Dec. 29, 2014 BORN THAT MAN NO MORE MAY DIE!

Dec. 29, 2014  BORN THAT MAN NO MORE MAY DIE!

Feliz CUMPLEANOS JARED! Tienes 11 anos! WOW, que buenisimo! Te amo mucho. Y Brett and Danielle!

Well, family it was so good seeing you all! I propose a challenge, you can choose the challenge. We will start from this day until I get home.

Do whatever is easiest for you!

-Read the Book of Mormon in Spanish for 5 min during family scripture and prayer

&/or

-Read from Preach my Gospel in Spanish for 5 min during family scripture and prayer.

Sound like a deal?

Well, this week was great! I just love being a missionary during Christmas! It really is the best thing ever. There was so much to do, we didn't know how to get it all done! So I will point out some things that went on this week!

- We ate 3 elephants, literally from Christmas eve to Christmas day we ate 7 big meal citas. It was so great! Hermana Kohlhase and I were basically dying, but after a few stool softeners, some fiber one bars, and lots of spinach we are doing great! I honestly just love going into a home, knowing I will be fed, but hearing the words, "Hermanas we cooked all day, we hope you like it.." it just melts my heart, and yes we eat every bite! After eating on Christmas Eve, we had a jam session, a Puerto Rican jam session, which included maraca's and a guitar and a tambourine! It was seriously so fun!  

- Family, thank you for the presents for Rosa, dropping them off was The funnest/scariest thing ever, but it was also so fun! On Friday they were playing with their new toys and seriously so so happy.  

- On Christmas day Hermana Kohlhase had the idea, that with a few Elders, we go down town give out socks and pan to all of the homeless people. It was a sweet time. We walked around the desolate streets of down town Chicago and found those who had no home or family on Christmas. At one point we all had a feeling to go to this one place by the lake in down town and there we found 7 or 8 tents with people in them, people who were homeless and had no food for Christmas. We went and gave all of our socks and bread to these people and it was a sweet time for me. It helped me remember all of the blessings that I have in my life, and just how grateful I am for my family.

We also handed out cards to He is the Gift while we were down there to the few people who were on the streets on Chicago. We got a lot of rejection, some spit beer in our faces (don't worry it didn't touch us) and some laughed at us, and some accepted the card with gratitude. While we were doing this my thoughts turned to the Savior, and I just remember saying a little prayer while we were getting rejected that- one day, those people would find THEIR Savior and Brother.

It was a sweet time for me, and one Christmas that I will never forget. I love you family! I miss you!

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Hark,The Harold Angels Sing. In the version that the Mormon Tab Choir with Alfie Boe, he sings a verse that is so powerful.... in the middle of the verse it says

"Born that man no more may die

born to raise the sons of earth

born to give them second birth

Hark the Harold angles sing

glory to the new born king! " 

How powerful is it that all of us have a chance to start over, because of Jesus Christ we can literally have a new birth, through baptism and through repentance.

PRAISE BE TO HIM WHO GIVES US A SECOND BIRTH! I love it!

This week we are going to kill it! I love it, and I really do love being a missionary. The more I am out here, the better it gets. What else in life is better than saving souls of my brothers and sisters? Nada

All of me loves all of you all!

Hermana Hammond

Dec. 22,2014 He is the reason I am here!

Dec. 22, 2014 He is the reason I am here!
Feliz Cumpleanos: Amazing Kristin!!
Well family...
Happy Christmas Harry! (As it says in Harry potter)

Family! I don't have much time, but I will see-talk to you this week! I am so happy!
This week we went down town in the middle of Chicago, right there and
did a HUGE He is the Gift contacting activity! We talked to literally
1000s of people! It was awesome!

I love you family! Jesus Christ really is why I am out here! He really
is what I love to share about! Here's a story! Hope you like it!

All of me loves all of you all!
Hermana Hammond

I love to contemplate what it costs our Father in Heaven to give us the
gift of His Beloved Son, that worthy Son of our Father, who so loved
the world that He laid His life down to redeem the world, to save us
and to feed us spiritually while we walk in this life, and prepare us
to go and dwell with Him in the eternal worlds. …
                       I recall an experience which I had … , bearing witness to my soul
of the reality of [the Savior’s] death, of His Crucifixion, and His
Resurrection, that I shall never forget. …
                        … I found myself one evening in the dreams of the night in that
sacred building, the temple. After a season of prayer and rejoicing I
was informed that I should have the privilege of entering into one of
those rooms, to meet a glorious personage, and, as I entered the door,
I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious being my eyes
have ever beheld or that I ever conceived existed in all the eternal
worlds
                        As I approached to be introduced, He arose and stepped towards me
with extended arms, and He smiled as He softly spoke my name. If I
shall live to be a million years old, I shall never forget that smile.
He took me into His arms and kissed me, pressed me to His bosom, and
blessed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt! When He had
finished, I fell at His feet, and, as I bathed them with my tears and
kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of
the world. The feeling that I had in the presence of Him who hath all
things in His hands, to have His love, His affection, and His blessing
was such that if I can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I
would give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I
then felt!
                        … I see Jesus not now upon the cross. I do not see His brow pierced
with thorns nor His hands torn with the nails, but I see Him smiling,
with extended arms, saying to us all: “Come unto me!”
I Know That He Lives!

                                         I LOVE LOVE my new Companion!!!Kohlhase

                                        Idaho !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dec. 15, 2014 GODS COMMANDMENTS TRULY MAKE US FREE!!

 Dec. 15, 2014 GODS COMMANDMENTS TRULY MAKE US FREE!!

Feliz Cumpleanos: Kyson K, McKenzie, Shawn, Melanie, and MY AMAZING Grandpa Hammond!!!!

FAMILIA! 

I am so excited for Rosa to get all of the presents! I know she will be 

so grateful! I am so grateful for you family! 

I don't have much time, we have a lot we have to do, BUT my 

new companion will be HERMANA KOHLHASE.

Actually, I have been on 2 exchanges with her, and Hermana

Izu trained her. She is AWESOME. I love her to death! 

I am so excited! Sad as well because Hermana Izu will be missed.

I will only share 2 stories from this week, but it truly has been a

great week! 

This past Friday Hermana Izu and I had a very interesting day, but it
was a great day. In the morning we had Hermana Milagros, and she is
one of my favorite people in the world. She takes very good care of us
missionaries. She loves to feed us, and every time we go over there
she serves us A TON, (like more than you would eat on thanksgiving,
and add an elephant on top of it) so after we ate there we went over
to this other members house, (double eating cita... Always a killer)
Hermana Calderon, and she just is the cutest thing ever. Before I got
here she didn't really like the Hermana missionaries, but she is the
one who gave us Rafael, (our awesome investigator) and after working
with him a little and showing her love she just loves having us over.
She cooked us some Pozole, (which is usually really good) but Hermana
Izu and I both got sick from it, (it could have been the meat and/or
we just ate too much..) but in the bathroom Hermana Izu threw it up,
Then after leaving her house I ran to the back of her house into the
alley (while running I was throwing up) and threw up there, but right while I was
throwing up (and running into the alley) Rafael and his mom came out
of their car (they are neighbors to Hermana Calderon) and started
talking to Hermana Izu. They invited us in. So I quickly threw up, and

 my companion was in Rafael's yard looking at 

me throwing up in the alley, and yelling, "YOU CAN DO IT HERMANA, WE HAVE TO GO!!!"

