Ollo

Hey Hey Hey

Well this week has been pretty awesome! its amazing what an attitude change can do for you! Mom i think i finally understand what you ment when you would always tell me that noone can make me feel a certain way. only I can influence how i feel. So yeah this week has been good. Not to say that its not hard anymore, believe me, its still super hard. but i am just finding more joy in the work and learning to just treasure and love every minute of my mission because itgoes by so fast and i will never have this time back and i dont want to keep looking back and regreting things. But I am getting more used to Beaumont. I still feel like i dont know anyone is the ward, and Lake Charles still feels like my home. I dont get home sick anymore, i get home sick for Lake Charles. haha Sorry guys. But dont worry. i still miss you too. The ward is super nice and VERY missionary oriented so that is a nice change from LC and we get fed alot which is not so good. but i am doing better about not gaining so much weight. haha sister Kempton is the sister Training leader so she goes on exchanges once a week so that is good and gives me a chance to get to know the area better cause i get to do stuff. And sister Clegg just walks around like she is in a daze all the time and doesnt really do anything. poor girl. i think she is really homesick and her dad writes her a letter everyday and talks about home and sends pictures so that doesnt really hlep either. But we are doing really good. When i was home i never felt like i was funny cause dad and Kaci were always arond. but now my cmomps laugh at everything i say so i guess i am funny? who knows. you get a strange sense of humor when you are a missionary cause you dont have that much to entertain you. But i did find a huge dead beetle and i kept hiding it around the apartment to scare my cmops. that was pretty funny. then while Kempton was gone i tied him (his name is baxter) to a piece of thread and taped it to the fan so when she came home and turned on the light inthe bedroom he came flying off and flew around in the air! haha it was so funny. i was peeing my pants! baxter flew around the room for 10 minutes and she didnt even notice! so he started getting really stinky so i finally took him down. But i still have him so now i am going to hide him in the elders car so it will stink it up. haha im so mean. Oh and mom the elders here are Elder Limb who i was with in LC and Elder Ho Ching he is poly. They are awesome but sometimes they bug me and they are always asking me to make them food. but i guess hat is just guys for ya. haha So we have Karen who is our main progressing Gator. She is getting baptized on the 17th of august in a swim cap, nose plugs, ear plugs and sitting down not going backwards. she has a phobia of water and she gets dizzy if she lays down. so that will be interesting but its awesome that she is goig to overcome her fears and get baptized! she is kinda crazy and she came to a baptism on friday the ward pinewook derby on satrurday and churchon sunday and she has to be the center of attention. it is so funny. but she loved it. Kurwin is our other gator. He is awesome and committed to baptism our first visit. but he lives somewhere else on the weekeednds so he cant come to church here so we are working on that. I am in the Ghetto and there are always sirens going off and gun shots being fired but it is pretty awesome. I am atarting to love the ppl here and Today i am cutting a ladies hair in the ward who just got baptized and she just found ot that she has breast cancer. it is so sad. We do alot of tracting and LA work because there are alot of part member families in the ward. I love being a misionary and even tho i hate the heat I am loving it down here. I hope you all have an awesome week! I love yall sooooooo much!

