Dec 20 2010

Feliz navidad. sounds like the fam is doing good. por fin tate finaly got his first deer. haha i got my first deer when i was like 7 and it was a 300 yard shot in the snow standing up in a tree. haha jk tate that is awesome i am proud of ya. but i am not proud that you are not shooting the ball in bball. if you want to win then shoot the ball. the worst that willl happen is it wont go in so shoot it every chance you get. so tiralo. that means shoot it. haha it sounds like everyone is having a great time. i liked the pics besides the fat one. haha i looked almost like a real mexican. jk but that was funny. i have actually lost weight here ive lost like 6 to 8 pounds of muscle. buts its ok i can stilll kick the trash out of tate. ahaha but this week was a bummer i am not going to lie. we knocked about 400 doors and got 13 news and maybe 2 of those will get baptized. it is frustrateing when you teach em all and they feel the spirit and then they reject it. i hate when that happens. we even ask them what do you have to do to know if this is true. they are like read pray and go to church and then they dont do it. it is frustrateing. but everyone has there agency but when they feel it and know it and then reject it is tough. but yeah. we did find some cool people though. we had a cool experience with this one family that we taught. we taught her and her 2 daughters and we asked her to pray at the end and we told her to ask if this church is true and she did it and started chokeing up and holding her chest and the spirit was way strong. she recieved her answer right there on the spot which was way sweet. but they didnt go to church so we need to focus on that with them this week. we didnt have any baptisms because guadalupe the one that backed out on us the other week had a wedding for her sister so we need to still talk to her. and madaline didnt go to church again this week and we even passed by her to go and she wasnt there or didnt wake up to answer the door. but on the bright side we have 3 baptisms planned for christmas which should be way fun. one her name is rosana she is our neighbor and the other is oliver and his mom. oliver is 18 and his moms name is weird i would have to look in my planner but they are way cool. also we might be able to baptize leonardo and his wife we are not sure. we are going to talk to president this week to see what we can do for them. . but we dont know so we are going to talk to pres and see because they want to get baptized. we did a special fast for them this week so pray that everything goes well. i love this work and i am so excited to talk to everyone not as excited as mom but i am excited. haha. but la verdad i have no clue when i am going to be able to call you guys because we are going to have those baptisms. i think we will do it in the morning and that would be best. so plan on us calling you in the morning but i am not sure depending on when we have the baptisms. so plan on getting a call in the morning. we are either going to use the phone in the hermanas house next to us or the phone at judiths. so am just going to call you from there and then you just call back so you pay for it. sound good? haha but sorry i dont have an exact time. it is because we are going to have a white christmas. haha but plan on getting a call in the morning. but yeah that is pretty much it for now. but i love you all and i will talk to you on christmas.
Elder hancock

Dec 13 2010

all is good here in aucapulco. i am aficialy staying here for another change which is a answer to my prayers. de verdad i didnt want to leave here because we have alot of people that can get baptized and alot of good investigators. this is really a area that is really growing and there are alot of people ready to recieve the gospel.

but like i was saying i love this area and i am still with elder roskelly. we realy get along really well and i believe that we make a really good team when we teach so that is good. this week we when to a old peoples home or casa de ancianos and we hung out with them from like 10 to 5 in the afternoon. it was way fun. there was a lady there that had read the whole book of mormon and is like yeah i know this book is true and she was like 90 it was pretty cool. the house is like right in front of where we live and we had no idea that it was there. there is a huge fence so we had no idea what was behind it. but it was way fun. we played bingo with all of them and that helped me learn alot of new words in spanish so that was good. i helped feed this dude that couldnt feed himself. i also taught a 90 year old the joseph simth story and then i also all the workers there talked to us and i contacted them so all in all it was a really good experience. before that on tuesday this week. we were going to visit leaondardo and his wife to see if they got there birth certificates to see if they can get married but they werent home and i saw this girl sitting in the front door. and i told my comp hey we need to talk to them. we did and turns out the grandma is there and is a member but wants nothing to do with the church. we taught the daughter and grandaughter and i told them straight up that we had no clue that that lady was a member and we felt we should talk to them and was like there is no coincidences and i know they felt the spirit but they were scared to admit it because of their mom and grandma. but that was pretty cool. also we had more divisions this week because we had people that needed to get intervviewed to be baptized. so i stayed here and had elder carlos our zone leader with me. it was alot of fun. we found alot of cool people throughout the day just always haveing in your mind that your going to find walking from cita to cita even when you are busy. also the other day on like the 12th was a mexican holiday for the virgin guadalupe that the catholic church worshipes here and we saw this kid that we have taught before and we were like why didnt you go to church and he was like i dont know and we were like well go tomorrow and he is like i cant and we were like why not and he said because of this holiday for the virgin guadalupe . after reading the book of mormon. in reality alma and amulek and ammon and all of them just told people how it was and in reality we need to be like that too. yeah we need to have love and charity but when something is wrong then its wrong. i thought you guys would like that story. haha but this week we had 2 baptisms that fell through because one is she wantsto have her uncle come and he couldnt come this week so we are doing it this next week. the other one is named guadalupe and she lives with a member family because her husband is a member. this week she was way pumped to get baptized. she had been having problems with her mom telling her stuff and her mom and we told her. who doesnt want you to get baptized and she was like satan and we were like who wants you to get baptized and she was like god. and we said who are you going to follow and she said god and she was way pumped and stufff and we were going to do it right before church and we got a call that morning that she didnt want to do it. we talked to the fam at the church and they said she was with her mom after the interview so we are going to go back and talk to her. she knows it is true and has felt the spirit so i think she will come around. but we did have 2 conformations so for this month we already have 4 and we have alot more to go so we are pumped this week. today we got a new zone leader with elder carlos and elder norris left. im going to miss elder norris he was way cool but he new dude seems cool too but yeah that is pretty much it for the day. we dont have meetings today so thats why we are typing a little later. but everything is going good here. we had 9 investigators at church this week which was good but the bad thing is 6 need to get married. haha so we really need to work and that and help them. but yeah this was my week. and sounds like everone is doing great in texas. i love you all and am gratefull for all your support.

ps. i heard today i have a bunch of packages in cuernavaca so i should get them the 23rd so they did get there.

con amor, elder hancock

Dec 6 2010

hello fam. it sounds like all is good in texas. this week was a great week. yesterday we confirmed judith and we baptized her daughter that just turned 8 after church. and before church we baptized suzie. she is 9 and her sister is a member and her grandparents are really strong members. her parents are investigating the church and the dad told us he is 70 percent sure that the church is true. the spirit was really strong at the baptism and we are going to talk with them this week and try and see if we can set a baptism date for the parents. so sunday was a busy day for us. we still need to confirm yuritzy. we stopped by their house and the dad said that he couldnt make it to church because of a problem with his son. so she didnt come. the story with them is that they know the church is true and they have desire to go but they are dirt poor. you saw the picture of all the little girls that they have. . he said that he really wants to got to the temple with his family and be sealed. we didnt even teach him that and he told us that. so they are way cool. they just have alot of trials that they need to overcome. but yuritzy is awesome she knows everything that we have taught her and more. we will make sure she makes it to church this week. this week we found this cool kid his name is oliver. he is 18 and i knocked his door and talked to him. i asked him if he believed and god and religion and something like that and he was like he had his douts and i was like what kind. he said like why are there so many churches and confusion and stuff. i was like well let me tell ya about someone that had that same doubt. it was way cool he really liked it and accepted to be baptized. he just didnt go to church this week so we will see what happened there. he probably just didnt wakeup on time. and slept in. . haha but another way cool experience was we knocked the house of this lady her name was melina and her friend was there and her name was karina. at frist they didnt seem like they were listening really well to our lesson about the restoration and then melina started to open up and tell us that she went to one of our churches when she was in the u.s. she said that she felt peace and comfort there. i told her that we pray every night where we need to go as missionarries and us being there is no coincidence and when i said that karina began to cry when i said that and i just bore my testimony and we asked her what was up. and karina told us a experience she had that one day when she was feeling depressed and alone. she prayed and went to bed and had a dream where she saw a man dressed and white and his hands where spread out and extended toward her. she said she felt comfort and peace and she wasnt alone. she said that last night she felt the same way and began to pray and she had the same dream last night that she had had before. she said that when i said that there was no coincidences that she felt that same peace and love that she felt and she was crying all through this story and she was like i feel it here and held her heart. she was feeling the spirit way strong and so were we. i felt it way strong when she was telling her story. we comitted to baptism and to go to church. we told them that they would feel the same peace and comfort if they went and they didnt come. i feel they will bebaptized but we need to stress the importance of church again. we had 5 in church so that wasnt bad but we should have alot more. but that was a way cool experience this week. God really is prepareing those that are ready for the gospel we just need to find them or members need to find them and then tell us. haha but yeah this week was good.we should continue to have alot of success this month which is good. we have changes this saturday and dont know if we are leaving i dont want to because of all of out success that we have lined up but we will see. my comp has been in the same zone here his whole mission so who knows. haha but i sent some pics one is a family that is in the ward. he is the patriarch with the hat he is so funny. they are way cool. we dont have a bishop right now because he moved out of the area so that answeres that question. haha. but yeah everything is good here and i am loving every min of it. tell the kids i love em and to keep up the good work. and thank you mom and dad for all you do. i still have'nt got the packages. i dont know whats up.i have faith i will get them. christmas should be good. i will write you the details about that next week. but love ya i got to go. elder hancock

November 29 2010

que paso......... whats up fam. things are going really good here in mexico. yesterday was a little disapointing but it is all good. we had our baptism this week on saturday with yuritzy. she is like 10 or 11 and she is going to be the next profeta. she is way smart. when we teach her and her family she is the one answering all of the questions. we baptized her in the beach in front of the princess hotel. it was pretty cool. the problem was she didnt make it to church this week and didnt get confirmed. her mom got called into work and her dad got sick. so this week she needs to go to church. and also judith still hasnt got confirmed either. she got a new boss and her scheduale has been crazy. she knows she needs to got to church so we are going to help her with that this week. so this month we baptized 6 and only confirmed 4. so our monthly goal was 5 so we didnt get it because they havent been confirmed yet. but its all good. we are going to plan to teach all of our investigators of the importance of recieveing the gift of the spirit and the importance of going to church. this month we have the possibility to baptize 9 this month. so we are excited to go to work and try to lead the mission with baptisms this month. we can do it but people need to go to church. so that is whats going to happen. but that is awesome that you guys had a fun thanksgiving. me and my comp for thanksgiving planned 2 dinner appointments instead of 1 haha. it was fun. this p day as a zone and another zone we went bowling. it was way fun. haha i had to show everyone all up like always. haha but thats cool that joel has been doing really good. i love that kid. he sent me a little note. did the fam in utah get to go see him play. also i wanted to wish you and dad a happy anniversary and thank you guys for being awesome parents for me. you are both great examples to me and have always been there for me. thank you. but yeah this was pretty much my week this week. we have this month set up really well to have alot of baptisms we just need to go to work and do it. we are way pumped. also it sounds like teisha had alot of fun on her trip. and sounds like tate is ready to tear it up in basketball. it is crazy how every one is all growing up. i remember when i tried out for basketbal in the seventh grade and all that stuff. it is nuts how time flys. but the language is coming. there are still times in lessons when i dont know what is going on. lessons i understand really well. its when i get out of lessons i need to learn alot more. so im trying to work on that and try to talk to as many people i can to learn as fast as possible. i still catch myself makeing stupid little mistakes. so i need to continue working hard on that. but yeah that is pretty much it for this week. just time to go to work for this new month and do our best. but love you all so much. oh yeah i havent got the packages yet because the zone leaders havent been in cuernavaca to get them yet. so i should get them this week. so dont worrry. . but love you all so much.

elder hancock

Nov 22 2010

thanks fam for all the updates. sounds like everyone is doing great. that is awesome that tate ison the ateam. also itis good to hear that joel is doing way good. i love that kid. tell him that he needs to get baptized and the only reason he is balling is because i taught him everything that he knows. haha. also tell jron that he needs to be baptized as well. they all need to listn to the missionarries and get baptized. haha but i am serious. that is good that tim is doing good. tell joel and tim and all of them that they can email me. they are my brothers so they can send me a quick note. all the mail takes too long here and it is way expensive so it would be fine if you gave them my email. also all our fam members too like cousins and stuff. but that is good that you got to go see cj play and hang out with him. but this week was good. we had a baptism for sunday but the family didnt show up for some reason. they are way cool so we are going to find out what happened tonight. she will get baptized this week though. the parents really want to be baptized too but isreal the dad needs to divorse his wife that lives and the states and get married to his girlfriend that he is with now he really wants to and is doing everything he can to get it done. we fasted for him and the other couple that need s to get married. we talked with the 1st counsilor in the bishop ric and they are going to help with money. so that will be good. i know fasting and prayer is power so it will all work out if they continue to do there part. we have had to drop a few people week which is sad. last week we dropped the couple we met in the cab that were suppost to be our first baptisms. they dont understand the aurthority and we were bold and plain with them that the church they go to doesnt have the authority and fullness of the gospel. we were really plain and bold with them and dropped them it was sad to see because they know so much but arent willing to sacrifice just a little to go to church. it stinks to drop people but if they cant progress we need to find others that will. but it is all good. we had a cool experience this week that goes right along with the quote that you gave me today. we went to these investigators to set appointments and after we were going to contact so we talked to them and went to contact. we already contacted this whole area we were at or thought we did. and i look over and this gate was open to this whole other area we hadnt seen before and we went in and first door was a inactive member and she let us in. and all of her grandkids and kids that live with her are member and inactive. she has one daughter that isnt and we talked and talked to her. we made it clear that we were lead by the spirit to be here and it was a powerful lesson. we teach her again this week so hopefully it goes well. she has been taugtht before but we feel this is her time now. oh and a funny story , but this week this older lady like 50 or so. when we left the house i shook her hand and she pulled me in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. it all happened so fast i didnt know what to do. haha so yeah you gave someone a hug this week and someone gave me a kiss this week. and i am fine with food and all that. i have money and stuff so i am good. i ate a really hot small pepper this week at a members house and thought i was going to die but i survived. ha ha. oh and this week we had zone conference with the pres and his wife. they came here for a day and taught us some good stuff. they are so funny his wife is taller than him and they are awesome. haha but it was a good conference. he talked about alma 32 and how the word of god is compared to a seed. i love that chapter. he applied this to missionary work. it was way good. i learned alot. oh and we can baptize whereever we want too as long as there is enough water. and the ocean was not dangerous. we would of been just fine. hermana marian just worries too much. . she is 65 and looks like she is 40. . i told her what you said and that your thankful and stuff. she said that you can come stay with her any time. she has five houses and no one lives in them. ahaha but shes funny. but yeah we baptize whereever the investigator wants too. that is sad to hear that hermana dube passed away. that is crazy. make sure you pass my condolances with the family. also you better of sold my michael jorden jersy for bro pruett. i forgot to tell you to do that. so you better do that for him. but yeah i think that is all from here. if your sending another package i now need sandals because i left them at the zone leaders house and we met them today and they left my stuff and my comps stuff on the buss. so they lost my sandals my air force shorts and a nike shirt. so some day i might see a mexican where my air force shorts. ahaha but i need more nike sandals. ahaha. but i think that is all. i love you all so much. i should have 2 more baptisms this week. so it should be a goood. week. i love this gospel and i love talking to the people here. i am starting to teach better i feel. oh yeah also this week we found a neighbor right by us that lived in utah for a long time and knows about the church. he had a girl friend that was a member and he had a kid with her. his kid still lives there and is being raised in a mormon family. he is married now here in mexico but he was telling us about his life and really opened up to us. he was in jail and had a jailmate that had a book of mormon and he would read it out loud. he said that he felt peace and comfort when the old man read the book of mormon out loud and it made him to want to change. he said how he wants to help kids out to stay off the streets and all these good things but doesnt know how. it was all in english and was weird to teach in english. like it was hard to teach principles in english but it was much easier for me to take the experiences he shared and apply it to the gospel and how it will help him in his life. i want to be able to do that in spanish. at times i dont understand there experiences fully when they just go off in spanish. like i know the general idea most of the time but i sometimes i miss important details that i could relate to the gospel. thats why i use the spirit but i feel im getting better each day with my spanish. so i keep working. but who would of thought we would of found a mexican that lived in utah for most of his life. hahaa it was sweet. that was another miracle this week. so god knows his children and knows who we need to find. we just need to find them. so we got to keep up the good work this week. i love you all. thanks for all of your support and prayers it really means alot to me. love you and i will talk to next week.

