Well, I didn't tell you last week, but transfers are this week. I was feeling pretty safe about not getting moved out so I don't think I mentioned anything to you. This morning we found out what is happening...
First off, I am staying with Elder Hansen in the North Highlands 2nd Ward. We got a phone call from the APs this morning telling us that along with staying in our area we will be shotgunning the Antelope 2nd Ward. Yep, that's right, I'm shotgunning again, only this time I don't have to go anywhere to do it. This is shotgun number 3 so far. We'll see how many more Pres. can throw in with only 5 transfers to go. : ) We were under the impression that we would be covering both wards on our bikes until the Zone Leaders showed up and told us we will be getting a car. So now I'll be rolling in a 2009 Chevy Malibu with a bike rack on the back of it so we can park in an area and use our bikes to get around. Stylin' Right now, the Zone Leaders are moving all of their stuff into our apartment. I'll be living with 3 other missionaries again for the first time since I left Gridley a year ago. Party time! : D
That's about it for transfer information. There is also the possibility that I'll be District Leader again, but we're not sure yet. I'll let you know what happens.
So, you know how we were supposed to have a baptism this past weekend? Ummm....well, once again, things just have not seemed to happen the way we were hoping to. I can't remember how much I told you about the situation last week so I'll just give you a recap.
Samantha and Shayna Tanner were scheduled to be baptized last Saturday. Shayna has been struggling for a while with conversion and we were able to get out of her that she doesn't feel good enough to be baptized. We are cool with that as much as we don't like pushing a baptism back. She has legitmate concerns and she is willing to work through them. Alright, we'll wait to baptize Shayna. Samantha on the other hand is totally ready. She's 12 years old and she could have probably been baptized 3 years ago. She wants it really badly, she loves church, but she wants her dad to baptize her... Friday afternoon (less than 24 hours before Samantha is scheduled to be baptized) we get a phone call from Samantha's mom telling us that they had talked to the bishop and he had said that Jody, the father, would need to go 30 days w/o smoking, drinking, or any other Word of Wisdom problem before he could exercise the priesthood and baptize his daughter. The bishop told them it was their decision about what to do. They called us and said that they had decided to push the baptism back to June 26th.
After hearing all of this, E. Hansen and I were not happy. I really really really really do not like pushing baptisms back for any reason, especially if the person is completely ready and all we need to do is fill the font. When somebody has committed to get baptized it's like you are throwing down the glove and telling Satan, "Bring it on." Anything and everything can and usually does go wrong to prevent that person from getting baptized. Now, Sam is going to have to go through 30 more days of a constant attack from the adversary to try and get her to not get baptized. Not only is she going to be affected, but her dad is also going to have one heck of a time quitting his addictions. The optimistic side of things is that this could very well be what the family needs to help them succeed. We are hoping that this works out, but we're not excited about the wait. We're mainly worried about Jody. We stopped by their house yesterday to see how they were doing and we are 90% sure we caught Jody sneaking a cig. If it was him, he's trying to hide it from his family, but we think he knows we know now. Geez this is not fun. What we have decided is that with or without Jody, Samantha is getting baptized on June 26th. We can't keep pushing the date back. Thankfully the bishop is backing our decision, so we will be having a baptism next month no matter what.
Alright, that's the news for now. You know, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the reason being a missionary is so tiring is not so much from physical fatigue, but from emotional and spiritual stress. What you go through as you help people, pray for them, love them, cry for them, and strive to do everything in your power to just help them GET IT is exhausting, but I've never done anything in my life that has ever been so rewarding. I love it and I wouldn't trade any of it for anything.
Dad, thanks for the email. I really appreciated it. I'm glad to hear that Phil won the Masters and that it was so epic. From what I've heard, it sounds like Tiger is down the drain. Good. It sounds like it's going to be a Lakers Celtics rematch this year too, huh? Maybe the Suns can whoop up on Kobe and get him and his dang team out of the finals. I hate the Lakers.
Peace out everyone! Be mighty!
Elder Justin Hammer
PS. Mason, thanks for the letter! I loved it!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Hello Again
Alrighty, well, this week has been pretty awesome, as usual. I don't remember if I told you or not, but I spoke in church last week. I was asked to speak on how service and prayer helps us keep the commandments. It was interesting. I had about 15 minutes prepared, but when I got there, I was the only one on the stand. haha. But the other two speakers were just sitting with their 3 little kids on the front row. They both spoke and left me with about 3 minutes. haha. I got up, and gave a short, sweet message, and sat down. I felt like i could have done better, but afterwards, I had like 15 people tell me that my talk really touched them and I did a great job. Can't argue with that! Anyway, this las week hasn't been as busy as usual. For whatever reason, we just didn't teach very many lessons this week. It's pretty lame, but we are still working hard, and trying to find more people to teach.
Our investigator, Donna, who is getting baptized on June 13, is still doing really well. She finally made it to church this week after being sick, and she told me that she loved it and that she would definitely be back next week. It was pretty cool. She actually called me this morning to ask me about some stuff they talked about in sunday school, cause the lesson was on temples. she asked if her husband had to be a member in order for her to be sealed to him. I told her yes, and that we would teach her about the temple after she was baptized. So, hopefully, she will get her husband to sit in with us when we go over tomorrow.
