June 28th

Hey Guys!!!!!!

 

This past week can be described in one word.....HOT! It's so hot here i can't believe it haha There was like a code red warning 2 days last week because of the heat and the humidity, i think back to the great words from sandlot "Benny, I'm toastin' like a bacon cheeser!" It's great though, people are always outside and that makes missionary work a lot better, but we've been blessed again this past week and had a lot of great experiences. Thanks for all the letters and the love. Thanks for the 1 year package mom! Me and Elder Woolley had a little Fiesta in the apartment with brownies and the camel you sent me ha Mom one question though....the camel has 2 humps...is there another year i don't know about haha no, no thanks a lot mom it was a great day. I can't believe that a year ago i entered the MTC as such a boy and how much things have changed now but i'm so glad for all that i have experienced that past year it truly has been the most amazing experience of my life!

 

To start out this week has been great, especially with the lesson with Kelly! She didn't have too good of an experience last sunday and we knew that but she showed up to our lesson on tuesday in shambles, she looked like she had been hit by a bus. She just walked in and broke down. Rewind a bit...we have been struggling at finding someone for Kelly to be friends with but the night before we were tlaking to freddy about what we were going to teach her and he suggested a girl named amanda out of the clear blue, we called amanda at about 10 15 and she answered and said, elders i've been thinking i needed to call you for some reason but i didn't know why and thought it was too late to call, but i'm glad you called. Yaddi yaddi yadda and she was in for the lesson. She's from Thousand Oaks California and lives on twin ranch the course we played down there last year. Basically she's the only normal one haha so she came and when Kelly walked in she was there with us. Kelly had gotten curious and started looking on the internet and was upset that she even did it but more just confused. Amanda talked to her about it and come to find out Amanda's dad is catholic and mom is mormon and that is EXACTLY what kelly needed. We got her calmed down and began the lesson on the BOOK OF MORMON she had done all her reading and said  "So the book of mormon is like really aplicable for our day" haha it was music to our ears. We talked about the tree of life and then we watched the Safety for the soul conference talk from elder holland on the Book of Mormon and there were tears in her eyes. Then Elder Woolley shared how he got a testimony and by the time he was done all 5 of us were in tears. I know i say this all the time but this lesson was the most spiritual lesson of my mission, it was like angels were in that room with us. She left doing a complete 360 and she's now in Texas with her boyfriend. We talked to her last night and she went to a normal family ward and she siad she loved it. I wouldn't be suprised if when she gets back she says i want to get baptized but we'll just keep praying. It was a great experience and great lesson!!!!

 

We put Elder AND Juana on date for the 11th of July this past week! They are doing so good and both said that they wanted to be baptized so we are planning a wedding for them too now haha Elder Hammer and Elder Woolley.....missionaries i think not but wedding planners yes haha I love those two so much.

 

Marlon and Laura are doing amazing. They both passed the interview on saturday and we are having a FIESTA on saturday for their wedding and their baptisms on sunday! They are amazing people and being around them is humbling. They live in one bedroom and there is 14 people living in a 3 bedroom apartment with 1 BATHROOM! it's unreal the sacrifices that they are going through but they are so content and so happy. I'm so excited for this weekend!

 

This past week we got a call from a former investigator who kind of flaked out on the missionaries but wanted us to come by and talk to him. So we went by and we asked what was up and he started to break down and told us that his son was killed in a car crash two days prior. It was one of the hardest experiences to see this grown man just in shambles wth the loss of his son and not seeing any hope for the future. BUT he did remember to call the missionaries at his greatest time of trial. Rafael knows what the spirit feels like and he's felt it so we tried to bring it with all we had with the plan of salvation! He felt the difference and asked us to come to the funeral which was last night. Probably one of the most akward experiences of my mission being in a baptist church and seeing the despair and absolutely no hope in the eyes of the people there for this 28 year man. It ripped me up quite a bit, but Rafael told us when we left that he wants us to come by and teach him again, and that he wants to come to church again. I am so grateful for the knowledge we have and that we have the ability to find peace through the plan of salvation. Hopeful something will touch him to where he will change and feel the need to be baptized. but i could feel his pain, we are so blessed to know what we know!

 

This week has been a week filled with highs of highs and last night i didn't necisarily feel the low of lows but my heart went out to this guy who had nothing and now had lost his son who was his pride and Joy. The gratitude for life becomes something more when you see that and i'm just grateful for all that we have. and especially for the peace and joy the gospel brings, especially the peace reading from the book of mormon can bring into our life. We are in for some great weeks ahead of us with 6 baptisms lined up for the next 3 weeks and we are doing great. Thanks for all you do and for all the love and prayers. Have a great week in all you do!

 

ELDER HAMMER