This week has been a great week but it has also been extremely warm and it is not going to stop. We have just been very careful with making sure we have enough water and that we are trying to talk with everyone because it allows us to break and share the gospel with them which is great being able to talk with more people.
Monday we spent most of our preparation day helping the Parkes by painting and doing service for them. We were able to get much of the task accomplished and were able to spend sometime talking with the kids and having them help us paint and work hard. We then got cleaned up really quick and headed off to dinner with the Fairchild's which went really well and we spent sometime sharing a spiritual message with the kids. We then went and tried to visit with a few less active members and made phone calls for those new referrals we received and those we needed to call.
Tuesday we had a really great district meeting. The spirit was able to have us all commit to different things that individually and as companionship's will strengthen our efforts within his service. We were able to spend some time focusing on some goals to set us companionship's and we were able to set a goal as a district to be more diligent in those things of which we committed to. As a district we had a lunch together and were able to get to know and talk with each other some more which allowed us to strengthen our unity as a district. We then went and did our emails very quickly and then got back to work. We visited with Brother Martyn who is the new elders quorum president and we discussed with him some things that we are going to try and do together to strengthen within home teaching and with members. We went and did some tracting which went well being able to be out and trying to talk with everyone. We headed for dinner at the Fairchild's which went really well and we then went and focused on taking care of phone calls and some last minute things we needed to get for a lesson.
Wednesday we stopped first thing in the morning so I could give a shot to one of the Fairchild's puppy and we then headed off and began to tract. We were able to talk with quite a few people and found some potential investigators we are going to follow up with. We then headed up after lunch to the Saraland area and visited with Sister Thompson. She has been very busy with her garden and it has really been growing good. We invited her to come to church and we are hoping that she will choose to make it. We then traveled up to visit with Melissa who came to church this past week. We had a really great lesson with her and she opened up really well to where the lesson was taken to the end result of sharing about the Plan of Salvation. It is so amazing at how beautiful the spirit guides and teaches. We then had dinner with the Cogsdell and Hayes family which went really great. We shared a thought with them and quickly headed off for our lesson with the Young Women. We had a lesson on missionary work and how through their examples they will carry the Light to their friends.
Thursday we began with having some really great planning. It really helped us to spend sometime all working on updating progress records, teaching records, and other records that we have been working on. We were able to set some really good goals but more importantly we were able to set goals that will help us to be more diligent and patient in our efforts. After lunch we went and visited with Joe Hickman and really focused with his comments and were directed to teach the Restoration. We then went and followed up with Lindsey who we talked with last week and ended up talking with her and also her boyfriend Brad. We were able to answer allot of their questions and a lot of his interest was peaked as we discussed a bit about the spirit world. We then continued to do some more tracting which went really well. We had dinner with the Odom's and shared a message with them before we headed off to the Johnny's. We talked with them about the importance of the temple and keeping them focused on getting there.
Friday we started off in the morning by taking in our car and getting the 2nd recall notice fixed on it. We were able to get a little bit of extra study in and we talked with allot of people there about the gospel. We then visited with Sister DeGuire which went really well and we were able to offer service to her and invite her to church. We then started out in the afternoon doing allot of tracting and talking with allot of people. We were able to visit with a few less active member just to get some water and see how they were doing. We then got some new tires on the car and talked with a few people in there. We went back out and continued to tract before we went and did some service for the Fairchild's and helped them clean up so they could prepare to paint.
Saturday we began with service at the Bishop's Storehouse which went really well and we were able to get allot of things accomplished. We delivered a few of the orders for some of the members in the ward with the Morris's and then went to the Mathie's with them to do some more service. We visited with Sister Jett which was great and she is doing pretty good. She has lost a bit of weight but she is still holding on stronger than ever. We came back and Elder Bawden helped Brother Fairchild do some primer while Elder Mackay and I went out and did some visits and some tracting. Elder Mackay and I had dinner with the Blackmon's and visited with their granddaughter who is not a member. We will be following up and seeing if she is interested this next week. We then came back after doing a little bit of tracting and helped for the last hour before coming in that night and helping with the primer at the Fairchild's.
Sunday we didn't have any investigators at church but we were able to feel the spirit throughout the meetings and really were strengthened. Brother Tyler had his girlfriend at church but we were not able to set up an appointment with them at that time. We were able to help Brother Mathie at church because he has just been getting worse and worse and we found out last night that he passed away. He was a really great man and someone as many of the other that I have learned from their example and will remember it for the rest of my life. We visited with Brother Lambert after church and then continued to do some tracting. We were able to talk with allot of great people and find a few more potentials. We had dinner with Brother Tyler that night and talked about being able to teach his girlfriend. They are both extremely busy driving ambulances.
This week has been a week that we have been able to focus on some new goals and really set a stronger standard to strengthen our efforts and understanding of what the lord wants us to do.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday, June 28, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Tyler April 26 2010
Hello Family,
I look forward to September to see Jefferey R. Holland that will be pretty sweet, Elder Probst told me that he was coming but did not know when. We have had President Kolliker from the area seventy come a couple of times and also Elder Watson of the seventy has also come once to the mission. This past Tuesday we had a really great conference on how to increase our faith to find people to teach. It is something that we are struggling with here in George and so there were a lot of great ideas to find some new investigators. President Probst gave some some great insight and asked some questions to first show that we are in the right mission. He then told us how the transfers work and how we are chosen to areas just like the council given from Elder Rasband of the seventy of choosing by revelation where missionaries need to go throughout the mission. He then asked if we believed we were in the right area in the mission because then there would be no need to proceed on. And then he shared on that if we believed we were in the right place in the right time. It was something great to ponder upon the council that he gave. He is definitely one of the wisest men I have ever met it wouldn't surprise me if he goes to the general authorities. Throughout the week we have been handing out ensigns to different business to help people find some interest and give us a call. We met a nice lady this past week that I have reflected on quite a bit. She works for a safety affirm business and when we knocked on the door she pulled us right into the board room. She was very inattentive as we talked about what we believed, I just hope that she will respect her word and eventually come to church. It has been hard to find white people to teach because most of them attend the dutch reformed but we have trying to think of ideas to say to persuade them to believe in the things that we say. I have learned that racial issues have been a problem in the branch, there is a lot of less active people that don't come because they don't want there children associating around the other children. We just hope that the branch can be strengthened by the conference because it is struggling alot. We were able to watch the general conference on this Saturday and Sunday and it was really great to watch. There was a few sessions where it was just us 4 missionaries and the branch president that watched but we really pushed for the people to attend this weekend but not many investigators and members attended unfortunately. well as for today we are going to have the ap's do some district training Elder Msimango who was in my district for a transfer in Namibia is now the new a.p. here with Elder Tanner. We are going to try and climb George peak which overlooks the ocean and the town of George and then at 7 we will be seeing Deseree and Elizabeth and the there family which are some recent converts. well thanks for the wishes, have a good day and week, send some pictures
Love elder Tyler Hansen
I look forward to September to see Jefferey R. Holland that will be pretty sweet, Elder Probst told me that he was coming but did not know when. We have had President Kolliker from the area seventy come a couple of times and also Elder Watson of the seventy has also come once to the mission. This past Tuesday we had a really great conference on how to increase our faith to find people to teach. It is something that we are struggling with here in George and so there were a lot of great ideas to find some new investigators. President Probst gave some some great insight and asked some questions to first show that we are in the right mission. He then told us how the transfers work and how we are chosen to areas just like the council given from Elder Rasband of the seventy of choosing by revelation where missionaries need to go throughout the mission. He then asked if we believed we were in the right area in the mission because then there would be no need to proceed on. And then he shared on that if we believed we were in the right place in the right time. It was something great to ponder upon the council that he gave. He is definitely one of the wisest men I have ever met it wouldn't surprise me if he goes to the general authorities. Throughout the week we have been handing out ensigns to different business to help people find some interest and give us a call. We met a nice lady this past week that I have reflected on quite a bit. She works for a safety affirm business and when we knocked on the door she pulled us right into the board room. She was very inattentive as we talked about what we believed, I just hope that she will respect her word and eventually come to church. It has been hard to find white people to teach because most of them attend the dutch reformed but we have trying to think of ideas to say to persuade them to believe in the things that we say. I have learned that racial issues have been a problem in the branch, there is a lot of less active people that don't come because they don't want there children associating around the other children. We just hope that the branch can be strengthened by the conference because it is struggling alot. We were able to watch the general conference on this Saturday and Sunday and it was really great to watch. There was a few sessions where it was just us 4 missionaries and the branch president that watched but we really pushed for the people to attend this weekend but not many investigators and members attended unfortunately. well as for today we are going to have the ap's do some district training Elder Msimango who was in my district for a transfer in Namibia is now the new a.p. here with Elder Tanner. We are going to try and climb George peak which overlooks the ocean and the town of George and then at 7 we will be seeing Deseree and Elizabeth and the there family which are some recent converts. well thanks for the wishes, have a good day and week, send some pictures
Love elder Tyler Hansen
Tyler April 19 2010
Hello family,
Well this week was transfers so I will stay in George for another 6 weeks at least, I know that President Probst is humbling me in this area, because he knows that I don't like it as much so I will be here for quite a while I feel. We had interviews this past week and he just basically said it will prepare you for the future. I don't like this district leader stuff, I am being stretched to much. it would be nice and I just need to find a way to convince President Probst to move me down to a co companionship or junior or Namibia but it wont happen. haha
This past week was Elizabeth's Dangeans baptism at the river. Everything went really well and the next day the Probsts came to church and President Probst was able to confirm her. We have quite a few recent converts in the branch and with them all, I just don't know if the branch can handle a lot of new members because there isn't enough established leadership, but the branch is growing and President Probst told me that they are looking for ground so that they can build a proper chapel soon in George. Today we are going to be driving to Port Elizabeth to a zone conference on Tuesday. A lot of the days this week are going to be taken away from proselyting between zone conference and watching general conference on Saturday on Sunday. We will have the zone conference on Tuesday and then come back that night I don't think there is another place in the mission that it more compared in banishment and so far away from things than George. I look forward to the upcoming zone conference though it will really give us some good ideas on how to find people here in George. From the talks that were assigned to us we were assigned spontaneous talks on how do we build faith in finding people to teach. 2) what does it me to find them that will receive you. 3) How did the savior find people to teach. So I really look forward to what will be said through the spirit through President Probsts superior wisdom and how we can apply it here in George. Well Elder Maja is in the district still with me and then there is Elder Bradshaw from Centerville, and Elder Hajamaramalala from Madigasscar. The other guys area got whitewashed and this week they also experienced two car accidents. Elder Wilson and Moyo got hit in the back of the car by a drunk driver just before they got transferred to Mdantsane and so there was quite a bit of damage to the car and then Elder Bradshaw drove from Port Elizabeth and they had a brand new car and someone hit them in the back last night so the township of Thembulethu is pretty crazy. Things here are going really good though, Well thanks for everything, have a good week.
Love Elder Tyler Hansen
Tyler April 14 2010
Hello Family,
Well this past week was transfers and so I will be staying here in George another transfer in George. It will be huge growth building experience for me because I have had a hard time in this place. We have Elizabeth Dangeans baptism on Saturday and so that is something great coming up. Elder Wilson and elder Moyo left Thembulethu the township here and so the area will be whitewashed. There will be Elder Bradshaw and somebody from Madagascar come into the area and the district. The area in George has been really kind of slow. there was three hundred extra ensigns from the last general conference sent to George a little while ago and so we are taking them to different businesses and practices for the client and patients to read them. We are just leaving are contact details with them and so i hope soon we can start to get some phone calls with as many that we have started to hand out. I one of the challenges is trying to build good relationship with everyone in the branch because I don't know whats happened in the past but a lot of the members don't want much to do with the missionaries. We talked with a guy that is pretty old in the branch to see if we could visit him and he said he was going to be busy for the entire week. It is just kind of disappointing because I have not met many people to where they cant take one hour out of there week to talk with missionaries. The Odells left this past Friday to Port Alfred and it hasn't been the same without them around. Have a good week tell me how things are.
love Elder Tyler Hansen.
Well this past week was transfers and so I will be staying here in George another transfer in George. It will be huge growth building experience for me because I have had a hard time in this place. We have Elizabeth Dangeans baptism on Saturday and so that is something great coming up. Elder Wilson and elder Moyo left Thembulethu the township here and so the area will be whitewashed. There will be Elder Bradshaw and somebody from Madagascar come into the area and the district. The area in George has been really kind of slow. there was three hundred extra ensigns from the last general conference sent to George a little while ago and so we are taking them to different businesses and practices for the client and patients to read them. We are just leaving are contact details with them and so i hope soon we can start to get some phone calls with as many that we have started to hand out. I one of the challenges is trying to build good relationship with everyone in the branch because I don't know whats happened in the past but a lot of the members don't want much to do with the missionaries. We talked with a guy that is pretty old in the branch to see if we could visit him and he said he was going to be busy for the entire week. It is just kind of disappointing because I have not met many people to where they cant take one hour out of there week to talk with missionaries. The Odells left this past Friday to Port Alfred and it hasn't been the same without them around. Have a good week tell me how things are.
love Elder Tyler Hansen.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Regan, June 15, 2010
This past week has really been a stretching week at times because we didn't know how at all we were possibly going to achieve what the Lord needed us to do. As we went and and worked through everything that was happening we were blessed to have a greater understand that allowed us to have His eyes to see, His ears to hear, and His work to become our work.
Monday we had a really great preparation day and we were able to get allot of things done. We were able to doing some cleaning and really focus on a few things at the apartment. I was able to really focus some more time on my journal and also reading and marking in the Book of Mormon. We had dinner with the Fairchild's that night and had a great family home evening with them focused on the Godhead.
Tuesday we had a great District Meeting that really allowed us to gain a greater strength and understanding of how to act and commit to the promptings of which we receive. I felt as if we were all endowed with a greater power at that moment to really see and find those that he needed us to find. We visited with the Hughes after lunch which was good and we invited them to come to church. Sister Hughes has been recovering from a heart attack a few weeks ago and has had some really great progress. We traveled to see Evalyn Matonyei and had a really great restoration lesson with her. She was a member referral of which we received and she was very receptive. We left her with 3 Nephi 11 to read. We visited with Sister Thompson which was really great and we are hoping that she will come back to church. She has had many ups and downs recently and she is still struggling to find stable ground to land on. We visited with the Harris family and had a great time visiting with Brother Harris and his sisters. They haven't been to church for a while and we are planning on doing service for them which hopefully will help us better get in the door and talk with them. We helped the Johnny's fill out a few paperwork things again and just set some goals with them about bettering their situation. We visited with Brother Serrano and had a great lesson with him and read out of Alma. We committed him to continue to read everyday because with work he is unable to attend church right now.
Wednesday Elder Bawden had a doctors appointment which went really well and the doctor said that he is doing better and he can now exercise and soon everything will be completely healed which was great to hear. After we went and immediately began to tract. It was kind of a strange day of tracting because on every house that we knocked we didn't get an answer, but we continued to knock each and every door that we could. We had lunch with Sister Klug which was great and we did a few things for her while we were there. We headed to Kimberly Evans home and had a really good lesson with her and read in Alma with her. She has been reading and it still is continuing to change her ability to greater focus on what he wants her to learn. We stopped and visited with Ryesha Henderson and set up a time that we could come back for another visit and a lesson. We then had dinner with the Fairchild's after a bit more tracting and we were able to talk with allot of people this past time which was great. We found a few potentials that we will be following up with soon.
