WOW!

Alrighty, well, I found out that we don't have a time limit on emails here, so I can make them as long or as short as I want. This one should be pretty long cause I have some sweet stories already. Okay first off, I am in Lynn, MA and our house is about 1 block from the ocean. I can't see it from the house, but we can go running on the beach every morning. I haven't done that yet, cause my companions ( I am in a threesome) don't want to. They are great Elders. Elder Jackson and Elder Winslow. They have both been out for a bout 14 months, and they were companions in the MTC as well. They both know Cambodian very well. I found out when I got here, that we don't teach a whole lot in Cambodian. There are about 800 Cambodian people in our ward, but they are all inactive except for 2. Pretty lame. I haven't taught any lessons in cambodian yet, but we have dinner at the Sen's (the two active cambodian members) every friday, so I got to talk to them a little bit. We teach a lot in English, so I am a little bummed about that, but I still have the faith that I can continue learning the language and be able to help the Cambodian people out.

Ok so I don't have a whole lot to say about the plane ride, it was pretty boring. I was in between two guys who had their headphones in the whole time, but when one of them took his out as we were landing, I started talking to him and found out he lives in the other area that we work in. I also gave him a passalong card for the bible, because he was not interested in the book of mormon at all. Then, as I was walking through the airport, I was greeted by a lady that asked me if I was going or coming. I told her that I just barely got here, and we started talking. She is a member who lives in Sandy, she didn't say why she was in Boston, but I was talking to her until I met Pres. Evans. He is such a funny man. I can tell that he is going to help me become a great missionary. He told me that the cambodian elders always come in the middle of transfers, so I would not be spending the night at his house, but I would be going straight to the apartment to meet my companions. Pretty sweet, huh? So we get to the apartment, and my comps meet me, and say "alright, we've got a dinner appointment, let's go" so we hop in the car and go to a dinner appointment at the Buckley's. They are nuts. Single dad with 6 kids. They love fighting, So I met all of them, which was an interesting experience. Bro. Buckley got baptized about 2 years ago, and he is a really strong member. They are a great family, with TONS of energy. haha. We did family scripture study with them, which was cool, then we went back to our apartment. That was about all we did that night, because they wanted to get me home so I could unpack all my stuff.

The next day, it was the beginning of my missionary life in the field. We had lots of appointments. I don't know if I can recall all of them, but I will try. Ashiko - single dad with one son. He's been an "investigator" for about 7 months, but when we went over there, he seemed like he is finally starting to understand. hopefully we can get him baptized soon. James and Vastine Carter. HUGE black guy that lives with his mom. They are both inactive members who are wanting to come back to church but can't because she is in a wheelchair and he is just too big to do much. They should be to church next week, because there is this thing here called "The Ride" for disabled people, but they have to get a doctor's signature to use it. We taught a lot of lessons, and everything so far is kindof just a big blur, so I can't really remember much other than that. haha sorry.

But, I have an AWESOME story for you now. So, Saturday morning, we got a referral from Church headquarters on our phone. We went to the address to check it out, but nobody was home. Later that day, our phone rings. It's the referral telling us that they are home and wants us to come over now. We go over, and it's an apartment with 3 black people that were super nice to us. We go in, and we start talking to them. One of them says that his uncle, who is from Tanzania has been going to church there for 4 years, but has never been baptized! He is visiting them in their apartment until Wednesday. We start talking to the uncle, his name is Dr. Emmanuel Kandusi (he has a doctorate in Philosophy and theology, and 3 masters in other really smart things that I can't remember) He tells us that he has been going to church, and now, he finally feels it is time to get baptized. He says that he wants to do it in the same place where he first met the missionaries, which is Boston. We all get excited, and tell him that we need to talk to our mission president and the bishop. There was a ward party satruday night, so we talked to the bishop there, and he said that it sounded a little fishy, but he would look into it and talk to Emmanuel. So sunday rolls around, and Emmanuel comes to church with his nephew and niece. After church, Bishop takes Emmanuel into his office, and talks to him for like 15 minutes. After that, bishop takes us in and tells us that the real reason he wants to get baptized here is so his nephew and niece can be here with him and that will help them want to start learning from us. So, we told him alright, and we would see what we could do about scheduling a baptism before wednesday when he leaves for Tanzania. We told Emmanuel that we needed to make sure that he was ready so we would come over Monday morning. So, this morning, we went over, and taught him all 4 lessons in about an hour. Or, I should say, he taught us all 4 lessons in about an hour. He is definitely ready to be baptized. His interview is tomorrow morning, and his baptism is tomorrow night! Pretty awesome story for my first 5 days in the field, huh? AND, he asked me if I would be the one to baptise him! sweet. I am so stoked! It's definitely going to be a little bit of a weird service, cause it will probably just be me, my 2 companions, the bishop, him, and his nephew and niece. haha. But, I am way excited. We talked to his nephew and niece after church, and they both loved it, and we will begin meeting with them sometime this week. And, to make things more interesting, we found out that the referral we got on our phone, was actually from the niece. She had been looking for the church in her area, but couldn't find it, so she called the referral number, and it got sent to us. Meanwhile, the uncle, Dr. Kandusi has been trying to get in contact with us since he got here. And neither of them knew that the other one was trying to contact the church at the same time! haha. It's amazing how the Lord can put us into those situations where things work out the way they need to.

So, in summary, my first 5 days here have been pretty amazing. We taught about 15 lessons, picked up 3 new investigators, and have a baptism tomorrow night. and we have had dinner from a member every night except one. haha. I am kinda worried about gaining weight here, cause we don't have bikes, and we eat tons of food. haha. Speaking of food, when we went to the Sen's ( the active cambodians) I had my first "I am stuffed, but these people keep bringing me food" experience. haha. we had cambodian noodles which were DELICIOUS. I ate one ginormous bowl full and then she brought me another bowl, but I literally could not eat anymore food. haha. It was fun.

My normal Pday is on Mondays, so expect my emails then, however, next week, is transfers so pday will be on wednesday, which also means you should probably send mail to the mission home starting next week, but chances are I will not be transferred because I am new here, so I will be in this area for a while.

Anyways, that is it for this week. We are definitely keeping busy. Hopefully we will have a couple cambodian lessons this week. We'll see. Well, I hope you all have a great week. Send me mail! haha. I love you all!

Love,
Elder D. Hammer

P.S. Just thought I'd throw in here at the end that Lynn and Lowell (the two cambodian areas) are some of the most dangerous cities in MA. haha. SWEET. Alright. Bye!