Hi Family!!!
Another week done. Time just flies
by and it breaks my heart! I can't believe this transfer is already ending.
So... Transfer news!!! I am.... being switched to English work! Just kidding...
I am staying in Liahona 3rd branch! YAY!!! Seriously I never want to leave this
branch. Ever. It has been progressing so well lately. The members are making so
many improvements and it’s so great to see. And guess what! I am training
again! I am super excited! I am sad to have to leave Hna. Demille though. She
will be serving in the Liahona 1st branch. I've lived with her my whole mission
and she has grown to be one of my best friends so I am super sad for her to
leave. I am super excited though. I love this area so much and I am really
excited to train. It's always so fun to work with new missionaries because they
are so excited to be out in the field and have such great enthusiasm for the
work!
Lots of miracles!
So this week, we spent a lot of time
passing out invitations to the turkey dinner and meeting with all of the less
active members in the branch. We had a lot of miracles! I can't even tell you!
I think I officially know probably about 90% of the people in the branch now.
It feels so good to really know and love the members that I work with. They are
the greatest people. I feel so blessed to be serving here. We found a lot of
potentials while visiting the less active members because they almost all have
part member families. Yesterday we went and met a less active sister for the
first time (Carmen). Her husband(?) Tito sat in on the lesson and had lots of
questions and wants to learn more! We set up a return appointment with them on
Wednesday. I really just have such a passion for working with these less active
members. I'm not sure why. It just feels really good to help those people who
have already made covenants with the Lord. It feels really good to strengthen
the branch in the way that it really needs strengthening right now. And when
they have nonmember family living with them, it is killing 2 birds with one
stone! Reactivating and teaching investigators! I just think of John and Karen
and how well that worked out for them! The Uribe family has been a little harder
to get a hold of, but we had 2 lessons with them this week.
Softening hears and preparing for a quincinera.
Monday was a really, really great
day. We had a noche de hogar with Lupe’s! It was a miracle! They all gathered
together and listened to our lesson. Seriously, it is so hard to get them all
in the same room, let alone to listen to us. But they did and there was a great
spirit there. Lupe's mom, heart has really been softening lately. She has been
very less active for a very long time and has not had much desire to go back. We
have been going over a lot doing service with her to get things ready for Lupe's
huge quincinera in March and ever since Lupe's baptism she has been starting to
be a little more receptive to our messages. I know it will take lots of time
and work, but I know that she will find her place again. She has such a good
heart and the only thing she wants to do is be a good mom. She has just gotten
a little lost along the way. She is hilarious though. She loves to make fun of
our accents and imitate us haha.
We sang together
After that, we went and visited the Uribe
family and it went really well. Then after, we went to a member's house across
the street that we thought were less active, but they aren't. The cute little
grandma let us in with a big hug and immediately went to the kitchen and made
yummy Mexican hot chocolate and cookies for us. The member we visited is the
branch organist and he LOVES music. We told him we could sing, so we sang a
song with them while he played the piano and he was so happy. His parents live
with him and they are the cutest little mexican grandparents in the entire
world. (Me: Soy soprano! Hna Maughan: Soy alto! Cute Grandpa: Soy David!) I
just really liked that night so I thought I would tell you about it haha.
Fellow shipping and turkey dinner.
The Turkey Dinner went SOOO well! We
had so many miracles! This cute little less active sister we invited showed up.
She was so nervous because she didn't know anyone, so she waited for us to get
there in the car, and when she walked in a sister in the branch welcomed her
right away and fellowshipped her so well. We had a really good number of less
active members and nonmembers there. Especially people that had hadn't come in
a long time. It was great.
Afterwards, we packed up all the
leftovers and delivered them to all of the members that didn't come. It was a
really fun experience. One of the members of our branch presidency (Hno.
Tolman) is so passionate about helping these less active members. He really ran
the show and, unfortunately, was left with a big responsibility of handing out
most of the dinners. I am so grateful for his dedicated service though.
Recognizing a dream and having a change of heart
Juan and Ana are doing SO well. I
can't even tell you. Their whole family is progressing wonderfully. Even their
kids are really interested. I was a bit worried for Ana because she hadn't been
as into it as Juan, and she didn't really feel like she was getting answers to
her prayers. But on Friday we had such a big miracle. We took them to the
visitor's center, and there is just such a great Spirit at that place. We took
them through a great exhibit about God's plan for families, took them to a
little corner about prophets and listened to President Monson's testimony, then
we ended at the Christus statue. When we sat down at the Christus, Adriana's
face just changed. She told us that she had seen something that looked so much
like the Christus with the background of the stars behind it in a dream that
she remembers so clearly. When we listened to the presentation, you could just
see on her face how strongly she was feeling the Spirit. Afterwards, when we
talked about it, she wept and felt like she received an answer to her prayers.
It was such a beautiful experience. The Spirit was so strong. They have already
come to church for 4 weeks. We need to talk to them about marriage still, but I
think they will accept it easily. We are trying to get them to agree to a
baptismal date, but they think that they don't know enough. I know they will
though, in the Lord's time. They are such a great family!
Another miracle!
Also on Friday we had another
miracle! We have this investigator named Manolo who loves learning but always
randomly goes to Mexico for long periods of time and we never know when he is
coming back. He called us and said he and his girlfriend (Emilia) wanted to
meet with us! Emilia and her family have been taking the lessons in Mexico and
have a baptismal date set for December. Manolo just loves Emilia so much and is
so excited to learn and get baptized because he wants to marry her in the
temple for eternity! He said this would be the last weekend in Mexico, but if
it is not, we will be able to teach him via Skype. I just hope that he really
gains a testimony of the gospel, though, instead of rushing it for his
girlfriend. We will make sure he is really keeping his commitments and truly
developing a testimony.
They are changing the area
boundaries again because we will only have 2 sets of missionaries in the branch
again. I will be covering the north area and the elders the south, so I might
lose both Ana & Juan's family and Manolo. I really don't know yet. I will
get the map on Wednesday. It is a bit annoying transferring all these people
back and forth all the time. I will probably be getting a lot of people back
that I gave to the Elders last transfer.
The Lord has everything planned to give us true and lasting happiness and joy.
I just want you to know how much I
love the Lord. I have really been impressed lately with how perfect His plan
is. He is so aware of every single one of His children, and has a plan for each
one of our lives. If we trust Him, everything will work out. He is in the very
little details of our lives. He has everything planned to give us true, lasting
happiness and joy. I have been studying lately the missions of Alma and the
sons of Mosiah in the Book of Alma, and I am just so impressed by them. All the
success that they had was because of their dedication to the Lord. They trusted
Him perfectly and worked so diligently. All that they ever wanted to do was to
follow the guidance of the Spirit and serve and love the people around them.
People were touched by their examples of sincere love and charity. I know that
as we learn to love others like that, and as we learn to completely trust the
Lord, He will direct our paths and make sure that all things work together for
our good.
I love you all so much and feel so
blessed to have such a supportive family as all of you! You are always in my
prayers!
Love,
Hermana Haynes
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