Weekly Update~ "Prince of Peace"

Dear Family and Friends,

I am thankful for the Savior and the peace I feel in knowing him, his attributes, and his infinite atonement. We had a characteristically busy transfer week, no surprises about that, but the highlight of course was Easter. Elder Moyes has officially returned to Uganda from Ethiopia after a direct flight there from Rwanda. We enjoyed MLC on Friday and were anxious to apply the things we learned. One of my favorite talks from General Conference was President Nelson's on Drawing the Power of Jesus into our Lives. We began applying both of his challenges to read all 57 subtopics on the Savior in the Topical Guide and to study the Living Christ and personally, I have seen my testimony increase. I had a clear prompting Friday morning to share the Living Christ with as many individuals as possible over the weekend in preparation for Easter and on Easter Sunday. We acted upon that and had some neat experiences with members, recent converts, and even used it in our finding efforts. 

 In one particular experience, after street contacting out in front of the church waiting for someone to show up, we decided to leave and knock doors because we had been waiting for over 30 minutes. As we were driving down a road, we felt prompted to go into a particular compound we saw up one of the roads. I slammed on the brakes, reversed, and parked the truck, and went into the compound. After seeing that the gate was open, we went inside and looked for any signs for people at home. At the very last home, we saw a car parked outside and a door open and felt drawn to it. When we got there, a younger woman in her late 20's answered the door and we asked her if we could share a short Easter message. She invited us inside, but we were unable to go because we didn't have a member with us. Just then, as we were standing on the porch, the member we were supposed to meet at the church called us, and told us he was there. We told the lady we'd be back in 10 minutes, ran to the truck, hauled to the church, picked up the member, and drove back. We read the Living Christ word for word, and discussed briefly about it. The fact that we were Mormons came up and she told us she had Mormon friends from South Africa. She said, "My friends always tell me about your church and how there is just a natural feeling of belonging there. Why is that?" We testified simply of principles of truth from the Plan of Salvation and told her we are all brothers and sisters in God's family and that knowledge brings us closer. We brought up the Book of Mormon and read a few verses from Mosiah 3 and set a return appointment. Before we left, we felt prompted to testify of the Savior as being the Prince of Peace. She told us it was exactly what she needed to hear because she had a niece pass away the day before during child birth and both her and the baby didn't make it. She also had a brother in a bad car accident two days before that. 

I testify the Savior is the Prince of Peace and that his Atonement is the greatest thing that has ever happened in the world. I'm thankful each day for the opportunity I have to testify of him and his reality as the living Son of God.

I love you all,

Elder Hazen

Weekly Update~ "Listening to the Spirit"

His New Ride

New Shirt for RJ

Keeping up his Baseball Skills

Dear Friends and Family,

This week we were able to baptize Winnie. She is the first in her
family that we've been teaching to be baptized. I'm so grateful I've
gotten to meet with them over this past month because visiting them
always proves to be a highlight of my day. The service was wonderful,
as nearly all of our members stayed behind to support her. The
reverence in the service was noticeable as all the children stopped
crying and fussing and there were no campaign trucks that drove by
blasting music. I was able to perform the ordinance, and after, she
bore a wonderful testimony. I know that without a doubt she was ready
to make this step in her life and she is going to make a strong
contribution to this branch and will continue to be a wonderful
example to the rest of her family.

RJ, Winnie and Elder Tesch

Elder Tesch continues to improve each and every day. I wanted to share
an experience we had this week. Last week, I was talking about how
spiritually sensitive Elder Tesch is and how he pushes me be better at
paying attention to the whisperings of the Spirit throughout the day.
On Wednesday, we got bounced from one of the appointments we made with
a family we have been teaching, so we sat down and began to make some
phone calls to see if we could visit someone else instead. Andrew was
working with us as well. As I began to punch in someone's phone number
into our phone, Elder Tesch and Andrew both pointed to a lady about 50
feet away standing outside her house cooking dinner and both suggested
we talk to her and try and teach her. I looked up, and immediately got
the same feeling they must have been feeling and decided that'd be a
good idea. Long story short, we taught with power and authority and
found out she had a few concerns with the churches she saw around and
we invited her to pray about our message and invited her to be
baptized March 6th which she accepted. Again, I'm thankful for how
much assistance we receive from the Lord and the Spirit as we go about
doing his work.

