New pilot program - 11/19/12

This week was a pretty interesting week. We had our fair share of surprises and experiences.

On Thursday we had a Zone Conference with President Fortuna. Before the meeting we had a small meeting with the leaders. He isn't very pleased with the work that is happening in the Zone and in the District. The truth is that the other Elders aren't working as hard as they should, and he told me that I should be more involved in their work. So it looks like I'll be leaving in a ton more interchanges these upcoming weeks. I'll be leaving in interchanges for the next four days to try and help them out. My companion isn't too excited about it, but that's life. The conference was really good, and I could really feel the Spirit there. It was nice.

We also were chosen to start up a new pilot program in the mission. There are about 10 pairs of missionaries that were chosen to start it up. Its a program that is currently in affect in Mexico, and it's having a lot of success. It's cool to me how Central America is the guinea pig of these new programs. Mexico was also the first nation to start sending missionaries at 18. Cool beans.

So the program consists of working more with the members. We aren't allowed to knock doors. Yup, all of our investigators are going to come from references. Its actually not as bad as it seems, seeing as how almost all of my converts were references. But yeah, the way the program is designed is to force the members to be more involved with the work. If the missionaries don't receive support from the members, they pull out the Elders and they'll put them in a ward that is working. There is a member in our ward who has a daughter doing this program. She has "killed" her last 3 areas, meaning that they didn't help them, so they pulled them out. It's an interesting idea, and we're excited to work more with the members. 80% of references get baptized, and 1 in a thousand contacts get baptized. Number wise, we'll be more efficient.

Today we had an activity with the mission president. He throws a party for the Elders that baptize a family. So we went to his house today, and that's why I'm writing so late. It was fun and all, but I got sunburnt on my nose. But it was totally worth it, because I scored 4 goals today in soccer.

The temple will be finished on December 6. The dedication is in June. I'm pretty stoked that I'm going to be here for the Open House and for the Dedication. Supposedly the Prophet is coming down. I think I might wet my pants.

Life is good. I'm happy. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Elder Hansen