Week 27--Canje, Guyana

Elder Fisher--Week 8

Hello Family,

It has been a pretty good week here in Canje. Elder Fisher and I were temporarily in a trio with Elder Gibson this week because his companion finally got his visa for the United States to go to his mission. He was with us while he waited for his new companion. It was pretty fun, but I think I like having two elders more than three.  Oh well.  I learned a lot from it.  Elder Fisher and I biked all the way to the end of Canje Road today.  45 minutes later, we reached the end of it.  It was pretty.  There was a river, a power station, and lots of jungle. We met a guy fishing there. He had a hook in the water with a snail on it. I didn't get to see him catch a fish, but I'm sure that would be a sweet place to go fishing. It was a sweet biking all the way there because it was straight bush for some parts of it.

My spiritual experience was in a lesson with an investigator name Valesia. She had to leave every few minutes during the lesson because she was cooking, but that was okay, because most people cancel on us if we show up when they are cooking. Also, she never lost her focus once, even though there were pauses in the lesson. We taught her about the Book of Mormon. She has a great desire to find the true church, and her willingness to have this lesson with us was evidence of that. She said, "I think that God would want us to have the Book of Mormon because He wants us to go in the right way. He wants us to have peace because he loves us,  and he wants us to be one people." That answer, especially about being one people, strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the gathering of Israel. I am very grateful for that lesson.

I love you all so much. I hope that family comes back to church, Dad. They just dated the best church in the world.  I hope they know that. Grace good job on your forensics meet.  Sounds like a lot of fun. I'm sure story telling will blow them out of the water next time. Payton, you stay undefeated in basketball, okay? Cooper, you're a cutie. Mom, I am glad you got to go to Grandman and Grandpa's farewell. I didn't realize that they already leave next week. That's pretty crazy. I hope your week is a great one.

Love,

Elder Hanni


P.S.  Here is where we went todya for P-Day. It's the very end of our area.

These next pictures were emailed to Jana from her friend Tiffany Johnson, who's friends son was in that trio with Elder Hanni and Elder Fisher.

My friend just sent me these pictures.  Elder Gibson (from here) got to be in a trio with your Elder Hanni while waiting for his companion. Small world..they got to meet.

Tiffany

Elder Hanni and Elder Fisher

Elder Hanni, Elder Fisher, and Elder Gibson. 

Week 26--Canje, Guyana

Elder Fisher--Week 7

Hello Family,

This week has been pretty good week.  We had zone conference, and we talked about our goals for 2018.  We also talked about the new prophet and First Presidency. I got to watch the announcement as well as part of the press conference. No matter what question was asked, I loved that they continually taught us that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that we are His Children. It all comes down to that. President Egbert came teaching with Elder Fisher and I after zone conference. It was sweet. It was a really neat experience to be able to go teaching with the mission president.  I'm going to miss him when he leaves in June/July. I'm glad I still have that long with him.

A spiritual experience that I had this week was in a lesson Elder Fisher and I had with an investigator named Sister Allison on Saturday. We went by and asked her if she had read from the Book of Mormon, and she said she had. We had left her Mosiah 13 because we were going to talk about the 10 commandments with her that day. She talked about how it was just like the bible, and she said that she read it to her mom to show her mom that everything that they had heard about our church before was not true. Sister Allison is someone who has shared with her family what she knows to be true now. Then, we talked about the 10 commandments, and she already had a testimony of all of them.  She shared a story of how she knows that we shouldn't commit adultery because her mom had always taught her to "marry for keeps." She talked about how her mom and dad stayed faithful to each other until her dad passed away. She said "It wasn't perfect, but they tried their best." at the end she testified that as she keeps the commandments, her days will be long upon the land. It was very nice experience.

I am very grateful that we have a prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, and a new First Presidency. As I watched the live videos, I felt confirmation that they are the Lord's chosen servants ont eh earth today.

Love,

Elder Hanni

Week 25--Canje, Guyana

Elder Fisher--Week 6

Hello family,

How's it going? I'm doing pretty good. This week was pretty nice that I didn't have to worry about a new companion or a new area this week, so that was really nice. I was able to just focus on the work here. We will be able to watch the worldwide broadcast from President Nelson tomorrow, and we will have zone conference later this week.

My spiritual experience this week is again from the boy I talked about last week. On Saturday, we saw him again, and we asked him how it went talking to his mom.  He said that his mom got really angry at him and wouldn't hear any of the things he was trying to say. I felt really bad for him as he was telling us this story. Then he told us that even though his mom got mad at him, he told us that he didn't get mad at her. Not once did he yell back.  Even though his mom still doesn't want him to be baptized, he still is trying to be like Jesus.  He talked softly to her the whole time, and I was really proud of him. I pray that he will be able to be baptized soon. He told us that even if he has to wait a long time for his mom to give him permission, he is willing to do it. He was at church yesterday, and he even brought his less-active sister with him. He is such a good example, and I am so grateful for the chance to teach him.

