11 October 2015

Hey there folks,

To start off, I gotta say. I am super pumped because we have two guys that want to serve missions now and we are working with them to get to that point. One has a pretty cool story. He told us before he met the missionaries, he was trying to figure out which church was true. Eventually he just went to God in prayer and asked to know which Church was really true and before he even finished his prayer, the missionaries knocked on his door. He was baptized and was actually deemed less-active because he had work every Sunday. His records were lost I guess but we came across him about two weeks ago and he is a stud. He reads the scriptures and prays as often as he can. He has one of the strongest testimonies of the church that I have seen here. He is awesome. He wants to go on a mission as soon as he can. He has already quit his job because now he knows where the church is. ( the church has to switch locations every once in a  while) The other is solid and has always been. He will probably be the first missionary that is sent out from Bintulu EVER. Which will be huge here. I am so pumped for them both. We have a few younger guys that have said that they want to serve missions too so we will be working with them soon hopefully! They're both the same age as me too so we are like bros now. Way sick.

So a huge part of this week was General Conference. We watched it a week later because they had to translate the whole thing into Malay. This has been the first Conference that I have actually really appreciated. All of the speakers were incredible. Some things I learned was we seem to complicate the Gospel in our lives, it is really quite a basic layout of protections against the wickedness of the world. Also Elder Holland and Nelson's talks about mothers and the appreciation of women were amazing and really made me miss my momma. I love my momma. I guess just I wanna say is there are indeed trials and hard things in life. They are bound to happen. What I have come to realize is that we all say that there is a plan. God has a plan. But it's not just a plan. It's a plan of happiness, salvation, redemption. His plan is for us to become as happy as we can. We many think yeah I am happy right now, but our Heavenly Father, being all-knowing, knows exactly how to make you happier than you have ever been. And who doesn't want to be happy? No one I hope. But realizing that his plan is of HAPPINESS, you have to just know that you WILL be happy. The Gospel is the way that we can understand that happiness more and follow the path that follows that eternal plan. With that, In terms of the Atonement, it is so crazy to just think about. I think about the creation. God created EVERYTHING. Everything includes sin, hardships, and challenges. So being a merciful God, wanting His children to be happy, has given us a way to overcome anything and everything. Seriously everything. All we need to do, if we can't overcome it ourselves, just humble yourself and realize you need help. He will always love you and always listen to you. He will give you what you need in your trials. Seriously. Everything in the Gospel is just so perfect. I don't have a perfect knowledge of it all yet but I just know it is, it's amazing. Gal darn I can even explain myself. I am sorry if you have no idea what I am talking about. I had to rant for a little bit there.

Let me say something way random. They have this stuff that is like almost the same as ramen noodles here. Similar package, similar noodles and everything... but the thing is. IT IS SO GOOD. They have the regular chicken flavor and all, but holy crap. They have, like, CURRY flavor, duck flavor, different seafood flavors, oh man. This stuff is so good. Also something my companion and I have been doing every once in a while, fried eggs. Oh my goodness. I make the best dang fried egg sandwiches. Mom and Dad sent me a package with Desert Heat and Buffalo seasonings from Buffalo Wild Wings a week or so ago and oh. my. gosh. That's the way you make fried eggs. I am a pro now too.... the most perfect runny yokes you'll ever see with the most perfect flavoring. Dang.

That's pretty much it for this week. 

Love you all. You da best,

Love,

Elder Hanks