Transfers were last night and I'm still staying in Kitti!!!! It's crazy to think that at the end of this transfer I will have been here for 1 year. I have put so much work into this area and for a while it felt like nothing was happening and our investigators weren't really going anywhere. Lately though we have met a lot of awesome families and people that are really prepared. I have hope and faith that this transfer will be a transfer of baptisms! We have two families of over 10 people each that are progressing really well. They are reading and most people have prayed and received an answer that it's true.
One of the families that we meet, the Lorenzo’s, have been going very good and a couple of their daughters have a strong testimony that it's true. The father is only there some of the time so we usually have to bring a man with us to teach them. The other day as we were talking with Sister Lorenzo we found out that the husband has been secretly listening in and watching our lessons from the bushes since the very beginning!
He loved everything that we taught and wanted to know if it was true for himself. He prayed to have a dream that would tell him if it was true or not and that night he had a dream and he knows that it's true! This family just keeps getting better and better and one by one they are all getting their testimonies that it's true!
I'm so very grateful that God has given us so many ways to receive and strengthen our testimonies. Just pause and think for a second at all the things God has given us to learn. The Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine of Covenants, Topical Guide, Bible Dictionary, Prayer, the Holy Ghost, Parents, Siblings, Friends, the Internet, Books galore, and countless other things just to let us know what to do. From the time we were little we were taught how to follow instructions, it prepared us for the most important instructions we would receive, those being the ones from our Father in Heaven through His chosen Prophet. This week, I know it was late, I got to hear from our Prophet and the Apostles of God and can I say what a blessed people we are. We have received so much direction and instruction from God I don't think He could make it any clearer for us. He literally has elaborated on His plan through the complexity of the Bible, narrowed it down in the Book of Mormon, and just to be sure we understood it perfectly He gave us 13 simple articles to state what His plan is. I think of a young teenager trying to help their grandparents figure out basic functions on their computer and getting overly frustrated with them that they don't immediately comprehend something that they have already worked out for themselves. I also draw a comparison from that to how God must feel towards us, Though He will never get frustrated or storm out of the room, He will always explain and re-explain until the day when our minds fully understand. I'm grateful that He has given us General Conference to explain to us every 6 months His plan to us again. We need these things in our lives and there are so many people who don't have them. The Church has been stressing missionary work so much lately and I think there is a reason behind that. Our neighbors need these things in their lives, they may not know how to use them or why they are important, but they do.
I'm grateful for the patience that my own parents and family have had with me in explaining things over and over again. There are many things I don't understand yet but I do know that this is the Only Living and True Church of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the blessings I have received and now I get to share. I understand that the Atonement was necessary and that we are not given the blessings of the Atonement but we qualify for them through our repentance. I understand that God will not force us to return to Him and that only through our own choices we understand and follow His plan. I love you all and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
October 16th, 2016: Crazy Week
So I'm just going to go quickly through the big things that happening this week so you can see how crazy this week was. Monday: No P-day, instead we had Zone Conference with President Zarbock which was awesome and really helped us. Tuesday was P-day and super fun. Also we started an exchange with the Zone Elders. Wednesday: Walking Wednesday, which means no cars at all- just walking, finding, and getting to know people. Then ended our exchange. Thursday: One of our members, CJ was hit by a car about ten feet from us. It was a drunk driver going about 50mph + in a 25. We were down from the road at a less actives house and heard a crunch, turned around to see him flying through the air into some banana tress. We ran over there to help him out and we was all covered in blood and stuff. People started running towards us to help and we flagged down a car on the road and they took him to the hospital. Even though we could see bone from his arm and thought it was broken he didn't brake a single bone in his body. Just a lot of scrapes, cuts and a chunk out of the muscle in his elbow. The even crazier thing is that he just got back from a two month trip to Hawaii to get the skin on his neck fixed from when he burned it as a kid. He just barely got back and now this happened. It really was a miracle that nothing worse happened. Now he's back at home playing play-station with his family as if nothing happened at all. Friday: Weekly planning for half the day. Saturday: we had a Baptism! Moglee got Baptized! It was a good baptism and we had a couple investigators there. All went well and now he's super excited to come out with us. Sunday: I gave the gift of the Holy Ghost for the first time in my life and not only that it was in Pohnpeian. It went really good and the Spirit really helped me. This week has just been one crazy thing after another. It's been super short yet super long. I guess that's enough craziness for one week. There is so much to tell about what happened this week but we only get an hour to email. I hope all is well in America and that everyone is strong and healthy. Love you all!
Elder Hanson
Elder Hanson
October 9th, 2016: Waiting Upon the Lord
All throughout my mission probably one of the biggest things that I've learned is Patience. Being patient with myself, God, and my investigators. President Zarbock has always taught us to wait upon the Lord in our lessons and let the Spirit come and sink into the hearts of our investigators. For the longest time I always tried to do that but haven't been able to consistently do it. However, as of lately I've been doing a lot better at it. One of the families we teach, the Lorenzos, have been going really well. A common thing on these islands is that people believe that all churches work together and that if a church teaches about Jesus Christ then it is the church of Jesus Christ. Sister Lorenzo told us about how for a long time she thought this but then recently learned that that is not true and she wants to find the right church. One of their many daughters, Marab has awesome faith and took our challenge to read and pray to know if it's true. She also came and saw a baptism and was tearing up from the spirit. Then just recently she bore her testimony to us as Stake Conference about how hard it is in her family because her and another sister have received an answer but the 8 remaining in her family have not yet and for lack of a better word "persecute" them. We have been praying very hard for them and even did a fast for them, that Sister Lorenzo and her family would be able to feel the Spirit and be able to know for themselves. Last night we had a very powerful lesson with the spirit. We were talking about the Temple and the blessings that come from it. We related it back to the Priesthood and how it was restored and there is evidence to prove it, ie the Book of Mormon. We watched a quick video of the temples and after just waited. We just smiled and looked around at all their faces as they started to feel the Spirit for the first time. It was one of the coolest things ever to see the Spirit work on them one by one. I asked Sister Lorenzo what she felt and she said "it feels like my heart just fell from me, I've never felt like this before." Of this I can testify, when we are patient, blessings happen. All we did was smile and wait. It worked so well and I know it works on all of us. Just like with bread rising, if we start too soon, we won't get the desired result. I love you all and I'm doing my best to be patient on my mission and helping others. I love you all! See you sooner than you think!
Elder Hanson
Elder Hanson
September 18th, 2016: Preparing Every Needful Thing
This week was a crazy week with lots and lots of miracles. To start off the week we were planning on doing service for this family on Tuesday. It was raining really bad but we told them we would so we wanted to keep our word. We went and they weren't there so we just came back to our house soaking wet. Because of the rain the power had gone out the day before and we couldn't cook any food. We said a prayer that the power would come back on so we could make food and help us get ready for the day. Nothing happened but I felt like we should prepare everything so when it came on we would be able to make food and get to work asap. We did that and put the raw meat in the pan, and everything just kinda sitting there. I suggested that we shower first as well and get everything done before. We did and as we got everything ready so that all we needed to do was eat and leave, the power came back on. We both realized what had happened and that was the first miracle. The second was that a less active member had just moved to our area because the area where he lived was causing him trouble and he wanted to change schools to help him. We met him, had a quick lesson with him and his family and the next day put his uncle on a baptismal date. Their whole family is super awesome and I know that they will be great investigators. The third was also meeting a new investigator. We had heard that there was a kid who had wanted to meet with us but we hadn't met with him yet. Yesterday we finally met him and had a great lesson with him and he really want to change. He is also now on baptismal date and is excited to learn. The fourth was after that lesson. A lady flagged us down as we drove by and she told us her car had ran out of gas. She told us she was a less active member and that she knew she could trust us. She asked us if we could go to the gas station and get her some gas. Because it was Sunday I didn't want to buy any gas but I knew that God would tell us what to do. We asked the less active to give us a prayer and she gave one of the most humble prayers I've seen in a long time where is was like she was actually talking to her Father. After that we tried all the members and eventually drove to our Branch Presidents house down the road and asked if he had any gas laying around. He thought for a second and said, "you know what, yesterday I went to the gas station and payed $10 for gas for Brother Daniel to give rides but for some reason he didn't come today, maybe that's the reason." We went and got the gas without having to pay for it and helped the lady out. When we got back to her, her husband had woken up and told us how he was really drunk right then but that he wanted us to come help him get over it. Even though we were kinda skeptical we told him we would have some Elders go see them. The less active girl really had been prepared for a long time, as she told us her story, God has been preparing her for a long time. Finally the fifth miracle was also yesterday at a family home evening. We have been trying to get a investigator to church for a long time but because of some bad blood between her family and another family in the branch she didn't want to come. We invited her to a family home evening with that family last night and we had been praying and fasting (combined as a district to help us start to get the work progressing) that the lesson would go well and they would love one another. The father asked us to teach on Charity so we did and the spirit really changed hearts in that lesson. By the end, half the people were crying and the father and mother of one of the family started crying really bad and telling our investigator how sorry they were for being so rude to them and asked for forgiveness from them and hoped she wouldn't hate them. It was such a beautiful moment to sit back and watch the Spirit work with our investigators and members and really see them work together and love one another. I'm so grateful for the miracles we have seen this week and I know there is so much power in fasting. I know that by prayer and fasting all things all possible. I love you all and invite you all to do this and receive the blessings of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Hanson
Elder Hanson
September 11th, 2016: Becoming a Pohnpeian
They say you are what you eat so I think after my mission I'm going to be full blooded Pohpneian. This week we received and bought a lot of local food from these awesome people. We've had probably 30 coconuts in just the last week with two bunches of bananas and tons of local fish. These people truly are a blessed people and I'm so grateful I am able to serve them. This week we will be hiking up to some radio towers on Sokehs rock and looking out over all of Pohnpei. It's so cool to see the airport which is just a strip of land in the ocean and to see the little docks and things all around the island. Pohnpei truly is a one of a kind island. It has it's massive artillery guns and bunkers with all these little tunnels- it's super awesome. I truly wish you all could be here with me and we could see these things together but I guess that's something we will have to work for.
As for missionary work this week it was a good but fast week. It went by super fast and it's crazy to think that it's over now. We didn't have as many member present lessons as we wanted to have but we are getting better. We just got a Branch Mission leader and he lives next to us so we will be having a lot of meetings with him and start to get the work going. He told us last night about his plan to have every person from the ward pick one person that they want to fellowship and help receive a testimony and they will set up an appointment at their house and we will come and teach that person. It's just so awesome to see the members realizing and getting excited for the work. I hope they continue to have enthusiasm and want to really help their friends and families.
I've noticed that all around the world there is an increasing urgency for missionary work and the church as a whole is pushing this really hard. I think that the work really is hastening and the missionaries can't do it alone, it has to be the church, the full body that works together. We could say that the missionaries are the legs, the members are the arms and hands of God, the prophet is the head and guides the church with the priesthood being the heart and soul of the body of Christ. One without the other and the church would fall. That's why it's so important and the work works when we all work together. We challenged all of the members in our branch to find a friend and teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel, then gave them a pamphlet and told them they have till next week to give it away. I would invite all of you and especially my family at home to do the same. Ask the missionaries for a Restoration Pamphlet and Book of Mormon and find someone to give it to. Think of all the people in the church, if we just focused on one person, took ten minutes a day to focus on one other person we would have millions and millions of converts. Please be God's hands in this great work. Sometimes the legs get tired. We need your help!!
I love you all!
Elder Hanson
As for missionary work this week it was a good but fast week. It went by super fast and it's crazy to think that it's over now. We didn't have as many member present lessons as we wanted to have but we are getting better. We just got a Branch Mission leader and he lives next to us so we will be having a lot of meetings with him and start to get the work going. He told us last night about his plan to have every person from the ward pick one person that they want to fellowship and help receive a testimony and they will set up an appointment at their house and we will come and teach that person. It's just so awesome to see the members realizing and getting excited for the work. I hope they continue to have enthusiasm and want to really help their friends and families.
I've noticed that all around the world there is an increasing urgency for missionary work and the church as a whole is pushing this really hard. I think that the work really is hastening and the missionaries can't do it alone, it has to be the church, the full body that works together. We could say that the missionaries are the legs, the members are the arms and hands of God, the prophet is the head and guides the church with the priesthood being the heart and soul of the body of Christ. One without the other and the church would fall. That's why it's so important and the work works when we all work together. We challenged all of the members in our branch to find a friend and teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel, then gave them a pamphlet and told them they have till next week to give it away. I would invite all of you and especially my family at home to do the same. Ask the missionaries for a Restoration Pamphlet and Book of Mormon and find someone to give it to. Think of all the people in the church, if we just focused on one person, took ten minutes a day to focus on one other person we would have millions and millions of converts. Please be God's hands in this great work. Sometimes the legs get tired. We need your help!!
I love you all!
Elder Hanson
September 4th, 2016: Really Worshipping God & Time Flies
*Elder Hanson had a different P-Day last week because of the Zone Conference so he sent his email during the middle of the week. I combined it with this week.
Really Worshipping God
I would like to start off and tell each and every one of you how much I love you and miss you all. I know that we might be thousands of miles away but help is only a prayer away.
This week we had a special Zone Conference with Elder Yamishita of the Seventy, who is also going to be speaking in Conference soon, and President Zarbock. Zone Conferences are always super spiritual and they always help me answer all the questions I have. A couple weeks ago I realized that missionary work is work. Now I'm slowing figuring out and feeling that work. This week we worked hard and found a lot of people. Most were not interested in baptism but nevertheless we are finding more people. A new key indicator or rather a new number we report each week to show our work is the number of people being asked to be baptized. Our mission president was very bold but spoke the truth and told us that if we aren't asking people to be baptized and work towards that then why are we there. If we aren't asking them to change, we shouldn't be there in the first place. I feel like that principle is a general principle that we can apply to almost everything. If we don't ask people to do something with what we teach them, why did we teach them in the first place. I often try to use the things I learn here and think about how I will use it in my future life. I think of if we teach our children to never drink but never ASK them to actually do it and SHOW them we don't want them to do it, that teaching doesn't reach its full potential. Often times when I went to church and seminary we would have a great lesson where the Spirit was there and I learned alot but because I never used any of it afterwards, I forgot it all and the Spirit died down. This week we asked almost every person we had a lesson with if they would be baptized. I was amazed at how easy it was to find their concern so quickly and it really opened up their hearts. We received answers from "are you crazy, I'm a Baptist Preacher!" to "yes I would like that very much."
To be honest I am not the best missionary, nor will I ever be. I am not the smartest or the most spiritual. However one thing I have always tried to do is be the kind of person that if God asked me to do something, whether it be to tell someone something out of the ordinary or to do something that might seem peculiar that I would do it. This week at Zone Conference Sister Zarbock spoke of the word Worship. The first time it is used in the Old Testament is when Abraham was about to put Isaac on the altar to follow Gods command. The first time in the New Testament is also when a sacrifice was about to be made. Sometimes we think that all we have to do is show up to church and we are worshiping God. We fail to realize that that was never true worship, worshiping is like a cause and effect system. When we are actually putting something into church, when we are causing us to learn, the effect is the Spirit teaching us and blessings come more freely.
Speaking of this I would like to add a little from something that just happened. We are emailing in a computer lab and a member just came up and gave us food and drinks. She told us how she was a member from a local ward and that her daughter had served her mission in Hawaii. She told us how she wishes that people would have done those things to her daughter and she said that she wanted to show she cared.
This Sister Mark just showed her true worship to God. Sister Mark was just a miracle to two Elders she doesn't even know. She became a blessing to others and now in return I know she will receive her own blessings because of this. By the phrase "our actions define who we are" God is the ultimate blessing because all blessings come from Him. If we are truly trying to be like Jesus, let's show it. Let's bring something to the table. I last week could've done better, but this week I will be better. I love you all. See you soon!
Elder Hanson
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Time Flies!
This week flew by! We were so busy doing one thing after another and the whole week just flew by! We did a lot of work finding and meeting new people this week. We have really been talking to everyone and because of it we had a lot of lessons. We are starting to find more people to teach but our investigators are doing well. Baby is really doing well, we just need to wait for her mom to come from America for her to be baptized. Shenelly is doing awesome, except for actually coming to church. She is keeping the word of wisdom but she just needs to come to church. We re-met this family who is a part member family. They seemed kind of fake interested in us last time but this time they are really reading and really wanting to know. Their names are Darney, Balomo, Radon, and Angeles. They are actually reading and progressing and it's awesome! I'm so happy for them and they are really starting to change.
The biggest thing that happened this week was probably an exchange with our Zone Leaders. Elder Lee came here to Kitti and we had a blast together. I learned a lot! The biggest thing is to talk to everyone, and I mean everyone! We had so many lessons this week and met so many new people just by talking to everyone. We literally took an hour to make a ten minute walk because we just went back and forth across the street so we could talk with everyone! It was awesome! We met so many nice people and so many rude people this week. It was a hard week that had a lot of ups and downs but that's what a mission is! There wasn't anything super special this week and I know you all want a break from my emails so just know that I love you all and I think about you all in the ten seconds I'm not thinking of my investigators! I love you all soo much!
See you soon!
Elder Hanson
Really Worshipping God
I would like to start off and tell each and every one of you how much I love you and miss you all. I know that we might be thousands of miles away but help is only a prayer away.
This week we had a special Zone Conference with Elder Yamishita of the Seventy, who is also going to be speaking in Conference soon, and President Zarbock. Zone Conferences are always super spiritual and they always help me answer all the questions I have. A couple weeks ago I realized that missionary work is work. Now I'm slowing figuring out and feeling that work. This week we worked hard and found a lot of people. Most were not interested in baptism but nevertheless we are finding more people. A new key indicator or rather a new number we report each week to show our work is the number of people being asked to be baptized. Our mission president was very bold but spoke the truth and told us that if we aren't asking people to be baptized and work towards that then why are we there. If we aren't asking them to change, we shouldn't be there in the first place. I feel like that principle is a general principle that we can apply to almost everything. If we don't ask people to do something with what we teach them, why did we teach them in the first place. I often try to use the things I learn here and think about how I will use it in my future life. I think of if we teach our children to never drink but never ASK them to actually do it and SHOW them we don't want them to do it, that teaching doesn't reach its full potential. Often times when I went to church and seminary we would have a great lesson where the Spirit was there and I learned alot but because I never used any of it afterwards, I forgot it all and the Spirit died down. This week we asked almost every person we had a lesson with if they would be baptized. I was amazed at how easy it was to find their concern so quickly and it really opened up their hearts. We received answers from "are you crazy, I'm a Baptist Preacher!" to "yes I would like that very much."
To be honest I am not the best missionary, nor will I ever be. I am not the smartest or the most spiritual. However one thing I have always tried to do is be the kind of person that if God asked me to do something, whether it be to tell someone something out of the ordinary or to do something that might seem peculiar that I would do it. This week at Zone Conference Sister Zarbock spoke of the word Worship. The first time it is used in the Old Testament is when Abraham was about to put Isaac on the altar to follow Gods command. The first time in the New Testament is also when a sacrifice was about to be made. Sometimes we think that all we have to do is show up to church and we are worshiping God. We fail to realize that that was never true worship, worshiping is like a cause and effect system. When we are actually putting something into church, when we are causing us to learn, the effect is the Spirit teaching us and blessings come more freely.
Speaking of this I would like to add a little from something that just happened. We are emailing in a computer lab and a member just came up and gave us food and drinks. She told us how she was a member from a local ward and that her daughter had served her mission in Hawaii. She told us how she wishes that people would have done those things to her daughter and she said that she wanted to show she cared.
This Sister Mark just showed her true worship to God. Sister Mark was just a miracle to two Elders she doesn't even know. She became a blessing to others and now in return I know she will receive her own blessings because of this. By the phrase "our actions define who we are" God is the ultimate blessing because all blessings come from Him. If we are truly trying to be like Jesus, let's show it. Let's bring something to the table. I last week could've done better, but this week I will be better. I love you all. See you soon!
Elder Hanson
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Time Flies!
This week flew by! We were so busy doing one thing after another and the whole week just flew by! We did a lot of work finding and meeting new people this week. We have really been talking to everyone and because of it we had a lot of lessons. We are starting to find more people to teach but our investigators are doing well. Baby is really doing well, we just need to wait for her mom to come from America for her to be baptized. Shenelly is doing awesome, except for actually coming to church. She is keeping the word of wisdom but she just needs to come to church. We re-met this family who is a part member family. They seemed kind of fake interested in us last time but this time they are really reading and really wanting to know. Their names are Darney, Balomo, Radon, and Angeles. They are actually reading and progressing and it's awesome! I'm so happy for them and they are really starting to change.
The biggest thing that happened this week was probably an exchange with our Zone Leaders. Elder Lee came here to Kitti and we had a blast together. I learned a lot! The biggest thing is to talk to everyone, and I mean everyone! We had so many lessons this week and met so many new people just by talking to everyone. We literally took an hour to make a ten minute walk because we just went back and forth across the street so we could talk with everyone! It was awesome! We met so many nice people and so many rude people this week. It was a hard week that had a lot of ups and downs but that's what a mission is! There wasn't anything super special this week and I know you all want a break from my emails so just know that I love you all and I think about you all in the ten seconds I'm not thinking of my investigators! I love you all soo much!
See you soon!
Elder Hanson
August 21st, 2016: Back on Pohnpei
This week was a kind of up and down week. As we were saying bye to all of our new friends in Guam and telling them to keep strong and keep learning I also missed all the people in Pohnpei. While on Guam we learned a lot on really just how to be better missionaries. I got to see a lot of great work and get to know other missionaries around the mission better. I also got to know President Zarbock even more and talk to him about some things. I also got permission to learn Chuukese so I will be adding that to my Pohnpeian language study every day! Ran Allim!