I love you all so much. I'm praying for you, and I hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Hanni

This is a less than attractive dog that I found.  I call him Plop. 

Week 24--Canje, Gayana

Elder Fisher--Week 5

Hello Family,

This week was pretty great. I hit my six-month mark which is pretty crazy. It doesn't feel like it's been six months. I celebrated by burning a tie. It took a long time to light up, but it was pretty fun. It is the beginning of my fifth transfer today. I'm staying here in Canje with Elder Fisher, so I'll finally have a companion for longer than a transfer. I'm looking forward to it. We should hopefully have some baptisms this transfer, so we'll work hard for that. Grace, I can't believe you believed Dad and Payton. National Treasure 2 is when they steal the white house, and Kronk plays Black Widow in Avengers 2. I hope everyone loves going back to school. You are going to love it. If you were living in Guyana, your Christmas break would have ended today, but it would also have started on December 15th. Oh Well.

My spiritual experience this week was in a lesson that we had yesterday with an eleven-year-old investigator, Prekesh. The lesson we had before, we tried to talk to his mom about him being baptized, but she didn't want to hear any of it. She is not a member of this church. She insisted that he would never be able to live the life after baptism and she said that he didn't understand baptism at all. That was really hard to hear. This lesson, when we asked Prakesh what to pray for, he asked us to pray that his mom would agree to let him be baptized. Then, during the lesson, he said, "I felt really good at church today. I felt clean." It was a really good lesson about obedience, and when we asked him how he could be obedient, he said something really interesting. He said, "I should respect my mom and talk softly to her." It was an answer that surprised me, but it was wonderful. We then invited him to talk to his mom after we left about baptism. He said that he would and that he would talk to her softly. It was such a spiritual experience to see Prekesh have a true desire to be baptized. He is willing to do what it takes so that he can have that experience. I don't t know what happened when he talked to her, but I know that the Lord will provide a way for him to be baptized.

I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Hanni

Preparing to burn the tie. 

Ready to light it up. 

Burn Baby Burn! 

Dinner! 

Week 23--Canje, Guyana

Elder Fisher--Week 4

Hello Family,

I hope you know where that quote came from. How's it going? Happy New Year! It's already 2018. I can't believe it.  My camera works today, so I'm sending pictures of Brother Terry and family.  This week was nice. They don't call it New Year's eve, they call it Old Year's Day. Lots of loud music and partying was going on.  We had to go in at 6:00 pm that day.  Bummer.  Someone invited us to a Hindu wedding, too, but those are crazy, so it's probably for the best. I tried to stay awake for the count down to midnight, but it's really hard to stay awake when you are in a bed in the dark.  Apparently, there were really loud fireworks at midnight, but I slept right through them. Mom, I really like that family painting. It looks pretty sweet. I like the nametag I have on. So, the snow didn't stay for very long, huh? Oh well.  If it's any consolation, it's still the same temperature here as it was in July.

My spiritual experience this week was in a lesson with an investigator name Sister Ackleema. We weren't sure how much further we wanted to teach her because  we didn't know if she was listening to learn more about God or if she just liked meeting with us. We went into the lesson and followed up with her.  The last time, we had taught her about prayer and the Holy Ghost. We followed up with the verses we had left in the Book of Mormon. She said she did read them, but that she didn't understand them at all.  I was a little discouraged by that. Then she kept talking, though, and she said that she randomly found a verse. She couldn't remember what it was, but she said she fell in love with it. We never found out what verse it was, but we did ask her if she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon  was true. She said that she had before she started reading the book, and she said that she felt happiness and that his book was something huge in her life. We tesified that that was an answer that this book is true.  Then, she surprised us again: She asked, "How can I be baptized?" We hadn't even been talking about that. We had been talking about the other things she could know by knowing the book is true. She wanted to be baptized, and that was something we weren't expecting. She now has a baptismal date for the 17th of February, and she came to church for the first time on Sunday. It was truly a tender mercy from the Lord, and I am thankful for it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of their Christmas break. Good luck to Elder Johnson next week. I'll be praying for you.

Love,

Elder Hanni

Rejesh, Brother Terry, Me, Sister Pam, and their youngest son.  This is right before I left Bath. 

Elder Bigler and I with this amazing family. 

All of the Elders who taught this family. 

After they were baptized.  

Week 22--Canje, Guyana

Elder Fisher--week 3

Hello Family,

Hey, I got to see you a few days ago. I'm glad Colorado has changed from brown to white since then. I really loved talking to you. Payton, you've got to do something about your accent. Your voice was meant for much better things than that. Like serenading the ladies...Grace, it was good to see you too. Keep smiling that big. Cooper, you're a cutie. Daddy, I think Canje is pronounced that way, but you are the the only one who knows it.  Everyone else here is confused. Mommy, I love you. I liked It's a Wonderful Life by the way. The quote at the top is from it. I'm sending you the spiritual experience that I wrote to President Egbert. It's about the family taht got baptized on Saturday.

