March 30, 2015 This week in Naranjal!!

March 30, 2015 
Family!!!,
OH my gosh super super fast!! I don't have much time! We just had a powerful message with President!! We traveled from Naranjal  last night  and we slept in the hotel at the temple!! I said, oh my gosh I don't have to boil my water!!! My bed doesn't have any ants or spiders crawling on it!!! I WAS LIKE WHAT IS THIS!!! We really don't realize how spoiled you guys are over there in the states! ha ha but yeah!! I am excited,  this week  was my birthday!! I got the package from my mom!!!!  And a family did a huge surprise birthday party for me!!! It was soo cool!! 
But gosh, this week! I have never seen soo much persecution in my whole life.... really to be a missionary in Naranjal is hard! But I love it!! We are fighting and defending the truth EVERY SINGLE DAY!! I LOVE IT!!! We are going by menos activos y conversos (Less actives and converts) that have soo many questions about Jose smith and my gosh!! I literally just grin and bear it and not yell at them but tell them directly that if you really want to know if Jose Smith fue un profeta usted necesita leer El libro de Mormon!!!!!!!!! (was a prophet you need to read the Book of Mormon!)    Revistas!! Peliculas!! Iglesias!! TODO!!!   (Magazines, Movies, Churches!!!  Everything!!!    ahh I love it!! 
 This week was good we are working our brains off! and doing good! 
I miss you guys!!! I LITERALLY, LITERALLY COULD NOT BE MORE PROUD OF MY AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL SISTER HAYLEE!! Haylee girl you are flat out amazing and wonderful and soo beautiful YOU DID SOO  good!!!  Your brother IS SOO PROUD OF YOU!! You made me cry here in the cyber!! I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH HAYLEE!! You are amazing!!
 This week was good! super fast! Every one of Gods missionaries will have challenges in this case we are defending the truth teaching classes and playing the piano and teaching every class in the church giving talks every week!  Strengthening every member in the ward from the devil but this is the work of the lord! I love being one of His warriors!! I LOVE YOU FAMILY!!
Love, Elder Hammond

March 23, 2015 Naranjal!

March 23, 2015 Naranjal!

Wow, this week was AMAZING!! FLAT OUT AMAZING!  I will tell you some of the things that have happened!

Tuesday we had a family that was going to get sealed!!  The devil was attacking this family so they couldn't go!  My zone leader comp and I went over there to encourage them! I bore powerful testimony que the Iglesia (that the church) was true and that they need to do this!! After, it was like 8:40  I had A HUGE impression to go by the church which was like 15 minutes walking but we needed to be obedient to get home at 9! I followed the spirit and we went.  I didn't know where I was going but something told me to go by the church so we went and got to the church and the spirit told me one more street then another street! When we got to that street I saw a house,  it was pitch black and something hit me like a wall!! It was that house!! So we went! I knocked and yelled nobody was home! So we went home! Like okay what was that? The next day I had the impression to pass by and they were there! It was a family of 7 people that have been inactive for 2 years and have been praying to have the missionaries come to them! WOW THE SPIRIT WORKS!! THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!!  They came to church this Sunday!!

This friday we had the great opportunity to have interviews with President Torres! He came to our zone!  We went to this family that was going to be sealed because soo many things have been happening.  My other comp and I got to work with President for 5 hours! We gave them all priesthood blessings.  My Mission Pres. is a powerful man!! I Love it!!  It was awesome to work by his side!!

Finally we got to go to the Temple on SATURDAY!! WHAT A BLESSING!!!!! We got up at 3:30 in the morning yeah I was dead!!  I was his escort like dad was for me when I first went in! IT WAS SOO POWERFUL, I LOVE THE TEMPLE!! It truly is the house of the Lord!!!  I got to be a witness for the marriage! It was my first sealing!!! THAT IS MY ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO GET MARRIED IN THE TEMPLE!!!!!! I LOVE that it was soo powerful!! That family is sealed for time and all eternity!!! Then what added more to my joy was to see my convert Vicente at the Temple! HE DID WORK FOR HIS PARENTS!!!!! HE WAS THERE I JUST STARTED CRYING!!!! I saw my convert at the temple!! It was an amazing week!! 

Sunday!!! Guess who spoke again!! hah YES ME!! I loved it!!! I talked about the book of Mormon and that we have the truth and you guys can really find the love Jesus has for us in this book!! Soo many people came up after to me just crying after my talk it was super powerful!! I love you sooo much my wonderful family! I could not be  more proud of my amazing sister!!! I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH BRITTANY!!
THANKS SOO MUCH FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY WISHES!! I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH keep praying for me!!
Elder Hammond
                                            Vicente Ambrano

                                           An Iguana on my shoulder

                                              The family that we helped!

                                             Guayaquil Temple

                                          Raining like crazy!!

                                            Don't know if you can tell how wet we are!

                                            In the jungle!!!

                                           B B Q in the jungle!!

March 16, 2015 Naranjal!

March 16, 2015 Naranjal!

Well, this week was SOO FAST BUT SUPER SUPER COOL!!  Started out on Tuesday! We worked super  hard and invited a lot  of people to be baptized.  More than anything on Tuesday I had to interview 8 people to get baptized!!  Interviews are super super cool to get to know why they are getting baptized, and they always just ball and cry during it! I Love love seeing the changes of people right in front of my eyes! The gospel is really sooo true!!

