Email 11/25/13

Well winter's greetings from the Wonderful Northwest! Many blessings are in store for this holiday season and I can't wait to see what is in store. If this holiday season is anything like the last, I believe that we are all in for a very special treat! This is a very grateful time (very appropriate for Thanksgiving) around Portland. People seem to be a little kinder and slightly more open, but still politically correct! I guess this is a very different experience for me since I have never been in the big city for the Holidays, but I am grateful to get such a marvelous experience! Too bad I can't share it all visibly with you all...I may or may not have lost my camera. It is yet to be determined, but I just haven't seen it in three weeks. I still haven't looked EVERYWHERE for it, just most of the places it would be. Sorry Mom...

Anyway, this past week has been amazing! Elder Barrett is working me to death! I have been working as hard as I can my whole mission, but now that I am with him, he has kicked it up to a whole new level! We cover an area with about 50,000 people in it, and I think that it is his goal to knock on every single door within our area's boundaries. I don't mind at all! We are working our tails off and are bound and determined that everyone is going to hear the gospel. We have also been working hand in hand with our WML and starting to work with the ward members here much more. It is just such an exciting time to be a missionary in the Alameda Ward! Did I tell you we got another set of missionaries in our ward? Now we have a set of Elders, a set of Spanish Elders, and another set of Sisters! The ward is doing their best to keep us busy, but our WML is really stepping it up. He is also the High Councilman over missionary work in the Stake, so he is trying to set the example for the rest of the WMLs in the Stake. Personally I think that he is doing more than a fantastic job at helping all six of us missionaries while doing a stake calling! I am pretty sure he is the best!

Well, I think this ol' brain has thought of everything that it can think of at the moment. Just one last thought. This morning in my personal study I had the impression to study inspired questions. I went to PMG and read from the Book of Mormon. As missionaries we are called to teach by the Spirit of the Lord and we must invite Him into our every thought, conversation, and action. As we are teaching we teach and testify all we can until we we have physically exhausted ourselves from trying to get the point across. That is not how the Savior taught. We must simply ask questions and let people answer the questions for themselves. Many times the questions that are asked are the questions that are on the mind of those to whom we are talking. It is not until we phrase the question for them that they are able to formulate an answer OR find out the means to which they can find their answer. A question is an invitation to act for yourself; the deeper the question, the more we are able to learn, and man have I learned a lot!

I love you all and hope that you all have a great week! Happy Thanksgiving! PLEASE go out and show someone that you are grateful for them, and not with words!

Love,

Elder Rex Hamblin