Haitian-ing the Work: August 15, 2016 - My Brand New Missionary! (The Fruit of My Loins)

Hello y'all!

So, this week we had transfers and I found out that my greenie (brand new missionary) is Elder Ajayi! He is from Las Vegas and he is super cool! We went out and worked hard this week! We found a couple of new investigators and Adline and her family came to church.

I forgot to mention that last week that we were eating food Brigette (a newly baptized member) made for us, she gave us rice (shocker) and a bowl of meat she called Zizi which I have never heard of before. Elder Augustin just told me it was "meat." Meanwhile we start eating and it is super chewy... like too chewy. :/ As it turns out, Zizi is kidney... so I ate kidney! To be honest it wasn't that bad, but still... *shudder* (He found out later that is wasn't actually kidney, but chicken intestines or gizzards :-P Ironically, he wouldn't eat beans before his mission because he said felt like little kidneys popping in his mouth! He actually likes beans now because he at least knows what he is eating!)

Anywho, this week was pretty good, but the details are a little fuzzy. We knocked into this guy from the Democratic Republic of the Congo so that was cool. We also helped a new family move into the ward and they are from Boise! Their sister is Sadie Belnap who I graduated with, so that is pretty exciting... haha! Other than that it was a relatively normal week, if those exist in the mission field. :)

Okay my last thought is somewhat unorthodox, but here we go...

So, I had a bit of a revelation while we were teaching a lesson about eternal marriage. The person we were teaching was asking about "what if we get bored with our eternal spouse?" The prevailing issue of the day today is that everything is replaceable. But as Jeffery R Holland has said, "Someone said once that true love must include the idea of permanence. True love endures." True love is not something that changes or is variable. It is a constant progressive love that not only endures but is grown and magnified and persists even beyond the veil! True love comes when you put the needs and happiness of others before our own, Christ taught, " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 5:13) This is a love that is meant to be forever. The common belief in the world is that marriage is temporary, which has contributed to the increasing opinion that it is unnecessary and "Old Fashioned", but I testify that marriage is ordained of God and is designed to be Eternal and everlasting! I close with Elder Uchtdorf's testimony, "Brethren, in our efforts to save our marriages and families, as in all things, let us follow the example of the One who saves us. The Savior won “our souls with love.” Jesus Christ is our Master. His work is our work. It is a saving work, and it begins in our homes. Love in the fabric of the plan of salvation is selfless and seeks the well-being of others. That is the love our Heavenly Father has for us. As we emulate the Savior’s love, He will surely bless and prosper our righteous efforts to save our marriages and strengthen our families."

I hope that you all have a great week!

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work