Week 72 - Teaching and Conference.

I met with the man who creates scripture covers.   He will make Peter being helped up out of the water by the Savior as his faith wavered and the garden tomb with the folded burial cloths for the Bible.  The Book of Mormon cover will have Captain Moroni and an image of Jesus with the Nephite children.   The hymnal cover will have an image of Jesus hugging a man and a image of the Salt Lake Temple.

This week I had an exchange with Elder Navarro.  We contacted all day.  I was really tired afterward.

We found four new investigators this week!  We add these to two that we are actively working with.

One investigator went to church with us!  She has a baptismal date for June 11th.  Going to church was a little rough for her.   Her dog followed her the entire thirty minute walk there.  It also tried to get inside the church the whole time she was inside.  She visited on a tough day for an investigator. The topics speakers discussed that day were more gospel "meat" than "milk".  I almost died and worried about what she was getting out of the meeting.  After, we asked her what she thought.  But she liked it and didn't seem to care much.  She had several knowledgeable members at her side during the meeting.

We are started teaching another man.   He is almost always at his house which is cool because we can teach him a lot!

Today we played soccer and went to a museum.  The museum was really small and not that cool but they did have a horse skull that was dated before Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas. I enjoyed seeing it the most.

We also went to a Japanese garden which was cool.

Yesterday was fun.  For conference we met Elder Packer.  He had decent Spanish and we ate pizza!  I enjoyed his wife's talk the most, but both were good.  He encouraged us to set higher goals and study Preach My Gospel.

One of our zone leaders let it slip that an apostle is coming to our mission in November!

We had two Jehovah's Witnesses contact us again this week.  They asked me some questions that I answered.  They told me I was wrong and shared their beliefs.  They asked me my name, and I showed them my name tag that was under my jacket.  The one woman got really nervous.  Then another woman who had more experience got closer and helped the nervous woman.  (It can be scary at first to do missionary work).  I thought about sharing some of the scriptures I knew that supported my answers, but felt it wasn't the right time.   We exchanged cards and went our separate ways.

Week 71 - Moving dirt

Sorry this is late...  Elder Hammond's father has been busy this week!

This week we taught one of our families.  They are progressing!  We also taught a teenager whose parents are inactive.  He has desires to be baptized and his parents have a desire to come back to church!  One of our investigators is on dialysis and wasn't able to meet with us.

Tuesday, I had exchanges with Elder Feliz [sic?] and that was fun!  We did several things together and I enjoyed the exchange.  We had a service project.  We moved a giant hill of dirt.  It had just rained, so it wasn't the funnest.  I've moved a lot of dirt now on my mission.

Wednesday, the Palmers came to our district meeting.  They are a married couple that are doing missionary work.  They brought cookies!  It rained again, but not much.

Friday, I had interviews with the mission president.  He told me our house has had more problems with it then any other in the mission.  He congratulated me on its appearance.  He liked what I had done with it and said it had previously looked ugly.  

Saturday I practiced in a missionary choir.  We have a general authority coming.  I probably won't have p-day next Monday, because he is talking to us then, so you might not get email from me until Tuesday.

The high priest assistant over missionary work talked with us.  He wants us to help him get missionary work going stronger in the ward.

I've been doing a lot of cooking.  Here is a cake I made.  

I am also seeing a man today who will make me scripture covers.  He has several ideas and pictures he will show me.  I have some ideas too.  I would like to have one of the scenes be of Peter when he walked on the water to the Savior.  I would like the scene to be of when he started to fall in and the Savior helps him up. Another idea is of the garden tomb with the entrance open and a cloth on the side. 

Week 70 - Teaching and Flooding.

We found four people to teach this week!  We are teaching a 13-year old.  His family are members, but they are inactive.  We found a couple that used to investigate the church.  We have started teaching them again.  They are doing great and have a baptismal date.  We found another couple.  She is not a member and he is an inactive member.  Teaching is picking up!

It has been raining a lot which is unusual.  It is a desert and the water is causing problems.  The mission wants us to get boots to be better prepared to help those around us.

Week 69 - Elder Cerron

This week I spent the rest of the exchange with Elder Vitores.  We worked in the center of La Serena. We did different things and it was kind of nice to be with him.  My last day with Elder Yaress was unusual and he was upset.

Wednesday I went to Viña.  On the bus I ran into Elder Aguilar and spent three hours with him in Viña before the meeting for trainers.

Then we got our new companions.  My new companion is Elder Cerron.  Because Elder Cerron and I live in the north, we had to stay that night.  We walked around doing contacts for four hours.   It was a great way to start Elder Cerron's mission.   Poor Elder Cerron was probably thinking "what have I gotten myself into?"

Elder Hammond and Elder Cerron

It was nice.  We got to stay with Elder Cheney and Elder McCalister that night.  They were in my group at the mission training center.   Now they are  companions in the office together.  I was a little sad for a time.  They are companions and leaders in the mission.   I got down on myself about not progressing more as a missionary.

Then that night they said something that changed my perspective on things. They said they wished they were more like me.  They said that I was a machine and had been able to bring more people into the gospel then they had.   That changed my perspective a lot. I thought about it and realized that I wasn't called here to work in the mission home or be a leader.  I was called to invite people to come unto Christ and I was grateful for the chances God has given me to help so many people do just that -- to come unto Christ.

On Thursday we took the bus up to La Serena with Sister Ramos and Sister Merril.  Sister Merril is brand new too.  She talked about how she didn't know Spanish and was having a nervous breakdown. I remembered how I was when I first got there and was so glad that at I'm not back in her position again.  I could relate to her fears and know what she is going through.

Then we pretty much had nothing.  The Zone leaders were worried about us and tried to micro manage us.  We decided we would work hard and go out contacting.  We did this for three hours Sunday night.  We hoped to show the Zone Leaders we would be OK and find people to teach.  We started with a prayer and the first person we found was an elderly lady named "F".  We ended up teaching her.  She accepted a baptismal date and we will be working with her now!

I've decided to dedicate myself to learning Spanish even better.  From now on I'm only going to listen to things in Spanish on my mission.  I could use some good Spanish hymns.

Week 68 - Excited for new responsibilities!

The baptism took place Sunday!  Our investigator is now a member!  She was baptized at 9:00 and confirmed a short time later in front of our congregation.

I'm with both Elder Victores and Elder Yaress.  We are a trio.  This won't last long.  Transfers are this week.   I'm really excited.  I'm going to train a new elder!!!   His name is Elder Cerron.   I'm guessing he's from Columbia, but will find out soon.   I'll travel back down to Viña to get him and bring him up.   Each way is about an eight hour bus ride.

My former companion, Elder Palilla, is going to be my district leader!!!  Elder Braithwaite is going to be the other district leader.   I'm so excited.

It will be interesting to find out where Elder Yaress will be going.   He has been in this area for six months.

This week I had exchanges with Elder Victores.   He is considered my "Brother" in the mission because Elder Viana trained both of us.   We had a great time and ordered pizza.  Tuesday's are buy one, get one free.  The normal price of a large pizza here is about $20.00.  With the deal, it makes it within reach for a group of elders to have pizza.

I had an exchange with Elder Navaro.   He was the elder I lived with in Salamanca.  I had a really good time.   We taught a guy who had some interesting ideas on baptism.  That night we found a place that had some really cheap fries.