Email received 07/30/12

Hi Mom and familia!!!!!!!

I got the post card from Jarom.  It made my day.  I also got a Dear Elder from Grandma and Sarah.  It makes me super happy when I get mail. 

So my new companion Elder Johnson has been sick like all week.  It hard to work when you're sick.  So we didn't work as hard as I would like this week, so it was an ok week.  We didn't have anyone in church yesterday either.  According to Elder Sylvestre, we failed this week.  Haahaha...  It's ok.  We have set a lot of goals to help us. 

We had four people confirmed yesterday.  So that was super awesome.  I love those people.  We taught the two girls, Mitzy and Brisa, on Saturday.  They are such amazing girls.  Mitzy went to EFY last week right after her baptism.  She told me that being at EFY strengthened her testimony.  I taught them about the Spirit and enduring to the end, and how baptism isn't the end, it is just the beginning.  The real test is enduring to the end.  It was such an awesome lesson.  The Spirit was there so strong.  It was really awesome because just in those moments I was speaking Spanish, and understanding it like a champ.  I was so happy.  So my Spanish is coming along so well, as of literally Saturday.  It was such a testimony builder to me because I know that the Lord has been helping me and has answered my prayers.  I was so touched by the Spirit on Saturday. 

Francisco and Sofia can't get married.  I was really sad about that.  They have been struggling and I know that they will be blessed if they are baptized and strive to live their lives in the Gospel but they can't get married.  I was super sad about that.  So I told them that they should still come to church and read the Book of Mormon and pray.  Because I know that Heavenly Father will bless them by doing these things.  It really is heartbreaking to have this happen.  We aren't allowed to teach people who can't progress because it is a waste of time.  But that's ok.  They really wanted to get baptized.  I love them so much. 

Mom, I totally agree with you about love.  The Spirit really motivates us to do all we can.  That has been my goal and my top priority.  I have really always tried to teach with the Spirit and have the Spirit with me.  I know that the Spirit will help me love, and love will help me do it all. 

Last week Elder Sylvestre and I found a talk in our carpet de mission about purifying ourselves as missionaries.  It talked about if we purify ourselves from all of those little imperfections then we will be the best missionaries we can be.  That's what I have been focusing on the past few weeks.  I have seen a HUGE difference in myself.  They are just small things, like talking about music and movies.  Those are the things I have the hardest time with.  Especially music.  Classic rock is huge down here and it is SUPER TOUGH..  but not thinking about those things has made me a better missionary.  I know that if you do that, just purify yourself of little imperfections, you will be so much better a person.  I know that the Lord has blessed me in doing it. 

I know that the Lord is with me.  I know that everything I am doing is bringing people happiness and joy forever.  I love the people here.  It kills me when I knock a door and someone answers and you can just see the sadness in their eyes and they don't want anything the Gospel will bring them.  Its like someone that's starving to death and you bring them food and they don't want it.  It makes me sad.  But it makes me work harder. 

I know that I have the Spirit of the Lord with me.  I know that if we do all that we can to build our foundations on Christ than we will be able to live with our families forever.  I know it.  With all my heart I know this Church is true.  It has brought me so much joy and comfort.  I know that Christ suffered for our sins so that we can be happy and have joy forever.  It is more than possible.  I love you all.  Thank you.

Elder Hancock

Helaman 5:12

Email received 7/23/12

Hi Mom,

Well I forgot to tell you last week, but I got the rest of the letters and packages.  Not last week but the week before.  I got your email in time.  It says I got it at like 9:35 this morning.  

Has anyone said anything on the blog?  If they did could you send me some of the messages from it? 

