8/25/14

Hello everyone! Sorry this is so late but we had a fun day at a roller
rink, so it was lots of fun! This last week was simply amazing!

The local Easthill Church here in Gresham has been a Mormon bashing
church for many decades. Throughout the years the local members have
worked hrs to build a decent relationship with this church with very
little progress. This last Saturday Easthill hosted a huge service
project in which they planned on restoring the beauty to a dozen or so
schools here in Gresham. At their count early in the week they were in
desperate need of help and finally reached out to the Stake's PR and
asked for help. Wednesday they sent out an e-mail and by Saturday the
LDS church had more members than they did at every school! It was
pretty awesome to see the church reach out and help them. All the
missionaries in our zone met at the High School. What an amazing sight
to see all the missionaries and members mingling with the local
community!

The rest of the week was packed full of teaching and works with the
members here. I know that I am forgetting something because I was very
excited to tell you all, but I really can't remember....hmmm...love
you all!

Love,
Elder Hamblin

8/18/14

Well hello there everyone! How are all you this week. I hope that you are getting my e-mails because my account has been going crazy lately so if anyone could respond as soon as they get this, that would be much appreciated!

This last week was a good growing experience for everyone here in the Blue Lake Ward; many trials have hit the four of us and have really tried each one of us very mentally, but I think that we were all able to grow spiritually from these experiences. We have truly grown together in the Spirit. I think this past week was also the first real taste that I had of going home. I had my last zone conference, which was a little weird because I am so used to seeing all my fellow missionaries going and bearing their final testimony and this time it was my turn. It just feels like yesterday I was arriving in a small town in eastern Oregon to begin this edifying journey down the Columbia River and back again. But the work goes on one foot in front of the other as there are still hundreds of thousands of people that I see everyday that have not the truth because they simply know not where to find it. Our efforts are also increasing among those who were once a part of our fold and now find themselves apart of the Church of God. Funny how we let the littlest details dictate the major events of our lives, but as President Monson has declared, "Decisions determine our destiny."

This week we were given a referral to visit a newly wed couple in the northern parts of our area. When we knocked at their door, we were received warmly as we exchanged pleasantries. As we talked it became apparent that this young husband was very well schooled in both mechanical engineering and the word of God (according to the interpretations of the Bible). We asked if we could simply share a message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about the amazing events that have lead to the restoration of this gospel in our modern days. He accepted on the premise of asking a few questions before we got started. He came at us with all the intellect of his worldly mind and when that seemed to fail he began asking us questions originating in his Christian past. As boldly as we could and with as much love as we could muster for this man we answered every question and left every answer with an invitation to follow what James directs which is to ask God for himself. Unfortunately he declined, even so much as to the denying of the Book of Mormon once he had held it in his hands. I thought of all the missionaries in the Book of Mormon and Bible who had the message that they bore rejected, and much more violently than the encounter that we had with this man. My heart went out to him as he closed his door and his heart to this wonderful message. However, I know that this man was left a better man. He never rose above frustration, and had questions to ponder. How long he may ponder, I will never know, but pondering is what this gentleman (and in extension what we all must do) to find spiritual truth that only God can give.

I love you all and pray for you more!

Love,

Elder Hamblin

8/11/14

Hello there! Sorry for last week, I am still trying to recover. The time is flying; can you believe that it is almost half way through August! Uggh! The time is definitely far spent. However the blessings keep flowing as the work keeps rolling and the miles keep coming along.

One such blessing is in a part member family that the YSA Elders found and referred over to us. This last week Elder Twitchell and I went over to their apartment and talked to them. The mother had joined the church about 14 years ago in California and watched her family prosper in the church. Her son received his Patriarchal Blessing and she wanted to receive hers, but let other things get in the way. That led to a divorce in her marriage and to meet her current husband. They moved up here to Gresham and the YSA Elders went to contact the son. The current father of the family said that he had family that are members of the church and would like to know more. When we came over this week the couple said that they had been going to various churches, even though the wife always knew that our church was the only true one, the man said that he would just like to find a place that he could understand what was going on. There are many blessings from the work!

Also this week as we were texting one of our more solid investigators, she drop us. She had been gone for about a month with the death and funeral of her brother. The ward here has been super though! The Bishop was in constant contact with her, many people from the ward tried to visit her (too bad she was out of town) and someone from the ward came by and took care of her lawn. She had only come to church about 3 times, and to see the our pouring of love from the ward was quite amazing! She had found a guy going to another church and decided to go with him. Before her brother died we ate dinner with her and she had left us with a ton of leftovers, so now we have to return all her Tupperware, so we will have to see what will happen!

Other than that there has not been too much going on. Well...our district really wanted to do some service to help unify us. We haven't been able to find any so the Sisters in our district took matters into their own hands and called up the county to tell them we were going to clean up a road in their area. It was fun to get out there all as a district and help clean up the local area. 

Hope that is what you were looking for mom! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hamblin