If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear

Me and some great war hero of Mexico haha.  The name is not important, its the mustache.

Yooooooo!!! Hamm here! This week was pretty good! We got to have a district conference and see President, and have 12 Elders stay in our house! haha crazyyy, unfortunately no pictures were taken due to the chaos, butttt anyways, more on that in a second!

       My Dads questions: 1) The typical christmas decorations would be the normal i think. Ive only seen lights here and some reindeer and snowmen. Nothing too different from the states 2) Yes, they have Christmas lights on the houses....but very few usually, and not nearly as many. Its like one or two strands of lights usually. AND 3) We meet most of our investigators by trying to get references from the members. Really, we meet a lot of people contacting, but we meet our actual INVESTIGATORS that progress and stuff, through the members. Thats why its so important to give references!!

ANDDDD a GIANT GREEN FURRY LOOKIN
SPIDER!! That crawled across my hand while i
was hanging up my laundry to dry.  

       Soo like i said, this week was pretty solid. We didnt have anything too crazy or newsworthy, but it was fairly eventful at the same time. We got to do interchanges with the Elders who are in Acatlan and it went really well. They had been having some hard times in their companionship but we were able to help them resolve those challenges and they are continuing to work really hard in their area! Then this weekend we had district conference which meant that ALL the members from the Zone and all the missionaries with them, come to Izucar for Saturday and Sunday! So we had 12 missionaries staying in our house on Saturday night! Needless to say, it was a fiasco haha But the conference went really well. There was suchhh a great turn-out! Almost every companionship in the zone had investigators that drove anywhere from 10 minutes to 5 hours to be there! The messages were good, the spirit was there, and less actives and investigators alike were touched. The only downside would be that the music was terrible........but ill explain that in the spiritual thought this week haha But yah everything went really well and we were able to get a lot of people there and say hi to President Stellmon! Always fun haha i love that man.

AMERICA....LOVE IT, OR LEAVE IT.  Someone in
Mexico knows whats good.  haha

       Alright, well like i said, the spiritual thought this week comes from the conference and how AWFUL the music was....just let me explain. So we get to the first session of conference on Saturday, and President says hi to us and we all sit down with our investigators and the meeting starts. The man presiding gets up and welcomes us, and tells us that we are going to start the meeting by singing hymn #4 - Bandera De Sión (High on a Mountaintop). All fine, until he says that Elder P is going to help us leading the music and we'd like to ask Elder Hamm to accompany us on the Piano. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I think my heart literally stopped beating for that long. For those of you who DONT know me that well....I CANT play piano. Like, im musically gifted so i can sometimes pick something out from hearing it a few times....but I HAVE NOT EVER been able to read music. So it wasnt exactly the easiest call ive ever had to accept but there was literally nothing i could do. So with Elder P laughing, I took the longg walk to the front and sat down at the Piano. I opened the hymn book to the page....and while trying to crease the pages so the book would stay open, i almost laughed to myself, realizing what an absoluetly POINTLESS gesture that was haha But as i took a deep breath, i said a prayer asking God to help me read the music and be able to play it. I placed my hands on the piano.....and i know what youre thinking....."God did some great miracle and i could read the notes and we all lived happily ever after" right? WRONG. Youve never been sooo wrong haha Now i thank my Heavenly Father for the gift he has given me because i struggled through the first verse quite terribly, but by the second verse i could at least play the bottom hand and by the last verse it sounded passable. BUT it was nooooo miracle haha and then of course they also asked me to play at the end of the meeting only this time, the song was hymn #148 - Si hay Gozo en tu Corazon (There's Sunshine in My Soul Today) which is even harder! Luckily i was able to slip out of the meeting and practice for 10 minutes before i had to play it, but even with that, it was on the shoddy side of the MoTab Choir. 

       People! Pleaseeee dont feel bad for me! My mother is laughing her headddd off right now. hahaha YEARS of lectures, and warnings, even near threats PAID OFF BIG this time! As i sat at that piano, i SWEAR i could hear her voice over my shoulder saying: "Josh, you need to learn piano, because maybe someday you will be called to play the hymns on your mission cause nobody else can play and you will be glad you learned to read music!" Which I would usually follow with a scoff, maybe even a chuckle and then go back to whatever i was doing. OOHHH the irony of it all! haha 

       SOOOO after a great story im sure you all enjoyed, here comes the spiritual application. The doctrine according to Hamm is as such in my own words - "The Lord will RARELY help us remember what we have not learned." The Lord is ready to be our aid, our divine help and strength, but he needs us to arm ourselves! If you want to be able to know what to say to your neighbor about the gospel, STUDY THE GOSPEL! Dont expect that with little effort and a vain prayer you will suddenly recieve a great and comprehensive knowledge of the scriptures and the words of the prophets! There is a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that demonstrates this point perfectly. D&C 84:85 reads - 

     "85) Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man." 

     It says that we have to treasure up the words of life CONTINUALLY so that in the moment, the Lord can use that database of knoledge we have accumulated to help us know what part of all that chaos, is exactly what that person we are talking with needs to hear. And that goes for ourselves too. Before the mission i hadnt studied my scriptures almost at all and when i asked God for guidance, i found it hard to determine the correct path to take. But after being on the mission and having studied DILIGENTLY the scriptures, i ask for guidance of the spirit, and my mind is filled with scriptures that are applicable to me in that precise moment. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he wants to help us. But more than that, he wants to help us, help ourselves. 

       "...Wherefore, treasure up wisdom in your bosoms....if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30) 

       God doesnt want us to fear, he wants us to trust. But that trust only comes when we do our part and know that we are deserving of the blessings he has for us. Study the sciptures, go to church, learn, and PREPARE so that you will have confidence in ANY situation. I testify of this from my OWN personal experiences. And i share that testimony with you all. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm