October 2nd, 2011

This one reminds me of when a girl Noble was dating saw his eyes with a distant look in them as he was deep in thought. She said, "Noble, what are you thinking?" He said, "I was just thinking how cool it would be if you could blow things up with your eyes." His response made her burst out into laughter. "Boys!!!", she said.


The local kids were impressed with the damage from the storm.


This looks like a view of storm damage while riding in a taxi.


A powerline has fallen across this home.


Noble has enjoyed serving with Elder Cajumban. There have been 5 baptisms while they have been serving together in San Mariano.


Noble has a lot of fun with the local kids. He says that they think he is part Philippino because his hair is black. They all love to come up and push on his skin, then marvel at how it changes color when they let go. *** SMILE ***


The fabled picture of Elder Cajumban's birthday party. They rolled up a towel so that it stood straight up like a bar. The towel is then passed from person to person very gently so that it does not flop over. If if flops over they get to mark your face with charcoal. The towel has obviously flopped over while Elder Hamblin & Elder Cajumban were passing it.




AHHHHHH whooo what a week. The baguio came and kicked San Mariano’s butt! Trees torn out of the ground and houses blown away. The River swelled so much that some of our investigators’ houses were flooded and are now full of mud and other stuff. NOT FUN but our house was okay. We didn't get too much damaged at all! We’re just trying to fix the water problem and it looks like we are going to have to move. :( The land lady doesn't want to negotiate with the church about fixing the water pump and the church won't pay her the rent unless we fix the problem! HAAAAA SO as acting translator for Elder Russel (The older Elder in charge of house payments ) I am trying to solve the problem with Elder Cajumban and this crazy old woman who gets angry when she doesn't get her money! SO yes I am still alive but definitely under pressure this week.
Dear Mom,
NOOOOO I didn't see conference yet it takes about a week to translate and get it all ready for the Philippines but I could probably watch it online if I wanted to! Yes I am safe and sound but the triple companionship of sisters in my district got their house flooded last week. YOU WON"T believe how big the river gets here when it just dumps rain on us! The Conference sounds like a blast and I am looking forward to it! I'll be looking for all those talks you were talking about! You don't have to send me marshmellow mateys if you don't want to! Saw the pictures on the blog and yep they are amazing! LOOOOVE YAAAA Elder Hamblin
Dear Devree,
You and Shay looked AWESOME! I wish I could of dressed up too! You guys are always so busy back home! I can't wait till Conference and I can't wait till we can play the movie game in person because the way Dad sings just can't be captured in an email! Your movie was SWAN PRINCESS! WHoooo love that movie. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! Soooo goood lets watch it when I get home alright! Okay Here’s mine! "O come now why don't you trust me? Should I list me reasons Alphabetically or Chronologically." Guess that it might be a little hard! I think I have it on the computer! Enjoy WILD ISLAND YA TURD! Love ya little Sis keep kicking kwan! ELder Hamblin
Dear Shay,
YOu STOLE MY STYX SHIRT! just kidding you can wear it you crazy fool. I liked mom’s caption on the blog. I hope you are having tons of fun in the band and soccer and just high school in general. Don't worry the baptisms are coming we just had 3 but you don't get a picture of the littlest one sorry no picture of him yet! I love you buddy but don't stress yourself out to much! Don’t eat ALL of Danes candy you'll make him cry! LOVe YA Elder Hamblin
Dear Dane,
YOu got a lot coming up Halloween and all that candy to eat. Don't rot your teeth out now! I was really impressed you wanted to do the maze like me. Trust me though it takes awhile to finish it like that! Thanks for printing out the packets whatever those are for Dane! Keep having fun Dane! Elder Hamblin
Dear Dad,g
Well I saw the pictures online of Chases wedding and it looked interesting! I’m sure you had fun and your faces in the pictures are hilarious why do you never open your eyes?!?!?! JK
You have been doing a MARVELOUS JOB on the blog for me! The information is all correct I think. The News print out of the storms makes it sound like I’m stranded on a roof surrounded by yucky brown water though so I think you freaked out Mom with that one. (way to go pops) NO POPY NOOOOOOO! Kidding she should get some sleep after this email! The birthday party for Elder Cajumban was yes in San Mariano just across the river on the side closest to Cauayan.
Ya we haven’t had general conference quite yet but I think its next Sunday and I’m really excited! I think its gonna be a good one! We just had 2 baptisms which are Josephine and Mary Grace Wayet. They are the two girls in the baptismal picture. We also just last Sunday Baptized little 9 year old Rep Rep but I don't have a picture of him and his grandpa just yet that will have to be next email! I love you Dad and yes I am doing fine here in beautiful San Mariano! Things are good besides having to fix the stupid water pump problem and I really can't complain! I love you Tatay Mahal Kita!
Ang anak mo,
Elder Hamblin
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 4:31 AM, Hamblin Family wrote:

