Email 12/29/14

Hello Family!!

 I am so grateful for all of you. Really! You have each strengthened my personal testimony of the gospel by the way each of you have been living your lives. There is a quote by Pres. Ucthdorf, "Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words" That is one of my favorite quotes because that is the reason why our church is different from the others. As Latter-Day Saints we truly and are always looking for ways to love and serve the people who are all around us. And that is what the gospel is. Love. If there is anything thing that has been made more clearer to me while being on my mission: I have realized, learned and have felt the love of the members, the love of my family, the love of our prophet, leaders, President and Sis. Alba, other missionaries....everyone involved in the Gospel of Jesus Christ giving or showing the true love of Christ. That is what it is all about. One of my favorite quotes from the Joseph Smith movie is when Joseph Smith is helping a non-member neighbor and she stops him and says, "I don't agree with your religion, but I do appreciate the help" and Joseph replies, "Ma'am that is our religion" . 

 During the Christmas season it wasn't about me, Hermana Hamblin, what I wanted this year or what I needed to get done this year or any of that ME stuff. It was literally all about the people here in Northern California, in Novato and in Willits. I was able to, for the first time, give my heart and my testimony to the people who needed it the most. On Christmas day, I was able to give the love that I had, the love of Christ, to the people who have really never understood the meaning of the word love, or who have never felt supported from loved ones. The best part is, is that Christmas isnt over for missionaries. This is what we do throughout our whole mission serving with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. "How great is your calling" (Mandy and Rex will get that :) ) #quotingthewhitehandbook

 I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the opportunity I have to repent everyday and to let the grace of Jesus Christ CHANGE me and my heart and the way that I live my everyday life. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to wear my name tag everyday and to represent Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the love and the support that I have felt during my whole mission. How wonderful it is to be in Northern California and still feel like I am at home. I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for His Atonement. Without the Atonement we are nothing, I am nothing. I know that Jesus is the Christ and I know that He lives. 

 I love you all and am so glad that you had a good Christmas! I hope that you have a happy happy happy new year :) 

   Love, Hermana Hamblin 

Email 12/22/14

Hi Family!

 Sounds like you all are ready for a crazy week ahead! I can't believe its Christmas week!? I feel like it was just Black Friday. Time is going way to fast!

 This week has been so fun. We had our all mission Christmas party and I realized that I actually know a lot of people in the mission now! I remember when I first came out I had no idea who anyone was and there were so many missionaries I thought to myself that I would never get to know all of these missionaries. Now I know about half of them :) and I just love them all. There were too many people that I wanted to talk to that we just didnt have enough time to get around to everyone. But I did get to see some of my old companions :) I walked into the chapel and Hermana Fernandez was playing the piano for everyone and I just ran up on stage and we just hugged each other :) We were companions for three whole transfers! And we let everyone know how proud we are that we survived! Haha :) I got to talk to other missionaries about my old areas and we got an updated picture on one of our recent converts baby. I found out that Jonathan (one of our recent converts about 14 yrs old) passed the sacrament for the first time a couple of Sundays ago :) How cool is that!? It was so fun. I love this mission so much. It really is the greatest mission in the world!

 Willits is a small town. Reminds me of home. We are the only 2 missionaries in this area! Our zone is so spread out! Its actually nice though because I can refocus and all of my attention can be on the people of Willits and there wont be any missionary drama or distractions. Since I have been here I have taught 1 lesson in spanish and the rest of them have been in english. Its crazy to think that we can all be in the same mission, have the same rules, same mission President..same everything, yet we each have completely different experiences! We go from rice, beans and tortillas every night for dinner to salads, rolls and soup, tiny trailers to actual houses, English to Spanish! Its just so different but I love it. the people are just so different and I am actually grateful for the opportunity I have to experience life as an english missionary. Its kind of a weird adjustment, but its good. I am happy to be here. The people we are teaching are awesome! We actually had a baptism on Saturday :) His name is David Wells. I felt so bad for hermana Novarro. She got transferred to Napa, but she was able to skype in for the baptism. 

 Anyways I think thats about it :) We are excited to work, serve and love the people here in Willits. 

I hope that you all have a good week and a very merry Christmas!! Love you!!

 Love, Hermana Hambllin      

Email 12/15/14

Hi family!

  Oh my goodness! Well we received transfer doctrine and I am headed to Willits! I have a "one and done" transfer here in Novato :( I am so sad! It is so hard to leave! I just barely gained the trust of the members and we just got our system down of how to work this area out. I was so not expecting to leave and so when the zone leaders sent out the voice mail Hermana Hancock and I were sitting in our living room waiting anxiously for the news and they had just said that Hermana Hancock was going to be senior companion and then they said "and Hermana Hamblin..." and the phone went silent and we just sat there for a whole minute listening to silence! It turns out that the voice mail cut out right as they were giving us our info!! And that caught me off guard when they said that hermana Hancock was senior companion because that meant that I was out! So I was having a mini freak out session and we called the ZLs and it took us like 5 minutes for us to get the info out of them!! Finally they said that I was heading to Willits and I am in a zebra!! Which means that my companion speaks english only. We are also the only sisters in our zone and so for my area I am over the spanish people in Willits. Only me, because my companion doesnt speak spanish! But the good news is that I love my new companion! She is so cute :) We served around each other in Woodland! But ya, my heart is breaking! I LOVE Novato! This has been one of my favorite places to serve. It is so not fair that I only got one transfer here :(

 On Wednesday we have transfers and our all mission Christmas party. This will be the first time that I have been with the whole mission in Santa Rosa! And we have a huge mission so it will be fun! This week is going to be hectic! I am packing up today and tomorrow we are hopefully going Christmas caroling at the hospital. I am excited! Yesterday we had our Christmas program in our little branch and it was so fun!! Haha I LOVE the members here in this branch. The branch president is young and he acts like he is a teenager! He is so great! All of the missionaries had to sing because they didnt have enough members who wanted to sing :) It was so great! After church I got pictures with all of the members and we had lunch at Hermano Aguilas house. This guy is so rich! And he is hilarious! He is an old mexican who loves to talk AND sing and so we had a lot of fun with him yesterday :) 

 Anyways I think thats about it! My brain isnt working today! There is so much going on I cant think straight, but know that I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week!!   Love, Hermana Hamblin

December 8,2014

Hi Family!!

  Ok so this week was so fun! Guess what we did!!! We went to the Golden Gate Bridge :) The sisters asked if we could help them blitz the bridge. We were like, fine if we have to ;) Oh my goodness! We were taking videos and pictures...hopefully President Alba never gets ahold of the videos or pics that we took. We totally looked like tourists. We really couldnt help it though. It was so cool! We sang the Full House song over and over again :) Haha. It was beautiful!! I cannot wait to come back and drive across the bridge! We decided that when we come back we are going to get a red convertible and drive across the bridge just like they do in Full House! We also went into the other mission on accident. Right in the middle of the bridge the mission splits so if you go past the middle you are in the other mission... But we really didnt know! We got distracted! Anyways we are so excited. We get to back Friday night :) #soexcited

  Last night was one of the scariest nights on my mission! So we have this investigator, his name is Chato. He is just kinda sketchy. We made a promise that every time we teach him we would bring a member with us. Well last night we were on our way to the lesson and the member texted us and said that she wasnt going to be able to make it. We decided that we should just go ahead and do the lesson anyways because we were already there. So we park and go to his apartment. Well this apartment complex is super sketchy and it was like 8:30 at night and my companion is contacting this random guy and I start talking to Chato because I saw him..haha anyways so Chato had a friend and his friend was a little drunk..anyways to make the story short we ended up in this laundry room and the guy that was freaking us out was like blocking the door and so I got him to move and we finally got out of there because the spirit was like yelling at us to get out of there!! We didnt even teach the lesson but I was so scared! I was shaking and we were both just freaking out. It was so scary, but family! The spirit works and never ignore a prompting! Like ever. the spirit is there to guide and direct you and keep you safe! Uh! We were a little bit shaken up last night but we are good. Nothing bad happened, it just got super sketchy! We both learned the importance of the spirit though.

 On a brighter note we taught a super powerful lesson on Saturday night! We taught one of our investigators, Marta about the priesthood and the spirit was super strong, but she still denied our invitation to be baptized. She gets offended when we explain that she wasn't baptized by the proper authority. Its super sad :( Oh well we will just keep praying for her! 

 We also picked up a new investigator. She was a missionary referral who wanted a spanish BOM and so we went over to her house and she just started bashing. Her granddaughter (who is 21 years old) was listening the whole time. We just testified of the BOM and we shared Moroni 10:3-5 with her and by the end of the lesson she agreed for us to come back! The crazy part is at the very end of the lesson her granddaughter who was quiet the whole time said that she was an active member in OUR spanish branch!! #embarrassing #becausewedidntrecognizeher The reason why we didnt recognize her is because she is always in nursery. Anyways we are hoping that she can keep interest in the lessons and that hopefully we can one day baptize her!!! 

  Ok another awkward moment...haha ok so we were in a lesson with our 13 yr. old investigator whose name is Nick. We are just trying to bond with the kid, so we start the lesson off with a joke! At the punch line he just looks like at us with a straight face and guess what. He didnt laugh. Like at all. Oh my goodness. It was so embarrassing! Haha we were just laughing and he was just sitting there. Haha oh my goodness! We were like Nick! Wasnt that funny!? that was funnny!!! His aunt gave us a pity laugh so that made the situation a little bit better :) Oh family. Pray for us! Haha

 OK! Well I think that is it! I hope that you have a great week :) I love you all!    Love, Hermana Hamblin 

December 1, 2014

Hello family!!

  Thanksgiving was so fun! Okayy we had like two dinners, one traditional (sooo yummy!!) and one mexican! it was perfect! We had a huge soccer tournament with our branch on Thanksgiving. It was so funny to watch all of the missionaries play against mexicans. We totally lost! Haha they started putting in all the little kids and we were finally able to make a goal or two. Oh my goodness. Funniest thing ever! haha! Anyways we really enjoyed the day! I was thinking of you on Friday! Why the heck didnt you go!? Its our tradition! I better have people coming with me next year (Mom!! Because you are super funny on Black Friday :) and we started the tradition!!) Anyways it is now officially Christmas time! Have you all seen the He is the Gift video yet? Our mission is trying to show that video to as many people as possible! It is so cool. A lot of people are letting us in and the spirit is so strong. I love this time of year. It is so special. 

  This week has been pretty hectic! We had interviews with President and Sister Alba. They both helped me so much this go around. I have been so stressed out this transfer with white washing and everything. When I walked into my interview with Sister Alba she just told me to tell her everything, so i did! At the end she just took my hands and she looked at me and said, "I am taking all of your stress. Give it all to me" I just started crying! It was such a good interview! She told me that if I ever feel stressed again to just give her a call and that she will take my stress away again. She is so sweet. President Alba also offered me some good advice as well. He reminded me to only enjoy the work especially around this time of year :). Ever since interviews I have laughed a lot more and I have really just enjoyed the people I serve and the other missionaries that we work with here in Novato. 

  On Thursday and Friday our mission is going on a "fast" from driving because there has been too many accidents lately and missionaries have gone way over on their miles. I have a lot to do with that. I was the latest to get into a car wreck and we were over on miles for November. Haha..ya. My companion became designated driver now haha and she is..a good driver.. haha. Hopefully we dont get our car taken away from us! #pleaseprayforus. #seriously. 

  Today we want to go see a lighthouse! I am super excited for that. Wednesday we get to blitz the golden gate bridge!! I cannot wait for that!

  I am glad you had a good Thanksgiving! It was a special day for sure. I need to just run for the rest of my life to get back into shape! :) I love you all and I hope you know how much I am grateful for each of you! You all are the best! Thank you for all of your love and support!! :) Love, Hermana Hamblin

11/24/14

Hello family!

 It has been such a fun week! Last Wednesday the zone leaders and the elders decided to do a SMILE activity! So we made signs that said "Smile :)" and some other signs that said, "Honk If You Smiled!" and we went and stood out in the intersections and we had the whole town honking and waving at us :) It was so fun! Then on Friday we had a lemonade stand in downtown Novato. We had a lot of people come out and get some lemonade and we had some good conversations. And then on Saturday we got some rakes and went around asking people if we could rake their yards for them. People were so impressed with what we were doing and even more impressed when they found out it was all for free :) Also on Saturday night we contacted a guy who was from Australia. His accent was SO COOL! I am obsessed. This area is on fire! It has people waiting for us to ask them if we can share a message with them. There is so much work to do here and I don't even know where to start!

 Yesterday was my first time giving a talk in sacrament meeting! We walked into branch council and President Mejia gave us the whole, "Our speakers just bailed on us so will all six of you missionaries fill up the time in sacrament meeting today?' speech. Thankfully there are six of us in the branch so we took up the perfect amount of time. As I was giving my talk I started out being super nervous, but then the Spanish just came to me and I just started speaking the language. It was really cool. One of those moments where you appreciate and know that the gift of tongues is real. 

 This week is going to be crazy. Tomorrow we have interviews and a mini conference session with Sister Alba and the tech elders, Wednesday we have district meeting, Thursday is Thanksgiving (HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!) and then Friday is weekly planning. So much to do in so little time. This transfer is just flying by. I can't believe how fast time is going. This last Saturday I hit my 10 month mark. I cant believe it! 

Oh my goodness! So many people are coming home already! I cant believe Keali Wiltbank is home! Her mission went by super fast! And both of the Robbert twins are home?? Who comes home next? Is Dustin excited to get out and serve?? I am so excited for her. She will do a great job! What MTC is she going to?

 I hope that you all have a good rest of the week! Is Mandy and Rex coming home for Thanksgiving? Are you out of school for the week? The kids here don't have school this week and they are super excited about it! :)  

Love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!!!     Love, Hermana Hamblin  

11/20/14

Hello Family!

 So on Sunday night they informed us that we were heading to the temple on Thursday and because of that we wouldnt be having Pday until Thursday as well. So, I am sorry for not writing you all on Monday. I would have warned you last week but I wasnt informed about all of this until Sunday :/ but it seems like you all were fine :) 

 

Oh my goodness. This week has been hectic! On Tuesday night we were on our way to dinner on the freeway and there was so much traffic! We were trying to get to our dinner on time but due to traffic we were getting really backed up. Well, I was in the carpool lane and so we were going a little bit faster when all of the sudden the two cars in front of me braked and I ended up rear ending the car in front of me :( We got out and my STL (yes, we were on exchanges) went and told the lady to meet us in the McDonalds parking lot. I got back in the car and I started hyperventilating and crying. It was horrible. As soon as I figured out that the lady was fine and that her son was fine I started to calm down. I ended up having to call President Alba and telling him all about it. Unfortunately I was the fifth missionary in the last four days who had been involved in a car accident. Luckily one out of the five of us wasn't the missionaries fault. After the phone call the whole mission got a text from President telling everyone that we might be taking a break from driving as a mission due to the number of car accidents that we have recently had. #failure. Oh my gosh... it was so sad!

 On a higher note, me and my new companion were on our way to dinner (separate occasion) and we got lost and our handy dandy GPS took us to the ocean! It was so great! We had to get out and take pictures of course. Thats one reason why I like white washing! Our area is super cool! Our STLs were telling us that their investigators house is across the street from Robin Williams house and that their investigators were super close to him. They also said that they have seen Van Deisle (Pacifier) and Nicholas Cage and Hallie Berry. We also get to go blitz the Golden Gate Bridge with them sometime this transfer!! Also, they have lessons on the beach like all the time. One time they were doing service for their investigator and they helped them clean their boat. Seriously!? We were talking to our branch mission leader and he wants to have a noche de hogar on the beach sometime so I am super excited for that! It is a cool area for sure!

  Today we went to the Oakland temple! I am in love with this temple. It is gorgeous. I am literally only 20-30 minutes away from Oakland. #grandmanancy .Afterwards our ride took us to the San Quentin state prison. Dramatic change right? We were on our way home and they were telling us about this prison and they were like "lets just stop by and take some pictures really quick" haha. Okayyy. It was so crazy. 

It sounds like everything back home is good. My old companion was at the Phoenix Temple dedication. She lives just a couple minutes away from the temple. She said it was awesome :) I am glad you had the opportunity to go as well. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all!!  Love, Hermana Hamblin

11/03/14

Look at that cute baby!!! Her name is Siclali :)

Hermana Dossett and I rockin the ZL's mini van!

Hello Family!

 Oh my goodness. I am literally on an emotional roller coaster today. On Saturday morning during companion study we got a call from President Alba and he informed me that I am doing an emergency transfer and he gave me the option to leave either Sunday or Monday. I am on my way to Navato (I think thats how you spell it..not sure if its NavaDo or NavaTo?) today. I leave at 4, so I literally have a couple of hours to pack and get ready to leave! I chose to leave today because I wanted to have time to say goodbye to all of the members, all of our investigators and all of our less actives. It is hard for me to leave this area because I have learned SO much here. I am also white washing Navato and that scares me to death.

 So what happened is that there was a trio of hermanas in Navato, two of the three are going home after this transfer because they are done with their missions (one of them is my sister in the mission, Hermana Palmer!) and so President planned to keep the other hermana in the area. Well it turns out that she got sick and went home on Friday, and so now it is only the two hermanas who are done after this transfer that are in the area, so President Alba wants me to get into their area and work with them this week and on Monday, a week from today, I am dropping these two hermanas off here in Santa Rosa, Tuesday I get a new companion and after that I am on my own. So, PLEASE pray for me this week. I am stressing out! I know it will all be good, but so much has happened and its hard to leave an area, especially unexpected. 

  Anyways, everyone else are super excited to get transfer doctrine this week. I am anxious to see who is going to be my new companion! We thought for sure that Hermana Fernandez was leaving because she has already been here in Santa Rosa for about 6 months now, but now we have no idea whats going to happen in our area. If Hermana Dossett is leading out the area next transfer I know that she will do a great job. She has impressed me so much with her confidence and her growth in the language. She will be just fine. 

 I am so happy you got the peppers! I am proud of you all for eating them :) I would send you the video of when I ate the pepper, but its kind of long. I seriously ate the whole thing though. I literally couldn't talk after I ate it. And right after I ate it I ate some rice that had just finished cooking and so it was super hott!! Haha, but it was fun! I am glad I did it :) I am mad that Rad didnt do it! #whimp! Where are the pictures from Halloween!? I was looking forward to seeing all of the cute costumes :/ We didnt do much on Halloween. They had a meeting for all of the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders on Friday and Hermana Fernandez was asked to play the piano for them so it was Hermana Dossett and I alone in our area for the day. We were able to do service for Carolina and we got to see that cute baby. Then Friday night we were asked to weekly plan at the church until 9 so we didnt get to see any cute costumes or anything but it was still a good Halloween. 

 Ok! I love you all! Have a great week!         - Hermana Hamblin

President Alba

THE CASRM
(THE GREATEST MISSION IN THE WORLD)

ROCKET TRAIN

GET ON….STAY ON


Dear Sister and Elders,

I love you all so much. You are dear to me and as your mission mom I want you to know that I am proud of each and every one of you. Every one of you is here in this mission at this time for a purpose. I know some of you may still be asking why am here? Let me help you. 

You are here to help fulfill God’s purpose… “To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” You have been chosen by God to be here in the CASRM. It is no coincidence you are here…in the ‘Greatest mission in the world’. Let me share something that happened last weekend while we attending Mission President’s Seminar in San Diego.

The wives had a breakout session. Elder Christopherson the apostle, was with all weekend and came and spoke to the wives and told us that God wanted us to know that He was aware of us and aware of our missionaries. He wanted us to know that our sacrifices and those of our missionaries had been accepted by the Lord. Then he went on to say that God would let us know that this was the case.

Later we reunited with our husbands and after I sat down Rene’ told me that earlier in the day he was talking to Elder Christopherson who had leaned over and whispered into Rene’s ear and said… “You know, whenever I am on the committee that determines where the missionaries will serve…. I always send the best missionaries to you.” 

That night at dinner, one of the new mission presidents sat by my side and said… “You know, I hear that your mission sets the example for all the missions…” I said, “Really, who said that? He smiled and responded, “Everyone.” 

Elders and Sisters, let’s be careful here. I am not sharing these things with you so that then we would become a prideful mission. Just the opposite. Let us be humble in the great blessings that have come to our mission. Let us thank God for His believe in all of us to allow us to serve here together, now during this time in the history of the world. …. To have been the 1st in the world to receive the 8873. To have been given the charge by Elder Ballard to LEAD THE WORLD in living the HIGH EXPECTATIONS. To continually try to be the MOST OBEDIENT MISSION IN THE WORLD.

So much has been given to us and as you know where much is given, much is expected. Sometimes we get discouraged and don’t want the pressure… Sometimes we wonder if we have really and truly been asked to stand as a beacon and a light to all the other missions in the world… Sometimes the work seems too hard, too much and not necessary. You hear of other missions who do it all differently, seem to not have to follow the rules and yet they are seeing success.

STOP COMPARING…THERE IS NO OTHER MISSION LIKE THIS ONE

Elders and Sisters we have just received ratification from God that what we are doing here is good, right, and is exactly on course.

OUR SACRIFICES HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY GOD. HE IS AWARE OF THE CASRM AND IS PLEASED. And He has let us know.

We will not only continue on, we will rise up and fulfill our destiny. Here is what it will take.

ALL OF US. “ALL”

That’s right, some of you are holding this mission back. Some are still not on board with the High Expectations. Some are not obedient. Some are lost in selfishness and this mission for them is still about what they want to do. Enough!

