Giving Thanks To The Lord At All Times

Well hello hola!!!!

This week was just full of amazing tender mercies of the Lord! I am excited to tell you about that but first I am super happy and excited to say that I am glad to hear about the amazing things going on in the house, like Brant and Kristy now have a baby! That is super cool! Guy and April are now grandparents! Also I am so happy about all the things the family is doing!

Well, I think Alex's new guy is better looking than the others she has picked, he has a light in his eyes, that means he might be better and stay the good missionary he was. I am happy she found one who is still keeping the missionary spirit alive and is still a missionary at heart and not just because of a name tag. Tell her to cherish that and to thank the Lord for that. He could be a good one!

They changed our p-day, now we have until 6pm to do our p-day and we now do our junta or district meeting on Wednesdays at noon, so that is nice. Oh and next week I will not be writing until Wednesday in the afternoon, it is because we are going to the temple, as a zone(I guess that's the benefits of serving in Tampico), so we have to change p-day until Wednesday, so don't get worried. Today, we went to the beach again, so I will send some pictures if I can get them to send.

For Mother's Day, I am thinking it will be the 12th on Sunday and I have to do it before 4pm, Pres. says, but I get to Skype so you might not get to go to church that Sunday. I am really sorry if you don't!

I have been thinking a lot about this week, and I have seen something that the Lord has helped me to see in particular this week and it has really touched my heart a lot! The thing is, giving thanks to the Lord at all times. At this particular time in my mission I happen to have a great comp! He loves to work and all that great jazz! I LOVE THAT! I LOVE TO WORK! And I love that we are seeing so much success, the area is just opening up and it is just taking off because the Lord is helping us so much!

Anyways, I have been thanking the Lord so much this week for just giving me an amazing comp that will help me to grow and that I will help him to grow! I have seen as a result of this that I have been forced to be humble to the Lord because I am having to give thanks! It is a crazy concept, but it really works. When we are in constant thanks of our Heavenly Father, we find it harder to be prideful! I have seen this working in my life and I am super happy that the Lord has taught me this lesson and I pray that we don't forget it. But this is not only applicable with your comp, I have started to apply it with the other parts of the work too, the result, is that the Lord is bringing more love to my heart and helping to love the people in my area even more! My challenge for you this week is that you all can apply this in your life!! I want that all of you can give thanks to your Heavenly Father this week, in the night time and at all times let your hearts be fully drawn out in prayer always in thanks to your God! I don't have much more time but I testify that this will help someone out there and that it will help you all out!

Grandma and Grandpa, thank you for writing and I will watch for the birthday money. Thank you so much! Mom and Poppi, I will watch for your birthday money too. I may use this birthday money to buy new shoes. Mine are falling apart, I already went through the soles I have now. ha

Oh, and yes mom, I am still losing weight. Lots of walking...


Keep doing great things! Have a great week! It is my birthday this week! THE BIG 20! Sooo hit me up or send me something hahs!

Love you all,
Love, Elder Hancock

 

Miracles Come To Help The Diligent

hola,

This week was really great for me! We have been trying to be diligent in all things we do as missionaries, this week it was in asking the question, if they will have someone invited the next visit! It was amazing cause no one at all gave us really anything, but then out of the blue, we got this guy that is golden and really wanting to be baptized! So it was amazing to me to see how the Lord brings miracles to help the diligent elders who are trying as hard as we can!

We will talk and decide this week about what to do for Mother's Day, mom. I think I will be able to Skype again, I just don't know what day.

Tell the Jackson's good luck and congrats on their move and I will miss them. Maybe you need to just get a job down in St. George or Kanab, poppi and then you can be closer to Lisa, mom. :D

Thank you for always trying so hard to get me what I need, mom! You are the best mom in the world!!!!!!!! Definitely the best mom of a missionary I have ever seen! I know that you will receive amazing blessings from your best momness! :D I love you!!!!!

It is weird to think that Alex is getting out of school in two weeks! Wow! So, tell everyone to write me! I would love to hear how everything is going for everyone.

I am sorry I don't have much time today to write! But, I love you all with all my soul!!!! Have a great week and do the things the Lord wants you to.

