Email 12/16/13

'Dear Family,

This week we have seen so many miracles in our district. At the same time we have Satan trying so hard to stop the work from happening. It is amazing how it works and how once we learn how to conquer Satan everything is better. Yesterday Elders Hooper and Legere put together a baptism that was amazing! The Spirit was so strong and the members were so supportive! Basically the whole ward stayed for the baptism and Brother Donald felt like he belonged to a family even though his family is so far away in Sri Lanka. The most amazing thing about it was that his family was able to join us for the baptism through Skype! Technology is so cool! The Elders have begun teaching Brother Donald's family and they are all excited to progress in the gospel. One week before the baptism Brother Donald's father passed away. He was obviously upset and almost canceled the baptism. Yesterday he couldn't stop saying how happy he was and how he knew that this is what Heavenly Father wanted him to do.

Sadly there was supposed to be another baptism that happened yesterday. However the man who was supposed to be baptized is missing. Elders Liston and Finlinson have taught him cannot come in contact with him. The members of the ward have tried contacting him, his non-member friends have tried contacting him... we just don't know where he is or what happened. The Elders taught him a lesson three days before he was to be baptized, he was supposed to have a interview for baptism the next day but canceled it because he had some concerns and we haven't heard from him since. It's crazy! The same Elders are teaching an amazing family and their house burnt down yesterday! These poor guys are just going through it! They are positive about the future however and are keeping their heads high and their faith firmly planted. Satan can't get to this group of missionaries :)

Sister Howard and I have seen a lot of miracles as well. Two transfers ago our phone broke so we had to get a different one. In that process we lost a lady's number who had been interested in the gospel but was held back by her husband who said they didn't need to switch religions at that point. This week the Lord prompted her to text us! We are back in contact with her and she said she wants start going to church. She is just the sweetest lady and we are so excited to start working more with her. One of our other investigators who has been coming to church regularly but has been too busy to meet with us said that this week we could come meet with her. She is a full time student, mom, and she has a full time job. Her last final is on Thursday and so she said that she expected to see a lot more of us this week! We are so excited. We are just being so blessed here on Staten Island!

I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be serving a mission here in the New York, New York South Mission! I just love it so much! We have lots of amazing things planned for this upcoming week and we can't wait for CHRISTmas! The ward is taking very good care of us! We are just about the most spoiled missionarires in the whole world I think!

Well I love you all So much! Thank you all for your prayers and letters.

Love,

Sister Hamblin :)

Here is what our beautiful Christmas tree looks like! We love it!!

A sister in our ward made these stockings for us and filled them with
all this delicious things! Her husband is studying to be a dentist so
we all received new toothbrushes! Ha ha it was so fun!

I don't know if you saw this on Facebook but I just love it! Our
Christmas party was on Friday and the Elders had way too much fun!

Ok here are some of the decorations from the party and if you notice
we even had a few whos from whovile in the background.

Email 12/09/13

Dear Family,

This weekend has been so fun! This weekend was the Brooklyn Stake Conference. Because our stake is too big to fit in any building in the stake we had meet in the grand ball room of the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott. Walking in I felt like a princess. There were several beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the chairs provided were elegant and comfortable. Our Stake President, Nelson, encouraged everyone to do missionary work. In the adult session of stake conference he had all the bishops call up each missionary by name and encouraged each of the ward members to get to know each of our names so that they would feel more comfortable introducing their friends and family to us. This inspired me to learn more of the names of the members of our ward on Staten Island. One of the Elders in our district is really great at remembering names of people and has seen a lot of success because of his ability to converse with each of them by name. There is something special associated with names.

Oh another really awesome thing... Bishop Glick, the Bishop of the Staten Island 1st ward, the ward in which I am serving, is in this video https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/jesus-heals-a-man-born-blind?lang=eng . He is the Pharisee speaking at 4:10! Look for him, he's pretty awesome!

Transfers are this week. Sister Howard and I are both staying here in Staten Island. She will be the companion that I have had for the longest amount of time! We are so excited to see what this transfer holds and we are so excited that we will be staying together for Christmas! One of our Zone Leaders is leaving and we are all really sad about it because he was our comic relief! We are excited to see what will happen across the mission and to watch the hand of the Lord once again sweep across the New York, New York South mission. This transfer is a little sad because a lot of my friends that I have served with in Bay Shore and here are going home :(. It is a sad thing to see them go but I know in my heart that they are going to do amazing things! I can't wait to see what the future holds for each of them.

More exciting news after hours and hours of entering, we have finished converting all of our paper information to electronic!!! We are so happy to get that out of the way so that we can be out looking up those who have fallen by the way side! This took a long time but we are excited because we found a lot of names of people we haven't seen before! Hopefully we will be able to meet with them and help them to experience true happiness!

I have to say that I love Christmas here in New York. The decorations here are out of this world! People with the tiniest of yards have gigantic blow up figurines of Christmas items such as santas, nativity scenes, snoopy on a motorcycle, snowmen, Whiney the Poo, reindeer, and during Hanukkah, huge white bears holding dradels! Lights are everywhere and it feels like a winter wonderland going through some of the towns! people are hustling around trying to get everything in order before the big day! It snowed a little last night just in time for the Christmas devotional and I felt that it was the perfect ending to the day!

Thank you so much for sending my coat and some delicious hot chocolate by-the-way! They came just in time and I am so warm! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Also we received Christmas presents from Elder Eggleston's mom! It was so cute! She wrote us each individual notes and sent stockings, candy canes, rolo's, and wrapped it all so beautifully!

 

Ok I'd better go! I love you all so much! Thanks again for all the letters, prayers and love!

Love,

Sister Hamblin :)

Letters

11/25/13

Dear Family,

We have had a very exciting week filled with miracles all around.  I am not sure if I mentioned this last week but two weeks ago I wrote to President Calderwood and expressed the joy I had been feeling over the blessings we had been receiving in our district and around the mission.  He wrote back and simply stated "obedience brings blessings.  Exact obedience brings miracles".  I shared this with my district and we have committed to be exactly obedient.  Hence, the miracles we have been witnesses of.  I mean, we're not claiming to be exactly obedient in everything, we're not perfect, but as we've tried harder more blessings have come.  So cool!

This week we were able to go on exchanges with the sister training leaders and I spent the day in Queens.  The best part was that I was able to talk to some of my good friends from Bay Shore who are serving there now.  It was awesome!  Elder Clark told me that he gets to pick up Sister McKee from the airport in a few weeks when she gets back from Bermuda!  I am so jealous and really freaked out that time went by so fast!

We had a mega Zone Conference with all of the missionaries who serve in the Brooklyn Stake (which is about 80 missionaries) on Wednesday.  President and Sister Calderwood both told us of miracles that are happening around the mission.  They again encouraged us to be exactly obedient and kick Satan out of our lives.  WE are so blessed with such great leaders. 

I love you all so much!  Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Love,
Sister Hamblin :)

12/02/13

Dear Family,
What an awesome week it's been.  We've had an excellent Thanksgiving weekend!

On Thanksgiving we spent most of the day planning and preparing for the rest of the week and then we had to opportunity to have dinner with a Phillipino family!  Sister REyes is the Primary President in our ward and both she and her husband came here for work after their second child was born.  Sister Reyes has 2 sisters who live very near to her here, who are members and we spent a lot of time getting to know them.  We had so much fun!  They all have young children who run around and play games with each other.  It was fun to see them because it felt a little more like "the good old days" at grandma's house.

We did have a "Turkey Bowl" Thursday morning.  Some members of our ward and most of the missionaries from our Zone got together and played a couple of games of football!  It was really fun, but most of us were sore from it in the days that followed.  We have a Chinese district in our zone, and they were surprisingly really good!  It was really fun!

Yesterday was a wonderful day because during fast and testimony meeting one of the Elders' investigators got up and bore a powerful testimony on Joseph Smith and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon!  It was so awesome.  Heavenly Father is truly leading us to the pure in heart, including families!  We are so blessed!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  Raddon, you are a champion for going shopping with those crazy girls!  Believe me, I know.  It's not easy :)

I love you all so much!
Happy December!

Love, Sister Hamblin

Email 12/03/12

Dear Family,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I'm glad to hear that your Thanksgiving went well. Grandma said she was glad to be there and that she was happy that at least one of her children was in town. I am sorry to hear about the RV football game! I am however very impressed that they got so far. I think it is something they can learn from for the rest of their lives but especially when they all go on their missions. They already know what it is like to work so hard and do all you can to make it to the finish line and then feel like they haven't succeed. But as they look back over the pain and early mornings, and sacrifices and the work they had to do in school to get there they realize that they have become forever changed by this experience. They know how to work hard and how to find joy in the little successes along the way! These things are so valuable! As they apply them in life they will find life to be much more enjoyable. Right Dad? "It's the hard that makes it good."

Things here are great! We are seeing a change coming here to the Staten Island first ward. The members are becoming more and more involved and they are starting to love visiting and home teaching! Our Relief Society President is really trying to get everyone involved in this great work. She bore a powerful testimony yesterday and the sisters came up to us afterward and asked us for tips, asked if they could take us with them and asked when they could come with us! I is so great! We have been working so hard to help this ward be so strong so that we can bring people here who can build on that strength. The members here are amazing! I love them all so much! The missionaries that we are working with are as well. I just feel such a sense of unity between us and the ward and I really hope the ward can feel it as well.

It is really cold here in New York. The Turkey Bowel (our flag football game on Thanksgiving) was more of an Ice bowel but we still had fun. The Sisters had a great advantage because every time we got the ball no one would come near us. The only thing was that I couldn't catch the ball at all :) Thankfully Sister Howard has played powder puff football throughout high school and college so we had an advantage. We had some ward members come and help us out too. It was just a lot of fun and I am a little sad that I won't be here next year to participate in it.

Oh I have big news! My trainer got married!!! She got Sealed in the Salt Lake Temple and then flew back to Puerto Rico for their reception. Everything in her pictures looked beautiful! How wonderful is life?! I am so excited for her and her husband Alexis!

 Ok, I guess I'll let you all go. Thank you so much for the Christmas tree! I LOVE IT!

Love,

Sister Hamblin :)

 

Email. 11/25/13

Dear Family,

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Can you believe that it is already Thanksgiving again?! Where has this year gone? Soon everything will be changing again and life is going to keep getting better.

