Email 3/24/14

Family!!!!

   Hello family! Another week has gone by! Where is the time going?? Oh my goodness! Well Happy Birthday to granny Hamblin on Saturday! It sounds like a lot happened on Saturday! I am so sorry to hear about Larry Sherwood :( We are so lucky to live in a place with people who have set great examples. He is someone that I know everyone looked up to. I hope that the Davis family are all doing well. They are a great family in our community!

  I am so excited for Natalie! Tell her to get ready for the best 18 months! On the 22nd I hit my 2 MONTH mark! It feels like I just said bye to you guys yesterday! Time flies and you literally enjoy every moment! This week is a big week for Hermana Thompson and I! On Friday we have baptisms scheduled for Juan and Estel Fuentes. They are the sweetest couple I have ever met! I literally love them! We are able to meet with them every night this week to go over the baptismal questions and to make sure they are all set and ready to go. Our branch president was able to come with us last night to go visit them and he told us as we were walking out that they will be such a strength to the branch. I believe it! They are so sweet! juan said that he can help me learn spanish if I will teach him english :) I seriously love my area. The members in the branch are amazing. They are so supportive and so loving! They all love us 8 missionaries that serve in the branch. I am so glad to be here in Woodland! 

  I know this is a short email, I have a lot of letters that I have to catch up on! I love you all dearly and am so thankful for you all! Have a great week!! 

3/17/14

Familia!

  Oh what a week! The best week so far :) Here are the first of many fun missionary stories!! :) Ok so this last week we went on Blitz and that is where our whole zone gets together and all of us missionaries work on one little area in Woodland to help that group of missionaries with referrals or new investigators or anything! We work for about two hours in just that area and when we are done we give the missionaries who are over that area all of the information that we were able to get from those two hours. They also split the companionships so I was put with another Sister that actually lives with Hermana Thompson and I :) 

  So my and this sister were out tracting, and this was like my first time actually tracting like door to door. So we are making our way across this neighborhood and we get to this one door and Sister Vanderneit looks at me and says, "You got this one" so I am all super excited and nervous at the same time! We knock on the door and a little 10 yr old girl answers and I say hi and we introduce ourselves and I ask if her parents are home and she says her dad is. So she goes and gets her dad. We could hear her telling her dad that "two pretty girls in dresses" want to talk to you :) She was so cute! So here comes her dad. I introduce ourselves and say that we are just in the neighborhood talking to everyone we can about family history and I ask if he has ever heard of family history and if he has ever done family history before. He looks at his daughter then back at us then again back at his daughter and asks, "Family history, family history hum. Have I ever done family history. I don't know what your question means." He is kindof laughing and so Sister Vanderneit and I kindof laugh too thinking that he was just being funny, so Sister Vanderniet explains a little bit about family history and how we would love for him to come check it out. He tells us that he would not come to our church and we say that he can do this on the computer. Then he looks at me and out of nowhere asks, "How brainwashed are you two?" We were both like, wait what!? He continues to tell us that no one really knows that there is a God. We are all just confused and we have no idea what we are doing here on earth. And that there is no point in doing family history because they are deceased and they were just as confused as we are about our purpose here. So I pipe in and I say that we have the best message that he will ever hear if he gives us a chance to talk. He ignored me and continued on how there is no God, and his sweet little 10 yr. old daughter is right there saying that she believes in God and I was agreeing with his little girl. He looked at me and said "Well I am glad you are about as smart as my 10 yr old daughter. You have no idea what you are talking about. Your parents brainwashed you into memorizing your religion and you think you are happy but you aren't." I was literally heartbroken, I felt so bad for this man. I told him that I wanted to help him and he pointed at me and said that I was now being rude and he just goes off on us. Sister Vanderniet stepped in and said that we were just going to go now and she bore a quick testimony and we started walking away. This guys is still literally yelling at us. As we turned the corner we heard him slam his door. It was SO intense. 

   We later ran into this man who said that he had been watching the History channel and it said that Joseph Smith had seen a flying saucer and that he worked with aliens to establish this church. He was really nice. He said if he wasn't Catholic he would join our church. It made me wonder about him. I love this experience! Seriously. I love talking to people. They are so interesting and this is what I get to do for 18 months! Missionary life is the best! 

   After we were done tracting we were driving back to our area and we were listening to Motab and they were singing, "This is The Christ". I am seriously honored to be a missionary and to be able to share this gospel with everyone. I literally love everyone here in Woodland. The people here are so sweet and I just want to help everyone! I am so grateful that I was raised in a home where we went to church and had family home evening and read scriptures early in the morning as a family (this must be the best day of dads life). You guys are the best. I am so lucky and BLESSED :) to have each and everyone of you! Rad! I love you bud. I miss you so much!!! Write me!! Love you guys!

Ok so the first picture is of me and my new companion! We have to study for 4 hours everyday in the morning so we thought, why not make it fun?? Don't we look like sisters? Then the second picture is of one of the sisters that we met in the airport and we came into the field together. I can't remember her name but she is so nice and really wanted pictures with me yesterday haha so there you go! Oh! Hello! I want to see pictures of the new room!! :) Love you!

Email 3/10/14

Hello family!

  So I left you all on a bad note being that I was nervous to leave the CCM and Mexico. Traveling will do that to me :) Especially with my luggage and having to worry about the weight and if I got all of my clothes and shoes to fit. It is stressful! But I am here in California and I love it! My flights were awesome! I love flying! The plane ride to Ca. was a little crowded but I got a window seat so it was perfect :) Right when we got off the plane President and Sister Alba were there to welcome us. They are so fun and so cute! Sister Alba came up to us and hugged us all and said, "Welcome to the best mission on earth" to each of us. It was so nice to finally meet them. We got all of our luggage and headed to Santa Rosa. It is BEAUTIFUL in Santa Rosa! I got lucky with this mission :) And Pres. and Sister Alba are working hard to get this mission to be the most obedient mission and we are doing a great job because that is why we were the first mission in the world to receive Ipads. I have one-each missionary has their own! It is amazing! 

  We went to the mission home and took pictures there and talked for a while. The mission home is so beautiful! Then they took us to the mission office and we had a couple meetings. The next day we were assigned to our missionary trainers and I was put with Hermana Thompson. I LOVE her! She is the best trainer and is so patient and loving! Just what I needed. We were assigned to work here in WOODLAND Ca. It is a beautiful town where the spanish is pretty fluent. They have a spanish branch here and the people are so sweet. President Perez is so nice and is so willing to help with us missionaries. The members in this branch are so helpful! We have been feed every night at a members home and we have had a member present in every lesson but one since I have been here. I am amazed. 

  My first time contacting I ran into two english people and I walked up to them and said hi and they completly walked right by my and brushed my handshake away. It was pretty intense! It is crazy how much my little name tag will make a difference! I kinda liked it! This is just all part of the mission experience. So right behind them were an english couple and I walked up to them and said hi and they looked at me in disgust and said "we dont want anything you people have to offer" and kept walking. I looked at my companion and told her this is going to be a lot harder than I thought! The next people we run into were mexican and they were so sweet! I am so happy I was called to a spanish mission. Mexicans are nicer than Americans! It is so weird and cool to see that! I have invited three people to baptism and they have all said no but one! He is already investigating the church though :) It is just so fun! I am loving it!

  Ok thats pretty much it in a nutshell! I love you guys! Have a great week! Heremana Hamblin

Email 3/03/14

Hi Mom! So I am leaving the CCM tomorrow morning at 3 AM!!! My flight is at 7 AM and I will fly to Phoenix and then board the plane to Cali at 10:30. I am stressing out today. I dont feel ready to go out in the field and how in the heck did you pack my bags?? That is something I do not know how to do! Today has been my hardest day for sure because I am not good with good byes and I love my district so much! They have shaped me and refined me and I wont see them again :( Its hard but I guess its the hard that makes it good. We said bye to half of our district this morning at 4:30 and we had class today and thats when it hit me that I am leaving and will be in the field tomorrow. I broke down into tears and my sweet companion and teacher helped me to quit the tears for right now! I don´t know where the time went and I am sad to leave Mexico. This has been the best experience. I also just said bye to Rachel poche! That was hard as well. 

We are encouraged to not call home so don´t be expecting a call and I don´t think I am allowed to email once I get to Cali so it might be next week until I can update. Just know that I love you all and am grateful for you guys!!   Hermana Hamblin

Email 2/27/14

Hi Familia!

   First of all...Rex! That poor Sister! I could not imagine! :( Oh that is just heart breaking! I will keep her in my prayers. I hope and pray that all of you are safe! That just breaks my heart :( Next Rad! I Hope you had a great birthday. I was thinking of you all day on Sunday :) You are just the very best! I miss you so much :) Ok are we in the Scottsdale mission?? If so I know a lot of people heading there! We got a new district last week and four of them are heading there and Jessica Udall said that we are in that mission so if she is right then you guys need to keep an eye out for Hermana Bowden and Hermana Brandley. They are both so sweet! They won´t be going to their mission anytime soon because they just got here but just remember to ask all of the hermanas what MTC they went to! I just might know them! 

  I have been a missionary for ONE MONTH! Can you believe that!? Seriously! Time flies! I am leaving Mexico soon :( I leave for Cali on Tuesday! I am so excited and SOOOO nervous! I do not have the language down whatsoever but I know that with time it will come! It feels like I have been here for about two weeks! But at the same time I am so excited to not be in a classroom for about 9 hours everyday!! My teachers are great though! They made classes fun! Tomorrow we have meetings ALL DAY though because we have to go through a little pre training before the field. It will be good though! I just can´t believe my six weeks is up! When we first got here the district that I LOVED so much, every time they saw a plane one of the elders would always ask How Far do you Think that Plane Is? And so now we do that and our plane is 5 days away!! I can´t believe it! I will miss Mexico for sure! It has been a great CCM experience!

  Everyday Sunday night right after dinner my companion and I have time to go on a little walk just around the CCM and seriously I feel like I am in heaven. The weather is perfect, the lights from the city are gorgeous and the spirit here is incredible!  I love our Sunday night walks. I am going to miss that!

  So the other day me and my companion were in a discussion with one of our investigators and we were talking about the Word of Wisdom and I thought that he said that he gave up drinking with his friends last night but he actually said that he WENT drinking with his friends last night and so I was sitting there telling him how I was so happy for him and that it will just make him so happy! And he just starts laughing and I just laugh because I am so proud of myself for making that sound pretty good in espanol! And so then I keep going saying that Heavenly father will always love him no matter what and to keep on doing what he is doing and he will never have a bad day because he will always feel good and I bore my testimony on that! So when we got out of the lesson me and my companion are doing high fives and saying that that was a great lesson and then our investigator comes out ( who is really just our teacher) and tells me what I did and how I bore my testimony on how drinking is great for you and it will make us so happy! We were just laughing! I so need all the prayers I can get because I leave the CCM on Tuesday to go teach REAL investigators who will believe me when I say drinking is good for the soul! :)

   Anyways that is my week for you guys! I hope you all had a great week as well! I love you all so much! 

KRISTEN: I got your letter!! You are just the very best! It made my day and I have a letter for you but I am going to mail it when I get to Cali! Thank you for writing! Keep it up!!

RIANN: I love you! I got your letter as well. My companion really wants to meet you and Mandy because I literally talk about you guys all the time. Thanks for writing me!

Mom and Dad: I hope that you guys are doing well. I also got my first missionary letter from the fam! Thank you for your words of encouragement and advice. I love you guys so much!

Rad: Keep it real! 

Mandy and Rex: I love you two and think about you guys every day wondering what kind of missionaries you guys are :) Mandy I have been talking about you all week! I miss you!

   Thank you family for everything! Have a great week!

On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 6:30 AM, Mindy Hamblin <mindyjohamblin@gmail.com>wrote:

Email 2/20/14

Hello Familia!

   Today was a beautiful day! We were able to go beyond the walls of the CCM! We went to the Mexico temple! It is closed of course :) But we were able to go to the visitors center and go to the little gift shop that the church owns. It was so fun! And just being out and about in the city and seeing everything was so cool! I love it here!!! :)

    So this week we said bye to 13 B ;( It was so so sad! They just took such great care of us and we were all so close we were like family! But its all good :) We aare all doing great things so its worth it. I was just lucky that I got to meet all of them! Hermana Crow and I got a calling! We are the new sister missionary trainers! We get to help and serve and just LOVE the girls in our zone! I love this calling! We get to interview the girls tomorrow night and I am SO excited to just have time to talk with them. I love the girls in our zone. They are all hard workers and we all just love each other. Seriously..being a missionary is the best! Oh! And we got some new arrivals on Wednesday and President Suaste told us that we will have a new district in our zone! So tonight Hermana Crow and I get to go welcome the new district! I can´t wait!! 

   On Saturday it will be our 1 month anniversary for being a missionary. Can you believe it!? Where has the time gone? This next coming week is my last full week here at the CCM :( I am sad but so excited at the same time! Where did the time go?? Oh I have to tell you one more thing! On Tuesday nights we have TRC and thats where members, investigators and less actives come to the CCM and we get to teach them a lesson. So our first lesson was overwhelming because the only thing I understood was Hola. Seriously! It was intense. They just talk so fast! But this last Tuesday night Hermana Crow and I walk in and guess what! I understood and I talked a lot! My grammar was horrible BUT I have improved! The Lord seriously answers our prayers. 

   RADDON!!! I can´t believe you will be 15 on Sunday!! :( What the heck! That is wrong. Remember that you are NOT 16 so you may not date girls yet. I know that they all love you because you are a stud! Just remember you still have another year until you get to think about girls! Happy Birthday buddy! I love you and will be singing to you on Sunday! 

   Family: Thanks for being so strong in the gospel. Thank you for being a strong family. I LOVE our family and how close we are. Heavenly Father shows us how much he loves us through families. He loves us SO much! I am so grateful for your love and support. 

I hope you all have a great week! Its crazy how far apart we all are from each other but one day soon we will all be back together and it will be so fun to hear all of the stories :) I love you all so much!     Love, Hermana Hamblin

Email 02/13/14

Hello Family!

   Oh my goodness. Best week ever! Where do I even start?? Ok so the Dedication was on Sunday night and it was the best experience! That day was kind of hectic but I loved it!! So Elder Oaks didn´t actually come to the CCM until about 5 ish. All of us missionaries had just gotten out of a meeting about how to act in a dedication and we were all heading over to dinner and a few of the kids in my district saw a few nice cars pull into the CCM and it was Elder Oaks!! We were all just standing there like idiots watching him pull in and get out of the car! Haha oh gosh but I loved it! We were all so excited that he was finally here! So we quickly ate dinner and went to the auditorium to get good seats and me and my hermana got FRONT ROW seats for the missionaries!! So because it was a dedication and a lot of important people were there the missionaries had to sit about five rows back from the fron but missionary status we got FRONT Row seats! It was so cool! So we were in our seats about an hour before it started so we were all talking to each other just enjoying the moment. About 15 minutes before the Dedication started we started singing hymns to bring the spirit in the room. Then all of the sudden they opened the doors and in walks Elder Oaks and we all stood and seriously we all just started singing loud and proud! There is something about being a missionary and being in the presence of an apostle. The spirit was overwhelming. And you all know how that my favorite part of conference is when we all reverently stand up when President Monson walks in! That and when they bear their testimonies! I was on a spiritual high that night! 

   Anyways so we start the dedication and two of my cutest friends were in the dedication video! They are so cute! Anyways and then Elder Oaks got up to talk and he asked everyone to stand up. After we stood up he just looked at us for a moment and then he said, "You are a remarkable site". Ok now remember that I was front row! He was looking at me! Well all of us but it was incredible! I just started crying! You always see the apostles telling the missionaries that, but when YOU ARE the missionary and Elder Oaks is LOOKING at you it is the best feeling in the world. He is so sweet! Another favorite moment was when of course he was bearing his testimony. How could you hear an apostle of the Lord bear his testimony AND NOT believe it? It just blows my mind! He ended with of course the dedication prayer and it was amazing! This sounds really crazy but you know when you close your eyes for a prayer and it is usually dark? Like of course it is becausse your eyes are closed right?? Ok but when he offered the dedication prayer and I closed my eyes it was bright! It felt like angels were all around us and the CCM. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! The spirit was SO STRONG! I LOVE this gospel. I have not once nor will I EVER regret my decision to serve a mission. It has been the best experience. 

   Also I met the International MTC Director! He came to speak to us on Tuesday and gave the best talk ever! Afterwards we went up to talk to him and I totally got his signature! He looked at me like I was so immature but...well I am immature but its all good :) YOLO right? :) Oh and BTW did you know that the Provo MTC is 30 acres and the Mexico CCM ( best one ever) is 90 acres of heaven! It is just beautiful here! It is by far one of the prettiest. Well in my opinion it is the prettiest :)  So that was my week!

  Raddon and dad! Yay for going to the Gilbert temple! I am so jealous! I think next P DAY my district gets to go to teh temple here! It is closed but we get to go to the visitors center and we get to go outside of these walls :) We are pretty excited! I am still praying hard for uncle Merrill. We pray for him everyday. 

   Mom! I just got your letter. It seriously made my day! I was the only one who got mail that day...no big deal! I have THE BEST PARENTS IN THE WORLD! I LOVE you and dad so much! Thank you thank you thank you for giving me this opportunity to serve. I pray that you guys will receive many blessings for how strong you guys are! I LOVE you guys!!

   Rad! You need to send me a pic of you asap! I just dont want to forget how good you look! ;) I hope that you are having a great semester!! Remember to be the best you can be! Love you Rad!

    Ok familia! I will talk to you guys next week! LOVE YOU!