May I first start off by saying how much I love all of you and how grateful I am for everyone one of you :) HUGE shoutout to all the people who took some extra time to wish me a happy birthday. You guys are the best!! Well, this week was a very good week. It went by fast just like every other week but it wasn't normal. Might be confusing but it'll make sense when you're done reading. :)
So, Tuesday was meeting day... JUST KIDDING IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY!!!! It was actually kind of both haha. We had district meeting during the day. After that, the other elders came over to our piso for medio dia and while we were there, the hermanas called them and were like " Where are you?" Elder Layton was like, “What do you mean?" Turns out Elder Layton’s new companion was at the bus station and NOBODY TOLD US!!!! If the hermanas wouldn’t have been walking by and happened to see him he would have been stranded there all night! Hahahahahaha! We were laughing so hard because it was so awkward and literally we had no idea whatsoever. So we went and picked up Elder Hamblin and then that night one of the hermanas' investigators that is from Ghana, Abraham, invited us over to his house to celebrate my birthday and eat FUFU!!! Not sure if you guys remember what that is, but it's the thing I had with our old investigator Lucky when I was in Córdoba when my trainer Elder Shields (who by the way is in my new zone so i get to see him this Friday!!) started choking on the cow meat and had to reach down his throat to save his own life. It's the giant ball of dough that everyone eats from and you dip it in this soup. Honestly the whole process is extremely nasty, but the taste is so good. Abraham made it and it was amazing! It wasn't too sour and the chicken was actually cooked and edible. When we first got there, he was still making it, but when everyone showed up he told Layton, Rex and Barbosa to come help him. He turned off the lights and brought in a cake for me!!! I was so surprised and he just started singing happy birthday to me so everyone joined in. It was cool and way nice of him! :) Then when we were about to leave, he brought me a little present and it was a siiiiick pair of sunglasses!!! Abraham is a homie that's for sure. Hopefully he keeps progressing and is baptized before I leave. He's so cool.
Wednesday was a sad day... I had to say bye bye to Elder Rex :(. He taught me a lot of things and helped me a lot with the language. He’s now in Dos Hermanas which is by Sevilla and is finishing training I think. He said he's doing good so that's good to hear. After we dropped him and Elder Harvey off at the bus station, we came back and let Elder Hamblin unpack. Just an FYI, yes it is confusing for us and other people to have a Hamblin and a Hammond! Around 3:30, we went and got my new comp Elder Berry!! He's from Draper Utah, went to Alta High and literally lives like 2 minutes away from my cousins but doesn't know them so that was weird. We know a lot of the same people which is fun to talk about. He's a good missionary and he’s only 6 weeks ahead of me in the mission so we are really young. It’ll be fun to see what we can learn from each other and I feel like after we are done being companions my Spanish will have improved so much!!! That night we let him unpack and then we went to English class. :)
On Thursday, we had our weekly planning session which went really well and didn't take as long as I thought it would, then at 4 we met the other elders at Danny's tea shop! We had a lesson with him about The Plan of Salvation, and at the end we committed him to baptism!!! He has a smoking problem but wants to stop so obviously the Word of Wisdom might be a challenge, but with Heavenly Father’s help, it’s definitely possible, :) His date to get baptized is the 27th of February so hopefully that goes through, if not, hopefully before I leave Almería! That night, we went to a couple of members' houses and introduced Elder Berry and then we stopped by Emme's house and let them meet both of the noobs. :)
Friday: Lots of walking! We have a pueblo called Huercal that is really big, but the only way to get around is by car, Vespa, or feet. Obviously you know which one we had to choose. We visited some members there and then tried to go to a couple who is less active but they weren't home. There were a couple of old investigators who live there too that we passed by but only had success with one of them. We went to a girl’s house named Monica. Her son (I think) named Gabriel answered the door and said he remembered who we were but it was like early July when he talked to the missionaries last. We talked to him for about 20 minutes on his front "porch" so to call it, about the Book or Mormon and we taught him how to pray. He said he wanted to know more, so we set up a return visit this Wednesday with him! After that, we walked up a giant hill so we could get home. :| It was fun though so don't worry. That night, we had a noche de hogar with some less actives who invited us over. They're an interesting family for sure, the dad’s name is Antonio and his wife is Rocio. They got baptized about a year or so ago and kinda went AWOLl on us after that. We taught a really good lesson about faith with them and talked about the power that prayer has in our lives and how in any circumstance at any time we can pray and He will always be there for us.
