It's a GIRL!!! (Elder Hays reacts to the news of his new neice)

WWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sooooooo happppyyyy!!!!! I won't lie, when I saw the photo's Noelle sent me, I definitely started crying in the middle of the library with all the other people sitting near me looking at me super concerned like. They were 100% tears of happiness though (and manliness). I can't wait to get to meet little Ruby! This is seriously so exciting for me! I'm gonna be an Uncle Chim! Yay! Btw sooooooo adorbs how y'all announced it! 

Ok, I still have not received a picture of the Mini copper (Also thank you Mum for telling me what it is) and I expect one soon!

Noelle, of course the baby is dancing around in your tummy. It's YOUR baby. It's probably doing a mixture between your booty wiggle and Holden's finger dance he does. 

George, lol, thank your for naming it partially after me ;) Keighley is a great middle name! WHAT IN THE HECK IS THAT FIRST NAME THOUGH! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO READ THAT! [mom's note: he is talking about a chameleon his sister purchased and named partially after the area he is serving in - his brother - who served a mission in Bulgaria - gave the chameleon a Bulgarian first name, which is why Brennan can't pronounce it]

Dad, PICTURES OF MINI COOPER PLEASE! Also, you're great. 

Mum, That place called Lindsays is still there, It's completely closed and boarded up though. So it's a bitttttt janky. It's a wonderful little street though, the back entrance of our house is so adorable and nice. The neighbors have really taken to keeping it nice and green and lush back there. And yeah, that hill SUCKS. It is cool though, because that's the first hill I had to walk up my first day, and when I got to the top we had to stop so I could breathe, but now I can do it (almost) no probs.[I google earth stalked him and was asking questions about the neighborhood]

Pretty much everything's going well. We've been praying to increase our teaching pool this week, and Lo and and behold people have started approaching US about the Gospel! Last night on our way home we were invited by this man yelling at us to go into his house, which resulted in us teaching him and his 3 friends about the gospel (While they puffed away on some weed) and we learned that one of his friends (The only one not smoking and drinking) was a less active member who'd stop going 10 years ago, so we gave him a book of Mormon and told him to give it another try! We also got a follow up appointment with another guy on Tuesday from that same crowd. Pretty cool! OK, I don't have much time left (I had to fill out a questionnaire sent by President this morning which took FOREVER) so I'll keep it short. I love you all so much! You're all the best (I'M AN UNCLE) and I know you are all just the best people in the world! Oh, no pictures this week because I have taken my camera into two different tech shops here in town, and they both said that the cord I need is a Micro USB cord that is for Nikon cameras only. And neither knew where I could get one soooooooooooooo hopefully I can find something in Leeds. 

Ok seriously the guy next to me need's to calm down. He's having a panic attack and his flamboyant side is showing harder then a Unicorn at a pride parade. I think he's about to go 50 shades of Rainbow all over the people who work here that are trying to calm him down. 

Love you!!!! Talk to you soon!

[all photos are courtesy of google earth and it's wonderful ability to stalk any and every area]

Tour De France But Elder Hays Was Moving

It's been a stress fully awesome week. By that I mean, it's been a stressful, difficult, and anxiety inducing week, but I'm having a terrible week in England, which makes it a pretty awesome week as well! (mom's note: we talked about this before he left - that some weeks would be more difficult than others, and I told him to remember when he's having a bad week, that he is having a bad week in ENGLAND, which means, he's still doing something pretty awesome and cool, and it makes bad weeks a little easier, to think about it that way - I'm including these photos of the Tour De France which went through his town last week)  :) 

We had to move flats this week, which has turned into probably the biggest NIGHTMARE you could ever imagine. The move has been pushed back for a few weeks now, but It finally happened this last weekend, and boy did it suck. The Mission office forgot it was happening, so we didn't get any help from them with the move. The tour DE France was that day, but we didn't get to see any of it because we were stuck hauling boxes, we had to tear apart Elder Schwarzkopf's bed because it wouldn't fit down the stairs, etc. etc. Pretty much Elder Schwarzkopf and I are tired, beat up, and bruised. 

