Desire, Faith and Miracles

This week was all about desire and faith.

We have been teaching an investigator for a while and we decided to make a short, last-minute visit to his house to just talk. We interrupted his dinner as it was ending and we felt bad, but we talked to him about what he's been learning. As he was talking, he told us how he felt like he was ready. We were like "ready for what?"   "Baptism."  We were able to put him on date for baptism on the 25th of October and we are so excited for him. He has been investigating for 3 years and it's finally happening! We're so stoked and happy for him! 

Another cool investigator is now a family investigating!  We had met a man a few weeks ago and he became an investigator after we taught him a lesson outside his house. We did a quick stop by to see how he was doing one night and his entire family(wife and daughters) were home with him. We asked if we could share a message and they agreed. We talked about God and how He loves us so much. Also the Book of Mormon and mostly prayer. We invited the man to say a prayer for us and he did. He did so good and his wife and oldest daughter agreed to be taught. We are now teaching a lovely family. 

Other fun stuff, we contacted a bunch of Indonesians in the middle of the Jungle and gave them all Malay Books of Mormon. They loved it. We also started mutual this week and the first activity for mutual was making scripture cases.  I wasn't sure if they were very excited about it but the next minute everyone is asking for help making theirs because they all want one. It was a great success and we hope everyone had a great time.

We had zone meeting in Ipoh this last Tuesday and the topic of the meeting was faith and desire. From this meeting I've realized that these are two very important pieces that go together in harmony and are actually both necessary to each other. Faith is the belief in things that are not seen which are true. I have faith in this work and that it is the true work of God for the Salvation of His children, and I have faith that I can succeed in the work. But I had to reflect this week on my true desire to serve God. In D&C 18:28 it says "If they desire to take upon them my name with full purpose of heart, they are called to go into all the world to preach my gospel unto every creature." 

I have faith in God that this is His work, but I found that my desire to serve His mission the way He wants me to wasn't that great as I thought it was. It took some great pondering (and humility) to just let go of all my 'ideas' and my 'opinions' on how I should serve a mission and just accept the way the Lord wants it done - through Preach My Gospel. I love that book now more than ever. Make sure you all have one because it's great! I read that thing like the Bible. As I have been studying and adopting Preach My Gospel into my teaching skills I have seen miracles in the work. 

This past Sunday in sacrament meeting we were having a normal sacrament meeting when one of our investigators on date for September 27th came with her mom and aunt(their first time). That was cool and I'll continue that in a moment. As sacrament continued on another old guy and his friend just walked in the chapel and sat down next to me. I had no idea who they were but welcomed them in. I had the blessing of giving a talk on faith and as I looked on the congregation I saw happy smiles from all the non-members present. After sacrament meeting we were running frantically all over the chapel to talk to all these new people. The old guy and his friend, apparently the old guy had been here before a long time ago and felt like bringing his friend, who just came from Sabah(East Malaysia), to church. His friend wants to meet with us and we hope to teach him. Our investigator's aunt was very impressed and liked what our church taught in sacrament meeting so she is considering learning and referred her 3 kids who are working in Singapore to be taught the lessons. Whoo!!! Miracles! I love them! 

I'm sorry I don't have pictures this week because I'm in Singapore and it's such a rush! 

This week in our Zone Conference we have Elder Allen, the Mission Director of the whole church (the top guy over ALL the missionaries) coming to talk to us this week. We are so excited to hear his counsel. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Love you all,

Elder Hanks

Moon Cakes, Festivals and we'll throw in a powerful testimony meeting too!

This week is the week of the Lantern and Moon Cake Festival. People every where are excited and all over the Moon Cake. Elder Roundy and I are addicted! They are these beautiful hand made cakes, that are expensive, but they are so delicious and full of different flavors. I love to get them and once I do I'm scared to eat it, because then I have to wait to get another one or go buy one myself!  They are really popular and just so good! We attended a Lantern Festival at a Buddhist Temple this week with an investigator and saw the fun ways people celebrate the Festival. The celebration continues this week and we are excited to see what comes!

We had planned to have a baptism this Saturday but due to some unfortunate school activities and such we had to move our investigators date back to the 27th of this month. She's okay with it and still really excited, as are we! 

I have finally figured out how to contact Buddhists in an effective way. Whenever you ask a Buddhist what religion are they use a phrase that directly translated means, "Worship God." We took a member (who recently returned from his mission in the Singapore mission) out contacting with us and we ran into such a situation. Before I could say anything the member said, "Oh really? We are too." I was kind of confused because we are not Buddhist, but they member soon followed up by saying, "We also worship God." Brilliant! Ever since then I have used this method for contacting Buddhists and every single one has agreed to let us come back and teach them sometime. 

I have loved just being bold in telling people who we are and what we are doing here in Malaysia. There is a surprisingly positive response and, for the most part, people have been more open to our message about the gospel. It's incredible. And with it being September, the year coming to an end soon, we are working harder than ever to get our faith and desire to serve the Lord on the same, but higher, level than they were before. It's a great feeling to be a missionary.

I am feeling more of the Spirit's guidance in the way we  teach. Several times this week have we gone into a lesson with a plan and I have just felt like we need to discuss something else and the way it goes is just phenomenal!!! The Spirit is so important in this work. Where would we be without it?

Our branch's seminary  finished this past week so Elder Roundy and I are going to start a weekly mutual for the youth to help them stay united and together,  and to bring their friends to the church more often.  It will be fun! 

These past few weeks we have begun to do an early morning class for the members that teaches gospel principles and doctrines. The purpose is to help answer the members questions, teach them to use their scriptures, and to get people to church a little earlier for church to start. 

On Sunday we the topic was how to give a powerful testimony/talk. The reason we felt prompted to do so was because  when some  members would give talks they will take a copy of Gospel Principles up on the stand and read it. So people were very happy that we talked about this principle because it clarified what to do every week on the stand and how they can do it themselves. We invited everyone at the end of the class to bear their testimonies in fast and testimony meeting and we had quite a response!

There wasn't enough time for everyone who wanted to bear their testimony to share it or anymore room for the Spirit to enter our hearts because our hearts would have exploded!!!! Members who were less active bore inspiring testimonies. Recent converts shared their conversion process. Active members about the 5 good points of a testimony. Even investigators bore testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I was going to break into tears, but then I remembered how if Chinese see you cry they will hold it against you forever, so I held the tears in long enough for no one to see. It was the most powerful sacrament meeting I have ever been in on my mission so far. Amazing!

I love you all and also moon cakes!

Elder Hanks

Nothing like hiking Malaysia!

I already knew that there are no "bad days" on a mission, but I never really learned how to treat all these other wonderful days as great days until now. We had many experiences where anyone could say, today was a bad day and we got nothing done, but it's not like that on a mission. We are always trying to go around "doing good" to those we come into contact with and we are seeing the blessings from it. 

On Saturday we had scheduled a branch activity where we would all meet at the church and go hiking to a local mountain. The theme of the activity was to Come Unto Christ. We had a great turn out of members and investigators to the activity and they all had a really good time!  (and it took an hour to hike up!)  The oldest member who came was in her upper 40's while the youngest person to hike up with us was 2!!! The 2 small kids walked with me the entire way and the girl would hold on to my backpack so I pulled her all the way up. We got to the top and we had some people give talks (we had previously asked them to) and their talks were wonderful. That was followed by a testimony meeting where-  although it wasn't quite the same as a Utah firesides-  it was still great! We then had everyone color these book marks that said Come Unto Christ and they all really liked it. We ate food and just had fun, I also did the ALS bucket challenge that someone challenged me to do. Yep, it's (the challenge)  made it all the way over here! 

The most trying day I had this week was definitely Saturday after the Branch activity when all of our appointments and plans fell through, but Elder Roundy and I kept reminding ourselves that it was okay, as long as we were doing our best to exercise our faith in this work. So although Saturday we didn't get that much done, Sunday was my favorite day of the week.

Our branch president was out of town this week and so we were assigned to cover the 2nd hour class for his wife and to also teach the 3rd hour class. During Sacrament meeting we had our three speakers give their talks, but they were all really short, so by 10:35 they were finished. The Branch's first counselor stood up and not knowing what to do asked me to stand and say a few words. As I began to talk to the branch about the power of testimonies, church, our family, our Savior, basically touching on everything- principles & doctrines,  in an orderly manner that when I finished speaking I had sufficiently used up the rest of the Sacrament hour as the counselor wanted me to do. I hope the branch knows how living these teachings can change their lives!  

