A Very Special Christmas

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Our Christmas was really cool. Generally, Hispanics celebrate Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day. We were lucky enough to have a family invite us over to celebrate with them. The traditional Christmas Eve dish is tamales which is basically like this meat inside of this corn meal stuff wrapped in a corn husk. So we had a ton of those, some with chile verde, some with chile rojo, and some sweet ones. The family also gave us each a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates (I never had those before my mission; they're amazing) and we sang some Christmas songs. Most of all, it was just really nice to be with a family and feel of the love and Spirit that is in their home.

On Christmas day, we had dinner with the Bishop and his family. They had ALL the missionaries over, all 11 of us! For Christmas day, Mexicans traditionally have pozole which is like this soup with pork and chile and hominy. It's super yummy too. It was really cool to be able to have traditional Mexican meals for these holidays. We also played some traditional Mexican games at the Bishop's house. Overall, it was a blast!

On Christmas, I also had the chance to talk to my family! That was so fun. Because there's so many missionaries in the ward we were having a hard time finding members with internet who would be available to have us over to Skype our families. My mom told me that her aunt's stepson lived super close to us in Keizer and that we could go Skype or Facetime over there. We decided to do that and set up everything to go over there on Christmas day.

Auntie Hayley and Hudson getting reacquainted

When we got to the house, in the entry way there was this woman waiting for us. She looked familiar but I couldn't exactly figure out why. I gave her a hug and after a few minutes of looking at her and talking to her, I realized that she looked so familiar because she looked just like my mom and my grandma. That's when I finally pieced together that this was my great Aunt Gini whom I hadn't seen since I was a little girl!  It was SO VERY special to be able to be with her on Christmas. I got to ask her all kinds of questions about my grandma and what she was like and what my mom was like when she was little. We both got emotional as we talked about my grandma and what kind of person she was. Both of my grandmothers and my grandfather on my dad's side passed away either before I was born or when I was very little so I've never really known what it was like to have grandparents, to have that kind of relationship with someone, and I've always been sad about that. Spending just that brief time with Aunt Gini was so very special for me, to feel that kind of relationship and love. I love her so much!!! She is wonderful. It really was a testament to me of the strength of the bonds of family, how those connections are real and eternal.

One other quick story before I go... we were teaching Javier and Adriana this week along with Adriana's brother, Augustine. We taught about the purpose of life on earth and how it truly is a time to prepare to meet God. We talked about keeping the commandments like praying, reading scriptures, going to church. We invited them to come to church with us. Javier and Adriana agreed, Augustine said he would like to but that he has work. We bore testimony to him that Heavenly Father would provide a way for him to be able to come at some point in the future through a change of schedule or something because He wants him to keep that commandment. After we said that, he said "You know what, I'm not going to work." We were super surprised and were like "Uhhh....what?" He said "Yeah, I'm just not going to go to work on Sunday and I'm going to come to church with you." Hahah totally not the response we were expecting. But you know what? He totally did it, just bailed out on work and came to church! That, my friends, is faith. 

I love you all!  Have a wonderful New Year's!!

Love,

Hayley

More Christmas pictures...

Note from Mom:  I am so grateful Aunt Gini's stepson lives in Hayley's area and that they graciously provided the sister missionaries the opportunity to Skype and Facetime from their home.  They also fed them Christmas breakfast which was also so very kind of them.  What an extra treat that Hayley was able to see and speak with Aunt Gini!  Hayley had only met Gini one other time in her life when she was just two years old.  She was this little:

I'm glad she was able to have this additional special Christmas experience.  I truly believe there are no coincidences.

  

Merry Christmas, almost!

Hi everyone!

Merry Christmas!!! So hard to believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. This year has gone by so very fast. 

