{hola fam}

Hey everyone, it's so good to be back here writing you all again and it's been a good week for us for the most part. Many good experiences happened this week and we are really working hard. I am excited for this new transfer. As i'm writing to you all in a library it's dark and cloudy outside and it's cold ha man i can just feel the cold coming yikes! haha but maryland weather is crazy i asked for long sleeve shirts cause it was gettting cold and i haven't worn one yet cause it was like 80 degrees and sunny and hot this week. haha maryland to put it short is just....different. but i love it and we are having a good time in the DIrty. Thank you all for the letters and the packages this week i was fed this week with letters and that was so so sweet. Thanks mom and dad for your letters they were the best and the shirts momma! I got a package from the young's in the ward mom and dad our home teachers. they went me a bunch of halloween stuff that was really nice of them make sure to thank them for me. and thanks to my pen pals those letters were the best this week. People are going all out here for halloween it's crazy how big of a deal it is out here. Every house is decked out and decorated it's really crazy i'll take some pictures of some of these houses and get them to ya.
Well this week we worked a lot with alan and teaching him so that he could get the priesthood. He passed yesterday and will be confirmed next sunday! Man that kid is such a stud you guys have no idea. Ha we had a member from glen burnie feed us this big black family and they just stuffed us full of spaghetti and bread and then we went over to alans house and his mom had made us authentic mexican carne asada tacos! Man i must have gained ten pounds just that night. I wasn't hungry at all and she just kept bringing more and more and mroe food i could barely hold it down. ha new rule for me and elder caballero, when we have alan we can't eat dinner because we went last night and same exact thing happened how a member fed us and then went to his house and his mom had a huge meal. I guess i can't complain though right haha But i'm so happy when were with alan because he just has a testimony and we watched Mountain of the Lord with him and have been talking a lot about the temple. One of my favorite things to talk about! But he's a stud and i can't wiat till you get to meet him one day, because i know that he'll be around for a while.
Well this week was a bit of a struggle as far as teaching and getting investigators to church. This is two weeks in a row that we haven't gotten any to church and it's really tuff, because when we invite them they ask if it's in spanish and we have to say no but we translate and that turns a lot of them away, and we really need to start working with the members that are spanish. we have two big families that never come and they are turning into our number one priority because unitl they start coming we'll never be able to start a spanish branch and we need one badly! So that's our big goal this week is to get the members who are less active back and coming to church because without them the investigators don't any support system to see that other espanos are there are listening with their head phones too ha.
This week with Luis was tuff he got into some financial trouble with some people and couldn't meet with us and said that he was gonna come to church because we wanted to baptize him in 2 weeks if he came for the next 2 sundays and he didn't show up. It's getting tuff with him because when we are there he's great and happy and excited and then we leave and he forgets so we need to do better at seeing him more often. Elder Caballero and i have so much work to do and have so many people that we need to contact alot like alan and luis and the less active members but we can do it. We haven't found a lot of people in glen burnie because we usually go out in different areas but as of lately we have been finding more and more and it's been great. We have an appt tonight with a lady that we think were gonna commit her to be baptized tonight! And elder caballero when he was on exchanges on sat. found another lady that seems promising. We have lots of people that will listen to us it's just getting that return appt.but were gonna get these people to baptism no doubts it's just gonan take some time and paciencia, which the mission is teaching me haha.
This week i went on an exchange with elder bankhead the AP. He was the one that i got to talk to first thing wehn i got here and i love the guy! He's 24 years old lives in provo and is almost done with school and just decided later that the mission was for him and he's here. He's the most loving person i think that i have ever met, and we had a great exchange. Where the Ap's live is the same area as us up in brooklyn park and that area is just a really poor area.We had a few appts up there and there were a few members that we went and visited. I think i've seen some of the most poverty in my life up here and these people are the most humble people. They have nothign and ya they make choices that don't help them out but to see elder bankhead go into one of those houses and just love the people was a amazing to see. These little girls just came up to him and swarmed him haha it was a good lesson on loving the people that's for sure! His area also covers part of baltimore so i got to drive right by the city for the first time that i have been here and see camden yards and the bay and all that good stuff. That was pretty sweet to finally see what i had been looking at on the internet for the past 3 months. It's really cool though to go on exchanges with these guys because i've learned a lot on the type of missionary that i want to be and the things that i need to get there. Elder bankhead talked to me about what he would suggest for me to do for the rest of my mision and i lvoed what he told me. He was like don't let other people do it for ya, be a go getter and be the solution to a problem. Figure things out and always try to find a solution and i really liked that. we got told a quote by elder robbins who said "problem=gold mine" and it's that mentality that is key out here especially for elder caballero and i for the spanish and the ward.
Yesterday was a sweet fast sunday though we did a apartment fast and i really feel that the things that we fasted for were so good and the lord is gonna help us out. We live with two other great elders and we are trying to get the ward behind us and get their support. We are trying to do a night at the chruch where we will bring investigators to the church and members come too and we teach and so the members will get a hang of what we do and then when we ask them to come teach with us they wont be so affraid, and i think that we can get this going and that it will turn out good for us if we can be persistent with us, ha you gotta learn how to be persistent in the Dirty. But that's somethign else that we are workign on. The espanol is going ok we are doing our best to talk more while we are together and i am learning more and more it just takes time and i am figuring out that i am getting way better at understanding it so that's the best feeling. I just gotta open my dang mouth more haha.
Well fam this is it another letter and i'm out ha i love you all so much and i hope you have had a great week. I'm glad to hear your ok Bell and i know that your driving the truck for a reason:) i love you bell. And once again congrats nick and jess i lov eyou both and am so happy for you two. I'm gonna be a sweet uncle that's all i can say! I love you all this gospel is amazing and yesterday as i bore my testimony is church about conference and this happiness that we have, man we have it all and i am so happy that i'm apart of this. I love you all so much, thanks for the letters again everyone and pen pals. Have a great week and i'll be just fine in the Dirty no worries! Les amo
Elder Hammer