Back to the Basics -April 25th, 2016

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great week!

I don't want to say our week was normal or average because no week is really normal as a missionary but as far as missionary work goes, it was a pretty normal week haha! But it was still a great week! 

To further explain the topic of this email; Elder Westling and I went without a GPS this week... SO we had to stay mainly around Talladega and just stick with the basics of missionary work. Aka tracting, visiting people, service, and doing what we can without a GPS. I know that to anyone who served a foreign mission or who served over twenty years ago, this is probably going to sound like we're pansies that need GPS BUT when you serve in Alabama, people live in the absolute middle of nowhere in the boonies sometimes and you have to be able to find them so we rely on GPS a little bit... 

Anyways haha! That kind of explains our week! Not a whole ton to report on! 

Just so everyone knows, transfers are next week so we will be receiving a call to find out whats happening this Saturday. So next Monday I'll be sure to let y'all know the news!:) 

This email is going to be pretty short so I thought I'd include a talk that I read recently from this month's Ensign. It teaches us about how we can better recognize and resist the temptations and tricks of the adversary. I loved it and I hope ya'll do as well. 

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2016/04/young-adults/recognizing-satans-counterfeits?lang=eng

Again, I hope that y'all enjoyed that and were able to learn something from it like I did. I know that as we strive to be strong and resist the temptations and tricks of the adversary that He will notice our efforts and bless us with strength and courage!

I hope ya'll have a great week and I'll talk to y'all next Monday! 

Love, 

Elder Honn

Pics: We had a Zone activity this morning and went on a hike to an amazing waterfall in gadsden, Alabama. It was amazing and made me feel like I was in Hawaii again haha! 

Another Week of the Lord's Work! -April 18th, 2016

Hey y'all!

Another busy week!

We had interviews at the beginning of the week with President Hanks. His last interview with all of us before he leaves in two months... it's gonna be hard when he leaves. He's done so much for this mission and it will never be the same because of him. I'm sure the new mission President will be amazing as well though!

This week we were able to do a bunch of service and it was awesome! Just to sum it up I learned two things from the service. Pressure washers are a lot of fun and Elder Westling can fix almost anything but only when the Lord is involved haha!

I was also able to go on and exchange with Elder Lee this week! We had a really good time and had some great experiences. Elder Lee is our district leader and he's a fantastic missionary. We taught some really great lessons and spent time with some great people. On Saturday we also had the opportunity to volunteer at the local pound in Sylacauga, which was a lot of fun! This pound is awesome as well, I asked if they ever have to put down any of the animals and they said no, almost all of them get adopted. Which is awesome! Anyways basically Elder Lee and I just cleaned all the dog kennels and whilst doing so, I played with all the dogs and puppies a lot! haha it was a lot of fun! 

Other than that, this week was great!

I saw an awesome picture/quote thing that I thought I'd share with y'all. It's made me rethink and change the way I've been praying, and I really like it. 

Here it is: 
​

I saw this and really liked it. Lately, I've been thinking about my communication with our Father in Heaven and how at times I can get caught up with just asking for things I want or need help with and not considering what He wants for me. I've implemented this into my prayers this week and I've really felt a difference as I pray and speak to Him about my desires. I'd recommend trying it!

Anyways, that's all I've got! I hope y'all have a great week and I'll talk to you next Monday!

Love,

Elder Honn

Ask the Elder, Round Two! -April 11th, 2016

We meet again! haha what a week... felt super long but now we're here, another Monday, another week ahead of us! Time is just a weird thing... anyways! Getting off track haha... This week, while long, was really good! Elder Westling and I have been continuing our efforts with the less actives in our area and we had a lot of good experiences because it. Not a whole lot of stories that were really worth talking about in my letter this week though so I decided to fulfill my lovely Mother's request and answer some questions again! I hope y'all enjoy!:)

- What has been your biggest challenge this week?

 This past week Elder Westling and I's tiredness kind of caught up to us and hit us like a wall so the main challenge was to find the energy to work our hardest from 6:30 in the morning to 9 at night. But we did it! And we saw many blessings come from our efforts. Another challenge that this last week held was having investigators not keep their commitments. Sadly, this happens quite a lot in missionary work but it just hit us pretty hard this week. But hey, you fail and you try again and that's exactly what we're going to do this week! 

- What has been your biggest concern? 

Lately, I've had a couple concerns. I worry about if our investigators have an actual desire to learn and progress or if they just like having us come over. I worry if they're actually forming and developing their own testimony and are continuing to grow or if their okay with their spiritual complacency. I also worry about if I'm giving my absolute best and working my absolute hardest for the Lord 100 percent of the time or am I at times relaxed and comfortable and not pushing myself as hard as I can. 

- What has been your biggest success?

My biggest success has been developing a true love for the work. Missionary work isn't easy but it's worth it. And when you come to learn and understand that, you start to develop this love for the work that you never would've expected yourself to have. I love everything about my mission. The ups, the downs, the people you become close to, the crazy people you meet and talk to, all of it! I've learned so much in these short eight months and I'm so excited for everything else that I'll be able to experience from the rest of my time in Alabama. 

- Who has been your favorite person this week? Why? 

My favorite person this week has been my companion, The Elder Westling. We've been together for a good minute now and have had so many experiences together and throughout the whole time have gotten a long very well. We work hard, we have a lot of fun, and we support each other through everything we go through. We've learned and grown so much together and I'm grateful for the opportunity that we've had to serve together. 

- What has been your most significant tender mercy?

One of the most significant tender mercy that I've had has been a very strong trust in the Lord that has developed even more while on my mission. It has been one of the biggest blessing because it has made my testimony that much stronger and immovable and has taken away a lot of the worries of day to day life. I trust that when I do my part and keep my life in line with the Saviors teaching that He will do his part and guide my life and manage the things that happen in my life. I've been asked how I'm so relaxed and calm about almost everything and I've realized that it has come from my blessing of having a personal trust in the Lord that everything is in the Lords hands and everything will happen the way it's suppose to. So that's been a pretty significant tender mercy if you ask me:) 

- What are you looking forward to this coming week? 

Everything!! We have a stellar week ahead of us packed with tons of service, lessons, and even interviews with President Hanks! Each week has so many experiences in store for us and I can't wait to attack the week and have those experiences! 

- Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?

Wow, that's a hard one. Especially just to pick one! I've been studying about faith and in Alma 32 he compares faith to a seed, as most of us know I'm sure. But like I was saying, I've been studying this chapter and I've loved it! I think its amazing how you can still learn new things about something as simple as faith. That's one of the reasons why I love this gospel. No matter how much you study and read the scriptures there will always be more for you to learn. So I challenge all of you to get studying!;) There's a world of knowledge that is just waiting to be obtained. 

Well, I guess that concludes our second game of Ask the Elder haha! I hope y'all enjoyed and were able to learn more about life as a missionary in Alabama. 

I'll include a couple random pictures from our week. I hope y'all enjoyed the pictures from the hike as well! We had a blast all thanks to the Stewarts!

I love y'all and hope each of you have a great week! 

Sincerely,

Elder Honn

Steadfast in Christ! 

The pictures: 

-When you see a random Ford Gt in Talladega...

-When you get bored in the car and start playing with your camera...

-When you hit your year mark and burn a shirt! Elder Senyolo from South Africa was transferred to Anniston a couple weeks ago and he's just too cool! It was a pleasure to be able to be there with him during his year mark!

"Choose the Harder Right Instead of the Easier Wrong" -April 4th, 2016

Hey y'all! 

Such a great week! And what an even better weekend! 

As I'm sure most of you know, General Conference was this past week. And for those of you who don't know, General Conference is an event in the Church where, for the course of a weekend, we hear inspired messages from the leaders of our church. The main meeting is held in Salt Lake City, Utah but because of the blessing of technology we have in this era, we are able to broadcast the sessions all over the world so that members everywhere have the opportunity to watch. 

For me personally, I've loved how much my appreciation for conference has increased while on my mission. Back home I enjoyed conference weekend and the messages it brought but for the most part, I just loved being able to lay around all weekend and eat food! But during the two conferences that I've been on my mission for I've really developed a sincere love and appreciation for Conference and all that it offers. It truly does provide a much needed spiritual reboot and I'm so grateful for it! I loved so many of the talks and can't wait to apply the principles taught more fully into my life. 

I challenge everyone to re-read the conference talks and to continue to study the inspired messages from this past weekend. 

One of my personal favorite messages that was shared this past weekend was one by the living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. He spoke about making choices and said this "Choose the Harder Right Instead of the Easier Wrong". I loved his talk and especially that message. In this life we all make decision. Most of us have made the decision to be members of this church, which is not an easy thing! We hold ourselves to a higher standard and try our hardest to keep our lives in line with the teachings of Christ. While pondering about this message I was reminded about one of my favorite mormon messages by Henry B. Eyring called "Choose this day". 

Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cw8I8eukaI

I promise all of you that as you continue to be courageous and choose the harder right (and by doing so, choose to serve Him!) you will be blessed! I'm definitely not saying it will be easy but I promise it will be worth it. The lord will see us making the right decisions and be with us to provide comfort and ease our burdens. And these things I say in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Love,

Elder Honn

Pictures from a hike to Mount Cheaha!