Out to the country I go!‏‎

Hey Mom & Dad & Family & Friends & Whoever else reads these!! :)  

I have a few items of business to cover before I tell you about the wonderful week we've had in Johns Creek :)

1. THANK YOU FOR WRITING ME!! :) I was so happy to get a call from Sister Connor's in the office telling me I have gotten a letter almost each day this entire transfer. So I am so thankful you have all written me! The only down side is I have only gotten the letters that I personally picked up in the office before they got forwarded. (Meaning.. like none..) All the others are either lost in the mail or I believe were returned to you all. We have no clue why the post office says they can't be forwarded.. So if you do get one back, please don't be offended. I didn't send it back.. And I would LOVE it if you would resend it to the mission office. They are holding my mail and going to give it to me personally for now at meetings and what not until they get it figured out. So.. let it be known that I didn't get the mail otherwise I would be responding. And thank you for thinking of me! And good news is.. if you didn't write me.. you can just send it to me and pretend like you did! I'll never know! :)

2. I got a phone call this morning from President Wolfert.. I'm being asked to train Sister Alder (was in the MTC with me) as a Sister Training Leader and open another area. He said "Sister Hamilton, I told you your wonderful attitude and excitement for the work and opening areas would bless you your whole mission." Indeed it will. haha I'll be leaving my home here in the Roswell Stake (which I have been my whole mission) to go to the Sugar Hill Stake. And give the Coal Mountain Ward their first set of sisters. EXCITING!

Now Dad, don't go googling Coal Mountain.. You probably won't find it. But I think it is in Cumming GA. All I know is its a 40 min drive to church and its much more country than the suburbs I've been living in. Lots of chickens I hear. But great people I'm sure! Maybe I'll even get to hear more of the real southern accent... truly the possibilities are endless :)

I'm pretty bummed to leave Johns Creek, but I knew it was coming so at least I prepared myself for it a bit. We worked very hard this week and tried to make it a very memorable week. And I must say it was! We saw so many miracles this week, I am so thankful. Let me share a few of them with you.

Will, someone we are teaching is eager to be baptized and we were able to teach him multiple times this week and start getting him prepared to be baptized later this month. :) He has changed so much since we met him a few months ago and started working with him, its amazing to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ can truly change peoples hearts.

Shelby is reading the Book of Mormon and intently seeking her answer. She is demonstrating more and more faith each time we visit and see her. She still wants to be baptized and is hoping to do so in October when she can start coming to church more regularly and isn't working on Sundays. She is SO fun! We had a great church tour with her this week and a 19yr old girl Chayenne in our ward. She was very relieved when she saw all the pictures of Christ around the building and said "Wow! This is so great to see! The last time I came here I only came through that door and didn't look around.. All I saw was pictures of Pioneers and Joseph Smith." Woops! Glad we could clear that one up. :) 

Danny is someone we met a month or so ago tracting. We came by and taught him a few times and had great experiences but he would never come to church. We hadn't seen him in a few weeks and we got a call from him Monday saying "Sisters, I need you to come by and teach me about Christ. I don't want to live like this anymore." We brought a member with us who has had a similar background, and he brought Danny to church. WHAT A MIRACLE! Danny talked to us after sacrament meeting and said "I'm so sorry I've missed out on this.. You kept inviting me. Why didn't I just come? Sisters. I promise I'll be here next week." It was so cool to see him there, and to see fast and testimony meeting touch his heart that way.

I went on exchange back to Paper Mill. Those sisters are doing GREAT things with my first area. :) It was so cool to be there and see some of the members and see what great strides Rebecca, Sister Wooten, Sister Green, and others are making. Do you remember me ever talking about McKenzie? She is a woman we taught and she is getting baptized in a few weeks. It was a tender mercy to see some of the work my companions and I did made a small difference in the lives of a few people in Marietta GA.

We had an emergency exchange this week because one of our sisters ended up in the hospital. We had her companion with us for a few days. Sister Nielsen then left the area so I had a fun trio experience with 2 sisters from 2 different areas. It was like a big sleep-over! :)  I say that because I ended up sleeping on the floor a couple nights until we could get an air mattress.. I was one tired girl. And actually one of the sisters is my new companion, CRAZY. We saw a lot of miracles which I am so thankful for. We were able to say prayers/share messages with people and get return appointments for the next day that they could go to as well and we were able to bring members with us to share their experiences and testimonies.

