Happy Fourth of July!

Hi everyone! 

It's been a good 4th of July here in Washington. I feel privileged to be serving here in America. I am grateful for the freedoms we enjoy, especially the freedom to worship Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Well, I am almost out of training! After my first 6 weeks, Hermana Chatfield got transferred and I got a new companion, Hermana Penrod! It has been fun to be trained by two different hermanas in Mt. Vernon. 

I am amazed at the kindness of the people I get to serve around. From our ward mission leader, to the branch members and to the people we teach, they all teach me something about being more like the Savior.

I have been reflecting often on the Savior's power to change us into new people. In the few months I have been out serving, I have witnessed the changes that occur when people choose to let Christ into their lives. 

Jesus is the author of truth and has shown us the path to happiness in this life and forever. We can be confident of this path as we seek for truth daily. Elder Neil L. Anderson said this last conference, "With the Restoration of the gospel, God has given us the way to learn and know essential spiritual truths: we learn them through the holy scriptures, through our personal prayers and our own experiences, through the counsel of the living prophets and apostles, and through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, who can help us to “know the truth of all things.”8

I invite you to choose one of these ways to find truth and to notice how it changes your life. It is changing mine!

I love and miss all of you!

Hermana Hammond

a fun time at a local "lecheria" (dairy farm)

Mount Vernon

Hello everyone! 

I am doing well and feeling settled here in Mount Vernon. The people here are amazing! 

My companion and I have been working on talking with everyone this past week. It is great to get to know so many different people, even if it's just meeting someone for two minutes. We have a few people who have accepted return appointments, and we hope they will continue to want to learn more! 

We had a really funny experience this week teaching an awesome lady! She is very smart and knows a lot about the Bible. So we're about to start the lesson when she gets out an EASEL and a huge pad of paper and has us pretty much give our lesson as if we were teaching a class. I was so surprised, haha. It was so awesome to see how she learned from us. We would explain something and then she would draw it out on the easel, making diagrams and asking very in-depth questions. I walked out with the determination to study up a lot more!! 

Something I am learning on the mission is that sometimes, Heavenly Father is a little more quiet in our lives, and it gives us the opportunity to show our faith and move forward, even if we haven't had a big spiritual experience or received an answer in a while. This life is a time of testing and learning! God wants us to move forward in faith, while cherishing our spiritual experiences and using them for strength.

I am gaining a greater testimony of the Book of Mormon and the clear, precious truths it contains. We can gain spiritual power by reading it every day!

I would love to hear from all of you!! I miss home but feel so privileged to serve the Lord here in Washington.

Love,

Hermana Hammond

Deception Pass State Park

Bakerview Park

Week One in Washington

Hello everyone!

I made it safe to Washington! My area is in a town called Mt. Vernon. It is pretty far north, close to Mount Baker. It is beautiful here! I feel like I am living in Frontier Land in Disneyland but in real life. 

My companion is Hermana Chatfield. She is very kind and so fun to be around! She has been in Mt. Vernon her whole mission and knows the area very well. 

I've had a chance to talk to many different people already! It is amazing to see how God works in the lives of others. We are working with a lady who is getting baptized in June! She is so ready and excited. 

The members are very kind here! They feed us and always ask how we're doing. 

My companion and I listened to a talk called "The Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. He talks about how Christ influences us to look outward, when the natural instinct is to look inward. "There would be no atonement," he says, "without the character of Christ." I am grateful for the selfless example of our Savior. He shows us the way to peace and joy. The more we emulate Him, the more we can feel of our great potential as well as the potential of others. I invite all of you to consider a way you can follow the example of Christ and look outward this week.

Love,

Hermana Hammond

Week 4 in the CCM!

Hello everyone! Things are going well here in the CCM. I am learning a ton, more Spanish than I ever thought I could in just a few weeks. 

We are encouraged to memorize as many words,phrases, and scriptures as possible in Spanish. Sometimes I wonder if anything is sticking, but I had a really cool experience this week. Hermana Fuller and I have been practicing teaching lessons to a woman named Blanca. We had this very elaborate lesson plan ready to go, but right after we got into the room she told us her mom had died and she was feeling sad. Immediately I thought of a scripture I had memorized: Alma 40:11-14. I was able to have her read the part in verse 11 that says: ´´As soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men...are taken home to that God who gave them life.¨ I was able to testify to her that her mom is still alive and that our Heavenly Father is watching over her in heaven. 

I heard a quote this week: 

´´Only when our testimony transcends what is in our minds and burrows deep into our hearts, we can serve and love others as the Lord did.´´

I hope we can all take the opportunity this weekend to listen to General Conference. We can strengthen our testimonies as we listen to the words of the Savior´s prophet and apostles. On Sunday we were talking about how the promises that the Lord´s prophets extend are not just ´´nice blessings´´. They are promises from God that we will receive if we follow the counsel of His servants.

I love all of you!!

Hermana Hammond

Mexico MTC/CCM Mexico

Hello friends and family!

It´s been a little over a week since I got to the Mexico MTC. It is really beautiful! There are trees with purple flowers everywhere! 

My companion is Hermana Fuller! She is from Texas. Also fun fact, she was BYU roommates with my elementary school friend Alyse Petersen. Hermana Fuller and I are both going to Everett Washington! She is super good at tennis! Any time we play ping pong or tennis together we have a good laugh (if you know me well you can guess why) We are also working really hard on our Spanish together!

I had a pretty cool experience this past week! A few days ago my companion and I were studying in the TSM (Thomas S Monson Building), and all of the sudden I got this pit in my stomach, and a feeling that we needed to leave the building. At first I was apprehensive about telling my companion but the feeling wouldn´t go away. I said a prayer asking to know if this was a warning from the spirit, then in the next few seconds, my legs JUMPED involuntarily. I knew we had to leave! We left the building to get to the location of our next activity and it started sprinkling a little bit. The second we walked under the ramada and into the next building it started pooourinng rain. We came inside the building and the rain stopped after a few minutes. My companion shared with me that she had experienced a similar pit in her stomach and a  feeling to leave the TSM. Anyways, what I learned from this experience is that the Holy Spirit is here to guide and protect us, even in the small things. Would we have died if we didn´t leave the building? Probably not. But something Hermana Fuller said was: ´´Heavenly Father cared enough about us to protect us from getting wet in the rain.´´ God really does care about the small needs we have! 

I love being a missionary! Since I have been here in the MTC, I´ve felt a little bit of how great a trust Heavenly Father places in His missionaries; as we teach others, we are representatives of their Master, Jesus Christ. One thing I have felt over and over again is the love He has for each of His children. He wants all of us to come unto the Savior and realize the potential we have. He has great things in store for us because as His children, we are heirs of salvation. One scripture that really touched me this week is from the prophet Enos:

 ¨I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father.¨

Mexico City Temple! If you look closely, you can see Marinne and her companion. They got to do a session today.

Colorful houses on the way to the temple