The One with the Talent Show

Hello all!

This week was fun! The work is still pretty slow and I am still pretty frustrated. I will start of by telling a cool story that happened Thursday. So we decided to invite Mirium and Carlos to be baptized like... Saturday. We had received that revelation and felt is was right. So we were walking to her house on Thursday and I got a feeling in my head that we shouldn't go... I was like psh they're getting baptized of course we're going! I had a little war with the spirit in my head and then a very clear thought came into my head saying, I AM TRYING TO PROTECT YOU! It was very clear and very strong I stopped and told Hermana Creason. She said she was felling the same and didn't know how to tell me. We took a hard right turn for a park bench and prayed. It was clear to us that we shouldn't go. And we didn't know why. But that's the beauty of trusting in Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost. Sometimes we don't know why. We just do it.

So after that experience we were confused. They said they couldn't come to church because of an emergency and we haven't seen them since. We have a lesson with them Thursday. And we have plans to bring a member.
So on Sunday, Marta was our only investigator at church. Bummer. But we are counting our blessings! She is great! We are teaching her tonight! She is leaving September 11th. Hopefully she will be ready for baptism before then!

Juan is traveling this week and we haven't seen him, Jose has been sick and is avoiding us. It's just been kind of a bummer week. But I still seem to be so happy! Hahaha blessings of doing the Lord's work! 

On Friday we had a talent show with the ward! It was so freaking fun! Hermana Creason and I played a remix of God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again on the piano and Hermana C played the flute! Everybody loved it! There was also karaoke and dancing and tons of food! Hahaha, IT WAS SO FUN!!! I have never laughed so hard! We left at 10:20 to be home by 10:30 and the members stayed until 3 am!!! Freaking party animals. Hahaha I love them! Hermana Creason and I are going to play this Sunday in church. We are playing Come Thou Fount. It will be pretty. 

So it's so crazy hot down here in Santiago and we are burning up! Our apartment doesn't have air conditioning.... so that's fun. We bought a fan this week. It's missing some parts (industrial Argentina) but it works!!! Haha

So I think that´s about it for this week. I want to have time to send pictures. I have a few :) 

Love you all! Keep up the good work!

Hermana Hammond

We SCRUBBED the baptismal font this week.

I felt like all of the sins that were washed away from every baptism that was in that font were embedded in the tile.... so gross.  We got it a little better.

I gave myself a french manicure.... feels good to pamper myself ;)

My cool hair.... getting creative :)

Us at the talent show.... it's a party!

You better believe your eyes!! Drinking a coke.

The One with the cockroach sauce.... not awesome sauce.

Hello family and friends!

This week was a little rough for us. But nothing we can't handle!!! :) I feel like we have been running a race and are now stuck in mud. We had 4 people preparing for baptism and now we have nobody.

Here are some quick updates:

Juan- Couldn't come to church because his motorcycle broke. He was going to walk but wouldn't have gotten there in time. I hate Satan... we are picking him (Juan) up in a taxi next week :)

Jose- He still needs to have a desire that pushes him to church. We baptize converts... he is progressing but will probably be baptized in September.

Mirium y Carlos- Haha, we are moving forward with them! We have prayed a lot about the situation and don't feel like it is harmful to us. Haha and good news... they want to get married! They are thinking April and then baptism after that but we are going to change their minds :) They have been to church 5 times... it's time to fill the font ;) Haha. Tonight we are going to talk about temples and eternal marriage and the law of chastity. Hopefully the spirit will touch their hearts and will want to get married sooner so they can prepare to go to the temple.

