May 23, 2017 -"...and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them."

Hello Fam,

This week was an interesting week! The big new is that I will be transferring and I will be headed to Ft. Laud Creole and I will have my 6th Haitian companion! Elder Royal is Haitian-Canadian and we are white washing the area. I'm excited, it will be an adventure! The Highlights of the week were that we were able to get a recent convert gone less active back to church and that Webster (Cynthia's husband) got his temple recommend and Cynthia will be getting hers tonight! 

Another highlight of the week was the we knocked into Lloyd, a friendly Jamaican man with some colorful language who told us in a nutshell, "I've never seen a white man before, your shirt is white, but you aren't. Some people are just a little lighter than others!" So that was some good entertainment to break up the monotony of knocking on empty doors.

That was about it for the week except my last thought: 

This week I was pondering the difference between the righteous and the wicked and I have come to a conclusion. Outside of those few cases where those individuals that have "the Spirit of the Lord cease striving with them, and allow Satan to have full power over their hearts" most people desire to do what is right. What I wanted to know is what makes that difference? What I have discovered is that almost all people have an innate awareness of good and evil, right and wrong and the majority of people want to do the right thing. We all want to lose weight, be kinder, have a cleaner house, spend more time with our families, etc. However the difference between knowing what is right and doing what is right is self-discipline. It takes discipline and will power to do what is right! All of us are tired, all of us are busy, all of us are stressed, but the disciplined disciple diligently does his duty. Being a disciple takes discipline!

As king Benjamin said, "And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them."

I hope that we can all be more disciplined in our discipleship so that we can overcome the natural man and do what matters most!

-- Love

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

These two photos pretty much sum up the transfer with Elder Foster...

Another Taco Bell run

May 15, 2017 - "...yea, they had been taught by their mothers..."

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Well, this week was pretty low key not a whole lot happened, it was pretty slow finding so that was frustrating...

But I did get to skype home! And that was really fun!

I don't have a lot of time this week, but you guys aren't really missing anything! I hope that you all have a great week!

My last thought is this is a poem that I found...

To My Mother

I do not build a monument

Of carved white marble for your sake,

That only those who pass may read

And only they memorial make.

My life must be the monument

I consecrate in your behalf;

My charity must carve your name,

My gentleness your epitaph.

Above this record I engrave

No drooping figure;

There must be straight-shouldered courage.

Starry eyes must mark the scroll of destiny.

And may some fragment of your strength,

By God's great mystery, fall on me;

That through this monument of mine

May shine your immortality.

(Unknown Author)

I think that every mother would agree that the best gift that we could give to them would be to live a righteous life. May we all strive to be the best sons and daughters as a memorial to our mothers!
​

-- Love

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

Merriam the missionary! She is Webster and Cynthia's little girl.

She loves to wear Elder Hansen's name tag!

May 8, 2017 - "...come with full purpose of heart..."

Hello Friends and Family,

I'm sorry that my letters have been really short as of late, I will try to make up for it today!

So this was a busy week, but I think that I should just start by saying that it is normal!

Funny story of the week, we were knocking late Monday night after P-day and we knock into this guy, we don't know his name, but we offered to say a prayer with him like we normally do and he said, "Nah, not right now I guys, I'm really busy, I'm about to take a shower with my girlfriend." Then Elder Foster and I are a a bit of a loss for words, not really sure what to say, so I say, "That's cool man.... can we leave this card with you?" Then we left, so we now refer to him as "the shower guy" and he landed himself a spot in the book of worst excuses ever for not accepting the missionaries. You sure do have some funny experiences as a missionary. :)

So, to start off the week we had a really good District Training from Elder Hatch about how important sharing our testimonies with those that we teach is in helping them develop and gain their own testimonies! I loved it! Then we visited Cynthia and Webster and started teaching them the New Member lessons. We started with The Family: A Proclamation to the World and they loved it. Then she gave us Katsu Chicken (Japanese Fried Chicken, I guess) and that was super good! Then that night after ward missionary correlation meeting we visited the Dunklebergers, because they have a funny name, unfortunately they weren't home....

Wednesday we had another District Training and it went well. It was very long though. I forgot to tell you that for this month we have a new theme in the "Praise the Laud Zone," this month will be "Mucho May" so what we did was we bought sombreros and and fake mustaches and wore them to District Training! (pictures below)

On Thursday we went and celebrated Cinco de Mayo early with a dinner at Azteca Mexican restaurant and it was sooo good!

Friday was Mission Leadership Council and I loved it. It was really great and we had a good discussion. Then when we got home we went out with Brother Pablo like we do every week and we had some good visits! We just rescued a guy named, Allen Bridges and he is a super solid guy (he was less active, now he's not). I like him a lot!

Then Saturday we took Webster out on visits with us and it went really well! He is super solid and is very gung ho about the gospel right now. Then that night we were finally able to have an appointment with a potential investigator! We taught Jenece and she is a 26 year old Mom and she is Haitian, sorry Hollywood Creole, hehe :) and she really wants to find lasting peace.

That was about it for my week! but here's my last thought...

