Bula bula bula,

So this week has been pretty interesting we have done a lot of good work lately and we are seeing some of the blessings come from that, I’m pumped.

A couple months ago we received a referral from some other missionaries about a young man and we tried like 20 times to contact him but to no avail then this week they asked us again if we had met him and since we hadn't they were all like what the crap, go baptize him and all we could say was we would if he would talk to us. Haha, well long story short we ended up catching him at home and because something was wrong with our phone we hadn't been receiving his texts but he had received ours, hah, so he was always thinkin that we were just too busy to meet so that’s why we hadn't replied.  So we were just both mixed up and way off but now we’re on the right track and we have a lesson on Wednesday which should be good. And then hopefully get him baptized and saved here sometime soon.

Other than that we have been trying to do a lot of less active work and we have come in contact with some people recently that have been lost for quite some time now and I know as soon as they feel the spirit again in their lives that we will be able to help them see again and realize the blessings that come from living the gospel.

Which brings me to my last topic, haha. Last week on Monday we visited with one of our less active members, he’s the type who has all of these problems with the church and how it’s run and has all these ideas of how it could be better.  I would like to relay to you some of what I learned just from sitting down with him. A couple things that he brought up were the new missionary age and the Word of Wisdom.  About the age he said "I think it’s a horrible idea" (about the age for men), and "it’s about time the brethren realize the women can do stuff too" (about the age for sisters). And then about the Word of Wisdom which he doesn't follow by drinking coffee he said "I don't feel the Spirit but do you really think it is that simple, just giving up coffee?". May I try and offer some advice that has sort of struck home to me: The Book of Mormon. This book was translated by divine powers, and within its pages we can learn a couple things, 1-that Jesus is the Christ and that we must follow his gospel, and 2-God works the same yesterday, today and forever. He calls prophets to show us, His children, the way to eternal life. If this is understood, and we begin to walk by faith in a world governed by sight we will feel His heaven-sent influence in our lives and we can have the sure understanding that doesn't come from any other source but God Himself, a sure understanding that he loves and cares for us, and that His son died for all of us and that if we follow His plan for us we CAN LIVE WITH HIM AGAIN. So if we will humble ourselves and let go of the pride that we carry in our hearts and have a true desire to know, then read and pray about the Book of Mormon, we will know. Then all doubts will fly and all desires to do what man wants us to do will disappear. Another comment this man had was this, "science has proven, that we need two things in life in order to be happy, one, some close relationships with other humans and two, something good to look forward to." God has provided those things long before science was ever established. He gives us our family relationships as well as an opportunity to have a relationship with Him, and He has also given us something to look forward to, life after this one, a perfect life free from sorrow and pain and sickness. He sends prophets to deliver this message, and what is the prophet’s declaration today? Love at Home.

I love this gospel, I love the feeling I get when sharing it, I love the feeling I get when I live it.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke 

Thoughts and prayers with Diana… and Jeff… and those 5 K’s. J

What’s up, Bula Bula Bula

Some crazy awesome news, as well as not so awesome, so thanks for it, haah.

Anywhobiwhatey, our week was pretty crazy, no updates on those people other than, we didn’t get to see them.

We did quite a bit of work with less actives and then just enjoyed Conference. And what a time it was, I love conference on the mish.  So it’s like taking an adrenaline shot of inspiration, I learned so much and felt the spirit so strong.

I only have time to share one experience this week. so we listened to the talk from Pres. Monson yesterday about following promptings from the Spirit and he always has the best stories about him doing that, well yesterday we had our own like that. This is a testimony to me about how much God really does care about all of us. So yesterday we went to Hayward across the Bay to visit some of our investigators we went and neither of them were home, so we went to visit a less active family that stays in Hayward. We usually don't go because the father works 24/7 and we can’t go in without another man home, but we figured we could just stop by and say hi. Well let me tell you, we showed up and the Dad answered the door which threw me for a loop first then as we came in and started  talking to him and learned that he had just lost his job the day before and that their rent was due in two weeks and about how stressed he was over the whole situation until he watched Conference.  While watching it he had a good feeling come over him just letting him know that everything would be alright, and then when we showed up he said it was like a seal of approval for him, knowing that God was watching out for him and letting him know that he knows exactly what each person is going through and will send help. We were able to testify to him that God prompted us to go there because He knew what he needed.  I’m very grateful for moments like these on my mission, they are a great strength and I hope all others can follow the same promptings and then feel the same feelings of gratitude and love as I have come to feel.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

I have to presume the "not so awesome news" was BYU's win over Utah State - that was a bummer! 

Enjoyed Conference this weekend, below is a quote from one of my favorite talks.  :)

Bula Bula,

So for the week, haha finally.

