The week my parents went to Disney World without me*

Hello Everyone! 

So one of Sister Kandare's goals for this year is to change her perception of things to being more positive especially about things you can't control.  I am going to try to do that with this email :) 

So I have been sick allll week.  With a terribly, nasty, phlegmy cough.  I haven't been able to go out much and spent way more time in bed than I have for the past 5 months.  But I was able to get some rest, have random chapters of the Bible read to me, read an entire Ensign cover to cover, catch up (a little) on my journal, had some real good talks with Sister Michael and missionary work was still accomplished. 

Monday we had a good preparation day and I took Sister Michael to Olive Garden for dinner since it was her birthday on Wednesday.  Thanks mom for the gift card!  We then went and tried a former investigator who has a lengthy teaching record so I had never thought to try her again until then.  Her name is Brenda General and she is the nicest, kindest lady ever!  She grew up in the Bronx and has a very interesting story, but unfortunately the Baptists got to her before the Mormons ;) She is very involved in her church, but she is still very open to us coming.  It was great that we caught her then cause she was just leaving this week to go to New York for a long trip. 

Tuesday we had another lesson with Joy that was intended to be our break-up lesson.  Well turns out she had plans to break-up with us already! haha  It was actually a relief.  She is crazy town.  But hopefully one day she will be ready! 

We also had another lesson with Cari that day.  It was kind of a struggle of a lesson, but I now know what our next step is with her so that is a blessing.  She doesn't understand the need to be baptized again, so we taught the priesthood and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.  The dots just aren't connecting with her.  She reads from the Book of Mormon regularly and believes in Joseph Smith, but won't commit to baptism.  She knows it's true, but doesn't know that she knows it haha it's confusing for me too.  She is such a great lady and I really love her a lot, I just hope someday if it isn't now she will be willing to progress in this Gospel.

Wednesday was SMike's (Sister Michael's) 21st Birthday!! Wooh!  She always asks me, jokingly, what my favorite things about her are, so the night before I put up sticky notes of my 21 favorite things about Sister Michael.  That morning we went to Castle Hayne to see Sister Scarborough, during companionship study we decided to share with her the talk "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox.  I had never heard it before.  Sister Scarborough didn't really get what we hoped she would get out of it, but it was definitely an eye opener for me!  He gives such a great explanation on what the Atonement truly is and how grace comes in to play.  In it he says; 

"The grace of Christ is sufficient (see Ether 12:27; D&C 17:8)—sufficient to cover our debt, sufficient to transform us, and sufficient to help us as long as that transformation process takes.  The Book of Mormon teaches us to rely solely on “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8).  As we do, we do not discover—as some Christians believe—that Christ requires nothing of us.  Rather, we discover the reason He requires so much and the strength to do all He asks (see Philippians 4:13).  Grace is not the absence of God’s high expectations.  Grace is the presence of God’s power (see Luke 1:37)."

It gave me a new and much more powerful understanding of the Atonement.  I just love the Atonement so much because it is something we can study and study and we will just never comprehend it thoroughly.  Its magnitude is too great.  I highly recommend giving that talk a look.

Sister Kandare made homemade Chik-fil-a sandwhiches for dinner and a cake for SMike's Birthday.  She is just the greatest. 

Friday was Zone Conference! And it was a great one.  The theme was calling to repentance and baptism.  Cause that is our true call as a missionary and we are capable of doing it too!  I felt really pumped after that one. 

Saturday we  had a miracle happen!  I had been sick alll day and then I was finally feeling better and I was just so excited to finally be able to go out.  I had a really good feeling to go try to contact a referral who had requested a Book of Mormon.  We had been trying a bunch of times with no luck.  This time she was home and invited us right in!  We asked her why she had requested a Book of Mormon and she just said she didn't know what it was and wanted to know more.  Perfect!  So we had a great Restoration lesson with her and set up a return appointment.  We had another cool experience that night going to visit a less active who recently moved in.  She goes by "Ocean" and writes music and has produced CD's.  We had a wonderful visit with her and she really opened up to us about a lot. The best moment was when she was telling us how courageous she thought we were for serving missions and she was emotional and I was emotional and it was just a really cool moment. 

I am outta time, but I love ya'll and am thankful for all you love and support! 

*Note from Hayley's Dad: Of course this whole blog could be entitled "The year-and-a-half that Hayley went to North Carolina without her parents".