So I quickly threw up a little bit more, cried a little bit, my companion yelling at me, 

"COME ON, I AM GONNA THROW UP TOO!!!" I whipped off the throw up into my 

hands, cried a little bit more, (I am such a baby) (I am not a good thrower upper) and walked into their home smiling. While we were teaching the spirit was so strong. We showed them He is the Gift, and we reminded Rafael and said, "Rafael, do you remember when you had

that feeling, burning in your heart you told us about??" And he smiled
so big and was like, "yeah..." And we said, "Rafael we have SO much we
want to teach you, like where you came from, and why you are here, and
where you are going.." And he was like, "You have all of those
answers?" "Yes, Rafael, if you want to learn, then you just tell us, we
are here for you." And he said, "can you come back next Friday?" ....
Family, Rafael avoided us for almost a whole month! It killed me that
he didn't want to see us and dropped us because we taught him the
Sabbath day and he wanted to okay soccer on Sunday. (He still does,
but we are going to work with him) we just had to remind him of his
testimony! It just took a little break and a miracle for us to talk to
him. God made it possible and put Rafael and his mom back in our path
and they want to be taught again! After the cita both Hermana Izu and I 

hurt from the eating and waddled home, then took some ex-lax, but it was truly a miracle! 

Next, I would like to share what happened with Rosa. She is doing so great.

She didn't come to church because she was sick, so we went and visited her. 

We shared a video with her and just listened to her. She is changing. From the first

time I got there, and she truly wants to change. Baptism might be in the far future because 

she has to face some hard addictions, but I know God works miracles! At the end of our visit 

she said the closing prayer, and prayed for all of my family, and was so grateful that we were put into her life. She also prayed for unity in her family and just started crying saying, "my only wish is to live in the place of the SUN (the celestial kingdom) and be with my family forever." She has changed my life. If it be 5 years until she gets baptized, that's okay, I will be there. The medication she is on is waning her off of what she is addicted to, and it make take years, but she can do it! 

I love you family! I know that God gives us commandments not to encage us, but to FREE us! 

I have seen what happens to families lives when there is Word of Wisdom problems, or when the law of chastity is broken. It is nothing but sad, and it takes a long time of repairment, but that is why we have the Savior! He helps us! I just love the thought that  we the missionaries, and the ward, and our friends are here on the side rooting, cheering on those who are coming, BUT I know its the Savior who is pulling with them, who is there every step of the way. I love Him. 

All of me loves all of you all! 

Hermana Hammond 

Miracles: GIOVANNI CAME TO CHURCH AGAIN

VILLANUEVA FAMILIA CAME TO CHURCH

MERCY CAME TO CHURCH

WANDA LET US HIDE HER COFFEE MAKER SO SHE WONT DRINK COFFEE!!! 

                                                         El es la Dadiva!!! It was awesome!!!!!!!!

One Direction and Wanda!!

Dec. 8, 2014 "DO DINOSAURS NEED TO GET BAPTIZED??"

Dec. 8, 2014 "DO DINOSAURS NEED TO GET BAPTIZED??"

Dearest Hammond family, and who ever else reads these emails :)

First I just want to say that I am praying for Ryan! The Lord protects His missionaries!

Feliz Cumpleanos: Aspen & Ty Ty! OOOOOH I cannot believe that you are getting baptized!!! Soo Awesome!! 

It has been an incredible week, it just keeps getting better and better. I LOVE being a missionary at Christmas time.

 have one favoIr to ask all of you, as much as I would love Christmas presents, please don't send me any. Instead of my present could you all pitch in money and whatever you have and send presents to me for my investigator Rosa? She has four boys, ages 6, 8, 11, and 14, and she is a single mother. They don't have heat in their home, and they are so poor. Presents could include hats, gloves, toothbrushes, extra hand-me-down clothes, and maybe homemade sock/rice warmers. This is all I ask of you. This would be the greatest Christmas present you could all ever give me. Thank you :)

This week was a great week! I just want to share a few things that happened.

This week we have been sharing a video called He is the Gift, in Spanish its called, El es la Dadiva. Dadiva means a really really special gift. I love Spanish.

Anyways, the church is really putting a lot of effort into this video, and it really is so inspired because we are already seeing miracles from it! With members, less-actives, and investigators. I challenge you all to put this video on your face book page, and also to share and post it on 2 other peoples pages. Its a powerful video! Just this week on Friday we had a lesson with a less-active family. La familia Martinez.

       background on the familia Martinez, last week when we went to visit them they had a birthday party for their son and we had a cita with them, so we came and then the party started, and the whole family came in with the beers, and well, we knew we should probably hurry up and share our message. I was hurrying and trying to get the whole family together, whether they had a beer in hand or not, and I reached down to grab my bag and BAM..... I hit the beer and it spilt all over my hand and all over the floor. I was like, HERMANO!! PERDON.... (but really not perdon.. I didn't feel that bad) Mostly I felt bad because there was beer all over my hand. ANYWAYS.... this is the Martinez.

 We read in the book of Mormon, in 3 Nefi 1, and we read this story and ask Hermano and Hermana to act as if they were some of these Nefitas who were going to be killed if the sign didn't come. The hermano got so into it. He was like, "Hermana, a prophet told of these things, obviously they are going to come to pass, Hermana, this is crazy I would be like, YOU CRAZY'S WHO DON'T LISTEN TO THE PROPHET!!!".. haha he just went off, and we applied this story to them, how they weren't listening to a prophet that we have today. We were really bold in calling them to repentance. We even told them, "Hermanos, the reason we are being so firm with you, is because we love you, and we know that God loves you and He is WAITING to give you blessings, if you just would go to church.." and he answered us saying, "yeah Hermanas, you're being pretty bold..". If there is anything I have learned on my mission, it's that you can NEVER be too bold if you do it with love.

They didn't come to church this week, but they are well on their way back.

Next, we had an incredible lesson with ROSA!

But before I tell you what happened I will give you context.

The day before Hermana Izu and I had so many appointments we had to call President Woodbury to get permission if we could go on splits with people in our ward, so I would go with someone and Hermana Izu would go with someone. SO many miracles happened, we got 4 members present in 2 hours because we were at different places. (it was incredibly weird without my companion, but completely awesome because I went with Hermana Ortiz, and she is amazing) Hermana Izu went to Rosa with la familia Delgado. They visited Rosa and taught her the Word of Wisdom. Rosa has some really hard addiction that she is fighting, and so teaching this lesson was pretty crucial, and had to be done by the Spirit. The lesson went GREAT (I wasn't there, but so they told me everything...). She accepted EVERYTHING, and just said with full faith, it will take a little bit of time, but here we go! She is amazing.

The next day, Hermana Izu and I went over to go watch Finding Faith in Christ with her and her sons. THEY LOVED IT. They would pause the video and ask questions. Nicholas (her 6 year old) has the cutest questions! He asked us, "How did Jesus know he was Jesus? How do we build our faith in Christ? WE NEED TO BE BAPTIZED LIKE JESUS!"

 The best question.... "DO DINOSAURS NEED TO GET BAPTIZED?? BECAUSE THEY ARE MEAN AND THEY NEED TO GET BAPTIZED" ha ha Hermana Izu and I died of cuteness.

Also, one more miracle... GIOVANNI CAME TO CHURCH and his familia! They haven't been for more than at least 8 years. They had their baby blessed. THE WORK IS GOING FORWARD. and I love it.

Also one more miracle, on Saturday I was on exchanges, but Hermana Izu and the other missionary that was here had a miracle day!! They found a WHOLE FAMILY THAT IS SO PREPARED TO MEET THE GOSPEL!!! This family, actually started because of a really cool lesson at Giovanni's home, and he invited one of his friends into our lesson and the friend listened and Hermana Izu and other missionary went back for them! From this one day we have 8 new investigators!!! I am dying over here!!!

This week is Hermana Izu's last week in the mission, so we have citas like crazy, (lots of eating citas... its how they show their love... yay for having Thanksgiving everyday this week!) The theme of this week for us is HIT IT HARD. We are going with all our heart, might, mind, and strength!!

LETS HIT IT HARD!!! I love you family!

All of me loves all of you all!

Hermana Hammond

Nicholas's questions

Do dinosaurs need to be baptized? Because they are mean they need to be baptized

Do animals go to the celestial kingdom?

How did Jesus know he was Jesus?

Why did Jesus have to get baptized?

 What do Gods shoes look like?  

 This is me and a new Hna, Hna Shipp! She has the coolest camera!

Dec. 1, 2014 Thanks to Him

Dec. 1, 2014  Thanks to Him 
Feliz Cumpleanos: Queen Esther, and Theresa and Sarah Schmidt

My heart has been really softened and touched this week.

We have seen so many miracles, I don't know where to begin. I think I will do a thank you email this week, because I have so much to be grateful for. (I am following the example of Haylee.. thanks babe) 

1. First- I am grateful that I got really sick this week. WHY? because one, it made it really easy to say no to the 15+ dinners we got invited to from the ward, and we didn't have to pick and choose which one we should go to because we couldn't go to any of them! We felt so much love as I was sick in bed. Hermana Izu sent out a text to all of our members and investigators saying that we just love them and we got so many responses of pure love and gratitude. Really I was so filled with Gods love and His gratitude just thinking about all of these convert members, who just love missionaries because missionaries changed their lives. It was truly humbling. and it saved our lives--- aka we didn't get diabetes-- that's always good!

2. Because I was sick we had to say no to a family (LA FAMILIA VILLANUEVA)-- (less active we work with, one of my favorites I have met on my mission)  and coming over to dinner, right once they heard I was sick the Hermana (who I just adore) went and made me soup and brought it to me!! It was the sweetest thing in the entire world. Hermana Izu and I were so grateful, (well at the time I was dying in the bed, and hermana Izu met the Hermana outside and died a little bit over there). Anyway, it just showed me so much love. I was so grateful! I am not used to being helped!  Because on the mission, you are out here for everyone else, and to get all of this love from other people, I almost felt guilty. It was so life-changing. 

3. I am grateful for my companion who took care of me, she even gave me a back massage while I was sick... now that is a true Idahoan! (actually shes from California.. but shes worthy to be from Idaho...) (I thought that was pretty funny) 

4. I am grateful for Rosa (our investigator) who came to church, and even WALKED in the cold to get there with her 2 sons. She is amazing, she said she LOVED church! The ward fellow shipped her like you've never seen. I was dying! 

5. I am grateful that I get to go on exchanges with Hermanas who just come out, THEY HAVE SO MUCH FAITH! 

6. I am grateful for la Familia Villanueva who invited us over for dinner on Saturday (when I was kinda better) who after our powerful message committed to prepare to enter the temple as a family. We love this family so much! We have seen so much growth in them. They have 5 kids, all teenagers, who don't come to church who have been here a year in America, who are ready to change! At church on  Sunday 5 of them were there and they talked to the bishop about going to the temple!.. Hermana Izu and i frankly about cried. We have seen so much growth in this family! We still have a little bit to go, but its an amazing journey that we have been blessed to see! I love them. 

    I also invited them to come visit us in Idaho, also offered them our home to stay in while they are there, and promised them river rafting hiking and fishing.... sorry not sorry Dad! :) family learn your Spanish! (they espeak no Ingles) 

7. I am grateful for the new video He is the Gift.. and I challenge you all to post this video on your face book walls and also on your friends walls specifically. do it. 

8. I am grateful most of all for the Savior. I have learned so much about the atonement while I have been out here on my mission. I know that He really does heal ALL pain. He heals us when we are tired, when we don't feel good enough, He heals us when we feel regret, when we have hit our low, when we have fallen off of the path, when we feel like we can't go on, when we feel like we don't know what to do or what to say, and when we feel empty, He can heal us. I have felt and seen his Healing power in my own life and in the lives of many many people. His power is real, and I love sharing the news that He Heals. 

I love you family! I am grateful for you and for your prayers! I want to be with you all forever and ever! 

All of me loves all of you all

Hermana Hammond                       La Familia Villanueva