Talking and Walking and Learning, Oh My! (October 26th, 2015)

So, very slowly I am learning how similar sister Fillmore and I am.
Which is weird because at the same time we are so different.  And I am not just talking about looks. She just gets me and I seem to get her. It might be an American thing. We just like a lot of the same things
and come from similar backgrounds and she just gets me missionary-wise as well.

This week, we had a little more time in a certain part of our area than we were expecting, but we had to stay there until another appointment later in the afternoon, so we had to do all of the back up plans that we could think of and then some, part of that included our lunch which included an interesting walk through a ginormous church graveyard. It was a very overcast and gloomy day, so you can imagine our feelings about that...  But we had a good long talk about how to be better missionaries and having back-up plans under a big tree in the rain, ... But outside the cemetery.

This week I am starting to learn that some times... No, pretty much all the time, you need to just do things. You cannot always wait for a ray of sunshine to start being positive or believing there is such a thing
as the sun, especially this time of year in England. Sometimes you just need to get over yourself. So that is my mission for now... I will get back to you on how that works out.

But I love you all and am learning and growing here loads in the UK even though it hurts sometimes. But all for my benefit :) oh man, things are at a whole new level when you are out in the mission field.
As sister Ranck, my trainer would say, you gotten love it!

-- 

- Sister Lisa Haynie

Enabling Power of Christ (October 19th, 2016)

Hello my friends and family! I hope you all know that I love you and
am always so thankful for the prayers and beautiful words of wisdom that you send me!

This week, as you already know was transfers and my new companion is Sister Fillmore. Sister Fillmore is crazy but in the best of ways. She has been serving here in the England London Mission for 13 months on the 25 of this month! She knows what she is doing! I have learned so much from her already! Oh and she really loves cows! Like really loves them. Right before she came out to serve her mission, she worked a year on a farm and basically fell in love with the large if rather dumb animals. It is just her thing and I love it.

So last Monday, we received a referral  from the mission office. And we got to see him this week. His name is Svetoslov and he is from Bulgaria and he is so prepared. We taught him the first lesson which is the restoration and we also taught him about baptism. We were really excited to teach him, so much that we challenged him to be baptized on the 8th of November. And he accepted! He also promised that he would begin reading the Book of Mormon and and come to church this coming week! He accepted everything we taught him as well! I just feel that he is so prepared for this gospel. At the very end we were able to meet his wife and she is just so lovely!

Oh! And guys! Yesterday was the best Sunday ever! Sunday's have always been great but yesterday sacrament was (as one member, Elijah, would say) fantabulous! More on that later, but then right after church we witnessed three boys getting baptised! It was so sweet!

But wait, there is more. Last night, our district (two sets of elders
and us sisters) taught trainings at a member missionary fireside for
our ward ... And the Stevens were there! Our mission president and his wife were so gracious to come to our ward and support us! And from what we heard from the members, it was really good! I feel so united with the ward now! Right after the meeting ended, we even had some members come to us and say the days that they were free to come out teaching with us! God is so great! I think what made it so great was the fact that we missionaries were able to get across our love for them and our desire to help them bring their friends and family to this gospel that means so much to them! That we are at their disposal.
And that it really is not so hard. It isn't turning your papers in,
slapping on a name badge, and giving a year and a half of your life
away. It really is as simple as explaining simply a part of the gospel that has blessed your life and then inviting them to do something, anything that will help them come closer to Christ. Oh, I just loved it!

So back to sacrament meeting. The passed month and a half I have been feeling like something has been missing in my life, not just as a missionary, but for me as a person. And I have been struggling with it. My testimony was really shaking and I could not pinpoint the problem. I was praying and asking God to help me figure this out. God answered my prayer on Sunday. The entire message of the meeting was on the Saviour! That was it. That was my issue! Let me explain. Ever since preparing for my mission until now, I have been trying to build my faith in the things that people would challenge, the word of wisdom, the history of he church, the restoration, family, etc. I have been missing what they are all centred on, Christ!! The fact that
there is someone who knows every little thing we are going/have gone
through. Someone who has made it possible that we can feel peace in
times of struggle and confusion. Someone, when we have done all we can do and have fought as hard and as long as we could, will take up the fight for us, on right beside us. Never letting us go, never letting us give up even when we want to. There is someone who loves us unconditionally, but perfectly, meaning he will love you no matter what, but still expects you to do right, to continually come closer to him. To purposely become a better person.

I hope you all can come to realise that for yourself. And if you don't
already have this understanding, search for it, because there is
nothing like it. My faith is so very far from perfect. Every day I am
fighting doubts and concerns and trying to overcome them, but this
hope is what I hold onto and it gets me through every single day!

I love you all and hope that you know that EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU WHO READS THIS is a CHILD OF GOD! You are great in the sight of God.

Love,

- Sister Lisa Haynie

Transfers: Second Edition (October 13th, 2016)

Hello everyone! And thank you for all you have done, whether it be
sending me an email or praying for missionaries in general! It is
greatly appreciated! I love you all!

No time to beat around the bush. Transfers are here and they are
bitter sweet. This time around I will be staying (yay! No packing) but
at long last sister Fuimaono will be leaving her beloved area of
Enfield! She has been here for over 6 months and needs a fresh start,
as hard as it will be to say goodbye. I am sad because I will miss Sister Fuimaono but also because I am taking over the area and because
once again I will be getting to know another complete stranger. The
last two complete strangers turned out pretty good so hopefully this
one will as well. Stranger number three actually has a name and it is
Sister Fillmore and I have never actually met her but we are friends
on Facebook so... But I am excited to see what God has in store for us
in the next 6 weeks here in Enfield! Our district leader, Elder Paul
will also be moving to a new area and Elder Speitzer will be our new
district leader. I will miss Elder Paul! He has been a great leader to
serve alongside.

Things have not been smooth riding in the last few weeks, but I have been learning and growing the whole time.

If I can leave you all with one thing, other than the fact that I love
you and it is starting to get really cold here (and this isn't even
the worst, I am in so much trouble) it is that when you have nothing
else to hold onto, you have to hold onto your hope that God has a
purpose for you and that these hard times are just the refiners fire,
preparing you for so much more. Think of the times and feelings you
have known without a doubt that God loves you and that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's restored church on this
earth. Never let those go and push forward in faith! I know it sounds
really cliche but it really is all you can do at times. Know that the
saviour has gone through it and more with you! You are not alone!

I love you all and am so so so so so so so soooooo grateful for the
gospel in my life!

Love,

- Sister Lisa Haynie

I Love the Little Things (October 7th, 2015)

So the work has been really slow this week. Our teaching pool is
really small. Most of those we see on a weekly basis are less actives
and recent converts with members sprinkled in here and there. So for a
while I was feeling pretty down about what we were accomplishing. And when we would call in during the evenings to report our progress I would feel really unhappy about how "unsuccessful" we were in finding
and teaching investigators.

But this week, I have been able to find the sunshine in the gloomy
time. ( that is not just a metaphor folks. It has been overcast for
pretty much this entire last week.)

So first off, THIS WEEK WAS GENERAL CONFERENCE! And oh man was it different listening to it as a missionary! I loved every single talk, even though it was really strange with the major time difference.
That's right, when the rest of you were beginning the afternoon
sessions, I was preparing for bed because it was 10 pm here in
England. So I still need to watch the Sunday afternoon session and he
women's general session, but I'm sure every last message will be as boss as every message I heard so far!

The other cool part about this is that we were able to watch it in a
members home, where there is a member of the family who is less active and he watched it with us! And when the member of the family was giving us a lift home, she said that we sometimes may feel like we are not doing well, but just the fact that we were around him, he was able to feel the spirit. At the end of the session this less active member said that he really enjoyed it!

Just yesterday we had a lesson with a less active recent convert and the spirit was so strong. We really pondered on what we should teach him, and the lesson was so wonderful!

Last but not least, we are seeing Wicked! That is why I have not
written until today.

Just saw it and it was AWESOME! Oh man! Now I understand what everyone is on about!

As to the title of my email, there is an EFY song entitled this, and I
encourage all of you to look it up!

I love you and am thankful for all you do! Shout out to Brette, got
your card today! Thank you!

God is good and his hand can always be seen! You just have to be looking for it!


-- 

- Sister Haynie