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

Purple Haze

(two weeks in one, because sometimes mom has a hard time staying on top of everything) 

October 20th: Amen Son is the nickname one of the member has give to Elder Amundsen. My nickname is Purple Haze. It's so funny, we don't do nicknames in this mission, but for some reason that one's stuck and so a lot of the Elders and Sisters call me Purple Haze, or Momma Hays.

So, I realized I completely forgot to tell you guys, that Transfers are really weird this time. Because of the time schedule for when the new missionaries are coming in, we're not getting transfer calls until Thursday, and we're not doing Transfers until Saturday. Which means that when I next email you, not only will I know where I'm going, but I also may be in a new area. I have no idea if I'll stay or not, but It's going to be one CRAZY transfer. Because Elder Amundsen is a ex AP and he's been spending the week with the current AP's  (Did I tell you guys that???? I've been in Leeds most of the week with the Zone Leaders because Elder Amundsen has been on tour throughout the mission to give some last words of advice the the Trainers and Trainee's. Did I mention how amazing and beloved my companion is?!?!?!).  There will be some changes coming up - I'll tell you about them next week. 

Our investigator W. is doing really well, he's progressing a lot and will more then likely be baptized in the coming weeks if everything stays on track. 

Our Investigator L. came to church for the first time yesterday, which was really great.

Everyone else is doing well! Well, I gotta get some pics on here and write to president. 

Oh! I forgot, ok so all Christmas packages have to get to the England Leeds office by the 12th of December, because of how transfers are working out. And actually, I have to start my Christmas shopping for you guys this week or so as well, because next transfer is absolutely packed with meetings and I'll have no spare time to get that done really. I also don't know where/what city I'll be in, so I kinda want to get some things for you guys while I know where to go. I'll try to ship my Christmas stuff for you guys by the second week of November, so please email me in the next email anything specific you guys want. It's not going to be anything extravagant (Unless George wants me to buy here a pair of Doc Martins and somebody is willing to foot the bill), but yeah. 

 

Love you guys loads! Talk to you soon!!!

--Elder Hays 

 

October 27th

OMG YOU GUYS WONT EVEN GUESS WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW, IT'S SO FREAKING AMAZING AND EXCITING, I'M ECSTATIC I'M IN....wait for it...

 

keighley

Lol, yep, I'm still in Keighley. I'm serving with Elder Innis, who is from Australia (Sydney) and he's actually from my MTC group, which is pretty cool! That's pretty rare and doesn't happen too often. So I'm really excited about that. I think we'll get along well. He's a pretty obedient missionary, but I think I adapt well to my companions in a way. Like, with Elder Schwarzkopf was word of the Law obedient, with Elder Amundsen it was a bit more Spirit of the Law, and I think with Elder Innis I'm already back into my Word of the Law. I'm probably going to strike a balance between the two though. 

 

OK DOES ANYONE WANT ANYTHING SPECIFIC FROM ENGLAND, I NEED REQUESTS NOW!

 

Fun thing that happened yesterday, it was Day light savings time, and I forgot to set my watch to the right time, so we got to our flat an hour earlier. This system is so stupid. I'm so glad Arizona doesn't do it. Also, that makes it like pitch black at 4 in the afternoon now, bleh! 

 

This letter is a bit scattered because I have like 4 people from the mission emailing and calling me, and I think George and Mum just realized I'm online so I'm getting on line emails from them right now. 

So yeah, spiritual thought for the day. I got the chance to be there for Elder Amundsen's testimony at transfer meetings, and WOW. It was probably the most spiritual meeting I have ever been in before. There wasn't a dry eye in the chapel. At the end President Pilkington said, "I'd just like everyone to know that Elder Amundsen is one of the great missionaries of the church. No, not just of the mission... of the church". It was such an honor to serve with him, he makes me want to be a better man. 

So yeah, not a lot going on, just trucking along I guess. Investigators are doing well.

We have a new star this week in Keighley from Ogden, Utah. Her name is Sister Garrett. I think she's doing well. 

Yeah, alright, just gonna finish with pics. Love you!!!!

 

........minutes later and 3rd email 

 

NEVER MIND I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!!!!

 

 

on the Keighley Moor

 

random Keighley corner

 

(so when he does not send photos I just randomly find interesting images related to Keighley on the google machine)...

More Meowing and Questionable Hiking Clothing...

So Elder Amundsen and I have loads of pics with us holding cats because that's pretty much all we do when we aren't teaching. We walk around Meowing at cats and trying to pick them up. I have lot's of pictures, and lot's of scratches.

This week is going pretty great. One of our Investigators W. has come to realize 

 

1. It makes complete sense for God to call another Prophet.

2. He needs to be baptized. 

3. He needs to quit smoking.

So that's been really awesome. He may get baptized in two weeks, but It may be a bit longer depending on if he can stay off the Cigs. 

 

Right now I'm wearing regular clothes... which is really weird. Elder Amundsen and I were going to go hiking up Malham cove today (Which is so pretty, look up pics), but It's a bit too rainy, so we're probably just going to go to Skipton and do some shopping. I haven't gotten new shoes just yet, because I'm trying to get a good deal on some ankle boots because they seem like they'll last longer and be more useful in the winter then regular dress shoes, but I'll get some today, PROMISE. 

 

BTW by regular clothes for hiking I mean black Michael Kors Corduroys and my button up teal shirt with a grey primark tie. Glamping yo. 

 

(mom's note, I looked it up and here are some lovely photos of it, and it addition, this scene from Harry Potter was filmed there) 

 

So yeah, all is well in the hood. The hood is a bit cold and all, but It's all good. 

 

AWESOME NEWS THOUGH!!!!! 

GUESS WHAT , GUESS WHAT, GUESS WHAT!!!!

My Recent Convert Helen BORE HER TESTIMONY IN FAST AND TESTIMONY MEETING YESTERDAY!!!!! I cried SO HARD! Oh my gosh she's just the most amazing person ever. I love her so much! Ugh, I didn't realize when I went on this mission that I would just end up loving the people here so much. I just love them sooooo much. 

So yeah, that's awesome. 

 

Spiritual thought for the day: 

I was reading my notes from Jorg Klebingat's talk in General Conference on spiritual confidence, and it led me to Proverbs (My fav book in the whole scriptures btw. If you get a chance, read it) Chapter 3 V. 24-26. It's all about finding our confidence in the Lord. "When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet...For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy feet from being taken". 

So yeah, this letter is all over the place! Hahaha, I'll send some pics now! Love you guys so much! Talk to you soon!!!! 

--Elder Hays

Elder Hays captioned this "Stalker".

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