Week 91

Dear Family, I am glad to see that you watched the video’s about scripture study and prayer. I pray that the whole family can incorporate the principles of the gospel in your life. This week was a good one. We had meetings with the stake presidency about the missionary work in the area. We also had a really good Zone Conference and we went on some good exchanges with some awesome missionaries. I think that is where I will start today. I had the privilege to go on an exchange with Elder Doman. He serves in Topponish and is a Spanish missionary. He and I have a lot in common and have become really good friends so we were really excited to spend some time serving with each other. We were able to visit a lot of people. It was fun because a lot of the lessons were in Spanish, yet it seems like the longer I have been out the more Spanish I can understand. The fun thing was I practiced some Spanish with him and was even able to talk with some people on the street in Spanish. It was really scary, but fun at the same time. I introduced who we were and who we represent and they seemed interested. Then Elder Doman took it from there and was able to talk a lot about the Restoration and they seemed really interested. So that was a really exciting experience to have. We were able to talk about effective planning and about how to be an effective leader in the mission. It was a time of learning for both of us. They cover three towns and the other town that we were in that day was called Granger and they are known for giant dinosaurs that are placed all around the town. It’s really funny. I will send you a few pictures next week of a few of them. It was a fun time.

We were all counting down the days until we were able to have Zone Conference with our zone and the other zone next to us. Zone Conference is always the best because it’s a time for us to get fed spiritually. They started off with the video about Christ to invite the spirit. It was perfect because the whole meeting with about how conversion to Him is essential to this work that we are a part of. We were taught about the parable of the talents and how when we compare ourselves to others that robs the power of the atonement in our lives. We need to strive and seek the will of the Savior in our lives. We are so blessed to be missionaries at this time. The bitter sweet part of zone conferences is the departing testimonies. The other sad thing is they are having a mid-transfer transfer in August for all the missionaries in my group that need time to get home for school so some of the missionaries that came out with me had to give their testimony because the next zone conference would fall after they get home. It’s sad. On a funny note though President Ware was sitting next to me during all of the testimony and after the last missionary bore his testimony he leans over to me and says something in my ear thinking that I was next in the order of testimonies. I had to remind him that I am going home at the end of August not in the beginning and he and I both laughed because he had forgotten. I then said ,”Are you trying to sell me short President?” and everyone got a good laugh out of that. It was funny. He then asked if it was his turn to finish up the meeting and I said it was and so he got up and closed up the meeting perfectly. The spirit was strong.

We then had exchanges that night with the APs. It’s always fun when they come to town. I always learn something new each time they come to town. We went to go try by an inactive sister who has a sister that is dying of cancer and so she really needs a lot of help. When we pulled up we saw her brother sitting in a truck. He looked really down and sad. We went and talked with him for a little bit. We got to know him and told him who we were. He was nice but seemed like he needed some time on his own so we told him that the message that we share can really help. We then went and talked with his sister for a little while. On our way out we walked by and he was reading a book about God and healing or something like that. We both then felt impressed that we need to give him a Book of Mormon. We went and got one out of the car and then went back and talked with him for a little longer about the Book of Mormon and how it will bring you comfort and healing more then anything else right now. He was open to it and said he would read it and was open to having missionaries come by. So we got his address and we hope they get a hold of him again. It’s always an awesome experience to have little miracles like that. It’s an amazing feeling to know that the Lord can use you any way that he wants and he puts people in your path to help anyway that you can. It was a power experience.

We had some service opportunities on Saturday that were really cool. We helped a part member family put up some fencing. It was cool to get to know them more and help the husband who is not a member with his needs. We talked about how his son is on a mission and how he is really proud of the things that he has accomplished. It’s awesome how supportive he is even though he is not a member. Church was really good as well. I need church each week. It is always something that I look forward to each week.

Well, I think that is all for this week. I cant think of much to say.

