Friday, September 30, 2011

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

Monday, September 12, 2011

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

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

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