Final Post- What a Mission

Well, it is official. I am going home on Wednesday.  To summarize this last week, big items- i had my departing interview on Saturday with president shields. it was nice, he was straight forward on how life is going to be after the mission, i have served honorable, stay active in the gospel. We reviewed the entire my plan course i had set up for my goals and plans after the mission, from gospel activity to school and work and dating and temple marriage. he gave a blessing to each one that had the departing interview, it was helpful. We went walking and contacting for 6 hours on wednesday, tons of fun talked to quite a few people. No one was interested, but i felt good having put in a good effort finding. I went on my last exchange with elder marsden my district leader to etobiko, we did a free bible stand that was fun. I drove a 2018 nissan Rouge for the first and probably last time. it was fun. other then that, service, and English class party. Oh, the mandarin elders were teaching a mandarin speaker named ming and she got baptized Saturday morning and was confirmed! I helped by conducting the music. Wonderful time. a few member appointments. my, how time flies. It was a fulfilling week. Hopefully i get to knock on a few doors tonight before i head into departing meetings tomorrow and fly home. It was a week of miracles. because every day we are alive and breathing is a miracle. Anyways, thats my week.

But i will bare a little testimony. over the past few months my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has deepened and strengthened. If we are living the gospel, we are striving every day to become better and more christlike. We need to always be serving others. i am so grateful for my mission. the life lessons it has taught me, the faith i ahve experienced. Every heartache, every sorrow, every joy, every moment on my mission has prepared me to be a man that the lord can count on to minister to his children. My full time mission is drawing to a close, but i can say that i will always be looking to be a missionary. Sharing the gospel. helping people draw closer to christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel through faith in jesus christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. My mission has been the greatest teacher of my life- not sure if its my best two years of my life, but i can say that it has been the best two years for my life. and i have faith that with my new trajectory and following chirst, every year can be my best year ever. I love you all- i feel th love of chirst for his chidlren, at least in part. Always seek to draw people closer to god by loving them. I say these things in the name of jesus christ amen.

Elder Albert Duane Harris Hanks

ps my mission scripure: 3rd nephi 5:13

“13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.”

pps joke: What did one ocean say to the other? nothing, it just waved.

ppps pics:   Me and the swendsons, elder marsden, president and sister shields, some cool pics i found of the savior, me and toronto, a cool park we found, and of course one of my favorite places in the world- the temple!

Loves, I’ll see you soon. Elder Hanks signing out.

Hanging out with President

So this week we of course did quite amount of service. My favorite being at the temple. I love working at the house of the lord. We also help out at the Salvation Army. Anywyas, we also help at a soup kirchen/food bank. But we were really behind on all of our planning again this week. But the big adventure for this week. We have an investigator that had a date for baptism, we had an appointment with her this week set up. We even were able to have an appointment at the home of our mission president, president and and sister Shields, on Thursday afternoon. We got there early, we waited for her, she texted and said she was coming and walking. 45 minutes later she had not come yet, but we had started watching the youth broadcasts about gathering israel president Nelson had last Sunday with the whole world wide youth. Anyways, our inv cancelled 45 minutes late. So pres and sister Shields invited us to watch the broadcast with them. So we watched the youth broadcast with them since we hadn’t seen it yet. We also got to see the be one broadcast from June 1st on the 1978 revelation on the priesthood it was a vey powerful broadcast. But unfortunately we were texting our inv after that, and she just was not committing to anything. So after some prayer and counseling with other Missionaires in district meeting, we dropped our investigator who had a baptismal date. She WA snot going to hit it either, but it was kinda sad. She had expressed the desire to be baptized, but unfortuantly she was not willing to put in the effort and make the necessary changes. But we were able to see miracles with our English class. On Saturday we had 11students there! I truly enjoy being with the students teaching them English. Well, I’m and assistant teacher not the real teacher. Oh yes on Sunday chuec is about to start and the organist was not there! So they ask me if I can play the songs. One minute before sacrament meeting is to start! I didn’t even have time to practice! The first song was easy to play with just the right hand, and just before the sacrament hymn was about to start the oraganist showed up and asked you want to keep playing? No thank you you can play! What a relief, but I am grateful I have a few years of piano practice under my fingers so I can play the right hand on most hymns Ina pinch. Last Monday we wne tottge top of the CN tower. It slime 150 stories up, took the elevator a full minute to go to the top! We ate lunch with three other Missionaires at the top, it had a rotating food area at the top. Very fancy food, best food I have had ever! Expensive to go up and wonderful view! Once in a lifetime experience. Weird to be back in downtown Toronto. But today pday we went on a hike with a bunch of Missionaires and saw a waterfall as well. I got wet! But I loved being in nature and on a  trail. Reminded me of mountain runs and trail running in my young running days in gerogia. So wonderful.. Best two pdays I have had Ina  very long time. Us elders, the zone Leaders, another misisonary in the area, and the APs. They have a van so we all fit in it. Sun is shining here! It’s great to be a Missionary. 

