Carnales, Donuts and Fireworks

Hey, y'all!! 

I hope y'all had a fantastic new year. We made it ladies and gentlemen. 2020 is here. The year of perfect vision. I've got a vision for the end of the year, and I'm excited to carry it out.

Let me just start with thanking my mom. She knows, more than anyone, that making goals and New Year's resolutions for me was like pulling teeth without the numbing. Very very painful. I simply did not enjoy it and didn't have a long enough outlook. Well, let me tell you, I was better about it heading into 2019 last year, and this year I was all for it. I'm grateful that she stuck at it with me. She is the absolute BEST! I am really excited to grow and try to reach the goals that I have set, led prayer and the Spirit. I'm excited to see who the Lord would have me be. I love seeing the changes, looking back a full year ago, and the differences that I have seen in my life, in where my testimony has been tested and grown, and more than anything, how I have been able to get to know the Lord, as a friend and older brother. He has worked miracles inside of me and continues to do so.

This was a pretty great week. Not everything went exactly went to plan, there were no INCREDIBLE miracles, but more of a week full of little tender mercies. My dad always told me out on the ball field to never let my emotions get too high or too low. To stay even and consistent, and focused on the task at hand. That principle applies so well in the field, and I feel like even in life. This week, I got to see the hand of the Lord work through little things, and they brought me joy. I just felt consistently happy this week. That's not to say I don't feel like that every other week. I'm pretty sure I've never ever felt so consistently happy my entire life than being on the mission. However, I feel like this week, I just recognized it more than usual. I'd love to share some with yall! 

Yesterday at church, one of my good friends Alberto came to H2. I never got to teach him, but he was baptized in H1 when I was just out of training, and I sat with him pretty much every Sunday. He's the best, I call him mi carnal, because he's just the best, like a brother! I was so excited to see him! He's still strong in the gospel! Reminded me of Alma 17:2 when Alma's joy was so great when he met up with his friends the Sons of Mosiah, and his joy was even greater seeing that they were still strong in the things of the Lord. It was a huge blessing seeing him.

Also, a huge tender mercy was being able to see another one of my friends, Andy, open up his mission call. He wasn't sure when he was going to go serve his mission when I got to the area, but he knew it was going to be soon. In the short time I've known him, I saw him prepare to put in his call, put it in, and receive his call. That's was a really neat experience. He got called to go serve in the Chile Concepción South Mission. We got to see him open the call and Hermana made some amazing pozole! It was a great night, a night full of celebration! If you want to see the video, the Hermano had me recording on his phone using Facebook Live, so go check it out!! I was brought back to when I got my call. Undoubtedly one of the most spiritual experiences of my life, if not the most spiritual. It was a clear physical manifestation that the Lord knew me personally and what I needed and who I needed to be around. I am so grateful for that moment, I will treasure it forever, as I know Andy will treasure his moment opening his call.

This cracks me up.  The big supermarket around here, Fiesta, hires a few guys with trucks to walk around the neighborhoods, in apartment complexes, etc. to pick up shopping carts and bring them back.  People just take the carts, and this guys job is to find them and take them back.  

We made some musubi and Elder Cram was getting full. 

This beauty salon has it right!

We also got to meet a pretty neat lady this week. We meet a lot of cool people in this area, but wow was Lidia prepared. She actually stopped us at a complex and said that she was actually taught by missionaries over at her Godmother's house, nearly 10 years ago. She said she loved it, but could never get in contact with us again! She asked for a Book of Mormon and wanted us to come back this week. So that's the plan! We got to share our testimonies of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. We also got to bear witness that we have a modern-day prophet on the earth today named Russell M. Nelson. She really wanted to learn more about that, because she realized that it would be extremely necessary to follow the Lord's commands to a T. We agreed to meet this Wednesday, excited to see how it goes!

Also, kind of a funnier tender mercy, we were walking through one of the sketchier complexes, and out of nowhere we hear "Aye, Élderes, quieren comer?". Of course, that perked our eyes and ears up, of course, we wanted to eat. We turn to our right and there's our friend Felipe with a huge box full of homemade donuts with cream inside of them. They're called Enamorados. Holy cow, that might have been the best thing put in my mouth ever. They were like malasadas, but I don't know, they may have been better. It turns out that Felipe is a member from Mexico and was only here visiting his son for the holidays. Still cool to make that connection and get some free donuts. The church world truly is small.

New Years was fun. We had to be in a little earlier, and for good reason. We came out the next day with SO MUCH firework residue like everywhere. The number of M-5000 firecrackers we saw was ridiculous. I attached a picture of a huge used firework that we saw. It was like that everywhere. It also probably wasn't the safest, so it was a good call for us to be in by 8pm. 

