Haitian-ing the Work: November 21, 2016 - "I Am Thankful For________

Hello my dearest fans!

Thank you for all of your fan mail! I hope that you have a great Thanksgiving this week and go out and have a great time with your families!

So, this week I am thankful for motorized transportation because I drove all over the state this week!

This tuesday we had Zone Conference in Boynton Beach, which of course is a 3 hour drive for us in Ft. myers. We got to drive through Belle Glade to get there so that was exciting! Zone Conference was amazing and I got to see my old amigos!

Then on Wednesday we did lots of stuff but to end the night we re-found Figarro Baptiste. I don't know if you remember her, but we taught her back at the beginning of October and she now has a baptismal date for the 26th!

Thursday we prepared and went to a meeting with the Stake President to report on the missionary work in the stake, and then our battery died so we had to get that replaced...

Then on Friday we went to 2 District Trainings while President did interviews with all the missionaries and it went well. Then I went on exchange with Elder Lewis and we biked all over the placed and it was super lame...

Then Saturday we went to a Chinese buffet and I tried a lot of sushi including octopus, sooo yeah, that was chewy...

Sunday was great and we had the Lawson family and Figarro at church then after church we had another Just Serve meeting for the stake and at that point I was pretty meeting-ed out but I made it through it! So we had a super busy week.

My last thought is from President Henry B. Eyring "I receive letters and visits from faithful Latter-day Saints who feel burdened with a load of care. Some are close to feeling that, at least for them, all is lost. I hope and pray that what I say about being grateful on the Sabbath will be helpful to make doubts fly and for singing to start in your hearts.

One blessing for which we can be grateful is that we are there in that sacrament meeting at all, gathered with more than one or two of His disciples in His name. There are some at home unable to rise from their beds. There are some who would like to be where we are but are instead serving in hospitals and providing public safety or are defending us at the risk of their own lives in some desert or jungle. The fact that we are able to gather with even one other Saint and partake of the sacrament will help us begin to feel gratitude and love for God’s kindness.

Because of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the restored gospel, another blessing we can count is that we have the opportunity to take the sacrament each week—prepared, blessed, and passed by authorized servants of God. We can be grateful when the Holy Spirit confirms to us that the words of the sacrament prayers, offered by those authorized priesthood holders, are honored by our Heavenly Father.

Of all the blessings we can count, the greatest by far is the feeling of forgiveness that comes as we partake of the sacrament. We will feel greater love and appreciation for the Savior, whose infinite sacrifice made possible our being cleansed from sin. As we partake of the bread and water, we remember that He suffered for us. And when we feel gratitude for what He has done for us, we will feel His love for us and our love for Him.

The blessing of love we receive will make it easier for us to keep the commandment to “always remember Him.” You may even feel love and gratitude, as I do, for the Holy Ghost, who Heavenly Father has promised will always be with us as we remain faithful to the covenants we have made. We can count all those blessings every Sunday and feel grateful."

As we take time to regain an eternal perspective and see the things we should really be thankful for, and they will all bring us closer to our Father in Heaven!

I love you all!

--Love

Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission

Haitian-ing the Work