Happy as can be

Dear family and friends,

Just want to let you know how EXCITED I am for MY BROTHER CHRIS!!!  He just got his call to Reno, Nevada, Spanish Speaking, August 6!!!!  I know that he will tear it up in Nevada.

 

This week has been hectic for many reasons.  First, being that our ward is really pushing missionary work, and strengthening each other.  Second, my determination to be a stronger missionary and creating the best atmosphere that I might be able to do all that I can do.

 

But I want to tell you about a miracle about today.  It was Thursday last week, and we have an allotment of time so that we can go to Mormon.org and learn more from it, so we can share it with others.  Then, Sister Howes (My Mission mom)  calls and tells me something I wasn't expecting for another week.  CHRIS GOT HIS CALL!  I was so shocked and excited.  It brought me back to when I got my call and how excited I was for it.  I'm sure that he is super excited and preparing for it. 

 

It's amazing and sad at the same time how fast time goes by now.  It literally feels like yesterday when I first started my mission. 

 

Anyways, life is always good in Australia. 

 

I have an interesting story about being in the right place at the right time:

 

We finished a lesson with one of our members in their home, and because we didn't have a car, we walked home for weekly planning.  As we walked home, we heard an alarm go off and screaming.  So, we jogged over to see what had happened and our neighbour had a fire in the house.  At the moment, the only people on the scene were the other Elders in our flat and the neighbour. 

Here's the story:

 

Elder Chin Ah You was in his study room with Elder Keefer and smelt an electrical fire, but thought it was just the fan in their room.  They turned it off, but realized that it was coming from the outside and heard an alarm.  They ran over to our neighbour's house.  We knew the kids in that house fairly well, because they are always outside playing around.  Elder Chin Ah You thought they were in the house, and right when they were going to kick the door down, the mom came with her car.  That's when we come in.  We jogged up, and they already went inside and stopped the fire and turned off the gas stove.  4 Fire trucks and 3 police cars showed up, and many people came out of their houses to watch. 

 

The kitchen was damaged, but the rest was just covered in smoke.  However, the miracle is that we were all there to help at the right time.  If we didn't do anything maybe 5 minutes later, something bad could have happened.  As well as our neighbours will always know who we are and if they ever need anything, they were going to call us.

 

I love simple miracles like that, and I am so grateful for the fact that Heavenly Father will guide us in the paths that we need to be in.

 

I love you all!  I hope you have a fantastic week.

P.S. Transfers is on Friday this week, so next week we will see what happens!

 

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

Latest from Michael including news about the Bonsai tree...

Dear Family and Friends,

I believe that the subject of this week is Celebrating what's right in the world.  We all have the ability to choose to accept what happens in a situation, but I think a lot of us tend to go on the pessimistic side.  Recently, we had a training from our Mission President and his wife.  She told us about this concept and a movie about it.  It is a man named Dewitt that works for National Geographic, and in the video it shows his view on setting a vision and what his vision is. 

 

It's been interesting the last couple months on my mission to really think about my vision, and what I want to do here.  Especially how I want to act and what I need to do to help the work.  I think one thing that I have come to learn is this very statement:  What we do is what we become. 

 

That is my vision at this time.  To do everything in my power to do what Heavenly Father wants me to do. 

 

So that is something I wanted to share with you all this day.

 

My week:

 

It has been getting colder lately.  I have been so accustomed to Australian Weather that I am cold to the weather that I used to like being in...  Probably in relationship to America the weather here is about 50 Degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Easter!  One of our ward members invited his friend to come to church, and he stayed all 3 hours!!!!  He loved it, and said that he wouldn't mind coming back!  Although, he isn't our investigator yet, I have a feeling that someday he will be.

 

Sad News:

A lot of you wanted to know about my Bonsai tree.  Well here is the news...  It has been dead the whole time. 

 

Good News:

I have decided that I am going to make the 'Tree of Life' with my bonsai tree.  I'll send pictures when it is done.

 

Just wanted to say that it is pretty awesome to be here in Australia, and to share what I know to be true. 

 

I love you all

 

Elder Han

Happiness and Sincerety

Family and Friends!