Thursday we spent allot of our day up at the Mathies helping them with some service they needed. We received a call before lunch that Brother Mathie had fallen so we rushed up to help him out. It is very sad to see that he doesn't have the strength or ability to do allot of things that he used to be able to do. We were able to help him get up and we had a lunch with them which went well. We then spent some doing some yard work and also putting a chair lift on the vehicle to Brother Mathie will be able to use his scooter. Ever since his last set of heart attacks he has never fully recovered but I know that he is trying with all of his heart to do all that he can. We came back down and tracted which was really great and we stopped by the church to get some more water and we were able to make a few calls that we had needed to make. We had dinner with the Millers which went really well and we were able to invite them to church and really help in anyway that we can. They both have some health problems that have kept them from being able to make it to church but luckily Brother Miller doesn't have work this week and can take a little bit of a break. We stopped by and visited with Joe Hickman for a brief moment and set up an appointment with him for the next day. We stopped and visited with Brother Serrano and helped him with some applications that he needed help with.
Friday we planned in the morning because our Thursday became very jam packed. We were able to set some great goals and were able to set up a few appointments with some referrals that we had. We were also able to get records updated which helped us to really specifically focus on the needs of our investigators. We had lunch with the Parke's family which was really great and after we immediately had a great lesson with Joe Hickman. We shared with him the Plan of Salvation and it really hit him very hard. He lost his wife a few years back and she is on the top of his conversations always. We left him to continue reading in Mosiah 1 - 4 and invited him to church. We then tracted for a few hours which went well and we also talked with Caroline who was a member referral and we set up an appointment with her the next day. We had dinner and finished the night off with activity night which went really well and we had allot of people come.
Saturday we started by doing some service with Sister Jett's family by moving her stuff out and getting it put on the trailers so they could move it to her son's home where she is now living. It went really well and there was allot of member support there to help. We came back and had a bit of our studies and then had lunch after a little bit of tracting. We then went out and continued to tract which went really well and we found Lindsey and she invited us to come back and we are really excited. She was very open and really desired to learn more. We then went and had our lesson with Caroline which went really well and she asked allot of great questions which allowed us to each her allot of great truths through the spirit. We left her with 3 Nephi 11 to read and invited her to church tomorrow and she said that she would come. We continued to tract until dinner which went really well and after we continued to visit less active members and make phone calls.
Sunday we had allot of changes within the leadership of the ward and everything is now going to run even more smoothly. Many different people had moved away and they reorganized a bunch of callings. We had a great lesson at church and as we left priesthood we had 3 investigators at church which was really awesome. Caroline was able to make it which was cool and Melissa came with a member. We were able to have them both in Gospel Principle class and we set up appointments with them. We left Melissa with 3 Nephi 11 to read and set up an appointment with her for Wednesday. We had potluck after church and afterwards immediately went out making visits. We were able to visit with Lori Shelton who is a less active member and she has now asked us to call her on Saturday to remind her about church which is awesome. We then began to tract with a Brother Nordwald who is leaving on a mission soon and we had allot of great success. We were able to find Anastasia and will be having a lesson with her next week. We finished the night with some more calls and did a little bit of studies to prepare for a few things.
This week allowed us to see more tender mercies of the Lord. I know that because we continued to work hard throughout the week and kept tracting even when we figured no one would answer the Lord always provides in some way even if it is a way you would never expect to see at that moment.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday we had a really great preparation day and we were able to get allot of things done. We were able to doing some cleaning and really focus on a few things at the apartment. I was able to really focus some more time on my journal and also reading and marking in the Book of Mormon. We had dinner with the Fairchild's that night and had a great family home evening with them focused on the Godhead.
Tuesday we had a great District Meeting that really allowed us to gain a greater strength and understanding of how to act and commit to the promptings of which we receive. I felt as if we were all endowed with a greater power at that moment to really see and find those that he needed us to find. We visited with the Hughes after lunch which was good and we invited them to come to church. Sister Hughes has been recovering from a heart attack a few weeks ago and has had some really great progress. We traveled to see Evalyn Matonyei and had a really great restoration lesson with her. She was a member referral of which we received and she was very receptive. We left her with 3 Nephi 11 to read. We visited with Sister Thompson which was really great and we are hoping that she will come back to church. She has had many ups and downs recently and she is still struggling to find stable ground to land on. We visited with the Harris family and had a great time visiting with Brother Harris and his sisters. They haven't been to church for a while and we are planning on doing service for them which hopefully will help us better get in the door and talk with them. We helped the Johnny's fill out a few paperwork things again and just set some goals with them about bettering their situation. We visited with Brother Serrano and had a great lesson with him and read out of Alma. We committed him to continue to read everyday because with work he is unable to attend church right now.
Wednesday Elder Bawden had a doctors appointment which went really well and the doctor said that he is doing better and he can now exercise and soon everything will be completely healed which was great to hear. After we went and immediately began to tract. It was kind of a strange day of tracting because on every house that we knocked we didn't get an answer, but we continued to knock each and every door that we could. We had lunch with Sister Klug which was great and we did a few things for her while we were there. We headed to Kimberly Evans home and had a really good lesson with her and read in Alma with her. She has been reading and it still is continuing to change her ability to greater focus on what he wants her to learn. We stopped and visited with Ryesha Henderson and set up a time that we could come back for another visit and a lesson. We then had dinner with the Fairchild's after a bit more tracting and we were able to talk with allot of people this past time which was great. We found a few potentials that we will be following up with soon.
Thursday we spent allot of our day up at the Mathies helping them with some service they needed. We received a call before lunch that Brother Mathie had fallen so we rushed up to help him out. It is very sad to see that he doesn't have the strength or ability to do allot of things that he used to be able to do. We were able to help him get up and we had a lunch with them which went well. We then spent some doing some yard work and also putting a chair lift on the vehicle to Brother Mathie will be able to use his scooter. Ever since his last set of heart attacks he has never fully recovered but I know that he is trying with all of his heart to do all that he can. We came back down and tracted which was really great and we stopped by the church to get some more water and we were able to make a few calls that we had needed to make. We had dinner with the Millers which went really well and we were able to invite them to church and really help in anyway that we can. They both have some health problems that have kept them from being able to make it to church but luckily Brother Miller doesn't have work this week and can take a little bit of a break. We stopped by and visited with Joe Hickman for a brief moment and set up an appointment with him for the next day. We stopped and visited with Brother Serrano and helped him with some applications that he needed help with.
Friday we planned in the morning because our Thursday became very jam packed. We were able to set some great goals and were able to set up a few appointments with some referrals that we had. We were also able to get records updated which helped us to really specifically focus on the needs of our investigators. We had lunch with the Parke's family which was really great and after we immediately had a great lesson with Joe Hickman. We shared with him the Plan of Salvation and it really hit him very hard. He lost his wife a few years back and she is on the top of his conversations always. We left him to continue reading in Mosiah 1 - 4 and invited him to church. We then tracted for a few hours which went well and we also talked with Caroline who was a member referral and we set up an appointment with her the next day. We had dinner and finished the night off with activity night which went really well and we had allot of people come.
Saturday we started by doing some service with Sister Jett's family by moving her stuff out and getting it put on the trailers so they could move it to her son's home where she is now living. It went really well and there was allot of member support there to help. We came back and had a bit of our studies and then had lunch after a little bit of tracting. We then went out and continued to tract which went really well and we found Lindsey and she invited us to come back and we are really excited. She was very open and really desired to learn more. We then went and had our lesson with Caroline which went really well and she asked allot of great questions which allowed us to each her allot of great truths through the spirit. We left her with 3 Nephi 11 to read and invited her to church tomorrow and she said that she would come. We continued to tract until dinner which went really well and after we continued to visit less active members and make phone calls.
Sunday we had allot of changes within the leadership of the ward and everything is now going to run even more smoothly. Many different people had moved away and they reorganized a bunch of callings. We had a great lesson at church and as we left priesthood we had 3 investigators at church which was really awesome. Caroline was able to make it which was cool and Melissa came with a member. We were able to have them both in Gospel Principle class and we set up appointments with them. We left Melissa with 3 Nephi 11 to read and set up an appointment with her for Wednesday. We had potluck after church and afterwards immediately went out making visits. We were able to visit with Lori Shelton who is a less active member and she has now asked us to call her on Saturday to remind her about church which is awesome. We then began to tract with a Brother Nordwald who is leaving on a mission soon and we had allot of great success. We were able to find Anastasia and will be having a lesson with her next week. We finished the night with some more calls and did a little bit of studies to prepare for a few things.
This week allowed us to see more tender mercies of the Lord. I know that because we continued to work hard throughout the week and kept tracting even when we figured no one would answer the Lord always provides in some way even if it is a way you would never expect to see at that moment.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday, June 7, 2010
Regan, June 7, 2010
This past week has brought us so much joy in working hard and being able to experience the blessings of the Lord. He has been amazing to us and has brought us into a greater Unity and strength in his service.
Monday we started the day off by visiting a less active members we don't get to visit very often. We visited with the Presley's and stopped to see how there son was doing after being in the hospital. Brother Presley isn't a member and we are trying to establish a more solid relationship with him so he feels more comfortable around us. We visited with the Worthington's and invited them to church. Brother Worthington has been very busy with work and we are hoping that he will get some Sundays off soon. We decided we would try our hand at tracting which went really well and we were able to find Will. He is a really great guy and is open about learning about the gospel. After lunch we headed up into the Eight Mile area and visited with a few less active members. We were able to talk with them and find out where some of their children had moved to so we could get the records up there. We also spent sometime tracting and found a few potential investigators that we are following up with. We stopped and visited with the Colvin's and found out that Sister Colvin's mother hasn't been doing to well and her cancer has spread very quickly. We also talked with Tyler and Chelsa Colvin which was really great and we were able to discuss a lot of great things with them and invite them to church. We had dinner with Kimberly Evan's and her husband which went relay well. He is still not open about the Gospel but at some point he will be.
Tuesday we had a really great p-day and were able to accomplish quite a bit of things. We were able to get through a lot of our shopping and emails quickly which allowed me to be able to spend some more time studying and marking within the Book Of Mormon which is always a great experience. We were also able to stop by the Parkes home and talk with Bishop and the family for a bit which was really great. We had dinner with the Fairchild's which went really well and we invited them all to church. We then went to the church and FHE with Sister Byrd and had a great lesson on family history that she shared with us.
Wednesday we started off the day trying to visit a few of our investigators that haven't been progressing. We weren't able to see them so we went tracting and found Brian. He has a very large background within the scriptures and has a lot of family who is Jehovah Witness. When we came back to our car we found that it has been egged so we quickly went and got the car washed and luckily we got it all of with no damage done to the car. After lunch we traveled into the Prichard area to deliver a few referrals. Neither were interested in hearing more but as we were there we talked with Tasha which went really well and we left her with a Book of Mormon and Alma 32 to read in preparation to teach her the next week. We had a great lesson with Kimberly Evans after and read Alma 5 with her. She shared with us that she hadn't been able to read during the week and we rec omitted her to it. We traveled to Semmes and had a Baptismal Interview with Gus Navarro. He is a really great guy and his testimony was very strong as I was able to talk with him. We had a little Bar-b-cue with the Young Men and Young Women which went really well and we visited with a few less active members of the youth that showed up. We visited with Heather Hall quickly and she is doing pretty good. Afterwards we visited with Joe Hickman and had a really great lesson with him. We left him with Mosiah 1-4 to read and also Alma 5.
Thursday we started out and did a lot of great planning. As I was updating the progress record Elder Mackay was updating the teaching records and Elder Bawden was updating the referrals. As we worked together we were able to accomplish a lot of things quicker and planning went very well. We were able to set goals that will stretch us and we were able to make all of the phone calls that we needed to make. We visited with the Campbell's afterwards and have now set up a time that we will be visiting with them and we will be following up to confirm that it will still work for them. Brother Campbell isn't a member but we are really focusing on his grandson to try and get him back to church, hoping that it will trigger something within Brother Campbell as well. We visited with the Millers after which went really well and found out that Sister Miller has been feeling a lot better but she is still having her day to day battle with MS. Brother Miller has continued to stay busy with the Core of Engineers and luckily has this next week off. We had dinner with the Parkes which went well and we were able to have some time with Bishop Parkes and we were able to help them with their garden. We then traveled to the Johnny's and helped them fill out some paperwork so they could receive some help with food stamps and things. Brother Johnny has been working hard and has been a little bit down because of the lack of hours at work he has been receiving.
Friday we had a really great Zone Conference. His Spirit was very strong and it allowed me to reflect, ponder, and write down many promptings of which I am striving to apply. It really allowed me to reflect on a lot of important things that I have been striving to do and also re-focused myself on how I could better accomplish those goals and be more effective throughout the whole process. It was sad that this was President and Sister Summerhays last Zone Conference in Mobile before they leave. I know that the of which President Summerhays has received and applied within our mission will carry me forever. I have truly felt the Power of our Mission Culture and I will strive with all my might, mind, and strength to continue the Pattern of Excellence that has been established within my life forever. I love the examples they have been and will always be within my life. After we traveled and visited the Johnny's and helped the children prepare for their assignments for Primary. I was able to help Ailleen with her talk on the Holy Ghost. I really do love the Johnny family, especially the children. We had dinner with the Curtis's that night which was really great and we were able to talk with him about the split we would be going on with him on Saturday. We went to see Sister Jett after and she is in bright spirits even while being in the hospital. She is having to have surgery on Monday and the cancer has really now caused her problems recently. We followed up with having activity night at the church which went really well and we were able to have a lot of different people show up and they have now began to invite their non-member friends to come.
Saturday we started the day with Bishop's Storehouse which went really well. We have been able to recently get done quicker and quicker because of the system that Sister Jett instituted has helped so much. It was unfortunate to not have her there. We came back and got cleaned up and had lunch then traveled down to the flea market for about and hour to visit a less active member. We talked with Sister Bross which went really well and found out her new address and that her daughter who is a member is coming into town this next week. Her daughter is a member and we are hoping to get them to church. We traveled to Semmes for Gus's baptism which went really well. We didn't have anyone show up but it looked like the Semmes elders had a few non-members there. We traveled back and visited with the Baylors which went really well and we had a great talk with her and her husband. He doesn't open up to much but this time we were able to talk with him a lot. We came back and had a quick dinner before Brother Curtis picked us up. We traveled up to visit a media referral that we had who wasn't home and we then visited Sister Bexley who we have never met. She is really great Sister and is going to be moving to Grove Hill soon. She has been attending church up there because her parents live there. We then came back and made some phone calls and updated a few more records.
Sunday we didn't have any investigators to church but we had a few less actives that we had been inviting and our attendance was over 100 people this week which is awesome. We had a great lesson with some of our recent converts and the less active members on Honesty. It went really well and the Spirit was very strong, especially as we were able to hear other bear their testimony. We helped do a few things at the church after which went well and we then traveled to see Sister Jett in the hospital. We found out that she is no longer going to be able to eat anything again. The cancer has gotten so back that she is not able to digest food anymore. She is having surgery so she can have a drainage tube because she is only going to be able to have liquids and it is needed because he won't be able to digest things. The doctors have given her 3 - 4 weeks of life left and it is really sad. She has been a Sister dedicated to service and whenever I see her I feel the Spirit of the Lord. She has been a great example for me and I hope that she will always standout to everyone as she has to me. We then visited with a few less active member and did some tracting. We had dinner with the Martyn's which went really well and we discussed with him some things that we can do to help with some of his home teaching families.
