And A Happy New Year!

The Four of Us Elders on Christmas Eve!

      Soo for starters, thanks for all the Christmas wishes. Christmas turned out to be very different, but it wasnt too bad. Christmas Eve we went and had Christmas dinner with a family and it was delicious and filling as a Christmas feast should be. Then on Christmas we didnt really do anything.....EXCEPT TALK TO OUR FAMILIES!! haha so that was super fun. And....well thats pretty much it. We didnt have any lessons cause alllll the appointments fell through. Turns out people actually do things with their families around this time of year....go figure.

We even ate Breakfast there.  It was a little lake-side restaurant. 

       So as for here, yes they celebrate New Years, actually pretty intensely (if thats a word haha) They actually make life sized....scarecrows you could say. Like huge figures and stuff them with fireworks and then paint 2013 or the year that is going out on it.....and then they soak it in gasoline and light it on fire haha so im stoked to see some of that going on haha Thats all they have i think. No boxing day, but it should prove to be legit anyway haha

       Sooo we didnt really have ANY lessons this week. I mean i think we had like 3 in total, but that was it (lame i know). But that was probably in part because of the lack of people in their houses...and the abundance of holiday. (I have a developing theory that the two are connected. shhhh) Butttt the point is that there isnt much to tell really! Elder S, our zone leader, goes home....well tomorrow, but they actually left Tehuacan yesterday to go back to Puebla. Best of luck to him...not that he will read this haha

A picture fro our second lake trip we took this morning! 

       Andddd the spiritual thought this week comes from yours truly. Its more advice than spiritual thought, but take it for what you will. There are a lot of things i wanna accomplish on my mission, and sometimes when I think about how much time I have left on the mission, I cant decide if its a lot...or a little. I feel like I still have so much time to work on my goals, but in the same moment, time is passing by. Well, we dont really know how much time we have left on this Earth. Sometimes, it seems like it will never end, and other times it seems to be flying by. But the point of it all is, we have to be constantly working on ourselves. Someday, Christ is going to come again. And when that day comes, I want to be working diligently on myself, and feel free of regret. The new year is the perfect time to set goals, and i would encourage you to do so! Its a tradition in my family and while we arent always so diligent in keeping up with them, the goals are a good way to check our progress. So anyways, hope you all have a happy new year! Enjoy!

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm 

Merry Christmas!

This is why we polish our shoes.  haha

       MERRY CHRISTMAS! I figured Id lead in with that since it is most assuredly on everyones mind at this point. Today is the 23rd of December afterall, which means that we are exactly 2 days from Christmas. I dont wanna take up too much time with all of the Holiday wrapping, preparing, shopping, cooking, ect. So this weeks email will be a little short!

Elder Scott, Elder Gerber and I at the Christmas Conference!

       The only news from this week is a story I have that might not be terribly exciting to all of you, but it was like almost the highlight of my week haha So on Thursday, we had to go pay the rent.....yes this is real....on the 19th of the month, my companion realizes that they never paid the rent, and the owner is now a little upset. So we go to the bank....at 3:45, 15 minutes before it closes. We get lost on the way, and arrive at 3:53, and it is PACKED in every sense of the word. Like seriously there are at least 50 people crammed into this bank shoulder to shoulder. So Im a little frustrated that we didnt get there earlier in the month or any other time that day. Then I tell my comp we have to go stand in line, and hes like "But thats gonna take a long time." Im like UHHHHH we dont really have a choice right now man!! So we go in and then my comps like "I think we need a number....but idk cause ive never paid the rent before." So now im super frustrated, not with my comp, but at the situation. So I'm like okay, we HAVE to do something right now. So I walk over to this desk where theres a man doing consultations. And Im like "Hey, I'm sorry to bother you but we are trying to deposit money in an account and my companion....i mean WE dont know how to do it and we are late to pay it." And this guy smiles at me and says "I respect you for taking responsibility for the problem, even if you werent part of the cause. Then he signs a piece of paper, and points to a VIP line and says go ahead and wait in that line. I was in shock. So we walk over to the line that has 4 people in it, and wait about 5 minutes before getting to the counter and paying the rent. I was sooo relieved. It was truely a blessing from God in that moment, and there was really no way to deny it.

My new District!

       Sooo the spiritual thought from this week is about Christmas, and I know you are probably a little tired of hearing all about the true meaning of christmas and all that jazz, but just hold on for oneee more haha I'm not gonna lie, I'm not terribly excited for Christmas this year, and I dont see any problem with that given my current situation. There will be no celebrating with family, no gifts, no traditions, and in all honesty, not even a break from work. But what this Christmas season HAS given me so far, is the chance to think about just how important Christmas is. Im sure, like me, many of you have thought of the true meaning of Christmas before, but have you thought about what that all lead to? For me, this was a new perspective. Yes, Jesus Christ was born on Christmas day, but it was so much more than that. In the small town of Bethlehem, the son of God was born into a mortal world. A world that was full of trials, a world that would deny his Godliness, a world that would condemn him for his miracles, a world that would reject him, a world that would spit upon him, a world that would crucify him alongside theives....a world that he loved. More than we can understand right now. Christ wasnt just born on Christmas day. Christmas marks the day that Mankind saw hope for salvation in this life and in the next. And there is no other name under heaven, save it be Jesus Christ, whereby man can be saved. So on the morning of the 25th of December, just remember why it is called CHRISTmas.

Hey guys! I hope you have a great time on Christmas. Ill be thinking about you guys and I cant wait to talk to you all!

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

Tehuacan

We took a hike on PDay up to these lakes and they had these huge
Jurassic looking plants there so we climbed one! It was sooo cool!

      Soo this week has for sure been full of changes and adjustments ect! But it has all worked out really well, so im excited to tell you all about it! And so I guess we should just dive in.

       Soo after Elder A, I, V, P, and Me went to KFC we hopped a cab to the CAPU where the busses leave, and me and another Elder took a 2 hour ride to Tehuacan...where we were picked up by none other than Elder Pe! haha it was cool. We are going to be in the same zone and in areas that are right next to each other. Then we got to the house and did boring stuff but lets fast forward a little bit. So my new companion is Elder S, and he was comps with Elder P 2 changes ago! He is 18, from Honduras, and has 9 months on the mission (so just a little bit less than me!). He is a pretty hard worker and we have a pretty good time together, so things are pretty good on that front. Our ward is pretty cool! We have 4 Elders here in the same ward like we did in Huejotzingo so we get to eat with them everyday! The members are helpful, the ward mission leader actually helps us and has coordination meetings with us and stuff, and the bishop. But the area is good! We have some solid investigators and even 2 with fechas! Our house is nice...well now. When i first got to the area, it was kinda like the house in Huejotzingo- nice house but really dirty and abused from the Elders, but one morning I started cleaning and my comp jumped in and we cleaned things up, organized stuff, and then we even got some new stuff from a house they are closing in another area. So now the house is awesome, and all we have left to do is clean up the kitchen a little bit!

       Okay, a little recap of the week since it was full of cool stories! I will only share one since I dont wanna waste your lives, but ill include some news along with it too. First off, we went to eat with a member on my first day here, and we had sardine pattys...and they were....well lets be real, they were sardine pattys man. BUT while i was eating, i happened to find a small cricket in mine, and so im like oops, well ill just move that over to the side of my plate....but then i was like wait....ive eaten some pretty wierd things here and maybe it was intended....and i didnt wanna offend the Hermana, so i went ahead and ate it. NBD....till after the food, we are all talking about how....interesting it was, and Im like yah, and the crickets were nasty too! And theyre like uhhh...what crickets? And thats when I realized I had made a terrible mistake haha so it was funny.

      So in other news, Im not going to be able to go to the temple with the G Family on the 21st like i had been looking forward too. Since I had emergency transfers, Im now too far away to go to the temple and then make it back by 6 oclock to work again, which is the rule for going to the temple. So its pretty sad, but Elder P is gonna go with Elder T in my place, and he isnt happy that i cant go either haha but I guess the important thing is that they are going to be sealed as a family for all eternity! So thats the update on that. 

      Anddd finally, we had our Christmas Conference as a Zone this week and the night before, we had 6 other Elders stay at our house with us cause we have those extra beds. It was awesome. We basically talked and then they had me play them all my new songs and stuff on guitar and then we sang some covers, and it was awesome haha So that was fun.

       The spiritual thought this week comes from King Benjamin who is pretty much the greatest guy ever haha His chapters in the Book of Mormon are awesome. But the part that drew my attention the most this week, was something I think Dad will like haha. In chapter 4 in verse 10 it is talking about how belief isnt enough without action. Well at the end of the verse he says "and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them." And if you know my Dad at all, you know where this is going haha a phrase commonly heard in my household (more often than not directed at me) is "If you know, then DO!" And the more I think about that and apply it, Ive realized just how true it is! How easy is it to say that we believe something? Pretty simple. But to then take that next step and apply that faith with action, trusting in God, well thats the hard part! If we know, then we must DO! Because if we dont, our faith is dead and we are going to be held accountable for actions and innactions after this life.

Hey guys! Love you all a ton! Have a good time this week and I will skype you all soon!

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

Eternal Perspective

The Once Great Uh-Oh-Oreo

Soooo I dont really have much time today.And the reason for that is because I have some pretty depressing news. Basically when you are in a Trio, you have to be constantly worried that a couple of STUPID Elders will do something dumb which leads to them getting split up and YOU having emergency changes. Well, thats whats happening. Just a few hours ago I got a phone call from the Assistants telling me that I have 2 hours to pack all my bags because I have emergency changes to Tehuacan. Apparently 2 Elders got in a fight and so now i have to be moved out of my zone where we just put 6 baptismal dates in one week, to an area i dont know, in the middle of a change, with almost NO details. So thats pretty much the big news this week. Next week I will tell you all about the details but the point of it is, I am NOT a happy camper, but as I will talk about in the spiritual thought, I just need to trust Heavenly Father.

      So, the only news we have other than that for this week is that we got to put 6 fechas in our area in one week. It was cool to be able to set so many people up to be baptized. Basically, things just started working out this change. 2 couples who couldnt get their information to get married suddenly had random luck which led them to be able to get married, and another man was able to trade shifts with a friend at work, so that he can go to church on Sunday! So that was really cool.

Some HUGE delicious Molotes we ate!
(Only one who finished? This guy.)

       Well, the spiritual thought this week is gonna be quick and it comes from my current situation and a book I read a while back. Today while i was frantically packing all my stuff as quick as I could, I started thinking of the WHY. WHY was this happening to me, WHAT did I do to deserve this, and HOW was I going to get over it all. Well, it reminded me of a passage from the Novel "Mans Search for Meaning" in which the author was relating a story. He explains that he was in front of a group of people who were seeking psychiatric help after going through significant amounts of suffering. These people were searching for answers to their sufferings, and WHY they had to endure them. The author then proposed a question which I now quote: "The question was whether an ape which was being used to develop a poliomyelitis serum, and for this reason punctured again and again, would ever be able to grasp the meaning of its suffering. Unanimously, the group replied that of course it would not; with its limited intelligence, it could not enter into the world of man, i.e., the only world in which the meaning of its suffering would be understandable. Then I pushed forward with the following question: ‘And what about man? Are you sure that the the human world is a terminal point in the evolution of the cosmos? Is it not conceivable that there is still another dimension, a world beyond man’s world; a world in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an answer?” In remembering this, it reminded me that there is a God watching over us. He is our Heavenly Father. He loves us, he wants us to be happy, and he has a plan in order to accomplish that task. Trust in him. In He who can see beyond this life and into the meaning of our suffering.

Love you,

Elder Josh Hamm

Elder Allred and I exchanged ties (The one he gave me is SICK)

Reunited, And It Feels So Good

Our New District!!

  Sooo Im gonna start out with my Dads questions.....but I have to save one of them, or it will ruin a surprising plot twist! So stay tuned for that. Here, usually the kids dont have game systems, like none of them, but what they do have are arcades where there are game systems and tvs, arcade games, and more all in one place! Thats usually what they do, but there are the majority of kids our playing in the streets. There are soccer fields EVERYWHERE and they are made specially so they are also basektball courts, so they can play either of them!....they always choose soccer :( Mostly we hand out pass along cards, but we always carry around 2 book of mormons in case the people ask specifically for that, or we are teaching an investigator and we leave one with them to read....and the other questions will remain a mystery!.....for like 3 more seconds.

       So big news this week would be the changes. Okay, so this is kinda a long story, BUTTTTTT basically we went to the changes meeting, and I got my new comp. His name is Elder V and he is from the Dominican Republic! (Yes, his accent is sick haha) he has 9 months on the mission and he is a very chill guy, but has strong desires to work, so i think we will have a lot of success. So if that was the only news, it would be kinda boring....bit it isnt. They then go on to tell us that Elder....A is once again my District Leader haha and more than that, he is going to be working in Huejotzingo 1, so we are gonna see eachother everyday at the food...but then it gets better. So Elder A's comp...just happens to have emergency changes (not cool) but Elder A gets moved....into a freekin TRIO with us (very cool) So right now Elder A, Elder V, and I are in a Trio and sharing the entire city and ward of Heujotzingo. It is sooo sick! Elder A's story is that he is from Arizona, he has 17 months on the mission, and is also chill. So we are having some good times.

Our new TRIO….The Inside-Out-Oreo!

       So apart from that we just taught a bunch of teaching lessons and boring stuff like that ;) nahhh im kidding. We actually had a few really powerful lessons with some investigators that we have. But on to the spiritual thought!

       So this weeks spiritual thought has to do with Thanksgiving...which has already passed but i was thinking about it this week (while not celebrating) and read a scripture that kinda made me think a little. Im sure most of us know the famous scripture in Mosiah 2 which talks about being in the service of your fellow man. But I think I have let this scripture capture my attention too much in the past and missed an interesting insight in verse 19. See King Benjamin has been talking to his people about how he has served and labored with them, but in 19 he changes his tune a little. It reads "19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you out to thank your heavenly King!" I thought about that, and well he is right. I thought about how many times I have recieved some act of kindness from a friend or from someone I know, or even someone I dont know. And MANNN have I thanked them. One might even use the word profusely...but how many times have i then thought to thank my Heavenly King from whom all blessings come, even seemingly unrelated ones. To me, that was a new idea - that the next time someone does something nice for me, I thank them equally profusely, but then remember to thank my Heavenly King for coordinating all the blessings! Anyways, just a thought for when we are thinking about Thanksgiving and the blessings we recieve around the Christmas Holiday, to remember "him from whom all blessings flow".

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

They grow up so fast :'(

Elder Pe

  So basically this week was completely uneventful, due to the fact that the doctor told me to take it veryyy veryyy easy for a few days. And so we only taught a few lessons. Butttt the big news is that my companion, and trainee Elder Pe is going to leaveeeee tomorrow to go onto bigger and better companions who will teach him all the things i never could :'( Its all fairly melancholy haha nah im kidding, its alright, but it was a pretty good 12 weeks together, and i have realized something that i think i can apply to my life fairly easily. I have learned....that I really do NOT like changes haha I was thinking about how this life is just one constant state of changes and changes. And well, it kinda helped me! haha I dont know about you guys, but i have always freeked out about how eternity is just gonna be...well eternity. I mean, thats a longggg time in my book. But hey, the good news is, we probably wont be going through sooo many changes at that point! But anyway, im gonna put a picture in here of Elder Pe and I or at least sometthing that can accurately describe our companionship....and isnt terribly offensive haha but in conclusion, Elder Pe is the companion that anyoneee could get along with. We never faught once in 12 weeks, and thats saying something cause you know me pretty well haha He was a hard worker, could speak both spanish and understand English really well, AND we had a ton of good time. ---End of Obituary--- ;)

       Sooo the only other news from this week would be that we set a baptismal date with an investigator that we have who is awesomeeee and totally has sincere desires to hear our message and to change. He actually has a job that requires him to work on Sunday and we were worried about how we were going to bring it up with him. But we brought it up in our lesson and before we could invite him to pray about it, he told us that he had already thought about how he should talk to his boss and change his schedule, and if that wouldnt work, he was gonna quit. Needless to say, this man is chosen haha hopefully we can keep him progressing.

The MICROWAVE!!!

       OHHHHHH But the biggest news from the week would be that we got......FRIKIN MICROWAVES!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! So stoked for that haha this is a big developement in the mission and I really dont know how many different possiblities were just opened up to me haha but one thing is sure...there will be microwaving going on in our house shortly.

       So spirtual thought from this week comes from 2 Nephi 31. I was reading about how Nephi saw Christ get baptized, and Ive always loved the verse (and we use it a lot on the mission) where Nephi tells how if Christ HIMSELF needed to be baptized, then how much MORE do we need it! But I always put such emphasis on that part, that i have totally overlooked the next few verses where Nephi explains WHY Christ was baptized. In verse 6 it starts and says: "6 And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren,wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righterousness in being baptized by water? 7 Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments." And then in verse 9 it concludes: "9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men, the straitness of the path, and the narowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them." What I was able to take away from these scriptures was that Christ "descended" down to Earth, and became a fallen being in a human state. He came and suffered for us, so that we could return to live with God and so that we could have the EXAMPLE that he set for us. In these scriptures, Nephi tells us that the flesh is weak, but thats not an excuse. We have to humble ourselves before God like Christ did and keep his commandments if we want to recieve eternal life. The path is straight, the gate is narrow, but it is not only possible, it is worth it.

HEY FAM! Thanks for all the prayers and that good stuff. It sounds like things are good for EVERYBODY at home! Keep being awesome and try not to have too much fun while im gone!

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

A HUGE Moth!

Don't Freak Out

Our 2 assistants that are leaving this change :/

Minute 5 in the hospital

       Okay, so i realize it is 6:45 on a Monday which means we should be back to work, but before you run and tell your stake president, let me explain. So i guess you could say it started yesterday at the food appointment. We had some delicious chicken and rice and beans. It was pretty good. Butttt the problem was that the food didnt really like me back....well it wasnt exactly the food, but we'll get to all that in a minute. So I woke up at 12 oclock last night and well....it wasnt the best time. But it was just getting started. I woke up at 2am in extreme amounts of pain, and then didnt sleep again. I was pretty much getting out of bed every 20 minutes to let my body do awful things to me. Butttt then the best part came when I finally decided that this called for a phone call to President Reeves....at 4:30 in the morning. Asked forgivness for the hour, and then told him what was going on, to which he replied, okay....go to the hospital in Puebla (this would be the part where you dont freak out). So we ask our member neighbor if he can take me in his car at 5 in the morning to the Puebla Hospital, and he agrees! So we pick up the other Elders completing with instructions from President, and we all go to Puebla Hospital....Longest car ride Ever. - and it was only 20 minutes too. 

Minute 20 in the hospital

So Im not fully coherent at this point, and they put me on a bed and start pumping stuff into my blood stream as i try to explain what is going on haha luckily Elder G was there to help tell them....and take rediculous photos of the action (reminded me of Dad on High Adventure). So then I finally allow myself to drift to sleep even though i was still soooo nauseous. But then when I woke up, I felt soooo much betterrrr. Then the doctor came in and started pushing on places on my stomach that kinda hurt, and told me there was a chance I had apendicitis...which helped me feel soooo much worse. Buttt long story short, I stayed in the hosptial pretty much all day so they could make sure it wasnt apendicitis, and in the end it turned out I have a parasite in my stomach along with a stomach infection. But the good news is, they gave me medicine that is going to kill EVERYTHING inside of me, I got to sing some spanish songs to the nurses, and Im already feeling a TON better, which i guess really isnt too hard after going through all that, but yah know looking on the bright side and all that Jazz.

Hour 6 in the Hospital

       So compared to the Hospital story, the rest of the week is going to sound boring, and honestly there wasnt much that happened. Sooo Ill attach some photos of the rest of the week and the Hospital adventure and we'll call it a day with a spiritual thought.

       So we got to have interviews with President this week which was AWESOME as always, and he always asks us if we have any questions for him, and he always has a great answer. So this week, him and I were talking about the good and bad forces in the world pulling people in different directions, and he enlightened me to something that I hadn't thought of before. He talked about how Satan, was punished by God and cast out of Heaven, and so he came to Earth to pervert the ways of the Lord and make us turn our backs on Eternal truths in the name of fitting in, feeling good, etc. So I had kinda already heard that, but then he said, that while Satan is tempting us, and God is allowing him to do that, that there is a power that he brings. And that power tempting us to do bad is sooo powerful!....but second to the even more powerful force that is enticing us to do that which is good! I had never really thought of that! We always focus on temptations of Satan and how strong they can be at times....but God is sending the exact opposite force to help us! He is sending infinitely more strong impulsions which invite us to continue on the path. So idk, i just thought that was something cool for me to think about. And it made me wanna look for those opposing good forces when it seems that im only surrounded by wicked influences! So anyways I hope that helps you this week!

Hey fam! Dont worry about me, Im super good right now, and although God kinda left me out to dry for a while last night, he came through in the end! haha Love you all a ton!

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

Just some of the yummy food we have gotten to eat
here in Huejotzingo!

The Love of God

Heres a path we walk down a lottt, and a double rainbow!

 Sooo, dont know if you all like repetitiveness or not, but i feel bad every time i say the same thing....so instead of saying "well, nothing really happened this week", Im gonna say..."Dude! This week was so uneventful it was almost like being home again!"...but you will all understand what i mean.

       Only question from Dad is about the food appointments. Well, we have them for lunch like i said, but no, unfortunately the husbands dont come home from work, which is kinda wierd considering it is the big meal here. They stay at work and have lunch there i guess, and because of that, there are a ton of times when we cant enter a house cause there isnt a man present and then the hermanas get mad at us cause theyve prepared food, but its a rule so we cant break it, and...yah, just all around fun times. But usually the husbands get home around 7 or 8, although a lot of people here have 24 hour jobs. So they work from 10 at night until 10 the next night and then have a break from 10 at night until 10 the next night...at which time they start over again haha kinda rough, but thats the life to provide for your family.

       Soo seriously, like nothinggg happened this week. Excepttt for the fact that on Sunday, we had an investigator come to church. But it was a biggg deal. She is the wife of a less active in our ward who hasnt been to church in foreverr. We have taught thema few times but we went to teach them this last time on Friday night and she told us she would never go to chruch cause she didnt feel comfortable and her husband is a return missionary and he wouldnt share his testimony with her....but expecting nothing, we showed up to church, and 10 minutes in, she came in....ALONE. And sat down with us....and then followed her 2 kids (also never been to church) (one is 10 and the other 7).....and they brought a friend who lives across the street who isnt a member! I still dont know whyyy they decided to come to church, but miracles exist. 

       So spiritual thought for this week comes from the book Jesus The Christ written by James E. Talmage (one of the few books we are allowed to read as missionaries). If you havent read this book, you need to. It is sooo good, and full of insights and depth that I havent found in any book, not that im an expert, as my parents will attest, I have NOT read a significant amount of books. But this week i was having a really hard time with something that Ive been working on for a long time now. And, as i thought about it, I became angry with God. I felt like he wasnt helping me as much as he should, and that if that was the case, then maybe he thought that I wasnt worth the help....or at least in that area of my life, as i have failed him several times before. But in chapter 3 of this book, i was reading, and it began talking about the infinite and perfect love that God has for his children. It talks about how God has a perfect knowledge of his children, their struggles, and what they would do in given circumstances. And then it says the following which i quote: "Let not ignorance and thoughtlessness lead us into the error of assuming that the Father's foreknowledge as to what would be, under given conditions, determined that such must be. It was not His design that the souls of mankind be lost; on the contrary it was and is His work and glory, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Nevertheless He saw the evil into which His children would assuredly fall; and with infinite love and mercy did He ordain means of averting the dire effect, provided the transgressor would elect to avail himself thereof." I dont know why, but that just hit me so hard in that moment, and I just started crying. Cause I knew that God loved me, that even when i struggle, even when i fall, he loves me SO much, and Soo much more than I love him. He doesnt care if Im a sinner, or if Im perfect. All he wants, is for me to return to him and be with him forever. I know god loves you and I know it with all my heart. He is watching over you, he worries for you, he is concerned for your eternal welfare, and for your personal happiness. So instead of turning against God, always, ALWAYS remember that he loves you, and THAT will NEVER change.

Hey fam! I love you guys a ton! And i know that God loves you too! Always remember that! I hope you guys are having awesome lives! Stay strong! Have finn!

Love, 

Elder Josh Hamm

Parrish, Me, and Iñesta at Papa Johns. Ignore the sock on the table...i seriously dont know.

The FEAST we had cause an Hermana gave us money to eat.
Look at me gettin all cute with the pic-stitch

D&C 89 and Soup

This is a Rose we have on our gorgeous rose bush out front.

All of Puebla at night. P.S - The ladder we
climbed to get up there was sketchy as anything haha

  Okay, QUESTIONS from Dad. We do have daylight savings time here!....but it was last week haha pretty crazy. I didnt realize until we saw it on the calender that bammer made, that Mexico does daylight savings time a week before the US does. Wierd stuff. My language skills?....well....haha I can understand anything someone says, so thats a big improvement from the beginning of the mission. I can pretty much say whatever I want, but every once in a while, its frustrating cause i wanna quote something I know in English, or I wanna say something in a specific way, and i cant find the words. But its not too terrible. I definietly need to study more, thats for sure. For the sacrament, it depends. Sometimes they use regular bread, but a lot of the time they use bread from a "Panadería" (which is a bakery) and its delicious fluffy, homemade type bread haha its really good. For the sacrament, they prepare it from water that has a filter on it, so yah, we are allowed to drink it. However...there are some places where they might not use filtered water, and you drink it anyway haha but if you drink a lottt of the water you get really sick....just a little bit and you might have some diarreah or something. So its not a huge deal. And, no. Sadly they dont really have any special candies or chips or cereals or anything like that for the seasons. So i looked for Boo-Berry cereal at the store and they didnt have it :( bummer. But they do have this special type of bread called "Pan de Muerto" that they put out for Dia de los Muertos. Its pretty good....but its not Boo-Berry cereal. And they dont really celebrate Halloween down here. Just a few people going around...but ill talk about that in a bit haha

       Okay, so this week has been pretty good! Monday we got to have a family home evening with a less active family that is now VERY active! It was soo fun! Then Tuesday we had a lesson with some investigators and it was well.....kinda like bible bashing. Or at least thats how i felt. But in the end it was good and I told them, look, all these doubts you have that we have answered and all the things you are asking...you can learn if you only read and pray about the Book of Mormon. And they all agreed that they would do it. So not terrible. 

       Sooo Wednesday was pretty slow and so we are gonna combined it with Thursday haha but this is where we get to talk about Halloween here. So basically they go trick or treating...WHATEVER night they want as long as its within 3 days before Halloween haha or at least thats what it looked like. So on wednesday AND thursday (and even a few on Tuesday) the little kids dress up in costumes and go from the little stores and businesses that line the streets here and ask for candy. So where my comp is from they say "Dulce o travesura" which roughly translates to "Candy or something that makes you wanna punch me in the face". But here in Puebla they say "¿Coopera para mi calaverita?" which lamely translates to "cooporate for my skelleton?"....yah i dont get it either. But its pretty cool here to see them having Halloween and all the little kids trick or treating. It reminded me of going out and having your feet hurt soo much, but you gotta get more candyyy haha good times. And there isnt really anything Note-worthy that happened on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Surprisingly, there arent really parties for Dia de los Muertos, just bread, and everyone puts flower petals in the shape of a cross in front of their doors.

       So, I need anyone reading this blog to let me know if there has been new revelation in the church that the members are no longer allowed to eat soup or something....because I think there are forces at hand, trying to prevent me from eating soup. So you know we drink water from a "Garrafon" which has 5 gallons of water (aka heavy mug), well Monday night i was gonna make some soup and I tried to pour the garafon and it slipped off the counter and my hands were wet from washing the pot, and it slipped out of my hands, hit the floor and pretty much shattered, which i have never seen haha and water went everywhereeee and we dont have a mop so we had to squiggy it all the way to the door and out. Not fun. Then the next night Im like okay, we buy a new garrafon, got the soup. Lets do this. So i plug in the stove, turn it on...and its not heating things up. Okay well I'll just use the other side then. Turn it on, and BAMMMMM. Sparks flying, sounds like someone is welding, my comp and i are screaming like little girls, we run out of the kitchen and then the stove explodes. Like literally it catches fire and like breaks in half. Dude, i dont even know what to tell you. Point is, we aint got no stove, and soup is either now, or very shortly will be, against the word of wisdom.

       Okay, spiritual thought for this week comes from my brain. Basically I was laying in bed the other night after a tough day (for me personally) and I was thinking about whyyy the mission, as good as it is, is the hardest thing I have ever done. I thought about how life, and sometimes, this gospel is so hard! Why is it that I have suchhh a hard time some days?! Why did our Mission President tell us to be greatful when the mission is hard, and why do the apostles tell us to pray and be greatful for trials? Well, I came to the following conclusion. When you reach the age of about 13 or 14, you start growing like a weed (please refer to my Mother for pictures of Nathan and Tyler) and when you start growing like that, you have what are called "growing pains". These pains, often strong, are associated with the fact that you are growing, developing, and changing, and as painful as they might be, you know that they are the result of progress. This is life. We are developing, changing, progressing, and....Growing. Now, in reference to the mission, I believe that some peoples missions are harder than others, because some people need to grow more than others. I personally have a lot of room to grow because maybe I didnt grow the way, or at the pace, I should have before the mission. In life we learn to tame our physical apetites, to control our minds, and to come closer to Christ, which are all really hard...but all really good in the long run. So when you are having a tough time in your life or with the gospel, just know that these are growing pains. They are temporary, they are refining, and they are worth it. 

Haha, this always makes me laugh

This is one of the smaller spiders
we have found in our house.
Not cool.  How are you gonna
 tell me that they arent baby Tarantulas!?

This is a close up of another one we found.
 I risked life and limb to take this photo.

Pretty Great

Me with my "homemade" Birthday Cake! haha

      So this week has actually been pretty great! Not to sound like Im super surprised about it, but it was seriously really good. But first, as always, we will start off answering the questions from my father: 

#1  Grocery store here is in the center which is about 25 minutes walking from our house. So we buy groceries for long periods of time most of the time. Its called Bodega Aurera and its basically like a Mexican Walmart, but there are also little tentish things set up around in the streets where people buy produce a lot. Personally, I buy all my stuff from Bodega, but the pepole seem to prefer street vendors. 

#2  NO. I do not buy any type of meat anywhere because I need to be working on recovering from food appointment to food appointment where they serve us very interesting meats and usually pretty old. 

#3  Yes, pretty much everyone has a refrigerator, although there are exceptions to every rule.

#4  Most people have a normal (usually older) set of scriptures meaning the bible AND a triple combination. But there are also those who only have the book of mormon, and I have yet to see someone with an LDS bible. They are usually wierd ones like "The Mighty Book". But the important thing is they have one. 

#5  No, nobody has computers in their home. In Loma Bella there were more because there was a little more money but here, no. Maybe like 6 or 7 people. Everyone uses internet cafes. 

#6  I have yet to see an Ipad here although again, in Loma Bella there were a few. 

#7  Everyone pretty much uses cellphones, not landlines. And yah, almost everyone has a phone.

       Alright, so summary of the week. Well  P-day, that was easy haha we actually got to play soccer as a zone which was way fun. Tuesday, SURPRISE!! The Zone Leaders showed up to our area to work with us, and our area was struggling so much that they brought the entire district to come and confirm that NONE of the addresses in the ward directory existed. We checked out 22 adresses...and found 2. But the good thing was that they knocked doors looking for the adress and got us a lottt of new references that we can go check out. Then the next day was my birthday! Am i going to go to internet all day? Maybe get tacos? Maybe go buy souveneirs?....NO, cause the Assistants to the President of the mission decided to come by and work with us haha but it was good. The hermana that we ate with on my birthday knew it was my birthday and it was a DELICIOUS meal, and then we had cheesecake for dessert. It was cool. Then we taught a new investigator and his family of 4 who said they would all read and pray to see if the Book of Mormon is true and if it is, be baptized! Then on Thursday Elder G was like hey, did anyone get you gifts for your birthday? and I was like ummm...no? and hes like well I did! And he had bought a guitar string for me cause one of mine had broken and i hadnt been able to get to the music store. It was nice. Then we went to food and we helped them move pumpkins from a tractor up to their roof. So two of us were on the roof and our companions threw them up to us and we caught them. It was actually really fun, and then we rode back in the back of a truck, standing up at the front and it was awesome. Then it was actually Elder Gs birthday on Thursday and his investigators planned a party for him on Friday, so we went out and worked, and then went to a party! It was fun and there was delicious cake. Then on Saturday, we FINALLY got into a lesson with a young married couple. The wife had expressed alot of interest but we hadnt met the husband and he had said that he didnt need to hear the truth cause he already had it in his religion. But we went over and he was super skeptical and frank, but very polite, and he had a lot of questions. He asked us about our families, why we are out here, about the Book of Mormon (which he didnt know was used TOGETHER with the bible), we bore our testimonies about why we're serving and everything. And then he told us at the end that we are the first religious people he has let into his house and that we are a lot different. They both agreed to read together and pray to know if what we taught is true! Oh, and at the beginning, he said 15 minutes was all he would give us. And we were fine with that, but then we got talking and he got more comfortable and all the sudden it was 90 minutes later and he said it was totally fine, cause it didnt feel like that. They have two littleeeeee girls one is 18 months and the other 2 and a half. I want them to get an answer sooo bad! So we will see on Saturday how things went. And then to top it all off, we had 10 less actives at sacrament meeting this week. It was soo good to see them all there with their families, all happy to be there! Hopefully we will continue seeing them there as we work with them. So thats a total of 6 new investigators this week and we have more to come with references and such! So thank you for all the prayers and such. We are happy to finally have some people to teach!

       So the spiritual thought this week comes from something we shared with a FORMARLY less active family yesterday. This is the third sunday in a row that they have come to church after being inactive for several months. The first time we visited them they expressed the challenge of going to church when they are struggling financially and working on Sunday. We shared the lesson taught in 3 Nephi 13:30-33 -- "30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the ove, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith. 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. I then shared the personal story of when my Dad lost his job and decided that what he needed to do, was focus first on the things of the Lord, and then found new work only 3 weeks later. This week the father of the family told me that the story and the scripture really touched him and how that was the reason that he was going to church everyweek. We told him how that was the faith that he needed to recieve blessings and then shared D&C 130:20-21 -- "20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-- 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. And then we were able to testify to this Hermano that he will be recieving those blessings in his life in these very moments, and challenged him to watch for them. I know that God knows each and every one of us, and that he cares for us in his own way in his own time. He never leaves us, he just simply waits by our side until we are worthy to recieve the blessings that he desires to pour out upon us. And I also know that he WILL bless us. As it says in D&C 82:10, he doesnt have a choice. When we are obedient we will recieve blessings. I know that God loves us and I know that we recieve blessings each and every day from our obedience.

HEY FAMMMMMMMMMMMM!! Hope things are going as well as you make it sound in your emails! If not, well do not procrastinate the day of your repentance and tell me that Nathan and Tyler burned the house down haha but i love you guys, and i hope you are all doing great! Love YOU GUYS!

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

PS Sorry I haven't been taking more pictures.  It was a pretty
bland week...apart from all the success!!! haha

The Great Fire of `13

Popo in the Snowsnow (see what I did there?)

  Sooo this week was a little more eventful in comparison to others, although we are continuing to have a tough time with the work in our area, but there will be more to come on that front in a moment so dont worry.

       First off, HUGE thanks to all those who sent me Birthday wishes and if you havent sent one, no this is not to call you out haha Birthday isnt till Wednesday so dont worry...there is time for repentance ;) No, but thanks to everyone seriously, it was nice to remember that Im remembered! haha

       Second off, things here are good. We didnt teach a whole lot of lessons this week, but we had four less actives all at church!!! They all came as a family and it was the primary program and so they all loved it and felt the spirit. No promises about attendance next week but it was cool none the less haha Also, we cant technically count this guy yet, cause we havent taught him, but we were talking with the less active family and the mothers dad had been listening to the missionaries a while back. So we visited him and he said that he is VERY interested, he has a copy of the Book of Mormon (which he has read in), and he told us that he was going to read more before we visited him again this week and write down his questions that he has. Also, his wife isnt too interested but we are gonna work on THAT!! haha Sooooooo we are pretty much stoked! Hopefully we can answer all of his questions. And then we also have a less active mother who is married to a non member, but she has been coming back to church and the husband is a really nice guy. He is christian, but the only problem is he works in their house which they converted to a bakery and so he has like NO time to talk or anything. But im hoping that he will accept our offer to help him make bread (I wanna learn so bad!!) and that it will help us talk with him. But the jist of it is, thanks for all the prayers for us...cause it seems as though we found 3 new investigators.

A creepy cornfield we walk by everyday

       In more exciting news, I unsuccessfully almost burned our house down on Saturday haha we were in a pueblo (a little tinyyyy town) to eat on saturday and when we walked into a store to ask directions...they were selling bottle rockets....but Mexican style. Its basically a little tube of cement with gunpowder in it, tied to a stick. Its dopeeee. So i bought 10 for 10 pesos (for those of you playing along at home, that would be less than one dollar for 10 bottle rockets....ummm YES.) So we were lighting them off in our backyard but the first one didnt have enough power to lift it out of the ground....so we ran inside and it exploded, then we shot one that went haywire and shot at the house...also fun, but then heres the best part. Im like dude, you know what we need?...a freekin bottle! Thats why theyre called bottle rockets (hint hint) so theres this 2 liter soda bottle with some water in the bottom, so i take it and pour it over the wash counter out back and down the drain.....but then it starts smelling....and i realize it wasnt water, it was this stuff called "thinner" and they use it for painting or something? dunno but im like uhh well im not gonna let it sit there.....so i dropped a match on it. Bad idea. Shirt on fire, tie on fire, wash counter engulfed in flames hahahaha it was pretty great. Shirt went out quickly and so did the tie.....but the counter man....sooo much fire haha water did nothing and basically it took like 5 minutes with water running over it to put it out. But God is merciful, and so our house still stands...And we escaped unharmed...ish.

       So spiritual thought this week comes from a sctipture Im sure you have all heard in 2 Nephi. In 2 Nephi chapter 25, Nephi is talking about how we are to live our lives and I loveeee verse 23. It reads: "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brothren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." So I added in the bold and italics to show my point. The way I see it, there are generally 2 types of people in this world who could benefit from this scripture. First type: People who think that we can eat drink and be merry, and that we will make it to heaven by some incredible feat of grace and mercy, no matter what we do (that would be nice), and Second Type: People who think that NOBODY will make it to heaven because we are all too wicked. They believe that no matter what we do, we will always be imperfect and that God will always hate us for our imperfections. But they are BOTH completely wrong. We believe that we are a fallen people...meaning as humans, we are imperfect and live in a physical fallen state. BUT we also believe that we can make it back to heaven because of our savior Jesus Christ and his atonement. So its just like the scripture says. We labor all our lives to teach our children, and our brothren. We try so hard to be good, and in the end....we fail. But we do not fail eternally. Because we KNOW that it is by grace that we are saved....only AFTER ALL WE CAN DO! Brothers and sisters, are we doing ALL we can do? I challenge you as i have now challenged myslef, to strive to do all we can do, with a confident knowledge that we will fall short, but the grace of Christ and his everlasting arms stretched out, will catch us.

HEY FAM! Thanks for all the birthday emails. I sure do love you guys a lot! I miss you too, but im gonna have to put up with you for eternity anyways so a break is good once in a while ;) Love you all!

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm