Go Cougars!

I think I forgot to say last week, but this week is transfers! Elder Jackson is headed to Simi valley, and my new companion will be Elder Kanenwisher as of tomorrow. He hasn't been a zone leader before. so that means I'm the Sr. companion now. It will be interesting, because I only sort of know what I am doing. Hana, one of our investigators, went home for Christmas break and got baptized in her home town Oakdale, CA. We were kinda bummed that we couldn't be there, but she was ready and we taught her all the lessons, and we can't wait to hear the full report when she gets back in January. Helen who just got baptized is as solid as ever. Bella who got baptized a month ago got her patriarchal blessing and gave a talk at church, so she is progressing very quickly. Jesse is doing great as well. We are really excited for them all. A lot of people are going home for Christmas, and our whole ward is pretty much dissolving until next year. I guess we'll have to find some locals to teach until they all get back. Thank you all for the support, also thank you to 14th ward for the package I thoroughly enjoyed it. The pictures are of Helen's baptism, a hike we went on, and our living Christmas tree. GO BYU!!!
Elder Hamson

Wild Wednesday

Hello everyone, this week has been an intense week. We started off with a hike on Monday afternoon and that was fantastic. Then on Tuesday I went to my first real MLC, the last one was different. It was great to see old companions, like Elder Atkin and Elder Moser there. It was a great meeting and we talked about some of the rules in the mission. One big change that happened is that we are now allowed to play sports with members and non-members. It is a very foreign concept for me since it has been against the rules my whole mission, but it can definitely be a great missionary tool. After that we went on an exchange with the assistants, which was awesome. Elder Jackson stayed in Ventura while I drove back up to SLO with Elder Lee and Elder Wallace. I have never really gotten to serve around Elder Lee, but we were on the PG basketball team together, so it was great to be able to catch up with him on the 2.5hr drive back. He went to work with the district leader up in Paso Robles while I stayed and worked with Elder Wallace. Elder Wallace and I had a great exchange and all of our appointments had fallen on Wednesday, so we taught quite a few lessons. We taught Helen first and she was having a bad morning just frustrated with school and freaking out about her baptism on Saturday, but she said she prayed and felt peace so she was ok. This was all before out lesson with her. That was great to hear, and we reviewed Joseph Smith and his whole story and then watched He is the GIft. We then taught Bella and Jesse who are both recent converts who are doing great in their callings and just everything. We then had a short lesson with Sam (who we met last Sunday) that went really well. After that we taught Harmony who is a returning less active. Usually these lessons are a little more spread out, but with MLC it pushed it all to Wednesday. It was just a great day and I loved serving with and learning from Elder Wallace. Elder Jackson drove up that night and the assistants went off to their next exchange in the next zone down. They slowly made their way down the mission on a series of 4 back to back exchanges. On Thursday we planned for our zone meeting on Friday where we present basically everything from MLC in a condensed 1.5 hrs. We also planned for Helen's baptism on Saturday, and taught her again Thursday night. Friday we had our zone meeting and that went well, we showed everyone He is the Gift and a little powerpoint about it. Everyone is getting very excited about Christmas and this new initiative from the church. Then on Saturday Helen got Baptized! It all went very smoothly except for one thing. We filled up the font before the baptism, and we felt the water to see how warm it was and it was cold. we couldn't figure out why, because the hot water was on full blast there should be some warmth. After getting a mop and bucket to reach the faucet and feel the water coming out we decided the hot water is broken. They didn't have any pots and pans in the kitchen to boil some water for them so she just got baptized in cold water. Afterwards she told us it wasn't that cold, so she still had a good experience which was awesome. I think she was filled with the spirit or something because that water was straight up cold. Also a bunch of her non-member friends came and they enjoyed it. We talked with them a little bit and they definitely felt the spirit, they don't know it yet but they did. Overall it was a great baptismal service and a great way to finish the week with her confirmation the next day. 

Thank you all and Have a merry Christmas. Also share the gift with your friends #share the gift.

Elder Hamson

Where has the Lord Blessed You?

I don't think things are going to slow down anytime soon. I have been as busy as ever and I absolutely love being a missionary. The Lord has blessed me so much I can't believe it sometimes. We started off this week with an exchange on Tuesday with Elder Robertson and Elder Trujillo. They are Spanish speaking missionaries, so that made things more interesting. I went with Elder Trujillo in his area (Morro Bay) and I had a great time. I learned a little bit of Spanish, but mostly it was all him as far as teaching goes. Probably one of the more interesting exchanges I went on, but it went really well. Then we had Thanksgiving dinner at a member of the bishopric's house and that was great. On Saturday we went on another Exchange except this time I stayed in SLO while Elder Jackson went up to Templeton. It was a good exchange with Elder Smoot and they are english speaking, so that wasn't the problem. I just tried really hard not to get lost, because we have a large area and I don't have it down that well yet. Thank goodness for my GPS. My favorite day this week though was by far Sunday. We went to church and there was like 20 of us there, because everyone is out of town with their families. After church we had a lesson with Helen who is really excited about her baptism this Saturday. We are planning that all out and it should be a really great experience for everyone. Then later that evening we had one of the best lessons I have had in a long time. We got in contact with Olivia who went LA when she was 12 and set up an appointment for Sunday night, and she brought her non-member boyfriend Sam. We brought Matt from the ward with us and it was a great lesson. It was about the restoration and when we were talking about the Spirit Sam told us that he has gotten feelings that before, but he is really feeling it right now. The lesson was completely led by the spirit, and you can't deny the spirit that was there. I wish I could describe this lesson better, because there were so many little things that fell into place to make it happen. We asked Sam if he would be baptized if he knew the Book of Mormon was true, and he said yes. They were so prepared and I still cannot believe how blessed I have been. This is truly the Lords work, and not just some hip thing the kids day these days. I would encourage you all to look for where the Lord has blessed you in your life, it's a very humble experience. Thank you all for your support. You are in my prayers, and I love you all.

Elder Hamson

A Busy Week

Well this last week has been great. We started off with zone conference on Tuesday, which was interesting. I conducted the meeting which was stressful seeing as I have no idea what I am doing. We had put together a musical number with a bunch of the missionaries in the zone including myself, and afterwards I got up to continue with the meeting and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to thank myself for singing or what. It was a good learning experience and it's weird to be sitting on the stand at zone conference which really is two zones combined (about 50 missionaries). We learned a lot and I love President Felix more and more. Then through out the week we taught Helen a couple of times. She is set to be baptized on December 6th and is more than ready. She is really fun to teach, because she has been investigating for a while and knows a lot so she wants us to go more in depth about things which is like a missionaries dream come true. It is a lot harder to take the gospel and all that that consists of and teach it simple enough for someone with no background in the church to understand. There are also a couple other recent converts we are teaching the new member lessons to. Bella who was baptized November 1st and Jesse who she was baptized in September. They are both doing great and have callings in the church. There is also a guy named Gabriel who we had an appointment with, but he didn't show up. He did, however, go to SLO 1st ward on Sunday and stayed for all three hours. He is YSA age, but doesn't have a phone so we can't really contact him. I am not sure what to think of him yet, but hopefully we can contact him and find out more about him. I also did my first stake report which was fun, we gathered all the information from our zone for the month and presented it to the stake presidency. I really like the stake presidency, and it was a good meeting. I am feeling more and more comfortable with the area and with all of our responsibilities, it has been quite the learning and testimony building experience up here in SLO. I have a huge testimony in Proverbs 3:5-6 that when we trust in the Lord and in His plan and not in our own limited understanding, He really does direct our paths and we are simply happier that way. Thank you all for all of the love and support, it means a lot more than I think you realize. You are all in my prayers as well.

Elder Hamson

A Long Day

Everything is going great here in SLO. This last week has been a little crazy and I still don't know what I am doing most of the time. On Tuesday we had a lesson with Helen who is preparing for her baptismal date on December 6. She is doing great and is working on strengthening her testimony of the priesthood and Joseph Smith. She is great and we are excited about her. On Wednesday we drove up to Paso Robles and picked up one of the district leaders there then pick up the other two on the way back, then after we gathered everyone we set off on our little road trip to Mission Leadership Conference (MLC) in Ventura. This one was more like a mission leader ship training, because the district leaders were invited. Anyways we drove down the day before and stay the night with President and Sister Felix in the mission home. It was a fun time and we went to our meeting at 9:00am the next day. Some people from the MTC came and did a training and I learned a whole lot. The meeting ended around 4:00pm and we gathered all of our supplies and headed back to SLO. It was a long drive and after we dropped off all the district leaders we finally made it back at 10:23pm. It was a long day, and I felt disobedient but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. The next morning we had a zone meeting where we presented everything we had learned. Talk about going by the spirit, we had very little time to prepare that meeting. Everything turned out great and that night I went on an exchange with Elder Walker who is a district leader up in Paso Robles. That was a great day of learning and it was great to work with Elder Walker. On Sunday we spent most of our time at church in meeting, and preparing for zone conference on Tuesday and a report to the stake presidency about our zone on Wednesday. Needless to say there is a lot to do and I am still as happy and excited as ever. Thank you all for everything you are in my prayers. Also Happy birthday dad, I love you very much and you are all in my prayers.
Elder Hamson

A Red Truck

Hello everyone, I am doing great here in San Luis Obispo. I wish I could be there with you today, but I am sending my love and prayers. 

My first day last week was crazy. We went to transfer meeting and that was great. After that we had to make sure all the missionaries found their companion and that all of the luggage and bikes make it all the way up to their areas. We took a lot of the bikes and some luggage in our red truck (2012 Nissan Frontier). It was a long beautiful drive up there and we managed to get everyone their luggage and bikes and get home only to find out that I left my crate in Ventura. At least we remembered everyone else's stuff. Then later on I met one of our investigators Helen who is set to get baptized on December 6th. She is so awesome and ready, infact she already has a calling which I wasn't sure was possible, but I guess so. She will make for a great member. I am making a lot of adjustment with being a zone leader, serving in a YSA ward, driving a truck etc. but so far it has been a blast so I am really excited to be here. Thank you all for your prayers and support. You are all the best. 

Elder Hamson

The first one is Alan with his new companion, Elder Jack.  The other is with Elder McKinley.

Zone Leader

Well I am getting trasfered to San luis Obisbo. I'll be serving in the YSA ward and I guess that means I am a zone leader. I have never been up to the north end of the mission before, so everything will be very new, but that's what makes it exciting. Elder Hull and I had a good last week together and it is always a bitter sweet at transfers. I don't know the address to my new apartment yet, so if you send any mail send it to the mission office.

 I found out about uncle Karl and I find myself not knowing what to think sometimes, but I just want everyone to know that the things that I am teaching out here are very real. Life sucks, it's not fair, it's full of sadness, pain and grief. This is part of God's plan for all of us. He knows us and has given us the opportunity to have peace and comfort through the gospel. There is hope when we submit our will to his and accept his timing. I can't describe my feelings very well other than I have a deep sadness and my prayers go out to all of Karl's family. My testimony of the Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the enabling power of His Atonement is helping me through. We can all make it through this together. I wish I could be there, but I am in the right place. Thank you all.

Elder Hamson

Editor's Note:

(David Hamson) My brother Karl passed away last Friday night.  Although he had been ill for a long time, his death was not expected.  I talked to President Felix, Alan's mission president on Saturday so that he could inform Alan of Karl's passing.  We had a good talk and President Felix told me of Alan's call to be a Zone  Leader and told me that Alan is doing a great job as a missionary and as an example to other missionaries.