Yesterday, we had our Christmas Conference. Our zone got together with three other zones and we spent pretty much the whole day with President and Sister Samuelian. We started off by having a small devotional where one of the APs and Sister and President Samuelian spoke. After that, we had dinner with everyone, followed by a skit from each of the zones. Hermana Cardon and I are the ones who wrote the skit for our zone and it was pretty funny. We took a video but it's too big to send over email so I'll have to show you it when I get home. After that, we had the concert portion of the day. They invited three stakes from the area and a ton of people showed up! The concert was beautiful. One of my favorite songs we sang was "When Joseph Went to Bethlehem" from the Primary songbook. I love love love that song.

Our Christmas Conference was in Forest Grove and it was WEIRD being back up there!! I feel like I got a little glimpse of what it'll be like some day to come back and visit the mission. I got to see so many people I love so much:  Sister Podwys, Carlos and Maria, and many other families. It was great!! I also got to see Hermana Perez.  She faked being an alto so we could sit next to each other the whole concert :)

I can't tell you how different this Christmas feels. It just doesn't feel like Christmas, but I am definitely way more focused on the true meaning of Christmas than I ever have been before in my life.  It hasn't been about presents or food or anything, just remembering and pondering on the birth of our Savior.  President told a story yesterday about the Christmas Conference up in Bend.  He said one of the members came up to him asking if the Sister Missionaries could please sleep at their house on Christmas Eve so they could be with their family Christmas morning  President said he thanked her for her thoughtfulness but then said he couldn't allow the Sisters to miss out on the opportunity to be alone on Christmas. He explained that this Christmas for us will be special because we will be alone, without family or opening gifts with everyone or movies or anything.  It will just be us and the Savior on that very holy day.  As strange as it sounds (and as much as I really do miss my family and would love to be with them) I am grateful for this very unique Christmas, where I have the opportunity to focus all of my attention on the Savior.

Sorry this is a little shorter but I love you all!  Have a Merry Christmas!  Can't wait to talk to you this week!

Love,

Hayley

With Sister Podwys...found on FB with her comment: "What a beautiful program put on by our Oregon Salem missionaries. My Christmas has been so enriched this year by so much love. Adding to it was getting to see my 4 Hermanas!! One left before I could get a picture of her. Thanks for sharing Christ's light in my life Sisters!!"

Note from Mom:  I found the above pictures from their skit on another site.  Even though they are a little blurry, I thought they were worth posting because they show her sweet, smiling face.  Can't wait to see the video!

Here are the words to "When Joseph Went To Bethlehem".  I see why she loved singing it.

When Joseph went to Bethlehem I think he took great care
To place his tools and close his shop and leave no shavings there.
He urged the donkey forward, then, with Mary on its back,
And carried bread and goat cheese in a little linen sack.

I think there at the busy inn that he was meek and mild
And awed to be the guardian of Mary’s sacred child.
Perhaps all through the chilly hours he smoothed the swaddling bands,
And Jesus felt the quiet strength of Joseph’s gentle hands.

And close beside the manger bed he dimmed the lantern’s light,
And held the little Jesus close upon that holy night.

A Very Happy Birthday It Was!

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!!!  And especially thank you to everyone who participated in the box my mom sent by posing for pictures!  It definitely made my day really super special.  It was so fun to see pictures of everyone!  Because we went to pick up our new trainee on Thursday, I was able to go pick up my packages from the mission office that day. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have received it on my birthday; things are really backed up because of Christmas and what not. I especially loved the banner! So very creative.

So, we went to the training meeting on Thursday and we got our new companion, Hermana Gifford.  President and Sister Samuelian actually brought a cake to the trainer's meeting as well. I was really surprised they remembered my birthday.  It made me feel super loved.  All in all, it was a really great day!

a bunch of hermanas at the transfer meetings

Goodbye Hermana Macias...she went home this week

Our new companion is so awesome!! Her name is Hermana Gifford and she's from Draper, UT. She just graduated from high school last year.  She went to the Mexico MTC. It's been a blast being in a trio so far!  I'll have to send a picture of our bedroom sometime; it's pretty funny with all the beds lined up next to each other, like a sleepover every night. Our bedroom actually got switched to the living room in order to accommodate it all. It really has been awesome, though. One thing I really like about Hermana Gifford is that she asks a lot of questions. I remember when I was a trainee and my trainer asked me if I had any questions I always said no. But Hermana Gifford actually takes the time to really think about, and come up with, specific things we can help her with. I just think that's so cool!  To me, it really shows that she wants to learn and wants to improve as quickly as possible.  We're super excited!

Jessi's (someone they're teaching?) birthday is actually today so since ours are so close together, we had a combined birthday dinner over at their house. It was super fun!  We made really yummy food and tortillas. There's this hispanic tradition for birthdays that the birthday person has to "bite the cake" meaning they literally put their face in the cake and take a bite out of it. As part of the tradition as well, someone shoves the person's face into the cake. It's pretty funny. So we both participated in that!

Party at Jessi's!

  The bite

After the shove

This Christmas season has just been so special. I hope everyone has had the opportunity to see the "He is the Gift" video!  It is wonderful. I love the message. As a mission, we've also been memorizing The Living Christ for the Holiday season and it's been so amazing. That document is so doctrine packed. I think now, more than at any other point in my life, I really have come to understand the Savior and the eternal significance of His life and, most especially, of His Atonement. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be on a mission and for this time to really get to know my Savior.

  

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Meise

I'm gonna be a Mom!

Hi everyone!!

It's been a super good week! The most exciting thing that happened was that Sister Cardon and I found out that we're going to be "Moms"!  In mission lingo, that basically just means we're getting a trainee. So, this Thursday, we're going to get a new missionary straight from the MTC and, for the next twelve weeks, we'll be living the trio life and showing her the ropes. We're super excited! There are five Hermanas (out of 15 total) going home this transfer and six coming in so a huge turnover. We're trying to brainstorm and plan right now to make sure that this training cycle, everyone gets the best start they possibly can. It'll be great! 

I'm not sure if I already told this story, but a couple weeks ago we got a call from Elders in a different area giving us a referral. When we went and contacted them, Hermana Cardon kept saying, "I just think I know her from somewhere."  When we went back for our next lesson, after asking a couple of questions she realized that she had taught her about a year-and-a-half ago in her first area in West Salem.  Crazy, huh?  So we've been teaching her for a couple of weeks and we also started teaching her sister that lives there with her. This last week we had a lesson with her sister. We had given her a Book of Mormon the last time so we asked her if she read and she recounted to us the whole first vision. It was awesome. 

We also finally had a lesson this last Saturday with a referral we've been trying to contact pretty much the whole time I've been in this area. We stopped by Saturday morning and she allowed us to come in and teach her and her 18-year-old daughter, Carina. They are such a sweet family! They were telling us how Carina is in college while her mom is trying to finish her GED. Stories like that never cease to amaze me, that just in one generation so much can change and this whole world of opportunity can open up because they were able to come to this country. It's so, so cool. As we got into the lesson, Carina started crying as she told us about how in today's world, so many people get distracted and forget God, forget that He loves us, forget their purpose. It was a really sweet experience. 

We also had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) this week. Sister Samuelian talked about pride which reminded me of that lesson Mom gave a couple of years ago that she talked about all the time. Her remarks were based on the talk Beware of Pride and basically she talked about how pride is enmity against God, anything that makes us think our way is better than His way. 

Our Christmas Conference isn't until the 22nd of December so no need to worry, Mom, I'll get it in time! (her Christmas box)  I'm so excited to get the packages! We'll be in Newberg on Thursday so I'll be able to, hopefully, pick up the birthday ones.  i think we might be able to Skype on Christmas day in the Family History Center but I'll figure out a way! 

Here's some pictures from the week:

 Christmas tree in the Mission home

Some of the missionaries from the district and Kika, awesome member!  You might remember her from the temple pictures.

