Monday, July 27, 2009

Regan July 27, 2009

This past week has been very eye opening experience and I really received a witness on how hard work may not seem to get anywhere and then the fruit happens to come or fall all at once.

On Monday we visited Marty and had a pretty good lesson. We watched the special witnesses DVD with him but he is not progressing really anymore so we will see how everything goes this week. We had dinner with a family and shared a great message of Alma 57:21 and the kids were able to catch on pretty well with the message.

On Tuesday we traveled to Defuniak Springs and had a great District meeting. We discussed about the work and how we will strengthen each other and really work hard to bless the families around us. We came back and visited a few referrals and potential investigators that we don't have the opportunity to see very often and it went well. We went on Splits later that night. Elder Jensen and I visited the Sheets family with Brother Blum. It went really well and I fell we will be able to help them regain their activity in the church.

On Wednesday we started out visiting all the investigators that were really close to us who we have had appointments with but they have fallen through a couple of times. We were able to see that they were not as accepting and prepared as we would of hoped. We did find Rick as we were visiting them and will hopefully continue the progression with him. We went and visited Hazel Perry and set up a new appointment with her and visited a less active family who live very close. Later that night Elder Barlow and I went and taught Brother Phillips about a the Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, and Tithes & Offerings. It went really well and they both committed to follow them. Elder Jensen stayed at the 2nd ward activity which went really well and the ward members brought many of there non-member friends and family.

On Thursday we planned quite a few great things throughout the remainder of this week and for the next. We went and visited the Fehlman's and helped continue to chop wood up for their fireplace. I really enjoy being able to help and serve them as we do. We discussed the weekly reading which was in Moses 5. We read it earlier that day and many of the questions in areas that we had and figured out as we continued to read and ponder on the insights we received were the same questions that they had and we were able to answer and help them understand. We taught Brother Hutchins the Stop Smoking class that went really well. He committed to following everything and so far he has been doing great. We then had activity night and we had more investigators than members and were able to fellowship real well.

On Friday we went up to Laurel Hill in the Paxton Branch. We went out with President Coleman and tracted for 4.5 hours. We were able to find between the 4 of us 5 new investigators.

On Saturday we had all of our return appointments with them. We tried to visit all of those we had found and after 4 straight hours of appointments falling through we were wondering what was happening but, by the end we had the opportunity to teach Amy and Wes. We had very powerful restoration lessons and they committed to read and pray to know if what we had taught them were true.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to go to the Paxton Branch and Wes and his kids were at church. It was great and he enjoyed it. In the 1st ward Misty, Kevin, and Joey all came to church and that was great because we are planning for Kevin's baptism on this coming Saturday. In the 2nd ward Sister Fehlman and her husband came and it was a shock because we did not even expect it to happen and it excited us dearly. Later that evening we went to Sister Toolan's house and Brittany and Regan were there. They are Sister Toolan's daughter friends and there parents gave them permission to teach them. We answered all of their questions and we will again teach them today at around 4. I really love serving around such great member that are willing to sacrifice there time and love to helping us and there friends and families. They truly are becoming One with the Missionary work here in the 2nd Ward.This week was full of ups and downs but through it all I received such a confirming witness that our work for the last 3 days of this week was a trial but truly the ultimated blessing of love and compassion from Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That they as Nephi said best that he will prepare away to accomplish what he desires us to do.

Love you

Elder Regan Hansen

Tyler July 27 2009




hello family
This week was a pretty good week and also pretty interesting as well. The baptisms went well but we just about baptized the branch house as well. The font in the branch hasn't had many baptisms and is a fairly new accommodation. Right after the baptisms President Mackinnon told me to pull the drain to the font before I left so no one would have to go back later and reach down and get it, so I did. I went in the bathroom to get changed and as I was getting changed President Mackinnon told me to hurry back and plug it back up because water was coming up through the toilets and flooding the tiles and getting everything wet from the font water. There was obviously a plug in the sewage line that was blocking off the flow of water and so all the font water was going up through the toilets mainly in the woman's bathrooms. So it was a mess hopefully not to much damage is done to the tiles because of the standing water but President Mackinnon was not impressed with who ever hooked up the font drain into the sewage drain but typical of South Africa. Even though it was cold and wet in the branch it will be a memory that no one will forget who all attended. Lungiswa and Cokiswa are powerful and will be a great asset to the branch and excellent leaders. We had a lot of dropped appointments this week but we are focusing on Sibulele and helping him along, well he is a humble guy and comes every week with his cousin Awonke. We have been having family home evening every Monday at Portias home to help unify the township people and help them learn and also have fun because when we leave they must continue on the trend. We was able to go to Cape Agalus this past Monday as well with the Beals and also see Aniston. We have shared the light as well by activating people to there own church as well. Bro Kallani was stone cold on going to any church and as we committed him to our church he began going to his church. He leaves for Switzerland on the 9th of August since he got an employee of the month prize at the Arrabella Hotel but hope we can have him come before he leaves. We need to show him that when he knows the Book of Mormon is true it means many things and this is the only true church. We will continue to work with him even though we have inspired him to his church so that's pretty fun to laugh about. Have a good week.
I pray for you always.
Love Elder Hansen

here are some pictures of the baptism and also Agollas and a puff adder or some viper.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Tyler July 25 2009

hello family,
Thanks for the encouragement and emails, this week was a really good week though we were able to find quite a few families that we set return appointments with this upcoming week that we can follow up with in the Vermont suburb. We have tracted basically all above Kidbrooke but not a lot of success there with retired people. The highlight of the week was the fruits of the less active work we done this week. We were able to see Joy Adams this past week, she hadn't been to church in a few years since the divorce that she had. I left the conference dvds we had with her and she said she has been able to watch them during the past week. She lives in West Cliff Hermanus and it was great to see her come to church with a welcomed hand and warm smile. She is very stressed out with the work that she is doing but we hope we can be able to help her out. We were also able to see Sandra Retierre as well, she is also a single sister as well but it was great to get to know her. Both sisters was great to see and we hope to continue. I really enjoy the less active work that we are able to do and "go back and bring back the sugar beats that have fallen off the church wagon". The zone leader came out on Saturday and were able to talk with Lungiswa and Cokiswa and so they are good to go on the 26 of July. We have family home evening with them every Monday and it is good to see there example and strength to the investigators. We were able to see Cape Agolos yesterday with the Beals which was quite fun. thanks for all have a good week.
love
Elder Tyler Hansen

Monday, July 20, 2009

Regan July 20, 2009

This week seemed at times to be not going anywhere but as we continued to work each and everyday the Lord blessed us with his children.

Monday we had a really good p-day. We had some activities that we did which was really fun and exciting. We had dinner at the Nelson's home which was great. They are an awesome family and they really know how to have charity.

Tuesday we had a great district meeting. It seemed as if many were very tired but as we followed the counsel in Doctrine & Covenants 88:122 everything went fabulous. The spirit was very strong I learned many new things on how to better help the area's. We gave service to Misty by helping move things around the house because she was moving the kids rooms around and doing other misc. things around her house. I had the opportunity that night to travel with President Coleman to Paxton to teach Sheila Parker. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it went great. I talked to President Coleman the next day and he let me know that she was very eager to continue to learn more. We will probably be spending all of this coming weekend there. Elder Barlow and Jensen visited a less active family and they had a great time and they left the family to pray and see if the temple was the next step for them.

Wednesday we had quite a few things fall through on us so we visited past investigators and potentials close to the area's that we were to be visiting. We talked with Curtis and Vanessa and Hopefully we will be able to set up and appointment here with them this week. Later that night Elder Jensen went on a split to visit a less active/part member family and it went well. We went out to Holt and visited less active/ part member families and we have allot of potential that we will be following up with shortly. Elder Barlow and I were in a stop tobacco class helping members and how to set it up to invite investigators and less active members to join the program. It went really well and the spirit was very strongly.

