Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Monday, May 22, 2017
Amish Yo-Yos and Bug Catching
Familia!
Elder Wadsworth keeps talking about requesting more missionaries for the Manchester area. I haven't been in enough areas to justify taking missionaries out of another area to put them here, but I do know that we are constantly working. The work is moving forward here and after this last ward conference with President Crawford speaking about missionary work, I think the members will be even more excited to share the gospel. I think having a trio here is really helpful. When we are so busy that we have to do splits, we only need one member to pick up one of us and the other two can go there way. We have only had to do that once or twice, but it helps a lot. Diana Shuster is currently on date for the June 10th and she has already expressed concerns for after baptism. She has solid fellowshippers that drive her 50 minutes to church every week. She has been keeping her commitments and loves the gospel principles teachers. We drive an hour out to see her twice a week and have had very spiritual lessons with her. She gave me an Amish yo-yo and some strawberry jam last visit. We recently tracted into a young man with a young son. He expressed his concerns for where his life was. He worked all the time, he never got to spend time with his son, he has a drinking problem and just overall wasn't happy. On our return visit with him, he decided to quit drinking and hasn't touched it since. We asked him what we could do to help and suggested we text a scripture verse a day. During the week we texted him every morning with a scripture verse, with no reply. Yesterday, he called us and politely said he was busy that afternoon and wouldn't be able to meet but he wants to meet again. Then, during the same phone call, started asking us about the priesthood authority and how it seemed like the priesthood made men more powerful when we were supposed to be equal. We told him that priesthood authority was for the sole purpose of serving those around you and that it made the priesthood holder more of a servant. He loved that. We have high hopes for him.
Elder Wadsworth, Elder Anders, and I have been doing really well. They are incredible at lifting me up by helping me with my goals, pushing me to try new ways to teach and find, and reinforcing the things I do right. They are great missionaries and are great examples. I am happy and well! I have my parents and friend back home working on getting my patriarchal blessing. That should be it for this report.
Much love,
Elder Hamblin
Elder Wadsworth keeps talking about requesting more missionaries for the Manchester area. I haven't been in enough areas to justify taking missionaries out of another area to put them here, but I do know that we are constantly working. The work is moving forward here and after this last ward conference with President Crawford speaking about missionary work, I think the members will be even more excited to share the gospel. I think having a trio here is really helpful. When we are so busy that we have to do splits, we only need one member to pick up one of us and the other two can go there way. We have only had to do that once or twice, but it helps a lot. Diana Shuster is currently on date for the June 10th and she has already expressed concerns for after baptism. She has solid fellowshippers that drive her 50 minutes to church every week. She has been keeping her commitments and loves the gospel principles teachers. We drive an hour out to see her twice a week and have had very spiritual lessons with her. She gave me an Amish yo-yo and some strawberry jam last visit. We recently tracted into a young man with a young son. He expressed his concerns for where his life was. He worked all the time, he never got to spend time with his son, he has a drinking problem and just overall wasn't happy. On our return visit with him, he decided to quit drinking and hasn't touched it since. We asked him what we could do to help and suggested we text a scripture verse a day. During the week we texted him every morning with a scripture verse, with no reply. Yesterday, he called us and politely said he was busy that afternoon and wouldn't be able to meet but he wants to meet again. Then, during the same phone call, started asking us about the priesthood authority and how it seemed like the priesthood made men more powerful when we were supposed to be equal. We told him that priesthood authority was for the sole purpose of serving those around you and that it made the priesthood holder more of a servant. He loved that. We have high hopes for him.
Elder Wadsworth, Elder Anders, and I have been doing really well. They are incredible at lifting me up by helping me with my goals, pushing me to try new ways to teach and find, and reinforcing the things I do right. They are great missionaries and are great examples. I am happy and well! I have my parents and friend back home working on getting my patriarchal blessing. That should be it for this report.
Much love,
Elder Hamblin
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Update and First Skype Call
Familia,
This week has been filled with success and we are having blessings showered on us. I had the really cool experience this past week to fast for a quality member referral. I have received referrals before this point, but they had been thought up on the spot and hadn't led to much success. The very Sunday I fasted, two new members in the ward brought their neighbor to church. These new members and the investigator they brought live 50 minutes from the church. She has read up to Jacob and all of third Nephi in the Book of Mormon. We have high hopes for her. We also have two young adults with baptismal dates. One is part of a part member family and is fourteen. She has a huge desire to be baptized, but not to read the Book of Mormon or go to church. It is difficult for her to attend sacrament meeting because she lives about 45 minutes from and her siblings and dad are always working on Sunday. we recently discovered her aunt is an active member in the ward and we are in the works of getting her to pick up the young investigator. Our second individual with a baptismal date is a young man who was interested in the church when we were meeting with a less active member. The less active member had recently started selling his banana pudding recipe to grocery stores and we called 5 minutes after some big event in the selling process. He considered it a huge sign and was telling all his family and his family's family that they needed to go back to church and be baptized. The young man with a baptismal date is the nephew of the less active. Here in Tullahoma we are constantly busy and working hard. The area has been prepared before us and as we listen to the Spirit, we are led to those who are prepared. We have recently begun shortening our lessons because we see that is more spiritually enticing to have short lessons and because we have so many people to talk with, we have to shorten our meetings.
The companionship is incredible. Elder Wadsworth continues to be an incredible example of a missionary who is spiritually based and focused wholly on bringing people to Christ and listening to the Spirit as we teach. He does not clutter the minds of investigators with pointless info. He does everything he can to invite the Spirit to testify ad confirm the message. Elder Anders after Zone Conference has perked up and has taken huge initiatives to be leading conversations and be actively involved in lessons. He listens well and always brings the conversation back to focus on our unique message.
There is not much to say on my current well being. Spiritually, I am currently trying to build my testimony upon the Book of Mormon. I have taken to much pray, personal study, and pondering in my heart. Temporally, I am focused on scripture mastery, in particular verses from the Book of Mormon. I am blessed to see progress. One thing of note would be that I think Mothers Day has been the most difficult day in the mission so far. The beginning of the mission was difficult because I was learning how to work hard and building my foundation of missionary skills. After the Skype call, it kind of hit me that I was a missionary again. The yoke of the mission call was again rested upon my shoulders and I had to readjust to that again. Just a different mindset being a missionary and being with family and friends. But I am working back into the swing of things. Anywho, that's it! Sure do love y'all!!
This week has been filled with success and we are having blessings showered on us. I had the really cool experience this past week to fast for a quality member referral. I have received referrals before this point, but they had been thought up on the spot and hadn't led to much success. The very Sunday I fasted, two new members in the ward brought their neighbor to church. These new members and the investigator they brought live 50 minutes from the church. She has read up to Jacob and all of third Nephi in the Book of Mormon. We have high hopes for her. We also have two young adults with baptismal dates. One is part of a part member family and is fourteen. She has a huge desire to be baptized, but not to read the Book of Mormon or go to church. It is difficult for her to attend sacrament meeting because she lives about 45 minutes from and her siblings and dad are always working on Sunday. we recently discovered her aunt is an active member in the ward and we are in the works of getting her to pick up the young investigator. Our second individual with a baptismal date is a young man who was interested in the church when we were meeting with a less active member. The less active member had recently started selling his banana pudding recipe to grocery stores and we called 5 minutes after some big event in the selling process. He considered it a huge sign and was telling all his family and his family's family that they needed to go back to church and be baptized. The young man with a baptismal date is the nephew of the less active. Here in Tullahoma we are constantly busy and working hard. The area has been prepared before us and as we listen to the Spirit, we are led to those who are prepared. We have recently begun shortening our lessons because we see that is more spiritually enticing to have short lessons and because we have so many people to talk with, we have to shorten our meetings.
The companionship is incredible. Elder Wadsworth continues to be an incredible example of a missionary who is spiritually based and focused wholly on bringing people to Christ and listening to the Spirit as we teach. He does not clutter the minds of investigators with pointless info. He does everything he can to invite the Spirit to testify ad confirm the message. Elder Anders after Zone Conference has perked up and has taken huge initiatives to be leading conversations and be actively involved in lessons. He listens well and always brings the conversation back to focus on our unique message.
