Haha sorry about the weird subject line, but I get bored with just "hi" or "yo". Sorry for the late-ish email too. We were playing soccer with the little neighbor kids then we went to the beach to look at the sand castle sculpture competition. Those were incredible! It's insane how people can build that stuff with sand!
Well, this past week has been full of all sorts of interesting things. I love it when that happens. Last week after Pday was over, we did a little "companion switch" for a few days. It was just cause E. Winslow & I are kinda sick of each other and we just wanted a change for a while. Haha. Just kidding. I love E. Winslow. There was a leadership meeting for all missionaries that are District leaders, zone leaders, or trainers that was 3 days long. Therefore, since myself and E. Chavez have comps that fall into that category, we were paired up for awhile. I went to their area, which covers the Salem area (I can't remember if I have told you this yet, but Salem is right next to our area, and about 2 minutes from our house and yes it's the Witch Burning/Hanging/Killing/Hunting Salem).
Our first day together, we did some service at the Red Cross that included sitting at a table full of snacks and drinks and talking to the patients that had just given blood. It was fun. We talked to this one old lady that was pretty interested in our church, but she told us that she is too old to change. haha. But she was very impressed with us and she would think of our faces every time she heard something about mormons. she was pretty cool. The rest of that day, we spent trying to contact some referrals and just doing some good old tracting.
The next day, we went to Marblehead, which is one of the nicer cities in the area. We went to this one guy's house named Jim Carrol, who E. Chavez had previously tracted into. He wasn't home, but as we were going back to the car, he pulled up in his huge Ford F350 Super duty. It was a sweet truck. He got out and was super happy to see us. He was talking to us for a while and we found out that he is a legit deep sea lobster fisherman. He goes out like 60 miles into the ocean and catches about 400 lbs a day! He gave us both some sand dollars that had come up with his lobster traps, and took us in his backyard to show us his garden. It's not a huge garden, but he has tomato plants that are like 7 feet tall! They were huge. As we were talking, he interrupts us and he's like "Would you two like a tomato plant? I'll give you one each." We looked at each other, and said sure. It wasn't the tall ones, but he gave us 2 tomato plants that were in big pots and are already like 2 feet tall. So, now we are growing our own produce in the house. Jim was so cool. I couldn't tell what it was, but there was something about him that I just really liked. He also told us that he is faithful to his religion (Irish Catholic) which is odd, because he told us that he thinks his religion is a "big crock of s*** " and he also said "Religion is all based on interpretation. I believe (and he pauses for about 10 seconds here) that my religion is (another pause) not the correct interpretation." ??? Don't know why he's still involved with it then, but it was pretty funny. Then he had to get back out to the ocean cause he had only come home for like 20 minutes to grab something. He also told us that we are welcome at his home anytime, and whenever we want, he will take us out on his 49' boat! That's a big boat. Too bad that's against the rules. Oh well. the rest of that day, we taught a couple of their investigators, and those lessons went really well. I think that both of them we taught went to their ward this last week! sweet.
The last day that E. Chavez and I were together, we stayed in Salem and did some street contacting. We went to this place called Pickering Wharf, which is a wharf that goes out into the ocean like all wharfs. Wharf is a really weird word. haha. Basically, it's just a super long narrow land stirp that juts out into the bay so ships (like old school pirate ships) can pull right up next to it. There actually was a ship there, but it's just for sightseeing, and costs like 10 bucks to go onboard. It looked real cool though. So anyway, we were doing some contacting on the wharf. There weren't a whole lot of people there, but we sould see some at the end of the wharf so we walked out to them. Nobody was very interested, so we were kinda bummed. As we got to the end of the wharf, there was a mini lighthouse and we could see cigarette smoke and hear people talking from behind it, so naturally we went to check it out. There were these three dudes sitting on the ground talking and smoking. They were wearing some pretty ragged clothes, and had instruments (guitars & banjos), with a big old backpack, and 3 old school bicycles. We started talking to them, and came to find out that they are in a band named the Salad Scrapers (sweet band name) and that they travel the country on their bikes and in freight trains (which is very much illegal). They don't have a home, so they basically just go around playing for money so they can eat, and they just look for random stuff to do while they are in different cities. Despite how they looked, they were awesome guys. We talked to them for about an hour and we tried to teach them a lesson, but they got sidetracked way too easily and so it was pretty much impossible. I got some pictures with them so when I eventually get around to sending those, you can see them. Their names we Cliff, Zack, and Vince. Cool dudes. Speaking of pictures, I bought a big photo album, so when I get that filled up, I will just send it home so you can see all my pics. It might take me a while though, so sorry :)
After I got back with my comp, he told me that one of the HQ referrals we got like a month ago that we could never contact named Carol Rogers, had a baptismal date! They finally got a hold of her one day after their meetings (the meetings went from 9-4) and she is super interested and wants to be baptized. Pretty sweet! We are also still teaching Achille, but he hasn't accepted a date yet. We are hoping to get him ready for Aug. 15, cause that's when Carol's is. I'm pretty excited for both of them.
More good news! We FINALLY met some cambodians that are interested!! Wahoo! It is a family of a mom, and 3 girls, but the girls are just visiting for the summer from Rhode Island. They actually went home yesterday. Some of the Sister missionaries bumped into her about a week ago, but didn't speak khmer, obviously, but she speaks a tiny bit of english, so she gave them their address, and they gave it to us. We got to their house, and they let us in, and immediately, the mom, named Saoreun, brings out some chairs for us with mangos, pears, and water! She is so cool. She told us that we were really hard to understand when we were talking in Khmer, so we just talked to her daughter and she translated for us. haha. But, now that the daughters are gone, we are going to have to just get better so we can teach her. I'm stoked! Finally!
I think that's about all the good stuff worth mentioning for this week. Oh- We were over at a member's house the other day, and they get the church newspaper, and it comes with the Mormon times newspaper. I was reading through that and one of the headlines said "What's the future for BYU football after Ute's departure to PAC-10" What?! I really read that like 10 times cause I couldn't believe it. The article said that BYU is trying to get a spot in the Big -12. Dang. The article was also like 3 weeks old, so any updates on that would be appreciated. Sounds like there's a lot of stuff happening right now in college sports.
Alright, well, I think that's about it for now. A few more little things - next week is transfers, which means that Pday is on Wed. And one request I have is another journal. Prefferably the same kind I have now. It's black, says missionary journal on the front, and it's small-ish. And it's bound, not looseleaf. That would be great! Mine isn't full yet, but I just wanted to see if I could get another one sent to me. Thanks! Speaking of journals, TJ gave me the one I have now, and he hasn't written to me yet like he said he would. If I could get his new address if you have it, that would be awesome. Thanks.
Ok, well I hope you all have an awesome week! Send me more letters! thanks to Sis. Scadlock for hers too. I'll write back soon. Love you all!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Hammer
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