Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tyler Mar 29 2010


Hello family,

Thanks for the messages and the pictures.
We had a baptism with George this past Saturday. The branch doesn't have a font so we baptize in the river or if the river is not full then we go to the ocean. To see George be baptized has strengthened my testimony a little bit about tracting and finding people that are prepared to hear the teachings. Elder Wilson and Elder Moyo found George (the investigator) about a month ago and he was just baptized Saturday, he has been one of the quickest progressing investigator that I have seen from his preparation. he is working for a logging outfitter and is doing the grunt labor for them but he is away from his family that live in Limpopo which is basically the same area from where my companion is from. He is a great guy and has decided to change his life around so it was good to witness the baptism. I spoke at the baptism because Noone came who was assigned to speak and then in the branch on Sunday on the topic of Jesus Christ our chosen leader and savior. This upcoming week we will have the conference rebroadcasted but we wont be able to see the priesthood session and also the Sunday afternoon session which the branch needs to really change because the priesthood here is really struggling along. We have been tracting a lot around George (city) which is hard because there really is a lot of white people here and not really many of them want to here from us. We have been able to meet a lot of people that missionaries have met before in previous years and so we have set a few appointments with these people. We are trying to get some referral work going here but it is quite difficult with the members I don't know if missionaries in the past have not put on a good image to the members so it makes thinks a little bit difficult at the time. Well carry on!

Love
Elder Tyler Hansen

Monday, March 29, 2010

Regan, March 29, 2010

This past week has been going really well. We had some really great experiences and the Lord has allowed us to become and instrument in His hands. Everything is still going right on course for Keno and Valentine to be Married and Baptized on April 10th. They have been able to get there marriage license and everything is now being set up for this great day for them.

Monday we had a really great p-day. We didn't do to much but what we did has helped us out a lot. We were able to spend some extra time in studies that allowed to to receive His spirit stronger and also caught up on letter and our journals. We had a great dinner with the Hearns and shared with them some of our investigators that we would love to have them help out with. They said that they would help us out and we are really excited to introduce them to Paul Hawkins and his family.

Tuesday we started off the day with District Meeting. We had a great discussion that allowed us to reflect on different things of the Zone Conference packet and how they had changed our daily efforts of service. We had a great visit with Sister Binkerd after and found out that with her MS she is starting to have secondary problems that are taking effect. She has such a great attitude about her situation and has the brightest spirits and Love for others I have seen in her situation. After we tracted for a few hours and were able to testify and ask for referrals from 7 different people we tracted into. We had a great lesson with Rachel Bartlett and she expressed how much she enjoyed reading Moroni 10. She read Moroni 10 to us and we discussed with her about her thoughts and feelings. We left her with Alma 40 to read in preparation to teach the Plan of Salvation. We had dinner with the Fairchilds which went really well and we finished the night out by having family home evening with Sister Byrd and gave her a blessing for her asthma.

Wednesday we started the day off by saving a few miles and biked to a few places near the church to tract and also visit a few referrals that we had received. After lunch we traveled and visited with Kimberly Evans and watched some church history DVDs with her and will be following up on how her reading has been going. After we traveled towards the Parkes home and tracted. We were able to talk with Jennifer and had a really good visit with her. She is a grad student and is very busy but we are hoping to be able to teach her. We had dinner with the Parkes that went really well and then we went and visited with a few less actives and made calls to some investigators.

Thursday we had a great day of planning and continued to have building studies throughout the week that have prepared us better on helping our Investigators. While planning we were able to set up some appointments with some investigators who haven't been progressing as well to see if we need to drop them. After lunch we continued to tract for about quite sometime. We had some great miracles happen and we were able to find Renita, Chiquita, and Jasmine. We had a great first lesson with Chiquita and left her with a Book of Mormon to read and then to pray for herself. She was really excited to receive the Book of Mormon so she could read Alma 32 because from the overview she feels that it closely relates to a few things she is going through. We had dinner with the Odom's which went well and we followed up with Sister Odom on her commitment to give a Book of Mormon to a friend, which she will be doing this week. After we left to visit a few members that we were hoping to see.

