8/21/2023 - Week Five - Cincinnati sidewalks are the worst

November 06, 2025

Hey guys,

This past week has been a rough one in many ways, but there have been a lot of great things that have happened that make up for it.

To start off, there have been two fatalities in the past week here in Cincy. Both me and Elder Carr, my trainer, have had the back tires on our bikes give up the ghost on us. Two popped tires in 5 days is a rough statistic and it means we spent a whole lot of time repairing and replacing said tires, which is not how you want to spend your time (especially is proselytizing clothes). The sidewalks here are double black diamond level at the best of times, or just don't exist. There have been several times where the sidewalk just ends and there is no bike lane on the road either so we've had to use some interesting maneuvers to get around that.

However, for every negative there is a positive. That positive came in the form of Elder Stewart, the mission's vehicle coordinator, coming to give us our new car for the area on Thursday! No more biking everywhere! The office Elders also took us to dinner at Gordo's, which was amazing. Thank you Elder Stewart. It was really nice to see some missionaries other than my comp for a little bit and chat it up with them.

This week we've been working hard trying to get things planned for Doneshiah's baptism next Thursday and she has really made it easy for us because she has such a strong desire to learn and listen. She even told us that if we sent her a video or scripture block to read before a lesson she would study them. So we sent her two great videos, one on the Temple and another on the Priesthood. And, lo and behold, when we taught her the next day, she had watched them both several times and we were able to just fill in the rest and answer her questions! It was amazing! She's already been interviewed and everything is lined up for her Baptism on Thursday, we're super excited! (For the MTC district: Numbers don't matter on the Mish, but for those of you who said they do, get ready to chalk me up for 1 😎 Some might say it's luck... I would agree. Doneshiah's amazing, I had the easy part)

We've also been hard at work trying to get to know the members of the ward, and we're slowly making progress there. We were able to meet with a lot of members this week and a couple of them got us food! So luckily we aren't starving this week (which happened the first week). Two of the notable characters in the ward that we've met:

Bro. Lemon - very sarcastic, funny, and and overall prankster. We get along very well.

Bro. Jones - very cool guy, blind and in a wheelchair but extremely optimistic and happy despite those challenges. In the past, he was in a biker gang and went to prison for arson. Wild backstory, very spiritual guy.

Consequently, both the Lemons and Brother Jones have fed us Missionaries (Let's gooooo) and both of them got us pizza (no complaints here). The pizza here in Cincy is a little different than back home, but it's all still very good. We went to Dewey's pizza with the Lemon's and it was quite good but quite different/exotic and I don't know if I'd go there on my own (mostly because it's out of my price range). Bro. Jones got us LaRosa's pizza which is a Cincy specialty and it has a sweeter crust and sauce and it was honestly very good. This concludes my pizza rating segment I wasn't planning on writing.

Honestly, this part of my mission has been by far the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I'm in a strange new world trying to learn at the same time I'm teaching others. It's crazy! The area that I'm in is frankly the most sketchy place I've ever been before, but still, the people I have met are all super nice (even if they are smoking weed and carrying a pistol) and I feel that the people are much kinder about just saying they are or aren't interested than I expected. Many people refuse our offer, but we have spent our focus on trying to find those few people who do desire the message we share and it has greatly blessed their lives and ours as well. I may only make a small impact in this area that has so many people constantly rushing around, but that small impact is life-changing to those who accept it and let it affect them, and that's all I'm trying to do for now.

Spiritual quote:

"Most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise...

Life is like an old-time rail journey - delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

-Jenkins Lloyd Jones

Don't get too caught up in the monotony of life, cherish those beautiful times you get to experice. And, of course, thank the Lord for letting you go through those low points where you are bored, tired, afraid, sad, etc. so the beautiful moments you do experience are even more beautiful than they would have been otherwise!

To all my friends and family:

If you could write me an email occasionally about how life/school/work/whatever is going on for you, I would really appreciate it! It is always nice to hear from any of you when you do email and I promise if you take the time to write and send it to me, I will make the time to read it and try to respond to it if I can. Love you all. ❤️

-Elder Hansen

Pics:

1) Dinner with the Lemons and Spanish Elders

2) Downtown Cincinnati

3) Blurry Bengals Stadium

4) Cincy skyline

5) Bad Pic of the Red's Stadium

6) Cincy skyline ... again