Monday, November 30, 2009

Regan November 30, 2009

This week had been really good. We were able to get allot of things accomplished even through the Midst of Thanksgiving.

On Monday we had a few appointments scheduled but they called and rescheduled them with us which was good. We had our usual P-day and finished that night with the Hearns and a very spiritual evening with them.

On Tuesday we went and visited a few referrals in the Prichard area and visited some less active and part member families as we were there. We went and had a lesson with Kimberley Evans and Eric Hearn was with us. We discussed the Plan of Salvation and I am truly grateful how the spirit works in teaching us all as we ask simple questions and bear simple testimonies. Her testimony is continuing to grow each and everyday. Her Baptism is still scheduled for December 20th. We had a great family home evening lesson with a few members and a recent convert that recently moved here from Minnesota who has the greatest desires to learn.

On Wednesday we went and visited more referrals in the Prichard area and a few past investigators. We were able to find Christian Thomas as we were there. We then spent some time calling all of the Media referrals that we have and what a blessing it is to have 2 phones to call with. We were able to set up some more appointments which was great. Nick is one of the referrals that we received and we called his friend to get some background. He has been regularly attending church in Colorado and recently moved down here. His friend said that he is very close to Baptism and they have talked about it so we are going to be meeting up with him tonight. I am excited to be able to ask him questions about his thoughts and feelings of what he has been learning so we can see how we can best help him. We had dinner with the Madison's and finished our evening by visiting a few potential investigators.

Thursday we had district meeting first thing which really prepared us for the day. We had lunch with the Long family. The husband is not a member and had some rough contact in the past but as of recent his heart has been softened and he is trying to make sure he doesn't have to work so he can start to come to church again. We went and visited a few other less active and member families for the rest of the day.

Friday we visited referrals in a few different zip codes and did 5v5 around them. We then had lunch with the Emmertson family which was really good. Throughout the day we continued to deliver referrals and do 5v5, as with visiting less actives that lived around them.

Saturday we went to the flea market to do some contacting and we talked to a few less active members as we were there. We then spent allot of the day delivering referrals. We were able to have some great lessons with a few of them but weren't able to find times in their schedules that would work out. We have under 10 referrals right now which is amazing but that is not counting the ones that we have had to forward to other areas. We had a great lesson that night with Brother Serrano and he has been keeping his commitment of reading and praying and there has been a drastic change in him the past 2 weeks.

Sunday we had a great day. Sister Quinn a recent convert from Minnesota brought Kimberley Evans to church and we had a great lesson in gospel principles discussing about the apostasy and the restoration of the gospel. She also invited her fiance and his grandson who are not members to sacrament meeting and we talked with them for a few moments. After church we visited the Baylor family and got to meet them and some of there kids. They are a part member family but have some great potential to come back. We also visited the the Byrd/Hughett family and they are doing well. The daughter has been very sick so they haven't made it to church but they are all planning on being there this coming Sunday.

This week has been full of great success even though I thought the Holiday might slow it down but really it just helped us stay committed and understand that where our focus was at in serving the Lord.

Love You

Elder Regan Hansen

Monday, November 23, 2009

Regan November 23, 2009

I have enjoyed this past week so much because the fire that has been burning inside of me to work hard and be effective has increased and is burning deep within my soul and thoughts.

On Tuesday we had a great District Meeting where we were able to do some role plays that really prepared us for lessons that we had for the rest of the week. We went and taught Kimberley Evans and asked the great question of "What are your thoughts and feelings?" It opened the door for the Holy Ghost to guide our questions to her and she continued to strengthen and bear the testimony of which she has gained and is growing. We set a baptismal date with her for December 20th. We finished of the night by visiting a few potential investigators and gave Brother Adair a blessing.

On Wednesday we updated all the new referrals that we had got and then went out and tracted near our apartment. After lunch we continued to deliver referrals and tract throughout the day also visiting less active members on our travels. We finished the night of by calling referrals and trying to set up appointments for the following days.

On Thursday we had a great planning session that day and were able to finish updating referrals to be written down and decided on certain days what referral areas we would go to and try and set up appointments and tract. We went and visited a couple referrals and tracted around there houses before we went and visited Brother Serrano and Adair. The spirit brought a strong message into there home and we shared about enduring trials. They have continued to read and pray every night. We then went to Brother Jordan's and had correlation with the Bishop and discussed the needs as they continue to discuss and build the new Missionary Plan for the Ward.

