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