Love, 

Hayley

Note from mom:  Thankfully, I already knew what the term "Mom" meant in mission lingo before her email came so she didn't get me this time!  The talk she referred to is such a great one that I quoted from when I gave the lesson she referred to.  One of the family jokes is how I kept reminding everyone when they were saying something prideful but then noted that by doing so, I, myself, was being prideful.  Here's a link to the talk if you'd like to read or watch it in its entirety:  Beware of Pride

"The pig's head...dropped on the floor..."

Hi everyone! 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Mine was super good. Remember how I said we had a dinner appointment with someone in the ward? Well, around 4:00 pm on Thanksgiving day, they called us and said "Hermanas, we have a problem. The pig's head we were cooking dropped on the floor and so we had to go to the store to get another one.  It's not going to be ready by the time you have to be back in your apartment." We got a pretty big kick out of that but also pretty sad at the prospect of spending Thanksgiving by ourselves. We texted our ZL (Zone Leader) and told him our dinner cancelled (because they were in charge of keeping track of where everyone was for Thanksgiving). A few minutes later, we got a call from the APs (Assistants to the President) inviting us to come have dinner at the Samuelian's. We were so so happy! So we got to spend Thanksgiving with the Samuelians, their son and his new wife, and some of the missionaries in the Newberg area. It was a really great Thanksgiving; it definitely felt like I was at my home away from home. Also, the Samuelian's son's new wife is the daughter of my old bishop at BYU, Bishop Walkenhorst. He's the one that did my mission papers and Dad, you met him when you came out to visit me. Small world, huh?

Because of Thanksgiving and meetings and some other things getting switched around, it was kind of a slow week. We did go on two exchanges, though, so that was nice. It kind of helped to keep things new and fresh. I went on one with Hermana Aubrey on Friday.  She's another missionary serving in the same ward as me.  We were in the CCM together and lived in the same house. We went to visit a less active in their area that they had never met before. When we knocked on the door, this angry looking lady poked her head out of a window and said, "What do you want?" We were like, "Oh, are you Rosa?"  She said "yes" with a very suspicious look on her face and asked who we were.  We said, "We're the missionaries!"  She still had a very confused look on her face and said "Wait." We waited out there on her porch for a good five minutes in the freezing cold when we finally started looking at each other and whispering, "She's coming back, right? Should we leave? It definitely sounded like she was coming back." Finally the door opened and she said, "Come in, come in!" She sat us right down at the kitchen table and started making us gorditas (so, so yummy). By the end of our visit she told us that when we go home, we need to tell our parents to go visit Veracruz and that we can stay with her daughters in her old house. It was just crazy how differently the visit ended up from how I expected it to go when she initially opened the door. Such a nice lady.

This was us meeting up after our exchange:

Hermana Aubrey and I look scrubby because we finished off our exchange by helping someone clean and put up Christmas decorations.

We had the funniest fifth Sunday combined lesson ever yesterday at church. Basically the topic of the lesson was "Su esposa es una ayuda, no esclava." Translated: you're wife is a help, not a slave. Hahaha the Hispanic culture is so stinking funny. There was a lot of participation about how to improve marriage with things like "Not telling your wife that she has to heat your tortillas or that she has to serve you." and all kinds of funny things. It was absolutely hysterical; everyone was dying laughing.

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Meise

. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone!

I can't believe it's already THANKSGIVING! That is the craziest thing. Then Christmas and New Year's and, man, time is just going so fast. I hit my nine month mark this week. So crazy. (BTW mom, thanks for the "hump day" letter! You timed it perfectly, I got it EXACTLY on my hump day!)  For Thanksgiving, we'll be with the Hernandez Family, they're really sweet. I probably won't have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner but I'm sure it'll be super good. 

I forgot to mention in my letter last week that two Sundays ago we had the Primary program in the church. It was adorable. They actually have about 30 kids in the Primary here which is really pretty good considering the size of the ward. The Stake Primary Presidency was there and I was asked to translate for them. It was my first time ever translating and it was SO HARD. It was hard because a lot of times I'd just want to translate the words directly but pretty often, that doesn't end up being grammatically correct in English. Plus, you have to listen to what the person is saying as you're translating what they just said a second ago. So tricky. But I was grateful to be able to try it out because it's a useful skill. Sometimes for service, we go with investigators to appointments with doctors or lawyers and interpret.  That's much easier because they pause and wait for you to interpret. So crazy though. 

