Feb 13 2017

Throwback to getting my left sided driving license! 

This week truly has been a week of miracles. I have gained a true testimony of the words, "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven." We have absolutely been seeing them this past week. So let's get started shallllllllllllllllllll we!

Alright so to start off the week we had a fun P-day if you saw the video last week. But is week was just full of planning we spent most of the day on Tuesday prepping, and setting up for our Zone training on Wednesday and it went so well. We focused on progression of investigators and it was just awesome, that same day we also had interviews with President Turvey. Can I just say that man is so inspired, I have grown a deep love for president Turvey he really cares about the mission and really wants what is best for us. It was just a great day!

Alright so for these MIRACLES!!!! 

So this week we found 3 new investigators which is soooooo awesome but I'm not going to bore you to death about them but I'll share some cool experiences about them. 

So Tuesday we had the craziest experience. So we had a potential named O...... who is from Poland and was interested in the English class that the church does. Well she texts us and says, "I want to learn about your church." So we gave her a chapel tour and the whole time she was asking way deep questions, and was going along with everything that we taught her. We ended in the Baptismal font and finished teaching the restoration and all of a sudden she asks, "so what are your rules?" 

*this is where us and our member Callum give each other that look you give when you have no idea what to say.

But we thought we would play it cool and just say we will teach her overtime so she can understand everything and see the reasoning behind it. BUTTTTTTT  that's when she says, "why, just tell me."

So me and elder Norton gave each other the look again and said well okay, so we taught her the word of wisdom, law of Chasity, 10 commandments, and keeping the sabbath day holy all at once. At the end, "Any questions?" This is her response, 

"Hmmmm... well I do like alcohol, but............................................ I can live those." 

😳😲😱😵😧😦😮🤘👊🙏🙌🎉🎊🎈🎉🎊 like WHATTTTT.??? 

Committed to live them all at once! Can you believe that!? I can barely believe it so I know it's hard for you guys cause I saw it!! Wow miracle!

Okay moving on,  so this week we also have a Chinese investigator named S....... and she is the most sincere investigator ever. She is really struggling being away from home but has loved meeting with us, she loves prayer and she loves church. She is supposed to be getting baptized on the 24th of Feb but our only concern is if we can teach her everything in time. So please pray that we can teach her everything and get her baptized this month! That would be so amazing! But she is a miracle for us, we will have to get a picture with her to show you. But wow sorry I'm just happy writing this letter. 

So yeah that's what our week has been like, we have been traveling all over the zone seeing  missionaries, planning and meetings. Finding and teaching it has been so crazy and the weeks are going by so fast. But we have been truly blessed here this week. 

So just a quick little though for you guys! 

1. Are we predictable, dependable and repeatable? President Nelson mention these words when discussing the laws of Heaven, but also the laws of life in the YSA January devotional. It made me consider these questions... When we are face with challenges and situations where we will have to stand for our beliefs, will we be predictable? That when these situations arise, those around us will know that we will stand for what's right. Are we dependable? Can He our Father in Heaven trust us enough to know that we will always bear witness of Him. And are our actions repeatable? Do others know that we will never change and that we will continue to be that predictable and dependable example of Christ. 

Love you all and hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Hanks 韓長老

Me and my Italian friend Elder Sicardi! He lives with us, poor guy!

Us with our sweet member Callum!

Feb 6 2017

Wow what a crazy week it has been. It has been so fun to be here with elder Norton. We have had a lot of fun this week. 

So after arriving here in York on Tuesday we spent the day finishing Transfers and moving everyone around and picking up and doing Transfers all that fun stuff and that was just a really crazy day but it was really fun. 

On Wednesday we went to two different district meetings and it was great. So first we had ours and we had a really good one about the fruits of the spirit and elder W(?) did a pretty good job at it. And then we rushed down to elder Cottrell's meeting and they also had a really good meeting about resolving concerns. It was great elder cottrell is such a fun guy. Then later on that night we had a fun Chinese party and we had 12 non-members I think come to it and we got some potentials out of it but it was fun to get right stuck in to the Chinese work here in York. 