Valeria- Couldn't come to church but here's a funny and pretty amazing story! Her mom was at her house and picked up a book and started reading it. Vale came in and asked her what she was reading. She said ¨just this book I found¨ Valeria then realized and told her that is was the Book of Mormon..... Her mom realized... put it down... and then Valeria found her mom reading it again later that night! HOLY MOLY!!!!! Talk about mysterious ways of God! It made me smile. Her heart is changing and I will have faith in the Lord's timing. :)

So we are pushing through. Just in a rough patch. We aren't teaching as much and we are a little frustrated but there is something to be learned here and by golly I'm going to figure it out! :)

So funny story of the week. We had family night with a less active family. They are Juan's friends and they introduced him to us. He was going to teach us how to make pizza, tortillas, and a type of empanada... forgot what they're called. So we are all making the dough and had a little flour fight. This is the family with the crazy kids that attack me.... Sandra's kids. See past emails for help... haha so we're cooking and Juan asks me to come into the kitchen to stir the sauce. I was stirring, and stirring, and stirring and then I see something in the sauce..... actually I see two things.... COCKROACHES!!!!!!!! ALL OVER THE FOOD!!!! I almost threw up.... Juan didn't even make a big deal! He just took them out and kept cooking! I had to get out of the kitchen.... the worst part is that we tasted that freaking sauce!!! Ugh..... nasty. Haha so I told Hermana C in secret and when the food was done we didn't eat much and chose our slices carefully.... and prayed with all of our might that we wouldn't be throwing up cockroaches that night...

We have been eating so healthy this week. But we have a problem with that because we go have lunch with members and they make us eat way more than we want....  so everyday this week we left the member's house about to explode... we need to figure out how to get them to cook less... maybe if I ate slower... haha I don't know. :)

Oh yeah zone training! It was great! I love being with the zone! I actually got to do some practices with Elder Slighting and his companion! Super cool! After the conference we were waiting for interviews. Elder Slighting and I got to talk for a long time about our missions, our friends on missions, and our friends back home, and a bunch of other stuff! The elder he talked about, Elder Escobar, is in my district! Haha they worked together for a day! Crazy we're in the same zone. So fun!

My interview with President Chaparro was great! We talked a lot about my potential here in the mission. He shared with me D&C 1:4-5 and taught me more about how the Lord calls us to do what we are capable of doing. I learned a lot about having faith that God is aware of me and that I literally have the capacity to do the work here. Not only just do it, but excecute it! I loved our reading assignment this week about Ammon and King Lamoni. Ammon was a servant to the king and excecuted everything he asked him to do! We are the same! We are servants to the Lord. Towards the end of the chapter (Alma 18) Ammon has a very spiritual experience with the King. It was a testimony builder to me that Heavenly Father blesses us with spiritual experience after the ¨trial of our faith¨ or after we execute the task. I am going to work on that more this week. Really executing every task I have and then having the faith that the blessings will come.

I love you all! I can feel your prayers everyday! Keep being the wonderful person you are. Because YOU are pretty special.

With all my love,

Hermana Hammond

Sundays are the BEST!!!

Hello ma peeps!

Haha so I had a great week!.... again. The week always is good but Sundays are the BEST!!! We work so hard all week and see the fruit of our labors on Sundays! It's all worth it. We had 4 investigators at church.

1. Marta- the girl from Spain! We are going to go teach her right after this. She will be here well into September. Baptism!! So cool for me to teach her. Little connection to my dad. :)

2. VALERIA!!!!! She walked into sacrament meeting when I was playing the opening song. I looked over and she smiled and waved at me! I about messed up!! Hahaha I didn't get to talk to her after but she was there! That's all that matters. 

3&4. Mirium and Carlos.... so weird story. We went to teach them with the Bishop last Monday. Carlos was getting to know the bishop and he said he knows his dad! It was cool because he was telling him all this stuff he knows and that they went out to lunch last week and where he lives and everything! But a few days later the bishop called us and said that Carlos was lying about the whole thing... his dad does not know him. In fact Carlos is a con man and just got out of jail..... yep. We are teaching a hustler. HAHAHA and so we are still figuring out how to handle this... the bishop doesn't want us to go over there without him and yeah. I will have more info later. We are teaching them tomorrow. The weird thing is he wants to get baptized and he was crying in the lesson... maybe he really wants to change. Hahah we will be careful don't worry! 

