Last thing I remember, I was running from the door - 02/17/14

Sorry this is late. The upside of emailing from the Family History Center is that we can use it any day we want, including President's Day. The downside is that sometimes our connection is pretty spotty.

Things I have lost this week: my wallet.

Still missing: black sweater and spalted oak pen.

I'm doing a lot better in that regard, that's worth celebrating. I'm not totally brain dead yet! Yay.

I think the best things that happened to me this week were all dinner appointments. I ate a delicious panini with basil tomato soup.  That family invited a friend of theirs to church on Sunday. YAAAAAAY. She's not quite ready for the missionary lessons yet, but apparently she wants to come again next week! So that's pretty good news, yeah?

I also enjoyed a carefully presented meal of KFC chicken that she tried so very hard to pass off as not KFC chicken, with her own homemade sides and everything. The bishop's wife made us a delicious ham and funeral potatoes. Sister "N" made us some flippin loaded baked potatoes with chili and bacon and cheese and butter and some gnarly salad on the side. There was the old lady who tried very hard to make us some Asian food. I can't remember what the other dinner appointment was so it must not have been so spectacular, I sincerely apologize to whomever fed us on Wednesday night because I don't remember them at all. 

I didn't get a single letter this week, but that's okay, because my family sent me a really awesome Valentine's Day package. Like with most of the packages they send, I ate several things before I realized that most of the things got sent in twos so that one would be for me and one would be for my companion. So my companion got maybe half of what my parents intended for him to have. Sorry companion! I'm too dumb to see simple patterns like that, I've only been getting these packages for over a year now, so you'd think I'd catch on sooner. Oops. 

I did, however, send lots of letters out. I tried my very hardest not to send any out that appeared to be Valentines-Day-oriented. 

We got our Medical Marijuana expert to read AND pray! And then we asked him if he would give up marijuana if God asked him to. He doesn't think he can do that. Well, we are going to keep helping him feel the spirit and hope that his love for God will eventually outweigh his love of Cannabis. In most cases I would probably drop him, but honestly I can't be too picky about investigators at this point. It's not like I have better things to do. 

I'm planning on giving our zone a quick pep talk before district meetings tomorrow. I'm excited for it already. The numbers aren't as stellar as they have been in the past. Week six probably won't be much better, as most companionships are already anxious for the transfer calls to come and the changes to happen. But I'm going to try to put the love of God back in their hearts a little firmer than before. 

Fun story! We were sitting in the bishop's office at 6:30pm on Wednesday, about to go visit a bunch of new move-ins. Bishop said we should probably visit until 8:45, and then head on in so we can be sure to be home by 9, and because we shouldn't be knocking on people's doors that late anyways. Then the second counselor, whom I love dearly, starts to tease us a little bit about the time we knocked on his door at 8:50 to introduce him to my new companion, and how he was already in bed and all that. I just ate that up, since one of the things that bugs me most about this companion is that he insists on visiting people right up until 9, despite the fact that the white handbook specifically tells us not to, because he thinks that's what obedient missionaries do. Well, after three or four minutes of the bishopric teasing us, Bishop drops this gem: "Elder Hansen is just zealous to do the work." I'm surprised I didn't laugh out loud, because in this instance we were being teased for, I was totally against knocking on the door but I let my companion have his way. And now I'm being called the zealot for letting my companion do his overzealous thing. But that's okay. He could have spoken up for himself if he wanted to take the credit for that. 

Paradoxically, this very same night, Bishop tried to call us but our phone was off, so both he and his wife left us voicemails telling us that a certain less-active member of our ward needed a priesthood blessing, and gave us his phone number and address and instructed us to go give him a blessing. Well, we didn't listen to those voicemails until 9:08pm. I asked him if we should head out and do that, and he said no, it's after curfew. Shocked and confused, I sat there for a few seconds and then asked him again, gently, and again was told that it should wait until morning. So I didn't push it, and I stewed on it almost all night (until I wrote a really long letter to a friend, THANKS FRIEND for being my therapist). We ended up not giving that blessing until Sunday. In the future I'm not going to let stuff like that ride. We need to do what's right, regardless of the rule in question.

Transfer calls are Saturday! But Pres made it pretty clear in my interview on Wednesday that a big part of my assignment here is to watch over the depressed elder in my apartment, so I think we are both staying for another six weeks. I get to finish my mission here in Hemet! Yay. Unless President Smart throws me for another loop, like he is prone to do. We will see! 

Love you guys! Catch you later.