January 24, 1996
Beloved Elders and Sisters of the Spain Las Palmas Mission,

We didn't send out Christmas cards this year.  We have received so many wonderful greetings
and so much good and interesting news from missionaries and loved ones, that we decided to send
a new year's letter and update you with some of our news and a thank you for your greetings,
your love and your loyalty.

We have been richly blessed this past year and feel that we have received so many gifts that it has
been Christmas all year long.  We have especially enjoyed the Spirit of missionary work again
in our home since Dustin has been in the Managua Nicaragua Mission.  He entered the MTC on
March 1, 1995, and arrived in Nicaragua in May.  We left Phoenix the day after our Mission
Spring Fling to see him off in Salt Lake City.  His call has been very special and just "perfect"
for him.  He loves the Nicaraguans, his missionary associates and his president and family very
much.  He has been blessed with a lot of success in baptisms and has perhaps struggled most with
the problem of couples living together in common-law situations that have to be remedied before
they can be baptized.  The main problem, is the poverty, with so many of the people who really
cannot afford the $6 It takes to purchase a marriage license. (Shades of Cabo Verde!!!) We had
a wonderful telephone visit with Dustin on Christmas morning.  He had just attended an
all-mission Christmas Zone Conference and was excited in that wonderful missionary way.  We
could certainly relate, and longed to be sharing an "all-mission" zone conference with each one
of you.  Since Christmas, Dustin has been moved from the mountain country back to the City and
is now a senior companion and district leader and trainer, all in one transfer.  He says that he is
a little overwhelmed, but is very excited to be working with a "latino" companion.

Jill was at home with us from Ricks College for the holidays.  We loved having her here and
enjoyed a wonderful 2 weeks or so with her.  She is planning to go into the nursing program, and
has applied for it at Ricks to start next fall if she is accepted.  She still says that she will finish
that and then serve her mission before she settles down.  We surely support her in all of these
good decisions.  She received a congratulatory letter from the president of the college for her high
grades for the fall semester.  She is living off-campus with her cousin and 4 other girls and has
enjoyed the independence and exciting life of being in college.

Leisel and Travis are our last two in the nest.  Travis is 13 and Leisel is 16.  They are doing their
best to keep us young and active.  We still do a lot of boating, fishing and swimming.  In fact,
we just had a fishing trip to Bartlett Lake near Scottsdale with our son, Lance and his little boy,
Justin.  Lance is the fisherman in our family, and true to his style, he was the only one who
caught a fish that day.  Leisel is working part-time at a "Bagel" shop.  She has just started the
job and seems to like the people a lot.  She worked at 31 Flavors during last summer.  She is a
good student and never has to be reminded about homework.  She will be a senior this fall, and
then we'll be losing another chick out of the nest.

Sister Hamblin is the Mia Maid advisor in our ward and keeps very busy with their activities and
lessons.  She recently went on an overnight trip with them into the mountains.  They stayed in
a cabin so they weren't roughing it too much.  She loves being a grandmother and spends a lot
of time with all of her children and grandchildren.  She gives them turns staying overnight at our
house where we get the chance to spoil them individually.  She especially had fun this Christmas
shopping for a gift for each one.  There are 14 of them, with the eldest being nearly 9 and the
youngest not yet one year old.  We are expecting three more babies (at least) this year.  One in
May, one in June and one in July.  Sister Hamblin is still a fan of the Phoenix Suns (in spite of
their record this year.) She is loyal to them and records their games when they play on MIA
night.

We had a quick trip during the holidays with our daughter, Julie and her husband, Roger and their
children to the theme parks of Las Vegas.  While there we had the chance to speak on the phone
to Elder Berthelson and to Elder Meservey.  It is always a lot of fun to get in touch with any of
you as we travel to your hometown (or to where you live now.) We were excited to hear that
Elder Berthelson will get to make a trip to The Canary Islands later this year (since he works for
America West Airlines.) It was fun to hear Elder Meservey's news about the twins (boy and girl)
born to him and Julie last August to go with their 22 month-old Kyle.  That must be quite
something to have three under two years of age.  Wow!!

We had a wonderful letter and wedding picture from Elder Oscariz.  He was married last June
in the Swiss Temple and just located our new address on the lnternet to send us this news.  He
and his wife are expecting their first baby in July.  We were so excited to hear this news and hope
that we can meet Hna.  Oscariz very soon.  We want to thank Elder Hiatt for getting our address,
etc. on the Internet.

We heard from Elder and Sister Leake who are now in the mission field again.  They are back
in Spain for the third time, serving in La Mision Espana Bilbao.  We love them so much and are
so proud of them.  What an influence they have been and are in our beloved Espana.

We have heard from Elder and Hna.  Shurtz who are serving their third mission now.  They are
serving in the Guatemala City Temple.  We have told our son, Dustin whose mission is in that
temple district to tell the members to look for Elder and Hna.  Shurtz when they go to the temple. 
What an example they are to us.

We heard from Elder and Hna.  McCall who are working hard with the Spanish-speaking ward
in their area.  Elder McCall is the bishop and Hna.  McCall helps, as she did in Las Palmas, with
the music and wherever she is needed.  We were so pleased to receive from her the annual
Christmas carol which she composes each year.  What a tradition!!!

We were so pleased to hear from Elder and Hna.  Wilson this year and appreciate an update from
them.  They are busy in their home area of San Diego with heavy callings in their ward.  We
would sure love to get to see them again sometime.

We heard from Sister Susan Ralph, whose parents are serving a mission in the Washington D.
C. Temple.  Sister Ralph is taking care of their home for them in Centerville while she is very
active in all her wide variety of interests, but especially in her missionary opportunities and
callings in the church.  She promises to make a visit to sunny Arizona very soon.  We will hold
her to her word.

We heard from Jeff and Laura Morrin and their two little boys, Steven and Ryan.  They are in
Missouri now where Jeff is employed with the Ford Motor Co. at the Kansas City Assembly
Plant.  Jeff has completed his MBA degree.  Congratulations!!

We heard from David and Susan Koelliker who are in dental school, in Omaha and are expecting
their second little boy.  We will always remember our time with them when they came to Arizona
and stayed a few days with us and let us get acquainted with Jonathon (#1).

We heard from Sister Karen Hales, and her potato farmer sweetheart, Jarrod, from Idaho (and
little one.) They seem very happy and well adjusted to rural life.  I can certainly relate to it and
have much admiration and respect for that healthy, hard-working, wonderful way of life.

We heard from Sister Longhurst who is enjoying her teaching position very much in the Logan,
Utah area.  She is still trying to decide if she should move to Arizona.  We're voting YES!!

We also heard from the Lindstroms in Provo, and from the Darrel Hunts and family.

Other news from semi-recent times that we know of:

Carol Ann Duffys marriage to Rodney Dale Jenkins on 9-23-95;

Elder Kirk Walton's marriage to Elizabeth Long on 8-12-95;

Elder Michael DeGruccio's marriage to Kennan Robertson on 9-22-95;

 
Elder Brand Reynold's marriage to Marianne Young on 11-02-95;

Elder Mat Church's marriage to Melissa Shumway on 9-29-95;

A baby boy, Joshua Alexander Hunt born to Tim and Cristina Hunt on 9-03-95 in Tenerife;

A baby boy, Connor Coleman Lambert, born to Sean and Lori Lambert on 8-08-95;

Elder Shalynn Loar's marriage to Allison Moody on 10-1 9-95.

Elder Adam Hiatt is organizing a "homepage" on the WWW Internet.  His mission "homepage"
address is http://students.cs.byu.edu/~hiattam/mission1.html 
Please communicate with Elder
Hiatt for any information, announcements, etc. you'd like to get into the mission homepage."
Elder Adam Hiatt's address is 450 N, 1000 # 1, Provo, UT 84606.

[e-mail: adam_hiatt@byu.edu]

Please know, Elders and Sisters and families, that we love you each so much and are more excited
than you know to receive any bit of news about you.  Please forgive us if we haven't repeated
news about you that we might know about.  This letter is getting pretty long.  I guess we'll have
to do this more often.  Please stay in touch, and share this news and our mailing address with any
of the missionaries you come in contact with who might be out-of-touch.  Sister Hamblin and I'll
not be able to host a "Spring Fling Reunions this year but we hear by the grapevine that one is
being organized.  Please get in touch with Sister Spittle if you are interested in the details or want
to get involved.  Her number is 303-338-1382.

 Much love,



 President and Hna.  Hamblin and Family

 
Picture recently received from Dusty.  He captioned it:

"Jacinto's baptism! The next week he baptized his son, and on Sunday he baptized his wife
and daughter!

FAMILIA COMPLETA! "