Jardim do Sol - Week 8

Hello, 

  So this last week we have seen a huge change in our teaching group which is a good thing and also hard to hear people say that they don't want to receive us anymore. We have been able to see some of the people we found last week also go to church in the first week we taught them. we are able to see the progress of everybody because of the way we are teaching the first lesson (the restoration). We teach it in 5 specific topics. 

1. God is our Heavenly Father. 

2. Jesus Christ is our Savior 

3. they talk to us through a Prophet 

4. god restored his gospel through His Prophet Joseph Smith and 

5. The Book of Mormon is how you can know if this is all true. 

  We have found that combining this with 3 Nephi 12:48 helps show people that through this message they can strive to be like God and Jesus Christ through following the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is helping a lot of people from what we can see until now!  

 Such a great and hard experience working on Christmas but it was so cool to be able to share the gospel with so many people and try to help them with their challenges and difficulties through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

  I want to wish you all a Happy New years!  Sorry, this email is short but I will have more next week for you all! 

 We played Volleyball with the youth today! 

Until next time!

Love you all!

-Elder Hammond

Feliz Natal Jardim do Sol - week 7

SAAANNNNNTTTTTTAAAAAAA ( Buddy the Elf - Elf Movie) 

  This week was crazy with a new companion and being the last week before Christmas! We had our Christmas zone conference on Wednesday which some of my companions were there for a little bit so I got to see them before they went home! We got to eat a lot, play games, sing Christmas songs and then we got training about the nature of Jesus Christ that our President Cuvelier had prepared for us. 

  Yesterday we had a really cool experience of going to peoples homes to sing Christmas songs for them. We visited some homes especially but a lot of the neighbors came out and we were able to introduce ourselves and now we will be returning another day (today and tomorrow) to visit them and to share a Christmas message with their families. I was not feeling like it was Christmas until we had a chance to do this so I am grateful that we got to participate with the ward! 

  Also this week we have been praying to find some people to teach because we now have 4 missionaries so the area is now split. We have been searching for a lot of people and we were blessed to find some families that seemed really excited to receive the message that we have. We talked with one lady and her daughter last week in the street and she said I have worked at my office for 10 years with your church in the front and I always wondered why nobody has talked to me yet. Lol We laughed and said that it took an elder from Portugal and an elder from the United States to talk to you. She accepted us to visit and as of now she is really excited to read the book of Mormon and know if the church is true! 

  This week was awesome with so many great things that happened! I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas! Remember why we truly celebrate Christmas and not about the things! I know if we focus on the real meaning of Christmas you will feel the spirit in another way! 

Love you all!

Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul 

2017-2019

Jardim Do Sol - Week 6

Well, the mission is hard in many reasons! The closer I get to going home means the closer my friends in the mission are all leaving. Today I had to say goodbye to a lot of friends that I served with, did splits with or just lived in the same house or the same district. it hit a little close to heart this last 2 days realizing that the mission Curitiba Sul will always be the same but I as a missionary and representative of Christ have forever been changed by the experiences, people and with those, I have served with. It is really hard to say good-bye to those that I don't know when I will be able to see again. As for now like Elder Bezerra says " after its done are only left memories!" Is very true and not so easy! As I am in y last 3 months I have to focus more than I have focused and soak it all up! I am so happy that I chose to serve a mission and be a representative of Christ for such a short period of time. It's not easy but its worth it!! At whatever time or place we are at in life we need to soak up the moments and try to remember them because they fly by super fast!! Basically, I LOVE my mission and I would never trade it for anything! I know the Church is true!!

 As for memories here is one picture from a Zone Conference that we had this last transfer!

 I won't be able to send other pictures because I don't trust this computer lol. I already lost pictures on this computer ... I will send more next week!   

Love you all!

Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Jardim do Sol - Week 5

HELLO, MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

  So this week we are going into the last week of my companion Elder Bezerra so he will be going home to Pernambuco next Tuesday! He is not that excited but he has finished his time! I will be with another companion next week so this next week will be really cool! 

  I have decided that Curitiba does not know if it wants to be winter or summer which is weird because it completely skips fall. This week i woke up one day and it was so so so cold "que frio da cebola" !! We also talked with this older man names Antonio that talked about a lot of history that he remembers in his lifetime! He has lived in this area since he was 25 years old and not is 82 years old! He talked about the war in Lapa which is a town in our mission, talked about how he remembers hearing about the second world war while he was in school and how he helped build a bridge that connects Paraguay to Brasi here in the south. He remembers a lot of things from that time! 

  Talking with Elder Bezerra this last week we talked about how the spirit of the mission is so different as we are here from being home. We will never have this chance again. Here our problems are the problems of other people because we are more worried about them then ourself. Being here to serve is an honor for me and I have to take advantage of this time that I have left to give it my all!

Love you all!

 Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Jardim do Sol - Week 4

Bom Dia Galera!

  This week was super crazy but then again idk what would be the mission if it was not a little bit crazy lol. So the week started out with a zone conference which shows in one of the pictures some of the Elders and Sisters and Presidente Cuvelier! We started our conference at 2:30 and it ended at 7:30 and after we ate Habibs until 8:30. During this conference, Presidente Cuvelier announced that we will open up the church in Quitandinha for Elders again. With this Presidente asked us to help them open up the area so we went with them at 10 am to help out. We ended up having to sleep there because we missed the last bus to get home at 10 pm so we slept on the tile floor !!  Yay for not being able to take a shower lol. It was super fun though. We got back up at 7 am and left Quitandinha at 7:45 and got home at 9:30 to take a shower and to leave right away to do more splits with other elders! We were so tired but splits are fun so yeah!  

  Saturday we got to do a service project which was super cool! I don't have pictures but we helped put together a wood pane ceiling for a family! As for Christmas, we are focusing on serving as much as we can! The church has a cool program every Christmas! Light the World!  This is the first week!! 

https://www.mormon.org/christmas

Love you all!

Elder Bryson D Hammond

Missão Curitiba Sul 

2017-2019

Happy (Late) Thanksgiving! Week 3 - Jardim do Sol

Hello Yáll!

  So this week was thanksgiving and on thanksgiving day finally the first english class that I taught was that day. I had no idea what to teach but it went really well! After this the ward that I am in now has been doing these Master Chef activities and on this day we had a Master Chef dessert and Elder Bezerra and I were the judges for who decorated better and the best tasting! if there was pumpkin pie that would of won but there wasnt so i picked the Banoffee which was my favorite dessert when I got in the mission and have not had it since then. Lol being that it was a lot time ago I picked that. The whole ward voted so that dessert won!! Was a pretty cool thanksgiving!

  We did splits this week and I had the opportunity to go on splits with Elder Roberts from Arizona! He has 5 months in the mission which is the same time when I did splits in this area with Elder Martins. Its crazy how time flies by! 

  So we taught Sueli but she started crying out of nowhere about how she feels blamed for why she can't see her grandaughter that only has 2 years old. We talked a little bit about the Atonement of Jesus Christ which we could for sure feel the spirit trying to talk to her. I am so greatful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, without this we could never be cleaned from our sins and for sure would not be able to return to our Heavenly Father some day. 

Alma 34:9

For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; foraccording to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be anatonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish;yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and mustperish except it be through the atonement which it is expedientshould be made.  

 Finally have pictures from my last week's email!

Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Week 2 - Jardim do Sol

Dear Everybody,

  So this week was fun and passed by super fast for me! One day felt longer than the whole week though. I will call this day Adventures in Quitandinha! First, i woke up at a devastating hour at 5 in the morning to be able to catch the city but at 6:30. As we approached the bridge to cross the highway there went our bus and the next would pass in only an hour so we waited at the bus stop ( on the side of the highway) for a whole hour ... We got into the bus at 7:30 and thankfully we got to sit down or else it would of been a long bus ride. We got there at 8:30 and i met the second counselor and his wife which they are really cool. Jacó and Eva , Jaco is 71 years old, has a farm, makes his own garden soil from old food and beans and has more energy than I do, or because I woke up at 5 am had more than me for that day. We went there and climbed a lot of hills and because there is literally nothing there but dirt roads and sun i ended my day like a lobster! In the end of the day, he made blackberry juice with honey and lemon to give a flavor and make it sweet. I have pictures but i forgot my memory card at home so i will send them next week! It was so cool to go there this last week for one day. We got home at 9:30 and slept at 10:30. So I am so grateful for this time we had to go there! 

Love you all!

-Elder Hammond

Week 1 - Jardim Do Sol

  Was a good first week in the Jardim do Sol ward ! The members are really welcoming and were so excited that they gave me a talk on my first sunday in the area Yayy!! I was able to talak about missionary work which doesnt only mean us missionaries have to do all the work pertaining to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. There were some things that the other people that talked about stood out in my mind. How in order to share this gospel it starts with our actions and also our testimony of the Gospel.  

 

  In one of the classes that we had we talked about the Temples. I have always heard that our home should be like the temple but in a church handbook it talks about how The Temple and the Church should both be extensions of our Home in which we live. How can we make our home so sacred and spiritual that the temple becomes an extension of the Temple, The Lords home? It starts with the small and simple things like prayer and scripture study daily individual and as a family. How can we have a sacred home if we are not focusing on the spiritual things at home and not just the church or the temple? Its very hard if we are not focused and working to have this together!! I want to challenge you all to make the church and the temple experience an extension of how we live our lives at home. If we have the spirit in our home we can not fail! I love to see the temple and i am going there some day! But it all starts in our home first!

Love you all!

 Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Portão - Week 17

  In this last week, I had another chance to go to the temple two times! One was for our P-day and the other was for another sealing from people that were baptised in my second area. It was so good to see them able to be sealed and excited to have that chance! Another thing that happened was that my first companion, Elder Quaresma went home last week. I was sad to see him go but he was super excited!

  As the last week I was in the Portão ward I was able to see a lot of people that we are teaching be excited to go to church and read The Book of Mormon now. We were able to help Juliano, Milene and Kauan go to church for the first time! They all loved the first experience for sure and will go next week. They are all accepting to be baptized now too!

  I was transferred to my 6th area as of today! I am serving along with my friend Elder Bezerra who I served with in my second area too! I asked Presidente to be have this chance again and he let that happen. Elder Bezerra will go home next month so I will get to be his last companion!! 

  I am super excited to work here in my new area! The ward is called Jardim do Sol!

Until next week Fam!

Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Portão - Week 16

Hello everybody!

 This week was super crazy and divertido with lots of splits and a visit of Sister Franco that is the Second counselor of the Primary! She talked to us not really about how to teach or how we can do better but she gave her testimony of her conversion and how the missionaries had found her family when she was just 3 years old. We could feel her testimony strong and even being in Spanish i was able to understand along with a lot of other missionaries. There was a translator for the words that made completely no sense in Portuguese lol. She shared how she knew somebody that could know that God exists just by reading the Book of Mormon. She challenged us to be more focused on having the people read the Book of Mormon to have conversion. In my life this is how i have been able to be converted. Being born into the church means nothing but what helped me know that the Church is True is reading the Book of Mormon every single day! So I want to extend that same thing to everybody a member or not. Read the Book of Mormon every day and if you do so I know you will have a better understanding of Gods love for you all and you can know that He is there! 

  Also this week i think I have never had so many splits (when we teach with another missionary for a day) with other missionaries. We had 5 splits this week which breaks my record of splits in a week! it was very very tiring but we made it and got to find new people to teach! There were a lot of things that I was able to learn through these past days! A lot of good things! 

 Well, I don't have pictures this week! Sorry lol

Love you all!

Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Portão - Week 15

Curitiba Temple - Saturday 20/10/2018

  As the pictures are showing a family that I had the opportunity to teach and see their progress were sealed for time and all eternity on Saturday with their son Samuel that is 8 months old! I have never met their son because when they got baptized he was still waiting to be born! It was such a great experience to see how ready they both are to be sealed in the Lords House. Honestly, there are not words that I can write or say to explain this experience! I know that families can be together forever by the power of God on this earth. I am so grateful to know that this life does not end here on earth but is just a small part of our lives as literal sons and daughters of God! 

  I did splits with Elder Guttirrez (17/10/2018) which he is from the capital in Mexico! He is super funny and such a hard worker! We had a cool experience teaching families and young adults in one of the parks. That was something that I have never done until that day. He said it is hard to teach families at home so he goes to the parks to do that. I Learned a lot from him! Also, it rained on us and we had to change clothes and go back to some other homes! Needless to say, this week was really good! We also played ball with some other elders for exercise! 

Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Portão - Week 14

Hello family and friends!

  It was another week in the Portão ward! It was also another really rainny week but still not as rainny as the other two weeks! 

  This week I have seen a ig topis in the conference and in our ward. How we as missionaries (all members) need to unite in these latter days and work as a whole and not let satan win the bettle. We are in a world of more things of the world than spiritual things happening. Of people wanting to be baptised and cant or choose in the last hour to not be baptised. I know that this battle is tough now I can't imagine how it was when Christ was on the earth doing this work with the first 12 apostles! I know that the worth of sould is great in the lords eyes! 

  I am so happy within these challenges that we have I will have the privelege os seeing a family that I taught be sealed in the temple with their son that is 6 months old!! I will be going to the temple this week to see this wonterful moment in my life!! 

Hope you all have a great week!

 Love you all

-Elder Hammond

Portão Semana 1

It´s His Church - É a Sua Igreja

  This week we had a great chance to listen to Gods chosen Prophet Russell M. Nelson and Apostles that are chosen of God. In this short time of Conference, we have had a lot of answers to our questions and prayers on how we can be closer to our Heavenly Father, What we need to do to return to Him someday and more and more about the plan that God has for us. I urge you all to go back and study your notes if you took them and urge those that did not get a chance to watch or simply didn't watch, Go and listen to the modern revelation that God the Father has given us. Study what was said, meditate on HIS words through a modern prophet and then pray how you can best follow Gods words! 

  It´s His Church is what the Prophet talked about lastly that was a huge topic about 2 months ago and now we have a greater urge to say the name that Christ himself gave His church. There is a lot of nicknames that people have given The Church of the years but the Lord Jesus Christ has ordered that we use the correct name "The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints".  "the most blatant omission is the absence of the Savior's name. ... When we discard the Savior's name we are subtly disregarding all that Jesus Christ has done for us-even the Atonement."  

-Prophet Russell M. Nelson

  As we strive to follow God and our Savior Jesus Christ in the small and simple things I know that we will have a better understanding of the existence He and God have in our lives and that he really does communicate with a Prophet that he has called as he called Prophets in the olden days. I am so happy to know that God gives us modern revelations. Let's all look for how we can truly take upon the name of Jesus Christ and say what he would say, do as he would do and serve as he would serve us! 

  It was a great week of answers and experiences that I will always remember! 

I love you all!

-Elder Bryson D Hammond

IM BACK! Portão - Semana 5-6

Well... IM BACK!

  Sorry yall, that I did not have a chance to send an email last week about my week. I am now writing about 2 weeks of work so I will try to remember all that I have to say! 

  Week 5 was a bit slow because we were working in a new area. Actually, we were given another area to work in while in our current area. Does that make sense? So our space to work is now three times bigger and so that means we have more to do. President wants to see how this other area is. If there is potential or not, which I know that there is because we found a lot of people there in the last two weeks! 

