"It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!"

12-20-2010

Hello everybody!

What a great week!! Went to the temple, did a lot of hard labor, had our first baptism, and ITS SNOWING! Looks like it'll be a white Christmas after all.

Jim's baptism went great! We had about 25 from the branch that attended at our chapel. Performing a baptism is awesome!!! Even though the water was FREEZING cold, it’s one of those things that I'll cherish forever. I was somewhat nervous most of the day, but the Lord comforted me when I needed it and I didn't have to repeat the ordinance. Jim was so overwhelmed the whole day, but he was full of joy. We were so proud of him. I hardly remember that first day we met him but he slowly but surely progressed and he is going to be such a good member of this branch.

I got to go to the temple again on Tuesday with the rest of the zone. The feelings in the temple never change and I was so glad to be there. We also got our Christmas packages that day. I love the big Dell box. Everyone kept joking that I had a computer, ha-ha. I'm excited to see what's inside on Saturday.

I was in Plymouth on exchanges for a couple days. It’s a very interesting and historic area. You'll see that cool statue that I got to go visit.  It was huge!!

We did some service at Bro. Carmack's farm, moving hay bales into his barn. When I said hard labor, I mean hard labor. We were just wasted after we finished off those 150 bales! Ugh, again I am so glad I wasn't raised on a farm ha-ha.

Elder Crandell and I are loving those 12 days of Christmas presents. Some of those scriptures are real stumpers. Grandma also sent me a box with a cute nativity scene. We also got 2 Christmas trees, one cardboard from our fellow Elders in the Cape Cod branch and a artificial one from the primary. Yeah we got hooked up with decorations and grateful for it.

 Did I mention it’s snowing?! Just came down last night and probably for a while longer. I'm both happy and frustrated about it at the same time.

This week will be pretty booked. The snow is gonna slow down things a bit I think, but the weekend will be fun. We have a couple member homes to visit on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I'm very excited to call home!!! I don't know what time exactly but I'm shooting for the afternoon or evening home time. I don't think I'll get any Christmas shopping done this week but I'll get some presents and goodies to send home.

I love you all and wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas. Thank you for all your continuous support that helps to keep me going. Take care and I'll talk to you soon.

Elder Henson

The Freezing Continues...

12-13-2010

Wassup Everyone!

What a great week here on the Cape! Things continue to become better and better as Christmas draws closer.

We have a baptism lined up for this Sunday with Jim!!! If all goes well with the interview this week, I will have the honor of baptizing him! I'm so excited for him and amazed how much he has progressed in the last couple months. He is such a sincere and charitable person and God is giving him the blessings he's deserved.

We also got another baptismal date set with Jenny for January 14th. She really wants to learn the gospel and has understood the first and part of the second lessons very well. Hopefully (if transfers allow) and all follows suit, that will happen as well.

The last couple days have been very busy with a lot of work. Saturday during my tour with Elder Castro in Brewster, we didn't have anything planned except meals and we just took the branch list and started stopping by all the less-actives in Hyannis. We ended up with 5 potentials and a couple lessons throughout the day. My faith in the Lord grew that day because I thought the whole day would be a bust and it ended up super. Then yesterday after church, we met at members’ homes one after another and had a couple lessons that day too, including the one with Jenny accepting her baptismal date. God is continuing to bless this area day by day and I am grateful to be witnessing those blessings happen. It’s amazing how true missionary work is.

I got a good amount of mail this week. My friends Elder Tyler Weeks, Elder Lance McDowell, and Natalie Peterson all sent letters. The YSA back home sent me a letter with messages from them. I got Blake's Sunday school class's package with their letters and an overwhelming amount of sweets. And I got the package with the thermals and goodies too, (the thermals fit fine). Thanks to all of you for those letters and packages. It’s what influences me to keep on working and serving, knowing that I have a strong support system. To all you who haven't yet, don't be bashful, feel free to send letters!!!!! Ha-ha!

The weather has been FREEZING this week!!! Temps were in the 20s and 30s all week except for the past couple days. I wore everything! My thermals, my trench coat, my skull hat, my gloves. Anything to keep me from being a Popsicle! It was COLD, especially when we were bold and tracted.

How things going back home?  ALLYSON! Congrats on the soccer championship and the goal!! That's awesome!!! I wish I was there!

To clarify, ANY picture is what I’m referring to on the Christmas list. I can't wait for the other Christmas packages to come. We have had a few families invite us over for Christmas so we should be taken care of for that weekend.

The branch takes such good care of us and makes sure we are good. So to all you that have Elders in your ward/branch, check to make sure they are taken care of for the holidays.

The holidays are cool here in Massachusetts. I enjoy riding at night and seeing the lights through the trees. It's different. I've been humming and singing NSYNC Christmas songs constantly, just as if I was home ha-ha!  I'm excited for the next couple weeks!!!

I love you all!!!!! Keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I know that this work I'm doing here is true and is worth it. Pray to the Father in the name of Christ and he will pour out his blessings upon you and answer your questions.

Take care and I'll talk to you all next week! :)

Elder Henson

2010 Christmas Devotional

2010 Christmas Devotional (link)

Good Week, Better Weekend

12-6-2010

Wassup Everybody!

I know it hasn't been too long since my last email but it is P-Day so here I am!

It was a great weekend! Transfers went by smoothly. The district got switched up a little bit as we had Elder Kiss go home and Elder Olsen transferred. So now its Elder Graft and Elder Gallegos joining "The Forgotten" down here in southeast Mass.

I finally got to go to the Boston temple on Saturday as we were invited to go up with the Biega family and witness their sealing as well as Bro. Biega taking out his endowments. It was AWESOME!!! The celestial room is one of a kind. My mouth just dropped when I walked in it. The temple is one of a kind and I was so happy to be there. The sealing was very inspiring and beautiful. The blessings that were said during the ceremony were special and I was just so excited for them.

With Alex Biega

Sunday was just as good. Jim came to church again and stayed for the whole block. He enjoyed it even more than last week. Carolyn was there as she regularly is and is still progressing in her quitting smoking. Allyssa came with the Biega family so we were glad she was at least at church since we haven't had great success with her lately.

Right after church, we had this fun Christmas party in the church building. It was a lot of fun and a lot of the less actives and visitors were there. We had a hard time trying to meet all of them. It was weird to watch the Christmas Devotional (The Church broadcasts an Annual Christmas Devotional from Salt Lake)  at the Boudreau's home instead of back home like usual, but I enjoyed the devotional.

The weather is now at freezing more often and even rumors of flurries are starting to roam. It won't be long before I'm a Popsicle. Ha-ha.

I can't believe BYU lost that close!! Ugh, frustrating. But I'm glad they at least have a bowl game. BYU b-ball is sounding solid right now. I haven't been caught up a lot on much sports so it’s good to be getting that info from people here and home.

I miss all of you guys very much, even more now that it’s the holidays. A lot of people ask us if we're homesick and I tell them yeah but not enough to affect me. Keep praying for me and hope to receive letters/emails from you (and my friends too).  Take care and have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Henson

Thankful



12-1-2010

Hey Everyone!

I had another solid week in the Cape. Thanksgiving was very filling! We went to a couple members’ homes, one for fun and another for dinner. We enjoyed their company. There was so much food!  Man was I stuffed!!!  

Anyway, things are going okay. Our investigators are continuing to progress. Jim went to church for the first time last Sunday.  He was very pleased with how the experience was. We had another great lesson with the Pabst family. Again, we watched the Testaments and again the Spirit filled the room. It is such a powerful movie! One of the four came to church last Sunday but we're hoping that the rest will show as well soon.  

"The Forgotten District"

Oh yeah, transfers are this week. No worries, I'm still in Brewster. The both of us actually. Not much change to our district either.

Still no snow but it is getting colder.  We have been doing lots of service as well. Raking leaves is a PAIN!  : )  We had to do that at a couple houses. Also we helped the Boudreau family move some things around in their house too. One of the families in the branch, the Biegas, is getting sealed this weekend at the temple and hopefully we'll be able to attend. I'm excited for that.  Hoping that things pick up again before the next big holiday hits in a couple weeks.

Take care for now. I love you all and you guys are the reason why I continue to work. Thank you for the blessing that you all are to my life. I miss you and pray for you.  Have a great week!!

Elder Henson

Martha's Vineyard 2010

 

"I Love Being a Missionary..."

11-24-2010

Hello again,

Sorry I'm late writing this week. We had a district activity yesterday in Martha's Vineyard so I never got to the library. Martha's Vineyard was awesome. We had a lot of fun out on the beach (nobody got in the water haha). It was somewhat cold in the morning but it warmed up later on. Too bad our district is so far apart so we can't do activities like that more often. 



My Beach!  :-)

 The week went really well. We taught the Pabst family who was referred to us from the member and they had a lot of good questions. I could feel the spirit so strong as we answered their questions and went through the first discussion. They each accepted a Book of Mormon and will hopefully read and pray before our next appointment this week. I feel very good about them and their interest in joining our church. As for our other investigators, Carolyn is still struggling with obeying the word of wisdom.  Jim is the one who arranged that package that you should have gotten a few days ago. That's all for you, nothing for me to keep. He wanted to send to our families what we are experiencing here on the Cape. He's creative and so charitable.  Allyssa still seems disinterested, but enjoyed watching The Testaments in our last appointment. I hadn't seen that movie in a while and it was so powerful to me, and hopefully to her as well. We continue to struggle finding a time to meet with Dan, but he wants to be baptized yet still struggling to tell his folks. 

District Meeting was kind of cool because we had to sleepover the day before. It was like the MTC all over again. We had tours again this time with the Martha's Vineyard elders.  I stayed in Brewster this time with Elder Morales. Not only did I get to drive again, but this time I was basically in charge of scheduling appointments and figuring out what to do. Not an easy job but it was a decent day. Matter of fact, today I'm on tours with Elder Willard in Brewster. Again not a busy day, so we'll see what happens.

I've been struggling to come up with ideas for a Christmas list. Really the only two things I can come up with is a Red Sox cap and hoody to buy here. I'm sure you guys have some ideas for me so feel free to go for it because I'm no help haha.  I'm warning you now, I probably will be writing next Wednesday because Transfer Week changes P-day to Wednesday. 

Thanks again for the package and letters last week.  I have gotten a few letters from friends at school and other elders. Hope all is well and things are running smoothly.  I love being a missionary and enjoying the experiences I have each day. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!  I love you all. 

Elder Henson

Fly-By Week - On Splits for the 1st Time

11-15-2010

What up everybody!

… Another week on the Cape.  We had a lot happen this week. I went on splits for the first time on Tuesday. It was a solid lesson despite the little kids being...well kids. Ha-ha!



WE LOVE the Red Sox!

We went to leadership training the next day back in Weston. Such a long drive! The training was good and reminded me somewhat of the MTC all over again.  After that I had my first "tour" as I worked with Elder Snyder in Hingham. Elder Snyder is from California and is actually leaving at the end of the transfer. He's a very funny guy that was good to learn from because he had a lot of advice from his experiences. Hingham was a really nice area. You could see downtown Boston from certain spots there. The people that we met and taught there were really sincere and we had a lot of spiritual lessons during those two days (it was a super tour).

Got back to Brewster with Elder Crandell and realized how different and unique Cape Cod really is. ha-ha We were invited to an Eagle Court of Honor for one of the young men in the branch. They went all out with this Court of Honor, just decorated everywhere. We got to participate in the program since both of us are Eagles so that was cool. It made me very proud to have gotten that award, even though it was a pain.

Cool thing happened yesterday where we had a "break the fast" meal at the church after Sunday meetings. It’s pretty nice to not have any other wards/branches after you so that can happen.

The weather has cleared up the last few days and it has been beautiful outside, though it is still chilly, especially at night.

Our investigators are continuing to progress. Carolyn hasn't smoked for three days, which is a huge deal. Jim is doing well with his business, and he met one of the members of the branch the other day with us. Allyssa read a little from the Book of Mormon and hopefully will gain a little more interest in that. We have continued to be steady with our key indicators and we have a lot of appointments and lessons lined up for this week. So many that I was frustrated trying to schedule them all in! Ha-ha. It’s amazing!

Hope all is well back home.  I'm glad you guys enjoyed those letters. I miss you guys and am praying for you all daily. Keep up the good work and the blessings will flow in :)

Have a great week!!

Elder Henson

Success and Blessings

11-8-10

Hello again everyone,

What a great week!

I am very happy with the success and blessings me and Elder Crandell have had the last few days. We've set up 3 baptismal dates. Carolyn has a calendar set up so she meets with us twice a week and quits smoking and drinking coffee by the 14th so she can be baptized on the 27th. We are still working with Jim to get to church and set a goal for December 5th to have him baptized, but that's more of a faithful goal. We have a new investigator Dan who has met missionaries before and wants to be baptized but is afraid to ask his parents (more his grandma), so we're helping him gain confidence. Also we met and taught Allyssa who is friends with a member, Katelyn, and we set a date for December 18th with her. There are also a couple referrals we have contacted who are interested in the discussions so there looks to be more dates coming. It is awesome!

Elder Crandell had us use the cup lesson for most of our lessons this week. It is a visual display of a cup pyramid that shows the foundation of the church, the twelve apostles and the prophet. This shows the same church that Christ established during His ministry is on the earth today in the same organization. I was impressed by it, and so was our audience (ha-ha). 


Zone Conference in Weston was pretty cool. I got to meet many more elders and learned some good skills to have on the mission. That morning our car had frost on it, so we had to scrape it off. It was 28 degrees that morning!!!  Brrr! 

President and Sister Evans' son, Will, was at ZC and he, to my astonishment, was my EFY counselor from '07!  It was awesome to catch up with him. (Especially For Youth (EFY) is a youth program sponsored by the Church and is held each summer at various locations.  Brandon attended the ones held at Brigham Young University-Provo, UT)

I just got over a little cough and sore throat that I had most of the week. The weather just continues to get colder and wetter (ha-ha). Stake conference was also this weekend in Franklin. It took two hours to get there...but it was good. Elder W.T. David Murray, an Area 70, was the visiting general authority.

This week should be interesting as we have leadership training back in Weston and then my first companion exchange, or tour, after that. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm sending letters to you guys today so those should be there in a couple days.

Thank you for your unconditional love and support. Hope you all have a great week!

Love you all!!!

Elder Henson

Solid Week on the Cape

Monday, 11-1-2010

Hey Hey Everybody!

I’ve put in the first full week out in the field. I am starting to love it out here but still adjusting to the new life. There are a lot of good and promising things going on out here. Elder Crandell and I are putting our best effort into this area.



My 1st Companion

 We have a couple investigators. Carolyn has been investigating for awhile.  She's great & continues to go church so we're just helping her as best as we can. Jim is another investigator and he is a saint. He has helped us out so much with what's what in the area and getting us things that we might need. He loves to talk and and we have some good conversations with him. He's a little self-conscious about a few things so we hope to bring members to his store to fellowship with him. We are picking the weeds and finding a few other new investigators here and there so we are continuing to fill our teaching pool. I love the Brewster Branch! They're such a great group and they really do love the missionaries.

There's this one 10 year old Alex Biega who is just a stud. He plays hockey and basketball, and also can “jerk” and dance. He reminds me a lot of Bryce and I see him as another little brother. Pretty much all the young men in the branch mess with us like older brothers. It's pretty laid back, ha-ha. We get dinners from members most of the week but there are a couple days where I have to bust out the frozen dinners and chicken noodle soup ha-ha.

The views I've seen!
October 2010


The weather was nice early in the week but it is getting cold very quickly all of a sudden. The sun is out though, so that is somewhat nice. Zone conference is on Wednesday and I am looking forward to that. It'll be fun to see more missionaries because we are pretty lonely out here on the Cape.  We’re about an hour and a half away from the closest companionship. As far as going to the temple, we're not really sure, but I think we'll get a chance pretty soon.

I did get the letters from you guys last Monday after the email and I got the package with the USB and CDs. "Ask and ye shall receive" ha-ha. Thanks so much!  I actually did get letters from Ashley Ellis and Kamala Kelley last Monday. It was so nice to get those, and from what it sounds I should be expecting more soon  :). If you can find more church music CDs (more Alex Boye’, he's awesome), that'd be great. Yeah, keep on recruiting more letters and hopefully they'll come through eventually.

Sounds like Breck had a good time at the Homecoming dance.  It does seem like a bummer that Halloween was yesterday (on Sunday) .  We had to be in by 6pm because you know how kids are on that specific night ha-ha. So yeah I think that is all that I can remember from this week.

Time is starting to blur together again like at the MTC.  I love you and am continually praying for you in all you do.  I'll try to spit a letter out later this week.  Have a great week!

Elder Henson

1st P-Day on the Cape

Monday, 10-25-2010

Wassup Everybody!

I know it’s only been a couple days since my last email but today is my p-day (preparation day) so I get another chance to tell ya how the weekend went. We met President Barlow on Saturday, who gave us good info on those less-active and investigating in the branch. Then we went tracting.

1st Missionary Apartment - Dennis Port.

We first we went just around our apartment in Dennis Port. Yes, it’s the barn-looking building with a “Clean My Roof” sign in front. The door is on the backside of the building. Not much luck around the area. A lot are of the Catholic faith. We did meet a guy named Jim who just moved in and hadn't heard of our church so hopefully we'll get a chance to teach him this week. We then drove a good half hour to Hyannis, where there's been recent success. The neighborhoods are much more active than in Dennis and we got a few people interested in a future lesson.

Sunday we met most of the branch members. They LOVE missionaries! They all were very nice and considerate to us and we can tell they have high expectations for us. The branch mission committee told us of some plans that they have lined up to get us more opportunities to teach, more so with less actives.

Today we were in Hyannis tracting and we met a lady named Patricia, who was of the Bahaii faith (I think I spelt that right...) (Baha’i). I have never heard of it and Elder Crandell knows little of it so it was a good spiritual conversation as we both talked about our faiths. It was amazing how the faiths were somewhat similar. Hopefully she reads the Book of Mormon we gave her.

Yeah the district includes us as well as the Elders in the Cape Cod branch, the Martha's Vineyard branch, and the Plymouth branch. It takes us about an hour and a half drive to District Meeting at the Cape Cod chapel. Most everything is at least a good half hour away. I doubt Elder Crandell knows how to drive in snow so we'll just pray and hope for the best (ha-ha). 

Footsteps in the Sand at a
Cape Cod Beach.



I'll have to check the mail to see if those letters you sent came. You can send them to the mission office or home and they'll forward it to me.

The Cape is a tourist spot during the summer so it is the offseason right now, making it somewhat difficult to find people. It is cool to see the beaches though.

Well I gotta get to my errands. We went tracting this morning since it’s hard to do at night and now we have P-day the rest of the day.

I love you all. I'll check back next week.

Elder Henson

Hello Boston & Massachuetts!

Saturday, 10-23-10

Hey Everybody,
I am finally here on the east coast! It has been a crazy first couple days out here in the field. The last week at the MTC went by so fast. It was somewhat hard to leave my new friends there but I was so excited to get into the field. 

Wednesday me and the other 6 new elders got on our flight to Boston. It was a pretty miserable 4 hour flight, but we landed eventually at the Boston airport. I felt like I was landing in a foreign country! There was so much green around, I thought it was like a dream. We met President Evans and Sister Evans at the airport and were transported out to the mission home in Natick. 