Second hour was great as we taught about the creation and what it means to us to have a loving Heavenly Father who gave us a planet for our 'birthday.' That's a loving Father, don't you think?

Third hour was the best though. We had felt impressed to talk to the branch about temples and it's importance but we wanted them not only to know and think it was important, but to actually feel that it was important. So what we did is we cleared the upstairs classroom of the desks and left just the chairs in 2 rows and wrote on the board, "Please be quiet." As we let the members in who were waiting outside, we motioned them to be quiet and they saw the board and quietly walked in and sat down. As everyone came in and sat down quietly even the small kids there were really quiet as the Spirit entered the room. We all sat there for about 10 minutes in silence and we let the Spirit, through the still silence, touch the hearts of the branch there. After the prayer we asked them how they felt during the silence and they all agreed on "Peaceful." We explained that this is what the temple is like and what it does to us spiritually. The members asked great questions about the temple and we think they are thinking about going sometime. It was a really cool experience.

Last cool experience of the day also happened Yesterday. We have been teaching an investigator for a while and have been trying to get him to church but he has never come. So I felt impressed to text him to let us come over. He finally agreed and us 2 elders, with 3 members, all went over and just talked to him. When we first got there he was a little hesitant to let us in but did. Elder Roundy and I felt impressed to first talk about the temple with him, something he has never heard of before, and then be open with how we love him and want to help him. As we talked the Spirit entered the room and you could see his countenance change from being a little hesitant to being open and aware of what we were saying. He began to open up about concerns that he has and then said he was really happy we came over tonight. He then invited us over to his house the next day, today. So we are looking forward to that later this day. 

We are feeling the blessings of the Lord in every aspect of our work and I'm so grateful I have learned how to treat the days he has given me here in the field. 

Love you all and Happy Birthday Hailey!

Sincerely,

 Elder Hanks

Serious badminton happening here!

A week of work and miracles!

This week we have gotten down and in the dirt here in Sitiawan. I can honestly say that we are making a difference here and being obedient. The Lord has seen our efforts and is definitely allowing us to see his hand in our work here in Sitiawan!

Also, it's the start of rainy- monsoon season so it has POURED rain just about every day for more than 3 hours each. The day where I saw the miracles come the most this week,  was a day completely covered with rain and thunder showers. I didn't even see the sun that day and we were just so wet. But it's okay as long as this important work continues to go forth rain or shine!

Elder Roundy & Elder Hanks

We had our Zone Meeting at the beginning of this week where we received training on our areas and specifically our mission vision. We have a goal as a mission to get so many baptisms this year.  It's August and we are beginning to feel the pressure to get this goal done! It 's not about the numbers, but how people and countries can change with the influence of the gospel & its members. IT"S ABOUT THE PEOPLE and how the gospel and Christ can help them.  Our Zone Leaders emphasized our key indicators for our investigators and their importance to get to baptism. So  we left Zone Meeting Tuesday with a good strong feeling that we are going to do good, work hard & accomplish our goals. We had a meeting with the Branch President to coordinate our efforts and we went to work, what happened was that miracles followed!

Zone Meeting & Sis. Chris! 

We have been applying the principle in Preach My Gospel to talk to EVERYONE and what a difference it has made. We have contacted so many people this week and ran into old investigators that we feel like we have too much to do this week we don't even know how to plan. It's like trying to pack everything in your house into only seven boxes, what goes first and where do you put it? But it's an exciting feeling for us and we are looking forward to the progression of the gospel in these people. 

We have just started teaching this investigator last week and we taught her this week about the Plan of Salvation. As we were talking about Christ's atonement and His Resurrection, the promise of resurrection and eternal families given to everyone, I asked her if she has had anyone in her family or close friends recently pass away. She looked at her friend who is our member present, looked back to us and said quietly, "My Grandfather." who just passed away two weeks earlier. The Spirit came into the room and we felt impressed to give her the invitation to be baptized in September, she accepted. Whoo!!! Miracle there. 

This next miracle happened right after the miracle I just talked about but here is a little background. 

We met this girl at a church activity about two months ago and got her phone number. We tried to meet up with her and she tried to come to church but it didn't really work out and she only came to church like once. So this past week I just had a feeling to start texting her to try and meet with her. So I did and set up a meeting at the church right after our appointment with the girl I just mentioned above who is now on date to be baptized.

 So as soon as that appointment ended we biked hard and fast through the rain to get to the church where this potential girl was waiting for us. We got there and together we went inside. Some of our members were inside the church cleaning the building getting ready for church the next day. We walked in and sat down in the chapel where this girl just began to pour out her heart to us and talk to us about all of her trials in her life. We were so touched that in our first real meeting with her she was so open. We cried together, talked together, laughed together and ultimately she said that she really liked this church and how everyone treats each other as family. My heart started to pound right before I heard her start to say, "I really want to be part of this church." I then leaned closer to her and asked, "Baptism?" like wondering if that is what she was suggesting. She then nodded her head and said, "Baptism." We were on cloud 9 as we rode to our next appointment! This is one prepared investigator. But it doesn't stop there.

After we got home an hour later or so we received a text from her saying how grateful she was that we were there to help and listen to her talk and then she said, "I am ready to be baptized I can't wait." We are meeting with her tomorrow and are going to put her on date for two weeks from today. She already knows a lot and now we just need to see if she is ready and knows the basics for baptism. We are so happy right now! The Lord is truly in this work and is ready to pour out the blessings and miracles! 

I am so grateful that I get to train. My Companion Elder Roundy is just so awesome and I feel like the training is for me to help me remember some of the basic things that I have forgotten. Just like everything in the church, it is good to have repetition in what we teach & to always review the basics. Elder Roundy is so awesome and I'm so happy to be his companion here. He's always trying his best to speak chinese, to share his testimony, and talk to anyone he sees. He's so great!  

We are loving Sitiawan here and we will continue to work to the end. Love you all and am so happy to hear about all of these updates and news coming from you all.

This work really is the work of God and I'm just so humble to be a part of it.

This really is true!

Elder Hanks

And the Trainee is......!

A week ago today I received the news that I would be training this next transfer and I was so excited!  The trip to Singapore was nerve-racking and sad; saying good-bye to my previous companion, Elder Tan. I really love Elder Tan and it's so wonderful to see,  that despite the few short days that we spent together serving the Lord & working together, it's still possible to grow to love them and I love Elder Tan so much.

with Ekder Tan

So I got to Singapore and hung out for the first day with other missionaries and did some good contacting giving out many name cards. When coming back to the church I saw all the new missionaries standing around all looking like they all did not know what they are doing, and one of them is my son. (son refers to the brand new incoming missionary getting trained by someone "older" in the mission) 

The next day seemed to drag on in the training as President and Sister Mains talked to the new missionaries about our mission and our expectations. Finally the moment arrived for the slideshow of missionaries to see who they are training and my son is......

waiting around in Singapore for a new companion!



ELDER ROUNDY!

Elder Roundy is totally a boss and I love him already. He's from Bountiful, Utah, went to Bountiful High and is just so happy to be here. I'm grateful for his attitude because here in Sitiawan we work hard and we hit the ground running. We are running fast this week in the work and we have a lot to get done in these next few weeks. I love Elder Roundy so much although I feel a little bit bad because it's only his 4th day in the field and we went hiking this morning, only later to find that he had a leech on his leg sucking a good amount of blood. He's okay but I felt bad that he's already getting REALLY down and dirty in Sitiawan. It'll be fun! he's got a great attitude!!!

A miracle that happened Yesterday was that we were going contacting around a certain area when we decided to go home and prepare for a later appointment. On the way home I saw these two kids that were kinda young, a brother and a sister, riding bikes home alone. I asked them where they were going-home-and then asked if I could help them home safely. The younger girl was really friendly and said, "Yes!" So my companion, me  and a member followed them home and when we arrived at the home the member turned to us and said, "I know this place! This is a member's home!!!" I was shocked. "What? This is a member's home?" The member looked at me and said, "Yeah." 

The miracle is that I had never been to this home or met these people and here they are! Members in Sitiawan that I don't even know. We invited them to FHE tonight and we are so excited that they are coming!!!

We have been finding a lot of people and trying to get Sitiawan in PRIME shape as it has a lot of 'dents' and 'cracks' but we'll smooth out the rough edges! ;) 

I'm glad to be training right now and with a new excitement in Sitiawan we are focusing on  more activities to get people involved and wanting to come to church more often. 

This is my weekly report and I love you all!!!!

More next time.

Transfers & Training.....! YEA!

As you know Elder Tan arrived this past week to help me continue the work here in Sitiawan, we had transfer news come in today and unfortunately my fantastic 4th companion in Sitiawan and companion of 13 days - is already leaving! So fast!!!! But instead of just receiving a new companion like usual I have the blessing of training a new missionary! I am so excited for the opportunity to train a new missionary. Any one have any advice?

This past week was a week full of work and we got a great new investigator this past week!  We had an activity a long time ago that she came to and had a lot of fun at. Ever since, she has been coming to church every week with her friend who is a member. Initially I wanted to just ask her if we could start teaching her right away but I felt impressed to wait and give her time. Last Sunday she and her member-friend came up and just said, "Elder Hanks can you teach me/her the gospel?" "YES!!!" We had a great first lesson with her! She's looking awesome to progress in the gospel  and we hope to get her ready to be baptized by September most likely. Whoo!!!

Another cool miracle is that we felt impressed to go to the nearby gym one day. We did so and started to work out when there were these two kids that I thought we knew. A member was there with us and turns out he is friends with these kids. We started talking to them and told them who we were. Before I knew it the two kids were like, "We want to come to your church." YES!!!"  So were happy to see them show up for sacrament meeting the next Sunday. Cool miracle!

Not that much happened this week because of the normal things happening that we just love to be a part of. I have really felt the need for  boldness growing in me - to just do things and not stop. I can honestly say with my past 6 months here in Sitiawan, the Lord has definitely been preparing me to become a trainer. I have never felt more ready to train than ever before and I hope that we can make a difference in Sitiawan while I'm still here. I will probably be leaving Sitiawan next transfer but I'll be sure to make the most of the time we have here. 

I'm sorry, I forgot my camera at home so I'll have twice as many pictures to send next week. Love you all!

Elder Hanks

PS I'll be hitting my year mark this transfer so that will be super exciting! Time flies by so fast!!!!

Half way over!  CRAZY!! 

Crazy Companion Week!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are Sitiawan's missionaires! and we know you just have one question... "Who is Elder Hanks's companion?"

We were waiting for our mission president's call last Monday and we were looking forward to it all day...but it never came. We waited Tuesday... it never came. Elder Loke knew he would be leaving on Friday morning and we started to get nervous. Wednesday came and still no call so I finally texted the AP's and was like "WHAT'S GOING ON?" They quickly called me and explained that my new companion would be coming on Friday in the afternoon.

The answer is....

ELDER TAN!!!!! 

Who is Elder Tan? Elder Tan is awesome!!! 

He is from Penang, another area in my zone so that means I have another companion from Malaysia and is actually serving near his home. He has been serving for a little over a year; a year and two months and I have to say he is my CHINESE TWIN! He is kind of skinny, like me, and although he is 21 years old he has a lot of the same personalities and likes. He is super easy to get along with and will help me out a lot here in Sitiawan. The only thing is that it's very rare for native missionaries to serve in their home districts so we are thinking that his stay in Sitiawan will only be temporary.  WE DON'T KNOW what will happen next week when real transfers happen....!  Ahhhhh! 

(last couple of pictures with Elder Loke) 

With Elder Loke leaving this past week there was a lot to do and a lot to celebrate. The branch threw him a good-bye party and it was a great party ! We had a lot of people and families come! It is also a great event to have investigators and less actives come.

So Elder Loke left on Friday and was so happy so see his family. I waited a few hours and then my new companion, Elder Tan, pulled up to the house looking ready to go. I had actually seen Elder Tan before in Singapore one time and was so excited to see him again as my new companion. It will be fun with him!

Elder Tan!

One of my goals before I leave Sitiawan will be to get home teaching started and going. It's a goal of mine before transfers come and possibly change things up next week. I know I keep saying that but it's going to happen! It's going to be crazy!!!!! 

I love being called to serve Him. It's the best!!!

Elder Hanks