{hola fam}

Hey family! Wow another has gone by! And i though the time at the MTC went by fast wow these last two weeks have flown by and i can't beleive the places i've been the people i've seen and the opportunities i have had wow! I can't believe what a mission really is. You can't prepare yourself at the the MTC for this experience haha it is just so different but it is the greatest, most humbling work that i have ever done. I loved opening up your emails this week thank you all so much. I really am so blessed to have such great people in my life who constantly write me and who are continually filling me in on their lives and i just love it, so thank you all very much. First and formost i have an announcement haha P DAYS ARE NOW ON MONDAYS AFTER TODAY. so this next monday the 14th i will be back emailing you again. President Belliston wanted to change it because he has seen some declines in the days of monday and tuesday after sunday when for our whole lives sunday has been the end of the week and he just wants us to start the week on monday for p day and the rest of the week working hard so ya thats something you might like to know haha but that is a permanent swith and will be like that forever.
So this week i was spoiled with packages and letters thank you all so much. Mom the tie hanger was a must i was gonna get one of those and you read my mind and now i've got one and all my ties hanging on there (color coordinated of course) haha I know nick has that same appreciation of color coordinating ties haha but thanks so much mom for the treats and the letters and notes. And thanks to everyone who sent me stuff. i have no need to ever feel hungry or loved cause you all take care of that for me so much and i appreciate them all so much so thank you thank you.
So i've had my first glimpse of east coast weather this week ha It's been raining and cloudy for most of the week and it doesn't look like it's gonna be changing ha but wow if you all wanna try something fun, get on a bike and ride from st. george to about......cedar city haha in the rain. Ha it's great knocking on doors when your soaking wet, people actuallly let us in ha. I don't think it's cause they want to listen to us though but more of that they feel bad for us. But ya the weather here is crazy haha but i love it cause when we are out on bikes we get to see and meet so many people and thats the best part because most people will at least listen to us. But ya i am a little akward on a bike. ha 6'5'' people just were not made to be riding bikes. Ha my seat is as high as it can go and it kinda looks like a circus when i'm on there but hey i manage alright and it's fun. haha You all know i'm just joking around because i love biking and everything about it!
This week we had one of our investigators names Elso come to church again! which was sweet because it's in english and that pushes alot of people away but he has came for the last two weeks and we put the wood to him and he committed to be baptized! We need to set up a date with him and he's got a lot of work to do but i have so much faith in this guy, and obviously he does too because he wouldn't be coming to church if he didn't ha but ya i'm excited about him. And then we have another investigator named Marta who was a media referal and we have been over there a couple times and were able to commit her to baptism. But then we went over there last night to talk with her more and set up a date and she gave us the cold shoulder and said she didn't want to change from catholic and that she just believes that all about christ is good and that we are true but so is catholic. for the first time i was like slapped in the face i couldn't believe this lady was saying this but i think that her family is influencing her not to join and so were gonna have to keep working on her because i know she has felt the spirit and knows it's true so were gonna keep working on her and hopefully we can get her to feeling the truth again.
We were up in Brooklyn Park the other day knocking some houses and were able to find this lady name veronica and she had a couple kids and she is really interested and her sister lives down the street and is married to a less active member. We are so excited to go after these people because they are such great people and elder caballero had the opportunity to talk with the guy and we think he's gonna get coming back to church and ya i'm just really gaining a testimony that the lord really puts people in our way for a reason and there is constant opportunities to serve. Like yesterday we went to a place that we haven't been to in a long time and we talked with 3 new guys and got return appointments with all 3 of them and it just amazes me that we are able to find so many new people. I know thats not us though thats for sure it's the lord, we don't have many baptismal dates but we have a lot of new people that we are gettign started on and that is really exciting for sure!
So this week i got my first experience with the LATINO COMIDA (food). haha we went over to one of our iffy investigators and are trying to teach them but they can't read adn so that makes it difficult but were workign with them, but we walk in there and she chatters off this thing and i don't know what she says but elder caballero just looks over at me and says "i hope your hungry" haha and now my mind started to imagine what we were gonna eat ha. So we sit up at the table and there's three torillas on my plate and they are stuffed with this "stuff" ha and i din't want to know what i was eating i just said please bless this food not to kill me haha and i dug in and wow it was so good! They had this hot sauce that was HOT but i'm starting to like that stuff but i ate and ate and we were stuffed. In the middle was like this bean cheesy meaty stuff and it was pretty good so i din't ask any questions and i guess they are called "POPUSO" OR POPUSA i don't know but they were really good and come to find out after, the stuff inside was beans and cheese and pig skin grinded up in a food processor haha i didn't care though they were dang good and i'm still living and i'm here today so i'm alright and i'd eat them again for sure haha. Tonight we are going over to a less actice members family named the chavez and she is making us dinner so i'll have a story to report on monday haha. No but we are being fed so good and we took over a new area and that ward feeds us two or three times a week and we are having good food, so don't you worry mom.
So this week we were at a lesson and Elder caballero pulled out a picture of his family in his scriptures and started to talk about his family and i was like i need to do that. So i put one in there of us and 3 times this past week i have pulled it out and shown them my family as we teach about eternal families and the importance of families. I love pulling that thing out because they are all just excited to see the fam and everyone says i look like you pops! Every person has said that i thought that was kinda funny but ya so i have the pictures of our fam and your being shown to Maryland. haha
So this week at church we got a note in sacrament meeting and there was this kid sitting up in front the was hispanic by himself and we had never seen him before. So we went up there after church and talked to him. Come to find out that he has wants to investigate the church and he just showed up and wanted to see what it was like. (It doesn't get any easier than that wow) So we set up an appt with him and we taught him two days ago. Wow this kid is a stud he's 19 and lives with his mom and brother and is supporting them and paying for everything, and he siad that his mom has taken care of him his whole life and that it was time for him to step up and take care of his mother who he loves so much. Wow i never realized how blessed i am and to hear someone say that hit me. These people sacrifice so much out here and i just dont' think we will ever realize how good our life is. We are so blessed. But back to the lesson he totally was feeling the spirit and we taught him the first lesson and this week at the D.C. Temple they are having a culutral hispanic night on sat and sunday so we invited him to that and he siad he would. I'm so excited because we don't get to go to the temple here more than like once a year unless we take investigators and we can go, so we are going to the temple with him on sat night with his mom and brother, adn we committed him to be baptised and he said that he would be baptized on the 26th of sep! I am so excited to teach him more and to keep him progressing but i feel liek he is so solid and i hope that he keeps feeling the spirit because he is an amazing kid and could be a big bonus in helping us get a spanish branch started! I'll keep you posted on that for sure! But ya i'm so excited about him and others that we have too.
Well thats about it for this week and i hope you all have enjoyed your week and thank you all so much for all you do and for the great people that you are i dunno what it is but there just is a whole new appreciation in my life for the people that are with me and have influenced me! Thanks for the letters and all my pen pals for writing me and keeping me all updated. i love them. I am loving it here in good ol glen burnie, maryland. we really are so blessed and have so much to do and i hope that all goes well this week with marta and elso and alan and all our new ones as well. Thank you all so much and i love you all tons. Have a great week and i just love this gospel and we are all so blessed to have a savior and his sacrifice for us. It's the leas ti can do to be here for him! Have a great week everyone and i love you all!
Con mucho amor,
Elder hammer