At the transfer meeting. I am still in Marcos Paz.
I am truly humbled by your emails this week.. they may have brought a tear or two of pure happiness. I am so proud to call you my family. You guys often comment on how much you have seen me change.. but I honestly can't express the difference I see in your letters every week. You are a blessing to me. I love to see the increasing desire you have to serve our Lord and Savior, to help his sheep come back to him. What a blessing it is to have families here in this earth.. and as Elder Eyring said "The happiness of family bonds that last forever." I have been reflecting on those words a lot today. There is nothing I desire more then to receive all the fullness of joy, right along with you all. I hope that will give us all the desire to live a little better. I know as a missionary it gives me the desire I need everyday to try to bring others to this Gospel.
Happy Late Birthday Dad!!! You are a true inspiration to me. I loved your comments you sent to me this week about your mission. The mission truly is one of the greatest blessings in the world. I am so happy that you loved your mission, and that it is still blessing you today. You are such a great father. As Elder Packer was speaking yesterday he said "Of all the titles God could choose, he chose Father." I was touched by this comment. I am grateful that you honour this title like our Heavenly Father does. I know that he is proud of you.
What a blessing it was to be able to watch Conference this week! It was the first time in my life I have been able to watch all 5 sessions, and I could feel my testimony strengthened through it. It was amazing to hear the words of the Lord's given through his representatives today. As I listened to the Prophet I really tried to focus as if I was listening to the words leave the mouth of Christ himself. Elder Holland's talk was awesome hey! I hope that Carter and Jordan were able to watch it. If not they should! I loved when he started talking about God, and the high standards he has for us and how sometimes we aren't willing to rise up to his standards. He said "People want a God who doesn't demand much, one who doesn't rock the boat, or even ROW the boat!" haha I had such a good laugh at this line. It's so true. Sometimes we want it easy, but without the hardships we would never grow.
We were blessed to be able to bring 2 great families with us to conference this weekend! The Family Torres went, studs! And also a Sebastian (our recent convert) his aunt and her kids went! It was amazing. They all loved it and were moved by the power of the words which were shared. As missionaries it was nice to be able to rely on the Prophet's words to make up for our imperfections haha. His words are definitely more powerful than ours.
As far as this week it was awesome as well.. amazing to see the blessings! We have 2 investigators that are starting to get pretty serious in the discussions. They have started to repent and change their lives. We invited them to pray about their baptisms, to know if it was the step they need to take. The next day we passed by and they told us the most amazing thing. They BOTH had dreams that night of their baptisms! As they explained us their dreams in details we helped them understand the way that God answers our prayers.. it was amazing.
As for me I'm doing well! I had my "Welcome to Argentina" just the other day even though I've been here for 8 months.. I got bit by a dog! haha about time hey? It was nothing serious. We were waiting for our investigator to come out and his dog just came up and bit me on the leg.. so random! It was just a small little thing so we had a good laugh.
On Friday we did service for one investigator and then after we started walking to the church for our weekly soccer night. On the way we saw a couple of kids playing basketball in the park.. and instantly we had the thought to go play them. We had a nice little game of 2 on 2.. and Carter you would for sure whoop me now haha. We talked with them a bit after and explained who we are and what we do. They were sweet, we plan on going back and talking to them another day.
I love you all, and I love being here on the mission! I hope that you guys continue to be blessed for being diligent in the work of the lord. There really isn't anything more important! I want to finish with one thought from President Monson that has stuck in my heart.. he said "Those we meet in every place are those given to us to love.. perhaps you will forget the kind words tomorrow that you said today, but the recipient may remember them for a lifetime." Sometimes we don't feel like we are doing much good, because we can't literally see the fruits of our work. But I testify to you that in every small action there is an eternal consequence. Whenever we take advantage of these chances to help others it will make a difference. It's not about numbers, or recognition, it's about the desires of our heart. I am far from perfect, and I'm learning about my flaws more and more everyday. But I am blessed to be able to help, and at least to be able to do my best to help in whatever way the Lord needs. It's my prayer that we will remember this and remember the importance of Love in our lives.
Have the greatest week. You have my prayers here from Argentina. I love you and send you all the best.
Elder Hansen.
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