may 31

Hey guys!!!!

It's been another good week in towson and it's just been great. I haven't given a weather report for quite some time so here's the latest..........IT'S HOT!!!!!!!!!! haha Summer is here and the humidity is here as well. It's been a really hot week and it's been taking some getting used to but everyone is outside and so that makes it so much fun. But yes Maryland is hot right now! it's been about 90 and some days the humidity is bad and somedays it's good but either way it's hot. I remember when i wrote you dad and you told me to not worry about the cold because the hot was going to come and i'd be doing the same thing haha. I love the hot though more than the cold you still can do so much. Thanks so much though for the letters this week, jace i loved your letter, and mom and dad thanks so much for your letters too they are the best!!! Grandpa Hafen i hear you got a new outfit....Hyundai????? I don't know grandpa i think the rogue is still calling for ya!!! Thanks for everything though i really appreciate those letters. This past week we moved into a new apartment and it's been great to have everything brand new ha i feel a little spoiled as a missionary living where we are at but it's been nice to move out and it was an easy move.

This past week was such a great week though. We only had kelly come to church which was a bummer after having 11 people the week before but every week can't be like that last one of else, missionary work would be too easy ha. We still have seen so many blessings though and just are being more and more blessed.

This past week we had our first Zone Leader Council since i have been a zone leader and that was great! Our mission has a very high goal this year for baptizing 300 people and it's never been done since this mission was opened. President has been on a rampage just making sure that people that have committed to be baptized go through and this past month that didn't happen. We had 16 baptisms the first two weeks and the last 3 weeks we only had 4. We are 7 behind our goal thus far and the last couple weeks our mission was tanking, so we were all a little anxious to see what was going to happen at ZL council but President just has so much love for missionary work and wants baptisms, but not for the number but for the people that are behind these #'s. It was such a great conference and i learn more and more each time that i listen to presidnet Belliston. There is 6 zones so 12 ZL'S and presdient and his counselors and Sister Belliston, haha one of the Elders there calls it the JEDI COUNCIL. haha

Last night we got all the numbers in from our zone and we had 8 people on date that weren't on date before so we are seeing the blessings that have been poured down upon our zone this past week and it looks like june is going to be a great great month with baptisms. We are the biggest zone so that means we have to produce the most and we are looking at about 10 for the upcoming month so we are really excited for the month of June. I can't believe it is already JUNE!!!! ha 11 months ago i felt like i was never going to see another June haha it's crazy though how fast time is going and picking up and it's been so much fun these past few weeks.

This past week with Kelly was great!!!! We had a really good lesson with her on the law of Chastity which wasn't a big worry being that she was dating a returned missionary haha. But man still teaching her is so much fun. She comes with chapters and chapters read from the Book of Mormon and this past week she was Designated Driver with her friends so that she wouldn't drink to try and keep the Word of Wisdom. She really is amazing. We are really trying to help her understand what HER "ANSWER" is and that she has already received it. She is expecting something big which i have no doubt that she can receive but she really is doing great though. This upcoming week we are going to the Temple with her on Wednesday to give her a spiritual high and then A general authority from the 70 is coming to our mission this week for zone conferences and is also doing an investigator fireside so she's going to do as well. We are so excited for her and hopefully she can get to her answer but she already knows it's true so we are just waiting on her.

I'm really excited for this upcoming week with the 70 coming....Kenneth Johnson. He is coming to our zone conferences and then after the zone leaders get to meet with him and the ap's and president. So this week i'll be meeting with a general authority ha i'm really excited and nervous too. That's some pressure but we are really trying our best and doing everything we can so ya it should be a great week.

Yesterday we met with Marlon and Laura, the friend of elder that used to live in Salt lake and we taught them the Plan of Salvation and put them on date to be baptized the 13th on June! We are so excited for them and they are as well. They are so sincere, and he actually might have been baptized when he was young he can't remember so we are checking and he said i hope you don't find the records because i really want to be baptized because now i know and really want to change so we are hoping we don't find the records but if so we'll have him get the priesthood and baptize his wife. We are being so blessed and are so excited for him and his wife to be able to do this. There son Christopher is the cutest kid. He's 3 and we come in and he just jumps on us, and says hola amigos ha and then starts his 100 questions "que es esto" what is that what is this whats that haha it's so fun. I love it so much

Well everyone i'm off again and i hope all is well and that you all have a great week. Have a great holiday and i love you alll!!!!!

Much Love

Elder Hammer

may 24th

Hello, hello

 

Wow all i can say is wow! This past week was without a doubt the greatest week of my entire mission! I can't believe all the blessings that we got the last few weeks and i really didn't think it could be any better, but with the Lord i guess nothing is impossible and we had another miracle happen this week in our area!

