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
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
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
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