Last I want to tell you why all of these experiences/ little miracles meant so much to me this week. It goes back to Friday August 23rd during our weekly planning session. Sister Nielsen and I always write down a list of people we are teaching. We were so blessed to have a good list of people who were meeting with us and had a real desire to learn more. Sister Nielsen and I decided to make our goal for lessons with a member present bigger than either of us have ever done in a week on our mission. Our mission tries to have 5 each week per companionship. So on Aug 23 we made a goal to have 8 lessons with members present (for this week). We knew it would be hard but with who we were teaching and the Lord on our side we knew we could do it. Well by Sunday Aug 25 half of those people we had planned to teach with members of our congregation there either said "no lessons this week" or "no lessons ever" So we started the week thinking its wouldn't be possible. We chose to not change our goal and still try to get 8. That is the biggest miracle of them all. People we had taught in the past like Danny and new people emerged and members were more willing to come with us than ever before. It would seem we would lose hope of a member coming and then 20 min before a lesson someone would call/text and say "I'll be there." With the help of God, we reached our goal. And that my friends is a miracle!

Truthfully I feel like Ammon when he said " Yea, I know I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." I have seen countless miracles during my time here in Johns Creek and in the Roswell Zone. Miracles I know will touch my heart as long as I live and reflect on them. Miracles like I'd never seen before and will probably never see. Others are miracles we all see on a regular basis but it is here I learned that they are gifts from God, tender mercies to let us know He cares.

I am excited to go to Coal Mountain and have my eyes opened even more to the hand of the Lord and see what miracles He wants me to witness there. I have loved the people in this area more than I knew I could. I am POSITIVE Johns Creek will ALWAYS hold a place in my heart. These people have become my family. Oh and Mom, please don't be surprised when some of them call you. Because some of them have been asking for your number when they found out I'm leaving.. :)

I love this work. I love the Lord. I love these crazy Georgians (and can't wait to meet more real southerns). And I love you all.

Extra Photos to Enjoy!

Slumber Party! aka Exchange

Sister Painter ME, Sister Alder (my new companion) on exchange last week

This one is for Grandma! This is a picture of me, holding a picture of her mission president and my mission president! :) Georgia Atlanta Mission!! :) I love you grandma!!

Me and Mandi! She's seriously the best! She's a ward missionary and I loved taking her out with us and being with her and her fiancé Will.

Will, Sister Nielsen and I.

The Ernsts! Oh my goodness I am going to miss that family. They are seriously the most wonderful. President and Sister Ernst have done so much for us, I will never forget them. Also in the picture is their daughter Whitney and  President Ernsts sister Courtenay. I loved each family dinner there! :)

The joys of experiencing the greenie fire again!

Hi Everyone! 

My Companions! :)

It was a really good week this past week. I have learned a lot and had some fun experiences. Truthfully I'm not sure where to start. Maybe I'll just try to do a rundown from the days of the week.. That might help me get focused. 

Well at the beginning of the week our water was out for 2 days. It was all good. A sweet ward member let us shower at their house and so we just tried to stay out of the apartment as long as possible. Lucky Sis Nielsen, she was on exchange in Milton so she didn't have to deal with it, but poor Sis Allen who joined me got to have "fun" haha 

We had Zone Conference this week and it was the best!! There are a lot of things that many of our companionship's of Sisters have been struggling with and Sister Nielsen and I had no clue how to help, but what was such a tender mercy was all of the training's of Zone Conference addressed the needs of all our companionships. I learned SO much and hope that we'll be able to use the training's as a basis of how to help these sisters in the future.

Want to know what was absolutely mind boggling?! When I first entered the mission, and had my first zone conference we had 1 companionship of sisters (mine) for the 2 zones. This week we had 24 Sisters between the two zones. THAT'S CRAZY!! Our mission is seriously growing so fast with the number of sisters. We'll reach 100 in the next 2 transfers. Pretty cool! 

Sis Mitton

Another GREAT part about Zone Conference was having 4 of my 6 companions there! How cool is that! So I had a nice picture taken with all of them and will be sure to attach it. That also means Sister Beasley and I had lots of giggles and fun! Man I miss that girl! Also, I saw Megan Mitton! She's doing really well and it was fun to talk to her about how she's doing up in the COUNTRY sense I am serving in the city. She's done a great job training, my money's on her training again next transfer :) 

Having fun :).. Don't ask :)

We are still teaching Shelby and she is learning so much! She has great faith, I am so impressed. There are times in our lessons she'll ask a question, then before we answer she'll say something like "Actually.. it doesn't matter. If its true then God can make it so no matter what." We are working on her shooting toward a specific day for baptism, instead of just hoping for baptism. I loved one of her experiences that I'd like to share with you all. She said "I now know God is our Heavenly Father and He likes to be called that. I tried to pray this week by saying Heavenly Father, and then one night I was really tired and I just wanted to say a quick prayer. Next thing I knew I was praying in my head and it just came out ' My Heavenly Father.' I think that made Him happy." :) I know that that moment made Him happy. He loves to hear from us just as all Fathers love to hear from their children.

I got to go on an exchange with 2 new missionaries aka greenies who have only been out a month. My goodness they were SOOO full of energy and so excited. It was a miracle to be with them. Their excitement and devotion to the work was inspiring and it felt nice to be reminded of the urgency and fearlessness new missionaries have. I think all missionaries would do well to serve around new missionaries every once in awhile, I know I'm so thankful for it! I feel re-energized and ready to get back to work! 

I had a really cool experience on Wednesday I'd like to talk about :) We went to meet Miahn, a friend of one of our members who wanted us to go see her. As we walked up to the door we could smell a wonderful lunch and the door was open. As we knocked she came running to the door, looked at our name tags and said "You believe in Jesus?!" To which we happily responded, "We sure do!" She told us to come in and sit down and she would give us a great lunch. Her friend was sitting at a table and Cathy had been reading Miahn bible verses as she cooked. We had a wonderful conversation about the Savior and missionary work.

As we spoke of the Savior I asked if I could share a scripture out of the Book of Mormon, that's when Cathy turned a little feisty. She said, "No way. That book is not scripture and I do not want to hear from it. I'll let you read out of it if you can show me in the Bible where it mentions that book. But that book does not talk about the Christ. Not the real Christ." I paused for a moment, because at that point I had a choice to make, and I had a new missionary with me looking terrified.  And I could either prove exactly what she wanted, using the Bible, or I could do avoid the confrontation.. I responded by saying "Cathy, I admire your devotion to the Bible. I too treasure the words in it. I would like to prove to you that this is the word of God about the Savior in a different way if you'll let me. I promise you that if you let me read you 3 verses from this wonderful book of scripture that the Spirit of the Lord will enter your heart and you will know that the Book of Mormon Testifies of the Savior Jesus Christ." She hesitated, but then agreed. I then opened to the Book of Alma, chapter 7 and read verses 11-13. As I read the Spirit came so strong and I soon heard Cathy saying "amen" under her breath. As I finished I bore testimony of the Savior and that He really did all that the prophets had testified that He would.  What happened next was even more of the miracle. She said "I love the next verse" SHE WAS READING AHEAD! :) She then read it to me and said "Sister, thank you. I probably will never read the Book of Mormon, but I know just like you said that it testifies of Christ and at least now I can tell other people that it does testify of the Savior of the world." What a miracle!! :)

I know that every time we read the Book of Mormon we can feel closer to the Savior. Don't believe me? Try it.. Cathy did :) 

Anyways that's all I have time for.. Enjoy the pictures!

I love you!

Love,

Sis Hamilton

Put your big girl panties on!!

Hi everyone!

 This is Sister Jacobs and I (a sis I went on exchange with) in "Big Girl Panties!" Her comp is really struggling and so her comps mom custom made these big girl panties and told her daughter to put on her "big girl panties" then go find joy in the work. They are so funny! I was so glad Sis Jacobs showed them to me. I totally thought it was something Mom would have thought of :) 

Random story: Have I told you that I got the hiccups.. about 1.5 months ago.. and they haven't left yet? They aren't super frequent.. Only about 3-4 times an hour on average. But they are ridiculous and soo lame. Sometimes it sounds like a huge almost gasp.. and they are really loud. So loud.. We were tracting one day this week and someone happened to be in their yard, I hiccupped then heard "Yikes! That one hurt, do you need some water?" haha Yes, that really happened.. All I can say is #southernhospitality

Sister Nielsen and I have had a wonderful week here in Johns Creek (&Webb Bridge and Dacula). I have learned a lot this week! I really love the opportunity to go on exchanges and learn from and help the Sisters in Roswell and Lilburn. I learn so much from them and its fun to get to know them all. It is kind of a bummer to never see Sister Nielsen, but we're just making sure we have a bunch of fun the few days we actually are around each other. We experienced many miracles this week, and for that I am truly thankful and humbled that the Lord is trusting us with these miracles. I'd like to share a couple of them with y'all! So away we go!

One of our members introduced us to her friend Shelby, who visited her in BYU-Idaho and unofficially took the first lesson there by a few returned missionary roommates. Shelby loved the spirit she felt at BYU-I and has loved church the 2 times she has attended our meetings. Honestly teaching her reminds me of my wonderful roommate Emily Sellars, and the great experience it was to be there with her when the missionaries taught her. :) Shelby is great! She has some of the strongest faith I have ever seen and great questions. Shelby has accepted the invitation to be baptized and says "As soon as I know its true, I want to be baptized. I mean, why wouldn't I?" She is already praying about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She really is amazing and so fun!

Another miracle happened at church yesterday when a member of our congregation brought a young man into our gospel principles class. We talked with him after class (not knowing anything about him) and I felt impressed to not just introduce myself as "Sister Hamilton" but as a missionary and representative for Jesus Christ. Davis responded by saying "My name is Davis, and I've always wanted to be a missionary!" How cool is that!! Sister Nielsen and I sat down and talked to him about what brought him to church. He told us that he was simply walking past the church building and decided to come in. He doesn't know anything about Mormons or what we believe but he said he felt so good in the building and lately has been wondering about "how to be saved." He said he heard Sacrament meeting from the foyer and downloaded the Book of Mormon on his phone. We told him that missionaries teach people how to come closer to Christ and feel His spirit. Davis asked us when we could start teaching him! Truly my heart is full of gratitude and thanks!

Saturday was Timothy's birthday. Timothy is Sister Johnson's special-needs son, who turned 34. Woot woot!! :)  We got a phone call from Sister Johnson needed our help in the morning because she had too many groceries she couldn't carry and wanted everything to be perfect for his birthday. We then had breakfast with them after our studies. I did it.. I had official southern GRITS. Not my fav.. but the smile on Timothy and Sis Johnson were well worth it! :) Timothy opened his presents and then went to his room. He came back as Sis Johnson was telling us about the party she was doing that night and wanted our help getting ward members there, he gave her the biggest hug and kiss and said "I love you mom!" Honestly it was just the sweetest thing. She gives all for him and he loves her so much. We came by that night with a bunch of ward members including the Bishop and He gave me a huge hug and thanked me for helping with his party. It doesn't get much better than that. Knowing you really made a difference.

If there is one thing I know it's that God loves every singe one of His children. He loves them more than we know. And some of my most cherished memories and thankful moments are when I have felt an overwhelming love for His children. Its real. Pres. Uchtdorf describes the love of God as "not a greeting card love" and I love that. The love of God is real, its something you can feel and its something that empowers and enables individuals to rise to their infinite potential. I feel it each time I think of Connor and how much he changed my life working with him, along with the students I taught at the Jr. High/Middle School. I feel it every time I think of my wonderful family. I feel it often as I talk to people on the street and when I ask "Heavenly Father, do you love them?" before someone comes to the door. If you haven't felt that love for someone or for yourself in a long time, all you have to do is ask. The peace and love will fill your heart with joy. I know it will. And it will change your life forever.

I love you all! Please have a great week, and enjoy the sunshine wherever you are! Because it seems that GA only gets rain.. I'm not a huge fan.. But its ALL GOOD!! :)

I love you!

Love,

Sister Julie Hamilton

3 great iPhotos

Hi everyone!

 

Its been a really good week! Like really good :) We've had some really wonderful experiences and also some hilarious ones. Take the title of this email for example. This sweet woman, she was kind of a nut.. Told us she wasn't Christian anymore.. when we asked if she had a religion now she responded "Now I'm a Witch!" No joke..

 

We met quite a few "bashers" this week. Aka people who are not happy that you are LDS and want you to know that you are going to hell. Perhaps the two "best" lines we hear this week were "I ENCOURAGE YOU TO REPENT FROM YOUR MORMONISM!" and we asked one man if we could say a prayer with him and his family and he responded "Absolutely not. But I WILL be saying a prayer tonight that you don't go preach Mormonism to my neighbors. I'd hate for any of them to get sucked in." We thanked him for his faith in Jesus Christ and happily moved on to the next home :) A woman told me not too long ago "Hunny, you're not just in the Bible Belt, you're in the BUCKLE!" And so instead of getting hurt or frustrated when I have experiences that remind me that we are in the "buckle" I just smile and laugh. Want to know what's amazing? I still love those people. I love their devotion to whatever it is they devote their lives to. I find it inspiring. I know God loves them, and I feel blessed to feel that love for them as well.

 

Now here are some fun things/memories/experiences from the week:

 

Sister Nielsen and I choose a challenge each time we go tracting, so yesterday we made it a goal to share a scripture with on average) every 3rd person we talked to. And you want to know what? We did it! Its really testing my scripture knowledge as I keep trying to find scriptures that fit the conversation well, but its fun. :) 

 

We are teaching a man named Danny. Danny struggles with alcoholism and has the biggest desire to learn so that he can stop drinking. He really loved the Word of Wisdom, and its actually what we taught first before giving him a Book of Mormon.  He absolutely loved each scripture we read with him and when we read Moroni 10:3-5 he said "Sisters.. God wrote that for me. He wants me to talk to him and ask from the bottom of my heart. Do you think if I do that, that he'll help me stop drinking?" Honestly I felt the spirit so strong as I saw a man who had never heard of the Book of Mormon apply it immediately to his life. That is the power of the scriptures. Its real, and its beautiful.

 

I was in Roswell on exchange over 2 months ago when we found Marilyn. I loved her then and I love her even more now. You see, I went back to Roswell on exchange this week and we stopped by to see her. She's been meeting with the missionaries and wants to be baptized. When she opened the door and saw me she cried and said "Oh I remember you!! come here!" And gave me the biggest hug. She smiled and said, "do you notice anything different?" Before I could answer she said "I'm clean! I haven't smoked in almost 2 months! You see, I felt so guilty smoking in front of you. There was something about you, something special and I wanted it. So I made a plan. And I quit smoking in about 3 weeks just before the missionaries came back to teach me. You did that for me." That is a miracle I will hold onto forever.

 

This week I had someone that we are working with, who I love dearly tell me something that will have made my ENTIRE mission worth it. She told me "No matter what happens, if I come back to the church or not. I want you to know that you have changed my life. You have bridged the gap between me and the Church. And you have helped me remember how to let the Savior heal me and for that I will always be thankful."

 

I want you all to know that I did not come on my mission to see how many "baptisms" I can have. The number of them really mean nothing to me. I came here with the hopes that PERHAPS I MIGHT help at least one of Gods Children remember how much He loves them. That's what its all about. And hearing that from her will never leave my mind. Each week I find many reasons of why my mission was worth it. This week it has been worth it to hear that, see Marilyn, Danny, and others have just a little more light radiating from them and a bigger smile on their face.

 

The Gospel changes lives. This I know. It has changed mine, and I encourage you to let it change yours. I know it can if we let it.

 

I love you all

Love,

Sister Julie Hamilton

Why Hello There!

Why Hello there everyone!

 

I hope you are all doing great, that everyone is healthy and happy and enjoying summer. Let me give you a recap of some of the highlights of the week.

 

We have had a few really powerful lessons this week. Its always a blessing when the teaching appointments you have end up like the ones described in D&C 50:22  "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are ^aedified and ^brejoice together."

 

We are still teaching Jeff and this week we had a great lesson with him. We were teaching him the restoration and we taught him how Christ called apostles on the earth when He was setting up His church.  I then opened my mouth to keep going and saw myself teaching Jeff about how right after Christ died the apostles came together to call one more so there would be 12 (having to replace Judas). I honestly have never taught that in a lesson.. it just kind of came out of my mouth. We used that example to show how once the apostles have God's priesthood power and authority, they can call more apostles under the direction of Christ through revelation. As we then taught Joseph Smith's first vision we asked "Well Jeff, what do you think just happened?" He sat there in silence for a bit, then responded "I think Christ just called an apostle who could then call others." His sweet wife Mary says "Oh my goodness! So that's how we still have apostles today! That's amazing!" Honestly I can even feel the Spirit now as I can picture him really searching for an answer and allowing the Spirit to teach him. It really was a wonderful lesson. I learned so much. I am completely amazed each time the Spirit seems to just give me the words to say in the lessons.

 

On Tuesday Sister Nielsen and I were doing our companion study and going over our plans for the day when we both remembered we had told this woman, Eve, that we could come back this morning. Eve wasn't necessarily.. interested.. When we knocked on her door originally. She told us it wasn't a good time but that because we were God's servants she'd let us come back. I truthfully didn't think much of it. Sis Nielsen and I were debating whether or not to go.. thinking "well.. if she isn't there then we'll be early for district meeting.. we won't have a key.. so we'll be stuck in the parking lot." I know.. STUPID EXCUSE! You don't have to tell me.. I bet you are wondering if we went huh.. :) I'll tell you!

 

As we kept studying again at the same time we both just stood up and said "We have to keep our word.. We have to go." And off we went. Eve answered the door and thanked us for coming and let us in right away. She sent her oldest off to gather her other kids and sat down and talked to us. She said "I want to hear about the message you have. I know its important. I felt peace, even from just talking to you. Then as soon as I sent you away I felt completely guilty. And I prayed all week, especially this morning,  that you would show up. I wouldn't have blamed you if you didn't though.." I was shocked.. completely shocked! I didn't know people could feel the Spirit just from talking to us.. What was the best is after we said a prayer with her she smiled and with tears said "The peace is back, thank you." She asked us to teach her family next week. Aka tomorrow :) But we have a meeting.. so we went by today before emailing to see if we could change it. She was SO thankful to have us come by again and we got a different time set up to go tomorrow. We shared with her some scriptures and spent a lot of time just getting to know her children. It is perhaps one of the most special miracles I saw this week. God certainly is aware of His children.

 

We had "Mission Leadership Counsel" for 2 days this week (Thurs, Friday) for.. 7 hours both days. It was a lot, but it was really great. I learned SO much. Sis Nielsen took back some great ideas of what we can do to help the people living in our area who we work with and also what we can do to help our Sisters specifically.

 

One of the things President Wolfert trained us on was "praying for miracles, and then expecting them" So Sister Nielsen and I prayed for a miracle on Friday and then decided we better "expect" it. And let me tell you about the result.. :)

 

We went to see someone we were teaching and they weren't home. So we decided to stop what we were doing and look around. We figured Heavenly Father knew we would be going there so we needed to see the real reason we were in the area. We were about to leave but decided to go to one more block of homes. We met a woman, Roxanne, who was smoking and looked like she'd had a rough day. She allowed us to say a prayer with her and she said she felt so much peace afterward. As we were about to introduce the Book of Mormon I decided to switch things up a bit and show her the pictures and use them to show the stories of the Book of Mormon. We finished and she kept quiet for a bit.. Then as she was asking us questions about the resurrection she opened it back up to the picture of Christ in the Americas and said "This just opens a whole new world. This is amazing. Please tell me this is true." :) As we walked away we looked back and saw her reading the Book of Mormon. We'll be teaching her again this week. Truly a miracle! :)

 

Random story.. I carried a Korean Book of Mormon around with me at church today.. And one of our Korean members brought a Korean friend.. So I got to give it out! :) And She loved church and wants to learn more.. What a tender mercy! :)

 

I heart attacked someone for the first time on my mission.. Lots of Hearts taped to Ms. Hamilton's door :) And she loved it. #sistermissionaryforsure

 

Well that's probably all for now. A lot of people have decided to stop learning.. all at once so that's a little rough. But the Lord has blessed us to find more people to teach. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary.

 

I love you all! The mailbox is empty.. hint hint.. 

 

Love,

Sister Hamilton

Y'all got any money?

Well its begun. Another transfer come and gone. Where has the time gone? I'm being serious.. where did it go? Its been an interesting week. Its gone so fast, but at the same time it seems like a million years since I last wrote home. Probably because a lots of things have changed since my last email. Missionaires I served around went home. Sister Beasley headed off to the sticks. I got a new companion. We were told we are incharge of 2 zones of sisters, not one. More than doubling the amount of Sisters we get to keep track of. Taught a good amount of lessons. Met some great people. And have had to develop a new motto because of the humidity.. Ready? I think it is best shown with a hashtag.. #bighairdontcare My hair is getting bigger and shorter.. but I haven't had it cut.. NICE! haha

 

Mitch! You're friend, Sister Kelly, is being trained by my trainee Sister Beasley! Small world? I think yes! They are also in the same Zone (Stake) as Sister Megan Mitton. I'll get to see her and her new missionary at Zone Conference in a few weeks. We'll try to get pictures :) Also, random fact of the day Daniel Grim went home this week. It still shocks me that we were in the same mission. We figured that out like 3 months ago.. can't remember if I told y'all or not.