 Aha THEN WEDNESDAY!!!! Mom I couldn't stop thinking about you on this one!!  We went to Cuenca!! HA HA super super cool!!! To get there we went through the Andes Mountains!!! So that's a bucket list check off!!  I've been over and through the Andes Mountains!!  Mom!! I WENT TO WHERE YOU WERE ON YOUR MISSION!!   It was COLD!!!  I was like oh my gosh what?!?!  We got there and started working hard!  When we went to bed, it was cold it was the first time in my whole mission that I've used a blanket to sleep with!!  AND THEY HAD HOT WATER?!?!? AHH!!  The missionaries in Cuenca are spoiled!  Anyways, we had a meeting with president there, which was cool! We talked about not harding our hearts!  Really, its soo true how fast we are to harden our hearts! It was powerful!! 

 We got home super super late!!  Something that was such a blessing was that here in naranjal we broke records!! WE JUST BROKE THE RECORD of baptisms at one time!! 11!!!!!! It was soo powerful!! 11 baptisms! I had the opportunity to baptize 4 of them!! (I was like totally John the baptist!!) haha super fun!!  I loved it soo much!! All of them were confirmed on Sunday!! It took up half of the sacrament meeting to confirm them all!! Presidente Torres came too! I also gave a talk... I was soo nervous President was there! I talked about Jose smith for about 10 minutes and porque el fue muy importante en la restoration!! (why he is so important) Then I had to teach the gospel doctrine class!! Which was about the atonement! I loved it!! 

This week was amazing and life changing to me!! I AM SOOO PROUD OF MY AMAZING SISTER WHO FINISHED HER MISSION!! I love you my sister your amazing and the Lord loves you for serving his mission with honor!! I love you Britt!!!!! Way to go!

Love Elder Hammond

March 9, 2015 Naranjal!!

March 9, 2015 Naranjal!

Well, I don't have any time at all! This week was good! We had a lot of success! We had 2 baptisms in our zone which was super super cool!! I loved it!! I really don't have any time at all to tell stories and everything! but just know that I know the church is true! I really don't know what you want to know I want you guys to ask questions to me or something that would be awesome!! I love you soo much my family!! Have a great week!! 

Elder Hammond

                                                 Vicente Zambrano!!    The baptisms are soo legit here!!!

                                            Love the greens here!!!

Naranjal!

Look it's an owl!!

March 2, 2015 Naranjal

March 2, 2015   Naranjal

This week was a week full of miracles and things I have learned, things that I will forever remember and that I will always be grateful to my Heavenly Father for!!

This week my comp that was the other Z L left! I have my companion that I am training still, and also I have another companion that is my lider de zone  (Z L) comp!   I was left alone as the zone leader in a trio with another comp! It was very very hard because my comp and him didn't get along at all ...like at all!  So, it was very hard! 

 This branch is very very new! It's only a year old.. the people that have callings have only been in the church for 3 months. Even the Primary president and things like that! 

We are at war here in this city and Satan is fighting very very hard! I have seen the works of his power here in Naranjal I don't want to sound weird, but I have seen things with my own eyes that are truly frightening! Here in Naranjal we are at war!  Right now the other Churches are printing out newspapers and are fighting with words against the church! People and members in the U.S think that persecution is over! The members here are getting persecuted right and left! I have battled with 2 pastors here in Naranjal.. I am teaching the members every day and showing them how to say and defend the truth! 

Our missionaries here are getting down on this and for the first time in my life, I had an experience where I turned to a scripture in Doctrine y Convenants 6:32  DO NOT FEAR!!!! For I am with you!!! In our reunion (meeting) I shared a powerful testimony and a powerful message in the next verses until verse 37!! THE LORD IS WITH US!! DO  NOT DOUBT AND DO NOT FEAR!! When trials and tribulations come it is testimony that the Church is true!! Our Church out of all the other churches is getting opposition! Every day we are working so hard to defend it!! It WAS NEVER EASY in the Book of Mormon to defend the truth! Prophets were killed, they were spit upon!! They were sent into jail!! FAMILIES and kids were thrown in the fire for believing in the word!! They would kill every person who would not deny the Christ!!! 

Here it will not be easy!! But we have the truth! We have The Gospel!!  That's all that matters! The church is true!! and I know  it!  It  was fast Sunday and I got up and bore POWERFUL testimony that the church is true and it doesn't matter what anybody says! You keep reading the Book and you keep praying every night and the Lord will help you!!  Jose Smith was a prophet of God!! The gospel doctrine class  was full of people because they wanted to listen to what the missionaries had to say!! 

 Finally my lider de zona came on Friday and it's been a great help!! Today we moved the sisters for over 4 hours!! I was like, I want to write, I am hungry! I was carrying a bed up the stairs complaining a little but then I remembered that if Jesus Christ could carry a cross up a mountain after being beaten and whipped!  I could carry a bed and fridge up the stairs! and I did it! It was a powerful testimony of the expiation (atonement) in my life!! I am learning soo much here! I love serving the lord here in His work and here in this vineyard!! We have seen soo many miracles! I am sooo excited to work more this week! Thanks for all your love and your support! I love you my family!! I KNOW THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!!!

Elder Hammond

                                                  Naranjal!!

                                            The Young Men!!

                                           A Family!

                                            An activity we did with the ward!