Then Thursday was just crazy and Friday was great. Mission Leadership council is a great meeting and I really enjoy seeing all these amazing missionaries talk about the work and discuss how we can help the work move forward. 

Sunday was a very fun day. Walking into church and seek all the old members that I used to see. And most of them remembered me which was a great miracle I didn't think that anyone would remember but they did. So I am very excited for this work here in York! It's going to be a great transfer. I never realised how many meetings Zone leaders go to and also all the extra work that goes in, this is going to be a really good transfer of stretching myself! Well that's all for me!

Elder Hanks 韓長老

Pics

1- What we did for Zone PDay

2 MLC

3 elder Norton cleaning bird poop

4 the old Huddersfield Zone

3 week blog catch up! Ahhhh!

Jan 30 2017

Hey there everyone! January is already over it seems that time just goes by faster and faster every month. I hope you lads and lasses had a wonderful week ours was pretty entertaining.

* if not bothered to read this email, proceed to the bottom of the letter for pictures and transfer info.

On Tuesday we were out street contacting around the university trying to find the Asian students when two came around the corner we got really excited, but then we got even more excited when we got closer and realized that it was L.......!!!! (Our recent Convert we baptized like 1.5 months ago, then went back to china for holiday) he was so excited to see us and so we set up a time to meet later on in the week. But that was an easy highlight.

We also got to meet with R...... on Tuesday. So it is possible to have a good lesson at KFC, it just may be awkward every now and again but she didn't mind. We had a really good lesson with her about the fruits of the spirit and what its role is. She is doing well with reading and praying and church, she is good with everything really except for the decision to be baptized, she has loads of fellowshippers in YSA and well she is doing really good, just pray she will make this decision sooner than later.

On Wednesday we had a cool thing happen. On Wednesday we had the worldwide missionary broadcast, And I know that every missionary in the world is mentioning the crazy changes to the missionary schedule so I will just tell ya it's great, gives us more agency definitely inspired I think. However they are pretty unique and I am excited to see how it helps when we start it next week. And then right after that we had institute, and wowza are those students a unique and fun bunch of people!

Friday was a great and stressful day. But now all I can say is WATCH-OUT ENGLAND ELDER HANKS IS LEGAL TO DRIVE! that's right passed my test finally and I only has one minor mistake! This is a major feat, since only 47% of people pass this test!

Saturday was one of the funniest days here in Huddersfield, we got a little bit of everything on that day. We were able to meet with L..... and talk with him about his time in China and he is just doing so good, we're excited to start preparing him for the priesthood now that he is back. But on Saturday we found a lot of fun people, did a blitz with the other elders in the morning and knocked on some doors! Me and elder Stumpp totally killed the competition with the other elders, it was great. Helped a dude fix his bike chain on the side of the road. We also found a castle and a scooter in a sweet place, then to top it off we went to this ice cream place called ICE STONE and got some of the best food ever! 

But yeah we had a really awesome week, and I'm looking forward to next week. But for the real stuff, what's going on with the flat here in Huddersfield with Transfers:

Transfers

Elder Liss: stay here in Huddersfield. And be a district Leader!!

Elder Twitchell: staying and training a new missionary

Elder Stumpp: moving on in life to the hardest accent in England Barnsley.

Elder Hanks: going back to my birthplace. YORK 2!!!! And to be a zone leader.

Breakfast of champions! Here's to Elder Liss! 

Here is our castle we found!;)

Jan 23 2017 

Hey O! This week was a keeper! Had some fun experiences over this week and guess what we even got to see the sun this week. Miracles do happen people they really do.

So Monday was a pretty weird day after an interesting P-day we were out street contacting around the university when we walked through a small but of town and this guy walking towards us just starts to yell, "ITS THE MORMONS! YUP, DEFINITELY THE MORMONS, HELLO MORMONS!" Not an everyday occurrence I assure you, but turns out this guy is a less active. And he is a weeeee bit dunk. But we start talking to him and he is mentioning a whole lot of issues he has and we are talking to him and then he switches and says, "You there elder Hanks have the most soothing voice I have ever heard. I could listen to you talk all day. You just make my heart melt!" Few minutes later we found out his law of chastity issue. It was quite the night for us. 

Tuesday tho was a goodie. We had spent most of the day street contacting and have had some fun conversations with the students that are now back, but the best part of the day came later on that night. We had a lesson with R...... but we took her to our Stake Presidents house and had a lesson there. We had a lesson on trusting in the lord and we used Heleman 13-16 anyone know that story? President Mcewen was awesome and oooh man the spirit was strong in that room. R......... felt it, we all felt it and we know that R......... is going to get baptised! We just need to help her with one thing and she is ready! Please pray for her she is sooo close to having the greatest thing ever in her life!

Wednesday we had our interviews with President Turvey. And he is such an awesome guy, he shows so much care for us as missionaries and for this mission. For our interviews we did something differently, we had a companionship interview and then our own interview with President and I felt mine was very good. I really enjoy talking to President Turvey. And then later that night we took R...... to institute and there a sweet member named I..... totally helped us out there and sat and talked to Rosie like the whole time is was amazing! Then afterwards I..... comes up and says, "hey next time you teach R....... I want to come out with you! Super sweet guy! 

And then to end the week off we had R...... come to church with us and she likes it but we are trying to get her to LOVE IT! But that's okay and then we visited a great pal of ours L..........., one of our Chinese students and had a nice lesson with him. 

YSA fireside about marriage...... yah......

walking home after meetings with skill... 

one day when there was blue skies and a big yellow thing in the sky....

should we be worried....? 

why can't we name our streets like the English..? Love finding the weird roads here! 

We are still trying to figure out the university issue, so we still aren't teaching much here, but we are ok. We are exercising our patience and we will see what President Turvey can figure out for us! 

Fun fact for you. In Matthew 5 we learn about the "Be-attitudes". One being meekness. Now here's something cool that I learned. Meekness deals with our anger and kindness towards others. But this is how meekness works. 

Without anger—————————— meekness ———————————fierce anger. 

So anger is not actually a wrong thing, look at Christ when he had to cleanse the temple. He was angry but was that a sin or something wrong? No it was for a righteous cause it was to show the need of the temple. Anger itself is not a sin or a bad thing, it can actually be a good thing if we use it to change ourselves or to correct people's choices to keep them away from harm/mistakes. So I'm not saying that anger is a good thing that we should be angry all the time! NO PLEASE DONT THINK THAT! But it's important to know that when your parents are angry or you are angry at something remember meekness and try to think what Jesus Christ would do! Sorry random thought there! 

Love you all hope you all have a great week!

Elder Hanks 韓長老

Jan 16 2017 

Hey there everyone I hope you all had a wonderful week full of fun and exciting things. If your in utah I hope your enjoying the snow, of you are elsewhere then I hope you are having nice weather, we definitely didn't this week.

It was a fun day on Wednesday because of the good English weather. On Wednesday the weather was sooo bad that when we were walking around trying to talk to people, every now and again while walking a gust of wind would come with such intense speed that it LITERALLY prevented us from moving forward it was absolutely crazy! That was a fun day for us!

Also some good news! Our friend R...... finally came back from her trip to Dubai. And we got to meet with her on Friday. And we had a really good lesson with her about baptism and the Holy Ghost. The verdict from home is: Her parents are allowing her to choose for herself....... HOWEVER, R....... has to keep school as her number one priority so we are working hard to show her it's possible to include God and still focus on school at the same time. So she can be baptized in the upcoming weeks. 

So this week we got kicked off the uni once again, by the same guy for the 3rd time and this time we got escorted off by security. So we are back into a terrible scenario. 

On my mission I have learned a lot of amazing lessons! But one of the biggest things I have learned comes from the scriptures, 2 Nephi 2:11

"11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." 

This week we have been tested a lot. Lots of fall through lessons, people not answering the phone, district issues, and being kicked off the university once again. It has made this week a rough week but also a week of contemplation, which leads anyone to think of the "why" questions to life but amongst that it has also been a week of testimony building. Of course as any missionary should one would turn to Heavenly Father for answers. I believe that scriptures are THE way for Heavenly Father to communicate his love and his Gospel to his children, and he always will forever and ever. As I have thought about the "why's" of missionary work, there seems to be a flood scriptures flowing in my head. 

"8 Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.

Be patient in affliction. Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success. 30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some." 

The work is never easy. To use elder hollands words, "and why should it be, it was never easy for Him so why should it be easy for us" I know that through the trials and opposition we face in life, each and every single one, gives us great opportunities to turn to the Lord and his Gospel and see the lessons needed to be learned. I know the gospel is true, I know that opposition is meant for my benefit. It's His work, it's His plan, and I am so grateful to be able to say I'm apart of it. 

Love you all have a fantastic week and remember,

"Stop thinking about how stressed you are and start thinking about how blessed you are."

Pics

1. Whenever I am on a phone call elder Liss takes selfies

2. What happens to elder Liss when he tries to wrestle me. (Don't worry he is okay)

3. Best news ever when your recent Convert from Newcastle sends you a picture of his university project!

Exchanges, bitter cold and choosing to Follow Him

Hey, well this week has been a pretty fun week for us. I'm not a very good writer like others but I will try and make this worth reading for you'll, so let's get started shall we.

So this last Monday and Tuesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders in their area of Meltham. I went with my good pal Omondi!  And we spent the entire day knocking and we had some fun experiences. We got in to one guys house, simply by asking to use his bathroom and then we taught him half the restoration before he had to kick us out to get ready for work, (it was like 3 in the afternoon). But still fun, then that was shot down out of the sky when the next door was a grumpy old lad who hated religion and Americans.  And said that Americans should of never fought in world war II  they had it covered and in my head I'm thinking,  *cough cough we helped saved your butts *cough cough 

But after some discussion we knew this old patriot of an English lad was not going to be opening his door or his heart and we left that man, and he didn't like me very much and pretty much ranted on everything I stood for. What a wonderful experience right. Opposition in all things even on places where you're born. But it was a fun day with my old pal Omondi. 

On Thursday we were greatly blessed to get a new friend. I sat on a bus Monday night and the only person in the bus was Asian. So ya know totally sat by her. Thought I was a weirdo sitting right next to her on an empty bus. But got talking and set up a time to meet. So L ..... we met on Thursday and she is from Vietnam, and Catholic but has never been baptized. So we taught her, she loves to talk, we finally got around and invited her to be baptized and she said that she would pray about it. I didn't mind. So that was a great miracle for us.

So I thought I would simply share something that I have been thinking a lot about over these past few days, based on a letter I received from a friend. And it's about the way that we follow Christ. It's a long though -  I apologize in advance. We all know the invitation given to us in Matthew: "follow thou me"

And we already know the importance of following him in the +100 invitations given throughout the scriptures. So it got me thinking on HOW we follow him. Let's take it in more common day scenarios. A child follows a parent, a friend to a friend, little brother to a big brother. How do they follow, well a child would hold his parents hand, a friend would stay right by his friends side, a brother would follow his brothers exact footsteps. All leading them to where they needed to go. Now imagine the opposite, a child stands further back and gets lost in the crowd, a friend makes the wrong turn and has to turn around, the little brother takes a wrong step and falls over. All are never fun scenarios. But there is a pattern in all of them.  Please don't just follow the Saviour, don't distance yourself just enough to where you can just barely see him. Put him by your side and do what he did/does and you will never go wrong. "for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." So let me ask you this, priesthood holders When was the last time you used your priesthood? And girls, when was the last time you reached out?

