Elder Matthew James Hadley is home!

Home from the mission on Friday, February 2nd 2015.

Dec 15, 2014

Family, 

I am getting transfered!!!!! I am pretty dang excited and a little nervous....haha. I will go to the last city of the Bahia...16 hours on the bus.....yikes....haha. I will train a new missionary and open up the area (as in both of the misisonaries are leaving the area and we will replace them). Its a little tiny group in a city called Mucuri....Pretty crazy.

So this week we had the Christmas conference. I gave my "testemunho de saída" at the conference because it is the last zone conference I will have a part of.....pretty sad. But its good. Its all good. That was lots of fun. We had great food. Some really good Turkey. We didnt eat beans....thats a first...haha. I actually kind of missed it...thats weird. I love brazilian beans....haha. 

Then we worked really hard and met some really good people. I was doing some divisions this week and doing some interviews so I didnt work a whole lot in our area. I kind of missed some of our investigators. But it was super nice to help other missionaries. Elder Hoggan and I are going to be transfered....wow I am going to miss that kid SO MUCH....I love that kid so much. He doesnt get home till next August and I wont see him till then....I mean he studys at the Y but still....its super sad. Its really hard to say goodbye to missionaries, members that live in the area, and the people you taught.....its seriously super super hard. I always just bawl like a baby during transfers....Its not cool....

Then this week on Friday we had a Chirstmas Choir concert at the chapel. Thats what I sent the pictures of. It was SUPER HOT and we had to be in our suits....but the Spirit was so strong and so sweet there at the concert. We showed the video "Ele É O Presente" and talked a little about it then we read the scriptures in Lucas about the birth of the Savior and we sang tons and tons of hymns. It was really really good. The women of the ward were super happy that we helped out. It was a pleasure to help them and we really had a lot of fun doing it. On Sunday we also had a huge ward lunch at the Chapel. That was really good. On Saturday me and my comp Elder Brown were pretty dang sick. Brown was worse than I was. He like could hardly walk. We both came to the office right after lunch to grab some stuff and we just like collapsed on the floor and just laid there for a while....haha. But it was a really good week. We were able to see the mission baptize lots of people. Its super cool to see missionaries teach amazing people and see these people recieve answers and have a desire to be baptized. 

Then we were able to take a few people to church on Sunday. That was really good. I am sad and really excited at the same time. Mucuri will be amazing. Its a tiny little group of about 25 active members....Lets see how the next 7 weeks go!! I will talk to you guys on the skype next week!! Crazy. 

Anyway, I love you guys and hope you are all well!! Have a great week!!

Elder Hadley 

Dec 1, 2014

split in Vitória da Conquista!!!






like 1/15th of my area. hahaha.

 

Nov 24, 2014

Hey so this is a guy that is actually almost totally blind and plays the guitar like the great Slash. We almost baptized him. He wanted to get baptized so  badly. he loved the church but....his pastor started saying lots of bad stuff about the church so he decided not to be baptized....Its sad to see some people listen more to men then they do to God.... it was pretty sad even though I am pretty much used to that happening cause that happens A LOT!!! Either way. A really good guy. In the future he will be baptized.  

Nov 24, 2014

Family,

So this week was a really good one....other than our baptism falling on Saturday after doing everything possible to make it happen. But Its okay. It will happen next weekend. 

This week I spent the whole time in Vitória da Conquista. A really nice city. I loved it! I did some divisions with some missionaries there and we saw some incredible miracles. It all started off on Wednesday morning. I got there at 5:30am. We then went to their house and got ready to go to district meeting. We had district meeting.

Then we ate lunch with an incredible couple who has about 8 years as members of the church who had a girl who is 8 years old. I hit it off really quickly with the two of them and all during lunch the three of us (me and the wife and husband) were laughing and having great conversation. Anyway I had no idea that they are less active. Its been almost two years since they have been to church. So they chose me to leave the message with them. As they were talking with the other missionaries I had the STRONGEST urge to talk a little bit about Carson and share my message while using some scriptures about the importance of eternal famalies and temples. I was fighting that feeling a little bit just because I dont share real personal experiences with everyone and anyone, you know? Anyway I read some scriptures and shared with them that I had lost a member of my family and proceeded to show them the dog chains that I use around my neck. As I was testifying of the blessings we have from the gospel and the temples the mother and father just started sobbing. I was a little confused and asked them if everything was okay. The mom got control and answered that two years ago they lost their two year old baby girl to a sickness that they didnt even know she had. She then went on to tell me that is why they stopped going to church. She said that the entire day she had been thinking about her baby girl and was having a really hard day. She then told me that because of the death of their daughter they had stopped going to church. They were angry and questioned why it had to happen. I read one more scripture in The Book of Mormon and testified to them the importance of going to church so that we can prepare ouselves to go to the temple to be sealed with our famalies by the priesthood power. They have not yet been. I invited them to return to church and start reading The Book of Mormon together as a family and they agreed. The Spirit was so strong. Everyone in the house was crying. After leaving a chapter in The Book of Mormon to study that night we left. 

I got a call from the missionaries yesterday and they told me that the whole family was in church and the dad went to talk to the bishop about baptizing their 8 year old daughter and plans to go to the temple. 

Miracles like this happen honeslty...weekly on the mission. As many hard times as I have had Its hard to remember them because experiences like these shut them out. 

Later that same day we went to do some baptismal interviews. As we were walking one of the missionaries said....hey lets go visit a man whos entire family is baptized and has a daughter on a mission. He isnt baptized yet because he believes he doesnt need to be. Well the missionaries have been working with him for over a year but we were determined to help him understand the importance of baptism. 

We got there and started talking. After three hours of talking I finally picked him up and threw him up on my shoulders and ran out of the house yelling back to the family to show me where the nearest river was cause I was gonna baptize him. hahaha. It was pretty funny. He is a little guy. I ran a pretty long ways with him on my shoulders. haha Then we talked for another hour. We explained everything and took away all of his doubts and answered his questions. He has a testimony of the church he jst didnt really understand why we needed to be baptized. So after 4 and a half hours of talking with him. He was interviewed and baptized this Saturday.....another incredible experience. He and his wife also talked to bishop on monday making plans to go to the temple with their daughter in January when she gets home from her mission. 

Thursday and Friday I worked with other missionaries where we also saw some miracles. They baptized some great people on Saturday as well. On Friday I made a contact with a woman in front of her house who is super strong in her church. While the other two elders were teaching someone right next to me I just went on to teach her taught about the restoration of the gospel. By the end I started to testify and while I was testifying I saw a wedding ring on her hand (something you dont see cause its hard to find people who are actually married) and the thought came to share a testimony about eternal famalies and temples and priesthood power. While I started talking about eternal famalies she started sobbing.....again i stopped and asked her what was wrong. She answered that her husband passed away four months ago after 20 years of marriage. Her and her daughter were very sad and having a really hard time. I continued to teach and then left.  

In the beggining of the contact she said she wouldnt go to church cause she had to go to her church. By the end of the lesson she said she would go to church with us. The missionaries called me and told me yestreday her and her daughter were there and really loved it. 

The gospel is true and brings happiness to ALL who hear it and apply it!!

Sorry, I know this email was long and I usually dont share very many stories with you guys. I just wanted to share a couple of experiences with you all because they had a lot to do with eternal famalies. I am grateful that we can go to the temple with our famalies and be sealed for time and eternity. I love you all. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Hadley

 

 

Nov 24, 2014

MOTHER and family,

I am sorry for the past couple of weeks that i havent sent email....I spend most of the time here in the office on pday playing "phase 10" or sleeping. haha. Just kidding I dont sleep that much. Even though I want to....I did a division with Elder Hoggan to do a baptismal interview and while we were teaching a lady at her door i was literally sleeping while standing up and leaning against her wall.....it was not good. haha. 

I sent some pictures to you....I hope that makes up for my lack of writing emails the past fw weeks. haha. 

So this week was pretty good. We worked really hard and were able to teach a lot of great people. So the missionaries in this are before I got here were working with a couple and were trying to help them get married.....why it wasnt done before I dont know but we are finally seeing progress with the marriage....now the progress of their testimonies have come to a halt.....I have taught some of the best lessons that I have ever taught while here on the mission with this couple and....nothing.....its tough to see someone SO SPECIAL start to have more and more doubts. Its like these doubts that are being put into their minds are coming from a series of dreams they have been having.....These dreams are so DUMB and honestly have nothing to do with anything but they feel like God is trying to warn them about something they are doing.

 One dream Salai had (the wife) was that she was at some random church without a name and that people were crying in the church and then two women stood up and started teaching everyone.....that was all that happened in the dream and she thinks God is trying to tell her that she needs to re think all of the confirming answers that she has already recieved...like I understand that she can feel confused because she is understanding things that are not coming from God, but its just a little frustrating when she has recieved many spiritual confirmations about the truthfulness of what we teach.....And with Cardão her husband....this last week we had a lesson and Salai had finished telling us that she wouldnt be baptized cause now she has doubts (keep in mind they have both born testimony on fast and testimony meeting that this is the true church and they have told us a million times they have recieved an answe about everything) then I asked Cardão "if marriage wasnt an issue would you be baptized this week" and he responds (he is really smart and always tries to "out-smart" us haha) "Elder Hadley, if you were on a path and a door popped up in front of you and you didnt know what was on the other side, would you go in?" (he was totally expecting me to say no) but I just said "If God told me to...Id kick the door down" then we had a great lesson with them and responded to a lot of doubts.... but still......its tough.....We arent quite sure what we need to do....the bottom line is they stopped doing their part and allowed the enemy to start working on them....

 And these past two weeks they havent come to church and I talked to them on the phone yesterday and they said they want a little bit of time to see if this is the true church so what are they going to do....stop going to church....okay so after explaining to them that that is not how God works they wanted us to pass by their house today....so tonight we are going to go to their house. Its tough but.....we will not give up on them. We just have to figure out what they need because they are extremely special people and we love them a lot! Thats why you probably could pick up a hint of frustration in the email. haha. 

the rest of our investiagtors are AMAZING and things are going smoothly. 

Elder Fernandes came to visit....it was incredible....I love that man. He gave a training on Faith. And it had been something I have been studying HARD for about 2 months. And his training just was amazing. It helped a lot. We had the time to spend some time with them after the training. It was really cool to talk with him and his wife. And to have Presidente and Sister Andrezzo there with us made it way better.  

I sent a picture of when he came to our house. I hope you guys can open it up. 

Anyway so this week was awesome. I love you guys and hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Hadley

Nov 10, 2014

Nov 2, 2014

I have had the wonderful opportunity of seeing my faith grow immensely while here on the mission. As we know there exsists a HUGE difference between faith and faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ. As Elder Russell M. Nelson teaches us: "When we speak of faith—the faith that can move mountains—we are not speaking of faith in general but of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."   

Faith in Christ is a principle of power. We as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints should do all that we can to improve the quality of our faith in Jesus Christ so that we may be able to have the power to overcome the trials that we are currently facing and will face in the future. 

Having the privilege of finding and teaching people about the Doctrine of Christ and seeing their lives change because of it has been a huge faith strengthener. By their examples I have been able to witness what the power of true faith in our Savior can do when it is applied. It gives us the strength beyond our own to do what needs to be done. I believe that "the faith that can move mountains" can be understood literally as well as symbolically. With faith in Christ and His atoning sacrifice we will have the capacity to move the spiritual and emotional "mountains" that all to often impeade us from remembering who we are and our potential. 

I testify of the power of faith. I know that faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ truly is the antidote for all fear, doubt, and sadness. I know that if we, like many of those that I have had the chance of teaching, apply the Doctrine of Christ in our lives our faith will increase and we will have the power necessary to overcome our hardships. 

I share my testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Elder Hadley

This was my testimony I sent to Kennedy Syrie for her YW thing.....I hope its what she wanted....haha. Sorry I didnt send a family letter. Love you mom. Your letter from the box made me cry like a baby. hahaha.

Oct 27, 2014

Family,

So this week was a good one. I had the chance to travel to another city to do a split with some missionaries. It was a lot of fun. I got to work with a missionary from my group named Elder Groll. He is a stud. Then we worked really hard when we got back to our area. Like really really hard and had a lot of people confirmed to go to church with us. But.....unfortunately we did not have as many as had said would go. Thats normal, right? But it was still pretty sad because these people were SUPER solid on going to church. Our investigator  that was going to get baptized this saturday had to go to the interior of the state......super sad. She will get back in two weeks and we will baptize her then. 

Elections happened.....Dilma won again....she is garbage. Aécio would have been way better for this country. 

Anyway. Sorry I dont have a lot of time to write. We had lots to do today and still have lots more to do....but I love you guys and hope you all have a great week. Tell michelle and nate I love them. Give all of the grandkids a big hug and kiss for me. I am super excited to see all of the little ones here in 3 months....crazy how fast its going by....I am still focused but still...its a lot easier to think about home now. haha. 

Love you all!

Elder hadley

Oct 20, 2014

Family,

Hey so this week was a really good one!! We had a lot of time to work in our own area and that was really nice. We found and taught lots of less actives and found lots of new people. We confirmed lots of people to go to church with us but we were only able to take a few. It was a little sad but as i have learned here on the mission you have to count the small victories even if they are small. haha. 

We took a less active lady to church from São Paulo. I think she is like 60 years old. We call her grandma. haha. Its super funny cause she yells at us all the time so we yell back at here. Like on Sunday she was taking forever to come out of the house and we just stood outside yelling at here to hurry up and that we were going to leave her. hahaha. She is pretty funny. We also took some girls who actually went by themselves which isnt something tha happens every sunday. haha. They are really good. They are 24 and 25. You find here that girls take life way more seriously than the guys. Not always but a lot of the time it is that way. Then the couple who we are helping get the papers to they can get married also went. They are seriously the coolest people. They are a young couple and they LOVE it when we teach them. Cardim the husband is such a stud. He has incredible questions and understands things of the gospel so well. The book of Mormon is helping out a lot. Its great. I am pretty tired and working in this super hot sun is difficult but the people that we find each day and the others that we are working with make it all worth it. 

 This week we will travel to a city called Itabuna to do a split with some missionaries. I am pretty excited. I have already been to the city because it is super close to Ilhéus, where I was serving. But I have never had the chance to actually work there.  

Thanks for the birthday wishes. We were able to work really hard on my birthday even though I was pretty dang sick. President and Sister were traveling so I didnt get a cake....haha. Because if you are a missionary in Salvador then they will buy a HUGE cake and take it to your house for you. But they were in the interior traveling so they called and sand to me. Last year they were also traveling....its okay. Next year maybe I will get a birthday cake. haha. 

So i heard BYU is having troubles and lots of injuries....thats super sad. They were doing really well. I feel really bad for Taysom. I hope he is doing well. 

Dang the family pictures and the pictures of my nieces and nephews is super great to see. I seriously have an urge to grab them and kiss their cheeks. I miss those babies!!! Everyone will be at my homecoming and leave the babies at the house until I go to BYU to make up for the two years I didnt have with them. haha. 

I hope you all are doing well. I miss you guys. Love you!! Have a great week!!

Elder Hadley

Mom, I still havent gotten the box....haha. but its okay. Its coming.

Oct 6, 2014

Hey, 

Alright so I have heard from a few of my friends that mom is saying that she hasnt heard from me in the last few weeks....haha. Sorry mom I thought I was sending email. The truth is, like I have already said, I dont have a whole lot to say when I sit down to write you guys. haha. I am not sure why but I really dont. But I will try to be more detailed. 

So here we go:

I got back to salvador and I am loving it. I love my companion and I love the other missionaries who live in our house. It is seriously like the best house on the mission. Everyone is so good and works really hard. We have a missionary named Elder Hoggan who is actually the mission secretary and probably will be for the rest of his life cause he is so dang good at it, living with us and he honestly is just an amazing kid. i am super impressed with how he carries himself. He doesnt force it and isnt like awkward or weird or anything but he just is a really good kid. I remember he got on the mission when I first went to go train and I wanted to train him so badly!! But I didnt. ha. Anyway. 

This first week back in salvador was great. Here at the Stake center during general conference I saw tons of people from Itapuã and Bandeirantes, the two areas that I worked in while I was here before. I saw members, recent converts, and less-actives that i worked with. It was super emotional. I loved it. haha. I think I might have lunch for the rest of our Pdays while I am here in Salvador. 

During the breaks of conference sessions me and my companion spent a lot of time with Presidente Andrezzo talking about the mission and really just talking. Its honestly very humbling to be able to work closer with him. A man incredible inspired, loving, merciful, pacient, and very obedient. He really cares for all of the missionaries and you can see it. On saturday he took me and my comp to eat at McDonalds. Wow.....the 2nd time on my entire mission....haha. It was pretty dang good. It had been a long time. 

