Transfers

It's transfer day again and there were almost no changes in the zone except I received my new companion Elder Estrada, from Guatemala. President must be happy with how things are going here in the zone because literally everyone else stayed the same. I'm stoked about that because we have a really good rhythm in the zone right now and after finishing a excellent month of September we should be able to see even more miracles rolling into this month of October, especially since the month is starting off with general conference which is always an awesome opportunity for learning and spiritual growth of investigators, recent converts, ward leaders and missionaries! My new companion has the same amount of time in the mission as Elder Packard so he's coming with some experience, but i'm still much more of a veteran in comparison. He will likely be my last comp because i only have about two transfers left. He seems like a cool guy, so i'm sure we will get along great and should have an awesome change or two ahead of us in the area chinanfire (chinandega).

As far as other recent updates go... things have been very rainy here which is normal for this time of year yet somehow people seem unable to function when it is raining. Saturday for example it rained super hard all night long and all morning which left the great majority of people unable to leave there houses and go to church. There were probably less than half the number of people that normally show up and at least half of the people that did show up showed up nice and late.  The thing is it normally rains in the afternoon so I guess people weren't ready for the morning storm. We seem to be the only people willing to get wet. In my opinion the rain is great because it usually means the temperature cools down. Another part of this season it appears is playing "Trompo". Everywhere we go all of the kids are outside in the street playing trompo. Trompos are little wooden or plastic tops that are wound up with a small rope and released at impressive spead and then can be pisked up and keep spinning in your hand or a series of other tricks. Definitely not as easy as the little kids make it look. I still haven't quite gotten the hang of it. It is funny though because it appears to be part of everyones childhood because even the old people still have the touch. Like one night we were at Hermano Alfredos house and i took out a trompo to practice with one of his grandsons and he asked me if he could see it and without even getting up from his chair he sent it flying and scooped it right up and then passed it back to me still spinning in his palm.. even a fancy old man like alfredo still has some street kid in him haha. Another fun cultural adventure this week was when we were visiting Alejandro and Alexandra out on their farm and they introduced us to some classics of la vida campesina and gave us some steaming hot sweet tamales made with fresh corn from their farm. super tasty. Then they offered us some homemade Chicha de Coyol. Chicha typically reffers to a fermented drink, but they assured us it was very new and therefore wasn't alcoholic at all, we trusted them because they are strong members of the church, but it did seemed to have a pretty strong flavor to it.. We politely denied a second glass haha. 

As far as people we have been teaching we have been visiting a ton of couples lately and it has been cool to help them see the blessings the gospel provides for families and help many of them put their lives a little more in order. Karla and Chilo for example had been separated for a long time, but not to long ago got back together and have realized that for their sack and their kids sack it was definitely time to get things in order and get married. They have completely embraced the message of the restored gospel and we are helping them plan their wedding and baptism for the start of october. Speaking of people who have completely embraced the restored gospel. Vilma, who was recently baptized has been helping us teach her boyfriend Carlos who seemed kind of cold at first, but now is progressing incredibly quickly and now has two sundays in a row being in church and learning a ton in all the classes. He is also preparing for baptism in October and hopefully they can get married soonish as well to continue helping them progress. We have also met a number of couples that live close to Hermano Silvio with guys that are feeling ready to leave their bad habits behind to better provide for their families. They all went to the ward priesthood activity we recently had and loved it, but it is still a matter of helping them find time on Sundays to get to church. There really are a lot of people out there that really want to make changes in their lives, just most people don't have much of an idea how to go about it. The good news is regardless of the things people want to change, the message of the restored gospel always seems to be the perfect solution. I invite all of you to go into conference with that same attitude, and look for the way to change the things that needed to be changed. 

Ok that's all I've got for now. Have a good week.

Love Elder Hamson

Fotos

1. Karla's Son with all of the trompos he has one. This guy is like the neighborhood champ. 

2. Fresh Tamales

4. Elder Packards going away party and Hermano Alfredos birthday