This week has been really amazing with the Lord's hand in it every step of the way I feel. I know that because of the Enabling power of the Atonement and the great leadership that we have, that our desires to serve Him with all of our Might, Mind, and Strength will increase daily.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday we started the day off by visiting a less active members we don't get to visit very often. We visited with the Presley's and stopped to see how there son was doing after being in the hospital. Brother Presley isn't a member and we are trying to establish a more solid relationship with him so he feels more comfortable around us. We visited with the Worthington's and invited them to church. Brother Worthington has been very busy with work and we are hoping that he will get some Sundays off soon. We decided we would try our hand at tracting which went really well and we were able to find Will. He is a really great guy and is open about learning about the gospel. After lunch we headed up into the Eight Mile area and visited with a few less active members. We were able to talk with them and find out where some of their children had moved to so we could get the records up there. We also spent sometime tracting and found a few potential investigators that we are following up with. We stopped and visited with the Colvin's and found out that Sister Colvin's mother hasn't been doing to well and her cancer has spread very quickly. We also talked with Tyler and Chelsa Colvin which was really great and we were able to discuss a lot of great things with them and invite them to church. We had dinner with Kimberly Evan's and her husband which went relay well. He is still not open about the Gospel but at some point he will be.
Tuesday we had a really great p-day and were able to accomplish quite a bit of things. We were able to get through a lot of our shopping and emails quickly which allowed me to be able to spend some more time studying and marking within the Book Of Mormon which is always a great experience. We were also able to stop by the Parkes home and talk with Bishop and the family for a bit which was really great. We had dinner with the Fairchild's which went really well and we invited them all to church. We then went to the church and FHE with Sister Byrd and had a great lesson on family history that she shared with us.
Wednesday we started off the day trying to visit a few of our investigators that haven't been progressing. We weren't able to see them so we went tracting and found Brian. He has a very large background within the scriptures and has a lot of family who is Jehovah Witness. When we came back to our car we found that it has been egged so we quickly went and got the car washed and luckily we got it all of with no damage done to the car. After lunch we traveled into the Prichard area to deliver a few referrals. Neither were interested in hearing more but as we were there we talked with Tasha which went really well and we left her with a Book of Mormon and Alma 32 to read in preparation to teach her the next week. We had a great lesson with Kimberly Evans after and read Alma 5 with her. She shared with us that she hadn't been able to read during the week and we rec omitted her to it. We traveled to Semmes and had a Baptismal Interview with Gus Navarro. He is a really great guy and his testimony was very strong as I was able to talk with him. We had a little Bar-b-cue with the Young Men and Young Women which went really well and we visited with a few less active members of the youth that showed up. We visited with Heather Hall quickly and she is doing pretty good. Afterwards we visited with Joe Hickman and had a really great lesson with him. We left him with Mosiah 1-4 to read and also Alma 5.
Thursday we started out and did a lot of great planning. As I was updating the progress record Elder Mackay was updating the teaching records and Elder Bawden was updating the referrals. As we worked together we were able to accomplish a lot of things quicker and planning went very well. We were able to set goals that will stretch us and we were able to make all of the phone calls that we needed to make. We visited with the Campbell's afterwards and have now set up a time that we will be visiting with them and we will be following up to confirm that it will still work for them. Brother Campbell isn't a member but we are really focusing on his grandson to try and get him back to church, hoping that it will trigger something within Brother Campbell as well. We visited with the Millers after which went really well and found out that Sister Miller has been feeling a lot better but she is still having her day to day battle with MS. Brother Miller has continued to stay busy with the Core of Engineers and luckily has this next week off. We had dinner with the Parkes which went well and we were able to have some time with Bishop Parkes and we were able to help them with their garden. We then traveled to the Johnny's and helped them fill out some paperwork so they could receive some help with food stamps and things. Brother Johnny has been working hard and has been a little bit down because of the lack of hours at work he has been receiving.
Friday we had a really great Zone Conference. His Spirit was very strong and it allowed me to reflect, ponder, and write down many promptings of which I am striving to apply. It really allowed me to reflect on a lot of important things that I have been striving to do and also re-focused myself on how I could better accomplish those goals and be more effective throughout the whole process. It was sad that this was President and Sister Summerhays last Zone Conference in Mobile before they leave. I know that the of which President Summerhays has received and applied within our mission will carry me forever. I have truly felt the Power of our Mission Culture and I will strive with all my might, mind, and strength to continue the Pattern of Excellence that has been established within my life forever. I love the examples they have been and will always be within my life. After we traveled and visited the Johnny's and helped the children prepare for their assignments for Primary. I was able to help Ailleen with her talk on the Holy Ghost. I really do love the Johnny family, especially the children. We had dinner with the Curtis's that night which was really great and we were able to talk with him about the split we would be going on with him on Saturday. We went to see Sister Jett after and she is in bright spirits even while being in the hospital. She is having to have surgery on Monday and the cancer has really now caused her problems recently. We followed up with having activity night at the church which went really well and we were able to have a lot of different people show up and they have now began to invite their non-member friends to come.
Saturday we started the day with Bishop's Storehouse which went really well. We have been able to recently get done quicker and quicker because of the system that Sister Jett instituted has helped so much. It was unfortunate to not have her there. We came back and got cleaned up and had lunch then traveled down to the flea market for about and hour to visit a less active member. We talked with Sister Bross which went really well and found out her new address and that her daughter who is a member is coming into town this next week. Her daughter is a member and we are hoping to get them to church. We traveled to Semmes for Gus's baptism which went really well. We didn't have anyone show up but it looked like the Semmes elders had a few non-members there. We traveled back and visited with the Baylors which went really well and we had a great talk with her and her husband. He doesn't open up to much but this time we were able to talk with him a lot. We came back and had a quick dinner before Brother Curtis picked us up. We traveled up to visit a media referral that we had who wasn't home and we then visited Sister Bexley who we have never met. She is really great Sister and is going to be moving to Grove Hill soon. She has been attending church up there because her parents live there. We then came back and made some phone calls and updated a few more records.
Sunday we didn't have any investigators to church but we had a few less actives that we had been inviting and our attendance was over 100 people this week which is awesome. We had a great lesson with some of our recent converts and the less active members on Honesty. It went really well and the Spirit was very strong, especially as we were able to hear other bear their testimony. We helped do a few things at the church after which went well and we then traveled to see Sister Jett in the hospital. We found out that she is no longer going to be able to eat anything again. The cancer has gotten so back that she is not able to digest food anymore. She is having surgery so she can have a drainage tube because she is only going to be able to have liquids and it is needed because he won't be able to digest things. The doctors have given her 3 - 4 weeks of life left and it is really sad. She has been a Sister dedicated to service and whenever I see her I feel the Spirit of the Lord. She has been a great example for me and I hope that she will always standout to everyone as she has to me. We then visited with a few less active member and did some tracting. We had dinner with the Martyn's which went really well and we discussed with him some things that we can do to help with some of his home teaching families.
This week has been really amazing with the Lord's hand in it every step of the way I feel. I know that because of the Enabling power of the Atonement and the great leadership that we have, that our desires to serve Him with all of our Might, Mind, and Strength will increase daily.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Regan, June 1, 2010
This past week has been a changing and growing experience that has really helped me to understand a lot of different things that will continue to help me become better each week. With each challenge and trial that has been thrown my way His Spirit has helped me through and brought me into a new understanding within his light.
Monday we had a pretty great p-day and it was very interesting when we read that we would be training a new missionary. We immediately began planning for that and getting everything set up so he would have a bed and everything would be prepared for him. We were able to get a lot of things accomplished before dinner with the Hearn's and Mason's. We discussed with them about the service we would be doing for them tomorrow in helping them be ready to move to Indiana on Wednesday.
Tuesday was a really great day that really helped us reflect on those who would be leaving and how they made an impact for the better in our lives. We had a really great district meeting in which we were able to do a lot of different role plays and went over the new Zone Conference packet. We were able to prepare and also able to express our Love to Elder Morrison for his dedicated service and example that he ways for each of us. After we immediately went over to the Hearn's and began doing service for them. We were able to help them get everything packed into the moving truck and thanked them for there friendship and the example they were. After service we received a call from Brother Klug and we ended up giving him a blessing. He found out that he has cancer and wanted to know the direction he needed to pursue. We then tracted for a few hours which went pretty good and we were able to testify and ask for from everyone that we talked with. We had dinner with the Fairchild's which went really well and we then tried to visit a few other less active members.
Wednesday we had Elder Metcalf come with us because of the transfer situation and we started in the morning by going and getting a few box springs bought so we would have enough beds for everybody. We were able to find a great deal and talked wit the owner for a little bit. After lunch we traveled and had a lesson with Kimberly which went really well. We followed up with how here reading was doing and you could tell that it had already been making a world of difference for her. We shared a few scriptures and left her with some chapters to read. We came back and met with Elder Mackay our new companion and it went really well. He was able to spend sometime unpacking and getting settled in. We had dinner with Sister Pacetti which went really well and we were able to share a good thought with her. We then finished off at the church so Elder Mackay could meet some of the ward leaders and members.
Thursday we began with a great planning session and really went over all of the things that were consisted of planning and really focused on him learning how to fill out the records. It went really well and we were able to set some goals that are really going to be able to stretch us. We did some shopping so he would be able to get the food that he needed then we went and started tracting. It went really well and he was able to do some great door step approaches. Even with the first door closed in his face we kept him positive and everything went great. We then went to the Parkes for dinner and did a little bit of service before which went really good and we were able to do a lot of things. We visited with the Johnny's that night and introduced him to them. They are doing really good and they have been holding strong coming to church each and every week.
Friday we had a great day fixed on making it an all day adventure into Saraland which we haven't been able to do recently. As we were there we visited with less active members and did 5V5's near their houses. We were able to talk with a lot of great people. We visited with Brother People and he is headed off to the Academy for some training for his job. It will allow him to be able to support his family better with a better income and more opportunities of work. We stopped by and visited with Brother Bedwell since he had shoulder surgery. He was doing pretty good and he is planning on being at church on Sunday. We visited with the Mcdonald's which went well and hopefully we will be able to see them a little bit more in the future. After her knee operation she has been doing a lot better but hasn't yet fully recovered. We visited Sister Shelton and found out that she was going to be moving so we offered service for when she needed it. We had dinner with the Mathie's which went really well. Brother Mathie is still slowly recovering from his heart attacks but, he is still able to make it to church. We finished the night with activity night which went really well and we had even more people show up than last time. It went really well and everyone had tons of fun.
Saturday was filled with a lot of great service. We had breakfast and service at the Fairchild's which went really well and we were able to do some trade-offs throughout. Elder Mackay and I went and did some service for some other members which went really well. We came back and helped Elder Bawden and Brother Fairchild set up a few things and then went and visited s few other people. We were able to have a pretty good lesson with Joe Hickman which went really well and we left him with Moroni 7 and Mosiah 2 to read. We then had dinner with Brother Serrano and had a great lesson with 2 of his roommates very unexpectedly. We ended up teaching Larry and David and it went really well. This was one of Elder Mackay's first full teaching lessons and he did really good. We were able to bear testimony and ask questions that allowed His spirit to guide the lesson to what they needed and wanted to hear. We left them with a few of the pamphlets to read and look over.
Sunday continued to be really great day and the work went very well. Brother Serrano brought Larry and David to church which ended up being really great. During Gospel Principles class we were able to teach Larry and David about the Plan of Salvation and His spirit really took over. They learned a lot of new things and asked some really great questions. After church we went to try and visit with a few referrals but didn't have any success. We were able to visit with Brother Blackmon and he said that he would be at church next week. We visited with Sister Gover and we are working on setting a date for her to come back to church. We also visited with Sister Wyser which went really well and she has just continued to be really busy. Throughout all of these visits we were able to do some tracting when the lightning wasn't going crazy. We finished the night with dinner at the Martyn's which went really well and we continued after with some of our studies.
This week has showed me a new understanding of the Tender Mercies of The Lord. We didn't know when or where our investigators would show up but as we worked hard and finished out the week strong his Tender Mercies opened the doors so we could find Larry and David. Oh, how I truly do love this work and recognizing and thanking the Lord for his Tender Mercies.
Monday we had a pretty great p-day and it was very interesting when we read that we would be training a new missionary. We immediately began planning for that and getting everything set up so he would have a bed and everything would be prepared for him. We were able to get a lot of things accomplished before dinner with the Hearn's and Mason's. We discussed with them about the service we would be doing for them tomorrow in helping them be ready to move to Indiana on Wednesday.
Tuesday was a really great day that really helped us reflect on those who would be leaving and how they made an impact for the better in our lives. We had a really great district meeting in which we were able to do a lot of different role plays and went over the new Zone Conference packet. We were able to prepare and also able to express our Love to Elder Morrison for his dedicated service and example that he ways for each of us. After we immediately went over to the Hearn's and began doing service for them. We were able to help them get everything packed into the moving truck and thanked them for there friendship and the example they were. After service we received a call from Brother Klug and we ended up giving him a blessing. He found out that he has cancer and wanted to know the direction he needed to pursue. We then tracted for a few hours which went pretty good and we were able to testify and ask for from everyone that we talked with. We had dinner with the Fairchild's which went really well and we then tried to visit a few other less active members.
Wednesday we had Elder Metcalf come with us because of the transfer situation and we started in the morning by going and getting a few box springs bought so we would have enough beds for everybody. We were able to find a great deal and talked wit the owner for a little bit. After lunch we traveled and had a lesson with Kimberly which went really well. We followed up with how here reading was doing and you could tell that it had already been making a world of difference for her. We shared a few scriptures and left her with some chapters to read. We came back and met with Elder Mackay our new companion and it went really well. He was able to spend sometime unpacking and getting settled in. We had dinner with Sister Pacetti which went really well and we were able to share a good thought with her. We then finished off at the church so Elder Mackay could meet some of the ward leaders and members.
Thursday we began with a great planning session and really went over all of the things that were consisted of planning and really focused on him learning how to fill out the records. It went really well and we were able to set some goals that are really going to be able to stretch us. We did some shopping so he would be able to get the food that he needed then we went and started tracting. It went really well and he was able to do some great door step approaches. Even with the first door closed in his face we kept him positive and everything went great. We then went to the Parkes for dinner and did a little bit of service before which went really good and we were able to do a lot of things. We visited with the Johnny's that night and introduced him to them. They are doing really good and they have been holding strong coming to church each and every week.
Friday we had a great day fixed on making it an all day adventure into Saraland which we haven't been able to do recently. As we were there we visited with less active members and did 5V5's near their houses. We were able to talk with a lot of great people. We visited with Brother People and he is headed off to the Academy for some training for his job. It will allow him to be able to support his family better with a better income and more opportunities of work. We stopped by and visited with Brother Bedwell since he had shoulder surgery. He was doing pretty good and he is planning on being at church on Sunday. We visited with the Mcdonald's which went well and hopefully we will be able to see them a little bit more in the future. After her knee operation she has been doing a lot better but hasn't yet fully recovered. We visited Sister Shelton and found out that she was going to be moving so we offered service for when she needed it. We had dinner with the Mathie's which went really well. Brother Mathie is still slowly recovering from his heart attacks but, he is still able to make it to church. We finished the night with activity night which went really well and we had even more people show up than last time. It went really well and everyone had tons of fun.
