Week Forty

"well, first things first...

MISSION DIVISION!!!!!

thats right!! our mission will be dividing to form a new mission called the Juiz de Fora mission. what an incredible, sweet and excellent blessing this is!! the mission will grab a large section of our current mission, including the zone in which i curently reside. i dont know yet which mission i will be a part off, if i were transefered to the new mission i would miss the city of rio, but on the other hand im falling in love with the ´´interior`` part of the state here in Resende! when i heard that my beloved state of rio would be blessed with a hundred more missionaries, the feelings i felt were inescribable. it felt like every step ive taken here have been worth something. the lord has witnessed the labores and heard the cries of the saints here in rio. and a mission split will bring us one step closer to our ultimate goal, a temple here in rio!!!

but meanwhile here in Resende its seems like the lord is hearing our cries as well, because we´re being blessed beyond measure!! the baptism of Fransisca(i figured out her real name is Iracêli, but its tricky to pronounce and hard to remember... good thing every brazilian has like 5 names!) went great, shes really fittig into the ward. shes a precious soul from a humble background. the baptisimal service was great, i love dressing in white!! we had several progressing investigators at the baptism so hopefully more fruits will come from Fransisca´s faith. now all we need to do to complete the family is to get Simão into the water! its funny that our work started with him and will end with him as well, he making great progress so im hope in here to see his baptism as well! but in the meantime the lord has some great plans for us this week...

Pedro and Jéssica are getting married this saturday!!! which means they´ll be baptised this sunday. missionaries treasure family baptisms, because they´re the souls who truely stay active in the church, and this couple is no exception!!! i will be spending much time on my knees thanking the lord for the excellent oportunity i have had to help them to baptism over these few months. i hope all goes well untill next sunday!

William, the curitibano, is progressing towards baptism as well! he´s actually more firm in the church than his member girlfriend, its been amazing to watch them grow together! we sat down with them yesterday and had a real talk about baptism. he explained that he wants to be baptised but after two months firm in the church doesnt feel ready. we than showed him the example of peter immediately left his fishing nets when Christ called him to serve. Christ is calling to william as well!! he´s already prepared, all he needs to do is choose. we set a baptisimal date for him this thursday, we hope he accepts this new step before then! 

We have many other leads and some promissing sucess to come. i am so very grateful that the lord has called me to be his servant. with all this sucess im trying my best to remain humble and remember where my strength lies!im so excited for this mission split, only miracles to come!!"

-Elder Kelland Hansen

Week Thirty-Nine

"this week has been great. our mission has really amped up our desire to work with families. it is through family home evenings, family prayer, and the baptism, reactivation and the completion of families that zion will be established! our area was one of the first of many to create a list of 15 families that we and the ward will work with. we presented the list to our lukewarm bishop and his councillors, having to remind them that this is THEIR work. as missionaries we´re just here to lovingly help and guide! we´ve set some aggresive goals with the leadership on how we can not only get these 15 families into the font/back to church, but how we can inspire the members to ´´put the shoulder to the wheel`` as well!

my companion and i have gotten to know eachother a lot better, he knows a lot about american football and loves classic rock so we get along great. hes a bit introverted so i was worried a bit that we would stuggle proselyting, but he´s really opened up and now he doesnt stop talking! Hahah i love him though, we´re really working on how we can work more in harmony with the lord. we´re having great improvment here!

we had the confirmation of Maria Luisa(simãos sister) this week! shes such an incredibly smart girl. we walked in on the young womens class this week to hear her bear her testimony on how much shes learned for alma the youngers teaching in the book of mormon..... yep shes staying for sure!

we´re working with her mother now, Fransisca is such a great person. she came to church this week grinning ear to ear. i asked her whats up and shes exclaimed ´´i got the answer!! your book is true!!`` how much i love the book of mormon, it brings so much clarity an life to the children of god like no other book. we marked a baptisimal date for the following sunday, she accepted, but is still unsure if she can adapt to ´´mormon lifestyle`` so quick. she has some word of wisdom habits that she needs to take care of, but we´ll definitely follow up with her this week and help in any way we can. i hope we´ll see her all in white this sunday!!

quick spiritual thought- por infinito, e além!(to infinity, and beyond!) that famous quote said by our man and hero buzz lightyear. my companion quoted that to me as we were leaving our house this morning, and i had to stop and think about it. how inspiring that statement that is! we have UNLIMITED potential. go out and get it!! i firmly believe that area can baptise/complete/reactivate all 15 families on our list. What can you do? let me know in your emails/letters!!

com amor e fé, Élder Hansen"

Week Thirty-Eight

"This week was great! it was an incredible demonstration of faith, diligence, and reliance on the lord. my new companion is great, he´s a quiet guy from João Pessoa, but he works hard and once he starts talking theres know stopping him! he´s a great Élder though and we´re looking forward to a lot of sucess together. He and i have a goal to baptise weekly here in Resende, heres what happened!

Last week we had a non member show up to church. his names Simão(Simon), a young guys whos actually known the church and atended sacrament meeting since 2009. we actually thought that he was a member at first, he came dressed nicely and was quoting President Monson... we met with him after the meeting and set goals with him to be baptised the following sunday(02/10/2013). We soon figured out however why he had taken so long to commit to baptism... he´s got a couple some worthiness issues, but ive never seen such faith in someone, especially a non member! we´re doing everything we can to make sure hes completely prepared for baptism, but we were pretty bummed that we wouldn´t be dressing in white this sunday. Thats when we met his little sister, Maria Luisa! Shes probably the smartest girl ive ever met, she grasps eternal truths, asks meaningful questions, and is really invovled in our lessons. sometimes i feel as if she should be the one teaching me... we really felt like she was ready for baptism so we went forth with it. what a spiritual meeting! theres nothing more indescribable than the feeling of raising your arm to the square in a baptisimal font. this work is incredible!! i love being in the service of the lord.

quick updates on the other investigators!

François- looks like he´s been avoiding us, we never had the chance to sit down with him and his girlfriend so looks like the devils following up with them faster than we can. we keep passing by though, if we down contact him soon we´ll have to cut him.

Talita- still having troubles with her husband, but we´re still with her helping her to build the faith necessary for baptism.

Paola- shes doing great but we´re having troubles getting her family to church. we´re marking a family night with them though so hopefully she´ll have the family support she needs!

William- went to Curitiba for carnaval, hopefully when he gets back we´ll be able to get him in the water for a baptism!

Quick spiritual thought- DON´T EVER QUIT! The Lord knows what our strengths are and will always bless us in times of need! "

-Elder Kelland Hansen

Week Thirty- Seven

"então eu sou lixo! it makes me sad that my email didnt get to you guys last week! even worse, im here in rio right now so i dont have much time to write!

long story short- Élder de Moraes is getting transferred... worst day ever! i love the guy a ton, he´s become one of my greatest friends!! im staying here in Resende, my new companions name is Élder S Santos. Im loving all these Brasileiros that ive been getting! 

the work is going better, we had a baptism of a girl named paola last week, we´ve got a couple other baptisms lined up too so hopfeully i´ll get to update you guys better next pday...

short missionary thought- 1 nephi 16:28 describes the conditions on which the liahona would work- according to the faith, diligence, and attention they gave to the liahona, it would guide them through the wilderness safely. we all have a liahona, its called the spirit!! when we pay attention to the spirit, and then faithfully follow with diligence he will guide our lives to safe harbors! blessing will fall upon us and i know we will be guided safely home. faith, diligence and giving heed to the prophets blesses in innumerable ways as well, so many ways to apply this verse! 

i hope everyone has spirituall experiences this week, write me about them if you guys have the time! untill next week"

Élder Hansen