We have a really good group. We are working with lots of people who need to get married....something that is very difficult to make happen here in the state of the Bahia....Its a long and difficult process. Even for those who really want it. 

Elections this week.....thats been pretty crazy for the past month and a half. Lots of commercials and stuff like that. they do elections here WAY different.....

Not much is new. We are preparing a training to give tomorrow about The Book of Mormon. Probably the best topic to give a training about. We hope and Pray it will be a success. 

I loved general conference. It was incredible. I loved all of it and took some great notes. I really enjoyed Jorg Klebingat and Elder Bednars talk. Elder Holland....like always. I loved Elder Scotts talk. And Elder Godoys talk was amazing as well. I was spiritualy fed. I am sure you were as well. 

I hope you have a great week!! I love you all!!

Elder Hadley   

Sept 29, 2014

Hey Family,

So transfers came in......and I am getting transfered back to Salvador.....I am super nervous about this new area and everything else but I know I will learn a lot and be able to help lots of missionaries. I am going to miss my comp like crazy....seriously....I will miss him a lot. Goodness I love this kid....I know we will do a lot together after the mission but still....I am going to miss him.

Our area is awesome. The people are great. Not a whole lot to say. ha. Our investigators are awesome. Elder Ray is awesome and will continue to tear it up!!!

My new companion is also amazing. I am super grateful for the chance I have to serve with him. He is  spiritual giant and will help me out a lot. His name is Elder A. Santos. A really good kid.

love you guys

elder hadley

Sept 22, 2014

Family,
Sorry....I know I have been super lame with the family emails these past few weeks.....actually pretty much the entire mission. Forgive me...haha.

So this week was an amazing learning experience for me. I learned that the enemy tries many different ways to destroy The Lords work....we as missionaries/members of the church have to do all that we can to not permit it to happen.

I was studying a lot this week about Joseph in Egypt and about the VISION that he had. He honestly knew exactly what he had to do to be successful. Even when everything was against him and he passed through so many difficulties he did two very important things. 1) He didnt get down and forget his GIANT plans and goals in life and didnt stop believing that he was capable of accomplishing them. 2) He remembered who was with him and that was all that he cared about. It says many times in the scriptures that The Lord was with him or something close to that.

To accomplish what we need to in life we need to do exactly what Joseph did.

Keep our eyes on the plans and goals we have. No matter what happens. And we cannot be afraid to have VISION and understand that we are capable of being (the second in command of all of Egypt).

We cannot forget who we are and who is with us.

We all need to remember that. Things wont always always go our way. But if we do what Joseph did....we will be alright. I wrote down tons of other stuff that I found from that experience that he had but I think thats good enough. haha.

RICH and CHERISE!!!!! Had the baby!!!! Wow.....I am so dang happy. I hope everyone is healthy and doing alright.

President gave a training to a few zones in the mission and I cant even explain to you the Spirit that was in that chapel. He speaks with SO MUCH POWER. He teaches from the scriptures and from the words of the leaders of the church. It is sucha blessing to have him as my leader. I trust him with everything I have. A great man.

I love you all and hope that you all have a great week!! This week will be an amazing week for us!!

Elder Hadley

Sept 8, 2014

Hey family,

So My email has had a problem for a few weeks now. I get emails super late or nt at all....and when I send emails sometimes they dont go through and I have no idea that it happens. ha. So sorry about all of that.

Sos this week was a great one. Another amazing Saturday.

So we went to Salvador for the monthly council and it was a great time. Like always I cannot help but just get goosebumps and feel The Spirit so incredibly strong when my mission president President Andrezzo speaks to us....He speaks with power and authority and you know how much he loves you. I am grateful to be serving with him.

So we got back with our suitcases full of suppplies for the other missionaries and as we were walking to the church we saw a guy with an old cart and his mule....so naturally...we asked him if we could throw our bags in and jump in the back. Being a man from the Bahia. He let us in with no problems. haha. He took us down the main street until we got to the church. haha. It was pretty dang funny. 

This week we worked hard with those that we are teaching and found more people to teach as well. We had some great spirt filled lessons that were amazing. At church there was some drama with the members during sacrament meeting....without going into detail it was a pretty rough..haha. But its okay.

Today has been a roller coaster. A son of a recent convert of mine here in this area passed away. Its pretty sad but they will be okay. We will go to the viewing tonight and give our support. Its been a super stressful day. For some reason we have had to plan the viewing...me and my comp. ha. But its working out well.

So I will send some pics in this email. I hope you all have a great week.I love you guys!! Be safe!!!

Elder Hadley

Sept 1, 2014

Hey!

So this week was another incredible one that once again ended amazingly. I am really happy to be here. So I am with Elder Ray from Portland Oregon. Mom, thats where he is from. ha. I sent some pictures last week of us together. Next week I will send some more. We have to leave in a few hours to travel to Salador to get some trainings. Its a long bus ride and we get zero sleep. haha. Thats normal. Sleeping isnt the easiest thing in the world and hasnt been for  a long time. ha.

Spence congrats man.I am super proud of you. I heard BYU won. Thats good for them. Hopefully they do really well this year.

This week was awesome. We have lost some contact with some great investigators that we were working with. We have to get back into contact with them because they were progressing super well. We baptized a 13 year old girl this week and are working with the rest of her family. I have never met a 13 year old girl so amazing and with so much desire to do good. She is reading the book of mormon everyday and writes down what she learns. We got her on the personal progress for young women already and she is killing it!! I will send you a picture of her next week. Serioulsy though....she is an angel.

We worked hard this week, and had the chance to talk to and teach and help lots of people. Its basically the same stuff every single day. haha. Nothing too crazy happens. Its nothing like Salvador. haha.

I love my comp. I love this area. I love this work. Its fun. I miss you guys and now that fotball has started.....I wont lie....its pretty dang tough. haha. But I am doing alright.

I love you all. If you have any questions I think it will be easier to write more in emails. have a great week!!

Elder hadley

Aug 25, 2014

This is the only pic I have with my comp as of right now. This was our baptism on Saturday. We baptized his mom the week before. They are awesome. Then the other picture is just me wearing Rays suit with my tie. Just trying it out. haha. sorry about not sending more. This week was a great one. I had so much fun and we worked hard. It was a little dissapointing on sunday. We were able to get 6 people in church but a few of those who are really close to baptism didnt go. We need to go see what is going on. I love you all and hope you are well. I PROMISE MOM, I will write more next week. have a great week!! GOod luck Spence!! PS The trip in utah looked like a blast. I loved the pictures. I remember when dad was always showing us around BYU when we were little. Those were the good old days. haha. Drinking that ice cold mountain water from the drinking fountains. haha. Elder Hadley

Aug 11, 2014

SPENCER!!!!! RAIDERS!!!!! haha.

Wow I am so happy for you man. You deserve it. I lilked the finger. remember my thumb that I messed up at BYU spence. It still hurts quite a bit. haha. And is still swollen....but I think you got it a little bit worse.


So this week was great. These past few months have been great. We have had the chance to help people enter into the waters of baptism weekly. Its such a miracle to be apart of this work; When we give it our all the Lord blesses us with what we ask. Nothing too crazy happened this week. I left the area for the first time in like 8 weeks. haha. I did not like being away for the 2 days and was super happy to get back. I love my area and the people we are teaching.

I am tired but super happy. I love you all. Sorry this letter isnt very long. To be honest...I dont know what to say anymore. haha. Its the same ol same ol. I hope you all are well!!!

Elder Hadley

Aug 4, 2014

Hey family,

HOw is everyone? Wow mom that is crazy! So many new babies. I had no idea that everyone was prego...I didnt know that Nicole also was expecting. And Caitlyn had a baby?!?! What the crud!! haha. MY mind is blown right now! 

Tell them all I miss them and love them. I miss all of the cousins a ton. I was thinking about it. I am super grateful that we did such a great job to stay so close throughout all of the years. It is such a blessing to have a family like the one I have.

The area is doing really well. The Lord is blessing us a ton. I cant even explain it...Miracles after miracles...I am regreting that these past three months I have been super lazy with writing in my journal....But I still do it. Just not every single day. I was writing every day up until the last week of May. Literally had not missed one day. Then I got transfered and I ran out of time to do it....well not really but time is a lot harder to find. But Dont worry mom. I am writing down and wont forget the experiences that I will tell you all about when I get home. 