Anywyas, one more week for me! I fly Hien next week. Bwxxt Monday will be my last post love you all, have a great week! 

Elder Albert Hanks

Ps scripture: classic 1st Nephi 3:7. I will go and do thr things the lord commands. 

Pps joke: what do porcupines say when they kiss?

Ow! 

Ppps pics:

The hike, CN tower, me lying on glass 150 stories up, 

Me at the house where two sets of Missionaires live. I’ll explain them Mor when I get home! Loves! 

 

 

Exchanges, interviews, and yard work

So, yes this week- we had quite a few more appointments cancel. but hey, we got to do quite a few yeard work done. so some advice- never let your yard get out of control, so that means you ahve to do a ton of work to clean it up! we live in a basement apartment so we have to help. backyard is basically done now, just a little more work on the side- still the best lawn mower i know i myself. Humble a bout it too haha. anwyays, went on exchanges with elder moldenhauer on etobiko- just outside of tonrot, basically it was toronto- i ahve nto served in toroto since iw as a greenie two years agO! so, it was fanstiastic. we went contacting, helped one of their investigators move some stuff to their storage unit, and cuaght up from our tiem in north bya together. friday we had interviews with mission president after district meeting, so we went to what is called the mission home(which technically is in our area, but they never come to our ward since they are all ove haha). the mission home i have not been to or seen since my frst day in the field being picked up at te airport! it was weird dae ja voo. president was laughing at me. sunday we went on splits wiht the ward council. that was good, we dropped by some potentials and less actives- no answers unfortunatly. anways, those are the highlights. oh one more thing- we had a elsson with a lessa activ emen, he honestly has the biggest heart and most open personality i ahve ever met. very spiritual man, he really wants to return to the church and feel the spirit more. reminds me that tyhe lrod truely does prepare people. short today since we are going to the cn tower today for lunch! first time ive evenr been up it, so [ics will come next week! i love you all. oh yes we had a guy cuss us out on the streets in toronto and tell us about satan and to go back to the states! been a while since it happened, me and elder moldenhauer kinda chuckeld about it. oh yes, since i only have 2 weeks left i have been asked to not drive since the last week or two is when missionaries are more likely to get itnot accidents then ther est of their mission… hmm wonder why, so i am not driving anymore! loves,

elder hanks

ps scriputre: alma 47-50, look how satan decieves us and how we need to prepare ourselves( use the story to compare).

pps joke: what is forest gumps password?

1forest1

what is adams phone number?

adam-812

pics: me in a hat i found, me and my boy elder moldenhaure, me at the mission home, and a nice picture from teh balcony of a members.

