Not too much sorry...

Nothing too much happened this week but, it went by super fast. The only event I can think of is what happened this Saturday. This Saturday an Elder I am living got in a car accident and it is a huge mess and now he has to go to court. It is super messed and I feel so bad for him.

But, anyway in other news! We have found three new people this week that have agreed to let us come teach them about the gospel. Also, we had four investigator at church. It was super fun! We haven't had a person come to church in three weeks so it was cool to show them around and to help them be more familiar with the way we worship. They all loved it! What wonderful people we have an opportunity to work with. 

I'm sorry I didn't spend the time to email you all this week! I still love you all, and again I will try to make up by giving you some sweet pics.

Elder Hamson

1-Proof of a ten foot reach.

2-We tried to chop this tree down and ended up dropping it on a fence... oops!

3-The embarrassing photo of me any my companion. (The only ones without suits)

Professional Gardner

This week was pretty legit, let me tell ya!

Well first, Hello! It is a pleasure to be talking with you all! It always feels like this week was long when I look back at Tuesday but, it also feels like last P-day wasn't that long ago. I am grateful for the great diversely and fun that this week was filled with.

Last P-day was crazy I think I already said we were down in Young making things with a member in his wood shop. It was loads of fun. I am still in the process of making drum sticks but, I finished this sweet red stand for my iPad. It has turned into a great desk ornament. 

Tuesday we spent with President Robinson in another zone conference. That was really cool because I received an answer to something I have been praying for and searching for for three months now. I am grateful for that our mission president truly does love serving us and he is a beloved man and friend for us all. The blessings of God are far greater than anything I could obtain on this earth. I am still trying to accept that, I rode in a Tesla Model S the other week. ooof... That is a fast ride, very tempting but, also costs as much as two houses!! Goodness!

Wednesday was an interesting day. We spend most of the day helping this lady with her garden. I love the amounts of service we have an opportunity to be a part of here in Payson. I can't think of anytime we had such an opportunity in the valley. but, anyway that was a great day, we came home got dress ate dinner and had two wonderful lessons with the two families we are working with that have desire to be baptized. We are getting real close and they have grown so much! I love it!

Friday is also another day to note. I don't mean to skip Thursday but, listen Friday was pretty cool. Right after we spent most of the morning doing our planning for the week, we got a call for this old man that lives on "wildlife preserve," well sort of. It is a huge garden that he has been growing for FORTY YEARS! He said that it used to be certified as a wildlife preserve for some kind of organization trying to protect some endangered plants or to see if certain plants could survive the environment. Anyway all we did was haul some logs around from a tree he cut down, (he was kind of sad about it). He just could do the lifting him self so it was good we were able to help him. Oh, then his wife came out and juiced us some fresh peach juice. Man, I lived in Utah my whole life and have had some great peaches but, she definitely put something in that juice because it was inhuman. Either that or I was dead thirst because Arizona is just hot. That's it's middle name Arizona Hot I'm Going To Move Back To Utah. Now you know.

We spent the weekend back in Young. And like I said earlier it is straight out of the movies. Middle of know where, there is like one store, a saloon, and miles and miles of dirt and weeds. Fun town! we spent all of Saturday running around like cowboys serving the community. We are hoping to be down there more so that we can build a presence that hopefully someone will get curious and we can at least answer there questions. Sunday, we gave talks about the forty day fast. So, each member is taking turns fasting each day for fourty days. It is a really cool idea. It was cool. And I felt the spirit so strongly. Some many members complemented us for our talks. I don't mean to be prideful but, it was nice to hear. There podium was tiny so they gave me a hand microphone and it was weird. It felt like I was doing stand up comedy of giving a Ted talk. Anyway my companion needs me to play soccer with him. sorry that there are no pictures.

Have a great week!

Love, love, love, you all!

Elder Hamson

Young

Hey!

This week was a good week! It was awesome because we did a bunch of
service. That is what is so cool about the mountains and serving their
again is that there is a lot of things you can do to help people. In
the valley no one let us do service for them, it just didn't happen
very often.
Last Monday we spent a good portion of the day making ties. I made a
blue tie with red flowers on it. It is pretty cool, I wish I had a
picture but, I don't.

There is this one lady that we have been helping mainly this week. She
is getting kicked out of  her house and we are helping her move and
put things in her storage. It was all good fun but, I feel bad for
her. It is a weird situation.

We had a Zone Training meeting this week and the most embarrassing
thing happened. So, go a head and laugh. So, on Monday we were being
smart and we're going to dry clean our suits before the Zone Training
Meeting right? Only we didn't know that Payson doesn't have a dry
cleaner so, the "dry cleaner" we went to doesn't clean at their
location. They take them down to the valley to clean. Anyway, it takes
a full week so we got stuck without suits and we were the only ones
not wear them...

I am going to skip to today, well, last night. Last we drove out to
Young which is this small hick town out in the middle of no where. It
is super cool. We slept over at a members home because Young is so far
away. In the morning we helped chopped wood and moved a piano while we
were going about in Young doing service that morning. But, since today
is P-day we had to do something fun so, we went to a member and worked
in his shop and make things out of wood. I made some drum sticks and a
stand for my iPad. It was awesome and I thought you would like to know
about it. The only problem is that I don't have any pictures for you.
I have been having too much fun!

Good luck have fun!

Love,

Elder Hamson

Mountain town!

Howdy!

