Week 78 Saturday Makes 18 Months!!!

Hello everyone! This week has been a crazy week, and I'm really glad it’s p-day because I need some time to relax. No big news to tell you for this week. So, I'll get right to it.

Monday:

We started by going to the SAC and working out. Then we went down to Sholtes’ apartment to hang out with them. We took pictures by the resort. Just so you know Washington has casinos. Las Vegas is not the only place with them. Something I learned when I came here, to be honest. After checking out the resort, we then went to the outlets and did some shopping in the mall. We had a great time and got some cool things. I got some new socks and some more things for working out. After, we then went to Cabellas and walked around. The other elders hadn't been to this one before so we went for them to see what it was like. Then we drove to the Walmart close by the stores and did our shopping for food. From there we went back to the church to email and ended our p-day. After, we then had Elder Wolfe exchange with us. He is one of the zone leaders in the Stillaguamish Ward. It’s so weird to think my old area is now a zone leader area. That night we went to dinner, and then the rest of the night we went and saw some people. We also had a lesson with the Lawson family. We talked about the Godhead. Max, their kid, was confused on why Jesus Christ was a part of the picture. Well, that didn't take long to explain, judging by the fact that everything testifies of Christ. I mean we wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case. 

At the Resort

Tuesday:

We still had Elder Wolfe with us, so we did missionary work... like we always do.

We went and saw some people far in our area, only because we had miles to do it, and it was the end of the month so we needed to use up some miles. No one that we went to see were home. We did see Brother Curtis, a less active. Elder Wolfe wanted to go see him. I forgot to say Elder Wolfe served in this ward so he knows a lot of people. After seeing Brother Curtis, we then went home, but got Jamba Juice on the way. PS, I love Jamba Juice, just so you all know. I had a peanut butter, banana, protein shake. It was so good. After lunch we then had comp study. Then we went and saw some more people. We went and saw one of our old investigators named Jan. We had been teaching her before, I guess, but since I've been here, I have never taught her a lesson. But Elder Wolfe was teaching her when he was here, so we went and saw her. The last time I saw her, she did not want to see us at all, and she got really mad at us. This time we went over, and she was a lot happier to see us. We talked with her for a good amount of time, and we asked if she would like us to start coming over again. She said she would love that. So, sometime soon we will go over again and start teaching her. She said she had been on a lot of medication, and I think at the time we went over she had lots of medication in her system. So, she was in a lot of pain, and that's why she got mad at us. That was back when Elder Milner was here. Later that day, we had a lesson with John, one of our investigators. We taught him the plan of salvation and put him on date for the 13th of March to be baptized. He accepted and said he would try to make an effort to be ready for that day. After him, we then had a lesson with Hank, Brother Mathis's father. We taught him the restoration and put him on date for the 10th of March. It’s kinda funny. Sister Mathis told us today that he wants his date to be moved closer. Fun stuff. After, we went to dinner. Then we went to see a lot of people before we exchanged back and had our meeting with Bishop.

Wednesday:

We had district meeting in the morning. Elder Oaks instructed on faith, and diligence and how we can apply both to using members to teach. We also talked about God’s will, and why we follow it. After, we had lunch at Dairy Queen. Then we drove to Jack Jeckin's home and made pizzas from his wood burning stove. It was pretty great! He brought a non-member friend, but he wasn't interested, sadly. But oh well, we tried. Later we went to the church to meet president wilding and Orion there. President came to interview Orion for his baptism. After them meeting for an hour, President told us he would have to talk to Salt Lake before Orion could be baptized. After, we then went to a lesson with Harlie and Jordan. We talked about the Book of Mormon. That was the last thing we did that night.

Thursday:

So Elder Babcock got sick, so Elder Oaks had to go to MLC with Elder Wolfe while sick Elder Babcock stayed with us for the day. So, we stayed home with him until the blitz with Sholtes. Once we got down to their area, Elder Babcock and I stayed at their apartment while the other elders went and saw people in their area. Later, we then went back to our house with Sholtes, got a little bit of lunch, and then took Elder Jolly with us to our lesson with Ariel. Elder Call stayed with Elder Babcock. We talked about the plan of salvation with her. After the lesson, we went back to the house and chilled. Sholtes got a ride home, and we waited for the others to get back. Once they got back, we went to BW's with the other elders and all the northwest zone leaders, from Bellingham to Arlington. It was great. After, we then had a lesson with Harlie and Jordan. We read scriptures with them. That ended our night.

Friday:

We started with serving at the food bank. After, we then went home, had some lunch, and then planned out the rest of the day. From our plans, we went and knocked out every person we had down in the Villas, the apartment complex next to our house. After, we came home and did our personal study before we went and saw the Sudweeks and Tasha, both investigators we haven’t seen in a long time.  The Sudweeks invited us to come over on Sunday, which would have been great if Sunday wasn't the Superbowl. Reason why I say that is because once Chelsie, the mom, realized that was Sunday, she texted us Sunday morning saying that we actually come over, and they weren't coming to church because of it. Tasha had to run to pick up her son who was in day care. So, we didn't get to meet with her, sadly. So, we just went straight to dinner after that. Then we drove home and did weekly planning for the rest of the night.

Saturday:

We went and saw some people close by in the morning. Then we had lunch, did comp study, and then we went and knocked out all the names we had in the Lodge. Then we drove out to see one of our potential investigators named Kelly. Kelly is a cool guy. He works at a retreading tire company. We talked about the restoration, and we asked if he was interested in learning. He said he was kind of interested, but wanted to stick with what he believed in. He also said he'd think about it. We left him with a Book of Mormon as well. From there, we went and had dinner.  Then we had a lesson with Patrick. We read 3 Nephi 13 with him and helped him understand. After, we then went home and ended the night.

Sunday:

We went to the high priest presidency meeting in the morning to go over with them the ward mission process. After, we then went and had a lesson with the Hayes. We taught them the restoration. They enjoyed it. From there, we then went to the church to have ward council. After, we went through the services of church. During 2nd hour, we met with Orion. This kid, I am telling you, has made a great change in his life. I have never seen one of my investigators make so much change in their lives to be a part of our Heavenly Father’s church. We told him to stop smoking, and he has been doing just that. In fact, every time he feels the temptation to smoke, he goes and works out. He also had some other things that he was struggling with, and he has totally forsaken those behaviors. He now is applying the atonement to his life so much that I can see a change in his countenance. It’s truly amazing. And now he is one of my great friends I have on my mission. After church, we then went home and had comp study. Then we went and had our lesson with Shollon. We talked about learning and serving in the church. After, we then picked up our priest that was coming out with us for the night. His name is CJ. we took him to dinner with us and then went and saw some people with him before we went home to account for the rest of the night.

Well, that's the week for you all. Sorry, no baptisms, and no pics this week either. I will have some for next week for sure. Just so you all know, on Saturday, I will have been out for 18 months!! I never thought I would make it this far. I'm so excited. Love you all, and I'll see you soon.

Elder Hammond

Week 77 Gabriella's Baptism

Hello everyone! Another good week has passed, and I have so much news to tell you! This week our investigator, Gabriella, got baptized!!! I could get use to baptizing people every week! It’s pretty nice. In fact, why doesn't the whole world just join the church now? It would make my job easier. 

Gabriella's Baptism

Anyway, to add to that news, we found out that the mission is finally getting technology. By April, every missionary in this mission will have a smart phone in their hand. Mom and Dad, you should have already received an email about this. It is said that all the missions in the USA will have smart phones by July. So, this time we are actually getting technology. Unlike the last time they told us that, which was 3 years ago. So, that will be interesting. We get to choose 4 options, I think, from Samsung. So, when the time comes, that will be fun to learn how it is all going to work out. More pressing news, and this is some sad news for Kyler and the Fuller family. I'm sure he remembers the mission president. Effective July 1^st, the Federal Way mission is getting dissolved, and the Tacoma and Seattle missions, will take over parts of that mission. Happy news for Justin, the Washington Vancouver Mission will be gaining some new stakes from the Seattle mission. To go with that, the Washington Everett mission is expanding as well. We are receiving 3 stakes from the Seattle mission. The Shoreline Stake, the Bothelle Stake, and the North Seattle Stake. Very exciting and sad news for others that served in that mission. I'm sorry, but soon it will not exist. So ya, that is the big news from this week. If anyone has questions, please ask me, and I will try to answer them the best I can. Here is the week's outline:

Monday

We had a normal p-day. We emailed, and then we went shopping. After, we went to the church and played basketball for the rest of the p-day. Pretty normal stuff. We had the Sholtes elders with us for the whole day. Later that night, we went home, got changed, and then had dinner. After, we then went and saw some people over by Jovan. We did not have any success. So, we came home and did some area book work. 

Tuesday

We started the day with a lesson with Ann. With her, we talked about learning and serving in the church. She understood it pretty well. After her lesson, we went to go see Jovan, but he wasn't home. We then stopped by someone close by, but Joe wasn't home either, so we went home and had lunch. From there, we went and saw some formers in Carols Creek before our lesson with Ariel. Ariel is a less active who was baptized in Georgia, but that was back when she was 8. Once her parents moved here, like a long time ago, her family went less active. We had met her brother before thinking the family wasn't in the church already and started to teach him. Through meeting with him, we met Ariel too. Later, her brother, Atreal, dropped us. So, we taught Ariel about the Book of Mormon. She really liked it and said she would read it. After, we saw some more formers in that area. Then we went and helped Sandra Brant, a member in the ward, move some boxes. Then we went back to Carols Creek and saw some more people there. Then we went to dinner. After, we went and tried to see the Sudweeks and Patrick, but they all were not home, or they didn't want to open the door... so we then went home and ended the night.

Wednesday

We had district meeting. Elder Oaks talked about the ward mission process again and how we can work with members to teach new investigators. After, we then ran home and had lunch. Then we planned the day. Then we had comp. study. After, we went to have a lesson with our investigator, John, but we had to go on splits with that lesson because Orion and Gabriella's lesson was at the same time. I stayed with Brother Topance and had the lesson with John. We taught him about the Book of Mormon. Pretty good lesson. After, I was able to go to a little bit of the other lesson and teach Orion separately. Later that night, we had dinner. After, we then saw a couple of people before we had our meeting with Bishop. The meeting was the last thing for that night.

Thursday

We had zone conference this week. They told us half of the stuff I just gave, the other things they gave to us in a conference call to the whole mission on Friday. They also talked about the ward mission process and how to effectively work with members. After, we went from that to our lesson with the Millers. We showed them the Mormon message, the Temple is a Beacon. That lesson took us straight to comp study. After we then went to dinner, which then took us to our lesson with Jordan and Hallie, Chelsie Duff's kids. We picked up Hallie as a new investigator, and she is really excited to get baptized. She asked when she could, and we told her she could get baptized on the 24th of February. She was happy for that. That lesson was the last big thing for the night.

Friday

We went to the food bank and helped there. After, we then ran home and had lunch. Then we went and had a meeting with Melissa. We started setting up family search for her. After, we then went to our lesson with Orion and Gabriella. We talked about learning and serving in the church. Then we went and had dinner. After, we went to go see Patrick, but he wasn't home. So, we went and saw some people around him before the night ended.

Saturday

We started with weekly planning, that took up most of the morning and into lunch. Then we had to move where the font was because no one was watching it while it was getting filled. Sadly, that's a rule that Brother Lytle doesn't understand. Before the baptism we had a meeting with Brother Lytle. Then the baptism happened, and I spoke at it. Everything went great! After that we drove to have dinner with Sister Schwartz. We had a good time there. Then we went and saw people before the night was over.

Sunday

We started with stake conference, and Salt Lake shot a broadcast to us to see during it. Really good talks were given. After, we went to the Hammond's for lunch. Then we went and saw some people around them. Nothing really interesting. Later that night, we had a lesson with Shollan. We showed her the new Mormon message. It’s really good. I recommend it. After, we had dinner and then went to go see some people before we went in for accounting. For the rest of the night, we played Monopoly.

Well, that's my week. I hope everyone had a great week. We'll see you soon.

Elder Hammond

Week 76 Melissa's Baptism

Hello family. It's a new week, and it truly has been a great one! I had my 6th baptism this week! With Melissa! That was really exciting, and I have two new companions, Elder Oaks and Elder Allsop. Elder Oaks is from Queen Creek, Arizona and has been out for at least 17 months. Elder Allsop is from St. George, Utah and has been out for 10 months. He is my first companion from Utah since Elder Soelberg. Anyway, here is how the week is going.

Monday

So we went to Deception Pass, and if you're wondering what all those pics from last week are from, that was from then. So ya, we went there in the morning. We stayed there for an hour and a half. Then since Elder Hunter felt like there was nothing to do there after that time, we left while everyone else stayed and had fun. All we did was walk across the bridge, and then we went below it to see what it looked like. After coming back, we then went and emailed for a little bit. Then Jeff took us to Subway for lunch. After, we went back to the church and emailed for the rest of the day. Later that night, we had a lesson with Lawsons. We taught about the patterns of light videos. After, we then went to Carols Creek to go see some people. That ended the night. 

Tuesday

We had a lesson with Ann that morning. We talked about the law of chastity with her. After, we went and had a lesson with Jovan. Jack Jenkins came with us to his lesson. We took him to the church and had a church tour with him, He liked it. After our lesson with him, we then came home and had lunch. Then we had mormon.org time. From that, we went into 12 weeks. Then we had a lesson with Ariel, a less active who we didn't know at the time was less active. It was really cool to find out, but she doesn't know much about the church, so we are going to inform her about it all. We taught her the restoration. Later that night, we had dinner. After, we went home and had comp study. From there we went and saw some people before our meeting with Bishop. That ended the night.

Wednesday

Wednesday was the day of transfers, so we loaded up our car and Brother Clapp's car and drove down to the mission office. We drove down because we had to switch our car out with Armar's car since the area was getting closed. So, we got our car switched out with a white Corolla. I found out Elder Hunter went to Blaine, and Elder Graff went to Port Gardener, and he's on bike. So that was fun... I hope. That's when I got my new comps, and we went back to the house to drop off our stuff. Then from there we had comp study, and we did our shopping. Then we came back and had our lesson with Orion and Gabriela. We talked about the law of chastity. We tried to teach it simply, but one of the members went into too much detail and grossed out all the kids, except Orion. After our lesson, we then went and saw some people in the Villas. Later, we had dinner, and then we went to have a lesson with Melissa, but she had slept in, so we scheduled for Friday. After, we then went and saw more people before the night was over.

Thursday

We had district meeting in the morning. The funny thing is Sholtes didn't know we had it, so we had to go drive over and pick them up because Elder Jolly's bike was broken. Elder Oaks instructed on establishing the ward mission process into our areas. After district meeting we had lunch with Jack Jenkins and someone he had met while going home teaching. The kid's name was Eion, and he is a less active. He is a grandchild to one of the members in the ward. We had lunch with them at a Mexican place. We really got to know him. After, we left to go see Melissa and had a lesson with her on priesthood and auxiliaries, missionary work, callings in the church, service, and things like that. We also got her interviewed for her baptism. After, we ran over to Sister Schwagert's and visited with her. She was sick the past few days, so she wasn't able to come to church last week. So, we went to see how she was doing, and she is doing better. We watched a video with her that talked about Lot's wife and not turning back with the new year. After visiting with her, we were going to go see the Millers, but he had to cancel on us. So,we headed back to the house, had comp study, and then went to dinner. Later that night, we went and saw Chelsie Duff and talked with the kids. We might be teaching them some time soon. That took up the rest of the night.

Friday

Friday was a crazy day. We started out with going to the food bank. After, we took Sholtes shopping. The hard part is the whole day we were in a hurry to get to places, and it was one thing after the other. They took a long time to shop so we were 30 minutes late to our meeting with Brother Lytle, but we were able to get back and discuss everything we needed to with him. After, he came with us to our last lesson with Melissa. We went over temples and family, eternal marriage, and enduring to the end. After our lesson, Brother Lytle dropped us off at the church, and we went from there to the house to have lunch. Then we went from the house to our lesson with Orion and Gabriella. We had a lesson on tithing and fast offerings. It got out of hand really fast just because Sister Mathise wouldn't stop talking. But Orion read the pamphlet and understood it all, and Gabby did too, so that was good. After all of that, we went home, finished our personal study, and then went to dinner. Later that night we ended with comp study and weekly planning.

Saturday

We started see some people around Jovan before we met with him. The people we saw were not home so we went to our lesson with him which was good. We talked about baptism, and then it went into a conversation about the Book of Mormon. After, we then had lunch, and then we had comp study. From then, we went and saw some more people. Then we went to the church and worked on the progress record and finished weekly planning. After, we then went into the relief society room where the baptism was taking place. Everything went great. We had a pretty good turn out. Melissa did a pretty good job. She had to be baptized twice. She didn't go in all the way, I guess. So oh well.  She was so happy! Later that night, we went on a blitz with the zone leaders. That ended the night.

Sunday

We went to see some recent converts before ward council, but they were all asleep, so we didn't get to see them. After, we went to ward council. Then we tried to leave early because we were going to see someone, but he wasn't home so we just left a note on the door. Then we went back to the church and went through the services. After, we talked with Gabriella and went over the interview questions with her so she could be be ready for Wednesday for her interview. After, we then went home and had comp study and comp inventory. Then we went to dinner. After, we went and saw some people before the night was over.

Well that's it for this week. Also, I confirmed Melissa as a member, so that was great. Below are some pics from this week. Have a good week everyone.

Elder Hammond

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

Week 74 It's a Small World

Hello everyone! It's been an okay week. Nothing too bad. My heart goes out to the passing of our prophet this week. For as long as I can remember, he has been a very inspiring man. Someone I have looked up to a lot. It's sad to see him gone, but that's life. We need to move on from this world somehow, right?

Well anyway, here is my week.

Monday

We did a lot on Monday. We started with emailing. Then we went and played soccer at the high school field. That was a lot of fun, kinda felt like Snohomish again. After, we went shopping. Then we drove to the church to play basketball, lots of running was involved today. So much that by the end of p-day my legs got tired, and it was hard to walk for the rest of the night. After, we got changed and then had dinner. From dinner, we then went and had a lesson with the Lauson family. We taught about faith in Jesus Christ. After, we went and saw some people around them before we called it a night.

Tuesday

We had a full day planned out with lessons for new investigators, but none of them happened except 2. We had 7 lessons planned, but they almost all fell through. The two lessons we did have were with Ann and Patrick. With Ann, we followed up on the word of wisdom and had a lesson on obedience. She understood it very well. I think I mentioned it before. She has a vape problem. We told her she needs to stop doing it, and she says she is stopping. She feels guilty for doing it now that she knows it's wrong. The other lesson we had was with Patrick. We talked about the word of wisdom with him too because we thought he was chewing tobacco, but it turns out he's not. He is actually smoking marijuana for anxiety problems. So we'll talk about that with him too. Nothing else really happened that day.

Wednesday

We had district meeting that day. Elder Hunter instructed on setting goals for the new year, and not looking back to the past. After, we had lunch at Magic Dragon. Good eats. From there, we went home and planned out our day. Then we went to do some service for Sister Heffernan. She wanted us to come paint for her. So we did that. After, we got changed and went to go see some people with Blake Clapp, a priest in our ward. After we saw the people, we went to Chelsea Duff's home to give her the stop smoking program. I think I talked about her last week. She was wanting to stop smoking, but she didn't know how. We gave her a blessing and said we would be over again on Wednesday to give her the program. We took away her cigarettes and crushed them, and then we went and bought all the things she needed for the program. That took up the rest of the night, and so far she hasn't been smoking yet, so she is doing really good. God is answering our prayers for her with that blessing I gave.

Thursday

We started with comp study. After, we went to see some people over by Jovan, but no one was really home. Then we went back to the apartment to do some area book work. From there, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch with the Stillaguamish elders. We had a good time. Sorry about the pics. I wanted to get more, but I felt that the other Elders were not going to be willing to take some more. It's complicated... Anyway, later that day we had a lesson with a new investigator Atreal, and we taught him the restoration. Everything went well, and we were so happy to find someone new, but we then found out yesterday that he didn't want to meet any more. We don't know why. Elder Hunter says he got anti-ed, but I feel like assuming that is just too much. After our lesson, we went and saw more people around him. Then we went home and had dinner. Then we ended the night with 12 weeks.

Lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings

Friday

We started with the food bank. We did some service for them. After, we had a lesson with Nikki Decker. We just read scriptures with her. Then we had lunch. From there we then had a lesson with Melissa. We taught her about tithing and fast offerings. After that lesson, we had another lesson with Gabriella, and we taught her about praying and reading often, Obedience, and living the law of the land. Pretty straight forward. After, we came home and had personal study. Then we went to dinner with the zone leaders, at the William's home. Then we went to the church, and elder Hunter got some MLC info from the zone leaders. We then came home and did comp study and 12 weeks. 

Saturday

We started by doing service for Sister Schwager and putting in the trees that her mom gave her for her yard. After, we went home and did weekly planning and comp study. Then we had lunch. After lunch, we went and saw people in the Lodge and Carols Creek. After, we did some more weekly planning. Then we had dinner, and then went home to do 12 weeks. After, we had a meeting with Brother Lytle, our ward mission leader. We talked about our work. Then we came back and saw some people in the villas. 

Sunday

We went to the 9:00 church because we had some investigators say they were going to go to that time, but they never showed, so we left half way through. We came home and did personal study. Then we planned out our day and went off to ward council. We then went through the services. Then we went home and finished our personal studies. From there, we went to dinner. After, we went to see a potential named Kari, but she wasn't home. So we went back home to get picked up by Brother Hayes to go teach their family. We showed them the pattern of light videos and talked about personal revelation. After, we got dropped off back at our place and did 12 weeks for the rest of the night. 

Well, that's the week for me! Funny story... I found out yesterday that Sister Navratil knows the Fosters really well! She told me that she knows Kim and was her flower girl for their wedding, which now that I think about it, I might have met Sister Navratil before, but I'm not sure. She did seem familiar when I met her. It's so funny how much of a small world we live in. That really made me happy yesterday. Well that's my week for you. I hope you all have a great week, and I'll see you soon! 

Elder Hammond

Week 73 Happy New Year!

Hello family! It's been an interesting week here in Washington as it always is. So let's get to it.

Monday

I told you a little bit of what happened. We had a zone breakfast in the morning. Then we went to Bro Cox's home to call home. While we were there, he let us play his kids laser tag and pool. That was really fun. Then we spent the rest of the day emailing and having snow ball fights. We had good fights, but Elder Hunter accidentally threw one right into my mouth, and the next thing I knew I was throwing up snow. Not fun.. but things happen. I'm fine. After, we had dinner and then went in for the night. 

Tuesday

We started the day with comp study and 12 weeks. Then we went to have a lesson with Jovan, but he fell through on us. So we just went home and had lunch. After, we then went and saw some people. We were going to have a lesson with someone named Atrail, but he fell through on us too. Later that night, we had dinner. Then we said hi to Patrick and some other people we had down before we went to the Sudweeks to drop off some presents the ward gave us for them. Then we went and did some training with Elder Graff on the computers. That ended our night.

Wednesday

We had a lesson with Melissa in the morning. That went well. We talked about the word of wisdom, something she is working on already. After, we then had district meeting. Elder Hunter talked about faith and how it allows us to change and repent to become the missionaries the lord requires us to be. After, we went on an exchange with Sholtes, and Elder Hatch came with us to Lakewood. We left Elder Graff behind... in Sholtes. So when we got back to the apartment, we got changed and went to Firetrail's area and helped with service. After a little while, the rest of the zone joined us, so we decided to leave. We were going to get changed and have a lesson, but Kayla Duff canceled on us. Later in the week, she dropped us. She said she was going through a hard time and needed to figure out her life before she joins the church... um that's how the church can help! Oh well, people have agency. Some days you don't worry about it, and other times you stand with J. Gordan Kimble, and say "it would be easier to kill everyone off and do baptisms for the dead for them." Then again, we would be forcing more than giving free will. Something Lucifer wanted in the beginning. Anyway, we had lunch, and then we went and had a lesson with a guy named Timmy. I think I talked about him a little bit. He was a former investigator. Anyway, we're teaching him again. He wants to learn what we're all about, so we're going to help him with that. After, we had a lesson with Sister Schwagert. We talked about setting a goal to take the sacrament, and so far she is doing well. She was at church yesterday. That took up a good amount of the night. After, we came home, did personal study, then comp, then we planned out the rest of the night. Then we had dinner and went and saw people around our dinner before the night was over.

Thursday

We went and saw some people in the morning. We went and saw a referral from a non-member. Her name was Jenifer. We just went over to see if she needed any help with service. Then we went and exchanged back with Sholtes. After, we had lunch at BW's because it wasn't open on Monday, and they had really good deals for the day. So that was great only because we had almost $100 to BW's, so why not, right?! We did comp study while we were there too. After, we then had a lesson with Melissa on baptism and confirmation. Then we went to a lesson with a girl named Tosha. She seems really solid.  She went through a really hard time growing up and now really wants to find Jesus in her life for her and her son. Her son was a miracle. She had gone through a lot of suffering, and when she got married all she wanted was one kid, and she wanted a boy. The doctors said she couldn't get pregnant, but she still wanted this kid. So she prayed about it and asked God for it, and because of her faith, she got him. Really cool story. I just wish she wasn't being so flaky. Later in the day, we had a lesson with the Millers and were able to get them signed up on family search. Then we had dinner that night and finished with comp study and 12 weeks.

Friday

We had to have a day this week were we couldn't use our car or go back to the apartment for the whole day. President wanted us to sacrifice some things so we could get new investigators this week. So we were going to do service, but Elder Graff was feeling pain in his legs so we had to wait at the church until he started to feel better. Then Jeff Hyer from the Snohomish Ward came up and drove us around for the day. It was great! We had lots of fun with him. He's a great guy. We went and apologized to the person we were doing service for and got it rescheduled. Then we went and saw a lot of people with Jeff. We also had comp study and lunch with him too. Later that day, we had a lesson with Orion. We read scriptures with him. We read 1 Nephi 11. We said goodbye to Jeff, and we got picked up by Ryan Brower and went to go see some more people. While we were with him, we gave a blessing to Sister Muckala's daughter. I did it with Ryan, and it was his first time. After, he took us to dinner. We had dinner with the Navratils. Fun family, two cute kids. After, Brother Navratil took us home. 

Saturday

We started with doing service for Sister Schwagert. Her mom wanted us to come help move some things. So we did that and that took up all the morning. After, Sister Schwagert took us to Wendy's and then took us back to her house so we could change and go to our lesson with Timmy. Sadly, that lesson fell through. After, we went to have a lesson with Tosha, but it fell through too. So we went and saw some people around their homes. After, we went home, had dinner, and did 12 weeks. Then we did weekly planning for the rest of the night. 

Sunday

We had ward council in the morning. Then we went through the services. After, we went home, had lunch, and then tried to have a lesson with the Pauls, but they were not home, so we went home and planned the rest of the day and did some personal study. Then we went and saw some people. We went to the farthest part of our area to try to use miles since it was the end of the month. It was great! We had to go through Stillaguamish to get to there. I got to see some of the old roads I drove on with the jeep. Later that night we had dinner with the Homesteads, played some games with them, and shot some fire works. Then we went home and ended the night.

Well that was the week. I hope everyone had a good week, and I'll see you soon.

Elder Hammond 

Week 72 Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I already called home earlier today, so I won't explain everything, but for those that didn't get an update, I'll give you the highlights of the week.

Had my own version of our Magic Hot Cocoa

Presents from home

 Monday

We had a normal p-day, played basketball, did our shopping for this week and the coming week. Nothing too big.

Tuesday

We had a lesson with Ann, taught the word of wisdom to her. We had a lesson with Jovan too. We taught him about the plan of salvation. No other lessons that day.

Wednesday

We had district meeting. During it we watched a Christmas movie. We also had a lesson with Melissa and taught her about the sacrament and talked about her coming to church. 

Thursday

We had the half mission conference. That was way fun! We had a good time. Lots of music and testimonies, and after, we watched Ephraim's rescue. Nothing else happened.

Friday

We went to the food bank, and later that day we had a lesson with Orion and Gabriella. We taught the rest of the 10 commandments. 

Saturday

All of our lessons canceled except our dinner with Patrick. We watched The Prophet of the Restoration with him. We also went on an exchange with the zone leaders because they had to wait for their car to get fixed. Fun!

Sunday

Christmas Eve, we had an hour long sacrament meeting. We also had a lesson with Sholan. Later that night, we played mafia with the Hayes. Sadly, the grandparents didn't know how to play so they messed a lot of it up. 

Today!

We had breakfast as a zone. Then I Skyped my fam, and then after we played lazer tag and pool at the Cox home. Then we drove to the church to email and play in the snow. I got a mouth full of snow!

Zone Breakfast for Christmas

Well, it's been a fun week fam! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your gifts, Remember though what today is really all about.

Love you all! 

Elder Hammond

Pics of us going to the half mission conference, the snow from today, and Elder Graffs rap. Plus some pics from Elder Hunter and Elder Graff!