It's LETTER Time!!!!

Hola!!!

This week was crazy and at times it was a hard one! I loved times and at other times, I had the hardest time of my life. I went on divisions two times; that means that I wasn't with my comp for two of the days. I know that Heavenly Father blesses me with those times to learn. I am seeing challenges that the Lord is putting before me to grow. I have been feeling a lot of the time, like I am just not good enough for the Lord and His work. This is because I want to be so much better everyday!  After a lot of this not feeling good enough business, I was praying a lot! I felt comfort and I don't know, but the Lord has helped me a lot to receive an answer to my prayers.

This week, while I was writing in my journal, I just started to have spiritual thoughts flow from my mind like no other. They were way important to me and helped me. They were direct answers to my prayers. I know that we can receive more revelation as we write down our thoughts. One of my thoughts was the scripture that says the Lord will not allow you to have temptations or trials about that which ye are able to handle. This helped me so much because it helped me to see that I can grow from my experiences with my companion. The Lord helps me thru all things and to grow from them, even if they are experiences I don't enjoy. Another thing I was pondering, was where my patriarchal blessing says that I will come to know the gospel of Jesus Christ perfectly in my life. I had the thought that if we love one another; that is the first step to learning his gospel and everything will follow perfectly, if we can only learn to have the love that he had! I have been working on that love and I am seeing improvements in my life already! I am learning more about myself and starting to see the plan Heavenly Father has in play for me. I am excited for the opportunity to have a new companion, if I get one at cambios next week, so I can see how others work and I can continue to improve myself.

When I was reading poppi's letter I was thinking that we are sometimes hard to humble ourselves and that is why the Lord allows us to have hard times; to learn. With me, it's learning to love a comp. who is so different than me; for poppi, it's the reminder of the crash that has helped him. The Lord knows exactly what we need and will help us get thru those trials and experiences. The other day, I almost started to cry in my prayers because I felt like it wasn't possible to love everyone in the way I needed to, but then I remembered that I had that spiritual gift before my mission. I needed to thank my Father in Heaven and continue to ask for it. I am thankful for it every night. In fact, more than that! I love to see the growth taking place in my heart.

I can't do anything without the spirit! Every time I speak, I feel the spirit in my heart because I know that it helps me to speak. I have felt the Lord take over my thoughts and feelings when I am teaching. I love it!

We won't have a baptism this change but we do have an amazing investigator getting interviewed today, so I am super excited about that!

Now, don't feel like you have to get everything I mentioned for Christmas. I understand, no money issues, finally. I am learning what it's like to be a parent, here on the mission. I never have money, so I have to put my priorities first, ha goodness! I can feel myself becoming more like my parents everyday, spiritually.

I love you all! Have a great week. I know that you will do what is right! Keep going to the temple and all that! I am sorry to those that I have not written, I don't have a lot of time here on the computer, but I love you all the same. I love to hear from you all.

Elder Dakotah Hancock

Dakotah and one of the Elders in his area. They have become pretty good friends.

News from our Missionary!

Hola,

This week I am super glad that I am able to be in the mission. I am super grateful that I listened to the spirit when I was writing you all, in your letters. I think it is cool to see everyone leaving on missions now! I wish everyone could come to my mission. I finish my training in two weeks from today and holy cow, I do not ever feel ready for all that comes my way but I just sit still and quiet for a minute and listen to the thoughts of the spirit in my mind and my heart.

I gave a talk in church this week and it was supposed to be five to ten minutes long and it ended up being fifteen haha. I talked on Moroni chapter seven and how in that chapter it has a question; the question is, how can we have or obtain all things good? I then went on to explain that in the verses following, there are three ways or in spanish tres pasos that we need to have to have all things good. The first is found in the verses following in how it says that through Christ we can have all things good but not just faith in Christ, but by exercising our faith in Christ. The second is a hope for a better world and by having hope and faith, we have to have charity, it says that if we do not have charity, we are nothing! I liked that I could relate this to the missionary work or in spanish, la obra misional. In Mosiah chapter 28 it talks about the Sons of Mosiah and about Alma the Younger, in verse three it describes perfectly what pure charity for others is. Go and read it :D

Anyways, this week was great. It was super hard like always but it was good! We were searching for a referral and we couldn't find them at all. We had seen her in the micro earlier and I remembered where she got off the micro (little van thing for transportation). I had the thought; go to where she got off. I thought about it and had decided to follow the spirit at all times, so I had to follow this time. I said to my companion as we were walking to the next cita on our agenda, let's go back to that spot. He said all kind of mad and what not, "seriously?!" I said, why is it a bad idea? It's better than just giving up. Finally, he said ok. As we got to the spot, we saw the lady and she was getting into a taxi, I was happy I had listened to the spirit. We obviously couldn't talk with her cause she was in the taxi, so we decided to start walking to our cita. We passed a house with an hermano that we had a cita with later that night. I felt the prompting to say hi, so I did, and we ended up teaching for like an hour and a half with him, and his family. Then he got a call and he said that the call was work and he wouldn't have been able to make it that night to the cita so it was sent from heaven that we showed up at his house early! I was super happy cause I saw the blessings of listening to the spirit!