 

We are seeing so many miracles here in Staten Island. Families are committing to baptism, lives are changing through honest gospel living, and the ward is uniting together to help the Lord's work move forward! President and Sister Calderwood came to speak here in Staten Island yesterday and spoke on the great need for members and missionaries to work together to get this wonderful work hastening at the speed the Lord needs it to. Sister Calderwood said "what if our 80 thousand missionaries were able to join with all of our 15 million members to help this work progress?" That statement has stuck with me and made me think about how important it is going to be for me after I get home to really help the missionaries in this great work. 15 million would make a huge difference! So much work would get done! It would be so amazing to see the progression that we would see. I know that there are many members helping to progress the work now but I can't imagine what would happen if we all did! No wonder President Monson said "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together." Sister Calderwood also quoted Elder Nelson (!) from a Mission Presidents Conference when he said "Time is running out." The Hastening is happening. We are all a part of it, missionary, members, non-members, investigators, less-actives, we are all apart of this amazing work that is watched over by our Loving Heavenly Father. How cool is that?!

 

It has gotten very cold here in New York! "The Locals" say that it hasn't ever been this cold this early in the season. What a great time for online proselyting to come into effect here in New York. We are truly so blessed to be able to still do missionary work while still being safe and warm.

We had a Mega Zone Conference on Wednesday and some of the wards in Brooklyn provided a Thanksgiving dinner for al the of the missionaries! It was delicious! Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, veggies, and warm pumpkin pie! We felt like queens and kings! They also made cute placemats for us all to enjoy. They had turkeys cut out of construction paper with things they were grateful for on them. The thing that hit me about each placemat was their love for the missionaries. I realized that most of them are converts to the church. Missionaries have been a huge part of their lives. The take for their example of how to act in church meetings 18 and 19 year old missionaries who have grown up with the gospel in their lives. How grateful I am for their patience and sacrifice of having to watch us for their example. They are amazing men and women who have started to change Brooklyn and Staten Island by their wonderful examples.

 

I Love you all so much and hope you have the best Thanksgiving ever!

Love,

Sister Hamblin :)

Just thought you should know I climbed a tree in my skirt :)

Email 11/18/13

Dear Family, What an amazing week we've had! Sister Howard was able to go to her first area for a baptism of an entire family that was baptized! Their story is so incredible and I am so happy she was able to attend! She said the service was amazing and that the spirit was so strong. The father testified of the blessings of prayer and their determination to make it to the temple in a year! We are so excited for them and they have basically the entire mission praying for them! While she was there I was on an exchange with Sister Hopkins in Jamaica Queens! Can I just tell you that it was one of the coolest nights of my life! Sister Hopkins and I spent the night trying to contact as many people as possible to invite them to church yesterday and then making invitations for a Thanksgiving party they are gong to be having in two weeks. It was so fun and Sister Hopkins taught me a lot about how to stay happy and positive during tough times. Oh how could I forget! We received our I-pads this week! It has dramatically changed our missionary work and we are seeing so much organization come to us through these awesome devices! We are able to pull up "Mormon Messages" during our lessons to help us teach more powerfully (I mean how does having President Eyring testifying of the power of the Atonement in a lesson not bring the Spirit?!), and it allows us to use more resources to help teach the points we are teaching. Also members in our district are using them to skype lessons to friends and family members back home, teaching them with members from their hometowns and helping the missionaries in their hometowns hasten the work in their own areas. It has been such a blessing to see so much hastening going on!!! Yesterday at church we had some wonderful talks given. A sister in our ward combined all 5 of President Monson's talks from conference and spoke of our Fathers eternal love for us. She spoke about the importance turning to our Heavenly Father in times of trial as well as in times of success. She said that we should be sure to include our Heavenly Father in all aspects of our lives. I was reminded of 3 Nephi 18:18 which says "Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desires to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." I know that the Lord wants to hear from us because we are His children. He loves each one of us and wants us to return home to him. Satan is a jerk. He wants us to fail. He will do everything that he can to make it so that we do. Consistent prayer and scripture study, weekly attendance at church, and service help to guard us against Satan. I love you all! Have a fantastic week! Love, Sister Hamblin :)

Letters

Dear Family, 

We had another super crazy week! Last week our phone broke on Friday (18th) and we didn't have a working phone again until Wednesday. Plus our car needed an oil change and a new tire, so on Tuesday we were living the life of missionaries in the "old days". Without a phone, a car and no way to get around except by foot. It was AWESOME!! We didn't have any super awesome experiences that resulted in a baptism of thousands of our brothers and sisters, and we actually didn't even find anyone at home, but we did gain a realization of how amazing missionaries "Back in the day" really are. Getting to every person that needs to hear the gospel is difficult without a phone and a car, but without those things it is infinately more difficult. I am so thankful to be serving in a time and at a place where technology is so generously provided for us. We are so blessed! 

 We are seeing so many miracles in our mission from Facebook! (again a huge blessing from technology). We have missionaries teaching people all over the world! Two of my friends have been able to get missionaries to people in Chili and Hong Kong, a few other missionaries from this mission have taught Skype lessons with friends and family members at home who are interested in learning more. We really are able to teach so many people and help missionaries from all over find people to teach! It is truly amazing! We are SO blessed!!!

 We were told last week that we are going to be getting I pads and I phones on November 11th. We are so excited because everything we need will be on those. Our planner, area book, area organizer, ward lists, google maps, pamphlets, scriptures, videos, magazines, etc. EVERYTHING! You know me with technology though, yeah...not a good idea. Thankfully my companions are really good with it and said they will have patience with me. I am so blessed!

 Love, Sister Hamblin 

 11/4/13 

Dear Family, 

Well another crazy week has come and gone again. Sorry for the short email on Monday. I was just so excited about every good thing that is happening here in Staten Island. We are truly seeing a hastening happen and we are pumped about it! Our zone leaders called us together for a zone get-to-know you on Wednesday and established a zone of miracles for our zone. We are seeking to be obedient in every way that we an be so that the Lord can trust us with His sons and daughters in the Brooklyn Stake. We have already seen the power that obedience brings and we can't wait to step up our game and "kick Satan in the face" as we assist our Heavenly Father in bringing souls unto Him. 

