Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! This week has been a great week. It has been a lot different as far as missionary work goes, because of the Christmas season but it was a good different. We did a lot of caroling with the district here in SLO and that was a lot of fun. We also caroled with some missionaries up in Atascadero. We were also able to get in contact with a less-active, recent convert. He got baptized back in February and has strayed from the path since then. His name is Mason and we tried to contact him early on in the week, and when we talked with him he told us now wasn't a good time. We asked when would be a good time and he said Saturdays are better and shut the door. Turns out on Saturday he called us and asked if we were coming over today. We went over and had a great lesson with him. He suffers from severe anxiety and has really struggled, but wants the spirit back in his life. He is starting to make his way back :). We also taught a brief lesson to Rhianea who told us she has met with missionaries before. We invited her to church and she came! She found the 2 other YSA girls to make friends with right off the bat, so that was great, and I think she had a good time. We hope to start teaching her this week to see where she is at, and I think she will make for a great investigator. I am also looking forward to having a ward to go to since we have just gone to the family ward the last 2 weeks. I also got to talk to you, my family, so that is always a bonus. We opened our Christmas presents Christmas morning, and that is always fun. Thank you everyone who sent me something. Thank you Grandma spaulding for the apron I feel like and can cook so much better now. You all are great and you will hear from me again next year.

Elder Hamson

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone everything is going great here in SLO. First, congratulations to BYU womens volleyball team for the best season ever, and for being the 2nd best team in THE NATION! Also thank you Trina, Gary, JJ and Ashlyn for the package. 

Transfers were a little crazy in the rain, but overall it all worked out and most of the luggage stayed dry. We ended up driving a lot on Tuesday, and it was a long day. We woke up at 4:30and went to bed at 10:30 with non-stop craziness inbetween. I am glad its over. This area has been a little different her for the last week or so. All of the college students have left for home including 90% of our ward, so we went to church in SLO 2nd ward and have been figuring out who is still here. There is still a lot of work to do and we have been able to find a couple new investigators, and teach a bunch of people. YSA age people seem so be a little more willing to talk, but as far as keeping commitments go you never really know until you follow up with them. It has been a great opportunity to get to know our area a whole lot better. 

Elder Kanenwisher is great, I feel bad that he won't meet the ward for a while, but I a grateful to have him as a companion. He is a hard worker and just fearless. I really admire him, and we have only gotten along better and better every day. I am really excited for what this transfer holds with Elder Kanenwisher. 

We had a really cool opportunity to help a lady move out this week and that was a lot of fun. We brought a member with us and the lady was asking him all of the questions about the church, and normally he is pretty quiet but he got to answer them all and told her about what we do, and it turned into a great restoration lesson. She now has a Book of Mormon and we cleared up some misconceptions, so she said she would read it, and pray to find out for herself. She moved to Pismo and is in contact with the missionaries down there. This all started a couple years ago when missionaries were there to help her move in and she kept the number they left for two years and called us up last week. Overall it was a great experience.

You are all great I love you and have a merry Christmas!

Elder Hamson

Go Cougars!

I think I forgot to say last week, but this week is transfers! Elder Jackson is headed to Simi valley, and my new companion will be Elder Kanenwisher as of tomorrow. He hasn't been a zone leader before. so that means I'm the Sr. companion now. It will be interesting, because I only sort of know what I am doing. Hana, one of our investigators, went home for Christmas break and got baptized in her home town Oakdale, CA. We were kinda bummed that we couldn't be there, but she was ready and we taught her all the lessons, and we can't wait to hear the full report when she gets back in January. Helen who just got baptized is as solid as ever. Bella who got baptized a month ago got her patriarchal blessing and gave a talk at church, so she is progressing very quickly. Jesse is doing great as well. We are really excited for them all. A lot of people are going home for Christmas, and our whole ward is pretty much dissolving until next year. I guess we'll have to find some locals to teach until they all get back. Thank you all for the support, also thank you to 14th ward for the package I thoroughly enjoyed it. The pictures are of Helen's baptism, a hike we went on, and our living Christmas tree. GO BYU!!!
Elder Hamson

Wild Wednesday

Hello everyone, this week has been an intense week. We started off with a hike on Monday afternoon and that was fantastic. Then on Tuesday I went to my first real MLC, the last one was different. It was great to see old companions, like Elder Atkin and Elder Moser there. It was a great meeting and we talked about some of the rules in the mission. One big change that happened is that we are now allowed to play sports with members and non-members. It is a very foreign concept for me since it has been against the rules my whole mission, but it can definitely be a great missionary tool. After that we went on an exchange with the assistants, which was awesome. Elder Jackson stayed in Ventura while I drove back up to SLO with Elder Lee and Elder Wallace. I have never really gotten to serve around Elder Lee, but we were on the PG basketball team together, so it was great to be able to catch up with him on the 2.5hr drive back. He went to work with the district leader up in Paso Robles while I stayed and worked with Elder Wallace. Elder Wallace and I had a great exchange and all of our appointments had fallen on Wednesday, so we taught quite a few lessons. We taught Helen first and she was having a bad morning just frustrated with school and freaking out about her baptism on Saturday, but she said she prayed and felt peace so she was ok. This was all before out lesson with her. That was great to hear, and we reviewed Joseph Smith and his whole story and then watched He is the GIft. We then taught Bella and Jesse who are both recent converts who are doing great in their callings and just everything. We then had a short lesson with Sam (who we met last Sunday) that went really well. After that we taught Harmony who is a returning less active. Usually these lessons are a little more spread out, but with MLC it pushed it all to Wednesday. It was just a great day and I loved serving with and learning from Elder Wallace. Elder Jackson drove up that night and the assistants went off to their next exchange in the next zone down. They slowly made their way down the mission on a series of 4 back to back exchanges. On Thursday we planned for our zone meeting on Friday where we present basically everything from MLC in a condensed 1.5 hrs. We also planned for Helen's baptism on Saturday, and taught her again Thursday night. Friday we had our zone meeting and that went well, we showed everyone He is the Gift and a little powerpoint about it. Everyone is getting very excited about Christmas and this new initiative from the church. Then on Saturday Helen got Baptized! It all went very smoothly except for one thing. We filled up the font before the baptism, and we felt the water to see how warm it was and it was cold. we couldn't figure out why, because the hot water was on full blast there should be some warmth. After getting a mop and bucket to reach the faucet and feel the water coming out we decided the hot water is broken. They didn't have any pots and pans in the kitchen to boil some water for them so she just got baptized in cold water. Afterwards she told us it wasn't that cold, so she still had a good experience which was awesome. I think she was filled with the spirit or something because that water was straight up cold. Also a bunch of her non-member friends came and they enjoyed it. We talked with them a little bit and they definitely felt the spirit, they don't know it yet but they did. Overall it was a great baptismal service and a great way to finish the week with her confirmation the next day. 

Thank you all and Have a merry Christmas. Also share the gift with your friends #share the gift.

Elder Hamson

Where has the Lord Blessed You?

I don't think things are going to slow down anytime soon. I have been as busy as ever and I absolutely love being a missionary. The Lord has blessed me so much I can't believe it sometimes. We started off this week with an exchange on Tuesday with Elder Robertson and Elder Trujillo. They are Spanish speaking missionaries, so that made things more interesting. I went with Elder Trujillo in his area (Morro Bay) and I had a great time. I learned a little bit of Spanish, but mostly it was all him as far as teaching goes. Probably one of the more interesting exchanges I went on, but it went really well. Then we had Thanksgiving dinner at a member of the bishopric's house and that was great. On Saturday we went on another Exchange except this time I stayed in SLO while Elder Jackson went up to Templeton. It was a good exchange with Elder Smoot and they are english speaking, so that wasn't the problem. I just tried really hard not to get lost, because we have a large area and I don't have it down that well yet. Thank goodness for my GPS. My favorite day this week though was by far Sunday. We went to church and there was like 20 of us there, because everyone is out of town with their families. After church we had a lesson with Helen who is really excited about her baptism this Saturday. We are planning that all out and it should be a really great experience for everyone. Then later that evening we had one of the best lessons I have had in a long time. We got in contact with Olivia who went LA when she was 12 and set up an appointment for Sunday night, and she brought her non-member boyfriend Sam. We brought Matt from the ward with us and it was a great lesson. It was about the restoration and when we were talking about the Spirit Sam told us that he has gotten feelings that before, but he is really feeling it right now. The lesson was completely led by the spirit, and you can't deny the spirit that was there. I wish I could describe this lesson better, because there were so many little things that fell into place to make it happen. We asked Sam if he would be baptized if he knew the Book of Mormon was true, and he said yes. They were so prepared and I still cannot believe how blessed I have been. This is truly the Lords work, and not just some hip thing the kids day these days. I would encourage you all to look for where the Lord has blessed you in your life, it's a very humble experience. Thank you all for your support. You are in my prayers, and I love you all.

Elder Hamson

A Busy Week

Well this last week has been great. We started off with zone conference on Tuesday, which was interesting. I conducted the meeting which was stressful seeing as I have no idea what I am doing. We had put together a musical number with a bunch of the missionaries in the zone including myself, and afterwards I got up to continue with the meeting and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to thank myself for singing or what. It was a good learning experience and it's weird to be sitting on the stand at zone conference which really is two zones combined (about 50 missionaries). We learned a lot and I love President Felix more and more. Then through out the week we taught Helen a couple of times. She is set to be baptized on December 6th and is more than ready. She is really fun to teach, because she has been investigating for a while and knows a lot so she wants us to go more in depth about things which is like a missionaries dream come true. It is a lot harder to take the gospel and all that that consists of and teach it simple enough for someone with no background in the church to understand. There are also a couple other recent converts we are teaching the new member lessons to. Bella who was baptized November 1st and Jesse who she was baptized in September. They are both doing great and have callings in the church. There is also a guy named Gabriel who we had an appointment with, but he didn't show up. He did, however, go to SLO 1st ward on Sunday and stayed for all three hours. He is YSA age, but doesn't have a phone so we can't really contact him. I am not sure what to think of him yet, but hopefully we can contact him and find out more about him. I also did my first stake report which was fun, we gathered all the information from our zone for the month and presented it to the stake presidency. I really like the stake presidency, and it was a good meeting. I am feeling more and more comfortable with the area and with all of our responsibilities, it has been quite the learning and testimony building experience up here in SLO. I have a huge testimony in Proverbs 3:5-6 that when we trust in the Lord and in His plan and not in our own limited understanding, He really does direct our paths and we are simply happier that way. Thank you all for all of the love and support, it means a lot more than I think you realize. You are all in my prayers as well.

Elder Hamson

A Long Day

Everything is going great here in SLO. This last week has been a little crazy and I still don't know what I am doing most of the time. On Tuesday we had a lesson with Helen who is preparing for her baptismal date on December 6. She is doing great and is working on strengthening her testimony of the priesthood and Joseph Smith. She is great and we are excited about her. On Wednesday we drove up to Paso Robles and picked up one of the district leaders there then pick up the other two on the way back, then after we gathered everyone we set off on our little road trip to Mission Leadership Conference (MLC) in Ventura. This one was more like a mission leader ship training, because the district leaders were invited. Anyways we drove down the day before and stay the night with President and Sister Felix in the mission home. It was a fun time and we went to our meeting at 9:00am the next day. Some people from the MTC came and did a training and I learned a whole lot. The meeting ended around 4:00pm and we gathered all of our supplies and headed back to SLO. It was a long drive and after we dropped off all the district leaders we finally made it back at 10:23pm. It was a long day, and I felt disobedient but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. The next morning we had a zone meeting where we presented everything we had learned. Talk about going by the spirit, we had very little time to prepare that meeting. Everything turned out great and that night I went on an exchange with Elder Walker who is a district leader up in Paso Robles. That was a great day of learning and it was great to work with Elder Walker. On Sunday we spent most of our time at church in meeting, and preparing for zone conference on Tuesday and a report to the stake presidency about our zone on Wednesday. Needless to say there is a lot to do and I am still as happy and excited as ever. Thank you all for everything you are in my prayers. Also Happy birthday dad, I love you very much and you are all in my prayers.
Elder Hamson

A Red Truck

Hello everyone, I am doing great here in San Luis Obispo. I wish I could be there with you today, but I am sending my love and prayers. 

My first day last week was crazy. We went to transfer meeting and that was great. After that we had to make sure all the missionaries found their companion and that all of the luggage and bikes make it all the way up to their areas. We took a lot of the bikes and some luggage in our red truck (2012 Nissan Frontier). It was a long beautiful drive up there and we managed to get everyone their luggage and bikes and get home only to find out that I left my crate in Ventura. At least we remembered everyone else's stuff. Then later on I met one of our investigators Helen who is set to get baptized on December 6th. She is so awesome and ready, infact she already has a calling which I wasn't sure was possible, but I guess so. She will make for a great member. I am making a lot of adjustment with being a zone leader, serving in a YSA ward, driving a truck etc. but so far it has been a blast so I am really excited to be here. Thank you all for your prayers and support. You are all the best. 

Elder Hamson

The first one is Alan with his new companion, Elder Jack.  The other is with Elder McKinley.

Zone Leader

Well I am getting trasfered to San luis Obisbo. I'll be serving in the YSA ward and I guess that means I am a zone leader. I have never been up to the north end of the mission before, so everything will be very new, but that's what makes it exciting. Elder Hull and I had a good last week together and it is always a bitter sweet at transfers. I don't know the address to my new apartment yet, so if you send any mail send it to the mission office.

