Portuguese and Avocados

Hola,

Well, this is the last week of the change. I don't know what to think, I love these people, but it feels like I am leaving the house, like I have been here so long that I won't really feel how much I miss and love them, until I am gone.

I am tired and I am trying to ignore the tired and exhaustion with all I have, it's just been a good amount of test here ahhhh. I just don't want to ever feel trunky and want to go home, I want the desires to always be in my mission until the day I leave this life and even longer. I do NOT want to ever be a dead missionary! It is foe or gross and bad. I LOVE the mission with all that I have!

I have been a bit spiritually drained but just in thanks to the Lord and in constant prayer, He will help me to prevent any getting trunky in the future. With just about every area, I have had the opportunity to have a spiritual witness as to if I will be leaving the area or not. Last change, I thought I was going to leave, because it was the natural man saying so, then when I prayed about it, I had this thought saying that I wouldn't leave and I stayed. Now, I was feeling like I could possibly stay another and when I prayed and I had the thought that I could be leaving this change. So, that is always a super spiritual experience. I love to see how the Lord can help us in all we do to prepare us for the future in all things.

I am now trying to learn Portuguese and I am actually learning pretty good how. ha ha to say como seta, you say com estais. There is a guy here who speaks Portuguese and a lot of other languages because he is in the Navy and he had to learn them for work and he has to use them frequently but Portuguese he learned in the mission. I am learning a lot from him. It is surprising how great it is to learn when the Lord gives you the gift of tongues! It isn't even that I have already learned a language, it is the pure gift of tongues and I am soooo grateful for it. I can't type any Portuguese here because the computer has to be set to Portuguese to actually type in it. I can read and understand it and listen and understand the majority of it, but the hard one is talking in it now but from having to remember so much verbs in Spanish, it is not too hard to remember more now, so that is cool. I love languages, I want to learn Italian and French also, so I am not even close to stopping learning. ha ha

Would you send me journals, but not ones like you have sent me, I want one of the boring ones like you use ha ha that just say journal on front and are usually the color of the scripts like black, maroon and blue. I would like the navy and maroon ones. I think you get them at Deseret Book. They have the spiral thing to hold them together, but then the spiral is covered so it looks nice. You have had them before, so you will know what I am talking about! I know you might be confused with my description, sorry. And if you send them in a padded folder, it costs a lot less and it gets here faster than others, like a week faster so I would recommend that. ha If you send me three I am going to try to fill them up in this last nine months or so. That is my goal.

I have to go now, my hour is up. I love you! Keep up the good work and know that I love you! Have a great week! The picture is of me and an avocado tree! All the avocados are huge like that here!

Love, Elder Hancock

P.S. Don't forget next week is changes so I don't know when I will be writing.

Congrats To The Sister And To The Mother

hola familia,

Well, I have just been seeing the rock on Alex's hand! Sister, you are now embarking on a great adventure, please I urge you with all that I have, make it a priority to be humble and love the Lord more than your husband!!! And let him love the Lord more than you. That will assure that you and your children and family will stay worthy and strong in the church all your lives!!! And lastly, GO TO THE TEMPLE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!!!! You are great and congrats!

Brant and Kristy, your baby is cute. Congrats on the baby blessing! It sounds like it was a great day! :D

I was so happy to get the pictures of Katy! I almost cried from joy, seeing that Katy went thru the temple and got married there. I am so happy for her. Please tell her congrats and that I am so happy for her!

Mom, congrats on the new calling. That is great news! Even though I know you know this, I just wanted to remind you how important all callings are. A secretary is very important because the president and her counselors jobs would not be possible without a secretary to help that happen. It's like the story when Heavenly Father says to one of his kids, asking if they want to serve and of course, they scream yes! Then he assigns them to a place to serve, they immediately say, well, hey now, I don't want to serve there, no one will see me or even know that I am alive… I want to do something great. Then the Lord says, all loving and knowing all, but, I will know what you are doing, I will see everything you do, I will even bless you and help you with what you are doing. Who else needs to know about the calling you have, how it is helping my kingdom. So, I want you to know that your calling is an opportunity to serve, as I know you already know. You have told me time and time again that wherever you are serving, that is immediately the best calling ever! I know you will make everyone in the ward want to be the secretary! You are amazing and I love you more than you know and this is great news to hear!

