January 27, 2014 God puts us exactly where we need to be when we need to be there!!‏

Hey there y'all :)

 

What a week! I had one of the most incredible experiences this last week. I can't wait to tell you about it!! So on Tuesday we met this guy named Adan. He is from Honduras. We talked with him for a bit outside and shared a scripture. He said he has a hard time going to churches because one time he got kicked out of one of them or something like that. We told him how he would always be welcome in our church and we asked him when we could come back and share more with him. He said on Saturday. Even though we didn't think much of it at the time...Remember that part... it plays in later :) We have also been working with Xiomara a ton this week. She is a member that is very less active. She was baptized in Mexico and went to church for something like 5 years and hasn't been back since. She has 2 little girls and her boy friend Ramon. Maybe I already told you about her?? Anyhow... we started teaching the little girls 1 on 1 so that they could understand it better.  think it is going to help a lot!! We are also teaching her boyfriend Ramon. He has been going to another Christian church for like 15 years so he has a hard time with some of our doctrine but we are praying that the Spirit will touch his heart somehow. They came to church this last week!! I promised the little girls ice cream if they would stay in primary with me so I have to go and get that for them today :) They ended up loving it! One of them Stephanie is 9 and the other, Lizzy, is 7. So hopefully we can get the older one ready for baptism soon :) I don't remember if I said anything... but last week we got a text from Irene y Omar Rodriguez saying that they didn't want us to come back. I was super upset for a bit and wondering what we could have possibly done wrong or maybe what we didn't do that we could have done better?? Then I just had to realize that things happen in God's time... not in Hermana Hadlock's time. They will be ready one day and I have to be happy knowing that I gave it all I could :) So I have been praying so hard that we would be able to find the people who are ready and willing to accept the Gospel. Thursday night was an especially rough day when my compa and I were talking about all of it. We said a special prayer that we could have help and be guided by Heavenly Father. We started our lesson with Norman that night in the church... no joke 5 minutes later Hermano Casanova from our bishopric (Norman's old neighbor who introduced him to the church) walks in and pulls up a chair. We had such a powerful lesson!!!! The Spirit was so strong. Norman said he can tell there is something different about it. He doesn't know what it is and he can't explain it in words. He said he wants it in his own life. He said he has also seen the changes in his life since we have been working with him. AHHHH!!! We explained to him that it was the Spirit and that he COULD have it!! Hermana Moore and I just looked at each other and we both said if God doesn't answer prayers than I don't know what just happened!! :D It truly was a miracle how it all worked out. Friday something else amazing happened... we taught Maria and we had finally got her daughter to listen as well. her daughter is 18. So on Friday we knew we should bring one of the young women to help us teach so that she would know someone in church and could invite her to activities. We brought a really cute girl from our ward. Turns out that they knew each other from school!! Also we found out during the lesson she was only baptized 4 years ago herself. So it worked out perfectly!! Maria and her daughter didn't come to church this last Sunday... we're not quite sure what happened :( But keep them in your prayers that they can make it this Sunday!! They are so ready for the Gospel. So here it comes.. The biggest miracle happened this last week. We walked up to this house and we were supposed to have a lesson with the tio(Adan, the one we were going back to on Saturday). he wasn't home but before I knew what I was saying I asked the teenage girl who answered the door if we could come in and share a message with her. We had only been talking a few minutes when she talked about how about 6 months ago her sister passed away. She was struggling in school and fighting with her teachers. It was like I was looking myself in the face when I was 14 years old. Within just a few minutes both her and I had tears streaming down our face. I know God sent me there to help her. She is going through almost exactly what I went through and I know how the Gospel blessed my life, changed my heart, and made me who I am today through those trials of losing Michael. We talked for a good hour and a half with Maira. She was asking me a lot of questions and I was doing my very best to answer by the Spirit. She couldn't make it this last week but she said that she was going to come to church this next week... the crazy thing is she knows the girl in our ward, Daniela, that we brought with us to visit Maria as well!! I want this for her so bad :) I remember how lost I was and what the Gospel has done for me. I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that I was meant to meet her and that I am EXACTLY where I need to be. I know God knew I could help her right now when she needs it most. Keep her in your prayers please :) We also had a lesson with familia Chavez that day. We went back over the 1st lesson and they understand it so well!!! They have such a light in their eyes. This last Sunday we had another 4 investigators in church! Douglas y Arelis Chequer came and same with Xiomara, her girls, and Ramon. I love this Gospel :) I testify that God lives. I testify His son Jesus Christ lives. I know our prayers are answered when we ask with faith and not for our will but of His to be done. I LOVE BEING A TEXAS DALLAS MISSIONARY!!!! :D

 

Love you all :) Hermana Hadlock

 

People you can pray for :)

Maira Lopez- that she will come to church and feel the importance of this message in her life.

 

Familia Chavez- come to church and read the Book of Mormon. Feel the Spirit and receive an answer.

 

Norman- that he will find a way to come to church on Sunday.

 

p.s. these pictures are with Lizzy and a little girl from the Hernandez familia :) SO STINKIN CUTE!!! :D

Melts your heart right?? :)

January 20, 2014 Another transfer here in Grand Prairie :)‏

Bueno, bueno, bueno!!!

 

... That's how I answer the phone just about every time ;) Sorry this week I forgot my converter to send pictures so I will get pictures to you next week! So to start off I forgot a couple things last week. First off all... LA FAMILIA CHEQUER gave up coffee! It was so fun! We taught the lesson and then I asked them somewhat jokingly if I could take their coffee. They all started laughing and then they pointed to the cupboard. I was like WHA HOO! So I got up and started raiding their cupboards. I found 2 jars of coffee and 1 thing of tea. So we took them out and threw them away!! I was so proud of them. It feels so good to help someone keep the commandments because you know they are going to get so many blessings! Also a few hilarious stories... so first of all last Monday we were at the Lavandaria. Lots of things always happen to me there :) We were walking outside to put all our stuff in the car and I dropped my journal. All the papers fell out including my blessing and a whole lot of other important papers. They started flying everywhere with the wind! My compa like a champ starts running after them! One goes around the corner of the building so we both took off. When we got around the corner we realized that it was in the street!! We waited til there weren't any cars and then she ran and grabbed it in the street. We here a lady yell cuidado! Which means careful! She grabbed the paper and all ended well. We were both in such shock that we just let this cute little Hispanic lady walk off. When we got in the car we couldn't believe what we had done! So then we decided to go and find her. We started driving down the street the direction we thought she went and we eventually found her. We got all her information :) It's going to be the best conversion story ever ;) Haha! Also... last Sunday I had to go to the bathroom really bad! Let's just say it wasn't #1 :D Ha! So I told her we had to go back to the apt. really fast. I ran in and went to the bathroom. I finished and we were on our way back out. When we were just closing the door I realized that the phone was on... it said Hermana Buchannan 2:30... OH MAN!!! I had called the member in our pocket and it had been recording the ENTIRE TIME I was in the bathroom!! I was devastated needless to say. I thought about sending her a text telling her not to listen to the voicemail but I figured that would just make her curious and want to listen to it more. Ah man... so embarrassing right? My compa and I got a pretty good laugh out of it :) This last Monday we had an incredible lesson. There is a family here... La Familia Hernandez. They were less active but now they are pretty active. I think Hermana Schulte from Taylorsville even worked with them?? They said she may have been here during their sealing in the temple. Anyhow, their son was just baptized when Hermana McDonald was here so we were teaching them some of the recent convert lessons and the daughter told us she had a boyfriend that might be interested in the Gospel :) Last Monday we finally were able to have the first lesson with him. He looked like he wasn't paying attention for part of it and wasn't really talking so I was a bit sad. Then after he asked if he could walk with us outside and ask us a few questions. He told us about the entire time he wasn't talking too much because he was trying to focus so hard and learn as much as possible. He has somewhat grown up as a Jehovah's Witness but has never been baptized. He wants the truth SO BAD!! He said ever since he has met Abish and has been listening to what she has said about our church his life has gotten SO much better. He said the best times in his life have been when he is letting go of the reigns and let God take over and simply had complete faith in Him. He is SO ready and we are so very excited to teach him! I believe we have another lesson with him tonight and I couldn't be more happy! So this last Thursday and Friday we went on intercambios. Hermana Ostler came here to my area and we worked together. ALL of our appointments cancelled that day and NO ONE was home. Hahah... the back up of the back up of the back up plans had fallen through... I was started to get discouraged and just started to pray :) Then we decided to go and knock one more door before we headed back to Dallas to change back. They let us in and they were awesome :) Their names and Aydee, David, and Elizabeth Chavez. They accepted a baptismal date and seemed to really like the first lesson! We are so excited to have found this family and start teaching them :) It truly was a miracle and an answer to my prayers. Also this last week we had a lesson with Maria Sanchez. She's always offering us a cup of coffee so we decided it was time to teach her about the Word of Wisdom. We taught her and we had an incredible member there with us. When we finished she told us how she knew it wasn't good for her and she would stop right then. SAY WHAT?!? :) We were so happy for her. She is also so ready for the Gospel. P.s it helps SO MUCH to have members in the lessons. I know... life is crazy and none of us think we have time but seriously... call the missionaries and ask when you could go to a lesson with them. It helps us so much. More than I could ever explain :) Lessons with members= more baptisms. So Saturday night we got the transfer call! Drum ROLL....

