M. I. A.

I am writing this asap today because last week was one of the only weeks in my whole mission I didn't send an email. 

This week was awesome! 

Some quick updates:

Vanessa is getting baptized on the 12th of September! Please pray for her to be able to reach that goal! She came to her family's sacrament meeting yesterday with her husband and her daughter! It was soo tender!

Sister Stock and I are thriving and have been working HARD this week! We get home and crash every night because we're exhausted! It is great though! I hit my 14 month mark last week and only have 3 months and two weeks left so I'm full sending!

Our friend Sergio is doing really great and so is Melissa! They both have amazing faith and are loving the gospel!

We had follow up training in Oxnard this week and interviews and also exchanges ALL ON THE SAME DAY! It was a crazy day but sooo fun! I went with Sister Lehauli and Sister Stock went with Sister Jacobsen! It was so fun to see missionaries I've served around in the past! ALSO...Last week we went on exchanges with Sister Keele and Sister Gowans! 

Funny story: After district council on Friday, we stuck around in Santa Paula to do food share (service)! We packed lunches and were eating them outside in the back parking lot of the church (which is fenced in) with all the sisters. One sister kindly gathered up all the garbage and took it over to the dumpster because we aren't allowed to throw things away in the church. She climbed the little wall surrounding the dumpster and was about to throw the trash in, but ran back with it instead whisper-yelling ,"There's a man in the garbage!" We look over and there is a man peaking out of the dumpster at us. We were all dying laughing (an uncomfortable laugh) and ran inside the church. It was definitely an experience!

I love my mission and never want to leave! 

Sister Hadden 

Re-Stock the Mission

Our mission received 34 missionaries this week, all new missionaries, many reassigned. Sister Lee and I drove to Oxnard last Monday and picked up our new companions! My new companion is from Texas and her name is Sister Stock (hence the title of this email)! (I'm hilarious). She is awesome! She was originally assigned to the London England mission, Portuguese-speaking. 

This week was one of the busiest I've had in a while. Sister Stock took it like a champ and crushed it! We taught eight non-member lessons and 10 member lessons! We helped a less active member move, served at food share, helped a member make bookmarks for the primary kids, and had many, many meetings! 

Sister Stock and I got a call on Tuesday asking us to be facebook support missionaries, meaning we call and remind other missionaries of the posts they should be making, and help them brainstorm ideas and make quality material for the page! Kinda fun!

Our people are doing great! On Monday the ward put together a drive-by welcome party for Charlotte. They all drove by her house, cars decorated, armed with posters and presents, honking and yelling hello! It was a highlight! The ward has shown so much support and love to her! Our other friends Melissa and Sergio are cruising through the lessons and loving the Gospel! 

Fillmore is HOTTT! Not just because there is a fire close by, but because it is 112°F every other day! If you ever visit Fillmore (I don't know why you would) DON'T DO IT IN AUGUST! You will die!

Loving the mission and the experiences I'm having. It's been a learning curve this week and I'm excited to learn more next week! The harder things are, the more I rely on my Savior, and the more he builds me up! 

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest in your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." -Matt 11:28-30 

Sister Hadden 

Oh, also: I got into BYU PROVO 🏻 

Pictures: wildlife encounters, food share, zoom meetings, on a walk with Ele, first taste of Sothen California mexican food!

(More pictures to come...we took so many this week)

Baptism Week, and--oh! --Transfers

 

What a week it has been!! First and foremost, Charlotte was baptized!! It was pure insanity trying to make that happen, but we did it!! We got a call the night before saying that due to new COVID restrictions, we are not allowed to have baptisms in the church. So Sister Lee and I called our leaders, Charlotte, and the members involved, and told them all we needed to change the venue. MIRACLE: A Sister in the ward offered her pool and let us have the baptism there...(well, we basically begged her, but she said 'yes' right away!). There was some other craziness that happened, one being that Charlotte stepped right into the deep end and almost drowned, but the man baptizing her caught her, so all is well! BUT she had an amazing experience. I love her so much and am in awe of her resilience and her faith!

We are still teaching Sergio. We had awesome lessons with Melissa and Tomas this Sunday, and started teaching a new friend over FB! The area is doing so well! 

Okay, so what you've all been waiting for: transfer calls. We got a leadership call on Saturday night, and Sister Lee is training!!! I'm so proud of her. THEN we got another call saying I am training too! What?! Crazy! THEEEENNNNN we got a third call saying that I'm going to be a Sister Training leader next transfer! I'm terrified but excited. 

President Carter asked me to pray for confirmation that both my call to be a Sister Training leader and trainer were from God! I did and I feel humbled that Heavenly Father would trust me this much. I know he has a plan for my mission. 

Also, I'm staying here in Fillmore!!! YAY!!

Sister Hadden

I'm not creative any more

I can't think of anymore email titles...if anyone has some extra time on their hands ;) and wants to help me come up with some titles, lmk! 

This was an awesome week! We saw MIRACLES! 

1: Charlotte passed her baptismal interview with flying colors, and will be getting baptized next Saturday at 1pm! She is so excited and so ready!

2&3: We found TWO new friends to teach this week! One we found over Facebook. His name is Meno. We started messaging him, and he said he wanted to learn more! The second one is a lady named Melissa. We found her by calling old friends in ABP.  When we called, she got super excited and said she had been needing spiritual upliftment! We've had two lessons with hi

Haha I sent that halfway through! 

We had two lessons with her this week and she has an awesome desire to learn and understand the scriptures!

4: It was Sister Lee's month-mark and birthday this week, and we were given sooo muuucchhh food and cake... mostly cake! Cupcakes, two whole cheesecakes, a giant chocolate cake, cake pops, and donuts!

5: One of those cheesecakes was given to us by a former person being taught, named George! We thought he was done with learning about the Church. He called us and was like, "Sister Lee, I saw it's your birthday. I'm going to bring you a cake!". It was so random, but awesome because we talked to him and he said he's been super busy and hasn't been trying to avoid us, which is nice to know! 

6: Our friend Ele, a less-active member, asked us to come over one night this week just before we had to be in for the night. We went to her house and she said, "Oh goody! You're here! You're going to help me quit smoking tonight." She had us put her first patch on her so she could start right then! It was so sweet that she wanted us to be a part of that big step in her life!

Ele and her patch

It was just an awesome week and I'm loving my mission, and the people I get to meet and serve! 

Sister Hadden 

Pictures: ,  

Yummy food

Dropping off cookies on Sergio's truck

Hermana Kerr was emergency transferred so we dropped her off :( 

Footbridge to a member's house to get dinner!

Working hard!

Missionary work is tiring! I love what I am doing, but it is anything but easy! 

This week was jam packed! We taught over 20 lessons! Some in person, and some over video chat. We did so much service! We walked a lady in our ward's dog, supported a member who wanted to quit smoking, helped set up for Kennedy's wedding, and helped out at FOOD SHARE!

Oh did I mention? KENNEDY GOT MARRIED! We've been teaching her for about four months, and she is now getting ready to move to Utah! She wants to get baptized, but wants to wait until she goes to church and meets people! 

My little cousin got baptized this Sunday, and I got permission to zoom in for a little bit! CONGRATULATIONS, ELEANOR! I love you, and I'm proud of you!

We got to meet Sergio in person this week! We gave him a church tour, and introduced him to our ward mission leader and his wife! He is progressing really quickly, and has a great foundational testimony!

Sister Lee and I put together a Fireside over zoom for our ward (with a bit of help from the Elders in our ward). We had a couple of speakers who shared their testimonies, and Elder Lkhagvadorj and I sang for a little musical number! It was hard to plan, but went well! 

We went to IHOP for my 13-month mark because a member gave us a gift card! We had to sit outside under tents, but we were the only ones there, and it was so fun. 

Have a great week!

Sister Hadden 

New friends!

We met a new friend over Facebook this week! Facebook works, people are really searching, and also spending a lot of time on the internet! Sister Lee messaged this guy, Sergio, and he wanted to learn more. We have had three lessons with him since then, and he is so cool! He is a truck driver and a father of three. He wants to grow closer to God and is reading the Book of Mormon daily!

This Saturday was Charlotte's quit date! She is now living the Word of Wisdom and is doing sooo great! She received a blessing of strength from one of our ward members and loved it! As we were leaving she said, "I could conquer the world". Her baptism is in three weeks and she is so excited! As always please keep her in your prayers!

We had exchanges this week with our Sister Training leader, Hermana Stoker, and she is so great! I learned a lot from her about how to set goals that are reachable!

We've had the craziest schedule lately, running all day, every day. It is so great though. We had so many opportunities to serve this week. We helped our Relief Society president clean out her kitchen for a remodel, a member bring tables back to the church, and Food Share of course. We teach lessons all day, every day, too. All our people are doing awesome! 

The Relief Society had a cute drive-through to give all the sisters gifts! They handed out cute restoration proclamations and flowers! 

We had interviews with President and Sister Carter this week. They are the sweetest! We've actually seen them a lot this week.  They came to our district sacrament meeting this week, and we had a devotional with them on Sunday over zoom. They shared how excited they are to be here and their testimonies!

It's been a great week.

Love, 

Sister Hadden

Another Busy Week

We met our new Mission President and his wife this week! We had a district meeting and got to hear them speak. Sister Carter showed us an adorable slideshow of their family. They had us ask them questions about themselves. They are so kind, and excited to be here! President Carter is a former ER doctor, and told us some cool stories! He shared a message about how our Heavenly Father's motivation is love, our Savior's motivation was love, and our motivation for this work, for everything, should be love! It was great!

We had so many service projects this week!  We helped Tomas and his family with their tree house. We were there for about ten minutes, and he was like, "Well, we've done everything I had planned. You can leave if you want." We were like, "No, we can stay and do more!" He came up with a few more jobs, and we were able to help out for longer.  We helped a family in Santa Paula--the Nelsons--to lay sod in their back yard. They are doing a bunch of home improvement projects during the quarantine. We did the food share project again this week! 

We found some new friends this week! Matt and Grace are a couple that live here in Fillmore! They are a miracle find. Sister Lee messaged Matt, and he was interested in learning! We asked him when a good day and time would be, and he goes, "Right now"! We call and he said his girlfriend was going to join in! They are going through a lot in their lives right now, and really connected to the atonement when we shared it with them! Edwin we also found through FB! He lives in Houston, Texas and is sooo cool. We've had two lessons already, and he loves learning. He always says he feels something when we meet! He is starting to read the Book of Mormon on the gospel library app and is so in tune with the Spirit! 

We went on exchanges this week. I got to teach a bunch of English lessons with Hermana Butler to people all over the world! It was really fun, and I mostly just sat and smiled (because I don't know that much Spanish). I want to learn more, though!

Wow, this email is already soo long! So much has happened this week! Keep Charlotte in your prayers again! She is doing so great!

We had a crazy week with bugs...I'll put some pictures! Haha! I had an encounter with a Black Widow, our apartment has been infested with roaches, and I found a super cool beetle and scared my companion with it! Good times! LOL!

Pics:  After service, adventures at the Harbor, President and Sister Carter, and bugs