Love sister Hamilton

Sweating

Hello all my loves! I cant believe that it is monday already. This week went by super fast and July is going by in the blink of an eye. I cant believe that it is almost over. Yesterday was my "Official" six month mark and I have a year left. That is so crazy to me. I feel like i have only been gone for a month or two at the most. But i am loving my mission and This week i really took a look at myself and all that is and has happened and I realized alot of things. First of all, I need to stop complaining about everything. My Heavenly Father loves me and knows what i need, and i dont. I know what i want and what will be easy for fun for me, but i dont know what i need. I need to trust him that everything i am going thru, all the hard times, the rejection, the heat, the companions, the tears, the heartache. all of this is for a reason and i just need to learn from all of these experiences and turn them into stepping stools intead of stumbling blocks. Next thing, We have this paper that is called the ladder of accountability and at the bottom is people like laman and lemuel who just blame and complain about everything and then at the top are people like Captain moroni and Nephi, the people who make it happen and no matter what their circumstances are they make things happen. So i am working on staying on the top of that ladder and making things happen instead of being at the bottom. I am a missionary, a representative of Jesus Christ and I need to start acting like one more. Next is that i need to remember to take a step back and realize that missions are supposed to be hard!  My 18 months have the potential of being one of the greatest learning experiences of my whole life! Even tho i have never read it, i remember seeing a book titled 'If life were easy it wouldnt be hard'. I have taken that motto to my mission. If my missin were easy it wouldnt be hard. It my mission is easy and i never have to work for anything it wouldnt be hard and thus it wouldnt be worth it. I would leave and come home the same person (plus a few pounds from all the food i am eating down here) Things in life that have the most value are the ones that we have to work for the most. And i want my misison to be the best experience for myself and also for my companions so I need to crack down and remember the hard times are worth it. Next, I need to do all i can to be with christ. You may think that because i am on a mission and i go and share the word all day that i am close to christ. Wrong. Satan works on me so hard, some days i just want to give up and give in, But i cant. There are too many people who are ready and just waiting for the gospel. they are sitll in that state of Apostasy, in a famine of hearing the word of the lord and they want it as bad as they would want bread of water in a regular famine, and i can be the one to help bring them out of that state of Apostasy. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto christ. Well how can I invite others to come unto christ if i am not there myself? I need to do all i can to make sure that i am always With Christ so that when I invite others to come unto christ they will have no doubt that i am already there. There are so many things that i need to work on and imporve and it makes me sick to think of the past 6 months that i wasted because i wasnt thinking of these things and i wasnt working on them. so much wasted time but that is what the atonement of Our Savior Jesus Christ is for. We have the chance to repent and to turn away from our sin and to turn towards him and commit to follow him more fully. I am not saying that i have committed serious sins as a missionary, but repentance can be even just commiting to follow the Lord more fully in our lives. and that is what i have realized. Sometimes when i pray at night and think over my day and talk to my Father in Heaven about the day, i may not always have alot of things that i did wrong, but there is always room to improve and Concecrate myself more fully to Him and to the Gospel and Being a missionary. My brain is so full of things that i wish i could tell you. but i have never been good with words so i hope that this all makes some sort of sence. Haha I really had a good sunday yesterday and I really thought about my Savior during the sacrament and how important and sacred the sacrament is. we taught some LA members about the importance of the sacrament this week and it was a good reminder for me. One of the apostles said that if we really could understand how important the sacrament is, we would crawl on our hands and knees to get it. We dont repeat many things in our church, but the ones that we do are the ones that are the most important. Think of the sacrament, we do it every week with the same prayers and in the same way. it is very important. We had president interviews this past week and It was a good time to evaluate myself and how i think i am progressing as a missionary. I was stuck in the mind set that i am not going to learn much from this transfer becasue i am at the bottom of the bottom and i dont get to do or say much but that is the wrong attitude. I can learn and grow from any experiece if i let myself and i do my part. I cant expect the lord or simply just 'going on a mission' change me. I have to work to change myself. and believe me its going to take a lot of work, and 18 months wont be enough time. But I know that as long as i do my part and have faith and trust in my Heavenly Father that I can become the missionary that he expects and the Person that i want to become. I love you all so much! i am so grateful for every single one of you in my life and I pray for you ALL THE TIME. I Hope that all is well and that yall are having an awesome summer and that you are all doing your best to come closer to christ. we all can be closer and there is always something that we can do better every single day. I know this church is true more then i know anything else. I also know that the Book of Mormon was written for us is our day and for the trials that we will experience in our lives and that it can help us come closer to Christ then any other book. I know it is true!  I know that my savior died for me, but more importantly that he lives!