This week I've been able to study some of my most favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon, starting with Alma 17. The Sons of Mosiah are so amazing. Such great missionaries and great examples.  As the sons of Mosiah pour out their hearts and souls in prayer and fasting, begging the Lord to impart just a little bit of his Spirit and make them instruments in His hands, the FIRST THING the Lord does is speak peace to them. V. 10 "And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted" After which God commands them to go unto the Lamanites, that they may suffer many afflictions, but in the end, they will bring about the salvation of many. I LOVE how the first thing that the Lord does is visit them in peace. He comforts their restless souls. After, he provides them with a very hard task, but because of the comfort that was given to them, it gave them the security and confidence to go and do. I know the same can happen to us in our lives. At times we are dealt a hand that seems too tough, that there's little chance at making it out. I know that when we come to God in fasting and prayer with an unsettling issue, he can calm our souls. He may not take away the problem, but he will always make you aware that he is mindful and there to carry you and bear you up, every step of the way. That right there is true joy.

Love yall much, hope you had a great week, and trip in Thailand! Hope you got back safely and without too much jet lag!!

Can't wait to talk!

Elder Brett Hansen

Tamales, Romania Rd 2, and Tender Mercies

Hello familia!! Hope y'all have had a week full of tender mercies from the Lord! This week, we truly saw his hand, and we hope that you have too. Love yall!

Wow. Wowowowowow. What a week, I don't even know where to start. Last Monday feels like a year ago considering the events that went down over the past 7 days. Guess I should just start from the beginning!

MONDAY- We had an awesome plan to go see the Familia Umaña who is a less-active part-member family. We have been trying to teach the whole family for so long, and we finally could. Only came with one issue. I hope y'all remember the... interesting... Romanian food we had the Sunday before. Yeah, well, it wasn't sitting very well with me. We walk into their apartment and it's like 80 degrees, and they offered us some tamales. GREAT TAMALE by the way, I just could only get down a few bites. I could feel the cold sweats coming and we got outta there. After trying to calm down my stomach for 20 minutes, it just said nope, and that authentic Romanian sausage was out of me. Literally 5 minutes after I felt like a new man.

TUESDAY- This was Christmas Eve, but for the Hispanics, it was Christmas. It was crazy, 8 year Olds were setting off big fireworks, everyone was outside with their family. It was so cool! Not many people wanted to talk to us, but we decided to make cookies and pass them out to some of the people we were teaching just to wish them a Feliz Navidad! We did, and then we headed over to the Familia Baten and Mario and spent Christmas Eve there. They are literally the best family ever!! Such great examples of Christlike service, they truly exemplify what it means to look outward before inward. They are all on fire. Anyways, we had some tamales and talked a lot about their conversion stories. It was fantastic!

WEDNESDAY- LA NAVIDAD!! Getting to call home was Awesome, but also kind of anticlimactic considering last year I was a total wreck. I love being able to call home every week, it truly has blessed me so much and has allowed me to focus on my Savior even more so as I do his work. This night was honestly probably one of my most favorite Christmases ever. If yall have ever met me around Christmas time, you know one of my most favorite things to do during the season was to doorbell ditch and leave goodies and things on the porch. Well, we didn't doorbell ditch, but we did get to write letters of gratitude to members and go bike around and drop them off on their porches. I really enjoyed that. There really is something about a Christmas as a missionary that makes it special. I have to say this was one of the first Christmases that I felt like I was spending the day doing my best to do what the Savior would do, doing little Christlike acts. I am so grateful to be in His service. I truly felt like I celebrated Him. It will, no doubt, be a Christmas I treasure forever.

THURSDAY- We had a great day being able to go over to a member's house and help them prepare as their son is getting ready to receive his call any day now. They also asked for blessings, and we were able to do so. We also went back to the Romanian household, hoping we may be able to get a gospel discussion in... Nope. They pulled us in and sat us at the table and had more Romanian food all ready. They are honestly the most kind and generous people ever. They just want to give give give. They truly are Christlike examples of charity. But man. The food is just not my favorite. This time we had some potato chicken cauliflower pie, and some dangerous looking meat wrapped in cabbage. I prayed through the whole meal. They were so kind and loving, but Elder Cram and I realized they weren't super interested in the gospel, but loved showing us their customs! It was fun to get to know another country so well. I never thought I would learn about Romania here in Houston, TX.

