Alrighty then, the highlight of this past week was the 4 day training meeting that we had on the simplified curriculum at the MTC. Wow! Few of the meetings that I have been to on my mission have been as productive and spiritual as this one was. I learned things in this meeting that are going to stay with me forever. As more and more of my mission goes by, I realize just how much the things that I am experiencing here are preparing me for the rest of my life. This meeting really gave me a new perspective on how crucial the role of the Holy Ghost is in our lives. The missionary work is going to go forward like it's never done as the missionaries around the world learn and apply the principles that we discussed. I am thrilled to be a part of the work at this time and I am excited to see the changes that are going to take place in the lives of the members of the church as a result of what we are learning. The information isn't new, but it's been focused in a way that really helps us as missionaries (and as children of God too) to fulfill the roles that we have as teachers.
Elder Dowling and I stayed with the missionaries in Roseville for the 4 days that we were down there. We would go to our meeting in the morning and then exchange with the Roseville Elders in the evening. Something that really hit me is just how grateful I am to have served in the more humble areas of the mission. Roseville is a fairly affluent area and I really got the vibe while I was there that many of the people were so caught up in worldy pursuits that their pride would prevent them from being receptive to us. On the other hand, the area I am in now, Olivehurst, is totally opposite of Roseville. There are few wealthy people in the area, and most of those that live here are living in conditions I would never dream of being in myself. However, I have been amazed at how prepared they are at receiving our message. We have four baptismal dates set right now and two other investigators that we have taught have said that they want to be baptized, but they aren't ready for a date. While we are out visiting people, those that we speak with are so willing to meet with us and be taught. For example, we talked to a man yesterday who was outside working on some sort of small wagon. His appearance wasn't the most welcoming, but I could care less about that. As we spoke, we found out that his grandmother was a member of the church and that she had a very strong impact on his life. He has made some big mistakes in his lifetime, but he told us that he's trying to do what is right. We commited him to get baptized on the spot and he said yes. We gave him a temple pass-a-long card and he started asking us some questions about it. We told him about the opportunity that he could have to go inside some day and be sealed to his family. As we were leaving, we got his information, found out he doesn't live in our area (we gave his info to the Elders who cover his area in our Zone), and told him that we would be stopping by this week to teach him. He was very accepting and he is anxious to talk to us. It was amazing!
The only thing that I am not thrilled about with this area is the active members. They have no idea what kind of success is waiting for them in their own back-yards. Both Elder Dowling and myself feel that our area could handle two sets of English missionaries, but that the ward wouldn't know what to do with all the people we would be bringing them. It's hard to describe exactly what the ward is like, but if I had to choose something I'd say that they are too comfortable with what they have and they are too quick to make excuses to not help. Most of our area is fairly poor, except for one community. There are some big houses there and it's a nice neighborhood. About 75% of the 30% active membership in the ward live in that community. Frustrating... If we could somehow generate some excitement with them I think that they would get it, but it seems that they are just too comfortable. Hometeaching in our ward is ridiculous too, so it's not just missionary work that is suffering at the ward level (although I consider all the work we do in the church as the same). We'll see what we can do.
I think that's about it for the week. Mom, I did receive your package and the zuchinni bread with the coconut frosting was bomb! Thanks for the letters everyone, too! Kasey, I appreciated the update you gave me. It sounds like you've had quite the summer! Good luck with everything in high-school. Take things seriously, but you've got to have some serious fun too because it's over before you know it. Tell Chris Pope hi for me too when you talk to him next. Devin, I got your package this past week also. Thanks a ton. The hat is sweet and the pictures are great too! I'll see what I can do to get you something sometime. Everyone have a great week and keep being awesome! Oh, by the way, I heard that my departure date got changed to the 18th of December instead of the 21st because the church doesn't want to fly us out that close to Christmas. I belive that's a Saturday. That will give me three more days to get my head on straight before diving head first into school... Have you been able to figure anything more out about that yet? Just wondering.......only 15 weeks left......geez : )
Love you all!
Be mighty!
Elder Justin Hammer
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sok Sabbay
Hey again! Well, after the last week of rain, I thought fall might be on it's way, but it's back up near 100 again, so that hope is gone. haha. I am so ready for it to start cooling down. So this last week has been pretty slow again. We only have one investigator, and although he is progressing, he's not super dedicated, or willing to give up some of the things he's got going on right now. We have been doing a lot of finding, and it seems to be pretty successful talking to people, and setting up return appointments, but, we haven't actually been able to contact any of the people we've talked to again. They seem really interested at the door, but we just can't seem to catch them at home again. Lame. That's basically all we've been doing this last week or so, cause we honestly don't have anyone to teach. It's really frustrating when we have weeks where we teach 16 lessons, and have 3 or 4 investigators, and then 2 weeks later, we have 0. Oh well, we'll find some people soon enough.
I'm trying to think of a cool story for the week, but I'm not getting anything right now. haha. Thanks for the package. I have to say I had a hard time choosing which of the breads I liked more, but after I ate the whole one, I decided that the chocolate chip one was the better of the two. I like the journal too, but I don't think all that paper you sent will fit in one journal, so I may ask for another one in about a year. It should last me about that long. The letters were wonderful too. Kurtis, that's great that you won your first game. I'm glad you got to play. Keep working hard, and showing your coaches that you want to play. Who are your coaches by the way? I think that you should send a weekly update with Mom's letter every week about all your games. That would be cool. That stinks you lost to Lone Peak this last week too. They were the only team we lost to my freshman year, but we beat them in the championship game, so don't get discouraged. By the way, football is a lot more fun when you decide you aren't going to be afraid of anyone, and that you will be the one that the other kids are afraid of, so make sure you hit everyone really hard, and let them know you like hurting people. haha. Seriously though, there aren't many better feelings then just crushing someone.
Kasey, thanks for the letter too. Sounds like your summer was pretty fun. Tell Chris Poop hi for me too. I'm writing him a letter so you can let him know that too. I'm glad you had fun at EFY and all the other stuff you did during the summer. That's pretty funny that you got lost in the school. I can imagine it is a pretty cool building. Is it bigger or smaller than the old one? And in answer to your question, Mrs. Moake is awesome. She used to be Ms. Nebeker but then she got married, hence the name change. She is really cool, you'll like her.
