Week 40

9 months...It's like a bitter sweet moment. I've loved loved loved my mission. There are so many experiences that I've had that are shaping the person I'm becoming. Being able to witness the Gospel of Jesus Christ work miracles in people's lives is a testimony builder to me of the power of the Atonement. Today I was reading about Alma the younger's story. In Alma 36:17-21 he describes the relief that comes as we learn to turn to and rely on our Savior. He says, "And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" Living the Gospel, keeping the commandments, and studying and prayer will help us to gain experiences that will help us to see that greater Light that fills our lives with Joy. I am so blessed to be able to be serving the Lord and to still have 9 precious months to do so.

Sister Roberts is my new companion! She's a rockstar! Training is the funnest thing, and I'm learning so much more now that I get to go over the very fundamentals of missionary work so thoroughly. Thursday we had a Missionary Training for all of the new missionaries. We got to see President and Sister Rasmussen. They are doing so good! They've officially been here for a month, which is weird. President said that he takes great consideration on who he calls to be trainers, so this is a really great opportunity that the Lord has given me to be able to train.

Yesterday we biked to church again with Sis. Brundage's son James. He's 10. We had a lesson with his mom on Sat and he said that he wanted to come to church with us. So he did. That was cool :)

Sister Hammond 

PICS - Saying goodbye to Hermana Zavala!

-Sis Roberts + Sis Hammond = taking over Lake Holm

-slumber party in the living room and waiting on a new bed for Sis Roberts

Week 39

This week has been so great! The highlight of the week was Saturday. We had a surprise party for Sister Ainsworth's 50th birthday and decorated the bishop's house with black balloons and streamers. We also surprised her by getting her a set of scriptures with her name on it. She was SO excited! My favorite part was when she found the pictures of her dog, Spencer (he passed away a couple of months ago), that hid in the scriptures. It was so fun to see her reaction. Wow, my heart is so big for all of these people in Washington that I love 

THEN, Autumn got BAPTIZED!!!!! She looked so good in white ;) Literally so many people came that we had to get more chairs and set them up in the back of the room. There wasn't enough seats for everyone!! It was the best. :)

besides that..

-We held our Romanian friend's lamb, that was cool.

-met 4 drunk guys working on their car who had many religious opinions and all had something to say (mlia - haha kenna ;)

-Kendrick says that he prays like a hero :) he's 8.

-oh, and I'm training. No big deal. Actually, it's a huge deal. Please everyone pray for me and my baby! Haha, this is going to be a great transfer!

-oh, and Sister Zavala is going to be an Hermana! She's so excited to speak spanish. SOOO weird.

I  missions.

D&C 68:6 "do not fear, for I the Lord am with you and will stand by you, and you shall bear testimony of me, even Jesus Christ, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come." - there really isn't any need to fear, just trust in God because He's got this. My motto has been 'Make it up as you go along and remember that God's got this'. Because at the end of the day it really doesn't matter about what anyone else has done, but if you can say that you've done your part to testify of Jesus Christ, then that's all He asks for.

Sister Hammond 

Sister Frischknecht (aka Brooke) joined the party too :)


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"I am the good shephard" -Frate Nelu (Brother Nelu in Romanian)

Week 38

We had a really great interview with our mission president and his cute wife on Wednesday. Sister Rasmussen is so much fun! Sister Zavala loves making cookies so we made them and our zone chocolate chip cookies. We made this big cookie with a giant 'R' in the middle made out of chocolate chips. It was a lot of fun and the Rasmussen's were super excited. 

This week has been so busy, actually, the past couple weeks have been so busy. I literally don't know what I'm doing with my life. My motto is just "make it all up as you go along." I guess I should add "with God's help". 

I've been reading the war chapters in Alma this week in my Book of Mormon reading. I've never realized how much they really do apply to our life today. Satan's influence is evidenced all throughout the world and it's so hard to distinguish between good and evil because it's covered with so many 'grey' areas. When the Lamanites came against the Nephites Captain Moroni prepared his people with their weapons of war (Alma 43:18-19). I've realized that now more than ever is the time that we need to follow the council of our prophet. Just as Captain Moroni prepared the Nephites in their time of need, President Monson and the other General Authorities receive revelation and guidance as to how to help us face the tempations and 'grey' areas that come from the adversary. As we heed their council with strict obedience we will be prepared to overcome whatever is thrown our way. "Behold, the armies of the Nephites were prepared to meet them" - Alma 43:15.

I love this gospel and I love my mission  Autumn Washburn is getting baptized this week, keep her in your prayers!

Sister Hammond 

Washington blackberries grow EVERYWHERE, and they are starting to come in :)

puppies are the best therapy.

Week 37

I am so in love with Washington it's crazy. We went to Flaming Geyser last week with Sister Lucky and Sister Westover. We took our bikes out on the trails, had a blast, and took 10,000 pictures. OH! and we temporarily lost our phone! But God is real and we prayed a lot and retraced our steps and because God is real He lead another person to our phone who then gave it to a park ranger. So after trying to find the office we were finally reunited with our phone. #blessings.

This last week Sister Zavala and I hit the ground running. We made goals to be more consecrated and to work hard 24/7. We saw so many blessings come from it :) We had a lot more lessons with people and we were more bold. We especially did a lot better with teaching and testifying on the spot. Yesterday topped it all off when we had a lesson with a new investigator and committed her to be baptized in August. She's so cute and she has so many great questions. Her name is Sister Brundage. 

We met our new mission president and his cute wife this week. They are going to be so great. We are so blessed to have them. We also had a zone training on obedience that has changed my life. It's so important to remember to be obedient even when we may not be seeing anything come from it. I love what our zone leader said, "When obedience goes from being something that you have to do to something that you want to do then will the Lord be able to truly work miracles in your life." (so he didn't say it exactly like that, but that's all that I could remember ;)

"Lo, [I] have left all and followed thee" - Luke 18:28

Sister Hammond 

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Week 36

Welcome to the Washington Federal Way Mission President and Sister Rasmussen  Also known as the best mission on earth ;)

We get to meet our new mission president tomorrow and we are so beyond excited. Super sad to see the Eaton's leave though, they've had such a big impact on my life and my mission. We're going to miss them.

Sister Zavala and I have had a great week and a pretty fun 4th of July. As with all the other holidays, we did lots of missionary work yesterday :) It was great because we were able to talk with so many people who were outside. We also had a little party with a cute older lady in our ward, Sister Horne (she's the one that we do yard work with every week) 

I've been learning so much about what it means to be truly converted to the gospel. In fast and testimony meeting yesterday I was thinking about 3 Ne. 9:13 where the Savior beckons us to "Be converted that I may heal you". True to the Faith has a great section on conversion and I love how it mentions that we will never be 100% converted to the gospel in this life. Conversion is a continuous process that happens over the course of our lives. That's why I love that scripture in 3 Nephi so much because for me it symbolizes the fact that as we continue to strengthen our conversion to Jesus Christ and His Gospel He will be there to continuously heal us. To heal our broken hearts, bind up our mistakes, refine us to become the sons and daughters that He's created us to be. I love this Gospel and I know that as we strive to be continuously converted every day of that we will feel the healing power of the Atonement at work in our lives.

I love you all! Have a great week ☼

rocking the missionary foot tan ☼

Bike For Christ

Tracting and found an 85 year old man who is a trapper. This is his beaver that he is going to skin...

we found a baby frog on the side of the road during exchanges with Sister Young

We wrote a letter to the Rasmussens ♪♫♪

Sister Hammond 

Week 35

Where to even begin, there is so much happening in Lake Holm. The Lord is truly blessing us  I guess I'll start from the beginning. Sister Skousen went home on Saturday, she had some things to take care of at home, but she will be working hard to come back to Washington in January. She was incredible and I loved the time we were able to be together. I learned so much from her!! Also, she is pretty stinking hilarious. :D Well, with her leaving, that left the question of who would be coming to Lake Holm with me. There are a couple of trios of sisters so it wasn't too hard to figure that one of those sisters would be coming here. Only, I did not expect who I would be getting. President Eaton called us on Thursday morning and asked if I was ready to hear who my new companion would be. Of course I said yes. Without a moment's hesitation he said something like "now this really shouldn't be happening, but Sister Zavala will be your new companion." I think I literally screamed.

She came on Saturday and we have kind of been living in a dream like state ever since. We did some sercive and had stake conference on Saturday night and Sunday and pday today, so it just feels like we are on an extended exchange. We both keep looking at each other and saying "is this even happening right now?" "Is this real life?" "I don't know what's going on" haha ;) it's just soooo weird! We have 4 weeks together because we are 99% sure that this isn't going to last.

Also, President Eaton goes home this week and we will be welcoming the Rassmussen's to our mission! So excited!

During companion study this morning Sister Zavala shared this amazing insight that I'd like to share. It's in the book of Ether in the Book of Mormon where the Brother of Jared is petitioning for the Lord's help in providing light for their journey across the ocean. The part that stood out the most was when the Lord touched the stones "one by one" (Ethere 3:6). When you reference this to 3 Ne. 17:21 we see that the resurrected Lord took the Nephite children and blessed them "one by one". Our Heavenly Father's plan envelopes all of His children, but it is also a plan that is personal for each and every person. They know us individually and by name, and one by one Jesus Christ "[took] upon Him the pains and the sicknesses of His people" (Alma 7:11). Going back to Ether 3:4 He does this so that we can be filled with His light. As we humble ourselves before Him He will "prepare [us] that [we] may shine forth in darkness". We all have the light of Christ in us, but it does take a willing heart and mind to fully submit to His will so that He can shine that light to those around us who may be sitting in the dark, without hope and without light. It's been such a blessing to be able to witness first hand the way that the Lord uses His servants to shine forth His light in a darkened world. 

I love you all!

Sister Hammond 

Week 34

After district meeting on Wednesday I asked my district leader for a blessing. Can I just say how much I love the Priesthood? It's incredible to be able to serve right along these men who are worthy to represent Jesus Christ as His missionaries and who use the authority that they have to sacredly. It's refreshing to be able to be around people who respect themselves, others, and the Lord.

In my blessing we were promised to see many miracles in Lake Holm. Which is happening  Heavenly Father has blessed Sister Skousen and I so much more than I could have ever thought. We are working with great people and our investigator, Autumn, has been changing so much! We shared Proverbs 31:10 with her. This last week she told us that as she's been working (she's a mechanic and works with a lot of men and she's a very pretty 22 year old girl) and she's been taking more pride in herself. She's noticed more about what guys say to her and she's been standing up for herself! Love her.

Also, Sister Skousen hit her 9 month mark so I took her to Red Robin for lunch :) basically, life in Washington is great ☼

a guy in our ward thinks it's cool to hang swords and axes on his wall. All of which are sharpened and highly dangerous. But he assures us that they are secured very securely to the wall....hmm...
​this is an old picture​ but Sister Skousen and I are going hiking on this trail after shopping today, so it's a sneak peek of pictures for next week.

Love you all!!

Sister Hammond