Well, here's the latest. I don't have much time, so it will have to be quick this week.I'm in my new area. The Penn Valley Ward is pretty cool. It is a rural area, but nothing like Fall River (I don't think anywhere is like Fall River). We live in Rough and Ready.
My new comp is Elder Garner from Gilbert, AZ. It's interesting training a new missionary. It's been good so far and we are getting along great. It is really crazy seeing him in his shoes because it still feels like just yesterday that I was where he is now. We have a ton in common and he is a great guy.
The ward is awesome. My Bishop is Bishop Glazier, the cousin of Bro. Glazier in the ward! We both thought that was kind of crazy when I asked him if he new a Dave Glazier from Orem. Tell Bro. Glazier about that!
This part of the mission is really cool. I am farther South in the mission now than I have been since I got here a year ago. We are in the Auburn Stake (Auburn is really nice) and it feels kind of weird to be down in civilization again. We live in the upstairs of a barn and there have been a bunch of baby goats born below us in the past week since I got here. Cool huh? We're working on getting some new investigators since our teaching pool is kind of dry right now. The less active work is going great however. You asked what whitewashing meant. Basically it's when Pres. takes both missionaries out of an area and puts two new ones in. So, we have to figure everything out on our own. There isn't anybody there who already knows the area. This is the second time that I have had to do that. I did that with Fall River also. Doing that now and training at the same time is a whole new experience, but that is ok. We're starting to get our feet underneath of us finally.
Ok, time is running out so I need to be going. Just so you know, I'll be emailing on Tuesdays now because that is when the library is open. Hope everything is ok! Love you all,
Elder Hammer
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Oh, Man
I don't know if I feel sick or excited right now. We got the transfer call this morning and I am leaving. I will be shotgun (or whitewash) training in the Penn Valley Ward in the Auburn Stake. The city I will be living in is called Rough and Ready. Sounds exciting eh? Training is definitely going to be a new experience. Maybe I'll get paired up with Elder Duvall from OHS, then again, maybe not... I'm going to have to apply what I learned in this area to the next one because it will mainly be on my shoulders to get things going. I know nothing of the area except it's in the mountains again. President was't kidding when he said my new assignment would be stretching me. I'm ready for it though and I'm looking forward to the new experiences.Something that was a little crazy that happened this week was that we received a phone call threat from a member of the Catholic congregation in Fall River. He told us that he would call the Sherriff on us if we didn't stop harrassing one of their members about converting to our faith. We were working with Chris Shields (which has been a crazy experience in and of itself) and he has been sharing with his congregation all the things that we have been teaching him. Well, they don't like that very much and they came down hard on him telling him to burn the Book of Mormon and "stay away from that cult." I guess one of the members decided to take things into his own hands and try and eliminate the problem himself by calling us and threatening us. Whatever. We were able to fix everything and in talking with Chris's parents we were asked not to come back. Too bad. The funny thing about all of this is that the only ones that have been doing any harrassment have been those in Chris's congregation. Interesting...Well, I need to get going, there is lots to get done today. I'll get you my new address as soon as I can. Pray for my greenie!Love you!Elder Hammer
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Some Pics
Here are some fun pictures of Elder Hammer and his companion Elder Mortenson on Christmas Eve. They spent the evening at the mission president's home, Brother Whittle. It sounds like they had a lot of fun making fudge, playing Life, watching a movie and having a way intense nerf gun fight in which Elder Mortenson suffered a black eye.
Playing Life
Making Fudge
Getting ready for the mean nerf gun fight.
Watching Mr. Kruger's Christmas with Alex
Monday, January 11, 2010
Expecting Something
Thanks for the package, Mom. Sounds like you're having a great time back home dealing with Mason. : )
We had interviews this week with President and he told me that he's got something in mind for me for next transfer. "You're ready for some new growing opportunities. You will be stretched in new ways with what you will be doing." Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. The Zone Leaders told me that they heard that there are two missionaries leaving from our Zone and I'm probably one of them. I won't know for sure until next Monday when transfer calls come. I love this area that I am in and it will be hard to say goodbye to the people, but I am ready for something new. Maybe I'll end up in a real city. That would be different.
Ok, so you asked about the cougar experience. Well, we were driving to a ward members home and the road goes right past the Pitt River. We came around the corner and a giant cat with a giant tail ran right in front of us. He was booking it too. It was AWESOME! There really wasn't any mistaking it for anything else. The people who live in that area have had cougars before, but you hardly ever see them. It was pretty cool.
I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week and I think that I've finally grown to love Wal-Mart. We went there to try and talk to people and it was great. We would just walk up and down the parking lot talking to everybody we could. I think the reason I liked it so much was because there were people everywhere!! Man, getting contacts is easy with a Wal-Mart in the area! I'm pretty sure I talked to more people in 20 minutes than I have in the last week and a half here in Fall River. We had some really good conversations with a couple people and handed out a Book of Mormon to a lady who was actually really interested. It was a great experience.
Well. that is about it for the week. Like I said, transfers are next week. Oh, Devin's topic for his farewell should be a piece of cake. I remember Bro. Cowley asking me to speak on Christ as our Savior in the Pre-Mortal Existence. Devin has it easy. : ) By the way, the pics that I sent home filled my email box all the way up so I don't know if I'll be able to receive any emails for a little while. I deleted them, but it takes a while for the server to empty the memory on my account. You can try to send some and hopefully I'll get them. I'll get it figured out soon enough.
Have a great week! Love you all!!!
Elder Hammer
We had interviews this week with President and he told me that he's got something in mind for me for next transfer. "You're ready for some new growing opportunities. You will be stretched in new ways with what you will be doing." Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. The Zone Leaders told me that they heard that there are two missionaries leaving from our Zone and I'm probably one of them. I won't know for sure until next Monday when transfer calls come. I love this area that I am in and it will be hard to say goodbye to the people, but I am ready for something new. Maybe I'll end up in a real city. That would be different.
Ok, so you asked about the cougar experience. Well, we were driving to a ward members home and the road goes right past the Pitt River. We came around the corner and a giant cat with a giant tail ran right in front of us. He was booking it too. It was AWESOME! There really wasn't any mistaking it for anything else. The people who live in that area have had cougars before, but you hardly ever see them. It was pretty cool.
I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week and I think that I've finally grown to love Wal-Mart. We went there to try and talk to people and it was great. We would just walk up and down the parking lot talking to everybody we could. I think the reason I liked it so much was because there were people everywhere!! Man, getting contacts is easy with a Wal-Mart in the area! I'm pretty sure I talked to more people in 20 minutes than I have in the last week and a half here in Fall River. We had some really good conversations with a couple people and handed out a Book of Mormon to a lady who was actually really interested. It was a great experience.
Well. that is about it for the week. Like I said, transfers are next week. Oh, Devin's topic for his farewell should be a piece of cake. I remember Bro. Cowley asking me to speak on Christ as our Savior in the Pre-Mortal Existence. Devin has it easy. : ) By the way, the pics that I sent home filled my email box all the way up so I don't know if I'll be able to receive any emails for a little while. I deleted them, but it takes a while for the server to empty the memory on my account. You can try to send some and hopefully I'll get them. I'll get it figured out soon enough.
Have a great week! Love you all!!!
Elder Hammer
Monday, January 4, 2010
Hello, Again
Well, we're back on our regular P-day schedule now that the holidays are over. 2010 is here already! That is pretty crazy!
We had some cool things happen since I emailed last time. Mainly, yesterday was just a good day. The highlight of it was testimony meeting. We had our investigator, Chris, come to church for the first time. Missionaries are always a little leary about bringing an investigator on Fast Sunday because you never now how the meeting is going to go. Since I've been here in the Fall River ward though, I really haven't had to worry. My last area, Cottonwood, however was a different story. The testimonies that were shared yesterday were awesome and it was a very spiritual sacrament meeting. Man, I love these people so much!
We also had a less active member who moved into the area about 3 months ago come to church for the second time. His name is Tyler, he's 19, and he came here from Boise because his parents bought the little restaurant in McArthur. We saw him when we had dinner there the other night and invited him to come to church again. He told us that he had been thinking about it. Well, he came and as I spoke with him at church, I found out that he read through the Book of Mormon last month for the first time and that he is wanting to start preparing to go on a mission!! He told me that his goal is to come to church every week for the next year. He even met with the Bishop after church and organized a ride down to Andersen for Stake Conference this weekend with one of the ward members. The Book of Mormon is awesome! There is real power that comes to those who read it with the qualities described in Moroni Ch. 10! I know it is true, not just because I have seen it change the lives of many many people, but because it has changed mine. I love it!