FRIDAY- This was honestly, probably one of the hardest days I've ever had here in the mission. As a missionary, you truly just grow fond of the members and the people you serve and teach. They become your family. You love them, want the best for them, are disappointed when they maybe don't choose the best decisions, but celebrate as they make steps towards the Savior. Well on this day, Olga and her family sent us a text saying "Thank you for the visits, but we don't really think it's for us". 😢 I was heartbroken. That family was so close to being an eternal family. It crushed me pretty hard. I was really sad, I really loved that family. That night I prayed so hard, probably one of the hardest prayers I've ever offered in my life. I needed the support of the Atonement of my Lord. I put my heart and soul into that family for months and all the sudden, they were gone. I gained such a reassuring peace that the Lord was aware of them and of me. That they would be OK, just their path was a little longer and windier. I also gained the comfort that I gave it all I could to help them get to know Christ and his restored gospel. That was a huge tender mercy for me. It filled me with joy to know that I can depend on my Savior, even though I am not perfect and struggle at times, that he is ALWAYS there as a support.

SATURDAY- if you want to talk about tender mercies from the Lord than WOW this is the day for it. First off, we Finally got to meet this supposedly golden referral sent from a member in another ward. Her name is Catalina and she is so neat!! Such a kind person with a good spirit. We are now teaching her, and that was a mercy because there were not many people that were very receptive to us for the meat of the week. That was a little miracle. Then, we had a great lesson with our friend Cristian who agreed to come to church. Very humble man, he's getting out of a lot of problems and is here alone from Honduras. But that's just the Honduran people. So humble, always. THEN as we were coming home, we saw a young man, Jose, who we met a while ago, but lost all contact with him. He said he had to change his number, and REALLY wants us to come over and teach his family. Another miracle. God truly provided us little mercies to show us that he was there and aware of us. It was awesome!!

SUNDAY- A great and sad day. We got to see Cristian come to church just like he said, and he said he liked it a lot. Also, Mario, showing up in a shirt and tie like a stud, got confirmed as well. We also found out from his that his older brother who he doesn't talk to much is actually the head honcho of all the Bloods out here in the Houston area. Huh, who knew? Pretty crazy. But we had 2 sad notices. 1. The Baten family is moving the end of this week, and that means that Mario will be going with them. That was a huge bummer. Hopefully I get to serve in their new ward. 2. The end of an era. One of my best friends out here, and favorite companions, Elder Christopherson finished his time here and went home. One of the best men I've ever met. Elder Cram and I are going to miss him a lot.

I've been reflecting a lot lately. A lot on 2019, my only full year set apart officially to be a missionary and servant of Jesus Christ. I am at peace. I have been changed by my Savior, and continue to be changed every day. I can say that I really know him, not just know about him. I've grown to be a lot more of the man that I want to be. When people say those 2 years being a missionary are the best, they're correct. Not because being a missionary is blissful, fun, and sunshine and rainbows 24/7. No, to be 100% transparent, there's a lot of missionary work that just is tough, a grind, and at times really stinks, just like my Friday 😂. But the reason why it is the best 2 years is because you get to know your Savior. Joy comes from being fully dependent on Him and his will as you give it your all. That's all I get to do every single day. I get to let Him change me and mold me little by little. I am the firmest believer in Alma 37:6 "And by small and simple means are great things brought to pass". I would say that for me, this change of heart and mind I have experienced in these past 365 days, and continue to experience daily is a great thing that has come to pass as I wake up every morning at 6:29, as I truly try to study and apply the scriptures, as I do my best to serve and share

Wedding Crashers, Dracula and BAPTISMS

Hola familia!! How are yall doing?? We had quite the week here!! Can't wait to share all about it!

New transfer means new miracles. The focus on this week was diligence. It seemed for a few days it was just day after day of appointments that fell through and doors slammed in our faces. It was not the easiest week for talking to people, to say the least, which was kind of ironic considering we were celebrating the birth of Christ here in a week. REGARDLESS, Elder Cram and I had the diligence and faith that all was planned and that there was an overarching reason. If there is one thing I have discovered over the past 18 months, it's that the Lord will NEVER send trials our way, but he will permit them to happen and try us according to our faith, however he will ALWAYS provide a way out. It's our choice to take it. 1 Nefi 3:7. When we put our trust in him and let him know that we have done all we could and put the rest in His hands, that is when he jumps right in and sends tender mercies and miracles our way.

One tender mercy was seeing a wedding. We were so blessed to be able to go to the reception of a sealing of an amazing couple in the ward. It was so fun and in fact, Elder Cram and I got put in the program last minute. We had a great meal, got to see some old friends from H1, and see families begin an eternal journey. I have never seen so many proposals and marriages in such a short amount of time. I have a testimony of eternal families. I am so grateful for the sealing power that was restored, that allows us to be bound to our spouses and families forever in the holy temple of the Lord.

Another fun tender mercy! I got to go on exchanges with Élder Jewkes! It was fun being back with him for a day. He is doing well and it was just like riding a bike being with him. You spend 4 1/2 months with a guy, you get to know him pretty well. It was fun for me.

We also had a pretty crazy experience last night. We found a really neat Romanian family that spoke Spanish. Interesting situation, but they let us in and we shared with them about the glorious message of the restored gospel.  They were pretty interested and receptive. After, they wanted to feed us, so we said why not. Let me tell you. This was the first time my entire mission that I was scared of what I was eating and I still am kind of scared for my stomach. It was some sort of cabbage thing sitting in a pink juice out in the open for days with some meat from a pig they killed about 2 weeks ago. It was like a sausage. They I think ground up the meat and then hung it up over their door and left it there for weeks, never refrigerated. Still not sure what part of the pig it was and I didn't want to ask. The cabbage thing I could barely get half of it down, and Elder Cram and I did our best to finish the meat. We both left a little green... They were so kind and so hospitable. They loved talking and sharing about their country and Transylvania and Dracula. I love being able to work with people like this, who are so willing to give and give even when they may not have a whole lot. We are going back to share more about the Gospel with them this coming week.

Also, in church we saw a neat miracle. President Guthrie set a goal to have each companionship bring 5 people not of our faith to the service. We were pumped to have Mario there as always, and our young friend Gerald and his family was there which was so cool. Their first time at church. I was sitting there seeing how many people were at sacrament during the sacramental Hymn, and we had the family of 3, and Mario. I thought, wow, 4, we were close to our goal, that was pretty great! I was super happy! After the sacrament ended, we were shocked to turn around and see a part member family that we were teaching walk in and LOVE the reunion we had. It was a Miracle! We were trying so hard to help them come to church, but it was the first time they have been to church in YEARS!! The Lord provided us the means. Like I said, when you put your whole heart into it, and even when it appears you come up short, that provides the Lord an opportunity to work a miracle. It was divine!! The Lord is so present in this His work in helping bring his children to His fold. 

 I finally found my reason 100% on why the Lord allowed me to serve here in Houston 2. I just feel fully blessed. Mario's baptism was something so special.. I could see him just grow so much. He told me he never thought he would reach this moment. Such a special experience that I personally will never ever forget. He got to share his testimony as well at the end, and my oh my, was that powerful. He testified of the Holy Ghost and how having us over helped him grow closer to his Savior. He shared his whole story, on how he never believed in God, but now he wants nothing more than to serve Him. I was meant to come here to meet him. That I am positive of. For a while I was struggling to see if there really was any difference made in this ward, and if I truly was doing all I could to bless it. I was struggling at times with understanding truly if the Lord had his hand there, supporting us as we worked in this specific part of his vineyard. We were so close with so many people we have taught. In these past months, I've seen over 12 people put on date here and prepare for baptism, but something always impeded them at the last minute. It would hurt. It hurt for a long time. 

The Lord was kind enough to send me Mario. He has such pure intentions and has just a simple faith. He answered my pleas over these past months. My heart is so full of gratitude. He taught me so much. He taught me what it means to have a manifestation of the Spirit and trust it. He taught me truly that the Lord will answer our prayers if we truly humble ourselves and choose to do things His way. It happened with Mario. If you were to tell me I was going to see an atheist gain a testimony of the gospel, I would have said you were crazy. But my goodness did God work a miracle. I will never be able to deny the converting power of the Holy Ghost. It's role in teaching is beyond anything we could ever say.  I'm excited to see him keep progressing in the gospel and have him be a friend I will have for the rest of my life. 

I know this gospel to be true. I can truly testify of of the infinite and eternal knowledge of our Father in Heaven. I know the Lord rarely gives us what we want in the moment, but always gives us what we need. And if we continue in faith that He truly knows best, regardless, we will be blessed more than we will ever know, and see that, at the end of the day, he was the one who carried us the whole way. I know that, because I feel that recently he has been carrying me by his atoning grace. How blessed are we!!

Hope y'all have a very feliz navidad and that you can remember the glorious birth of the Savior even greater at this time. Key word is always remember!

Love yall!

Elder Brett Hansen

Prayers Answered, Broken Bikes and Proposals

HELLOOOOO family, 

How are yall doing?? Hope you had a fantastic week!  Heard it rained a lot back home in CA, so that's too bad. Here it has been so nice, best weather I've ever had here in TX (knock on wood) 70 and sunny with little humidity all week. MAJOR BLESSINGS!!

Wow has this week been a week SO full of miracles, you have no idea. What an incredible week. We saw some things that we have never seen before, me especially. We worked REALLY really hard, and we're blessed to see the blessings come. Also many things that just made me laugh, things that would for sure just happen to me for some reason, made me just laugh.

Well let's start with the obvious, yes, "emergency bike #2" broke last night. That kind of stunk, but at the same time I found it comical. My history of bikes is hilarious I think. Most would disagree, but it's not like I'm careless or going off jumps on the bike, things just happen it seems like haha. A lot of what happened is just inexplicable. 1st bike, the pedal fell off, and the inside got stripped. 2nd bike, one of the old Assistants bike, the front brake and axel exploded, don't ask, it just did, don't know how. 3rd bike, which was my bike, now "fixed" , the pedal and lever fell off again and the inside stripped again, so that bike went to the graveyard. Bike #4, Elder Wilkinson's bike he left because he went home, the gear shifter and the gears got completely destroyed, so we sent that one back to the mission office. Following that, we got "Emergency Bike #1", (Bike#5) which in the first 15 minutes of riding it, the frame broke from me sitting on it, and so the office missionary said it was junk now. The following week, they send me "Emergency Bike #2" and last night my back axel exploded, once again, don't know how, but it did. So now we're going for bike #7!!! So today, we are going to the Mission Office today to see what we can do to fix the axel. But HEY!! TENDER MERCY!! One of the only In N Outs that was recently constructed here is on the way to the office, sooooo we are getting some In N Out!!! 

Also! Whoa! One of the amazing families that we teach, Oslin and Michelle! Got ENGAGED!! The past lesson, Elder Cram and I had the blessing to teach about eternal families. It is one of my most favorite principles to teach. I know that we not only have the ability to be a family here on earth, but for the eternities to come. We shared with this amazing family 4 Nefi 1:10-13 and shared about how this people were so inexplicably happy. And how the reason they were so happy came from being centered in God and following his commandments, and being centered in their family. Something must have really struck Oslin, because about a week later he decided to propose to Michelle and marry. He invited us to be there as he proposed and we were! It was SO NEAT! I love being able to see people begin living the gospel that our Savior left for us and take steps on their own. Honestly, not much more gives me as much joy as that.

Rolling in suits!  We went to try to bring a family to church with us on the bus.  They said yes on Saturday night.  Then Sunday morning came and all the sudden they couldn’t. It’s OK, at leas we looked good on the bikes.  

Also, a really big blessing for me. This week we got to take our monthly trip back up to H1 for our meeting with the Stake President to discuss missionary work, and I saw Edith there!! She was a lady that Elder Johnson and I baptized reaaaaaally early in our missions. I asked her what she was doing there, and she said she was going to get interviewed by Bishop and was preparing to receive her recommend to go to the temple!! I am so excited for her!! It was an incredible experience to get to discuss with her the miracles that the gospel has brought to her family's life.

Comp unity.  Some bird pooped on Elder Cram for the second time.  He asked me to get it out. It’s a good thing he’s one of my favorite comps!  #charityneverfaileth

We had a great week all in all, but this final experience was the crowning jewel. Not only for the week, or the month, but probably up there for one of the greatest experiences of my entire mission. Many weeks back I talked about Mario, who was the Relief Society president's daughter's boyfriend (hope you followed that). He has been coming to church every week now for the past 3 or so months. He would come with Kendra (R. S. Pres's daughter/ his girlfriend) and at first it was purely for her. Then we got to know him and got to be friends and we started talking to him a bit about God and his beliefs regarding that. He shared with us his story that he needed to cross the border at 7 years old, alone, without parents or family, 100% alone. He said it was a living nightmare, and ever since then, he asked himself if God was real, because where was He when he needed Him the most. He decided that he was not. 

We taught him about our Heavenly Father, about our Savior and how he felt everything Mario ever felt, even in his times of seemingly infinite struggle. We taught him that because God loves us, he allows us to go through things, so that may recognize his hand in an even grander way. We taught about how God never leaves his children alone.  We would teach him every week, and he said conceptually it made sense, but he still couldn't accept there was a God. He had questions, but they weren't being answered. 

During the lessons, we would invite him to read and pray. After 1.5 months of not keeping invitations, and at the same time not receiving his answers, he decided to read the Book of Mormon. If he couldn't get answers his way, he might as way try to get them some other way. He read the entire book in 2 weeks, then told us he didn't understand a thing. We then invited him to pray as well as read, and this was what was the hardest for him. Praying to someone that he didn't think was there. One night late, a few days after we left him the invitation, he called his girlfriend, Kendra, and asked her to help him pray. And so he began to pray.

 After about another month of reading the complete Book of Mormon for the 2nd time and attempting to pray and ask God if he was there, he told us he was getting nothing, every time we met. He was sure God wasn't real. We kept telling him, "If you ask in faith, with real intent, we promise God will answer your prayer".

On one day during the week, Elder Cram and I offered up a prayer of gratitude for the Savior which came as a daily prompt from Light the World. As we finished we both felt the prompting to prepare to extend baptism to Mario. We had no clue why. He still didn't even believe God existed. Regardless, we followed the Spirit and trusted in the Lord on this one! 

