Bula Vinaka!

Bula Bula Bula

How is it?

This week has been a very eventful one and we have a had a lot of fun in the process. So first off last Monday we went as a zone to a park and played ultimate frisbee until four and while we were driving home we got a call from our Bishop in the English ward (great guy) and he asked us if we could take a trip with him down to Stanford to the hospital to take one of the less active ladies to the ER.  But seeing as Stanford is out of our mission we had to quickly give a call to our Mission President who then gave us the OK to go. So we went down and spent a couple hours down there helping her out.  It was a way weird situation because she was plastered drunk and was just threatening suicide and what not, but it was pretty sweet though to see her react to the spirit even in  her state that she was in. While we driving down there she was just freaking out and so we decided to do the only thing that we thought would help....scriptures. We read with her from the book of Alma and it worked wonderfully, it calmed all of us down and she was able to stop talking and just listen to the book.

I'm not gonna lie, when I left on my mission all I could say about the Book of Mormon is that I liked it. Nothing else. I mostly left on my mission so that I could spend my time helping others. At first I think I  pictured in my mind more community service than anything, I'm not sure why I even had the desire to go because my testimony wasn't strong, and I was unsure about a lot of things that the church taught. It’s not that I didn’t think they were true, I just had never acted on them. I guess what it really was is that I saw friends preparing, leaving and returning from missions, I saw the changes in their lives that they were making and had made. And then at the APTC camp I realized without a doubt that I was going nowhere at that point and that I wanted to end up like the guys I saw who had already made this decision.

So then I entered the MTC wanting to change who I was and interested in finding out how to do so. The first few weeks into the MTC I had given much time to reading the Book of Mormon, through doing this I realized what I had been missing and what these other guys had. It was simple, it was "the spirit".  They had understanding, they had direction, and they had guidance. They knew what they wanted and they understood how to get it.  I soon came to figure that same thing out, I started realizing what I wanted. Now the thing that stuck out to me was the role the Book of Mormon played in all of this, it taught me the things which I should do, it taught the doctrine of Christ which is the doctrine of our lives. It explained to me very simply what I must do in order to succeed and to be happy in this life and how this can carry into the eternities.

Goals: I don't think my goals in this life are different than any other guy my age who is of our faith or who is not.  I want to do good in school, I want to help others, I want to have a good job so that I can provide for my family, I want my children to grow up being better than I am. And I also know that a person doesn't have to be a member to achieve this because I see it all the time without the church. But there are some goals that I have because of my faith that can help me now that others may not have, Eternal Perspective. I know without a doubt that I will live again after this life; I know that everyone will, that part of the plan is not up to us. I know also that it is by our choices in this life, today, that will determine our happiness after this life. All of this understanding I have comes from the Book of Mormon, what it teaches, as well as other things that we learn from the church.

What I'm ultimately getting at is that the Book of Mormon is true and that it gives us understanding and help right now, because it testifies of Christ and his divinity. It teaches us that through him we can all be reunited with our families and with Him and our Heavenly Father again so long as we give in to their will and do what they have asked of us. I am not perfect. I have made mistakes, am making mistakes, and will continue to make mistakes. But I will learn from my mistakes, I will try and not make them again, but most importantly I know that as I try to have righteous actions God will help me. I understand this and I want others to understand this, I know that the lady we helped last Monday, Heavenly Father loves her just as much as me. He wants her to have Happiness just as much as anyone; He has given us the Book of Mormon for help. Everyone needs to read it and if they do so with real intent, having a desire to know what is right, they will receive their answer, and they will know what I know.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

This letter speaks for itself...  I don't feel like I should even interfere with the message that it carries. I am so humbled by what my own son can teach me every week.

Love to you all.