New Companion Who Loves Cats

Oh my Lawd I have been worried SICK all week! When I street contact I usually tell people I come from a desert and then we usually talk about which one, if grass grows there, how hot it is, etc. But this week whenever I got to the bit about how I'm from Phoenix, Arizona (Below the Grand Canyon), everyone was like, " Oh my! Is you're family ok!?!? They've had tons of flooding up there, people died!!!!" and I just chuckled and said no it's a desert, we don't get flooding like that, at least not in the city, but after the 5th English person that said that PHOENIX was flooded I was so worried! I hope you're all ok!

Too bad about the car, but I'm glad George is OK. Roxy was a good car, and she died with honour. 

Don't stress George, (h'e reacting to the news that his sister totaled his car)

Ok, so the weeks gone well. Elder Amundsen is super Awesome! He's an absolutely AMAZING finder, like, he can get a conversation going in no time flat! It's been a bit of a rough week, about 3-4 hours of knocking each day, but oh well, it's all in the job. 

Benefits of having an ex Ap as your companion: You can ask all the question you have about how things work for stuff like transfers, Emergency Transfers, Planning, President Pilkington and SO MUCH TO LEARN FROM HIM, HE'S SUCH A GOOD MISSIONARY!

So yeah, I told mom, but I can't find a USB cord for my camera type ANYWHERE! So I'm going to get a card reader from ASDA and see if that works, hopefully more for y'all next week! 

I hope you guys don't mind the shorter emails to everyone. I'm trying to write more to you guys individually which makes it hard to have long big letters to everyone. 

WHEN IS NOELLE DUE, OMG SOMEBODY TELL ME PLEASE!!!!!

Alright, love you lots! 

Love Elder Hays

Chim

And the following week: 

So, Elder Amundsen is probably just about the nicest guy in the whole mission. And he's funny, sarcastic, and a freaking amazing missionary. So glad I get to serve with him. He also likes cats... no...he ADORES cats. Lol, it's so funny. Whenever we're finding (Probs for about 3 hours a day) he just meows at cats when he sees them. I don't know how to explain it, but man it's funny. 

So yeah, that's going great. 

baptism of H.

We've done a lot of finding this week which has gone great. We've found 5 new investigators, and got 4 of them to church this week which was super cool! So yeah, that was a good way to end the week. Not a ton else. I'd just like to say thanks to everyone for the letters, I really love getting them, especially the hand written ones (Thanks George for the pics, They're hanging up on my wall). Thanks Mum for the new tie, and while I love the scented markers, they didn't smell anymore when I got the letter, but I just used my imagination ;) 

Could someone tell these people at church that I appreciate their letters: 

1. Sister Suzanne Barker (She's totes awesome) 

2. Melanie Hale (When does she leave for her mission)

Gracias! Alright guys, I gotta guy, but I love you all tons! Hope your week goes well! 

1. Request, can you guys email me some pictures of YOU. Lol, I have tons of other stuff, but I want pics of you guys! Especially you mum, I don't have any big pics of you, and I can put the pics on my USB and then print them out larger at a store here so I can hang them on my wall. Love you all so much! Stay safe! 

--Elder Hays

P.S no one has still told me when Noelle is due so I'm literally sitting here trying to do the math in my head and I'm getting sometime in November. Please Clarify 

XOXOXOXOXOXooooxxxXOXOXxoXoOxOXoxoXOX

Miracle Computers

(I am back to resorting to the internet for photos of Keighley as I have no current photos from Elder Hays.  Maybe next week!)

Sooooo, to start off this email, we'll go with a miracle first. So, Elder Schwarzkopf and I got to the Library today and we tried to log onto some computers that were on and working, and they ended up not letting us log on. At that point the Sisters walked in (Sister Monroe and Howard) and we all decided to start up some turned off computers and see if they would work....they didn't. A librarian then came and told us the computers weren't working and she didn't know when they would start again. So as we all mildly panicked about what to do (Sister Monroe dies in six weeks so she was stressing because she NEEDS to write home to plan for stuff) we decided to just say a prayer. We all bowed our heads over our keyboards and Elder Schwarzkopf led us in prayer. The whole library probably thought we were crazy because we were just praying that the computers would work, and then we paused for a moment and Elder Schwarzkopf said "Now" and put his log in info in and..... IT WORKED! All of our computers let us log in after that so yeah, God answers prayers ;) 

Sad news! Elder Schwarzkopf has been called to serve in Sunderland, so we'll part ways tomorrow at transfer meeting. Good news, he's being made District leader! So that's awesome for him and I'm way excited for him. He's taught me a lot of great things, and he's been a super amazing companion. I've learned a bit of German from him too (How to say stuff like, " I hate apple pie"). So I'm losing my pops this week :( 

Good news! My new companion I'll be getting tomorrow is Elder Amundsen (I think that's how you spell it). He's Norwegian and is a super strong missionary, like, the strongest. One thing that's a bit nerve wracking... he was made Assistant to the President when I came in my first transfer and was just released so I have an ex AP as my companion. So I hope I make a good impression! I think I'm getting him because Elder Schwarzkopf and I have been the most productive team in the Zone all transfer (Taught 22 lessons this week which means we passed our goal of 90 lessons this transfer and taught over 120!!!) and I feel like I'm being slightly tested in a way to see if that was just Elder Schwarzkopf, or if Elder Amundsen and I can recreate, or exceed that. I know we can if we work hard, pray, and hold on for dear life!

So yeah awesome stuff. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we had a baptism two weeks ago. H. was baptized and it was super super cool to see. She's gone from atheist to full blown christian in 3 weeks. Quit smoking cold turkey, and has almost read through the whole Book of Mormon. It's been a privilege to teach her. 

Love you guys! 

Elder Hays 

Elder Hays exhibits sketchy math skills and experiences suit distress...

Hey y'all! So, as you can probably tell by the subject line to this letter, I've passed my 4 Month mark! That's CRAZY! Lol, it sorta completely snuck up on me! Actually Elder Schwarzkopf was the one to point it out to me the other day! Lol, time flies when you're having fun (and are being yelled at by homeless peeps >.> ). Hahaha, I realized that now that I've passed my 4 month mark, I'm 1/6th of the way done with my mission. [mom's note, he gets his terrible math skills from me, but even I can figure out straight away that 4 months on a 24 month mission is 1/8....]Which means that I'm 16% done with my mission! In 2 more months I'll be 1/4 done with my mission! [his math improved here]  CRAZY! So yeah, that's pretty cool. It really does go by as fast as everyone says it does. I can't tell if it's because we're constantly working, and so we don't really have time to think about it, or if it's because God does missionaries and their families a solid by making the time fly. Probably a mixture of the two! 

So GOOD NEWS!!! H. IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!! YAY! Lol, she's so great! She moved her baptism up to the 30th and has given up everything cold turkey and is sticking to it! She's halfway through the book of Alma, which means she's halfway through the book of Mormon! She's only had the book for three fetching weeks! So that's really exciting. Elder Schwarzkopf will actually baptize her (She requested him since his family is converts and she thinks that's more symbolic), but I don't really care much who baptize's her, so long as she get's dunked! 

We got a call today from President Pilkington... I panicked! I don't know why!  But it was just to give us a call of congratulations. Apparently for the second week in a row we're the most productive district in the Zone, and we're the most productive companionship with 25 lessons this week. So that's cool! (We pray for humility every day because we just know this can't last for long!). 

So yeah, that's awesome/pressuring! 

Besides that everything is going well. It's COLD. HOLY FETCH IT'S COLD. Mum, if you could find my Winter coat and send it over I'd super appreciate it. I almost don't want it though, because I keep getting told that they can have an Indian October here, which means a warm October, but Idk, I'll just deal I guess.

Besides that everything's going great! I've lost almost 20 pounds now since going on my mission! 

Love you guys lots! Talk to you next week! 

[I also got one other personal email from Brennan and basically it was all about how he really needed a new suit but he couldn't quite figure it out and discussing options for finding an affordable suit because his are wearing out waaaaaay more quickly than we planned, partially this is due to the fact that they are not allowed to ever wear just their pants and shirts but they always have to be in full suits, which means he has a bunch of pants he can't really wear because they don't have jackets to go with the pants and basically I am regretting spending the large amount of money I did on the suits because while they are very pretty suits, they are apparently not meant to be worn in the UK rain everyday...and then, the following showed up on facebook that week...]

[I can't post the video here but it was the ice bucket challenge and I thought that was swell but at the end of the video they get flour dumped on their heads. ...and of course...on one of his only two pairs of pants...]

so yeah...

I panicked and sent him a suit the next day through Tesco

So, super short letter! So no big letter this week. I just emailed ______ a long letter because she needed it. 

So yeah, I hope all is well with you! Keep up the good work! You're a huge inspiration to me! 

OK, I ALMOST FLIPPED AS WELL. I was worried about the suit and then I kinda go this feeling like, ok... it's gonna work out. Don't know how butttt. And then the next day I got the suit and it fits PERFECT! Have to hem the pants, but such a great suit! Like the best one I have! You're such a flipping genius! 

The flour washed out. I'm getting it dry cleaned and hopefully it'll turn out ok. 

So yeah, not much more time. Once again thanks for the suit, it's awesome! We may just do it that way from now Love you sooooo much! Talk to you soon!