The One that didn´t make sense...

Hahaha hello everyone!

 

First of all I have to apologize for the confusing email last week... that just proves how crazy my life is right now... My head is all over the place :) 

And this has to be a lightening speed update because I just don't know how to use my time wisely and my hour to write my family goes by flying!! Haha So about the french fries... our church is behind a french fry factory! Hahaha so we going around telling EVERYONE to go to the church behind the french fries! And everyone understands.. fun fact :)

So this week was good! I traveled to Perico, a little town here in Jujuy to do divisions with the sisters there. 

This week we also had interviews!! Presidente asked me how I want to finish my mission.... The next interview I have will be my last.... yikes.... I told him I wanted to finishing my mission sprinting :) He gave me lots of good advice and just told me to keep working towards my potential. He said he is very pleased with the missionary I have become and for all I have done. It was a well needed interview and really helped me a lot. 

Today we had the BEST p-day! We went to The Hill of 7 Colors... I think Elder Slighting has talked about it... well it was so fun!!! I will have pictures next week for sure! But I will try right now to download them in time :) 

Okay that was way to short.... so sorry for the small updates... but just know I am so HAPPY!!! I want to make the best of every moment! 

Take care! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DAD EVER!!!!... que viejo... :)

Love you all!

Hermana Hammond

The One behind the French Fries

Hey all!!

Wanted to apologize for the extremely short letter last week..... I feel like my mission just got 10X more stressful... haha but we are doing good! Mission Leadership Council went great! We learned a lot and it was fun to see old friends :) My comp and I are in charge of 2 zones... so we had 2 zone conferences this week.... and we also had divisions with another companionship... so we haven't really worked at ALL in our area.... It was a rough week with the numbers but our district leader really helped us realize that the Lord called us to be leaders and our numbers don't measure our work. We are training other missionaries who will keep the work going when we are gone.. so God will make it possible to still be a missionary and have success. And man was he right! Last night we finally got to work the two of us in OUR area and we found a FAMILY!!!!! I can't remember their last name but the mom's name is Roxana. Please pray for her and her family. She is preparing for May 2nd!! She has already been to church and really wants to be baptized!! 

Speaking of baptisms... I forgot to tell you all that a while back Paula got baptized!! Remember the cute young woman from Tucuman?? She got baptized with the help of Hermana Sanhueza. So neat to see the fruit of our labors... and we will never know what will come of it because she is now planning on serving a mission!

Also Veronica... I don't remember if I told y'all about her... she was in my last area. I very sweet lady that we were teaching. She was our mom basically. Always making sure we were okay and were safe. Well she is getting baptized this week! I love hearing about people I had the opportunity to teach get baptized!! 

Missions are the greatest. I love it more and more everyday. I am really learning who my Heavenly Father wants me to be.

A good friend finished his mission this week. One thing he said in his last letter is that our missions really don't end. We have 18 months to 2 years to learn, progress, grow, and prepare for the rest of our lives. It is so true. I don't like thinking about all of this coming to an end one day so it's just better that it doesn't :) we will never stop being latter-day saints. There are people out there who need our help, they need the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this church and all it brings. I will testify that God and Jesus Christ live until I am blue in the face. I KNOW this is the only true church on the face of the earth. I KNOW that. With all of my being.

Have a fantastic week everyone! Let's share the gospel :)

Hermana Hammond

Me and Hermana Coronel- la hija de Hermana Briggs :)

My mini companion :)

On our way to Salta!

The One That Flew By

Hello everyone!

Man did this week go by fast! I love my new area! We are starting from scratch looking for new investigators and giving the old ones a new push to baptism. This week I got to go on divisions with Hermana Herrera!!!! I just adore her. She has a great area and is loving her mission! We have definitely become best friends on the mission. So that was so fun!

My companion is super sick. Please pray for her. She has the flu... :( poor thing. 

And this week will be crazy because today we are traveling to Salta! We have MLC tomorrow and then we travel home late at night. I quickly learned as a sister leader you don't get much sleep.... back to the old days working in the hospital. Crystal lights have become my live savers.