Short entry

So due to things that happened, our time emailing and me posting today are limited. but to know i love you, this week we had tons fo service- it is hot and huimid over here- tons of meal appointments- we almsot didnt even feed oruselves besides breakfast this week- and every single investigarot appointment we had fell trhough. so no inv lessons this week- sometime sthat happenes, there is a plan in it all. happy memorial day, if youhavent yet please take a momement of silence for those who this holiday is dedicated to.

 

 

Thanks. anyways, we got ot know some members better this week,  that is helpful. correlationa dn ward dcouncill were exellent, one fo the best ones ive been to in a while. they are doing what they arte supposed to be doing. par tof me is sad im only here for a few weeks, but i am almsot ready to come home. next pday i will be going up the cn tower for the first time! im excited. we see miracels every day. og yes i gave a 10 minute talk insacrament meeting thsi week on misionary work, used opreach my gospel and the treu to the faith sectiuon on missionary work. i felt more calm in thsi talk- i think i just have practice now. we also had zone conference, and since it was my last one, all others and myself going home bore a testimony to all the missioanreis in the meeting, so about a third of the mission. i choked up a little, testified of our savior and what he has done for us. anwyays, gotta go love you all have a great week- three weeks to go.  nextr monday hoepfully we can go to the cn tower and go uop! first time ever for me. loves

elder albert hanks

ps scripure: john 3:16-17

pps joke: how come the rebel alliance could never stay settled in one place?

bexuase they were looking in alderaan places haha.

pics: so us working at the temple grounds planting floweres- gorgous huh?  wish i could always work at/in temples. me in a members daughters sunglasses- my type huh? we saw this at toys r us- man i want to buy that for my sun so he cna be luke skywalker! and those were what happened to my service shoes thsi week. since im cheep and go home soon, i fixed them with duct tape and will use them the last three weeks. maybe ill bring them home as a trophy…. thats only one years worth too haha! we will see if i ahve space:) loves

Miracles! and Victoria Day

So in case youo were wondering, yes pday is today yesterday was victoria day here in cananda and as such everything was closed here. so our pday is now! weird when it is on tuesdays. Last pday we gave a blessing to someone int eh hospital- always a spiritual experience to give someone a blessing in the hospital. this week we found three new investigatros. one was from a free bible ad some sisters in brampton put up, another was a neighbor we talked to outside another referall from the spanish sisters,a nd the other one was a referall from a member! we tried to do abotu an hour of finding a day, havent always got that, but as we made that effort i can testify that eh lord has blessed us with people that are ready to hear about the gospel. another miracle- we were walking out from picking up dinner from a member and saw a mother and daughter walking up, and my companion asked them if they knew anyone that needed free english class- because we teach them on Tuesdays and Saturdays- and theri jaw dropped and looked at us like we were speaking japanese! becuase they have a friend coming here to cananda in two weeks from japan that wants to learn english, adn they were just alking about how they were going to find classes wehre they could help her learn english! there are no such things as coincidences! really cool. we have been doing a good amount of service, taught some lessons- yesterday we had three investiagtor appointments fall through, but one of our backup plans- becuase it is always good to have a backup plan- was for me to do my plan, th course to help me make plans for my transitin home, and i signed up for my first ever insititute class this august! crazy. but awesome. so much happens in teh city, hard to keep track of it all. we have a good district, i am not longer district leade but that is alright with me i am follow up trianig and that is tons of fun- it means it is elder mcleods second trasnfer. anways, loves to all!

Elder Albert Hanks

PS Scripture- helama chapter 5 is an exellent one

pps joke- im running out of jokes: what do you call a monkey that is in a mine field

a ba-BOOM

pps pics: me and elder mcleod helped clean out the stroage shed, and we got to rid ein the mission truck! SOOOOOOOOOO nice! pic of it from behind. and the zls elders ward and johnson got a hold of my phone- im focused on dring, dont worry.

