"I love Jesus with all my heart, but I'm a do my own thang"

Hi MOM and DAD!! :) And Everyone else who reads these :)

 

First off, Thank you SOOOO much for all your support. I am so blessed to have you all in my life. Thank you for the letters and for all the help you give to me. Its nice to know I have so many great people behind me cheering me on while I'm a missionary! You're all so wonderful.

 

This week I learned what Elder Clayton meant when he said (in the MTC) "Soon you will become someones missionary. Not just a missionary. But SOMEONES missionary." It has been a blessing to feel love from those I teach, because I truly love them so much. I am thankful to be their missionary, and pray I can always live up to their gratitude and love.

 

My companion, Sister Young, said something to us this week as we were thinking about how blessed we have been in Paper Mill that has caused me to think a lot.. She said, "Sometimes people call missions a tithing for your life, because its about 10%. So you come out here and give the Lord everything you have to thank Him for the life He's given you. Then something remarkable happens.. He blesses you on your mission more than you could ever imagine.. I feel like I'll have to serve Him my entire life to thank Him for my mission." I couldn't agree more. I came here to try to help others find Christ and show them the way that the windows of heaven can be opened in their life for them to receive blessings, and in doing so I have been blessed more than words can describe.

 

Last week I told y'all there was a chance that I would be a trainer. Well it turns out that.. I was right. haha :) It also turns out that my feeling of not staying in Paper Mill was.. (unfortunately).. right. Man I'm good at guessing! Just kidding :) Seriously though, I have been called to train a new missionary, I don't know her name yet but I am sure she is great. She will enter the Mission Field tomorrow and have her first experience of missionary work as President puts them all on the MARTA *(aka GAs BART) and has them be a missionary. Oh.. the Marta.. haha :) So I'll pick her up bright and early Wednesday morning and then take her to our new area. I will be serving in the Johns Creek ward (still in the Roswell Stake) and will be opening that area.

 

Yesterday was Stake Conference, it was really great! I loved it and learned so much. AND DAD! I met you! Okay it wasn't you.. but I did meet a Mark E. Hamilton. This sweet old woman came up to me and said, "I want you to meet Brother Mark Hamilton" and took me to see him. (I thought to my self.. uh.. no.. its okay that's not allowed..haha) His family is from Auburn CA. Small world. Anyways, We were talking to some of our Paper Mill ward members and this man comes up and asks Sister Blaylock, "WHERE IS SISTER HAMILTON!?" I can't say I wasn't a little scared.. I thought "Oh no.. what did I do wrong.." Turns out he was the Ward Mission Leader in the Johns Creek ward where I'll be serving and the Zone leaders told him my name. He was SUPER nice and introduced me to many of the ward members there. They were all so kind and excited to have sisters in the ward!

 

Everytime he introduced me he'd say, "This is Sister Hamilton, she's coming to our ward. And did you know she's only been out 3 months and is training!? That's how we know she's a good one!" Each time I couldn't help but smile and think "Little does this man know.. almost every sister is training." I'm thankful for his kindness and enthusiasm. Now I just hope I can live up to his kind introduction of me. The Bishop told me that I'm an answer to their prayers because the ward has been asking for Sister Missionaries for years. In the past 20 years they have only had Sister's once, for 2 months until one of the sisters had to go home sick. The ward was so GREAT! I'm excited :) And it helps make leaving Paper Mill not as sad because I know the ward in Johns Creek is wonderful as well.

 

Now that the business is all taken care of it will be my pleasure to tell you about some of the great miracles which I have been blessed to witness this week. There are many of them, but I brought my journal so I'll try to determine which ones I should share.. Again.. forgive me for my crazy email and for being so scattered.

 

When I came to Paper Mill we didn't have anyone we were teaching, and all we did was find people through talking to everyone. It took weeks and weeks to find people who were somewhat interested. But one of the miracles I saw this week was having 3 people whom we are teaching tell me when I said I was being transferred "Sister Hamilton, promise me you'll be here for my baptism." It breaks my hear to leave this area after I saw it go from 0-amazing. We have so many people interested in learning and progressing toward making covenants (promises) with God. It is such a blessing, and I know that it happened because we didn't give up and the Lord blessed us. We did not find any single one of them without His help. There are people everywhere ready to hear the Gospel but just as Joseph Smith said, they are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. I feel blessed to have helped people find the truth they had been looking for.

 

D'lan is learning and growing. She is such a strong woman of faith who I feel greatly blessed to know and have taught. She told each of us how our individual spirit says something different but all of them have touched her heart. You were probably wondering where the title of this email came from.. It came from her cute and genuine description of my own personality. I gave her the biggest hug and thanked her for being so wonderful. She told the elders that we are her "3 babies" and that she'll be praying that we get sent back here. :)

 

Rebecca too is such a woman of faith. Truly her example is remarkable and I learn so much from her. She has taught me so much. She says that we are "her angels" and she, is one of mine.

 

I would like to tell you quickly  of Joshua. We had a lesson with him and it was great, he has been trying to read the Book of Mormon but it is hard for him to understand. We invited him to start over, and we would come every few days to talk about what he learned and read some with him to help him. We were about to leave when Sister Blaylock felt she should ask him if he had any questions. He asked us a simple and wonderful question, "Are there any Brothers? I know you are all sisters.. but are there brothers as well?" We replied yes of course! And I thought he was going to ask to be taught by the Elders. When we asked him what he wanted to know about them his next question surprised me but filled my soul. He asked, "Well.. can you guys help me know how to be one? I'd like to be a brother." We all smiled and said "What a great question! Sure we can help you!" I was blessed with the opportunity to invite him to be baptized, which he accepted. He said he will continue to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and that he wants to join the church and serve a mission. I have learned so much from teaching him. My heart is full from the blessings I am able to see from stopping my bike and opening my mouth. I know its what I have been called to do, share the gospel with everyone. I hope and pray I can always do my best to talk to everyone I can and invite them to come to Christ.

 

We have met some of the nicest people this week! Here are a couple:

 

Jennafer: When we told her we were Representatives of Jesus Christ she said "Really?! I've been waiting for you! Please come in." Before we left she said "I knew you would come, I have something for each of you." She gave us all scripture tassels for our bible to mark pages they have cross gems on them. So sweet! She also gave us a beautiful photograph which she titled "Majesty"

 

Mohsina: We talked to hear at the door, she kindly told us she was Muslim and not interested. But the more we talked she said "You have such wonderful spirits please come in." She fed us dinner and gave us beautiful dresses of hers from India. She is possibly the nicest woman I have ever met. I feel blessed to know her.

 

Well Its been a wonderful week! I am so excited to go to Johns Creek! I love you all and if you do have time.. letters are always wonderful.. hint hint :)

 

I love you!

Love,

Sister Hamilton

"Not sure what your children have been up too? Bring them in for a free drug screening!" -Billboard in town

Hello my WONDERFUL family and friends!

And before I fail to mention this.. can I just say that what happened in Boston was so tragic. I have kept those people in my prayers all week and hope you all will do the same. No matter how dark the world will get I am thankful to have the knowledge and peace that the Lord and His light and goodness will always prevail.

How are you all doing? I hope you're doing well! I am doing great here in GA. I woke up today with a surprising amount of energy, which isn't always normal... So I'm happy! This week has been really great overall. I am learning more than I thought imaginable and can't believe the transfer is just about over. I feel like I got here then blinked.. Its hard to believe its already been 3 months.

We are teaching some absolutely wonderful people, whom I love. Every one of them is amazing and I feel blessed to be teaching them. We have a few progressing toward baptism and its amazing to see the unique strugges that ALWAYS pop up as they are making the most progress. But they're all awesome and I'm thankful they are relying on the Lord for their strength. Their dedication to learn and use the scriptures and prayer to find peace and comfort is really inspiring, and they make me want to be better! :)

I've been blessed the past little bit to attend two baptisms, both in Portuguese. The girls that were baptized are so sweet and becuase they meet in our church building we get to see them each week. Regardless of language barriers they come up to us each week and give us a big hug! The Portuguese Branch is so sweet here!

Now, excuse my excitement for something that may seem.. small.. but to a missionary its a HUGE deal. :) Missionaries give out lots of Books of Mormon each day (and they're free so check out www.mormon.org if you want your own copy!). As much as we hope and pray that the people we give them to will read, it doesn't always happen. But this week alone there were 3 people we gave them to on the street and didn't get their address, but ran into them another day in the same area and they had read! It was sooo cool! :) One of them is a single mom named Tiffani who has let us come by 2 more times now to teach her and her young son more about the Church and the Book of Mormon. She has an extremely busy schedule but I am so thankful she is making the time for us to be able to come and teach her, AND making time to read what we ask her to (and more!) before we come again.

So if you have a Book of Mormon you haven't seen in awhile, go ahead and blow off the dust and start with the introduction. If that doesn't peak your interest read the testimonies. Then either start from the beginning, pick a random page, or even start at the end (pg 529) and figure out the best way to read so you can get the most out of it. As a representative of Jesus Christ I can promise you that if you take the time to do this blessings will come. You will feel peace and joy. You will feel a more open communication with God our Father. You will be filled with the love our Savior and Redeemer has for you. And you will want to read more. But hey! Don't take my word for it, go ahead and try it out yourself, you won't regret it! :)

We had interviews with President Wolfert this week, he is such an awesome mission president! It was nice to hear from him that he thinks I'm doing well and is pleased with the growth I've made these past months. I got a bit embarrassed/excited when he told me that he read one of my emails (a part of it) to the entire mission! It was the one with the story I told you a few weeks ago about Jacqualine and her grandson Joshua and the miracle it was to meet them and be teaching them. So I guess maybe I am doing at least one thing right! :) There are (in theory) 11 available trainers as of May 1st, and 11 sisters coming in on that date.. President said to me "Are you ready to be a trainer? Oh I don't need a response! Of course you are! And I have a feeling we'll be using you soon." I'm just hoping my trainer trains 2 again next transfer so I'll be off the hook for another 6 weeks :) We'll find out today sometime.. If you wanted to cross your fingers for me I'd be okay with that!

Now I have 2 or so stories left to tell you, and I'll try to keep them short. Its a good thing I can type so fast otherwise my letters would be two sentences long! (or maybe you'd like them shorter.. haha)

So once upon a time we were knocking on doors, basically every missionary's dream. We go up to this house... I'm the first on the porch and all of a sudden the boards move.. I realize that most of them aren't actually nailed down.. and the other half of the porch which happens to be about 4-5 feet off the ground is missing ALL the boards.. :) So no one answered the door.. we left blah blah blah. So we are walking and passing the home again and Sister Young is on the phone.. Well this cute OLD frail lady comes out and almost falls through the floor on the porch then goes and sits on her rocking chair. She starts waving and talking to me but I cannot hear her.. so I go closer.. closer.. closer until I'm standing right next to her chair on the porch. Barbara (90yr old) has no upper teeth and just 3 on the bottom, and she was repeating each word like 5 times. Once I figured her pattern I could actually follow the conversation and we talked a lot. About her dogs, the son, the Lord, how she's happy etc. When her daughter came outside Sisters Blaylock and Young talked to her while I continued to talk to Barbara. She held my hand and said with her thick southern accent, "Baby, I love you." "You sure are beautiful!" "You're such a doll." Right before we left she said to me (while pulling me close so we were face to face) "Sugar, God sure has been good to me becuase He brought me you. Please come back, I sure love you." Then gave me a big kiss on the cheek. Barbara has late stage dimensia and her daugher takes care of her. The reason she has no teeth right now is she lost her dentures and Fran (her daughter) can't find them anywhere :) Fran, with tears in her eyes said, "oh please come back. She is glowing with happiness, please come and minister to her again." Now I tell you this story part for humor, part because it was such a sweet moment, but mostly I tell you it because I want you all to know, just as I told Barbara multiple times, that God knew her and loved her. He loves her so much. I know it because I felt it in my whole being as I looked into her blue eyes and saw her face fill with more rinkles as she smiled and showed her gums. God loves her. She is His daughter. He loves every single one of us. I pray every day that everyone can feel His love for them a little more. Please, pray to recognize His love. It is there. He loves you all so much! I know it, and I hope you know it.

Last story, sorry this letter is so long! My first Sunday here in the Paper Mill ward there was a ward member who when we introduced ourselves to him said "You don't need to remember my name because I don't like you." My companions decided we better avoid him.. I took it as a challenge.. :) Imagine that.. :) This will make sense in a second.. So yesterday one of the families we are teaching came to church! They were so sweet. Leigh, the mom, and two of her children sat with me. Funny side note during sacrament her 3 year old said "Mommy, is (blank) a bad word?" HAHA! Mom I'm sure you can relate to that. Anyways so after Sacrament meeting the man who said he didn't like us was the FIRST to introduce themselves to Leigh and her family. He told her, "I'm so happy to see you here today! Are you working with the sisters? That's great! You are in good hands. Now I hate to admit this infront of one of them.. you are working with great missionaries and teachers. But I want you to know that if and when they get transferred to a new area, you will always have a place and be taken care of by this church. Please come again." It was amazing!! :) Possibly the biggest compliment because I knew how much he didn't like sister missionaries from past missionaries in the ward. It was so kind of him to say. Many others introduced themselves to the Hales and the whole family loved church. Her teenager is starting to come to mutual as well. They are such a special family! Be sure to keep them in your prayers for me :)  

Thank you mom for all you do, and for making us lay mulch every summer in the back yard. Thats what I did multiple times this week for service.. At least I knew what to expect :) It was actually a lot of fun. I love any service that lets me wear my jeans, which still fit by the way! Huge accomplishment.. :)

I'll send another email with some more pictures! I love you all! Thanks for everything you do, and if you ever get bored. Letters are always fun.. just saying.. :)

With love,

Sister Hamilton

Pictures:

1. HAMILTON PL!
2. Sister PaePaeTaaTa and Blaylock when we were on exchange.. and we accidently dressed similar.

You, you are beautiful. But Sister Young, She's quiet.. so I want to marry her.

Hi Everyone!

 

To sum up this week in a sentence. This week has been the best, most loving, hardest, and most humbling week of my mission. Well.. That's all I've got time for! I love you all! :)

 

Just kidding. I'll expound a little bit. Problem is I have so many different things I could share with you I honestly haven't a clue where I want to start. I better start with the hilarious story behind that title. We went tracting in this complex and a Muslim man, PaPe from West Africa answered the door, he had just finished his prayer but invited us into his house anyways Sister Blaylock and I were doing most of the talking, everything was good, interesting, but good. Well.. I don't really know how it came up.. I'll spare some of the details.. haha But all of a sudden Pape looks at me and says "You, you are beautiful. But Sister Young, She's quiet.. so I want to marry her." HAHAHA It was HILARIOUS! He kept going on and on about wanting to marry her. Well it turned creepy.. so we got out of there and gave him an address to the Stake center because he said he'd go to church to sit next to Sis Young. So funny. So I guess being talkative is going to keep me from getting proposed to here in Marietta. And I can't say I'm bummed about it.. haha :) I am absolutely smiling thinking about this experience. :)

 

The weather is crazy. We had tornado warnings and it flooded basically. I had water up to my ankles when we were walking home one night. What an adventure. :) Other days its like 88 and starting to get humid.. YAY.. haha

 

We had exchanges this week with a new companionship of Sisters they put in the Zone next to us. It was SO fun! (To say the least.) Sister Young went to their area and their traner, Sister PaePaeTaaTa (from Tahiti) came to our area. She's so awesome. I learned so much from her it was amazing.

