Emergency Changes....ROUND 2....FIGHT!

Oh, and President and I KILLED it with our
Christmas ties haha #SWAG

Saying goodbye to our converts!  It was bitter-sweet....
well, ya know, of course now it just seems bitter. haha

 Whoops. Welllll i know i promised a biggg email this week since i would have sooo much more time, but a short 5 days after i recieved my new companion....i got EMERGENCY CHANGES! It wasnt cause of anything i did, but thats just how the cookie crumbles.....especially when someone else sits on it -____- yuppp but since all that went down...ummm TODAY. It made it just a little hard to get everything packed, say goodbye to those i could, and then take a bus to my new área. So here we are in the new área. Its called Metepec and it happens to be in the zone of.....*drum roll* ATLIXCO!! So its kinda nice being here in the zone again, although at the same time, im in a kind of pueblo outside of the city instead of in the center like last time. Oh well, ill get over it haha but yah, looks like, if there arent any more unseen emergency changes -__- that i will be finishing my misión here. Sooo time to really put my shoulder to the Wheel!

       So for my Dads questions....1) Yes, i have a new comp...actually i got 2 new comps haha ill explain that right now. 2) The first was from Mexicali....or Baja California. The new ones from Chandler, Arizona. 3) Do they have candy canes there? NO....honestly ive looked and no they dont which is sad cause they have decorations of them, but theyve never even tasted the real thing!! Urgh. 4) My morning routine is wake up, stretch, try to look like im doing something similar to excersize, breakfast, shower, and then studies! Pretty exciting life we live here on the misison haha 5) D&C 4: No, we dont recite it every day, but we do recite it at any missionary meeting! ANd i might be doing it every day right now to help my comp learn it.

I got to see a TON of people at changes!  it was great.
But its sad thinking I might not see a lot of them again...
at leasttttt soon. :/

P. is TRAINING!!! WHOOP WHOOP!! IM OFFICIALLY A
GRANDPA!! I FEE SO PROUD! Even though he didn't
tell me so it could be a surprise haha  i was geeking out
at the changes meeting!

      Alright well the big thing this week was that which i will explain now in more depth. I went to changes and got my companion Elder H.....which will be spoken of very little as our companionship lasted 5 days haha BUT in those 5 days we had the Council of the Leaders of the misión and it went great. We learned a lot, joked around, ate some GREAT American food (Thank you sister Stellmon!) and i got to take a bunchhh of pictures with the guys going home, and other people i probs wont see again anytime soon. So it was good. We also got to help baptize a family we have been teaching with the other Elders and it was great. Then we were also able to talk to our investigator Y. Y has been having a tough time accepting the baptismal date, and its only cause she didnt really feel ready. But as i talked with her on Sunday, she broke down crying telling us about a spiritual experience she had while reading the Liahona that we gave her. She said she knows now that she wants to be baptized on the 20th of December! Its pretty great! Even though im probs not going to be able to be there cause im not allowed to go back to Izucar right now. But its all the same work guys. Doesnt matter who does the ordinance, so long as the covenant is made! :) So that was really great too!

Me, Elder K, and his Father!!
I'm technically the step father. haha

       THEN.....it happened. haha it doesnt really matter why. Just that it happened haha I happened to have emergency changes. I have already taken a picture with my new companion of 45 minutes Elder K from Arizona, which will be attatched i assure you haha he is in his second week of training so im going to be finishing the 12 week program with him and really working hard in this área so that he can baptize!! We are going to be trusting a lot in the Lord. We'll see what happens. Hes got a lot of potential to be a great leader in this mission.

       Anddd to finish things off with the spiritual thought, i thought id share with you a little insight that seems to always come to mind whenever there is a moment of change or of doubt. Whenever something bad happens to us, we as humans instantly get something not too unlike tunnel visión. All we can see is the problem that we have and that it seems so great that we will never overcome it. But we forget that there is a grand creator with a plan and a purpose, and that is to help us achieve imortality. We ALSO need to always remember that Life Goes On. It truly waits for no one and soon enough, this time in your life will have passed and the question wont be "When will it end?" The question will be "How did you respond to it and how did you act throughout it?" Theres a really cool poem that i memorized when i was in high school that goes like this:

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
With a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
With a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,
Or a trouble is what you make it.
And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts,
But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what’s that?
Come up with a smiling face.
It’s nothing against you to fall down flat,
But to lie there – that’s disgrace.
The harder you’re thrown, why the higher you bounce;
Be proud of your blackened eye!
It isn’t the fact that you’re licked that counts;
It’s how did you fight and why?

And though you be done to the death, what then?
If you battled the best you could;
If you played your part in the world of men,
Why the Critic will call it good.
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,
And whether he’s slow or spry,
It isn’t that fact that you’re dead that counts,
But only how did you die?

So we arent dead, but the point is you have to listen to the words of Frankl and live worthy of your sufferings! God has a plan. He will see you through whatever awaits you. And all he asks of us is that we trust him during our trials, knowing he gives us all things for our benefit.

Heres' to the next 5 weeks!! :)

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

I got a bunch of pictures with Elders at the Leaders meeting too!
It was great to see all those guys!!  

Saying goodbye to P.  Gonna miss that kid.  But hes
training in Puebla, so I think hes doing fine haha

These are 2 investigators we got to baptize!  I baptized
the Mom on the left and Elder Z baptized the daughter
on the right.  It was great!