Smiling Too Much

Hello everyone! This week has been another great week here in Simi Valley. The work is moving forward in our area, Daniel is doing well as far as studying the scriptures but he couldn't bring himself to talk to his parents this week. He is so close, and the sooner we overcome the issue with his parents the better. We also met with Tiny and Anthony this week. We might end up dropping them or turning them over to the ward, because although they both love meeting with us they rarely keep commitments, and they were set on getting baptized in a year. We are trying to improve our finding activities, and most of our new investigators come from other missionaries in the zone. So I think in our area asking for referrals from everyone includes asking the other missionaries. Speaking of which the sisters have been teaching Rob and they reluctantly referred him to us and we are going to give him a blessing tonight. I think that will go well and he will be a solid investigator. On a different note we got to help serve dinner to some of the special Olympians who are staying here in Simi. It was quite the experience. We got there early and we were looking around for whoever was in charge and we ran in to the Peruvians. They flipped when the saw me and I got a taste of what it's like to be famous. They all had cameras and they all wanted pictures, they sucked me in and there was no escaping. They didn't speak any english, and I don't know enough spanish to communicate very well. Needless to say my mouth hurt afterward from smiling too much. Anyways things are going great.
Elder Hamson

Over the Wall

Hello everyone things are going great here in Simi Valley. My companion Elder Gibb is great and he can sing too. We have a lot of fun singing together, and you could even say that our companionship is in harmony. Also our senses of humor are very similar, so I think we might be having just a little too much fun. Along with that he is a great missionary, so this is going to be a fantastic transfer.
We are working with Daniel and helping him to reach his date on August 15. The moment of truth will be when we go with him to talk to his parents about it. That should happen this week, so we are praying really hard that his parents don't freak out. I am confident the Lord will provide a way. Then we also found a new investigator this week named Nick, we met him on the street after an appointment and started talking to him. He has hit a low spot in his life and is looking for direction and help. We set up an appointment for the next morning (Friday). It was a good lesson, but after 30 minutes he got bored or something, because he got all fidgety and stood up and said "well thank you for coming". It was a little bazar, because he wants us to come back, and committed to start reading the Book of Mormon. Now we know that we need to have short frequent visits with him. He couldn't make it to church on Sunday, so we will probably follow-up tonight on how his reading is coming. We also had a fun experience when we went to try by a potential. I got out of the car and there was this guy sitting in his back yard behind a 6 foot brick wall. When he say me he jumped and started whispering among his friends and they all looked, so naturally I waved and he yelled out "are you really that Tall?" With a big smile I assured him that its really me and that I'm not on stilts, but he wouldn't believe me. He came over and climbed up on a table and looked over the wall and after a couple seconds of evaluation he concluded that I indeed was really that tall. We then talked with him about his day and what he is doing in life, and we had a great conversation that turned into a lesson. He was just visiting, but we will send the missionaries over where he lives and I will probably never find out what happens, but either way it was a fun experience and I think we were able to help him feel the spirit.
 We had a leadership training meeting, and that was great. This transfer we decided to work on using our time wisely as a zone. I am really excited to set meaningful goals, carefully plan, and be accountable for the area. I am focusing on taking things one day at a time, and one week at a time because if I look too far ahead it's distracting and overwhelming. When I focus on making the most out of Today, right now, everything seems to be better.
Thank you
Elder Hamson

Staying Put

Good news, I am staying in Simi valley for my last transfer. Although president is giving me a new companion. His name is Elder Gibb, and he was in my zone up in SLO so I know him a little bit. He is very musically talented, so we might have to work that into our teaching somehow. Either way I am super glad I am staying and glad that my companion is awesome. I can already tell that this will be a great transfer. This week went well we continued to meet with Tyler, and he is doing awesome. He just is soaking it all up and it really helps that he lives and works with his brother, who he looks up to a lot. Unfortunately he is moving back to Utah this week. He wanted to stay the whole summer, but some things changed. The good thing is that he has a lot of mormon friends in Utah and he still wants to meet with them out there. Plus if he gets baptized I might be back in Utah. Also Daniel is doing well, and preparing for his baptism on August 15. We still have to work things out between him and his parents, but we are working out a time to meet with them in the next week or so. There are a couple of other investigators we are working with like Tiny and Anthony, and mostly we are trying to help them to come to church and activities, as well as really find out if the Book of Mormon is true. On a different note we had zone meeting this week, where we bring everything we learned from President Felix at MLC to the zone, and President Felix wanted us to do a powerpoint and show a video. Which means he gave us permission to borrow someone's laptop (yay technology!) So after working through some minor issues (I miss being able to google things) we got the video to work and it all went well. I also gave a talk in church on Sunday and I think if I were to go talk to my self from 2 years ago. my old self would be shocked at who I have become. I am glad everything went well with Timothy's surgery and I will keep praying for all of you, since I can't physically be there to help.
Elder Hamson