Dissed

We closed our letter to Haley this week with "See Ya Later Alligator."  So she didn't write a letter back she just wrote, "In a while crocodile!"  So no letter but - she is returning this week from her mission to Brazil and will be giving her homecoming talk in church on Sunday, December 28th at 9am. This will be at the LDS Chapel at 830 East Lehi Road, Mesa.  All are Invited!!

Haley Mills, Sofia Pelegrini, Rachael Hauet

I´ll be home for Natal... I mean Christmas!

I had so many things to say, but your email just blew it all out of the water. WHAT AN AMAZING STORY! I was reading the beginning of the story turning super frustrated (as I'm sure yáll were). So I start reading it to my compy like OH NO look what´s happening at home. SO then we get to the good stuff and I just start to cry. I cant believe you guys got to have a baptism this week! (My uncle got baptized) What an amazing blessing. I was thinking when hearing the story about the missionary side of it. How they probably were knocking doors because they had no one to teach. One of them probably tried to talk the other one out of it. They probably knocked 15 or 20 doors that were immediately slammed in their faces, but Heavenly Father knew who was prepared and where.

I'm so humbled everyday of my mission by everything the Lord does for his children. This week we had 17 investigators at church. Really we had 22, but 5 of them left before sacrament (which here is the last hour of church). President said we broke the mission record. I'm not going to lie, as you could probably tell from my email a few weeks ago we have been having a REALLY hard time lately. But I know that God was just preparing this for us. Preparing us to be even better everyday. Preparing us for the "real world" as we call it here.

Highlights:

-One of our investigators at church was the most ELECT Elizeth that I told you about last week. She announced her baptism to the branch, then got a little mad that we hadn´t announced it yet? AKA she´s amazing.

-One of our young men investigators is in love with me and tried to hug me for a total of 3 minutes straight. While the whole branch laughed and I tried to strong arm him as far as I could. THEN, his friend starts trying to kiss me on the face...

-During branch choir practice I didn't see a part of the stage sticking up and I tripped and fell into the pulpit, which then almost fell over WITH me. ALL while singing. The pianist was laughing so hard she couldn't stop for an uncomfortable amount of time. Everyone asked me if I got hurt and I go- JUST MY PRIDE!

-We won a mission contest this last month and now our zone gets to play volleyball and eat pizza with President and his family this week! Its one of the best "death week" presents ever!

-We had exit interviews with President Farnes yesterday in Sorocaba, and he gave me some great advice about law school, and about real life, and about dating (YUCK). It felt so weird to talk about the real world- especially with President.


Speaking of, all anyone can talk about is that we are going home. Everyone asks us how we are feeling and we switch off saying we are SUPER excited and that we NEVER want to leave. AKA we´ve turned bipolar. I bore my dying testimony in church (there are only like 10 members so we all have to use like 5 minutes every month) and I just started to bawl. Not just cry, but BAWL. 

More than anything I have a testimony that God knows best. That He loves me. I have been reminiscing about that day I knew I had to serve a mission and how I cried because I didn't want to and I knew it would be hard.

HA.

It WAS hard.

Sometimes I just wanted to give up. Sometimes, embarrassingly, I did.

Then when I came back with my tail between my legs, to apologize to God, I LEARNED the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Remember: the heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth." - President Uchtdorf

You never forget a baptism, or a reactivation, or a companion, or your first orange peeling in Brasil, or the time you found someone PREPARED by God. 

So as a full-time missionary I'm arriving at the end of the rope, but I will never stop being a missionary.

I will never forget.

May God be with you til we meet again.

Sister Haley Kristina Mills

And this part is for Uncle Barry - no regrets.

Thanks and Miracles

You´d think with a ton of practice I´d just start these emails right up, but it´s like trying to write about a year of your life in 3 sentances. Yeah. Its that hard.

So in our highlights from this week... our office elders have recently learned that I love politics so I've started recieving regular updates on politics? You could say I'm SUPES greatful.

