Not our timing but His

August 11, 2014

I feel like a lot of things happened with us this week that had to do with the Lords timing and not ours at all. Something pretty cool that happened to start off the week was talking to this person. She has a sister who was just baptized in Kansas! So we told her to call her sister to talk about it. So hopefully when we go there today she will have talked to her sister about what it means to her to be baptized.

I am in need of doing some service! I haven't done service the whole
time I've been here! I love doing service, and I haven't had the opportunity to do it as of yet. We were supposed to do it Tuesday. Well we got picked up and were almost there. Then we got a text that
said oh we don't need anymore help if you are coming. There are plenty
of people. I was like "dang it!" But it's alright. Not our timing but His.

It's sad when people we talk to try to convert us. Tell us we are wrong and that the way the Book of Mormon is written seems like the devil rather than The Lord. We talked with a man for quite a while. He just doesn't get it. By the end he was praying for us to not be led astray and be changed from a good person to a bad person. The thing was was that he was super sincere about what he was saying. He believed what he was saying was true. We tried to tell him to pray about the Book of Mormon. He just can't get over how it was written. When people write differently. It's sad to see people completely deny answers to their prayers.

On Wednesday we had district meeting. We get together and discuss the things of the district. Every week someone is assigned to do a training on something. It just so happened that elder Brase and I were assigned this week. We were told to make it out of the box and creative. So you can guess what I decided to bring with myself to this district meeting. The training was supposed to be on companionship unity. What shows that more than singing a duet with your companion? We sang "How Great Thou Art" then talked about what it dealt with
companionship unity. We are two voices blending to make one voice for the same purpose. Just like a companionship should be in lessons. When I or Elder Brase would mess up the other would automatically correct I t and continue forward. Just like with teaching. When one says something and is getting a little jumbled up the other takes over and
just let's it happen. The spirit is also crucial. Just how in music what you're feeling is crucial. The last verse I changed something up and did something I had never done before. So the training went really well. I loved it. I can relate anything to music to be honest haha. LOVE IT.

I love the members in this ward! We had some awesome dinners this week. Some pretty sweet restaurants and also some amazing home cooked meals. So much food! At one point since I've been here I lost like 7 pounds. I think I may be gaining it back because of all the great food though. And I are like 10 potstickers in one meal... That could be it. Haha either way the members are great and I look forward to seeing them every day.

We are getting pretty excited for evergreen unplugged. Here is the set
list as of our first draft of it.
How great thou art
Did you think to pray
Hey brother- avici
Lighthouse-nickel creek
Let it go- frozen
Be kind- me
Lead kindly lights
For the beauty of the earth
Battle hymn of the republic
Spirit of God
I feel like something needs  a bit of change but we have a bit of time
to change things up if we need to.

Having a companion who sings helps out a whole lot. We will be doing a church tour Friday. To start out the tour we will be singing three songs. How great thou art, for the beauty of the earth, and the other one is undecided as of right now. We have been inviting practically everyone we talk to to this thing. I am really excited. Music is powerful. It can make a difference.

We talked with someone who is supposedly a descendant of Joseph smith! She isn't a member and doesn't seem like she wants to be at all. She
teaches seminary for people who want to get a degree in being a preacher. Interesting conversation though.

When your mind to teaching everyone you talk to it happens. This week we taught a total of 22 lessons. The highest I have achieved in my mission in a week. And we are only going to move up. We had some pretty awesome times with knocking doors this week. Some awesome stuff where we just got to teach so much, people in this area just talk to us. It's amazing. They give us so many opportunities to teach. We were
able to get multiple new investigators from those. We were going to go with brother hardy to a baptism with a couple who are super interested in the church. Well we were about to leave but the car wouldn't start! We were luckily able to get it jumped to make it right in time for the
baptism. They loved it. They said it was peaceful. Baptisms are great things. It's one of the greatest places to take someone who is interested in the church. Right before the baptism we knocked this first door. We asked her if she's seen missionaries around and if she's talked to them. Of course she said yes like everyone else. Then we asked her if she has ever heard the message we share. She said no. So we let her know! She is so interested and we will be going back
this next week.

There's this man who has the most peaceful backyard ever! We talked
with him. I mentioned maybe we could come back here and do some studies. And he said of course! Come here anytime. He's like a 70 year old man. He's so cool. Timing is key. And it's not ours. Our Heavenly Father literally times things perfectly if you let him.

Sunday was great. I love this ward. It feels like back home. A whole bunch of youth, and a whole bunch of people out on missions! It feels like I'm in my home ward. I'm so thankful to be in this ward at this time. Hopefully I'm here for a whole longer, but not long enough for people to get annoyed with me.

Overall this week was great. Not too sure if I have anything else super exciting to say, but it's missionary work, it's all exciting, but I can't write out everything I do in a day. We are working hard.
Going to bed worn out, and waking up ready to do it again. I love it.

Love,

Elder Hamrick

A hawk at the stake center

At a fun 60's diner called Boppin Bo's.