Friday we tried to visit a few investigators that we were thinking about dropping and had to drop them. It was truly sad to see how they had progressed so well but didn't quite want to finish. We continued to tract a bit and talked to quite a few people who had some potential. After lunch we continued to tract and were able to talk with Kyle who we should be visiting with next week when he comes back into town from his business trip. We were able to testify and ask for from 8 different people as we tracted. It has been a blessing to see that with a simple testimony many people really think more about those that they could refer us to. We then visited with Brother Serrano for a quick minute just to see how his studies had been coming along. After dinner we visited with the Baylor family which went pretty good. There daughter has had some health problems recently but is now doing a lot better. We invited them to activity night which they are getting more and more excited about coming to.

Saturday we had a great day of service start with Bishop's Storehouse and ending with helping the Fairchild's plant some of their Garden. After we went with Elder Orgill and Elder Shirley to visit with a person they had tracted into and handed Alex and his wife of to us. They weren't able to meet with us at that time but we were able to introduce ourselves to them. We then tracted for a bit which went really well and allowed us to continue to testify of the Restoration. We finished off the night by calling some investigators that we had and invited them to church which will be trying to implement more and more each week.

Sunday was just a really great day and really hard to explain how I felt throughout the day. Church went really well and the spirit was very strong. Mathew was able to come with Sister Kelly his mom and she expressed to us that she wanted him to talk with us about teaching him so he could get baptized soon. It was a blessing that we didn't expect at the time but we are now grateful that we will be able to teach him. After the fast we went and had an afternoon meal with the Bedwell family. We shared with them a thought in Ether and then went with Brother Bedwell to visit Sister Johnson who is in the hospital. She is doing alright but she doesn't know how long she has to stay for right now. Before we left Saraland we visited with Sister Thompson and her husband. They are doing pretty good and we found out that he is going to be pretty busy with work for the next 6 months. We then had dinner with Brother Serrano and had a really great lesson with him. He is getting excited about being able to get his patriarchal blessing and also receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.

This week even though we have had to drop a few people the Lord blessed us by opening the doors and having the opportunity of being able to find those that we can continue to help on their personal Journey to Him.

Love You

Elder Regan Hansen

Monday, March 22, 2010

Regan, March 22, 2010

Well right now my joy is very overwhelmed at this point. I received and email from Elder Mortensen. I shared with me this real joyful expression of love that has brought me me to tears and I would love to share it with you.

"Hi Elder Mortensen. Jeff told me that you are home from your mission. We often talk about you guys and how great you were. Jeff and I will be getting married on April 1st. Soon afterward, we will be getting baptized together. We are really excited to grow our eternal family and are very thankful for your contribution in my faith. You and Elder Hansen really made an impact on me. The most memorable thing that you guys did for me was invite us to The Sanders home. For the first time in my life, i was exposed to an eternal family and what it actually means to be an eternal family. Since that day, we have continually worked together to bring the holy spirit in our lives like we felt that night. After we left Florida (and settled in Seattle) Jeff and I started attending the Ward by our home and made them our family. I have a calling...the activities committee which I absolutely love. Jeff has become active in the church as well and has decided to be baptized with me. Thank you again for teaching me the gospel! Please let us both know how you are doing... "

I never knew if I would ever see or hear from them again but I always believed with all my heart that this Gospel was going to change their lives.

This past week has went really well for us and has continued to open new doors for the work of the Lord. It has been a week where the spirit has continually stayed strong and we are striving to continually have that spirit even stronger.

Monday we had a great Preparation day. We were able to get all of the cleaning and shopping done right at the start of the day. We then had and activity with some Ward members and played some soccer with their kids. The turn out was great and we had a lot of fun. That night we were able to have dinner with the Hearn and Mason families. It has been amazing to see how much of an impact the Hearn's have been for this less active family. It has propelled Sister Mason to come back to church and she now has a calling. Brother Mason is coming around and I feel will be right their with very shortly. I am truly grateful to be in such a great ward that is willing to sacrifice to help us and really go and find there neighbors. We then traveled and visited with the Byrd family. They are a part member family with a lot of potential that we have been trying to see for awhile. We are now going to be able to visit with them every week.

Tuesday we started off the day by biking down to see a few investigators that haven't been progressing very well. As we were visiting with some of them we were able to know if we should drop them or not. We were also able to do some tracting. After lunch we continued to tract and went near an appointment we had for later. We had a great time and were able to share our testimony and ask for referrals from 8 different people and talked with many others. We found Sandra and set up an appointment with her which we are looking forward to. We had our appointment with Rachel. She was able to read some of 3 Nephi 11 and we were really happy. We finished reading the chapter with her and answered the questions she had. We left her with Moroni 10 and will be inviting her out to General Conference this week. We had dinner with the Fairchild family. They have recently had some hard times and haven't been attending church but we were able to set up a continual date to visit with them every week, which will allow us to continue to bring the spirit into their home. We had a great Family Home Evening lesson with Sister Byrd and we discussed about temples and the importance of them.