Dear Noble,
First off. Did you have trouble in the typhoon that hit the Philippines according to Sister Cheri Scott? I hope we hear from you tomorrow because I will think something happened to you.
Were you able to watch General Conference? What day and time does conference happen there in your mission? Did you get to watch it at the church or the mission office? I loved so many of the talks. I think you are a "real missionary". There were a lot of quotes and talks I loved. Elder Scott saying 'Pure Truth in the scriptures". Sister Thompson saying "Desire Revelation, ask in faith and diligently keep the commandments. I loved hearing where all of the new temples are going to be built and it seemed like President Monson was so animated and funny this time. I think he was trying extra hard to be cheerful when his wife is so ill again. Speaking of ill. I did not hardly recognize Elder Hales. He has been treated for cancer and I could tell he was on chemo and steroids because his face was so puffy. I have seen lots of the same kind of yellowy, puffy faces at St. Judes. I laughed when Pres. Uchtdorf heard the southern drawl of Texas and wondered if he had learned the right English language. But also about how he knew to "DO THE BEST I COULD". I guess that is all we need to do in life. I liked Pres. Eyring's quote about "Savor the moment as if time had stopped." Did you notice that alot of the talks asked us to have MORE CHILDREN and have MORE MISSIONARIES. It impressed me about how they reiterated over and over how the church and the world are separating more. It truly was a great conference.
I hope that you can send the pictures of the smeared charcoal faces of you and your companion. Make sure you tell us your investigators names so we can pray for them. We pray every day for your safety.
LOVE YOU TONS! We saw a film on the MTC and frantically searched for your face and then I saw it was filmed in February, before you got there. Guess what? Marshmallow Matey's are eaten the fastest at the MTC. So do we need to send you some so you don't get homesick? LOL LOB MOM
Dear Elder Hamblin,
Hi! It waas homecoming week so Shay and I got to dress up. Monday was country day so each of us wore a pair of dad's overalls. Tuesday was Rock-n-roll so I wore my jean jacket and made a mohawk out of pig tails. Shay had a fauxhawk with the blue gel from when I was Aang. Wednesday was international day so I woremy Union Jack shirt. Shay wore a hawaii shirt. Thursday was Oldies day so I wore Dad's Leather jacket. Thursday was also the bonfire. William was my bonfire buddy and our stick was lame and not decorated. One person made a Finn torch from Adventure Time. When I was a freshman I remember getting cold that night. Not here. the bonfire was MASSIVE! Even standing by the door to the math building you could feel the heat it gave off! I took lots of pictures on my phone because Daney wanted to be there but wasn't invited. I also took lots of pictures with my friends which I'll check to see if they are on facebook. Fiday was spirit day like always so I wore my band shirt from freshman year. People were like "Whose shirt is that?" mine "You're in band?" I was. OH at the pep rally SENIORS WON!!! Seniors hardly ever win! I guess there's more motivation this year because the class with the most spirits point at the end of the year gets to go to wild island. In creative writing someone wrote seniors all over the board and someone crossed it out and said "you wish you were a Junior" which was crossed out. and sophmore was written. I turned and said, "Why would you wish to be anything BUT a senior? We're getting outta here!" Friday night we went on a temple trip. I felt like this would be mega mormon weekend! While we were there Mom and Dane went on a date to goodwill and to see Spy kids 4(Mom said it was awful) Anyway Dane bought a copy of Swan princess and so he's been on a swan princess kick. Your movie is Innerspace. It's so funny! Dad was singing this while whe made breakfast so here's my line.
"I bet she doesn't wrestle hunt or box!"
"He seems concieted."
"What a total bummer!
"If I get lucky I'll get chicken pox"
Guess that! Well I took up enough of your time and I should share you. I love you and miss you very much!
Love your most favoritest sister,
Devree
Dear Noble,
I hope you are having a good time with good experiances and lots of baptisms.I hope you are getting along with your companion. At this moment in time I am beating Dane's bottom at chess. It's been delightful here even though we miss you but Halloween is coming and it's gonna be fun and I'm gonna eat all of Dane's cady. J/k HALF of Dane's candy. And it's going to be fun. And that's it. It's been a pretty boring week. My dress up week was amazing but we had those at the middle school.
Love Shay
Dear Noble,
I love you. I enjoyed General conference I hope you did. Daddy printed out some packets and this thursday I don't have any school. I tried to figure out the maze like you do with red and green crayons. I red crayoned the places I couldn't go and greened the places that are safe. Have a great time on your mission and don't worry about me. Last time I was just yanking your chain which is and idiom that I learned in school. We're getting our halloween stuff down and we're having a good time at home and mom bought us a lot of treats and it was like the Mormon superbowl. Shay's beating my can at chess. Have a god time on your mission!
Love, Dane
Dear Elder Hamblin,

I wanted to ask you about your trip to Ilagan to visit “Save More”. How far away is it? If I use Google Earth and try to guess, it looks like Ilagan is about 13 -16 miles away. Cauayan City measures about 16 – 20 miles away, and the ocean is just over 30 miles away. So am I close to how things are for you?

When I posted about your new area, I was guessing that his party was at Ilagan. It wasn’t was it? His party was really in San Mariano. Right? When you get a chance, we would like to see the pictures of the party with the charcoal and everything. We didn’t get any of those pictures.

So how was General Conference in the Philippines? Did you enjoy it as much in Tagalog? Have you seen General Conference yet, or will that be next Sunday for you? I have to say I am impressed with your progress. I keep studying Tagalog in Rosetta Stone, and I am far away from being able to do what you do? I have learned trabaho, magtatrabaho, and nagtrabaho. I have learned about nasa ilalim, nasa ibabaw, nasa loob. I can drink cocoa bago magtrabaho or I can drink it pagkatapos magtrabaho. You said that Elder Cajumban does not speak much English. Has that made you crazy or are you adapting to that change?

Like Mom, I am also curious about the people that you are teaching now. Tatay Billy turned out to be so awesome and you will remember him for the rest of your life. I hope you keep meeting awesome people like that.

Shay and I went to priesthood together last night, and I thought of you. It was also strange to watch General Conference without you. In the Priesthood session they talked about needing tens of thousands more missionaries. They also talked about missionaries that were clean and worthy to use the power of the Holy Ghost. You are that kind of missionary. You have read your scriptures and said your prayers. Yes you are just Noble, but you are also receptive to the spirit so that the Lord can guide and direct your efforts. Keep up the good work Elder. I know that if you keep the spirit with you, the Lord will make it so your burdens are light.

Mahal Kita Noble!
Tatay