"Oh, its On!"

Good afternoon everyone, this week was an awesome week for sure. It started off about the same as usual, with us teaching all of the recent converts in the ward. On Thursday we were walking by a basketball court, and there were some people gearing up to play and they saw us and talked with us for a while. They asked all of the usual questions then the challenged us to come play. Since it is no longer against the rules (as of like 1 month ago) I said "oh, it's on" I had fun playing with them for a while in my church clothes, Elder Toa just watched. I could only play for a little bit, because we had an appointment to get to, but we got there number so we can play some more basketball and share the gospel sometime. Then on Saturday I went up to Paso and exchanged with Elder Trujillo. I met some really interesting people including a member named Eli Johnson. He knows mom I guess, and he gave me some pointers about my shooting form, then we took his son out working with us. It was a good exchange, and while I was gone they taught our investigator Beth and gave her a church tour. It went really well, but she couldn't make it to church. She is a solid investigator though and we are meeting with her next this week. Then at church Madison just showed up. She is from Santa Ana, and her boyfriend is a member down there. She came in by herself, and our ward did a great job of making her feel right at home. We have an appointment this week, and she is going to be a great investigator for sure. And the third person we are meeting to night, her name is Joshlyn. She has a bunch of friends in the ward and one of the return missionaries set up a dinner for us to meet her and start teaching! So these people seem to just be falling into our lap and I am just super excited about it. Great things are going on in SLO and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon. Transfers are in two weeks, but I could stay here for the rest of my mission. Thank you all, and I may or may not see you in 6.
Elder Hamson

The Best Teachers are Great Learners

Why hello everyone, I hope you had a great valentines weekend. Everything is going well up here in SLO. We went on a couple exchanges this week and I went away for both of them, and that is always a lot of fun. On Tuesday I went up to Paso 2 and worked with Elder Goad for the day. We went and did service for the food bank in the morning and that was fine until they had us throw out rotten veggies. We had to open all of the individual spinach containers and dump out the nasty goop inside and throw away the plastic. It is moments like these where I am grateful for my lack of smelling ability. Then we stopped by someone in the ward they didn't know later that day, and he was really glad to see us. He had thought that everyone had forgotten about him(which is very sad), but it felt good to know we were being led to where we needed to be. They are going to start teaching him and there are non-members living with him, so I think that is going to be a great opportunity for them in the future. Then in SLO we met with all of our Recent Converts and they are doing just fine which is great, because there are way too many recent converts that fall away. Our investigator Beth apparently plays with a symphony and was out of town, so we didn't end up meeting with her but she has been reading from the Book of Mormon and we have a sweet lesson planned for this week, so tune in next week to see what happens.:) The other exchange on Saturday went well. We got in contact with a Part Member family, and taught the dad for a little bit. He wants to believe, but he just doesn't know. We assured him that he can know, and shared some scriptures from Alma 32 about how those people were in a similar situation. Sometimes looking back I am amazed at how much I have learned and how far I have come, and I think a huge part of my success is being humble and teachable. The best teachers are great learners and the best leaders are great followers. I hope we can all follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ, and strive to learn and live by his teachings. Then turn and help others to do the same thing. I love you all and I hope everything goes well with all of your adventures.
Elder Hamson

Another Great Week

This week was another great week up here in SLO. On Tuesday we drove down to Ventura for MLC, and that was great. It's a big long meeting, but always a spiritual experience and a lot of my friends in the mission are at MLC. Elder Toa and I are having a lot of fun together and we have some really great appointments this week. On Thursday we had an appointment with Tu'uta who hasn't been to church in a while, but he is Polynesian so he get along well with my companion. We went to his house and his roomate and friend were there with him. We all sat down and had a great lesson about the restoration and what sets us a part. We gave his friend a Book of Mormon and invited her to read from it and we also invited Tu'uta to start reading his again. Overall it was a great lesson, and I think some good things will start happening with them. Also on Friday we went on exchanges with the assistants, and this time was a little different because Elder Atkin just joined us so we were in a tri-pan(three of us). Anyways it was really cool to work with Elder Atkin again since it has been a year since we were companions(for 3 transfers). We had a great day and one lesson was with Beth. We met Beth on the street and she has a bunch of mormon friends on missions so she agreed to meet with us. We met at the institute and had to other sisters from the ward there. We started off how we usually do talking about how God love us and is our Father in Heaven and then we continued with prophets in the bible, and talked about Jesus Christ and His life. She stopped us and was like "I know all of this stuff, tell about the new stuff, you know John Smith and the book of the mormons". Needless to say she wanted to get to the good part, so we taught her all about it and gave her a copy to read and pray about for herself. Also the members that were there made friends with Beth, so I can see good things in the future with her. Then on Saturday we had another exchange and it rained all day which turned out to be a lot of fun. It wasn't raining too hard so we just did our thing. We walked by a girl who was sitting on her porch and we just stood there in the rain and taught her. That was fun to teach in the rain, and overall just a solid week. I have got plenty more of those to come. I love you all and keep sharing the good news of the restored gospel.

Gumball Alley

This last week has been a little crazy with all of the change, but that isn't really a new concept. You never really figure out what you are doing either you just get used to not knowing what you are doing. On Monday Elder Kanenwisher and I went downtown and added some gum to gumball alley. It is really gross, but we took a picture and had lunch at this place that makes a mean pulled pork sandwich. Then this transfer meeting we tried a new method of carpooling that worked well. We had everyone drive their individual cars to the church building In SLO and then carpooled there and put whatever bikes and luggage didn't fit in the cars in the truck. It seemed to work well, but is still just a crazy day for us. Transfer meeting was great and one of my companions (Mike Moser) is home now which is weird. He posted a video of us on facebook and my ward up in SLO found it which was mildly embarrassing, but mostly funny. Elder Toa is great he is from Utah, but both his parents are from Samoa. He is like the opposite personality of me, but we get along just fine. We make up for each others weaknesses, and I think this will be a great learning opportunity for me and I think we work really well together. This week was a solid week, and we have been setting ourselves up for a fantastic week next week. We have been trying to get in contact with a lot of the Less-Actives in the ward for a while, and of course the week Elder Toa gets here we find Tu'uta. He is Tongan and on the football team, so they talked for a while about Polynesian stuff and we have a lesson set up for next week. We also have been focusing on taking the members out working with us, and we were able to teach Mayra on Friday with Colin. It was really helpful to have Colin with us to bear his testimony and invite her to church. That was our first real lesson with her and we will see her next week. Other than that it has been a pretty normal week with a lot of missionary things going on. This is going to be a great transfer and I can't wait to see what lies ahead. I have been studying a lot about my own personal conversion, and how I can help others. Elder Toa and I are really focusing on Luke 22:31-32 and how we can apply it. One thing we decided to do is to use the Book of Mormon as the focus of our studies, and teaching specifically trying to answer questions of the soul. As well we are going to try and bear testimony of the Book of Mormon at every opportunity we can. So I invite you all to think of a question you need an answer to and find it in the Book of Mormon, because it is there and all we have to do is find it. I don't mean to be "preachy" I just know it's true. Thank you all for the support and I hope all goes well where ever you are.
Elder Hamson