We made Zone Standards this week!

Hey everyone!!! It's great to hear that you had a great past week like I did!!! That all sounds really exciting about your trip in Mexico, I'm glad you enjoyed it, but sorry to hear you got sick at the very end. Sounds like a dream vacation! Hopefully when I get back we can do a family trip somewhere!!

Well the first thing I want to tell you is that we got the Standards again!!!!! It was hard, but we made it. The second thing is that Elder Petersen and I had the most new investigators in the zone!! We had 20!!! The third thing is that our zone got the zone standards. Which didn't exist until now, because no one thought it possible for everyone in the zone to get Standards!!!! Actually, every companionship in the zone didn't get it, but collectively we averaged out to get the zone standards. So we all got treated to ice cream and we got to watch the movie "Up" today because of it. The movie was pretty good.

So I'll tell you a little about Argentina, and the things I was asked about. Our laundry is done by a member. She washes them in her machine (surprisingly most people here have machines...well, more like a bowl with a spinning piece inside) and then hangs them out to dry. (No one has dryers.) She does a good job with the clothes, although the neck is always brown. She irons them which is really nice, and she does all this for Elder Petersen and me for just 10 pesos a week, which is very little. Of course we only have about 80-100 pesos a week, so it's still noticeable to us. The reason I say 80-100 is because we should have 100 pesos a week, but the financiero here shorts us a lot.

The food here is really good. I had my first asado but unfortunately I was really sick that day so couldn't really enjoy it. I still have that same sickness I had at the airport, so I have been feeling a little draggy, but I think I'm feeling a little better each day, and I don't let it stop me.

Shopping is fun here. Things are super expensive, but we don't have a lot of money, so we just buy the necessities of life. Here in Argentina, though, they have things called kioskos. Kioskos are like a little shop with drinks, candy, and a couple food items. They're small, but there's one or more in every street! Most kioskos are just people's homes! They just turn the front room of their house into a little shop! So when walking through our area, there's a kiosko every hundred yards. One street has 3 kioskos in a row! They're nice if you need to pick up a drink when you're out working or whatever, especially since we don't get a dinner break, so sometimes we'll grab a quick drink in the evening. (Mom's note: I think the big meal is at lunch, and that Argentines have the siesta, which is why they don't get a dinner break.)

When I say evening, in Argentina, it is actually afternoon, because they don't consider it "evening" in Argentina until about 8 or 9 o'clock. Elder Petersen always says something like, "See you at 6 en la noche" and the people answer back, all confused, "en la tarde???" and he just laughs and says "si!!!"

There aren't any big Wal-Marts or other big name stores here, it's all just local stores mostly, but the shopping itself is pretty normal. One cool thing is that they have these things called facturas, which is like their equivalent of a doughnut, which are sold for like just a peso or two, which is good because they're fairly big, so you can get filled up cheap. Also, they have the best candy here. The alfojores are amazing, and all their sweets are just plain delicious.

The air conditioner in our pinche has unfortunately been broken for the past week, so it's hard to sleep at night. We might sleep up on the roof tonight again. I'll be sure and take some pictures and send you some soon. I can email you pictures from a different internet cafe, I believe, so I'll try and do that next week. We're not allowed to carry our cameras with us so I can't photograph my area or anything. Just my pinche.

My belt is already falling apart. My shoes are doing good, although we do so much walking I don't know how long they'll last. Elder Petersen has been through 4 pairs. So far so good though. They're always dirty, because our area is all dirt roads, but they're holding up good. You can tell Dad that our shoeshine kit here consists of a damp rag and spit.

Caesar is doing very good. We passed by his house yesterday and saw him sitting there reading the Book of Mormon with his glasses on, for the second time!!!! It's great to see that, because most people don't want to be bothered to read (and some can't read, which is fairly common). We still have to wait for him and Victoria to get their marriage though, which could take around a month. Everything is going good though, we're having lots of fun and working hard.

I hope that Marisa is getting better from her morning sickness, and I hope everyone else is doing well and staying healthy!! Tell everyone to write to me! And tell Marisa and Holly that I understand that they can't email me right now since both of their internet is down, so not to worry about it, I know they love me, but when they get the chance, I want them to feel free to email me!!!!

I love and miss you all, and wish the best for you!!!

Love,
Eric

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We made the weekly Standards!

Hey family!

It's great to write you and hear from you again! I'm glad you're having fun in Mexico right now, and are able to relax a bit. It sounds like you're having a lot of fun adventures!

First I'll address some of the concerns you were having. So that you know, we don't receive the dearelder letters here weekly. We are over two hours away by a bus ride from the mission home, and so they can't deliver the letters weekly to us, and because the whole mission area is so huge, that's how it will be in most places. I will get my letters and packages every six weeks from the zone leaders when we have zone conferences. I do have a little bit more time on email than I did at the MTC, though. But, still limited. I already had a zone conference so I got all my letters that were waiting for me, thanks everyone!

This past week has been a lot of fun. The language is coming. I'm starting to understand my comp pretty well, but the natives still speak way too fast for me to understand. Elder Petersen hits his 8 month mark today!! (He was 3 months in the MTC because he had visa problems, and now 5 months in Argentina.)

This past week we also got the Standards!!!! The Standards are a goal that the President has set up for us to strive for. Getting the Standards means you get 30 contacts (talk to 30 people, get their address, and a return appointment to teach them) and you have to have a certain number of programados (people with a baptism date.) You also have to have a certain number of lessons taught, and a certain number taught with the members, etc. The hardest requirement is that you also have to have new investigators in church on Sunday. Last week we had all the requirements for the standards except 5 people in church. This week we pulled it off, barely! So it's pretty cool, because most companionships don't get the standards. So we were very excited to get the standards this week!!!!

Rosario is a huge mission, so no, I have not seen any of my MTC buddies since we left the mission home.

Our church is very nice here. It's new and in good condition, although by U.S. standards it's not what you would consider good. There's no air conditioning, and the water fountain consists of a big water dispenser and one cup, which everyone shares, and is never cleaned. Cleaning here doesn't really make a huge difference anyway, though, since no one uses soap to wash their dishes. This is true in our area, because we're in a very poor area, but nicer areas of Argentina wash properly, I'm sure.

All the people here are poor but they all have 3 things. Mate (not sure how it's spelled but it's that drink that all Argentines drink with a straw from a special cup), a TV, and a moped scooter thing. EVERYONE has a scooter, trust me, they do not want to have to walk or ride a bike. Yes, everyone has those three things, we've even been to some houses which are absolute trash, and are just a cardboard box, but they will still have those three things! Most people just pay a very little amount every month for their scooter, but some of the really poor ones will just buy parts and make their own. You have to see it to believe it. For example, the familia Rios that we're teaching, has basically a hand-made scooter. It's all duct-taped together, and the gas tank is a 2-liter soda bottle, etc. But, nobody goes without a scooter! Because nobody wants to walk anywhere!

We have done splits here (Mom's note: that's when you work with a different companion for a day) so I have had two meals with members here. I was on splits with Elder Koch, and in his area, they have meals with members almost every day. The meals were really good. The families will feed you until you pop, and then demand that you eat more, I love it. I've really learned to just pound down food then, because you need to eat all their 20 pizzas or whatever they make for you or they won't be happy. I prefer American pizza, although the pizza here is really good. Their pizzas have everything on them and they taste really good, but it's not really like a "pizza." It had ham and cheese and olives, and lots more cool stuff that I'm not sure what it's called. The ice cream here, however, absolutely dominates the ice cream in the states. It's so creamy and tasty, probably because they have to make it fresh every morning, and you can taste the freshness. Also the milk is better here. I'll let you know more as I eat more here, but so far it's only been the two meals. Both were excellent!!!!! One of the families owned a kiosco, so they gave us lots of candies, too, which I must say, are better than in the states, they are awesome.

You asked about my investigators, so I'll try and tell you a little about them. We have countless investigators, but sadly most don't end in baptism. Argentina is different than the rest of South America. Argentines, being more European, are less open, and so the average baptism rate for your whole mission is only about 15 to 20 people. Just so you know, I'm going to blow that number out of the water, I've already decided! But one guy we're teaching, his name is Caesar, is progressing very well. We got him a marriage date and a baptism date!!!! This is really cool, because marriage is a huge thing that holds us back here. We can't baptize a couple unless they're married, because they're breaking the law of chastity, and most people aren't married because they don't think it's important and because it's very expensive!!! A lot of families we've taught want to be baptized and married, but they can't afford the marriage so we can't do anything!!!!!!!!!

