Last 2 letters!

OK - I admit it.  I do love to see the page view numbers going up (of course, for all I know it is the same 10 people checking multiple times)  BUT it is not terribly motivating to continue posting Haley's letters when NO ONE thinks it is worth a simple 3 word comment for encouragement.  Sigh.  Big Breath.  OK.  Onward I go.

Before I post her last 2 letters I will quickly share my experience...Last night Don and I went to the temple.  It was the first time since we took Haley through.  My little "Escort" tag was still attached to my dress.  I must say I felt an outpouring of the Spirit and felt lots of prayers answered.  Afterward, sitting in the Celestial Room, I started to miss my beautiful Haley so very much that I started crying...hard.  You know, the shoulder shaking, quiet gulps kind of crying.  Then I thought how embarrassed Haley would be if she was there because she is really not one for powerful, public dispays of emotion.  That made me laugh, which made me cry all the harder!  It was actually pretty funny to me.  I love that child so much and I am so proud of her.  She made such a difficult decision, didn't let the adversary dissuade her and now the blessings are pouring out on her head.  Everyone of her friends are lucky to have her.

Here are her last two letters...
P.S.  Sometimes I change the names of people or just XXX them in order to protect their privacy.  This is the internet, afterall!

April 9, 2012

Guess what??? I've made it through my first transfer!!!!!!!! We'll be getting a new district leader which is sad because he was awesome and also Elder Trammel will probably be leaving which really is so sad! We're definitely going to miss him!

          So this week.... hmmm not a whole lot happened that I can think of. We only had one investigator lesson! One! We had at least one more planned but the guy cancelled on us like he almost always does ha ohhh xxx. XXX is the roommate of XXXX so we were talking to her about him and she says to give him one more shot and just be really upfront with him about everything, like tell him what's going to happen to him after he dies if he doesn't start pulling his life together (he's an alcoholic). He just doesn't know much about anything, including the real purpose of life, even though we've gone over it several times and he still doesn't really see why our message is important... that WILL change! But anyway, since we only had one lesson we spent a lot of the week tracting.

--OH! I almost forgot! We started riding the bus this week!! Haha it was great! And we didn't get lost once! We were so proud of ourselves! One of our less active's boyfriend is a driver for the bus system here and it just so happened that we got on his bus one of the times and it just so happened that the less active, Cindy, and her son, Timmy, were on the bus too! Timmy loves us so when he saw us he yells super loud SISTERS!!! We had our own welcoming committee on the bus! Then he told us to close our eyes and he just started praying on the middle of the bus! It was seriously the cutest thing ever! We also walked to a bunch of our appointments instead of driving to save what little miles we can. We felt like such legit missionaries haha no fake visitors center missionaries here (the joke that goes around is that all visitors center sisters aren't real missionaries)!

The one lesson we had was with an Indian couple who have been investigators FOREVER! Their names are XXCXX and XXXX. It's been really hard for them to make a full conversion over from Hinduism because we have so many similar but different beliefs, including the whole multiple Gods thing. They know the BOM is true and that pretty much everything that we believe is true but they just want to add all our beliefs to their beliefs. And also they won't get baptized because they feel like it would be selfish of them to do because it would ruin things for their future children and it would completely kill their relationship with all the rest of their family... They're really hard to deal with. We love them, they're so sweet! They always make us refreshments when we come over and they're really just so nice.... we just are having a hard time knowing what to do with them. They're totally ready to get baptized, it's just a matter of them having the faith to make the sacrifice.

          I got through my first holiday without the fam! And it went pretty well! This cute girl in the singles branch named Tiffanee got us our own easter basket! She's so sweet, I just love her! She lives here alone so she knows what it's like to be on your own on holidays and she didn't want us to feel sad or lonely or be without an easter basket so she took care of us! Then our dinner with one of the fam's in the ward cancelled because the mom was in the hospital so the senior couple that works with the singles branch had us over for easter dinner with a few of the singles! It was so great and yummy! And we played phase 10 after! Loved it! It was really hard to not get competitive like I normally do ha I had to hold it all in. It was good practice for patience that's for sure!

much love fam!

April 16, 2012 

ohhh man last week.... it was definitely different. Almost all of our appts cancelled and we had to drop another investigator, XXX (roommate of XXXX). He just wasn't into it anymore and he cancelled on our last 5 or 6 appts. Still working with the [Indian couple]  ... they're a tough case. They really just need to make the full conversion over and know with all their hearts this is the ONE true church. They know the BOM is true, they know the church is true, they know Joseph Smith was a prophet, etc but for some reason they still don't know that this is the one true church!  We're going to go over the first vision with them again, though, and hopefully that will help. We also figured out that they haven't really been searching for an answer. They pray to know here and there and they expect some big sign. We talked to them about diligently SEEKING an answer by praying all the time and reading the BOM every day and find their answer that way.

We did find 3 new investigators, though! XXXX is 28 so he's for the singles branch. He has really bad ADD, though, so it's gonna be a process with him... especially since he had no real belief in God and he'd never prayed before. He has a really big heart, though. DDDD is a former investigator from a couple years ago that we stopped by on Friday night. She is just a total sweetheart! We just talked and got to know her for about an hour and she is BIG into sewing and loooves her fam.  We invited her to take the lessons again and to start reading the BOM again and she said yes! woohoo! Then there's also CCCCC! I told you about her a week or 2 ago. We hadn't been able to contact her for awhile so we went and stopped by again and set up a real appt for later this week. She's a total sweetheart and I just know she's going to get baptized! We also found a potential yesterday while tracting whose name is DDDD. He's awesome! He says he wants to check out our mormon.org website and see more what we're about before he takes lessons from us so I'll let you know next week if he's a check yes!  

Yet another rough week for XXXXX... hence the interesting week. I just don't know what to do anymore. …she doesn't think she's been feeling the spirit at all for the last few weeks and her testimony is starting to dwindle.... I was speechless... I still am. It's just not the sister I thought I knew, and i just don't know what to do anymore. I was trying to be more loving, give more compliments, and be a good example of always staying positive but I don't think it's doing anything. It makes it sooo hard on me because it says right in the scriptures not to teach if we don't have the spirit so I get really worried about that but then I was thinking of the 2nd article of faith and how we're punished for our own sins and realized that it's the same way with this. I can still help other people feel the spirit as long as I still feel it. The ability to help other people feel it is not going to be taken away from me because of how someone else feels.... So that's what i'm trying to focus on.  …I don't know.... I'm just  praying all the time for her and I feel so bad for her. What an awful feeling that must be. I'm kind of wondering if maybe she's looking past the feelings of the spirit and just not recognizing it... This week is a new week, though! It's going to be great!

So I studied the Sacrament this week and I didn't get too much out of the study but something I understand better now is that taking the sacrament is part of the doctrine of Christ. To receive the blessings we are promised, including the presence of the Holy Ghost, we need to take all the steps. Faith in Christ, faith to repent, and keep all the commandments as faithfully as we can throughout the week, then take the sacrament... ALL steps are necessary to receive such a precious gift, it doesn't just come because we've been baptized and confirmed.  We have to always renew our covenants.  

 I think that's all... I always get so lost while I'm writing my emails and can't think of everything but this should do for another week haha lots of love!

April 2, 2012 - What a stinker!

April 2, 2012

So you may want to take a seat.... you should be expecting a call from President Sorensen today. My body has been acting really weird (surprise surprise) so I went to the doctor a few days ago and I need to get surgery. He was saying some big words and I was so shocked I didn't even hear what they would be doing. I'll be flying home on Wednesday, landing at 8 pm. President will give you all the details....
 

          I don't know how you knew mom, but I guess a mother intuition is a crazy thing....... April Fools!!! Hahahahahaha I know it's not April fools anymore but I didn't get to talk to you yesterday so I had to make up for it today! I actually pulled that same thing on the Elders in our singles branch except I told Elder Trammel that I was going home to spend time with my dad for his last month haha kind of a sad thing to say and kind of mean to do but it was HILARIOUS! He had no idea what to do or say! I couldn't help it; I just had to do it! I couldn't let April Fool's day pass without one good joke and being a missionary it's the perfect thing! hahaha sooo funny!
 

