Dads, In N Out, and Cowboys

Buenos días mis carnales! 

It's good to hear from you!! Hope you all have had a week that was full tender mercies and blessings directly from the Lord's hand. We definitely have seen them here. This week flew by so fast it was remarkable. I can't believe how fast it was. And just like THAT, we are halfway done with another transfer. That really freaks me out because the following transfer is where I hit my year mark. So... Yeah. Wow. Flying by.

This week has been a pretty good week. Lots of service and organization. A lot of administrative things that we needed to clear up. So that was a bit boring, but that's OK!

Some highlights:

Musubi night from President Guthrie's mom who was visiting. She knew we had a Hawaiian and shes from Kailua, so she brought us Musubi one night! 

The Carrillo family came back from a wedding in Utah. Myself and Hermano about a month ago had a very firm conversation one day about the differences between a Whattaburger burger and In N Out burger. 😋Them, being the most amazing model family there is, after us calling Hermana to wish her a happy birthday while they were IN UT, told us that they were going to bring back in n out for all the missionaries. And oh sweet goodness, it was good.

We had an amazing day on Tuesday FULL of lessons. We taught a lot. It was really fun! Whenever we get the opportunity to Testify and teach, it is a blessing. I thoroughly enjoy it. All were very simple lessons. This week we spent a lot of time teaching people how to pray. It was a very pure and innocent teaching moment because prayer is such a huge part of our life, yet it is something simple that should be done daily or a few times per day. When we got to teach how to pray, I could really feel the love of our Heavenly Father. He is hearing the voice of a son and daughter that he hasn't heard for a very long time. We taught this to Omar, Jesús, as well as Josefina. Each time, I felt this pure love of God.

My one thing that I learned and held onto from Culinary class. How to cut an onion. Thanks Chef K! 

I spent a lot of time this week studying the character of God. I wanted to find out how loving actually is this higher being that we call Father. The coolest scriptures that I think I found on this topic were in Hebrews 12:9-11. Here Paul is writing to the Hebrews about the character of a father, and even better, our Eternal Father. I

He is such a loving father, he allows us to fall. He allows us to makes mistakes. It gives him absolutely no joy at all. He hurts seeing us fall. He wants us to choose the right. However, he loves us enough to see us fall, to chasten us, and then hopefully, see us walk in paths of righteousness. That is where he feels joy. It really was a cool study. He is the perfect example of a perfect father. I am so grateful to have had a father who did just that with me a majority of the time. I know it is and was probably very hard, but quite honestly, my dad has been such an amazing role model and person I look up to so much, because his way of being a father is similar to how our Heavenly Father is towards all of us. He's pretty much one of the greatest people I know.

Yes, we live in “Flood Town.” 

We had a pretty cool experience yesterday. I'd go so far to say that we had a pretty cool miracle yesterday in finding someone new to teach. He's a bull-riding cowboy named Jessie. We got out of our car on 5th Street, and actually his mother came up to us and told us to come teach her son. Like exactly as we get out of the car. I don't think it could have been any easier haha. We walk in and meet with him, only to find out he used to come to church, knew a few Elders from a few years ago, along with a few members in the ward. He testified to us of his desire to change. To change who he was completely. It was a very cool miracle to see, because it was so random and just as if the Lord put us exactly where he wanted us. Very cool.

 Found this bad boy while proselyting 😁😁

We also had a really fun experience with our Bishop's family. Don't know if I've shared this before, but I LOVE this family. Definitely when we come back as a family, we are visiting them. Obispo is a great example and I look up to him a lot, and then Hermana is hilarious and the kids are just the greatest, just a cool family. We actually showed them our map, without any dots or anything, and told them to pray for inspiration, look at the map and decide where we were going to go proselyte, and then pray for a confirmation of their plans. We did this because we were talking about the miracle of possibly hitting our goal for April. We went out and found a really cool lady in one of the areas they chose, and when we returned and reported, oh my goodness they were so excited. They felt so invested and their excitement for missionary work went THROUGH THE ROOF! All the kids were asking how they could help this family and all of them were just so excited. We had a blast.

Also, Gabriela chose a date to go to the temple. So she is going this Friday in the morning. I love her and her family so much! She is sooo solid it is amazing. Probably up there with favorite of all time so far. 

