7/20/15. Last email.

Hello family and friends!

  At every beginning to a new transfer my wonderful mission mom would
greet us all by saying, "Today is the first day of the rest of your
mission!" She would encourage us to arise and be great, to stand tall,
to step into the light with confidence and to make this transfer the
best transfer ever. Today as I send my last email as a missionary and
try to write out my emotions and feelings I want to take the advice
from Sister Alba and be the best that I can be today, tomorrow and for
the rest of my life. I know that if Sister Alba could give me any kind
of advice today she would hug me tight and tell me, Hermana Hamblin,
today is the first day of the rest of your life.

 I am so grateful for my mission. I am grateful to my Uncle Scott who
strongly encouraged me to serve. For my sister Mandy and my brother
Rex and their examples of missionary service and their letters home
that were full of positive, spiritual uplifting experiences. I am
grateful for my wonderful mission parents, the Alba's. I love them so
much and am so grateful for the way that they pushed me and followed
promptings as they sat through transfer doctrine week praying for me
and my new areas and new companions. I am grateful for the interview
sessions that I had with them and for their patience, encouragement
and love. I love them and I will always have respect for them and look
up to them. I am so grateful for my mom and dad. For their faithful
prayers on my behalf. I have felt their love and faith in me as they
have written me week after week emails, letters and all. I am grateful
for my sweet trainer, Hermana Thompson. She is a saint. She paved the
path for me and for my new life as a missionary.

 My mission has been a stepping stone for me to better access the
Atonement. I have placed my life into the hands of my Heavenly Father
and he has shaped me, refined me and molded me. It has been hard and I
know that he isn't done with me yet, but now I am ready to take with
me the things that I have learned and apply that to life outside of
the CASRM. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father allows his imperfect
children to do this wonderful work. He lives! I have been blessed to
shout that message to the world for 18 full months of my life :)

3 Nephi 5:13

I love you all.Thank you for everything!

Hermana Hamblin




Sent from my iPad

7/13/15

Dear Family,

 I don't even know what to say. I want to say that my mission has been the best year and a half of my life but that doesn't even scratch the surface. Emotions can't be put into words. The experiences that I have had on my mission can't be put in a weekly email home. To be simple, I can't sleep at night. I toss and turn and finally give up and I lie awake, just marveling at the journey my mission has taken me on. From greenie day one to the final week of my mission. It's hard and sad to be at the end for different reasons. We all hear that missions are the hardest thing that we will do, so why did I go? Why did I decide to serve? Last night as I was saying my prayers right before bed my heart was bursting with the undying love that I have for my father in heaven. The relationship that I have with him now is precious. I have grown so close to Him as I have prayed and prayed and prayed. It is just as dad said, as I have grown close to these people in California I have been apart of their life, and them mine when really we have all grown closer to Heavenly Father. Learning and growing and progressing together.  I am so thankful for everything that I have learned and everything that I can take home with me. I am excited to go home and to hug my family. I am ready for the next chapter in my life. I am ready to go back to school and to learn and grow and to keep pressing forward with my life. I know that a lot is in store for me and I can't wait to get started!

 I love President Wright. Oh my goodness. I felt so comfortable with him in my interview. He is so warm and friendly and he loves us so much. We got along really well :) he gave me good advice and counsel. 

 As for my talk yesterday, oh my goodness. It was so cool. I had been praying all week for the spirit to guide me in my talk and I jotted down some points that I thought would be good to use. I thought about it all week and we were lucky enough to teach the restoration twice this week ( my topic was the restoration). I didn't have a written out talk, I didn't even know how much time I would be taking up, but I prayed for the spirit to guide me and it did. My companion did a great job as well. We were followed by a member, Bro. Cox who gave a great talk on family history. Uh. It was such a good meeting! I have come to love this Ward. It was rough at the beginning, but uh. They love us. And we love them. 

 I love you all. Pray that I will be able to stay strong and focused, especially this last week. I will continue praying for you all as well. Have a great week!   Love, Hermana Hamblin

7/06/15

7/06/15

Hi family!

 Happy 4th of July!! Best holiday of the year no matter where you are!
Thank you Mandy for the pictures. I loved them :) We had a great
Fourth of July! Earlier this week we had lunch with our bishop and he
said that Larkspur always has a good 4th of July parade and that we
need to go check it out, so my companion and I went. It was so fun!
They go all out for their parades! It was like a little farmers
market, people were out selling different foods, different jewelry,
different handbags...it was so cute! We had a blitz right afterwards
and I was able to work with Hermana Deneke. She is so cute! We had fun
together :) Then we had a BBQ with some Ward members. And yes we did
see some fireworks. San Rafael had the fair in town his week, so we
have been watching fireworks for the past four or five days! It's been
pretty fun :)
 We got to meet our new mission president! They are so cute! We had a
meet and greet on Wednesday and we got to meet their two kids that
came with them. It's been fun to see the parenting side of our mission
president, it makes the "mission dad" a little more real for us! But I
am very impressed with Max and Amy. I was talking with them during the
meet and greet and they were both happy to be here. Max is a senior in
high school! Can you imagine!? But he has such a good attitude about
all of this. I am so impressed with him. Amy is going to the JC in
Santa Rosa. She is cute! I didn't really get a chance to talk much to
her, but I am so glad that they are both here! It is so fun!
 We had MLC on Friday! It was more of just a discussion about what's
been going on in the mission and what the Wrights have in mind to
shape up this mission. When we broke for lunch, President and Sister
Wright came and sat by us and so I was able to talk a little one on
one with Sister Wright about exchanges and what not. It was a blessing
in disguise because I had some concerns and questions about some
things and she talked with me and gave me some really good counsel. Oh
my gosh..I am seriously just blessed. Heavenly Father answers our
prayers through other people! I was supposed to meet the Alba's and
the Wrights. I am so grateful for them both.
 Anyways this week is pretty normal. We are going to Stinson Beach
today! I have my last zone conference on Tuesday, my last exchange
this week, I have my departing interview with President Wright on
Friday, and Sister Eyden and I are talking in church this Sunday.
 We don't have any investigators, but we do have less actives that we
are working with and we are really working with a recent convert who
has been struggling a lot lately. We have seen some improvement with
her though. The spirit has been so strong in her lessons lately. It's
all starting to look up!
 I love you all! Good luck at girls camp mom! I love you!
Love, Hermana Hamblin

6/22/15

Hola Familia!

  Thanks for all of the support and prayers. I love you all so much. I
just ranted last week and I'm sorry about that. I was frustrated with
a couple of things and I have a lot of questions, but I am going to
forget about the negative and focus solely on my purpose as a
missionary and the good things about this area. For example: We
dropped all of our "investigators" this week but hey, at least we are
cleaning out our teaching pool and starting fresh. No members feed us
BUT we have a less active who wants to feed us like every night (our
only fan). Sis. Robinson and I were making jokes one day as we were
tracting: Do you wanna hear something funny? We got an investigator in
Marin County! Haha or wanna hear another thing that's pretty funny?
People are nice to you in Marin County! Haha anyways we try and make
it fun :) we have jokes for days!! Another thing that is cool about
this area is I will never ever ever get tired of the view! It is
gorgeous. We contact people by the bay, I see the GGB like almost
everyday. I really shouldn't complain. It is a beautiful area! We will
never be bored in his area, that's for sure! My companion and I both
work hard everyday. I am so grateful for a hard working companion. We
both work so hard to get our 20.3.1 everyday.
  We went on exchanges this last week and I was back in my old area in
Novato and I got to speak Spanish! It was so fun to use it and to
actually hear it again. I was surprised and blessed to realize how
much I actually remembered! I love Novato!
  Last night the STLs had a conference call with Sis. Alba and she did
a little question and answering session with us. It was so cool to
hear her thoughts and her counsel. I love the Alba's so so much. They
are so loving, but very strict and expect nothing but the high
expectations for us as missionaries. I am so grateful that they love
us enough to cut us down so that we can grow. They truly have made
this mission the best mission in the world. She closed with her
testimony of Jesus Christ and had us all in tears. This week is their
last full week in the field. I am excited because on Wednesday we are
having an all mission conference with them and there are going to be a
lot of people there! I might be able to see some of my old companions!
It will probably be the last time that we see them in the field :/ but
I am so g ate fulminate they were my mission parents.
  Ok so I got my flight info. It is kind of annoying because I go from
Oakland to Phoenix, then from Phoenix to Albuquerque. So PLEASE be at
the Albuquerque International Sunport airport on July 21st at around
2:30 pm. My flight gets in at 2:40ish. You probably know all of this,
but I just want to double check.
  Other than that I think that's it. I hope you all are enjoying
summer. Sounds like it's been a busy summer! I am so jealous you got
to see grandpa Bill and grandma Melinda! Ryan is so big! They all look
so good :) thanks for the pictures. Enjoy this week! And by the
way...did anyone do the BOM Challenge?? Go and do it! Not for me, but
for you!
Love, Hermana Hamblin


Oh my goodness! I forgot to tell you my highlight of the week! So
yesterday being Father's Day, I got a Father's Day card in the mail
from my son Hermana Hancock! And then yesterday morning Sis. Robinson
made me a Father's Day breakfast. It was the cutest thing ever. I'll
have to show you a picture of the card that she made me later, it had
a tie on it with a skirt at the bottom (missionaries are SO weird) but
it was the cutest thing ever. Best Father's Day ever! :)
Also thank you so much for the package! Sis. Robinson and I treated
ourselves to Subway the other night in honor of you all :) we were
very grateful. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

June 15, 2015

Hello Family!

  Oh my goodness. This has been a crazy week. So I get to my new area
only to find out that it is an English area. I am serving in an
English ward. I kind of knew that it was an English area once I heard
transfer doctrine but people just said that President Alba wants it to
be a zebra area, but that makes no sense because any time I get to
speak in Spanish that's called poaching in another area so I have to
hand them off as referrals right away. They have Spanish missionaries
here in San Rafael, so it is all just so confusing to me. I don't get
it.
 Yesterday at church I saw all of the people who go to the Spanish
branch and they kept asking me if I came back to serve in Novato, but
I had to tell them I am now in the English ward, so it's been a little
rough :( and my Spanish is so bad now. Uh. Oh well. We had interviews
with President Alba and I asked him if I still need to do language
study, because as of right now I don't even want to bother with the
language, I would just rather be outside working instead of studying
for the language that I don't use. He said that I need to keep up with
it because even though I haven't used it for the last half of my
mission I need to learn how to speak Spanish and that I was called as
a Spanish missionary not just for my mission.
 This area is crazy. We have zero progressing investigators, more than
half the ward is less active and we have to work with a new convert
(whose baptism I went to six months ago with Hermana Hancock) who was
baptized less active :( Yesterday one of the members said, "Welcome to
the hardest area in your mission." I was like haha...thanks? I am
actually so so so grateful that President Alba sent me to an area that
needs a lot of work done. I would rather come into an area that needs
all of the energy that we have plus more, than to walk into an area
with 5 baptisms coming up. It keeps us focused and it gives us a job
to do. Plus it is in the hard areas that we learn the most. This area
is pretty rough though. Last transfer they never had a member present.
And yesterday we had no investigators at church! Zero! And the only
two investigators that we do have have been investigators for over a
year. It's ridiculous.
 It is so funny to see the difference between my Spanish mission and
my English mission. In the beginning of my mission I was in trailer
parks eating rice and beans every night. Now I am in the richest
county in the country (they remind me every day) going into homes that
are bigger than I have ever seen. It is so sad though because it just
confirms to me that money doesn't buy you happiness. You can't buy
happiness. These people just reject us at every opportunity they can
get. We are lucky if we get "We are servants of Jesus Christ" out, and
that's only the first one of the 5 Key Phrases! Haha oh my goodness.
It's interesting to say the least. So pray for us. And please feed the
missionaries and just love them and support them. I know it's a lot
different in AZ, but all the love they can get is much appreciated :)
 It will be fun. I will have A LOT of stories to tell that's for sure
:) anyways I love you all! Have a great week!
Love, Hermana (or sister. It's whatever) Hamblin

Sent from my iPad

June 8,2015

Hello family!

Wow! This week has been our most semi normal week of this whole transfer! Haha ok so I on Tuesday we get a text from the APs asking if we have time to do a language study with two guys from SLC so we told them that we had time. The guys were super nice, but oh my goodness. I have learned how to just embrace the awkward. They literally sat in front of us and watched us study and they had their lap tops and were taking notes on everything that we did..it was so weird! They got into Willits a little bit early and so they asked if they could watch us do 12 week as well. It was crazy! They were actually in our mission for a reason though..not just to watch us study :) They came because they are "testing" out a new pamphlet. It is going to be a follow up pamphlet for our less actives, investigators and recent converts. They had a little meeting with my ZLs, DL and me and my comp to hear our feedback about the new pamphlet like what they could improve on? What we liked about the pamphlets, etc. I am horrible with feedback! I just kinda sat there and listened to the conversation. It was really cool though to be a part of that meeting! I think they said that those new pamphlets are coming out in like December maybe? Super cool though!

 Okay....we totally got harassed by this one lady this week. We were out tracting and this kid about 13 yrs old pokes his head out from the door neighboring from where we are at and I happened to see him so I said hi to him. We asked if we could give him a card, he was super cute! Then we hear this lady's voice coming from behind the door and she was like, "whose talking to my boy that is under the age of 18 without my permission?" the little boy told her that we were Jehovah Witnesses and I was like "No we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" the mom started yelling stuff like "We aren't interested! Get out of here!" but then her husband came to the door and was like "I love Jesus, what do you have to say?" Oh my goodness. It was crazy. Her husband got all mad when he heard that we actually went to church and he was like " Ms. Do you want to know why I dont like your church!?" I was like "No I dont" and then we left. Well once the lady heard we were leaving she came and stood on her porch and was screaming at us and telling us to leave her town and that we were strangers to her town. This continued for like ten minutes. We kept going door to door and everytime a person wasnt home she would laugh at us. Well the worst part was we had to turn around and go back to our car, which was on the other side of her apartment. So she follows us for a good five minutes. I was a little scared! We were in a sketchy place of town too, so everyone else we were around were on something (if you know what I mean). But we made it out alive! It was crazy! Some people!

  Friday we finally received transfer doctrine! I am leaving Willits!!!! :( I am so sad, but I was expecting it. I am going to San Rafael!! I am so excited! The golden gate bridge is in my area! The only thing is that I am in another zebra. So..we will see how that goes. I am so excited! I get to do exchanges in Novato! I get to be in my old area again!! I am going from Willits to San Rafael...HUGE difference! Haha but it will be good! So that is weird mom that you will be in Oakland. I will be like 30 minutes away! So weird. We will be neighbors for a couple of days :) 

  Anyways sounds like a lot is going on for you guys! That will be fun to have the Sorensons over for two weeks...they are family anyways :) but I am really sad about their house :( I dont want them to move!! They will still be in Eagar, right?

  Ok you all have a great week! I love you! Thanks for your love and support!

Love, Hermana Hamblin

Pictures:

April&Pepper Love them!!

David Bureson!! Our new Golden investigator!

Rob Copeland! Another great investigator!

Mama PJ --she is crazy but I love her :)

June 1, 2015

June 1, 2015

Hi mom!

 This week was crazy busy! We had PDay, District meeting, baptism interviews, exchanges, MLC, baptism(!), talk in sacrament meeting/confirmations for April&Pepper :) I am exhausted!! But you know me, I love being busy :) So this was a great week!

 I felt bad for April&Pepper because we had to kind of cram L5 in on Monday last week and then on Tuesday we went over the baptism questions and Wednesday they had their interviews. They are so funny! I love them so much! We also picked up another investigator..I can't remember if I told you about him, but he is so prepared to receive the gospel. He has attended sacrament meeting every Sunday since we have picked him up as an investigator. He is actually in the ward choir now. He is great! He has a date for June 27th. We are so excited for him! 

 The baptism was really good! Amanda (our recent convert) gave the talk on baptism and oh my goodness. She did SO good! I almost cried! We love her. April and Pepper are so funny! They wore their swim suits underneath the baptism suit! Haha I was waiting to see if bishop would say anything about it but he said that it really doesn't matter what they wear as long as they are baptized by priesthood authority and immersed completely in the water. I love Willits :)

  MLC was so good! It was the Alba's last one with us. Sister Alba had each zone prepare a two minute skit to present what Pres. Alba has taught us about leadership. So the Zl's and I decided to sing "Love One Another" because at every zone conference or MLC we all sing "Love One Another" to those who have prepared our lunch. So I had everyone stand up except for the Alba's and we sang that song. Both of them were crying. I was almost crying! It is hard seeing them getting ready to leave :(  Both of their testimonies were so solid. I wish that I could tell you all that they said, but there isnt enough space here! :) President closed the meeting with a prayer and he had us all kneel. He prayed for us and prayed for our success. I have the best mission parents in the world! I love my mission so so much.

Oh! And PS Pres. Alba is requiring me to take the drivers test so that means that I will probably get to drive again next transfer!! Yay!

  This week we get transfer doctrine. I am begging President to let me stay. I still have work here to do and six months wasn't long enough for me to do it all. Pray that I will stay here for one more! That is all I am asking :)

 I love you all! Sounds like you had such a fun week seeing every one and Rad getting to go to Disneyland!? Jealous :) I love you all! Have fun 

and be safe!      Love, Hermana Hamblin

Pictures: 

1st: The Footes and I haha So random!

2nd: Exchanges :) I was with Sis. Naqia (the one right next to me)

3rd: April&Pepper! Love them!

May 24, 2015

Dear family,

  I am so sorry to hear about the shooting. That is so sad. I am happy to hear that everyone is ok. I will keep little Round Valley in my prayers. 

  This has easily been the best week of my mission! I guess Willits is the place to be :) So lets start with last Monday! Last Monday we were having dinner with mama PJ so we ordered a pizza from Papa Murphy's and we walked to Safeway to pick up some drinks. As we are walking into Safeway, I see Elder Wright (one our AP's), then I see his other two companions and then I see President Alba! In the little Safeway here in Willits! Haha I was like.."What!?" So I walked over to them and I asked them what they were doing in Willits and Elder Morley was like "What are you doing here!?" I told him I was in my proselyting area haha doing what I was supposed to be doing! Turns out that they were on their way to Eureka to do some exchanges up there. It was SO random! We never see other missionaries here in little Willits so that was awesome! And to see President! haha is was great!

   Well, so then on Thursday we had our temple trip. My companion and I walk into the chapel and as we are going to sit down I see President and Sister Alba and all three of the AP's sitting in the back row! Being that we are the only sisters in our zone, I got to sit right next to Sister Alba throughout the session. That was the best/spiritual experience. I am telling you, Heavenly Father answers our prayers. Being with Sister Alba we were able to talk a little bit and I told her how special this temple trip was for me because this was my very last temple trip as a missionary and I got to spend it with the Albas. She explained that she and President Alba don't just go to the temple all the time with the missionaries, they just happened to have time to go with the Ukiah Zone. She was also telling me that she and President Alba were sealed in the Oakland temple :) how cool is that! I love them. I was able to see Sister Alba's testimony of temple work shine as we were together in the session. She kept saying to me that she was so happy to be there with us :) When we were sitting in the celestial room President Alba shook every missionaries hand. When he got to me and Hermana Burton, he smiled and said, "It has been a pleasure seeing you twice in one week" and added, "separate occasions of course". They are awesome.

   But it doesn't stop there! As you know, yesterday was the craziest day of my mission thus far :) haha oh my goodness! I walk into the chapel and we are talking to our investigator and I just look up and guess who randomly walks into the chapel! President Foote! Haha I was like, "What!?!" He saw me and just started laughing :) He was like no way! Haha he had thought that I had already gone home from my mission and so that was a complete surprise to him! He said that they were in Ukiah for the night and Sister Foote said that she didn't want to go to the 11 church (in Ukiah) and that they should go check out the church in Willits and so they did! I sat by Sister Foote in Relief Society and all. It was SO funny! I guess they are on their way to Eureka as well :) That was so fun to see and HUG a person from home :) They are so great!

  Anyways this is going to be another great week for us! We have the baptism of April and Pepper this week :) Yay!! We are so excited! We found a new investigator last week and we set a date for him too! Willits is on fire! I love it here!

  I hope you all have a great week and travel safe! And BTW who did my challenge from last week!? It was to hand out a BOM. If you didn't do it, which I am assuming you didnt because no one replied to that then do it this week! Seriously!

  Love you all! Love, Hermana Hamblin

Even though I don't look the best, this is one of my favorite
pictures. Best day ever.

May 18, 2015

Hi mom!

  Wow! Sounds like May :) it is always so busy! And who knew that Rad could sing?? I had no idea that he was into that! Is there anyone that I know that is graduating this year? I can't believe the school year is over. Where has the time gone??

  We are pretty busy here! Everything is coming to a close. Elder&Sister Seely (Our mission grandparents :) ) are getting ready to end their mission in two weeks, President&Sister Alba are getting things ready for President&Sister Wright to come and then they will leave (they have about six weeks left on their mission). I am excited to meet President&Sister Wright though. We have been praying for them. They have a son who is still in high school that will be coming with them. I can't imagine leaving high school. I love how faithful members of the church are. When they are called, they leave everything behind and come to work. It is amazing.

  This last week has been a good one! We had exchanges and I was with Sister Peterson. She is great. She has great ideas for making missionary work fun. I always love going on exchanges with her :) We are also planning a Mini MTC for our ward! Out theme: Come Unto Me and I Will Make You Fishers of Men. I am so excited for it! We are going to have gold fish and Swedish fish involved. Hopefully this ward participates. We made mini flyers to hand out yesterday and we also made four big flyers to hang around in the church. It will be on June 6th! So we are pretty much booked for the rest of the transfer! It will be good :) This Thursday we also get to go to the temple! I am looking forward to that. I love the temple.

  Yesterday in Relief Society, Sis. McFadden gave the lesson and it was on the power of the Book of Mormon. She said that we need to read and reread the Book of Mormon so that we can be committed, centered and consumed in Him. She said, "Yesterdays meal is not going to fill you for today and tomorrow. We need to be on going, feed yourself everyday everyday everyday." She had us go up and role play giving a Book of Mormon to a friend and we talked about ideas that are simple and non threatening and not scary. These ideas included writing your testimony in the cover page of the book of mormon, when a friend asks you how your weekend went and what you did, talk about church! Use a funny example that someone shared in a talk, or talk about the enlightenment your received. Share a pass a long card with a neighbor. The list goes on and on and guess what! It continues to go on and on. Its all about the ACTION part. Once you do it, it will become easier and easier. This is what the prophet and his apostles are asking us to do as members. Be a part of the missionary work. Share a Book of Mormon with a friend and get over your selfish fear of talking about your religion. Be the light. Live your religion and in this you will find great joy. When you bring one soul into the kingdom of God how great shall be your joy, right? I invite you all to hand out a Book of Mormon THIS WEEK and tell me about it next Monday. I promise that if you have a prayer in your heart to find one who is looking for truth but does not know where to find it, Heavenly Father will put someone in your path. 

  I love you all! Happy summer&enjoy the week!       Love, Hermana Hamblin    

May 11, 2015

Familia!

 I just love you all! It was so fun to skype and talk/see you all. Mandy and Rex, thanks for joining :) I wasn't expecting that so it was really cool to hear from you both :) Rad, I didn't get to talk to you a whole lot, but it was good to hear your DEEP voice. Oh my goodness. You are just growing up still!! Riann, so excited to live with you girl :) Just like old times, right!? It is going to be fun haha. And mom and dad!! You two are precious!! Thank you for everything!! (BTW--just a little side note haha, we were in a lesson once with Charlene and Garland and I told them that they are precious and Charlene said she didn't like that word, so I called them cute and she said that didn't fit her age, so now I am only allowed to say that they are awesome haha..so if the word cute or precious offends you, I am sorry :) --for dad I will just stick with the word tiny ) 

 Oh man! So yes. I love the mission. I am so sorry, I really did have a lot of good stories and a lot of things to say but then it actually happened and my mind went blank. I just get so excited to see and talk to you that that one hour is enough to look at you all and just smile :) I am grateful for each one of you. You each have helped refine me and my testimony through your individual experiences and the people you are now. I am so grateful for the love and support you give me. I love you so much and I am sorry that I was an emotional wreck towards the end, it is just amazing at how much the Atonement has changed who I am. I am so grateful to be on a mission, I will never be able to repay Heavenly Father for this experience that I am having. It is a blessing.

 Have a wonderful week! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIANN!! Make it the best one yet! Love you girl :)

    Love, Hermana Hamblin

Pictures!!

1: I have told you about the place that is like 45 min. North of Willits called Round Valley, right!?

2:Beach Day with Amanda :) 

 

3: It is beautiful here!!!

4:Overboard!!! Except in the movie the bridge is green :)

5: The Albas. Love them! Our last zone conference with them :(

6: Arizona picture! the third one from the left is the one from St. Johns! Small world :)

May 4, 2015

Dear Family!

 Yay for Sunday! Can we skype at 6:30ish? I am excited to see you too :)

About Ron..he is on my prayer list already. Reading that makes me so happy just to see and hear what You all do about those same situations that I am in daily! it is so fun for me to hear that you are all in on Rons little quest in finding the Gospel. 

 Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting, Sis. McFadden got up and was talking about how this is an all aged church. The Lord has prepared organizations for every walk of life. Once we give our ALL to him, that is when we are giving Him a gift. He has already given us our clothes, money, house, family, cars..everything. Give Him your all. Consume our will with God's and THEN we will have complete satisfaction. Get on the boat. The time is now. The work HAS BEEN hastened. Get on and stay on and thank Him EVERYDAY that we are members of this gospel. It isn't easy but it sure is worth it and we need to be grateful to our father in heaven. Mom, she is a power house! Seriously. I have learned SO much from her! She is fearless in sharing the Gospel. I am so grateful for their family and just this ward. I feel at home here. I love it.

 Anyways this last week was so stressful! We had transfers and meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday we had MLC and so we were out of our area for two whole days! We rolled back into town Wednesday night and the only time we had left to do is to go shopping and to meet Bishop. But things are starting to be normal again (missionary wise) and we are so excited to start this week! My new comp is Hermana Burton and she has been out for about six weeks! So I am follow up training again! It is so fun. My new little greenies teach me far more than I will ever teach them. I am so grateful that I get to work with her. We are going to get work done here.

 Other than that I think thats it! I love you all and hope you have the best week ever!  Love, Hermana Hamblin

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

4/27/15

Dear Family!

  Oh my goodness what a day it has been! We are already running super late because guess who woke up to a flat tire today!? But we were glad it was today instead of tomorrow because we drive to Santa Rosa tomorrow! And everything all worked out just fine. But we are supposed to go to the beach with Kevin and Amanda today so this will be really quick!

 So yesterday in Relief Society we were discussing Elder Hollands talk, "Aren't We All Beggars?" and Sis. Pollock asked us all if we ever had a time where we were on our knees asking forgiveness from the Lord. The discussion kind of turned to how we as women feel like we are inadequate for the job, and how bad this world is becoming. It then clicked. All of it! It made sense to me. I FINALLY found out the real reason why I came on a mission! 15 months later! I was answering the question by telling the relief society that before my mission (and even sometimes now) I would always complain about how horrible this world is. Good is bad and bad is good, right!? Like all over the earth. People are accepting sin and judging others when they do good. I didn't really have a good reason for coming on a mission, it just kind of happened. I had good examples like Mandy and Rex and all of my cousins, but I really didn't know why. 

 So as I am thinking about this question that Sis Pollock asked and how we all feel inadequate I automatically thought of the every day life of a missionary. We sometimes slip up and we dont talk to every person that we see. Sometimes we are selfish and we dont follow through on the promptings that we have. Sometimes we don't know all of the answers to our investigators questions, sometimes we aren't being exactly obedient..you know and the list goes on and on and on. People tell us all of the time that we are inadequate for the job and that we are only 19 and 23 yrs old, we don't know what we are talking about. We are not perfect. Haha! But we all have weaknesses. Weakness does not equal sin. God gives us weaknesses to become more like him, to strengthen ourselves and to build our confidence. We are here to grow and to progress and to make mistakes but to learn from them as well. But it is important to realize when we do wrong and to repent and beg for forgiveness. So everyday we are on our knees right?

 I came on a mission not to be dragged down by every person that I meet telling me that I cant do the job, or that I am too young to understand. I came on a mission to make a difference in this world. I am literally doing the best that I can to show this world that there is good. I kept thinking of Michael Jacksons song "Man in the Mirror" (I repented dont worry :) ) but it is true. Instead of talking about how much I hate this world I will DO what I can to stand up for what I believe is true. I LOVED Elder Hales talk about Religious Freedom. His was my favorite. If we ALL do OUR OWN part we can make a difference. God is good and in Him we will find joy peace and happiness.

 Hope that all made sense! It all just clicked yesterday haha. Anyways I love you all! have a great week!!      Love, Hermana Hamblin

PS I am six month-ing it here in Willits!

4/20/15

Hello Familia!!

 Yes mom, transfer doctrine is this Friday! This will be a big call for us! We have been together for two transfers now and we have worked and worked this area. We both love this area so much but we haven't found time to fulfill our purpose as Spanish missionaries here. We have a less active list to work with that has about 523 names on it. It is nuts! We have been asked to really focus with the LA list from the ward because by doing so we will be able to help the families, help their friends' families and so on and so forth, but our ward is an English ward..so it has been tough. We do have one Spanish investigator and we are teaching an English class to this sweet Mexican lady :) She is SO cute! But other than that we only have four other investigators who speak English. So that is our only problem. We talked about this all last night with our ZL and DL's and we wrote President asking if we could either have the help of an English set of missionaries, or white washing our area completely to an English area that way they can focus on the ward and the Less Active list. Crazy. So we can't decide if we are happy or sad. This will be the longest week of my life though thats for sure!

 Other than that going on, nothing else really happened. We had exchanges this last week and I exchanged with a girl who went to college with me at EAC. She is so funny! We came out together so it was really funny when people asked us how long we have been out and where we are from :) And what college did we go to before the mission :) Haha! We had the same answers for everything! We also got to talking to one of the members the other day about the second coming..okay..she had me freaked out! I am happy and ready for it, but I am not happy and ready for it at the same time. My companion on the on other hand is ready for it and can't wait. She reminds me of you mom! I just feel like I need to know more and I need to prepare more for it. I think that is a BIG reason why I am here on a mission. To really understand the basics and to gain a love and a deep testimony of the scriptures and of prayer. I can't tell you how much I love the BOM. Oh my gosh. Seriously. I am reading it again and it is finally clicking. It makes sense and I am taking notes like crazy. I am amazed that this book can be related to me, here now at this very point in time, right!? I just love it so much and I am just hungry for more. I thank Heavenly Father every day for giving me a chance to serve a mission. He is very patient with me. Sis. McFadden once told me that I should be on my knees every day, every day, every day thanking the Lord for letting me be apart of His church, and asking for a strong testimony so that I will never go astray. How important it is to retain your personal testimony every day, every day, every day.  

 I hope Mandy made it back to school safely! And I am happy to hear that dad is recovering! From the words of Mandy, "We are so blessed"! :) Thank you for your love and support. I love you all so so much!!       Love, hermana Hamblin

First Pic: Me and Sister Peterson :) She is from AZ and went to EAC with me.

2nd Pic: H. Gardner and I 

3rd Pic: Beautiful Willits

  

4/13/15

Hello Familia!

 Yay for Raddon getting his patriarchal blessing. I wish I could have been there for that. He is just growing up way too fast!! Oh man. I wish I could watch the video but...probably can't :( one day though! I am so excited for Ron! Good for him! Finally :) What were some of his questions that he had about the BOM? Are you guys going to his lessons? Do you like the sisters serving in the ward? We have this sweet older couple here that take such good care of us. We call them for everything! If we don't know what to do on PDays we ask them, if we have a problem in the apartment we ask them, if we need a good eye doctor in town we ask them..pretty much they are our go to guys. They are so sweet and so special to us. 

 Please pray for our Zone Leader Elder Chia. Yesterday we got a text from Sis. Alba saying that Elder Chia was sent to the ER and that it was pretty serious, so we texted our ZLs and asked what was up. He is bleeding in the brain and he was lifeflighted out to the Stockton hospital (out of the mission). The Albas were with him all night last night and today our zone is having a fast for him. This poor Elder! he has been in the two most serious car accidents that this mission has had and now this! He was also my first DL btw. (That has nothing to do with it just a random fact). Anyways keep him in your prayers.

 We had interviews last week, everything is going good. Willits keeps bringing us miracles daily. Ok well Heavenly Father keeps bringing the miracles daily I should say. This area is going strong!  We had Zone Meeting last week and that was pretty fun, our zone is so crazy. On Thursday we went and taught this LA family. Their situation breaks my heart. The living situation is awful and the mom is on drugs but pretends to be there for her kids. Her kids want the gospel and they want to come to church but every time we offer someone to go and pick them up their mom gets jealous and won't let them come. It is so sad. But anyways last time we were there we challenged the kids to be the missionaries and that they would teach us. We show up and Caroline is like Ok I have a lesson for you two! She had scriptures and questions all ready..we were impressed. She is 10! Anyways they are so sweet. We just love them!

 Have a great week and remember to keep shining bright! Love you all.  Hermana Hamblin

The first pic is of me and the kids, we gave them our name tags since they were the missionaries :)

The second one is the Ukiah Zone! 

4/06/15

Hi mom!

