Well hello. How's everybody doing? Good. I'm not doing too bad myself. Unfortunately again this week, we didn't really have much happen. We had a lot of meetings that took up a lot of time out of proselyting. Monday, we had to be in early due to Halloween, Tuesday we had a Zone Leader Council from 9-2 plus driving time then that night we had a meeting with the Stake Presidency, Wednesday was Pday, Thursday was transfer meeting, which we wouldn't normally go to since neither of us got transferred, but we had to do some stuff with our car at the meeting, Friday we had District Meeting, and we meet out in Connecticut, about an hour or so away. So Saturday was really the only day we had for much proselyting, and nothing really happened. Darn. We haven't seen Phal or Jolenny for over a week, which is a big bummer cause they were both so promising. Hopefully we'll be able to see them this week and get things going for them.
We did have Stake Conference yesterday too. It was in Groton, CT, which is about an hour and ten minutes away. It felt weird to be there, because the size of the congregation was about the same as a normal ward from Utah. I'd say it looked about the same as if it were a missionary farewell or homecoming in our stake center. But this was the whole stake, so it was pretty amazing. The meeting was interesting. They passed the sacrament, which is something I've never seen before in a Stake Conference. I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be passed in Stake Conference, but that's ok. There were like 8 speakers and 2 musical numbers after the sacrament, so I wasn't expecting it to end on time. The cool thing is that all the talks were about missionary work. President and Sister Evans spoke too, and that was cool. The last 3 talks were all super rushed, which stinks cause they could've been awesomer if they had had more time. The Stake President was cool too. He got up and laid the smackdown on everyone by telling them all that the stake needs to do better at missionary work. He said that there are 16 missionaries serving from the stake right now, but when those kids were deacons, there were 32 in the stake, so he was wondering why there weren't 32 missionaries from the stake. He said they need to do better at making sure there is an atmosphere of protection and love to help the youth prepare to serve missions. It was great. I enjoyed it.
I guess another cool thing that happened is transfers. I was super excited cause Elder Dawe, who I lived with in Lynn, got transferred to the Providence spanish area, so he lives just down the hall from us now, and it is awesome being able to serve around him again. He goes home at the end of this transfer so I'm gonna miss him, but you'll definitely meet him cause we're gonna hang out a lot when I get home. He's such a stud! He is going to Snow College for a year to play football before going to BYU to play football. Cool, huh? We get up early and work out together too, so that's a lot of fun. Yeah, he's cool.
Okeydokeythen. I think that's it for this week. Can you believe Thanksgiving is in 2 and a half weeks? That's nuts! Anywho, I love you all and hope you have a fantabulous week! Go share the gospel with someone! chopchop! Love ya.
Love,
Elder Hammer
P.S. Oh yeah, and congrats to Justin and Gwen on their engagement! CRAZY!!!! hahaha
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Happy November!
Wow, I can't believe it's November already. It feels like just a couple days ago that I was saying I couldn't believe it was October. haha. So there isn't really a lot to talk about this week. We still weren't able to meet with Jolenny, who is the girl we set a baptismal date for Christmas with. That stinks. We talked to Phal, the drunk cambodian guy who came to church, and he said that he had to take care of his mom this week so he couldn't come to church but he said he'd be there next week. So we are hoping that he'll keep his word again and that we'll be able to meet with him and teach him too, cause he wasn't there for our appointment this week. Other than that, we are just trying to find more people to teach. Things are going kinda slow again, but we are trying.
We had a pretty cool storm this last week too. We had heard rumors that we were supposed to get 1-5 inches of snow. Well, we got about 1. It was kinda disappointing. But when I was talking to the APs a few days ago, they told me that there was one area in massachusetts that got 27 inches! And parts of Connecticut got about a foot and a half too. I felt kinda left out. haha. But they are also out of power and it won't be back on for like a week. That stinks.
Oh yeah, this week is transfers, if you haven't figured that out already due to my late email. Me and Elder Pierson are staying together here in Providence. That's fun. I'm happy. He's cool. Rock on. That pretty much solidifies that I'll be here till I come home too, cause Elder Pierson has been here for 6 months already so I would assume that he'll get transferred at the end of this next one. So yup, that's the big news for this week, I guess.
