the week 12/5/2011

Well this week was a fun one!! IT was actually pretty stressful!! My comp went to Ibague this week to sing in the Choir so i was left in my area with a mini missionary! So i was running the zone alone! It was really that hard but it was just alot to do!! For some reason nobody warns anyone about anything here! They like being spontaneous! So they called us friday at 1015 to tell us that the missionaries from the MTC would be comin to our area saturday at 8! We were all like well ok, lets get to work!! We were short on missionaries right now becasue we have the christmas choir performance that we are doing as missionaries so some missionaries were traveling so we had to re coordinate some stuff i was with my mini missionary (hes a kid in my ward that is preparing to go on the mission! So he does no the area and i was teachin him missionary stuff!! And they sent us 4 missionaries to my area and to other areas in my zone didnt have missionaries either so we had to work things out and all!! But we got everyone to an area to work and got it all good!!

 We are teaching this family that are super funny!! Theres this old guy who has lost part of his memory and is hard of hearin and basically just sits there all day watching tv and his stomach always make weird noises while we are in the lessons!! So anyways we were in sacrament meetin and the sister left her grandpa at home yesterday because she didnt want him to come for some reason! So just as we started the passing the sacrament Enrique comes and knocks on the door to the sacrament salon!! haha!! And starts yellin hey thet door is locked!!! The door is closed! And kept knockin on the door haha!!!! I tried to not die laughin!! So i went and let him in!! When he talks he talks very loud becasue hes hard of hearin too so you have to yell at him so he can hear you adn then he responds back yellin too!! haha!! So i was like ENRIQUE SIT DOWN!!! And everyone in the chapel was like what the!! haha!! Everytime he recieve the Sacrament He always thanks the person thats passes him it! but super loudly and says GRACIA JOVEN!!!!! But he screams it!! haha!! He s great!! haha!! We work alot with makin the ward better here!! THerer are so many inactives in the ward due to people being offended s owe tell the ward memebers to watch what they say and not to offend people and not to be offended!! Anyways we finally got this family to come back to church for the first time in a while!! And they sat in the back of the chapel and came a bit late!! But then afterwards like the whole ward came and talked to them and gave them a warm welcome back and the sister said it felt so good to be back and it was a marvillous day there in the chapel!! YES EXITO!!!! We always get the interestin investigators here its so interestin! THeres this lady we are teachin and she always has the weirdest stories!! She told us how she met a devil before!!! She said when she was a teen she snuck out of her house and went dancing at some party! THere was this gringo there at the party white boy with blond hair blue eyes and a hunk!! So she was dancing with him like all night and then she sat down and rested while this kiddo kept dancin and she looked a t his legs and his feet were cow hoofs (When she was tellin us the story she stood up and started to dance as if she had cow feet haha!! I tried to hold in from laughin but she was sp serious about how she was dancing with cow feet some how i kept in my laughter) Then this cow footed man then looked at her and he had now red firey eyes!! And he told here with her eyes not to look at him!! THen she said oh my!"·$"$(Lords name in vain) and then he got mad at her and told her that he should never say that name because it takes away his power. Then this man left with some chick to like go make out with her or somethin and then the girl started screamin that he was the devil!! I had no idea what to tell her about that story so i asked if she was awake when this happend or is this a dream!! She got made at me adn said that no this actually happened in real life! I had no idea what to tell her!! but then she kept tellin us more weird stories!! So we told her that would bless her home and cast out some evil spirits if she would like she said she would like that!! So thats my spiritual experience of the week haha!!

 But on a legit note I had a bomb time contactin people this week!! I really do love to talk to people in the street! ITs always great when they actually listen too!! I a have been workin on gettin there attention with some cool point or something like that! Usually people think that we come to like bible bash or somethin, but really i hate doing that!! So when they try to bible bash or just cause conflict i try to respond in some ways to respond completely different!! SO we were contactin and appartently the state made some trade agreement with Colombia and there are people that dont like it. So this guy was like hey why does america like war, all you gringos want its war!! I said Yes, we like war!! WE are actually at war right now!! I am a soldier did you know, we are soldiers against wickedness! I dont want satan to win the war so we are rescuing soldiers!! WE are here to save!! He was like, well thats interstin how do you save!! So we talked to him!! IT was awesome so he invited us to come back this week! another time we knocked on a door And some guy was washin his clothes on his roof balcony! And he threw a tub of water at us!!! So i asked the guy that threw water at us (he missed us thankgoodness) why do you through water at us when all want is to give you a present! WE only like to get wet when we get baptized. The guy laughed at me adn said he would come down and talk to us!! So we got to talkin and he was actually super interested so we basically takl him the 1st lesson then and there in his doorstep and we ended up giving him the book of Mormon then and there and he apologized for the water and we will visit him this week too!! So it was a good week! I liked it!!

But the missionaries from the MTC, oh boy, they were so scared!!! They just gave people pass along cards and said nothin haha!! I was like ok Elder Vasques(missionary from the MTC) your time to contact! he knocked at the door and the lady opened and ask what d oyou want (a bit rudely) and he just stood there, shell shocked!! I was like Elder say somethin, he said nothin, so i stepped in a nd talked to the lady and she was actually pretty cool!! But this happened like 6 times he would just stand there at the door and say noothing for like 10 seconds haha!! It was hilarious but a bit diffult haha! But a good time!! I finally found some cookie dough ingredients here so i have been makin cookie dough for everyone haha!! LOVE THAT STUFF!!!

 I am super stoked for this and next week!! WE have the Missionary choir program in Bogota this week and next week i am goin into the AMAZON RAINFOREST BABY!! I am goin to Leticia for a week to sing in the choir there!! I sing super good!! haha!! _not!! But they have me singin a solo in spanish Im sing Oi su voz!! (I heard his vioce) i am singni a verse! AHhh!! WE shall see how that goes, but i get to go to the rainforest to sing it so i am happy!! I feel like i have the voice of an angel i am followin in the footsteps of my sweet sister Jay! haha!! I have no voice like my sister!! Here is an updated Christmas list!! I actually would like a Cd of Mom singin me those goodnight song that she would sing, the BYU courage song, and the my birth song (dont know what you call that song) And sister Jay singin some good hymns, and a song of mace singing me a song with Dad playing Guitar and Weenie singin some Hannah Montana song!! And then a song of Evy Vrying and a song of Hen and jerry singin a hymn!! And picture of Luke! haha!! Well somethin like that haha!! All is weel here builing up zion in Roma haha!! Love Elder Hammer

i am grateful to be in the gospel and to be an american 11/21/2011

I am so tired of teaching athesist people!! AHHHHH!! They are so easy yet so hard to teach!! Theres this guy that we are teachin that is part of something called Metta physica!! Its a belief that God is in everyone, that a person is made up of a spirit a soul and a God!! When they pray they pray to their yo superior, so they pray to the God that is in them!! The believe that Christ only is a person that has lived perfectly becuase he conquered his inner yo superior!! The believe in the re encarnation, and things like that!! They dont believe that Adam and Eve really were adam and eve, they believe in many on this earth that there we atlest 50!! I was like how do you know that! He didnt have an answer!!!! Then We he denied the divinity of our Savior Jesus Christ I got like literally mad! It was a weird mad, it was more of like how dare you even question the divinty of Christ!! So i started to talk alot to him about Christ and I asked him, if they believe in re encarnation then what happens when we become perfect he was like well we all have to come back to earth again and stay fresh and he used an example that its like when we study addition we still must practice it so we dont forget!! So then i asked him then where is Christ, He has only one body, he was resurrected, the scriptures testify of this, that our Lord is not here on earth physical but yes we have the Holy Ghost here that testifies of Him, So if everyone must re encarnate then where is Christ today! Then i had the opportunity to testify to him of the Divinty of Christ, The importance of His coming here to the Earth to save us, The great power of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus and How we can be saved through the atonement only if we repent and come unto Him! The thing about theses athesists is that you cant really use the scriptures too much to help them believe, my comp is hilarious when we teach these guys, He is super good with the scriptures and all, so the last time he used the example of Korihor, the anti christ and how he get trampled and is killed, the guy was like, are you telling me people are going to step on me until i die!! I was like, Elder its an excellent story but maybe the trampling part we could have left out!! haha! but i love my comp!!! But the thing abouit athesist is that the whole time is, is that we start of on their field using their logic until we get them to a point where they question there one knowledge then i become a testimony field! The only thing that can change an athisit is from a testimony so he testify, and thats what i love to do!!! I have increased so much in my love for the scriptures and i know them sooo much better and i can teach with them and use references but its really the terstimony that will create another testimony!! So i always try to leave a good point for them to think about but even more important a testimony to feel!!!!

We had a crzy fun pday today!! Its rainy season so its always wet here!! But we had a soccer game against Zona Soacha, we dont know why, but we decided to make them a rival Zone, we we played them today!!! The field was soakin wet and all muddy, but what do we do, of course, its an allout war of mud tackel soccer, YES!!!! IT was so beasty!! I am gettin a lot better at soccer now!! I am like the defender of the Zone!! I love it!! We get pretty agressive and we attack and of course my zone won!!!! Zona Soacha has been undefeated for like the past 5 months, but i have never played against them ,and of course when my zone comes in, we beat them 10 -6 !! That how we do in Zona Libertad!! We made a logo for our Zone as the statue of Liberty!! haha! WE got little sweaters made for our zone that we are all gonna wear to the next multi zona aconferencia!! its gonna be bomb!! I love being Zone leader!! Its a blast!!! I just love being a missionary in General!! Its the greatest!! We just help people, thats all!! I love it!!! but i hate doing so many errands! Ahh!! We do a lot of errands as zone leaders so we loose a lot of time in our area!!!! but tis alright, i love my zone, we basically are the best!!!

 We are super excited here in Roma i think i told you about the family that we met conatctin the other week here well they got a baptismal date for JAnuary!!! We are super stoked!! I put a pic of them as an attachment!! THey are doing so good!! THe girl speaks english and is super cool!!! But shes like a bit clueless about what is this whole purpopse of life is and things like that, and i feel so greatful that I have been born in the truth and have this understanding and testimony of God!! Cuz without it i would be lost!! But they came to church on Sunday and they liked it an we got an FHE with them tonight!! We are gonna try to also have thanksgiving with them!! They dont have thanksgiving here, but we are gonna do something as a zone that, i am cooking the turkey it seems!! haha!! All is well my dear friends!!! I love being a missionary!! I love Colombia!! I love my savior and my God!! I miss you all tons!! But super content being in the Service of the one and only true God!!! Our saying in the Zone is PREPARANSE POR GLORIA!!!! haha!! Prepare yourself for Glory!!!! Thats what we do!!!

 Love ya all!! Enjoy THanksgiving!!! My three candy corns for the Year!! Number 1!! I am so greatful my my Savior Jesus Christ!! He is more that just a great teacher, but he really is the Savior, he is my light and my guidance and give me an understanding of Purpos!! Number 2!! I am so greatful to be a missionary in the Service of my God, to have the opportunity to be an instrument in His hands and serve Him here in the same country as my beloved Father!! Yes MY POPS is super number !! I am greatful for my superheroe Heavenly father and my Good ol Pops here in the Earth!!! I am greatful to serve in the same country as him!! I will have lunch with pres pico, next week!! And Numer 3 Which is super important is my lovely family!! YESS My family is soo perfect!! I am grateful for my perfect family!! To have parent like nephi a brother like Sam and sisters all three like my mary magdelenes!! That is my scripture comparision of my family!!!! I am so grateful to have grandparents that are firm in the faith and have raised up my bomb parent to raise me and my stellar sibling and i am so stoked to get to know my niece Evelyn soon! I am grateful to have my awesome aunts and uncles that played with my parents as children and who all are number one aunts and uncles!! I love ya all and will be think of you all this thanksginving as i preach the word of God this Week!!! Love Elder Hammer

theres a new stake here! 11/14/2011

Yesterday offically we formed the colombia bogota liberty stake!!! It was pretty cool to be there they divided 2 stakes into 3!! Elder Pino came a 70 and divided the stake here!1 It was fun to be there with all fo my homies!! because i am still in the same stake as Patio bonito i saw all of my homies and was like friends!! how are we doing!! It was soo fun!! I loved Patio!! It was nice and poor, with a little bit of insanity and something wierd or a dyer problem to resolve! So it was excellent!! I kind of got the Elders case that are there in Patio!!! there are now 4 elders there, so they should be doing double the work that we were doing and they didnt even baptize this transfer!!! I was like Elders i know you are workin but i left you 10 with baptimsal dates!! 6 for this transfer! Why didnt anyone get wet!!!! But they will have some baptisms soon i hope there!! We are startin to get some wonderful investigatores here!!! We found 2 new familes that are super hardcore!! One family is has 3 kids all older like 22 and up and the mom has cancer and always has to have surgery and all that stuff so we talked to them about God and the REstoration and how God is a God of miracles and mercy and the importance of having Faith!1 And they loved the message they were soo cool!! one of the sons was asking alot of questions about how it would be possible to have a prophet in these times so we explained and was super cool about!! he is an airplane pilot for the army here!! We had a good time talkin about things!! Since ive got in the mission i have decided that i would like to be an helicopter search and rescue pilot!! i think that could be awesome!! The other family was such an amazing experience!!! We were out contactin and all and we knocked on a door and i was like hey there, we are missionaries!! Here the people always pop out of the windows!! Like maybe one person has actually answered the door here in Colombia! So the lady was like, excellent!! I will come down!!! Wich is super strange, I was like she must think we are someone special becasue its very rare that someone comes down to hear us! she was like!! Hello, then i testified to her about the power of the family and all about the family!! And she was super happy!! She told us how she had prayed us here!! That she was praying to God to see if he really knew here!! she has had a pretty ruff life!! but she was so humble and was like, but God has never hated me, i chose to bringu upon myself these trials.! I loved to party, had a child very young, have gotten into drugs, and i married basically a stranger that beated me just cuz i needed money to help with my kid finacially!! But i brought that upon myself!! My comp and i were like!! Well thank you for recongnizing the power of God and recogning fro yourself the importance to follow Christ! Then her sister walked by and was like what is going on here so we told her who we were and she got super excited!! wow, my Sister has prayed you here!! Excellent!! Then we kept tlakin and were like hey come back tmmoroow, we wnt you to talk to my daughter! so we went back on Fridayand the lady has an 18 year old daughter who lives in the States and speaks perfect english she doesnt even have an accent!! So i started to talk to her in english and she just liked opened up and told me like here story, she lived in Pittsburg and then in Colorado! she got into some heavy things and then she was like, so who are you!! And i told her about how we are missionaries of God and we are here to help people come to know him and to find true happiness!! And she told me i would really like it if you would teach me about God now please!! And she was so sincere and it was so awesome!! It was so cool to do a lesson in english the first time here in colombia, I loved it!!!! today the family came and planned sports with us in the chapel with some other families we got some investigators, members and recient converts to come play with us!! It was a success! So we are slowly but surely building the kingdom of God here in Roma!!

Ok, now it is time to tell you all that i am kind of famous here!! We have a Mission choir here for Christmas!! So i tried out to do liek a duet thing and all and i got the part!! So i am part of the touring choir of the mission so for basically 2 weeks i get to go tour the mission!! i am super stoked!! I am going to LETICIA!! It a city in the middle of the AMAZONS!!! I am super stoked we will be there for a week and then another week in Ibaque and in Giradolt!! check these places out on google Earth or somethin cuz these are legit little town with monkeys and everything!! i am sooo happy!! It will be fun to finally get out of the city!! now for the important thing is to what is on the christmas list!!! A back massager!! please!! My back kills me here!! and i am not in a singles ward, so i cant ask some lady to rubb my bakc, Mom aint here either, and tookies aint here to walk on my back or nothin so i am kind of a lost cause!! Thats all really!! some candy is always welcomed and cookie dough!! Then maybe a few bills in the bank account!! Its that in Leticia they have like hardcore suovenirs and all!! So thats how its all going here!! I love my comp!! He is so hardcore!! We have a great time!! Hes kind of different when it comes to teaching!! He is studying to be a lawyer so he always show people a scripture and then tells the mto do it cuz the bible says it!! Its pretty funny he loves to get into gosple fights!! But its all good we ahve a great time here!!

Love Elder Hammer

the atoning sacrifice of Christ in our lives 11/7/2011

This week I have been doing two types of studyin in my study time!! I am still studying the Atonement of Jesus Christ. At times I feel so happy that I am starting to feel that I get a grasp of the atonement but then im like, no, i dont understand the full effects of the atonement. I am understanding it better, yes, but the atonement covers everything that we cant even imagine what it means!! We are workin super hard trying to build the ward back up and bring new people to church and get some people married and all of that good stuff here!! Every lesson I like to apply a part of the atonement into the lives of the people! We need to apply the atonement into our lives, in every aspect! Because the atonement covers every subject of our lives!!! Christ invites us to come to him and we do this through His atonement!! I can change my perspective of life when i understand the atonement of my savior!!

We are workin alot with less active members alot here!! The ward had over 400 people in the register so we are visiting the people that we havent seen at church or people that the bishopbric have told us to visit so we are workin alot on this!! Elder Bednar gave an awesome talk about less active members and said that almost always members go inactive because some one offends them in some small or unthoughtful way, but the offendi takes all of the offense one themselves and becomes the responsible partaker of the cause of the family going away from and loosing blessings!! It was an awesome talk about how to re active less active members!! So we are tryin to get some less active members back to church!

