Jan 27, 2014

Dear Family,
i did not get transferred. it is freezing here! there is snow piled
high for days!! and my feet are always a little frozen i need to do
something about that probably. we were out in a snow storm two
Saturdays in a row giving out free hot chocolate it was awesome!!!!!
well our baptismal dates are no longer valid seeing as they dont come
to church. but we have been working our little tails off to find those
who really do want to come to church. Shawn from my other area finally
got baptized!! and he looked so good! i am so happy for him it was
amazing to hear how it all went! i am excited for this transfer,
there is a lot of people that we plan to teach and a lot of changes that
we are in the process of making. it will be a little challenging do to
the fact that my companion doesn't really want to be here anymore, but
we will make the best of it. one of the woman in the ward her name is
sister whyte lost a cat last night. she is single and her children
minus the one that is all grown up, are her animals. and yesterday she
called us to bath her cat because he had poop all over himself, we
said sure we can do that. i get there get in the tub and literally
this cat was dying in my hands, but nevertheless i bathed him and then
found that this yellow puss was coming from his neck, we started to
disinfect it and cut off the hair around it and as soon as we did we
found a hole in his neck. this cat was not going to live and as i sat
there drying and mending her cat this woman was crying next to me. my
heart hurt so much for her, because i didn't know how to help her
other than do as she asked. we had to leave for an appointment but we
got her all situated before we left we told her we would drop by
before we went home for the night and when we did she told us he had
passed away, she was a mess. it was probably the saddest i have ever
seen her. we set up plans to have a funeral for the cat and will be
dong that tomorrow for her.i feel so sad for her, but so happy for her
as well as much as she didnt want her cat to go she wanted him to go
peacefully and he did. this Sunday i got to speak on trusting in the
love of god. yesterday that is exactly what i did. i hate cats! i dont
like their hair. i dont like it when they poop everywhere and i dont
like their smell or their scratchy claws, but as i drew in the love
that i had for God and that he had for sister whyte i was able to
clean this cat off without losing my sides over it. it actually didnt
bother me at all. i think if i hadn't trusted in God and his never
ending love i would not have been able to do that. and as small as
that seems to us, for sister whyte that was huge, she doesnt call a
single person for help, because she can do it on her own. i am so
grateful to be here in this area. i am not ready to leave yet and am
ready for the challenges and blessing that face me in the next 6 weeks
because you cant have one without the other. i am so glad to hear that
sophia will be here soon! and grandpa is doing better!! i love you all
so very much!!!!
Love Sister Hadley
ps sorry about the spelling errors promise when i get back to
university my papers wont be this bad

Jan 20, 2014

Dear Family,
The transfer is almost over! we have had so much success in this area.
we have a lot of people that we are teaching we are trying really hard
to get them to progress but with some of them if feel like we are just
hitting our heads against a brick wall who knows if we hit it hard
enough it will come down! this week has been so great. every Saturday
our zone does a consecrated finding hour. and this week we did a hot
chocolate stand and we got tons of people to talk to us, we set up
some appointments and got some phone numbers. but we didnt find a new
investigators and that was the goal for this activity, well after this
activity our sister training leaders text  us and challenge us to find
a new investigator so even though we failed at finding one new this go
around we were determined to find one by the end of the day. turns out
now one wanted to hear from us.. as we were walking in our door we had
a thought to text a couple that we had taught a few days ago, if we
could set up an appointment with them then we would have our new
investigator, not only one but two. so we texted, no reply and we are
running on the last few minutes here.. so we say our prayer for
planning . end planning and say our goodnight prayer and ask for
heavenly fathers help, for these people to reply if that was his
intention  as we said amen we looked down at the phone waited a second
and as soon as we were about to walk away disappointed the phone
buzzed.the moral of the story is that we can't do anything on our own.
This week has taught me that. Everything must be done through the
lord. it is his timing and prayer really does work, whether it is
immediately or days later! this week we had the opportunity to
instruct other missionaries i was so scared, because how am i suppose
to teach missionaries who have been out longer than me, but as i
relied on the spirit in our preparation we were able to prepare an
instruction that was exactly what our zone needed. it was incredible
to feel that i didnt need to fear for loss of words because i wasnt
teaching the spirit was. it was a great week! a little nervous for
transfer s i think i will be staying here though, but i may get a new
companion because sister cross has been here for 4.5months. ITs so
good to hear that grandpa is doing better!! love you all so much.
sorry this week is short ill try to write more next week. LOVe sister
HAdley

