The Life and Times of Warren Hansen

This morning I left Cafayate. It was bittersweet, but I’m excited for the new opportunities that I’m going to have in my new area: La Loma, right next to my old area in downtown Salta. Sorry for the short note (short on time), but here are some photos from my last day in Cafayate yesterday. Elder Hansen

When I first got to Cafayate, I was able to help Josue get baptized. Since then, Josue was ordained a priest and has helped us teach 2 of his nephews, Bruce and Uriel. This weekend, Josue was able to baptize both of them. Watching Josue’s joy was genuinely one of the most gratifying experiences that I’ve ever had. It means more to me than even my proudest accomplishments in the army or my other life endeavors. I read a quote from Elder Eyring recently that has become very meaningful for me. He states that the Lord’s work and glory aren’t to run an efficient organization. His work and glory are our progress. I have been […]

These week came and went relatively uneventfully. Nothing super crazy happened, but some brief highlights include:  – Despite pouring rain, Josue came with us to make visits all afternoon on Saturday.   – Elder Espinoza and Elder Tarawa got food poisoning. Somehow Elder Kinghorn and I were fine, so we went out and visited people while they slept.  – I made brownies for a game night we had on Friday. Everyone loved them!  – We got to ordain Tiago as a priest. He’s hoping to be able to baptize his best friend soon.   – We visited a member who works at a wine cellar and she gave us a tour.  -Church this week

This week a huge folk music festival called The Serenade at Cafayate happened. Unfortunately, the park where the festival happens in about 2 blocks from our house. Needless to say, it has been a pretty loud weekend. A fun tradition with The Serenade is that everyone throws water balloons and buckets of water at people walking in the street throughout Cafayate. This led to some fun moments this week trying to keep our heads on a swivel and outrunning those trying to soak us. People were crammed into the houses of friends and relatives, tents put up in empty lots, or sleeping in their cars on the side of the road. In another series of […]

I’m writing this while sitting at the bus terminal, waiting for my new companion to arrive. Elder Shelley finished his mission and is on his way home. Elder Miller got on a bus at 4am heading to northern Salta. What I know about my new companion is that his name is Elder Espinoza, he has a little less than a year on the mission, and I think he is from Chile. It’s a big change, but I’m excited for the opportunity to improve my Spanish.

The biggest thing that happened this week was a series of conferences throughout the mission with Elder Gavarett and his wife. He currently serves in the presidency of the Church’s South America South area, with responsibility over congregations and missionaries in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. After a trecherous 4-hour ride through the winding canyon on the second story of a bus 🤢, we met with a third of the mission in Salta to hear from the Gavarrets about how to help our friends and converts continue progressing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After the main meetings, I had an interview with Elder Gavarret to talk about the progress and future of the church here […]

Our small group here in Cafayate has been growing slowly, but steadily. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ promises that we can live with our families in the presence of God and Jesus Christ. I have been able to watch members share this message with their families and see them progress in the Gospel together. One example is Maria, who was baptized several weeks ago by her son. They learned about the Gospel from Jesus’s older sisters, who in turn shared the joy they had found with their family. This week another family, the Molina’s, took a huge step together. After more than 10 years, Eduardo, the dad of the family, decided to make the […]

I’ve never walked so much in my life. I can count on my fingers how many times we sat down this week to share a message or scripture with someone. Between festivals and parties leading up to Carnaval and the Argentine college semester starting next week, most people are not home or just don’t want to talk with us about Jesus. Despite the struggles, awesome things are still happening and the Lord’s work is moving forward! Our friend Maria was baptized by her son Jesus who got the priesthood just a couple of weeks ago. Their family first met the missionionaries 4 months ago, and now 5 members of the family have joined the Church. […]

Carnaval is easily the largest cultural event here in Cafayate. It doesn’t actaully happen until the end of February, but there are lots of small parties and events leading up to it. For example, this week ground was broken to start unburying the life-size devil statue that becomes the centerpiece of Carnaval. Needless to say, it was not super easy to talk to people about Jesus and keeping the commandments of God this week. We spent most of the week walking on hot and dusty roads that turned into mud-bogs as it rained heavily every afternoon. Despite the hardship, we were still able to find joy in the experience. We had a small turnout at […]

We were taking it easy this week while Elder Miller’s foot recovered from getting his ingrown toenail cut out. Despite that, we still had some awesome experiences this week. Our friend Maria has 4 adult kids who have been baptized recently. She has gone to church almost every week for months, but never wanted to talk with the missionaries. On Monday, we gave her a Book of Mormon. She read part of it and then wanted to meet with us. We were able to help her learn more about Jesus Christ during the week and now she is planning to get baptized this weekend. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real and it changes lives! […]