We have also picked up a few new investigators. Two of them are people we met on the street on our way to other appointments, and one of them is a friend of one of our "eternigators" or, person who, in this case, has been an investigator since last august, and just won't make the commitment to get baptized. We are going to drop him soon, if he doesn't come to church this week. But his friend is really cool. He is interested in the Holy Ghost and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would check it out. We are going to meet with him sometime this week. One of the other guys, we actually just talked to yesterday on our way to an appointment. He said that he found a Book of Mormon and started reading it, and said that he doesn't work so we could come over whenever we want. SWEET. He was a pretty cool guy, and as I was talking to him, I felt like he will be very promising.
And, we had Zone Conference with Elder Arnold from the 70 on Friday. It was so good. He basically told us that our mission has been flat as far as baptisms go, for 10 years, and that we need to change that. He taught us the method that Neil L Anderson taught him to extend a baptismal commitment on the first lesson, and it is so cool! It got me so fired up to go out and teach tons of people. He is a very cool man, and he definitely inspired me to change some of the things I am doing so I can become a better missionary. It was such a great conference.
Ok, time for the cool story of the week. This time, it is kind of sad, but it was an interesting experience. We have been meeting with this guy with like 6 names, but we just call him Sal. He was asked not to attend his church that he lives within the boundaries of, because he made the women feel uncomfortable. He got permission to come to our ward, so we have been teaching him, and we talked to the bishop about 3 weeks ago to see about baptising him. The bishop told us to wait, because apparently, Sal has a pretty long history with the church, and the bishop wanted to find out more before we did anything. Turns out, that yesterday at church, bishop told us that he was actually asked to not attend any church anywhere, because he actually had some restraining orders and a legal history with the church as well. So, we had to ask him to leave, and not come back. It was pretty akward, but we had Bro. Shumway, amember of the bishopric to help us. We can still teach him, but he is not allowed to come to church, or on to church grounds, at all. I don't know if he will still want us to teach him or not, but we'll see. It was quite the experience. I have felt that he was a little weird since we started teaching him, but now, I know he is a little weird. haha.
Congrats to Phil also! that is so cool that he won it. He definitely deserves it. And Grandma should stop thinking he's a dork. He's not. haha. That's a pretty awesome story. Speaking of golf, we get to go next week! hooray. I'm stoked.
Anyways, everyone else is done with their emails and are waiting for me to get done so I guess I'll go now. but before I do, I was wondering if I could get a copy of the ward list so I have people's addresses in case I want to write to people sometime. And also, Pres. Evans just approved us getting bikes too. My comp and I definetely want to get bikes. And, I think that is all for now. there's always something I forget to say in these emails, but whatever. Love you all!!! Have a great week!
Elder D. Hammer
Our investigator, Donna, who is getting baptized on June 13, is still doing really well. She finally made it to church this week after being sick, and she told me that she loved it and that she would definitely be back next week. It was pretty cool. She actually called me this morning to ask me about some stuff they talked about in sunday school, cause the lesson was on temples. she asked if her husband had to be a member in order for her to be sealed to him. I told her yes, and that we would teach her about the temple after she was baptized. So, hopefully, she will get her husband to sit in with us when we go over tomorrow.
We have also picked up a few new investigators. Two of them are people we met on the street on our way to other appointments, and one of them is a friend of one of our "eternigators" or, person who, in this case, has been an investigator since last august, and just won't make the commitment to get baptized. We are going to drop him soon, if he doesn't come to church this week. But his friend is really cool. He is interested in the Holy Ghost and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would check it out. We are going to meet with him sometime this week. One of the other guys, we actually just talked to yesterday on our way to an appointment. He said that he found a Book of Mormon and started reading it, and said that he doesn't work so we could come over whenever we want. SWEET. He was a pretty cool guy, and as I was talking to him, I felt like he will be very promising.
And, we had Zone Conference with Elder Arnold from the 70 on Friday. It was so good. He basically told us that our mission has been flat as far as baptisms go, for 10 years, and that we need to change that. He taught us the method that Neil L Anderson taught him to extend a baptismal commitment on the first lesson, and it is so cool! It got me so fired up to go out and teach tons of people. He is a very cool man, and he definitely inspired me to change some of the things I am doing so I can become a better missionary. It was such a great conference.
Ok, time for the cool story of the week. This time, it is kind of sad, but it was an interesting experience. We have been meeting with this guy with like 6 names, but we just call him Sal. He was asked not to attend his church that he lives within the boundaries of, because he made the women feel uncomfortable. He got permission to come to our ward, so we have been teaching him, and we talked to the bishop about 3 weeks ago to see about baptising him. The bishop told us to wait, because apparently, Sal has a pretty long history with the church, and the bishop wanted to find out more before we did anything. Turns out, that yesterday at church, bishop told us that he was actually asked to not attend any church anywhere, because he actually had some restraining orders and a legal history with the church as well. So, we had to ask him to leave, and not come back. It was pretty akward, but we had Bro. Shumway, amember of the bishopric to help us. We can still teach him, but he is not allowed to come to church, or on to church grounds, at all. I don't know if he will still want us to teach him or not, but we'll see. It was quite the experience. I have felt that he was a little weird since we started teaching him, but now, I know he is a little weird. haha.
Congrats to Phil also! that is so cool that he won it. He definitely deserves it. And Grandma should stop thinking he's a dork. He's not. haha. That's a pretty awesome story. Speaking of golf, we get to go next week! hooray. I'm stoked.
Anyways, everyone else is done with their emails and are waiting for me to get done so I guess I'll go now. but before I do, I was wondering if I could get a copy of the ward list so I have people's addresses in case I want to write to people sometime. And also, Pres. Evans just approved us getting bikes too. My comp and I definetely want to get bikes. And, I think that is all for now. there's always something I forget to say in these emails, but whatever. Love you all!!! Have a great week!
Elder D. Hammer
Monday, May 17, 2010
Miracles
I know that miracles happen. I have been a part of miracles ever since I came on my mission. God lives, loves us, and wants His children to be happy. As a missionary, I have had the wonderful priviledge of being a participant in miracles. This week was great.
Elder Hansen and I were out tracting earlier in the week. How tracting usually happens in our mission is that you tract a street or an area once every six months or so. There are a few streets that we have written down to go and tract this month. We basically just go down the list and choose a street to go tract that is somewhat in the area that we will be in for the day. We went to the street that we had chosen and locked our bikes up as usual. When we get to a street we usually walk a certain direction when we get there. For whatever reason, we decided to go the opposite direction this day. After walking for a while, we knoced on yet another door to try and speak with someone. The man that answered the door opened it up with a "Hey! How's it goin' today, guys?" Speaking to someone who is openly friendly to us is kind of a rare thing. I started to tell him who we were and what we were doing and he told us that he already knew who we were and that he was very familiar with what we were doing. I asked him if he was a member of our church and he told us "Kinda." Bingo! Less-active member! We started to talk to him to find out a little more. His name is Paul and he grew up in the church back in St. George. When we was about 18 he started making his own decisions and he fell away from the church. Since that time he has had all kinds of ups and downs in his life. Lately, things have gone downhill for him pretty severely. He was engaged to a girl that he had a kid with and she left him. He's had struggles with drugs and alcohol. He's lost a couple really nice jobs. And he's been struggling with emotional problems. He told us that he had been praying the day before we knoced on his door for help. He has been wanting to start coming back to church , but hasn't had any way of doing it. Basically he had prayed for help, gone to sleep, and woke up to us knocking on his door. He was stoked that we were there and he asked us for help to get to church on Sunday. Of course we obliged. So, Paul came to church yesterday for the first time in 9 years or so and he loved it! Even though he has not been going to church for a while, he has carried his scriptures around with him and he brought those too. I am really excited for him. I feel a strange connection to Paul. I swear I have met him somewhere before, he seems so familiar. Maybe he and I were best friends in the pre-mortal existance? That would be pretty sweet! : )
We also picked up two new investigators. One of them is a potential that has been in the area for a long time but has constantly been flaking out on appointments...until we taught her. Her name is Rickee and she is soaking everything up. She told us, "You know, you guys are alright. I've never had anyone explain the Book of Mormon to me before. I like you guys." Our other investigator is the friend of a recent convert in the ward. We taught him the first lesson at a dinner appointment. The Spirit was really strong. I pointed it out to everyone during the lesson and they all agreed that they could feel something and it felt good. After the lesson, John - our new investigator, came back in to the room and told us that the day before he had been talking with his girlfriend about the Holy Ghost. They had been wondering if it was real and how it felt to have the Holy Ghost with you. Then, with a big smile on his face, he told us that when I was telling him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he felt it. Wow!!! It's times like these that make my mission the best experience I've ever had in my life. When the light goes on in the eyes of the people you are teaching and they look at you and share their testimony, even if they don't know what a testimony is, the Spirit confirms to my soul each time that what I am doing is what Heavenly Father wants me to be doing. I love this work!! I don't want it to ever end...
Some other information for you is I went to a baptism back up in Penn Valley on Saturday for my investigator, Nick Anderson. That was awesome!! I was able to see my boy, E. Garner, again. Man, I never thought I'd say it, but I miss the country. PV was a good area. We have a baptism this Saturday for our investigator, Samantha Tanner. Sam and her sister, Shayna, were scheduled to get baptized, but Shayna isn't ready yet. There is still a possibility that she will get baptized too, but E. Hansen and I both feel that she needs some more time. Basically, she's lost interest ever since I came to the area. She had a crush on the missionary that I replaced and that was more or less why she was investigating. Dangit! I'll keep you posted on what happens.
Hope everyone has a good week! Elder Crowder, I don't know if you're going to get this or not before you die, but good luck back in the world man. I don't envy you. I'll see ya in a few months!
Be mighty everyone!
