Laughing and Having Fun

Dear Family and Friends,

The time is at hand where we are laughing and having so much fun while doing the work.  :)  It is incredibly amazing the things that are happening and we are loving every single minute of it together.

It seems that really the last 3 months are incredibly the time to 'Smash' the work.  It just seems like everything is falling into place.  I know that it truly is Heavenly Father leading the way, and we are just instruments in His Hands.

We are working with a lot of people that are really progressing in the gospel.  It is getting a bit hotter, but that is okay. :)

Life is pretty good, and we are just preparing for the week for a conference with ELDER BEDNAR :)  It will be amazing and we will be able to get great insights of what we need to continue to do.

I love you all so much 

Elder Han

:)

Loving Life in the SUMMAH!

(Note from Michael's Dad: I've been bad at keeping up with posts, this one is from Feb 1st, 2015)


Hello everyone (family and friends) :)

This week has gone by too fast.  We are super great together, and have many things going on :)

We have a baptism coming up this saturday, so I'll upload pictures from there next week :)

Also this transfer was only a 4 week transfer, so this week is the last week of transfers... We will see what will happen.  O.o Hope I stay :)

Anyways, the summer here is actually quite colder than last summer so I am pretty grateful for that.

We are working pretty hard, and we are still seeing great miracles of everything that we are working with!

We had many meetings, and my old companion Elder WIlliams finished his mission, and many of or good friends will leave the mission this coming week... So sad, but I know that they will be able to help out in the real world.  

Everything is oh so good in the life of Australia.  Can't complain.  

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

 

 

Transfers!!

Dear family and friends,

What a shock, but I DIDN'T GET TRANSFERRED!  I am really happy, but the only thing is that my companion got transferred... :(

It has been quite a busy week, but now I am quite happy, because my companion's name is Elder Wilkinson.  He is from Oregon, near portland. *pretty close to beaverton*  (grandma and grandpa)

Another interesting note is that he is KOREAN SPEAKING!! :)  We have only been teaching chinese people, but now we are dead set to find some korean people here in our area.

We are really excited to challenge ourselves, and yesterday we found out that we will definitely get along well, and really be able to smash this transfer.  It is a 4 week transfer.

What else?  Elder BEDNAR WILL BE COMING IN FEBRUARY!!!  SO exciting, and we will be able to hear from him.

Also, this last week, we were able to participate in FSY!  Which is EFY HERE IN AUSTRALIA!  DREAM COME TRUE

We were able to help teach a class where the FSY youth were able to practice to teach the commandments.  It was super fun, and my EFY experience was fulfilled during that time.

We also cleaned up the apartment a bit, and I was able to find 2 EFY shirts.  I still don't remember if I left the other EFY shirt back at home, but now I have 2 more!  :)

Anyways, it is good.

Besides that here are a couple pictures.

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

1. Me and Elder WIlkinson

2. FSY

3. FSY picture of me blinking

 

 

 

 

Miracles!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was fantastic, because Lucy our investigator was baptized.  She is amazing and is one of the best people I have ever taught.

It was also transfer week, but I AM STAYING!  YAYAYAYAYAY

I love this area and the people in it.  So grateful for that, but everything else was alright.

We ended up singing for Sunday twice, and it was just ok. :)  We have been blessed with so many amazing things, and we are so excited for the future.

This Christmas will definitely be a great christmas.

For thanksgiving, I was just able to show gratitude, but we didn't celebrate it.  I think we had subway that day. Haha

Anyways

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

p.s I have become super black...

P.P.S those are our missionary buddies in the same area.  :) THEY ARE SO HECTIC! (AWESOME)

 

 

 

 

Trunk or Treat!

Well, it is beginning to be November...  Time has been too fast!  However, we are super excited for what we have been doing here in the work.  A lot more people are listening to our message and definitely coming closer to Jesus Christ.  We are trying our best to work with all our might, and to continually learn and grow ourselves.

One of our mottoes is this: Study, believe, love, live and teach.  In the Preach My Gospel (our study manual) it says that is what we must do.  I totally agree.  For anything really we need to do that.  If we have a job or a hobby, we need to study about it, believe we can achieve it, love it, live what it is, and then help others learn it.  It is a never ending cycle of life.

Anyways, our ward had an activity celebrating Halloween.  It was called trunk or treat, where people would bring their cars to the church and decorate their 'boots' (trunks) and give lollies out (candy).

It was awesome.

Besides that, we are super excited for this month!!