My companion bought gas for our boiler; we are the only missionaries in Huejutla with warm water. You can get reimbursed for it, but you have to have a boiler for it first. We are like the only ones with a boiler, so I have had hot water for like a week and a half now. I feel guilty sometimes when I use it, cause no one else has it. Another Elder here, had it and says he felt the same, but at the same time, he said he had to enjoy it while it lasted.

Oh heavens, congrats to Brant and Kristy! It's crazy they are preggo!  It's gonna be a boy and it will have red hair like Kent! :) I wrote Alex a letter in only spanish. Tell her to look at it and don't use the translator for it. ha ha Tell Kent, I will try to write next week. Tell all the family and friends that I love them and I am thankful for their love and support and prayers.

Have a great week and keep doing great things! I love you all!

Love, Elder Dakotah Hancock

It's LETTER day! :)

*I am sorry it took me so long to get this up. I was crazily taking care of two side jobs I've been working on and have deadlines for. Thanks for understanding. * -Mimi

Today, I don't have much time to write letters let alone read much, I am sorry if I don't get to everyone's emails.

This week we have been doing a lot of teaching. We encountered this family of antiguo investigatores, they are like way ready for baptism but I am sure that God will give them some tests of their faith to see if they are really serious about getting baptized. Anyways, I was the one to set the date, or really just ask them if they wanted to be baptized when they read a little more and prayed a little more about the whole message. Even though it was just that, it was scary! I had the thought to do it the whole lesson, but I finally just said to myself; well I am here to invite others to come to Christ aren't I? Then I better do what the Lord wants me to do. And I did it! I put all my faith in Heavenly Father and it was the correct way to follow the spirit in that situation!

Another experience this week made me realize a little bit of why I am here. We watched the restauracion movie with this family, they seemed to like it and after and during, the spirit was super spiritual for me! I absolutely loved it with all my might! Afterward, one of them said to me that she would read the Book of Mormon every day and every night, because she wants to believe this message! It was all that I could do not to jump out of my seat and fist pump as hard as I ever have! I was super excited and I shared with her Alma 32 verse 27 where it says that all that you need is a desire to believe and that, that is what she had! I told her to pray about this message and I feel like all is great with them!

Well, there are only three more weeks in this change and then I have 5 months in the field! ahhhh it is going by super fast and I am loving every day of it! It is like 90 degrees today and that is very horrible since we are in our cool season. 

I love you all and miss you all. I love that you all are trying to do the Lord's work! Keep doing what is right and know that maybe the calling that God wants for you is to serve in the temple and knows that you don't need a calling in the ward right now. He knows that you truly love serving in the temple where it really is needed! Remember that; cause it is a thought I had when I was reading your letter! :D Remember that the Lord knows all things from the start to the end and He knows how He is going to use you to serve in the future. You and padre have been such examples in my life of the thing that matters the most, and it is charity, the true love of Christ!

Through the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we can can be clean, but not just that; He suffered for EVERY doubt, EVERY pain…EVERYTHING. I bear my honest testimony to you, that I KNOW for a fact that God helps us. He is there and listening to every tear, every prayer and every pleading for help when the world is crashing down on us. I know that fasting brings true miracles, I have seen many of them on the mission so far! I know the Lord has changed my heart for the better and permanently. Do all you can to apply the atonement in your life every day. God will fix those days that are harder to go through.
I love you. Keep showing your love for everyone.
Love, Elder Dakotah Hancock

Letter Day! And can you believe he's been serving for almost 4 months?

Wellll familia! happy four months for your son!!!!!! haha I have 17 weeks in the mission and this week is the 13th so I will officially have four months in the mission!

I am sooo pleased to see that everyone is going on missions and I love the age change! It is hard as a 19 year old kid to be here in Mexico doing all of the things that a missionary does, but I know for a fact that the Lord has strengthened me in ways that I will never be able to know. This week was great. We had amazing lessons with some investigators, but we didn't get near as many contacts as last week but we consider the lessons we did have, as super successes. 

For conference I got to watch every single session but only one of them was in spanish. I can understand the spanish but I figured I should watch it in english so I could learn everything I possibly could. I absolutely loved every bit of it! I don´t know why but I felt and I do feel like it was one of the highlights of the mission so far; not that it is better than a baptism but just that I learned a lot of things. During the talks, I thought about my family in the future and that I am going to be a good dad that centers his family in the church and missionary work. I think I needed to feel this because I was so preoccupied with if I could be a good dad, before. Also, I feel more thankful to the Lord for my family than any other thing! I am thankful that the Lord has blessed me with a family that will do anything for me if I ask and that they know that I will do anything in my power to help them with what they need to do. I loved the talks and I felt like they all applied directly to me and my purpose, as a missionary! I know that later, after the mission, I will raise my children in the church and pray for them to have opportunities to serve missions, not only because they are important, but also, because I know how much the mission has changed my life. I loved President Monson's talk at the end, about how we should just take a step back when times get hard and count the blessings we have even if they are super small. I have been doing that and I have been able to see the hand of the Lord in my life almost every second. :)

I forgot to tell you guys that for the baptism Elder Lopez and I played the guitar; families can be together forever, but in spanish.

