Noble's Mission: September 5, 2011

Elder Hamblin & Elder Anzal in a creative picture of umbrellas in the rain.

Little Elder Anzal and Elder Hamblin in Villaverde shirts from the carnival.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKS ALLLLOOOOOTTTTTT!
If you could tell I got you guys package and I am very THANKFULL that you sent it! SO many wonderfull things like yoyos and kazoos which neither me or my comp. can seem to work! OREOS you guys are awesome and ties ST. JUDE tie! I was overwhelmed by the seemingly endless supply of plastic zip lock bags that kept pouring out of the box and the Hymn book that was Mom's Thank you. BUT there's always a big but. There was 2 things in my package that absolutly shocked and surprized me more than anything else. I write you an exerpt from my journal entry:
..........everything in my package is just what I wanted.........the yoyo lights up too!.......I'm eating the oreos as I write this.........I can't believe them! How could they! All these wonderfull things and then to my horror I find an enlarged picture of a chocholate milk shake! And what's this? Another Huge picture of a FUDDRUCKERS HAMBURGER!
You dispicable human beings how could you do this to me! The two foods I so long for but cannot have until I get home and you send me GINORMOUS PICTURES OF THEM! You guys have a sick sense of humor you know that? Gosh I absolutley Love and Hate you guys right about now! I don't know what to think about you all! Gosh My family is truly unique. I think you would like to know that those two pictures are on my wall right over my desktop so when I look at them I drool all over my scriptures! JK I love ya all. You guys are awesome and no one else in the world could do the job you guys do for me by being my family. I love ya love ya love ya love ya. I suppose in 3 to 4 months I'll get another package but this time with just the case of the new Weird AL cd inside! You guys are sick and twisted fools you know that? Gosh Yet I love ya all still. Thank you the package was absolutley fantastic! YOu guys are the BOMB!
Dear Mom,
Or should I say, "SUPER MOM" I'm surprised you didn't just lift the car with your super strength you super hero you! Thanks for being a good missionary and a super hero to those two people this week they will appericiate all your help.
To tell you the truth Mom, I didn't even know that i was 1/4 of the way done with my mission until I read it. I don't really count the time anymore. I figure when I'm in the double digits with days left then I can start counting. But now that you say it I realize that I don't have alot of time left. If what I just experienced was 1/4 of my mission I better get busy! JK The baptismal dates that we have set are still on schedule and just yesterday we got to teach Jerry And Jemma who we haven't seen for weeks! They still want to be baptized and so we helped rekindle the fire for them to have a desire to go to church. I just hope that Jerry can get his work schedule under control. Billy's still doing awesome and working hard and sharing the gospel with EVERYONE! Tatay Leonardo is doing fine and helps us by sitting in on the lessons with Chrizel so that we have a member present and he likes listening to the lessons again. Chrizel is doing good comming to church and everything and is on target for her baptism. Clarissa Cakay is doing okay and loves the lessons but she's going through some rough stuff. With no job, a kid and a mother-in-law that doesn't like her at all and only 19 she's in trouble. She is sleeping with friends by her high school and only eats what she can buy with the meager budget she has. She needs your prayers and we have the ward working with us to get her a job and a permanent home but please pray for her. She wasn't able to get to church last Sunday because she didn't have enough money for the travel expenses. So please, she wants to be baptized but needs help.
We've been busy with the Carnival in town and Miss. Villaverde talent shows and the funniest thing happened in Mak Do. (McDonalds) They were already playing Christmas Songs! I guess when you hit the -ber months here in the Philippines that means its Christmas Time!
Anyways yea we are doing good and yes my companion is ITZY BITZY and I like to call him Bite Size. He's used to people calling him names but I show him the utmost respect. He is 1st my seinor and my companion 1st and foremost and I love him to death. He's so funny and always talks about having powers like the X-MEN. He's cute and little and just right because he doesn't eat all the food and always leaves too much for me! He's awesome. Thanks again for the Hymn book and package in general you're the best mom any missionary could ask for! LOVE ELDER HAMBLIN
Dear Devree,
I'm not gonna lie Devree the 1st line was hard the second one was strangely familiar. The 3rd was so familiar that I saw the scene playing in my head and I still didn't get the movie. The 4th line I could see the actor and actress' faces but the movie title still didn't click. 5th line is where it all came together. HA HA! PENELOPE! The nose job ones gotta be my favorite! What a good movie. Okay here's mine.
"Well loves a powerful thing lad."
"Greater than Gravity?"
"Well yes I guess in its own way I'd say love is the most powerfull thing on this Earth."
Hint: IT goes with the theme of CD'S you gave me in the package.
Well little sis bravo bravo! You've out done your self again! You have compiled the BEST missionary approved CD's I think I've ever heard! All the other Missionarys are jealous and want to borrow and copy my CD's now and loved the things I got in my package. You are THE BOMB! SO take that as your light in your life this week knowing that you made alot of missionarys VERY HAPPY and that you are Famous in the Philippines Cauayan mission! Cheer up everyone loves you and you can eat hamburgers and Chocholate Shakes. That's more that I can do! LOve your Big BRother ELder Hamblin
DEar Shay,
So its finally hit you... the Women problems. Really you can't talk to girls all night long or give them massages or Moms gonna have a heart attack and her hairs gonna fall out! Give her a break. She's only trying to keep you from running off and getting married and having kids and living in a box for the rest of your life....... just kidding.
You sound SUPER BUSY with soccer and band conflicting together. I couldn't do it 2 years in a row but I know you can! You're SUPER SHAY! SO keep up the good work you crazy fool! I know that you were apart of the OREOS in my package so thanks a ton. I got the package 2 days ago and they are almost GONE! SOO delicious! Don't tell mom but sometimes I eat them with milk for breakfast! Keep up the good work and don't get all girl crazy on me! LOve Elder HAmblin
Dear Dad,
The circumstances under which I recived my package are funny and strange at the least. Due to a Split and my companion going to Cauayan for his pre-departure meeting, I was forced to recieve my package at Mak Do. From there, me and my package journeyed to my District Leaders apartment where I subsequently ripped it open in anticipation. Me, my compaion, my District Leader and his companion peered into the package as each precious item came out with commentary from yours truly! When we reached the Enlarged photos of the milk shake and the burger (which I'm sure you were a part of!) me and my district leader (the only Americans in the apartment) groaned in agony at the sight of our long lost friends the burger and milk shake combo while our companions both Filippino just stared at us with puzzled looks as we seemed to moan in agony over the tantalizing photos of our precious foods and probably just thought, "Americans are WEIRD!" SO thats about the Package. The photos you are about to recive are thanks to your SD to USB converter you gave me in the package. Thanks a ton. The Daddy, Dane date sounded like a blast and I want to come next time! You always give the best Dad dates! You're the best Dad. Stay that way and keep those 2 rambunctious boys in check! LOve Elder Hamblin AKA (the leader of those boys!)
OHH!
P.S. I thank Heavenly Father Every night for my companion and for everything else he gives me.....in Tagalog so don't worry he knows how thankful I am for the little things every day!

On Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 8:55 AM, Hamblin Family wrote:

Dear Elder Hamblin,
First off I am very proud of you for not ever stating how short your companion is! When we saw the pictures, we were amazed! Did you know that you are past the 6 month mark? You have officially been on your mission for 1/4 of the time. Did you have a little celebration? We have been praying for your investigators and hopefully you will have more investigators now. Is your baptism still on target for? How is Tatay Leonardo? Is he feeling any better? How is Billy? Is he still sharing the gospel?
You will be so proud of me because I was a good missionary this week. Dad and I went to the temple and then we went grocery shopping. There was this big black lady behind us at the checkout. She was arguing with her husband and out of the blue she asks "What church do you belong to?" I told her and we had a little conversation about how she just moved here and was not liking it. I first told her to look in the phone book for our church because she lives in Sparks. Then I got the inspiration to get her name and number so I could send her the missionaries to find out about the gospel. Elder Humphrey just came from Sparks and he was happy to relay the message. Elder Humphrey (the cute little Elder with the stutter) is leaving tomorrow to go down to Las Vegas for his next area. We are sad to see him go. He is the epitome of a GOOD Elder with great social skills and good heart. I know that you are that kind of Elder too! I was also a hero this week too! Devree had an appointment and I was waiting in the car and this woman was calling for help. Me and another woman heard and ran to find a woman in her early 20's that had jacked up her car and not blocked the tires and she was pinned between the car frame and tire with her left arm. The full weight of the car was on her arm and the jack had popped out from under the car. I hurriedly got the jack and made it go down low enough to put under the car and started cranking it up. More people came and finished lifting up the car and she was free. My adreniline was pumping so hard that it took awhile before my breathing got back to normal. Whoo wee that was scary. She could've lost her arm. The paramedics came, the cops came and the ambulance came. But I think the your woman will be okay.
Hey did you get our package yet? We keep wondering if you are going to get it.
Love you so much, Love Mom

Dear Elder Hamblin,
I'm getting better at driving on the highway. It was really smooth yesterday. It was the first week of school and I'm really sad I'm not in drama anymore. Bum says maybe I could work something out with Kruegar and still do my Knight's Tale monalogue. I think my new favorite class is creative writing. Well yesterday we went to Shay's soccer game in Fallon and then to the cantelope festival. we had fun. We all went on a spinning ride, well except for mom. It was like the teacups at Disneyland. it was fun. We each got eight tickets But I wanted dad to go on the ridewith me so he got the extra ticket and I gave him two of my tickets so that he could ride with me. (the ride was 3 tickets each.) Bro an Sis Olson were there with Isaac too. Anyway, we went on the wpinny ride and it was fun. Then I had three more tickets and gave Shay Dane and Isaac each one because I was done playing. I realized I love carnival food like funnel cakes and OLLE juice. After we came home we went to Elena and Stephen Watt's birthday party. That was fun? I dunno, every game we tried to play fell apart because no one would listen. The snackies and food were good. Kaia and I had a good heart to heart and that was good for us girls without any sisters. I'm in this wierd funk where I have a hard time finding the light in life recently. Your line was from Enchanted! My lines are a little tough but I'll keep giving you some until it's pretty easy.
"I told you, I'll kill her!"
"Well my king's still pretty active."
"Once the queen's dead the king's useless"
"What's up with that?"
"I don't know. Maybe he was too depressed to fight. He really loved her you know."
OR
"That THING should be locked in a cage!"
(in the background) "What a creep."
OR
"It's not the power of the curse, it's the power we give tthe curse."
OR
"So are you hiding from the law or is that just a bad nose job?"
"Mmmm, bad nose job." I gave you a lot so hopefully you can work with it. Well I love you and wish you the best!
Love you forever favorite sister,
Devree