Love,
Elder Dakotah Hancock

 

Book of Mormon in a dialect here. It is Mayan.  

 

I fell and sliced my hand pretty good this week but it is okay now and it will be a cool scar. 

Filled With JOY For The Missionary Work And Tests Bring Testimonies

hola hola hola everyone!

I got my package today! That made me super happy! I am wearing my glasses now. :D I am excited to use my little Preach My Gospel today! Wahooo! Thank you for emailing that picture of Dome and Blake! They look great! Dome is doing amazing! I hope when we all get home, we can just keep working hard to do all that Heavenly Father wants us to, being humble and willing before the Lord at all times.

This week was actually really hard. It was hard because of spiritual and listening to the spirit troubles, like knowing the exact person that we needed to visit! I have seen and learned a lot this week! There are some real miracles that have happened in this short little time! Wow, the Lord is really helping those who want to come unto Him.

First of all, I am super happy that people are going on missions, it is really the greatest decision you can make at this time in your life! I have seen sooooooo much that I have learned in just such a short time! Well in ten months, it feels like four days I swear! But it only feels like that when you are doing what you need to do! I think about the two year elephant that you eat and I am almost half way through this two year beast! :D

I am just filled with joy for the missionary work! For those who are debating going on a mission because you don't know what will happen, if you have a girlfriend waiting, if you think that there are just so many opportunities to pass up right now… you will have those opportunities, if not even more and that are far better in the future! I encourage all of you to go. I also share my testimony that I know this church is true! I love this gospel with all my heart! I really have seen a change; the change that God is bringing about in this heart of mine. I have tested Heavenly Father's promises and preached the gospel, to see if I will be happy. I can tell you that I am the most happy that I have ever been in my whole life! Right now I am working on keeping humble cause I have a comp that is my best friend in the whole world! Therefore satan works to take the humility from me!!! So, therefore I am attacking satan and fighting for humility!

My spiritual topic that I want to bring to the table today is the topic of TESTIMONY!!!!!!!!! Wahoooo!!!!!!! I am going to talk a little about testimony!!! I was wondering where in my call it says that I would be suffering for two years and tested until the breaking point everyday; those returned missionaries will know what I am saying, especially the ones who served in Mexico and walked like twelve miles or more a day in the hot sun at 110 degrees! But, there is one thing I have noticed about the Lord and his missionaries, we are sent here to preach the gospel; through that Heavenly Father gives us tests, a whole heap of miracles and much much more, and afterwards He blesses us with the testimony. There is a reason it is called by that name, not takeamony, givemeamony, haveamony, thankamony, or any one of those names. It is called a TESTimony because that is the direct intent that the Lord is going to do! He is going to test it! It will be the hardest thing in the world when He does, but that is how He is making more and more clear to us that it is all true! When we are willing to suffer for something, willing to give two years of our life to the gospel, He makes sure that we receive a re-embursement or in other words, a super testimony! I want all of you to try to do something to test your testimony this week!

I love you all and know that this gospel is true!!!! I love it and I know that you will encounter this same happiness that I and many others have!! :D Please have a great week. I would talk a lot more but I am now at my time limit! :D I send shout outs to all my friends, especially the Copes and the Jacksons. Please tell Lisa, thank you for the letter and I am sorry I ran out of time and can't write back. I love their family and know that all will work out just like it is supposed to.
 

Have a great week and I will try to also!!!! :D

Love, Elder Hancock!!!!!!!!!!!

Conference Challenges, Goals and LOTS of Inspiration!

hola hola hola,

First off, I have not received a package yet. I am still waiting for it to arrive. I will talk of Conference in a minute but first, I don't know if you saw or not, but in the motab, the last session, Jackie's sister, I think, Judy, was singing in the choir. I thought it was cool that I knew someone in the choir. ha ha

Please tell Becca I am super happy for her and congratulations! She will be an awesome missionary. Tell Koleton congratulations and he will love the good people of Mexico! They are humble and amazing people. Oh, and to not worry so much about the language because once he gets here, he will see that the spanish he learns from the teacher is not the same as that of the spanish here in Mexico. It will all come to him as he relies on the spirit. And please tell Kathleen congratulations on her engagement for me. Oh and tell Kent, I don't eat too many of the tortillas I love the other foods. ha