So yesterday was sweet! After church we had a tour with Juan! The guy who read the Book of Mormon in 10 days!!! He told us this week that he is very sensitive to spirits. He hates other churches because of their bad energy but finds peace in reading the Book of Mormon. Friday we had divisions and I stayed here in Cabildo with Hermana Guerrero. Last time we had splits Hermana C was with her and the lesson with Juan didn't go well. And when I was with her I felt the spirit very clearly to go visit Juan... I was like NOOOOO!!!!! Por favor no! Haha but you can't say no to the spirit... so we went! He was there and the lesson was a little off but I knew we had to be there because we had plans to go visit him Saturday but he told me he wouldn't be there and so I set up the tour with him Sunday and it was THE COOLEST LESSON EVER!!! We showed him the church so he would feel comfortable to attend this Sunday. He told us he feels something when he is with us, reading the Book of Mormon, and in the chapel. We then had a lesson about the Plan of Salvation and I invited him to be baptized. He said yes!!! So we have 4 people preparing for the 30th of August! Please keep them in your prayers!

1. Juan

2. Jose

3. Maria

4. Gabriel

I will explain the others another week.... no time. But please pray that they will move forward with their baptisms. 

Today was really fun! This morning we played soccer with the zone! It was SOO fun!! I love our zone! After Hna C and I went shopping! Don't worry I didn't buy anything.... okay so I bought another skirt.... and a bracelet but that's it!... and a llama pen... and another bracelet. Okay that is all! I think... haha I haven't changed!! 

Sorry no pictures this week! I forgot my cord at the apartment! But I love you all soooooo much!!!!! I am loving every day down here the beautiful A-town. I couldn't be happier. 

Lots of love and prayers,
Hermana Hammond

Winter?... I don't think so!

Hello everyone!

Man is it hot, hot, HOT!!! It's supposed to be winter but it feels like a hot August day in Georgia! The people say it's weird... I'm nervous for summer for real... but it will be fine :).

Okay so I forgot to say that last week Oscar blessed the sacrament!!! He is seriously amazing. His progress is incredible. This week was the 7 month anniversary of his dad passing away. They have a tradition to go to the cemetary. He was there and was having a hard time and felt the need to text us. A while back I shared with him my favorite scripture. D&C 84:88. It changed his life, as it did mine. This scripture has carried me through everything hard in my life. So when he texted us I reminded him that we are never alone. Not only is Jesus Christ in front of us guiding and protecting our steps but he promised angles on every side. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to be the one who needed to help Oscar in that moment. Hermana Creason and I couldn't be happier here in Cabildo. There are miracles every day and such great people to teach. 

Update on Valeria. We went Thursday and her mom was there. She started yelling and said she never wanted us to come back. We didn't actually get to talk to her but we have to respect her wishes. It breaks my heart to see someone so ready for baptism but she doesn't have permission. She is strong though. Yesterday she texted us and asked if we started and ended fasting with a prayer. She fasted. It's incredible her faith. She will be baptized. Maybe not now. But at least in a year when she's 18. It will happen but we need to have faith in the Lord's timing. 

Haha funny story! We went to Chango Mas (Wal-mart) to buy some groceries. Hahah the change is weird here... but our change was 26 pesos... and the lady gave us 25 and a bandaid... weird. Hahaha that's Argentina for ya. :) And I love it so much!

Oh my goodness so yesterday we had the COOLEST lesson ever and then they came to church the next and the class was on the Word of Wisdom... we haven't taught that yet. Well they hated it! We knew we had to go see them that night to resolve doubts. So we did. They expressed their concerns and we taught that with faith in Jesus Christ we can do all things. They were touched by the spirit and their hearts were softened. We followed the spirit and the Holy Ghost really spoke for us. It was absolutely incredible. I have never felt the spirit so strong. It was with Mirium and Carlos. Mirium shared a lot of her doubts with us. She feels like Heavenly Father doesn't love her because she has never had a spiritual experience. I promised her that if we sing a hymn with her she will feel his love in her heart. We sang Abide with Me, Tis Even Tide. It was the most powerful thing ever. She was crying and I was obviously crying. She definitely received an answer. I then felt the prompting to invite them to be baptized. They accepted!! They know this is right. Ahh I love them so much! We are going back to their house tonight. Needless to say I am so excited. 

Okay my time is up. I can't say it enough how happy I am. THE CHURCH IS TRUE! There is no doubt about it! I LOVE MY LIFE!!! 

Hermana Hammond :)

Waiting outside for our investigators

We love our popcorn