Week 64 Hello Lakewood Ward!

Hello everyone. Elder Hammond here talking to you from my old stomping grounds in Arlington!!!!! The Promised Land!! I love being back in my favorite zone. I have so much to do and so many familiar faces. It's been great!! Well, let me tell you about where I am and who I'm with. I am in the Lakewood Ward with Elder Hunter and Elder Milner, in a 3 pack. Lots of fun! I've known Elder Hunter my whole mission, and Elder Milner is a great missionary. We live in a house, like a house, a real house. I'm not kidding. It's awesome! 3 bedrooms, two baths, and a lot of room. Anyway, we have lots of investigators, and we picked up 3 new ones this week. This area is on fire!! We have 6 right now and a couple solid potentials, so it's great! I'll tell you about them throughout the week. So ya, here's the week.

Monday

Monday was my last actual day in Maltby. We had a good time. Elder Powers and I went shopping, and then we emailed at the church for four hours. Then we went to say goodbye to Izzy before I left. After, we came back and played tennis with the zone. We had a good time there. Then we went back home, got changed, and went with Woods Creek to Goodwill to look around and see if we could find some cool things. Then we went and had dinner with the Wards for one last time. Then we went and said goodbye to some other people around that area, but shortly after, we had to come home because we were low on miles. So I took the rest of the night to pack and get ready for transfers the next day.

Saying goodbye to Izzy

Last dinner with the Wards

Garrett Davis and Elder Hammond

 Tuesday

We went to the senior center after I got finished packing, and we did some service there. After, we had lunch with Woods Creek and Monroe at Hot Iron for my last time. It was great. Elder Peterson paid for me. Then after, we went back home and loaded everything into the car to go to transfers, but we stopped on the way there at the Crunnuts to say goodbye to them. They told me when we come back in August to go see them. So I'll try to. After, we drove to Garrett Davis's house so he could take us to transfers. We loaded up the van and then went to transfers. We stayed there after learning we needed to wait for a long time because one of the new missionaries decided to leave on the way to the mission, so one of the trainers had to get another missionary for his comp. After President figured out what to do, we got to stay in a three pack in Lakewood. Which is nice. So we got to Arlington, had a small comp study and dinner, and then we went to meet some people in the area. We met with a family named the Sedweeks. They are a good family and ended up having the girlfriend wanting to take the discussions. The boyfriend is a less active, and they have two kids. So that will be great! We are meeting with them on Wednesday so we may have new investigators next week. After, we went and had a meeting with Bishop, and we told him about things that happened last week. Then we went around and saw some people close by home before we went to bed to end the night.

Transfer Day!

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Hunter instructed on how to teach your investigators how to listen to the spirit. That was great! I kinda learned some new things I didn't know before. After we had lunch at the Costco by our apartment with the rest of the district. It's pretty nice. Elder Hatch is in my district with me, and Sister Hoch is as well. So two people I know are in my district, and Sister Hoch and I were friends in high school. We talk about that a lot and the fun times we had together. After lunch, we went and shopped at Costco because Elder Hunter had a gift card. Then we went to Walmart to allow me and Elder Milner to shop. I got to use my gift card thanks to the package getting here at a good time. After shopping, we took time to put our food away, and then we planned out the day and had Comp study as well. Then we went and saw some people in the area close by the house. In this area, we do a lot of walking because the city area is all close by and everyone is close by. The farther you go out, the more rural it gets. So we did some walking and driving around and saw some people. We shared a scripture with a man named Timmy who is a former investigator, and he seemed really cool. He's not really going to be an investigator any time soon, but I'm not sure why. After talking with him, we went and had a ward trunk or treat. It was a great turn out and lots of people were there. After, they gave us all the hot dogs and chips, and we have a fridge now full of 70 Costco hot dogs and chips. So we're kinda loaded. Just a little. After, we went home and ended the night by going to bed.

Thursday

We saw a lot of people. One person we saw is Kevin, a former investigator that we're working with. Let me tell you, the man talks a lot, like a lot. He's a born again Christian, and he really likes talking a lot. He's not a lot of do, just a lot of talk about his God. It is sad how many people think just because Christ performed the atonement it means we can all be healed and saved in the end right? Kinda true, but I don't know why guys like him see that the atonement allows us to repent, but it doesn't allow us to do whatever we want with our own free will without consequences or without repenting when we make mistakes. I mean, this ma knows the gospel very well. He knows we are the right church, or he at least says we are, but yet he smokes all the time, plays with toy models, and doesn't come to church when we tell him to. It's kinda sad how people really turn religion and belief around. After seeing him, we came home and had lunch, then had comp study, and then ran over to have a lesson with a recent convert family named the Millers. We had a good lesson, talked about Tad R. Callister's talk about the Book of Mormon from general conference, and we also watched it. Brother Miller seemed to like it. After, we ran to have dinner with the Coopers, a new family in the ward. We had a great time there and got to know them. Then we went and visited some more people before the night was through.

Friday

We started with helping at the food bank. We go to the one in Marysville every Friday, and it's great. I've only been there once, from a year ago, so I forgot how everything worked, but luckily, the workers helped me. After, we had lunch, then personal study, comp study, and then we went and visited some people. We had a lesson with a new investigator named Orion, like the star constellation Orion, he's really cool. He's 16 but looks like he's like 20 or something, and he really wants to take the discussions and get baptized. We met him at the truck or treat and found out that he lives with some members in our ward. He goes to church with them every Sunday, and I think he is the grandson of the members, but I'm not sure. We taught him the restoration, and he really liked it. He's very nice, and we have been able to gain a great relationship with him. After the lesson, we visited some more people and ended the night with weekly planning and dinner and having a lesson with a Marshelise family that we picked up a new investigator from.

Saturday

We did a lot of work. We started the day with finishing weekly planning and getting that squared away. After, we had lunch and comp study. Then we went out and saw some people. We had no set lessons, but we went to the church after lunch to get our area book back because we forgot about it when we went to weekly plan. There was a guy at the church just walking around. He looked kinda drunk, so we just sat there just watching him in the car not sure what to do. Then Elder Milner said, "Elder Hunter, you won't go street contact that guy. You're too soft." So Elder Hunter looked at him and said, "Watch me," gets out of the car, and we have to follow, and he goes to talk to him. Turned out the guy wasn't drunk or high at all, and we picked him up as a new investigator, showed him around the church and stuff, but he never came Sunday, sadly. We will probably see him tonight for a pick up game we're doing. So ya, we had dinner later that night. Then we visited some people around home before we had a meeting with our ward mission leader. That ended the night.

Sunday

We had ward council, then church, then we went and tried to have some lessons with our recent converts and a potential that we had met the other day, but they all fell through. So we spent most of our time trying to find someone that could come with us to the CSFY devotional that night, and we did. Orion came with us, so that was great! He said he liked it a lot, and that ended the night with accounting.

Well that's it for me. I will talk to you all next week, bye!!

Elder Hammond

Week 63 My Last Week in Maltby

Well it's my last day in Maltby... a little sad because I know this is the area I've worked the hardest, and it has really paid off. I have received great blessings from this area, and not all of them are missionary blessings. I know I have served the Lord with all my heart in this area, and I wouldn't have changed a thing. I will talk about that more later. Let's get right to the week. 

Monday

We emailed, did some shopping, and then we went to the soccer dome to play soccer. It was great! The Hermanas came for the first time, so that was fun. We played some ultimate Frisbee too, with my new Frisbee. That was fun. I got to test it out. After, we went back home and went to Good Will to look at some things to see if I could find some cool stuff. I found this army man helmet that was like $2 which was great because I wanted to get something cool for the Halloween carnival that was going on this week. So I got it. After, we had dinner with the Van Leuvens and had Costco ribs and other Costco food. I really enjoyed that. After, we came home and hopped on our bikes to go see people for the rest of the night, and we ended the night with cleaning the apartment.