Saturday morning we played soccer at the big court again ;). It really is fun to watch non-soccer playing Americans play soccer. Elder Layton and I are athletic, and literally there are short little chubby 12 year olds that just make us look like fools. Not to mention the 60 year old dude named Luis that plays like he's about 16. When we got done, we went to Sylvia's house and ate there with her two sons. The rapper just dropped a hot new single that he's hoping will "blow up" so we will see how that goes. That night we had very little success. We found a couple of future investigators, but that was about it. We walked a ton again. A really funny thing did happen though. It was like 9:15 at night and we were down trying to find an old investigator’s house. On our way, I found a balloon in the street that was still completely full of air, so naturally I picked it up and put it in my backpack. When we got to her house, we rang her door and this guy pokes his head out their window above us and asks who we are so I'm like “Hey! Does Florina live here?" And he just closes the window. But luckily Florina did hear us so she poked her head out a different window and was like, "I'm Florina!" so we're like oh sweet we are the missionaries, do you remember us? And she's like yeah yeah come in. So we go in after she unlocks the door and we aren't entirely sure what floor and which door it is so we give it our best shot. We hear the lady’s voice inside and we're like alright sweet we got this. So we knock, and no one comes but we can hear them inside, so we knock again, nobody comes. One more knock, and nothing. So we're like ehh it's getting late we can come back a different day. As we are walking down the stairs, my comp is in front of me and all of a sudden BOOM!!!!!!! A freaking bomb explodes and scares the living crap out of my comp and he takes off faster than lightening out the door down the road and across the street!!! Turns out it was just the balloon in my bag!!! ;) Hahahahahaha! Oh my heck! It was the funniest thing I've seen since Elder Shields slipped and fell In the rain back in October!!! It scared me a little but I felt it so I knew it was the balloon, but my comp just heard a huge pop!! Hahaha ahhh!!! Man it was funny! :)
Sunday and today were pretty chill days. Last night we taught a lesson to one of our investigators named Enofre. He's a gypsy who doesn’t have a lot going for him in life. He comes from a poor family, his mom, dad, and brother are all less active members that were baptized in 2013. We weren't planning on the lesson going as well as it did, but it went really well and we got on the topic of baptism. We didn't commit him, but he said it was something he had thought about before. He said he isn't ready yet and he wanted our help to prepare him, so we told him that's exactly why we are here. :) His mom was there too and she was really proud of him and you could tell she felt the spirit a ton. Made me think of how cool it'll be to see my mom be proud of me again instead of just reading it! <3 However, my mom, unlike her, knows that Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ are different people. She thinks we worship Joseph Smith and Jesus so that was an interesting conversation. We got her set straight now though so don't worry.
One of the many things I've learned so far on my mission is that God really does answer prayers. At times, it takes a long time, but other times it happens in a heartbeat. It's so weird to me how weird these answers to our prayers can come, and also how unexpected the outcome to our questions can be. Personally, this past week I got an answer on something really personal to me and it was literally the complete opposite answer of what I thought it would be. Being patient when we ask for help is important as well. It can be frustrating at times, but when we trust in the Lord, He's going to help us and everything will turn out how it's supposed to. He works in extremely mysterious ways, and I doubt I'll ever understand how, but I know He works if we do our part. :)
This email is really long.. I'm really sorry, but It was a good week. Once again, thank you all for the love, prayers, support and birthday wishes :) I love you all and hope your week is fantastic!!
Love,
Elder Hammond
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| My birthday cake my family sent me. Elder Rex made it for me. |
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| My birthday party after eating FUFU at Abraham's house. |
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