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!!