So, in Nate's last letter to me before his going into the MTC, he sent me a newspaper clip about BYU. Sounds like they are going independent? That's cool I guess. It also said maybe the MWC and C-USA merging into a 20 team conference? That would be crazy. I also read that they have until Sept. 1 to make their decision, so let me know what happens with that please. I still want them to go to the Big 12. That would be cool. Hopefully whatever happens will be good.
Also, while I was in the MTC, one of my teachers said that they would be releasing a new Cambodian hymnbook, but he didn't know when. Would it be possible for someone to look up some info on that, and let me know about that too? That would be great. Our book is cool, but it only has like 50 songs, so I'm excited for the new one.
Alrighty, well, it seems as though I am out of stuff to say. Thanks again for all the letters and packages and stuff. It was great. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Next week is transfers, so pday will be on wednesday. I should stay here, but you never know. Cool beans. I love you all!! Have an awesome week, and happy new school year! haha.
Love,
Elder Hammer
I'm trying to think of a cool story for the week, but I'm not getting anything right now. haha. Thanks for the package. I have to say I had a hard time choosing which of the breads I liked more, but after I ate the whole one, I decided that the chocolate chip one was the better of the two. I like the journal too, but I don't think all that paper you sent will fit in one journal, so I may ask for another one in about a year. It should last me about that long. The letters were wonderful too. Kurtis, that's great that you won your first game. I'm glad you got to play. Keep working hard, and showing your coaches that you want to play. Who are your coaches by the way? I think that you should send a weekly update with Mom's letter every week about all your games. That would be cool. That stinks you lost to Lone Peak this last week too. They were the only team we lost to my freshman year, but we beat them in the championship game, so don't get discouraged. By the way, football is a lot more fun when you decide you aren't going to be afraid of anyone, and that you will be the one that the other kids are afraid of, so make sure you hit everyone really hard, and let them know you like hurting people. haha. Seriously though, there aren't many better feelings then just crushing someone.
Kasey, thanks for the letter too. Sounds like your summer was pretty fun. Tell Chris Poop hi for me too. I'm writing him a letter so you can let him know that too. I'm glad you had fun at EFY and all the other stuff you did during the summer. That's pretty funny that you got lost in the school. I can imagine it is a pretty cool building. Is it bigger or smaller than the old one? And in answer to your question, Mrs. Moake is awesome. She used to be Ms. Nebeker but then she got married, hence the name change. She is really cool, you'll like her.
So, in Nate's last letter to me before his going into the MTC, he sent me a newspaper clip about BYU. Sounds like they are going independent? That's cool I guess. It also said maybe the MWC and C-USA merging into a 20 team conference? That would be crazy. I also read that they have until Sept. 1 to make their decision, so let me know what happens with that please. I still want them to go to the Big 12. That would be cool. Hopefully whatever happens will be good.
Also, while I was in the MTC, one of my teachers said that they would be releasing a new Cambodian hymnbook, but he didn't know when. Would it be possible for someone to look up some info on that, and let me know about that too? That would be great. Our book is cool, but it only has like 50 songs, so I'm excited for the new one.
Alrighty, well, it seems as though I am out of stuff to say. Thanks again for all the letters and packages and stuff. It was great. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Next week is transfers, so pday will be on wednesday. I should stay here, but you never know. Cool beans. I love you all!! Have an awesome week, and happy new school year! haha.
Love,
Elder Hammer
Monday, August 23, 2010
Water Festival!
Alrighty, I've got lots to talk about today. But only 30 minutes, so I will try to get it all in. To start off with a bang, I will talk about Rich. We were tracting the other day, and he was sitting on his porch doing nothing, like most people here in Lynn. We started talking to him, and since he was wearing a Red Sox shirt, we thought we'd break the ice with a little sports talk. He said that he loves college football. I told him that I was a BYU fan, and he nodded his head, and said "Yup, BYU's one of the best one's out there. They are up in the top 25 every year." YEAH! Made me happy to hear someone that knows about BYU all the way out here. He didn't say anything about the utes, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been anything good anyway. haha. We talked to him for a while and taught him a pretty good lesson too. He said we could come back, but wouldn't set up a date for us to come back. Hopefully we'll get to talk to him again.
That same day, we met a lady named Bacon. yes, Bacon. She was awesome. She said that she's Catholic, but that's what everyone says, so we ignored that. We left her with a Book of Mormon, and she said that she'd take a look at it to see if it would comfort her at all, since her husband recently passed away. We then, obviously talked to her about the Plan of Salvation, but her phone rang, so she cut us off, said goodbye, and went inside. We continued our tracting, and when we were headed back to the car, we went back to Bacon's house to give her a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation. We were hoping she wouldn't be mad at us for coming back, but when she answered the door, she said she was happy to see us again, so we talked to her a little bit more, and gave her the pamphlet. She didn't want to set up a return appointment either, but she said she'd read the stuff we gave her, and give us a call if she's interested. Chances of that happening are slim, so we will probably try back there soon too. She was really cool.
So remember Dr. Kandusi? The man I baptized my 4th day in the field? I was thinking about him the other day, and wondering when he was going to text us again, cause he did a lot, right after his baptism. Guess who texted us this week? yep. and he's coming back from Tanzania to visit for awhile! He'll be here tomorrow. His text was so funny. It said "My dear brothers in Christ, I will be back in Boston area on 24. I would like to visit with Elder Hammer and the rest. I will be staying at same place as last time. -Dr. Kandusi" haha. Made me feel pretty good. He's so funny. I can't wait to see him tomorrow.
