Here are the first few letters we've received from Elder Garrett Hanke. First two came in the mail, and the third was an email...finally!
March 2, 2011 (handwritten letter received in the mail)
Mom (Tina), Dad (Tama), Sister (Tuaka),
I stinkin' love you guys - greatest family I could've ever asked for. Now that's out of the way, I just want to let you know how well I am doing.
This place is great, it has everything I will need plus some so don't worry about me. My companion is Elder Chlarson and he is a pretty cool dude. The other two Elders in my room are Elder Shumway and Elder Harris. Elder Shumway is from Rexburg and is one of three kids in his family currently serving a mission. Elder Harris is from New Zealand and has a sweet accent. The other two in our district are Elder Brown, a wrestler from Payson, Utah, and Elder Pakeleato, a Tongan from South Carolina. All of us have the same call except Elder Shumway who is going to Boston, speaking Haitian-Creote. I have no idea why he is rooming with us, but no worries.
The days here are jam-packed with stuff to do, but they go by pretty quickly. The spirit from having thousands of missionaries in the same place is incredible. Everyone is doing the same thing and working very hard. I can already see the blessings from it.
I hope you made it home ok and that everything is good with the car. Take care of each other and be safe.
Love you,
Elder Garrett Hanke
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March 7, 2011 (handwritten letter received in the mail)
Here's the deal: The MTC said I am missing a few shots that I should definitely already have, so please send a paper with all of the immunizations I have ever had in my entire life so I can give it to them and hopefully that will be the end of it.
But otherwise I feel like I'm already starting to lose myself in the work. I honestly am not missing home at all and even today when we went on the Temple walk and had to cross the street it was kinda weird. The food is good, though, and I've gained four pounds of unwelcome fat.
There are a bunch of districts leaving on Tuesday...11 Tongan, 2 Fijian, and like 10 English that are in our ward. One Tongan Elder here is 6'7", wears a size 17 shoe, and weighs 360 pounds! He is one of the funniest people I've ever met.
My district is growing pretty tight, but Elder Chlarson and I are still having some rough edges, but it's good for the most part.
Part of my Branch Presidency, the Muirs, are actually going to be the new Mission Presidency for Fiji Suva Mission and they are way cool. Brother Muir actually served his mission in Fiji, so that's cool.
Sega Na Lega (no worries),
Elder Garrett Hanke
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March 10, 2011 (first email received)
Hanke family minus one, (ha-ha)
First of all, the scripture I want on my plaque in the church lobby is Doctrine & Covenants, Chapter 4, Verse 2:
"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."
My P Day is on Thursdays, but they just didn't give us our first one the day after I got here. So Mom, you can stop freaking out about that, but I only have like five minutes on this computer each Thursday, so here are the answers to your questions. 1.) I'm supposed to leave for Fiji on May 5th, but some district's dates have bounced around so it's not positive. 2.) Hopefully you got my letter about the shots. I don't really know what they're talking about, so maybe you should call in and try to figure it out. But I'm supposed to go back in there in two weeks to finish. 3.) The sandals are fine so don't worry about them. But for now I just wear flip flops that were like $1.00 in the store here. Everything is way cheap there, it's sick. 4.) I do wear the sulu around the dorms but not very much. 5.) Sundays are pretty chill, just a bunch of meetings. I like it, though. 6.) The food is dang good here and I eat a ton. I've gained four pounds since Wednesday - ha, ha! But I do a ton of sit ups and push ups so my waist shouldn't get too bad. Ha, ha, ha. 7.) The chocolate milk is good, but they have pop and juice and whatever you want to drink always. So I usually just drink it for breakfast. 8.) My room is on the second floor. (I don't know why that matters, really...ha, ha, ha.) 9.) Basketball is fun, but volleyball is where it's at because it gets way intense and there are some pretty athletic kids, so we usually just team up and work everyone over. 10.) My hair is fine, I probably won't get it cut for a couple of weeks. 11.) My sunburn peeled pretty dang bad for a few days, but is good now.
Hopefully you're happy now that I've answered your questions, so here are the things that I want to tell you:
Elder Brown (from Payson) and me get along way good and this place is way fun when we're together, he's pretty sweet. Elder Chlarson and I don't really have anything in common except for when it's time to study and teach. We bring the spirit in strong in those situations where it really matters. We do way good together, so I can tell that our companionship is not a coincidence. Fijian is the bomb, it's coming along way good and I already know a lot, like I could greet someone on the street and tell them why we're there, bear my testimony, and ask them if we could talk to them more about the gospel tomorrow - so sweet! The spirit is so strong here and we get so much accomplished each day...it goes by way fast. I can't even believe it's been a week already, but I know what I'm doing is right and that I'm here for a purpose, so I will work hard to be as good as I can.
Soto Tale,
Elder Garrett Hanke
P.S. Tell anyone who asks that I can only send one email a week to you and that's it.
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Here are some translations for those of you (grandparents) that don't grasp 19 year old male speak:
"freaking out" = Garrett's way of saying, "Mom, you ask too many questions!"
"way" = very
"sick" = very cool
"the bomb" = very cool
"chill" = relaxed
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