11 Oct 2010 email

Well I´m so happy the wedding was a success and beautiful and all those lovely things :) I´m glad I could make it too, ha ha! I love the photos and it´s just amazing! The whold dancing thing sounded like it would have been really fun and special to watch.... sweet!
I did get the package! And i wrote a letter the past week about it all! Thanks so much, it felt so good to put on new socks! It really makes you appreciate the small things, the mission..... ya! If it´s too late then some ideas for a future package down the road: Baby powder (or some sort of powder for my shoes), and recipes (easy simple ones I can make out here... some of the stuff from home)
Well this last week was quite the week.... one of the harder weeks, and one of the more spiritual. I think I had my first full on argument with my comp, and the other companionship in our house too. I don´t want to sound racist, but the two latin comps are just closer to the end of the mission and a little trunky, loosing their drive and respect for the rules.... I´m still trying to work on that charity..... it´s difficult sometimes, but with a lot of praying and spiritual help I´m learning to control myself more and my emotions and correct the problems as fast as I can, it´s definitely a challenge.
The other fun thing about this week: We started teaching an Evangelical couple, Ricardo and Diani, they´ve been asisting the pentacostal church, not sure what the name is exactly, there´s so many different churches. Anyhow, we basically got into a nice bible bash.... a lot about the trinity, they just believe in one God, all three as one person, and you know.... I don´t think they´re gonna change their mind about anything, they´re so set in their way, we hit them pretty hard using their own bible with scriptures about the baptism how there was Jesus, the dove, and a voice, and we used the one where Stephen sees Jesus standing on the right hand of God.... and many many others, but they would just change to another scripture and never could answer our questions... but that´s ok... It strengthened my testimony and taught me how to control myself and not argue.... and also that night as we returned home, I went into the bathroom and prayed, thanking God for the knowledge I have and asking him to confirm it.....the greatest feeling came over me, a warmth surrounded me pretty much like someone placed a blanket on me and I cried..... and I knew before and know even more now that we have a Heavenly Father, a Savior, and The Holy Ghost and they are three different God´s all one in purpose to help us. Anyhow, with this same family we sort of set up a deal.... they went to our chruch sunday, and (with permission of course) we went to their church afterward.................................uhhhhhh...............I would like to bare my testimony now that I know that I am in the right church, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church in the world! It was kind of fun to walk into that church in our suits and tags, they greeted us nicely... then we sang for the first hour with an electric piano and a drum-set and speakers on full blast, I could not hear myself think! Everyone was clapping and moving around and shouting Glory Halleluja! and all that stuff. Then a man got up to give us the word! We read a whold 2 versus from the bible, one of which wasn´t even the right verse and we learned nothing! absolutely nothing, it was like watching theater the man shouting and waving his hands all over the place.... not teaching any principles..... just talking. Then we sang even more and some people looked like they were having heart-attacks..... just to sum it up because I could probably go on and on...... It was actually a good experience to see the difference... the organization and order we have in our church, the reverence and the spirit, the ordenaces and the priesthood... all of it. I am so grateful to be in the correct church and know what I need to do, have this clarity and goal and purpose.... I did feel the spirit, I looked back at one point and there was a girl sitting on one of the benches looking at me, she was a girl with down syndrome and she was just staring at me intently and I thought to myself..... that´s a celestial being... in the midst of all that noise I still had that experience....
anyhow, that´s the gist of the excitement, there´s so much more, but time won´t allow it! Thanks so much for the package again, the pictures, and all the love and support, I love you too! And God does too! Chau!

Scott Hancock to Michael
show details Sep 26 (1 day ago)
How is your week, any good prospects? it's got to be tuff, what is the average baptisms for a missionary? Anyway, the continuing saga gose on... Tomorrow I'm going to climb aboard a boom trailer (see image) scary, so I can cut down the tree at the studio, I have trimmed it alot but can't get to the higher ones so we will see what happens. I shot picture of pets with there people at a pet fair, Andra's was one of the main announcers and I shot pets... it was for fun like stretchy pants. I'm praying for you, keep plugging on!! Love Dad

Michael to Scott Hancock
show details 10:37 AM (22 hours ago)
We´re still working with the 2 families and we´ve been having a hard time finding new people, a lot of door knocking and rejection. We´ve actually started focussing a little more on the less active members, we have a list of all the members, hundreds, even though only about 40 actually go, and we´ve been visiting them all. So far it all comes down to 3 reasons why they´re inactive: 1- they moved, 2- they´re dead, 3- they were ofended! I hate with a passion the last one even more and more. All too often people forget that this church is perfect, sometimes the members aren´t, sadly. They loose that eternal perspective and just feel anger. I really just want to drop the cane on them sometimes, but we don´t do that as missionaries, or at least we´re not supposed to. Average baptisms..... I really don´t know... depends on a lot of things. Anywhere from 4-100, I´m really not sure what the average is. I hit my 1/3 mark this week (crazy!) and I have 2..... so.... ya...
Be careful cutting down those branches! The pet show sounded pretty fun, how did Andra score announcing? Anyways, thanks for the update and the prayers. Luv ya tons!

September 27, 2010 Email

I am actually really really really excited for conference! I don´t think they have it in our church cause it´s tiny, but one of the other ones a little more in town ya, I just hope they can get an english broadcast in too. I think I get more and more excited for conference everytime. Just learning about the Gospel and the church in general has been so much fun! I´m now reading D&C and the Old Testament! Good stuff!!! That´s actually a pretty funny story about the dirty windows... the one thing I don´t like about the conference is that we don´t get the priesthood session till the ensign comes out because it comes on past our bed time :( But that´s ok.... we learn patience in the mission :)
We actually cleaned the church this last week, remember Andres Vasques? The less active member we helped get back, he´s the new branch Librarian, and he wanted to clean the church and the other two elders in our branch had a baptism, so we all went over, the 5 of us and cleaned the whole church before the baptism! It was actually really fun! And the baptism was really nice too! So that was pretty fun! I got to bless the Sacrament again, I love being able to do that, I´ve almost got the sacrament prayers down in Spanish :) The weather has been a lot warmer, except for today it´s been sprinkling a little bit, but it´s nice. We actually cleaned our house real good this morning... well as well as we could without water because a pipe broke and we don´t have water right now. But we cleaned it good becuase the president is going to come do interviews in every missionary´s house! While the Hermana and AP´s check out the houses to see what changes need to be made... FUN! We´re still working with the families and more with less active members, but it´s moving a long. Anyhow, haven´t gotten the package or announcement yet, but it should come maybe tomorrow! Anyhow, thanks for all you´re doing! Keep reading and praying! Luv you tons!!!

Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 10:42 AM

Scott Hancock to Michael
Sep 19 (1 day ago)
So another week, it seems to fly by fast, U? Hows the country side? quite? let me know. Brother Goudy reads your blog every week and has ask if its updated. Remember Diaz he will be home in 7 month and you been out just over? Crazy. Finished the front of the studio, Looks good and now I've started cutting down the tree just on the north side of the studio, I put as much of it as I can in the garbage can each week, then I got to wait a week. Daniel and I have to go in to be fitted for tuxes, crazy again! I'm making josh and Andra's slide show hope we get it done, I'm adding short clips inside the show as well, will see how it goes. I'm tired from all the work but my blood pressure is going down, I've been drinking some crazy stuff (Pro-argine-9) that has been reversing the hardening of arteries, anyway we will continue monitor and see what happens. Love ya tons! Dad :D

Michael Hancock to Scott Hancock
10:42 AM (12 hours ago)
It does fly by fast!!! in 8 more days, I´ll be 1/3 of the way done with the mission!!!! That´s insane!!!! I still feel like the new guy! It´s so weird.... I´m in that mixed feeling stage, I only have two baptisms and a third of my mission, I know you´re not supposed to judge mission success on numbers of baptisms... but some times I wonder if I´m just not doing something right.... It´s been a challenge recently... deeling with finding a new house, my comp seems to be getting more and more trunky, he talks about girls a lot, and just dealing with a 4 elder house, there´s more comparison than there needs to be and lots of fooling around, I´ve been saying a lot of prayers lately, asking for more caridad... charity.... the ability to love my fellowman.. or elders... I´ve been trying to watch myself lately, how I act and react to things and it´s been interesting to see... it´s really hard to not have pride and only charity and love... just some of those feelings that creep in here and there... anyhow, it´s just been interesting. I can´t believe he´s going home in just 7 months... it does pass by really fast. Tuxes again! What color this time? you don´t have to wear pink right? :) Good for you and your blood pressure, I try to eat healthy here, but sometimes it´s hard.... I definitely put on some pounds, but I think I´m flat lining it right now :) Anyhow, good luck with everything that´s going on, I love ya tons! Chau!

15 Sep 2010

Well we got our changes yesterday and....... I´m staying! And Elder Cespedes is still my comp! We´ve got a couple really good families to work with, but need to find more people, we´re pumped and ready to go for another change! I´m actually the first comp that Elder Cespedes has had for more than one change! he´s had 12 comps so far in the mission!
You´re reading fast! Andra is actually in that same part! I just finished and am reading in Ether, but chapter 9 in Mormon is one of my favorites, it´s blunt and strait to the point! And I´m starting 1 Timothy in the New Testament, I really like Paul... he was a good missionary! Lots of stuff about not buttering up the Gospel but telling people how it is, we are not here to gain favor of men, but of God. I love it all!
This last week we did more service, we sanded and painted a room of a member, it was actually pretty fun, and we finished pretty fast! We also had another youth activity, we did a treasure hunt and played kick ball, it was cool because two of our investigators came and actually participated! YAY!!! And we had a branch activity.... sadly not many people showed up to that, but the missionaries made a jeapordy game and it was really fun! We have had to drop a few investigators lately and it´s really sad, I hate doing it... but sometimes there´s just nothing more a missionary can do, they have to make the decision.... not really fun... but it´s life, everyone has to make the decision!
We actually cooked some yummy hashbrown creation stuff today! it was pretty tastey! Anyhow, That´s about it from the field for now! Te amo múcho! Chau!

August 30, 2010

Oh this has been a nice week! First of all, the Barrio that I´m in is called La Pedrera, on the street Luis Segui 2342, it´s on the corner of another street... can´t remember exactly what it´s called but part of it is Rosa. I don´t need anything desperately, well...I actually could use some socks, I´m not sure what happend, but mine are all rancid and I can´t get rid of the smell. I´ll send my camera card back when I get yours, it has some fun pics.
I can´t believe it´s school time again, that was the fastest summer (winter here) ever! Crazy how time goes by. Oh fun fact: President Eyring´s niece is now serving in our mission! How cool is that?!
God really does bless you for your efforts! You already know my last week was not so great, so we started off this last week with an area conference with our area pres, Pres. Arnold.... It was really amazing, talking about things we need to do new like kneeling in all our lessons, using silence and a whole bunch of other stuff. I also went on divisions again with Elder Rubio from Peru! He´s in his first change! but he already knows Spanish. He has a lot of energy too, we were walking fast, and he talks so fast, but we actually really had a lot of fun and I loved working with him. Anyhow, we shifted gears and worked hard, applying all the things we learned this last week and it paid off. I felt so good and happy this last week. And to top it off we have a baptism this Saturday!!!! :) :) :) Jessica! 17 year old girl with a 1 and a half year old son, she was living with a boyfriend, but with some help from the Spirit, and maybe a little from us... she made the decision to split up and be baptised!!! It was really a great experience! God does want you to be happy and is there for everyone!
That´s pretty much the biggest news! I´m actually back in Montevideo right now signing papers for residence with my original MTC group, it´s really cool to see them all again! But the 6 hour bus ride I could live without!
To finish up! I can´t encourage you enough to read! I love it so much and it will bless you if you really think about it and study it out and apply it! I just finished John and I´m in Acts 6, and In the Book of Mormon I´m reading about Christ´s coming! I love it all!
Thanks so much for the support and love! I love you all so much and I realize it more everyday as I become more an more familiar with the Gospel! Chau!