 

The people we are teaching are progressing and such amazing people. Vivian has chosen a day to be baptized! So that's awesome! :) I have no idea if I'll be in the area but I'm so excited for her. Rebecca and D'lan are both still preparing to be baptized and we met a lot of other great people to teach. We are BLESSED!

 

I have a couple quick stories and then I'll have to call it quits. Oh before I forget! My dear amazing awesome family: Thank you for writing me notes on the Easter Eggs, I got them this last week and they all made me smile :) Adam here's a statistic to answer your question.. On Friday.. 14 of the 15 people we taught or talked to were either Black or Hispanic. :) I love the people!

 

First story: So you all know that I want to be able to speak spanish, so I try to teach myself right? Well I haven't been reading or studying in Spanish during lunch lately becuase I'm working on some other study stuff.. not important. (My brain is so scattered..)Well I had a neat experience this week, well actaully a few, and I'd like to share one of them because it made me happy. This man Louis walked up to us and asked who we were. His english was really broken, he is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese (obviously) and Spanish. So we just were talking and he was trying SO hard to understand what we were saying. He wanted to know so bad. He then looked at me and asked me (in spanish) "Please, can we speak in spanish?" At first I froze and then said, I'll try, but just know I don't speak it well. I prayed SO hard to remember the verbs, words, and phrases I have been trying to memorize. And you know what? I did! At one point he stopped me and told me "I understand everything, please tell me more." So I did! :) I grabbed the Restoration pamphlet in Spanish and explained it briefly to him and bore my testimony, talked about his work, about getting missionaries to him to teach him more. And all that in SPANISH. Say what??? What a tender mercy. There is no way I did that on my own. It was so amazing to literally have these words just come to my mind and have them form sentences at least enough that he understood it. He is now meeting with Portuguese elders too :) So that's really awesome!

 

Second Story: I'll preface this with saying this is my most powerful mission story ever! I bet all of you are on the edge of your seats :) So we saw this older woman smoking outside her apartment and so we (Sis P Sis B and I) went up to talk to her. She had two of her grandsons outside and she was NOT interested. I tried to just talk about how wonderful the Savior is and such and noticed that her grandsons were listening. So I directed my attention to them. I asked them if they knew how much Jesus loved them and we shared pictures of Christ with them. The younger one ran inside and next thing I new he brought his sister. Sis P suggested we sing them a song and they loved the idea. So we sang "I am a Child of God." Oh my goodness. I cannot put into words the spirit I felt nor can I explain the looks on their faces, the smiles, the light radiating from their eyes, and love from their souls. After we sang we asked the Grandma again if we could come back and teach more. She responded no, while her grandkids were nodding "yes yes yes" When she said no they said "Oh grandma, please! Please let them come back." She then agreed. I can't wait to go back to them. I love them!

 

Never before did I think I would say this, but I am convinced the words "I am a Child of God" are the most powerful words. Once we know the truth of that phrase we can change the world. We change ourselves, because we are no longer paralyzed by the words of critics but listen to our Father who sees us for what we can become, like Him.

 

I love you all. Please don't ever doubt that YOU, old young big small, YOU are a child of God. He has sent you here, and expects you to learn and grow and come back to him. I know this is true.

 

Love,

Sister Hamilton

 

Picture is of the pollen on my hands.. crazy!

My projects was better than yo' projects!

Hi Everyone!! :)

 

I live in a magical place where pixie dust covers cars, fences, and futters all around. And of course by Pixie Dust, I am referring to pollen that literally layers everything. Yes, bright yellow pollen is everywhere. I have never been so thankful in my life that I don't have allergies.

 

Did any of you get a chance to watch conference? I sure hope you did! Conference for missionaries is like going to the mid-night premier of Batman or Harry Potter aka its the most exciting thing in the world! I was so excited to watch each conference and cannot wait to reread the talks given. Its amazing how no matter where we are in life the words of the Prophets can touch our hearts and teach us how we can be better and how we can better lift others. I can't even begin to describe the warmness that filled my soul as I watched President Monson enter the Conference Center. I didn't have to be there to feel that power and know without a doubt that he is the Lord's Prophet in these days.

