Adventures in Mesa: How Much God Knows And Loves His Children

Hi family! (Email 2-9-14)

Okay soooo I have some news for you... Transfer news! Are you ready for this?? You might be as shocked as I was! I am.... Training again! Haha so that is 3 times in a row! There's only one new sister this transfer so I already know who she will be. Her name is Hermana Brons and she is from New Zealand. Isn't that cool! I am excited to meet her on Wednesday! But.... I am leaving Liahona 3rd. My heart is broken! But I am trying to remind myself that instead of being sad that I have to leave, I need to be grateful that I was able to stay here for so long. I am being transferred to the Arboleda ward and I am whitewash training! (Whitewashing is when new missionaries are taking over the area, so nobody knows the investigators, members, area, etc). The whole ward is being whitewashed actually and my new roommates are going to start serving there too. I am going to live and serve with Hna Orr and Hna Garcia and I am super happy about that because I already know and love them! Hna Garcia is my roommate right now and Hna Orr was in the MTC with me. So we will be able to figure things out together. To be completely honest, I have absolutely no idea how to do this. I feel like Nephi when he said he was lead by the Spirit, not knowing the things beforehand that he should do. Which is great though, because being guided by the spirit is something I have really been trying to learn so what a great opportunity! Training has all sorts of challenges on its own when you do know the area, so this is going to be quite an adventure! I don't even know where to start... Like really I have no idea what to do on Wednesday after we leave transfer meeting haha... Please pray for me! But I am really excited! I know I am going to learn a lot! It's going to be really fun. Heavenly Father always knows how to challenge me and help me grow, so I am excited to see what is in store for me!

It's funny. Saturday morning we were at a stake correlation breakfast and we were all so anxious about transfer news, so we were going around saying our predictions. We were trying to think who would train the new sister and someone jokingly said, “Oh Sister Haynes is going to do it again!” And then I was like no way I couldn't do that! They said ok who is in favor of sister Haynes whitewash training say I. And they all did, but everyone was just joking. But.... It happened! Haha I thought that was super funny. It's going to definitely be something new for me and I know I am going to learn so much. I really hope that I can help this new sister and that we will be able to harvest! I know The Lord always qualifies those whom He calls, so I am just going to go forward with faith and try really hard to learn how to recognize and trust in the Spirit. I'm not going to be living in the ghetto anymore so that's going to be really weird. I have really come to love it!

But oh I am so sad to be leaving this branch. I have given my whole heart to this place for the last 7 months and it is so hard to just walk away from it. Yesterday we had fast and testimony meeting (because we had stake conf the week before) and at the end Hno. Tolman from the branch presidency texted us and was like Hna. Haynes are you going to get up here or are we going to have to invite you. I got right up and started crying before I was even up there. It was just so hard knowing it was the last Sunday that I would be there as a missionary with these people that I love so much and I have tried so hard to serve. I gave my last testimony and told them how grateful I was and how much I loved them. Afterwards, they all came up to me and gave me hugs and handshakes and said their goodbyes. It was the hardest thing. It touched my heart how tight they hugged and the tears that they shed too. They all made me promise that I would come back and visit. Hno Tolman said that it was rare to find a hardworking, dedicated missionary and they were thankful for my service. It really, really touched my heart. I am so grateful for their love! These people have changed me forever. I have never loved people like this before. As you focus all your energy on serving and loving and helping others, you come to love people in a really powerful way. It is really hard to say goodbye. But I know The Lord has great things in store for me! And for these people!

I am sad to leave Hna Groll too! She is the best. I have seriously never met such a happy, positive person before. It has been so wonderful seeing her change and grow and really become a great missionary over these past 3 months. I am so proud of her. She has really, really made such great progress! And she is such a great friend too. Love her so much! Her new companion is really great and I know they are going to take great care of this branch.

Okay so what happened this week.... That is always the hardest question haha. The English referral, Kimberly, called at the beginning of the week and said that she had a death in the family and was having a really hard time with it. We offered for her to receive a blessing of comfort and she happily accepted it! We took that awesome member, Sis Reed, and her husband. Seriously, they were prepared by God to help this woman. They relate to her and understand her and can help her in ways that just amaze me. We left that lesson and I started crying because it was just such a testimony to me of how much God knows and loves His children by the way He prepared these people to help each other. I can't even describe it. They were able to help her with so many of her concerns and really testify of the ARP program and she is excited to go. I love missionary work! I love seeing the people work in people's hearts!

We also were able to meet with Rono more! Man he is the coolest person ever to teach. I just feel the Spirit so strong when we teach Him. We went over a few basic principles of the plan of salvation with him. I was able to teach him about how we lived with God before this life and how we chose to follow Christ before we ever came to earth. It just blew his mind. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. It made me see how much I take my gospel knowledge for granted. So many people have no idea where they are going in life, and I can't imagine how hard it must be to live without that direction. It is such a blessing that we have a knowledge of God’s plan for us. He had some questions about Joseph Smith so we were able to watch Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration at the Visitor’s Center with him last night.

I wish I had more time to write so I could tell you about everything we do! And I wish we had more time to write in our journal too so that I could at least put it in there. We really do see miracles every single day. It is amazing. I am so eternally grateful for my mission. It is the best decision I ever made. It has changed me in so many ways - ways that I didn't even imagine. And I still have a long ways to go!

I love you SOO much and I really appreciate your prayers! (I might need extra this week!) You are always in mine too!

Con amor,

Hermana Haynes