Just some thoughts

This is W, a recent convert's nephew.  We prayed and fasted and he got permission to be baptized.
This is our excited face to be baptized!


How was your holiday cooking?  it was almost all barbeque which is about the best thing in the world. In Brasil Barbeque is like you get some charcol and put some nice cuts of meat on the grill with just rock salt. They have some flavored rock salt which is good but there is a huge debate about using it because if you put flavoring on it, it would be like any other carne just cooked over a grill. But I like the flavored rock salt and some Alcatra or Picanha, a good chicken wing cooked to a dark brown. oh its good enough to eat the bones and everything. but yeah my mouth is water so im gonna stop. haha 

Did you make something good?  Yeah I made cinnamon rolls with a glaze. it was delicious.  

Do they have fireworks at New Years? Yeah there are a bunch of fire works always going off here. and they are sooo cheap! In one area where we work they were trying to sell me 12 of those morter bombs that shoots into the air for like 30 Reais. And when I explained that we are misisonaries he was like alright 25 Reais. Im like DUDE DONT TEMPT ME. haha but I did buy a few little things here and there to have a little fun ;)   haha 

So yeah this week was super cool! We taught a lot of people who really felt the spirit and accepted the invite to be baptised. We are working a lot with the members and they are giving us alot of good references so that reallllly reallly helps the work along. We are also doing alot of family nights with members and investigators which is helping a lot with the members being excited about missionary work and also the members. 

Something really hard to deal with these days is the misunderstanding of the bible. I am getting realllllly tired of trying to explain to someone about how God and jesus and the Holy Ghost are 3 personages and about how Jesus has a body of flesh and bone and stuff like that. THERE ARE LITERALLY 1,000 EXAMPLES IN THE BIBLE OF BOTH THESE THINGS. it comes to the point where im just sad. Sad that so many people dont understand the Bible. Sad that churches preach this. Sad that people dont open the bible to actually read it and just take it for whatever Paster says. If people would actually read the bible, like really READ it to know if it was true and to try and find the Church of Jesus Christ, they would find it. "Seek and ye shall find." that is a promise in the Bible. I dunno. I will spare you the rest of my rant but just know The plain and simple truths are in the Bible. They aren´t hidden or secretly worded. All scripture is interpreted through the holy ghost and if you pray before you read the bible, the Lord will reveal the plain and simple truths to you. It is that easy.

So the rant is pretty much because of one thing that happened this week. We went to AC's house (a recent convert) and her parents go to a different church but I count her mom like my aunt. Shes the best and every time she sees me, she wants to give me a hug and so I have to try and fight the same feelings and not hug her even though shes like 48ish. shes the best. So obviously I love her and want the best for her. But everytime we teach like a 5 minute lesson she has a million questions, which is good it means shes learning, and, well, if you think about it this restoration started with a question too, sooo..... But her questions are doubts her pastor put into her head. She keeps putting into her head, wrong ideas about the basic truths. And when I tell her that that is wrong and show her in the bible where its written she gets this face that is so sad and so confused.  It makes me so sad!  She is so lost and I wanna help her so bad but when you get the wrong information fed to you for the last 40 years of your life its hard to take them out of your head. 

Missionary work is so important. SO SO Important. So important that (insert a not so basic truth here) John the beloved and 3 Nephites wanted to stay here on the earth untill Christ comes again in order to bring more lost souls unto him! It was the most unselfish and loving thing they could ever do. Two years isnt a lot of time but it didnt start in 2014 nor will it end in 2016. We have the basic truths, we have ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ, and we have to share that. That is our duty, that is our responsibility. When you really understand Jesus Christ and his purpose, you want to share that with others. Its not that we hate other churches and only we get to be saved. But we want to help others have the joy we have and help others know our Savior like we do. That's the love I´ve developed on the mission. 

But yeah. that was kinda my week. Ive been studying alot and its been really good. I love you guys!! I miss you guys so much!! hope you all are doing well!!

