Sister Jessica Hammond: Craziest greatest week EVER!!!

Family and friends,

I don't even now where to begin... I have to take this week day by day.

Monday-

Okay so every Monday we have a lesson with Carlos and Mirium. We're pretty sure they're dating but that doesn't matter. Long story short they are 2 professors and know a ton of stuff about the bible and tons of religions. And here we are 19 and 21 year old girls teaching the doctrine of Christ. It's pretty cool. Last Monday he brought up a lot of questions about when life actually starts and it really wasn't relevant but whatever. Then he talked about the commandments and asked if when I'm a mom and a guy walks into my house and is about to kill my kids and I had a kitchen knife in my hand would I kill him? I said absolutely. He wasn't happy with that answer because it would be breaking a commandment. I tried explaining it more but he wasn't satisfied. I told him I change my answer... I would cut his arms off. He raised his finger to contradict me and opened his mouth. He thought about it for a second and then let out a sigh of defeat. GOT HIM! Haha, he was actually really touched by my answer. He then explained that he has never felt such peace talking about religion than he has with us. And he said he has talked to about everyone. They said they would come to church yesterday but didn't.

Tuesday-

Okay. So Tuesday night.... really need to make a long story short but we found cockroaches living in our wall... we went to sleep terrified.

Wednesday-

We woke up to 67 dead HUGE cockroaches in our apartment. We called an exterminator and he came to spray poison stuff... he came to check out the apartment and he walked in and said "yeah it smells like cockroaches". That was comforting. He said he could fumigate it later that afternoon. The problem is that we couldn't sleep in our apartment. So we had to go sleep in La Banda. He came and did his thing and then we went down on the first floor... he used a crowbar to open a box in the floor where all the plumbing is. We were watching from outside. The lights are on a timer and at the moment he opened the box, the lights went out. All we could see was the floor moving. Oh you guys it was so gross. Then he closed the box after sweeping cockroaches back in and then came outside. He had 4 on his back and 1 crawled in his shirt!!! We paid him and he left... what the heck!?!?!?! We left too but felt bad about it so we went back to clean it up. (See photos.)

So we had to leave our apartment. At that point we hadn't had any lessons and we still had to travel to La Banda (where Sam is p.s.). We decided to go to a less active family because their kids aren't baptized. IT. WAS. THE. WORST: They were totally disrespectful and smoking and ugh it was awful. I was so angry with them. AND I got like 20 mosquito bites... so we left feeling discouraged and tired. We got to La Banda and slept on old mattresses and really were disappointed in our day.

Thursday-

We went back to our apartment and only found like 25 cockroaches! Not as bad as we thought! We cleaned, studied and planned. That night we had a lesson with Valeria. She said her mom still hasn´t given her permission. We are working on it.

Friday-

So today we found the greatest investigator on the planet. She is a referral from the elders. It is absolutely incredible to listen to people pour out their lives and concerns just so openly. I felt very honored to listen to her and then to help her by teaching the gospel. Ahh I am so happy. Her name is Belinda.

Friday night we had a ward activity. We taught about the family and we had milinessa sandwiches. So fun. So yummy.

Saturday-

Oh my Saturday... Okay! So in the morning we went to buy a few things for the baptism and also we needed to pay our rent. We went back to the apartment after to study and make banana bread for the baptism. We were just about to start studies when we get a text from Oscar. He said he's not coming. We drop everything and run to his house. He's not there. We feel the prompting to call Valentina and see if she got her paper signed saying she can be baptized. She didn't. So now we have NO ONE! We went to Valentina's house and she and her brother went to her mom's house. We went to find Oscar but couldn't. Gosh this story is too long. The short version, we couldn't find Oscar and are going to try again tonight. But VALENTINA GOT BAPTIZED!!! Oh it was so beautiful! I gave one of the talks and her mom was there! She isn't a member but told us she wants us to come over this week! It was incredible!

Sunday-

Valentina got confirmed and we have a bishop!!! Finally!! He is a young man that just moved into the ward with his wife. No kids yet. He is perfect!! Oh there is so many good things happening here it is absolutely incredible to be a part of.

Ahh my time is up. I love you all so much!

Hermana Hammond