We had a pretty good time that’s for sure haha, let me tell you about Tuesday.

I went on exchanges with another Elder from my district in downtown Frisco on a bike. Haha i have sooo much respect for those guys it’s some pretty tough cookin up and down those hills, especially when i was on a bike made for someone 10 inches shorter than me and about 80 pounds lighter, haha! We had to tighten the brakes a couple times because that sucker just wasn't gunna stop me goin down those hills, haha. But anywho, that’s the least of the worries they have there.  The people are so full of Prop. 8 that really nobody wants to talk to us. There are very few occasions when someone will talk to us and it’s usually to yell at us and tell us all the things they think is wrong with what we are doing and why they don't believe mixed in with some cuss words and some waving of hands. It'll be a good story for the grandkids though for sure, haha.  And at least I’m not getting punched in the face like Isaac, haha.

That was definitely the highlight of the week for sure and other than that it went pretty slow besides the weekend. We didn’t get to see Bill or Michelle this week so that was a bummer, hopefully we can set something up this week though, that would be good. We did a bunch of finding as they call it, or just spending time each day to find new people to teach which wasn’t very successful at all haha. Another day in the life.

 And as for the weekend it was boss!  So we went to the eating at around 5 knowing that if it was supposed to start by 4 then the food wouldn't show up until 5 but we were wrong it came at 5:30 and (Elder) Chapman and I got sucked into spending a couple hours preparing it to be served.  And you know how it is in the Polynesian Community, everyone doesn't just get a slice of pineapple, they each get a whole one to themselves, so prepping food for that many people can take a little bit of time. But oh boy was it worth it!  We ate sooo good, I think I gained five pounds right there. So much good stuff, haha, can’t wait until the next one.

Other than that everything here is the same. Thanks a bunch for the package, the cups are sweet. All I gotta say is they  (USU) better beat BYU or else I’m doomed.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

Here are a few explanations…

 “At least I’m not getting punched in the face like Isaac” = Garrett has a friend serving a mission in Russia, who happened to get in the middle of an escalated conversation and – you got it – he got punched in the face.

The “eating” (Poly talk) was a huge meal held after a missionary farewell in the Fijian Branch last Sunday.  The girl leaving on the mission is the daughter of the very sweet lady that will email me once in a while with updates on and pictures of Garrett.  She sent a couple of emails yesterday – very sweet, as always – and included pictures, which I’ve added below.

We sent Gar some USU cups that we got at a football game… so I’m sure the pressure is on, because I think that all of the Poly’s in the Bay Area are serious BYU fan.  USU and BYU play this weekend… go Aggies! 

Hope everyone is doing well, we love you all!  Continued thoughts and prayers are with Di, Jeff, and the kids.

Elder Hanke, Sister Sherry Tagilala, and Elder Chapman

 Elder Hanke and Elder Chapman supervising?

(Not sure if Gar has a sucker in his mouth, but I'm pretty sure he's drooling over the food.)

And now... time for the "eating". (And eating, and more eating!)



I’m late posting again…. Sorry everyone!

Last Monday I was able to “chat back and forth” with Garrett – haven’t done that for quite a long time, it was fun! Anyway, I’ll just somewhat re-create our chat… 

I told Garrett that I figured from his credit card charges that he’d gotten a new suit:

I’m sorry for having to do that but the one I got should last for a long time so I’m not really worried. And it seems like I’ve kinda reached the top of the ladder, haven’t gained any weight in a while, kinda just flatlined here at 230, haha.

Thank you so much for the support.

I told him it was fine that he got a suit, but that I hope it’s the last one he needs to get! (i.e., don’t gain any more weight! 230??!), and asked if he needed anything else.  We also sent a few pics we’d taken up the canyon that weekend, before church we ran up to see the leaves and ended up taking (attempting, at least) some pics of us with the ipad.  (I only agreed because Steve was actually in a suit jacket with a tie, and I needed proof of that.) 

Awesome, haha. No I don’t need anything.

How’s work going?

PS I printed out the pic of you two and I’m gunna slap it up on the wall to see every day. (nice tie eh?)

Oh please we all are lovin’ it over here, haha, I’m gunna paste one up in every room in the flat so everyone knows whose parents that is haha.

We’re going to Frisco again today, my comp is addicted to cars and there is a huge Ferrari dealership downtown so I’m going to let him roam around in there for a bit so he stops buggin me about it. Anything you all want from Frisco that I could send you? T-shirts? anything?

Us two and one other companionship will be going just to walk around I guess. I am not a fan of doing this, haha, but they are, so whatever, right?

Then I asked when he was going to send the “real letter” for the day…

Haha, it’s a work in progress and it will probably be sent around 4 when we get back into town. Itss sweet to chat though, haha, it’s been a while.

 I suppose then that they left to go to Frisco to check out the Ferrari dealership, etc.,…. Then several hours later Steve got this email:

Thanks for the emails, the past couple they are really good and it reminds of a year ago receiving the football updates, it’s the best.

Hahaha, no test drives today, we went and they only had one car there. It was really just a store, we went there and a bunch of other stores, it’s so much walking and the only store that’s worth going to in my opinion is the downtown Nike store. Other than that it’s just a bunch of walking for me, but Mom and Kyndra would love it though. So many stores it’s ridiculous and then you get to the mall and it’s like four stories tall and jam packed with people, it’s really annoying.  And we have to wear our proselyting clothes and so everyone asks us the price of things or for directions because they think that we work there. Ha ha, it’s so crazy!

Anywho…  I heard the USU -BYU game is on the 5^th, ha, that’s gunna be crazy because all the Tongan Young Men are all BYU fans and then I always talk about USU, so if we win I will be able to hold it over their heads all year.  But if they win they will never let me forget it so I’m actually getting kinda nervous.  Haha, it should be a good time though. And mom told me that you both ran into some missionaries at the football game and she asked if we would be able to do that, haha, there is no way, our Pres. would never allow it, but then again if I did I would probably not be able to regain focus so it’s probably a good thing that we can’t.

Anywho, that’s all from this week.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

That’s all folks!  I’ll try to be more on the ball with next week’s update! 

 I only have time for a short letter today.

Sounds like a lot is going on at home lately, that was one of the best emails I have received so far, haha. Not very many questions, but a lot of info, very nice, haha.

Our week went pretty good as for the people we are teaching. Bill hd skin cancer removed from his nose on Tuesday. We were still able to see him this week a couple times, but he wasn’t able to make it to church which was a bummer.

Beta and Sita came here for one day this last week.  The operation went fine, it must not have been a very serious one because she looked fine and didn’t have any sort of bandage. I think they were trying to stretch the bone, because if they do the whole operation then it would stunt her growth, but she is good.  Such a sweet little girl.

And as for Michelle (the lady Garrett met at the bbq place – he wrote about her last week) and her husband, we stopped by for our lesson last night and only she was home so we had to set up another time for this Sunday.  She is way awesome. Anyway, her sons sound sweet - one is the catcher for the University of Kentucky and the other a nose tackle for the University of Sacramento, they sound huge, haha, but we are looking forward to teaching them.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week.  Every once in a while we go on exchanges just for 24 hours with other missionaries in my district and 1 set lives in downtown Frisco, haha, and they are on bikes, haha, and they are both like 5'9 and 150 pounds.  So while I was there I was trying to keep up with him goin’ up and down these huge hills on their little bikes, haha, it was classic!  And I'll be doin’ it again next week.

Peace and blessings, til next week,

Elder Hanke

First off I’m super duper jealous of that game, geez, that’s awesome.

Haha, and I will try and muster out a good email now, haha.

So the week went pretty good, didn’t have a whole lot of appointments so all we could really do is hit the streets and knock doors. The thing with our Fijian Branch is that the only way we can find Fijians is through referrals and if we receive no referrals then there is no work there and since we got only one referral this last week we don’t really have new people to teach so when we have no one to teach then the only thing to do is find and the only real way to do that is by teaching members, street contacting, and tracting. So that is what we did this week mostly on the tracting side of things. There is something weird about tracting, to me it’s almost the most ineffective thing that we could possibly do besides doing nothing, but something about it brings blessings. We tracted a ton this week and were able to find some new people to teach which we are really excited about.

I think it also brings blessings to our investigators that we already have as well, we had some awesome lessons this week.

First Bill, who is the Bishop’s brother, we stopped by this week and talked about the Plan of Salvation, the great plan for our happiness. He liked what he learned but his only concern was that he didn’t like the idea of having to pay for someone else’s transgression (i.e. Adam’s transgression). We then explained that we are not accountable for his transgression, that we don’t believe in infant baptism, we are not born in sin, but that we are all only accountable for what we do. That we need to fix any wrongs that we have done in our lives to the best of our power and allow Christ to fill in for the rest. He readily accepted what we shared and he said that he wished someone would have told him that 50 years ago. Haha, what a great guy. The Bishop keeps on telling us that this is the most important part of our missions, haha, to teach his brother, haha, great guy.

Little Sita had her surgery last week on Tuesday and we haven’t heard from them directly but from what we understand it went well so that is good. And other than her we still have quite a bit of potential. Last week on Thursday we had a lesson during dinnertime so we had to snag something to eat after so we went to go get some bbq.  When we walked in Elder Chapman was ordering and I started talking to this lady she was really nice and sounded like a member but when I asked her which ward she went to she told me that she wasn’t a member, but that her last husband was Tongan and his family was mostly members and that missionaries had stopped by to their house a lot before. She asked us where we served and we told her the Fijian Ward and she got all excited and said she had remarried to a Fijian fella so we will go there either tonight or on Wednesday to meet them.  I’m super pumped for that, haha, blessings out the wazzooo this week.

Other than that nothin’ really happened, we ate a bunch of food and had some good times with some members.  My suits aren’t fitting all that well these days and it’s not the stomach really because my waist isn’t really changing. But because I’ve been squatting like crazy my thighs and calves are just getting bigger so now my pants are like skin tight on my legs (haha i look like Justin Bieber hahah).  Good thing I have a jacket on when I wear them because my bahooki (buttox) is getting bigger as well, haha.

So just so you know a new suit might be in the forecast, but I dunno, we run a lot as well so I just don’t know what to do, haha.

Love ya'll, peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

We sent Gar a video clip of the end of the USU-Utah game, along with a little update on how the AGGIES took it to the Utes. :) (Yes Mike, that jab was for you.)  Go Aggies - what a sweet win!

And really... another suit? My goodness... a little TMI there.  Gar should have enough suits for every possible body size by the time this mission is done.

Hope everyone is doing well... our love to everyone! And our continued prayers are with Di.

Love,

Nova

My apologies everyone… I’ve really been slacking! Here are the letters from the last two weeks. 

August 27, 2012

Garrett’s note to Dad:

Dang how did it fall?  That sounds rough, how long will you be down for? I just read mom’s email after yours and it sounds like she isn’t too upset so it must not be too bad. Seriously though thank heavens for the boots, ha, man crazy. So will you get some sort of medical leave from work or how does that work with the company you’re at right now? Haha now I have the 101 questions, ha. Will you be able to go back to that same work when it heals? And  does it hurt pretty bad to walk on?

Anywho ya, I havent heard from Malo (Elder Malo that served in Fiji, now going to USU and on the football team) since leaving so I hope he is doing good. There is a Fijian boy from my branch here that just signed with Utah State, he is about 6'5, 300 lbs., good kid. I hope Malo finds him up there and gets to meet him. I can’t remember his name because he goes to the singles ward mostly but  I’ll try and get it for you.

Let me know about the foot, I’m interested.

Garrett’s note to Mom:

Well sounds like you have had a crazy week that would be very opposite from us haha im just glad to hear that everything is going better and that everyone is doing ok. Definitely could look at this as a blessing for you two to be able to spend some solid time together. I’m looking forward to some good stories from both of you because of this haha.

As for our week looking back we had a very slow week probably the slowest on my whole mission thus far so it was very stressful and very frustrating, but there really was nothing we could do but just go out and work it out. We did have some good lessons with our investigators though we are teaching the Bishop’s half brother from the English ward and he is doing well. He was able to make it to church and feel the strong spirit that was present as the speakers gave their talks, so that was good. We also had a couple of our Fijian investigators at church, their names are Beta and her daughter Sita, they are very humble and great people.  Sita was born with some physical disabilities but she is the cutest little girl ever. Someone sponsored them to come over to America to get her back fixed and so that’s why they are here. Unfortunately we will miss them this week, they are going to LA for a surgery so we won’t be able to meet with them. But we did wish them the best . From what I was told they are going to stretch the bones in her back somehow, I don’t know how that works but that’s all I know. Other than that nothing really happened. We don’t have enough miles to make the trip across the Bay so we couldn’t see those investigators that stay there.

This upcoming week we have zone conf. so that will be good. Some Elder Gay is coming to the mission to preside so I’m pumped for that

Hope all is well, talk to you next week.

Peace and blessings,

Your baby boy

September 3, 2012

Garrett emailed around 9:00 a.m. on Labor Day saying he was going to Alcatraz and didn’t know how long he’d be there but he’d probably write again in a few weeks if he could.  (Yes, I was my typical gullible self.)

Several hours later we got this email:

Hey there fam,

So I’m pooped from walking all day long I feel like I could sleep for hours right now, haha.  Alcatraz was cool but the walking to and from was just up and down thoseF risco hills which is crazy haha. We also went to Lombard Street. and we were riding (the trolley cars?) with some other missionaries, so we got out before it started because there was a line to go down and we just said to pick us up when you get to the to.  When they got there we were just gonna hurry and jump in but the traffic police told us if you get in then I’m gonna give you a ticket so we had to walk down the whole thing while they drove, haha. Good  times but I’m gonna pass out.

Love you all.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke