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