Dear Family,
What a crazy week. I was sick... again? Still? (I don't know which is better to say. Both are true... )
So here's what went down:
1. I got transferred to N Anc in the Campbell Park Ward with Sister Hewitt and Sister Bullen, It's been kinda weird adjustment, but it's been good. We put Dean, our gator, on date to be baptized on the 20th of this month! Woooohoooo! He's so excited and just ready.
2. I got another priesthood blessing from Elder Van Bibber on Monday. This was my 3rd and was great. He told me that it was the strongest he's even felt the Spirit while giving a blessing. Cool huh? Sometimes, I think that the blessings I get are more for the people who give them that they are for me. Which is awesome! :) I have been blessed to receive quite a few blessings on my mission and I am SO grateful to be surrounded by so many wonderful, worthy Priesthood holders. I love my life. Although, I do miss getting blessings from my dad :)
3. KYLIE GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!! I swear, the baptisms get more and more exciting every time I have one. The Spirit was SOOOOOO strong throughout the entire service and especially when she bore her testimony. She was so ready and prepared for the gospel, more than almost anyone else I've seen or taught on my mission so far. Heavenly Father really does prepare His children to hear and accept His gospel. I cried during her entire baptism, especially when she did our sign-language inside joke while bearing her testimony. It touched my heart so much. I just love her. I KNOW she is going to do great things. Probably even serve a mission ;)
4. I was super sick on the 4th so we stayed inside pretty much all day. We did make it to 1 BBQ for dinner. I didn't eat much, but it sure was nice to get out and see people. I love talking to people and just getting to know them. IT makes my day :)
So this last week I've been thinking a lot about how much my mission has changed me. Sometimes I worry that I'm exactly the same as I was a year ago, and that scared the freaking crap out of me. But then, I think about all the things I've been through, all the people I've met, all the scary experiences I've had , and all the things that I love about doing what I do... and then I think... there is no WAY, I'm the same person I used to be. I think differently, I see the world and people differently, I see myself in a VERY different light, and I have a much more positive view of this life and the future ahead of me. I have focus. I have direction. And ALL of this has come from the gospel. From learning to rely on Heavenly Father and on the atonement of the SAvior. I couldn't do any of this without either of them. So I am changed. And it has all been for the better.
Here is one of my favorite mission quotes, "The most important thing, is to keep the most important thing, is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing". Remember that. Live by it. It's true. Keep the gospel the most important thing in your life and you WILL be blessed. :)
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Craziest "No-stress" Week EVER {7/01/13}
Dear family,
Holy crap this week was nuts. Lots of good things happened, but also some really unexpected things. So... here goes.
1. I got to proselyte and be a missionary about 55% of the week, which was AMAZING. I missed teaching so much. Also, I'm a total extrovert, so when I'm not around a lot of people I start to get sad. Anyways...
2 Kylie is getting baptized this week!!!! I'm so excited and happy for her. She's progressed so well - everyone in the ward thought she was already a member! :) I've been so blessed to have been able to teach her and help her to learn more about herself and to help her find peace and hope in this crazy crazy world we live in.
3. I was on 3 different exchanges this week with 4 different companions. I ended up staying with Sister Bullen in the Campbell Park ward (in North Anc) yesterday and it was really fun. Here's the best part...So, I had another random person I've met on my mission get stuck in my thought quite a bit the last 2 weeks - Kat Boykin. She was baptized in March and was taught by the APs (my best friends, who were in my district) so I'd heard a lot about her! I instantly LOVED her the second I met her. I heard a couple of weeks ago from her good friend that she was moving back down south because she lost her job, which broke my heart. So yesterday, when I walked into the Campbell Park ward, I saw her sitting on the stand and instantly got really excited! I went up and talked to her for about 10 minutes before Sacrament meeting started and we had such a good conversation. I told her that she HAS to come back up to AK so that she can go through the temple here. She thought about it for a second then said, "You're SO right! This is my temple! I can't go through anywhere else!!!" It was adorable. It was so good to talk to her. {VAUGHN- she says that she LOVES your music and that she LOVE LOVE LOVED our song together. She also said when I get home we need to be serious about our music and recording stuff together :) I told her you said no! Oh, she also said that I'm supposed to give you and Alex realllllyyyyy big hugs for her when I get home, so be ready for that you two!} Basically this was just one of those experiences where I KNEW without a doubt that Heavenly Father is SO aware of ALL of his children and that HE is in the details of our lives.
4. I'm getting transferred.... President called this morning and asked me if I would go and help out some sisters in the Campbell Park Ward who are kind of struggling. So, of course I said yes, but I am quite sad to leave Cook Inlet and Sister Grayson and Sister Hallmark. All things are for a reason though, so I know this is what needs to happen for these next few weeks.
5. I've been out for a year... that's weird. I've changed a LOT in the last year and looking back, I feel like I am not even close to being the same person I was before my mission. And that's a good thing! I'm grateful for the opportunity to have served and I've already seen SOOOOO many blessing from serving that I can't imagine what other amazing things are going to come. I can't wait to keep working hard these last 4.5 months :)
There are a LOT more things I can write about, but I'm running out of time.. like always, I love you ALL and hope everything is great wherever you are. Just remember, you are LOVED SO much by the most High Being in the UNIVERSE!!! Is there anything better than that????? Nope :) There's not.
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Holy crap this week was nuts. Lots of good things happened, but also some really unexpected things. So... here goes.
1. I got to proselyte and be a missionary about 55% of the week, which was AMAZING. I missed teaching so much. Also, I'm a total extrovert, so when I'm not around a lot of people I start to get sad. Anyways...
2 Kylie is getting baptized this week!!!! I'm so excited and happy for her. She's progressed so well - everyone in the ward thought she was already a member! :) I've been so blessed to have been able to teach her and help her to learn more about herself and to help her find peace and hope in this crazy crazy world we live in.
3. I was on 3 different exchanges this week with 4 different companions. I ended up staying with Sister Bullen in the Campbell Park ward (in North Anc) yesterday and it was really fun. Here's the best part...So, I had another random person I've met on my mission get stuck in my thought quite a bit the last 2 weeks - Kat Boykin. She was baptized in March and was taught by the APs (my best friends, who were in my district) so I'd heard a lot about her! I instantly LOVED her the second I met her. I heard a couple of weeks ago from her good friend that she was moving back down south because she lost her job, which broke my heart. So yesterday, when I walked into the Campbell Park ward, I saw her sitting on the stand and instantly got really excited! I went up and talked to her for about 10 minutes before Sacrament meeting started and we had such a good conversation. I told her that she HAS to come back up to AK so that she can go through the temple here. She thought about it for a second then said, "You're SO right! This is my temple! I can't go through anywhere else!!!" It was adorable. It was so good to talk to her. {VAUGHN- she says that she LOVES your music and that she LOVE LOVE LOVED our song together. She also said when I get home we need to be serious about our music and recording stuff together :) I told her you said no! Oh, she also said that I'm supposed to give you and Alex realllllyyyyy big hugs for her when I get home, so be ready for that you two!} Basically this was just one of those experiences where I KNEW without a doubt that Heavenly Father is SO aware of ALL of his children and that HE is in the details of our lives.
4. I'm getting transferred.... President called this morning and asked me if I would go and help out some sisters in the Campbell Park Ward who are kind of struggling. So, of course I said yes, but I am quite sad to leave Cook Inlet and Sister Grayson and Sister Hallmark. All things are for a reason though, so I know this is what needs to happen for these next few weeks.
5. I've been out for a year... that's weird. I've changed a LOT in the last year and looking back, I feel like I am not even close to being the same person I was before my mission. And that's a good thing! I'm grateful for the opportunity to have served and I've already seen SOOOOO many blessing from serving that I can't imagine what other amazing things are going to come. I can't wait to keep working hard these last 4.5 months :)
There are a LOT more things I can write about, but I'm running out of time.. like always, I love you ALL and hope everything is great wherever you are. Just remember, you are LOVED SO much by the most High Being in the UNIVERSE!!! Is there anything better than that????? Nope :) There's not.
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Just another week at the mission home! {6/24/13}
Dear Fam,
So... this week was rough. I was SUPER sick, again. So I spent the entire week at the mission home. That's right, no proselyting or teaching for a full 7 days. It was so sad! I really learned how much I love being a missionary and seeing the gospel change people's lives. I missed it so much, but am so grateful that Sister Grayson and Sister Hallmark are willing to work so hard even when I'm not around. Most of my days this week were spent just helping Sister Beesley with random projects around the mission home and at the office and helping other missionaries. BUT, I did have some really fun things happen this week too!
1. We had another Sisters Sleepover aka "Training" on Friday night! We all trained on different subjects and learned a lot about each other and about some really important women in the Gospel {Ruth & Esther}. I also happened to find some really awesome footie pajamas in the Elder's Closet {giveaway room} and totally rocked them the rest of the night. President got a good chuckle when I came upstairs for "Story Time with President" in them. Pres then had us act out the story of Goldie Locks and the 3 bears... only he added quite a few twists. I was Goldie, and I couldn't eat the porridge because of my "internal stomach issues". Haha it was hilarious. Some of the sisters got it on video so hopefully I can find a way to get it to ya'll. Later that night, I may or may not have gotten a little bit crazy and "steam-rolled" Sister Grayson which backfired and resulted in her knee-ing me in the face. Haha! Oh, the things that happen on the mission. So, in the morning, Pres made us his famous pancakes in whatever shape we wanted. I got an elephant last time {my fave animal} so I asked for a duck {my second fave animal} this time. He certainly didn't disappoint. I love that guy!
2. The missionary broadcast!!!!!! Who watched it??? I hope you all did. It was incredible to watch and to hear about all the changes in missionary work. Sadly, I think I'll be home before they really take effect here in AK, but it will be neat to hear all about how it comes about. I hope you all are motivated to do more missionary work and helping others to learn more about the Savior :)
3. Yesterday.... we picked wildflowers on our lunch break. Twas magical!
Well, I love you all and hope that all is well in whatever neck of the woods you are in. Hope ya'll have a great week and enjoy the last week of June!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
So... this week was rough. I was SUPER sick, again. So I spent the entire week at the mission home. That's right, no proselyting or teaching for a full 7 days. It was so sad! I really learned how much I love being a missionary and seeing the gospel change people's lives. I missed it so much, but am so grateful that Sister Grayson and Sister Hallmark are willing to work so hard even when I'm not around. Most of my days this week were spent just helping Sister Beesley with random projects around the mission home and at the office and helping other missionaries. BUT, I did have some really fun things happen this week too!
1. We had another Sisters Sleepover aka "Training" on Friday night! We all trained on different subjects and learned a lot about each other and about some really important women in the Gospel {Ruth & Esther}. I also happened to find some really awesome footie pajamas in the Elder's Closet {giveaway room} and totally rocked them the rest of the night. President got a good chuckle when I came upstairs for "Story Time with President" in them. Pres then had us act out the story of Goldie Locks and the 3 bears... only he added quite a few twists. I was Goldie, and I couldn't eat the porridge because of my "internal stomach issues". Haha it was hilarious. Some of the sisters got it on video so hopefully I can find a way to get it to ya'll. Later that night, I may or may not have gotten a little bit crazy and "steam-rolled" Sister Grayson which backfired and resulted in her knee-ing me in the face. Haha! Oh, the things that happen on the mission. So, in the morning, Pres made us his famous pancakes in whatever shape we wanted. I got an elephant last time {my fave animal} so I asked for a duck {my second fave animal} this time. He certainly didn't disappoint. I love that guy!
2. The missionary broadcast!!!!!! Who watched it??? I hope you all did. It was incredible to watch and to hear about all the changes in missionary work. Sadly, I think I'll be home before they really take effect here in AK, but it will be neat to hear all about how it comes about. I hope you all are motivated to do more missionary work and helping others to learn more about the Savior :)
3. Yesterday.... we picked wildflowers on our lunch break. Twas magical!
Well, I love you all and hope that all is well in whatever neck of the woods you are in. Hope ya'll have a great week and enjoy the last week of June!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
"I Wear My Sunglasses At Night" {6/10/13}
Dear Fam,
True story... I wear my sunglasses at night... Last night we were at the mission home until about 11, and when we left to drive home we had to wear our sunglasses. Only in Alaska!! :)
Last pday we went on a long bike ride with most of the elders in our zone. It was SUPER fun. :) we took the "coastal trail" at a park so we had an ocean view the entire time. Oh, and there was a moose... on the trail... right next to us. A BULL moose. It was intense. Haha we went about 5 miles and it was a blast. Today we're just getting ready for transfers tomorrow and gonna try and soak up some sun :) 70s is TOTAL heat wave. I've been sweating like crazy! I forgot how to dress for summer weather. It's throwing me off. Haha isn't that sad?!?!?
Our week was really interesting. We went on exchanges last week and I was working up in N. Anc. I used to teach a gator up there (Stacey the pentacostal) but I couldn't remember where she lives, well at least how to get there. I kept feeling all week that I needed to see her, but I had no way to contact her, so I just prayed and told Sis Burbank (my temp comp for the exchange) that I really wanted to try and find her apt building if we could. She said if we found it that we could stop by. Then, we were in the middle of teaching a lesson to their gator Sharon, and there was a knock on her door. Sharon said that it was her cousin and that she'd get rid of her. When I looked up to see her cousin, I saw Stacey!!!!! I jumped out of the couch and ran and hugged her. Stacey said, "Oh it's my baby girl!!!!!!!!". It was very exciting moment and one that I will never forget. It's amazing how much Heavenly Father is aware of all of His children and helps them. Stacey got married this week and Pres gave us permission to go to the reception. When we got there Stacey hopped right up from her dinner and took my hand and introduced me to her entire family! It was such an amazing experience. :) I miss her and really hope one day she will accept the gospel in her life.
We are still teaching Kylie and she is doing SO good. Progressing really well and quickly-it definitely helps that her mom is a member. I love her so much and we always have such a good time in our lessons. She learns so quickly, I'm always just so impressed by her.
Siva got baptized this week! She ended up getting baptized on Friday instead of Saturday, which threw us for a bit of a loop, but it all worked out. Her good friend, Donald (recently returning member we've been working with) baptized her. It was such an amazing experience that I was so grateful to be a part of :) Sister G and I sang our song, Thou Art My Sunshine and it really brought in the Spirit. It was a really wonderful day.
Things are really starting to pick up pace here in YSA which is fun! I love being busy and having lots of appointments and people to teach :)
So.... transfer news... Sister G and I are both staying in YSA and will be training a new sister! We don't know yet, but we're excited. Sister Beesley and I were talking yesterday and she said that the Lord wants me to have this next transfer to rest and to heal (they also consulted with some docs, not just the Lord) before I am needed to do something else :) so that's what's happening here.
Music: I don't know if I've ever said anything about what we do with all our recorded music! In our mission we have AAM cds. So any and all missionaries who would like to write music or sing hymns or whatever can do it and they compile them all onto CDS for us to encourage missionaries to listen to approved music. We recorded 3 or 4 songs last week. As soon as I get some time, I'll make a CD of all the stuff I've recorded (I think I'm up to 15 songs?) I'll send it to you if you'd like :)
Well, that's about all that's new here! I'm excited to start this transfer and am trying really hard not to think about the fact that it's my 1 year mark this month. Where the heck does all the time go?? Keep being the wonderful family and friends that you are. Have a great week ya'll!!!!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
True story... I wear my sunglasses at night... Last night we were at the mission home until about 11, and when we left to drive home we had to wear our sunglasses. Only in Alaska!! :)
Last pday we went on a long bike ride with most of the elders in our zone. It was SUPER fun. :) we took the "coastal trail" at a park so we had an ocean view the entire time. Oh, and there was a moose... on the trail... right next to us. A BULL moose. It was intense. Haha we went about 5 miles and it was a blast. Today we're just getting ready for transfers tomorrow and gonna try and soak up some sun :) 70s is TOTAL heat wave. I've been sweating like crazy! I forgot how to dress for summer weather. It's throwing me off. Haha isn't that sad?!?!?
Our week was really interesting. We went on exchanges last week and I was working up in N. Anc. I used to teach a gator up there (Stacey the pentacostal) but I couldn't remember where she lives, well at least how to get there. I kept feeling all week that I needed to see her, but I had no way to contact her, so I just prayed and told Sis Burbank (my temp comp for the exchange) that I really wanted to try and find her apt building if we could. She said if we found it that we could stop by. Then, we were in the middle of teaching a lesson to their gator Sharon, and there was a knock on her door. Sharon said that it was her cousin and that she'd get rid of her. When I looked up to see her cousin, I saw Stacey!!!!! I jumped out of the couch and ran and hugged her. Stacey said, "Oh it's my baby girl!!!!!!!!". It was very exciting moment and one that I will never forget. It's amazing how much Heavenly Father is aware of all of His children and helps them. Stacey got married this week and Pres gave us permission to go to the reception. When we got there Stacey hopped right up from her dinner and took my hand and introduced me to her entire family! It was such an amazing experience. :) I miss her and really hope one day she will accept the gospel in her life.
We are still teaching Kylie and she is doing SO good. Progressing really well and quickly-it definitely helps that her mom is a member. I love her so much and we always have such a good time in our lessons. She learns so quickly, I'm always just so impressed by her.
Siva got baptized this week! She ended up getting baptized on Friday instead of Saturday, which threw us for a bit of a loop, but it all worked out. Her good friend, Donald (recently returning member we've been working with) baptized her. It was such an amazing experience that I was so grateful to be a part of :) Sister G and I sang our song, Thou Art My Sunshine and it really brought in the Spirit. It was a really wonderful day.
Things are really starting to pick up pace here in YSA which is fun! I love being busy and having lots of appointments and people to teach :)
So.... transfer news... Sister G and I are both staying in YSA and will be training a new sister! We don't know yet, but we're excited. Sister Beesley and I were talking yesterday and she said that the Lord wants me to have this next transfer to rest and to heal (they also consulted with some docs, not just the Lord) before I am needed to do something else :) so that's what's happening here.
Music: I don't know if I've ever said anything about what we do with all our recorded music! In our mission we have AAM cds. So any and all missionaries who would like to write music or sing hymns or whatever can do it and they compile them all onto CDS for us to encourage missionaries to listen to approved music. We recorded 3 or 4 songs last week. As soon as I get some time, I'll make a CD of all the stuff I've recorded (I think I'm up to 15 songs?) I'll send it to you if you'd like :)
Well, that's about all that's new here! I'm excited to start this transfer and am trying really hard not to think about the fact that it's my 1 year mark this month. Where the heck does all the time go?? Keep being the wonderful family and friends that you are. Have a great week ya'll!!!!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Thursday, June 6, 2013
My dad is more awesome than your dad..
Okay, seriously... my dad loves me. He bought me my very own, dark cherry wood, GORGEOUS tenor uke. It's amazing. And what's even better is that, every time I play it, I feel the spirit. I'm reminded that my Heavenly Father loves me so much that he blessed me with an incredible family and with the gospel. You really can't get much better than that. So, thank you dad for being such an excellent reminder of my Heavenly Father. And don't worry, I'm working on learning to "play that
motha hard" lol.
Now, back to missionary work! The work in this ward is awesome! I love working with the YSA's. We picked up a new gator, Kylie, she is incredible. She reminds me so much of my convert, Rcahel, from FBX. So much so, that I almost called her Rachel yesterday. Kylie is on date to be baptized July 6th and is verrryyyy excited about it. Her mom is a member who has been inactive for about 30 years (who we are teaching as well) and has decided to come back to church. These women are incredible. We're having a "Movie Night" with them on Tuesday... we're watching Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration.. the full-length version... popcorn included. haha we're stoked. Well I am. I can actually eat popcorn... the non-buttered kind anyway!
I've been feeling kinda good-kinda yucky (lol MaryLynn, I still say that) this week. I'm meeting with the doc next week for my follow up. It's going to be a slow process getting back to full health, and this is going to be a life-long ordeal, BUT, I've been so blessed with strength to overcome and have been promised that I will make a full recovery, so I'm not worried. I just have to focus on what's important and shut out the negative thoughts.... which is hard, but I'm working on it! I have lots of help and support. so I'm blessed.
Well, outta time! Dang! Transfer calls come out this weekend, we'll see what happens! Love ya'll!!!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
motha hard" lol.
Now, back to missionary work! The work in this ward is awesome! I love working with the YSA's. We picked up a new gator, Kylie, she is incredible. She reminds me so much of my convert, Rcahel, from FBX. So much so, that I almost called her Rachel yesterday. Kylie is on date to be baptized July 6th and is verrryyyy excited about it. Her mom is a member who has been inactive for about 30 years (who we are teaching as well) and has decided to come back to church. These women are incredible. We're having a "Movie Night" with them on Tuesday... we're watching Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration.. the full-length version... popcorn included. haha we're stoked. Well I am. I can actually eat popcorn... the non-buttered kind anyway!
I've been feeling kinda good-kinda yucky (lol MaryLynn, I still say that) this week. I'm meeting with the doc next week for my follow up. It's going to be a slow process getting back to full health, and this is going to be a life-long ordeal, BUT, I've been so blessed with strength to overcome and have been promised that I will make a full recovery, so I'm not worried. I just have to focus on what's important and shut out the negative thoughts.... which is hard, but I'm working on it! I have lots of help and support. so I'm blessed.
Well, outta time! Dang! Transfer calls come out this weekend, we'll see what happens! Love ya'll!!!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
What's New in AK!! 5/27/13
Dear family,
Sorry I've been such a stinkin' slacker at writing! Time is just slipping through my fingers.
So first things first, because everyone keeps asking, here is a health update! The endoscopy showed that I have a pretty bad esophagitis which caused a hiatal hernia and some major swelling and hemmoraging, I'm not good at spelling medical things FYI. basically I have severe acid reflux. I no longer have the mucus lining in my stomach that protects it from the acid it produces. And, the acid is splashing into my esophagus causing lots of pain and a small hernia. If the hernia gets any worse they'll need to operate, but for now I'm doing okay. They put me on a really strong medication, Dexilant to control the acid production. I take 60 mg twice a day (which is a LOT) and I'm still in pain. I'm watching what I eat pretty closely and avoid anything high in acid. My next apt, follow up, is June 11th so hopefully I can get more answers. For right now, I'm not allowed to be stressed at all. HAHAHAHAHAHAAH I literally laughed at the missionarymed doc who told me that. Oh, I also have some varices which are swollen varicose veins in my stomach. I'm having an ultrasound on them tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. Dr Claypool, the missionarymed doc just said that if they burst I'm in BIG BIG BIG trouble. So yeah... no stress! Oh, and Dr Claypool said that if this was caused by "severe stress" within the last 10 years, President, Sister Beesley, Sister Graysaon and I all just laughed and said, YUUPPPP. So yeah.. that's what's going on, I'll keep you all filled in but cool story. I've had 2 blessings {one from my best friend and one from president} that both said that I would make a full recovery AND when Elder Zwick (of the Seventy) was here a couple of weeks ago pulled me aside and said, "Sister Hatfield, I am putting you on the prayer roll that President Monson reads from, " I'm pretty confident that since the Lord is obviously looking out for me, that I'm going to be fine.
Tenell got baptized a couple of weeks ago, which was SO exciting! We also have 2 more gators on date for next Saturday, Siva and Ram (Ram isn't a YSA but we are teaching him for now!) plus, we picked up a new gator, Kylie, who is awesome, Things in the YSA are picking up really really quickly. I love being busy. I do have to rest and take some time to relax because things just get way stressful, but I'm making it work.
Sister Grayson and I are playing the Uke like crazy! Oh, have I mentioned everyone, that I learned how to play the Uke and have written a song and a half?!?It's SO FUN! I love it! We're currently working on a song with some elders in Wasilla, so we've taken some fun fieldtrips up there. Then president took us out to eat at Red Robin.... YUMMMMMMMM. I love that place, although, Sister Beesley was watching what I ordered like a hawk, so I couldn't get my favorite but enjoyed in none-the-less.
Oh my heck! So this week we got to do something AMAZING! Our favorite, Katrina, from the Bush Branch (who I've been teaching since Jan) was in ANC on a layover and President let us go and see her! We ate lunch and taught an awesome lesson on hope at the airport. Then, we got Cinnabons... it was awesome. I love her SOOOO much. I hope she has a blast in Alabama.
Well, this week shall be great! hope ya'll have a great one too! The weather here is SUPER warm, 60's and sunny and the grass is green! I love it!!
Time really is flying by... today marks 11 months!!! Crazy!!!!
Love ya'll,
Sister Hatfield
Sorry I've been such a stinkin' slacker at writing! Time is just slipping through my fingers.
So first things first, because everyone keeps asking, here is a health update! The endoscopy showed that I have a pretty bad esophagitis which caused a hiatal hernia and some major swelling and hemmoraging, I'm not good at spelling medical things FYI. basically I have severe acid reflux. I no longer have the mucus lining in my stomach that protects it from the acid it produces. And, the acid is splashing into my esophagus causing lots of pain and a small hernia. If the hernia gets any worse they'll need to operate, but for now I'm doing okay. They put me on a really strong medication, Dexilant to control the acid production. I take 60 mg twice a day (which is a LOT) and I'm still in pain. I'm watching what I eat pretty closely and avoid anything high in acid. My next apt, follow up, is June 11th so hopefully I can get more answers. For right now, I'm not allowed to be stressed at all. HAHAHAHAHAHAAH I literally laughed at the missionarymed doc who told me that. Oh, I also have some varices which are swollen varicose veins in my stomach. I'm having an ultrasound on them tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. Dr Claypool, the missionarymed doc just said that if they burst I'm in BIG BIG BIG trouble. So yeah... no stress! Oh, and Dr Claypool said that if this was caused by "severe stress" within the last 10 years, President, Sister Beesley, Sister Graysaon and I all just laughed and said, YUUPPPP. So yeah.. that's what's going on, I'll keep you all filled in but cool story. I've had 2 blessings {one from my best friend and one from president} that both said that I would make a full recovery AND when Elder Zwick (of the Seventy) was here a couple of weeks ago pulled me aside and said, "Sister Hatfield, I am putting you on the prayer roll that President Monson reads from, " I'm pretty confident that since the Lord is obviously looking out for me, that I'm going to be fine.
Tenell got baptized a couple of weeks ago, which was SO exciting! We also have 2 more gators on date for next Saturday, Siva and Ram (Ram isn't a YSA but we are teaching him for now!) plus, we picked up a new gator, Kylie, who is awesome, Things in the YSA are picking up really really quickly. I love being busy. I do have to rest and take some time to relax because things just get way stressful, but I'm making it work.
Sister Grayson and I are playing the Uke like crazy! Oh, have I mentioned everyone, that I learned how to play the Uke and have written a song and a half?!?It's SO FUN! I love it! We're currently working on a song with some elders in Wasilla, so we've taken some fun fieldtrips up there. Then president took us out to eat at Red Robin.... YUMMMMMMMM. I love that place, although, Sister Beesley was watching what I ordered like a hawk, so I couldn't get my favorite but enjoyed in none-the-less.
Oh my heck! So this week we got to do something AMAZING! Our favorite, Katrina, from the Bush Branch (who I've been teaching since Jan) was in ANC on a layover and President let us go and see her! We ate lunch and taught an awesome lesson on hope at the airport. Then, we got Cinnabons... it was awesome. I love her SOOOO much. I hope she has a blast in Alabama.
Well, this week shall be great! hope ya'll have a great one too! The weather here is SUPER warm, 60's and sunny and the grass is green! I love it!!
Time really is flying by... today marks 11 months!!! Crazy!!!!
Love ya'll,
Sister Hatfield
Crazy, long week. 5/20/13
Dear family,
Well, I really don't have much time to write ya'll a really exciting email, but things have been doing really well here in AK. It was a long week full of being sick and working really hard, but it was good. We taught a lot of good lessons to quite a few investigators and less actives. I'm really starting to feel like I belong in this ward and that I'm where I need to be!
Fun things from this week:
*Zone conference with Elder Zwick of the 70. Amazing!!! We are now best friends... seriously. Oh and his wife is incredible!
*Sang 2 musical numbers from ZC
*Recording the song I wrote!
*Tenell's baptism on Friday!!!!! It was so good! :)
*Put 2 more people on date!
I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!
Things are lookin' up! Oh, plus, while I was driving here I saw green starting to poke through the brown grass. It might actually be spring now. Haha.
Have a great week ya'll! Love ya!
Love Always,
Sister Hatfield
Well, I really don't have much time to write ya'll a really exciting email, but things have been doing really well here in AK. It was a long week full of being sick and working really hard, but it was good. We taught a lot of good lessons to quite a few investigators and less actives. I'm really starting to feel like I belong in this ward and that I'm where I need to be!
Fun things from this week:
*Zone conference with Elder Zwick of the 70. Amazing!!! We are now best friends... seriously. Oh and his wife is incredible!
*Sang 2 musical numbers from ZC
*Recording the song I wrote!
*Tenell's baptism on Friday!!!!! It was so good! :)
*Put 2 more people on date!
I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!
Things are lookin' up! Oh, plus, while I was driving here I saw green starting to poke through the brown grass. It might actually be spring now. Haha.
Have a great week ya'll! Love ya!
Love Always,
Sister Hatfield
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Sick of being sick.
4/22/2013
Dear Family,
Well this week sure has been an adventure! On Tuesday I wasn't feeling very good and started having some sharp pains in my side. So, after much convincing from Sister Hedelius and Sister Beesley, I decided to head over to the doctor to see what is wrong with me. They ran a full set of blood tests - - which came back normal, but are still concerned about my gall bladder. Soooo.... I get to have an ultrasound on Wednesday and possibly surgery if that is what's wrong. Cool, huh?
So, besides being in pain, things here are going pretty good. Still slow, but progressing. Alison is doing really well. We had a really good lesson with her all about faith. She ended up teaching us some really neat things and the Spirit was so strong. She was even telling us how she was upset that she had so much homework last week because she would have rather been reading the Book of Mormon. Isn't she incredible?? Love her!
Okay, funny story. So... because of some really unfortunate events, Sister Ashbrook's companion had to go home for some medical stuff, which left Sister A companion-less. Which means that we got to go up to Eagle River and have dinner with one of her recent converts in her ward. This RC has a son who is 12 and autistic. He is so funny! After we gave the spiritual thought, Sister A turned to him and said, "Josh who would you like to say the closing prayer?" Josh turned, pointed right at me and said, "the one with the beautiful eyes!" haha! It was sooooo cute! We all got a good laugh outta that one :)
Welp, I thin that's all I've got for this week. Have a fabulous week and enjoy the warm weather. I know I'm LOVING the 40ish degree sunny days here in ANC.
Love ya'll!
Sister Hatfield
Dear Family,
Well this week sure has been an adventure! On Tuesday I wasn't feeling very good and started having some sharp pains in my side. So, after much convincing from Sister Hedelius and Sister Beesley, I decided to head over to the doctor to see what is wrong with me. They ran a full set of blood tests - - which came back normal, but are still concerned about my gall bladder. Soooo.... I get to have an ultrasound on Wednesday and possibly surgery if that is what's wrong. Cool, huh?
So, besides being in pain, things here are going pretty good. Still slow, but progressing. Alison is doing really well. We had a really good lesson with her all about faith. She ended up teaching us some really neat things and the Spirit was so strong. She was even telling us how she was upset that she had so much homework last week because she would have rather been reading the Book of Mormon. Isn't she incredible?? Love her!
Okay, funny story. So... because of some really unfortunate events, Sister Ashbrook's companion had to go home for some medical stuff, which left Sister A companion-less. Which means that we got to go up to Eagle River and have dinner with one of her recent converts in her ward. This RC has a son who is 12 and autistic. He is so funny! After we gave the spiritual thought, Sister A turned to him and said, "Josh who would you like to say the closing prayer?" Josh turned, pointed right at me and said, "the one with the beautiful eyes!" haha! It was sooooo cute! We all got a good laugh outta that one :)
Welp, I thin that's all I've got for this week. Have a fabulous week and enjoy the warm weather. I know I'm LOVING the 40ish degree sunny days here in ANC.
Love ya'll!
Sister Hatfield
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Birthday Week!
Dear Family,
Well, first of all, thank you for all of the Birthday wishes! It's so strange to be 22, serving a mission, and living in AK. I had a great birthday, aside from the snow, and was able to spend it doing just regular missionary work. Sister H made me breakfast, then we went and did some service bottle feeding 3 week old boxer puppies {sooooo cute!}, did some family history, went to get pie and hot cocoa w/ Stacey our investigator that "dropped" us {she called us up a couple of weeks ago saying she really missed us and wanted to see us, so she's back in our lives again, and we are so happy! People definately can feel the void when the Spirit is out of their lives.}, and ate dinner with the ever-wonderful Calhoun family -- they made my fave beef stroganoff and bought me flowers and an ice cream cake. :) I was spoiled with wonderful gifts from my friends out here in the field, and sung to so many times my face was permanently red. It was wonderful!
I forgot to tell ya'll the cool thing that happened last Sunday. We were sitting at dinner talking about our favorite church singers/musicians and the member we were eating with asked if we liked Hilary Weeks. We answered, 'OF COURSE' and then he proceeded to tell us he was her brother and called her up on the phone! We got to talk to her for quite a few minutes and talk about music. It was awesome :) Just one of those really cool, random stories that I thought I'd share. If you don't know who she is, look up her some "Beautiful Heartbreak" on youtube. It's my fave.
Welp, we put our investigator, Allison, on date this week while I was on exchanges with Sister Grayson. It was amazing! We planned to teach Lesson 2 -- the plan of salvation, because that was the lesson that was next. However, while I was doing personal study and reading over PMG and the pamphlet, L2 just didn't feel right. So, in my opening prayer for comp study the Spirit told me to bring up Baptism. As I told Sister Grayson that, we began thinking about what her needs are and how we can talk about baptism. Sister Grayson was then prompted that we should talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost, so we really dove our study time together into that and were really excited for the lesson. We had NO intention of inviting her to be baptized {I know, I know, we're bad, scared missionaries} going into the lesson. However, the spirit prompted me 2 or 3 different times to invite her to be baptized. As I did she got the biggest smile on her face and accepted. Her date is May 25th and she is very excited. It was such a neat experience. I really love being able to have the Holy Ghost prompt me to do things that benefit others in such a huge way. We're excited for her. Her baptism date is after transfers, so I probably won't be around, but that's okay. The important thing is that she makes this step in her life and receives the Holy Ghost for herself.
So all in all it was a great week! Hopefully the sun is gone for good and we can start "warming up", I only wear a light jacket now, and only if it's below 25 degrees. I'm a true Alaskan now. :) Love ya'll! Have a great week!
xoxo,
Sister Hatfield
Well, first of all, thank you for all of the Birthday wishes! It's so strange to be 22, serving a mission, and living in AK. I had a great birthday, aside from the snow, and was able to spend it doing just regular missionary work. Sister H made me breakfast, then we went and did some service bottle feeding 3 week old boxer puppies {sooooo cute!}, did some family history, went to get pie and hot cocoa w/ Stacey our investigator that "dropped" us {she called us up a couple of weeks ago saying she really missed us and wanted to see us, so she's back in our lives again, and we are so happy! People definately can feel the void when the Spirit is out of their lives.}, and ate dinner with the ever-wonderful Calhoun family -- they made my fave beef stroganoff and bought me flowers and an ice cream cake. :) I was spoiled with wonderful gifts from my friends out here in the field, and sung to so many times my face was permanently red. It was wonderful!
I forgot to tell ya'll the cool thing that happened last Sunday. We were sitting at dinner talking about our favorite church singers/musicians and the member we were eating with asked if we liked Hilary Weeks. We answered, 'OF COURSE' and then he proceeded to tell us he was her brother and called her up on the phone! We got to talk to her for quite a few minutes and talk about music. It was awesome :) Just one of those really cool, random stories that I thought I'd share. If you don't know who she is, look up her some "Beautiful Heartbreak" on youtube. It's my fave.
Welp, we put our investigator, Allison, on date this week while I was on exchanges with Sister Grayson. It was amazing! We planned to teach Lesson 2 -- the plan of salvation, because that was the lesson that was next. However, while I was doing personal study and reading over PMG and the pamphlet, L2 just didn't feel right. So, in my opening prayer for comp study the Spirit told me to bring up Baptism. As I told Sister Grayson that, we began thinking about what her needs are and how we can talk about baptism. Sister Grayson was then prompted that we should talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost, so we really dove our study time together into that and were really excited for the lesson. We had NO intention of inviting her to be baptized {I know, I know, we're bad, scared missionaries} going into the lesson. However, the spirit prompted me 2 or 3 different times to invite her to be baptized. As I did she got the biggest smile on her face and accepted. Her date is May 25th and she is very excited. It was such a neat experience. I really love being able to have the Holy Ghost prompt me to do things that benefit others in such a huge way. We're excited for her. Her baptism date is after transfers, so I probably won't be around, but that's okay. The important thing is that she makes this step in her life and receives the Holy Ghost for herself.
So all in all it was a great week! Hopefully the sun is gone for good and we can start "warming up", I only wear a light jacket now, and only if it's below 25 degrees. I'm a true Alaskan now. :) Love ya'll! Have a great week!
xoxo,
Sister Hatfield
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Follow...
Dear Family,
Sorry it's been a few weeks since I've sent an email out. Work has been really busy here in Rabbit Creek and Bush Branch. On top of that, things get complicated and hard in the mission - just like in real life- and I was just dealing with some of that stuff. I don't have muvh time to write, but I do want to write about some cool experiences we've had, all having to do with following the spirit.
At the beginning of my mission I decided that I was going to follow every single thought/prompting I had, so that those around me wouldn't miss our on any blessings because I wasn't willing to listen. I've had a lot of really neat experiences with this on my mission and a lot have happened in the last few weeks.
First, I had a prompting to write someone in my last area, PSG. This woman is someone that I love and miss dearly, but I hadn't written since I left. I felt impressed to write her and see how she was doing. Seems completely normal, and I like nothing out of the ordinary, right? So, I got a letter back from her stating how much she really needed my letter and how perfect my timing was because of some personal things she has been dealing with.
Second, last week as we were driving down the street I had a thought, "Go see the V family". Again, nothing seemingly pressing, unique, or unusual. But, we did it. As we went to visit them, we just say and talked about some of the trials they were going through. Bro V had lost his job here in AK and because of that they had to move back to their home in UT. I love these people more than I can express with words and it broke my heart to hear that news. As we talked we began to look back on some fun experiences we've had togetherand just laughed [we're really good at that!]. I had been having a really rough few days before that so just being able to sit and laugh with some wonderful people truly brightened my spirits. As we were saying goodbye, I shared one of my absolute favorite scriptures with them in 1 Nephi 9:6. I bore my testimony about how much I know that God is aware of each of us and our needs. When the Lord uses the word "all" in the scriptures, He means ALL. Nothing left out, no one left unnoticed. Sister V told us a few days later that we changed their entire day. They had been having a very difficulte morning that morning, and we turned it all around with some laughs and a quick spiritual thought.
Third, Sister Hedelius and I were talking the other day about our Investigator, Bernard. We were discussing how we can help him move forward and progress. Sister H felt impressed to read the Book of Mormon with him and to have him write down a question he has, and promise him that he will find the answer as we read together. We both feld really good about doing this, so we did. [Side note: it's really scary thing to promise someone that God will answer their questions right then and there, even when you know for a fact He will. I was sweating major bullets!] I cannot tell you how amazing the lesson with Bernard was. He found his answer, and I found the answer to the question I was seeking to have answered as well. It was incredible! By the end of the lesson he had committed to be baptized and is now on date for May 19th [or sooner!]
These are just three of THOUSANDS of my experiences. It is incredible the things we can do when we follow the promptings of the spirit. These are the moments that make my mission worth it. I have learned so much over the last 9 months of being a missionary, but the most important is that I can be a toold in the hands of the Lord as long as I am willing to trust Him, and the promptings He gives me each and every day. I can't say that I have loved every second, minute or day of my mission but I can say that for all the bad, hard, sad times I have had, I have experienced so many wonderful things that completely overpower and outweigh all the negative. I love this work and am so proud to be a part of it for another 7.5 months.
I love you all, and hope ya'll have a fabulous week!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Sorry it's been a few weeks since I've sent an email out. Work has been really busy here in Rabbit Creek and Bush Branch. On top of that, things get complicated and hard in the mission - just like in real life- and I was just dealing with some of that stuff. I don't have muvh time to write, but I do want to write about some cool experiences we've had, all having to do with following the spirit.
At the beginning of my mission I decided that I was going to follow every single thought/prompting I had, so that those around me wouldn't miss our on any blessings because I wasn't willing to listen. I've had a lot of really neat experiences with this on my mission and a lot have happened in the last few weeks.
First, I had a prompting to write someone in my last area, PSG. This woman is someone that I love and miss dearly, but I hadn't written since I left. I felt impressed to write her and see how she was doing. Seems completely normal, and I like nothing out of the ordinary, right? So, I got a letter back from her stating how much she really needed my letter and how perfect my timing was because of some personal things she has been dealing with.
Second, last week as we were driving down the street I had a thought, "Go see the V family". Again, nothing seemingly pressing, unique, or unusual. But, we did it. As we went to visit them, we just say and talked about some of the trials they were going through. Bro V had lost his job here in AK and because of that they had to move back to their home in UT. I love these people more than I can express with words and it broke my heart to hear that news. As we talked we began to look back on some fun experiences we've had togetherand just laughed [we're really good at that!]. I had been having a really rough few days before that so just being able to sit and laugh with some wonderful people truly brightened my spirits. As we were saying goodbye, I shared one of my absolute favorite scriptures with them in 1 Nephi 9:6. I bore my testimony about how much I know that God is aware of each of us and our needs. When the Lord uses the word "all" in the scriptures, He means ALL. Nothing left out, no one left unnoticed. Sister V told us a few days later that we changed their entire day. They had been having a very difficulte morning that morning, and we turned it all around with some laughs and a quick spiritual thought.
Third, Sister Hedelius and I were talking the other day about our Investigator, Bernard. We were discussing how we can help him move forward and progress. Sister H felt impressed to read the Book of Mormon with him and to have him write down a question he has, and promise him that he will find the answer as we read together. We both feld really good about doing this, so we did. [Side note: it's really scary thing to promise someone that God will answer their questions right then and there, even when you know for a fact He will. I was sweating major bullets!] I cannot tell you how amazing the lesson with Bernard was. He found his answer, and I found the answer to the question I was seeking to have answered as well. It was incredible! By the end of the lesson he had committed to be baptized and is now on date for May 19th [or sooner!]
These are just three of THOUSANDS of my experiences. It is incredible the things we can do when we follow the promptings of the spirit. These are the moments that make my mission worth it. I have learned so much over the last 9 months of being a missionary, but the most important is that I can be a toold in the hands of the Lord as long as I am willing to trust Him, and the promptings He gives me each and every day. I can't say that I have loved every second, minute or day of my mission but I can say that for all the bad, hard, sad times I have had, I have experienced so many wonderful things that completely overpower and outweigh all the negative. I love this work and am so proud to be a part of it for another 7.5 months.
I love you all, and hope ya'll have a fabulous week!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Monday, March 18, 2013
This week in Alaska...
Well, I was sick... yet again. It's my 3rd or 4th round of the year so far. Cool, huh?? It put me out quite a bit this week, but we were far too busy with things for me to get the full rest I needed. Oh well... I'd much rather be working anyways :)
So this week was Spring Break here in Alaska, and because of tha tall but one of our investigators were out of town which means -- slow teaching week! But, we did get the chance to see some people and offer some much needed servicei n the area. I also had a really long, boring meeting all afternoon on Wednesday but no one wants to hear about that.
Cool story: While I was in my really long, boring meeting, Sister Hedelius was on exchanges and went out to find ia referrral that had come from the ward. They had received the records for a 21 year old woman and it was our job to find out who she was. Sister Hedelius felt strongly that she needed to find this girl that day, so she went to search for the house. It didn't exist... haha... BUT Sister H felt impressed to try the dor closest to her, so she did. When she did that she met the son of the woman who she was looking for (who is NOT 21 but probably 60 or 70...) and he let her in. They ended up teaching about the Restoration of the gospel and placed a Book of Mormon. Isn't that amazing?? We have a lesson with him this Thursday, and I'm so excited to meet him :) Sister H now has a really cool story to tell people about her mission. Isn't that exciting??
We had another really cool experience, I think I've ltold you guys about our investigator, Stacey who is pentacostal (sp??) well I can't reamember if I told you but her pastor asked her to stop meeting with us last week. It was really sad. But we respected her wishes. So Stacey's church was having a big dinner event for 200 people on Saturday and Stacey was hired as the caterer. She needed a lot of help,. so of course we jumped at the chance to help out. We brought some of the elders with us and ended up serving dinner to the entire congregation of their church, including the Pastor. It was very intimidating but was such an amazing experience. Everyone was so nice and the Pastor even laughed/joked with us and thanked us for all our help. It was definately a tender mercy and hopefully will open some doors for Stacey in the future :)
Well, I love you all and have a fabulous week! It's still cold here in AK but the sun is staying out much MUCH longer and I am one happy girl!
Love always, Sister Hatfield
So this week was Spring Break here in Alaska, and because of tha tall but one of our investigators were out of town which means -- slow teaching week! But, we did get the chance to see some people and offer some much needed servicei n the area. I also had a really long, boring meeting all afternoon on Wednesday but no one wants to hear about that.
Cool story: While I was in my really long, boring meeting, Sister Hedelius was on exchanges and went out to find ia referrral that had come from the ward. They had received the records for a 21 year old woman and it was our job to find out who she was. Sister Hedelius felt strongly that she needed to find this girl that day, so she went to search for the house. It didn't exist... haha... BUT Sister H felt impressed to try the dor closest to her, so she did. When she did that she met the son of the woman who she was looking for (who is NOT 21 but probably 60 or 70...) and he let her in. They ended up teaching about the Restoration of the gospel and placed a Book of Mormon. Isn't that amazing?? We have a lesson with him this Thursday, and I'm so excited to meet him :) Sister H now has a really cool story to tell people about her mission. Isn't that exciting??
We had another really cool experience, I think I've ltold you guys about our investigator, Stacey who is pentacostal (sp??) well I can't reamember if I told you but her pastor asked her to stop meeting with us last week. It was really sad. But we respected her wishes. So Stacey's church was having a big dinner event for 200 people on Saturday and Stacey was hired as the caterer. She needed a lot of help,. so of course we jumped at the chance to help out. We brought some of the elders with us and ended up serving dinner to the entire congregation of their church, including the Pastor. It was very intimidating but was such an amazing experience. Everyone was so nice and the Pastor even laughed/joked with us and thanked us for all our help. It was definately a tender mercy and hopefully will open some doors for Stacey in the future :)
Well, I love you all and have a fabulous week! It's still cold here in AK but the sun is staying out much MUCH longer and I am one happy girl!
Love always, Sister Hatfield
45 degrees and sunny on Saturday.. A foot of snow on Sunday. Spring in AK..
Dear Family,
Well, I think I've officially come to the point in my mission where I have absolutely no clue what to write in my emails anymore. Everyday seems the same as the one before, which makes it really difficult to even remember what happened.
Our investigator, Bernard, is doing really well. He's definately got a glow about him. And even he sees it. We're teaching him again this week so hopefully we can get him set up with a baptism date. He doesn't live in our area (just like all the rest of our investigators...) so we're going to pass him off to the elders probably this week or next. Stacey, one of our favorite investigators dropped us this week. Her pastor told her to stop meeting with us. It was very heartbreaking, mostly because she knows she feels something different when she's around us.
Coolest experience of my year so far: Getting to go to the temple with Karlie Ellingson from FBX! She's a member I love from my time up there, and she's headed our on her mission to Tokyo, Japan on April 24th. She went through the temple on Friday and invited me to go. Thankfully, President loves me and gave us permission to go. It was such a special experience! I was so grateful not only to go to the temple but to go through with someone that I know, love and appreciate. I learned a lot that night, and am so incredibly blessed to have been able to go. Good luck on your mission, Karlie! Write me and tell me all about your experiences over there!!
Welp, that's about all I've got got this week guys. Hope ya'll are doing well and loving life!!
Love always,
Sister Hatfiled
Well, I think I've officially come to the point in my mission where I have absolutely no clue what to write in my emails anymore. Everyday seems the same as the one before, which makes it really difficult to even remember what happened.
Our investigator, Bernard, is doing really well. He's definately got a glow about him. And even he sees it. We're teaching him again this week so hopefully we can get him set up with a baptism date. He doesn't live in our area (just like all the rest of our investigators...) so we're going to pass him off to the elders probably this week or next. Stacey, one of our favorite investigators dropped us this week. Her pastor told her to stop meeting with us. It was very heartbreaking, mostly because she knows she feels something different when she's around us.
Coolest experience of my year so far: Getting to go to the temple with Karlie Ellingson from FBX! She's a member I love from my time up there, and she's headed our on her mission to Tokyo, Japan on April 24th. She went through the temple on Friday and invited me to go. Thankfully, President loves me and gave us permission to go. It was such a special experience! I was so grateful not only to go to the temple but to go through with someone that I know, love and appreciate. I learned a lot that night, and am so incredibly blessed to have been able to go. Good luck on your mission, Karlie! Write me and tell me all about your experiences over there!!
Welp, that's about all I've got got this week guys. Hope ya'll are doing well and loving life!!
Love always,
Sister Hatfiled
The Plan of Salvation
Dear Family,
Thank you for all the thoughts, emails and prayers in my behalf this week. I really needed them. I must say that my knowledge of the Plan of Salvation is what has brought me through this week, and I would feel completely lost without it. I KNOW that Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of His children and that there is a life after this. I can and will be with my family forever, and I will be able to see my Grandaddy's cute smiling face again someday.
This week was really good actually. We had some really incredible, testimony-building experiences that have made us a lot stronger as missionaries. We also got to help out at the Iditarod again this week! we were in charge of making sure the snow was perfect;y packed. for those cute puppies to run on ! My back is SUPER sore from shoveling a lot of snow so quickly but it was totally worth it. I got to see teh dogs and high five the mushers. I'll send pictures soon :)
Well I hope you are all doing really well and staying happy! You're all in my thoughts and prayers!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Thank you for all the thoughts, emails and prayers in my behalf this week. I really needed them. I must say that my knowledge of the Plan of Salvation is what has brought me through this week, and I would feel completely lost without it. I KNOW that Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of His children and that there is a life after this. I can and will be with my family forever, and I will be able to see my Grandaddy's cute smiling face again someday.
This week was really good actually. We had some really incredible, testimony-building experiences that have made us a lot stronger as missionaries. We also got to help out at the Iditarod again this week! we were in charge of making sure the snow was perfect;y packed. for those cute puppies to run on ! My back is SUPER sore from shoveling a lot of snow so quickly but it was totally worth it. I got to see teh dogs and high five the mushers. I'll send pictures soon :)
Well I hope you are all doing really well and staying happy! You're all in my thoughts and prayers!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
"What did we do to deserve thisz??"
Well, another week has come and gone. I sweat I'm losing track of my time here in AK. I'm about to hit my half-way mark, and that just seems so dang strange! Are ya'll sick of me saying that in every single email yet?? haha
So... basically this week was.... I don't even know what.
On Pday we just spent the entire day at the mission home hanging out with all the missionaries in our zone! It was so fun!! Sometimes it's nice to just sit back, relax, and have a good laugh with your closest friends. We had dinner at the ever-popular Ihop {I'm just like Jim Gaffigan, I NEVER feel like hopping when I leave that place. Haha!} then taught 2 lessons to active members. We're working on getting to know the ward really well, and what better way to get to know them, than to teach in their homes?
Wednesday was a really interesting day.. we had zone conference all about "Hearts". We talked all day about the condition of our hearts and the hearts of those we come in contact with. It was really REALLY good training. Our next 3 months of training will all be focused on "Peace". I'm really excited for it, Elder Durfee and I are going to write a new song today to go with it. Pretty exciting stuff guys!
We taught some really good lessons to our Investigators this week. Billy, who is in the Bush Branch, is doing SO well. He's still working on picking a date and aplace to be baptized, but we're praying really hard for him to find one, so we're not too worried about it.Everything happens in God's time, not ours. We just have to have faith :) Stacey is doing preatty well. She's had some really scary things happen in her life this last week, so we're just working on helping her feel love from us and from Heavenly Father. All we need is love, right?? Audrey is doing great! We invited her to come to church in our lesson last Sunday night, I hate to admit, that neither of us really believed that she would come. I know, I know, I'm a bad missionary who lacks faith in her investigators, shame on me. BUT... this all leads intot he most amazing day of my mission so far... SUNDAY!
