Cole and I were able to attend Elder Hansen's homecoming in Kaysville, UT.
Showing posts with label Elder Hansen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elder Hansen. Show all posts
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Monday, May 16, 2016
Stanky Leg
Well, on Monday we caught the boat back to Bastia and it was fun. Some guy on the boat got mad at us because we don't give our money to the poor instead of using it on a plane ticket to Europe. He didn't realize that missionaries are not rich. But that's okay. We got into our room and I ran into the bathroom. When I came out I said, "I hope you didn't have to use the bathroom elder Wilkey. You can only flush once." He didn't believe me and just went anyway.
Since elder Pesnell is in the branch presidency, he got stuck at church all day Tuesday and elder Wilkey and I went and knocked on some doors. We ended up teaching some people so it was a good time.
At zone training last transfer, president promised us that if we role played using the Book of Mormon in our contacts, we would have opportunities to use them during the day. This week it totally worked! I got to share Alma 32 with a lady but she didn't end up inviting us in but it was still a good time. That same day we knocked a door and watched a bear walk around the corner making the lowest growl I've ever heard that shook me to the core. The man answered the door confused and said "the dog let you in? That's surprising!" And then all of the sudden the dog turned into a giant teddy bear and just wanted us to pet it. This further confused the man and he left. The next door, a lady answered and jumped out of her socks. She yelled "what happened?" Like we Erie the police coming to tell her a loved one had died. That conversation didn't go anywhere. Later it started to rain really hard and elder Pesnell said "I'm staying here until I get one more conversation!" We didn't. All we got was really wet.
Elder Pesnell lost the phone and we had to look for it for a long time. Someone ended up finding it and they stuck it in our mailbox.
On Saturday we went to a catholic mass because someone that we knew was getting confirmed. It was a great experience but I was so confused for the most part. I can't believe that I haven't been to a catholic mass before my mission.
We saw the Hansen family who came back to visit and they are awesome. I forgot how much I love to hear little kids pray. I haven't heard it for a long time. Papa Hansen gave a talk in church and it was really powerful. It's hard for me to connect emotion to French because sometimes the words just don't mean anything.
On Sunday I was really determined to find someone. I ran up the stairs to to ladies house and knocked on the door. She came out and I just said "are you sylvie" because I had seen her name on the door and she said yes. After some other random elder underwood phrases, I made her laugh and she said "do you want to come in?" And then we taught her and we will go back again next week. She's really nice and she committed to start praying again. Little miracles like this happen all of the time.
Love you very much,
Elder Marshall Underwood
Since elder Pesnell is in the branch presidency, he got stuck at church all day Tuesday and elder Wilkey and I went and knocked on some doors. We ended up teaching some people so it was a good time.
At zone training last transfer, president promised us that if we role played using the Book of Mormon in our contacts, we would have opportunities to use them during the day. This week it totally worked! I got to share Alma 32 with a lady but she didn't end up inviting us in but it was still a good time. That same day we knocked a door and watched a bear walk around the corner making the lowest growl I've ever heard that shook me to the core. The man answered the door confused and said "the dog let you in? That's surprising!" And then all of the sudden the dog turned into a giant teddy bear and just wanted us to pet it. This further confused the man and he left. The next door, a lady answered and jumped out of her socks. She yelled "what happened?" Like we Erie the police coming to tell her a loved one had died. That conversation didn't go anywhere. Later it started to rain really hard and elder Pesnell said "I'm staying here until I get one more conversation!" We didn't. All we got was really wet.
Elder Pesnell lost the phone and we had to look for it for a long time. Someone ended up finding it and they stuck it in our mailbox.
On Saturday we went to a catholic mass because someone that we knew was getting confirmed. It was a great experience but I was so confused for the most part. I can't believe that I haven't been to a catholic mass before my mission.