So not much happened this week except we lost both our baptism dates and basically everyone cancelled on us. We didn't have any lessons with investigators! BUT we did find 6 potentials! 4 of which are students at Kent University! That's what we've decided to put a new focus on so that was definitely a good thing! We met this older lady, xxxxx, on Saturday. She started out with an attitude with us and said it's been a really long day so I was thinking uh oh, she's really not happy, what can I say to her so she might listen and won't get mad at us so somehow I got out the words we have a message of peace and happiness. She stepped out onto the porch and closed the door and just started balling! We gave her a hug and let her talk for a minute about all her stresses. we were talking about her belief in Jesus Christ and we told her there's more! She said she just wants to know what church she needs to go to so we gave her the first lesson then sister Mayer said a beautiful prayer for her that really meant a lot to her. We're going to see her later this week and we're going to invite her to be baptized! And she's going to say yes!! haha I get really confident in us and tell everyone that we're going to have a ton of baptisms and we're going to save the world and that was just a little of my "confidence" coming out!

 Umm let's see... we've made 2 people cry this week. one was xxx, another is a cute girl in our ward that we just found out has never had a testimony and she's done everything for everyone else her whole life when it comes to religion.  when we asked her if she knows the BOM is true and if she even wants to find out she started crying, said "I'm done!" and stormed up the stairs..... I was speechless and I felt so awful! She texted us a day ago though apologizing and telling us how she felt and we're going to take her ice cream tonight and let her "spill" to us and hopefully
show her that HF does love her and is very aware of her.

          oh ya! the lesson with the XXXXX family went great! we love sister XXXXX soooo much! we have a lot of work to do with her, though. We think the root of the problem may start with forgiveness so that's what we'll focus on. I also had to do a workshop for our district! what?? me??? a workshop for missionaries that have been out way longer than me and know so much more????? haha I was kinda stressed about it, you know how I feel about teaching and giving lessons. I completely relied on the Lord though and it worked out! I’m sooooo happy it's done and over with now! part of it was on Elder Bednar’s message in the BoM ensign!

And did a guy call you last week that was in the visitor’s center? People love getting to talk to my family when they're from Utah or going to Utah and I love it!! and sister marsh told me about their visit and that she can see where I get my bubbly personality haha the way she was describing you mom was so perfect and I could totally imagine it haha so funny! she said she felt like she'd known you for years!

March 26, 2012

        One of the families we were supposed to teach this week are getting ready to get their patriarchal blessings so I focused on that in one of my studies. I realized that Heavenly Father has given us each our own spiritual gifts (Moroni 10: 8-19) and it is our job to figure out what those gifts are and how we can develop them. While we can pray and fast to know what those are, we also have our patriarchal blessings that tell us what some of those gifts are. The coolest part is that in our blessings we learn how those gifts can really bless our lives and the lives of others if we stay faithful and develop them! I always knew that our blessings tell us more about who we are and who we are to become and that they give us direction in our lives... but they also tell us the special gifts we read about in the BoM that Heavenly Father has blessed us with!!   After learning that I read over my blessing again and found new meaning in the fact that I've been blessed with the gift of teaching, faith, and bearing a powerful witness of the things I know to be true. The blessings that can come of these gifts are so great I'm so grateful I'm out here developing those gifts so that the blessings of them can come to pass... don't get me wrong, I still kind of wish I could develop these things at home haha BUT I'm becoming a little more grateful everyday for being out here and I'm adjusting a little more everyday and I don't think of things at home as often.

 What else happened this week... we got a brand new car!! A 2012 Chevy Cruze! It's so nice, we love it! We also found out we're gonna have to start riding the bus because we don't have near enough miles per month with the enormous area that we have.... hahaha I already know I'm gonna have a lot of funny bus stories including ones about getting lost and having no idea where we are! We got to sleep over in Kirtland at the Edman's place one night.  That was fun!  They take such good care of us!....

   Thank you so much for fasting and praying for XXXXX.   She reeeeeeeaaaaallllly needs it right now. When we went to visit her on Saturday I instantly knew something was up. I don't know how I knew but I knew something was different. We had to do a little prying to get it out of her, and we still didn't get it fully out of her but she's having such an awful internal battle with herself right now and she's not sure if she wants to or can be a part of the church right now. She feels like when she's doing things the church doesn't approve of she's still happy... we reminded her of eternal happiness but she already knows it... I told her I know she knows what she needs to do, she's just taking the easy way out. It was a really hard, sad, emotional (for her), but powerful lesson. She still is having issues with putting her trust in the Lord, she doesn't feel like he's really there for her anymore... oh my heart was breaking for her... I asked her to pray with us and ask if he was still there. She really didn't want to because she doesn't know what to say to him anymore but we told her to tell him just what she told us. After awhile she finally agreed. The spirit was so strong for Sister Mayer and me but when she asked if he was there, this powerful, warm feeling rushed over me. It was so powerful for us but we're not sure what she felt. She didn't come to church the next day but we keep reminding her that we love her.

