Sister Hammon: Week 4- SURPRISE...It's Elder Bednar!!

This week has been INCREDIBLE. The only thing that could explain it properly is "there is sunshine in my soul today!"

I'm going to start with the most memorable thing...

ELDER BEDNAR!

So, Sunday comes around and Elder Oakes in our district heard a rumor that there was going to be an apostle at the devo that night..we were all super excited. We got there and after choir practice somehow our district miraculously got to sit together on the floor!! (And when I say miraculously, I mean HUGE tender mercy, we haven't gotten floor seats yet let alone with our district) So we sit down making bets about which apostle is going to come and the meeting opens.

"Elders and Sisters we really have a gift for you tonight...we will be watching Character of Christ for all of the new missionaries who haven't seen it yet" Don't get me wrong, that movie changed my life, but it was a little disappointing considering we were all planning on apostle. Anyway so we watched the movie, and it truly was so much better the second time. AH. Life changing. Anyway so after it finished everyone stood up. I thought they were singing the closing hymn standing so I stayed seated because I was finishing my sentence, then I stand up and see ELDER BEDNAR + WIFE...IN THE FLESH! I couldn't believe it!

Apparently he likes to come randomly to the MTC twice a year after the movie to answer questions! That was one of those days! For the next 2 hours he had a giant question and answer session with us! We were 40 feet away from an apostle of God telling us how amazing we were! The main thing that stood out to me was this, "the character of Christ has to be spiritually instinctive. It is what we are, not a behavior we possess." I cannot explain how incredible that night was. I still feel like I am on a high from what he said! When he bore his testimony at the end I couldn't help but think about how lucky I am to live in a place where I have seen apostles testify. I will be adding my witness to theirs for the next 18 months and hearing what he had to say made me so excited to do it. THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE.

Phew, now that I could tell you about that here are some other things that happened!

MUSIC

So I have played the flute for years and years and when I got here they announced that you could audition to play at devotionals and other things. I kind of put it off but my sweet mom sent me my flute so I could audition. Tender Mercy: I didn't have anyone to play the piano but someone else auditioning told me he could play and he sight read it perfectly! SUCH A BLESSING. Anyway, the MTC President's wife told me she loved it and that I made it! So I will be playing in the next few weeks sometime. Super excited!

THAI

I am getting faster at reading script! It is absolutely miraculous. I cannot believe how I am doing this, but I can! Now we are able to finish a line in probably 3-5 minutes just reading! It was so fun because we were reading 1 Nephi 2-4 as a class and our teacher would translate for us (we can read but we have no idea what we are reading) so we would say the next word and Brother Hartman says "ohhhh what's gonna happen next?! He translated what??" Haha I don't know why but it is hilarious. It really is like we are reading a new book. Another thing that is such a blessing is how 'used to Thai' I am. At first if I wanted to memorize vocab it would take me tons of rehearsal but now I am able to read it a few times and I can remember it. There is honestly nothing like learning a language. It stretches your brain in such different ways than anything else. I am SO blessed, even if this is ridiculously hard;)

Example of hard Thai: learning to tell time, I will leave it at that (see picture)

LESSONS

So a trio is definitely difficult, but I only have noticed that in lessons. It is hard for everyone to speak and leave room for the holy ghost. Sister Robinson is very talkative and in lessons Sister Nixon maybe says 2 things, and I am kind of the middle man--er Sister. Our teacher actually sat us down and told us we needed to fix something because we were straining the spirit. So the next lesson I really stayed quiet and it went well! Sister Robinson lead it a ton but Sister Nixon was able to talk a ton! She noticed how quiet I was so we're really going to work on making it even. I need to humble myself and realize that the Holy Ghost is the real teacher so if I'm not able to say everything I want to it is okay!! It will take some getting used to but I think that is why I am in a trio, God is teaching me how to yield!

SPIRITUAL

I kind of already did this in Elder Bednar's section but I am so grateful for this gospel. Honestly there is nothing in the world I love more and I consider myself blessed to be able to help my Father in Heaven bring His children to the truth. Missions are hard but you can't grow if life is easy. I challenge you all to really strive and turn outwards this week. Help others more than yourself and God will make up the difference.

I love you all (and yes family, I do miss you even if I don't let on that I do;) Thank you for your support and prayers, I couldn't love it more.

Love

Sister Hammon

It was Elder Hansen's birthday and his mom sent cupcakes from the celestial kingdom

Learning to tell time--AKA the most confusing concept in Thai. There are 6 different sections, sometimes a new section starts over from 1 and other times it doesn't, sometimes you add minute at the end, sometimes you don't, sometimes they count backwards, sometimes it's forwards. SANUK (fun in Thai--also a shoe brand, I'm telling you this langauge is the most random thing)

1-6 AM

6-11 AM

noon

1-3 PM

4-6 PM

7-11 PM