Bom Pastor - Week 2

  So last week was a bit crazy and I got to learn my new area a bit more! It rained a whole bunch so ALL of my shoes are wet still. We saw a wicked spider in our house. As we got home after a long work day the other elders in our house were like " DID YOU SEE IT?" lol I will send you all a video of this... needless to say we all screamed like little girls!! I also found out that Elder Ferreira looks like frozen from the Incredibles "honey, where is my super suit?" 

  We started teaching Kauã which is Maicom´s friend that is learning about the church. Kauã told us yesterday that he has an answer. He told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and he is set to be baptized on the 16 of March! Also, Jaque told us that she is excited for her baptism in March too! Even though I was not expecting to be in a new area just for 6 weeks I know that I had to be here for a reason. I am loving the Bom Pastor Ward and all the members and people we are teaching. Yesterday we went to the Temple to bring people we are teaching to see it for the first time. They all loved it and want to go again!

  I am excited for this week! I will have my last conference in my mission tomorrow and that means my last testimony before I go home. I am very anxious but also very scared. Maybe that is normal? But I am super happy here!

Love you all!

Élder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Bom Pastor- Week 1

Bom Dia Y'all!!

So now I am in an area where the Bishop is from Houston Texas so we just speak English and he lives 3 doors down and has an English company where he teaches English so that is pretty cool! Also, my area is the airport so every 10 minutes we see an airplane going off which is the plane I will take lol. I will take a picture one day with the plane taking off over my head. Also, we got into a bus today that had all the flight attendants so not only am I always seeing airplanes I see the attendants too! Lol the area is super cool as of now and we have some really cool people that we are teaching already!

 Besides of all that, our area is actually pretty small but there is a lot of room to see growth. We are teaching Edinea and she will be going to get a date marked to get married this next month so she is super excited! Also, there is Jaque that is about 22 years old and she is preparing to be baptized soon. She already has gone to church two times from only being taught for 2 weeks. She is loving the church and has some friends there already. She has a daughter so we are focusing a lot on eternal families and she understands it all. 

 As of now its been a rush to see how the new zone is going and already next week is my last Zone conference so I am getting really nervous with everything happening all at once and so quick! I have not been home literally all day so I don't have pictures to send because I don't have my camera but I will have lots next week! Love you all and talk to you all on the next week!

Elder Bryson D Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Jardim Do Sol - Week 13

 Transfers were today and i was transferred to my last area for just one transfer. I kind of had an idea that this would happen but i was not sure of how or where i would be going. I was transferred to the Bom Pastor area with a prior companion Elder Zanni from Argentina. We served for a transfer together last year and now again this year so i am super excited to be werving with him again.

  Mara is progresing a whole lot this last week! She has gone 3 days without smoking as of yesterday and is preparing to be baptised. She is not feeling to great due to not smoking anymore but that feeling will go away soon. We went to the temple with her on Wednesday and on friday she stopped smoking with a plan that we have for her. She is very determined to stop smoking and follow Christ. She already got rid of the coffee and soon she will be free from smoking too! 

  Friday we did splits in my second area so i got to see more of the recent conversos from when i served there. It was so great to be able to see them continue to grow in the gospel and see their son that is having his 1 year old birthday today! Time flies so fast and sooner then they know it he will be going on a mission! 

  I will miss the area Jardim Do Sol so much but i know that the lord has a plan for me to be here in Bom Pastor for 6 weeks so I am glad that i can be here for this time that i have left! Its such an opportunity to serve! 

Elder Bryson D Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Jardim Do Sol - Week 12

  Wow! I am super light now! If the scale is correct here in the pharmacy I have lost about 15 kilos which is about 30 pounds... Lol I am eating a lot so that is weird!

  We had so many blessings this past week! We had everybody that planned to go to church went yesterday, We are starting the process of some weddings this year and family has had some questions answered from daily prayer and scripture study! On her own, because of the questions being answered, she looked into the process of getting married so they are super stoked to do that and understand more!!   

  Lol We were teaching the plan  of salvation to a little 8 year old girl, her name is Julia, and she was like "so before i lived here on earth i knew and met Jesus?" We just replied yes and she said quietly " I knew I shouldn't of washed my hands..." lol we about died laughing when she said this. She wants to be close to our savior it's so sweet! Lol she told her mom "I just want to jump in the water to be baptized!" She wanted to be baptized this week but her mom said that the 9th of February is better to go with her to church and to bring her sister back to church too.

  Mara will have to move to Santa Caterina which is another state so she will move there after she is baptized. Her grandson is paying her rent so she needs a cheaper rent so he will move her closer to him and her daughter. She was super sad that she has to move but will continue with us until she has to move. 

  This is the last week in the transfer so let's see if I will stay here or go to another area for my last before I am home! I told President Cuvelier that I will go wherever the Lord wants me to serve for my last transfer or I will stay if He wants me to stay! Either way, i will be happy!

Love you all!

 Élder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

Jardim Do Sol - Week 11

So this last week was crazy! Went to Quitandinha which meant waking up at 5:40 am and so that meant I was super tired till Thursday like at the point till teaching standing up was better because I would of fallen asleep on a couch lol. The next day we had a meeting with the Steak President and in my old area I learned that they will have their own chapel starting in March! Also when I was in my second area for splits I visited 2 families that I taught and Willian and Ana and their son Samuel (11 months old)! I was so happy to see them and get to talk to them for a little. I have missed these families so much so I was super happy to see them.

 Mara is progressing a lot !! She went to church and has lowered her smoking habits a lot already! She loved the church and is already in 2 Nephi in the book of Mormon! She is already excited to come next week too! She is truly having a conversion now! Also, we are in the process of helping Rafael and Danieli get married. We need to go to the Cartório Wednesday to start this process! So there is a lot going on here and that is good because it keeps us busy!!!

The Church is True!

-Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Jardim do Sol - Week 10

This week was super tiring with a lot of splits, family nights and a ward activity that we as missionaries did!

 Mara is an older lady that we found when I was on splits with Elder Groves (from Alaska) and we just taught her outside on the first visit. We had been looking for somebody to teach and she answered the door out of 4 houses. 

  When we did splits and Elder Cavaco stayed in the area he went there to see if Carla ( Maras grandaughter) was home but who answered was Maras other grandaughter which let them in. Mara told us the other day that she didn't want her granddaughter to let them in but did so anyway. Mara said that one month ago she was praying to have God send her an answer about what is Christ's church and she had a dream that 3 angles passed by her house. So returning to the other day the three of us My companion, Raquel (a member) and I visited her. She confirmed this as an answer for her prayers. She has had a lot of challenges in her life with some daughters in jail and she had some personal problems too. BUT she wants to change and quit smoking and she was really happy that we passed by when we did. The reason we got to meet her is because about a month and a half ago Elder Haight and I taught her at her mother in laws house and we got her address to pass by. What I got from this is that we ALWAYS need to follow the Holy Ghost because if we didn't we would of not found Carla which lead to finding Mara who was praying to find a church around the same time we found Carla in the street one day! The Church is true and I know that the Holy Ghost is a tool for us. If we didn't have the Holy Ghost we would not be teaching and helping Mara prepare to be baptized! I love the mission! I hope that all made sense!!

Other news is that I got my plane schedule for my return!!

Love you all!

Elder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

P.S. As you all can see it's been really hot here in Curitiba theses days!

Ano Novo!!! Week 9 - Jardim Do Sol

Well, this week was fun! Started with the new year being home early and not being able to sleep because of the bombs that everybody uses on the new year. Yes, they don't use really fireworks but its more like a really big bomb that they launch into the air. Thanks to our lovely neighbors I was up till 1 am haha. Last year I didn't even wake up when it was new years for 2018 so it was different this year. 

 This week we also had a chance to do a lot of splits and see some more progress in the area! More people are going to church and we planned and confirmed with a family that we will start their wedding process this week right now!!! This is a family that we care for so much and we are happy that they are in the process of getting married. Another family we found this week told us that they believe the Book of Mormon is true and that the church was restored through Joseph Smith !! That is the best feeling when somebody can say that they know that the church is true with just 2 weeks being taught!! They really are reading and praying to keep knowing more! In these last 3 weeks, we have seen a change in the area without a doubt. For sure there is more work to be done but we are happy with the changes already!! 

 As for this new year, I have to set my goals for the last bit of my mission and for after! I received a sad and yet good phone call today with a confirmation of when I will be home and what airport I will arrive at. On the 19th of March I will leave my mission. I am truly sad to have to leave in such a short time but I am excited how much we can accomplish until then. I just have a couple of months left but I am so happy for what I have learned and seen until now! I know that the church is true and I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God and that through reading and prayer we can know that the Church is true. I know that trough prayer and study we can know that God truly loves us and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ really is a power that cures us physically and spiritually! 

Love you all!

Élder Bryson D. Hammond

Missão Brasil Curitiba Sul

2017-2019

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