyways, that is my exciting news for the week, ha. Well, I better get going. Thank you so much for sending a package I can't wait to get it, I'm very excited. Just know that I love you and miss you. Keep writing. I love to hear from you. Nakupenda Sana! ( I love you very much) Elder Matt Hansen

April 13
Hey, thanks for the e-mail and I did get your package. Thank you so much, I don't know if I've ever been so excited. I loved it! The candy is so good, and I'm trying to make it last as long as we can but I don't think that will happen ha, it's too good. I loved everything that was inside. Our family with the little baby hasn't been baptized yet but hopefully soon. Frank is so awesome. He does everything we ask him to do and he is so eager to learn. I love being around him. I don't have much time cause I tried to attach some pictures and it took me forever. I have to get going. Just know that I am doing great! Tell everyone hi for me. I will be able to call on Mothers Day or I might have you call me. I will let you know when it gets closer. I'm excited though! Thanks for everything, I love you and miss you.
Elder Matt Hansen