There is not much to say on my current well being. Spiritually, I am currently trying to build my testimony upon the Book of Mormon. I have taken to much pray, personal study, and pondering in my heart. Temporally, I am focused on scripture mastery, in particular verses from the Book of Mormon. I am blessed to see progress. One thing of note would be that I think Mothers Day has been the most difficult day in the mission so far. The beginning of the mission was difficult because I was learning how to work hard and building my foundation of missionary skills. After the Skype call, it kind of hit me that I was a missionary again. The yoke of the mission call was again rested upon my shoulders and I had to readjust to that again. Just a different mindset being a missionary and being with family and friends. But I am working back into the swing of things. Anywho, that's it! Sure do love y'all!!
Monday, May 8, 2017
Mission President Update
President Stone,
The work here in Tullahoma is busy. We spent this past Saturday helping our Elders Quorum President, Relief Society President, and First Counselor in the bishopric helping someone move out at last minute. The individual being moved out was a less active who unfortunately was being evicted. She was given 1 day, or that was what was told to the bishopric, to move out. The ward needed help so we stepped in. However, instead of canceling our 5 appointments for the day, we decided to help move then get dressed in white shirts, teach the lesson, get changed again, and then start helping again until our next lesson. We did this four or five times throughout the day. By the time we finished moving two members and teaching our four lessons, we were spent. Just exhausted. We were debating driving back to town and finishing up the day with maybe companion study, but we decided to visit one more family. This family is hard to contact especially the dad because everyone works odd hours as a firefighter, but we caught them when they were all home. We sat down and within 5-10 minutes had set a baptismal date with their daughter. The Lord clearly was extending an obvious blessing. This experience has shown me that the mission always presents an opportunity to take that next step, to go a little bit farther. When we make that extra effort, the Lord without fail will bless us. Now because of this last Saturday, the bishopric, Relief Society, and Elders Quorum all sang praises of us at church and the members love us. So many blessings!!
The companionship is incredible. I feel sometimes teaching in a companionship of 3 can be difficult because we have 3 different thought processes going on and you have to balance 3 different people in the lesson in terms of speaking. This companionship, however, has been able to balance the lessons and has been able to maintain unity while teaching very well.
I'm great. Nothing major to report. I'm happy and getting much better at setting goals and making plans to achieve those goals. Let me know if I can do anything!
Ooo I got a new aloe plant, so any tips to keep it alive would be awesome!
Con Amor,
Elder Hamblin
The work here in Tullahoma is busy. We spent this past Saturday helping our Elders Quorum President, Relief Society President, and First Counselor in the bishopric helping someone move out at last minute. The individual being moved out was a less active who unfortunately was being evicted. She was given 1 day, or that was what was told to the bishopric, to move out. The ward needed help so we stepped in. However, instead of canceling our 5 appointments for the day, we decided to help move then get dressed in white shirts, teach the lesson, get changed again, and then start helping again until our next lesson. We did this four or five times throughout the day. By the time we finished moving two members and teaching our four lessons, we were spent. Just exhausted. We were debating driving back to town and finishing up the day with maybe companion study, but we decided to visit one more family. This family is hard to contact especially the dad because everyone works odd hours as a firefighter, but we caught them when they were all home. We sat down and within 5-10 minutes had set a baptismal date with their daughter. The Lord clearly was extending an obvious blessing. This experience has shown me that the mission always presents an opportunity to take that next step, to go a little bit farther. When we make that extra effort, the Lord without fail will bless us. Now because of this last Saturday, the bishopric, Relief Society, and Elders Quorum all sang praises of us at church and the members love us. So many blessings!!
The companionship is incredible. I feel sometimes teaching in a companionship of 3 can be difficult because we have 3 different thought processes going on and you have to balance 3 different people in the lesson in terms of speaking. This companionship, however, has been able to balance the lessons and has been able to maintain unity while teaching very well.
I'm great. Nothing major to report. I'm happy and getting much better at setting goals and making plans to achieve those goals. Let me know if I can do anything!
Ooo I got a new aloe plant, so any tips to keep it alive would be awesome!
Con Amor,
Elder Hamblin
Monday, May 1, 2017
Tullahomies and a New Address
New Address:
1300 Cedar Lane Apt. M7
Tullahoma, TN 37388
Dear Familia y Amigos,
I absolutely love my new home in Tullahoma. The people are receptive, the area is beautiful, and my companions are extremely faithful and dedicated servants to the Lord who I know I can learn a lot from. The area is very different from Antioch. It has a slower pace, the people are more friendly, and so far, there are no Egyptians. I am so incredibly blessed to be in an area that is progressing and willing to receive us. We have an incredible part member family we are working with. The husband is open minded and has an admiration for Joseph Smith, the daughter has jumped into the Book of Mormon and she loves telling us about what she has read, and the son has slowly opened up to us to the point where he will talk. That doesn't sound like a big step, but it is. We maintain daily contact with this family and have developed a friendship while maintaining our purpose. We have a young couple have more recently started meeting with and they are kind and loving parents. They are touched by the idea of eternal marriage and families loving together forever. I've only known them a short time, but I have a deep love for them that feels like I've known them a long time.
The companionship is so incredibly awesome. I was a tad surprised to be in a trio so soon, but I really love it. Elder Anders is the best missionary I've met at beginning teaching lessons and contacts by establishing our purpose and he is a very deep thinking. He doesn't rush into answering a question right away. I think that the pause after questions or taught principles allows room for the investigator to think and feel the Spirit. Elder Wadsworth is just on top of it. He is constantly aware, listening, and focused on the investigator. He is easily the best teacher I've seen in the mission and his ability to teach without being confrontational is commendable. I've had some cool experiences where I was prompted to do/say something and I didn't and then he did. Although I'm frustrated I doubted myself, it's given me more confidence in times I feel a prompting.
I am physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually well. Physically, I have felt more energy as I have eaten a little healthier and used my exercise time more productively. Mentally, I would say that I am great. You know how they say you know the language when you start dreaming in it? I think the same applies in this case, because I dream of missionary work a lot and it isn't getting tiring! Emotionally, I don't see any huge mood swings, so I'd say I'm good. Spiritually, I have huge desire to act and serve others and continue to feast on the words of Christ, so I'd say I'm very good there.
I have a goal this month to read the whole Book of Mormon. I should be able to do it, I finished the Book of Mormon in 15 days at the MTC, so we shall see.
1300 Cedar Lane Apt. M7
Tullahoma, TN 37388
Dear Familia y Amigos,
I absolutely love my new home in Tullahoma. The people are receptive, the area is beautiful, and my companions are extremely faithful and dedicated servants to the Lord who I know I can learn a lot from. The area is very different from Antioch. It has a slower pace, the people are more friendly, and so far, there are no Egyptians. I am so incredibly blessed to be in an area that is progressing and willing to receive us. We have an incredible part member family we are working with. The husband is open minded and has an admiration for Joseph Smith, the daughter has jumped into the Book of Mormon and she loves telling us about what she has read, and the son has slowly opened up to us to the point where he will talk. That doesn't sound like a big step, but it is. We maintain daily contact with this family and have developed a friendship while maintaining our purpose. We have a young couple have more recently started meeting with and they are kind and loving parents. They are touched by the idea of eternal marriage and families loving together forever. I've only known them a short time, but I have a deep love for them that feels like I've known them a long time.
The companionship is so incredibly awesome. I was a tad surprised to be in a trio so soon, but I really love it. Elder Anders is the best missionary I've met at beginning teaching lessons and contacts by establishing our purpose and he is a very deep thinking. He doesn't rush into answering a question right away. I think that the pause after questions or taught principles allows room for the investigator to think and feel the Spirit. Elder Wadsworth is just on top of it. He is constantly aware, listening, and focused on the investigator. He is easily the best teacher I've seen in the mission and his ability to teach without being confrontational is commendable. I've had some cool experiences where I was prompted to do/say something and I didn't and then he did. Although I'm frustrated I doubted myself, it's given me more confidence in times I feel a prompting.
I am physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually well. Physically, I have felt more energy as I have eaten a little healthier and used my exercise time more productively. Mentally, I would say that I am great. You know how they say you know the language when you start dreaming in it? I think the same applies in this case, because I dream of missionary work a lot and it isn't getting tiring! Emotionally, I don't see any huge mood swings, so I'd say I'm good. Spiritually, I have huge desire to act and serve others and continue to feast on the words of Christ, so I'd say I'm very good there.
I have a goal this month to read the whole Book of Mormon. I should be able to do it, I finished the Book of Mormon in 15 days at the MTC, so we shall see.
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