Jan 19, 2015

Dear Family,

This week was awesome!! we found two knew investigators this week, and one of them has just been completely prepared by the lord to receive the gospel. i kind of feel like what he is saying is a trick like someone has told him exactly what to ask and what to say. seriously its crazy awesome. he owns his own business and does a lot of ice fishing (which i totally want to do, yeah.. i'm turning Canadian on yas) we are so excitedt o go back and teach him! we will see him again on wednesday. 

i had exchanges on thursday with my mtc companion! i was so nervous for it, just becuase of the way that we left off, but it was so fun, she was nervous too but we just totally made it one of the best days i have had in a long time! we got to see and teach Melanie and Chris (the part member couple that's not married that i started teaching in belleville with sister cross) and when we came out of the lesson my temporary comp sister kurtz said, oh my heavens that was the best lesson we have had with them in forever! and i guess it opened doors because melanie is getting married next month and baptized march 7!!!!!!!!!! i am so happy for them:)) i love that family with all my heart!

then on Saturday we got to hear from ELDER OAKS!! oh yeah! he is so funny, and our area seventy came, elder allard and then elder oaks companion was elder kacher, who in return are both amazing as well. it was such a good day. i have a strong testimony of what the prophets and inspired leaders of the church have said, "what you put into it, is you get out of it." and i had so many questions a few that were personal but mostly ones of how we can help our investigators move forward with their specific concerns. i had them all written out and throughout the meeting all i had to do was fill in the answer, it was remarkable, the lord truly hears our prayers!! 

 

there is even greater work to look forward to this week, earl and sharon said they will be at churhc this sunday, so we are looking forward to that, and hopefully we can get tracy there too ( he was the one who gave earl and sharon as a refferal to us, we met him tracting, and didtne have much success with him until his wife started sitting in on our lessons (anne, she is catholic and doesn't want to join just likes to listen)). anne holds tracy back from coming to church because they go to her brothers church in belleville (hes a preist). but Tracy is very involved in the lessons and could be progressing if Anne wasn't holding him back, we wont give up on him!!

i saw janet taylor Saturday and that's who this picture is with, she is someone i knew from my first area in Mississauga.  and i dont have the picture with sister kurtz with me i will give it next week.

I love you all!! 

Love Sister Hadley

 

Jan 12, 2015

Dear Familia! 

oh boy oh boy we had an amazing week!! Two main things i learned this week are, hard work does pay off and faith without works is dead.

So before this transfer started my companion and i made a goal to find new investigators and to have two baptismal dates in the first two weeks. we truly dedicated these first two weeks to finding, we have knocked on SO many doors! and GUESS WHAT?????.... we found 4 new investigators!! and they are all amazing people!

 The first person that we found, his name is eric, was through tracting! who would have guessed?.. they actually let us come in too!! that's my first time ever!! and it was my companions first time where we would teach on the doorstep and then ask if we could share more with them, and at the end my comp added well how about now do you have a few minutes, and he said yes!! he had a stroke a while back so remembering things is going to be hard for him, but we are prepared to teach and reteach and reteach and reteach and reteach the lessons if necessary.

Then we met Micheal and Darlene. they aren't married so that will be difficult.. but they are the sweetest old couple ever!! darlene is catholic, and has the greatest insights and questions a missionary could ever ask for. Micheal has a daughter who is a less active member, but hes not a member he actually doesn't like churches because he thinks they are full of people who dont live what they preach. which in some cases is true.. so ya cant really blame the man, for that one. we will be seeing them on Thursday again! 

then we met David, he was originally a referral from Micheal and Darlene but then we were out walking around his area and he was having a smoke so we stopped to talk to him, and he doesnt believe that there are angels (that morning i had poured my heart out to my companion about how i felt about angels and how real they were) my heart only shattered a little when i heard him, easily mended though so its all good, he is going through a lot though and he seems to be very stuck in heis train of though and the way he looks at things but hes gonna let us come back and "show him some resources" and we handed him the book of mormon and bible right then and there for him to study from before we come back, we see him on tuesday. 

oh boy oh boy are we ever excited, now oiur goals for this week are to get members to come teaching with us (already set up for most lessons) and to find two more new investigators or three or 4 or 5!! 

miracles do happen! 

im not sure if i told you or not but gertie that super sweet old lady who had been coming to church has moved away to a better nursing home, im gonna miss her!! 

oh and my dear family, will you please keep jim leavens and his wife and family in your prayers, sister leavens has gone back to the hospital due to a growth in some of her tumors, and they cant do chemo becuse she is so week, and sick so the tumors keep growing. please pray for her to either be healed or comforted, whatever gods will be. 

