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

Work in Progress

Hello everyone, things are going well here in Simi Valley. We had two of our investigators come to church on Sunday. Daniel has been coming consistently, but Tiny came for the first time and he had a great experience. We are trying to help them both commit to a baptismal date, but Daniel is worried about his parents and we are still trying to find out what Tiny's deeper concern is. We are trying to work hard and build up the area, but it's still a work in progress. Things are good though, we have a good ward and there are definitely people to teach here in Simi Valley we just have to find them. We also had some people come to our FHE last week and they talked with us the whole time about why we are wrong and we need to stick with the bible. It was Mildly frustrating, but the church is still true and the Book of Mormon is still the word of God. Thank you all for your support 

Elder Hamson

Sprint to the Finish (out of order from June 8th.)

Hello everyone, life is great here in Simi Valley YSA ward. I really like Elder Wickern and we are going to do some work together. We had another couple lessons with Jessy this week and she is doing awesome. She just believes everything and asks some really great questions. The best part is that her parents are totally cool with her joining the church which seems to be the biggest problem in YSA wards. On the other had Daniel has been getting cold feet about his baptism at the end of the month. He is worried that his mom is going to freak out when he tells her he wants to be baptized. We told him it's going to be worse if she finds out after the fact, and we are trying to have a lesson where she is there or just have him bear testimony that it is true to her. It is going to be a bigger speed bump that we thought. We will pray hard, and bring some of the other members of the ward who had a similar situation, and hopefully it all works out. Going back to Jessy she came to church and brought her friend and her sister with her! They stayed for all three hours and had a great time, so we are going to try to start teaching her friend, and even introduce the Elders in the family ward to Jessy's whole family. Also we picked "Tiny" (he's 6'5" and probably 300lbs) back up he was a former investigator, and he is done living the party life. He wants to actually find out if it's true this time, so things are going well with him. He didn't come to church, but that's only a minor setback. And we are busy talking to a bunch of less actives trying to have them introduce us to their non-member friends. Oh and we also talked to an Atheist named Dan, and that was interesting. He is like a philosopher or something because he used a lot of big words and made everything in the world seem so complicated. We are used to teaching the simple doctrines of the gospel, and he is asking question about the nature of God and how can we know for sure that he is there. He was really nice, and we had fun talking but it was a little above my reading level. Turns out you can't really prove that God is there with philosophical concepts you just have to keep it simple and have child like faith. So ya life is great, and I am determined to sprint to the finish!
Elder Hamson

Life is Good

Hello everyone, life is great here in Simi valley. I went on a couple exchanges this week including one with Elder Lallatin (picture included). He is a new missionary and we get to do a little presentation about the stripling warriors and it's great. I absolutely love that story, and it always motivates me to work harder and trust in the Lord, even though I don't ever really know what I'm doing. On Tuesday we were walking out of a house and as we were walking across the street a lady like 3 houses down had her phone out, and although she may have thought we couldn't tell she was taking pictures it was pretty obvious that she totally was. So we waved and started walking over to talk to her, and she ran inside. I was thinking "oh great we scared her off" but 10 seconds later she came back out with her whole family and another friend that was over to show them how tall I was. So we talked for a little while and we ended up teaching them about the restoration, and gave the parents a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was really cool, and it will be a solid referral for Simi 4th ward (my old ward). Also Elder C. Scott Grow of the quorom of the Seventy came and talked with our half of the missionon Thursday. He also did a special meeting before hand with MLC, so that was fantastic and I really felt the spirit. Being a zone leader definitely has it's perks :) 

So ya life is good,

Elder Hamson

A June Week

Hello everyone, this week was a great week. We went to MLC on Tuesday and got to learn about how to be a consecrated missionary, and it is always good to see the other missionaries. There are a lot of new young leaders in the mission, and it makes me feel like the old man at MLC. That was great then on Wednesday we our investigator Jessy didn't show up to our appointment and we haven't been able to contact her since. That was a bummer, but hopefully she just went on vacation or something and forgot to tell us because she was solid. Daniel is doing well and came to church and one of the activities. He still iffy about baptism, but we aren't giving up on him. Until then we have been trying to meet some of the member's friends who are members, and that hasn't turned into anything yet but soon. We actually gave the family Elders  great referral thought this week. We were at dinner with Josh in our ward and his family, and his little sister's friend (she's about 16) stopped by and they convinced her to stay for dinner. She isn't a member and she had a lot of questions about what we do as missionaries. So naturally for our dinner lesson we didn't want to just throw everything on her, but I shared 2 Ne 33:10 and asked her if she is familiar with the story behind the Book of Mormon. She was like no, so we explained a little bit and that peaked her curiosity and started asking questions, and we taught it all anyway! So ya that was great and we got to help the other Elders out. But ya life is going good, and we get to meet with Elder C. Scott Grow this week, first with MLC then with half the mission. So I am super excited. Thanks for all you do and Happy Fathers day on Sunday Dad!