August 23, 2010

Thanks for the tid-bits from Elder Shurtluff´s talk. It really is great. I´m really excited for him, for anyone that gets the chance to embark on this crazy journey :) serving the Lord! I actually read that talk not too long ago about the choosing missionaries experience, I really liked it. We actually read the Ensigns, here called Liahonas, evceryonce and awhile and I enjoy it. I really liked that scripture too! It´s really a good one, there´s one kind of like that in Jeremiah, but I think I like this one better! Thanks for sharing that too! And ya, 12 weeks would have driven me crazy! It was just being inside for so long!
I know an Elder from Park City!
That photo is the line between Uruguay and Brazil :) The Brazilian flag!
Anyhow, to make this short... This last week has actually been one of the most humbling and lesson learning weeks of my mission. I consider myself pretty obedient, doing my exercises, waking up and going to bed on time, always trying to read the scrips.... but I am so far from where I should be and I´ve never prayed more to have more faith and confidence before in my life. The week started out with divisions. My comp had to go to a training thing, the same thing Elder Peterson had to go to I´m pretty sure. So I was on divisions with Elder Lenthan. From the U.S. and that´s an example of a hard working missionary. Not perfect, none of us are, but in the theme of teaching well and working hard... he was a great example for me and it was really humbling to work with him. We worked a day and a half in his area in Tranqueras, about an hour away from Rivera. And then the next day and a half we worked in my area. It was really quite a wake up call... Elder Cespedes is a great guy, a fun comp... but he´s already trunky, talks about girls a lot, and likes to take his time, I don´t want to judge, it´s not my place... but just to see how I should be... it was really humbling... we got to help a member fix a shed that blew down, blistered my hands a little bit.. guess I just need to work more with them. And then I got us lost in my area trying to find lunch... and it just happened to be pooring! We didn´t have umbrellas or jackets and we were soaked to the bone! We ended up finding the house though in the end... but I admire him for his patience.. I probably would have punched myself.
One other quick experience... humbling as well. We had a lesson with a girl, Carmen, she´s a young mom of 3 kids. We´ve been teaching here for a little bit, and this last week we studdied a bit about the Holy Ghost, listening and fallowing, and just feeling the Spirit testify... During the lesson with Carmen, she broke down in the middle, just telling us all her feelings and everything that´s happened and how we were born in the Church but she wasn´t and she´s always tried to be good.... just everything through some tears.... I felt the impression to testify.... but unfortunately... I´m not even sure why... I kept my mouth shut... I don´t know if I just didn´t know what to say... I hesitated.. I haven´t felt that much guilt for such a long time. Still even now, I feel if i´d have testified, she would have come to church and even felt the Spirit really powerfully.... I really was upset with myself afterwards, and that night I said one of the longest prayers in a long time, asking God to forgive me for not following the Spirit´s impressions... I feel really bad and I´m sure it was my lesson to be learned. I never want to miss an opportunity like that again.
All in all.... I´m actually really grateful for this last week... it was really tough and really long. But I learned so much and I´m inspired to do better. Sometimes to experience the sweet.. we first have to experience the bitter... I know without a doubt that God wants me to be better and knows I can. I know I can. So this next week I´m gonna have to get to work. God´s teaching me lessons.
I´m glad you´re doing well, and I hope all continues well. Thanks for everything, the love and support.
Love you tons! Elder Hancock.