Week 40 Exercise Faith and Endure to the End

Here is the week!!

Monday

We had a super fun p-day. We started by riding our bikes up to Mill Creek to have our last p-day with Elder's Carlisle and Trijo before they got transferred the next day. We played ultimate Frisbee while waiting for the racket ball court to open up for us to play. Once it was open, we played some tournaments of racquetball. It was lots of fun. After, we went to Mill Creek's apartment and got changed into our proselyting clothes and went to the mall to have lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, and Elder Goodman and Elder Kuble did the Blazing Wing Challenge. Basically what it is, they give you twelve of their hottest wings, and you have to eat all the meat off of them, and do it all under 6 minutes. You have to eat each wing in 30 seconds or else you don't beat the challenge. Elder Kuble couldn't eat all of his in time, but Elder Goodman finished his in 4 minutes. It was crazy! The reward is you get your picture taken and put on the wall and a t-shirt that says, "Blazing Wing Survivor." It looks way cool. While we were there, I just had some boneless sweet BBQ wings. I knew I couldn't do the challenge, and it's funny because everyone except me were going to do it, but they all bailed. Todd was there too, and he enjoyed the show. After that, we ran to the stake center and did our emailing. Then we did some shopping, dropped off our stuff at home, and ran over to dinner with the McCoy's. After, we had FHE with the Scolics, and then came home and went to bed.

Tuesday

We went to the library for Elder Goodman to do My Plan. It's the exit program that missionaries use when they have 6 weeks before going home. So ya, that was fun. I just sat at the computer and watched Mormon Messages. He has to do it every week, so I have to find something to do. After, we then went to the bike shop, and I got a new light for my bike. The other one broke. Then we rode home, had lunch, and comp study. Then we went and visited a referral, but he wasn't home. After, we visited some other people. Then we rode to dinner with the Sholties. After dinner we ran over to the Nebekers and found the youth helping them with their yard. So we joined in. We had a lot of fun helping. The Nebekers have been going through a hard time, so we thought whatever we could do would be great. After, we ran home and did some street contacting. Then we went to bed.

Wednesday

We had district meeting with the new district. The Elders that left were Elders Carlisle and Trijo, and we got Elders Redd and Bennete, which I know them both, and they are great missionaries. So, the Zone Leaders came in and instructed how to teach the restoration better. It was a good instruction. It really helped me to know how to teach better. After, we came home and had lunch and comp study. Then we planned the day and visited people. We picked up some service for Tuesday and a lesson for Wednesday. Then after we ran off and had dinner. We visited some more people, and then came home and went to bed.

Thursday

We started the morning with visiting some people. But after a while, we stopped because the rain and the traffic on Seattle Hill Rd, so we went and got Elder Goodman a hair cut. After, we came home, had comp study, then linner. Then we ran off to the food bank and worked there for 4 hours. After, we visited the Greenhalls, and the Templins. Then we ran home and went to bed.

Friday

We weekly planned for most of the day, had lunch, went and visited people, and had dinner. After dinner, we came home and did comp study and comp inventory. Then we went to bed.

Saturday

We helped at the postal food drive for the food bank, and that took up almost the whole day. After, we went to dinner and then visited the Templins. We had a good meeting with them. After, we then ran home and went to bed.

Sunday

We went to church, came home, and had lunch. Then we personally studied. After, we ran off to the Scolics to call you guys, and it was fun to see all your wonderful faces. Thank you for the love and support you send my way in prayers. It really helps. After your call, we had dinner and went to go pick up a baseball mitt for Elder Goodman to borrow for today. After, we rode home, street contacted, and went home to bed.

