Week 52--Garden Park, Georgetown, Guyana

Week 16--Elder Ortega

Hello family,

 I've had a great week this week. We are excited for Kwesi and Sheniza because they are going to get married this Friday, and they are scheduled to get baptized next Saturday, the 4th of August. We are so excited for them. They are going through a lot right now, but they keep pushing through!

  Here in Garden Park, we are doing fantastic. We had a baptism this weekend! It was for Sister Shurika. It was a marvelous day on Saturday, and everything went very well.

  Elder Ortega and I really felt that our teaching this week was very unified. We know each other very well, and we are having the Spirit there in our lessons with us. We work very well together, and I enjoyed this week as we really strove to bear testimony of each other.

  I have a testimony of the process that the gospel is. It really is a straightforward and simple path, but it is not an easy one for anyone. We heard a member tell us something that really explained to me what our Heavenly Father expects of us. He said, "He wants us to endure to the end no matter how hard it gets." When we are doing the right thing, trials still come. Rain falls on the wicked and the righteous, but as we endure in faith, this life is possible. I know that for all those we teach, they go through a lot just because they want to follow the right path, but it is always worth it.

  A spiritual experience I had this week was just being able to think back on the road that it has been for Sister Shurika to be baptized on Saturday. The whole time we have been teaching her, her grandfather was not giving her permission to be baptized, and as we kept getting closer to the end of the lessons, it still seemed like he wasn't going to allow it. As we taught her, we invited her to pray and fast that her grandfather would allow her to be baptized, and she did so, and we did it with her. Last week, her grandfather finally gave his permission, and she was able to be baptized on the 21st and confirmed on her 14th birthday yesterday. I know it was possible because of her faith that Heavenly Father would provide a way for her. I am grateful for her example to me of praying and fasting in faith.

 I'm excited that you all are closing on the house today. I haven't seen it, but I'm going to guess that it's nice. I love all of you so much. Have a great week!

Love,
 Elder Hanni

Sister Shurika, her family, Elder Ortega and I at her baptism. 

Week 51--Garden Park, Georgetown, Guyana

Week 15--Elder Ortega

Hello family,


 I am very glad that all of you made it safely to the new place. I'm glad there are bunnies for Ellie to try and catch. She must be having the time of her life. We officially hit the dry season here in Guyana. It is pretty hot and sunny almost every day. It reminds me of what it was like when I first got to Guyana about a year ago. I never know what temperature it is every day because there's nothing that says what the temperature is, but it's safe to say that it's always warm.


 We were excited to have quite a few of our progressing investigators progress in little ways this week. Kwesi went back to work bus routes this week so that he and Sheniza can get married. His sister Abiola is getting a job so that she can get her own apartment, and his mom Pamela is changing and becoming more loving, especially when she learned about the temple this week.

  Elder Ortega and I worked hard this week. Our desire is to be exactly obedient, so we were paying attention for those little ways that we can improve every day to be doing what the Lord wants us to be doing. I feel good about that, and I'm grateful that we have that desire together so that we are both working on it. We have had very spiritual lessons this week, and that is because our desires were to do what Heavenly Father wanted us to do.

   I have a testimony of the spirit of Elijah and of temples and family history work. When we taught Sister Pamela, Brother Kwesi's mom, this week, we taught her about the temple and all of the things that we can do there. Normally when we teach her something, we have to give her a little reminder of it the next time we go by, but the lesson after we taught her about the temple, one of the first things she said to us after the start of the lesson was, "I want to go to that mountain." The temple is her goal now, and I know that she now has a greater desire to be baptized than before because her goal is the temple. She's so excited to go there someday.

  I had a spiritual experience yesterday at church. Brother Kwesi was unable to come to church because he and his family were busy doing something. That usually means that Brother Beresford, another investigator we have, cannot make it. Because of his healing leg, the doctors told him that he won't be able to put pressure on it until next year, so he depends on Kwesi to come and pick him up. However, during sacrament meeting, we saw him come into church on his crutches. We asked him afterwards how he was able to come, and he said that he rode his bike all the way from his house to the church, which is not a short distance. He was able to do it using his good leg. That was a spiritual experience for me because it showed how much this church really means to this wonderful man. He didn't make excuses to not come to church. He came, and I know that Heavenly Father blesses him for his commitment, even though he is not able to be baptized yet.

 I am absolutely loving it over here. This experience is something that I feel is changing me. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for this opportunity to represent His Son Jesus Christ as a missionary. I pray that all of you will continue to do well, and I hope that you are enjoying your new experiences.

I love you so much!

Love,
  Elder Hanni

Week 50--Garden Park, Georgetown, Guyana

Week 14--Elder Ortega

Hello family,
 This week, I got to celebrate the fourth of July on the fifth, which was my year mark. I celebrated by burning my Phagwah shirt on a metal shovel. It burned really well. We took a video of the whole thing, but it's on Elder Ortega's camera, so I just sent some pictures of it after it had been burning for a while. It was very, very fun. It also rained a lot this weekend, and when it rains, sometimes, it fills a whole street so that it looks like you're riding through a river, so I took a picture of it. It's really fun when that happens.


 We are doing great in Garden Park. This week, Kwesi and Sheniza went in to the post office this week, but they didn't have enough money to get married, so they need to get some more and go back in. We keep working with them because as they are working towards marriage and baptism, they share the gospel with so many people around them. We spend a lot of time in their yard teaching members of their family. It is really amazing to be able to do that.

  Elder Ortega and I were working really hard this week to improve ourselves as missionaries. We really want to be serving with our heart, might, mind, and strength. Both of us have been very focused this week, and we feel good about the work that we were able to do this week.

  I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. As I have been studying it this week, I have been able to receive specific messages from the Spirit on how I can improve as a missionary and as a person. I love the king's words in Alma 24:15 about what it means to truly forsake our sins. He said, "Oh, how merciful is our God! And now, behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby." I love those words, and I know that they are true. As we do all that we can do to become more like Heavenly Father, we cannot just stop trying.

 A spiritual experience I had this week was being able to see some members that we have been working with come back to church for the past few weeks. They are a young family, and the father is a returned missionary. As they have been able to come back to church, they have been so much happier when we go by. The father also received a calling yesterday to be the Young Men's President. Yesterday, when he taught the young man who came to church yesterday, I felt the power of his testimony. He taught by the Spirit, and it was an amazing experience. He and his family have a goal to be sealed in the temple, and I'm so glad that they are seeing the joy that comes from living the gospel.

I'm so excited that all of you are going to be moving today. I'll be praying for you, and I hope everything goes well. It's going to be quite the adventure for sure.

I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

 Elder Hanni

Week 49--Garden Park, Georgetown, Guyana

Week 13--Elder Ortega

Hello family,
 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!! I can't believe you're already 4 years old! I really wanted to email yesterday, but it was a holiday here, so nothing was open. I'm just glad there's a holiday on your birthday here too, but for some reason, I don't think they celebrate the Fourth of July here. Weird, I know. That surprised me a lot, but it's fine. I'll celebrate the day after by burning a shirt. I'm so excited to do that, except I'm not too sure which shirt to burn. Probably the really colorful one from Phagwah. It's gonna be fantastic.

  In Garden Park, we are doing great. We have investigators named Kwesi and Sheniza who are going into the post office this week so that they can be married soon and be baptized. We are so excited for them, and I can tell that they are ready to make this step. They've been meeting with the missionaries since September, and it's amazing how far they've come.

  Elder Ortega and I are doing great. We continue to strive every day to be better, and we continually seek the Lord's guidance in what we need to do in this area. Elder Ortega is really good at helping me to seek revelation, and that is something I am very grateful for. I do feel that we are doing our very best.

  I have a testimony of remaining strong when trials come. Kwesi and Sheniza are having a lot of opposition as they are making these steps to be married and baptized, but it is so amazing how firmly they hold on to this truth. No person is ever promised that the path to eternal life will be easy, but I know that Heavenly Father has given us every tool we need to overcome our specific trials and challenges. It is amazing to see Kwesi and Sheniza continue to hold strong. I know that as they and we continue to hold on to this gospel, Heavenly Father will be able to make this life possible.

  A spiritual experience I had this week was teaching a nine-year-old niece of a recent convert here. She stays with her aunt during the week so that she can go to the school she attends. Last week, we were able to teach her the first lesson about God, and this week when we went over, we simply taught about families, and we were going to save talking about prophets and priesthood until the next time, but before we closed the lesson, she interrupted us and told us that she had read the pages we had left in the Restoration tract, and then she proceeded to tell us everything she had learned about prophets, priesthood, and apostasy. It was incredible. She understood it so well without us even saying a word. It's amazing what the Spirit can help us remember when we are learning truth. That was a great spiritual experience for me, and I am so excited to go and see that bright little girl again.


I can't believe you all are leaving Colorado already! I guess that next week is the week. I'll be praying for you. I know it's going to be amazing. For some motivation, I took a picture of some little girls that love to come up to us and shake our hands when we go to Brother Kwesi's yard. They're pretty adorable, and they also really like pictures.

I also decided to send you a picture of me doing something with my arm.


I love all of you so much. Have a great week!

Love,

 Elder Hanni