Ok well, I hope I'll have cooler stuff to talk about next week. Oh! Remember Borida that I was teaching up in Lowell? Well, she was supposed to be baptized last week, but they cancelled church due to the snow, so she's getting baptized next week! Booya! yay :) Ok Love y'all! The Church is TRUE!
Love,
Elder Hammer
We had a pretty cool storm this last week too. We had heard rumors that we were supposed to get 1-5 inches of snow. Well, we got about 1. It was kinda disappointing. But when I was talking to the APs a few days ago, they told me that there was one area in massachusetts that got 27 inches! And parts of Connecticut got about a foot and a half too. I felt kinda left out. haha. But they are also out of power and it won't be back on for like a week. That stinks.
Oh yeah, this week is transfers, if you haven't figured that out already due to my late email. Me and Elder Pierson are staying together here in Providence. That's fun. I'm happy. He's cool. Rock on. That pretty much solidifies that I'll be here till I come home too, cause Elder Pierson has been here for 6 months already so I would assume that he'll get transferred at the end of this next one. So yup, that's the big news for this week, I guess.
Ok well, I hope I'll have cooler stuff to talk about next week. Oh! Remember Borida that I was teaching up in Lowell? Well, she was supposed to be baptized last week, but they cancelled church due to the snow, so she's getting baptized next week! Booya! yay :) Ok Love y'all! The Church is TRUE!
Love,
Elder Hammer
East Side Certified
Hey everybody! I can't believe that it's already october 24th. That is NUTS! It definitely doesn't feel like it's that late in october because the weather is still beautiful. It's like 70 right now. It feels so good.
So this week was pretty awesome. Lots of really good stuff happened that has me pretty excited. The girl I told you about last week that we found and scheduled a baptismal date is still doing good. We weren't able to meet with her this week cause she had something come up when we had our appointment, and she didn't come to church yesterday, but we were able to talk to her on the phone and she is doing good. She is still excited to meet with us again and she was really bummed that she wasn't home when we stopped by. So no big updates with her.
We've been doing a lot of tracting lately, due to not having enough people to teach. It's been fun. Tracting in Providence is a really great experience. I wish you all could try it out sometime. Its such a ghetto place and the people are so weird, it makes for a fun time. We tracted a lot on Saturday especially. We were tracting one street at approximately 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Not the typical time for people to be drunk already, but EVERYBODY we talked to on that street was very drunk. haha. Mix that with all the crazy people we already talk to every day, and what do you have? The most interesting tracting experience of my mission. It was great. As we were walking down the street, this Hispanic guy called us to come over and talk to him. We walked over and he was holding a beer in his hand, with about 7 empty ones on the ground around him. He was smiling and looked as if he was going to fall over at any moment. He started talking to us, but we couldn't understand him at all. He just kept saying "Sorry" in this really high pitched voice. It was kinda weird. We gave him a pass along card and left. Then the next door we knocked on, I could hear a bunch of Cambodian dudes gambling inside. We knocked, and this guy came out. His name is Phal, and he's awesome. I'll tell you about him later. As we were talking to Phal, these 2 kids came and told us that "the guy on the porch down there wants to talk to you". So after we finished talking to Phal, we went down to this other guy. He was nuts. For some reason, I thought it would be a good talk, so as we were walking toward him, I started recording on my camera and left it in my pocket. haha. It was a great talk, but he said lots of bad words so I deleted the video. Anyway, we got to him, and he started talking to us. He invited us "inside" which was onto his porch. He had a 2 liter of coke next to him, with a bottle of vodka next to that. He was pretty drunk too. He started talking to us, and told us that "they" had taught us all wrong things as we've been growing up because "they" know how powerful we are. He kept saying "they" as he was talking, so I eventually asked him who "they" were, and he just stopped talking. He thought about it for a minute and started laughing and told me that if I smoked weed with him, I would know who "they" were. haha. I declined. But he kept talking about how he is the "protector of children" for the neighborhood, and he invited us to join his army that he's getting together to overthrow "them". haha. It was such a great experience. Elder Pierson took out his camera and was filming him and he was pretending that he was on tv. He was loving it. haha. We never got his name though. He told us we could come back anytime, but I don't think we'll be doing that anytime soon. haha.
So that's it for the crazies. Now back to Phal. Phal came outside, and yes, he was very drunk too. The smell was very strong. He was talking in Cambodian, which was surprising cause they usually don't start talking Cambodian until I say something first. But he started talking, and came outside and talked to us for awhile. He told me about his family, and how long he's been in the US. He told me about the stuff he went through when he was in Cambodia, trying to get away from the wars. I told him about the Book of Mormon and how it can help his life, and he didn't believe me when I told him that I read Cambodian, so I read a little bit to him and he went off for like 10 minutes about how he's Cambodian and he can't even read it that well. It was funny. But then he opened up to us (as much as a drunk guy can) about how he wants to change his life so he can feel better about himself. He said that he wanted to go to church with us, which was WAY cool cause he's never been to church before, other than the cambodian temples. We invited him to church the next day, and he said that if we could get him a ride, he'd go. So we made some calls, and the next morning, we went to pick him up with one of our cambodian members. He opened his door, and I wish you could have seen his face when he saw us. haha. It was awesome. He said "Oh man, I just woke up. I gotta shower first" But we told him that church started in 15 minutes, so we had to go. He said ok, and quickly changed his clothes and came to church! It was so cool. He was totally feeling the Spirit during Sacrament Meeting too. He had to go after the first meeting, cause he was supposed to be with his grandson, but he said he's definitely coming back next week, and he wants to meet with us! Wahoo! I'm so happy about that. Especially since he kept his word, even though he was drunk when he said he'd come. So yeah, I'm pretty excited about that. It's one of those experiences that strengthen my testimony of how true the gospel is. He was drunk, but he recognized that we can help change his life, and from there, the Spirit was able to take over. Definitely an awesome testimony that the Spirit is real, and that it can touch the hearts of anyone.
Last person I want to talk about is Greg. I may have mentioned him in one of my emails already, but I just wanted to tell you all how awesome he is. He is a member in our ward that used to be in a Cambodian Blood gang. He grew out of it, and now he's the man. He had us over lastnight, and he told us a bunch of crazy gang stories. It was cool. He told us that the streets we've been tracting lately are where the bloods and the crips hang out, which we already knew because they spraypaint their names all over the place. He also told us how the gospel changed his life. His mom is a member, and he was baptized when he was 8, but his dad was an alcoholic, and he eventually just left his family. Greg kinda did his own thing, and that's how he joined the gang, but after awhile, he wizened up and came back to the church and now he's awesome. He's also the one that gave me the idea for the subject line. East Side Certified! haha. It's a gang thing. :) His wife is cambodian and so are his mom in law, and brothers in law, so I talk to them when we go over. They are all way cool people. Another fine example of how the gospel of Jesus Christ can change peoples' lives.
So that's our week. Pretty awesome. It feels good to have things start picking up with the work. Both English and Cambodian. I love being on a mission. I get to see so many crazy things, but no matter how many crazy, or disappointing things I see, I know that what I'm doing is right and true. It feels so good to know that I am one of the Lord's servants. I love it! Booya! Well, I hope you all have a great week. Love ya!
Love,
Elder Hammer
So this week was pretty awesome. Lots of really good stuff happened that has me pretty excited. The girl I told you about last week that we found and scheduled a baptismal date is still doing good. We weren't able to meet with her this week cause she had something come up when we had our appointment, and she didn't come to church yesterday, but we were able to talk to her on the phone and she is doing good. She is still excited to meet with us again and she was really bummed that she wasn't home when we stopped by. So no big updates with her.
