Thoughts that are...

If you want to continue to follow Elder Hancock and his thoughts, check out his new blog:

Thoughts that are...

He's HOME!!!

WE COULD NOT WAIT FOR HIM TO STEP OFF THAT PLANE!!!

I couldn't resist making this sign because he always WINS in the 

I LOVE YOU MOST game! 

OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH... HERE HE COMES!!!!

Our boy is FINALLY HOME! 

They went out together, they came home together.

So THANKFUL for GOOD FRIENDS AND FAMILY! 

Words will never be able to express the feelings, we, as his parents had that day! We are so thankful for his honorable and righteous service and we will always be glad that he gave two years of his life in service to the Lord. BUT... we are also so THANKFUL to have him HOME with us, and for him to have made it home safely! What a ride it's been... this TWO YEARS! Some of the BEST, some of the worst, some of thescariest... but no doubt some of the MOST SPIRITUAL OF TIMES in our lives. Our hearts have grown; our testimonies become bigger... our spirits, so much STRONGER. 

Mother's Day Testimony May 2014

Be Converted to the Gospel and Find JOY

Hola,

Today we went to the beach, and I think that next week we will have p day on Tuesday to go to the temple.

The week was good. I am always tired ha ha but I am loving the chance to help others. The teaching is about the same, I am trying to be more and more humble and patient.

Mom, I am so happy you got to go to that conference thing, that must have been really cool! I have seen 17 Miracles here in the mission, it's a great movie!

This weekend, I helped build a house; I found a new real respect for the Mexican people and that ones that build houses!! Like A LOT of respect!! That is some way hard business! Just imagine all that we do with machines, well, they do it all by hand! It is incredible!

There are millions of things to say, but I am just trying to find the time to write them all. So, this week's letter comes from experiences I have had in my mission. I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants 50, it says in like verse 13, or something to that, it says "to what were you ordained?" When I saw this question from the Lord, I started to think about really what I was doing here in Mexico; was I just here to make others happy, I was sure having too hard of a time to stay here thru all the hard times and let it continue, to only be here for my parents. But, I was thinking of the commandments that Jesus gave us. If you go to John 15, it says there more less in verse 11 that jesus gave us these things so that our joy may be full!! Now, think how amazing it would be to have a full joy! Now, rethink that when it is Jesus, a perfect being, someone that knows of the great joy that comes in helping others, says, that your joy may be full. He later says the famous scripture, that the first and great commandment is to love one another as He has loved us. So, in these scriptures, He is telling us what we are ordained to… simply, we are not being ordained to go and find others, we are not going to teach, etc. but simply we are going to share the gospel, or as it says in Doctrine and Covenants 50, we are called to teach the gospel BY THE SPIRIT! Now, if we truly exercise our love as children of God, we will find the joy that is found in the gospel. We will no longer be in the group that does things because others expect it, we will be doing things because we love our Lord and we just want to show it, in all. What these scriptures mean, is that, we are not looking for elders and sisters, members, who simply are members because people are expecting it of them, but what the Lord is looking for, is something much much greater, it is called conversion. The Lord is looking for the heart, He wants us to change, not being people who look for results, more over, people who are really bringing souls, but firstly, finding how to bring their soul first. Now, the Lord isn't looking for much, He is just wanting what you can give. Remember that the Lord loves you. Before you embark on the things that the Lord wants you to do, ask Him for a complete conversion to this gospel. He will give it to you. He loves you more than you can believe! Please go to Him at all times! I know you can do it! Live this gospel to the fullest of your potential!!! Love Him, Search for Him, really live for Him and for the sacrifices He has paid for us. I testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

I need to leave now. Have a great week! Do good things! Go to the temple!!! I love you all!

Love. Elder Hancock

Love you most mom!!! I WIN!!!!!! ha ha I love you a lot!!!! 

I got this pic from Kotah's MTC companion's mom and thought 

I would share. 

Just staying busy

Hola! 

This week was good. I am probably the most tired I have been in my life! Like always, in the street in the lessons, ha it is ridiculous but that's good, just lots to do and keep us busy. 

