Week 36 (Jan 23, 2017)

Okay so we had our changes, and I got my new companion, Elder A. He is awesome!! I knew from our first day together that it would be a sweet time together and so far it has been. He cleans, he washes his dishes, he doesn't talk during the entire lesson, and most of all he understands how to work, and how to teach!! It has been sweet with him so far this change. 

Our first day together we taught something like 7 lessons and found 6 new investigators who all seem pretty positive. It was a crazy sweet day!! 

The next day is where we ran into some problems. He is super homesick, like the worst I have ever seen in the mission. He cried pretty much all morning so we went and talked with a member who is super cool and kind of talked some sense into him. It was a decent day after that. 

Then Friday we had to go to the city for migrations. my comp had his visa processed like all the other new people so we had to go and get papers and stuff. But during that time I got put on divisions with one of the zone leaders in the office. He is the secretary and the zone leader of the secretaries. But we went to a top secret meeting with only the zone leaders of the mission, President Current, his wife, and the strange guy who wasn't a zone leader. (me).  We talked about goals for the mission and ways to help the mission. It was good the see all of the work that goes into running the mission. It was weird to be there at the same time. I even commented at one point and it was really funny the looks that I got when I did. My zone leaders said my comment was perfect. During the meeting the President told us that a lot of our leaders will be ending their missions soon and it will be up to the new guys to run things. In 4 months all of those leaders will be home. President pointed out 4 people who would be leaders in the mission, three are already leaders, and he names me. It was cool and weird. But I think its just because I am in one of the best zones, our zone has crazy perfect obedience so president loves us. But yeah that was a sweet meeting! Also in the meeting we put a mission goal for baptisms this year. The goal is 2,017 in the year 2017. It is pretty high, but we should be able to do it. Last year we had 700, so we want to double it and add some this year. 

As for the rest of the week we spent lots of time with less actives, which paid off because they actually showed up the church!! It was a miracle!!! I have never in this area seen so many less active families in the church!! It was such a payoff!!! 

The lasagna was super good. They eat it here but it is more of a delicacy and not an everyday meal. The family watched me make it so they could make it in the future, but I think they got lost after I started cooking the noodles, and there wasn't any rice to go with it. 

Also being a district leader is fun, but I hate having to talk on the phone as much as I do.  Every night for like 30 minutes! Its terrible!! I also have my first baptismal interview this week so that should be interesting!! I am looking forward to it! 

That's about it for the week!! I am definitely looking forward to the next 11 weeks with my comp!! Also sorry, no pictures, maybe next week I will send some with my camera in the church. My computer today is crappy. Anyway, love you all!!!

Elder Hamblin 

Week 35 (Jan. 16, 2017)

Cookie Dough, Lasagna and Transfers

So this week was a weird one. Both me and my companion knew that changes were coming. He had 4 changes (months) in the area and we had 3 together, so it was time for him to go. It was hard to say good bye and it will be weird to go and teach without him, but it will be good to have some change. 

This week was a lot of just my comp saying good bye. We only taught 8 lessons to investigators, but we worked a ton with less actives in the ward, which is what the branch president here wants. I don't really have a ton of big news this week, other than that we finally got those two baptisms from Christmas confirmed. It took them 3 weeks to come to church, but it happened!! I was so happy when I saw both of them walk into the church!! 

Also this week on Sunday, I cooked, I made lasagna. I didn't have a recipe so I just threw a bunch of stuff that I know goes in lasagna into a dish, and cooked it and it turned out really well. I used ground beef, and cottage cheese to fill it and guess what mom, IT HELD ITS SHAPE!!! It was actually a big surprise to me that it worked that well. After the lasagna I made cookie dough, then turned that into cookies, but the dough was way better!! I even put some in a little dish and saved it for myself. 

After all of that, last night, we got the call for changes. My district leader called me and he was super angry. He has one change (month) in the area him and I are best friends now, and he got changed out!! Neither of us could believe it! It was so unexpected! Also my comp got sent to the same zone with him, as well as one of the sister missionaries here. My new comp will come sometime tomorrow or Wednesday, and he is coming directly from the MTC. Which means I am training!! Like really training not just taking over for another Elder here like I just did! I am super excited! I don't know if it will be a Gringo or a Latino, but it will be way fun!! This also means I have 2 more changes in this area, which is way sweet because I love this area. The work is good and the members are cool and we have so much work still to do. It should be a great change! I just have to wait to find out who my comp is tho... I am currently with one of the missionaries in my district, he is really weird. But I get to be rid of him in 3 days. 

Also this change I am taking over as District Leader. I have the most time in my district, which is weird, but it will be cool to have a little responsibility and be in charge a little bit. 

And that is my week. Next week I will send photos with my new comp, as well as hopefully some others. 

Love you all!!!

Elder Hamblin 

Week 34...8 Months out!! (Jan. 09, 2017)

So this week was really different. I really tried hard to focus on obeying with exactness and really thinking about all of the little rules. Like getting up at 6:30 and not 6:35 which is so easy to do. Well 7 is easy too but... 

So after p-day on Monday we went up for divisions with our zone leaders. We were with them all day Tuesday and I learned so much from them. They are super obedient and really understand how to teach. While I was with them we did a thing called a cosecha. Its Spanish for Harvest. It is like knocking doors, but you rely on the spirit to tell you which door you knock on. Me and the elder both felt impressed to knock on the orange house. So we did. The lady invited us in but her husband wasn't home so we couldn't enter. Then my comp, Elder L, started to compliment the ladies flowers and talked about flowers for like 10 minutes. Just kind of stalling. Then out of nowhere the husband showed up to have lunch. We entered the house with the husband and enjoyed a nice lesson and lunch with the family. It went so perfect. The family was so positive. It was clear that the spirit indeed meant for us to contact that house. 

On Wednesday my comp and I went back to our area. We went out to the far part of the area where our branch President wants us to baptize enough people to make a branch in that part. So we went and met with all of our investigators and my comp at one point told me "I want to knock on this door. I don't know why, but lets do it." So I jumped at the opportunity and we knocked. A middle aged man came out and immediately invited us in. That was great! So we went in and he tells us he is Catholic by birth, and evangelical by choice. It is impossible to teach either of those religions anything so I was stunned he was even talking to us. But we had an incredible lesson with him and gave him a Book of Mormon and he told us it was very interesting and that he wanted to read it! 

Then on Thursday we had divisions again but with our district leader in our area. Another gringo. So we went and just tried to find new people to teach. We probably knocked like 100 doors and only the very first one, and the last 2 would listen to us. We even contacted a house twice because my comp thought one of the girls in that house was cute and wanted to see if we could even just get a pity lesson from her. (That's when they let you in because you are gringo. It happens a lot actually.) But she said no. So that day was a bit tough, but we finally got in the door and had a bit of success!!

Then Friday we went out to a part of the area that we never really go. There are a lot of less actives that live there, and lots of old non progressing investigators but we never go there. So we decided it was time to visit. We went out and boom! Found 3 new investigators and an old investigator. We also talked with a bunch of less actives and hopefully if we can reactivate one he can be our new ward mission leader. This guy is awesome, he just doesn't go to church because he thinks that the people who are running it now have no idea what they are doing. (which is kind of true, but they are new to it and are still learning.) This guy has been a branch president 3 times, and really wants to visit Utah, so that's why he will probably contact you dad. sorry! But he has Facebook and I figured he can chat and send pics or something. He is super cool. Just a bit old. 

Saturday we had zone conference. The whole mission and every mission is the world is changing. The schedule in the morning is different now. We have more personal time to study, and less comp study. We also plan in the morning and not at night. We also have to be in our house by 9 and not 9:30 now. We had the option of waking up at 7 but the president turned it down. We also no longer can have p-days with sister missionaries. So when the whole zone gets together, just elders. Which will make it easier to just play soccer or futbal the whole time instead of making time to include the sister missionaries with us! My zone leader loves that new rule haha!! 

That's about it for the week. Just make sure if you are going to send an email during the week to not send in on Monday every week because we are going to start emailing earlier in the morning like around 12. So send your emails Sunday or something! 

And let me know when you get around to sending that package so I can make sure someone is around to pick it up. 

Thanks for everything, and the emails!

Here is our laundry machine

 Drains into the Toilet

 Water Supply from the sink

Love you all!!!

Elder Hamblin 

Week 33 (Jan. 02, 2017)

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Okay so this week was just a huge struggle of finding people to teach. I don't think we have ever had a week as bad as this one yet. 

On Tuesday we started by going to the clinic for my infection. But we spent pretty much the whole day in the clinic and when we finally got out and went to our investigators who live close by, they weren't even home. 

Wednesday we went to a neighborhood in our area that usually has 5 investigators to teach. So we started knocking on their doors and not a single one of the 5 were home. So then we went to the less actives houses. None of those three were home either. So we ended up just teaching a lesson to a family that are all active members. Pretty crappy day just walking around without results. 

Thursday we finally got some lessons in. We taught one lesson to a lady who wants to be baptized but she isn't married and can't be baptized without that. But she goes to church and is pretty good that way. We also taught one of our other investigators named Manuel S.  He and his wife are investigating but the problem with them is they are also not married. The struggle for marriage is real in Panama. Then we taught a lesson to a recent convert, he is cool, always listens and is always home.

Friday we went out to Anton, where we just had those two baptisms and we went to talk to the other girl about her baptism that fell through and we wanted to put another date with her. So we asked her mom, who won't listen to us. She said that she wants her daughter baptized in the catholic church and that was the end of it. So I guess we won't be baptizing her, such a shame. So after that we went and taught a lesson to a girl who my comp says is super positive and a good listener, but we have always been on divisions when he taught her so I hadn't met her yet. So we went and visited her, she had a ton of questions and we had lots of answers, but I don't think she will be progressing any time soon. She says she likes to do what she wants and that she doesn't like having all of the rules that come with religion. I tried to explain to her that they aren't rules but are more like safety nets that help keep us happy and in place, but she wasn't going for it. Which is dumb because I made a good argument of it. 

Saturday we did service. We helped a member build a chicken coup for 100 chickens. We had to dig a huge hole, and then move all the dirt to the coup. The hole will be the chicken grave where they will put all of the feathers and guts when they kill and eat all of the chickens. It took us all day to dig that hole. It was maybe a foot deep, but like 7 foot by 7 foot. The ground was so dang hard and dry. We started at 9 in the morning and finished at 6:30 in the afternoon. I think the member thanked us like a million times for it tho so it was pretty cool. 

Then Sunday we were thinking we would confirm those 2 baptisms from last week but they didn't show up. And also none of the members showed up. We had like nobody at church on Sunday, it was bad. Panama goes pretty hard for new years, not like the states, but they have a ton of fireworks and parties and stuff. My comp stayed up to watch them all. I was asleep at 10:20. My comp has been like that a lot lately. Stays up really late, and somehow makes it through the day. He is a strange guy. He is 22, but acts 6. He wears more cologne than Hunter an he doesn't care about the rules at all. Which really sucks because I want to follow everything with exactness and he just wants to have fun and eat lots of food. Like he got mad at me the other day when I cancelled our lunch, and we only went to dinner because one of the rules of the mission is to only eat one meal a day with members. But he doesn't care, and wanted to eat both. He does this nearly every day that we have two meals. 

Also on Sunday, we had dinner with a recent convert and her family. We had a  competition of who could drink water the fastest. So when we went the first time the little kid got halfway through his water and then just started laughing and spitting it all up. So naturally the rest of us started laughing and spitting up our water. Luckily I had already finished my water and didn't have that problem, but the other three all had it coming out of their noses!! It was hilarious!! 

And well yeah. that was our week. And next week will be just as bad, because we have a ton of meetings next week. Tonight we are having divisions with our zone leaders until Wednesday, then Wednesday we are going to the city for our migrations, then Thursday we get to work in our area, then Friday back to the zone leaders for zone conference all day, then Saturday we can work, and that's the week. We get only 2 days next week to actually teach and they wonder why our numbers are so bad every week. But whatever, changes are in two weeks and maybe then I will get a companion who really wants to work hard. 

Anyways miss you all!! Have a great new year!! 

Elder Hamblin