I love you all so very much!!!! 

Love sister Hadley

there is lots more to look forward to this week

Jan 5, 2015

Dear Family,

This week was so good!! We did lots of finding activities, aka mostly tracted.. 

I started driving again, because my companions license expires this month, so yay guess who had to drive her second day in a snow storm on the freeway!!!.. this girl.. oh boy we are lucky we are alive! just kidding it actually hasn't been that bad its good practice really because i might have to drive in the city (like toronto) in a few days.. eeek which will be worth it because we get to see Elder Oaks!! and a couple of the seventies will be with him, elder allard, and elder katcher. well. so far we think we get to go .. we qualify but we'll see if not we get to listen to him over the phone which isnt as great but its still pretty cool. .. 

so we found anew investigator this week, her name is crystal! fancy that:) she is a friend of a partmember, this part member is into some pretty bad drugs, and has the terrible habit of smoking, but she is like the best missionary in the world, always bringing her friends to us, crystal seems to be pretty serious about it, she has already given up drugs, and is on a programm to give up every last drop of them, and she is currentyl giving up her oen habit of smoking, last night we met with her, and at times when she didnt seem to be listening she would just blurt out a question that you knew for sure that she was listening. she is the sweetest you can just feel the heavenly father has for her hundred of miles away. I am so excited to work iwth her, she wants to be baptized but we would have to wait until after she finishes her programm, more details to follow later.. 

earl and sharon are still doing great, earl still plans to get baptized in another church, so sad.. but sharon is doing her studies and just loves the stories in the book of Mormon so far, i feel like a little kid opening a present on Christmas morning when we ask what she learned from her studies, she always has really good connections!!

only bummer about this week is we had no church yesterday do to a crazy storm that hit, and all the roads were icy, then in the afternoon they were melted.. it was lame.. and i was sad about ti, sunday just isnt sunday without church!!

well i love you all and will continue to pray for your health!!

something that i have learned this weeks comes from doctrine and covenants 8:2 basically the Holy Ghost Speaks with a voice that you can feel more than you can hear. 

Love sister hadley

Dec 29, 2014

Dear Family,

I am staying in napanee another transfer with my current companion, this will be 6 months together kinda crazy! but its gonna be so fun!

this week we honestly did just a ton of finding, we really need new investigators. 

Earl and Sharon are somewhat progressing, sharon is connecting the dots between the truths and messages we are sharing but Earl isnt, he has decided to be baptized.... but not in our church. it really broke our hearts, and the hardest part is if he was making connections like sharon he would already be baptized. It is his choice, we haven't given up completely we have been really strongly inviting him to do the studies we leave with him, and he finally did one! so not all hope is lost. But sharon said she would be baptized when she receives a confirmation for herself, right now we just got to get her to church, which is difficult because of her heart condition, however not impossible. i love them so much and i just want them to have all of the blessings of the gospel that are possible!!

i saw melanie Saturday, someone i had taught when i was in belleville, and she is doing really well, it will be really hard to leave Canada and to not see her or her family again, i love them too!! i might get to see her one more time since i am staying here this transfer.. we'll see but i am happy for her and the progress she is making, she is such an example of never giving up what you know is right for what someone else thinks is wrong. 

we met with a lot of members this week as well, we also have a few appointments with some less actives that we havent seen the whole we have been here. its gonna be great. 

i am grateful for the members and their help in the work they are so important.

 it was so good to hear from all of you on Wednesday think i gained another 10lbs from that day becuase of all the food that was forced down me :( ....never will i ever force a misisonary to eat my food.. 

also if you havent seen this you should watch it!! i wish i could just meet david archuleta ...sigh

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.youtube.com_embed_PrLoWt2tfqg&d=AwMFaQ&c=82cVa77x-2kAfjYEmhmCyUaMeBJ7fQxZGCLs3MhYKXs&r=RHYJxIuYRHrrHc3utZupXGehSbIDEFNS1TUoU5dC7f4&m=OQhPDcIvACEq2tOa8sxqk_TH-PB5ceN6FevnXmIp10Q&s=-EN__RXNjgsFj8T4HThzC96yS4FOmg6HdMACXsE1mVA&e=

Love sister Hadley

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 22, 2014

This week was amazing!! we had our zone conference on Tuesday and i sang in one of the special musical numbers, we sang oh holy night, that was on my mission bucket list, and i can now check that off!

 then strait to applying those teachings on Wednesday, and Thursday we planned how we could apply those teaching to the week ahead.

Friday we had our branch Christmas party and Saturday we walked all day, tracting out the elect, we found a few and met with this incredible less active/ part member family during the night, i can not wait to see how things go with them, i really do love them already!

 Sunday we had our Christmas program and that was different, instead of having speakers they had everyone read a scripture, and sing hymns in-between, and yes we sang a lot because there's not much to choose from in a branch.. but also our branch gave us this really nice Christmas basket full of food an a couple gifts, when they handed it us it hit me like a ton of bricks that this was my last Christmas in Canada... it was a bitter sweet moment, but i love them everyone of em!this branch is just amazing, each member is SO VERY IMPORTANT!!

i will see you guys in a couple days until then say-la-vee! ...(not sure how to spell that)..

MERYY CHRISTMAS 

Love Sister HAdley

 

 

Dec 15, 2014

Dear Family,

oi! what a week, we found two new investigators this week, and one of them is an artist, so i am just absolutely in love with his home! he is building a kayak right in the middle of his LIVING ROOM!! and he has tons of paintings on his walls, other than his amazing home he is a pretty amazing person. a few months ago, like when we first got here we contacted him on the street gave him a book of Mormon and heard nothing more from him, until one of our investigators, grant, who we are no longer meeting with on a weekly basis referred us to his neighbor the craigs. so we went over and what do ya know?? its the man we met on the street!! he has been reading the book of Mormon and he had a lot of questions, the amazing part is he already received some anti material and strait up told us he had but that he was willing to put that aside and still listen to what we have to say, and that was only the first visit him! we see him again this week. i am so excited!!

i am excited for this week period. mostly because we had a great experience with our branch setting up and spending time speaking to people and singing for people at the Nativity. it was such a great experience to get to know them through sharing with the community the birth of the savior and we had around 28 different cultures expressed through these nativity's it was absolutely incredible. and mom everyone loved the wassil, at one point we ran out so everyone said "sister hadley we need you!!!" and i said "me?" and they "said yes! we need you to make more wassil." i said "i dont know how to do that!", their response was, "its your moms recipe!"

so i went and called the woman that i wrote it down for because she was at home resting from her chemo and i got the recipe and made it but boy oh boy did they ever love that stuff.

this week we have our Christmas zone conference actually tonight we travel into Toronto area which is about a 3 hour drive ya... but itl be worth the drive i love Christmas zone conference!! this is my companions last zone conference and tradition is to have all the missionaries that will leave before the next zone conference to have them bear their testimony about their mission and i love listening to them, there have been a few that have helped me make changes in my mission. i am excited to listen to what she has to say, also my last companion will be doing the same thing, and few other people i know. 

 we have a bunch of appointments set up with members and less active members this week and we have our Christmas dinner party, as to which we have invited the whole community too..not really.. but just about. so we will be really busy constantly learning how to get to know serve with and find through the members of our branch. 

here are some pictures from last week because i forgot my cord last week.

love sister hadley

ps mom i made cinnamon applesauce (definitely not the same as yours) with potatoe pancakes (also not the same as yours) and it was so good, i dont know if  i said but we have been trying to get to know each other so we did our favorite food and this is one of mine!

Nov 24, 2014

Dear Family,

This week felt like a month, but it was good!!! we are also getting ready for another good week. we have exchanges tonight so tomorrow i will  be with sister wan lass and then we will drive into the city tomorrow night for our zone conference on Wednesday and meet my companion and her companion there, then Saturday we have this big relief society activity that we are gonna try to get Sharon to go to.. we'll see.

Jim was confirmed on Sunday.. his wife, sister leavens, wasn't feeling well at all so they did the confirmation in their home so she could be there, it was incredible first they administered the sacrament to her, then the confirmation. with the way she looked Sunday everyone is unsure of how long she has, but we are all praying for incredibly hard. My heart goes out to that family, boy have they been through alot!

well we are still hoping that Sharon and earl will connect the dots as they read the scriptures, we saw them last night and watched the 20 minute restoration video after explaining prophets the second time through, and she said its true but its like something is missing when she says that.. like maybe shes saying it to be said.. i dont know we'll see this week! 

i don't know what else to say because my brain is this muddled mess of memory.. need to get that fixed before i get older.. should be another great week though!!

i love you all so very much, oh and happy thanksgiving to all you americans!

Love Sister Hadley

this blanket is from the harringtons