Also, like I said, my pinche (Mom's note: he's spelling it differently this time, so I'm not sure which is correct. Either way, he means his apartment) is very nice, because it's out of my area. Wish we had running hot water, or a shower with pressure, though. We just fill hot water into a 2-gallon thing on the wall and then push a lever and the water falls out. That is our shower, but it's still really good. We don't have a b-day, but a lot of other pinches do, and most public restrooms do, so I'm going to use a b-day someday. (Mom's note: instead of using toilet paper, a b-day is a toilet that squirts water to clean you.)

The weather here is crazy and can change on a dime. Yesterday I was with Elder Neilson (another one day split) and we worked in Elder Wilkinson's area. We actually saw the line at which it stops raining!!! We saw it raining all in front of us, and then a couple feet behind us...no rain!!! It was really cool because I've never actually seen that before.

I can't remember my pin number on the debit card we set up before I left, so if you can remember it and send it to me, I'll be able to use it. What I'm going to do is withdraw a bunch of money from an ATM and then just keep the card and money in my penche at all times, and just use the money if I ever need it. The reason is because it costs a couple bucks every time you swipe the card to transfer from American dollars to pesos, so this way I'll save money overall.

Well, I have to go, know that I love you all, and hope that you're really enjoying yourselves in Mexico, and I hope everyone else is continuing to do good.

Love you all,
Eric

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Letter from Sister Villalba

Eric with President and Sister Villalba and
his trainer (first companion) Elder Petersen

The new missionaries with their trainers and President and Sister Villalba at the Mission Home in Rosario

Dear Brother and Sister Hanson,

President Villalba & I are very happy to have received your son in the great Argentina Rosario Mission. We thank you for your wonderful support in the marvelous work of the Lord. Elder Hanson arrived safe and sound. He was very happy to finally get here and we’re thrilled to have him.

We thank you for your following the rules regarding the use of email established by the First Presidency in that missionaries are only allowed to receive and write to their families.

I have attached a photo of your son, President Villalba & myself and another photo of his group.

Once again, thank you for your love and help,

Sincerely,

Hermana Villalba

P.D. Preparation day are normally on Wednesdays.

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First Letter from Argentina!

Hey family!!!!!

I made it to Argentina!!!! I'm so glad to be able to finally write you!!!! So much has happened that I won't be able to say everything, but I'll do my best to get the highlights in.

First, I won't be able to hand-write personal letters anymore, or at least hardly ever, because they're slow and expensive and I won't have much time for that. And for why I am sending this from a different email address, President Villalba has set up new email accounts for us to use. I don't really know why, but this is what I'll be using from now on.

Well, I guess I'll just get started with answering your questions and telling you a little bit about Argentina. The flight went good, and after getting into Buenos Aires, we went through customs pretty smoothly. Our flight had been delayed two hours, so we actually met up with the Mendoza elders from our MTC district! They left two hours after us, but arrived at the same time! We didn't have much time to talk, but it was cool.

Then we all went outside and loaded into a van and drove out to the President's house (Mission Home) in Rosario, which was like a 3 1/2 hour drive, and we all enjoyed the beautiful scenery. It's very green here, everything is green: trees, farmlands, everything, and all very beautiful. Once we got to the President's house, we entered his air conditioned home (at the time we didn't realize what a treat air conditioning is!!) and then had some excellent beef and ice cream. We slept there that night, and met our trainers and drove to our specific areas the next morning.

My area is the San Martin area of Venado Tuerto. My trainer's name is Elder Petersen, and he's been in Argentina just barely over 4 months! But he is awesome at the language already, and a great teacher and missionary. He's very young for a trainer, and I am his first person he's training, but he is very good! In my penche (apartment) there are two other elders: Elder Wilkinson from Provo, Utah and Elder Carrillo from Colombia. They've been out about a year.

Our penche is very nice. We're one of the few to have an air conditioner, although it's more like a wussy (wimpy) swamp cooler, but it does help. Also, our shower had one temperature, cold! But two days ago we got a hot water heater, so no more ice cold showers in the morning!!!! I'll try to take some pictures so you can see. You'll probably be surprised, but it is a very nice penche.

We're living about 20-30 minutes away from our "working area" so that we can have the nice penche. Elder Petersen and I work in a very poor area. Half the homes are just metal cardboard box homes called casas de chapa, and the other half are just slightly above that. So we have a verrrry nice penche for this area!

The food here is really good, but is definitely something my body is not used to. Elder Petersen is teaching me how to cook a lot of cool things, and today I cooked a Chinese rice with diced carrots, green peppers, onions and ham, it was really good. We have not had meals with the members yet, but they give us snacks sometimes.

It's a very casual thing to visit the people here, half the time we'll just sit on a bucket and teach the family. When we go inside, it still feels like the outdoors. Everyone keeps their doors and windows open all the time, so it's pretty dirty inside, with flies buzzing all over and chickens walking in and out. But it's great, I think it is so awesome, and being inside is still a good break from the sun, because it is so hot here. I already got a little sunburnt.

I love it here, and am so glad to be here. We work very hard, and I was very sore every day last week, but am doing great today. I love working hard, though, it makes it so much funner. We have a very nice church, no air conditioning of course, but lots of fans. It is a branch, but our branch president is pretty cool. He's not one that you'd expect to be President, but he's a great guy and he tries really hard.

The language here is awesome. I don't really know anything the people are saying, but I'll occasionally pick up some words. It's such a different culture here, and I could go on forever explaining about it, if I had more time.

There are lots of dogs here, just running around everywhere. Some are friendly, and some are...very NOT friendly. Elder Wilkinson says he has already been bitten over 40 times! So what you do whenever dogs come charging at you, is what they call the "baile" which means dance. Basically, when the dogs charge you, you reach down and grab (or pretend to grab) some rocks and the dogs will usually run away, because all the kids here throw rocks at the dogs, and so they know the motion. It's only happened like 3 times so far to me, but it's worked every time. I was able to totally shut down a whole pack of dogs with the baile just a couple of days ago. So far no bites!

I can't believe I am out of time already. I'll be able to write once a week on Wednesday, which is our P-Day, unless it's a transfer week, then it could be either Tuesday or Wednesday. To answer your question about sending a package, you should use the US postal service. Mark the value very low, because I have to pay half the value to get the package, and also it would be less likely to get stolen. Also, you should put pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary on the box, especially Virgin Mary on the seams of the box, because Catholics don't want to cut the Virgin Mary. If you do those things, I'm sure we'll be fine. Next time you send a package, I would really like a few more pairs of those tracting socks from Missionary Mall.

Other than that, I'm good. I love it here, we have an awesome area and awesome people in our penche and zone. I love you all, and don't worry because I am having a lot of fun here!

Love,
Eric


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MTC Memories

Elders Hanson, Vanderholm and Anderson in front
of the Provo Temple

We have not yet had any word from Argentina, but we know that Eric will contact us as soon as he can. We are waiting patiently for Eric's P-Day to find out what city he is in, who his new companion is, and how everything is going. In the meantime, I thought I'd put up a few pictures of memories from the MTC.

Elders Anderson and Hanson

Elders Anderson, Vanderholm and Hanson

This picture is of their name badges lined up on the desk. It must have been taken on their first day in the MTC, because they all have the bright-colored "dork dot" on them, which indicates that they are brand-new greenies...and to help them if they have gotten lost!

Eric in front of the Provo Temple with its Christmas Nativity

Eric and Elder Anderson in their room

Missionaries preparing to enjoy a fireside talk

The MTC cafeteria

Four elders in very bright sunshine!
Elders Anderson, Hanson, Vanderholm and Wolff

The MTC grounds at Christmastime

The District, from left to right: Elders Carr, Luce, Moncur, Vanderholm, Price, Taylor, Wolff,
Anderson and Hanson

Elders Hanson, Wolff, Hancock and Anderson

Even dedicated missionaries enjoy a
little time for R & R!

*Thank you to Elder Anderson's mom for all of these pictures!
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Saying Good-Bye at the Airport

Elders Vanderholm, Hanson and Anderson at the airport

Five elders waiting to check in at the airport. From left to right: Elders Anderson, Hanson, Vanderholm, Bryce, and Jones.