Sharing the dinner message with the bishop last week actually went super well! After we talked a little bit about the importance of vision, he told us that he'd actually had the same thoughts lately, that the ward needs some kind of direction if it's ever going to go anywhere. We were able to present to him our vision that we had as missionaries and he really liked it. We had dinner with him again last night and he was talking about how he really wants to have the members and the missionaries working more closely and really the members taking a lot more responsibility in the work of salvation here in their ward. This is EXACTLY the shift that President Samuelian has been talking about for months and we've been trying so hard to make it happen here. Hopefully, now that we're all kind of on the same page, we'll be able to move forward and actually make it happen. 

We found this new family to teach that we're super excited about. We had our first lesson with them last night and it was just amazing. We found them because the husband, Javier, is friends with one of our investigators and he was over there once when we went over to teach him. We've been trying to set something up for weeks but he would always cancel at this last minute. We had his address so we just decided to go over yesterday because we had some spare time. We were able to sit down and have a really nice lesson with him, his wife, and his wife's brother. His wife, Adriana, is seriously so sweet. She was talking a lot about her kids and her family and how all she wants is a better quality of life for them and how she knows that comes through Christ. We shared with her The Family: A Proclamation to the World and talked about how happy families are the whole purpose of the gospel. They had a lot of really great questions and genuinely want to change in whatever way they have to in order to follow God's path and help their family. We are so excited. They are so golden. 

Hermana Cardon and I are getting along super well; she is so sweet. We're both the kind of people to just laugh it off when something goes wrong so it's really nice. This week, we knocked on one door where the person totally came to the window to see who it was and we waved at them, but then they walked away and just didn't answer the door. That happens a lot, but this time it was just so stinking funny. We were standing on this stranger's porch, busting up laughing. 

Well, that's all for this week! I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! I love you!

Love,

Hayley

Vision with Purpose

Hi everyone!

It has gotten SO COLD here. I'm seriously dying. It is so hard to wear a skirt every day in the winter. Mom, if you could send my under armor pants so that I can wear them as tights, that'd be great!

Nothing too eventful happened this week. We had zone conference and President talked a lot about vision and how necessary it is. He shared this scripture in Proverbs 29:18: "Where there is no vision, the people perish...."  He talked about how when we create a vision with an understanding of our purpose, then and only then can we create strategies and tactics to help get us where we need to go. If we try and skip straight to the tactics without thinking about our greater purpose, we'll wander around with no clear direction. One thing he said that I really like is, "Hoping things work out isn't a strategy." We have to make sure we have a clear idea about where we're trying to go if we're ever going to figure out how to get there. With that in mind, my companion and I decided to present a similar idea to the bishop. Because the ward is so new, there's no vision or ward mission plan or anything along those lines which we think is why it frequently feels that we're going nowhere as a ward. We're having a dinner with our bishop tonight and, for our dinner message, we're going to very humbly present our vision, strategies, and tactics that we have for ourselves as missionaries and ask him how we can incorporate our vision into the one he has for this ward in an attempt to encourage him to formulate a vision. Wish us luck, we're super nervous. 

I played the piano this week for Young Women's in Excellence! This might seem like a small thing but anyone who has ever asked me to play the piano during a church meeting knows that I am extremely hesitant to do so. It's been a long time since I've played anything so it wasn't perfect but I'm pretty lucky because Hispanics don't really pay attention to the piano at all when they sing. Special thank you to my wonderful piano teacher, Sister Forsyth. We had a correlation meeting right after and another set of missionaries brought something that tasted just like Sister Forsyth's ooey gooey butter cake so it literally felt like Sister Forsyth herself telling me I did a good job. :-)

We went on exchanges with Sister McCrite and her companion. I ended up going with Sister McCrite to her area in Woodburn and it was great! We taught a lot of people and I really enjoyed being with her again, even if it was just for the day.

I have a lot of pictures to attach so I'm going to start now so I don't run out of time.

From last week's trip to the Capitol...

representing by the PA flag

 Oregon's answer to the Liberty Bell

and one I found online from Zone Conference

(love the Elders photo-bombing in the back)

Note from Mom:  LOVE that she played the piano for YW in Excellence!  My reward for years of paying for piano lessons.

Lessons from Geese

Hi everyone! 

This has been such a quick week! We had a lot of meetings so it didn't leave us a lot of time to be normal missionaries but that's okay.

This week we had our first MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) which is basically a meeting in which all of the STLs and the Zone Leaders of the mission get to have a day-long meeting with President and Sister Samuelian. The purpose is to "council" about certain issues in the mission and get training that we then bring back to the other missionaries during exchanges. We also discuss the needs of the missionaries that serve and how to help them with those specific needs. It was so awesome! I think my favorite part of my new calling so far is just being able to spend more time with President and Sister Samuelian. They are just the best. 

Sister Samuelian gave a training entitled "Lessons from Geese" in which she talked about all these crazy facts about geese. Did you know geese fly in that v-formation because it gives them uplift and, because of that uplift, they can fly 70% longer? If a goose gets out of line, they feel the resistance from the lack of uplift and get back in formation. But the goose at the front has a really hard job; he has to fly without the aid of the uplift. Because of that, the geese regularly change out who the goose at the head is so that everyone bears a part of the burden. Do you know why geese honk? They honk in order to encourage the goose at the front. If one of the geese gets sick, two geese always go down to the ground with it and wait for it until it's ready to fly and then when they're ready, they take off and form their own V. Crazy, right? I've watched geese fly in those Vs my whole life and never realized how much meaning and purpose there was behind it. 

We related this to our lives and how when we all share the load, things are much easier to bear. We also talked about how when we get behind our ultimate "head goose", Jesus Christ, and let the uplift of the atonement carry us, everything is easier as well. It was super cool! 

We got a referral this week from a member for a woman she talked to in a store. On Friday night, we went to go meet the woman and her husband. As we began talking to the husband, he said, "Wait! What church are you from?" and we said, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" and he said, "Oh, that's my church, too!" Turns out he's actually a member who was baptized in Chicago, had a lot of health problems and stopped being able to attend church.  He then moved to Oregon and didn't know where to find the church over here. He said, "Yeah, I totally want to go; I just didn't know where it was." He's this super funny old guy so it's going to be a blast teaching him and his wife. It's so funny when this kind of stuff happens, and it happens a lot. It's just such a testimony to me that God really does number His children and He doesn't forget about a single one.  He's constantly looking out for us and trying to help us get back to where He wants us to be.

We went to the Capitol building today and walked around a little bit and I DID take pictures but totally forgot to bring my camera cord to the church with me. Sorry :(  Here's a few from Hermana Cardon's camera:

Love,

Hayley

No "Small Things" in the Lord's Work

This week has been good.  A little slow, but it happens. 

My new comp is Hermana Cardon from Provo, UT! She's super sweet. She actually went home for a little bit because her dad passed away and she came back out when I arrived. We did all the orientation together so we already knew each other a little bit before this transfer. We're working well together and focusing on helping this ward become more missionary minded. We're both new STLs so we'll be learning together. It'll be good, we're in the same boat right now: a little scared but excited!  It'll all be good.

I don't have a lot of time to write now and not much to write about but there is one super good experience I want to share:

Last night, we were driving around visiting some less actives. We didn't have too much success.  We just met a couple of people on the way to places but none of the people we were trying to meet. We got to this one apartment that Hermana Perez and I had tried a few months ago but no one had answered the door. Hermana Cardon and I decided to try it again. When we knocked on the door, this other woman answered and, to be honest, my first thought was, "Oh great, another person that's moved away and we won't be able to find."  We started talking to this lady, though, and all three of her little kids came to the door.  We met them and were talking to them about Halloween and what not. The lady then started asking us about who we were and which church we represented.  She starting telling us about how she grew up going to church but stopped.  She's been really missing it and wanting to be able to bring her kids somewhere to learn more about God. We talked about families and how important it is to base them on the teachings of Christ. We were able to give her information on the church meeting schedule and she seemed really excited to come this week. She told us how happy she was that we had come to her apartment that night. This week in my studies I was reading this verse in Ether 3:5: 

Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men.

It really reminded me that sometimes things that seem so small to us are actually very significant and truly are done by the hand of the Lord. I was grateful for the reminder that there are no small things in the Lord's work and definitely no coincidences.

Love,

Hayley

A letter from President Samuelian

31 October 2014 

Dear Sister Hayley Elizabeth Meise,

Congratulations on your new calling as a Sister Trainer Leader in the Oregon 
Salem Mission!  This honor and responsibility comes to very few sisters in the 
entire mission.

No other calling, other than training a new missionary, will have more 
importance while serving the Lord.  As a Sister Trainer Leader you will be 
responsible for the training and welfare of female missionaries assigned to you. 
You will be a member of and participate in, the new Mission Leadership Council 
(MLC).  Sister Training Leaders will continue to proselyte and will also spend 
time each week training and evaluating the needs of female missionaries. You 
will report directly to the Mission President on the needs of sister 
missionaries. You will also work closely with Sister Samuelian as part of your 
new duties.

Your parents and priesthood leaders will also receive a copy of this message. To 
them we say how thankful we are for sending this great sister to us, and know 
that your hopes and dreams will in great measure be fulfilled in their service.

The call to leadership is best done by example. Those you serve will watch you 
and will desire to become like you. This will require you to be faithful, 
diligent and most importantly, loving in all you do.

Your calling comes through inspiration and qualification from your Father in 
Heaven. It is a sacred trust given to you, from Him.  Know also of my trust and 
gratitude for your willingness to accept and fulfill this calling.

With Love,

 

President Samuelian 

CC:  Stake President, Bishop & Parents

Good news and bad news

Hi everyone,

So much to tell this week! I'll start with the good news-- I've been called as a STL (Sister Training Leader)! For those of you who don't know what a STL is, it's basically a zone leader for sister missionaries. For those of you who don't know what a zone leader is, I'm basically going to be helping other sisters improve, going to their areas and having them come to mine to train them and what not. To be totally honest, I'm a little bit terrified and definitely feeling super under qualified for this. I'm the second "youngest" Hermana in this mission, in terms of how long we've been out. I definitely do not feel capable of telling any of these Hermanas, who have been missionaries way longer than me, what things they can work on. Aye aye aye, it'll be fine, right? The Lord qualifies who He calls, right? I kind of knew it was coming because President talked about it in my interview last week, but at that point it was up in the air as to whether it would happen this transfer or next transfer. I was really hoping next transfer, but I guess this is what's best.  

The bad news is that this means Hermana Perez and I will be getting split up! I can't even tell you how sad I am about this. I know who my new companion is already so that's nice but I'm just so sad. I LOVE Hermana Perez, she is seriously my best friend. We have had a blast being together and have been able to see so many wonderful things happen. The only light at the end of the tunnel in this is that she's going to go to BYU so we're planning on being roommates again after our missions.

 

We also had a Halloween activity for the Primary this week! It was so cute to see all the kids. The S______s, P_____ and her family, and another investigator M_____ all came so it was great to see so many people there. They had some little games and we decorated cupcakes, and it was super fun. This week our ward is having a trunk or treat so that'll be fun! I'm hoping we'll have a bunch of people there as well.

This little girl reminds me of Zoey

The S______ family had their court date this morning to see if they were going back to Mexico or not and we don't know the details yet, but she said it went super well! That was definitely good, good news. 

Yesterday in Gospel Principles we had a lesson about the importance of family history work and temples. It was so good and inspiring.  I can't wait to go home and do more family history work.

Love you,

Hayley