 I found out about uncle Karl and I find myself not knowing what to think sometimes, but I just want everyone to know that the things that I am teaching out here are very real. Life sucks, it's not fair, it's full of sadness, pain and grief. This is part of God's plan for all of us. He knows us and has given us the opportunity to have peace and comfort through the gospel. There is hope when we submit our will to his and accept his timing. I can't describe my feelings very well other than I have a deep sadness and my prayers go out to all of Karl's family. My testimony of the Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the enabling power of His Atonement is helping me through. We can all make it through this together. I wish I could be there, but I am in the right place. Thank you all.

Elder Hamson

Editor's Note:

(David Hamson) My brother Karl passed away last Friday night.  Although he had been ill for a long time, his death was not expected.  I talked to President Felix, Alan's mission president on Saturday so that he could inform Alan of Karl's passing.  We had a good talk and President Felix told me of Alan's call to be a Zone  Leader and told me that Alan is doing a great job as a missionary and as an example to other missionaries.

A Solid Week.

Greetings from Elder Hamson, 

This week has been a solid week full of miracles. First off on Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder McKinley who came out the same time I did. It was great to work with him and learn from him. It was cool to talk about how our missions have gone and how we can make the most of what time we have left. We worked in the YSA ward, so their area is huge. They also don't get very many dinners, so naturally the one time I come into their ward they have a dinner. It was with one of their recent converts and we had a lesson afterward that went well. Overall I learned a lot. Then on Wednesday we took Robbie out with us to teach Leila. Robbie is going to the mexico city chalco mission in a week so he likes to work with us. Leila is doing great, she is interested and likes what we teach and she is reading from the Book of Mormon regularly and she prays to know if it's true. She hasn't gotten an answer yet, but we spent a good portion of the lesson talking about how the spirit works and it's role. Elder Hull as a part of the training program was supposed to lead out in all of the lessons and planning situations this last week. He did a great job and it was a challenge for both of us. Then on Thursday we met with Karen who is now a new investigator. a few weeks ago she was talking with her Mormon friends and they told her to check out LDS.org and Mormon.org she did and it was in the middle of general conference so she ended up watching a good portion of it. Fast forward two weeks we had an appointment with her and she has pretty much decided this is the church for her. We brought to members to our lesson and they connected really well. So now she has a couple of friends in the ward, but it was more chit chat than I would have liked. It was a good lesson, and she came to last two hours of church on Sunday. It was just a really cool miracle and she just found her way over here by herself. This week we are having the lesson at her neighbors house and they are a more timid family, so that will be nice. On Saturday we had the Fall Festival in our ward and Dylan who we have been working with came with his fiance Lisa. It was great to see them there, we had invited them but I didn't actually expect them both to come. ( I know I need to have more faith) They got to know the ward better and I think that will open opportunities in the future to teach Lisa even though she isn't interested now. We got to see Marcia this week as well at the Fall Festival and she is doing great, we have an actual lesson with her next week and that should be great. Jennifer and Alyssa are caught up in the storms of life and have asked us to take a step back for a week or so until things settle down. It is an insanely tough situation, and we wish we could help more. I am confident that they will both come out stronger. Overall though it has been a great week and transfers are coming up so we will see what happens, but I guess you will just have to wait until next Monday. Thank you all, and have a happy Halloween!

Everything is Great

Hello everyone this week was a great week. There are a couple different people who were investigators in other wards who moved here and we are still working to get an appointment and see where they are. Then there was a lady, Karen, who referred herself on Mormon.org who we talked to a couple of weeks ago, she said she would be back in town this week. I think those will all be great opportunities once their life settles down a little bit. We are still working with our recent converts Alyssa, her mother Jennifer and Marcia. They have all been busy on the weekends and haven't attended our ward, which worries me, but they tell us they go to church where ever they are. Then we just found out that Dylan who is a returning Less-Active (21) is planning on getting married to hi s girlfriend in a couple of weeks. She isn't a member, but we have been teaching him every week and helping him get back on track and they decided to get married. Fantastic. Lisa his future wife has been listening in on our lessons and asks a question every once in a while. She is getting more and more comfortable with us and Dylan told us they are starting to read the scriptures together. So there are a lot of great things going on here, and were are working hard to find new investigators as well. I went on an exchange with Elder Slaugh on Saturday. It's really cool to get to know all of the missionaries better and their investigator who I have been hearing about over the phone in reports for the last 3 months. It was nice to officially meet a couple of them. One of them Jonathan will be baptized this Saturday. Which is great for Elder Slaugh and Elder Bartholomew. Everything is going great here in Camarillo, thank you for the support and prayers. Transfers are in 2 weeks so any letters to the apartment need to be sent this week. :) Or just any letters need to get sent.
Elder Hamson

Trying out each others bikes:

Soaking It In

Another week gone by, and we are already half way through this transfer. On Wednesday Elder Hull and I went tracting in an area that we don't spend very much time in and it went really well. People were generally nice to us and we were getting close to the end of the street and Elder Hull wanted to just be done and eat lunch. I managed to convince him to do just a couple more houses. The next two people were very receptive to our message and we gave them both a copy of the Book of Mormon. The first one's name was Carol and she doesn't have a church she goes to, but believes in God. We taught her a simple lesson going over the restoration and we have an appointment for next week. The next house was Celeste and after we taught her for a little while she said "sure you can come back, just whenever you are in the area next" I told her we would be back next week, so we have two back to back appointments with the last two houses this week. Then later on in the day we helped Jennifer and her daughter Alyssa move some furniture in their house. They are both doing well, and still learning a lot as they are both very new to the gospel. Marcia is doing great too, she was out of town so our next appointment is tomorrow. We talked with her on the phone and she and her husband are gaining a better relationship. That was great news, because her husband is an atheist, but it sounds like he doesn't hate us which is good. We met with Dylan who is a returning LA member. We brought Brother Skelton with us who hit it off with Dylan and we had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Dylan is 21, but doesn't want to go to the singles ward, because he is planning on getting married soon. So we are teaching him and he lives in the same apartment complex as us which makes things easier. He came to church on Sunday and he going to meet with the bishop to get to know him soon, so it's really cool to see him coming back. The last lesson we had his girlfriend Lisa sat in on the lesson too, she didn't say anything, but she sat on the couch with Dylan and simply listened. She is slowly opening up more and more, and I think she will eventually give the Book of Mormon a chance and try it out. We had a zone meeting on Thursday instead of a district meeting so I haven't planned a district meeting for a couple of weeks now, so I am excited for this week because I have got a killer meeting planned. The zone meeting was great there were a couple of changes to the mission policy, we are now allowed to go to any baptism in the zone, if we have a recent convert, less active or investigator there. It used to have to be in our district and we could only come with an investigator. I like the idea of being able to go and see more baptisms. On Saturday we went and blitzed Elder Slaugh and Elder Bartholomew's area for an hour. It was good to get to work with Elder Bartholomew and we were able to talk to quite a few people. I am having a blast being a district leader, mostly because my districts have been awesome so far. Anyways everything is going well here I am living the dream, so I have to soak it in while I still can. Thank you all for being great and you will hear from me next week.
Elder Hamson