Saturday was filled with a lot of great service. We had breakfast and service at the Fairchild's which went really well and we were able to do some trade-offs throughout. Elder Mackay and I went and did some service for some other members which went really well. We came back and helped Elder Bawden and Brother Fairchild set up a few things and then went and visited s few other people. We were able to have a pretty good lesson with Joe Hickman which went really well and we left him with Moroni 7 and Mosiah 2 to read. We then had dinner with Brother Serrano and had a great lesson with 2 of his roommates very unexpectedly. We ended up teaching Larry and David and it went really well. This was one of Elder Mackay's first full teaching lessons and he did really good. We were able to bear testimony and ask questions that allowed His spirit to guide the lesson to what they needed and wanted to hear. We left them with a few of the pamphlets to read and look over.
Sunday continued to be really great day and the work went very well. Brother Serrano brought Larry and David to church which ended up being really great. During Gospel Principles class we were able to teach Larry and David about the Plan of Salvation and His spirit really took over. They learned a lot of new things and asked some really great questions. After church we went to try and visit with a few referrals but didn't have any success. We were able to visit with Brother Blackmon and he said that he would be at church next week. We visited with Sister Gover and we are working on setting a date for her to come back to church. We also visited with Sister Wyser which went really well and she has just continued to be really busy. Throughout all of these visits we were able to do some tracting when the lightning wasn't going crazy. We finished the night with dinner at the Martyn's which went really well and we continued after with some of our studies.
This week has showed me a new understanding of the Tender Mercies of The Lord. We didn't know when or where our investigators would show up but as we worked hard and finished out the week strong his Tender Mercies opened the doors so we could find Larry and David. Oh, how I truly do love this work and recognizing and thanking the Lord for his Tender Mercies.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Regan, May 24, 2010
This past week has been filled with change and improvement as we set our goals and began to press forward in putting our trust in the Lord and striving to fulfill the challenges and designs of which he prepared for us to face this past week.
Monday we began the morning having a really great lesson with Melissa. We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation which went really well. We shared a lot of great scriptures and as she shared her thoughts and feelings many new doors opened up for us to pursue. We left her with Alma 32 and 3 Nephi 11 to read. We continued the day with emails and spent sometime with the Semmes Elders before dinner. We had a great dinner with the Hearns and prepared with them for next week when we would do service and help them load and pack up for there move to Indiana.
Tuesday we had a really great District Meeting and His Spirit was able to teach us many new things. Elder Bawden directed us into some role plays which really prepared us all for future things that would come our way. I really love role plays because it really can help us better discern the reactions people may have. After lunch we traveled and had a really great lesson with Joe and followed up with his reading in Ether 12. He was able to read and apply different things within to his life that should give him a greater and improved strength. We then visited with Brother Serrano and gave him a blessing and asked him about how work was going for him. We then continued with tracting throughout the day and making visits to members which went really well. We were able to share our testimonies and be strengthened by so many people faith. We had dinner with the Fairchild's which went really well and we gave them the commitment to be at church on Sunday.
Wednesday we started the day by visiting a few referrals within the Prichard area and had some great success. We were able to talk with a couple and set up some appointments which should help us to continue to stay busy. We tracted a few streets while we were there and talked with a few people that commended us for our dedication to serve the Lord. We had great lesson with Sister Kimberly Evans and re-focused with her on continuing to read everyday. We left her with a few chapters to read and will be following up with her. We had a great visit with the Juarez family after and were able to invite them to a few activities of which the youth are having. We then made a few phone calls to media referrals and set up an appointment with Julies who we will be seeing on Tuesday. After doing some tracting we went to the family history potluck that the youth did and they had a lot of success.
Thursday we started the day by doing some service by helping some members with their food storage and preparation for that which went really well and we were able to accomplish a lot of different things. We came back and did our planning really well and continued to prepare us to finish out the week strong and help everyone that we can. We then started our trade-off and Elder Tolley and I stayed in Mobile. We went and visited with the Johnny's and they were doing really well. We went tracted for a bit before we had dinner with Sister Pacetti which was great. We received a phone call and on short notice we were able to change our plans and do service for Sister Olsen which went really well.
Friday we began the day by trying to visit a few people that bishop has asked us to see and went and tracted. We were able to find Laura and had a really good brief Restoration lesson with her. We set up an appointment with her which we handed off to the Theodore Elders. We visited with the Campbell's and had lunch with them which went well. We discussed teaching the lessons to them each week and they are fine with it and now we are waiting to see when the rest of the family will be able to come over. We are going to be following up with them in a couple of days to see what will work best. We then tracted for a few hours which went really well and we were and to find Mary Kelly. We had a great visit with her and we found out that in the past her family was LDS. We are excited to visit with her this coming Wednesday. We then ended our trade-off which I felt went really well and had dinner before activity night. We had a lot of people show up which was great and now we can see that as we invite and are patient people will come.
Saturday we started off at the Bishop's Storehouse which went really well and we stayed really busy getting orders organized and even having to deliver a couple of them. The Morris's took us to the church and we put Brother Larubi's order there and then went and deliver Brother Serrano's to him because with the new job he wasn't able to make it. We went to the Fairchild's to pick up a few things and then took them up to Sister Parkes since they were on our way to some areas we were going to. We were able to do some tracting which went really well and we talked to some great people. I was able to call Brother Blackmon as I told him I would and he said that he would be at church on Sunday. We had dinner with the Fairchild's which went well and we helped Brother Fairchild do a few things.
Sunday was really great and we had some experiences that strengthened my testimony. We had a really great time at church because even though we didn't have any investigators we had the Fairchild's, Brother Blackmon, and a few less active members we had been visiting. After church we decided to not go and have lunch. Even though we were hungry we decided not to. We were traveling to visit with a few members and the thought came to go and try and visit Sam Smith again. We showed up at his door and he told us that we couldn't of come at a better time. He has been dealing with a lot of different things and asked us if we could give him a blessing. We found out after that 10 minutes before he had been praying and seeking for help to bring him some peace. We came to find out that we were the answers to his prayer and together we had one of the sweetest experiences. I know now that it truly is the sweetest experience to follow and act upon promptings in which we receive. We then visited with the Farrel family which went pretty good and we are hoping to get them back to church soon. We did a little bit of tracting in between and visited with a few other members before we had dinner with the Martyn family. It was really great spending sometime with them and discussing over the lessons we learned at church.
This week has been a confidence booster for me and being able to receive the knowledge for myself the understanding of how true it is of the Joy that comes through following a the promptings of His Spirit.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday we began the morning having a really great lesson with Melissa. We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation which went really well. We shared a lot of great scriptures and as she shared her thoughts and feelings many new doors opened up for us to pursue. We left her with Alma 32 and 3 Nephi 11 to read. We continued the day with emails and spent sometime with the Semmes Elders before dinner. We had a great dinner with the Hearns and prepared with them for next week when we would do service and help them load and pack up for there move to Indiana.
Tuesday we had a really great District Meeting and His Spirit was able to teach us many new things. Elder Bawden directed us into some role plays which really prepared us all for future things that would come our way. I really love role plays because it really can help us better discern the reactions people may have. After lunch we traveled and had a really great lesson with Joe and followed up with his reading in Ether 12. He was able to read and apply different things within to his life that should give him a greater and improved strength. We then visited with Brother Serrano and gave him a blessing and asked him about how work was going for him. We then continued with tracting throughout the day and making visits to members which went really well. We were able to share our testimonies and be strengthened by so many people faith. We had dinner with the Fairchild's which went really well and we gave them the commitment to be at church on Sunday.
Wednesday we started the day by visiting a few referrals within the Prichard area and had some great success. We were able to talk with a couple and set up some appointments which should help us to continue to stay busy. We tracted a few streets while we were there and talked with a few people that commended us for our dedication to serve the Lord. We had great lesson with Sister Kimberly Evans and re-focused with her on continuing to read everyday. We left her with a few chapters to read and will be following up with her. We had a great visit with the Juarez family after and were able to invite them to a few activities of which the youth are having. We then made a few phone calls to media referrals and set up an appointment with Julies who we will be seeing on Tuesday. After doing some tracting we went to the family history potluck that the youth did and they had a lot of success.
Thursday we started the day by doing some service by helping some members with their food storage and preparation for that which went really well and we were able to accomplish a lot of different things. We came back and did our planning really well and continued to prepare us to finish out the week strong and help everyone that we can. We then started our trade-off and Elder Tolley and I stayed in Mobile. We went and visited with the Johnny's and they were doing really well. We went tracted for a bit before we had dinner with Sister Pacetti which was great. We received a phone call and on short notice we were able to change our plans and do service for Sister Olsen which went really well.
Friday we began the day by trying to visit a few people that bishop has asked us to see and went and tracted. We were able to find Laura and had a really good brief Restoration lesson with her. We set up an appointment with her which we handed off to the Theodore Elders. We visited with the Campbell's and had lunch with them which went well. We discussed teaching the lessons to them each week and they are fine with it and now we are waiting to see when the rest of the family will be able to come over. We are going to be following up with them in a couple of days to see what will work best. We then tracted for a few hours which went really well and we were and to find Mary Kelly. We had a great visit with her and we found out that in the past her family was LDS. We are excited to visit with her this coming Wednesday. We then ended our trade-off which I felt went really well and had dinner before activity night. We had a lot of people show up which was great and now we can see that as we invite and are patient people will come.
Saturday we started off at the Bishop's Storehouse which went really well and we stayed really busy getting orders organized and even having to deliver a couple of them. The Morris's took us to the church and we put Brother Larubi's order there and then went and deliver Brother Serrano's to him because with the new job he wasn't able to make it. We went to the Fairchild's to pick up a few things and then took them up to Sister Parkes since they were on our way to some areas we were going to. We were able to do some tracting which went really well and we talked to some great people. I was able to call Brother Blackmon as I told him I would and he said that he would be at church on Sunday. We had dinner with the Fairchild's which went well and we helped Brother Fairchild do a few things.
Sunday was really great and we had some experiences that strengthened my testimony. We had a really great time at church because even though we didn't have any investigators we had the Fairchild's, Brother Blackmon, and a few less active members we had been visiting. After church we decided to not go and have lunch. Even though we were hungry we decided not to. We were traveling to visit with a few members and the thought came to go and try and visit Sam Smith again. We showed up at his door and he told us that we couldn't of come at a better time. He has been dealing with a lot of different things and asked us if we could give him a blessing. We found out after that 10 minutes before he had been praying and seeking for help to bring him some peace. We came to find out that we were the answers to his prayer and together we had one of the sweetest experiences. I know now that it truly is the sweetest experience to follow and act upon promptings in which we receive. We then visited with the Farrel family which went pretty good and we are hoping to get them back to church soon. We did a little bit of tracting in between and visited with a few other members before we had dinner with the Martyn family. It was really great spending sometime with them and discussing over the lessons we learned at church.
This week has been a confidence booster for me and being able to receive the knowledge for myself the understanding of how true it is of the Joy that comes through following a the promptings of His Spirit.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday, May 17, 2010
Regan, May 17, 2010
It Looks like Elder Hansen Has received his Release Date on July 14, 2010. Time has sure flown by, It's a short 2 years. He thinks he will finish his mission in the Mobil Alabama area.
Paul Hansen
Well this past week has been really good and we are still continuing to strive and always to become better at the patterns of success we are establishing within the success of the Lord. I have truly felt his strength as we have been able to try and be consistent and diligent within our efforts in daily service to Him.
Monday we had a really great preparation day. Elder Bawden had a doctors appointment first thing that went really well and he is only having to go back in a couple of weeks and we will see from there. We then went and got the oil changed and did all of that fun stuff to get the car ready and looking good. We went and visited with Brother Serrano and he has now officially been hired on for the job and is very excited about it. His dedication of sticking with everything and enduring through the trials he has faced; has built my testimony up in strength being able to see is example. We stopped by and helped Sister Parkes with a few things and then traveled and had dinner with the Hearns which went really well.
Tuesday we started off with District meeting which went really well and His spirit was able to direct us and be able to feel his love. We were able to go over quotes from conference and Captain Moroni's message. We went over some role plays and watched a few video clips that brought out some new understanding within the quotes that had touched us. After lunch we had a great lesson with Joe Hickman and he is doing well. We followed up with him and he was able to read over 3 Nephi 11 and he prayed about it. We didn't commit him to pray but were excited when he shared with us that he felt it was true. We then left him with Alma 40 to read over. We also visited with Joyce and set up an appointment with her for Saturday. We continued throughout doing a lot of tracting which was really great. We were able to testify and ask for referrals from many different people and found a few potentials and Irena who we will be seeing this coming Tuesday. We had dinner with the Fairchilds which went really well and Brother Fairchild has now committed to come back to church which is great. We had FHE with Sister Byrd which went well and we learned different things that happened in the church before the Book of Mormon was published.
Wednesday we went to see a investigator we had but he wasn't home and we decided that we should drop him because he hadn't been following through with his appointments. We then went and continued to tract near there and had the opportunity of finding Melissa and having a Restoration lesson on her doorstep. She had a lot of the same questions that Joseph Smith had and His spirit was teaching and confirming truth to her. We had a great visit with Kimberly Evan's after and talked a lot about her continuing to read an pray everyday. She has been very inconsistent with it and we could tell and this should now help her have that consistency once again. We then came down and tracted before we did some service for a member. We helped Sister Huff get some things moved with some other members which went really well and I was happy that we were able to help her. We had dinner with the Martyn's which went really well.
Thursday we began with some really great planning which allowed us to be able to set up a few appointments that same day for us which we were excited about. We set some really good goals and we are seeking to find new investigators and keep our teaching pool up so we can teach more and more people. We then went with Brother Morris and traveled up and saw a few media referrals which we had. We had a great lesson with Jessica Quinn and hopefully we will be able to stay in contact with her. We also say Sister Rush which was great and met her husband for the first time who isn't a member. We had a great visit and she is working on getting off work on Sundays so she can make it to church. We visited the Robinson's after and set up a time that we can come and see their daughter. She has been less active for a little bit and wants to get back into the routine of things. We finished the night with some tracting and had dinner with the Odom's which went really well.
Friday we started off the day with Elder Bawden going to the doctor to get some antibiotics and he is doing a lot better now. We then went to see Melissa but she was busy so we set another appointment with her. We then tracted and talked with a few people that really didn't like us but we just shared our testimonies and thanked them for their time. After lunch we visited with Joe Hickman and had another great lesson with him. He had read Alma 40 and really enjoyed it and is now wondering why the bible doesn't teach about the spirit world. We shared with him how having two testimonies bring us more confirming truth and he loved it. We left him with Ether 12 to read because he has been going through some things and it stuck out to us both to leave it with him. We went and tracted for a little bit and visited with Sister Thompson before dinner. Sister Thompson is doing pretty good and her husband's back has been doing better. We had a great dinner with the Parkes and then went to activity night and how some new people show up which was exciting.