          Thank you sooooo much for the package! I just LOVE packages so much!  And I loved that you sent me girl scout cookies with one of the packages taken out haha just like home!

  

          Tell my friends on the blog that they're gonna be in big trouble with me if they don't write me soon... it's not nice to forget me so soon:)

love you lots and lots and more!

Haley - Singing...???!!!@#$%$#

This story came from a letter to Allysa.  It made me laugh so hard, I cried.  Haley is NOT a singer at church... This is a story about the funeral of her "mission Grandpa's" wife...

...Let me just tell you this hilarious story about her funeral.  So we only have 2 piano players in our ward but neither of them could be at the funeral (I can't tell you HOW much I wish I play the piano because we've been asked soooo many times now).  A member of the bishopric called us the night before to ask us if we would sit in the stands with them to help lead the hymns by projecting our voices so everyone would know the tune since there was no piano and almost everyone there would be a nonmember and wouldn't know the songs.  So we didn't really think much of it - we figured we'd be standing and singing with everyone else on the stands, so no big deal. 

Well let me tell you, that was NOT the case!  First, they announced Sister Mayer and I singing the hymns.  Then when I asked where we should stand he told me to stand at the microphone....HECK NO!  haha  There was no way I was doing that, that's not what I signed up for so I just didn't tell Sister Mayer.  Then I find out both hymns are ones I hardly know, so pretty much I'm toast.

Then when we started singing, NO ONE sang with us...  just a muffled soft singing from other people sitting in the stands so we were basically singing a duet.  THEN I (and the other people on the stands) started singing the wrong tune in the third verse!  Sister Mayer just stopped singing in the middle and elbowed me and said "That's not right!  You're singing it wrong!"  Everyone in the congregation (nonmember, rough-looking, cigarette smoking people) were just looking at us like we were crazy!  hahahahahahahahahahaha   It was the most awkward and hilarious funeral EVER!  But we still love Bro White [the mission grandpa]  and he loves us!  He's saying he'll be at church every sunday!

so this last week...

March 19, 2012

 This last sunday we planned some stop-bys for a few families. While we were leaving the home of the first family, I had the name of a less active family we've been hearing a lot about come to my mind out of nowhere. (They used to be one of those really beloved and involved families where the mom was primary pres and the dad was Elders Quorom pres, then their son went on a mission and apparently they had a really hard time with that, especially the mom, and went inactive in the middle of his mission. Then the son got home and went inactive almost right after... how sad is that?? The ward has sent missionaries over several times to try to get them back but they shut the door on every missionary sent.) We're taught over and over again that all good thoughts come from the spirit so anytime I have thoughts like this I just hope that it's the spirit talking to me but it doesn't always turn out fruitful. I suggested, with faith, that we go see the XXXX family. When we got to their home, both Sister Mayer and I felt sick to our stomachs about it. We didn't know if we were just nervous because of what we've heard about their family not liking missionaries or if it was the spirit telling us not to go in. We said a prayer, asking if we should go in, and right when we started saying the prayer, both of our nervous stomachs went away. We went up to the door and we started talking to the mom who was really nice. She said it was wierd that we were there but so glad because she was just thinking the other day about the ward and wondering if anyone even missed them. I think she was also feeling sad about other things so it was really good we stopped by. Without us bringing anything up, she said she wanted us over for dinner and to do FHE for their family. She asked us to pray about what to do FHE on because she knows her family needs the spirit in their home again but she's not sure how. She's really excited for us to help bring that spirit back. This story just goes to show that by following all our "good" thoughts, we won't miss out on the opportunities when we will be led by the spirit to do the Lords work. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be led by the spirit on so many occasions like this!....

So today's the day we go see them! AHH we're pretty nervous because every time we told someone about seeing them we got shocked faces and our bishopric made a big deal about it in PEC and then someone else told us he would fast with us for it... we weren't planning on fasting about it until after that moment... We've been praying about what to teach all week and we felt really good about focusing on the BOM but we just didn't know what to use from the BOM. We both found different things in our studies this morning, neither of us felt like it was right for the XXXX at first during our personal studies but we realized that both our studies kind of blended and worked together when we talked about it in comp study. We feel like we know what we need to talk about now so hopefully we're not wrong... we're completely relying on the Lord with this lesson. I'll let you know next week how it goes... cross your fingers!