Alright, now for the Water Festival. It was awesome! We went up to Lowell friday afternoon, which was my first time actually being in the city. We helped set up a bunch of colorful flags and stuff at the river where they were doing the program that night. We got to hang out with a bunch of Buddhist monks too. haha. they are awesome! They were such nice guys, and they gave us some coupons for free food and stuff. It was pretty cool. For the program that night, they had a traditional Cambodian band play for a while. that was interesting. haha. I liked it though. They also had a lot of traditional dances from Laos and Thailand too. It was pretty cool. They also had a candlelight ceremony, where they put a ton of floating candles into the river, but we didn't get to see that, cause we had to go to the other place where the festival actually was, and set stuff up for the next day. On Saturday, we got to the festival at about 7. We set up our booth, which looked awesome (I'll send pics when my album is full). We had a ginormous Bible and Book of Mormon in the back, with a sweet banner on top. It was cool. Basically, we stood at the tent, and handed out passalong cards and stuff to tons of people. I think we passed out about 500 cards! Plus, Pres. Evans got 300 pens that had Mormon.org on them, that we passed out too. We took care of the booth in shifts, so others could walk around and talk to people/look at stuff. It was so cool. There was so much awesome stuff that I wanted to get, but didn't. I got some shirts, and a mini flag, and some CD's, that you will all laugh at when I get home. haha. There was a ton of food and stuff too. It was great. Overall, it was a big success, and we had a ton of fun. Except for the music from the stage was ridiculously loud, so it was extremely hard to talk to people. But, it was awesome. Can't wait for next year.
So I'm running out of time, and I still need to send an email to Pres, so I'm gonna make the rest super fast. Found out that in December, we have a native Cambodian coming to serve here, and chances are, I will be training him. that would be sweet cause I would learn the language so much faster. We had to say goodbye to E. Thompson yesterday too. I'm gonna miss him. He was in the Cambodian program, but now he's home. Luis on FB is one of the kids below us, so yeah you can accept him on fb. Kurtis - Tell me about Football!!!!! congrats on your 1st game, but you should tell me about them, and not make mom do it. Lastly, yes I would love some Zucchini bread. mmmmmm. Alright, I must go now. I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!!!
Love ,
Elder Hammer
That same day, we met a lady named Bacon. yes, Bacon. She was awesome. She said that she's Catholic, but that's what everyone says, so we ignored that. We left her with a Book of Mormon, and she said that she'd take a look at it to see if it would comfort her at all, since her husband recently passed away. We then, obviously talked to her about the Plan of Salvation, but her phone rang, so she cut us off, said goodbye, and went inside. We continued our tracting, and when we were headed back to the car, we went back to Bacon's house to give her a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation. We were hoping she wouldn't be mad at us for coming back, but when she answered the door, she said she was happy to see us again, so we talked to her a little bit more, and gave her the pamphlet. She didn't want to set up a return appointment either, but she said she'd read the stuff we gave her, and give us a call if she's interested. Chances of that happening are slim, so we will probably try back there soon too. She was really cool.
So remember Dr. Kandusi? The man I baptized my 4th day in the field? I was thinking about him the other day, and wondering when he was going to text us again, cause he did a lot, right after his baptism. Guess who texted us this week? yep. and he's coming back from Tanzania to visit for awhile! He'll be here tomorrow. His text was so funny. It said "My dear brothers in Christ, I will be back in Boston area on 24. I would like to visit with Elder Hammer and the rest. I will be staying at same place as last time. -Dr. Kandusi" haha. Made me feel pretty good. He's so funny. I can't wait to see him tomorrow.
Alright, now for the Water Festival. It was awesome! We went up to Lowell friday afternoon, which was my first time actually being in the city. We helped set up a bunch of colorful flags and stuff at the river where they were doing the program that night. We got to hang out with a bunch of Buddhist monks too. haha. they are awesome! They were such nice guys, and they gave us some coupons for free food and stuff. It was pretty cool. For the program that night, they had a traditional Cambodian band play for a while. that was interesting. haha. I liked it though. They also had a lot of traditional dances from Laos and Thailand too. It was pretty cool. They also had a candlelight ceremony, where they put a ton of floating candles into the river, but we didn't get to see that, cause we had to go to the other place where the festival actually was, and set stuff up for the next day. On Saturday, we got to the festival at about 7. We set up our booth, which looked awesome (I'll send pics when my album is full). We had a ginormous Bible and Book of Mormon in the back, with a sweet banner on top. It was cool. Basically, we stood at the tent, and handed out passalong cards and stuff to tons of people. I think we passed out about 500 cards! Plus, Pres. Evans got 300 pens that had Mormon.org on them, that we passed out too. We took care of the booth in shifts, so others could walk around and talk to people/look at stuff. It was so cool. There was so much awesome stuff that I wanted to get, but didn't. I got some shirts, and a mini flag, and some CD's, that you will all laugh at when I get home. haha. There was a ton of food and stuff too. It was great. Overall, it was a big success, and we had a ton of fun. Except for the music from the stage was ridiculously loud, so it was extremely hard to talk to people. But, it was awesome. Can't wait for next year.
So I'm running out of time, and I still need to send an email to Pres, so I'm gonna make the rest super fast. Found out that in December, we have a native Cambodian coming to serve here, and chances are, I will be training him. that would be sweet cause I would learn the language so much faster. We had to say goodbye to E. Thompson yesterday too. I'm gonna miss him. He was in the Cambodian program, but now he's home. Luis on FB is one of the kids below us, so yeah you can accept him on fb. Kurtis - Tell me about Football!!!!! congrats on your 1st game, but you should tell me about them, and not make mom do it. Lastly, yes I would love some Zucchini bread. mmmmmm. Alright, I must go now. I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!!!
Love ,
Elder Hammer
Sick
So, my first week in my new area has been an interesting one. Aside from meeting a ton of new people and trying to get my head on straight about what is going on, I got sick too. I had some kind of head cold and it wiped me out for a few days. Lame. I plugged through most of it, but there was some time where I just needed to take it easy. Thankfully it's all gone now and I'm back to being healthy. It's a good thing too, because we have a ton of stuff coming up over the next few weeks and I am going to need to be doing my best.
My new companion is Elder Dowling. He's from Wellesly, MA. (That would be about 20 minutes away from Boston and the APs for Devin's mission used to live in E. Dowling's ward) He's been out for just over 14 months and he's showing me the ropes on what we need to do as ZLs. There are a bunch of reports that we have to take care of, and we get all kinds of phone calls with questions from all of the missionaries in our zone, but that's okay. Part of our responsibilities is to train missionaries when we go on exchanges with them. We sat down and planned out when we are going to be doing all of that for the next transfer and it looks like this transfer is going to be nuts. I'm going to be super busy. Our area, the Olivehurst Ward, is totally rocking it with missionary work right now. The ward members themselves aren't doing very much at all, but we have a ton of appointments that we've set up. This place is a total dump and I have no idea why people live here, but the ones that do, for the most part, are pretty humble. Talking to people on the street or tracting is super effective for getting appointments set up. The follow-through on that is tough, but it always is. All in all, this is possibly the busiest area I've had coming into. Hopefully we can keep it that way.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be out of town for four days while E. Dowling and I go down to Roseville for a big training meeting that the mission is having. I am super stoked about it. We are only having zone conferences once a quarter now, and these training meetings will be happening occasionally as well. For the next four days, we will be staying in Roseville with another companionship doing work in their area in the time we have ever day after our meetings for proselyting. Having four days straight of meetings from 8 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon is going to be brutal, but I can't wait. I'll let you know how things go next week.