 I am also doin another part in my studies is omethin that ilike to call it THE RISING. Joseph Smith said that, "I saw the rising and it never let me be." With this short yet powerful statement i understand the intenstity and the purpose of the missionary Work! Joseph saw the greateness of the Work of God. He saw the rising of His Kingdom here on Earth and this wouldnt let him rest!! He had the work of the Lord in his every fiber in every part of his being!! I want to have that spirit of the Lord in me!! I want to be able to feel that fire!! The spirit of God like a fire is spread is what we need to do!! The spirit of God is so important!! As i study more about this subjects of the gospel and i receive a bit of the Spirit of God to touch the hearts of the people here that the Spirit of this Great gospel is spread throughout this area!!

This area of Roma is way different from my previous area but its all good!! We are puttin people in the water!! We baptized a fun little lady yesterday!! Luz Estella got baptized yesterday afternoon!! It was a lovely service!! The sister has been investigating the Church for about 3 years now. So when Elder Suruguay and I got here we were like, well, lets put this lady in the water, so we put a date with here and she went in the water!! Slowly but surely we are puttin people down in that font. So we will see how the work goes on here!!

My comp right now is probably my best friend comp that i have had in Colombia!! We get along just grand. We like to joke and mess around and have a good time!! but we work in different ways. we teach very differently! He loves to prove points with scriptures and all and i like to get to know them and not so much fight with them with the scriptures but show them in a loving manner haha!! When someone has other beliefs he will show them a scripture and be like well believe it! When we contact we get in a lot of fights with the people haha!! Its gettin to be a bit hilarious actually at times!! but we are doing it a bit by bit!! But i love my comp, we have a lot in common!! He doesnt like fish either!! YESSS!!! All is well my friends!! keep up the good works love ya all a ton!! Elder Hammer

Jesus was a rebel 10/31/2011

So we dont have as many set lessons here in Roma we are in a rebuilding stage here. The ward is super small. It has 400 people in the roster but a good Sunday has 80 people in the chapel so we are workin on buildin the ward up and we contact all the time. Oh my gosh, we just walk and talk and meet some of the weirdest and most awesome people. So the contact of the week was super cool! We started to talk to this guy about God and Christ and the basic doctrine and all and he sad Oh ya man, Jesus man, he was a Rebel, I mean look at this guy! Hey Elder can I spit in your eye? I told him i would prefer it if you wouldnt please. he was like point made, Jesus went around and this rebel of man didnt even ask permission he just would spit in some blind guys eyes to heal him. You dont see anyone else doing that, this guy was a rebel! I tried so hard not to bust up laughing the way he said it and the movements and all oh my gosh i was had to fake a cough attack to cover up my laughter haha it was hilarious!! Then another day we went contacting again and I contacted some lady that was lookin out her window so i started to talk to her and she then started cryin and she said we could come back later. I looked at my comp and was like see, thats how you contact, that's a spirtual contact haha! Then some old lady starts yellin out the window call the police quick call the police, so I had my comp call the cops. The lady said the the daughter was goin crazy and that thats why the mom was cryin I was like dang it, I didnt have the spirit in the contact she was just sad. Then like 3 minutes later the old lady said oh actually all is well now dont call the police we were like oh ok sure but ya we already called haha!!! so we continued on our way and the police came to the door and we were like we better not be here so we just ran away haha!!

We are meetin and doin alot of fun things!! This area is super different than my other areas. We meet alot of Atheisits it ridiculous! I dont know what to do with all of them so we try a lot of ways to start to try to make them change and understand. I actually like to teach them because atleast they think. We have figured out that to start off we talk about God. We first explain that God is a God of laws like they all believe in "Only Science" haha, (When they tell me that i try not to think of Nacho Libre haha) But we tell them that yes God has laws and if he would not live by the laws he would cease to be God. Then they start to listen to us and we get teaching them. We actually have an athiest who has a baptismal date. We still dont really understand why he accepted the challenge to follow in the path of Jesus even though he doesnt believe in God but he wants to get baptized. He has a baptismal date for the end of November! So we have til then to have him gain a testimony of God!! But he comes to church and lives all of the commandments and everything haha! He even had a hardcore dream that he told us he had and he had a dream about like everythin of the temple we were like dude thats your answer, he was like no, what happened was that my brain waves had intercepted the brain waves of my wife and i absorbed her dream in my sleep we were like uhhhhh! So we just talked about receiving revelation. He is an interesting fellow but he will be gettin wet soon!

This week we have a baptism!!! YES!!!! I fell kind of down. This is the first month that i havent baptized in the mission. AHHH! But it was hard in this transfer but in November we will be baptizin but hey we will have people in the water haha!! The work goes on!! We had to be in the house early yesterday because they had elections here and they have like marches and riots and things so we have to be home at 5 last night. So saturday I bought some pumpkins and last night my comp and i made jack o lanterns haha, and then i made pumpkin seeds. Today i am gonna make a pumpkin pie. We will see how it goes!! This week was an excellent week!! The truth as far as numbers of the mission it aint too good but personal progress I feel I am gettin better!! I have been trying to focus more on the Atonement of Jesus Christ! Joseph Smith, the atonement of Jesus Christ is the central of our religion and everythin alse is just an appendage of our beliefs! So I try to focus every aspect of our teaching on the atonement!! Elder Holland came to Colombia about 7 years ago and I read the talk that he gave to the mission here! It was a stellar talk!!!! Elder Holland really gets me every time!! I have yet to even begin to understand the effects of my Saviors Atonement!! Elder Holland said, "When the going got tough God sent His best Son down to Earth to save us so quit whinning and go to work Elders. Get to Work. He cant do it alone. He has givin us the task to feed his sheep!! Elders Feed HIS SHEEP!!!" This talk is amazing. I dont know if you can find his talk on internet if you can read it, it is amazing!! He said i signed up for apostleship when i signed my name on the missionary form and i stand by that signature i signed so many years ago and i do so with ever such more devotion today!!! If you listen to the talks of Elder holland he always relates everything to the atonement because that is what the gospel is about. The atonement is everything! Sometimes we think that Jesus just suffered for us. He felt my pains so he knows how help me. Yes this is of course part of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus but that doesnt even scratch the smallest increment of the atonement! Our Lord and savior had His free agency. He chose this self sacrifice!! We all have duties like us we choose to complete or not fullfill our duties, Jesus had the duty to sacrifice himself but had the agency to not but it is His will, His agency, His love that has saved us!! He completed His Duty to God. He completed His duty to his fellow Brothers and Sisters. He did the impossible through His love and His Faith, and His duty! He has born His testimony on His Hands and Feets and on His side! He did it alone, he bore the unbearable he drank from the bitter cup, Even my Savior Jesus Christ has suffered even my burdens. Words do not describe, feelings cannot feel and we cannot understand the this concept but we can learn and we can strive to be better! Jesus was alone in the atonement, even his apostles were sleepin he had to bear it alone, when Christ was on the Cross he said, oh God why hast thou forsaken me, even the father had to let him suffer, there are many different things said about this moment in time, that maybe the father had to let him do die alone to complete the atonement, Elder holland said that the Father had to look away from the sufferin of His son for the pain was so great to watch His only begotten son, be betrayed by his own to be crucified and suffer, somethin that must be done, the Father had to look away to even fullfill all rightousness.

 This week when we were teachin an athiest family they asked us why would we ever want to leave heaven, that makes no sense, everythin then would be perfect why would we want to come down to this Earth that is a hell! I asked him, JR. do you want to leave your house and one day liveo n your own, he said yes of course, why would you want to do that, you have everything you will every need here in your house, here in your family, that makes no sense to leave the security of your home to go live on your own in the cold cold world, but it is something necessary somethin that will help you grow, something that will define, one day you will leave your home and have the priviledge to Grow, for the same reason you will leave your Earthly home is the same reason you left your Heavenly home! I understood part of the plan of God, The importance of the plan of god and how we can apply all of the aspects to Gods plan in our everyday life! My testimony of my Savior is growing , I love my Lord and i praise my Father for His plan and his tender mercies i may not understand i many not know everythin but i do feel the love of my savior Jesus Christ through His atoning Sacrifice!! This is my testimony and my witness if His reality and name.
Elder Hammer

Area Roma

Well we are gettin down to business here!! This area is super hard!! The people have a bit more money and do not listen to us like they did in Patio and there is almost no action here!! In Patio we always had to stop people from killin each other or something. Here the people are actually civilized!! Its a bit weird. I really miss patio bonito!! Even though it is the ugliest place in the world but its got a soft spot in my heart!! I love being Zone leader. There actual is a big difference in being District leader and Zone leader!! But I really dont like to get mad at the Elders but we got some Elders that we dont know what they are doing or do just weird things. I got a bit on some of the Elders case in Patio Bonito my replacements. There are 2 elders from Peru that are there and they are very sweet young men but Patio is a bit rough for them and they get scared real easy. But at night I call them to check up on the investigators that I left them and they dont visit them. I get on their case a bit. They should have at least 5 baptisms but i dont know what they are doing. I get calls from my peeps from Patio and they call me in my new area I tell them that they have new missionaries in their area. Trust them. They can help them and all but its a different type of work we do in Patio Bonito. You cant find the answers in Preach My Gospel for what we do in Patio. It comes from being on your knees and then do the work on your feet! Its a different type of missionary work for sure there and i love it!!