So, we had a pretty long morning before church. I was really sick {maybe the flu} on Saturday and Sis H had a major case of hives, so we were both suffering from Nyquil &Benadryl "hangovers" on Sunday morning. Haha! Anyway, we're sitting in sacrament and in walks Audrey! It was so exciting... I think Sister H pulled a muscle or two from all the smiling she did! THEN, we went to Sunday School where there were 3 non-members!!!! One of them, Bernard, really loved church and wants to start learning more about what we believe, so we set up an appointment to meet with him! So exciting! THEN, after church we taught Audrey and she told us about how much she really liked church and how she was really liking her Book of Mormon study. She's still praying about baptism and so are we! after Audreys lesson we got a voicemail from Bro Evans to baptize him, but Bro Evans is moving March 18... SOOOO we'll ne having a baptism realllyyyyyy soon if it all works out as planned! After we got off the phone with Bro Evans we were both crying and just so elated., We offered a prayer of gratitude and just sat in amazement for a few minutes. I turned to Sister H and just said, "What did we do to deserve this??". I still am not quite sure, but I know that all of the hard work we put in by the missionaries in this area previously and currently is finally starting to pay off. I'm so happy that Sister H is getting to experience such a wonderful thing in the first few weeks of her mission. We are truly blessed when we are obedient! Exact obedience brings miracles!!!!
Well, I'm really excited to see what this week will bring - I love you all and hope ya'll havea an amazing week!
Remember.. "Come what may, and LOVE it!" -Joseph B. Wirthlin
Love always, Sister Hatfield
So... basically this week was.... I don't even know what.
On Pday we just spent the entire day at the mission home hanging out with all the missionaries in our zone! It was so fun!! Sometimes it's nice to just sit back, relax, and have a good laugh with your closest friends. We had dinner at the ever-popular Ihop {I'm just like Jim Gaffigan, I NEVER feel like hopping when I leave that place. Haha!} then taught 2 lessons to active members. We're working on getting to know the ward really well, and what better way to get to know them, than to teach in their homes?
Wednesday was a really interesting day.. we had zone conference all about "Hearts". We talked all day about the condition of our hearts and the hearts of those we come in contact with. It was really REALLY good training. Our next 3 months of training will all be focused on "Peace". I'm really excited for it, Elder Durfee and I are going to write a new song today to go with it. Pretty exciting stuff guys!
We taught some really good lessons to our Investigators this week. Billy, who is in the Bush Branch, is doing SO well. He's still working on picking a date and aplace to be baptized, but we're praying really hard for him to find one, so we're not too worried about it.Everything happens in God's time, not ours. We just have to have faith :) Stacey is doing preatty well. She's had some really scary things happen in her life this last week, so we're just working on helping her feel love from us and from Heavenly Father. All we need is love, right?? Audrey is doing great! We invited her to come to church in our lesson last Sunday night, I hate to admit, that neither of us really believed that she would come. I know, I know, I'm a bad missionary who lacks faith in her investigators, shame on me. BUT... this all leads intot he most amazing day of my mission so far... SUNDAY!
So, we had a pretty long morning before church. I was really sick {maybe the flu} on Saturday and Sis H had a major case of hives, so we were both suffering from Nyquil &Benadryl "hangovers" on Sunday morning. Haha! Anyway, we're sitting in sacrament and in walks Audrey! It was so exciting... I think Sister H pulled a muscle or two from all the smiling she did! THEN, we went to Sunday School where there were 3 non-members!!!! One of them, Bernard, really loved church and wants to start learning more about what we believe, so we set up an appointment to meet with him! So exciting! THEN, after church we taught Audrey and she told us about how much she really liked church and how she was really liking her Book of Mormon study. She's still praying about baptism and so are we! after Audreys lesson we got a voicemail from Bro Evans to baptize him, but Bro Evans is moving March 18... SOOOO we'll ne having a baptism realllyyyyyy soon if it all works out as planned! After we got off the phone with Bro Evans we were both crying and just so elated., We offered a prayer of gratitude and just sat in amazement for a few minutes. I turned to Sister H and just said, "What did we do to deserve this??". I still am not quite sure, but I know that all of the hard work we put in by the missionaries in this area previously and currently is finally starting to pay off. I'm so happy that Sister H is getting to experience such a wonderful thing in the first few weeks of her mission. We are truly blessed when we are obedient! Exact obedience brings miracles!!!!
Well, I'm really excited to see what this week will bring - I love you all and hope ya'll havea an amazing week!
Remember.. "Come what may, and LOVE it!" -Joseph B. Wirthlin
Love always, Sister Hatfield
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
"Oh, goll"
Dear family,
"Oh, goll" --- that's my new catchphrase. It's really caught on with all the other missionaries...aka my Comp, Sister HEDELIUS and Elder DuVal (one of the assistants).
So... This week was pretty much amazing! I'm going to do my really original "day by day" email format, mostly because it helps me remember what I actually did throughout the week.
Monday: Pday, we mostly just spent the day running errands and packing up all of Sister Wuehler's stuff. We ran around trying to say goodbye to everyone in the ward and basically were juts stressed out the whole day. It was a blast! :) Oh, we also went to the church to say goodbye to some missionaries and the elders that were playing Volleyball got a little carried away and I ended up getting hit in the face.. like 3 times. How embarrassing. But it's cool, I didn't cry or anything. Haha.
Tuesday: Transfers! I spent the morning in a bunch of meetings for trainers, Then, I finally got to find out who I was training. And the winner is.... Sister HEDELIUS!!!!!! She's incredible! She's the one and ONLY 19-year old sister in the mission and she is the BEST. We were so excited to get paired up together. I think we hugged and jumped up and down for like 5 whole minutes before we even let President introduce us. We are serving in Rabbit Creek and the Bush Branch here in Anchorage. Transfer meeting was really good. I got to sing my song, "one more chance" and think it went pretty well. I've gotten lots of compliments on it so that's got to be a good sign right? After transfers we headed out and got straight to missionary work. And, in true missionary fashion, all of our appointments, and back ups cancelled. Haha just another day in the mission. I told Sister H that it was normal and that it happens a lot. She is just such an excited new missionary that she was just happy to be here.
Wednesday: Missionary work! we worked really hard to try and contact as many people as we could. We didn't really get to, but that's okay! We got to teach Katrian, a member of the Bush Branch over Skype that night. It was really fun. I'm so grateful, for technology and the capability it gives us to reach those whoare in very remote, far off places. We also spent some time with Sister Beesley helping her to clean the house and plan some really fun upcoming field-trips, trainings, and stuff for zone conference. We have been dubbed the "Assistants to Sister Beesley". I've even started answering her phone for her lately. haha!
Thursday: VALENTINES DAY!!! Tried to contact more people --- they weren't home. Then we had the most amazing Valentine's dinner with the wonderful Stacey in our ward. She is a recent convert and is such a warm person to be around. We had steak and potatoes and salad for dinner, with hot fudge sundays and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. When Stacey prayed to bless the food she prayed for Sister hedelius and I by calling us "H-squared". We had to told her to call us that, mostly as a joke, but it totally stuck! It was hilarious! We then had a really spiritual lesson with our investgator, Billy{from the Bush Branch}, over the phone. We were teaching the Restoration of the gospel, but because he has been calling into church for so long, he ended up teaching a good majority of the lesson. We were so impressed, and the Spirit was so strong throughout the entire lesson. At the end, Sister H committed him to baptism! He's praying about a date this week and we'll meet with him again on Thursday. We were so excited and sister H even cried! I love seeing how much joy can come from sharing what we love with someone we know. There is nothing quite like a brand-new missionary who is so incredibly full of the Spirit accomplishing all that they set our ro do. It makes me so happy! :D We spent the rest of the night --- way passed curfew -- at the mission home having a musical/rehearsal/jamsession in preparation for a new song we recorded. IT was Elder Durfee {the AP that isn't Elder DuVal} and I with elder Meek {hwho is serving in Wasille} It was really fun. But a really late night. We left the mission right before 11. Of course we walked outside to get in our car and found it had snowed about 2 inches... thankfully the AP's are really nice guys and totally scraped off our car! They're the BEST!
Friday: Iditarod Service!!! We will be doing quite a bit of service for the Iditarod over the next few weeks. This week we helped to sort and pack a ton of food and supplies for all the volunteers for every checkpoint. It was really fun! They took our pictures and put them up oin the official Iditarod website. Ya'll should try and find it online! :)
Saturday: Musical Field Trip!!! We spend the entire day, from 10am-10pm, with President and Sister Beesley in Wasilla recording a bunch of new music for the CD we're giving out at Zone Conferences this transfer. We went to a couple of baptisms in the area too. The first one was in a Samoan ward, so we didn't understand what was said. It was so amazing to see that even though we couldn't understand any of what was said. It was so amazing to see that even though we couldn't understand what was being said, the Spirit was still so incredibly strong. E Durfee, E Meek and I recorded, "Jesus Savior, Pilot Me". The elders did such an amazing job coming up with a really beautiful arrangement of the song for the guitar and banjo. I must say, it's pretty rad. Hopefully I can get some CDs made soon and send them out to those who want them. I also recorded 3 or 4 songs with the ever-wonderful Sister Ashbrook. After all the recording was done, President took us out to Senor Taco for some yummy mexican food then we all headed over to the baptism of 12 year old boy. When we went to talk to him after his baptism, I congratulated him on his big day and asked how he felt. After oindering it for a few seconds he said, "I feel the Holy Ghost". Um.. yeah!!! It was the cutest, sweetest thing ever. I instantly started crying, because I'm me, because of how pure and true his statement was. What a sweet boy. We ended that day with some more recording then finally headed home. {Side note: Mom and Dad when I was in Wasilla I saw Elder Summers mission-board thing. Don't worry, I got a picture with it :) }
Sunday: Sunday is always the busiest day of the week just because we go to a million meetings, a ward, and a branch. Plus, we study for 3 hours a day and ahve to fit it in sometime. I love it though! It's strange to think back to the days when my Sundays were full of church and naps. It seems like so long ago.
Well, like I said, Sister Hedelius and I are doing great. She is INCREDIBLE missionary and person. We are basically the same person in two separate bodies. We both LOVE Dr Pepper {Yay for the first come who actually drinks soda!} and grey's anatomy.... OH and country music! We have so much fun teaching, learning and laughing together. Yesterday was a pretty rough day for me, and I can't even begin to tell you how much Sister Hedelius helped me through it all. I know I can't really pick my "favorites" but she might be my favorite companion yet! I can't wati to see what the next 10 weeks are going to bring :)
I love you all and hope ya'll have a fabulous week!
Remember: The Lord loves you, I love you, and the church is true no matter what!
Love always, Sister Hatfield
"Oh, goll" --- that's my new catchphrase. It's really caught on with all the other missionaries...aka my Comp, Sister HEDELIUS and Elder DuVal (one of the assistants).
So... This week was pretty much amazing! I'm going to do my really original "day by day" email format, mostly because it helps me remember what I actually did throughout the week.
Monday: Pday, we mostly just spent the day running errands and packing up all of Sister Wuehler's stuff. We ran around trying to say goodbye to everyone in the ward and basically were juts stressed out the whole day. It was a blast! :) Oh, we also went to the church to say goodbye to some missionaries and the elders that were playing Volleyball got a little carried away and I ended up getting hit in the face.. like 3 times. How embarrassing. But it's cool, I didn't cry or anything. Haha.
Tuesday: Transfers! I spent the morning in a bunch of meetings for trainers, Then, I finally got to find out who I was training. And the winner is.... Sister HEDELIUS!!!!!! She's incredible! She's the one and ONLY 19-year old sister in the mission and she is the BEST. We were so excited to get paired up together. I think we hugged and jumped up and down for like 5 whole minutes before we even let President introduce us. We are serving in Rabbit Creek and the Bush Branch here in Anchorage. Transfer meeting was really good. I got to sing my song, "one more chance" and think it went pretty well. I've gotten lots of compliments on it so that's got to be a good sign right? After transfers we headed out and got straight to missionary work. And, in true missionary fashion, all of our appointments, and back ups cancelled. Haha just another day in the mission. I told Sister H that it was normal and that it happens a lot. She is just such an excited new missionary that she was just happy to be here.
Wednesday: Missionary work! we worked really hard to try and contact as many people as we could. We didn't really get to, but that's okay! We got to teach Katrian, a member of the Bush Branch over Skype that night. It was really fun. I'm so grateful, for technology and the capability it gives us to reach those whoare in very remote, far off places. We also spent some time with Sister Beesley helping her to clean the house and plan some really fun upcoming field-trips, trainings, and stuff for zone conference. We have been dubbed the "Assistants to Sister Beesley". I've even started answering her phone for her lately. haha!
Thursday: VALENTINES DAY!!! Tried to contact more people --- they weren't home. Then we had the most amazing Valentine's dinner with the wonderful Stacey in our ward. She is a recent convert and is such a warm person to be around. We had steak and potatoes and salad for dinner, with hot fudge sundays and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. When Stacey prayed to bless the food she prayed for Sister hedelius and I by calling us "H-squared". We had to told her to call us that, mostly as a joke, but it totally stuck! It was hilarious! We then had a really spiritual lesson with our investgator, Billy{from the Bush Branch}, over the phone. We were teaching the Restoration of the gospel, but because he has been calling into church for so long, he ended up teaching a good majority of the lesson. We were so impressed, and the Spirit was so strong throughout the entire lesson. At the end, Sister H committed him to baptism! He's praying about a date this week and we'll meet with him again on Thursday. We were so excited and sister H even cried! I love seeing how much joy can come from sharing what we love with someone we know. There is nothing quite like a brand-new missionary who is so incredibly full of the Spirit accomplishing all that they set our ro do. It makes me so happy! :D We spent the rest of the night --- way passed curfew -- at the mission home having a musical/rehearsal/jamsession in preparation for a new song we recorded. IT was Elder Durfee {the AP that isn't Elder DuVal} and I with elder Meek {hwho is serving in Wasille} It was really fun. But a really late night. We left the mission right before 11. Of course we walked outside to get in our car and found it had snowed about 2 inches... thankfully the AP's are really nice guys and totally scraped off our car! They're the BEST!
Friday: Iditarod Service!!! We will be doing quite a bit of service for the Iditarod over the next few weeks. This week we helped to sort and pack a ton of food and supplies for all the volunteers for every checkpoint. It was really fun! They took our pictures and put them up oin the official Iditarod website. Ya'll should try and find it online! :)
Saturday: Musical Field Trip!!! We spend the entire day, from 10am-10pm, with President and Sister Beesley in Wasilla recording a bunch of new music for the CD we're giving out at Zone Conferences this transfer. We went to a couple of baptisms in the area too. The first one was in a Samoan ward, so we didn't understand what was said. It was so amazing to see that even though we couldn't understand any of what was said. It was so amazing to see that even though we couldn't understand what was being said, the Spirit was still so incredibly strong. E Durfee, E Meek and I recorded, "Jesus Savior, Pilot Me". The elders did such an amazing job coming up with a really beautiful arrangement of the song for the guitar and banjo. I must say, it's pretty rad. Hopefully I can get some CDs made soon and send them out to those who want them. I also recorded 3 or 4 songs with the ever-wonderful Sister Ashbrook. After all the recording was done, President took us out to Senor Taco for some yummy mexican food then we all headed over to the baptism of 12 year old boy. When we went to talk to him after his baptism, I congratulated him on his big day and asked how he felt. After oindering it for a few seconds he said, "I feel the Holy Ghost". Um.. yeah!!! It was the cutest, sweetest thing ever. I instantly started crying, because I'm me, because of how pure and true his statement was. What a sweet boy. We ended that day with some more recording then finally headed home. {Side note: Mom and Dad when I was in Wasilla I saw Elder Summers mission-board thing. Don't worry, I got a picture with it :) }
Sunday: Sunday is always the busiest day of the week just because we go to a million meetings, a ward, and a branch. Plus, we study for 3 hours a day and ahve to fit it in sometime. I love it though! It's strange to think back to the days when my Sundays were full of church and naps. It seems like so long ago.
Well, like I said, Sister Hedelius and I are doing great. She is INCREDIBLE missionary and person. We are basically the same person in two separate bodies. We both LOVE Dr Pepper {Yay for the first come who actually drinks soda!} and grey's anatomy.... OH and country music! We have so much fun teaching, learning and laughing together. Yesterday was a pretty rough day for me, and I can't even begin to tell you how much Sister Hedelius helped me through it all. I know I can't really pick my "favorites" but she might be my favorite companion yet! I can't wati to see what the next 10 weeks are going to bring :)
I love you all and hope ya'll have a fabulous week!
Remember: The Lord loves you, I love you, and the church is true no matter what!
Love always, Sister Hatfield
So one time 2 sister missionaries walked into a bar...
True story guys.. Sis Wuehler and I accidently walked into a bar last monday night trying to find the restaurant we were meeting some members at. Let me just tell you - it was embarrassing... and hilarious! We laughed forever. Even President thought it was funny. :)
Well, we've had some really fun, exciting things happen this week. Here is my bullet point list of most of them!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Well, we've had some really fun, exciting things happen this week. Here is my bullet point list of most of them!
- Transfer calls cam! Sister Wuehler is headed to my old home, Fairbanks YSA ward- lucky girl! I was called to train a brand new missionary {won't find out until tomorrow morning!} here in the Rabbit Creek Ward/ Anchorage Bush Branch. I'm really excited and a little nervous! Being a trainer is a pretty big responsibility but i'm up for the new challenge :)
- The other night at dinner, the members told us that their son was out of town so he wouldn't be joining us. We asked why, and Sis Ames told us that he gets really nervous to be around us, because he feels guilty having a crush on a Sister missionary!!! hahahha! We got a good laugh out of that.
- I got to participate/sing at a fireside that the sisters in Eagle River put on last night. It was all about the Love of God. It was INCREDIBLE! It was a musical fireside, and the spirit was SO strong. I cried through the entire program because the music was just so beautiful. Thankfully,. I made it through my own numbe with lots of help from my best friend smiling at me in the audience. Bless his heart! I couldn't have dne it without him. I also had some other elders making faces at me so that I would laugh. Elders can be so awesome sometimes!
- We taught a lesson to an investigator in the bush branch yesterday! He;s actually in ANC for a couple of days because of conference, so we got to meet and start teaching him. He actually grew up in Gilbert on Houston and Lindsey, which is the exact same neighborhood I did! He really wants to get baptized, so we're working towards that. He has some challenges but we are all working really hard to help him overcome them.
- I got a really REALLY bad cold this week which has been really annoying. Not that any of you really cared to know that, I just wanted an outlet to complain. ;)
- We have some really promising things happening in the area that will hopefully lead to more teaching opportunites, so that's exciting.
- Elder Christensen of the Seventy came and gave a fireside for all the missionaries, ward mission leaders/missionaries and bishops. It was all about missionary work. He said that with the announcement from Oct lowering the age for missionaries, that the number of missionaries to be about 120,000 by april! When I cam out it was only about 50,000. Crazy huh??
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Monday, February 4, 2013
February Already???
Dear family,
Don't get mad for the pink text. 1. It's my favorite color. 2. It is almost Valentine's day. 3. Deal with it? haha just kiddin'
Okay, so this email is going to be totally scatter-brained, but I've had so much on my mind that I really want to / feel like I need to share.
Transfer meeting will be next TUESDAY Feb 12 from 1-2:30. I was asked to sing the new song that Sister Ashbrook and I wrote for the meeting. If you would like to watch it, you are more than welcome! The website is:
WEBCAST & POLYCOM INFO
Note: It's important that oyu go to Website about 15 min early so the stream can stabilize.
Website: http://stream.lds.org/503649-120706
Polycom 1 by phone: 866.423.1957 code 6036103#
Polycom 2 by phone: 877.936.6770 code 9506743#
It should be a really good transfer meeting, and you can see my bright, shining, possibly crying face. The song is near and dear to my heart because I wrote it about my personal experience as a missionary. Hope ya'll can tune in and enjoy :) Remember, this is 1-2:30 pm ALASKA TIME. Please plan accordingly.
Okay, now for my real email...
Things here in Rabbit Creek are going really well. We are working a lot with Audrey, the cute 17 year old. She's still just trying to learn and understand since she has zero religious background. She offered the closing prayer after our lesson last night, and it was great! We also are working with a LA woman in the bush branch. She is a convert of just over a year, but hasn't been calling into our church. She is absolutely wonderful! We got to teach her a lesson via Skype { I love technology } and it went really well. She called into church yesterday for the first time since she moved to AK. We are so proud. We get transfer calls on Thursday or Friday, so next time you hear from me, I might be headed somewhere new.
So, we ate dinner the other night with some of the SEnior Missionary Couples and I had asked all of them what they loved most about their missions. They answered then turned to us and asked us the same question. {I should have expected that, but I diudn't} after a minute or two of pondering I finally came up with my answer. What I love most about my mission so far is... everything. The good, the bad, the happy, the devastating...all that good stuff. But what I love most is the change that I see the gospel make in the l.ives of those that I teach. I've stayed in contact with a few of my converts. And I absolutely LOVE hearing how they are doing and how their testimonies are growing. TJ, from FBX, has been blessing and passing the sacrament AND has been to the temple to do family names in the baptistry. Rachel is sharing the gospel with her family and is attending singles ward while she awaits hearing back from BYU and BYU*I. I cannot tell you how much love I feel for the people of Alaska. I those quiet confirmations that htis is where I need to be, and that these are the people I need in my life the most right now. As I reflect on these feelings, I can only imagine how our Heavenly Father and the Savior view us. They feel these same things for us on a much broader spectrum. How amazing is that??
I just want you all to knwo how much I love my mission. IT has truly been the greatest decision I have ever made and I have not regretted it for one second. I love this gospel, I love the savior, and I love my Heavenly Father. I know that where I am right now, is where I'm needed most. Where I will be tomorrow, will be where I need to be tomorrow. There is nothing greater than that.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Don't get mad for the pink text. 1. It's my favorite color. 2. It is almost Valentine's day. 3. Deal with it? haha just kiddin'
Okay, so this email is going to be totally scatter-brained, but I've had so much on my mind that I really want to / feel like I need to share.
Transfer meeting will be next TUESDAY Feb 12 from 1-2:30. I was asked to sing the new song that Sister Ashbrook and I wrote for the meeting. If you would like to watch it, you are more than welcome! The website is:
WEBCAST & POLYCOM INFO
Note: It's important that oyu go to Website about 15 min early so the stream can stabilize.
Website: http://stream.lds.org/503649-120706
Polycom 1 by phone: 866.423.1957 code 6036103#
Polycom 2 by phone: 877.936.6770 code 9506743#
It should be a really good transfer meeting, and you can see my bright, shining, possibly crying face. The song is near and dear to my heart because I wrote it about my personal experience as a missionary. Hope ya'll can tune in and enjoy :) Remember, this is 1-2:30 pm ALASKA TIME. Please plan accordingly.
Okay, now for my real email...
Things here in Rabbit Creek are going really well. We are working a lot with Audrey, the cute 17 year old. She's still just trying to learn and understand since she has zero religious background. She offered the closing prayer after our lesson last night, and it was great! We also are working with a LA woman in the bush branch. She is a convert of just over a year, but hasn't been calling into our church. She is absolutely wonderful! We got to teach her a lesson via Skype { I love technology } and it went really well. She called into church yesterday for the first time since she moved to AK. We are so proud. We get transfer calls on Thursday or Friday, so next time you hear from me, I might be headed somewhere new.
So, we ate dinner the other night with some of the SEnior Missionary Couples and I had asked all of them what they loved most about their missions. They answered then turned to us and asked us the same question. {I should have expected that, but I diudn't} after a minute or two of pondering I finally came up with my answer. What I love most about my mission so far is... everything. The good, the bad, the happy, the devastating...all that good stuff. But what I love most is the change that I see the gospel make in the l.ives of those that I teach. I've stayed in contact with a few of my converts. And I absolutely LOVE hearing how they are doing and how their testimonies are growing. TJ, from FBX, has been blessing and passing the sacrament AND has been to the temple to do family names in the baptistry. Rachel is sharing the gospel with her family and is attending singles ward while she awaits hearing back from BYU and BYU*I. I cannot tell you how much love I feel for the people of Alaska. I those quiet confirmations that htis is where I need to be, and that these are the people I need in my life the most right now. As I reflect on these feelings, I can only imagine how our Heavenly Father and the Savior view us. They feel these same things for us on a much broader spectrum. How amazing is that??
I just want you all to knwo how much I love my mission. IT has truly been the greatest decision I have ever made and I have not regretted it for one second. I love this gospel, I love the savior, and I love my Heavenly Father. I know that where I am right now, is where I'm needed most. Where I will be tomorrow, will be where I need to be tomorrow. There is nothing greater than that.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
God is great, the work is good, and Alaskans are crazy!
Happy Monday to you all!
Well this week was really good. We ended up teaching quite a few lessons, which made me feel "normal" again. I've really come to realize how much I really love teaching, and when I don't do it as often I seem to forget how much I love it.
On Monday, we taught a less-active, Ron, in our ward. He was really pleasant to talk to and we had a really good time getting to know him. When we asked if we could share a spiritual thought with him he said, "Sure. But let me warn you, I do not have a testimony, nor do I have any desire to come back to church." Let me just say, it completely broke my heart. As I shared one of my favorite scriptures with him, Helaman 5:12, I could literally see him fighting against the Spirit. It was one of the saddest moments of my mission so far. It always hurts me to see people deny something that I love so much, and that at one point they loved too. It made me very grateful for the testimony that I have and for the opportunity I have to teach others about this Gospel. Hopefully one day Ron can find that desire to come to church again. Until then, we will keep visiting him and loving him, because really that's all we can do.
Did I tell ya'll that we picked up a new investigator?? Her name is Audrey. She is 17 and is dating a member in our ward. He is getting ready to turn in his mission papers, so we've been teaching him and his family the lessons to help him prepare. He invited Audrey to our second and third lesson and she really liked them! I really wanted to keep teaching her, so I said a prayer {silently, in my heart, since we were in the middle of the lesson} and asked Heavenly Father what we could do so that we could keep teaching her. I received my answer instantly! I remembered that she never heard the first lesson, so I asked her if she would like to hear it since we never had the opportunity before. She said that she would love it, so we're going back to teach her tonight. I'm so excited! She's such a smart, sweet girla nd seems to really have a desire to learn more. Hopefully she will continue in taking the lessons and will progress well.
We've been doing a lot of service for Sister Beesley around the mission home and in the office. We're preparing for all the new missionaries who are coming out in 2 weeks, and there is a LOT to be done. I don't know how Sister B ever gets things done, there's just so much to do. Thankfully, she has us and the assistants help her out :) we've taught the assistants how to vacuum, wash dishes, and properly roll blankets, so they can take care of those things while the women work! ;) it's good fun!
This coming up week we have a lot of stuff going on~ The most 'fun' thing that's coming up is our "Sister's training" aka sleepover!!!! One of the sisters is leaving the mission 6 days earlier than the others, so we're throwing her a surprise goodbye party! We're also going to be doing training and going over some issues happening with the sisters, but i'm mostly looking forward to watching "Errand of Angels" and having President make us pancakes in the morning. What more could a sister ask for?? :)
Hope ya'll have a great week!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Well this week was really good. We ended up teaching quite a few lessons, which made me feel "normal" again. I've really come to realize how much I really love teaching, and when I don't do it as often I seem to forget how much I love it.
On Monday, we taught a less-active, Ron, in our ward. He was really pleasant to talk to and we had a really good time getting to know him. When we asked if we could share a spiritual thought with him he said, "Sure. But let me warn you, I do not have a testimony, nor do I have any desire to come back to church." Let me just say, it completely broke my heart. As I shared one of my favorite scriptures with him, Helaman 5:12, I could literally see him fighting against the Spirit. It was one of the saddest moments of my mission so far. It always hurts me to see people deny something that I love so much, and that at one point they loved too. It made me very grateful for the testimony that I have and for the opportunity I have to teach others about this Gospel. Hopefully one day Ron can find that desire to come to church again. Until then, we will keep visiting him and loving him, because really that's all we can do.
Did I tell ya'll that we picked up a new investigator?? Her name is Audrey. She is 17 and is dating a member in our ward. He is getting ready to turn in his mission papers, so we've been teaching him and his family the lessons to help him prepare. He invited Audrey to our second and third lesson and she really liked them! I really wanted to keep teaching her, so I said a prayer {silently, in my heart, since we were in the middle of the lesson} and asked Heavenly Father what we could do so that we could keep teaching her. I received my answer instantly! I remembered that she never heard the first lesson, so I asked her if she would like to hear it since we never had the opportunity before. She said that she would love it, so we're going back to teach her tonight. I'm so excited! She's such a smart, sweet girla nd seems to really have a desire to learn more. Hopefully she will continue in taking the lessons and will progress well.
We've been doing a lot of service for Sister Beesley around the mission home and in the office. We're preparing for all the new missionaries who are coming out in 2 weeks, and there is a LOT to be done. I don't know how Sister B ever gets things done, there's just so much to do. Thankfully, she has us and the assistants help her out :) we've taught the assistants how to vacuum, wash dishes, and properly roll blankets, so they can take care of those things while the women work! ;) it's good fun!
This coming up week we have a lot of stuff going on~ The most 'fun' thing that's coming up is our "Sister's training" aka sleepover!!!! One of the sisters is leaving the mission 6 days earlier than the others, so we're throwing her a surprise goodbye party! We're also going to be doing training and going over some issues happening with the sisters, but i'm mostly looking forward to watching "Errand of Angels" and having President make us pancakes in the morning. What more could a sister ask for?? :)
Hope ya'll have a great week!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
January 22, 2013
Hi family!!!!
Well this week was absolutely CRAZY town. Monday was Pday. Tuesday and Wednesday I was on exchanges with my old comp Sister Ashbrook. We were asked to be in charge of training for all the missionaries on Thursday. So, we spent those two days re-living all of our fun on the island, and planning how we can help other missionaries to prepare to serve in the "bush areas" (aka remote areas like PSG} We sat down with Sister Beesley and she said, "I just wish that there was a song that could tie into training". And I said, "How about 'I have work enough to do'?" and it was PERFECT! All three verses hit exactly the points that we were trying to make. The training ended up going really well and we had a blast doing it. We trained in Anchorage on Thursday morning then drove out to Wasilla {about an hour away} and did the same thing over again. After the second training, we went to get flue shots {no tears or fainting from me, thank you very much!} that the mission is providing, then Sister Beesley took Sister Wuehler and I out to dinner afterwards. Um... best burger EVER = The Elvis Burger at A's Grill in Wasilla. It was bacon, cheese, pickles, and peanut butter! That's right..PB. YUMMY. Sister Beesley and I split it and some deep fried pickles. We talked a lot about missionary work and the happenings in the AAM right now. She's wonderful and full of so many great insights! On Friday we had some Family History training from a guy in the stake which was pretty fun. We're learning how to use Family History as a finding tool for new investigators. I'm excited to try it out and see if it works.
The work here is still really slow, but we are teaching a lot of active member lessons. Part of our goal as a mission is to help the active members to get into the missionary spirit, and see what we're all about. We taught quite a few really good ones this week and I've had a blast getting to know the people in this war. They are all amazing! Hopefully, some really wonderful things can come out of this.
Well I hope all of you are having a wonderful week. Remember that there is nothing more important in life than to remember that we are the children of a loving Heavenly Father. As long as we are doing all that we can to become the men and women that He knows we can be. He will help us to achieve all that we desire.
I love you all so much!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Well this week was absolutely CRAZY town. Monday was Pday. Tuesday and Wednesday I was on exchanges with my old comp Sister Ashbrook. We were asked to be in charge of training for all the missionaries on Thursday. So, we spent those two days re-living all of our fun on the island, and planning how we can help other missionaries to prepare to serve in the "bush areas" (aka remote areas like PSG} We sat down with Sister Beesley and she said, "I just wish that there was a song that could tie into training". And I said, "How about 'I have work enough to do'?" and it was PERFECT! All three verses hit exactly the points that we were trying to make. The training ended up going really well and we had a blast doing it. We trained in Anchorage on Thursday morning then drove out to Wasilla {about an hour away} and did the same thing over again. After the second training, we went to get flue shots {no tears or fainting from me, thank you very much!} that the mission is providing, then Sister Beesley took Sister Wuehler and I out to dinner afterwards. Um... best burger EVER = The Elvis Burger at A's Grill in Wasilla. It was bacon, cheese, pickles, and peanut butter! That's right..PB. YUMMY. Sister Beesley and I split it and some deep fried pickles. We talked a lot about missionary work and the happenings in the AAM right now. She's wonderful and full of so many great insights! On Friday we had some Family History training from a guy in the stake which was pretty fun. We're learning how to use Family History as a finding tool for new investigators. I'm excited to try it out and see if it works.
The work here is still really slow, but we are teaching a lot of active member lessons. Part of our goal as a mission is to help the active members to get into the missionary spirit, and see what we're all about. We taught quite a few really good ones this week and I've had a blast getting to know the people in this war. They are all amazing! Hopefully, some really wonderful things can come out of this.
Well I hope all of you are having a wonderful week. Remember that there is nothing more important in life than to remember that we are the children of a loving Heavenly Father. As long as we are doing all that we can to become the men and women that He knows we can be. He will help us to achieve all that we desire.
I love you all so much!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Friday, January 18, 2013
Ice Storms & Earthquakes
Hey guys!
Welp, it's sure been really interesting week here in ANC. We've had some really crazy wind/ice/rain storms here which have caused a lot of fun times in our area. Because there was so much ice in our area yesterday, we actually didn't go out of our apartment except to go to church. I was roped into giving a talk, so we really didn't have a choice. I also felt my second earthquake this week! It was so fun!!! Not too bad, don't worry mom! It was just a 4.1. It certainly makes for some fun times though.
Oh my gosh, guys! Guess what kind of car I drive? A Subaru. Ick... the only redeeming qualities about it are that it: A. isn't an Outback and B. is REALLY good in snow/ice situations. That is all on that subject. Oh, it also smells REALLY good thanks to the scentsy air freshener I got for Christmas. Thanks mom!
Because of all the crazy weather and storms this week and the fact that I got a really nasty cold which put me out for about a day {President made me hot apple cider and gave me some medicine. So sweet of him!}, we've done quite a bit of service and played it a little low key this week. I promise I really do "missionary work" aka teaching, we actually do it a! lot, it's just less exciting to email about sometimes. We only have one investigator in this area {this area is slower than PSG, believe it or not}, and she's been out of town but we will start teaching her this week.
This week we're doing exchanges with some sisters from Beach Lake in Eagle River about 40 min away. AND... I'll be companions with Sister Ashbrook again! It's only for 2 days, but i'm excited. We're in charge of training for the entire mission on Thursday, so we're spending Tues and Wed working on our training on working on an island in between. Should be fun.
Well, I don't have much time left, but I just want you all to know that I am doing well. I am very happy to be here in ANC and am feeling that I might be training next transfer, hopefully it will be the sweet Sister Hedelius from Manti, Ut. We got to call her last night and talk to her about the mission and it was SO fun! Marissa, I can't wait to see you in 3 weeks! Keep saying those prayers, I think they're working! ;)
Have a great week, guys! Love ya'll!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Welp, it's sure been really interesting week here in ANC. We've had some really crazy wind/ice/rain storms here which have caused a lot of fun times in our area. Because there was so much ice in our area yesterday, we actually didn't go out of our apartment except to go to church. I was roped into giving a talk, so we really didn't have a choice. I also felt my second earthquake this week! It was so fun!!! Not too bad, don't worry mom! It was just a 4.1. It certainly makes for some fun times though.
Oh my gosh, guys! Guess what kind of car I drive? A Subaru. Ick... the only redeeming qualities about it are that it: A. isn't an Outback and B. is REALLY good in snow/ice situations. That is all on that subject. Oh, it also smells REALLY good thanks to the scentsy air freshener I got for Christmas. Thanks mom!
Because of all the crazy weather and storms this week and the fact that I got a really nasty cold which put me out for about a day {President made me hot apple cider and gave me some medicine. So sweet of him!}, we've done quite a bit of service and played it a little low key this week. I promise I really do "missionary work" aka teaching, we actually do it a! lot, it's just less exciting to email about sometimes. We only have one investigator in this area {this area is slower than PSG, believe it or not}, and she's been out of town but we will start teaching her this week.
This week we're doing exchanges with some sisters from Beach Lake in Eagle River about 40 min away. AND... I'll be companions with Sister Ashbrook again! It's only for 2 days, but i'm excited. We're in charge of training for the entire mission on Thursday, so we're spending Tues and Wed working on our training on working on an island in between. Should be fun.
Well, I don't have much time left, but I just want you all to know that I am doing well. I am very happy to be here in ANC and am feeling that I might be training next transfer, hopefully it will be the sweet Sister Hedelius from Manti, Ut. We got to call her last night and talk to her about the mission and it was SO fun! Marissa, I can't wait to see you in 3 weeks! Keep saying those prayers, I think they're working! ;)
Have a great week, guys! Love ya'll!
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Anchorage!
Dearest Familia!
Well, it was quite the adventure getting here to ANC. We were scheduled to leave on the morning jet on Monday at 11:30. I work up at about 3 am Monday with a really nasty case of the stomach flu. I'll spare you all the details, but it was a really rough morning. I was determined to make the flight, so we called some men from the branch to come give me a blessing. The blessing caused us to be a little late to the airport, so the Alaska Airlines agents wouldn't let us fly. It was really sad, but ended up working out for the better. One of the engines broke on the plane we were supposed to b eon, and caused quite a bumpy flight, which I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to make it through. I ended up sleeping ALL day {with permission/strict orders from President, of course} which helped a ton. We made it out on the morning jet on Tuesday and got right to work once we got in our new areas. Transfers were on Wednesday, and were a total blast. I forgot how much I actually enjoy being around other missionaries, even when I feel completely overwhelmed. After the temple {I've been 3 times since I've been out} we all had dinner at the mission home. The elders and I were all laughing and joking and having a blast. Sister Wuehler and I had them laughing really hard by the end of the night. Gotta love good, clean missionary humor :)
My area is really great, so far. Rabbit Creek is in South Anchorage which is a VERY wealthy community. The work here is hard, and hasn't been successful in a while but that doesn't mean anything if you ask me. If we work hard, and are obedient, we will see blessings. No questions asked. It's weird serving in a full-blown ward since I've been in branches for the last 6 months, but I'm ready for the challenge. My district includes the Zone leaders, district leaders, and the Assistants... let me just say this.. they are all some of my favorite missionaries and we all have a blast together. I'm really excited for this transfer. President keeps making jokes about me training a new sister, Sister Hedelius {who writes me} who is coming out next transfer. We'll see what happens. She's the first 19 year old sister so we're all pretty excited.
Well I hope you are all doing great and keeping up with your personal scripture study!
"When like gets too hard to stand..kneel"
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Well, it was quite the adventure getting here to ANC. We were scheduled to leave on the morning jet on Monday at 11:30. I work up at about 3 am Monday with a really nasty case of the stomach flu. I'll spare you all the details, but it was a really rough morning. I was determined to make the flight, so we called some men from the branch to come give me a blessing. The blessing caused us to be a little late to the airport, so the Alaska Airlines agents wouldn't let us fly. It was really sad, but ended up working out for the better. One of the engines broke on the plane we were supposed to b eon, and caused quite a bumpy flight, which I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to make it through. I ended up sleeping ALL day {with permission/strict orders from President, of course} which helped a ton. We made it out on the morning jet on Tuesday and got right to work once we got in our new areas. Transfers were on Wednesday, and were a total blast. I forgot how much I actually enjoy being around other missionaries, even when I feel completely overwhelmed. After the temple {I've been 3 times since I've been out} we all had dinner at the mission home. The elders and I were all laughing and joking and having a blast. Sister Wuehler and I had them laughing really hard by the end of the night. Gotta love good, clean missionary humor :)
My area is really great, so far. Rabbit Creek is in South Anchorage which is a VERY wealthy community. The work here is hard, and hasn't been successful in a while but that doesn't mean anything if you ask me. If we work hard, and are obedient, we will see blessings. No questions asked. It's weird serving in a full-blown ward since I've been in branches for the last 6 months, but I'm ready for the challenge. My district includes the Zone leaders, district leaders, and the Assistants... let me just say this.. they are all some of my favorite missionaries and we all have a blast together. I'm really excited for this transfer. President keeps making jokes about me training a new sister, Sister Hedelius {who writes me} who is coming out next transfer. We'll see what happens. She's the first 19 year old sister so we're all pretty excited.
Well I hope you are all doing great and keeping up with your personal scripture study!
"When like gets too hard to stand..kneel"
Love always,
Sister Hatfield
Christmas, 6 month mark, Wrangell, and transfers...
Well hey guys!
So this week has been absolutely nuts! I'm just going to do one of those really fun day by day synopsis of my week. Cool? cool.
Monday: Christmas Eve! We spent most of the day caroling and Julebukking, then we ended our night with the always amazing Lister family! They gave us stockings full of yummy treats and fun little gifts. We spent the whole night laughing and eating more candy and treats than we should have. Dr. Lister is the dentist here in town [he gave us teeth cleanings my first week in town! so nice!], and he gave me 2 Dr Peppers... he is the BEST. :)
Tuesday: Christmas Day!!! Well we skyped our families, which was really fun it was so strange to feel like I was just sitting back at home with my family around the table just talking about our days. I loved it, but it was kinda weird. Surprisingly, it didn't distract me too much or pull me away from the work. We spent the rest of the day driving around and delivering re-gifted treats to our investigators and friends in the community. It was a really fun day full of Christmas Spirit! I love love loved it!
Wednesday: We found out about an hour before we were supposed to leave for Wrangell that we were putting on our musical fireside that night. We though that we were going to be doing it on Thursday or Friday. So... we hurried and planned our fireside. It went pretty well. We focused the whole thing on the life of Christ. We played Bible Videos that depicted different events in the life of the Savior from his birth to his death. After the video we would sing a song. It was really fun to put on, but could use a little tweaking before we do it again.
Thursday: We spent the day in Wrangell visiting some investigators and non-members. When we got there no one was able to meet with at all last time we were there. As we pulled into her driveway, I turned to Sister Ashbrook and said, "I think that nothing else worked out today because we need to meet with Michelle. I'm excercising my faith!" And guess what guys?? When she answered the door she said, "I was just thinking about you guys and was hoping you'd be coming by sometime soon." It was a total miracle! We spent about an hour there just visited and talked about my favorite topic {to study and teach}, faith! It was a really good day. It was also my 6 month mark. Isn't that crazy?? It's hard to believe 1/3 of my mission is already over. It's so sad to think that I'll be home by this time next year. So weird, anways. Oh, President called us on Thursday night and gave us our transfer calls... 3 days early! Sister Ashbrook is headed to Eagle River and I'm headed to Rabbit Creek ward in South Anchorage and will be serving with Sister Wuehler {wheeler}. I'm really excited and looking forward to the new area. I'm really going to miss PSG though. I love it here!
Friday: The whole day was dedicated to Michell. She is probably the funniest person in the SE of Alaska. We spent the day doing her dishes and folding her laundry and just talking about the gospel. It was really fun and she kept telling us how grateful she was that we were there. Most days, I just really LOVE being a missionary and helping others "Come unto Christ". It makes me really happy.
Saturday: We flew back from Wrangell this morning {on the Tinkerbell Alaska Airlines jet.... the ride was magical} and have been saying goodbyes and packing the whole day. It's amazing how much stuff one accumulates on their mission. SO. MUCH. STUFF.
We're flying into Anchorage on Monday and transfer meeting is on Wednesday.. It should be a fun and excited adventure! Thank you all for the wonderful Christmas gifts and wishes. It was all TOO much, but made me feel so loved, which is always nice :) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are gearing up for the new year!
Love Always,
Sister Hatfield
p.s. WELCOME HOME TANNER!!!
So this week has been absolutely nuts! I'm just going to do one of those really fun day by day synopsis of my week. Cool? cool.
Monday: Christmas Eve! We spent most of the day caroling and Julebukking, then we ended our night with the always amazing Lister family! They gave us stockings full of yummy treats and fun little gifts. We spent the whole night laughing and eating more candy and treats than we should have. Dr. Lister is the dentist here in town [he gave us teeth cleanings my first week in town! so nice!], and he gave me 2 Dr Peppers... he is the BEST. :)
Tuesday: Christmas Day!!! Well we skyped our families, which was really fun it was so strange to feel like I was just sitting back at home with my family around the table just talking about our days. I loved it, but it was kinda weird. Surprisingly, it didn't distract me too much or pull me away from the work. We spent the rest of the day driving around and delivering re-gifted treats to our investigators and friends in the community. It was a really fun day full of Christmas Spirit! I love love loved it!
Wednesday: We found out about an hour before we were supposed to leave for Wrangell that we were putting on our musical fireside that night. We though that we were going to be doing it on Thursday or Friday. So... we hurried and planned our fireside. It went pretty well. We focused the whole thing on the life of Christ. We played Bible Videos that depicted different events in the life of the Savior from his birth to his death. After the video we would sing a song. It was really fun to put on, but could use a little tweaking before we do it again.
Thursday: We spent the day in Wrangell visiting some investigators and non-members. When we got there no one was able to meet with at all last time we were there. As we pulled into her driveway, I turned to Sister Ashbrook and said, "I think that nothing else worked out today because we need to meet with Michelle. I'm excercising my faith!" And guess what guys?? When she answered the door she said, "I was just thinking about you guys and was hoping you'd be coming by sometime soon." It was a total miracle! We spent about an hour there just visited and talked about my favorite topic {to study and teach}, faith! It was a really good day. It was also my 6 month mark. Isn't that crazy?? It's hard to believe 1/3 of my mission is already over. It's so sad to think that I'll be home by this time next year. So weird, anways. Oh, President called us on Thursday night and gave us our transfer calls... 3 days early! Sister Ashbrook is headed to Eagle River and I'm headed to Rabbit Creek ward in South Anchorage and will be serving with Sister Wuehler {wheeler}. I'm really excited and looking forward to the new area. I'm really going to miss PSG though. I love it here!
Friday: The whole day was dedicated to Michell. She is probably the funniest person in the SE of Alaska. We spent the day doing her dishes and folding her laundry and just talking about the gospel. It was really fun and she kept telling us how grateful she was that we were there. Most days, I just really LOVE being a missionary and helping others "Come unto Christ". It makes me really happy.
Saturday: We flew back from Wrangell this morning {on the Tinkerbell Alaska Airlines jet.... the ride was magical} and have been saying goodbyes and packing the whole day. It's amazing how much stuff one accumulates on their mission. SO. MUCH. STUFF.
We're flying into Anchorage on Monday and transfer meeting is on Wednesday.. It should be a fun and excited adventure! Thank you all for the wonderful Christmas gifts and wishes. It was all TOO much, but made me feel so loved, which is always nice :) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are gearing up for the new year!
Love Always,
Sister Hatfield
p.s. WELCOME HOME TANNER!!!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
A Very Alaskan Christmas
Merry Christmas!!!!!
I hope you all are having a magical Christmas season, and are spending time with those you love and helping them to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Sister Ashbrook and I have been running around like crazy this last week. On Monday we sang in the town's Holiday Concert. We sang two numbers: Night of Silence with Mandy ( a 10 year old in the branch... I think I'm tagged in the video on FB?) and a Star Shone Bright with Carinn a non-member friend here in PSG. We also sang 4 numbers with the Oxford Carolers a group we've been singing with over the last month. It was a huge success and we got stopped by all sorts of people we don't know in town [as missionaries that NEVER happens] complimenting us.
We spent our Wednesday night caroling around town with the young women in the branch. We talked Kirt, the branch president, into digging out his skif (boat) and decorating it with lights to take us caroling in. I must say.. I have never been so cold in my life. Haha! Riding in a boat down a street when it's 10 degress outside gets really cold REALLY fast. haha
Our branch Christmas party was on Friday and was a huge success. We had quite a few non-members and less-active members come. IT's always nice to see people who aren't the usual bunch at our parties. There was plenty of food and cute decorations.
Saturday was the first day of the fun Norwegian tradition of Julebukking (yule-a-bucking). It's when all the merchants in town thank their customers by feeding them! It goes for 3 days or so an deveryone in the town gets together and eats and mingle. It just might be my new favorite Christmas tradition. We've eaten a LOT these last few days and still have the majority of the stores to hit today. We've tried a lot of different Norwegian foods like Krumkaka and pickled herring and some native Alaskan foods as well like Spikachik (sp?) [deer lef that is cooked by packing it in salt. It tastes just like you would think... raw red meat covered in salt. Bleh. I couldn't even finish chewing mine]
Today we are caroling with the Oxford Carolers to the Julebukker's while they wait in line. Then we are spending the rest of our day doing regular pday stuff... writing lertters, laundry, cleaning, wrapping presents [we bought each other wool socks!], and packing. We're headed back to Wrangell the 26th-29th for a quick trip, so we have to get cracking.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve tonight and a very merry Christmas tomorrow. May we all remmeber that it's not about the presents or the trees or the food, but it's about celebrating the birth of our Savior.
With Love from a true Alaskan Woman,
Sister Hatfield
p.s. the people here in PSG are WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY to kind and giving. We've gotten so many gifts and treats that we don't even know hhow we're going to get all of our stuff back to the mainland when we leave this place, I got my very own flannel shirt [hence i'm a true alaskan now] and some Ice Trekkers [spikes that go on the bottom of your shoes to make it so that you don't slip on the ice![ I love them both and the people who gave them to me! :)
I hope you all are having a magical Christmas season, and are spending time with those you love and helping them to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Sister Ashbrook and I have been running around like crazy this last week. On Monday we sang in the town's Holiday Concert. We sang two numbers: Night of Silence with Mandy ( a 10 year old in the branch... I think I'm tagged in the video on FB?) and a Star Shone Bright with Carinn a non-member friend here in PSG. We also sang 4 numbers with the Oxford Carolers a group we've been singing with over the last month. It was a huge success and we got stopped by all sorts of people we don't know in town [as missionaries that NEVER happens] complimenting us.
We spent our Wednesday night caroling around town with the young women in the branch. We talked Kirt, the branch president, into digging out his skif (boat) and decorating it with lights to take us caroling in. I must say.. I have never been so cold in my life. Haha! Riding in a boat down a street when it's 10 degress outside gets really cold REALLY fast. haha
Our branch Christmas party was on Friday and was a huge success. We had quite a few non-members and less-active members come. IT's always nice to see people who aren't the usual bunch at our parties. There was plenty of food and cute decorations.
Saturday was the first day of the fun Norwegian tradition of Julebukking (yule-a-bucking). It's when all the merchants in town thank their customers by feeding them! It goes for 3 days or so an deveryone in the town gets together and eats and mingle. It just might be my new favorite Christmas tradition. We've eaten a LOT these last few days and still have the majority of the stores to hit today. We've tried a lot of different Norwegian foods like Krumkaka and pickled herring and some native Alaskan foods as well like Spikachik (sp?) [deer lef that is cooked by packing it in salt. It tastes just like you would think... raw red meat covered in salt. Bleh. I couldn't even finish chewing mine]
Today we are caroling with the Oxford Carolers to the Julebukker's while they wait in line. Then we are spending the rest of our day doing regular pday stuff... writing lertters, laundry, cleaning, wrapping presents [we bought each other wool socks!], and packing. We're headed back to Wrangell the 26th-29th for a quick trip, so we have to get cracking.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve tonight and a very merry Christmas tomorrow. May we all remmeber that it's not about the presents or the trees or the food, but it's about celebrating the birth of our Savior.
With Love from a true Alaskan Woman,
Sister Hatfield
p.s. the people here in PSG are WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY to kind and giving. We've gotten so many gifts and treats that we don't even know hhow we're going to get all of our stuff back to the mainland when we leave this place, I got my very own flannel shirt [hence i'm a true alaskan now] and some Ice Trekkers [spikes that go on the bottom of your shoes to make it so that you don't slip on the ice![ I love them both and the people who gave them to me! :)
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