Anyway, today was the first day of the new change.  The start of my second.  Super crazy.  I stayed in Cantera.  (Look for a place called Santa Cecilia on google earth.  I think that is what the place is called here.)  yeah I got a new companion.  His name is Elder Johnson.  He is super cool.  He is from Idaho.  We went to DF today to pick up all of our new companions and played some soccer.  I am getting pretty good!!!  (Owen Jarom Fred:  WATCH OUT!!)  Haha not really.  Well this week was super crazy.  We worked really hard this week.  That couple that I told you about didn't get married this week.  Her dad wasn't able to get off of work.  But Francisco has to have another entrovista with the Presidente de la mission.  So hopefully that happens this week. 

Elder Sylvestre and I had 4 bautizmos yesterday.  It was really cool.  I wasn't able to take pictures.  The batteries in my camera died.  They die super fast.  So not really sure what to do about that.  It's alright.  We baptized two sisters, 13 and 14 años, and an older couple who are parents of recent converts just two changes ago.  So that was super cool.  There is no greater feeling than bringing eternal happiness to people.  I was able to baptize the 13 year old girl, Brisa.  (Abby: She reminded me of you because she is IN LOVE with One Direction.)  And, I baptized Pedro.  It was so amazing.  I love it.  This change was a really good change.  We found so many amazing people.  The families I baptized last change are so amazing.  They have such a strong desire to follow Christ.  Mitzi (the 14 year old girl we baptized yesterday) is going to EFY today.  The ward really brought these investigators in under their wing.  It really shows me that they really need a friend.  How important it is to befriend people who are struggling because if they know that there is someone who really does care about them they will try.  Their testimonies and their fe en Jesu Cristo will be strengthened because they will see the Christ-like love in you.  We cannot forget about those in-active members. 

Last week, on Tuesday, Elder Sylvestre and his generation went to the temple.  (Which is why I didn't email until Tuesday; that's when we had our p-day.)  But I was put with a few elders on a change just for the day.  But we were walking down the street in the rain and we saw this flash of blue that illuminated our faces and for a split second, it felt like the world was still.  And then, right then, we heard this ear splitting crack that shook us to the very core of our bodies.  It was super crazy.  We were almost struck by lightning. 

This week has really shown me what I need to work on this next change.  My Spanish is coming poco a poco.  I am super excited for this change.  I will miss Elder Sylvestre, but that's ok.  It really is so important to be 100% obedient because that is how the Lord will bless us.  It is really hard.  I am not going to lie.  It's disappointing seeing people not partake of something that will make them more happy than they know right now.  But I have had my testimony grow about prayer.  I know without a doubt that the Lord knows exactly who we are.  I know that our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ suffered for us personally.  Not just for our sins but for our pains and our afflictions (read Alma 7).   I know that when we are going through trials we need to drop down and pray, pray like Enos.  Like what President Villareal says:  enter your own Gethsemane.  That is exactly what we need to do.  I know that the Heavenly Father will hear our cry,  our supplication to our Lord.  Please when you feel like you can't go any further, drop down and pray.  Pray with every fiber in your body.  I know with all of my heart, with every fiber of my soul, that Heavenly Father will hear us and He will make our burdens light. 

I love you all.  Thank you for your prayers and support. 

Elder Hancock

Helaman 5:12

Email received 7/17/12

Hi Mom,

This is the last week of the change.  I can't believe how fast it has gone.  Well, this week has been full of testimony-building stories.  I have had a really good week and have seen the fruits of my labors.   Remember that guy and that girl I told you about,  the super poor ones that we thought weren't going to be baptized?  We went back last week to tell them that we can't teach them because they can't be baptized because they can't get married.  Right before we were going to tell them, they told us that the girl's dad is going to let them get married!  Then the guy told us that he had gotten a new job that day that pays him almost twice as much as he was making!  We also gave them 100 pesos that was able to feed them for 3 days.  In 3 days their entire outlook on life changed.  Earlier that week on Sunday, when we were at their house, we found a Santa Muerte statue thing in their house.  (Santa Muerte is some really evil and dark thing that some of the Catholics do.  They worship an idol and they ask it to do favors for them.  It like talks back to them and stuff.  It is super, SUPER evil.  Its just another tool Satan uses to get hold of us.)  We had to take it from their house because they cannot  have the Spirit with them if they have it in their home.  When we took it we had to destroy it.  Just holding it made me feel super gross.  But when we went back on Tuesday they told us how good they felt.  We told them it is because they don't have that thing in their home.  It is so amazing to see the blessings the Lord gives his people, and how much He wants us to do what is right and to follow him.  We are going to get them married and baptized this week.