 

Well.. I hit my 6 month mark so we took some time to celebrate it along with the Elders by doing an old fashioned burning.. Don't worry. Smoky the Bear was present and we did indeed prevent forrest fires. Sis Beasley burned a sock, I burned a very tired shirt, Elder Johnson slacks, and Elder Robinson an old and tired suit. I'll attach a picture. :)

 

We did a lot of good ol' fashioned service this week. Moving, weeding, paining, staining a deck, etc. It wasn't too hot so it was really nice. We have lots more set up for the next week or so too! I like when we do more hands on service because it is a change of pace. Not to mention its nice that people are finally recognizing that Sisters CAN do service. And the Elders aren't the only one that can. But.. I must say.. my favorite change of pace activity for this week was.. Making cookies :)

OH! before I forget. This week.. I ate frog legs! Add that to the list.. :)

 

Here are two fun experiences from the week..

Sister Nielsen said something like "we're here to leave the Saviors peace and blessings with you." So the man stuck out his hand, as if he was waiting for something.. So she says "Oh, well actually its a prayer.." To which he pulls his hand back, the smile leaves his face, and he shakes his head and goes "No.. thanks." And shuts the door. HAHA

 

We started teaching this man, Cortez, on the steps in his apartment complex. His cute little daughter was there running around too. At first he was not friendly, but we offered to say a prayer to bring him peace and he agreed. After that he copmletely changed and was asking us questions about how he could feel that way always. We gave him a Book of Mormon, taught about it and read from it. (It was a WONDERFUL experience!) Then the funny happened.. His friend walks up and starts to kind of bash Mormons and what not and says "Well as for me I stick to the REAL Bible." To which Crotez responded, "Yo man! Don't you dare put down this book. This is Jesus' Book! See, His name is on the cover, and look His name is on their tags.. its His church. Come on man." Never have I ever had someone we just met and taught briefly about the Book of Mormon then turn around and defend it and basically bear their testimony of its truthfulness. If that isn't the coolest thing, I'm not sure what is! It definitely shocked me and made me have a BIG ol' smile on my face! :)

 

We are still seeing lots and lots of miracles here in Johns Creek. What a blessing! :) We are continuing to teach Jeff, Ms. Hamilton, Q, and a few others who are really progressing. The joy that comes as you watch someone learn about the gospel and allow the Spirit to touch their heart is amazing. I'm thankful for each moment.

 

We stopped by to see a family that I've never met in my 3 months here and to our great suprise Brother Beckstrand was home. He is the complete definition of a retired rancher. Cowboy boots, hat, buckle, and plaid shirt. And oh my is he hilarious with the best stories! I feel like I've gone hunting/fishing a thousand times with how vivid his stories are.. haha. He was sad that his wife didn't get to meet us so they had us over for dinner a few days later. Sis Beckstrand teased/blamed Sis Neilsen and I for being the type of people who encourage her daughter to try jumping off bridges into rivers, glow in the dark hide-n-go-see etc. up at BYU-Idaho. :) They are just the sweetest and most loving people. They came to church this Sunday and asked us to come by their house each week to share a message. I already love them so much already, I can't wait to see them each week!

 

Well I think that's probably all I have for the week.. I can guess your eyes are burning from reading so much and you probably didn't read most of it.. haha :) Just kidding?! I hope :)

 

I hope you all know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. I am thankful for the prayers you say for me, I can definitely feel them and I know they strengthen me to go just a little further each day. I love this work. It is exhausting and hard, but it is more than worth it. I am thankful for the gospel and for God's plan for families. I know without a doubt that He is aware of each of us and more happiness and joy than we can imagine planned to come our way.

 

Elder Nelson says "Ask the missionaries, they can help you!" And I don't know that we can always help, but I promise that we do our best to help! :) But speaking as a missionary.. can you do me a favor and "Ask the missionarie!" becuase they need your help.. We need your help. You'll never know how much your acts of service, smiles, or hugs can do to bless the lives of missionaires.

 

I love you all!!

Love, Sister Hamilton