Week 46 Maltby Ward in Snohomish

Hello and Welcome to Maltby Ward in Snohomish, I am Elder Hammond, senior companion, with my new companion Elder Stewart, who is also a senior companion.(weird huh?)

Monday 

I emailed you guys, played some soccer and pickel ball with Spanish, View Ridge, and Elder Barlow. It was a lot of fun. After, we had dinner at the Porterfield's for one last time before I left Thomas Lake. Then we had a lesson with the Scolics and went to clean the apartment again for the sisters coming in. After, we took the long bike ride back to Eastmont's apartment and went to bed.

Tuesday

We went around and visited some people in Eastmont, did progressing, had mormon.org time, and then got ready for transfers. We had to go from Eastmont's apartment to our apartment to get all my stuff because it was all scattered. Once we did that, we went to the mission office, and I found out right as I got there I was going to be companions with Elder Stewart, and this is not the Elder Stewart you might know. This Elder Stewart is bigger, has brown skin, and really likes music. Anyway, we went around and talked to some of my missionary pals at the office while we waited for President so that Elder Stewart could visit with him. After waiting for 3 hours and him meeting with president, we then went to the Maltby area and picked up our car to go straight to dinner. Then after we went to the apartment to drop off my stuff and went to go visit more people. Then after meeting all these new people, we came home and went to bed.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and it's really weird. Elder Trijo, Elder Erickson, Elder Carlislal and I are all together again in a district with Elder Black as our district leader. About half of our district were in my last district. Anyway, Elder Black instructed on how we should use Preach My Gospel effectively in our weekly planning. Then we went shopping and had lunch with the Monroe elders. After, we then went out and visited some potentials and less actives. We also did some tracting... I don't like tracting, but it makes Elder Stewart happy, so I'm okay with it. Then we had dinner with a less active member named Sister Miller. She has a ranch with lots of horses, and we have dinner with her every Wednesday. Then we came home and went to bed. It was a late dinner.

Thursday

We did some service for Sister Miller, which was cleaning out some of her horse stalls. The horses were still inside, but it worked out okay. Some of them are friendly, and I got the friendly ones. After, we then came home, got changed, and had lunch. Then we went into comp study. After, we visited some people and did some tracting. Then we had dinner and visited some more people. After we came home and went to bed.

Friday

We went and worked at the food bank. We did a church tour with and investigator named Luda. She seems cool. I didn't get to know her that well, but she seems really interested in learning. Then we came home, had lunch, and did comp study. Then we went into weekly planning, had dinner at our place, and then we went and visited a family that needed some spiritual inspiration. I don't remember their names. Then we came home and went to bed.

Saturday 

We visited some people in the morning, and Elder Stewart practiced a piece he's playing in zone conference. Then we had lunch and did our comp study. After, we then printed off our progress record and visited some more people, and had dinner. Then we helped a recent convert with her computer. After, we came home and went to bed. 

Sunday

We had church at 1 pm, so we had ward council before that as well as correlation meeting with our ward mission leader. It was a good day at church. We had dinner with the Davis's, and then we went and helped a recent convert who was having a some serious problems. This made us late getting home, and it got the Monroe elders worried, so they called the district leader, who then called the zone leaders, who then called President. So pretty much everyone thought we were dead until we got back with having service and finding out that we had so many missed calls wondering where we were... it was pretty crazy.... but oh well. We got home safely and went to bed.

Well that's it for me. The pics are of the Scolics and me, Elder Stewart's "questions for the soul," some baby deer we almost ran over, and a pic of Elder Stewart and me.

Elder Hammond

Week 45 Transfers...

Elder Goodman is going home. He has "died"... ;) and I am transferring as well...

Monday

We started the day playing basketball with members for a while. then we went and emailed. After, we then went over to the Sportsman's Warehouse for Elder Goodman to look around and to see what it was like. We both got hydro flasks from there, and they are really nice. After, we went back to the church and ran to Winco to do some shopping. Then we went home, dropped off our food, and ran to President Brig's home for dinner. It was great. We talked about baseball and their kids. Then Elder Goodman almost got a cupcake to his face by me, but I stopped before I did it. After dinner we then went and visited some people. Then we came home and went to bed.

Tuesday

Elder Goodman did some progressing with the district. Then we went and did service for Brother Vanderdeen. He wanted to replace some of the soil in his front yard, so we helped him with that. After that, we came home, had lunch, and then ran up to the library and did My Plan. Then we came back home, cleaned the apartment, and rode off to dinner. We tried to visit some people, and then we came home and went to bed.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Goodman talked about how to teach the restoration in an effective way, After, we had lunch at Hot Iron. It's a Mongolian grill, and you get to select what you want. They put it all on a big stove and cook it for you. It's like pasta stuff and really good. After we ran up to get a tube for Elder Rothschild's bike that Elder Goodman was using because he sent his home. Then we went to the Mill Creek building to put the TV away and to lock up the library because we forgot to do that. Then we went off to the mission office to drop off Elder Goodman's bike. When we went, the Jeep was still there, and it was being looked at by someone. I got so excited because that's my baby!! Then we came home and cleaned the apartment for inspections the next day. Elder Goodman had his exit interview, and then to end the night we had dinner with Todd Aggard, at a Mexican restaurant.

Thursday

Elder Goodman went to the temple for the last time before he came home. It's something they do for all the missionaries that are going home. So I went up to Eastmont with Elder Barlow!!!! We had lots of fun. We started with planning and personal study. Then we did comp study, and the video below is us being goons during comp study. Then they had their inspections. Then we ran off to ours. As we were heading back, we went out of zone to get back to Eastmont. For lunch, we went to the mall and had Japanese food. Then we went and visited some people in Eastmont, but no one opened up. After, the zone leaders picked us up from our apartment to go get Elder Rothschild's and my bikes from the church to our place, and we exchanged Elder Rothschild's bike with Elder Dayton's bike. Then Elder Goodman came back from the temple so we exchanged back. After, we went to the food bank for the last time, and the members of the food bank gave us some letters and cupcakes. We then took some pics with them, and I wish I had gotten those pics, but I didn't... then we ran home and went to bed.

Friday

Elder Goodman started to pack. We also went to the bike shop to get my kick stand fixed and Fred Meyer to buy some things for Elder Goodman. Then we came home and found out that we were getting whitewashed (replaced) so we started to get everything ready for that. We had dinner with the Scolics, and it was a pretty fun day.

Saturday

Elder Goodman did some more packing, and I started mine because I knew I was transferring. Then we wrote notes for the sisters coming in. We also updated the area book. Then we had a meeting with bishop and talked about what we could do for the sisters and who we needed to go see before we left. Then we biked back to Mill Creek's apartment and had dinner with them and a game night. After, we came home and went to bed.

Sunday

Elder Goodman and I got a warm welcome to our last Sunday in Thomas Lake. We went to church and let everyone know that we are leaving. Then during priesthood, they had a party for all the fathers with goodies and soda. It was great. Then we ran to Meckenzie's to say goodbye to her. Then we went and said goodbye to Sister Templin, and then came home and had lunch. We waited for the assistants to pick Elder Goodman up for his departure. They did, and we ran around trying to figure out where bikes go. Then Elder Barlow and I went to Eastmont and had a lesson with one of their investigators, mason. We had dinner somewhere in there. Then we came home and accounted with our districts since the district leaders went home.

It's sad. Elder Goodman is on a plane home now!! I never thought this day would come so quickly. I feel like a part of me is now gone. I don't know what to do... I guess I'll go to Bellingham? That's where I think I'm going. For my thought I wanted to share words from Isaiah "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty to them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." The spirit of the Lord is upon me now to do these things according to His will, and I can not let Him down. I hope you all can feel that same spirit in your hearts that he gives me that power to go and do those things. I love you all, and I'll see you soon. Bye!

Elder Hammond

pics of Pattie, Elder Goodman "Dead," and the district

Week 44 Elder Goodman is Going Home

Hey everyone. Here is the week.

Monday

We played basketball pretty much all p-day at the stake center. Did some emailing, and I got to see all the wedding pics and fun stuff that happened. One word of caution to Justin who is planning on coming to Washington some time soon​​. If you try to find me, I will be a little disappointed. Plus I have an angry red neck as my companion, so you better watch out.... haha jk! If you want to find me, I'm okay with it. I just can't help you try to find me. Anyway, after playing all day, we came back and went to dinner. Then we rode off to the Scolics to have FHE with them. We talked about Pres Gordon B. Hinckly's talk "You

Don't Know How Much Good You Can Do, and we watched the Mormon message behind it. I recommend you watch it. It's a good little video. After that, we came home and got ready for bed.

Tuesday

I went on an exchange with Seattle Hill, in Thomas Lake. Elder Stewart came with me on it. We started off our day with mormon.org time, and then came back, had lunch, and did our comp study. We went to go see people, but no one really opened their doors. After, we went to dinner with the Merrills. I found out at dinner that Disney Infinity is over and done with. They're done making the characters and game pieces, which really surprised me, but that's okay. I hope the family has gathered more since I had left. After dinner, we ran over to the Templin's and had a lesson with them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really good lesson. The spirit was there, and they really loved the lesson. Then we ran home to exchange back and then go to bed.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Goodman talked about effective teaching and past mentors. After district meeting, we came back home and had lunch. Then we ran off to the library and did My Plan. During My Plan, I watched some videos and moved some of my music around on my USB. Then we went back home and did our comp study. After we went to go have a lesson with our investigator, Michelle, but we found out she was in Kirkland getting her daughter's violin fixed. So we rode off to the Allen's home, a family in our ward, just in time to see Brother Allen's son eat a Carolina Reaper, one of the hottest peppers in the world. It was pretty funny to watch them do it. He and his buddies, all ate one and after, they started walking around the garage dying of the heat. His buddy, Ryan, ran into the restroom and started barfing. That was a little disgusting and weird. Brother Allen's son, Nick, started drooling all over the place. The funny thing is he would not drink any milk, but both of his friends did. He had stomach cramps for the rest of the day. It was pretty funny to see them do that. We then had to run off to dinner with the Lukes's and had Navajo tacos with them. After dinner, we then ran back to the Allen's because Elder Goodman got a flat tire. So we patched it up and got it back to working again. After, we ran off to Patti's to go and talk to her for an hour before we came home and went to bed.

Thursday

We went up to Fred Meyer so Elder Goodman could buy some allergy meds. Then we came back and tried to visited some people in our area and met the Chungs. After, we came back and did  comp study, and had linner. After, Seattle Hill showed up, and we ran to the food bank together. After serving at the food bank, we came back home and got ready for bed.

Friday 

I had an appointment with my counselor. Then we came home, and I took a nap because I was about to pass out, and it wouldn't have been good if we were doing weekly planning. After, we then went to go see John, a potential, but he wasn't home. So we went back home and weekly planned. Then we rode off to dinner with the Debells. After, we ran up to Mill Creek to help with a move they had, and then we came home and went to bed.

Saturday

I went on an exchange with Mill Creek, and I was with Elder Erickson. The move wasn't done yet, so we went and helped them for most of the day, I installed new lights into the house. It's funny. Ever since I decided to change my career path to house renovations, I've been learning how to do all these things on my mission. Around 4, we had a lesson with an investigator Mill Creek has and taught him the law of Chasity. It's been 3 and a half transfers since I taught that lesson, so I really didn't remember what it was all about. I had the basics, so I just stayed with that. After we ran back to the move, and I installed a chandelier while Elder Erickson helped with flooring. Then we came back to their apartment, had dinner, and then exchanged back. 