Thursday we had a great day of planning. We planned lesson plans that we will be giving and commitments to go with them along with passages that will strengthen them. I have learned that following this pattern really helps very strongly in coordinating our efforts. We visited the Fehlman's and helped split many logs before the rain started. We had dinner with the Monte's and it went well and Brother Monte has now came to church for the past 3 weeks. We had activity night and had allot of investigators there and will be setting up to have a spiritual message and not just a prayer before.

Friday we visited quite a few member that live next to us that had not been visited for awhile. We then went and visited a few potentials and less active members and were able to set up an appointment with Trudy. We went and taught Maeson and she has been able to have a very strong testimony begin to grow within. We will most likely be setting a baptismal date with her this coming week.

Saturday we went to do service at a less active members house and they finished it before we got there. We decided to head back and tract for a bit. We found Frances and also Dreynon. We have been blessed so well by the Lord. We then went to the Hospital and Administered a blessing to a less active member. He was very grateful of our visit and we will be visiting him later this week. We then visited the Walkers and went over and discussed many aspects of the Gospel. They all came to church the next week which was great.

Sunday I went to the Olive Branch with Brother White and had the opportunity to give a talk concerning our Pioneer Heritage. They had an investigator at church that I talked with and we will be getting an appointment set up here hopefully sometime this week. We then went on splits later and visited quite a few people. It has been great with the 2nd ward because they are always planning visits and asking us to help them which has kept us busier and it is great.
Everything has been going really well and we have quite a few of our Brothers and Sisters progressing to Enter in the Strait and Narrow.

Love You

Elder Regan Hansen

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Tyler July 15 2008



Hello
This week was a good week, we had many service hours and it is good to see the progression of some of our investigators, especially Thomas Peschen. On Tuesday we had zone conference in Bellville and so we stayed at the zone leaders place on Monday night since it is quite a drive from Hermanus to Cape Town. It was great and Spencer Munyan says hi to Regan. He is going home this transfer and is a zone leader of the Cape north zone. We talked briefly and I told him Regan was my cousin from cache valley, so ya he sends his regards. President Probst gave counsel from his personal experience with his father on the trust he has for us and how we should be as a brotherhood of missionaries. He also explained many great things of how we need to be as missionaries to sanctify ourselves to edify our investigators through the power of the Holy Ghost. Sister Probst talked to us about the power of words and how they can sanctify or destroy a soul with the simple words that we use and how we need to think before we talk because we don’t know the effect of the words in which we use. Zone conference was great and I was deeply impressed from the words that are shared from them at each zone meeting. On our way back to Hermanus my companion was driving and we hit a porcupine so it was pretty interesting. We had one thorn go in the tire but interesting week. On Wednesday we helped Thomas Peschen build a pond on his yard and help build a gutter. He comes each and every week to church that is like a 40 minute drive but he leaves on his next tour on the 16 of July. He actually said he had family home evening with his family so it was great to hear, he is coming along great. We have been doing a lot of tracting in white areas lately. Not a lot of people are interested but we have few who we follow up with. We were able to receive many referrals from the Beals family Saturday so I look forward to speaking with some of these people this upcoming week. This week was not the best attendance for church since it has rained a lot this week but the township people are still champions for coming each and every week. The whales have started to come in the bay lately and at a members house yesterday you could see them just within rock throwing distance of her backyard in Hermanus just of the cliffs. We were able to find more potential male investigators like James and Livingston who we will be working with as well, so interesting miracles happen. We look forward to the upcoming baptisms soon.
Thanks for everything good here.
Love
Elder Tyler Hansen

Monday, July 13, 2009

Regan July 13, 2009

This Past week has been great but also challenging which I enjoy because it helps me to desire to work harder and strive to be exactly obedient so I may be endowed with power.

On Monday we started of the day with Brother Phillips. He is going to be baptized soon and we will be figuring out the new day because his father in-law will be coming out from Utah to perform the ordinance. We went trail riding with him and Brother Cooksey who has been a great support for teaching a truly a great friend who shows his love and support.

