Nov. 24, 2014....Welcome to the apostolic work

Nov. 24, 2014.....Welcome to the Apostolic work
Happy Anniversario: Aunt Teri  y Uncle Den, Uncle Ronnie y Aunt Melinda,
Feliz Cumpleanos: Jordan Haven

Well, can I just say that it brought tears to my eyes to see Meg and my mother in the same room! I just love both of you so much! and I absolutely loved seeing the fish that Dad and Brooke and Brielle caught! Man you are all awesome! (I'm coming with you all next time)

Well this week-- was one of the craziest weeks of my missions.

We had one funeral, one primary program, one ward cena for thanksgiving, 2 zone conferences that we had to teach at, and then 3 exchanges! Our area suffered a little bit, but the Lord really took care of this area as we were called to do some other things this week!

I am just going to share a bit about Zone conference this week. Our APs (who are awesome) presented an awesome lesson to everyone! We studied Alma 24. This story is about the people of Ammon the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's. It is the story when these people bury their weapons of war. It was powerful. The assistants made us all put our heads down and made us imagine that we were about to die, and so were our families, they then asked us, "Would you look up and await your death?" "Would you go down praising God?" "Would you die praying that your family might live" I invite you, family to read this chapter in the Book of Mormon and to think about who the sons were of these families, The Sons of Helaman! I felt great power making covenants of my own with God. Things that I buried, symbolically to submit my will to Heavenly Fathers. It was awesome!

Hermana Izu and I also taught a little. Our theme that president wanted us to speak about was letting Christ's atonement fill the fear we have and replace it with faith. We shared the story in the bible in Mark Chp. 9. It is about the man that begs the Savior to heal his child and Christ asks if he has faith enough to heal his son, and dad responded, "Help, thou mine unbelief." It was powerful. There have been so many times on my mission, where I just think, "Do I even have faith? Well, I think I have faith, Lord please help me, please help thou mine unbelief." It is something very dear to my heart to ask the lord for help when you only have a particle of Faith. He fills the faith you don't have. There have been times where I only have a twig of faith, where I know I have family back home rooting for me, who are pulling for me, but I know that it is Christ pulling with me. It was powerful.

We also had Rafael drop us. I was on an exchange, but Hermana Izu said she cried right then and there. He choose Soccer over the Sabbath day, but no worries family, we aren't going to give up on him quite yet.

I went on exchanges this week family... TO WOODSTOCK, and guess who I got to see? HERMANA MONGE and HERMANA ALCANTAR! Oh my goodness, it was so cool to see them! I was on exchanges with Hermana Warnock and it was one of the best exchanges I have ever been on! Hermana Warnock is an awesome new missionary, who is literally incredible! Her trainer is.. Hermana WOOLF! super cool!

We had a great lesson with Rosa this week! She told us some hard things she is going through, stuff with the word of wisdom, only pretty serious, BUT she just kept saying, "Hermanas you are my motivators!! I love you!" After she told us what things she was addicted to, we told her about priesthood blessings and she wanted one right then and there. It was awesome, we got the Elders to come and they gave her a great blessing! She still didn't come to church but I know she will one day! She is amazing! When she gets baptized that will be quite the incredible day.

Well family I love you all so much! The work is good, my theme ".. I can rest in Gods kingdom, But let me build it first..." really applied this week, because we are pretty tired, but NO IMPORTA!

Also, its pretty cold here, like freezing. I love it.

Here is a quote from Hermana Warnock (who seriously is like the coolest person on the planet)

"Don't think you are just minding the shop waiting for the Saviour to come...the spirit of this work is urgency, and we must imbue our missionaries with the spirit of now. N-O-W. We are not just waiting for natural slow growth. We must move more rapidly. We must take things up a notch. If we have to call down miracles or angels, then
call them down. The drama is unfolding and we must do whatever it takes to ratchet up the work...I feel an incredible sense of urgency. I feel such a sense of urgency in my chest that I can hardly breathe. Every dispensation begins with a vision. We must have a vision. We are the church that dreams dreams. We are the church that has visions. We must believe in miracles. We are going to putter along, be average-until we wind up to the level when our heart is up in our throat and if we opened our eyes, we would expect to see angels...if this is God's work, and if He still lives, then miracles and angels are still there. We must live up to our potential. God will bless us with whatever we need. God wants us to see just what He sees and know what He knows. He wants us to ratchet up the vision. God is easy to please and hard to satisfy... This is not convenient, easy work. We have got to take things to the edge. We have to move into the realm of the miraculous. We have to live in such a way that we cannot do it alone anymore-where we will resort to the Lord-where we will cry, "without thy help, I will fall," "help me fly." Go to the edge where miracles happen. Move in to the realm of the miraculous. Have full faith. Believe in angels. With the power of the priesthood, push the envelope. Welcome to the apostolic work." -Elder Holland

All of me loves all of you all

Hermana Hammond                       Yay for the Woodstock Hermanas!!

