10/13/14

Hello Family!

 Yesterday was so great! Our branch became a ward!!! The whole stake presidency was there, President and Sister Alba and some of their family came and we had three of our less actives come! It was such a great day. They said that they have been waiting 25 years for this change. This is now the first spanish ward in the mission!!! #happyday We are now the Laguna Spanish WARD!! :)

  I think that was the best part of my week. Other than that, we spent a lot of time visiting with members and doing service. Today is beach day and we are so excited!

 Congrats to Rad getting his permit! And I am happy you got to see uncle mike! Mom- it happens! Life gets in the way and sometimes we forget about (or have just had too many) missionaries to remember that letters are everything to missionaries. Remember what I said the night before I left? :) 

 Other than that it sounds like life is good! Thank you for everything. Support and all! :) Have a good one!  Love, Hermana Hamblin

October 6, 2014

Hello Family!

Ok I am so so sorry about the mix up with conference. During sessions on the KSL channel they showed us and our mission!! So go to KSL.org and it is called Dared to Serve and we are towards the end of the segment. It shows President Alba and Sister Alba and..everyone! Haha it is so great! We were all watching it yesterday in this tiny room because we were streaming it from a computer and we were all freaking out! It was so fun! I am sorry about that. I was confused too and then they told us that it wasnt on the same channel as conference, that it was on the KSL channel. Anyways go check it out on KSL.org. Its pretty great :)

Oh my goodness. Wasn't conference the best!? My hand is sore today from all of the notes that we took the past two days. A couple of talks stood out to me. I loved Lynn G. Robbins talk about which way we face. My favorite quote from that talk is, "Courage is all of your virtues at the point of testing" Amen! Dallin H. Oaks did great. I was able to remind myself of the great intercessory prayer this morning during personal study. My favorite verse from that whole prayer is verse 15! We are in the world, but not of the world. He reminded us how powerful kindness can be. Another one that stood out to me is President Monsons first address when he talked about walking where Christ walked isnt as important as walking AS Christ walked. He reminded us to ponder the path of our feet. All of the talks were awesome. I LOVED President Eyrings talk about personal revelation, and Elder Bednars talk. I can't wait to review all of them again. And wasn't the whole native language thing awesome!?! 

This week we got a brand new Greenie!!!! She is awesome! She has the BEST laugh!! Haha I love her so much. This one came pre trained. Her first night in the field she left a harvest blessing in spanish! Hermana Fernandez and I are so impressed with her. I guess in the MTC (she was in Provo, not Mexico) they were given ipads. Crazy! Its been so fun having her and I have been able to see my own spanish improve! I am feeling more confident in myself as well as with the language! 

Saturday night after the priesthood session, the Albas invited us and our investigators over to their house for an ice cream social. We were able to bring the Fonsecas and they loved it! It is always so fun to go to the mission home :) Their house is gorgeous. We gave them a tour of the house and they fell in love with their back yard. It is seriously like a mini forest. It is beautiful! Sister Alba wanted to talk to Hermana Fernandez and I alone for a few minutes during the social so she took us into President Albas office and when we walked into the office they had pictures with President Monson, Elder Perry, Elder Holland...I think almost all of the apostles. It was SO cool! Seriously, we have the best mission president ever. Our mission is super strict and I am so grateful for that because that shows President Albas love for each of us. "We are in the greatest mission in the world!" according to Sister Alba :)

Family. Missions are the best. I love my mission SO much. I have grown closer to our Savior and I have built more confidence in myself. This gospel will change your life. I have seen it in my own life and in the lives of my investigators. The change will happen only if you let it happen. I love you all. Thank you for everything. All the support, love and advice. Have a great week!!    Love, Hermana Hamblin

September 29, 2014

Hello family!!

Wow! It sounds like you all had a great week. Raddon!!!! Congrats! I
am so proud of you. I know how much you love scouts..so congrats! That
is awesome. And mom! How did you like women's conference!? It was so
great. I loved Linda K. Burtons talk about how we can't share our oil
of preparation. I felt that it was all about the importance for women
nowadays to seriously learn the doctrine of the gospel so that we can
have a firm testimony and share it with others. I am so grateful for
the opportunity that I have to serve a mission. Before my mission I
couldn't telling you what the word gospel meant..lame right? That's
why missions are the best! :)

So we got transfer doctrine on Friday night and Hermana Fernandez and
I are staying together (3 transfers together..oh my goodness!) AND
Hermana Fernandez is training!!!!! We get a brand new greenie on
Wednesday! We are so excited! So that means another trio for the both
of us! Haha. It will be so fun and so interesting. There are going to
be 11 missionaries in our branch. So for those of you who complain
about feeding two missionaries, just remember the faithful members of
the Spanish branch here in Santa Rosa feeding 11 missionaries. 11!!
It's crazy. There are going to be three trios and four new greenies in
our branch. Also! Our branch is going to be a ward this month! How
exciting is that! First Spanish ward in the mission. We are so
excited!

Also, this month Carolina (recent convert) is having her baby this
month! We are having a baby shower for her this week. I am so happy
for her. She is going to have a baby girl. They are seriously my
favorite. Their family is so sweet. I love them!

This week we also went to the temple. I was able to go to the Oakland
temple for my first time. That temple is gorgeous! It is HUGE! I am
used to the little Snowflake temple and Sacramento temple :) it was so
great to be in the temple again. I am so grateful for temples.

Who is excited for conference!? Mandy you are so right, conference is
better than Christmas for missionaries. I have so many questions and I
am excited to receive my answers through prayer and inspiration from
the prophet and his apostles. I hope you all prepare for conference
and are ready to act on the revelation that you receive.

Yesterday as we were sitting in fast and testimony meeting I thought
of our investigators and what their needs were, and it brought me back
to thinking of a lesson that we had with one of our less actives. Her
testimony has dwindled and we are trying to help her get back on her
feet and maintain a firm testimony. How important it is to read our
scriptures DILIGENTLY every day and to pray and have that relationship
with our Heavenly Father. There is a familiar yet sure promise at the
end of Moroni that says that IF we read, ponder and pray about the
scriptures we can have a firm testimony for ourselves that the gospel
is true. I invite you all to always remember to read and pray every
day because as we know satan will not back down, why should we?

I love you all so very much. You are my examples! Enjoy this week!
Love, Hermana Hamblin

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September 22,2014

Hola familia!

 Oh my goodness. I am so spoiled! Thank you for all of the birthday
cards and gifts! I appreciate everything you all did for me. You
helped my day be the best birthday ever! And guess what! Sister Alba
and I have the same birthday :) cool huh!? All of my companions have
told me that Sister Alba and I are so similar haha. She is so crazy
and fun but at the same time everything she says goes. It's kind of
true,  Hermana Fernandez even calls me "valley girl". Ok..thanks
companion :) haha. #itssotruethough #valleygirl #countrygirlatheart

 Anyways I had a great birthday! I woke up to the apartment decorated
all cute and as we went on our morning run the zone leaders and the
elders that live with them sang happy birthday to me...like four times
haha. Every time they passed me on their run they stopped and sang to
me. Then when we got back to the apartment I walked in and the
apartment was a complete mess! Some of the elders that are in the
branch came by and decorated it like crazy and left a cake with
candles burning #oc and they had a poster that everyone had signed for
me. Then they made a scavenger hunt for me and it led to the church
where they had made crapes for us! They were so good!

The night before some members took us out to eat and had the workers
sing to me and I got a free sombrero from it :) I also received gifts
from members and one of our investigators, Julio! He bought me a huge
purse haha! It was so sweet. My district leader and his companion
called about fifty times throughout the day singing happy birthday to
me :) Then Saturday we had a wedding in the branch so the reception
was held at the church and that's where we had dinner so we got to
party for dinner with the members haha. It was so fun! I had such a
great day!

 Yesterday was the primary program so we combined with the english
ward for sacrament. The kids were so cute! Lizbeth and Aiden were in
the program (our recent converts) and they did so good! We were so
proud of them! Also one of our investigators that we have been
teaching for three transfers came to church for the first time with
her two boys. It was so great!!

Last night we had an ice cream social at the Albas for Sister Albas
birthday. It was so fun! I hadn't been to the mission home since my
first day in the field and it brought back A TON of memories!! Their
house is so big and so nice! It was so fun. All of the missionaries
here in Santa Rosa right now sang "Come Unto Christ" to Sister Alba
and it was so sweet. I loved it. We also got a little tour of their
house and even saw "the dungeon". I wish I would have taken a picture
while I was down there haha!

Also! Happy Fall! My favorite holiday is coming up!! All of the cute
Halloween decorations are all getting set up. It is so fun!

Anyways thank you all for everything. Mom you spoiled me! Thank you so
much for the cute outfit! I love it! Grandma Nancy and grandma Hamblin
thank you for the bday cards. You are so sweet to remember!

I hope you all have a great week!! Thank you for everything! I love you all!!

Love, Hermana Hamblin

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September 15, 2014

Hello Family!

Sounds like you all have had a crazy week! Mom, did you have the
baptism yet or is that this weekend? Mandy and Rex are back in school?
That's so crazy! I feel as though you two are still on your missions
reporting your week to mom. It's weird because my prayers for all the
missionaries in the family are winding down. Before I know it I will
just be praying for Natalie and Dustin!

