How is everyone doing this fine Monday? Elder Hanley here reporting to you on the Christmas Cheer we experienced this past week.
Honestly...not a ton. We had A LOT of good experiences with members, and with a few of our investigators, but work is slow around the Holiday season, because people are so busy. So, we haven't had too much of a successful week, but it's been a good one.
Thank you to everyone who sent me presents and letters! It means so much! So, on Christmas. We opened presents first thing (of course I waited till Christmas morning. What do I look like, a Scrooge?) and then we went caroling with our Zone Leaders.
Then, the Davis family was kind enough to let us use their home to Skype home, and that was a lot of fun! It was kind of funny, the Davis's were so busy, that they just let us in, turned on their computer and their tablet and then bounced. After the good experience of skyping home, we went and visited a bunch of members. And then...our dinner fell through.
I was a little disapointed about that, but the reason was actually our safety. The Wolf's live up this really, really steep hill, and our front-wheel drive car wasn't gonna make it up the hill through the snow, so, we went over to an investigators house instead.
We actually just planned to say hey, and to visit some more people, but when he found out we didn't have dinner, he invited us in to have Prime Rib with his whole family. They were SUPER nice, and we enjoyed that a lot.
Other than that, our Bishop is awesome. Not only is he doing missionary work, and trying to find people for us to teach, but he also out of the blue decided to come with us to a lesson with Juan and Mary, just to help us out.
JUAN AND MARY ARE DOING GREAT! They are just soaking up all of the lessons, and they want to be baptized. The only thing is, they have to come to church at least three times before that, so it will probably be in February when they get baptized. It's so cool though, Juan feels the spirit so well. Apparently, last Sunday, he couldn't come to church because he was working, and he was having a really bad day, when out of nowhere, a random guy walks up to him, and asks if he can say a prayer with him. So Juan says yes, and the guy prays for Juan to have a good day, then the guy walks away without saying another word to Juan. Juan said that just improved his day so much.
We think Juan might have met one of the Three Nephites. It's a possibility. We're not ruling it out, at least.
Thank you all so much for all the support you give me! Sorry there are no pictures, we are slackers who forgot to take pictures on Christmas. But I will send pictures home next week!
-Elder Hanley
Monday, December 28, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Merry Christmas (Week)!
Merry Christmas to all of you! Elder Hanley, reporting to you from Rifle, Colorado, where things have been...slow.
We had a baptism scheduled for Saturday, but scheduling conflicts pushed it back. Hopefully, we'll have some good news about Chelsea by next week. Things have been kinda rough, what with it being so close to Christmas and all.
We have been teaching Juan and Mary, and they are AWESOME. They want to be baptized, but it probably won't happen for a little while since we still have a lot to teach them, and they probably won't be able to come to Church until Mary's work schedule changes and she has Sundays off.
Other than that, we got like 8 names from Ward Council this last week, and we are going to be working on contacting them, and hopefully getting some baptisms out of it. They are all Part-Member Families, so we're super excited for that.
We had our Christmas Luncheon with President and Sister Murdock on Thursday, and that was so much fun! We ate some great food, had some great spiritual moments, and did some really funny karaoke to Christmas songs. It was a whole lot of fun.
Other than that, we found a few new investigators who we're really excited for, and we are hoping to teach them some more and to get them progressing toward baptism.
Things have been kinda slow, but we're trying our best, and really, that's all we can do, is just invite people to come unto Christ.
Thank you all so much for all you do to support me!
Love,
Elder Hanley
We had a baptism scheduled for Saturday, but scheduling conflicts pushed it back. Hopefully, we'll have some good news about Chelsea by next week. Things have been kinda rough, what with it being so close to Christmas and all.
We have been teaching Juan and Mary, and they are AWESOME. They want to be baptized, but it probably won't happen for a little while since we still have a lot to teach them, and they probably won't be able to come to Church until Mary's work schedule changes and she has Sundays off.
Other than that, we got like 8 names from Ward Council this last week, and we are going to be working on contacting them, and hopefully getting some baptisms out of it. They are all Part-Member Families, so we're super excited for that.
We had our Christmas Luncheon with President and Sister Murdock on Thursday, and that was so much fun! We ate some great food, had some great spiritual moments, and did some really funny karaoke to Christmas songs. It was a whole lot of fun.
Other than that, we found a few new investigators who we're really excited for, and we are hoping to teach them some more and to get them progressing toward baptism.
Things have been kinda slow, but we're trying our best, and really, that's all we can do, is just invite people to come unto Christ.
Thank you all so much for all you do to support me!
Love,
Elder Hanley
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
December 14, 2015- It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!
Hello world! Elder Hanley here, reporting to you from the snow-covered Rifle, Colorado!
First off, some shoutouts. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALICIA! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GARY! Now, back to our regularly scheduled email.
So, this last week was...slow. For whatever reason, no one really wanted to talk to us. Most of our appointments fell through, and we spent a lot of time trying to contact people who seem to have vanished into some sort of time warp. We found a new investigator who seems pretty solid, but he says he wants to read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon before he even sets foot inside an LDS church. So...that was interesting.
We're hoping to get some baptisms by the end of this week. Gilbert (one of our investigators) has a baptismal date for this Saturday, so we're hoping he sticks to that. Apparently, he's had a lot of baptismal dates that have fallen through before this, so fingers crossed. Definitely keep Gilbert in your prayers. Also, keep Chelsea in your prayers. She was on date for the 11th, but that date came and went, so we're hoping to move her date to this Saturday.
Beside that, not much has been going on. We had to stop by Wal-Mart to pick up a few things the other day, and on the way in, some our investigators stopped to talk to us. We thought it was a pretty good sign that they didn't speed off, because if they hadn't stopped, we would never have known it was them. AND when we got into the actual store, we ran into one of the Less-Actives we've been working with. So, I think we were meant to be at that Wal-Mart that night.
So, it's been snowing quite a bit. Pictures will be included, but we had to shovel snow on Saturday, and we will most likely have to shovel snow tomorrow, since it's snowing pretty consistently right now.
We had Train the Trainers on Saturday, and that was super cool. President Atkinson was there, and he gave some really cool teachings. I also got to see Elder Smith and talk to him about how Montrose is doing, so that's really fun.
I guess this last week has been kind of a trial of our faith. While it would be easy to just say "nothing is happening today, let's just go home" we've been trying our best to continue working, continue trying to see people, even if no one seems to want to talk to us. It's important to keep going, even if it's tough a lot of the time.
A couple of days ago, I was super stressed, so I decided to call President Murdock (our mission President) and he talked to me about it. He said the secret to staying motivated to work is rooted in your testimony of the savior. If your testimony is strong, you'll have a strong desire to go out and to share the gospel. So, I'm working on that.
Thank you all so much! I love you all!
-Elder Hanley
First off, some shoutouts. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALICIA! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GARY! Now, back to our regularly scheduled email.
So, this last week was...slow. For whatever reason, no one really wanted to talk to us. Most of our appointments fell through, and we spent a lot of time trying to contact people who seem to have vanished into some sort of time warp. We found a new investigator who seems pretty solid, but he says he wants to read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon before he even sets foot inside an LDS church. So...that was interesting.
We're hoping to get some baptisms by the end of this week. Gilbert (one of our investigators) has a baptismal date for this Saturday, so we're hoping he sticks to that. Apparently, he's had a lot of baptismal dates that have fallen through before this, so fingers crossed. Definitely keep Gilbert in your prayers. Also, keep Chelsea in your prayers. She was on date for the 11th, but that date came and went, so we're hoping to move her date to this Saturday.