                                                      Hna Monge!! Love these people!!!

                                                        Hna Alcantar!!

Nov. 17, 2014".. I can rest in Gods Kingdom, but let me build it first.."

Nov. 17, 2014

".. I can rest in Gods Kingdom, but let me build it first.."

So if I were to try and tell you what happened this week, it would take all week. But I will say that it has truly been one of the best weeks in my entire mission. LITERALLY

 

E v e r y   s i n g l e  d a y  w a s   i n  s a n e !

Lunes- Our lesson with Marisol and Vanessa was the craziest thing of my whole life. Because I can't put it into words, and there isn't enough time, I will tell you how it went in bullet points. (hah)

- Chemo came in (He is the dad... half jokingly a Santa Muerte worshipper.. has a shrine and all)

Chemo has a fiery personality .. loves to argue!

- We showed the Mormon message Earthly Father Heavenly Father and Chemo's words were

... "nos toco este tema esta semana.. " (we talked about this topic this week)

- Hermana Barrera (member there) starts crying and shares her whole conversion story

-Chemo yells at us and asks why bad things happen to good people

and complains that the girls mom hasn't even gave them a plate of food in their lives

-Vanessa (daughter) who is a cold person starts crying

-Chemo yells at his daughters to answer our questions

-bold Hermana Hammond yells and is bold with chemo yelling, "DEJALES HABLAR!!!!"

also yells at him yelling him, " HERMANO TIENE QUE HACER SU PARTE"

we were talking about the Book of Mormon

-Marisol and Vanessa committed to coming to church saying, "We aren't going to try ... we WILL"

-Chemo said a kneeling closing prayer

Yeah...... That's just the bullet point version.. but it was crazy awesome, the spirit was soo powerful!

 

Martes- Also going to do a bullet point version because it was CRAZY

- We had a lesson with a member Olivia Delgado

-We had a lesson with an investigator family Vanessa and her kids

pray for them! They are amazing. Her kids are so smart and we talked about prophets

-We had Mercy Artunduaga (Less-Active from last week) Who cried again to us, saying how she is in the church now y adelante! For all her life!

- We then went to a new investigators home Rosa.

stopping bullet points for a minute... because I have to tell you all about her.

Rosa is probably one of the most special people I have met on my mission. She is right on up there with Hermana Monge :)

We found Rosa street contacting. Last week we stopped by and just showed her the "Because of Him" video and she loved it, she then invited us (it was Tuesday) and she asked if we could just come listen to the things she had on her mind.

Let me tell you about Rosas home.

She lives in an apartment and it is so small. It is totally concrete and has NO heat. We are all sitting in her home with our winter coats (mother coat we call it) in her living room. She has 2 sons and to get to their room, you go through a closet looking like a door that has a huge gaping whole in the middle of it, and really it's closet size. It reeks!! The smell of urine and pot.

The minute we walked in and sat on the couch she started crying, telling us all of the problems in her life. She has gone through so much. She has been molested, and other things that I won't mention. She would have accepted any religion to come to her home to give her hope, to help her, but God made it possible that we show up and give her the most happiness she could receive. God made it possible that His messengers came to rescue her. We taught her a little about the Plan of Salvation. More than anything we just testified to her of God. That we all have a loving Heavenly Father. It was so powerful to watch her. Rosa then texted us that night saying, "Hermanas thank you for listening, I really felt your kindness and love with all sincerity, you have a lot of love and it shows..." She then ASKED us what chapters in the Book of Mormon should she read first. She was like, give me a topic on forgiveness and change...... CAN YOU ALL PLEASE PRAY FOR ROSA ENRIQUE AND NICOLAS!?!?

Citas like that, change my life. Shows me that God is real. He watches out for us. He sends us help when we desperately need it. More than anything, He shows us that He is our father, and that He loves us.

After Rosa (I am going to seguir with the bullet points)

- We had a less-active lesson with the NUNEZ FAMILY

-She gave us SUPER FRIED FISH.... #dadcatchmesomerealfish

-We shared a great message

-my companion may or may not have had a tooth or a finger nail in her food

-we also had chicken feet in our soup ...literally

-Then we had a great lesson with GIOVANNI!! (less-active) It was great!

-He had 5 friends over

-invited them all to listen to us

-testified of the book of Mormon

(7 months ago GIOVANNI DIDN'T BELIEVE IN GOD!)

