Monday, March 31, 2014

March 31, 2014 A bit of warm weather :)‏

Hey there y'all!! 

It has been a lot warmer here in Texas this last bit. I am just doing my best to enjoy it because I know before I know it, it is going to be so boiling hot again! Monday night we decided to visit some less actives that were on our ward list. They are a part member family. The mom (who isn't a member) let us right in and set us right down to eat. We had a lesson with them. I guess the mom has a hard time trusting the missionaries because she has had good and bad elders come through. It makes me SO SAD when I see missionaries who didn't act the way they were supposed to and for that we have to re-build the trust of those we serve. It ended well though. The dad is somewhat active and I think the daughter who is in high school has the most potential. She actually reminded me a lot of Jyllian at first :) So that was kinda fun.

 Tuesday was really good. Hermana Asay and I were both really happy. Lizeth is coming along slowly but surely. She knows it's true. She is just waiting for Agustin to realize it too. Once she has the support of him I think things will move a lot faster. Her baby Julian is SO STINKIN' cute! I will have to take a picture of him and send it next week. She always wants us to hold him :) We can't hold any babies as missionaries so I always tell her I will when I come back to see them. I also have a testimony that God protects His missionaries. I was driving on Tuesday when a school bus came to the intersection. It made sort of a rolling stop. I saw it starting to stop so I kept driving. ( I had no stop sign.) Next thing I knew I heard my compa gasping. I looked out her window and all I could see was yellow! It was just about to hit us! I swerved as fast as I could!! I honestly have NO IDEA how but the bus didn't hit us! It was a miracle! That night we had our first lesson with Berenice and her mom. They are actually family of Lizeth that we found at another random house. We are finding more and more of the Loya family everywhere. They have been 
through a lot. Right now her oldest son is in jail. We are excited to see the Gospel help them! 

Wednesday was Hermana Asay's 1/2 WAY MARK!!!! We celebrated by making breakfast :) I am becoming quite the cook ;) Hahaha. I guess the breakfast didn't sit well because I got really sick. I was in Dariela's house and had to use her bathroom. I have to say... some of my funniest/most awkward stories have come from having to use the bathroom on my mission! It was quite the event :) But I will spare you the details! After the mission stories ... :) We also did service at Chestnut Square. They are turning the DeLaney house into a bed and breakfast. It's an old antique house. I want to come back and stay in it one day when I finish my mission. I will send pictures next week :) We spent the whole time packing up the antique stuff so that they could go in and do the work needed on the house. 

Thursday was our miracle day. We read Isaiah 1:18 with Lizeth. She said she could feel the Spirit so strong and that she wants to get baptized! I feel like she is one of the biggest reasons I am here in McKinney :) We had a really good lesson with La Familia Ajuero as well. We taught the Restoration again and did a cool activity with candles to help them visualize the Apostasy. They seem to get it really well and some said they would be baptized when they knew it was true :) 

Friday it was pretty rainy. We were talking to a Jehovah's witness and she actually let us explain what the Book of Mormon was. She accepted a copy and said she would read it. I have a confession to make as well :) We did something funny. So we were knocking some apartments and we talked to the cutest little old man. He told us that he knew some of our sisters that lived in those same apartments. We ended up finding their door while we were knocking. I wrote a note saying that me and my 5 kids wanted to be baptized and left our phone number :) When they put it in their phone they realized it was us! We were all laughing :) I think I thought it was funnier than they did ;)  That night we had an incredible lesson with Berenice and her family. We taught the Restoration. They started crying and accepted to be baptized. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! It's the best/hardest thing I have ever chosen to do.

Saturday we got to watch the Women's conference. It was so good!! It was funny watching it in Spanish. I never thought the day would come when I could sit through it all and understand it all :) It's a miracle. I still like it in my native language though. It means more. We met tons of interesting people Satruday. We were knocking some more apartments and we met a lady named Jennifer. We talked to her for a sec and she started to cry. It turns out she had just gotten out of prison. She didn't even really know how to use a phone so I guess she had been in her a while. She told us she knew God had sent us to her that day and promised us she would call us. We really are so blessed to have the Gospel in our lives! 

Yesterday Angel came to church! He slept for part of sacrament but hey at least he was there :) He is the 15 year old that we are teaching from Honduras that doesn't speak a lick of English. We also got to go to Dallas (Casa Linda ) yesterday for a baptism of someone Hermana Asay had taught. A ton of my companions were there so it was fun to see them :) Also, something really cool happened! Ariel, the man I met in the taquerilla on my birthday, was there!!! He's the one that got baptized :) i will send a picture with him so you can see him! He had such a light in his eyes :) It's amazing to see how much the Gospel can change someone! 

Well, that's it for this week :) I love you all!!! Have a good one :)

-Hermana Hadlock, tu favorita :D 

oh yeah... there was also this coyote in our back yard one morning!!! IT WAS HUGE!!! Here's a picture. No worries, we are safe :) 





Monday, March 24, 2014

March 24, 2014 BUENOS TARDES!!!!‏

Hijole :) I have quite the week to tell you about :) So it never ceases to amaze me how amazing the Church is. Last Monday we were walking through Wal-Mart and a member stopped to talk to us for a sec. It's amazing how often we do run into members and how many people have heard of the Gospel. I know that truly one day the prophecy of Joseph Smith will come true... it will have sounded in every ear and every person will have had the opportunity to learn of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That night Jose Franco came out with us to a few lessons. They weren't there so we stopped by Jeffrey and Angel. We had a really powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon. Jeffrey is really excited and has a true desire to know if it is true. He is the brother that is 18. The brother that is 15, Angel, doesn't seem to have as much interest but is going along with it because it's fun and his family is part of it I think. But we haven't lost hope on him :) He is reading the scriptures and doing lots of good things. I can see Jeffrey on a mission in just a couple years and it makes me so happy. I hope someone that I get to teach will end up serving a mission :) We have quite a few missionaries serving in our mission that are recent converts. It's amazing to see the impact they can have on people because of how well they understand them. They can say, "I've been there. I get it. I know for myself and you can too!" Jose himself is actually a convert of about 4 or 5 years and is a returned missionary of about 6 months. Him and his family help us so much with the missionary work here. Suzeth (Hermana Kirkham's first baptism) has been struggling a bit. The Jehovah's Witness have been coming by and it has been hard for her. She is only 11 but she wants to be nice to everyone and accept them. But she is strong and she knows what she believes is true so I know she'll make if out of it okay :) Tuesday was INCREDIBLE. My compa and I were praying so hard just to be guided by the Spirit and be able to do what we needed to do that day. We were walking through a trailer park and we saw a lady taking in all of her groceries. We stopped and helped her bring it all in. We shared a quick lesson with her and got a return appointment. She didn't have a lot of time because she had to take all of her clothes on a little cart to wash them at the lavandaria that was about a 45 minute walk away. She walks there with all her things... washes them and walks back. In total it takes her about an 1 and a 1/2 hours just to walk. It made me SO grateful that we have all of the things we have. Just a few minutes later we met another family outside at the next trailer and taught them the Restoration in about 5 minutes. They all said we could come back :) The next place we went we found Carmen. When we talked to her she didn't accept a return appointment but gave us her number. She started to cry and told us how beautiful what we were doing was. She said people in the world need us and promised us that God was not only going to bless us for our service but that He was watching over and protecting our families. I have never had an experience like it. I could feel the Spirit SO strong! She was crying and gave us each like 5 hugs. She told us not to ever give up and to have ANIMO!! Which is like... excitement?? It's hard to say a translation. She looked me dead in the eyes and told me "God has special things for you to do." Something close to that translated. It was incredible. Later on that day we had dinner with a member. My compa warned me before we went in not to eat a lot because they usually don't have a lot of food. These people here really are willing to give us everything they have. It never ceases to amaze me. That night we were praying about where to go and Hermana Asay had a family come to mind that she had met before I got here. We were about to go and as we were walking up to the house she told me she felt like we should go to the neighbor's first. She knew the man that lived there and he had said they worked all the time and really weren't interested. We decided to follow the prompting and knocked on the door. He answered and within 2 minutes of talking to him he was crying. He said he could feel una "alegria" or excitement that he had never felt before as he talked to us. We taught a short lesson and prayed with him. We were all just about in tears :) It was one of the times on my mission that I had felt the strongest we were EXACTLY where we needed to be in that moment. Along with the Spiritual part of the story... there was a funny part as well. There are these mosquitos here in Texas that are HHHUUUGGGEEE. I have never seen anything like it. It could eat 100 regular mosquitos for a snack. Anyhow they were flying all around while we were talking to him and out of no where I turn my head and see this lizard come out from behind the mail box on the wall and start catching them and eating them! It was so gross but so funny. I was watching it trying not to be mortified all while trying to keep the Spirit and not let the others see it. It was too funny. Remember the mice from last week?? On Tuesday night we ran and bought some mouse traps. We stuck some rolos on there and set them up in the car. We were pretty excited when we went out Wednesday morning to see if we had found anything. SURE ENOUGH!!!!! There was a little mousy in one of the traps. I'll think about sending the picture :) Mission hunt: success. Wednesday we had specialized training. It was so good :) I am always so amazed by everything President Durrant teaches us. I was so upset though. I owed Elder and Sister Larsen (the elderly missionaries) oatmeal chocolate chip cookies :) So I woke up early and made them. With all the mousy craziness we ended up forgetting them after all that... sometimes I have the worst memory in the world :) I ended up getting to give a talk on the Spirit during the specialized training. I never thought I would see the day when I could get in front of that many people and give a whole talk in Spanish. Miracles happen :) hahah. That night we were asked to teach mutual to the young men. One of them told us he wasn't sure if he wanted to serve a mission and asked how he could receive an answer. We got to help him understand and excite them all about missionary work :) It was a pretty fun experience. We challenged them all to share the Gospel with someone in the next week! Thursday we taught La Familia Ajuero. Their little boy is kinda crazy :) So this time I brought candy in my bag to distract him with. IT WORKED!! I'm going to have to start putting treats in my bag more often :) Hahah. Friday we got to do service at Chestnut Square. We worked in the DeLaney house. We were packaging stuff up because they are going to turn it into a bed and breakfast. It's going to be awesome :) One day I want to come back and stay in it. It's just the old homes of McKinney. Antique stuff is always fun to me. I guess they do weddings there and everything in the little old white chapel. I'll try to send pictures next week :) We had dinner with our Branch President that night. It was really good. He is in his late 20's I believe and he has already been branch president for about 5 years. Him and his wife met at BYU-Idaho. It's crazy to think where I will be in 5 years from now. I still can't really comprehend it's been about 2 years since I graduated. WOAH! Where does time go?? So I am trying to enjoy every moment I have on my mission. Saturday we had another really awesome day. It just seems like we have been seeing miracle after miracle after miracle. It shows the blessings that come after the trial of our faith :) We met a lady named Veronica. We were driving past a house and Hermana Asay said, "I remember that house from an exchange I came on here once. We should go." We went and sure enough. This lady had been talking about us the DAY BEFORE and had been wondering how to get in contact with us again. It was an answer to her prayer that we showed up. So amazing :) She has a really rough situation with health problems and her husband passing away and all sorts of things. It feels so good to be the answer to someone's prayer. We met another man who told us his brother was a member. He asked us if we had a Book of Mormon he could have :) Ha! We worked something out ;) as you can imagine. In that same housing we met a lady who was a member that is less-active and it turns out her brother even served a mission. So we have been finding people right and left. I know God answers prayers :) I thank y'all for praying for me. I have been seeing the results :) I can feel your prayers. That night we ate with La Familia Garcia. You are not going to believe what happened. They set out stuff for tacos. I LOVE tacos so I was super excited :) They said it was barbacoa meet. Then I heard someone say "lengua". Lengua means tongue. Yup. You got it. The meat was tongue. My stomach sure took a leap. I hadn't eaten any yet... but they were all watching. I was pretending that I didn't want to eat it because the sauce was too hot. But I eventually figured why not?? :) I know. Don't know what I was thinking. So I ate tongue. It wasn't anything at all like you would thing. I couldn't take to much though so I didn't really chew and just swallowed. Oh missions :) You get some pretty crazy experiences!! That day was pretty cold. The cold here in Texas is a lot different. It's a wet cold that cuts you to the bones. But I stayed warm :) No worries! We stopped by to see Suzeth that night. We sang with her a few hymns. It's one of her favorite things and sure brings the Spirit. I love to sing! Sunday we didn't end up having anyone at church :( We will get them next week! We found another really cute mom yesterday named Lordez when we were out knocking! Our prayers really are being answered. We also met this guy named Anthony. He was just walking down the street and I had the strongest feeling to turn around. We headed back and gave him a card. I can't tell you how many times we have done things like that :) Even if it's not convenient... if you get a prompting... follow it!! That night we had another miracle/super funny story. We tried Alejandra.. she wasn't there so we tried another lady that lived close. She let us in and seems to have a ton of interest in the church and actually knows Hermana Franco. Hermana Franco has actually invited her to church a lot before. She loved the message we shared and said she will come to church and see how it is :) At the end of the lesson she gave us a drink. I didn't think anything of it and started drinking it. I realized my companion wasn't drinking it. It just tasted like some type of juice but I couldn't quite figure out what??? After finishing the glass I looked at the Hermana and told her it was good and asked what it was?? She then proceeded to pull out the container which read " Lipton Iced Tea" I about DIED!!!!! My compa and I had just broke the Word of Wisdom. We obviously didn't know so we just started to laugh when we realized what had happened! We told our leaders and they just laughed and said we were fine and not to again :) Never have had iced tea 'til I was a missionary. Ah, too funny :) Well, I love you all!!! Have the best week ever and keep up the good work. Life is hard sometimes... but so worth it! Find a miracle in every day. Be obedient to the commandments. The Lord will bless you if you do :) 

LOVE YA!!!

Hasta Luego- Hermana Hadlock :) 







Here's the mouse.

 Remember Joel Gardner?? He went to my school. 
I saw him at the training! 

I also said goodbye to Hermana LeBAron and Hermana Ostler that day :( 
They are both headed home!!! 






Monday, March 17, 2014

March 17, 2014 Have a good attitude and love the people (:‏

What a week!!! This last week was such a roller coaster but it sure was better than last week. Last Monday we went to the car wash as part of the usual routine. As you all know... it's one of my favorite things!! :) Hermana Asay loves to sing in the car wash and turn up the music and it's a blast! She really is such a fun girl :) We are so similar in some ways and really different in others. After we finished everything for Preparation Day we headed out to our appointments. I went to take a picture and realized my memory card was gone when my camera said it couldn't record. I was way sad and we said a prayer that we would be able to find it. I realized that I had left it in the computer from when I e-mailed y'all. The last time that happened to Hermana Asay's other compa it was gone... :( So we were praying hard it would still be there. We drove back to the library as fast as we could. We ran up the stairs and we found a Hispanic lady sitting where I had sat. I started talking to her in English when I could tell she didn't understand me. So I switched to Spanish and asked her if I could check the computer. When I did ... there was my memory card!!! :) Miracle. After that... we got her information. She said she would be willing to listen to a message so we will be getting that set up soon hopefully :) On Tuesday we got to eat dinner with some of the recent converts here. Her name is Dariela. I think I have told y'all a little bit about her. She is incredible. It was really good and fun to get to know her a bit better. It amazes me how much people are willing to give for us. It sure humbles me a lot. Wednesday was so good! We got to go to the Franco's house and build a fence. I guess a tree knocked their old one down and some people had tried to break in or something like that so they were going to put up a new one! Hermana Asay and I pretty much spent the couple hours we had to help hauling the wood out of the trailer to where they needed it. Some of our investigators were there and it ended up being a blast!! I will send pictures. I honestly love service projects. On Friday we went out to knock a trailer park. We have a few solid investigators right now but we could definitely find more people. We actually ended up meeting the uncle of Suzeth at one of the trailer parks. She is a recent convert here. She is actually one of Hermana Kirkham's baptisms :) We are excited about them and to see where it goes!! After dinner that night we came out and there was an ice cream man. Here a lot of them are Hispanic. Instead of the trucks... they have little bikes with carts on the front. I will send a picture the next time I see one. My goal on my mission is to baptize a poleterro (ice cream man) so we jumped in the car and chased after him!! He wasn't too interested but it ended well enough :) I bought some takis. They are basically mini tortillas wrapped up... baked... with chili and lime. They are pretty hot :) To add to it he opened the bag and put more hot sauce... needless to say I was sweating when I had gotten about half way through the bag :) Hahahaha. My face was "glistening" because it was so hot! Too funny :) After that we had another really cool thing happen... We went to an appointment but they weren't there. So we talked to some people that were outside across the parking lot. It turns out earlier that day we had put a card on the boys house in the trailer park so that was the second time to find him in one day. The girl's mom came up not too long after. We started talking to her and it ended up that she knew Hermana Franco from our ward and that she had invited her to church a bunch of times. Pretty cool huh?? :) If we are doing what's right... God truly will guide us to those who we are supposed to meet. It was a pretty cool experience. On Saturday it PPPPOOOUUURRREED rain!!!! My compa was right when she said, "You don't know what rain is 'til you've seen a TEXAS rain storm." It was NUTS! I should have taken more pictures. There was literally a waterfall coming off the top of the gas station! I pulled under it and started laughing and just said, "hey, free car wash!" Oh and speaking of car washes... we got out to our car on Saturday and I could tell something was weird when I opened my car door and there was little brown pellets in my seat. I recognized them real fast :) We're not really sure how... but mice had gotten into our car and it had left little poop trails!!!! My compa was super grossed out :) I guess mice just seem to really like me here on the mission. Who knows why? ;) So today at the car wash we cleaned out everything really well... (it already was pretty clean we just deep cleaned) and hopefully they won't be coming back! :) We left after eating dinner and the member gave us a trash bag to try and keep us a little dry... I will send a picture :) It must have looked pretty hilarious! For some reason that day I had felt really off. I couldn't seem to focus in lessons and I was just feeling really weird. I think everything had just been building up and that the adversary had been working especially hard. I eventually broke down that night and talked to my compa about everything. It sure helped a lot to get it all out. I ended up getting a blessing that night from Hermano Jose Franco. I immediately felt so much better! There was such a peace that came over me. I knew that Heavenly Father was aware of me and that He knew exactly what I was going through. One of the things that touched me the most in the blessing was that it said Heavenly Father knew I was doing my very best and that was all He asked of me. I want to keep working hard and giving it my very best :) It sure is hard to believe 2 days ago I completed 10 months. I am older in the mission than Hermana Ostler was when I was with her. She will be headed home in almost exactly a month from now. INSANE right?!? I don't know where the time is going so I am just trying to enjoy every minute and give it everything I have got. Yesterday I learned something really cool in church. Hermano Jose Franco was giving the lesson... and he said something along the lines of the eye can't do the job of a mouth and a mouth can't do the job of a foot. It's the same with us in this life. Jesus Christ is the head of this church and a guide in our lives. If he has assigned us the job of the eye... we won't be able to complete the job of the foot no matter how bad we want it. Nevertheless... our part is vital even if it may appear small. I don't know if that makes sense... but it sure hit me and I love it!! I know God has a role for me here in Texas and I am doing everything I am to try and complete it. That's about it for this week :) The weather was really good and sunny for a few days and sure cold and windy for a few!!! Can't believe I am saying this but I am looking forward to some heat :) I love the people here. It never fails. All of us have our trials but the key is a good attitude. So just get 'er done! Do it with a smile. I love my compa Hermana Asay. I love the people here. I love my mission. And ah shucks... I sure love ya too :) Hope you have a great week!! Get out there and get 'er done! I wrote a quote this week that said something like this..."After the greatest falls... come the greatest triumphs." I've had a few falls... it's time to get back up and "RUN FOREST RUN!!!!" Hahahaha :) I love y'all!! I know this is the true church of Christ. Share it with others :) Both by your example and by inviting them to listen to a message about your faith :)

God Bless Texas!

-Hermana Hadlock 


In my old apartment we accidentally melted the top... :) heh! 







Monday, March 10, 2014

March 10, 2014 Faith or Fear.‏

Howdy, howdy, howdy!!!

Well, I don't have as much to update you on since I just e-mailed on Wednesday but I will give you what I have got :) I am starting to fall in love with McKinney. It was another pretty rough week but things are starting to look up. My companion is awesome. Did I say that she is from West Jordan, UT? We know we competed against each other when I threw shot putt and discus my sophomore year. Pretty funny huh?? We are convinced we knew each other from somewhere else but we're not sure. (I just had to backspace because I realized I had written the last half of that sentence in Spanish, hahaha.) We have a few people that have a lot of potential and every day we are trying to find more of course! It has been rough because both my companion and I got sick this last week... but we are taking vitamins and medicine and I am sure we will be feeling better soon! This morning during studies I was thinking a lot about what has happened on my mission and the missionary that I am. I was starting to doubt if I am/had done things right and found all the people I needed, etc.  Then I realized, God doesn't wanting me doubting everything I am doing and feeling all down. Those thoughts aren't from Him. I decided... it's either faith or fear. I decided I am going to do everything I can to keep my head up!! I am going to continue giving it my all so at the end of my mission I have no doubt that I did everything I could for the people here :) Honestly, with faith, you can do anything. Anything that is the Lord's will. Throughout the week we had some really good lessons. There is a lady here named Dariela. She is INCREDIBLE. She just got baptized like 2 weeks before I got here or something. She taught the Gospel doctrine class this last week. She did so good :)  Now we are teaching her 2 younger brothers. They just got here from Honduras not too long ago. We are hoping to have a couple baptisms with them this transfer :) So I really do feel like it's a dream where I am living. I feel like I shouldn't even tell you all because you won't think I am really serving a mission ;) Hahah. It's definitely a change from the mouse poop in my breakfast and the cock roaches in the last place I was living. We have 2 dogs. They are the Ragsdale's dogs but when they go out of town, we get to take care of them. Their names are Lucy and Pirate. They are so stinkin' cute :) I will send pictures of them. We are living in the Ragsdale's pool house. We each have our own bathroom and I also am sleeping in a king size bed. I don't remember if I told you all this on Wednesday?? Anyhow.. it all seems fake :) Haha. Church on Sunday was crazy because when Sacrament started there were maybe 15 people there. It turns out.... almost every single person in my branch is a convert that was baptized within the last 7 years. INSANE huh?? It may be a bit of a struggle because some of our people we really need haven't gotten a lot of training. Our ward mission leader was in-active for a bit I guess but now he is active again so we are trying to work with him to get things going how they should be going. It's incredible to feel the missionary Spirit in this ward though. Because almost all of them are converts... they still have the fire of the Gospel really strong in them. Many of them are really willing to help us in any way they can. I am excited to get to know a lot of them better but for now they seem like an amazing branch. Sometimes, being a missionary can be incredibly hard. But so is life. I have learned that we will all always have trials. The trick is how we react to them :) It is true.. some may have a lot bigger of a load than others. But isn't it ironic that those who have been through so much are often the ones who are some of the happiest?? :) I believe that we can choose to be happy. Cheesy as it sounds... attitude really is everything. It's not easy now and it won't ever be in this life. But there is hope :) We can choose to be happy. As President Monson said, "The future is as bright as your faith." I believe that. I am going to choose to be happy and hold my head high. I am going to do all I can so that now and forever I can face the challenges that are given to me in life and grow from them :) Coach Richards, my favorite basketball coach from high school, had a phrase tattooed on his fore arms. It said, "Where there is no STRUGGLE... There is no PROGRESS." I have been through some struggles. It's now time to progress :) I love you all and hope you have a good week! Pray for someone to share the Gospel with. God will bless you with a missionary experience. The work is moving forward. Be a part of it. We missionaries need you. The Lord needs you :)

-LOVE Y'all!!!!

-tu favorita, Hermana Hadlock 








Wednesday, March 5, 2014

March 5, 2014 This life truly is a roller coaster!!!‏

So... my brain is in a million places but I will try to pull it together and tell you all that has happened in the last week and a half :) Deal? Deal. So last Monday We had a lesson with Maria Sanchez. It was one of the first times we have seen her almost the whole transfer. I don't know what has been going on with her but it has been nearly impossible to get a hold of her. We will see if she is willing to come back to church and things like that. I love her so stinkin' much :) But as I explained last week... even though I love people a ton sometimes I have to let them go and leave them in God's hands. We also had a lesson with Stephanie and Lizzy that night. I believe we taught them about tithing if I can remember right. Maybe I'm crazy?? It already seems like a month ago. Anyhow, we did a lesson with the coke and the mentos. We taught them how if we are willing to pay 1/10 (or one mentos) that the heavens will over flow (or the coke explodes) with blessings! We always get more than we give :) Tuesday was a roller coaster in and of itself. We met this lady named Lili. I think I talked a bit about her last week. She lost her husband and so we were really excited to teach her about everything to bring her that peace. When we went back the last time it was like she was a completely different person. It was really odd... She ended up deciding that she didn't really want to learn more and so we told her if she ever needed anything she could call us but that we loved her and hoped she would one day be willing to pray about our message. Later that night we had a lesson with Adrianna. It was INCREDIBLE!!! She talked about how when she had come to church she had felt peace so strong. She also said something like this... "Maybe I'm crazy but there were a few times I had to close my eyes because people were GLOWING! They were glowing so bright!" We couldn't believe it. She loved church. She loved the members. It was incredible!! She also said that she has problems with anxiety and that she hadn't had it since we had been teaching her. We talked about her being baptized and she said she was ready and that it was something she wanted to do and she felt ready for it. We were in the clouds :) Even though it had gone really rough with Lili... God had completely made up for it with everything that happened that night with Adrianna. Wednesday we had a really powerful lesson with Cecilio. He has been reading and praying. The only thing he need is to get church off on Sundays. That has been his biggest trial but I really think he has a lot of potential :) That night we taught Lizzy & Stephy again as well. They are SO smart. It blows my mind every time we go over there how much Stephanie understands. They have sure been through a lot in their lives. Right now their dad is in jail and their family is struggling in ways but I am always so amazed at how strong the girls and Xiomara are. God is definitely watching over them. Thursday we were supposed to teach the English class again but it didn't end up happening. If I remember right it was pretty cold that day but luckily it was a planning day so we weren't outside a ton. On Friday we were so excited because we had a lesson with Stephy and Lizzy and also with Adrianna. Stephy and Lizzy ended up being out of town with their mom and Ramon so we didn't get to teach them. We stopped by to confirm with Adrianna because her phone wasn't working... when she opened the door we could tell something was wrong. The first thing she told us is that she had received an answer from God and that this is not what God wanted her to do. For a good amount of time my companion and I stood speechless. It had only been two days since our last lesson with her. We ended up talking to her for over and hour. It was really rough I won't lie... We ended up leaving her with a prayer and I was crying by the end of it. She decided to let us come back and talk to her about the Bible. When we left from that lesson my companion and I were both feeling really down, confused, etc. We weren't sure what to do. I couldn't seem to shake the bad feelings I had so we ended up deciding we should get a blessing. We went to the Buchannan's house that night and Hermano Buchannan gave us a blessing. It was absolutely incredible. Even though we didn't leave with everything being solved and perfect with Adrianna... we left having peace. More than anything I was so glad to hear in the blessing that God was pleased with the work I was doing as His missionary. That I would be led and find those who are elect. Also, more than anything... that He wanted me to be happy. It was amazing. Plus it was all