Love and Smiles!

Hey Everyone!!

Happy Birthday Week! :)  Once again I hope you had a great week! Overall my week was pretty fun and full of miracles, a few struggles here and there of course but all in all fantastic!

 

Thats our girls day at the mall!! :)

The week started off SO RIGHT on last P-day at the Mall of Georgia. The first store we walked past was H&M and we both said how much we love that store so we went in even though we were supposed to be finding something for Hma Garcia's dad. Well as we were just looking at all the cute clothes I see someone I recognize trying to sneak up on me.. So I turned around and saw that it was Sister Winegar! She's serving in Dacula right now and her companion is.. Sister Beasley! The four Sisters (another companionship came with them) got permission to leave their area and come to the Mall of Georgia which happens to be right across the street from our apartment. BEST DAY EVER!! So the 6 of us just roamed the mall and had the best time ever. It was a real answer to prayers because I had actually had time to read Sis Beasleys email home last week which talked about her Great-Grandpa passing away and I really wanted to see her so I was planning on calling her that night, and instead Heavenly Father let us all "bumb" into each other at the Mall of Georgia. We all really had the BEST time ever!! Sister Winegar and I walked off at somepoint to go get a snack and walked to the store the sisters were supposed to go to.. and they apparently didn't stick to the plan. No big deal, we'll call them, right? WRONGO. Missionaries have only one phone per companionship.. And us dingbats didn't think to see if either of us had a phone.. #missionaryprobs haha So we wandered the Mall for over an hour periodically asking random people to use their phone but of course Hma Garcia and Sis Beasley don't answer. haha #storyofmylife It was a lot of fun though. At least we had car keys :)

 

Service and the World Cup.. what could be better? :)

We had a lot of other really cool miracles and fun experiences this week! Let me list a few:

• We were able to teach Lidia and her family again and her daughter and nieces LOVE us. While we were knocking more doors in her neighborhood we actually knocked on the door of her sister who said she'd love to have us come and do a lesson about Chirst with them as well :) Now whenever we go to that neighborhood we get swarmed by the kids in those families. Its the cutest thing!
• We did service at a Methodist church helping them get ready for their Vacation Bible School. It was cool to see how excited the members were to have us there helping. We helped to decorate and Hermana Garcia and I were put in charge of painting the windows to look like a cartoonist version of a jungle. It was a lot of fun! We're going back this week to help some more :)
• The elders met a woman tracting and asked us to go back and see her. Blanca let us right in and a few minutes later her husband Carlos came home. Carlos LOVED the message we shared, we left them a Book of Mormon and when we came back the next day Carlos had already read a chapter in it and prayed about it. <--Wow! They just recently got here from Mexico and have two little kids, its such a cute family! They couldn't come to church this Sunday because they had to work but we are going to see them again tomorrow and are hoping to get them to come to church.
•  We are teaching a young single mom named Claudia. and I do mean young.. She's 23 with 3 children.. Uh.. I'm going to be 23 on Saturday. Anyways.. not important :) Claudia is the sweetest thing, and absolutely loved the Restoration. I was surpised to have been able to teach half of the lesson in Spanish. Her daughters are absolutely precious! They came to our Branch Fathers Day party this weekend and I think they had a good time :) Unfortunately the baby got sick so they also couldn't make it to church. But she's been texting us scriptures all morning, so I think that's a good sign :)
• We had a legit fiesta this weekend. Spanish Branches know how to party! haha It was Hollywood themed and everyone just seemed so happy. I love these people! I'm able to comminucate much better these days which is a HUGE blessing. So its all good :)
• We were at the Tonini's this week (our Relief Society President) to help get things ready for the fathers day party and.. Hermano Tonini told us that he refused to turn off the TV when he answered the door. As I walked in I saw a little blessing.. just for me.. Its called the World Cup. You heard of it? Spain vs. Holland :) OYYYYY so good! I mean I didn't watch the game obviously.. :) but any time I heard yelling I of course took a glance or 8 :) I LOVE soccer!! Its the big talk everywhere we go. I hope USA does well today! 

So yea, its been a really great week. We found a lot more people to teach which is really nice, life's always better when you have more people to visit. 

So, my Spanish.. Its coming along :) Some days are better than others.. Some days I feel like I don't even know how to say my own name.. Others I just talk and talk and talk.. Its strange. I study grammar non stop, and just in the past like 3 days I feel like its finally starting to sink in and I'm able to construct sentences in all tenses SO much easier, which is a huge blessing. Of course its started to come when I almost hit my breaking point.. haha 

The absolute biggest miracle happened yesterday around.. 1pm when I spoke in Sacrament meeting. Lets be honest.. I was NERVOUS. I know what you're thinking. You? Nervous to speak in public? Not possible.. And I didn't think it was either but I was SO nervous it do it in another language! We were so busy all week I didn't have time to practice it at all. I had only read through the completely translated thing once, I mean I knew what it said because Hma Garcia helped me to translate the parts that I couldn't and I had done all of my prep-work/studies for it in Spanish.. but ya.. 

To make a long story short, as soon as I got up there and just started talking I wasn't nervous at all. It was such a blessing! I ended up speaking for a little over 15 minutes, not even kidding! I left the end of my talk open ended so that I could finish it in any way that I felt that I should. Which I'm not going to lie was probably a huge risk haha However, to my surprise as I finished what I had prepared and started to speak without a script words kept filling my mouth and I just kept teaching and sharing my testimony. I would look over at Hma Garcia as I was talking to make sure I was even making sense and she always had the biggest grin on and would just nod her head to let me know I was doing it right. It was one of the coolest experiences ever! The Spirit really can do miracles when you are willing to follow. There is no way I could have done that, having only been learning Spanish for one month without the Spirit of the Lord. 

That would be our "Zone" aka all the missionaries I serve around. And that would be me and Sister Spainhower making the picture much more entertaining :) 

Once again I am reminded that the Lord qualifies who He calls, but it is always in His own timing and His own way. I am amazed daily at the love He has for all of the men and women on earth. His love is perfect and His love will work miracles in our lives if we allow it. 

I love you all!! 

Love and Smiles,

Hermana Hamilton