 

What a fantastic week we just had!  I know a lot of you had the privilege of watching General Conference!  Interesting part about Australia is that we don't watch it until next week!

 

I am so excited to talk about my week and share the many miracles that have occurred on my mission. 

 

It's been amazing to see the progression of the ward since I've been here for about 3 1/2 months.  Honestly, it has been so fast, and amazing. 

 

I want to share with you an experience I've had:  I was walking down the street and there were three boys probably the same age as Chris, and I just said, "Have a good night!"  Granted, it was about 8:00 Pm, and so it was quite dark.  However, as I kept walking, I looked out and no one else was around to talk to, so I turned around and talked to them.  Two of them were not really excited to talk to me, but the last one was.  He talked about how he never judges until he learns more, and so I invited him to learn from us! 

 

The miracle of this experience is that people are always being prepared to hear the gospel, and all we need to do is either invite or accept to learn. 

 

The title is Happiness and Sincerity, because I've learned a lot this week to be a happier influence in other people's lives, no matter the circumstance.  And to also be sincere to those we talk to.  I honestly can say now, that I love each and everyone of the people I talk to and I really want them to listen to the wonderful gospel.

 

I'm so excited for all of you, for another week! 

Stay safe and healthy, and I will pray for all of you!

 

LOVE YOU HEAPS

ELDER HAN

Addition of new missionaries!

Dear family and friends,

 

A huge announcement is that we have new set of missionaries in our ward!  So that means double the efforts in Kellyville!  It has only been a week, and we have started to see many miracles from the new missionaries.  Their names are Sister Cluff and Sister Valdes.  We gave most of our investigators to them, because we felt impressed that they would help them progress.  THEY DID!  One of them asked them if she could come to church.  The miracles continue.

 

It's been a pretty hectic week, and has been raining a lot this week.  A lot of things have just been happening lately, but I know that as I continue to work my best and do what I need to do that Heavenly Father will help me. 

 

Elder Gibb and I are doing a lot of work!  =TIRING, but WELL WORTH IT.

 

My Bonsai tree is doing well.  I've been watering it daily, as well as giving it heaps of sun.  So, hopefully it blossoms soon. 

 

I am so excited for General Conference, where we can hear our modern day Prophet and Apostles!  It is so awesome to learn what they have to say. 

 

Elder Jun, my trainer, is about to end his mission soon...  It just feels like yesterday when I was with him.  A lot of things changed with the missionaries that I have been with.  My trainee Elder Easton has already trained an elder named Elder Evans.  Just this transfer, Elder Evans got called to train as well! 

In the mission, we have what is called a family tree.

Elder Jun (my Father) => Me => Elder Easton (my Son)=> Elder Evans (Grandson) =>Elder Hung

                                          II                                                                                     (great grandson)

                                          V

                                      Elder Gibb (My Son)

 

It's pretty cool to see what happens every transfer.  It is also the beginning of another one, so I have 5 more weeks until another transfer! 

 

Something that I have been thinking a lot about is family history.  Genealogy and the importance of it.  In our ward, we were kind of trained as a whole ward how to use familysearch.org and what we can do with it.  I think that as you invest in the time with that, you will be able to see the blessings of finding about the ancestors we have and to learn from it as well.

 

I am so grateful for the missionaries that taught my Father and Mother.  I am grateful that my parents joined the church, so that I could be able to grow my testimony of Jesus Christ.  I know that as I continue to be diligent and work hard, that Heavenly Father will bless not only me, but those that I teach and those that I love. 

I pray that all of you will find a way to come closer to God this week.  That you may all be healthy and well, and do everything that you need to do!

 

Love you so much,

Elder Han

Miracles, Miracles, Miracles!

Hey everyone,

This last week has been very amazing for both Elder Gibb and I.  We were able to teach 28 lessons!  Which is pretty big in this area.  We are really trying hard to find new people to teach, and I know that as we continue to do that Heavenly Father will bless us.

 

Some other things.  I got a new suit that only costed 50 DOLLARS!  It is pretty cool, saying that my suit was getting pretty old, because that was the only one I've been wearing.

There are so many opportunities that are coming into our area to find new people.  We started to do an English Class.  So far 2 people have come last week.  Also, we have started to get sports involved so people can come to those. 