Nov 15 2010

what up fam. we have a district meeting in a hour so i cant be on too long. but this week was pretty crazy. our baptisms did go through wich was way cool but satan certainly did all he could to stop it but he will never win. lets just say that prayer is power and satan will never win. and yesterday we baptized them but before we were going to do it in a tank thing but she text us while we were with the zone leaders eating and she didnt have the key to it. so we met them at the beach and the member we live by wouldnt let us go in the beach because she said it was too dangerous so she talked to this security guard and we got into this nice hotel right next to the beach and baptized them in the huge pool it was sick. haha the spirit was strong and it was way cool. we baptized her, her 22 year old son and her 10 year old daughter. it was way cool. we also had our stake conference this week and had a investigator there that knows for shure this is the true church. elder bednar and elder Erying spoke and it was way good. elder bednar compared inspiration to when we walk in a dark room and turn on the light. he said this doesnt happpen verry often but what does happen often is like in the morning when the sun rises gradually and recieve inspiration like that. he even said alot of times its a foggy day but you still know the sun is riseing. so most of the time you dont know your thoughts and actions are guided by the spirtit but they are. that is like every day on the misison. we dont know exactly every thought and every where we are guided is by the spirt but every day we knock a door and find a escogido or a inactive member we know we are being lead by the spirit. those type of things are not coincidences but they are not these big inspirations that make us go where we go. its like the sun when it gradually rises in the morning. i really liked that. then pres ireing talked on heritage. and i thought that was cool because the people we are teaching are from the heritage of the people in the book of mormon. so that was way good. today we played bball and volleyball at the church that was fun. haha but sounds like all is good in texas and tate had a good year in football and teisha is doing good in tennis. keep up all the great work. and make sure to tell all the youth to not be afraid to open their mouth and share the gospel to their friends. all of our baptisms have come from friends of members. all 5 of my baptisms are from freinds from members. it is so important that a investigator has a friend. tell them to have family nights with the missionarries and the missionarries teach the lesson in family night and they invite their friends. it is fun for the family the friends and for the missonarries. this is one of the best ways i think. so have them invite friends to their family nights and have the missionarries come over. it doesnt have to be just monday they can do that other days of the week. when they feed the misisonarries invite a friend to come over to eat as well. if they are afriad to talk about the gospel that is why the misisonarries are there. the missionarries will know what to do. but yeah thats pretty much all i got for this week. we knocked this ladies house this week that just started crying when she saw who we were so we will see how she ends up. it was nuts. but just little things like this are awesome and remimds me each day i am doing the lords work. i love it and love mexico. haha oh and yess i want a backpack that has that water pack in it but dont make it too big. just big enough to carry my scriptures but yes i want one of those. but love yall verry much. nos vemos.

Nov 8th 2010

thanks fam for all the updates. i dont have that much time so i will try to type really fast. this weeks was really awesome. we found 28 new investigators this week and we had a whole convey or van full of investigators to church. the lady that we live by is a member and she hooks us up. she is a doctor here. she gives us food each night and even offered to do our laundry but we wouldnt let her. she was inactive at first but now she is on fire. she has been loading us with references and all of her references went to church. this one reference her name is judith is awesome. she has a son that is 22 and 2 little daughters her husband died and she has cancer. we gave her and her family blessings last sunday and have taught them this week. they are getting baptized this saturday. she got up and bore her testimony in church and she sounds like a member already. it was really cool. she gave us all of her coffee that she drinks every day and her son gave up smokeing. the gospel has really changed their lives in a week and a half and she is over her depression and stuff. it was really cool. we are teaching her neihbors right next to her and the husband owns the van and is the one that gave everyone a ride to church. they know the church is true as well and are getting baptized in 2 weeks. they joined a lesson this week so we taught 2 families at once and they want to do it again this week. its nuts. is us 2 white dudes teaching like 20 mexicans at once. haha its awesome. So out of the 28 people we found 11 came to church and they were all references from a member. so give the missionarries references. us missionarries shouldnt even have to knock doors. the members should have a desire to share the gospel and go with the missionarries to them and it is almost a guarantee baptism but the members need to do their part. so do your part. haha but we also knocked this door this week and this lady told us that she just felt she needed to talk to us and she wants to get baptized to and has stopped smokeing. we taught this other lady that told us this crazy experience when she was in a coma and was up with christ and they were about to pull the plug but he told her she had more work to do. it was crazy she wants to be baptized too but she has to get married so might take a little longer. and the parents of the kids that we baptized are on fire but they still need to be marrried and get all the paper work worked out. but yea today was a awesome week. we met all of our goals this week and were really blessed. we just need to keep up the good. work. it sounds like teisha had a fun time. i want some pics. tate keep up the good work in the sports.haha i like what dad said about there is never a bad day working for the lord. it is true. its all good. today we went to the beach and played beach football. it was alot of fun there were 8 of us. it was sweeet. its beautiful here. no we dont have restrictions on being home early. we are safe dont worry mom. and yes i want lot and lots of food. what ever food you can stuff. give it to me. haha also i can have a air force hat here. i wear my air force gear everywhere. so yes i can wear the hat. but yeah all i can think of is food. and find me a sick vintage tie. haha and yeah get my comp a texas shirt and a tie or something with lots of food. all i can think i want is food. so give me food. next week ill try to send you picks i dont have time now. but all is good here. love you lots.

Week 3 in Mexico no letter last week Nov 1 2010

Disculpe me for not finding another place to finish my email. we were at a members house that had 2 computers and the computer my comp was on didnt work and that was at like 5 in the afternoon and we had a district meeting after so we looked for a internet place and couldnt find one by the church so i couldnt finish writeing you. so i am sorry. i am ok and everything is fine mother. haha this past 2 weeks we have really worked very hard and there have been a few days where you knock or yell because they dont have doors and people just dont except it and it is hard to see but they have their agency. every contact i do i try to bear testimony because i feel that is the best way for people to feel the spirit . i feel there are people that wouldnt of listened but we bear our testimony and the heart is opened to hear the gospel. but let me start by answering all of moms questions. the work is going well. we have had a few dissapointments this week but also some cool experiences. Not this past sunday but last sunday we had 6 people to church and this week we had 9 to church which was good. we stress that to everyone we talk to that the only way that they are going to recieve an answer for themselves is if they go to church. it is a big act of faith for alot of people here to just go to church and those that have come have felt the spirit. One thing that stunk this week is Suzana just moved yesterday to mexico city. She was a investigator that we became really close to we told her she came to church she did her reading and praying but was saying that she hasnt recieved an answer. We asked her if she recieved an answer if she would be willing to change and follow the answer she recieved and that was hard for here because all of her family is catholic. We made her that promise because that would show that she had to the faith to change . that kind of stunk because we know she feels it. she even told us that she sees a light in us and thats why she let us in. She is just not willing to act yet. And also the old couple that i contacted in the cab my first week didnt get baptized this week. that was disapointing. once it got closer and closer to their baptism date they started to fear i think. They feel that it is easier to just keep going to the church that they are going to than going to ours. They told us the book of mormon is true but they havent recieved an answer. We promised them that if they were willing to be baptized on the date we set them and prayed that night they would get an answer and they wernt willing so that stunk. this week were going to focus on authority and how important the preisthood is. but we did baptize this week which was really cool. my first baptism. It was the family of 4 that lives in front of the first counsoler in the bishopric. it was pretty cool. i think it was like my first week here we taught them the first vision and the dad loved it. he really felt the spirit and the next lesson we taught the plan and committed to baptism for this next week. but last lesson we found out that they were married in the catholic church and that isnt valid or something so they need to get married before they can get baptized so we are working with them on that. we baptized there daughters this week and it was pretty cool. there names are lili and pili. lili is 10 and pili is 14. it was really cool i feel their parents felt the spirit way strong. So we had success. we conferm them next week. it is cool how the lord knows where his children are. this week we had not success and all our appointments feel through because their not home or they say they are too busy. thats one thing that stinks is people here have not schedule. some dont even know when they go to work or get home from work. but anyways we found this street and found 4 inactive familys in the same street. also one day we knocked the door of this guy Miguel that is our age and without even saying anything just lets us in and is like ya im going to church this week with my friend. so the lord knows who is ready we just need to find them. another story we were knocking this street and i knocked this door and these 2 girls came and then just hid and i didnt think anything of it and just left and at church they came to church with there mom with a member and were like mom those 2 guys came to our house and last night. we gave them all blessings because the mom has cancer and is haveing a hard time. we told her it wasnt coincidence that we knocked her door and her friend invited her to church. we teach them on wendesday which should be good. that is a family of 5. so the key is planning out your day well and the lord will put people in your path according to your plan. thats why it is key to plan and follow the spirit. I feel that i am starting to understand alot more. which is good. and starting to express myself better. at times i have no clue what is going on and at times i understand everything. So i just need to keep working hard and keep opening my mouth. Oh one funny story was this week we were traveling in a van. the way we get around is either a bus that is 5 pesos a van that is 6 pesos or a cab that is 12 pesos. so that is how we get around. we walk alot too. and some times we are climbing the mountains of acapulco which is alot of fun. haha but its all good. but we were in this van of like 11 people and i just turn to my comp`and was like watch this. i just started contacting all the peolple in the van at once. i was like have yall talked to missionaries like us before no one said anything and i just stated our purpose and bore my testimony and committed all to baptism and 2 said yes. haha i feel its a good way to see who really wants to hear the gospel and then when we knock their door they know who we are. my comp thought i was nuts. haha but it was fun. im here to open my mouth and i feel the more i open my mouth the faster i will learn the language. so that was fun. i see if i can do that again this week. haha but my time is winding up. yes i like my comp and he is awesome. and we spend alot of time with the zone leaders because they are in our ward. they are funny. we did splits with them last week and this week. it is fun to learn from other missionarries. i went to elder carlos to his area and we just went from lesson to lesson. it was way fun. they were all just short and powereful and then we go to the next one. it was fun. 2 of the people i taught with him got baptized also so that was cool to see. our ward is really good. the members that go are strong and since we have been there we have more and more investigators. 2 weeks ago combined with the zone leaders we had 21 investigators to church and this week we had 15 so we need to keep that up so we can make a new ward in colosio where we live so the members dont have to go so fare. but yeah all is good i am safe and i love every mineute of it. oh yeah we found this gym that we run to each morn and lift for 30 min and run back. it has made me be more awake each day and it has been fun to lift a little. thanks for all the prayers and all yall do for me. Teisha im sorry i cant find a place to mail you stuff but i love you and i wish you a happy birthday. i cant believe that your 16 that is crazy. just let all the boys that i can have call up my friends in texas and teach em a lesson or two if they dont treat you right. haha but i love you all and i will talk to you next week.

P.S. Mom i sleep fine. haha and dad you need to find a place in texas that has Tacos al pastor it is the best.
Love Elder Hancock

Tuckers in MEXICO Letter 1 Oct, 18 2010

Estoy en mexico. Por fin. haha it has been a crazy week. it has been nuts but i love it. on the plane i sat by a member and talked to her the whole flight or at least tried to. we stayed the first night in the mission home and we ate at the pres house. he gave us pizza he and his wife are really nice. the first night we just went walking around this big park place in Cuernavaca and there were a bunch of people just chillin and haveing a good old time just talking to friends and family. me and elder woodcox just went handing out pass along cards and they prob had no clue what we said and we def had no clue what they said. haha I feel like i know no spanish at all. i am starting to comprehend better but i really need to work work and work more. i feel bad because i have to tell people to repeat stuff alot haha. but i got my companion on tuesday his name is elder roskelly. he is from Ogden and he went to weber high. he knows Mark so you should ask mark about him. he graduated the same year i did. Gentrie might know him. he said he has heard her name before. but he is a really cool kid. he has been in mexico for 4months. he has blond hair and blue eyes like me. so we are two gringoes walking among the lamamites. haha but it is all good.we are serving in one of the beautifulist places in acapulco in a place called colosio. it is awesome. the views when we take cabs and stuff our awesome. it is blazeing hot though. haha but its is all good. it is humid like texas so i have prob lost 10 pounds just being here. but thats ok. i just sweat everything off. we are opening a new area. there have been no missionarries here for months and our area book that they left us isnt that great and our area that we have is huge so we have alot of work to do but its all good. im up for the challenge. we have been working hard to find people. the first day we just started finding people close to where we first lived. we lived in the bishops old house and it was next to a member. the house did have air conditioning but it didnt work. but we went contacting and this week we have found 12 investigators and only 1 went to church this week. that is the hard thing around here. we are on the far side of acapulco and the church is like 40 min away and people either work or they dont have money to take a taxi or but. there is always exuses and it is a big problem because we found really great people but they cant progress if they dont go to church so we planned yesterday and came up with some ideas. We need to use the members that have cars to help us.we need to help them set goals in the week to give up something they dont need and save money in the week so they can go to church on sunday. they need to know that church is very important. but really our area is nice my comp said but there are alot of humble homes and acapulco is a humble city. its not even a city i think but it is very humble. i taught a lesson and they have a shack and dirt floors. so be grateful for what we have back home. but the investigator that did come to church was good. her name is Susana and she has 2 little kids and her husband is away working and she doesnt know how long he will be. we found her just knocking doors and she just let us in. we taught the first lesson and that went well. my comp teaches and i just bear testimony and share scriptures i need to work on explaining points better so they can understand me but i just bear testimony.haha but we taught her again and she is keeping her commitments and we committed her to come to church and she said she would and my comp said to her that Satan doesnt want her to go and something might come up like someone getting sick and sure enough her little baby got sick and she said she thought of us when it happened but the baby was better. but we walked by on friday or saturday and she was out on her porch about to smoke and we come walking up and teach her the word of wisdom just right there. it was perfect timing. haha but she just stayed for sacrament and i had to talk. that was interesting. i just got up and kind of winged it. but it was all good. I just try to talk to everyone that is by me when we are walking and stuff or on buses and taxis. you never know if someone is interested in the gospel unless you open your mouth so i have been doing that and in this taxi i talked with this older couple and i taught them a quick lesson on the cab and set a appointment and they loved it. they told us they couldnt go to church this week but we are certain they will this week. i feel they are ready for the gospel. my comp says i am a escogito magnent.esogito is like a chosen person. thats what we call investigatorsl. at first he was a little down and about the opening a new area but he said he hasnt talk to this many cool people in lessons before. i mean we have had great lessons and the people love it but they dont come to church so that is what we are working on this week.the people really open up once you get to know them. some of the experiences i have no clue what they said but my comp does and he tells me and im like are you serious. i missed that. so i need to comprehend alot better. so i need to work on that. but i am loveing it. we havent had a normal day yet. one day our zone leader came banging on our door at like 11:30 because he was on exchanges with the assistants and they just left him.he is a native that is fluent in spanish. he is so funny. he was banging on our door and we didnt have a bed so we had to go to his house that night so he wasnt alone. the next day we had lunch with this lady and she showed us this house she would rent us and it was way better than the one house we were in. it is furnished and has airconditioning that works. we are one of the only ones to have airconditioning which is sweet. this lady gives us fruit and food and hooks us up. she helped us wash are clothes and she let us use her stuff so we moved like on friday to this new house in our area. So basicly we got the hook up now. hhaha but yea this has been a crazy week. we went to a market today with the zone leaders and i got a nacho libre mask for tate. i dont know how to mail it but i couldnt find teisha a ring. i will have to keep my eye out. but life is crazy here and i am loveing it. me and my comp have alot of work to do and i have alot to learn. but i have 3 people from my district in my zone which is cool in the mtc. woodcox is one of them. one more quick story is a guy came on his motorcycle and stoped us and he is a member and wants to change his life back to normal. he speaks english and lived in salt lake for like 16 years. he is 30 and lives with his girlfriend we talked to him yesterday and wants to change his life so that was pretty cool. while trying to find members houses to eat we run into inactives and people that god loves them so much. like people give us wrong directions and we find someone that needs us that we wouldnt of found if we didnt get wrong directions. god knows his children thats why i need to listen to the spirit and open my mouth. LOve you fam and thanks for all the support.Elder Hancock