I don't have much of an update... I am just trying to get to know my area :)

Haha funny story... these two kids next to me have been staring at me this whole time. One of them tapped me on the shoulder and asked me where I was from. haha he was so scared. It was cute.

Okie dokie! Sorry for the extremely short letter.... here are some pictures to make up for it :)

Have a great week! Enjoy your sleep! :)
Hermana Hammond

hermana herrera!

so sorry..... this is the only photo that would download in time...... more next week for sure!!!!!

The One with the plot twist....

Hello everyone!! Man did we have a plot twist for transfers this weekend! I got transferred!! I am now it Jujuy central in a city named Palpalá! It is beautiful! My companion is Hermana Arrospide. She is from Peru and I just love her to death! She is soooooo tiny but super sassy! Haha we are going to have a blast! And we are sister leaders! I am so excited and very humbled for this opportunity. It will be a great experience for me and just what I need to sprint past the finish line :)

Cool story, we just had lunch at a restaurant near by. When we finished our meal the lady told us that the owner was giving us the lunch for free! We asked to talk to him to just say thank you. Turns out he is a less active member! When he saw us walk in he felt the spirit and felt the urge to come back to church!! It was so neat! Just wearing our name tags is such an honor. I LOVE being a missionary!!

Also I have GREAT news!! The apartment here is BRAND NEW!!!!!!!!!!! It is soooooo cute! There are NO bugs!! and it is so clean!! I almost cried when I walked in. All my mission I have been fixing apartments, and now I don't have to!! It was a relief!! This will probably be my last area, needless to say I am on cloud nine.

The future is so bright. I love my life! I have never been so happy. This is the work of the Lord. Conference was beautiful. What a great weekend to celebrate Easter and get to listen to our inspired leaders. I was spiritually fed and am ready to go! 

Have a great week everyone!! Share the gospel with someone you love!

Hermana Hammond

The One with the cold front...

Feliz Conferencia General y Pascua!!!!!!

Hello everyone! Yay!!!!! General Conference and Easter!!! We are SOOO excited to hear the words of our church leaders. And we are inviting the whole city!! It will be a great week! 

This week in my studies I am focusing on Jesus Christ. Hermana Hooke and I are memorizing The Living Christ. We are almost done! It is so neat to teach with the words in our heads. We find ourselves quoting from the words of the profets and apostles as we testify of our Savior. It is a great experience. I love my Savior. I love that I can be His missionary for 18 months. I love the person He is molding me to be. I LOVE every minute I have here. I have never been so happy.

So disappointing news... Marta and Evaristo didn't get baptized. Tuns out they are married by heart but not by paper..... and to make all matters worse he was previously married to another woman a long time ago... The hard thing here is that getting divorced takes a LOT of time, money, and paperwork so nobody bothers.... marriage really doesn't even come across people's minds... it broke my heart to see their faces. They were so excited to be baptized. But we assured them not to worry, that we would get everything worked out so they can get married. Unfortunately they didn't come to church yesterday. Marta is sick and Evaristo stayed with her. But the kids came! They are all future missionaries. They are going to seminary and sharing the gospel with their friends at school! It is awesome! Also they invited us over to their house for lunch this week! They are so humble and so giving. It was one of their daughters birthday this week, Catarina. She is 7 and is preparing to be baptized next year! :) haha hopefully I can come back to be there for her and hopefully go to the temple with them! hint hint mom and dad :) 

Well that's about my update for the week. Oh!! Happy news! San Pedro got hit with fall!! It was cold all week! We had to wear a cardigan during the day and a jacket at night! It is BEAUTIFUL! I haven't been cold for a year. It was awesome! Today is a bit warmer but we are hopeful for some more coldness! :)

All is going well with the Belgrano Mission. We are really excited. This week we have a training for all of the missionaries and the ¨district leaders¨. This week in church we had a ton of less actives that haven't been to church in months and for some even years!! It was a miracle! We always love to see the fruit of our labors :)

Well thank you all for your support. I feel it so strong and it is definitely 

needed :). Have a great week and Happy Easter!

