Hermana Brittany Haven Hammond: March 2015

March 9, 2015 It's fine... ELDER L TOM PERRY IS COMING TO OUR MISSION THIS SATURDAY!!!!

Feliz Cumpleanos: Cookie!!!!!

Well family...

I just want to start off by saying that I love my mission. I love missionary work. I love the Book of Mormon. I love my family. I love the gospel. I love the companions I have had, and adore my current companion. I love Hispanics. I love Spanish. I love Joseph Smith. I love singing himnos. But, mostly I love The lord, and I love His children.

Our mission is actually a really special mission, because it was chosen to be part of the pilot of ipad missions. All of the missions that have ipads, were privileged to have Elder Zwick (on an assignment by Boyd K Packer) come to ever mission to speak to us. IT WAS AWESOME. Like you all probably have wondered, well it was a success. With Ipads came SO many blessings, and A LOT of challenges, for every mission. What they are doing is called "a reset". They are giving EVERYONE new ipads, and sending a very detailed training booklet. Elder Zwick talked about how the brethren have TRUST in us, so we are all getting better, new improved ipads. He talked firmly and clearly about how we KNOW if we are worthy of that very trust. It was awesome. Also, things here in Chicago are really picking up, Elder L. Tom Perry, even though he is 94 years old and has 4 broken ribs had the impression to come to our mission. BIG THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN CHICAGO. Its all very exciting, and I feel so blessed that he is coming 4 days before I leave. HOW COOL!

Well. Hermana Kohlhase and I put all of our goals this week at 10, 10 everything. (except for baptisms, and confirmations....) I am so excited to work hard this week. I had my final presidents interview yesterday, I just love President Woodbury so much. He is the mission president I needed and has taught me so much. He really has grown, and I have grown, and I know He loves the Lord. He told me with tears in his eyes, "Thank you Hermana Hammond, you have served with all of your heart, might, mind, and strength, and I wont lie, you look a little weary.. you have sprinted with full energy for the whole race. Every mission President needs an Hermana Hammond" My eyes welt up with tears. One: because he could see how tired I was and I was trying to hide it. Two: Because I know I haven't been a perfect missionary, but the Savior has made up the difference and has made my mission perfect for me. I have seen myself change, and become magnified. I can not personally tell you what my mission has done for me. Any returned missionary would probably say the same. It is something that has to be lived. The best part is, is that it's not over. I know life is about progression.

I, love, my, mission. I have changed a lot, and there is still room for more change. You can all see some of the excerpts I put in from the beginning to the near the end. My mission has become very very sweet, and sacred to me. Something that I know has not only changed and blessed others lives, but truly has blessed and changed mine.

BUT HEY.. I still have a week! So here we go! For the last week of my mission! I love you all!

Question of the week?

Shall I falter? or SHALL I FINISH!!??

I will be a finisher

All of me loves all of you all!

Hermana Hammond

The CCM

Mexico!! HOLY Beautiful! I cannot get over it! It is so green, and we live in a PARADISE HERE! Although its RAIN season! haha, its insane how much it rains! The streets are literally ful everyday, like RIVERS AND PONDS flooding the streets, and do I have rain boots?.. haha no, but thats okay! I LITERALLY LOVE IT HERE. All of the workers are hispanics! Heck even my own roomates are MEXICAN! Right here from MExico city! ahaha! THEY ARE THE BEST! I love them" They hardly speak ANY ENGLISH! So, before I get to my Casa, I wanna talk about MEixco, we just got back from the TEMPLE!... It is BEAUTIFUL! Its like an actec TEMPLE! but.. white, and it literally stands out FAR more then any other temple stands out at all! Because surrounding it is GRAFFITI, literally everywhere, on every building and all of the buikldings are COLORFUL! LIke soooo colorful, like fusiah and blue and literally every color of the rainbow!

First letter in Chicago

Chicago, I am going to be quite honest, I do not like it very much. The sky is always grey, the buildings are ALL old old old, and so are the houses. I am in an area called Midway. South Chicago, TONS TONS TONS of black people, and the are Hispanics, and there are TONS of those too.

I thought EVERY mission fit under this, Either a really really really COOL place (like Europe, south America,... beautiful ... etc) or you have the loving accepting people. Well I am here to say Chicago, is neither. The area, is one of the scariest, darkest, saddest places I have ever been in. And quite honestly, the people match the place, they are either rude, or Very catholic. That's how it goes here. Its hard, My companion opened this new area last transfer, and so this week TOTAL we have taught 4 lessons. 2 in Ingles and 2 in Espanol. And the rest of the time, we are knocking doors, on the bus talking to people, or walking to potentials houses with them telling us they don't want to hear our message. It is really hard, when my companion isn't very happy because literally EVERYWHERE surrounding is seriousness and sadness. So, basically its the hardest thing ever. I have wondered SO many times why I am here, when no one even looks at me, or even knows who I am, or doesn't even care that we literally have THE greatest message they will ever hear in their WHOLE lives. Sp, basically, all week I have been praying to like the area and love the people I serve. and, youll be pleased to know that I have made some progress, now, I don't hate the area!1 Yay! ... I just don't like it! I know! haha, step up right?

There have been two songs that have been playing over and over again in my head, and one was Savior Redeemer of My Soul. (from 17 miracles), the line where it says "Make me more worthy, of thy love. And fit me for the courts above" The reason I am doing this, is because I want to be more worthy of Heavenly Fathers love. It doesn't matter where I serve, it matters HOW I serve. On Wednesday when I realized this I have been MUCH happier because I realize that it really doesn't matter. Youll be proud to know that not once have I complained out loud, I smile/talk/wave to EVERY person there is. (my thoughts are a little different)... but I am really trying hard to be sooo positive.

11/12/13

"all of our appts 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 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 apt! With Cinthia! Her daughter is crazy, and sooo cute Bella, during the whole lesson to keep quite she put stickers ALL over my arms, haha, 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!

12/2/13

If we so much as act on a twig of faith, by knocking one more house, God grows it. Its incredible. Spanish is coming:)

1/20/14

Domingo- well, because it was my last Sunday here I got pictures with
everyone and Angeles and Rudy let us come over to eat, and I told
Ricardo y Carmen and they almost cried, and they were like... no mi
hija!! ......While I was lamenting haha, I was flipping open my scriptures and
right as I opened them, I read the last lines from the book of Nefi,
which say, y yo debo obedecer

2/17/14

It was interesting because every Sunday I decide to read a story from the Bible (on a mission you never read from the bible, everything is from the Book of Mormon) but I want to get more familiar with the stories from the bible so I read a story every Sunday:) This Sunday I read the story of Job. I didn't know why, but I realize now that I needed to read it this week. Man, Job went through some of the hardest things, but one of my favorite verses that I read from it was Job 5:18 which says "For He maketh sore, and bindeth up: He woundeth and His Hands make whole." It reminds me of one of the talks by D Todd Christofferson about the Current Bush and it says, "How could you do this to me? How could you cut me down?" And the master says (something like) "Look little current bush, I know what I want you to be." In life I know the Lord needs to "make us sore" so that we can realize its through Him that we are "bound up." He needs to "wound us" so his hands can "make us whole". He does all of this because he know "what he wants US to be".

3/17/14

So we started driving back towards home, and the spirit
spoke to us again saying, "Hebron." And I was like Hermana, "I think
we need to be in Hebron today." Which Hebron is a TINY town of 1,000
people, it's at the border of Wisconsin, and smells like cows. I
thought I was in Rigby. We have been told by tons of missionaries that
there is NO Mexicans in Hebron, but we went anyway. At first we
started knocking, giving out pass along cards and asking if people
knew of any Mexicans around, and then we went to the one store in the
whole city, which was.... subway... And we were like, there's gotta be
a Mexican in there, well there wasn't, but we asked the worker if he
knew were any lived, and he was like... "Yeah! Right across the
street!" So we went, and knocked some doors, and the last door we
knocked, they were Mexican. The mom had taken the lesson before in
Texas, and her daughter was AWESOME, she's15 years old. It was really
cool! This is the first Mexican any missionary has found I Hebron, not
only that, but they told us that they had family and friends in
Hebron, meaning, that's where we are going to be for the next while,
trying to light up the gospel in This little town! I know the spirit
lead us here, and honestly Hna Michael and I dont know what would have
happened had we stayed in Harvard, there wasn't a shooting or natural
disaster. But I learned that if you plan and work and be obedient, to
the best you can, then The Lord can bless you, and he can change you
course to what he wants you to do. But it's after ALL you can do on
your part!

4/28/14

"Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water
that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell
on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he
is the God." Elijah then has all of the "prophets of Baal" killed.
WHOA!
There are many things that can be learned in this story and how it
applies to us, the main thing I learned that when God chooses his
prophet we better follow him! I remember in the CCM we watched a talk
given by Jeffrey R. Holland which he said, "If you don't know the
words of the prophets, it's the same as not believing them."
Do we know the words of our prophets now? Are we reading Preach my
Gospel and reviewing talks from conference? These are ALL words and
scripture the prophets are giving us today! I know I need to do better
in knowing the words of the prophets.

5/19/14

We went to Hermana Monges home. We went to basically see how
she was doing. Like always there was screaming kids, people smoking,
messy kitchen, and alcohol on the table. Right when we arrived, the
door was opened and the screaming was turned into smiles, the kids ran
and hugged our legs, and we got a big wet kiss on the cheek from
Hermana Monge. Then, as always, Hermana Monge started to cook up a
storm, thank goodness not with raw meat, or menudo this time. After
eating, Hermana Monge asked if we could give her a massage. Haha. It
was quite hilarious, but I would give that women a massage everyday..

6/16/14

"I pray every single night, even when I can smell the smoke
from the cigarettes that my brother smokes." My heart sort of stung at
this comment. She knows that when she prays she will get help, that is
faith! She will receive comfort, even in the midst of her hard family
life. I love it! What faith is this?

7/28/14

I love the words from the Gardner when he says, "I know what I
want you to be...". God gives us trials and tests our faith so we can
grow to become like him. He knows what he wants us to become. My goal
and theme that I am working on this week is put my faith and trust in
The Gardner. Aligning my will to His. Being patient and waiting on His
timing. And I know one day I'll say, Thank you Lord for loving me
enough, to cut me down.

8/4/14

Let me describe the house..... We started just throwing all the clutter on the floor away, we got
the vacuum but within the first push, it was clogged because of the
amount of flies.... We got to taking out the dishes in the sink...."We have to power-hose the dishes, it's the only way." We nodded
our heads, and silently got to work. Listening to Vocal Point

."I stand all amazed, at the love Jesus offers me, confused at the
grace, that so fully he proffers me." I was not crying because I
thought it was gross, not because of the smell, not because of the
sight, but because those words sank deep into my heart, and soul. I
was so confused as to why this women had to go through such a hard
life, I was so confused at why does she have to feel what she is
feeling, I was feeling so sad for how bad she hurt inside. Why did she
have to go through this? Why did she have to be the one to ache
inside? Why not me? Why did she get the family she got? There were no
words to describe what I was feeling for this women. I just stood
there on the grass, with tears streaming down my face. Then the words
rang in my head, "Oh it is wonderful, that he should care for me,
enough to die for me... Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me."

10/13/14

ON wednesday we were running at 6 in the morning and we started doing some lunges and we look up and who do we see??..... ONE OF OUR INVESTIGATORS. Her name is Irma, and we met her contacting on the street. She told us to pray for her mother in Guatemala and so we did and then we saw her, and she came and told us her mother had passed away. What a miracle we were out there and she just happened to be walking (crazy right at 6 in the morning). Later that day we went to her home and taught her the Plan of Salvation, just a little part, it was a really powerful lesson. It was awesome because she was so grateful. Later on that day she told us that there was a pasture from the Catholic church going to her home to pray for her mom, and it just made me think that the message we brought her was nothing but hope. It was centered on Jesus Christ, and how families can be together forever, and about how she WILL see her mother again! The prayer they brought her, was nothing but morning over those who are passed, and a sad time. The gospel is amazing. It was a really cool miracle!

10/27/14

I have such a testimony of how incredible God is. With each of these people, they hit their low, their personal rock bottom, He sent his messengers to go and rescue them. I always want to be ready for that call, whatever the Lords errand may be, I want to be ready for it.

12/8/14

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?
"Because maybe he was a little bit bad?....no!"

What are Gods shoes look like?

12/15/14

I know that God gives us commandments not to uncage 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 way we have the Savior! He helps us! I just love the thought that the 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.

1/19/15

Then one funny story to end off this email: so last week one of our
less actives told us to go to this one Thai Place and she has been to
Thailand and said it was the best one in Chicago, so we decided to go.
Before this, I had taught Hermana kohlhase the Thai national
anthem....

2/16/15

I am learning so much, about how this gospel helps people know who
they truly are. It helps them have self worth. Why? Why is that?
Because the gospel tells us WHO WE WERE before this life. It tells us
what kind of people we were before we were sent down here. We are down
here, because we were the generals, captains, and front lined soldiers
in the war before this life. Heavenly Father saved us at this time,
and put us in the families he did at this time, so we could do once
again what we did back then. So I ask you, are you being that person
you were? Even more, I hope your being even better.

We were really tired!