Monday, July/05/10 01:45 PM

From: Michael Scott Hancock To: Laurie Hancock

Subject: Re: from Mom (see below) Date: Mon 07/05/10 01:45 PM

YA!!!! 4th of July!!!! Just another day here! sad thing actually, I didn´t even realize it was the 4th of July until I wrote in my journal the other day.... ha! funny.. We visited a recent convert, Maria, crazy old lady, love her! And we brought some glow sticks to "celebrate", a lot of people here know the holliday actually. It actually turned out to be a pretty good day though, I´ll explain why a little later on. It sounds like you guys have had some fun and are having fun! Sweet! I´m done with breakfast showering and studying by 8, not too bad :) I miss swimming! These last couple of days have been wierd, yesterday especially, it got pretty toasty! I thought it was winter, but it keeps changing it´s mind! I´ve seen some fireworks here though, don´t worry! After every Uruguay game, especially the last one, it´s loco! I can´t say I remember Daniel´s baby blessing, and in all honesty... I don´t remember if I made it to Amelia´s blessing.... I think I did. Man... lots of babys! Good stuff, sounds like fun Independence day!

Down here Netherlands is called ´Holanda´ and they´re playing good, they beat Brazil afterall... it will be a crazy game! Especially with how close the last one was with Ghana, they had to win on a fowl... wasn´t as cool.. but the penalty kicks were intense, we managed to get in two lessons during the game still! But afterwards we couldn´t do anything, so we did our weekly planning then and made pasta! But it was crazy! Everyone partied all night, fireworks, cars honking, people yelling and screaming, running up and down the streets! It was intense! We´ll find out Tuesday what happens, only American team left though!

Now... here we go! This week for us was really special, a week of miracles :) We got to see a cat fight first of all.... ok that´s not the miracle, but it was pretty sweet, actual cats not girls, they were throwing each other against the wall and everything... anyhow, the good stuff. Elder Roney and I found a family of 6, the Gomez family, Herman and Ivana and their 4 children, a younger family, and in short, they are living proof of people prepared before hand by the Lord. We taught them a couple weeks with Elder Roney and Elder Lockheart and I are teaching them now. This last week we had probably the greatest lesson I´ve ever had, there are only few times where I´ve been as happy as I have this week. Last tuesday we had a lesson with them, they study and read and love everything, we pretty much were just answering questions, and then we somehow got into lesson 2 again, the Plan of Salvation and went over it again, with drawings! :) After that we were just talking and spilling out our testimonies basically of the life after this. Then Herman thought for a moment and then said "I have a confession to make." We thought to ourselves, oh no... here we go, something´s wrong, he´s gonna start telling us all his sins or something... But he continued and told us about how he was reading in the Bible, before we came, and he read the promise "Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you." He told us that he tried it, he loves his family ALOT, and wants the best for them, so he asked.. then he told us right after he asked we knocked on the door.... After he told us this... we were pretty much just speechless.... We probably looked really goofy just sitting there with our mouths open eyes wide saying nothing... it was a feeling that I can´t describe, on the way home that night we were pretty much just flying and we couldn´t stop smiling or talking about it... we thanked God for that experience.. it was amazing, now, I´ll get back to them in a bit, but the next night, we´d been working hard all day, and we were getting to the end of the day not really finding anything, we were going to head back and decided we´d knock one more street... first door we knocked a woman answered the door, probably 40... skinny and dark, her name was Yolanda, and she actually recognized us and warmly welcomed us, we found out that a few years before she had had the lessons with some other missionaries and she loved them and was going to church.. in the end though, she was going through a divorce or seperation and couldn´t give up smoking quite all the way and the missionaries had to stop visiting... The interesting part is this, her mother figure and best friend had died, she was sick with something strange, and her children were all having problems... just in a really low point.... and that´s when these elders knocked on her door... they helped her through it all..., we found out yesterday, after having another lesson with her, that just recently she´s been having this same sickness and problems with her kids... just really down again... and we knocked on her door..... coincidence? I think NOT! and neither did she! She told us she wants to get back into and try to become a member, it was really cool. And just to finish off the week, we had another lesson with the Gomez family and we read the articles of faith with some other things and then we asked them if they believed in it all... they said yes! and we asked them to prepare and be baptised the 25th of July... they said Yes! :) We got them to church Sunday, testimony meeting, alright! and it was a really good testimony meeting too, testimonies that I think were ment for them, I just felt the Spirit so intensely and don´t think I could stop smiling all of Sacrament meeting, it was amazing! They are going to get baptised the 25th, and then confirmed probably the 1st of August... Herman and Ivana, and 2 of their kids are old enough to get baptised.. the other 2, I hope, will be able to be baptised by their Dad later on down the road. Oh I can´t describe how happy I´ve been, I love this family! And it´s wierd to feel such love for someone who speaks a different language and I´ve only known for such a short period... it´s awesome! I feel we´ve tried to work hard this last week, and we´ve been blessed greatly for it, we just have to continue on :) God does bless us for our efforts and there are people out there ready to listen :)

Well... this email is long enough I think... I might get the package tomorrow, we´ll see. I got the letter from Ariel and I´m gonna reply. I love hearing what´s going on and I look forward to some pics of the celebrating. Thanks for all the love and support! God lives and answers prayers! This week is proof of that! Keep reading and praying! Love you all! Talk to ya later!

Photos: Elder Lockheart and I celebrating the game! Elder Roney and I making tortillas! Some delicious pasta I made! and a group shot at the wedding!

PS: If you see brother Perry! Tell him I really have grown to love his music on the mission, I´ve heard his voice more on the mission than my own mother´s :) funny. I especially love the "Reason to Sing" CD.

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On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 6:39 AM, wrote:


Hola! Elder Hancock!
Happy 4th of July! I guess that is one holiday they don't celebrate there in Uruguay! It was kind of nice this year because the 4th is on a Sunday. So it was like a 3 day holiday this year. Saturday, we had our annual 4th of July breakfast bright and early with the Ward. Breakfast burritoes and fruit at 8 am, we did some yard work, then went swimming at the AF pool. We watched fireworks at Pleasant Grove Jr High. Then today, we went to Chad & Sarah Snelson's ward for Catherine Donna Snelson's baby blessing. (Can you believe 17 years ago today was Daniel's baby blessing?) One year ago today was Amelia's baptism. Do you remember that? Or were you at work? We had a nice visit with everybody afterwards at a park for the luncheon. Terry & Laura came with their baby, Christopher. He is getting huge! I will send you pictures. I finally got a battery for my camera, so I can take pictures again. Yes, still my film camera :) We went over to Mick & Ariel's tonight for some hot dogs. Tomorrow we will do the traditional parade, booths, Los Hermanos..... I will take lots of pictures and send them to you. Hopefully you will get your package this week! It will be a Happy 4th of July package.. okay, well they wouldn't let me send you fireworks in the mail, so technically it's not very 4th of Julyish. But know that we are thinking about you and of course it is not the same without you. But what you are doing is much, much better! What do you think about Uruguay and Netherlands? [Netherlands won] Netherlands are going to be tough to beat! I'm rooting for Uruguay... I would love to see them play Germany! Everyone says "hi"! They all love to get the emails that I forward to them from you. Grandpa & Grandma Snelson put more $$ into your mission fund. I am so grateful for the country we live in! What blessings we have. Heavenly Father truly set up a free nation so that the gospel could be restored. We are so blessed to live here! And I am grateful you are able to serve a mission and help share the restored gospel with others!!!!!! Hope this will be a great week for you! Love, Mom