Week 75 Staying in Lakewood

Hello everyone. It's been a great week, kinda... sorta. Half the week's plans got shot because of Elder Graff getting sick, so yay for me! That and Elder Hunter and Elder Graff are getting transferred, so I'm all alone. I don't know if I'm ready to take this area over... we'll see I guess. Anyway, here is the week.

Elder Graff, Elder Hammond, Elder Hunter

Monday  

We had our normal p-day. We went to the church and emailed, and then we went shopping and got all we needed for the week. Then we went and played soccer at the high school. After we went back to the church and played basketball with the other elders and the sisters. Elder Flake and Elder Wake came up from the Seattle Hill ward. We had an okay time. I do have to say playing basketball every week has always been old. So, I hope things change soon. We played for a long time, really until dinner time. After dinner we then went and saw some people for the rest of the night. Nothing else really happened.

 Tuesday

We started the day with meeting with Ann. We talked about tithing and fasting. After, we ran over to Brother Kay's house, a member in the ward. We went over to get him ready for the lesson he was going to come with us right after. From there we went to our lesson with Jovan. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It had been a while since we had talked with him, but things seemed to be going alright. After, we went home and had lunch, did our comp study, and 12 weeks. Then we went off to see more people. Around 3:30 we went and had a lesson with a new investigator named John. It was kinda interesting. We went to his house, and for the lesson he wanted to walk around the neighborhood while we talked. I thought that was weird, but we went right along with it. After that lesson, we went to go over and see Tosha. Unexpectedly, she opened the door and told us, "Hey, so me, my son, and my husband are all getting baptized into the Catholic church. I really don't want to do that, but oh well." She asked us if we still wanted to talk to her, and we said we did. So, we went in her house and talked to her. It's a sticky situation. The husband really doesn't like us, like at all. After she had told us that and then we went into the garage, she told us she would be right back. She went into the house, I think to get her phone, and as she did, her kid opened the door, just out of curiosity, but just behind him, Tosha and her husband were fighting in the back. In the end, Tosha came back out with her phone, and the husband took the kid on a walk. While we were talking to her, he dropped the kid off and ran off to go do something out of anger I guess. She told us that her husband and her have just been fighting lately, and I'm not sure if it's because of us and/or more, but things have happened there, and it's not inviting the right spirit into their home. It's not good for her kid either. Anyway, she was looking for something to lift her up at the time, so we offered her the opportunity to receive a blessing. She accepted, and we took her and her kid over to a member's home where she could calm down and feel the spirit more. The Cooks were the members we took them too. They just live down the street from her. She was able to calm down, and as she was talking to them, she said she felt a lot better. They had a son too, so they were able to get the kids to play together. As we sat down and started talking, she was able to open up a little more, and we got to know her a little more too. After talking for a little while, we gave her a blessing and said a prayer for her child because she wanted us to say one for him. We then walked back to her house, and on the way back we met her husband on the road. He called out the kid's name, sadly at this time Elder Hunter was holding the little guy's hand and was walking him back home. Which I'm pretty sure made the dad really mad. Anyway, he picked up the kid and walked back to the home leaving us behind and flipping us off while he was walking away. So, to stop him from getting mad at us any longer, we then let Tosha go back to him. He doesn't like us at all. I can't say too much about their situation, but they have done some things in the past to each other that makes sense to why he was not happy. To be honest, I really wish this guy would not get mad at us either. He's an MNA fighter... one punch from him, and I die... so we are really trying to be careful. After all that mess, we had dinner and a meeting with Bishop. That really ended the night.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Hunter instructed on our vision for 2018 as a mission and our purpose as missionaries. After, we had an exchange with Sholtes, and I went to Sholtes with Elder Hatch. The famous Hatch and Hammond were back together again! The pic below proves it. While I was there, we biked around and saw a lot of people. Their area is kinda on the down slope, not being able to teach a lot of people, so it's hard for them. No lessons were taught today, but we did a lot of biking. I never really noticed how big their area was before. They say they bike about 10 miles a day. Later that night after seeing some people, we had dinner. After, we tried to go see some people, but after the first person, Elder Hatche's tire blew. We had to walk all the way to Fred Myer's to get some patches and a new journal for me and walk from there to their apartment. It took the rest of the night, and it was pouring down rain. Luckily both of us had our rain jackets and paints on. 1st rule in a bike area in the Washington Everett mission... Always bring your rain gear! Once we got back, Elder Hatch fixed his tire while I wrote in my journal and watched some videos on the DVD player.

Elder Hatch & Elder Hammond

Thursday

A very easy day. It started out bad and ended bad. Elder Hatch and I went out to go do some work in the morning before we had to exchange back, and the rain just started to dump on us. We only got to see 3 people before we came back home. I got packed, and then we had lunch together before the two'o went back to the tree'o. The sad part is when they got there, I learned quickly that Elder Graff was sick because he was the only one not dressed in proselyting clothes. So, we had to drive back up and take Sholtes with us up to our house so that someone could watch Elder Graff while Elder Hunter and I went to our lesson with Melissa. At our lesson, we just talked about what is going to happen at her baptism, and who is going to do what. By the way, next week she will be getting baptized! I am so excited. She is decently solid, only if her job didn't give her a hard time. After our lesson, we went back home, and I forgot to say, all the other elders cleaned the house while I was on the exchange and at the lesson, so that was great! We then had inspections and got a perfect score on them. After, we just stayed in the house all alone until the zone leaders came by after dropping off Sholtes back home. We exchanged with one of the elders and went to our lesson with Earl Miller. We did some genealogy with him. After, we came home and exchanged back and took it easy for the rest of the night. We had dinner brought to us too. So ya, fun night... (not really). I mean, I got a lot of studying in.

 Friday

Same problem... Elder Graff is still sick. So, we stayed in for most of the morning, until 11 AM for the funeral of President Monson. What an event! I do have to say, I will truly miss him. We watched it at the Winter's home with all the other missionaries in the zone. After, they fed us lunch as well. Then we went home and sat in the house while Elder Graff rested. I, however, took the opportunity to go on splits with Alex Williams and go teach Orion and Gabriela. We taught them about following the prophet, baptism and confirmation, and the word of wisdom. They understood it all. After, I came home and found Elder Hunter sleeping on the floor. We didn't do anything for the rest of the night except study and watch The Testaments.

Saturday

Elder Graff was now starting to feel better again, so we went and tried to have a lesson with Jovan, but that fell through. We went back home and Brother Lidal, our ward mission leader, took us to the Arlington Heights building to watch a baptism in the Stillaguamish Ward. Since my last one, there has been two, including this one in that ward. It was so great to see all the members I left behind. Everyone was so happy, and we got to talk for a bit. I found out a lot from going. I found out the Kurtzers, my recent converts, are still in the Stillaguamish Ward. I thought they had moved off the grid, but it turns out they never did. They are just being really less active. I'm going to give them a call now that I know where they are and see if I can get them to go back to church. I learned that Kelly, one of my old investigators, is still in the area as well, and the Glenn's have contact with her still. Which is really good! I've missed her a lot and have been praying for her. I hope all is well. Anyway, we went to the baptism for Melissa so she could see what it was like. That way she's not so nervous. After the baptism, we went back home and had lunch. We also did weekly planning. After the planning, we then went and saw more people, in Carols Creek. We then went and helped someone from the Sultan Ward move stuff into his storage unit down in Arlington. From there, we then went to dinner. After dinner, we came back home and did more weekly planning until it was done. That took us to the end of the night.

Sunday 

We started with a lesson with an investigator named Timmy. We wanted to really try to see why he likes meeting with us and start getting him ready to learn. He is moving to Lynwood, so we have to pass him off soon. After our lesson, we went to the Paul's home and had a lesson with them. They were able to come to church today, which was really good. They haven't gone in like a transfer. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After, we drove to the church and had a meeting with Brother Lidal before church started. Then we went through the services. After, we went back to Carols Creek to have a lesson with John again, but it fell through. He wasn't there. So, we then just went to dinner. During dinner, we got to see the YSA broadcast with the zone leaders. It was really good. I learned a lot. After, we went home and met up with two people that said we could come back and teach them. Only one of them became a new investigator. The other one was not really interested, and only liked talking to us. So, after seeing those people, we came home and ended the night.

Well, that's it for me this week. I'll see you all soon! Bye!

Elder Hammond