Sunday

We went to church and had ward conference. We had the stake presidency talk to us. It was a good meeting. A lot was said about service and believing in Jesus Christ. After, we then came home and had lunch, and did our personal study. Then we went off and had dinner with the Griffiths. We had to do it early because they had seminary graduation. It's weird to think last year I had just graduated... but that's okay. I hope graduation was good for everyone that graduated. Sorry that's a week old, but I forget sometimes...life of a missionary. Anyway, after dinner we came home and finished up weekly planning. Then we went to have a lesson with the Templins. We talked about CPR--Church Pray Read. It worked out great. Everyone was really active in the lesson. Then we came home and Elder Goodman accounted for his last time.

It's weird to see the end to Elder Goodman's mission. Today is his last p-day. I'm going to miss him a lot. He is one of my favorites, as well as Elder Stoddard. 

My spiritual thought this week is a quote from Elder Bednar, "It's a lot harder not to shrink then it is to survive." This is something I really struggle with. I just want to shrink almost all the time because that's the easy thing to do. But I don't shrink because that's what Satan wants me to do. I have also heard another saying that "this Gospel is not a comfortable gospel. It is a gospel of change. We don't run into war with our beanies and Nerf guns saying I'm ready to fight. Its the Armor of God. It's supposed to be heavy." I really like that saying because it's just really funny, but its true. Our leaders don't ask us if we are comfy in the gospel. It wasn't easy for Nephi to get the brass plates. They didn't just walk in and ask if they could have the plates once. It's not like he just said, "Well sure, have a cookie on your way out." They had to ask 3 times, and then after a lot of work,the Lord delivered them from their trial. Brothers and sisters, it is the same for all of us. So many of us are at the point where we could shrink at any second. Sometimes giving up is so second nature to us, that we do it without thinking about the outcome. We give up anyways. I've done that several times in my life, and I won't lie. I have come so close many times on my mission to giving up. I can say I am even at that point now, but I can't give up now. My Heavenly Father needs me. It's not because of the work I want to give up, it's because of me and the changes I am trying to make because it's so hard. I also heard this saying from Elder Holland, "Missionary work is hard because salvation was meant to be earned." I am trying to earn my salvation, and I won't go home until I have done so. I hope we remember this always in our daily lives, Yes, I am still going through a hard time as I will ever be for the rest of my mission, but I can't give up on my Savior now. Not when He is preparing me for perfection. I hope this is the same for all of you. I love you all, and I'll see you soon. Bye!

Elder Hammond

Pics of Elder Stewart and me on our exchange and then pics of Elder Erickson and me on our exchange

Week 43 Justin's Wedding Week

Hey everyone. Here is the week for y'all:

Monday

We had p-day. I bought a new suit up at Burlington. It looks great, and it fits me really well. After I bought the suit, we went to the stake center and emailed. Then we played basketball and had a good time there. After, we ran home to get changed and go to dinner with the Griffiths. We had dinner with them and then came home to relax go to bed.

Tuesday

We went and pulled some weeds for Sister Moware. After that, we came home, had lunch, comp. study, and then went to the library for Elder Goodman to do My Plan. Once done, we came back to our area and did some work in it by visiting people. We had dinner, visited more people, and then came home to go to bed.

Wednesday 

We had district meeting, and Elder Goodman talked about being obedient to the rules and following spiritual promptings. It went really well, and I definitely learned a lot. After, we went and had teriyaki chicken up in the Mill Creek area. After, we came home, did comp study, planned, and then went and visited people. We had dinner with the Lucas's, and I found out on Sunday that a daughter of his that's going to BYU Idaho was falling for me at church... crazy. She asked who was going home soon, and she found out it was Elder Goodman. When she found out I had 15 more months, they said she sighed and said, "Dang it." That was news to me. I've never heard that from someone. The parents told me about that. It makes me happy because that's never happened to me, only to my brothers. Dinner was great. We had steaks, and they were really good. After dinner, we then went and attempted to visit more people, and then came home and went to bed.

Thursday

We started the day with going out and doing work, visited some people, and met some new move-ins. Some of them didn't want to come to church. After meeting up with people, we then went and got me a hair cut because I needed one badly! But now I look approved. After, we had linner and comp study. Then we went and helped at the food bank. After, we had a lesson with the Templins, and we taught them the plan of salvation. Then we went home and went to bed.

Friday

Friday was Justin's wedding, and I want to say again congrats bro! It looks like everything went well and you had a good time. I wore the matching wedding day tie and socks for the day to honor him.  We started the day with service for the Mowers. We helped weed her garden. After, we then came home, had lunch, and did our comp study. After, we got changed and went to the stake center for my interview with President Wilding, and Sister Wilding took a pic of me to send it home. After interviews, we rode back home and did weekly planning. Then we had dinner, and then we went off and visited some people. Then we came back home and exchanged with the zone leaders.

Saturday

I was on an exchange with Elder Semidendi, and we started the day with service to finish what we could for Sister Mower. After, we came home and had lunch, then comp study. Then we were going to go and visit people that we had planned, but instead Elder Semidendi pretty much stopped and talked to everyone that came into our path. I like the idea, but it's hard to do that in our area. Not a lot of people really like us. Everyone is either salty or goes to Gold Creek, but sometimes there are some nice ones. Not too many potentials from street contacting, but that's okay. After, we then went to dinner at the church with a mocho (?) chef cook off. We had dinner of "just desserts." There was only like 3 meals that were there. The rest were desserts and treats. After that, we had a meeting with the bishop, and then we went back home to go do more street contacting. We found one potential, and we thought he might come to church, but he didn't which was sad, but that's okay. We'll see if he read the pamphlet. Anyway, his name is Larry, and he was playing ball with his kid in the park. We talked with him, testified of the truth of the church, and found out he wants to join a church with his family but doesn't know where to go. So hopefully everything works out with him. After that, we went home and exchanged back.

Sunday

We went to church. After we came home and had dinner at a member's. I don't remember their names, but they were cool. Then we came home and did our personal study, comp study, and finished our weekly planning, took a small break, and then went and visited some people. After, Elder Goodman did accounting, and then we went to bed.

Well, that's the week. Sorry no spiritual message this week. It's so weird, though. Elder Goodman has 2 weeks left until he goes home. He's starting to pack, but he has sent a lot of things home, and he still is. I've got a long way until then... but that's okay. I'm having fun along the way. I'll see you all next week. Bye!!

Elder Hammond

pics below are of me on Justin's wedding day and us doing service for someone in our ward.

Week 42 At Least It Was a Needle, Not a Nail...

Hey everyone! Here is how the week went:

Monday

We went over to Brother Pasket's, and Elder Goodman worked on some gifts for his mom and dad. While we were there, we had Taco Bell with Brother Pasket. After lunch, we then ran off to the stake center to go email. We did some shopping at Winco and then came home to put the groceries away. Then we rode off to dinner with the Hammonds. We then tried to visit the Templins, but they weren't home, so we had to reschedule for Tuesday. After figuring all of that out, we then ran home and went to bed.

Tuesday

We had zone conference. We had some really spiritual discussions. We talked about repentance, the two wolves at war, (Jesus Christ and Satan) and which one should we feed, comp unity, teaching the restoration with a smile, how to recognize the spirit working with you, etc. After, I got my package, and we rode back home to drop it off and go have dinner. After, we rode over to the Templins and played basketball with them until 8 o'clock. At that time, we then taught them about the Book of Mormon and committed them to read a chapter every night. Then we rode home and went to bed

Wednesday

We had district meeting. Elder Goodman instructed on zone conference and what we can learn from it. Then we went to McDonald's and had lunch as a district. Then Elder Goodman and I ran to the library to do My Plan. While he did that, I watched The Prophet of the Restoration video. It was great to watch something inspiring like that. After, we rode home and did our comp. study. Then we visited some people and then exchanged with Mill Creek. After that we went to bed.

Thursday

I had an exchange with Elder Bennett from Mill Creek. We did some work in my area, and we visited a lot of people, but no one opened their doors really. We also did service for the food bank, and that was fun as always. Thursday was just a rough day. After exchanging back we went to bed

Friday

I had another appointment in Snohomish, and that went well. After the appointment, we came back and weekly planned, had dinner, and went to go visit some people before we exchanged with Seattle Hill. After we exchanged, we came back and went to bed.

Saturday

I was on an exchange with Elder Redd, and we went and did a lot of visiting. We were going to have a lesson with an investigator, but she cancelled on us... but we went and did what we could with the day, knocked on doors, and tried to visit people, but everyone was taking advantage of the sun. We had dinner with the Webb's and that went well. They enjoyed our company. After, we tried visiting more people but no success. From there, we went home and Elder Redd packed up his things. Then we exchanged back and went to bed after an hour.

Sunday

We woke up and found out that Elder Goodman had a flat tire. We're going to get it fixed today, but we went to church, and had a weird lady come to our meeting. I think she had a mental form of schizophrenia, but I wasn't sure. She talked a lot to herself. Anyway, she came, partook of the sacrament, sang songs, listened to the talks, and after she got up and left. She told us her name was Ana, but right as she left, we went to go track her down and talk to her more, and 3 minutes after she left, we went to go find her on the street, and she was nowhere to be found. It was really odd. After church, we came home, had lunch, and went into personal study and comp study, sorta...Elder Goodman fell asleep... I was nice enough and let him sleep. We had a rough week. After his nap, we planned, and then he fixed his tire, only to ride on the rode to have his patch burst and put a nail through the other end of the tire. So we took it back to the apartment and walked all the way to dinner, which was an hour walk. It wasn't fun, but what else can you do? After dinner, Bishop took us home, and Elder Goodman tried to see if he could fix the tire, but he found out about the nail then and learned he couldn't fix it. So we will fix it today. When Elder Goodman was accounting, I got a sewing needle put through my toe. I was walking around in my room and all of a sudden I hit something in the ground, and then I'm on the ground pulling this needle out from my toe! Not fun, but at least it wasn't nails I stepped on like some people that served their missions in Washington...(Justin) It didn't go in too far, so I just put some Neosporin on it and bandaged it up. No biggie. After accounting, we went to bed 

So this week I learned a powerful lesson that I thought to share with you all. Elder Redd said this, "Sometimes we are so used to the spirit being in our lives, that our mind is blind to it, but our heart will never be blind to it." Sometimes we don't even know if it's there anymore. That's what I felt like a lot this week. I used to be in tune with the spirit, now I'm not sure, but I'm finding out. I hope that can help you if you are looking for inspiration this week. I love you all, and I'll see you soon. Bye.

Elder Hammond

Some pics of the sunny weather we are having over Silver Lake and Elder Erickson and me:

Week 41 Day of Hope

Monday

We went shopping at Winco. Then we came to the stake center and played a game of catch. Elder Goodman and I both have picked up some baseball mitts. He was borrowing one of the members, and we had a fun time. I wished I had played a lot more at home. Baseball is a lot of fun. Then we went in and emailed. After, we then went and played some basketball and speed ball which was lots of fun. After we rod up to Burlington to see if there was a suit I wanted and what the price was going to be. Then we came back to the church where the Spanish elders picked us up to go to the missionary dinner with the stake president. After, we came back to the church. We then had our first new member lesson with the Templins. It went well, and they understood a good amount of it. Then we went home and went to bed.

Tuesday

We went to the library and did mormon.org time. After, we ran back home and had lunch, got changed, and went to do some service for a non member in the ward. His name is Dan, and he was working on his back yard last week. We asked if he could use some help, and he said he could use more help next week, so we came by and helped him build a garden area. We talked with him for a little while, and he asked some questions about what we do. We answered his questions, and he told us more about himself. He has a form of Parkinson's that affects the right side of his body, and because of it, he only has 10 years to live, so he told us he's doing more of what his kids want than what he wants. His wife has been looking for a church to attend so that the family can be more religious, because of Dan. The funny thing is she was looking towards Gold Creek, which is not good, but hopefully as we keep helping them, we can help them understand that it's not about religion on earth, but religion of eternal life, and families that can be together forever. So we will keep helping them. After, we came home and got changed, had our comp. study, and then went to dinner. After dinner, we went and visited people. Then we came home and went to bed.

Wednesday

We had district meeting. Elder Goodman talked about how we can answer questions using the Book of Mormon, which is funny because he gave this same instruction in Bellingham when I was there, so I already knew a little bit of it. After, we had lunch, rode to the post office, and shipped out packages. Then we went to the library and Elder Goodman did My Plan. After, we rode home and figured out what we would teach Michelle who we had a lesson with. We went to that lesson and taught the restoration. After, we went home and got dinner. Then we did our comp study, and then went to bed.

Thursday

In the morning, we went and visited some people, helped Brother Pasket with some things, and I got it mixed up. He actually is not a professional golfer. He plays golf, but he had newspapers of someone else hanging up in his garage. After helping him, we went home and had comp. study and linner. Then we went to the food bank and helped there. After we went back to the Pasket's and helped him move some stuff back into his garage. Then we ran home and went to bed.

Friday

I had my appointment in Snohomish, and that went well. After, we then came back home and had lunch, then we weekly planned until dinner. For dinner, Brother Dean took us to a Mexican grill. It reminded me of Cafe Rio, but a little more authentic. After, we went back to his place and gave him a spiritual message. Then we came back home and finished our weekly planning and did comp study. Then we went to bed after relaxing for a while.

Saturday

We helped out at the Day of Hope. It was an amazing event that happened because of Gold Creek. Basically what happens is people signed up to help volunteer for service, and we all got gray shirts that say "Day of Hope" on it. They are really cool shirts, but anyways, people signed up and went and did service all over Everett and Snohomish. It was way cool! Elder Goodman, the Mill Creek elders, myself, and about 16 other missionaries from Snohomish, went to an old folks' residence. I can't remember what they call it, but we went and filled in dirt in the flower beds that needed it, planted flowers, and made it look pretty. It was great! We had a good turn out, and we got to work with Gold Creek members too. It was great. After, we then came home, and Elder Goodman took a nap, He hasn't been feeling the greatest these last few days, some kind of cold bug is flying around here in Washington. Then after his nap, we went and had dinner with the Roberts, came back home, and had our comp study. After, we then went to bed.

Sunday

We went to church and had Pattie Brown show up to church. It was awesome. She came for an hour, and she sat down with us. We explained it all to her. She loved it, and she is just the nicest old lady I've ever taught. She loved the service and wanted to come to another one next week, so hopefully she does. After church we then went home and had lunch. Elder Goodman took a nap with his cold going on. Then after we ran to a lesson with McKenzie and taught her the rest of the plan of salvation. The cool thing is we put her on date for June 17th for baptism, and she was excited and wanted to do it. She and her mom said they would work it out so she could get to church more, so she can make that commitment and can prepare for baptism. After that lesson, we then came home and did our personal study, then ran to dinner. After, we came home and did our comp inventory, and then Elder Goodman did accounting for the rest of the night until bed.

Well, that is it for the week. No spiritual message this week. I'll do that next week, but you can enjoy some pics from the Day of Hope. Love you all, and I hope your week is as sunny as my weeks have been up here!! We have been getting a lot of sun up here, and it's great! Bye! Have a good week.

Elder Hammond