Hmm... I think that's about it for this week. Oh! Here's my new address: 4277 Larson St. #56 Olivehurst, CA 95961. I hope everyone is doing well. Doesn't school start up again this week? That's crazy. Have a great week! Be Mighty!
Love,
Elder J. Hammer
My new companion is Elder Dowling. He's from Wellesly, MA. (That would be about 20 minutes away from Boston and the APs for Devin's mission used to live in E. Dowling's ward) He's been out for just over 14 months and he's showing me the ropes on what we need to do as ZLs. There are a bunch of reports that we have to take care of, and we get all kinds of phone calls with questions from all of the missionaries in our zone, but that's okay. Part of our responsibilities is to train missionaries when we go on exchanges with them. We sat down and planned out when we are going to be doing all of that for the next transfer and it looks like this transfer is going to be nuts. I'm going to be super busy. Our area, the Olivehurst Ward, is totally rocking it with missionary work right now. The ward members themselves aren't doing very much at all, but we have a ton of appointments that we've set up. This place is a total dump and I have no idea why people live here, but the ones that do, for the most part, are pretty humble. Talking to people on the street or tracting is super effective for getting appointments set up. The follow-through on that is tough, but it always is. All in all, this is possibly the busiest area I've had coming into. Hopefully we can keep it that way.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be out of town for four days while E. Dowling and I go down to Roseville for a big training meeting that the mission is having. I am super stoked about it. We are only having zone conferences once a quarter now, and these training meetings will be happening occasionally as well. For the next four days, we will be staying in Roseville with another companionship doing work in their area in the time we have ever day after our meetings for proselyting. Having four days straight of meetings from 8 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon is going to be brutal, but I can't wait. I'll let you know how things go next week.
Hmm... I think that's about it for this week. Oh! Here's my new address: 4277 Larson St. #56 Olivehurst, CA 95961. I hope everyone is doing well. Doesn't school start up again this week? That's crazy. Have a great week! Be Mighty!
Love,
Elder J. Hammer
Monday, August 16, 2010
Not Happy
Transfer info came in today and I'm not very excited about it. Well, I'm excited, but I'm not happy about getting moved right now. I have really enjoyed my time in this ward and I've only just been able to get to know a few of the people here. I liked Penn Valley, and I liked North Highlands, but I've really liked Antelope 2nd. I'm sad to have to say goodbye so soon.
So, the news is that I'm being moved to Yuba City which is about twenty minutes south of Gridley. I'll be serving as a Zone Leader (...) and I'll be in the Olivehurst ward. The Yuba Zone is the largest zone in the mission, which means I will be on exchanges basically all the time as part of my responsibilities. The biggest thing that I am looking forward to staying in leadership is that I will be going to the big 4 day leadership training conference that we will be having next week in Gridley. Hopefully I'll get to see a bunch of the people there that I know. Our meeting will consist of training on the new MTC curriculum (which is really applicable to all aspects of missionary work, not just the MTC) and I am really looking forward to it. Getting this training will mean that I'll be ready to start working at the MTC when I try to get a job there in January! : ) Also, the things that we are changing in our missionary work are helping out a lot. I can really see a difference in the way that I teach now compared to when I first came out.
Patricia had her baptism a couple days ago on Saturday. The service was wonderful. Some of her family members came to the baptism and we gave them a tour of our giant church building afterwards. They really enjoyed it. We were planning on commiting them all to baptism at the end of the tour, but Patricia's brother (the only one not interested from the group) bolted out of there at the end and we didn't even get much of a chance to say goodbye. Oh well. Patricia is really happy and the ward is doing a great job at helping her feel loved. I'm not worried about her.
Well, honestly my brain is fried today. I'm in transfer mode which means I feel like I have a bazillion things to do and not enough time to do them all. I hate transfers. The mission seems like it's just one huge drawn out goodbye sometimes. It's all good though. I'm loving it.
I hope your trip was good. I'm still waiting to hear from my siblings to tell me all about all the adventures they've had for the past 3 or 4 months... I'm out of Imtirex too by the way.
Love you all!
Elder J. Hammer
So, the news is that I'm being moved to Yuba City which is about twenty minutes south of Gridley. I'll be serving as a Zone Leader (...) and I'll be in the Olivehurst ward. The Yuba Zone is the largest zone in the mission, which means I will be on exchanges basically all the time as part of my responsibilities. The biggest thing that I am looking forward to staying in leadership is that I will be going to the big 4 day leadership training conference that we will be having next week in Gridley. Hopefully I'll get to see a bunch of the people there that I know. Our meeting will consist of training on the new MTC curriculum (which is really applicable to all aspects of missionary work, not just the MTC) and I am really looking forward to it. Getting this training will mean that I'll be ready to start working at the MTC when I try to get a job there in January! : ) Also, the things that we are changing in our missionary work are helping out a lot. I can really see a difference in the way that I teach now compared to when I first came out.
Patricia had her baptism a couple days ago on Saturday. The service was wonderful. Some of her family members came to the baptism and we gave them a tour of our giant church building afterwards. They really enjoyed it. We were planning on commiting them all to baptism at the end of the tour, but Patricia's brother (the only one not interested from the group) bolted out of there at the end and we didn't even get much of a chance to say goodbye. Oh well. Patricia is really happy and the ward is doing a great job at helping her feel loved. I'm not worried about her.
Well, honestly my brain is fried today. I'm in transfer mode which means I feel like I have a bazillion things to do and not enough time to do them all. I hate transfers. The mission seems like it's just one huge drawn out goodbye sometimes. It's all good though. I'm loving it.
I hope your trip was good. I'm still waiting to hear from my siblings to tell me all about all the adventures they've had for the past 3 or 4 months... I'm out of Imtirex too by the way.
Love you all!
Elder J. Hammer
Hey Again
Well, hello again. This last week was pretty slow. Not a whole lot happened. We were only able to meet with one investigator the whole week. Pretty lame. And we didn't have anyone at church yesterday, which is also super lame. We have been meeting a lot with our less actives and trying to get them back to church. It is working with most of them, but some of them are being stubborn. That is where most of our teaching happened this last week. They are all really nice people, none of them are rude to us, and they actually seem to feed us more than the active members do. haha. We have some good plans for this next week, because we received a few referrals that sound like they will be promising. We are also planning on doing a lot of finding because our teaching pool is pretty low right now too. That should be cool. Finding out here is always a fun experience. haha. So I really don't have a whole lot to say today, especially cause I don't have any emails from anyone today.
I guess one cool thing we did this week is that we had Zone Conference out in Western Mass. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there, and it was really pretty. We took some back road that seemed to be the scenic route. We drove through "the mountains" as they say out here, but it was just hills no bigger than like 50 feet. But, there were so many trees and it was all green and lush, and really pretty. And there were these huge spider web looking things in lots of the trees, and they looked really creepy, but I'm not sure if they are spider webs or birds nests or what, but if they are spiders, I wouldn't want to see one of those things. But, after driving for a long time, we arrived at the chapel, which is in the middle of nowhere. Then we had a great conference. We were trained on the new MTC curriculum they are introducing that will hit worldwide next year. I learned a lot of stuff that is definitely going to help me out in my teaching. It was really good stuff. And, I met Elder Godfrey, who is my MTC teacher's little brother. He is a cool guy. He looks a lot like my teacher. He is serving out in Western Mass. right now, but hopefully we'll be able to serve closer together so I can get to know him better. That would be sweet.
Another cool thing is that on Friday, we went to Lowell (which is the other Cambodian area that I hadn't been to until Friday) and met with President Evans for like 5 hours with just the Cambodian Elders so we could plan out what we are going to do for the Water Festival. That is the annual Southeast Asian festival they do that is a 2 day thing. I don't know a whole lot yet, cause it hasn't happened, but I will tell you all about it next week. All I know is that we volunteer to help set things up and then they give us a booth, which would normally cost $150. So we get to set up a booth and talk to tons of Cambodian people. I'm pretty excited.
So anyway, that is about all that I can think about to say for this week. Sorry this is pretty short. Thanks again to Nate for his letters. Thanks to everyone that has written to me. I am in the progress of trying to write back to everyone that I haven't written back to yet. Well, I hope everyone has a good week this week. How was your trip to Grandma and Grandpa's? By the way, I am down to 15 pages left in my journal, and that will last about a week, so if there's a way you could send me a new one soon, that would be much appreciated. Thanks again. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Hammer
I guess one cool thing we did this week is that we had Zone Conference out in Western Mass. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there, and it was really pretty. We took some back road that seemed to be the scenic route. We drove through "the mountains" as they say out here, but it was just hills no bigger than like 50 feet. But, there were so many trees and it was all green and lush, and really pretty. And there were these huge spider web looking things in lots of the trees, and they looked really creepy, but I'm not sure if they are spider webs or birds nests or what, but if they are spiders, I wouldn't want to see one of those things. But, after driving for a long time, we arrived at the chapel, which is in the middle of nowhere. Then we had a great conference. We were trained on the new MTC curriculum they are introducing that will hit worldwide next year. I learned a lot of stuff that is definitely going to help me out in my teaching. It was really good stuff. And, I met Elder Godfrey, who is my MTC teacher's little brother. He is a cool guy. He looks a lot like my teacher. He is serving out in Western Mass. right now, but hopefully we'll be able to serve closer together so I can get to know him better. That would be sweet.
Another cool thing is that on Friday, we went to Lowell (which is the other Cambodian area that I hadn't been to until Friday) and met with President Evans for like 5 hours with just the Cambodian Elders so we could plan out what we are going to do for the Water Festival. That is the annual Southeast Asian festival they do that is a 2 day thing. I don't know a whole lot yet, cause it hasn't happened, but I will tell you all about it next week. All I know is that we volunteer to help set things up and then they give us a booth, which would normally cost $150. So we get to set up a booth and talk to tons of Cambodian people. I'm pretty excited.
So anyway, that is about all that I can think about to say for this week. Sorry this is pretty short. Thanks again to Nate for his letters. Thanks to everyone that has written to me. I am in the progress of trying to write back to everyone that I haven't written back to yet. Well, I hope everyone has a good week this week. How was your trip to Grandma and Grandpa's? By the way, I am down to 15 pages left in my journal, and that will last about a week, so if there's a way you could send me a new one soon, that would be much appreciated. Thanks again. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Hammer
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
August 9, 2010
Here's the update for the week.
Not much has changed since last week. Patricia had her baptismal interview on Saturday and is ready for her batism this Saturday at 11:00. We taught Kevin again and he told us the only thing that he can't change in his life right now to "fit the Mormon lifestyle" is that he works on Sunday. We spoke with the Bishop about trying to get Kevin a job at D.I. and he said that it shouldn't be a problem. He needs to just get baptized. We're going to make sure he has no excuse to not do it.
Elder Pedabone is still struggling with his headaches, but I'm not letting him use them as an excuse. I've had to figuratively kick his butt a little this past week so we could get out and work. Once he's out, he's fine. It's getting him going that's the tough part. Being the initial source of motivation in a companionship is trying, but I'm not going to let it get me down. E. Pedabone is a great guy and he's got such a different background than I do. We have fun together and he wants to do what is right. He just needs a push. By the way, Mom, you were asking how long he's been out. 10 months.
Yesterday when we were out tracting, we came across a lady who practically preached a sermon to us through her screen door that prevented us from seeing her face (I hate those things). She went off about how we need to pray to Jesus to forgive us of our sins and plead with Him to release us from the bondage and hell that we are in. All we have to do is come to Him and we are saved. The love of God surpasses all things. She challenged us to read our Bibles, especially the book of John. Without giving us a chance to even begin to express our own feelings about the Savior and just how appreciative we are of what He has done for us, she ended her high-pitched, almost screaming, lesson on God's love with an "Amen! AMEN!!" (Slamming the door on our faces must have been for added spiritual effect to further convince us of the misery that we are in) Having somebody try to convince me of the error of my ways is nothing new, but her choice in doing so set her apart from the others in that she was exceptionally crazy. Good times.
