For the last time from Chile Elder Hamilton

 Thank you all for your love and support of this great Elder on his mission.
He comes home Wed. 17 Delta flight at 10:22.  The airport is always crazy but anyone is welcome.
He will speak Sunday, June 21 at 1.  We will have a meet and greet just west of the building from 11:30-12:30. Cheryl

NINE MORE DAYS!!

Last Zone Conference

Familia

These last two weeks were awesome. On thursday this last week we had a zone conference with presidente and sister Kahnlein. it was such a great conference. Sister Kahnlein talked about something that I loved. She talked about the experiences when we hear a talk or something that answers our prayers. She explained it a little different than I had always thought about. She said that god gives us experiences in life to prepare us for moments of teaching that we are going to have. There are so many times when that happens to me. I love when the spirit gives us preparation experiences that at first we dont understand and then after hearingt a talk or conference we understand why all that happened. It was presidents last conference so there were a lot of tears and goodbyes. Luckly I will still see them on sunday and monday

I have loved working in this branch these last few weeks. They were short but we are seeing miracles here. No only in baptisms but also with the members. 2 Weeks ago we sp'ent a whole saturday afternoon and night going with the branch president doing visits and on sunday there were 87 people at church, more than any other time for many months. We have been doing activities and animating all of the members to help in the work. The president asigned each member some families who they were to visit during this last week and it was awesome to go to houses during the week and see before entering that a member was already there doing a visit. I have learned that visiting and listening does wonders and miracles. As the leaders members and missionaries work together the lord blesses us so we can see fruit of our labor. 

Fun moment of the week. We went to pass by a less actives house and they were out looking in their telescope, one like dad used to have but smaller, and so we got to look at some cool stuff like jupiter and three of its moons it was awesome. We have wanted to go to an observitory here because Vicuña is known for its view of the stars but we cant so we were blessed with this oportunity. It made me remember when we used to do that in the backyard.

This next week is going to be great. Wow, I cant believe I really have gotten to this point. As a missionary you see the end of the mission as something unknown and distant and only for other missionaries. Then in the blink of an eye I am now here. It is hard to explain the torn feelings I have for ending my mission and the great feelings I have of thankfulness for all of you and above all for the lord. You cannopt understand the joy of the mission unless you´ve experienced it. It has been the hardes thing I have done but it has brought greater joy than I have experienced. I have grown to love so many people I barely even know. I have grown to love the lord and have a great desire to serve him and to do his will. I am not going to lie, I am a little nervious about going home and entering the "real world" but I know that as I apply what I have learned in , what my presidents wife onces called, the mtc of life, I will continue to grow and be guided by the spirit. I am so grateful for all that I have experienced and learned I have found that the hardest thing we face in life is humbling oursleves to gods will. That is the really challenge behind every trial. In many opportunities the mission has humbled me and cause that I have had to rely only on the lord. In the end I  have found that that is the easiest way to live. I found that I can choose to fight inside of me between my will and gods or I can be humble and give my will to god. I am grateful for the changes I have been able to make in my life and for the time that I have in lif to make the many more changes that I need to make. I have always strived to enjoy each moment of the mission even the hard ones because these are what make the good ones even better. 

I love the lord and know that he lives. He loves us and answers every one of our prayers even if we feel that he is silent. I have grown to rely on and love the spirit in my life. I have learned that I have that spirit not just becuae I am a missionary but it has to do with our very acts. Am I praying constantly, reading the scriptures daily, and going to church weekly, on top of striving to obey the lords other commandments? This is the lords church and his way to be eternally happy. I love the temple and know that the work we do in the temple is so important. I have deeply missed the influence in my life of the temple but am so grateful for the covenants we make in the temple becuase we receive the blessings where ever we are as we are obedient. I love you all so much. Thank you for your love and support in each letter and prayer. 

If your interested in knowing, this is my schedule this week. Normal until sunday.
Sunday... 

sacrament meeting 

bus to viña del mar

last interview with president

Monday...

Visit converts and members

Diner with president and sister kahnlein

Tuesday...
 Bus to santiago 

temple

flight

Wednesday...

10:30 big hug for mom first and then everyone else.

I love you all so much. 

Love 

For the last time from chile Elder hamilton

 His Grandson- trainee of someone Tynan Trained.

 Branch Pres. and family

Vineyards 

Obedient to the end!!

This was the short note to me but I wanted to share. I appreciate the example he sets of obedience to the rules- even at the end of his mission. He needed to be short so he was.
16 days left!!

Welcome to Blog #100!!!
Well I am so sorry to tell you that this is going to be really really short. I am great dont worry about anything it just wasnt letting me log in to my email for an hour and a half and just now It let me in. I have no idea why but I am really great. I feel bad that I cant write you all more I am very grateful that I was able to see the mails though. A few things that I do need to tell you. So this next week will be my last internet. Crazy I know so if there is anything that you need to tell me let me know. I am thinking lunch in chic-fil-ee and pasta with alfredo sauce for dinner. How much time do I have for my talk ?  I got an answer from mike today from the laundry and he said I can start when I get back and to just let him know. Again I am so sorry mom. Know that all is well I am excited for this week. Today we are going bowling for a district activity. Sorry mom. I love You. At least we know that we will see eachother soon!

I love you so much. Goodnight...

tynan

Relying on Christ

Hola family

I am doing very well this week. I learned a lot this week and was really humbled. I felt like at one point this week that I was started to rely too much in my own strengths and abilities and I wasnt relying completely in Christ like I should be. Thanks to the spirit I was humbled by seeing many weaknesses that I have and seeing the need to turn completely to the lord in all things. It has helped me with my prayers and my thoughts so that all that I do and say is focused on the lord. I have realized many times in my mission the constant need to depend on the lord in all things. I am grateful for that, I have seen in my vida and in the lifes of many others here in chile the power of repentance and putting out trust in the lord. It isnt always the easiest but It always makes us feel better. I am so grateful for the spirit that helps us do the right. I have seen that things work out the best when we think and wait for the spirit to guide us before we make decisions. 

It was a good week. Yesterday we finished off the week with a great baptism service for 5 converts it was amazing. It was so great to see them do this. They are so great and really are going to help the branch grow a lot. There was a young woman who is 14 and has terrible fear of water and was so scared. I have never seen someone jump out of the font so fast like she did. Luckly she only had to do the baptism the one time and it was good. After the service when one woman who got baptised with her son was saying good by to the branch president she started crying and told him how grateful she was to be able to join the church. It was so awesome to see and be a part of. I love seeing the changes made in the lives of people. 

It is getting really cold here. Each morning the house is freezing. I use blanket, 1 coat, a sweater, a scarf, gloves and a hat haha. I will have to send you  all a picture. It is funny. Generally it is colder inside than outside. But I think that I am just not used to much cold because I bet it isnt as cold as it gets back home. This winter I will freeze! Durring the day when the sun is out it isnt very cold. Generally I still use a sweater though. 

Many have asked about the end which is coming sooner and sooner. To be honest It feels normal. I feel like my life will just always be like this. I think it will be weird in the very end. It is weird telling people that I have so short of time left and their reaction always is, Oh your mom must be so happy. And I always know it is true. haha. I love you all. Have a great week! 

Love

Elder Hamilton

I love to see the love people have for the Lord

Hi family

This week we were really busy which was awesome. We had a lot of people to teach this week. There are 5 people getting ready for baptism this week so we have been helping them each day and we were able to find many new people to teach. One family was a great experience finding them. On sunday when we were going to skype we walked past a family in a little park and I felt like we should talk to them. We kept walking a little farther and I felt it again and so after we were about a block away I repented we turned around and went to talk to them. On monday we were able to share with them in their house. It turns out the husband is a less active member from years and years ago. He doesnt have a lot of faith in god now after "living in a hard world". his wife has a lot of faith and was really interested in reading the book of mormon, they have a son that is 10 and he also was going to read with his mom. It was such a cool experience that was guided completely by the spirit. He went to work in the north in a mine and gets back tomorrow so we will see them again tomorrow. 