Love,

Elder Hamm

Some stuff to mix into açai

AÇAI!!!! WOOOOOO

New Years... almost

"The Homies"

Dessert table.  Those purple grapes are concord grapes!

Did you eat any fruit at the Christmas party? (I’m guessing you just ate cupcakes)?  Dude I ate so much fruit its crazy. They had a bunch of grapes, mangos, watermelon, concord grapes. I ate a lot of both and because we stayed to help clean up, we took home a lot of fruit and also cookies and such. 

Is New Year’s a big deal there?  Well yeah, I guess its like the same in the US. Everyone here stays up till midnight and has a barbaque and stuff.

Yeah who spent from 3-9 on their pday helping to set
 up this place?  It was actually super fun and then
Presdiente fed us and talked to us for 30 minutes
about life.  it was chill.

Do the chapels there have pews or are they chairs that are movable so the chapel can be used as other stuff? They have pews, but we always move the pews when there isnt enough space like for the christmas concert. 

So yeah after skyping with you guys a few days ago not a lot happened. Our two baptisms fell though -__- I was actually pretty sad because they just kinda dropped off the map. No one knew where the family was. We called and called but they were all turned off or out of range so me and his brother (I was with his brother for 3 hours waiting for them) was thinking that they must have gone to grandma's farm wayyy out in the boonies. so that was really sad. Good news is no one went to the baptism anyways so I didnt have to cancel on a bunch of people! Haha yeahh thats sad. but yeah

New shoes I bought for Sundays
and other meetings

Sooooo yeah I literally dont have anything to tell you. Dinner with president was super cool. He was wayyy different. Hahah he was just joking around the whole night about stuff it was really cool. K was there - the presidents son who goes to BYU I. We hungout all night, hes actually a super sick dude and speaks really good english.  but yeah thas about it. I say but yeah alot dont I? I wanna say it again here but I wont. 

Love you guys!! miss you all a lot!! 2016´s around the corner now!!! WOOOOO

Love 

Elder Hamm

PS - I'm working on some number sheets at the office of the totals for the year.  805 baptisms this year in the mission.  A record for this region.  

Elder G one of my old comps. 

This was an activity we did at the
church with Elder B

Family Night with RC and her family. There is candy on the
flour and you had to cut the flour without the candy dropping.
When it dropped you had to eat it. 

The Sister next to Elder M was living in Nick Hintze's mission.
He baptized her brother.  Super cool.  Had to take a pic

The office

This was passing through the city like three times.  It is
4 coke trucks and one of them has santa in it.

Merry Christmas

Dad's Questions:  Of the following: faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, kindness and charity – if an angel came down and offered one to you, which would you choose and why?  I dunno, I wouldnt really want an Angel to give one of these things to me. Like where's the fun in it, if you dont have to work to gain it? But it would always be cool to have a little more faith, but I feel like if an angel came down to give me one of these attributes, one of them automatically given would be faith because Im seeing an angel, right?

What are your plans for Christmas day? The night before christmas I think we´re gonna borrow the tree from the office and put it in our house and sleep under it. Then on Christmas we have lunch with a superrr cool family in the ward. then we´re probably gonna try and skype you guys at around 3 hours Brasilia time. Does that work? Then we will visit some recent converts who invited us over. Then at night we have a dinner with the Presidente. So thats gonna be pretty much my day.

Can you get a good milkshake? oh dad..... You have no idea how many milkshakes I buy here in Juiz de Fora, there is a Mr. Mix close to the office and we drink milk shakes there on tap. Not really but we drink a lot of milk shakes there. Haha they are pretty cheep too for a big shake with a bunch of different flavors. 

So yeah this week was pretty busy. I got sick, had a few awesome family nights, worked really hard, went to the hospital (that was a hugggeee waste of time) and worked.