On Friday, Elder Sylvestre and I were contacting and we found this lady.  We told her that we are representatives  of Jesus Christ.  She said she knew who we were.  That just two weeks earlier, two white boys with white shirts ties and name tags gave her a foyetto (pamphlet??) and brought her to church.  That confused us.  We asked her what church it was.  She said they were Mormon missionaries.  We set up a cita (discussion??) with her and walked off dazed and confused.  We started talking about how we are the only missionaries in this area and that no other missionary would proselyte in our area.  They would have told us if they did.  So then Elder Sylvestre started to tell me that he has had other experiences like that during his mission.  We started talking about how there are angels in our area also doing missionary work, preparing the people for us.  That made us so excited.  After that experience, I thought of Grandpa Cline and Grandpa Hancock doing missionary work.  It would be super cool if they were helping us, or the three Nephites.   I just happen to be in Mexico .   It was way cool to have that happen. 

We also contacted a guy that said that Mexico was going to run out of food by September and that it is going to be the beginning of the end of the world.  Having the Gospel in my life is so comforting to me.  Because I know what is going to happen and I know that if we are doing all that we can do to obey the Lord's commandments, and do all we can do to be the best that we can be, we should have no worries. 

The time that I have here in Mexico is precious.  It is the Lord's time that I am on.  Another missionary told me a story about a Big Cristo statue falling during some war in another country and the arms broke off and a bunch of people wanted to fix it by putting new arms on it.  But some guy told them that they shouldn't.  That it is a symbol a reminder that we need to be the arms of Christ.  I am the arms and hands of Christ.  I am here to bring the lost sheep back to the fold.  I am literally his hands and arms.  He is using me to find those people he has prepared:  the personas escojidas.  The chosen people he has prepared.  There are people out there waiting for me who need me.  But I must obey.  I must do the things that the Lord has commanded.  If I am doing all that I can working as hard as I can, being 100% obedient, then I will find those people.

Oh remember, remember family, that we must build our foundations on Christ.  If we do we will not fall.  We shall not fear.  I promise you.  Being here in Mexico I have seen a lot of scary things, but I know that I am obeying my Father in Heaven and that He is protecting me.  Build yourselves on Christ, and ye shall not fear. 

I love you all.  Thank you for all that you do.  I love you.

Elder Hancock

Helaman 5:12

Email received 07/09/12

Hi Mom, 

I'm sorry I am emailing so late.  We had to go to the mission office in the city to sign for some more visa stuff.  It took a while.  But that's alright. 

This week was a harder week.  We have been teaching this lady and her daughter for a month now.  They are actually my first investigators.  We thought they were going to be baptized but no.  Last week she told us that she got a message from God and he told her that he has been with her all along and that she needs to trust him.  So she took this as he was telling her that the Catholic church was the right church.  But we were telling her that she had turned that answer around.  We told her she knows its true.  She has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon and been doing all of the commitments we give her.  But she just doesn't believe anymore.  It is so sad to me.  We told her we couldn't visit her and teach her anymore because she isn't progressing.  We can't teach people that don't progress. 