Elder J. Hammer
Elder Hansen and I were out tracting earlier in the week. How tracting usually happens in our mission is that you tract a street or an area once every six months or so. There are a few streets that we have written down to go and tract this month. We basically just go down the list and choose a street to go tract that is somewhat in the area that we will be in for the day. We went to the street that we had chosen and locked our bikes up as usual. When we get to a street we usually walk a certain direction when we get there. For whatever reason, we decided to go the opposite direction this day. After walking for a while, we knoced on yet another door to try and speak with someone. The man that answered the door opened it up with a "Hey! How's it goin' today, guys?" Speaking to someone who is openly friendly to us is kind of a rare thing. I started to tell him who we were and what we were doing and he told us that he already knew who we were and that he was very familiar with what we were doing. I asked him if he was a member of our church and he told us "Kinda." Bingo! Less-active member! We started to talk to him to find out a little more. His name is Paul and he grew up in the church back in St. George. When we was about 18 he started making his own decisions and he fell away from the church. Since that time he has had all kinds of ups and downs in his life. Lately, things have gone downhill for him pretty severely. He was engaged to a girl that he had a kid with and she left him. He's had struggles with drugs and alcohol. He's lost a couple really nice jobs. And he's been struggling with emotional problems. He told us that he had been praying the day before we knoced on his door for help. He has been wanting to start coming back to church , but hasn't had any way of doing it. Basically he had prayed for help, gone to sleep, and woke up to us knocking on his door. He was stoked that we were there and he asked us for help to get to church on Sunday. Of course we obliged. So, Paul came to church yesterday for the first time in 9 years or so and he loved it! Even though he has not been going to church for a while, he has carried his scriptures around with him and he brought those too. I am really excited for him. I feel a strange connection to Paul. I swear I have met him somewhere before, he seems so familiar. Maybe he and I were best friends in the pre-mortal existance? That would be pretty sweet! : )
We also picked up two new investigators. One of them is a potential that has been in the area for a long time but has constantly been flaking out on appointments...until we taught her. Her name is Rickee and she is soaking everything up. She told us, "You know, you guys are alright. I've never had anyone explain the Book of Mormon to me before. I like you guys." Our other investigator is the friend of a recent convert in the ward. We taught him the first lesson at a dinner appointment. The Spirit was really strong. I pointed it out to everyone during the lesson and they all agreed that they could feel something and it felt good. After the lesson, John - our new investigator, came back in to the room and told us that the day before he had been talking with his girlfriend about the Holy Ghost. They had been wondering if it was real and how it felt to have the Holy Ghost with you. Then, with a big smile on his face, he told us that when I was telling him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he felt it. Wow!!! It's times like these that make my mission the best experience I've ever had in my life. When the light goes on in the eyes of the people you are teaching and they look at you and share their testimony, even if they don't know what a testimony is, the Spirit confirms to my soul each time that what I am doing is what Heavenly Father wants me to be doing. I love this work!! I don't want it to ever end...
Some other information for you is I went to a baptism back up in Penn Valley on Saturday for my investigator, Nick Anderson. That was awesome!! I was able to see my boy, E. Garner, again. Man, I never thought I'd say it, but I miss the country. PV was a good area. We have a baptism this Saturday for our investigator, Samantha Tanner. Sam and her sister, Shayna, were scheduled to get baptized, but Shayna isn't ready yet. There is still a possibility that she will get baptized too, but E. Hansen and I both feel that she needs some more time. Basically, she's lost interest ever since I came to the area. She had a crush on the missionary that I replaced and that was more or less why she was investigating. Dangit! I'll keep you posted on what happens.
Hope everyone has a good week! Elder Crowder, I don't know if you're going to get this or not before you die, but good luck back in the world man. I don't envy you. I'll see ya in a few months!
Be mighty everyone!
Elder J. Hammer
Yo
Okay so this week has been pretty awesome. We have 2 baptismal dates for june 13. None of which are Cambodians. I think, if I remember write, there has only been 1 cambodian baptism in the last 6 years. Partly because about 20 years ago, the missionaries basically baptized all of them, without teaching them. and now they are all inactive. lame. But, we'll find some eventually.
Alright, so a few things I forgot to ask about when I called last week. 1 - Who won the Master's? A member here was talking about it a week or two ago and said he couldn't remember who won, but it wasn't Tiger. 2- Conference Ensign would be great as well. I think we get some from the mission office, but I don't know if we all get our own, and we haven't got them yet either, so that'd be nice. 3- Have you heard anything more about Bro. Pratt? I remember hearing a long time ago that his trial was in April, so I am just wondering if you heard what happened with that.
Haha. so yesterday, we went to contact a referral we had received. We got to his house, and rang the bell. He pops his head out the 3rd story window and starts yelling at us that he doesn't want to hear anything about us, and that his friend that referred him doesn't make the decisions for him. As we were talking to him, another man goes walking down the sidewalk past the house and just starts laughing, and proceeds to call us a few choice words, laughs again, and continues on down the sidewalk. After we left the guy's house, we were walking back to our car, and there were 3 guys sitting on the front step of their house drinking, that held up their beer cans and yelled "Elders Rule!" haha. It was pretty funny. My comp and I got a good laugh. Thought you'd like to hear that one. haha.
Next cool story - Lastnight, we were at a member's house for dinner, and they had the Celtics/Magic game on. that was pretty cool. I know I'm in Boston and all, but it would have been cool to see the Magic come back from that one. they almost did. oh well. I also saw a commercial for that Jos. A Bank place that had another "buy one suit, get one suit, 2 shirts, and 2 ties free" sale. so, we found out there is a Jos A Bank store about 10 minutes from our house. We went there earlier today, to check it out. Yeah it is a good deal, but their cheapest suit was $520. haha. Not about to do that. they were really nice suits though. Also, I saw a poster in a Gamestop window for Super Mario Galaxy 2. You should get that one. but you should get the first one first. Get them both. that'd be cool. Also, if, for some reason, the N64 gets broken, please don't throw it or any games/controllers away. Just a random thought there. Just put them in a box and put it with my stuff. but try not to break it anyway.
Alrighty, I think that is about it for this week. We are, once again, playing soccer today. that's okay, cause it's way fun. Have a good week! Love you all.
Love,
Elder D. Hammer
P.S. I know Nate gets these emails, so - Hey man! sorry I haven't written back yet. I will try to today. Just thought I'd let you know that. haha. and hi to Dave too. and hi to all of my other friends and family that I didn't personally acknowledge in this email. I love you all too! And I will love you even more if you send me letters. I like letters. A lot.
Alright, so a few things I forgot to ask about when I called last week. 1 - Who won the Master's? A member here was talking about it a week or two ago and said he couldn't remember who won, but it wasn't Tiger. 2- Conference Ensign would be great as well. I think we get some from the mission office, but I don't know if we all get our own, and we haven't got them yet either, so that'd be nice. 3- Have you heard anything more about Bro. Pratt? I remember hearing a long time ago that his trial was in April, so I am just wondering if you heard what happened with that.
Haha. so yesterday, we went to contact a referral we had received. We got to his house, and rang the bell. He pops his head out the 3rd story window and starts yelling at us that he doesn't want to hear anything about us, and that his friend that referred him doesn't make the decisions for him. As we were talking to him, another man goes walking down the sidewalk past the house and just starts laughing, and proceeds to call us a few choice words, laughs again, and continues on down the sidewalk. After we left the guy's house, we were walking back to our car, and there were 3 guys sitting on the front step of their house drinking, that held up their beer cans and yelled "Elders Rule!" haha. It was pretty funny. My comp and I got a good laugh. Thought you'd like to hear that one. haha.
Next cool story - Lastnight, we were at a member's house for dinner, and they had the Celtics/Magic game on. that was pretty cool. I know I'm in Boston and all, but it would have been cool to see the Magic come back from that one. they almost did. oh well. I also saw a commercial for that Jos. A Bank place that had another "buy one suit, get one suit, 2 shirts, and 2 ties free" sale. so, we found out there is a Jos A Bank store about 10 minutes from our house. We went there earlier today, to check it out. Yeah it is a good deal, but their cheapest suit was $520. haha. Not about to do that. they were really nice suits though. Also, I saw a poster in a Gamestop window for Super Mario Galaxy 2. You should get that one. but you should get the first one first. Get them both. that'd be cool. Also, if, for some reason, the N64 gets broken, please don't throw it or any games/controllers away. Just a random thought there. Just put them in a box and put it with my stuff. but try not to break it anyway.
Alrighty, I think that is about it for this week. We are, once again, playing soccer today. that's okay, cause it's way fun. Have a good week! Love you all.
Love,
Elder D. Hammer
P.S. I know Nate gets these emails, so - Hey man! sorry I haven't written back yet. I will try to today. Just thought I'd let you know that. haha. and hi to Dave too. and hi to all of my other friends and family that I didn't personally acknowledge in this email. I love you all too! And I will love you even more if you send me letters. I like letters. A lot.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Hello Again
Well, there's not much to say today seeing as though I just talked to you yesterday. Things are still going well, except the weather is kind of gross today. Biking in the wind and the rain is not something I enjoy doing. Oh well. There's a saying in the mission that the longer you spend out in the bad weather, the hotter your future wife will be. Bring on the storms! : D
Hope everyone has a good week! Kurtis, just because you talked to me yesterday doesn't mean that you don't have to write ever again. Send me a note when you get a chance.
Love you all and be mighty!
Elder J. Hammer
Hope everyone has a good week! Kurtis, just because you talked to me yesterday doesn't mean that you don't have to write ever again. Send me a note when you get a chance.
Love you all and be mighty!
Elder J. Hammer
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Okay
Well, I guess I attached too many pictures to my first email, it says it can't send it. so I will just have to print them off sometime and send them home. I will just copy and paste my email, but just disregard the part about the pictures. you can just pretend to look at them and imagine what they look like. haha. Love you all.
Alright, what a busy week we have had since I emailed last. It's been pretty awesome. I have to admit, I haven't written down everything that I wanted to say so I forgot a lot of it, but I will try to remember the important details. First - So that guy that showed up from Tanzania and wanted to get baptized got baptized. It was an awesome meeting. It was just me, my 2 comps, him, and the bishop. haha. I played the piano (only the top hand cause you know how good I am at playing the piano haha). My comps gave great talks about the holy ghost and baptism, and then I got to baptize him. It was awesome. the water was really hot, but that was ok. We got changed and went back in to the other room, and confirmed him. After that, we sang another song, and that was it. the whole thing was about 35 minutes long. haha. It really was an amazing experience. And, his nephew and niece are now new investigators for us, but we haven't taught them yet. we are meeting them tomorrow. I have a great feeling that they will join the church very soon as well. Dr. Kandusi ( the guy that got baptized) is really funny. He was here on a business trip, so every day or so, he would send us a text about what he was doing and where he was going next. Yesterday he told us that he was on the plane leaving back to Tanzania. haha. He is a great man, and I know he will stay strong in the church.
Speaking of investigators, yesterday, we had an appointment with a recent convert. we were a little late getting there, but when we showed up, her friend was there with her, who happens to be associated with the Jehovah's Witnesses. She told us that her and Arlene (the recent convert) study the scriptures together every night, and that she was very interested in our church because she is really confused right now, and doesn't believe everything that the JW's believe. We taught her a "Gospel Principles book lesson 17/first lesson" lesson. It went really really well. She was very receptive, and she told us that she felt like she can relate very well with Joseph Smith. the spirit was definitely there, and she accepted another appointment for tomorrow, and she said that when she receives her answer that it is true, she will get baptized. It was pretty awesome. We are definitely excited to see how this one turns out.
As far as any other big news, that's about it other than that transfers are this week. One of my comps is leaving to the other area, so I am not in a threesome anymore, which is kindof lame, cause I really liked it. Oh well. I am staying here, probably for a long time, cause it seems like all of the cambodian Elders here have spent like 7 or 8 months in their first area. Speaking of Cambodian, I still have not taught a lesson in cambodian. It is pretty lame, cause I feel like I am not learning it as fast as I could be. But when I talk with my companions in Khmae (which they don't do very often) I understand them, and am able to say what I want as well. So I guess I should just keep studying and it will come. Hopefully we can line up some lessons as well, so I can actually talk to someone who speaks it. haha. Although, a few days ago, we got a referral for a cambodian family, so we went to their house. We knocked on their door, and two old ladies came to the door. My comps were talking to them, and I was able to pick out most of what they said, but not all. Basically, it was only a referral because the sisters had tracted into them, and couldn't understand them, so we went over. They told us that they go to the Wat (cambodian church) every day, and that all of the gods people believe in are the same, so everyone is taken care of. They were not interested in the gospel at all, but they were very nice. haha. It was a funny experience.
I guess since Justin was bragging about how ghetto his area is, I should tell a bit more about mine. We never walk down certain streets when it is dark, because there are some very shady people there. I haven't seen any drug deals happen, but I have seen a few random guys standing in really weird places with wads of cash in their hand. haha. there are sirens that go off just about every five minutes throughout the day, so that is exciting. It is one of the most dangerous cities in Mass. but I really haven't seen a whole lot of stuff, I have just heard it. And there is a saying about the city that goes like this "Lynn, Lynn the city of sin, you'll never come out the way you went in" haha. It's pretty cool. I guess if I lived in a different part of the city I would have cooler stories, but we live in a super rich area with HUGE houses, so there's really not a whole lot of shady stuff that goes on. and we are a block from the ocean, so that's awesome.
this morning, we got up at 5:00 and went and watched the sunrise. It was really really cool. I have attached some pictures of it so you should enjoy those. We are going into Boston for some things today, so that will be pretty awesome. Oh, there is a family here in the ward that lives in Charlestown that had us over for dinner the other night. they own a $1.4 million townhouse that is about a block away from the Bunker Hill Monument. We are going there today so I will send some pics of that next week if I remember. It is basically the same thing as the Washington Monument, only not quite as big, but there are like 500 stairs inside it to the top. I am excited to go see that.
And about calling on Sunday - I don't have a specific time that I can call, it's just whenever I want. At least that is what the other Elder's have told me. 4:00 CA time is 7:00 here so I don't know if that would be too late to call or not to see if we can do a three way call. chances are I will probably call before that. Anyway, that is about it for this week. Like Justin, you should have some questions to ask me so we have stuff to talk about. Alright, well I am going to go now. Off to Boston to see some stuff. woohoo! Talk to you soon!
Love you all!
Elder D Hammer
Alright, what a busy week we have had since I emailed last. It's been pretty awesome. I have to admit, I haven't written down everything that I wanted to say so I forgot a lot of it, but I will try to remember the important details. First - So that guy that showed up from Tanzania and wanted to get baptized got baptized. It was an awesome meeting. It was just me, my 2 comps, him, and the bishop. haha. I played the piano (only the top hand cause you know how good I am at playing the piano haha). My comps gave great talks about the holy ghost and baptism, and then I got to baptize him. It was awesome. the water was really hot, but that was ok. We got changed and went back in to the other room, and confirmed him. After that, we sang another song, and that was it. the whole thing was about 35 minutes long. haha. It really was an amazing experience. And, his nephew and niece are now new investigators for us, but we haven't taught them yet. we are meeting them tomorrow. I have a great feeling that they will join the church very soon as well. Dr. Kandusi ( the guy that got baptized) is really funny. He was here on a business trip, so every day or so, he would send us a text about what he was doing and where he was going next. Yesterday he told us that he was on the plane leaving back to Tanzania. haha. He is a great man, and I know he will stay strong in the church.
