march 29th

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!!