June 20, 2016 - Summer Storms and Lots of Lessons

Hello everyone, 

This week was very productive as far as missionary work is concerned. To start I will just inform you on all the families that we are working with at the present time and their progression so far...

-First of all we are working with Adline and her family. They did not get baptized this weekend because she has to get divorced and remarried so we are hoping for sometime in July.

-Then we are working with Pierre and Tanya, they have slowly progressed, but with the help of the Georges family they have been able to improve their marriage and work together in their progression. They have a baptismal date for July 22nd

-We are also working with Marjorie and her kids, Malik and Sierra who are the daughter and grandkids of Romain and Brigette who were baptized last month. They have a date for July ninth, they have lots of questions but are progressing steadily

-Finally we are working with Vivian and her kids, Josiah and Joel.

This week while we were teaching Malik, Sierra and Faith (their little sister), Josiah and Joel show up and want to participate. We continue teaching them the Restoration and their mom comes in and wants to listen as well. We finish teaching and she accepted everything and we are going to teach her again tonight! Also this week we had Zone Conference wherein we learned about hurricane safety procedures and a change in the dress code where we can now wear hats and sunglasses... not going to happen. Anyway we have had typical Florida summer weather here, hot and humid with huge thunder and rain storms everyday, but it is all good. This week we taught 13 lessons, which is so awesome, it is a wonderful opportunity to bear testimony so often! 

My last thought for today will be somewhat unorthodox, but here it is "And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." (Mosiah 3:17) It doesn't matter how hard we try there is only one way to heaven. All men fall short of the glory of God and "since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself" (Alma 22:14) but if we "[rely] wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save..." we shall attain Eternal Life!

"I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,

Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me...

To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine,

That he should extend his great love unto such as I...

Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?

No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat...

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me

Enough to die for me!

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

(I Stand All Amazed, Hymn #193)

I hope you all enjoy your first day of summer!

-- M'renmen nou tout (I love you all?)

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

Their new neighbor!

Matthew forgot his camera this week, so this is all we get for pics.

This guy was hanging out on their balcony.

He's about 18 inches long.

June 13, 2016 - Haitian Conference! And Miracles

Hello Everybody! 

This week was super awesome and I'll give y'all the highlights! On Tuesday, we had a Zone Conference where we learned about how we can use the "Gold Mine" (Part Members, Less Actives, Recent Converts, etc.) to find new investigators!

This week we saw several Miracles! First off, we have continued teaching our investigators Adline and her family and we invited them to the Haitian conference on Saturday. The time arrived where all the Haitians from the ward were supposed to be at the chapel to take the bus to the conference and the ONLY Haitians that showed up on time were Adline and her family! They had a wonderful time at the conference and should be getting baptized on the 18th of June! Also we applied Zone Training and received a referral from our recent converts Romain and Brigette and we set up an appointment to see them on Tuesday, but as we were knocking right after that we knocked into the referral! We are now teaching Marjorie and her two kids Sierra and Malik! 

Elder Celestin and I are doing well and are just trying to continue to "fine tune" our missionary work. I studied a lot about conversion this week because I was asked to give a talk on conversion in Sacrament meeting, I thought this quote from President Nelson was interesting, "Nothing is more crucial to your Eternal Life than your conversion" (Oct. 2015) This week we were able to teach and find lots of people and I am loving the work right now. Adline should be getting baptized this weekend and we are super pumped for that!

So more about the Haitian conference held in Fort Lauderdale where all the Haitians in South Florida were invited to come to a devotional and to hear talks and lessons all in Creole! There, I was able to be reunited with Jacques and all of my former companions! It was super awesome! I loved it!

My last thought from Elder Bednar, "Testimony is what you know to be true by the witness of the Holy Ghost. As you study the scriptures, as you pray, as you do the very things you will invite your investigators to do, then by the power of the Holy Ghost, you come to know, in your mind and in your heart, that these things are true. That is a testimony. But a testimony will never be enough....The two key elements are: knowledge of the Lord, and conversion unto the Lord; Testimony deepening into conversion to Him. First, knowing He is the Son of God, and then consistently living in such a way that the Son of God is reflected in who we are and what we do. Testimony is what we know to be true by the witness of the Spirit, conversion is consistently being true to what we know, and it takes both." (Character of Christ, 2011)

You guys are the best and I hope you continue to enjoy your summers!

-- Pote ou byen! (Be well?)

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

All of his companions - Celestin, Oldroyd, Becker, Matthew, Murat, Petry and Prince

All of the "Haitian-aries" in the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

Matthew with some cute boys at church.  I think these are Aldine's boys :)

Sweet Sister Rodriguez in the ward sent us this picture and told us how great he is!

The Haitian Conference

Reunited with Elder Murat, the lady Jacques baptized, and Jacques

They Baptized Jacques in December and he is a ward missionary now.

Some yummy looking Haitian food at the conference

June 6, 2016 - 9 Months Out and Summer is Starting in Florida

Hello Family!

