7 February 2017

Hey all,

This past week was crazy. So crazy I didn't even have much of a chance to email on Monday. We got permission today while we are in Singapore waiting for our meeting later at 2:30 today. SO. Back to last week. After District meeting on Tuesday, Elder VG and I took a bus to do exchanges with the TK Elders, Elder B. and Elder H. Those Elders are awesome. I went with Elder H. and we had a great day. We focused on trying to be personal with people and help them make realizations for themselves how the Gospel can help them. It was a great day and we met some great people. No kidding. Some awesome people. On Thursday, we got back. Like I said last week, my bike got thrashed from my accident. I brought it along with another leftover bike at our house.  We went to my first area, to go to the bike shop. I almost cried upon arrival. I HAVEN"T BEEN THERE IN OVER A YEAR. It changed a ton. I wish I could just go around and meet with all of those people I met with back in the day. Anyway, I got a new road bike for a really good deal. I traded in the older bikes and bought decent road bike for RM300. Not too bad. Then We returned and did a few stop by visits with some people we have been working with. Later that night the Assistants came to do exchanges in our area. One right after another. I went out with Elder N. He is from my original MTC group yet I have never had a chance to really work with him. It was another great day. Nice to be in my area again. I learned a lot of things. Something I have been working on which I really love doing now is having more personal conversations with people. Not just walking up and sharing but trying to be better at doing it by talking with them and helping them see what parts of their lives can be benefitted by the gospel. Hard to explain it all. It's great though. I love getting to know people. We taught English Class that night as well which was pretty fun as well. English Class is always a highlight. 

So Ali, one of our investigators I talked about last week, he had some troubles and he was forced to move back to his Kampung which is like 3 hours away. He said he wasn't sure if he was able to come back here because there was no work and no place to stay. His faith was increasing so much and he wanted to progress so badly. These few problems presented a possibility of halting his progression. BUT. He was inspired and decided to act on what he knew to be true and he decided until he could settle down in Miri again, he would make the 3 hour drive on his moto to meet with us on Saturday and go to church on Sunday. He knows that acting accordingly will increase his faith and bring him closer to God. That's an amazing realization that he has made. So he came and followed us to some of our last appointments on Saturday and came to church on Sunday. He is a STUD. 

Sunday besides that was a great day. We met with some new folks and they are really awesome. One is the Aunt of one of our members.  She is so cool. Like always, the Gospel perfectly treats the parts of her life that are weak. 

So onto the next week. Monday, like I said, no time to email. We flew to Singapore. What do you know, we even got bumped up to Business Class. That was a first. I thought it was pretty much the same as Economy Class but there was a whole new world I discovered on Monday. We arrived in Singapore and on the way to our conferences, I had some awesome conversations with some people on the MRT (train system in Singapore). It's fun because people in Singapore have actually heard of Colorado. Tuesday was the main bulk of Zone Conference and it was SOOO good. I thinks that's why the Lord directed us through His prophet to do conferences in the church because sometimes you get a little stuck on your progression and think what am I missing and then there's some kind of conference and that seems to give you material to shape you up. 

Anyway. It was indeed another great week. I seriously love you all so much. You have no idea. 

Take care,

Love,

Elder Hanks