March 21, 2016- Springs Greetings!

Hello everyone! How is life in Arizona/Colorado/Anywhere else these emails are read?

So, it's officially spring now! That's exciting! We've been having awesome weather lately, so me and the chums are going on daily jogs in the morning to get our systems moving. It's...difficult at times, but I think it'll pay off in the long run. (No pun intended, of course)

Our whole companionship is pretty much healthy now, which is a good sign. We have all been trying really hard to find some new people to teach. And honestly? It could be going better. We have a few potential people we're going to try, and the ward has got a list of names for us that we're going to go over tomorrow night.

In other news, Jordan officially got the priesthood yesterday! That's right, he is officially a Priest now! I'm excited to see him start using his priesthood in upcoming weeks, hopefully to help bless the Priesthood, since we are low on Priests in our ward.

Other than that, we have been trying to meet with Chelsea again, as well as Juan and Mary, and get them to come out to church. So, please keep our investigators in your prayers.

We had Elder Pino come and talk to us for Stake Conference, and it was really cool. He spoke in his native language, and Bishop Reyelts (who teaches English as a second language) translated for him. He gave us a really awesome message that I wish my sick brain had retained more information about.

In terms of a spiritual thought, I gave this story in Testimony meeting a few weeks ago, and those of you in the Lakeside or Spring Creek ward probably remember this. Basically, this story is about a turkey. And this turkey learned something pretty amazing for a turkey: he learned how to fly. So, he gathered his turkeys together in a meeting and teaches all of them how to fly. And the lead turkey is a great teacher and teaches every turkey how to fly, and all of them fly around for the first times in their lives.

About an hour of this passes, and the lead turkey ends the meeting. And all of the turkeys WALK home.

So, what's the point? The point is, sometimes we go to meetings and experience these great things, great concepts, and new ways to live life better. But then we walk home, and we don't apply those things to our lives. We have the potential of these turkeys, the potential to fly. It's really our choice whether or not we walk or we fly.

Thank you all so much for everyone's support! I will talk to you all next week!

-Elder Hanley

February 29, 2016- Greetings, Humans!

Hello people of Earth. I am Elder Hanley, and have I got an email for you.

So...I was super sick this past week. Along with Elder Vaka, we tried to stay as close as possible to the downstairs bathroom in case anything felt like exiting our mouths at high velocities. But we are feeling a bit better now.

So, this last week has been pretty slow because of that. We got back in touch with Juan and Mary, and that was really cool to see them again! We got to do some service, helping some people move in, that sort of thing, and that was really cool too.

We've also been working more with our Ward Missionaries, so on Tuesday, Brother Wolf and I went out and visited some people.

So, because not a lot has happened lately, I thought I'd share a little bit of info about my companions so you can get to know them better.

ELDER VAKA is Tongan, but he was born in Hawaii, and was raised in Arizona. Because of his Polynesian upbringing, his family is super close, and they eat some...interesting foods that I'd actually like to try sometime. Namely Horse. Elder Vaka loves Horse.

ELDER TAUTUI is Samoan, but he was raised in California. Because he and Elder Vaka come from to races are are vastly opposed to each other, they hate each other. Just kidding, they are like brothers. But they do poke fun at each other a lot. Elder Tautui pretty much always has a smile on his face and a joke at the ready/

This email has been a little bit different, but I wasn't sure what else to write about this week.

Thank you all so much for all the support you give me! I unfortunately have no pictures for the week, since I totally forgot to take any this week. But next week for sure!

I love you all!

-Elder Hanley

February 22, 2016- Staying in Rifle!

Hello world! Yes, we got transfer news, and all three of us are staying in Rifle!

We also had a baptism on Saturday, and it was AWESOME! (see below picture) Jordan arrived to the baptism after having a pretty crappy day, so he was in a bad mood. But as soon as Brother King pulled Jordan back out of the water, the spirit hit everyone so strong, and Jordan started crying with how emotional he was. It was awesome! Even Jordan's non-member friends who he brought to the baptism were getting emotional!

He was confirmed yesterday, and all of the missionaries stood in on the circle. It was really cool! So excited to see Jordan taking these steps, and it's awesome to see how much he's changed since I first met him. And now, we get to transition into teaching him the new member lessons. :)

Other than that, not much has been happening here in Rifle. Juan, Mary, and Christian have all gone radio silent, so we're going to have to try to get back in touch with them, as well as Mike. We went over some goals for this next transfer and we think we can get 2 baptisms this transfer. So, keep your fingers crossed for us, and keep us in your prayers!

I love you all! Thank you so much for all of the support you give to me!

-Elder Hanley

February 16, 2016- Hello world!

How is everyone doing? Elder Hanley here, and we have been good!

First and foremost, no, we didn't get a chance to email yesterday, so we are emailing today. Secondly, Jordan's baptism has officially been set for this Saturday! So, expect some pictures next week of that exciting event.

Rifle has been slow once more. We've had a lot of people either not be home or mysteriously missing when we show up, so that's been a little rough. But we've been doing our best. So, hopefully, we'll be able to find some more people to teach this upcoming week.

We had our last district meeting of the transfer this last week. Transfers are next week, on the 23rd, so I will know by this Saturday night if I'm being transferred or not.

We are officially no longer having transfer meetings. The Presidency has basically said that from now on, we will try to get missionaries to their areas so we have a full day to do missionary work, rather than sitting in a meeting for the whole day. In theory, it's a good idea, but it's going to be a little weird to adjust to no transfer meetings. Plus, we are relying more on the ward members to transport us everywhere instead of driving there with other missionaries.

Sorry this email is so short, we are short on time for emailing this week. Thank you all so much for the support you all give me! You guys are the best!

-Elder Hanley

February 8, 2016- Trapped in Glenwood Springs!

Hello world!

So, first off, I apologize for not sending a letter last week. We were short on time because we were headed to Glenwood Springs to play basketball with some other missionaries. It was snowing pretty heavily on the way there, but our car handled the roads pretty well. And then...they closed I-70. So, we got to stay the night with the Glenwood Springs Elders. So, that was exciting.

Other than that, we had another pretty slow week here in Rifle. We are still meeting with Jordan, and he is doing great. Juan and Mary have gone radio silent, and we're pretty sure they're out of town, because their house has been dark and their car is gone.

We had most of our appointments this week fall through, so we've just been doing our best to keep ourselves busy.

But something cool that I should've included in my email last week if we didn't get stranded. We got another companion! So, we are in a trio now! So, it's me, Elder Vaka, and Elder Tautui. We're gonna translate the entire town of Rifle. Just wait on it. :)

Other than that, we have been trying to find new investigators, mainly focusing on working on members. So far our tracting efforts have been unsuccessful, since pretty much the whole town has been tracted out. Both our Ward Mission Leader and our Bishop have been awesome in trying to find people for us to teach, so that has been great.

Other than that, not much going on. We're just still doing missionary work and doing our best to keep busy. I love you all! Thank you so much for all your support you give me!

-Elder Hanley

My comps!

And my new haircut, in a cheesy mirror selfie straight from Middle School

January 25, 2016- A Slow Week in Rifle

Hello world! How is everything going?

Shout-out to Kara, a.k.a. Sister Haven, who has received her mission call to Ogden, Utah!

Like the title implies, this week has been very slow. For one, because I have been kind of sick this past week, and for another because people keep cancelling on us. So, it's been pretty slow.

We had a Broadcast on Wednesday which was sent out to all missionaries throughout the world, and it was really good! It focused on working with members in our work, and on loving the people. It was cool, because that's what Elder Vaka and I have been focusing on this transfer, so it was cool to see some advice on how best to do that by our living apostles.

We are still working with Jordan, and he is doing great! He is set to be baptized on February 20th! So, we're mainly meeting with him a few times a week to uplift him and help him be as ready as possible. As for Juan, Mary, and Christian, they are doing great! We taught them the Word of Wisdom this last time we met with them, and they had absolutely no problem accepting it. It was amazing! And Mary officially will be able to come to church next week, so we're hoping to see all three of them at Church!

We officially have Spanish Elders in Rifle now. So, that'll be good, since before, the Hermanas in Glenwood would only come up a couple times a week. But it's good to see that we'll have some Elders close-by to work with the Spanish speakers here.

We picked up dinner from a member the other day, and on the way back: Horses. We saw 5 horses wandering on their own down the road. So, someone is missing 5 horses. We felt sympathetic, but they're horses. What are we supposed to do?

Thank you all so much for all the support you give me from home! Seriously, it's the best! I love you all, and I will talk to you all next week!

-Elder Hanley

January 19, 2016- Stuck in the Snow

Hello world! So, first off, yesterday was MLK Jr. Day, so our library was closed. So, we are emailing today. Sorry about that. Now, back to your regularly scheduled email.

So, I'm companions with Elder Vakameilalo now! (Pronounced Vaw-kuh-may-law-low) But most people call him Elder Vaka. He's super funny and cool and it's been a lot of fun to work with him this past week!

