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!

Email 02/06/14

Hello my dear sweet familia!!

   Well it has been another wonderful week here at the CCM! I couldn´t be happier with my life! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Love it! This week has been so fun! First we had a new group of missionaries come including Hermana Udall :) I saw her at dinner last night and then helped her find her casa! I LOVE being not being the greenie :) Today President and Sister Pratt are coming back to the CCM! Sister Pratt had to have surgry and so we still have not met them but hopefully we will tonight! And then (this is the best news) the CCM is being dedicated on Sunday and so one of the general authority and 2 apostles are coming!! I am so excited! the general authority is already here in Mexico! How cool is that!?! Yesterday we had to make a little video thing for the dedication and it was so fun! Me and Hermana Kholehace were acting a little immature everytime we saw the camera..but it was so fun :)

  On Tuesday we had our first TRC Tuesday and thats where they have REAL investigators come and we have to have a lesson with them. So for our first one, Diego was his name, we walk in and the only thing I understood through that whole entire 20 MINUTE lesson was "Hola". They talk so so fast! So ya that freaked me out a lot! We got out of the room and I freaked out! I was thinking there was no way that I could do this and it felt like all of my hard work for the past 2 weeks went down the drain and meant nothing. But then yesterday we had an appointment with another one of our investigators and right before we went in my hermana, Hermana Crow said that she was going to turn the lesson over to me. I said that that was a good idea and we had a prayer and asked for the spirit to be with us and we walked in and I was completly confident in myself and I actually taught a mini lesson and I didn´t use Predicad Mi Evangelio as much as I used to. I am so proud because I am improving in the language. I have to have faith in the lord AND faith in myself. I know I can do this. I totally can :) Seriously going on a mission has been the best decision I have ever made. I wake up each morning thinking, "I am in Mexico! I get to spend another day in Mexico serving others and learning about the gospel." And it is so awesome because we hear gun shots like all the time and its totally normal now and I have never once felt scared or anything. I feel so secure and safe. I just love it here! Love it!! And the weather here is just beautiful! Seriously. Best experience ever!

   I love my district! We have the best districts ever! We get together every Wednesday night and have a "P-day eve" and we play games and sing disney songs haha and then we go around the room sharing our most spiritual experience of the week. The spirit that is there is so incredible. Missionary life is the best :) I am so satisfied with m,y life! I hope things are ok with uncle Merrill. My companion and I pray for him morning and nights. We will pray extra hard on Monday and I will be thinking of him and his family. I love you guys so much!!

   Rad- I hope you are enjoying life :) I think about you all the time! You are the best teenager ever! I hope you are loving high school! It goes by fast so enjoy every moment. 

   Mom and Dad- Seriously. Best parents ever. I love you guys. Thank you for everything. For all your love and support. Thank you for your prayers. I am so grateful for the love that you guys have for not only our family but for eachother :) I am so lucky!! :) I love you all and hope that you guys have had a great week! 

P.S.

I heard this this week- When girls go on missions its like "taking your daughter to work day" --for 18 months. I LOVE that :)

P.S.S.

Ya enjoy that snow! It is 70 degrees here :) Love you guys!!!!

 

 

                                             She calls us her "Sister Angels"!  I love her!