Grandma sent me a picture of their pumpkins, but I bet mine are better. ha ha just kidding Grandma and Grandpa! What happened to Kent, I haven't gotten a letter in two weeks? Tell the family I love them and I would love to hear from everyone.

I love you all with all my heart, but I have to go to juntas con distrito, o sea, district meeting. I want you to know that you and mother are more important to me everyday that I am out here! Keep reading the Book of Mormon everyday, english or spanish. I am in Ether and the other day we read with someone and I just started to feel super excited to read it all again and continue to feel the spirit that much stronger every day! Keep doing what you need to do! I pray for you guys all the time.

Love, Elder Dakotah Hancock

It was dripping water from the ceiling in the house 

sooo this is the pic of me dealing with it ha

Letter Day!!!!

pues este semana fue bien fantastico! me encanta todas las cosas que oigo sobre ustedes buscando por los oportunidades de servicio! haha I won't write the whole thing in spanish, anyways, this week was great!

I am super tired and sunburned. Tired, because we are working to do super better this change. I am super thankful for this because we get to work super hard, but I am always tired, I mean ALWAYS! I can barely make it through daily planning without falling asleep haha.

On Sunday we had an investigator drop us for the time being. I hope we get to teach her more cause she had a baptismal date, but later on in the day we picked up two more investigators and that was an amazing blessing from Heavenly Father!!!!!

Today we had zone meeting and we have like four new missionaries, two are americans and one of them is in our district. The other three are in other places and two of them are from Mexico. One of the ones from Mexico is from Cuernavaca and his dad is the ward mission leader. I asked if he knows Colton Crook and he does! haha How about that?!  That is bien fantastico! 

So, this week has been great. Last week you told me to pray always for those opportunities to give service to other people. I thought about this a lot and I had not been doing that as much as I could have, so I started to do it more and more. The next day we had service and another day this week we did service from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon! It was beastly and my neck is super sunburned from that because it is used to having my white shirt and tie on all the time haha, but it was good. 

This week I ate some of this salsa because the hermana said that it wasn't hot at all so I tried just it on a tortilla. It was the biggest mistake of my life! It was hot enough at first that my nose started to run and my eyes would start to cry if i didn't have a drink in my mouth so that was no me gusta!!! It was a good laugh though haha.

The washing here is pretty hard on my shirts and one of them ripped on the collar. I am going to use pino which is pine all, on them. I think the funnest part about today is that I can finally understand what I am reading on the cleaning bottles, so I am super excited to clean my clothes and stuff.

So, about the glasses, I was in Tampico and Sister Jordan looked at me and told me to take them off, that she wanted to see what my real looks were. So I did and she said that they hide my looks and that I should get different ones. I told her that I know, that that is what my mom says all the time and that I wanted different ones now that I am on the mission and have wised out a little; because I have, on the mission and they are okay for college but I don't know about the mission. She laughed and said that I might need to come to Tampico to the eye doctor there, so I might do that, but for now, I am blind. ha ha

I am speaking the Spanish almost fluently and I am working on reading out loud, but yes, I can almost follow what everyone says to me BUT it is ONLY the don del lenguas en mi vida. Es no me. Nunca.

I think it is just barely settling and I am accepting the fact that I am living on my own and I am doing it in Mexico for that matter! Everything has been a little surreal for a little while, like since I entered the MTC, but now I feel like I can just let loose and be myself more, and that is the person that can do what the Lord wants because I don't worry about ruining an investigator. I just talk to them like they are my best friend because I earnestly want to share the truth with them. I love it! I love seeing that I am daily becoming the person that God wants me to be!

I love to serve the people here in Mexico and I love how nice the ward is! People say that there is a different spirit here about the people in the ward, I just feel at home because a lot of them are like the people in Ephraim.

Mama and Poppi, I am glad to hear that you are making going to the temple your six month mission thing. I want you guys to find time to go at least once every week until I get home, well, unless you have surgery Poppi, but I'm sure that won't happen because you are in my every prayer for that one. You don't realize what a blessing the temple is until you don't get to go every week. The people here pay every bit of money they have that month to go and then save up for two more months to go again, so appreciate it and serve!!! Go to the temple right now and do some special work for someone.

I miss you guys a lot, but not like I want to come home. It's just when I learn something and see that you have taught me in my life, that principal, I say to myself, wow what great parents I have. :D

Well, I feel the spirit prompting me that it's time to get off, so I will talk to you all next week. Have a great week. I love you more than you can know. I see what you have done in my life everyday and I am more thankful than you will know. Gracias from Mexico!

Love, Elder Hancock