Elder Jayden Hamblin: 2017

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Week 84 (Dec. 25th, 2017)

Alright so this week was incredible! Its our first week in the area and it is going so much better than all of the other first weeks in any other area. We have been working like crazy every day just trying to find and teach and invite to baptism. This week we found 48 new people to teach and I´m sure we invited at least 40 of them to attend church and be baptized. Its been so great that we have been working hard and are really seeing the results of the work.

On Saturday night we had 23 people who said they were going to come to church. It was great that they all wanted to come and feel the spirit of the gospel. We had a special Sunday this week with a Christmas party and then we had lunch after the meeting. We had a lot of members there, although it was our first week all of the members tell us that we have a ton of members attending right now and that all is going well.

Also with Christmas it was super hard to sleep. The tradition here is that they stay up until midnight waiting for Christmas and get super drunk and listen to a lot of loud music. The neighbors that live right in front of us were listening to music until about 5 in the morning. My companion and I stayed awake talking until something like 2 in the morning because there was just no way to sleep with all of the music. Definitely a Navidad I will never forget.

I attached some pictures, mostly just us preparing for Christmas.

Any way love you all!! Merry Christmas!!!!

Monday, December 18, 2017

Week 83 (December 18, 2017)

Alright so this week was incredible!! To start off we had 2 baptisms this week! They were solid!! Both were just mango bajitos waiting to get baptized so it was great to help them take that huge step. Their families were able to attend, one of them has non members and the other has less active family.

Also this week we had our branch activity. Not a whole lot of people showed up so there was lots of food for us to eat. We played a little soccer with some little kids and I shot a basketball for few minutes, I spent most of the time just cleaning the baptismal font and getting things ready for the baptism. In the activity we did have a lot of less actives though. And not a whole lot of active members. It was weird to see so many people that I didn't know showing up to a church event.

And finally we did have changes and I am out of colon and back in San Miguelito. I got put back in the same house where I lived before, but with a different area. My companion is Elder V., he is from Peru, I was his zone leader when he got here and we went on divisions once, although we never left the house because we were both sick haha.

The house we live in was super dirty when we got here, but my comp and I spent 2 hours deep cleaning and it looks good now. The pics I will send are from over year ago though because I didn't take any today. It looks the same though.

The little girl is Valeri, she is just a little ball of energy, and makes is super hard to teach lessons but I wanted to include a picture of her.It was her cousin that got baptized.

Ill send pictures! I'm super excited for Christmas, even if there's no snow here. Actually I feel like it is getting hotter and hotter every day haha! I think that's it for the week. Hope all is well!

Elder Hamblin

Monday, December 11, 2017

Week 82 (Dec. 11, 2017)

This week was a bit better. We finally got some people to show up to sacrament as well as we had some less actives there. We will have 2 baptisms this week, the mango bajito and another mango bajito. We finally got permission from the girls mother to have her baptized so we will go though with that on Saturday or Sunday. Other than those 2 the area has been pretty dull. Not a whole lot moving. We are hoping to get something moving this week with the members as well as we have a large ward activity on the 16th in the church so hopefully we get a good turnout and can have some investigators there.

This week we also had interviews with the mission president. Due to a miscommunication we showed up way early and I was the first one to be interviewed in the zone. President called me in to the office, I sat down, president looked at me and said,"Elder Hamblin you looked really stressed right now, why are you so stressed?" So apparently the stress I am under is able to be seen in how I look. So that's fun haha. I told him that I was stressed because we have just been struggling and that I knew we could be doing better, he told me to not worry and that things would get better as we continued working. Then my companion had his interview and the mission president asked him if it would be okay if I left the area this change. So as far as I know it looks like I will be leaving this change. Which is at the end of the week.

Also this week I was cutting my hair and all was going well, then I went to take a little more of part of my left temple and instead of taking off a little I took of all of it. so I'm rocking a small bald spot on the side of my head, but the rest of it looks great! This is the 5th time I've cut my hair and the first time I've messed up so that makes me 4 for 5 which is a pretty solid batting average.

As far as it goes thats about it for the week. Pretty lame. But this one should be a lot better!

