Hola mi familia y mis amigos!!!!!!
Hey, hey, hey how's everyone doing? It's been a pretty good week this past week for us and we have seen some pretty cool miracles in the area. The weather has been cold and wet but Hermano Mora bought an i phone and was showing me the weather this weekend is supposed to be 80 so that's fine with me haha.
First off i just want to say to the North Family that my thoughts and prayers have been with you all this past week as Grandma Hafen wrote me and told me the news about Grandpa North. He wasn't even my Grandpa but still felt like family to me and i hope that all is with the Norths. We are really blessed to know the Plan of Salvation and i know that CAL is just up there resting now. I hope all goes well and my thoughts are prayers are with the North Family, love you guys.
This week has been a little bit of a roller coaster but it's been fun. We just got done playing basketball as a zone and our mission president came and played with us! He's 64 years old and he was out there running the full court dropping 3's getting all physical with me when i was posting up haha it was so sweet to see. Our zone has a lot of fun but we really got to step it up as far as the work were in the bottom when it comes to numbers but we are climbing back up there. On another note the Pauda man got sick on thursday and we spent most of the day inside which is never fun. He was having some major stomach pains and did a little upchuck at one of lessons with an investigator, we were gonna take him to the hospital but he got feeling better, but ya staying in the apartment for more than an hour drives me nuts but i'm learning patience and got to make a lot of phone calls to investigators and some potentials.
Family Home Evening every week with the mora family is going so great! Each monday we go over there and they stuff us full of the best mexican food i've ever tasted and then we've been having lessons with them that have been so great! We layed it down pretty hard on hermano mora and told him he needs to step it up...and yesterday he was at church and bore his testimony AGAIN! We were there last week and he went outside for a sec and his wife was like elder hammer i don't know where you came from or what got into you but i think if someone else was like you and called my husband a nina a year ago he might of punched you in the face and then she started thanking me and elder pauda for all we've done, it's a sweet feeling to hear that from the members. I feel like Brother Mora is an investigator and a hard headed one at that but he's changing so much and he's really starting to have the desire to be at church and be the man he should. Hahaha he calls himself a lamanite and he has way long hair in a pony tail and i asked him if i could cut it for him like us and he said he's lost his lamanite power if he cut his hair haha he's a goofy guy but i love him.
Elder is doing good. He works every sunday so he can't come to church but he really opened up to us and told us a lot of things this past week about his past and how he used to be in a gang and drugs and just everything (a little too much info) but he wants to change and so we are helping him. He's worked at the same place for 3 years and has never had 1 DAY off from work, i don't understand it sometimes but seriously he's such a hard worker, the hispanic culture in general, they just are hard workers and i give them some serious props for what they do. But elder is doing good.
We got a new investigator this week named Selbin and Rosie. We taught rosie one time but like a month ago and it didnt' go all that well but i was on exchanges with elder hale and we decided to go by and see how she was doing. little did we know that her husband was the one that was ready. He told us that we only had 20 minutes so we showed the restoration dvd and just let the spirit do the work and the guy felt it. ANd he said the prayer before we left and i've never heard a prayer so sincere and so powerful like that from an investigator. We also went back and taught him about the book of mormon and he wants to read it. But once again work on sunday is the problem. TRABAJO, TRABAJO, TRABAJO. ha that's spanish for work and we hear that alot haha but it'll all work out.
Karla is doing great. we got a call from her when we had our appointment that her son had a bad allergic reaction and took him to the hospital. We offered to come over and give him a blessing and she said yes. We went over there and saturday and gave him a blessing and had a great lesson with her. She is so ready for baptism she just lives with a guy who is the father of her son and he doesn't want to get married but she knows it's true and has felt the spirit in her life. She couldn't come to church yesterday because of work, but we got a text from her at church that said " i just wanted to thank the both of you for being tools in the hands of god, because of you two god placed his hands on my sons head and blessed him and now he is fine" I never have gotten a feeling of gratitude quite like that one and it was so special. The priesthood is so real and we really are nothing but just that, tools in his hands and to see the power of that blessing. She is coming to conference this weeked and were really excited.
Well we have conference coming up and just as we are doing with all of our members and all of investigators, were askign them to think of a question or two and start preparing to recieve answers from conference so that's something i want to invite all of you to do to think of some questions on the mind and look for those through conference. were so blessed to hear from the prophet and the apostles and i couldn't think of a better way to spend my 20th than that. i hope you all have a great experience this weekend.
Thanks aunt mitzie for the gift card and that picture, ha it seems like just yesterday me and little jon were like that and wow that time has come and gone. thanks grandma hafen for your letter and that crazy coincidence to talk to someone who served in my same mission. Thanks for your letters they really are the best and thanks for all that all of you do for me letters, prayers just everything. I'm so blessed to be here and blessed to have the people around me that i do! Have a wonderful week and enjoy conference! I love you all
Con amor
Elder Hammer
ps good luck bell with the wisdom teeth i'll be praying for ya!!
Monday, March 29, 2010
march 22nd
Hola!!!!
Well first and foremost today was callouts and me and elder pauda are staying here for another transfer. Not a big suprise though...but i'm excited for another one with the pauda man!!! This past week has been so sweet!! the weather is about as a spring as it gets and it was to the point where last night i got out all my short sleeve shirts that have been hibernating in my suitcase for about 6 months to wash them today and get them ready....and i wake up and it's pouring rain haha but it's all good spring is here and i'm loving it! People are outside playing sports have barbecues all kinds of good opportunities for us to get out and meet new people and find those elects. Thanks for all the letters, grandma hafen thanks so much for the letters and stories of grandpa snow i loved those and the 20$ your the best thank you thank you! and the Cope family thanks so much for your package and your sweet letters! And of course Marsh for your packages and letters from the fam thanks a bunch!!!!!
Well this past week our mission had a really cool opportunity to have Greg Droughbay from the Mtc who is the director of proselyting for all the church. He was 1 of the 4 who were in charge of getting Preach My Gospel started. One day he just sat down and started writing the first lesson. Basically this guy knows his stuff and we had a big meeting with him all the district and zone leaders from the mission and got to be instructed by him for about 7-8 hours!!!! It was such a sweet opportunity to listen to him teach us and what we need to do better. Most of the time when these guys come everyone gets freaked out becasue they lay it down on obedience but he didn't have much to say about that and just got to the good stuff which was way sweet. I walked away from that meeting about as fired up as i have ever been. And then after he was done President Belliston got up and shared his thoughts and had most of us missionaries in tears as he sat and talked about what a mission has meant to him in his life. He was balling the whole time and i've never seen him like that and most of us were in tears as the spirit was for surely there. It was a really cool experience and we have a lot to impliment in the work but there were some great promised from Bro. DROUGHBAY that i know will help us further the work.
This past week was a heartbreaker with Jesus Vasquez who was supposed to get baptized april 3rd. He didnt' come to church yesterday and we were kind of trying to figure out why so we went over to his house last night to talk with him. Basically to put it short his wife hasn't listened to us when we are there and i never have really felt to welcome in his house by here and it's always bothered me and i've invited her to listen and she shuts us down. But we went over there last night and he told us that she just is getting more and more bothered by us coming over there and that she just doesn't want to learn and JEsus wants to but it's killing the marriage and so we just had to tell him that we are gonna let them be for a couple weeks and come back. As jesus was telling us this it really was tuff because we were so close with him and his wife just wasn't having it. So were just praying and praying that something will happen with him and his wife to where she softens her heart enough to let us in to her heart and so they both can progress together.
We did have a couple of cool experiences with a couple investigators, 1 named Karla who the missionaries were teaching before i got here and were really close to baptism and then she kind of disappeared and we didnt' know what happened and so we kind of put her out of it. Well she called us and wants to keep listening and she came to church this past sunday! We had one of the greatest members of the branch there with us and she's a gem and picked her up and ya we are really excited about her and her progression.
Also Melvin Carranza kind of fell off the planet and then he called us and was at church this past sunday and now we have a lesson with him tonight! I guess the lord gives some and he takes some and melvin and karla really have been some tender mercies from the lord this past week we really are working so hard trying to find the elects out there and we knwo they are there. Elder is doing good we had a lesson with him this past week and teaching him to pray when he has the desire to smoke and he is totally committed to stop smoking and he wants to start excercising more so that he gets feeling better.
Well it's been a pretty good week and now were off for another, thanks for all the love and support out here people i really appreciate it. Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!
CON AMOR
ELDER HAMMER
Well first and foremost today was callouts and me and elder pauda are staying here for another transfer. Not a big suprise though...but i'm excited for another one with the pauda man!!! This past week has been so sweet!! the weather is about as a spring as it gets and it was to the point where last night i got out all my short sleeve shirts that have been hibernating in my suitcase for about 6 months to wash them today and get them ready....and i wake up and it's pouring rain haha but it's all good spring is here and i'm loving it! People are outside playing sports have barbecues all kinds of good opportunities for us to get out and meet new people and find those elects. Thanks for all the letters, grandma hafen thanks so much for the letters and stories of grandpa snow i loved those and the 20$ your the best thank you thank you! and the Cope family thanks so much for your package and your sweet letters! And of course Marsh for your packages and letters from the fam thanks a bunch!!!!!
Well this past week our mission had a really cool opportunity to have Greg Droughbay from the Mtc who is the director of proselyting for all the church. He was 1 of the 4 who were in charge of getting Preach My Gospel started. One day he just sat down and started writing the first lesson. Basically this guy knows his stuff and we had a big meeting with him all the district and zone leaders from the mission and got to be instructed by him for about 7-8 hours!!!! It was such a sweet opportunity to listen to him teach us and what we need to do better. Most of the time when these guys come everyone gets freaked out becasue they lay it down on obedience but he didn't have much to say about that and just got to the good stuff which was way sweet. I walked away from that meeting about as fired up as i have ever been. And then after he was done President Belliston got up and shared his thoughts and had most of us missionaries in tears as he sat and talked about what a mission has meant to him in his life. He was balling the whole time and i've never seen him like that and most of us were in tears as the spirit was for surely there. It was a really cool experience and we have a lot to impliment in the work but there were some great promised from Bro. DROUGHBAY that i know will help us further the work.
This past week was a heartbreaker with Jesus Vasquez who was supposed to get baptized april 3rd. He didnt' come to church yesterday and we were kind of trying to figure out why so we went over to his house last night to talk with him. Basically to put it short his wife hasn't listened to us when we are there and i never have really felt to welcome in his house by here and it's always bothered me and i've invited her to listen and she shuts us down. But we went over there last night and he told us that she just is getting more and more bothered by us coming over there and that she just doesn't want to learn and JEsus wants to but it's killing the marriage and so we just had to tell him that we are gonna let them be for a couple weeks and come back. As jesus was telling us this it really was tuff because we were so close with him and his wife just wasn't having it. So were just praying and praying that something will happen with him and his wife to where she softens her heart enough to let us in to her heart and so they both can progress together.
We did have a couple of cool experiences with a couple investigators, 1 named Karla who the missionaries were teaching before i got here and were really close to baptism and then she kind of disappeared and we didnt' know what happened and so we kind of put her out of it. Well she called us and wants to keep listening and she came to church this past sunday! We had one of the greatest members of the branch there with us and she's a gem and picked her up and ya we are really excited about her and her progression.
Also Melvin Carranza kind of fell off the planet and then he called us and was at church this past sunday and now we have a lesson with him tonight! I guess the lord gives some and he takes some and melvin and karla really have been some tender mercies from the lord this past week we really are working so hard trying to find the elects out there and we knwo they are there. Elder is doing good we had a lesson with him this past week and teaching him to pray when he has the desire to smoke and he is totally committed to stop smoking and he wants to start excercising more so that he gets feeling better.
Well it's been a pretty good week and now were off for another, thanks for all the love and support out here people i really appreciate it. Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!
CON AMOR
ELDER HAMMER
march 15th
Hello, hello
Well spring was here for a few days, we were going without jackets sun was shining for a good 3 days, then the rain came and it's been raining since thursday but i love Maryland haha It's been a good week in Columbia and we have had some really cool experiences this past week. Thanks for the letters and packages, aunt mitzie thanks for the birthday cake and grandma hafen thanks for the great letters and i loved the article to just smile!!! It was a really good reminder and to be thankful for the ride! There really is power in just a simple smile and being positive in life.
Well to start out, i don't think this week could have been any more eventful in the sight of knocking on doors. If there were doors that i probably shouldn't have knocked on....well we did haha We knocked on one door of an african american man who was pretty nice and let us in after we gave him a pass along card of jesus christ. We were thinking sweet he let us in....ha not so good he tried to prove us wrong and tell us that Jesus CHrist was black and that we are teaching false doctrine...we got out of there quick haha We also knocked into some hispanics who were really nice great people let us in we were thinking oh man sweet 3 people this should be sweet....crazy missionaries from the pentecostals haha didn't go to swell and yeah we were out of there quick. Then we had the lovely experience of knocking on another door of an african american who also yelled at us because we think christ is white because that's the picture we use on th pass along card haha man this week really was sweet those were jsut some funny experiences(journal entries).
I went on exchanges with one of the english elders in our district and we had a way cool experience. THey got this media referral from a lady from IRAN name armagahn. She let us in and it was so sweet. The past week she was in Salt Lake at a business conference and had heard the salt lake was a holy city and that she needed to find the temple. Well she went there 3 different times before she had the guts to talk to the sister missionaries and was fascinated by the religion. She said she could feel it when she was at the temple. She was fascinated that the people there were happy and she said that she even asked the lady at the airport why are you people so happy ha she really struggled with the concept of only men get to be prophets becuase she's muslim and they don't believe that god has a gender so we tried to explain that to her and we taught her the entire plan of salvation drawing it out and i know she felt the spirit that day it was really a sweet experience to be apart of. That night we had dinner with some members in there ward and i said i was from ST. george and the lady got all excited and her dad came over. Her dad is ken (kenny) bowler and her grandpa was the mayor of st george and i guess he was a singer. I told her that my grandma would have all this genology to me by next week ha but it was kind of a cool connection. Dad ken bowler and bruce hurst started the DIXIE CELEBRITY CLASSIC golf tournamnet and i was telling him how much i love that tourney. But it was a really cool exchange and a fun experience.
Jesus Vasquez didn't come to church yesterday for an unknown reason but he's doign pretty good. The doubts are starting to come in and satan is working on him just as he does with all of our investigators that are close to baptism but its just the usual. THe big thing that we are finding is that his wife isn't into listening to us and he's wondering how he can do this by himself and without her and so we are going to try and go the temple this next weekend with him and his family. THere is a spirit there that they can't not feel. We are praying and praying that he'll get his answers and that he'll know that this is for him.
ELder is doing well we went to his house this last week and he was walking out right when we got there and he was like oh well im going to 7 11 to get a drink and so i was like well can we go with you and so we hoped in his truck and went to 7 11 and he even bought our drinks!!! We sat in his truck and talked about repentance for about an hour to try and help him over come his addiction with smoking. OUr ward mission leader used to smoke so we are going to bring him with us to teach him this next week which we are excited about.
We have a 19 year old less active named MARTIN who is from uruguay and weighs about 3 bills, but he's a good kid and hasnt' been to church in like 4 years. We always visit him and try to ge thim to church but he's always got some kind of excuse. But we went to his house this past week and usually he's a downer but he was stoked on life and was liek you guys are right when you read and pray and do whats right life is good(he got a job) and then he was like i wanna come to church tomoorrow. WE found him a ride and he was there with us! It was hard not having any investigattors at church...really hard but seeing him come to church after 4 years of not coming was so sweet!!!
All is well in Maryland though we are busting it trying to find the elects out here and i know that we'll find them we just got to have the faith to do it. I know that the lord loves us all and i love you all as well. THanks for your prayers and your love. have a great week.
Con AMOR
Elder Hammer
Well spring was here for a few days, we were going without jackets sun was shining for a good 3 days, then the rain came and it's been raining since thursday but i love Maryland haha It's been a good week in Columbia and we have had some really cool experiences this past week. Thanks for the letters and packages, aunt mitzie thanks for the birthday cake and grandma hafen thanks for the great letters and i loved the article to just smile!!! It was a really good reminder and to be thankful for the ride! There really is power in just a simple smile and being positive in life.
Well to start out, i don't think this week could have been any more eventful in the sight of knocking on doors. If there were doors that i probably shouldn't have knocked on....well we did haha We knocked on one door of an african american man who was pretty nice and let us in after we gave him a pass along card of jesus christ. We were thinking sweet he let us in....ha not so good he tried to prove us wrong and tell us that Jesus CHrist was black and that we are teaching false doctrine...we got out of there quick haha We also knocked into some hispanics who were really nice great people let us in we were thinking oh man sweet 3 people this should be sweet....crazy missionaries from the pentecostals haha didn't go to swell and yeah we were out of there quick. Then we had the lovely experience of knocking on another door of an african american who also yelled at us because we think christ is white because that's the picture we use on th pass along card haha man this week really was sweet those were jsut some funny experiences(journal entries).
I went on exchanges with one of the english elders in our district and we had a way cool experience. THey got this media referral from a lady from IRAN name armagahn. She let us in and it was so sweet. The past week she was in Salt Lake at a business conference and had heard the salt lake was a holy city and that she needed to find the temple. Well she went there 3 different times before she had the guts to talk to the sister missionaries and was fascinated by the religion. She said she could feel it when she was at the temple. She was fascinated that the people there were happy and she said that she even asked the lady at the airport why are you people so happy ha she really struggled with the concept of only men get to be prophets becuase she's muslim and they don't believe that god has a gender so we tried to explain that to her and we taught her the entire plan of salvation drawing it out and i know she felt the spirit that day it was really a sweet experience to be apart of. That night we had dinner with some members in there ward and i said i was from ST. george and the lady got all excited and her dad came over. Her dad is ken (kenny) bowler and her grandpa was the mayor of st george and i guess he was a singer. I told her that my grandma would have all this genology to me by next week ha but it was kind of a cool connection. Dad ken bowler and bruce hurst started the DIXIE CELEBRITY CLASSIC golf tournamnet and i was telling him how much i love that tourney. But it was a really cool exchange and a fun experience.
Jesus Vasquez didn't come to church yesterday for an unknown reason but he's doign pretty good. The doubts are starting to come in and satan is working on him just as he does with all of our investigators that are close to baptism but its just the usual. THe big thing that we are finding is that his wife isn't into listening to us and he's wondering how he can do this by himself and without her and so we are going to try and go the temple this next weekend with him and his family. THere is a spirit there that they can't not feel. We are praying and praying that he'll get his answers and that he'll know that this is for him.
ELder is doing well we went to his house this last week and he was walking out right when we got there and he was like oh well im going to 7 11 to get a drink and so i was like well can we go with you and so we hoped in his truck and went to 7 11 and he even bought our drinks!!! We sat in his truck and talked about repentance for about an hour to try and help him over come his addiction with smoking. OUr ward mission leader used to smoke so we are going to bring him with us to teach him this next week which we are excited about.
We have a 19 year old less active named MARTIN who is from uruguay and weighs about 3 bills, but he's a good kid and hasnt' been to church in like 4 years. We always visit him and try to ge thim to church but he's always got some kind of excuse. But we went to his house this past week and usually he's a downer but he was stoked on life and was liek you guys are right when you read and pray and do whats right life is good(he got a job) and then he was like i wanna come to church tomoorrow. WE found him a ride and he was there with us! It was hard not having any investigattors at church...really hard but seeing him come to church after 4 years of not coming was so sweet!!!
All is well in Maryland though we are busting it trying to find the elects out here and i know that we'll find them we just got to have the faith to do it. I know that the lord loves us all and i love you all as well. THanks for your prayers and your love. have a great week.
Con AMOR
Elder Hammer
march 8
Como Esta a todos!!!!!
Ok this time i really can say that it feels like spring!! It was 57 yesterday! and today it's supposed to be the same, ha we've had 3 days of great weather here ha and i am feeling spring but i'm just gonna set myself up for a terrential snow storm tomorrow just to be safe! It's been a great week this past week and we have seen quite a few miracles come to pass. I can't believe it's already march i still can barely get into my mind that it's 2010 and were already to march. It sounds like everyone is doing great especially the new Jetette team captain! Congrats Bell you deserve it!
So this past week with Jesus Vasquez...He's doing really well and he's progressing. He struggles at picking up the concepts and really really struggles reading so that makes it even tougher but the guy is the best and lets us in, feeds us occasionally and just keeps showing his faith. He came to church yesterday and i don't usually get excited when investigators come to church on fast sunday because of some of the members sharing crazy stuff but man yesterday was just liek a beat down the members gave about how true the gospel is and the book of mormon, I think they knew that what they really needed to say and what to testify of it really was so sweet. The best part is, we don't even have to worry about people to fellowship him or any of our investigators the members just come up to him and say hi and greet by their first name it really is so amazing and so special to see how the love of these hispanic people is not hard to feel! And now they have some hook up with Trader Joes a grocery store and every sunday there is some type of load that gets dropped off at our church and its' huge ha the members dont' even have to grocery shop. I dunno what that is all about but they hook up the missionaries so that's very beneficiary, Jesus was loving that too!!!
We didn't get our goal of 20 lessons this week which really was tuff on us cause man that's what we need to get every week. Elder L tom perry promised a baptism every month every area per companionship if we do this so we missed it by 3 this week but were going to get back up to the 20's.