Love you all!
Elder Hanks 韓長老

After a long hard day of work. Just need to relax for a moment.

Jan 2 2017

What is up my friends! First off let's get this very important thing out of the way! Everyone make sure you wish my brother Ammon happy birthday on Saturday the 7th okay!

Alright well for this week the work was pretty slow because the university is still on break and 95% of the students are still gone,  it we make do and so let me share with you the highlights of this week.

Wednesday we had a fun experience. All 6 of us missionaries had a tea appointment at a members home in the afternoon. We got to the area a bit early, so we thought hey let's do a challenge to see who could knock on the most doors before we have our appointment. We all split up, I went with elder Stumpp, and we knocked on the first door, totally got let it! MIRACLE! B.... and S...... a sweet little 85 yr old couple, who also have been married for 60yrs people!!! Cutest little old people ever, anyways they let us in and immediately start showing off their family and all there achievements in life, as English people do. They even got a personal letter from the queen herself congratulating them on their 60yrs of marriage. X amount of time passes by and we are already late to our appointment because we can't get out of this house! Haha but it was a fun experience I think! Even though we "lost" the challenge for doors, I think we actually won for getting in on the first door!

Thursday we got to meet a fun lad named P........., he is a less active in our ward and hasn't been seen in a couple of months. So we finally got to meet him, we got in because we came bearing gifts of soda, candy, and doughnuts. Needless to say we totally got in! Talked to him for a bit and then he kicked us out. To say the least his house is very welcoming to arachnids. 

New Year's Eve, wasn't anything short of exciting, we had to be in early. So we came in at 6:30 and just ordered some food for us and played some silly games the four of us for the night but we were in bed early because it was a normal day for us the next day so we hit the sack and called it a year.

This year though has been an amazing one. Truly a one in a lifetime opportunity. This past year has been full of miracles, full of sorrows, growth spurts, cold days, rainy days, warm days and celestial days. This year has been so amazing, I have seen many amazing things. I've grown very close to my saviour and I am loving this gospel more and more, truly changing my testimony to true conversion. I can't wait to see what this next years brings for me!

Love you all, hope you made some good resolutions this year, the year of the chicken!  (gettin' my Chinese side in there!)

Love
Elder Hanks韓長老
Sorry if there is a repeat in pictures!

THE DISTRICT

Dec 26 2016

Well not much to report on this week. It was a great Christmas spent in members homes playing games and watching kids open presents!  What a spectacular time of year. Hope you all had a very merry Christmas and hope you all have a wonderful New Years!

Enjoy the pictures!

Elder Hanks 韓長老

Pictures: we got a lot!

1. Southern zones party! (Serious)

2. Southern zones party (crazy)

3. Me with Mr. and Mrs. clause!;) 

4. Elder Liss and I in our matching jumpers! (Total hit of the party!)

5. us with the assistants! Mikkola and dobbs.

6. me and all my old Sheffield Slovak friends! Plus elder dobbs!

7. the crew including elder Walters last appearance! (Front elder)

Merry Christmas week!

Dec 20 2016

Merry merry Christmas everyone. Can you believe it's already that time of year again! This is going to be a real exciting week for us I am sure, lots of visits to members and trying to find Chinese people somewhere! But let's get into this week first.

Little things that happened:

Finally started taking driving lessons again, having my test end of January. 

All our investigators left this week for holiday.

We have finally taught on the university again.

Did some caroling!   

Power went out for like 2 days.