We saw the Hansen family who came back to visit and they are awesome. I forgot how much I love to hear little kids pray. I haven't heard it for a long time. Papa Hansen gave a talk in church and it was really powerful. It's hard for me to connect emotion to French because sometimes the words just don't mean anything.
On Sunday I was really determined to find someone. I ran up the stairs to to ladies house and knocked on the door. She came out and I just said "are you sylvie" because I had seen her name on the door and she said yes. After some other random elder underwood phrases, I made her laugh and she said "do you want to come in?" And then we taught her and we will go back again next week. She's really nice and she committed to start praying again. Little miracles like this happen all of the time.
Love you very much,
Elder Marshall Underwood
Elder Underwood, church member, Elder Hanson, Elder Pesnell, Elder Wilkey
Hansen family picking up their son and visiting the mission
ALL WET!
Sunday, May 15, 2016
A Couple Surprises on Sunday
This is a message from mom - Carey Underwood. It was a fabulous Sunday. I woke up and when I turned on my phone - I had a message from Elder Hansen's family. They went to pick up their missionary and tour his mission. Today they were with Elder Underwood.
This afternoon, we got to go to Elder Berry's homecoming. What a joy it was to listen to this fine young man. He and Elder Underwood will be life long friends. He had on very nice French suit and shoes.
Monday, May 9, 2016
The British are coming
Well,
What did I even do this week? On Tuesday we got a call from a less active that told us to come over and it was pretty late but we went over because we love teaching.
On Wednesday we got to see that family that we found a little while ago. The one with the member parents. We went over and played cards with the kids and they loved it! The daughter said a prayer and it's obvious that the mom teaches them how to pray.
Ok here is the really cool part of this week. This guy called us to set up a meeting and we had no clue who he was. Anyway, I was standing by the door at this meeting and after ten minutes he didn't show up so I got mad and went to play the piano. Then, a few minutes later, this young attractive guy shows up and basically asks to be baptized. I was amazed and on top of that, he had a very specific smell. It's a smell that I know very well and it made me feel weird. It was the exact same smell as Cierra Breen. Anyway, he was super normal and really smart. What a miracle right?
On Sunday we did some knocking and elder Pesnell and I refused to talk because it was elder Hansen's last day! He's gone now.
Now we are sitting her with our knew companion elder Wilkey. A British lad. It will be a good time.
Love very much,
Elder Marshall Underwood
What did I even do this week? On Tuesday we got a call from a less active that told us to come over and it was pretty late but we went over because we love teaching.
On Wednesday we got to see that family that we found a little while ago. The one with the member parents. We went over and played cards with the kids and they loved it! The daughter said a prayer and it's obvious that the mom teaches them how to pray.
Ok here is the really cool part of this week. This guy called us to set up a meeting and we had no clue who he was. Anyway, I was standing by the door at this meeting and after ten minutes he didn't show up so I got mad and went to play the piano. Then, a few minutes later, this young attractive guy shows up and basically asks to be baptized. I was amazed and on top of that, he had a very specific smell. It's a smell that I know very well and it made me feel weird. It was the exact same smell as Cierra Breen. Anyway, he was super normal and really smart. What a miracle right?
On Sunday we did some knocking and elder Pesnell and I refused to talk because it was elder Hansen's last day! He's gone now.
Now we are sitting her with our knew companion elder Wilkey. A British lad. It will be a good time.
Love very much,
Elder Marshall Underwood
Helping someone move
Mother's Day Skype - even Mazie was excited to see Marshall
Monday, May 2, 2016
3,000 Onions
Hello everyone,
This week on Monday, I was sitting on the beach and I watched a wave come in that dropped off a beautiful shell. I've never ran so fast to get something. I got it.