I was able to give a talk this week on Repentance and it was nice to
share the things I've been learning from the Book of Mormon with the
branch. Elder Tesch gave a wonderful talk on Heavenly Father. This
week, I continued my studies from 2 Nephi and I wanted to share what I
learned from chapter 2. In this chapter, Lehi talks about the fall,
the atonement, and gaining salvation and I realized how connected all
3 of these events are and how essential they are to the Plan of
Salvation. It also explains why agency was necessary to the plan as
well. I am grateful for Heavenly Father's plan of redemption and for
the ability we have to make our own choices in this life. I'm thankful
for Adam's choice to partake of the fruit because though it made it
possible for us to experience pain, suffering, and death, it's through
the experiences we are able to have on Earth that make us better. I'm
eternally grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his Atonement
for us. In Brad Wilcox's Continuous Atonement, he describes an
experience he had while having an interview with one of his
missionaries as a Mission President. The missionary was feeling
discouraged with some past mistakes he made before his mission and was
wondering why the thoughts of his mistakes had to remain in his
memory. Brother Wilcox took a marble egg off his shelf and showed the
missionary and told him that the dark lines, representing sin, in this
case, were the reason why the egg had beauty. It's the sins in our
lives and mistakes we make and the weaknesses, that when overcome
through the power of the Atonement, make us more beautiful to our
Heavenly Father. I have a lot of lines, but I'm thankful to keep
working to overcome them.

Enjoy this photo of me sporting Noah, the drunk man's
jacket he so kindly gifted to us.

I love you all
Elder Hazen

Weekly Update~ "Training"

Dear Friends and Family, 

   We just concluded Elder Tesch's  (my new Companion from St. George) first week of his first transfer and he has been an absolute champ. We had a lot of firsts with him this week including his first Rolex, first lessons, first meal of mukenne (tiny fish that isn't a mission favorite), first baptism date extended, and so much more. He has been such a quick learner and has adapted so well and I'm so excited to watch him continue to progress. 

   Transfers week is a busy week but we were able to get a lot done. Tuesday was my last full day with Elder Dowdle and we spent our time seeing recent converts and investigators that he wanted to say good bye to before heading out to Busia on Wednesday. On Wednesday, we had a tender moment as a district saying good bye to Dowdle. Pictures speak a thousand words and this one completely explains our friendship. 

   I went on an exchange with Elder Dabb on Wednesday and came back at around 5:30 to meet up with Elder Tesch and so Elder Dabb could go back to Mukono. Elder Ray and I decided to have a bit of fun with Elder Tesch and switched name tags and I told him to act like a complete spaz. We weren't successful, however, because Dowdle told him in Ntinda that I was tall and super relaxed.   So, when he saw Elder Ray and he didn't fit the description, our fun was spoiled.

   Yesterday at church, everything was going normal until in walked Tanner Call, a kid I graduated with at Lone Peak. There's a humanitarian group working in lugazi right now and he is with them! He is going to be here for 6 weeks.  Haha I was stunned to say the least but, it was super cool to see a familiar face. Testimony meeting was absolutely wonderful. A bunch of the members got up on their own and bore simple, sweet, testimonies full of truth.  The spirit in the room was so strong. We were able to have 90 people at sacrament, the most we have ever gotten. It has been amazing to see the progression of this branch in just the 4 months that I have been serving here and I am looking forward to continue seeing the growth as we invite more families to come unto Christ. 

   We are currently teaching two families. Margaret, Winnie, and the rest of the family was at church this week and I was super excited for that. Margaret really enjoyed the meeting and Winnie is going to be baptized next week so we are hoping that she will continue to be a good example to her family and will continue to motivate Margaret to come to church in the future. We also began teaching Japhet and Sarah, a young couple who was referred to us by Francis. It was Elder Tesch's first time teaching the Restoration and he did wonderful and concluded by extending them both baptism dates for the end of this month which they both accepted. 

   This week I wanted to focus on faith. Since I've been on my mission, Alma chapter 32-34 has been one of my favorite chapters to study. It's one of those sections that you can spend a lifetime studying but you can never quite get everything inside because there is so much good stuff! In that passage, Alma gives his brilliant discourse of the seed and how faith is developed. I would encourage you all to go through this passage sometime this week and write down a few thoughts. President Chatfield always tells us to increase our faith and as we do, then the miracles will come. Miracles don't build faith, they come as an outcome of our faith. We always tell our investigators that faith is an action word, but as I was thinking this week, am I taking the necessary actions to show Heavenly Father my faith and doing all that I can to find families? As I thought about that, I began to have a change in mindset and my eyes have been more open to families as we have been from moving from appointment to appointment. Even though Elder Tesch is still young on mission, he is already applying what our leaders have encouraged us to do and whenever he sees a family walking, he suggests that we go and talk to them. I'm very grateful for this work and am excited to begin sharing some of the experiences that will happen in the upcoming weeks.

I love you all,
 Elder Hazen

Weekly Update~ "Beginning to Understand a Particle of What the Savior's Love is Like"

Dear Friends and Family, 

This week was a wonderful week. In my previous letters these last couple of weeks, I have been expressing some of my frustrations with the lack of people to teach. This week, we were able to receive 4 family referrals and contacted 2 on the street. We have begun teaching 3 of those families and I am just overwhelmed as I reflect on how much I saw the Lord's hand this week. I am beginning to get more confident in stopping and talking to people on the street and I know that increased confidence has come by help from the Lord and the Spirit. I know if I continue doing what's right and continue listening to the small promptings of the Spirit, the success will continue to come. I've also been praying that when we do find families, we'll be able to teach them with power and authority so the Spirit will be able to confirm in their hearts the things we teach them are true. 

We were able to have one Mama and her 4 kids as well as 2 daughters from another family at church this week so I hope more opportunities continue to open up. As I was sitting in church, I was thinking about how blessed Elder Dowdle and I were this week.  I was thinking about how much I wanted the people at church to enjoy the service so they could progress in the gospel.  I realized that I have really grown to love these people and I truly do desire their salvation and I'm beginning to see them how our Savior sees them and I am extremely grateful for that. 

In other news, we've continued to have good experiences with brother David's family. His son, Addison, will be baptized next Sunday and Reegan was confirmed yesterday. Yesterday I also had the opportunity to give David a Priesthood blessing because he's been a bit sick lately. Reegan has developed a habit of following us from appointment to appointment after we finish teaching the family for the day and I've really enjoyed having him around. He's become my little buddy:) Being able to be with David and his family have become one of my favorite parts about serving in Lugazi and I consider it a huge blessing I've been able to get to know them.

Some other side stories:

• It was Elder Ward's Birthday Tuesday and Elder Dowdle and I found a puzzle in our closet so we decided to finish it and put it on his bed as a nice Birthday bonus gift… I really think he enjoyed it.
  
  
  
• The baseball guys have been out of town for tournaments lately so, while Elder Ray went and taught piano this week, Elder Ward and I went and played pick up basketball for a half hour in between lessons at a court nearby…needless to say, the Mzungus (White People) dominated, and I may or may not have thrown down a dunk or two.
• Andrew has been teaching me how to cook local food dishes and I am able to cook a few without his help. My favorite is cabbage with tomatoes and sauce over rice and potatoes. I'm super excited to come home and cook anything I want with a grocery store a 5 minute drive away!
  
• Rain still sucks. Yesterday it was absolutely dumping and we were caught in the middle of a field and we had to sprint to a local motel on the side of Jinja Road to wait out the storm for about an hour. Brian, one of the members was walking with us and he found some temporary cover for Elder Dowdle and I.
  
• Today for P-day, we went to the Mabira Forest about 10 minutes away from Lugazi with some members. We walked through rain forest all morning and afternoon and saw monkeys… made the trip worth it:) It literally felt like walking through Disneyland or something but I kept having to remind myself that I was walking through the real deal. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
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I love you guys so much! This week I'm going to focus on making a point of how important family history is with my investigators. Keep making time for the temple and making it so your ancestors are able to receive the saving ordinances of the Gospel!