Well wow! This week was one of the best in my whole mission! It was a great news to hear about all of the many mission calls! Those who are going to serve are going to have some of the best days you have ever had in your whole life!!! This week it was really awesome cause I am with Elder Parry and we are just the best of friends!  haha ohhh and I liked the pic Alex sent about twinners hah she is a goof, if I could teach like him it would be amazing! I aspire to follow the spirit all of my life so I can have the power to talk someday with my children like that! This week was the amazing General Conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it with all of my heart!!

Sooo this week was conference and it just changed my life! All of the talks just hit me and touched my heart with the force of a plow! I really loved how all of the talks really to me, talked about love, the love of Christ and how we need and have to show the love of Christ to everyone, everyday!

So, it started on Friday when we started our fast to prepare for conference, it was just great! I felt the spirit really strong. Going into the first session on Saturday I was just amazed at the power that I felt in the talks given! I loved all of the talks. The first thing that I want you all to do; I want for the next General Conference, I want you all to prepare for the amazing event to come! You can all do that by doing a few simple things; you can start of by fasting, that will bring miracles if you let it! The other things you can do is go to the temple. If you are doing these things that are bringing the spirit to your life, you are bound to be spiritually set for the things to come! As you make these sacrifices, they are not hard to do at all, they are quite simple and they are even easy, one thing I learned this conference is that sacrifices don't necessarily have to be the hardest things in the world, sometimes a sacrifice is just taking time out of your not so busy day, to read the scriptures, to visit the House of the Lord and do a session in the temple, etc. They are all things that are possible to do! You only have to decide to do it and it is pretty much done. The other things is to take notes during the talks, later study those notes,  and let the talks from the prophets touch your heart and change who you are.

One thing I have learned this week is that I went to conference with questions, I thought that I would get the answers to my questions. When we were done with Saturday, I hadn't received anything of my answers, then when we finished all of the sessions, I had received the answers that I really needed, and with that, I could see the answer that God wanted me to receive. I testify that conference can and will change your life if you let it, I am sooo angry with myself because I didn't pay the best attention to it when I was younger! It's ridiculous! But now, I have learned and repented! I am soo ready for another six months so I can learn more and more from the prophets.

The challenge after conference and the thing that I want you all to do is make goals according to the feelings that you had from the spirit. This is good because you can completely change into the person that God wants you to be!! I hope that this has helped you!!!!!!!! This week was just amazing and I love all of you! Sorry, but I have no more time left and I am going to leave now! Do what is right! I love you all and know that you will all do what is right! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Hancock!!!!

 

Me and my comp having tostadas. :D

**Okay, so this is the picture that Alex sent, that Kotah was referring to. Everyone keeps telling him he looks like Elder Holland. Alex thought this was funny and made it up for us and for Kotah. lol

Exercise Your Light Within

well hola hola hola!!!!!!!

This week was pretty great! We had a whole lot of people in the sacrament meeting Sunday!!!! It was super awesome! I am happy to hear about the mission calls and that Kent and Colton are already planning on trips to come back to Mexico! Just wait for me and we will go together!!!! :D


First, I want to make sure that all my friends are doing good, make sure Dome is good as well as Ty Dudley, ohhh and Elder Johns says hi to his friend, Elder Mayberry, that is serving with papi as the missionaries in the home.

This week I have been thinking about what I have learned in these last three changes in the mission, I have decided and felt like I have learned a lot about the type of leader the Lord wants me to be in the mission. When we start the mission, we all think about being district leader and zone leader and whatnot, when really that doesn't matter at all. I was like that when I got here in the mission, then this profound thought came to me, the Lord wants all of us to be first and foremost, disciples of Christ. To be a disciple of Christ, you do not need to have a title of district leader or zone leader, you just need to know that this church is true and then really feel the desire to share what you know to be true! I was thinking about the scripture, let your light so shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven! This scripture really got to me. I know that I don't need to be a district leader or a zone leader, to have success in my mission, I need to have, my light; my testimony. As my testimony, I can show my personality as a part of it! I can be happy all the time, EVEN IN THE HARD TIMES!! That is when we really let our lights shine for all men. You all can and will be a light in the dark for others. When you feel like you are just not doing too great, just keep going please! Someone will see your light and they will be helped through a hard time, I testify to you all, that this is true! I know that first and foremost, we need to put aside our pride and let the light that God gave us shine forth for our fellow brethren. I have seen it work, I have seen the results of exercising your light, I can say that it is super hard and at times it feels impossible, but I can also say that those times are when the Lord helps us to grow the most! I testify this in the holy and sacred name, of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

In the other news, General Conference is this week!!!!!! I am super excited!!!!!!!!! Take questions to the Conference!!!!!!! God will answer them!

Well, for changes, I am still in Tancol Tampico and I am now serving with . . . . . . . . .ELDER PARRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is a really awesome guy and I love being with him already!!!!!!!!!! I feel like we are going to be friends for all times, like after the mission. Elder Villegas went to be with another Elder who was an assistant who left the office this change.

I love you all!!!! Keep doing all you can do and exercise your light!!!!!!!! :D

Love,
Elder Hancock

The Scriptures Will Bring Answers From Heaven!

Kotah would love to hear from you all! He can get your emails and if he has time he tries to get one back to you. He was thankful for all those who wrote this week. Right now, he doesn't have time to write everyone back, but he thinks of you and he loves to hear from you.

hola!

Well well well, this week was a really good week, it was super cool to see the blessings of the Lord, I will talk about that a little later in the letter.

This week I got another camera finally!!!! WAHHOOO!! Thanks mom and poppi! Soo let's hope that this one doesn't get robbed like the last one. . . . .

I am really happy to hear about everyone going on missions! And serving worthily! It was super cool to see the pics of Katherine and the Cottam family! In spanish, me alegra mucho a ver esta foto. :D I miss you all so much and welcome home, Katherine! I know you did amazing things and helped so many people on your mission.

It's been hot! On Saturday we hit a whopping 110 degrees! SUPER WOW!!! I almost died! Oh, be aware that changes are next week, so I might now write until late afternoon or evening on Monday or maybe even Tuesday, if I get changed. I do love it here, but I also have found that I miss the small towns now that I have been in the big city. I will serve where the Lord wants. That is so awesome that Dome and Blake are companions! They probably are there to have a little of a relaxed cambio ha ha :D

This week was great for super spiritual experiences, the one that I want to talk about this week is about being consegrated in the work of the Lord. I have had the ability and opportunity to see the blessings of being consegrated in the work. The definition of the word consegration is doing something that isn't easy for you to do, it is suffering a little bit to receive blessings of the Lord. So with the work of the Lord or in other words missionary work, we have to follow the words and do the things that we need to do to help the work move forth. When they are hard, and they guaranteeingly will be super hard, that is when we put ourselves aside and we are opening the heavens with a humble heart and being consegrated, to receive direct blessings from the Lord. Another thing that is in my mind and my heart right now; this week something was passing and I needed an answer. I started to ponder on what I should do, I started to read my scriptures and I prayed during the time. I got my answer that I needed, it was a miracle. I just want to bear my testimony to all of you that it is true that the scriptures will bring answers from heaven! I share that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

So this week was great. I will write you all next week. This week I want you all to try this out; I want you all to go to the Book of Mormon with a question and have faith that Heavenly Father can help you. I testify that it will happen. Please have faith in the Lord and that miracles are possible! Go to the temple and do what you should! I LOVE YOU ALL!
Love, Elder Hancock

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LATE, GRANDMA!!!! I LOVE YOU!

Mom, that isn't a win, ha ha because you don't speak french ha ha :D
I LOVE YOU IN ENGLISH!!! TE AMO EN ESPAÑOL!!! Y EN CADA OTRA IDIOMA QUE HAY EN EL MUNDO!!!!!!!!!! :D

Just Be Yourself!

 I have TWO LETTERS this entry. I took the week off to enjoy our daughter home for her Spring Break. Thanks for understanding!
Mimi

March 11, 2013

hola!

Soo this week was pretty crazy!

To start off, I am super glad to hear about the calling for Austin! It is super cool that he is going to Kenya! I knew he would go somewhere crazy like that! I hope you do some amazing things! Go through the temple as fast as you can so you can start to understand more about what you are doing. Hopefully, you won't be in the super humid jungle like I am and you will get the dry heat like Utah.

I kind of got robbed this week, I was in ciber, and someone took my camera. That is all they got! I still have all my money and everything else like that. Mom, sorry for scaring you, but I am fine, I just don't have my camera anymore. They did an investigation for the camera but no one has turned it in or anything like that, que triste! I am sorry for the loss of all the photos and momentos from the mission. I promise to take lots the rest of my mission, after I can get a new camera. I can get one here that is like my old one, but it's pink. Oh, also what do my new glasses look like? Do they look like poppi's?

I washed my ties today! Wahoooo no more stinky ties!! I was not sure how they would turn out but they came out B-E-A-UTIFUL!!! They are quite clean! :D

As for the other problem, I talked with my dl and my zone leader and I think he is going to teach our investigator now because they are in the same ward as us. We have splits with the district leader later today. It's hard but I am trying the best I can with it all.

How is it going with the work and everything? How is it going spiritually with the family? I want to say thanks for always being strong with pops and us, even when we are super dumb as your kids and as a family. I am glad that the family can always come to Heavenly Father and be better. I have seen a lot of families lately; how satan is ripping apart their families little by little. Just always be great and do the work of the Lord! That will be the thing that holds us all together in the times of war with satan!

So, I was thinking in who I am in the mission, and I had the profound thought; it was, don't try to be other missionaries, just be yourself. When you got your call, it didn't say, you are hereby called to serve as Elder Lopez, Elder Bruno, Elder whoever, in the mission Mexico Tampico. It said, Elder Hancock YOU are hereby called to serve. When you are with your friends, don't try to be them, don't try to drop who you are and what God gave you. He gave you those things for a reason! First of all, He has not given you the gifts and things you need to be this person, that person, etc. but the things He has given you are every single one of the blessings, gifts, rights, and abilities, to be YOU, to serve how He wanted YOU to serve. He doesn't want you to get lost and lose your special ability to be YOU. He wants you to keep those genuine qualities He has given you. He wants us to make those qualities better and to be able to shine as the light that we really are! YOU can be YOU every single day! Soooo just do it! When I had this thought, I was stunned at what the spirit was telling me! I was super happy that I could be me, not try to be super super strict, never smiling and not being happy. I could find the happy medium between the two, I could use the gifts God gave ME to do the better things. I could be happy in the mission while serving. This is the challenge that I have for all of you this week, I want you to be YOURSELF! You will be able to find the spirit coming to you more and more. Along with this, it eliminates stress that is not needed. Stress from others that is; we will still have stress to make ourselves better in doing what God wants us to do and that is good! Work hard this week! I say these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen.


I am leaving now. I love you all with all my heart! Keep doing the good things, to do what God wants you to do! :D Have a great week and do what is right!

Love, Elder Hancock



P.S. I love to hear from you all!  I would love to receive letters and/or packages haha wink wink!




March 18. 2013

hola!

It's been quite the week! I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life this week, but I am glad I did it. I know that I made the right choice and I have learned a lot from this experience. I just feel so exhausted! Wow! My body just shut down this week. I was just so tired from all of the stress of it all. I am feeling less stressed now that things are being taken care of.

For those who are getting ready to serve soon (and make sure you share this with Darby). Always, ALWAYS remember that there is always an amazing reason to be one hundred percent obedient. When you are that way, you may have some hard comps; don't get discouraged, you are the blessing for them to be with you, but it will sometimes be the hardest thing you have ever done, but being one hundred percent obedient is the best decision you will ever make.