On Friday we spent the day up in Saraland and tried to visit and tract around as many less active members as we could. We were able to talk to quite a few members and invite them down to church. We had dinner with that Mathies and did some service for them before and then traveled and visited with Brother Peoples. He has been reading and praying every night and his countenance has changed dramatically since we last visited with him.

On Saturday we started the Day of by cutting down some trees and splitting them so we could get firewood for Sister Koker. It was great being able to work hard and see the smiles on there faces as we deliver the wood. We came back and went and visited a few referrals by us and were able to set up a few return appointments with them. That night we finished by calling some new referrals that we got and planning them out into our schedule.

On Sunday before Church we had a great lesson with Michael and his wife Brenda. It brought the spirit is strongly and we were able to pick her up as an investigator and will be teaching them on Wednesday. Andrew Henderson was at church today and we had a great lesson in gospel principle with him. After church was a little potluck and we were able to meet some member and non-members that we haven't met yet. After we went and visited Michael again and helped him sort out a problem that he had run across. We visited with the Kluggs that night which was great.

Love Y'all

Elder Regan Hansen

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Tyler Nov 17 2009

hello family,

Thanks a lot for the pictures and emails they look really great. Well I wasn't able to take any pictures this past week but never the less it has been pretty good. yesterday we had the branch conference in Windhoek and President Probst gave some really great council to the branch about the excitement of the church. He just recently had a mission presidents seminar with Elder Anderson of the twelve and was very excited about the things they had said. He said don't underestimate the power and glory of this church he said Africa is at it time to blossom like South America. He gave a lot of inspired counsel about hometeaching in the branch I liked one of the comments that he made, he said if you cant take care of your neighbor how do you expect to take care of worlds. He is really excited about the work and I know for myself that he is called of God, it is always good to have him come up and see and speak with him a bit. This past week has been pretty good as we have been able to find quite a few good new investigators and also have support of the branch in helping bare testimony. I don't think that is a problem whatsoever in the branch and that is the help of the fellowshippers like Bro. Don, John, Ozario, and anyone they are always willing to come out and help the missionaries out. We were able to see one of my favorites, Shippo this week, he was a little concerned about the Book of Mormon being not from God but he had some great questions to ask us regarding the spirit world and the restoration of the gospel. I like seeing him because he has great questions to ask and it is always fun to answer peoples concerns when they have them. I am grateful for the health care in America Shippos brother had quite a birth defect when he was younger and while we were there he wrecked his bicycle outside and had an injury to his head. The doctors before did a surgery on his head where they took a lot of his skull out and so on the back of his head he has just his skin to protect his brain. The doctors thought he would just die it why we think they didn't put a plate back on to protect his brain. He had wrecked and was blessed he didn't hit the part of his head that was tender to the brain. He had a bad scrape on the back of his head that just missed the tender part. Elder Haugen had a first aid kit so we were able to help him out a little bit but we hope we can encourage him to go back to the doctor to have a plate put back in to protect him while he is in his growing up rougher years. We were hoping more people would come to church with the commitments that we left with people but we will just have to keep encouraging and inviting to read the Book of Mormon which will give them the spirit in their lives to come. I am personally excited for Techafara and the progress that he is making. Clever a member in the branch is a great support to him and exemplar. This week will be good to be encouraging the investigators that we have at this point that have potential. I believe all they need is some tender love and care and time to help them become what their potential is.
Thanks for every thing and have a good week.

Love Elder Tyler Hansen

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Regan November 17, 2009

This week went well and luckily we were able to find some computers that are allowing us online. Also full of Tender Mercies from the Lord.

On Monday we had a good p-day and got things prepared for this upcoming week. We were also able to clean a bit and get ready for the November cleaning.

On Tuesday we were able to plan a bit since the storm came in. We visited Kimberley Evans that day and focused on her Praying to know if the Book of Mormon is True. She is preparing well for us to extend a baptismal commitment soon. We also stopped by to see Andrew Henderson but he wasn't home so we will be seeing him this week. Brandy a recent convert taught us for about families and then we had FHE which went really well.

On Wednesday we had a few appointments fall through so we delivered referrals and tracted around there houses. We visited quite a few less actives on our way back down and had some great success with them. We also visited Silvia McNeil and taught her the restoration and will be teaching her again today.

Thursday we did a little bit more planning to set up what zip codes we would be working in because of the referrals that we get. We visited with Michael that day for a bit. We then got out and tracted for a few hours which was great even though we didn't have any success. I do have the faith to not see results. That evening we visited Brother Serrano and helped him to continue his understanding of forgiveness and also how to Mark the Book of Mormon.

Friday we had a great Zone Conference and I truly was uplifted. Many of my questions were answered and a better understanding has come since I have began to apply those steps of understanding. I am so grateful for Revelatory Sessions where the Spirit and Love are strongly present. We visited member referral that we received and set up a return appointment and also found Eleynor Coleman as we tracted around the referral. That evening we went and visited past investigators that we had found in the Area Book and visited a few of them. We found Aerika because of that and will be teaching her tonight.

Saturday we began our day at the Bishops Storehouse and Michael met us up there. Even though we have not been able to teach him yet the Tender Mercies of the Lord have allowed us to stay in daily contact with him. He enjoyed being able to serve everyone around him. We did service for the Wysers after that and they were truly grateful. I love doing service. We then went out for the rest of the afternoon and tracted as we were delivering referrals.

Sunday went well even though none of our investigators were able to come. The primary program shared a great message to the non-members and part-member families who were attending. We finished the day by visiting more referrals and less active members. We also talked with Michael and will be teaching him and his family shortly.

Love Y'all

Elder Regan Hansen

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tyler Nov 9 2009







hello,
I hope this week has been good for you, This week has been pretty good for us here. Me and Elder Haugen are together for another transfer. I believe the highlight of the week was getting a message from Tswano about her prayers being answered. She was having some difficulty a while back with her family not being too accepting of the church and recently her mom apologized and basically said sorry to her about ruining her eternal life so that was pretty cool to see. It just showed me that God works in mysterious ways and knows everyone, everywhere because of his glory. It is good to see the little miracles in life that keep me tinkering along. The baptism of Tswano went really well this week and their was one other from the Windhoek branch and three from the Katatura branch so Namibia is slowly progressing. Another highlight of the week was to see both the mom and daughter of the Lethogoje family finally make it to church. Sis. Lethogoje knows the Book of Mormon is true so we can work with that. We will continue seeing them and they have great potentials for the future. In Pioneers Park we have been visiting a great family that we found a couple days before halloween named the Imalwas. We have been mainly seeing Sunnypo and Magneline. Sunnypo is a younger girl who is in like 11th grade and she received the Book of Mormon a while back and she is now reading it. She has a lot of good questions concerning it and knows it is true and will help her in her life. She is studying for her exams and this week she asked for advice using the Book of Mormon we were able to share some valuable scriptures to help her in the studies. Her testimony of the Book of Mormon is flourishing but Magneline we can help her more to find the desire. Well for the most part the week has been well.


Here are some pictures of the smiley (lambs head) that we had at the Simattas. I didn't eat too much of it but the tongue was ok. Theres pictures of the baptism of Tsawno and also a lizard at the Germans house where we email. The most common language spoken is English but there is a lot of Africaans, German and Portuguese and also many tribal languages like Herroro, Vombo, Oshuvombo, and Damara there is a lot of languages.
Thanks for the love and support

Love Elder Tyler Hansen

Monday, November 9, 2009

Regan, November 9, 2009

This letter this week will be very short because we are making sure we have everything for the storm that is headed this way. It says the wind could be around 50-75 mph and power could go out but as for now it seems to be getting even milder and it isn't supposed to hit land until Tuesday.

This week we found quite a few people from tracting put not a single appointment went through so we just continued to tract and deliver media referrals. We just wanted to work hard and show the Lord how much we Love him. We also were able to visit many less active ward members which is allowing the ward to trust us even more which is their main focus on getting them more fired up to do missionary work.

At church we had many blessing come from dedicated service. A part member family came to church and we taught Andrew. After when we were going to leave a brother name Michael came in needing to talk with the Bishop. He ended up talking with us and the Stake President and we are now going to teach his family this coming week. Being Dedicated in the Lords service has been great and I am grateful for the re-confirming witness that I am able to receive as I continue to work harder and strive to be more dedicated.

Thank you for all the Emails and Love and Support through letters.

Love Y'all
Elder Regan Hansen

Monday, November 2, 2009

Tyler Nov 2 09


Hello,

Thanks for the pictures that you sent. This week went pretty well it is just hot here. I don't know where to start but Tshwano still is doing well. She has talked more with her family this week and she was kind of depressed on Saturday night because her family wasn't to accepting of her decision to be baptized. I believe she will do some more talking with her family about the church but I Know that she is the pioneer in her family to opening up their gate. We were hoping a lot of people would come to church this week with all the commitments that we left but only 4 came. This week was transfers and they pulled two more missionaries out of the Windhoek branch so now it is just the four of us. There are 6 in Katura and 4 in Windhoek now. Our area is getting very large now and covers about half of the southern city of Windhoek, we have a lot of people to home teach. We have been able to locate a lot of the less active in the city and have continued to see them. We met with Johanna this past Friday she is attending the University of Namibia and is a niece to the Shikango family. We took Karobo and Leon on with us from the branch to help fellowship but she never made it to church this past week. We were hoping we could find some good investigators on halloween evening but not a lot of people were home. We found a lot of upset people for some reason. There is a guy that stays in Cimbasia who was recently baptized in June but he is dodging all of our calls and attempts, to come and visit him. But we are continuing to find some good people to teach. I think the family that I was most excited for was the Lethologoje family They have been in contact with missionaries for the past couple of years but we followed up with them and they seem to be really excited about the message of the restoration and the Book of Mormon. We were hoping they could make it to church this past week but they didn't come. We will see them this week but I am thinking that maybe transportation could be a problem since they have like 5 vehicles and none of them run at all. Well for miracles of the day, Elder Haugen dropped the phone in the toilet today and it still continues to work but I don't think I'll be speaking on it with out some major bleach cleaning . Thanks for everything have a good week.

Love

Elder Tyler Hansen

Regan, November 2, 2009

Monday I found out I was getting transferred but I really wasn't surprised at all. I really have come to love Crestview but I did love Mobile area when I was there is the past and I still know some families out there. So to an extent I am excited to see them. We had dinner with the Walker family and said our good byes. We then stopped by the Royce's and informed them on what was happening.

Tuesday it was pouring rain and our service projects got canceled on us. We had a last district meeting with the District and really had a great spirit felt meeting that allowed me to have an overwhelming feeling of love for the great families that I have been able to love and help. We then started getting things packed up because of the rain and things being cancelled. We also made sure that everything was updated and started to leave notes and things that would be important to help the new Elders and Sisters know about the area. We had dinner with the Toolan's and said our goodbye's. We then went and visited the Royce family which was really hard because I love them with all my heart. I know that the Lord will take care of them and he brought me much peace and comfort at these times I would need to adjust.

Wednesday were transfer and I was on the transfer van bright and early around 10 to travel to Mobile. It was great being able to see many missionaries that I hadn't seen and especially my mission father, Elder Rasmussen. I met my district when I first got to Theodore area then Elder Bawden and I traveled to get unpacked and the Halloween Social that was happening that night in the ward. I got to know a few more people that night and talk to some that I already new and that helped out allot.

Thursday we started off by planning allot. Since I am new to the area I received a good basis on the area and those things that take allot of our focus such as referrals. We then went and delivered referrals that went well but we didn't have success in finding. We talked with Sister Binkard at Wal-mart when I was getting some supplies. She is a less active member that we had been talking about earlier that neither of us knew.

Friday we had a Mission Conference with Elder Ringwood of the 70. I received some great impressions that I am already striving to incorporate into my daily missionary service. It was great to also meet allot of new missionaries. That night we had dinner with the Mathie's and they are a funny couple. They are truly in bright spirits even with the trials that they are facing. We also visited Brother Peeples and had a very powerful lesson with him. He has been struggling allot and wants to come back to church. The Love of Christ was so strong and present that my heart has truly been touched and I have come to really Love him and the Testimony that is so powerful and strong. We gave him a blessing so he could receive some guidance. He came to church on Sunday.

Saturday we helped with service and helping with the Bishop's storehouse. It was great being able to help and serve those who needed those things. We attended a Baptism in Theodore that Elder Andrus and Fox had. We then went and delivered referrals and that night we had dinner with the missionaries in the area.

Sunday I was able to meet Bishop Parkes and his counselors. He is really a good bishop and everything is on track with the 20 lessons that I really feel there will be some great success in helping many. We immediately started on delivering referrals and taught a lesson to Anthony and it went well. We will be teaching him later this week. We also set up some appointments with other referrals that we had received.

Love Y'all

Elder Regan Hansen