Sept. 29, 2014 Am I tired? yep. and oh so happy? yep. :)

Sept. 29, 2014  Am I tired? yep. and oh so happy? yep. :)

Feliz Cumpleanos: Megan, David H., Sloan, Melinda, Sarah, Lezlee!!!

We have had the craziest greatest week ever!

So, in our ward 10 people have to go to the hospital because of
illness so...this week was doing some service!
We also are having a lot of wonderful lessons with so many great
people! I seriously am just so grateful for our members. They come out
with us, they call our investigators and our less-actives, we have an
incredible ward. I truly finally feel the spirit of members and
missionaries coming together to do the work of The Lord. It's amazing!
So, for this email I am just going to go over people because I want to
switch it up.

Gladys- She is awesome! She is kind of a fireball, she is a friend of
Hermana Milagros and is definitely a red personality. We taught her
the first lesson, and she has been taught by missionaries, but now we
feel really strong that she is prepared for the gospel. She feels
really alone in Her life and just tells us she wants to be happy. Man,
what greater thing can you give a person than eternal life?

We got a referral FAMILY! La Familia Sandoval. They are so so cute,
there are 6 kids and they are adorable. My dream and goal on my
mission is to find, teach, baptize, and see a familia go through the
temple. I just feel so blessed because this family just fell into our
hands. They are really interested and we are so excited to teach them!
They are so cute!

Martinez- they are a less-active family and they are awesome. We
visited them. Man, they are just so easy to love. God has really been
preparing them too because the Hermano told us that he was ready to
come back to church. He was really serious too. It was awesome. He
told us their conversion story and they are just an awesome family. I
seriously love working with less-actives, because they usually already
have a testimony, you just have to remind them of it. I love it! They
told us they were COMING to church this Sunday.-- they didn't but
that's okay! For la proximal Semana!

Sandra- She is such a special woman. She has a husband that's a
non-member, but she was born into the church and then fell away real
quick, and then 40 years later she remembered her childhood church and
came back, and she is the most amazing person ever! She was in
the hospital this week but we visited her and really it was amazing,
She has been through such a hard life, an incredible hard life and has
really bad depression, but she always just chooses to be happy and do
her best, she is an amazing person! I just love her!

We are working with another less-active family. Giovanni, Ailene, and
Ivonne. The dad isn't a member, but they are awesome they just don't
want to come to church. Giovanni is 14 and he just doesn't want
to come, do any of you have ideas? This week we taught him about who
he was before this life, he was one of the strongest warriors of
Heavenly Father, because he was sent at this time and they loved it!
It was such a powerful lesson because we just testified of their true
identity, and I felt that when we were testifying the spirit was just
testifying to me, that I was up there with them, one of the warriors
fighting against Satan. Then I just thought of my family up there with
me, all of fighting with Jesus Christ. Man it was such a powerful
moment for me. I feel like that happens a lot on the mission, just as
I testify, it's reaffirmed and my testimony really becomes
inquebrantable! (Unshakable unbreakable) But alas, they still said no
to coming to church. So help? Ideas family?

Nunez- I just have to tell you about this family cause I love them!
Hermana felt found them! They were very in-active and the Hermanas
knocked on their door and Baltazar (the Hermano) just was so happy
they came and were like, Hermanas I have been waiting for you! I want
to come back to church, and we are here to stay! Anyways, so now I get
to see the fruits of their labors and they are the most awesome active
family ever! They had us over for dinner and they are  rock solid
in The gospel. I love them!

Alquides- Well, as I have said before he went to Florida. It was kind of
really sad because when we went to go say goodbye he said, well
Hermanas I don't want to get baptized because everyone thinks their
religion is the true one, but i'll take those Book of Mormon CDs and
still listen to them! ... We just tried to testify, and he was,
oh Hermanas I love you thank you for all you've done for me. One day
Alquides will get baptized!

Wanda- we went over and finally after a hard week last week she set a
date for her to go to the temple, she was so sweet. She made a lot
of food for us, and that was so nice. I have really seen in this area
that Satan works hard on people here. Once we set them on date, or
invite them to go to the temple Satan is in the picture, trying to
tempt them. Man, it's rough but it's sooo worth it!

Marisol and Vanessa- two girls we are teaching, sadly they didn't have
time to see us this week, but they are amazing girls! Pray for them!

I gave a talk in church this Sunday! I still get nervous speaking in
church in Spanish, but I did it on missionary work and the temple and
how the obra misional y la obra del templos es LA MISMA OBRA. I really
need to repent of this, so get ready family I am coming home a family
history freak because I feel so bad I haven't really done that before
my mission, I am totally going to learn from all of you!

How about that AWESOME women's conference? This just makes me miss my
sisters and mom, but I thought it went GREAT! I LOVED everything, I love that
the focus was on the temple, it was so great. Sorry I don't have time
to say more, but I Loved it!

Well, that's about all I have time for. We are seeing so many
wonderful people! And soooo many milagritos :) It is really interesting being in
this area because it's like a whole different mission than my other
areas. I LOVE all my areas, I really do, and I love being here! I love
the people, I love the city, I love the ward, I love the calling, 

I love the hard time, I love the work and I love the Savior.

Now family-- guess what time it is?... Drum roll.... General
conference time! I want to commit you all to getting spiritually ready
for conference. Whether that's reading some of the talks from last
conference, or praying to know what The Lord wants you to hear,
reading preach my gospel, or all of the above. It just blows my mind
that we get to hear from prophets like those of old, speaking to us,
the words of God. Man so cool. So prepare.

Love you all! Bunches and bunches!
All of me loves all of you all.
Hermana Hammond

                                                OOOHHH Alquides!!!

                                         

    Chicago at 6:00 a.m.

on the bus back!

Sept. 22, 2014 Esta es la obra de salvacion

Sept. 22, 2014 Esta es la obra de salvacion
Feliz Cumpleanos: Uncle Ronnie
Esta semana!
We had quite the adventure week!-- first of all.. HORSE BACK RIDING 

family... that's super legit. Love the part in the letter where moms 

horse bulldozes over a tree. Mom.... ninja status.

Lunes-  We were at the bishops home waiting on some investigators for Noche de Hogar,  

 The elders were talking outside, and we were all wondering why, they are being so rude,

 they are literally an hour late.

 Anyway they came bursting in and said, bishop we just met a long less active, she wants a

blessing. Turns out, she is homeless now, and so depressed, and crying
and praying for someone to help her, guess who shows up 5 minutes
later? The missionaries! It was amazing!

Martes- It was a good day! We are teaching these 2 girls named Marisol
and Vanessa. They are SO cool. They have had a hard life, and I need
some prayers for them. We brought a member with us, Hermana Guerrero,
and the lesson went awesome. They asked THE BEST questions. Growing up
in Chicago is SO different, and these youth NEED the gospel! They
want to survive high school without taking drugs, or breaking the law
of Chastity. These girls are really special and I am pumped to start
teaching them!

Miercoles- I went on an exchange with Hermana Boushka! She's a great
missionary! We had a great exchange. I stayed here in the area, and
it's been really interesting because I just have to use a map because
I have had to learn how to take over an area super fast, and seriously
I am the most directionally challenged person in the universe, but we
get through! Anyways, we had a great exchange and we saw Rosa Males.
We taught her about Helaman 5:12, honestly she is like the cutest lady
ever. It's just she can't come to church because the only thing she
does for a job is selling things from Ecuador and bracelets that she
makes, and she has to work Sundays, but she loves our visits.
   Then we had a great lesson with Wanda. She is going through a hard
time right now. I have seen in this area particularly that when we go
over to teach someone about the church, or anything the people really
do get attacked by Satan, they are really tempted and tried because he
definitely doesn't want them getting baptized. Well, with Wanda we had
taught her about going to the temple, and the next day A HUGE
temptation came, so at this cita we were talking about courage and how
we have to stand up for what we believe in, and sometimes we know it's
hard, but it's always worth it. It was good!
    Anyways, it was a great exchange!

Jueves- this day was quite the crazy day for us. We were stopped on
the street by this man who was an Atheist. I have never, on my
mission, had some straight up yell at me for my beliefs, I've had many
interesting experiences knocking doors and getting a lot of rejection,
but this was the first time I had been yelled at. He asked us
questions like, "I want you to tell me YOUR own personal experience
about God."  then we would say like one word and then he would
twist what we had said, and then yell at us, it was very interesting
because all we could do was smile, testify, and say, "Man, I guess it
would make me so sad to not believe in God, and not believe in
families being together after death.." But we ended off laughing,
because I told him, "you would be a GREAT Mormon." Ha ha then we jetted
out of there.
     We had an eating cita with Hermana Milagros and that went
great except we ate like 18 servings of rice, like literally. --I have
to add this story cause it's so funny-- we were eating these ribs that
were kinda tough and we were all gnawing at these ribs and
Hermana Milagros just suddenly starts barking like a dog, because we
all looked like it trying to eat these ribs, it was hilarious.
    After we got a call from Alquides and he told us that he has to go
to Miami because of a surgery. It was so sad. He has to go for 3
months. We were so sad, but he hasn't left yet! Then right after that
we got a call from Wanda and she told us she was going to leave the
church. One of her friends decided to live with her, and he said you
pick me, or you pick the Mormons. Anyways it broke our hearts. We just
got down on our knees and said a prayer, and we started calling the
ward for help. So many people started to help us, by calling Wanda and
by saying they were going to go by her home to visit her. It so fun to
work with a ward who actually helps out, and who wants to help us
missionaries. -- to say the least it was actually a really hard day.

Friday- We had miracles! We taught a new investigator. She's from
Guatemala and she is awesome! She is still very catholic but it was a
great lesson! Pray for Irma! We had a lesson with Alquides and it was
awesome. We started to teach him all the 10 commandments so that if he
didn't leave for Florida too fast then we could just quickly teach him
everything and then baptize him so that he could have the Holy Ghost
through all of these surgeries. Well, we taught the commandments, and
found out that there is a little thing that we need to fix, but he was
SO humble in telling us. He was like, "Hermanas, I will get baptized,
but I have to be clean before God to do so, we have to wait, but I
will be baptized." It was one of the sweetest moments ever, because in
all honestly, he doesn't understand a lot, but he always accepts what
we tell him to do, and him telling us he has some struggles with this
one commandment really just made my love for this man grow even
deeper, it was awesome. One day he will get baptized! Even if it's
in Florida, or in 3 months, he will!

Sabado- we had another exchange and I went with Hermana Trujillo. We
served together in Woodstock for a while so that was fun. She is
really bold and a great teacher. We felt like she needed to go to a
cita with Wanda and she did an awesome job at being bold with Wanda
and being loving. That morning Wanda had kicked her friend out of the
house, and we were SO happy, things were just looking awesome.
Anyways, then the elders had a baptism and we thought Alquides was
going to come, but he didn't, but that's alright!

Domingo- we had transfer council, it was really fun! We talk with the
assistants and president about all the sisters and Hermanas in the
mission. It was really fun! It gives me a testimony about the lords
church, and how perfect it is. How we really do have Gods church on
the earth, the organization is perfect. It gave me a testimony of how
God really is a God of order. It was awesome. Then we had dinner with
la familia Pule. They are AWESOME. Such a cute couple! 

ALSO WANDA CAME TO CHURCH. Uhhhhhh we were so happy. 

Soon I will get a foto with her, I love you family! 

SO people to pray for... cause they really need your faith and prayers...

Wanda

Brandon (her son.. One Directionist he says) 

Alquides

Sandra Ortiz, Sammy and Antonio... (I'll tell you about them.... some day)

LOVE YOU FAMILY

I love to share the gospel. I am going to say my testimony in Spanish

cause I want to.

Se que DIOS VIVE. Y que SU iglesia es perfecta, y que tenemos 

la misma iglesia de Jesu Cristo, y yo tengo la GRAN oportunidad de 

compartirla con otras personas. Es la mejor cosa del mundo. Se que Jesucristo

es nuestro Salvador, El es la RAZON que tenemos todo. ah... a mi me encanta.

no tengo palabras para esta obra, en realidad es la mejor. 

Se que El libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios y fue traducido por Jose Smith. 

 ESTA ES LA OBRA DE SALVACION... ok tengo que ir. 

pero tambien.. me encantan los lamanitas.... TANTISIMO

Les quiero mucho. 

all of me loves all of you all! 

Hermana Hammond            This is my whole mission! I'm on the 5th row 3rd from the end wearing yellow.

                                              Hermana Milagros!

                                                    I can't help but take a picture of her!

                                                          Recent converts son loves One Direction!

                                                   His daughter is serving in Ecuador North!

Sep. 15, 2014 You had the faith to be here, but you do not have the FAITH to succeed.

Sep. 15, 2014 You had the faith to be here, but you do not have the FAITH to succeed.

First of all-- shout out to HAYLEE the most BEAUTIFUL girl in the history! Miss Junior Homecoming Queen! You looked BEAUTIFUL. Mom did your hair SO pretty! I just loved it. I MISSED you all! 

Okay! It's been a crazy week! But I am just going to share a few
things from this week! But it really was great!

We have had 4 BIG meetings this week, on Tuesday, ALL day Friday,
Saturday and Sunday... So it was a crazy crazy week.

On Tuesday we had a training meeting and Hermana Izu and I taught. It
went great! We talked about talking with everyone! We did a roll play
where all of the new missionaries got in a circle and their
companions on the outside in a circle and we did a fun role play. It was
a hit!

On Wednesday we had an AWESOME lesson with Alquides. On my goodness he
is the cutest old man ever. We were a little nervous for this lesson
because we were going to teach the Word of Wisdom. Alquides-- here's
some background info-- Alquides is Cuban, and Cubans LOVE coffee, it's
like their water. He was so sweet and made us dinner and we had Hna
Ortiz with us, and Alquides made us the biggest meal ever because he just
loves us missionaries!, He said "HERMANAS COMAN, CON
CONFIANZA," (translation- Hermanas, EAT, with confidence...) when they
say that... You know you have to eat a lot, haha. But anyway, we
started with the lesson and we just started bold and said, "no Coffee,
tea, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs." And he just looks at us and was
like, "okay Hermanas I will do it." My heart just leaped because of
the faith of this man. He then literally just bore his testimony to us
about the prophet Joseph Smith and said, "I know that he's a prophet,
so I will give up coffee." I just wanted go over to him and give him a great big
hug. It truly humbles me when I see these wonderful prepared people
accept with so much faith these commandments. We hadn't even told
Alquides  of the blessings that come for following this commandment,
or why we do it, he just accepted. They go in and want to be clean by
the waters of baptism and so they accept these hard things running on
pure faith. It was amazing! We came out of that lesson so edified!
Pray for Alquides!

This weekend- we had a mission conference! It was AWESOME, because the
whole mission got together. That is a very rare thing for a mission,
but it was awesome. Elder Hamula came from the 70 to help our mission
reach it's full potential- what we need to work on...etc. I just want
to give you all my notes, it was INCREDIBLE. As a mission we have
focused SO hard on members, the members in this mission are really
learning the concept of member missionary work. But Elder Hamula made
it SO clear on what we all need to do to improve. First he spoke about
receiving revelation, which was awesome, then he gets up and says, "I
am going to tell your mission what you need to work on, and I am gonna
get right to the bottom of it, You. All. Lack. Faith. You all had
faith to come here on a mission, you all had faith to come, but you
don't have faith to succeed." It was so true. It was just awesome, I
just loved it, there is SO much to say.

As a mission he told us some of the things we need to be working on. 

Specifically four things. 

1. TALK TO EVERYONE

2. Invite to baptism ON THE FIRST or SECOND lesson

3. Effective planning at night

4. BE obedient. 

The first two was what he really hit hard on. It was AWESOME. I just loved it.

As a mission we have grown a lot and I am SO grateful for my mission president.

The more I get to work with him, I realize just HOW amazing he is! I haven't 

really said too much in my letters to all of you, but I truly LOVE my mission

president. He is AMAZING, so full of the spirit and really loved God and his 

missionaries.

Well- family this is super cool- Elder Hamula and President chose Hermana 

Izu and I to have interviews with Elder Hamula. (he will be speaking in general conference

this october.. he's AWESOME) and it was the neatest experience. He asked me why I

came on my mission and how I have changed, (he also said he knew Grandpa Hammond

and also said that, "Hermana Hammond I can see your grandfather in you.. ) anyways

When he asked me about how I have changed I guess in ALL honesty the thing I have learned 

most on my mission is that this life is ALL about making covenants. I have learned many a 

things on my mission, but in truth one of the most profound truths I have learned is being 

a more obedient, diligent, covenant keeper. That's what I told Elder Hamula... haha. He probably

was thinking, "Yeah hermana Hammond.. duh.." but I just feel like that has clicked with me 

and stuck with me on my mission. I then had the opportunity to ask him a question.

I asked, "Elder Hamula, out of all the stuff that you and the brethren want US as missionaries to

learn while we are out here on our missions, if we learned ONE thing... what would you want

us to learn?" and he told me (this is a very short sum up of his answer), "Hermana Hammond... that's a great question, I would want them to know The Lord and Heavenly Father, better I would want them to know the nature of God." I thought that was very profound. So many people in this world get the nature of God confused, anyways I don't have time to tell you more, but it was an INCREDIBLE week! 

I have no time-- but we ate dinner with our less-active family the Villanuevas.. I just adore them. They are all gorgeous and from Guatemala. Super models- and 2 of the sons came to church! It was great! 

okay- I have to go-- but it's been a great week! I had exchanges with Hermana WOOLF, crazy right? We went and Wanda fed us, which that was interesting, she isn't doing too well. Could you all pray for her? 

Okay- Love you all! Have a wonderful week! Happy be-lated birthday Mom ;)

All of me loves all of you all~ 

Hermana Hammond                         Elder Hamula!!!

                                           This is Rosa Males from Ecuador holding a sick chicken!

                                          New Missionary Training meeting

                                                         I Love them! Recent convert mtg.

                                                       Love this place!! We have to go there!

                                                      It's called Bang Bang's! Adorable! Hand crafted pies!!

Sep. 8, 2014 Be yourself! :)

Sep. 8, 2014 Be yourself :)
Feliz Cumpleanos: Natalie, Kristin W., Mom! And Happy Anniversary G-ma & G-pa Wow 58 years!!
 FAMIIA!

MOMOMOM_--- HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I love you so much mom. You are the best mom in the whole world. Literally and I miss you so much. I want you to come out here to Chicago and go on a mission just for a while and be my companion, I am gonna ask Pres. Totally gonna do that. Be watching for a call momma. ;)

We had a great week!
Tuesday- We had exchanges! I went down with Hermana Clanton! It's a
funny story because we knew each other from BYU-I before the mission.
Kinda crazy. But she has such a fun area! We rode bikes ALL day. We
were doing some finding, and it was so fun! I think we rode for like 7
hours, but it was great. We also helped this cute lady from their ward
named Luisa, and she is learning how to write! It was the cutest
thing. I have taken so many things for granted in my life, one of
those being how to read, and how to write. Many people don't know how,
they come from places that they never went to school, and it was so
fun to start to teach this woman how to start to write.-- she also
sang us some Virgin Mary songs- yes, she is a member if you were
wondering-- just forgot that we don't believe in the virgin-- love
her. It was a great exchange. We worked hard!

Miercoles- We worked so hard. We got up and taught Rosa Males. She's
the cutest Ecuadorian lady you've ever met.  She is probably one of
the poorest people I have ever met as well. She LOVES animals. She has
this chicken that was sick and she just holds it like a baby, and
feeds it, and I don't even want to know how many diseases it has. She
sells bracelets and that is her only income. It is so humbling going
to her home, it's a basement, and only half of a basement. She has to
share it with another man who she doesn't really know because that's
the only way she can pay for the rent. -- right now the man is in
Ecuador- don't worry different bedrooms. But it really is so humbling
going over there to teach her.

