For parents

The sky was super happy on one side....and super mad on the other! haha

July 1, 2013 

If you haven't seen Tyler Haws mormon message, you gotta watch it haha its cool, although there needs to be a part 2!!! To answer some questions:  ummm no missionary in the entire country of Mexico has a bike. It was a new rule put into place like 4 months before i got here. The assistants are the only ones who have a car and they don't even use it that much. I have found  chips here for 50 cents for a bag that would cost 1.50 in the US but what's better is there is shave ice....like GOOD shave ice. Like more slush puppies that are EVERYWHERE and they are 5 pesos....so like 30 cents for a biggg cup!! I dont get them often cause money here can be tight with all the traveling but we just got 300 extra pesos which will help so i dont have to spend your money on pasta at the end of the month, haha, but we played bball today with elders for 3 hours cause there was a good turnout so i treated myself to a lime slush puppie for 5 pesos after.

Sooo not much happened this week, at least not terribly news worthy but there were still a couple things that I think might be of worth to some of you.

            So i have decided that of all the things on the packing list that comes with your call, the Number one thing you should take on a mission to Mexico is.....a Pedometer. How sick would that be?? Then i could be like yah so me and P walked 200 miles this week but at least thats something cool i can put in the journal. Buttttt alas i have no pedometer so i have to guess that it was around 2000...miles. Nah, but really it was at least 80 cause its 2 miles to and from our main spot in our area....so thats already 14 miles alone and trust me we walked allll over the place. Good thing is it was all for good reason cause we were serving the lord...Bad thing is, we didnt have much success despite our marathon. Butttt thats okay cause im sure the little success that we did have is helping those less active families a ton!!

           We also got to bless a crying baby and yes, the rules of the mission say that you are not allowed to hold a baby....butttt there are loop holes to everything!! haha nah, the lady said she preferred if we hold it while we give it the blessing and that was gonna work better anyway soooo i got to hold a baby!!! YAY! Its the little victories that count haha

            I got to sing "How Great Thou Art" Spanish/English Remix at a baptism while i played guitar along with it which was fun! It was also really cool cause we didnt have English hymn books but then we realized hey, if we get the words wrong it really doesnt matter cause NOBODY is going to know what we say!! haha so we sang and it went really well...and i think we got ALMOST all the words right too!

           So the spiritual thought today is directed towards parents (boooo) i know i know, its a very exclusive group but at the moment i am empathizing with them. Thats why im adressing this spiritual thoughts to parents. Im not going to share some insight with you unfortunately or give you some amazing "ah-a moment" of enlightenment. I just wanted to let you know that your job SUCKS (excuse the French, Mom don´t take it out cause it carries a weight with it haha) I'm serious. Yes, you have rewarding moments and according to what ive heard they make it "All worth While...wink wink." But seriously you work so hard, you know better than your kids cause you have been there and when you council them they dont really listen or heed your council and you are dissapointed. BUTTTTTT, no matter how much they make you angry or dissapoint you, you will kneel down every night and pray for them in love. I just want to let you know....im justtt starting to feel that and future missionaries better buckle up cause kharma is a DOWNER. Im convinced that if you are a difficult child your whole life (like me) you will get hit with the most FRUSTRATING investigators as a missionary. Its just the cycle of bad energy moving along haha Being a missionary is kinda like parenting, and before you jump down my throat about how i dont actually have childern or know, let me explain. As a parent you teach your kids, as a missionary you teach investigators. As a parent your kids have lots of questions, and sometimes are not satisfied with the right answer, i cannot tell you how many investigators tell me they dont think something im teaching is true....The story of the translation of the Book of Mormon is not open for opinions. As a parent your children sometimes dont listen to you and often tell you they are going to clean the stairs...but never get around to doing so, as a missionary, investigators promise to come to church, read, pray, and many other seemingly simple tasks, and yet each time we return they have failed to complete with commitments. As a parent you sit with your eternal companion at night and talk about how you can help your struggling children, as a missionary I sit with my temporary companion every night and talk about how we can help our struggling investigators. As a parent you get frustrated, WHY WONT THESE PEOPLE JUST READ THE DANG BOOK!!!!....excuse me. As a parent, when all else fails you get on your knees and tell God that you are doing all you can and you need his help in this, as a missionary we pray every night for each of our investigators personally and we know that we have done all we can adn all we can hope is that the Lord will help these people know what we have taught them is true. I could go on for days but this post is already wayyyy too long haha but seriously parents, i feel for you. Thank you for all you do, thank you for not giving up on your kids, and make sure you send them on missions so that kharma can teach them whats goooooood.

Hey fam!! Love you all so much. Jake, write jacy back so i dont have to read that at the bottom of all her emails ;) and i guess write me back too haha same with nathan -__- thanks for writing me tyler. Also thanks mom and dad for being good parents, you were teaching me how to be a missionary. LOVE YOU ALL A TON! SEE YOU SOON!

Love Elder Josh Hamm

P.S. - Im totally kidding about the soon part. I have 20 months left. HA! -__-

These are called "Elotes" Its corn on the cob with mayonaise, parmesean cheese, and spicy powder like chilie powder. Sounds gross but sooo good! And only like 5 pesos!