Con amor, 

Hermana Hammond  

Ma gurls.

Happy Birthday Catarina!

So... before the big storms... this was a bridge... 

Then we crossed the bridge....

Here's a pretty view outside our apartment. The sunrises are unreal.

The One Year

Hola chicos,

We are sure killing it here in Belgrano. I love this area and all the hard work it brings. Also I am hitting the big one year this week. I don't feel that old.... but that's what the calendar says... haha.

WE are moving along great with our investigators! Marta and Evaristo Diaz (the parents of Mayra and Celeste) are getting baptized this week!!!! Oh we are just so happy!!! They ALL came to church yesterday! What a cool sight to see an entire family sitting together. It brought tears to our eyes. 

We had tons of cool experiences this week where we just were in the right place at the right time. People who had been praying for us to come, and then we show up that day, or people we contact on the street that end up coming to church. We had 6 investigators at church on Sunday! It was incredible! We found another family on the same street as the Diaz family. The 2 girls came to church on Sunday and we are working on their parents :) 

I finished the Pearl of Great Price this week! It was so interesting. I absolutely love Joseph Smith History. I have a strong testimony that he is the prophet of the restoration. I am so grateful for his devoted service to the church and for restoring the Church of Jesus Christ back on the earth. And I LOVE telling everyone about it!

Being a missionary is the greatest thing ever! I am so happy I could burst!

Que tengan una buena semana!

Hermana Hammond

 

Happy St. Patty's Day!

This is an Argentina hot dog.

We just couldn't part from our sweats on this lovely P-day. But it's a rule that we have to study in a skirt.... so this is what we came up with :) Lookin' good.

The One when the Church got struck by lightening....

WOW!!! This week was incredible!!!!! We had an amazing zone conference with President Chaparro and the assistants. They all gave very great talks. We learned a ton! Sam spoke on obedience. It was so powerful. I wrote a list of things I can do to be more obedient. 

We had to wake up at 5 in the morning to travel to Jujuy.... it was a 2 hour bus ride.... and then 2 hours home. It's crazy being on a mission because you can't just crash for 5 hours to catch up on your sleep.... you just have to keep going. But somehow.... somewhere... we find the energy :)

Then we ended the week with Mayra's baptism! It was the most incredible day! Here's a readers digest version...

So we got to Mayra's house just before a HUGE thunderstorm hit. It was raining so hard and the wind almost blew the house away. The Diaz family lives in a very humble home. There aren't really walls... and their roof is just a big piece of metal. So we all huddled together and waited for the rain to pass. I suggested that we say a prayer. I started to pray and as I prayed it started raining harder!! I was like ¨Are you kidding???¨ I was hoping the rain would stop... but instead it got worse.... we started singing hymns... nothing.... we started singing louder... nothing. I looked at Mayra and she said, ¨well, lets get ready to go!¨ Their whole family started getting dressed to go to the baptism! Some of the members who were waiting at the church called and said the power went out.... I told them to say a prayer and that we would be there soon! We got everyone ready and started our trek through the muddy streets to the church! The thing is when it rains... it floods.... so we may have had to cross a few street rivers... but we kept singing hymns and laughing the whole way. We finally got to church... after singing I am a child of God about 200 times..... and.... There was power!!! Yay!!! We went through with the baptism. We didn't want to get the church all muddy so we all took our shoes off :) It was a beautiful baptism. She was so happy. And her dad came to church the next day! Speaking of church... we got there on Sunday morning and the steeple got struck by lightening!!!! haha yikes.....

I am so sorry my emails are not very detailed. There is SO MUCH to tell you and I get so overwhelmed every Monday as I try to fit a weeks worth of miracles in one email. But just know my mission is CRAZY! We sure love it here. I love my companion and I love our area. 

Thank you for your prayers!

Hermana Hammond

Mayra's baptism! Soaking wet...

We love Mayra :)

The church got struck by lightening....