Wednesday we went to visit Sandra but she was able to meet with us so we continued to tract near here home. After lunch we called a few of our referrals that we had received and had some really great luck. We talked with Paul Hawkins and he is really amazing. He shared with us that his family reads the Book of Mormon every night before they go to bed. He has read the Book of Mormon and knows that it is something that he must pursue. We were able to set up an appointment and are very excited for that. We had a great lesson with Kimberly Evans. She has been progressing really well in the church after her baptism and will soon I'm sure have a calling. We had dinner with the Bromgards which went well and then visited with the Johnny family. We are moving there Baptismal Date back to April 10th so we will be able to help them become more prepared.

Thursday we had a really great day of planning. We were able to get some great lesson plans set up and were also able to update all of the records that we needed to. We were able to discuss of those things that we thought that would help our those people we are focusing on and the spirit directed so beautifully. After lunch and planning the Monroeville Elders stopped by before their doctors appointment and we then traveled and gave Brother Tindle of the Toxy Branch a blessing. He has been at the hospital off and on. We then visited with Heather Hall which was great. We have been trying to see her since before Christmas and we were finally able to talk with her. We are now going to be able to meet here husband and hopefully be able to bring her back to church. We did some tracting until dinner time. We then traveled with the Monroeville Elders and visited with the Martyn family.

Friday was a very amazing day. The spirit was very strong as we were at Zone Conference and His Love could be felt by everyone so strongly. I learned a lot of great things and wrote day a lot of great things that came to me through His Spirit. After we traveled to the Kelly's family and had a great visit with them. They are still struggling since Sister Coker's death and we are helping them to continue to work their way back to church. After we tried to see a few members that live up near them.

Saturday was a really great day and the spirit continued to be around us. We started out the morning by doing some service with Brother Klug. It went really well and as we were there a less active member stopped by and we were also able to talk with her for quite a bit. After lunch we went to visit Keno and Valentine Johnny. We found out that Keno wasn't coming home until Tuesday now. We are still hoping for their Marriage to now be 27th of March. We then tracted near there home and talked with 5 people. It was amazing to see that by bearing simple testimony and asking for referrals that those people even though not interested they sincerely tried to think of someone for us to visit. We had dinner with the Hughes family and then traveled to the Adult session of Stake Conference. We found out that Paul wasn't going to be able to make it for stake conference so we will be setting up an appointment with him this week. As we were at conference I received a beautiful prompting which allowed us to set up a lesson plan on how we could better adjust to the needs of this Part member family we are hoping to teach.

Sunday went really well and the spirit continued to uplift and edify all of us as we attended Stake Conference. There were many beautiful messages shared and the Primary choir that sang was truly an amazing spirit felt group of songs. After we visited with Joe Haskins and talked with him about some of the struggles that he was having. He recently began to read the Book of Mormon that one of his friends had given him and he has really like it. We left him with commitments to remove distractions that he has in his home and he said that he would. The spirit and through the testimonies that were directed by him prepared Joe to make the commitment. We then visited with Brother Serrano which went really well. He has been reading a lot of different things within the Book of Mormon and we also helped him with some family history questions that he had. We traveled to Chickasaw for our dinner appointment with Kimberly Evans and her husband Danny. He is slowly but steadily being prepared for the Gospel since she was baptized but he isn't ready yet. We were able to talk with him and really were able to understand a lot of things of which he likes and really is looking forward to.

Love You

Elder Regan Hansen

Monday, March 15, 2010

Regan, March 15, 2010

This week has been really great to get out and do some great service and being able to have a few splits this week with some of the members. Being able to follow the prompting of service and doing it for a less active member almost brought me to tears seeing her appreciation and thanks for what the Lord asked us to do.

Monday we had a pretty great P-day. We spent most of our day near our apartment and getting a lot of different things done we needed to do. As we traveled closer to our dinner appointment that evening we visited with different members to see how they were doing. We had a really great dinner with the Hearn's and the Mason's. It has been great that we have been able to have them both there because the Mason's have been less active and Melissa and Eric Hearn are around their same age and they have formed a great friendship. We had a great evening with them and shared a spiritual thought that the spirit testified to them.

Tuesday we had a really good district meeting. We prepared by going over the Zone Conference packet and had a really great time. The spirit was very strong and we all committed to do all of those things for Zone Conference that would prepare us a individuals and companionship's that would allow us to be prepared to receive direction. We tracted near Rachel Bartlett who is one of our investigators before our appointment with her. We were able to share the gospel at the doorstep with a few people. We had a great appointment with Sister Bartlett and were able to read Alma 32 with her and discuss it. She was very happy when we showed up and we could tell that she was excited to hear more. We committed her to read 3 Nephi 11 and to going over the Restoration Pamphlet, which she gladly accepted. We left and tracted near our dinner appointment that evening and found Campbell. He is a really nice guy and we are hoping when we go back he will be interested in having a Book of Mormon. We had dinner with the Klug's that evening and then traveled to institute with a less active member who is coming back to church.

Wednesday we went to visit a few people we had appointments with but the fell through so we tracted near them. We stopped by and visited with Sister Binkerd for a moment to bring her the Relief Society Manual so she could study it until she is able to attend church. After lunch we had a great lesson with Kimberly Evans. She has been feeling a lot better and was happy we were able to make it. We watched some church history with her and as she asked questions and we discussed we all learned many new important truths. We continued to tract near Campbell's home and talked with a few people. That night we visited with the Baylor's who we are hoping to get the kids to come to the Young Women and Young Men activities. We then went and splits with Brother Emmertson and delivered a referral to Jackari. We had a great lesson with him and committed him to watch the Lamb of God DVD we delivered and we discuss it when we came back next.

Thursday we started of the Morning by getting all the tools for the service we did for Sister Binkerd. We saved a lot of time with the help of members and were able to clean her entire front yard. It truly felt great being able to serve her. I had received a prompting to do service for her a few days before and as we discussed it we planned on when we would do it and then we did it. It was such an amazing spirit felt morning and she truly blessed us with her spirit as we served. She told us that she was hugging us deep down inside and she was truly filled with gratitude. We visited with Janice Thompson after service and had a great time being able to talk with her for the few moments that she had. We then traveled to take back the tools to the Parkes and I ended up doing some service there for the family. We ended up having dinner with them and visited with Brother Serrano who was also there helping them with service.

Friday we did our planning first thing and had a really great time. Following the assignment for Zone Conference really allowed me to see a new and better perspective to planning that I had never felt and received before. I am really grateful for this experience and will continue to follow planning the same way to continue to receive and improve each and every week and day. Elder Bawden had a doctors appointment that went well and they put him on some more antibiotics to try and treat the problem he is having. We visited with the Fairchild's and found out the kids were feeling better but Brother Fairchild was under the weather. They haven't been to church a lot because of illnesses and we are hoping that they will be over them and be back to church soon. We traveled to Saraland to our dinner appointment and visited with Sister Wilson on the way up. She has had a crazy work schedule that has been keeping her from work but she is applying for new jobs so she can attend church. We also visited with a few other members who had moved or joined another church. We had dinner with the Mathies which went really well. After, we traveled and visited with the Shelton's and got to know them a little bit better. Sister Shelton stays really busy with work and being a single parent with two kids that play sports and do other activities.

Saturday we started first thing at Bishop's Storehouse and had a really great time being able to serve there. After we traveled back with Brother Klug and gave on of his friends a blessing who isn't a member. We came back home and tracted near our house and talked with a few people. After Lunch we biked and tracted for a few more hours. We have been trying to save miles because we have now been going to Saraland almost every week and sometimes have had to go twice. As we tracted we talked with 10 different people throughout the day. Continuing to Testify of the Restoration has brought His Spirit stronger into my life and has continued to strengthen my testimony at each and every doorstep. On the way back we stopped and talked with Dave Mclaughlin and found out that he is going to join the military soon. They are doing really well for the most part and he is just waiting for some paper work to come through so he can be sworn in. We then traveled to the Mason's and spent another evening with them and the Hearn's which went really well. Brother Mason's trust has continued to build and we are hoping that he will soon be ready to come back to church.

