I can dunk!!! Literally week 7

Its a weird title but i think its a pretty cool accomplishment! 

Anyways.... This week has been the best but yet the worst. Let me explain..... Cold showers (DANGGG ITTT) , cold every morning, hungry at dinner and no lights in the kitchen lol.

Let me talk now about my blessings that i complained a little lol.

This area that i am serving in is awesome but some streets its nice and the other. BTW my area is called Novo Mundo (new world in English) which it trully is because we had 9 attend church yesterday and possibly a baptism Saturday! I love the people her so much because they always find ways to serve us when we share messages with them! No matter how much money they have we are offered food and water when we visit. The childeren no mwtter how much they have are happy. One investigator now a member that we have is João and he has recently been baptized and is working everyday to be a great member and represent Jesus Christ!

Sometimes when we share about our message people dont recognize when they fel the Holy Ghost in their life. But i can see their expressions and i know its there. This is why we serve to help others come unto Christ and follow him. My joy from serving is beyond no other. And yes its in Portuguese that i teach. My patient companion Elder Quaresma does most of the talking as for right now but soon i will be doing half of the lessons. People are very surprised when i can teach in the beautiful language of Portuguese just after 6 weeks in Brasil. Well now tomorrow it will be 7 weeks but still lol. I am only able to do these things though the gift of tongues, Holy Ghost and my love for my savior Jesus Christ. 

As i have tough times i remember that this service isnt for me. Even though it may bless my life for many reasons i am here to serve those in need of a heart full of love and a knowledge of their savior. As i have much joy for those that accept the gospel i also have love for those that dont accept. My heart aches for those that dont understand or dont want to understand... 

There is some things that these past 7 weeks i have learned. I knew of the love Jesus Christ has for us but now I feel that same love Christ has for us i have for the people aqui in Curitiba Sul. There is a reason i am here!

For my teachers in the CTM Irmã Borges and Irmão Borges i want to say thank you!! Sempre fala Portuguese!!!! Your examples have given me confidence that i can do this. Irmão Borges just like Renzo i have investigators that want baptism but cant right now because they need marriage first. Their son just received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday and i cant wait for Julio e AnaPaula to be baptized soon! There is a lot both of you taught me through practice in the CTM and i could not be more thankful!! Through you both i am able to bless many lives and give their family eternal life and joy! Thank you again! 

My companion Elder Quaresma is awesome and has taught me so much. i have probably learned as much Portuguese this week as i did in the last two in the CTM. Literally!! I sleep talk in Portuguese now lol. My companion told me he heard and understood me talking about the restoration in my sleep lol. The members here are so nice too and always feed us lunch and its always the best food ever. Maybe its because its the only real meal i get out of the day but still i am always grateful! My investigators are progressing really well now. Its so fun to see people start dressing and cleaning up their house more after our lessons. I love them all!

I am about to send some photos soon!! 

Love you all!!!

-- Elder Hammond 

Your going to notice more spelling and grammatical errors in Bryson's writings. Let me explain! After he left and entered the MTC (CTM), we noticed he's starting to mix English and Portuguese in his language. 😂 We actually get a kick out of it! When he says he's speaking Portuguese in his sleep...I believe him! But being mom, I have corrected typos (his blending of languages). Also the keyboards in Brazil do not look like English keyboards and also have different keys or are missing some of our punctuation's too! However, there are more and more of these, as he's more fluent in Portuguese! I really don't want to keep changing his writings, and many times It's entertaining and cute! 😊 Mostly - I want his writings to reflect him! It doesn't feel right for me to continue to correct the little things, because it's really about his progression of the languages and his journey. So your going to notice a sudden change here. I think this will mean so much more for Bryson once he is off his mission, and can see the process he was on with the two languages. I hope you enjoy some chuckles with us on his mixed or blended writings. 😏 -  Amy Hammond (Bryson's mom) 💓

Bryson hand wrote some family letters, and asked for me to post them to his blog. 😊

Curitiba South Brazil Mission Home

Finally a picture of Elder Bryson Hammond in the Curitiba South Brazil Mission Home with his Mission President Corey Cuvelier & his wife Wendi! (Bryson is center of the back row, in his red tie.) He's a handsome site to see! Both elders to the right of him, were also in the CTM with him, and his same district. 😊 This represents the new group of Missionaries for April 2017!