I love this work and I know that it's the work of the Lord. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to wear our Saviors name on my chest. So grateful to be a representative of him.

The Church is true and the Book is blue. 

Love y'all!

Elder Hansen

Brett

Steaks, Golden Days and 10 MONTHS???

Buenos días mi familia!

Como han estado?? Esta última semana pasó rapidísimo! Seems like just the other day I was writing a letter, but I guess it's been a week!

I am sure y'all all had an amazing Easter weekend. I know that I did. Easter has always been a holiday that carries some extra significance because we celebrate the resurrection of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ. However, here on the mission, it has meant he even more to me. I have seen the hand of the Lord strengthen me, give me support when I didn't think I could take another step, and truly be the only person who knew exactly what I was going through. I am so grateful to wear his name on my chest everyday. To be a representative of him is a calling that I don't take lightly. It is an enourmas blessing that I know has changed me forever. 

This week we saw some smaller miracles. There was no big one that stood out during the week, but it was the small and simple ones that really, I feel, brought to pass some amazing results. Alma 37:6, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass". This week we were blessed to see both Gustavo and Lorena, as well as Rafael come to church. It has been a few weeks for all of them. It was amazing! They really enjoyed the service. It was all on Easter of course. And, the Hermana Cantu, she brought a friend from work, Sebastián. He is really cool. Directly after the sacrament meeting, I ran up to go meet him. It was fantastic!

Here's a shot of our glasses-themed district Counsel. haha

We served at a garage sale, and I found this Versace table. I really hope no one responds and says it was like a few hundred bucks worth, because they were selling it for 5 haha

Bishop had us over last night. He cooked up some T-bone steaks. Greatest dinner appointment ever. 

We did have one day that was a miracle day. Usually here, we find around 3 new people to teach every week. Well, one day this last week, we don't know what happened, but nobody said no. We would walk and talk, and it was seemingly every person we ran into wanted to listen to us. So we found actually 3 new people to teach in that ONE DAY!! How amazing is that?? There we met Jesús. He apparently used to work out in Utah and used to go to church. He already knew a ton of what we were talking about. It was really cool. God really was sending down his spirit upon the hearts of the people that day.

Nothing fancy with these pics.  I just liked to road and the trees. 

We also did the initiative called the watermark, and announced it this week to all the districts in the zone. It was great! In the first week of the watermark, we SHATTERED the record of people found in a week. It was really cool to see the zone working even harder! A serious blessing! It means that today, we owe them some pizza haha. Super proud of them!

Well friends and family. I have done it, I have made it to 10 months. That sounds crazy. I know that it feels like the blink of an eye. But my goodness, have I seen changes happening in every which way. I am so grateful to be a servant out here. I know that it is a calling that the Lord had for me. I have gotten to know people who will be friends of mine for the rest of my life.  I am so grateful for my Savior. I know he not only suffered for my pains and sins, but for every doubt, temptation, and sadness that I have ever felt. I know he voluntarily came as close to the depths of all despair for us. He fell lower than any of us ever will, in order to give us a boost up when we need it.

Alma 7:11-13

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

I know he lives. This is the greatest thing of which I can testify. 

I hope y'all have a great week! Y'all are always in my thoughts an prayers!

Elder Hansen

Brett

Watermarks, China and Miracle!!!

Buenos días a mi gente favorita!! How are all of y'all doing this fiiiine ole week. I hope awesome, I heard some great things, sounds like the family got together quite a bit. So fun to hear that. I heard Mo has her surgery today at 1pm for her knees, and that Grandee is starting ti have a few back issues. Hope you both know that you are in my prayers out here. I love you!!

Wow did this week fly by. It feels like my entire mission all wrapped up in one week. I don't remember what we did on las Tuesday but oh my goodness did it feel fast. It was a very productive week. Elder Jewkes and I are excited to be together and to try to come up with ways to bless the zone. I think we've come up with some decent ideas and I am excited to see them put into practice. I am so excited to work with him, we've been planning this Companionship for about 4 transfers now haha, we have always wanted to be companions and we are really enjoying it so far.