Hope that everyone has a good week and that your new year is going well! I love you!
Elder Hammer
We had some cool things happen since I emailed last time. Mainly, yesterday was just a good day. The highlight of it was testimony meeting. We had our investigator, Chris, come to church for the first time. Missionaries are always a little leary about bringing an investigator on Fast Sunday because you never now how the meeting is going to go. Since I've been here in the Fall River ward though, I really haven't had to worry. My last area, Cottonwood, however was a different story. The testimonies that were shared yesterday were awesome and it was a very spiritual sacrament meeting. Man, I love these people so much!
We also had a less active member who moved into the area about 3 months ago come to church for the second time. His name is Tyler, he's 19, and he came here from Boise because his parents bought the little restaurant in McArthur. We saw him when we had dinner there the other night and invited him to come to church again. He told us that he had been thinking about it. Well, he came and as I spoke with him at church, I found out that he read through the Book of Mormon last month for the first time and that he is wanting to start preparing to go on a mission!! He told me that his goal is to come to church every week for the next year. He even met with the Bishop after church and organized a ride down to Andersen for Stake Conference this weekend with one of the ward members. The Book of Mormon is awesome! There is real power that comes to those who read it with the qualities described in Moroni Ch. 10! I know it is true, not just because I have seen it change the lives of many many people, but because it has changed mine. I love it!
Hope that everyone has a good week and that your new year is going well! I love you!
Elder Hammer
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year!
First off, thanks to everyone for the gifts this year. Christmas was great. Coby, the watch is awesome. Thanks.
I know that this email is coming at a strange time, but with the holiday this week, our schedule was switched up, so we get to email today. It's kind of crazy.
Things aren't much different since last time. We are still just plugging along hoping that things will pick up again sometime soon. We've been meeting with a few of the ward members this week and asking them to "join in fasting and mighty prayer on behalf of the welfare of those who [know] not God." (Alma 6:6) Hopefully we can get some things going.
We had an interesting meeting with our investigator, Chris Shields, this week. He has been wanting to come to the church and check out the family history library, so we set up a meeting there. Chris was wanting to try and find some info on his grandparents and he needed to double check on the dates that he had. So, he called his birth mother, who apparently is "mentally unstable" to ask her about the dates needed. That was a really awkward conversation. He had her on speaker phone, and she didn't know she was on speaker phone. Well, she ended up going off on Chris when he told her he was at the Mormon church looking things up. "You were born Catholic, you were baptized Catholic, and you are going to die Catholic!" She said a bunch of other things as well, which has now made E. Mortenson and I really start wondering what the deal is with with Chris. There is a lot more history that we aren't aware of right now that is going to make our time working with Chris even more interesting. Fun...
Well. that's about it for the week. Hopefully everybody has a good New Years. Take care and I love you!
Elder Hammer
I know that this email is coming at a strange time, but with the holiday this week, our schedule was switched up, so we get to email today. It's kind of crazy.
Things aren't much different since last time. We are still just plugging along hoping that things will pick up again sometime soon. We've been meeting with a few of the ward members this week and asking them to "join in fasting and mighty prayer on behalf of the welfare of those who [know] not God." (Alma 6:6) Hopefully we can get some things going.
We had an interesting meeting with our investigator, Chris Shields, this week. He has been wanting to come to the church and check out the family history library, so we set up a meeting there. Chris was wanting to try and find some info on his grandparents and he needed to double check on the dates that he had. So, he called his birth mother, who apparently is "mentally unstable" to ask her about the dates needed. That was a really awkward conversation. He had her on speaker phone, and she didn't know she was on speaker phone. Well, she ended up going off on Chris when he told her he was at the Mormon church looking things up. "You were born Catholic, you were baptized Catholic, and you are going to die Catholic!" She said a bunch of other things as well, which has now made E. Mortenson and I really start wondering what the deal is with with Chris. There is a lot more history that we aren't aware of right now that is going to make our time working with Chris even more interesting. Fun...
Well. that's about it for the week. Hopefully everybody has a good New Years. Take care and I love you!
Elder Hammer
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