***
Dear Elder Hamblin,
I have had a horrible week. NO mother don't type that. We went to Fallon on Friday and Saturday. We finally won 1 game. It was against Battle Mountain. Sparks whooped us 12-0. We were humbled. It was our first Soccer game. Isaac said "But Sparks SUCKS at baseball!" Mom told him "Well Isaac that is good that you can point out something Dayton is better than Sparks in. Jeremy (a teamate) told Mom that I was massaging this soccer girl's shoulders. Mom freaked out. It was hilarious. Right now I am really sore. I am glad tomorrow is Labor Day so we can recover. Band is good. I got to see Manny at Friday nights football game. We lost to Truckee. Manny says you need to make his letters funnier. But don't tell Manny I told you that in your letters to him. Manny and his family came to see Josh Boga play football. But I didn't see Josh play any football. The Boga family was getting together because Mr. Boga's sister was getting married for the 4th time. I have to tell you something funny. Isaac called at 4:40 AM on Friday morning to ask what color uniform we were supposed to wear. Mom was not happy because when the phone rings that EARLY in the morning, you think something BAD happened. (Now this is Mom writing) Karl Watts told Dad that he really appreciates Shay on the Soccer team because even when they got whipped so bad by Sparks and were feeling like crap, Shay started singing on the bus on the way home. Pretty soon he got the girls vs the boys where you would sing a song and the other team would have to finish it. Karl said that Shay really uses his leadership skills to help their team be much better and have more comraderie. Shay is finding it very hard to be good at band and soccer right now. He missed some section rehearsals for band and he just can't do everything because of conflicts of soccer.
Shay loves you and is really getting girl crazy. He made me stay up till midight trying to tell him why he isn't allowed to talk to girls by himself all night long. What a challenge we have ahead.

***

Dear Noble,

The other day Dane and I went on a “Dad date”. At first we were going to see some movie called “The Zookeeper”. As we were driving into Carson City, Dane kept saying that he didn’t want to waste his “Dad date”. So we did some brainstorming and he decided that he wanted to shoot Noble’s BB gun and ride Grandpa Rice’s quad. I’m glad we turned around to do it.

First we went to Maverick’s and got a Slurpee. Then we used Grandpa’s aluminum ramp to load the Quad on to “Little Red”. When you get back we will have to show you this cool place next to Riverview Elementary. There is a dried out riverbed where we set up the camp chair and did target practice with your BB gun. We did that until it got dark. Then we went Quad-ing through the sand dunes. It is a pretty big area, so I put our location in the GPS before heading out. It was a good thing I did. The sun went down and we could hardly see anything.

Dane did the first bit of driving with me behind him. Then it got to a point where he had me drive because we couldn’t see good enough. I said, “Dane will you be our Navigator?” He said, “Sure!” So we turned on the GPS and got our bearings. It was kind of fun navigating through all of the trails and sand dunes in the dark. We had a blast.

BTW your BB gun is safely put away in the trailer again.
Shay did something kind of funny at soccer practice. He munched it by rolling on the astro-turf. The skin was rubbed right off of his shoulder and it was all bloody. All the soccer player and coach Karl Watts gathered around to look at the damage. In the middle of all the attention Shay looks up at coach Karl and says, “Coach. Will you kiss it better?” Everyone guffawed with laughter

As for your Tatay, I am getting used to having greater responsibilities at work. I find myself surprised at how many different things I can handle in a day. I often look back at what I have accomplished with a sense wonder and pleasure that I was able to get through the emergencies of that day. I really feel like the Lord is blessing me.

Mahal kita Elder Hamblin!
Your tatay Todd.

P.S.
I often think about how concerned you were with Tagalog. You took Spanish for 2 years and still don’t feel close to being able to speak Spanish. President Haas blessed you that the language would come fast, and it truly has. Talk about the gift of tongues. You were starting your 4th month in the mission when the Lord sent you a native speaking companion that you are able to communicate with. Can you say M-I-R-A-C-L-E?!!!
Make sure you thank the Lord often for the special favors and blessings you are receiving. His hand plays a big part in the wonderful success you have been having in Villaverde. If you show your gratitude for these blessings and give the Lord credit for his part, I know you will continue to receive his help.

Elder Hamblin in front of the Apartment desk.

Elder Hamblin's first care package since he arrived in the Philippines.

Look at all that Care Package treasure. An 'I Love Boston' shirt from Mom & Devree's trip. A precious package of oreos that Elder's Hamblin & Anzal loved! A simplified hymn book so Noble can play the piano for his little branch. Light up yo-yo's for a little fun. A couple of new ties (Precious because that is the only thing an Elder can change in his wardrobe.). One of the most desired items were the missionary approved music CDs.