Email 2/11/13

Dear Mom,

What a joy this blizzard has been! We have had so much fun! Sister Moreno Diaz has never seen so much snow in her life and is just loving it! She has taken so many pictures she'll be able to make a mural on her wall! She made a snow angel in her skirt and was soaking wet afterwards! She loves it but at the same time doesn't understand why people would voluntarily live in a place where it snows like this all the time haha. She is really awesome and we are having such a fun time together!

Friday we were told that we couldn't drive past four because that was when it was supposed to start snowing really bad so we went home and studied and did some cleaning and organizing to get things ready for the Traveling Sisters (they are like zone leaders... just they are girls and don't hold the Priesthood) who are coming tonight. Saturday was when it stopped snowing (we got over a foot of it) so we studied and planned and then walked to nearby members homes and delivered cookies and checked on them to make sure they were doing alright. Sunday our sacrament meeting was canceled so Elder Crabtree and Elder Kang let us shovel snow with them! This was my favorite activity of the weekend! We met so many wonderful people who really didn't have any help.

We met this couple who were in their 70's shoveling their driveway so we stopped to help. They told us that they haven't seen it snow like this in 20 years and back then they had all their children living at home. They were so grateful for the free help and were glad to see that there were "nice kids like you all around these days" :) They were so awesome.

The next lady that we met really helped me understand why I am here. We pulled up and saw this lady in her late 60's early 70's shoveling snow all by herself. When we asked if we could help she was really kind of hard and grouchy towards us. She said that she didn't need any help and that her son was coming with a truck to help her move all of her snow. We said that we would just help until her son got there and then we would move on. She they said that she didn't have any money could we please just go away. We told her that our labor was free and that we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we understood that we wouldn't be very Christ-like if we knocked on doors when people really needed help moving snow. This sweet lady broke down in tears and told us that she really didn't have a son coming to help her. She lived alone and her friend down the street had died the night before. She was really struggling and she was so grateful that someone was looking out for her upstairs. She kept saying "God bless you, you truly are a God send."

We helped some other people literally find their cars beneath all the snow and dig them out and helped some other people dig their driveways out so they could go to work this morning but really that lady touched my heart. I will always remember her. When times get hard and when I think I am not doing any good here, I will remember Milly. She may never join the church, but she will have come closer to God because she saw His love for her through us that day. That is why I am here, to help others see God's love for them, and hopefully through that they will want o know how to "come unto him."

We are so blessed to be here in Bay Shore! Thank you all for your prayers and support! Also thank you for the picture of Rex! I can't read his blog and he doesn't really tell me anything so updates are awesome! I am so grateful to have such and amazing example as him! I am soooo blessed to have such an amazing family! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Hamblin :)

P.S.
Could I have both grandpa's addresses please? Also I REALLY need Katie Christ's address! I am staying so warm and it is because of her!

P.P.S
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!