Tuesday

We had inspections, and we did a way better job then last transfers. We only got one mark, which is the best inspection this apartment has had. So that was fun. After, we went to the Senior Center and did some service there. Then we went and got a few things at Dollar Tree because I was feeling sick that day. I woke up at two in the morning with a sick to my stomach feeling, and I didn't know why, so I was up half the night feeling really sick. Some time around four I was able to go back to bed. But anyway, we went and got some Sprite and Gatorade to help. Then we went to Dennys and had lunch for Elder Powers birthday. I know what you're thinking. Elder Hammond, you're sick. Why did you go to Dennys? Well, I wanted Elder Powers to have a good birthday, and I think he did. So I suffered though all the stomach cramps the rest of the day. After, we had comp study, and then we went to the library and had mormon.org time. Then we came home and planned the rest of the day out. Then we took naps because I needed to get some rest. I was not feeling the best. Then after, we had dinner and went to go see people. Every person we saw either was not home or was not interested. So that's hard, but it's okay. It's the Lord's work, and He leads and guides his children to know who to go see. 

Elder Power's Birthday lunch at Dennys

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Brown instructed on what was the most important thing about what we share as missionaries. It worked out really well. After, we had lunch one last time as a district at the Mexican grill in Monroe. It was great. Then we came home and had comp study, and then we planned out the day. After, we put the bikes into the Rav 4 and drove off to see people. After biking around for a while, we biked back to the car and put them in the car because it started to rain really badly. Now I had rain pants, but Elder Powers didn't, so I decided so he wouldn't get soaked, we would go back to the car, pack up the bikes, and drive off to someone we could see close by to dinner. So we went and saw the Lefevores before dinner and had a great conversation with Sister Lefevor. She also said if we were coming back to tour the mission, and we needed somewhere to stay, we could use the apartment in their home. Kinda cool. Maybe something we can do. Anyway, we had dinner with Danielle, and then we came home and went to bed.

The District

Thursday
We went to Everett for my doctor's appointment and got that squared away for my medication. He game me a 3 month prescription, which is good. After the appointment, we went to the bike shop in Everett and got my bike fixed. I had to pay for it a little bit. Then after, we went to the one in Snohomish and bought my bike some new grips because the ones on my bike were getting worn down. After that, we went home, had lunch, personal study, comp study, and then we went and saw people in the farthest part of our area. While we were out, we got rained on pretty bad. So we waited in the car for the rain to calm down, but it worked out. I did some area book work while we waited. After waiting, we drove off to dinner. We had dinner, and then we went to go see Sam. It was football night so we really didn't get to sit down and have a lesson, but we did share a scripture, and Luis was in the other room, so I hope he heard it. After, we came home, went to see two people but they didn't open up, so we went home and ended the night.