Well, I promised my family I would share what I've been studying these past few weeks, and this is something I may be studying for a while. I've been studying the substance of faith and how prophets use their faith to work the works of the Lord. It helps me to learn how I can be a faithful missionary, even when I do fall, and feel unworthy, the Lord can see that I am faithful. Something I noticed in my patriarchal blessing, it says, "Jordan you will be a man of exceedingly great faith." I always hope that is true. I've learned and am still learning that a servant in the Lord's work should not compare himself to other servants who are faithful or who you think work better then you. It will just bring you down. Anyway, to get to my topic of faith, every person has faith in God. It moves them and motivates them to do amazing things because of their faith, Look at Moses. He said unto God, "Lord who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt." This is the man that parted the Red Sea. He received the ten commandments, told the people look unto the Lord and they would be saved! He was the man that did all of this, and look at how he shrinks in the beginning. He said I can't do this, and I love what the Lord says in the next verse because it changes his faith and attitude. God said "Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain." After that revelation and vision of love, then came the faith to go through the ten plagues, then the Red Sea parted, then the commandments were made, then Moses became the faithful servant of the Jews, whom they loved and adored so much. Faith helps us become converted, Faith allows us to see the path. Faith allows us to know God and become better. Because of faith, we change how we live and how we see things. Look and Lamoni's father in the Book of Mormon. Alma 22:18 "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, Wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee..." and once that prayer was given, he fell to the ground and after was faithful and converted to become better, and he did. After he allowed all religion to be taught to all the Lamenites, and they became an amazing, faithful people with the Nephites. Because of he and his son, a generation was saved to have faithful servants of the Lord, who became as we know the Stripling Warriors. There are so many things, and I got this all from Hebrews 12 and the index in the Book of Mormon. I challenge you, if you have not already, to find that straight and narrow faith in you that we all have. Once you have found it, Don't You Dare lose it. Because if you do, then the miracles stop happening. I speak from experience. I hope we all can turn to our Lord in faith and pledge our lives to Get to know Him better. And when we do, I promise you guys that when the last day shall come, we will better know our God and Savior because of the faith we have shown and worked for. Be strong, keep praying. Though the road may be rough, God's will is always simple so why should we stray. "Be wise, my friends, what can I say more?" Until next week, I bare you my testimony, that this is Christ's church on the earth today. We are His children, and He is leading us by faith, so we can see His loving hand pushing us along to Heaven, where we want to stay. I know without a doubt that He will stand with us with whatever trial we go through, whether it's too hard or too easy, He still expects us to stand with Him, at all times, in all things, and in all places. I know these things to be true, and I testify of it by the spirit which is in me, and that is the holy Ghost. I leave you these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Hammond   

Week 39 The Week of Exchanges

Hey everyone. Here is this last week's layout:

Monday

We went to the Mill creek elders' apartment and played racket ball. Their apartment has a racket ball court in their information office. It was a lot of fun. I felt like I was in Stillaguamish again back in the SAC. After playing for a few hours, we went and emailed. Then we went and played basketball and hand ball. We had lots of fun with that. Then after we got changed and went shopping, came home, and had dinner. Then we rode off to have family night with the McCoys and the Scolics. They were both great. The kids had the lessons prepared, and we just had to sit back and listen to the lesson. After that we rode home and went to bed.

Tuesday

We got ready for the day, and then we went to the library to do mormon.org time, and I watched the Face To Face with the Piano Guys, the one I missed when I was home because I was too busy with something-I don't remember what. But it was really cool. It reminded me about the concerts I went to for them and their music. I miss those times. Now when I get home, they're going to have so many new things! It will be great! After we rode up to the bike shop to get some minor adjustments to my bike. Then we came home and had lunch, got changed, and did some service for the Thorns who are in our ward. After a couple of hours, we then had dinner with them. Then we ran home, got changed back into our white shirts and ties, and ran to our lesson with Luman. After, we came home and cleaned the apartment, and then we went to bed.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Goodman talked about being unashamed on our missions and having faith enough to work towards our legacy. Afterward, we went to a teriyaki place and had lunch as a district. Then we came home and got ready to go visit people, visited a lot of people, then we went to dinner, and we ended our day by visiting more people and going to bed.

Thursday

I went on an exchange with Mill Creek and had a blast with Elder Erickson! He's a fun missionary. We started the day off with doing service. After we went home, had lunch, comp study, and then got changed to go visit some people. It was a nice sunny day, temperature was warm and everything was going great. Then believe it or not, a thunder storm rolled in unexpectedly, and we didn't have our rain gear with us... so we rode back to the apartment while getting soaked. It wasn't fun, but I lived through it. After we dried everything off, and had dinner with the Ericksons, a family in their ward. Then we came home and rode out to visit more people. After that, I packed up for Elder Goodman to come pick me up. Once home, we went to bed.

Friday 

We did some weekly planning until Elder Goodman got picked up for a District Leader Training, and I went on an exchange with Elder Davis in Eastmont. It was so weird. The last time I was there, I was on South Whidbey. While I was with Elder Davis, we went and did some work in his area. We taught an investigator, had some fun, and then after Elder Goodman was done, we went to the Eastmont apartment and exchanged back. We rode to dinner with the Wrights, had a good meal, and then came home and chilled and got ready for my exchange with Seattle Hill.

Saterday

I went on an exchange with Elder Carlisle. It was so much fun!!!! We had been on exchanges in Bellingham, so it was like that all over again, except Elder Maldwin wasn't with us....:'( I'm going to email him and be like "the original clan, but we're missing one..." Anyway, we went and visited a lot of people in our area. We had to run home in the middle of the day to give Elder Trijo Elder Carlisle's second bike because he broke his bike. After, we went back to the area, visited some people, and had dinner. After dinner, we had an investigator drop us (them) from moving on with the lessons, so they lost an investigator... sad. Then we went to Brother Pascett's to see how he was doing and found out Elder Goodman and Elder Stewart were there too! It was pretty funny. After, we rode home, I got packed, and we went back to my own apartment and went to bed.

Elder Hammond and Elder Carlisle

 Sunday

It was fast Sunday so I wore my tie and fasted. (Note from mom: all the boys and Paul have a matching tie they all wear on Fast Sunday, the first Sunday of the month. Just a way to stay connected and think about each other.) I hope you did the same. We went to ward council in the morning. Then after, we went to church and had a good time. However, I wish people would stop bearing storymonies, a testimony is sharing what you know to be true not sharing time. We leave that for after sacrament meeting. After church we took a nap, had our studies, and went to a lesson with our investigator Meckinzie. It went okay. We were going to talk about the rest of the salvation with her, but it turned out to be a conversation, and we didn't talk about it at all. It was sad, but we had to run from that to dinner. After we came home and finished weekly planning because we didn't have time on Friday. Then we went to bed after accounting.

Well, that's my week. No spiritual thought this week. I'll do one next week. Love you all! Have a great week!!

Elder Hammond

Sunset on Silver Lake

Eagle we saw

Week 38 We Have Power Over Satan

Hey everyone. Here is the week for you:

Monday

So we didn't get Elder Goodman's bike to the bike shop, but we chose to do it on Tuesday. But for the day we went to a fabric store called Joann's and the Mill Creek elders and I got some fabric to make some cool ties. I finished one on Tuesday. It looks awesome. After, the zone leaders ran us over to the stake center to play basketball and email. Then we went and did some shopping, came home, and got ready to go to dinner. After dinner, we went to FHE with the Scolics. Then we came home and went to bed.

Tuesday

We went to go get his bike fixed, but before we left, I got to see Jordan Mason again!!! It was so great, and I met his father. Jordan has changed yet again. He has long hair and a small beard. It was great to see him. We talked for a little bit, and we talked about me meeting the rest of the family again. I met them once but I don't remember them that much anymore. But after that we dropped off the bike and then walked to the Seattle Hills elders' apartment to get a bike for Elder Goodman to ride until his is fixed. The sad part is they were gone and wouldn't be back until later in the day for interviews. So we had to walk all the way back to our apartment just to have lunch, and then walk all the way back to the stake center which took us 3 hours just to do that whole trip. We had interviews which went well. President is doing great, and we were able to figure things out which was great. After interviews, we went to Seattle Hill's apartment again and got Elder Charlisal's road bike, which by the way is a speed demon. I can barely catch up with him when Elder Goodman rides that thing. After getting it, we rode home and rode to dinner. We had a good time, and it lasted the whole night. 

