Skyping and Singing...

It was soo great skyping with you all yesterday!!! Sister Avila thought you guys were hilarious and I told her that's what it's like at home every day. Sister Avila and I get along super well! We are really similar so it's nice :) This is her last transfer so we will only be

together for about 3 more weeks and then she will go home :( She was actually supposed to go home in April, but she got an extension so I feel lucky that I got to be her absolute last companion. I love you all so much. I just can't believe how quickly the time flew! I didn't get much time to talk to each of you as I wish that I could have. Know that I love each of you so much. I could just talk to each one of you for hours! Thank goodness we'll have eternity for that :) I forgot that will be the last time that all of us will "be together" before Christopher heads out on his mission! CRAZY! 

Some words to Christopher: I love you!! I am so excited for you to begin the biggest and best adventure of your life- until you get married like Eugenie and Jerel, but there is no hurry for that one! ;) I am so proud of you for preparing yourself to serve. Also, if you want to go to BYUI then you should! I look back on my time there very fondly and you may very well love it! So pray about it for yourself. I really want you to gain a deep love for the Book of Mormon. When you teach people you will invite them to read that book. Everyday you will give it to strangers on the street and you need to be converted to the product before you try to sell it - I know that sounds bad, but it's the principle. You look sooo good in your prom picture!! You are growing up into a little stud muffin!! Keep yourself worthy and work hard. I know before my mission satan was working really hard on me and tried to make me feel discouraged and not worthy. If you are feeling any uncertainty- that is normal. Don't think you are the only one. Be open and honest in your interviews and they will give you the comfort and counsel you need. Get a blessing, read your patriarchal blessing often, pray fervently, and study your scriptures. As you live this way satan will not be able to touch you. You are in my prayers and I know that you will just absolutely LOVE being a missionary! There is no better feeling than to put on that name tag everyday and to introduce yourself to people as a representative of Jesus Christ. You will be amazed at the great things your Heavenly Father will help you do. You are not alone in this process. Heavenly Father is there for you buddy! Keep me posted on everything!  You NEED to get your call asap. It will really pump you up and help you get even more excited :D Write me soon!

Anyways, so this past week we had a few tough hits. Our super awesome investigator Claudia told us she was having second thoughts and that she would give us a call. That just really broke my heart because I know what she is looking for is found in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But you can't make anybody want it, they have to choose for themselves. We had lots of other people cancel their appointments and just be flaky. ughhhh. But, we had a really sweet lesson this week with a family from Hawaii. They have 5 kids and are just kinda crazy. We love teaching them! It is really hard sometimes to get the kids to listen, but the other night we had a break through with them! We were teaching them about how God is our Heavenly Father and that we are his children. So we decided to sing I am a child of God to them.

When we started to sing the kids were still kinda crazy, but then all of the sudden it was absolutely silent. Everyone just froze and you could tell they were feeling the spirit. After we finished the first verse they begged us to sing it again! So we sang the second verse. Then they begged for us to sing it AGAIN so we sang the third verse! haha It was so sweet to see these innocent little children feel the spirit and to hear them say to themselves that they truly know they are God's children. They asked us to sing it again and we said no. haha! I have such a testimony of music and I know that it can truly touch hearts. So we are going to be teaching this family the lessons through song haha just kidding! But I will for sure always remember that night and the spirit that was felt at that lesson. We had another really cool lesson earlier in the week with Jessica (15 year old). Her mom wasn't able to be there at the first lesson, but thankfully she was able to make it on this night! We had an awesome discussion about faith in Christ. Jessica is super excited to get baptized and it is really cool to see how supportive her mom is. She knows that it will bring her the peace she is looking for- that fresh start and hope for a new beginning. Amazing! I love seeing how Heavenly Father is preparing the hearts of the people :) It was so great reading from the Book of Mormon with them. Batricia, Jessica's mom just loved it. She would read a verse and then just stare at it and then she would start reading more and more! The spirit comes so strongly when we read the Book of Mormon- people can't help but feel it! My love for that book has just grown so much over my mission. I learn so much each and every time I read it. 

But anyways familia, I loved seeing your beautiful faces!! Made me soo happy. It reminds me that I am serving not only for myself but for all of you as well. I truly want to represent our family well. I want you all to feel the love and joy that comes from the gospel. I want to set a good example and I just hope all of you will have a desire to serve. Most of all though I want to bring that honor to my Father in Heaven. I want to do good for Him. I love being a part of His work! It is so worth it to go through the hard times and to struggle. Just knowing that I am on the Lord's team just makes every bit of it worth it. I love being a missionary :)

Anyways I am getting really tired and feel like I am kinda starting to ramble...SOOOO,

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH. so much you can't even imagine. 

Love,

Sister Hamstead

ps it was so weird to hear you guys call me kelsey  yesterday! hahaha