EWWWWW!!!!

Happy Missionaries!

loving his Colorado Oven Mitts, not to mention the view!

This last one cracks me up!  Matt said he found a bed frame in their apartment and he zip tied it together so he could use it!  He cracks me up!  So resourceful!!

22 February 2016

Hello everyone!

This was the best week ever. Me and my new comp both have similar and compatible work ethics and is really helping us. I'll start with a little story. 

So last week while riding our bikes, we stopped at a stop light and waited for the light. A guy came and rode up next to us on his moto and stopped to wait also. We started talking to him and told him about who we are and stuff and before we could go further the light turned green. We started riding and he said, lets pull over up ahead and I'll give you my number, so that's what we did and we asked if there was a time we could meet and he said yeah totally, I'm not sure now but give me a call and I'll find one. He is a 19 year old Iban and is way sick. Right before we left, he asked us if he could invite his friends too and of course we were like, sure! So then a week later we met up with him and his friend. We met in a food court cafe near our house and taught them about the restoration of the Gospel. At the end we gave them the Book of Mormon and I got to tell them about my experience in reading and praying about the book and listening to the Holy Ghost to know if it was true. In times like these, I get to this point where I can just talk so smoothly and clearly. It's amazing. I can communicate so well and it is just so cool. Anyway, so we closed, ate a little bit, and then we headed in for the night. Well. The next night, we got a text from one of them. I'll attach it in the email so you can see. That was one thing that made my week. I loved it. It made me feel so good to know that the work I'm doing is helping someone. You can read the text for yourself.

Next thing, being back in here is so awesome. Even though it's a different area, I see people I know from my last area and from the district all the time. It just pumps me up to see people I've met before and thought I'd never see again. So awesome. Matt just loves people and I am sure these are GREAT reunions!

Right now is more or less the rainy season. It has rained everyday since I got here. I think I'm pretty used to it now which is nice because there's so much. It's way gross though because it always floods and the sewage is pulled up onto the road and smells like death. But that was one of the man smells that I missed in while I was in Singapore. It's weird.  the pictures of this will make you sick......

This week had a lot of finding experiences. We found a lot of potential people to teach. One that I want to talk about is this, one day this week we were riding bikes through this one area. There was a house that we rode past and I got this huge feeling that we needed to stop by that house. We were about to be late for an appointment so I put the feeling off. Of course the prompting came again and I came up with another excuse to not do it. At that time we didn't go back. But later that night. I felt so guilty and I couldn't stop thinking about that house. Finally I told my companion that I got the prompting earlier and ignored it and that I wanted to stop by that house right now. So yeah, that's what we did. I stopped by the house and we went to the door and started talking to the family there. They are a really sweet Iban family and seemed really open to learn. I pulled out one of my Jesus Christ pass-a-long cards to give to them and they got really excited and the mom ran inside for just a few seconds and came out with the same one but a bit older! We found out that they had been taught by missionaries before and that the missionaries left and I  guess there wasn't a record or something because they were just forgotten. I'm not sure what happened. But there they were so cool and they told us to come back because they had been waiting for us! So yeah, moral of the story, if it is a feeling that you get to do something good, just do it. It will always turn into something that can benefit you.

Well that's pretty much it for now. I'll try to send some pics with this one! 

Love you all, and I sure love him!!!  

Elder Hanks

15 February 2016

I'm loving the soaked pants that Matt has!  He's said it rains a lot....Obviously!  Love him!!

 Prosperity Salad for Chinese New Year.  Each ingredient in the salad is significant for the Chinese New Year.  Everyone around the table uses their chopsticks to toss the salad as high as they can while they say hopeful wishes for the new year such as 'May your floor be covered with gold coins!"  (This is quoted from my friend Robin)

15 February 2016

Well.. I have gone back to my previous area (but in a different part of town) I am now with my new companion who is SO DOPE. He came out one transfer after me and is from Arizona. This past week I have been really happy. We have been working hard and dang. Working hard feels good. I'm sure a lot of people can say that. Elder Strattons' trainer and my trainer were mission buddies that went home together so now we can carry on our sacred mission lineage.

I don't have a lot of time so I'll try to say what I'm wanting to say. 

This week was way interesting. The week of Chinese New Year. There's all sorts of stuff going on. There are Lion Dance competitions everywhere, there are fireworks at all hours of the night, and fire crackers and drums playing in the morning a half hour before I have to get up. But besides that (like I said) I am still happy even though I wake up to the most annoying beat of drums in the morning. Sorry I don't have much time to write! Also my pictures aren't working this week so I'll try again next week! Love you all! 

Love,

Elder H

The pictures came from his companions mom and others in the mission~  I'm so grateful they shared!  He's SO silly!!  7 months has flown by so quickly!  L

8 February 2016

Well, 

as you can see, my time in Singapore has expired and I am going back my last zone. I am in a different area this time though. Wherever that is. Guess I'll find out this week. I'm going to be with an elder who came in right after me, so that's going to be an adventure. I can't wait.

Well besides that, it was a nice hot week in here. It either rains and is hot or it is just plain hot. This week started out with one of the elders in our apartment, falling sick. That led to my companion getting sick, and eventually me. So it was a bit of a rough start. We got over it for the most part though and did missionary work! Of course. It was a bit harder this week. It was hard to get appointments because this week is Chinese New Year and people usually just want to prepare for that I guess. 

Elder Hanks

another cute story he shared privately....

 We were walking to a potential investigators house.  I like to practice my loud wrangle whistle when not many people are around. So I let one out and up about 30 meters ahead, a man that was walking, turned around to see what was up. He kept walking and kept looking back until he eventually just stopped and met us. We greeted him and talked to him a bit. He told us that 5 years ago he lived in Singapore and met missionaries who taught him a little bit before he moved back to his home in Bangladesh. He had the Book of Mormon in English and Bangla is what he said and he said he had been reading it a bit. He had just moved back to Singapore and wanted to get in contact with the missionaries again so he thought one day he would go back to the church and see if anyone was there who we could talk to. Well yeah, sure enough he found us. That was really cool. I don't think we would've found him if I hadn't have whistled. The Lord works through our habits huh?