Every day is great in Jamaica!

Spanish Town is awesome! Everyone always says Spanish Town is the best and I never thought so because of how hot, flat, and dry it is here but I really love Spanish Town! The members here are so much fun to work with! We have been doing a lot of member work and we are seeing the blessings that come from that! We put 3 people on date for July and 2 of those are both from part member families! So the work is great and we love it!

We also had Zone Conference this last week and there was a lot learned! We continued to talk on attitude and mindset. The importance of having a positive attitude and the right mindset for missionary work especially for accomplishing our goals! We need to believe that we can accomplish the goals we set and then go to work so that the Lord will bless us. With also having the correct motives behind the things we do! It is true! I love the people of Jamaica and every day is a great day in Jamaica! We find happiness in everything even if it people calling us "Whiteey" or whatever else!  Have a great and positive week!

                       

Elder Hansen

Spanish Town is nice!

Well this week has been another great one! Spent most of the week in Mobay and then on Saturday we traveled down to Kingston for MLC and traded off with Elder Suwyn as my new companion! Elder Suwyn is way cool! We have always served around each other in the same zone! He is from Vernal Utah and has been out for just over a year! He is a solid missionary and we are really excited to be serving together! 

Spanish Town is a lot different than Mobay. I won’t be seeing white people for as long as I am here! That’s a good thing because white people that aren’t missionaries scare us pretty bad! It’s weird but it’s true, so Spanish Town will be nice to be fully engulfed in the culture!  The ward here is also really strong! There was a 100 people at sacrament and they are successful people! I’m really glad and excited to work with the great people of Spanish Town!

Other than that the work continues and we are working harder than ever to just LOVE EVERYONE! It’s hard I’ll be honest! Some other people that belong to other denominations are so hard hearted that they don’t want to hear a single thing we have to say... but ... that doesn’t matter we just have to show love and truly care for these people! We have seen a change in the reaction of people as we are working on this! I know that Jesus Christ LOVED everyone and he wanted the best for each and every one! May we all try to have that same love for the people we are around every day! 

Try to figure out what the sticker is saying on the back of the car!

Elder Hansen

Onto Spanish Town

Well transfer calls came this week and I will be leaving to Spanish town! I am both really sad and excited! Mobay is such a great place and I don’t want to leave but Spanish Town will be great also! Spanish is a lot more "Jamaican". You could say there is no hard rock cafe in Spanish Town! So I leave Saturday morning to there! 

This last week we had an excellent time working with the members! In 2 days we visited 4 members and of those 4 members we got 3 referrals! Really solid referrals! One that will be baptized in the next few weeks for sure! She came to church on Sunday and has been studying the Book of Mormon in depth! So, I’m really excited for the people we found through working with members! Member work is truly the most effective way to baptize a lot of people!  I invite you all to find people to share the gospel with and then call the missionaries and tell them that you want them to teach your friends! I promise the missionaries will be more than excited!  I’ll follow up on this commitment as well!  D & C 18:15-16. I know that your joy will be great!

The pictures: as you can see Hard rock cafe! We ate lunch there today and let me tell you how great the burger was! 

Then the truck with some Jamaica defense force in the back with their rifles! They are some crazy people! 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Hansen

June 5, 2017

The week has been awesome! We have got a lot of work done and being in the tri is great! We are all learning a lot and are trying our best to manage two areas while traveling to all the district meetings! 

We were able to have one of our investigators named Maurice baptized as well! He is way cool! He is 22 and lives in a pretty bad area by himself. So we have been teaching him for 3 weeks and he was so so excited to be baptized! He also wants to serve a mission and get to the temple as fast as he can in a year!! I know I have said this before but it is really great being able to help someone find the joy of the gospel! He is just excited about everything that he learns! Anytime we would teach about commandments, he would always agree to live them the second he heard them! That is just awesome! Very humble and willing to follow God!! I want to become more like that! 

As for the Rasta on the bike which has been handmade and motorized! We were just driving and wondering what is this rasta wearing! So he was way cool, talked to him for a bit while driving beside him! But another great week in Jamaica! Loving it!!

Elder Hansen

May 29, 2017 Another week in Jam Rock!

Well another crazy week in Jamrock flew by! But everything is so good! This week we had an elder that had to go home due to a bad eye infection so we are now in a tri-panionship. Getting to serve with Elder Craig now is great! He was my MTC comp! So it’s been a blast being back with him! 

This week we were contacting in this more successful part of the area meaning people have a LOT more money. We have been trying to find those intellectual, successful, and rich people to help build up the church in Jamaica! Our mission president has asked us to focus our efforts towards these people and we have already seen the blessings from it! But back to this successful area, I get out and the 1st MARRIED COUPLE i talked with were some of the coolest people I have ever talked to in Jamaica! They were married which was a miracle in and of itself and they were very smart!! They knew a lot about the church but had never met with the missionaries. The husband knew about seer stones, baptisms for the dead, temple sealing’s, the doctrine behind the Book of Mormon, and just about everything else! In Jamaica that is extremely rare! Most people don’t even know what the church is! So it was so good to talk with them and have them meet with the missionaries where they were from!

This morning we woke early so we could travel to Negril and look around! It was super pretty down there! We even found where Nitro Circus went. Those are the pictures! Overall, such a great week doing the Lords work here! I am happy, healthy, and truly everything is great!!

Elder Hansen

May 22, 2017

This week... man I don’t know where to start we were so busy all week long!! On Tuesday morning we woke at 2 so we could make it to Kingston on time for MLC. So that was an adventure and then had an excellent meeting on what the mission is trying to focus on!! MLC meetings are always so spiritual and I really learn so much on what we can be doing to be better and more skilled servants of our Heavenly Father! 

On Wednesday we drove out to this place called New Hope Trelawney... Basically in the middle of the mountains out in nowhere! But it was such a beautiful drive through the hills and the tiny villages throughout! Then we had a lesson after the 2 hour drive! She had been NEEDING a Book of Mormon for a long time! She was very prepared to receive the gospel and wants to be baptized so we are really excited for her even though we won’t be teaching her. We passed her on to some other missionaries that live a little closer! 

On Friday we had Zone Conference. Elder Harrah and I got to prepare the whole meeting which was a cool experience and we feel that it went really well for all the missionaries! On how we can break the barriers or traditions of the mission that hold us back through goal setting and planning!

Then an exchange with the assistants! So it was a great week of learning and application! Thankful for all the tender mercies we have seen this week! 

Oh also we went to a wedding and got to have some Manish water again! Manish water is basically goat head and goat belly soup! It is actually really good!!!! I have had it quite a few times throughout my mission and have to be grateful for when i get to have it again!!

Elder Hansen