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

It's Letter Time!

Pues, hola familia!!!!

We aren't having district meeting today, because of changes. Our Zone Leader, Elder Bolon, is going to Tampico tomorrow to pick up his new companion who is american, and I am going to speak nothing but spanish to the poor guy because I know the blessings of only speaking spanish. It is a huge help to learn the language when you get here. This is why I am writing later and also because I had to go get another haircut today.

Yes, we did have a baptism this week! In fact, we had two! I loved it! My comp baptized them both, but I got to confirm one of them! That was a little scary because I don't quite know a whole lot of spanish for the blessings yet, but it all went well!

This week was kind of crazy because of the baptisms and because this week is cambios. I am here for six more weeks with Elder Lopez, so I hope all goes well and that we can reach the goals we have planned for. We planned for four baptisms this cambio and we want to have like six or more if the Lord will help us get all of them.

I love your drawing of the blessing in the hospital poppi and I love all that you are all doing! Tell the whole family that I love them and I will always be happy to hear from them! I am excited that you did a whole phone call in Spanish, poppi. I can't translate as good now because, I have forgotten some English words. haha

Sooo, about Ty, I am super happy for him and I know that it will bless his life more than he will ever know. I have seen so many blessings and so many changes in my heart everyday that I am in the mission field and I have had spiritual experiences that I never would have had before the mission here; things that I am glad I am doing, that I have seen are helping me to become the man that God wants me to be! I pray everyday that I will be open to the changes in my heart, that the spirit wants me to have and that Heavenly Father wants me to have. 

I don't have a lot of time, so please write and tell Ty, that I love him and that this is the best decision he has ever made in his entire life! Follow the spirit in all that you do and it will all be okay!

Also, tell Ben congratulations and I am glad he is getting married in the temple.

I want to say, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Poppi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was going to write it last week but I forgot ahhhh.

How was the temple dedication? I did not get to see it.

I feel like I should write more about the week and what not. So, this week was great. Me and my companion are doing great and we are going to work harder than any other missionary this week cause we watched a video on repentance. In this video it had a talk from Jeffery R. Holland. He speaks about how, when we are tired, want to give up, think that all hope is lost and we can't do anymore, think of what Christ did in our lives. He never gave up, sat down, etc. What he did then, and what he did with the children in the Americas, is, that he was the perfect example of how we can live our lives and he knelt down and prayed, not for himself. He prayed for the people. I'm not saying that praying for yourself is bad, I'm just saying that it is pretty awesome to pray for others too.

I love to see the progression in the family also. ohhh tell Alex that I hope she has a great week and does cool stuff with that crocodile dna and whatnot.

I love you all and hope you do the right thing in everything you do. Smile and be happy. Be amazing. Get better poppi, I pray for you everyday. Keep doing what the Lord would want you to do; do the work of salvation or in Spanish, la obra de salvation.  :D

Love, Elder Hancock!

Yay! It's LETTER DAY again!

Hola, 

This week we have had some major trials of our faith as missionaries. We haven't had any baptisms yet but the miracle is what I am going to tell you; but first, I hope that you are getting better poppi, and loving every minute of life. I pray every single night that you and the family will be able to have the opportunities to serve our Heavenly Father and when I read what you write I feel like the prayers are answered every single night!   

At times I find myself thinking about after my mission, and I think how in the heck am I going to be a great parent like you guys have been to me? Then, I read my patriarchal blessing; I have read it a lot on my mission. I think about the promises that are made to me in there and I can see part of the blessing coming to pass already. It says that I will have challenges that will perplex me and these are the challenges that everyone in this world has to overcome. I see every day that I am having to overcome the challenges of life, to put aside the natural man; what I want to do, and to think to myself, what is the Lord's way in this situation. Also, I have been studying a lot about Christ in my study time. I used to not like that the Book of Mormon said the exact same things as the Bible, but now I can see that it is because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Also, that the people in the Americas needed to have the same teachings of Christ as all of His other sheep. In my blessing it says that I will come to a knowledge of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ completely and fully. I can see that I am learning about the gospel of Christ more and more everyday and how it affects my life! I hope that I can come to a full knowledge of his gospel. That is my ultimate dream. I can also see that on the mission (and this week) I am changing; not physically, but mentally, to where I don't really think about what I need when we are out walking and I start to think about; what does this investigator need? Or how are we going to help this person go to church and feel the spirit?

We have two investigators who are really miracles! One, her dad has some problems with the church that we found out about like Monday and we have been praying all week for her and for our investigator that was supposed to get baptized two weeks ago. This week on Sunday we found out that her dad will allow her to get baptized and her baptism is on Friday at seven. The other, was in church when they announced the baptism for her and asked my comp why they didn't announce her name; she wanted to be baptized also! It was a day of miracles!!!!!!!!! We have been praying for three baptisms this change and Sunday night we noticed that one of our investigators has already been taught everything and she has been interviewed and this week she told us that she wanted to be baptized. We truly had the Lord test our faith until the end and He tested us because we can only grow when we truly trust and have faith in the Lord!

I have noticed in the photos that daddy has a lot more of a sincere smile after the accident, because he is truly grateful for the things that the Lord has blessed him with, like family and the gospel in his life. I think of this as a huge blessing in my life. I am loving that daddy is trying to write spanish to me ha ha and es te qierro no qierre hah you said that you love yourself with that one hah but it was ok, I understood. Tell Kent that I understood all that was in his letter and paper, it is just a little slow for me to speak with those concepts ha ha Tell Alex that I love her and she should take a picture of the crocodile stuff. 

I have lost a lot of weight so I am scared as to if I will gain it back now, because my appetite is back up and I am eating a lot. A lot of the food here is healthier and I am walking a lot too, so that is good . I don't know if I will be writing from Huejutla or not next week because this is the last week in the change, and I don't know if I am going to be changed or not yet. I will make sure I write no matter what and let you know. 

I am excited to hear of those preparing to serve missions. My advice is to prepare by reading your Bible and Book of Mormon a lot and knowing how the Book of Mormon can testify of the Bible. All that the people have is the Bible and know nothing of the Book of Mormon, so you need to be able to let them know how the Book of Mormon testifies of the Bible. Both are true, both are needed.

I hope you have an amazing week and I love you all. Do great things this week. Oh, would you write my cousin in Mexico and tell him that I love him. I don't know why that is important, but do it. :D 

Love life and serve the Lord with all thine heart, might, mind and strength and He will do the rest.

Love, ELDER DAKOTAH HANCOCK

News from Mexico, it's LETTER day!

Hola, 

Well, it is that time of the week again!!!! AHHH YEAH!!! THE CROWDS GO WILD! haha 

This week it was way busy and super super crazy! On p-day last week we got a text saying that I needed to go to Tampico at 6:10 in the morning. So we bought my ticket. Up until this point I thought that my companion was joking with me and I didn't really need to go to Tampico! ha ha but I went and Elder Martinez needed to go tambien. When we got there it was for our visa stuff. So, the first day, my pictures for the visa weren't correct so after that I was informed that I had a training in Tampico the next day also, so they were just going to keep me there over night, and try to get the visa worked out the next day. It seems like God wanted me there for that long because the next day my visa didn't work again and this time for some reason the lady couldn't do the paper work and the pics were bad again, so I was informed after that, that iI was going to be there for another day. By this time I had started to miss my old area and started to think that Tampico was my new area. The third day everything finally worked out and I finally got home like at six thirty or seven in the night… ahh sooo that was a crazy week right there. 

I was able to change my money while in Tampico and pick up a couple of shoulder bags to take the place of my one that broke. I got ones sort of like I got while we were on vacation last year. 

While with the other elders in the offices I saw the blessings of having a companion that doesn't speak english.  As we were talking with the other elders in the offices and what not it was all in spanish and I was one of the only new ones to be able to keep up with the conversational spanish and the others would only talk when it was about the lessons and what not like that. The moral of the story is, that I saw the blessings of my companion and how much I have grown. I am thankful for my companion and we are getting on the same page as one another. wahoo! 

We didn't have our baptism this week, we are praying really hard for everyone, so we can possibly have three baptisms this change!

Tell everyone I am doing very great and I appreciate all the prayers and support that everyone gives me. I can feel the power of your prayers everyday. Remember to give someone else a smile today. :D 

aha I love all of you and I hope that you have an amazing week and do always follow los susurros del espiritu santo!

Love, Elder Dakotah Hancock

This is me in front of the Tampico Temple. 

Letter Day from Mexico!

**Thank you for all your support and prayers. We got to email back and forth for a bit today, since we were on when his email came, and so I have added in some of that to his letter. He is learning and figuring out how best to do the work. He is experiencing lots of neat things, as well as some not so neat, but he is growing from every experience he has. He is maturing, as a person and he is continually humbling himself before the Lord, and finding answers to any problems he has come up against. It's so rewarding for me, as a mother, to see him growing and learning and developing a deep desire to serve the people even more fully than he thought possible. The Lord hears and answers prayers, even the little prayers of a new missionary struggling to find his place in the work or even just to be able to become accustomed to the different foods he's being fed. Dakotah is feeling the prayers sent his way and he is thankful for them. He loves being a missionary and he loves serving the Lord.
Mimi




Hola,

I am feeling a lot better and the praying is working because the food is a lot better this week than before. One thing I thought about was, what would mother do if people weren't eating her food? That seemed to kick my stomach into gear and the food is pretty great now! One meal that almost made me sick last week; I have had twice this week already, and it has not made me sick. This week it was really hot and there was no rain, I missed it! haha
I can't send any pictures this week. We are in Central because I had to get a haircut and so we are emailing from here and this computer doesn't let me send out pictures.

