Monday, June 26, 2017

"We Keep Walking... even in 114 Degree Weather"

Hey everyone!!! So, this week has been interesting I am not going to lie. We have had quite a few interesting experiences I will tell you just some of the crazy stuff that happened and the pictures will probably explain the rest. 

This week started off with me messing my back up. Hna. Starke found a knot in my back the size of a golf ball....so I have been trying to fix that problem.

Then the next day I got stung by a bee and my whole leg went numb, swelled up and turned purple!!! AHHHH, so we went home for a little bit so I could put some frozen veggies on my leg because we didn't have an ice pack.

The NEXT day Hermana Starke stood up after a lesson we had in a park on the grass and totally messed up her ankle.... so, then we went home and she then used the frozen veggies. We should probably buy and Ice Pack. 

But the important thing is that we are both still loving the work!!! Some days it is a little hard but that is when we grow! The mission has been amazing! 

In other news, we got an awesome new investigator this week who is on date for baptism the end of July! She is so cute! She lives next door to a member’s house and she goes over all the time for Family Night and dinner! She is so excited to learn and we are so excited to teach her! Things are going so great with her so I will keep you guys updated on how she is progressing. 

Fun fact: YESTERDAY WAS 114 Degrees!!! I AM GOING TO DIE!!!! You walk outside and the breeze felt like the feeling you get when you open up the oven after it has been preheating!!!! 

To end this little short email for this week I would love to quote Charlie Brown.

"Life isn't meant to be easy, its meant to be lived. Other times happy other times rough, but every up and down you learn lessons that make you strong!" That about sums up this week haha. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? Well I hope you guys have an amazing week and keep smiling because life is amazing and we need to soak up every single moment!!

Love ya,
Hermana Hadley 



Me and my Frozen Veggies



Hermana Starke with her Frozen Veggies



Knowing our challenges the Elder's broke into our house and left...



ICE CREAM!!! They are the best!



Elder Ruiz' Funeral, he goes home this transfer :(



A sketchy Thai resturant we found that ended up being really good!



The Elder's found me an early Birthday Present and I was so excited!  I am going to send them home and watch them probably the first week I get home!



I promise it got up to 114 degrees but I only took the picture when it hit 113 HAHA!




Mom Note/Facebook Post: 

June 2016 while on vacation to Oregon, McKay was insistent that we needed to go into the Portland Temple Visitors Center. Instantly a Sister Missionary came up to her when she walked in and McKay told her she was also going on a mission and where she would be serving.
The Sister Missionary was so excited she quickly grabbed her phone and called Ally Starke and said, "We found your companion!" and handed the phone to McKay.
Ally had just opened her call the night before to the same mission, leaving on the same day to the Mexico City MTC. The girls became friends on Facebook and met for the first time in Mexico.

Fast forward to June 2017 and Hermana Starke and Hadley are finally companions and loving it! This weekend the Hadley Family met the Starke Family for the first time back in the Portland Temple Visitors Center and became instant friends!
And cute Sister Hulet who introduced the girls through a phone call just happened to be at the Visitors Center before she goes home to Arizona in two weeks.

Love the tender mercies from our Heavenly Father that brought our two families together and our two cute Hermana's! 








Hermana Starke and Hermana Hadley have been sharing the gospel and their testimonies through song during appointments and dinners with member's. This is a screen shot from a surprise text/video we recieved from someone in the San Fernando Valley. They were singing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" in Spanish with beautiful harmonies. We were thankful to be able to witness their sweet spirit and voices.










Monday, June 19, 2017

"PetSmart's all over the Valley"

Mom Note: We apologize for the delay of Hermana Hadley's Blog as the Administrator went on a much needed vacation. :)

Hello Everyone!!! So, this weekly email is going to be a little shorter cause I was emailing my family for most of the time! I hope you all had an amazing Father’s Day yesterday! I wanted to say how much I love my Dad and how grateful I am to have such and awesome Dad! This week was filled with a lot of running around! 

This week I went on exchanges in YSA (Young Single Adults) for the day and it was crazy! Their investigator was supposed to get baptized on Saturday and we spent all of Friday and Saturday trying to find her! She was completely MIA. We finally got her mom to answer one of our phone calls and she told us she was working at PetSmart so what did we do.... we drove to every single PetSmart in the San Fernando Valley!!! It was a long stressful morning. Sadly, we weren't able to find her but it just wasn't her time yet. 

I will send a lot of pictures to describe this week but I want you all to know that the mission is seriously the best thing ever and I am so grateful for this amazing time I have to serve our Heavenly Father! Have an awesome week!

Love,
Hermana Hadley 



Fun little story: A lady gave me a piano during Knock Out this week, it doesn't work but hey she really wanted to get rid of it so... I know have a broken keyboard haha



 One of the many PETSMARTS!



Hna. Starke and I



After Church!



SQUAD!!!



We all got locked out of the Church and then the Elder who had the keys threw them to another Elder and they went over the fence... it was an adventure.



Elder Yeck at our Father's Day Party



The Ward Father's Day Party