Weekly Update~ "Gotta Have That Young Salvation!"

Dear Family and Friends,

First of all, to explain my email subject, it summarizes an event that happened to Elder Moyes and Elder Packer about a week ago while they were street contacting one night.They were stopped by a random guy and they were getting blasted for not being able to speak French or Ikinyarwanda but, they were living in Rwanda. He then stopped and asked how old they were and pointed to Elder Packer and asked if he was older than Elder Moyes. He said yes (which isn't true) and the guy started yelling at Packer saying he didn't like him and he liked Elder Moyes because he'd rather have that Young Salvation...Love the bizarre people we meet on a daily basis:)

But anyway, this week we had a great week filled with neat experiences. We were able to finish General Conference this week on Saturday and Sunday and it was extremely spiritually filling. I will give my General Conference summary next week because I'm working on a garbage computer and the Internet keeps going in and out.

On Tuesday, I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Moyes and we had an awesome day. I want to share a neat experience we had in the evening after having a few strong appointments in the morning and early afternoon. We didn't have any appointments confirmed for the night. We began our finding with a prayer and we went to an area I used to find in with Elder Nambale. After knocking some gates and talking to a few random people in the street, one man stopped us and asked what we were doing. We introduced ourselves as missionaries and asked if he wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ. He graciously accepted and invited us to meet with him and his wife later that week. We considered it a nice tender mercy but, then felt like we shouldn't have been in that particular area anymore so, we decided to re-locate. Long story short, the first gate we knocked on in the next neighborhood over was answered by a mother and her two children who looked like they had just gotten home for the day. The kids still had their school shirts on and introduced themselves in perfect English...one was a six year old girl named Celiah who reminded me exactly of my little sister Payton when she was younger, and the other was a ten year old boy named Serrio who loves the Golden State Warriors. Obviously I liked them a lot from the beginning. We were invited inside by the mother, and about 20 minutes into our conversation in introducing the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, her husband, who is a Mercedes Benz parts dealer, showed up. After talking to them for awhile longer, we set a return appointment for that Sunday and left in gratitude to the Lord for leading us to them. We realized that if we had not gone to the first place and met our other friends first, the timing would have been messed up and we may not have met that family because they may not have been at home. Tender mercies indeed.

On Friday, Elder Grant and I were able to have a fast for our area as a companionship. The following blessings occurred:

• We were able to set 7 baptism dates to some of our other investigators, including Ndarra, his wife, and his three children for the 20th of November.
• 7 of our investigators attended General Conference Saturday and Sunday..all of whom enjoyed seriously.
• 5 random people called us on the phone asking for more information about the church and we were able to refer them to the companionship who stay closest to each of them.
• 4 random people came to church and we had two members bring referrals.
• We were spiritually edified from conference.
• We are enjoying mission more and more each day.

I testify that the Lord hears our prayers and that faith is a principle of action. I know that Heavenly Father has his hands in things that need to happen including the growth of the church in Rwanda.
Tomorrow I get to go to Uganda for Mission Leader Conference. IT will be my first time going back in 7 months. It will be a sweet reunion with many. Stay tuned:)

Love,
 Elder Hazen