Sunday was a really great day. Keno and Valentine Johnny were at church with the family. They haven't yet got there marriage license but they will get everything filled out this week so they can pick it up next Monday when Keno gets back in town from work. We had a great lesson with them and a few other member on the Sabbath Day. They all committed to strive to keep the Sabbath Day holy. We tracted after potluck and had were able to talk with 5 people. A few of them we have picked up as potential investigators and will be following up with them this week. We then traveled with Brother Lunceford to visit a few members. We talked with Sister Thompson who has been having a lot of problems with her new spouse and his drinking. We ended up giving her a blessing which really helped her a lot. We visited with the Harris family. Brother Harris has two sisters who are less active and we were able to talk with them. We stopped and talked with Bishop Parkes and filled him in on the problems that Sister Thompson is dealing with. We had dinner with the Martyn family which went really well and shared a spiritual thought with them.

This week has been filled with a lot of great experiences. We are still planning on Keno and Valentine Johnny's baptisms for March 27th. It is all depending on when they get the marriage license, but we do have all the rides set up for them so it shouldn't be a problem.

Love You

Elder Regan Hansen

Tyler march 15 2010

Hello,
Thanks for the priesthood line of authority that is exactly what I am looking for.
Well this week has been pretty good for the most part. We spent two full days out of the area going to the zone conference in Port Elizabeth. I just wish president would just send me back to Namibia but can't really do anything about it. It took us 5 hours to get to Port Elizabeth from George. President Kolliker the area president and of the first quorum of seventy presided at the meeting and is really encouraging us to kneel down with the investigators and ask if what we are sharing is really true. Right now we have one person with a baptism date, her name is Elizabeth and she attends church regularly and is the daughter of a recent convert here. We hope we can just get some more member help on finding some new investigators just so we can use our time effectively. We have only a few people that we are teaching that seem to be really interested in what we are sharing so hopefully we can find some more people through the members. Well I have to go. I will send some pictures next week.
Have a good week.

Love
Elder Tyler Hansen

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Tyler march 8 2010

Hello family,

Well this week has been kind of stressful but anyways ya I got transferred to George, South Africa. I will be the district leader here but I'm not as excited about the area, as Windhoek. My companion is from a small city north of Johannesburg but his name is elder Maja. I am really missing Namibia and being with elder Probst but love the people there. There has been a lot of baptisms in the branch of George but not as good of retention. I flew from Windhoek on Thursday but our flight was supposed to be at 11;00 when we got there at like 9:30 the flight was delayed until 1:30 that afternoon. Since the Windhoek airport is about 40 kilometers outside of Windhoek we decided to stay there and wait for a few hours. When the time came around the flight was delayed again until 4:30 so we waited for another few hours and then when the time came around the flight was cancelled due to technical difficulties. They had another open flight to cape town at 7:00 so we decided to go for this one. By the time this flight had opened up there was a lot of impatient people and a little bit of entertainment throughout the day. We finally made it on the airplane but I was really sad to go. The plane ride only took like an 1hour and 30 minutes to get there which was really quick, probably because of the impatient people the pilots decided to turn on the burners. When I got there it was about 9:00 at night and so we stayed at some boarding in Cape Town. Since the flight was cancelled I missed the bus ride to George which takes like 8 hours so the next day I got the flight to George at 1:30which was like a one hour and twenty minute plane ride. I finally got there at three oclock on the Friday afternoon and the senior couple the Odells fetched me at the airport. The Odells are great and a pretty fun senior coupe to be around. They are from Arizona and it seems like they just love the missionaries. This week is our Port Elizabeth zone conference and so we will drive like 5 hours from George to get there and so we will most likely drive on Wednesday afternoon to get to there and go with the Odells. The branch in George is very small and is a mission branch. There is a very good branch president here just like Namibia but I just hope we can find some people that want to hear the gospel which I hope we can get some referrals going here because I am not a fan of tracting to much, there is not much of a support system. We have one baptismal date established now with a guy named Martin but hopefully as thing go we can find some more interested people. I am jealous for elder Probst right now because there are just some sweet people in Namibia, like all the recent converts and investigators that we were working with. Well I am absolutely homesick for Namibia but hopefully things will get better as the week drags on. George is a nice town with a lot of white Africaans people and we are in the white area. Elder Wilson from Spanish Fork is in the district and is companions with elder Moyo from South Africa, so there is someone that I will be with from my transfer. well when I left John was very excited to come and he sent me an email on how he is doing. When he comes to see you in a month he will bring my painting by and also paint some stuff for you around the house. Elder Probst I miss, but his rash is about the same, he is being sent some cream that might help out the rash so hopefully that will work. Well have a good week and hope to hear more about what is happening.

love
Elder Tyler Hansen

Monday, March 8, 2010

Regan, March 8, 2010

This past week went really well. By the end of the week we were still looking for some great things to happen. As we continued with our plans and steadily focused on having a sense of urgency the Lord used us to bring more work for us to perform in his strength.