Speaking of investigators, yesterday, we had an appointment with a recent convert. we were a little late getting there, but when we showed up, her friend was there with her, who happens to be associated with the Jehovah's Witnesses. She told us that her and Arlene (the recent convert) study the scriptures together every night, and that she was very interested in our church because she is really confused right now, and doesn't believe everything that the JW's believe. We taught her a "Gospel Principles book lesson 17/first lesson" lesson. It went really really well. She was very receptive, and she told us that she felt like she can relate very well with Joseph Smith. the spirit was definitely there, and she accepted another appointment for tomorrow, and she said that when she receives her answer that it is true, she will get baptized. It was pretty awesome. We are definitely excited to see how this one turns out.
As far as any other big news, that's about it other than that transfers are this week. One of my comps is leaving to the other area, so I am not in a threesome anymore, which is kindof lame, cause I really liked it. Oh well. I am staying here, probably for a long time, cause it seems like all of the cambodian Elders here have spent like 7 or 8 months in their first area. Speaking of Cambodian, I still have not taught a lesson in cambodian. It is pretty lame, cause I feel like I am not learning it as fast as I could be. But when I talk with my companions in Khmae (which they don't do very often) I understand them, and am able to say what I want as well. So I guess I should just keep studying and it will come. Hopefully we can line up some lessons as well, so I can actually talk to someone who speaks it. haha. Although, a few days ago, we got a referral for a cambodian family, so we went to their house. We knocked on their door, and two old ladies came to the door. My comps were talking to them, and I was able to pick out most of what they said, but not all. Basically, it was only a referral because the sisters had tracted into them, and couldn't understand them, so we went over. They told us that they go to the Wat (cambodian church) every day, and that all of the gods people believe in are the same, so everyone is taken care of. They were not interested in the gospel at all, but they were very nice. haha. It was a funny experience.
I guess since Justin was bragging about how ghetto his area is, I should tell a bit more about mine. We never walk down certain streets when it is dark, because there are some very shady people there. I haven't seen any drug deals happen, but I have seen a few random guys standing in really weird places with wads of cash in their hand. haha. there are sirens that go off just about every five minutes throughout the day, so that is exciting. It is one of the most dangerous cities in Mass. but I really haven't seen a whole lot of stuff, I have just heard it. And there is a saying about the city that goes like this "Lynn, Lynn the city of sin, you'll never come out the way you went in" haha. It's pretty cool. I guess if I lived in a different part of the city I would have cooler stories, but we live in a super rich area with HUGE houses, so there's really not a whole lot of shady stuff that goes on. and we are a block from the ocean, so that's awesome.
this morning, we got up at 5:00 and went and watched the sunrise. It was really really cool. I have attached some pictures of it so you should enjoy those. We are going into Boston for some things today, so that will be pretty awesome. Oh, there is a family here in the ward that lives in Charlestown that had us over for dinner the other night. they own a $1.4 million townhouse that is about a block away from the Bunker Hill Monument. We are going there today so I will send some pics of that next week if I remember. It is basically the same thing as the Washington Monument, only not quite as big, but there are like 500 stairs inside it to the top. I am excited to go see that.
And about calling on Sunday - I don't have a specific time that I can call, it's just whenever I want. At least that is what the other Elder's have told me. 4:00 CA time is 7:00 here so I don't know if that would be too late to call or not to see if we can do a three way call. chances are I will probably call before that. Anyway, that is about it for this week. Like Justin, you should have some questions to ask me so we have stuff to talk about. Alright, well I am going to go now. Off to Boston to see some stuff. woohoo! Talk to you soon!
Love you all!
Elder D Hammer
Monday, May 3, 2010
Strait up Gangsta
Life in the city is a party! Things are crazy down here!
So, the Elder I replaced had some problems in the area. We'll just say that he hasn't quite figured out how to lock his heart yet. Because of that, President had to make an emergency transfer, and now I get to bike around the ghetto of the mission. I'm serving in the North Highlands 1st Ward which is the southern most tip of the mission. Our area isn't very big and it's kind of odd shaped too. Because of that and because we are on bikes, we actually leave our mission boundaries once or twice a day to get from one side of the ward to the other. Pres. knows about it and he's okay with it. We share a church building with a ward from the Sacramento mission, so we see the Sac missionaries in that ward fairly often. It's kind of strange. Our area is a little rough. I've been sworn at, yelled at, and seen all kinds of crazy things in the week that I've been here. There was a guy outside of our apartment a couple days ago selling crack...and I've seen a few drug deals since I've been here too. I won't tell you what happened to my companion and the missionary I replaced a couple weeks ago...well alright, I will. They were biking home and ended up talking to a group of drunk dudes. One of them pulled out a gun and pointed it at my companion (E. Hansen) and asked him if he was willing to die in the name of Jesus Christ. He told them yes he was willing to die for Christ. The guy with the gun put it away saying that he liked the missionaries and knew that they were doing the Lord's work. Yeah, hopefully I don't have a gun pulled on me anytime soon, but if it happens, whatever. It's all good.
