Elder Hays Starts off the week Cold, but his testimony grows.

I'm cold!

So, Elder Innis and I have been having a really good week. It was pretty slow at first, it seemed like everything we did, or decided to do either didn't pan out, or just didn't go as planned. However, during the middle of the week onward's it went pretty great. We found 3 new investigators, and got one of them to accept a baptismal date, that doesn't say anything about actual missionary work, because numbers don't really matter that much, but it's still a good foundation to base our week off of. 

 

One of the members here in Keighely's Mum died last night. That was really difficult. She would be completely fine and joking one minute, and the next she'd be crying her eye's out on the couch. I didn't know what to do, or what to say, and I felt like anything I did say would be insulting to even insinuate that I could comprehend her pain. So we just sat quietly with her till she felt better. Man, I wanted to hug her so bad. Sometimes though, we just can't take the pain away. It's one of the suckiest part of God's plan for us, that we have to feel pain so hard that it literally feels like our chest is caving in, but it's sign as well of the best of God's plan for us, that we can feel love so strong that it causes grief so sharp. 

 

I'm really trying to feel the spirit more as I go throughout my day. I've been having these really vivid dreams all week about the spirit and missionary work, and there's always someone in the dream that tells me I need to seek the spirit more, so I'm trying really hard to find the spirit and let it into the work more. It's been a struggle, because too often I just am not listening as much as I should, but hopefully I can learn to get there. 

 

I love you guys so much. 

 

Elder Amundsen sent a pic of him on the beach in Florida this morning, so he's not helping that much in the "feeling cold" department! ;) Lol. Hope everyone's week is going well!

 

Love you lot's!

Meow

-Elder Hays

[then we received this email in the middle of the week]

 

 Hi there, so I know that this isn't on our usual day for email, but it's for a reason. We had Zone conference the other day, so all of the North of the mission met in Billingham for 6 hours to receive instruction. The North part of the mission is around 140 of the 270 missionaries in the mission. And wow was it amazing. 

 

To start off, it was the 11th of November the other day, which meant it was remembrance day. On remembrance day, during the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the country stands quiet for 2 minutes out of respect for the fallen soldiers of the UK. So, after receiving a bit of instruction, we, as a mission, stood for those two minutes. It was a very sobering experience, especially when coupled with Sister Pilkington's talk on how the wars we were remembering (Most specifically WWI and WWII) was not only a fight for individual countries, but was a fight for agency as well. She wonderfully contrasted the story of the World Wars, with the scriptures in Moses regarding Lucifer's rebellion. It was so amazing because the spirit was IN that room. As she discussed the horrors of both wars, she quoted a World War marching song that says, 

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And smile, smile, smile.
Don't let your joy and laughter hear the snag
Smile boys, that's the style
What's the use of worrying
It never was worth while
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And smile, smile, smile.

It was a chilling and humbling experience to see the horrors of the war shown and discussed, and then to hear her quote a line of the song, and continue forward in that fashion. After her talk, she had all of us stand up and sing the song with one another. The spirit of brother and sisterhood in that room was palpable. Elders were swaying back and forth in huge lines and everyone was giving it their all. I'm so grateful that I am serving this mission. It has changed me, and it has changed me for the better. I do not want to be the same person that I have been before, I do not want to wander around lost, trying to find peace and happiness elsewhere. This is it. There is no other way to find lasting peace and happiness in this life, or in the life after. It is only through Jesus Christ that we can truly be happy. This may sound like I've changed into some religious Zealot, but I haven't, I've just finally realized that this is going to be hard. Life is going to be hard, God has given all of us trials that are unique to us, but he trusts us. We are the most selfish and terrible creatures sometimes, but GOD TRUSTS US. I love you guys, and I just wanted to share that with you. I love you so much.

-Elder Hays. 

Brennan the Popsicle, Scary Kids Scaring Kids and Impressions.

So in one my emails to Brennan I asked him the following questions:

1.  Funniest thing that has happened on your mission so far (or one of the funniest)

2.  Weirdest situation you've been in

3.  Best meal you've had

 

His response was: 

 

 1. When I got punched by a member over and over in the arm while I was praying as he screamed, "GO PURPLE HAZE GO PURPLE HAZE GO". 

2. When a teenage girl we'd given a Mormon.org card to with our number called us that night and tried to flirt with us. 

3. I had a REALLY good roast dinner this week with one of the families in the ward. Super good!  

email from November 3rd: 

 

 

Hola! How's it going! Just writing you from the coldest climate on earth! Just a big Brennan Popsicle up here! Lol, the weather has gotten pretty cold in the last few days, and VERY WINDY, so Elder Innis and I have been FREEZING! Hahaha, Elder Innis is thin, 6 foot 5 and is from Sydney, Australia. 

We're pretty convinced that God is just up there chuckling at us. He's sent a boy from the Sonoran Desert, and a kid from the unbearable heat of Australia to freeze to death in Northern England. Happy thoughts! 

 

 

So, this week has been great. It's been amazing getting to know Elder Innis more. It's so funny because we have so many things in common that we didn't know. Like, there was a song playing in the flat underneath us REALLY loud one night, and I wasn't paying much attention until I started to think, "Hey, I think I know this song", Elder Innis looked over and saw me pretty intently trying to listen, and he asked me what I was doing, and I told him it sounded like my favorite band back home, and he asked what band it was, and I said, "Oh, it's not a very well known one. It's sorta a Screamo band, but not quite, and they only released one album quite a few years ago. They're called Scary Kids Scaring Kids", and he just paused for a really long time and said, "Straight for the deep end?" (Which is a song of theirs). And I freaked out! Lol, apparently we both like that band, and he's the first person I've EVER found who even knows who they are! Hahaha, so sometimes we sing a few songs under our breath while we knock houses. 

So yeah, that's been awesome! 

Spiritual thought for the week. 

 

So, we've had this investigator W. now for quite a while, and in the last few weeks he's been absolutely incredible. He's been coming to church, keeping all his commitments, and trying to break all of his bad habits. It's been great to work with him. Well, he went out of town, and then had some dental surgery so we haven't been able to get a hold of him for about 2 weeks. So this Tuesday Elder Innis and I were on the bus heading to Bracken Bank, and the bus drove past W.'s street, and I just had this incredibly strong impression that we needed to try to see W. I told myself, "No, no. We're not doing that. It makes absolutely no sense. If he's not in then it messes up our entire schedule because we'll have to catch another bus, and we've already knocked this neighborhood before, so it'll just mean we'll have to stand their and wait for 25 minutes for the next bus. And he's just had surgery, so he'll be in a lot of pain. Don't bug him. This isn't a spiritual prompting, you're just thinking of him because you're passing his house." sooooo, I ignored the prompting, and we went past his bus stop. Then about 30 seconds later I just got this huge feeling of, "GO TO HIS HOUSE, LISTEN" so I slammed my hand on the stop indicator, and we got off and walked back to his house, the whole time with me apologizing to Elder Innis and just saying I felt like we needed to see W. So, we get to his door. Windows are closed, lights are off, and there's no indication he's home. "I knew it", I said to myself. I knocked on the door annnnnddddd W. answered! Yep he answered the door.... and then shoved the Book of Mormon and gospel Principles book in my hand and said, "Sorry bro, it's not for me." and slammed the door. So, yeah. I got impressed to get dropped. 

 

Lol, it's really interesting, because I say that story, and it sounds really sad in a way. Like, we lost our most solid investigator who was scheduled to be baptized in a few weeks. But really it's just a huge testimony builder to me of obeying the spirit. I don't know why the spirit decided that needed to happen. Maybe it didn't want us to waste our time on W.  Maybe W. needed to see the confusion on our faces as he slammed the door in our still halfway smiling faces, and that'll prompt him to join the church later on. I don't know - all I do know is that I trust in him and his timing.

Well, yeah. I gotta go! Love you guys loads! Hope all is well! 

--Elder Hays