Dec 16, 2013

Hey family!

So this week was such a great week. 

But to start it off. I need to know how I skype you guys. LIke to what account I will call. And I need to know what time. It will probably be better for April to call first. Or we call together? I dont know. You guyd figure it out and let me know. 

So.....I did not get transferred. I cant believe it. I am really excited to finish the 12 weeks of training with my comp but this is my fifth transfer in this area....I know this are better than people who have lived here for years.... 7 months in the most difficult area on the mission. President Andrezzo told us that Bandeirantes is the hardest on the body in the entire mission. And he never ever leaves someone in an area longer than 4 transfers....haha Beleza. haha. No honestly I am excited because we are working with a really solid group. I am excited to get back working with them. Obviously there is something that I am not getting right here cause the Lord is asking me to stay another 6 weeks. Maybe this time I will be able to get it right. haha. 

So this week was pretty sweet. We had a good time. I forgot to tell you but two weeks ago I think I might have broken my big toe playing some soccer in the street against some kids. If we won, they had to go to church. If not, we had to buy them a coke....haha. Ya my toe got destroyed because the street is so uneven. haha. But it doesnt matter because we won 7-6 and they all went to church that next Sunday. And two of them will be baptized. haha. That was in the area when I went with the Assistents. It was sweet. 

This week was good. Like I already said. Nothing too crazy has been going on. We are working really hard with our group. We have an investigator that is progressing in everything. And I mean everything. Expect....she doesnt go to church...Well at least she hasnt gone yet....Man its hard. I dont know what to do with her. I dont want to let her go becuase of all of the things she is doing. But three weeks and she hasnt gone to church yet. Its tough. I might shoot her. But we will pray about it tomorrow in weekly planning. I think we will keep her. 

That sweet little family is now down to just the teenage girl. The Mom went freaking crazy! And said that we cant teach anyone anymore. But we still go over there and teach them. haha. Shhhh. But honestly, they dont want anything anymore. Only the teenage girl. Maybe one day when they all grow up. I hope that we were able to plant some kind of seed inside of them. 

We had Stake Conference this weekend. It was sweet. M. Russell Ballard spoke. But he spoke in English and they didnt have the translation for him. SO me and another American missionary took turns translating for the entire stake. It was....pretty nerve racking. haha. It was tough. But we were able to do it. 

Lets see what else....It is really hot. Thats normal....

You all know everything about my area. Well at least you should. ALmost 7 months here. I know it better than Provo. 

O I had the chance to ordain Gabriel, my first baptism in this area, as an Elder. It was a special and emotional experience. The way the gospel has transformed this young man is unbelievable. 

Something we need to work on is trying to contact more men. Then problem is there are so many men that wont even talk to us and when they do they act like punks. But we still got to do it. 

I cut Elder Browns hair today. It turned out really good. Mom and Nicole would be proud. I used scissors and all. He liked it a lot so that was sweet. 

Alright. So that was how my week was. There are probably more things I am just not able to remember them. haha. I love you all. I hope all is well. I am excited to see you all next week. Give me the details about what time and to who I will call. Love you all and be safe. 

Elder Hadley

Dec, 9 2013

Mom,

So ya my hives have gotten pretty bad....haha. on my arms, shoulders, neck, and even on my back. They are starting to look like when I first got them way back in the day. haha. I will talk to Sister Andrezzo to see what we can do. 

How was your week? 

Mine was a good week. Pat I loved the email my bro. Send a pic. I wanna see how big you have grown. haha. My little stud. Keep working hard my man. Sharia, thank for the letter a couple of weeks ago. Love you both. 

So this week I did a division with the assistants in an area that we just opened. Its a city that has never seen missionaries. The assistants have been working there for three weeks and I dont know why I was invited to go with them? haha. Maybe I will be transferred there and start working in Valença? I am not sure. Whatever the reason. It was a blast. It was cool because I have always had a good relationship with these two Elders. Elder Warner from Roseville. (He is in the Citrus Heights ward, Spence) And Elder Rodrigues who is from São Paulo but lived in Utah for almost 9 years. We have always been good friends during the mission and this three weeks made it even better. It was a blast to learn from them. This area is sweet. We have an old market place that is our church building and the missionaries that will be living there will live in the apt above the church. haha. Its a small town really close to the beach. Our baptisms there take place on the beach. So that is pretty cool. Its a great area with amazing people. I am excited to see whatever missionaries go there and hear about how they are doing. 

I will tell you all more about it during our christmas call. I am so excited for our chance to talk and see each other. Let me know what will be the best time for you guys. Mom, I am sorry this letter is short. haha. I am already out of time on here. I will send a longer one next week. I love you all and have a great week. 

ELder hadley

Dec 2, 2013

Dear Family,

Loves the letter! Sounds like everything is doing really well!! Mom, you dont need to send anymore things for my heat rash. haha. I have too much!! I am survivng and thats all that is important. During the day I dont even think about it. ALso, I really hope you guys sent a new camera.....haha. 

So like normal, this week was full of ups and downs. But we were still able to get a really good amount of people at church with us. That was cool. We met a couple this week and taught them. They came to church with us. I told them I wont baptize them because they are living together and aren't married (the most common thing here). So we are planning on a wedding here in a couple of weeks. haha. It should be sweet. I dont know though. They dont have a testimony about things yet so we need to focus on both marriage and a testimony. Because how can they recieve a testimony if they are not willing to repent? The blessings come as a consequence of our repentance and obedience. I beleive that marriage is a consequence of repentance. Or splitting up....But I am leaning more towards putting the ring on it. So lets see how this all works out. We are super excited about all of this. 

My family is....progressing. Slowly but surely. Continue to pray for them. We went to church with one of the members of the family last night.....it was...haha very very interesting. Gloria!! Gloria!!! haha. It was such a testimony buider of how the Spirit works...I did not one time feel the Spirit. And its not because they are bad people or anything like that. Its because the Spirit works as a still small voice. For sure. There are times where He will yell at us. But that wont happen very often. The only thing I felt there was the desire to dance. haha. They were rocking out on the drums and guitar. The guys playing were legit. The lady pastor was teaching....lots of false doctrine. It was so sad to see these people who are seeking for the truth and who want to become closer to God...are not finding it. The pastor said that --- The blood of the Lord will bring Justice--- I sat thinking....I wonder if these people understand in the Atonement...I wonder if they know that they can repent. How miserable that would be...thinking that we have to live and die in our sins... The blood of the Lord brought mercy and grace in the great plan of our Heavenly Father. Justice already existed. Thats why laws and commandments exist. If it werent for the perfect blood of the Perfect Son of God...The demands of justice wouldnt have been satisfied. And there would have been no way mercy could have existed. No way to repent. No way to return to love with our Father in Heaven again. This doctrine is so much deeper but lets just stop at the surface. haha. You all already know this but I just sat thinking how sad it must be....My dear family, help those who are around us. Help them know that because of the suffering of our Savior they can repent. And they must repent. Obviously, dont go teaching your friends that they need to repent or they are going to hell. Thats the missionaries jobs. haha. But teach them that they can repent. Give them hope in something bigger that can nurture their faith. Share the Gospel. I am so dissapointed with myself that I didnt try to do this more often before the mission. I could have made a difference in the lives of some of my friends. Well I couldnt have but at least I could have brought something that would have made that difference. Be better that fatty matty. Do work. 

So this week was super hot. Excpet one day it rained like its never rained before. Rivers covered the city. It was  crazy. haha. I mean...rivers. People in litts boats were traveling on the streets. haha. Cars were almost completely covered by water. It was crazy!!

I love you all family. I hopw you have a great week!! Continue to do your best!! Be safe!!

Elder Hadley

Nov 25, 2013

Alright family so this week was a little bit tougher than the last. Funny how that works right? One week you are on Cloud 9, and the next week you are falling from it and feel like you have face planted it into the earth. (Shout out to Katy Perry haha). Alright no but seriously, it was tough. ONly part of our family were able to go to church with us this Sunday. But I will tell you why in a second. One of the boys, Jefferson, who uses the wheelchair. Lost a part of his wheelchair that is pretty important. He doesnt know where it went. We had it in the Taxi when we got to the church but then when we returned and found the taxi driver he also didnt know where it was. So it honestly is a mystery what happened. But me and my comp know where we can get this part. Its not expensive so I will get him another one. SO the entire family didnt go because their church is talking lots of smack. Its okay, I am not worried. Its easy to see by what the family says everyday that they know the church is true and that the BOok of Mormon is the word of God. We will help them with their doubts and questions. We found some great people to teach. We were teaching them all week long but then out of nowhere they just decided they didnt want to go to church....What the freak! RIght? Its sad. But its all part of the missionary work. We can only do as much as we possibly can. Andwe have to repsect their agency. Something that isnt always super easy to do. Lets see...what else happened this week....President Andrezzo walked with us and made some visits last night. That was pretty cool. My comp is continuing to pregress with the language. He is a smart kid. I am not too worried about him. There have been quite a bit of shootings, more than normal, in our area this week. So we are having to be extra careful. We just need to be smart and go into the areas we know are safer. Its all good. This week really wasnt super exciting. We found lots of great people who ended up falling on the last day....sad but also normal. The family is doing great. We have other investigators who are also doing great. It would take me five hours on here to explain about them all. I dont have much time to do that. haha. But anyway, thats how my week was. I love you all. Remember to continue to listen to the Spirit in your everday lives. I often think to myself on the mission...Maybe there were tons of times throughout my life where I didnt pay attention to Him because I was busy doing something else. Maybe I missed an opportuity to help someone? Just be mindful and know that the Spirit will guide. We just have to let Him. Love you all. ELder Hadley

Nov 17, 2013

Family,

What a week for me and my companion!! It was amazing!

Sorry mom, I will try and write more. The truth is.....I dont know what to write. I want to share experiences with you guys. But I get to the computer and I just forget all of them. haha. Then we leave the computer and I remember them all. Or there are some that I would like to share with you all face to face. You know what I mean? But Thats lame of me! I will try to write more. So I will tell you about this week.

Something about me on the mission is that I talk to everybody I feel even the slightest urge to talk to. And I always pay close attention to everybody in the street. Always. If you pay close attention to them. The Spirit will help you discern if they are wanting to talk to you or not. For example, Saturday night we were walking to a recent converts house to share a message with her. As we were walking I saw three kids sitting on the sidewalk. They were looking at us closely. And I felt the urge to talk to them. So I told me comp to invite them to church. He did. They accepted and said they would go. Thats normal. As we started to leave I felt the urge to teach them. So we turned back around and taught them and reminded them about church. We said a prayer then left. 30 feet later I hear a women talking to a man. As we were walking by I heard her say to the man. ( I will go to any church that I get an invite to, I am trying to find God in my life) So after 10 feet past them I turned around and walked back to them. haha. It was like one of those smooth spin turns. It was funny. haha. I went back there to where they were. I pretended to be lost. To try and not make it be awkward. haha. So I pretended that I was lost and need directions to the street of where the church was. After they explained it to me and making them laugh a little bit. I invited them to church. Keep in mind, this was all Saturday night at like 8 at night. ha. Also keep in mind that everybody accepts to come to church to try and be nice. But its hard to get them there. haha. Anyway Sunday morning comes a long. And who do I meet? 2 of the three kids and the woman who said she would visit any church she gets an invite to. My family, pay attention to those around you. Pay close attention and the Spirit will see your desire to help and will let you know what to do.   

Second week of training my homeboy Elder Elliott from Springville Utah. He likes to work hard. That is good. We work well together. He has no fear. Which is great. 

So one experience. ME and my comp were walking home to eat lunch on Thursday. We had some appointments in the morning. When a girl who we had talked to earlier in the week stopped to talk to us. She wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon. I gave her one. Explained it and gave her a part to read. We got her address and promised to stop by on Friday. So we stopped by on Friday. She met us out on the street. I looked behind her when we were talking to her and saw her house was full of people. So, doing what I literally always do when I talk to a child or a teenager. I asked her if we could go inside and teach everybody. That is something I would suggest to you Pat and April. I dont know how things are in Canada. BUt always ask if you can teach the whole family. First get to know the person you are teaching. Show that person that you care about them and want to get to know them. Help them feel that you are focused just on them. Create trust and a friendship with them. THEN ask about their family and if it is possible to teach them all. I always say to the kids. Take us to your house. LEts go teach your whole family. haha. They love it. So anyway, we got inside the house and started teaching the whole family. It was awesome. The mom lives alone with her 9 children. 2 of them are paralyzed from the waste down. One has 18 years and the other has 14. The mom has a tough time but she is a good woman who loves God. The kids all are so obedient and payed such close attention. Anyway we taught them a lesson and The Spirit testified of what we were teaching. It was a wonderful lesson. Really was. Saturday after our baptism, me and our Bishop (he is the most amazing Bishop in Brazil, not a doubt in my mind) ran to find a member to give them a ride to go to church. So we show up to their house and they are all ready to go. The mom couldnt because she had to work. So the mom dropped the three little ones at a friends house and the other 6 came with us in the van. When I saw that whole family standing at the door waiting form me and my comp to get there I couldnt help but start to cry. Its a good thing I was sweating also so you wouldnt be able to see the tears haha. It was just a very humbling experience for me. So we pushed Eduardo (Boy 18) and Jefferson (Boy 14) in their wheelchairs to the car. While Jose (Girl 16) Beth (Girl 10) Edimilson (Boy 11) and Levi-Kywan (7) walked right next to us. We hauled everybody to church and they loved it more than I have ever loved a three hour block of church. haha. They told me that they will never miss a Sunday in their lives. So we will continue to teach and help them understand more about the Gospel. We are for sure going to focus on the Plan of Salvation this next lesson with them. And of course. Read out of the BOok of Mormon with them. (Another side note. Pat and April. You will have missionaries who only want to use the bible to teach. That is great! The Bible is amazing. I LOVE it! But....help them gain a testimony from the Book of Mormon. That is the gathering tool of Israel. I use the Book of Mormon to teach until they tell me to use the Bible. haha. Use the Bible. I use it a lot. But use the Book of Mormon more....That book has more power than we can understand). So now I ask my family, pray for this little family. There might be some kind of a rule in the missionary handbook about asking your family to pray and fast for investigators. Like we cant do that. But You dont need to fast. Just pray for them. Thank you. 