You have been chosen and prepared before the world was to serve at this time and in this place. Open your eyes and let us be as ‘one’.

WE ASK THAT FROM THIS POINT FORWARD…WE ‘ALL’ WORK TOGETHER IN THE WORK OF SALVATION.

‘ALL’…every one of us 
Elder Ballard has promises us that if we ALL get our 20 contacts everyday that our baptisms will double.

The word ALL is what we have been missing in this mission.

If you don’t like the contacting be prepared for your companion to drag you out the door. (In a nice way of course)

Get on your knees and open your heart and your soul to Heavenly Father. Don’t waste another day. It is not easy to lead. It is hard work and it takes faith in God. It includes disappointment over and over and rising up again. You can do this. You were meant to do this. You were born to do this.

So, let us ALL work together to lead the world as God has asked us to do. …Lead the world in living the High expectations, all of the high expectations. Lead the world in our usage of the 8873. Lead the world in obedience. 

Let’s all get on the train….THE CASRM ROCKET TRAIN…and never get off. GET ON… STAY ON

We are headed straight for the stars. But it takes… ‘ALL’

Love Sister Alba

This is our weekly email from Sister Alba..isnt that so cool??

10/27/14

Hello family!!!

 Wow. My mind is drawing a blank. Haha...what happened this week?
Hum..let's see. Last Monday we had our pday. Wrote lots and lots of
letters! Haha Tuesday we had exchanges. Oh my goodness. Our STL came
into our area and I was left alone. We had five scheduled appointments
and my STL doesn't speak Spanish, so..I was all alone! Haha but it
happened! We had our lessons and they all went great. I got a few
members to come out with us in case my Spanish all of the sudden left
me (yes that does happen) and let me tell you how much I love members!
:)
 Wednesday and Thursday were normal missionary days and Friday we had
our trunk or treat activity with our ward and the English ward. It was
soooooo so fun! I love Halloween so much. It's the cutest holiday!
Saturday, we had a zone lunch and that was super fun! Yesterday was
our first official Sunday with just our ward. It was so exciting to
see everyone get their new callings. It's going to be a great ward.
 Other than that there really is nothing else that I can think of. I
am pretty excited for Halloween this week! I hope that you all have a
great week and a very happy Halloween! Listen to Thriller and watch
The Ghost and Me. Chicken for me :) Love you all!!
Love, hermanita Hamblin

Enviado desde mi iPad

10/20/14

Hello family!

  It has been a crazy week! We went to the beach, had exchanges, had zone conference and stake conference. It was a week full of training and insights. Zone conference was so great. President Alba let us watch a music video by David Archuleta that he did for the movie, "Meet the Mormons'. I loved every minute of it :) President said that he wished that he could take us all to the theaters to watch the new movie so that when we would get questions about it we would be able to respond and I was thinking the same thing! We would be the ones who would get the most questions from the movie. Then President said, well we dont have to go to the theaters to watch the movie I have it right here on my computer, want to watch it? Haha we all freaked out! He gave us "movie snacks" and we all relaxed and watched "Meet the Mormons"! That movie is so great! I hope you all have had the chance to watch it.

 I really enjoyed stake conference! President Henderson (stake pres) talked about how as members we all need to be prepared to answer the questions that our non member friends will have for us. He had some members come up to do some practices. The non member friends asked questions about simple things like tithing, temples or word of wisdom and the members had to answer the questions without saying any gospel terms. They had to make it clear and simple. Seems pretty easy but once its your turn to play the member, words don't come to you. I encourage you to practice this in FHE. Be prepared for the questions because they will come!

We were also informed that two missionaries from this mission were involved in a bad car accident Saturday. They were hit by a drunk driver. There were four in the car and the two in the front seat walked away fine. The two in the back were severely injured. They have concussions and one of them were flown to the Santa Rosa hospital. Sister Alba said that right before President left to go see the elders and check on them they had a kneeling prayer and she felt and she knew that angels are with those two elders and that they will be ok. Once the members heard about these missionaries, they have been in their prayers ever since. I am so grateful for the prayers and the support that all the members give the missionaries. 

Ok anyways on the flip side, one night when we were leaving dinner we were walking outside and I literally tripped. It was so embarrassing! Haha oh my gosh. It was slow motion too. Oh my goodness. Thankfully it was just us hermanas, but I did it in front of the members. #thatawkwardmomentwhen...

Anyways thats pretty much my week! I hope that you all have a great week as well! Love you!   - Hermana Hamblin

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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