Messing around a bit (all within the rules)

We had a great week, on Tuesday we got hired up by the Assistants to help set up for a meeting. We were finding around the university, about to go eat some tea, when the assistants called, (which normally for other missionaries isn't a good thing?) but I love it since me and elder Dobbs are such pals! So instead of eating we get rallied in to help set up the chapel for our big Mission tour meeting tomorrow so we were at the chapel until like 11:00 at night only to get back and have our power not working and six elders sleeping on our floor for the meeting the next day. It was great though, we got to mess around with sound checks and get a little sneak peak of the meeting. Hookups for being friends with the assistants.

Wednesday was awesome and we will have to end there so we can focus in on the good stuff. On Wednesday we had the Mission Tour, where President Keaton, the European area President came to our mission, and spoke to us along with President Turvey. Truly two very inspired men. Some of the highlights of the meeting were,

President Keaton talking to us, "you are the miracles of the Restoration." Never would of thought of myself as a miracle in anyway, but being a missionary gives me the opportunity to be one for someone else. I love it.

"You're a Mormon, we thrive on adversity! It's what makes us" Isn't that such a remarkable statement. Only in the Mormon church will you ever find someone who is dealing with a life-battling challenge and do it with a smile and positive attitude. That truly is a miracle/blessing of the gospel itself.

"Work hard and be grateful, or learn how to do it in 50 years, and regret not doing it today."

"Choose not to mind that this is hard. Choose to be happier all the time."

"You're in the training of a lifetime of service."

"Don't worry, but work hard. Don't be so anxious, enjoy this, but work hard."

I could go on and on with seriously hundreds of more, but for timing and for writing sake I won't. But I envied his speaking skills, his ability to follow the spirit and the way he taught us. It was such an inspiring meeting a great highlight of my mission for sure.

This week we had a remarkable experience with our friend R........ We had a lesson with her on Saturday and this was the last time that we would meet before she left in holiday so we wanted to make it good. So we thought and thought but we couldn't figure out what we should teach her. When all of a sudden we decide to show her Look not behind thee Mormon message. That's what we went in with. We should her the video and after which she explained how it was an answer to her prayer. About how she had something from her past come up and she wasn't sure to go back to it or move on. And then we showed her the video and she said she now knows her answer. It was an amazing experience. I love how the lord uses us to answer his children's questions. It was a remarkable experience. 

I am just so happy to be a missionary at this time of my life. What a remarkable time of year where our thought and feelings are turned towards the Savior. I truly know that Jesus is the Christ, our Prince of Peace, and Redeemer of the world. He is the way the truth and the LIGHT! I love being able to share his gospel with His children. Only through Him can we return to live with God again. I love him so much for all that he has done for me. He is the greatest gift! 

Have a merry Christmas.

Love,

Elder Hanks 韓長老

Sent from my iPad 

We are smilin' over here people...!

Well everyone, I hope you all are enjoying the snow over there in America. Or whatever weather you may be having. Well we had a fun week this week so let's get started shall we.

This week was pretty slow on the lesson side of things because of not being able to go to the university to teach. NEVERTHELESS the promise in 1 Nephi 3:7 is true. The lord always provides a way, and for us that way was KFC. We had a couple lessons there, which were alright. Until the lord blessed us once again and we found out that there was a member in another ward who is on the administration for the university. Called her and explained the situation, she called us back within 10 min and we now have official permission to teach at the university. Such a blessing!

R......... our investigator is doing great. She like all our other investigators has been so busy with end of school year essays and tests that it has been really hard to try and meet, but recently we had a lesson with her and taught about temples and eternal families and we were able to reschedule her for the 14 of January. So we are praying that she will make that goal. 

This week we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders in their area. Their area is a small little village called Meltham. While on exchanges we had a lesson with this guy named D....... And D...... had the most action figures and posters of Star Wars I have ever seen in my life in one room. He is an avid fan, but also a great person. He will be so blessed when he joins the church.

Well we also had our Transfers this past Saturday and it was quite non-eventful. Only 2 people in the whole zone were changed. And one of them happened to be......

