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

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