A New Transfer

Transfer info is in and here are the results: Elder Dowling will be staying in the Olivehurst Ward as a ZL and Elder Hammer will be flying to San Diego to serve as Assistant to the President in the California San Diego Mission... Yeah right. I'm staying where I am, thankfully. With all the craziness of the past few transfers of my mission I am grateful to have some sense of stability by staying in my area.

This week has been a roller coaster. I'll start with the good news. Paul Hurtado was baptized on Saturday and it was an incredible experience. There were many of his friends that came to support him and also many of the ward members showed up as well. The whole service was great. Paul asked Elder Dowling and I to give the talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost. When I was speaking, I looked at Paul and he had tears running down his cheeks. I could tell that his baptism was a very profound experience for him. Yesterday in church he was confirmed and once again it was powerful. Paul is a very spiritual person and I have learned so much from him about being a true follower of Christ. He is going to be a tremendous strength to the church. Hearing him pray asking Heavenly Father to help him make it to the Temple as soon as possible is wonderful. I love these experiences!

Okay, now for some bad news. I received a phone call from some members in the Fall River Ward on Saturday. At first, I was surprised and excited to hear from them again, but then they told me they had something they needed to tell me. Greg Petersen, the father of the Petersen family that I love so much and became very close with while I was serving in Fall River, passed away this past week. Greg has been fighting cancer for a long time and I remember him telling me that he knew that eventually it was going to kill him, but that he was okay with that. He had said that he had lived a good life, he'd done basically everything he really wanted to do, and that his only worry was about his family. His family is amazing. Sheri is his wife and they have 4 daughters: Ericka, Brianna, Melia, and Linnea. I'd do anything I could for any one of them. For the funeral, they have asked that I play the closing hymn and music as the pall-bearers carry Greg out of the chapel. I am honored that they want me to be a part of this experience.

Overall, things are going well right now. I love my companion, I love the work, I love the people, and I am not looking forward to coming home! : ) I think that there was some other things I was going to share with you, but I can't remember right now, so oh well. Oh, here's my new address:

1576 Larry St
Olivehurst, CA 95961

I hope everything is going well back home. As always, letters are always appreciated (Kurtis!!!). I love you all! Be mighty!
Elder Justin Hammer

PS. Austin Collie becomes the third person in Colts history to score 3 touchdowns in the first 3 games of the season! Booyeah!