Monday, August 26, 2013

Pictures and letter from Kaeley August 26th 2013

Sister fun ??  looks kind of barbaric to me, maybe they are just "working out" their differences :)  



Hello!!!                                                                                                            August 26th 2013

   I can't believe another week has come and gone. Time is seriously getting faster and faster and I am not a fan of it. We have seen many miracles again this week. I don't know why it still surprises me to get miracles, maybe because you just never really feel worthy to receive so many amazing blessings and to be apart of a Heavenly Work. But the Lord really keeps his promise. Our investigator with a baptismal date is doing very well. He is simply golden. He officially stopped smoking 3 days ago and it is hard for him but he is really committed to it. It is so cool to see someone who is truly prepared and willing to do whatever it takes to serve and follow the Lord. He is an example to me and I just love him. He is going to touch so many people and he is already sharing the Gospel with people in his life. I believe if every member of the church had the fire and passion that he has for the Gospel, every one in the world would know about it and have the chance to hear it. It really is inspiring. All our other investigators are doing well and progressing. slowly but they are progressing. The family we are teaching have come so far in the last few weeks since Sister Baliar being here, there really is just some people you connect with that need that connection to progress.

   The ward we serve in is amazing and they just love missionary work and help us so much! We had 2 exchanges this week with our sisters. We have 4 companion ships that we do exchanges with and we try to go on 2 exchanges in a transfer with each companionship. The first one, I stayed in our area for and the second one, I went to their area. The sisters that are just coming out are so spiritual prepared and just amazing teachers. When I teach with them, I am just amazed because it seems that I didn't catch on until 6 months into my mission and they are already doing it 3 weeks in. It is so cool to be apart of this time period and see how the Lord is preparing people and the missionaries to serve Him.

  There was one sister that I was with that she is 3 months into her mission and just simply amazing. She reminds me of me when I first came out, shy and scared of everyone and everything and just really struggled to talk to everyone. It was cool for me to be able to cheer her on and tell her she can. That I was once there and now, I just don't stop talking. haha :) and that she can do. It is so amazing to see the growth and change that has happened since first coming out and I am so grateful for the chance that Heavenly Father has given me to serve him. This is the best decision I could have ever made, even though it was hard, Heavenly father never gave up on me and this is the greatest gift he has given me. I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. He is my best friend and his power is very real. I feel it every day because that is the only thing that helps me to be a missionary for the Lord. I love this Gospel and this work. Greatest work any one can be involved in, missionary or member. I love the Book of Mormon and the peace that it brings in my life.

Thank you for all the love and support I get from family and friends, keep the letters coming !!!

I love you and miss you and hope you have a wonderful week!!!    Sister Haws

Monday, August 19, 2013

Kaeleys letter and pictures august 19th 2013

Kaeley and her last companion Sister Dyreng, she is the tall one on the end.
 sorry it is sideways, I cannot get it to flip for some strange reason, silly computers !!  So guess you will have to tilt your head to see it ! :) 


Kaeley's new companion Sister Baliar she is from the Phillipines


Hello  !!                                                                                                                                                      
  This week has been long but really good. We have seen a lot of miracles. Monday for p-day we got to play ultimate Frisbee which is one of my favorites. We were really sore the next day but it was completely worth it.

  On Tuesday, We went around to all the sisters that we will have exchanges with and meet them. We also wanted them to know who we were so they could know who they were talking to on the phone! We have been so busy with appointments with some less-actives and investigators. It has been wonderful. The work has really picked up in this area and it has been great! I love teaching the Gospel each day. It just brings so much joy and happiness.

  One of our investigators that had a baptismal date for August 31st, won't be getting baptized right away. He flat out refused to live the word of wisdom but said maybe in the future. That was kind of sad to hear but some day, he will. In the mean time we will still teach him and allow the gospel to change him.

 We found 2 new investigators this week that seem pretty promising and one of them already came to church with us yesterday! She really enjoyed it and it was cool to have here there.

One of the biggest miracles that we saw this week came from meeting our goals. Every Thursday we have a weekly planning session that lasts for about 5 hours and we plan out the next 10 days and it is amazing!  It is a very spiritual experience because you really feel the Lord guiding you to where you need to be and during that planning we set goals for how many people we will have a church, how many new investigators, etc. Well we have had the goal for 12 people at church for about 4 weeks now and we normally get about 5 to 6 people there! BUT yesterday, we meet our goal !!  12 people came to church.  6 were from the same family but it was amazing to see that the Lord blessed us as we were striving to reach that goal. And the coolest thing, is that none of them sat by us. haha I know that sounds funny but they were all sitting by members which is exactly what needs to happen for them to make friends. Missionaries come and go but members stay. It was just awesome! And the Less-active families we are working with came as well. It was a full house and it was awesome to be a part of that.

 We started exchanges again on Friday and I always forget how much I love them until we start them up again. It is a lot of fun and the sisters are just amazing. They are such good teachers and have this amazing desire to serve the Lord and be here. Sometime that I have really noticed,  is that all the new missionaries coming out are much more prepared spiritually than before and that is making a huge difference for them in the mission field. It is so exciting to be a part of this time in the history of the church when the earth is flooded with missionaries! It is a big trust from the Lord for him to allow us to be a part of his work.

