june 14th

Hey, hey, hey

Well it's been such a sweet week in our area again and i get to stay here for at least another 6 weeks with Elder Woolley which makes me happy. It's hot in maryland and at night it's hot too ha but i am seeing one thing here this is actually pretty cool, Fireflies are everywhere!!!! It's a light show every night, haha kinda random but a cool piece of information. Thanks for the letters this past week mom and dad and Jacie. I loved hearing from you guys and thanks for the new calendar mom, it's perfect!

Well this past week was awesome, yesterday at church we had 10 investigators there! The Aviles Family, Marlon and Laura, Elder AND JUANA TOO!!!! It was so much fun and such a circus but wow it was such a great sunday!!!

This past week with Marlon and Laura we set July 3rd for their wedding and July 4th for their baptism! They are really excited for it. It's so fun to see these two and how happy they are! This past week Marlon had a court trial thing because he had an expired licence that was going to cost him 300$ of which he did not have, but he only had to pay like 50$ and was so happy because he knew it was God helping him out! We had him meet with the branch president yesterday and the Branch pres. is a great guy, very loving and just made them feel like they were going to have a great wedding and that he was going to take care of it all!!!! We are so excited for them and it's going to be great. He told us this past week since he works all day until late, "I just wnat you guys to come over sometimes at 12 at night and eat chicken with us and teach us, we feel so much better when you both are here" It's so great to hear that from people because there isn't anything else in the world like this!

This past week we went to the Temple with Elder and his wife Juana. Elder is set on the church and has come before but Juana hasn't and has some issues. She's been addicted to coffee since she was a baby and works sundays so we have ben really working on her wiht the Word of Wisdom. When we got there saturday morning to go with them she was like Elders guess what, i quit drinking coffee it hurts my stomach now, and tomorrow i'm coming to church. I was so shocked and so happy, it was the greatest thing to hear, the spirit is for surely working on her and she's falling in love with the gospel. We watched the Joseph Smith movie and Elder got chocked up watching it and said he could feel it in his heart the power of that video. The temple was great they loved the temple, i have so many pictures and i forgot my camera today!!!!! i'll send them this upcoming week!! After he took us to this area in Washington DC just filled with HISPANICS to there favorite restaurant called Pollo Campero and payed for us, ha there turning into our best friends and that's the best!

Kelly got back from her cruise last night and things are going good, i feel like she is just going to take her sweet time ha It's on their time frame i guess, but she's so ready so that makes it hard. But all is well there and we have an appointment with her the upcoming week.

Well all is well as you can tell and we are being so blessed right now in this area! we have so much going on and a lot of new changes on the zone that should be interesting, but we just have lots of work to do, but it's going to be fun! Thanks for all your love and support out here from everyone. Thanks nick for sending me the blessing! I loved listening to that, your an amazing dad with an even more amazing wife! I lov eyou both! I hope you have a great week everyone!

Until Next Week

ELDER HAMMER

june 7th

Fam!!!!!!!

 

This past week was something else! I don't know where to start off but the Lord has blessed us so much this past week and i'm just so grateful. The weather is good, no worries there it's just humid and hot...nothing more to say than that ha I just wanted to say thanks to you Uncle Scott and Aunt Jodie for taking me out to lunch. I appreciated it so much and it was so great to be with you guys for that short time and feel of your love. THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!! Me and my companion were very grateful and we hope that you know that! Thanks mom for the letters and for the packages this past week they were so great. It's so great to hear from all of you and thanks for your prayers for me, i know they are being answered!

 

Well to start off with the best Marlon and Laura Sandoval are doing great. They came to church this yesterday and we changed there date from the 13th to the 27th because they aren't married and that's a pretty big thing to plan so we put it back a few weeks but they are doing so good and they love church and they are happy. So yesterday we were out knocking doors and he called me and was kind of panicked and said that he needed to tell me something, and that something big had just happened. At first thought i was thinking he was going to jail or something big, but he started to tell me that they have been low on money and just payed there rent and have no money for the next two weeks, i could feel the despair in his voice and it ripped my heart out. He went on to say that he had 15$ to his name and went to the store to buy his wife some milk...she's pregnant. So he said he had 10$ and there was a lottery card sitting on the counter that costed 10 dollars and he bought it. He told me that he went home and placed the lottery thing on his bed and prayed to god to just help him and that he could survive for the next 2 weeks on 50$ for him his wife and his 3 year old son, here this father was desperately doing anythign to get his family to survive and he thinks to pray to God to ask for help. He said he began to scratch off the card and he won 15 times on the same card and won 300$. As he has tears in his eyes and in his voice i could feel the gratitude, he said Hermano, i know this church is true and i know that god has answered my prayer, i know that the lottery is not a good thing, but the lord helped me and i know this is true, everythign you have taught me is true. I just sat there in shock and couldn't believe it and i don't think he could either, he called me almost instantaneously after it had happened. They are so ready to be baptized and he is so set on this. I love that family with all my heart and i can't wait to see the day when they get to go through the temple together!!!!

 

This past week we visited some other investigators 3 times, Elder AND Juana and they are doing really good. Elder is so set on the church but juana can't give up the coffee so we are trying to do our best to help them out, they love us though. Ha 3 times they cooked for us Tuesday night we had sopa de reis ( Cow stomach soup :)  ) Saturday night (Fish head soup...even better haha) and Last night we has Savichi (Raw shrimp, oysters,crab cooked in lemon juice) It was a great week for my stomach haha. They are great though and love to feed us and love to joke around with us and ask us what you don't like my food, eat more haha it's great I love these families so much!

 

We had Elder Johnson of the 70 come to our mission this past week and that was a great experience that i will never ever forget. Here is this english man that just has so much love for life and for the gospel it was so great to see! I hope that when i'm 68 years old that i can just have that fire that he had! He taught so much i can't even begin to tell you how much but he said something to us that has hit me hard. He said your mission is so close to a miracle, so close and i want to tell you one thing "It's not what you do, but HOW you do it" That is so great to me for more than just the mission but for life. He really got on us to just have that fire of missionary work and to feel it! To be happy and excited for the gospel. Many missionaries are here to get there 2 years in and go home and it's too bad and he could tell that, which was the most amazing thing to me! It was one of those experiences that was so great. and i'll come back to him.....

 

Kelly is doing great, this past week we went to the temple with her and just tried to flood her with the spirit before she left on her cruise. This week a few issues came up and he boyfriend lets us in on what's going on it's great. She has a gay friend and so that is throwing her off a little bit because he is like her best friend and she knows that the church isn't about that. But we really just tried to focus on the most important and let that go by, but her family is telling her stuff and she just is feeling the heat. So we watched the Joseph Smith movie at the visitor center and tried to flood her with trials leading to conversion and she loved it. She wants it so bad and it was a great time at the temple. Then on Friday night Elder Johnson did a fireside especailly for investigators that kelly came too. It was great recent converts spoke presdient belliston spoke and then elder johnson spoke on the plan of salvation and WHO WE ARE. He told his conversion story about once he figured out that god and jesus christ were two seperate people and once he knew he was a child of god and that had significance, that made all the difference. Me and Elder Woolley have talked about Kelly alot and we talked a lot about her maybe not understanding who she is and what her potential is in life, Basically it was just an unreal talk that he gave that hit home to kelly! She was taking notes thae whole time and she was into his talk. After we introduced him to her, and this is where it gets really good. He said hi and asked bluntly "so when is your date?" and kelly then went into well i've been praying and asking and trying my best and haven't set one yet. Then elder johnson said "well how are you praying?" Kelly then went into i address heavenly father then i ask him and then i close in the name of jesus christ amen. Then elder johnson took her hand looked her in the eyes and said so lovingly " I think you've already got your answer" Kelly paused for a few seconds and said ya thats what i'm starting to think and he said  "You'll know" It couldn't have been any better! She loved the fireside and then the guy who took us down there told his conversion story from catholicism and she really enjoyed that as well, she made a comment like " i just don't understand, this church is the only church where people actually practice what they preach, everyone else just goes to church and forgets about it once they walk out the door" Little by little the spirit is working on kelly and it's so fun to see. We are hoping and praying that she comes back and just says that she wants to be baptized. I have so much faith that she will.

 

As you can tell this past week was such a blessing from our Father in Heaven, we are being so blessed and it's so wonderful to feel those blessings. This past week was a wonderful week and I'm just happy, i can't say much more than that. I love you all and hope you all have a great week! The church is true.

 

Much Love

 

Elder Hammer