However, the silver lining is that God's gonna bless us HUGE this week for doing it. I don't know how, I don't know when, but he always give us a helping hand after a trial, so that's something to look forward to this week! 

Counting my blessing though, I'm well fed, our Flat is bigger then the one we used to live in, I've lost some more weight, and I had a really great Sunday this week with church. So the positives outweigh the negatives! I should get hired to write inspirational greeting cards, I'd be so good at it! 

So, off the topic of me, and onto y'all. Jordan may be getting a chameleon ( I've heard there are some disagreements going on between Mum and George over this, and all I'll say is that God loves both of you...and he made Chameleons cool for a reason...he also said respect your parents...) I have no say on naming it, we all know I'm terrible at that. Maybe something British would be cool though (In my opinion). If it's a girl one you could name it Twiggy. Just a thought. 

I can't WAIT to hear what the sex of the baby is!!!! Someone send me a picture of Holden and Noelle, in every photo her tummy is blocked by someone else and I wanna see the bump!!!! 

Ok, the picture that Dad sent me of the Ha-boob definitely pulled a few heartstrings. I really miss Phoenix sunsets. They're so beautiful it's absolutely unreal. 

What's Dad's new car???????????? 

Not much else. I really don't think I can send photos this week, because I lost my USB cable in the move. Sorry! I'll replace it soon! 

Love you guys so much! Talk to you soon! Stay happy and Healthy! Just ask Mum for that quote from say anything about choosing to be happy if you ever feel down this week! 

(and even though he lost his cable to send photos, a nice woman friend requested me on facebook and sent this photo she took of Brennan at church)

The World Cup, Toad in the Hole, and a Fancy Cobra

Alright I have to keep it short this week! I had to write a letter to the Phoenix East Stake for their Pioneer trek, so that took up a bit of time - I have 15 minutes to write, so we'll see how that goes! 

Alright first off, AMERICA WENT THROUGH TO THE SECOND ROUND!!!! WOO HOO!!!! Ugh, seriously the Brit's are rubbing off on me. I've never been this engrossed in learning about a sport before! It sorta sucks though, because now we're going to get DEMOLISHED by Belgium, while Germany will probably go through to the Semis, so booooooooo for that! That's been a highlight of my week! 

Oh, I just realized I think I've totally forgotten to mention something really cool! The Tour de' France goes through Keighley on Sunday! That's pretty awesome! I'll get to witness an international event! It does suck though, because the main road in Keighley will be shut down, so we literally can't get to ANY of our investigators because they're on the other side of the road from us, and you can't cross the road anywhere for the whole day! So there will be A LOT of knocking and tracting that day :p But still, cool story to tell the kids someday! 

Speaking of Kids, how is Noelle doing?!?!? Is the Baby ok??? Do they have a due date yet? How far along is it? Gender? Do they want to learn the gender? Is she saying she's getting fat? You aren't fat Noelle! You're growing a little person inside you!!!!! I got a bit sad this week, because we read the portion in the handbook on baby blessings, and I realized I wouldn't get to be there to bless my little niece or nephew :( I'm gonna be uncle Chim :)))))))))) 

So some more things about me, here in the Leeds mission we do not get to use technology, which is actually quite irksome, because literally THE WHOLE WARD here uses Ipads and Iphones to coordinate, and it would just be so much easier if we could access the apps they have to keep up to date on the calender, but we kick it old school here with paper and pen :)  

The food here is like any place you have your good and your bad. The one thing that I could say EVERY dish could improve on is more spices, but then again I chugged some Chohula straight from the bottle the other day because I was so sick of bland stuff, so my opinion on that could be invalid :P But there are some things over here that are reallllllyyyyyy good, like toad in the hole. It's pretty much a bread pudding that you bake with sausages in and then you smother with gravy :) All the pasties are DELICIOUS. One other thing that's quite cool, is that over here they can actually make stuff. Like, they'll make a cheesecake for you in 2.2 seconds or brownies or anything like that. (Mom's note: I can't help but feel this is all due to failure on the part of my cooking/baking more than it is a fact that the English can make cheesecake faster than we can...but maybe!)  Pretty much anything that's sweet, the English can make it. 

I hope you're all doing alright! I hope Holden and Noelle are coping well with the ticking time bomb. I hope Jordans getting tan but not skin cancer tan. I hope Dad's not driving the people at work crazy. I hope Mum knows how much we all love her. I hope Skye is keeping the house safe. I hope Digby isn't TOOOO fat. I hope Bella is calm Bella. 

Love you all sooooooo much! Talk to you soon! 

-Elder Hays 

Oh yeeeeeaaaahhhhh, did I mention I got to sit in a Cobra 427 this week.... here are some pics :P (be jealous) 

Hair Cuts

Yep, I got my hair cut a few days ago. We went to this barber in the middle of Keighley because he only charges £5 and he seems to be pretty proficient in what he does. He's from the middle east, but speaks pretty clear English. I described to him how I would like him to take off about "That much" using my fingers to show him, and then to clean up the sides. At one point it was perfect! It looked really good and I thought we were done, then he took these scissors and CUT OFF ALL MY HAIR!!!! Lol, I think he thought I meant to keep about "that much" on *Sigh* well, at least it's easier to style now! Lol, it's only been a few days though, and it's already growing in and looking wayyyyy better, so I think it'll be perfect in another few days. 

Here in Keighley it's not at all uncommon to see people from the middle east. Most of the city is actually from there, and so a good proportion of the people are Muslim, which is totally fine because they're some of the nicest people you'll ever meet! 

A couple of things that I've had to learn over here:

  

1. The letter Z is Zed here. I don't know why and no one can explain it to me. 

2. H is pronounced Hay-ch, almost like a very breathy pronunciation of Hay with a ch at the end.

3. Kids loooovvvvveeeee America. Like, anyone under the age of 14 thinks it's the best place ever. 

4. People from Yorkshire hate people from Lancashire and vice verse

5. People from Lancashire claim to be "True Englishman" 

All right, Sorry y'all but my camera is seriously dead again so no chance of pictures this week. Sorry! I'll by rechargeable batteries! I also need to buy new shoes because mine have torn to shreds :( Love you guys so much! Oh btw, did Fathers day already happen back in the states? The English have a different day for Mothers day then us, so I just assumed but I'm not sure? LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH! Talk to you soon! 

-Elder Hays 

Mom's note: (also known as the editor) were you aware that Brennan is serving his mission in Bronte Country?  I love Jane Eyre so much that warms my heart to think of it (don't get me started on Wuthering Heights though.  Not a fan!)  

He did not send photos but I found one of "bronte country" online.  

Transfer Week - Staying in Keighley

So this week is Transfer week! Elder Schwarzkopf and I are staying here in Keighley. Elder van Boom is moving to York 1.1, Sister Morris is staying here and is getting a follow up sister called Sister Monroe, Elder Cole is going to the blessed land of Pontifract, Elder Maungh is staying in Skipton and getting our new District Leader Elder Havi and Elder Graham and Sister Schimdt are Dying (Going home) :( 

It's cool, I'm going to miss everyone, but I know that they're going to where they need to be right now. So besides that, this weeks been pretty interesting. Robyn is progressing really well towards her baptism date, and she's been to church twice! Yay! We helper her and her Mum move to Woodhouse yesterday, and it was really cool because we got told by this one pretty drunk guy that we were real Godly people because we didn't just sit around in our flat, we were out helping people, lifting boxes, tearing down beds and the what not. So that was a really nice part of our day :) 

Besides that, we've been trying to refocus our needs onto our Investigators. It's difficult finding a balance between working with the Less actives and working with out investigators. While it's important that we get the La's back to church, we can't solely work with them and ignore our goal of inviting people who aren't members. So we've been trying really hard to flip that a bit. 