This week was pretty crazy again and it went by super fast! First off, I want a give a shout out to Parker-poo, he is now 11 and still way too tall for his age! So, this last P-day we had a zone activity with the entire Hialeah Zone and it was super awesome! We had lots of activities and lots of fun! We (the Daddy District) dressed up all in camo and looked legit. We won a lot of the games so that was cool. Then afterwards we went proselyting and we taught Adline who is a former we knocked into a few weeks back and she is super awesome! She has a baptismal date for the 18th of June and she brought all 6 other members of her family to church and they stayed all 3 hours! WOOT WOOT! It was awesome! On Wednesday, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and then I went on exchange with Elder Spotts and we biked a lot. Then we went to our meal appointment but the member forgot about and then she got locked out of her house so I (the smallest) had to climb through the broken window in the back. All I've got to say is it is a good thing that I am 25 lbs lighter now than I was when I left the MTC! haha! Anyway, on Friday night we went and taught Pierre and Tanya with the Georges' who are a recent convert family. The lesson went so well that Elder Celestin and I didn't really have to say much of anything and then after we left at 9:10 the Georges' stayed until 12:30 am still talking! They had to fill us in Saturday night and it sounded pretty successful! When we got home that night we were locked out of our house so Elder Petersen climbed up our second story balcony to get in through the back door! Apparently, that note on the door that says don't ever lock this, is there for a reason! I guess I shouldn't have messed with it, oops! On Saturday we biked all day and it was 106 degrees according to Elder Deklerk and Petersen who were in their nicely air conditioned car... Anyway it was hot to say the least...

That is about it for the week, my last thought comes from "The Will Within" by Thomas S. Monson (1987) he says, "Our responsibility is to rise from mediocrity to competence, from failure to achievement. Our task is to become our best selves. One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final."

Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we are continually given the chance to "Try Again"! By our human nature and desires of the flesh all men will sin, but through the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ we are given a second chance, and a third chance, and a fourth until we eventually we receive His grace "after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23) Thus we must be "reconciled unto God" and have "an eye single to the glory of God" (D&C 4:2) and focus on our Eternal Potential and progression to Eternal Life and perfection! (3 Nephi 12:48) Perfection is achieve by daily decisions to turn to God and away from the desires of the flesh.

I love you all and wish you all a happy summer and hope that all the kids are enjoying the break! 

-- L'ap fe anpil cho ete sa! (And many hot this summer!?)

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

The District - Elders Petersen, Celestin, Deklerk & Hansen

The Daddy District lookin' legit :)

The Hialeah Heartbeat Zone - They were the Camo team

With Elder Petersen, the "smolder"

A breadfruit tree, that is crazy looking!

I wonder if they knocked at this house?

May 31, 2016 - Missionaries Don't Take Holidays

Hello All!

This was a pretty eventful week so that was good. This week we were biking to our appointment to teach Didier and Elder Celestin got a flat so we locked up our bikes and walked the rest of the way. After teaching Didier about the Plan of Salvation we came back to our bikes to find that Elder Celestin's bike seat was stolen! We had a good laugh about it then walked our bikes home. This week we also found Barbara who was super open and "thinking about getting baptized"... Done! We also found Kevin who we knocked into and felt the spirit during the prayer so much he almost started crying. We went back and taught him the Restoration and he loved it! We set him with a date for the 11th of June and he also came to church. Unfortunately he is Bahamian not Haitian so we passed him to the English Elders but still a pretty cool Miracle. On Thursday Elder VanCott came on exchange with us and we had a pretty good time together and taught some good lessons! Then on Saturday we went and checked up on Romain who got baptized last week and he cut down a bunch of Coconuts for us! They were super delicious :) Then Sunday night we taught Pierre and Tanya again. We taught them about the Law of Chastity, Temples and Eternal Marriage and they liked it a lot! At the end of the lesson Pierre let us take his imported Haitian coffee to dispose of for him! Awesome! Then yesterday while we were knocking we knocked on 8 doors and were able to teach two Restoration lessons which was awesome!  That was about it for the whole week.

Lastly, I'd like to share a segment form a talk from Elder Oaks, "A parable illustrates this understanding. A wealthy father knew that if he were to bestow his wealth upon a child who had not yet developed the needed wisdom and stature, the inheritance would probably be wasted. The father said to his child:

“All that I have I desire to give you—not only my wealth, but also my position and standing among men. That which I have I can easily give you, but that which I am you must obtain for yourself. You will qualify for your inheritance by learning what I have learned and by living as I have lived. I will give you the laws and principles by which I have acquired my wisdom and stature. Follow my example, mastering as I have mastered, and you will become as I am, and all that I have will be yours.”

This parable parallels the pattern of heaven. The gospel of Jesus Christ promises the incomparable inheritance of eternal life, the fulness of the Father, and reveals the laws and principles by which it can be obtained....

From such teachings we conclude that the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done.  It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become." (Oct. 2000)

This life is not for us to complete a checklist of tasks, it is to become like He is!

I love you all and hope that you all enjoy the upcoming summer break!

-- Pote'w Byen (Be well?)

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

Elder Christensen and Elder Hansen enjoying fresh Florida coconuts

Coconuts freshly cut down by their recent convert Romaine

The view from their apartment parking lot

Elder Celestin and his new companion :)

They confiscated some Haitian coffee liquor from one of their investigators

Glad to see they disposed of it properly!