Week 59 Why Do You Come To Church Each Week?

Hello dear family and friends! This has truly been an uplifting week, but a long week as well. I hope your week has been better then mine, and that all is well, I also hope that the women's conference was great, and we are all getting ready for general conference. I know I will be preparing for it as I have a question for the Lord to answer for me, that has come across my mind recently. I will tell you about it either next week or around Christmas time, not sure when, but I'll let you know. Well, let's get to it.

Monday

We were all over the place. We went shopping in the morning, and then we went to try to get hair cuts somewhere but couldn't find a place nearby so we went and emailed. Then we went to the church and had a BBQ with President Wilding, his wife, and the whole zone. It was a lot of fun. We played ultimate frisbee and had a really good lunch. After, we went back and finished emailing. Then we went up to Snohomish to take the other elders to the soccer dome. After dropping them off, Elder Powers and I went and got our hair cut at Great Clips in Snohomish. After, we went back to the soccer dome and played for a little bit before we went home, got changed, and went over to good will to have Elder Davis buy a waffle iron. Then we went and dropped them off at their apartment and went to ours to plan the rest of the night. Then we went and saw some families, and we ended the night with street contacting. 

Tuesday

We went and did service at the senior center. Then we had mormon.org time, and I was able to print off a stop smoking program for a lesson we had later in the day with Revim. After, we had lunch with all the other elders. Then we went to the store and bought some things for Revim's lesson. Then after, the Monroe elders took us home, and we had comp study. Then we went looking for the dollar store in Monroe, but we couldn't find it until a member called to cancel a dinner with us, and she told us where it was. That was pretty funny. After finding it and getting what we needed for the lesson, we drove over to the church and made some copies of the program before Garrett Davis picked us up for our lesson. Then we went to our lesson with Revim and introduced the stop smoking program to him. It was a lot to take in for him, but he said he will try to do it. I can understand what he's going through. It's hard to get over an addiction, but we keep praying for him, and I know he'll get baptized. After our lesson, we had Garret drive us over to dinner with the Kittlers and had dinner with them. After dinner, we had Brother Kittler drive us back to the church, and from there we went and visited people for the rest of the night.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Brown discussed what Preach My Gospel's purpose is. Then we had lunch at McDonalds. After, we came home and had comp study. Then we went looking for a less active member at a business address in our area. We found out he doesn't live there but lives in Arizona, which is funny because he's a member and to make sure missionaries and the church doesn't come find him, he put that address down. After, we went and saw some other people. We also tried to check in with Revim, but he was at church. His mom, Luda, says he was not doing too well, but he's working on it. He went from 1 and a half packs to 3 to 4 cigarettes a day, so it's progress, but not enough. After, we went and helped Danielle with a hay load, and that took the rest of the day including dinner.

Thursday

We went and saw the Currnuts in the morning and got them set up for dinner for the third time. After, we went home and had lunch with the other elders to celebrate Elder Peterson's year mark. That was lots of fun.

    

Elder Peterson's year mark celebration

Then we went back home and had comp. study, and then went off to go see people. Around 4 pm we went and tried to see Revim, but he was at work, so then we went to Sam's house and had a discussion with him about family history and the road to conversion. After, we quickly had dinner with the Anderson, and then had a lesson with Ryan. We gave him a church tour and then at the end asked him what his purpose was with meeting with us. He said it was to learn more about the church, and it may help him to learn more about Christ, but he doesn't want to convert. Huh, that's not cool. We'll keep teaching him so maybe the Lord can soften his heart, but we don't know how long we'll have him. He says he is moving back to Florida. So we'll see. After, we went and did some street contacting and then came home and ended the night.

Friday

We went to the food bank and helped there. Then after, we came home and had lunch with the other elders again. After they left, we had personal and comp study. Then my councilor called, and we had our last counseling appointment. After, we looked up some places in the area book to see where they were, and then we went and saw a guy named Anthony. He is a referral given to us by Spanish, but he wasn't home. So we went to the library and printed off a progress record and did some weekly planning as well. Then we had dinner with the Framptons at a Mexican place in Monroe. After, we went home and finished weekly planning. We weren't able to check up on Revim because he was at work again. 

Saturday

We started the day by tracting a small street in Monroe, but had no luck. Then we went and tried to see a potential investigator, but she wasn't home. So we went to the store to pick up a new light bulb for our room because the one we had went out. Then we came home and had lunch, did comp study, and then went over to dirt road wonderland and did some exploring in our Rav 4. Which reminds me...Elder Powers doesn't have his license, so I'm driving all the time!! So that was fun driving in the dirt roads with our new car. I can go pretty fast, and it does a really good job on the roads. This part of our area is a little far out there, and we haven't explored it too much. So we had a good amount of time to go exploring and see what was down in that area. We went to go see a solid potential, but he was busy at the time. So we drove down the street more and looked for houses to knock on. There wasn't a lot to do so then we went and saw Brother Orberg and had a good long chat with him. After, we got out of dirt road wonderland and went to have a lesson with Revim to see how he's doing. He seemed to be doing well, and he was a lot more aware this time. His mom told us, he gets really angry sometimes and so she will give up and give him his cigarettes, and tell him, "It's your life. If you want to smoke, go head," which is not good. We talked about what could happen if he stopped smoking and how it would make him a lot more happier in life. He's trying his best. Then we came home and had dinner on our own and went and saw people for the rest of the night. 

Sunday

We had our meetings. Then we went to church. Revim came to church which was great! After, we made sure he was in a good spot, and then we ran over to have our lesson with the Branstetters. We went over to teach the plan of salvation, but after talking with them a little more, we felt impressed to talk about the reasons for coming to church. After talking about that, we saw the reason why we felt to talk about that is because the parents have been avoiding coming to church because the "little things" the ward does that they take offense to. Being filled with the spirit, I boldly testified the reason to come to church. It wasn't to just come and feel the spirit. It was because we all need forgiveness, and if people in this church do things you don't like, then who cares? You don't leave the church just because people are not doing things you want them to do, or even just because they said something that they didn't mean to. You come to church because salvation is needed for everyone. You come to church because that's where you can feel the love of God. You go to church to be forgiven. Once you go for those reasons, we all soon realize that that is what everyone is there for, and nobody is perfect. After we had a message with the Zittings, and then we went and had dinner with bishop. To end the night, we street contacted for the rest of the night. 

Well that's my week, brothers and sisters. I hope as you are getting ready for general conference you all have at least some questions prepared. I pray that the lord will answer it. Remember what I said about church, and if you stand in that same place as the Branstetter family, maybe you need to ask yourself, What do I believe in? Do I believe in a church where we all say "wow, I'm glad I'm not that guy." or do we believe in a church of saving. I can testify if any man in this church is looking for the light to come back in their life, remember what Jesus has done for you. Remember what He said to the Pharisees and Scribes, and remember what He says to us all. No one is better then you, and you are never better then anyone else. We are all equal. We all have one purpose in mind, to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him. I boldly testify that He lives, He loves us all, and He only wants us to love one another as He has. Remember He is the only way to our father. Don't let anything get in the way of that. Because you matter. My prayer is we all can come unto Him, as children of our Heavenly Father, and say "Lord, I am not worthy, Have mercy on my soul. I so testify as a witness of Him who is greater then man and I echo his words, "be still and KNOW I AM GOD." I truly love you all, and I pray for you all, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Week 58 Elder Powers--My New Companion

Hey everyone! So this week has been a busy week, but we will get right into it:

Monday

I wrote about Monday last week

Tuesday 

Elder Hatch and I went and did service at the senior center. Then we went and finished packing for Elder Hatch and had lunch as a district at the Mexican Grill in Monroe. After lunch, we went and saw the Currnuts and Elder Hatch said goodbye to them. Then we loaded up the car and went over to our member's home so he could take us to transfers. After getting my new companion, Elder Powers, we then came home, unpacked, had dinner, and went and visited people for the rest of the night to help Elder Powers get to know the area.

Meet Elder Powers

Wednesday

We had district meeting and Elder Hatch had us role play how to instruct on topics in district meeting. After, we had lunch at Hot Iron. Then we went shopping for the new elders. After, we got changed and went with Woods Creek to go do service for someone in their ward. After, we went home, had comp study, got changed and went over to share a message with our recent convert, Colton. Then we got changed again and helped Danielle with the stalls. We had dinner with her and then went home for the night.

District Lunch at Hot Iron

Thursday

We went and saw some people in the morning. Not too many were home so lots of knocking and people not interested. After, we went home, had lunch and comp study. Then we drove to Everett for my appointment. Got the prescription I needed and then came home to fill it up at Rite Aid. After, we had dinner, and then we went street contacting for the rest of the night. While we were street contacting, we came across a girl named Alexis. She's in her teen years, and we gave her a restoration pamphlet. She said she would read it, and we would see her on Sunday.

Friday

We went to the food bank and helped there. After, we had lunch. Then we had personal study and went over to Ken's for a lesson. He talked about the same things as last time, brought up the what he saw as the faults of the church. So we decided since he wasn't progressing, we needed to drop him because we were getting nowhere with him. After two hours of talking with him, we came home and had comp study. Then we had dinner, and after, we had weekly planning. Then we ended the night with a meeting with our ward mission leader. 

Saturday

We finished weekly planning in the morning. After, we came home and had lunch, did comp. study, and then went to go do some service for a member in the ward. When we showed up, it turned out she didn't need us any more. She had already done the work. So we went back home, changed again, and then went and had a lesson with Revim.  We talked about the word of wisdom with him, and he is wanting to start taking the stop smoking program! Which is good. After, we then came home, had dinner, and ended the night with seeing more people.

Sunday

We started the day with comp study. Then we went to Ward Council for a little bit before our lesson with Alexis. After ward council, we went to her house. We knocked on the door and learned that she was not there.... sad day. That's fine. We'll try another time. Then we went back to the church and went through the service. After we got out, we went and had a lesson with the Branstetters, shared a messege with the Zittings, and then ran and had dinner with the Platoborze, and that ended our night. It was a good Sunday, and right as we left dinner, the rain finally came! The season is changing!!!!

Well that's it for me, ya'll. I hope everyone else has had a good week. I send my love to you all, and I'll see you soon.

Elder Hammond

Week 57 Elder Hatch Gets Transferred

Hello everyone. I wont lie. This week was a hard week, but through it all, I was blessed. 

Monday 

I told you about the hike. That was a lot of fun. We had a great time with that. After the hike, we went to the game store and played a game called Betrayal At House On The Hill. It's a really fun game. You make up the board as you go. It's amazing. If you ever want to know what it is, look it up. It's so much fun. After, we had dinner, and then we went home and cleaned the apartment for the inspections.

Tuesday

We had inspections, and got three marks on our inspections... sad day. We did our best though. I feel like the housing coordinators really never liked our apartment because it hasn't gotten a perfect score in a while. After, we ran off to do service at the senior center. Then we came home, had lunch, and then went and emailed all y'all. After, we came back home, did comp study, and then went and saw some people. We had dinner and finished the night with seeing more people.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, I don't remember what Elder Brown discussed. After, we went to Five Guys and had lunch. Then we went home, got changed, and did some service with Woods Creek. After, we visited some people, had dinner, and ended the night with that.

The district

Thursday 

We had a lesson with Ryan, and we talked about the restoration more. Then we went to Walmart to pick up pics and print them off for planner covers. Then we came home, had lunch, comp study, and then went and saw people for the rest of the day. Two lessons canceled on us. We had dinner and came home to end the night by updating the area book.

Sorry I will have to go fast. Not a lot of time to finish.

Friday

We went to the food bank. Elder Hatch went on an exchange to the mission office, and I went to my appointment. Then we came home from all of that and ended the night with dinner.

Saturday

We weekly planned, had lunch, did comp study, went and saw a less active, had dinner with the Dauls, and then came home and saw some people and street contacted as well.

Sunday

We went to Catholic mass with Ryan. Then we came home and had comp study before church. We had church, and Revim and Ryan both showed up which meant two investigators where at church yesterday! After church, we went and started teaching the discussion with an active family who has less active kids. Then we went to the Zittings, and then had dinner with the Davis's. Then we came home and street contacted for the rest of the night.

Today

Elder Hatch is transferring. We started the day with a ping pong tournament at Woods Creek's apartment. Then we went and went off the jumps again. I've attached the videos. After, we went to the game store and played the game again. Now we are emailing. We will go to dinner and say goodbye to a lot of members for Elder Hatch. 

Well, that's it for me. I wish you all the best, and I'll see you soon!

Elder Hammond

Week 56 The Fair, Our New Car, and Service

Hello, every one! It's been another okay week here in Washington so let's go head and get right to it:

Monday

We started off with emailing and shopping. Then after we went to the soccer dome and played soccer for a little while. After, we came back to Monroe and went to the fair with Izzy, Destiny, (a former investigator, Izzy's sister) Victoria, (her other sister) and the Monroe elders. We had tons of fun! We road as many rides as we could. I know a lot of you  may think I'm  breaking rules by doing this, but there were no rules in the handbook that said we couldn't and the leadership of the mission said it was fine, so we are all good. When we went I got to see the Langfords, from Stillaguamish. I was so happy that I got to see them! I never said goodbye to them when I left. They were so cool! After we hung out at the fair, we took Monroe home and drove off to dinner. After dinner, we were walking away from the house and my knee popped out of place and back in again, like it does sometimes. That was not fun at all, so I put my brace on it when we got home, and I walked very slowly for the rest of the day. After that, we went back to the fair to street contact people. We didn't do very much because if we got caught doing it, we would get kicked out, but we saw a lot of members there so it was okay. After doing so, we then came home and ended the night.

Tuesday

We started the day with progressing, then went and did service at the senior center. After that, we went to Walmart for one of the Monroe elders to pick up something. Then we came home, had lunch, did comp study, and then went and saw some less actives and potentials out in the desert (it's really not a desert. I just call it that because it's the only part of our area that is just dirt roads.) After, we came back to Monroe area and dropped off some Tupperware and picked up a cane from a member for me to walk around with to help with my knee. Then we went and had dinner at Hot Iron with a member. After, we went and looked for a new move in but could not find it. That ended our night.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Brown talked about relating lessons and topics to the person to help bring the spirit into the discussion. After, we went and had lunch as a district at Hot Iron... again. That's fine. I like Hot Iron. Then we came home and had comp study and went and saw people after. Then we went over to Danail's before dinner and shared a lesson with Colton. It has been a while since we have done that, and Colton is a really solid kid in his testimony. He's in his 20's, and he reads every day, prays all the time, and tries to come to church as much as he can. It's great to have a solid recent convert like that. After, we had dinner and then went home for the night.

Thursday 

We were told we were getting our new car on Thursday, so we were really happy that they were going to finally give us our Rav 4. We had to take the Malibu in to get it washed and vacuumed. Then we came back, had lunch, and went to the mission office to go pick up the new car. It's a really nice car, all wheel drive. It's white, and it's big too. After picking it up, we came back home and had a lesson with Sam, our solid less active, and then a lesson with Revim which was the first in a while. Then we came home and went on a blitz with Monroe elders and went out to the farthest part of their area. That ended the night.

The new car

Friday

We had interviews in Snohomish. Then we came back and helped at the food bank for a half an hour. After, we then came home, had lunch, and then had a lesson with Ken, which took to hours because he grilled us on what he thought the faults of the church are. We could not leave without testifying of the truth of the church, but we left on a good note about Jesus Christ. After, we went home and had personal study, then comp study, and then we ran over to Woods Creek apartment and had dinner with them. Then we came home, and I got packed for the exchange with Elder Macraie in Sultan. We exchanged, and then ended the night with unpacking and going to bed.

Saturday

On the exchange, we went and saw a lot of people in their area, did a lot of driving, had comp study, and lunch and dinner in the day. I got to give some training to Elder Macraie with him being a new missionary in the field, and some advice on some things I was feeling weeks earlier, because he was feeling the same way about the work. Later that night we exchanged back, and I felt very good about what I did there to help him.

Sunday

We made the progress record for ward council and then went and made copies for it. Then we had ward council, then church, and then we came home and got ready for our lesson with the Zittings and dinner. After dinner, we came home and weekly planned and then started to clean the apartment for the inspection we had today.

Yesterday

We went and hiked up to a lake in Index, Washington. We had lots of fun. Half the district went, and we went climbing on lots of rocks and trees. We brought our whips and whipped things at the lake too.  It was a lot of fun! After we came home. After being stuck in traffic, we got changed, did some shopping, and then went and played games at the game shop. After, we had dinner and then cleaned the apartment, and that ended the day.

Well that's the week for you, and I hope you all know that you are in my prayers, since I have found out of the passing of Aunt Amy. My heart and prayers go to the Barfuss family. I hope you can remember we have a loving Heavenly Father, and if you turn to Him for peace and comfort, He will give it to you. I hope you all have a great week, and I'll see you soon.

Elder Hammond

(Sadly, Elder Hammond sent photos of the fair, their new car, and their hike, but I haven't been able to open any of the links. I hope to be able to get access to them when he writes next week, and I will update the blog with pictures.)

Week 55 A Busy Week

Hello! I'll be honest with you. I was not expecting anything of what happened this week. It has been a long week, so let's get right to it:

Monday:

Elder Valoncic had to 3 pack with us while Elder Ericksen went to the temple with the Clearview elders. So we had some fun without him. If you can remember, we watched the eclipse, and it was great! We watched it right outside of the Lego store in Monroe and got some pretty funny pics. We also got to see all of the cool Lego building in the store. The store is owned by members, so they didn't mind the company of a few elders. After, we then dropped the Monroe elders off and had some lunch at Subway. We used some gift cards some members gave us. Then we went and picked Monroe up from their lesson and went emailing. After, we then rode off to the reptile zoo. It was a lot of fun. We did a lot of exploring. There's a two headed turtle there. That was cool! Anyways, we then went and had dinner, and then went off to see people. After that, we came home and went to bed.

Tuesday

We thought we were over miles so we biked the whole day in a three pack, to save miles.  We started by going to the senior center to do service. Then we came back and had lunch and comp. study. Then we went and saw people close by. Someone we went and saw was a person named Ryan. He is a new investigator as of yesterday. The Monroe elders referred him over to us, and he was happy to meet us. We invited him to church, but the only way he would go is if we went to Catholic mass with him... I was okay with it, and i'll tell you what I thought about it later. Then we rode off to dinner. After, we went and saw more people. Then we came home and got all of Elder V's stuff together and exchanged him back with Elder Ericksen. And that really ended the night.

Wednesday 

We had district meeting, and Elder Brown talked about how to pray for the spirit to always be with you, and how we need to be worthy of it and find the thing that is holding us back from having the spirit. It was a great discussion. After, we all drove off to a taco truck in Monroe and had lunch there. Once we were done, we then came home and did comp study. Then we went and saw some people, did some service for Danial, and had dinner with Colten, her son. She was off taking her horses to the fair, which we are going to today! So that will be fun. After, we came home, and I got everything ready for my exchange with Sultan, and we drove off to the reptile zoo to meet them. 

Thursday

I was with Elder Brown, and we went and saw a lot of people in their area. We also helped at the food bank, and we helped with sanding the paint off of a neighbor's house. I had a really fun time with Elder Brown. In some ways, he acts a lot like me, and he is very in tune with the spirit, which is great. I actually helped them pick up an new investigator, so that was great! At the end of the day, we exchanged back, and I headed back to Maltby.

Friday

That was a busy day. We helped at the food bank for a little while. Then we came home, had lunch, and then we went and had a lesson with Ken. After we bolted off to my appointment because we stayed too long at Ken's lesson. After that, we drove back and had personal and comp studies. Then we went to the church to be picked up by the Fast's to have dinner. After, we got back and saw the other missionaries in the field by the church, so we went to go say hi, and after about 5 minutes of us saying hi, we started to run away because some of the kids started to throw balloons at us. So we ran away and went back to our area to go see more people for the rest of the night.

Saturday

We went to the parade in Monroe and helped with keeping the crowd under control. It was okay. Then after, we went and helped Danial bail hay. Then we came home, had dinner on our own, and then we had comp study and went on a walk with Izzy, our recent convert.

Sunday

We went to Catholic mass. That was really weird, like I did not like it that much... lots of standing and singing, but I'm willing to do it for our investigator, Ryan. Then we had a meeting before church. Church came around, and then we went and had a lesson with the Zittings. Then we came home and weekly planned. That ended the night.

Well, that's it for me. I hope you had a good week, and I'll see you next time.

Elder Hammond

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