 My comp right now is super fun!!! We get along great!!! My trainer was Argentine and didnt have an excellent time with him but my comp is super cool! We always joke about the argentinen pride and I teach him songs that he sings with me when we are in the street and all its fun!!! We are workin hard to meet new people and get some investigators to teach! the Elders before us left us almost nobody but we will change that! We are makin alot of changes here in this zone!! I believe in 2 weeks we should have a baptism here! The lady is super hardcore. Shes super fun! She has a baptismal date for the 7th of November!!! We will see how she does! In the mission the scriptures seem to come more a live!! I study them with more intensity but i am lovin them!! Everyone keep up the good work love ya all a tons!!

 Elder Hammer

Zone Leader

I am now on the down hill slope of the mission crazy huh! But time is flyin fast here in Colombia and it is freakin insane what we do here. We now have 5 missionaries livin in our small apartment!! It is super fun! Theres another Gringo named Elder Varney and hes from Georgia hes a cool dude we have fun! But he aint my comp. Its too dangerous to have 2 gringo together in Patio Bonito. I got super sad this week! They told me that I will be leaving Patio Bonito this Wednesday. I was like what the heck man, i thought i would have another 2 weeks here! I love my area but i am also ready for a change, This is a very heavy area and it will be nice to change areas and all!! My new comp is another Argentine he seems pretty cool! We will be ZL together! I am excited i need to get out of this area i feel!! There definitely have been some hardcore expereinces here that definately have marked my life forever!! And this week was no exception!! I am excited to be able to be ZL! We are going to change alot of things in this Zone! the cool thing is that its a brand new zone! In November they are forming another stake here so we form another Zone then!! But we will be the Best zone in the mission! That is for sure! We are raising the bar here! This mission has passed in some hard times with some missionaries that were super trunky and the mission is in a huge building stage! This mission has the record for most missionaries sent home early! Not the best reputation for missionaries But we are doin a lot of changes here and we are gonna be a baptizing zone thats for sure!! I was talkin to President the other day he told me that a normal mission consist of 24 baptisms in the 2 years the average is a baptism a month. I told him, President we will change the normal then of this mission! We aint here to be normal missionaries! Thats what i am focusin on these day, to not be a normal missionary!! we are raisin the bar higher! We are gonna work harder, baptize more and fill the chapels!! Thats what the world needs!! Thats what God needs sp that what we will do!! Obviously it means more work and more teaching more testifying and changin some much things!!

 This week my re-emplacements came here so i have been teachin them the area!! I must say i am super nervous to give them my area! They are good kids and all but very book strict missionaries!! THeir persaonalties are super different than how we work here! but the Lord has called them here and we will trust in the Lord but its a lot of trust in him!! I feel like part of the families that we teach and i love them all so much. I mean 8 months here and all is a lot of time to just leave them but the Lord has called me to another ward to edify and fortify!! we leave 10 baptisms for my friends here! The good news is thati am gonna come back for their baptisms and i am the ZL of PAtio Bonito. So i will do on division here and see my peeps and all!!

 I am startin to understand the power of prayer finally! I am progressin slowly but surely! At times we try to pray to change the will of God which is not the purpose of the prayer This is my definition of a prayer. The plead or cry to understand the will of God, not to change it!! It with our desire and hope to follow God that we recieve the answer. God answers prayers but we must be listening. At times i feel like God stills His hand until we come to the understanding to recieve the revelation because if we recieve revelation without fullfillin the revelation or doing our part, God knows this, then we would condem ourselves! Its ahrd to explain but i feel like i am understanding it in my head!!

Well this week we will be callin home!! I will be callin home Saturday night! With this new transfer we kind of changed plan, it will be Saturday at like 7-8 Colombian time, i dont know aht time it will be with ya all. But i would love to talk to ya all of the family!! }so do what you can do do be on skype at this time please!! I want to see you all and see how big EVY is!! haha!!
 love ya all
 Elder Hammer

Here are some pictures of some people here in patio bonio and my best friend Elder PAsado hes a funny dude!!

we take no junk from no one 10/3/2011

Well we are all in a repentance state here in the Mission field!! WOW!! Conference was super hardcore!! The Bomb!! We had a spiritual 2 day feast!! Ladies! you all need to check out the talk from Elder Holland he ripped it up and started off priesthood session of with a bang!! We got slapped up and back on the head super hard at conference i loved it!! I have never been so pumped up for conference before but this was like the biggest awesomest thing in the World!! This week was super fun!! we had multi conference as missionaries, we had the temple on Friday and saturday and sunday we had conference!! Loved it!! Well on Wednesday i got a surprisin call in the mornin frmo Pres. He called me to go to the meetin with all of the LZ!! I was like well why am i goin to this meetin, im a DL! I dont go to these meetings anyways i went with my LZ to this meetin and we were jokin the whole time that President was just wantin me to come to dance salsa for him for a little interlude to the meetin haha!! I am a famous Salsa dancer here!! I imitate dancin Salsa here just to make fun of the Latins here but they all love it!! haha! But i went to the meetin a President said that he has changed my assignment and i will now be the LZ of the new Zone!! we form a new Zone and new stake this week so Wednesday i will be the LZ of Zona Libertad!!! its gonna be an interestin 3 weeks!1 Wednesday comes 2 mroe missionaries to our area! I am gonna train the Elders our Area and then in 3 weeks i go to my new area called ROMA! Its like a 2 minute drive haha!! It will be fun!! But its gonna be an interesting assignement!! But i am excited to be the LZ! We will see how it goes and all!! WE are gonna kick some bootie as a new Zone!! We will work hard!! We are workin hard to change the mission here!!! It has passed through some hard times! but i am stoked!! Well time for the lesson of the week!! Well I have been praying and fastin to be re'energized! I am gettin tired but i want to work but theres somethin that doesnt let me feel the spirit like i now i should! so while we were in the temple this week I said a heart felt prayer to my God to help me recieve the revelation i need to help me change and be better and stronger!! Well I got my answer on Saturday!! After Conference i was super pumped after the Priesthood session after being slapped around by Elder holland I was ready to preach with more conviction and power then ever!! Basically Elder holland said dont take any junk from anyone and just man up and teach the gospel!! I was like alright lets do this!!! When we were walkin to the bus i saw 3 hobos stealin a sewer lid in the street!! I felt like i should tell them not to do that but did nothing and kept walkin!! It wasnt that i was scared our anythin! I was just too lazy to do anythin, they were out of my way. then i got on the bus and i was thinkin, Wow, Elder hammer you are a lazy son of a gun. Then some hobo got on the bus and begged for money, i gave him a little and i felt an impression that i should get off the bus with him and then contact him! So when he got off we got off, but we had to go right and he went left!! he was out of our way so what did i do! I did nothing!!! What the heck!! When we got home i was like dude what is my problem!! when will i learn!! God gave me 2 chances to talk and help and stop sin but what did i do, i did nothin because it was out of my way!! I had to have lovely chat with my Heavenly Father that night and get my head on right!! I dont know what happend!! then Sunday night after conference we went to an appointment!! this couple is not married!! they keep goin bakc in forth in their relation ship! sometimes they are together then later not and its a headache workin with them!! but they need this gosple! I usually am a really laid back dude and just like hey, i taught you the commandments, live them or not, its your salvation but leave it up to them but i dont teach like Elder holland. Like Elder Holland told us, we need to talk bold, confident and in your face, cause any other way doesnt seem to work!! So I told my comp, we are goin to Elder Holland them! haha!! And that what we did! I was very in direct, there is no way that they have anythin to assume there is nothin the guess, they know what they have to do and we got in their faces!! It was an awesome lesson!! I usually dont like to get in peoples face and tell them to be better, i like to just be a livin example, but that doesnt work, words also have power!! I never have done anythin like what i did Last night i didnt know how they would react!! In the end the sister ended up crying and then the brother was like Elders I would like to tell you somethin!! this brother is a firey man he was a sniper in the army here and he is very hardcore. But it ended up that he thnaked us for our work and word and diligence with them and the sister said the smae thing through here teary eyes!! I never thought that i owuld be thanked for gettin in someones face like we did but I am learnin and understandin! Like it says in Moroni 7.7 god works through power! Gods gosple deserves that we work in Power! As messengers of Him must be like Him and work with the Power!! In Alma 4.19 it talks I talks about the power to be a missionary. In this part Alma i out preachin the gosple and talks about the importance of bearin a testimony against the people that they might remember there duties to God!! thats what we do we bear a testimony of the Saviour against the sins of the person that they might remember there duties and come unot the Master!! I love the Scriptures and the power of them!! This week we have planned OPERACION COBRA!! We will be whippin the people into shape not being forceful but with assurance and more confidence and not takin no junk from no one!! Lets bring em heaven boys!! haha!! thats the cheer of the week! haha! love and miss ya all! this wednesday I complete one year with the name tage on my chest!!! WOW!! I am on the downward slope!! nuts!! It goes by way too fast!! but I love my God and my Family!! Love ya all! I think next week is when i will be callin home!! but i will tell you all more next week! Love ya, Elder Hammer

We tell them the water is hot and they get in!! 9.26.2011

Well i had an interview this week with my lovely president!! He is super hardcore!! He is fun when he can and super spiritual and awesome all at the same time!! Anyways in this interview president asked me how we were doing and all and i told him that we are super busy! He was like i know Elder Hammer! you have the best dats IN THE MISSION!! I told President of course it is!! We work hard!! MY District has the best Dats in the Mission too!! Thats just what we do!! I am super proud of my district and my area and my work!! But i was also pretty sad!! Sure we work hard but we need to baptize a whole lot more!! I was like wow! We also have some improvement to do!! But i am super stoked that we are of course NUMBER 1!! So the president was very pleased of our work here!!! Then i gave me a special one on one Interview he said Elder Hammer the Lord has a special assignment for you!! I was like ok buddy whats going on!! I want to know!! He said the Lord needs you to change areas in October or in November!! When would you like to leave!! I told him well Pres. I love my area but i dont like to procrastinate! If the Lord has something for me to do, lets do it now!! He sat and thought and said, you know what Elder Hammer, the Lord wants you to wait until November! Ok President!! What ever you want! He told me where i am goin who will be my comp and all that good stuff!! Then said Elder Hammer you will have an increase in responsiablities, and he built it all up, he said only one other missionary has had this assignment, but then he would tell me what it is!! I was liek man you have to be kiddin me!! He lead me on and everything and wouldnt tell me nothing!! HAHA!! Presidents awesome!!! So we will see what happens!! Then he was said!! Well Elder Hammer I think it would be best if you stayed in your area and were the senior Companion of your area!! We will be sending another companionship to Patio Bonito you have to look for a new apartment and teach your area to the new Elders!! YES!!!! OF COURSE!! I WOULD LOVE TO!!!!! YES!!! That means we can work doubly hard here and baptize double, strengthen the ward double and be double cooler!!! YES!! Its gonna be super awesome!! So the new Elders come next week!! I am stoked!! So this week Elder Oquendo and I are workin on gettin the area ready to be workin all smooth for 4 Elders!! We are tryin to work better in the Branch here!! But its hard because pure apartments!! But we have a good 4 families that we are teachin a family of 8 and a family if 2 that we are lookin at puttin some of them in the water!!

 This week is gonna be super BOMB!! We have a mission meetin with all of the tierra fria on Thursday. On Friday we are goin to the TEMPLE!!!! YES!! Saturday and Sunday Conference!! I am super stoked!! For conference we have a Gringo Party in the stake!! We watch conference in the secretaries office in English with all of the Gringos!! I have assigned all of my Gringo buddies here to bring different candies and all snack on at conference!! ITs always great to hear the prophets voice!! YES!!! IT will be super cool!! I have been ready the past 3 years of the conference talks these past 2 weeks in personal study! I am hungry to hear the voice of the prophet i have been waitin for this week!! We get to go to the temple on Friday! IT will be super awesome and spiritual!! I love the House of the Lord!! I wish we had the opportunity more to go!! But the Lord really knows my needs!! this week was super hard!!! I dont know what but i lacked motivation or something, i got homesick this week!! IT was terrible!! I wasnt trunky or nothin but i really felt the hole of missin home!! I here this is common at the one year mark. but i didnt like feelin that way! I told my comp about all that i was missin and all!! I always tellin how i loved goin out with my homies and goin wakeboardin alot with the Vanwags and all haha!!! The Vanwags have special place in my soul haha! So my comp went and found a little plank and a little tube thingy and put the board on top of the tube and i stood on top of it and imagined that i was wakeboardin haha!! I said if only there was water so he splashed water on my face! haha!! My comps a funny litttle kid! haha!

This Friday we have planned the coolest night ever!! We have Ward night that we have planned!! The Ward here is really strugglin they are gettin mad at the bishop because he aint givin out Stuff from the bishops store house!! Its that the people have grown to be dependent on the help of the Bishop and now there is nothin left, I area is uper needy, but they need the help to sustain themselves so some members have gotten really mad and so the bishop has told us to help him retain the members!! Its hard to maintain member, Converts, and investigators!! Its a head ache! I think thats why i had a melt down this week!! But we had a good Pday today and feel a lot better!! The lord knows i need this week of spiritual uplifting and nourishing!!! I am stoked!!! We had 2 baptisms this past week! THe Gomez Family!! They are a funny couple! The sister more than anything, shes like a 5 year old kid trapped in a 50 year ladies body haha!! Shes hilarious and super clumsy and ditsy but gotta love here! haha!!

Well i must say that i am super jealous of your Florida trip and all! I need some pics please!! Next wednesday I complete my year mark in the mission!! I believe i get to call home the 13 of October!! thats Mothers day in Argentina but i think i can call home any day that week but i will confirm with ya all!! But hey family tell me what times are better for everyone! I want to talk to everyone but Hens in a different time Zone now so tell me what times are all good for ya all and we will work something out!! I want to see all fo your lovely face!! Love ya all and the Work of the Lord is going onward!! Elder Hammer

Heres the pics from the Baptism and the Primary class!! We taught sunday and i gave my 8th talk in the ward haha!!!

we are not takin anymore of this nonsense 9/19/2011

I found my self in my deepest part of despair in my highest point of Pride!! I am learnin and am being strengthened in the Trials of my life, the hoest truth is that i have no trials, only times of improvement!! My trials are the best here because i am finally learnin what is Love! I am finally getting to the point where i can say that i have forgotten myself!! We have boat load o two of poor homeless people we are teachin we have helped 2 of them find jobs, a small shack to live in and one will be gettin married in hopefully a week!! I cant sleep knowin that my homies are in the streets so we get them into shacks atleast!! haha!! My comp and i fast atleast once a week and give our fast offerings to the poor and we dont eat breakfast anymore so we can give our money to help get people back on their feet!! We teach alot in the breadshops here because most of them dont have food to eat!! But we are doing the Lord work!! We are giving to those in need!! But we have had enough of the wickedness in our area!! The Lord push us to the bottom of our patience until we understand we need to fight in this world!! Love is not a fight but its something worth fightin for!! Thats what i am startin to learn these days!! We dont take no junk from nobody if you know what im saying!! haha!! With the things that we have experienced we have developed a huge hatred for sin and so little tolerance for it!! I have some baller stories to tell you all when i get back if you know what im saying haha!!! I never heard of the things that i would be doing here in Patio Bonito. This mission here is worthy of makin a movie, so i think that after the mission i will be writing a book and makin some hardcore mission movie about this hardcore experience! But this week my comp and i have gotten sick of seein so much cruelty in our lives and in the lives of those here we have come to a state of puttin our testimony on our feet now and walkin and changin these lives here! WE are puttin a dent in saints wall and bring people into the Fold of God!! My comp is hardcore!! We have been findin some new people to teach which is good and bad!! The good is that qwe have a boat load of peope to teach. The bad is that we have too many, i dont know how we are going to find time to teach them all!! but its all good! We have 2 baptisms this weekend and hopefully 4 more next week!! I had some deaestating news yesterday!! Last conference president told me that he had some special assignment for me to do and that he would inform later what it would be!! I still dont know what it will be!!! But Yesterday the bishops wife said that President Casablance called her and all that, i thought that it would something to do with my comp gettin his visa but she said president called about me!! She says that it looks like at the end of this transfer i will be leavin patio!!! I almost cried! I think if i wasnt infornt of her i would have cried!! Patio is my home!! these are my homies here! She wouldnt tell me anymore, i still dont know what it tis president has instore for me but i dont like it haha!! I want to stay here! we have a bomb area!! this area has changed so much!! Last year they had 7 baptisms between the branch and the ward. this year already we have had 24 baptisms this year!! I have 20 of those bad boys!! A huge growth huge change!! When i got here we had 3 investigators now we have over 87 investigators! we ahve been workin our little bubble bottoms off here! But i will go where the Lord wants me to go!! My goal is to have 30 baptisms by my one year mare!! i have 24 right now, we have 14 with baptismal dates that are progressin but we are waitin on marriage papers but i think we can have 6 more 1 of october which is the last weekend of these transfers! We will see how we do it!! I feel like God had been giving me so much more power! We were pretty low here in spirit here for a while with all of the things going on here in patio but the Lord has used thsese tribulations to make us so much stronger! This week i was studyin in Alma the story of Captain Moroni! and the title of Liberty! My comp and i are startin to share these powerful words and stories to our investigators to give them a boost!! It is so easy in our times of trials to whine and pout and get all sluggish but we do not grow from this at all!! There is no gain in this pain!! But as missionaries we turn hurt to hope!! When the people are down we need to get picked up!!! The only times when we need to be down is when we are on our knees!! This story of Captain Moroni is so beast!!!!! MY comp and I are preparing an awesome ward night with the investigators and recent converts where my comp is going to be a news reporter and i am goin to be Captain Moroni we started to make outfits and the flag and everything!! i am stoked in two weeks we are gonna have the show!! I am learnin the power of my savior Jesus Christ and his priesthood! I have experimented His power and been an instrument in His hand here in Patio Bonito!! But we will see what the Lord had in store for us soon! Love Elder Hammer

I buy my juice

This week in Colombia it was English week in the schools so all of the kids came running to me to help translate their homework and all of that nonesense. One of my converts started to sing this song "I buy my juice, i buy my juice." I was like what in the world are you singin, i have never heard that song, and she didnt understand what she was singin, after like 10 minutes of talkin to her i was trying to translate it, so i started singin it and translated it to "yo compro mi jugo yo compro mi jugo haha!!" She was like, well thats the stupidist song in the world, then she sang more of the song and i figured it out that she was tryin to sing "we are the champions" haha!! So i finally could help here a bit so now we always have a good laugh at each other. I buy my juice my friend!! haha! What a killer song right!! Then I am teachin my comp english he is very determined to learn to speak. We had interviews with President about 3 weeks ago and President told him that English is the language of the prophets. He wants to listen to conference in English next year, so he is practicing alot of English with me, but he has a hard time pronouncing Bad, Butt, and Back haha!! He was tryin to tell me that this lady had Bad hair, but instead he told me the she had Butt hair!! I was like, Elder what are you talkin about!! How can you tell!! Then after while I understood he was tryin to say she had Bad hair haha!! So now I always tease him and ask him, hey, does she have butt hair, or how about her!! haha!! I died laughin!! It was hilarious!! To just be walkin and to hear him say this i got caught off gaurd!! haha!! We had another killer week here!! Workin our booties off but we are making some progress!! We have a huge fan club going on here!!! Its really fun and a bit hard to be in an area as long as I have. I have more than 7 months here in Patio Bonito but its because we work hardcore here and put people in the water everyday!! haha!! But i love my investigators here!!! They are all progressing so well!! I love that I see this grand change in the hearts and lifes of the people here!! Its super awesome!! The problem is is that nobody is married and we have a hard time to get married!! I forget who sings it but when ever we tell people to get married and I always sing to them that song, if you like it then you better put a ring on it!! haha!! But we are getting some of them married!! It is super difficult!! hopefully we will have one marriage this month!! and another one or two next month!! but here we go!! its hardcore!! Its like my family has grown here so much!! I we have over 70 investigators here!! Its super hardcore!! We have a blast with all of them!! Its like every single one of them are part of the family!!! Ya, we play alot i will be honest, but its because we work our tails off!! We have like a huge fan club here!!! We put another baptism date for the beginning on October!! We deal with some very heavy things here!! I never thought that i would deal with things like this in my life!!! We teach all the people that listen to us!!! I feel so much stronger now that i ever have!! Yes i am skinnier than i have ever been i have lost almost 15 lbs. This year i'm now 175!! I lost so much weight!! But i feel more stronger than ever!! I am starting to finally understand how to receive revelation and use it!! God loves us!! He wants us to come to Him but he cannot take away our free agency!! But he can send influences and messengers to put us in the right path!! We see some hardcore things here, we deal with some hardcore situations here!! Preach my Gospel doesnt say anything about the things that we do here!!! When we have exchanges and i go to other areas everyone wants to come to our areas to meet our investigators or to see all the problems here in Patio. There is not a day that something weird doesnt pass by us!! haha!! But because this part is so corrupt we have to stay sharp with the doctrine and keep our testimonies strong!! Its an intense area here!! We proclaim alot of repentance here!! I used to be a very passive kind of kid, but now im starting to understand to teach with power and authority!! Its awesome!! I have been studyin the stories of Captain Moroni, Abinadi, Npehi, and Helaman and studying their testimonies and how they proclaimed it. I am trying to implement their tactics in my teaching!! Doin this I have found how to recieve revelation, and to understand the waves of Revelation. It doesnt always come as bright as day at times but it does come!!! God gives us revelation to help bring His Children home!! Thats why Elder Oquendo and i have the moto WE DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN!! haha!! Yes my moto of my life stays the same!! haha! But we had a good week of receiving revelation. We are going under some hardcore reconstruction in our area! We are going to make some big changes here and change this Ward. We have some bomb ideas!! We will see how it all goes!! Patio Bonito is super poor and corrupt. There are alot of suffering people and people that need alot of help and we are here and anxious to give it to them!! We met this guy who was super messed up, lookin for the meanin of life. We taught him about the atonement of Jesus Christ the first lesson and we gave him the homework to pray and to talk to God and he would recieve an answer!!! He didnt pray when he went to bed, but he said that something woke him up at 3 in the mornin and he prayed at 3 in the mornin and he felt happy and joy for the first time in a long time!! He was so happy that he started to cry. He told us this the next day and we put a baptismal date with him for October. He went to Church this week and loved it!! We are excited for him, he is going through a huge change!! Its awesome!! The Work is goin forward!! Christ lives and he has sent the young and willing servants to do His will! Love ya all! Elder Hammer

Heaven we will bring them home

Lately Elder Oquendo and I have been bustin our little booties off here in Patio Bonito!! We have worked our booties soo hard that we do not have a bootie anymore!! I like to tell Elder Oquendo that and he just looks at me like a weirdo but thats all good!! When we leave the house in the mornin we now shout, HEAVEN, GET READY CUZ WERE BRINGIN EM HOME!! Haha its our little motivational quote in the mornin!! We have learned a bunch in this past month together!! I hope Elder Oquendo stays here a bit longer cuz I want to stay here for another transfer to see all of my homies get into the water!! Our plan of marrying everyone isnt workin out as we planned to but it is workin!! We have various marriage dates athroughout the next month and a half. Hopefully if all goes well everyone will be married by the end of October but we will have one marriage in about 1 1/2 weeks! We are lookin forward to this!! PEDRO is gettin married!! He is the homeless knifed victim!! haha!! We have seen so many miracles with this man!! He has a huge testimony of the Gosple and has had a huge change in his life! hes been a whole lot of work but wow thats how we see the miracle with work and faith!! Thats what we do here!! He now has a job, he is livin again withhis wife they are movin here today we helped him find a cheap apartment here that he and his wife and 2 kids can live hes gettin married we got this guy back on his feet!! We have seen so many miracles here!!! We have learned many valuable lessons here through the hardests times of our lives here!! We now at times even pray for some more trials just to see more miracles!! And for sure the Lord is not hesitant to send us another life to fix!! We look for the broken hearted and low in spirit!! We look for people that have lost hope, that have nowhere to go! And then WAAM!! we give them the gospel!! We have seen time after time!! The change in the lives fo the poeple here!! It is far from easy, but it sure is worth it!! I testify of the Power of my God is real, and he has trusted me, Elder Hammer, and all of his worthy priesthood holders with this divine gift from on high, to heal the sick, to give hope to the hopeless, to give meaning to those without feeling, to feed the hungry that we might lead them all back home!! I have felt the sorrow of being away from home, in an unsure enviroment, in a world unrecognizable to me in Colombia, but I have found my home in the heavens! Preach the power of repentance, to necessity of faith and humble feelings of prayer!! We bring the people back into the arms of God, that all might feel His embrace!! We purposely look for those crying in the streets, we listend for the sobbing of tears of pain and see them change to tears of joy!! I never thought i would ever be doin what we are doing here in Patio Bonito!!! We are bring the people what the need a new life! Preachin repentance!! We are doing the Lords work!!! We have seen this wonderful power of God!! We pray to find those in these dire needs and that we can find them so that we can prove to the world of this power of God that is on the Earth!!! And the Lords Work goes forth!! It is an extremely hardcore thing being a missionary here in Patio Bonito. Like my good ol coach alcorn always said, Pain is weakness leaving the body, I feel a billion times stronger now than i have ever felt!! Here we go puttin people in the water! We plan on having 5 baptisms this month! And maybe 10 dependin if the parents get married! the whole family will get baptized together!!we will see how that goes! We have seen this great change in all of our investigators! Wow!! 180 degrees! Its beast!!! Well today my comp and I are goin to the Chapel to clean it! It is the ugliest thing ever!! It need a good cleanin so we are using our pday to organize the chapel and all!! Today we are fixing all fixing all of the broken things! I now almost have 1year in the field! My pants are all like rags haha!! Almost all of my pockets have been torn open!! Lets just put it this ways, alot of people want to see what i carry in pockets and they are always in a rush haha!! So i repaired all of pants and all!! My suit coat i am still workin on gettin the blood off of it from the wonderful night of the bleedin pedro! haha!! but I like seein the use of all of these things!! It shows that we are doing some hardcore things here!! haha!! We have been workin with this family super hard!! They are so cool!! The mom is super hilarious and she really wants to get baptized but her husband has been a poop about gettin married!! Then this week we found the reason why he was been a stinker!!! he had another wife!! This guy was gettin a bit anxious to practice polygamy haha!! but anyways instead of gettin married that got seperated!! The sister of course was a bit stricken and it hit her hard but we have seen a huge change in here this week as she has been closer to God and apply what we have been teachin her more in her life!! Of course its a hard thing but here we go again! workin hard to bring another one home!! We are exhausted but lovin it!! I am training Elder Oquendo right now! He is a funny little kid, is a convert of less than 2 years and he is a rap break dancer dude! He has some interesting stories that he tells me but he's tight!! We have gone through some hardcore things together!! But its crazy to see the difference of just a year! He funny when he teaches he tells me he still gets a bit nervious to teach and so he teachs the lessons super fast haha! He could teach the restoration in under a minute i think haha!! but we are doin it!! We are meetin some killer investigators that are really lookin for God and we show where he is and how He is!!! Love ya all a ton, keep up the good work! Stay strong in the Gosple, cuz Heaven, were brinin em home!!! Love Elder Hammer