After that, we continued to teach her 13 year old daughter.  On Thursday I went on splits with my district leader so he could interview her for baptism.  At the end of the interview he asked her if she had any doubts, questions, or comments and she said "I have one thing.....I have no doubts about the church......Heavenly Father answered my prayers.....I know this church is true....I want to be baptized."  When she said that, we were not expecting it.  It made us so happy.  But because she is underage we had to have the permission of her Mom.  But her Mom said that she wants to talk with the daughter first and we should come back the next day.  So we came back on Friday and we taught her.  And she said she was going to get baptized.  But we knew her Mom was sad.  So we came back the next day to talk to her about what is going to happen when she is baptized and what she needs to bring.  We then asked her who she would like to baptize her.  She sat there for a minute....which turned into five, and at that point we knew something was wrong.  So we asked her, and her Mom said that they were not going to make it to church the next day and that she had something she had to do.  Then she continued to say that she didn't feel ready.  Me and Elder Sylvestre sat there in shock and sadness.  So that fell through and we were so sad.  And I say that very humbly. 

Later, we stopped by another investigator's house who has been taught by the missionaries for the past five or six months and hasn't come to church.  So we had a really powerful lesson and I bore my testimony about church attendance and the power of prayer and repentance, and shared that my life before my mission wasn't good at all, and because of repentance and the arms of the Savior, I was forgiven.  So the next day we went by before church and reminded him.  But he didn't show up at church.  We had to drop him as an investigator.  I was so sad to do that.  Because he was so ready; he was so amazing.  We love him so much. 

I have another sad story.  Right before church we saw a man and a woman standing in front.  The girl was 16 and the man was 23.  They were dating.  They told us they stopped two missionaries on the street the day before and told them they want to be taught.  The other missionaries were from another mission, the northwest mission I think.  Those missionaries told them to come by our church on Sunday around 12:00 before church and they would find missionaries.  Well they told us where they live and it just happened to be in our area.  So they went to church, and after, we went with them to their house.  This was the most humbling experience that has happened to me so far.  They live in a place that is 12 by 12 feet with holes in the roof.  It rains every single day.  They also sleep on the floor.  The man makes 700 pesos a week.  That's like less than $70 a week.  Not to mention that he works 70 hours a week.  He makes less than a dollar an hour.  Oh, and the girl is pregnant.  She just turned 16.  They want to get baptized really bad but can't because they have to get married.  See this would be easy because we would just have to marry them.  But her dad forbids it, because she has a baby on the way, she is 16 and he is 23.  And we can't split them up because she is pregnant.  This is just a sad situation. 

My testimony of prayer has really been strengthened.  I know that if we rely on the Savior and his Atonement he will help us.  He will lift us when we cannot lift ourselves.  We need to do our part to do this though.  I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father Knows us and knows exactly what we need.  I love you all.  Your help and encouragement has really helped me.  I am not going to lie.  But this has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  The Savior and the Atonement and His suffering for the worlds pains and afflictions was not easy, at all.  In the words of Elder Holland "Salvation is not cheap!  How can we expect it to be easy when the Savior took upon Himself the world's pains and afflictions."  It isn't easy but it is worth it.  I love you all and I know I am here saving lives. The Savior is with me every step of the way.  He lived my pains, afflictions, and sufferings.  He lived yours.

Oh remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of your Savior which is Christ the Lord that ye must build your foundations.

Elder Hancock,

Helaman 5:12

P.S. Mom I got the three Dear Elders and the letter yesterday.

Correspondence info

Michael asked for addresses to be included in any correspondence.   He is so grateful for the contact with those who love and support him.  Your correspondence has been very, very important to him.  He has very limited time to read and respond to email but would like to receive from and write letters to those who contact him.  He has time to do that on p-days. He would prefer receiving less email because of his time restrictions at the computer.   He also is restricted by his mission's rules to emailing immediate family members only.  

There are three ways to write to him, outlined below.  Of these ways, we are not yet experienced enough to know which is faster.  I did send one letter each way, plus one in an international priority mail envelope all on the same day last week, so we will know eventually which way is faster.  I will keep you posted.