 On Halloween we had to be in by 6:00 PM for safety. As we came home we saw some of the cutest costumes around! We live in a very family oriented community so there were literally hundreds of children running around our neighborhood. We live in a backside basement apartment so we didn't get any trick-or-treaters. 

 Saturday and Sunday were filled with look ups and miracles. We had a member set up some lessons for us that went really well. She visit teaches some sisters who are struggling and really needed an up lifting spiritual message which they received from this sweet sister. It is amazing to see missionary work being done by members! Well I'd better go! Love you all! 

 Love Sister Hamblin 

 11/11/13 

Dear family, 

I am so sorry I didn't get last weeks letter to you on time. I don't even have an excuse for you. Please forgive me :) This week has been really awesome. WE have seen many miracles in unexpected ways and we are excited about what this next week brings Ipads, ZTM, baptisms, etc.) On Tuesday we found out that one of the sisters in the ward passed away unexpectedly. Her husband is not a member and her son (12 years old) has recently been baptized. She is really the strength in her family and we are all very sad to see her go, however she did experience a lot of physical pain while here so we are glad she is free from those pains now. Bishop Glick asked us to do a musical number at her funeral and it turned out nicely. We have a very talented district and "I Am A Child Of God" was played on the piano and violin beautifully, and we had a nice quartet.

 We also were able to go to the temple with a recently re-activated less-active member to do baptisms. The Manhattan temple is so beautiful and I love being there as often as I can be. The sister that went said "I don't know why I've waited so long to come here. I feel heaven so close!" She is planning on going next week! 

 Tuesday night Sister Howard and I were invited to Bay Shore for a baptism! While I was in Bay Shore Sara was investigating the Church. She had come close to baptism while I had been there but she felt that she didn't agree with some of the questions in the baptismal interview questions so she decided to wait. Through the help of her member friend and many prayers in her behalf she decided to "Take a leap of faith" and step into the waters of Baptism. (Side note...Sara was one of the most prepared people I've ever met.) She studied our of Preach my Gospel, read the Book of Mormon, almost halfway downloaded the Gospel library onto her Iphone, and Ipad, and prayed openly with us often. She has said since that it was the best decision she ever made. We are so happy for her. 

 The rest of the week was filled with appointments and blood drives. (Yes I donated! My companion almost passed out!) And, yesterday there was another baptism in Bay Shore. Anibal Garcia is a man with an incredible story. Anibal has loved his wife florence since they were in middle school. "She has a light about her that no one else had". That light is of course the Gospel. Florence shared the Gospel with her friends in High School but it wasn't until years, and several marriages later that Anibal started listening. By this time Anibal and Florence had been married 1 year and Florences mom was insistent that Anibal get baptized. Alba (the mother) knew it would help them through their many challenges. Anibal started taking lessons from the missionaries back in January and he really started listening after a few wrong choices that landed him in Jail. His heart was softened, his marriage and courage strengthened. He decided to be baptized. He knew that the only way for him and Florence to be truly happy together forever is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the blessings that are found in the temple. He is so awesome and is going to be such a strength to the ward in Bay Shore. 

 That's basically our week. Many great things have happened. Many changes are coming to New York, and the Gospel is changing lives left and right! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!!! 

Love, Sister Hamblin

Email 11/11/13

Dear Family,

I am happy to report that I have written eight letters this week and they should be in the mail by the end of the day. I am so sorry about not getting a letter to you last week. It was a crazy week but I have included in this weeks envelope my letter from last week.

I really am not sure what to write to you all in this letter because I pretty much said it all in my letters.... We get I pads and I phones tomorrow and a family that my companion taught in Terryville is getting baptized on Saturday! Those were a few of the things that I kind-of mentioned but yeah...

Thank you for the updates on everyone in the Philippines. I have been praying so hard for them and I hope we hear about Sister Burnham and Sister Wilkins soon. We will keep praying for them.

Again we are seeing many miracles in our mission. The Lord has allowed us to come in contact with many whom we have never been able to come in contact with. They are amazing people and we are so blessed to have been able to meet with them.

Ok I better go. Sorry that I didn't write much,

Love,

Sister Hamblin :) 

Email 11/04/13

Dear Family,

What a crazy week it has been! From service in Brooklyn, to transfers, to the best sacrament meeting I have EVER been to, life is simply amazing! I know that everyone says that their mission is the best, but really, I have the best mission in the whole world! The missionaries here are truly dedicated to this work. When they have struggles they recognize that they are to help them grow and become better missionaries. They recognize when Satan is working on them to get them distracted from the work and "give place no more for the enemy of [their] souls (2 Nephi 4:28)." They want to be obedient and work their very hardest to be so.  Our example is President Calderwood. He doesn't ask us to do ANYTHING that he wouldn't do. He fearlesses people just like he asks us to, teaches short, powerful lessons, just like he asks us to, he is lovingly bold, and he serves "with all of his heart, might, mind, and strength" just like he asks us to.We as a mission understand that we are part of this wonderful hastening that is happening and that "we are the hasteners." We are truly working to make his words our words, his attributes our attributes, and his works our works. Needless to say, I love my mission so much!!!

Such wonderful things are happening here on Staten Island! If I had more time I would tell you all about how we had a really rough night Saturday night only to have the best Sunday EVER! But I only have three minutes left to finish this letter. I am so sorry!

Our Heavenly Father is so aware of each of our needs. He knows what makes each of us struggle and what makes each of us happy. Please know that you can turn to him for anything and everything!
I LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,

Sister Hamblin :)

Email 10/21/13

Dear Family,

What a week it's been. First off, sorry about not writing yesterday, we had interviews with President Calderwood so he asked us to change our preparation day to today instead of yesterday. Again, sorry about not warning you last week about it. 

This past week has been crazy from the get-go. We had lots of appointments, lots of activities and lots of exchanges. We also had our transfers deep clean and birthdays from members of the ward. A haunted house tour and a zombie apocalypse might have occurred as well :). Only in New York do these crazy things happen to me :)

We had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders (Sisters Bradfield and Sister Hales) and the sisters who are serving in Bushwick, Brooklyn (Sister Sumsion and Sister Shumway) this week. Sister Shumway is related to the Charles Shumway who was the body gaurd for Joseph Smith. She is from Blanding Utah and I was wondering if we are related. She actually looks a lot like a mix of the Shumways and the Hunts... I know weird but thats what I got out of it. Anyway she is super awesome and is actually waiting for her visa to get here. She was called to a mission in Brazil but just needs her visa in order to go, just like my companion Sister Casperson! We are so blessed to have these amazing missionaries come to our mission before going to their assigned missions. They are such great sports about it all. 

We also had a primary trunk or treat activity at the church! Our ward has the second biggest primary in the Brooklyn stake (which we are apart of) and there were so many cute monsters and princesses running around! The primary president did an excellent job with set up, food, and activities. There are even a few photographers in our ward so they had a photo station set up so the kids could have their pictures taken! It was so fun and the ward did so great at inviting non-members and less-actives to come. A woman who hasn't been to church in years was there and came to church the next day! Oh the power of activities!

I don't really have a lot of time to write about anything else but I just want to let you all know how much I love you! I feel so belssed every day to be part of such an awesome family and community. Round Valley is still my favorite place in the world and I love it so much! However New York is coming in at a close second! The people here are not angry all the time like every one says, they are the kindest people and just need extra love from those around them. What an awesome job I have here. I get to show them that love  they are seeking. I get to help them see that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." I am so blessed!

Oh I guess I should also let you know about facebook. I am aloud to talk to anyone as long as I am fulfilling my missionary purpose which is "To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ, and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the End." I think that as long as all of your testimonies are strong and going good I will just keep talking to you on Monday's. If you feel like you are going astray, talk to me on Mondays and I'll see what I can do but really, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are the only ones that can fix that. You are aloud to comment on my posts I just won't be responding to you... I hope that makes sense and is not offencive... if it doesn't make sense or if you have more questions let me know.

I love you all so much!

Love Sister Hamblin

Letter 10/21/13

Dear Family, What an absolutely crazy day it's been! I am so sorry I have been slacking on my letter writing lately. P-days go a lot faster than I would like them to sometimes. On Sunday we had a unique opportunity to help our bishop with a community event. It consisted of a "Haunted House Tour", a magic show, spooky photos, and a zombie invasion. Our bishop is a very prominent figure in his community and asked us to help with a "Mud Lane Society" community event. We were "mild zombies", as you saw Monday. His community is filled with actors, make-up artists and people who are in the film industry, so it was pretty cool for us to get to talk to them and have our "make-up" done by them. His community has been in movies and TV shows and he himself (our bishop) is an actor. It has been really awesome for us to be able to work with him and see the respect he has from his community. He does an excellent job of acting his part no matter where he is. Well family, I better go. Sorry again for the skimpy letters and emails. I love you all so much! Love, Sister Hamblin

Email 10/15/13

Dear Family,

First of all, sorry I didn't write yesterday! It was Mom's Birthday so they decided to make it a national holiday which meant all the libraries were closed. My bad, I didn't think that far in advance. Anyhoo, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

So on Sunday we had a really great day! Well, to some it was stressful but to me... It was the BEST day of my ENTIRE mission... There was a baptism!!! But let me tell you something, it was the most intense baptism I have ever been to! Everything that could have gone wrong did. The sister getting baptized was late to church, the brother preforming the baptism didn't bring a towel, the font wasn't filling up, there wasn't enough seating, suits didn't fit, and everyone was a little stressed out. It was funny! 

So we were all trying to get everything in order and get different suits to fit right and get enough chairs for everyone when someone looks at the water in the font and realizes that it only being filled to the second stair isn't enough to get her fully immersed. PROBLEM. So We are trying to get her in a suit the water isn't filling and the baptism is supposed to start 5 minutes ago. We realize that the chain that pulls the plug after the baptism is over is stuck between the plug and the drain causing a little water to seep through and not allowing the water to fill enough. The water is already knee deep and we don't have any way to tactfully get the chain out of the plug without pulling the plug and having all the water drain and empty again. So because I love the water I volunteered! With my zone leader's and bishop's permission I went in fully clothed and moved the chain. This was the best day of my life! How many Sister Missionaries can say they got to get in the font for a baptism without being apostate?! Not very many! I am the luckiest sister in the world! BUT WAIT, I'm not finished!

