"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