We went tracting for the first time this week and this is what happened (another letter to pres):

This week I experienced what Sister Mayer calls "the real mission life." The last 2 weeks we had very few cancellations and our schedule was really busy with lessons. This week was different. We had a lot of cancellations so we had more time to tract. The first time we did it this week we found 2 girls, Lea and Tracy, walking on the street that the Lord has already started to prepare to accept the gospel. They both have very young daughters and are looking for a good family oriented church, centered around christ for their daughters to be involved in. We thought “perfect!" They told us they're both addicts and looking to overcome that. We thought "we can help!" We were able to use HTBT (how to begin teaching in preach my gospel) with them to understand that the gospel is exactly what they're looking for, invited them to church, and we gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon. We set up an appt to see them Saturday but for some reason we forgot to get their exact address, we only knew the street they were on. The day of the appt we weren't able to get a hold of them so we decided to tract their street until we found them. We finally found someone that knew where Lea lives so we got really excited! When we got to her house, though, no one answered the door so we were a little bummed but we didn't get discouraged because both Sister Mayer and I know that the Lord placed them in our path for a reason. We tracted down the rest of the street then prayed about which direction to go next when we came to a corner. When we started walking down the direction we both felt the Lord wanted us to go we saw Tracy walking down the street! She walked back to Lea's with us to try again but she still wasn't there so Tracy said she'd talk to Lea about seeing us another time. We left to continue on with our day but right after we left our next house I felt like we needed to go back to Lea's. Right after we parked, Lea and Tracy turned right down the street we parked on! We got out to talk to them and hopefully give our lesson but they were in a big hurry so we didn't get to talk. Even though we never got the chance to give our lesson to them I know that something will come of this. They have not been placed in our path that many times for no reason! We will continue to pursue things with them because we KNOW the gospel will bless their lives whether it's through our hands or other missionaries down the line. The least we can do is continue to plant seeds!

.... needless to say, I'm not so scared of tracting anymore!

We also had our baptism last saturday! It was really great! Hailey's dad got to perform the baptism, which we were really surprised about because they were less active just recently and they still have difficulty with coming to church because of their autistic son. The bishop talked to him, though, and approved it so that made the experience extra special! Hailey is afraid of water, though, so she really didn't want to go under the water. He had to do it 3 times before she got fully submerged haha it was sad but funny. She told us after that she wasn't embarassed anymore and she just feels good!

I can't think of anything else right now and i'm kind of in a hurry cuz sis mayer is waiting on me but I love you lots and lots!

Not P-Day???

 Last Monday, March 12, was the loooooongest day!  I kept refreshing my email every 3 minutes to see if Haley had written.  No letter all day.  We were so sad, but figured that something must have happened.  Then, joy of joys, the very next day we get this letter....

March 13, 2012

Not P-day???

hello hello! you may be asking yourself why I'm emailing you today instead of yesterday... well that would be because Sister Mayer got really sick yesterday.... loooooooongest p day ever! I am never letting myself get sick enough to stay in bed all day while I'm out here because it's awful for both yourself and your companion. Being jailed inside the apartment all day, basically by myself since Sister Mayer was sleeping in our room the whole day, with nothing to do except study, clean, write letters, and nap makes it really hard to keep my focus. And poor sister Mayer... she doesn't have her mom to take care of her, she has to go with me to run to the store to get medicine, and she can't watch movies or read a good book to distract her and make the day go by faster (let's be honest, no one wants to study the scriptures when you're feeling that sick). Oh i really hope and pray we don't have to go through that EVER again. We didn't even get to go to Kirtland today because she still felt a little sick when she woke up! I was really sad about that because I love going to Kirtland to do tours, be on chat, and see my mtc companions but on the plus side, I got to sleep an extra hour since I didn't need to get ready at all!