As we got back to Pohnpei it seemed so foreign to me and new but it was like muscle memory kicked in and I just knew where to go and how to get there and everything, it was weird. Also we have been using a lot of the new things that we've learned in Guam and have been using them in Pohnpei and they are working miracles, literally! We have found so many new people in the three days we've been here it's ridiculously awesome! This week I have really been focusing on charity. I try to be a happy person that loves everyone but sometimes I am weak and judge others. I will not try to cover this fact but rather I want to share what I've learned in the past week. We are ALL BROTHERS and SISTERS and we are ALL in this together.
Yes I understand that this may be obvious to most but do we really understand this. For me I didn't. As we knocked on what seemed like an endless amount of doors I started to become discouraged. We had tried talking to so many people and no one, I repeat, no one wanted to hear from us. I decided that I could either continue to believe and act as though our message was foreign to these people and that it would take a miracle for anyone to want to hear and I starting thinking and acting as if it was something we were reminding them of. Because that's what we are doing. When people are close to God, that veil of forgetfulness becomes thinner and thinner, we start to remember things that we knew in the past life. For example, Jesus Christ, the very son of God, our Savior, redeemer, and our brother, even He when He was born forgot all. Yet because the veil between Him and His Father in Heaven was so thin we learned in 12 years more than the scribes and scholars had learned in a whole lifetime. I realized that if I truly wanted these people to learn about the Restored Gospel, if I really expected them to read and do those things which lead to baptism, I would have to show them in some way that God is more than just a thought and something that we teach about each week. I would need to help them create their own relationship with Him as a person not as a thought or a book. This simple change of perspective not only changed how I do missionary work, but changed how I act. Though I am still imperfect I have learned so many things. From meeting with the Yars, a young couple who are so prepared and ready for baptism, to an atheist who has not felt the warmth of her Father's love who is just a humble prayer away, yet so stubborn she wouldn't even try, I have learned one thing, that God will not and cannot take away our agency.
I know I am going off subject but I want to ask you all if we are using our agency to do good. Are we sharing the love that God has shown us in our lives with others. If not, change it. This world is a beautiful place but only if we let it. Meeting those people in Guam helped me realize just how beautiful Gods plan for us is and how He wants us to learn so much. I love you all and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Hanson
As we got back to Pohnpei it seemed so foreign to me and new but it was like muscle memory kicked in and I just knew where to go and how to get there and everything, it was weird. Also we have been using a lot of the new things that we've learned in Guam and have been using them in Pohnpei and they are working miracles, literally! We have found so many new people in the three days we've been here it's ridiculously awesome! This week I have really been focusing on charity. I try to be a happy person that loves everyone but sometimes I am weak and judge others. I will not try to cover this fact but rather I want to share what I've learned in the past week. We are ALL BROTHERS and SISTERS and we are ALL in this together.
Yes I understand that this may be obvious to most but do we really understand this. For me I didn't. As we knocked on what seemed like an endless amount of doors I started to become discouraged. We had tried talking to so many people and no one, I repeat, no one wanted to hear from us. I decided that I could either continue to believe and act as though our message was foreign to these people and that it would take a miracle for anyone to want to hear and I starting thinking and acting as if it was something we were reminding them of. Because that's what we are doing. When people are close to God, that veil of forgetfulness becomes thinner and thinner, we start to remember things that we knew in the past life. For example, Jesus Christ, the very son of God, our Savior, redeemer, and our brother, even He when He was born forgot all. Yet because the veil between Him and His Father in Heaven was so thin we learned in 12 years more than the scribes and scholars had learned in a whole lifetime. I realized that if I truly wanted these people to learn about the Restored Gospel, if I really expected them to read and do those things which lead to baptism, I would have to show them in some way that God is more than just a thought and something that we teach about each week. I would need to help them create their own relationship with Him as a person not as a thought or a book. This simple change of perspective not only changed how I do missionary work, but changed how I act. Though I am still imperfect I have learned so many things. From meeting with the Yars, a young couple who are so prepared and ready for baptism, to an atheist who has not felt the warmth of her Father's love who is just a humble prayer away, yet so stubborn she wouldn't even try, I have learned one thing, that God will not and cannot take away our agency.
I know I am going off subject but I want to ask you all if we are using our agency to do good. Are we sharing the love that God has shown us in our lives with others. If not, change it. This world is a beautiful place but only if we let it. Meeting those people in Guam helped me realize just how beautiful Gods plan for us is and how He wants us to learn so much. I love you all and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Hanson
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