Also the picture I took this week is of me at the house of the mango bajito. They have 3 little puppies so I took a picture of me with the puppies. This photo does not include the bald spot.

Love you all!!

Elder Hamblin

Monday, December 4, 2017

Week 81 (Dec. 04, 2017)

This week we started to really figure things out. We met our goals for the week of finding and teaching, we are now just missing the part where we have baptisms. The good news is we found what we call a mango bajito. Its when a kid isn't baptized but his whole family is already members. We found him and are helping to reactivate his family and baptize him. That was a good find.

Also this week we had a few less actives and some recent converts come to church, it feels good when some hard work pays of and people are showing up. And although we did get some less actives and recent converts, we didn't get any investigators to show up, which makes it impossible to progress.

We do however have plans in place to have what we call a Week of Excellence. Its a way to find, teach, and prepare people for baptism really quickly. We are hoping to have a lot of success this week and find over 50 new people to teach in just one week! Should be solid.

Also today we had a zone P day. We played soccer, but I don't have tennis shoes, so I ended up just playing bare foot. It hurt, I got stepped on, but I did score a few goals haha! Also i was able to take my plastic baseball glove and a ball and take grounders off of the wall for a few minutes. It felt good to run and throw. It rained the entire time, absolutely pouring!! It was really refreshing though. Hopefully we don't get sick.

Also sorry I didn't take any pictures this week, it was raining a lot and I didn't want my camera to get wet so I didn't bring it with. So once again no pictures. But I did find a plastic bag to put my camera in so hopefully I will be able to bring it with me during the week!

Anyways, love you all!! Hope all is well!

Elder Hamblin

Monday, November 27, 2017

Week 80 (Nov. 27, 2017)

Alright so this week I was able to go on divisions in an area called Barriada Kuna. Barriada means neighborhood and Kuna is the people that I love to talk to, so you can see why this is a huge deal. So I went with another elder who is from California, we were able to speak somewhat in English with each other but sometimes its hard because we are naturally just thinking in Spanish. But we were able to visit a ton of people in his area and I was able to speak with a bunch of Kunas in their language. I really enjoyed it. Also while we were in the area we were able to go to a lunch appointment with some of the people there and they gave us a thanksgiving feast. We both got one small price of turkey, a small scoop of instant potatoes, and a bunch of white rice with coconut. It was the best meal I have had in a long time. I was talking with the member that lived there and told her how in my area we don't have any people that are kuna, and so we don't get to learn the language and we don't get to see their culture, even if i know it. But something she said made me laugh is she said that we she was poor, and her people were poor, and that's why they always share. It made me wonder and ponder that poor people are willing to share if they have less, and I came to realize that they understand the blessings of giving. They give a little and can see the good they are doing. They cant do a lot and give a lot but sharing just one plate of food is do able for them so they offer it when they can. I really enjoy and miss being among the poor of my past areas.

Also this week we did a bit of teaching, but we don't have a ton of investigators progressing. I think we are at like 5. We have been trying different areas but nothing seems to be going our way. When we finally do get someone positive they don't ever seem to be available to teach or when we put an appointment to teach they aren't home. Its been pretty frustrating and I've been doing a lot of prayer and just turning to the lord to find an answer to our problems here. Its tough. But I know the lord has plans for us to progress in this area and there are people here to baptize.

I hope everything at home is going great. I invite everyone to watch the Light the World video from the church and they try and participate in all of the activities. I've tried to adapt a few to do here in the mission and hopefully all goes well. I didn't take any pictures this week, I didn't take my camera with me to very many places, but this week I'll be better. Love you all!!

Elder Hamblin

Monday, November 20, 2017

Week 79 (Nov. 20th 2017)

Alright, another week down, and it was an alright week. My companion and I are slowly learning the area and we aren't liking it all that much. There's a lot of walking and we live in the back of a huge rich neighborhood so we have to walk out of that every day. We have been trying to find the poor parts of our area but we only have one small neighborhood that is poor, which is a huge change compared to my last area where everybody was poor. I actually really miss the poorer people. They are so much more loving and humble, and even though they don't have much they were always willing to share.

In my last area there were basically only people who came from the islands and spoke Dulegaya and were just good people. So now that I'm in this richer area it has been super hard to find people to teach because I'm so accustomed to just talking to the natives and I usually tried to do it in their language. So in the last week my comp and I were able to really search out the area and find 4 families of Kunas. And the good thing about these people is that there are always like 30 that live in one little house. So we found a few and have been teaching them and I love it.

Also I attached a video of our house. And a picture of my hammock. I told my comp i would find a place to put it and he said there was nowhere but never the less I did find a place haha, its strung from the hinges of the door to where we hand our clothes. I've been sleeping really well in it though haha!!

Also a little about my comp, he's from Peru, his names Elder Castillo, he speaks no English, or dule, but at this point my Spanish is as good as his so we can communicate just fine. Its actually nice to be back with a Latino companion again. Makes it easier to learn, and focus on our purpose here. In English we always joke around but when I speak Spanish I usually use more gospel language, although here in colon they use a lot of Ghetto words which I picked up in my first area so I still fit in well here haha.

Anyway hope all is well!! Happy thanksgiving i guess, we don't have that holiday here but I did write it down in my agenda so that has to count for something!!

LOve you ALL!

Elder Hamblin

Video may not work but this is the new apartment

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Week 78 (Nov 14, 2017)

Alright so throw out everything that I said last week. Something happened out there and they had to close a few islands, so I'm now in a new area. Its called Margarita and its in the city of Colon. The part where we live is pretty rich and I don't really like it. I miss the ghetto and the poor people. We are also opening the area so we have no investigators and no idea where to go. We got here last night hence the reason I'm writing this on a Tuesday. I literally spent the entire last week sitting in the mission office waiting to leave but then president ended up having to switch me areas. Its sad because I was really looking forward to going and I was really prepared to go but I wont be able to go this change. Maybe the next.

Anyway not a ton to write, I'll write next week! Hope all is good!!

Elder Hamblin

Monday, November 6, 2017

Week 77 (Nov. 6, 2017)

Alright so today we have changes. I'm going to San Blas, an island in the pacific ocean. They don't speak Spanish, and they have never had missionaries there before (on this island). Should be freaking sweet!!!

As for the week that we had we did a lot. We found a ton of new people to talk to and had a baptism, and two confirmations. So in the end we were able to confirm everyone that we baptized during the change.

Also to celebrate changes we made some chicken over a fire, we just did it right outside of our house and it tasted delicious. It was delicious!!

Also I just want to add that I have no idea when the next time I will be able to email but I will record everything in my journal and make sure that I have some sweet stories to tell when I get home.

Hope all is well!!! Love you all!!

Monday, October 30, 2017

Week 76 (October 30th, 2017)

This week was solid. Working hard, conferencing hard, no baptisms but my comp and I did have 3 confirmations on Sunday, as well as the elders we share the branch with had 4, so in total we had 7 in one sacrament meeting and it was so sweet!! We got to cancel the intermediate hymn!! I also had the opportunity to confirm all 3 of them. I couldn't believe how different that all of the blessings were, definitely guided by the spirit to say specific things in each blessing, it was great!!

This week we had a service project, we picked up garbage on the beach. Which means that I got to go to the beach!! I've never been there before but I got to go!! We picked up garbage for only an hour and it began raining so we went back to the church for lunch and played a little soccer in the mud.

This week I had a pretty great string of baptismal interviews. They were in the same house but they were great. The first one was a guy whose parents are members, but they went inactive when he was young so he never got baptized. His name is Nefi, or in English that would be Nephi. So that was just really cool to meet and interview someone named Nefi. Then his little cousin went next. They brought her over and set her on the stool and in Spanish said, "this is anna, shes 8, she doesn't speak Spanish." And they left. So this little girl is from the islands in panama where they speak a different language, lucky for me, and her I guess, I have been learning this language for like 4 weeks. So I got to do this entire baptismal interview in a language that I barely speak, It actually went really well! She passed and will be baptized tomorrow! Learning a third language is so much easier than learning a second. I think I have just learned how to learn a language is all. I maybe study this language 3 hours a week. Its called Dulegaya, or Kuna. Its what I've been writing the subjects of my emails in for the past 6 weeks or so. and no it is not similar to Spanish. Completely different.

