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

Week #25: November 28 2016

Hola Todos!

I have had a way busy week that has been way fun as well! For starters, My new companions are Elder Southwick and Elder Jun! Elder Jun is a fresh missionary right off the block and my trainee! Elder Southwick is just about ready to go home but has the energy of a bunny rabbit! They are way fun and I am learning lots. Elder Jun is from Orem, UT but was born in Korea. He speaks fluent Korean and now will be trilingual! All of the members keep giving him weird looks because he is an Asian speaking Spanish. Elder Southwick is from a little town called Battleground, WA. He is way awsome and loves to work hard. Side note, as a companionship we have been playing a game called 'what are the odds'. Long story short it is a little bit chancy. I lost and had to super glue a bottle to my face, but Elder Southwick accidentally got it in my hair and now I have this funny hard spot in my hair that won't come out. Luckily it isn't noticeable to see, but it is kinda awful in my hair. Though, Elder Southwick got the worst of it and let's just lave it at he had to do some crazy stuff! Elder Jun has spunk and is just plain awesome. We met up the other day with my old companion Elder Baum and his companion Elder Bowcutt to go and eat while they were down on a medical trip. We took our lunch and Elder Baum happened to bring his Flashbang hot-sauce.This stuff is CRAZY. I had to try it of course because there aren't many opportunities to try a sauce that hot. 1 drop will make a whole gallon of food be spiced up big time. Elder Jun took 4 and hardly flinched. He was like, "wow this is really hot"...went and got some Horchata... "Wow this is REALLY hot!" I took 2 drops and it immediately sent me into a teary hiccuping fit where everything was liquid flame and my insides just wanted to be on the out. My tummy ached super bad, but in the end it all worked out. Elder Jun said it!

Events and stuff this week!

Monday and Tuesday were a little stressful getting everything ready for the transfer, Wednesday we had meetings and transfers and fun missionary stuff. Thursday, we weekly planned then had a very fattening day. We started out early with a lovely breakfast with one of the members named Isabel Lopez and her Husband Andrew and her daughter Emma. (Pancakes, Sausage, yogurt, fruit,) LAter after planning, We had a dinner planned with our investigator Yotsy and Liz and their family. It was a jolly ole time! We arrive and they had started early, the only time Latinos start early is to eat..., but the had three ginormous plates with rice, purple looking potatoes, some sort of Peruvian steak stuff that was the bomb, Latino turkey, and this dessert that was like a cinnamon roll but different. Dinner 1. While their we had some awesome discussions and it was way helpful in building relations with them and discussing the gospel. Dinner 2. Directly after we headed to a part member family's house, Lino and his wife. Lino is Spanish, but his wife is from Cambodia! So, there were lots of fun people to talk to there. We had Asian food for this one which all tasted really goo, but we were already stuffed to the bone. We leave and they hand us huge pieces of cake as we walk out. Dinner 3. We head then to our Branch Mission Leader Alex Ventura's home for dinner 3. We get there and I am dying. We set out and there is lots of turkey and Spaghetti. I get to the point where I just say, "this food is really wonderful and I don't want to waste i, could I take it home with me?" Relief! My companion was being funny and decided to dish us up huge helpings. Funny thing though, he gave our new companion the throat and didn't tell him. The Venturas kept telling him, Elder Jun, that he didn't have to eat it, but he didn't know what they were saying and just nodded his head and said si. Way funny and a great day. Friday we went out and did service, had correlacion, dinner with a member, then we had some cancellations. Saturday was a day full of miracles where we were able to meet and teach most of our investigators. We had help fro the members and we found some new people to teach. Sunday, not a ton happened, but it was not near as exciting as Saturday. All in all a pretty awesome week.

Things I learned

1. Don't do dumb things. Slightly dumb thigs can turn to really dumb things fast and leave glue in your hair.

2. I appreciate healthy eating habits much more.

3. We for some reason didn't actually set our goals and write them down for Sunday. Setting goals is a way we show our faith that even though we might have cancellations, the Lord will make it possible anyway. There was an insane difference in that and just by showing the Lord that we are putting it in His hands. It wasn't that we didn't have good plans or not write them dawn, rather we simply forgot the numbers. The numbers though are a big way to show trust in the Lord. Just interesting.

All in all, things are going well! I am loving Frederick and Miracles are happening!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

I am not sure if I sent this to you but there is a 12 mile per hour sign that just gets me every time I pass it.

Me, Elder Southwik, and Elder Jun

Elder Southwick lost and had to eat 2 boxes, and then 1 more box of Fruity pebbles in one sitting! He was sick that night...

District Photo!(Hermanas_Hermana Colby, Hermana Matamoros,Hermana Hart, Sister Hufaker, Sister Hubenthal, Elderes_Me, Eler Lehnig, Elder Garcia Cordero, Elder Reeder)

I am pointing at my area

One more thought! All of you need to check out the Christmas initiative! Go to mormon.org and explore. Also all of the videos are on you devices in the LDS gospel library app.

Week #24: November 21 2016

Hola todos!

Soooo, I get to stay in Frederick! I will be trio training with the legendary Elder Southwick! It is going to be way awesome! It got cold here fast! It has been a little chilly, but two days ago we biked in the morning and it was hot. in the afternoon we were about to be blown away by the cold Wyoming-like wids that were about to turn us into kites with tags! We had a miracle as we were trying to head back to get some warmer things and get off the bikes when a member, just happening to have a trailer, picked us up and took us home. The cold is weird here.

As far as things this week, Things were kind of crazy. I did not get pictures taken this week because the Hermanas had my sd card all week until yesterday. Things it appears are changing everywhere, weather, companion, and whatever else all of you are experiencing. With change comes new things and a whole lot of learning. Though things around us change there are some things that do not change. nor will they because they are the things of God. We will always base our testimonies in Christ. God is our Father in heaven and loves us. The way to happiness is through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had some really awesome blessings this week.

1. Washington. His first lesson was good, but we didn't know if he was really serious in his search for truth. (he was a little tipsy) Fun thing before the spiritual part, he says to us, "Is it bad that I help people? I mean if you want to borrow a car, go ahead I have four...(Say that part in a super humble voice...) BUT YOU BETTER BRING IT BACK OR i'LL KICK YOUR..." Super funny! He is way nice. we went back and he had read and had good questions. He is sincerely looking for truth and I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to teach him.

2. Yosty, who has been having a hard time finding faith in Christ, acted on our commitment to pray and ask if He is the savior of the world! It was awesome because though he did not do it maybe how we would expect, he was able to feel those confirming feelings from the Holy Ghost. There are certain things that will not change.

3. I have been trying to better learn how to receive personal revelation this week. I found that sometimes the reason we don't receive an answer is because we choose to blind ourselves to that answer.

4. Neat experience, but I should have put it first because it is not exactly happy. Our neighbor was in a pickle. We had done all we could to help him and tried to get a hold of people that could. He was in need of a miracle. It came to the point where all we could do was turn to prayer to let Go take care of where we had failed. You have to remember that our neighbor is not a strong believer, though he has had 3 near death experiences and recognizes gratitude for it. In that moment, I promised him that if he would kneel in prayer with us and show his faith to God, he would receive the miracle he needed. He did not have the faith to do so. We still prayed, though I am not sure what happened. I believe that things mostly worked out, but I know that there were greater things that could have happened. It made me think of a few stories in the scriptures. First, I thought of the Nefites as they were about to be destroyed, and also the Jaredites. They, after having a knowledge were living in rebellion against God and would not turn to Him. In their afflictions, they cursed God instead of humbling themselves and repenting to turn to God. I wondered, is this the judgements of God coming down because his unbelief after receiving wonderful miracles? I do not mean to say this in a bad way, rather as a learning experience. As I was writing this, I thought of another story, the one of the serpents where all they had to do was look and they would be healed. I learned some really good things from this, 1. these are the last days, 2. people have agency, 3. I learned how to see scriptures applied in real life, 4. I learned what a sure knowledge feels like, 5. God has all power and knows what we need and how to help us, 6. Our access to His power is limited/based upon our faith we give Him.

All in all I am excited to begin a new chapter here in Frederick Maryland!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie

Week #23: November 14 2016

Hola Todos!

Quick miracle off the bat, I will not have to purchase a bike while out here because I was blessed to have one made available if I could fix it. Thank you Daddy for teaching me how to fix bikes. Though, tools do make it a ton easier...

This week was pretty interesting. Anyone who has been receiving these emails may have noticed that the past few weeks have been very hard as far as teaching. This week we truly had miracles.

Things I learned this week:
1. We don't receive blessings until after the trial of our faith.

It has felt like a spiritual drought, but the Lord saw fit to bless us bountifully. We found 6 new investigators this week, all with quite a bit of potential. Also, Yotsy has been praying with his family and is willing to search for truth and exercise faith to ask God if Jesus is the Savior of the World.

2. If we are not grateful for what we do have, it will be taken and used elsewhere. We had not used our time very effectively on Thursday, and so we ended up giving the car to the hermanas who needed it more than we did. Because of it, they had a miracle and were able to go and put someone on date.

3. When we repent, we gain the Lord's power. We did not receive miracles until after I had repented. I don;t know about my companion, but I know that I felt the need to do so and almost immediately after I did, and that includes me acting on my desire to be better, we began to see the miracles.

4. Our leaders are divinely appointed by God. I have two stories for this one. First, we had Zone Conference Friday and I was kind of shocked at how direct the guidance we received was to my needs. Remember that zone conference is forever long like 8 hours long. It was all pure revelation for what I needed. Also, it was by acting on what I heard that I saw changes. Also, I could literally see the role change as our old branch mission leader was released and a new one called. I could see the shift of who was directing the work. It was very cool.

Well, I forgot to take pictures this week...............whoops, but I did find investigators which is the important part!

I love you all lots!

Sincerely,

Elder Haynie