A Pop Quiz

This week started off great when I went on an exchange with Elder Osborne. He is a visa waiter and is going to eventually end up in Taiwan on his mission. So I got to help him learn Chinese during language study which was fun. We had a good exchange, he came and joined me in my area while Elder Hull went over to 6th ward for the day. It was good to get to know him better and he is going to be a great missionary both here and in Taiwan. Marcia is still doing great, she was in San Diego over the weekend, but we got to meet with her on Wednesday which was a great lesson going in-depth about the plan of Salvation and the Atonement. She is doing great and I am excited to see which calling she receives in the ward. Alyssa and her mom are hanging in there, the divorce is taking a toll on everyone and they are in and out of court regularly. Through it all though they both say they are happier than they have ever been. That is one of the greatest blessings we can receive from the gospel is joy in the middle of our trials. We got to watch Meet the Mormons and I would highly recommend it to anyone and be sure to invite a friend. We also did our interviews with President Felix and that was just fine. I was one of the last ones and it was short and sweet. I was fine with that, because I'm not much of a talker anyway except when it comes to missionary work then I will talk your ear off. It's a new skill I have developed. I absolutely loved general conference even though we watched it in ASL due to technical difficulties. I have a couple questions
Who quoted Mosiah 16:2 in their talk and why? And who talked about a boat and life jackets and why?
Thank you all and have a great week.
Elder Hamson

Hair Down Below His Knees

Another day in paradise here in Camarillo. Alyssa got baptized on Saturday and it was a great baptism. She and her mom showed up nice and early, so we could relax when we picked out a suit for her and set up all of the chairs. Everything was going perfectly, the young women were all there early to practice their song, the font was full, Alyssa brought a towel it was great. A lot more people came than we initially thought which was great, and 3:00 rolled around and we realized that bishop Smith from where Alyssa used to live wasn't there. He was the one performing the baptism, so all of our relaxed feelings went right out the window. We waited patiently and after a few phone calls and guidance Bishop Smith found his way to the baptism. It was a great baptism and the young women did a really good job at the end when they sang I am a child of God. It was great for Alyssa to see all of the support from her peers. The confirmation on Sunday was great, and since it was fast Sunday it was a testimony meeting. Now I have been in a lot of Testimony meetings and that was probably one of the best. A lot of the testimonies were about missionary work and Jennifer (Alyssa's mom) basically told all of the members that they need to be doing missionary work, because there are other families like hers waiting to be blessed by the restored gospel. It was a very powerful and spiritually exhausting two days.
As far as the rest of the work we found a new investigator this week and his name is J.B. He is black and has Dreadlocks (can't spell) down to his ankles. A word that describes him as a whole is "chill". He speaks nice and slow and he loves music. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and how Jesus Christ has restored his church again today. He was interested at the idea, but was leaving for out of town for a couple weeks. We will see him again on Oct 15 and hopefully he will have read for himself and prayed. I love being in the same apartment as Elder McKinley and Elder Watts being in a 4 man is always a blast. And I get to play some sports with my district today since we are all Elders now. So everything is going great here. Thank you all for your support

Elder Hamson

The Ministry Machine

Good news Elder Hull and I are both staying. Although my whole district is leaving me. All four sisters are getting transfered and 4 Elders are coming in. I will definitely miss the sisters, but am excited at the new opportunity to serve other missionaries.This week has been a great week. We are preparing for Alyssa (13) to get baptized this Saturday and that is all going really well. We taught her the word of wisdom this week and she had no idea about coffee and tea. Fortunately she is already living it, and hasn't had either for 2 months. So that won't be hard for her to give up. She is moving right along and it's cool to see her little budding testimony grow as she keeps the committments we leave with her. Marcia is doing great we had a lesson with her on Wednesday of this last week and it was all about missionary work and why it's so important. Marcia is going to/already has been a great missionary. Investigators and Recent cnverts can be a gold mine, because they have a lot of friends outside of the church. It is great to see the whole ward get more excited about missionary work, because of Marcia's example. On Thursday there was a big long meeting with Elder Malm of the seventy and that was simply incredible. I absolutley loved it and learned so much. I am still swallowing everything he said. He gave me a new perspective on all of the people we talk to. He said they are all "yes" sayers, and that is really the only option. We have a standing "no" from them, and when they reject us they are just confirming that "no" that we already had. They all said "yes" they would come here to this life and so everyone we meet are all "yes" sayers. Then we met with Terri on Friday and we had a great lesson about baptism and concerns she has and we set her with a baptismal date for November 29. Terri has been investigating for a year, and this is a really big step for her to set a goal for baptism. She has a few things to overcome and she wanted her daughter to be there so that is the soonest she felt confortable doing it. This week has just been a fantastic week full of miracles. I am glad to have another transfer here and I olny expect more miracles to come. Thank you all and have a fantastic day.

Elder Hamson

A Baptism

This was a fantastic week I have to say. It started off with us doing Marcia's baptismal interview Monday night at the church. Elder McKinley did the interview, and Elder Watts and I practiced singing for the musical number we will be a part of when Elder Malm of the seventy visits. There are about 8 of us singing and I will sing the bass part with Elder Robinson. The interview went great and Marcia was more than ready to be baptized in the words of Elder McKinley. We then walked outside with Marcia to say goodbye. After she left we walked back to the building to get out things and I realized that I left the keys inside the building. I am the only one with keys to that building. Ya. . . seems like something I would do. We needed to be back to our apartment soon, so we were all stressing out as I called the ward mission leader. He didn't answer, but right then Elder McKinley blurted "The Window!" He had opened the window during the interview to let a breeze in. So we ran around the building to see if we could climb in. On the way we saw a Possom climbing up the tree, but thats besides the point. The window is probably 8 feet off the ground from the outside and less than that on the inside. It was plenty big for someone to climb through so I boosted Elder McKinley up to climb through the window and luckily he had left the table close enough to the window, so he didn't have to fall he just stepped on the table. We managed to get back to our stuff and I made sure I had my keys with me as we left. It was a very memorable baptismal interview. Inbetween we taught a few lessons to our investigators and set up even more appointments for next week. The ones I am most excited about I would say is Alyssa who has a baptismal date for Sept. 27 and Terri who has come to church the last 2 sundays and is actively reading through the Book of Mormon. It is always a struggle getting an appointment with Terri, but of course as soon as one of the members tried so set one up she gladly made time. I think we will recruit Sister Northrup more often to set up appointments. The work is going great and is at full speed here in Camarillo. On Saturday was the baptism.
It went well and there were a lot of people who attended. Marcia is a very outgoing person and had a lot of friends and family who came. We were able to meet her husband at the baptism for the first time. He has been very cold in general when it comes to the church. It was difficult for Marcia to get permission from her husband to get baptized. He seemed to be a lot more comfortable at the end of the baptism and we were able to talk with him for a little bit and officially introduce ourselves. All of the talks and music were in the chapel because of the amount of people who came. Then they all crammed into the room with the baptismal font to watch as I performed the baptism. There were a lot of different of emotions that I was feeling all at the same time, but after the baptism an overwhelming sense of peace came. Unforgettable. Overall a great baptism. She was confirmed the next day and she will be officially a member once we get her records sent in. The spirit was so strong at the baptism and I have no doubt that everyone there could feel it. I can only hope that they recognize that feeling as coming from the Holy Ghost. It is great to be able to see the blessings that come from the restored gospel. I talk and meet with a lot of people, and it is night and day. You can't find the joy and peace that comes from Jesus Christ and His restored gospel anywhere else. I am grateful that I get to be a part of sharing those blessings.
This next week is transfers so we wil see if I get transferred or not, at this point it's anyones guess. Elder Hull and I get along fine, we are very different so it takes work but I have learned to love him and I am learning probably just as much as he is. I love you all and thank you for all of the support and prayers.
Elder Hamson

The Ocean

Everything is going great here in Camarillo. This week has been a crazy week. On Tuesday we moved apartments and this new one is right smack dab in the middle of our area which is awesome. They are spoiling us with a very nice apartment. We have two showers now between the 4 of us and a washer and dryer. We only just finished unpacking this morning. Elder Hull and I didn't end up moving hardly any of the stuff, because we were teaching Marcia and Alyssa that night. Marcia is still doing great and I will be baptizing her this Saturday which is crazy! Alyssa we set with a baptismal date for September 27 and She is a lot younger, so she is learning slower than Marcia, but then again Marcia is just a special case of hyperspeed learning. Then on Friday I got to go to a mission leadership training in Santa Barbara. That was such a beautiful drive, and I got to see the ocean for the first time in a year. The meeting was like a waterfall of knowledge I couldn't possibly soak in all at once. It's a good thing I took copious notes and I'll soak it all in over time. I got to see Elder Atkin there and we talked the whole time at lunch. If you remember from Thousand Oaks the old lady investigator, Sandy, we would read with every week. I found out that she is getting baptized this Saturday as well! I wish I could go, but it just great to hear the she finally made it to baptism. Its better late than never. Then on Saturday I went on my 4th exchange with Elder Watts. We had a great time, and we mostly compiled information and added up numbers for the stake report the whole time (zone leader stuff), but overall a good exchange. Anyways it was a great week and I am really excited for what the future holds. Thank you all for being awesome especially you Timothy.

Elder Hamson

Labor Day

Today is a little more interesting than most because it is Labor day and we can't go to the local library. We are in the family history center though, and it has been interesting coordinating everything so all the missionaries can come and email. Earlier in the week on Tuesday night we got to teach Marcia in the eveining and that went well. We taught about obedience, prayer and scripture study.She is still on track for her baptism on Sept. 13. It was a good lesson, and Elder Hull and I are teaching better together. He is coming along and has improved a lot. Now that I have gotten to know him better I feel like I can help him a lot more. I have really enjoye that part about training, that fact that it has been difficult for both of us, and we both are growing a lot. We are also moving this week the owners of the house we live in moved so we are getting a new appartment. This one is right in the middle of our area and isn't at the top of a big hill. I am going to miss riding up that hill everyday, so I guess I'll just have to pray for a different mountain to climb. On Wednesday we found a new investigator and that was great! We were going through a nieghborhood and talking to people along the way, and we decided to knock on one last door before moving to the next place. And by we I mean I convinced my companion to knock on the door. A young man answered who is in highschool, and we talked with him for a little bit. While we were talking his mom yelled from the backround "Is that the missionaries?" She sounded excited to see us. Now from past experience this usually means that they are excited to tell us that all of our beliefs are wrong and we should go home. She, however, was curious about what we do because she always sees missionaries around. Her name is Laila and we taught her the Restoration and she had a bunch of great questions like: "can I come to one of your church meetings?" That is the point where I just about fell out of my chair in suprise. We told her all about it and she plans on coming out to next week, beause she is out of town for labor day weekend. Anyways she is a very open person, who has some great potential. We will see her again on Wednesday. We also had a zone conference on Friday. We went to the building we thought it was at, and it turns out that our zone leader (Elder Watts) lead us to the wrong building. So our whole zone was late to zone conference, which consists of 3 zones. We gave Elder Watts a hard time about that, but only because he is one of my good friends in the mission. Anyways zone conference was great, I learned a bunch of great things and it is always good to see other missionaries. I also get to go up to Santa Barbara this week on Friday, they invited me to come to a mission leadership meeting. There are a lot of great things coming up so I am really excited. I love you all, thank you all for the support and be sure to keep your priorities straight.

Elder Hamson

Progression

Hello again. I'm still alive here in Camarillo so that's good. Elder Hull and I are getting along just fine and he is going to be a great missionary.  Marcia is still progressing towards her baptismal date and is living the word of wisdom which was the only thing that has been a little bit hard for her. I keep thinking September is so far away, but it is sneaking up on me real quick. We are working out the baptismal program with her, and she asked me to perform the baptism. I was surprised, but also excited at the opportunity. We met Marcia at the park and our lesson was on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also gave her a preach my gospel, because she loves books and is hungry for more to study. And trust me on this one you can study that thing all day everyday and still learn something everytime, as long as you humble yourself. A lot of things are like that in the gospel, if you ever feel like you have learned it all, I hate to break it to you but you haven't. Anyways it was a great lesson, and Elder Hull and I are working better together. The next day we had lunch with Jennifer the recent convert, and we just found out the other day that now that she has full custody of her daughter Alyssa, Alyssa can now get baptised. Which is super exciting, because apparently she wasn't very happy when she found out she couldn't get baptized unless she got permission from her dad. They were practicing face painting while we were there, Jennifer does makeup for her job and was teaching Alyssa. We taught the Restoration, and I also managed to get out of getting my face painted. Then later that day we went to the ward BBQ at the park. It was good and there were a couple less actives that we talked to for a while. It was a pretty good party. We taught a bunch of other lessons through out the week to different people, and it was a busy week. I have really enjoyed living in the same apartment as Elder McKinley he is great. Anyways I hope everything is going well for all of you and I wish you luck for all of you who are going to school. Thank you for being awesome.
Elder Hamson

The Long and the Short of It.

