What an amazing week!

April 11 2016

Hey there everyone this week was a great week for me and Elder Cottrell. I have really enjoyed serving here with elder Cottrell. And the best thing is this week was transfers and I am staying here in Sheffield with Elder Cottrell, and I couldn't be happier, I love serving with this kid, and I can’t wait to see what happens this next transfer, because for some reason this transfer is a 7 week transfer so I get extra-long with Elder Cottrell here. But let’s go into the week here shall we.

First things first we had a great miracle this past week. Now there is a lady named C......., now let me tell you a little bit about C........, she comes from a very hard core Catholic family and that has been her life for the longest time, she even worked in the Church as something that I don't quite remember. But what actually happened is because she worked there, she started to ask a lot of questions and the preacher guy couldn't answer the questions, and he couldn't back them up in the bible either, so she knew that she needed to find some answers. So because Heavenly Father is so great, of course some Mormon missionaries show up on her door, offering her some answers. She has been taught since December I think. She must have a lot of questions right!? Anyways she set her date for baptism to be May 28th! LIKE 5 MONTHS AWAY!!! Me and Elder Cottrell have been teaching her a ton, and she comes to church like every week, and she reads and she does everything, sometimes I think better than some members would do. Anyways we tried to convince her to move her baptism up, but she said no because of her husband, who is a Buddhist. Nevertheless! She texted us this past week and said, "Is it possible to move my baptism up a little bit!" We didn't hesitate at all, but we still knew that it would be far away! THEN............. "could I be baptized next Sunday!?" YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! It was the greatest news ever. A Family is coming to the church! She has two kids, and they are both really young so they will be able to grow up into the church! But C.......... is getting baptized next week and I soooo beyond excited for her, because this is exactly what she needs in her life. Best news ever!! So this week will be busy planning out her baptism! So yeah there that's!

Now we are going to go into a little teaching moment here. so this past week we as missionaries have been in a lot of meetings, and a lot of this meetings have been all about home teaching, along with visiting teaching and their importance. All of you back home in Utah-  if you think that home teaching or visiting teaching is hard, you remember this as you walk to your families home to teach, down the road. These members here have an average number of 5 families to visit each month. Not only that, but their ward boundaries alone are about the same size as 3 stakes over in Utah! It’s massive! So next time you think about complaining about having to walk down the street to talk to your neighbors think again okay.  Count your blessings and know that with those assignments you are bringing people closer to Christ and that's what matters, it’s not about you, it’s about them. Sorry I don't want this to be a cranking session here, but it kinda is! Do you home/visiting teaching with a smile on, and with the desire to help people come unto Christ.

my awesome flatmates! 

The last thing that I want to talk about here is the great amazing Elder Holland's talk in Conference. I had to go download his talk because you can’t read elder Holland's talk you need to watch it. What an amazing talk to end Conference! So funny first off, but also the message that he has shared with us. We need not fear tomorrow, because tomorrow will bring us more opportunities to become closer to Christ, and to feel of the spirit! What an amazing talk that was given. I still haven't read all of conference yet, but I am so excited to, and I know that it is such an amazing opportunity to have prophets and apostles here on the earth today!!  I love being a missionary, I love having a prophet on the earth today, may we all sustain him everyday, by our actions, and show our Heavenly Father our gratefulness for what we will do tomorrow. Because "for tomorrow, the lord will work wonders among you!!"

Love you All!!

Elder Hanks

                              Typical English person walking 5 dogs!