Week 54 A Good Week

Hey everyone. So I explained Monday and Tuesday in my last letter, just so everyone knows who is reading this. I hope you don't get confused. So here is the rest of the week:

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and it was Elder Black's last one before he went home for college. He talked about how to preach the gospel by the spirit and how we can recognize the spirit when we are teaching. It's pretty sad. The mission president is having all the district leaders talk about the same things, so we are getting a lot of the same or similar discussions every Wednesday. I liked it more when the district leader talked about things we needed more. But that's fine. We do need to know how to preach the gospel by the spirit. After he talked to us, we took "death pics" and then went to Hot Iron to have lunch. After lunch, we went home, and I started to not feel really well, so I laid down for a while while Elder Hatch worked on some things. After two or three hours, I started to feel better. It was weird. I had like an aching feeling all over my body. It almost felt like the flu I had when I was in Arlington. It wasn't fun, but that's alright. Then we were about to get on our bikes when I found out that my tire was flat again in the same spot where we had put the patch. So we went to the store to buy a tube. The first one I bought was the wrong one, so I went back and exchanged it for another one. That was the wrong one too... so I just gave up and decided since we were going to Everett tomorrow, I would buy a new tube there. Then we went and had dinner with Danial. It was great. After, we came home and went to bed.

The "death" of Elder Black

Thursday 

Today was a very high mile day. We started by returning the tube I got yesterday and put the credit back on my card so I could have it for the one I got up at the bike shop later that day. After, we had comp. study, and then we did some service for the Wards and dug a big hole for a water tank they were putting in their back yard. Afterward, we had to get home, change, and run down to Everett to a doctor's appointment for a prescription I needed. Anyway, after we ran to the bike shop, got the tube, and went home to have dinner with the Andersons. That was the third dinner on my mission where they served us fish, and I did not eat it because fish makes me sick. After we came home, parked the car for the night, put my tube in the tire, and rode off to go see people close by. Then we came home and went to bed.

Friday

We had the food bank and had a good time there. Then we came home and got ready for a lesson we had with a potential investigator, and he became an investigator. It's a hard situation though. He wants us to be confidential about our conversations. His name is Ken, and he is a body building evangelical pastor. Weird, huh?! Anyway, he wanted to learn more about us and as well shared his beliefs too. After our chat with him, we then came home, had personal study, then comp. study, and then we went and found a spot to weekly plan. After, we had dinner at home and then went to go see people on our bikes. It was really crazy. We biked up a really large hill in our area, and it was all dirt road. I biked half way up and walked the rest. I was really tired. We won't do that again, but it's all good though. The person we went to see we didn't get to meet with them, but we got their number, and we will see if we can start teaching them. From there, we then rode down the big hill and went home for the night.

Saturday

We went to the Crunnut's home in the morning. They are a great family! We see them every week. Sister Crunnut is a home bound lady and Sister Queen who also is in our ward takes care of her. We go and see her every week and talk about how things are going, share a message, and play with the grand kids that live there. It's always great going over there. Then after we chatted with them, we went home and had lunch, and then we went and helped the Platobores in our ward move some relatives into their home. We took the Monroe elders with us to help. After, we came back and dropped the other elders off and had comp study. Then we had a role play with Sister Lefever, who said she was always willing to have us come over and practice with her. After, we then went and had dinner with the Jameses. We got to have Korean food, but they made beef for me to have so I wouldn't get sick with the fish. It was really good. After, we went and saw some people around where they lived and then came home and went to bed. 

Sunday 

We had ward council and then church. After, we came home and got a bite to eat before we went to the Zittings and had our lesson with them. After, we went and had dinner with the Davises. We had a good time there. Then we went and tried to see some people around that area but couldn't find the house, so we just went home and accounted Elder Brown, the new district leader in Sultan.

Well that's the rest of the week for ya. It's definitely been a good one, and I'm hoping some things that we did really work out. It's been a really long time since we had a new investigator, and for me it's been since Stillaguamish since I've had an investigator that was fully committed to taking all the lessons. Kelly was the last one. I hope she's doing alright. 

We saw the eclipse today. It was way cool. It was dark everywhere. I hope you got to see it. It was way cool. Anyway, have a wonderful week everyone, and I'll see you soon (just a year, I don't know why I keep saying that) Bye!!!

Elder Hammond

Week 53 Hump Day!

Hey everyone. A lot has happened this week, and I'm going to include yesterday and today into it too because we just got out of the temple. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you all that was what was happening. So let's get started, shall we!

Monday: 

We had a really fun time. We started with going to some jumps behind the Walmart in Monroe, and we went with the other elders. It was so much fun. We took our bikes and did them, (of course because that's how you ride jumps...) We took some videos with the phone because we didn't have our cameras, and I promise we didn't go on the big ones. We went on the smaller ones because our bikes could withstand those more. But it was great. After, we all got in the car and rode up to Snohomish to play at the soccer dome. After playing there for a couple of hours, we then went home, got changed, and Elder Hatch and I went to go clean the car while the other elders got their hair cuts done. After waiting for them a really long time, we rushed over to the library to email for like an hour because that's all the time we had, sadly. So then we ran off to have dinner with the Altons. After, we went and saw some people and then came home for the night.

Tuesday:

We did service at the senior center. Then we went shopping and had some lunch. After, we went into comp. study and then went to go see some people. We gave a blessing to a member that was sick with pneumonia. After, we went and tried to see a former, but she wasn't home. After trying to visit her, we then went and saw some other people around in Monroe. Then we went to dinner and had it with the Kittlers. After, we came home, hopped on our bikes, and went and saw more people. Then we came home and went to bed.

Wednesday

We went to district meeting, and Elder Black talked about preaching the gospel by effectively studying. After, we then came home and had lunch, did comp. study, and then we went and saw people close by the apartment on our bikes to save miles. Then we went to have dinner with Danial. After, we came home and went to bed.

Thursday

Hump Day!!

We had zone conference. There we did some trust activities with the zones, had lunch, got changed back into pros clothes, and then we divided into zones to discuss how last transfer went and how we can overcome things we think we can't. Then we went into the chapel and had an instruction given to us from an institute teacher down at the University of Washington. He talked about how to effectively study the scriptures. It was a great zone conference. After, we then went to an ice cream place in Maltby and celebrated my year mark! Then we went home after getting through traffic, had dinner, then did comp study, and that ended the night.

Zone Conference

Celebrating my year mark!

Friday
We had service at the food bank. Then we did personal study and went to Lake Stevens for my appointment. After, we came home and helped Danial with hay bails, and then we had to bail...! OH I JUST MADE A JOKE! haha jk jk 😉😂 We went to dinner and then went and visited more people before going home.

Saturday 

We did some service for the Kettles and brought the Monroe elders with us. Then we went home and got ready for another service project with a lady named Sister Pope. We did a lot of weed whacking and sadly I broke her edger... that was not good. After, we went home, got changed, did comp study, and then we went into weekly planning at taco bell. For dinner, we went and hung out with Izzy at Lake Tye. That took up the rest of the night. We had a late dinner.

Sunday

We went and tried to see people before church because we had the time, but no one we saw came to church. We went to church, then met a less active that Spanish found in our ward that we will start teaching. He really wants to come back to church. Maybe we can get a new investigator from his wife. Then we had dinner with the Harries and came home and ended the night with exchanging with Monroe for the temple.

Monday

We visited a lot of people and really didn't get anything interesting to happen, but we worked hard.

Today

We went to the temple and did initiatories and endowments for some members in our ward. Elder Valencic and the Sultan elders all went with me to the temple, and it was amazing! I really needed it today, and it helped a lot with everything that's going on. After, we went shopping, and now we are emailing. After, we plan on going to see some people by dinner and then exchanging back, but it's been a fun day. 

Well, that's it for me. I hope you all had a great week, and I'll see you soon.

Elder Hammond

Week 52 Keepin' It Real

Hey everyone. This week has been a hard week, but then isn't every week hard? Anyway, here is the lay out of the week:

Monday

We emailed, did some shopping, then we went up to Snohomish and went to go and see if the bike shop could fix his bike, but he found out that they could but it would be more then he thought he was paying. So he told them he couldn't do it, and we took the bike back to the car. After that, we ran over to Great Clips, and I got a hair cut. After, we came home, shopped a little more, and hung out in our apartment until dinner. We went to dinner with the Lefevers. They are really cool. They have a daughter that's going to BYUI soon. The missionaries in the past did a lot of role playing with them, so we will be doing the same. After dinner, we went and saw a referral they gave us. Nothing came out of it. Then we went and saw some other people around where they live. After, we came home and ended the night.

Tuesday 

We went and helped at the senior center. They had us vacuum carpets. Then we went home and had lunch. We went and did mormon.org time. After, we came home and did comp. study and went to go see people. During that time, we went and saw John. However, he told us that he really didn't want to keep going with the lessons. He just wanted to learn the key points of our religion, and that's what he got. That was sad... After visiting people, we had dinner with the Olsens. Then we came home and got ready for the service project Woods Creek was helping with. After, we came home and went to bed.

Wednesday

We had district meeting and Elder Black talked about the purpose of Preach My Gospel and how it works with teaching it by the spirit. Then we had lunch with President and all the district. After, we took Monroe home and got ready for some service we had for a member. We went and helped clean up his house and move some things he couldn't lift. After, we came home, had comp study, and then we went and saw some people went to Danail's and did some service before we had dinner. After, we then came home and went to bed.

Thursday

We went and saw a lot of people. We found a potential after tracting out a whole street. Not a whole lot happened Thursday. We tried to see as many people as we could, and nothing really happened. We had dinner with the Monroe elders, at Hot Iron. That was fun! 

Friday

We helped at the food bank. Then we left early to go see my counselor. Then we came home and did personal study and comp study. We had lunch as well. Then we went and weekly planned for the rest of the day. We had dinner somewhere in there too.

Saturday

We went and printed off the progress record at the library. Then we went home and had comp initiatory, had lunch, did comp study, and then went to the dirt roads in our area and saw people. After, we came home, and Elder Hatch started feeling really sick, so we stayed in for the rest of the night.

Sunday

We had church and ward council. I had an interview with President. He gave me my year mark package, which made me happy to get. Thanks for sending that, and thanks to the relief society for putting things together for me. That made me happy too! I met with President to discuss some things I've been going through and just how things are going. He shared with me some things I'll share below. After church, we came home, broke our fast, and ate some things before we went over and saw the Zittings. Then we came home, had dinner, did comp study, and then went to see the Nelsons. Then we did accounting and ended the night.

The reason why this week has been so hard is because I have just been going though a lot of depression. I've been really bored with this area, but now thanks to President and the Lord, I'm trying to get motivated again. He gave me a scripture to study, and I want to give this same challenge to all of you. The scripture is John 11:5-46 and to really study what happened, and how this can apply to you. I saw it this way, Christ said unto Martha this "thy brother shall rise again... I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest though this?" Sometime we tell the Lord, "Yea Lord, I believe in thee," and yet we have fault in our belief. President told it to me this way. "If God can raise a man from the dead, then He can raise a dead marriage. He can raise a dead area. He can raise a man full of dead hope, who feels that he is not the same person he used to be. Elder Hammond if you put your belief in Him, and tell him "Help thou my unbelief," He will change your heart and show you how to improve, and once He does, the blessings will come. This area will come alive again." He also told me some other things that I can't share because they are too personal, but I love what it says in the scriptures because Jesus had so much compassion for Martha and Mary, but yet He teaches a great principle to them that we all can take in. "Then they came to the grave where he laid, Jesus said, take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this time he stinketh; for he hath been dead four days." It's almost like she is asking "What are you doing? You can't do this, can you?" But I love what Jesus says to her. Jesus saith unto her, "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" He said, "Didn't I tell you that I could do this, and yet you do not believe me." These words brought comfort to my soul and reminded me of where I stand in this life. It will probably bring me comfort again in a later time. My challenge to you is to study this with your family during family night and apply it to you in your life, then pray to God to see how you need to change.If you do this, then He will "help your unbelief." Remember, this does not mean that you do not believe. I believe we all have that belief in Christ. This is to change the faults in our own belief. This takes time. Remember, I did not change right there and then. I'm still learning, but I wish I had learned this before my trials came that are making me feel like I'm not myself. I am still depressed, but I am working to get out of it. I hope you all know by now that I love my Savior. He teaches us so much, and he continues to change my life. Let him do the same to yours. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

See you next week.

Elder Hammond

#halfwaythere

#livingonaprayer ;) 

Pics below are of the sun this week

Week 51 Keep Praying For Us

Hello everyone! It's been an okay week here, but that's okay. I hope... anyways here is the week:

Monday

We went to Fort Casey with a recent convert and Monroe. We had tons of fun. We played a game which involved one of us to go hide in the fort and the other two teams to go find the hiders. Once we found them, we had to hide with them until the other team came and found us. That took up the whole day pretty much because of traveling and other things, but we had lots of fun. After, we went to try to go see people, but every person we went to see was not home, or they were not interested in hearing the gospel. So after, we went home and went to bed.

Tuesday

We did some service at the senior center. Then we went to Lake Tye to see if a potential was there, but she was not. We went to go see a referral, but she wasn't there either, so we just went home and had lunch, did our comp study, then went and visited some people. After, we had dinner, then we went back to visiting people. Then we had a meeting with Bishop about the ward and who to go see. Then we came home and went to bed.

Wednesday

We went on an exchange with Woods Creek. We had district meeting and Elder Black talked about teaching to an investigator's needs and how to have the spirit to always be with us. After, we then had lunch, comp. study, and then we went to help Monroe with service, which that took a while. Then we went and helped Daniel with hay bails. That took up the rest of the night. After, we went home and exchanged back.

Thursday

We went to the mission office to pick up our new car. They gave us the assistants' Malibu for a little while until our Rav 4 comes in in the next 3 weeks. It's funny because we were supposed to get one then but the assistants stole it from us 😢😑😫 but we'll survive, hopefully.... The Malibu not enough wheel power for our area, but it's really fun to drive, great car, it's our new toy. Anyways, after being there for a while, we then had lunch in Everett at Costco. Then we came home and did some work in the area. Then we had dinner with the Wards. After we finished the night with seeing people.

Friday

We had the food bank, and then we went to my appointment in Lake Stevens. Then we came home and had lunch. After, we did some service for a potential investigator, and we wanted to try to teach the first discussion, but it turns out they really weren't interested. So we went home and got ready for dinner with the Tates and ended the night with seeing people.

Saturday

We visited a lot of people but we didn't have a lot of luck with teaching them. We had service with Woods Creek and dinner with them too. Then we went home and tried to see as many people as we could. Nothing else there.

Sunday

We had church, and we weekly planned and ended the night with accounting. Not a lot of time to go see people.

So that's the week for you. Not much. Please keep us in your prayers! We are trying to get new investigators and nothing is coming out of all the work we are doing. It's actually really sad and a little boring. Anyway, I love you all and hope you have a good rest of the week. Bye!!

Elder Hammond