Hello everyone this week has been a great week. On Tuesday I got to meet my new companion Elder Hull. He is from Tennessee and is about 5'4". I am pretty sure he is the shortest I've had so far. He is fresh out of the MTC and I keep having flash back from when I first came out. He is very different from me and has an accent. He also says yall a lot, which if I'm not careful might rub off on me. It has been interesting being a trainer, but a lot of fun at the same time. He has a lot to learn, but that is to be expected. He is willing to jump in and try though, so I am grateful for that. We had a good first week though. Later in the afternoon on Tuesday we had a lesson with Marcia, who has a baptismal date for September 13. Elder Hull fell asleep in the middle of the lesson, I guess he woke really Early on Monday to fly here and after his flight got cancelled he managed to arrive in the mission 12:00pm and go to bed at 2:00am Tuesday morning. Needless to say I was flying solo in that lesson and had to kick him a couple times to keep him awake. We saw a lot of other miracles this week one of which was unexpected. We were talking with a recent convert, Jennifer and she recently got full custody of her daughter which is great, so if we get permission she will get baptized. Her father is the only thing stopping her, but she really wants to be baptized. The unexpected part came when we taught her friend who was staying the night. He has gotten himself into trouble a few times I guess, but needless to say when we were there he came and talked with us for a little bit. We talked to him about a lot of things including overcoming challenges/addictions. It's like there is a void that needs to be filled and when you try to fill it with things from the world it doesn't help. Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ can we be completely healed. It was a really good conversation and he took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would read it. We told him to contact the missionaries wherever he ends up and they can help. She is kicking him out, so we won't teach him I just hope he takes the opportunity to turn his life around. Then on Sunday evening Elder Hull redeemed himself and we taught Marcia again. It was a great lesson on the Word of Wisdom and although she didn't completely understand why coffee and tea is in there she has committed to live the Word of Wisdom which is great, she is right on track for baptism and eventually the Temple. I am having a great time here I couldn't have asked for a better place to serve. Thank you all and I for all of you who start/have started school soon I wish you good luck. Also (sorry I'm late) Happy Birthday Heather!
Elder Hamson

Change is in the Air

Hello again, transfers are here and I am staying! Elder Gregory is leaving though he is headed up to Morro Bay. Neither of us know who our new companion is, because they are flying into the mission today, and we will meet them tomorrow. I am super excited to train and can't wait to meet whoever he is. It will be interesting to see what happens. I am glad that I get to see Elder Bate leave too. He wasn't ever my companion, but I have spent more time living with him than any other missionary. It will be cool to hear his final testimony as a missionary, and also sad to see him go. The work here is great we are staying very busy, I just hope my new companion is in shape, and if he isn't we can fix that. Marcia is doing great we taught her on Tuesday and set her with a baptismal date for September 13, so that was really exciting. Her husband seems to ok with it, but hopefully he softens his heart a little bit, so we can at least meet him. She came to church on Sunday and is always just so excited when we see. her. We also taught a bunch of other lessons this week, but one of them in particular was special. we were biking home from church Sunday morning (we had a correlation meeting) and we always go the same way home except for some reason we took a longer route, but in the process met zack. He was standing next to his car, and we stopped to talk with him. He told us that he feels like he is searching for something, and can't seem to find it. In the process he has gotten himself into a mess of addictions. We talked with him for a while, and we answered a few questions he had. He was a Muslim, but was really excited to learn more about Jesus Christ and His restored Gospel. It was just a really cool experience to be lead by the Lord to someone who really needed help. He was only here for a day and lives up in Bakersfield. He gladly gave us his address and phone number, so the missionaries in Bakersfield will have a fantastic referral. It has been really busy, and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon. Thank you all for the support. See you in more than a year.
Elder Hamson



Dinner with the Johnsons.

Gold Strike

This week has definitely been a week to remember. Wednesday was a solid day, we met with Rob in the morning, and those lessons are always entertaining. He is a returning Less-Active, and he is just a lot of fun to be around. It can be hard sometime, he gets sidetracked easily, we just know really quick if the lesson is interesting or not. Then after that we met with Sister Berry who is still staying active. (which is good) The cool part about Wednesday was that we were able to teach quite a few people we had never met before just on the street. One of which wanted to know if we do house blessings. Her catholic friends never showed up so she resorted to us. I have never run into that before, but I think we gave her a little more than she necessarily wanted. We talked about our beliefs about priesthood and gave her a Book of Mormon. She didn't want us to come back, but she has a Book of Mormon, so it's only a matter of time. Then on Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Watts. This is my Third exchange with him, except my first two were when we were in Thousand Oaks. It was a great exchange. We did a church tour with Hope, and her two kids came as well. We brought along the Elders quorom president and he was very helpful in explaining everything in the church. That was actually my first church tour ever, they all said they really loved it. They didn't end up coming to church on Sunday, but soon. . .Speaking of church we had an incredible miracle on Sunday. Marcia came to church. We met her for the first time at church on Sunday, and a member in Thousand Oaks introduced her to the church a while ago and she absolutely loves it. She has gone to other wards a couple of times I guess, but has now found her way to our ward where she belongs. She already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and instantly made friends with many of the sisters in our ward. We will meet with her for the first time this Tuesday at the Bishop's house and set her with a baptismal date. It has just been a huge blessing and she has truly been prepared. We will learn her whole story on Tuesday I'm sure, and little does she know that her story is only just beginning. So yes, we had a golden investigator fall into our lap on Sunday. Also something to note. The sisters in our district, Sister Moure and Sister Reneer have a baptism on Friday. I am the one that does the interview, and all the paper work for that, and this is my first one. It is going to be a little stressful, but I am excited.
I hope everything is going well with all of you and I am grateful for all of your prayers. Keep working hard and having fun!
Elder Hamson

Busy Sunday

Hello everyone, everything is going great here in Camarillo. This week was especially busy, mostly on the weekend.We were able to teach Hope on Friday and that was a great lesson. Unfortunatly we weren't able to get a member there with us, but the lesson was great anyway. We taught about families and modern revelation, so basically the Prophet, Book of Mormon, personaly prayer...ect all of it is to bless our families. It was a great lesson, she said she believs in the Book of Mormon, but she doesn't quite understand all that that entails. She has committed to continue reading, and she loves meeting with us, so she is headed in the right direction. Then on Saturday we met a new investigator Chris. He is hispanic and was out making a brick wall in his front yard, so we offered to help and talked to him for a while. He isn't currently very religous, but was interested in why we would ever serve a mission. It was a great conversation about priorities. We prayed with him and have an appointment for this week. Then later that day we went by Jennifer's house to see how she was doing. To our pleasant suprise her kids answered the door, so we were able to teach them all a lesson on thier back patio. It was about how important our testimonies are and how to build one. She has her kids for another week I guess. At the end of the lesson we found out that Jennifer couldn't be at church. so we quickly arranged for a ride for her kids to come anyway. They came on Sunday and it was actually really good for them not to have their mom there, and they all made new friends. Also we went by and saw Terri on Saturday and she was busy, but was excited to come to church. And to back track a little bit another one of our investigators Connie and her 7 year old daughter said they were going to come to church as well. So as you can imagine Sunday was a very stressful day. Connie didn't end up showing up, but we were ready for her. Alyssa, Theo and Johnny (Jennifers kids) were sitting with the Blacks who have kids similar ages. And we helped Terri come in and sit with Sister Northrup (they are now good friends), we saved a spot for Connie next to us sandwiched in between another family we thought they might like. It's a bummer Connie couldn't make it, but we will try for next week. Overall though it was a very successful week with a lot of good things going on.
Thank you all, and Keep reading and praying, it helps!
Elder Hamson

