Week #54 June 19 2017

Hola Todos!

We had transfers this week and.............! I am staying! Elder Patience is also staying! This week we had a really rough week. I will admit, it really was a great week, but some things felt like there was opposition in all the world. Monday we actually had a pretty great day, though all the plans we had fell through except for the last part in the which after some patience, we were able to teach Frank(He is hispanic) and his two sons. It was actually a pretty awesome lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It felt very naturally to teach in that setting for some reason. Tuesday, we met with a man named Guido who was stoked to learn and have a discussion about the Restoration, but, he had not read like he said and was very adamant that he read before so that he would be prepared. That was fine by us and very cool! We had an awesome mission conference with Elder Brent Neilson. Some cool thoughts were that Elder Bednar and Elder Oaks both wake up 4:30, Exercise and then study the scriptures. That is pretty impressive. As well, I also learned many other important things that pertain mainly to the missionary work. Then came Saturday, We had an awesome lunch with a member, but we had many appointments and they all fell through. Then, we had issues for setting up the branch activity afterwards, as well as other people going to the hospital all of the sudden. All in all, it felt like the world fell down on us. The good thing though was that we did have a successful baptismal interview. The activity turned out pretty well. Then came Sunday. Our investigator to be baptized next week was not at church because someone else went to the hospital as well. Then, we got cool ties for Father's day! We drove to York for dinner with our Branch President. We came back and then had a super awesome miracle! We were trying to find a referral and we get there after driving 45 minutes and the address doesn't exist, as well as we are in the middle of the country with no Hispanics in sight. We knock some doors and have no success. We go back to the car and find out that we needed a space in the street name and made way more sense. We decided though that we had to be there for a reason so we decided to knock one final door. We drive to it, and as we pull up, there is a car sitting in front of us who turns on and starts moving. That was really freaky and startling. It turns out there is a young lady that was looking for a job at the place we had decided to knock, and they thought we were the owners pulling in because they weren't home. We were able to share the message of the Restoration briefly with her and she was very excited to learn more. It was neat to see how we were guided exactly to the right place at the right time to find this child of God. Especially in an area (it was a referral for the English Sisters) that has not been able to find anybody in a while. Long story short, it was a long week, but we were very blessed. I am grateful for all the love and prayers!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

$4 shoes that are like new!

Pants from my companion!

The best ribs in the world!

Week #53 June 12 2017

Hola Todos!

This week was sort of crazy! We started of the week strong, then went straight into district meeting on Tuesday followed by an exchange with the Zone Leaders. I went into Lititz for the day and my companion stayed in our area. (The secret is that I really never left my area because Spanish speaking missionaries cover everywhere!) we had a really good exchange and I learned lots! We taught two different people named Tim, one that I had found the last transfer while on an exchange. It was interesting to see how much he had progressed since the last time that I had visited with them. Sometimes when we teach, we really have to slow things down for people to be able to understand what the message is, and other people are a lot more able to comprehend what we are saying. A lot of it has to do with their desire and willingness to listen. Some people are brick walls while others thirst for what we have to share. Earlier on that exchange, we taught the other Tim, and it was interesting to see how much different he was to teach. This Tim was a history professor who had gone through a stroke. He knew his stuff for sure, but also was humbled to be able to listen. At first, we just answered questions, but as the lesson began, then questions slowed and he was able to follow surprisingly well. It was neat to see really when the Spirit hit him because the questions, these were sort of aggressive type questions, stopped and he seemed stunned in a way. I think it is interesting how key the Spirit really is to everything that we do as missionaries. We really are just crazy young people without it. The rest of the week was pretty interesting. We had a few days where we did all we could, we followed and adjusted our plans, and still nothing. But it is cool to note that we were still able to exceed the standard of excellence and have great success. All in all, the work goes on and I am grateful to be here.

