Conferences, Pupusas and TALKIN BOUT PRACTICE!

Hey y'all! 

Hope y'all had a good week and saw the hand of the Lord in your daily life. I know I did. Wow did I get a full helping of the Spirit this week, and I am so grateful that I did. This week was definitely a not normal week full of conferences. But that's GREAT! We were counseled so well on how to get better and bless the mission.

So before we get started, New Transfer this past week, and I am staying and received a new companion Elder Christopherson. He's from Fresno, CA and has been out for just a little over a year. Short bio: He comes from a family of 10 Kids, loves the ukulele and is really good at playing hymns on it, is probably one of the happiest persons you will ever meet. Ever. He also has a little bit of a stutter, so when he speaks, he doesn't speak a ton of words, because he struggles a little, but when he does, oh my goodness, the Spirit comes into the room so rapid, it is AMAZING. I couldn't have asked for a better companion. He is so filled with the Spirit and is so close to the Savior that we have a great time teaching together and just being together, sight and sound 24/7.

So what happened this week is... A LOT. We had 3 conferences with Elder Robbins, who is the Area Seventy here. He talked a lot about families, and how the mission, if treated the right way, prepares you for life. He talked about being 100% responsible. He challenged us to always be 100% responsible, no matter what happens, no matter the outside factors, we are responsible for what happens to us, no excuses. He gave a great talk on that and I invite y'all to read it. You can find it on BYU Talks. It is amazing.

One thing that he talked about that I am putting into practice is a To-Be list. Us as humans are great box-checkers. When our To-Do list is done for the day, it releases endorphins that give us that sense of accomplishment. We'll that is working through goals without a vision. He invited us to make a To-Be list, and then make a To-Do list to achieve the To-Be list. Like for me right now, my To-Be goal is to try to have the perfect love of Christ, Charity. That is impossible for me to accomplish, I will never have the perfect love of Christ. BUT, I can better myself to BE more charitable. So I created a To-Do list if things that I can do daily to try to help achieve my To-Be goal, such as little acts of service, being considerate toward certain aspects, just trying to better myself. I love the saying, and I can't remember who said it, but he said "God is easy to please, but impossible to satisfy." So, my goal, is to continually try to please God.

This is actually one of my favorites.  I’m sure it’s one of Mom’s too! haha  (Inside joke from years ago!)

President Guthrie said, “We’re talking about practice!” during the conference.  I am pretty sure I was the only one in the entire mission who got the reference.  He was saying we need to practice opening our mouths and making connections with people.  He thought it was so funny, I did too.  No one else got it in the whole mission.  😂

So we had 3 conferences this week like that. It was fun, I got to see a lot of the missionaries I haven't seen in a while. Elder Parks was one I havent seen in a while, I missed him. You sit next to a guy on an airplane for 3 hours and you become pretty much best friends, who knew. The whole Houston district got broken up last transfer apparently, so they were all sad. Elder Hale came down here to my zone though! 

We had pupusas at the Parada house, so that was AWESOME! With Gustavo and Lorena too. Found out some news that Gustavo doesn't want to be baptized unless he does it with Lorena and so we asked her about it, and she has ZERO desire right now. She needs lots of prayers, because Gustavo is so ready.  Rafael is progressing slowly but surely. He will get there eventually. 

The biggest breakthrough we had was with Omar, he is now going to go LOOK FOR A RING TO MARRY KARLA!! He had a miracle and feels that he got the answer to his prayer, and bore testimony on the truth of God and the power of the Book of Mormon. That was so exciting!!

Anyways, Elder Christopherson got attacked by the neighborhood dogs the other day. I'd like to say I ran in to save him, but I'd be lying. We took off running. We do have a few tricks up our sleeve to scare them away, but it doesn’t always work.  

I think that's all that's been going on this week. I hope you all have a great week. Please send prayers our way as missionaries, we feel them. I have been touched this week by the simplicity of how God works. "If ye keep my commandments, ye will prosper in the land". I would just invite each of you to look for ways to better keep his commandments. He wants to bless you. He loves you. He cares for you. He is our loving Heavenly Father. Please come unto him. Read the Book of Mormon, give it a shot, it will change your life as it has mine.

Have a great week!

Elder Hansen

Brett