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