Mason's Mission: May 2025

Day: offically the last cool one of the year

Pushup Count: 85

Buenos días mi gente! Nos pasamos una muy buena semana aki en Bakes! It was pretty average, but we seemed to attract a lot of strange people (Bakersfield moment) , so we had some fun. Highlights:

- Last pday we went to goodwill, chickfila, and tilly's

- I emptied the closet in our extra bedroom

- I turned 20

- We went to Wasco for combined district counsel, but ended up being 20 minutes late because we had to deal with an emergency transfer

- I went on an exchange with Elder Young. He's from the midwest and he likes hard rock so we got along pretty well. He taught me a lot about asking better questions to get people talking. We also taught Ally the last principles she needs to know before her baptism this Sunday

- One of our members started trash talking a guy we were trying to contact about his soccer jersey and it got pretty heated But al fin they ended up becoming homies and now they play on the same soccer team

- We talked about Elder Oaks and miracles at institute. Then my companions convinced each other to each a bunch of cookies (I may have participated in the convincing )

- We got Subway

- I went back to my old area in Palmdale on exchanges with Elder Van Dyk It was so fun. I got to speak a ton of Spanish and see one of my favorite members

- We got panda

- I went on exchanges with Elder Coletti and we taught some awesome lessons together. Then I learned about lifting weights from him and Rigel after our lesson with Alan 🏋🏿‍♂️

- On Saturday morning I had my last interview with President Burton I had Sister Burton join and got them both tearing up It was super strange to be talking about college and work and dating with them, but I guess everyone's time comes at some point 🤷🏽‍♂️

- We ate pizza with Bishop Beaty and his wife I stuffed myself and then they brought out giant pieces of strawberry pie and I wasn't allowed to say no...

- A dude came up to us and started by telling us that we're racist (which happens about once a week ), so I got a little defensive, but then we realized that he was just a little crazy when he started talking about divine math, God playing GTA, smoking a blunt of the Holy Spirit, crip walking cause he's part of Adam's gang, and playing celestial soccer with us in the cosmos... Among other things That was a fun language study

- We had dinner with the Urmstons :)

- We talked to an inactive member who's been pretty standoffish in the past, but then I asked him if he liked metal music and now we're best friends

- I finally killed the black widow living in our trash can

- We stopped by a random member that we'd never met and turns out she moved but he parents are still there and her dad had some crazy takes. I don't even know how to explain the lecture he gave us but it was beyond strange great way to end our Sunday

I'm soooo trunky. Just kidding :) I'm very excited to come home though. It's slowly getting harder and harder to lock in, but I'm really looking forward to what we have coming up these next few weeks . The work is engaging and moving forward!

Spiritual Thought:

Okay Elder Hanson, get ready, immaboutta make you so proud. This week I read Helaman 3:28 which says this:

"Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God."

That got me thinking "hmm, so faith opens the gate huh?", and then one thing lead to another and I came up with a model called, wait for it, the Doctrine Door (see attached foto).

It's essentially this: There's a wall that separates us from Christ and the celestial kingdom. That wall has a door in it. Before we believe in Christ we can't see him on the other side at all. Faith in Jesus Christ opens the door so that we can see him in the distance on the other side. Some people stop here, content with just seeing Christ on the other side. But that's not much of a relationship now is it? That's where the other steps of the doctrine of Christ come in. Repentance is where we take serious action, leaving behind the room were currently in and stepping into the doorway. We find ourselves a little bit closer to Christ. Then we're baptized and we step into the room with Christ. We close the door behind us and leave neutral ground forever (ft. President Nelson). Turning back now would mean crashing back through the door and being held accountable for that damage. The rest is simple, follow the Holy Ghost and repeat this process through as many doors as it takes (ehem, sacrament) until we get to Christ.

Mucho amor,

Élder Page

Fotos!

Day: birthday eve

Pushup Count: 91

Buenos dias, buenos días, buenos días! Welcome to my weekly email. Here's what we did this week:

- Last pday we played volleyball and I ran for a full 30 minutes it added up to like 200 times back and forth in our backyard

- Tuesday we had our combined district counsel and I played the piano. After that we taught an awesome lesson to our friend Ally who's getting baptized in two weeks

- We picked up a car to take to some Elders and found out it needed some serious cleaning and a new tire... And that somehow we'd have to fix that between zone conferences :/

- Wednesday was zone conference #1 in Santa Clarita. I honestly don't really remember it, but I played the piano and it was good

- Zone conference #2 in Bakersfield was my favorite. I played the piano about a million times. One of them was a duet with my bestie Elder Archibald and another was an impromptu intermediate hymn of Called to Serve. I also gave my departing testimony and may have cried just a little bit

- That evening we went and got the tire fixed on that car, so we had about 10 minutes for our companion study all of our lessons went super well though

- We listened to the car read a giant text that one of our friends sent us and it was the funniest thing I've heard in two years we were so grateful to be stopped at a red light because we were absolutely dying of laughter

- Zone conference #3 in Lancaster. I drove that car down by myself while my companions took the van. It was super strange I just listened to saints and then some música. We were all absolutely exhausted by the end, but the sandwiches at lunch were amazing.

- After zone conferences, I went on an exchange with Elder Pugmire. He's amazing as always, and we ate tostadas again I'm pretty sure he still has only eaten them with me

- We had our last lesson with Euphemia

- Luis bought us super good Mediterranean food for dinner on Saturday. Unfortunately the falafel sat like a rock in my stomach, but it was worth it

- On Sunday Alan asked me to give him the aaronic priesthood, which I gladly did. It was awesome :)

- Yesterday we had dinner with Aldair and he made his famous tacos dorados

It was a good week here. Hopefully the next few are just as good or better :) Love you all so so much!

Spiritual Thought:

In my departing testimony I shared these two scriptures:

Alma 17:16 — Therefore, this was the cause for which the sons of Mosiah had undertaken the work, that perhaps they might bring them unto repentance; that perhaps they might bring them to know of the plan of redemption.

Genesis 28:15 — And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

I'm very glad that the redemption that Christ has given us has become the reason that I serve. I'm also incredibly grateful to know that He will not leave me as I do so.

Mucho amor,

Élder Page

Fotos!