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