Woot

So, how's everyone doing this fine day? I'm doing pretty great myself. We had an excellent week, which is exactly what I needed. haha. So remember how last week I said that not very much stuff had happened? Well, it turns out that it was one of those weeks that sets up the next week. They aren't very fun while they are happening, but the next week turns out great because of the effort you put in the week before. That's what happened. About the only thing we had going for us last week was a few potentials. We were able to meet with a few of them this week, and they turned into investigators which is always good. I was able to have some very cool spiritual experiences this week with a few of those investigators. I'll tell you about them.

First up is Will Smith. Yeah, we're teaching Will Smith. And yes, he's black. haha. But as he told us "I'm from Boston, not Miami" so apparently that's the difference. We met him while we were tracting, which doesn't support my comments I made last week about how we don't find very often when we are tracting. But whatever. We tracted into him, and he came outside and talked at us for about 30 minutes about a bunch of random stuff. Once we were finally able to get a few words in, he seemed pretty interested so we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read it before we came back in a few days. Well, we weren't able to get back in contact with him for a long time, so we figured he had changed his mind and wasn't interested anymore. We went back one last time for the "lets find out if he's serious about this and then we should drop him" visit. He was there this time, he said that he had read 2 chapters, which is better than about 85 % of most people, and then he talked to us a bit more. He said that he is the guy in the neighborhood who people come to for help with spiritual questions, and he tries to help them out a little bit, usually from the Bible, but lately he had been sharing the Book of Mormon with them, and had given his copy to a lady who wanted to read it. Nice! We gave him another copy, and we asked him if there were any questions he had that we could find an answer for him in the Book of Mormon. He said, "Well, I've actually been thinking alot about how I can get Salvation" I wish everyone we talked to said that. We told him we had a great chapter to read with him, so we sat on his front steps and read 2 Nephi 31 with him. There's a part in Preach My Gospel about asking inspired questions. I feel like that question I asked him about if he had any questions was an inspired question. This is why. We read through the chapter with him, and he had a few questions about words and things, but he understood it perfectly and was able to explain to us what he thought it was telling him. After the chapter was over, he said, "That's what I want for me and my family" Another statement I wish more people said. He has a wife and 3 sons. So, we committed him to be baptized. He asked if he could do it this sunday (yesterday) but we told him there were some things that we needed to teach him first, so we set July 10 as his date! Yes! It was an awesome lesson that was another confirmation to me of the power the Book of Mormon has. It is such an incredible book that absolutely changes peoples' lives. Will then committed to go to church, and that's where the whole agency thing comes in and frustrates me. He didn't come and neither did the other 4 people we had committed. But, it's ok. We did our part. So that's the story about Will. I felt the Spirit very much as we were reading from the Book of Mormon with him and I know that Book is true!

and the second one I'd like to share with you is about Jonny. We met Jonny the same day we met Will. I think it actually might have been right after we got done talking to Will. We were walking down the street when this man( Jonny) yells from across the street, "Let me guess, the Latter Day Saints?" I was thinking "oh boy", but we went over to talk to him. He seemed like he wanted to argue, but when we walked over to him, he reached out his hand and shook ours and said, "You guys are great, I've seen the Elders walking around alot and I always love talking to you guys." Before I continue this story, I'd like to point out that this confirms the principle of not judging people before you get to know them. I've had that confirmed to me a lot on my mission. Ok, going on. We started talking to him and it was a great conversation; or as great as it could be with a super drunk guy. Because he was very drunk. But, as we were talking to him, I just had the feeling that he needed our help. It was an odd feeling, I can't really describe it, but it was basically just I wanted to help him. We didn't talk to him for very long, but we found out that he is dying from some sort of liver disease that makes his belly swollen real big. We talked to him a little bit about the plan of salvation and asked if we could come by his house and visit him later that week. He said yes, and had to look at his house key to give us his address cause he couldn't remember where it was. So, we went back on the day that we had scheduled. Surprisingly, he was there and had remembered our appointment despite his drunkenness. We went in and talked to him a little bit more about the plan of salvation and gave him a Book of Mormon as well. His girlfriend was there, and she was pretty interested so we gave one to her too. They were headed out to run some errands, so we couldn't talk to them for very long, but we were able to set up another appointment with him for a few days later. We got back the next time, which was this last saturday. He came out of his door and he was stoned out of his mind. He said to us, "Sorry guys, I'm stoned right now, I don't think it would be a good time for you to teach me" We agreed, but then he kept talking. He said that he doesn't like to present himself in the way he did to us. He doesn't like the way his life is going. He looked at the floor and said, "Guys, my life sucks right now" Then he looked at me and asked, "Do you think you can help?" At that moment, I felt a wave of love for Jonny that I can't say I've experienced before. He started crying and said that he wants to go to Heaven, not Hell. I told him that we could most definitely help, and that more than us, Jesus Christ could help. He kept crying and basically told us that he wants to change his life around from where it is right now. It was a very powerful moment to see him do that, and one that I probably won't forget. I want to help him so badly. He needs it, cause his life is a huge mess right now, but I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, he can be helped. All of the pains and griefs that he is going through right now can be lifted from him through Jesus Christ.

Isn't that amazing? I've really been thinking about that lately. EVERYTHING we go through in life that is in any way painful, has already been exprerienced and felt by the Son of God. and it can ALL be taken off of us through His Atonement. That is why it brings such joy to those who share the gospel. It's not just a church you are sharing, it is salvation and freedom through Jesus Christ. If we look at it in that way, why would any of us be afraid or timid to share the gospel with our friends that aren't already members? I can't think of any good reasons to deny somebody of those blessings. Even if they are a drunk, or a stoner, or whatever they may be, they all deserve a shot because they are all our brothers and sisters! As I've talked alot about in previous emails, one of the biggest lessons I've learned is what I need to do to be a good member missionary throughout the rest of my life. We got copies of a 3 week sunday school class from Clayton Christenson on how to be a good member missionary awhile back, and I have studied it alot. That is where I have come up with most everything I share with members out here. And I always leave a challenge with them. I was thinking about it this week, and I want to leave the same challenge with my own family. Here it is. As a family, prayerfully select a date by which you will have someone ready to be taught the missionary lessons in our home. That's it. Elder Ballard has said that each member of the Church should shoose a date at least once each year to have someone ready to be taught in their home. Don't worry about if you know people or not, but just do it by faith. Have the faith to let God provide someone for you. I know that it works. I've seen it work out here. And after you have chosen a date, continue to pray about it and ask Heavenly Father for His help in finding someone and then keep your eyes open for those opportunities, cause they will come. There ya go. Will you commit to do that challenge as a family? I expect a response next week when I read my emails. I'll be praying for you!

Okey dokey. If you want to try and find the lessons I'm talking about, they might be online somewhere. It is called Teaching the Principles of Member Missionary Work by Clayton Christensen. I would encourage you to read it if you can find it. It's amazing. So, that is about all I have for this week. I hope that you all have a wonderful week. By the way, Happy Birthday last week Mason. Hope you liked the card. haha. Ok well I love you all!

Love,
Elder Hammer

I Can't Think of a Good Subject Line

So, this week was pretttttyyyyy slow. Never a good thing as a missionary. When I got here to Lowell, I realized that the missionaries previous to me had been teaching 3 or 4 people for roughly 7 months. They had never been to church and were not progressing at all, so I talked to Elder Ang about it and we have dropped basically everyone that had been worked with. Which means we are at that point that is tough, where we spend most of our time finding people. However, contrary to popular belief, when missionaries go "finding" there aren't usually a lot of people found. I love the quote that says "everyone who is familiar with this work (missionary work) knows there is a better way" (talking about other than tracting). Lots of people have it in their minds that missionary work is walking around talking to people, and tracting for 11 hours every day. No. When Elder Zwick came to talk to us, he told us that 80% of all missionaries' finding should be done through the members. In other words, members need to keep their eyes open for opportunities to share the gospel with others, then invite them to learn from the missionaries. That is when things start to happen a lot faster. There is a man out here by the name of Clayton Christensen. He is a business professor at Harvard Business School, who used to be an area 70, and was recently named by Forbes magazine, the #1 business consultant in the country. He is also known around here as the best member missionary who ever lived. He once did a study and said that of every 10 people who are invited by members to meet with the missionaries, 5 of them accept, and of those 5, 1 is baptized. Wow. That would make our job a lot easier. So, one of the things that we are also trying to do is to start working more with them members. That is something that I know brings success to an area. We were really focusing on that in Lynn, and right when I left, things were starting to pick up, so now I know that we need to do that here too.