So the baptism proceeds and we start with the talks and the songs and as I am standing in the dressing room area I realize that the water still is not filling... I slosh my way out to the hallway and find my leaders and tell them what has happened. Realizing that New Yorkers like their time, they immediately go to the kitchen and grab every pitcher, pot, and deep pot thing they can find and start filing telling me to go back into the water and check things out. Gladly I do so and with the help of another fully clothed sister in the ward we figure it out and continue helping to fill the font as fast as we possibly can. We, at this point, are filling water from bathroom and kitchen sinks, showers in the janitors and boys bathroom, and at one point I think we even had someone at the water fountain trying to fill up the font. 

So we get the water filled, everyone is ready to go. Both the sister getting baptized and the brother baptizing her are in the water and we realize that we haven't had a practice run through with them. Which would have been really nice because this was the brother's first time baptizing someone and obviously this was her first time getting baptized so the prayer was said for times and she had to be immersed 3! What a hectic day!

The rest of the day and night were spent trying to clean up water that had been spilt, clean up crumbs from dessert, and trying to convince this sweet sister who had wanted everything to go perfect that it wasn't the end of the world. It honestly was one of the best days of my life. Seeing the ward come together and help her out so much was awesome! Oh how happy things can be when members and missionaries work together to solve even the silliest of problems!

I love you all! 

Sister Hamblin

Email 10/07/13

Dear Family,

What an amazing week it's been! We have been so blessed to see so many miracles happen. Conference, awesome lessons, many referrals, Heavenly Father has blessed us abundantly. Feel so blessed to be serving in such an awesome area. We have amazing leaders and amazing ward members who are really into missionary work. After conference on Saturday our bishop as well as several members in the ward and even investigators gave us names of people they would like us to go and visit. Overwhelmed with so many names we called the district leader and zone leader (both are in our district) and asked them if they had the same response... they said they did and that they, like us were not sure when they were going to be able to visit everyone with in the next week. 

Conference was amazing and I learned so much! Some things that stuck out to me were... of course missionary work, Christlike attributes, strengthening our testimonies and the importance of every day decisions. Elder Hamilton of the 70 made said " Our simple decisions can have eternal and far reaching consequences." How true it is! The simple decision to smile can effect someone for months and years to come. This is true for some girl have never seen before or sense but because I let her turn left before I went strait she gave me a huge smile and "peace fingers." That has seriously made my day time, after time. Just thinking about how there is one kind person out there is all I need to get through a day. I hope to keep my simple every day decisions ones that will allow me to make it back to live with my Father in Heaven once again. I am so excited for that day.

Next week is going to be a busy one. We have a Mega Zone Conference and a Zone Training Meeting as well as another phase of "operation shepherd." Heavenly Father is blessing us so much right now and we have so much to be grateful for. We are also getting Facebook and I pads this next week. I hope Hermana and Elder Hamblin's areas are moving into this phase of missionary work as well. Our mission is so excited for it and the Zone Leaders and Sister Trianing Leaders who have already begun this new phase are testifying of great experiences they are having. 

One of those things that we have to be grateful for is amazing weather. I am sorry to hear that it is so cold in Arizona right now but New York just had a week of summer-like weather. Fans, short sleeves, and AC are still needed in such nice weather. However we are starting to see glimpses of fall. The changing leaves are so beautiful and I am in love with fall in New York. Fall is just an all around great season anyway so it almost goes without saying that I am going to love it!

I am sorry that I have not sent pictures... I really don't know how on these computers. I have tried my cord, my sd disk in the computer and I just don't know how to do it. Although I think my companions know how. So maybe I'll ask them. I wish I could send you pictures though. There are so many beauties here on Staten Island! I love it here! How grateful I am to be serving in New York amongst such amazing people and missionaries!

Thank you all again for your prayers and letters :)

Love,

Sister Hamblin :)

This is basically what the view looks like from the Staten Island ferry to Manhattan... The Statue of Liberty is just off to the left a little and it is a beautiful view! This is pulled off the internet... just so you know... I don't know how else to get you pictures today.

Letter 9/30/13

Dear Family,
Something I have been thinking about  a lot lately is identity.  Something we see in the world today is a loss of knowledge when it comes to our true identity.  People inside and out of the Church have forgotten who they really are.  This is evident through actions, words and deeds.  From choosing to distance themselves from the church to over reacting in traffic, I see people everywhere who need reminding.

I too have been one of those people who needs reminding.  It is not a place I would wish anyone into.  These moments when I have forgotten that Heavenly Father loves and trusts me have been dark and lonely.  Thankfully I have the most wonderful friends and family in the entire world who have loved, guided and re-taught essential truths.  The basis is faith.  Elder Wirthlin said, "Faith exists when absolute confidence in that which we cannot see combines with action that is in absolute conformity to the will of our Heavenly Father." 

Without all three, first absolute confidence; second action; and third absolute conformity.  Without all we have is a counterfeit, a weak and watered down faith.  "How true it is.  In the past my faith has been "weak and watered down".  I have not had confidence, conformed my will to our Heavenly Father, or acted in the way our Father needed me to.  Thankfully the Atonement allows me to overcome that, and become a faithful person.  How blessed am I?!  How blessed are we?!

I love you all!
Sister Hamblin

Letter 9/23/13

Dear Family,
Well Hello!  As you know I am now serving on Staten Island.  The coolest experience for me so far has been looking from Staten Island and seeing Manhatten, The Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn and New Jersey!  It is a pretty awesome view I have to say.

My new companions, Sister Casperson and Sister Howard, are amazing and I am so happy to be serving with them.  Sister Casperson is here in New York waiting for her Visa so that she can go to Brazil.  Sister Howard is from the same MTC district as my former companion Sister McKee, and I have been on one exchange with her, so I know her pretty well already.  We are getting along great!

