" Knock" with a steadfastness in Christ

Hello Everybody!!!

Well this week has been busy but that's normal for a mission! I watch as my Spanish and my testimony grow every single day and I can’t imagine how much more I am going to grow throughout the course of my mission!

There have been multiple miracles throughout the week that have shown me that Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives! There are many times where we will be knocking on doors and people are really not the nicest but we keep pushing forward and "knocking" with a steadfastness in Christ and also having faith.

The reason people are so mean to cute little 19 and 20 year old girls is because they see our name tag. Our name tag that represents so much and Satan knows it is true so people are pushed away. My favorite thing that people tell us is "I'm not interested", most of the time they tell that to us without us even getting a word out. People are crazy but I know that some day they will all be very interested.

First off last P-day we went and did some shopping and got everything ready for the week and then played volleyball with the zone! They are so fun to be around and it is awesome to socialize with a ton of other people who are in the exact same boat as you!

In our ward we have a set of Elders that are so fun and especially funny! Their names are Elder Adams and Elder Stolz. We have dinners with them throughout the week if ward council members feed us. During dinner the members, the Elders, Hermana Carlson and I are always laughing the whole time!!! Latinos are the funniest people they are always making little jokes and messing around!

Yesterday during ward council with the bishopric they started off the meeting talking about how many turkeys they are going to have for Thanksgiving. Don’t know why they are planning it now but one of the counselors said last year one of the turkeys flew away. Everyone laughed but because I am with Latinos I am not 100% sure if that was a joke or if a turkey really did fly away last year....

This last Friday we had a meeting for all the new missionaries with the President and it was so awesome!!! I have the best mission presidents ever!! They have such an amazing spirit to them! They talked a lot about having the faith to reap and to really push ourselves to be the best missionary the Lord wants us to be!

Throughout this whole week I have really been able get to know the members a lot more! We have gotten close with the Jovel familia and Hermano Jovel is one of the counselors in the bishopric so we have dinner with them and the Elders at least once a week! This week after the Women’s Conference we all went to In n' Out for dinner!

To end things for this week I will share with you one of the many miracles we had. Yesterday we had a long day of running around going to meetings, having meetings, appointments and also trying to take care of our sickly Elders and it got to the end of the day and we had one more appointment with someone we had contacted who was kind of interested but we were not sure.

We were so tired and had not had a break all day so we were ready to go home. We tried to call our appointment and they didn't answer so we were very tempted to simply go home but we had diligence and went to this person’s house. Lets just say it resulted in... A NEW INVESTIGATOR, and even better last night at the end of our lesson he committed to baptism! This week we will be figuring out a date that will work best!

I love this work, I love this gospel, and I have the greatest love for this special calling that I have to bring others unto Christ and to teach them about something that could change their life forever!! Go and Do!! Until next time… Adios Amigos!!

- Hermana Hadley

We got Heart Attacked by our Sister Training Leaders and our Zone Leaders

Hermana Carlson and I at Noche de Hispanidad last week

Our really nice car :)

That is a bowl of bananas they gave us at our Noche de Hispanidad Stake Party last week that they claimed were from Dominican Republic, look familiar Dad? It was actually pretty good. 

God Bless America

I am HERE in San Fernando!!! I love this place so so much already and I have only been in California for 5 days! First lets start off by telling about my crazy trip out of Mexico! Alright we got up at 2:30am got to reception (gathering place at the CCM) at 3 on a bus by 4 on a plane by 6:10, so that was kind of a crazy morning.

I had a layover in San Francisco that was a blessing.  I ate a hamburger and I don’t remember hamburgers ever tasting that good!!! I was also able to have the opportunity to talk to my family on the phone for a short period of time! I loved being able to talk to them and hear their voices!

We got on our plane to go to Burbank and then the plane took off an hour and a half late, so we were a little late finally getting to Burbank.  I got off the plane and this amazing feeling of peace came over me, I felt home. Right then in that moment I knew this was MY mission and I was ready to get to work.

The AP’s took us to the stake center where transfers were happening and one of the first people to greet me was none other than Elder Colby Martin!!!!  For those who don't know who that is, he is my neighbor from home and we have grown up in the same ward! It was so nice to see a friendly face! I met with President Henrie and then it got pretty crazy after that and I met my companion Hermana Carlson!! She is amazing and we get along so well! We also have a lot of the same friends from Clinton including Brookelyn Smith!!! We found out we were opening a new area (white washing) so we did not know anyone and we also have a pretty great car so that is nice!

Ok so I will share some of the highlights from this week! Currently our main investigator is a lady who is so solid! She has so much faith and believes everything that the missionaries have taught her.  She just won’t commit to a baptism date so I will let you know when that happens!

We have been getting to know the ward and our area! The ward members are awesome they feed us a lot!!! They feed us lunch and dinner almost everyday and the amount of food they give us is nuts... and they dish it up for you and then you have to eat all of it!!! 

Two times this week Hermana Carlson and I went to go find a referral and ended up finding other people instead. One of them was the Crossing Guard who is a cute little old man who said he knew someone special was going to stop by and so we taught him about the Restoration and he loved it! So we are working on finding a time to teach him!

Also this was the amazing miracle of this week. We were walking by a retirement home and went and said hi to a lady who was so emotional to see us. She had been praying for someone that was teaching truth for a while and she knew it was us. We sat and talked to her for a long time and she wanted to pray with us and then we put her on date for baptism, yup she is getting baptized in a few weeks. The only sad part is the English missionaries have to teacher her so we had to hand her off.

Our ward is awesome, there was a huge party that all of them had a few days ago called Noche de Hispanidad.  So basically it was crazy with a ton of music and dancing and food! I really got a feel for the culture at that party and went home with a headache.  But one of those good headaches!

The ward has not had a piano player so I am the only piano player in like a 20 mile radius... Haha. The people in the ward have been singing the hymns without music or off their phones. How terrible is that? So when I played the piano, let alone the organ, it was very new for them and I looked at the congregation and they started to get emotional. All of them were really caught off guard to hear music during sacrament meeting. So my eternal calling on this mission is to play the piano. Anyone who is reading this who doesn't like taking piano lessons... Do it!!!! It will bless your life and everyone around you!

All right one really fast funny story, there have been a ton but this is my favorite.  Hermana Carlson and I woke up on our first day and did our morning exercises and I was about to get in the shower when we realized that it was 4:30 in the morning! What happened with the alarm? We don’t know but we went back to bed and woke up a few hours later.

We are having so much fun and I love it here so much! I love the people and I am loving Spanish, it is hard to speak sometimes but I have gotten to the point that if the people are not speaking really fast I can understand them all! I know I am where I need to be!!! 

Love you guys a ton!!!

-Hermana Hadley

President and Sister Henrie with McKay September 13, 2016

23 New Missionaries to CASF Mission

McKay and Hermana Carlson

Meeting President and Sister Henrie

Loading up for Transfers

President and Sister Henrie along with President Nelson 

with the Missionaries from the Mexico City CCM

Surprise!!!

Hola!!! I was given a little time to email today before I leave the MTC in the middle of the night haha! So I thought I would share a quick email on how my last few days at the MTC have been. For the most part I have really felt myself progress!!!! There are times where I feel completely not ready to go out in the field yet but I don’t think you are ever ready. 

Thursday this week we did TRC where we taught volunteers. I taught with Hermana Woodyatt and it was so amazing!!! The first lady we taught was not a member of the church. Her husband has been a member his whole life but she grew up catholic. We talked about the importance of church attendance and it was amazing. Hermana Woodyatt and I had all the words we needed. The lady had explained to us that she had gone to church multiple times and we asked her how the church made her feel and she continued to cry as she bore her simple and sweet testimony to us. I was touched so much. It was amazing that she felt the spirit so strong!!!!

We finished the lesson and had to go teach someone else but Hermana Woodyatt and I are still kicking ourselves that we didn’t invite her to baptism!!!! AHHH Anyways I am sure I will have more opportunities to do that but it is still hard that we didn’t just do it right then and there. 

This week has been filled with orientations on what to do when you get to the field and trying to figure out how to fit all of my stuff in suitcases and all of them fitting under the weight limit!!! The struggle is real!

Yesterday we had an amazing live devotional from the Provo MTC that we were able to participate in. I love when we get the opportunity here to listen to one of God’s prophets. I have had the chance to listen 3 times to the prophets live now and it has been amazing every time!!!

Last night was Elder M. Russell Ballard he talked to us about how important this mission is and how we need to recognize the real reason we are here and not only recognize it but make sure it is in our hearts not just our head. He was so inspired to say the things he did because it really hit home for me. I have the biggest testimony of living prophets and I know that they are called and inspired by God. Elder M. Russell Ballard knew exactly what I, and a lot of other missionaries, needed to hear! And the closing song was “I'll go where you want me to go” and I totally lost it!!! I had kept it together the whole meeting and right when that happened it was like someone turned on the water faucet.

Anyways, to finish things up this whole experience at the CCM has been... well not what I expected. But it has been so incredible! I have seen the gift of tongues and I have witnessed the hand of God in everything I do. This place may make everyone really sick sometimes but, I have never felt the spirit so constantly. The spirit is always present here and I know that this place it where I have needed to be.

I am so grateful for the district I was blessed with and for the experiences I have had here. With that being said I have never been more excited to go back to the States, for two reasons, one I miss America haha, and second I am so excited to get to work!! I can’t wait to email next week about my new adventures to come!! Love you all and wish me luck with the crazy traveling in a few hours!!! 

Hermana Hadley

We got our going away stickers, we were very proud

The Hermana's in my Zone

Hermana Murdock from Kaysville!! 

We went to high school together.

My District with our teachers Hermana Macies and Hermano Ortiz

 

Funny District Picture

My Zone with my Branch Presidency in the middle

Where's Waldo....I mean Elder Poll

Well I am almost done with my lovely adventures here at the CCM!!! YAY!!!! I am so excited to be able to finally go and start the real work in under a week! This week has gone by so fast because I think I am starting to loose myself in the work! It is so great to see the hand of Heavenly Father in my life every minute of my day! This week has seriously been a spiritual boost.

One of my favorite days this week was Sunday!! It was fast and testimony meeting and so many people shared their testimonies! They also had our district do a musical number where we sang “Nearer my God to Thee” or Más cerca, Dios, de Ti and we even sang with harmonies. I was really impressed with my district because it really invited the spirit and we sounded amazing!

Every week we do service and each week our district gets assigned to fold sheets. Lets just say I have become a pro at folding fitted sheets!! I've decided that that is my calling in life. Maybe not because the Latin’s kept having to reteach me but I think I finally got it down!

It is awesome to be able to speak to all the workers in Spanish here! It is a blessing because some of them know a little English so they can help you if you forget a word or something.

Speaking of the Spanish language, I know that the gift of tongues is real! I testify that the Holy Ghost is always there and when you are teaching with the spirit that is the only thing you need and he will help you find the words that are needed to teach what needs to be taught!

So this week my mom gave me a task to find an Elder Poll... now I had no idea who this person was and all I knew was that we were somehow related. My wonderful but sometimes crazy mom went to his house the night before he came to the CCM and gave him a few things to give to me. It was a struggle to try to find one missionary in the whole CCM! I kept my eye out for him and so did the rest of my district.

One day at breakfast there were some Elders walking around and talking to all the sisters. They come up to us and asked us what our names were. I turned around and there was Elder Poll!! He had been so persistent and told me that he went up to every brown haired Hermana he could find and asked what their names were until he found me!!!

Long story short it was very hard to find a time when I could actually get my stuff from him and my whole district teased me because they thought I made this guy up. I finally was able to find him again and now I see him many times a day and I even sat with him during a devotional and now we are really good buddies. 

Last thing that happened this week was my Zone Leader came and asked me if I could learn a song on the piano for him to sing to for one of the Sunday devotionals. I said yes and had only a few days to learn a hard piece before he had to audition! This guy is so amazing; he is going into vocal performance at BYU so he is kinda pretty good.

I was able to finally get a handle on the piece and at the last minute decided to audition myself.... haha.  Well anyways, yesterday (Tuesday) was auditions and we got informed last night that I will be accompanying Elder Reid and also doing my musical number of, “The Lord Is My Shepherd” that I did at my farewell. This is an amazing opportunity and I am so excited! 

This week has been amazing filled with wonderful talks, lessons, and personal growth. Tuesday’s are devotional days and so we were able to participate in a live devotional from the MTC in Provo and listen to Elder D. Todd Christofferson. He gave us a beautiful lesson on the importance of teaching repentance and how we can gain a greater relationship and appreciation for our Savior and Redeemer!!

Loving the work!! Don't know if I will be able to email next week because my P-days will be moved to Monday's when I get out into the field!!

Love you all!!!

Hermana Hadley

Elder Poll and I

-Mom Insert for Future Family History Purposes and McKay-

Night before Elder Poll left for Mexico CCM with my cute cousins Scott & Jane Woodbury and Jeni Woodbury Poll.  Such a fun night of surprises in South Ogden!!!

The challenge of packing in a small room

Hermana Dunn and I

Some peanut butter we found in a tree in the Arboleda.....