Craziness...nothing new

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!