Email 5/19/14

Family! How are ya'll doing? This past week was crazy! We started the
week off with zone conference, which is always amazing! (You fellow
missionaries can attest to that.) We had a Sister that had recently
returned from her mission from the Philippines. She came home after
suffering from PTSD from when the typhoon hit, she happened to be
serving right in the city where the eye of the storm hit. She told of
intense life and death situations that her and her the missionaries
she was with were put in. After all that all 204 missionaries were
safe! Kinda made you think of your current trials and put them back
into perspective. Not more than a day after that I read through Alma
14, so I think that God was really trying to out my trials back into
perspective:)

Then after a week of Stake Reports (which are always my favorite;) I
went on the craziest exchange that I have yet to have on my mission.
After we had exchanged on Friday night we got a text from one of their
investigators that said that she couldn't stand to live in her current
situation and didn't know who else to turn to. She was living with a
LA who was using the church for money and using Craig's List to find
sketchy guys to come and rent rooms from her so she didn't have to pay
rent. That night there was served an eviction notice before the end of
the month. Their investigator had had just about enough of the LA and
wanted to get out ASAP. The next morning the Elders I was with called
the RSP and asked for help. Within twenty minutes she had found a
place with an older lady in the ward who needed help around the house.
We tried calling their investigator back but she had class until 12
and then had to take several buses for a few hours before she got
home. In the meantime we had to get back in contact wit he RSP and let
her know so we could get everything of their investigator's out before
the LA got home from work. We call the RSP and no answer. We biked to
her house just to find her not home. We waited for a few minutes, and
with the time running low, we decided to pray for her to be able to
get in contact with us. We looked both ways down the road and seeing
no cars, we bowed our heads and set off a prayer. As soon as we said
"Amen" we heard the gravel to the driveway crunch! I believe in prayer
now. Anyway, after a long caraway day, we got their investigator and
her dead truck out of the LA, but not without MUCH drama!! Needless to
say, some things got heated and the RSP called the LA lady nuts and
got a few colorful words thrown right back at her. Very interesting
day to say the least, and I wish I could right down all the details of
the day, but this email would be way too long!

What did impress me most about that day was the love the missionaries
had for that investigator. They went to great lengths to help her in
her great time of need. She is just about the coolest person that has
had the HARDEST of time, and to see what they were willing to do was a
true lesson to me! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Hamblin