My spiritual experience this week was the oppurtunity to go to the baptism of a family that is very dear to me. When I was with Elder Bigler, we contacted a lot because our appointments kept falling through. One night we were just walking around Bath near our apartment, and we came to a crossroads. We stopped, and Elder Bigler turned to me and said, "All right Elder Hanni, we aren't going anywhere until you tell me where we are going." He wanted me to choose which way we would go to try and find someone. I hesitated for a minute. I looked left, right, and forward, but nothing really felt right.  Elder Bigler was waiting for me to make a decision. All of a sudden, a voice called out to us from the house behind us and to the right.  It said, "Hey are you lost?" Elder Bigler and I turned toward the house where the voice came from, and said, "No, we were just coming to talk to you." When we got closer to the dark house, we saw a man sitting on his stairs. His wife and two of his sons were next to him. Elder Bigler and I contacted them that night, and we began teaching them soon after.  Initially, the lessons were okay.  They weren't the best, though.  The wife, Pam, didn't really want to listen, and it seemed like the man, Terry, had a lot of things going on and he didn't really want to make changes yet. The son, Rajesh, was really cool though, and he remembered everything that we taught. We weren't sure how far the family would go. That all changed, however, when Brother Terry and Rajesh came to church one Sunday. Brother Terry changed after that. He loved the church, and he became excited to learn from us each time. His wife didn't want to participate still.  Then he brought his whole family to church. Sister Pam loved it, and they began having family prayers every night. Before I left Bath, Brother Terry, Sister Pam and Rejesh all had a baptismal dates for December 23rd. On Saturday, I got to go to it.  The family was so happy, and it was so good to see them enter the waters of baptism. It is incredible the change that has taken place for them.  Seeing them make covenants with God has made this the best Christmas of my life.

I'm so glad that the family in Fort Carson branch got baptized. I'm going to send you pictures of Brother Terry, Sister Pam, and Rajesh next week.  My camera just died, so it won't let me put any pictures on here. Sorry about that.

I love all of you. I hope the Star Wars movie was good and that you have a wonderful Christmas break.

Love,

Elder Hanni

Christmas in Guyana

There is a Facebook page for Elder Hanni's mission.  We have been waiting and waiting for him to make an appearance on it.  It was a Christmas miracle that he finally made the page, maybe just for us who check it faithfully looking for that cute face.  Some of us may have cheered!! It was so good to see him and know that he is enjoying his time in Guyana.  Below is a picture and two videos taken from the Facebook page.

Christmas Games! 

A Christmas Baptism.  You can see Elder Hanni shaking the new member's hand.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/357321031135566/permalink/763579567176375/

Elder Hanni and Elder Fisher sang Away in the Manager at their zone's Christmas party.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/357321031135566/permalink/762329600634705/

Elder Hanni skyping with his favorite people in the whole world. 

Week 21--Canje, Guyana

Elder Fisher--Week 2

Hello Family,

How's it going? I had a pretty good week this week.  My bike kept on breaking this week.  On Friday, I was riding my bike, and my left handle bar broke off. We replaced it with a shiny new blue one.  Then, the next day, I was pedaling out of a driveway, and the metal shaft for my pedal broke off.  I've had some fun this week with my bike. It's all fixed now, but hopefully nothing else happens. Our landlord put Christmas lights on our house, so it feels like Christmas here.  Elder Fisher and I are planning to Skype around 11:00 am here. I believe that is 8:00am for you.  I can't remember what my Skype name is, but I think it is just my name. I'm pretty sure it's 40 minutes that we get to talk.  The missionary handbook says 30-40 minutes.  I am super excited to be able to talk to you. 

My Spiritual experience this week occurred in a few lessons with the same investigators. We were teaching a woman named Christina Persaud, and she lives out in Betsy Ground. This past Monday we went to visit her, and we were going to teach her about the Savior's earthly ministry, but when we got there, the man that she lives with stayed with us in the house, and Elder Fisher and I felt prompted to just begin teaching him (his name is Raju) and his wife together. We had a wonderful first lesson with them.  Brother Raju told us, "God doesn't want us to go on the wrong track." We saw them again on Thursday, and Sister Christina didn't think that Raju was going to join us, but we invited him to participate, he did. It was another great lesson. Raju said, "God wants all of his children to be closer to him." That has been a wonderful experience to be able to start teaching Sister Christina and Brother Raju together as a family, and we are excited to be able to go back and see them again tonight.

By the way, there is a village in my area called Goed Bananen Land. I think that's Dutch, but everyone calls it Good Banana Land. It's pretty sweet. Congratulations, Grace, you get to fall in love with a man with a donkey head. Don't make it a habit. 

I love you all. Have a wonderful week, and I'll see you on Christmas.

Love,

Elder Hanni

Broken Handle Bar

New Shiny Blue Handle Bar

My pedal should not be in my hand. 

Broken Pedal

Christmas lights on our house