 

I GOT AT LEAST ONE MORE HERE IN GRAND PRAIRIE WITH HERMANA MOORE!! Whahoo!!!

 

I am pretty stinkin' excited!! She is awesome and I love this area. Lesson I have learned of the week.... (one of the countless.. I am constantly learning here on the mission. I am very humbled.) Let go of the reigns just like Robert said and have faith in God :) Maria told us about a really interesting dream she had. She has been praying to receive an answer... it turns out that she had a dream where she saw a bright white path. It was really long and really BRIGHT white. Along the path there were little white rocks. She said to walk on them hurt her feet a little but the path was so pretty. This symbolizes the Gospel. The path is not easy. But it is worth it. There may be little rocks along the way... but if we are obedient I can promise you a life with the Gospel is easier than a life without hands down. He never said it would be easy... only that it would be worth it :) Let go of the reigns. Give your will up to God :) Trust in Him. He will make a masterpiece for you :)

 

EVERYTHING is GREAT here in Texas! Go buy a street taco :) They are delicious and they are my favorite!!

 

P.s. 1 year ago yesterday I opened my mission call... HOW NUTS IS THAT?!? Also, this transfer I am hitting the big 9 month MARK!!! I'll be more than half way done. From Feb. 12 it's 9 months 'til I come home and on Feb. 15 I've had 9 months!! I don't know where the time is going. I am trying to enjoy every minute :)

 

I testify Jesus Christ lives. He loves YOU!! So do I :)

 

LOVE YOU!!! - Hermana Hadlock tu favorita ;)

January 13, 2014 A week of Sunshine!‏

Well hey there :)

 