 

I loved the talks given. Sister Dalton's on the worth of women made me so happy to be a woman, not going to lie :) Elder Nealson's about "Catching the Wave" of missionary work specifically made me excited. Are you doing all you can to "Catch the Wave" of missionary work? We can all catch the wave differently, but what's important is we can all catch it. Some of us catch it by allowing a desire to spark within us to learn more, others can feed the missionaries, some go to lessons and teach with the missionaries, and some even serve missions themselves. One thing we all can do though is to be kind to each other and invite everyone we meet, through our examples, to come unto Christ to find His light and feel His love make a difference. Will you do that? I know you will becuase ALL of you already do this for me. You inspire me to do good, to serve, to love, to smile, and to be better. Thank you for "Catch[ing] the wave" and helping me.

 

This week has been great. P-Day was awesome! We went hiking around the Chattahoochie river and also saw some Civil War Ruins, (so the sign said..) haha It was really fun. After that we went and got ice cream. It was fun to just relax and do something different with my District. That day was like Marathon city.. I ran 2 miles that morning, we hiked for 3 hours and then we biked 12 miles.. Lets just say I slept REALLY well this week. We bike a lot, about 8 miles a day. But you know what they say.. Missionary work is WORK. :)

 

I sure love the people we are teaching so much. I don't have much time to tell you all about them but I will share this one experience we had with D'lan. D'lan wants to learn about the gospel so much and has a wonderful desire to follow Christ. We asked her if we could begin our lesson with a prayer to which she responded, "I hoped we would! bow yo' head, close yo' eyes. and don't laugh." Then proceeded to offer the prayer. It was so sincere and full of love. She thanked God for sending us to her and asked that the Lord would continue to help her to learn "how to be baptized into the Mormon church." How sweet is that!? :)  She told us she believes the things we are teaching her but has one problem right now, that her boss changed her schedule 2 weeks ago and she has to work every Sunday morning. She was so sad that she couldn't come to church and said she keeps begging her boss to let her work Friday so she doesn't have to work Sunday, but he won't change it. She then looked at us with eyes begging for help and asked, "Will y'all pray that my boss will let me have Sundays off? I think if we all pray together it might work." It was so sweet. So pray we will! Will you all please join us in that prayer? :) Thanks! You are the best!

 

Well everyone else we are teaching are wonderful and I love teaching them. 

 

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers. Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Hamilton

"Well shoot! You're a cute Christian woman, can I take you on a date!"

Hi everyone!!

 

Oh my goodness do I have stories to tell this week! To use one of the Elders in my Zone's phrase.. "Georgia is TRAY-CRAY" aka CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!

First to explain the title of the email. Yesterday we were walking Marietta trying to find people to talk to and we found 3 men standing outside a barber shop, which the Elders sometimes go to. So we went to go talk to them and the first thing one of them says is "Can y'all tell me the chances of me finding a NICE Christian woman.. I want to marry one of them ya know.." We laughed and then before we could say anything he stops us and goes "Well Shoot! You're a cute Christian woman, can I take you on a date?!" then we really lost it laughing and gave the generic response.. "Sorry, none of us are available right now." to which he quickly responded "Y'all are worth it, I'd wait!" HAHA What a funny man! His boss told us we could come back to their Barber Shop any time to find people to teach, that he loves hearing about our message and would love us to teach him while others were in his shop so he could hear to. :) So who knows, maybe we'll take him up on it sometime!

 

I reached a whole new meaning of tired this week. I poured a bowl cereal.. then turned on the faucet to get the Milk.. Thankfully I pulled the bowl away before I wasted the cereal. All I could do was sit on the floor and laugh. I promise I'm not losing it all the time.. haha

 

I saw a sign with a picture of a gun and it said "Forget the dog; Beware of owner!" Good thing the people liked us :)

"Weirdest thing I've eatten so far.. Horse meat.. I'll just let y'all ponder that one."

I think Wayne will appreciate this.. We went to a home for dinner and as the Mom gave me a hug I look up and see.. a LEG LAMP! Just like the one from A Christmas Story, only this one was only about 2.5 ft tall. No, it wasn't a joke. It was... well.. an AWARD! :) Just kidding, but seriously it was decoration. Sorry Wayne, I tried to get a picture of it but couldn't figure out how..

 

Despite how unbelievably crazy this week has been we have been so blessed. I love being in a companionship with Sister Blaylock and Sister Young. I learn so much from them everyday and we are working hard to do our best and to be following the will of the Lord as closely as we can. While having loads of fun along the way. :) Sometimes we make people have big smiles on the street when they see us becuase we are laughing and smiling, because hey.. LIFE IS GOOD!  Heavenly Father has put a lot of trust in our companionship, which is so humbling. And I feel so blessed!

 

We had a wonderful lesson with Rebecca this week, she is the one who asked the bishop what she had to do to be baptized. We taught her the first lesson and she has accepted the invitation to be baptized! She is going to do her best to be ready for baptism on April 20th, so we are starting to meet with her more regularly. She seemed to eat up and love all of the doctrines we taught her, specifically eternal families. Isn't it great to know that through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ we can be together forever with our families!? :) Cute story: She mentioned that her oldest son saw the youth passing the sacrament and said "Mom, I need a suit coat. I need to look like all the boys here and be ready for church." We told her it wasn't required for them to wear one, but when we saw them Easter Sunday her two boys had suit coats on!  It was so sweet to see them, even as young as they are, wanting to look their best for the Lord. :)

 

The Portuguese Elders met a woman, D'lan and her roommate Regina, on Tuesday when they offered to bless her home along with herself and families. They called us and said they set up an appointment for us to teach her the next day. So we did and it was so awesome and powerful! D'lan brought up baptism on her own when we talked about the things the Savior did in His life which specifically influence us or mean a lot to us. She talked about how it means so much that He humbled Himself to be baptized. She then said how she has been baptized before but she feels like she needs to do it again when she understands the reasons better and for herself. As we were about to conclude the lesson we invited her to be baptized to which she responded gladly "Yes! Yes! Please!" :) It is such a blessing to have met her. We have a couple teaching appointments set up with her this week and I am very excited to go back and see her.

 

We had many other miracles shown to us this week and I can't express how blessed I feel to have met these people. Nor can I explain how humbling it is to know that the God is trusting us with His ever so loved children. We taught Vivian again, she is reading the Book of Mormon and has so many questions for us but assured us at the end of the visit, " Y'all should know I want to be baptized, I just want to make sure I've done my research." As missionaries we focus a lot on baptism because it is the means in which we can fulfill our specific call. It is the gate, the begining of a lifetime of giving heed to the Saviors call to "Follow Thou Me" and "Go and do thou likewise." However, we find joy in "inviting others to come unto Christ" in whichever capacity it may mean for that individual. Some of my favorite memories written in my journal are of taking to people on the street for just a few moments and hearing them say '"I know the Lord watches out for me." or "Y'all just helped me to feel the 'Man Upstairs' love for me." That's what this is all about, and I couldn't be happier than to be apart of it.

 

I love you all so much! I hope you had a great Easter and remembered the real reason for the season. Angels said "Why seek ye the living amongst the dead? He is not here; but is risen." I know that this Gospel is true and because He is risen He can lead and direct it through a prophet as He wants the work done. I know 4 sessions of conference may seem like a lot, but try to watch one more than you used to. If you only watched one, watch two. If you haven't watched any, I encourage you to check out lds.org on Saturday and Sunday to listen to the Lords Prophet and Apostles for the entire earth, not just members of the church. Take a question, I promise you it will be answered.

 

I love you! Please don't worry about me, but letters are ALWAYS welcomed :)

 

Love,

Sister Hamilton

 

P.S. The pictures are from this week, our Easter festivities!