Elder Josh Hamm: Live in Concert

The Radio Interview!

Alright guys, well if you thought that last week was jam packed...you were right. BUT that doesnt change the fact that this week is equally if not MORE jam packed! So here we go.

Aaand my birthday!

       Well, my Dad's questions. 1) For my birthday....we worked haha cause thats the mission life. Buttt luckily, this time i wasnt on interchanges with the assistants, so i was able to go and get dinner with my ward mission leader at night. We went to this pizza place that is greattt haha its called Emporios and its the best pizza ive had on my mission. And he bought me a surprise birthday cheesecake with blackberries! It was great. So yah that was my birthday! 2) The playlist for my concert was LONG haha it had 18 songs on it and i guess ill list them later in the email haha 3) Yes, they celebrate halloween here even though its known as Day of the dead. 4) They used to celebrate it very differently from the US but over time, they have adapted to some of our traditions, so now its not uncommon to see a lot of kids going around asking for money or candy, about 60% of them in costumes haha

 

The Live TV interview!

     Okay, *deep breath* Sooo lets start out this week with tuesday....nothing happened haha we went out and worked. Then Wednesday!......same thing haha but just holdddd on before you judge haha Thursday (for all of you who dont know) was my birthday. I woke up and was minding my own business singing LOVE by Frank Sinatra (only a song you sing when youre in a GREAT mood) when we get a call from the ward mission leader who says that we have 15 minutes to get to the center for an interview on live television promoting the concert...woah. So we runnn down there and they are behind and we are behind and so we put it for Friday. Then that night the poster (like the one i sent home) are finally ready so we pick them up and post them EVERYWHERE haha in the center, on announcement boards, we contact students and post them in the schools, the gyms, the hospitals, and the stores. Then we went to a place called Emporios (pizza) and ate pizza and cake and talked out the final plans for the concert. So then Friday morning we went for the interview. They had a TV studio (not huge, but nice) and we did the interview on live TV. Im not gonna say i was nervous....but i definitely didnt know where to put my hands haha but it went really well, we explained the concert, where it was going to be, why we were doing it, who we are....oh and then i played a song on guitar in spanish (Corre by Jesse y Joy) on live TV.....nbd. haha it went really well. So then we went and finished putting up posters, practicing, and contacting people and inviting them to the concert.

Preparing for the Concert!!!  We had so many people
show up to see what was going on! 

       Alright, so the day of the concert comes. Im so nervous i wake up at 6 instead of 6:30....oh wait, thats right, i wasnt nervous at all....i just happened to have diarrhea and was throwing up -__- yes, ladies and gentlemen, i woke up the day of the concert sick as a DOG. And so of course we started worrying. I got a priesthood blessing, i ate nothing but bread and gatorade, I slept a LOT and just took it easy all day. We told NO ONE besides the missionaries cause we knew it would put them in a panic haha but all day i rested and then when the time of the concert arrived....I felt fine! (More details on that to come in the spiritual thought). But upon arriving...i realized that this was more legit than any of us had hoped for haha Im talking a giant stage, multiple microphones, lazers and colored lights, a smoke machine, and more.

And the actual concert!  Seriously, it turned out so sick.
I hope you can capture at least some of it from
these photos! 

       I played 18 songs. and the playlist...i left at home right now. Butttt it included 6 of my songs: Low, Over You, Help, Im in love with a Superstar, I Care About You, Tu Secuestrador, You Deserve Better, Since When, and My Savior. I played some popular spanish songs: Te Fuiste de Aqui - Reik, Fui - Reik, Noviembre sin Ti - Reik, Mientes - Camila, and Corre - Jesse y Joy. Also some popular english songs: As Long as you Love me - Justin Beiber, Story of my Life - One Direction, Just the way you are - Bruno Mars, Demons - Imagine Dragons, She will Be Loved- Maroon 5, Anddd to finish it off I played Jospeh Smith's First Prayer in spanish (La Oracion Del Profeta) and then bore my testimony there on stage. It was legit man. It was so awesome. 

       Buttttt I know you are saying "Ya know, thats great Josh....but you are a missionary! What about ELDER Hamm?" Oh lemme tell you. Through the concert we gave out over 500 pamphlets of the lessons we teach, 400 contact cards, and 100 Book of Mormons. There were a TON of people there, and they ALL were contacted and left with at LEAST a quick talk about our beliefs and a pamphlet or 2. So the point is it literally turned out to be the greatest missionary activity ever created or thought up. We and other missionaries will be reaping the benefits of that concert for a LONG time to come haha

       So for the spiritual thought, i wanted to touch on the sick situation (not the cool kinda sick, but the puking kinda sick). I woke up that morning sooo sick, and all i could think was "Why me?!" This concert is gonna be great, why would God do this to me in thissss moment?! After i got the blessing, i still felt awful, and i asked, why isnt this working? Then we went and cut my hair and i felt worse, and i thought, whyyyy isnt it gone yet? And then after my 3 hour nap i still had no energy and i cried out why hasnt God taken this away yet?! But the entire time after each of my outbursts, I heard in my head, its not the concert yet, WAIT. And after about the fourth time of that, i listened to it. And when i did, a story from the scriptures that i have shared with you all, came to my mind. It was the story in Mosiah 7 when God allows Ammon (a strong and righteous man) and his 15 friends to suffer hunger, fatigue, and thrist, for 40 days before finally delivering them...and I thought to myself, WOW.....YOU, Elder Hamm, need to quit whining haha God has a plan, and right now his part of that plan is to trust that you will be able to perform, and that the suffering right now is necessary. When i got in the taxi (becuase i was too weak to walk) to go to the zocalo, i felt awful, and without strenght. But when we arrived, I instantly gained strength and for the rest of the night i felt nothing. I was able to perform and sing completely fine. It was a real testimony builder to me that God has a plan, and if we could see the end from the beginning, we would understand that plan, but we cant. So all we can do is trust him and walk in faith until he delivers us. I know that is true, and i urge all of us to remember it.

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

Promoting the Concert.  We put up these posters everywhere!