Monday, May 13, 2013

Happy Mother's Day again Mom!



Ed. note - We had a video conference call with McKay for Mother's Day, crossing four time zones. Was great to talk to him. A steady dose of various TV show dialogue references among the four siblings, with Mom and Dad exchanging bewildered and bemused looks. Yep, pretty much a microcosm of the past 22 years.

He said that he will be most likely be finishing his mission in the same area in Helsinki, which he has really enjoyed, and that he will soon be training his replacement as language coordinator.Here's the email he sent today:

Not much to say after yesterday. Dad, way to go getting skype set up four ways, you rock. [Ahem, pretty proud of myself]

Here's a copy of the report I sent to president:

Our biggest success this week was found in inviting others to read from the Book of Mormon. One investigator has not read regularly ever even after a long stretch of missionaries teaching him. He always finds excuses (reading the Bible instead, busy with family, watching ice hockey, etc.). This week, as we knelt in prayer, we found a passage of scripture in 1 Nephi 13 that exemplified how the Book of Mormon and Bible supported each other. We read it with him and the Spirit truly entered his home. As we talked, he began to understand just how much he already understands about the Book of Mormon. he agreed, finally, that it was time for him to invest more time in truly finding out if the Book of Mormon was true. The next step for us is to give him specific assignments each day to help him progress towards baptism.

The other example came from a less-active family who has had the same problem as the investigator above. They just won't read! So, this time we prayed and a certain passage came to mind. As we thought about it more and realized just how much it affected families, we realized how perfect it was, because we've been praying for her son who is having a hard time in his life right now. We bore testimony in the lesson about how much reading the Book of Mormon and living according to their covenants would call down the powers of heaven in behalf of her son, and they both agreed eagerly to read every single day this week! 

I love serving with my companion and everyone in our district seems to be doing great.

Another story I forgot to tell you yesterday was a real miracle. Elder Clegg and I were out trying to find a less-active woman that we've never been able to meet. We walked up to her building, but there was a set of buttons that typically requires a code to open the door. I was disappointed, but Elder Clegg, just for fun, goes up and yanks on the door handle, and it flew open! So we went up and had a wonderful conversation with this woman! She was so friendly and she has a friend who's son just got called on a mission here! And he already speaks Finnish...we're all jealous. Then we leave, and after we walk out the door, another man comes up, punches in the code, opens the door, and walks in. Now I'm confused. So, I just have to try. I walked back up to the door, grabbed the handle, and...nothing. locked. Elder Clegg is officially a magician. 

Hey, love you all!

Elder Hansen

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