The ward here is so awesome.  So many of them know and love Elder Austin Gregory, and he really has set a high standard for missionaries in this area!  We are so blessed.
I'm sorry this letter is so short, but we are running out of time today!
Sorry!
I love you,
Sister Hamblin

Email 9/30/13

Dear Family,

Wheew what a week. We have been so busy but I'm not really sure what with :) Our days were full and yet our numbers were low. Missionary work has a lot of ups and downs. This week just happened to be filled with both. 

Wednesday we went to Brooklyn to look up members of the Midwood ward who are less active. This ward has over 700 less actives on their ward list. So, the zone leaders there called in 73 missionaries from 3 different zones and ward members from any ward to help them find those who are lost. In cars, on buses and subways but mostly on foot we ran around with ten names for each companionship trying to find those who are struggling and who needed to be found. Many were not home. Some were very angry, some cried because they thought they had been forgotten. Neighbors and friends were honestly a little weirded out that we were there but, some were interested in a church that would send missionaries and members out to find and help those whom we hadn't seen in a while. Many miracles occurred and the good news is.... we get to go back and do it again! Because not everyone was contacted we need to go back and find them. We have to find those that are lost. It goes along with what was said in the Relief Society General Broadcast on Saturday. If we are keeping our covenants we are looking out for those that are lost. 

I have gained the biggest testimony of visiting and home teaching on my mission. If I had known/understood how important it is... I would have never neglected it. This work (visiting and home teaching) is the single most important thing I think members can do to fulfill their missionary work. Just think if all of those 700 people had one visiting or home teacher who came every month to see how they were doing physically, mentally, and spiritually, someone who would honestly be their friend. I really don't think there would have been 700 names. The work of salvation can not go on if we are not ready to take care of those members who are already in our wards and branches. I am so grateful mom and dad for your amazing example to me of always doing your visiting and home teaching. I realize now just how important it is. As always you are amazing!

Well family, I guess i will leave you. Thank you for your love and prayers?

Love,

The oldest Sister Hamblin

Email 9/23/13

Dear Family,

HELLO from STATEN ISLAND!!!! I can't believe what a crazy week it has been. From beginning to end we have been running from appointment to appointment and from Staten Island to Bay Shore and New Jersey. It has just been the craziest week! Here's the brake down:

Tuesday- Rego Park in Queens (Mission office) TRANSFER MEETING!!!! I love transfer meeting. President Calderwood is an excellent speaker and really knows how to get 285 missionaries excited and ready for missionary work. I just love listening to him and Sister Calderwood speak and encourage us to be obedient so that we can receive the blessings of the Lord. 

Wednesday- Zone Meeting in Brooklyn. When I got to Staten Island I was a little overwhelmed because of how different from Bay Shore it is. Then we went to Brooklyn for our Zone getting-to-know-you activity and I was blown away! There are so many buildings and people there who don't speak English, I looked like a deer in the headlights. After our zone meeting we did a Chinese street sweep inviting people to free English class. Let's just say that I will be able to tell Sister Blake Hamblin where she can go for free English class in her mission language when she gets home :)

Thursday- LONGEST planning session ever! Each week we have a few hours set aside to plan for the rest of the week. This week's planning session lasted entirely too long. However I am better antiquated with Staten Island and my new companions (Sister Casperson and Sister Howard, yes I'm in a TRIO) really helped me to get to know our investigators and members of the ward.

Friday- Singing at the docks. Between Staten Island and Manhattan there are ferries that take people to and from work every 30-45 minutes. The missionaries in my district and the missionaries in the Spanish district have a routine to go and give away free lemonade and fearless people and on Fridays we sing hymns! It is so fun. People from all over the world stop and talk to us and thank us for our singing and it is really exciting to see so many people stop and talk or just listen to what we have to say. 

Saturday- NEW JERSEY!!! The Staten Island 1st ward has an apple picking activity every year in New Jersey. This year the missionaries were invited to go and after getting permission from our mission president we headed off to the unknown beyond our mission boundaries. It was AWESOME! I took some awesome pictures... however my email time is not going to be the same as it has been in the past so please don't expect anything too grand in weeks following. 

We also had the opportunity to go to Bay Shore for the Musical Celebration of Families that I helped plan. President really is so nice to let me go back for such a special occasion. It was really awesome and there were a lot of non-members there. Members brought thier family members who were not members and they really enjoyed themselves. It was such an amazing experience. We did however have some technical difficulties but we got over it and the program turned out nicely anyway. It was just a really great experience.

Sunday- CHURCH! I had the opportunity to speak on my very first Sunday in the Staten Island first ward. The ward members were really nice to me and I feel very welcomed in this ward. Bishop Glick even invited us over for dinner. It was an amazing experience! 

I am so excited to be serving here in Staten Island in a trio! New experiences are scary but help us grow so much. Hence the Plan of Salvation. How could we ever become like God if we could not have awesome experiences like He had. WE ARE SO BLESSED!!!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and for your letters! You're the best!

Love,
Sister Hamblin :)

P.S.

Austin Gregory served here and EVERYBODY loves him members, non-members, less-actives. They all love him. All I had to say was "I'm from Eagar, AZ" and everybody was responded "Elder Gregory was from there! He was such a great missionary! We love him!" I'm so grateful that He put such an amazing name out for Eagar Arizona. It's always nice to follow an excellent missionary. So if you see him tell him thank you for me. And see if there is anyone he wants me to visit for him. These people here are so amazing and I am so excited to be working with them!

Email 9/16/13

Dear Family,

So I know that I have been saying this a lot lately but really the time is going so fast I am not keeping up very well. I was asking an Elder when our Zone Training Meeting was and he said "Get it together Sister Hamblin, that was only 5 days ago" I said "WHAT?!?!?!?" Ha ha I really don't know where time is going!

Wednesday Sister Kapisi received a call from President Calderwood calling her to train! Man I am so excited for her! We were at a bonfire lesson with an investigator who at the time was doing really well. She was progressing really well and we saw so much life in her. The bonfire was so cool! The spirit was so strong! Oh the power of the Fire of the Holy Spirit! However on Friday we had another lesson at the cemetery that went very badly and all progress has halt. I don't know what is going to happen from here on out but I do know that it is in the Lord's hands and I am so grateful for that. 

So Zone training meeting was awesome! Our Zone Leaders are very creative and help us to understand doctrine so well. They had the Elders build a human pyramid and taught us about the doctrine of love, obedience and trust. It was so cool! Below is a picture of the event. They were struggling trying to keep each other up. It was so great.

Thursday we had a lesson with another investigator who had a baptism date for this Wednesday and then Satan started working on her... like he always does and now she has postponed her baptismal date indefinitely. To bad we have the Lord on our side and he is going to help us kick Satan in the face! We have another lesson with her on Wednesday to talk about it. 

Saturday... the most dreaded day of all... Transfer calls were made... I am leaving my beloved Bay Shore :( But, there are good things ahead... I don't know what but I can feel it in my bones. Also we were able to help at the Long Island Family Festival! That was so cool! There were so many families and we invited as many as we could to come to our celebration of families this coming Saturday. We hope to see many of them there.

Saturday... the most dreaded day of all... Transfer calls were made... I am leaving my beloved Bay Shore :( But, there are good things ahead... I don't know what but I can feel it in my bones. Also we were able to help at the Long Island Family Festival! That was so cool! There were so many families and we invited as many as we could to come to our celebration of families this coming Saturday. We hope to see many of them there.

Sunday we had a less active come to church with her non member husband and daughter! They are so awesome and we have been working to get him the lessons. We'll see what happens. We also made these awesome thank you notes for the people who allowed us to help in the Long Island Family Festival. It was so fun!

There are still so many things that I haen't mentioned but it has just been so crazy! Anyway, I guess I'd better go... I still have to pack :( 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers, letters and dedication to the Lord!

Love,

The Oldest Sister Hamblin :)

Invitation

This is the invitation for our musical celebration! We are so excited about it!

Email 9/09/13

Dear Family,

First off I just want to say... CONGRATULATIONS KALE!!!!! California is going to be a Celestial state by the time both she and Elder Hunter Hamblin leave! I am just so happy right now! 

Second, I want to apologize for not writing at all last week. There are no good excuses and I am so sorry. I hope it doesn't happen again. 

Third, I was able to go to the TEMPLE this week!!!! It was so awesome! The Manhattan New York Temple is so beautiful! I hope you all go inside some day because it is so beautiful! The people are so nice and the spirit is so strong especially after coming off the Subway and the busy street. It is amazing the difference between the peace the spirit brings and the idea of peace that the world has. I was describing the peace that is felt in the temple to and investigator and she said "I didn't realize that peace like that existed on earth." Of course I cried and told her that she is going be able to experience that peace when she makes up her mind about the church. 

We are busy getting ready for our musical celebration of families! We have made flyers/invitations that we are sending and handing out. We have amazing talent in our ward and we are practicing every Sunday to get ready for it. There will even be a dress rehearsal on the Tuesday before the big event! We are so excited about it! I wish we could record the whole thing and send it to you. We have members making refreshments, decorating for the big day and just as excited about it as we are. They keep asking us for more invitations to give to their friends and family members and they are just really great! The only thing thing that I am worried about with all of this is that we are holding this wonderful event on the 21st (for Aunt Kristi's birthday of course) and transfers are on the 17th. Kind of a crazy time for us to be having such a big event but it will be awesome because the ward is more in charge than we are. We are so blessed to be working with such an amazing ward! We love them so much!

Last Monday we were able to go to an Indian Pow Wow on the Shinnecock Indian reservation. It was so cool! The best part was that there were Hopi Indians there from Hopi Arizona! I of course was freaking out and just so happy to see fellow Arizonans! Although we have a few couples in our ward who are from that blessed state as well. Anyway, the Pow Wow was really cool. They had art and jewelry from all over the world there. They also have big dancing competitions where Indians from all over North and South America come to join in the dance. There were people there from Peru, Mexico and Brazil! They spoke of their traditions and how each dance meant something different and the different songs each had their own meanings. It was really quite interesting. I am just learning so much about everyone here!

Well I'd better go. Sorry again that I didn't write at all last week. I still love you all so much! 

Love, 

The Oldest Sister Hamblin :)

482- Sister Howard and I outside the Temple... yes there is a hot dog stand right outside the temple... There is no room in Manhattan for beautiful gardens... just beautiful children of our Heavenly Father

467- Sister Kapisi, Fran (our friend), and I at the Pow Wow

443- FEATHERS!!! This dance was a fire dance... it was so cool! Their costumes are so amazing!

449- A princess dancing for her Uncle who has passed away

461- This was part of the dancing competition, they were supposed to interpret the beat of the drum
446- The Hopis!