This last week when we went to see XXXX and she had her roommate come and listen in on the lesson with her! I guess the first time we visited her, he asked all about us after we left and what we were talking about. So we have a new investigator! AND I invited him to be baptized! We set a date for the beginning of April but I think it'll probably have to be moved closer to the end of April because of WoW and either XXXX or he will have to find a new place to live because of the law of chastity of course. I had another cool moment of inspiration on Sunday! I wrote about that in Lyssa's letter though so I won't take time with that. We're loving the ward, they're all really nice and supportive and helpful with missionary work. Of course there are quite a few wierdies but you can't really get away from that being a mormon haha. We had a spaghetti dinner/Pie auction on saturday... they raised $2500! It was crazy! But we had a good time with the ward and we got to see the fun side of some of the families instead of the spiritual/churchy side. This saturday we have a baptism!! It's for a black 9 year old named Hailey! She's great! We don't really consider it our baptism because we came into the picture more than half way through all the lessons but we have done some of the work and kept her excited about getting baptized.

  

 Real quick, I have to do my least favorite thing on sunday and give a talk:( so I need you to send my farewell talk to me asap!!! email it to me TODAY please!

  K there are 2 things I want you guys to do. First, read the BOM ensign! It has some really great articles in there about what it does for us, how it shows the love of God, and why it's important. Next, our president has given a challenge to us as a mission. Read the BOM in 90 days but the point is to come closer to our savior and have a better relationship with him. So as you read circle every time our Saviors name is mentioned (every name) and then highlight all his attributes and write them down. There's something extra you're supposed to do in 3 Nephi 11-27 but I can't remember. You guys don't need to do the 90 days thing, not even we can do it because we don't have much time to read for ourselves, but do the other part for sure! The first day I did it, I can honestly say that I felt like I knew my savior better and I felt closer to him. It's really cool how it works! K I can't take any more time doing this but I love you and can't wait to get my package next tuesday! (we have everything sent to the visitors center in Kirtland so I only get mail on Tuesdays... and we didn't get to go yesterday:()

LOOOOOOOOOOOVE love love you guys!

Haley's Current Address

Sister Haley Hansen

7800 Kirtland/Chardon Rd.

Kirtland, OH  44094

First Ohio letter!

Ohio Letter #1  - March 5 2012

Haley with Pres. & Sister Sorenson

Haley's Comp - Sis. Stephanie Mayer

Ok - so this last week and a half has been so busy and so tiring. I haven't written in my journal once since last Friday because by the time we're done planning and I'm ready for bed there's either no time to write in my journal or I'm just way too tired.

We arrived wed late afternoon and went straight to president’s house. We had a welcoming meeting, ate dinner (we were STARVED because we hadn't eaten anything all day and it was so nice to have food other than MTC food.  Sis. Sorensen's homemade rolls and honeybutter were soooo good!), then role played with the AP's while everyone was having their interviews with pres. I don't really remember my interview; it was only like 2 minutes long. The next day we got to go see the Kirtland temple and the Whitney store. The coolest part about our mini tour was in the school of the prophets. Pres asked all of us to take a few minutes in there and dedicate our missions to the Lord and tell Him the kind of missionaries we want to be, then at the end of our missions we go back and report our missions to Him. After the short tour we went to the transfer meeting and got our new companions and area we serve in. My companion is Sister Mayer and we're serving in Ravenna. My comp is really really nice and loving to everyone and is happy most of the time. She's really good at depending on the Lord for EVERYTHING.

So Ravenna is not exactly the place I wanted or expected to start in because it's mostly proselyting. I was expecting being at the visitors center about half my time but Ravenna is one of the 2 areas that only goes once a week and then once a week for a few hours to the Johnson Farm. We also found out almost immediately that our area was just combined with another so really we have 2 areas AND we also have a singles branch, so we have a lot of ground to cover. THEN  I found out that we would be shot gunning the area which means that both missionaries are brand new to the area and don't know anyone or anything about it so we have to start from scratch! Normally at least one missionary in a comp stays in the area and the other is transferred so one person will know everything about the area... Considering all this and the fact that I'm brand new to all this and have no idea what the heck I'm doing, my first week has been overwhelming for both of us to say the least. We're supposed to spend like 3 hours on Friday's weekly planning but ours took like 5 hours and we still spent 3 more hours on Saturday doing it. It was sooooo frustrating to me because I felt like we were wasting so much time and I felt like my comp didn't really know what she was doing and wasn't being effective with our time. I wanted to do something to be more effective but I was helpless because I still have no idea what I'm doing. I had to repent for being so negative about it because turns out, that's just what needed to happen.