On Tuesday we had quite a few scheduled appointments with Lakesha, Beatrice, Trudy, Hazel, and Brother Phillips. Most of them fell through so we looked over past media referrals in the area and were able to find Diane and Mrs. Battle to teach. It was great to see how one door close but the Lord is always there to provide a way to accomplish his needs. We had a great lesson with Hazel and tracted by her home and found Kevin. I went with Elder Kenworthy to teach Brother Phillips when we were on trade offs with the AP's. It went really well and Brother Cooksey was there to be strong testimony.

On Wednesday we had zone conference which was very powerful and I received some great insights on how to help investigators feel the spirit daily. We then went and taught Kevin and it went really well and he just got out of the group home that he was in for the past week or so.

On Thursday we planned for this upcoming week and the evening with all the splits we would be going on. We went to see Mrs. Battle but she was under the weather so we will be contacting her today to set up a new appointment. We went to also see Diane but she wasn't home at the time which was very disappointing. We ate dinner at the Ballard's home and will be doing service for them on Saturday. The splits went well and we were able to visit many less actives in both wards.

On Friday we discussed the way to set up how to help our investigators feel the spirit daily. Elder Barlow received great insights and we were able to work together to set it up and it seems to be working well. We taught Kevin a brief Restoration and will be calling him today to set up a new appointment. We had dinner at President Campa's home and then went to to the church to discuss with Brother Beattie the new stop smoking program that we will be implementing and offering. I feel that it will be a very powerful program to help ward members and everyone.

On Saturday we were at the Ballards and spent some great quality time helping them with the service that they needed. It went really well and I feel that it has strengthen them greatly. We had an activity in the 1st ward which went well and we had many less actives that we recently had talked to and investigators that came.

On Sunday we had a few investigators that came to church and it was great. We also had a quite a few less active members that we had visited come back to church. We will be visiting a few of them and help them set up family home evening for their families.

This week has been a trying week and I have been very exhausted through out each and everyday but I am enjoying every minute of the hard work that we are able to achieve with those that we love.

Love you all and thank you for the great birthday reminders.

Love You

Elder Regan Hansen

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Tyler July 7 2009



Hello family,

I'll just write a little because I am about out of time. What happened this past week? It wasn't a bad week for us this past week. We were able to visit with Thomas Peshcen and we related the talk by Elder David A. Bednar called holding a name and standing. He is still having the same problems with the word of wisdom but you can see the change in him from the help of his wife and his family. Yesterday at church it was the first time that Thomas came to priesthood with us so we were glad to see that happen. We are still doing a lot of tracting in white areas but not really a lot of success since this is a holiday town and people are mostly retired. We look forward to this week going to zone conference in Bellville which will be a double zone conference. It is a two hour drive and we will stay at the zone leaders place tonight. Cokiswa gets back from cape town on the 19 so we look forward to her baptism and it will be the 26 or the week following depending on when the zone leaders can come and interview. We look forward to helping Thomas Peshcen build a fence as well on Wednesday so things aren't looking to bad. Thanks for the emails even though they're getting few.

love you very much

Elder Tyler Hansen

Tyler June 30 2009

Hello family,
I'm doing pretty well. A lot of the people have a hard time understanding english and even their native language so visuals are the greatest tool that I have found for these people. Many of these people have really no education so explaining to them the plan of salvation can be quite a challenge let alone the restoration of the gospel. This past week went pretty well though for the most part. Lungiswa and Chokiswa baptisms got postponed to the 26 of July since Chokiswa has to go to Cape Town to visit her family for a few weeks, so we are looking foward to the 26. We were able to give quite a bit of service this week helping the Beals family move in Yvonne and her daughter Kathy. It was quite fun to help them move into there new home that they will be renting for a while here in Fisherhaven. We spent a lot of our time Friday and Saturday helping them move in. We were able to find a two new great investigators in holliday homes up by Kidbrooke. We didnt have much success until we met with Pieter and Ella Loots. When we came to their door they had just gotten back from a trip at Krugers park on the other end of the country and Peiter said to come in but talk nothing on religion. They are both in there 70's and both retired teachers. I am excited for them because we just talked with them about random things which eventually led to religion. Ella is of the dutch reformed church but Peiter has not been for years. It is just way neat to find someone in the white area who is willing to talk with you which makes for better days and potential priesthood for the branch. We are putting a lot of focus into the white area but it is hard to find people to talk to. I am excited for Walter and Suzan Coetzer as well. Walter has been reading the Book of Mormon during the lunch break that he has and he says that he really enjoys the Book of Mormon. They have a little boy named Hennie and is a family that I am really excited for, they keep progressing. The only concern that I have for him is, once he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon which he has read clear up to Alma now is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church. Which may be very bold for him, but things are really going well for their family. Thomas Peschen is still struggling with the word of wisdom problem but line upon line I believe he may overcome his addictions. Things are going good.

