March 22, 2010: 100 days left

Elder Hansen began this week's e-mail with the teaching pool report:

"Good to hear from all of you. Things in York are going pretty good. Our zone continues to do really well and York 2 is doing alright. Unfortunately Richard told us this week that his parents don't want him to get baptised. I guess his family are members of the communist party and he says if he joins a church then it conflicts with that and will be harder to get a job. It is all kind of foreign to me. We just have to help him make that step of faith. I think he will, he has gained a lot of faith. the culture difference is so big. Richard will continue to come to church and to meet with us so we will help him make that step. Also this week we had Joseph come to church again. Mrs. Chu came to church again. She just has to give up 63 years of believing in Buddha and praying to her ancestors which is proving to be a tall task. This week we also found a young man named Kallan. He is 21 and English and is a nice kid. He came to a baptism and came to church. We have to help him because he has a huge word of wisdom problem. He has a hardcore alcohol problem. Stay away from that stuff it has destroyed his life. But he loved the baptism and church...and he seemed sober for them so that's good. So basically we have all of these people who have big concerns but they can all be overcome through the Atonement. We have to help them develop faith in Christ and a testimony of the restoration. I am excited to help all of them with their different struggles."

This week was also the always-spiritual zone leader council.

"This past week we also had zone leader council. It was so good. I love the other Elders on the Zone Leader council. They have become amazing friends. I am so grateful for the relationships we have been able to develop and I am sure that I will treasure them for a lifetime. A lot of us now have been serving as zone leaders for a while and go home soon. I think you could say we feel a great responsibility to make sure this mission is where it needs to be when we go home. I have grown to love this mission so much. I love seeing the success of my brethren. At zone leader council we all shared a spiritual experience from our missions and our testimonies. The spirit was so strong."

Another great spiritual experience:

"Also after church on Sunday we had three recent converts from York 1 and York 2 teach Richard with us. All of them are YSA [young single adults] and have traveled here from other countries to go to university or work. They all bore powerful testimonies to Richard and explained the trials they overcame to join the church. It was amazing. Recent converts blow my mind. They make such huge changes and sacrifices...but they don't even look at it that way. The church is in good hands. It makes me want to go out and find more people like them."

Finally, in not-so-spiritual news:

"One last bit... I need to know my family, bishop, and stake president's addresses and contact details for my return home papers. I also need to know what major airport I want to return to on I think the 1st or 2nd of July."

It's hard to believe how soon he will be home. The time has gone by so quickly and all of a sudden we realize the end is relatively near. We are thankful for the service he has rendered, and are confident he will continue to work hard for the next 3 months or so. We pray for the Lord's continued blessings on him and the people he is teaching.