July 27, 2015 CAMBIOS!! I got transferred

July 27, 2015 CAMBIOS!!  I got transferred!!

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN HECTIC!! I can't even describe to you what has been going on here!! ha ha Well,  Tuesday was a good day. We had the meeting and an Hermana made some delicious cake!

 Wednesday, we had to do interchanges with a companionship because they were clashing and we had to help them a lot.  In just the 4 hours that we were with them, we put 6 new fechas in their sector! We worked hard!! THAT NIGHT I got a call at like 9:30 saying I had changes!!! NOOO!!!! hahaha yuup I had changes!  I couldn't even believe it!! I've been here for like 3 months! So I packed everything up and called some of my converts!  The saddest part is we have a baptism on saturday Oh well,  I'm still counting her as my baptism!  I worked my tail off for her! 

 Guayaquil from Machala is like 5 hours, so I had to get up at 3 in the morning to get there by 8 and practically all of the zone leaders had changes!   I heard I was going to a place called LOJA!  It's 8 hours away from Guayaquil! So right then and there we bought the ticket and left! ha ha Loja! Well, now I'm here its FREEZING!! I'll describe it to you perfectly, it's just like the Teton mountain range or like Jackson hole.  We are surrounded by mountains and it's SOO COOL!! I can't even tell you! I'm used to like 100 degree weather.  Here it's like 60 degrees and I'm dying!! hah

So on Thursday, I literally traveled for like 14 hours and was dying but that's okay.. got here and I had to put on my jacket because I was soo cold  that night!  Well the houses don't have heaters.... so literally the houses only serve to keep rain out and wind.. When it's 55 degrees outside the house is 55 degrees!! I'M DYING! ha ha So we get to the house and I'm just cuddling in anything I can find! Everyone here has huge coats and stuff and all the time I have been here I've been in my sweater!  It's cool!!  I'm still a zone leader here so that's cool! We have 12 missionaries in our zone and they are pretty chill! My companion  is Elder Archila he is from Guatemala! He's cool, he's super relaxed!
 We did an interview on Saturday!  Here it's like the temperature doesn't change inside so when you have to go to bed its like camping.  Or when your in a cabin that doesn't have a fire!  You get into your sleeping bag and pull your head under the covers and try to get yourself warm!  When you wake up you can see your breath! ha ha I'm dying it's soo cold! But I'm good! ha ha

On Sunday, we had church at 8 in the morning so we had to wake up at 6!  Church was good and I'm in a branch! So we have to help them out here!! Well after church I heard we were going to have a special lunch. You know what it was YUP the dreaded COY!! I don't know if you've heard of it but its like guinea pig!! So we got there and he had 3 live guinea pigs in the house.  He killed them right there and he skinned them! ohh my gosh!! soo ahh!! 
 After we saw that we had to run to a baptism because the baptismal font didn't fill all the way!! Like at all so starving we had to fill a baptismal font bucket by bucket for over 45 minutes!!! AHH!! ha ha that's a story! But she got baptized thats the most important part!!  After that we went to eat the guinea pig or rat!   It's not that bad not that  good but its not terrible! I was blessed to eat the head of it! hahahaha noo!! Anyway,  I'm good here and am I am working hard and ready to show the Lord why he needs me here in Loja!  love you alll!!!!!
Elder Hammond

July 20, 2015 Machala Teaching Maaniacs!

July 20, 2015 Machala Teaching Maaniacs

This week wow, was just awesome! I loved working here in Machala another week! Thank goodness the past 2 days it's been a little cloudy because this whole WEEK it's been super super SUNNY and just blazing hot!!  I can't believe it!! Haa this week literally went by so fast! I love this work with all my heart!!

Well,  this week was kind of crazy but it's been such a blessing to work!  We did some interchanges with some of the missionaries and we did those on wednesday I went with a missionary that has 2 months in the mission from Peru! He's a fighter haa I loved working with him! The interchange is supposed to help the missionary and give the example so we invited 8 people to be baptized and we got 2 new baptismal dates in our sector   Eso!!  So that was good! I gave him some of the knowledge that I have being out here because he had some questions! It was so great!   After we had the opportunity to give 2 blessings of health!

 Thursday was amazing!! We started the day great and went to see how the missionaries were.  If their houses were clean and everything and it went well.  We went to lunch and then we turned on the engines and started just teaching like crazy from 2 in the tarde to 8:20 at night.  We just started teaching  everyone in that day! Alone we had taught 12 lessons!  And they were legit real lessons with families!  It was soo cool teaching the principles of the gospel with power! It's soo amazing to be able to express and bear your testimony to these people who don't have the gospel in their lives yet! soo fun!! After that we gave 1 more blessing!

 Thursday we gave classes of English and we had over 15 people show up its soooo funny!! It makes me feel bad for the Latinos who have to listen to our Spanish.  But we helped them out and we got more then 3 investigators there too it was legit!!    Here in Ecuador you guys know the soccer  is INSANE!!  They don't do church ball here like the States, but everybody knows that there is soccer on Fridays at night and they just put a new rule that you have to listen to us for 15 minutes in order to play!  haha Nobody liked it at first ,but at the end they thought that we were super cool and our message was of grand importance!   Sunday was soo fun!!       Right after sacrament meeting we gave 2 more priesthood blessings to people who needed it!  We had 18 investigators in church and we have a baptism this week!  I'm super super excited!!  I love this week!  I love being a missionary! My time now is going so fast!!! AHH!! I love you soo much everyone and have an amazing week!!!!

Elder Hammond

                                              We eat a lot of rice!

                                              A family we are teaching

A typical house

My sector

                                              2 Elders we did interchanges with

July 13, 2015 Machala

July 13, 2015 Machala 

13 MONTHS!! ha ha can you believe it!! Wow I honestly can't at all! Wow what a  week we have had this week!! It literally is just flying by I just love it!! 

Some of the days have just rolled on by!  The days I want to focus on are on wednesday and saturday and TODAY!!

 Wednesday we got  told that we had to go renew our visas! We had to travel clear to Guayaquil which is like 5 hours away!  We left at 3:30 in the morning to get there by 8  and so we got them renewed! So thats  super sweet! I loved it!   After that it was a day! After going on a long trip,  you just want to go to sleep and put on some clothes that are comfortable but you cant we got back at like 5 and went right to work!  Love IT!!

Saturday we had a dang good day!   In the morning we had a powerful meeting with the district leaders and the Hermana  lideres about how we could do better as a zone.  Then after, we had our meeting!  It was awesome!  We talked and animated them to get going invite more people to be baptized! So that was super fun! ha ha  After we had just a powerful time with a family that we are teaching. They are super super Catholic and I just love them... OH Catholics!   We watched the Jose Smith movie!   We just gave powerful testimonies about the Book of Mormon and Christ really coming to the Americas and that Jose Smith was a Prophet. You could totally tell and feel the power of the spirit in the room!   I loved it so much!

On  sunday! we had a great day! We had 14 investigators come to church and 8 of them are progressing!!  So that's cool! Overall OUR ZONE had the highest people in church and baptism dates in total the mission!! Eso!! BRING IT!!  I loved it and It felt soo good!!  After church we just ate a yummy Seco de pollo!!

On monday me and companion totally found a ping pong table and we just played ping pong for an hour!! AHH!!  An hour   7 games to 21 I was like boo this is awesome bring back the basement days! hah soo fun literally I loved it!! This week was awesome and ready to work hard again this week! The church is true and I love being a leader in the Lords hands to bring to pass his work! love you !!

Elder Hammond                    This is a family we are teaching!! 

 These are the types of homes we teach in all day!

 Consejo con Elder Godoy

Soo happy we found this ping pong table!!!

 

Got the package that you sent with the Moncayo's!!!!!

We had 1 year mark!

                                                        The Zone!!

July 6, 2015 Machala

July 6, 2015 Machala

Hey familia!!!  Well this has been just an awesome  week!   Honestly flew right on by. I  literally feel like I wrote you guys yesterday! I am soo tired!!  ha ha This week I only got like 6 hours of sleep every night because of all the stuff that we had to do!!

This week we had 4 baptisms in the zone and had to do the interviews in Guabo which is like 30 minutes away! So we did them,  and then that night got  a call that we were going to have training the next day with Presidente Torres!! YESS!!

So it was the day before the training and  we were just sleeping normally untill we got a call at midnight saying the assistants were at our door and wanted to sleep with us.  So,  they slept with us that night! The next day got up at 5 to get ready for everything and we went  but the AC didn't work and everyone was just blazing hot!  So Presidente said were changing capillas (chapels) and there were 4 zones there  about 10 missionaries and we had to move them all and they wanted to do it in our Capilla! We were soo stressed and so we weren't able to enjoy the meeting to the fullest but then he wanted us to talk for about 10 minutes in front of everybody. So me and my companion (I wasn't that nervous and I have no idea why I wasn't ) but we talked and I thought it went really good!  My companion and I got called up in front of everyone because in these 4 zones we had the most lessons with members which was 41!   Eso !!  ha ha then the next few days we were just us working our tails off!

We  were soo blessed  the 4th of July, we had a baptism!! It was  great!!! So I didn't celebrate it this year with fireworks but a baptism which is cool! KEVIN! He's funny he's a black man that I showed you guys that picture he reminds  me of Brooke! He has your personality! It's always such  a blessing to have baptisms! Then fast Sunday was amazing!  I love fast Sundays!! I bore my testimony about the power of the book of Mormon! It was awesome! I love this work and I LOVE THE SUN!  It's soo hot here I cant even tell you but were sweating and working in the Obra Del Senor!!  (Lord's Work)  LOVE YOU  FAMILY!! thanks for everything!!! 

Special experience: We were talking to a family who the guy beats his wife in front of his kids. She was just bruised all over and then sat down to talk to us in their really really humble bamboo house and their dirt rock floor.  Their house is really as big as our family room.  We talked to them about the family and I talked to them about my wonderful Dad!  How he would always treat my Mom like a princess and I felt it was perfect for this family because they are the exact opposite! My Dad never ever yells at my mom.  Always buys her flowers and they are the perfect example of unity in the home. My Dad treats my mom like that so I know when  I am older I will do the same for my kids and it totally changed the lives of this family! Thanks to my wonderful example of my parents I could help change the lives of this poor family!

Love  you all, Elder Hammond