 

Well first and foremost...Kelly Brinegar. This past week we taught her twice and yet again two great, great lessons. On tuesday we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and that lesson is just screaming baptism and we hadn't set a date with her. The morning before Elder woolley and i were in companionship study and hadn't picked out a date and so we picked one out on june 13th and decided that we should pray about it. Right as we got down on our knees i felt June 6th and didn't feel good about the 13th so after we prayed i just waited for a bit and elder woolley wasn't saying anything and then he was like write down in your planner the date you are thinking, so we did. We threw each other our planners and there he had june 6th written down as well. It's unbelievable how those prayers get answered sometimes. But we went to the lesson and just were very prepared for her questions and taught her the repentance process and really had a very spiritual lesson. And then Elder Woolley invited her to be baptized and she said yes if she found out that it is right. She's reading and praying and she will get an answer soon. Then we taught her on thursday for the last time with her boyfriend Blair because he moved back to Texas. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she has a little problem with social drinking. It's the way she was raised and she expressed some concern, but we were able to teach her the blessings and at the end she said i just don't know what i'm going to tell my friends and my mom but then she said "but it's time to grow up". And she committed to live it. It's so amazing her progression. She came to church on sunday by herself to a singles ward and that just shows me so much faith. She gets freaked out easily but there she was in church on sunday and a member really wrapped her arms around her to be her friend and it's going great. I have never prayed for an investigator like i have for her and never have i prayed for such a miracle for her answer to be manifested but i know it will happen!!

 

This past week we were teaching one of our investigators named Elder and his wife Juana. They are the coolest young couple and have 2 youngs kids in Guatamala and a little boy here. They had been taught before i got here but they are such great people and believe its true but have problems coming to church because of Work. But we were over there this past week teaching him and he told me about one of his friends that he works with moved from Utah about a year ago and he was telling his friend about us coming to his house and teaching him the truth. Then his friend told Elder to give us his number to come and visit him. This doesn't happen very often so i hopped right on it and called him and he told me that he had talked with missionaries before in salt lake and loved it there and wants to move back ha. So we set an appointment for saturday and we felt really good about that appointment, He just was a solid person and i could tell that over the phone. So we went to his house on saturday and him and his wife Laura and his 3 year old son Christopher were all there. It was great. We got to talking and they lived in west valley and were really close to baptism and then he lost his job and had to leave quick out to maryland. Here this family is who were so close and had lost contact with the church for a year and through one of our other investigators he found us again. We taught him the restoration and he said "i know this is the true church of god, and I want to feel like Joseph Smith felt that day" I just wanted to jump up and down because i was so happy! These people were just plopped down in front of us and they want to be baptized!!!!!!! The wife is so on board and Christopher there son is the cutest kid ever. Me and elder woolley were switching off teaching and while he would teach i would play with Christopher and while i taught he would play with him. We got a family to bring them to church yesterday and i got to sit with them for the first part of Sacramemnt meeting. They loved it and want to come next week and we have an appointment with them on Saturday. Can you believe it? like seriously here we just get 2 golden investigators and they have been so prepared to recieve us. They've been to temple square, seen the testaments and the joseph smith movie and for a whole year had no idea how to get back to that. And through our investigator we got his number! It truly is a miracle, we are being so blessed i cna't even explain my gratitude right now we just find one after another. It's amazing!

 

Yesterday at church we had 11 investigators there!!!! i have gone months and months without that many ha and yesterday we had 10 in the spanish branch and Kelly in the singles ward. Elvis and Laura came and Elder came for his first time with a recent convert and then the Aviles Family as well with their sister in law who has come the past 2 weeks and came to the temple. It was a circus yesterday, i started in the spanish branch sitting with elvis and laura and chris because elder woolley plays the organ, then i left after sacrament to go to gospel principles with kelly, then i went to the first part of sacramemnt meeting with kelly and to get andrew confirmed and then i went back to priesthood with elder. It was the greatest sunday on my mission without a doubt!!!! All of them loved it and are all planning on coming back. I can't even believe it sometimes when i think about how blessed we have been. In my last area i felt like i worked and worked and worked and didn't see too much and i know now that it is after the trial of our faith that we get those blessings. We now have 11 poeple who are solid, NO FLAKES who should be getting baptized in the next 2 months. I have never loved anything in my life like i do now. This beats last year in Hawaii and California when i was playing my best golf ever ANYDAY! This is the best and i love it!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and know how much i love each of you and how grateful i am for all of you in my life. This is the truth and this is the only way to have happiness and i know that now! Have a great week everyone! Happy Birthday Bro!!!! Hope you have a great birthday man on the big 26!!!!!

 

Con Amor

Elder Hammer

may 17th & pictures

Hola Familia!!!!!!!

Hello everyone! It's been such a great week in the mission!!! We have had so many great things happen and we are continuing to see the blessings of God being poured out upon us. Things for some reason just seem to be getting better and better and it's such a blessing! I'll just get started but thanks so much for the letters and love i really appreciate them and the 20$ aunt mitzie and letters from grandma and of course you mom thanks a bunch!!!!

So yesterday we had a baptism for a young guy named Andrew and it went really well. Andrew had been found about 2 months ago knocking late at night and they started teaching him and he really liked what they had to say and its all history from there. Andrew had a tuff life. He is a genius and is really socially akward and when the missionaries found him he had just gotten done from a breakdown where he just locked himself in his house and wouldn't go out or talk to anyone, it's a really sad story. He went to yale and is just a genius and he was just about that point of breaking when they found him that night. He's made huge steps and has changed his life completely and his a different person for sure! Yesterday his baptism went really well and his mother even came who is a catholic and wasn't interested. We showed the restoration video during the baptism and a young single who baptised andrew asked his mom if she had ever read the Book of Mormon and she said, " No....but i think im going to have to start now" It's amazing how the spirit works on people when they hear the truth about the gospel and now she is interested. God is a god of miracles and continues to put more and more people into our path!

So for the past few weeks we have been teaching a young girl named Kelly Brinegar. She's the girlfriend of the quarterback at Towson and he's a member she's not, basically she's a very very good looking girl and that was tuff at first but it's all good now ha. She is GOLDEN! I have never taught anyone that has grasped what we have taught her. She understood this past week the plan of salvation amazingly and every question was asked and we could answer them and she even said everything just makes sense. She asked us why mormons have "big books" (meaning the quad scriptures) at church so this weekend we bought her a quad and gave them to her ha, maybe as a little push to get baptized ha no but really i don't think i've ever enjoyed teaching someone like i have wiht kelly. She has been catholic and really wanted nothing to do with the mormon church, she just told Blair (her boyfriend) that she would be willing to listen to get to "KNOW WHO HE WAS BETTER" haha little did she know that the most sly missionaries were coming at her haha. Blair was talking to us at church yesterday and said that she was talking to him and commented that at first she had no desire and that now it's making sense and Blair told us that she's kind of scared ha because she knows it is true! Tomorrow we have a lesson with her and were going to put her on date for baptism!!!! It's unreal she even was at the baptism yesterday and i know she felt something there too!

This weekend we got to go to the temple with the AVILES family, a family of 9 who are ready to be baptized but are just waiting on some divorce papers back in El Salvador. It was the best to go down there with them to the temple and have all the little kids say i want to go in, why can't we go in ha. These kids are so funny and always going 100 miles an hour and have got the most off the wall question ever, but it's been the best. Families are so special and i've finally got to be apart of teaching a family that is big and to see all of them come into the gospel. Julio the dad was in the bathroom yesterday when andrew was changing and he told him congrats and said "This is the best decision of your life" ha coming from a guy who isn't even baptized. It's so amazing to see their conversion and it was a great temple trip. I even saw Sister Mary williams i think, the african american sister in our ward mom and dad? I got my first hug of the mission haha she saw me and ran over to me and i tried to give her a handshake and she slapped it away and gave me and a hug haha kind of wierd but it was fun to see her. she said to tell you all hello!

This week i got to go on exchanges with the inner city spanish elders!!!! It was so sweet! I was in downtown B-MORE wiht the crazies and it was so much fun haha. The city is so different, it's a whole other world down there, but it's fun to get those fun "Journal Entries" haha. It was my first taste of the city and it was a bunch of fun.

Well as you can tell, our area is rocking and it's the best. Being a zone leader is a lot of fun and i love working with all these missionaries, sometimes i don't feel like i'm the one that should be leading but the lord is for surely helping me in this call. I've never been so into the work as i am right now and it's a great feeling!!! There are so many miraculous blessings that i can't even explain in my emails that the lord blesses us with each and everyday! I love this call and i love this church! I love you all and hope you all have a great week!!!!! Thanks for everything!!! Adios

Elder Hammer

recent photos of jord

Here's a little peak of Elder Hammer over the last few months 

May 10th

hello everyone!!!!!!

 

Well it's been a crazy past week but man I love where i am at!!! I'm in towson maryland with one of the best elders that i could have asked for. I told my comp. last week that if i got transfered i would want to serve with him but i didn't think i would cause i had no idea about zone leader but he's an allstar. We live on a college campus of towson university with a bunch of single women walking around haha not too good but were going to be moving soon so that should be changing quick.

 

Man so much has changed and it has been the greatest. we are now covering a singles ward and it's just about exactly like the movie. haha you have the different crowds in the church but it's a lot of fun. I am really excited to do a little more teaching in english. We are still over the spanish branch but there are also 4 other missionaries for the spanish so we aren't quite as interlocked there but thats alright. Sorry this is kind of a repeat from the phone call yesterday haha sorry mom.

 

Speaking of phone call i just wanted to say that the phone call yesterday was the best and i loved talking to you guys. I am so happy to be an uncle and to see all these AMAZING PICTURES of little morgan with that hair! oh my she's so adorable!!!! I would have to say it's been a good mother's day for everyone. Jess our newest mother and for MARSH as well. I love you all adn thanks for that great phone call.

 

Man i don't know what else to say i feel like we just got done talking ha because we did yesterday. I just wanted to share an experience that we had yesterday before the call for everyone else to hear....... So we went to this place just filled with hispanics and it really is filled like every apartment is hispanics and that doesn't happen too often here so we went back to try and teach this lady named Olga. We went in tehre and Olga was not interested and was giving us the cold shoulder in the lesson, kids were running around screaming and throwing toys, lets just say that it wasn't a very condusive area to be in for the spirit. But there was a nother guy in the home that when we pulled the eject button and said can we leave with a prayer, he walked in and asked if we could pray for him. Come to find out, he hasn't known god for 20 some odd years and hasn't been going to church because he's been so confused. He basibally knew the whole great apostacy and he said that after the lesson he just had this feeling that wanted him to learn more. It was one of those times when i knew that we weren't supposed to be there for OLGA but we were supposed to be right there for DOMINGO. I know that we are being led and guided to be at the right place at the right time here and it is the greatest feeling in the world.

 

Well all is well in maryland, i'm excited for this upcoming week and to keep on cranking it for our zone so they can keep up the good work. The BALTIMORE zone is the best and i'm excited to be here. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! all my love

Elder Hammer

May 3rd

Hola a todos!!!!!

Well big news for this week....This week is transfers and i thought for sure that i was staying but i got the call and i am leaving this area. I was pretty bummed at first because i love this area so much and wanted to stay and i for surely did not see this coming. But then i got a call from President Belliston a few minutes ago asking me to be a Zone Leader! Ya i was for surely not expecting that one. I don't ever know what to expect and i always remember what nick told me before the mission about right when you get comfortable the lord is going to throw a curve ball at you, but i'm grateful for this opportunity to serve and this new opportunity that I have. So no more columbia branch. That's going to be hard i have gotten close to a lot of members who have been changing their lives around so this wont be an easy leave but i know the area is in good hands with Elder Pauda, he's a stud and he'll keep it going for sure.

This week has been a crazy week it started out nice and warm and then it got so hot and humid on saturday!!!! It got up to like 85 or 90 this weekend and it feels like you walk outside and your just wet ha it's crazy. It was pooring raining this morning and we walked outside and i started sweating because it was still so hot but ya MARYLAND IS BACK!

This past week we had one of the coolest experiences. This area has been a tough one and it seems that we have been working and working and not seeing a whole lot of success and it's been a trial of the faith for sure. We have been through lots of different investigators and hoping to find one that is truly sincere that is ready. Tuesday morning elder pauda and i were doing companionship study and we got a text message that was a media referral. Usually media referrals just want a free dvd and not much to do with the church so we called the guy "selvin hernandez" as soon as we got it. He not only answered but we set up an appointment for that day! We went there and come to find out he had talked to the missionaries in arizona and has only been in america for like a month. He was planning on staying in arizona, but now with that new law that was signed he came here (it's like a flock of geese!!! the hispanics are going north and there coming here from arizona) He listened to the first lesson and we invited him to be baptized and he was a little caught off guard but he said he would read and pray. We went back on saturday and he had already read to 1 nephi 20 from the beginning! It's unreal the mind this guy has he told us the whole story of nephi and his family and all of that it was pretty amazing. He really struggles with prophets and joseph smith. We have tried to tell him that we don't worship him but he still doesnt' understand but these things can worked out over time ha but man it was such an answer to our prayers to have someone be lead to us or we be lead to them. This has been one of the coolest experiences that we've had with a media referral on my mission. I am really excited for him and hope that elder pauda and his new comp will be able to keep that going with hima nd get him baptized.

Also this past week we got to finally get in touch with Melvin Carranza, he was flying under the radar for about a week wiht no contact ha but he's still doing good. We taught him on saturday and threw down on keeping the sabath day holy. At the end we committed him to live it and he got this look on his face like something was wrong. Well basically every sunday at every field in maryland there is soccer tournaments!!!! and everyone goes and he got invited to play for a team and said he had to go. So we said to him well it's your choic and he knew that he needed to be at church. Haha actually our branch has a team that plays on Saturdays so we told him about that but he played soccer on sunday instead of church so that was a bummer but we'll stay on him though.

Well with this upcoming sunday being mother's day i have to give a shout out to the most amazing mother in the world. I know for sure i wouldn't be where i am today if it wasn't for you mom!!! I am so grateful for you and your example to me and your example of what love is. Your endless packages and letters and your support have been so amazing and i just wanted to say thank you so much for everything mom!!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful week and i'll be excited to talk to all of you guys on sunday!!!!!! HOpefully by then i'll be an uncle haha i love you all so much and am so grateful for all you do for me. ALl my love
Elder Hammer

april 26th

Hello everyone!!!!!

Well back again and the weeks just keep getting faster and faster it's crazy i just hit 10 months i feel like i just got here and it only gets worse but i'm happy and we have had a pretty good week.Well the weather is rainy. Last night me and Elder Pauda were walking at about 7 30 and it had been cloudy all day but no rain but the darkest black clouds came over us and i looked at him and said we are done for about 5 minutes later we were soaked for head to toe haha it came down as hard as i've ever seen it in my life for about 3 straight hours, i thought we were going to be floating before we were going to wake up, lightning, thunder it was pretty sweet but no one lets you in when your soaked so that didn't make it too good, but oh well what can you do, we tried to make some fun out of it. We even tried hitchhiking but that didn't go over too well either haha. But it's been a good week and thanks for all the letters mom and dad and grandma hafen they were the best and thanks for the packages mom. i don't know who gets more excited to see packages me or elder pauda haha he's loving all this treatment, (just like every other one of my companions haha) Thank you so much mom!

Well this past monday we had a dinner scheduled with the Mora family and they had us over. When we got there brother mora had one of his friends there named Guillermo Caal from Guatamala, who used to listen to the missionaries but moved to texas for a year or so and now he is back and working with Brother Mora. So we got talking with him and he started to tell us more about talking with the missionaries and he was on date to be baptized!!! But his wife who lives in Guatamala said no that he couldn't get baptized and that he was going against her and would find some other lady in the church so it kind of turned into a bad situationa nd then he moved. Well when we were talkign with him he told us that he had asked his wife again about baptism before we had even talked with him and she said that she would give him an answer in two weeks. So there we are and he starts to tell us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet of god and that he believes it's all true. So basically with him we are just waiting to see on his wife. He came to church yesterday and we are going over there to teach him with "la lamanita"haha brother mora. It was a much needed tender mercy from the lord but it's all on what his wife says i guess.

Last monday Karla called us and was just crying and wanted us to come over to her house on tuesday to talk with her, but she wouldn't tell us why she was crying. So here i am all day on monday and tuesday wondering what happened and hoping that she had the answer and wanted to get baptized ha but no it didn't work out quite that way. Basically her family is just coming down on her about this whole mormon stuff and they try to talk bad about the church and make fun of her and try to get her to drink and just all this crazy cruel stuff, but she just sat in front of us and cried telling us and she knows its true, it's just she has a loser boyfriend that needs to go ha sorry thats cruel to say but it's true, she leaves to church and then he tries to get back at her and says i'm leaving with my friends and just goes and drinks. It's a sad situation but i know it will all come around.

This past saturday in our branch we had a kids baptisms for two little girls in the branch and also a branch activity that was a picnic in a park where all the members come and play soccer and volleyball and food it is a big deal. So we invited Karla to see the baptism and then to just go to the picnic with us after. So we had the baptism and man there was like 50 people that came and we were just waiting on Karla and the two girls got baptized and i swear not more than two minutes after they got dunked she walks in the door and just had barely missed it! But she got to see the confirmation and then she came to the picnic which was just great! All the members were there playing soccer and of course not us haha it was tuff not to but it wasn't p day so we couldn't but it was great to talk to all the members and karla and brother more invited guillermo and two of his friends to come as well so we got to talk to everyone which is such a great missionary tool for hispanics- 1. Food 2. Soccer, i'm suprised we didn't have them all coming but no it really was great and i know that more than anything that karla loved it.Our branch has the greatest members who have such a godo time and have great testimonies but we just have seen that missionary work is just so distant for them so we hav ebeen trying really hard to get missionary work more in there minds. We've been inviting them to strengthen their faith and share there testimony with someone out side of the church just anythign to get their minds in the way of missionary work and were seeing a little bit of progress but we still have lots of work to do. But we'll get there.

This upcoming week is transfers and i think i'll be staying here but who knows what will happen? I would love to stay with ELDER pauda for one more transfer but that would be 3 and that doesn't happen to often. I don't think i've told too much about the pauda man but basically he's one of my favorite compaions. ALl i ask is for a comp who is obedient and wants to work and thats exactly what he is. at first he was wierd and i didn't understand him but he's opened up and basically he's just changed his life in a complet 180 degrees. I love the kid and he's hilarious and i hope we get one mroe together.

Well all is well and i'm happy and loving it. I hope all is well with you all. Jess good luck this week i hope all goes well and morgan is alright and healthy. Good luck too nick ahha your gonna need it. i lov eyou all so much. we're blessed so much. have a great week. much love

Elder Hammer

April 19th

Hola Familia!!!!!!

Hey everyone it's been a great week in Columbia and we are doing good!!! Spring is here for sure and this place is back to GREEN!!! I can't believe this place and how much it has changed in just like a month to these ugly dead trees and now there is just all kind of trees and blossoms and it's actually pretty cool. haha i'm not much of a flower or nature guy but i gotta say that it's pretty beautiful. There is so much polen in the air that every morning there is like a green dust film thing on all the cars and the people here are all sick and having crazy allergy things but i'm good and i like it ha. I got your package this week Jess and Nick thanks so much for the nice cards and for those sweet ties!!!!! Thanks so much for the birthday package i really really appreciate it and it was just what i needed! You guys are da bomb diggity! Man i'm one spoiled elder for sure with all the love i get from the fam, thank you all so much! and thanks mom for sending me those letters and thanks so much Big AL I mean President Archibald for the nice email and for all those nice comments. I really appreciate it and i hope you and Sister Archibald are loving it up there in Canada. I love you both like parents so thank you so much for the email. Thanks mom and dad for your letters they meant so much to me and really were such a boost for this week and really helped me out i love you both so much thanks. Jon Rog and Kylee now married ha congratulations guys i heard it was great but i just wanted to throw out a congrats!

Well yesterday at church we had a new less active lady come to church for the first time! It's such a cool story...so we were walking up the street the other day and kind of in a rough neighborhood not too bad though and this van drives past us and were walking and all of the sudden who ever was driving at about 15 mph just shoves the car in park and it made that crazy grinding gears sound and i look over and i'm like well this can either go one way- someone gets out shoots us and takes our money or the other way- someone really really wants to talk to us....well luckily mother it was the second one and someone really wanted to talk to us haha. This young lady looks at us and just says please tell me you speak spanish in some broken english and i got a big grin and yes yes we do. She was baptized in 1993 in hondurus and for 2 years she has been here and not known where the church was or anything but she knew who we were thats for sure, we gave her the address and she cam ethis past sunday and it was great. After one of the counselors in the mission presidency was there and asked me to introduce her to him so they started talking and come to find out she had been praying earlier that morning to God to help her find her way and to find peace. Later that day she saw us walking and Xochil Aguilar (thats her name) just started crying, man it was such a sweet experience. I know she felt the spirit and as we were singing the closing hymn a tear ran down her cheek and she was singing because i have been given much. It was such a cool experience that i will never ever forget that. She wants us to come visit her this week and she has a 2 year old boy who is just a goof ball that is the cutest little guy ha.

This past week i went on an exchange with elder heywood in our district and we got a call from one of his members asking us to come and give a blessing to her sister in the hospital. We show up and call her and turns our her sister was 6 months pregnant and was visiting here from NEW MEXICO and her husband wasn't there. she went into labor and a had her baby 2 lbs. 8 oz. and still hadn't seen it yet and she was a mess but we were able to give a blessing to her and it was a cool experience to be there and be called on. I was thinking about JEss the whole time being like man this is her anyday haha i'm so excited to be an uncle and come to email and see all the pictures.haha

Melvin Carranza...man we had a lesson wiht him on saturday and found out that he is going to be returning back to Hondurus sometime in may to visit his mom who is really sick and now the baptism thing is kind of in limbo. He says he wants to do it when he comes back but he's not coming back for two months and man i just feel like so much can happen in that time. But then we also found out that he has a girlfriend back there that he wants to bring back and get married here by our branch president so i dunno about all this situation. We would love to have him baptized before so that when he goes back to Hondurus that he wont do anything bad wiht his girlfriend but he also is saying that he wants his wife to come back too and get baptized and all that ha it's a roller coaster out here thats for sure. That's just about how the story of the week went, one day we'd be teaching the next day dead ha one day were at church having a great experience with Herman Aguilar and the next were listening to our investigator bail on the baptismal date but it's all in a days work as a missionary and i love it.

I really am gaining a testimony of sacrifice and during those hard times to keep the faith strong. This week was a tuff one but we can't lose the faith out here and we can't lose it in life. It is hard though that is for sure we teach the principle of faith so much and how simple it may seem in our lives but yet how hard it is to live that principle and i see that  a lot with our investigators as well. God loves us and he'll be with us if we just keep having faith and keep on going. I thought alot about your quote dad that i've heard since i was born....suck it up, or quit and quiting isn't an option. it's been on my mind a lot but i know that there are people here that are truly ready and we will find them!