Tell Kent, that I can see why he is jealous that I am here and he isn't. ha ha but tell him after the mission I want to come and visit, so I've been thinking and he shall come tambien. I am happy for Kent in school, tambien Alex.  Ohh there is a missionary who is in love with Alex and he only has till december left haha. He is one of my best friends in the field. Has Ty Dudley gotten his call yet? Make sure to let me know.

Poppi, the language is coming along pretty well, all of the people are astonished when I say that I only have a month in Mexico and they all think that I spoke it before the mission. I have to reassure them that I did not, and it is only thru the gifts that the Lord has blessed me with, that I can understand and what not. I understand what is being said but sometimes I have troubles with what to say back to them.

Anyway, I was having a bit of a hard time and then I just started to think, my mission is supposed to be fun and something that I will remember for the rest of my life; I need to stop being a baby and only thinking about me. I need to force myself to have fun in EVERY situation and that will help me to love my mission. Well, it is working and I have seen a difference.

I try, everyday, to act like good ole Elder Calhoun, and make the work fun for me, personally, but most of all, for others! I try to enjoy every day and to always have a smile on my face and to act like I did back home, being fun loving in all things.

I have been reading and studying as hard as I possibly can and I had felt like my companion was being kind of mean to me, but then I realized that in my studies I need to search for things that can help my investigators, and with my companion, I need to be the bigger man, take any tone that he may use, that feels mean, with a grain of salt and just love him for who he is. I have learned a lot from him and I am not mad at him in any way. He may get transferred this change, and I may get another trainer to finish up my training because they might need him to train a new batch of missionaries coming in; there are like twenty coming in. The president wants the more experienced trainers to be the ones helping the newest missionaries. If he does leave, I will be sad but it's what the Lord wants so I will be okay. I am thankful for my mission and I can see the blessings in my life.

We have a baptism this week and I am super excited because it is my first baptism!!!!!! :D

My week has been exciting! I got to go to a town called Panacaxtlan last week and I forgot to tell you about it; the people there are amazing and I love them with all my heart! I love to teach them too. They all understand spanish but most only speak a language called nahuatl and it isn´t even close to spanish. The reason I got to go both times [I went again this week] was because my companion is the district leader and he has to interview people for baptism there. As missionaries, we are not allowed there without special permission because the non members there do not like the missionaries and they have even done some pretty serious scary mean things that I wont tell you, so you don't get worried. But, to go, we have to have the stake president with us and it is usually two companionships and a couple of the councilors of the stake president also. It is a way fun experience and I love them a lot!!!

I hope you all have an amazing week and I hope you do what is right and what the Lord wants!  I love you and can´t wait to hear from you ohhh and I'm not sick anymore ha

Love, Elder Dakotah Hancock

It's TIME for a LETTER!

Hola!

The week was great and the language is coming day by day. I talk to more and more people everyday. Everyone says that I am doing way good for only two weeks in Mexico but I don't feel like I am doing as great as everyone thinks. The first week the food was the best on earth and I couldn't get enough of it, but this week I have been sick.  I think maybe, I am still getting used to the food and all. I take pepto a lot and it seems to help. I pray really hard that I will be used to the food and able to put myself aside and not let this get in the way of the work. I am not deadly sick or anything, it's just a bother, so if it gets worse then I will get a blessing, I promise, mom. I have lost some more weight with all the heat and sweating and the not feeling well this week, so I am excited about that part. ha ha  I am never not sweaty, it's a regular thing here. lol  Oh today, I came upon a chicken foot and my comp said I wasn't accustomed to the food yet and ate it for me. I also found Tampico juice at the store! I was super excited and got it!

Thank you for the pics. They are way fun. I love to see what all you are doing. I hope that Alex is loving her new place, even though it isn't anywhere as cool as here! I love the people! I love the area! The clouds here are amazing!

My companion is great! The members are way nice and they feed us all the time but I always get full and can't eat everything on the plate. In answer to your thoughts, mom, I already do think and dream in spanish, I just don't completely understand it. ha ha  The binding on my scriptures completely broke on them and one of our investigators put wood glue in them for me and they are perfect now. :D

The internet is really slow today, so I am just writing one email. Please tell Grandma and Grandpa that I love and miss them and thank them for the email. Also, tell them they should put hair around their stuff like they do in the movie Rookie, with their fields.

I think that you need to do the work for our old old grandpa; it's Thomas's dad or his dad, but I was looking at the family history thing and his isn't recorded as done.

So, one day this week, we were having a way hard day. It was hot, I sweated a lot and all of our appointments fell thru so we didn't know who to talk to or what to do. I had been praying the whole day and I wasn't getting anything, it was horrible, but then I took a moment and bowed my head and showed Heavenly Father that I really wanted an answer and I had a name come to my mind. Well, we were on our way to that house and we helped these people do some yard work and we got two new investigators there. Then, when we got to the house of the name I was thinking of, she wasn't home, but her mom was and we got her as a new investigator. It was way awesome! Prayers are always answered, even if the answers take awhile to get to you.

I am glad you got home safe from taking Alex to school, with all that adventure on the way home. I have to go now and write my weekly letter to the president. I love you all a lot! Have an amazing week!

Love, Elder Dakotah Hancock

Here is a picture of me out in the heat, look at the amazing clouds. Yes, it's hot here! :D

   

LETTER DAY from Huejutla!

hola hola hola hola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! como esta???!

Sooo this week was great but it was somewhat hot, not hot like Tampico because Tampico has mas humedad (humidity). It does rain here every other day, if not everyday! I love the rain because it cools things down a lot! We do have to wear our suit coats on Sundays, but only for Sacrament, so it's hot, but not too bad since we only wear it then. 

I get cold showers but I am hot when I go to sleep so I don't have any covers. By about 5:00 in the morning, the fans I have, make my toes a little cold, so I wake up and my feet are cold and my body is cold but I am sweating. It is a way weird feeling. I do miss being dry all the time. ha ha 

Today I did my laundry in a sink thing, like everyone has them. Oh and we have a machine in our house to rinse them out so that is good. :D

Oh to answer your question, I would introduce them to the hot cocoa if they had it here! Something that is really great is this yogurt called lala yogurt, it tastes like liquid gogurt! It is fantastic and I love it! My favorite meal so far is gringa, it is like quesadillas but with steak in them and you can put what condiments you want on them. The food is pretty hot; poppi would not be able to handle it. ha ha 

I love my companion. He is funny and we are getting along well. He is from Sonora, a city that is right by Culiacan, so he lived by the ocean. 

We are teaching a lot of recent converts and a lot of less active members, we have like two or three families that are investigators and I want more!!!!!!!!!  

This week I spoke like maybe five times in lessons and yesterday I decided [after receiving an answer that was really a reminder of what I have been taught; just open my mouth and follow every prompting and the Lord will put words in my mouth] to talk, and so I did! And amazingly enough, words came out and now I love talking to people cause it is helping me to understand their spanish; I followed the prompting and I received help when I needed it. It's different how they say someone has good faith here, cause they say, tiene fe muy bonita! so it translates to has very beautiful faith. 

In about every single lesson there are chickens or roosters walking through them which is cool, we are usually outside on the porch or there are mosquitoes and they are mean. I have almost used all the spray that you gave me but in spanish it is called repelente. Sometimes the members make fun of me because I use so much, ha ha but I don't want to get sick.  

We walk a lot but not like 12 miles a day. We have a good sized area so we take the auto büs. It is only 5 pesos every time we ride it but it's 5 for one person, so really it is 10 pesos. It is a lot better than taking a taxi because those are like 20-30 pesos. (here 5 pesos is like 40 cents, and 20-30 pesos is like 2 dollars) 

I get to see cool things like you can't imagine everyday and I get to see the most humble and happy of people living in houses that have like two rooms at most. I love them! There are some houses here that are way nicer, like two story homes that are way nicer than homes in America. 

I do have some cool pictures but they take a long time to load so I will try to send more next week. Today, I will send one of me with one of the families here. They are very friendly. You can probably see, I have lost some weight too. 

I love it here! It is awesome! 

Tell Kent to get on down here and we will be compañeros! Tell him to write me in spanish and next week I will try to translate. ha ha 

I have an hour each p-day to write you. In this area, I don't think I will get to do any sight seeing on p-days because our p-day ends at 4:00p.m. when we have District Meeting. Today, we just cleaned the house, did laundry and what not. I have to go now. Anyways do great things  :D

Adios and I love you all!

Love Elder Dakotah Hancock