Have a good week
Love Elder Tyler Hansen

Monday, July 6, 2009

Regan July 6, 2009

Well this week has grown with us to bring in more unity and love for each other and everyone that we have been able to be introduced to or contacted through the Lord's Divine help.

On Monday we visited a few less active members and helped strengthen their family with personal prayer and study as a family. It seemed to go real well and they gladly obliged and we will follow up with them this coming week.

On Tuesday we had a great district meeting and really got to bond and strengthen each other through our goals and also the spirit that was present to teach and re boost us each week. We traveled to visit an Investigator in the Olive Branch area and she was not home at the time so we looked over the potential and past investigator's and found a few promising ones that we felt to visit. We stopped by the Collinsworth family and talked for a bit and found out that her son's wife is not a member and recently had a child. It will be potentially a great conversation starter and the blessing of children. We helped a Sister move a few things out of her house because she had a few last minute things to put in the trailer. We had dinner at a members home that night in the 2nd ward which went well. We went to Misty's house and talked with the family and specifically Kevin and picked him up as a new investigator and set a Baptismal Date with him on July 18. We have followed up with him each day and he has been reading and praying each day and his testimony is growing.

On Wednesday we went to visit Shawn. We taught the Restoration and he really seemed to understand it well. He had never heard about prophets now and a need for the restoration. We invited him to read and pray. We also invited him to invite his family to join us on our next visit. We visited a few potentials around his home that we had tracted into and found Bronk. We visited all the referrals that we had received recently but we will be following up with them. We taught Brother Phillips at Brother Cooksey's house and it went well. The spirit was very strong and we set a Baptismal date with him also on July 18th. He might change it because his wife's family from Utah will be coming out and he wants his father in-law to baptize him which is great.

On Thursday we helped President Campa move a few things in his home and had lunch there and talked about the work within the area. We planned for the rest of the day and called quite a few people but no success with finding but we set up a few appointments. We taught Sister Toolan's daughter before baptism and it went well. We had all of the family there and the spirit was strong. We then had activity night and had 2 investigators there.

On Friday we started of the day right away calling all the potential investigators in all of the areas. We felt prompted and were able to set up one appointment and found about 5 potential who needed us to call them back. We then went over to Misty's home and taught Maeson and picked her up as a new investigator and invited her to church and also to read and pray. We had dinner with Sister Gray and then visited a few less actives.
On Saturday we tracted down Brock avenue where we have quite a few less actives. We found Lakesha, Trudy, and a couple more potential investigators. We then went to Brother Beattie's home and taught his daughter Rebecca and ate with her boyfriend and family. The discussion that we had went real well. We had dinner at Brother Wings house before the Fireworks. Unfortunately we saw a man get hit by a car. I prayed for him that night and hope that he is well.

On Sunday after church we visited Michael and watched the restoration with him. The spirit was very strong. We then went all on trade offs and visited less actives and talked with a few potential elders. We talked to Devon Brown who potentially might be coming to Zone Conference. We had 4 investigators at church which was great and one of them was in Paxton branch.

This week had been great for all of us and Defuniak had a great week to. As a district our hard work and dedication has really allowing the Lord to fulfill his work through us.

Love You and thank you for the support and Birthday cards. Time is flying by way to fast.

Elder Regan Hansen