Beside that, not much has been going on. We had to stop by Wal-Mart to pick up a few things the other day, and on the way in, some our investigators stopped to talk to us. We thought it was a pretty good sign that they didn't speed off, because if they hadn't stopped, we would never have known it was them. AND when we got into the actual store, we ran into one of the Less-Actives we've been working with. So, I think we were meant to be at that Wal-Mart that night.
So, it's been snowing quite a bit. Pictures will be included, but we had to shovel snow on Saturday, and we will most likely have to shovel snow tomorrow, since it's snowing pretty consistently right now.
We had Train the Trainers on Saturday, and that was super cool. President Atkinson was there, and he gave some really cool teachings. I also got to see Elder Smith and talk to him about how Montrose is doing, so that's really fun.
I guess this last week has been kind of a trial of our faith. While it would be easy to just say "nothing is happening today, let's just go home" we've been trying our best to continue working, continue trying to see people, even if no one seems to want to talk to us. It's important to keep going, even if it's tough a lot of the time.
A couple of days ago, I was super stressed, so I decided to call President Murdock (our mission President) and he talked to me about it. He said the secret to staying motivated to work is rooted in your testimony of the savior. If your testimony is strong, you'll have a strong desire to go out and to share the gospel. So, I'm working on that.
Thank you all so much! I love you all!
-Elder Hanley
The view from our balcony the day after the snow hit.
This is Stanley. He's standing in for our Christmas tree for now. He's very festive.
Monday, December 7, 2015
December 7, 2015- All aboard the Transfer Train!
Hello people of Earth! So, I've been transferred to a little town called Rifle, Colorado. It's a nice little town where we get free Sonic and free Little Caesar's. This is not too good for my health, but hey, I've lost 5 pounds since I entered the Mission Field, so that's something.
This week has been...interesting. Transfers are exhausting. Been kinda wiped out all week, and adjusting to a new place is pretty draining. But we did find 6 new investigators this last week, and we've got about 5 people committed to baptism. So, that's exciting!
My new companion is Elder Eastley. He is super cool! He's seen a lot of the same stuff as me and we make a lot of the same references and laugh at a lot of dumb things that don't actually make sense. But that's my style of humor, so it works.
The ward here is super nice. We met with Bishop Reyelts (pronounced like Riots with an L added) and he is really cool and is making a lot of efforts to help us out. Our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Wolf, is also really cool.
The Elders were teaching a guy named Juan who wanted to be baptized, and we just recently met with his girlfriend, and she wants to be baptized too! And they have a one-year-old daughter, so it's really exciting.
Other than that, not much has happened. Mostly, just trying to adjust and to continue to become a better missionary, so fingers crossed on that front.
Thought I'd share my ponderizing scripture for the week. It's Jacob 4:7.
"Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."
Thank you all so much for helping me out! It helps me so much to have people at home who are so supportive of me and are so effective at cheering me on!
Until next week!
-Elder Hanley
This week has been...interesting. Transfers are exhausting. Been kinda wiped out all week, and adjusting to a new place is pretty draining. But we did find 6 new investigators this last week, and we've got about 5 people committed to baptism. So, that's exciting!
My new companion is Elder Eastley. He is super cool! He's seen a lot of the same stuff as me and we make a lot of the same references and laugh at a lot of dumb things that don't actually make sense. But that's my style of humor, so it works.
The ward here is super nice. We met with Bishop Reyelts (pronounced like Riots with an L added) and he is really cool and is making a lot of efforts to help us out. Our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Wolf, is also really cool.
The Elders were teaching a guy named Juan who wanted to be baptized, and we just recently met with his girlfriend, and she wants to be baptized too! And they have a one-year-old daughter, so it's really exciting.
Other than that, not much has happened. Mostly, just trying to adjust and to continue to become a better missionary, so fingers crossed on that front.
Thought I'd share my ponderizing scripture for the week. It's Jacob 4:7.
"Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."
Thank you all so much for helping me out! It helps me so much to have people at home who are so supportive of me and are so effective at cheering me on!
Until next week!
-Elder Hanley
A good view of Rifle, only partially covered by this weird guy who wandered into the shot.
And my companion, Elder Eastley!
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
November 30, 2015- Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy (late) Thanksgiving everyone! Thanksgiving was pretty great, but more on that later.
This week has been pretty good! I have news, though. I'M BEING TRANSFERRED! I'm not sure where to yet (I find that out tomorrow) but I am honestly kind of excited to go somewhere new.
So, last Monday, we got to go on a hike WITH LLAMAS. (See picture below) The llamas are being trained to carry things for hikers, so we and the Mt. Sneffles Elders all went on a lovely hike with llamas. So, that was fun! (Even if the llamas were kind of stubborn)
We have been continuing to teach Connie, and she is great! She is OCD, so she gets caught up on tiny details (for instance, what Nephi meant when he wrote 'so forth.') but she is doing great! She came to a baptism in the Black Canyon ward with us, and that went really well.
And yes, Thanksgiving happened. So, as missionaries, we get to have multiple dinner appointments, and those appointments can last for up to two hours. So, we had two delicious Thanksgiving dinners, one of them at our Ward Mission Leader's home. We also helped him and his wife set up for Christmas in the yard. We're also helping them tonight to decorate their Christmas tree. Decorating the tree will be my last appointment in Spring Creek ward. Super excited about that.
A few other things happened: Cody came to Church! Since he's 14, he didn't enjoy it as much as we'd like, but we're still hopeful for him. We also talked to a girl named Ashley who was suuuuuuper prepared to hear the lesson. She's wanting to go to Church and be baptized if she felt it was true. So, that was great.
Also, one of the families in the ward, the Harrison's, who I've become super close with is actually related to me! We did some research and Dave found that he's related to the Johnson's! So, we're distant relatives, I guess.
People keep giving me food because I'm leaving. I mean, I'm not complaining, because now we have like 5 tupperware containers of cookies, I'm just stating it as a fact.
Thank you all so much for everything to do for me! You are all the best! I will talk to you all next week!
-Elder Hanley
This week has been pretty good! I have news, though. I'M BEING TRANSFERRED! I'm not sure where to yet (I find that out tomorrow) but I am honestly kind of excited to go somewhere new.
So, last Monday, we got to go on a hike WITH LLAMAS. (See picture below) The llamas are being trained to carry things for hikers, so we and the Mt. Sneffles Elders all went on a lovely hike with llamas. So, that was fun! (Even if the llamas were kind of stubborn)
We have been continuing to teach Connie, and she is great! She is OCD, so she gets caught up on tiny details (for instance, what Nephi meant when he wrote 'so forth.') but she is doing great! She came to a baptism in the Black Canyon ward with us, and that went really well.
And yes, Thanksgiving happened. So, as missionaries, we get to have multiple dinner appointments, and those appointments can last for up to two hours. So, we had two delicious Thanksgiving dinners, one of them at our Ward Mission Leader's home. We also helped him and his wife set up for Christmas in the yard. We're also helping them tonight to decorate their Christmas tree. Decorating the tree will be my last appointment in Spring Creek ward. Super excited about that.
A few other things happened: Cody came to Church! Since he's 14, he didn't enjoy it as much as we'd like, but we're still hopeful for him. We also talked to a girl named Ashley who was suuuuuuper prepared to hear the lesson. She's wanting to go to Church and be baptized if she felt it was true. So, that was great.
Also, one of the families in the ward, the Harrison's, who I've become super close with is actually related to me! We did some research and Dave found that he's related to the Johnson's! So, we're distant relatives, I guess.
People keep giving me food because I'm leaving. I mean, I'm not complaining, because now we have like 5 tupperware containers of cookies, I'm just stating it as a fact.
Thank you all so much for everything to do for me! You are all the best! I will talk to you all next week!
-Elder Hanley
Hiking with Llamas! This is Tanya the llama. She was pretty cool.
The Palmers had a festive Thanksgiving hat. So I wore it.
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