Week 34--Canje, Guyana

Week 4--Elder Eads

Hello Family,

This was a good week. There was zone conference this week. We talked about Joseph Smith. It was really a good zone conference. We heard that the mission home was purchased in Curacao, and they are moving there in May.

Canje is doing well. We were able to go with Shane to church on Sunday. He really liked it and that he is going ot come back next week.  I'm excited that he's taking steps toward baptism.

Elder Eads and I are having a good time. We have been unified in our teaching and getting along very well.  I enjoy being able to learn from him about controlling the situation and teaching the doctrine.  Those are very good strengths that he has, and he has been helping me with those things.  I have a testimony of serving the Lord. I know that the Lord has placed me here in this mission in the area with Elder Eads for a reason.  I knwo that he is in the details of my life and everything that happens to me happens for a reason. I am so grateful that He knows me and loves me.  I loved reading in Mosiah 5:15 to day which talked about being steadfast and immovable so that Christ may seal you His. As we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and as we endure to the end, we will be saved in the kingdom of heaven.

We have a very nice lesson with an investigator name Kwasi on Saturday. He is a very educated man who is goin gto the Univeristy of Guyana full time, so he is only available on some weekends. Even so, when we go and teach him, he always remembers what we taught him last time, and the message of the restoration is making a lot of sense to him. On Saturday, we taught him about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel and priesthood.  When we talked about what Jesus said to Josheph, we asked him why Jesus said that all the churches were wrong. He said, "They were wrong because Jesus Christ never gave them the priesthood, which is the power to teach and to baptize." His answer reminded me of another lesson we had that day about the Great Apostasy, and the man we were teaching told us, "They were missing the priesthood." Those two answers given in two consecutive lessons confirmed to me again of the truthfulness of the message and that our church is different and correct becasue we do have the preisthoos.  I am so grateful for that and I know this church is true, and that we have the same priesthood that Jesus Christ gave to His Apostles long ago.

I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Hanni

Elders Eads always practices safety first. 

Zone Conference

Pictures were taken from Facebook.  We are so grateful for the Senior couple Brother and Sister Haake, who take pictures and post them for us to see. 

Week 33--Canje, Guyana

Week 3--Elder Eads

Hello Family,

I had a great week this week. Sounds like everyone back home has gotten sicker than I have here.  I haven't really gotten that sick here at tall.  I only had to stay in one time, and that was because I was on an exchange with Elder Sanchez, and he was sick. Other than that, I've been pretty healthy.

We are doing well in Canje. We have worked hard in our contact area, and we found this really cool family with about 7 people in it.  Their names are the Saruwans. The mom and dad have a good relationship, and the kids like to laugh at the funny things their dad says.  I felt really good that first lesson, and I am excited to continue to be able to teach them. 

Elders Eads is a great companion. We get along really well, and out teaching is unified.  We are able to have a good attitude even when bad things happen. We had some bike problems this week, and we worked together well to fix the bikes and get working again.

I have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have been reading the sermon given by King Benjamin in Mosiah 2 and 3 for the past couple of days. WOW! I really loved it. I can see why Tad R. Callister called it the greatest sermon on the Atonement. My testimony has been strengthened so much to know how central the Atonement of Jesus Christ is to our Salvation. It is because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ that living the gospel and the commandments actually means anything. Without it, we could not come even come close to our goal of eternal life. I know there is no other name nor way whereby we can be saved.  Only through Jesus Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

My spiritual experience this week actually happened last Monday. We went to see a teenager investigator named Shane. The last time we had taught him, he was worried that he wasn't receiving an answer to his question if the Book of Mormon is true, so we taught him about prayer and the Holy Ghost. We taught him to pay attention to his feeling and thoughts this time when he prays. He agreed. When we saw him that night, we asked him if he had prayed, and if felt that God had answered his prayer.  He said, "After I prayed about the Book of Mormon, I felt a happy feeling all day and looking back on it, I remembered what you told me. I know that I received an answer to my questions. The Book of Mormon is true."  I know that he did indeed receive his answer. We invited him

to be baptized now that he knows that this is true, and he preparing himself now to be baptized on April 28th. I am so excited for him, and I know that Heavenly Father does answer our sincere prayers.

I hope all of you have a wonderful week. I'm doing great here. I love it, and I love you.

Love,

Elder Hanni

Perfecting the Selfie...or not

A field of animals. 

Week 32--Canje, Guyana

Week 2--Elder Eads

Hello Family,

On Friday, it was a national holiday. Phagwah (that's pronounced "pog wuh"). It's a Hindu Holiday, and it is the festival of colors.  So pretty much, people put a bunch of colors on everyone. It was sweet. I took a picture before we went out, and after we came back in. You could say I had a little color to me when the day was done. 

We are working hard here in Canje.  I am really enjoying it. There are quite a few people that we are working with right now that we have just given the Book of Mormon. I am excited to follow up with them about their experiences in reading, pondering, and praying. I am so grateful for this gem of a book that we have.

Elder Eads is a really good companion. We get along really well, and we have been able to work hard together and in unity.  I am enjoying getting to know him better and serving with him here.

I have a testimony or prayer. I have seen that prayer is such an important part of life on earth because it is the only way we can talk to Heavenly Father. Without prayer, I could not talk to him, and I would be very sad. I am grateful to have a loving Heavenly Father who not only lets me pray to him, but wants me to pray an anytime. There is no specified time when I have to pray.  I can always pray to him.  I am very grateful for that, and this week, I will continue to pray unto him that he may consecrate my imperfect performance.

