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