This week in my studies I found this, "And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." (Words of Mormon 1:7)

This is something that I thought about and I carried with me and thought about during Sacrament meeting. What I learned is that there are only two choices in life, trusting in God or trusting in ourselves. Part of trusting in God is not knowing all things but living by faith and relying wholly upon his merits, since we cannot merit anything of ourselves. When we put our full trust in the Lord he can do things through us that we would never be able to do by ourselves. For example, Mormon in putting together the Book of Mormon, he followed the promptings of the Spirit, even when he didn't know the reason behind what he was doing. He simply trusted in the Lord and knew that it was "for a wise purpose" and therefore allowed the Lord to "worketh in me to do according to his will". This is the Goal of True discipleship.

--

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

District Training - Mucho May!

We love the sombreros and mustaches!

We stole Elder Hatch's and Steveson's member money and took a picture with it...

Our Zone Activity invitation - oh dear...

May 1, 2017 - "What have you against being baptized?"

We asked Cynthia, "what have you against being baptized?" She said, "nothing!"

This was a great week! We were able to baptize Cynthia and it was great! We were able to get her prepared and interviewed and everything went smoothly!

Also this week I went on exchange into an all bike area so that was exciting. I almost got sunburned but just ended up with a nice missionary tan!

The work is going well here in the FFLM and for this month we were able to get 77 baptisms of our goal of 100 so that was exciting, we have some good plans for next month so that should be exciting.

Also we had zone conference and found out that they have done away with Zone Trainings worldwide so that makes my job easier, haha!

My last thought comes from Paul H. Dunn, "I remember a great phrase I learned from my father some years ago. He said, 'It matters not if you try and fail and try and fail again. It matters much if you try and fail and fail to try again.'"

I pray that we will always get up and not fail to try again!

-- Love

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

Elder Foster, Webster, Cynthia and Elder Hansen at Cynthia's Baptism

We received this surprise picture text from the Wheeler's (in our old stake)

who were in Florida visiting their friends the Richardsons! 

They just happen to meet Elder Hansen from their hometown!

The Fort Laud Zone

April 24, 2017 - "...let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God..."

Hey Fam!

This week was very busy as usual but we were able to see some miracles. We have been able to continue to teach Cynthia and she is getting baptized this Sunday after church!!! AHHHHH!!! So exciting!! On Saturday we were able to go on a temple tour with them and they loved it! I was able to see the entire Linton Branch at the temple after a temple trip! and Christlie was there so that means she was able to go to the temple! Everyone was super excited to see me. :)

We lost contact with Frank unfortunately... but other than that it was a stellar week! We had a slow week of finding but on Sunday we knocked into Christine and were able to teach her right there, so that was super cool! 

That was about it for the week! Sorry it is so short but here is my last thought, Jacob 4:13 "The Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls."

One of the gifts of the spirit is being able to have things manifested unto us as true. The spirit speaks unto us according to our understanding "for the salvation of our souls".

Love you all!-- 

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

Elders Foster & Hansen, Webster, little Merriam, and Cynthia

Visiting the Fort Lauderdale Temple

April 17, 2017 - "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you."

Well, it has be a crazy week full of deja vu being back in Hollywood, but it is good! I already know the Ward and the area so there is very little adjustment needed, I'm even sleeping in the same bed so that is crazy! I am enjoying the Ft. Laud Zone, but I definitely miss the Palm Beach Zone... However, the Hollywood Ward is totally different and it has improved 10-fold! We have a new bishopric, Ward mission leader and president of every single auxiliary! We also have some cool people that we are working with that were able to make it to church. Our biggest miracle was a Referral from a member in the Miami Beach Spanish Ward, his name is Frank and he is awesome! He is well versed in the Bible and recognizes that the things that we are teaching do not contradict the Bible but actually help clear up and explain it better. He will be getting baptized at the end of the month. We are also working with a lady named Cynthia, she is Chinese and is married to a Peruvian member that is coming back from inactivity. She is super cool and will also be getting baptized at the end of the Month! In other news, my new companion is white so that must mean he is from Utah. Well, if you thought that you were absolutely correct, he is from Salt Lake City. He is a Ginger. He speaks English and if you want to know what he is like imagine a Ginger version of Vector from the First Despicable me movie. There you go, that's Elder Foster! 

It is interesting, I am the one that transferred in but I know more of the members and more about the area, so we are getting through that. It is also interesting to contrast how much I have changed in comparison to how much Hollywood has. It is basically the same city but I feel like a different person! So I guess that is good!

On Friday, I went on exchange with Elder Petry and we had a fun time together. We have both served in Hollywood so we had some good times together. In Priesthood opening exercises they had me introduce myself and for some odd reason everyone clapped for me... That is definitely a first for me. :) Everyone seemed excited to see me and thought that I had already finished with my mission and was visiting. But alas I am not, so they were excited that I was back here. The ward is functioning a lot better now than when I was here the first time! That is for sure!

Easter was good, we got invited over by the First counselor in the Bishopric and had turkey and ham and potatoes and it was good to finally have an American meal! I think that is about it for the week!