I will try to go and get the camera this week. I still have the one card so I will use it in the new camera. Thank you for that and also for getting me the new glasses. They look good on poppi, I will try not to look dorky in them. ha ha jk :D

Tell Katherine hi and I know she did amazing things on her mission. It is crazy how her mission just flew by! I can't believe that I am working on the tenth month now, ahhhhhh it flew by!  Just think mom, in like two months we will get to Skype again. That should make you smile. ha

Well, I am going to go to cut my hair now. Have a great week and do what you need to! Go to the temple and find a job! :D Thank you for everything you do for me! Do great things and I love you with all my heart!

Love,
Elder Hancock

P.S. Mom this is for you

i love you more than you could ever imagine! aun en español te amo mucho! mas que tu puedes imaginar! wahooo!!! by the way i win, in spanish, te gané!!

Are We Willing to Submit To His Will?

hola!

This morning we we to see the pyramids here in Tampico! They were awesome! I took some pics and I will try to send some of them.

I am super slow at reading english now ha ha curse the spanish in my head. It takes me so long to read your emails and write back because of that.

I am sorry to hear of the job falling thru. I was fasting for you and this job, but I believe that the Lord did not want you to work there, but when I was praying to feel if the Lord would help you with things like work and all, I heard a voice in my mind that said, "yes, I will help them, in my time, in my ways, I will help them". It was good to listen to this voice talking to me like God was telling me this phrase to have comfort, and also so that I do not think or worry a lot in my mind about your work or what will happen to you!

Colton comes home this week! And you said Tyson Faumui comes home next week??!! Wow! Their missions were like two days ha ha.  America, the one who added you on Facebook, showed me the pics on Facebook of the day I left. I almost cried when I saw the the pics of me and poppi and me and mom hugging. It was the goodbye again, it kind of sucked. But now, it's hard to think that I almost have a year! It flew by and I am sooo amazed at what the Lord has done with me in this time! Everyone keeps telling me that months 9 to 11 are super fast, then month 12 is super slow, but then after one year, it flies by in the blink of an eye. It's just going too fast for me. I love it out here doing the work of the Lord. I've thought that when I get home, I probably will want to work for EFY and teach at the MTC and a plus side, they are religious jobs. :D

I want soooooo badly for Alex to go on a mission. I know that I still don't know like anything but I know a lot more than I would have known being in the house for these past nine months. I feel like I am just barely starting to see the potential that God has for me; just a little piece.

The Lord gives us responsibility and things depending on if we have desires or not. So, for example, if we get a no answer to a mission maybe it is because the Lord knows that we really didn't want to go, we are hearing the answer we want to hear. How we change that, we listen to the prophets. Think about all the people you would meet in the mission, the Lord will never just say, no don't go and serve for me, He will say, it is your agency to go and serve, I will be with you either way, but how much more blessed will you be if you do go and serve.This can be applied in all parts of our lives, not just a mission. Like Elder Bednar said, is our faith dependent upon the outcome we want or are we willing to submit to His will?

The work here is going good. I am learning and growing and working hard to do what my President has asked me to do in this companionship and this area. Lots are coming to church and I am super happy about that. Thank you poppi for what you said about the priesthood and helping my companions to act in the priesthood. That helped me a lot! I always feel the spirit when I hear from you and mom! I feel like we are growing more each day, closer to God! Please make sure you get away to the temple each week! There is strength in the temple! Thanks for teaching me the things I needed in my life to get me here. I am also learning a lot here in Mexico! I am thankful that God loved me enough to humble me and allow me to grow, as stated in the talk of Elder D. Todd Christoferson. Thank you for letting me make the choice to come on the mission, it allowed the Lord to humble me and make me grow in the the ways He wants. I am still growing, even being humbled every week, but I am seeing growth and help from above and from my loving family here on earth! Just, thanks for everything again, I feel like every time I give thanks, it helps me to be more humble. I like to be humble. :D

Oh thank you for the pictures! I love the family one and how Cooper is smiling too. He is super crazy! I hope he recognizes me when I get home and wow, poppi, way to make me feel the hurt! There were only 14 or 15 envelopes left. :(

I am leaving now. I love you all with my whole heart! Go to the temple and do what you need to do. Have a great week!
Love, Elder Hancock

Oh P.S. Mom this is for you!

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEE YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i win :D