Sooo yeah I was really light headed and I think it was a mix between being dehydrated and with a cold all at the same time so it was an ugly mixture so sister told me to go to the hospital and when I got there, it looked like a 5 star hotel and it was super confusing and stuff but we finally made it to the emergency room and shes like, well you guys are gonna have to wait 1 1/2 hours till the nurse can see you. So I kinda slept and tried not to vomit and then when the nurse saw me she was like oh we´ll give you some medicine and an IV. So it was like the longest lasting IV that ive ever taken in my life and i was still super dizzy and so the nurse is like well well just put your feet in the air and you head lower than your heart and im like "uhhh over my dead body you will..." and shes like no it'll help, so she throws me back and it literally gets worse. So im like dying with all the blood rushing to my head and im like yah so can we freakin put this table right, and now i want some medicine for my headache too. haha so the doctor was super busy and had to get her permission to give me more medicine so I ended up just kinda taking some IV and then leaving. it stunk, but i got better... kinda. 

But yeah this week we found a lot of good new investigators. When we teach the restoration its so cool because the spirit is so strong and everyone is just loving the feelings and everything its so cool. Especially this Christmas season. We are going to baptize G´s daughters this Saturday! One day after christmas! G is still trying to get married to R and I think they will actually get married in February because of all the paper work that has to be done. But none the less its cool to really help people. 

But yeah I love you guys!! I have to go help Sister Cascardi set up the capela for the christmas party for the mission tomorrow. Love you guys!!! 

--
Elder Hamm

MY BOOTS

How do you say Merry Christmas in Portuguese? Feliz Natal. So just to write it out in english with the accent it would be feliz (like spanish) Nataw. The L at the end makes a W sound.

What do they call Santa Clause in Brazil? Papai Noel. 

Yeah so I bought new shoes... but boots would be the better word for them 8) (thats the smiley face sunglasses dude) So I was lookin at these 100-150 real shoes and was thinkin, man these shoes are gonna last like 4-5 months and I need shoes for 7 more months... hmmm so I thought, If I buy a shoe that's a little more expensive but more durable it´ll be better right? So the first thing that went right was that I was with Elder B cause he needed new shoes too and he was here in Juiz de Fora for a metting with the prez so we go out on PDay and find the sickest boots and they just make me so happy. So as we left the shoe store I was thinking yeahhhh I got some BOOOTTSSS. I got some brown.....tangy....leather boots. And unlike dad when he hears this story, I didnt cry. But my eyes did get a little watery that night as I thought about the story of the boy and the brown tangy leather boots. We walked our 40 minute walk home talking about life and challenges and I realized that Elder B is the man. He literally is. He is so sick and hes just like me and we will definitely stay close after the mission. but yeah the pics are at the bottom. They are the best. 

So everyone was worried the Pres was gonna have a fit when he saw my boots but the past week it pretty much flooded Juiz de fora and my shoes have holes for air conditioning (cause it gets pretty hot here too) its just that when it rains the holes for air conditioning dont close, its still in the beta phase, so my feet get super wet really easily. So I have, better yet, *had, 2 pairs of shoes. So lets think this out. It rained for 7 days. Each shoe, when wet, takes about a day or two to dry out, and thats with the sun. So pretty much I wore wet shoes for 5 days in a row, which sucked. 

So we went to lunch with the president the other day and I was wearing my boots. Whether he saw them or not im not sure but he didnt say anything so Im gonna count that as a yes, I can wear these boots for proselyting. haha

So yeah this week we marked some dates with some families we are working with. We marked the marraige of C and C too!!! WOOOO They´re gonna get married so they can be baptized! Its actually super cool. Then we got really serious with this family that we love and told them straight up that we all have to focus on our goal of baptism. So we marked a date with the two daughters and told the parents that they have to seriously pray and ponder about getting married. it was super cool. 

We were in a lesson reallllly spiritual and really awesome and the spirit was so strong and right when I was about to invite the daughters to get baptized, their uncle knocks on the door. Their uncle who is a strong member of another church and always just wants to bible bash with us and he walks in. So I bear my testimony and pass to my comp without inviting them to be married. Then my comp is bearing his testimony and I think, dude this spirit is so strong I could literally feel it in the air. And at that moment I heard a voice, "Fear no man". So my comp closed off his part and said amen and then I was like, but we have one more invite for all of you to come closer to God. So we invited all of them to really pray to know if it was true and set a goal for the girls to be baptized. It was super sick and the uncle didnt say a word. 

Then I had pity for him. It was weird, I felt bad that he tries to bible bash and we kinda stump him every time, so I decided to talk directly to him, which was risky cause when he starts talking he doesnt stop. And I asked if he had a Book of Mormon at his house. He said no. So I said, I want to give you a Book of Mormon, and all I ask, is that you treat it with as much respect as the bible because this too, was written of God. This too, is holy scripture. So I gave it to him with a few chapters and the introduction marked. It was a great feeling for everyone in the room. 

But yeah this week was good I love you guys!! miss you all so much!! Ill put the photos on Drop box because its easier haha love you all!! 

Elder Hamm

FLOOD

These are some of the last pictures I will ever have next to these spiritual giants.  I owe them a lot.  

What is your favorite scripture right now?  hmmm I dont really have a one favorite scripture. Its kinda like, all of them teach you different principals, neither one more important than the other. I have a really strong testmony of God helping your get what you need to know out of any scripture. Not like a different interpretation but more of a, you´re reading what you need to hear. 

What is the best part of working in the office? hmm probably like having a second house and being able to know whats going on in the whole mission. We have a fridge stocked with juice and crackers and we have A/C here and carpet. oh sweet carpet. its cool.

So yeah this week it was raining like CRAZYY!! the first time where it flooded like all of Juiz De Fora we were in a recent converts house so we didnt get soaking wet and we stayed there for 3 hours because we literaly couldnt leave. then the second time it was sunday and we were in the middle of the street and all we could do is crouch down and use our umbrellas as a sheild laughing like crazy because the wind was so strong and the rain was comming down so hard. It literally was like breaking our umbrellas because the wind was blowing so hard so we crouched down and it was still comming down so freakin hard. So in the middle of us laughing and trying not to get soaking wet we see some guy out side his window shouting something but all I could see was his hand motions telling us to go around the corner to get into his house so evey time we tried to stand up the wind and rain just soaked our pants so we just decided to run for it. we got to their house fairly quickly but we were soaking wet.

So we talked with them for a while and then shared a message with them because we thought, Look you guys saved us from the rain, let us repay you guys by sharing a message that will bless your family. so we shared a message and they accepted our message. it was really cool.

but yeah this week was pretty normal other than the rain like crazy. haha my new comp Elder B is super chill. hes a little new on the mission (4months) so its kinda hard to do all this stuff and still try and teach him how to be a good missionary but its whatever. I love you guys!! miss you all sooo much!!

Elder hamm

 

Pisca Pisca

We were trying to go to lunch sunday and it just started pouuuuurrrinnnngg rain like literally buckets of rain so we got soaking wet and it didnt help that I was already sick, but we were literally only in the rain for 30 seconds because from the bus to their house is 30 seconds but it was raining so hard we got soaked to the bone. But sister made this suppper good dessert thats like jello with apple and strawberry´s with a condensed milk, and milk creme. it was so good and reminded me of the U.S.... haha 

When do Brazilians start celebrating Christmas? wellll about a few weeks ago people started selling pisca pisca (christmas lights)

What are some of their Christmas traditions? hmm dunno. I guess we´ll see about that in a little. haha

Do most people have  Christmas trees and are they fake? Ive seen i think only 3 trees so far. One was fake the other was made out of a broom stick and 2 liter bottles, and the other was also fake. I also think its illegal to cut down pine trees here in brasil so that kinda puts a damper on things.

So M got baptised last week. She's honestly like a princess in a 60 year old body. hahaha shes super funny. But man was it a challenge with her but shes so happy to be a member now. she´s already been going to church for 5 weeks, already went to 3 baptismal services, 1 activity and is always at church at 8 when church starts at 9:30..... she's the best.