My Last thought is this, sorry it's from that Zone training again...

​

• We have come up with four steps (with the help of the prophets and apostles) to help us to better recognize and receive revelation from God

• First off it is important to know that any work that is worth doing requires divine assistance and missionary work is one of those

• The First Step in receiving Revelation is to Pray Always, Nephi instructs us, 
• “ But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.” (2 Nephi 32:9)

• The Second Step in receiving Revelation is given to us in Doctrine and Covenants 9
• “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong” (v. 7-9)

• The Third Step in receiving Revelation is to Diligently Go and Do, Nephi exemplified this saying,

• “And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless I went forth” (1 Nephi 4:6-7). Joseph Smith said, “If you follow the first prompting of the spirit you will be right nine times out of ten” and for that one time we are wrong often the substitute will be made very clear to us (Holland, The Wrong Road Mormon Message)

• The Fourth Step is to patiently wait upon the Lord
• Henry B. Eyring taught, “The word wait in scripture language means to hope for or anticipate. Surely the great prophet Isaiah meant that, and I think he meant more, when he made us a glorious promise. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. [Isaiah 40:31]”

• Now you maybe be thinking, “Elder Hansen, why isn’t it easier? God wants to baptize and we want to baptize. Why does he just lead us to their doors?
• I will let Elder Eyring answer for me, “The Lord doesn’t put us through this test just to give us a grade; he does it because the process will change us.

• Review the four steps
• “...Pray Always…”
• “...Study it out in your mind…”
• Diligently “...go and do…”
• “...Wait upon the Lord…”

I promise you that if you follow these steps that you will receive revelation at every point of your life.

Love you guys!

-- Goodbye (That means goodbye in English, since I am a english missionary now) hehe

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

Happy Easter!

What cute little bunnies!

His new Companion Elder Foster, or is it Elder Vector?

Oh yeah! "Victor was my nerd name."

April 11, 2017 - "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass"

Hello Everyone,  

It seems like I say this every week but it has been a very busy week! Lots of stuff happened. First of all, I will be transferring back to my Greenie area of Hollywood, but as an English missionary so that's sort of a bummer. My companion is Elder Foster from SLC, Utah.

In other news, this past week we had a Zone Activity where we played "Quidditch" basically Ultimate Frisbee with water balloons. Then the next day we had Zone Training and I think it went well. Afterwards, as a prize for the March Madness competition, all the Areas that got 4 points got to hit us with water balloons so that was pretty cool. 

Also this week we amassed all of the recent converts from the last 2 years in the Stake and made a report for Stake Missionary Correlation meeting we had Sunday. It took like 6 hours but hopefully it will help the stake leaders and bishops be informed on where to focus their efforts. In addition to that this week I went on 3 exchanges, I think. And I used the Sacerdocio (the Priesthood en espanol) twice this week! I did a baptismal interview in Spanish and then on Sunday I gave a blessing to a cute little Paraguayan lady also in Spanish so that is pretty exciting. Also we went to Natacha's house and she gave us some good food! It was great. Then after that we went and visited a member that moved from Haiti and when we were walking back we got stopped by one of Elder Jean-Louis' former investigators from his time in Palm Beach so hopefully we can work with him so he can get baptized. As for our Investigators, Fadens and Sterline came to church and they are pretty solid, they are super cool so hopefully the new elders coming in can baptize them on the 22nd of April.

I'm going to be transferring and I don't really know what to say so I will just finish with my last thought. I thought I would just send you all a portion of Zone Training.

• “How can I have a better experience at church?”

"Years ago I was sitting in a sacrament meeting with my father... [and] he seemed to be enjoying what I thought was a terrible talk. I watched my father, and to my amazement, his face was beaming as the speaker droned on... Our home was near enough to the ward that we walked home…I finally got up enough courage to ask him what he thought of the meeting. He said it was wonderful…. Like all good fathers, he must have read my mind because he started to laugh. He said: “Hal, let me tell you something. Since I was a very young man, I have taught myself to do something in a church meeting. When the speaker begins, I listen carefully and ask myself what it is he is trying to say. Then once I think I know what he is trying to accomplish, I give myself a sermon on that subject.” He let that sink in for a moment as we walked along. Then, with that special self-deprecating chuckle of his, he said, “Hal, since then I have never been to a bad meeting.”... He could listen to anybody... Dad would say: “Look, I can learn something from anybody. They have had experiences I haven’t had.” (Henry B. Eyring, 1988)

• Now why is it so important that we make our prayers, studies and church attendance more meaningful?
• “Our devotion to the Lord is equal to the depth of our discipleship” -Elder Hansen

Hopefully you can take something out of this. It makes more sense in a training situation.

I love you all and Hope that you have a great Easter this week

-- Love

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work

Saying good-bye to Elder Jean-Louis and 

to their investigators Fadens and Sterline.

 

The Zone throwing water balloons at the ZLs.

That's Elder Hansen cowering on the far left!

Playing Ultimate Quidditch... action shot!

Elder Jean-Louis getting drenched!