Tuesday was a really good day because we went up into the mountains to help one of our friends plant onions! There were 10 people there and 30,000 onions to plant for the day. It was fun! Basically imagine 10 people sitting on horses but then take away the horses and make them stand like that for hours while bending down to plant onions. There were a couple girls there and one of them was flirting with me with her eyes and it was a weird moment because sometimes I forget that normal people do that kind of thing. I just went back to planting onions and destroying my hamstrings. That not, we taught a guy named Emmanuel that told us to come back. He's a professional guitarist. The lesson went great and then afterwards he played for us!
Wednesday was a good day and we got on the boat to leave to the continent. It got windy outside and so we all went in. Sister Vendassi asked if we are allowed to proselyte on the boat and we told her no so she was sad. I wanted to see Corsica so I went outside on the deck. Brother Vendassi stood there explaining it. We saw a lady walk by and she did a 180 and headed straight for us. She asked if we were pilots and I said "no, we are missionaries, he's just explaining a little bit of the island to me." She went o to explain that her son just finished his pilot training and they were heading home. We talked a little bit more about that and a little more about what we were doing there and it was nice. The conversation then got to a point where I expected them to say have a good night and walk away. But then, taking me by surprise, elder Vendassi said "he holds the priesthood, I hold the priesthood, we can bless you." They said that would be cool and he replied, "now?" Before I knew it I was leading her and her son inside to receive a priesthood blessing. It was an amazing experience and they really felt blessed to have met us.
Thursday was spent in aix kinda getting ready for the conference and doing some other missionary stuff. Really not big stuff. Except elder Hansen ate two giant. Burritos and it was remarkable.
Friday was a zone conference. It was really fun to see a lot of people that I didn't think I would see again and also president brown. It's amazing to me the love that missionaries have for their mission president. They always hold a big spot in their hearts. We didn't get any pictures because he conference went a little long and people had to leave but that's okay. Elder Hansen gave his final testimony and it was really good. I also heart elder Quinn who was in the Bordeaux zone with me bear testimony and it made me cry a little bit. We drove back to our boat and instead of leaving at nine, it left at midnight. Oh well.
Saturday was memorable because a lady told us to go..... Hmm. Those aren't appropriate words. If you translate what she said to us from French, it's really close to "go make yourselves lightning" but that's with changing one letter in the French sentence. Oh well I think you probably get the point, but if you don't I'm sorry.
Sunday was a beautiful day of knocking on doors in the rain. It is such a foreign concept to me now that people can just cancel plans because of bad weather.
Love bunches,
Elder Marshall Underwood
The sunset in Toulouse
Sleeping quarters on the ferry
Monday emails
Gets a little cold outside
Monday, April 25, 2016
Shelly
Good day,
What did I even do this week. I don't know.
Monday we were over in St Florent for a meeting with a member's friend. went on a hike and found wild garlic. I ate way too much because it was just blowing my mind. At the beach, I found a lot of cool shells. We got some ice cream together. I chose the honey ice cream because Corsica is known for honey and it drop kicked my mouth into a vortex of warmth and ice that made me really happy. We ate dinner together afterwards and had a really good conversation.
I have no clue what I did Tuesday I'm sorry.
Wednesday was an exchange with Ajaccio. We all hung out down there for the exchange. I was with Elder Pesnell and Oborn. Oborn is in my group (arrived in France the same time). We taught a couple lessons and ran around knocking a bunch of beautiful houses. At night, we met a member down there named Karim. He's an awesome guy but he's super wild and hard to understand. He calls me Carrie. I don't know where he came up with that nickname though.
On the morning of Thursday, we ran to the beach and made a short video for Sister Brown. They asked us to do one for Mother's Day. Then we did a study and drove home. The inside part of Corsica is insanely beautiful. There are more green things there than I ever thought existed in the whole world. Thursday night was some fun knocking. We actually found a member family that didn't know there was a church in Bastia. They are a little hesitant to come back but they will. We talked to a guy building a pool in his yard and he gave us a whole bag of lemons from his tree. I made some bomb lemonade.
On Friday we taught three lessons to people. I swear the goal of all three of them was to cut us off as many times as possible. Welcome to France haha. On the way back home, instead of dinner, we stopped by the beach and skipped rocks. I spent my time finding seashells and Pesnell yelled out to me, "how's it going Shelly?" How cute. Now he calls me Shelly.
Saturday was really fun because we went up to Patrick's house and helped him with his garden. We harvested some onions. There were a couple filles there playing Bruno Mars. Patrick made us a pizza. We then had a branch council and we showed up in service clothes. Oops. That night, we did weekly planning, which is always exhausting but I had a good time and I drew a pretty picture.
On Sunday we had church. Also, here on Corsica, there are a lot of people that go up into their villages on the weekends. So usually on Sunday's we will go run around knocking a village. It's funny because some of the houses seem to not have an address. We met a couple of cool people. One girl spoke English and was an exchange student in Oregon. She said she met a Mormon there. This Mormon told the lady that she (the Mormon) didn't have the right to listen to music. I was shocked and I said maybe she wasn't really a Mormon. She said that she was. Then I said, "maybe she's just weird." The others got a good laugh out of that one but I was 100% serious.
Today we went to the beach and I got more shells.
Peace out until next week,
Elder Marshall Underwood
What did I even do this week. I don't know.
Monday we were over in St Florent for a meeting with a member's friend. went on a hike and found wild garlic. I ate way too much because it was just blowing my mind. At the beach, I found a lot of cool shells. We got some ice cream together. I chose the honey ice cream because Corsica is known for honey and it drop kicked my mouth into a vortex of warmth and ice that made me really happy. We ate dinner together afterwards and had a really good conversation.
I have no clue what I did Tuesday I'm sorry.
Wednesday was an exchange with Ajaccio. We all hung out down there for the exchange. I was with Elder Pesnell and Oborn. Oborn is in my group (arrived in France the same time). We taught a couple lessons and ran around knocking a bunch of beautiful houses. At night, we met a member down there named Karim. He's an awesome guy but he's super wild and hard to understand. He calls me Carrie. I don't know where he came up with that nickname though.
On the morning of Thursday, we ran to the beach and made a short video for Sister Brown. They asked us to do one for Mother's Day. Then we did a study and drove home. The inside part of Corsica is insanely beautiful. There are more green things there than I ever thought existed in the whole world. Thursday night was some fun knocking. We actually found a member family that didn't know there was a church in Bastia. They are a little hesitant to come back but they will. We talked to a guy building a pool in his yard and he gave us a whole bag of lemons from his tree. I made some bomb lemonade.
On Friday we taught three lessons to people. I swear the goal of all three of them was to cut us off as many times as possible. Welcome to France haha. On the way back home, instead of dinner, we stopped by the beach and skipped rocks. I spent my time finding seashells and Pesnell yelled out to me, "how's it going Shelly?" How cute. Now he calls me Shelly.
Saturday was really fun because we went up to Patrick's house and helped him with his garden. We harvested some onions. There were a couple filles there playing Bruno Mars. Patrick made us a pizza. We then had a branch council and we showed up in service clothes. Oops. That night, we did weekly planning, which is always exhausting but I had a good time and I drew a pretty picture.
On Sunday we had church. Also, here on Corsica, there are a lot of people that go up into their villages on the weekends. So usually on Sunday's we will go run around knocking a village. It's funny because some of the houses seem to not have an address. We met a couple of cool people. One girl spoke English and was an exchange student in Oregon. She said she met a Mormon there. This Mormon told the lady that she (the Mormon) didn't have the right to listen to music. I was shocked and I said maybe she wasn't really a Mormon. She said that she was. Then I said, "maybe she's just weird." The others got a good laugh out of that one but I was 100% serious.
Today we went to the beach and I got more shells.
Peace out until next week,
Elder Marshall Underwood
Mission apartment
Monday, April 18, 2016
French Throat
It's a cloudy day here in Bastia and I'm happy to be able to communicate with you all!
