Temples, Singing and FATHERS

Hola familia!!

How are y'all doing? Hope everything is going great and that you are enjoying some warm weather wherever you are. Here we are definitely getting some heat, everyday is at least 90 and about a third of the time it's raining. Tell me how that works. I have no idea.

This week has been a pretty ok week for the most part. We started off the week being able to enter into the house of the Lord and do a session in the Houston temple as a district. It was great! The Houston temple, is beautiful, I love it. I love the sacred promises we make to the Lord inside, to bring us closer to Him.

We saw a blessing not too long ago with this family in the ward, the Resendiz family. They have their niece living with them, who is apparently very interested in the gospel. Hermana is the Primary president and served a mission, so she is just amazing, and she really wanted us to come over and teach her niece, whose name is Andrea. We did, and she opened up really well about her thoughts about the Restoration. She came to church this last Sunday, and apparently liked it, and we get to follow up with them this Tuesday. That was probably one of the best referalls I've received on my mission, just for the fact if how incredible the situation is, regarding the family, and how interested the referall was. I must say, I haven't received many referalls my entire mission, but when we do, they are pretty amazing. 

Unfortunately, Javier had to go to the hospital a few nights ago for an emergency surgery. However, we had the amazing opportunity to go give both him and Josefina blessings with a couple in our ward, los Rivas. Hermano shared a powerful testimony, and it was a great night. I am so grateful for the priesthood power. It is such an incredible blessing that we get to recieve and use to bless others.

We've also been singing quite a lot recently. Don't know why or how I've been grouped in on it. My voice is horrible. But we got to sing in Sunday school yesterday which was kind of interesting. People said they liked it, so hey, couldn't have been THAT bad haha! An hermano took a picture of us singing, and sent it over. 

Yesterday was Father's day, and I don't know if y'all know, but I have the greatest dad ever. I was so grateful to get the chance to talk to him yesterday. Even though Mo told him the final score of the Vandy game while I was on the phone and he was a little bummed about that (I thought it was hilarious) we still had a great talk. We got to talk about life, time, and just simple gospel things. I look up to him a lot, and he seems like he's got it all figured out. He really does exeplefy what it means to be a father and Melchezidek priesthood holder. I am so grateful for his example, and I look up to him and want to be just like him. 

Even though I'm not with my dad out here, I still feel as if I have some fathers out here watching out for me. I am so grateful for the people I have met. I received a message from one of my most favorite people ever, Hermano Arellano, from H1 the other day, wishing me well saying that they missed me out in H1. I feel as if the Lord for sure puts people in our path for a reason, and I know I have met many out here. 

  

Finally, our loving Heavenly Father. I know he loves me. I am blessed to have had that knowledge my entire life. He is here for me. The most famous scripture ever is John 3:16, "For God so LOVED the world, he gave his only begotten Son." He gave us his Son out of love. He loves his children enough to give up what was closest to Him. I speak to Him in prayer as if I was talking to my father. I ask Him questions, and express gratitude, I ask Him for help. I know that prayer brings this knowledge, because you will feel his love encircle you. 

I hope y'all  take the chance to prayer as a child to our loving Father. 

Hope y'all have a great week! Love ya! 

Elder Hansen

Brett

Nuns, Old Friends, and STARS

Buenos días mi querida familia. Como han estado? Les quiero tanto! 

Love ya lots!! Today, I can tell you that today was a pretty doggone good week. Lots of interesting things happened, we've seen a lot of blessings. 

Josefina and Javier, they are my miracle every week. I know that the Lord guided us to knock their door. They are the most humble people ever.  We taught the Word of Wisdom this week, and they both accepted to living it.  Javier, little background, he has had a TOUGH life. He started smoking at the age of 7. It has been a part of his life, and now, in the past week he has only smoked once. He is committed to living it, and is getting much better. It is amazing how the Gospel changes lives. 

There is an amazing quote that I love from President Packer in Preach My Gospel that says that a study of the gospel will change behavior quicker than a study on behavior. It's true. I've seen it with my own eyes and felt it personally in my heart. It is amazing! Gospel used to be some vague word for me but now, I have come to know that it is Faith in the Lord, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. It changes behavior and makes us disciples of Christ.

We had a cool encounter as we ran into a few nice nuns from India. You run into everyone here in Houston, honestly. It was a great conversation to get to know each others cultures and learn from them and what they do. I truly love to see people dedicated to our Father in Heaven. So I asked to take a picture. It made my night.

Also, I went back to "China!" Let me tell you, my Mandarin is getting better and better. I love it haha, I can introduce myself and say Jesus Christ now. We found another person to teach out there, so that is 3 for 3 on finding people on exchanges in China. It was GREAT! However, the coolest thing that I got to see was VICTOR!! He's Elder Handy's cousin who we taught for a few months back in H1. He's so cool! So many good old memories with him and Elder Handy. Turns out he actually works in maintenance for the Chinese Elders' apartment. It was SO Cool to see him again. We had a great time catching up!

This is Victor!

Also, I mention "Stars" in the title for two reasons. First off, if anyone has ever seen the Vandy logo, they know it's a star with a V in the middle. I am grateful to have the chance to go play baseball there after the mission, and what makes it even sweeter is... THEY'RE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES BOUND!!!!! I am so blessed to have a connection to the GREATEST SCHOOL AND PEOPLE EVER!! Coach Corbin and Brown and the crew are the greatest not only coaches, but people as well. I love them and the program a lot, and was SO pumped to hear them heading to the CWS!!

I also mention "Stars" because that's the Astros logo as well. On July 22, President announced in Zone Conference that Elder Bednar is coming to Houston, and is giving a special devotional. So we are invited to go and listen to this special witness of God speak to us, then later that night, he's going to go throw out the first pitch at the Astros game. And..... WE ARE SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM!!! So I'm going to get to go to an Astros game! I am so excited! Being uplifted by an apostle and then going to a baseball game, sounds like a day straight from heaven.

This is where we work!  Good ole trailer parks!

One of my most favorite families, the Meza family.  Missing one, Charlie is out studying at Salt Lake City Business College. 

This was a  sad one.  It was Elder Ledezma’s last Zone Conference.  He was my very first companion and he goes home in 3 weeks. 

As always, myself and the famous Elder Shelley.  Every Zone Conference we take a selfie and I think he’s kinda liking this tradition.  haha

I love this scripture that I read the other day. I love learning about the character of the Lord. In Ether 2, the Brother of Jared is preparing to leave by boat. He encounters some problems while building the boats. The first was steering, next was breathing, and the third was light. The Lord said he'd take care of the steering, then told him what to do as far as fresh air goes. Then, when the Brother of Jared asked the Lord about light, expecting an answer, He answered in verse 25 saying "What will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea? ". The Brother of Jared then meditated on it, then went to work, and made 16 stones, and asked the Lord to touch them, and he did, and they became a source of light. I feel like this applies to us EVERY DAY. The Lord sometimes asks us, how can he bless us so that we may have light. Light is knowledge, spiritual strength, and direction. A testimony I have is that specific plans bring specific blessings. The Brother of Jared had specific plans which brought specific blessings. I want to invite y'all to be specific in what you desire from your Heavenly Father, in your life. He wants to rain blessings upon you. He is ready to, he is just waiting for you to ask.

Love y'all so much and hope you have a great week!!

Elder Hansen

Brett