Saturday we started off by visiting with Joyce and had a great Restoration lesson with her. She was really excited to have a Book of Mormon and we left her with Alma 32 to read and pray about. We're hoping she will be able to make it to church with us on Sunday. We went to the Fairchild's right after and did some service for them which was really great. We then hurried of after lunch to visit a few focus families. We talked with Brother Blackmon and invited him out to church. We are also now going to call him every Sunday and invite him to church and we are hoping that this simple invitation each week will bring him back to church. We visited with the Wyser's which went pretty good. We found out the Sister Wyser had hurt her leg and her daughter Hilary found out that her car started on fire when she was in school and it had to be totalled. They are still working really hard an are hoping that everything is going to get better, which it will. We then continued to tract in and out between those visits and were able to talk with quite a few different people.
Sunday we had a really great PEC meeting and really helped the bishop see who we were working with and how they were progressing which he is always happy to hear. We didn't have any investigators at church but were able to talk with all of them and invite them to church next week. The Johnny's were able to make it and we had a great lesson with Brother Johnny in Gospel Principles. Sacrament meeting was very uplifting and the messages shared brought to me new insight. After Potluck we went and visited with Brother Serrano and gave him a blessing. He wanted some direction on what he must do as he is now working 12 hours a day and really doesn't want to lose touch with the spirit. He has been very nervous because he doesn't want to fall away again because he has truly felt the happiness of the Gospel. We then went and did some tracting before we had dinner with the Fairchild's which we helped prepare with them. We then had some cupcakes at the Parkes house as we celebrated Elder Bawden's birthday with them.
This week has opened my eyes to different understanding and had enabled me to want to work even harder because of the Joy we have been receiving even when all we are doing is tracting. It is amazing what a testimony can do when it is sincere and heartfelt.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Paul Hansen
Well this past week has been really good and we are still continuing to strive and always to become better at the patterns of success we are establishing within the success of the Lord. I have truly felt his strength as we have been able to try and be consistent and diligent within our efforts in daily service to Him.
Monday we had a really great preparation day. Elder Bawden had a doctors appointment first thing that went really well and he is only having to go back in a couple of weeks and we will see from there. We then went and got the oil changed and did all of that fun stuff to get the car ready and looking good. We went and visited with Brother Serrano and he has now officially been hired on for the job and is very excited about it. His dedication of sticking with everything and enduring through the trials he has faced; has built my testimony up in strength being able to see is example. We stopped by and helped Sister Parkes with a few things and then traveled and had dinner with the Hearns which went really well.
Tuesday we started off with District meeting which went really well and His spirit was able to direct us and be able to feel his love. We were able to go over quotes from conference and Captain Moroni's message. We went over some role plays and watched a few video clips that brought out some new understanding within the quotes that had touched us. After lunch we had a great lesson with Joe Hickman and he is doing well. We followed up with him and he was able to read over 3 Nephi 11 and he prayed about it. We didn't commit him to pray but were excited when he shared with us that he felt it was true. We then left him with Alma 40 to read over. We also visited with Joyce and set up an appointment with her for Saturday. We continued throughout doing a lot of tracting which was really great. We were able to testify and ask for referrals from many different people and found a few potentials and Irena who we will be seeing this coming Tuesday. We had dinner with the Fairchilds which went really well and Brother Fairchild has now committed to come back to church which is great. We had FHE with Sister Byrd which went well and we learned different things that happened in the church before the Book of Mormon was published.
Wednesday we went to see a investigator we had but he wasn't home and we decided that we should drop him because he hadn't been following through with his appointments. We then went and continued to tract near there and had the opportunity of finding Melissa and having a Restoration lesson on her doorstep. She had a lot of the same questions that Joseph Smith had and His spirit was teaching and confirming truth to her. We had a great visit with Kimberly Evan's after and talked a lot about her continuing to read an pray everyday. She has been very inconsistent with it and we could tell and this should now help her have that consistency once again. We then came down and tracted before we did some service for a member. We helped Sister Huff get some things moved with some other members which went really well and I was happy that we were able to help her. We had dinner with the Martyn's which went really well.
Thursday we began with some really great planning which allowed us to be able to set up a few appointments that same day for us which we were excited about. We set some really good goals and we are seeking to find new investigators and keep our teaching pool up so we can teach more and more people. We then went with Brother Morris and traveled up and saw a few media referrals which we had. We had a great lesson with Jessica Quinn and hopefully we will be able to stay in contact with her. We also say Sister Rush which was great and met her husband for the first time who isn't a member. We had a great visit and she is working on getting off work on Sundays so she can make it to church. We visited the Robinson's after and set up a time that we can come and see their daughter. She has been less active for a little bit and wants to get back into the routine of things. We finished the night with some tracting and had dinner with the Odom's which went really well.
Friday we started off the day with Elder Bawden going to the doctor to get some antibiotics and he is doing a lot better now. We then went to see Melissa but she was busy so we set another appointment with her. We then tracted and talked with a few people that really didn't like us but we just shared our testimonies and thanked them for their time. After lunch we visited with Joe Hickman and had another great lesson with him. He had read Alma 40 and really enjoyed it and is now wondering why the bible doesn't teach about the spirit world. We shared with him how having two testimonies bring us more confirming truth and he loved it. We left him with Ether 12 to read because he has been going through some things and it stuck out to us both to leave it with him. We went and tracted for a little bit and visited with Sister Thompson before dinner. Sister Thompson is doing pretty good and her husband's back has been doing better. We had a great dinner with the Parkes and then went to activity night and how some new people show up which was exciting.
Saturday we started off by visiting with Joyce and had a great Restoration lesson with her. She was really excited to have a Book of Mormon and we left her with Alma 32 to read and pray about. We're hoping she will be able to make it to church with us on Sunday. We went to the Fairchild's right after and did some service for them which was really great. We then hurried of after lunch to visit a few focus families. We talked with Brother Blackmon and invited him out to church. We are also now going to call him every Sunday and invite him to church and we are hoping that this simple invitation each week will bring him back to church. We visited with the Wyser's which went pretty good. We found out the Sister Wyser had hurt her leg and her daughter Hilary found out that her car started on fire when she was in school and it had to be totalled. They are still working really hard an are hoping that everything is going to get better, which it will. We then continued to tract in and out between those visits and were able to talk with quite a few different people.
Sunday we had a really great PEC meeting and really helped the bishop see who we were working with and how they were progressing which he is always happy to hear. We didn't have any investigators at church but were able to talk with all of them and invite them to church next week. The Johnny's were able to make it and we had a great lesson with Brother Johnny in Gospel Principles. Sacrament meeting was very uplifting and the messages shared brought to me new insight. After Potluck we went and visited with Brother Serrano and gave him a blessing. He wanted some direction on what he must do as he is now working 12 hours a day and really doesn't want to lose touch with the spirit. He has been very nervous because he doesn't want to fall away again because he has truly felt the happiness of the Gospel. We then went and did some tracting before we had dinner with the Fairchild's which we helped prepare with them. We then had some cupcakes at the Parkes house as we celebrated Elder Bawden's birthday with them.
This week has opened my eyes to different understanding and had enabled me to want to work even harder because of the Joy we have been receiving even when all we are doing is tracting. It is amazing what a testimony can do when it is sincere and heartfelt.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday, May 10, 2010
Regan, May 10, 2010
This week has been really great and we have finally been able to go out full force and do the work that the Lord has set for us. Elder Bawden's recovery has gone well and our strength in the Lord has given us more opportunity to succeed in working hard and being diligent in His cause.
Monday first thing Elder Bawden had a doctors appointment that went really well and the doctor expressed that his swelling has gone down and he is healing really well. We then went and did some shopping with some members and helped them carry there food out to their vehicle which was fun. We talked with a few Sister's that came out from Utah to ask about the Marquee sign and we spent some time expressing how it has helped and built upon the work of the Lord here. We had dinner with the Hearn's which was really great and we were able to meet Melissa's dad who is from Brazil. He shared with us many stories from his mission and expressed for us to continue to work hard day in a day out and I am taking that to heart. I am going to press forward working up until the day that my work is finished in this life.
Tuesday we had a really great Zone Conference and the spirit was very strong. I was very happy for the silent rebukes that I received that humbled me and allowed me to greater see where and how I needed to improve. Oh, how grateful I am that the Lord loves me enough to rebuke me to change. I have learned so many great things from this past general conference and am grateful for the quotes that we were able to study over. After zone conference Elder Bawden went back to the doctor to get some different medications and as he was there they did some other stuff to his nose and said that even just from yesterday it was dong even better which was great to hear. We had dinner with the Fairchild's that night which was great and we got some one on one time with Brother Fairchild and found out some of the reasons that have been keeping him from church and we will be setting goals with him later this week on how to overcome those obsticales. We then went and visited with a few less active members and shared some spiritual thought with them.
Wednesday we had the a great time starting out after studies tracting. It was great to be out again working hard full-time and not having to worry about anything but doing the Lord's work. We visited with the Campbell's and had lunch with them which was great. We are going to re-teach them the lessons and include some of their family who are less active and non-members and we are excited about it. We had a great lesson with Sister Kimberly Evans on shared a lot of testimonies from past Prophets with her. She had some non-member friends over and we were able to answer some of the questions they had and hopefully will be able to work with them. We came back and did service for a member and helped her move a treadmill into a car. We visited with the Johnny's which went really well and we gave them some bibles that they had ordered and shared a message with them. We got invited over to dinner with a less active family which went well. We then went to the Mason's and talked with them and hopefully when Brother Mason gets back this week we can set some goals with them.
Thursday we had great beginning of the day and were able to set up some really great plans for next week and were able to make some calls which was also great. After lunch we visited with Sister Byrd which was great. We are working with her on coming to all the church meetings and she is planning on coming to family home evening on Tuesdays again which is great. We visited with Joe Hickman on of our investigators and had a great lesson. We followed up and found that he had read Alma 32 and really enjoyed it and commented that it made total sense. We shared about Faith and Prayer with him and left him 3 Nephi 11 with him. We then went and tracted for a bit before we had dinner with the Parkes. We had a great dinner with them and were also able to do some service with Bishop Parkes which went well. We then got a call and went and did some service for the Fairchild's because their air conditioner went out and their neighbors gave them an old one that we helped them install.
Friday we started of the day by visiting with a the Henderson's who are a part-member family. We were able to share a little thought and set up a return appointment with them. We then went and tracted a bit before lunch which went really well. After lunch we continued to tract for a few hours which went really well and we set up an appointment with Joyce which was great. We had dinner with the Curtis's which went well and we were able to do some service for them. We then visited with Sister Hoy's daughter who isn't a member but she wasn't too interested. We then went to the Klug's which went well.
Saturday we started by serving at the Bishop's storehouse which went really well and took a little bit longer than it normally does. I really love serving at the Bishop's Storehouse and serving with great members. After lunch we started visiting less active members and tracting around there home which went really well. We visited with the Johnny, Harris, Thompson, and Binkerd families. We were able to get into the door with some of them and share some thoughts of upliftment to them. We were able to tract which was great and talked and testified to a lot of great people but didn't get any referrals this time.
Sunday was really a great mothers day and everything went really well. We started the day off with a great PEC meeting and really focused on many great things. We had Mathew at church which was really great and as a non-member he gave a talk in primary. We are still teaching him and working on getting more consistent appointments with them. I was able to give a talk which went really well and throughout church you could feel how much Love Heavenly Father has for all of the Mother's. We were able to visit with a few less active members and were able to also call our families which was great. This week had been really great and I am excited to continue to work hard here in Mobile. The ward has continued to bring us much strength and friendship that will continue to carry into our investigators hearts.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday first thing Elder Bawden had a doctors appointment that went really well and the doctor expressed that his swelling has gone down and he is healing really well. We then went and did some shopping with some members and helped them carry there food out to their vehicle which was fun. We talked with a few Sister's that came out from Utah to ask about the Marquee sign and we spent some time expressing how it has helped and built upon the work of the Lord here. We had dinner with the Hearn's which was really great and we were able to meet Melissa's dad who is from Brazil. He shared with us many stories from his mission and expressed for us to continue to work hard day in a day out and I am taking that to heart. I am going to press forward working up until the day that my work is finished in this life.
Tuesday we had a really great Zone Conference and the spirit was very strong. I was very happy for the silent rebukes that I received that humbled me and allowed me to greater see where and how I needed to improve. Oh, how grateful I am that the Lord loves me enough to rebuke me to change. I have learned so many great things from this past general conference and am grateful for the quotes that we were able to study over. After zone conference Elder Bawden went back to the doctor to get some different medications and as he was there they did some other stuff to his nose and said that even just from yesterday it was dong even better which was great to hear. We had dinner with the Fairchild's that night which was great and we got some one on one time with Brother Fairchild and found out some of the reasons that have been keeping him from church and we will be setting goals with him later this week on how to overcome those obsticales. We then went and visited with a few less active members and shared some spiritual thought with them.
Wednesday we had the a great time starting out after studies tracting. It was great to be out again working hard full-time and not having to worry about anything but doing the Lord's work. We visited with the Campbell's and had lunch with them which was great. We are going to re-teach them the lessons and include some of their family who are less active and non-members and we are excited about it. We had a great lesson with Sister Kimberly Evans on shared a lot of testimonies from past Prophets with her. She had some non-member friends over and we were able to answer some of the questions they had and hopefully will be able to work with them. We came back and did service for a member and helped her move a treadmill into a car. We visited with the Johnny's which went really well and we gave them some bibles that they had ordered and shared a message with them. We got invited over to dinner with a less active family which went well. We then went to the Mason's and talked with them and hopefully when Brother Mason gets back this week we can set some goals with them.
Thursday we had great beginning of the day and were able to set up some really great plans for next week and were able to make some calls which was also great. After lunch we visited with Sister Byrd which was great. We are working with her on coming to all the church meetings and she is planning on coming to family home evening on Tuesdays again which is great. We visited with Joe Hickman on of our investigators and had a great lesson. We followed up and found that he had read Alma 32 and really enjoyed it and commented that it made total sense. We shared about Faith and Prayer with him and left him 3 Nephi 11 with him. We then went and tracted for a bit before we had dinner with the Parkes. We had a great dinner with them and were also able to do some service with Bishop Parkes which went well. We then got a call and went and did some service for the Fairchild's because their air conditioner went out and their neighbors gave them an old one that we helped them install.
Friday we started of the day by visiting with a the Henderson's who are a part-member family. We were able to share a little thought and set up a return appointment with them. We then went and tracted a bit before lunch which went really well. After lunch we continued to tract for a few hours which went really well and we set up an appointment with Joyce which was great. We had dinner with the Curtis's which went well and we were able to do some service for them. We then visited with Sister Hoy's daughter who isn't a member but she wasn't too interested. We then went to the Klug's which went well.
Saturday we started by serving at the Bishop's storehouse which went really well and took a little bit longer than it normally does. I really love serving at the Bishop's Storehouse and serving with great members. After lunch we started visiting less active members and tracting around there home which went really well. We visited with the Johnny, Harris, Thompson, and Binkerd families. We were able to get into the door with some of them and share some thoughts of upliftment to them. We were able to tract which was great and talked and testified to a lot of great people but didn't get any referrals this time.
