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