It has been warming up in Texas! I still use my coat just about every day. But yesterday I think we hit the 70's!!! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Sure feels good :) How's it there in Utah? ;) Hahaha, only kidding! You can laugh at me again when it hits July and I'm sweating so much I look like a popsicle under the sun! Monday was pretty good. So Monday night we had a lesson with the Quezada familia. She is the one we met at the lavandaria and she made me papusas on my birthday! :) Anyhow, her husband is VERY very into his church. I believe they are some type of Christian church. The last time we went over it started to cross the line of talking and teaching to Bible Bashing. We never like to get into that just because the Spirit leaves. If people have real questions we love to answer them but just trying to fight using the Bible is never good. I remember being SO NERVOUS when I got my call to Texas because it's the Bible Belt. Honestly though, if you are following the Spirit and truly studying and doing what you need to be as a missionary... everything works out. Anyhow, her husband didn't really want to listen to us when we tried to share the first lesson. Instead, he wanted to teach us. I love and respect them so much but as missionaries we are not here to be taught and convinced... we are here to teach. So as nicely and politely as possible we told him that we respected his beliefs but that we didn't believe in the same things. In the end... he told us not to give up. He said he was going to start a church and wanted us to be a part of it. He needed our help. Well, as you know that is not exactly our purpose as missionaries :) It breaks my heart sometimes. I love the people so much that we teach. In the Book of Mormon it talks of those who will say something like Bible, Bible, we have enough Bible. We don't need anymore Bible. What people don't realize is that God is ALWAYS going to reveal His Gospel to try and help His children. People get too caught up in the facts and don't listen to the Spirit. Sometimes it is really hard to see. But I just pray that one day the Spirit will change their hearts. I bear my testimony as strongly as possible and let Him do the rest. Tuesday we had SUCH an incredible lesson with Maria Sanchez. The last little while her progress has been slowing down. I really believe it is because she doesn't have the support from her family. We are trying so hard with them and hopefully one day they will come around. We invited one of the Hermanas from our ward to come with us and man the lesson went GREAT! She asked, "So what exactly happens when someone gets baptized?" Aka... what will happen when I GET BAPTIZED?! :) At least that's what I heard :) She is SO ready. She just needs to take a leap of faith. My compa uses a quote all the time that I love... it goes something like this, "God can't guide our foot steps if we aren't moving our feet." Now ain't that the truth. Thursday was incredible. My compa hit her 1
YEAR MARK!!! To celebrate we went to the temple. We get to go 1 every 6 months. When we got to go as a zone it didn't count against 1 of the 3 times because it was to celebrate reaching a baptismal goal. It was time for both of us to use one of our turns so we headed out :) It was so incredible. I had a really special experience. One of the temple workers stopped me and was talking to me for a second. She said, "You are going to do incredible things." It hit me so strong the love that Heavenly Father has for each one of us. That had been an answer to my prayers that day and the fact that He sent someone to let me know of His love just showed me once again that He truly is in the detail of our lives. Friday we had a lesson with this guy we had met outside. His brother ended up coming out too. They sat on the stairs while we taught them. They were both completely covered in tattoos and a little rough on the edges. But that didn't matter a bit :) They were such nice people. It turns out one of them is on probation or something like that? But he is looking for something better in life. They were really open and willing to listen to us. It just shows... you never know who are the elect and who God is preparing. Saturday was so awesome. We had just taught the Chequer familia and we decided to go to 1 more place because we had about 10 min. 'til 9. We stopped by Xiomara. She has had a super rough life and was baptized when she was pretty young. I believe she has been in-active for pretty much her whole life. Anyhow, she had been avoiding us for quite a while now but she opened the door up and said come in! We got in there and she said she was actually planning on texting us! She had work a little bit later the next day and so she wanted to come to church!! We had just changed schedules with the new year so she ended up coming in English (she speaks both and so do her girls) but her boyfriend doesn't. He was a trooper and came to church anyways! :) La familia Chequer ended up coming as well so we had 5 investigators in church!!! I think that is the most I have ever had :) Xiomara had to go to work. So we ended up going to primary with Lizzy. It was a BLAST! I love primary! I still can't believe that yesterday marks five years that Michael has been gone. My companion and I were talking a bit about it. Before we know it... we will all see him again :) I can only imagine what he is up to! I think God knew it was a hard day so he blessed us with so many miracles. Before church started we went to a referral that we had gotten from a member. (P.S. those are the best kind. GIVE ONE!!! Your missionaries will LOVE YOU!!!) It is a family that has an autistic little girl. She is about 13. I guess the mom is really trying to find peace in it all still. We connected with them super fast and they invited us back :) I am excited to see where it heads! That night we also had another miracle. We went back to a guy's house we met a few days ago. He was washing his car and said he'd probably be home around that time. Well, he wasn't. BUT his mama was! It was hilarious because she was trying to hold back their pit bull and talk to us at the door so she kept opening and shutting it and yelling "I'm sorry!" Too funny :) Anyhow, we ended up getting in and had an incredible lesson. Turns out her husband ended up leaving her after about 25 years. She had a REALLY HARD time with it all and a bunch of other things happened. She and I were both crying. The Spirit was so strong. I am SO excited to go back and continue to share the message of peace we have with her. I love this Gospel. It is the TRUTH! Just a few thoughts and quotes that I have been thinking about for the week. "Come what may and LOVE IT." Trials will always come. We live in an un-perfect world. How are you going to react? :) Then... I had an experience come to my mind this week. Once I was talking to Debbie my YW leader. We were talking about how busy and crazy life is. She said something I will never forget. "A loaded train doesn't fall off the tracks." Think about it :) It has helped me so much.

