Work in Progress

Hello everyone, things are going well here in Simi Valley. We had two of our investigators come to church on Sunday. Daniel has been coming consistently, but Tiny came for the first time and he had a great experience. We are trying to help them both commit to a baptismal date, but Daniel is worried about his parents and we are still trying to find out what Tiny's deeper concern is. We are trying to work hard and build up the area, but it's still a work in progress. Things are good though, we have a good ward and there are definitely people to teach here in Simi Valley we just have to find them. We also had some people come to our FHE last week and they talked with us the whole time about why we are wrong and we need to stick with the bible. It was Mildly frustrating, but the church is still true and the Book of Mormon is still the word of God. Thank you all for your support 

Elder Hamson

Sprint to the Finish (out of order from June 8th.)

Hello everyone, life is great here in Simi Valley YSA ward. I really like Elder Wickern and we are going to do some work together. We had another couple lessons with Jessy this week and she is doing awesome. She just believes everything and asks some really great questions. The best part is that her parents are totally cool with her joining the church which seems to be the biggest problem in YSA wards. On the other had Daniel has been getting cold feet about his baptism at the end of the month. He is worried that his mom is going to freak out when he tells her he wants to be baptized. We told him it's going to be worse if she finds out after the fact, and we are trying to have a lesson where she is there or just have him bear testimony that it is true to her. It is going to be a bigger speed bump that we thought. We will pray hard, and bring some of the other members of the ward who had a similar situation, and hopefully it all works out. Going back to Jessy she came to church and brought her friend and her sister with her! They stayed for all three hours and had a great time, so we are going to try to start teaching her friend, and even introduce the Elders in the family ward to Jessy's whole family. Also we picked "Tiny" (he's 6'5" and probably 300lbs) back up he was a former investigator, and he is done living the party life. He wants to actually find out if it's true this time, so things are going well with him. He didn't come to church, but that's only a minor setback. And we are busy talking to a bunch of less actives trying to have them introduce us to their non-member friends. Oh and we also talked to an Atheist named Dan, and that was interesting. He is like a philosopher or something because he used a lot of big words and made everything in the world seem so complicated. We are used to teaching the simple doctrines of the gospel, and he is asking question about the nature of God and how can we know for sure that he is there. He was really nice, and we had fun talking but it was a little above my reading level. Turns out you can't really prove that God is there with philosophical concepts you just have to keep it simple and have child like faith. So ya life is great, and I am determined to sprint to the finish!
Elder Hamson

Life is Good

Hello everyone, life is great here in Simi valley. I went on a couple exchanges this week including one with Elder Lallatin (picture included). He is a new missionary and we get to do a little presentation about the stripling warriors and it's great. I absolutely love that story, and it always motivates me to work harder and trust in the Lord, even though I don't ever really know what I'm doing. On Tuesday we were walking out of a house and as we were walking across the street a lady like 3 houses down had her phone out, and although she may have thought we couldn't tell she was taking pictures it was pretty obvious that she totally was. So we waved and started walking over to talk to her, and she ran inside. I was thinking "oh great we scared her off" but 10 seconds later she came back out with her whole family and another friend that was over to show them how tall I was. So we talked for a little while and we ended up teaching them about the restoration, and gave the parents a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was really cool, and it will be a solid referral for Simi 4th ward (my old ward). Also Elder C. Scott Grow of the quorom of the Seventy came and talked with our half of the missionon Thursday. He also did a special meeting before hand with MLC, so that was fantastic and I really felt the spirit. Being a zone leader definitely has it's perks :) 

So ya life is good,

Elder Hamson

A June Week

Hello everyone, this week was a great week. We went to MLC on Tuesday and got to learn about how to be a consecrated missionary, and it is always good to see the other missionaries. There are a lot of new young leaders in the mission, and it makes me feel like the old man at MLC. That was great then on Wednesday we our investigator Jessy didn't show up to our appointment and we haven't been able to contact her since. That was a bummer, but hopefully she just went on vacation or something and forgot to tell us because she was solid. Daniel is doing well and came to church and one of the activities. He still iffy about baptism, but we aren't giving up on him. Until then we have been trying to meet some of the member's friends who are members, and that hasn't turned into anything yet but soon. We actually gave the family Elders  great referral thought this week. We were at dinner with Josh in our ward and his family, and his little sister's friend (she's about 16) stopped by and they convinced her to stay for dinner. She isn't a member and she had a lot of questions about what we do as missionaries. So naturally for our dinner lesson we didn't want to just throw everything on her, but I shared 2 Ne 33:10 and asked her if she is familiar with the story behind the Book of Mormon. She was like no, so we explained a little bit and that peaked her curiosity and started asking questions, and we taught it all anyway! So ya that was great and we got to help the other Elders out. But ya life is going good, and we get to meet with Elder C. Scott Grow this week, first with MLC then with half the mission. So I am super excited. Thanks for all you do and Happy Fathers day on Sunday Dad!

The Twin Towers of Gospel Preaching

Greetings from Simi Valley! Transfers are in and I am staying! Unfortunately they are breaking up the twin towers of gospel preaching. Elder Hunt is going to Santa Maria, which should be a fun place. My new companion is Elder Wickern who is currently in the zone as one the the district leaders (one of my favorites on that note) So he isn't getting transferred very far and I already know him pretty well, so I am pretty excited about this next transfer. This last week was a great week though. We went to the temple on Wednesday, and it was great to get to go since it's been almost a year since I have gone. We had a good time, and it was weird to think that Jen was probably somewhere not too far. We also found a new investigator named Jessy, and she is great. She soaked it all up like a sponge and was excited to come to some activities. She is out of town this weekend, but said she would start coming this next week. She also committed to a baptismal date in July. Daniel is doing great, he came to an institute activity and loved it. He is a little shy sometimes, so we are glad he had a fun time. He came to church and is really progressing towards his baptism on June 17th. So things are going well and there are a few of the members who are working with there friends, and hopefully we start meeting with some of them. I really like the members here, and the ward is growing with return missionaries, and kids waiting to go to school in the fall. It's weird to think that I will be one of those students in the fall. Until then I'm going to find all those YSA kids out there who need the gospel. Thank you all

Elder Hamson