October 2, 2023 - Sixth email

 Hola a todos!

So I landed in California, it has been a pretty eventful week. And p-day is on Monday out here so that's when I'll send emails from now on.

So there's a bit that happened at the CCM before I left. By the end Elder Nelson and I were grinding the Spanish Book of Mormon like crazy and getting through a chapter a day, even though they were getting really long like one was 55 verses.

We had our last Helping Others lesson on Friday the 22nd. Elder Nelson and I had expected to give a lesson to someone pretending to be an investigator (someone interested in the Church) but we were like halfway through the lesson when I realized he was just acting like a regular member. I asked him after if he was supposed to be a member and he said yes and we had to explain that our lesson was prepared as if we were teaching an investigator and tried to clear up how awkward the questions we were asking were for a member. That's really crazy though, it feels like that was much more than a week ago.

Oh yeah also on Friday evening someone in the other district in our house sliced a really deep cut into his hand by jumping off of his bed. The beds are right next to our closet doors and the doors have these really sharp metal plates sticking out to cover the locks or something. He needed eight stitches, it's a miracle it didn't hit anything bad and even though the cut was pretty gnarly he was chillin.

On Saturday we did a tie draft in our house that I didn't participate in but some of the ties people threw in were so ugly we gave them names like "the Grinch" and "the Sistine Chapel".

Oh yeah I got a cold again too, but I got better like on Monday

Packing was a little hectic in the house. There wasn't a whole lot of space to throw suitcases on the floor so I only did a little bit before the last day.

Our last class with our teachers on Wednesday was really sad. Hermano Cano and Hermano Tapia both cried a little bit. We got some epic pictures though. Hermano Tapia gave us all candy and individualized post it notes with a scriptures he thought would apply to us. I already miss them a lot.

Saying bye to Elder Nelson and the rest of my district at the Dallas airport was hard too. We've already become great friends and now I can't use all our inside jokes anymore. But I know they all will do great things on their missions, and we'll all hopefully be in Utah to meet up after we all get back.

The Hermanas (sisters) in my district and Elder Hollberg and Elder Walpole left a day earlier than the rest of us, so that was a bit sad. The other district in the house all left on Thursday, too, so the eight of us that were left all just had the house to ourselves. It was pretty great. I used Elder Hollberg and Walpole's bedroom to do my packing on Thursday. Had the whole room to myself pretty much.

What was really sad on Thursday was the classes were with random teachers. They were really nice but we missed our usual ones.

A part of me wishes I could have stayed in Mexico, but I know I'm needed here in California.

The six weeks I was at the CCM literally felt like so much longer. I met great people and it feels like we've all known each other for years.

Also when I turned my phone back in the USB port on the charger was busted. The beds are placed in really awkward locations where they basically cover the outlet so we had to push it diagonal which is very hard because of how squished they are between the closet and the wall. We were barely able to plug the chargers in, and over the weeks the bed broke the charger. Elder Nelson paid the fee though because we both used that charger so shoutout to him

Printing our boarding passes was pretty goofy. I had to go through five different computers before I found one that would connect to the printer properly.

The airport was fine. A lot of walking and not really sure how we needed to stick together but it all worked out.

The Dallas Airport is so weird. They don't just pass on out luggage to the next flight, we needed to get our stuff at baggage claim and then re-check it in. Talking to people that happens in international flights and if the connecting flight is a different airline. But in my experience of traveling internationally I've never seen that happen before, and we had American Airlines both flights. It's just as frustrating because when I got my suitcase it slanted funny on the ground and I noticed a wheel was missing. Just gone. It was circling around the baggage claim and I was able to get it so it probably landed in the baggage claim in a way the wheel came off. I went to complain but they said they didn't reimburse because it didn't break a certain way and I can still fix it. But I need to empty my suitcase because the screws are on the inside.

My mission president and his wife, the Pinnocks, are really nice. Me and the one other person I was with met them almost immediately. On the drive to the mission home President told us about the area and then we learned mission rules and stuff. Apparently the work that's being done here is really great. They have a goal of 660 baptisms this year and we're on track at I think about 450 so far.

The rest of Friday I met a bunch of people that came from the Provo MTC, including a native Spanish speaker from Peru, the first native Spanish speaking missionary the mission has seen. He speaks English fine because he lived in Provo for the last two years. I got my new phone and all that good stuff (traveling without one was weird) and we slept outside on the balcony. The weather was perfect and there weren't any bugs. Redlands is a really nice area.

Saturday morning we all met our trainers (companions to new missionaries). My trainer is Elder Gonzalez from South Jordan, Utah. His dad is from Colombia so he has a bit of a Spanish background but is still learning it like I am. I've already learned a lot from him and we've been working really hard.

Pretty much immediately we started driving to our area, in Victorville in the High Desert. We had to listen to General Conference on the way because the drive was over an hour. It's just all brown here, and there's a ton of land for California. The houses are actually all pretty big and nice. But there's a lot of Spanish speaking people out here and we already had people from before that we're teaching.

We share a house with the Zone Leaders. Like, a house. Not apartments, it's just a regular single family house. Now that I think about it, I really haven't seen any apartments around here.

We watched the afternoon session of Conference with a family in the ZL's ward, and then the evening session and both Sunday sessions at the church building. One of the Sunday sessions we watched the Spanish though, but I was able to make out more than I thought I would. I definitely had a better time though when we watched in English.

After the Saturday afternoon session we just went tracting (classic knocking on doors). Even though it's the most ineffective way to find people who are interested, President said he'd rather us tract than sit around and do nothing. Elder Gonzalez has told me we usually don't tract a lot but we did on Sunday too, and he told me it'd be great for getting used to talking to people. And it already has. We had little luck on Saturday, met a nice lady, but on Sunday we actually handed out a Book of Mormon and referred him to the ZL's because he's in their area.

We've already had a few lessons with people and they've been really good. It's interesting to hear their questions and backstories.

And I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to shellfish because we ate some shrimp yesterday at a member's house and I was throwing up all evening so that sucks but today I'm feeling a bit better.

Spiritual thought:

Reading D&C in personal study, and in section 55 verses 27-29 say that we need to be "anxiously engaged in a good cause and do many things of [our] own free will" and "he that doeth not anything until he is commanded" will be punished for being lazy. These verses stuck out to me, especially being a missionary; I want to be actively looking for opportunities to serve and not just give up if we don't already have something scheduled.

Also General Conference was amazing and definitely the best one probably ever so check out all the talks

Pictures!

Mission map, pics from the drive, cool view, epic clouds in Victorville.

A lot of pictures from the CCM.

Sister Missionary Zone Conference Talk

Sister Schmeil, the wife of President Schmeil, Florida Orlando mission leaders, put together a wonderful Sister Missionary Zone Conference. I helped with setting up along with Brent and some of the missionaries. Sister Schmeil also asked me to speak. Hear is my talk:

Dear sisters,

 I am so happy to be here with you. When I was thinking about what to say to you,  I remembered an email I received from my daughter when she was serving as a missionary. I liked it so much that I have kept a copy of that email by my bedside. This was back in 2013 when she was serving in Italy. She wrote in an email about an experience that she said “seemed to be happening a lot.”  My daughter and her companion were working on making sure that the people they taught understood that they as missionaries knew that the gospel was true. As they were talking to a man at a park, he asked them, if sharing the gospel made them happy? They told him, yes, that it made them happy and he said, “I can see it, I can see it makes you happy and I believe you.” Then, my daughter said in her email, they were told by investigators and people in the ward that they always seemed happy. My daughter then said that “I guess people can know our message is true by how happy we are.”  

In 2006 Sister Elaine Dalton who at the time was the Second Counselor in the General Young Women presidency shared the following poem:

You don’t have to tell how you live each day;

You don’t have to tell if you work or play;

A tried and true barometer stands in its place—

You don’t have to tell, it will show in your face. …

If you live close to God and His infinite grace—

You won’t have to tell, it will show in your face.

The light in your countenance comes because you have made and kept covenants with our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and you have made choices which qualify you to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. 

In 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 9 It says

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

That light is the Savior's light. When we daily say our prayers, read our scriptures, serve others and live the gospel our face will glow with the fire of our faith and others will see it. 