So yeah, not a lot happened this week. I don't know if you heard about the tornados or not, but yes, there were some tornados in massachusetts last week. It was pretty sick. One evening, we were visiting a family, and the sky was very oddly colored. It was greenish-yellow and very bright. It was pretty cool. Then after it got dark, there was a TON of lightning going on. It was amazing to watch. I got a pretty cool video on my camera. Probably the coolest lightning storm I've ever seen. And that is when the tornados happened too. but, they were clear out in western mass, not anywhere close to here, so unfortunately I can't say I lived through a tornado. darn. haha.

There is some good news for this week however. Remember when I talked about Rose and her family that I was working with in Lynn? Yeah, They got baptized yesterday! The Elders in Lynn called me and told me about it. I am SO happy for them. I love all of the joy and happiness that comes when people learn of and accept the gospel into their lives. It truly is unlike anything I've ever experienced. I love the gospel.

Ok well, I guess I should wrap up since I don't have much else to say. Hopefully this week will be better than last. We are going candlepin bowling as a zone today so I'm stoked for that. I love candlepin. It's so fun! Ok I'm out. Have a GREAT week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Hammer


P.S. Oh yeah, and I translated sacrament meeting yesterday for the first time! It was pretty cool. Elder Ang is obviously fluent in Khmer, and he is fluent in english too, but he has a hard time translating from english to Khmer, so I tried and it turned out alright. cool, huh? I thought so. And, also, I told Elder Ang he could marry Kasey so he can be my brother in law and he said ok after I showed him her picture. haha. So you gotta wait about 19 more months to meet him Kasey! :)

Hot & Humid

So I guess Summer decided that Spring was done. haha. This whole week has been in the high 90's with about 80% humidity. UGH! haha. But, I think I like it more than the 2 weeks of rain we got. Bad news is we were short on miles so we had to ride our bikes. I sweat alot. haha. But riding bikes is fun, and I think I will enjoy doing it more now that we have bikes that work.

I don't have a lot of time today, actually about 8 minutes, before the computer's gonna kick me off, so I have to hurry so sorry if the email is lame. :) Happy Memorial Day, by the way. Did you do anything cool?

Ok so I guess I shouldn't stress about time because there is honestly not a lot happening so there's not a lot to talk about. It's pretty disappointing. We have a bunch of potentials that we've contacted once and haven't been able to get back in contact with, so I guess that is some news I could share. It's not good news, but it's news. haha. One thing that was kinda cool - When I first got to Massachusetts last year, I found a New Era magazine from 1982 ( I think) in the apartment that I have kept ever since. It is about a Cambodian kid that lives in Lowell who found the missionaries, got baptized, then brought in all of his friends and all of their friends into the church. And now they are all inactive. That kid still lives in Lowell, and I met him the other day. I showed him the magazine, and he was really happy to see it. He was talking about it and had a huge smile on his face, but he hasn't been to church in like 6 years. So we are working on him to see if we can get him back. He is the reason we are the biggest ward in the world. (yes, the lowell ward is the largest in the world.) But, all but 7 of the 700 cambodian members of our ward (yes, 700) are inactive. So, I think you can tell what we are trying to work on. Pretty obvious. But it's hard.

Well, I am in the last minute of my time on the computer so I gotta go before it shuts down. I would request a conference ensign please. that would be nice to have. Ok well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!!


Love,
Elder Hammer