Week 37 Lift Others

Hey everyone! This week has been a pretty good week, so let's get started.

Monday

was p-day!!! So we went bowling with a member in Mill Creek who is famous in the mission. His name is Todd Aggard, I didn't take any pictures this time, but a good amount of the time was spend bowling anyway. Todd is a member and loves missionaries. He's known a lot of them like Elder Goodman for almost the span of their missions. I just met him two weeks ago, and he's way cool. Todd paid for 3 games, breakfast, and shoes for the games, all for the price of $9.30. The breakfast was good. They do a good job, and we had loads of fun. Todd treated us well. After, we went back home and changed and rode our bikes to the stake center to email where we stayed for the rest of the p-day. Around 6, we had the dinner with the whole zone at the Porterfields. They made for us pulled pork sandwiches, which were really good. After the dinner, I got some stuff that some of the South Whidbey members made for me that I didn't get before I left. Elder Addington brought them to me. I can't remember if I said this, but South Whidbey is leaving the Everett Zone and is becoming its own stake with the rest of the island. It's sad to see it go, but that's important that it happens. So after the dinner, the Spanish elders took us back to the stake center to get our bikes so we could ride home, and let me tell you, it was not easy to get the quilt home with the matching pillow case on the bike! Lots of things to carry for a bike trip. Once home, we got ready and went to the Scolics to have FHE with them. Then we came home and went to bed.

Pillowcase and quilt from South Whidbey members

Tuesday

We woke up and prepped for the day. After planing the day, we then went and had Mormon.org time. Then after, when we were heading home, Elder Goodman got a nail stuck in his tire. It was not fun. So he had to get one at Fred Meyer (Smiths in Utah) on the way home and walk his bike home. Once there, we had lunch and comp study while Elder Goodman got his tire fixed. After he got it fixed, it was off to Applebees for dinner with one of our investigators named Pattie. She's an older, sweet lady, and she loves learning about our church. We had dinner with her. Then we went and had a church tour with her so she could see the inside and see what it looked like because she always wondered what it looked like. After, we then went back home and grabbed some things before we went over to the Templins to talk to them for a little bit. The children are baptized, but the mom is not, so we want to try to pick her up as an investigator as well. We talked to her for the rest of the night and then came home and went to bed.

Wednesday

we had district meeting, and it was great! We talked about having faith in missionary work and how to find people to teach. We also role played how to do a church tour. After, we went home for lunch and then rode over to Mill Creek's apartment to do a small exchange for a couple of hours because Elder Erickson was still sick from last Friday. After, me and Elder Traijo went and visited some people. We then came back and exchanged back with each other. Then from there we went to dinner and had it with the Redds, a nice young family. We had a good time with them, and did you know sparkling ice has green tea extract in it? So its against the word of wisdom. I found out on Wednesday because they were about to serve it to us when Elder Goodman told them about it. Once they found out, they put them all back into the garage to be put away. They didn't know either and had been drinking it for the past few days, so remember, everyone, look at the ingredient before drinking something that looks safe to drink. After dinner, we went and tracked a small street, and then went to Brother Nebeker's to have our correlation meeting. Afterward, we played a game with them called Nertz. I bet everyone knows what that is. I played it for the first time Wednesday. It is lots of fun! My orchestra teacher and one of my friends both love that game so much. They would just explain how much fun it is. I miss those two. A good friend that I met in orchestra, and an amazing teacher. I hope they both are doing well. After that, we came home and went to bed.

Thursday

We cleaned and rearranged the apartment around. Then we went and saw some people. After, we went to Sport Clips, and I got a hair cut before our linner was over. Then we went to the food bank and helped there. We came home and did some street contacting. Then we went to bed.

Friday

We weekly planned like always. Then we went and visited people and had dinner. Not a big eventful day.

Saturday

I went on an exchange with the Seattle Hill elders. Elder Stewart and I had a good time together. However, Seattle Hill is called Seattle Hill for a reason! It's all just one big hill and lots of peddling! It killed my whole body. But for the day, we did the regular things, studied, ate meals, and then went to their area. They live 5 miles out of area and they're on bikes, so it was a pretty hard day of biking. We went and visited a lot of people, did some service for a nonmember, and had dinner with a cool family named the Rigbys. So it was a good day. Elder Stewart is an awesome elder!

Elder Stewart

Sunday

We had church, and a returned missionary spoke to us. She was serving in Thailand and has a powerful testimony, but that's what a mission does for you, builds your testimony. For some people, if treated the wrong way, can lose a testimony, and I hope I never am one of those people. But I know if I put my trust in God, He will help me through any trial I go through. After church, we came home and had lunch, did our personal study, then comp study, then we planned the rest of the day. After, we rode to dinner where Elder Goodman found out he broke his axle on his bike, so we have to go in and get it fixed today. We went to dinner, and then we came home to park the bikes and walk around for 2 hours. Then we came back and accounted.

Well that's it for this week, but here is my spiritual message:

I've been studying a lot, mostly about faith and the understanding of it, how prophets are perfect examples of what faith really is. And as cool as that probably sounds, that's not what I'm going to share. Ill share it  more next week. Like I talked about earlier, we had a returned missionary talk to us at church yesterday, and she brought up Alma chapter 36, verse 27 which states,"And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from the bonds, and from death, yea and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me." I can believe that this is a testimony of a prophet and a witness of God, of someone named Alma, who had gone through the hardest time, yes even a harder life than many people in the Book of Mormon, and he still put his trust in God, and because he did, Alma received his blessings. In this chapter, he is talking to his son Helaman, and we have probably read this chapter many times, but when I read this chapter yesterday, a lot of things caught my eye, like verse 24 "Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God and be filled with the Holy Ghost." That scripture states what I as a missionary want to do as well. I want to bless others and help everyone I can, and because I put my trust in God, He will always deliver me from my trials. I will be able to help many people taste of that joy, and to wrap it up, I do this all because what is said in verse 22, which is the same thing I want "Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; YEA, AND MY SOUL DID LONG TO BE THERE." This return missionary has a phrase, and it is "I don't want any of my own space when I get to heaven. I want to be squished in and squeezed in with all of you, so much there is no room to hold us." My soul longs to be with those angles and with all of you in heaven praising God forever, and it is my prayer that we can have that same desire for our own brothers and sisters that may be wandering lonely paths of sorrow and sadness. Please help lift them, that's all the Father wants. I pray and testify of these things, and I do so in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Elder Hammond

Week 36 Reunion with All My Comps

Hey everyone. This week was great, so let's get to it.

Monday

So Monday was my 8th month mark since I entered the MTC which is exciting. I'm almost to my year mark, just 4 months away. But what we did for the day we first got ready for p-day! Then we rode our bikes to the stake center to email. It was more like the others emailing and us sitting and talking with them because we really had nothing to do. 11 o'clock rolled around, and it was our turn to email. So we did, and it was great. I got lots of emails. We emailed for 3 and a half hours, well Elder Goodman did. I was waiting for him to get done after the 2 hour mark, but that's okay. He was applying to go to BYU. So hopefully that all works. Elder Goodman has 9 more weeks left in his mission, so he's really trying to figure our where he wants to go. He and I have been talking a lot of options over, but he's still deciding and trying to figure out what the Lord wants him to do, which is good. The one thing I hate about all of this college talk is that its making me think more and more about collage, and I still have a year and a half of my mission to go. That was the sad part about last transfer too. Elder Addington is in the same boat, and he's been looking up colleges too. If Elder Goodman doesn't get into BYU, he's going to go to Grand Canyon University. It sounds like a cool place, but I hope he goes to BYU. It's a cool place. I've thought about it and if I want to later down the rode. I have an interest in going to BYUI, but I'm not going to think about that until June 2018. Those two elders really have been getting me thinking about it, so I've been wondering what I want to do and if computer science is really the thing I want to do... I'm still deciding, but that's okay. I've got time to think. After emailing, we went shopping and got some lunch and came back to the stake center. Then Elder Goodman went and played hand ball while I sat and ate my lunch. They had a good time, and it looked like everything went well. After, we went back to the computer room and Elder Goodman finished up his application to BYU. Then we went home to head to dinner with the Winns in our ward. After, we came home and did some street contacting, but no luck. So after a little while we came home and got ready for bed.

