Hermana McKay Hadley: When Love was Born

What an awesome week! I have a new companion Hermana Robertson from Herriman, Utah and she is so great!!! We get along so well and we are instant friends! This is her last transfer and so I get to have the wonderful opportunity of killing her haha (Definition of Killing in the Mission Field- last companion before going home).

We have seen so many miracles already from our companionship. Our very first day together we did "knock out" and EVERY door we knocked that day we got a return appointment! That is so crazy and that never happens!! We have a ton of work now because of that knockout and we are so excited! That day we were in charge of taking care of the sisters that were going home so that meant we had 10 sisters in one apartment! Let’s just say getting ready in the morning was crazy especially because 6 of them were going home that day and they all had to look perfect, it was really exciting.

The rest of the week has been filled with a ton of Christmas craziness but it has been fun. Saturday was nuts! We went to the English ward's Christmas Breakfast on Saturday then over to set up chairs for a Christmas program. After we had Branch soccer then that night we had our Branch Christmas party that was an experience all on its own. Latinos do Christmas differently and we found out they were "partying" at the church until almost midnight... they are crazy. We had a few of our investigators go so that was good and they really enjoyed it!

So this week I got the flu/cold so that’s been exciting. On Saturday my companion and I were laughing because it really was not my best day and I wasn't feeling good but we had a lot to do and people to visit so I pushed through.

What happened was we visited a family whose cat jumped on me and so I was having and allergy attack with my eyes swelling up on top of being sick and then I ran into a cactus... yup.... I had a ton of needles in my sweater, arm, and fingers. Some of them are still there. But through it all I was just laughing and so was my companion. I was a mess but I was having the best time because it was a very funny situation to be in. It couldn’t get any worse and you just have to laugh.

Sunday was my favorite day in the mission so far. We were able to help out with an amazing program that our stake puts together every year. Richard Rich is in the English ward and arranged, composed, and directed the whole thing. He is very famous from being the director of Disney's "The Fox and the Hound", "The Swan Princess" and "The Black Cauldron". He now is the owner of Rich Animation Studios.

We as missionaries have been helping with this for a few weeks and it has been amazing to see it all get put together. They took out some of the pews in the chapel for a huge orchestra and a 120 voice choir and children’s choir. It was one of the most spiritual and well done Christmas concerts I have ever seen.

It was called "When Love was Born" and we had Kirby Heyborne, who is also in the English ward, narrating the concert. He is the actor in “The Best Two Years” and “The RM”. We are around a lot of famous people here because we are so close to LA and many people work in the filming industry.

It really was amazing to feel of the Spirit. My favorite Christmas song is “Still, Still, Still”. As they sang that song it was nice to reflect on that still moment of the day of Christ's birth where He was lying in a manger, still as could be, and being welcomed into the world that His hands had made. I am so grateful for Christmas time and for my Savior! I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Hadley

Sister Anna Hoffman (Portland, Oregon Mission), Hermana McKay Hadley (San Fernando Mission), and Sister Emily Hoffman (San Fernando Mission).

These two were some of the departing missionaries. My mom was roommates in college with their mom and my dad grew up in Bountiful with their dad Mike Hoffman. Anna was able to come down here to San Fernando and they were able to finish their last day of being missionaries together as each others companions. So sweet!