Sunday was really a great mothers day and everything went really well. We started the day off with a great PEC meeting and really focused on many great things. We had Mathew at church which was really great and as a non-member he gave a talk in primary. We are still teaching him and working on getting more consistent appointments with them. I was able to give a talk which went really well and throughout church you could feel how much Love Heavenly Father has for all of the Mother's. We were able to visit with a few less active members and were able to also call our families which was great. This week had been really great and I am excited to continue to work hard here in Mobile. The ward has continued to bring us much strength and friendship that will continue to carry into our investigators hearts.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday, May 3, 2010
Regan May 3, 2010
Well this passed week I will sum up in a few paragraphs because with Elder Bawden's surgery and recovery time we did a lot of our work from in the apartment or at members homes that we were able to visit. This past week everything went really well with Elder Bawden's surgery and Sister Parke's and Sister Odom were there to support him. Throughout his recovery I was able to do a lot of righting in my journal about different things that had been on my mind that I had been thinking and pondering over. I was also able to have some really great studies for Zone Conference and also marking promises within the Book of Mormon. We were able to call and stay in contact with a lot of our investigators and by the end of the week we were able to make a few visits with some members and investigators. I was able to do service at the Parke's home while Elder Bawden was inside. I was able to finally fix their water leak and has now brought much relief to their family. We were also able to do service as a ward for Sister Olsen while she was in Utah for Brother Olsen's burial. It was as her yard was completely changed and it didn't look the same. We were able to weed, rake, and fix parts of the fence. We ended up filling a 14 foot trailer up twice and emptying it. Throughout the week we were able to set up appointments for Saturday and Sunday. We had a great lesson with Laura Teague and shared with her some miracles within the Book of Mormon which allowed His spirit to teach her gospel truths. Even though this week wasn't filled with traveling His spirit was still able to attend and teach us many new and great things. With the extra studies I was really able to take a step back and really ponder and explore many great options that I know the Lord is willing to bless me with the opportunity to be challenged and succeed.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday, April 26, 2010
Regan, April 26, 2010
This past week has been really great and we were able to witness of the truths of the Plan of Salvation. With Brother Olsen's passing it brought sadness, but it also brought hope to many of those people who were needing the understanding of gospel truths and reassurance.
Monday we started off the morning by doing some service for Brother Curtis. His son was picking up a few things and taking them back to Louisiana, so we helped them pack all of it up. We then continued our day with cleaning the apartment and making sure that we had everything planned out and ready for Elder Bawden's surgery next week. We had a great dinner with the Hearn's and Mason and set up a time to do some service for the Mason's. We finished the night by visiting with the Byrd family. Sister Byrd has been feeling really ill lately and we were able to help her out a bit. We are working on finding her a ride to church because her husband works so much that he rarely gets a day off.
Tuesday we had a really great district meeting. As a group we were able to keep our thoughts and actions focused on the true meaning of the Atonement and strive to become a better group of missionaries. We were able to have some great role plays and focus a bit on our goals and what we are doing to work effectively throughout the week. After lunch we continued the day with tracting which went really well. We were able to talk with quite a few people that were willing to give us some referrals. We also talked with Frank Watts and set up an appointment with him. We visited with a few less active families in between and invited them back to church. We had dinner with the Fairchild's that evening which went really well. We're keeping our focus on Brother Fairchild so we can be guided on how to encourage him to act and come back to church. We finished the night with Family Home Evening with the Parkes family which went really well. We showed there family how to mark the promises in the Book of Mormon and committed them to continue every day.
Wednesday we went early to the Doctor so Elder Bawden could have his pre-operation appointment. All went well and everything is still continuing to go as planned. We came back and had studies which went really well and we learned a lot of great things but more importantly we have continued to learn how to be continually consistent. We went and visited with Sister Evans and had a really great lesson with her. We have been working on helping her to be consistent in involving her husband in more gospel discussion when he is at home. We then visited with Sister Colvin which was really great. She has been dealing with a lot of different things lately because of her mother have kidney cancer and multiple tumors but she is doing as good as projected. We're hoping that we can get everyone in the ward involved in helping her out during these trying times. We finished the night by going to the young men and young women's combined activity which went well. We invited a few less active youth earlier throughout the week and a few of them were able to make it which was awesome.
Thursday we started off the morning by cleaning up the church before Brother Olsen's wake and funeral. Sister Singleton has had a lot of different things that she has been having to do, so we figured we could help lesson the burden which has been upon her. It was really great being able to do all of that for her and for the Olsen family. We then did a lot of planning and really focused on what we were going to do this next week because it is the week of Elder Bawden's surgery. We were able to set up with individuals that we are focusing on having daily contact with but also those we are hoping to set up appointments for later on in the week. We went and visited with Brother Felton after and he is doing really great. He has done some Chemo treatments but it is just a precaution even though he is cancer free which is awesome. He shared with us that he has been able to watch part of conference from the sessions that he recorded. We finished of the night with Brother Olsen's wake and funeral. The spirit was very strong and you could really feel the love that was there. Brother Olsen has really been a great example to me and really everyone that he has ever associated with. As it says in Elder Cook's talk at General conference "The symbol of Christ for the Latter-day Saints will be found in the meaningful expression of our faith and the way we live His gospel." This is what I know by heart what Brother Olsen did each and everyday of his life.
Friday we had the opportunity first thing to do service for Brother Mason. We were able to remove a lot of things from their yard including plants, cement, and other odds and ends that needed to be removed. It was really awesome being able to do that but not only the service but being able to spend time one on one with Brother Mason and talk with him about what pushed him away from church. This time has really allowed us to figure out how we can help him recognize for himself to come back. After lunch we had a great visit with Joe Hickman and we shared some scriptures that really helped him out. We are now going to stay in daily contact with him and give him something new to read everyday and he committed to it. We went and visited with Brother Baylor who isn't a member. He shared with us about Brother Olsen's service and how he thought it was really nice. He invited us to come back sometime for dinner with the family which is great because only 2 out the six family members are members of the church. We finished off the night after tracting by having activity night at the church. We had a decent turn out and are really hoping to invite more people and get the members more involved by inviting their friends.
Saturday we started off the morning by doing the Bishop's Storehouse. It went really well and on the way back home we dropped off some food for some members whose car broke down on the way to the chapel. After getting cleaned up and having lunch we went and visited with Sister Gover which went really well. We were able to get a new number from her and also we are working on pin pointing a date for her to come to church and she is really excited about that. We then visited with Sister Byrd and found out that she has to work on Sunday but she is hoping that soon she will get her work schedule figured out so she won't have to in the future. That night we had dinner at the Mason's home with the Hearn's which was great. We were able to here a lot of different stories of both Brother Mason and Brother Hearn's missions.
Sunday we started off the day by going over to the Fairchild's and helped administer a blessing to their son Tyler. We then went to PEC which went really well and we are now working on refocusing on 20 members to work with. We had the Johnny family at church which has been really great and we also had Mathew along with his family. It has been great seeing the Kelly family come back to church and being able to teach Mathew. After church we visited with the Johnny's and helped them fill out some paper work for their application to move to a new apartment. We were able to talk with the kids for a bit and offer service. We were also able to visit with the Millers, Jeffrey Booth, Sister Hall, and Sister Binkerd. It was amazing to see that even when things looked dim that we continued to press forward and we were able to visit with quite a few members and have some great spiritual thoughts with them. We also visited Laura Teague and will be teaching her this coming week.
This week has brought me more growth within my own testimony especially even as I had said last week, that as we press forward and work throughout the week consistently we will continue throughout the week strong. I feel that we started off this week with a bang which propelled us into finishing our week with a bang. Oh, how I love this work and the consistency that it brings into my life.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday we started off the morning by doing some service for Brother Curtis. His son was picking up a few things and taking them back to Louisiana, so we helped them pack all of it up. We then continued our day with cleaning the apartment and making sure that we had everything planned out and ready for Elder Bawden's surgery next week. We had a great dinner with the Hearn's and Mason and set up a time to do some service for the Mason's. We finished the night by visiting with the Byrd family. Sister Byrd has been feeling really ill lately and we were able to help her out a bit. We are working on finding her a ride to church because her husband works so much that he rarely gets a day off.
Tuesday we had a really great district meeting. As a group we were able to keep our thoughts and actions focused on the true meaning of the Atonement and strive to become a better group of missionaries. We were able to have some great role plays and focus a bit on our goals and what we are doing to work effectively throughout the week. After lunch we continued the day with tracting which went really well. We were able to talk with quite a few people that were willing to give us some referrals. We also talked with Frank Watts and set up an appointment with him. We visited with a few less active families in between and invited them back to church. We had dinner with the Fairchild's that evening which went really well. We're keeping our focus on Brother Fairchild so we can be guided on how to encourage him to act and come back to church. We finished the night with Family Home Evening with the Parkes family which went really well. We showed there family how to mark the promises in the Book of Mormon and committed them to continue every day.
Wednesday we went early to the Doctor so Elder Bawden could have his pre-operation appointment. All went well and everything is still continuing to go as planned. We came back and had studies which went really well and we learned a lot of great things but more importantly we have continued to learn how to be continually consistent. We went and visited with Sister Evans and had a really great lesson with her. We have been working on helping her to be consistent in involving her husband in more gospel discussion when he is at home. We then visited with Sister Colvin which was really great. She has been dealing with a lot of different things lately because of her mother have kidney cancer and multiple tumors but she is doing as good as projected. We're hoping that we can get everyone in the ward involved in helping her out during these trying times. We finished the night by going to the young men and young women's combined activity which went well. We invited a few less active youth earlier throughout the week and a few of them were able to make it which was awesome.
Thursday we started off the morning by cleaning up the church before Brother Olsen's wake and funeral. Sister Singleton has had a lot of different things that she has been having to do, so we figured we could help lesson the burden which has been upon her. It was really great being able to do all of that for her and for the Olsen family. We then did a lot of planning and really focused on what we were going to do this next week because it is the week of Elder Bawden's surgery. We were able to set up with individuals that we are focusing on having daily contact with but also those we are hoping to set up appointments for later on in the week. We went and visited with Brother Felton after and he is doing really great. He has done some Chemo treatments but it is just a precaution even though he is cancer free which is awesome. He shared with us that he has been able to watch part of conference from the sessions that he recorded. We finished of the night with Brother Olsen's wake and funeral. The spirit was very strong and you could really feel the love that was there. Brother Olsen has really been a great example to me and really everyone that he has ever associated with. As it says in Elder Cook's talk at General conference "The symbol of Christ for the Latter-day Saints will be found in the meaningful expression of our faith and the way we live His gospel." This is what I know by heart what Brother Olsen did each and everyday of his life.
Friday we had the opportunity first thing to do service for Brother Mason. We were able to remove a lot of things from their yard including plants, cement, and other odds and ends that needed to be removed. It was really awesome being able to do that but not only the service but being able to spend time one on one with Brother Mason and talk with him about what pushed him away from church. This time has really allowed us to figure out how we can help him recognize for himself to come back. After lunch we had a great visit with Joe Hickman and we shared some scriptures that really helped him out. We are now going to stay in daily contact with him and give him something new to read everyday and he committed to it. We went and visited with Brother Baylor who isn't a member. He shared with us about Brother Olsen's service and how he thought it was really nice. He invited us to come back sometime for dinner with the family which is great because only 2 out the six family members are members of the church. We finished off the night after tracting by having activity night at the church. We had a decent turn out and are really hoping to invite more people and get the members more involved by inviting their friends.
Saturday we started off the morning by doing the Bishop's Storehouse. It went really well and on the way back home we dropped off some food for some members whose car broke down on the way to the chapel. After getting cleaned up and having lunch we went and visited with Sister Gover which went really well. We were able to get a new number from her and also we are working on pin pointing a date for her to come to church and she is really excited about that. We then visited with Sister Byrd and found out that she has to work on Sunday but she is hoping that soon she will get her work schedule figured out so she won't have to in the future. That night we had dinner at the Mason's home with the Hearn's which was great. We were able to here a lot of different stories of both Brother Mason and Brother Hearn's missions.
Sunday we started off the day by going over to the Fairchild's and helped administer a blessing to their son Tyler. We then went to PEC which went really well and we are now working on refocusing on 20 members to work with. We had the Johnny family at church which has been really great and we also had Mathew along with his family. It has been great seeing the Kelly family come back to church and being able to teach Mathew. After church we visited with the Johnny's and helped them fill out some paper work for their application to move to a new apartment. We were able to talk with the kids for a bit and offer service. We were also able to visit with the Millers, Jeffrey Booth, Sister Hall, and Sister Binkerd. It was amazing to see that even when things looked dim that we continued to press forward and we were able to visit with quite a few members and have some great spiritual thoughts with them. We also visited Laura Teague and will be teaching her this coming week.
This week has brought me more growth within my own testimony especially even as I had said last week, that as we press forward and work throughout the week consistently we will continue throughout the week strong. I feel that we started off this week with a bang which propelled us into finishing our week with a bang. Oh, how I love this work and the consistency that it brings into my life.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday, April 19, 2010
Regan, April 19, 2010
This week has been a really great week and we set some really great goals last week and this week that continued to propel us into having a week full of great blessings and receiving a continual growing testimony on working hard and not having a fade out finish.
Monday we had a great opportunity to spend some quality time with the Parkes family. We went with them to Fort Gaines and were able to experience some of the history of America. It was a wonderful to read and see of the different experiences and dedication that many men and women put forth for what they believed. We came back and had a great opportunity to talk with a less active member as we were doing our emails which was really great. We had dinner with the Martyn family which was really great. We also visited with a few other less active families before the night was out.
Tuesday we had a really great opportunity to continue to allow ourselves to be more directed by our Heavenly Father as we obtained a stronger spirit from district meeting. As we were able to go over the Atonement and shared different thoughts and feeling that came to us as we pondered and discussed we were all mutually uplifted and inspired. After lunch we went and continued to tract near a potential investigators house because he wasn't home at the time. We had a great time being able to testify of the Restoration and really allow other to feel the spirit speaking to their hearts. We ended up being able to see Kyle which was really great. We had a really good discussion where he truly opened up as we asked him questions and it directed us to teach him about different things within the Plan of Salvation and also the Restoration. We then went over and visited with Rachel and read 3 Nephi 14 with her. She has been doing pretty well and we are continuing to help her pack up some things so her move won't be as hectic in a couple weeks. We had a really great dinner with the Fairchild family and shared with them about weaknesses and read Ether 12:27. We were able to commit them to try and plan how to overcome their weaknesses and then put it to action.
Wednesday we started the morning off after studies by going to the doctors, so Elder Bawden could get all of his tests done before his surgery next week. We then went and visited with Brother Van Zant who has been less active for quite sometime but moved out here for work. He hasn't had much success so he told us that he was probably planning on going back to Utah soon. We immediately went and had a really great lesson on Temples with Sister Kimberly Evans and as we were there her dog gave birth to another puppy. We had dinner with Brother Klug which went real well. We then visited with a few less active member that lived near and were able to talk with them. Sister Wyser has been doing a lot better since she has been busy with work but is still trying to see if she can get some Sundays off for church.
Thursday I experienced one of the most profound things that I have been blessed with. We were asked to visit a member of the Monroeville Branch who had just had a child. Their little daughter had been having some difficulty breathing and they asked if I could be voice for her blessing. When I placed my hands on her the greatest sence of peace encircled and she gripped my hand with the most amazing grip. I was able to be voice for that amazing blessing in which she was promised and her family was promised many great things. As I pondered and thought about this experience throughout the day I received many great things about my future concerning about being a father and a husband. I feel truly blessed because of this great experience. We then continued our planning session which went really well and we focused on really improving and setting goals that would stretch us and keep focused on His work. We then went over to the Parkes and did some service for them. We were able to finally fix a leak under there house which had been causing them some grief. I was glad that being small I was able to make it in to where I could fix the problem without any further complications. We had dinner with the Hearn family that night which was really great and we discussed with them about the Atonement and how it has blessed our lives personally and collectively.
Friday we started off the morning by going over a little bit of the plans that we set and refocusing some goals that we were able to refine so we could receive greater direction. As soon as we were done with that we got ready and went over and did some service for Rachel which she was really grateful for. We were able to rip out a bunch of carpet and fix a few cosmetic problems in and outside of the house. We then came back and traveled up to Saraland to have dinner with the Mathies but it also gave us some great opportunities to be able to visit with a few less active members. We came back down from Saraland having visited with a few people and were able to make some calls to some of our potential and other investigators.
Saturday we found out early in the morning that Brother Olsen had passed away from his short bought with cancer. His funeral is going to be this Thursday at 7 and we are looking forward to being there to support his family at their time of grief. We then began tracting which I was really happy to do. We came to find out that almost everyone on the street had little dogs in their homes and many of them were catholic. We were able to have a few good discussions and were able to ask for referrals from everyone that would allow us to. After lunch we went up near the church to help Sister Parkes with a few things after a Relief Society thing and then went and visited with the Blackmon's. We found out that Brother Blackmon was in the hospital and we ended up giving him a blessing later on that night. He had some complications some medicine to help him pass a kidney stone and he is now doing a lot better. We were able to visit with the Johnny family and they are doing really great. We got everything set up for them to make it to church and we are really grateful for the members helping us get them to church. We finished the night by visiting with Brother Serrano which went really well. He has been doing pretty good and we read some scriptures with him.
Sunday was a really great day for us and I would almost say that it was our best day of the week. We had a great time at church and really the spirit was very strong throughout all of the meetings. The Relief Society sang a beautiful intermediate hymn which brought the spirit in even stronger during sacrament meeting. After potluck we went out with Brother Norwald who is getting ready for a mission and tracted. We had a great time and found both Harry and Adi. It was amazing being able to go out and tract and really see that if we put our full effort in and finish the week strong blessings do continually come. We went and visited with the Wyser's that evening to let them know about Brother Olsen and invited them to church next week. We also received a referral from them which was really awesome. We visited with the Ferrel/Gower family which was really great and we are really hoping we can get them back to church. Brother Ferrel isn't a member but he does strongly support the church. We came back home that night and had a little bit of study and dinner time which allowed us to continue to press forward in our marking of the Book of Mormon.
This week has really been a great week and as we continue to build and strive to increase our happiness by being Obedient we will truly experience the true Joy that Heavenly Father has waiting for us.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday we had a great opportunity to spend some quality time with the Parkes family. We went with them to Fort Gaines and were able to experience some of the history of America. It was a wonderful to read and see of the different experiences and dedication that many men and women put forth for what they believed. We came back and had a great opportunity to talk with a less active member as we were doing our emails which was really great. We had dinner with the Martyn family which was really great. We also visited with a few other less active families before the night was out.
Tuesday we had a really great opportunity to continue to allow ourselves to be more directed by our Heavenly Father as we obtained a stronger spirit from district meeting. As we were able to go over the Atonement and shared different thoughts and feeling that came to us as we pondered and discussed we were all mutually uplifted and inspired. After lunch we went and continued to tract near a potential investigators house because he wasn't home at the time. We had a great time being able to testify of the Restoration and really allow other to feel the spirit speaking to their hearts. We ended up being able to see Kyle which was really great. We had a really good discussion where he truly opened up as we asked him questions and it directed us to teach him about different things within the Plan of Salvation and also the Restoration. We then went over and visited with Rachel and read 3 Nephi 14 with her. She has been doing pretty well and we are continuing to help her pack up some things so her move won't be as hectic in a couple weeks. We had a really great dinner with the Fairchild family and shared with them about weaknesses and read Ether 12:27. We were able to commit them to try and plan how to overcome their weaknesses and then put it to action.
Wednesday we started the morning off after studies by going to the doctors, so Elder Bawden could get all of his tests done before his surgery next week. We then went and visited with Brother Van Zant who has been less active for quite sometime but moved out here for work. He hasn't had much success so he told us that he was probably planning on going back to Utah soon. We immediately went and had a really great lesson on Temples with Sister Kimberly Evans and as we were there her dog gave birth to another puppy. We had dinner with Brother Klug which went real well. We then visited with a few less active member that lived near and were able to talk with them. Sister Wyser has been doing a lot better since she has been busy with work but is still trying to see if she can get some Sundays off for church.
Thursday I experienced one of the most profound things that I have been blessed with. We were asked to visit a member of the Monroeville Branch who had just had a child. Their little daughter had been having some difficulty breathing and they asked if I could be voice for her blessing. When I placed my hands on her the greatest sence of peace encircled and she gripped my hand with the most amazing grip. I was able to be voice for that amazing blessing in which she was promised and her family was promised many great things. As I pondered and thought about this experience throughout the day I received many great things about my future concerning about being a father and a husband. I feel truly blessed because of this great experience. We then continued our planning session which went really well and we focused on really improving and setting goals that would stretch us and keep focused on His work. We then went over to the Parkes and did some service for them. We were able to finally fix a leak under there house which had been causing them some grief. I was glad that being small I was able to make it in to where I could fix the problem without any further complications. We had dinner with the Hearn family that night which was really great and we discussed with them about the Atonement and how it has blessed our lives personally and collectively.
Friday we started off the morning by going over a little bit of the plans that we set and refocusing some goals that we were able to refine so we could receive greater direction. As soon as we were done with that we got ready and went over and did some service for Rachel which she was really grateful for. We were able to rip out a bunch of carpet and fix a few cosmetic problems in and outside of the house. We then came back and traveled up to Saraland to have dinner with the Mathies but it also gave us some great opportunities to be able to visit with a few less active members. We came back down from Saraland having visited with a few people and were able to make some calls to some of our potential and other investigators.
Saturday we found out early in the morning that Brother Olsen had passed away from his short bought with cancer. His funeral is going to be this Thursday at 7 and we are looking forward to being there to support his family at their time of grief. We then began tracting which I was really happy to do. We came to find out that almost everyone on the street had little dogs in their homes and many of them were catholic. We were able to have a few good discussions and were able to ask for referrals from everyone that would allow us to. After lunch we went up near the church to help Sister Parkes with a few things after a Relief Society thing and then went and visited with the Blackmon's. We found out that Brother Blackmon was in the hospital and we ended up giving him a blessing later on that night. He had some complications some medicine to help him pass a kidney stone and he is now doing a lot better. We were able to visit with the Johnny family and they are doing really great. We got everything set up for them to make it to church and we are really grateful for the members helping us get them to church. We finished the night by visiting with Brother Serrano which went really well. He has been doing pretty good and we read some scriptures with him.
Sunday was a really great day for us and I would almost say that it was our best day of the week. We had a great time at church and really the spirit was very strong throughout all of the meetings. The Relief Society sang a beautiful intermediate hymn which brought the spirit in even stronger during sacrament meeting. After potluck we went out with Brother Norwald who is getting ready for a mission and tracted. We had a great time and found both Harry and Adi. It was amazing being able to go out and tract and really see that if we put our full effort in and finish the week strong blessings do continually come. We went and visited with the Wyser's that evening to let them know about Brother Olsen and invited them to church next week. We also received a referral from them which was really awesome. We visited with the Ferrel/Gower family which was really great and we are really hoping we can get them back to church. Brother Ferrel isn't a member but he does strongly support the church. We came back home that night and had a little bit of study and dinner time which allowed us to continue to press forward in our marking of the Book of Mormon.
This week has really been a great week and as we continue to build and strive to increase our happiness by being Obedient we will truly experience the true Joy that Heavenly Father has waiting for us.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday, April 12, 2010
Regan April 12, 2010
This week has been very wonderful with the opportunity to have seen Keno and Valentine Johnny enter into the covenant of Baptism and Confirmation. We have been able to see what hard work has allowed the Lord to bless us with and we will continue to re-boost and seek to talk with everyone in which we have the ability to speak with.
Monday we had a really good preparation day. We found out that Elder Bawden is having to have sinus surgery because of the illness that he has had but all will go really well and as planned. We were able to prepare for different things and really had the opportunity to shop and get a few things for when his surgery will be. We had dinner with the Hearn's and found out they will be moving soon. They are heading up to Indiana for school and we will have the opportunity of helping them get ready for their move in a few months.
Tuesday we had a really good district meeting and were able to talk about getting rid of any distractions that could allow things to get in the way of the Lord's work. We then traveled to see a potential investigator that we had but they weren't home so we started to tract a little bit early. We were able to talk to some really great people and were able to ask for referrals from many of them. We had really great lesson with Rachel and she was able to read over Alma 40. We read over it with her and were able to clarify things that she had thought about or was wondering about. We had a great dinner with the Fairchild family and we are hoping that with us going over every week that it will propel them to want to be more active. We then visited with a few other less active members which went really well.
Wednesday we started off the morning by seeing and investigator we tracted into but he wasn't there at the time so we talked with her wife for a little bit. We then went and visited with a few less active members near the area. After lunch we were able to visit with Kimberly Evans and finished watching over some of the church history DVDs with her. We are now going to be watching General Conference with her in our next visits. We stopped by a potential investigators house and shared with him the Book of Mormon and he was really excited to be able to read it. We tracted a little bit around the area and then traveled to Keno and Valentine's to begin filling out the Baptismal Records. We had a really great visit with them and had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about their family in the Marshall Islands. We then went to part of Bishop Parke's daughters soccer game and were able to talk with him about different things that are happening.
Thursday we began the day with Elder Metcalf and Morrison and traveled to Saraland to sing and have some lunch with a group of elderly people. It was really a lot of fun and they really enjoyed the opportunity to sing with us and to have us there to support them. The spirit was really strong as we were able to sing. We then came down and planned those things of which we needed to and it allowed us to get the baptism ready and other crucial things. We then went and did some service for Rachel and helped her clean and fix a few things around the house. We tracted after and had the opportunity to find a few potential investigators and were able to ask 8 different people for referrals in those few hours. We then met Elder Krieser and Tolley for Keno and Valentine Johnny's baptismal interviews which went really well.
Friday we started off the day by trying to see a few investigators and getting the baptismal program completed and set up. We were able to talk with a few investigators and set up some appointments with them. We then visited with Brother Serrano and he is doing really well and getting over the sickness that has been bothering him for a bit. We then went and tracted near a few less active members home while we were waiting to get the programs typed up. We were also able to see a few less active members before activity night happened at the church. We had 2 families show up and we were able to have a lot of fun and are continuing to invite more and more families. We were also able to set up a few things for the marriage and baptism.
Saturday we had a really great morning helping out with the bishop's storehouse and then immediately going and doing service for the Mason's who are a less active couple. We had a great time with them doing service and had a great lunch with them. We are going to keep doing service for them and hopefully it will propel Brother Mason back to church. We had just enough time to get ready before we had to go to the church and get more things set up for the marriage and baptism of Keno and Valentine. Both services went really well and there was a lot of support from the ward. The spirit was very strong and Love was truly felt. We then traveled up to the Kelly's for dinner and also were able to help them do a few things since Tim broke his hand just a few days earlier. We are trying to work with Mathew and it looks like he is really close on making the commitment to be baptized.
Sunday went really well and we were able to really feel of the His spirit. I am truly grateful for the priesthood and how it is used to bless so many lives. During PEC we were able to discuss the needs and pray for individuals who are struggling at this time. We were also able to be voice to the ordinance of confirmation for Keno and Valentine. After lunch we went and visited with a few referrals and had a few really good lessons. We then continued to tract and found Bill who we are really excited to meet with again. We finished the night by having dinner with the Parke's family which went really well and we were able to get everything signed by Bishop Parke's on the baptism and confirmation records.
Though this week had many ups and downs at certain times we were able to press through and felt much love and joy with our investigators and members in which the Lord blesses us to be able to serve.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday we had a really good preparation day. We found out that Elder Bawden is having to have sinus surgery because of the illness that he has had but all will go really well and as planned. We were able to prepare for different things and really had the opportunity to shop and get a few things for when his surgery will be. We had dinner with the Hearn's and found out they will be moving soon. They are heading up to Indiana for school and we will have the opportunity of helping them get ready for their move in a few months.
Tuesday we had a really good district meeting and were able to talk about getting rid of any distractions that could allow things to get in the way of the Lord's work. We then traveled to see a potential investigator that we had but they weren't home so we started to tract a little bit early. We were able to talk to some really great people and were able to ask for referrals from many of them. We had really great lesson with Rachel and she was able to read over Alma 40. We read over it with her and were able to clarify things that she had thought about or was wondering about. We had a great dinner with the Fairchild family and we are hoping that with us going over every week that it will propel them to want to be more active. We then visited with a few other less active members which went really well.
Wednesday we started off the morning by seeing and investigator we tracted into but he wasn't there at the time so we talked with her wife for a little bit. We then went and visited with a few less active members near the area. After lunch we were able to visit with Kimberly Evans and finished watching over some of the church history DVDs with her. We are now going to be watching General Conference with her in our next visits. We stopped by a potential investigators house and shared with him the Book of Mormon and he was really excited to be able to read it. We tracted a little bit around the area and then traveled to Keno and Valentine's to begin filling out the Baptismal Records. We had a really great visit with them and had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about their family in the Marshall Islands. We then went to part of Bishop Parke's daughters soccer game and were able to talk with him about different things that are happening.
Thursday we began the day with Elder Metcalf and Morrison and traveled to Saraland to sing and have some lunch with a group of elderly people. It was really a lot of fun and they really enjoyed the opportunity to sing with us and to have us there to support them. The spirit was really strong as we were able to sing. We then came down and planned those things of which we needed to and it allowed us to get the baptism ready and other crucial things. We then went and did some service for Rachel and helped her clean and fix a few things around the house. We tracted after and had the opportunity to find a few potential investigators and were able to ask 8 different people for referrals in those few hours. We then met Elder Krieser and Tolley for Keno and Valentine Johnny's baptismal interviews which went really well.
Friday we started off the day by trying to see a few investigators and getting the baptismal program completed and set up. We were able to talk with a few investigators and set up some appointments with them. We then visited with Brother Serrano and he is doing really well and getting over the sickness that has been bothering him for a bit. We then went and tracted near a few less active members home while we were waiting to get the programs typed up. We were also able to see a few less active members before activity night happened at the church. We had 2 families show up and we were able to have a lot of fun and are continuing to invite more and more families. We were also able to set up a few things for the marriage and baptism.
Saturday we had a really great morning helping out with the bishop's storehouse and then immediately going and doing service for the Mason's who are a less active couple. We had a great time with them doing service and had a great lunch with them. We are going to keep doing service for them and hopefully it will propel Brother Mason back to church. We had just enough time to get ready before we had to go to the church and get more things set up for the marriage and baptism of Keno and Valentine. Both services went really well and there was a lot of support from the ward. The spirit was very strong and Love was truly felt. We then traveled up to the Kelly's for dinner and also were able to help them do a few things since Tim broke his hand just a few days earlier. We are trying to work with Mathew and it looks like he is really close on making the commitment to be baptized.
