fam

Hey fam and friends! How are all of you? I know that you are all doing great so i don't even need to ask that but it's always akward trying to start off my letters haha so i guess i'll just doing it in an akward way by saying its akward haha alright enough of that. Man we had such a great week this last week, our numbers didn't give justice to the week we had but sometimes thats how it goes. Thank you all for the letters and love this week! Thanks grandma hafen for the box WOW you should have seen the other elders eyes when i opened that box ha and they have been snacking on that for the past week and it seems like it's still full haha thank you so much for the letter as well. Thanks rodgers fam for the card. I really appreciate all you do for me guys like really you guys are amazing.
Alright well first and foremost Luis and alejandra. So last week we taught them about the priesthood and about relief society. It went really well and luis is getting more and more understandign of the importance of this stuff. We had planned to just confirm luis yesterday because alejandra had to wrk so we were gonna do her on next sunday. But she asked if she could have work off which never works for her and they let her off. So yesterday one after the other luis and alejandra were confirmed by Elder Caballero. It was so sweet! Luis was all smiles and of course alejandra was in tears haha she's a little emotional roller coaster but thats good the tears are always good when their tears of happiness. And it was so sweet we had 6 spanish members at church yesterday! when i first got here i'm not gonna lie the spanish was pretty low and the work was slow but elder caballero and i with all the credit going to the lord have got this spanish ball rolling. We have never had more than 2 or 3 members there and we are starting to really get things going here. I hope i don't get transfered and i dont' think i will cause elder caballero has been here 6 months but i just have so much more i wanna do in this area before i leave and to get a branch started. We really gotta work on the preisthood holders and aget them here, but little by little things are getting so much better and this area is startign to grow. Before alan the last baptism here was in january of 08 almost 2 years and we've had 3 in the last 3 months. It really is so amazing that if you wanna work the lord will bless you with these sweet opportunities. But we have so much more to do.
This past week we went over to Alans house and lately he has been on such a kick to join the marines and go serve his country and all this which is great but we have been trying to get him on a mission first! We haven't forced it too much but this week we were over there at his house with his mom and his best friend and he was like "i think i wanna go on a mission" It was so sweet to hear because he is the type of person that says something and he'll do it so to hear him say that was so sweet. We went over there the other night and he wasn't there but we got to talk to his mom for like an hour and a half. We have been trying to get to teach her but it just wasn't going anywhere but we had the best discussion about life and the loss of her husband and she said that she would want to go to the temple with us! And then to make it even better, Alan has a best firend named jose who is in a world of trouble and has been in and out of rehab and drugs but is a nice person. Well he started askign me about the church and about the mission and said that he would want to listen to us because he hasnt' found himself yet in his life. Man is the lord looking at over us or what, we have people coming in from everywhere that need this happiness so bad and it's just so sweet to see it all coming together.
So elder caballero and i are the spanish missionaries over 6 different wards but the spanish meets in glen burnie, but we are also the english elders in fort smallwood branch, so we go on teamups a couple nights a week with them but dont' do much work over there. This past week though this couple came into the church and need financial help and most of the time when that happens you kinda get that feeling when you talk to them that there just there for the money. But our branch pres. said that they committed to letting us teach them so we went over there this week and taught the lady and her husband. Rick and evalyn. rick is from baltimore and is a little ruff around the edges and evalyn is from honduras and is just a sweet sweet lady. She's was religious and her mom is a missionary for another church. When she was 8 years old she and her mom and some kids from her church walked from NICARAGUA to Honduras in 14 days non-stop! This lady knows what faith is and her english is really good too. So we went over there this week and taught them with the Branch Pres. During the lesson i asked her how she felt about everything and she said, when i walked into your church i felt the greatest peace come over me and i knew that there was something different. We walked out of that lesson and they are both on date to be baptized december 5th! ShE was in tears during the lesson and it was one of those great experiences that i'll never forget. Yesterday there they were 15 minutes early to church in the best clothes they could find with little REBA. Reba is the niece of rick but they have had her since she was 9mnths and she is 3 now. THe mom is a drug addict and the dad is in jail and they took her in. She is the cutest little thing in the world and has a question for everything, hey you what are you looking at, why are you smiling, whats this green book? (the hymn book) haha she is so cute and i can't wait to see where this family goes. Usually i'm not too excited about english work because i just wanna do spanish, but she speaks spanish a little with us and mostly just english but it doesnt' matter. They were put in our laps and i am so happy to be the one that gets to teach them and see them progress. THey had a way good experience at church yesterday and they were answering questions in gospel essentials, reba cried when she had to leave nursery haha its amazing people this is the most amazing work in the world!
This past week we ran into a guy knocking that was like hey i served a mission he's 26 years old from el salvador and served in honduras. hE'S not active for some reason but we'll figure it out and get him back to church no worries there, but i can see him as the branch president of our branch that we need haha can you see what i mean when i say that the lord is watching over us, it's amazing!
> Well thats it for this week guys, i love it in the dirty i love this work and i am happy! Thanks for all your prayers and love. Thanks for the letters and packages and my pen pals, Thank you! I love you all and hope the best week for you all. Les amo
Elder Hammer