Heavenly Father really does love his children. He is the creator of worlds and the universe, yet he loves each of us with a perfect love that is eternally and takes the time to listen to each of our prayers and responds to each of them. I can seriously say that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are some of my best friends because they know and understand me and what I need. I am so grateful for this Gospel and the knowledge that we have. We are so blessed to be a part of Christ's restored Church. It is a wonderful time to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love you and miss you!   All my love, Sister Haws

Monday, August 12, 2013

AUGUST 12th 2013 Kaeley's new letter

Tigers, bears...and TRANSFERS!   Oh my !!                                                                                
    Another transfer down and not very many to go. Transfers are always an exciting time but also very nerve wracking and sometimes difficult just because of all the changes that take place. And this new transfer is nothing short of changes. I have a wonderful new companion. Her name is Sister Baliar and she is from the Philippines! She has been out 13 months and she is so Christ-like and has this amazing passion for the Gospel and her testimony is so powerful! I love her a lot already. She is now a new sister training leader with me here in the valley and we have stewardship over 4 companions of sisters. In our Zone, last transfer, we had 4 sisters and now we have 11 in the same zone! Some day we will outnumber the Elders! haha. But it has been great.
  We haven't started exchanges yet but next week we start and we are really excited! We love the sisters already so very much.   We have had an amazing week with many miracles. We have 2 investigators with a baptismal dates  and they are both doing well especially one of them.  He is the one I keep mentioning that we met when we first got here and then he disappeared but now he is back and really committed this time and it is so cool to see the difference in him! He is so excited to get baptized and we took him to a baptism yesterday afternoon and it was really neat to see him just all excited to be there and he really wants to know the truth.
  They say that in each of your areas there is a person you are there for and it is so true. I am still here because of him. He has a very special place in my heart and just picturing him dressed in white and being baptized just brings tears of joy to my eyes. It really is all about the people. I love them so much and they are the ones that make the area great! And our other baptismal date is doing well. He was kind of struggling in understanding why we needed to be baptized but we helped resolve some concerns and that was really good to see him change from being sad to being happy.
  The ward we serve in is amazing! They are so spiritual and really have a desire to do missionary work and we love being around them.
   We had kind of a scary experience, Sister Baliar almost got attacked by a pit bull dog.  Where we serve there is a lot of them around and this one was one of our investigators dog. She told us that she was still training it not to jump so we thought she meant like jumping happy and excited cute little doggy jumping.  NOPE.  She meant like killer attack dog jumping.  Wish she would have told us that before.  But,  there was definitely angels protecting her  and I said after, "welcome to your new area." haha. It was kind of scary but she is okay and nothing bad happened Thank Heavens. We definitely have the Lord's Protection
  Our other investigators are doing very well. They are progressing slowly but they are progressing and that is what matters. I think one of my favorite things about being a missionary is you get to feel a little of that love that Heavenly Father has for his children and to see how he views them. It is an amazing feeling. I am so grateful for the chance to serve! This Gospel changes people's lives when they really apply the teachings. It is a Gospel of Change and of peace and joy and we have witnesses that truly with our investigators that are coming closer to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is everything to us and especially to me. He is my true friend and I am grateful for his Sacrifice for me.
*** BIG SHOUT OUT  to my cousin Austin who leaves for His mission this week to Raleigh North Carolina !!!! You are going to be amazing!!!!   Love you lots and I am proud of you that you are going !!!      
Thanks for all the love and support! Sister Haws

Monday, August 5, 2013

AUGUST 5TH 2013


Hello!!!                                                                                             August 5th 2013

     This week was really good and fun!  We have transfers this Tuesday and my companion is getting transferred  :( Kind of sad news and something we weren't expecting but the Lord needs her somewhere else to bless people's lives!  So I will get a new companion this Tuesday which can be kind of nerve wracking but you have to really trust in the Lord and this is His will.  It is exciting as well but, just the unknown is hard. You really learn to trust the Lord on the Mission because it is all up to Him and you just go with the flow.

    We have seen even more miracles this week. Our investigators are all doing really well. There are some that are just completely changing their lives around and it is amazing to see the difference the Gospel makes. They are just changing on their own and really seeing the blessing from living the Gospel. We found 4 new investigators this last week that are really great. We have one girl that is dating a man in a different ward but wants sisters to teach her so we are teaching her and she is amazing and really wants to know the truth. We love her a lot.

   Our investigator with the baptismal date is doing well and is so excited to get baptized. One of our members gave him a mini Book of Mormon and he carries it with him everywhere!!

 We had 3 investigators at church and 1 of them finally came after 2 months!!!  That was so exciting to see him there and he seems to enjoy it. The other investigator that came was the investigator that we found when we first got here and then he just disappeared but now he is back and seems to be ready this time to make the changes. I hope so because I love and care about him so much!! It is amazing how much you come to love people and how much you grow to care about them as your serve them.

  It has been really nice this last week weather wise. Not too hot at all. It has been surprising how cool it has been here. I was expecting it to be hotter than this but I am not complaining!! It has made being outside nice and easier to work.

  We had dinner with a Hispanic family on Saturday and they had a fiesta! It was a lot of fun and our whole district was there and it was fun to spend a little time with them before our district is split. A lot of people are getting transferred out but it will be fun to meet missionaries that came from the other mission! There is a lot of changes happening as the new mission is getting up and running but it is amazing to see the hand of the Lord in the Work and see how he is guiding everyone.

 I love being a missionary especially at this time. It is just so cool to be apart of the world wide change and see all the missionaries going out. This Gospel is real and changes people's lives! Each and every day. Thank you for all the support! I love you so much and miss you lots!!! Sister Haws