Saturday during our planning we went through a lot of the old progress records of less actives in both areas and we found one girl, XXXX, that got baptized 2 years ago but has had a lot of issues the past year (like drug busts at the house she was living at and for some unknown reason she ended up in the hospital after that and then in a women’s shelter) and hasn't been to church in a long time. I really felt like we needed to text her and let her know that sisters were in the area now and we're excited to meet her. She texted us back immediately, which was weird because as missionaries not many people answer our calls or texts, especially immediately, and we set up a time to see her later that night.

Throughout the time we were there she told us she's been trying to stop smoking again, she doesn't really feel God's love anymore; she doesn't trust that the Lord can help her. I shared Ether 12:27 with her (God strengthens us in our weaknesses), explained as she keeps the commandments and her baptismal covenant that she will feel Gods presence again, as she prays she'll trust him again, etc. She told us one way she knew she could get help with WoW was fasting, so we brought up (of course) the fact that the next day was fast and testimony meeting at church, she said she didn't want to go back to church, we explained importance of taking the sacrament, then she told us that another sister missionary told her she couldn't take the sacrament anymore which is why she got scared off from church. I couldn't believe that someone had told her that because that is NOT our job. We have no right to tell someone else if they can or can't take the sacrament, that is between ourselves, the Lord, and our bishops. We explained all this to her, told her we were sooo sorry, etc. We told her we wanted to help her get through this struggle, that we would be here every step of the way, and that we would dedicate our fasts to her and by the end of our lesson she agreed to fasting and coming to church tomorrow! I think one of the main things that got her though was when I explained patriarchal blessings and the real guidance we receive from them and how we can see our own great potential through them.

This was all great but the best part comes next... right as we were leaving she told us how crazy this all was because she really had no desire to see the missionaries again and she had been ditching them for awhile now but she had been talking to one of her old sister missionaries and they had made a bet that if Julie would talk to the missionaries again then this previous sister missionary would agree to do something in her singles ward.  It was only an hour later that we texted her about meeting her!!!!! The Lord had prepared the way for XXXX! If we hadn't taken all that extra time with our planning we would have sent the text too soon, she would have dodged it most likely and things just would not have worked out. The Lord is in this work and it's so cool to see it actually happen. She came to church with us, she fasted, and she already loves us and we love her!

Please keep her in your prayers because we can't even imagine how hard it is to overcome that addiction. She has soooo much potential to be such a blessing to other people in church and we need her back! There are more people I want to tell you about but I'm really running out of time.  

Please continue to keep me in your prayers too because I still struggle sometimes with having a desire to be out here all the time. Sometimes I really enjoy it and I know why I'm here but then other times I think about how much I miss being home with you guys and I can't imagine how I'm going to last a whole year and a half. Sometimes it seems too long but when I keep busy I don't think about it. I can't wait til I get to the point when I don't want to go home haha who knows how long that will take but hopefully not long.
   I love you all sooooo much, though, and can’t wait to hear from you again next week.

Sure love ya!

First Snail Mail letter...a doozie!

That first email alluded to a letter coming in the mail...How long can it take to get from Provo to Sandy?  Answer...another 4 days.  On Saturday we got an 8 page letter!  Magnifico!  Here are some excerpts...

Her FIRST night they actually taught some investigators!  (We discovered later that they are people who role play - but Haley writes as if they are real - so it really confused us at first).  She was a little discouraged but prayed "really hard for courage, strength, and help in remembering my purpose for being here..." 