A different elder. That's right I'm staying here with elder Liss! And I couldn't be happier! We are going to have a lot of fun this transfer! So looks like I'll be here for Christmas! And it started off well by having all the missionaries speak in church in sacrament, so yes people that was for the 3rd time in this ward. Haha I love it!

Okay so cool thing that I found this week was in 1 Mosiah 1:6-7

6 O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes.

7 And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers.

So I was thinking to myself, search, what does that mean. And if you define the word it means, "to try and find something by looking or otherwise seeking carefully and thoroughly." So my question then is, how often when we read do not only study the scriptures but we search for something. An answer to a question? An answer to a friends question? A solution to a problem? Advice on a situation?  I mean that's what they are there for right. So that we too may prosper! I challenge you all, that when you read your scriptures don't just study them, search them and they will bless and change your life as they have done to mine. I know the scriptures are true. 

Well that's it for me folks! Hope you all have a wonderful season of giving!

Love elder Hanks!

Pics:

1. Us at our Ward Christmas Party! Left to right: Lucas, Bowen, elder Liss, R, and me.

2. Our exchanges with the Zone leaders. Left to right: elder Stiggson from Sweden, me, elder Liss, elder Omondi from Kenya.

3. The only house with lights on it in Huddersfield.

4. Shout out to my trainer elder chen, who goes home this week. What a legacy he left and I am excited to see him finish a faithful mission.

5. Our other Christmas decor.

Helloooo December!

Dec 5 2016

Can you believe it's December, wow my mind can't believe it! I hope you all are going out and serving in 25 ways over these 25 days. This week was quite interesting, a lot of things happened both good and bad, so let's start with the bad first. Being the Chinese elders most if not all our work is done around the university, our finding, and our teaching. All of our teachings have been on the university, in a place called the student central which is a big meeting area for students. We have taught there for every one of our lessons. Well this past Friday, a man with a badge, interrupted our lesson and kicked us out of the uni. I tried to talk with him to see if there was any way possible for us to stay, but he bluntly said
no and we were gone.

So currently me and elder Liss are searching for a place to now teach people, because we no longer have a place and it's not looking too good.

On the positive side of things.... on Zone p-day we had a competition/ tournament of games for the Zone. To see who was the top companionship, and well glad to say that yes Elder Liss and I WON! I know big surprise but it was actually pretty fun.

We have found a lot of new people in our finding this week, it was our focus of the week to improve our finding. So we have met a ton of fun people including a few, Phill Collins, S......, C......., L......... (pronounce that as you wish) and many more. Haha a fun part to working with Chinese people.

R.........our friend, (our new word for investigators) is doing really well. She was able to talk to her parents about the baptism, and she has no support from them. But she is continuing to meet with us and this last week we have had some really good lessons with her! So we are optimistic that she will still get baptized, at the end of this year or beginning of next year!

False Prophet John! So quick background, this is an English man who hates mormons, studies the bible intensely and every time you see him he stops you, and tries to prove us how we are a false church. This was my first time meeting him this week. I can't tell you all about or conversation because it would take an hour to explain. Therefore to give you the shortened version, I am not a believer in a "war of words" and Joseph Smith puts it. But I am a more firm Believer in
defending his name. And after quite the debate, False Prophet walked away in frustration after not being able to answer my questions. I don't think he will be bugging missionaries for a while.



This Saturday was awesome we had a Stake choir Christmas concert. It was so cool because they invited the Huddersfield Gospel choir, which is like the black Baptist choir. And it was so awesome, to actually hear the typical Gospel choir songs, with the clapping and hallelujahs, swaying and all sorts of things. It was quite the experience!

Well people I am sure that next week will be a more exciting week for us. Please pray that the uni will let us teach here, if not we are in big trouble! Love you all and hope you guys have a wonderful December with all the shopping, and whatnot that goes on in this time.

Merry Christmas! 🎄
Elder Hanks韓長老

Pics
1.  Our district!
2. A more serious district
3. Our Christmas decor!