Later this week I had another great experience with a family of new converts. They are from Peru and there are 3 families a total of 18 people living in one house that isnt very big. They are so nice and are so grateful for the gospel. We got there and they told us to wait for a few minutes in their living room. After waiting for a few minutes they had us pass to their living area and they shared with us a soup called casuela here in chile. It was so nice of them to share with us. They dont have a lot but they wanted nothing more to give us a little. They are so grateful for everything they have and are so humble. I love to see the love people have for the lord through their actions. I have seen that people really see missionaries as Representatives of christ. We are really complete strangers and they treat us so well. I can often times feel the love the lord has for them too. 

Another example is from the sister that cleans our clothes. She is the Relief Society President in the branch and she is so nice. I was so surprised to see the cloths all ironed and folded when we got our cloths. My companion said that they told her that she didnt have to do that but she insists on doing it. There are so many great people here who really love to serve in so many ways. 

This week in my book of mormon study I was studying in alma 24 and I loved what I learned. It is a great chapter about the anti nephi lehites and how they hid their weapons of war in the ground and never took them up again. I love the faith that they had. Many died because they would not defend themselves. I thought about our weapons of war and how we too must hid them. They can be temptations, adictions, the natural man, and anything that keeps us from obeying god. It was cool to see this relation of the scriptures to my life. 

I love you all so much. This week went by really fast like all of them. I hope all is well. I love you

Elder Hamilton

 My laughing place briar patch

Move to the North

Good thing his last area looks like Utah- would have been hard to come home from the beach  This is as far north as the mission goes. CH

Hi everyone

I am writing everyone from  my new area called Vicuña. It is farther north of chile close to La serena and Coquimbo. Monday and tuesday we had a normal day in my old sector. On tuesday night I found out that I would be going to the north which made me happy becuase I have never served this far north before. On wednesday we had a normal morning and then in the evening we went to los vilos ( the area by the beach) and I got on the bus going to the north. I was in the bus for like 4.5 hours until we got to la serena. We stayed the night in the zone leaders house becuase my area is 1.5 hours outside of the rest of the zone of la serena. On thursday morning we got on another bus and came to vicuña. It is  small little town. smaller than the last one I was in. It is really calm here the people are really nice. The branch has about 75 asisting weekly and has been growing fast lately. This last month they had 5 baptisms and there are 5 baptism dates right now for may. There are great leaders here and the members are really willing to help us out. There are a ton of youth. More youth than I have seen in one ward let alone branch in chile. There are about 15 youth. 3 Youth now serving missions and at the end of the year hopefully 6 people serving. I am really happy to be here. My companion is elder Davila he is from peru and has 9 months here in chile. he is great, diligent and obedient. We get along great and I am so thankful to have him as my companion. It is starting to get colder but actually now that I am farther north it has gotten hotter. haha. I am slowly but surely getting to winter. Still in the morning and at night it is pretty cold but I wont have to use my full winter gear like I did last year. I will definately keep that because I know it will come in handy this winter in utah. Like I said there are 5 people with a baptism date in may. They are truly chosen investigadors. Three are a conversos family, mom and two sisters, and they saw a great change in there brother/son so they chose to make that change in their lives too. There brother is going to receive the priesthood this next week and baptise them next friday. This friday and saturdaythey are going camping with the branch. The other two is a mom and her 10 year old son who were contacted in front of the church. They are really great too! Both families often talk about the change in their lives. The 10 year old boy, Danilo, already talks about going on his mission to his mom, Carolina. Mirium, the mom, Catalina 16 and Barbara 14 said that they are so happy that they have found the place where they always want to be. I love hearing people say this and realize the blessings and happiness that we can receive in the gospel. It makes me so happy. 

Vicuña has a lot of vinards and a factory where they make wine that is the biggest in chile. There are a ton of grapes here it is crazy. Unfortunately the time has now passed for grape season. I missed it. but it is cool to see all of the vinards and fields. Farther in the country I have heard that it is a great place to see stars there are a lot of observatorys here close. My companion said that in febuary and march there were a lot of tourists. 

I hope you all had a great mothers day. I loved talking to the family. It was so great to see everyone. Just to warn everyone. You cant send any more letters through the mail now because they wont get here in time so just email from here on out. I love you all so much. 

Love you all so much

Elder Hamilton

A great week- I don't know how else to say it!

Hi family

First off. May the fourth be with you!! 

This week was a great week. I know your probably sick of hearing that but I just dont know how else to say it. I like it all. We were traveling a lot in bus. On tuesday we had interchanges so we traveled to los vilos (1 hour). It was a good interchange. It was really cold there becuase it is right by the ocean and the wind is stronger. On wednesday we traveled back to Illapel and worked there. As I have told you many times. As a mission we are reading the book of mormon marking some "questions of the soul" all 8 to be exact. (If you want to see the questions go to mormon.org/preguntas, and sorry it is only in spanish. I told you to start studying almost two years ago) So to try and help some of our less actives, converts, and investigators we are inviting them to read the book of mormon looking for answers to one of the 8 questions. We have seen so pretty great results. One less active who always struggled understanding what she was reading started marking the answers to How can I find peace and happiness? and now she is reading more and understanding much more. It was so cool to see such a drastic change. Now she is always really excited to show us her book when we pass by. On thursday night we traveled to viña (I love going back to viña) and friday we had a reunion with all the other leaders of the mission. It was such a great reunion. I didnt go to the meeting with any questions or anything specifically but I marveled at how my questions were answered both from prayers spoken and unspoken. It was perfect feeling like that becuase we talked a little about how god knows us perfectly. I felt that as my prayers were answered in a perfect way. At the end of the reunion the president was going to give me a new temple recomend because mine expired but he told me that he had left the papers in his house. Then he told me that I didnt need to worry about it because I would be seeing him this wednesday in the changes meeting. so I already know that I am leaving illapel wednesday. I have already started to pack and yes mom I am starting to throw and give away. I am excited to see what I will be doing and where I will be going for my last change. I cannot believe it is my last change. it keeps surprising me how fast time can go. I am loving every minute. I dont know where I will be going but I do know that I will be closer to viña, Maybe by the ocean one last time...? 

Last monday we did the funnest recreational thing I have done in 1 year 10 months. We hike a hill. yay!!! It was really a lot of fun and it made me think of hiking the y and mount timp just not as green. It was great. We hiked up with a convert here. We were able to see all of the little town of illapel and on the other side of the hills where there are many fields with avacado and other vegetables. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed being away from so many people in a quiet place.

I will be really excited to let you know what happens this week with the changes. I am so excited for mothers day. I hope everything goes well with everyone!

I love you all.

Love 

Elder Hamilton

FINALLY!! THE TRAVEL PLANS  JUNE 17 10:22 AM CH

LOTS OF PHOTOS

Hola familia

This week I learned a lot about listening. We had a lot of great experiences with that. First we were teaching a husband and wife who are less active. The husband asists sometimes and asisted all 5 conference sessions but the wife has struggled a lot. After talking with them and more than anything listening she started telling us about how she feels like she lacks faith. She has two chidren handicaped and that has always been hard for her to understand why that has happened. Also her son joined the catholic church so in a way she always felt like she was denying him respect by being different. It was such a great spiritual lession. She started to cry and said that she would start reading in the book of mormon to know if it really is true. We are going to have a family home evening with them tonight and we are excited to talk to them again.

We also did a contact this week which was really great. We were looking at our map a little lost to be honest and a woman passed by and we said hi and she responded really nicely so we started talking to her. After a minute she started telling us about her husband and kids and how she was abandoned by her parents and was raised by her grandma. She has always felt really lonely in life. Never really has had friends to talk to and her husband works 7 day in the north and then is here 7 days (I dont know if I have ever explained that to you all but a lot of people work in turns like 7 days working 7 rest or 15 -15 or the worst 15 working 3 resting. It is for all of the mines that are here in chile) She said that she feels lonely and has faith in god but wants to understand more of him. We gave her a book of mormon and are going to pass by this week when her husband gets home. 

Then finishing the week yesterday we were teaching a less active woman who is married with a nonmember.  We were talking to her for some time and then started to share with her. At the end she started opening up and sharing how she is feeling. It was amazing again to see the spirit working in her and helping her share with us. I love when the people feel so comforable sharing with us. She said that she has tried to share the gospel with her husband so many times and there is nother more that she wants than to be with her family forever but that isnt how he things. He has other priorities. He also works 7 for 7 and she used to also so they hardly ever saw eachother. Now she is here in illapel looking for work closer to home and is hoping that that will help. We encouraged her to keep obeying in all things and trusting that in some time he will choose to change. 

With the volcano. We have heard a ton about it. I dont know what is going on here in chile. Last year there was a fire in Valparaiso, and an earthquake, flood and now volcano this year. There is a lot going on here. We are not affected at all. It is cloudy out but I dont think that it is from the smoke. It is getting colder and I am using all long sleeve now. burrrrr....

I love you all so much. I cant believe we are ending april already it goes faster each month. I love you

Elder Hamilton

LOTS OF PHOTOS

SOME FROM THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON THE MISSION WEBSITE

Set your limits now

Hi everyone

It is great to hear from everyone. I love getting emails and hearing how everything is going. This week was really great as usual with a lot of different experiences. We had interviews on Friday with President Kahnlein. They were the last interviews before he leaves in june. I will still have one more before I leave. I am so grateful that I am able to finish with president and Sister Kahnlein. They are so great. I loved my interview. We talked about what I had been learning in the book of mormon as we are reading itfor the fifth time as a mission. We also have been studying vitue and we talked about that. I asked him what I can do to make sure that in my life I can keep the spirit that I have had on my mission and the constant progress that I have seen. He talked to me about the talk that Elder Holland gave in conference in october of 2011 which talks about staying within our limits. I love the talk a lot.It is one of if not my favorite talk. He told me that in order to ensure something in the future we have to set our limits now. So he encouraged me to decide now what I want my limits to me. What things I will do to help me reach these goals and What things I will never ever do. 

This weekend as a zone we fasted for the people who have the asistences to be baptised in the zone this month of April but for other reasons (Live together without being married, doubts, or they need parents permision) they couldn´t be baptised. On sunday after church we heard about a miracle. A young man has been investigating the church, going each week to the meetings, and even going to seminary each day after school. He couldn´t get baptised becuase He didnt have his fathers permision who is himself a less active member. On sunday we found out that he got permission. On friday he was talking to his dad as he was getting some things ready for the next day. On saturday he was going to go to the temple in santiago with the members of the district. As they were getting things ready and talking together his dad ended up giving him permission to be baptised. Now on saturday he is going to get baptised. I love these miracles each day!! There are so many. I have gotten a stronger testimony of fasting in my mission. It really works! 

To finish this week off this morning We were taking showers and our gas tub started leaking a lot of gas so  I called my companion out of the shower and we took the gas tube out of the house and opened all of the windows. Luckly we were already low on gas and were going to buy more gas today so not a whole lot of gas was lost but it was a little scary. We turned off all of the power and started trying to air out the house with our towels. In the end we got it all out and we got more gas to take hot showers and to cook with but It was an interesting story. 

I love you so much Thanks for your prayers and support. 

Les quiero

Elder Hamilton

Let virtue garnish thy thoughts

You got a dog!!!!! Wow it just goes to show a husband is much more convincing than a son. I bet he didnt even do a presentation haha. I want to see a picture of it!!! I cant wait to see it. Will is stay small or get huge?

Family I hope everyone had a great week. 

My week went well. We did a lot of walking this week that is without a doubt. Last night my companion and I were so exhasted when we got home. This wednesday we had what we call La replica. It is when the zone leaders and the sister training leaders share all of the presentations that we received when we had our meeting with the president and His wife the week before. It was my first time doing it and it went really well It was a lot of fun. I like giving presentations. A lot of it was focused on Virtue. The president is doing interviews with the missionaries right now, I have mine this week, and he wanted us to study about virtue before the interview. I have really loved the study this week. He gave us a little pamphlet that the chuch has called let virtue garnish thy thoughts and I have been reading that and some of the talks that they suggest reading at the end of the pamphlet. It is a great resource for us all to read to help us with our virtue. In the world it is harder and harder to be virtuous I know it is  here in chile and I am sure it is the same all over the world. Now more than ever we have to strenthen our virtue and be not moved! In one talk I read it talked about the importance of temple asistance with virtue. It said that in almost every pornography case that this bishop had seen in adult men, The men had stoped asisting the temple before the adiction began and as our constant temple asistence lowers, so will our virtue. I am so so grateful that we literally have like 15 temples 4 hours from our house and we will soon have 2 in walking distance. I look forward to strengthening my virtue through temple asistance. It is what I have missed most these two years. 

We are really happy because after 3 months without a baptism in the zone Two sisters in a place called Los vilos baptised this weekend. We are really grateful to see that the zone is being blessed with more investigatores to teach and progress. As for our area, we are working to find more investigators, like always, because the ones that we have aren´t progresing much. I was very pleased because yesterday various less actives that we had visited durring the week went to church. 

It is still hot here generally during the day. At night it gets a little colder and in the morning but we are still not very far out of summer. Everyone says that it should already be colder now. I dont think that it will get that cold when winter finally comes.  

Like I said we have interviews this friday and I am very excited for that. Everyone that we have talked to said that the interviews have been very great. They are the last interview that president Kahnlein will have with the missionaries before he leaves. It wont be my last one with him seeing as I leave before he does by two weeks but I am looking forward to the interview a lot!! 

I love you all and hope that everything is going ok with everyone. 

Elder Hamilton

Tynan has wanted a dog forever.  Only problem was for years we already had 2 dogs and a cat.  When he was 9 he got a bunny but that really didn't help.  it will be a fun thing for when he returns.

very spiritual week

hola Familia

This week was so great. I loved it. It was a very spiritual week. I guess every week in our lives should be like that but this week was even more. On wednesday we had a family home evening with two members and a friend they invited over. We shared a short message and watched a video about a mom how has a lot to do during the day and is working so hard to be able to see her friend that night. In the end she was able to do a lot of good durring her day but couldnt see her friend. She is really sad for that and sends her kids to bed. Her son asks about the family prayer and he does it. In his prayer he thanks god for letting them do all that he wanted them to do. This makes her think about all the things she did that help others and did what god wanted.(http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/you-never-know)  It was great sharing this with them because with kids they could relate to it. It made me think about my days and how sometimes I am not happy with all that I get done. I have started trying to focus on what the lord wants me to do and less on what I want to get done. It made me look back on various days and see how what I could do with my time helped the lord help others. I love what president monson often says and I have felt it too. The best feeling comes when you act on a feeling of the spirit and later learn that you answered someone elses prayer. 

On friday we had the mission leadership counsel in viña. It was such a great reunion. We talked a lot about virtue and how we must be pure.It made me think about the temple. In Preach my Gospel in the section that teaches about virtue it says that a virtuous person is a temple recomend holder. This makes me want to do all in my power to obtain a temple recommend and be worth to enter there. The temple is such a pure place. I loved what Presidente Monson said about the temple. It is in the temple where we can really feel the peace that Christ was speeking of when he said My peace I give. It makes me so happy to see that they are announcing new temples again. It is really exciting for these places. 

I was able to watch the conference in english which was awesome and we watched the two spanish talks in spanish. It was really funny because the second spanish talk Elder Zeballos is an Area 70 over our area South america South. My companion commented to me right before the session started that he would love to hear him speak Then when they announced him we just looked at eachother and laughed. It was such a great weekend and I cant wait to hear and read the talks again. I just downloaded all of the sessions again to hear them. Isnt technology amazing. It is so much faster now. What a blessing. 

Well this was my week it was a good one. I hope you all had a good one too. I love you!

Elder Hamilton

Funny story to add. 

In the conference that I had with the mission leaders our president showed us two april fools jokes someone did for the church. It was so funny.

First he said that the church announced that We would now have church for 4 hours and then we could serve in a second mission for one year after a few years of not getting married. When he said that we had church for 4 hours I completely believed him. Then someone guessed that it was an april fools joke. haha.

I love you

 english speaking watching for priesthood

sushi friday

Lunch at the Beach

Lunch at the beach

Hola familia

This week we had changes and I got a new companion. 