Speaking of grateful we had THANKSGIVING! WOOOOOO! And when I say thanksgiving in BRASIL, I want to say- Mixed Christmas/thanksgiving? Since they don't have Thanksgiving they made things like Christmas rice (only in Brasil) and some other dish with fruit and flour? I'm not really sure what it was called, but I'm thinking we are a little narrow minded on our food options there in the states. Why have we not been enjoying Christmas rice all this time?! Its fine. I'm bringing recipes.

But really it was the best- we got there and I'm like- WHERE IS THE GRAVY?!?! (Mom- who knew I liked gravy?) So I make it there on the spot (also, who knew I knew how to make it?) and everyone loved it! Julia (she is 14) was like- MOM PUT THIS STUFF ON YOUR POTATOES! And then everyone spent the rest of the night trying to pronounce gravy. SUCCESS.

In other news we had the COOLEST miracle of my whole mission this week. Her name is Elizeth. And it all started with a rain storm, when obviously we were on our way to visit a man so we couldn't go in his house. Sister Hauet and I stop and look at each other for all of 10 seconds trying to decide what to do when I woman comes out of her house and says (translated obviously) "GIRLS! Come inside my house until the rain stops would you?" Ummm obviously yes! So we go in and chat for a little- then I ask her about her family and she starts (I kid you not) BAWLING. She informs us that her daughter died of cancer and then the rest of her family is less than family. And not knowing what to say the compy and I make eye contact. (We sort of have a thing where if we dont know what to say- I talk, like always right?) So I'm like uhhhh... Irmã, I know God loves you.

She LOSES it. She then tells us she prayed the day before that she could know that He was actually there. Long story short we marked her baptism for the day we leave and she is AMAZING.

More next week! LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!

Poor Wayfaring Sisters of Grief

I didnt know Ashley got married!

Hahahaha. Just kidding. She looks fabulous as always, even better than normal with the temple there in the background! Also tell Ash congrats on FINALLY passing nursing school (and Sister Burk!) it looks like all she needed was to get married? I think thats like a life principle??

Today my compy and I had a little talk about what we would tell our families this week. It went a little something like this-

S. Hauet - "What on EARTH are we going to say?"

Me - "I was thinking along the lines of that expression 'if you don´t have anything nice to say don´t say anything at all. Where does it say that? In the white handbook?'"

S. Hauet - "No...."

But the principle still stands. I will just pass on some wisdom I learned this weekend in our "poor wayfaring sisters of grief" moments.

Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted... all that we suffer and all that we endure... builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God."

We had a lot of- "Father, WHY?" moments this week, and I just decided that when you think you´ve been stretched enough, thats when you get stretched further. Dont think the refiners fire is ever over. Because that´s why we are here. That´s what we have to gain.

We are never alone.

I know that more than ever after this week.

I love you and miss you all more than you can IMAGINE,

Sister Haley K. Mills

Zone Picture

YOMO - you only mission once

First- I cant believe we have one more temple in Arizona! HOLY COW im loving the idea of "Utah South." The only problem is that no one here can say Utah, so they´ll have to wait to annex us until after I go home... kay?

Also, Im loving the sports update considering im such an avid fan (JOKE) but really, its good to hear AZ is repping! Everyone here always asks about futebol americano! Im like... its just like your football, but we score a ton more.

Everytime you write about Andrew Ali Aurora and Jade I secretly say "Triple AJ" so im hoping thats how you are saying it too, to avoid any confusion. Also, its good to hear that Jade is livening up, you know how much a love infants!!!

Also, I sent you a TON of pictures this week. We have been trying to take more, because we ALWAYS FORGET!

So I dont even know where to begin writing this week? We brought 11 people to church this Sunday!!! WOOO! (We have the most investigators on date in the mission. Desculp não desculp) The only problem is they are all teenagers that live on the street of the church. Sooo now we´ve got to "herd cats" as Dad likes to say about keeping teenagers on track.

Cesar passed his interview and then convinced the elder to move his date back a week? Im not even kidding. We are on killing our elders currently. They do so much great stuff buuut ive told them they are grounded. As you always predicted ive turned into the mission mother! They love it!

In hilarious news there was an old woman who didnt want to let us into her house this week? Like... the first person on my whole mission that thought we were scary and "potentially dangerous." She told us about these "young men in suits who say they are evangelizing and then ROB YOU!" It sounded just like elders... BUT then she let us in and she was MARVELOUS. Super funny and in the end she apoligized for thinking we were "strange robbers". Yeppp... you only mission once!

One of our "rapazes da rua" asked me how to say "I want to kiss you" in english. So I go... wait KISS? And he goes "Yeah, KISS YOU" So I say in english "kiss you." So he turns right back and yells out at me as we walk away "KISSSSS YOUUUUU" Hahahahahaha. Dont worry my companion has been guarding me. And ive been trying to fatten up, maybe they wont like me anymore? But really, I havent been trying, but everyone keeps telling me ive gotten fat? So im just trying to roll with it.

Oh and speaking of rapazes (aka young men), one named "Peterson" was hanging out in the street and we pass by like RUNNING for another appointment. I yell out- "Are you reading the book of mormon?" And he goes- " YEAH, Im on page 525." We stop dead. I go... "LIES" He goes - "No I started where you marked and read until there. (I do the math... we marked on page 499...) "Okay what did you read about???" "The water and wine that Christ gave everyone." ............ Yeah... that just happened.

Other than that I finally finished the Book or Mormon in English again so now im focusing on finishing in Portuguese before I go home. We had a super good talk with a less active that served a mission and is just down in the dumps. We set goals with him and it got us thinking a ton about the goals that we have for our "real" lives. Sometimes we just forget where we are going and who we want to be, we let the wind blow us in whatever direction it goes. But, when we move intentionally towards who we want to be, we have a MUCH larger chance of arriving there. Being less scathed and tattered. I know that to be a fact, Ive seen it in my life and yours!

Com amor,

Miss you MONTIS (aka a ton),

Sister Haley Mills

 

 

The LAST transfer

So as it turns out the closer you get to going home the less you want to. And the more. Profound isn't it?

But really.

I'm dying over here. We got a call Saturday night from the office and Elder McArthur (I'm gonna kill him) starts by telling me I'm being emergency transferred. 3 days before transfers. "Sister, é seguinte, vamos ter um transferência emergência..... JUST KIDDING!" Then my district leader (him as well) comes on the line and says I'm being transferred back to Alphaville. 

After 2 days of jokes, we finally we learned that Sister Hauet and I will die here (end their mission time) together! CAN YOU SAY TRUNKY? (aka we started packing our bags today) This transfer is only 5 weeks, and we keep saying things like... "Quando nos voltarmos..." (when we go home) And we have been super stressed out about finding things to bring home. Everything here is imported from the US... ironic? I'll keep you posted.

In other news we had 10 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH! And we were put in the weekly mission newsletter? It's fine. we´ll just die on fire. (But really, the showers here have electrical cords that heat up the water and today I almost got electrocuted aaaand it started a baby fire? So I RUN out of the bathroom screaming and my companion and I end up having a heart to heart about dying on our missions? THEN we forgot about the shower til just now- so don't you worry your pretty little minds, we´ll maybe talk to someone about it, and they´ll maybe do something about it?) But back to the point! The secret we found this last week... ONLY TEACH PEOPLE on the rua da igreja (street of the church) ANNND they have to be young men who have crushes on you. THEN you invite them to be baptized and they actually LOVE church and start reading the Book of Mormon.... that really happened.

In other news our favorite investigator "Cesar" accepted to be baptized this next Saturday (alone because his mom is struggling to stop smoking). And he says this, (obviously translated from Portuguese) "I will, but I need to confirm with God." Ahh how much we love him. He is always putting his life in God´s hands. I think sometimes we forget to do that. We forget to say - God permitting. We forget to ask God. One thing Ive learned is that God has a plan for all of us. And like that Mormon message from Elder Bednar, (https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-012-patterns-of-light-spirit-of-revelation?category=mormon-messages-2012&lang=eng) he just gives you enough for the next step. What does that mean? That you have to ask again after you took that step. That is, if you want to stay on the right path!

Te amo,

God be with you til we meet again!

Sister Haley Mills

 

Sisters Hauet and Mills

 

Rain, Rain, it´s another day so...

Come again?

Im not kidding it is so blasting hot. And humid. And NOT RAINING! Everyone has starting saying that God is punishing them for forgetting him. It´s so bad people are stealing water trucks and beating up the drivers? Im pretty sure our zone leaders and district leader were without water for a whole week. We could smell them from here. Kidding. Sort of.

So my companion was sick this week as she has been recovering from pneumonia? Its fine. So I got my second hospital trip this week and in place of telling you about all our miracles, which probably would be WAY more boring but WAY more spiritual for you- im going to pull a standard Sister Mills and just tell you about the craziest day as of yet in Brasil.

So we get on the bus and a man literally SCREAMS OUT- SIT HERE DONA! (Dona is like a super respectful title). He has a TON of stuff with him and the bus is CRAMMED FULL. Like old people with canes are standing up. So I try to decline super awkwardly and he like pushes me into this seat. THEN all the other men are looking at Sister Hauet like.... worth it to give up my seat or...?

So finally someone decides to give her their seat. So Im talking with the woman next to me and she tells me she recently didnt graduate college because she failed by one point in english. So Im like- i can TOTALLY help you with that. Speaking english is one thing ive GOT. So I tell her all about the Book of Mormon and actually never help her at all with english...? BUT she decides to help us find the hospital seeing as we had never been there and Sorocaba is HUGE.

She is waiting to get off with us at the next stop and I start to talk to a group of young men. She looks right at me and says "SHYRUP!" So after like 5 minutes I determine she was either saying "syrup" or "shut up" so I go with the latter and stay quiet. After we get off she tells us that those young men are in rehab for drugs (there were like 15 of them) and that if they knew I was American she doesnt know what would happen. She just had a bad feeling about it. So I told her I would TOTALLY vouch for her to pass her english class seeing as she saved us. In ENGLISH.

Then she paid for our next bus! Which was a huge blessing because me and my companion literally didnt have enough money. We were planning on trying to find a bank or ask a member for a ride or something, but we were literally 6 reais short. We said a prayer before we left that everything would work out. BLESSINGS. Also, I dont even want to get into the fact that we left the house without having enough money to return. HAHAHA. In real life... NEVER.

So then we actually make it to the hospital where they dont want to let me into the x-ray and exam room because im not family? Sooo we explain the sitch to a sweet little woman who works there. She gives me permission but says if they try to kick me out say that Sister Hauet doesnt speak Portuguese. So we spend the rest of the day like half chatting in english to through them off our tail.

The best part was the doctor who said- I am fluent in english! Then proceeds to tell us he was in "Aranha" last week. Only after the conversation we understand that "Aranha" is ATLANTA! We die.

Oh THEN the next bus we entered gave us a free bus ride... sooo... God works in mysterious ways. Seriously, never have I felt so blessed as I did this week when God found a way to take care of us. I know we are here on his errand and I know he loves us (me a little more... you know?).

Te amo,

Saudades,

Sister Haley Mills

PS Happy one year and 4 months to MEEEE. And the 16th I´ll have only one month left.

PPS STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME TRUNKY!

PPPS IM SERIOUS!!!!

Sister Mills with her last companion Sister Conley at the Campinas Temple