But on the other hand we did have some great success this past week with less actives!!! Hermano Mora came to church!!!! We had a lesson and dinner with him on tuesday and i just started up on him and started asking the questions so why aren't you coming to church and just was as bold as i could be. He started to complain to me and i stopped him and i said am i listening to a nina (spanish for little girl) haha i thought he was gonna punch me in the face but he laughed it off and i just said come hermano mora suck it up your better than this and he got serious and said alright i'm gonna come. He came, and he bore his testimony and i could just feel his the spirit so strong with that testimony and i wanted to share mine so bad but tons of members wanted to share there's so i didn't but it was a miracle. We have been learning a lot on how to work with less actives and how so mnay times we get the excuses and how were not bold wiht them and ha well i dont' really have that problem maybe i'm a little too bold but hey it worked! He payed his tithing as well! He was complaining about the economy and he is always scrapping for money and i asked well are you paying your tithing? and he just stopped in his tracks. and he kind of got down on himself and said i'm gonna pay my tithing and i watched him on sunday pay his tithing to the 1st counselor. Ha i feel like he's an investigator almost and it just makes me so happy to see him changing ha i think his life really likes us she's feeding us the next 4 monday's!!! I think she likes this change that's going on with her husband so she's just going to keep feeding us. We are seeing miracles with the less actives it gets better.......
So there is this family named the Merchan and they live in Reisterstown and it's way north liek ahalf hour but we were up there and so we stopped by and brother merchan gave us the cold shoulder, they are way less active for almost 2 years so i didn't think much of it. The very next day a lady from the ward sis. rodriguez calls us and says i really want to go visit sister merchan (they both are from columbia-the country) and i just think we should go up there. So we called sister merchan and she had us over there with sis. Rodriguez. Sister Rodriguez is the bomb diggity she's do anything for anyone and especially the missionaries! So we went up there and visited her and her husband again. It couldn't have gone any better. They used to attend in Baltimore like 3 years ago but then they moved to where they are now and haven't been to our branch yet. So all day i was thinking of how we can invite them to come and all that...didn't even have to Sister Rodriguez did all the inviting and they came yesterday!!!! Brother and Sister merchan there 12 year old son and 3 year old daughter. When we were there we started talking about food and sister merchan invited us over with la familia rodriguez para cenar con ellos it really was amazing last night we had the best dinner with them after they came to church and it's just sweet to see the people that are changing in the branch, investigators, less active members and even active members, there really is a very cool spirit in the branch right now and we are loving it!!!!
One last experience and i'm out. So last week on p day we were going out fr the night and we were in an area that was filled with latinos and we had an appointment but it fell through and we were walking out the door and a couple hispanic walked in the door and kind of ignored us and i was a little down about the appointment being dropped so i just walked by, and something said talk to him, and i kind of ignored it and then something really said TALK TO HIM! So i turned around and i started to talk to the kid he's about 23 and his name is ELDER haha but as we started to teach him on the stairs in his apartment building i knew that he was hurting and he just opened up to us about how he is struggling and isn't happy and is smoking and drinking and wants to quit it so bad. as i sat there that night and thought about what would have happened if i wouldn't have said hello and started teaching i was so happy that the spirit directs us especially those who are sick and weary in this world. There is so much junk we here about and so much pain and earthquakes and tsunami's and it is sad to see the people here scared and how grateful i am for what we have in our life!!! for the peace the gospel brings and for the peace we are startgin to bring to Elder! This work is so true and i know the lord loves us so much and wants us to be happy in this life, especially today in the world we live in. I love this work and the work that is yet to come. Thanks for all your support and love out here and i hope you all have a great week! Con AMOR
Elder Hammer
march 1st
Hello everyone again!!!!!
Well i'm not going to start off this weeks email with the weather report or any of my feeling about the weather or anything i am hoping for because i did that last week and i woke up the next day to an inch of snow on our car!!! I've decided that i'm just going to hold out till June and maybe spring will be here by then haha Man it's been such a great week and we have had some really sweet experiences. Thanks for the letters and packages mom and jacie and the card aunt mitzie with the cash, your amazing aunt mitzie thanks!!!
This past week i got to do my first interview for baptism for the english elders in my district. I got to interview ARVIND SHAH from India. This little old man about 75 years old that is absolutely in love with the church and wants to be baptized so bad. His family is way against him listening to the elders so the elders teach him in their car because the fam wont let them in the house. But we were at a members house doing the interview and man i didn't think my first interview would be so difficult yet fun at the same time ha Arvind was pretty hard to understand and didn't have much sentence structure but he really is such a stud and i could feel it and knew that he had a testimony of what it was all about. He read through the entire gospel principles manual and is so stoked about the christian church "ladder day sauunts" ha he's such a good guy. He kept on putting his hands together when i would tell him how happy i was for him and excited for this step in his life and then he'd bow ha he said it's what they do in India to say thank you but i felt like he was worshipping me or something, but he passed. It was about a 45 minute interview because we had to take it pretty slow so that i could understand him but it was great. Then this is where it gets sad. I called the elders saturday afternoon to see how the baptism went and it didnt' go through. HIs family wouldn't let him leave the house and wouldn't let him be baptized. The elders called and his wife answered and said that no one named arvind lived there and to never call or come back. Man my heart just ripped out for these elders because arvind just wanted it so bad and the whole ward was at the baptism and they had a packed house and had to cancel it. I know that it'll all work out whether it's here in this life or in the next but man it was too bad for our district to see that happen.
On a better note this week we put Jesus Vasquez on date for APRIL 3RD HA MY BDAY i figured that would be a pretty sweet way to spend a birthday in white. Our branch in way stoked and we are trying to have a WHITE APRIL in our branch and our branch president is just totally behind us and i know that the four of us elders can do it so that we get this branch growing. Jesus though, man he's just the biggest stud, every lesson we have with him i just feel like he poors out his heart to us and it's so sweet to hear and see him grow. WE watched the Restoration DVD with him just to refresh about the restoration and man he's just so in for it and the spirit while watching that movie gets me everytime! I've seen it a hundred times in my mission and i really don't think i haven't felt the spirit while watching it!!! We spent alot of time with him in the plan of salvation and doing a lot fo explaining from the book of mormon. He can't read very well so he has a hard time applying the book of mormon in our lives so that's where we are headed to start reading with him and apllying the things that he learns in his life. But he's looking pretty solid.
We taught 20 lessons this week and we busted our buns to do it but i know that's how it should be. BUt man it was tuff sunday we didnt' have any investigators at church. We were so stoked on 20 lessons and to not have any investigators at church kind of stole the thunder of us teaching that many lessons. It's one of the hardest feelings that i've felt on the mission going to church without investigators ha it's almost like you don't even want to be there because there isn't anyone else there, but we are going to get after it this week and get back to getting members wiht us to lessons so they have no choice but to come wiht us to church ha
We had a really cool experience that i wanat to share with you guys. We got a call and this guy just starts going off on us how we have forgotten about him and how we haven't come to visit him in a long time and so i'm like ok i have no idea who you are but we'll come over. So we go over to this guys house named Miguel. Turns out he used to be taking the lessons but got busy wiht work and really wants to start with us again. He just started saying how alone he felt and how he has been to clubs and used to drink and just how unhappy he was in life and his friend who is a member in our branch told him to start talking to us again. So he called us up and he just told us, i want to change and i want to take the steps that i have to to get baptized. Ha so i'm sitting there and i'm like ok well golden investigator on a platter thank you heavenly father. But it's gonna be a tuff one with him he wants it but he's got some things going on in his life that he has got to figure out. He did say he hasn't drank in 3 months and that it's not even a desire for him anymore so that was good to hear. He's just a little bit of a ladies man and i think he's got some problems when it comes to the ladies. But as i started thinking about him calling us i couldn't believe the lords hand in all of this. We have been praying for new investigators and here the lords just handing them to us. It's a wonderful thing when the lord is doing the finding sometimes for us to help us out but man it is great! We are truly being blessed here with some great new investiagtors. We also are seeing who truly is solid and who isn't and the lord is placing more people in our path.
I got to go on a few exchanges this week with elders in my district. THat's a pretty fun experience to go out with other elders and learn there way of doing things and seeing what we can learn from each other. We have a big district of 8 so exchanges are pretty much every week of the transfer. I went on exchanges with a greeenie and i can't believe how short while ago i was sitting in his shoes being like oh my goodness, what am i doing? But time goes and the mission just turns into the sweetest th ing in the world!
Well eveyone i love you all and am so grateful for your support out here with me. I know the lord loves us and i have seen the answers to many prayers this week. PRayer is the key to heaven and i know that the lord answers our prayers when we do what we should and have the faith to be better. I love this work i love it with all my heart and even though the weather is a bit annoying i still love that too ha Have a wonderful week!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
con amor
Elder Hammer
Well i'm not going to start off this weeks email with the weather report or any of my feeling about the weather or anything i am hoping for because i did that last week and i woke up the next day to an inch of snow on our car!!! I've decided that i'm just going to hold out till June and maybe spring will be here by then haha Man it's been such a great week and we have had some really sweet experiences. Thanks for the letters and packages mom and jacie and the card aunt mitzie with the cash, your amazing aunt mitzie thanks!!!
This past week i got to do my first interview for baptism for the english elders in my district. I got to interview ARVIND SHAH from India. This little old man about 75 years old that is absolutely in love with the church and wants to be baptized so bad. His family is way against him listening to the elders so the elders teach him in their car because the fam wont let them in the house. But we were at a members house doing the interview and man i didn't think my first interview would be so difficult yet fun at the same time ha Arvind was pretty hard to understand and didn't have much sentence structure but he really is such a stud and i could feel it and knew that he had a testimony of what it was all about. He read through the entire gospel principles manual and is so stoked about the christian church "ladder day sauunts" ha he's such a good guy. He kept on putting his hands together when i would tell him how happy i was for him and excited for this step in his life and then he'd bow ha he said it's what they do in India to say thank you but i felt like he was worshipping me or something, but he passed. It was about a 45 minute interview because we had to take it pretty slow so that i could understand him but it was great. Then this is where it gets sad. I called the elders saturday afternoon to see how the baptism went and it didnt' go through. HIs family wouldn't let him leave the house and wouldn't let him be baptized. The elders called and his wife answered and said that no one named arvind lived there and to never call or come back. Man my heart just ripped out for these elders because arvind just wanted it so bad and the whole ward was at the baptism and they had a packed house and had to cancel it. I know that it'll all work out whether it's here in this life or in the next but man it was too bad for our district to see that happen.
On a better note this week we put Jesus Vasquez on date for APRIL 3RD HA MY BDAY i figured that would be a pretty sweet way to spend a birthday in white. Our branch in way stoked and we are trying to have a WHITE APRIL in our branch and our branch president is just totally behind us and i know that the four of us elders can do it so that we get this branch growing. Jesus though, man he's just the biggest stud, every lesson we have with him i just feel like he poors out his heart to us and it's so sweet to hear and see him grow. WE watched the Restoration DVD with him just to refresh about the restoration and man he's just so in for it and the spirit while watching that movie gets me everytime! I've seen it a hundred times in my mission and i really don't think i haven't felt the spirit while watching it!!! We spent alot of time with him in the plan of salvation and doing a lot fo explaining from the book of mormon. He can't read very well so he has a hard time applying the book of mormon in our lives so that's where we are headed to start reading with him and apllying the things that he learns in his life. But he's looking pretty solid.
We taught 20 lessons this week and we busted our buns to do it but i know that's how it should be. BUt man it was tuff sunday we didnt' have any investigators at church. We were so stoked on 20 lessons and to not have any investigators at church kind of stole the thunder of us teaching that many lessons. It's one of the hardest feelings that i've felt on the mission going to church without investigators ha it's almost like you don't even want to be there because there isn't anyone else there, but we are going to get after it this week and get back to getting members wiht us to lessons so they have no choice but to come wiht us to church ha
We had a really cool experience that i wanat to share with you guys. We got a call and this guy just starts going off on us how we have forgotten about him and how we haven't come to visit him in a long time and so i'm like ok i have no idea who you are but we'll come over. So we go over to this guys house named Miguel. Turns out he used to be taking the lessons but got busy wiht work and really wants to start with us again. He just started saying how alone he felt and how he has been to clubs and used to drink and just how unhappy he was in life and his friend who is a member in our branch told him to start talking to us again. So he called us up and he just told us, i want to change and i want to take the steps that i have to to get baptized. Ha so i'm sitting there and i'm like ok well golden investigator on a platter thank you heavenly father. But it's gonna be a tuff one with him he wants it but he's got some things going on in his life that he has got to figure out. He did say he hasn't drank in 3 months and that it's not even a desire for him anymore so that was good to hear. He's just a little bit of a ladies man and i think he's got some problems when it comes to the ladies. But as i started thinking about him calling us i couldn't believe the lords hand in all of this. We have been praying for new investigators and here the lords just handing them to us. It's a wonderful thing when the lord is doing the finding sometimes for us to help us out but man it is great! We are truly being blessed here with some great new investiagtors. We also are seeing who truly is solid and who isn't and the lord is placing more people in our path.
I got to go on a few exchanges this week with elders in my district. THat's a pretty fun experience to go out with other elders and learn there way of doing things and seeing what we can learn from each other. We have a big district of 8 so exchanges are pretty much every week of the transfer. I went on exchanges with a greeenie and i can't believe how short while ago i was sitting in his shoes being like oh my goodness, what am i doing? But time goes and the mission just turns into the sweetest th ing in the world!
Well eveyone i love you all and am so grateful for your support out here with me. I know the lord loves us and i have seen the answers to many prayers this week. PRayer is the key to heaven and i know that the lord answers our prayers when we do what we should and have the faith to be better. I love this work i love it with all my heart and even though the weather is a bit annoying i still love that too ha Have a wonderful week!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
con amor
Elder Hammer
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