I Am Not Going to Lie.

Hello everyone, not going to lie I am not going to miss having to send out an email every week. Transfers are here and Elder Gibb is staying (big surprise) and will carry on the work with out me. We had a great last week though. We met with Rob like three times and he is just awesome. He is eager to learn everything and is teaching me probably just as much. When you talk with him you grow to appreciate growing up in the gospel, and you realize how precious time is. I've thought about it a lot and how we spend our time defines our priorities. We may say that we love our family or that we love the gospel, but unless we are spending our time with family and reading the scriptures than our actions say otherwise. Rob deep down has always known what is right, but has made a lot of poor choices. He is trying to change all of that around now, but he has to deal with all the consequences and change his whole lifestyle and that is tough. He is great though and he inspires me to be better. We also were able to meet with a few other investigators and Less-Actives, and two of them came to church ! We should also have a great turnout at our FHE tonight. We are doing a potato derby, so pinewood derby potato style. We invited everyone and it should be a great last day here in Simi. Then I am staying the night at the mission home tomorrow, then I fly home on Wednesday. So it will be a little crazy for the next couple of weeks, but I am excited to see you tomorrow at the airport. I am sure you know, but I think I am supposed to land at like 2:22pm give or take. I will definitely miss being a missionary, but I am excited to be fully invested in what I am doing right now, and not try to live in the past or look to some imaginary future. Things change, life moves on and I am excited to see what lies ahead. Thank you all and I will see you soon or at least be in contact with you.
Elder Hamson

Right in the Middle for another Week.

Things are going great out here in Simi Valley. We were able to go on a couple exchanges, and a lot of great missionary work this week. We planned it out to take someone from the ward out working with us every night of the week. On Tuesday we had a great lesson with our recent convert Jessica. It was about keeping the Sabbath day holy, and it was great to have a member there with us. We also had a bunch of other lessons throughout the week with Potentially new investigators. Everyone keeps asking me how long I have left and I tell them that I am right in the middle of my mission for another week. One of those potentially new investigators I am really excited about. One of the members who is going to school at BYU in the fall brought her friend to church and she is interested in meeting with us. Her name is Julia  and I guess she had come to church as a teenager with her friend, but her parents wouldn't let her get baptized. Now, get this, she is moving out into her own apartment, so she is going to be a solid investigator. Also Rob came to church this Sunday! He has been really sick lately so we have only had two lessons. Also he is on probation until he is 42, so we are mostly preparing him to have an interview with President Felix and go from there. He, as of right now, is very committed and knows this is what he needs to do it will just be hard for him to change his whole lifestyle or you could say a change of heart. We taught him the Plan of Salvation this week, and we are going to try to teach him two lessons this next week as well as keep in contact on the other days. There are a few other people in the works and there is always plenty of work to do, but those are the two most exciting. This week as also been a week of reflection and it's been cool to think back at who I was and see where I am now. I am determined to keep going and to never look back. So ya, things are going fantastic and I have another great week ahead of me. Also we are singing at church on Sunday so we'll see how that goes. Thank you all and I will see you soon.

Breaking up is hard to do.

Greetings everyone, things are going great here in Simi Valley. This week we had MLC and that was great as always, it's weird to think that I won't be at the next one since I've been to the last 12 in a row. That was on Tuesday and that took up a large portion of our day, but that night we talked to these two kids in there garage and they were lifting weights preparing to go to worlds for power lifting or something like that(I'm not really into the whole competitive weight lifting scene). But they were really cool, and also ripped. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and the restoration and they didn't commit to a return appointment due to a busy work schedule, but we got their numbers. We have a lot of interactions like that where we have a great first contact and give them a Book of Mormon, but the follow-up is always the hard part. I guess that's how it is with a lot of things in life sometimes we need a good follow-up before we follow through with something. But anyways I won't rant about how important follow-up is just do it. But ya this week was a good week, we are in a transition in our area. We were able to find 4 new investigators this week and they seem to have good potential, but on the other hand we dropped Tiny and Daniel, because they stopped progressing. Elder Gibb and I were talking about it and he was saying it feels like we are breaking up with them or something. I don't really know what that is like, so I guess I have a little taste for the future (very distant future). So ya, we had a great week and I am having a lot of fun with Elder Gibb, he probably ranks among my top 3 favorite companions. I am grateful to be right in the middle of my mission for another 2 weeks. Thank you
Elder Hamson

ROCKET BOOSTER!!!

Greetings everyone, things are great as always out here in California. We were able to teach Rob this week and that has been awesome. He is a very unique investigator I can tell you that much, he has a really rough background and finally after years of suffering as he describes it he wants to change. He feels the spirit and he keeps telling us that he he knows for sure that this is the right thing and he is eager to learn and be involved to say the least. The lessons are fun, because he can be all over the place, he likes to talk, his language is colorful and he has some crazy stories. I decided we need to have short powerful lessons where we get his attention for 20 minutes and really help him understand it. We are planning on meeting with him 3 times a week or so. Also he brought his friend Gilbert along and we are teaching him as well, so we like Rob. We were also able to meet with other of the less- actives in the ward and in general people were home this week so that was great. This next week we are focusing on finding new investigators in the zone and we are going to try and find 49 new investigators this week as a zone. They are going to report to us everytime they find a new investigator and we are going to update everyone on our progress towards our goal everyday this week. It will take some extra work on our part, but we are only doing it for a week and we are calling it the WEEK 4 ROCKET BOOSTER!!! We have hyped it up a lot and everyone is excited about it, so I am confident that we can reach our goal.
Thank you
Elder Hamson

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