Feb. 23, 2015 This week in Naranjal!!

Feb. 23, 2015  This week in Naranjal!!

This week was pretty good it went by super super fast, after carnival!! Carnival was super super slow!! It's super funny because  every single day you are just exhausted!! You just want a break!! But when you have a break or  a day to just do nothing you just want to work!!  It was funny!!  This week was good and full of miracles!! I love being a zone leader and helping and serving others!! It's been pretty stressful though! Many things have happened in our zone and the missionaries that are serving here! 

 Aver!! (Let's see) What has happened this week!!  I don't even remember! I think I will just  tell you of little things we have been doing! We have about 7 people that have a fecha (date) baptismal! I have worked my tail off to invite everybody to the church and in total I have invited over 46 people to be baptized this week and over 110 people to church just this week! We are talking with everybody and inviting everybody!

Well, I don't even know what to say or to tell you I don't even remember what happened, but,  today I cut my other lider de zones (zone leaders) hair!!  It was the first time I've ever cut hair in my life!!! AHH!!! He said just go for it!! I was like shoootttt!!! It was funny, but I was soo proud of myself!!

Saturday was cool we had our reunion! (meeting) as a zone and it was super fun and we got our zone animated to break the record here in Naranjal! It's super super hot and super super rainy!! I'll tell a funny story that happened to me this week!! Totally sword and the stone!! It was raining, I was sleeping like peacefully and I woke up and  drops of water were falling  on my face and MY ENTIRE BED!! It was just soaked with water from the ceiling! Welcome to Ecuador! The ceiling broke and my body  was just soaked and so I had to take a shower because the ceiling is nasty!  This happened at 5:00 in the morning! but yeah its okay! I didn't have an umbrella to shove through the roof like the sword and the stone! haha

Sunday was super cool!!  It was the birthday of Elder Romero!! So, I made some freaking good pancakes for him!!  It was late but President Torres and his whole family showed up at  church! ha ha  It was stressful because we have to help with the sacrament, I have to play the piano and lead the music and soo many things but it went good! President and his wife and family stayed all during church and they were in the class gospel doctrine and we taught the 10 commandments!  It went good!

Something I am learning as a missionary is how to feel the spirit! I don't know this week really was just a blur and I am just really tired! I am learning so much patience everyday! I'm learning to testify and learn by the spirit and really if missionaries don't have the spirit they can't do anything! I Love you my family, this church is true!! I KNOW IT!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!

Love Elder Hammond

Feb. 16, 2015 My new area Naranjal!! 8 months on the mission

Feb. 16, 2015 My new area Naranjal!!!

I can't even begin to tell you my week this week! It has been absolutely crazy!!  And awesome! I am learning SOO MUCH!!

 I'll just start with lunes (Monday)

Lunes! So, I was with the assistants all  day!  I was helping them do a lot of things!  One of those was to do cambios  (exchanges) en the mission! So I was with them in the office until 2 in the night!! I was sooo tired because I didn't get any sleep from the changes I had from the Galapagos!!   yeah 2, it was great! They told me where I was going and what I needed to do! They told me! Elder Hammond, you have a huge responsibility to be the lider de zona...(Zone leader) you have to lead 8 missionaries to break the record of 19 baptisms there! You are going to train too. You have to train him, he only has 1 month in the mission! haha I was like oh my gosh what more! Also they said you are lider de zona number 1! Which means you won't have a trainer to tell you what to do! So, they gave me a 5 page little packet what I need to do as a lider de zona! ESO going in cold feet! Also the branch where your going to serve is only a year old and you need to do everything and help them with everything!  So,  I couldn't sleep that well that night!

Tuesday!  I went to my new sector which is Naranjal!! Naranajal is very beautiful its like fields everywhere but it has mountains as well!  It's super cool!   I am learning a lot of patience, my companion is called Elder Romero! He has ADHD.... he talks more than I breathe, it's very very hard because he is very orgulloso! haha soo.... just imagine my spot.. it's hard!  But we put 2 new fechas (dates for baptism) that day in only 2 hours of working!!

I don't remember what happened Wednesday or Thursday!!

Friday!  This branch that we have is only 1 year old! Friday morning I got to see our church building! It's a garage we rent! haha like literally it's a garage!  I was like, yup the Church is true!  You could see the cockroaches run through the chairs and everything!  After we worked,  the assistants called me and said that they were here in Naranjal!  So I had to work with them to show them our fechas and everything!  I was super super stressed!

Saturday! SOO to start off Here in Ecuador! It's Carnival!!  What happens is EVERYBODY  gets everybody wet!! Outside they have pools and squirt guns!! EVERYONE has silly string! soooo saturday we had to be in the house at 6!  Today and Tuesday  we are in the house at 12!! That's why I have to write soo early today!!
 Saturday we had our meeting!! We have 8 people in our zone and we animated (excited) them so we could destroy the record here! I know we can do it!  It was my first as a lider de zona! My companion doesn't really like to be that obedient and so it's super hard too!  BUT we HAD 4 baptisms!!!!! AND I got to BAPTIZE  IN A RIVER!!!!!!!! AAAHHHH Ocean,  then a RIVER!!!  Super super cool!!! I was like ooh my gosh I could totally catch a fish here!! haha It was hard, but it was soo good!!!!

Sunday!!!

 Sunday was good!!...  I lead the Church meeting, and I had to play the piano!!  Also I taught the gospel doctrine class!! I am DOING SOOO many things!!  I really am praying my tail off here! I am on my knees like 30 minutes everynight!!  I love this mission!! Really I am learning SOOO MUCH!!!!! ALSO  Mom, thanks soooo much for the package!!!!!!! I LOVED THE CANDIES!!!! I love them ALL!!!  I give the candy to the kids here that don't have anything! They love American candy!I I love all of the hearts sooo much- and all of the notes from my family! I love you soo much my wonderful mother!!!!!!