We were in Zone Leader training meeting and pres talked about straight conversion like the whole time.  A lot of the things are the way I have been my whole mission so it was humbling and I was super happy that we were learning what the Lord wants us to do. My comp is a powerhouse! We are working out the teaching together little by little. I am loving the area and have lots of friends in the mission here, it's crazy. My MTC companion, is in my zone. He is a District Leader and we serve in the same ward! He is thinking of going to Snow College when we get home, so I told him he could stay at our house. ha ha I hope that is okay. 

Wow! Grandma and Uncle Boyd are in my prayers. Please make sure they know that. Uncle Boyd is like Grandpa Chick, nothing will kill him off until he is fine and ready to go! He is an AMAZING man! 

Oh, next week if I don't write on Monday, it is because we changed our p-day to Tuesday to go to the temple. It might happen or it might not. We are still working on it. 

Well, I need to go but I will write next week! I am really sorry my letters are short. I have a lot to do. I love you all! Do all the good things! Go to the temple! Have a great week! And papi, stop telling me how many days I have left!

Love, Elder Hancock

I love you most I WIN!!! You know I always win mother, and thus we shall continue this for all time. ha ha

Transfers and Changes

Hola, 

Today was transfers and they transferred me because they put sisters in my area. I am now in Zone Ampliacion, in Tampico. I am the zone leader with an elder named, Elder Flores. He is my nephew, like my brother in the mission is Elder Conte, because he was trained by Elder Lopez before I was, and then Elder Conte trained Elder Flores, and I was there when it all happened. I would never have thought that we would be serving together as companions and now we are opening an area, so that is way cool. My last area in Tampico was on the left side or to say, the front of the airport and now I am on the other side, or to say I am closer to the beach than before. Also, I have my MTC comp here and Elder Christiansen here. It's great! 

This week it was hot in Valles and now I got to Tampico and it is freezing!! ha ha We got to meet with Elder Johnson of the Seventy this past week. He is the area President of the Mexico Area. Search him. He is so AWESOME! Well, after that, on Saturday, I get called by the zone leaders and they ask me what I was doing for that day, so I answered normally and then they asked if I wanted to come to Tampico, so I said yes. Then we got there in the zone leader leadership conference or training meeting, I was just an invite, and well, we spent another like two hours talking to President Johnson. It was super awesome!!! And now they called me as a zone leader and we are opening the area. It is humbling but I did ask the Lord to help me to be humble, so I will be humble and learn! 

I am sorry this is so short but because I had to travel today, I did not get much time to write. Hopefully next week, I will have more time. 

Have a great week! Go to the temple!! Do all the great things!! Thank you for all you do for me. I love you all!!

Love, Elder Hancock

P.S. Mom can you tell Darby that started an email to her but I couldn't finish it and will finish it next week. 

Oh and I love you MOST!!! I WIN! 

Waterfalls

We went to Las Cascadadas de micos en la Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosi today. They were way cool!! I was going down the huge staircase they have there and I sprained my ankle, it hurts pretty bad, I am going to go light on it the rest of today and I know it will be okay. ha ha

Next week, I may be transferred because they told us they are going to put sisters in this area, so I am almost sure I will be leaving, so don't worry if I don't write til later. 

Well, because we went to the waterfalls today, we are spending less time at the ciber, but here is a picture to make up for the short email. I will try to do better next week if I don't get transferred or too far, anyway. 

Have a good week!! Go to the temple!! I love you all!!!!

I am still waiting to hear your stories of how you helped others!

Love, Elder Hancock

Las Cascadadas de micos en la Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosi

Helping others see their Potential

Hola

I am so happy for your amazing opportunities mom and papi. :D 

This week we continued to give a lot of blessings. I am being obedient and working hard, mom. 

Soo this week in the work, it has been great! I have been humbled a lot, I am really tired of my prideful attitude just always trying to win the battle in me. If you are a human, you will know what I mean when I say the battle in me. There is always a constant battle between the natural man and the man that God wants us to be. I am always trying to find how God would want me to act, and, quite frankly I fall . . . . .  ALOT!!! Well, good thing we have repentance. This week was humbling because we had amazing opportunities to help a lot of people to know the potential they have as children of God. Also, I have been reminding myself almost constantly to remember how much they are giving and that their offerings were sacred to the Lord, this helped a lot to bring humility! 

