Oct. 27, 2014

HELLO FAM

 THIS WEEK WAS A GOOD ONE. WE HAD INTERCAMBIOS THIS WEEK WITH THE HERMANA LEADER AND HER OMPANION AND IT WENT REALLY WELL. I WENT WITH HERMANA HERNANDEZ, BOY IS SHE A GREAT MISSIONARY! I WAS SO STRENGTHENED AND REFRESHED BY HER LOVE OF THE WORK AND HER EXAMPLE OF ENERGY. I JUST LOVE SHARING THE GOSPEL!

ANYWAY, WE RE-ETENDED TWO BAPTISM DATES TO FRANKLIN AND JANIRI, BUT THEY DIDNT GO TO CHURCH. WE WILL NEED TO PRAY FOR THEM LOTS. THERE ARE SO MANY  EXXCUSES THAT WE CAN MAKE FOR NOT KEEPING THE COMMANDEMENTS OR FOR NOT DOING WHAT THE LORD WANTS US TO DO, BUT THEY ARE NOT REQUIREMENTS OF MAN, BUT OF GOD. I GAVE A TALK IN CHURCH ON THE IOMPORTANCE OF THE SABBATH DAY. OBEDIENCE IS WHERE THE JOY AND BLESSINGS ARE. OBEDIENCE IS HOW THE CONVERSION COMES. MAYBE WE DONT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEYING ALL OF THE COMMANDMENTS OR SIMPLY THAT WE DONT WANT TO, BUT IF WE JUST PRAY FOR THE HELP OF THE LORD TO BE AS FAITHFUL AND OBEDIENT AS WE CAN, HE WILL HELP US DO WHAT WE NEED TOO. THAT IS THE TRUTH. WE CAN NEVER BE ACSUAL IN WHAT WE DO, OR WILL ONLY BECOME A CASUALTY. I LOVE THE LORD AND HIS GOSPEL. IT IS HARD, BUT IT IS ONE OF THE MOST SATISFYING AND MOST JOYOUS THINGS WE CAN DO  IN THIS LIFE. KEEP FAITHFUL EACH OF YOU.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND PRAY YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK

!

LOVE HERMANA HAMBLIN

Oct. 20, 2014

HI FAM!

this week was great! we had most of miguels family attend church. we are teaching a man named franklin. he is so intelligent and really understands almost everything we say. he always has great questions, but he didnt come to church yet again! on sunday someone declared that franklins property was his and franklin had to go claim it aqnd now has to go to court. satan is horrible! no matter, franklin will go to church soon. we are working hard for the navidad blanca and working with our famlies that we have. honestly, we have a few families that the husbands dont want to get married, but mirales will happen if they work in their faith. that is the beauty of faith. mirales happen. I am so tickled to hear that janice is taking the lessons and had put a baptism date. the lord will help her through everything. she is AMAING. that is the beauty of the gospel. it is for every single person in this world. and every single person has the potential to accept it and receive all of the blessings and hoy and change their lives in a miraculous way. i LOVE THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. this last week we had so many lessons where the spirit was so strong. we are teaching una evangelica. that religion is very big here and it was amazing that she invited us back. we taught her the restoration and the spirit was so strong. she understand the importance of the restoration and said she would pray. i know that god will work through her as well. i lvoe you all and invite you to keep pressing forward each day with more faith and to make the changes in your life so that YOU can be more receptive to the lord.have  A spectaular week!

lvove shermana rachie

Oct. 13, 2014

hi HAM FAM

this week was a good one. they jsut fly by. i cant hardly comprehend that blake got 16 months arlready! this week we had lots of miracles happen. first off, president cuevas, our branch president, announced that we will have a white christmas activity. december 13th we will have as many people prepared to be baptized on this date as possible. we will have all of the baptisms and then have a spiritual thought and movie and refreshements, but basically it is to prepare as many people for baptism as so give back to the savior and help people change their lives this christmas. i am super ecited and the other sisters are too. as we were doing our weekly planning session this thursady my  comp and i were thinking what we could do to really have success. we hadnt been meeting with very many families and so we put a father present policy. sounds funny , but its something that we really need. here in the d.r. its super easy to meet with people but families, and fathers are suupppppeerrr hard to find and teach.