A Battle with a Beast

This week has been a really great week. We started off on Tuesday morning helping someone try and remove their tree stump. That thing is a beast, but we had a lot of fun getting dirty and swinging various types of axes. Then later that evening the ward had a Barbecue at the park and one of the members brought their neighbors! They aren't members and they had a great time, and we talked with them for a while about missions and missionary work. Then on Thursday we had district meeting and now that I am the district leader Thursdays are a little more stressful, but it all went well and we all learned a thing or two. After that we met Mikey who is a little bit crazy. He lost half of one of his legs, but that certainly doesn't stop him. He was outside fiddling with his bike and we started to talk with him. He doesn't believe in God, so we talked for a little while and he said he would try praying, but he doesn't like reading. The whole time we were talking with him he was going a 100 MPH always doing something, he even talked fast. He then showed us his bike riding skills and it definitely takes skill to ride a bike with one leg. He fell over a couple times, but he was mostly just trying to be funny. . . and he was hilarious. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Then on Friday we met with our investigators Linda and Chuck. We went over the Plan of Salvation and it went well I think. It was the Berks home, they are their member neighbors, so they helped teach as well. Linda and Chuck can be difficult, because they are quiet and haven't really opened up to us yet. Hopefully we can figure out how to help them progress soon. Then on Saturday we taught Johnny, Theo, and Alyssa. We made a Plan of Salvation game to play with them because they are all young. It was great, they loved it and they even learned something. Unfortunately their father is being. . . difficult you could say. He lives in Rancho or something, and it's a whole fiasco, but their mother (Jennifer), who is a recent convert, is losing custody of her children. It is a very sad situation and I will miss them for sure. On a happy note, we taught Griffin later on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he said he would be baptized, he just wants to learn more first. It was a great lesson, he is YSA age, so we are trying to set up a lesson where we can introduce Elder Bate and Elder Watts and officially hand him off to them. He is just hard to catch sometimes. Anyways thank you all for your support, and you will hear from me next week!
Elder Hamson

Hope and Faith

This week has been a quick week. I didn't have a district meeting to plan for so that made things a little easier. We have been meeting with Terri a lot and she is headed in the right direction. Her 24 year old daughter was in town and was there when we came by, we introduced ourselves and she immediately put a wall and said she's an atheist. I normally would just step over the wall, but there is already tension about us coming over and meeting with her mom, so I just left it at that. We met with Terri for a while and read in 3 Nephi 11 with her. She didn't completely understand at first why she needs to be baptized when she was already baptized as a child. We explained it to her and she was very accepting. That is how most of our visits go and we have been going by or staying in contact on a daily basis. This will be especially important when she commits to give up coffee which is probably her biggest concern at the moment. She has the desire to learn and eventually be baptized, so we will keep helping her build her testimony. On Wednesday we met a guy named David he is in his 20's and was working in his front yard. We asked if we could help, and he just laughed at us. I assured him that I was serious and grabbed a shovel to start helping and he said it was funny because he was just finishing up. We always have perfect timing. We talked to him for a while and had a miniature restoration lesson, it was really good and he asked a lot of questions. He doesn't actually live there, he was just visiting his parents, but we found out where he lives so other missionaries can come by. I think that will be a great referral. Later on I met Hope for the first time. She is an investigator who just loves "faith" so naturally she likes talking to us. We went over there with Robbie who is preparing to go on a mission, and it turns out that he knows her son Henry. We had a great lesson with both Henry and Hope. We taught the restoration again, because Henry was there and I wanted to see what Hope believes about it and maybe help resolve any concerns. It was probably one of the best lessons that Elder Gregory and I have had, and having Robbie there to bear his testimony about everything was fantastic.
On Thursday we had interviews and those were great. They were different than usually, a lot more casual get to know you kind of thing, but I can't expect everything to be the same. President Felix is inspired and we had a great interview. There is a difference in his style and I am going to have to get used to it, but honestly he hasn't really changed anything yet. Although the whole church has made some changes to how we do missionary work. We are now supposed to teach lesson 5 before and after baptism, and we are to take the lead in teaching the new member lessons. The idea is to put more of a focus not only on getting some one to the font, but to the temple. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them. . . endure to the Endowment. I think it helps us to have more of an Eternal perspective on things.
That was pretty much all of the interesting things we did, Elder Gregory and I get along well and I am getting used to biking everywhere. It's not actually as hard as thought it would be. Camarillo is pretty much the best, so I have nothing to complain about. Thank you all for all of the support, and a shout out to the Kelly family! Everyone keeps coming up to me like "you know the Kelly's?!". . .it's great.
Elder Hamson

Happy 7'3" Day

This week was a pretty fantastic week. On Tuesday we had dinner with the Northrups and they invited their neighbors over as well! It was a great dinner we got to know everyone, and at the end we shared a message about families and how they can be forever. It was probably one of the best dinners I have ever had on my mission. The best part is when we leave and the two families get to talk about our message with us gone. We will be following up with the northrups about how that went soon.
Then on Wednesday I met Sister Davis for the first time. She isn't a member, but due to family situations she is the "mother figure" for a missionary in Colorado. She had a lot of questions about how missions work, and how she can help her missionary. It is a very interesting situation, and one of the wierdest lessons I've had. It turns out that she doesn't want to officially take the missionary lessons, but enjoys having us over. I told her she can't have one without the other. She thought that was pretty funny, but it didn't change her mind. We will see what happens with her.
Thursday was a fantastic day. It was 7/3/2014 so we officially made it 7'3" day. We celebrated by having breakfast for lunch at the Mileans. They are a great family with a tad bit of crazy. so they were more than happy to celebrate 7 foot 3 day with us. Then later that day we had a lesson with Sister Clark who is a recent convert, and her daughter Alyssa was there. Sister Clark has three kids (Johnny 10, Theo 11, Alyssa 13) who would like to be baptized, but thier father is completely against the church. The boys were at their Dads house, but we had a great lesson with Sister Clark and Alyssa. We brought Robbie along with us who will be getting his mission call next week, so there were a lot of great things going on all at once.
On Friday we had zone conference and got to meet President Felix and Sister Felix. They are exactly what this mission needs. They told us thier story and it was great to get to know them. They weren't what I expected, but at the same time they are way better than I expected. It went really long, so we had a late lunch. After that we went to see an investigator, and she was having a party with her whole family there, so we met everyone and had some food. They asked some really good questions, and overall it was fantastic. We got out of there just in time to race over to our dinner appointment, but after having a late lunch and eating at the party I really wasn't hungry. Some how I managed to eat a hamburger, and had dinner outside because her husband was gone. After that we went back to the apartment, because we were supposed to be in before 7:00 to avoid all of the craziness. It was an intense day. That is everything exciting that happened. Thank you all.
Elder Hamson

It is all Up Hill

Hello everyone, everything is going well here in camarillo. Elder Gregory is really great, he has been out for almost 6 months now, but you wouldn't be able to tell unless someone told you. I was a little worried about being Sr. companion and everything but he is fantastic. I also get to live with the zone leaders again. In fact the same one that I lived with in thousand oaks, Elder Bate. The other zone leader was my district leader in Thousand Oaks for a couple transfers Elder Watts. This is going to be a great transfer. I am adjusting to being on a bike, but I am young still so I'll be fine. It is great though, because you can always stop and talk to someone on the street. It's a lot less wierd than pulling ove in a car. We live in the basement of a member's house, so thats fun. We hardly ever see them which is probably why we are here, and the bad part is that they live at the top of a hill. So I have extra motivation to not want to go back to the apartment and bike up that hill. The good new is that my legs are going to be ripped by the end of this transfer.
This last week was a really busy week I have slowly been unpacking things as I have needed them, and on Wednesday I got to meet a few of our investigators. Griffin, who is 18, has a LA father, so that's how the missionaries in the past found him. He is really awesome and is quite the gamer, so naturally we get along just fine. We taught him most of the Plan of Salvation and he really seems to understand what we teach, now the real test is if he is willing to act on it. I also met Terry who is middle aged, animal lover, quiet voice and medium height. She has been coming to church for the last couple of weeks and she loves it. The only problem is it is hard to sit down and have a lesson with her. She doesn't want it in her house (it's dirty or something) and we haven't been able to coordinated to have it at a members house yet, but I think that is going to happen soon. She has a lot of potential so I am excited to teach her more. On Thursday I did my first district meeting and I thought it went pretty well. It is a lot more stressful when you are the one in charge, and planning the whole thing. My district is small, it consists of Me and Elder Gregory, and four other sisters. They are all great and I am going to be able to get to know all of them really well. On Sunday I met the ward and they were excited to meet me and of course there were a bunch of people who know my mom and my sister. If I had a dog I'm sure they would know his name as well. Its good though this ward is very involved with missionary work and I am happy to be here. Thank you all for your prayers, and for all the support.

Elder Hamson

On the Move

I got called this morning, and it turns out that I will be packing my bags. I am going to be on the other side of Thousand Oaks in Camarillo. I will be with Elder Gregory and I will be the new district leader over there, so that was unexpected. Also I am going to be dusting off my bike, because I will be in an all bike area. The good news is I will be able to get back in shape. I am actually excited to be on a bike that car is kinda cramped. A lot of things are changing this transfer, including a new mission president starting next week. I can't wait to see what lies ahead. As far as what happened this last week, it was great. On Wednesday we had our last zone conference with president Castro, it was a bitter sweet. He is a great leader and I have learned a lot from him. The good news is that I will see him tomorrow at transfer meeting before he goes. Then we had a lesson with a less active, Sister Crum. She has grandkids who aren't members, they are young like 10, 7 and 5. There is definitely potential there. The kids weren't there so it was just her we had a great lesson. I went out on a limb and asked her why she doesn't come to church. She didn't know. I assured her that she is always welcome, and we would love to see her there. Spoiler alert: She came! I will have to find out later how that goes. Then on Friday we had a lesson with Jon. He is a born again christian who is trying to convert us. It's hard because he wants us to come back and meet with him again. Elder Moser will give him a couple more chances, but if nothing changes I doubt they will keep meeting with him. I am doing great here, it's kind of a bummer to leave so soon, but from what I have heard I am going to love my new companion and area. Thank you all for everthing you do. Have fun and work hard.

Elder Hamson

Not Today

Well this week is the last week of the transfer, which is weird, it has gone by so quickly. Next transfer will be longer though. This last week started off great, we went to the Ronald Reagan presidential library. They had a lot of different interesting things there, and at times I felt like part of the exhibit. There were a lot of people there, because it's the beginning of summer. It was good though air force one is pretty sweet, but just like every other airplane. . . I didn't fit. Then on Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Larson, and that went well. We worked in my area, and got a lot done. Exchanges always get you to work extra hard. We taught a lesson with a less-active member who has been coming to church regularly for a little while now. We talked to him for a little bit then he said "and no, I haven't read my scriptures". I didn't even have to ask him he just followed up with himself when he saw me. So it was then that I suggested that we read together right now. He said "not today Elder Hamson". . . what do you do. I don't think he likes me, but that's fine with me. Overall it was a good exchange, we definitely both learned a few things from each other.
Then on Wednesday I went on another exchange, so I had back to back days without Elder Moser. This time I went with Elder Egan, who is the zone leader, so we had a great day. We talked to a lot of people, and taught a few lessons. We tracted into a lady who seemed excited to listen to our message, and gladly took a Book of Mormon then out of no where here husband walked up behind her and all of the sudden she wasn't interested, and wanted to give us our book back. Bummer. She failed to give us our book back though, so at least she can read it when her husband isn't looking or something. Both exchanges were in my area, and were both really good, however Elder Moser and I both agree it was nice to be back together. Then on Friday we had apartment inspections. I didn't know what to expect, since this was my first one, but it turns out if your apartment is clean you have nothing to worry about. So ya, we aced it. The other Elders in the ward, however got chewed out, so we will probably go help them clean their apartment. That was pretty much this week. Next week will be crazy, we have a zone conference on Wednesday and it is President Castro's last one. I will also find out next week if I am getting transferred or not. Then it is President Felix starting July 1. Thank you all for your letters, and all the support. It means a lot. I love you all and keep on having fun!

Elder Hamson


Calling the nation to repentance.

The Key

Well, as usual the weather is great. On Tuesday I started off my week going on an exchange with Elder Young, who is on the other side of our ward. I see him all the time so it was cool to have a whole day working with him. He has been out for about 4 months now, and he is a great missionary. In the morning we started tracted into a born again christian, and she was actually pretty cool. She had never actually heard the Joseph Smith story before, and so naturally we filled her in. She was a crazy, but hopefully she's crazy enough to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was a really good lesson, and we have another appointment with her tomorrow. Then throughout the rest of the day we ended up teaching 3 more lessons to random people we met, which is unusual. So I had a great start to the week. Then on Saturday the zone leaders called us and said that they needed our keys to the stake center. They had a baptism that day and realized they didn't have a key to the building, so we came to the rescue and opened the building for them. And then while we were there some guy came and started skateboarding at the church. We had to leave, but the zone leaders talked to him and as it turns out he was really interested. They gave him a tour of the church, including the font which was filling up. We found this all out later, but Jacob, the skater, is now meeting with the missionaries. It all works out great too, because his is YSA age anyway, and I'd like to think that it's all because of my key to the church. However it was just a reminder that there are people out there who are being prepared, we just need to find them. I think that is it as far as exciting things go this week. We are actually planning on going to the Ronald Reagan library later today, so I will let you all know how that goes. I am a little nervous about all the changes that are coming up. Not only just transfers, but a new mission president. Also I don't think I will be able to hide in Jr. companionville for much longer. It's all exciting, which is pretty much what my mission has been. Thank you all for your prayers.

Elder Hamson