Wednesday

We had district meeting. Then we came home and had lunch. After, we had comp study and planned. Then we went to dinner, and had a good time. I met a sister of some members in the Stillaguamish ward. It was funny because they asked me if I knew them, and I knew who it was. It was the Montgomery family, and I worked with them for a while up there. They are a cool family. After, we had a lesson and more food at the Greenhalls. After we ran home, and it poured on us. Not fun at all!!

Thursday

We went to the Mowers and visited with them in the morning. They are in the middle of renovating the house so we went to go see how far they have come and if they needed any help. They didn't, so we talked with them and asked how things were going. After visiting with them, we tried to visit some other people, and then came home and did comp study. We had "linner" before we went to the food bank. Then we rode off to the food bank, and after we came home and cleaned the apartment a little. Then bed.

Friday 

We weekly planned for half the day and picked up Elder Goodman's bike from the bike shop. We had dinner and then visited sister templin and tried to see if she would be coming to church on Sunday. She said she is planning on it, which is good, She is one of our potentials. Then we ran to Lumen's and had a lesson with him, one of our recent converts in the ward. Then we came home and went to bed. 

Saturday

We planned the day, did some studies, and then went and did some service for the Brimhalls in our ward. It was pretty funny. We went to go move a tree stump that was sitting in the members' garden and, when Elder Goodman and I started to move it, it had been already cut out and so we pushed it away and it just rolled to the fence. It was pretty funny because the member went to the garage to get tools, only to come back and find us already done with it. After seeing that, he then had us dig a trench in the backyard for some gardening barriers he's putting in. We helped him with a project inside that involved some water damage leaks. That was a lot of fun. We got to cut sheet rock and find where the leak was on the roof. After that, he took us home, and we had lunch and comp study. Then we went and had a lesson with our investigator McKenzie on the plan of salvation. It went really well for my first lesson in like 8 weeks... that's hard to say. After the lesson, we then visited some other people and then headed home to have dinner with Todd Aggard. We had an open day this month, and so we just asked him if he would like to have dinner with us, and he said he would love to. We went to a place called Blazing Onion, and it was super good. I had a hamburger with a fried egg, the patty, bacon, lettuce, cheese, and onions with fry-sauce in the middle of it. We had a good time with Todd. He's a good man and really is open with everyone. He loves getting to know people, and has gone through a lot in his life to explain how to get over trials and temptations, which helps me a lot because I go through hard times to where my faith gets shaken. He talked about how a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus, and his restoration on this earth, will save you from temptation and will help you when you feel down. This is true! When you have a strong testimony, you will stand tall, and you will have the power as it says in the scriptures: "... and her seed (Adam's seed) will have power to bruise thy head." We have the power to either let Satan into our lives, or simply cast him out, and we should always cast him out of our thoughts and minds. After, we then went to the bishop's and had a meeting with him. Then we went home and went to bed.

Sunday

We went to church and had a good turn out. We had a lot of nonmembers there. Then after we went home and had lunch, did our studies, and rode off to visit some people. After, we went to dinner and had Navajo tacos. It was really good. It reminded me of home. The cool thing was the people we had dinner with watch Psych! So I was making references all night from the show, but they didn't catch any of them! It made me sad. I also heard from them that its not on Netflix anymore!!!! I have no Idea what I'm going to do when I get home!!! I'm going to go insane!!!! Haha jk. After having dinner, we went home and went to bed. 

Well that's it for me this week. I'll talk to you all next week. Love you all! Bye!!!

Elder Hammond