 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! The mission is incredible :) I learn so much every day. Jesus Christ lives. He loves YOU! He knows you by name. Feed His sheep.

 

Love you and miss you, Hermana Hadlock

 

p.s. Ann gave me an idea to start letting people know who they could pray for in specific :)

 

Irene y Omar Rodriguez- that they will understand there is only 1 true church and let the Spirit change and guide their hearts. That they will come to church.

 

Maria Sanchez- she will have the courage and faith to go ahead as an example for her family.

 

Xiomara- will realize what the Gospel can do for her girls and lead by example. Choose the right.

 

Chequer- Come to church. Read the Book of Mormon. THAT THEY CAN GET AN ANSWER that these things are true and have a true confirmation!

 

LOVE Y'ALL!! :D

January 12, 2014 I love y'all :)‏

Howdy there!

 

I got special permission from my mission president today to send y'all a quick e-mail and tell you that I love you. I can't believe that it has been 6 years since Michael has passed away. But I know that he is with us. More than we know :) I know that because of all that happened I am who I am. I know that I am a better person and the missionary who God intended me to be because of the things that I learned. I just wanted you to know that I was thinking of you and hope you are okay. I love you :) I miss you. I will see you before you know it! The heavens are close. Don't ever forget that :) I know we will all live together again one day. I love you!!! Today we can especially remember Michael and how much we love him. Jesus Christ lives. He loves you. I love you :)

 

Love, Hermana Jenny Hadlock

January 6, 2014 Brr.... :)

Man oh man!!!!

It's such a good week to be a Texas Dallas missionary :) Why? It is every week. I'm convinced I am in the best mission in the whole world! So Monday night we headed over to meet the family of the family Chequer. I guess his sister lives in the same apartment complex as they do. We shared a scripture with them and a friend of the sister was there to so we ended up getting a few new investigators so it was awesome :) I said the most embarrassing thing though... so the people from Ecuador (where they are from) have the coolest accent in the world!!! So I started saying how I loved their accent and jokingly added more from the people from Mexico. Then they all start going OOOOHHH!! turns out the husband to the sister's friend was from Mexico. He wouldn't look at me for a solid 5 minutes after that. Whether it was intentional or not I am not really sure :) Ha! They all knew I was joking I think and it all ended up being funny but man oh man it was so embarrassing. I gotta be more careful of what I say. New Years Eve was just a normal day for us. I have kind of expected to see a lot of people out drinking but there really weren't a lot of people out at all. It was just a regular day. That day we went and visited our lady that sang to us! I don't remember if I talked about her but we met her outside and offered to rake her leaves. She then started telling us all about how she had become Christian and converted from being a Catholic. She ended up letting us in and she sang to us :) One of my faovritest cutest old ladies! She looks exactly like my Grandma Jean too. I'll send a picture :) Wednesday was a day of miracles. Remember Irene y Omar? We went back and they had read a chapter that we left them in the Book of Mormon about faith. Omar told us of how at one point in his life if we would have met him or seen him we would have that he was homeless. He had next to nothing. Everyone told him that he would never make it out of that life. Here he is in America. He speaks english really well and he has a house, wife, and 3 kids. He made it :) But he started to get teary-eyed and he thanked us. He said that even though he wasn't ready to change religions that since we had been coming his kids had started to say a blessing on the food. They had been praying together as a family and reading in the scriptures. They are the most HUMBLE people! He started to cry and he said he knew that everything he had he owed to God. He thanked us for reminding him of that. Then he said that he went to church that Christmas sunday. (Catholic church I believe.) He had been praying for his brother his whole life. I guess his brother doesn't really come around to any family parties and is pretty lost in life. He said that Sunday he showed up to church and that he was giving them all hugs and telling them he loved them. He said he knew it was a blessing from God and that his prayers had been answered. At this point... him, his wife, and I were all crying. I LOVE SEEING THE CHANGES that come into peoples' lives because of the Gospel. It makes me so grateful for my own family and that I was born into this Gospel. I am SO blessed to be His missionary right now. Also, la familia rodriguez (irene y omar) also fed us a huge delicious dinner with street tacos!! MY favorites :) It was truly a slice of heaven. This week another  miracle happened. We went to the familia montantes. There are two kids there named Juan and Jasmine. they aren't her kids but they are staying with her because their mom is in prison. They are her niece and nephew. That day their mom was supposed to be getting out of prison and it was going to be our last opportunity to teach them. Jasmine was baptized with Hermana McDonald before I got here. But Juan never was and doesn't really want anything to do with it. He comes to church but just sits out in the hall and things like that. Well... for the first time we got him to sit in on the lesson :) We did a lesson on faith. We compared them to the 2000 stripling warriors. Then we did the most awesome thing!!! You put a tea bag on their hand and then you light it on fire. It's like the things from tangled... it lifts off their hand before it can burn them. It's so awesome! We did it to Juan and he was super nervous but it worked! :) It wasn't til after that I told him that was my first time doing it personally. Ha! I think it will stick in his head :) Also... even though his mom got out I guess she is staying at some place where they are helping her to get a job and things like that so I am so excited to have more time to work with him! Alma has been doing so awesome. She has been going out to lessons with us and we even took her to teach her neighbor! I think I may have told y'all about that. I love watching recents converts grow in the Gospel. Maria Sanchez showed up to church this week!!! We were so excited :) The Chequers didnt come and that made us super sad. But we will see if we can get them to keep progressing. The members have started to help and that makes a huge difference. I just want to say how much I love my mission. Even though it is one of the hardest things I have ever done I realized how much God is helping me to become the person I need to be. On Sunday I had a small break down and I was talking to Hermana Moore about how I wanted to be the perfect missionary. Baptize A lot. Speak the language perfect. Have the perfect companion and have all of them love me. If I try to measure up to all of those things... I am always going to fail if that is what I see as success. I realized something very profound this last Sunday. Perfection to God is doing our best with our imperfections :) It's all a beautiful mess. This morning I was reading my journal from the first few days on the mission. I talk about how I can't understand anyone and all the craziness... I have grown and learned SO MUCH!! God is making me who I am supposed to be not only for the mission but for the rest of my life. For the mom I am supposed to be one day. Give Him what is mediocure and He will give you a masterpiece. This last week we had interviews. I am always so excited for the meetings we have because everytime when our mission president, President Durrant talks I walk away feeling like we can take on the world. He is such a good man. Anyhow... this week he said something that reminded me of you a ton. He walked in the room and asked if he could get some applause. We all started laughing and clapping. then he stood there for a sec and said, "man... I love clapping. I used to play in front of 22,000 people. I'd make a shot. Everyone would go wild. (He made cheering faces etc.) then I'd dribble down the court the other direction and hit the ball off of my shoe and it would roll out of bounds. (then he started making a face and boo-ing.) He then went on to explain how hat stuff doesn't really matter. Even though he was an NBA basketball player... he said one minute there they loved me. the next, they were boo-ing me. What we're doing here. This is real. We are changing eternity.

Truly.. what we are doing here ... we are changing eternity! See people as they can become. Not as they are :) I love you all! I hope you are doing so well :) This is all going way too fast. Enjoy the ride!

Love ya!! - Hermana Hadlock

p.s. this cow tongue :) my compa ate it. I did not. Haha... gross!! :)