Well, I think that's it for the week. Transfers are next Tuesday, so send mail to the mission office until I can let you know what's happening. Thanks for the letter, Grandpa Hammer. I really really appreciated it. Also, happy birthday to Brittnie this past week! You know, those oreo cheesecake chocolate wonderful delicious things you sent a while ago have been on my mind lately... : D
Keep on truckin' everyone! Love you all!
Be Mighty!
Elder Hammer
Not much has changed since last week. Patricia had her baptismal interview on Saturday and is ready for her batism this Saturday at 11:00. We taught Kevin again and he told us the only thing that he can't change in his life right now to "fit the Mormon lifestyle" is that he works on Sunday. We spoke with the Bishop about trying to get Kevin a job at D.I. and he said that it shouldn't be a problem. He needs to just get baptized. We're going to make sure he has no excuse to not do it.
Elder Pedabone is still struggling with his headaches, but I'm not letting him use them as an excuse. I've had to figuratively kick his butt a little this past week so we could get out and work. Once he's out, he's fine. It's getting him going that's the tough part. Being the initial source of motivation in a companionship is trying, but I'm not going to let it get me down. E. Pedabone is a great guy and he's got such a different background than I do. We have fun together and he wants to do what is right. He just needs a push. By the way, Mom, you were asking how long he's been out. 10 months.
Yesterday when we were out tracting, we came across a lady who practically preached a sermon to us through her screen door that prevented us from seeing her face (I hate those things). She went off about how we need to pray to Jesus to forgive us of our sins and plead with Him to release us from the bondage and hell that we are in. All we have to do is come to Him and we are saved. The love of God surpasses all things. She challenged us to read our Bibles, especially the book of John. Without giving us a chance to even begin to express our own feelings about the Savior and just how appreciative we are of what He has done for us, she ended her high-pitched, almost screaming, lesson on God's love with an "Amen! AMEN!!" (Slamming the door on our faces must have been for added spiritual effect to further convince us of the misery that we are in) Having somebody try to convince me of the error of my ways is nothing new, but her choice in doing so set her apart from the others in that she was exceptionally crazy. Good times.
Well, I think that's it for the week. Transfers are next Tuesday, so send mail to the mission office until I can let you know what's happening. Thanks for the letter, Grandpa Hammer. I really really appreciated it. Also, happy birthday to Brittnie this past week! You know, those oreo cheesecake chocolate wonderful delicious things you sent a while ago have been on my mind lately... : D
Keep on truckin' everyone! Love you all!
Be Mighty!
Elder Hammer
Hot
Hello again. This last week has been kindof slow, but eventful at the same time. I'll start out talking about Leandro. I don't think I've talked him about him yet. While tracting about 3 weeks ago, he came across the street and asked us where the church was, and what time it started. He was at church the following sunday, but he was a little bit late, cause he walked 2 1/2 miles to get there. We weren't able to meet with him that week, cause he was busy. The next week, we had somebody give him a ride to church, and we still weren't able to meet with him, but he'd been to church 2 times. We met with him last week, and found out that he is originally from Brazil, but has been all over the world with his job as a painter. He is here for about 3 years with his work visa, so that's some good news. He met with the missionaries in Spain, and was very close to being baptized, but he called it off cause he couldn't quit smoking. That was about a year and a half ago, and he said that he had been praying again, and that's when he saw us. He said that he has forgotten a lot of stuff, but he is ready now, and wants to be baptized. his date is Aug. 22nd. We are meeting with him tonight to teach him the stop smoking workshop. I feel that he will be able to do it this time, and he is very dedicated right now, so that's awesome.
That's about all the good news this week. Bad news is that Saroun, our Khmer investigator, dropped us on Sunday. She said that she just doesn't understand what we are teaching her. Ouch. Guess I've still got some work to do in learning a language. haha. But I was so sad when she told us. She came to church, then afterwards when we were going to teach her, she told us. I have taken it to heart, and now I am going to try as hard as I can to learn Cambodian so I can teach and people will understand me. Hopefully we will be able to pick her up again in the future, cause she was doing so well. But, we'll just have to find more people I guess.
So, when I got mom's letter this week, and read about Dad's accident, I asked myself "Wow, why have their been so many injuries in the family lately?" I don't have an answer. But, I hope that you are feeling better and that you recover quickly. Sounds pretty painful. Anything I can't pronounce has to hurt pretty bad. haha. As I was thinking about injuries, my mind went back to my football days, and the pain I enjoyed there. then I realized that Kurtis hasn't told me ANYTHING about how he's doing with that. Maybe he should write to me, and let me know. Thanks. Speaking of letters, thanks to Wendi and Skyler for their letters.
Real quick before my time is out, I have to tell you about our "Subway Challenge" we did the other night. We got some coupons for "buy 2, get 3rd free footlongs" so, we (E. Winslow ans myself) each bought 3 footlongs and attempted to eat them. I only got 2 of them, which isn't bad, but E. Wislow downed all 3 in 35 minutes! He can eat so much food it's ridiculous. haha. He should be on the foo channelwith that man v. food guy.
Ok, my time is up so I best be going now. I took out $50 from my account, cause we were doing some weekly grocery stuff, and my mission card wasn't working for some reason.. Just thought I'd let you know. Alrighty, well, I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!!!
Love
Elder Hammer
That's about all the good news this week. Bad news is that Saroun, our Khmer investigator, dropped us on Sunday. She said that she just doesn't understand what we are teaching her. Ouch. Guess I've still got some work to do in learning a language. haha. But I was so sad when she told us. She came to church, then afterwards when we were going to teach her, she told us. I have taken it to heart, and now I am going to try as hard as I can to learn Cambodian so I can teach and people will understand me. Hopefully we will be able to pick her up again in the future, cause she was doing so well. But, we'll just have to find more people I guess.
So, when I got mom's letter this week, and read about Dad's accident, I asked myself "Wow, why have their been so many injuries in the family lately?" I don't have an answer. But, I hope that you are feeling better and that you recover quickly. Sounds pretty painful. Anything I can't pronounce has to hurt pretty bad. haha. As I was thinking about injuries, my mind went back to my football days, and the pain I enjoyed there. then I realized that Kurtis hasn't told me ANYTHING about how he's doing with that. Maybe he should write to me, and let me know. Thanks. Speaking of letters, thanks to Wendi and Skyler for their letters.
