Elder Hays gets some pretty holey shoes and collects stray cats

There's a woman at the computer next to me that is yelling into her Cellphone and at her daughter in Slovakian. Did I mention that Keighley is pretty much 30% English people, 40% Pakistan, 10% Slovakian, and 20% Other.

This week has been good. We scheduled 6 people for baptism and had 3 of them at church this week, so that was cool. I would love to say that some of it is me, but man, Elder Amundsen is just a freaking lightning rod of Awesomeness! We're going shopping today in Leeds, because Elder Amundsen needs some Civilian clothes for when he goes back home. That should be fun. The Skipton Elders are coming with us, and Elder Rush is from Avondale, so it's pretty cool to hear that Arizona accent (BTW the more time I spend outside of Arizona, the more obvious the accent is becoming to me). It's awesome that I've met Elder Cole from Mesa, and Elder Rush from Avondale, we'll definitely meet up post mission probably. I hit my 5 month mark this week, which was weird. Man, this is going by fast. I really love my mission though. I realized the other day that I'm here because of a lot of reason. Support from you guys, support from Bishop Barker, support from friends, and Support from God. That's a lot of people to thank, so I guess just a blanket "Thank you, will have to do for now.". I love you guys loads!

One sucky thing this week. My RC Helen is going blind. Like BLIND blind. She's had bad vision for a long time, but she saw the Doc the other day, and it's not looking good. She may lose her vision completely really soon. It's so inspiring though to see her reaction. She's just started reading TONS. She's re reading the Book of Mormon, she's now on Doctrine and Covenants 50, and she's reading Teachings of the Presidents Joseph Fielding Smith. She's just trying to read as much as she can before she can't anymore. Pretty much made me bawl my eyes out realizing how selfish I can be sometimes by complaining that I have to study the Scriptures for an hour every morning. She's such an example to me. 

Hope you're all doing ok. Love you lot's!

--Elder Hays

PS
 BTW THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!! Oh my Goodness you have no idea how happy that made me to have 1, clothes, 2 a big coat, and 3 FOOD!!!! Lol, Elder Amundsen and I have been snacking on it all week because he got a package with Norwegian food, so we've been learning about one another's food culture. Our is definitely better ;)

Also, thanks for the due date ;)

Love you lot's! Keep being a super Mom! 

--Elder Hays

(and the following week)

So, it's finally turned into England over here! Man, it is raining like CRAZY!!!! It's super wet and super cold!!! Lol, the water feels like little needles on my skin in the morning when I open the door. It's awesome! One minor set back...I have holes in my shoes! Lol, I've known I've had holes in them for a while now, they've been forming on the bottom on the middle front sorta, but it hasn't really been an issue... until it started raining! Lol, so I've had pretty literal cold feet for the last few days. I'm probably going to shop for some new ones today. I'll try to send you a pic of my shoes though, it's pretty funny how 5 months of wear and tear can destroy shoes pretty quick! Besides that, all is well! I can't write much, my finger that I cut is sorta seizing from the cold so I'm having to type way slower the usual, lame! Lol, hope you're all doing well! I'll send you some pics though to make up for such a short letter. Oh! Let me address some Question's though!

1. What do you cook?

-We cook pretty much anything that is fast and cheap. So a lot of sandwiches and oven chips. Also I just found the pre packaged burgers that are... ok. Lot's of pizza that you heat up in the oven. I just bought Chicken breast for the first time in 6 months, which is the first meat I've bought in six months because it's way expensive over here, and takes to long to cook, but I couldn't do another week of oven done pizza's ;P We get takeaway some days because it's not too expensive over here. We like Chinese, and Donner. Donner is some weird in between meat that I don't really want to know what it's made of, so don't tell me. More then likely rat. 

2. Fav General Conference talk?

Elder Holland's talk was my fav. I also enjoyed Jorg Klebingat. Next Uchtdorf right there. 

3. How do you watch the sessions?

We watch the sessions live, except for the Sunday afternoon one and priesthood. Still haven't seen the Sunday afternoon one, we watch it on our own using the computers, so it'll take me a few weeks to get though all the talks. 

Love you guys sooooooooooo much! Talk to you soon! 

--Elder Hays

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!  

Tearing Down Walls for Jesus

 

[mom's note: this email continued MANY photos of a wall being torn down and only two that kiiiind of show Brennan and his companion.  What I'm saying is that I now have lots of pictures of a wall in various stages of destruction.  Bless this child.]

So, it's pretty flipping cold right now! We've caught the tale end of a hurricane (I think it's called Bertha, which makes me think of a big black lady who don't take no nothin' from no one, but at the same time will make you sweet tea and biscuits) so it's pretty windy (VERY WINDY) and quite wet. I (Praise da Lord) luckily found my rain jacket again after having lost it in the move, so I only got a little (A lot) wet this week. I don't really want my winter coat sent over yet because it's not really cold enough to justify a massive coat like that... but soon.

So yeah, this week's been very productive. I guess I haven't told you guys all that much about what I actually DO each day, so here we go. 

6:30am- Get up, pray, fall asleep while praying 

6:40am- wake up from prayer and justify that God got the gist of what you were trying to say 

6:41am- Exercise (60 pushups, 60 squats, stretching, 60 jumping jacks)

7:01am- Groan from aching muscles

7:10am- Shower (Use Sister missionaries good smelling soap they accidentally left) 

7:40am- Stare at fridge and debate if you can afford to eat breakfast that morning

8:00am- Personal study (Preach my Gospel, Scriptures, Study journal)

9:00am- Companionship Study (Read White handbook, Prepare lessons for the day)

10:00am- Go out and street contact for an hour

11:00am- Lunch (Once again, stare at fridge and ask yourself if you can afford to each lunch today)

12:00-4:30pm- Teach investigators and LA's, Groan loudly when everyone flogs you, get a few doors slammed in your face, stare at a Scottish woman as you try to figure out what the heck she is saying, Finally understand that she's telling you she hates religion, wish her a good day, avoid crazy Austrian lady on the way to Woodhouse, get caught by Austrian lady and learn about how the cars driving on the road are ruining her house's foundation (11th time told story, house still looks fine)

4:31pm-Travel to tea

5:00pm- Take tea

6:00-8:50pm- Teach (See 12:00-4:30pm, repeat steps shown) 

8:59pm- Run home (Literally RUN) because you're companion believes that if you're not in by 9pm, God stops protecting you and you can get killed more easily (It's sorta rubbed off and now I believe it too...) 

9:00pm- Plan for tomorrow

9:30pm-Call district leader

9:31pm- Groan because the Sister's got to the district leader first and they take FOREVER to follow up

10:00pm- Finally get a hold of district leader 

10:05pm- Hang up on district leader by accident

10:06pm- Call him back and say "Love ya bye" and then hang up

10:10pm- Stare at fridge and ask yourself if you can afford a midnight snack

10:15pm- Stare at your companions food in the fridge and ask yourself if you can get away with eating his

10:20pm- close fridge and drink 3 glasses of water to satisfy hunger

10:25pm-Pray

10:27pm- Companionship prayer (More then likely one of you will sneeze on the others bed while kneeling)

10:30pm- Sleep

10:40pm- Yell at chav downstairs who thinks it's ok to build a wardrobe with power tools this late at night

10:50pm- Really fall asleep

So yeah, that's my day! 

 

Good news though! Our investigator H. is doing AMAZING! She's scheduled for the 6th of September and is so determined to make it she's deciding to go cold turkey on her smoking a week earlier then planned! She's quite coffee too, and alcohol! She went to church this week and loved it! AND GUESS WHAT! She's had the BOM for 2 weeks and she's already halfway through Mosiah! So good! She know's the chapters better then we do! She can recount almost every story perfectly all the way up to Mosiah! It's a flipping miracle too because she's certifiably blind!!! Like seriously, terrible eyesight, but feels the spirit so strong when she reads that she just powers through it! So great! She's 100% Prepared and we're aren't even teaching her really, she's teaching herself! It's great! 

  

It's been a busy few weeks. We've taught 23 lessons this week and 21 last week so 44 lessons in total so far this month. We're aiming to teach close to 90 lessons this month. 

 

 

 

 

Well, love you lot's! Bye!

The Tale of Pinkeye, Old Blind Dog, and Mini Hurricanes.

Soooooooo, I have unfortunately contracted Conjunctivitis which pretty much means my eyes are puffy, blood shot, red, itchy, and all around awful. It feels like there's a nail stuck underneath and behind my eye, so every time I look up or down my eyes water because it hurts somethin' awful! So that's been a wonderful addition to my week ;) Lol, honestly I'm alright. Its hard to proselyte like this because I'm pretty much useless when it comes to actually SEEING people to talk to, but Elder Schwarzkopf just kinda leads me around like a blind old dog so it works out in the end ;) Lol, I went and saw the emergency GP the other day to get it looked at, and he prescribed me some thing that I later learned when I went to the pharmacists, you could buy over the counter, and it was 3 pounds cheaper that way! I will add that I first went to that same Pharmacist and learned that because of new laws, THEY WEREN'T ALLOWED TO SELL ME ANYTHING OVER THE COUNTER!  So yeah. A miracle definitely happened though! I was told that going to the EGP would cost me nothing, I then got there and learned that because I'm a foreign national it costs 25 pounds to be seen. I luckily had JUST that because it was the beginning of the month and I'd only spent 80 pounds on my Bus pass for the month, and 10 pounds on food for the week, so I just barely had enough for it! So yeah. One small problem, it hasn't exactly gotten any better... apparently after 3 days if it isn't healed, I need to go back in sooooo my eye's have 16 hours to get 100% healed. So that sorta sucks. (Parentals: If I do have to go to the Doctors, I will have to pull out personal funds to pay for it (Shouldn't be more then 25 pounds again) but it is reimbursable, so I'll put it back into the account when I get paid back by the mission. I would just have to do that If I need to go back and I haven't already been reimbursed for the 114 pounds I'm sending in today (Takes about 3 days to get reimbursed) ) So yeah, that's been interesting. Besides that everything is going well!

Mum: 1. So, I'm not sure about the suit thing. I think I'm just going to wear the suits till their dead and keep trying to repair them as I go along. Hopefully I can make them stretch another 3 or so months, and then maybe I could get a new suit and we can just count it as my Christmas Present. 

 

2. We had to move flats because that's what Jesus wanted (Seriously I have no idea why.) On a side note, the flat is 100% haunted (We rededicated it though). 

Dad: I got your pictures, look's like you're all having fun!

Love you guys lots! I've got to go! Talk to you next week! 

 

(PS: To add the legitimacy of my haunted flat statement, about 4 sisters have gone home early while staying in that flat, and 3 have been injured while staying there to the point they had to go home. Also, I've now learned it's been rededicated twice by the ward, because other sisters have also said it's haunted before I came here)

 

[mom's note: after worrying about him having pink eye and living in a haunted flat all week, I was relieved to get this weeks email full of good news]

 

 So yeah, my eye's are 100% better. I ended up getting about 20 home recipes from different families (One Jordy women rubbed a gold ring on my face) so I guess one of them worked! 

 

This week's been amazing. God's answered Elder Schwarzkopf and I's prayers in so many ways. We met 3 Less actives this week, all of them Less active for decades, and one of them who we gave a blessing to yesterday felt that God was telling her she should go back to church (SCORE ONE FOR THE BIG GUY), so yay for that! Our investigator H. is progressing super well. She read all of 1st Nephi this week and is on 2nd Nephi already! She says that she feels as though God is answering her prayers and he's preparing her to join the church (HUZZZA!) And another of our Investigators R. is scheduled for the 6th of September and has committed to stop smoking (which is a BIG deal because the Dude's Scottish). So yay, lot's of prayer answering! 

 

 The flat's no longer haunted! Yay! 

So yeah, I got SOAKED yesterday! Like seriously, I got so wet you could see through my shirt! There's a mini Hurricane type thingy over England right now, so there are winds reaching up to 60-100 MPH winds in parts of England! I think we got a taste of it last night because when we were walking our investigator H. back to her flat, I got picked up a bit by the wind and had to put my feet down really quick before I got pushed back any further and toppled over! My hair was just ruined which was the only part I was mad about because my hair had been on POINT that day. 

So I felt a bit sad yesterday though. We were with the LA we gave a blessing too, and she had no money. Here meter for electricity had 50p in it and it was going to run out any second, and there was nothing we could do because the bishop couldn't help her that night with the Welfare Program. I felt so helpless and I felt really sad thinking about the 3 pound I spent on food the day before, and how that's what this women has for the WEEK! *sigh*.

Wow! Melanie Hale is going to Czech/Slovak! That's amazing! We teach quite a few Slovaks here in England (There's actually an Ensign talk a year or two back about a Slovak branch they opened in Sheffield). They're a good people. The biggest thing to get into a Slovak home is just to say "Jesus Christ?". and they rush you inside with open arms. They LOVE JESUS! Lol, whenever you see a Slovak or a Chinese person, you just immediately rush to them because they're so willing to embrace the gospel, be baptized, and stay solid members!  So yeah, got to go! Love you all lots (I'm buying an umbrella today, in preparation for more mini hurricane) ttyl!

Elder Hays Finds Some Flogged Pants

Okay, so I'm pretty short on time. One hour is really not at all long enough to write to everyone AND write home a big letter. The reason I didn't email yesterday is because every six weeks is transfer week. And, at least here in England, when it's transfer week we take our Pday on Tuesday instead.   SO Yeah I actually have a lot to write about, but not much time. 

So first, the results of transfer week! Elder Schwarzkopf and I are staying together in Keighley for one more transfer! We're both ok with that, because we've started to have a lot of success, and we would like to progress the new people we've found before we leave. We've found 4 new investigators and about 5 potential investigators. So we always have someone we can visit on top of the Less actives and Recent Converts we can see every now and again. 

Something weird did happen though. WE HAD TO MOVE AGAIN! The weird bit though was that we were asked to switch flats with the sisters, so the sisters new home is really masculine (Blues and browns), and ours is really feminine (Pinks and yellows), but I mean it's not like that is much to complain about!

 The weather has been HOT. I know, I know, I'm spoiled over here. But seriously, walking up and down hills in 25 Celsius with a stupidly high humidity point is TIRING. I don't think I've sweat this much in ages!

 I hope you're birthday went well mum, and I hope you're birthday Wednesday (mom's note: we celebrated twice) goes well as well! Jordan, I'm glad you're done with work! I hope you get a bit of a relaxing break before school starts! Senior year is great, and I'm sure you'll love it. It's a bit weird at first because you realize that a lot of the people you knew when you were younger have graduated and moved on, but that's why I loved things like Speech, you got to be with Kids from all years, and you didn't have to feel weird about being friends with say a sophomore, because you knew them from speech. Be kind to everyone, just remember how you felt your first year, and that'll help you to reach out to others. 

Holden & Noelle - I hope the pregnancy is going well! Whats the due date? 

Dad, I'm still not getting any letters from you soooooo?

Mom, I love you so much, stay happy, I know that everything happens for a reason. You're such and amazing person! 

Alright guys, gotta go! Love you bye! 

Here are some photos: 

So these are some pants we found that were flogged at the Bradford flat. (Flogged means left behind) they're a skinny fit size 38 waist. I had to struggle to get them on, but they're on! Lol, I'm using them as a pair of goal pants for now! 

It was the hottest day of the week and our train was delayed by 25 minutes with no air conditioning and I was on FIRE!!!!  

Leeds A Zone