A spiritual experience I had this week was in teaching an investigator name Mark. He is a very smart man, and on Tuesday, we were able to take a member over to see him.  We taught him about Joseph Smith, and that is something he's wanted to talk about for a long time.  After the lesson, he remarked, "I feel like I'm in a dark tunnel, but at the other end, I see a light." The member who went to go see him with us said that he thought Mark was a genuine man and an honest seeker. That was confirmed to me when we went to see him again on Friday.  We have him the Book of Mormon the time, and he was very excited to receive it. He told us that it was a book that he had been meaning to read for a long time. He understood all the doctrine we taught, and he especially understood the role of the Book of Mormon plays in helping us to know that Jesus is our Savior, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that his church is true. He said, "I want to read the Book of Mormon twice." I was very grateful for that experience, and I am excited to be able to see Brother Mark again.

Mom, You asked if Elder Bigler was still in Bath.  He is actually in Georgetown now.  He is one of the teaching assistants there.  I heard that the baptism didn't happen on Saturday because Brother Mike is in the hospital in Georgetown, so Sister Baby wasn't able to be baptized. I'm praying that Brother Mike will get better so that Sister Baby will be able to be baptized.

I hope you all have a marvelous week. 

Love,
Elder Hanni

Before the festival of colors. 

After the Festival of colors. 

Elder Eads and I after the Festival of Colors. 

My name tag got a little color.  

Beautife sunset in Canje, Guyana. 

Week 31--Canje, Guyana

Week 12--Elder Fisher
Week 1--Elder Eads

Hello Family,

This week was a great one. The whole week, I was in a trio. Yay. Elder Fisher has gotten to stay in Canje for an extra week, but he will be leaving tonight.  I'll miss being his companion. My new companion is Elder Eads. He's from Kaysville, UT and he's the 8th of 11 children. That's pretty sweet. He's my fourth companion from Utah. I think that there might be a lot of Mormons there. Don't quote me on that, but it's something to consider.

A spiritual experience I had this week was on Saturday. We went out with Brother Hilton to try to find some members to bring them back to church. We had planned to find a specific family in the village. The record said they lived at Lot 57. There are only one or two lot numbers actually posted on a street, so it was of hard, but we found lot 57. The man who lived there said that he was not a member and that there was another lot 57 in the village after a certain cross street. We went to that cross street and found lot 1, but we had no idea how to fins lot 57. We ended up simply walking forward. We stopped to ask a man if his house was lot 57, but he was deaf so we couldn't communicate. We kept just going forward. The road curved to the right, and we eventually reached another cross street. At the first house on the right, we saw some people outside, so we decided to ask them. The woman we talked to said that her house was lot 27 and that she didn't know where lot 57 was. Then, all of a sudden, she called inside for her Father to come out, and she told us that her father was a member of the church. He came out, and we had a lesson with him. He was not the person we were looking for. We later found out that the people we were looking for had moved out of the village, but I know that we needed to find this man. The Spirit had guided us to someone else that Heavenly Father wanted us to find. I had no idea where I was going, but the Lord did. Brother Hilton really liked this experience as well, and I know that all of us recognized the diving guidance in our proselyting that day.

I love you all so much. I hope your week goes well. I am having a lot of fun here.

Love,
Elder Hanni

PS I heard that Sister Baby is getting baptized in Bath on Saturday. So is Brother Deo, hopefully. I won't be able to go, but Elder Gibson said he would take some pictures for me.

The Trio. Elder Eads, Myself, and Elder Fisher.

Elder Eads and I. 

Week 30--Canje, Guyana

Week 11-- Elder Fisher

Hello Family,

This week we got our transfer calls. Elder Fisher's moving to the very far location of New Amsterdam. I am staying here in Canje, and my companion will be Elder Eads. He isn't here yet. I'm in a trio with Elder Gibson and Elder Fisher for now, and when Elder Eads gets here, I'll be in a trio with him and Elder Fisher until next week.  Elder Fisher won't go to New Amsterdam until next week. Probably because it's a super far away. 

A spiritual experience I had this week was when someone very special came to church.  Brother Deo, an investigator from Bath, was in Canje on Sunday morning so visiting a friend, and he knew Elder Gibson and I were at church, so he came to church in Canje with us for all three hours. It was so good to see him there. Elder Allen and I had found him two transfers ago, and he is progressing towards baptism. All he needs is his birth certificate. I was talking to him, and it is amazing the change that has come upon him since the missionaries found him. He told me some wonderful things: "I don't know how to read, but I prayed about the book of Mormon, and I feel it's true." "I'll be glad to take my family to the temple and be sealed to them." He loves this church and he knows it's true. He told me that after he learned about the Word of Wisdom, he was able to stop smoking 40 cigarettes a day and be clean through a priesthood blessing. He isn't feeling withdrawals anymore. It was such a spiritual experience to see the wonderful change that has come upon this man in the space of about three months. I am so grateful for the experience.

I have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have been reading through the Book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon this past week.  Tomorrow, I will get to enjoy Jacob 5. I have loved Jacob's focus on Jesus Christ and his Atonement. I especially loved the description in Jacob 3:1 when Jacob tells us that "He will console you in your afflictions, and He will plead your cause." I know that this is true. The Atonement of Jesus Christ eases burdens. Jesus is truly our Mediator. I am thankful for this knowledge.

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

Love,
Elder Hanni

Brother Deo and I. He brought a bird to church. That is what is in the cage.  I couldn't leave it out of the picture. 

 The pictures below were sent to Jana from her friend Tiffany. Tiffany knows Elder Gibson who is in a trio with Josh and Elder Fisher.