We are changing things up a little in Rifle, and putting more focus on Member Missionary work, trying to work through the ward to find investigators through the members, as opposed to tracting. Pretty much the whole town has been tracted, and we've been experiencing a lot of rejection when we do that recently. So, we are focusing on having lessons with members about missionary work, and on sharing missionary-related thoughts after dinner appointments. So, please keep us and our ward in your prayers.

But yes, we did get stuck in the snow. We had a lesson with the Wolfs, and they live like 30 minutes outside of town up this really big hill. We struggled a little to get up the hill in our front-wheel drive Chevy Cruze, but we made it safely. On the way down, however, two of our wheels ended up in a ditch. So, we got stuck.

We called Brother Wolf, and he came down in his big truck, hooked a chain to our front axle, and yanked us right out of there. It was all very exciting.

Other than that, we are just trying to expand our teaching pool, and are trying to progress the investigators we do have. So, any and all prayers sent our way would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all so much for all the support you guys give me! It means so much! Until next week!

-Elder Hanley

 Stuck in the Snow

Our hero, Brother Wolf, after he pulled us out.

January 11, 2016- Greetings, People of Earth!

This is Elder Hanley, reporting to you from the Rifle Regional Library, where we are currently emailing from.

Anywho, this last week has been really good, actually! Now that the Holidays are over, and people aren't so busy, we actually get to talk to a lot of people, as opposed to this last month.

First off, we got transfer news last night, and I'm staying in Rifle! Elder Eastley is unfortunately being transferred, so I'll be getting a new companion tomorrow. But I'm excited that I'll be able to stick around and hopefully be able to see Juan, Mary, and Christian be baptized.

So, like was said, this week has been really good. First off, JUAN CAME TO CHURCH! Mary and Christian were both busy on Sunday, so Juan came with his little daughter and it went so good! Everyone in the ward was super nice, and were super comfortable talking to Juan and making him feel welcome. He called us after church was over to thank us for bringing him, he LOVED it. So, that is a good sign. But if everyone could keep Mary in your prayers, she is currently trying to get Sundays off so she can come to church. It's looking like she'll have to either find a new job or be a stay-at-home Mom if she wants to come to church, so we really want them to be able to provide for their family, whichever she decides. So, yeah, please be praying for her.

We also went to see some people in the area book. We went to talk to a Less-Active, and she told us she wants to come back to activity, and we set up a day and a time every Wednesday to go see her. AND we went to see a former investigator, and she invited us and told us she loved to hear the missionaries teach, so we'll be going to see her regularly as well. Good stuff!

Also, we are teaching Chelsea again. She is going through A LOT right now, in terms of her family and her boyfriend, and it's just a lot of not so good stuff, so please keep her in your prayers as well.

Other than that, we have been doing a bit of tracting, trying to expand our teaching pool, (since most of the investigators we found in December seem to be avoiding us) and so I will keep you updated on that.

Thank you all so much for all the support you give me! Seriously, it's the best! I love you all, and will talk to you next week!

-Elder Hanley

Don't judge.

This is from our road trip to Denver last week. Quite beautiful!

January 4, 2016- HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hello world! This is Elder Hanley!

So, this last week has been...interesting. We got to drive up to Denver for a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, then we spent the night in the mission home and drove home the next day. Then on Thursday, we got to drive to Grand Junction for the Mission tour, where we spent most of the day receiving training on planning. That was actually a lot of fun!

Then on Friday, we did Weekly planning. So, we really only had two full days of missionary work, so it has been a little slow. But we picked Chelsea back up! She has been experiencing some real push back from her family, and she took a break from meeting with us. But we got back in contact with her. You know how we did it? We left a pineapple on her front porch. Sound weird? Yeah, that's the point. Anyone can leave candy or cookies, but it takes a true mad genius to leave a pineapple.

People never forget a pineapple, and so she texted us and we got back in contact. So, we are going to start meeting with her again. She says she is still willing to be baptized, but she feels she needs to know more first. :)

Other than that, not much has happened. Sorry this is such a short email, but quite honestly, this last week was uneventful. Thank you all so much for everything you do to help this Elder out during these two years! It really means so much to me!

I totally forgot something amazing that happened last week! We were out driving, and we got a text from the Spanish sisters who were in town for the day. They told us to go knock on a certain door, and said they had a good feeling about it. So, we did. We met Mike, and we taught him the 1st lesson, and he felt the spirit really strong, and we are now going to be teaching him! So, that is really exciting! Just thought I'd share that to tell you all not to ignore promptings! It might seem silly, but even the littlest of promptings can mean a huge deal. If the sisters had ignored that prompting, we never would have met Mike!

I love you all!

-Elder Hanley