  On week 6 or six weeks in a transfer, we did three splits which means I worked with two other missionaries this week which was Elder Hill from the MTC and Elder Lira!! Both these splits were really cool and I learned from the two splits so much that I will be able to put into practice this week! 

 One contact we did this week was super funny!! We talked to her and she looked surprised or startled. Elder Alvarado was like have you already talked to two missionaries like us before? her response was "My son is handsome too!"  Hahaha she didn't want to talk to us that much but we couldn't stop laughing after this one! I think I have to funniest experiences doing contacts in the street! Another contact that we did after recognizing who we were she yelled "my but is coming I have to get to the bus stop!!!" I looked down the street and .... There was not even a car in the street let alone a city bus haha! Sadly this happens and remembering that it also happened with Christ makes it easier to keep doing what we have to do! Maybe he didn't have somebody say my but is coming but he went through other things for us! 

I feel like it's been a while since I have bore my testimony here. 

 I have had so many experiences in this short year and a half. But one thing I know is that he is with us always. He does NOT shut his door on anybody that is seeking him or not. I know that my Savior is with me in every contact, every lesson and every footstep i take. With whatever challenges, questions or just thoughts we have he can help us in all of this as long as we do our part. My area is by means not the easiest area but I know he has somebody here ready to see how the Gospel can change their life. I know that all that happens here is in His time and not ours. Yesterday Maria ( investigator) told us "you guys knocked at the right time that I was needing you most. I know that I would not of accepted you guys before. " Knowing that I can take part in the Lord's work by answering a prayer to just one person I know that we are doing all that we can! I love the missionary work and I love the people here in Brasil! I know that God is our literal Heavenly Father and he knows each and every one of you by name. 

I love you all so much!

-Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missiao Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

One year mark?!?!

This week I have been really looking to know more about my Savior and the Atonement that he willingly gave to us. We are teaching a lot of people that don't really comprehend what the importance our Savior is in our life. How can I teach people if I don't recognize the great impact Jesus Christ has for me?

I was studying about our Heavenly Father and I found a scripture in John 14:7,9 that says if you recognize Jesus Christ then you will know our Father in Heaven. After reading this I looked more into understanding the Sacrifice and how He chose to be the Sacrifice before we were on the earth and he had that love for us even before we were born. And how God loves us so much that he gave willingly his only begotten son for us. I was thinking really hard about this and how I can apply my love for the Savior for people here in Brasil in my areas. I have seen the people from a different aspect and I saw when I put that into our lessons the people have a better understanding for our visits.

I want you all to be able to know the Savior (Salvador) because in know the difference it can make in our life either on a mission or not. As we put God and Christ in the first place we will find pure joy that nobody can take from us. This is what keeps us going in life. I know I couldn't serve without recognizing the love he has for me and the people in the world!

-Elder Hammond

We opened a new Stake!!

Hello, 

So this week we started to do a tiring thing called knocking doors and making contacts before lunch which brought more investigators to us that we can teach so this has made it easier to sleep that's for sure! Also that our mission opened a new stake and we will be making our area bigger because we will gain 2 areas from the mission Curitiba so our mission is now bigger!!

Also one of our investigators had 3 dreams and on completed the other for an answer to her prayers. One was a lot like the story in the book of Mormon in 1 Nephi chapter 8 about the vision of the tree of life and others were about the life after death. Her husband died a year ago and she keeps having dreams about him and her family together in Heaven! Every time she had a dream is was with the lesson we had planned for her! Her son will also leave the drug rehab center Friday so she is really happy to have him home and progressing! 

Another thing that happened is that a son of a family that is baptized but not him called us to say that he wants to be baptized and now he has a date to be baptized this next month in March!!! 

We are starting to see our work turn in to fruit which is the best thing to see for us! We didn't even imagine all of this to happen but it did!  Its the hardest thing I am doing being on a mission but I am so happy seeing peoples lives changing for the better!

More next week!

Love you all,

-Elder Bryson D Hammond

Some Fun photos! (No mass email today)