Busy Week

Hello again. It feels like I was just barely siting here emailing, and it has already been another week! Crazy! Well, first off thanks for the package. It was pretty funny when I got it because I also got 4 other letters from friends so the other 3 Elders in our apartment were super jealous cause nobody ever writes to them. haha. But yes the package was awesome. that hike to Angel's Landing looks pretty intense! I was kindof sad there weren't any cd's though. But then Grandma S. sent me one and it is awesome, so thank you very much for that! And also, thanks to Rick and Tina for their package. The Reeses were gone in about 5 minutes thanks to the other Elders in our apartment. haha. Thanks for the pictures too, they were awesome. I think it's so awesome that you are adopting. The only thing I didn't like about your package was at the end of Rick's letter. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't put those evil things in stuff you send to me. and you know what they were. haha.

Now, this last week has been super busy. We have been doing a lot of finding and contacting the las couple of weeks since we are low on people to teach, and so this week, we were able to get into their homes to teach them. We picked up 3 new investigators and they are all looking pretty good. One of them is a hardcore baptist, and told us that she feels like if she were to get baptized, it would be like taking her away from being a baptist, and that's not what she wants. Umm, yeah, that's exactly what it would be doing. haha. But, she said she'd pray about our message, and read the Book of Mormon as well, so I think she'll come along sometime. We are going to teach her the plan of salvation this week. Another one is a guy named David who we met on the street and he said that his twin brother had recently passed away, and he wanted God back in his life. We taught him a 10 minute first lesson cause he had to go somewhere, and at the end, we taught him how to pray, and we knelt down, and he just started saying his prayer, we didn't even have to ask him to! It was awesome! And, the first question he asked us when we got to his house was, "So, if I got baptized, what would my responsibilities be as a member of your church?" That tells me that he has thought about it and is interested. He is probably the most promising one we have right now. He's awesome. our 3rd new investigator is named Jason. He says "no doubt" after just about everything we say, which is funny. He said that he believes in god, but is pretty atheist at the same time. (don't really know how that works, but whatever) But, he agreed with everything we taught him, and he prayed for us at the end of the lesson as well. He said he'd read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and we are meeting with him again this week too. Maybe he'll have his wife sit in with us too. She looks like an interesting woman. She has flaming pink hair with piercings all over her face, and works at Dunkin Donuts. and they have 6 cats. But, he's cool and it's fun talking with him.

Our investigator, Donna, who was originally going to get baptized this coming sunday, is being stubborn right now. She "can't" quit smoking, hasn't been to church in 3 weeks, and has had excuse after excuse to keep rescheduling with us. It's extremely frustrating because she was so great when we first started teaching her. We're meeting her tomorrow and hopefully help her stop smoking for good. We already sent through her house and threw away all her ashtrays and lighters and cigs, and anything else that would be a temptation (which was really fun) so I guess she went out and bought it all again, which is lame! But, we'll keep teaching her and she will get baptized when she's ready.

I don't remember if I told you about David Rexford already or not. He is a man that the Portuguese Elder's met, and referred to us as "golden, and wants to be baptized in 2 weeks" (This was about a month ago) We went with the other Elders to his house, he answers the door wearing a pink doo-rag, shirt and tie, slacks, bright purple and yellow shoes, with his graduation medal around his neck. Interesting first impression, to say the least. We started talking with him, and he told us that he was engaged to a man (yeah, for real) and that he wasn't willing to break that off, unless he knew this is true. As we proceeded with the lesson, he told us that he would not join the church if there was anything in the Book of Mormon that he disagreed with. He read in 1 Nephi 4 when Nephi kills Laban, and he told us that he didn't want to meet with us anymore. We helped him understand why Nephi needed to do that, so he let us keep teaching, and eventually set up a date to come back. We invited him to church, but he said he was not willing to miss his church to come to ours, so we were kinda stuck. We told the Portugese elders they could keep teaching him so, we haven't heard from him since then. Until yesterday. He showed up at church! He walks in wearing his pink doo-rag, shirt and tie, slacks, purple and yellow shoes, and medal. haha. he got there about 30 minutes early, so I gave him a tour of the building. In the primary room, I showed him the pictures of the prophet and apostles, and told him what they did, and he was super interested in them. He had to leave after sacrament meeting, but I think he enjoyed it. He met the Bishopric, and a few of the members, and I really feel like he liked it. and that's the end of that story for now. I'll let you know more when we talk to the other Elders and see what they have been up to with him. So, that was pretty cool.

So lately, we've been having some pretty interesting weather. there have been some days that are like 95 with 100% humidity (which is NOT fun!) and other days that are like 80, no humidity. But the last week or so, we've been having HUGE thunderstorms. It's awesome. on friday night, the thunder woke me up and I just listened to it for like 15 minutes before I fell back asleep, and it was literally 15 minutes of straght thunder. it didn't stop, cause there was that much lightning. It was sweet. And it happened again yesterday too. Huge storm with tons of lightning and thunder. and, we've probably had about 3 inches of rain to go with it. I've never seen storms like this before. It's pretty cool. Yesterday, there was even a tornado warning for most of Mass. with hail golf ball sized. We didn't see hail or a tornado, but that's ok. haha.

Now, some cool news. this thursday, Elder Russell M. Nelsen is visiting Boston talking about heart surgery, and after his convention, he is coming to speak to our mission too! I'm so excited. our Zone leaders said that he is staying to shake everyone's hands too! Sweet! I'm so stoked. It's going to be awesome.

Anyway, I think I'm about out of things to say. As for the bike, yes I can put it together if you ship it straight to me. You should probably wait til after transfers to send it, unless you know it will get here before the 17th. Otherwise, wait til after the 17th to send it. I should be staying here, but you never know.

Grandma and Grandpa - You are in my prayers! Hope your surgery goes well and that you start feeling better. I love you!

Alright I think I'm done now. Hope you all have a great week. Stay busy. It's good for you. Love you all!! Have a good week!

Love,
Elder D Hammer