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

Week #52 June 5 2017

Hola! This week was another great week here in Lancaster PA! We are teaching like crazy up here! This week we had a pretty normal week, but it was very full. I think the interesting thing was the way that it was made busy this week. I have a hard time finding what to write because I have seen a lot of different things happen, and it is quite hard to figure out which happened this week and which did not. I will say that I wake up a lot happier if I get a slight bit extra sleep. This week we had a nice wide spectrum of just about everybody. We had people that were very awesome and excited to learn, we had those who did not want to listen to us at all, We had those who wanted to listen to us but didn't hear anything we said as we later passed and he was drinking and said today I do bad... We had those that we taught they smiled, but understood nothing. Then there were those nice tender moments of miracle where they said "I finally have the tools in my hands to follow God" It was definitely fun. Some highlights were the fact that Hno. Guerrero decided to invite all of his friends to hear the gospel. He wants the branch to be strong, and he wants to be able to say at the end that he did his part to give them the opportunity to hear.Because of that our week was full of him sharing his testimony with his friends and it was a beautiful thing. I feel like the real joy in sharing the gospel comes from doing it with those that you love the most. That was really the coolest thing this week. I just can't help thinking of all my friends and imagining what would happen if I did share the gospel with them? Don't I love them? And if they love me yet still don't want the message, then won't they respect that as well? I can't think of anything happier then inviting someone that you love, a friend, a family member, to enjoy what makes you truly happy. I just feel like I want to share with everybody, especially all of those that I know whom I am friends with. All in all, I feel the need to share and do what I can to bring this joy to the lives of others!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

Week #51 May 29 2017

Hola Todos!

This week was the bomb! We worked super hard, and had miracles. I don't know why, but we were blessed abundantly. We had a very interesting week with district meeting, a special exchange, correlation, and finding tons of people this week. Basically the takeaways are: Seek the Spirit and follow the impressions. It is that simple and it works like a charm! the reason for the special exchange was for training purposes with some of the best missionaries in the mission. They came to train us for leadership because most of the leadership in the mission will be leaving in the next 2 transfers. On top of that, there is a lack of seeking of the Spirit in the mission. It seems that most of the missionaries are settling with what has already been done and are not seeking the Spirit for direction in how to approach the new pace of the mission. the big focus of late then has been to receive revelation, to teach the doctrine and help others to seek their personal guidance from the Spirit. Here is an example from the week. We are building the kingdom here! We have so many new and solid people that I don't know what to do with all of them! Yordy is super solid and will open up his family to finally being baptized. Giovani is very stoked for baptism and is ready to learn. Manuel is a little tougher, but he has high desire. If we have to move his date, hopefully it will cause the rest of his family to come around. We had a super awesome experience this week! Well, really the whole week was cool. We just were teaching like crazy and had an awesome exchange with the special assignment missionaries. Then we had a super awesome miracle after church. We had a fun branch activity with our investigators and then were heading to an appointment with a man some other missionaries said to stop by. We had tried by, but nobody was there until sometime last week his wife opened the door and told us a time to stop by. This was the appointment on Sunday. We get there and... nobody answers. So we move on to our back-up plan and go find the apartment of a less-active in the area. We then both decide to go stop by one of our investigators that we hadn't planned on seeing today that missed out on church. We pass by and there are a ton of people on the porch and we somehow manage to get in to the kitchen where our investigator is. She had been taught years ago by missionaries in Puerto Rico, and had loved it! We get in and she is cooking and it is a pain to do anything, but we get everything going. So, the main people that participated were her son and daughter(30's and 40's or something like that), her sister (who mostly listened and nodded, but didn't want to do anything because she already had her religion) and herself. We manage to teach and sort of shout teach just to be heard through the first parts, but they all were loving it. We get to the first vision and it is like Jesus calmed the sea. It was beautiful. Afterward, we invited them to be baptized and if they would like very soon with our other investigators on the 24 of June. They were all on-board! They seemed pretty excited about the prophets still talking with God bit and so we shall see what happens. The cool thing about all of this is that the son, Hector, is the referral guy that missed out on his appointment! I guess the Lord knows how to find people. Overall, that just was the cherry on top for finding this week.

I am very happy with my mission and know that it really is not mine. All I am doing really is doing my best to be obedient in all things, to seek and then follow the Spirit. I can't do anything unless I have the Spirit in this work because it is not mine. All in all, a great week!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

Week #50 May 22 2017

Hola Todos!

I am having a little bit of writer's block so bear with me. This week was pretty stinking amazing. We have a pretty tough mission overall here out east. What I mean to say is that in some areas, it is very difficult to find people to teach, some where they find maybe one new person to teach a week. Our mission president has put a standard of Excellence of 2 per week and for some it is difficult to achieve. The interesting thing is that that standard has been established as a promise from the Lord that we will be able to find that many each week. I have seen this to be true. Pretty much since I got it in my head that the Lord always fulfills His promises, I have not missed a week to reach this standard; many weeks exceeding it. An interesting thing though is that the same applies with our goal setting. One sister pointed out that if we really have the faith to reach our goals, then we should be getting many more investigators because one should never have a goal not to achieve, or rather 0, meaning 7 per week. That was a very interesting thought! Once we started doing that, we started really striving to keep our goals, and for the most part, we fulfilled them. It doesn't mean they aren't a stretch, but we strive to do all we can to make it happen. I guess what I am trying to say is that the Lord magnifies our efforts and our faith. This week we were able to help our good friend Manuel accept a baptismal date and come to church. It is amazing how much people are able to progress by exercising faith. Then, on Sunday evening, we found this young man Yordy who had met before with missionaries and come to church 3 times, but we don't have his record anywhere. Also, it was weird to find out that he really had not been taught about the doctrines behind the Restoration. We simply taught him what we know and bore our testimonies. He accepted a date as well as Baptism and was very excited to meet with us again. I am grateful for the Spirit because that is the only way anything happens out here.

A couple random thoughts that all the women in the world might appreciate. Women were the last creation during the periods of creation, and it is interesting to note that the most precious parts of the creation were saved for last. As well on this note, Women are the portal to creation. These were some thoughts that were said in priesthood meeting this week.

I love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

Week #49 May 15 2017

Hola Todos!

This week was pretty great, though I am not sure what to write about being as that I said pretty much everything yesterday getting to talk to my parents. I suppose that is because the work goes on and doesn't stop. we welcomed some new people to our District this week as transfers were this past Wednesday. I and Elder Patience are both still here in Lancaster! Then on Friday we had a very long missionary meeting that was 2 hours away so we did not do a whole lot that day. It was pretty cool though in the meeting to feel the strong Spirit there. There was a moment that I received a very strong prompting and am grateful to know that our Father in Heaven communicates with His children. Sunday we had some very good meetings, though there was a little bit of a dispute on something, though I am not really sure what. Angry Hispanic women are not to be messed with, but I can say that repentance is for everybody! On a more serious note, Jose shared a really cool experience in Gospel Principles class. He shared how prayer really helped him be able have peace and give him strength. For some reason or other he really felt like he didn't want to come to church and I think he may have been a little upset with his spouse. he decided though to pray and ask for peace and strength. when he did, all of those bad feelings fled and he felt the strength to come. The Lord truly does answer our prayers when we ask in faith. I know the letter is short this week, but I got to forget myself and go to work!

I love you all and keep you in my prayers!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

Week #48 May 8 2017

Hola Todos!

This week was interesting and not a ton actually happened. It rained and I think Past Subjunctive started to really click. I learned how to say the question, "What would it mean if our message was true?" I learned why no one ever understood the question and that was because I have been saying it wrong the whole time and never knew! It makes way more sense, and since then, people have been able to take that question way better. Also this week, I finally got my box back from the sisters that I made to protect my scriptures. I convinced them to decorate it for me because they made fun of how it looked before so they decorated it. The cost, though free, was a moth without my box. Worth it? It looks pretty cool. As you may have noticed, this letter is pretty practical. That is because I try to make the letters fell how it is to be on a mission. Though we have many awesome experiences, sometimes there is simple and pure joy in the simple things in life. Transfers did not really affect us this time as we are both staying! I am excited because we are on fire right now and we will see some pretty amazing things this next transfer. 

Okay some actually uplifting stuff! We had a neat experience teaching the Plan of Salvation yesterday to a man who has some very deep questions. It is sometimes hard to teach him because he comes up with questions that distract from the main point of the message and don't allow for principles that need to be taught to be taught. For this reason, he has not progressed when missionaries have worked with him in the past. It has been interesting to watch how as we carefully answer his questions, and hold others for another time in order to keep the focus, he at the end is much more satisfied. For instance, he at the end of teaching said that he had always felt that God wanted to save all of his children and not just a few. Also, we had a regional broadcast on Sunday and were able to hear some speakers fro the General Authorities. I don't have the name super well, but The first counselor in the Primary General Presidency gave some wonderful insights to having our own light of Christ in our lives, versus borrowing the light from others. One of the Seventy that spoke referred to 8 different repentance stories in the Book of Mormon. It was not so much the topic, but the Spirit that bore witness to me that Repentance is real, for everybody and helps us to be happy. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is for all of us and I am so grateful for it.

All in all, I love you and your support. Let us all keep an eye out for God's hand in our lives this week as we go forth and serve!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie​