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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