Sister Marissa Hadden: BA BA BARBARA, SANTA BARBARA

Hellloooo!

I am officially here in the mission field! It is so great! I am serving in the Santa Barbara YSA ward! My companion is Sister Preece, she's from Layton UT. We came out the first time together, and she is great!

Our area is incredible! UCSB is a huge campus and our institute/church building is right next door. There is a village of student housing called Isla Vista and we go finding there. It is ALL YSA which is so great. In the other YSA wards I have served in, it has been very hard to find interested YSA because there weren't any big pockets of YSA so we would just knock wherever and mostly talk to older people and families. Then if we would find someone who wanted to learn, we'd have to send them to the Family ward missionaries. Here we don't have that problem.

We also booth a lot on the campuses. Our bishop bought this huge chalk board and a spinner wheel for us to set up booths.

We are teaching some great people. Jack, who's from England and is super funny, is progressing so much. We are hoping to ask him to set a baptismal date this week. Yu, who is from China and loves everything we teach him, eats up the information and knows what we're teaching is true! Then there's Lindsay. We met her this Wednesday on campus boothing and had a lesson Thursday. She is so prepared and said she really wants to start coming to church and learning more.

I know that Heavenly Father knows me as an individual and that he loves me. It was a hard decision to return but I know the Lord is blessing me for it. I know he knew exactly where to place me to have the most growth and impact. I grew so much while I was out the first time and while I was home. I am so grateful that the Lord can mold us to reach our full potential! I am so grateful for the Gospel and the way it helps us to become so much more than we could on our own!

Love, Sister Hadden.

Ps: my address rn is 5839 Encina rd. Apt 206

Also I can't find Honey Burt's bees anywhere, so if it's on Amazon can someone please send me some?

First day, bye to sister Chandler, mexican sandwiches.