It's funny to hear him refer to the other missionaries as 'kids' but I assume they consider him an old geezer, since he's 5 years older than most of them.
Here is the email we got from him today (names shortened to initials):
There's so much I want to say and so little time! I have seen so many miracles in my short time here in the field. And the days are just packed. We haven't been able to meet our weekly goals, but we go to bed exhausted every single night, so I don't feel too bad.
Getting to California was eventful. I didn't pack during the day on Monday, because I felt like I should attend all my classes and take my studies seriously. I had from dinner onward to do laundry and pack. Well, after I finished laundry, everybody wanted to say goodbye to me. My room was full of kids from the younger district until 11pm while I tried to pack. Then, we slept from 11:30 until 1:30, at which point the Elders leaving for Canada woke up to get ready. Elder P [Tyler's companion] and I carried their luggage downstairs, and then had to wait around until our appointment at 5am. We didn't want to risk sleeping in, so we stayed awake by talking to the security guards at the front desk. One of them served their mission with Jared, which was kinda cool. My stomach was still in knots as I tried to brace for the life-changing events ahead of me.
Around 5am, we got on the bus and went to the SLC airport. Then we had another couple hours to burn while we waited for our flight. After less than two hours in the air, which I spent sleeping like a brick, we were in Riverside with the President, the APs, and the Office Assistants. Ginger Ale tastes way better at 20,000 feet, by the way. In any case, the knot in my stomach from the night before hadn't gone away just yet. In fact, it got worse through orientation at the mission office, and the testimony meeting at the mission home. I met my trainer, a splendid young man named Elder G who will be leaving for Ogden Utah after my twelve weeks of training. Luckily for us, I got a car area, and we were issued a brand-new car that very night. But despite a priesthood blessing from President Smart and Elder G, and some medical advice from the mission nurse, I still felt horrible. As we were dropping off some Elders on our way to the apartment, I opened up the door to the brand-new Ford Fusion and puked all over the street four times. But I didn't get any on my new suit or the new car!
Since then, things have been wonderful. I'm serving in the Jurupa 1st ward (everybody pronounces it Jarupa for some reason), and the members feed us quite well. My very first dinner appointment dyed the food green since I'm a greenie, and one of our part-member families that we're teaching bought me a green care basket full of green stuff. The stake president is a David Hansen. My zone leader, Elder Larimer, knew an Erik Hansen who wore a lot of Nike from Oregon. An elder from my MTC zone is the nephew of a family in my ward. There's lots of little connections already. The six degrees of separation usually connect in 3 or 4 degrees for LDS folks.
I'm still amazed at all the teaching I've done! I don't feel like a very good teacher yet but I'm getting better, and my trainer is all kinds of complimentary. We've stumbled into some very lucky circumstances with several of our investigators and I can't help but see God's hand in it. Hopefully you guys can see it too!
Love you tons, guys! I'm looking forward to a mission full of miracles and hard work!
Elder Hansen
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