Starting this week off. I was in a trio becuase a missionary from our zone finished his mission. That was a lot of fun and it was great because we could go into any house to be able to teach. (we cant enter houses with woman alone). Then on tuesday night the asistants called us to tell us that Both of the other elders were leaving. In my branch we used to have 6 missionaries but they let us know that we are closing one of the areas and taking out 2 missionaries. So I was the only elder that stayed here and the two sisters stayed as well. Now our area is bigger and we are learning it and getting to know the people together. On tuesday night we had to go over to the other elders house so that he could pack up his stuff to leave. We were there until 11:30 and ate some sushi which was so great. Then we went back to our house so my companion could pack and he did so until like 2 in the morning. On wednesday we got up and soon had to get on a bus to go to a place that is called los vilos. It is like 1 hour away in bus. We got there and waited until the bus came to take my companion and the other elder to viña. After they left I went with another elder in los vilos to work. We got to eat in a house that was right in frount of the beach. It was so awesome. I havent been to the beach in more than 1 and a half years. I loved it and took the moment to take a few pictures. After I was in los vilos working with Elder Leto from argentina until 8 when my new companion got here. His name is Elder Fraser and he is from argentina. He is really great and nice. We are really excited for this change. He is so great. He made brownies yesterday and said that he loves to cook so I am excited for that too. The rest of the week we have been getting to know our area now and working with investigators. we arent seeing very much progress with our investigatores right now so we are really looking for new ones. I guess in reality we are always looking for new investigators. We were a little sad because a lot of people that we had taught this week didnt come to church. Now today we started the day off by cleaning the old elders house that we are closing. It was a big cleaning project. It is a good thing I like to clean. 

I cannot tell you how excited I am for the general Conference. It is the best week of the year!!! I am really looking forward to being able to receive help and inspiration for these next 6 months. There are great changes coming in these six months and I really am looking for the lords help as I make them. I love you so very much. Sorry this week we had some dificulties with the internet so Time is a little short but I love you all so so much. 

Love 

Elder Hamilton

Great Reward At The End

 Branch Missionaries

 Branch Members

Illapel Zone

Hola familia

Another week has passed in life and I am still happy and loving it. It is so great how many experiences we are blessed with in each one of our lives. If I look back on the week to be honest it just looks normal and like nother big happened but as I look at each individual experience I realize the hand of god in our lives each minute. It is the same for all of you in your lives. You can look at the small marks of divine help in your lives each day and it makes life great. Mom you talked about running my marathon and that process that I went through and the help I got from so many people. It is interesting because I have thought a ton about that during my mission. I have thought about the hardest parts of the marathon and what I did to keep going, knowing that the reward at the end was great. I had great help from family and friends who supported me, even running the last part with me. I realize that life and the mission are just like that. We have to keep running going through each experience and seeing the blessings each day waiting and working towards the great reward at the end. 

Yesterday I was really happy because some of the less actives we have been working with over the last few weeks went to church. There is a young man who hadnt gone to church the 5 weeks that I have been here. When I got here he had just gotten back from EFY and he had had such a great spiritual experience and then he just dropped and stopped going to church. His mom is also a member but his father and siblings arent. We had been sharing with them a lot but he always had an excuse. In the end yesterday he went to church and I could tell that he was happy with all the members telling him how much they had missed him. We also had a lot of people commited to coming who didnt come, as it happens often, and that is always sad to see. I really understand more and more how important our choices are in our personal progress in life. 

We taught a new investigator this week named Luisa. She is like 70 and is "catholic". She told us that she had never ever let religious people enter her house to talk about religion but that she had decided to let us in this time. We taught her the restoration and the next time we passed by I was suprised and happy to see that she understood it very well and was really taking seriously what we were teaching. There are a lot of people that you can find that are "willing" to listen to the message but really arent willing to apply it in their lives. She said that she has asked herself and god more questions in these few days than in her whole life. She is reading and praying about the book of mormon and Joseph Smith. I love having a message that is so clear and so perfect for answering peoples questions.  I have learned the importance of questions. it is the only way we learn. If we already know everything then there is no point of anything. Each day as I read and study I realize how little I know. I love learning and look forward to be able to do it more during my whole life. There are so many great books out there, the best being the book of mormon. I have realized that as we have been reading the book of mormon as a mission this last year (almost 4 times now) i have come to understand something in my patriarchal blessing. It says that I must rely on the scriptures for strength and guidance. I never really felt that before and wondered how I would find that in my life. I never was really that great at reading in my scriptures everyday, I read for seminary and then in the summer I struggled. As I prepared for my mission and started it I read the scriptures more. Now as I have grown acostombed to reading every single day in the book of mormon I have really come to rely on it for this help. It was a cool realization that I had this week. 

I love  you all so much 

Les quiero

Elder Hamilton