Friday

We had an all day service at the food bank, which was not normal. It was only because we helped there on Fridays, and then we did some painting for them, but it took a long time because Elder Erickson and Elder Davis wanted it to look good. At the end of it, we got kinda contentious, (mad at each other) because some of the elders were stressed out about things, (me). I don't want to talk about them, but I promise if you ask me when I get off my mission, I'll tell you what it was all about and what exactly happened. Anyways, so we all stood outside, by our cars, and each person got something off their chest, and it was mostly directed to me and another elder. It was just things that bothered them about us, and as well as us being too sensitive and taking things too personally. One of the elders thought I was really prideful, and he saw that while he was in Everett, now not so much, but it's still there. That one kinda stung me really hard. As well, one of the elders told me that he told President to transfer me because they needed a new elder here for new ideas and new things to try. Now, looking back at it, I can see why he said that, but when he told me that it made me feel really bad about myself. I kind of felt like I wasn't enough anymore. Everything that was said to me and the other elder made me feel that they had some hate and resentment towards me, and it crushed my confidence. I didn't feel like I was loved by my district at that time. I felt alone. We had to get to our cars because it started to rain really hard, and we drove away. All I could feel was "You're the worst missionary in the world. You don't have friends. You can't even work things out in this area. People don't like you. You should get transferred and be a Jr. comp for the rest of your mission." These are things I heard, and I said them as well coming home. We got home, and after taking a shower, it was all building up inside of me so much I just cried in my room. I felt the depression I had before my mission coming back. I just felt alone. As I wept, a memory came into my mind, and I believe this was an impression of the spirit. It was at these times at home, where I would be crying so much, that I asked Heavenly Father to have mercy on me, and He did. After asking that, my pain went away with my tears, and I felt peace. So after remembering that memory, I asked Heavenly Father to have mercy on me and allow me to feel His love. As I did, the cloud of darkness rose and withered away, and my tears were there no more. I felt peace, and I had forgotten what was making me feel that way. After I had forgotten everything that had gone on, we went to the church for the Halloween carnival, and I felt so good leaving that....until later that night. I had apologized to all the elders for what had happened, and no one had responded to that text. It made those feelings come back, and I didn't sleep well that night. It is at our greatest times when the devil likes to brings us down, and he does my friends, and that's what happened to me.

Saturday 

After not sleeping too well, I got up and was able to forget my feelings and recover. If you ask me again after my mission, I'll tell you why. We started the day with going to Walmart and picking up some extra things I needed. Then we went and weekly planned, had lunch, and comp study. We finished weekly planning, and then we went and saw some people in the dirt land paradise. We met some interesting people up there. Nothing too exciting, except a less active we met who was really cool. He said we could come over whenever we wanted. So that was cool. After, we went home, had dinner, and then saw some people around home. Then we went home to end the night. 

Sunday

We started with comp study. Then we went to the church and had our meetings. Then we went though the service, and I took a lot of pics because I knew I was getting transferred.  After, we came home and had lunch, and then we went to see Brother Zitting. Then we went to dinner with Sister James, and that lasted the rest of the night.

Elder Hammond, Colton, and Brother Dilanie

With the priests in the ward

Brother Zitting and Elder Hammond

(The last three pictures of with the Tates, the Paltaborzes, and the Jameses, not necessarily in that order! He didn't specify the picture with the list of names he sent. -Note from Mom) 

Well it's been great talking to you. I'll let you know where I got sent to. The possibility is back to Everett, but I'm not sure. So I'll see you all soon. Bye.

Elder Hammond

Week 62 A New Investigator...Finally!

Hey everyone. It's been a great week, a little rough, but everything is going well, mostly. I cant make up my mind. Anyway, here it is.

Already talked about Monday.

Tuesday

We went to the senior center and did some service there. Then we had lunch all together at McDonald's, After, we went emailing, and I got to talk to you all. After, we had comp study, and then traveled out to the area to do some work in the far part of Monroe. We had dinner with the Dahls, and then after, we went and did some more work around there. We talked to a Brother Neiphorth and had a good talk with him. We found out one of his roommates was the aunt of Madeline Paige. So that was pretty cool. I think that was his sister. Then after, we drove the Rav 4 home and went to bed.

Wednesday

We had district meeting. Elder Brown talked about teaching people that are not interested. It was pretty great. After, we gathered around for interviews and President took us one by one. We then had lunch, and I had to go back to the church to get my package from Justin and Camie. Thanks for that guys! I like it. After, we went home, had personal and comp study, and then we went and saw some people before our service and dinner with Danielle. Then we came home and ended the night. 

Thursday 

We had the half mission conference, and Elder Cornbridge came and spoke to us. It was a great meeting. After, we went back home and went with our ward mission leader to Sam's house and met his brother in law. Tuesday, the Spanish missionaries referred him to us, so we went and talked about the Book of Mormon with him. We found out that he was really interested, and we picked him up as a new investigator. After the lesson, Brother Palomares took us to get pizza, and we ended the night with eating it.

Friday

We helped at the food bank. Then we had lunch and comp study. After, we started weekly planning, and I packed for the exchange in Sultan the next day. After, we then went to dinner and finished the night with weekly planning before the exchange. 

Saturday

I went to Sultan with Elder Macria, and we taught a lot of people. Nothing exciting.

Sunday

We started with comp. study. Then we went to ward council, had church, and then went to our lesson with the Branstetters. After that we went to the Zittings, and then we had dinner with the Davis's. Then we came home and cleaned the apartment for inspections on Tuesday.

So there's the week. Not much has happened. Sorry I didn't take any pics. Have a great week, and I send my love to you all. Bye!!!

Elder Hammond

Week 61 Keep On Tracting...

Hey everyone. Another long week of hard work has passed by, and the month has just barely started. Let's get to it.

Monday 

We emailed, did our shopping, and spent a good amount of time at Goodwill. Then we drove up to the soccer dome and played soccer for a good long time. Afterward, we came home and had dinner on our own. Then we went and saw some people and ended the night with street contacting. Sadly, not much happened.

Tuesday 

We went to the senior center and did service there. After, we then drove over to the library for mormon.org time. Then we had lunch with some of the other elders. We came home and had comp study. and then our own study time. Then we went and saw the Currnuts for a little bit. After, we went and saw some people in the farthest part of our area. We did some tracting as well, and everyone except one house on the street we tracted weren't home or said they were not interested. The guy at the one house said he was busy with a phone call but said to come back another time. So we will, soon. After we tracted the street, we went home and had dinner. After that, we went back out and went to see some people close to us. Then we ended the night with street contacting in that neighborhood. 

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Brown talked about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. After, we had lunch and then came home to do comp study. Then we got changed and traveled to help Danial with a hay load, and that took up the rest of the day, including dinner.

Thursday

We started the day with going with the Monroe elders to give a man a blessing. He has PTSD, and so he was really freaking out and was about to commit suicide, but because he called the elders and his grandma, we were able to bring the spirit into the situation and help him. During our discussion with him, his wife came into the room and helped calm him down. So as we talked with him, we gave him a Book of Mormon so when he feels out of it, he can read it. And we gave him a blessing as well. I was the one to give it, after volunteering to, and being asked to. After the blessing, the spirit entered the room so immensely, and he said that his mind had cleared all the bad, negative thoughts and memories. Because of it, he felt like he could go "run a mile now" --that kind of energy. I thought that was great, and I  was grateful to give such a blessing. Then we got changed and headed over to the Woods Creek elders' apartment to help with some service they had going on. After, we came home, got changed, and went on a blitz with the zone leaders. We all worked in our area. Sadly, after that effort, no one opened their doors. After the blitz, we then went to have a lesson with Sam, but he was not home. So we went back home and had dinner with Woods Creek and Monroe elders at Red Robin. That was great. Later that night, we had comp study, and then we hopped on our bikes and went street contacting for the rest of the night. We met one guy named Jade that night and got everything set up for the next day to have a lesson.

Friday

We went and did service at the food back. After, we had lunch. Then we had personal study, comp. study, planned the day, and then went to have our lesson with Jade. Once we got to where we had met him before, we knocked on the door and the father of his girlfriend said that he wasn't home, but he knew who we were because he had talked about us before. That kinda made us sad. That's okay. We left a card with our number at the house and hopefully he'll text us soon, which he probably won't. It's been 4 days already. Then we went home and did some weekly planning, had dinner, and did more weekly planning until our appointment with the Nelsons. That did not go the way we wanted it to. We went thinking that we would be talking to the family, but the mom just came out and talked to us. She didn't let us in because the husband was not home. Sorry, earlier in the week we went over to see them. They have 3 unbaptized children, and so we wanted to go see if we could teach them the discussions. During our talk with her, she said that she was doing fine, and she just doesn't go to church because she doesn't have time, and she's not too interested right now. So we told her if she ever was, she could just go. We told her the time and where, and then we also told her if she would like us to come over maybe every now and then to share a message, we could do that as well. She told us okay, and she might do that. Then that was it. So after that, we went to Brother Palomareses and talked about how things were going in the ward. That ended the night.

Saturday

We had a zone breakfast we went to and had a good time there. After, we came home, studied, and planned. Then we went and finished our weekly planning. After, we had lunch and comp study. Then we went and saw some people. We did some tracting in the rain, and then we came home and had dinner. After, we then did some tracting close by and got another person that seemed interested. We set up an appointment the next day. We ended the night with street contacting on our bikes. 

Sunday

We started the day with comp. study. Then we went to have our lesson with Madison, which was the girl from the night before, but she wasn't home. So we left a card on the door with our number on it. People really like giving us false hope. So we went and saw some other  people before church. Then we went though the service. After, we went and had a lesson with the Bransetters and talked about how we can sometime be like the people in Lehi's dream. We can get to the tree of life and not be ashamed, or we can get there and be ashamed, or we can be like the people in the great and spacious building and mock and point at those trying to do their best at life. After our lesson, we then went and shared a message with the Zittings, and then we had dinner with the Wards and Sister Susan Miller. So that ended the night.

Yesterday

We hiked Wallace Falls, not all of it. We only got to the second falls, which is still a long way. I got some good pics with Elder Davis's camera because he forgot his SD card. After the hike, we came home, got changed, and went shopping. We also took Elder Davis to a hair cut place to get his hair cut. After, we went back home and dropped the elders off. Then we drove straight to dinner. After, we came home and parked the car because our miles were pretty high, and we went in and cleaned our apartment. 

Well that's the week for you. It's been an ok week. I hope you all have a good week, and I'll see you soon. Bye!

Elder Hammond

 

Week 60 General Conference

What a week this has been! I am truly grateful for the words that have been spoken by our apostles, and general authorities of the church. They have lifted me up and helped me to have a better understanding of not only my call, but how much my Father in Heaven loves me. Also, I played I spy with Brother Peterson in the MoTab. My friend, I didn't even know you were in it! I saw you so much though, it reminded me of home a lot. Haha! I promise I'm not trunky. Anyway, here is my week for you.

Brother Peterson in the MoTab

Monday

Monday was the kinda not too much fun p-day. We went shopping, emailing, and we went to Goodwill and looked around for several hours at things. We also had lunch somewhere in there. After the several attempts to find something fun to do, the other elders all ditched us, and we were left alone for the last 3 hours of our p-day. We didn't know what to do except look in more stores and plan out the rest of the day. At the end of the day, we had dinner, and then we went off and visited people for the rest of the night.

Tuesday

After progressing, we went and did service at the senior center. After, we had lunch, comp study, and then we traveled into the area and did some work close by our investigator Ruvim. After knocking on several houses and no one being interested or home, we went to Ruvim's house for a lesson to find he was at work, so we got back into the car and drove our way back home to have dinner. Then we went to go see people around where we lived. We went to see one person named Anthony, but he wasn't there. Instead there was a black guy at the door, and when we asked if Anthony was there, he just looked at us, laughed, and said "No bro." He walked past us, got on his bike, and rode away. As he was riding away he yelled at us, "It's like Harry Potter, man. Don't worry." At this point, Elder Powers and I were both confused and weirded out. If I was my old self, I would have ran him down and asked where this man was, but not wanting to get into the car and to even get myself in trouble, we knocked on the door again, no answer, and left the house. After that fiasco, we then went street contacting for the rest of the night. 

Wednesday

We had zone conference that lasted a good amount of the day. The zone leaders, President Wilding, Sister Wilding, Elder Lelo, and Elder Brown all instructed on being minions of the Lord we serve. President's instruction was more on why we are a high expectation mission, and a high love mission, while Elder Lelo's and Elder Brown's remarks were to help us to teach better as minions of the Lord, and yes I am talking about the little yellow guys from Despicable Me. After all the instructions and role plays, we then had lunch as a zone, and then dispersed, except me and a couple other missionaries that wanted to talk to President. When it was my turn, I told him what had been bothering me the past few days and how I approached it with prayer and scripture study. He gave me some council, I thanked him, and I looked toward general conference to answer my question. After that, we drove home and had personal study, comp. study, and then, out of the blue, Elder Brown set up an exchange for that night. so we got Elder Powers packed and went to dinner before the exchange. Then we exchanged and then came home.

Thursday

I wish I had biked every mile I walked. We had to save miles because it was the end of the month. We walked to every person we saw that day, had lunch and comp study at noon, then in the evening we drove to see Sam only to find out that he wasn't home. We had dinner, and then we did some service for a member. We were going to stack wood for him, but after much consideration, we just put it all under his tent where he was keeping it. Then we came home and exchanged back. I had a great time with Elder Brown.

Friday

We helped at the food bank. Then as a district, except Sultan, we had lunch at Red Robin. After, we came home, had personal study, comp. study, and then we started weekly planning before Brother Tate picked us up for dinner. We had dinner, and then we came home to finish weekly planning. 

Saturday

We watched both sessions of general conference and had lunch with Monroe. Then we went to go see some people before the priesthood session. After, we went to Hot Iron for dinner and had a great time. We ended the night by burning up left over miles. 

Sunday

We saw both session, had lunch, and we also saw the world report. That made me happy to see that the work on the Jordan River Temple was going to be done, and it will be dedicated by the time I get home!!! I can't wait. Then after all of that, we came home, had personal study, and went to the Zittings to share a message. After, we came home, had dinner, and then went to try to see more people before the night was over, but no one opened their doors, so we went home. We accounted and went to bed.

Like I said, general conference was amazing! I can honestly say I used to love the fact that I could sit in comfy clothes on Sunday and play prophet bingo with all the many flavors of Skittles we could get. Now that I've grown up and matured, tasting the rainbow isn't really all that important for me any more. What you could say is that I have changed from playing games and falling asleep when the rest of my family fell asleep during conference... (sorry) to eyes wide open, ears to hear, and a spirit ready to be taught by our latter day prophet and apostales. I have come a long way, and if you may so wonder why I can boldly testify of the truth, or why others serving missions can as well, even people you know in your life, remember we all have gone through trials that have perfected us to deeper understanding of God's love for us. If you knew the trials I have gone through and knew what I'm doing now to change, you would not see me as the same person. I am grateful I serve a God who is perfect and who provided a Savior for us, and has his son lead by example, so we can become perfected ourselves. I echo what Jefferey R. Holland spake yesterday, which is, God would not command us to be perfect like his son, unless it was attainable. "Perfect" does not mean what the world thinks. It means finished, complete, in no need to do over again. Brothers and sisters, our lives are exactly that. We are becoming exactly that. We have repentance that allows us to become clean of our sins and to be brought back to that perfect state where we started. Because of Jesus Christ, the war is already won, and we, as disciples of Him, must follow His path. I promise, bothers and sisters, as we look outward, in love towards others, learn from Him, and be obedient, we will be converted. Being obedient leads us to conversion. Being obedient helps to make us PERFECT! I know he lives. I know God is our Heavenly Father. I know I am being forgiven of my sins ever day, when I ask Him, and I promise as you turn to Him, my friends, He will do the same for you. Then will you remember that His grace is sufficient for you. Then shall you look towards Him and nothing but praises will leave your mouth. I so testify of this truth, and I hope all that read or hear my words can believe them and know that they come from a witness of Jesus Christ. You are loved! Don't forget that. I leave these things with you and promises as well, in the name of Jesus Christ, my best friend, Amen.

Elder Hammond