Elder Bednar/Astros Recap, Finding and MIRACLES

Hey y'all, what a week. Let me tell you, it feels like a looooong time since a Pday like this. Like I mean a really long time. I can't really remember the last one.  It has been quite a past week and it has been chock full of amazing experiences, so buckle up, we're about to go for a wild ride.

MONDAY: Elder Bednar came and spake to us, and it was amazing. He had a huge question and answer for 3 hours straight. President Guthrie invited us all to come in with a question to be answered. My personal question was how and what does an apostle do when he is finding the greatest growth in his testimony? Reason behind this question is if you can find out what an Apostle does to deepen his conversion to the Savior, if you do something similar, you are putting yourself in good company. However, I didn't even have to ask the question. Elder Bednar answered it on his own saying that his personal conversion grows the most as he does the small and simple things correctly and with intent.

I learned so much more. He talked a lot about faith and how people say they have "faith to move a mountain". Elder Bednar then straight up said "No you don't. The mountain will move if the Lord wants it to move. Not if you want it to move. True faith comes through your own personal action, and then trusting that what takes place is the Lord's will, and truly believing that it is what he wants.

He also talked about repentance and maintaining a remission of sins. I always thought that as we took the sacrament, we obtain a remission of our sins as we partake of the bread and water. Elder Bednar said that is not true. The sacrament is there for us to show to our Father that we are willing to keep the covenant we made with him at baptism, the remission of sins starts the come the moment we begin the repentance process. As we do so, the Holy Ghost comes into our life. That is the key. How do we know we maintain a remission of our sins? We have the company of the Holy Ghost.

So yeah, mind blown with Elder Bednar. After, we hopped on a bus and headed to MinuteMaid Park. We went in, got to walk around, and saw some old friends, including my trainer, Elder Ledezma, I mean, Isaac (because he finished his mission). We then got to sing (or mouth the words for some of us) on the field. There is just a feeling on an MLB field you can't deny. That was the  3rd park that I’ve been on the field, and it just feels so good.  (A’s and Giants field too!) The sights and smells were so good to see and smell again. My love of the game was renewed once more. It was one of the greatest days of my mission. 

Here we are heading in.

First ones to get behind the dish.

Getting ready to go out and sing!

What a view!

Me and one of my favorite comps, Elder Handy.  So good to see him again. 

Me, Elder Jewkes, 3 ex hermanas and Isaac ( Elder Ledezma).

TUESDAY: Exchange day. I was with Elder Buchanan. We actually got to find 2 new people to teach and one was a part member family. It was a returning less active family. The daughter, Emily, we put on date for BAPTISM the last day of the transfer. So SUPER exciting!!

WEDNESDAY: District council day. We had a blast together. I love this district, we haven't been really changed in like 4 months, so we have gotten to know each other really well.

THURSDAY: OK, FANTASTIC day, biggest highlight was at night. We had a lesson with David again. First thing out of his mouth was that he wanted to come to church. That was great, so we of course said yes. Afterwhich, we asked about what he learned from his reading, and he recited pretty much exactly what happened with Joseph Smith and Angel Moroni and the gold plates. He has such a great testimony of the Book of Mormon and restoration and it is growing just like a seed.

FRIDAY: I went with Elder Tai, one of my good friends here in the mission. He is a 6'8" O-Lineman who is going to go to BYU. We actually found 3 people in that day, so THAT was pretty miraculous. Fun day.

SATURDAY: Had an interview with President Guthrie, and that was pretty great. I love sitting down and talking to him. We had a great discussion. It was so nice.

SUNDAY: David came to church as well as a bunch of other people we were teaching. Javier came to church wearing a white shirt and Rafael with a blue dress shirt. It was FANTASTIC. It was so cool seeing the inward change affect themselves outwardly. It was so neat to see. 

Santi here got baptized.  We taught him all the lessons at the request of his parents.  He is a part of a great family. 

Me and a Jesus mural on the side of an abandoned trailer. 

Zoom in!  Big Baller Brand is now making wheels?

I know the church is true, the book is blue, and I love this gospel through and through. Hope y'all have a good week, as good as we had this past week. The Lord is raining his blessings on MoCity West and 5th street!

Love y'all mucho!!

Elder Brett Hansen

Astros, Pupus and ELDER BEDNAR

Hola y'all!! 

So sounds like everyone is busy like crazy. I can't wait to hear all about EFY, Utah, and all the other stuff going on. So cool to hear y'all are heading down to Newport. Love it! 

Well familia, the day I have been waiting for for 6 weeks has finally come. Today we get the opportunity to do some pretty rockin' stuff. Today is the day where two of my true loves of my life mix. We get to first, be able to be spiritually STUFFED by having a private mission conference with Elder Bednar, an apostle of the Lord. He is going to be here at 12 and we will be here for a while. Then we are all going to load up onto buses and head on out to MinuteMaid Park to watch Elder Bednar throw the first pitch at the game against the A's. We will be singing the National Anthem and get to stay for a little bit, until we have to leave to get home by 9:30pm. I AM SO EXCITED!!

Here we are on one of the busses . . .  The cool dude in orange is President Guthrie’s son. 

First of all, I know we aren't supposed to have favorites, but Elder Bednar is one of my favorite apostles. He is incredible, so direct yet so kind. He gave one of  my favorite talks ever, "Character of Christ", that I got to watch in the MTC. He also came to Fremont years ago, I think I was like 14 or 15. I was going through a bit of a tougher time when he came to do a devotional for the youth. But it was in that conference that I gained a testimony of modern prophets. I will never be able to deny that, because the Holy Ghost spoke to my heart clear as day telling me of his divine calling. It was also in that conference I had a renowned focus on serving a mission. It felt like that devocional was exactly what I needed, and it helped me a lot. I am so grateful for what he has done for me in my life. He truly has blessed me with the inspiration the Lord gives him. 

Next, holy cow, we are getting to go watch a game at MinuteMaid, are you kidding? That's one of my favorite parks. I'm so excited to tour it a little bit. Kind of split though it being played against the A's. I am so excited because the members of H1 and MoCity are going to be there. My favorite people!! 

Yesterday we had a cool experience of being able to teach some friends of an awesome member couple in our ward. The Hermana made us pupusas. Hermana Rivas almost made me cry they were so delicious. I LOVED them. They are the best ones I have tried, and I have tried A LOT of them. I had 5 and I was stuffed. 

We also had this Zone Conference that we had been planning for forever.  We also invited all the youth of the stake to come and be a part of it. They said they loved it, so that was a success. I am very happy it is done, it took a lot out of the normal schedule. 

Saw the man, the myth, the legend, Elder Christopherson!

Elder HANDY!

Elder Parks!

And Elder Bruning too!  All some my best buds.  It was great seeing them. 

I found a renowned love and dedication to who I am, why I am here, and who I want to be at the end of my time in Texas. But not only that, but who I want to be the rest of my life.  We all have a journey, but without the directions to follow, we cannot reach out destination. Those directions are our very own Title of Liberty. They are the things that keep us going, that keep us wanting to progress. More than all, it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that leads us to that final destination. 

Love y'all mucho, hope you have a great week! 

Elder Brett Hansen