Real quick before my time is out, I have to tell you about our "Subway Challenge" we did the other night. We got some coupons for "buy 2, get 3rd free footlongs" so, we (E. Winslow ans myself) each bought 3 footlongs and attempted to eat them. I only got 2 of them, which isn't bad, but E. Wislow downed all 3 in 35 minutes! He can eat so much food it's ridiculous. haha. He should be on the foo channelwith that man v. food guy.
Ok, my time is up so I best be going now. I took out $50 from my account, cause we were doing some weekly grocery stuff, and my mission card wasn't working for some reason.. Just thought I'd let you know. Alrighty, well, I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!!!
Love
Elder Hammer
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
6 months!!!
Wow, can you believe that I've been out for 6 months already? I guess it's not official until tomorrow, but still. That's nuts! I was thinking about it, and it honestly feels like it was just a few days ago that I was telling you all goodbye and walking into the MTC. Wow.
So, this last week has been pretty awesome. We had to drop Mark,(which is not part of the awesomeness) who was the guy that had all the questions about the Book of Mormon. We called him to see if he had done his assignment we gave him, and the first thing he said was, "Hey Elder Hammer, I'm just going to stick with the Jehovah's witnesses" Then we talked for about 20 minutes about random stuff that he still had questions about, but it didn't really accomplish much. One of his questions was "where in the Bible does it say we can't drink caffeine?" I told him that it doesn't and that caffeine isn't even against the Word of Wisdom. That seems to be a common misconception people out here have with our church. But yeah, we ended up dropping him, but invited him to still pray about the BoM, because he still hadn't done that.
We also have another investigator named Marc, who is the husband of a member in our ward. She just recently came back to church after inactivity of 30 years, so now we are teaching him about the gospel. He says he can't see himself getting baptized, even though he really wants to be sealed to her. He said there are some things he just won't be able to give up. But, we've been meeting with them weekly for a few weeks, and he is starting to progress, but at a very slow rate. He's been at church the last two weeks, but hasn't stayed for the 3rd hour. But he says that he enjoys the Gospel Doctrine class, and he has some really good insights that he shares with us. We are taking it pretty slow with him, because he still thinks that he is fine, plus he's really big, and intimidating, so we don't want to say anything that might scare him away yet. But, he's been at church so that's great.
Most of the awsomeness comes from this last week at church. In addition to having Marc there, we had our Cambodian investigator, Saroun there for the first time too! I'm not sure how much of it she understood, but at least she was there! We went to her house before church to have her follow us there in her car. We also have another investigator named Leandro, who lives right across the street from Saroun, so we called him and told him we had a ride for him. haha. So we made our Cambodian investigator, who doesn't know English very well give a ride to our Brazilian investigator. haha. It was pretty funny, but quite effective. So, we had 3 investigators at church this last week! AND, we had an inactive (due to sickness) cambodian lady there for the first time in over 2 years too! So basically, we had a 300% increase in Cambodian attendance. haha. It was awesome. I don't remember if I told you about Donna. She got super sick about 2 years ago, and went to California for some reason. She's been there recovering, and she found some sort of "miracle pill" or something, and now all of her symptoms and diseases or whatever she had are gone. I'm not so sure about it, but I guess it works. Anyway, her family owns a Cambodian store here in Lynn, and they have always just given us chips, drinks, food, etc. when we go in to say hi. But she has never been there, until last week. She invited us over to have dinner and a scripture study at her house. It was some pretty authentic Khmer food. rice, soup, tofu, pork liver, mudfish, and fish paste balls. haha. It was actually really good....for the first 5 minutes, then it cooled off, and wasn't so great anymore. But, I think she wanted us to make it a weekly thing so every wednesday now, we are going to her house. Sweet. Plus, after church, we had Donna and Om Sen (only active Cambodian member in our ward that feeds us every friday) help us teach Saroun because she was struggling to understand about prayer. It was a really great lesson. We are going over to Saroun's in about an hour to teach her the Plan of Salvation. Oh, and she did accept August 22nd to be baptized last time we met with her! I'm so excited! So basically, we are finding more and more opportunities to teach in Khmer, and hopefully we'll be able to continue doing so.
Well, that is about all I can think of that has happened this last week. Thanks to everyone who has written to me recently (mom and nate). I got your package Nate, and I must say that it is pretty awesome! I love the shirt. And I also got dad's letter about all the craziness happening in the College sports world. Sounds intense. Well, we're off to teach now, so, until next week... Goodbye. Hope you all have a great week. I love you all!!!
Love,
Elder Hammer
So, this last week has been pretty awesome. We had to drop Mark,(which is not part of the awesomeness) who was the guy that had all the questions about the Book of Mormon. We called him to see if he had done his assignment we gave him, and the first thing he said was, "Hey Elder Hammer, I'm just going to stick with the Jehovah's witnesses" Then we talked for about 20 minutes about random stuff that he still had questions about, but it didn't really accomplish much. One of his questions was "where in the Bible does it say we can't drink caffeine?" I told him that it doesn't and that caffeine isn't even against the Word of Wisdom. That seems to be a common misconception people out here have with our church. But yeah, we ended up dropping him, but invited him to still pray about the BoM, because he still hadn't done that.
We also have another investigator named Marc, who is the husband of a member in our ward. She just recently came back to church after inactivity of 30 years, so now we are teaching him about the gospel. He says he can't see himself getting baptized, even though he really wants to be sealed to her. He said there are some things he just won't be able to give up. But, we've been meeting with them weekly for a few weeks, and he is starting to progress, but at a very slow rate. He's been at church the last two weeks, but hasn't stayed for the 3rd hour. But he says that he enjoys the Gospel Doctrine class, and he has some really good insights that he shares with us. We are taking it pretty slow with him, because he still thinks that he is fine, plus he's really big, and intimidating, so we don't want to say anything that might scare him away yet. But, he's been at church so that's great.