 

It is amazing to see how much the ward is so readily prepared to share the gospel.

 

Another miracle: the Bonzai tree that I found is not dead... I think.  It doesn't have any leaves, but I've been watering it consistently and I think that it will start to look really good.  My thoughts were: I'm going to keep it for my whole rest of the mission, and then pass it down.  Who knows?

 

I am so grateful for all of you who read this, and my invitation this week is to watch the latest Mormon message: 

 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3267475157001

 

It is about bullying, and I think it is very applicable for everyone.  My invitation is also to share it on facebook so that others can see it.

 

I just want everyone to know that you are all awesome!

It feels like everything is going by too fast!

 

There's one thing I wanted to share:

 

The thing that helped me most this week is looking for the good things that happened to us.  Obviously, there will be bad things in our path.  However, if we look at the good things and not the bad things, we can keep going with the attitude of optimism.  It is awesome and I know if you all do it, then you will be able to see the many miracles in your daily life!

 

I love you heaps!

 

Elder Han

P.S. Here are some funny pictures of me!

Michael's Bonsai tree

Dear family and friends,

 

I have been "under the weather" lately.  It has been raining almost 6 out of 7 days this week! Haha get the pun? It is pretty awesome, and really interesting especially when we don't have a car.  There was this one time where we were walking to our next appointment which would take 2 hours to get there.  As soon as we got out, it started to rain super hard.  We got super drenched. 

 

Anyways, there are a lot of interesting things happening in my area.  The ward is really helping on in missionary work!  It is so awesome to see that.  We were able to help them set a plan for themselves on what they want to accomplish in missionary work.  That is always so cool for us to see them think about what they want to do.

 

I have a random story that I wanted to share.  I was on exchanges with another missionary and for the whole week, I was thinking about trees and how difficult it would be to grow one, prune it, and graft it.  I was thinking that I was going to get a bonsai tree to see how difficult it would be, because I often read about trees in the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon.  Anyways, back to my story, we were walking home after talking to someone.  On the side of the road, my companion noticed a bonsai tree that was just dropped there.  It looked dead and looked like no one took care of it.  I decided to take it, and try to make it better.  There is my quest for the future. 

 

So now, I have a half dead Bonsai tree and I am ready to make it the best I can!

 

Pictures will come next week.

 

A miracle for the week is that there is a young man who was in the church but not very active.  The ward has probably been helping him for nearly 6-7 years, but the best thing is that he was able to come to church last week!  He loved it, and although his parents didn't come, they support him in coming.  I am so glad that I could see these miracles and recognize how important it is to go to church.

 

I am so grateful to be in Australia preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I hope all of you are well this week! 

Love you heaps,

Elder Han

Goals and Plans

Dear Family and friends,

This week has been hectic, and awesome!  We were able to have done many things, and reach the goals that we achieved.  Although it has been difficult to find people to teach, we are trying our best and we know that as we do we will be able to find those ready to hear the gospel. 

A lot of the week, I was thinking a lot about attitude and setting a vision.  I have come to the conclusion that the most important thing in work in general is believing that you can achieve it, and acting on that belief.  If you think that you can do well in a garage sale, what plans do you have to achieve it?  This being said, it does require much effort in our part. 

There is something about missionary life that has helped me realize what I need to do in order to be a better person.  In missionary work, a lot of our day is spent on our goals and plans.  We take time every night to plan for the next day and what we will do.  It is quite effective, and it helps us establish a vision for our area and how we can achieve that vision.

This past week has gone super fast.  We are at our 5^th week of the transfer, and I have been with my new companion for almost a month and a half!  Time has gone too quickly.

We are starting a thing in our stake.  It’s called FREE ENGLISH CLASS.  Although it is not as populated as the city, we were thinking of ways to find more people to talk to.  We thought that English Class would be a fantastic idea.  Our first day will start this Saturday and we are really excited for that.
Also, we are starting to help our ward set ‘visions’ for themselves in order to do missionary work.  They are really excited! 

It is amazing to see the progress in everyone doing the work.

I love you all, and I hope that this week will be an amazing one for you all. 

LOVE YOU HEAPS,

ELDER HAN J