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
Thursday, April 18, 2013
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
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