Haitian-ing the Work: July 3, 2017 - "And the brother of Jared began to be old..."

Well ladies and gentlemen,

It has been a week for sure! Hopefully I can give you a concise update on what transpired. On Tuesday we were out of miles so we biked all over Ft. Lauderdale and it was hot.... All of our appointments fell through but we ended up teaching a guy that we knocked into named Ductan (Dictahn) and he was the first Haitian I have ever met that understood the importance of a lay ministry! It was a miracle! Then on Wednesday... We had District Training which is always fun for me :) Then after some standard missionary stuff we had something out of the ordinary happen. An investigator brought his son to mutual! Renald Pierre-Louis brought his son Jeremiah to young mens! They have only been taught the Restoration... and that was 3 weeks ago! So that was awesome! Then on Thursday we visited Jacques and then ate with Sister Chestnut and all of here crazy Grandkids! Then all of our appointments fell through again so we were knocking at 8:47 at night and we found the Etienne family! They are an older couple and Madanm Etienne's sister is living with them as well. They are the coolest family ever. We taught them on Saturday and they came to church on Sunday and we set them with a baptismal date for July 22nd (Good day right mom?) They call us angels and Madanm Etienne already chose me to baptize her. We took Jacques with us to teach them and he was talking me up I guess! Haha :)

Good times here in Ft. Laud! Sunday was a good day since we got the Etienne Family to church and that was the best birthday present I could have asked for! In other news, we got a new Branch President in the Sunrise Branch and to commemorate that (and subsequently my birthday) we had a huge Branch potluck after church and we all ate soooo much! All in all a pretty good week!

My last thought, "I would that ye would be diligent and temperate in all things." Alma 38:10

In all that we have to do as members of the church, our families and society, it is important that we have inspired priorities chosen through the lens of the gospel in order to know how and where to utilize our time. Once this is done it is of paramount importance that we are diligent but also temperate in what we do. As King Benjamin said " it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength." but this doesn't mean that we can jog or walk, we still have to run! And just like with running, the farther and faster you run, the easier it is to do so. It is the same with our own lives. It is very easy to say that we are tired and then sit down, fall down or even lay down on the job! On my mission I have met many people that have no job, sleep all day and yet say that they are tired. If we decide to do what has to be done we will be able to do it!

I hope you all enjoy your 4th of July and try not to blow up your hands with illegal fireworks!

-- Love

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work