Love you all so very much, and hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Elder Han

I am Chinese :)

Dear family and friends,

Apparently, I am chinese.  Haha, one of the members thought that I was Chinese, and just commented on how when I go back home, I will be able to do the work there as well.  I just nodded my head, and accepted the fact that one day I would be chinese.  :)  Especially here in my new area (I've only been here for 2 months now) and people speak to me in Chinese.  I kind of wish I studied it before, so I can understand what they are saying to me. 

Anyways, this week has been pretty good.  We were able to get a lot of things done, and succeed in many of our goals. 

It is amazing to see the change of missionaries and how fast we adjust to new things.  Especially new companions. 

Elder Reiner is super funny, and he loves music.  One could say that he is a professional whistler.  I am practicing, but nevertheless my whistling skills are not progressing.  Insomuch, I have given up the course of Whistling 101

Besides that, I am doing well. :)

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

New transfer - Bitter sweet

Hey Friends and Family!

Bitter Sweet news.  My companion got transferred, :( but I got a new companion. :) And guess what (SHOUT OUT TO MY GERMAN SPEAKING MISSIONARIES) He is German! 

His name is Elder Reiner, and he is super German.  It reminds me of all the german friends I had back home. :) 

Anyways, the work here is progressing and we are seeing so much success.  It is seriously unbelievable.  We are able to see the changes, and things that can help our area grow.

Same old in the university work.  We are teaching a lot, and seeing many amazing successes.  We have some baptisms scheduled for next month, so I will keep you posted.

I decided that I would just send heaps of pictures, so here you go!

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

This is my companion Elder Reiner :)
Hab dich lieb! ♥

Fizzy

Dear friends and family!

I am doing well this week.  We were able to watch general conference this week.  A little late, but it was fantastic!  One thing I loved was the opportunity that some of the general authorities had to speak in their own language!  I can't wait until a Korean will speak!

One of our investigators is italian, and he is so cool!  His name is actually Michael, so it's pretty weird hearing my name, because I haven't heard it in ages, but he is super awesome!  

I am so happy to be here, and especially to be in this particular area.

OH!  One of our members is KOREAN!  Anyways, they had us over, and we had all the korean food you could imagine.  It made me so happy!  :)

The reason why the title is named Fizzy, is because (FUN FACT) Fizzy = soda!

Cool, huh?

Life is still moving.  I love this gospel, and I am truly excited for this week!

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

Spring = Summer

Dear family and friends!

What a glorious time to be here in Sydney!  

My companion and I are spending a wonderful time here helping the work of salvation progress in our area.  It has been a little difficult, because everyone is away on holiday due to mid semester break, but we know we will find people anyways.

It has been getting hot, and although we are sweating more, my tan is getting better :).  Anyways, we were blessed to have meetings with our mission president this last week, and it was all about the Book of Mormon, and as well as receiving answers to our questions.  

I really felt like it was for me, and how I could continue to help others receive answers to their questions through prayer.  

My companion is really teaching me the ways of a true blue 'Aussie' Accent.  I am SO excited to share it with all of you, but I am also practicing the good ol' british accent as well, because we have more British members than Aussie in our ward. O.o

Besides that, I am doing well.  

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

1. Sydney Harbour Bridge (Could be an amazing background or something)

 

 

Getting warmer

Hey Family and Friends,

Life here in Australia is pretty good.  We are doing fantastic, and it is insane!  There is a crazy miracle I wanted to share this week.  So on Sunday, a man just came into church, and told us that he was from Milan, Italy, and he just came 2 weeks ago.  Apparently, he was taught there, and he moved here to work, and he promised the missionaries there that he would visit church.  The day before he spent 3 hours of his time to try to find the right place, so he could get there on time for sunday!  

But the miracle is, he wants to meet with us!  He is awesome and his name is Michael O.o  

Ha, it is a little awkward when members say hi to him, because I am thinking, "how did they know my name?"  Then I remember that it is Michael's name.

Life is very busy, but I know as I keep going that we will be able to see so many blessings and miracles.

Apparently though, in our zone, one of the missionaries is from ELKO, NEVADA!!!!  His name is Elder Jordan and he is actually speaking korean. But, that is where Elder Han^2 is serving at the moment.  Shout out to him. :)

Have you ever fast forwarded a scene just to get to another scene, well, I feel like that on my mission right now.  It is as if someone is hitting the fast forward button times 4 and it is not even funny.  Weeks are going by too fast!~

But, all is well in Australia, and my accent is getting better.  Indeed, the ironic thing is, that as it has been improving, I was moved to a ward where there are barely any Aussies.  It consists of Americans, New Zealanders, Filipinos, Samoans, and Chinese!  

Anyways, love you all so very much

Elder Han

Life in the Suburbs

Hello Family and Friends

So this week has been pretty hectic! Everything is going well, and it has been a lot of preparation to figure things out here.  We have been able to continue to work hard, and figure out how to work with one another.  It has been great!

To start off, there are so many chinese people it is crazy!!!  :)  I am evermore slowly learning how to speak mandarin, and it's going to be handy to use.  I love the work here, and it is so awesome to get to know these wonderful people in the ward as well as the uni.  

Besides that it's been the same really, trying our best to find more people to learn more about our message.

But today, I decided to just send pictures of the mission, because I know you would all love it.

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

1.  Went to a garden in the city last week

2. Some shadow art

3. Cookies a member made for us :)

 

 

Hectic week (Sep 14th letter)

This week has been pretty hectic!  It is always different to transfer to a different area, because you have to be accustomed to the different things and culture.  However, it has definitely been fantastic being able to work here in this area.  Yesterday, we went to church, and there is a member that is KOREAN!  YAY!  She said that she would definitely make some korean food for us, and so that is pretty exciting.

The other thing that is super awesome is that the work here is fantastic. We are teaching a lot and it is pretty great.  I love the busyness feel of life here near the city.

Besides that, life is all good.  Something that is pretty interesting as well, is we have 8 missionaries in the ward! Four of them work with the ward, and we work with the University.  So it is pretty interesting, but we are hoping that it will work out well.  I love the members here!

Actually, there are really no Australians in our ward. Many members from America actually.  Pretty interesting, huh?

Anyways,

See yous later!

Elder Han

LOVE YOU HEAPS

Ward Activity - Minute to win it

So this week, was amazing!  We had the opportunity to help participate in a ward activity that consisted of Minute to Win it challenges.  It was fun, but the most important part was that a lot of people that we invited came!

Then, during church, some people that we normally don't see there, came!  

I absolutely loved this week, and I am constantly trying to improve and be a better person.  

Besides that, it is pretty much getting there.  

Speaking of numbers, last time during a district meeting I had the opportunity to give a training ( kind of like a discussion based lecture).  I asked all the missionaries this one question.

~If you had $86,400 that came to your bank account every morning, and when the day finished the money would go back to zero, what would you do?

Many responses were:  Give it to the needy, feed my family, help my relatives, invest in something, buy a house and pay off the mortgage, buy a car, etc.

So ask yourselves that question, and then the way I tied it in is this.  That money is precious, we shouldn't waste it.  

There are 86,400 seconds in a day.  Do we use every single second making good use of our time?

Anyways, that is just a thought about what we need to be doing.  

Love you heaps,

Elder Han

Happy Days

Dear Friends and Family,

I am so glad for Elder Christopher Han to be on a mission now.  It is pretty insane that we are both serving the Lord at the same time.

I am grateful for the wonderful opportunity I have every week to email. 

This week has been quite eventful, we are really trying hard to accomplish our goals for this month, and in doing so, our efforts has been showing.  We have this one investigator who came to church, and she is amazing.  Her testimony is amazing!

On a funny note, we now have a SPANISH investigator from MEXICO.  It reminded me of E. Han and how he is in mexico right now studying spanish.

We were able to go to a lot of places this week, and accomplish so much ground work.  On the mission it is a blessing to not have time to go finding.  (contacting on the streets and tracting)  We have had a lot of appointments now, that we have little time to actually find new people to teach.  

Here are some pictures of our life in Australia.

I am grateful for everyone and I am so happy!!!!  :)

Islander Feeds

Hello Family and Friends,

This week has been hectic! :) In a good way.  

I am super happy to tell you a wonderful story that happened to us!

We had a lot of meetings, and our whole zone: 20 missionaries+ were invited to lunch at a member's house.  These members were tongan, and the culture is to have a massive feed.  For islanders, it is customary to feed the missionaries until they explode, because they feel (I agree as well) that they receive more blessings the more missionaries eat.  ( I totally agree with that ) So we went up there, and the first thing you smell is pork.  Heaps of it.  I mean 3 whole pigs!  This type of food is called hungi.  Not the 3 pigs, but they have like an oven in their backyard where they cook food under the ground.  It is sooooo good!  Anyways, one saying that tongans say to us missionaries is this:  Kai Ke Mate (Eat 'til you die).  Because it is essential that we feel fat afterwards.  I love the islander culture, and it might explain the growth of my belly over the past year.  :)  

I am so excited to be on a mission.  A lot of things are happening!  Our mission has really exemplified themselves, and we are really climbing.  We are showing that a lot of things can happen if you have the faith and desire to accomplish it.

I love you so much

Elder Han

P.S. Here are the pigs that we ate.  I had maybe about 1/5 of the pig and more food.

Shout out to James on his 16th Birthday, as well as Chris leaving for his mission on wednesday!  :)

Transfers!

Bonjour!

Dear family and friends,

My companion Elder Honema'u who is tongan was transferred!!!!  Elder Honema'u WENT TO THE CITY!!!  He is my favourite companion and it is very special that he went to the city, because he is the FIRST tongan to go! 

My next companion is.... ELDER PUNU FROM TAHITI

Tahiti is a very amazing, and they speak Tahitian and French.  So this transfer, I will be learning French.  Attached is his picture.  He is funny.

I am so excited for this transfer.  It is a time for me to work my hardest and continue to do the things that we need to do.  I am so excited and I know that it will be hard, but we need to keep enduring.

Something I've learned this week is this.  Success comes from effort, and effort comes from desire.  We need desire so we can do the things that we need to do.

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

Christmas in July

Dear family and friends,

Something that some Australian's do is Christmas in July.  Because it is so cold, they celebrate it in a very small way.  However, our ward had a wonderful gathering.  We had a wonderful celebration of the usual snowflakes, Milo (Australian's hot chocolate), and food.  It was such an amazing sight to see, and there were so many people there!  

I love it, and it really reminded me of Christmas and the things we did in America.  

I hope everyone's week has been well.  It is very interesting how everything is happening too fast!  We are coming around the end of the month soon, Boy time flies!  

Please be safe this week,and continue to do the things that you need to do.

I want you all to know that I love you.  You are all examples toward me, and have helped me be who I am today.  

Here is a picture of my zone.  We have many powerful missionaries here, and I am so grateful that I could serve with all of them.

LOVE YOU HEAPS,

ELDER HAN

Consecration

Dear Friends and Families,

I went back to square one.  I realized that one thing that we need to constantly remember is to progress and not be complacent.  That is something I've learned this week. Especially considering about all the rules we have as missionaries.  However, I don't see them as limiting, but rather beneficial.  The mission is only ever the time that we will be blessed for waking up at 6:30.  That amazes me, and I have witnessed it especially this week.

As a District, we started having conference calls every morning at 6:10, and really committed ourselves to do everything in our power to accomplish what we need to do.  From that, we saw so many miracles!  Our district last week had 0 investigators with baptismal dates, but this week we were able to have 5 investigators who accepted baptismal dates.  I know that Heavenly Father will bless each and everyone of us if we do the small and simple things that may seem like it isn't corresponding with our lives.

I have a firm testimony that Jesus Christ is our Saviour, Redeemer of this world.  That Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us and knows and cares for us.  I also know that as we follow Jesus Christ and learn more about what we can do, that we will be blessed.  Our relationships with our families, friends, and especially our Heavenly Father will increase and we will be able to have that peace and comfort that will help us with our every day life.

For those that are reading this that are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I invite you to learn more about what we teach.  I promise that you will feel the need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in your lives, and that you will see the improvement of your lives as well.  Please accept my invitation, because I know how much it can help you.  

I love you all so much, and I love being a Representative of Jesus Christ.  

Elder Han

AIM High

Hello Friends and family,

There is something that I've learned especially this week is to Aim High and be committed to do whatever you want to do. 

It is amazing to see the miracles that happen when you actually believe that you can go higher than what you do.  It is so beneficial for this saying, only because we can improve so much more than if we aim to our abilities to our current time.

I just want to share with you that being on a mission is such a blessing, and that when we try our best no matter where we are (even not on a mission) we can achieve the miraculous.  

I know this is a short email, but I hope all of you are doing well.

I love you so much!

Elder Han

And remember  AIM HIGH!

Charity

Dear family and friends,

How amazing it is to be able to email you weekly about the life of a missionary in Australia!  I am extremely blessed to be on this mission and to share my thoughts to you today about this week.

Let me first say that this week was extremely interesting and rewarding.  It may have been the most physically demanding week on my mission.  We biked and hiked and helped many people with their lawns and what not.  

We saw many miracles this week, especially I saw this week a desire in a person to be better than who he was before.  It is always amazing to see that change, and that knowledge has helped me recognize that I need to continue to be better myself.

I love this Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is something that I hold dear to my heart and the knowledge of it, helps me overcome anything that I might have. 

I wanted to talk about Charity this week, because it is something that I have been studying the past year.  What it means to be charitable and why it is so important in our lives.  For me, it is something that I strive for.  When we look at Jesus's life when he was on this earth, he did everything for others.  He had pure love for them.  

We can't judge others, but we need to love everyone and serve them.  It is so very important to know that we are all children of God and He loves us so very much.  

We are all brothers and sisters.  

I love you all and I hope you have another fantastic week!!!

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN