A 3 week catch up! June 6th - 20th 2016

June 20 2016

Wow hello again everyone, can I just say that I think there must be something in the water they give us because the time is just going by way too fast, I feel like I just did this thing yesterday but I didn't, but hey ooh well, time flies when you’re having fun right! so let’s hear some fun things that happened this past week shall we.

This week we had our last and final thing with President Pilkington. He came to all of our district meetings and gave us an awesome little talk about missionary work and the love that he has grown for the gospel and it was just so powerful and I am really going to miss President,  that man is just the best. And he gets even better because he gave me 12 boxes of pancake mix and some syrup before he left. Heavenly Father must of told him that I was really craving some pancakes and well he delivered! SOOOOO GOOOD! PANCAKES FOR DAYS!

Last Monday we had to go exchange some money for Elder Leavitt because he had a lot of American cash so we exchanged it and as we were leaving the store a lady came up to us and asked us if we could give her the address to our church she wanted to come!???/ WHAT THAT NEVER HAPPENS! So of course gave her all the details for the church and now we are just waiting to see what happens with this lady, I hope she actually comes!:)

N……….! Wow this guy was soo sweet. So we went on a little blitz with the Zone Leaders because the sisters had to steal their car to go somewhere so they were stuck in our area without anywhere to go, so they came and worked with us for a little bit, it was awesome! We knocked on some doors and on the third door we knocked on, we looked back to the first door and this young lad was standing there waving us down! So we went over and he could speak very little English and he was from Greece. He asked if we were the ones who banged on his door (Elder Smith has a very energetic knock)! Well because of his lack of English he said that he was going to call his friend and have him translate for us. Terror went through my mind, because if we told his friend who we are we have no way of making sure that he doesn't say anything mean or false about us, so in a panic the Holy Ghost always comes in for the save! I remembered that there was a returned missionary in our ward who served in Greece. So I quickly pulled out my phone and asked him if he could talk to our friend instead! So I called this member up and explained what was happening and if he could talk to this guy at the door, and explain who we were-  luckily he was free so they talked for a while, then this guy N………. face lights up and says something in Greek, "oidosajfsdoifas aifjsdpfsdj" Right,  well it turns out that when I finally talked to the member later on he said that N……. loves to talk about Jesus and wants to chat! So now we have to coordinate a time with this member and N…… to have a lesson! Super Cool!!!!!!

Man the funniest excuses you get as being a missionary, sorry this is a long email but a lot of funny stuff happened. So this Elder Omondi and I were on exchange and we got the funniest excuse ever. We asked this lady about hikes- If there was anywhere to go to hike here and Sheffield and she responded and told us about some amazing places that we could go to, well we transitioned into the gospel and we mentioned how we talked about God! People no joke -the second we said God, The lady says and I quote, "sorry I am deaf I can’t hear you, sorry I must go!" After a nice conversation all of a sudden this lady becomes deaf, what a miracle! I didn't know we had the power to do that to people to cause people to become deaf as missionaries! Who would of thunk!?? ohhh English people you got to love them!

We always sit next to the weirdest people on the buses let me tell you! We got on this bus on Thursday to go to a tea appointment but there were so many people on the bus that we had to stand in the aisle. Well this 95 year old lady starts to yell "Jesus People, ooh boy!" Then she goes on to tell us this and hence the subject of the letter. She in the loudest voice possible the whole bus was staring right at us. She began to tell us that Jesus through her talks to people, that he controls her vocal chords and she begins to speak like a man! And she doesn't remember a word she says, but as a 95 yr old women, she goes into the middle of town center and Preaches to people in a man voice, and if that wasn't enough, she begins to ask people on the bus, if they have ever heard her preach. And sure enough people were saying yes and that it was something that she did! I didn't even know what to say when she asked me if Jesus Spoke through me too, because like yes we do speak for him, but not quite to the extent that she was meaning! Hahaha it was a great experience!! And quite frankly one of the longest bus rides i have ever had!

Well that does it for me folks. Ya'll have a great week! And also happy fathers day to all you dads! And of course to the best dad in the whole world! I love you dad, thanks for being the greatest example to me!

Love Elder Hanks!!

June13 2016

Well people lots of things were going on this past week and "So let’s get down to business"

Alrighty there well this week was great for several reasons the first one being Zone Conference!!

