To be humble...

So this last week has been so so good! Joseph was able to be baptized and confirmed! He is so awesome as I have already said but it was a really great experience for all!! The baptism was on the beach and it was just us, the Branch President, and Brother Willy who were there for the baptism! Too bad there weren't more people but I guess that is what happens when the branch is really small and really busy! 

Then on Monday we flew back to Kingston for the Christmas party! It was good to be back in Kingston for a bit to be able to see some other missionaries and they made some really nice food! Haven't had ham for a long time so it was great to get to eat a nice meal and play some games! Then we flew back today and got back just a bit ago!  So this week was really busy but it was really nice! As for being out here, it has been different trying to talk and contact those in different languages but it has also been a really humbling experience to see the difference between the Haitians and people who literally have nothing but some zinc over there heads compared to some of those who have huge multi million dollar mansions on the beach!! Yes there houses are cool and they have a lot nice stuff but they don't like to talk to us so much... the people who are humble and don't have too much are wanting to learn and become more like their Savior! And that has really strengthened my testimony of our purpose in this life! It's not to have the biggest house and the nicest truck but to be able to really find true happiness through the gospel and following the Savior Jesus Christ!

Joseph's humility to follow the Savior!

The week has been great as always! We did a lot of contacting and trying to talk to Haitians through pointing at the Book of Mormon and saying B-a-p-t-i-s-m?  It’s fun to watch their reactions sometimes because they have no idea what we are trying to do! A lot of them think we are immigration people so they get moving out when they see us but those who are prepared recognize us as servants of the Lord! 

We were able to also continue to help Joseph some more! We have been teaching him about the word of wisdom, tithing, law of chastity, all of those big commandments you know and he is so humble and willing to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus Christ! Whatever he learns he smiles and agrees to live it the moment he hears it! It has really blown my mind and strengthened my own testimony to watch this! I sometimes think if I didn’t grow up in the church would I have that faith! Probably not... but it really has been so great to see this and so he is going to be baptized this Saturday! He is really excited and so are we! 

Elder Shepherd and I are doing great! He is awesome and a really good missionary! We have been able to get along and it has been a great time serving with him! As for everything else! It’s great! It’s hot but that ok!! I know this is real and it has been awesome to be able to help these people who have so little to have so much, THE GOSPEL!! 

November 28th and December 5th...Things are going well in Turks!

December 5, 2016

This week has been really good!! One of our investigators is really doing great! Every time we come over he is so happy and tells us how much he loves the Book of Mormon! He is Haitian! Actually, most of the people we teach are Haitian because they are so humble and willing to listen, learn, and act! His name is Joseph and he is planning on getting baptized on the 17th! Watching the happiness come into his life since he has started reading, praying, and coming to church has really made me grateful for the gospel and the TRUE happiness it does bring into our lives! The only problem is that Elder Shepherd and I DONT speak Creole... But that’s alright because bringing a member out to translate for us is always fun! 

We are starting to learn the area now and it has been good!! We have this one Haitian member that is so awesome! His name is Brother Wanfrader and he speaks good English also so we will take him into these big Haitian schemes to go contact as many people as we can and he just goes for it! He is crazy! It’s awesome to see a member just go and share the gospel with everyone he sees! So we have been able to find a lot of people that way! 

There is also this other member named Brother Willy! He is just a little Haitian that fought in the Vietnam War! But he probably has more faith than anyone I have ever met! He always wants to come out with us teaching and so we bring him along! But he is just the nicest little guy! One time we were taking him home to drop him off and he tells us to stop at a grocery store so he can buy some groceries. He comes out with a bunch of food and tells us that it’s for us... This guy can barely afford to have electricity on his house. The week prior he was telling us how he had his power turned off for a while because he had no money!! It really showed me how charitable he was! That he has nothing but what he does have he is willing to give it all to others! On a side note we did not take all this food because it was close to $50 probably! 

But I am so thankful for these people! They have really inspired me to be a better and more Christ like person in my life!! I hope all of you can too!

Elder Hansen

November 28, 2016

The work is great and so is Turks! We had a NICE Thanksgiving meal we cooked up ourselves. We made some mashed potatoes, gravy, brownies and ice cream, and then bought a whole lot of fried chicken! So,  it was  a great Thanksgiving! But this thanksgiving I am most grateful for the time that I get to serve the Lord! It has been such a great time learning the gospel for myself and also helping others come to that same knowledge so they can be happy! I am also very grateful for all of my family and everything that I have been blessed with!

Also, yesterday  we had an appointment with this one guy set up so we were going to see him. He meets us at this parking lot and we start walking with him back to where he lives. Turns out he is a pastor for another church for all of these Haitians! So he brings us into his church while they are having a preaching session and invites us to come up and share a message... So we did!!  It was great. None of them could speak English except for the pastor so he translated for us and we talked for a while about Christ and then I tried sharing a scripture from the Book of Mormon. But then he stops translating and tells us they only use the Bible... So too bad they didn’t accept the book of Mormon but at least we were able to share a message with all of these people! Well I am having a great time! Still hard to teach sometimes because we don’t know creole or Spanish but it’s coming along and we have some solid investigators who will soon be baptized! Have a great week!

Elder Hansen

Teaching in the Turks!

First and most important is I found Dr. Pepper!!! hahaha there are 2 shops on the island that sell DP thankfully the other elders had already located those shops! It was so good to finally be able to drink some of that! hahah but there has been a lot of other spiritual excitement as well!

It’s been a crazy busy week, we have been getting situated out here in the Turks!! It has been so great though! Elder Warren and Larson were able to show us around the island and introduce to some of their investigators and members so we were very thankful for that! As for Elder Shepherd and I we are doing great! We are so excited to serve here! The people and the place is very different from Jamaica! I have really enjoyed already serving the people of Haiti, the DR and Turks! They are such great and humble people! With the lessons we had this last week I can honestly say I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life! I’m not sure why?? But I love it! When we are teaching these humble people my heart just burns and I don’t know why it is so much different from Jamaica? We have already been able to find more people to teach who have so much potential! I really do know that we will have many baptisms coming up! With the language barrier we have to really rely on the spirit to know if somebody is understanding or really interested but it also helps a lot to bring members with us to the lessons so they can translate for us!  Here they speak mainly 2 different languages including creole from Haiti and Spanish from the Dominican Republic! And very little people speak English so it has been a lot different  teaching and contacting! It has been awesome though because we are able to use some of the members to translate for us! Pretty neat experiences we had this week!

Before we left for the Turks we were with the AP's and their area is the area where Usain Bolt lives so we went and tried to contact him... Unfortunately we were only able to talk to someone over the intercom at the front gate but he did have a BIG house with a few RZR 1000 sitting outside! 

Elder Hansen

A spiritually powerful week!!! Moving on to Turs and Caicos!

Well this week has been interesting! We got a lot of work done and were able to have some really spiritually powerful lessons with our investigators! Something we were really focusing on with our investigators and members is how they can keep the Sabbath day more holy and show gratitude for that day! As we thought and taught about that my own testimony of the Sabbath has grown! The way we conduct ourselves and the activities we do on Sunday is really how we show our Heavenly Father our thanks for his day! But I do know as we all try to honor the Sabbath by going to church, partaking of the sacrament, and doing wholesome activities as families that we will be able to grow closer to our Father and be blessed for that! 

But for some other news I have been packing my bags and preparing to leave Jamaica... I will be flying out tomorrow morning at 6:30.... So it will definitely be different leaving Jamaica but it will be great serving in the Turks and Caicos! It will just be me and Elder Shepherd going out there to be by ourselves and white washing the area. Which means there will be no elders to show us around, just kind of thrown in to it? This will be super exciting! 

Elder Hansen

Working together builds unity!

November 7, 2016

This week has been a week of learning! We had zone meeting down in Spanish town and I always love going to zone meetings because there is so much to learn and  work on! This zone meeting they talked a lot about unity and members and how we as missionaries needed to be united with the members so we can work together to bring more people into the gospel! It’s true! When the members and the missionaries work together more gets done and more people get baptized and that is exactly what we want! We have been able to go into the members’ homes in our area and strengthen their doctrine of Christ and then actually role play with the members on the different ways they can share the gospel with their friends and family! So as we continue to do this it is a win win situation once again! Where we are blessed with people to teach the member is able to feel of the spirit of missionary work and they watch their own testimony grow as they do so! I know this work is real and true! It brings blessings and is the only way back to living with our Heavenly Father again! 

Letter from October 31, 2016

Great things are happening!!

October 17, 2016

Well this week has been a pretty average week in the field! But that’s ok because an average week in the field is still great! Elder Moyes and I have really been trying to find, teach, and baptize those who are prepared and ready! We have been dropping a lot of investigators just because they aren’t quite ready! If we are going to be baptizing every 10 days then there will be no time to be teaching those who aren’t ready! So it’s hard but really good because I do know that as we continue to exercise our faith and find those prepared people we will be blessed with baptizing those people! Something that i have been thinking about this week is procrastinating the day of our repentance as it talks about in Alma 34. A lot of times when we challenge people to be baptized within 10 seconds of meeting them they tell us that they are not ready to go to church or to be baptized or change their life yet... Yes that may be true but... if we continue to procrastinate repentance until the end then we have passed the time available to repent! Where then we can’t repent and we become subject to the devil! Sounds very gruesome, but it is true! We need to be doing all that we can in this life right now!! Well I know that as we do this and as we become more like our Savior we will be blessed and move towards Eternal Life!

October 24, 2016     

Another great week has passed and we were very busy throughout the week! We were able to find a really cool family as well! We were able to stop by and share a quick message about the restoration and the Book of Mormon! They were really interested and later that night they were able to read through some of the book together as a family! It was really awesome to get to see a happy family like this because it is pretty rare to find a married couple with a family that is together. A lot of the people down here aren’t married and don’t live together as families... It is really sad because they don’t know the joy that comes from that! I can definitely tell you that I took my family for granted when I was back home! And until you don’t have something you don’t realize how grateful you are for that!! So it was really nice to be able to talk with and help this family that has good family values! And we will continue to work that family this week so they can prepare for baptism and experience even more joy of having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost! I am truly grateful for all that I have especially all of my family!!

Hurricanes, baptisms and big goals!!

This week has been really great! We had zone meeting where President Pearson and the AP's were there so it was really good! They continued to talk about how our mission President expects to baptize 1820 people this coming year! Which would mean that there would have to be 36 baptisms every week throughout the mission. Right now the mission baptized about 6 every week! It is a huge goal and I am so excited to accomplish this goal!  Each companionship would have to be baptizing every 10 days! Jamaica would be able to get a temple in close to 4 years, because you need around 5 stakes to consider for a temple and right now there is one stake here in Jamaica! Really the big push is building all of our faith so that we can accomplish this goal… if we have the faith and we put in the work, then Heavenly Father will make things happen!

As for today we are emailing because Monday and next week we will probably be inside due to a hurricane headed our way so we will see what happens. But I am so excited and know that we will be able to start baptizing every 10 days so we can help hasten the work here in Jamaica! I am also very excited for the day that this country will get their own temple! 

Elder Hansen

THREE WEEKS!!! September 12, 19, 26th. This mission is Awesome!

September 12, 2016

This week has been a super Faith promoting week! On Saturday we went on a trade off with the zone leaders so one of the zone leaders came down to our area with me while Elder Moyes went to their area in Spanish town.  Elder Greenwade, the  zone leader  and I decide that were going to find someone who can be baptized in 4 weeks. So we studied, we prayed, we practiced, and did all that we could on Saturday to find this person!! We literally talked to everyone that we could! It was so great and we found more than one person that could be baptized in 4 weeks! We found one person who said that they used to come to our church and he really enjoyed the doctrine but he stopped coming because he got busy! He agreed to be baptized if he comes back and finds out that everything is true! It was such a great day and I have full faith that one or more of these people will be baptized in 4 weeks! President Pearson has really been changing the mission to exercise our faith and get the mission to be baptizing monthly!! I do believe that we will get there! 

September 19, 2016

This week was really awesome!  Beverly was able to get baptized yesterday! It was a really neat experience to get to watch and be able to participate in the ordinance! She was really excited and prepared to be baptized! It is really a great experience to get to go through a conversion process with someone; to watch them learn and grow in the gospel and to see them make those commitments so they can fully repent! And then all that equals joy and happiness! Heavenly Father wants to bless us we just have to simply do what he says! 

We also have been really trying to talk to everyone we see and it has been really great! It is pretty hard to try and talk to everyone but as we have been trying we have been finding some really great people! We also have been challenged to challenge at least 10 people a day to baptism if they come to know the Book of Mormon is true! It’s pretty amazing to see what some people will say. Some say,  “well of course I would be baptized if I knew that book was true”, others say, “ yea but I’m not ready to baptize”, and some will just straight up say no. So it really helps us to find those who are ready to hear the gospel! It has really been a testimony builder to me as we go about challenging and testifying of the Book of Mormon!

Something cool we were able to make this week was some sweet potato pudding! It’s like a sweet potato cake thing, it is super good and all.  It is sweet potato, flour, coconut, nutmeg and a lil vanilla! So a member showed us how to make it and it was really good!!

September 26, 2016

This past week has been a really good one! We are continuing to talk to everyone and we have been able to find quite a few solid people! A lot of our lessons fell through so we had plenty of time to go and practice the contacting with the Book of Mormon and baptismal invite! It has really strengthened my own testimony of the Book of Mormon because we are inviting people who we haven’t even talked to for more than 5 seconds to be baptized after they know this book to be true! So we really have to have faith in the converting power of the Book of Mormon and it’s great because it is sooo true! I am starting to look forward to the time when we go contacting because we get to go find those who are ready to keep commitments! 

Elder Moyes my comp is really starting to progress as well! He is starting to take the reins and is getting a good understanding of how missionary work goes! And that it’s simply doing the Fathers will by inviting people to repent! It is a great job we have and as long as we have the spirit with us we will be successful!

Also, this morning for p-day we gathered together with a couple zones and went to this place called Port Royal which is an abandoned city/ military bunker and played capture the flag! It was actually pretty fun other than how hot it was! Running around in the sand and sun while the ocean is right next to us! The ocean really looked refreshing I’m not going to lie! Haha but everything is going great and we are still trying to help the ward and continue to build our teaching pool with people who are ready for the gospel!

You can't judge people! Just open your mouth!

Elder Moyes and I had a great week! We had Zone conference on Thursday and Elder Gonzales the area president spoke to us on a few things! It was really inspirational! We learned a lot about contacting on how we just need to open our mouths as it says in D&C 33! So Elder Moyes and I have really been trying to open our mouths and talk to everyone! It has really been a great experience and I have learned that you can’t judge a person on what they look like! Truly… there are a lot of people that look really rude or mean but inside are really nice and still need the blessings that the gospel brings!

Also this morning we got to go caving! Unfortunately my camera is still busted so I’ll try to get some pictures from other elders. But it was super cool we hiked up this river bed for a good hour up this mountain and then started into this cave! This cave is huge and it goes forever! We probably walked for a mile or so into this cave and weren’t even near the end. There was also a river that ran through it so it was super muddy and hilarious to watch all of the elders including myself slide around and try not to fall. But in some parts of the cave it’s probably 100 to 200 feet high! The cool thing about it is that nobody knows about it but the locals so there was nobody else down there but us and the member that took us.

The work is going great and Elder Moyes is really starting to get adjusted to the life of a missionary which is awesome! We have a few really good investigators that we are teaching and it looks promising for them to get baptized soon! So I will keep you updated on that!  I am so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity I have to serve a mission! I know that as I continue I will be able to help and bless many lives including my own!!

Elder Hansen

Great week!

It was a crazy busy week we had! I have been living with other Elders in Linstead for a few days until Elder Moyes got to the Island on Wednesday. He is from South Jordan! It has been a great week with him so far! We had a lot of lessons and were able to see a lot of our investigators! It has been great just to throw him into the mix of things!

The past week has reminded me of a lot of when I was being trained! Getting to the island not having any American food or snacks, and not understand a thing that people are saying! Haha, good times but he is really doing great and is adjusting fast to the culture. It has been a learning experience for me to try to see what can help him progress faster and be able to teach the people!

I am excited for the next 2 transfers that I will get to serve with Elder Moyes! It will be a learning experience for both of us!

Elder Hansen

Two amazing weeks in one blog post...

August 15, 2016

This week has truly been a great one! First off, Beverly Tingling received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true!! We asked how she knew and she said that she was able to feel the power of the Holy Ghost as she read and prayed about it!! It was so great to hear her say those words because a lot of the time she has a hard time understanding everything! So the spirit has truly been able to work on her! She continually tells us how she wants to and needs to get baptized so that she can be sealed to her family! That is what it is all about!! Helping people to make it to the Temple so that Families can be sealed together forever because without the priesthood power being restored and the ordinances done in the temple there would be no hope for us to return back to our Father in Heaven!!

Then on Sunday we had a member fireside where Linda K. Burton, Neil Marriot, of the Relief Society presidency and then Hugo E. Martinez were here visiting. It was so great to hear them speak and bare simple testimony of the Savior and what the people of Jamaica need to do to become a "Zion-Like" nation! It was fantastic and we were able to bring Brother Mauris Tingling with us. The person who has been gone for more than 10 years and has recently started coming back to full-activity! I know I have talked about him before but it is so awesome to see how the gospel changes people! It really is like a light coming back on in somebody! When we first met him he quiet and didn’t talk a lot now he jokes around laughs and seems like a lot happier person!! It has been really great to help people come closer to our Heavenly Father and I am grateful for that!

August 22, 2016

A miraculous week we have had! Transfer calls came and I will be staying in Linstead as district leader as well as training a new elder! So that will be exciting! I go down on Wednesday to pick him up! Too bad elder porter had to leave but he was just transferred to Spanish Town which isn’t too far away.

But for the week... we were able to get a lot done with our investigators! We were also able to find a lot of new investigators that have some great potential! But for a miracle this week: We were riding down to see one of our investigators named Delroy. He lives by a bar... so we are riding down this hill and can see that there is a lot of people outside the bar talking to him. As we are riding up Elder porter and I are saying to ourselves "and everyone be gone", "and everyone go away". So as we ride up we find Delroy amongst the crowd of people and ask if we are still good to sit down for a while. He said, “sure.”  So we go and sit down and before we know it EVERYONE was gone! I didn’t even realize they had left but they had all vanished! It was really cool to see the power of Heavenly Father.

But as I continued to think about this it reminded me of the story with Joshua and leading the children of Israel through the Jordan River. The river didn’t part as priesthood bearers sat on the edge of the river, they had to start walking into to the river to show their faith and then the water parted! So as elder porter and I started into the crowd instead of just riding by we were able to "part the crowd" so we could have a lesson with Delroy to help him towards Salvation.

Elder Hansen

Great things are happening!

This week has been pretty good! However I did break my bicycle crank shaft this last week so that was no fun trying to run around to different shops to find the right parts and then put it all together! 

We also helped one of the members get saw dust for his chicken coop. Nobody really has vehicles here so we just had to use our bikes but we hiked clear up this trail into the mountains.  Basically just going straight up! I just keep thinking to myself, “Who has a saw mill in the middle of nowhere??”   But, we finally get there and have to haul 5 large bags of sawdust back down this trail to his house! So that was pretty good trying to ride down while holding this huge bag of saw dust! 

As for our investigators, they are doing great! We are still working with all of them and they are progressing well! Over time they will continue to repent and change their lives so they can be baptized! Something that was also great to see was seeing the spirit work on Beverly Tingling! She has a really hard time understanding the gospel or really anything! But as we started to testify, very simply, she started to understand a lot better! She then agreed to be baptized on September 4th! So great things to come and great things currently happening!

Elder Hansen

Watching this change brings so much joy to me!

The work is moving right along! We have a pretty solid teaching pool right now! It has been awesome to see them start to progress! Something that was great this last week was yesterday morning we met up with 2 of our investigators and rode with them the 30 minute bike ride to church from our place! So that was really awesome to get to ride with them to church!  Their names are Smith and Kyle. But they are doing really well! Right now they are set for a baptismal date of July 28th!

Also, this Sunday was really perfect because we also had a member of the ward that has been away for more than 15 years come back to church for the first time! He loved it and has started to read in the Book of Mormon again!! It is so great to see the difference that LIVING the gospel makes in a person! When we first met him he was sad, didn’t want to talk really, everything was alright… but as he has started to come back he is more excited, he likes to talk, it puts a smile on his face when he starts to understand the gospel better, and that is what it is all about!!  Watching this change brings so much Joy to me!

Elder Hansen

New Mission President... President and Sister Brown!

This week has been great! We got to go down to Kingston to meet the new Mission President! So that was really awesome! We each individually got to speak with them for a little while and then they just talked to us as a group and told us about themselves! They talked a lot about 2 Nephi 2: 11-14! Which was really interesting because it talks about how we need to ACT rather than to be acted upon? This means that we need to exercise our agency in righteous ways so we can receive the blessings? They are definitely different people than President and Sister Brown but they are great people! They are from Utah and served here a few years ago! So at least they kind of know the area! I am excited to see what they will do with the mission to improve it! So new things to come from that!! 

Other than that our week has been pretty good! One of our progressing investigators disappeared all of sudden so that was sad but on the bright side, Romells mom the one that struggled to sign Romell’s baptism record is now wanting to learn more! She came to church for Romell’s baptism and said that she loved it! So we will start teaching her and she will soon get baptized!  

Transfer calls were also this past week but I will be staying in Linstead with Elder Porter so nothing new! But I am excited because Linstead is great! We have really been trying to work with the members more and to build our trust with them! I am more than grateful for the time that I have to serve and love helping others come unto Christ!!

T-bone crash and baptism all in one week!

 A lot of crazy stuff happened this week! Our district leader got really sick so he got sent home on Wednesday and so I was then called as the new district leader!
 On Thursday I t-boned a car that pulled out on a blind corner going down a huge hill! I destroyed the whole front end of the car and the bumper was completely off!! I am alright! Just a scraped up shoulder and a sore arm!! But i flew probably 10 or 15 feet over the hood of the car and rolled right up to my feet! Pretty scary! The Rasta jumps out of his car to make sure I am alright and then just wants me to leave so I don’t press charges! So we left and my front wheel was basically bent in half so we had to get that fixed! But it was amazing that nothing serious happened to me because we were going fast!!! I am very thankful for the Lords protection in that!

   After that on Sunday we had a baptism for Romell!! This was so great! He is a recent convert’s brother so we had been teaching him for a while and he was finally able to do it! So it was a hectic but great week!! SO glad that I get to be a part of this gospel and get to go out and share it each and every day for 2 years!!

Elder Hansen

A Jamaican holding a Book of Mormon in public!?

Yea the week has been great! The weather is still getting hotter and more humid but it is still great!! One of the days we were riding to our next appointment down one of these streets and I am just looking around looking for people and I see this old man holding a Book of Mormon!!? I think I looked back 2 or 3 times just to make sure I was actually seeing this!!! So we turn around and start to go talk to this guy named Mr. Johnson. Come to find out that it isn’t his but it was someone’s that was living at his house. So we scheduled a return appointment with him for the next day. We come back the next day and now there is this lady there named Chin. So, we start talking to her and find out that the Book of Mormon is hers. She had been meeting with the missionaries over a year ago and one day they just kind of disappeared? So now we have been teaching Chin and Mr. Johnson and they are planning to be baptized the 7th of August. That was a pretty cool experience to be able to find them! It was super crazy to see a Jamaican holding a Book of Mormon in public!  

Other than that not a whole lot of interesting things happened! We had Zone Meeting down in Spanish Town! Our zone is pretty awesome! Talked a lot about going to the Rescue and working with Members! Trying to help member’s fulfill their duties by sharing the gospel to their friends and non-member families and friends!! So we will really try to apply what we learned with the members here! Also, for stake conference here they challenged everyone to think of people that they know that aren’t members? So I would issue that same challenge! Think of some people who need the gospel! And then invite them over for dinner or something! And for that dinner have the missionaries over also! The missionaries would love you guys for the food and new people to teach!! I know that the Lord will not only bless you for sharing the gospel but for the people who are learning and growing from the gospel! It is a WIN WIN situation! 

Elder Hansen

Prayers are answered!

Had a great week! This week we have done a lot of different things! The summer is getting Hot! & Humid! We got to help this old man, recent convert Brother James, move this truck load of sand into a sand pit thing and let me tell you I have never sweat so much in my entire life!! It was absolutely crazy! I guess that’s what shoveling sand in the middle of the day in Jamaica will do to you! We got a good workout from that! He also shared an interesting analogy with us! We asked him how he came to know this was the true church and he compared himself to a stone in a river…He said that, "We must not be like a rolling stone in a river that just rolls until stopped by something, we must be like a firm stone in a river that is able to grow moss so fish can feed." At first I was so confused but then realized that there is a lesson to be learned here! We have to be firm in our church and stay planted so that we don’t get tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine! The fish feeding off the moss on the stone is us helping others and being an example to others so they can feed off our goodness! Super weird analogy but pretty interesting if you think about it!

We have been teaching a recent converts’ brother as well and we have had trouble getting his mom to accept for him to be baptized! We continue meeting with him and trying our best to keep him positive and finally this week she agreed for him to be baptized so he will be baptized July 3rd!!! I can truly tell you that prayer works!! Elder Porter and I had been praying very hard for his mom’s heart to be softened and guess what... Heavenly Father heard and answered our prayers!!! It’s great! Everything is going great Elder Porter and I are having a great time and we are really trying to find more people to teach!! We have found a lot and so time will tell! Grateful for this gospel and for the time that I have to serve!

Elder Hansen

"I know the gospel is true, but am I true to the gospel?"

This week has been great! I am starting to get more familiar with the area and it has been wonderful! This week was a pretty normal week in the field! However we did have Stake Conference in Spanish Town so that was great! We got to hear from two of the area seventies for our area! I can’t remember their names because they were hard names but one was from Haiti and he couldn’t speak English so he had a translator up there so he could speak to us! He had a super awesome testimony on how he got the mission going back in Haiti after all of the foreign missionaries got shipped out for good! So it was great to hear from them and the other leaders of the Island! It was President Brown’s last address as well! They all have such a strong testimony of this gospel and are truly inspiring people! The spirit at these meetings was very strong! They spoke a lot about Sabbath Day Observance, Temple Prep, Self-Reliance and Missionary work! These are the 4 key points of the Caribbean area vision! It is so simple and so great! 

Elder Porter and I are doing great as well! We have found a lot of interested people this last week! We have been really trying to grow our teaching pool so we have been doing a lot of contacting! It has been a great week and things are going great! Oh yes and something I heard that I thought was wonderful is, "I know the gospel is true, but am I true to the Gospel??" Now what does that mean!? It means that we must share the gospel and live by the standards that our Heavenly has presented in his Gospel!!

Elder Hansen

Late Post from June 6th....This new area is SWEET!

The new area is way sweet! We just moved into a brand new house Saturday because the last one was pretty gross! So we had been getting that all figured out! Linstead has a ward here so there are around 100 people that come to church!!!!!!! Which is so awesome!!! They also have their own building so we don’t have to be crammed in the back of a plaza now! SO yea Linstead is pretty awesome it is super beautiful here! Also here in Linstead they actually have underground pipes that take the water to different areas for homes and businesses. In Junction they had big trucks that had to individually truck the water to each of the houses! So Linstead is a lot more advanced than Junction and quite a bit different! It’s hard to leave Junction because the Branch was great there and our investigators were great also but I know here will be just as great and that we will be able to get work done here!

My new companion Elder Porter is from Mesa, Arizona. So he is kind of used to the heat! He is a super great missionary though! He has been out for a little over 10 months. We get a long together really well! Excited for these couple transfers they should be great! 

Our current teaching pool is pretty good! We have got a lot of part member families in our area so we are trying to focus on getting those to full-member families! We also have a couple different families! So hopefully this next week we will be able to make some better progress with all these people!

Elder Hansen

They are married!

Finally, Collin and Karryann get married!! After all the many marriage lessons and family lessons we have had with them! It was a great day Saturday! We got to watch them get married! The family is planning on getting baptized this Saturday and unfortunately I won’t be here to see it! I am being transferred to Linstead! It is kind of a bummer that I won’t be here to witness it with my own eyes but that really doesn’t matter because our Heavenly Father will get to see it through his eyes! Truly the only thing that matters is that they get baptized and remain faithful for the rest of their lives! But I am super excited for their family because it has been a LONG road for them to get baptized! We have been teaching them ever since I got to Jamaica! 

Also some other things crazy happened with transfers! Our Branch President, President Collins got released and my comp Elder Graham got called to be the new President. There were no other Priesthood holders in the branch that could be the new President so that was super interesting!

Also something else that was great this week! After studies we taxied down to get our bikes from Collins place and when we go up to his veranda he is there reading in the Book of Mormon!!! I can’t tell you how happy this made me! It is so amazing to see someone have such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon even before they are baptized! It really just made my day to walk up to somebodies home and see them anxiously engaged in studying the Book of Mormon!! I know that the Book of Mormon is true and it can change lives! It brings such a strong spirit even around the always noisy and wild Jamaican culture!! I am ever so grateful for Joseph Smith and restoring this TRUE church back on the Earth for the last time!

Elder Hansen

Rescuing!

This week has been great! We had zone conference! President Brown is so inspirational! Whenever he speaks everyone is so tuned in and focused on what he has to say! He taught about RESCUING our less-actives! It was so amazing because he really put it into perspective about how important it really is! When we go to the next life and we find these people that we have rescued and how great will be our joy knowing that we helped these people! Now on the other hand if don’t rescue these people that have gone astray then how great will be our guilt when we have to look them in the face and say we were too busy or too scared to talk to them or invite them back to church! It is so amazing to look at this way because this is what it’s going to be!

 It’s the same way for non-members! If we were guided to go talk to someone on the street and we don’t go talk to them, we are denying them the blessings that come here on earth! I am so grateful for inspired leaders who can teach with Power and Authority! 

We have also been able to find a solid family this week! They understand everything we have taught them and they are making plans and really sacrificing a lot to be able to learn! Collin and Kerry Ann are getting married this Saturday and then the whole family will be getting baptized the following week! 

I know that if we rely on the Lord for help and guidance he will guide us to those who need help!!

Elder Hansen

The gospel is True!

This week has been a great week as always! We have really been able to make a lot of progress with Collin and Karryann! They read in the Book of Mormon every day and watch these D & C videos all the time! We have a few other investigators that we have been focusing on as well! They have some concerns but we are trying our hardest to resolve them.

 Also something awesome happened at church this past Sunday! In priesthood Brother Cooper our recent convert, leans over to me, smiles and whispers, "Elder Hansen... the gospel is true!" I laugh to myself and whisper back, "Yes, Yes it is Brother Cooper!" It was such a testimony to me right there that this gospel is true!! Brother Cooper was able to find that out and we are all able to find that out as long as we simply do what God asks of us!

Elder Hansen

Grab a hold of Christ's Atonement and then we can do all things!

Another great week gone! At the beginning of this week we were down this huge hill in a place called Exton visiting a recent convert. The lesson went great and then we were on our way back up right before this huge hill a big box van, semi truck passes us. This whole time riding up towards the hill Elder Graham and I are just looking at this hill like we will never be able to ride up it! So basically we were discouraged and knew we were going to be struggling! But I have the idea to catch up to this Semi before it starts up the hill. So we hurry and catch up to the van and grab onto these handles that are on the back of the van while it is still cruising! So we get pulled up this huge hill from this van! It was absolutely great! The lesson learned here is that whenever we think we are struggling or that we won't be able to do what the Lord commands us, He will always be there to bring us back up! We are able to grab a hold of the Atonement's handles and bring ourselves back up to safety! The handles are always extended to us, it is our job to recognize the handles and be able to have the faith to grab hold! I am very grateful for the lessons that I am able to learn each and every day out here in the field and I know that through Christ we can do all things! 

Elder Hansen

The Lord never disappoints!

This week has been great! We were able to have Brother Coal and McKenzie show up to church! It is really quite a journey for these 2 to get to church! They have to walk from the bush a good 30 minutes to a road where taxis run and then wait another 30 minutes to an hour for a taxi to pick them up! It is so great to see these people show their faith by doing what it takes to make it to church! Brother McKenzie also had a cool experience where he had no money at the beginning of this week. He told us he wouldn’t be able to make it because of that! We replied telling him that if he truly desires to come to church, money WILL not be the problem! Sure enough the Lord never disappoints and Brother McKenzie got some work for a day so he had enough money to come to church! The lesson learned is that the Lord does not give us a commandment that is not possible! 1 Nephi 3: 7 is exact evidence of this! He will ALWAYS prepare a way for us to accomplish what he has commanded!  I’m very grateful for this opportunity to serve! 

Elder Hansen

I am grateful for this time to serve the Lord!

This week has been great! Elder Graham is an awesome missionary and we really get along! Our investigators are doing well! Collin and Karryanns family come to church every week and are doing awesome they just haven't gotten married yet! Once they get married they can get baptized but they just keep pushing marriage back! So we are praying and working very hard to get them married so they don't have to wait much longer for the blessings of being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost!

Devin is still doing great! This last week we found a weed plant in his front yard and asked what this is all about? He looks over the railing and says, naaa thats jus a flowa!" Then walks down the steps pulls the plant out of the ground, says, "I hope God don't charge me for this one!" Then throws the plant into the bushes!! It was the greatest thing I have seen in a long time! Devin is the most humble man ever and wants to do good! He obvious has a couple concerns but nothing that the Atonement can't fix! He is doing so well and just needs to come to church!!

Elder Graham is from a place by Portland, Oregon. He has been out for a little over a year and is really a great Elder! He has served in Yallahs, Spanish Town, and Savvanah La Mar. He actually went to BYU Idaho before coming out and has family that lives all around in Jerome! Small world!

Our other investigators are doing great! They want to be baptized as soon as possible! They just need to stop doing some things and start doing some better things in order to do so! 

I am Truly so grateful for this time that I have to serve the Lord! It doesn't matter where we are in the world because the Gospel is the same everywhere! I know that this Church is true and am so thankful for the blessings that come because of it!

April 18 Last recording with Elder Warren and Elder Braeden Hansen

Audio File

Braeden's Audio File

Rain and Crocodiles!

 My companion has been here for over 7 months, now so he is due for a transfer. He has also been filling out a bunch of paper work for the Bahamas so he will be leaving this next week. The transfer is next Wednesday. The work has been going good! This last week it has rained every day! It really plays a big role in the work because nobody wants to meet when it is raining! But it is enjoyable to be completely soaked and just ride through massive puddles! A lot of our roads are just dirt roads so it gets super slippery and muddy when it rains! We have a few families we are teaching and a couple men! So we will see how well they start progressing. This last week has really been hard to meet with any of our investigators because they don't want to meet when we are soaking wet so that is a bummer but this next week should be better! Hopefully not so much rain however the people are so happy when it rains because that is how they drink, bathe, wash clothes, cook, grow food in their farms. So it is a great blessing for the people when it rains just a little harder for us as missionaries! However we will be able to push through and our investigators will just have to show their faith by letting two white soaking guys into their homes! 

Last p-day we went to this place that gave boat rides to see wild crocodiles. SO we went and did that! IT was so sweet! Crocodiles everywhere! These Jamaicans would be slapping them and yelling at them to get them to come to the boat so we could see them closer! It was CRAZY!! Way cool to be able to see Gods crazy creations and power through crocodiles! We also got to hold baby crocodiles!

Elder Hansen

Brother Cooper got baptized!

This week was a great week! Brother Cooper got baptized! On Saturday morning we awoke at 5 and got ready for the baptism and then left by 6 to meet him at the church! We then taxied down to the ocean; a place called Alligator Pond and had the baptismal service there! It was such a wonderful experience! Very quiet with the ocean waves rolling! Brother Cooper was so excited and a little nervous as well! After he was baptized we had a small testimony meeting and it was so great to hear him bear his testimony on how he personally came to know that this was the true church!

We also went on a trade off with the zone leaders earlier this week! That was also a great experience! Got a break from the bike and got to ride in a truck for a couple days! The zone leaders live up in Santa Cruz not too far from Junction! It was weird to see small neighborhoods called Schemes because Junction doesn’t have anything like that. Just little houses scattered throughout the bush! But it was awesome to be with a zone leader for a while and learn more about teaching and finding! 

I was also able to give a talk in sacrament this past Sunday! I was asked to speak on our branch mission goals because the branch president is really trying to get this branch moving. So I tried my best to give them some motivation on how to accomplish the goals and how we can’t do it without them! We also had a family from Texas close to where I was serving prior so that was really weird to see white people that aren’t missionaries at church! All in all it has been a great week! I know that as we continue to work our hardest and rely upon the Lord to strengthen not only us as missionaries but the branch and our investigators, we will be able to work mighty miracles for this Junction Branch!

Elder Hansen