Also this week i was able to smoke the skin of that alligator from forever ago. It didn't turn out so great tho, but pictures are still attached. It smells so bad!!!!

Anyway i hope all is good! Happy Halloween! That doesn't really exist here. Although i will be dressing up as an LDS missionary for the second year in a row, hopefully that doesn't become a third!! Love and miss you all!!

Elder Hamblin

P.S. GO DODGERS!!!!!

Monday, October 23, 2017

Week 75 (October 23, 2017)

So we had our 2 baptisms!!!! It was great!! On Saturday at 5 they were baptized, then were able to attend our stake conference on Sunday. Their mom is now one of our next baptismal candidates as well as the kid who lives across the street from them. He's 11, and has listened to every lesson we have taught to the two that were just baptized. He attended their baptism as well as stake conference and we are planning his baptism for sometime this week.

This week as I mentioned we had stake conference, it was great to go and listen to our stake leaders, as well. It was funny to look at our ward out in the city. We come from one of the poorer parts of panama and the city is the rich people but every time I'm in the city I just thank the lord that I was sent to Veracruz to teach the humble people that are prepared to hear the gospel.

Also this week we went to do some service with the other elders and the guy asked us if we knew how to climb a coconut tree and bet the fruit, so me being adventurous said yes, and well climbing a coconut tree is freaking hard!! I didn't get more than halfway up the tree, and I started on the roof of the house!!!

Also this week we were teaching in a really poor part of the area and we got to a house with a bunch of kids, so we called on everyone that we could. We ended up having 17 people in the lesson, most were kids. Picture attached. We taught the Word of Wisdom and all of them payed attention and committed to give up drinking coffee. It was cool to teach so many people!!

I think thats it for the week!! Its been a great one and im looking forward to the next!! Hope all is great at home!!!

Elder Hamblin

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Week 74 (October 16, 2017)

Alright so this week was really quite slow. Everything fell through. A baptism, people coming to church, progressing investigators, and even our P-day. So I think this is a great time to humble ourselves and go to the lord to help us in our work, which is what I intend to do. To be honest this week I feel like I lacked a little but of diligence, but I plan on refocusing everything and maybe changing up the routine a little bit to be more efficient.

Also today has been especially difficult to speak English and I have no idea why, I am struggling so hard just to type this email...

As for positive things from the week, we found a new investigator that will be baptized with his sister, who had her baptism fall through last week.

We had a good P-day, we planned on hiking the mountain again but people bailed on us so we ended up just cooking pancakes at the church and playing volleyball. Not a ton of people in panama really know how to cook so when I do it here I feel like a master chef, even just cooking simple things in the house with my comp like fish and any dish that is Latino. I feel like I am slowly just becoming more and more Latino. Well I take that back, more like the Kunas that live here that anything, I love eating their food and talking to them The Kunas are the natives in panama, and we have lots of them in our area.

Also this week I have started to notice a great improvement in the Spanish of my companion, he acts like he doesn't know anything but he is so much better than I was when I had his amount of time in the mission. He is really learning and picking up on things so fast, its fun to watch!

I think that's it for the week. Hope all is well!!

Monday, October 9, 2017

Week 73 (October 10, 2017)

Alright what a week we had. Found some nuevos, taught some people we already had, dropped a whole lot of people that weren't willing to progress (always sad but has to be done to make room for the people who will progress) Had a confirmation and had 2 baptisms.

This week I made banana pancakes. They sounded good and went great, all the way until I flipped them over and back and turns out all of the bananas just stick to the pan. SO then i changed ideas and made some banana juice called maddun. Basically I just boiled some bananas for a few minutes on a stove I made and drank it. It was bomb!!!

Also this week it was raining one day really hard. We were walking to an appointment and the roads had basically become rivers and so rather than walking in the road I went for the sidewalk and well turns out the sidewalk was just a 4 foot ditch. After i fell in rather than getting out I told my comp to take a picture and although its a little blurry its better than nothing. I hand washed the pants, shirt and shoes that night, and wore all 3 of them the very next day. No harm no foul ehh?

Lately I have really been treating my companion to the panama life, and more than that the life of Verecruz. We eat lots of fish, I cooked a shark on Friday, we sleep in hammocks, we drink weird panama drinks, or sometimes things the natives make. I love training so much. My comp is such a great missionary he always reminds me how I can be more Christlike and i always look at him and wonder if I was ever that young and innocent, I hope I was and at the same time I hope I wasn't haha.

Anyway i think that's it for the week!! Hopefully i have more to write about next week as well as some more pictures. Love and miss you all!!

Elder Hamblin

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Week 72 (October 2, 2017)

Alright so like I mentioned last week I am training. He's a gringo, fresh out of gringolandia and doesn't speak a whole lot of Spanish but is learning quickly. We do lots of language study and I really try to push him to speak in lessons, its pretty fun to just look over and wait for him to talk, he is so wide eyed to the whole thing I really enjoy it.

So we had conference, I watched the entire thing in Spanish, English wasn't an option this time, which was a struggle watching my comp sit through it. He didn't understand a thing. So we are going to watch it in English and then I will send all of my thoughts home on it. As for the priesthood session we bought a 3 gallon bucket of ice cream to share. Pics to follow.

As for adventures this week we kind of kept it low key. Nothing crazy really. I've kind of just been teaching my comp what the panama life is all about between eating fish, getting a little sun burnt, putting baptismal dates, we had 2 for the week but they both fell. We ate liver, drank some weird panama drinks, and I taught him all of the weird panama words we didn't get taught in the MTC.

Other than that I think that's it. Hope all is well!!

Elder Hamblin

*That's my comp when he fell asleep during personal study, I worked him hard the day before.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Week 71 (September 25, 2017)

So this week was a solid week. President gave us the challenge as a mission to find 1000 new investigators in one day. That breaks down to just 12 per companionship. My comp and I took it super personal and really wanted to push ourselves. We set a goal with the other 2 elders in our area to get 50 investigators each. We went so hard!! Elder Green and I ended up with 60 and the other companionship found 65!!! We made a bet that whoever found more had to buy breakfast on Friday for our weekly planning. We found as a mission 1,942. The most I have heard of for companionship's is just 28. We killed it!!!!!

Alright so also this week because elder Green goes home is we did something we have always wanted to do but never had the time, so we made a little time and took care of it. On Thursday we went out to a little lake in a poorer part of our area that has a little lake in it. Normally we would go there after a visit and spend 5 minutes throwing rocks at the turtles and crocodiles, but that day we came very prepared. We brought a hook and hot dogs and 100 pound fishing line and went to work. it took us about an hour but we ended up catching a freaking CROC!! It took us like 20 minutes to pull it in and put a rope around its mouth and kill it by smashing it over the head with a huge rock but we caught it and we killed it. Then we did something that comes natural, we took it home and skinned it and pulled all of the meat off of it an ate it for our breakfast on Friday. It was so delicious!!! Tasted like chicken put it was way better!!! I don't really now how to explain it. Just super dense meat, almost fish like, but without any bones. We just fried it up with salt and pepper, we wanted to get a good croc taste.

Also we had a baptism this week. Her names is Bella, shes 10, she has been coming to church alone for 2 months and she finally got permission from her mom to be baptized. She was baptized after church on Sunday. We are also looking forward to having 2 more baptisms this week.

Also today we had changes. My companion will be headed home to California and I will be receiving another new missionary. My 4th time training. I love training though so this will be great!! Also my comp got permission to stay in the area for an extra 2 days and wait for my comp to get here on Wednesday. Should be more fun working hard with him out here!! Can't wait to see what this new change brings!!!

Love and miss you all!!

Elder Hamblin

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Week 70 (September 18, 2017)

Alright this week was killer. We just put in work. We didnt have a baptism this week but are planning 3 for the coming week.

The Elders that we share the branch with had a baptism this week and to help them out we went and filled the font, but it was taking forever so we left it on and left, only to some back and find the chapel flooded. It wasn't a ton of water and we were able to clean it up pretty fast but it was a hassle to have to clean all of it up haha.