What a week! So begins the end…

Alright, so since last monday at our apartment(we live in a basement) we have cut the grass, cut down the top limbs of a tree in the yard, cut those down smaller and put them in piles/bags. tons of work, using a chain saw is fun! i wore protective eyewear. anwyas, we help out at two food banks during the week, one on tuesdat and one on wedsneday. we helped this week out at the temple doing service- i helped lay mulch on trees and the garde, the gloves we were using were black- trasnfered happened and we lost the tripan missionary elder marusiak wheo went to tornto- sad day! said to goodbye to some missionaries, many of them language missioanries that i came out with! haha.  we got a neew investigator thsi week she is doing well. as far as missionary work goes- we have a lot of referealls and potentials we need to contact this week, had one at church. soemone is supposed to be on date for june, hopefully that happens. elder mcleod is a good missioanry, hard worker. still new though, farther along then when i was new haha. talked to a guy in the lobby this week, he kept talking and talking and we couldnt get anything in- he knew his bible though! hopefully we can teach him the restoration soon. anyways, yesterday was mothers day and yes i got to skype my family! wonderful seeing them all. i am down to 5 weeks, if you can beleive it. under 40 days haha. i have started a course called my plan, its a 6 week course hour long each week for departing missionaries and helps them make plans and set goals for theri post mission plans. its gonna be sweet! short this week, but we will see some miracels this week, we have work to do! ill see you all soon,

elder albert hanks

ps scripture: mormon chapter 9 is a good one to read if you want to spirit to teach you.

pps joke: Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field.

pics: me and elder gutirerez. the fam! the back of m chair broke- not my fault- got a new one- the temple! and a selfie. shaving every day barely helps now haha.

Im in Heartlake! Its my final area!

So, long and short of last week- we went crazy for a few days, service deweeding a garden and rotatilling it, canning meet, doing yardwork, foodbank, and we also gt to see detroit. Got our investigator her baptismal intereview, she passed and is progressing to baptism this transfer, even though i will not b there, did some finging time but unfortunatly most of the people out on the street only speak spanish, and my spanish is not quite able to hold a conversation yet! getting tehr, gonna learn it more after the mission. good time though, the week ewent fast. thursday mornign i was told i wa getting trasnfered to heartlake, whihc is one of the wards that meets at the bramption stake center and is right next to the temple! the ward meets at 1:00 on sundays, its a big ward, not surte how im goign to meet everyone!  but they are goo,d went on splits sunday moring since we had a bigg meeting onsarturday so they did early trasnfers! this ward as some good things going. anways, i was replaced by a native spanish speaker elder pineda, so that will be good for leamington. my companion is from calgary alberta, and there is another missionary with us for the weekend named elder Marusiak that is from the turkey mission- they had to pull thos emissionaries out recently due to politics, so he is here and goign to toront, but a trio- or three msisioanrie companions- was awesome, we didnt have to worry about the third male rule wehre we need a third male with us if we meet a single sister. but its been fun! but this weekened the ENTIRE MISSION, which never happens, had a meeting with president m russell ballard, acting president of the quorom of the twelve apostles! he wsa missiona president forever her ago, so he lvoes it here- he told us that we need to talk to more peiople and we will baptise more, turn our missions however long we have left, completly over to the lord, and that smiles are the passports to the soul! so smile! it will make your life better, he promises!  also if you want to get up in the mroing set th alarm clock somewehre you can turn it off from your sleeping position in bed haha.  anwyays, i got to shake his hand- so warm and inviting, so loving- good man.  wish i could meet them all together one day! this truely is the Lords work, and he qulaifes his servants! loves to all, ill try and post more later, but all the best, talk to ya next wek. wish me luck for my last 6 weeks!

elder albert d h hanks

ps scripture: read 3rd nephi 11- acutally listen to it- and try to visualize how you would feel to be there.

pps jokes: what kind of dinosaur is always anxious?

a nervous rex haha

ppps what the graden looked like before and after rota tilling, detroit in the background, us and sarah, what we looked like helping can fish- well, i helped put labels on the chicken cans, it tasted good! gos to those in poor countries who need it. oh yes we landed a nail in the tire thats the flat tire, psi read 10. we had to have a skype district meet, thats the district, me and some members, two of the three current aps took a selfie when i asked them to take a picture, elder hunters and elder ballard, me and elder stevens, a gorgeous sunset, me and bishop holdaway and brother ardelane from my first area in don valley almost two years ago, they were suprsed to see me! and the tripan- lvoe these guys, both from alberta- elder maruisak is from edmonton. lvoes

 

 

What A Week!

Where to begin. Not sure. Last pday we kinda just chilled. In no rush. Tuesday we had a few lessons planned, one fell through. We helped our investigator Sarah who is getting baptized on the 12th start a family history account. What else. Oh yes we had our free English class. We have one man from Mexico consistently coming. He is awesome, his English is improving. Wednesday we had some calls to. Make, not. Much happened in the afternoon. Dinner at the Sandor they are awesome. Helped them out. Then we drive to Chatham, and I did another baptismal interview. The man’s name is Chris, he is actually my age. But he has a very strong tesfimony. His baptism is this week. Love Chatham elders. Anyways, Thursday we had interviews in London. I also had to get my temple recommend renewed. And district meeting, talked about Christ like attributes. Then I went on exchanges with elder Hillyer. We got back to Leamington, a two hour drive, changed and went and helped a less active lady load up a truck with two other members. Not bad, most of it was boxed. The furniture was a lot. Anyways, Friday we had two lessons, a dinner appointment, supposed to meet one of our investigators but his phone stopped working… So we didn’t get to. Saturday we had a few lessons, dropped a book of Mormon off at a member referall, taught English class, watched a video on how to work with members. Sunday there was stake conference, it was broadcast from London. Good talks, a seventy named elder clay presided and gave a good talk. What else… Can’t think what else. Did a lot of planning. Trying to get our investigator to have her baptismal interview this week. Fingers crossed. Today we tried to meet up with mission Aires, but time is against us. Anyways, this Saturday when we go to Brampton, else Soares and bishop causse aren’t coming anymore, but pres Ballard is, we will also be doing early transfers. So if I get transferred I will be in a new area on Monday next week! About to start the new and final transfer. We’ll, service we are doing a lot this week. Loves!

Elder Albert Hanks

Ps scripture 2nd Nephi 4 is an exellent chapter that Nephi is telling us to be positive.

Pps joke: when does a duck wake up?

At the quack of dawn! 

Ppps: pics:

Not sure if I out the one of me lifting a tree, some cool barns! And my whole district.

Maybe my final mission haircut… 

 

Exchanges, pasta dinners, and shocking news!

So first the highlights of the week. i went on two exchanges- one with elder kaku to chatham and the other one with eldr deweese in leamington(he is a zone leader). so me and elder kaku taught 2 lessons, did a little finding, talked, and had to take inventory of the chatham supplies since the mission office called fo an inventory count- sucky but we had a good time. he knwos his stuff, lives being a missioanry! then i was with elder deweese in leamington- we visited a member in the hospital, had to pick up wendy’s on the drive, adn then we had two appointments almost bcak to back- one with w potential and one with a less active-  good one both.  elder dweese is a master teacher. then we had the young womens italian past dinne fundrasier. tons of people came, it was fun, and there was a deseret auction. record was $60 for a key lime pie- big on. but i was not the one that baught it! thast about a 1/3 of my money fro the month. we got a cheesecake with strawberries on it. exchagnes back the next day. saw sarah our investiagro twice this week- she had to bumped her date back to may 12th, but she has been taught almsot everything and want sto be baptized! so it is exciting. and the bombshell of the week!

