Email 5/26/14

Hello family!

  Just so you all know I tried the HOTTEST pepper in the world! And it wasn't even that bad. I was sweating like crazy but it wasn't horrible! #yolo. Here in Woodland the weather is getting HOT! We went for our morning walk and at 6:30 AM it was already 71 degrees! Crazy!! On Saturday the branch went on a hike and we were able to go! It was so fun! We had one of our investigators there!! Our investigator is so cute! She was supposed to get baptized on Saturday but a few things got in the way :( Thats ok. We will continue working with her and when its her time she will be ready. The hike lasted pretty much the whole day, and afterwards we had lunch with Juan and Estela, our recent converts! It was so fun! 

  I hope you all have a fun week!! :)    Love, Hermana Hamblin 

Email 5/19/14

Hi family!

  We had a great week!! Love you all!! And I am so excited for MANDY!!

Email 5/05/14

Hello Familia!!

  So every Friday one member in our branch ALWAYS feeds us hotdogs from Costco. We all meet together in Costco and have hotdogs and churros :) it is a great tradition. We call it Happy Hotdog Friday :) I love it! Anyways so this last Friday instead of meeting at Costco we met at his house to roast hotdogs and have a little fireside for the youth who are preparing for missions. It was so fun! The youth got to ask us missionaries questions and we would answer them. It was so fun to be the missionary this time :). Our sweet little branch hasn't been able to send a missionary out in fifteen years! This year they will hopefully be sending out 5! And these kids are great! One of them bore his testimony about the BOM and I was amazed. I was talking to him afterwards and he was telling me how he is reading the bible right now and wants to have it read by the time he goes on his mission! He should be submitting his papers this week! I am so happy for him. We asked him to come out with us and he was so excited! He did so well with the rejection that we got that night but he said that the rejection strengthens his testimony. I was like, RIGHT!?! It makes you want to keep going all night long! We have another girl who is graduating this year. She comes to church every Sunday with her two younger siblings. She is at every church activity and comes out on splits with us. She also just gave us a new investigator! She will be a great missionary! 

  We are teaching this nine year old right now and getting her ready for baptism. She and her two older sisters want the gospel in thier lives so badly. Her oldest sister who is 14 amazes me. She will find herself a ride to YW every Wednesday night and she gets ready for church every Sunday just incase her mom might be in the mood to go. Her mom is precious. She is a single mom with three girls and she can't find a job right now. I know that she is going through a hard time, i just wish that she would realize that being active in the church will help her in every way! I know its hard to come to church every Sunday. We think that she might not feel worthy enough to come which breaks my heart. She finally let us in to teach her daughter though. We have been trying since day one to get into her house to teach her daughter. Anyways yesterday the three girls called Hermana Thompson and I and asked if they could get a ride to church. We found them a ride and they came! They were all so happy. I was so impressed that a 14, 12 and 9 year old would come to church all by themselves! They are precious!

  Yesterday at church we had 2 investigators who attended, then Juan and Estela, our recent converts, brought their son to church and he stayed for all three hours and wants to meet with us again this week! And we had one of our less actives show up! It was the perfect day :). Yesterday I was able to bear my testimony. I felt that I needed to share my testimony with all of my investigators, new investigators and less actives that showed up :) I LOVE being a missionary and I LOVE the branch that I serve in! They are all awesome! Tonight we are eating with Juan and Estela! We are so excited to eat with our new members :) They are so fun!!

  

  Feliz cumpleanos to dad today!! Best dad in the world! I hope that you have a great day!! I love you all and am thankful for your support! You all are just the very best! -Hermana Hamblin

Email 4/28/14

Hello family!

  Man! Rough week! Oh my goodness! So it was Monday night and we were all eating with this nice family and it was time to give the dinner message and it was the other Hermanas turn to give the message and first of all they showed the new video "Because of Him" and I am literally obsessed with that video. It is so intense! #thechurchistrue! ( I am sorry but I have been obsessed with hashtags lately) and one of them were talking about how being away from families on holidays are a little tough but we wouldnt rather be anywhere else then right here in Woodland CA sharing this message that Because of Him we can have that comfort and peace and we can all be resurrected and see our loved ones again. Oh my goodness. We were all crying! I was trying so hard not to cry but even the family that we were eating with were all teary-eyed! So ever since then I would wake up and feel a little homesick but I was able to get up and go for a good walk and get that out of my mind but on Saturday we were doing service in the grave yard and there was a family there, and there was this little girl who was so mad at the world because she had to be there helping her family clean the grave yard. And her dad kept making her work hard even though she didn't want to and when ever the little girl wasn't looking the parents would just laugh at her because she was being so dramatic about it..and it just took me back to the good ol Saturdays in Luna where we had to go build fence and there seemed to be that same little girl and the same parents that were there in Luna :) It made me want to cry for the rest of the day! Weird I know! But it was hard to get that out of my head! I wanted to just call mom and just talk to her about life! But I guess thats what Mondays are for :) 

  Anyways my companion finally asked me what was going on because I had been so quiet all day and I just talked to her about it. I just needed a good listener and comforting words that kicked that homesickness out of my mind. I am so happy to be serving a mission. It is so fun! I know that the language and the homesickness will get to me every now and then but I know that I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I have learned so much from being on a mission. I am so happy that I decided to go. 

  I think it was Monday..we were out contacting in one of the apartment complexes and it was so funny because all of the sudden the ambulance comes racing into the apartment complex and I was anxious to see where it was going so we were trying to find it and we finally found it right outside of this house and all of these people were in front just being nosy trying to see what happened and me and Hermana Thompson come up and I SOOOO wanted to just walk in front of everyone and say, "Alright everyone just calm down! SOC (Servants of christ) coming through! Excuse us! We need to get to the problem there might be a blessing in need!" ...but we decided we probably shouldn't. It kinda looked a little too serious. But I want to do that! Kind of like on Miss. Congeniality when she is getting the coffee from everyone..anyways one day. :) 

  Family! I love you all. I am SOOOO excited about Jake and Brandis! Oh my goodness. Day made! Tell them congrats for me! They are so cute!! I will keep John and Kristi in my prayers. How exciting for them! You guys are the best for being #membermissionaries. Now that I am on a mission I look back and think about how good our ward is with the missionaries. Wards are a big deal to missionaries!! Our fun little branch takes such good care of us. Every member a missionary! :)

  Tesia!!! Oh my goodness! Tell me about your life! I miss you so much! PLEASE write me and update me on everything!! :) I love you!!!

Love, Hermana Hamblin