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