This week, we got to have a cool tender mercy, we got to help this hermana. She said that she was just tired of all the chismes that were in the church, she was just going to start going to another ward, and maybe just not go. We were able to feel the spirit really really strong. My comp and I started to testify of how we can often and almost always feel that we just aren't good enough in life sometimes. The majority of the time, we feel alone; this is when we are in grave need to talk to the Lord, call upon Him like it says in Alma 34:17-27. When we do this, it is really when the gospel gets real to us, it is when we learn of our real potential, we learn that all of this is for a specific reason, that we need to grow and learn so that we can become Gods in the future. We testified of these things, the hna started to cry and she said that she was going to try as hard as she could to get through the tests, to keep going to church. I felt the love of Heavenly Father there as I testified!! I know that He loves us more than we can imagine. He is there listening and answering us; if there is no answers, it is not Him that is broken, it is us that are not listening good enough. I want you all to remember, the Lord has made an amazing list of things; He has created the most gracious of things, and even the heavens He created, and yet He says that his most precious creations, are His children. If we could really come to understand the love He has for us, we would not feel worthy to be in His presence because we have rejected him soo much; a being so innocent of being, rejected, soo incredibly loving that He will forgive us at just the slightest cry for relief! He is ALWAYS there for you! He will never let you down!! He is the one that we need more than anything else! Search Him, do not forget Him because He will never forget you. I testify this to you with all the love I can. Only with Him, you will be happy, truly happy! 

Have an amazing week, find someone to help, love them as the Lord would love them! And I want to hear the stories of how you helped others. 

I love you all and do the Lords work! 

Love Elder Hancock!!! 

New Area, New Companion

Hola, 

I am doing good. It's been a good week. I am short on time so this won't be too long today. I will write more next week. 

I love my comp, he is a real awesome guy! He really feels the gospel in his life! I love the area! I already have the majority learned. Valles is really different from Victoria. It is the smallest area that I have had yet, but I have a little ejido just outside of town, like a twenty minute drive, we are working a lot there. I am learning to speak Huasteco. We speak it to the members. 

"Talk to you later" is taeku tzu´ushín. I am trying to learn to pray in it. Padre is Paílom and Heavenly Father is Pulík Paílom or to say Great Father. To say goodbye brother, it is ma´kalam ept´chal.  It's so cool! 

Ahhhhhhhhhh…. I am SUPER HAPPY for Daniel!!!! HE will be a GREAT missionary!! Has Darby heard anything yet about her going back out? 

Yes mom and papi, I am actually going to be sending flight plans here in a little while when they send them to me. I have a paper to hand in to the secretary and then he buys the tickets, so it should be in the next month or so. It also says that you have to get an appointment with President Averett to release me and that you also need to plan to pick me up at Salt Lake Airport. 

I hope you all have a great week and do good things! Go to the temple!!!!! 

Papi, you are making me sooo happy to be your son and hear these things from the Lord, you are putting in plan! 

And mom, I love you MOST! I WIN! 

Love, Elder Hancock

Transfer Time

I have very little time to write but I am in Ciudad Valles! It is in San Louis Potosi. My companion is from California, Anaheim. His name is Elder Castillo. I think we are going to be great friends! He has like six or seven months in the mission.

This place gets up to 120's really easy and really fast here real quick! I am in the ward lomas de vergel if you want to search it out papi. It has always been my dream to go to Valles, after Victoria and well, now it is done! ha ha

I got my first card that says I am going home today, it just says that I have served good and that I am a good missionary! So, I am pretty happy with that. ha ha I will be coming home the 26th of May. 

I didn't have time to read your letters so I will print them out and read them later. I am really pushing for time. I am really proud and happy to have such great parents!!! Keep up the amazing work!!! Tell all that I love them!!!! I will write more next week. 

I love you and do great things!!! Stay strong and search for service opportunities!! 

Love Elder Hancock

It's all about Service

Hola familia, 

First, thank you all for the money in my account. It has been a help, it seems I always need money like crazy. I gave my reembulsos to my zone leader that was going down to Tampico, but he was super pressured there and forgot to give them, so he is supposed to be sending them today by internet, so I should have some money back on Friday from those. Right now, my comp and I don't have anything which was bad and then I found out today that you had put money in my account. :D

This week was good, we are starting to warm up. It did snow this week, but it didn't stick to the ground, it just came down in little baby flakes for a couple of minutes, so I can officially say that I saw snow in Mexico!! The depression ish/anxiety problems stay about the same as they have been but I am still trucking thru and keeping in touch with president and getting blessings when I need them. We had 12 less actives in church in sacrament! So exciting! 