Zone Conference was awesome. It was our last meeting with President Pilkington as a mission and it was awesome because it was a last little hurrah for him. The whole time we talked about things that President has talked about for the past 3 years and it was really awesome I learned so much in this past Zone Conference and the spirit there was so strong I just love Zone Conferences, they are the best. And you get to see some old friends as well, I got to see Elder Von Cannon and Elder Cottrell again, along with the old flat mates over in York so that was awesome! So if any of you remember elder Von Cannon he is really shy kid, and doesn't liked to be touched, the only time he ever touched me was when we hugged when I got E.T. (emergency transferred)  to Sheffield. Well when we got off the bus at Zone Conference Elder Von Cannon came up to me and gave me a hug!! AHHH it was awesome I love that elder! However the best thing that happened at Zone Conference was when President and sister Pilkington both got up and bore their testimony on the Saviour together, with music and pictures and they went through his life and it was the most powerful/spiritual moment ever! I love being a part of the missionary work force! The saviour lives and he loves each and every single one of us!

Right after the Zone Conference we went on exchanges with our new district leader and his trainee. So I went with the trainee Elder Osborn and that Elder is such a character what a lad! Hahaha we had a lot of good laughs together and were able to see some fun people. We went to a members house in their ward to practice teach them a lesson and the members acted like they were totally atheist and hated us, needless to say that lesson didn't really happen because elder Osborn didn't know what to do, and I was just laughing because the members were being like the hardest investigator ever! But good experience got rained on a lot!!

We ended the exchange with a good laugh! This week I finally took my driving lessons over here and well let me tell you people! Driving in England is the scariest thing ever!!!!!! I thought that I was going to die, ok not really but its way different. it felt good to be driving again but being on the other side of the road was weird and the instructor was treating me like a 15 yr old learning how to drive, he made me do the whole 10 and 2 hand thing on the wheel, and made me go like 10 miles under the speed limit and ooh I was getting a bit frustrated with him, because "Well I have been driving sir for like the past 4 years now! I know how to drive!" but yeah elder Leavitt was having a good laugh at the guy just making me do all the little basic stuff that I really already know how to do. Nevertheless is was fun to drive again!

And then one little funny experience that we had the other day while finding. Let me tell you how funny English people are. They are SOOOOOOOOOOOO funny! They always say what’s on their mind no matter what, and sometimes they say it without thinking and it can bring out some really funny remarks! We asked one man, what would he do if God came down from the sky and asked him to go to church if he would? Alright got the question! Well this like 40 yr old man responds with, "well I think that I would first ask for his identification first, then if he was God I would go!" At that point I didn't know if he was joking or serious but when elder Leavitt started to laugh a little the guy pointed out that it’s very serious and that we should always ask for peoples identification to be safe!! hahaha ooh the things that you will hear here in England!

Well that's it for me here in England, looks like the hanks are all over the places, I am here, Family is in Singapore, Sister in New York! love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!

love

elder Hanks

June 6^th 2016

Hello everyone I hope that you all had a wonderful week this week because my week was amazing. It was sad to say goodbye to Elder Cottrell but then again because he lives like 10 min away from me back in Utah -  it wasn't too bad I know I will see that guy again, so that is alright. On Tuesday we made the long drive up to Leeds for a trainer meeting, where they were going to show us how to train new missionaries. To keep it short, pretty much they said this, "how you work with them, treat them, show them, expose them, will set the standard for work the rest of their mission, so don't mess this up!" No pressure at all right! So we had this meeting and then like 2 hours later we finally got to meet our trainee's!! drum roll....................................................................

Elder Leavitt come on down you’re the next contestant on the Elder Hanks training segment!!!

My new companion is soooo awesome! So yeah Elder Leavitt is fresh from the Provo MTC (not Chinese speaking) but we’ll manage! But he is from a small town near Las Vegas and let me tell you something that is just the greatest thing a trainer wants to hear.  HE'S A RANCHER!! He comes from an 1100 acre ranch and does cattle, horses the whole nine yards!!! And his accent whoa!!! All he has to do is say, howdy and people stop its amazing!!!! Because of his background waking up at 6:30 no problem at all, in fact sleeping in! He is huge, so tiredness is not a problem, he is social (except for public speaking) we'll work on that! And when we were going back to the flat I asked him to use 3 words to describe him and he says, "I love Work!!!" COME ON PEOPLE WHAT CAN BE BETTER THAN THAT, I WILL TELL YOU NOTHING!!!

This has been such a fun week with him, and the English people love him, and his accent, they love meeting a real cowboy!! I absolutely love training, I think it’s the best thing ever!!! So we got a lot of fun things this week during our work!

1st Service

We started off the week for an investigator named G……… an older gentleman who dropped us the second we showed up at his door again after the first lesson! But that didn't stop us from doing his garden so we had a fun little service project with him, and then I asked him to take a picture for us, and he held the camera backwards and I got a nice little selfie of him instead so I will add that in later!! But we did some service and then left the man for the last time!!

2nd  Church

So everyone has this idea, that missionaries know everything about the gospel and that we can answer every question, which is almost true! But this past Sunday I was talking to elder Leavitt about speaking in church, because he asked how often we speak in church, and I told him that we only do it if someone doesn't show up, and then ask us like last second. Well like 10 min later the bishop comes up to me and says hey we have no teacher for the youth Sunday school class will you teach the lesson! So we had a sweet lesson with the youth, wish I got a picture but it was church, and that wouldn't of been reverent.

3rd Phone

This is mainly for all the missionaries out there serving now, but a lesson that we can all learn from. We were coming back from service with graham and we were on the bus and there was only a couple of people on the bus, besides us. I was tired and I wasn't in the mood of talking to people, but with a new trainee and a desire to be obedient I decided I needed to talk to the man in the back, so I got up and went and talked to him. Had a lovely conversation with him, wasn't interested in us, but nice guy. Then we got off the bus, and I checked my pockets and yes the phone was gone! It was on the bus and that was the last bus of the day! Ahhhhh!   So there was no getting it back! I sat there at the bus stop not knowing what to do, watching the bus drive away, when in the distance I saw the bus stop, a man got off the bus, couldn't tell who it was because he was too far away. But I felt like I should walk towards the guy and as we got to him, I realized it was S…….., the guy that I had talked to on the bus. He had our phone and we were able to have another good chat with him! I know without a shadow of a doubt, that because I was obedient, and talked to that man, he got off his bus 30 min early to give us our phone and then walk home! Such a strong testimony builder for me, and hope that all my friends and family out in the world will not be afraid to open our mouths and talk to everyone! One day that man will receive the gospel!

4th 

Alrighty everyone buckle down for this one because this is going to be a fun story! So this last week I wanted elder Leavitt to experience what it’s like to have a door slammed in your face, as soon as possible so he knows how to deal with it. Well amongst knocking we meet a lady named L……..! We had a nice chat with L….., and then she invited us to come in. We came in sat down and then it goes all crazy. She starts to tell us that she is very similar to us in beliefs, because she is a spiritualist! (people, not similar!) She goes on to tell us that she has these 3 spirits who follow her wherever she goes and helps her. One of them is a lizard man, one is a Native American who guides her, and the last one is Al Capone's right hand man, who is her protector. Sounds lovely doesn't it, having a gangster as a protector. Anyways so we start to teach her the lesson which was horrible because she always interrupted us, but we kept going, and then she says to Elder Leavitt, "do you like walking?" with the response "no not really" haha "weird" she says " I am sensing a nomad spirit around you, who likes to walk and that's why you are able to walk around so much!" Then she turns to me and says, "your badge is in Chinese, can you speak it?" "yeah" "that's why I feel a Chinese presence here, you have a Chinese guide spirit and that's why you are so short!" (not funny people) No joke it was the weirdest thing ever, and then to end the lesson when we got to the restoration and pulled out the book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it, she responds with this statement at which point I just had it! But she says this, "you know as I have sat here listening to you, I have had a series of revelations, first is my spirits are saying that you guys are just scratching the surface or what’s really there, you almost got it. Second is my spirits are telling me that I should not read that book for some reason. third is, I think that your main goal in being here should be teaching people what the difference is between you and Jehovah Witnesses."

Needless to say at that point I said thank you for her time and left! That was an experience that I hope I won’t forget!

Well that was this week for us here in Sheffield England! I hope you all had a wonderful memorial day, and know that we didn't do anything, because well no one celebrates it!

Anyways love you all, and always remember that our Heavenly Father Loves you,

love

Elder Hanks

One more picture with E. Cottrell

My new trainee!    Elder Leavitt ! 