Just this last Thursday, we sit down in another lesson, and begin by answering some of his profound, conceptual questions. We answered and discussed, and he at one point said "I believe you, but I just can't believe there is a God yet”.  We asked him if he would be willing to leave everything behind, all sins and mistakes, all to know if there was a God. Was he at the point of Lamoni's father? He said yes.

At this point, the room went silent, Kendra left to get a drink of water, and it left him and us. The Spirit was so strong, it was almost palpable. After a couple of seconds, he began to cry. He sat there, and cried and cried for a couple minutes. He's a real tough guy too, so it was out of the ordinary. When we asked him what he was feeling, he said he didn't know. He couldn't understand it. We explained to him that the inexplicable feeling he was having was the Holy Ghost testifying to him that God is there, that He is mindful of Mario, and that He loves him. Mario agreed. He told us that from that point, he knew by the power of God, that He really did exist, and that Jesus Christ knew Mario's pain. In that moment we extended him the opportunity to leave his past behind, and follow the Savior into the waters of baptism. He accepted. He will be baptized in 2 weeks. 

The reason why this is one of my most favorite experiences is because Elder Cram and I could do pretty much nothing. We couldnt force him into believing in God. We couldn't give him cold hard proof or DNA evidence. We couldn't. Only something as divine as a witness of the Holy Ghost could do that could teach Mario that we have a loving God. We were 100% fully dependent on the Lord. All we could do was be his friend, help him with a few questions, and continue with the faith that God would answer him one day. And he did.

 I know, and can testify as a witness of this, that our Heavenly Father listens to every prayer. I know He answers if we look for the answer with real intent, and ask for wisdom. I know He loves each and every one of his children, regardless of all circumstances, he loves them all the same. I know that miracles are brought about by faith, because what happened that night was exactly that, a miracle. He loves us all and His timing, not ours, is perfect. I am so grateful for Him and love Him with all I've got.

I hope y'all enjoy your week. I love you all so much! The restored gospel is so true and it changes lives!!

Love, 

Elder Brett Hansen

Chicken Feet, Birthdays and BoMs

Hey Familia,

How are yall doing?? Hope you had a fantastic week!! We had quite the week here in good ole H2 North with Élder Cram. We really did enjoy ourselves here and saw some pretty amazing miracles. Let us begin!!

We are teaching the most awesome family! I love them, it's the Bonilla-Montoya. I KNOW I talked about them last week. This week we taught Carlos and Olga. They aren't married. As we were teaching, we invited them to marry and they accepted. It was pretty neat! Apparently for YEARS Carlos has said no to marriage, but when we extended, he accepted. They are preparing to do so now, so that Olga and her 2 kids, Johnathan and Stefanie, can be baptized! After, we had a great meal of tejadas with chicken feet. It happened to be my birthday dinner. I thought that one Chinese restaurant was the last time I would eat chicken feet, but think again! It was good! Families truly can be forever! This family shared that they have been having some family issues, but believe that the gospel will be what unites them. I know that to be true, because I have seen it in my own family.

They also came to a church activity this last Wednesday and even came to church! They LOVED it! Olga is already in with all of the Hermanas in the world and they love her. It is so awesome! Johnathan and a couple other youth really got along and now Johnathan is going to come to Mutual on Wed.. We are so excited!

My man, Cesar.  

We had a ton of meetings this week. It was really fun, because we got to see a lot of missionaries, but man was it tiring. I felt overloaded with information. But cool news, apparently a new white Handbook should be released here in about 2 weeks, so we're excited for that! Overall, a lot of time sitting down, writing notes. Haha! But we got to go back to H1 and see Patricia, Estefany, and Edith in the Bering building! They are doing so well! All are preparing to go to the temple! 

Another neat experience that happened yesterday was the Mario came to church again, who was the boyfriend of a super active member named Kendra. He and I are brothers. He is awesome, just struggling with his belief in God, he's not sure if he's there. We'll, 2 weeks ago we gave him a Book of Mormon and today we asked if he's read any of it. He said he actually only had a few pages left. 😧 Yep, he's read the whole thing in 2 weeks. He says it has answered almost all of his questions about life in its own. We have a lesson with him tonight to talk more! Send prayers our way! 

Also wanted to thank everyone for wishing me a happy bday!! It was so awesome being able to hear from yall, I'm super grateful to have the best friends and family! Thank you for taking the time to write a note or send a video! It meant a lot!! 

These guys are two of my best friends and best companions.  I love them both.  

We also met some pretty neat people this week! We met a guy last night that shared with us quite a bit about how he ended up in Juvy, how he "has the 6th sense" (hope you got that reference), and how he's a crypt (yeah, like the gang) and that was a pretty an interesting experience…

How do you like this rule for the complex?  “No sagging pants.”  😂

Also, we met the coolest 21 yr old girl named Bianca who already has 4 kids and has been married for 5 years. Yeah, the math there is crazy. Anyways, she was real interested in getting close to her Savior and we are really excited to get to teach her and her family.