The work in the area is going pretty well. We have two baptisms coming up at the end of this month for a couple of young women in the ward. We have also just started teaching the family of a less active member who recently started coming back to church. He's the only member. He has four kids: Brittney, Brianna, Marquis, and Destiny, and I don't know his wife's name. The entire family has sat in on the lessons that we've had and they are slowly starting to open up to it more. E. Hansen and I are really hoping and praying that we can help the entire family come into the church. That would be sooooooo cool to teach a family!! I have a really good feeling about them and I think that some great things are going to be happening. It's going to be tough, but that's nothing new. Man I am hoping that this family feels the Spirit together!!! That would be awesome if they were all to get baptized! Pray for them!! Oh, their last name is Miller, fyi.
Okay, for phone calls this Sunday... I sent a letter home in the mail with some details about it last week, but you may not have received it yet. Here's the latest information for you though. I will be calling you (not the other way around) at 4:00 pm California time. If I can't get through I will wait 15 minutes and try again. If that interferes with anything, the only thing I can say is that you'll have to contact the mission office to get a message to me so we can get it nailed down for sure since I won't be checking my email again before Sunday. Hopefully that doesn't overlap with Devin's call. If worst comes to worst, I'll have a member in my ward call you directly sometime on Sunday to find out when a good time would be for you. It will all work out, so I'm not worried about it. Have a paper and pen nearby to take some notes! There are a few things I'm going to need to ask you to do for me : ).
Well, I think that's about it for the week. I'm looking forward to Sunday. I can't believe it's Mother's Day again already! Time just isn't slowing down for anything. Have some questions ready to ask me when I call! Be mighty!
Elder Hammer
So, the Elder I replaced had some problems in the area. We'll just say that he hasn't quite figured out how to lock his heart yet. Because of that, President had to make an emergency transfer, and now I get to bike around the ghetto of the mission. I'm serving in the North Highlands 1st Ward which is the southern most tip of the mission. Our area isn't very big and it's kind of odd shaped too. Because of that and because we are on bikes, we actually leave our mission boundaries once or twice a day to get from one side of the ward to the other. Pres. knows about it and he's okay with it. We share a church building with a ward from the Sacramento mission, so we see the Sac missionaries in that ward fairly often. It's kind of strange. Our area is a little rough. I've been sworn at, yelled at, and seen all kinds of crazy things in the week that I've been here. There was a guy outside of our apartment a couple days ago selling crack...and I've seen a few drug deals since I've been here too. I won't tell you what happened to my companion and the missionary I replaced a couple weeks ago...well alright, I will. They were biking home and ended up talking to a group of drunk dudes. One of them pulled out a gun and pointed it at my companion (E. Hansen) and asked him if he was willing to die in the name of Jesus Christ. He told them yes he was willing to die for Christ. The guy with the gun put it away saying that he liked the missionaries and knew that they were doing the Lord's work. Yeah, hopefully I don't have a gun pulled on me anytime soon, but if it happens, whatever. It's all good.
The work in the area is going pretty well. We have two baptisms coming up at the end of this month for a couple of young women in the ward. We have also just started teaching the family of a less active member who recently started coming back to church. He's the only member. He has four kids: Brittney, Brianna, Marquis, and Destiny, and I don't know his wife's name. The entire family has sat in on the lessons that we've had and they are slowly starting to open up to it more. E. Hansen and I are really hoping and praying that we can help the entire family come into the church. That would be sooooooo cool to teach a family!! I have a really good feeling about them and I think that some great things are going to be happening. It's going to be tough, but that's nothing new. Man I am hoping that this family feels the Spirit together!!! That would be awesome if they were all to get baptized! Pray for them!! Oh, their last name is Miller, fyi.
Okay, for phone calls this Sunday... I sent a letter home in the mail with some details about it last week, but you may not have received it yet. Here's the latest information for you though. I will be calling you (not the other way around) at 4:00 pm California time. If I can't get through I will wait 15 minutes and try again. If that interferes with anything, the only thing I can say is that you'll have to contact the mission office to get a message to me so we can get it nailed down for sure since I won't be checking my email again before Sunday. Hopefully that doesn't overlap with Devin's call. If worst comes to worst, I'll have a member in my ward call you directly sometime on Sunday to find out when a good time would be for you. It will all work out, so I'm not worried about it. Have a paper and pen nearby to take some notes! There are a few things I'm going to need to ask you to do for me : ).
Well, I think that's about it for the week. I'm looking forward to Sunday. I can't believe it's Mother's Day again already! Time just isn't slowing down for anything. Have some questions ready to ask me when I call! Be mighty!
Elder Hammer
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