One thing we also realized is that we actually have a lot of ideas. We pray every night for every missionary in our zone by name, and give them random calls just to let them know we are thinking of them. The motto we came up with for the zone is "Choose Joy", just like the EFY song, and I used the acronym that mom always uses. JOY is putting Jesus first, then Others, then Yourself. That's the motto. We did 2 things, Zone wide this week that is going to really bless everyone. First off, we spent a part of a Companionship study going way back through the records to find what the record is for each key indicator in the past year+. What is the highest amount of people found, people at church, on date, and baptisms in a month. So we found all this information and we realized that, heck yeah, we want to break these records. We called them the watermarks. So we set up, if we break the News record we get a pizza party. Church record gets a Zone Barbecue at the park. Date record gets a surprise from President. Baptismal record (and we called permission for President on this one) gets an extra zone temple trip. We are so excited because EVERYONE wants to go to the temple, it's like gold. And so far, everyone is super motivated to find, teach, and Baptize. It is great, and we are excited to see the miracles roll in because of it. 

We also implemented a zone wide fast, basically for a miracle, yesterday. Well, we totally saw one yesterday. Totally came from the fast that we decided to do, Zone wide. I have been trying to teach Estela for 12 weeks and we gave her another little stop by this past week. I got to talk to her, tried to make her feel comfortable with the missionaries. We actually knocked her door in the pouring rain, but we felt an impression to knock. The reason I have been so antsy to teach her is because she has had 2 previous baptismal dates, used to come to church a lot about 10 months ago, has been taught 88 percent, and is still friends with the Relief Society President. Anyways we talk and she seemingly showed zero interest in coming to church. Well.... Elder Jewkes and I started our fast on Saturday night. Right around that time, the Relief Society President got a call from Estela asking her if she could come to church and if they could pick her up. So I saw her in church, and got to sit next to her. It was a fantastic meeting with tears flowing, but Estela is tough. So she didn't cry. Until the final Hymn came around, "Loor al Profeta". Then she lost it crying. I explained that this song was about Joseph Smith and she said that she knew. It was a spiritual confirmation for her that what the church teaches is true. She knows it. It was amazing.

I also, must say, don't cry very much. Especially in Spanish, usually the tears don't flow out. When I feel the Spirit I am usually not overcome like that. Well as I was singing about the death of the first prophet of the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I did as well. I felt such a profound love for him. For all he sacrificed. The mobbing, the attempted robberies, being called an outcast, all so that he could bring to pass what God had called him to do. There are power in hymns. 

"¡Loor al Profeta, subido al cielo!   

Déspotas luchan en vano contra él,

y en el cielo está con el Padre.

Nunca la muerte le podrá vencer." 

 The death will not overcome him. He was called to do his work here. He was completely imperfect. But isn't that amazing? God works through imperfect people to bring to pass immortality and the eternal life of man. I am so grateful to have been entrusted to be called here TO Houston to help others realize what God's purpose is for putting us all here. And how we truly can gain eternal life. I know this work to be true, and to be one of the greatest works ever. It is the work of the Lord.

Miracles happen every day, you just need to be looking for them. I am so blessed to be able to see the Lord's hand daily. I saw another miracle of being guided by the Spirit. I got the chance to go on an exchange with the Chinese elders today. First off, 2 crazy experiences. I had this impression to walk down this sidewalk of an apartment complex, and then told the elders that there is almost always someone behind a 13, so we knocked a 13. As we did a man walked by and we called out to him. He asked us if we were "Mormons", we said "that's kind of what they call us" and he said "No way, I have been looking for the Church!!" He apparently was a recent convert who just moved to TX from Portland. He speaks perfect Chinese, and his wife, who is from Beijing, is not a member. The Chinese elders were so excited, and I was too! It was amazing. Then, right around 7pm, we decided to go grab a Chinese shave ice treat. First off, wow it was good, but 2nd, as I walked in I saw HNA SANTIESTEBAN!! She was from H1. It was such a cool miracle. We talked and the Chinese elders met her Chinese friends she was with. It was a miracle. 

 I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week. I am so grateful to have you as family. I know we were put together for a reason. Either all of this was one big coincidence, or none of it was. I'm pretty sure the answer is the latter. I love you all tons!

Elder Hansen

Brett

1. After losing 11-0 in volleyball against some big Hispanic family, they loaded us up w tacos and Cokes to go for free!!!