so we put it a goal to teach as many FAMILIES as we can. this week we taught about 9  families. what a MIRACLE!!! there are still lost of the husbands that dont want to get married or get baptized, BUT they are listening. and that is a wonderful start. we will be praying and working hard with the members here. 

this week we will have a conferene with pres nukols and elder cornish. me and three other hermanas will be singing a special number so we are all excitied.

frankling is doing well. he has stopped drinking coiffee and asked us to pray for him to stop drinking his beer. he didnt go to church becasue he was at the farm,  but he is progressing little by little and we are grateful for that. he has such a good understanding of EVERYTHING and now he jsut has to live up to his understanding of gods laws and his epectations. that´s how it is for each of us! 

i love you all and hope you have a wonderful wonderful week!

love hermana hamblin

Oct. 6, 2014

my dearest ham fam!!

my this wee was great! sorr, some of the keys dont work,,,,it´´l be a coded letter.

miguel was baptized and conirmed this friday what a beautifl dayy!!! his family attended. they are preparing tobe baptized as well. the mom is not married and trying to talk her husband into marriage. please pray for a miracle especialy for the husband to be interested in the gospel or in marriage.

miguel shared a short but sincere testimony at his baptism. i am just so thriled that he has finally made his first covenant with god. he will begin his studies at the university at barahona soon and there will be lots more young single adults that are mormon. that wil help him lots.

francis, actually decided to not be confirmed because he is in another religion..... that was the worst thing i have experienced in my mission..maybe in my life.

BUT we are ffinding new pèople and helping others come to christ. we have a man franlin that we are teaching. he is the most intelligent person i have taught, he just gets its all and feels the spirit so strongly. we invited him to baptized in november and he accepted. he did not come to church this week so we were pretty bummed. thats probably the hardest things for dominicans, so keep committments, but i know that once they really understand why they are important and who they are with, they will be faithful and excited to keep them.

let me just say, witnessing the conversion process is such an incredeible experience. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! there are soo many people that need it. i love elder bednars talk that was to non miembros. he referred to us missionaies as being awfully persistant. thats the truth!! we share what we know to be the truth!!

also there was a quote by elder holland maybe??.i cant remember. but he stated that it is ou responsibility to rescaue and save those who are on the vege o being lost, and it is by saving and rrescuing otherrs that we ourselves find our own rescue. i have found that to be true. through finding teaching and helping others be in the path of rescue i have learned how much I need to be saved and how much i need to let the savior help rescue me. i love this gospel that is absolutely perfect. and i am grateful to be here in the d.r. serving my heavenly father. 

i love you all so much and challenge you to study the gospel of jesus christ and then find something YOU need to do to be rescued and to help the lord rescue someone else. if you do this the lord promises us that we will indeed receive blessings of strength and of animo or excitement in changes and improving ourselves.

love you alll soooo very much 

hermana hamblin

love hermana hamblin

Sept. 29, 2014

HI FAM!

this week francis was BAPTIZED. it was such a beautiful eperience. this young man started from not being able to harldy reading, to reading the entire book of mormon before his baptism. he was pretty sick, the week of his baptism and he went through with it and shared his testimony at his baptism. it was beautiful! he came out to teach and accompany us yesterday ad he was absoluetly ecited to be a missioary and be able to teach and share his testimony with our investigators. he has comepletely changed his life around and you can tell jsut by looking at him. we bought him his white shirt and will buy a tie this week so he can be complete and then his best friend, miguel will be baptized this friday. we are also working with miguels mother, brother and sister for getting baptized the 25th of octubre. they are progressing chin a chin. they dont go to church all that often but we are going to focus on that. and his mom isnt married but lives with the dad, so we have lots to teach! the work is so wonderful here in vicente noble!

the other week we were in a little guagua from barahona to vicente noble. we were all jammed in. there is a wonderful little bakery that the guagua passes by and ALWAYS stopps so everyone can hop off and buy some delish bread. there was a certain bread that i was needing to buy but i couldnt remember the name. the guagua stopped but i was so packed in i coudlnt move. i quickly began asking the dominincan what types of bread there was. i knew it startede with an s so when i heard the lady say the name, i quickly said yes! i want the s...and whatever the name was. the whole back row started busting up laughing as hard as they could. they all started crying because it was apparantly so funny what i said, i believe i said i wanted boob bread. but i am not entirely sure thats what i said. the lady that heard me say boob bread kept yelling out the window, the mormon missionary wants boob bread! 5 boob breads, no 10 boob breads!! ot was a laughing riot! lets jsut say i having ordered that bread since. whatever bread it is..i like it!!

a was talking to the other sister missionaries that live in my house last night about the greatness of this work. the world is getting more wicked and more wicked, but the light of the gospel is getting brighter and more brilliant. it is such a privilegio to be able to be the lords missioanry and be his servant and hands here in vicente noble, finding the people that the lord is preparing. my mission is quite the opposite of blakes, we can get into ANY door we want, almost any door, but it is finding the people that want to act and accept the message and not just hear the good word. i know that the lord is preparing people here and in china and in eagar to hear about the restored gospel of jesus christ. there is no truth quite as sweet and no blessings as grand as the ones found as being members of this gospel. i love you all so much! have a WONDERFUL DAYY and WEEK!!

LOVE HERMANA HAMBLIN

September 15, 2014

hi family! 

so this week was a little bit of a ROLLERCOASTER..but...all worked out.

we had a lesson planned with miguel and francis. we went to fid francis and he told us that he wasnt feeling well and coulnt meet with us.  good excuse. so then when we were walking down his same road a few hours later, we went to talk to him about putting another cita. he told us that he was in another church and that he couldnt get baptized. i almost bawled right there! i just wanted to throw up.what? another church? he said that he had attend it for tha past week. i asked him if he had prayed about it and he said yes. this is less than 2 weeks from his baptism!

we assigned him some scriptures to read and then to pray and then set another cita for the next evening. then we started fasting.

we showed up and asked him what happened. it was even hard for him to expalin. apparently there had been a lot of people that had been saying lots of bad things about our church. it was confusing him. but he said that he still knew that this church was true and that the book of mormon was true. we had a good lesson and told him that it would not be easy just becasue it was the truth. after all, look at christ´s life and joseph smith´´s- they were killed for the truth. after a good, long talk, he just said, okay, so what is my date for baptism...i want to be baptized! hallelujahj!
ireni and carla have had a rough week this week. her grandma and siister have been pretty sick so shes been helping them a lot. but she hasnt met with us for about 5 days and stopped praying and reading. we stopped by for church and her daughter finally came to the door and said her mom was sick. they didnt come to church so we will ahv to postpone their fecha unitl the 26th of sept with miguel and franics. pray for ireni and carla also. they are struggling.

we are working hard with selia nd emanu also. they are a haitian couple. the father is a member but lives with this woman. she isnt baptized so thay are preparing to get married and baptized. she has to go to haiti to look for some papers and then they have to go get married in haiti becasue they are illegal here. they are seriously the sweetest couple, so humble. they are very poor too so this is a big sacrifice of money for them, but they dont look at it at all like that. the other night we were at the church waiting for an activity to start. emanu was there waiting as well. he had a backpack on, which he never carries around. i was wondering what was in there, then he called me over to him and said,,,,you hermanas can carry avocados right? i said, of course! quickly he unzips his back and unloasd 12 HUGE avocados rfom his bag and starts stuffing them in my purse. i was telling him, n o, no! we cat take all of them! he just said, hermanas, HERMANAS. yes they are ALL for YOU!  they have a huge avocado tree with hundreds of yummy avocados. how sweet! then throught the week we´ve had everyone gift us avocados, so we had about 20. and these avocados are about 4 times the size of the u.s. ones. we eat avocados wtith sandwiches, rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, name it and its there! 

well., i love you all so much! have a great day!

the pic with me and the bag is a snickers, but not JUST a snickers. i opened it up and there were spiders webs and maggots crawling out of it......how disturbing!

> hey mom!,
> its a bummer that you werent on today! BUt, i have to say i have decided to come home my reagular date, thats the 26th of januray.
> i was reading the scriptures and this verse really touched me.
> 3 nephi chapter 13 verse 33
>
> ive prayed a lot and fasted and studied it out in my mind, and honestly, i know that me being a missionry for another month and a half longer is something that the lord needs me to do. so dont worry about classes or anything. i will figure it out all when i ge home! also, tell jessum! i love you all lots!! soo, and dont worry about buying me anything else for christmas!..NOTHING. just save everything for when i go home and we can go to the doctor and dentist and i get everything at home. i want to come home with as little as i can!
> i love you lots mamma! have a great week!
> love hermana rachie hamblin

Sept. 8, 2014

hi fam!

I am finally sending a few pics! 

Here is a pic of my comp that I am training, Hermana Olsen. She is  a great gal! She´s always ready to work hard and participate in the work! We are teaching lots of people and it is honestly quite hard to see everyone. Right now we have people booked till saturday. We´re trying to space it out a bit! We havent been focusing so much this week in the less actives, but in our investiagtos that will be baptized. this week we had a lesson with miguel and francis, the ones that are so great! and francis told us that he was losing his desire to be baptized and that he didnt feel he had much faith. he hadnt prayed for 2 days and said that he felt erally bad. It was geartbreaking to hear! but we had a good leson on the importance on being firm in the gospel and alwasy doing the small things to prepare us and help us in time of trial, because that time will ALWAYS come. then we talked about pray and fasting. we challenged him to bare his testimony at church. the next morning he bore it! he walked up and jsut gripped the podium. he had to take breaks during his testimony and really keep his emotions under control. it was awesome! after he jsut kept saying, hermanas, i have a lot of faith, i do! that was a good experince for him. HE should be good. 

we had to move the baptism dates back for ireni and her daughter becasue they still dont have a testomony of the book of mormon. We´re focusing a lot on heloping them understand the scrpitures and develope a love and appreciation for what it really is. Ireni cant read and so she has to rely on her 12 year old, so we are working with them,  but they really are a great family!

okay, so the 2nd pic i sent to you of the 2 haitians is a pic of one of the most pspecial baptisms that i have heard of. the hermanas have written a story aboout it and are giving me acopy and i will be able to send it to you or eread it when i get back...but a little background is...

he is named angelo and the girl is loveyou...yes LOVEYOU. 

angelo was raised by one of the most famous witches in haiti, his grandfather. Witchcraft and voodooism is very popular and coom on haiti. he was raised by his grandfather and 49 other kids. his grandfather tried to teach him how to take peoples souls and raise people from the dead, but one day we woke up and had the most gut urging feeling to LEAVE THAT MORNING. he had 50 pesos, the equivalence of about 1 dollar and 25 cents and he left. he walked for 18 hours, walked and walked becasue he jsut knew he had to get out of there and never go back. 18 hours later he was stopped by some border patrol. he told them he was taking a long walk and so they didnt ask any moer questions and let him paasss. Little did angelo know he had croseed the border in between haiti and the D.r.. HE caught a guauga to a nearby town and it stopped in vicente noble, and he has been here for 3 years. the missionaries found him, and he was baptized! this is jsut a smmmmmaaaallll part of his life. he is incredible and his faith and story is amazing. Angel was raised by a wicked wicked man, a witch. for 12 years, he was taught to do evil things, only evil things and nothing else. but angelo said there was something in him that always told him, ¨that´s not you.¨  he had no idea who god was or what he was like, but it intrigued him, he followed a prompting one day to ask the sister missioanry for a pamphlet, or anything to read, and from there he was led by god to find a life of god, a life of joy, a change. I love the gospel and cannot begin to describe the security and joy we have promised to us for following god. Do not stray from his path, because nothing good comes doing only what YOU want to do. the holy ghost is real and really helps us make correct decisions that help us gain eternal life. i love each of you and pray that you all try to recognize promptings. although you may not have evr had a life quite like angelos, we can all have the same change, not as quite dramatic, but a change and conversion that saves. have a great week!

love hermana hamblin