Five baptisms - 10/22/12

This week was AWESOME! On Saturday we had five baptisms! I think that's a record for me for the most that I´ve had in one day. But yeah, we baptized Familia "F" and their two step-siblings. It was a very stressful and long day, but it was a great day. We were in the church for seven and a half hours straight, without lunch or dinner, but in the end it was all worth it. What really hit me was the fact that the Dad didn´t want to be baptized. We convinced him to at least go to the interview and talk with the Zone Leaders.

They fasted and prayed, and at the end of the interview he told us he wanted to be baptized. NOW. So we put on some clothes, and we went into the water and I baptized him then and there. It reminded me of the story of Philip and the Eunuch in Acts. After his baptism, he shared his testimony, and I watched a tall, burly grown man sob as he told us how he knew this is what God wants him to do, and how he´s doing it all for the good of his family. It was a very powerful and moving testimony, and it was awesome to be a part of it.

We still haven´t heard anything about the changes. They are happening on Wednesday, but the AP´s haven´t said anything. I´ll let you guys know when I know. I love you all. Take care!

Elder Hansen 

Go Honduras Go - 10/15/12

So yesterday I was taking out some paperwork for my residency. They finally fixed all of my paperwork, so that's a relief. But yeah, I spent all yesterday in downtown Tegucigalpa. Boring

Right now Honduras is playing against Canada, and the whole world is watching, so we decided that this would be the best time to write. Its funny to hear the whole world scream with joy when they make a goal. Right now its 4-0, and we haven´t even made it to half time.

This week was pretty amazing. We had our fair share of district drama, including me finding some Elders watching The Avengers. But we have 5 baptisms this Saturday and 1 more on Sunday. We put all of the baptismal dates on Sunday, so Sunday was a pretty special day.

We were also surprised to see the daughters of Hermana "F" come to church. They haven´t really shown any interest in us or in our message, but they came to church all by themselves and they stayed the whole three hours. I was shocked. They later told us that they wanted to start hearing the messages. They said that they were impacted and amazed at the change that they´ve seen in their mom. They told us that she is more patient and loving. They also laughed as they told us that the Doctor couldn´t get her to stop drinking coffee, but that we could. It was a testimony builder to me on how big of an influence we can be to those who are close to us and the importance of being a good example.

So yeah, this week is going to be pretty amazing. And busy. We´ve got our work cut out for us. Next Wednesday is changes, so maybe I´ll be getting a new companion pretty soon here. Life is good, and I´m loving Honduras. Take care guys

Elder Hansen

Trust God - 10/08/12

This week was full of highs and downs. I have had a ton of spiritual moments, that I don't think one email can do it justice. I feel overwhelmed at how much my Savior loves me. He showed me this week his love, and now I need to show him my love with my diligence.

So we have had a really hard time teaching this week. This week we probably had the lowest number of lessons taught, and the rest of the district as well. We also had a goal of finding a lot of new investigators this week, and instead of breaking a new record, we had record lows as well. That was a little depressing. I left on interchanges, and after leaving a really really well planned day for my companion, I came home and found out that he didn't go with any of our investigators. He didn't even try to pass by. They just visited members. I did get to go and work with Elder "V". He's got a few weeks in the mission, and it was really fun to work with him. He's got a ton of energy for the work, and I could tell that he loves his investigators. He and his companion are working their butts off in their area, and they have 3 families that are progressing, which is amazing. They are showing an example to everyone else, and it was really nice to spend a day in their area. When we started the week, we weren't even teaching a family in our own area. Now we have 2 that we aren't only teaching, but that are progressing and want to be baptized.

The Bishop took us out to lunch after the Saturday session of General Conference. We might've left our mission, but I think the Lord will understand. Ha ha ha. But yeah, we had an amazing talk with him on the car ride there. We talked about our goals for his ward. We told him that our goal was 3 baptisms, and we explained how we have about 5 people that are really positive and that are most likely to be baptized. He told us, "Okay, these guys are solid candidates, but where is your faith? Where is the extra mile?"  He talked with us about how our goal of 3 is what we think we can achieve, but that we shouldn't rely on our own knowledge, but trust in God and receive His vision on what the ward should baptize. He also gave us a reference of a family of 4 that has a baptismal date for the 20th of October. He didn't just talk, he also acted on a impression he received, and he is inviting others to come unto Christ.

The other family came from a mom that originally was against the church. Her husband and son are recent converts, and her son will actually be leaving on a mission in December hopefully. She was so anti Mormon mostly because she was raised Catholic. She told her son that he can't go on a mission and was all in all an enemy to the work. One of her best friends was baptized the other week. Since then her hard heart has been melted. She gave permission for her son to go on the mission.  She went to church for these past two weeks, cried during the lesson last week and participated in it. It looks like very soon here she will be entering the waters of baptism and preparing herself to go to the temple with her family.

We also had interviews on Thursday. It was really cool. We also had House Inspections on Friday. Needless to say this week was a little busy.

So yeah, we went from nothing to having a lot of success. I'm very grateful for the blessings we are receiving. I know that we have to Trust in God, and press on with Faith in Christ.

I really like this quote from Pres Hinckley

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. It all works out in the end. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future."

I love you guys. Take it easy

Elder Hansen
 

Fifteen months - 10/01/12

This past week was a pretty cool week. On Friday I hit 15 months, which means from hear on out I´ll be in the single digits. That is pretty weird to me. This is all going by so fast.

On Saturday we had the baptism of Hma "C". It really was a miracle that she was baptized, because honestly we stopped visiting her because she told us she couldn´t make a decision. The Bishop and the Ward Mission Leader passed by last Sunday, and she accepted the invitation to be baptized. She is pretty amazing, and she´s been going to church since April. She broke down crying bearing her testimony in her baptism. It was a very spiritually powerful moment. She was also deathly afraid of the water, so it took my companion three times to finally get her under. All in all it was an amazing day finished with an amazing service. On Sunday I had the blessing of confirming her. Normally someone from the bishopric does it, or at least that's how they do it here in Honduras. So all of my mission its been like that, but for some reason, I knew that the bishop would ask me to do it. So I reread the words and thought about what I would say. So when the Bishop asked me on the stand if I could do the confirmation, I smiled and said yes. It was pretty cool.

On Friday we gave service to a family in Cerro Grande, my old area. We helped them put a second floor on their house. It consisted of mixing up concrete, shoveling it into buckets, and they passing the buckets to the guys on the roof. I spent the four hours on the ground level, shoveling and then lifting the buckets. It was hard work, and I left with fifteen blisters on my hands. Its been a while since we´ve given real service. My companion had a good laugh when he watched me pour rubbing alcohol on it. I didn´t think it was too funny, but afterwards I laughed about it. I´m tired of all the attention. Everyone is like, "Oh My Goodness, what happened to your hands?" Oh well.

I love you guys, thanks for the love and support.

Elder Hansen

Living the Good Life - 09/24/12

This week was pretty stinking fantastic. It had its fair share of ups and downs, but it was a really really good week.

On Tuesday we had a cool meeting with Elder Duncan. He´s a 70, and he came down to visit us, which was pretty cool. We had to wake up at 5:00 to get there on time, but it was worth it. We had a meeting for the DL´s and ZL´s and that was pretty cool. He helped us understand some crucial points like service and love, and also explained that our missionaries are like our investigators. We should make plans, prepare lessons and help them to progress. I never thought about it like that, but it is a very interesting point of view. Then we had the general meeting, and it was really nice. I liked when he talked about the what, why and how of the Gospel. I think that he must´ve talked to Elder Pieper, because I read in Tyler's letter that he also talked about that. He focused a lot on the Doctrine of Christ, and I learned some cool things that I´m going to apply to my teaching. The biggest thing was that we need to focus more on Repentance. Muchas veces we focus on Faith and Baptism that repentance gets left in lower priority. But it shouldn´t be that way.

On Saturday we had four baptisms in the ward. We had two, the other pair of elders had another, and there was also a 8-year old boy that go baptized. It was a very beautiful service, and we had the room packed with people. We baptized "OB" and "FM". They are both very special to me, and I am very pleased that they were able to be baptized this weekend. "OB" has a brother that got baptized a few weeks ago. Thanks to their examples, their brother and sister are investigating the church and have accepted baptismal dates for the week after General Conference. Hma (Sister) "F" has been receiving the lessons for two months, and she was finally able to stop drinking coffee and be baptized. Her family thought that she rushed her baptism, so they told her not to, but she did it anyways. I´m very proud of her, and I know that she is doing whats right. She is one of my favorite converts, and its been really cool to see her faith grow as she listened to the lessons.

Bishop called us up last night and told us that we will have another baptism this Saturday. He visited Hma (Sister) "C", and they talked and she agreed to be baptized this Saturday. Things are looking really good here in Bulevar.

I am very close to the temple. It is in my mission, and they haven´t announced when the Open House will begin. I am best friends with the member that will be the translator for President Monson/Eyering/Uchtdorf. The temple was actually in my last Zone, but I´m still 20 minutes from the temple. I don´t know if they will let us work in the temple Open House, but I sure hope so. The temple is ready, everything is finished. The service activity was putting in the furniture in the guest room. We are all very excited to hear some news.

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Hansen