Time to finish strong!

It's been a really fun week this past week with some fun activities. Real fast, last week we went out to KSL mall to meet up with a member who took us to a night market - one of the biggest ones I have ever seen. As we continued to walk along we came to a car selling stinky tofu. It smelled terrible and of course the member bought us some... it was disgusting. It tasted like trash. 

Other activities we did included yoga (early this morning), exchanges with Elder Avery - which was awesome, badminton (Elder Lloyd broke his racquet..) and climbing on the roof of our apartment.

We have had many small miracles this past week so here I go...

On Friday we went to get my bicycle tire replaced when while at the store a man who was there for the same reason,  heard me speaking Chinese to the worker there. He asked about where I learned Chinese and a great, classic contact began. When he heard that we were Christian missionaries, he said he wasn't super interested, but his daughter would be. So he referred his daughter to us and we were thrilled! He told us she would like to learn more about Christians. I called her but she was busy at the time so are following up with her today. Immediately after, as we were riding to our next appointment a man pulled up next to us at a traffic light and shouted to us, "Where are you going? Want to come get a cup of coffee or tea with me?" Please, the two things we DON'T drink. We kindly declined but asked him if he was free another day we could meet with him. He said, "yeah!" but the light turned green. He drove ahead and pulled over to give us his number. He introduced himself as a Christian and said that when we are free he would like us to meet with him again. It was an awesome miracle Heavenly Father putting prepared people in our path.

This week we found 3 new investigators who are really good ones!  One of them we met a few weeks ago and he said that he would be interested in meeting. We finally got an appointment made with him on Thursday, but we didn't know if we should go. The reason being,  he called us later to confirm with us the appointment and that never happens unless they want you to join their company or help them with money. So we were somewhat apprehensive on going, but w

felt we should go so we called him and told him we were on our way. We arrived at the destination and found a place to sit with him. This man, although looked a little rough around the edges, turned out to be one of the nicest, most sincere guys I have ever met. As soon as we sat down he said, "I know that you can't help me with my financial problems and things like that, but I would hope that you can help me just feel better. That a lot of my stresses can be taken away. I am very stressed and would like more peace in my life." My jaw dropped. We shared with him the Book of Mormon and shared with him a great scripture that helped him feel really good. He felt so good that he is meeting with us this Tuesday and wants to learn more. It was so cool! 

I also went on exchanges with Elder Avery this week and it was so fun. We spent most of our time looking for people in his area and I had forgotten how fun it was to just meet people on the street like that. At one point we knocked on someone's gate and before the person came out Elder Avery said, "I brought a hymn book if we want to sing a hymn for them." As we saw this little old lady come out she waved to us and said, "Hold on! (In Chinese)" She opened her gated doorway and her son who speaks English came out and called, "Yes? Anything?" We told him we were Christians that wanted to share a message with him and his family. He didn't seem to interested at first, 

  but then...haha! we told him, "We were hoping we could sing you guys a song!" He paused, looked down, then said, "Okay! Come on in!" We went into his home, the older lady was his mom, and we sat down with them and looked at all their beautiful pictures of Jesus Christ they had in their home when our eyes caught on one picture. It was a painting of Jesus Christ holding a lamb that is on the front of "The Restoration" pamphlet. I knew it was done by a LDS artist and before we sang for them shared a little bit about what we teach. We shared the Book of Mormon and the man said he is very open to learn. It was a cool contact! I really had fun with Elder Avery who is a very upbeat and happy elder. He's probably the funniest elder I have met in the mission. Serious. 

Well, these are the last 6 weeks. They are going to be the best next 6 weeks. Coming home yesterday I said to Elder Lloyd, "You know, I feel like I haven't quite done enough." This feeling I had was a big motivation that I am going to take into this last transfer to help me push to the very end. I am going to take today to get back into the blocks to start off running faster than I have ever done before. We have a few investigators on date and it's our goal to get them progressing in this next week. Hope to be able to send you a white picture in these next few weeks. 

Love you all and I am so happy that I get these next 6 weeks to be with Elder Avery, Elder Pearce, and especially Elder Lloyd. I tell him all the time he is the companion that I have always prayed for. But don't worry, I have loved every single one of my companions. They have all changed me. Here we go! Work! Work! Work! There's nothing better!

From Elder Hanks

From the slums of "trunky" to awesome time in Melaka

We had a great week which included our going to Melaka for exchanges with the missionaries there. Melaka is a 3 hour bus ride so it's pretty far, but we enjoyed a fun P-day with them and we had great exchanges with them. I love the missionaries who are serving there, who is Elder Ebeling and Elder Lallemant. They are awesome!

We had some great miracles and I got out of a little slump I was having that some people may call "being trunky." But I broke it and just in time too - as we had some great miracles happen this week! 

On Friday we had an appointment with a potential investigator Elder Allen and I had met on exchanges. We tried to get another male person with us so we could go into her home and teach her, but we couldn't find one, so we just went in faith that all would be okay. We knocked on her door, but she wasn't there so we stood there for a minute and made a move to leave, but just then she was walking up the stairs... awkward. We were honest in telling her our situation and she was very understanding of our rules and agreed to talk downstairs in an open area. We decided we only had a few minutes to talk and so we wanted to get right down to the point. We shared with her the Book of Mormon. When she saw "Mormon" she said, "Oh, you are the Mormons? I haven't heard that great of things about you." We talked and I just felt that I should share a brief history of the Book of Mormon and my testimony. After I did you could just feel the Spirit around us and in our hearts; I was just praying that she was feeling it too. In the end said she could accept a copy and read it and said we could come back in 2 weeks. It was a great experience. 

Also on Friday we got a notice on our building informing us that Johor Bahru was short on water and that we might get our water turned off for certain periods of time and that it could last up to a month in order to save water - so we were to be wise with our water use. Which is so crazy because it rains buckets here alot. So we went out and bought these big tubs and stored water in them for showering and other purposes. When Sunday, the first day of having no water, came around,  we woke up and one of us dared to check the tap to see if we really didn't have water. He turned it on... and water came out! So far we have still had the pleasure of water, but we are keeping our storage until this month passes. The fun things of living in Malayisa. Makes you grateful for plenty of water & basic necessities! 

yummy peach cobbler... I think.....

It was a great week and church this week was so great. The Spirit was so strong that I was having a really hard time singing because the Spirit was so strong! haha! We even had a random former investigator come to church and she said she wants to learn again and she'll be coming to church for the next little bit of time, until she can get her feet under her. But we are happy that she is back! 

Things are great here in Johor Bahru! I love the mission! here are 2 quotes from Elder Lloyd and I this week:

"The first bite is easier to give than the last." - Elder Lloyd

"You can't decide who looks at you, but you can determine what they see." -Elder Hanks

My Last Zone Conference!!

My last Zone Conference,
Pres. fist Zone Conference!

This past week we went to Singapore for zone conference and what an amazing experience it was. It was our mission president's first and my last, but despite whose it was and whatever-  there was a lot gained from it. I was able to share my testimony with the other missionaries and I had a tender moment  as I shared my feelings of my wonderful younger brother,  who just started his mission. I loved thinking about the fact that there are 2 Elder Hanks's in the world from the same family. What a blessing! 

So for P-day last week we had a badminton tournament in Singapore with all of the missionaries! It was great and  I was happy that Elder Lloyd and I  were able to tie for first in the tournament. There are a lot of really good missionaries here!  When I get home I am looking for the closest badminton tournament I can find in UT! 

There were a lot of miracles this past week so let's get to it:

While in Singapore we were able to find a lot of people to share the gospel with. I am sad that I do not get to follow up with them personally (because I'm going back to JB) , but sharing the gospel with them was the greatest feeling ever. One experience happened on Wednesday morning -  We were in Singapore's famous Botanic Garden studying under a pagoda when an older man asked if he could exercise. We said yes and he did his fun kung fu exercise thing. Once he was done,  he interrupted Elder Lloyd asking if he could take a picture of his name tag. This started a conversation which lasted for a while and ended with him taking a picture with each of us, exchanging phone numbers, and saying he had friends he would like us to meet. What a prepared son of God. I hope he will sincerely seek for the truth from the elders that are in Singapore.

I cannot remember if I mentioned this before, but we have an investigator that was on date to be baptized at the beginning of this month, but he was under age and his parents said no. We were sad to hear about it, but were excited when the opportunity came to go to his house and just meet his parents. We went with a cake the senior couple had made as a 'peace offering' and we excited to meet his mom. ( this was saturday night by the way). While there on Saturday, before we left, she motioned us to the back where her computer was. "I want to show you something." She said. We walked back not knowing what to expect, but were so excited when we looked at her computer screen to see a photo of her 3 kids with a birthday cake and 2 other missionaries with them!!!!!!! This picture was taken like 7 years ago and we had no idea!! We talked a little bit more about how she knew the other elders and we left on a high note!  The next day we went back and talked more and was so happy to hear that she wasn't opposed to her son being baptized anymore, but she just wanted him to understand more about what he's getting into and to be faithful and true to what he is joining. We were thrilled-  But we were even more excited when we heard her say that she too would like to learn and have a religion for herself and for her family!!!!! WHAT!!!!! She says she is really busy right now, but agreed to allow us to start coming over to teach her son in her home,  so she can listen to the lessons as well. We are super happy at the mercy of the Lord.

