Tuesday, December 27, 2016

All You Need is a Dancing Snoopy

CHRISTMAS was amazing!!! It was such a great week! First I need to send out a huge Thank You to all my family and friends for all the letters and gifts! I felt so loved and so spoiled this Christmas!  Christmas is so different in the mission but it is for sure something special! I am so grateful that I was able to spend my Christmas celebrating Christ's birth and talking with my amazing family!

We had a great Christmas Devotional as a mission. It started out with a ton of traffic because there were so many accidents and a lot of rain so driving was a little hard. It took some people 2 hours to get to the church house! We had hot chocolate and cookies as we waited and then we sang Christmas songs for a while. We had a very funny performance done by the AP's, my Zone Leaders, and Elder Hatfield and Myers. Elder Hatfield and Myers rewrote the words to "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" and then also “The 12 days of Christmas”. It had everyone laughing and they were really proud of themselves. We ended the night with a spiritual message from President Henrie and some musical numbers. I played my favorite version of “Silent Night” for the program and the Spirit was so strong that night!

Christmas Eve was spent with another road trip with the Elders. I had made a ton of Christmas cookies for us to go and take to people in our branch with little Christmas tags! The members loved it! We then went to the Henao’s for a Christmas Eve party. Latinos celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and they open up all their gifts at midnight, I don't know why but we went and had an awesome time at their party.

When we first got there Hermano Henao wasn't there and when a male is not in the house the Elder’s cannot go in. It was cold outside so the Elders had to get a little creative, I will send a picture.

We spent the rest of the night there and read the Christmas story of Christ's birth from the Bible in Spanish with their family. It was an awesome night! It was different not being able to do my families normal tradition of eating Chinese takeout and watching “A Christmas Story”, but I was able to focus on the real reason of Christmas. 

Christmas morning was great! We opened all of our gifts and listened to Christmas music! Me being me started freaking out like a 5 year old when I opened my last gift from my parents. It was a dancing snoopy doll. I was so happy and so excited I pushed the button over and over again as I watched it dance back and forth. Then at the bottom of the box was a cute book my mom had made of pictures of my family and I got so emotional it was a crazy little roller coaster but it was so amazing!

I made french toast for our Christmas breakfast as I wore my new missionary apron and we had our mission nurse over for Breakfast. We went to church where we did a musical number as missionaries and we sang “Away in a Manger” in Spanish. Church of course started 25 minutes late because they all run on Latino time but it was a very great sacrament meeting.

We went over to the Allen's to Skype our families! It was such a special moment to see and talk with my family! Then the Allen's gave me a gift and it was ANOTHER dancing snoopy but it was a Mexican one that danced to Feliz Navidad!!! Now I have TWO dancing snoopy’s!!!! 

Defiantly one of the best days ever! It’s been a great Christmas and we have already seen so many miracles this week with 3 new investigators!!! I am so happy I am here as a missionary of our Heavenly Father. Have an amazing New Year everyone. Set goals and make plans! It works:) Love ya!

-Hermana Hadley


PS Hermana Johnson had Elder Hatfield cut her hair... it was adventure




Valencia Zone at the Christmas Devotional Party



Singing and waiting for other missionaries to arrive with Sister Parker from Hawaii, 
Hermana Robertson and me.



Elder Cardinal from Canada, had a pretty festive suit



CASF Mission Christmas Devotional



The AP's, my Zone Leaders and Elder Hatfield and Myers 
at the Christmas Devotional



Some more entertainment from the Devotional



Elder Hatfield and Myers not placing a foot in the door at the Henao's 
until Hermano Henao arrived Christmas Eve



The Six Spanish Missionaries in the Santa Clarita Valley
 on Christmas Eve at the Henao's



Our Christmas Tree with gifts for the four Hermana's



I was really excited about this Snoopy!



Cooking Christmas Breakfast with Hermana Johnson



Christmas Breakfast with Sister Ferrimond, our mission nurse.



Snoopy Number #2 from the Allen's, Spanish Snoopy! 
Feliz Navidad!



Elder Hatfield cutting Hermana Johnson's hair



You can see the stress on my face



Feeling more pleased with our work



Finished Product




Monday, December 19, 2016

Temple Trip and Santa's Elves

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope you are all enjoying the holidays! This week has been awesome getting ready for the Christmas Season! It still doesn't really feel like Christmas here because there is not any snow but we have covered our apartment with paper snowflakes so it looks like a winter wonderland! This week has been a little slow as far a missionary work goes because I managed to get my companion sick as well so we worked as much as we could without pushing it. But we are feeling better now so that is good! 

My highlight of the week was going to the temple!!!!! It was so beautiful and perfect! I have missed being able to go to the temple whenever I want and it was such a blessing to be able to go and sit in the temple feeling that special peace and spirit! I have gained a testimony of the amazing blessings and miracles that come from the temple. The LA temple is so pretty and very big! The sweet Allen family drove us and it was awesome to see so many missionaries all gathered together to go inside. I felt so blessed that day!

The other part of my week has been working with our Relief Society President on wrapping gifts that have been donated to families in our branch who can't afford Christmas this year. It has been so exciting putting it together and then going with other missionaries to carol while delivering the gifts to these cute families! I loved being one of Santa's Elves!

I have really recognized the true meaning of Christmas this season and focusing outward and not inward. I know that as we work to being more Christ like around this Christmas season we will see the amazing blessings that come from improving ourselves and serving others! I hope you all have a great Christmas and to always remember CHRIST!! Love you all and may all your Christmases be bright! 

-Hermana Hadley

PS I am still finding cactus needles everywhere. It’s become a game! 😂 





Hermana Robertson and I at the LA Temple



Brother and Sister Allen who took us to the temple 
with our mission for Christmas!  Love them so much!!!



Los Angeles Temple



A family from the Phillipines and their daughter leaving on her mission to 
Honolulu, Hawaii Korean Speaking leaving January 18th



Missionary Christmas Elves!



Gifts to be delivered to homes of needy families