Week 59 (July 3rd, 2017)

Elder...we need to talk...

Alright so this week was actually a decent week. Not a ton of work but lots of learning and progressing.

First off on Tuesday my companion and I finished our Reading competition, I won. He bought me my pizza but I decided to share because we didn't have dinner. We both read like maniacs and it was great! I learned so much about the Book of Mormon and have already used so many of the scriptures that I read in lessons and with other missionaries. I invite everyone reading this to read the Book of Mormon! Its an incredible book that will bring a man closer to Christ by abiding by its precepts than any other book. I love it. My new goal is to finish it in 14 days. But we will see how that goes, we have been really busy lately.

This week at church I made a great realization. In the last 6 weeks, one change, we have had 4 baptisms. This Sunday we were able to witness all 4 of those baptisms come to church and partake of the sacrament. Even better is one a convert from 8 weeks ago passed the sacrament. The Ward has really been great lately to be friendly and help people feel welcome at church. It really is a true blessing and helps so much with the retention of converts.  

Lastly has to do with the subject of this email. It happened last night when I got a call from the zone leaders. We were teaching a lesson so I denied the call 5 times but when I finally answered all they said was,"Hey Elder we need to talk, you need to be at our house before 9:30 and plan on spending the night." This call was at like 8:30pm and they live 45 minutes away. It also just happened to be the night of changes but as a trainer, changes usually last 12 weeks. So, we booked it down there and showed up to a quiet house, I had no idea what was happening. We started talking about changes and it turns out that I have been Split up from training my companion. President decided that I could serve better as a Zone Leader in the same zone. So now I'm a zone leader in Tocumen but I have to move houses and change areas and I don't get to finish training my comp, which is kind of sad but it will be fun to be a Zone Leader I guess, new learning experiences and responsibilities. The assistants told me this morning that the calling came because we need to keep baptizing out here in our zone and President has the trust that I can help keep us going. Its a really humbling experience but I know with the lords help I can fulfill my task.

Anyway that's it for the week. Love you all!!! Read the Book Of Mormon!!

Elder Hamblin 

Jayden getting his packages from home.  Some much needed shoes, sandals, belt  and some snacks.