Love sister Hamilton  

Transferred (from july 8th)

Hey family!

I hope you all are doing well! I have been worried about yall this past week for some reason so i hope all is well. This was a pretty slow week for us, its so hot and lots of people leave Lake charles for the summer to get away from the heat. but we have been trying our best to stay busy and to find the Elect! easier said then done. haha

mon- we went to beaumont for our combined zone pday and we watched the best two years. it was so funny to watch all of the missionaries crack up and be like oh that makes sense now. haha it was really cool which was nice becasuea everyone has been telling me about how miserable july and august are. but we got a cool front so that was really nice. We went to visit brother Boise and i said goodbye becasue i was assuming that i would be getting transfered. I gave him a hug. Whoops. I have hugged so many men this week. I am probably going to get sent home! haha but ppl down here love to hug!

tue- we had 5 member present lessons set up and all of our gators cancled on us! it was soooo sad! so we just checked up on a bunch of formers and none of them had time for us and told us to come back later. so then we just did tracting which noone is ever home but we do our best to go to places where it looks likek ppl are home.

wed- we usually dont tract really nice rich areas casue they have a reputation for not talking to us but we decided to anyway and we found a really solid potential so that was awesome! then we visited with a LA that we just got into contact with and he basically told us taht he dosent have time for church but he still believes the church is true and everything. but he siad that even tho his wife is catholic we could come over anytime and they would feed us. so he was super nice and we had a good visit. then we taught Carl and he told us that we are trained really well to talk about the priesthood because we keep trying to tell him that he needs to be baptized by the proper authority. he is so funny. he thinks we are brainwashed to talk about the priesthood. I said goodbye to him so if i can ever get my camera to work i will send you a picture of us! haha  then we went to visit Rose and i said goodbye to them. Rose is the sweetest lady. And i feel really bad for her. but i am glad that i got to work with her and hopefully i was able to help her in some way. After dinner we did some tracting and we talked to this lady on her porch for a long time about how much she loves her church and how it changed her life. It is so hard when you meet ppl like that becasue they really have changed and they are being blessed and they are happy but they are still missing so much! We went to check on a LA man Niraj who is from Nepal and his family they are doing well and they were having a big partry so we didnt stay very long. hopefully we will get to teach the whole family soon! well i guess sister Barton will get to teach them. But i still hope they get taught eventually!

thur- Was a really slow day and it was super hot. We went to visit maw maw jones and try and teach her friend that she has been talking to but the firend was gone so we just talked to maw maw for a minute and then we did our hour of power which got moved up to 5 for safety reasons and we knocked on 40+ doors and only two ppl answered and they didnt want us. hahah but it was good and we felt good about it becasue even tho it was a holiday and noone was home we were still diligent and obedient and did what we were asked. then we went to our ward party and had dinner and a couple of our LA that we have been working with were there so that was happy for us! and then our president wanted us with member or in our apartments unless we had lessons. and all of the members had plans and were going to watch the fireworks and wouldt be home in time for our curfew so we just went home. It was weird. i always forget that i am not in utah anymore and that lots of ppl get drunk on holidays and i guess its not safe for us to be out. haha i wanted to go do work cause evening is the best cause its not as hot and more ppl are home.

fri- we had zone meeting, my last one in the zone. it was good. we talked about being more consecrated missionaries and our zone leaders made us this chart that we are supposed to fill out and how our missions will benefit the rest of our lives. it made everyone trunky. haha then we went on exchanges so i stayed in orange with sister Hyde and erickson and Gremlin went to lake charles with sister Barton. orange is a really open area. basically everyone you talk to is open to you coming back. i wish lake charles was like that! haha Exchanges are good.

sat- I was in orange half the day so we did service all morning. and we went to the church to help give out the food from the bishops store house. that was really interesting. but it was good. Its sad how many people are struggling. it sure makes me feel even more blessed! Then after we exchanged back we went to teach a little old lady that we fould tracting but once we started talking to her we figured out that she has short term memory loss. haha so it was a interesting lesson. then we did some more tracting and checking up on potentials. then we had a prompting to go and visit Keitha, a LA lady i dont know if i have told you about her befor or not. but when we got there she was so happy and said that she had been praying all day that the sisters would come over. She is having a hard time and her brother is dying so we talked to her for a while and i said goodbye and i cired to much! i didnt think i was that attatched to her but i guess i am! she has a soft spot in my heart. Then i got the call that i was being transfered and then i really started stresssing and thinking about packing! haha i have so much stuff.

sun- my last corellation meeting i am going to miss the elders i serve with here so much! it has been a good 6 months. I am truly blessed to have been able to serve here in lake charles for the time that i did. I met so many good pelple and made so many memories that i will treasure forever. Michael bore his testimony and talked about how grateful he was for me but he calls me pocahauntis. haha and then it was really sweet untill he started talking about politics and at the end instead of saying amen he just said thank you and walked off. haha it was so funny! The reynolds took us home with them so we would have to use our miles and we had dinner with them and they made bbq in honor of me cause its my favorite. it was so cute. I cried so much saying goodbye to them. they are like my grandparent now! I went to say goodbye to Lee Savoie and he told me that i made a difference in his life and he is truly grateful for me. He melts my heart! what a cute little old man. We went to go teach a lady that we found but there was a creepy guy outside her house that wouldnt let us talk to her so we jsut left.

And now today i have been packing all moring and trying to get everything together for me to leave. I am really sad about leaving but It will be good for me to have a new place, new streets to tract and new ppl to love. Lake Charles is like my second home now and even tho i could never live here i will always love it! I am excited to find out where i am going next and the new adventures that i will have. I am so blessed to be a missionary! I would have never expected to be where i am at this point in my life but there is nowhere else that i would rather be then out here sweating my guts out talking to ppl about the restored Gospel! the church is true, i know that with every part of my heart and soul! This Gospel has brought so much into my life and so many blessings. I am grateful for all yall and the support that i get. I love you soooo much! have a good week! Dont send my anything or i wont get it forever! hahah Love yall!

Sister Hamilton

B-town ( From july 15th)

Well hello family. Its so good to get to email! i feel like it has been ages! this has been a really long week and let me just say i dont have the best attitude right now but i am working on it. this is a really hard adjustment for me and i am kinda in a depression mode cause i miss lake charles so much. i thought i would be happy to leave but now that i am gone i want to go back! haha i am in a trio now and it is a hard adjustment. having three girls in one teeny apartment is not very fun or easy. but i am trying to get used to it.but i am praying my guts out for charity and patience so it will come. It was really hard for me to say goodbye to susan. i cried a whole bunch and her and her family were crying so that made me cry evern harder! transfer meeting was good and I am just trying to get used to Beaumont Texas. its relaly different and i dont know anything about the area or the ppl and my comps arent much help. but we are working on it. I feel like i am being punished so i will have to ask pres what i did wrong. haha But I just have to think about why i am out here and why i am doing this. I love my savior and that is why i am out here. Because of him. THe work is hard and the realationships are even harder. The challenge now is to get my heart into beaumont because it is still pounded into the streets of lake charles. I dont really know what went on this week and i am out of it so once i get more used to everything i wil be able to give a more detailed email about my week. but i am alive for the moment and i am working on loving everyone! haha I am supposed to be a experienced missionary because all the real experienced ones are going home now. haha that is interesting. but Life is good. besided me being a whiney baby i am good. My comps are sister Kempton who is the boss and sister Clegg. she is really sweet and told me today thanks for coming cause if i didnt she would have gone crazy. so im glad that i am helping someone. I love you all and i miss you all sooo much! sorry for this lame email by thoughrts are all just scattered and I feel like i am living not my life. haha But i hopw all is well at home and that yall are all safe and happy. I love you all so much! have a good week!

Love sister Hamilton