 This week has been crazy! We had a beautiful baptism Saturday night.
I love the Fonseca family. I feel like I have been able to really
connect with them. It was so special to see this precious family all
dressed in white ready to enter the waters of baptism. First let me
start off by talking about the night of interviews. Interview nights
are always stressful! So we started off with having dinner with the
Fonsecas at a members home. It was nice because all the kids were
already friends with this family and Carolina was able to just talk to
Hermana Vazquez about anything. After dinner we went straight to
interviews. This is where it all gotta little crazy!

 Lizbeth was the first one to have her interview. She went in with
Elder Whitaker and this made Carolina feel a little uneasy. Then her
interview went a little long. It took about 30 minutes. Durning
Lizbeths interview you could tell that Carolina was a little nervous
and she left the room for a while, while Hermana Fernandez and I
entertained Jonathan and Aiden. When interviews were finished it was
9:35 and we didn't have much time to talk to Carolina afterwards.
Carolina was the last to be interviewed and of course it took the
longest. By the time it was all over everyone was exhausted and we
were late, so we all went home and got some rest.

 The following night we had our last appointment with Carolina before
her baptism. Luckily she was the only one who was home so we were able
to have all of our attention on her. She said that she wanted to be
completely open with us on how she felt about everything. She said
that the previous night at interviews she was ready to get her
daughter and take her kids and leave the church! That night when she
left us with Jonathan and Aiden she went for a little walk around the
church and started praying for peace and comfort. She said that she
still felt uneasy and nervous but something held her back from leaving
the church that night. Later we found out that Elder Whitaker said
that Carolina's interview was one of the best interviews he has ever
given. He said that she was SO prepared. #thegospelisTRUE.

 Carolina said that she knows she has to get baptized and that she
knows that she is doing the right thing, she just felt nervous. We
went to the movie Joseph Smith and we all watched the part where he is
going to pray and right before he does Satan attacks him. Soon after
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appear and are there to comfort and
be there for Joseph. Oh my goodness. The spirit was so SO strong! It
was like one of the first times I cried in a lesson. I bore my
testimony that I knew that the gospel blesses families and that satan
is real, but so is Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father knows us and he
knows what we need. I told her that Hermana Fernandez and I were there
at that moment specifically for her and her family.

The following night was the baptism and when Carolina saw her family
all in white she started to cry. The kids were first to be baptized.
Jonathan was the first one and during his baptism Carolina was
sobbing. It was such a good baptism. #missionarywork #itsthebest! One
thing that I absolutely loved is that Carolina told us that Lizbeth
wants to be a missionary when she grows up. How cute is that? Uh it
was great!!

 There was a lot of other crazy things that happened this week as
well. We saw a car accident happen. It was two cars behind us and it
involved a semi and a little car. #crazy. Yesterday as we were leaving
dinner two guys ran in front of our car, one of them had a knife in
his hand, the other was running for his life (literally). On exchanges
this week we contacted this sweet lady. It was her birthday and she
was turning 100 years old. Cool huh?

 Anyways family, this was a long email :) it was a good but crazy
week! This week we are getting back into things. This random lady came
to church yesterday and she wants to be baptized! We had a lesson with
her last night and gave her a BOM. We are seeing miracles day and
night here.  The gospel is true and I KNOW that it changes lives. It
is certainly changing mine. I am so grateful for the opportunity I
have to be here and to learn and grow. Missions are the best.

Have a great week!! Mandy and Riann-how are you doing with the BOM challenge??

Love you!    - Hermana Hamblin

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September 8, 2014

Hola hola familia!!!

  Oh my goodness. I literally have THE BEST family in the wild wild WEST! (Sister Natalie Hamblin :) i say that phrase ALL the time here :) ). family! Thank you for all of the pictures. They are precious! Rex (sad to not say Elder :( ) looks so good. I have loved the pictures and I can't wait to watch the videos. It sounds like you all had a great day. I am so grateful to be in a family where there is so much support! I see families everyday who don't have that unity and it breaks my heart. You all are so important to me and I pray for you all every morning and night.

   And Rex..WELCOME HOME!!!! Thank you for serving a full time mission. You have a lot to do with why I am here in California serving a mission. I know that leaving fresh out of high school wasnt easy for you, heck! I couldn't even be three hours away from home! ;) But you did it. And you have influenced SO many lives while on your mission, including mine and for that I am so very grateful. I have and still am learning so much. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve a mission. I can't wait for the day where we all can talk about our missions!

 My interview went well :) It was all in spanish! I understood all of what President Alba asked me. I didn't talk as much though but I am happy that I understood him. I remember the day that he picked us up from the airport he started talking to me in Spanish and I could not understand him! He talked so fast! I have had plenty of practice speaking with natives now that I can handle the fast paced talking :) So I have made progress :) yay!!

  Ok! This week has been crazy! We have seen SO many miracles!! On Saturday we were out contacting and we ran into this lady and Hermana Fernandez asked if we could do service for her and at first she didn't want anything to do with us but we were persistent.  She finally accepted when we asked if we could leave a harvest blessing in her home. I am not sure if you all are familiar with a harvest blessing, but we were introduced to this blessing like...two transfers ago? Something like that. So we are asked to bring it up in our contacts, saying that we are servants of Jesus Christ and we were sent by Him to leave a blessing on your home. So we said this and she accepted. As we first got there we got to know her a little, and she opened up to us and told us that a couple of months ago her mother passed away. We were able to talk to her a little about the Plan of Salvation, and found out that she wasnt really into praying. I felt impressed to sing A Childs Prayer (thank goodness my companion can sing really well) and asked if we could sing her that song and then offer the blessing and she said yes. As we were singing, oh my goodness, the room was over flowing with the spirit. She was crying and I knew that she knew that what we had to offer was true. My companion was able to offer a very powerful prayer and she asked when we could come back! family!! The church is SO true! it changes lives. 

  This week will be busy for us! We have a family that is getting baptized this saturday. They are GOLDEN. We have been teaching them before I came into the area. Her oldest son, Jonathan is feeling the power of Satan though. He is starting to doubt Joseph Smith. We had a good lesson with him last night about the power of prayer and invited him to sincerely ask god for himself if these things are true. I know that he will be fine though. I am grateful that he can go through this because when he gets an answer for himself his testimony is going to be powerful. 

 Anyways family I love you all so much! thank you for your love and your support. congrats on the baptism coming up!! Mom you will do great! I wish you could talk at our baptism this weekend! i would help you translate it :) i will be praying for you! I love you all so much! have a great and safe week!!                    love, hermanita hamblin :)

  

Email 9/01/14

Hola hola familia!

 Yay for Rex coming home!! I can't believe he is FINALLY done! :) He
is so great. I am so thankful for him and for his example of serving a
full time honorable mission. Give him the biggest hug for me. And
pleaseeeee please please TAKE VIDEOS (Riann that's your job!) and lots
and lots of pictures. My email better explode next week :)

 This week has been crazy good! We have been working hard, getting our
20 contacts, 3 lessons and inviting one person to baptism everyday
this week, and let me tell you..we have seen the miracles! Yesterday
at church we had 9 investigators come to church and 2 less actives!
Our sweet family that is getting baptized this month are prepared and
excited. They come to church all the time and they even came to an
activity that we had Saturday night. The mom of this family brought
her non member sister to the activity too! #miracles

 This month we were running out of miles, so we brought out the bikes
again :) On Saturday we rode our bikes all day! It was great. I was
able to get a good work out :) #mexicanfood #tortillahips
#missionarylife Anytime we get a chance to work out, we make the best
of it!

  Ok family, my companion is crazy! Haha while we were riding bikes on
Saturday, she whipped out her camera and started recording us!
#talented #workinghardANDjourneling #4thmissionary Also, we were out
playing with our investigators little girl with her ball and she threw
it over the fence and so my companion jumped the fence in a skirt!
Let's just say that she keeps it interesting around here. She cracks
me up. We are literally like siblings. We will fight and seriously get
mad at each other, but we know that deep down inside we still love
each other. At the same time we know how to have fun and how to get
work done. It's a good learning process with her. I am learning how to
change and become more open with our members. Hermana Fernandez is so
great at loving the members and making everyone laugh :)

 On Tuesday we will be having our interviews with President Alba and
my goal is to do the whole thing in Spanish! I am so nervous, but I
know I can do it! #igotthis #prayforme I remember when I came out the
Hermanas that I served around were having their third interviews with
President Alba and they wanted to do their interviews in Spanish, and
ever since then that has been one of my goals and on Tuesday it will
be my third interview with him! So we will see how it goes :) I'll
give you the details next week :)

 I just want you all to know how much I have loved being a missionary.
We go through some really difficult times and I know that I would not
be able to be here in California, away from my family, for 18 months
if I hadn't grown close to my Heavenly Father and established that
relationship with him in my personal prayers, and be set apart as a
servant of Christ. I know that with the gospel being my main focus in
life right now I am able to go through these hard times and allow
myself to make hard changes. The gospel really does change people. I
am experiencing that for myself right now! I am changing as well as my
investigators, recent converts and less actives. What a blessing it
is!

 I am grateful for your love and support. I love you all very much.
Enjoy this week and enjoy having Rex home. I hope grandpa remembers
him :)



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