Please keep praying for me!! I love you all soo much!!
Elder Hammond

Feb. 9, 2015 Leaving Galapagos!!!

Feb. 9, 2015 Leaving Galapagos!!!

NOOO!!!!! The day finally came when I had to leave the most beautiful place on this mission!  It was sooo sad!!! On Sunday, we got  all ready to bring our investigators to church and when I got to church at 8:50 church starts at 9 the president of the Rama was like can you give a 15 minute talk about whatever you like! I was like GUH.....   noo!! Ha ha It  was hard, but it was good! I was a little nervous but said a little prayer to help me! I got up there and I didn't even look down to share the notes Id written! I said I want to talk about our Savior Jesus Christ! I gave a 15 minute talk on the atonement and why we are really here serving him as missionaries and as members of the church, why really everything is focused on the atonement and Jesus Christ in the church, and what Jesus did on the earth ,and why it's soo important! After we sang God be with you till me meet again! SOO MANY of the families and the Hermanas and the Hermanos were crying because they all thought I was leaving! But I didn't get the call till later!! Super sad!! haha this week  WAS AWESOME!!! It went by super super super fast!!

We worked our tails off this week! We've been really trying to get a baptism this week!  We were going to have one anyways, so me and my companion worked super hard and we found 2 girls that haven't been baptized yet in the church!! and BOOMM!!!  I HAD THE GREAT honor And privilege to baptize somebody in the Galapagos beach!! In the ocean!! HOW COOL! is that!!!  I couldn't believe it either!! 

 Other than that we've been inviting soo many people to church and everything! It was super super funny like I said the other week , soo many of the people here on the island know me! I really say hi like every 5 seconds or somebody I've talked to about the church or the gospel!! I LOVE IT!!!  I am really really very sad... when I got the news I called a family that we've gotten very close with and the mom just started crying her eyes out that I was leaving! She was like you can't leave, you cant go! Gosh it was sooo hard!! I packed all my things up at like 12:30 and woke up at 6 and I left the beautiful island! 

I am super stoked to work my tail off in my next sector! but I am nervous too!  That's okay, the Lord will help me! I love my Savior and I know this is His church!!  Please pray for me!!! Off to Naranjal!!  I Love you my family!!!

Elder Hammond

Feb. 2, 2015 This week in the Galapagos!!!

Feb. 2, 2015 This week in the Galapagos!!

Well to be quite honest with you guys this week has gone by pretty dang fast!! I am really just so grateful to be the Lords servant here in the Islas Del Mar!!  Me encanta!  (I love it!)

Tuesday! We had a district meeting, which is 8 of us.  I am the district leader.  This time I gave a 30 minute talk about how we can dedicate ourselves more to this amazing work!! And how we can try to develop more  Christ like attributes!!  I prayed super hard that I could have the spirit touch the hearts of  the missionaries and after I talked and we had the meeting, one of the missionaries gave me a note saying! Dude, I look up to you so much! You are such a great leader! Thanks, the meeting hit me hard! I was like OH wow super cool!  So I am trying to be in tune with the spirit always so I can have these type of experiences a lot!!

On Wednesday morning, we went running and OH MY GOSH!! We saw the worst motorcycle accident! We were walking after our run, and there was a bus and a motorcycle!  They slammed! There were 4 people on this bike and I've never ran so fast  to them! All of them were bleeding like crazy from their heads because none of them were wearing helmets, and they were just screaming! I felt sooo bad because we couldn't do anything!!   It was awful! How great to start the day on wednesday right?!?

 Thursday!!  Oh my gosh!  I've never done soo much service  in my life!!  First we started out at 8 and helped a family who was moving out!!  That was AWESOME!! We saw spiders as big as like baseball mitts! I kid you not!! It was awesome!! I had spider webs all over my hands because this family hasn't touched this stuff in like years.  Right after, we went and pulled weeds for 2 hours on this patio! My hands were  raw after!!  I was like this is why I came on the mission so I didn't have to pull weeds!! haha, but it was good because they fed us!!!  AFTER THAT!!!  It was around 2 in the afternoon! We had another opportunity.  This lady wanted to chop down  a tree! But all she had was a machete!! So Elder Hammond (with a machete) chopped down this super huge tree haha it was funny!!  They were very grateful!!

Friday- we had a super cool noche de hogar (family night) in a house of a member! It was super awesome!! Super spiritual and it turned into a testimony meeting.  It was my turn to bear my testimony and then we ate empanadas!  While we were walking home my companion turned to me  and said dude I have never been so shaken after you testimony! You should have seen the faces on the people you were testifying too!!  So that was fun!!

 Saturday!!  We had a thing for a missionary that is going to leave here! It was super cool! The people (the family) don't have enough money to buy all the things for him, so they had all the ward get things for him!! It was  awesome!!   He wanted the missionaries to talk about their experiences and everything, and that was super fun!!

This time that I've been here in the Galapagos has been amazing,  I am sooo blessed beyond belief to be here! You guys really cannot imagine how beautiful it is here!! It's always super hot and it's super super green!! The sunsets and the sunrises are gorgeous!! Every  night you can see SOO MANY Stars!! I love it soo much! The Galapagos are gorgeous! I  DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE AT ALL!!! I want to stay here!! I love it!  I thank the Lord for letting me serve here!! I love you my family sooo much!! For another week in the Galapagos!!

Elder Hammond
                                               Bananas!!!

                                            Music!