March-April Updates ft. Trios, Boundary Changes, and President Nelson

4/18/18 Update: 

Howdy Y'all,

We just went through a boundary change this last week. A new ward was created and it practically split our ward in half. A lot of people are heart broken and some are mad, but I think it'll be a great change to get people more engaged in missionary work.

Life is good! Work is good! I'm driving a mini van now.

Love Elder Hamblin

4/4/18 Update: 

Family and friends,

Another week flies by here in Clarksville. General Conference was a hoot. Some big changes. President Nelson came in guns ablaze. He said "Look at me, I am the captain now." That's not an actual quote, but I figured a good Tom Hanks reference was fitting. With the announcement of no home and visiting teachers, no high priest groups, and the cherry on top, temples in India and Russia, the Quorum of the Twelve were just trying to keep with our 90+ year old prophet. Also, we got some flavor in the Quorum of The Twelve with Elder Soares (Native Brazilian) and Elder Gong (I think originally American, but with heavy Chinese roots. In fact, I'm pretty sure he has an ancestor named First Dragon Gong. That's pretty cool. He also just came to our mission this last November, I believe. With his sustaining at General Conference came the roar of approval from the Tennessee Nashville Mission. This is a really long sub paraphrase thing. I'll end it.).

Hmm what else? Well, our ward boundaries are changing. This will leave us with a much smaller congregation. I believe this is the goal for most units nationwide. Studies show that the larger the ward, the slower the growth. There are more people that can hide in the background and get away with less work. But when you are Young Men's president and there are only 2 young men, you most likely want to change that. However, with more units, we are changing to less missionaries covering those units. More and more missionaries are covering more than one ward or Branch. This, I believe, is to keep missionaries from doing the work that's the rightfully the members duties (finding investigators, reactivating less actives, and fellowshipping).

Anywho, life is good. I'm excited for the Mothers day call in about a month. Love y'all! 

Elder Hamblin

3/28/18 Update: 

Family and friends,

Another week flies by here in Clarksville, TN. I am now in another trio! Who would of thought? Elder Poppe and I received Elder Horsley! The trios are nice here in Clarksville, because there's a rule about only 2 missionaries being a house with a female, so with 3 of us we can go anywhere we want which is nice in a military town with a lot of army wives.

Our ward also just announced some boundary changes, sooooooo this could mean a whole lot. Maybe they will split the trio and put one in the new ward. Maybe we will cover both for a bit. Maybe we will lose a bunch of members we knew well and we will get some new members we don't know. The change is good and I'm excited. 

We've had the whole spectrum of people this week. There was rude guy shouting that he used the Book of Mormon to wipe his butt but there was also a man who wept and wept and wept when we shared Alma 36:17-21 with him. His wife had recently died and was raising two daughters himself. People hate us and people love us.

There is a woman here that we've been teaching that will be moving to Virginia soon. We got in contact with the Bishop and Relief Society president over there and have been able to have the RS President join our video chat lessons. Sister Doelling, the RS President, is so excited and is already preparing for the move. She's made a huge banner and all sorts of stuff. Sister Doelling is amazed by the technology usage by missionaries because her missionaries still have flip phones and paper area books. Technology (video chat, Facebook, Messenger, smart phones, data, etc) has become just a third arm for us. It is so normal and easy. 

Well, sure do love y'all! 

Elder Hamblin

3/21/18 Update: 

Familia, 

We had a visit from Elder Holland this last week. He was very, loving, intense, and passionate about missionary work. He focused a lot on not passing by anyone on the street. Not passing judgment on anyone. Because we don't know what God sees in that person. Both Elder Poppe and myself came out of Elder Holland's training with high hopes and hearts touched by the Spirit. However, on the drive back, we came to a stop light where there was a man having car troubles. Elder Poppe and I were prompted to help, but we both quenched the Spirit. Right after the training! On the drive back back from sitting down with an Apostle, we passed judgment and did not proclaim His gospel. A short little while later, we both admitted to having felt the Spirit but not heeding. We were frustrated, disappointed, and a little disgusted with the way we had acted. We recommitted right there to never pass up another person to do our very best to give EVERY single person a real chance to receive the gospel. This brings us to 2 days after Elder Holland's visit. We decided to bike to the church for companion study and talk with every person we saw. We did. On the way back, we continued keeping our eyes peeled to anyone and everyone we could talk to, regardless the situation. Person after person they shewed us away, avoided us, slammed their doors on us. We even pulled into a driveway with kids playing in an jumpy house with a mom watching. As she sees us pull in, she runs into the house screaming "it's the Jehovah Witnesses!" The kids rushed in behind her and started yelling at us from the window to get out their yard. That they didn't like us. That we were "dumb dumbs". All sorts of profanities. My heart feeling a little hurt, I questioned where the Lord's prepared was. As I continued biking I prayed silently that I would keep my eyes open for anyone else I could talk to and asked that he would lead me in the right direction. As we neared our apartment, a very big man was walking the streets. Remembering my commitment to God, we went to talk with him. He had been praying for spiritual guidance. He had been looking for hope. He had been looking for strength from God. And he said he had found that as he prayed with us on that street corner. Mike was so excited for our meeting the next day that he arrived 30 minutes early to the church. During our next lesson, we showed him the baptismal font and invited him to be baptized. He set a date for April 8th. The earliest possible date for him to be baptized. I know Elder Holland's counsel was inspired. I needed to hear it. And since then, I've needed to recommit myself everyday. I've needed to also repent everyday for the times I didn't open my mouth. I sent a picture with us and big Mike below. :) 

I am doing pretty well. We are going to be in a trio this transfer, so I'm pretty excited haha. The picture below is from this last zone conference (we didn't know we'd be in a companionship together next transfer) 

Love, 

Elder Hamblin