This Tuesday started as normal with a meeting with the Vendassi couple. I usually get a little bored in these meetings so my "notes" section in my planner turns into a giant doodle. In this meeting though, Elder Vendassi said that I am getting a really good accent and that my throat is turning French. The secret is to eat so many baguettes that your throat gets confused and thinks that it is French. Just kidding, the real secret is to say the word 'arbre' about a billion times and annoy the heck out your companions. We bounced from that meeting and helped someone move but we were in our church clothes. Elder Hansen ended up spilling sunflower seed oil all over his pants. The game for the rest of the evening was "hide Hansens crotch so it doesn't look like he peed his pants." We totally succeeded I believe and it was quite an accomplishment. After some missionary work, we went home and made cookies for some investigators and finished around 10.
We had a district meeting on Wednesday and the assistants were there. They were a little late and Frère Pesnell decided to do a role play. Basically, when they came in, no one really acknowledged them and we started singing. They were so confused and it was hilarious. Pesnell then got up and talked to everyone in the room except the assistants and then explained that this is exactly not what we should do when we invite people to church. They then realized that it was a joke and we had a good time. I got to go on an exchange with Elder Huntsman and it was fun. He's a great teacher and he had a good time together. I also got to see elder Menzel who was over in Bergerac when I was in Périgueux. It was a good day.
On Thursday we played soccer with some kids. They were nice but kind of scared of religion. We went to visit a less active. Every time we go over, she gives us a yogurt drink. So we each have a cup. But this time, Hansen drank all three cups and it was really impressive. This night we took cookies to someone and they totally denied them and it made me sad. That's okay though. More cookies for me.
Friday we had a branch movie night at the church. They watched brave but we did our weekly planning.
Saturday we visited one of our Amis. She gave me a drum. It's from Africa.
On Sunday we had 3 of our Amis (literally friends but in missionary terms, investigators) at church and that was an insane miracle. We got to have a class specifically with them! One of them started going off on the most random of topics. I whipped our scriptures that answered her questions very simply but once she got an answer, she asked a different question. I feel like she is one of those people that just wants others to think that she is smart and philosophical. I'll just keep answering her questions with the scriptures until she runs out of them I guess. On Sunday night, elder Pesnell made me feel really good by telling me that I have this facial expression when I teach that immediately makes him feel the spirit. What a guy. I'm having a blast down here. Hansen will go home at the end of the transfer and I think my plan is to just run him into the ground with missionary work before he's released.
That's all folks,
Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood
Monday, April 11, 2016
Sponge Bob
Hello!
This week was amazing. Let me fill you in on a little info of this branch. It is very small but also the best. For example, our Sunday school president is 15 and a rockstar. There is a senior couple and the husband acts as branch president. Elder Pesnell is the second counselor and there is another counselor down in Ajaccio.
This week was amazing. There is a lot to do and sometimes it is hard to find time to go tracting. But, I have found that in the time that we have, we are amazingly effective. I feel like we have taught like 3 lessons a day down here.
On Wednesday, I had the privilege to go on exchange with Ajaccio. It was great down there with Elders Ottesen and Oborn. Oborn came in with me. I also took the drive from Bastia to Ajaccio which is incredible. On exchange, it seemed like we ran into every evangelist on the island. They were all really nice and we talked with them a lot. I was really thankful that day to have been born into this church because I didn't have to go find it. I have so many blessings thanks to that.
Thursday was a zone training. It was weird because we just skyped into the meeting. We are so far away from everyone here but I don't mind.
