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