We are able to take lots and lots of people to church on Sunday. That is really helping us see lots progress to baptism. Its really an amazing thing to be apart of. The Lord has really helped me and my companions in all of my areas here on the mission. 

We had a meeting last week with President Andrezzo. Wow. That man is inspired by God and when he speaks the presence of The Spirit is so strong. I cant even explain it. He gave us a great training and I learned a lot. This week I have been studying really hard in the Doctrine and Covenants. I spent the entire week studying about DC 84. Its a great section and I learned A LOT!! It was a section I have already read but I decided to sit down and really study it. Lots of Gospel truths are in there. Jesus The Christ is also blowing my mind. haha. Its the second time I am reading it here on the mission and I learn more and more every time a open it. PMG and The Book Of Mormon are amazing. Tell Pat that if he studies The Book of Mormon and PMG before the mission. I mean really studies. It will make all the difference for him when he gets in the field. He will be a missionary with MUCH POWER.  

The scriptures are great and help our faith increase. I am so grateful for them. Study them and say your prayers!! 

Alright family, I love you all and hope you are well. Mom, I will send you next week things you can put in my package. Sound good? Love you all. 

Elder Hadley 

July 28th, 2014

FAM!
So this week was a super fast week and it was really really busy. We were able to get a lot done and find and teach somegreat people. I will tell you about someone we just started to teach who went to church with us this last week. Leo is 20 years old and is really good. He is super excited about the book of mormon. He lives with some members which is helping a lot. These past few months I have changed a lot of the way I work. I still knock doors because I love doing it. A lot. But I decided to take on the challenge that Russell M. Nelson gave to the mission presidents here in Brasil. If we work more with recent converts and less actives. We will find more people to baptize. It has really helped my last area and this area see more success and get the members involved. It has really been a blessing to see. It was hard to make these changes I wont lie...cause I really like knocking doors. But it is working really well and is helping a lot.

So Leo is progressing really well as long as a few others. We have a really solid group that is going to church with us or by themselves. Its fun to see investigators slowly go from needing you to pass by and get them to going alone. Its cool. I also decided to assign members in the ward to go pass by and walk with people to church. Its helping out a lot.

This last saturday we had a talent show and american pancake night....Me and Elder Hedworth, another American in this ward (from New York) made lots and lots and lots of pancakes and syrup. haha. It was lots of fun.

Me and my comp are doing well. No complaints....haha. We were able to have lots of super spiritual lessons this week and see lots of missionaries as well as me and my comp have miracles happen. The mission is full of learning and growing.

I have been teaching English for the past few weeks and it has been really fun.

Thats about all that I can think of that has been going on. We will travel to Salvador for a couple of days then come back to our area on wednesday. Love you guys and have a great week. Remember who you are!!

ELder Hadley

July 21, 2014

Family, This week was an amzing week. I did a split with one of my favorite people on the planet, Elder Pirillo from Florida. He stayed with me for the whole week while my comp went to stay in an area that was actually his first area on the mission. This week was full of miracles for everyone. Especially us. I will have to tell you guys about all of them when I get home. But one of our baptisms this last Saturday was a lady who is 87!!! haha. We finally helped her to stop smoking. She is amazing!! We were able to baptize her daughter last month and they are the two best ladies on the planet. They never miss church and wont. They listen to the book of mormon on CD everyday for HOURS. haha. They are awesome. Great people here in this area. We are still working with an amazing family who is REALLY close to entering into the waters and being members of the church. It is so awesome to be apart of. These past few days it has been tough to buy things in the store and make contacts in the street...everyone thinks I am German....haha. I have already been threatened to get my face beat in. I have never been more proud to say that I AM AN AMERICAN. haha. Its saved me from a butt whoopin. haha. But now I have kind of just accepted it and sometimes I tell people I am German and brag to them....but its chill. Nobody will do anything. Lots of them joke around with me. Only a couple of times they wouldnt accept me at their cash register to buy something or let me invite them to church....O well. What can ya do? haha. Thanks mom and dad for the super blonde hair and blue eyes....haha. It was a great week!!! ANyway I love you all. Tell April to keep her head up. SHe is doing awesome!!! Love you all, ELder Hadley