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

It is all Up Hill

Hello everyone, everything is going well here in camarillo. Elder Gregory is really great, he has been out for almost 6 months now, but you wouldn't be able to tell unless someone told you. I was a little worried about being Sr. companion and everything but he is fantastic. I also get to live with the zone leaders again. In fact the same one that I lived with in thousand oaks, Elder Bate. The other zone leader was my district leader in Thousand Oaks for a couple transfers Elder Watts. This is going to be a great transfer. I am adjusting to being on a bike, but I am young still so I'll be fine. It is great though, because you can always stop and talk to someone on the street. It's a lot less wierd than pulling ove in a car. We live in the basement of a member's house, so thats fun. We hardly ever see them which is probably why we are here, and the bad part is that they live at the top of a hill. So I have extra motivation to not want to go back to the apartment and bike up that hill. The good new is that my legs are going to be ripped by the end of this transfer.
This last week was a really busy week I have slowly been unpacking things as I have needed them, and on Wednesday I got to meet a few of our investigators. Griffin, who is 18, has a LA father, so that's how the missionaries in the past found him. He is really awesome and is quite the gamer, so naturally we get along just fine. We taught him most of the Plan of Salvation and he really seems to understand what we teach, now the real test is if he is willing to act on it. I also met Terry who is middle aged, animal lover, quiet voice and medium height. She has been coming to church for the last couple of weeks and she loves it. The only problem is it is hard to sit down and have a lesson with her. She doesn't want it in her house (it's dirty or something) and we haven't been able to coordinated to have it at a members house yet, but I think that is going to happen soon. She has a lot of potential so I am excited to teach her more. On Thursday I did my first district meeting and I thought it went pretty well. It is a lot more stressful when you are the one in charge, and planning the whole thing. My district is small, it consists of Me and Elder Gregory, and four other sisters. They are all great and I am going to be able to get to know all of them really well. On Sunday I met the ward and they were excited to meet me and of course there were a bunch of people who know my mom and my sister. If I had a dog I'm sure they would know his name as well. Its good though this ward is very involved with missionary work and I am happy to be here. Thank you all for your prayers, and for all the support.

Elder Hamson

On the Move

I got called this morning, and it turns out that I will be packing my bags. I am going to be on the other side of Thousand Oaks in Camarillo. I will be with Elder Gregory and I will be the new district leader over there, so that was unexpected. Also I am going to be dusting off my bike, because I will be in an all bike area. The good news is I will be able to get back in shape. I am actually excited to be on a bike that car is kinda cramped. A lot of things are changing this transfer, including a new mission president starting next week. I can't wait to see what lies ahead. As far as what happened this last week, it was great. On Wednesday we had our last zone conference with president Castro, it was a bitter sweet. He is a great leader and I have learned a lot from him. The good news is that I will see him tomorrow at transfer meeting before he goes. Then we had a lesson with a less active, Sister Crum. She has grandkids who aren't members, they are young like 10, 7 and 5. There is definitely potential there. The kids weren't there so it was just her we had a great lesson. I went out on a limb and asked her why she doesn't come to church. She didn't know. I assured her that she is always welcome, and we would love to see her there. Spoiler alert: She came! I will have to find out later how that goes. Then on Friday we had a lesson with Jon. He is a born again christian who is trying to convert us. It's hard because he wants us to come back and meet with him again. Elder Moser will give him a couple more chances, but if nothing changes I doubt they will keep meeting with him. I am doing great here, it's kind of a bummer to leave so soon, but from what I have heard I am going to love my new companion and area. Thank you all for everthing you do. Have fun and work hard.

Elder Hamson

Not Today

Well this week is the last week of the transfer, which is weird, it has gone by so quickly. Next transfer will be longer though. This last week started off great, we went to the Ronald Reagan presidential library. They had a lot of different interesting things there, and at times I felt like part of the exhibit. There were a lot of people there, because it's the beginning of summer. It was good though air force one is pretty sweet, but just like every other airplane. . . I didn't fit. Then on Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Larson, and that went well. We worked in my area, and got a lot done. Exchanges always get you to work extra hard. We taught a lesson with a less-active member who has been coming to church regularly for a little while now. We talked to him for a little bit then he said "and no, I haven't read my scriptures". I didn't even have to ask him he just followed up with himself when he saw me. So it was then that I suggested that we read together right now. He said "not today Elder Hamson". . . what do you do. I don't think he likes me, but that's fine with me. Overall it was a good exchange, we definitely both learned a few things from each other.
Then on Wednesday I went on another exchange, so I had back to back days without Elder Moser. This time I went with Elder Egan, who is the zone leader, so we had a great day. We talked to a lot of people, and taught a few lessons. We tracted into a lady who seemed excited to listen to our message, and gladly took a Book of Mormon then out of no where here husband walked up behind her and all of the sudden she wasn't interested, and wanted to give us our book back. Bummer. She failed to give us our book back though, so at least she can read it when her husband isn't looking or something. Both exchanges were in my area, and were both really good, however Elder Moser and I both agree it was nice to be back together. Then on Friday we had apartment inspections. I didn't know what to expect, since this was my first one, but it turns out if your apartment is clean you have nothing to worry about. So ya, we aced it. The other Elders in the ward, however got chewed out, so we will probably go help them clean their apartment. That was pretty much this week. Next week will be crazy, we have a zone conference on Wednesday and it is President Castro's last one. I will also find out next week if I am getting transferred or not. Then it is President Felix starting July 1. Thank you all for your letters, and all the support. It means a lot. I love you all and keep on having fun!

Elder Hamson


Calling the nation to repentance.

The Key

Well, as usual the weather is great. On Tuesday I started off my week going on an exchange with Elder Young, who is on the other side of our ward. I see him all the time so it was cool to have a whole day working with him. He has been out for about 4 months now, and he is a great missionary. In the morning we started tracted into a born again christian, and she was actually pretty cool. She had never actually heard the Joseph Smith story before, and so naturally we filled her in. She was a crazy, but hopefully she's crazy enough to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was a really good lesson, and we have another appointment with her tomorrow. Then throughout the rest of the day we ended up teaching 3 more lessons to random people we met, which is unusual. So I had a great start to the week. Then on Saturday the zone leaders called us and said that they needed our keys to the stake center. They had a baptism that day and realized they didn't have a key to the building, so we came to the rescue and opened the building for them. And then while we were there some guy came and started skateboarding at the church. We had to leave, but the zone leaders talked to him and as it turns out he was really interested. They gave him a tour of the church, including the font which was filling up. We found this all out later, but Jacob, the skater, is now meeting with the missionaries. It all works out great too, because his is YSA age anyway, and I'd like to think that it's all because of my key to the church. However it was just a reminder that there are people out there who are being prepared, we just need to find them. I think that is it as far as exciting things go this week. We are actually planning on going to the Ronald Reagan library later today, so I will let you all know how that goes. I am a little nervous about all the changes that are coming up. Not only just transfers, but a new mission president. Also I don't think I will be able to hide in Jr. companionville for much longer. It's all exciting, which is pretty much what my mission has been. Thank you all for your prayers.

Elder Hamson

Go Home!

This week has been a solid week. Tuesday was probably the most interesting. We had met Ben a couple days earlier and said I'm busy now, but i would love for you to come by and we can sit down and talk. He seemed really excited to talk with us. Now, I'm no new missionary, and I could see right through his little plan. Nobody is that excited to meet with us unless they want to bash. Anyways we went back on Tuesday and I was right. He invited us right in, we sat down, he whipped out his bible, and started right off. "Now boys, I am a seventh day Adventist and I am never going to change. . ." yadda yadda, he went on for a while. The hard part was that he was actually nice to us and so we tried to reason with him. The conversation was kind of one sided the whole time. He would talk forever and we would try and say something, then he would go right back talking again. We were stuck in a black hole. After a little more than an hour of us sharing our beliefs with each other I was done. He wasn't willing to even consider the possibility of the Book of Mormon being true, so we invited him to read and pray about it anyway. I told him that we are just here to share the blessings of peace and joy that come from the restored gospel. Can't argue with that. Then later that day in the evening we met this lady pastor. She, however, was not nice. She was walking her dog and we stopped to talk with her and she seemed nice at first, but as we started talking about why we are on our missions that changed. Basically she told us that we need to go home and go to college. I agreed and told her that I will be doing that once I am finished here. Then it got really weird, she cast like a spell or something on us. And I quote " You are going to have dreams, you are going to have visions, you are going to change your life around, and it's going to be for the better". That's when me and Elder Moser looked at each other like we need to leave, now. So we did. She is definitely working for the devil, and frankly it was a weak attempt on his part. Then on a good note I went on an exchange on Saturday with Elder Collard. I got to work in his area and we had some really great lessons together. He is a great missionary and was a lot of fun to be around. That pretty much sums up my week, the exciting parts that is. Things are going fantastic here, me and Elder Moser are becoming really good friends, and that always makes things a lot easier and a lot more fun. Thank you for your letters they mean a lot. Don't have too much fun without me.

Elder Hamson