in Spanish :) It was so amazing to receive a blessing in another language. Saturday was so good. We were out to find a bunch of new people... (p.s. please, PLEASE invite those you feel prompted to invite to listen to the Gospel. It helps us more than you can ever know as missionaries. I love what Elder Ellis, the 70, said when he came. He told us to use this question with the members... how can we help you with your missionary work?? It truly is our job as missionaries to teach but every member whether a full time missionary or not is called to share the Gospel) anyhow we decided to go and visit Gloria who we hadn't heard from in a while. It was where Hermana Moore felt like we should go. On our way we saw this Hispanic family so we stopped... we didn't have time to catch them but we ran into this guy selling house security systems on the street. I went to give him a card and he told us that he was a member. He gave us a bunch of people in that neighborhood that were Hispanic. He was from England as well so he had an awesome accent!! It was so awesome.  Gloria didn't end up even being home but we both knew that God had prompted us to go there not to find Gloria... but to find this man. He knew it was the only way to guide us to where we needed to go. Kind of amazing how He does that :) We also stopped by Adrianna's because she had been looking for a job and before everything blew up we found a flyer that was for Chick Fil A where she could have Sundays off. We also needed to see if we needed to cancel her ride for church or not. When we got done doing that I looked down and realize that I had chocolate ALL over me. It was over my dress and on my arms... hahaha. There was a chocolate in the cup holder and it melted and then we put the phone on top of it and then I grabbed the phone. Without realizing it I had gotten it all over. So we ran home to clean that up and right then Hermana Buchannan texted us and asked if she could stop by. Because of a couple weird things that happened we hadn't had any dinners with the members. So we brought us a whole ton of groceries! She is the biggest sweetheart on earth :)  That night we had an awesome lesson in the Buchannan's home. Hermana Buchannan had invited someone from her work over for dinner and him and his family came. Afterwards... we taught them the first lesson. It was SO hard to teach in English.. hahaha. We kept saying funny things. They ended up accepting missionaries to come over to where they are living. I was so proud of the Buchannan's. The family they invited said that they never really knew what we did as missionaries and never would have taken the initiative to listen to us on their own... but that they had really enjoyed it and were really grateful Hermana Buchannan had opened her mouth to share it with them. Such a neat experience. That night when we got home... we knew transfer calls were that night. We were hoping not to receive a call so that we could both stay... :) But we knew we had already served 2 transfers together and so it wasn't likely. Sure enough. The phone rang... We got the news that Hermana LeBaron (my old compa) would be coming to Grand Prairie with Hermana Moore! We weren't expecting that at all because this is her last transfer and then she goes home and they normally don't change them on their last transfer. We also found out that I would be heading to McKinney with Hermana Asay. Hermana Kirkham (my mtc compa)  was so excited because McKinney was her first area. I won't lie... I don't do well with lots of big changes all at the same time and so I was scared out of my mind :) I'll talk a little bit more about it in a sec though. So Sunday I was able to bear my testimony for the last time in my Grand Prairie ward. There are so many people that I have grown to love there SO STINKIN' much!!! It truly has been an honor to serve there. Remember how scared I was when I got transferred there?? Look how it ended up :) I saw so many miracles there. I grew so much. I know transfers are so hard but I know if I will follow in faith all with work out just fine :) I will go where God wants me to go. Sunday we had some awesome lessons. We taught a cute girl named Dinorah who is younger than me and has been married for like a year. SCARY :) Hahaha. I don't feel like I am that old... we also got to teach Alma. I sure love her :) I was able to say goodbye to her that night. We also got to teach Carla :) She is such a sweetheart. I don't remember if I talked about her?? She is from Honduras. She has been through more trials than I can even imagine but she has always kept her faith. I want to be like that :) I never want to lose faith. I'll send a picture of her! That night it was super icy. People in Texas are so funny. All of them are so surprised we come in that weather because hardly anyone goes out when it is like that. Monday morning we went to go play sports before studies. Once we got there... we received a text saying that everyone needed to stay indoors because of the ice storm. They said we could only drive if we got permission. So we ended up playing sports for a long time. It was pretty fun! We got permission to drive home and to visit a few of our investigators because the roads in Grand Prairie had melted and were clear. I got to say goodbye to some more of the families we had been teaching. We went over to see Stephanie, Lizzy, Xiomara, and Ramon. The girls were acting a lot different. Stephy was going to be baptized this coming Sunday but it turns out her dad that is in jail told her she couldn't and made her really scared to be baptized so we are going to have to move the date. We talked a lot about how to recognize the Spirit and get an answer from God because she wants to have a firm answer before she is baptized. They were both having a hard time so we played a game with them to cheer them up :) I couldn't hardly bring myself to tell them I was leaving. Stephanie is so smart though and I knew she would be more upset if I didn't tell her. When I told her she started to cry and just came over and gave me the biggest hug. We made a pinky promise that I would say a prayer for her every night and that she would be praying for me :) It was so bitter-sweet. I love those girls so much :) I'll send pictures as well of them! After I went to say "see you later" to the Buchannan's. When I got there Hermana Buchannan said she had been crying as well. I love her SO MUCH! They truly are the most incredible people. She gave me and my compa a bracelet from Egypt :) She lived there for a while. It was so sweet of her. I was amazed at how attached I had grown to the people I was serving in Grand Prairie. But I knew I needed to go wherever God wanted me to go. Tuesday morning I finished packing up my things and we made our ways to transfers. Oh yeah... because of the ice storm and not wanting people to go out they didn't want us to e-mail yesterday and then yesterday was transfers. I met my new compa Hermana Asay :) She is incredible and I already love her. I won't lie... I have been a bit down and struggling a bit but I know there are only 2 options. Fear or Faith. I am doing my very very best to choose faith :) Changes for me are so hard. I'm not sure why... they just are. But I know that with the help of my Savior I can do it. The area where I am now is HUGE! We cover 2 big cities. There is McKinney and Allen that is all our area. The area is really wealthy and that is a huge change for me as well. I am super spoiled and am now living in a pool house... say WHAT?!? I know. I keep pinching myself to see if it's real. I was kinda getting used to mice and cock roaches :) It's funny.. I actually feel really out of my element being in homes like that. I guess the reason our area is so big is because there aren't too many Hispanics here. I know it is going to be a challenge but I am up for it :) Because I have the best teammate anyone could ever hope for... We have the Lord on our side. It's game time :) I have no idea what I am doing and for the first time I am senior companion. So I need to be a leader :) But I know if I have faith God will help us. We are going to find those who are ready :) I read a scripture... Moroni 8:16. "Perfect love casteth out all fear." I love my Savior and I need to trust in Him. Keep me in your prayers will you? I am going to need it. I am doing my very best to hold my head high through the tough times and find those who need us. I love you all :) You are in my prayers as well. I never thought I would say this... but after the cold here this last while.. I am ready for the summer in Texas :) Just wait... I'll be regretting I said that in a few months! ;) Thank you for all your support. It's amazing how many times my prayers are answered through the words you say to me. I love you all :) I know this Gospel is true. 

Y'ALL are incredible!!! P.s. the people I am living with have 2 really cute dogs so I am super excited about that! Keep me in your prayers :) I love you and thank you. 

-Hermana Hadlock 


 I did my hair curly. 
Hermana Moore and I were dying laughing because I had a fro :) 
Don't worry.. I fixed it before I went out!



 Saying goodbye to Alma


These are my crazy girls Lizzy and Stephy :) 
I love them SSSSOOO much!!! :D 

Lizzy had red cow girl boots she had bought just that day :) 
I thought man.. those look familiar ;) :)


This is the Buchannan's! :D 

This is my new companion Hermana Asay!!

 This is the lookout from my window this morning. 
I am living on a little farm :)