Elder Hayden: Chapter 34

Only 5 more days until we get to talk to this Elder… We are beyond excited.  Not really being able to see him on Mother’s Day because he was in the MTC, this will be the first time we see his face in 9-months so we are excited.  I am sure tears will be shed at least by me but they will be thankful and gratitude tears for this amazing missionary serving his Heavenly Father and teaching those that are seeking.  Love him and miss him so much but oh, so proud of him!  Enjoy! 

Chapter 34:

1) This is going to be an amazing companionship. I can feel it. -President Cooper

2) Welcome to Clearwater

3) There is so many people from Pohnpei!

4) I've been in Florida for almost a year now (the biggest stretched truth a missionary says)

5) I am going to teach you how to build member relationships really well. -Elder Durrant

So it's official!  I'm in Clearwater. The first verse comes from President Cooper, our mission president, and he said that to me as we were about to head out. It was a pretty amazing feeling.

We walked around as soon as we got there and talked to about 15 people and taught 5 or so. We went to a Less Active sister and she is Micronesian and speaks Pohnpeian and we taught her and she told us she had some family in the area.

Then we walked to an appointment that fell through and I fulfilled something on my bucket list. I threw a ball to a dog who played fetch. Prayed with a lady and she was playing fetch so afterwards I asked if he could play and she asked if I wanted to throw it so I did.

The next day we met three other families that are from Pohnpei and they each have 4 or 5 kids and all know about the church. They all assemble at a church down here that is a church for people of all faiths, that all are from Micronesia. We are teaching their pastor and the pastor’s son. Alma 18-22 is where we are going to get our teaching method from. 

Then at church we got to meet a few members and the fourth quote is what I told them all. It's true just stretched. The ward is awesome. Most of the people we are teaching are member referrals because Elder Durrant is really good with members. He is going to teach me how to be really good at it. 

I am really excited and grateful to be here and I am really excited to call home on Sunday. Love you all! Thanks for the prayers and presents. I love you!

With Love and Prayers,

Elder May

Elder Hayden: Chapter 33

It’s transfer week and Elder Hayden is being transferred after almost 8 months in the same area.  Love him and miss him but oh, so proud of him!  Enjoy!!

1) Half the week in Brooksville, half in Hudson

2) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYSON!!!!!!

3) Can we just talk about what happened in there?!

Hey Everyone!

After 2 days of riding a bike...

This week I got to venture out of my area. I went up to Brooksville/Spring Hill area from Tuesday till

Friday. They only had their bicycles in that area. In total during that exchange we probably biked 55 miles. MY THIGHS BURN! But it was totally worth it. We saw some awesome miracles.

One downside however was that I foolishly locked Elder Harper and my bicycle to a pole and then accidentally lost the key. Whoops. So the other elders in the area let us borrow their bikes for the next day and Elder Sites brought up my spare key when he came to pick me up. That was a pretty funny but embarrassing moment. Luckily there was a nice sense that they were safe because we couldn't get them unlocked by hitting the lock pretty hard with a hammer so if someone stole it then they deserved it because that probably took a lot of effort. 

Some of those miracles consisted of teaching Moroni's promise to a guy after we knocked on his door and he told us he "knows" about Mormons and him accepting a copy of the Book of Mormon and told us he'd read and pray to learn if it is true. 

Another would be Colleen. She was driving down the road when we were biking home and honks the horn like crazy screaming "Hi Elders!" Then flips a U-turn and talks to us and asks us if we can come by. She used to study in Gainesville, just north of our mission border, and she and her boyfriend are interested and is glad she found us. 

Next would be a couple of people we are teaching, Connie and Tom here in Hudson. We teach them every Sunday and we went by and Tom told us that since we left the Book of Mormon at his house last Sunday he only read it that night. He also told us that now he is 30 pages into the book and excited to read more but doesn't have the time. We left them both with a commitment to read more, to be baptized, and that we can teach their family and they accepted each one. 

Finally would be Kimberly. We knocked on Kimberly's door about a week and a half ago and she was kind but didn't have time to meet. She went and got us a powerade from inside though. We went by yesterday and she comes to the door and says, "Hey Elder May and Elder Sites!" which is weird enough because everyone usually just says Hey Guys or something but she remembered the Elder part and our individual names. We sit down and start to teach and she tells us a few miracles she has seen in her life and how they have built her testimony on prayer. She has even witnessed a priesthood blessing given by a doctor to a patient that needed to be hooked up to a machine to breathe, heal her immediately and she didn't need to anymore. We explained how the Spirit feels and she knows what it is and is going to be looking for it when she prays to know if it is true. She set a date to be baptized as well. SO AWESOME!!!

On a final note, I got a call today telling me I will be transferred south to Clearwater to teach more of Gods children there. I am so excited. A feeling of excitement and nervousness all at once and I LOVE IT!!!! Here is my new address if anyone would like it 1802 Sunset Point Rd. APT. E Clearwater, FL 33765.

I love you all! Continue being so awesome! You're in my prayers! Talk to you next week!

  

Love,

Elder May

Elder Hayden: Chapter 32

I remember when Hunter left on his mission someone gave me a quote that went something like “I can go days without talking to you, months without seeing you, but not a second goes by that I am not thinking about you…”  

 Having a child serve a mission brings this phrase to complete fulfillment.  We haven’t spoken or seen Elder Hayden for almost 8 months now but there isn’t a moment in a day where I don’t find myself wondering where he is or what he is doing.  Does he have what he needs and is he safe?  Does he know he is loved and prayed for? 

 Then I get the first email on Monday morning that says “Hi momma” and I know that he is where he is supposed to be.   

I love him and I miss him too, but I am oh, so proud of him!  Enjoy!!

Chapter 32: 

1) Bubbly is champagne, we are cinder blocks of righteousness

 I can't think of a better verse than that. But this past week was pretty good! We have been being blessed with people to teach and I really appreciate that. We have some really cool people that we are teaching and they are all more converted than our previous people we were able to teach.

Each one that has a baptismal date, set by the Spirit and not just three weeks away like we were doing. It is so much more powerful. I love it. 

Something I need to get better at is taking pictures of us working. We are not great at that. I will improve. 

But I have a couple of miracles. One is Carol who we met on Monday and have met with twice since. She has met with the missionaries before a long time ago so she didn't remember much and we were able to teach the first half of the restoration and the second half another time but she read the pamphlet and we asked if she had any questions and her only one was "Where can I get a Book of Mormon? Pretty awesome. We have a lot more but I don't have much time. 

I love you all though! I'll talk to you later!

Love,

Elder May