Monday we had a really great preparation day. After we finished with our emails and other things we helped the Theodore elders move into there new apartment. Not a better way to spend a p-day by doing service. We had a great evening with the Hearns and set up some times with Brother Hearn so come out with us for some lessons.

Tuesday we had a great district meeting. Everything went really well with role plays and the spirit was very strong as we continued to learn of the gospel through His Spirit. I traveled with Elder Peterson out to Semmes to see everything that we needed to bring or prepare for them moving in the next day. We tracted for a few hours near Bishop Parkes home and were able to Testify and ask for referrals from 5 different people. My joy continues to grow as we are able to apply these principles in our service everyday. We had dinner with the Parkes family which went really well and finished the night with family home evening with Sister Byrd. We had a great lesson on Talents and Abilities.

Wednesday we traveled to transfer spots and saw everyone off. We traveled out to Semmes and began to get the trailer set back up for the missionaries who were coming there. Throughout we were able to make calls to our investigators and recent converts and set up quite a few lessons with them and were able to have our daily contact with them. We were able to help them get everything established before we left and continued our day. We were able to tract a little bit which was great.

Thursday we visited with John Pugh. He began to have some doubts about the Book of Mormon so we shared our testimonies with him and committed him to read Alma 32. He said that he would read and pray. We were able to set up a new appointment with him so we can follow up with his progress. We then went to the courthouse to get the marriage application for Keno and Valentine Johnny. We are hoping they will get married in the next few weeks and then they will be ready for their baptism on March 27th. We continued to tract near the Parkes home and were able to testify and ask for referrals from 8 different people. Now I could never imagine what it would be like without testifying of the restoration because it brings such an amazing spirit continually. That night we visited with the Johnny family and took over the application for them. Valentine wasn't home at the time but we talked with Keno and asked if they had been reading as a family everyday. They have been trying but he recommitted to doing it again.

Friday we traveled close to downtown and tried to visit a few referrals that we had received. None of them were home at the time but we were able to stop by and talk with Latashe Tucker and set up an appointment with her. Sadly, we found out her mom Mary Tucker who we had been teaching had passed away a few days earlier. We were saddened to hear about it but just reminded her abut the Plan of Salvation and it brought her more comfort. After lunch we tracted near the Fairchild's and had a really great time. We talked with 3 people and ended up having a great lesson with Rachel Bartlett. She has recently been struggling with a few things and as we were able to share about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the Gospel her countenance changed and His Spirit bore a beautiful witness to her. We had dinner with the Kelly's that evening and had a really good time. It sounds like very soon we will be able to start teaching Mathew and hopefully Sister Kelly's husband will join in on the lessons even if he isn't interested.

Saturday we stopped by in the morning and visited with the Binkerds. We have been trying to see them for quite awhile now and we were able to set up do have dinner there this coming week. We are also planning on doing some service for them without them knowing. Sister Binkerd as Multiple Sclerosis and her husband is still in school as a doctor so they are not able to take care of there yard. We then tracted near there home and talked with 3 different people. It was great being able to get out there and tract. We traveled up to Prichard and visited with Gwendolyn Thomas. They have been having some recent struggles but she wants to come to church. Her son is not a member but has been taught in the past and wants to join the church. It is amazing to see all the doors the lord opens when you are willing to work hard and do what he asks of you. We attended Mary's funeral service at the baptist church. It was a really nice funeral. Thought a bit different, there was a lot of family there for support. We then traveled to the Johnny's and had a great lesson with Keno and Valentine. We had a great Restoration lesson with them and they told us that through their prayers and their daughter being baptized that they know that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. It was great hearing them bear there testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. We had dinner with Brother Curtis which was really good. He is planning on supporting us in helping Keno and Valentine which we are really happy about. We talked with Brother Felton that evening and found out that he is having Chemo again. He said the cancer isn't back but they have to do it every 6 months. He is planning on being to church in a few weeks. We visited with Brother Serrano and he is doing well. We followed up with his scripture study and it has been going well for him.

Sunday was a really great day. We had a great lesson on fasting with the Johnny's and Brother Serrano. We had a really powerful testimony meeting and the spirit bore witness strongly of the truth that was being shared. Keno and Valentine had a really good time at church, as well as did the kids. We had lunch with the Bromgard's and the Johnny family which went really well. I am truly grateful for their service in helping the Johnny family and being a support for them. We then went to the Johnny's and installed some locks on their doors because they live in a rough area and recently people have been walking into their home during the day. We had a great visit with Jeffery Booth and hopefully we will be able to meet his family. His wife and children are not members but are familiar with the church. We tracted near his home and talked with 5 people which was great. We then traveled to a lot of potential investigators home and set up an appointment with Janice Thompson which was really great. That night we visited with the Baylor's and invited them to church and activity night.

This week has been really been really great and has opened the doors to so much more potential opportunities that will come.

Love You

Elder Regan Hansen

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Tyler Mar 1 2010






Well
This week will be my last in Namibia unfortunately, We had 5 baptisms this week all in Windhoek and then the Katatura branch had 4 baptisms. I will not write much because I dont have the time, I need to do as much as possible here in Windhoek. This week has been great as far as teaching, two of the recent converts that were baptized Ndepewa and Inonge said they want to go on missions. They said they would like to go in like a years time but I hope that they go to Salt Lake so that I can go and see them. This Thursday is transfers and my visa is going to expire so I will go back to South Africa somewhere. Bro John is pumped to go to America and interpret so he is really busy painting. This past Friday he stayed up until 5 in the morning working on one of my paintings and then woke up at 8 to come and clean the church with us. We had the movie night this past Friday evening and it was a great success there was like 62 people who came to it and there was many first time member referrals who came.
well have a good week

love
Elder Tyler Hansen

Regan, March 1, 2010

This past week has been a really great week and we have been able to set some really good goals that have allowed us to achieve more in the Lords strength. We set goals at start of the week to tract at least 30 minutes a day everyday. We feel that it will give us the opportunity to talk with more people and allow us to testify of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Monday we had a really great p-day. We were able to spend some time with allot of the Theodore elders. We were able to get all of the things that we needed so we could keep our time focused on the Lord's Work. We had dinner that evening with the Hearns which went really well. We tracted before we got there so we could talk with allot of people and testify of the restoration.

Tuesday we had a really great day. We started off at district meeting and had a really good meeting. We were able to have some really good discussions and were also able to have some really good role plays that helped prepare us for things we would do later on in the week. We had some open time after we tried to visit with Martha Tucker. We tracted for a couple hours near Bishop Parkes home. We had a great time talking with as many people as we could. We were able to testify of the Restoration to 6 people and were also able to ask for referrals from each of them. We stopped by and visited with the Parkes for a minute and helped them with a few things. We then traveled to Institute and had a really good time. We were able to talk with Brianna who is attending institute but isn't a member. She is really enjoying being able to learn about the Book of Mormon at this time and we are hoping that we will soon be able to have the lessons with her.

Wednesday we had a great visit in the morning with the Campbell's. We are still working on getting to know Brother Campbell and working with his grandson in having him come back to church. Brother Campbell is not quite ready still for a commitment to baptism and we are allowing the High Priests to work with him. We also talked with Sister Binkerd. She has had some down time this past week because of the Multiple Sclorosis. She has been really under the weather and we were able to give her a bit of an extra boost. After Lunch we had a great visit with Chiquita Tucker. She had allot of great questions that directed us to teach her the Plan of Salvation. She found allot of peace and comfort in what we had shared with her. She committed to read and pray about what we had taught her was true. We had a great lesson with Kimberly Evans. We have continued to teach her about Church History and have been following up on her commitment of reading the Book of Mormon which has been going well for her. We had dinner with the Blackmon family which went well. They are a part member family we are working with and their granddaughter came to church which was really great. Sister Blackmon has been working with her to come to church and she was happy that she came. We finished the night with the Etiquette Dinner for the youth. They were able to invite a few friends which was really great. The youth have started to invite their friends which has been really great.

Thursday we had a really great time planning. We were able to continue to fill out the progress record and update all the teaching records that needed to be updated. We were able to follow the steps in Preach My Gospel which helped us to be more prepared for the goals of which we set last week and the goals that we have set this week. We had a great lesson with Mary Tucker after planning. We shared with her the Word of Wisdom and she committed to stop drinking coffee and tobacco. We will be teaching her the stop smoking program this next Saturday. She has great desires to make the changes of which she needs to do. We're still working on finding a ride for her so she can come to church. We visited with a few referrals that we had and were able to set up an appointment with John Pugh. We left him with the Restoration pamphlet to read. We then went and continued to tract near Bishop Parkes home. We were able to Testify and ask for referrals from 9 different people. Even though at this time no one has been interested I feel awesome throughout the day and the spirit has continued to increase as we have been striving to talk with everyone and ask for referrals. We had a great dinner with the Odom's and followed up with them on the Commitment we left them to Pray to know who they could give a Book of Mormon to. I love childlike faith because of the great example it is. Their daughter gave two Book of Mormons out to her friends with her testimony in them. Her parents were very happy and I feel that it has motivated them to be more committed. We visited with Brother Serrano to end the night. He is doing really well with his missionary work. At work he has been a great example and many of his co-workers have been asking him questions. He has also faced ridicule from others and as he continued to be the example and turned the other cheek it really impressed those who were criticizing him and they have now stopped.

Friday we had a great lesson first thing with John Pugh. He started off by sharing with us some of the feelings of which he had from reading over the Pamphlet. He asked us about how to know who has the proper authority to Baptize. He had recently been baptized into another church but felt that it had not been done properly and has left him questioning. We were able to teach the Restoration and the spirit answered those questions of which he had. He found allot of peace and comfort in those things that had been shared. He committed to read and pray about what we had taught him was true. We left him with Alma 32 to read and will be following up with him this Wednesday. After lunch we visited with Sister Fairchild to see how her family was doing. They have had allot of different illnesses floating around. We tracted around her home before Elder Bawden's doctors appointment. We were able to testify to 5 different people and ask for referrals when we had the opportunity. After his Doctors appointment we went up to the Kelly's home and had a great visit with them. We were able to spend sometime with the kids which was really good. We were able to visit with Sister Kelly and her husband Tim and get to know them better. Since the passing of her sister times of been hard but with us being able to go up and visit them every week things have become allot better for them. We are hoping to teach Tim and her son Mathew who is 9. Keith her other son came to church which was really great.

Saturday we went and helped out at the Bishop's Storehouse which was really great. We were able to serve those who were in need and also uplift one another spirits in this great cause of the Lord's Charity. After we went over and dropped of a few extra things to Bishop Parkes and found out they had been having some pipes leaking under the house. It was great being prepared to help them and we were able to do that service for them and help them with those problems. By the end of it we were able to fix the pipe and were also able to fix a few electrical problems that they needed help with. I love those opportunities that allow us to be able to serve those who need our help. We had a great visit with Brother Campbell and have some one on one time with him. He showed us how to make egg rolls and we were able to discuss allot of the gospel with him. He is coming around little by little but I really think it will be the High Priests and members that bring him into the church. We finished the night with activity night which went really well. We had a few families show up and we were able to have a great time playing some volleyball and basketball. We are hoping that this will propel them to bring more of their friends and invite there neighbors to come and join us.

Sunday went really well for us. We had a great meeting in PEC and had the opportunity to discuss different needs in the ward. We were able to set up a few goals that as a group we are going to work on. Church went really well and Keno and Valentine Johnny were at church with there family. We had a great lesson with them on the importance of scriptures. They committed to read as a family for five to ten minutes every night out of the Book of Mormon. We were also able to set a date for them to get married by and they committed to baptism on March 27th. They are really excited and we are now working on finding out all the details so they can be married in two weeks. After church we visited with the Madison family and asked them about one of his co-workers who is not a member but is very dedicated in helping him as a cub scout instructor. We were able to get some more background and will hopefully be able to start sharing the gospel with him and his wife. We had an early dinner with the Hearns and had a really great time. We were able to learn allot of new things to help some of the members we are focusing on as well as be uplifted spiritually as we were there. We traveled up to Saraland that evening and visited with Brother Peoples. He has still been struggling with allot of things that have been happening and home. He has now set up some goals to help him get him and his family through the hardships. The greatest goal that he has set is to follow the commandments so he will be able to make it to the temple before the year ends. We had a prayer with him which was very spiritually uplifting. We finished of the night by trying to visit with a few other less active members.

This week has been really a great week of service. I have been uplifted by His spirit as we have strived to magnify our callings and become more dedicated in his service. Throughout the week we counted up the total of 20 different people we were able to testify of the Restoration to and also able to ask for referrals. This has really uplifted me so much and we are going to keep this goal set now each day week in a week out.

Love You

Elder Regan Hansen