Checking in and watching the weight of each bag

A few minutes for the elders to enjoy refreshments and visit with our family. We are so lucky to live 30 minutes away from the airport and get to see them!

Taking a moment for brief phone calls to loved ones. (They are taking turns using Marisa and Holly's cell phones, and Sterling's blackberry phone.)

The family right before Eric and the other elders had to leave to go through the Security checkpoint. Marisa had been so sick, she had a hard time standing up long enough to have this picture taken! She had barely been able to get out of bed that morning, and kept running back and forth to the bathroom because of nausea. About two hours later, we found out the very happy reason for her extreme "illness"!

We were delighted at being able to visit Eric at the SLC airport and really enjoyed meeting his companions and the other elders. They are all wonderful young men. There were nine elders traveling together to Rosario, although four of them never made it into any of the pictures I took. We had time for a few refreshments and some visiting all together. Later, during the layover at the Atlanta airport, Eric called home and we had the opportunity to talk again. Here are a few random bits of the conversation:

Us: How was the flight to Atlanta?
Eric: Great! There was a trivia game that everyone played from their seat, and I won first place! Elder Calvert sat next to me, and he got second place.

Us: Guess what! We just found out that Marisa and David are expecting a baby!
Eric: Wow, that's great, I'm so happy for them!.....um, just how long was my flight?!

Us: Were you ever homesick in the MTC?
Eric: Most of the time they kept us too busy to get homesick, but yeah, I was a little homesick on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Us: We've heard that most elders gain weight at the MTC. Did you gain any?
Eric: No, I just maintained. (Mom's note: We think he lost a little weight.)

Us: Did you have any favorite meals at the MTC?
Eric: They tried to have lots of different food, and every day there were like three different lines you could go through, with about three choices in each line. So there was plenty to choose from, but it's not like home cooking. I guess my favorite was one time when they brought in Freschetta pizza.

Us: Did you ever get sick?
Eric: No, but this past week, my whole district has this sort of scratchy throat, which is why my voice sounds deeper than usual. But other than that, I've never been sick.

Us: How are all your clothes? Do you need anything?
Eric: No, everything is fine, although I lost one sock, and when I sent my pin-stripe suit (the one I'm wearing today) to the cleaner's, they lost one of the buttons off it. Can you send me a new button for it?

Us: Did you have any trouble getting your laundry done on your P-Day?
Eric: It was pretty easy. They have a huge room with like maybe 100 washers and 100 dryers, so you just put in your quarters or swipe your MTC credit card to use them. The only hard part is that after your clothes are done in the washer, you have to wander around for about 5 minutes, searching for an empty dryer to put them in.

Us: What did you do for gym every day?
Eric: We played volleyball. At first it was really fun, but after 8 1/2 weeks of playing it every day, I was really wishing we could do something else for a change. Like basketball or football or something. I would have loved it if we could have played dodgeball.

Us: Do you have any words of wisdom for parents who are getting ready to send their missionary to the MTC?
Eric: Yes, I would say to them, write your missionary every day while they're in the MTC. Although I loved the MTC, it was pretty hard with the constant studying from morning til night every day, and kind of monotonous because you don't ever go anywhere except to your classroom, gym, cafeteria and your residence. So the high point of every day is getting letters. It's your only connection to the world outside the MTC. There was a day or two here and there where I didn't get any letters, and those were the hardest days for me.

Us: Did you prefer studying Spanish or the gospel?
Eric: Definitely the gospel. There's so much to learn and it's so exciting.

Us: What was your favorite part about the MTC?
Eric: I loved how spiritual it was, and having great people to be with. The whole thing was such a great experience. It was very uplifting and I grew a lot spiritually. I'm really glad I was there as long as I was, because I know how much it helped me. But now I am so ready to be going to Argentina and to get to work teaching people!

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Happy New Year from the MTC!

The Provo Temple, November 2009

Elders Vanderholm, Hanson and Anderson at the fountain in front of the Provo Temple

At the Temple

The district with one of their first teachers, Hermana Burrups. She is laughing that no one can touch her, because she is a girl.

