Jan1, 2017

Wow. There have been some great things happening recently. First off, Christmas. I am a week late. I love Christmas so much. The spirit around that time just makes me so happy. We met with a few of our member families that were still in town and shared with them a little Christmas message and carried on throughout our day. My vocal chords were about to give up at the end of the day because I was singing so much. It made me so happy to see people smile. It really contributed to some things i discovered in the past week. Some of those things are very sacred I think because I can't describe them in words. I think just very basically to describe some of the amazing things I realized in the past week is that the importance of conversion to Christ. One thing I studied was a talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in the last General Conference. This conference is a semi-annual meeting held so that we can hear the Prophet and Apostles speak. He speaks about how to share the gospel mainly but had some really significant things that stood out to me. So the basic thing just being that conversion to Christ is the absolute most important thing that anyone could ever achieve. This conversion is not something acquired over the course of a day or a week, or 2 years, or even 20 years. It is a life long process that we must be constantly refining. I love the Bible because it helps me know more about the life of Jesus Christ. It has surely been a huge key in that process for me. The biggest help and resources for me that has helped me tremendously more than anything is the Book of Mormon. That is why we have that book. To convert us to Christ. Although there are many other evidences and things that the Book of Mormon proves, the most important that everyone should know is that it plays an absolutely foundational role in anyone's conversion to Jesus Christ. Conversion to Christ (being perfected in Christ) means that through working our faith, we become as He is, as that is a direct commandment given to us by Him. (Matthew 5:48) Perfection is not easy. Anyway, just what I hope you get from this is READ the Book of Mormon. As my own testimony, that book has helped me come closer to God. It has helped me along that process to converting to Christ. Get a hold of that book and read it. There is no evil in it. There is nothing to be afraid of. If something will bring you closer to God, we should surely do it. 

Anyway, that's a bit of my rant for this week. Other things that happened, my companion and I went to Singapore this last week for a Mission Leadership Council. I learned a lot at that. We talked a lot about how to improve the work and establish the Church here. As for my comp and I, we have had problems and successes. Before, there were a lot more problems it seems but we have been trying really hard to work things out and I really thing that we are making some progress. Our area is starting to build up. The main thing is that we need to help our members here recognize more specifics of their purpose. 

We have a family that we have been teaching. They are the sweetest family. We first met them and they had no prior knowledge of the existence of God. We have been working with them for about a month and a half now. We have been teaching just the ultimate basics of the Gospel to them and especially this past week, I think some things clicked for them. They starting asking about repentance and how they do it and how to follow "Amek". They make me so happy. 

Anyway. I can't believe it's 2017. 2016 was for sure the fastest year of my life. It felt like a week honestly. This whole time in Malaysia feels like it's been about 2 weeks. I feel like I was going into the training center in July 2015 not long ago at all. I am so excited for this next bit of my life. I love you all. Be happy. Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Hanks