IN THE FIELD!!!!

Olá 

Here are some photos finally!!

I just met my mission ppresident and he is awesome!! He is for sure from California and he actually knows the Griffits family lol. Curitiba is for sure a rainy city because when we landed it was already raining but just a little bit. I am going to be meeting my novo companheiro today but i have no idea when that will be. We are all meeting with the President at the moment and then going to be getting almoço (lunch) in the next few minutes or sometime soon lol. It for sure is a good feeling to be able to comunicate with people in Brasil even though i am not even close to being fluent yet. Hoje has been a long and weird/tireing start. It started at 4:00 AM (for me 4:15 for me because i didnt hear the alarm like always) and our flight took off at 7:30 and landed at 8:30. Now i am here. I have to go now but more coming in the next week! Eu amor vocês!!!!!

Tchau!

 - Elder Bryson Daniel Hammond

Second Set of Pictures in 6 Weeks!

These are the second set of pictures we have received sense Bryson went to Brazil 6 weeks ago today! I received these from an angel (sweet lady) the night before Easter! I knew she was trying to contact me, but we weren't connecting some how. So I did some digging and finally we connected! The Lords timing is not our timing for things. But to receive these on the eve of Easter, made my mama heart burst! I have been missing our missionary so much! Still hard to go to his room, and I still cry every time! This is our first holiday with Bryson away. Even though it's not Christmas, or Thanksgiving we still missed him very much! I made him an Easter Basket just like all 4 kids, as if he is with us. We haven't been allowed to mail him packages until now, so I will package his Easter items up, along with some other things from home and mail his first package to the mission home in Curitiba. Bryson flies out to Curitiba South Brazil Mission tomorrow. I know this is going to be a bitter sweet thing for Bryson, as he will say good bye to his district, his companion, his teachers and mission leaders in the Brazil CTM! I'm sure he's nervous to speak the language, and will likely have a Portuguese speaking companion from Brazil. That's a good thing, but scary when your used to having English speaking companions and district in the CTM.  I'm praying for Bryson today and tomorrow for his safe travels and smooth transition for my missionary, but also for his companions and district that they too have a smooth transition and safe travels as they all go to various missions in Brazil. Please pray for Bryson, and his companions during this time! It's another step of faith for them, and a lot of growth ahead! -💓 Amy (Bryson's mom)

Semana 5!!! (Week 5!!!)

Ola meu familia & amigos!!

    Its my last week in the CTM and I cant believe that in a week from today I will be in the mission field and teaching my own literal investigators in Curitiba Brasil!! It is honestly going to be the worst leaving all of my friends here as I grew closer to them. We have grown so close together as missionaries and friends. I feel like I have been in this one building for months and months but it has only been a month and a half this coming Tuesday. My next email will be my first pday in the field!  

    This week has probably been the best week so far actually because I am actually able to understand 75% of what is being said by my Brasilian teachers and friends some of which don't know any English I may add lol. We do a thing called split lessons and that is when you change companions and teach with a Brasilian for about an hour and then go to lunch with them. This past week one of my amazing teachers asked what are your feelings about going into the field next week...( the keyboards here are in Portuguese so no question mark for that sentence lol....) I immediately said I am scared of not being able to talk with English after the CTM because 90% of my companions will only know Portuguese. Then immediately the whole district agreed that that was all of our fear. I have some hope though because some missionaries said that after a year its a chore to speak English even for a second. I think it would be really funny if when I come home I forget how to speak English haha. There is a scripture that Irmã Borges shared with us while talking about the field and how its all hard especially with the language. Its D&C 100:1. If you don't own a copy of D&C then you can go to your app store and download an app called LDS library and get all them for free right on your phone! No excuses lol!! It is now a favorite scripture for me as word of comfort.

    I have a story to tell about my second proselyting experience... I just want to start with how me and my companion got split from our district and then it just started raining and then stopped so it was really hot for everybody that knows what rain and humidity does to you... well its not fun lol. So we are proselyting and we ran into the sisters in our district and I saw that they were holding a wet and torn up Book of Mormon.... I immediately was wondering what could of happened. So the last guy I saw my friends Elder Dayton and Elder Haight talking to took it from them and seemed interested and a couple minutes later that same guy looked at Sister Bradford and Sister Braegger and started to tear the book in half and threw it in a puddle.. The sisters then continued to walk to him and picked it up and said "Bom dia" which means Good day and then they walked away. This hurt my district and me so much and it has effected our testimonies so much just from that experience and I didn't even witness this with mine own eyes. As a representative of Jesus Christ our redeemer I take it as a privileged to walk just a slight hair in His shoes every day. There was a talk that Jeffrey R. Holland gave and we watched it last night and he mentioned as a missionaries of Christ we get to feel a little how Christ felt in his day. We GET to walk on the outside bushes of Gethsemane where He suffered for our sins... As much as it was wrong for that man to do that to a sacred book of God I cant imagine where he is at in his life to be able to do that. He must have a lot of bad in his life to do that and that is why we serve. No matter what somebody has done or will do we treat them as Christ would treat them. The WORLD NEEDS the gospel especially in these days where there is so much corruption! When I think this is hard I imagine what Christ did for us on the day when he was crucified on the cross. Those videos bring tears to my eyes... I have seen a video of a little girl singing about the Garden of Gethsemane and it brings joy to my heart knowing that is how much Christ loves us all. To suffer for us so we can live again!

    If you guys have not read The Book of Mormon in your life for your life, I challenge you all to get a copy! This is another testament of Jesus Christ and the word in it are not just words but they are on paper for all the lives in the world! I love you all so so so much and I know I would not want to be anywhere else but here today! Until next week! 


- Elder Hammond

Semana 4!! (Week 4!!)

Olà everybody!!!

This week has been really really weird for me because I can literally only remember General Conference which is really cool because I love general conference now. I think out of my whole life I have got the most out of this one from all the ones I have seen. I thankfully got to listen to the prophets voice and not a voice over!!!

For my mom that likes to get and know my friends parents idk if I have listed people in my district or not but these are their names: E Hill my companion, E Dayton, E Haight, E Larsen, E Valdivia, Sister Braegger and Sister Bradford. We have been doing get to know you times where one of us tells everybody about their life story and about their families. Its so cool to know why there are here and what was the moment when their testimonies have grown to have them serve. I know it took me a while to want to serve because I wanted to so its way cool to hear their reason for going. I for sure think we have grown tremendously closer because of this. Its truly amazing how the gospel can bring us all together so much!!!

  

General Conference for those that haven't heard of it is where we get to listen to all the leaders of the church that have been called of God. I love hearing their talks because their testimony helps mine grow. A big topic for this General conference is how to feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost and how we can respond to those immediately! It could be something so simple and innocent but i know from listening to those we can become more in tune and as a missionary i will be able to come into somebodies life to bless them with the gospel.

   

Now as for me I have some ups and downs with the language especially because as I am getting better things also start to get harder...  One thing being for sure is I miss my family and friends dearly because I don't get to have contact with them every day like I have been for the past 21 years of my life. Another thing is because I am growing so much spiritually I am so so so exhausted by the end of the night to the point of once my head hits the pillow its already the next day! And I feel like I have been here forever (literally) but I have only been here exactly 1 month yesterday! I am also starting to think and dream in Portuguese which isn't tough but I just thought it was a really cool thing when I catch myself doing that. Now it feels weird to say "thank you" instead of "obrigado" and now my "yes" is "sim" just simple things like that. Idk if I mentioned this last week but I met some Elders at the temple yesterday when I was helping do baptisms and they were from North Carolina and they said that speaking English is now a chore for them. They have to look up words or just think more about what they want to say in English and I could tell they had to think more when I was talking to them. That for sure made me feel so much better about the Portuguese language!

One thing my district and I did last week was we talked about what quote has helped them get through tough things in life. I remembered a quote the a man named ET The Hip Hop Preacher said and it goes like this "When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe then you will be successful" I recently started thinking of this more and more and that's literally the attitude that I have to have while serving. Because my heavenly father is counting on me to learn Portuguese so I can help people in Brasil receive the light of Christ in their life. I think its amazing that Heavenly Father trusts me to do exactly what he did and still does now through us. I love this Gospel in my life so much and I couldn't be happier right now! 

I Love you all so much!!

- Elder Hammond