This week we had interviews with president, he told me that this change with my companion going home that he is going to close the other part of the area and leave it with me and another comp, I don't know all the details all I know is that my small area is about to get a lot larger.

Also today being P-day we had to do something big. So we woke up at 3am and went and hiked this huge mountain in our area. It was crazy!! Pitch black!! We went with the other elders in the branch and some recent converts and a returned missionary. It was so much fun! Rained most of the way up, but we eventually got above the clouds and were out of the rain. To get all the way to the top we had to chop at this 10 foot tall grass and just push our way through. It was exhausting but so much fun. we reached the summit around 9am and then got back down around 1pm. I'm completely dead and in need of a nap but we already have visits waiting for us today. Its been a great week and I'm sure the coming week is only going to be better!!!

Hope all is well at home!!

Elder Hamblin

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Week 69 (September 11, 2017)

Well this week was very adventurous to say the least. I will explain it through the pictures that I took throughout the week. I apologize that they aren't in order.

So one day we were walking and we came across this river that had been dammed to make a little pond and some kids were swimming in it. We watched as they climbed in an old fridge and floated on the pond, or they flipped it over and either climbed on top or hung out underneath. We ended up teaching every one of those kids on a latter occasion. Also on another occasion my comp got in the fridge and floated on the water like a boat, but it was super unstable and he fell in!!! It wasn't deep and he didn't get too wet but it was at least waist deep!! He was wet the entire day.

We went to the house of some members after helping bring their groceries up the hill to their house and we sat down for a second and they handed me their baby and said I had to adopt her and teach her English, obviously joking but it was fun to mess with them about it.

On Saturday we had a baptism, I didn't really know her super well but she was cool, just someone from a part member family. The ward mission leader baptized her.

So this morning we woke up super early to go out and take advantage of our P-Day. We woke up at 3:30 and went out to some rocks on the ocean to make a fire and watch the sunrise over the ocean. That was legit! So much fun hiking in the rocks. Then we went to the city and I bought some new shoes. I got sick of all my shoes breaking on me and so I wanted something higher quality. So I found some really nice Timberland boots for 160. We looked in every store for a lower price but only found higher ones. So I took the money I had and looked for an off brand of the same shoe, but the quality was terrible. So I looked and found a decent pair for 75 but they didn't have my size and they brought out some others but didn't have the color I wanted they brought some out and I just looked and said, "these are ugly" and the owner of the shop looks at the salesman and just says, " I have one more that size that we can't sell, its the only one left, give it to him for 100." So I bought the shoes for 100 dollars, it was sweet!!! I like them, even if I know that the gringos don't usually wear timberland's, I don't really feel gringo anymore.

Also some members own a turtle so I took a picture of it. Its huge!!!

Other than that all is going great!!! We are super excited to work and just go hard!! On Thursday we had 17 new investigators!!! Its so great!! I love this area!!!

Nuegambi -Elder Hamblin

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Week 68 (September 4, 2017) Labor Day

Well this week was definitely one to remember. First things first, the one girl in the picture is a baptism we had 2 weeks ago where I forgot my camera and a member sent me the picture, but she got confirmed on Sunday.

Then this week we were able to baptize 5 more! It was so great! We had some good member support in the baptism and then the 5 were able to be confirmed the next day along with the other girl making it a total of 6 in one sacrament meeting!! It took forever but it was so great to sit there and be apart of that. I could definitely see the lords hand helping us to baptize them!

Also on Saturday morning I got a call from the assistant that I would be receiving changes. I got put with Elder Green in an area called Veracruz, its near the canal and the beach. We eat a ton of fish in this area because most of the local merchants make their money fishing so its really cheap to buy it. Just today we had a zone activity and we bought 12 dollars worth of fish and it was enough to feed the entire zone. All 10 elders that we have. It was great! I'm looking forward to my time with Elder Green, even if he does go home this change, which ends in 3 weeks. Should be pretty fun learning a new area and having a comp that is cool. Its funny that I am his companion now because we have both had the same companions earlier in the mission and now me and him are together for just 3 weeks. It should be a great learning experience.

Hope all is going great out there!!!

Elder Hamblin