Soooo yeah this is by far my favorite picture in the whole world. This is me with 2 of my literal companions and one metaphoric companion. On my left is my trainer Elder L who was my second comp but taught me a lot about how to be a good missionary. In the middle is Elder C who taught me about paicente and how to really care and love your investigators, and Elder M... well I lived with him for 4 and a half months in Barra Mansa so I count him as my compainon. He has taught me how to really have fun and work at the same time. All of them are going home tomorrow :( and I remember thinking, Man when these guys go home, Im gonna be so freakin trunky because i´ll only have a few more months. Now that im here I dont really believe that its kinda coming to a close. It makes me so grateful for each of these guys and their impact they made in my life. Definitely will always remember these guys and keep in touch, but Im also so glad that I could be here to see them off. 

But yeah I had to wake up at 6 today to get these guys to the church at 7 for a auto suficcent class they have to take and then at 4 they´ll all come to the office to be interviewed and grab a few things and then they will go to dinner with the prez. then tomorrow they will all leave at 4 in the morning (which I have to help out with bags and vans and taxies to make sure everyone gets there) then I have to take my comp to the bus station and see him off around 12ish so when my comp arrives at 3ish in the afternoon we´ll go home to drop off his bags then go straight to the church because the newbies get here at like 9 in the morning and will go to the church at 4ish and we'll start the rotations and training at 4-6:30ish then that doesnt even give us one hour in our area because its like 40 min. bus ride away so we´ll come back to the ofice and ill explain how to pass references and stuff. so yeah. BUSY BUSY I HATE TRANSFERS. hahaha but seriously. its super busy. 

ohhhh MM I love youuuuuhoooooo

Do they eat potatoes there?  That is an important thing for an Idaho boy to ask. Yes they have potatoes. And everyone here thinks that Americans love potatoes, which is mostly true. 

The ward you are in now, are there a lot of converts or have most of them grown up in the church?  So in mostly every ward Ive passed there has been more converts to the church, then people born into the church. Its actualy really cool because every time we eat lunch at a members house, we can ask the conversion story of everyone there. 

Where do you go to write your email each week? We email in the office. I have a computer I share with Elder S and we have all of our photos on here and stuff and a desk where we work. Its pretty chill, we have a drawer full of snacks to eat when we´re hungry haha. 

So this week you guys will not believe what happened. So you remember that baptism date that fell though the day of her baptism? So we went to her house and were talking to her Sunday about baptism and stuff and how she needs the gift of the holy ghost and stuff and she was talking about how she doesnt know if she can continue in this church because she already is going to a church and her church is wayyy more easy to understand and she likes the chior there and stuff so I was kinda seeing how she doesnt really want to be baptized and so following the prompting of the spirit, in a very kind and loving way I explained to her that the church she was attending could not help her after this life, that they didnt have the complete authority from God to do these ordinances like Baptism and giving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. And I told her that one day she will have to explain to God himself why she chose to not follow the church of His son, Jesus Christ, when she knew and had a good understanding that this church is the only church that can give her salvation.  I proceeded to explain that we didnt have any hard feelings against anyone and that she was more then welcome to keep going to church because she is definitely welcome there. So we left pretty sad and more than once I wanted to go back to try and help her but I know that I can´t because we cant help her if she wont help herself.
So Sunday we saw her at church and I was like, well that was the least expected thing in the world. So I went up to talk to her and shes like Elder I decided that I want to be baptised. And my jaw literally hit the floor. I was so happy I was about to jump for joy and yell and scream but we were in the sacrament room before the reunion started so I was just like, "Wow congrats!! im so happy we´ll talk more after!!" So that was a miracle. but super cool. 

We are going to buy a christmas tree and lights to put up in the house today. im super excited. We sang a christmas song at church sunday so its officially CHRISTMAS TIME!! So yeah 



Love you guys!! miss you all so much!!
Elder Hamm