So Today is Pday right?; We got up early to get my comp to the airport to get his ID. Well he went with other missionaries. I am waiting for him in the office with my boy Elder Bestor. haha. Anyway. We get to Bom Preço. (Wal-mart). To take his photos. We get there and the photo center is not open!! A lady that worked there told me that the lady that works in the photo center always shows up super late. Later than 830 Well we had to be at the bus stop by 8. And it was already 715. So I said a prayer. Asking for help. The lady that works at the photo center showed up at 730. Then took his pictures. Then printed them off in 10 minutes when she usually makes people wait an hour. Game Ball goes to the Photo Center Lady at Bom Preço. hahaha. She was clutch. And also, the power of prayer is REAL.

ALright that is how my week was. Mom I love you and I am sorry I have been lame with emails. I will try and be better. They probably wont be this long again. haha. But they will be longer. And about the Camera, Just buy one that works. haha. And send it whenever you can. Talk to a doctor about my hives. Love you all. Pat and April, remember this. The Lord WILL bless the missionary who is obedient, works hard, and works SMART. We were able to be blessed with 14 people in church with us this Sunday. It was amazing. The Lord is the head of this work. That is true. Love you all and have a great week. 

Elder Hadley

Nov 10, 2013

I would like to share my testimony with all of you and declare with all of my heart that Jesus is the Christ. I have no doubt of that. I have no doubt of the power of the Atonement. My Brothers and Sisters. It is real. The Beloved Savior of the world did what no other child of our Father in Heaven could do. He satisfied the demands of Justice by taking on the sins of the world and permiting each of us to return to live with Him and our Loving Father in Heaven again. Our names are engraven upon the palms of His hands. He knows you. He loves you. Our Father in Heaven also knows you and He also loves you. The Prophet Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration. President Monson is our Prophet today. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. That Book has the power to change lives. 

Let us all remember our testimonies this Christmas season. And by doing so, let us give the greatest gift we as members of The Church have. The Gospel of Christ, and all that falls under that category. Give to others what they are seeking; Eternal Happiness and Peace. Brothers and Sisters remember who you are. Remember what you know.  Declare it to the world. Christ was born, He died, and lives again. I know that is true. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.   

Elder Hadley

Oct 28, 2013

Family,

I love you all and it is great to hear from you. 

Things are great here in Brazil. We are working with a great group of investigators right now and I am loving it. Its just one reference after another. The members have really come to love and trust us. As well as our recent converts. Me and my comp have three transfers in this area. I am blessed to have this much time here.  Our bishop is also an amazing man. He is 32 and he does it all. Accounting, school, visits everybody in the ward. Probably the best bishop in Brazil. 

We had zone conference this last week. That was awesome. I love the chance to hear from President Andrezzo. He is a great example and a great man who is truly inspired from God. 

I am missing football.....I wont lie. I dont know why but I was thinking more than I should about football this last week. haha. I am a missionary not a Saint. (Ya sorry we cant all be Saints, Jerry) NAME THAT MOVIE!! haha

The heat is a bummer but I am getting used to it. I am sweating all the time so its impossible not to get used to it. haha. 

THis week was a great week for our dupla. We worked hard and got a lot done. These last three transfers have been great for me. I have learned a lot about missionary work and about myself. 

I love you all. I pray for you all. Carsons Headstone is absolutely amazing. Couldnt have been more Perfect. Keep being amazing!!

Elder Hadley