on may  5th, presidents m russell ballard and elder ulysses soares(both apostles), pres. robert m gay of the presidency of the seventy, bishop gerald causee(presideing bishop), elder david p home( general authority seventy), and elder alain l allard (area seventy) will be coming to ontario. there will be a special missioanry meeting at the brampton stake center on the 5th, and then on sunday they will be presideing over 4 different stake conferences. not ours. but there will be all of those gerenal authorites in the meeting with all the missionaries- we beleive. hopefully we are not too far to make the drive, but with this many coming we doubt we will not be allowed to come. this is so exciting, amazing, and soooo last minute we found out on thursday. so yeah thats happing in 2 saturdays. other then that, should be having a few pots becomgin new this week, and most of them are one smembers are working with! people with member friends acceot the gospel so muhc quicker then if we jsut knock on someones door. so never be afraid to share your testimony! lvoes to all, gotta go! lvoe being a missionary. countdow: 8 weeks left/59 days. lvoes

elder albert hanks

ps scripture: alma 34 was one i read this week form a suggestion from my grandmother.

pps joke: why did the bee go to the barber shop?

to get a buzz cut haha.

ppps pics:so- didnt get to point pelee since there was flodding, btu did check out a beach- and we went miniature golding instead- yeah i won! that is a giant bunny. elder hillyer and kaku, my chatham elders. a house right on the lake0 huge- the phones we used to use, a tree me and elder stevesn felled last week, me in a sombrero- yes i look dashing- the pasta dinner(we might get some news out of it this week) me and elder deweese, and me gardening. lvoes!

Missionary Week!

Alright, so this week is what I would deem as a Missionary week! We were here all week minus district meeting, and no exchanges, so we were able to do appointments and service and finding  a lot! Good to work in iur areas. Rough outline this week. Tuesday we did sevice in the morning, then on the afternoon we had a lesson with our investigator Sarah. dropped my some less active Ena part member families, talked to quite a few and they were supper nice! One was a big patriots fan family and that was a cool connection with my mom from new England. English class this eek KO one came. Wednesday we had sevice at gleaned I cut and peeled onions, none eyes were on fire! Visited a less active named Dan, it was his birthday actually! Talked to him. About the sacrament. We all felt the spirit. Then we had correlation with our branch mission leader and a lesson with another less active. Thursday we helped at the food bank! Then we had weekly planning outside Becuase it was do gorgeous! Typed up district meeting, studies. Pretty much HHS day. Friday we had district meeting. On planing and studies. It was awesome! Then we visited our investigator Sarah, taught her the commandments. Having members at lessons to testify that the commandments help is awesome. Dropped by one or two wpeople, started using Facebook more this week to. Promote the book of Mormon n and Bible. As well our free English class hopefully some thigh happens. Saturday it was pouring rain iurfisde and we went tracting. Yes we end to owning on doors. One guy let us in! One of the first times someone has let us in tracting. His name is Velma and he has recently been going back to god, so he treats us knocking on his door as a sign from god. So we will be seeing him this week. Ended up calling all the former that had phones a few said we could call back thsi week. Met our investigator David. He is working hard in the greenhouses and is tired but loves meeting with us. Sunday there was such a bad clizzard all over Ontario rain here that most church’s cancelled. Ours didn’t, but we only had half power

Ice everywhere, near Toronto there were reported 1200 accident in one weekend. Some members came. We called people after, visited a few. Driving g carefully. Dinner ended up being at 8 but that’s ok doesn’t happened too often. Busy week. Oh lasto day we helped clean up and make looking a nice a garden at a members, got my hands dirty! It was awesome! Anyways, gotta go, loves to all, only 9 weeks left! It was also. My moms birthday this week happy rbitfhday to her! Also I hit 22 months. Loves!

Elder Albert hanks

Ps scripture 3rd Nephi 17 touched me this week.

Pps joke what lights did Noah use on the ark?

Flood lights!

Pics!

Some old pics of me and why we shouldn’t rbe allowed to play with sticks. Church, lights were out in the church bathroom so. We improvised, the storm did that to a tree. Loves!