Elder Hansen WKM

 

Week 90

The Yakima Zone had an amazing week this week. We saw some many miracles it was amazing!! First off I am jealous that dad has been able to meet 2 Apostles recently! I love Elder Oaks and Elder Christofferson. They have always been ones that I have enjoyed reading and learning from. I am glad that you had an awesome time with that. I was actually reading his talk about the resurrection earlier today. One of my favorites for sure. So anyways let me fill you in about what went down this week. So yesterday we had a little time before dinner so we went and tried by some people that we had previously talked with. We went to go and see a man by the name of Jim. We knocked on his door, but his daughter answered instead. We asked if he was there and she went to go and see. She came back and said that he was busy getting the pool ready so that the family could go swimming in a few days. So we decided to talk with her and see what her life story was. We were able to find out that she lives just down the road and has 3 kids and is married. She told us that she had not gone to church her whole life and that she just recently wanted to go to church so she had been attending a different church for about a month. She told us that it is all new and that she likes the way that she feels when she goes to church. We asked what she knew about the church and she said that she didn’t know anything about the church. We were able to talk with her about the Book of Mormon and about prayer. She was very interested and invited us to come back later that week because she would like to learn more. It was awesome. We were able to teach her how to pray and she was even able to say the prayer before we left to go to dinner. It was an amazing opportunity. She seems really ready to learn more and to accept the message that we share. We were very happy with that.

The other day we took a few priests out with us to cover more ground. I took one of them with me and we went and tried a referral that we received a few weeks back. He lived really far away so we could never find the time to get out to the area. None the less we got out there and we tried his house. His dad was outside and told us that he was not home but that we could try by on Saturday because that is when he is most likely to be home. We realized that he lived really close to a less active family that we had not met yet so we drove around the corner and tried by them. The wife came to the door and she said that they didn’t have time right then to talk but that you could try by another time to meet with them. We get that answer a lot. So as we were walking back to the car I thought to myself, we are never out here so we should knock a few of the doors and see if anyone is interested. So, we stared and knocked the 4 other doors in the area. The first 2 people were not interested at all, and then we talked to the last 2. The first guy gave us some time and was really nice. He said at the end that he was really interested in learning more. We invited him to read a pamphlet and pray about the message and he agreed to do that. We then walked to the next trailer and waited for someone to come to the door.  No one came and so we were walking out to go back to our car and we saw all of them standing by their cars. We went over and the man of the family said that they did not have much time, but to come back tomorrow at noon and we could talk. So that is what we did. The next day we went back and we were able to have a really good lesson about the restoration. He believes in evolution but is still open the idea of having a higher power. We talked about the prophet and he asked how do I know that this man is really a prophet. We love questions like those. We were able to talk about prayer and that is how we come to know of truth. It was awesome. We were able to set up another time to meet with him. What I learned is to never hesitate acting on a prompting. I had the thought to go and knock on the doors, but I kind of put it off at first, then got in the car and it came again and I said, well I can not let any prompting go unfollowed. It was cool to see how the Lord is always guiding us to find the people that are open to learn.

Remember the house I told you about with all of the stuff in the yard we were helping move. Well we did more service for this man and we have actually become good friends. On our way back from taking a load of things over to his new place we started talking to him about what we do as missionaries and how we would really love to start working with his family.  He said that he was open to that and the he would “give it a whirl”. We were happy to see that. We will go by and see him later in the week as well. One of his favorite lines as we are working is, are you hungry yet, because he always loves to take us out to get food when we go over and help. So he took us to this really good bbq place right down the road from where he lives. Everyone knows him there because he comes so often. It was fun to get to know him more over lunch as well.

We had stake correlation meeting this last week so it was quite an adventure to put all of the things together for the report. Come to find out that there are a lot of people in the stake that are ready to get baptized and will be baptized in the coming weeks. We are so excited to be able to see so many of our brothers and sisters accept the gospel and come unto Christ. The stake president was very happy as well with all of that. He loved the report and is very excited to see these people come unto Christ.

We got a call a few weeks ago from one of the awesome ward missionaries in the ward that we work in. She said that she knows a less active part member family that is ready to start meeting with us. Apparently their grandpa died recently and were kind of taking it hard. The mom wanted us to meet with the boys and teach them about the plan of salvation. So we met with them a few days later and it was a good visit. The boys are not members of the church but they seem somewhat interested in learning. We talked about meeting with the whole family so that we could start teaching the dad who is not a member as well. We are excited for that. We will see them later on in the week as well. It seems like the Lord has really answered all of our prayers this last week as a zone. Every companionship has been working hard to find, teach and baptize. It has been cool to see the many blessing that have followed as we have been acting in faith.

Okay so I would not be a good missionary and followed up on a few things, Have you shared that video about Christ with someone yet? Have Abby, Ella and Maddie watched the videos I sent this last week? I am so happy to see that you have played such a vital role in the life of Sister Giordano. I know for a while it had its ups and downs but I know that the Lord was guiding you and He was able to use you as an instrument in your hand because of your faithfulness. That is something I was always impressed with. You were and are always doing the right thing. You always are reading scriptures and qualifying yourself for the blessing of the spirit to lead and guide you. It will always be with you when you do that. It’s crazy that Alison and Jeff have moved again! So many things have changed since I have been gone. It’s all been good though. Keep pushing forward. I know it’s hard that everyone keeps talking about the move. I know that you can endure to the end and find that the new place on where you are living is where the Lord wants you to be.

Oh so I got what called my “trunky” call this last week. The office staff ask you a bunch of questions about what your plans are for coming home and what not. I told Sister Benson that I will be flying in to Orlando so you can plan of me there. I think they will be sending you the flight information in the coming weeks. Don’t tell me anything about them though. I just want to push to the end. I still don’t know what I am doing about my homecoming talk yet. I will let you know when I decide. Sorry about that. Well I think that is all for this week. I hope you enjoy your date on your good old son in Washington.

Oh one more awesome story! This just came to me. So we are working with a part member family and the wife is the member. We go over about every other week and share messages because the husband is open to that. As we were thinking about what to share the thought came to me that we are to share the Mormon message “Hope you know we are Having a Hard Time.”  We didn’t know why that needed to be the message but we shared it anyways. Come to find out that their son was going through a rough time and needed some help. He is not a member and his mom has been trying to find ways to introduce the gospel to him. A few days prior to our visit she was talking with him about how the church puts out some awesome uplifting videos that he might like. She didn’t know which one to share but when she showed her that video she knew that was the one for him. We were so happy about that. Okay that is the last story of the amazing week that we had.

Love Elder Hansen

 

Week 89

It was a lot of fun to able to see you again. It’s crazy that was the last time I will Skype with the family before I get home. I guess I need to tell you about the week that I had this last week. One that I will never forget. Okay so we had to travel down to the Tri-cities to go to MLC. This was an adventure to say the least. We went down the night before and we stayed the night at the AP and Kennewick Zone Leaders apartment. I used to live there by the way. It was cool to get back into it all. Anyway we get there and it’s always a blast to see your old mission buddy’s again. Elder Snow, Elder Hatch, Elder Heldt, and many others. I love seeing old companions. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to be able to catch up on their lives and their plans after the mission. We all seem to be heading home soon. Elder Snow and another missionary that he came out with were talking about all their plans after the mission. They head home in like 3 weeks or something like that. It was sad to realize that they are going home soon. So we talked and that was the night. So the next morning we woke up and got ready for the day then headed off to the meeting. It was a power packed meeting full of the spirit. We were able to set goals and talk about the needs of the mission. We talked a lot about acting in faith and raising our eye of faith. President Ware talked a lot about what he and Sister Ware learned at Mission President’s Seminar. Elder Cook was there and apparently a lot of the brethren there had really good things to say about the mission. It was good to hear that. We have been finding a lot of success as a mission and I guess the General Authorities are following what we are doing as a mission. It made us all feel good. We had a really good lunch and then after that we went in for some more training. We are always waiting in anticipation for the part of the meeting that gets harder and harder every month — departing testimonies. Some of my biggest heroes of the mission had to speak that day and it was hard. Elder Free was the first to get up and he talked about what he felt was important to say. He shared his experience with his first day in the MTC and why he kept his orange dot on the back of his tag. It was powerful. Next Elder Davis got up and he talked about his favorite scripture and how the meaning behind it has changed as he has grown on his mission.  Next Elder Snow got up. Of course it was powerful. He testified on so many things that as affected him on his mission. Last of all Elder Barham got up and talked about his experience as a missionary. He is sad to go because his favorite part of being a missionary is being able to help other people. I would have to say that is my favorite part as well. All of these testimonies were given through tear filled eyes and trying as hard as they can to stay composed. It just rips your heart out. It’s an amazing experience though one I hope I will never forget.

After the meeting I went and I got my temple recommend renewed like I mentioned yesterday and then we were off to Yakima ready to start preparations for Zone Meeting the following Saturday. We all prepared and were excited for this meeting. We were really wanting everyone to come ready to learn from the spirit and from what President Ware wanted us to talk about. The zone we are in is so awesome. We all desire to get the work done and do what the Lord would have us do. This is the first time I have seen a Zone so convicted towards our purpose and missionaries as well and becoming more converted to our Savior and His doctrine. They all came and were sitting quietly waiting for the meeting to start. We started and had an awesome meeting. We discussed what the Lord wants next for us as a zone and the directions that we need to take to get it there. It’s been awesome. The spirit has been here in great abundance as we all try and sanctify ourselves to the work. We have found as we do that, we feel the spirit more and revelation comes way more to us. Then when we act on those promptings, we are blessed to help lives change. It’s awesome. I was asked to give the training on the parable of the talents and how that relates to us a missionaries. It was fun to help the missionaries see the potential that they have and how as long as they make some progression and do all they can to improve it does not matter how far that growth might be we are always promised the same blessing. The one that had 5 and got 5 more and 2 that grew 2 more were given the same blessing in the end. They were given the opportunity to enter into the joy of the Lord. The one who did not do anything with his talents was cast out into “outer darkness”. The Lord does not expect perfection, but progression.

So random thought. I was pondering the other day about the youth and what makes a big difference in the youth that we serve around. What I have realized is the youth that are out and about being awesome examples and are living righteous principles are the ones that take the time during the day to study the scriptures on there own. That is one of the biggest differences. So Maddie, Abby and Ella — whether you read this or not, I pray that you take the time each day to partake of your daily bread and see what the Lord has in store for you in your life. This will make all the difference in the world. If I would have clued into this earlier I feel that I would have protected myself from making some poor choices. I know that being a youth is hard and there is a lot of things that come up that try and rip you form the truth. Stay firm and steadfast in the gospel and it will protect you and help you do what is right, always.

Well I really do love you all. I wish I would have pondered a little more about what I wanted to say yesterday but I guess we will be able to talk when I get home about how I have changed. That is quite a loaded question, because it is sometimes hard to recognize the growth in yourself. I will pray about what will be best for me upon my return home and let you know in the weeks to come.

Love Elder Hansen WKM

 

Week 88

Well, I am glad that you all have had an awesome week. I love getting fed spiritually. It is the best thing in the world. Okay so this last week had been full of finding, finding and more finding. It’s been an awesome thing though. We have been able to see so many miracles this last week. Here are a few of them.

On Monday we were trying by some people that we had not met on the ward list and we came across a family who have a few sons that live with them that were not members of the church due to being less active for a majority of their lives. We knocked on the door and the father of the family opened the door, invited us in and greeted us with a hug. We all sat down in the living room and started talking and getting to know each other. We were able to talk for quite a while about his life and how he is a convert to the church and really wants to start getting back into the church. We were able to talk with one of the sons that lives there about the church and his experience previously was with the missionaries in the area. We started talking about the gospel and specifically about the Book of Mormon. The spirit entered the room and it was so strong. Even the son who was not a member could feel it and recognized it. We were able to talk about the importance of coming to know that the book is true. We got another appointment and will go and see him tonight. We are praying that we will be able to meet with him and help him come closer to our savior Jesus Christ.

I love how the Lord works with each and every one of us. There are so many experiences where we are at the right place at the right time. We felt that we needed to go see a family this week that is near impossible to see due to the busy work life. Their home teacher has been their home teacher for about 2 years and has never got in with them. We went and knocked on the door and low and behold the mom was home. We were able to talk with her at the door and made a really cool connection because she grew up in California. She is actually not a member of the church but is open to learning when we find time to do that. It’s been tough to get in, but I know that it can be done. We are working on a short time span because she has met with missionaries in the past and as soon as one of them gets transferred she does not want to meet because she get attached and what not. I hope this will work out.

We had very funny move the other day. We met a man who needed help and so we traveled out to the farm land where he lived. He had a ton of stuff and a ton of land. He also moved at the speed of a snail not even joking. He had met with missionaries a long time ago and so we were able to talk as we moved things from his house to the different places that he was moving. He told us some really funny stuff. He told us that no matter what you do for a living always have a small business so that you can get a tax write off.  He talked about all the things that he has been involved in — selling wood to restaurants all over Washington,  making things,  selling antlers off of elk and other animal parts and skulls. After we moved some things we went back to his property and went through piles of things that he has and organized them. The funny part of the move was the fact that it could of taken us just about an hour to do all this, but the fact that he moved so slow it took us like 3 hours. It was funny as well because every other minute he wanted to know if we were getting hungry so that we could take a break and have some lunch. That was funny

We got a call the other night from some members asking for some help moving a giant Jacuzzi off of a deck and move it to anther property. This thing was like 700 pounds and it was on a 2nd story deck to a trailer down the skinny stairway. We and 3 other big men from the ward had to tip it to drain all the remaining water and then carry it down the stairs. It was an adventure to say the least. Elder Adling and I don’t think that we were much help because the other brothers in the ward were big and did a lot of the lifting. We were there for moral support. What a good adventure.

So about the Facetime. We were thinking around 6:30 or 7 pm. I hope that will work for you. We will be able to do face time. We have only be given 40 minutes this time to talk so I hope that is okay. Make sure that you are ready with good questions and what not ha. You know the drill. I am excited to see you again. Yet I really have not thought about it all that much. The members keep asking if we are excited, we keep forgetting about it. But we will call the night before.

Well I think that is all for this week

Love Elder Hansen WKM

 

Week 87

Hello from Yakima!! It’s an awesome place. There are a lot of different things about this area than the tri-cities area that is for sure. We cover a really big area. There is a ton of farm land and back wood areas! Last night after dinner the members that fed us took us out to see the bees that they raise up for the honey. I had no idea how much went into beekeeping. Every once and a while they like to just leave the hive they are in and find a new place so the members have to go and find where they are and then extract the queen bee and take it back. It was a really crazy process. So cool though. I never knew how much of a science it is behind bees. They said that each stack produces around 100 pounds of honey and they had like 20 stacks or something like that. They were saying that they are trying to raise more queen bees because they can be sold to other people to start up a new hive and they cost like 20 dollars for 1 of them. Each hive can produce a lot of them so they just go in and pull them out when they are ready and sell it to the farmers and others who use the bees to pollinate their crops.

Yakima is a very agricultural place. There are apple trees everywhere that you look. It is very beautiful out here. I don’t know it if truly is the “Palm Springs” of Washington, but it is a really nice place. At least our area is. We live with members. They are a really good family. He is a physical therapist and has two sons one is on a mission in Brazil and the other is still in high school. We live in their basement as well — just like our last house I lived in. The ward is huge as well. There are rumors about splitting and making a new one. We don’t know how soon that will be if it even happens. They would most likely need to build another building to have the new ward go. So we will see about that.

My new companion’s name is Elder Adling. He is from Orange County California — more specifically La Palma which is right by Knotts Barry Farm. He has been out for a little under a year and is loving the work. He is an awesome missionary and is very excited to get the work rolling. We are currently in a huge state of finding at the moment. We have been finding a lot the past few days and we have had some cool stories already.

We were walking last night to go and see a potential investigator that we had on a list. She lived right next to another lady that missionaries had previously taught a little, but nothing came of it. So while we were walking up to the potential investigator the lady next door just randomly opens the door. We saw her and said hi and went over and started to talk with her. She was a really funny lady who is retired and goes to the catholic church. We were able to talk with her for about an hour on the door step. We talked with her about what we do as missionaries and she had a million questions so it was awesome. She liked how we worked and what we stood for. She became very curious and said that she wanted to come and check out our church this next week. The best thing that she said was this. “Hey wouldn’t it be cool if I became Mormon”. We all laughed at that and said that would be the coolest thing ever! Elder Adling did an awesome job as he taught with power and authority. He is an awesome missionary.

A few nights ago we stopped by an inactive lady who had not been to church in like 20 or 30 years. We were able to talk with her about the gospel. She had just recently moved up to Yakima from Oregon and she was ready to start coming back to church. She came yesterday to church and loved it!! She said that she just felt so happy to be there and that she was planning on coming a lot more now. The Relief Society stepped in and helped out a lot. They took her to class and was able to help her feel welcome at church. This ward is really active in missionary work. There are a few people that have been going to church for like a year and are not baptized yet. Elder Adling and I were so curious on why that was. We have been asking around to see if they have been taught. Then at church this last week we had some good news that both of them are starting to open up and are ready to have the lessons. So we will be able to see some more amazing things happen the next few weeks.

I am excited to see that you have Woman’s Conference this next week. It will be a good one no doubt. I can’t believe Madeline is going to be 18 tomorrow. That was really good that you had a surprise birthday party. I bet she really liked it. Happy Birthday Madeline!!!! Welcome to adulthood. All that changes is now you have to deal with a whole lot more things. So have fun with that. Getting old used to be awesome when you were a kid, but now its lame. You have to make big life decisions and what not. When you rely on the Lord and follow his direction and counsel you will always make the right decision. I have seen this happen in my life time and time again.

Well I guess to answer your question I know I fly to you all on the 26th of August 2014. I don’t know much more than that.

Well I guess that is all the news for now.

Love Elder Hansen