Friday was the best day. We went to see some less actives and then found people. But, the best part came in the night. We have an ami named Patrick and he had a baptismal date for May 21.But, we just got a goal next week to baptize 91 people by the end of this transfer. So, we decided that we should try to change it but we weren't really sure where he stood. We had dinner with him at the Vendassi (senior couple) household. He got there and we just went straight into the restoration. I was amazed to see, as e lesson went on, his understanding of the apostasy, the priesthood and the Book of Mormon. In fact, he straight up told us that the Book of Mormon is true. The re-baptismal invitation was coming up and it was looking like it would land on me. We whipped out Mosiah 18:8-10. As he read aloud, I saw something in his head just click as he got to verse 10 (go and read the scripture for the full effect). I invited him and he replied that he has been preparing since the first time that we asked and he would love to. At this point, everything went quiet and all eyes were on Vendassi. He struggle to hold back tears as he testified that Patrick was being brought into the gospel for all of his ancestors that never had a chance. Vendassi offered him a blessing and he started to choose who he wanted to do it. I truthfully shied away a little but then Patrick asked me. As I started the blessing, I felt the spirit so incredibly strong. After the blessing, I went into the bathroom and dropped to my knees praising God for the miracle I just saw worked in the life of another.
Basically, all a mission is is working hard and watching as God works miracles before your eyes.
I later watched Pesnell shove a copious amount of food in his pockets because he was full.
Sunday came around and this branch is insane. Patrick came and he got up to bear his testimony. What a guy. What a guy.
Today, we helped someone move and we found this sweet beach over by Saint Florent.
Well. That's all :)
Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood
This week was amazing. Let me fill you in on a little info of this branch. It is very small but also the best. For example, our Sunday school president is 15 and a rockstar. There is a senior couple and the husband acts as branch president. Elder Pesnell is the second counselor and there is another counselor down in Ajaccio.
This week was amazing. There is a lot to do and sometimes it is hard to find time to go tracting. But, I have found that in the time that we have, we are amazingly effective. I feel like we have taught like 3 lessons a day down here.
On Wednesday, I had the privilege to go on exchange with Ajaccio. It was great down there with Elders Ottesen and Oborn. Oborn came in with me. I also took the drive from Bastia to Ajaccio which is incredible. On exchange, it seemed like we ran into every evangelist on the island. They were all really nice and we talked with them a lot. I was really thankful that day to have been born into this church because I didn't have to go find it. I have so many blessings thanks to that.
Thursday was a zone training. It was weird because we just skyped into the meeting. We are so far away from everyone here but I don't mind.
Friday was the best day. We went to see some less actives and then found people. But, the best part came in the night. We have an ami named Patrick and he had a baptismal date for May 21.But, we just got a goal next week to baptize 91 people by the end of this transfer. So, we decided that we should try to change it but we weren't really sure where he stood. We had dinner with him at the Vendassi (senior couple) household. He got there and we just went straight into the restoration. I was amazed to see, as e lesson went on, his understanding of the apostasy, the priesthood and the Book of Mormon. In fact, he straight up told us that the Book of Mormon is true. The re-baptismal invitation was coming up and it was looking like it would land on me. We whipped out Mosiah 18:8-10. As he read aloud, I saw something in his head just click as he got to verse 10 (go and read the scripture for the full effect). I invited him and he replied that he has been preparing since the first time that we asked and he would love to. At this point, everything went quiet and all eyes were on Vendassi. He struggle to hold back tears as he testified that Patrick was being brought into the gospel for all of his ancestors that never had a chance. Vendassi offered him a blessing and he started to choose who he wanted to do it. I truthfully shied away a little but then Patrick asked me. As I started the blessing, I felt the spirit so incredibly strong. After the blessing, I went into the bathroom and dropped to my knees praising God for the miracle I just saw worked in the life of another.
Basically, all a mission is is working hard and watching as God works miracles before your eyes.
I later watched Pesnell shove a copious amount of food in his pockets because he was full.
Sunday came around and this branch is insane. Patrick came and he got up to bear his testimony. What a guy. What a guy.
Today, we helped someone move and we found this sweet beach over by Saint Florent.
Well. That's all :)
Love,
Elder Marshall Underwood
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