I love Elder van Boom. Lol, sorry we're all righting our letters now in the library (Imagine the faces on the people in the library when they saw 8 missionaries walk in) and he's just making me crack up like crazy. WOW I just realized I've been out for almost two months!!!! That's crazy!!! That's 10% of my mission!!! Time is really flying by, I honestly can't keep track of what day it is sometimes. I'm so happy I'm here on my mission though. I just love looking around at all the other Elders and Sisters, and it's just crazy to see how determined everyone is. I love how some people question sending teenagers out to do this work (both in and outside of the church), but if they met the the Elders and Sisters here they would know why. They're the most determined and Christ like bunch of people I've ever met! They just can't be stopped! I realized something kinda crazy, so in the city of Keighley, there are about 60ish thousand people. In the world right now, there are 85 thousand missionaries, that would mean you'd could replace everyone in the city, it's suburbs, and outlying villages, and you'd barely have enough room for all the Elders and Sisters in the world right now. That Blew my mind!!! I just walk down the street and try to imagine that everyone is a missionary, and it's so cool! 

Besides that, I tell you about Elder Schwarzkopf and I. We get along really well! We rib each other about one another's countries, but it's all just for fun. We're deeply in debate right now about the world cup. Germany vs. America and we argue over who's going to win (I know it'll be Germany, but I'll defend my country till the end!), We play pranks on one another also. Last week he put a cup on the door so when I opened it I got doused with water. I hide his shoes all the time, and he jumps out from doorways and gives me a proper fright, so a lot of kidding around :) We work well together, and are both putting a lot of effort into our companionship. He's a good Dad. Before I forget, I got your package Mum, and it was AWESOME! Thank all of you so much. The turbos were a big hit, and I'm the envy of the whole mission because of the Baja Blast! I use my Sriacha every single day! For cheeper packages though (HOLY COW YOU SPENT A LOT TO SEND THAT) I would suggest using Amazon.co.uk, it's the amazon here and it's wayyyyy cheaper. Could you maybe send me an Arizona and American flag? It's kinda a tradition over here to have them in your flat (Where you're from), but I can't find it anywhere! Alright I love you guys so much, but I have to go. No pictures this month (Batteries are dead). I love all of you soooooooooooooooo much! I'll talk to you soon! :)  [but somehow he ended up sending photos anyway]

FOOOOOOOOD

So if you can't tell by the subject line, I'm hungry :P Lol, Elder Schwarzkopf and I were late two tea appointments two weeks ago, so we had to go without tea appointments (Dinner meals where the members feed you) for this week. It's a rule that President Pilkington has so that we show proper respect to the members for feeding us. It's just a bit sucky because one of them was because we had the wrong address, and the other was because the bus was 30 minutes late :( So we've been a bit scarce on food this week, since it's expensive to buy all three meals in a day. It's not like I'm starving or anything though! Oh before I forget, Mum I had to buy my buss pass (80 pounds), and I didn't have that much on me because reimbursements hadn't gone through, so that's why I pulled out the 30 from my personal. I'll put it back as soon as I get reimbursed! But the rule for the food makes sense, and we could have planned better to get to tea on time, so we both understand why it's the way it is.

So in terms of investigators, we're teaching quite a few. We have about 5 people we regularly try and stop by, the issue is stopping by when they're in ;) But we did schedule Robyn the other day for baptism on the 5th of July, so we're just finishing the lessons with her and trying to get her to YW's. It's actually kinda cool to see, because I remember when we first met Robyn I was just so certain she would become a member. Well, I definitely jinxed it now! 

Alrighty I'm gonna address the question Mom gave me. 

1. Lol, I don't need new clothes yet! Hahaha, I have gotten really good with a needle and thread though, Hills and rain plus hours of walking everyday isn't really that great for seams ;) But honestly, my clothes are fine, they fit me great! I don't need anything :) 

2. I'll try and add a couple more photos. My camera literally burns through a set of batteries a day, so I'm just saving up to get rechargeable ones, but that means until then I have to be judicious of what I take pictures of. lol.

OH I FORGOT, GRANDMA PETERSON SAID LOL IN A LETTER TO ME AND I LITERALLY STARTED CRYING FROM LAUGHING SO MUCH! SHE'S SO COOL! 

3. I did get Dad's package (Forgot to mention that last week). THANKS FOR ALL THE HOT SAUCE! Lol, it's great! Mom, your package is with the Zone leaders, So i'll get it next Tuesday. 

4. Handwritten mail is awesome! I got one from Melanie Hale the other day, which was super nice!

5. Elder Schwarzkopf and I get along really well. I don't have enough time to go into it, but just remind next week to tell you about the cup door incident ;) 

6. Yeah, the people here are really just good people.

7. LANE'S GOING TO RUSSIA!!!! Lol, Putin's gonna get baptized by him! I'LL
HAVE A PLAQUE ON THE WALL!!! YAY!!!

oopppsss, numbers out of order.... yay service for ward!

Alright, I'm out of time, I'll throw on a few pictures for y'all. Love you guys! 

From a library in Leeds...

Hey there! So I'm in Leeds right now! I went on Exchange with Elder Manugh last week, and so I was in Skipton with Elder Cole. It was super fun! It was nice to get to be with someone from Arizona for a change! We talked about home, and things we missed, and then tried to explain what a Haboob was to Elder Van Boom, lol! So I'm now about to go on exchange with Elder Cole, so I'll be with Elder Manugh in Skipton. So my bag right now is HEAVY! But it's all good, it's such a great learning experience being around other Elders, and getting to see how they do certain things.

At a bus stop in rainy weather (AKA the usual weather)

So yeah, we're in the Leed's Library right now, on our way to the Leed's chapel to meet up with Elders for exchange, and hang out for a bit on our Pday. We'll probably watch a movie or something. I feel like I should explain one thing. The rules here in Leed's are a bit more relaxed then some of the other missions. Apparently (According to Elder Schwarzkopf), the Elders and Sisters were having panic/anxiety attacks left and right about a year ago, so when President Pilkington came in, he relaxed the rules a tiiinnnnnyyyyy bit, so the missionaries weren't breaking down every week and trying to jump through windows. So some things that are a bit different.

 1. we can have "Music", sorta... the guideline we have for music, is music that invites the spirit. 

 

2. We don't have to give our "Key indicators" all the time. It was messing up a lot of the Missionaries when they kept getting told that they were here to focus on the peoples needs, not just baptizing a lot of them, but then they were suppose to constantly tally up their numbers and relay them to District leaders for judgment. 

 

3. We're suppose to be really open about our issues, or whats bugging us. In fact, they had one of the talks at Zone Conference entirely devoted to a Doctor explaining stress, how it works, and what point we need to be worried, and how to cope with those feelings (Pretty much just rub your hands and think of puppies).

So yeah, it's just a bit different, but you can definitely see how much it's helped the missionaries here. All of the ones I've talked to were about two seconds away from being Committed before the new rules came out. Ok, I've given myself about 30 minutes to figure out this camera thing, which means I wasn't able to individually write to each of you, so I'll just say I Love you all, and I really hope Roxy isn't tooooo banged up! :(  (he's referring to receiving news his car was in a little accident)

 

Also, Special shoutouts to some peeps (Please pass them along for me) 

Bishop Barker: Got your letter, thanks so much! Hope all is well! 

Tiffany: LOVE YOU!!!! I HOPE YOU'RE OK!!!!!!! Honestly, love you so much! 

Bennett Wheat: Hope you're alright, also, Brocks Onyx???? Really????

Wheat family: Love you guys soooo much! Shannon, I found your twin here in England!!!

UGH this is seriously so frustrating. I figured out how to get the pictures to work fine on the computers back in Keighley, but I can't get it to work here in Leeds!!!!!! 

GOT IT, OK TIMES QUICK, HERE'S LIKE JUST A COUPLE OF IDK I'M PICKING AT RANDOM LOVE YOU SO MUCH TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEK BYE!!! MOM STAY NOT STRESSED OK BYE!!!! ALSO I'VE LOST A FREAKING STONE IN WEIGHT!!!! 

 

His current companion from Germany, Elder Schwarzkopf

From the MTC - I have no idea why he chose this one.  But its so Brennan.