Correction to Mailing Address

Thank you so much to all of you who have written Emerson letters. He is deeply appreciative. There has been a delay in him getting some of his letters and it's because of a change that has been made to his mailing address. Please note that his new address is:


Calle 72 #10-07
Edificio Liberty Seguro
Oficina 303
Santa Fe Be Bogota
Dictrict Colombia, Colombia


Thank you!

Theyre throwin Eggs at us!!! Hit the Dirt!!

Well I think that Patio Bonito just got a bit more poorer or something cuz now they don't shoot at us with bullets but with eggs haha!! JK I have yet to be shot at, but wouldnt surprise me if that happens soon haha!! JK! All is good here in the Big PB. I aint sure if they did the same thing Pop when you were in this country but for birthdays they chuck eggs at you for some reason. I still have no idea why they do this. So I have been dodgin eggs all day. We have an investigator who is super poor. He is basically homeless. I think a cardboard shack would be better off then where he is livin now. Anyways he saved up some money just to chuck some eggs at me.Ii was like homie, why did you waste your money to just throw an eggs at me, why dont you eat the darn thing, but its more important to party here than to eat. haha!! So i finally let one of my investigators Ceasar hit me in the head with an egg and one of the recent converts hit me too with an eggs, but I knew this would happen today so I carried some eggs with me too so if anyone attacked me I would at least give them a little bit too. So of course I nailed them in the head!! haha!! Heres a pic of the eggin attacks!! But im only half way through the day and there are more eggin to come!! haha! but im enjoyin it alot!!

This morning we went and flew the kites again!! Its super bomb here to fly kites!! Shoot they go super high!! 1 mile long strand of string, and yeah, I got they bad boy up in the air! haha!! It awesome, its like just a little dot in the sky. I learned how to make a kite and how to do some tricks with kites, who knew you sould do tricks with a kite!! haha! Well I do now! Elder Oquendo is like a profesional kite flier! So we invited some RC and Investigators and all to fly with us to day!

I baptized a pregnant women this weekend!! haha!! Yeah I had to dunk her 2 times!! Her baby didnt want to get baptized or something haha!! but yeah I got her in the water!! Its super bomb to have baptisms!! I love this area we work our tiny tails off here!! I have 20 converts here in this ward!! It is super cool to see them all at church on Sunday and have on of them pass you the sacrament and all! It is super cool!! To see the fruits of you labors! And then to see another 15 investigators sitting there with you there!! Its super bomb! But shoot its a huge work to do to be a missionary!! The Lord really workd through his servants that are willing! I have seen and experienced some freakin weird ridiculous things here! But the weirder and harder it gets the Lord blesses us more!! I have come to the conclusion that I love the hardships of the mission. I don't like the stress and the sadness and the lack of sleep and the freakin frijoles! oh my worldliness, the beans here are really damagin me. The other day my comp and i were in the bathroom more than we were teachin I think. We are always in there. They give you bean soup. It is alright to eat. It aint disguistin or anything but you pay the powerful price afterwards!! But anyways the mission is super hard with all of the things we do and go through and all but the more problems that are in our lives the more i have seen the miracles and the Hands of My Savior in my Life!!

And let me tell you all that I have seen some ridiculous miracles here in Patio Bonito!! This is the most hardcore thing that i have ever done in my life!! God has blessed me with a wonderful opportunity here, and many gifts here in the mission and I have found how to create me!! Theres a qoute by Elder Ballard that says somethin to the effect that "Its not that we have to find ourselves but we have to learn how to create ourselves" "Love is not found it is created" I love both of these quotes from him! And shoot i have seen the power of Love!! Here in Patio we see alot of abuse alot of disrespect alot of corruption and lot of wickedness. I get so stressed becauseIi want to help this country so bad. It is such in chaos and destroyed. There are good people but wooh holy goats milk they get mistreated!! Instead of saying holy cow, I now say holy goats milk, now that i have milked a goat haha!! But in the midst of all of these hardcore times I have seen the power of when the people come to Christ. I am startin to understand what that means. We all say so many things that we really dont know what it means, but i am understandin a little bit more about this power of God in my Life!! We have been healin the sick, castin out those demons, healin the dyin, preach repentance and healin the broken hearted. It's a huge task but it is ridiculously rewardin!! This week we had to go to an interview with the President. At times investigators need to get interviewed by the President before they get baptized, so we had an appointment to go to the offices Wednesday and we went by to pick up the investigator and she was in bed sick. She passed out the night before and had blood problems and a lot of other things goin on, so we were like, if she gonna get baptized Saturday she needs to have her interview now!! So we gave her a blessin and with in 5 min she was up gettin ready for the interview. With this trials in the lives of the people here we have learned to take advantage of these trials to be witnesses of Christ and His power, and the investigators too, becomes a witness too of the power of God and this mighty change. I have seen satan worshipers turn into christians, the homeless become a part of society, the broken hearted healed.

Before athe mission I heard of all of the stories of peoples stories, but I never really heard of the stress and overload of work, but thats when we see the miracles.  I feel like I am startin to understand what it means to forget yourself and go to work!!

All is well here in Patio Bonito, I love the Work and I love my Savior Jesus Christ,
"I found myself in my highest point of pride in my deepest depths of despair" -Elder Burnham
Love ya all
Elder Hammer

heaven over powers hell any day

This has been the week of heaven and hell! The powers are real of both!! Who you submit yourself you will see the power!! We had a week of many trials, but the Lord has sustained me! Elder Hammer to be an instrument in His hands and in His work!! I was never prepared for what would happen this week but the Lord has protected me in the darkest of times, healed the broken hearts, gives the strength to the week!! I will be writing some definately intense things in this letter, do not worry about me, i am fine. I have been givin it my all here in Colombia!!! The truth is, this country has a tender spot in my heart, I love it and i hate it!! But i love my Savior Jesus Christ and I am a witness to his Power and an instrument ot work in His sacred name!! Heres the stories of the week!! Monday, normal day!! we got some marriage papers to get started with the marriage of a couplee that will get baptized at the end of the week!!

Tuesday!! An investigator called us and needed an emergency meetin! We went and visited him. He needs to get married to get baptized but his wife doesnt want to!! He used to beat his wife when we first met him about 3 months ago but now he doesnt! This guy has had a huge changed from metal rock to church hymns Long hair to clean cut!! Anyways his wife now beats him! We told him about if someone hits you turn the other cheek and all that good stuff! He told me hey Elder Hammer I did what you said and my wife just hit me in the eye! I may not look good but i feel super good i was doing what the lord said and i didnt fight back! Anyways i didnt write that story good but it was crazy for sure!!
Wednesday We met some new investigators that are super hardcore awesome!! They will be baptized we hope in October but they still dont have a baptism date!
Thursday and Friday heavy problems with marriages and all! I can not put to words about the power of Jesus Christ can do!!

Saturday I was freakin dead tired!! We were super wiped we work super hard many times we dont have time for Comp and Personal study because we have appointments at 8 in the mornin with our busy schedule we do not rest!! Our investigators have huge testimonies of what we teach!! When we do our part as missionaries the Lord blesses us and the investigators and the investigators give us references to work with! Theres a family that we now have 4 other families in one small one room house we have over 15 people in a room as big as our down stairs office!! But we have blast!! Almost all of them have baptismal dates in September!! We also had 2 baptisms this day!!! it was bomb!!!

