Haitian-ing the Work: January 17, 2017 - A Miracle! I am Staying and so is my Companion!

Well you heard it folks, Elder Hansen is staying in Linton North with Elder Christensen! Should be a good next transfer so we are excited.

So we had a pretty eventful week. On Tuesday we had Zone Training - about 26 missionaries - which went super well. We have a super awesome Zone with some great missionaries here that want to work hard. After Zone Training we had the opportunity to give one of our member's cousin a blessing in the hospital. We actually ended up giving about 4 blessings this week to different people, which is always a blessing for US. Then on Saturday we had a miracle baptism in the Zone! It wasn't in our area, but it was still super awesome! It's this guy named Victor - he has been receiving the missionary lessons and coming to church for 2 years now, but he had to get First Presidency permission before he could be baptized. And randomly, he got permission on Monday, and then he was baptized on Saturday! One of the sisters in that area wanted to do a musical number and asked if my comp would help her (she plays the violin). So they played an arrangement of I Am A Child of God. So that was a cool experience.

Sunday was a super cool day - I'll talk about that in a second. Yesterday we were proselyting because this week is transfer week so P-day is on Tuesday. We call them "Pros-Mondays" and we usually do something out of the ordinary to make it more fun. So yesterday, the 4 of us in the house went to Ihop and got all you can eat pancakes. Yep, the "Perks" of serving in America, haha! That was pretty much the whole week.

BUT, Sunday was super cool because we saw some AWESOME miracles! Together with the other Elders in the branch, (the guys we live with, Elders Hatch and Burns) there were about 13 investigators at church, which is a lot of people! About half of them were people that members just randomly invited to church and that came, and the other half were already investigators. So that was a huge blessing. The second hour of church, we rounded up all the non-members and taught a class with them. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). I was tired and not teaching so I may or may not have fallen asleep during the lesson... Super great lesson I'm sure. Then we got return appointments to see all of them that live in our area. So there were about 6 people there that we will be seeing throughout the week. So right now we are teaching Jeff, who didn't actually get baptized last weekend because his parents wouldn't let him. But he's still coming to church and progressing. He's only 13, but his uncle is a member and brings him to church every week. Then we are teaching Nicohlson, who has been to church about 3 times now and loves it and wants to be baptized. But he is going back to Haiti on the 27th, and wants to be baptized before that day. So we'll see if that will happen. Then we have Natacha and her daughter. Natacha's husband is a member but he is less-active because he works every Sunday. But Natacha and her daughter have come to church the past 2 weeks and are reading the BOM! They both have a date set for the 28th of January, so we're working towards that. Then we have 2 other people, a mom and daughter that a member brought to church on Sunday as well. So we will be seeing them hopefully tonight.

Also, a huge miracle was that we went to visit an etern-igator Peter and he informed us that he got married and got two Sundays off so that he could get baptized on the 12th of February, and we were like... Great, sounds good to us! So that will be a miracle baptism! I'm sure something else happened during the week but I have used up all of the memory space that I have so no new memories are being made, I need to buy a usb or something, anyway...

My last thought is borrowed from Elder Kim B. Clark,

"Our time is a dangerous time—a time of great evil and temptation, a time of confusion and commotion.... Whatever level of spirituality or faith or obedience we now have, it will not be sufficient for the work that lies ahead. We need greater spiritual light and power. We need eyes to see more clearly the Savior working in our lives and ears to hear His voice more deeply in our hearts.

This marvelous blessing comes when we open our hearts and receive, truly receive, the Lord Jesus Christ, His doctrine, and His Church into our lives. We do not have to be perfect, but we need to be good and getting better. We need to strive to live the plain and simple truths of the gospel. If we take upon us the name of Christ, act with faith in Him to repent of our sins, keep His commandments, and always remember Him, we will receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost through the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.

Simple obedience brings the Spirit into our hearts. In our homes, we pray in faith, search the scriptures, and keep the Sabbath day holy. In our chapels, we partake of the sacrament and make sacred promises to our Heavenly Father in the name of Christ. In holy temples, we participate in sacred ordinances on behalf of our brothers and sisters on the other side of the veil. In our families and in our assignments from the Lord, we reach out to others, lifting their burdens and inviting them to come unto Christ.

Brothers and sisters, I know that if we will do these things, the Holy Ghost will come! We will grow spiritually and gain experience with the Holy Ghost, and He will be our companion. If we will look to Christ and open our eyes and our ears, the Holy Ghost will bless us to see the Lord Jesus Christ working in our lives, strengthening our faith in Him with assurance and evidence. We increasingly will see all of our brothers and sisters the way God sees them, with love and compassion. We will hear the Savior’s voice in the scriptures, in the whisperings of the Spirit, and in the words of the living prophets.16 We will see the power of God resting upon His prophet and all the leaders of His true and living Church, and we will know with a surety that this is God’s holy work. We will see and understand ourselves and the world around us the way the Savior does. We will come to have what the Apostle Paul called “the mind of Christ.”We will have eyes to see and ears to hear, and we will build the kingdom of God.

Life may get hard, confusing, painful, and discouraging. I bear you my witness that through the companionship of the Holy Ghost, the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ will cut through the confusion, the pain, and the darkness. Whether it comes in a remarkable burst or in a gentle flow, that glorious spiritual power will infuse healing love and comfort into the repentant, wounded soul; dispel darkness with the light of truth; and cast out discouragement with hope in Christ. We will see these blessings come, and we will know by the witness of the Spirit that it is the Lord Jesus Christ working in our lives. Our burdens truly will be 'swallowed up in the joy of [our Redeemer].' "

I testify that these things are true, and that we need the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives in order to "cut through the darkness" and that in order to have the Holy Ghost with us "we do not have to be perfect, but we do have to be good".

I hope you all have a great week and keep being good!

-- Elder Hansen

Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission