April 14, 2014 Only be strong and very courageous

April 14, 2014  Only be strong and very courageous!
Mi Familia! 
Dads a stake president! Dad, you are so cool!
Feliz Cumpleanos: Matt, Ali, & my cute little cousin Sofia!!

Let me start from the beginning!

Martes- So, we got a call on Lunes from this lady, and she just told
us, "come to my house tomorrow, here is where I live, come at 10 a.m.
I have been to your church, da da da da ..." So we go, and I am kinda
nervous because that NEVER happens. So, we go in and we knock and this
lady opens and let's us in like we have been teaching her for years
and after  5 minutes I finally asked, "lo sentimos, pero como se
llama?" And she was like, "Rosanely, pero las personas me llaman Nely,
siempre." And then Hermana Michael and I just died. So, rewind, a
little bit of back story with this woman and her family.  Rosanely is
a former investigator. She has probably 5 or 6 pages long for a
teaching record. She even got married in the church one year ago and
then a week before her baptism got offended and didn't get baptized. She
is quite the person to deal with let me tell you. So, now fast
forward. She said to us, I am Rosanely. Hermana Michael and I stood
frozen, there are stories and stories about this woman, and I have
also read her teaching record a lot of times, and well, I was scared
stiff! So then after two seconds of  horrified faces we got our act
together and well, now we are teaching Nely Diaz and her family. Here
we go!
Then we taught a lesson to Kelvin and Joshuel and Jamie. Jamie is a
new investigator we have. He is awesome! His family is living with the
Colons (Barbara and Aaron, who can't get baptized yet because they
aren't married because she is still married in Puerto Rico, who's sons
are Kelvin and Joshuel who are baptized...this is the Colon family)
Well, Jamie loves the Book of Mormon! It is SO cool to teach children
because they have incredible faith. They know who their Savior is, and
it really is one of the most humbling things I have ever experienced.

Miercoles- We had district meeting! I love district meetings so much!
Our district out here is kind of like a family because we all go
through the same things and we are just missionaries doing the same
hard work! I loved it! Well, This night was the first night of our
Book if Mormon class. It was awesome! We had three people show up! I
was so happy! We thought only one was going to show up! The elders
taught the class. I realized that this branch really does not know the
Book of Mormon. The class was simple, on where did the Book of Mormon
come from, and these people learned SO much. Our branch really doesn't
know hardly anything about the Book of Mormon. As the elders started
talking about where the Book of Mormon came from and where each book
came from I could start to see our members faces start to lighten. The
Book of Mormon is truly evidence of this restored Gospel. It really is
the way the spirit can convert and change the people who read it. It
is powerful. This is what I wrote from my journal about the Book of
Mormon class, "... it's interesting to see, how much you want people
to know what you know about the gospel.." I love it.

Jueves-
Well, I didn't write anything in my journal and I don't remember, but
it was a probably a great day!

Viernes- As you have all probably noticed my mission has been one of
not too much teaching, and that's okay, so what do we do?? We serve!
We serve a lot, so for this week we volunteered at the library for a
big Easter thing. We literally did like manual work, it was like a
work out. From moving pounds and pounds of books, to moving furniture,
to hiding Easter eggs, putting up posters, cleaning, dusting, and
everything in between. All of the librarians just love us, and
honestly if the only thing that comes out of it is that the Mormon
missionaries serve a lot, then I'll be happy with that:) we are going
back to the library this Friday! It's seriously so fun!

Sabado- Every Sabado we help clean la capilla. We do it as service,
and usually it's just us, the Sisters for the English Ward and then a
brother from the English ward, whose calling is church clean up guy.
Usually not too many people come on their assigned days, so we always
go. We love to serve!
We had another lesson with Kelvin and Joshuel on the Palabra de
sabiduría. We felt like they needed this lesson and so we taught it.
We made this really cute puzzle for an object lesson. We also learned
that Joshuel doesn't eat anything besides pan y queso, and chicken
nuggets, and that's literally it. They loved it and they both were
 "wow, it's a commandment to eat fruits and vegetables and to
run? Man, our bodies must be special to God!" It was so inspiring to
see their desire and faith to keep this law to a higher degree then
just no coffee or tea. I have learned so much about the Word of Wisdom
on my mission well. It's not just the don'ts, but it's the do's. Such
as, eating healthy, not over eating, and exercise. It's incredible,
God made our bodies and he knows best how we should take care of them!
So cool!
We also got transfer calls this day... Hermana Michael is leaving
Woodstock! She had been here her whole entire mission. I am so
grateful to my companion, she really has taught me so many things. I
love her! My new companion will be Hermana Wolf! She, like Hermana
Michael, came out THE SAME TIME AS ME, we were in the CCM together!
Sadly I didn't even know her because we were on different schedules.
So, we will see! Hope her Spanish is better than mine!

Domingo- well, we had a great time at church. I led the music (like
every time) and church was great. After every fast sunday the branch
ALWAYS brings a ton of food. So, we always eat really well after fast
Sundays, and during this time Hermana Michael had to say goodbye. It
seriously is the worst thing ever. Pobrecita. She is going down to a
ward in the suburbs in Chicago! An actual ward! Super cool!

Well, as you can see it's been a great week with a lot of new things
learned. I will be honest and say that I am so nervous for my new
companion, but I know that The Lord assigns the call and he must need
me to be humbled and to learn even more. I have learned why people say
that Woodstock is the hardest area in the mission. Honestly, every
area is hard. This week I was a little down because it hit me that
this area is particularly hard because this branch has a lot of
problems, and a lot of drama. Some people here don't have too much
motivation to change to say the least. So, as I was praying and
repenting for judging our branch members I realized that once again I
needed to pray for more charity and love. The next  morning the song
popped into my head, "Love the people let them know you care..." By
Dad Hammond. Haha:) once again I need to have more love and charity
because when we lose ourselves in the work, that's where we find
ourselves.

I was also reading in the scriptures on Sunday and I prayed to
open to a scripture that would help me. It is a scary thing taking
over an area, I have no idea what I am doing, and I still get lost.
So, relying on faith I opened my bible and started reading. I opened
to Joshua and my eyes went straight to this verse, "...as I was with
Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee...Only be thou strong and very courageous..." (Joshua 1:5-7)
This story is right when the prophet Moses dies and Joshua becomes the
next prophet. I would think that that would be very intimidating, but
God gives him a promise that he will be with him always. My prayer is
that I can be worthy enough so that He can be with me through these
next couple of weeks while I try to better this area with all my
heart, might, mind, and strength. After Joshua starting teaching the
people, they listened. Now, it is my turn to go courageously and work
in The Lords vineyard, and maybe the people will listen to me as they
did Joshua. But if not, I will still work with all my heart, might,
mind and strength in building this part of Gods kingdom.

Now follow up- I hope you are all still reading Preach my Gospel as a
family and praying for those missionary moments. I hope that we are
following our prophet and doing a little better than we have in the
past. I hope that we are reading our scriptures everyday, that is what
we challenge our members here. Finally, I hope that we will go forth
boldly, nobly and courageously so that we can touch lives and change
people.

I love you my family! I have to go! Until next week,
I love you all so much, thank you for your very many prayers, I feel
each one of them. All of me loves all of you all!

Love, Hermana Hammond