Week #29 December 26 2016

Hola Todos!

This week was way fun and awesome! Monday was cool and we had a really cool lesson and they seemed really interested until we tried to get a hold of them for the return appointment. Turns out wrong number. :( oh well, we had a really cool miracle on Tuesday. So we decided to travel to try a potential investigator and a referral in Brunswick which is about a half hour drive and a lot of miles, for missionaries, to get there. We didn't know if they would be home, but we get to the area and make a call. Wilfredo the referral happens to have time right then to meet. It was a super blessing because normally people work until late. We are able to teach him and set up a return appointment for Thursday. Wednesday we taught a few door lessons, but the real miracle was to have Hno. Ventura come with us to visit Hector. It was just amazing to me to see the difference between someone who was receptive to the Spirit. One man in the room completely rejected the joy that comes from the gospel whereas Hector was willing to accept it three times over. Thursday we were ale to also visit Hector again and also Patricia in that house. Hno Ventura came again because he has really involved in trying to help her see the need of the gospel. It was awesome again to be able to give a blessing in Spanish to her because she was sick. After, we went and took Hno Nefi Barrientos with us to go visit Wilfredo. It was a super good lesson and I learned that the most important thing really is helping the families as a whole. In order to really help people accept the gospel, we have to help them in their family first. Friday we had our mission conference which was Amazing! I am hoping they send me some videos of the presentations. Saturday we had the opportunity to experience some Mexican traditions around Christmas. Christmas, we were able to afterward go and share the Christmas program with Presidente Castillo and also the Ventura family. I realize now how blessed I was to have that as a focus in my family growing up.

I love you all! Thank you for everything! Shoutouts to Shannon for the 12 days of Christmas, Solangie for the Calendar, Nat for a taste of Christmas, and to all for your prayers!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

Week #28 December 19 2016

Hola Todos!

This week to start off was so cold I thought I would freeze! So, really only the last half of the week. Thursday we get out of weekly planning and the wind hits us and we just about died! It just felt like everything was ice! Apparently it got down to 17 and was windy and humid. It sleeted on Saturday and made everything nasty for a bit, but the temperature was a little warmer so that was fine. Quick winter miracle, a few weeks ago I got a new pair of shoes that were on sale for Black Friday on the Monday before. At first I was hesitant, but they were over 50% off and were only $30. Turns out they were a great buy because they are somewhat a dress boot, they are leather, and have I think a wool lining because they stay pretty warm. The whole point is that the Lord gave me what I needed before I knew I would need them. Just the fact that the ones on sale were in my size! I have a size 7-7.5 for those who don't know. Miracle that I am now appreciating.

So this week was full of other miracles and good stuff. Monday I got to go to Baltimore and we had a going away party for Elder Southwick and had the most delicious cake! Then, we come back and a member that he had served with took us out to dinner at Chile's, and to finish it off we went and taught a new investigator at a member's house! It was a pretty fun day all in all, though in some aspects not as productive as I would like. Tuesday, we planned to have a super awesome day and visit all of our investigators, and...everything falls through! We had a member with us to go and visit Hector and Samuel (Hector is Juan Carlos's real name), but it was Hector's birthday so he wasn't home, we went to a dinner appointment and our member friend had to leave so we had to walk a ways to get to the bus. We got to where we had planned, and he wasn't there so we kept going. We tried by another of our investigators, and he wasn't there either. All in all, we end up going to visit someone Elder Southwick had taught when he served in Frederick the first time and to our surprise we actually found them again. It was one of those times where you could tell the Lord had better plans than us. Wednesday, we said our goodbyes to Elder Southwick and had a forever long meeting for trainers and trainees. After that though we visited Hector and Samuel and also Patricia. We taught about the importance to read the scriptures and pray and it was a very beautiful time. Thursday was cold, but we made our way to visit our investigators and no body opened up. We eventually made it to Santos's house with a member and had a cool lesson about the church. Interesting thing, the man we taught didn't learn as much, but our member really felt the spirit of missionary work and was super excited! Also, there was a teenage girl named Micaela who was in the background listening the whole time, normally this is the case for some reason, and she really just opened up and started asking how she could become a missionary. Now she is a super cool investigator that the sisters are teaching! Friday we were able to teach Gervin briefly, but also we had the opportunity to give a blessing to Hector. This is where we found out his name was actually different. Let's just leave that one that illegals are funny sometimes. It was a wonderful experience that taught about the priesthood as well. Saturday we were walking and missed the bus, but we were able to go and teach Josefina! We were able to solve some of her concerns and it was way cool. After we were heading to another potential, when I got the impression to stop and knock the door of a less active member who we can never find at home. He was home and we were able to talk about repentance and the blessings that he can receive for doing so. After that we went to Hector and Samuel and went with them to the Christmas dinner. SUNDAY! Yesterday was awesome! We had 3 investigators at church, Hector, Samuel, and Josefina! I gave a talk which was fun, and we used gospel principles to teach the Word of Wisdom. After church we had leftovers from the night before. Later that day we took a member to try and visit Gervin, but he wasn't there. Instead we taught some more cousins of Saida and were able to share the restoration. We were watching the 20 min video on line. I have never seen so many interruptions in a twenty minute video in my life! There was definitely an opposition, but the Spirit has more power so it all turned out fine.

That was pretty much my week!

I love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

These are pics of the Scrawny little missionary tree Shannon sent me!

Hola Todos!

This week to start off was so cold I thought I would freeze! So, really only the last half of the week. Thursday we get out of weekly planning and the wind hits us and we just about died! It just felt like everything was ice! Apparently it got down to 17 and was windy and humid. It sleeted on Saturday and made everything nasty for a bit, but the temperature was a little warmer so that was fine. Quick winter miracle, a few weeks ago I got a new pair of shoes that were on sale for Black Friday on the Monday before. At first I was hesitant, but they were over 50% off and were only $30. Turns out they were a great buy because they are somewhat a dress boot, they are leather, and have I think a wool lining because they stay pretty warm. The whole point is that the Lord gave me what I needed before I knew I would need them. Just the fact that the ones on sale were in my size! I have a size 7-7.5 for those who don't know. Miracle that I am now appreciating.

So this week was full of other miracles and good stuff. Monday I got to go to Baltimore and we had a going away party for Elder Southwick and had the most delicious cake! Then, we come back and a member that he had served with took us out to dinner at Chile's, and to finish it off we went and taught a new investigator at a member's house! It was a pretty fun day all in all, though in some aspects not as productive as I would like. Tuesday, we planned to have a super awesome day and visit all of our investigators, and...everything falls through! We had a member with us to go and visit Hector and Samuel (Hector is Juan Carlos's real name), but it was Hector's birthday so he wasn't home, we went to a dinner appointment and our member friend had to leave so we had to walk a ways to get to the bus. We got to where we had planned, and he wasn't there so we kept going. We tried by another of our investigators, and he wasn't there either. All in all, we end up going to visit someone Elder Southwick had taught when he served in Frederick the first time and to our surprise we actually found them again. It was one of those times where you could tell the Lord had better plans than us. Wednesday, we said our goodbyes to Elder Southwick and had a forever long meeting for trainers and trainees. After that though we visited Hector and Samuel and also Patricia. We taught about the importance to read the scriptures and pray and it was a very beautiful time. Thursday was cold, but we made our way to visit our investigators and no body opened up. We eventually made it to Santos's house with a member and had a cool lesson about the church. Interesting thing, the man we taught didn't learn as much, but our member really felt the spirit of missionary work and was super excited! Also, there was a teenage girl named Micaela who was in the background listening the whole time, normally this is the case for some reason, and she really just opened up and started asking how she could become a missionary. Now she is a super cool investigator that the sisters are teaching! Friday we were able to teach Gervin briefly, but also we had the opportunity to give a blessing to Hector. This is where we found out his name was actually different. Let's just leave that one that illegals are funny sometimes. It was a wonderful experience that taught about the priesthood as well. Saturday we were walking and missed the bus, but we were able to go and teach Josefina! We were able to solve some of her concerns and it was way cool. After we were heading to another potential, when I got the impression to stop and knock the door of a less active member who we can never find at home. He was home and we were able to talk about repentance and the blessings that he can receive for doing so. After that we went to Hector and Samuel and went with them to the Christmas dinner. SUNDAY! Yesterday was awesome! We had 3 investigators at church, Hector, Samuel, and Josefina! I gave a talk which was fun, and we used gospel principles to teach the Word of Wisdom. After church we had leftovers from the night before. Later that day we took a member to try and visit Gervin, but he wasn't there. Instead we taught some more cousins of Saida and were able to share the restoration. We were watching the 20 min video on line. I have never seen so many interruptions in a twenty minute video in my life! There was definitely an opposition, but the Spirit has more power so it all turned out fine.

That was pretty much my week!

I love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

These are pics of the Scrawny little missionary tree Shannon sent me!

Week # 27 December 12 2016

Hola Todos!

Well for starters, I don't have a ton of time this week because I am visiting Baltimore and will have to cut the time short. Also, It seems that you are all curious about the weather here, which frankly I don't know why seeing as you can all just ask Google and get a more accurate answer, but Hey, maybe you want the forecast from the missionary perspective! As far as I am concerned it is cold. cold cold cold. Really the temperature isn't that bad, but because of humidity, the type of cold is different. The worst is when the wind blows which I thought only existed in Wyoming. All, in all not too bad though. We did see a light dusting yesterday though!

Highlights from this week:

1. First and foremost, Juan Carlos is progressing and such a man! He cam to church a second time yesterday and brought his friend! He wants to be baptized and we have a date set for January 1! Yeah I know a Sunday, but our Branch prefers it like that because more people show up if it is right after church, plus nobody is late!

2. Also, yesterday we had a super cool activity with the branch and we had lots of nonmembers there and it was way fun. 

I am so grateful for the faith and the feelings shown at this time of year! I just love it! Like I said, I don't have a ton of time to write, but I want to wish you all well.

Love you lots!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

Week #26 December 5 2016

Hola a Todos!

So I had a funny realization that this upcoming week will mark 6 months. It was at that moment that I had a little panic attack realizing that a fourth of my mission was gone! Time is definitely different here in the mission, but maybe it is just a side effect of busy life. Days are forever, weeks come fast and then months seem like they didn't even happen.

This week though has been super interesting!

Monday- Everything pretty much fell through, though we were able to visit a family who hadn't been to church for a few weeks, and then also a less active member, Hna Quiñonez.

Tuesday- We had District meeting and then we did some service with Hermano Nefi Barrientos. After that we had to finish some studies and then we had a miracle. Saida invited us over to go teach her cousin from Guatemala, Gervin. So we ended up over there and had a way cool lesson about the Book of Mormon.

Wednesday- We had an interesting day pretty much of just creating relationships with the members. All of our appointments fell through, but it seems that the Lord wanted us to strengthen the members that day.

Thursday- We met with Gervin again and taught about the Restoration. He was super awesome and wants to learn! We then were helped by Brother Cook our Young Men's President. We went on splits while they visited some of his home teaching families, Elder Jun and I tried to visit some investigators, but instead we were able to go with Presidente Castillo to visit Hna Quiñonez again. It was super cool because presidente was able to help her and her family feel the need to come to church, even if work won't let you.

Friday- We found a super cool investigator named Juan Carlos when we were trying to find someone else that lived in this house. He is a man who finds work by waiting at the Home Depot for someone to hire him. (That reminds me of the parable of the laborers a the different times of hire) Anyway, with the cold he has not been able to find work and is struggling for food. He was very excited to meet with us and learn. We set an appointment for Saturday. Later, we had correlation and ended up back at Saida's house with the Branch Mission Leader Hno. Ventura and also her uncle(she was rocking the missionary work this week!). We had an awesome discussion about a number of gospel principles. After we had to leave because it was getting late, but they all stayed and Gervin, her uncle and all of them watched the Testaments together.

Saturday- This was crazy! We didn't have the car, but we had appointments like none other to make! We went an walked to the Gemio's house and had lunch with them, then their son Alesandro took us to meet with Gervin again. It was way cool because he asked us for a chapter to read from the Book of Mormon! After that, we went and taught Josefina about the Plan of Salvation. We then went to Juan Carlos again. We get there and he is upstairs so we start talking to a lady named Patricia. We end up teaching both her and Juan Carlos the Restoration. He came down and was all ready to go to church! He had thought it was Saturday not Sunday. After them our appointment cancelled, but we went with presidente to visit Liliana who she and her husband have been investigating the church for a while now, though  the sisters have been teaching them. We shared a message and our testimonies and still had time. We decided to go and visit our investigator Santos. We go and teach again the Restoration and find many of his doubts.

Sunday-This is the big miracle! Juan Carlos came to church! Saida was so good and she stopped by to pick him up. He loved it! I taught Gospel Doctrine and he even felt so comfortable to make a comment during priesthood! Hear is the real miracle though; we find out later that he had been offered a job(for the day) for the first time in weeks today that payed at $25/hour but he declined instead to go to church with us. His faith had to have been incredible to trust that God would take care of him if he went to church. Remember he has no food and has not had work for weeks, yet he chose to come to church.

All in all it was a very miraculous week. I am sorry, but I forgot to take pictures this week. I think I just forget until Monday and then it's too late... I will do better!

If you have not already done so, check this out! 

https://www.mormon.org/

 It's the Christmas initiative and it's all about service! Jesus Christ did it and so can we! 

#LIGHTtheWORLD

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie