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