 I really needed your email this week. Its amazing how when PDay rolls around an email from mom is much needed!

 I am so happy that you enjoyed conference. I always think of you during conference :) Uh! It was SO good!! I was upset when they opposed the prophet and the twelve. Isn't it crazy that that was the theme of conference last conference, how we need to sustain our prophet and our leaders. It was a testimony builder to me though. When I heard that I was so upset, then I realized how much of a testimony that I do have for our living prophet who guides us and directs us today. 

 Oh my goodness. Well I LOVED that this conference was all about families :) My favorite subject! I am so grateful that you and dad made it a priority to memorize The Family: A Proclamation to the World. My companion was like, I want to memorize that! She didn't believe me when I told her that not only me, but our WHOLE family has that memorized :). Thank you for understanding the importance of how to have a firm foundation in our home. I loved Sis. Burtons talk on how we need to honor our dads, brothers, uncles and nephews and grandpas. I loved Wilford W. Andersons talk about music and dancing :) and Kevin W. Pearsons (Holland #2) yep I totally agree that he is going to be an apostle. But my favorite talk was by Elder Hales. How important it is to stand up for our religious beliefs. Often times while we are tracting we get so many people saying "No soliciting!!" I always reply "oh ok, thanks for the heads up. We are servants of the Lord Jesus Christ" and I will go right into contacting. It drives me nuts when people tell me that we are solicitors. How sad is that false idea! I am in no way trying to "sell" you Jesus! His talk really hit home for me and the whole time he was up there I was just like, "yep! Amen! Love that! Seriously though!"  :) Conference is so great. I am a little sad that it is over, but six months seems to go by quickly.

 I hope that you had fun cleaning the temple! I remember when I got to clean the temple with you :) That was so fun! Anyways I love you so much. Thank you for everything mom! And thank you so much for the fun easter package!

 I know that He Lives! What a glorious message that is to shout it to a troubled and lost world. He Lives and it is such a blessing to not only say that but to know it for myself. I am grateful for the Atonement and the enabling power that the Atonement brings to my life. I am grateful for change, and I am learning to embrace change to become the missionary and the person that God wants me to be. I love you and I love this Gospel. :) Have a wonderful week!!    Love, hermana Hamblin

Pictures: Ok I have sent this picture to everybody! But this is the cutest little girl who loves sister missionaries :) she even has a cute little name tag :

We went to the beach!!

Easter dinner with the sweetest member! She gave us chocolate bunnies and little gifts. 

3/30/15

Hello Family!

  Mandy! Thank you again for the pictures! I am so happy to hear that Dad is doing well and that his surgery is done and over with! Even though it is just surgery, I hate seeing him in a hospital bed :/ I hope you all enjoyed Spring Break! 

 Well Saturday was a special day here in Willits :) Amanda got baptized and guess who baptized her? her husband, Kevin who is our recent convert! He was baptized last month. That was very special for not only Amanda and the ward, but for me personally. It bore witness to me that the church is true and this gospel truly does bless families. Heidi Root, one of our investigators, was able to make it to both baptisms and she said that her favorite part was seeing Kevin baptize Amanda. After he baptized her they both stood there in the font and they embraced each other. The spirit was SO strong! And again, this ward is amazing! We had about 40 people attend the baptism. 

  This ward is on fire! Sister Konradi and Bishop are the reasons why Kevin and Amanda are baptized. Sister Konradi had the impression to hand out a BOM to her associate at work (Kevin) and she bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the book. Bishop answered all of Kevins questions and was/is never afraid to discuss gospel topics. I know that as we pray for missionary opportunities and FOLLOW the promptings of the spirit, we will always be guided and led to those who "simply are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it."  

  This last week we found two more investigators because of a member here in our ward. Right after sacrament meeting, one of the members came up and told us that she has two friends from work who she has been talking to about religion and her friends wanted to meet with the missionaries. Well guess what! We had a lesson with them (its a couple) and during the lesson, April mentioned that she really wanted to be baptized, but she didn't know what she needed to do to be baptized and then Jules (our member) opened her mouth one day at work and started talking about her beliefs. We invited her, April, to be baptized on April 18th and she said yes!

  People every where are ready to hear about the truths of the gospel and guess what, they don't want to hear it from us (missionaries) they want to hear it from their friends. A good way to help share the gospel is by giving out the #BecauseHElives cards that the missionaries are handing out now to members. We have been asked to help and motivate members to help us in this work and they are making your job easy by simply handing out a card to your friends and inviting them to watch the new video: Because He Lives. Isn't it such a cool video!? The church is SO cool! (I always think of mom when I say that :) ). Last night we were doing our power hour with the members and we gave them each two cards and invited them to pray for which of their friends needs these cards and then to follow the promptings and to give them to their friends. Sis. Anderson looked at me and was like, "Can I have like four cards? I already know who I need to give these cards to!" She said there was a girl who works in Safeway who she talks to every time she is there that she feels who needs to see the new video. Isn't that cool!? :)

  Anyways I love this gospel! I am SO grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve a mission, I have learned so much. I love you all. Thanks for the love and support. Have a great week!

The first two pictures: 

Happy St Patrick's Day! My comp made us a green dinner. Yummy!

Second two:

Exchanges with Sister Kwan!! Kevin and Amanda :)

Last two:

Baptism!!

   

03/23/15

Hello Family!

  We have had a busy week! We had fun doing service and we have had fun getting Amanda all ready for her baptism! I am so grateful for this wonderful ward here in Willits, it feels like home. They treat and welcome Amanda in and just love her and everyone else that we bring in with us to church. It will be a sad day when I leave Willits. 

  Love you all and hope you have a great week!!   Love, Hermana Hamblin

Email 02/09/15

Hello Family!

  Transfer week is always hectic! We switched out companions, came back to Willits and we started a new transfer! It is going to be a busy transfer! Our goal as a mission, "Mission Possible", is to talk to 20 people, teach 3 lessons and invite 1 person to be baptized every single day. We haven't missed a day yet! We are working hard and we come home exhausted (mornings come way to fast). Last Friday we had zone meeting and it was my first time teaching! It was fun! We played a game of hangman to start my section off and that seemed to get everyone to talk more. Our zone is quiet because we don't really know each other and we never see each other because we are so spread out!! I actually know most of them because of past areas which is good, but my new companion, Hermana Garnder is pretty new so she doesn't know anyone YET :)

  Last week was really exciting! We set a date with Kevin! He is getting baptized February 28 :) Yay! He is a dry mormon. Seriously. Amanda is planning on baptism but she isnt ready just yet like Kevin is and we are OK with that. She will get baptized though, I am for sure! They are just the cutest family! And the ward loves them! In this area when we bring investigators to church, our investigators don't even sit with us! They are right there with the ward members! Haha its great! We are busy working with the less actives and part member families right now. This ward would be huge if all of the members would just come to church! Its ridiculous. We are going to change that. We sang in ward conference a couple of Sundays ago and the Stake President asked us to sing in Stake Conference in two weeks. Let me tell you how thrilled I am about that. 

 This week is going to be a little hectic. We have zone conference, exchanges and the 20-3-1 to work for every day. I am tired just thinking about it all :) Anyways but everything is good. 

 I hope you all have a great week! Happy Valentines week!!   Love, Hermana Hamblin

Email

Hello Family!!

  Thanks for the pictures!! I am so glad you got to catch up with moms side of the family. They are so funny :) I am sad I missed out on that, but I am happy that everything went well and I hope that you all are doing a little bit better. I know that it is when everything is done and finished and you return back to reality is when it is hard, just know that there is a missionary in Willits California praying her little heart out for you mom. I love you so much!!

  We did get transfer doctrine! Sister Alba gave us a call Friday night as we were heading up to our lesson with Rob and she told us that Sister Carter is leaving Willits :/ and that I will be staying in Willits! However, they are bringing back an Hermana (yay!), so this area will be run as a Spanish/English area and we are in charge of it all! AND...she assigned me to be a sister training leader (STL)! I am so excited and ready for this call! I loved being STL in the CCM and so I am so excited to be one in the field! It is a lot of work though and we have to be "all in on the High Expectations". One thing that was talked a lot about when Elder Nielson was here, and is included in our "high expectations", was working with members. The Alba's reinforced that every day we have one lesson in a members home AND for every set lesson we are to have a member present. Well here in Willits 7:30 pm is super late for them :) (Mind you this is a ward of all old folks :) It is so great!) So yesterday during fast and testimony meeting I got up and told our wonderful ward about these two High Expectations, so hopefully we can work better with that and build up this ward!!

  Yesterday in Relief Society we watched a video from a "Women's Time Out" conference. They had Noelle P. (the Olympian skeleton runner). Oh my gosh! She is so great! She talked about how we will always go where we are looking at. For example, if we are too focused on where we dont want to go in life, or the person that we do not want to become, eventually that is who we will end up being or going. I love that because Satan is always working with us. he is ALWAYS telling us that we can't change and that we can't become athletes in our own way. If we choose to let Satan triumph our thoughts then we will never become. We would never want to progress because we wouldn't believe in ourselves. She said to look past him and look at the finish line, keep the finish line in view and as we do that we will be enduring to the end :)

 Last night we had dinner with Bishop and his family. Every time they have a missionary pass through Willits they show us this special video. Sister Carter hadn't seen it yet, so he made us watch it before she left. Oh my goodness. So this video starts out with this guy talking in a huge auditorium to an audience of empty chairs. This guy talks
​about how we are daughters of God and how we are precious and beautiful. It was sooooo good!! It was so sweet of Bishop to show us that. There is another one for guys and the same guy is telling them that they are better than the adversary and encourages them to be who they really are. In the one for girls he is soft and gentle and bold. In the one for guys he is all serious and he starts like yelling haha. Sis. McFadden pointed that out to us, just how he portrays it differently in the two videos. She asked Bishop if the way he was yelling and stuff made him feel better and he was like, "Heck ya! I get the chills everytime!" ...meanwhile the sisters are over here crying :) haha it was great! I just love their family!!!

 Anyways sorry about the pictures! I have taken a lot on my camera lately so it is harder to send those :) but thats not an excuse. I will work on getting you some! I love you all!! have a great week!!

    Love, Hermana Hamblin

  Ok..they are going to come in a lot of different emails! Sorry! This is the last time I will see Hermana Fernandez :( I just love her! She goes home tomorrow!!

I cant remember if I sent these ones from our Christmas party..but this is our old trio in Santa Rosa! And me and Hermana Fernandez again :) We look so sweaty and gross!! haha 

Ok so these are pictures of the baptism that happened the first Saturday I was here in Willits :) His name is David Wells. I love this kid! He is so great! He investigated the church all by himself and his family used to make fun of him for it, but their hearts are softening! His mom even came to the baptism :) The last one is me with one of the members..he boxes (just for good exercise now) But oh my goodness, I have a video of him boxing and it is so great! I will have to show you that later :) But we had to try it our too! :) 

Ok so the one with the cutest baby ever is one that is actually recent! Our investigators had a birthday party for little Marlowe at the church on Saturday night! It was really fun! This family is awesome! He is actually getting baptized in like two weeks!! We are so excited for them! The one picture with me and the older couple..this picture is for Riann! Riann! This is Charlene and Garland!! These two are my favorites!! Seriously. I LOVE teaching them! They are so funny!!!