Downtown Boston was pretty sketch. The graffiti on the walls was so legit and there were a lot of old buildings around the area. We drove by Fenway Park, which was awesome! The people here drive way different than anywhere else. We were in some traffic and people are allowed to drive on the shoulder lane as if its another driving lane. Not to mention we almost got hit like twice haha. There are even terms for certain driving maneuvers they do... like the Boston blast, Boston creep, and Boston shadow. 

We got to the mission home and it was pretty nice. Felt like any other home, not really extravagant. Sister Evans made a great dinner for us (which helped because I pretty much hadn't eaten the whole day) and we were given a lot of orientation, along with interviews with the Evans. 

Then came the Transfer Meeting the next morning at the Belmont Chapel, next to the Boston Temple. It's cool how the Moroni towers over the trees. I got to see Elder Chavez and Elder Wright who both were at the Y with me.  My trainer is Elder Crandell. He's been out here 7 1/2 months and is from Mesa, AZ. He is a pretty cool and a funny guy that I've gotten along great with. It looks like we're going to be great friends after this transfer because our area is going to be pretty difficult. 

Map of Cape Cod (click to enlarge)



We are assigned to the Brewster Branch, which has about 30 active members. The area is basically all of Cape Cod, that little elbow down in southeast Massachusetts. Neither of us know the area because Elder Crandell was in Cambridge his first 7 months. Therefore its called "shotgun" training. It was actually Elder Chavez's last area so he told me somewhat of the happenings around here. It is a very big area! The Branch is spread out all across Cape Cod and it takes us probably 30 minutes to get to the church building in Brewster. 

 
After the Transfer Meeting we headed out to Dennis Port where our "not so bad" apartment is. We had dinner at Bro. Corb's home and met him (Elder's Quorum President) and Bro. Arvidson (Branch Mission Leader). Yesterday we had district meeting with the other 6 elders in our district. They are all funny Elders and easily welcomed me in. After that, me and Elder Crandell have just been cleaning up our apartment and making plans for what we're going to do around here. There's really only one progressing investigator, Caroline, who's been going to church frequently and one recent convert, Bethany, who was baptized back in July. I'm excited for what's to come.

Hope everything is going well at home. I was so happy to call you guys the other day. Felt like I was really at home for a little bit. Thanks for the cold weather wear and treats in that package at the mission home. I've been putting those thermals to good use because the wind is just blowing right through me and its already in the mid 50s, not to mention rain since I got here. I'm kinda scared for what weather is to come in the next few weeks. 

My new address is 355 A Main St. Dennis Port, MA 02639. Make sure to get that on my blog so I can get some letters from friends and relatives. My P-day will be on Monday and since I didn't get one this week due to travel, we are checking out the library and other surroundings along with sending this email. So get excited for Mondays mom :).  I'll try to get a photo card adapter so I can send some pics through these emails, or I'll just print and send like at the MTC. Have a great week! 

I love you all and are thinking of you guys each day. Keep me in your prayers as I start this expedition.

Elder Henson

On His Way

Wednesday, 10-20-2010

We were able to hear from Brandon this morning - what a great treat!  We weren't sure when he was flying out, but he called about 8 am our time.  He was at the SLC airport waiting for his non-stop flight to Boston that was leaving at 10am.  It was so great to hear his voice.  He loved his time at the MTC, but he was ready and excited to go. 

Elder Henson was traveling with 6 other Elders - 3 English speaking and 3 Spanish speaking.  We talked for almost 40 min.  The flight is 4 1/2 hrs.  A long day, but at least he will get there in during the daylight hours.  We can't wait to hear of his new adventures and about all of his “firsts” - first companion, apartment, area, meeting the mission president and seeing the area he will be serving in for 2 years.  We can't wait to hear where his first area will be. 

We are so proud of Brandon's desire to serve.  We miss him like crazy!  Please write to him.  He would love it!