Jueves- We had lunch with one of my favorite members, Hna Milagros. I
seriously love her to pieces. She reminds me of my family. I want her
to come to our family reunions. I just love her. We ate a lot of food.
Here most of our members are Puerto Rican. We don't eat tortillas, we
eat TONS of rice and tons of PAN. Gaining weight? You can only bet on
it. We also have a meeting every Thursday called MCM. We have THE BEST
ward mission leader! He is so fired up about the missionary work, it's
AWESOME. Never in my mission have I had MCM like I do here, it
seriously is the best. All of us missionaries in this ward go and talk
about investigators and man, it's awesome. Working with the ward
really is key in missionary work. For my whole mission that's what our
mission president has stressed and stressed and it's true! The members
HAVE to help us because they are the ones that stay with the
investigators. It's awesome.

Viernes- It was a very busy awesome day. We went to the mission office
for a training for the new Sister Training Leaders. It was really
good, but the best part was after. President gave us all blessings. We
don't get set apart for this calling, We just get blessings. It's a
really special thing to get a priesthood blessing from your Mission
President. I have been worrying about a few things, like knowing how
to help the Hermanas and trying my best to be a good example, but
president just told me that I needed to just be myself, and be
enthusiastic about the work and that's all I had to do. Here were his
words, "Don't worry very simply be YOURSELF." It was very reassuring,
because it's easy to get worried about working hard enough, but in the
end the most important thing, is be obedient and be yourself!

Sabado- I went on an exchange with Hermana Michael! It was great! I
don't really have time to say much more! It was fun going back with an
old companion!

Domingo- love church. We saw lots of Milagros!

Well-- here honestly I am doing great! My companion is AWESOME. She is a hard worker and so fun! I really learn a lot from her. She's from  California and is part Japanese and 1/8 Puerto Rican... she's awesome. Love her. 

Well familia- sorry my emails are lame, just literally we have no time. But I love you all!

All of me loves all of you all,

Hermana Hammond

                                                     Hna Izu & I at the Chicago Bean

                                                 

                                                     

                                                      Eating a Chicago Dog!!!

                                                         Trainees from the Avatar university

                                                       The Chicago bean!

Sep. 1, 2014 The gift of discernment! I love these Hispanics!

Sept. 1, 2014  The gift of discernment! I love these Hispanics!
Feliz Cumpleanos: Sweet Brooke D. & Nathan my awesome cousin!

First- Let me say, that I have like zero time, then let me say... SO PUMPED THAT MICHELLE IS LEAVING FOR ECUADOR.... man I am un poco celosa... just because you and my brother are gonna go have missionary fiestas without me. But you will love it my cousin! It's not easy, but the people are the BEST. They truly become a part of your soul. You'll love it!

Second- I love dad "trato" (deal) when he said, "You pray for our investigator and we will pray for yours." ITS ON DAD!--family I am SO proud of you being missionaries! The BEST thing you can do for him right now, is BE an example and BE his friend.... shoot him a text a couple times a week. SUPER happy he ate 10 rolls and 4 plates of potatoes. that's just awesome. I could probably top him right now. but literally.  

 Father- about meeting Hermana Monge-- I have already put it in the plans :) you are ALL meeting her for sure!

Okay- my week. Lets whip this email out!-- ps we do SO much in a day, these are just parts of the day okay? :)

Lunes- We had dinner with a member, Hermana Bustos, she's great then we went to go do some EXCHANGES. I went to Gurnee and went on an exchange with an Hermana that is in her 2 transfer of training. So I had to do an hour of train (all missionaries "train" for 2 transfers and go through this AWESOME program, Jacob is doing it right now.) But I was thinking, "Well, I have never trained.... here we go!" It's really interesting going on exchanges because you get to learn a lot from the missionaries. Learn good things and some not so good things. Its really interesting. I have really learned this week that the gift of discernment CAN come when you ask for it. I was just praying so hard to know what this Hermana needed, and this one needed a lot of building, (honestly one of my favorite things to do is just make people feel better about themselves.) I have learned that ESPECIALLY as a leader that we have to be so close to the spirit because MOST times, missionaries (ANYONE) don't need to be corrected (unless it's major disobedience things). It's all about LOVING those you serve. Becoming their friend so they have someone to talk to, having someone they can trust. Anyway-- We had a great day!

MIercoles- We were back in the area and we had a few citas with some less-actives. They are so cute! But they think church is boring, any ideas family?? ... they have testimonies, they are spiritual, they all just think its boring. help!

Then we had a cita with Wanda. Oh my goodness family. When you meet Wanda you give her your whole heart, she is amazing, and doing so much better! (I will talk about her later)

Jueves- TENGO COOL HISTORIA:) ja ja.. So we were coming back from a cita and she wasn't very interested, but we were walking back and this man called us and was like, "Hey yer a Mormon (think Chicago accent)." and we were like "Yeah!" and he was like, "So you believe in someone named Smith and all yer folks went down to Arizona or something.." us -"YEAH Utah! wow how did you know?" him, " well, I am a history buff I love it. I just think it's so sad that you had to move away because of your religion.. it's not right." anyway long story short- His name is Steve, he loves history, he doesn't believe in God, but he likes the thought of God...We told him about the Book of Mormon and how it's about the ancient people here in America, we testified a little and he just went off on a long shpil how he doesn't think that God is real, he is a very firm kind of man, and pretty set in his ways... So basically he'd make an awesome member. Then the spirit started to whisper to me.. "Hermana Hammond..... get ready.." So I interrupted him, (and in my mind I am just saying.... what am I doing, why is my mouth starting to talk... stop stop stop... what are you doing Hermana Hammond??) I looked him straight in the eye and said these EXACT WORDS, "Steve, We are literal (I said this slow, but with power... so basically it wasn't me.. ) We are literal representatives of Jesus Christ, and as such we want to make you a promise (in my mind I was thinking.... uhhhhhh what promise??) We know that if you read the first verse of this book and if you pray, we promise you will KNOW there is a God and he will give you such a powerful feeling you will know that he is there and He wants you on HIS side. We know it's true Steve.. " Steve just looked at me and took the card and said, "okay" turned around and walked into his house and that was that. Steve will get baptized one day, I just know it. I had never been so bold with someone, but it's SO cool that as missionaries WE CAN GIVE promises to people, we can be literally the tool that the Lord used to help people come to Christ. I must say, it wasn't me speaking. The spirit makes you do scary stuff sometimes! ha ha:)

okay, because of lack of time I am just going to share a MIRACLE on sabado- We were on exchanges and I was staying in the area.. (yeah taking over the area in a week-- totally know the area... not) anyways, and we had a cita con Alquides and we needed a woman there, like always but at the church there was this BIG baby shower that was happening, so none of the women were able to come with us. So I am frantically calling and calling people and calling my poor companion Hermana Izu because she left the area and all of a sudden both of us had the idea that Wanda wasn't going to the baby shower. Wanda could come with us! Wanda had never been out with missionaries before, she was just baptized and right now really suffering from depression and really struggling. But we were on the phone and we were BEGGING her to come, and finally the Hermana that was with me was like, (she's awesome Hermana Kolhase companions with Hermana Felt 2 transfers ago) "Wanda I remember at your baptism you helped me so much, we had gotten transfer calls and I knew I was leaving Hermana Felt and I was crying and you told me, ' Hermana YOU CAN DO IT' So I just want to say thank you Wanda and I love you!" Wanda then just said. "Okay, I'll come with you." YEAH MIRACLE... not only that, the lesson WENT AWESOME. Wanda and Alquides got along AWESOME! HE is on date for Sep. 20th! He is such a cool person! Seriously the Lord really takes care of this area, he knows we are so busy really with exchanges and hermanas and we are so tired, but He makes EVERY thing happen. IT was AMAZING!

And like always- church was wonderful! Our Guatemalan family (they are gorgeous) CAME TO CHURCH! They are less-active, so we were SUPER happy!

I really gotta go! I love you all!! TANTISIMO!

All of me loves all of you all,

Hermana Hammond