The work is progressing, our investigators are progressing and so am I!

This week has been a little different! On Thursday we weren't allowed to go out because of elections and how wild it gets during elections! So we stayed in the apartment and studied and planned all day! Interesting day but it was alright! Then our baptism fell through because she is not doing well! She has been in the hospital in Kingston all week so that fell through, but as soon as she gets out we plan on baptizing her!

We have been able to really see miracles this week! Our solid investigator Brother Cooper has prostate cancer and really bad arthritis, so bad that he really can’t sleep, he just has to walk around at night? But anyway we were able to give him a blessing! The next day we met with him he was so excited to tell us what had happened! He said that it worked! The power of God is real! He didn't have any more pains and he is able to sleep at night now! How amazing it was and what a testimony to me of the power of the priesthood! I can’t explain how happy he was and how happy I was as I was listening to him testify of the truthfulness of the priesthood!

Last night was interesting as well! We got a text saying to get off the streets and get inside NOW! So my companion and I are an hour away and down the huge hill to our apartment! We were a little antsy so we start hustling to get in! The reason we had to go in was a recount in the ballots for the elections! I guess it was getting a little out of hand in Kingston and people were angry so we had to be locked up again all night! Hopefully these elections are done soon!!

The work is progressing! Our investigators are progressing and so am I! So everything is great here! I am thankful for the opportunity I have to serve the Lord!!

Elder Hansen

Great things are happening!

This week has been great! A lot of great things!! 

This week has been very full! We had Zone Conference on Thursday, trade-offs on Friday, splits on Sunday, and so many more things! It has been great though! We found a super solid guy named Brother Cooper! The first lesson he asked how many times he needs to go to church in order to be baptized! He reads from the Book of Mormon every night and takes notes on everything he reads and feels! He is pretty much the perfect investigator! So he will be getting baptized on March 19th!

We also have a baptism this Saturday in the ocean at Treasure Beach! Her name is Launa and she is the one who has the visions and seizures all the time! She is also so prepared to be baptized! She comes to church every Sunday worrying that she is going to have a seizure in the middle of the road on the way to church! It just shows how much faith she really has and how bad she wants to become a member of our church!

We also have a couple of families who will be baptized in March! They are moving a little slower but will be a great benefit to the branch! This Junction Branch needs faithful and willing to work members! The branch is not very supportive of missionary work because no one has cars. We don't have a branch presidency other than a blind branch president! The other elders in the area do all the branch work! So we are really trying to build up this branch so it can be self sustaining! I think there are two men in the branch including the President who hold the Priesthood!  We are really trying our hardest to find men who are willing to serve faithfully for the branch!

On P-days, we normally our working on our bikes because so much happens with them through the week! I have broken 3 seat posts so far?? So I have to sit super low on my bike and have my knees to my chest! hahaha Makes it a little difficult riding up the big hills! But it's all good because I will be able to get a new seat post today! We normally will just relax and do things around the apartment.

It has still been raining this week! When it rains here it really rains! It feels very good though because it is so hot! My companion and I are really trying our hardest to strengthen the branch and want to double the size of it! Big goals but I know that we can do it as long as we are focused, diligent in all that we do, and are exactly obedient! It is such a blessing to see the Lord help us as we serve with all our might mind and strength!

Elder Hansen

Getting settled in and working Hard!

 I’m starting to get settled in! This week has been a lot better because we are working so hard! We seriously don’t have time for dinner and sometimes only have time for 30 minute lunches. And yea when we are constantly working I’m not homesick so that is good! The area is pretty awesome! We are one of the most outer places of Jamaica meaning that there is no touristy stuff. No American restaurants. Most people are super nice! Everyone is honking because that is how they communicate while in cars. Each honk is some word. Hahaha I’m not sure but everything is so loud! A lot of people have these huge speakers on top of their roof of the car and have Reggae music blaring! A lot of people work at this big aluminum plant that is in our area. But most people farm veggies and fruit and then sell it on the side of the road. Yes there is quite a bit of poverty. Sometimes people will be walking around with practically nothing on. But there are also some people that have money! They drive these sweet diesel Rangers and Hilux around.

 The branch is pretty awesome we don’t do a lot of work with the members just because they are so busy and most of the people don’t have cars or bikes so we really can’t use them in our work. We will still visit them but we can’t bring them along to any lessons or anything of that nature. Our day consists of studies, then riding 6 miles down this big hill to these little villages and then practically mountain bike back into the bush to find other little villages. Meanwhile talking to everyone we come in contact with! We teach around 7 lessons each day and have to ride our bikes a long way each day over rough rough roads and some single track red dirt! We don’t really ever have time to just go tracting because we will just talk to people on the way to lessons, get their number and set up a return appointment! We are going NON stop! But it is so awesome because we have found some really solid people this week. 

My companion is way hard worker. So that is great! He has been out for 5 months and is from Arizona! He is a pretty solid guy! We are getting along and both want to work our hardest! We have committed a lot of people for more baptisms in March so I am looking forward to this week and getting to share more about the gospel with them! It is so great to be able to see people who are truly prepared from the Lord and how we manage to run in to them! I am having a great time now that I can kind of understand what people are saying and am a little more familiar with the area! I know that as we continue forth sharing the gospel we will be blessed and the people will be blessed as well! 

Love,

Elder Hansen

I love teaching the gospel!

I have made it to Jamaica! It is so much different than Texas! But that’s alright! The driving is absolutely ridiculous! Everyone drives so fast and so loud! There are little motorcycles everywhere just zipping in and out of traffic! My trainer got hit on Thursday by a car! But he is ok just some scrapes! I am currently stationed in Junction and it is a super mountainous part of Jamaica! It’s really awesome to look but not so fun to ride a bad bike that is about 5 sizes too small for me and doesn’t shift! 

Our area contains everything from tons of people hanging out at the million bars there are on the side of the road to the shacks that are made of mud and sheet metal. It is so awesome to see these people barefoot with practically nothing on running around! It is so awesome because they are so happy! That is something I have learned this week! Is that when I think I have it bad or people in America have it bad they really don’t! These people are thankful that they have a wonderful land to live in and somewhat of a roof over their head!

It has been hard to understand a lot of the people because they speak so low and mumble. Most of time I have no idea what they are saying so I just nod my head and agree with them and then start talking to them! 

Our branch has about 20 active members and our Branch President is blind! Church was pretty awesome yesterday because it was so small and the meeting was actually great! I love how church no matter where you are, is practically the exact same! That is what is so fantastic about the gospel! That wherever you go the gospel is the same and is for every person! 

Our apartment is a bright pink complex and has no air conditioning. Therefore we have the windows open and have a breeze as our AC. We have 4 Elders in our apartment so it’s different than Texas! 

Don’t have a ton of time but we have committed 8 people to baptisms in February and have some really cool people we teach! The work is a lot more accepting here and it is so awesome! I loving teaching the gospel and inviting people to come unto Christ!

Love,

Elder Hansen

He made it to Jamaica!

Last week in Brenham, Texas! It's been a great experience!

This week has been great! We got to do a bunch of awesome things! The weather has been colder but the food has been better!

At the start of the week we set this guy named Jose a baptismal date in February so that was awesome! After we had shared the First Vision with him he told that us that he was feeling great! It was so awesome to see Jose feel of the spirit and know that what we were telling him was true. At the end of the lesson we committed him for a day and it was great! Too bad I won’t be here to teach him more but I know that he will continue forth! 

We also got to go to a worldwide Missionary Broadcast down in Houston on Wednesday and that was such a good experience! It’s funny that a lot of the things that were said during the broadcast from leaders of the missionary program have been taught to us by our Mission President already! Our President is such a good guy and seriously knows what he is doing! My companion and I have realized that the whole mission tries to talk like the President! The way he talks is how the whole mission talks. It’s hilarious! But we did learn a lot from the broadcast and have tried to put it into our teaching efforts. It has really helped on being more direct and meaningful to the certain person we are talking to. 

On Friday, we got to take one of the recent converts from the branch to the temple for baptisms! Our President has been working with the temple in Houston so that every 4th Friday of the Month the temple will be reserved for recent converts to go and do baptisms! He has been talking to other temple presidents and is trying to make this happen for every temple! So, we got to go to the temple and watch her be baptized and confirmed for her mom. It was such a spiritual experience and she told us as we were leaving that she could truly feel the presence of her mom while she was getting confirmed! She didn’t want to leave the temple!

Another awesome thing I found out this week and could be the reason I came to Texas was this member in our branch is from Jamaica! He is a less active recent convert and the rest of his family is in Jamaica and aren’t members! Elder Ross, my companion thinks for sure this is why I came to Texas first! I thought it was cool that I was able to find him and talk with him about Jamaica for a bit! 

This week has been a great last week! It is so sad to leave this place because the people here are seriously the best! They are so nice and our investigators are solid! We have set two dates for February! And the branch is so awesome and supportive of what we are doing! Every night we have been fed dinner from a branch member! It’s hard to leave but I know that I will feel the same way about Jamaica once I get there! It has been a fast six weeks and a great six weeks here in Brenham, Texas! I know that as we continue forth we will be blessed!

Elder Hansen

Having Faith helps us prepare for upcoming trials!

This week was great! We had a baptism with one of our investigators! She was so prepared since she had been waiting so long! I was adopted into the investigator but it was still a great experience because we taught her a lot and helped her through her hard times. She got confirmed the following Sunday and was gone after sacrament because they were moving to Florida! So cutting it close, but she got it done! That’s what counts! She is so great and now she is going to go to the temple when she has time she says! It was a great experience to watch someone grow and change over the time we taught her to the time she got baptized! 

We also went on exchanges this week, which was so awesome! We exchanged with the zone leaders so I got to go up to College Station for a day. We got to go on to Texas A&M campus and go contacting there which was way cool! There weren’t that many people because school hasn’t quite started. Then later in the night we get a call from one of the people we had taught previously that day. He tells us that he is going to kill his friend. We are just shocked at why he is telling us this. So we talk to him for 30 or so minutes on the phone trying to diffuse the situation. We think this guy is just a little out of the system. But anyways he says he is still going to do it and hangs up... He calls back a little later saying that he had done it! We are kind of freaking out now. We couldn’t tell if he was messing with us or if he was being serious so we called the police. We haven’t heard anything else so hopefully he didn’t do it. 

Anyway, our investigators are doing well! A lot of our lessons fell through this week so we didn’t get to see all of our new investigators. We still have 3 progressing investigators and they are solid. It is really too bad that I am leaving next week because these people are so awesome! They are so interested in hearing about the gospel and want to be baptized! It is sad to leave them but I know they are in good hands here in Brenham and hopefully they will continue in the paths they are going in!

This week I also gave a talk! Which the branch presidency let me know 20 minutes before going to bed on Saturday night! So I had 20 minutes to prepare a 20 minute talk. Not good but it turned out alright! I learned a lot about having to have faith sometimes even when you’re not prepared! Sometimes we don’t have time to prepare for upcoming trials in our life and it takes a lot of Faith to make it through! 

I know that as I continue to put forth work and faith the Lord will bless me and the people I am around! That our investigators in Brenham will continue on in their faith and be baptized!  I have loved serving a mission! I can’t wait to see what this next week brings and what we are able to accomplish as we devote our effort and time to the Lord!

Love,

Elder Hansen