A guy named G......unkowingly taking a selfie instead of taking a picture of us! 

E. Von Cannon at Zone Conference

Flat mates from York! 

My new district here in Sheffield ! 

This is how your protect your missionary stuff in the rain !
                                                                                             

When your bored at a door step....... 

Ahhhh it's transfer week!

Alrighty people this is going to be a really quick email this week, because we are having a party as missionaries and so this is going to be really quick! 

But this week we were able to give some service to his guy named G............ and now he is an investigator so that will be fun.

I am so exited to get a new missionary and to help him out I promise that next week I will be able to write more and say some more but this week was a bank holiday today and that all the libraries were closed down today so we had to email from our ipads and so that makes for short emails for everyone but next week will be a better email! 

Not much progression with our investigators, but I am still here in Sheffield to help them out a little bit. Also one really good thing that happened this week was C...... our recent convert gave a wonderful talk in sacrament and what made it even better was that this Sunday was her original baptism goal !  but instead she was giving a talk in sacrament meeting. so that was super awesome! 

Sorry this is going to be all over the place, but then we visited a less active named K...... and this guy is so awesome he was teaching us all this sweet stuff about mormon history and mormon doctrine, it was super cool, its just sad to see him not enjoying the blessings of the gospel. 

Also on sunday we were able to do some member splits and I  went with this guy named A........ he is the elders quorom president and we had a wonderful time visiting members and less actives throughout the ward area. I wish I had more to report for this week!  

Also transfers this week.!!!!  So a lot of things went on this past week. Lots of moves and lots of things going on. Two people in our flat are leaving. Elder Poggeman is being moved to a new area, and I am going to miss that lad, and then my Companion is also leaving me this week!  He is going to be the zone leader in Huddersfield. I am really going to miss serving with that guy and having fun together. So because of that I am getting a new companion tomorrow and to be honest I  don't know anything about him, like where he comes from or what he is like, I don't even know his name, and that's because I AM TRAINING!!!!!! I have never been so excited and more nervous in my life but I know that this is going to be a really good experience so we will see how that goes. I am looking forward to seeing my new boy! if anyone has any advice on training please let me know! Hahaha - alright sorry this was short and all over the place next week will be better with my little trainee!!!!!

Love Elder Hanks

Don't Drink People!

Alrighty everyone I am going to have to do this at a gallop here, but that's alright lets see what has happened this week.

One thing that was really cool that happened this week was we got a referral from the mission office this week. And well because of this we went right to them to see how we could assist them. Turns out they are a referral from St. George Utah! I know crazy right we got English people that know about Utah! But their names are G........ & M.........., they are an older retired couple and they own a small little cabin in the city of Cedar City Utah! They go there twice a year and finally decided to go check out the white castle in St. George and now she has a copy of the book of Mormon and reading a lot! Her partner not so much, but she is doing really well! So we now are working with them. so that is sweet!

We also met this lady named L......... this week. she is a mom with two little kids, who we met knocking and well she really had no interest in us, which is okay people don't have to like me, they just need to love the Savior right, So we started to talk to her and tell her what it is that we exactly do and well, she now has a copy of the book of Mormon and is scheduled for baptism! That was a great experience, now I just pray that we can help her progress towards that goal.

Something crazy that happened this past week that inspired the subject here! We were walking to an investigators house that was in the area, talking to people as we went and we were about there when I stopped this young lad on the sidewalk, (first mistake!) asked him where the nearest church was, (second mistake), then agreed to follow him to the church! (third mistake!) turns out that this guy was completely drunk out of his mind and couldn't walk in a straight line and was saying some pretty mean stuff about religion, but then comes the bad part! We come to a main road,

(now let me tell you about English roads, they are tiny, there is barely enough space for two cars on it, then cars park on the side of the roads, making less space and well there are cars and buses everywhere, so its always busy! )

our flat ceiling is under repair!

So this guy without any hesitation walks/stumbles out into the road without looking! (kids look both ways!) and cars are slamming on the breaks and dodging this guy in the road, and the whole time he is telling us to follow him. Well we didn't! then when he gets to the other side he realizes that we are still on the other side so he does the same thing back to come and get us!!! People he ALMOST DIED, LIKE 6 TIMES! Finally on the third attempt we got across when there was a bigger gap between vehicles, never ended up making it to the church with him mainly because we thought we didn't want this guy to go across any more roads! but yeah that was an exciting adventure and also a great testimony builder on the Word of Wisdom, it literally protects us people!!

So quick little updates with the people that we met last week, we were only able to get a hold of some of them and we didn't have the chance to even meet with them. All of them seemed to disappear this week, which was really sad and all the people that said that they would come to church didn't, but hey what can you do when your a missionary! Nothing?  NOOOOOO you pray your heart out for these people that they will have the desire and the heart to continue to learn about the Savior and what they will do for them!

I just wanted to end by sharing something with you,

I was reading in Alma 5 during sacrament meeting this past week and I had this thought come into my mind, and then I saw this picture on my ipad and really just solidified my love for the Savior. I was reading verse 48 which talks about the Savior. I love Jesus Christ so much without him everything that we face in this life would be so much worse! it would cause us to buckle to our knees, and sometimes it does! But with him he is there to pick us up, to lift us to bring us back even stronger with a firmer belief in him.

"He will find us,

He will lift you up and place you on his shoulders.

He will carry you home."

I know that our Savior and redeemer lives! He is the head of this wonderful church and he has the power to heal us! No matter what is broken! He continues to show me what is broken with me, all my weaknesses and then he shows me how I can make those things whole. But not just whole but even stronger! I testify of that! I love this church I love being a missionary! I love my Savoir Jesus Christ!!

Love Elder Hanks!

High on a Mountain (hill) top!

May 16 2016

My awesome Zone! 

Hello lads and lasses you alright!? I am doing just splendid here in England the sun was shining most of the week and the people here are wearing less and less clothes and well that makes for exciting missionary work. But this week was an awesome week for us we were able to find 7 new investigators!!!! LIKE WHAT!!!!!!!!!!???????????? We don't know what happened even the Zone leaders were calling us like "what is going on there?" but we had loads of success this week, it made me feel like I was down in Columbia with my mate Elder Ferre. But lots of fun things happened so let’s get into the week shall we.

First off on p-day we decided as all the elders in the zone to go and do a little hike in the peak districts here in Sheffield so we pilled in some cars and had an adventurous day with the elders, it felt like a day back at home chilling with the homies but it wasn't. So that was really cool. But we were able to hike some hills, and see some fields and that was a great start off for the week. But now we will get into the missionary work, I will tell you about some of the people that we have met this past week.

So first off update with our recent convert C......... She is doing so well, she is now teaching her friends about the church, she goes online and tells people who the Mormons really are, and she defends the church more than ever which is soo awesome!! She is just doing so well, I love seeing here at church with her two little kids, that has made the entire mission worth it!

Now for D...... So we were knocking on a road where an investigator lived and we knocked on his door and he opens up and says! "Can I get a picture with you guys?" I mean I know I am good looking but come on not that good! J.K.! But so we said yeah, so he went and got his phone and took a selfie with us and then explained how he just moved up from London and saw the Book of Mormon play, and now he had two Mormon missionaries at his door -  "coincidence I think not!!!" so we started to chat about that and Elder Cottrell has seen some of the play so he started to sing some of the songs, which really made the guy laugh and open up to us. But he accepted a book of Mormon and now we are going to teach him about what our church is really like! But hey look at that! The play really does help out the church!

Then we met these 3 people while walking and they told us to teach them as they walked so we ended up walking with them to a park, they sat down and elder Cottrell took one named C.... and I took this couple S.... and T...... and we sat and taught them separately but it was really awesome because all of them were interested and now we are going back to teach them some more hopefully. So that was awesome as well.

Then on Saturday! Wow what an experience. There is a professional soccer team right down the road from us, that had a huge game the other day, and me and elder Cottrell were on the tram at the wrong time. Because no joke hundreds and hundreds of fans got on and the entire 30 min tram ride, were chanting at the top of their lungs, all their chants, which don't always have the best of words in them, but chanted forever! And it was such a fun experience I wish I could have taken a picture but there was so many people in there I could get my camera out of my pocket. But for a kid who has played soccer his whole life it was awesome!!!!!!

So there are some good things so let’s share something that was bad shall we, we can’t be too happy over here, or people think we are crazy. Which brings me to this story. We had just tried by some potentials with no luck but then as we were walking this lady called over to us and started shouting at us and for a solid 20 min me and Elder Cottrell sat there while this lady told us how we are brainwashed and then nothing good will come from believing, and that there is no god and how our lives are ruined and how we are ruining other peoples lives! It was the roughest 20 min of my life!

But let me tell you this!

We are not brainwashed! There is a Father in Heaven who loves each and every single one of us. This gospel does change lives, it brings about good, it brings about perfection in us. Good things do come from this gospel because this is Christ's church, he blesses us for our efforts. God is real, and he is watching out for us, I can promise you this. I know that this is the true church, that joseph smith is a prophet that the book of Mormon is true and teaches us how to be good, how to stay good, and how we can be eternally good. I know it to be true! And I hope you all can feel of its truthfulness as well. I am so grateful for that opportunity, which solidified my testimony! I love this church and I love being a missionary!!

Love Elder Hanks

Happy Mother's Day!

May 9 2016

Happy mother's day to all you moms out there!! Hope you all had a wonderful day and that you all got spoiled. But I will talk more about that in the end. Let’s get into the week.

This week started off really good but let’s do the bad before we do the good shall we. So we had this amazing investigator named T........ and we have been working with him for a really long time and he was so close to baptism the only thing he had to do left was come to church and to stop smoking. He got a patch for his smoking and he was about there. Until about after the 5th time of him saying he will be at church and then doesn't show up, we had to drop him, which is the hardest thing to do as a missionary is drop one of your investigators and especially when the lad, is such a brotha from Jamaica! But that was a sad note to the week. Now let’s get into the good shall we.

Our chapel

So first off we had Interviews with President Pilkington this last Friday and me and Elder Cottrell had to wake at 4:00am -  4 AM people!!! In order to catch a bus up to the church and to warm up the building since it was at our chapel, luckily here in England the sun comes up at like 4:30 so that's always nice I guess, and then it gets dark at like 10:00-  it’s a weird phenomenon. But anyways this interview with President was really good and the last one that we are going to have since he goes home next month sadly! But it was great we were able to have nice little laugh together which was good. It’s going to be so weird to have a new Mission President but we will wait and see how that goes! But that was a good time, next interview will be with President Turvey!

Also this week because the sun is out, I promise people become just so nice, the ice cream trucks are going and no joke kids are running around with barely any clothes on, and you see people having English barbeques, which are not the same as ours, but they are great! But people are just so nice during the summer time here. So because of this we were able to meet a lady named E....... E........ is from Iceland and she has a really cool accent, so we met her on Wednesday and then we went back and taught her on Thursday. And it was a great lesson out in her back garden and the sun was out, and she was so interested in learning about the church! We invited her for baptism and she was open to the idea, but wasn't too keen on choosing a day right now, but at the end of the lesson she said, "So my only question is, can I come to a Sunday service, before I get baptized?" I tried first not to laugh, but then I excitedly told her that we would love for her to come to church, so we hope that she will be able to come next week.

what I look like after a long day! 

Then with our current investigator S......, he was able to come to church this week for his first time which was really awesome!! He shows up in his beanie and baggie trousers which was awesome and he said that he had a good time. He liked how there was actually young people in our church rather than just old people. I guess here in England the only people that really go to church anymore are the old people! so next time all you parents are about to complain about a young man or women doing something weird or distracting, count the blessing of having young people in a church who are willing to serve and do what the lord has asked them to do. But yeah it was a good time with S...... at church so that was great!!

Now for mother’s day. It was so fun to be able to Skype home with my family and be able to talk to all of them, and see their faces. Sadly my little niece Remie hasn't quite warmed up to the idea of talking to someone on the computer (it was nap time apparently)  but I will get a better response some day! haha, but it was a great experience to see them and I am so grateful for the wonderful family that I have and for the support that they give me. But of course I just want to publicly thank my amazing mother! I have the most amazing mum in the Entire UNIVERSE! I can’t even describe how much she has helped me out in my life and continues to put a smile on my face every time I get something from her, even when it’s a  piece of paper with a funny picture on it! She is amazing I love her so much! Love you mum! 

But everyone- do NOT take for granted the blessing it is to have mothers in our lives. It mentions moms too much in the scriptures for us to take it likely! "No mortal love can ever be closer to the love of the Savior, than a loving mother for her Child" They are the purest examples of Christ and help us more than ever can imagine. Look at the 2,000 stripling soldiers and how their mothers influenced them and how your mom has always influenced you to do good, to be our best and to respect others. So important are mums, that one of the last things that the savior said was "behold thy mother." Mums our in the world you have a divine role from heaven, do not let it be taken likely. You do amazing things, no effort is wasted. Thank you for the love and example that you show to all of us!

Random Pic of me by E. Cottrell

me & Elder Poggemann

Love Elder Hanks

May started out great with the small but significant!

May 3 2016

Hello everyone it’s good to be back here again letting you all know how it is over in the rainy side of the world. This week was full of fun things so let’s get started!

The Sun is out! 

This week me and Elder Cottrell got to go on exchanges with some other elders because the zone leaders felt bad that we don't get the chance to do any because all the missionaries in the district are sisters -so we can’t do that now can we.....!  So this week we did a little exchange and I went with Elder Gerlach, he is from Oklahoma and he goes home this transfer so it was fun to talk with him about his mission, and about what he has learned and all his fun experiences so that was good! This exchange was one of the weirdest ones that I have ever had, let me tell you why. First off was, I chose the area that we should knock in since he didn't know the area, and well it turns out that the area was a congregation of Muslim families. So all we got all day was rejection (kind rejection might I add, Muslims are really polite) but it wasn't the greatest place for two Mormon missionaries! Then add onto that, we found a skateboard in a bush and we tried to use it while finding- so that was a sight to see- an American in a suit trying to stop people to talk to them while on a skateboard! But not only that but this week we had some more weather of rain, hail, sleet, snow and sun all in the same day. It was an exciting day for me and Elder Gerlach! 

This week we were able to use our priesthood a lot which is always a blessing to have the priesthood in our lives. I hope all the men out there don't take for granted the amazing blessing it is to have the priesthood power to bless the lives of those that we are close to. Use its power to help others-  That's WHY we were given it! This week we gave Sister ......... a blessing after our district meeting, she is a new missionary and has been having home sickness as we all do! But we gave her a blessing and it was great to use that priesthood again, I haven't given a blessing in a long time and it was good to use it! Also we gave a blessing to a recent converts son, who has been sick for a little bit so we were able to give their son a blessing which was such a fun opportunity they are such a cute family from Africa 

 So two highlights of the week.

Also one fun thing that happened this week was when one day we decided to go the small portion of the University that we have in our area and do some finding! WOW that was so fun, talking to university students is the best - They are so open to new things and learning and aren't afraid to ask questions, which is the best part as a missionary, being able to answer questions! I love questions- if you every have any questions about England or anything please feel free to ask!! Anyways that was fun and it’s even better when you get to use Chinese! So that brings me to a fun little story. We were walking down the road one day and it was in the middle of nowhere, when all of a sudden a little Chinese family came around the corner! There was 3 kids and a mom, so that was unique! However Elder Cottrell-  I think got more excited than I did! That's because he didn't have to do the talking! But I went up and started to talk to them, and all the little kids started to ask me a whole bunch of questions about America, how I could speak Chinese and all, and it was really fun to be able to talk to them, and understand them a little bit, because I haven't used my Chinese in sooooooooo long it feels like! So that was awesome!!

Fun little thing that happened. Yesterday while doing some knocking we ran into this guy who had no belief in anything and was countering everything that we said. We didn't want to bash but elder Cottrell likes to prove his point which is a good thing to have. But the thing wasn't really going anywhere so then I just said something that I thought was small and nothing big and then the guy said this to me, "ooh you're good. You should be the Prime Minister you know what you are doing!" so that felt really good, but don't worry pride quickly left me at the next door! haha ohhh well!

This past sunday we had a great experience with the bishop of the ward. Bishop ........ is soooo amazing I love this guy! We were talking about obedience,well about everything to be quite honest and he said something that I have never thought about. First off though, people, the gospel is true I have no doubt about it, I love it! This is Christ church, but the Bishop said, "Even if the church wasn't the true church and we all died, and when judgement came, would you be afraid because of the life you lived? No you lived the gospel, gave service, no drugs, marriage, being kind to others, worship, praying, learning! All the things that the gospel teaches are blessings!" I have never thought of that before! The church is true, but even if it wasn't, we have no need to fear by living its principles.

To end I would just like to share with you something small but significant! I know that Jesus is the Christ and through him all things are possible. If you turn to him he will turn to you. I promise all of you that!

Love you all, and have a great week, and happy mother’s day to all you moms out there!!

Love Elder Hanks