Haley Mills, Sofia Pelegrini, Rachael Hauet |
Monday, December 15, 2014
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!!
Monday, December 8, 2014
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.
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.
And this part is for Uncle Barry - no regrets.
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.
-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.
-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
"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.
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.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
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.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.
Monday, November 24, 2014
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??
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,
Zone Picture |
Monday, November 17, 2014
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.
Also, I sent you a TON of pictures this week. We have been trying to take more, because we ALWAYS FORGET!
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
Monday, November 10, 2014
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?
Te amo,
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!
God be with you til we meet again!
Sister Haley Mills
Sisters Hauet and Mills |
Monday, November 3, 2014
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 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!
Sister Mills with her last companion Sister Conley at the Campinas Temple |
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