I am laboring diligently and apparently I need to still be here because I am now going on seven months in the area. All I know is that I am feeling so much growth and I start to cry at the slightest feeling of the spirit now and I am seeing the miracles of the gospel in my life. This is where the gospel really gets fun! It's been good for me, helping elders when they are struggling and having a hard time with something. Sometimes, I forget to be asking the questions that the zone leaders want us to and I just go with what the spirit wants us to, but then I look back on the questions, and they are something that the spirit naturally told me to say, so I am super happy with the spirit!  I LOVE the work!

My pres is staying the same on all the attire and such, he is going to interview all of us on worthiness next change to see if we are worthy to have iPads and such like the First Presidency said we would have. I think it would take the place of the movie players we have now. I will be the strict one with it. The phone remains in my pocket!

Oh so, I just saw something that will make you mad, I forgot the cord to the camera!!!!!!!!!!! NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOO ha ha I am super sorry! I know I promised pictures this week. Next week I will, cause tonight I will put the cord in the holder so it is there already for next week.

I have to go now, I love you all and keep doing the great things! I have been praying for you, to have work papi, and fasting for it too. So, I hope you get all you need! You are great! Magnify your callings to the fullest! GO TO THE TEMPLE EVERY WEEK!!!!! It is necessary! I am trying to do all that is right, all the time. Have a great week! Do all the right!

I LOVE YOU ALL!
Elder Hancock

P.S. Momma Bear, you have only ten months of wait time ha ha I know you are counting!

Wet Shoes And Having The Spirit To Guide

Sooo hello all and all,

This week has been crazy, it has been filled with little tests here and there! I learned a lot of how the spirit can help us in the callings we are given in the gospel. The week was good. Today I got to give another American who is a new missionary a blessing of comfort and strength, I felt power as I gave him the blessing, I knew that it was the Lord putting the words in my mouth. The other cool part of the day today was that along with the cool blessing is that before hand I had the thought to invite another American missionary who is a good guy and has about seven months in the mission. Anyways, I had the thought to bring him also. It was cool to see him testify of the tests he has had in his mission to help this young missionary. I was glad to see that the spirit knew that this missionary maybe just needed an experience with giving a blessing also. So I have seen alot this week, of the ways that the spirit has direct knowledge of everything that we need. In our callings we have, the Lord can bless us with the exact knowledge or with an idea of what we need to do; alot of times it doesn't come until we have thoroughly thought through all the ways we can help the person or what we can do to help Heavenly Father. Something I have seen this week is that when I am talking to the other missionaries, I pray before hand, about how I can help them and if the spirit would help me to know anything that they need to know. I had an experience really cool this week cause I was talking to a missionary and was able to ask him about a certain thing and he told me that it was his worry and wanted to know how I knew, I could just tell him that it was a thought directly from the spirit! I want this for all of you this week; I want you to search for opportunities to hear and follow the spirit! I promise you that it will guide you; now I am not saying that it will be easy or even seem possible, but it will be worth it! There are things in the mission that I am seeing, that the mission is not only just coming out here to teach for two years. In this time and these last couple months, I have learned more and more, that the Lord wants people who are just willing to do what He wants, and He calls them to the work. In other words, I have been able to see that my feelings toward my mission are completely changing and I am loving more the people I serve.

Right now we have had like three or four days of consecutive rain, I LOVE it haha the only bad thing is having to dry my shoes out at night! haha I love the mission though! Also one thing I have seen is that there is no need to whine, or complain, it is because no one ever wants to just sit and listen to a complainer all the time, the occasional is ok, but all the time is just horrible! That is the advise that I have for all future missionaries; never complain, because your comp is trying to do all he can and it just never helps to complain! A thought I had this week was very amazing, I had a thought about learning diligence in my mission, I have had the thought that I have to learn the thing now and if I don't, well then I am never going to learn it, I was certainly wrong! I thought about a comp I have had where both of us wanted to be obedient and diligent, and well, great things happened! I know that the Lord loves us and helps us!

I love you all a lot and I am sooo thankful for all you do. I pray for you every day and night! Go to the temple! You will be blessed! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Hancock

Serve The Lord Where He Wants You To Serve

Hola,

We had changes today. I am… STILL HERE in the area and I am staying as the District Leader. I am overwhelmed with the call to be the leader and it is still a shock right now. I have been stressing a little bit but I do know that Heavenly Father will help me do it. I also know that the basis of the mission is not to be the leader, but more importantly, to serve the Lord however He wants you to serve. So, if he wants me to serve in this way, then I will work my hardest to do it the best I can.  Please keep my name in the temple and in your prayers, that I can do this and do it the right way.

I am sad to hear that Elder Parry didn't get to meet up with you and papi, but I am glad that he did get to see papi play Brigham Young. Someday, you will get to meet him. He is a good man and I consider him one of my best friends. He has taught me a lot.

Well, I don't have a lot of time to write today. I am super busy. But, mom, I love you and I thank you for all you are doing.
I love you all and know that you are all doing the right! I am trying with all that I have to serve the Lord as He wants me to. Have a great week and papi start the tour de france!

Love, Elder Hancock

P.S. Sorry it's so short today, hopefully next week I can write more. I just had a lot to do today.

A Decision Now Affects The Future

Everyone, last week, Dakotah had a storm on p-day and so he didn't get to write home. So we were really glad to hear from him this week.
Mimi


hola familia,

It's been a crazy week. I am acting as the District Leader for now. Next week is transfers though, and I have already six months here in the area, so I might be in a different area next week.

Thank you for the pictures of Nathan. He is going to love it here in Mexico! Tell Lander good luck next week! He and Nathan are going to be awesome missionaries.

Hey, Elder Parry and his family are going to come down to pageant this week or next week. He is super excited to see papi as Brigham Young. He said they will get ahold of you to meet you and say hi. He is one of my best friends ever! Let him know I love him a lot when you see him!

So, this week I have been studying how the decisions we make in our missions aren't only the decisions we make in the mission. I was thinking about the decision to work and not just sit at the house of members all day; that affects my family in the future because I will have to make the decision to go to work to supply for my family, to work to raise my children, to help them along to find the right path and to be able to love them the whole time. I love to think about how about how these decisions affect our future, if we follow them and make them in a correct way, then we ill have an easier time doing it again in the future with our children and families, if not, then that hard decision will still be standing in front of us and we will have to get over the mountain eventually.

Also, this week, I have been thinking a lot about the importance of really letting ourselves become converted to this gospel. First, when we do things, let them be from our hearts, let them change us. Don't be scared of the doctrine of the gospel, follow the counsel of the prophets with all you have and really put your trust in them to help you through. Another thing is that we can all use our priesthood more fully, I don't know if I have said this before, but I have been praying for opportunidades to use the priesthood, to be able to really minister to the people of my area. That doesn't just mean to go forward and to throw the lessons at others, but to really go to them, find those who need to be blessed, but to start that, to ask Heavenly Father who needs us today? What is the errand that you want me to do today? And to finish, actually having the honor to go and do like Nephi, to do the Lord's work, to go and to love others. I bare testimony that this will help all of you to be more and more converted in the work of the Lord! It is what God wants us to do, to use the power he has blessed us with to "run His errands". I love this gospel with all my heart, might, and strength! I fall a lot of the time but I am seeing just how much Heavenly Father is picking me up off the ground and helping me to do and be all that He wants me to be! Please remain faithful in the times of hardship and doubt. There is always help waiting for us! I love you all, I am just barely starting to understand just a little grain of how much Heavenly Father loves His children! You all have a divine role and a plan! Let Him help you with that plan! I bare testimony to all of you of all of this, as a servant of the Lord, in His sacred name, Jesus Christ. Amen.

On another note, we had a baptism this week! His name is Eduardo Ibarra! His family is a great family we have been working with! His dad baptized him.

I love you all!  Have a GREAT WEEK! Do great things!

Love, Elder Hancock

p.s. Mom… I LOVE YOU MOST!

walked on water for my year mark...ha ha ha

Broken Space Bars and Power Of The Priesthood

hola,

The space bar and keyboard are tripping out so I am trying to work with them. Mom, you might have to fix the places it messes up before you send it out. It's my worst enemy right now. ha ha I am just realizing how many e's there are in the English language because the e is not working every time either. This may be short this week. I also tried sending pictures but they are having trouble going out today and so I will try again next week. I will hopefully get a better keyboard then.

I am having a good week and I love the work. The temperatures are above the hundreds. It is dastardly. ha ha I am glad to hear poppi is going to be Brigham Young in the pageant. He will do awesome.

Tell Nathan to get ready for the best experience of his life so far!!! If he is going to the Provo MTC; I heard that they are going to start to send them to the new Mexico MTC three weeks into their stay so he might get to do that.

This week I have been studying in the Bible a lot!! I have been learning a lot about Christ's example for us. He has always set the perfect example! In my insight this week, if you want to have more power in your priesthood, you have to be worthy, be doing the things like praying, reading, and going to church, but the other thing is having the willing want to serve others. This is super hard to develop, sometimes I feel like I am struggling with that a lot. Sure I serve, but I want it to always be out of pure want to do it, not because of just, it is what we do. There is a difference. I have thought about the power given, when you are being like Jesus, when the leper came to him and asked if he wanted to heal him. Jesus said I will, or to say, I want to. That has helped me to see the example of Jesus in my life, saying that he was willingly wanting to serve. Therefore, amongst other reasons, He had power to heal the sick. If we can serve our enemies even when we don't want to, it causes a change in our hearts, something we cannot explain, that is what gives us the more pure power in the priesthood. My challenge to all is that you can serve someone this week, but be it someone who actually NEEDS it. Then try to the see the change in the power of your priesthood. I testify that this is true with all the love of my soul, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all! Keep doing all you need to do! Have a great week! Go to the temple.
Love, Elder Hancock

Skype for Mother's Day and Thanks To The Parents

For Mother's Day we got to talk to Dakotah thru Skype. He was allowed to talk to us for 40 minutes. We enjoyed every minute of that 40 minutes with him. It was so good to see his face, hear his laugh and feel of his spirit. He bore his testimony to us in spanish and finished it with tears. It was great to feel the spirit as he did so. We grabbed the iPad and videoed it so we can hear his voice for the next 7 months occasionally. I will try to get the video on the computer so you can all hear and see him. He was doing well and did find some trouble finding some English words for things. But he loves the Lord, he loves the work and loves the people. We are thankful for his willingness to go out and serve.

Picture of Dakotah on Skype

Our latest family photo lol

Letter from this week:


hola familia,

My week went pretty good, but, I have been in the house all week cause my comp dropped back into the sickness, but this time hna Jordan took us to the hospital to get it taken care of, so he is doing better right now, so let's hope it's permanent. We are starting to think it was an infection in the stomach. But, hey he will be okay, I am here to take care of him. haha

How was your week? Happy Birthday to Alex! It's crazy to think I have almost a year in the mission and that it went soooo fast! Well, I think today, I am buying shoes with my birthday money, not exactly the fun gift ha ha but necessary. And maybe a pair of pants, but so far that's it.

So, I just wanted to say thanks for always forgiving me for being such a snot and a jerk to you and pappi. We were thinking about how you guys did it all these years and it is incredible and I cannot comprehend how you managed to still love me when I blew you guys off so many times, and especially pappi when he wanted to spend time with me, I blew him off so many times, it's not even funny. I felt so horrible this week, that I did that in the past and I repented sooo much, cause the sad faces of you guys when I blew you guys off came into my mind and ruined me. Sooo I am super sorry and you guys are my heroes!!!!!! Thank you for everything.

The gospel is true. You don't find your testimony, really find it, until you are living on it, taking it to new extremes, when you have to defend it in the street, when you are persecuted for the cause of serving the Lord; that or then, is when the testimony is found. It is when you realize how much about this gospel you do not know, how much you have to learn and grow, how much the Lord really is doing in our lives, how much he is preparing us for the future times and future tests. So stay strong, please remain faithful when the whirlwinds come and try to blow you down, you will always be able to make it through to the brighter side of the way, to be able to find the light thru the gospel!

We are leaving now. I love you will all that I have and all that I am! Have a great week and go to the Temple!
Do what is right!

I love you,
Elder Hancock

Transfer Day-getting to reunite with some friends.

Dakotah loves his hot sauce. :)

Birthday Wishes In My Email... Thanks!

hola!

WOW! Thank you everyone for all the WONDERFUL birthday wishes! I loved all the like million messages in my email! :D

I am doing great!!! I still can't believe that I have twenty years now hah that is a super surprise! Thanks for the birthday money mom and poppi and grandma and grandpa, ha ha you should have seen the smile on my face! :D I haven't used it yet but I am thinking on covers for the scripts and maybe new pants, shoes or backpack.

Some people had cake for me and President and Hermana Jordan called and they sang happy birthday to me!

For Mother's Day, I am not exactly sure what time I will Skype but it has to be before 4:00pm my time so I am thinking between 12:00 to 4:00pm my time, but maybe just be ready for whenever that day!!!

The temple was great today, but for that, I don't have much time so I will talk to you Sunday and write more on Monday. 

I love you! Keep doing the great things! Let all know that I love them and I LOVED their birthday emails!

Love,
Elder Hancock

Here are a few pictures. I will talk to you Sunday!

Notice what's in the street by him.

Birthday Cake

With his companion

Zone at Temple today