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

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

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

"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