Anyways we were super tired Saturday night we had a baptism that night that we just got back from, we woke up early to go to an appointment we had to wake up a bit more earlier too to get ready and all! So we had an appointment in a bread shop with an investigator at 830 Saturday he didnt show up we waited about 1/2 hour for him to come, I saw him walkin all looppy and all I thought that he was drunk and i was like oh no Pedro you have a baptismal date in September ay no!! Then he screams Elder Hammer Help me! He was stabbed!! He got mugged and robbed!! I was like holy shoot bro!! Lets go to the hospital!! So we got him in a taxi and off we went to the nearest Hospital in our area and all! While we were in the Taxi I started doin my Boy Scout skills! I am glad and greatful for what ilearned in Boyscouts and I started to help him with some of his cuts and all! I did all that i could do! But i could do nothin for a wound in the lung!! He had a good one there!! WE arrived to the Hospital! and all he went in and all that stuff and started to stich him up!! He had over 14 stabs that they had to stitch up and all and he had more that werent serious enough to stitch! anyways! THey took the x rayand it said that he had a punctured lung! He barfed in the Taxi because there was the air flow gettin into his lungs!! So Elder Oquendo and I gave him a Priesthood blessing!! We blessed him and then when they went to do the xray again to start the surgery!! His lungs werent punctured any more!!!! That is what the power of the Priesthood does!! I am a witness and an instrument in the hands of my Lord Jesus Christ!!! We were wiped! This week was a week of hundreds of Thousands of miracles and trials!! But my comp and i have been working strong Trusting in God that if we carry on he will bless us! So thats what we have been doing!! Pedro is now well, we were with him all night long. We did not leave the hospital until 6 in the morning until his family could get there and be with him!! The Testimony of Pedro has grown too!! While he was lying there he told me!! Elder Hammer I now have even more desires to get baptized!! This is the work of God!! Oh Boy is he right!! The Lord uses us according to our willingness to serve Him! If we are willing and we do what he commands us he blessed us!! I am a witness to the Healing Power of God!! I do not write this thing to scare you about the world but to testify to you of my Iiving Savior Jesus Christ!! To tell the World and proclaim and carry His holy Priesthood!! I have seen and done some pretty crazy things in these past 10 1/2 months!! I have experienced the power of God!! Do not fear for me!! That is not the intention of tellin you these things! We are only supposed to write home about uplifting experiences in the mission! I dont write to make you think that i am in danger, for fear i have not in the things of my God!! He protects us and gives us strength in our weaknesses!!

We didnt sleep a wink Saturday night!! We got home at 630 in the mornin Sunday!! Just in time to shower and get ready for church!! While on the way the Bishop called me to talk in Church i was like ight, if thats what the Lord wants thats whati will do!! After church we had a boat load of appointments!! And we didnt get back til 8 at night!! And as DL I took dates all the weekly reports and all and my comp and I went a full 40 hours without sleep!! The Lord Blessed us in our weakness!! I never had so much energy!! Yes our bodies were tested!! But our desires to work were greater then our desires to sleep! And the lord blessed us in His work!!

Again i testify to you as a witness of His power, I have seen the sick be healed, the afflicted comforted and the down uplifted!! That is what my God does!! THat is who He is!! I wish i could tell you more about all of the things that have happend in these past 10 months, but words dont explain it!! I definately cant write it!! But hey when i call home in October i will tell you all about it! haha!! Iove you all!!
Elder Hammer

P.S I will send pics of the Baptism next week!

we didn't know! 8/8/2011

I testify that my Savior Jesus Chirst and that he live, he calls the pridefull to humility the poor to richness and the broken hearts to be healed in His name! The power of God is so strong, He works in the most humbless ways to bring His fellow man to come unto Him!! These past 2 weeks with my comp have been the best 2 weeks of the best 2 years!!! The truth is, the mission and the kind of fun that i thought it would be! I am dead tired i cant sleep i dont eat there is no time, the things of this world are not necessities, there are starving people, peopel without a roof without clothes and with nothing but the hope of a better world and We are the ones that bring the light of Christ into their lives. My comp and i have been declaring repentance to the people here in Patio Bonito. Wow and what a difference! I am understanding the power and understanding what is a broken heart and a contrite spirit!! We have stepped it up a knotch in the book here in Patio Bonito (Thats knotch one -Starsky and Hutch) haha! We are workin super hardcore here!! We have 15 peopel with baptismal dates, that not including the 7 couples that we hope to get married by the end of September!! We have almost 20 investigators in the chapel every Sunday!! Workin hard!1 We had a baptism and marriage finally here this weekend!! Jefferson Moreno know is wearing a ring on his finger and the spirit is on his shoulders!! YES!! Ive been out for 10 months now with 20 baptisms and we will have 2 more this weekend and hopefully 2 more the next week and we are shooting for another 11 by the end of spetember and it depends if we can get everyone married by the end of september we will have another 14 baptisms!!! Workin hardcore!! WE have planned for the 17 of September a night of rings as i like to call it! We are gettin everythin arrranged to have a huge wedding ceremony for 7 couples to get married this day!! people here are super poor and they have a boat load of legal problems that wont let them get married because of messed up documentation and all but we got a Lawyer of the mission helping us getting people divorced so they can get married, seperation of goods from old marriages changing birthdates and all of documents to help everyone get married and a lawyer is goin to come to the church this day and they are all goin to get married and with all the people gettin married we get a huge discount and we have some help from some of the resources here from the Church!!! But tis a headache with all of this paper work doing alot of errands looking for papers and all!! But we are doing it!! I dont sleep very well because there is so much on my mind. This week we put 7 more baptismal dates with a family!! they are beast we have been teachin them for about 2 months now and always preesnt us to there neighbors so we teach 2 families in one lesson and both families accepted the baptismal dates!!! but of course that means 2 more marriages but we will get them to the chapel in time haha!!
Yesterday was a day of awesomeness!! Wow!!! We have this investigators Pedro, We put a baptismal date with him the 1st lesson about 1 1/2 weeks ago, and hes is beast, the 2nd lesson he came to me and told me, Elder Hammer I have good news to tell you! Iwas like tell me me homie. He said i am going to get married! I was like YAH!! Hip hip hurray!! I asked him what made him make this decision we only had one lesson with you about the Book of Mormon he told me he read the Chapter we told him which was 3 Nephi 11 and he said i felt like it would be the right thing to do. I am ready to put my life in order!! I almost cried for joy and then we had another appointment with him yesterday and i did cry for joy!! we had no idea but he is actually homeless right now!!!! He lives in the streets with friends or with family!! He is gettin back together with his Grislfriend and said it would be best if they were married he needs compromisos in is life and reason to change and when he read and prayed he recieved his Answer about this book and he felt the need to change, this is the power of the Book of Mormon! it changes lives!! WE are here to change lives and that what i am tryiong to do with all of my heart!! My comp is a beast!! He helps out alot!! I love this little guy! Hes teachin me how to break dance haha! and he has a testimony and works good with me!! WE are changin the lives of the poeple here in PAtio Bonito, I ask him everynight what can we do better and what are the needs of the investigators and we get talking and we cant sleep cuyz theres som many of them haha! and then he tells me the everytime we go to an appointment he gets more excited to be a missionary! we love what we do and we do our best doing it. But shoot i dont sleep!! Im always thinkin of the freakin stress in the mission field, We had families that live in poor conditions that make get there house taken aways from them, people gettin robbed, families that physically beat each other, people get killed here like every week. Its ridiculous!! Some how we always find us when there spouse just got killed the week our two ago. but we try to comfort the in these times!! THere are miracles goin down here in Patio Bonito! I am glad that i will be here for more time!! I have almost 6 months here and i will be her more time! My comp is here for a little bit nad then is going to Argentina for his mission his waitin for his Visa. But i am enjoyin the time i got with him!! Hes a cool kid!! Hes a good worker!!!
I know that my Savior lives i have seen the weary become strong, the broken hearts been healed, Evil spirits cast out, Addictions broken, Hate turn to love!! Is this not the evidence of the hands of God in our lives!! God works in all places with anyone that is willin to let Him enter!! I am not who i was, i dont want to be who i am but anxious to be who the Lord needs me to be!! I am learnin! Learnin what it love, how to love, and most importantly learnin to listen, Listen to people, investigators, but most importantly to the spirit i am learnin to recognize the super soft impressions of the spirit!! The come super soft in spanish but they are comin haha!! I think i have a barrier between languages and the spirit!! haha!
All is well, doing the Lord work, dont need anythin, the Lord Provides!! But that doesnt mean that Birthday Presents will be rejected haha!! JK! Just hook me up with my other par of shoes at home and some candy and a foot massager and back massager haha!!
Love ya all!! We are doing for the Children!! You are the Champions!
Heres the pics of the baptism this weekend and the wedding and all.I love the pic of us at the wedding haha! My chest look super awkward! haha! I dont know how to take pics. haha! I am so big and all that i always pose awkward haha! 
Love ya all!
Elder Hammer