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!