Final Letter from the MTC #12 Oct 8 2010

Hey whats up fam. This week has been awesome and crazy. All the prayers have been answered and i am leaving on Monday for mexico. I am really excited to leave. On Monday we still didnt hear anything on our visas and as a district we decided to all knell down and pray and each of us said a individual prayer praying for our visas. After we did that we just sang some hyms as a district. In the middle of Be still my soul we all got called down to the travel office. Lets just say prayer changes things!!!! So we all run down to the travel office and everyone is going to the consolate but me. Everyones name was highlighted but mine. I was like are you serious. Im not going to lie i was disapointed that my whole distrct could go and i couldnt. They were going to leave at like 1:15 that was at 11:30. i asked what the problem was and they said i just didnt have my visa and hopefully they would call and i could go later in the week. So after that i go with my comps and eat lunch and go with them to get their suits and stuff so they could leave for salt lake to the Consolate. My comps told me to change as well and get my suite so i did hopeing that i would get to be able to go. I changed my suite and we prayed as a companionship that we could all go to the consolate together. So we leave our rooom and go back to the travel office and i ask if they had a call and they didnt. So i left the travel office and was walking to the cafateria to find someone to make a comp exchange with and Elder Stapely runs me down and says that the travel office just recieved a call that they had my visa and i could go to the Consolate. Lets just say Prayer is Power and Prayer Changes things. The faith and love of my companions really taught me alot. SO i was able to go to the consolate with my whole district and we leave Monday. We prob could of left earlier but our mis pres cant pick us up till monday. I am way pumped.

SO that was the miracle that happened this week. I also saw uncle glen in the temple which was fun. It sounds like he told ya. That is awesome that tate won his game and he played great. Keep up the great work and keep calling your own plays. haha It sounds like teisha did awesome too and is getting better each week. Also i get to call ya'll tomorrow so i'm going to call around 5-6. I can only talk for 5 min but i give you more of the update. I leave the MTC at 6 in the morning and it is a direct flight to Mexico. I fly Delta i think. Today i got to get all packed and all that stuff. Im going to send a package today so be ready for that. But Mom you dont have to worry about the situational awareness for me. You must of forgot where i went to school. haha My Comps give me crap every day for going to the air force cuz the random missionaries i have no clue come up and say oh your the kid that played at air force. My comps give me crap each day about that. haha

OH and i just wanted to thank you Mom and Dad for all that you have done for me. i really felt your love when Elder Holland spoke about the love of his parents for him. i just want to thank you for what great parents and examples you are for me. I know that you do all that you can for me and i know that im spoiled. haha And Teisha and Tate make sure you listn to mom and dad in everything they tell you. I cant remember who made the list of what to do as a parent but i know mom and dad did everything on that list so listn to em and DO IT.

I love you all so mucha and cant wait to talke to ya tomorrrow. TOday we said goodbye to all the Laundry workers in the temple we have made good friends with. The latin culture is so loveing. haha I love yall so much. Thank Joane for me for sams letters. Sam is so funny. haha

Love, Elder Tucker Hancock

MTC Letter #11 Oct,1st 2010 Still Waiting!!!

Hola familia!! Como Estan? First of all i am convinced that my mission call has been changed to the MTC. We went to the travel office today and they tell us the same thing evertime. Oh just come by tomorrow. They said they are hopeing that we will go to the consolate on monday or Tuesday but that is what they have been saying for the past 2 weeks so hopefully they are right this time. I am ready to go. I am going to be here longer than all my Chinese Taiwan friends. They all leave on Monday so yes they are all still here in the MTC. But they leave monday while im still chillin here. But its all good. I have had a good attitude about it, it just is a little frustrateing. Me and My Comps Elder Payne and Woodcox are makeing the most of it which is good. The temple has been awesome to go to. Today was really cool. We did sealings again this week and i swear almost every page had Mary and Margrett on it so i know that i have a fan club watching over me. That was a nice tender mercy in the temple today. I miss Grandma. How is grandpa doing? i need to write him another letter. There was just this one girl that is friends with one of the missionarries in my distric and she did mini mission thing where she stayed at my Miss pres house in Cuernavaca and went on splits every day in Mexico with missionaries. She just wrote me about Cuernavaca and how awesome it is so that was that. I prob have a whole bunch of letters waiting for me in Mexico. haha but for all the missionarries waiting i think there is like 30 or 40 of us but im not sure. I know there are 9 missionarries in my district and we are all waiting to get out of Spiritual Prison. haha Did i tell you that i am in a threesome companionship. It is me elder payne and elder woodcox. Elder Woodcox is the new . he and elder nelson were our roomates and elder nelson left 2 weeks ago and has been in Georgia. He is serving there until he gets his visa for Bolivia. So the three amigos have been doing great. I feel like we are going nuts and it is time to leave. haha We come up with all kinds of crazy stuff. We have our own version of spanish and we make up our own verbs, so hopefully we dont use them in mexico because people will have no clue whats going on. haha it is harder to teach but we study good together. Elder Woodcox was basicly fluent in spanish when he came in so he has helped alot in that aspect. which is good. That stinks that Tate lost. Do they let him run the ball in 14 or 15 counter? Those where my favorite plays. That stinks that texas lost you need to tell blake to Hombre Arriba. haha But thats good that air force won. Is air force ranked? Im glad that Brandon got his letter. how is he doing with his leg? . I cant wait for conference it should be great. aparently conference in the MTC is like christmas so we will see how that goes. Alot of the missionarries are singing for priesthood i think. So you'll see some Elders I know. haha BUt basketball has been alot of fun. I've have been killing all the Elders. I need some competition.haha i also need to be more humble. Im working on that. haha But i love you all very much. I am pretty confident that i will be leaving next week. So lets pray that that happens and i'll continue to work hard here in the MTC. Love you lots. Adios.

MTC letter #10 Sept 24 2010

Mother!!!! . I have revieved no news at all. So basicly i am going to be in the MTC for the rest of my life. I have no new news. We went to the travel office and they said that they have no news and to check on Monday so who knows. I might as well Stay here forever. haha no Im just ready to be in mexico and to get out of here. I love the MTC but i am ready to go teach real people. The Gym finally opened up so i have been playing basketball. The MTC is way awesome with basketball. Its been fun to ball up on all the elders. haha But i get to go to the temple 3 times a weeek which is pretty sweet. We are pretty much on our own and make our own plans of what to do. We have been studying alot of spanish and we have set appointments to teach alot of nativos. One is from Mexico and we talked to him for like an hour just about food and all kinds of stuff. It was hard to understand him cuz he spoke so fast but then we taught him a lesson and we understood almost everything he said. I am alot better at understanding gospel spanish but when it comes to other stuff i can get the main points and the rest is way over my head. But my purpose is to teach the gospel so thats good i know that part. One funny thing in our lesson with the Nativos was they taught us in English back and they have only been here for 2 weeks so it was good to see them struggle like we struggle with Spanish. One of them asked, "What you doing with your life?" and then he told us to open up to Jack chapter 1 verse 5 (James 1:5). I just starting laughing it was pretty funny. They laugh at us so it goes both ways. I love speaking with them it is way fun. One of them wants us to write in his journal and we asked what he wants us to write and he said, " just write something about me in English." I love talking to them. In the temple we have been helping and talking with the workers that speak spanigh and that has been fun. Today we talked to a new volunteer and he started crying and bearing his testimony it was pretty neat. We have got to know one of them really well his name is Fransico and his son is going on his mission to Argentina in December. He served his mission in Cuernavaca and has been telling us stories. Today he told us that he was the only member in his family when he served his mission. He said his parents would rip the letters he sent home and wouldnt write him. he said it was hard but he knew the church was true and was doing the lords work. Some of his cousins got babtized and his parents are not members but they respect the church now. I admired his faith. That is all i got as he told his story in spanish. I think that was the gist of it all. But it has been fun to do that. I Love this work im just so ready to be in Mexico. but its all good. I havent called yet on the card i need to do that. I just keep forgetting. That stinks that tate lost. you need to tell me the whole scoop of the game. How is CJ doing with his hurt Groin. Tell him To HOMBRE ARRIBA!!!! haha Oh yeah I saw Nate Fort's Sister. I have seen here around and i was like i have seen her somewhere. Then i saw her name said fort and just went and said hey and gave her a handshake. Anyways i love you all losts. I'll let ya'll know the knews of my visa as soon as i find out. Love you \

Elder Hancock

MTC letter #9 Sept 17 2010

Hey mom i just got your message I feel horrible about brother Dial. They will def be in my prayers. That is awesome that teisha is doing great. That is great to hear. Keep working hard Teish. Thats also great that tate had a good game. Thats sweet he got a interseption and hes carrying on the tradition. Keep up the great work bud. and all of you keep me updated. Teisha and tate i want a weekly update of all your games. I want ya'll to tell me about it. haha school doesnt take up that much of your time. haha. Also I was glad to hear that air force killed byu. That was pretty sweet. Elder Gerrman now owes me a drink. haha Also some big news is that i did recieve my Permisa which means that i will not get reasigned to a new mission which is good. Only 40 missionarries out of 120 or so got their permisas the rest got all reasigned today to somewhere in the states. I will most likely be here an extra week or Two in the MTC. I will not leave this monday. They said that we will be able to go to the Consolate this week. So pray that happens so im not stuck here forever. We were very blessed as a distric to not get reasigned. Im glad that i will be sent straight to Mexico. Everyone going to Cuernavaca got their Permisas which was 11 missionarries the rest of the missionarries were picked randomly is what it looked like to me. But i am so glad i will be leaving soon to mexico. They gave me a phone card to call yall to let you know that i will not be leaving so I'm planning on calling youi at 4:30-5:00 tomorrow. You better answer. I think i can only talk for like 5 min but thats when i'll call you to let you know the news i just gave you. haha So that will be fun to talk to ya'll tomorrow. This week was great. It is our teaching week this week which means that we taught lessons in spanish. Me and my comp elder payne set a goal to teach 40 lessons this week while everyone else set like 20 or 30. We are well on our way to achieve our goal. We taught 12 lessons yesterday which was fun. haha. Yesterday at the TRC we taught a older lady and i really felt like we touched her as a person and not as a fake investigotor. It was really cool. We taught the Law of Tithing and tied it into the second lesson. She got pretty emotional at times and i felt like the spirit took over. It was fun to teach. Also when we taught missionaries in our zone this week we taught them as missionarries which was really good i think. We would share a scripture and bare testamony and try to build all of em up. We had some pretty good experiences with that which was good. I'm going to send ya'll a bunch of letters and some extra spanish scriptures i have because they gave me some when i got here in the MTC. I dont have room for stuff so i'll be sending a package home full of extra stuff i have. The Gym wasnt open again this week. I think it will open the day i leave prob with the luck that i have. haha But all is good here at the mtc i'll just have to stay here an extra week or two which will be good to study some more. also i kind of like the fact that i can write who i want and you have no clue who im writeing. Forget facebook when i get home. I'm going to stick with letters. haha But i love yall lots and i will talk to ya'll tomorrow. Oh read Romans 8 it is the best. Love yall

Elder Hancock

Letter 8 MTC Sept,10 2010

Hello family. thanks for all the treats and the package. Ive made sure that everyone has seen the air force sign that you made. That was pretty legito. I also got the cards you sent i'll make sure and get that done. I havent heard anything on visas really. Today i heard a rumor i dont know if it is true. They said that there are like a bunch of missionarries supposed to leave on Sept 20th or 21st or something to mexico and like a third will get the permisas and like two thirds will just get retransfered and wait for their visas. Whatever happens is suppost to happen but i really want to leave on time so keep praying hard. Joanne has sent me sams letters and that has been way fun to read. He is so funny. It sounds like he is haveing a blast i cant wait to be there. Tell her to keep sending me those. Today i went to the temple and did sealings for the first time. That was pretty cool. After we helped in the laundry room and there were three workers that spoke spanish. It was fun to joke around with them in spanish and stuff. they were older one is from Argentina one is from Peru and one from mexico. The one from mexico served in Cuernavaca and he said that he loved. He said it is way beautiful and the people there treat you like angels. so that sounds good. haha he was also telling me about the ruins and how cool they are in Cuernavaca. The man from Argentina is way funny we have worked with him before. After we bore our testimony in spanish to them and he said it was good so that was fun. We have been teaching the second lesson in spanish and i feel we have done really well. With our limited spanish i feel that we use the scriptures really well to explain doctrine and then bare testimony and ask questions the rest of the time. I really need to work on explaining personal experiences in spanish though. Thats the only thing that is missing so ill work on that. also its hard to understand people when they slur words together so fast but its comming. I did get all those pics of the truck. they are sweet. I think im takeing it to colorado when i get home. Just letting you know. Also i believe Cameron Zamora has left i havent seen him so i think he is in the field. Austin wrote me this week and sounds like that he is doing good. I see all my freinds from the academy every day so thats fun. One thing i learnded this week is that god has never given a commandment that is temperal. D&C 29:34 so i have been working on makeing planning as spiritual as it can be. Also make learning spanish a spiritual experience instead of learning like it is homework. It has gone pretty well. so if you want to learn fast learn it with the spirit. thats the key. haha That is funny that Tate had a great time at six flags. He finally was able to Hombre arriba. I still havent got a letter from tim but you said he sent one so hopefully i get it. But all is good here in the mtc. It seems like there is not enough time to study each day but its all good. Oh and i love the shorts you got me. Mis pantalones cortos son legito y exalente. haha but Let me know how teisha and tates sports are going. Tell them to keep me updated and tell me how they are doing they can write on dear elder cant they. haha But i love you all and keep up the good work. Just pray that i get my visa and pray that the gym opens up soon. haha it should open up this week. Pues, love ya'll!!!!

Love, Elder Hancock

MTC Letter 7 Sept 3 2010

Hello my family. How is life. it sounds like everything is going great with everyone. Teisha that is awesome that you made the tennis team. keep working hard. Cant wait to here how tates done. all of you keep up the good work. Sam left this week which is crazy. i recieved a letter from Joanne and she forwarded his letter to me. Let her know that i really apreciate that and would love to continue to recieve his letters. I didnt get to tell him goodbye the night before he left cuz im busy every night makeing sure everyone is good in the zone. But i was able to teach him a lesson in espanol which was fun. I know that he will be awesome in Mexico. but this week has been way awesome again. Each week gets better and better. I feel that i am teaching alot better in spanish. I feel that i am saying things alot faster and faster each lesson. Me and my comp have been working on focusing on the needs of the investigator expecially in espanol and i feel we have done alot better this week. This next week we get to teach the second lesson in spanish which is fun. Like i said i feel i am good at teaching the doctrine in spanish but i need to work on telling personnal experiences in spanish. that gets into all these crazy conjugations. but thats what i need to work on. Also i feel like if i'm not speaking about the gospel in spanish then i cant speak good at all. haha but im working on it. this week we got another new distric in. We are now the olderst distric in our zone which is way crazy. but it is fun. i feel so much older than everyone. haha that is crazy that byu went independent. they just were too scared of us i think. The temple was way good today. In my personnal study today i was studying in preach my gospel under finding people and i really enjoyed the section under family history and it had alot of good scriptures and it got me thinking that when we baptize people and help them with family history that we are helping generations and generations of families. that was just awesome to think of today. I also like the anology in preach my gospel of how we are fishers of men. and we need to be the fisher that goes fishing and leaves his line in the water the whole time. We dont want to be the fisher that goes fishing and only has his line in the water for half the time. That means that he is only going to catch half the fish. We need to be always finding ways to find people to teach. i think it all comes down to effort and being creative and never wasting time. I'll make sure to be the missionary that leaves his line in the water all the time. I think that is awesome that joel was able to come over. Tell him i love him and he needs to tear it up just for me. He also better go to bible study and you tell him i said that. That stinks that Leander lost . This week i also found a awesome scripture in D&C 24:12 it talks about the engergy and strengh you recieve from missionary work. I can really feel that scripture work on me. I have all this extra energy and desire to share the gospel. Ya'll need to do the same. Dont fear, be bold, and help the missionaries. I love you all so much and pray for ya'll every day. Tell tami thanks for the treats and kel as well and i love em. Love ya'll!!!

Love, Elder Hancock

MTC Letter 6 Aug,27 2010

Hola mi familia. Como estan? This week has been awesome. i think each week gets better the closer i get to leaving. Sam got his Visa so he will leave on time so that is good news for me i think. I will be able to call if you send the card mom im pretty sure i can. but on Tuesday Elder Holland came and spoke. It was way powerful. I tell ya'll some of my favorite parts. One part i liked was he said that Missionary work is a Celestial type of fun and i can attest to that. I am haveing a blast even though im working way hard. I bet it even gets more fun in the field. I really liked that line. He also got pretty bold. He said that if you put more effort in a football game than on your mission then dont come talk to him. That was pretty cool. before he spoke this kid played his chello and he asked the missionary why he tuned his chello in front of all of us. He said you could of come early and done that. you didnt have to waste our time tunning it in. and he asked the elder why did you do that. he said it has to be tuned every time. then elder holland pounded the pulpet and said that you have to be perfect every time. Refering to missionary work. He said there are not enough second lessons taught because your not teaching a good enough first lesson. It was nuts. He also said that salvation is never easy and he referred to the savior. He said the road to salvation always goes throgh gethsemane. If we are going to be Disiples of Jesus Christ then we need to feel just a little what the savior went through. it was a way good talk i have like 5 pages of notes from it. Also being Zone leader has been good. just have a bunch of meetings and stuff. and make sure all the districs are good. we got a new district this week so we had to teach them last night and give them a tour and all that stufff. They seem like way cool kids. David Gerrman the kid from westlake that is in the new group. hes a way cool kid. Kayla would know who he is. so i have a fellow texan in the zone which is good. Yesterday Me and my comp taught the first lesson in spanish in the TRC. It was pretty fun. I dont know if the investigator knew what the heck i was saying but i thought it was spanish. It actually went really well i think. I have been speaking alot more spanish and can get most of what i want to say in spanish. I need to work on Makeing the lesson personal to the specific person in spanish instead of just blurting in espanol. so still have a long way to go. I taught Sam a short lesson in spanish so that was good. Committed him to be babtized in spanish. Sam is going to teach me and my comp at the temple this sunday. So i'll try and be a way hard investigator for him. Its crazy he leaves on Tuesday. Time is flying so fast. Grandma Hancock wrote me a letter and gave me 20 dollars. Make sure and tell her i said thank you and that i love her. She didnt need to do that. I sent a letter to Teisha and Tate today so look for that. Thats crazy that Tate has a girl teammate. "welcome to the big leagues Tate" haha but make sure you tear it up in Practice and do your best and have fun. Teisha i hope your tryouts went good. Keep working hard in school and continue to work hard in seminary and your day will be that much better. I got a hair cut today for the first time. I had a pretty good come over before that so i'll have to send some pics soon if i have time. it was pretty funny. Where are my pics of my new truck that im going to take back to colorado when i get back??? Kayla wrote me and my comp this week. Tell her thanks. i wrote her a letter all in spanish so she'll have to find someone to translate. but keep me updated with tate and teish with all the sports. Let me know how C.J. is doing too with football. I love you all so much. I love this work and it is gods work and glory and it is mine as well. I'll talk to Ya'll next week.

Love, Elder Hancock

MTC Letter 5 Aug 20 2010

Hey fam. Sorry this wont be as long i got on a computer where it didnt work and i lost 10 min until i found out that that was the problem. but this week has been way good. I have learned alot in spanish i feel and just need to speak speak and speak it more so i can just speak on the fly. To answer dads question i have 9 elders going to the same mission. Thanks for the package. The treats were good. This week i have scored 7 goals. I have become an animal on the soccer field. I might try out for air force when i get back. haha jk but thats been fun. that is crazy that tate will have 3 teams. He'll do good. Just tell him to work hard and give all that he has. A great quote i learned this week was winning isnt everything but wanting to is. I really liked that. Baptiseing isnt everything but wanting to is. it works really well with our purpose. Its all about bringing people heaven. I love this gospel and their have been nights where i have been so pumped that i have to work out and get rid of the energy so i can fall asleep. I just get so pumped to teach about what i know and what i have felt. its a pretty cool feeling. i cant believe ya'll have already started school. that is nuts. Tell teisha that she will be just fine with all of her classes. One thing that has been cool to learn that if things start to get harder and harder than that means that your on the right track to becoming a great missionary because the advasery wants us to get down and as we continue to progress he'll try harder and harder. its like going up a hill the higher you get the more intence the wind will be but once we get to the top and have the faith to jump off it is the wind that will help us fly. I know that to be true. I'm still climbing that hill and just got to keep working hard on spanish and do whats right. Tell Dewy and Amber and Lindsey and Nate all congrats. That is so cool. this week the Branch Pres called me and my comp in and said that we are going to be the new Zone Leaders so we'll see how that goes. It should be a good experience. Just need to get to know everyone and love em. So pray i can do good with that. We get called this Sunday. The temple was cool today. I love going there each week. We ate in the temple to get some different food. Austin left which is nuts. Sam is doing good and see him every day. I heard that Fresno state and Nevada came in the Mtn west. is that true. and i heard byu was going to go independant did that happen? so let me know about that stuff. anyways i love you all and hope you all have a great week. Remember we can do all things through Christ. IT is true. That is what ammon was so pumped at. He knew he could do anything with God and Christ on his side and i know that i can too. We all just need to have the Faith. Love Elder Hancock Tell Savy thanks for all the letters.............

Letter Number 4

Hello mi familia. Thanks for all the letters. its fun to read all that yall have to say. Im going to try and answer all of ya'lls questions. My companions is way cool. we just tease each other all day cuz we both have a pretty big ego. haha he has a really strong testimony and he likes sports so that is good. We are all pretty compettitive in the room when we play basura ball or trash ball. that has been fun to play. haha Me and my comp teach really well with each other which is good. it has been fun to teach with him. Yesterday we taught this really old guy from hondorus which was pretty cool. He spoke english bad and we spoke spanish bad but i felt we did really good. the spirit was strong. I see Austin every day he lives on the floor below us. ive been trying to get him to come play basura ball he hasnt come yet. he leaves on tuesday into the real field. I see Elder Zamora every other day or so. he seems like hes doing good. i see sam every day his class is right around the corner from mine. he got to go to salt lake today to go to the consolate or something to speed of the visa problem they have had with mexico. alot of people are getting re assigned to other missions until they get their visas. Pray that the process will speed up. i saw tom when he was here. We played soccer with each other. it was pretty fun. I told him that i just play because you can hit people down going after the ball and right after i said that i nailed this kid and gave him a huge grass stain on his back. it was pretty fun. Soccer is good to get some aggression out. We also have a goal count in our district, We call it the HOMBRE up board where we keep track of all of our goals. We're up to over 30 goals which is pretty legito. That is awesome that Chris Gross got baptized. telll him i said congrats and im proud of him. Savy wrote me the other day. Tell her i said thank you and that she is the first girl to write me. haha she said she is waiting for me so she better live up to that. haha I'm glad that dad has got some new toys to play with to keep him busy. Also i do want to know everything about air force football that you find out. I would love to know the news. you know me i love sports so give me all the news that you can. thats sweet that we got grandpas truck. too bad teisha might crash it. haha jk but i sent some pics in the mail today so you should be getting them soon. They are pretty funny because as roomates were haveing a little competition sending pics to elder Nelson's girl friend to see who can get the most letters from random girls. obvioustly we will win. Other than all these competitions i am working my butt off just to let youi know. I love the work and love being a missionary. Every time i teach i know it isnt me teaching and i know that. i know that it is the spirit. I have really been working on not teaching with my head but with my heart. when i do that you just get pumped and feel like you can just go on forever and your so pumped that you cant even fall asleeep . i love the energy that comes from being a missionary. i really do feel like running door to door. the message we have is essential to share to everyone and that is the commitment i extend to all of ya'll. Bare testimony to everyone about to church. Hombre up and dont be scared. Fear is not of God faith is. Teisha and Tate dont be afraid to share it with friends. It changes lives and its the best feeling in the world and i havent even taught a real investigator yet. I thing im strating to feel the energy level here to for not experienced like it says in my patriarchal blessing. I love it. The language is going good i just need to speak it as much as possible. Its just frustrateing at times but i know i will be blessed if i just put forth my best effort to try and speak it all the time. Love ya,

Elder hancock

letter #3 Aug, 6 2010

Hola!! This past week has gone by way fast. Its crazy i've already been here almost 2 and a half weeks. the days all seem the same but they are all good. I get up play soccer and study the scriptures, preach my gospel and spanish till 9 at night. I love it. this past few days we have made it fun. in class i made up a game where our teacher says a sentence in spanish and we write it on the board if you win you get to shoot a piece of paper in the trash but a chair is in front of it to make it harder. so thats been fun. A few missionarries have taught lessons in spanish to us and i can understand almost everything they are saying. Today at the temple when we were done we went and helped with the laundry and a man in there was from argentina and it was fun to talk to him in spanish. He would say something real fast and it would take an extra second for me to comprehend what he said but it was good practice. He was a baker in Argentina so that was cool. Tell the Hyatts thanks for the package they sent me with all the treats. They didnt need to do that. Oh and tell Kayla and Gentrie that My comp and my roomates want them to write them. Just a small note would make their day. haha but it sounds like yall had fun in utah. thats too bad zippy died. I think tim just ran out of targets and used zippie. haha but the letter to tim should get there soon. It took me a while to write it. yesterday me and my comp did a TRC where you go and teach people that come in and act as investigators. We first talk in spanish and talk about families and bare our testimony and stuff. I know how to come up with sentences and stuff but its hard for me to do it fast. so just got to keep working hard. Like i could write what i want to say in spanish but saying it is another story. but it went well. after we talk in spanish we teach the first lesson in english. we got this guy that had tattoos and gadges. His name was glen. we thought he was a non member and knew that he was way smart cuz these other elders said he just ripped into him but me and my comp just went in and got to know him for a way long time and just bore testimony of how we came to know that the church was true and the BOM is true. the spirit was way strong and then he just starting quoteing all these scriptures from memory of how the church wasnt true. it was nuts. He knew way more than we did so we we just bore testimony and then he was like dont worry i am a member. it was way funny cuz we we're sure this dude wasnt a member. but he said we did way good and said that no one can disprove your own witness of the church. So it was cool to teach him. He works at apple and knows 7 languages. he has a photographeic memory and just went off on quoteing scriptures. it was nuts but it was a cool experince. Today i came up with this game that me and my roomies can play and we're going to start a tournament i think. I have this chair i found that doesnt have a seat and is perfect for dips for working out but we put the trashcan inbetween it and it makes a perfect rim for a basketball hoop. so for comp study today we played spanish pig with this new hoop that we made in our room. its pretty sweet. we're going to start haveing tournaments of Pig and three point contests. Last night before bed i beat everyone in a handstand contest. We tried to see who can walk on their hands the farthest for 10 seconds and of course i won. so im finding ways to have fun. Its all good. but tell teisha she will be fine with school and stuff. tell tate to tear it up in football. But how is gramps doing. Im suprised i havent got anly letters from him. and i need his address. but LOve ya and ill talk to yall next week.

Letter number 2 ( July 30 2010)

Hola mi familia. This past week has been awesome. i have had alot of cool experiences. everyone in my district is getting along real well so thats good. Oh and i scored my first goal in soccor. The U.S should of had me for the world cup. but i pumped up my football just so i could sleep with it.haha but i throw it in the room just for fun. Fridays are our P-days so this morning we we're able to go to the temple which was pretty cool. I saw Austin today and yesterday. He only has 3 weeks here. but my teachers hermano Richardson and Konold are way cool and you feel the spirit every time. Hermano Richardson is this huge dude that played for BYU. he has alot of cool stories. One cool experience i had was he had us think of someone that we love and that we would love to see here the gospel and we would be able to go as an undercover missionary to teach them. . I have loved Hermano richardson storries that he has. He just makes you get pumped up to spread the gospel. I feel like i'm in offseason and just ready to get in the game. Im so pumped its hard to describe it. It feels like right before the game you just want to kill someone but in this case you want people to come unto christ. Its cool. I have really learned that you really need to care about those that you teach. You need to teach them to their needs and the only way you can is getting to know them and following the spirit and trying to see them as Christ and God see them. I can pray and bear my testimony in spanish. I can do door contacts and stuff but still working hard. The way to get better is to bear your testimony as much as possible so i'll give it to yall in spanish. Yo testifico en el nombre de Jesucristo que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los utimos dias es verdedero.
Yo se que Dios amamos
Yo testifico que el libro de mormon es verdad
Yo testifico que Jose Smith es un profeta verdedero
Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro Redentor
Tambien Yo se que la oracion es poder!!
en el nombre de Jesucristo Amen!

Still working on it but its coming. but I need peoples addresses to write people like family and stuff. . i have alot of time on P-day to write people so i need those addresses por favor. Me and my comp have been working well together. He works hard but some times i have to give him a little push but thats ok. My roomates are way cool and we have been having fun. One funny story was these sisters were teaching us the first discussion in spanish and at the end they aked who would you like to say the closeing prayer but i thought they asked if we know of anyone else they could teach and i said yea the neighbors across the street and they were like who is this gringo. It was pretty funny. so as you can tell still workin on that spanish. Oh and make sure you tell Brad tomorrow that i love him and am so happy for him. That is awesome. tell him to keep workin on that LGN diet of his. hahaha And tell everyone i said hi and tell brandee thanks for the note and tell aunt Tammy thanks for the cookies. I love you all very much!!! Pues, Hasta Luego (well......see ya later) Inside joke with gentrie and them.... haha peace

Tuckers first Letter July 24th 2010

Mi familia,

Hola!! Mi tiemo en el MTC esta muy bien!! The MTC has been aweome so fare. thanks for all the treats and the letters. The Gospel would be the best thing for her. She knows that it is true there just must be some things in her life holding her back. We have had alot of classes on just really trying to understand peoples lives and to really be their friends. We did this one exersise where you just observe this investigators and write what you feel they need to hear. it was cool to see that as i would write something down the missionarries teaching would say almost the exact same thing i wrote down. it just goes to show that it is the spirit that teaches and we are just used as a tool to share what the investigator needs to hear to change thier lives. Gym time here has been pretty retarted. The basketball courts are closed for 2 months because they are redoing stands or something so i might never get to play basketball. so these past 3 days i have played softball and soccer. No me gusta!!!! Mi companero es muy bien. Se llame es Elder Payne. He is a great kid. he was made district leader so i got to help him with that. He is from Arazona. That kid we met in the temple is in my district. Elder Boyd. My district is full of alot of cool kids. they all have strong testimonies which is goood. My teachers are Hermano Konold and Hermano Richardson. They are great teachers that really teach by the spirit. We havent done much spanish yet. I have sort of learned how to pray. All i do is pray in spanish. im pretty sure that heavenly father has no clue what i am saying but im trying. We are suppost to say everything we know in spanish and say it all the time. By doing that i have seen how much i dont know. haha but ill get there. Tell Braeden thanks for the letter. He wrote me before ya'll did. haha but I'lll definately use his advise and work hard. its the only way to have fun here. You have to work hard. I see Sam every day at the meals that we eat. He is way funny. He has given me alot of advice. You can tell that he has really worked hard and is learning alot. Its always good to see him. Everyone thinks we look alike which is funny. I see all my academy friends as well. They have the same meals as me too. Its just a big party. Oh and there is no football which is pretty stupid because i think more kids get hurt playing soccer than football but thats just my opionion. I was thinking about playing someing sort of like football but with a softball and then it wouldnt be football but i guess that wouldnt be very obedient. The more obedient you are the more powerfuly you can be when you teach so football will have to wait until i get to Cuernavaca. One cool story i have was when me and my comp were planning. I set a goal to make sure that i plan everything out that we are going to study so when it is MDT time we dont just sit there thinking about what we'
re going to study. i felt strongly about reading the book of mormon out loud together for companion study. In my personal study in preach my gospel it said the best way to have the spirit of christ is to read the book of mormon together. so i thought that was cool. so i'll keep planning i guess. My time is up so i got to go. I love you and tell everyone i said hey.

ps tell cj he is right about there are a bunch of weird dudes!! haha and the chocolate milk is legit. I make sure im early to every meal to get it!!