The adversary, however, is aware of who you are. He knows of your divine heritage and seeks to limit your earthly and heavenly potential by using distraction, deception and discouragement. He wants to distract us away from Christ. He doesn’t want us to be on the covenant path, because he doesn’t want us to be happy, he wants us to be miserable like him. In 2nd Nephi 2:27 it says: Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

Satan wants us to be discouraged. He likes to put unclean and unkind thoughts in our way. Sometimes he tells us things like: “You never do anything right,” “You can not be forgiven of your sins”,  “It’s impossible to change,” or “You’re worthless and no one really cares about you.” These are lies, don’t believe them. We become discouraged especially when we compare ourselves to others. I used to do that when I was a young mom. I was miserable when I compared myself to other women. I would beat myself up, thinking others were better than me or more talented than me. I would see other sisters give the most amazing Relief Society lessons and in my mind I would hear myself think, you can’t do that, you are not a good teacher. When I was 21 my first husband was killed in a car accident. I was a widow with a 10 month old baby. I felt abandoned and alone. I prayed constantly for help and guidance. I didn’t know how I could do it. When I went to church I looked at all the perfect families or what I perceived as perfect families and felt that what they had was now unattainable for me. I was depressed and my negative thoughts were all consuming. I wish I had had people in my life who would have comforted me and helped me see and understand that blessings come on the Lord’s time table. I was miserable for months. The thought that I would be alone for the rest of my life and that no one would want to marry me just kept beating me up.  I wasted too much of my time doing this. I made the decision to start thinking positively and I started reading the Book of Mormon. I changed, I was happier and those thoughts left. I put my faith and trust in the Savior. He suffered for me and knew exactly how I was feeling. Negative thoughts are not from God. In Moroni 7 verses 12 and 13 it reads: Wherefore, all things which  are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually. But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. 

What helped me stop beating myself up was when I finally understood who I was, a beloved daughter of our Heavenly Father who has blessed me with gifts and talents that only I can use to help uplift and bless others. We are unique, we are different. I am not saying that I am perfect, sometimes I do feel inadequate and that is fine. Before coming here today to speak to you, I was nervous, and I felt inadequate. I am still nervous. But I didn’t beat myself up about it, this gave me an opportunity to pray and trust in my Heavenly Father.

One of my favorite speakers is sister Sheri Dew. She explained that in her youth she was very shy and had no self confidence. It was only when she began to understand how the Lord felt about her that her feelings about herself and her life began to change.

I wish I could tell you that your lives will be easy and without trials but I know by experience that they won’t. I also know that ultimately we wouldn’t want them to be. What I have learned through my experiences could not have been taught any other way. 

I would like to share a short video from  Elder Uchtdorf before I close. (video called Our true identity https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2010-04-0020-our-true-identity?lang=eng)

My sisters, you are glorious.  Heavenly Father loves us. He knows us perfectly.  He reserved us to come now, when the power of the adversary is more intense than ever. He knew we would be noble, great, courageous, determined, faithful and fearless. 

Sister Elaine Dalton said: “Look into the mirror of eternity. Remember who you are! See yourself as our Heavenly Father sees you. You are elect. You are of noble birth. You were born to be a queen. There is no more beautiful sight than a woman who glows with the light of the Spirit, who is confident and courageous because she is virtuous.”

I know Jesus lives and that He is our light and hope of the world. I know He gives us courage to share that light with those around us.  

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Conner's fifth email - September 20, 2023

 Hola!!

This week was less eventful but still really fun

One thing that kinda sucks is I got a cold last week, I had a teacher who said he had gotten sick and then literally all of us proceeded to get colds, it was a bit goofy since we had just gone through this at the beginning of our time at the CCM where we all got colds but we survived and now we chillin.

Also, another guy in my room (we have two companionships) had a key that was stuck in his closet keyhole. Like, this thing would not budge, and it's been stuck there since the beginning. He's actually been using it as a doorknob since for some reason thay door doesn't have one. I was able to get the key out by pushing a trash bag through the keychain and yanking it while pushing on the door. This key was absolutely busted. I'll post a picture of it.

Ok so Friday (September 15th) was Mexican Independence and I thought it was super cool I got to be here for that, there were fireworks and cannons all over every like two seconds. The decorations were all cool, and actually they've left them up since which I really like since it is Mexico and the banners and stuff are just really cool. At the end of the day we all met outside the comedor and we were told some Mexican traditions on their Independence Day. The mayor of each city stands in the square while shouting set phrases, and after each phrase everyone around shouts "Viva!" Presidente Reyes, who is the second counselor in the MTC presidency, was picked as the guy to do it for us at the CCM because he is actually Mexican. It was really awesome and everyone had a great time. It was hard to get to sleep cuz the fireworks and fiestas everywhere were so loud around us.

At dinner the CCM hired a mariachi band to come play for us and it was really awesome. Everyone was standing around, some people joined in and danced with the band, including the MTC presidency. They actually had really good food that day, too, rather than just cafeteria versions of Mexican food. They had churros that I covered in Hershey chocolate sauce and Nutella so that was pretty awesome

Also on Friday Elder Nelson and I did another mock lesson for Helping Others and we had absolutely no preparation but we still did pretty well so that's cool

It's rained a ton these last couple days too and it's really good because it hadn't rained in like two weeks.

Elder Nelson absolutely destroyed his phone on Saturday because he dropped it. It had already been a bit broken, the screen didn't work really well at all after like the fourth day here and he doesn't actually know what happened to it, but on Saturday it had it's last straw and just was unusable, there were so many cracks. We had to take it to reception so they could fix it. He had to pay a fee for the repair, but they had to take it in for a couple days which is pretty sad because I'm pretty sure that means he lost his duolingo streak, but we got it back last night and he noticed that they never put a screen protector back on it.

On Monday now we're trying to only speak Spanish. No more "¿Quien es el Latino?" (Because we won)

We're going to be focusing just on Spanish this week in class and not going over gospel stuff, so that's a bit weird, but it's really useful to get used to the language.

My cousin (a different Elder Hanson) just got here yesterday and I was able to say hey to him so that's pretty cool, we get to see each other for just over a week before I leave. Speaking of leaving, it's super weird that it's coming up in just nine days. I'm not really sure how p-day works next week, we have normal classes on Wednesday but it shows no schedule for Thursday so we might be able to just pack and stuff that day.

We also had another earthquake drill yesterday. Apparently it's a famous day in Mexico because in 1985 and 2017 on the same day there were deadly earthquakes in Mexico City, and we did a drill in memory of the people that died in the earthquakes.

Today for our temple trip we had to wake up at 5:30 because our bus left at 6:15, we left so early we're getting breakfast there. That means our p-day is going to be longer though so I'm all for it

Spiritual Thought:

I really like Moroni 7:42-43:

42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

I really like this scripture because yesterday at our Tuesday devotional President Hymas (the MTC president) said we're going out into a world that's faithless. But many people have no hope either, or they haven't humbled themselves. We as missionaries are going out to spread the gospel to bring people hope, and to tell people to be humble, and only then are they able to have faith.

So again I'm not really sure if I'll be able to send an email while I'm here at the CCM next week because the schedule is goofy lookin, but if not then I'll be in California in my next email. My flight is really early on the 29th. Still not sure if I'm sad or excited. I've loved my district while I've been here and I'm going to miss them, but I'm really exicted to get out into the field and be able to eat American food every day again.

Hopefully I'll be able to write again next week,

Elder Hanson

Pictures!

-the broken key

-me with a giant bag of popcorn I bought at the la tienda store

-roly polies we caught, they're literally everywhere

-mariachi band

-mariachi band 2 plus President and Sister Hymas and President and Sister Reyes

-Independence Day evening

-Elder Nelson got a plunger stuck on the ceiling in the bathroom

-epic chandelier in the Thomas S. Monson building

Conner's fourth email - September 13, 2023

Hola a todos!

So uh this week was pretty crazy and this email is very long, but a lot happened. This was definitely the most fun week I've had so far and it's crazy I only have two more here at the MTC.

First I need to thank my mom for sending me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich kit on Thursday it's been really nice to have backup food when they aren't serving something I like (which is pretty often)

We didn't actually have an earthquake, but last Friday morning (Thursday night) we were all woken up at like 1:15 AM because an earthquake alarm was going off. We didn't know what was going on at first because we couldn't actually hear the alarm but then someone pounded on our door saying "I think it's a carbon monoxide alarm" so we all hopped out of bed and got dressed and just went outside and found everyone from all the houses around us on the green indicator circles where we're supposed to go if there's an earthquake, and it was obviously not a carbon monoxide alarm. There were probably like 25 people on our circle and then like another 25 on the circle a ways next to ours. It was just those two in the immediate vicinity. So we're all standing around super confused because we're all exhausted and didn't feel any earthquake, and eventually it just turned into a joke and we were all laughing about it. We were standing out there for about a half hour.

At one point some guy in a different building ran back into his house and put on a Batman costume, and he started running over to our circle. We were all like "no way it's Batman he's gonna save us" and he gets to us and goes "hey guys it's me Batman I just wanted to make sure everybody's okay" and then he started choking and said "sorry guys the morning breath is getting to me" and finally he left after saying "May the Holy Ghost be with you". And he did the goofy ninja run back. After that we kinda forgot what we were doing out there because we were laughing so hard but then some guy came over on a bike and was like "get back inside and go to sleep" and that was basically the end of that. It took me forever to get back to sleep after which kinda sucked but it was the most eventful night by far since I got here.

So there were a couple theories why there was an earthquake alarm, some people thought it was a false alarm, the teachers thought it was a drill, and a bunch of guys were saying an earthquake happened like twelve hours away and somehow triggered the alarm specifically at the CCM. I'm personally leaning toward the first one. It definitely wasn't a drill, not at 1 in the morning when we're trying to sleep (especially since we wake up at 6:30 already) and also because we had a drill in the middle of class that same day.

That drill was pretty cool, there was no alarm for some reason but the teachers were just like "yo there's a drill going on right now" and we all just walked outside. It was crazy looking with all the missionaries walking over to a place we go if an earthquake gets really bad, like the green circles are for smaller ones but this one specific area is for bad ones. I really think it only happened because it looked cool since there were people recording us walking. We lined up as districts in our own parking space lookin things and we needed our zone leaders to get a head count to make sure everyone in the zone was accounted for, but our zone leaders didn't actually show up until like 20 minutes after the drill started because their teacher forgot, so that was funny. I think the one at night went off on accident because the drill was at about 11 AM and the one at night was at 1 AM so they might've forgotten an extra 1 in the time or something. It would explain why an alarm didn't go off during the day drill.

Our showers got fixed, finally. We went to reception because we were tired of the smell of the mold we found and a couple guys came over and dealt with all the drains. Apparently, the pipes weren't long enough. The water was actually clean (well, for Mexico) and it was because there was a gap between the pipes and the water level that mold was growing inside that gap and we were smelling it. So the guys brought longer pipes that just extended all the way down to the water, and we don't smell the mold anymore.

We also did our first "Helping Others" in Spanish on Friday. We just gave a five minute lesson to some missionaries that were almost done at the MTC roleplaying as investigators for the church. For other people in the district it was really hard, but Elder Nelson and I actually did really well and it ended up being a great lesson.

Okay that's everything that happened on Friday

On Saturday when we got back home from class in the evening our house was stinking like crazy again. It was really weird because we were literally in the house not even four hours before and it smelled fine. Turned out this time the smell was coming from our laundry room, and it smelled way worse than our showers ever did. We had had a broken washing machine since like the first week we were here but finally it was just filled to the brim with water and algae was starting to grow in it. We were just gonna leave the door to that room closed on Sunday, since we can't do laundry on Sunday anyway and we didn't want to make anyone work on Sunday, but some other guys in the other district in our house went over to reception and told them, so we actually helped the guy that came over to pick up the machine and install a new one. So that was cool.

Mexico's independence day is this Friday, and we've definitely been hearing patriotism around. We hear cannons go off during the day all the time, and fireworks too, which makes no sense because you can't even see them. For our service on Monday we actually decked out the reception area in Mexican flags which was pretty epic.

On Monday we started speaking only in Spanish in class. A lot of us are actually getting much better at Spanish. Elder Nelson is doing a great job during our scripture study and stuff. Our teachers made a game out of it: "¿Quien es el Latino?". Basically we pick one person in our district to be the "Latino" for a day, and if that person speaks any English then we lose. We all still have to speak in Spanish though, because the teachers don't know who the Latino is and they need to guess which one of us it was the next time we had class. If they guess wrong, then we win. It's a point system, and if we win they're getting us packs of Mountain Dew.

On Tuesday it was pretty weird because they served us spicy chicken tenders for breakfast. I mean, they tasted great, but it was strange to have that for breakfast. Especially since Tuesday is pizza night so we had two fast foodish meals in one day.

Also this morning we used the new washing machine for the first time and when it finished the cycle it started leaking soapy water absolutely everywhere so we're probably gonna need a new one lol

Little spiritual thought:

Sunday we listened to a great devotional of an old talk Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave. It's changed my perspective on missionary work a lot, taught us to be adaptable to people's individual situations, because some people need to hear different parts of the gospel first based on their own circumstances. The same lesson might not be as effective for a different person when we're teaching them.

Okay this email is long enough lol see yall next week

Elder Hanson

Some pictures:

Clownfish bus, pretty morning yesterday, me holding one of the reception decorations, a bed fort, Elder Nelson and I at the temple's visitors' center, and all the missionaries walking during the day earthquake drill

I do have a video of the Batman guy but we're supposed to get people's permission to post things of them so I'll just leave that to your interpretation.

Maria's talk on Sunday, September 10th, 2023

I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday. Here it is.

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. 

I was asked to speak on How the gospel of Jesus Christ brings us peace.

How is it possible to find peace in a world of unrest, confusion, and suffering? Can we find peace when so many frightening things are happening? Is it possible to find peace when our own actions or the actions of others destroy our tranquility? 

Peace means freedom from conflict and turmoil, or the inner calm and comfort, born of the Spirit that is a gift of God to all his children, an assurance and serenity within a person’s heart.

While the disciples were crossing the sea of Galilee, there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so much that the boat was filling up. They asked their Master, “Carest thou not that we perish?” “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm”

Can you imagine what the Apostles were thinking, as they watched the elements, the rain, the wind and the sea, obey their Master’s calm command? The phrase “Peace, be still”, that the Savior said when he calmed the storm-tossed sea, can have the same calming influence upon us, when we are battered by life’s storms. In his epistle to the Romans, Paul gave us one key, to finding the peace promised by the Lord. In Romans 8:6 Paul taught, “To be spiritually minded is life and peace.” The world tells us that peace can be felt, only when there isn’t any conflict. But that isn’t true! Through His gospel, Jesus Christ provides us, with an inner peace, that surpasses the peace the world offers. If we look to Him with faith, we can feel peace in any circumstance.

In October of 1996 Elder Holland said: The search for peace, is one of the ultimate quests of the human soul. We all have highs and lows, but such times come, and they usually always go. Kind neighbors assist. Beautiful sunshine brings encouragement. A good night’s sleep usually works wonders. But there are times, in all of our lives, when deep sorrow or suffering or fear or loneliness, makes us cry out for the peace, which only God Himself can bring. These are times of piercing spiritual hunger, when even the dearest friends cannot fully come to our aid. …We declare to all the world, that for real and abiding peace to come, we must strive to be more like that exemplary Son of God. 

There is no peace in sin. There may be ease, popularity, fame, and even prosperity, but there is no peace. We cannot be at peace, if we are not living according to the commandments of the gospel, and the example set by Jesus Christ. To have the Lord’s peace, depends upon our righteousness. If we have sinned, guilt will keep us from feeling the Lord’s peace. But through repentance, we can become free from guilt and sin, and be eligible for the companionship of the Holy Ghost again.  Repentance is the promise of escaping old problems, old habits, old sorrows and old sins. The privilege of repenting is made possible, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In a way we do not fully understand, Jesus paid for our sins. 

