Hermana Brittany Haven Hammond: Nov. 12, 2013 11:08 a.m. Chicago South (Midway)1st mighty change of heart. 2nd work as hard as you can. 3 proceeds the miracle

Tues. Nov. 12, 2013 11:08 a.m.

First- the mighty change of heart Second- work as hard as you can Third- proceeds the miracle

My family.

Wow, thank you thank you for all of your support to me, I have felt all of the prayers, literally I have felt the prayers of all of you! I love you all! It has been ..... quite the week. Let me start off with Martes... because Lunes was P-day

Martes- Well Martes we had one lesson with a less active member, Hno Orties.. nice fellow, and we brought to our appointment Hna Velez, WHO IS AWESOME! She is like 65 ish, and she is super short and super stout, and she is the bomb, she has the best testimony, and always says stuff like "reading and praying in the book of Mormon (all in Spanish remember) .. es BONITA.. everything about the gospel is BONITA.. ah I love her. Then we went home, and before that had a lot of knocking we did.. oh yes we did!

Miercoles - We had district meeting- and that was really good, our district leader is Elder Johnson.. he is an AWESOME missionary. Then, our investigators Kevin and John texted us saying, "Hi guys, please stop coming, our family talked together and we do NOT want to convert, thanks"... so kinda a little crushed there, but its okay.. because for some reason I was still happy, .. then we knocked doors in the rain (freezing rain).. and no one wanted to have anything to do with us for the rest of the day.. but this is directly from my journal about Miercoles "all of our appointments fell through sadly, oh well, my goal was today to be happy, to love the people, and the weather is PERFECT, I CAN DO THIS."

Jueves- In my journal it says, "Ah, hoy fue un buen dia!" .. It was a good day!... we knocked doors, visited potential investigators that either didn't answer the door, or told us no, and then it was planning day, and planning takes around 3 hours... kinda the hardest thing ever, and then we had our first dinner appt! With Cynthia! Her daughter is crazy, and sooo cute Bella, during the whole lesson to keep quiet she put stickers ALL over my arms, ha ha, hilarious, and then she ripped them right off me, along with a few of my arm hairs.. and the food made both Hna Felt and I sick, but not too sick! Another blessing!

(today I got moms and Jared's cartas!).. made my day... I really needed those, thank you, they were so inspired, thank you!

Viernes- theme of the day "Look ahead & believe" (from the talk mom sent me) stand together & "Lift where we stand." Dieter F Uchtdorf. Hna felt and I knew it was going to be kind of hard, because EVERYONE we had.. potentials and all had turned us down... so we did all of our studies, did face book like everyday and then knocked doors.

Before we did, we said a prayer to endure, and a prayer to help find. Right after the prayer I decided to sing, so at every house we knocked we asked if we could sing them a song, in Spanish or English (whatever they were).. (usually latino or black)... and.. then we would sing going to and from the houses. That day for 4 straight hours, we were singing.. well knocking... I have never been so happy. Everyone turned us down, only 3 people even listened to us sing, but we sang anyway.. My poor companion, I like made her sing with me, we sang every possible hymn, every primary song, that I knew.. ha ha.

Then, we wanted to go to pizza at this place... for our dinner hour, and so we got in the car (the car is switched back and forth between us and another companionship).. and the car had died.. because.. well we don't really know, so our awesome Zone leaders helped us, and we ate canned soup.

Then... sang (knocked more houses) until nine. This is what it says in my journal, "I have never been so tired in my life, I feel like I am going to die! Ja ja ja, there is tired, and then there is MISSION TIRED." and then I said, "well its all good, we work hard, and the Lord will bless us, these are just the hard times before the rainbow"... quite honestly I was happy all day... and the only, literally only reason why, is because of prayer!

Sabado- more going to potentials homes, a little bit less but still a lot of knocking, here's a line from my journal about Sabado "Its hard, we have NO new investigators, am I a successful missionary, when literally ALL of our numbers everyday are Zero?, I guess if I come home with one convert, that being myself I will have been successful, esta bien"

Miracle Domingo- We did our studies and went to church.. and PS I LOVE CHURCH.. I love the screaming kids, and the SING FROM YOUR HEART, (even though its the worst thing you ever heard) culture here. The Latinos really are all authentic, NONE of them in our ward speak English... except the kids.. so... I absolutely love it, I don't think I could go back to an English ward after this.. for real.

Well, on our way home we were going to stop by a man named Alex and his family, and he actually let us in! Miracle! and not only that, we taught the WHOLE first lesson! And, he was soo interested! And... we set up another appt! WHAT! The CHURCH IS TRUE! ... so the lesson went super well!

We started walking home because it was around 8, and as we were walking we saw this couple taking in groceries and so of course we asked them if they needed help and (they are Latino.. like everyone here) and we told them who we were and then they were, "Oh please come right inside."

This couple listened intently to our whole first message, and the mom started crying saying, We have been looking for the truth, our son is struggling right now with some things at school and with God, and we cant even tell him we know there is a God, well, I asked them that (yes me in Spanish).. that if they knew the Book of Mormon was the word of God, and if these things are true would they be baptized?, WITHOUT hesitation they said... I am not kidding, they were the most genuine people I HAVE EVER MET!.. The whole time I was teaching them I was thinking.... "they don't know the truth because they know not where to find it.".. and so here is where the miracle comes in! EVEN if they don't join the church, we PLANTED a seed in these peoples hearts and we have another appt set up with them AND hopefully they are coming to church.. holy cow, THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Well, yes my family, I have felt your prayers, this place is a very sad place, BUT you can make ANY place happy by singing! I love to teach people! Spanish is hard yes! BUT... I love it.. and I love the people here ALL of them! (yes a mighty change of heart)... I may not love, the place.. ha ha at all, and even if I am just a seed planter, hey, I AM HAPPY! (because of all of your prayers!) YES, this church is true! YES, Chicago is FREEZING, but hey, I am here because I have a testimony, and I have a smile, and I want to spread THOSE TWO THINGS WITH EVERYONE!

I love you all! Time is out! AH.. oh and PS cool news, our mission was chosen as an IPAD mission! Sooo EVERY MISSIONARY gets their OWN Ipad... yes and when we come home we get to keep them! Pretty legit right!... we get them on Nov. 21.... pretty sweet! The church is true!

Hna Hammond

Before Going out in the Snow Storm