2. Me and Elders Feng and Palmer

3. Me and Elder Shelley after MLC. Miracle we got him to smile haha. 

4. Just got a new Spanish missionary from Laie, Oahu. Yeah.. HE IS A RED RAIDER!

5.Me and Hna Santiesteban

6. CHINATOWN!! 

Miracles, Conference and TRANSFERS!

Que onda y'all? 😁 Had to find a way to mix up the saludo! Hope y'all are having a great week, sounds like y'all had a blast. I mean sheesh, Alcatraz?? That's so fun!! Y'all look so good and I hope that you are enjoying your Spring Break! Sure looks like it!!

Well, it was quite the week ladies and gents. It was the last week of the transfer, and sure enough, some crazy stuff always happens on the last week. To add on top of that, CONFERENCE!! I was completely spiritually filled, it was amazing. There were some amazing messages, and quite honestly they weren't assigned topics, but they were all so intertwined. That means that God is speaking to his children. We need to learn, change, and be better. Let me give a little rundown on the week. 

Had to get a picture of Elder Christopherson and I in different cities here! 

And apparently we have the Best trash. 😂

There was one really cool miracle that resulted in a new person for us being taught for the week. It was a day that was quite rough. Believe it was on Thursday, and we just had a lesson dropped, we were on our way to somewhere else when I had the impression to go visit this member who recently moved in. Apparently it was a potential part-member family. We knock, and turns out that she is still in Honduras. So we got turned away, but as we got turned away, a good 10 paces later we run into Hector from Colombia. Hector tells us that he wants to change, that he wants to start anew. We start talking about faith and repentance, and he was mind BLOWN. He then explained to us that he used to go to an amazing church in Colombia, and only went like 4 times before he came here to America. It was called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When we told him there was another one close, he got so excited. We are excited to continue teaching him and helping him on the covenant path.

We also went over in between sessions to see Gabriela, to make sure that she was watching it. Oh boy was she watching it. She had it all loud, listening to the Tab. Choir when we got there. She could pretty much recount every talk. It was such a miracle to be a little part of her progression. She is going to be so. Strong for her entire life. She was seeking truth and she got it! She was actually ticked at Rafael because he wasn't paying more attention. It was funny, she is the best. I genuinely feel as if her family is mine. I love them so much. 

A looooot of conference impressions over here. I feel spiritually fed, oh my goodness. A lot stood out to me quite honestly, the focus on daily repentance from many of the apostles and especially Pres. Oaks that stood out incredibly. Repentance means change, not just confession. I am grateful for repentance. It has changed my life, and I am so grateful I can help others try to come to. That same feeling that I feel as I repent. 

One of the things that stood out the most, however, came from Elder McKay's talk on patience. My questions were answered. If I am waiting patiently (or trying) is there anything even happening? His answer was yes, that even if we wait on the Lord's timing, his IMMEDIATE goodness can come into our lives and provide us with peace, hope, and other spiritual fruits. Galatians 5 teaches the fruits beautifully. The story about the mother who. Lost her 10 year old was heartbreaking, yet an amazing example of the immediate goodness of God. That though he may not take us from our problems, he will help us through them. He will support us, be a crutch. 

Transfers are also upon us, and I get to have the privilege to stay in MoCity West for another transfer. However... Elder Christopherson got transferred over the the area next door MoCity Central with Elder Cram (from H1) and they will be training. I will miss him a lot, but it's OK, because we are still going to be neighbors. My new companion, who's coming to me from allllllll the way next door is Elder Jewkes. He came out one transfer before me, is a spiritual giant, and is from Halper, UT. He's a cowboy, and loves the mountains. His dream when he gets back is to pack up a pack and head off to the mountains to live alone out there for a month 😂😂 He's hilarious, and I'm pumped to work with him.  Here he is!

The District, Transfer 6.

President also called us 2 to be the Zone Leaders out here in the Houston South Zone, so that should be fun!! I love being able to work with a bunch of different missionaries. I'm excited to serve the zone the best I can! 

This house was pretty wrecked.  Like Amulek and Ammon walking out of prison wrecked.  Just snapped a shot of it. 😁

It was a good week. Hope y'all enjoyed the conference as much as I did and saw the hand of THE LORD! I know we have a LIVING PROPHET ON THE EARTH. His name is Russell M. Nelson. I will follow him because I know he and the 12 are directed by God. Open your Book of Mormon today. It is the key to growing and knowing what is necessary in this life to make it to the Lord!! Love won't get us all the way there. It will get us fairly close because of the nature of God, but not all the way to Him. Covenants kept will. I'm so grateful to be his servant here in Houston, TX. 

I love this quote!

By the way, good luck Momo with the knee replacements, that sounds rough. Know that you've got thoughts and prayers coming from good ole TX. Love you!! 

Love y'all! 

Elder Hansen

Brett 

Regias (Royalty), Tears, and BRAD WILCOX

Holaaaaa Familiaaaaa y amigos!!

You know, I've realized I've started every single email that way. Guess I'm not getting very creative. Got to come up with something new haha. Hope you all are doing great!! Weird to hear that Spring Break is starting up this week. It was a LONG time ago here. Or maybe it wasn't. Not sure. Time is weird here. Feels like yesterday I was writing an email, but then again, I can't even remember what happened yesterday. Thank goodness for a journal and a daily planner. Well I hope y'all are excited to have a break from school! Seems like all the youth here were.

We had a pretty awesome week, not going to lie. There were definitely some highlights, and I am so excited to share it with you all!!

I would say the highlight of the week was finding Erika. She's a regia from Mexico and was taught a little by missionaries a while back. However, when we taught her, she was SO prepared, testified of the Book of Mormon being the word of God and how she needs to be reading it. Then at the end, she asked us how to pray and we showed her. I actually wrote it down so she'll have it. As she did so, she started crying and she said she didn't know why. We taught her about the Holy Ghost then and she was so incredibly touched to know that that was an answer from God directly to her. She was amazing and we are excited to be teaching her. 

So we knocked this house and as we knocked, the door opened up and freaked us out. The house was TURNED UPSIDE DOWN and was abandoned, kind of creepy, but worth a pic. 

We also had some fun service this week. An amazing younger couple moved into the ward into our area, the Santoyos, and we have been over there a few times. We helped them mulch their yard and do some yard work. To me, I think fresh cut grass is my most favorite smell of all time. Nothing beats it. They're great and we had a blast helping them out.   I got a turn on the swing when the work was done! Ha!

Elder Christopherson and I have been extremely blessed and guided these last week especially. Apperently our companionship studies are guided too, because the themes of the lessons taught have been apparently blessing the people's lives. In the past 10 lessons that we've had, in 8, we've seen tears shed from the influence of the Spirit. We have seen testimonies grow. We have seen people be touched. I am so grateful to know that the Spirit is the greatest teacher.

Another AMAZING experience we had was to listen to Bro. BRAD WILCOX. To me, he is a legend. I love him. His talk "His Grace is Sufficient" changed my life. I can literally say that it changed my entire outlook on this life, how I live mine, and what's to come ahead. I was so grateful to be able to thank him for that. Anyways, he came and gave a short fireside on grace. Let me first start and say how grateful I am for my Savior's grace.  He already paid the price for everything, and everything that I do is to show Him how grateful I am for Him. For literally feeling the weight of the world. For dying, and resurrecting, and satisfying the demands for justice, if we repent and come unto him. One of my most favorite quotes from Bro Wilcox was, "We are not earning heaven, but we are LEARNING heaven. We are preparing for it... No unclean thing can dwell with God HOWEVER, no unCHANGED thing will even want to." I want to learn heaven.  You can watch his Facebook Live video on President Guthrie’s Facebook page.  Definitely worth your time!

Did I mention we got the “Cleanest Bathroom Award” on our apartment check??  Sister Guthrie comes once every 6 weeks to check everything in our apartment.  Here’s how our apartment looks right before apartment inspections :) Even left the inspector a snack. 😁

Coming up is General Conference. We are going to listen to the Living prophet, Russell M. Nelson. I testify he is a prophet of God. He is the one to recieve revelation for this entire world. I know as we listen to his words and APPLY it, we will be blessed with the celestial blessings that come from heaven that are not promised by me, or any other missionary for that matter, but by a prophet of God and even God himself. I’m excited.

 

Alma 5:45-46

45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

Have a great week! I love you all and I hope you know that. Always in my prayers out here in good ole Houston, TX!! 

Elder Brett Hansen