In 1970, when I was about 5 years old, my dad had a bad fall, and broke his back. He had surgery, but was left with pain for the rest of his life. My dad started drinking alcohol to numb the back pain, and became an alcoholic. Around this time, two missionaries knocked on our door, and told him they were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and had a message and a book they wanted to share with him. He listened to them and they gave him the Book of Mormon. Those missionaries unfortunately never came back. My dad felt they did not come back because he was drunk at the time.  He read the Book of Mormon and knew it was true. My dad was born in 1923 and grew up in a home where there was no religion. His parents never took him to church, and was never taught about God. He didn’t even know about the Bible. The first time he heard about the Bible was in 1949, he was in the US Air Force and had traveled from Germany to New York City, where a Salvation Army officer stopped him and read to him a verse from the Bible. In 1974 my dad was feeling desperate to change his life and bad habits. My mom gave him a Bible to read. He began to read it and from that moment he felt an enormous desire to pray and ask the Lord to take him out of the life that he was living. During this time my aunt, who was a member of the church, gave the missionaries my dad’s address, and asked them to visit him, but to not say it was her, who had sent them.  My dad had been praying for two weeks, when the missionaries knocked on our door. When he opened the door he said “I was met by two giant young men, whom I recognized, not only as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but as coming in answer to my prayers. When I saw those faces that shone as if they were angels from heaven, I let them in, and that same night they taught us the first discussion.” Giving up cigarettes was harder for my dad, but on the night before our baptism, he smoked his last cigarette. My dad wrote about this occasion  “I remember that the second night the missionaries visited us, I stopped drinking, and although the cigarette gave me a little more work, I was able to quit the night before I was baptized, and I have never needed it”. After we were baptized, I recall he complained about back pain, but I know he never had the urge to drink again to numb his pain, and to me, that is a testimony of how the Lord will help those who put their trust in him. He wrote that “his pain was strong and unbearable” but I know he was able to withstand the pain for the rest of his life, because he knew that the Lord was with him, giving him the strength he needed. My dad wrote that throughout his life he had a spirit of loneliness inside him. He wrote “It was not until 1974, on March 23rd, the day when together with my wife and children, I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that the spirit of loneliness departed from me. Since then I have had the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.”

The lonely feeling my dad had was replaced by a feeling of peace and joy. It is through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we become free from the bondage of our sins, and we find joy.

Alma recounted his experience of repenting from his sinful past, in Alma 36:12 we read: “But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.” 

What a contrast to how he felt after he repented and cried out to the Lord for mercy. 

On Alma 36:20 and 21 we read: “And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!” “Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.”

Maybe you know someone who is carrying heavy burdens or maybe it is you who is suffering from pain, physical or emotional. I think we all have, at some point or another, felt that we are at the end of our strength, tired in brain, body and heart, crying unto heaven for relief of such personal pain. God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength. 

As Latter-day Saints we are obligated to seek inner peace not only for the blessing it is to us but so that we can radiate its influence to others.

Jesus Christ’s life and His atoning mission are the true source of peace. He said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 

May we feel enduring peace, even during our difficult times as we strive to become more like our Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is my prayer, In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN

Conner's third email - September 6, 2023

Hola!!

A lot went on this week, it was honestly hard to keep track of everything.

First, we got a new schedule starting Monday that threw everybody off guard. We have to get to breakfast 15 minutes earlier than before so we have less time to get ready in the morning, and our pday starts an hour later and ends an hour earlier. I was a little bummed about that, but as we've actually gone through the schedule it makes everything go by a lot faster which has been good.

We were also told we were gonna get a new morning class teacher, and we were all super sad and stuff but then on Monday he walked in, said he had no idea what happened and that he was still our teacher. So we chillin and no longer sad

Apparently this whole schedule change thing was because there's so many new missionaries coming in this week they needed to adjust everything in order to accomodate them since we don't have enough classrooms for all the expected districts, so that's great that there's a lot of missionaries but I also was just starting to get used to the last one lol

Also update on the shower thing, we looked down the drains and we found black mold which is kinda tough and sorta unhealthy, so we finally got somebody to come clean our showers but only two of the four moldy showers actually got cleaned and the one in our room wasn't one of them, hopefully I'll be able to close this smelly shower arc sometime soon

Nearly everyone in my district got sick, as of right now we're at 9/12, and so many people were sick in general that people were told to wear masks if they were still sick. Luckily I was one of the first to get sick and I'm better now.

Spiritual Thought:

Yesterday we had a devotional from Elder Gary E. Stevenson broadcast from the Provo MTC, and he talked a lot about missionary work, and he talked about how we were all assigned our mission by one of the apostles by inspiration and I know that I'm going where the Lord needs me.

Elder Hanson

Some picks

Cool wild parrots, more from the drive to the temple (we went again today, that's where I got the Crash Bandicoot mural and the goofy gym), Elder Nelson with the surprise pic when I walked out of the bathroom, a full moon even though it looks terrible with my phone's camera lol, we made a makeshift bat signal, and Elder Hollberg from my district somehow stood up a broom on its own during a service time