We've been doing a lot of tracting lately, due to not having enough people to teach. It's been fun. Tracting in Providence is a really great experience. I wish you all could try it out sometime. Its such a ghetto place and the people are so weird, it makes for a fun time. We tracted a lot on Saturday especially. We were tracting one street at approximately 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Not the typical time for people to be drunk already, but EVERYBODY we talked to on that street was very drunk. haha. Mix that with all the crazy people we already talk to every day, and what do you have? The most interesting tracting experience of my mission. It was great. As we were walking down the street, this Hispanic guy called us to come over and talk to him. We walked over and he was holding a beer in his hand, with about 7 empty ones on the ground around him. He was smiling and looked as if he was going to fall over at any moment. He started talking to us, but we couldn't understand him at all. He just kept saying "Sorry" in this really high pitched voice. It was kinda weird. We gave him a pass along card and left. Then the next door we knocked on, I could hear a bunch of Cambodian dudes gambling inside. We knocked, and this guy came out. His name is Phal, and he's awesome. I'll tell you about him later. As we were talking to Phal, these 2 kids came and told us that "the guy on the porch down there wants to talk to you". So after we finished talking to Phal, we went down to this other guy. He was nuts. For some reason, I thought it would be a good talk, so as we were walking toward him, I started recording on my camera and left it in my pocket. haha. It was a great talk, but he said lots of bad words so I deleted the video. Anyway, we got to him, and he started talking to us. He invited us "inside" which was onto his porch. He had a 2 liter of coke next to him, with a bottle of vodka next to that. He was pretty drunk too. He started talking to us, and told us that "they" had taught us all wrong things as we've been growing up because "they" know how powerful we are. He kept saying "they" as he was talking, so I eventually asked him who "they" were, and he just stopped talking. He thought about it for a minute and started laughing and told me that if I smoked weed with him, I would know who "they" were. haha. I declined. But he kept talking about how he is the "protector of children" for the neighborhood, and he invited us to join his army that he's getting together to overthrow "them". haha. It was such a great experience. Elder Pierson took out his camera and was filming him and he was pretending that he was on tv. He was loving it. haha. We never got his name though. He told us we could come back anytime, but I don't think we'll be doing that anytime soon. haha.
So that's it for the crazies. Now back to Phal. Phal came outside, and yes, he was very drunk too. The smell was very strong. He was talking in Cambodian, which was surprising cause they usually don't start talking Cambodian until I say something first. But he started talking, and came outside and talked to us for awhile. He told me about his family, and how long he's been in the US. He told me about the stuff he went through when he was in Cambodia, trying to get away from the wars. I told him about the Book of Mormon and how it can help his life, and he didn't believe me when I told him that I read Cambodian, so I read a little bit to him and he went off for like 10 minutes about how he's Cambodian and he can't even read it that well. It was funny. But then he opened up to us (as much as a drunk guy can) about how he wants to change his life so he can feel better about himself. He said that he wanted to go to church with us, which was WAY cool cause he's never been to church before, other than the cambodian temples. We invited him to church the next day, and he said that if we could get him a ride, he'd go. So we made some calls, and the next morning, we went to pick him up with one of our cambodian members. He opened his door, and I wish you could have seen his face when he saw us. haha. It was awesome. He said "Oh man, I just woke up. I gotta shower first" But we told him that church started in 15 minutes, so we had to go. He said ok, and quickly changed his clothes and came to church! It was so cool. He was totally feeling the Spirit during Sacrament Meeting too. He had to go after the first meeting, cause he was supposed to be with his grandson, but he said he's definitely coming back next week, and he wants to meet with us! Wahoo! I'm so happy about that. Especially since he kept his word, even though he was drunk when he said he'd come. So yeah, I'm pretty excited about that. It's one of those experiences that strengthen my testimony of how true the gospel is. He was drunk, but he recognized that we can help change his life, and from there, the Spirit was able to take over. Definitely an awesome testimony that the Spirit is real, and that it can touch the hearts of anyone.
Last person I want to talk about is Greg. I may have mentioned him in one of my emails already, but I just wanted to tell you all how awesome he is. He is a member in our ward that used to be in a Cambodian Blood gang. He grew out of it, and now he's the man. He had us over lastnight, and he told us a bunch of crazy gang stories. It was cool. He told us that the streets we've been tracting lately are where the bloods and the crips hang out, which we already knew because they spraypaint their names all over the place. He also told us how the gospel changed his life. His mom is a member, and he was baptized when he was 8, but his dad was an alcoholic, and he eventually just left his family. Greg kinda did his own thing, and that's how he joined the gang, but after awhile, he wizened up and came back to the church and now he's awesome. He's also the one that gave me the idea for the subject line. East Side Certified! haha. It's a gang thing. :) His wife is cambodian and so are his mom in law, and brothers in law, so I talk to them when we go over. They are all way cool people. Another fine example of how the gospel of Jesus Christ can change peoples' lives.
So that's our week. Pretty awesome. It feels good to have things start picking up with the work. Both English and Cambodian. I love being on a mission. I get to see so many crazy things, but no matter how many crazy, or disappointing things I see, I know that what I'm doing is right and true. It feels so good to know that I am one of the Lord's servants. I love it! Booya! Well, I hope you all have a great week. Love ya!
Love,
Elder Hammer
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