Progression

Hello again. I'm still alive here in Camarillo so that's good. Elder Hull and I are getting along just fine and he is going to be a great missionary.  Marcia is still progressing towards her baptismal date and is living the word of wisdom which was the only thing that has been a little bit hard for her. I keep thinking September is so far away, but it is sneaking up on me real quick. We are working out the baptismal program with her, and she asked me to perform the baptism. I was surprised, but also excited at the opportunity. We met Marcia at the park and our lesson was on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also gave her a preach my gospel, because she loves books and is hungry for more to study. And trust me on this one you can study that thing all day everyday and still learn something everytime, as long as you humble yourself. A lot of things are like that in the gospel, if you ever feel like you have learned it all, I hate to break it to you but you haven't. Anyways it was a great lesson, and Elder Hull and I are working better together. The next day we had lunch with Jennifer the recent convert, and we just found out the other day that now that she has full custody of her daughter Alyssa, Alyssa can now get baptised. Which is super exciting, because apparently she wasn't very happy when she found out she couldn't get baptized unless she got permission from her dad. They were practicing face painting while we were there, Jennifer does makeup for her job and was teaching Alyssa. We taught the Restoration, and I also managed to get out of getting my face painted. Then later that day we went to the ward BBQ at the park. It was good and there were a couple less actives that we talked to for a while. It was a pretty good party. We taught a bunch of other lessons through out the week to different people, and it was a busy week. I have really enjoyed living in the same apartment as Elder McKinley he is great. Anyways I hope everything is going well for all of you and I wish you luck for all of you who are going to school. Thank you for being awesome.
Elder Hamson

The Long and the Short of It.

Hello everyone this week has been a great week. On Tuesday I got to meet my new companion Elder Hull. He is from Tennessee and is about 5'4". I am pretty sure he is the shortest I've had so far. He is fresh out of the MTC and I keep having flash back from when I first came out. He is very different from me and has an accent. He also says yall a lot, which if I'm not careful might rub off on me. It has been interesting being a trainer, but a lot of fun at the same time. He has a lot to learn, but that is to be expected. He is willing to jump in and try though, so I am grateful for that. We had a good first week though. Later in the afternoon on Tuesday we had a lesson with Marcia, who has a baptismal date for September 13. Elder Hull fell asleep in the middle of the lesson, I guess he woke really Early on Monday to fly here and after his flight got cancelled he managed to arrive in the mission 12:00pm and go to bed at 2:00am Tuesday morning. Needless to say I was flying solo in that lesson and had to kick him a couple times to keep him awake. We saw a lot of other miracles this week one of which was unexpected. We were talking with a recent convert, Jennifer and she recently got full custody of her daughter which is great, so if we get permission she will get baptized. Her father is the only thing stopping her, but she really wants to be baptized. The unexpected part came when we taught her friend who was staying the night. He has gotten himself into trouble a few times I guess, but needless to say when we were there he came and talked with us for a little bit. We talked to him about a lot of things including overcoming challenges/addictions. It's like there is a void that needs to be filled and when you try to fill it with things from the world it doesn't help. Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ can we be completely healed. It was a really good conversation and he took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would read it. We told him to contact the missionaries wherever he ends up and they can help. She is kicking him out, so we won't teach him I just hope he takes the opportunity to turn his life around. Then on Sunday evening Elder Hull redeemed himself and we taught Marcia again. It was a great lesson on the Word of Wisdom and although she didn't completely understand why coffee and tea is in there she has committed to live the Word of Wisdom which is great, she is right on track for baptism and eventually the Temple. I am having a great time here I couldn't have asked for a better place to serve. Thank you all and I for all of you who start/have started school soon I wish you good luck. Also (sorry I'm late) Happy Birthday Heather!
Elder Hamson

Change is in the Air

Hello again, transfers are here and I am staying! Elder Gregory is leaving though he is headed up to Morro Bay. Neither of us know who our new companion is, because they are flying into the mission today, and we will meet them tomorrow. I am super excited to train and can't wait to meet whoever he is. It will be interesting to see what happens. I am glad that I get to see Elder Bate leave too. He wasn't ever my companion, but I have spent more time living with him than any other missionary. It will be cool to hear his final testimony as a missionary, and also sad to see him go. The work here is great we are staying very busy, I just hope my new companion is in shape, and if he isn't we can fix that. Marcia is doing great we taught her on Tuesday and set her with a baptismal date for September 13, so that was really exciting. Her husband seems to ok with it, but hopefully he softens his heart a little bit, so we can at least meet him. She came to church on Sunday and is always just so excited when we see. her. We also taught a bunch of other lessons this week, but one of them in particular was special. we were biking home from church Sunday morning (we had a correlation meeting) and we always go the same way home except for some reason we took a longer route, but in the process met zack. He was standing next to his car, and we stopped to talk with him. He told us that he feels like he is searching for something, and can't seem to find it. In the process he has gotten himself into a mess of addictions. We talked with him for a while, and we answered a few questions he had. He was a Muslim, but was really excited to learn more about Jesus Christ and His restored Gospel. It was just a really cool experience to be lead by the Lord to someone who really needed help. He was only here for a day and lives up in Bakersfield. He gladly gave us his address and phone number, so the missionaries in Bakersfield will have a fantastic referral. It has been really busy, and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon. Thank you all for the support. See you in more than a year.
Elder Hamson



Dinner with the Johnsons.

Gold Strike

This week has definitely been a week to remember. Wednesday was a solid day, we met with Rob in the morning, and those lessons are always entertaining. He is a returning Less-Active, and he is just a lot of fun to be around. It can be hard sometime, he gets sidetracked easily, we just know really quick if the lesson is interesting or not. Then after that we met with Sister Berry who is still staying active. (which is good) The cool part about Wednesday was that we were able to teach quite a few people we had never met before just on the street. One of which wanted to know if we do house blessings. Her catholic friends never showed up so she resorted to us. I have never run into that before, but I think we gave her a little more than she necessarily wanted. We talked about our beliefs about priesthood and gave her a Book of Mormon. She didn't want us to come back, but she has a Book of Mormon, so it's only a matter of time. Then on Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Watts. This is my Third exchange with him, except my first two were when we were in Thousand Oaks. It was a great exchange. We did a church tour with Hope, and her two kids came as well. We brought along the Elders quorom president and he was very helpful in explaining everything in the church. That was actually my first church tour ever, they all said they really loved it. They didn't end up coming to church on Sunday, but soon. . .Speaking of church we had an incredible miracle on Sunday. Marcia came to church. We met her for the first time at church on Sunday, and a member in Thousand Oaks introduced her to the church a while ago and she absolutely loves it. She has gone to other wards a couple of times I guess, but has now found her way to our ward where she belongs. She already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and instantly made friends with many of the sisters in our ward. We will meet with her for the first time this Tuesday at the Bishop's house and set her with a baptismal date. It has just been a huge blessing and she has truly been prepared. We will learn her whole story on Tuesday I'm sure, and little does she know that her story is only just beginning. So yes, we had a golden investigator fall into our lap on Sunday. Also something to note. The sisters in our district, Sister Moure and Sister Reneer have a baptism on Friday. I am the one that does the interview, and all the paper work for that, and this is my first one. It is going to be a little stressful, but I am excited.
I hope everything is going well with all of you and I am grateful for all of your prayers. Keep working hard and having fun!
Elder Hamson

Busy Sunday

Hello everyone, everything is going great here in Camarillo. This week was especially busy, mostly on the weekend.We were able to teach Hope on Friday and that was a great lesson. Unfortunatly we weren't able to get a member there with us, but the lesson was great anyway. We taught about families and modern revelation, so basically the Prophet, Book of Mormon, personaly prayer...ect all of it is to bless our families. It was a great lesson, she said she believs in the Book of Mormon, but she doesn't quite understand all that that entails. She has committed to continue reading, and she loves meeting with us, so she is headed in the right direction. Then on Saturday we met a new investigator Chris. He is hispanic and was out making a brick wall in his front yard, so we offered to help and talked to him for a while. He isn't currently very religous, but was interested in why we would ever serve a mission. It was a great conversation about priorities. We prayed with him and have an appointment for this week. Then later that day we went by Jennifer's house to see how she was doing. To our pleasant suprise her kids answered the door, so we were able to teach them all a lesson on thier back patio. It was about how important our testimonies are and how to build one. She has her kids for another week I guess. At the end of the lesson we found out that Jennifer couldn't be at church. so we quickly arranged for a ride for her kids to come anyway. They came on Sunday and it was actually really good for them not to have their mom there, and they all made new friends. Also we went by and saw Terri on Saturday and she was busy, but was excited to come to church. And to back track a little bit another one of our investigators Connie and her 7 year old daughter said they were going to come to church as well. So as you can imagine Sunday was a very stressful day. Connie didn't end up showing up, but we were ready for her. Alyssa, Theo and Johnny (Jennifers kids) were sitting with the Blacks who have kids similar ages. And we helped Terri come in and sit with Sister Northrup (they are now good friends), we saved a spot for Connie next to us sandwiched in between another family we thought they might like. It's a bummer Connie couldn't make it, but we will try for next week. Overall though it was a very successful week with a lot of good things going on.
Thank you all, and Keep reading and praying, it helps!
Elder Hamson

A Battle with a Beast

This week has been a really great week. We started off on Tuesday morning helping someone try and remove their tree stump. That thing is a beast, but we had a lot of fun getting dirty and swinging various types of axes. Then later that evening the ward had a Barbecue at the park and one of the members brought their neighbors! They aren't members and they had a great time, and we talked with them for a while about missions and missionary work. Then on Thursday we had district meeting and now that I am the district leader Thursdays are a little more stressful, but it all went well and we all learned a thing or two. After that we met Mikey who is a little bit crazy. He lost half of one of his legs, but that certainly doesn't stop him. He was outside fiddling with his bike and we started to talk with him. He doesn't believe in God, so we talked for a little while and he said he would try praying, but he doesn't like reading. The whole time we were talking with him he was going a 100 MPH always doing something, he even talked fast. He then showed us his bike riding skills and it definitely takes skill to ride a bike with one leg. He fell over a couple times, but he was mostly just trying to be funny. . . and he was hilarious. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Then on Friday we met with our investigators Linda and Chuck. We went over the Plan of Salvation and it went well I think. It was the Berks home, they are their member neighbors, so they helped teach as well. Linda and Chuck can be difficult, because they are quiet and haven't really opened up to us yet. Hopefully we can figure out how to help them progress soon. Then on Saturday we taught Johnny, Theo, and Alyssa. We made a Plan of Salvation game to play with them because they are all young. It was great, they loved it and they even learned something. Unfortunately their father is being. . . difficult you could say. He lives in Rancho or something, and it's a whole fiasco, but their mother (Jennifer), who is a recent convert, is losing custody of her children. It is a very sad situation and I will miss them for sure. On a happy note, we taught Griffin later on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he said he would be baptized, he just wants to learn more first. It was a great lesson, he is YSA age, so we are trying to set up a lesson where we can introduce Elder Bate and Elder Watts and officially hand him off to them. He is just hard to catch sometimes. Anyways thank you all for your support, and you will hear from me next week!
Elder Hamson

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