I was blessed this past week to be with one of my previous companions, Elder Lee (now Brother Lee) came over for a visit and actually helped us teach a lesson. It was a powerful lesson and it brought me back to some of the good old days of our teaching together in Sitiawan. He still has the missionary spirit about him. it was great seeing him. 

Things are going really well here in JB. I am loving it and we have quite a good amount of work in progress and to do. Couldn't ask for more!

Elders Pearce, Avery, Ebeling?, Lallemant, Hanks, Lloyd

Elders Lloyd, Pearce, Avery, Hanks

Elder Hanks

A Baptism in the dark!

Aug 2 2015 

Greetings from Singapore! It's my last zone conference in the mission and I am going to enjoy it with my awesome companion Elder Lloyd. I love him so much and he is awesome!  But we have had a great week with many miracles to share, so let's get down to it then...

Let's put the weekend in Chronological order to make it more fun:

Friday we had an appointment in the afternoon out in the east Masai area. We were needing to take a bus to the area so we walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus to come. As we were,  it was raining and then it began to rain harder and harder. Lightning was striking every 30 seconds and the rain came down harder than I have ever seen it come down. The bus came and I waved my arm out to stop the bus, but the driver just ignored us and drove on! There was a bus following right after that one, also going to our destination - but that driver ignored us too! We began to consider whether or not Heavenly Father was trying to tell us not to go to Masai today, but we said a prayer and right when we finished a bus pulled up! We got on and headed over. Once in Masai we saw that the rain storm had not yet reached there, so when the bus stopped next to a store I asked Elder Lloyd, "Do you think I should buy an umbrella?" He said, "Nah, we don't really need one. Unless you want one, then we can go buy one." I decided not to buy one. hahaha...we'll regret that later! We walked one minute towards the house when the rain storm caught up to us - and I'm guessing that on it's way over,  it was in a bad mood because the storm was worse in Masai than it was when we left the previous area! It was coming down in buckets so we took shelter under in an Indian temple. There I made a few calls while we waited for it to subside, but it never did. Finally we had to head back to our area in order to make it to another appointment and get ready for a baptism happening later that day. 

As we left the roof of the temple we huddled under Elder Lloyd's small umbrella, but I soon discovered it was worthless for two of us to be under that rag, so I screwed that and instead just resorted to jumping in the rivers of the roadside puddles. It was great. 

I was soaking wet when we got home and we had to change before teaching another investigator. We taught it outside our apartment complex in the lobby because the church  had no electricity..... yep... no power! We thought it would come back on by the time the baptism started at 7, but it did not.... and as people showed up we just had to pull chairs out of the chapel and pack them in the front lobby where the front door was giving us  light. But then as 7:00 came around and it got darker with more people coming we had to light candles and there was no place to sit!  We were a little worried about the candles because there was a lot of new people there for the baptism who were relatives,  and we didn't want to think we were a weird church with the whole candle ceremony or anything... haha! but it was great! There was a lot of people that came that really enjoyed the baptism and actually shared that they felt really good during the service! The baptism itself was great as Elder Lloyd baptized our 11 year-old investigator -  we all thought it was a memorable baptism because it was the first one in our newly made font and it was in the dark!!! What a memorable baptism.

Saturday: Due to our not visiting our investigator on Friday we took our branch president back with us on Saturday to visit her. It was a great visit and as we were leaving we thought of a less active member that lived on the same street that we thought we might just visit. We did and he was home. We had a great visit with him and he promised to come to church! It was a miracle because if we had ended up teaching her yesterday we would not have had any reason to go back to that area and we would have never been able to visit this less active member. We were so excited but I wasn't sure if he was going to come; he had made such promises before. Also on Saturday I got a little sick, but that didn't stop us from going out although I had an early night crash which was very nice. 

Sunday: The less active we visited on Saturday, came to church and we had a lot of people there. It was great and our less active member was fellowshipped really well. We hope he'll come back next week. One scary thing for me was that the branch pianist didn't come on Sunday... so I had to play! I was so nervous, but I did well enough. It's my goal now to be able to play all the hymns in the hymn book after my mission! 

If I were to answer the question, "What's one thing you did before the mission you are grateful for?" I would say piano. It has been a HUGE blessing on my mission and I have been able to use this gift to bless many people's lives. I just want to give a shoutout to my parents and say thanks for putting up with all my 'pouts' about the piano and encouraging me to continue to play. I hope to make sure it doesn't go to waste. 

Well, that was my week. It's been a great one. I'm in Singapore so I don't have too much time today, but I am sharing my last testimony. I'll record it and send it sometime. 

Love you all, Elder Hanks

100 phone numbers and a baptism!

Elder Pearce, Elder Avery, Pres. & Sis. Simmons, Elder Lloyd 

This has been a great week and although it feels like a long, long week, a lot has happened. First was that President Simmons came for a visit to us in our apartment and we were happy to have him. For the other three elders it might have been their first time meeting him; mine was in Singapore last month at MLC. But we received great counsel from him and his wife. We all love them so much and they have a great love for all of us. Everyone is excited to have them. I even heard Sister Simmons went on exchanges with some sisters in East Malaysia and that included riding bikes and all - cool!!!!!

We were contacting a lot this past week and using our bikes more than before. I really have come to enjoy contacting. One miracle was we were about to finish contacting in an area because it was getting dark and on the way back Elder Lloyd (what a man)turned to me and said, "Elder, let's knock this one last house." We did and a younger boy saw us and called out to the mom or whoever, "There are white people outside!" (in Chinese of course). There was some rustling in the back when a mom came to the door followed by an older woman. The younger one asked, "Anything?" But then the older woman pushed her aside and said, "Hello Elders!" We were both stunned. We asked how she knew the elders and she said with a little chuckle, "I am a member!" This woman was a member from Singapore but had been in England for the past little while. While there, she could not find the church there and had been praying for a chance to find the elders, but never did; until now ! We found her in a friend's house in Malaysia! Crazy! She thought it was a miracle and was so happy to see us. She told us she would be going back soon. I told her my awesome brother was going to England for his mission and she got really excited. I exchanged with her my email and she is hoping to go back to England in a few months and find the younger Elder Hanks! Cool stuff.

We made a vision for us here in JB and it has really helped us be motivated and so part of our vision is to get 100 phone numbers in this transfer. We are stoked and like my awesome new companion always says, "LETS GO!!!!!" hahaa! We are loving JB! 

We are expecting a baptism this upcoming Friday and hopefully everything will go smoothly; that's the day we usually teach English class. Teaching is really something I like and helps me feel really good, engaged with the people and helpful.

The lesson crunch of the week was teaching an investigator for the last time before he goes to Ireland, about the temple. We felt we should talk about the Holy Ghost first and then the temple. It took us 2 lessons in two days, one right after the other ! (Friday night and then again on Saturday night) to more fully help them understand the blessing and magnitude of having a temple and what it means for our families. It was so cool and the Spirit was so strong. In fact we could all taste it and made me cry. It was the first time I have cried in a while, but the Spirit was really strong.

I discovered something about my purpose as a missionary and it happened as I was teaching the lesson I talked about above. The reason I came on a mission is because I want my family and all my spiritual brothers and sisters to live with me forever. I told my investigators we were teaching that we really loved them and wanted the best for them. Then I asked them, "One day us elders will go back to America and you might move away. We may never see each other again. But what if I gave you a choice of being with us for 2 years or eternity, what would you want?" As I asked that it seemed to bring the Spirit and it clicked in their heads the blessing of eternity.

It's been a great week. I love you all and I want to wish younger Elder Hanks the best in his final preparation for his mission. I'm sure you did great with your farewell talk yesterday! Can't wait to hear it! 

Elder Hanks

Ps... Return travel plans arrived today (friday 731/2015)  for Elder Hanks return...
Wednesday Oct 7th at 6:49pm!

Our apartment doubled in size!

On Monday Elder Baer packed up all of his stuff, and Tuesday morning left..... I almost cried, but luckily no one saw my teary eyes. As he was driving away in the taxi Elder Benson--the senior couple missionary--said to me, "There goes a great man." I replied, "One of the greatest men I have ever met." 

Trying to make Asian eyes....did we pass? 

So long Elder Baer....

Tuesday was a day I just got to follow the senior couple because I had no one else to follow or be with. That was a fun experience and I am very grateful for all that they do for us missionaries. They are the greatest and they helped with some lessons that were great! We are having some great success here in JB!

the day I was companionless......

I have 2 miracles to share for this week's work. First has to do with one progressing investigator who wants to be a missionary, and the other has to do with working with members.

1. We are currently teaching a 16 year-old young man and he has been learning for about a month. Ever since he has come to our English class and we introduced Jesus Christ to him he has been progressing so fast!!! In this last week's lesson he brought a friend and that was great because we were planning on sharing with them the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But before we got into the lesson too much we wanted to see what our investigator's understanding of the plan of salvation was, because that is what we taught last time. After we asked him to give us a summary of the plan-  he sat up in his chair, turned to his friend and proceeded to give one of the most amazing summaries of the plan of salvation in under 2 minutes I have ever heard and he didn't even miss a single detail concerning the plan!!  Elder Lloyd, it was his  first lesson in JB,  was just blown away and we were just so impressed! This investigator's on date and later in life will be a great missionary! Love it!  

2. On Tuesday, after Elder Baer left and before Elder Lloyd arrived, I made an appointment with a former investigator family, but needed a companion to come with me. So I called a member in our branch and he agreed to come with me. On the way to the appointment,  I was guiding him to this house and he would say, "I think I have been to this house before." We arrived at the house and he said, "Yep! I've been here before." Once inside we bore powerful testimony of the gospel and the peaceful feelings we get from coming to church, etc. The Spirit was really powerful and after leaving the lesson on the way home the member turned to me and said, "You know, it was almost a year ago that I came to this house to share the gospel with this family and I haven't thought about them for a while, it was only until Yesterday that the thought of this family came back to me. Then you called me to go with you to teach them... weird." I thought it was a miracle from Heavenly Father and was so cool!!!!

The JB Chinese Elders... Hanks, Pearce, Lloyd & Avery

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Elders running late for church! 

                                                                                          

So now there are 4 elders here in the house and they are all awesome! Elder Avery doesn't stop making me laugh with his funny lines and phrases. Elder Pearce won't eat any food I try to give to him,  so he is way to courteous. And Elder Lloyd is such I stud I can't believe the Lord would bless me so much! Elder Lloyd is a hard worker and is from Bountiful. I already love him so much and he never stops being grateful for things, even trees... I have found that his being grateful is one of the greatest traits about him, he never stops being grateful for what he has and what he can do! He is awesome and I am looking forward to working more with him in the next couple of weeks!

I am loving this life and time that I have as missionary. I need to be more grateful for these kinds of things more. 

Elder Hanks

Departing Elder Baer...with miracles though!

July 13,  2015

 

I hope the last week of my mission can be as good as it was for Elder Baer's last week! This week was a great week full of miracles and blessings. So let's name a few, shall we?

To start, it's a standard of excellence that we as missionaries find 2 new investigators every week in order to continue to find new people to bring unto Christ and keep the funnel filled. All week we were trying to find new people and meet with previously-met potentials, but no one would meet with us. Sunday(the last day of the week) came around and we were worried we wouldn't hit our goal. Luckily we had many investigators come to church and 2 of them were Indian investigators we have been teaching for not too long. We asked them if we could come over and share with them more about the gospel. They agreed and so we went. As we entered their house-  with some members,  it was literally a miracle as 2 sisters of the investigator (who came to church)  came out from the back room.! We met with them and shared the message of the Restoration. The Spirit was very strong and they all agreed to allow us to come back again and share more. 2 New investigators!!!!! we were so happy to achieve our goals.

With Elder Baer leaving many of the members had taken us out for lunch and invited us to go to dinners with them. We were very full this week, but the members here are so awesome and I love them so much! The branch here is just so awesome and I love being with every single one of our members.
    We had zone meeting this past week and for the zone activity we went bowling. I shocked myself with the highest score and many strikes. I had no idea since it has been awhile since I've practiced my bowling skills.....!  But Zone meeting itself was a great experience where we all had a great council in which we talked about our new mission president and we are all really excited about serving with him. And with 3 months left with my new companion.... ELDER LOYYD... it is going to be a party. I am so excited to be his companion, although I am sad Elder Baer is leaving. With the new transfers though, we are having 2 new elders come into the JB area with us. So the house will again be 4 chinese Elders! I'm really excited about this and hope to do my best in helping 3 elders get oriented to the massive JB area. Wish me luck....  

We are having many investigators coming to church now and they are loving church. We are hoping to help them continue to progress towards baptism. It's a big topic with all of our investigators so we are pushing them to continue towards it. JB is awesome!!!!  

Elder Hanks