So, a little while ago we helped a man. He had been feeling bad and all of the doctors were telling him that it could be colon cancer developing. We gave him a blessing, my comp anointed and then I gave the blessing. It was just a spiritual experience. I felt the immense love that the Lord had for this man and the happiness He felt that the man was coming back to church. There was a promise; it was that if the man was honest in coming back to church, if he stayed strong, and kept keeping the commandments, and if he was continuing to exercise his faith, that the Lord would heal him, but if not, there is no promise. I felt like the blessing was a very cool experience and honestly I forgot when he was going to get the results. I have seen that the Lord helps me to forget sometimes to help me to really have an amazing answer in the end. But, one day this week, I went to see him and he said that he had the results and that he was completely clean, that he just has some swelling in his colon and it is being caused by his blood pressure or something. So, I am very happy and my testimony is super strengthened at the chances to exercise the priesthood! It really is the amazing power of God on earth!!

I finally got the tie, the hymnal, and the Christmas pic of mom and papi. ha ha oh I loved it. My comp and I have been singing in English like this whole week. President says if you have a companion who speaks Spanish, teach him English, the mission is an amazing opportunity for learning. My comp is speaking pretty good English and my Spanish has gotten better in this time. 

Thank you for sharing with me what those families said about me. They are great families! I love them! 

So, I was thinking on our service this week; I was thinking about how we serve the Lord and our friends. In almost every circumstance I have found myself serving the Lord. I have been serving, not the people that I want to serve, or the people that I think would be good members, or even the people that I think would need help. What has happened, is that I have found myself in the service of the people that maybe I would have thought didn't need help, or that I would have just passed up, or that I would have said that someone else could serve, cause I and MY big head and pride didn't just quite like how the vibe was with them. What I have found is that that when we truly love the Lord and HIS children, we are able to put aside the ME and the what do WE want, and who do WE want to serve. I have made friends with these people, and some are now my best of friends. I am changing into the man that the Lord wants me to be. I am in forever debt to my Father in Heaven for helping me to be an instrument, for ultimately starting the great change that can come to pass in our hearts. I love the Lord, I love his children. "And I say unto you that when ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me"… I think that all of us can apply this scripture in our lives. When it says, "the LEAST of these my brethren"… it is not meaning merely the poorest of poor, or those that stand most in need. It is also meaning to serve those who might just look to be the least of worth to you. If you can "put off the natural man, and become a saint through the atonement of Christ", I promise you that the scriptures will be unfolded unto all of you. Search for the service to the people that are not necessarily your best friends, but maybe for the people, or in opportunities that really make you exercise a little bit of humility, love, tender and brotherly kindness. THAT is when we grow; if we first serve those whom the Lord wants us to serve; those whom HE would prefer, those whom HE loves more than we love them. We need to turn our sights to God, to turn them to really making them be "with an eye single to the Glory of God"; really seeing those along with ourselves, as who can we become, not who we are now. Now, I make this promise because I live it everyday, the Lord has changed my life, He is making me who I want to become!  I testify that He wants you all to help His children. He loves them, He loves you, He will help you at all times. I testify of this, in the beloved name of our Savior and King, even Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Ha ha mom, thanks for the countdown and no, I am not trunky. It has really passed, if it was going to come. I am just finding more love for the people and just serving with all that I have. I hope if it does come, I will be able to fight it off and be like you mom, working hard up to the last day! 

Next week is transfers and I have six months here, and me and my comp have four and a half months together, so it's a definite possibility I will be going. I would love another change here, but I have no idea what will happen. If I am transferred I will probably be late writing or maybe even not until Tuesday so if you don't get your letter don't worry until then, don't worry. 

I am short on time today, so will you please write Tyler a little hi and have a great week for me and tell him I will write him next week. And please tell Darby, I am thinking of her and I am excited for her to get to go back out! I will try to write her next week also. 

I have to go now. Have a great week! Go to the temple! I love you all! 

Elder Hancock

P.S. Mom, I love you MOST! I win! I win! I win!