Hello, hello!
I hope you're all doing well. I'm doing very good! Like the subject line reads, there were lots of miracles this past week!
The area where I'm serving has sooooo many less actives and I feel like a lot of people already know about the church and don't want to hear our message. So it can be hard to find new investigators. But... we got a referral from a ward member for his niece! We met with her on Wednesday and her name is N. She's very nice and she already wants to get baptized! She's truly prepared, but we have to teach her the lessons first. When we spoke with her, she felt the spirit and started crying at the beginning. I almost started crying with her! I'm so grateful she's so ready and wants to follow Jesus Christ.
On Friday, we met with T and M and talked about prayer. It was so nice because M shared an experience with us where her dog passed away and she was very close with this dog. At that time, she prayed and then the missionaries came and knocked on her door. Because of that, she let them in and now she's getting more active in the church and her son is soon to be baptized! While she was talking, she started crying and I think so did everyone else in the room. I know I was. It's amazing to see that strong testimony in someone grow like that.
Yesterday (Sunday), we visited an investigator of three years named Z, who goes to a Catholic church. While we were with her, she suddenly said, "I miss going to sacrament and seeing the people there. The people are so nice. I know I need to get baptized." Sister Tony and I were like, "Woah, what??" We didn't say anything about baptism! Hopefully she keeps that desire.
Also, there's this family that has been investigating the church for a while, but the children couldn't get baptized until the parents had full custody of them. We got a text a couple days ago from the mom that said, "Good news! We got full custody! The kids want to get baptized in July!" We were shocked! So many good blessings are being poured out to us! It really helps me to know that even though there are tough times, I'll be blessed for being faithful.
A funny moment this week. Sister Tony and I picked up a member to take to a lesson and in the car, she said to me, "Are the driving rules the same in Canada?" And I was like, "Well, I'm American, so I don't know." Then later, during the lesson, she turned to me and said, "I don't know the customs for Canada" and in my head I'm thinking, "Me neither!" and our investigator said, "Must be cold up there." at this point, I just nodded and said, "Oh, it is."
This week we have a lot going on! Wednesday night, we head to Ferguson to stay the night, and then on Thursday we're going to the temple in Hamilton! That'll be a really good experience before it closes down for three years. Then on Friday, we have the Whangarei Stake Talent Show, which Sister Tony and I will be participating in. we're doing the kapahaka, I think it's called. We're doing traditional Maori dances and songs, so I'll perform them when I go back to America, haha. The Saturday we have exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders! That should be a great learning experience.
Well, I hope you're all doing well. Sometimes I miss America (mostly the sugar) but New Zealand is wonderful. Today (Monday) is the Queen's Birthday, so it's a big holiday. It's very rainy, but it's nice. The work goes on!
Love,
Hailey
A few pictures this week, I'll take more this upcoming week.
1. A picture of Christ strategically placed in front of my family. As so eloquently put by an MTC missionary I knew, "My family is like rubbish to me." (I'm totally kidding, I put it there for laughs. Love you, family!)
2. Me and our heater. We're the best of friends.
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