-We taught the Plan of Salvation

-awesome lesson

don't ask how we got all of that in in one day..... we aren't sure :)

Now I will skip to Domingo because so much happened during that week but Tuesday was just an amazing day!

Who came to church?

CHEMO and MARISOL

VANESSA AND HER DAUGHTER

EMANUEL

VILLANUEVA FAMILIA!!!!!!!

Family, Hermana Izu and I were dying! Literally every single day. We have had days that have been just SO packed with miracles, we don't really know how to handle ourselves.

This church is true!

Pray for Rosa. She is going to go have to give up a lot, she is going to have a sacrifice a lot this next month, but she is going to transform her life. Its not going to caterpillar to butterfly. Its going from caterpillar to LION! It's the best work in the world. I am loving every second of it. There isn't enough time in the day! There isn't enough time period! But I love it!

 

We are also exhausted.... so the theme of the week (can you guess it family)

" I can rest in Gods kingdom, but let me build it first!"

All of me loves all of you all

Hermana Hammond

                                              Yes! These are chicken feet!!!

                                          We cried when we got this message!!

                                             A finger nail? Tooth? In the soup!

 

Nov. 10, 2014 Rafael :) The man!

Nov. 10, 2014  Rafael ;) The man!
Feliz Cumpleanos: Tirzah and Cambry!!!

Familia!

So sorry I don't have much time, but I just wanted to share our
experience we are having with the MAN Rafael!!

On Monday we had a lesson in the Rivera home with PRESIDENT AND SISTER
WOODBURY! I thought I was going wet my pants in front of them (seeing
as I have wet my pants 3 times on the mission.....) (if you are
embarrassed by this part in my letter mother, you can take it out)
 but it went AWESOME. We taught about Joseph Smith, the
restoration of the gospel. It was powerful too!

We started out the lesson and the whole time you could just feel the
love everyone had for Rafael! President then gave an awesome
testimony, but the coolest part was when Hermana Rivera (she speaks
English so this particular lesson was in English) just started sharing
her conversion story, she shared the scripture in Doctrine and
Covenants 8 about feeling a burning in your heart, and Rafael had to
stop her and say...."WAIT WAIT WAIT so the answer is like a burning in
your heart? This is what I felt when I read your pamphlet you gave
me!".... Then we all died. It was awesome! We all shared powerful
testimonies after, and it was really awesome. I love working with
members because the whole ward is on Rafael's team! The youth all love
him, and so do the adults! It's awesome!

Then on Friday we had another lesson with him, and we felt like we
needed to share a commandment lesson, on keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.
It was the hardest commandment lesson Hermana Izu and I have EVER had
on our missions, it was crazy! He told us that he plays soccer every Sunday
 and when we asked him if he would keep this commandment he didn't say yes,
 or no... But we decided that right then and there we would say a tiny prayer to
 help him, his prayer was so sincere, it went something like, "God, please help
 me to know if I should quit soccer, please help me to get an answer..." We
 promised blessings, and shared experiences, and he looked like he was going
 to cry. More than anything we knew he could feel what we were saying was true, and
that Sunday is the Lords day. The member, Mario who was with us also
shared a powerful testimony. Since that day we haven't been able to
contact him :( BUT he lives right next door to 4 members, and they ALL
told us, "don't worry Hermanas, we can't , and we won't lose him!" So
if you could all say a prayer for Rafael, it is much needed. He is so
prepared for baptism! He really is, President just loved him, and more
than anything, God loves him and needs him fighting on his side.
Please pray for Rafael!

Other miracle was with our less-active we have been working with Mercy
Artunduaga, de Colombia! She's great! She hasn't come to church in a
long time and didn't let the missionaries come for years, until Hermana Izu
and I got together, and this week we had a powerful lesson with her.
In my mission I have had lessons like these where the person has come
to a hault, to where they just hit rock bottom, and who does The Lord
send? He sends his servants, I feel so honored that The Lord would
allow me, to be in this persons home. He allowed us to help her, which
in turn helped us, the gospel is so true. By allowing us to lift the
hands and heads that hang low, The Lord really lifts us missionaries.
It's incredible. Mercy came to church this Sunday. Taking the
sacrament has a whole new meaning it has a whole new meaning to me now,

Other news is that we are staying together! One last one here in
Chicago 3rd! Hermana Izu and I for 3 transfers, she's actually going
home next transfer, so if you could keep her in your prayers that
would be great. Anyways, we are great here! I love and miss you all!
This is going to be one crazy transfer!
Quote from Hermana Izu, "Hermana Hammond, why am I excited for this transfer??
1. We get  to break out our mother coats together!
2. We get to have A PUERTO RICAN THANKSGIVING, which literally sounds
like diabetes... (Which I started crying/laughing at that... Es
verdad)
3. We get to sing Christmas songs!
5. (The best) WE ARE GOING TO BAPTIZE RAFAEL AND MARISOL AND VANESSA"!!