Tuesday

We had Zone Conference which was so much fun!!! We were combined with the Marysville zone and the Arlington zone, and it made me so happy because both of my first trainers were there, Elder Kirk and Elder Manzione which I haven't had them both in a zone conference with me ever since B-ham. A lot of my B-ham pals were there too. Elder Soelberg is still in Stillaguamish with the Jeep! We still talk to each other every p-day. I ask how Kelly is doing and how the area is doing, even if the jeep is holding up, which it is, but it's getting replaced soon. I also saw a lot of the old Arlington zone, the original clan I call it. I miss that zone so much! It's crazy to think I had all my past companions at that zone conference except Elder Stoddard, He's in Bellingham right now on bike, and he goes home this transfer, which is so weird because it felt like I was with him just yesterday, killing it in Stilly!! Now I don't get to see him when he goes home :( but I bet I'll see him again sometime soon. We'll see. Zone conference was good. We had President pick us up from Everett along with some other elders. He took us to Arlington in a big van. After Zone Conference, we came back, and we had our studies, dinner, and did some street contacting. Then it was time for bed.

Elder Hammond and Elder Soelberg with the Jeep

Elder Hammond and Elder Barlow-worked together in Bellingham

Elder Stoddard's tie

Wearing Elder Stoddard's tie in honor of him

Wednesday

We had district meeting which was the craziest, unfocused, most interesting one I've had in my whole mission so far. Everyone was so unfocused, and it didn't help that the instruction was the reason people where becoming unfocused. It was a great instruction. I loved it, but every person in my district is always joking around and if something seems boring, they'll look for something more fun. The instruction was on what is the doctrine, principle, and application about missionary work. Elder Bednar gave a talk about it in the MTC some time ago. Good talk, takes a while to understand, but I'm getting there. After, we then came home and had lunch. Then we went into comp study. Shortly after, we went and visited some people for a while before dinner. We saw President drive past us in his truck while we were out. He honked at us :). After dinner, we then booked it to correlation meeting with our ward mission leader. After that, we then went to bishop's house to discuss what's going to happen the next day for a lesson they set up for us. Then we hurried home and went to bed. 

Thursday

Thursday was an interesting day. We got ready for the day, studied, planned, then went out to go visit some people. We have a lot of dirt trails in our area, and one big power line road that cuts through our area, and we use that power line road almost every day, which is great. I like biking down dirt paths. We had some at home that Tyler and I went on when I was home. But the sad part was as we were exploring that trail, Elder Goodman's chain on his bike fell off and got stuck between the wheel and the sprocket. So after taking the wheel off and trying to get the chain out, he tugged and pushed so much that the d-railer hanger got bent so he couldn't put his wheel back on. It was not fun at all, and the chain was still stuck. So he couldn't ride it home to get it fixed, and we were about two miles away from our apartment, so he had to carry it the whole way back. I would have helped him, but I had my own bike to worry about, and he's a strong elder. He did it all by himself. It took us an hour to get home because he had to take several breaks in between. Once home though he tried to bend the hanger back to its original spot, but shortly after trying for a little while, he gave up and we walked up to the bike store to pick him up a new one. $25 later, he's got a new hanger for his bike. That whole thing took up half of our day, and we were both really tired. We then had to hurry over to the food bank to help them. Around 5:30 we ran home to put Elder Goodman's light on his bike, had dinner, and ran over to bishop's to teach a lesson, but right as we got there, we got a text message saying that their friend didn't show up. It made both of us pretty sad. Thursday was not the greatest day for this week. Afterward, we went to the relief society president's house and told her who we had met of the new move ins she wanted us to go see. Then we headed home and went to bed.

Elder Goodman and Elder Hammond riding the trails near home

Friday

We weekly planned for most of the day and then visited people.

Saturday

I went on an exchange with the zone leaders. Elder Semidedi came to our area, and I stayed here. It was an interesting exchange. We did some good work, but by the end we said some rough things to each other. He wanted to do everything his way, not knowing what I wanted or what we had to do. So I told him that he can't do that and that he has to consider my opinion too. Even though he has been out longer then me, he needed to understand because his own companion was not telling him. But that's okay. We visited some people, did some service for nonmembers, and attended the adult session of stake conference. It was good. We didn't have a 70 there, but we had the stake president there. The spirit was there, It worked out great. After, we went home and ended the day.

Sunday

We had stake conference. Nothing really changed except South Whidbey is becoming its own stake with the rest of the island which will be good for them so they don't have to ride the ferry all the time. After, we went and did an exchange with Mill Creek because Elder Erickson was sick. So I stayed with him while the elders worked in Mill Creek. Then we came back together and came home to have a small snack. Then we visited some people and went to dinner with the Hammonds. We had a great time. They fed us crepes. Then we came home and studied, accounted, and went to bed.

Well that's the week for you all. I hope you enjoyed your Easter. I did. Have a great week, and I'll see you all soon.

Elder Hammond

Week 35 Face, Meet Street!

Hey everyone. This week was an okay week, so let's get to it.

Monday

We had p-day and started it with playing tennis with the Mill Creek elders. It was a lot of fun. It's been a while since I've played so I had to relearn how to play. We had a great time though. After, we went to the stake center and emailed home. Then we went in to the gym and played some chair soccer and basketball for a couple of hours. Got our shopping done. After we had dinner with the McCoy, and they fed us Brazilian food. It was really good, although I don't remember what the dish was called. Right after that we came home, and I got packed for an exchange, with Mill Creek, and that was it for the day.

Tuesday

The exchange went well. I went to Mill Creek with Elder Trijo, and we had a good time. We visited a lot of people, picked up a potential, and went to the library to do our mormon.org time. That was an interesting experience. When we got there, we locked up our bike, and there were two guys sitting by the bike racks. One was an older man with glasses and long hair. The other looked ridiculously stupid, and excuse my description, but it was true. The guy had gauges in his ears that were the size of ping pong balls, and hanging off from them he had what looked like small weights. He had a lip piercing, and his hair was shaped almost like a Mohawk. Anyway, the older guy with long hair was super nice and asked us if we studied other things, like Asian culture. I assured him that our belief is simple, we believe in God the Father, His son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. He was a very nice guy and told us he had a couple of Mormon friends. He told us he saw some of the other missionaries walk in and his friend across from him doesn't like the church so he was helping to understand what we're all about and trying to calm him down. However, this man was drunk, and he wouldn't stop swearing at our church. After his long haired friend stopped talking, he started to say that we worship Joseph Smith and that he's a fraud. After he went on for a time, swearing at the prophet of the restoration, I asked, "Okay, why do you believe he's a fraud?" As crazy as this sounds, he would not tell us why, he would just go on and on about how we worship him, how he was not a true prophet of God, and that he was a fraud, but he would not tell us why he believed that. As hard as this was, I just wanted to prove him wrong. I wanted him to stop talking about the church this way. I almost lost my temper because he was making me mad, but I did not, because that's not how we treat people on this mission. He then proceeded to call our church a cult, and that we really didn't believe in God, we only wanted money. At that time, to stop this all, Elder Trijo and I looked at each other and then looked back at him. Then Elder Trijo said this, "How do you know this thing to be true in your heart and your mind?" At this time I wanted to testify that he was, wrong, that this was the true church of Jesus Christ, and I know without a doubt that this truly was the truth. Even though he made me angry, one thing stood out from all of this, and it's the reason why I did not loose my temper. I have an unshakable testimony. It has been proven by faith, and by the forgiving power of His son, Jesus Christ. Because of this, my faith "WILL NOT BE SHAKEN". As sad as it is, this man's heart was already taken by the devil. He would not listen to a word we said. After asking the question, the man shook his head, and said, "I don't need to pray to know. I can tell by the facts. Your church is a fraud, and that is what I believe." We did not want to mess with him anymore because we knew the devil was after us, and if we stayed there any longer, the man would kill us. I could feel it in my heart that the spirit was prompting me to get out of there. We then said to him, "Okay, that's what you believe, but we'll stick to our beliefs. You have a good day, and we'll see you later okay?" As we turned around, he swore at us more, and kept yelling at us to get away. After being in the library for almost an hour, he came into the building and sat down in a chair that was facing us and started to give us a dirty look. I noticed he was there and the spirit kept prompting me to get out, but I was slow to heed the prompting. Luckily the man walked out of the library before we did, and we avoided him on the way home. After all of that, we helped someone move their cabinet. It was really funny. We didn't know where we were going to pick it up, and then when we left, we noticed we went out of zone.... but that's okay. The people she bought the cabinet from are members of the church, so it all worked out. We were answers to their prayers. They though they might get kidnapped or something, and they were so happy we were there. After helping this woman, we went home and had dinner. Then we had a meeting with the bishop, visited some people after, and then came home and packed up my stuff to exchange back.

Wednesday

We had district meeting. Elder Goodman talked about being bold as a missionary. It's really interesting to think, as a missionary when we are being bold, we are using  the spirit to help guide someone to the truth. I never really thought of that before until Wednesday. After district meeting we came home and had lunch. Then we went to the McCoy's house and helped them move some furniture to get ready for people to paint the house. Soon after, we then came back home and had comp study. Then we went and visited some people. Dinner came around at 6:30, and we had it at bishop's. After doing so, we went and visited more people, and then we came home for the night.

Thursday 

So Thursday was a crazy day. We started the morning with our normal prep, studies, and stuff. Then after, we went and tried to visit some people. We knocked on one door, but no one answered. After we knocked on the door, we had to run back home because Elder Goodman didn't have his map. So we just planned to go back home and have our comp study and "linner." After doing that, we made our way out again to try to visit people before we went to the food bank, and as we did, I was biking around and had to turn around in a cul de sac. The ground was wet, and there were leaves and stuff everywhere. So ya, one thing lead to another. If you didn't already guess it, yes, I slipped on my bike and drove my face into the asphalt... It was not fun at all. When I noticed what happened, I was on the ground with blood on my nose, chin, and I was spitting it out of my mouth. Elder Goodman saw a part of what happened and ran to my aid. After laying on the ground for a little while because of the feeling of being dazed, I got up and brushed myself off. After pacing back and forth, I got back on my bike, and we rode back to the apartment to clean up the marks and wounds. When I saw myself in the mirror, I had marks all over my lower lip, and my chin, and rashes on my chin and nose. Then I pulled back my lower lip to find a spot that one of my teeth made as I hit the ground, and it was not so great. So after cleaning me up, we ran to the clinic and got me all checked up. The doctor said I would be fine, and I don't need stitches but would need to take some antibiotics every day. So not too bad, but I've got scabs on my chin, inside my mouth, and rashes on my lower chin and nose, so no fun. After the clinic, we went to the food bank and helped there. Then came home and took it easy for the rest of the night because I was not feeling well, and I had a really bad headache. But that's that.

Friday

We weekly planned and visited some people after.

Saturday

We helped the Mill Creek elders move someone into the ward. After that, we helped bishop put in new flooring. Then we came home, got changed, and went to dinner with the Griffiths. After, we came home and attempted to finish weekly planning, but we talked for too long, and then it was time for bed. Elder Goodman and I get along really well!!

Sunday

We had church, and it was really great to see my ward and meet everyone finally. We went and sat in with the Valiant 11 kids, and the teacher asked us question about our missions. Church was great. After, we came home and slept for lunch, did our studies, and then went and visited some people. Then we had dinner, and that lasted for the rest of the night. After we came home and did the rest of weekly planning.

Well that's it for this week. I hope you all had a good week. I love you all, and I'll see you later.

Elder Hammond

Week 34 Hello Thomas Lake

Hey everyone! So I'm out of South Whidbey, and I'm now in the Thomas Lake Ward in Everett. So I didn't go too far. But that's okay. I like it here. I am on a bike now, which is fun! Sorta... It's helping me build character, I guess. I'm working more every day, hour by hour, which is good. It's a change from what I came from. I'm still trying to work off the Sister P fat that I've gained from her good cooking, but, thanks to this, it's a lot better!! My bike is sick!! It's a highlite yellow, a giant hybrid, and it rides really well. You can look at it in the pics below. I got my new Alpha Smart Thursday, and now I can email better because now I can write down what happened that day as the week goes by!! But besides that, let's get to how the week went, shall we.

Monday

Me and Elder Addington had our last p-day together. We went and emailed, and after we went with our investigator, Johan, and went up to Fort Casey!! It is a really cool place! There was a lot of dark tunnels and some cool guns to see. It is a state park so it was all free. Johan is super intelligent though. He was able to tell us everything about the fort...when it was made, did people die there, did they shoot down big ships from there, what the rooms were used for, etc. It was way fun. We got some good pics, found Whidbey Island rocks, and got to see the first Whidbey Island rock, on the shore, right next to the fort.

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

After having a fun day and acting like kids at the park, we went back to Johan's, I took a pic with him, and then we went back to the church for Elder Addington to look at his mom's email for collage stuff. After, we went to the Hymas's and said goodbye to them. Then to bishop's and said goodbye to him and his family. I got a cool souvenir from him. It's a tiny plaque, and it's got the mission scripture on it and my plaque scripture from home. After saying goodbye to him, we went home and headed for bed.

Elder Hammond & Johan

With the Hyma Family

Saying goodbye to the bishop

Tuesday

Tuesday was transfer day, so I went and said goodbye to Jake before I left. He is the one in the beard in the picture with me. He looks smaller because he's in a wheelchair. He is a fun guy, crazy red neck, and I had a blast with him. I hope the new elder likes him. He can be pretty crazy some times. 

Jake and Elder Hammond

After that, we went home and packed up my stuff into Brother Miller's car and drove to transfers. Once there the assistant, Elder Polter pulled me aside and told me president wanted to see me for a couple of minutes. For a moment I was scared, and I'm pretty sure if you were in my shoes, you would be too, but Elder Polter told me not to worry. I was not in trouble. Wrong!!! When I got to President Whilding's office, he told me to come in and sit down. So I did, and then he told me something that broke my heart because I didn't even know there was a problem. He said that things were not working out well in the South Widbey Island ward and with Elder Addington, and that is why I was transferring. President then told me he was sad with what happened. Mostly he was disappointed in me. So was I. I realized the reason why was because I was just not caring about missionary work. Elder Addington had to sleep all the time, so the work wouldn't get done, so it made me less motivated to do the things I used to do like helping others all the time, being a good, loving, and caring missionary, and having the spirit with me everyday to motivate me. The more I would try to make sure I was doing things like how Elder Addington wanted me to, the more and more I got stressed, the more and more I got bored, and the more and more I started not caring. So with those things, I got sloppy with my work, and it was not great. But now I've learned, and now I'm doing a whole lot better. I really think that the transfer was great for both sides of what happened. I am getting back to work and starting to care again, and the ward now has 2 Elders that they really will come to love even more. After my interview with President, I found my new companion Elder Goodman, and we drove off to our area, which is almost a hop, skip, and a jump from the mission office. Once we got to the apartment, I unpacked, and we went off to do some work. I used Elder Dayton's bike (his old companion's) for a few days until I could run up to the bike shop and get me a new bike. That night, we went to mutual and helped them with their night. What they did is they had to make a Book of Mormon story out of brownies, frosting, and lots of candy and sprinkles. It worked out really well, and the missionaries (us) got to be the judges. They all did a really good job, and we guessed each one. After mutual we went home and got ready for bed.

Wednesday

We had District Meeting, and Elder Goodman gave an instruction on the plan of salvation. It went really well. We talked about it and how it blesses us. Then we role played how to teach it to an investigator, and each of us came up to the front and did it while everyone watched us. After, they would tell us how we did. After district meeting we then went home and had lunch. Then we had our comp study, and then we went up the street to the bike shop to buy me a bike!! It was pretty cool to see all the bikes there, and I am really happy with the one I got. It's doing really well, and I haven't got in a wreck yet, but I have gotten close. After that, we went and visited some people and had dinner at a burger place in the Seattle Hill area. There are Hammonds in our ward, and it was pretty cool to have dinner with them. We got to learn some things about them, but we didn't find out if we are related. We decided to find out next time we had dinner with them. Then we had correlation meeting with our ward mission leader. After doing so, we came home and went to bed. 

Thursday

We started the day with our normal studies and planning. Then after, we went and visited people, but we didn't have any luck with doors opening, so we went back home and did our comp study and had our lunch/dinner before we headed to the food bank. Then we rode our bikes to the food bank. We work there every Thursday for 4 hours. It's stationed at a community church in Thomas Lake. It's a nice little food bank, and they really do a good job with it. We, as the missionaries, help people run the food out to their car, and we load it up for them. It's lots of fun!! I always love serving at the food bank. After we went and visited the Alines, some members in the ward. Then we went home.

Friday

So we weekly planned for most of the day, but I was able to get my Alpha Smart from the mission office. To go with that note, even though I live close by it, in order for me to get packages from the mission office on days like today, I have to get permission from the assistants because even though its close, the office is in the other zone next to us, and we have to get permission for that. That's really not fun, plus I'm on a bike now so if I were to get it, it would be really hard to peddle with it. So just let me know when you're sending packages, and I can make judgments on if I want to go get it with permission or just wait until zone conference to get it. But back to the day...we went to a park to weekly plan, but before that we went to go see if the Mill Creek elders wanted to come with us, but instead found them already planning with president. It was a really awkward experience figuring that out because Elder Goodman, instead of knocking on the door, barged in still on his bike, and I was right behind him. I can honestly say that president was pretty shocked with what happened. So we planned without them, saw some swans...they almost attacked us. It was fun! Elder Goodman was having some allergy problems, so we went home so he could take a nap. We had to make our own dinner. After that, we finished our weekly planning and did our comp study as well. Then we went and did some street contacting. After that, we came home and went to bed.

Saturday

We got ready for the day and then rode our bikes to the stake center for general conference. After the first session, we went and got lunch at Wendys, and it was great because my old district was there so I got to talk with them again. After lunch, we went back to the stake center and watched the afternoon session of conference. I thought it was weird to not have Thomas S. Monson at the afternoon session, but the church later came out and said he was saving his energy for the priesthood session and the Sunday sessions. After the afternoon session, we biked home to get picked up by members so they could take us to a meeting with a potential before the priesthood session. We couldn't find the address to the house so we decided to head to the stake center anyways. After the priesthood session, we went to Red Robin and had an amazing dinner. It was all eaten, and I almost had a food coma when we got home ;). After, we studied and then went to bed.

Sunday

We got ready for the day, packed a lunch, and biked up to the stake center for general conference. We watched the first session, and it went really well. Then after we had lunch, we watched the world report which was really cool. If you don't know what that is, look it up. It's pretty cool what it talks about. After, President Whilding walked in to the stake center with his family and watched the second general conference with us. It's really weird the amount of times I've seen President this week, more then normal. Anyway, after the last session, we rode home and had personal and comp study. Then we rode to bishop's house for dinner and time to talk. Then we booked it home for accounting.

Well, that's how my week went. Nothing too bad, but as fun as it is working here, BIKE KILLS YOU!! Every night I'm so tired because of how much riding we do every day. So please add to your prayers for me to have added strength to get to where I need to. My knees can be in a lot of pain sometimes, but I'm getting through it because the Lord wants me here to learn something and to do His work, and I'm going to do what I can to make it count. My spiritual thought to you this week is to watch the #PrinceOfPeace video on mormon.org! It the Easter initiative for this year. Just like #lighttheworld, #PrinceOfPeace is for a more holier purpose. My thought is my testimony of His grace of the atonement which he did preform for us. I know that He did this for us because He loves each and every one of us. I know He lives because He has blessed me with his love and his spirit. I know that when we need Him, if we just turn to Him, or as Elder Choi said, "look up to Him," He will bless us continually and we will feel His love and peace immensely. I bear testimony as a witness of Him that He is the Savior, Jesus Christ, that His mission was more then just for us, and I invite you all to find out what the real meaning of His mission was. I know these things are true, and I say these things in the name of our king of kings, the lords of lords, even the prince of peace, Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Hammond

A disciple of Jesus Christ 

In the Washington Everett Mission

Week 33 So long Whidbey Island! Hope to see you again soon!

Hey everyone! So I have some sad news and... ya, just some sad news. But I am transferring from South Whidbey 😢😢😢😢😢  It was a great ward, and I enjoyed it a lot, but the Lord wants me somewhere else. But enough about the sad news. Let's get to what happened this week.

Monday

We went emailing and then got on the ferry to Everett to go with the other elders to go "shopping". It was more like 2 elders followed 2 other elders around while they shopped. That was us following them because we were their ride. Then we had dinner with the stake president and went back home to the island after.

Tuesday

We did a lot of service. We served at one of the thrift stores on the island, and we helped the organize some things in the store. After doing service for someone in the ward, we had mormon.org time, went to dinner, and then came home for the rest of the day.

Wednesday

We had our last district meeting of the transfer, and it went really well. We talked about prayers and things like that, and Elder Kubal gave us a challenge. We have to put a penny in our shoes, and when we feel that penny then we have to remember to pray. It works out really well. I've been doing it for a week, and I've liked it a lot. After district meeting, I went on an exchange with the zone leaders and got to see their area. I had a great time with Elder Black, and we taught two young single adults at a juice place. They really liked what we taught, but they weren't going to start taking the lessons any time soon so it was pretty sad. Then I exchanged back and went and had dinner with the Hochs. This is really cool. They are related to Sister Haley Hoch who is serving in Mount Vernon. She and I went to school together, so if you know her, there's something interesting about her. 

The district 

Thursday

Elder Addington had to catch up on his sleep for a little while, then we had service with a new investigator named Johan. He's a way cool guy who has a PHD in theology and says he already is a Mormon. He believes it's true and knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet, but he doesn't want to get baptized because he has already been baptized in a different church, and he feels that God has accepted his service there. He understands the authority and everything, but that's just how he feels. After we helped him, we went to an investigator's house named Deb. We helped her move. After, we had dinner and met with the ward mission leader for the night.

Friday

We did service for Jake. I'm going to get some pics with some of these people so you know what they look like. But ya, that's what we did. We helped him get over his dog's passing and lifted his spirit.

Saturday

We are way over miles, so we did some more service for Jake and helped him with his stereo system because it's hard for him to do it by himself. But that lasted a good amount of the day. 

Sunday 

I had my last church meeting with this ward. It was a great meeting. We had a lot of talks that talked about Jesus Christ. After church we had dinner with a family named the Curry's. They invited their daughter and the Millers over. We had an amazing dinner, sandwiches from Costco with really good salads and fruit with some really good whip cream/cream cheese/yogurt sort of spread. I love going over to their house for dinner. Sister Curry is an amazing cook! Then we went to Johan's to confirm our plans for today and to help him move some stuff. After we went home, I had an allergic reaction to one of his cats, so I took some meds, and it knocked me out until time for accounting.  

Well, that is it for this week. My spiritual message is below. I hope you all have a great week, and I'll write again soon. Bye for now!!

I was reading something in the Bible last week, and it really caught my attention. This is in Acts 26. It says :

12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:

Verse 18 really stood out to me because that is the same call/reason that God sends us out into the field to open the eyes of the Lord's lost children and to bring them back on the straight and narrow path they started on. After Paul talked about his vision to the king, he proclaims this which is a powerful statement, and it testifies of Jesus Christ:

22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:

23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

Like Paul, we have many other prophets who are great missionaries who show us how to preach and teach these generations that live on the earth today. The prophet Ammon taught us that we must serve our fellow men to soften the hearts of those who are led astray. Alma testified of his conversion story, and it allowed many to understand the Savior and be baptized. Many more I could mention, but Paul was one who stands with them. Now in his final remarks, he asks King Agrippa if he believes the things which he spoke, and the next two verses state this:

28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.

Because he testified with the spirit, the king released him and saw that he was an innocent man. He also explained something very important as well, that he would like everyone to almost and altogether, to believe in Christ. That is what we do as missionaries. If one does not believe in Christ, then we try our hardest to help them understand that He lives and that He suffered for us so that we could live with God again. I know these things are true, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Hammond