Most of the awsomeness comes from this last week at church. In addition to having Marc there, we had our Cambodian investigator, Saroun there for the first time too! I'm not sure how much of it she understood, but at least she was there! We went to her house before church to have her follow us there in her car. We also have another investigator named Leandro, who lives right across the street from Saroun, so we called him and told him we had a ride for him. haha. So we made our Cambodian investigator, who doesn't know English very well give a ride to our Brazilian investigator. haha. It was pretty funny, but quite effective. So, we had 3 investigators at church this last week! AND, we had an inactive (due to sickness) cambodian lady there for the first time in over 2 years too! So basically, we had a 300% increase in Cambodian attendance. haha. It was awesome. I don't remember if I told you about Donna. She got super sick about 2 years ago, and went to California for some reason. She's been there recovering, and she found some sort of "miracle pill" or something, and now all of her symptoms and diseases or whatever she had are gone. I'm not so sure about it, but I guess it works. Anyway, her family owns a Cambodian store here in Lynn, and they have always just given us chips, drinks, food, etc. when we go in to say hi. But she has never been there, until last week. She invited us over to have dinner and a scripture study at her house. It was some pretty authentic Khmer food. rice, soup, tofu, pork liver, mudfish, and fish paste balls. haha. It was actually really good....for the first 5 minutes, then it cooled off, and wasn't so great anymore. But, I think she wanted us to make it a weekly thing so every wednesday now, we are going to her house. Sweet. Plus, after church, we had Donna and Om Sen (only active Cambodian member in our ward that feeds us every friday) help us teach Saroun because she was struggling to understand about prayer. It was a really great lesson. We are going over to Saroun's in about an hour to teach her the Plan of Salvation. Oh, and she did accept August 22nd to be baptized last time we met with her! I'm so excited! So basically, we are finding more and more opportunities to teach in Khmer, and hopefully we'll be able to continue doing so.
Well, that is about all I can think of that has happened this last week. Thanks to everyone who has written to me recently (mom and nate). I got your package Nate, and I must say that it is pretty awesome! I love the shirt. And I also got dad's letter about all the craziness happening in the College sports world. Sounds intense. Well, we're off to teach now, so, until next week... Goodbye. Hope you all have a great week. I love you all!!!
Love,
Elder Hammer
Monday, August 2, 2010
August Again?
It was a year ago this week that I was transferred up to Fall River. I can't believe that it's been that long already. One of my Zone Leaders was serving in Cottonwood not too long ago also and he and I were telling each other stories about the area this morning when he was at our house emailing numbers to the APs. It's pretty sweet to talk about the experiences you've had in areas of the mission where other missionaries have served as well. I may have only been in Cottonwood for 6 weeks, but I definitely had some great experiences there.
This past week was slow. My comp, Elder Pedabone, has been having headaches lately. He acts as if they are super painful, but I'm not too sure they are as bad as he says. Whenever we were out doing something, he seemed fine. But getting him up and out was the challenging part. He's a great guy and I'm thankful that I get to serve with him, but we're going to work on working more effectively this week.
Our investigator, Patricia, is still good to go for August 14th. We've been having some really wonderful visits with her and she has really started to open up. There are some ward members that are doing a great job at fellowshipping, although it's only some members right now. If we could somehow get the rest of the ward anxious to reach out of their Sunday-only worship mentality, good things would be happening. I read a talk given in a devotional address somewhere by somebody that I can't remember their name that said something like this, "If Heavenly Father were sitting on the stand during one of our sacrament meetings, and Dave who wasn't active or not a member walked in and sat down, wouldn't He rush down the aisle, give Dave a hug, and say, 'Dave has come home!'?" Something to think about, eh?
That's about it for now. Something I've been thinking about lately is how grateful I am for each new day that we are given. It's amazing that I can wake up each morning and try to be better than the day before. As long as you are living the Gospel, progression can continue to happen and the choices you make don't hold you back from reaching your potential in the future. It's when we fall into sin and choose to disobey that our choices limit our ability to become somthing better. Righteousness truly does bring freedom, immediately and in the future. Unrighteousness, although fleetingly satisfying at times, literally stops us from progression. The Gospel is so amazing. The Atonement is awesome. In the words of my companion, "Ou te iloa e moni le talalelei." (I know the church is true!)
Be Mighty!
Love,
Elder J. Hammer
PS. Here's my address, Mom.
4809 Adieu Ct.
Sacramento, CA 95842
Also, did you ever find anything out about my watch and what I can do to get it fixed? Or should I just take it somewhere and try to get them to fix it?
Tell Samantha hi for me too! I love the Cranes!
This past week was slow. My comp, Elder Pedabone, has been having headaches lately. He acts as if they are super painful, but I'm not too sure they are as bad as he says. Whenever we were out doing something, he seemed fine. But getting him up and out was the challenging part. He's a great guy and I'm thankful that I get to serve with him, but we're going to work on working more effectively this week.
Our investigator, Patricia, is still good to go for August 14th. We've been having some really wonderful visits with her and she has really started to open up. There are some ward members that are doing a great job at fellowshipping, although it's only some members right now. If we could somehow get the rest of the ward anxious to reach out of their Sunday-only worship mentality, good things would be happening. I read a talk given in a devotional address somewhere by somebody that I can't remember their name that said something like this, "If Heavenly Father were sitting on the stand during one of our sacrament meetings, and Dave who wasn't active or not a member walked in and sat down, wouldn't He rush down the aisle, give Dave a hug, and say, 'Dave has come home!'?" Something to think about, eh?
That's about it for now. Something I've been thinking about lately is how grateful I am for each new day that we are given. It's amazing that I can wake up each morning and try to be better than the day before. As long as you are living the Gospel, progression can continue to happen and the choices you make don't hold you back from reaching your potential in the future. It's when we fall into sin and choose to disobey that our choices limit our ability to become somthing better. Righteousness truly does bring freedom, immediately and in the future. Unrighteousness, although fleetingly satisfying at times, literally stops us from progression. The Gospel is so amazing. The Atonement is awesome. In the words of my companion, "Ou te iloa e moni le talalelei." (I know the church is true!)
Be Mighty!
Love,
Elder J. Hammer
PS. Here's my address, Mom.
4809 Adieu Ct.
Sacramento, CA 95842
Also, did you ever find anything out about my watch and what I can do to get it fixed? Or should I just take it somewhere and try to get them to fix it?
Tell Samantha hi for me too! I love the Cranes!
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