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
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