Sunday went really well and we were able to really feel of the His spirit. I am truly grateful for the priesthood and how it is used to bless so many lives. During PEC we were able to discuss the needs and pray for individuals who are struggling at this time. We were also able to be voice to the ordinance of confirmation for Keno and Valentine. After lunch we went and visited with a few referrals and had a few really good lessons. We then continued to tract and found Bill who we are really excited to meet with again. We finished the night by having dinner with the Parke's family which went really well and we were able to get everything signed by Bishop Parke's on the baptism and confirmation records.
Though this week had many ups and downs at certain times we were able to press through and felt much love and joy with our investigators and members in which the Lord blesses us to be able to serve.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tyler April 5 2010
hello,
Well you asked some questions about favorite companions, I am on the 13th companion, I have enjoyed being around a lot of them but my favorites have been Elder Probst and Elder Marshall because I can relate to them and with Elder Probst we can continue the friendship when we get home and go snowmobiling. Elder Maja is an alright guy but with him being from another culture and being raised in different ways things just dont relate the in same way.
Well this week has been kind of deppressing. We found out that the Odells are going to be going to Port Alfred, Elder Odell is going to be a branch president in Port Alfred, it is going to be kind of hard to cope. There are going to be no senior couples here for a couple of months from what President Probst has said. We will look forward when all the Utah missionaries can take a trip to the Odells and be with them. We were not able to watch any conference since the area presidency made the announcement to all the branches and wards of South Africa. It has been a really strange Easter but they are going to just show the recorded version of conference to all of South Africa on the 24th and 25th of April. I guess a major part of why they didn't show satellite broadcast was because they wanted better church attendance at the chapels. It seems like everybody in South Africa just takes a break during the holidays and so I guess it was directed by the Lord even though it is difficult to understand. I am actually emailing at Deserees who is a recent convert in George because we could not find any emailing shops open and the town has been shut down about the whole weekend. So instead of watching conference on Sunday we had an hour of sacrament meeting and then after we went tracting. We were able to find quite a few potentials this past week and found a guy that has really impressed me because he is looking for the truth and has really been humbled by having a deaf daughter and helping her throughout her life but then again he is kind of lazy and doesn't like to read too much and doesn't have a job and says God will give him everything so I don't know some things are interesting around here. I have a feeling this upcoming transfer is going to be a changing experience for me if I stay in George, I hope this area can be a 6 week area for me but I know it probably won't happen. We are having a hard time getting member help and so I can only come up with a few other options which is tracting and street contacting which isn't as effective. We have one baptism coming up from the area which is Elizabeth Dagean, we have a date for the 17th of April but other than that it has been pretty tough for the others that we have been seeing. We have a really good feeling about Sis Johanna who was a referral from Deseree but things are slowly progressing. I just hope that everything will work ok here in the branch with no senior couples here because from what I understand they have been keeping things rolling taking major responsibilities which aren't supposed to be theirs in the branch. Today we are going to go golfing with Elder Odell since it is the last p-day with them so we better go. I will have to send some pictures next week. Have a good week stay well.
Love
Elder Tyler Hansen
Well you asked some questions about favorite companions, I am on the 13th companion, I have enjoyed being around a lot of them but my favorites have been Elder Probst and Elder Marshall because I can relate to them and with Elder Probst we can continue the friendship when we get home and go snowmobiling. Elder Maja is an alright guy but with him being from another culture and being raised in different ways things just dont relate the in same way.
Well this week has been kind of deppressing. We found out that the Odells are going to be going to Port Alfred, Elder Odell is going to be a branch president in Port Alfred, it is going to be kind of hard to cope. There are going to be no senior couples here for a couple of months from what President Probst has said. We will look forward when all the Utah missionaries can take a trip to the Odells and be with them. We were not able to watch any conference since the area presidency made the announcement to all the branches and wards of South Africa. It has been a really strange Easter but they are going to just show the recorded version of conference to all of South Africa on the 24th and 25th of April. I guess a major part of why they didn't show satellite broadcast was because they wanted better church attendance at the chapels. It seems like everybody in South Africa just takes a break during the holidays and so I guess it was directed by the Lord even though it is difficult to understand. I am actually emailing at Deserees who is a recent convert in George because we could not find any emailing shops open and the town has been shut down about the whole weekend. So instead of watching conference on Sunday we had an hour of sacrament meeting and then after we went tracting. We were able to find quite a few potentials this past week and found a guy that has really impressed me because he is looking for the truth and has really been humbled by having a deaf daughter and helping her throughout her life but then again he is kind of lazy and doesn't like to read too much and doesn't have a job and says God will give him everything so I don't know some things are interesting around here. I have a feeling this upcoming transfer is going to be a changing experience for me if I stay in George, I hope this area can be a 6 week area for me but I know it probably won't happen. We are having a hard time getting member help and so I can only come up with a few other options which is tracting and street contacting which isn't as effective. We have one baptism coming up from the area which is Elizabeth Dagean, we have a date for the 17th of April but other than that it has been pretty tough for the others that we have been seeing. We have a really good feeling about Sis Johanna who was a referral from Deseree but things are slowly progressing. I just hope that everything will work ok here in the branch with no senior couples here because from what I understand they have been keeping things rolling taking major responsibilities which aren't supposed to be theirs in the branch. Today we are going to go golfing with Elder Odell since it is the last p-day with them so we better go. I will have to send some pictures next week. Have a good week stay well.
Love
Elder Tyler Hansen
Monday, April 5, 2010
Regan, April 5, 2010
Well this week was by far one of the most uplifting and spiritual weeks that I have had on my entire mission and I am sure that His spirit won't make it be the last that I have. I am truly grateful because of the humbling messages and events that I have been able to witness this week.
Monday we had a a really great preparation day. We were able to do all of our shopping and cleaning that we needed to do. We were able to spend some time with Brother Martyn and his daughter which was really fun. Chloe is such a funny little girl and she is very smart for only being 4 yrs old. We then had dinner with the Hearns and had a really great time sharing topics of the gospel. After we went to Providence Hospital and gave a blessing to Sister Causey's Brother in the Lucedale Branch. He isn't a member but he was able to have his family there and the spirit was voice for what he needed.
Tuesday we started of the day by visiting with Sister Milburn who was in a retirement home. She really can't speak much but her spirit was so strong. We were able to give her a blessing and also read out of the Book of Mormon with her. She is such a great example to me because I have now seen for myself what true dedication to the Gospel is even when physically circumstances can become challenging. I felt the Love that Heavenly Father has for her and it was truly a savoring experience. After we tracted for a little bit before lunch which went really great. After lunch we visited with Sister Thompson who is a recent convert. We found out that her mom is now cancer free and is now going to be able to get back into the routine of things once again. We then tracted and talked with 7 different people before we were able to find some really great potentials. We are very eager to follow up with Brain and Allison about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a good lesson with Rachel and offered service. She didn't read Alma 40 this past week so we testified of the truth of the Book of Mormon and re-committed her. We had a great dinner with the Fairchilds and spent some time with their kids and asked them how they were enjoying primary. We had a great family home evening with Sister Byrd and invited her to General Conference.
Wednesday we started the morning off by seeing the Campbell's and they ended up feeding us an early lunch which was really awesome. We then traveled up to the Chickasaw area and tried to visit with a few referrals on the way. We ended up talking with a few other people and followed up with some of the less active members to see how they were doing. We had a great lesson on church history with Kimberly and this week we will start to leave her with a few chapters out of the Book of Mormon to read. We came back down and visited with Sister Wyser and she is doing a lot better. She has had quite a few setbacks but is still pushing forward and keeping her head held high. We received a call from some members who lived really close and gave Brother Klug and his granddaughter both blessings. It is truly amazing to see that there is always and will always be multiple reasons why we go to a certain place each day. We then had combined activity with the Young Men and Young Women which went really well and they are still working on inviting their friends out.
Thursday was a really great day of planning for us. We were able to update all of the records and also right up on the board all of our investigators who are progressing or not progressing and all those we need to follow up with and are hoping to teach. It allowed us to see who we needed to continue to keep our focus on but also those we needed to stop by and let them know we would have to be dropping them. We then visited with Melinda and asked about how all of the family was doing. Her husband Dave is the only member in the family and he has just signed with the army reserve and is now very busy and preparing for his trainings. We then went off with the Monroeville elders and had some really great opportunities tracting. I went with Elder Merkley and the others tracted on the other side of the street. We were all able to talk with some really great people and set up appointments with a couple and will be following up with the other this week. Elder Merkley and I then went and visited Jeffrey Booth and talked with her for a minute before we went and shared a message with the Parkes family. Elder Bawden and Shumway had a great lesson with Keno and Valentine and everything is still lined up for them to be getting baptized on April 10th.
Friday was truly an amazing day at Zone Conference. His spirit was able to testify to all of our hearts and knit them together as one in Unity. I felt truly blessed to be a mouthpiece for the Lord at the times that I was asked. I was strengthened through His Spirit and in increased my faith and desire to continue to act. I am truly grateful for those things of which were testified to my soul that I will be able to share with others of which I have learned for myself and will be their guides so they can learn for themselves. We immediately left and visited with Brother Serrano who had been having some really bad health problems and gave him a blessing. We were prepared to give that blessing and His voice was manifest unto Brother Serrano of the things of which he needed to hear and receive. We then had dinner with the Mathie's which went really well and then went and had activity night at the church and we had a lot of great participation.
Saturday and Sunday were both truly amazing days and I don't know how I couldn't not just combine them as with they were all such a great pattern of revelation revealed through His chosen servants. I feel from the bottom of my heart that conference was truly meant for the things of which I had been thinking and questioning within my soul. I received much comfort, peace, and guidance which is truly going to bless me as I seek to apply and use this knowledge and action in my life. We were able after Sunday session to give Sister Pacetti a blessing and then traveled and taught Keno and Valentine with Brother Nordwald. It was great to have him with us to testify and prepare himself for his mission which is hoping to be leaving on very soon. He working on all of his interviews as we speak and I am very excited for him. We truly had a great lesson and the spirit was able to speak through us and open Keno's heart to the truth. He shared with us such a powerful experience of agency that it testified to me. He had the desire come to use some chewing tobacco and his shared this with his wife and she said that he didn't need it anymore. He then immediately picked up the Book of Mormon and began to read from its marvelous pages and before he knew it that desire had been taken from him. It was a true testimony builder for him and also for us.
I am indebted and grateful for what the Lord has allowed me thus far in my life to witness and I look forward to receive more knowledge for myself and continually striving to be a guide for those who desire to know for themselves of this wonderful truth.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
Monday we had a a really great preparation day. We were able to do all of our shopping and cleaning that we needed to do. We were able to spend some time with Brother Martyn and his daughter which was really fun. Chloe is such a funny little girl and she is very smart for only being 4 yrs old. We then had dinner with the Hearns and had a really great time sharing topics of the gospel. After we went to Providence Hospital and gave a blessing to Sister Causey's Brother in the Lucedale Branch. He isn't a member but he was able to have his family there and the spirit was voice for what he needed.
Tuesday we started of the day by visiting with Sister Milburn who was in a retirement home. She really can't speak much but her spirit was so strong. We were able to give her a blessing and also read out of the Book of Mormon with her. She is such a great example to me because I have now seen for myself what true dedication to the Gospel is even when physically circumstances can become challenging. I felt the Love that Heavenly Father has for her and it was truly a savoring experience. After we tracted for a little bit before lunch which went really great. After lunch we visited with Sister Thompson who is a recent convert. We found out that her mom is now cancer free and is now going to be able to get back into the routine of things once again. We then tracted and talked with 7 different people before we were able to find some really great potentials. We are very eager to follow up with Brain and Allison about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a good lesson with Rachel and offered service. She didn't read Alma 40 this past week so we testified of the truth of the Book of Mormon and re-committed her. We had a great dinner with the Fairchilds and spent some time with their kids and asked them how they were enjoying primary. We had a great family home evening with Sister Byrd and invited her to General Conference.
Wednesday we started the morning off by seeing the Campbell's and they ended up feeding us an early lunch which was really awesome. We then traveled up to the Chickasaw area and tried to visit with a few referrals on the way. We ended up talking with a few other people and followed up with some of the less active members to see how they were doing. We had a great lesson on church history with Kimberly and this week we will start to leave her with a few chapters out of the Book of Mormon to read. We came back down and visited with Sister Wyser and she is doing a lot better. She has had quite a few setbacks but is still pushing forward and keeping her head held high. We received a call from some members who lived really close and gave Brother Klug and his granddaughter both blessings. It is truly amazing to see that there is always and will always be multiple reasons why we go to a certain place each day. We then had combined activity with the Young Men and Young Women which went really well and they are still working on inviting their friends out.
Thursday was a really great day of planning for us. We were able to update all of the records and also right up on the board all of our investigators who are progressing or not progressing and all those we need to follow up with and are hoping to teach. It allowed us to see who we needed to continue to keep our focus on but also those we needed to stop by and let them know we would have to be dropping them. We then visited with Melinda and asked about how all of the family was doing. Her husband Dave is the only member in the family and he has just signed with the army reserve and is now very busy and preparing for his trainings. We then went off with the Monroeville elders and had some really great opportunities tracting. I went with Elder Merkley and the others tracted on the other side of the street. We were all able to talk with some really great people and set up appointments with a couple and will be following up with the other this week. Elder Merkley and I then went and visited Jeffrey Booth and talked with her for a minute before we went and shared a message with the Parkes family. Elder Bawden and Shumway had a great lesson with Keno and Valentine and everything is still lined up for them to be getting baptized on April 10th.
Friday was truly an amazing day at Zone Conference. His spirit was able to testify to all of our hearts and knit them together as one in Unity. I felt truly blessed to be a mouthpiece for the Lord at the times that I was asked. I was strengthened through His Spirit and in increased my faith and desire to continue to act. I am truly grateful for those things of which were testified to my soul that I will be able to share with others of which I have learned for myself and will be their guides so they can learn for themselves. We immediately left and visited with Brother Serrano who had been having some really bad health problems and gave him a blessing. We were prepared to give that blessing and His voice was manifest unto Brother Serrano of the things of which he needed to hear and receive. We then had dinner with the Mathie's which went really well and then went and had activity night at the church and we had a lot of great participation.
Saturday and Sunday were both truly amazing days and I don't know how I couldn't not just combine them as with they were all such a great pattern of revelation revealed through His chosen servants. I feel from the bottom of my heart that conference was truly meant for the things of which I had been thinking and questioning within my soul. I received much comfort, peace, and guidance which is truly going to bless me as I seek to apply and use this knowledge and action in my life. We were able after Sunday session to give Sister Pacetti a blessing and then traveled and taught Keno and Valentine with Brother Nordwald. It was great to have him with us to testify and prepare himself for his mission which is hoping to be leaving on very soon. He working on all of his interviews as we speak and I am very excited for him. We truly had a great lesson and the spirit was able to speak through us and open Keno's heart to the truth. He shared with us such a powerful experience of agency that it testified to me. He had the desire come to use some chewing tobacco and his shared this with his wife and she said that he didn't need it anymore. He then immediately picked up the Book of Mormon and began to read from its marvelous pages and before he knew it that desire had been taken from him. It was a true testimony builder for him and also for us.
I am indebted and grateful for what the Lord has allowed me thus far in my life to witness and I look forward to receive more knowledge for myself and continually striving to be a guide for those who desire to know for themselves of this wonderful truth.
Love You
Elder Regan Hansen
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