Ok, so I noticed how seemingly all of the other Hanson family cousins my age have their own blogs, and I've decided to make one of my own. I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm a military brat, at least in the title of the blog, but I'm not entirely sure how that will affect the blog itself, other then some of it will be written from the UK.
So, since it's been such a long time since I've had contact with anyone in my family really (other than those I saw over Thanksgiving!), how's about a little update on me? It's my blog, so I can be as narcissistic as I want. Right now, I'm attending Pearl River Community College in Mississippi. It's in the tiny little town called Poplarville, Mississippi. It's one of those where if you blink, you passed it. It's tough since I don't have a license or a car, because the college is actually situated outside of the town by about a mile or so. So if I need anything from the grocery store, it takes about 10 minutes on a bike to get there, and usually 20 to get back since it's all uphill. Needless to say, I try and make do with what I can get from the campus haha.
When I first moved here, I was stoked! I was finally out on my own, to make my own decisions. Yeah that didn't last too long. Within a couple of weeks, I was missing home. I found that the environment I was in at the college campus wasn't exactly one I wanted to be in. I called the Branch President for the area here and arranged to be picked up for church and institute. I just wanted to give myself a break from the spiritual bombardment I was experiencing here. So far, it seems to be going pretty well, although it was a bit of a culture shock coming back to Mississippi after spending a week with the grandparents in Idaho for Thanksgiving - but more on that later. Anyways, long story somewhat shorter, I decided to apply for BYU for their Winter Semester. Turns out, everyone else in the world had the same thought as me, and I got rejected because there wasn't enough room at BYU. No worries though, I've decided to go back to England to my parents house for a semester, so I can save some money up, and I've reapplied for Provo for the summer semester. Hopefully I'll get in this time, but just in case I've got a Plan B lined up in Utah Valley University. If I don't get in to Provo again, I can go to UVU - they are an open enrollment school. So either way, I'll end up in Utah by next summer!
I received somewhat of a slap in the face a couple days ago when I heard that Tristan had gotten his mission call. That means that I'm the next oldest male cousin! Which means I'll be the next one to get my call...it's exciting and scary all at the same time. Originally, I didn't want to go on a mission, but I've recently changed my mind, and now I can't wait. Grandma and Grandpa gave me a Audiobook by John Bytheway called "What I Wish I'd Known Before My Mission" and it's great! He had some really good thoughts in there, and it's only made me more excited to get my call. I've got a long way to go though, so it's a good thing I've still got almost a year.
OK so, I just came back from dinner in the cafeteria and I had the best talk about religion ever with someone. It was raining and cold outside, so not that many people were eating in the cafeteria tonight, so I wasn't going to be able to sit with my usual group of dinner buds. There was a girl sitting by herself who I sort of knew. I mean, I'd talked with her before but I never really considered us good friends. I decided to sit with her since the alternative was sitting by myself which is never fun. We got to talking, and somehow the topic turned to religion. She told me how she didn't really consider herself part of any religion, just that she knows she is Christian. I took full advantage of the opportunity when she asked my religion. She had heard of Mormons so of course, she had loads of questions. I think I explained things fairly well, and I know what seminary teachers were talking about when they said we would use scripture masteries after seminary. She had an issue with baptisms for the dead, and I knew if I could just remember the reference for the scripture mastery having to do with baptisms for the dead, I could explain myself a little better. Unfortunately, New Testament scripture masteries weren't exactly a strong suit for me, so I had to tell her I'd get back to her on it. I'm happy to say though, that I found the scripture as well as a few others that would help explain a couple more of her questions and I plan on showing them to her the next time I see her. The best part is that she invited a couple of her friends over, halfway through the conversation, because she wanted them to hear what I was saying. Of course, living in the Bible belt I was the tiniest bit outnumbered, but I know I left an impact on them, because to date, all they had heard about Mormons was the things in the media which are almost never positive. Two hours later, we were still talking until we finally decided it was time to leave the cafeteria seeing as how we were the only ones left, and the lunch lady with the mop was looking very greedily at the floor around our feet. I'm really glad I had that opportunity to talk to them though, because I had just been praying this morning about being able to better prepare for a mission and talking to people about what I believe without sounding like a complete idiot. I feel like I was able to do that fairly well.
Well, this thing ended up extremely long, but once again it's been a while since I've talked to most of you so I could make it alot longer. Unfortunately, it's finals time and I should probably hit the sack. There will most definitely be more I'll think of later, so I'll update the blog in a few days or so.