Hey family and friends,

Only 3 more days till we leave for Argentina!

First, thank you to all who have written me and sent me packages. I had a great Christmas, and really enjoyed all of my gifts! I hope you got the personal letters I sent through the mail.

You wanted to know about my flight. Here's the schedule: On Jan 4 at 9:40 a.m. we leave the SLC airport, at 3:25 p.m. we arrive in Atlanta and have a 4+ hour layover, at 7:40 p.m. we leave Atlanta, and at 7:50 a.m. on Jan 5 we arrive in Buenos Aires!!!!! After that I'm not sure, but we'll probably take a bus to Rosario, which I think is a 3-ish hour drive!!! It will be a very long flight, and worst of all, I will be in a suit the whole time!! I'm looking forward to the flight a lot though!! I will be able to call you from the airport in Atlanta, and at the SLC airport you can come to say good-bye to me for the last time!!!! They said we can't make it a huge ordeal, but I would love to see you all again before heading down to Argentina.

I can't wait to hit up the "real food" at the airport and see what American food is like one last time. The MTC has plenty of food, but it isn't the same! I can't wait to go to hot weather, and of course to see Argentina, and I especially can't wait to finally start contacting and teaching real people!!!!!

I am very happy now with the language, because I have successfully mastered all types of Spanish grammar. I'd know how to say any sentence, what tense to use (passive voice, subjunctive, etc.) So I'm very happy for that, because I read through my yellow book last night, and I knew everything in it!!! That being said, though, don't think I can actually speak Spanish now, ha ha! I know how to make an accurate sentence now, but only if I have a minute or two to think about it. Also, I can only understand gringo speakers who speak very slowly like me, and my vocabulary is pretty small. But I'm not sweatin' it anymore. Although I'm sure I'll feel different when I get down there!!!

A few days ago, we did Spanish calls at the RC for like 45 minutes. I was amazed at just how little I understood when talking to the native speakers. I'd ask them questions and listen for some easy key words, but they never gave me those!! Instead they'd go off on some long spiel whenever I asked a question, and I'd have to say "sorry, again please" (in Spanish) quite a bit! I was talking to one guy (who I thought was the man who ordered the DVD) and after about 5 minutes I realized it wasn't even him, but his brother, ha ha! Just the same, I absolutely loved the Spanish calls!!! Despite that I couldn't speak their language well, the Spanish people were so open and friendly that I sent out missionaries to many people! I loved how they were all just so relaxed and accepting, like "sure, why not, send the missionaries over" etc.

The Christmas speakers we heard from were Elders Perry and Anderson (of the Twelve.) They gave great talks, and I had a great Christmas. The day was so busy that we all opened our Christmas presents right before we went to bed. And yes, I did get the package you sent yesterday with the debit card, calling card, watch and other essentials, thanks! If it's possible, could you please send me the extra links you had taken out of the watch band? I think I had actually only had two taken out of the band altogether, not two on each side. I'd prefer it a little looser, so hopefully you still have the links, but if not, don't worry, because it's not a big deal and the watch works fine how it is.

I've taken quite a few pictures with Elder Anderson's camera and was hoping to get them printed out to send you, but the MTC Bookstore is always closed or else the picture machine is broken!!! I'll see if I can order them Saturday, although the machine will probably still be broken. :( If I can, however, I will have someone from another district in my zone who is staying behind (probably Elder Smoot, a good friend), pick them up when they're ready and send them to you. (Mom's note: I asked him if his camera isn't working, but he says it is fine. So either the MTC picture machine doesn't accept his type of camera card, or else Elder Anderson remembers to bring his camera along and Eric doesn't, I guess!)

So Elder Wolff left yesterday for the Salt Lake City South Spanish-speaking mission!!!! He was very excited to go, and will be even more excited when he gets to finally go down to the Dominican Republic! All his Christmas gifts are down at the MTC in the DR, and they won't ship them back, so he won't have Christmas for a couple of months.

Thank you again to everyone, for all the letters and packages you have sent me. I'll try to send home my camera card before I leave.

Love you all,

Eric

*Thank you to the families of Elders Groll, Wolff and Anderson for sharing their pictures with us. Since Eric's first camera card was lost in the mail, many of the pictures on this blog are from them.


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