Miracles and transfers!

March 20 2017

Well hello there everyone. Hope you all had as good of a week as I did. This week was just awesome trying to get elder Ferrell all sorted and seeing investigators and all the stuff that we missionaries do,  so let's start shall we! 

So first miracle! We met with our investigator A........ who we haven't seen for a month. So we saw her for a bit and just talked to see how she was doing,  we really felt that we should teach her the atonement. So on Saturday night we took A.......... to a members house and had THEE MOST POWERFUL LESSON EVER! So as we taught about the atonement it was so powerful the spirit was so strong and A......... got teary eyed and it was great. So A......... will be baptised in April. April is looking like a great month. So that was awesome.

On Friday we had a cool experience. We have a recent Convert L........ who is a boss! She introduced us to her friend Y.........who came to church last week and so we met up. And we taught the whole lesson in Chinese!
I haven't done that in like 5 months! It was amazing. So Y....... is great we didn't get her on date for baptism but we will soon. It was awesome! She is going to come to church again next week so that's awesome!

And so that was the majority of our week a really short email but,  hey- it was great next week will be much more exciting because we have Zone Conference and it's going to be a great week.

Hope you guys have a wonderful week.

Love ya

one more of E. Norton......

Elder Hanks 韓長老
sent from my iPad.

March 13 2017
Well family this week was such a fun week with so many miracles. Wow this week was just amazing so let's get stuck right in shall we.

Monday was historical for the YSA here in York because we were in charge of the FHE activity and the standard is now set high for activities. See pic and video for more details about the activity.

YSA  FHE activity...it was hilarious!

Tuesday was amazing. We had a lesson with our Chinese friend L......! And we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she had loads of questions and she really likes it. But at the end of the lesson we asked her
about her thoughts and she says these words.... "Well I think I had a a funny experience, but I'm not sure. hmmmmmm... I'll tell you next time."  Hahahahaha what no....... you can't just say that to missionaries!!! Experiences are what we live for. So she talked about how she doesn't sleep well and one night she decided to
read her Book of Mormon, and she had the best night sleep she has ever had in England and said how peaceful she felt. SHE FELT THE SPIRIT!!!!! Sooo cool now the next thing is church.

On Thursday this week we were on exchanges, and I was with elder Price from Sunny Cali! (See pics for more details!)  

Taking the train with Elder Price

And we had a lesson with our investigator S........., and he brought his friend (S.......) and we taught them the first lesson and it was chaotic. For two reasons. 1. S........(the friend) asks loads of questions. 2. Because we teach at their house of NINE uni students so lots of noise. But when we got to the first Vision., as soon as elder Price started to talk about it, THE ENTIRE HOUSE went dead quiet. The whole time and when it finished, everything went right back to normal. NOT EVEN JOKING it was just the coolest thing ever! So yeah sweet, spirit filled lesson and they should be coming to church next week.

Also bonus, a recent Convert Chinese girl named L.........brought a friend to church out of nowhere named Y........ And so we talked to her after church and I asked her what she thought of it. And she says, "I felt
good. But can't describe it. It was very peaceful." WHHHHHAAAATAAATATATATATTTTTTTTT!???!???!?!?!??!???
Working through L........ to meet with her this week! Sooo crazy!

Alright so transfer info I know that's what all my friends care about. So here's what's happening. 1/2 the Zone changed and that means in our flat-  big changes. So elder Winegar and Sicardi are both leaving the York area and no one is coming in so we are picking up their area. Elder Norton is also leaving me! Only one transfer together. But he is going to be the Zone leader over in Huddersfield. So my new companion is Elder Ferrell. I'm soooooo pumped!!!! This is going to be he best transfer ever and also it's going to be a bit lonely in our house
because now it's just two of us!

So yes it was a great week for us and you could say I am really looking forward to next weeks! Love you all, enjoy the pictures. 

ummmmm......strange english sightings......

exchanges, Zone conference, hospital trips and evil spirits...!

March 5 2017

Well friends and family, what a week it has been. I know they aren't going to read this but Congratulations to my Sister Hailey on her wedding last week. Really Happy for you guys, make sure you give them a high five or something next time you see them. So happy for you guys.

Well for us, I think we spent the majority of our week in the car, haha wow we are so lame but hey, not much we can do. But some updates for you guys So S........ is doing good, we are working hard with her, she really wanted to strengthen her faith before she got baptized so we are focusing on that faith of hers. So please pray that she will have more spiritual experiences and have a stronger desire for baptism.

L...... is good. She is reading and praying a lot for a Chinese student so we are right happy with her. Our next goal is to get her to the chapel for a tour this week and then church! So pray for her as well.

Just in case you were wondering.... and you shouldn't be! 

Cool experience for y'all! Sorry I'm typing quick because we are doing a YSA activity tonight so I'll send some pics and videos for you All! But back to the cool experience. So me and elder Norton because we had to take 2 missionaries to the hospital like 4 times so that is what we did almost every morning this week between our meetings. So we didn't have much finding this week so what did we do, well we prayed and said show us where to go. Went to a street felt we should do left side! Knocked on some doors, and F..... opened up the door. A young uni girl from Leeds! Start talking and out of the blue says, "yeah I'm catholic but I'm looking for more positivity and optimism in life and know that a God can help me! Miracle! Heavenly Father really does direct this work! It's been such a blessing to be apart of it!






Okay weird thing! So we found this guy named N........! Now at first N.......... seemed like a normal older man. He loves the bible and was so down for us to come and teach him. So we show up and it's him and his son so we were like "double bonus!" So we start to teach the lesson using the bible to teach and relate to him and the spirit is strong going well, they are asking good questions and it was going so great! We got to the part of the restoration and Joseph Smith. No issues yet, when I start to recite the first vision and all of a sudden out of nowhere!! N........ sits right up and starts to yell, "BLASPHEME! I WILL NEVER WORSHIP YOUR SMITH................." we won't go into gruesome details and then sits back down. The spirit it totally now gone and bad feeling arose and After about  30 seconds of silence N........ says, "sorry I have to go somewhere, but I would love for you guys to come back, I love speaking with you." Almost as if nothing just happened, so we got up and left, with the feeling of I don't even know how to describe it but yeah it was a first on the mission.



At MLC (mission leadership council) this week, it was really cool. Because we had the sister in our group going home this transfer so it was her last time there so we took a group picture and it turns out that out of the 30ish people that were there, about 20 of them were from our group! So that was so cool to see. President asked if they sprayed our group with magical leadership dust or something! Hahaha it was great! I'll send some pics to show you all! But sorry this weeks email is quite lame but his next week is the last week of the transfer so we will work hard and get some miracle for you all so I can have some stories to tell.

But to just end, can I just say this gospel is so true! I noticed that we are so blessed to have the knowledge we do about our father in Heaven. We know that we will experience challenges in life right before our greatest miracles so rely on the Savior and his Gospel and you will never go wrong! This truly is His church. I'm so grateful to be able to share this wonderful gospel with the people that I come in contact with!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week of March! Can you believe it!!Love  Elder Hanks韓長老Sent from my iPad.

 

The elder I trained is now a District Leader ! 

Feb 27 2017

I think this was one of the fastest weeks of my entire life! Wow if every week keeps going like this I don't know what I am going to do. But this week was busy, we had lots to do. 

So this week we found a new Chinese girl named L…….. She is awesome, but the first thing that she said to us at the lesson was "don't push me, I don't like being pushed" haha so obviously we are taking it slow with her but she is awesome, she cancelled on us this Saturday and wrote us this massive apology text afterwards so I hope it all works out. Pray for her, and for S……. as well, our two Chinese investigators. S……. won't get baptized this week, we have some new concerns to deal with, but hey we are optimistic!

This Thursday we had an amazing Zone Conference with York and Leeds zones. It was so good we focused on working with members and hope to get members to do more missionary work. So you all better be giving the missionaries some referrals! It was great and my favorite part was we had a testimony meeting with all the missionaries and it was such a powerful experience to see missionaries from all over the world, get up and bare their testimony about the Savior. It was absolutely amazing! 

On Friday it was really fun! We did exchanges with the assistants and went to Leeds for the day. And I was with elder Klingler and he is such a funny kid. We had an awesome time knocking on doors in Leeds.

But we found this funny kid named T......., had a good chat with him so the assistants are going to start teaching him. And the best part was we woke up early on Saturday to go play basketball for an hour or so, it was awesome. Only to end off the day with another exchange with the lads in our flat, so I went with elder Sicardi and we had loads of fun there!

Sunday was also a really good day because this Sunday we were able to participate in giving a recent convert I….., the aaronic priesthood and it was such an amazing experience. I love the power that the priesthood brings into our lives and it was so great to hear the bishop explain to I…..the role of the priesthood and how it blesses others. I'm so grateful for the chance to be a priesthood holder, so all you priesthood holders out there, you better honor your priesthood because that's what it deserves. 

Doesn't sound like too busy of a week but it was. It has been a good week and next thing ya know I'll be in my last transfer so I hope this time slows down!

Love you all, have a great week and don't let it go by too fast!

Elder Hanks 韓長老

Here's some pics,

Went to the coast this past week. Look at it........ so cold!

Craziest Saturday night

Feb 20 2017

Craziest night ever! And dejavu....

Well family and friends another week has gone by in the Greatest mission in the universe. And well it was a week of super fun and we have lots of fun stories to tell. So update on some people.

So S....... She is our one Chinese investigator and well she is progressing so well. How well?  we'll to give you an example in her last prayer she said, "Heavenly Father please help me to finish my assignments so I can get baptized earlier." So we are praying hard for her that it will work out. So we are looking for the 1st of march for her baptism. So we will be meeting with her this week to finalize everything and answer any more questions, so it should be good!

Also O...... our miracle Polish girl. She couldn't come to church this week because of work. It's a big downfall when you’re a foreigner in this country and you have like the worst hours possible but she is meeting with us hopefully on Wednesday so it should be really good.

We went around town last p-day and got some sweet pictures I will have to share will all y'all! But something fun happened on Saturday!


So we did an exchange this week with one of our district leaders. And it was elder Cottrell my old companion! So I got to go with him for the day and it was like the funniest day ever, we had so much success finding people, and the whole day we were talking about the fun times we had back in Sheffield it was so great! Wow I just love that guy.
But I am sad because he goes home in like 3 weeks. But then the craziest thing happened on Saturday night! Think is why we obey the word of Wisdom. Hope you like stories people!

So once upon a time there was a Saturday night, and we decided that we wanted to do a small blitz with some elders in the Zone. So we took the drive out to a small city of Pontefract. This being a smaller city among the areas in the zone, so we figured it to be a quiet place. However, upon arrival we instantly knew the mistake we had made as we saw a multitude of drunk people in the streets! How on earth could this be, in a small little village of York!

But trusting all would be well we split off and headed into the city where we attempted to spread the Word of God. Needless to say none were bothered to hear what we had to say, but from what we saw we will never be the same. Amongst walking the streets there came a rumble of motors from behind. And we see four lads upon the backs of 2 quads! All in black and masks they spread their terror through the streets plastering all they saw - cars on the road, on the sidewalks -  with their fire extinguishers. Many were covered in white powder as they rolled through the town causing havoc. 

Passing by us once or twice, heeling some words here and there but the lord protected us that night! Only to end he night by tossing the worn out extinguishers into a car window and a McDonald's shop window. After that point we knew it was our time to leave so we left that small town and came home, committing ourselves that we would never drink alcohol in any sense, and always stay away from pontefract on a Saturday night!

The End!
Love you all have a great week!



There was a time I left my iPad in a flat, so I told them to toss it
to me! Yes I know bad idea

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.