A week later she writes about her district..."We're comprised of our tripanionship and 5 eldders.  Both my companions are going to the Cleveland/Kirtland visitor center so we'll be together on this journey from start to finish!  We're really hoping that we'll get to be companions again sometime later.  Then there's Elder Eyonon and Elder Daniels, our favorites!  Elder Eynon is just the sweetest thing ever and makes me laugh so much with all his wierd, out of nowhere comments! I love him!  Jenna & Sophie, he totally reminds me of and actually really looks like the tall skinny guy in Sydney White that ends up a millionaire at the end.  Elder Daniels is so fantastic!  He is so pumped up about the work, always positive, outgoing, and we can totally tell he was a lady's man!We called him out on it but he won't admit it, he just get's all bashful when we say anything.  Elder Free is our district leader and is perfect for the job.  he is quite knowledgable in the gospel, responsible, has a great spirit, and you can just tell he's been preparing a long time for this.  Elder Pearce is half-Jamican.  H'es very polite, always sitting up straight...He's awesome.  Last , but not least, Elder Adamson.  He's 23 so I really have respect for him and he's mature...he's also good at thinking about thinks on a deeper level which always helps us all out.  They're all just normal, though, and outgoing so it makes it so easy for all of us to get along and bond.  We also love that ALL the elders here are such gentlemen towards all the sisters.  They have respect for us and it's such a great thing to see.  Everyone says your district becomes your family becuase you spend so much time together and we all go through the same hard challenges so we're the support system for each other.  I can already see it happening with us and I love it.  We also love our zone leaders and coordinating sister.  They are so cool, chill, and funny.  Pretty much  I love anyone that makes me laugh though, and I laugh at a lot of things so I guess I love people here really easily.  
     One funny experience I have to tell you about that happened today... I took my skirts to the alterations ladies and when I was trying on all my skirts for her she was giving me these looks and saying things like "oh, all your skirts are just too tight." "I think you need to add a few inches around those hips" and then the one word "oh"  (hahaha) completely implying that she thinks I'm a slut hahaha that would happen to me! My comps just started luaghting so hard when we left the room cuz we were all thinking the same thing! It was really a funny moment!"
     A couple of days later we got another 4 pages of her journal in the mail...I'll keep posting until I am caught up to the present!

Haley's First P-day letter!

It was a long week without hearing from her.  Then 7 days later we got this email...

February 7

Just letting you know I get my first p day today so I can finally write you! Thank you so much for the letters and sending my package, they MADE my day! Even though I didn't get to pick it up until yesterday haha... but seriously getting a package is like getting a big, needed hug through the mail and I love it (elbow nudge... if ya know what I mean):) ...

     I loooove my district and both my companions so you don't have to worry about that for me yet! And yes, I said companionS. I'm in a tricompanionship with Sister Larsen and Sister Smith. I just love the tri and it really is perfect for me cuz I'm not just with the one person all the time and we think it makes us feel like we're just with friends all the time rather than with a companion. We also have 3 heads to use and put together in our lessons so more knowledge! I can't remember if I talked about them in my letter so I'll just tell a little bit. We are the perfect companions for each other! We're all really similar but still add our own individuality to the companionship. I add the outgoing, loud, positive (and style of course) attributes; Sister Larsen adds maturity, humor, and brings my loudness and outgoingness (I know it's not a word but go with it) to an appropriate level (and she's always late like me so I don't feel so bad about it all the time haha), and Sister Smith adds timeliness, hard work, softness, and I can't think of the word but almost like an English like personality. All of us together though are NORMAL, and easy going not emotional and i'm out of time!

Dropping Haley off at the MTC

February 1, 2012
     The Big Day finally arrived!  A GIANT "thank you" to Haley's  wonderful friends who stayed late to help her pack!  She would never have made it otherwise.  They even weighed her luggage to make sure she wasn't over the limit! 
     As we drove down to Provo, we talked about our favorite memories of Haley...Sophie talked about food fights, Dad talked about the stories he told when Haley and Allysa were little and the wrestling games they played, Daniel talked about the many movies they went to see together, Jenna talked about shopping, bribery and the hike the two of them took in Park City, Allysa  and I

     When we got to Provo, we stopped at California Pizza Kitchen for Haley's "Last Supper".  We laughed, we ate, we shared our food...and come to think of it - we took a family picture.  Where on earth did it go?
     Anyway, we got to the Missionary Training Center, parked up by the Provo Temple and said our goodbyes.  Lots of hugs, lots of tears, lots of joy, then we drove in to the MTC.  She got out of the car.  Two elders were there to carry her luggage and off she went with a big, beautiful smile on her face and talking to the elders as if they were already friends.
     I learned something about Haley that day.  She has every bit as much sunshine in her as does Allysa.  She reached out to people and does her best to brighten their day.  I am so proud of her.

Karissa, Marie, Haley,  & Stacie at her setting apart.  Kenzie and Carly came over a little later

"Sisters, sisters. There were never such devoted sisters..."

Group Hug

Mom is so proud of Haley.

So is Dad

"What the heck am I supposed to do about these girls?"

"Oh, all right.  Another group hug..."