Let’s do this one more time
"My name is Elder Dylan John Hansen. I was set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and for 6 months I was the one and only Elders Hansen in the ASM. I think you already know the rest. I was honored to serve Greece and Cyprus with awesome companions, wonderful mission leaders, but unfortunately was sent home for hernia surgery for over 3 and a half months.
Sorry, I thought that would be funny to say.
In reality, it has been a wild ride. Never did I think something like this would happen, and yet it did.
And here I am, crazy enough to go back out!
I was meaning to write an email sometime while I was home, but I guess it got a head of me. I think in reality I wouldn't have known exactly what to say. Being sent home is such a mixture of emotions, it's hard to begin to explain the feeling after being home for a few months. You feel this sense of responsibility and loyalty to these people and places you served, and yet seeing those from home after six months is a welcomed reunion despite the unfortunate factor of why you're there.
I had the honor of doing a lot of things with family and friends, which I could probably write about for this whole email. But in summary, the surgery went well, traveling to California with family was awesome, getting back into film with my dad was special and refreshing to talk about again, working at Allen's was an adventure, as well as Goblin Valley with Ana and Keaton, then seeing all the movies in that time was a reminder how much movies mean to me.
I wrote that first bit on the flight to Athens, and now I write this seated in my apartment from my last area before I left the mission. It's a unique feeling to be back in the same area as before, and yet how different things are.
Buuuut let's start from the begining and the facts. Then I will talk about my feelings.
The trip began at 4:00 AM and boarding a flight at 7:30am. Funny enough, my father was talking a flight at 8 am, so he entered the airport and walked me to my gate. I won't discuss saying farewell because, just as hard as it is the first time, it's as hard the second time.
After a layover in Atlanta, Georgia, I arrive in the Athens airport to be picked up by the Riedheads(senior missionaries here) and they drive me to the chapel.
Now, I knew, in the chapel, there were the missionaries having district council. So we step through the door and I can hear them talking in the adjacent room. Yet somehow, I was still feeling nervous. But of course I knew them! Why was I nervous? Maybe just from anticapation. But, I walk into the room from behind(they where in a line because they were on a zoom call with the Thess and Crete missionaries.) I took a chair from one of the sidewalls and sat down next to them without a sound, but grinning from ear to ear. We didn't want to disturb the meeting, but I think the excitement was difficult to conceal on both sides. I just remember looking over and seeing Sister Hall and Ioannou's faces as I sat next to Elder Morgan. Honestly I couldn't help but laugh.
And thus, the mission adventure begins once again.
After the conclusion of the meeting, Elder Pettitt and Morgan were on temparary "extange" until my flight to Larnaka, Cyprus the next day at 10am. So I would stay the night at their apartment. And yet, at 2pm, the jetlag was already attacking me like a boss in a videogame. Very difficult to keep my eyes open. And yet, I guess there is no rest to the work. We had a bible study with someone I used to know in my first mission, and a lesson with someone I had heard about before. It was a bit like a flash back to my first area, since they now live in the apartment Elder Paez, my trainer, and I lived. I can proudly say, they've been keeping it very clean.
Then early morning, we made our way to the chapel via the metro(it was an adventure remembering how loud that train is), met with the Christansens, and off the Christensens and I went on our way to the airport. It was actually my first time going through the Athens Airport on my own. I think I manged pretty well considering I was still able to comunicate in Greek on occasion as needed(not as well as I would like, but we'll get there).
I arrived in Larnaka to be picked up by Elder Carr and Karatassos, my new companions, and we began our way to the area. Fun enough, this is my old area before I left! The only difference about the area is that rather than 15 missionaries on the isand of Cyprus, there are now 6. Including senior missionaries. So that means we cover South Nicosia and the entire occupied side of Cyprus(the north side). A bit of an adjustment from before and a little more workload.
Today for P-day, we took it very slow, but decided to go see a Russian Orthodox Church that was absolutely beautiful. A little history, we discoved that the church was a gift from the Greek Orthodox to the Russian Orthodox to provide a place they could worship in Cyprus. When we entered the church, we witnessed a large painting on the wall with Greek Orthodox preists-- handing a miniature church to a group of Russians. It was a really cool painting. However, I did wonder why all the men were facing towards the center of the painting, but all the women were looking forward. If anyone knows why, let me know!
It was also my first time testing out my new camera on the mission. I will say, this
Honestly my feelings are pretty hard to express at the moment with all the adjustment. I am very excited to be out in these beautiful countries with such wonderful culture, however, I, of course, miss home. Usually I like the express my feelings of the week in my emails, but I feel like I should process them and clear them in my mind before expressing them into words. And I think that's okay.
I love you all, and I hope you all the best! Don't cook in all in this heat!
Elder Dylan Hansen