Pictures

Jan 13, 2014

Dear Family,
this week was great! we found two new people through dinner
appointments at members homes, and they seem to be very interested in
fact the one his name is James (late 50 i think) . He wasn't expecting
to stay for dinner he thought his mom (shes 70 or so) was having older
woman over fro dinner but when he saw us come through he thought why
not stay and have good conversation. we had planned to share the
restoration video with his mom but we got to share it with him as
well. he was so moved by the movie that we started to teach him. he
was hurt because of trials that he faced in life and people he lost
and was angry with god, he didnt see how he cared. so i shared my
experience that i had after losing carson and how i was angry with
god. i testified of how i knew he did care because as soon as i turned
to him for comfort he was there. i told him that heavenly father loves
him and as soon as i did he started crying, his heart was softened and
it was the best teaching experience i have had so far with either one
of my companions. the spirit was there and i was able to recognize
him! when i testified i could feel it in my chest and when i stopped
speaking it was gone, when he would speak i could feel heavenly
fathers love for him and then again when i testified or my companion
did i could feel the spirit so strongly. recently i have had a hard
time recognizing the spirit and so i prayed and studied and tried new
ways to be more receptive when i least expected it, it came. I am so
grateful for the spirit it was there then and when i needed it on
Saturday for comfort. it was hard to say that it has been a year with
out dear carson, and i tried to talk to my companion about how i felt
but it didnt work cause she didnt quite understand, but thats ok
because heavenly father did. He allowed us to stay very busy that day
putting up tile in a members home to going around with a member to try
to get into less actives homes. i learned if i stay busy i dont have
time to be sad or think, so thats what i did! i stayed busy. i am
still learning how to work with my companion and balance out what i
can speak up about and what i have to just live with its a fine line i
tell ya.. but we have done some amazing things in belleville so far
and im excited to finish the next two weeks with her. i really hope
grandpa is doing well, i cant believe grandma got him in the car by
herself! thats amazing how the family came together. so what spence
has a girlfriend? and shes going on a mission? and hes going to
hawaii? to train? thats sweet!! so exciting best of luck to ya spence!
back home sounds crazy with everyone going every which way! can't
believe its gonna be the middle of january already.. Love you all and
hope all is well!!
Love Sister Hadley

Jan 5, 2014

Dear Family,

what a week! it feels like forever since last monday. we had a great week for the most part. we found some new investigators who are super solid! one we have to be very careful with and might take some time teaching, but the other is 18 years old and has so many bright questions about the gospel. there is nothing else that i love to see more than young people (younger than me) asking all these questions about afterlife and prophets and how to receive answers to prayers! i love being able to turn to the scriptures and say this is how you know and this is what a prophet is. as we were in companion study this week i shared tons of scriptures and then shyly apologized because we were suppose to only share what we learned and i took forever sharing all these amazing scriptures, adn i explained to my companion that i dont know how to speak unless i am quoting a scripture or using one to describe how i feel. i honestly wasn't really sorry for sharing the scriptures and she told me i shouldn't be. but the point is that when we teach i love turning to the scriptures, they are my foundation without them i feel lost. so great new investigators, helps my mind stay away from the sad thoughts i have about what this month really represents. i know carson is wating for all of us, that i am 100% sure of, he is constantly in my thoughts and i miss him. But his memories often allow me to push forward. I love you all very much and keep you in my prayers everyday. tell brett congrats, i love the name liam!! there is a little boy named liam in this ward and he is this cute little tazmanian devil, so hopefully bretts liam doesnt turn out the same way! each day is a journey and each one worth going through, by the end of the day it honestly feels like a year has passed away, and im glad i was able to capture the moments! capture the moments! Happy New Year!!

Love you all, Sister Hadley

December 30, 2013

Dear Family,

It was so great talking to all of you this week!! i miss you and love you all very much. this week was a bit difficult for us becuase of the holidays but that is expected. we continue to go out in work becuase that is what we are here to do. we have this guy named kyle that we are teaching and he is so solid! his firends have been teaching him and gave him a book of mormon, they are both going on missions and wanted him to hear the lessons so we taught him and he is praying about a date. im so excited. roberta the lady i spoke of Wednesday, we went and saw her last night and she is still very stong about not joining the  church but we aren't giving up on her because we still feel strong about her. i heard from shawn the baptismal date that i left in mississauga, cool story his mom was being taught in trinidad before she came out for the hoolidays. isnt that cool?!!?! i am so sad im missing out on it, it breaks my heart. but i am so happy that he is still on tract to get baptized, adn that he wrote me! i just have to get permission to write him back! well i am running out of time, sorry its short this week. mayeb next week i will have more to say and more will have happened. my companion is awesome!! we are like spitting image of eachother, seriously. have a happy new years!!!!

Love Sister Hadley

Dear Mom,

i love you so much!! i hope you enjoyed the Christmas gift! and i hope Christmas went well. my stomach has been weird these past few days, but its probably because of the diet that we have been forced to be on because of holidays so it should get back to normal soon. can you send me the German pancakes recipe? i wish i had it memorized but i dont.. shame on me i know sorry! i hope everyone is doing well this time of year and hanging in with January coming up.how  are the missionary experiences coming along? You are such a great example of trying to always do more tahn what you are expected to do, sister cross and i were talkeing and i noticced how much you alwyas did for us when we dont ask and how much you do for everyone else, i want to be like that.  I love you so very much!! been studying in mosiah really love mosiah 1:4 we are meant to have the book of mormon now and thats why it didnt come any sooner or anylater than what it did. the lords timing is perfect! Love Sister Hadley