1.  FREE and EASY, like email:  DearElder.com, http://www.dearelder.com/,  is a great resource to use and is almost like writing an email.  Pouch email through their service is free to his mission (Mexico Mexico City West).  It is free to set up an account and very easy to use.  Letters written this way that are received by the site before midnight MT on Sundays go out to the LDS Church Office Building Monday mornings.

2.  If you would like to write a direct, USPS letter, you should know that mail is not delivered to his apartment.  It needs to be sent to the mission home.  The Zone Leaders pick up mail for their zones once per week.  One 85c stamp is required for each ounce or partial ounce mailed.  The envelopes must correspond to the standards set by the USPS.

The mission home address is: 


Elder Michael Hancock
Mexico City West Mission
Sierra Vertientes 310
Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico, DF 11010
Mexico

3.  You may also use the church's pouch mail system.  This requires one piece of paper, no envelope, and a 45c first-class stamp.  There are regulations that must be adhered to precisely or the letter will be sent back to you.  Please take the time to read and follow those regulations. Here is a link to a site that will outline those regulations: http://ldsliving.com/story/63606-lds-how-to-write-a-missionary.  The pouches are sent out to the various missions on Tuesdays.  I think anything that comes in the mail by Mondays is included in that week's pouch.

The address to use when writing Michael by pouch is:


Elder Michael Hancock
Mexico Mexico City West Mission
PO Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84010-0150


If you have news that you would like him to receive quickly, I will relay a message to him in my next email.  OR, you may post a comment on one of the blog posts.  I send him any posted comments each week.

email received 07/02/12

Hi,  Mom,                                                                                                               July 2, 2012

I have a few crazy experiences for you.  The first one happened last Tuesday.  My companion and I were walking down a street, when a man, no older than 21 or 22, stepped out and we knew he was drunk.  He asked for money but we just kept on walking.  The man kept asking for money but my companion told him we were representatives of Jesus Christ and we don't have much money.  As we turned to leave, that man punched me right in my face.  It didn't hurt; it just startled me.  I didn't get upset or mad.  My companion got mad and the man just ran.  My companion said he was a coward.  But it made me sad because of what sin does to people.  He was just trying to make the world worse.  It made me want to work harder for people.  I don't believe in violence.  I believe in peace.  Violence and anger only make things worse.  It is a component of the natural man.  It made my heart hurt for him.  I didn't get mad or angry at him.

My second story happened last night.  Elder Sylvestre and I were contacting on a calle (street) and we ran into a really drunk guy.  We just kept walking up the street.  After we got done talking with a man, Elder Sylvestre told me he didn't have a good feeling.  I didn't feel good either.  So we decided to not knock that street and get away from that street.   Today, we made brownies at an investigator's house and they told us there was a shooting last night on the exact street Elder Sylvestre had stopped contacting on.  It is a testament to how important the spirit is to me.  I know that the Lord is watching over me.  I have no doubt that he is.  I am his servant, his representative.  

This week went OK.  It has been really hard to get investigators.  We just really haven't had a lot of luck.  But that's OK.  We will just work harder.  

I am writing in my journal everyday.  I don't want to miss a day.  

It makes me so happy to hear that you and the family are doing good.  I miss you all a lot, and it is hard,  but I have all of my faith in the Lord.  It wasn't easy for Christ.  So how can it be easy for me?  I know those words are true.  With all of my trials and hardships and the times that I think I can't do it anymore, I have the Lord, my Rock, my Savior, my Redeemer, Jesus Christ to hold me up, to carry me when I need to be carried.  And I know without a doubt these trials make me stronger.   It is through the trial of my faith....

I love you all with all of my heart.  Just remember the Savior.  I could not do this without him.  He is my Rock.  I love him with all of my heart.  I am here to tell the people that there is hope and light.  Remember peace.  Peace and love really are the answers.  Christ really loves us so much he suffered for us all, individually.  I love you all.  Thank you for your love and support.

Always and forever,

Elder Hancock

Helaman 5:12

PS  Hey Mom,  I love you,  and I do need stamps.