Elder Hazen

Weekly Update~ "Waterless and Powerless!"

Dear Friends and Family,

This week would've been loads better if we didn't lose water for three
days.  We just had our water tanks cleaned-that's where we get all our water-
and the water doesn't refill until Saturday. So, after they were cleaned
we just went without, we had to fill up buckets to bathe etc. and
mostly had to eat out and we had to pour buckets of water to flush
toilets etc… it wasn't too bad though:) We also had a power surge that blew up nearly all our light bulbs in the house, our microwave, our fridge, and our toaster. But, fear not
because we saved our oven so we're still cooking big with what
resources we still have...Blessed are those who endure:) However, it
did not hinder the work, because Elder Dowdle and I were able to have a
great week.

House Water Pump

At Zone Conference, Sister Chatfield encouraged us to focus on a new
Christlike Attribute and work on developing it for the next few
months. The attribute I'm focusing on now is Patience. Since I've
begun to do that, and pray for more patience in my daily prayers, I've
seen many blessings. First of all, I've become more patient with the
people. This has allowed me to express more love to them which
motivates me to share the gospel more by stopping people to talk to
them while moving from appointment to appointment. It also has allowed
me to be more calm when things don't go as planned. As I've studied
the scriptures in Preach My Gospel about Patience, I've realized that
Patience isn't only being calm when people annoy you. It's trusting in
the Lord's will for you and his timing when you ask for things you
need and for blessings in the work. As I am submissive and trust in
the Lord and his plan, I know everything is going to work out and I
realize that more and more every day.

We were able to go on exchanges with our Zone Leaders, Elder Robinson,
and Elder Empey on Friday as well. Elder Empey was assigned to work
with us for the day and because he is only a few weeks from going
home, I tried to apply the things he was teaching Elder Dowdle and I
throughout the day. I've realized that you can never fine tune or
practice skills in proselyting enough and there's always something
that can be improved. He gave us a lot of advice for how we can
improve and strengthen the branch and our area.

Currently, we only have 3 investigators with baptism dates- Reegan,
Alfred, and Addison. Reegan and Addison are brothers and are both
Blind David's sons. I had the opportunity to baptize Reegan who is 9 years old
yesterday in the pouring rain which was quite an experience. The
rain filled up the font behind the church completely full so I had to
hold Reegan up during the performance of the baptism because he was
too short to stand. I'm very excited for David and his family. He was
very emotional and was elated that another one of his children
received the blessings of baptism. Another one of his sons, Isaac,
lives in another city and is being taught by the missionaries as well
and is being baptized within the next few weeks.

Completely Filled Up Babtismal Font

Rain Filled up the Font to the Top!

Reegan and Elder Hazen

Alfred has a wife and has been coming to church every week for a month
now, but we haven't had the opportunity to teach her yet because she's
been in the hospital. We were able to go give her a blessing Thursday
evening and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy Friday. We are hoping
they will all be able to progress towards baptism together when she
gets home.

As we have been trying to replenish our teaching pool, it's been
difficult but I know our efforts aren't wasted and things will begin
to improve in the area this week due to the fact we received 8
referrals last week.

I'd like to share a small thought from what I learned in my studies
from 1 Nephi 16. In this chapter, Nephi and his family continue
through the wilderness and he describes his experiences as they were
directed by the Liahona where to hunt for food for the family. One
day, Nephi's steel bow broke and they were unable to obtain food to
feed their family. As the circumstances grew more difficult, more and
more people in the family began to murmur until Lehi himself was
murmuring. However, Nephi shows a lot of his character by submitting
to the Lord in his time of trial and relies on the Lord on where to go
after he fashions a bow and arrow out of wood. From this we can learn
that attitude determines the outcome of situations. All of Nephi's
family was going through the same circumstance but Nephi looked at the
situation with an optimistic point of view and acted, and with the
help of the Lord he was able to accomplish his task. I look at it the
same way with Elder Dowdle and I's situation with replenishing our teaching
pool. Many missionaries have gone through trials like this before, but
it's all about how we view the situation. I have been trying to be
optimistic and I know that as I'm patient with the Lord's timing, he
will help us find new families to teach.

I love you all!
Love, Elder Hazen