I love you all so much thanks for your love and prayers and i hope you all have a great week. All is well and i hope you all are doing well. Congrats on the baby ashley and matt! i love you all CoN AMOR

ELDER HAMMER

april 12th

Hola!!!!!!!!

Come estan? Well it's been a good week in Maryland and the weather is great! We just got done playing some ultimate frisbee as a zone and it's been hot weather and it's been great. I'm remembering what it feels like to sweat and get sunburned, it's great. Thanks for the letters and packages this week everyone, Grandma and Grandpa Hammer i got your birthday card last monday right after i got done emailing, Thank you so much for that nice card and for the 20$ i really appreciate it! I hope Bell and Jess had some great birthdays and i hear the masters was a classic ha i was dying out here when people would start talking about it but there will be more when i get home. This past saturday there was a huge soccer game against Barcelona and Madrid where pretty much the latino world just shut down haha we were invited in many times by trying to teach a lesson when there is a soccer game going on never is a good idea ha. But it's been a really good week though and we are seeing the blessings coming.

This past week we had a really great zone conference and i loved it. As always president belliston is just the man and always just lays it down on us (in a good way) and you leave there all fired up it's the best. They had one of their kids move out here because he's working at John's Hopkins and they just had a baby that's not doing too good and has been in the ICU for like 25 days. Sister Belliston talked about something i really loved. She had a box of crayons and said what's your favorite color and talked about how her favorite color is yellow and she has a grandson who is 3 that has the same favortie color and he wont let anyone else have that same one so when she's with him hers is green or as he says it gween ha but she talked about how in life we don't always get dealt our favorite color and sometimes there isn't much we can do about it. She talked about her grandchild and the pain that he has went through and then also talked about her child who died at 5 to Leukimia. As i sat there and listened i think that was my favorite part of the conference was her talk about not always getting the things we want or gettting Dealt our favorite color but that we have got to find a new one sometimes and go on. It was a great zone conference though and our district had a really good week this past week so i know that's always something good that gets everyone fired up.

We had Karla Monroy at church yesterday which was so sweet and it was branch conference. It was a really good meeting and one of the high councilman spoke spanish on his mission and gave a talk about the work of missionary and it was powerful and gave some good stories from his mission and from his dad as well and Karla was just blown away by it and was saying to me after "he spoke with something that not many people speak with" so that was a really cool experience for her to have. She's doing good and we have a great member fellowshipping her and were probably going to go to the temple with her this weekend with that member and have the Sister Missionaries throw it down on her about eternal marriage and see if that sparks something. She knows it's true and knows all of it just she isn't married. Ha marriage has been quite the problem for us lately. This past week we had a lesson with Elder Duarte and basically just threw down the hammer (no pun intended) on baptism and that's why we are here in this earth to follow the example of Jesus Christ and we set a date with him for May 15th and he said yes, then he said well i've got a long ways to go though and we were like ya but it's all ok we'll help you get prepared and it was something else. He went on to tell us that he's been married to a lady for 7 years and has a 6 year old son and they are in Guatamala and he hasn't seen them for 4 or 5 years and now he's with another woman. It always suprises me that we don't usually have to teach about the law of chastity but that usually they bring it up because they know how important that is. So that is going to be a big stumbling block for him to try and figure out but if he's the elect and ready and really wants this in his life then he'll do what he needs to do to be baptized. The great marriage problem is something else, especially here cause so many many leave there families and wives and children to come work and most of the time don't go back, so we'll just keep praying for the miracles to happen and see where we can go with Elder.

This past week we got a call at about 9 45 and it was from Melvin Carranza and he called me in kind of a panic and could not figure out what the INDEX was in the Book of Mormon ha he finished it and turned the page and saw more and just couldn't finure out what it was supposed to be ha so we did some explaining and got all that taken care of. Then as i was sitting there in the car i invited him to open up the Book of Mormon and read moroni 10 3-5 with us and he did it, and then we invited him to pray after we hung up. So obviously i was way happy he had read the whole Book of Mormon and the next day we were going to visit him but i had exchanges so it was just ELder Pauda up there. When we met back up ELder Pauda came up to me with a big smile and said MAY 1ST and i didn't really understand what and Elder Pauda put him on date to be baptized for may 1st! I wasn't there so i dont' know how it went exactly but elder pauda told me that he said alright so now that you know that the book of mormon is true what is your next step and Melvin said i need to be baptized. It's so exciting to hear that and we are excited to put two people on date this past week and to really see the Lord blessing us. We've been working hard and not always seeing the fruits of the labor but it's really paying off and the Lord is watching out for us. We have a lot of work to do with the both of them to get them ready but we know we can help them but more than anything they have a lot of work to do so we'll keep praying and see what happens but it's been a great week!

Well that's about it for this week. I hope all of you are having a blast in life and enjoying it all. I really am seeing just how great this experience called life is especially as a missionary for these past 9 months. We are a blessed people to have what we have in life and the gospel is the ONLY thing that can bring happiness and make change. I was talking to our 2nd counselor in the branch presidency and he was talking about his sons eagle project and how he wanted him to help the community and he told me " ya the project may be good but it wont change much, the only thing that will change people or environment or circumstances is the Gospel" and that is so true. I love you all and i wish the best of luck to all of you in school, work, internships, and just life. I love you all thanks for your love and support our here i really am grateful for the people that the lord has blessed me to be around in my life!!!!
Adios
Elder Hammer

april 5th

Hola!!!!!

 

Back again.... and the weather just doesn't get any better than this. Spring on the east coast is something else. And just like the plants the people are starting to come alive again too. I just wanted to start out the letter by first thanking everyone who made my birthday experience in the mission a great experience! I really had a great birthday and thanks for all your love and packages. Thanks Dee and Leda for the package of goodies, Grandma hafen for the card and money. Mom and dad for the Gps and for the book and the sweet shirt. Jace and Bell for the no-bake cookies and for the sweet tooth fairy chocolates!!!! Thank you all so much for trying to make my b day a good day for me and i really appreciate it. It still hasn't hit me yet that i'm 20 years old but i'm sure that'll come with time.

 

What a sweet weekend we had to listen to the Prophet and the apostles. I get the chills still just thinking about the great messages we heard and to feel the love of our great prophet of God. I think President Uchdorf takes the cake when he talked about Our hands being his hands! And then Jeffrey R. Holland with the Tea and Crumpets comment "you shouldn't be serving tea anyways" haha that was a classic and then Robert D. Hales "don't live with the regret of what might have been" I could go on and on and on but those were just a few of my favorites. We got to listen to all of them in english except the priesthood session and the sunday morning were in spanish and i didn't understand them perfect but we had investigators there and there more important than me.

 

Elder came to conference and that was so sweet on sunday! He usually works but for some reason he didn't go to work and he was home and we said lets go were going to watch conference and he didnt' have pants only shorts and tried to play that excuse and i was like here you can have mine and started to loosten up the belt and then he agreed haha he brought a friend with him but he came sunday morning and i think that might have been two of my favorites with presidnet uchdorf and Thomas s. monson. He's getting closer and closer and getting him to church was a huge barrier but we got over that now and he's only smoking 1 or 2 cigaretts a day so that's good. He's a good guy but just is constantly surrounded by a really bad atmosphere and lives with six other guys that smoke and drink so it's hard to get him away from that but he's taken huge steps.

 

Jesus Vasquez who was on date who we haven't talked to for 2 weeks also came to conference. We called him on saturday and invited him to come over and he said he would and didn't show for the first 2 and so i didn't think much of him and then he called us on saturday night and said i'm coming to the one that starts at 8 i'll be there in 15 minutes and he came. I know he feels it and wants to change but his wife is in the way and that's a tuff barrier to get over when it comes to that. So we are just going to try and ease back into it with him. We went past his house yesterday and said hi, they were out having a BBQ just like the rest of Maryland but that was really exciting to about this week.

 

Also Melvin Carranza is getting closer and closer he didn't come to the church but watched it from his house. He couldn't understand who President Eyring and President Uchtdorf were. He was like so is there 3 prophets? ha so we had to do a little explaining to him but he watched it from home and liked it. We are so close with so many people and we are praying like crazy to get these people to have that experience that is going to put them over the top.

 

I went on an exchange with our zone leader Elder Faverro from Ogden and he's just an all-star. He's one of those kinds of elders that you just can't help but be happy around. But we were at Chick Fil-a and we were sitting there friday night and he was like Elder Hammer you know what is sad, Moses is coming down from Mt. Sinai tomorrow and not one person in here knows it. And it just hit me like man so many don't know the blessing that we all felt this weekend to hear a PROPHET OF GOD and to hear the apostles as well. We are a blessed people and more people here need to know about what we have. You can just feel the love from them and from God to know that these men are truly from him. Our Savior is real, I love how we focus on his resurrection and not his death because he lives and he's here with us. I know that if we take the advice and council from the Prophet and "look to the lighthouse of the Lord" that we wont have any adversity or trial that we can't overcome. The church is true people.....Enough Said

 

Well off to go wash the car and get a haircut. There is this barbershop full of Dominicans that we are gonna go try and practice the espanol and get a haircut haha. Who knows we might even get to the golf course to hit some balls, but thanks again for your love and support out here. Enjoy life, love every minute of it, it's too good! Con Amor

Elder Hammer