These things are all verdad. Ha ha I am champion at Spanglish.

All of me loves all of you all!
Hermana Hammond                              Darlene es la mejor!!!

Nov. 3, 2014 Scabies??? gone...

Nov. 3, 2014 Scabies??? gone...

Feliz Cumpleanos: Karli!!

Thank you for all of your prayers for me! I have truly felt them. I truly have, BECAUSE Milagro..... I talked to the doctor because of my condition! (sickness) (thing that was living on my body) (grossness) of scabies were getting really bad!  I went to sleep, and woke up with no more scabies. The next day, they were gone!--- MILAGROS HAPPEN!!!  Thank you for all your prayers on my behalf! I love you all!-- kind of  freaky? A little bit, but I'll take it!  About my back... ! I'm just not sure what it is.... But I really feel soooooo much better, everybody's prayers are helping me so much, right now it's really endurable :) .... It hurts when I sit... Like all of my muscles just tighten up.... Kinda weird....  it might be from weak tummy muscles I think and not exercising and also lots of sitting I think............But I am okay :) No time for x-rays...tell the fam that I really love and appreciate them.  Thank you again!!

Next is--- AVATAR for Halloween? Family I am still dying from these pictures! You went all out! Man, I really have the coolest family! I am so happy the weather was good! I love these! 

Okay and finally my week-- so to tell you all I did this week, would take a week to type it out, BUT I will tell you some great highlights. Can I just say, I love being a missionary. That's all. 

Our lesson with Giovanni- Let me just tell you all, we had the greatest lesson ever! We were in their home, and we had something planned, and what happens??... Both me and my companion knew that the lesson needed to change. background story a bit- We have tried EVERYTHING with this family to get them to church, literally, and they have shown great progress. But we were in their and we had the feeling to share and testify of the Savior. We shared this story called the room, and Haylee has talked to me about this story but to sum it up it's about a man who goes into an office and there is a bunch of files, of every thought he had, of every funny moment, sad moment, happy moment, of all the music he had ever listened too, of every sin he committed. He then turns and the Savior is there and He looks through all of these files and see's the Savior signing his name for all of these files.- After sharing this story with them we looked up and asked the question, "What are you doing with the life the Savior died for?".... the room was silent. Then I get this thought to just start bearing my testimony, and it went something like this.."Giovanni, Ailene, Ivonne, I have 3 brothers, one is one of my best friends, and he is serving a mission right now in Ecuador, I have another brother, who is 10 who is the cutest thing, who is also my best friend, then I have another brother, who died for me.. (then the tears started coming... first time I have ever cried in a lesson... literally), He is my brother, redeemer and Savior JesuCristo..."--after that I don't remember what else was said, probably because I was crying, but the spirit was powerful, it touched their hearts. After that my companion asked them, "Do you ever see yourselves as active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? Do you see yourself Giovanni going on a mission? Giving blessings to people? Hermana serving in the relief Society?" These questions really hit them. We then had to tell them, "The reason we are being bold and stubborn with you, is because you are being stubborn with us!  More than that because we love you, and the Savior loves you." They laughed, and cried a little, and then the Hermana said, "I can see myself active again....Just not quite yet." Well, they still didn't come to church, but it was a really powerful lesson! 

I don't have time for too much more, but we went on 2 exchanges this week!  Tuesday and then on Saturday, They were great! On Halloween it started to hail..... and man, it is getting COLD!! ... It's bringing me back to the days in Midway! I have been thinking of my journey as a missionary, and I recently read my first letter home after getting into the mission field... let's just say that I have come a long way :) those of you who haven't read my first letter home..... don't do it... haha, I have really learned a lot out here, more than anything this gospel really does mean everything to me, it truly does. Well, sorry that's all that time permits! It's the last week of the transfer! Crazy! 

Tonight we are teaching Rafael with PRESIDENT WOODBURY... I am  so nervous, but SO excited!!! please pray for me! Love you all so much! 

All of me loves all of you all! 

Hermana Hammond

Please pray for Giovanni 

pray for Rafael

pray for Marisol and Vanessa

pray for Vanessa Ariaga (an investigator we found who is gonna get baptized!)

We got gourds for district meeting... To remember the story of Jonah,
annnnddd.... Halloween. Did you know that a pumpkin is a gourd? Who
woulda thought?