Over the past couple days I've been reading about Samuel the Lamanite and his prophecy of the coming of Christ, which is perfect timing, considering Christmas is right around the corner. Anyways, as he was preaching on the wall about the coming of Christ and prophecy of a day, a night, and a day as if it was one day. There were 3 classes of people listening. The ones who immediately recognized him as a messenger of the Lord, repented, and grew in faith of the coming of the Christ. Next, those who were firing arrows at him and saw they couldn't hit them. 

Helaman 16:3 Now when they saw that they could not hit him, there were many more who did believe on his words, insomuch that they went away unto Nephi to be baptized.

Then the ones that wanted to capture and kill Samuel. I reflected on that personally. Am I one who believes the words of the prophet and his disciples on faith? Am I receptive enough to the Holy Spirit that I know truth when I hear it? I sure hope so! I know not always, and I am continually working on that. Or am I one who needs to see a miracle first? Do I need something to shake my ground to cause me to repent and change? I am so grateful for how the scriptures teach us. I know that it is the Lord teaching me on how I may better myself as a disciple of Him.

I love y'all much! I love the work! I love being a missionary. More than anything though, I love losing myself in the service of the Lord and of others!

Love y'all!

Elder Hansen

Families, Dates and MoooooCity

Hey y'all, 

How are you doing? Hope y'all have had such a great week!  Elder Loar and I have had a week for the ages and I am so pumped to tell y'all all about it!!

At the beginning of the week we had an amazing lesson with the family Calderon. I ALWAYS send pics of them. They have been taught for quite a long time, years in fact, and never had taken the step of baptism because they were worried that they had already been baptized in another church and that that was a big no no. Walter, the father, mentioned to us that he had had a dream. A dream in which it was the end of the world, every horrible thing that could happen, was happening, and Walter was not prepared. In turn, when we showed up, and he shared this experience, he said that he and his family wants to prepare themselves for baptism because they know it's true and want to be prepared to meet their Creator. We were so excited. It's a family so special! Please keep the Calderon family in your prayers!!

Next up, a MIRACLE FIND! The biggest one came from finding the Fernandez family. The father, Jose, is the long lost inactive son of an extremely active family. He left the church and his family when he was 15. No one knew he existed until Elder Hoeger and I on an exchange, stopped him at a ges station. We walk into their house and sit down and he invited his 5 children to sit down with us and his wife. He shared with us that he still knows the church is true, and showed some true humility. He said he knows he needs to come back to church and shared he's been carrying the load of leaving the church for 16 years and he's ready to let it go. All we talked about was Christ and how he is the center of everything and showed a great video on Jesus's sacrifice for us. We then talked about whatever we do here is because we love him and want to show him we want to follow him. I felt the Spirit so strong, because as I was testifying, I could feel it grow my testimony. Everything that I do here is for Him, because of Him, and because I love Him.  I felt my love for the Savior and his infinite sacrifice grow even more. They are being prepared to return to church and grow in the gospel even more.

The crowning jewel of it all was yesterday. My goodness, probably the greatest day of my mission. Not just because I got to go back to MoCity, but because I got to see an family make steps towards being an eternal family. Yesterday I got to go back and see Franchesca get baptized, who was the daughter of Gabriela (who we helped enter the waters of baptism back in February). This family has always had such a special spot in my heart, and I am so grateful to be able to see them take steps even closer to our kind Heavenly Father. Franchesca is one of the most I intelligent, loving kids ever, and it was so exciting to be able to see her so excited to be able to follow her mom and be baptized yesterday. What a blessing.

Here is an awesome man we get to work with.  Hermano Bonet.  

I have been reading in the book if Alma recently, in the Book of Mormon, and the story of Ammon in Chapter 17 stood out so much. Here the Lamanite enemies scatter the flocks of the sheep, and then the servants of the King weep because they fear the King will kill them because of such. Well as Ammon sees so, he tells them "Be of good cheer"... Wow... telling a group of weeping grown men who are positive they are going to be killed to be of good cheer doesn't sound like the most natural thing to say, doesn't it? Ammon does so anyway and then invites them to come with him and gather up the flock. 1. Be of Good Cheer. 2. Go to work! Those two commandments are pretty powerful. The final.command that Ammon gives is 3. "Encircle the flock". I feel as if the command is often forgotten. We must encircle the flock. Applying it to our lives. We are always trying to bring in the lost ones of the flock, and at times, we are the lost ones. However, after we are brought in, the importance of "encircling the flock" is so pertinent to keeping us in the flock, to keep us safe. We must encircle ourselves with the things of the Lord, through scripture study, prayer, coming to church, spending time as a family. Wholesome activities that keep us safe from the outer dangers of the enemy. I know as we do so, we will he protected, just as Ammon explained. 

Great group of missionaries I get to work with. 

It has been a pretty amazing week. I love all of y'all much! Thank you for being the greatest!! 

Elder Brett Hansen

Floods, Birthdays and Transfers

Helloooo greatest family ever!! 

How are y'all doing?? Hope y'all have had an amazing week, and I hope it wasn't quite as eventful as ours out here in Houston haha!

First off, can you read what is written in sharpie on the mailboxes?  haha  “Ghetto" My home.  😂

I'm sure the entire United States knew, but we got hit by Tropical Storm Imelda out here in Houston, and got hit pretty bad. There have been some fatalities, and so many people have lost their homes. It has been so sad to see. We were not expecting this. It began on Thursday. As we went with Elders Handy and Hoeger to do some service, the rain started coming down. In the morning at 10AM it looked as if it were 7pm at night. It was so odd, very dark and ominous clouds above us. We left and the rain never stopped. We received a text from President Guthrie telling us to leave wherever we were and to stay inside the rest of the day, the storm was coming, and it was mad. So we left, and as we headed up our road, the water was too high. This is only in 2 hours of rain, at 12 o'clock. A foot and a half of water just like that. So, we turned around and Elder Loar and I had to spend the rest of the day and night inside the other Elders' apartment. 

Here’s what the skies looked like about an hour before the storm hit. 

Us out proselyting the day before.  This wasn’t even the big storm!

It was sad.  You saw a bunch of abandoned cars.  Here’s one of them.  We helped one man move his car. The water just filled it up. 

Flooded streets. 

OK. This is crazy.  This lake/pond behind me  you usually see a bridge and lots more grass.  At this point the water was 4 feet higher than normal. 

Luckily, our mission wasn't hit as bad as others. Here there were many who had flooding into their apartments, but it wasn't destructive. In the other Houston missions, we have heard it was pretty horrific. Apparently it was the 7 wettest tropical storm in the history of the US. Pretty wild. The storm ended at like 7pm, but at that point, you still couldn't leave because of the flooding, so we stayed the night and left in the morning.

We had many lessons cancel this week, however, we did have the chance to have Rodrigo come to church, he is starting to be a regular, so that is quite exciting! We also have an AMAZING referral set up for tonight that I am so pumped for. There is a great family in H2 called the Baten, and their daughter is dating a nonmember. He came to church today, and he has come a few times before. His name is Mario, and he's 18. We struck up a conversation and we got along really well.  They are so cool. The dad invited us over to teach him a lesson.  Funny, when we asked about what he wanted us to teach on he said "Law of chastity and word of wisdom". Sounds like a pretty awesome father trying to protect his daughter, and he's right! The gospel truly provides protection. 

To add onto the week, it was awesome companion Elder Loar's birthday! We celebrated by teaching repentance and preparing people for baptism! To end the day we ended at the golden restaurant, Cici's Pizza. It was perfect, because we got to contact an investigator there! She works there! It was great! 

I also had a crazy experience. We were walking out of a gas station, and there was a man who greeted us, and you could tell he recognized we were missionaries. Come to find out he is a way less active member, José. But his family is in our ward and they are one of the most active families there are we did not know there was a rogue brother of the family. He started sharing about how he has made a lot of mistakes, and how he hasn't talked to his family in years, but he's been thinking about making everything right. He told us he knows the church is true and that he knows he needs to come back. So he invited Elder Loar and me over this Tuesday to teach his entire non member family of 7. So my new transfer goal is to reunite the Fernández family. Such an amazing experience. I am so grateful that the Spirit told me to open my mouth and talk. 

Bonus!! Transfer news came out, and Elder Loar and I are staying together again for another 6 weeks. We are super excited, we know it will be another transfer FULL of miracles. 

I also got the chance to watch the President Nelson devotional at BYU. Wow, how awesome is he? He shared so much that stood out. Truth is truth and laws are laws. I love that the Lord will do anything in his power to help us CHOOSE to come back to him, as long as it doesn't break 2 universal laws, our liberal agency and His commandments that He has established. He can't bend laws for one person nor can he force anyone to do anything. But he will do all he can do to bring sheep back to his fold, as long as it coincides with those two things. 

General conference is only in 2 weeks!! I am so excited and I have felt such joy being able to listen to the words of the modern day prophets that we have. I know they are called of God. I am so excited to be able to really just soak it all in. Hope we all prepare to recieve the personal revelation we all need! 

Love y'all muchísimo! Hope y'all have an amazing week! Thank you for being the best family ever! 

Elder Brett Hansen