It has been a fun week here in Payson! I have an awesome companion and
I am bunking with two other Elders so, there are four of us total. It
is a load of fun! It is a bit chilly, no snow but, it has been raining
a little.  The area I cover is over three units. The Ponderosa Ward,
Christopher Creek Branch, and Young Branch. Young is a small country
town that is an hour and a half from where we live. So the area is
HUGE! It's in the middle of nowhere but, it's in the mountains. That
is all that matters. I love traveling and I has been fun experiencing
so many different and new people. Change keeps the mission exciting!

The first couple days I was here we met and taught our investigators
that have a day planned to be baptized. We have met a bunch of members
and it is weird being back in the mountains again. This area is a lot
like Pinetop back when I was a Zone Leader. Right now, I'm not even a
District Leader! It's awesome! I get to spend 24/7 with the people.
Well... Almost...

I got an email from the Mission President on Thursday and he invited
Elder Vargas and I to a special MLC the next day. So, I took the hour
and forty minute drive back down to the valley for the MLC. (Mission
Leadership Council) It was super good! Two of the brothers from the
missionary department came and spent the day with us. It was a 7 HOUR
meeting! It was nuts! Super helpful though! We literally spent the
whole time and went in depth on Planning! I am bad at planning so, it
was good to get some good pointers from them. I didn't feel to good
that day so, half way through the meeting I took some exhederin. I
have you know I did survive seven hours and the drive home, I was the
designated driver.

So, some back story, on Thursday my companion and I were chopping wood
for service in the morning. While we were driving home my companion
thought it would be cool to drift on the dirt road. Basically we
crashed into a ditch. I had a headache for three days straight and my
neck and back ached. I fell much better now but, that is why I hurt at
that meeting.

Today has been weird, we spent a good amount of our time trying to sew
some ties. It was fun but, exhausting. So, up here people go to bed
really early and when it gets late in the evening they get really
protective of their property. On Monday's we do what is called a
reverse P-day. Basically our P-day is in the evening instead of the
morning. It has been fun.

Anyway, I hope your week was adventurous. Love ya'll!

Elder Hamson

Payson

Good day!

Well this was my last week in Scottsdale for now. I am headed to Payson tomorrow. I am kinda bummed but, that's okay, I hear there is snow in Payson and that is what I am most excited about! Actually I will be working in the YSA! So, it will be fun to serve people more my age! This also means that I am still in the same Zone as I have been. I will be able to see al my old friends from the zone twice a month. Because we have a Zone Training Meeting every month and also a Zone Conference every month. 

Anyhoo! Nothing crazy happened this week. We had a cool day on Valentines day. There is this guy that moved in with his parents and is just down here for work. He is looking for a house out here while his family is back in Utah. So we thought since his sweetheart is back in Utah he would mind coming out with us. So, we took him with us and we visited everyone single we knew and we had quite a few good visits and opportunities to lift everyone's spirits on such a weird holiday. He is a really cool guy! There are so many cool people that live out here. I have live amongst three different cultures of faithful members. They are all different and beautiful in their own way. 

I had an opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Ebisch. He is a German Elder and he is really fun to be with. It was fun to spend a day meeting new people with new experiences but, all with excitement about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We taught six lessons that day. It was nuts, we just went from appointment to appointment. I love days like that where you can spend the whole day with loving people that want to discuss and learn about God. 

I am going to miss Scottsdale but, I am not going to miss the heat! ;)

I hope you all are happy! Thanks for reading! Love y'all!

Elder Hamson

Three simple things

Heyo!

Things have been heating up pretty fast down here. It is not looking good. It was 70's this week and it even hit 80 on Saturday. I thought it was a hot week. I can't what it is going to be in a month from now or four months from now. Ugh.

Haha, I did have a good week though. We had an interesting day on Wednesday where there were a bunch of people that requested a blessing from the Elders. He crazy part was that the other set of Elders in our district were out of town! So, we ran around two hospitals and gave a total of six Priesthood blessings. It was cool to be there in a time of need for these people when most of them didn't have any family in town.  To see the gratitude that filled their lives when we were able to give them a comforting visit. 

Another cool experience this week occurred with a brother in our area who recently got in a motorcycle accident. We thought maybe we should go by and see if there was anything we could do for his wife back at home. When we went we were surprised to see him there up and walking around. He welcomed us in and we talk and he explained that he tried to call us today. He apparently had called an old number and got a hold of some missionaries in another area. They were unable to figure out what our number was and before he was able to locate a number for us he took a minute to lie down for a nap. That's when we knocked on the door. Anyway he needed help fixing and cleaning out the pool filter for his pool and we were able to do that. It really wasn't that bad, he just couldn't do it because he has ten broken ribs. Again, the joy and gratitude that he had for our simple service and for being in the right place at the right time really touched me. There are so many simple things that we can do that don't take much energy at all and are so helpful for the lives of those around us. 

The last cool thing I wanted to share is this investigator we have named Tim. He is really cool! When we first met him he wasn't even sure if he believed in God. Now he has been reading and coming to church and he said he would want to be baptized but, he doesn't know how soon he would want to do it. So, it is exciting to be a part of this great work and to see the Joy and the hope of the Gospel brings into the lives of those we teach. Man, there is so much to be grateful for and I can be negative sometimes but, hope all of you are finding the joy in the simple things of life. 

I'm Happy and I love you! That's all you need to know!

Elder Hamson