Come Follow Me

Come Follow Me
"And he saith unto them, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matt. 4:19) As the New Year begins, we, the members of the Willow Wood Ward, invite you to Come and Follow Him!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Elder James Hadley




June 30, 2014
Ok, so, stuff that happened this week.... Well yeah, so we ate at a Chinese food restaurant last Monday, and we think that is what did it to us, but Tuesday we were both sick, my companion more than me, and we had to stay in the house. I just read Jesus the Christ for like 4 hours straight. Then studied a bit of Spanish. And well Wednesday, I had a really bad fever and was sick but I wanted to keep working. So we did. It was kind of terrible, but when I was talking to people on the street, or teaching people, I felt better, or I guess forgot about my discomfort. But so when we got home I went to sleep and felt a bit better the next day. Then well, Friday, I woke up feeling terrible, and we went out and worked a bit, and went to lunch, and I had a way bad fever, and we went home and read the rules and it said when you have a fever over 100 degrees you have to say home. So we stayed home that day. So what I ate this week were saltines and bananas, and I drank a ton of gatorade.

I think I forgot to tell you this but we have started giving English classes for free Saturdays in the mornings... They haven't been super successful. We have had 3 weeks with only 2 people showing up, and 1 week when 6 showed up. But, well, one of the weeks a girl named Guadalupe came. And we invited her to church and gave her a Book of Mormon, and well, she actually came to church by herself. And like 30 minutes early, earlier than we showed up. It was the best, and she had read in her Book of Mormon. So yeah, We only taught her once last week cause we were both way sick, but she cried during the first prayer, it's so crazy how ready she is to hear the Gospel. So yesterday I called her and asked if she was going to come, and she said -well, my Mom has me doing some work for her, and I could hurry and try to show up to one of the later hours...- And I was like, bleh whatever ok, -just please come- Anyways, we went out from sacrament meeting halfway through to meet another investigator, and she comes walking down the street. She said -I just realized and told my mom that the job could wait, following God is more important- and at church she asked me what she has to do to get baptized. And what she has to do to be a missionary. So yeah, I'm super excited for her and we really want to work with all of her family and friends.

July 7, 2014
Ok so I got a call last night from the assistant and now I'm in the state of Michoacan. Crazy right, we had to take a 3 and a half hour bus ride. I went from the very south of the mission to the farthest West I could go. Interesting right? It was a huge surprise. And my companion, named Elder Lanza, is from Honduras. I really really really like him so far, I think we will get along super well. He is the, well, best at being a missionary. I'm super excited to learn from him.

Well, I'm approaching 8 months and learning a ton. I have another Latin companion so I will be talking only Spanish again. Oh yeah, so Elder Lanza was in D.F. So we are both new to this area, we have no idea about anything. So yeah, It will be fun to explore and try to find where people live without having a clue where to go. I'm excited to try and learn stuff super fast. I seriously think that all of the video games that I played helps me a lot in navigation. 
So yeah, stuff is super interesting, and I'm super excited about everything.
Oh yeah, I'm the worst, I forgot to tell you that we had a baptism yesterday. Here name is Claudia, and her husband (who we helped them to get married) lived in Utah a long time ago and got baptized, and we have reactivated him and then baptized her. They were so happy and are planning on going to the temple in a year.
  
July 14, 2014
Ok, so, Cuidad Hidalgo, cuidad means city by the way, is different than Tenancingo. It has a little downtown area, it's nothing more than a few blocks, but I think bigger than Tenancingo's. But it has just a bunch of suburb areas around it, well, just a bunch of houses. So yeah, we usually just work out there. The biggest change is that I went from a ward in Tenancingo to a Branch out here. And there is barely anyone. Well we had about 50 people there. But most were women and children. We have barely any Priesthood holders, so yeah that's interesting. We had to wake up early and go and clean the church, then we were going to give talks but we got to church late bringing people, and then we taught the Gospel Principles class and also the Priesthood class. So we have to do a ton more out here. It is way different, but it is fun. When I was in the city they had great teachers and a huge quorum and everything, so things are just really different out here. So yeah, I'm excited to work out here and try and help a ton. Baptize a lot of people and also reactivate less actives and help the active members be more animated.

So my companion is really really great, we get along super well. he is a really good missionary, he teaches really well and he is just good with people. He is just really cool. So yeah, I'm excited to be working with him and well, to keep working with him, and learn from him and everything.

So, in the next 8 weeks the mission is going to receive 54 new missionaries and only 20 are leaving. I'm excited to see what time brings.

Oh yeah, out here Carnitas are the popular food, what it is I think is they just get the animal, and cut off a few parts and throw all of it in a giant cooker thing, I think a steam cooker more or less, and then well, they give you all of it. The stomach, the skin (slimy), and the meat. So yeah its crazy, and weird textures, but it didn't taste bad. My companion said the nana is the best, that's the womb. So yeah, I will see if I will eat it or not, I'm kind of scared but we will see.

So, we have been teaching the woman named Gisela (he-sell-a) and she has 2 twins that are both 8. She has a disorder with her kidneys and has to get her blood cleaned out a few times a week, and she is 26 years old. She's SUPER great and accepts everything we teach her, and wants to keep learning more. The sad thing is that she used to live with the father of the twins, but as soon as they found out she was sick, he just left one night. and hasn't even talked to her or them since. We are super excited to baptize all 3, she already said she would get baptized, so yeah, hopefully be expecting pictures in a few weeks.
July 21, 2014
Hi. Um, so I don't really know what to say, another week working working working. Oh yeah yesterday I reached the 8 month mark which is also the 1/3rd mark, so that's pretty crazy. I can't believe it's gone so fast, but also it feels like I can't remember what texting is so yeah. The mission is a weird time warp.

So, um, we ate tacos of carnitas today, it was just the rib meat of the pig and they were so amazing. I want to come back here after the mission and eat them with you guys. I think dad would absolutely love them.

This week we entered into a lot more houses than last week, and have some really good investigators. We brought 9 people to the church. So that's cool. The total attendance of the branch here before we got here was around 35, and yesterday we had 58, so that's a ton better. We are working really really hard and it's been fun.
We have 7 people that are going to get baptized soon, within the next 4 weeks. So we just need to keep working with them, 6 are females, and 1 is male.
So back in the day, the Elders would just baptize everything that moved, the people only had to go to church 1 time and the next time they could be baptized, but out of all of those people barely any stayed in the church. So we are focusing a TON more on helping people to be converted, to read the Book of Mormon every day, and really have a strong testimony. It's super exciting, this is the kind of work I want to be doing, not just empty baptisms.

We found a family a while ago, they went to church for the second time yesterday. The dad is named Fernando, the mom Cecilia (se-seal-ee-ah) and they have 4 daughters and 1 son, ages 5 and under. It is exciting to be here doing this kind of work, changing peoples lives, helping out these children, and just everything. It's so great. I have learned a TON of spanish this change. It is super exciting.
July 28, 2014

We ride the bus a lot, to go to other cities, today we had to go to the offices of the mission to do visa stuff for my companion, we had to ride 4 hours there and 4 hours back. So yeah, we left the house at 3:30 in the morning, so yeah that's cool. The bus to the mission offices is $232 pesos, which is like $30. We mostly walk here, always always always, which is good cause it's free.
So all of my áreas have different things about them that make them good, in my first área it was the members of the Ward, in the second, the members and the city, I really love big cities, and then the third área was so awesome, I can't explain it, it just feels like a special place, and well this one, I haven't really found it yet. Just the people we are teaching I think. Its fun to have a huger role in how things work here, a lot depends on us, like the last minute lessons. We just don't prepare anything and just teach them on the fly, its fine though, just to have a conversation and what not with everyone.

Yeah, so well, same stuff, working working working. We had 7 baptisms lined up for the 3rd of August, but a few of them are going to take more time. I think we will only have 3... hopefully. We will see.

I've been thinking about how lucky I am to be in this mission. Hearing a lot of stories about other missions and stuff like that, and well there is a great mindset of obedience and work here. I am SO thankful to be in this mission that is more concentrated on the work than a lot of others. 
Next week I will have more stuff to write about. We are going to have changes, and I'm pretty sure we are going to get changed around, that my companion is going to train or well, who knows what. We will see what happens.

Love,
Elder Hadley

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