The End of the Beginning

Well this next week will be the last week of my 12 week training program, which is exciting and scary at the same time because by next week I could be training a new missionary. I won't actually find out until next Monday, but this last week I am really focusing on preparing myself to train just in case.
This last week was really good we found two new investigators. They are a young couple and one of them is from Alaska. We met William as we were just walking down the street he was really mad about something and he was grumbling to himself, so we asked him if we could help him out with anything. He looked at us and exclaimed "life is great!" and we had a very pleasant conversation about The Gospel. That really surprised me, because as missionaries we talk to everyone but people don't always want to talk with us and he did not seem like he wanted to talk at all. We set up an appointment with him the next day and now him and his girlfriend are new investigators. I am glad that the Lord trusts me enough that I will talk with everyone to put him in my path, and I am so glad that I did talk with him. Anyways I am doing great and I can't believe that it's already been 3 months since I went to the MTC. I love you guys and am grateful for all of your prayers and sacrifices in my behalf. Also I love the letters i have gotten, but especially I love Heather.

Elder Hamson

This is a picture, taken at an unknown time and place, of Alan and a high school basketball friend Ben Lee.

Best of Both Worlds

This week has been a pretty good week. Me and my companion are becoming really good friends which makes every part of the work more enjoyable. We got moved to a new apartment which doesn't usually happen, but this new one we are in is a lot better than the last one. So now I am in a for man apartment with the zone leaders which is awesome, because Elder Eastman and Elder Bate are the best. I'm still working in the same area with Elder Atkin we just moved apartments. As far as the work goes everything is going great. This week it seems we have been giving other missionaries a bunch of referrals, which is great for us because we get the best of both worlds if they get baptized they wouldn't have found that person without our referral, and if they don't we don't feel that "is there something more I could have done?" feeling. Ya my companion know just enough spanish to say who we are and ask if the spanish sisters can come by and share our message. We also got a promising new investigator for ourselves. David is his name and he has a good friend who is a member and is helping him investigate the church, which is pretty much our favorite kind of investigator. We taught him at the church and he said he wouldn't have a problem getting baptized if he knew what we are teaching is true. Anyways everything is going great I love my mission more and more every day. It is really hard some days, but it is also the most rewarding. I love you guys.

Elder Hamson

Jump Started

Okay so this last week was an interesting week. I got a haircut last monday from one of the members in our ward, so I look that much more like a missionary. California is a really great place you won't be hearing me complain about the weather. There is a wide variety of people here as well which is great. We run into a few crazy people here and there.One of our investigators, sister Dawson, who the missionaries have been teaching for like a year kept her commitment and read 3 chapters from the book of mormon on her own, which is big step for her. It took us going over and reading with her every other day for her to do it but we are excited for her. Reading from the scriptures and applying it to your life is a skill, so we have been helping her develop that skill. She still has a few more big steps to go, but they get easier once you get started. We also got in contact with a previous investigator who had a baptismal date, but had a big trail in her life come up and she didn't want to meet with us, so its been a month since we have contacted her. But this last week we set up an appointment with her which is great. The work here in Thousand Oaks has really been accelerating in the last month. The ward has been focusing on missionary work and the Lord has really blessed us. Yesterday after church because of our church schedule we were done at 4 we had the option of going to the apartment for an hour before dinner, but we decided that we shoule just work until dinner and the Lord will bless us for our efforts. The first place we stopped a man walked up to us and asked if we could help him jump his car battery, so of course we helped him and as we were talking we found out that his friend is a recent convert and he was interested in what the mormons believed he didn't live in our area and he was in a hurry, but he will be a great referral for other missionaries. The Lord has really blessed us in our area. I'm doing great I'm getting fed almost every night by a member and by beds are long enough, so life as a missionary is great. I love you guys.

Elder Hamson

Triple the Fun

This last week was really great. I really love Elder Atkin he is the best. We were able to teach a lot this week and got a few new investigators. Now we just have to get them progressing towards baptism. We had a really good lesson with one of our investigators, Sister Dawson. She is really old and has been taught by the missionaries for a long time. She doesn't really have a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet though, so we told that the only way to know is if you read the the Book of Mormon on her own and pray specifically to know if he was really a prophet and if the Book of Mormon is the word of God. We have been reading with her every couple of days and this last time after we finished reading she said the prayer and said that she is leaning towards it being true. I am excited to see her taking steps in the right direction. 

Also this week we set a goal to get three new investigators which is triple what we got last week. The first one we found was when we were tracting and Stephanie answered the door she was baptized mormon when she was 8, but is now a born again Christian. She doesn't remember very much about what we believe and has a few questions. The second one we ran into while we were headed to an appointment his name is Gus (26)and he just went sober and said he really wants to turn his life around we taught him about our beliefs and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can really help him in his life. The last one few found at the last house went went to sunday night. His name is Mike and he had a room mate who was mormon and really wanted to learn about what we believe. We really worked hard to reach our goal and the Lord blessed us with our last investigator at the very last possible moment. I am so happy to be a missionary and I feel really blessed. I love all of you and its been great hearing from everyone.

Elder Hamson

A picture of the new companion and the new car:

Pictures of One Big Bike!