The Good and the Bad

Another week gone by here in Simi valley, and I am still alive (only barely). As far as numbers go this week was the worst week I have had on my mission thus far. I did have some good experiences though. In the beginning of the week I went on an exchange with Elder Anderson, I went over to his area and we had a great time together. We taught a guy named Billy and he had a lot of questions about why do I even need to go to church? and things like that. Sometimes people like him can be difficult, but by the end he said it makes sense and he believes what we are saying. We set up a return appointment with him next week, and now Elder Anderson has a new investigator. We had a stellar day together and talked to a lot of people and taught 5 lessons. It was just a really good day. Then I had to go back to my area the next day. It was a bad day. Then on Saturday we got to help with Mormon helping hands. We went to a cemetery and we were supposed to level some headstones, but the groundskeeper didn't show up. So we cleaned out a garage and put together some metal shelves. While we were putting together the shelves the press came and I got stuck with the job of getting interviewed by them. I answered all the questions and it was fine. they took a few pictures of us while we worked and one of the other missionaries was positioning himself so he was in all the pictures. It was funny to watch, then we all joked around at what the headline in the newspaper would be. "Standing Tall in Simi Valley" or maybe "Mormon Missionary looks down on community". I am yet to see what it actually says. As far as missionary work goes we have done a lot of tracting, and that is always entertaining. We have one investigator and we meet with her this week (yay!). Also we have presidents interviews this week so that is exciting. I am sure glad I like my companion though, because this place is difficult. The good news is that things moving along and if nothing else I am learning a lot about myself. I love you all and Thank you for your letter Timothy. 

Everybody needs a picture with Alan

This week has been packed with all sorts of exciting things. It went a lot better than the first week I can tell you that. Now that we know the area a little bit and we have mended some of the wounds left behind, we have started to really get to work and build this area. 

Since my companion is the district leader I will be going on a lot of exchanges this transfer which I am super excited about. Exchanges are the best, and I went on one with Elder Willis this last Wednesday. The morning started off really slow we didn't talk to anyone, because there was no one to talk to. So later on in the day we started on a Less Active hunt. We have a big list of names that the bishopric knows nothing about, so we hunt them down and find them. One of the houses we went to the person we were looking for had moved, but the lady who lives there now, Jessica talked to us for a while and after going over the restoration we gave her a Book of Mormon and she committed to read and pray. She seems to have a lot of potential, but we will find out tomorrow if she is serious about it or not. So she was one of our new investigators this week then on Friday me and Elder Moser were tracting and one of the ladies said she has some good friends that are Mormons. Her name is Tina and after talking for a little bit we set up an appointment to come back the next day and meet with her and her husband. Friday rolls around and we get in there and meet them and their family they have a really nice family, but the kids are really shy and we would just see them poking their heads in every once in a while. The lesson was ok, they aren't really willing to change anything in there life and they asked us like a million questions, and they all started with " so we heard you believe this. . .is that true?" Let's just say it was a really long lesson and me and Elder Moser were both excited to get out of there. We did help them realize that they had a lot of misconceptions about what we believe. I don't know what I was thinking, but I set up another appointment with them in 2 weeks. So they are new investigators as well. Then on Saturday I got to shake Elder Russel M. Nelson's hand! Him, Elder Bowen and Elder Garns were all there with their wives. We got to meet them all briefly at the beginning and Sister Garns said and I quote "I would love to have a picture with you!" So even the General Authorities want a picture with this Elder.(two thumbs pointing at myself) The meeting was fantastic and I took a lot of notes and I am definitely inspired to work harder and be better. It was pretty cool, when Elder Nelson got up he just answered questions we wanted to ask the whole time. 

So I am doing really good here in Simi valley, Elder Moser is great, he is a picky eater though which makes dinner appointments more fun. He doesn't say anything about it, so no one really knows that he is picky, but I know so I help him out. One of the dinners was really bad and I could tell he was really struggling to eat it. So I ate all my food then when the members weren't looking I traded plates with him and ate his food too. In the end everyone was happy. I find myself feeling at home as a missionary and more and more confident in myself. Sometimes it stinks, but most of the time I'm working hard and having fun! 

thank you all for your love and support. 

Cars and Trucks

Hello Everyone,
This week has been interesting to say the least. It started off ok we went to transfer meeting, met my new companion and he is fantastic. I was excited to go to my new area, this is the first time white washing for both of us. Then we got there. . . we have all of our stuff and we walk into the apartment and it was trashed. It looked like they were expecting to come back, and it was the most disgusting bathroom I have seen in a missionary apartment. So for the first couple of days we spent most of the time cleaning out the apartment, so we could live there. I was finally able to unpack everything and feel a little bit at home 4 days in. Its all fine now, but the apartment wasn't the only thing the Elders before us neglected. We were at a ward activity, a car show, and one of the members came up to us and said " I have a bone to pick with you." He then proceeded to chew us out for missing a dinner appointment that his wife worked hard to prepare. we apologized as he stormed off, and thankfully the other Elders in the ward talked to him and told him it's not our fault we just got here. The other Elders in the ward are great Elder Willis and Elder Young. They were so excited to see that we were coming to the ward. The good news is that we couldn't possibly mess this up, this area hit rock bottom there is only going up from here. I guess that means that the Lord trusts us to get this area back on its feet. It will be a even more difficult than I expected, but it's nothing I can't handle.
We did have some good experiences this week though. We went by this less active's house , the Mulfords, and they were excited to see us and let us in. The mother is great has been a member her whole life she just doesn't come to church because of her husband who isn't a member. They are tall too, their son Sean is 6'7" and there daughter is playing volleyball in Michigan. We connected really well and invited them to the ward activity the next day. The next day we helped out at the car show setting up chairs and helping serve the tri-tip sandwiches. I had a good time and I have learned a lot about cars too. These people in California are all about their cars. Then at the end of the car show the Mulfords showed up which was fantastic. I was also able bear my testimony in testimony meeting which went well, I told one of my usual jokes and I think the ward is beginning to trust us a little more. I am excited for the future this area has some serious potential, and I am super excited about the challenge. Also this Saturday Elder Russel M. Nelson is coming to the mission to speak to the whole mission. So I get to meet an apostle this week!
I love you all and I am doing good here in simi valley. In reference to Elder Bednar's talk, I have a big load in my truck with some serious spiritual traction going on.

Moving Day

My time here in Thousand Oaks has come to an end. It is a bitter sweet, but I am excited for my next adventure. It's like 5 minutes away in Simi valley 4th ward, my new companion will be Elder Moser and from what I hear he is a big goof ball, so I guess we have something in common. There are four missionaries in the ward, and me and Elder Moser are white washing in. Which means that we are both new to the area and we hope and pray the Elders before us wrote everything down. So a lot of things are changing and that is exciting. As far as Elder Shields goes he is training and will be in a tri-pan. Basically this new Elder will have two Elders training him at the same time, at least for a little while. 

As far as the missionary work goes, we talked with Jacque for a while and she said her mom was asking to come to church with her some time. It was fantastic! So now our next appointment will be with her and her mom. Jacque was worried about her mom not being involved, but if she gets baptized too that will solve all our problems. Unfortunately I won't be there to see what happens, but I trust Elder Shields. 

Then to finish the week off we had general conference which is pretty much the best thing ever. Its hard to decide on what I liked the most, but Elder Bednar's talk was just superb. The question I am asking myself now is how can I get more spiritual traction? Then the talk right after that from President Monson was great as well. we need to be considerate and sensative which applies especially to those we are closest to. Here is another question: Who told the story about jumping out of a smoking semi? and why did he tell that story?

Love you all, thank you for your prayers,

Rules and Blocks

This week has been one of the more difficult weeks as far as breaking the rules go. Basically I don't have a problem with all the mission rules, its just when I have to explain to other people the rules and they don't understand. For example, Walter Marchbanks a less active member we met earlier this week. He is pretty old and he is very well off, we went over to his mansion on Saturday to help him with some yard work and talk with him for a little bit. He told me that he looked me up and also read a lot about my sister, and she is playing uconn at 1:30, why don't we go out to lunch in Moor Park and then we can come back and watch the game. I then had to explain to him that, No, I can't go to lunch out of my area, and No I can't watch TV(even though I really want to). So after some arguing he finally agreed to just feed us some lunch here at his house. So we are eating lunch then all of the sudden he turns on his giant TV to ESPN and says: "Hey look they're talking about your sister." So we finished lunch quickly and watched some Highlights from the previous games (SOME SWEET BLOCKS FROM JENNIFER HAMSON!) But we had to leave I couldn't justify watching for more than a couple minutes. So ya, members can make it hard to follow the rules some times.
As far as the work goes we had some great lessons. One of them was with Scott who is an interesting fellow. He is a talker, he enjoys talking and is open to listening to us. But he talks 80% of the time, so when we teach him its difficult. We teach him a little portion of the lesson and it reminds him of something then he just rambles until either he's done or we just interrupt him. So our lessons are going to be really long or we'll just have a lot of lessons. I also bore my testimony on Sunday, because some of our fast and testimony meetings get a little dull. I told a funny story and it livened things up a little bit. Overall a good week
It's an exciting week next week we have General Conference and transfers are next week. I am like a dinosaur here in this area, and it would be pretty crazy if I stayed again. I love it here, but also I am ready and excited to move on (knock on wood).
I love you all and don't have too much fun with out me.


The Top of the Hill:

Cheers and Tears

GO BYU!!! JEN YOU'RE THE BEST!!! 

I can't come to the game so this will have to suffice. Ya, this last week has been fantastic. On Sunday a member told me all about the game against NC state and that BYU was the 12 seed. It was a good thing we were in the chapel, because otherwise I would have just lost it. 

As far as missionary work goes, we finally got to teach this girl named Jacque. She is like 17 and has been coming to church with her friend in the ward for a while now. We have been trying to meet with her for what seems like forever, but it's probably only been a few months. Anyways she pretty much is already half way through 2 Nephi and pretty much already knows a lot of the stuff we are teaching. So we blew through the Restoration and Plan of Salvation yesterday and she believed every word of it. So naturally I think in my head this is great lets set her with a baptismal date right now. I asked her to baptized. She immediately starts crying and they just keep coming. It was quiet for a while and I am sitting there thinking to my self, what have I done, this is the last thing I expected to happen. It turns out it's a little more complicated than I thought, but basically she is worried about what her mom will think. Our plan now is to get them both baptized that way it isn't a problem! But we will keep meeting with her and hopefully her mom comes to our next lesson. Other than Sunday it was about an average week. One of our investigators, Sandy, told us that her prayers had been answered. When we asked her about it she told us that the store had run out of her favorite brand of coffee that was on sale. She prayed that it would be there the next day. Sure enough, there it was the next day. On the bright side she went with the ward to the ward temple activity to walk around the LA temple and the visitors center. We will ask her all about it this week!

I love you all and although I'm not watching march madness I am still so happy to be a missionary. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. 

Elder Hamson

The Earth is Shaking

Hello everybody, this morning I survived an earthquake, so that's exciting. At first I thought someone fell down in the apartment above us or something, but I guess it was an earthquake. It wasn't enough to do any damage and we are all fine. This last week though has been an adventure. I'm getting along pretty good with my companion and it is definitely entertaining living with the zone leaders. (they don't get along as well). Right off the bat though last Monday evening we ran into a man who was just standing on his front lawn. He, Scott, was either waiting for his sprinklers to turn on or waiting for missionaries to come talk to him. We talked for a little bit and he was really interested in modern day prophets. We taught him all about it and gave him a Book of Mormon to read and pray about. We will talk to him again this week and see how it turns out. Then later in the week we taught Amanda and her family again. We taught a lot about faith and prayer. We committed them to read Alma 32 and to come to church. They didn't come to church though which was a bummer. I guess we'll find out why when we meet with them this week. We did however have two investigators, Jaque "jackie" and Katelyn, at church. We finally have an appointment with jaque next sunday, so we can set her with a baptismal date and she can start working towards that. Katelyn is an 11 year old girl we teach every once in a while who has had all the lessons and wants to be baptized however her parents are a lot less enthusiastic about the whole situation. It is quite complicated, so I won't bore you. We were just really excited to see her at church which she hasn't been able to come the whole time I have been here. We will teach her again this up coming week and hopefully church wasn't just a one time thing. We also had a district meeting for the first time in this district and is was a really good meeting. There are some really great missionaries here and I am glad to be able to work around them. I love you all and I hope you are all doing well.

Elder Hamson


Alan's District: