Week 7

So I have been feeling super fatigued, but I lost 15lbs!! :) I just keep pushing along! :)

Yes there was a baptism this week. It was such an amazing experiences! The Spirit was so strong and we had about 40 members there to support them! It was such a fantastic day. One that I will always remember. I really wish ya'll could be there. Oh yeah I forgot to bring a change of clothes and a towel.......LOL

So, I got a new companion, his name is Elder Nickel, and he is great! He is from Saginaw, Texas. He has been on his mission for almost a year. He is big into working out he is 5'8 and a powerhouse. Super Strong! He is also very knowledge of the scriptures!

So we also had transfer meeting and they opened three new languages in the San Diego Mission: Arabic (which is only taught out in the field, they don't offer it in the MTC) Laotian, and Mandarin. My friends Elders Mcombie and Poffenbarger got sent to open up the first Arabic Speaking area in the mission!! THEY HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF ARABIC BEFOREHAND AND WEREN'T TOLD BEFORE THE MEETING THAT THEY WERE SWITCHING LANGUAGES!!! They are going to be pulling from within the mission to be speaking Arabic and I am really nervous that I am going to be switched. As soon as I heard the rumor that there was going to be a new language opening that wouldn't be taught in the MTC I guessed Arabaic (because of the high Arab population) and I had a gut feeling that one day I would be speaking it. We will see!! :O

Oh also I am going to be shaking hands with an Apostle tomorrow!! Elder Ballard! :) I am soo excited!

So How are you pops!? Mom? Ashlyn? Brock? Joe? The guys at the gym? How is the ward back home? Have you all settled on a house? How is all of your guys' workouts? Can you guys send pictures? How Grandpa? Grandma and Papa Dee?

Here are the baptism photos! :)))

 He says he misses Football.....

Week 6

Hey family!

 

So I have some bad news..... my dad (Elder Bone) is being transferred tomorrow! We have only been companions for one transfer! He was so awesome! He doesn't get to stay for the baptisms this Sunday :( Well I get a new companion tomorrow so we will see how that goes! I will let you know!

 

07/18/13

Today was pretty good we taught Yanina today. We taught her the restoration and she seemed to like it and she sees the need for a prophet today and she also has the same question as Joseph Smith  about which church is true. We gave her a BOM in spanish and english and promised her that she would learn english if she read them side by side. We also had dinner at Julio Garzon. IT was super good it was some fried fish and rice we did faith rockets and it tipped over and it burnt sister Garzons hand. Whoops. She's ok though.  OK GOOD NEWS Yolanda is home from jail! That file actually worked. Good work Dad.

 

07/19/13

I was on exchanges with elder Dietrich and it went pretty well. We had an awesome street contact and we were on bike in their area. We rode passed a house and through the bushes saw a man sitting outside, and it looked like he was reading the bible. His name was Marco and it was really funny because he was covered in tattoos of Jesus. So I knew he had to be religious or something. He shared with us how he overcame drug addictions and how his life has changed. Another cool thing was that we went to Hermana Ochoa house and we came across Rami who is her daughter. Supposably the other Elders have never talked to her before but I felt prompted to talk to her about Jesus Christ although we had planned to teach something completely different. We talked about the 5 parts of the gospel in about 5 minutes. SUPER FAST. Then I started to talk about enduring to the end and the power of prayer. I asked her "I know this is a personal question, so excuse me, but when was the last time you prayed?" and she started to cry. Then I gave her my testimony of prayer and invited her to a kneeling prayer at her doorstep and it was so powerful.
 _____________________________________________________________--

 

Well I love you all! 

 

Love you guys,

 

Elder Hays

Week 5

Hey awesome family!!! :)

 

 

Quiero escribir mi correo electronico en Espanol porque soy un misionero hispanohablante. Esta semana era muy bien. Tuve muchas experencias extranas. Nuestro investigador llamo la policia para arrestar su esposa. Era muy chistoso pero la mujer es un mujer muy compasionado. Ella va estar en carcel por un ano
porque eso el la segundo vez que ella pegaba su esposo. Tambien tuvimos intercambios esta semana. Estaba el companero de Elder Gerber por un dia. El es bien suave. Tuvimos mucho exito cuando estabamos companeros. Tuve que dirigir las lecciones paraque yo practicara mi espanol y mi abilidad como un maestro. Tengo noticia mala pero esta bien. La familia Garcia no van bautizarse este domingo porque no tuvimos la chanza ensenarles antes de sus bautismos. PERO! Toda la familia esta tan animada por la 28th de esta mes.

Tengo noticia buena!!!!!! Damian me pregunto que el quiere que yo bautizarse!!!! ESTOY MUY FELIZ!!!!!

Now in English lol

This week was pretty good! We had a lot of weird experiences. One of our investigators called the cops on his wife and she is now in jail for at least a year! It was nuts! We went by earlier that day and did about 3 hours of service. Afterwards we all had lunch and we taught them about the plan of salvation. It went great! Everyone was happy! Then we came by a couple hours later to do something else for them and we find out that the wife was sent to jail! It was soo weird because she is such a nice lady! It absolutely love her! Supposedly she has a temper lol.

We went on exchanges this week. Elder Gerber was my companion for the day and it went great. He is so awesome! He is from Georgia! He is also our District leader. It was a really cool day because I had the opportunity to lead in all the lessons and he gave me some pretty awesome compliments. He said that I had awesome Spanish that was at the level of someone who had been on their missions for about 9 months and that I was such a good missionary that he said he would be shocked if I wasn't an Assistant to the President one day :) I am so humbled by his compliments because I have been really working hard and learning as much as I can.

We had a pretty funny time teaching one of our new investigators. Her daughter Ana answered the door and she is 17 and we started talking with her and asked if her mom was home. She said she was, but that she was in bed because she had surgery earlier that week. Elder Gerber and I asked if she was okay. As we said this her mom walks up and is cradling "herself" after talking she told us that she had a certain "surgery" done. IT WAS SOOO AWKWARD!!! The whole time we were teaching she was supporting them with her arm. The lesson was like 40 minutes and suuuuper awkward. Other than that the lesson was awesome! We are excited to see where they end up because, they actually were asked three questions by a person in the mall, 'Where do you think we come from? Why do you think we are here? Where do you think we go after this life?'. They didn't know what to say.  We then came by and we were able to answer those 3 questions! THEY LOVED IT! We are coming back this week!

Damian is doing great! Guess what!? He asked me to baptize him! I was soo honored that he asked me out of all the other Elders. We are definitely going to be friends for a long time! Especially if he goes to BYU! The cool thing is, when he goes through the Temple in a year I can be his escort (if he wants) or at least I can go with him!

The Garcia's are doing great, but unfortunately we can't baptize them this week because we havent had a chance to teach them all that they need to be taught. So far they have been to 2 ward activities 3 sundays at church and 3 family nights and they hosted the one last night!!! :) They are awesome! They also brought Brother Garcia's brother to Church and Family night and he likes it. Who knows, he might be getting baptized soon. So they are being baptized on 07/28/13 along with Damian.

I taught a youth class at church this past Sunday. We invited a 14 year old Investigator to Church. The other elders had been teaching him previously and supposedly they have invited him to be baptized many times and he keeps saying that he wants to wait until he is 16 (I didn't know this before hand). So Sunday was the first day that he has been our investigator. We watched that slideshow about Christ (The one that I bought mom) and we totally felt the Spirit. In the slideshow miraculously there is a part with pictures of baptism. So I decided to talk about that. I went around and had everyone share why they thought that baptism was important to them specifically. Junior Garcia had an awesome response which was awesome because he hasn't been baptized yet haha Then it came around to Sonny and he gave this super awesome answer so.... I invited him to be baptized and he said yes!!!! The date is in 3 weeks,  but when we talk to him later on this week we are going to talk to him and his parents about it. :)) So the date is to be announced! :))) I have been extremely blessed and I thank our Heavenly Father every moment for his preparation of these people. There has not been a baptism in this ward for over 6 months. It is amazing and so humbling. I absolutely LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!!!

Love Always,
Elder Hays

 

 

Week 4

Hey family!!! I love you guys so much! I love the pictures! I really appreciate all of your emails :)

 

This week we went to San Diego for meetings and California Burritos and Horchata. The weather was beautiful and wow traffic was nuts. This past week was full of meetings so this letter won't be long. But, this is probably the most special message that i have sent home so far.

Damian is incredible and his story is a miracle. So recall how I met him at the laundry-mat last Tuesday? I had a strong prompting to go talk to him. I ignored it, it came again stronger, I ignored it, then it came again and I acted. So I went and talked to him. I am so glad that I did.

Damian is now going to be baptized. The sisters have taught him everyday and he is hungry to learn more. He said that when he saw us he immediately felt that he had to talk to us. He knew immediately that he wanted what we had. I guess that was happiness. He has come to church, reads from the Book of Mormon and prays daily. He wants the Priesthood sooo badly and can not wait to serve a mission. He is 21 years old.

His story is a miracle. If I had not acted on the prompting of the Spirit. Who knows where Damian would be today. It immediately brought tears to my eyes when I heard he was going to be baptized. I was overwhelmed with emotion, because I was so close to just letting him be and not talking with him.

The Lord has prepared people for me. I know this. I know that if we seek for the Lord's help and His guidance, he will give it too us, as long as we are inviting the Spirit in our lives. His work is true. I love being a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. People like Damian and the Garcia Family. The work is exploding, there hasn't been a baptism in over 6 months in the ward, now there are soo many. The Lord prepares people and also rewards those who worked hard before us.

THE COMPUTER IS A PIECE OF CRAP AND IT IS NOT LETTING ME SEND PICTURES!!!!!

I love you all soo much and I hope the content of this letter outweighs the length.

Love,

Elder Hays

Baptismal Dates:

The Garcia Family: 07/21/13

Damian: 07/27/13

Guillermo: 08/11/13

Week 3

Hello Family,

THAT CARD WAS AWESOME!!!! What is really hilarious is I sent you that same exact card!!!! I had no idea!!!! LOL :)))) Thank you soo much for the awesome package! Could you also thank Andria for me? I don't have her email address.

Well yeah I think I have melted away! But I am super TAN! I look like a mexican! it got up to 128 degrees with a lot of humidity!!!! It was fantastic I felt like I was swimming in my own clothes! EWWW lol DONT WORRY I AM OKAY!!! I actually have lost 15lbs since May and I drink over a gallon of cold water a day. I am able to sleep just fine now, we have A/C but for some reason the room we were in was hot, but we have a fan now so we are good. Thank you for your prayers :) 

The members out here kinda feed us, supposedly this is the worst area in the mission when it comes to meals, but in my mind all the other stuff makes up for it. I have been eating ramen and chicken everyday with protein shake in the morning.
 

If you loved last weeks you are going to like this one even more!

06/26/2013

Here is a poem that the sister missionaries wrote:

 

On the transfer of June 12th we wee all brought together

Not knowing how well we would work in this freaking weather

Sweating all day and trying not to cuss

Because we're pretty sure the desert is burning the "Hell" out of us

 

Elder Gerber became our fearless DL    (District Leader)

Everyone loves him because, freak, he's just swell

Elder Dietrich, our soldier, likes to break chairs

And likes that nasty cocktail, cause he really cares

 

Elder Bone is the sweet one who loves everyone so much

Maybe that is why everyday he gets an appointment for lunch

Elder Hays is talented- he can touch his head to the floor

He speaks Spanish real great-while allican say is Hace Calor!

Hermana Hess, without her we can't keep a tune

She kept us all together in the month of June

Hermana Oliver, our indie all the way from Seattle

Is loving the desert-especially the smell of cattle

 

Us Sisters, without you, wouldn't know what to do

We're so grateful we know stalwart Elders like you

Just thinking of you all gives our hearts a tug

Maybe, one day, we can give you a hug.

 

- Hermana Oliver and Hess

06/27/2013

 

We had to take the bikes today!! Wow it was soooo HOT!!!

So Elder Bone and I were riding the bikes back home from an appointment we were riding by the park and we heard some one shout to us. So we turned back to see what was up. He was standing next to this one guy that was super drunk. He said, "you guys are the Lord's people, help this man, he needs to hear the Word". So.. we gave him the word lol The drunk guy's name was Augustine and supposedly according to the other guy (Ulysses) Augustine was part of an awesome world renown Mariachi band, but then became a drunkard and now lives on the streets. We started talking to them about repentance and God's love for them and also the 5 fundamentals of the Gospel which are Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. We then sang with him "Oh esta, todo bien", which is "Come Come ye Saints". 

 

Now here is the miracle, Elder Bone and I sang that hymn all week and it was mediocre at best and we messed up every time. But, at that moment I honestly could say that we had angels on our left and on our right singing with us, it was absolutely beautiful. I felt the Spirit so strong, I had this incredible sense of joy and love. It was memorable. Augustine started to cry (Maybe we just sang poorly lol ). Afterwards we left him with a prayer, hopefully we left him off better than he was :).

 

Oh this is kind of weird, Ulysses said that he sees God in the flesh everyday and that he had a prophecy for me. It was that I would be a leader in the Church in 7 years and that I would be married in 2 years with a kid the year after. kiinda weird lol but we will see hahaha....

 

06/30/2013

 

Yesterday was 128 degrees plus humidity!! :P I forgot my camera so i will send a pic next week.

 

The Garcia family came to church again!! We didn't even have a chance to invite them! They just came :) So far they have been to 2 Activities and to 2 Sundays at church for the whole time! They love it! They are just such an awesome family! I love them soo much! The great thing is, we haven't even taught them anything! We also gave them all Books of Mormon and they were soo happy! :)

 

We also taught 33 lessons this week and the standard for the mission is 20 lessons per week... WE HAVE BEEN WORKING HARD!

07/01/2013

 

Today we had family home evening with the Martinez and Garzon families. THEY INVITED THE GARCIA FAMILY!!! It went great we had trouble with our Spanish, but it was okay! All in all..........THE WHOLE FAMILY IS GOING TO BE BAPTIZED!!! Except for the 3 year old of course. We don't have a date yet but we will when we see them this week! :)

 

07/02/2013

 

Today when we were doing laundry. There was a guy sitting on the bench and he had his headphones on minding his own business. I had a prompting that I should talk to him. I ignored it and kept doing my laundry. Then I got the same prompting, I ignored it again. Then I got the thought that said "Don't be afraid JUST TALK TO HIM". So I walked over to him. He immediately took out his ear buds and had a huge smile on his face. He immediately introduced himself to  me. His name is Damian. He started asking me about our Church and he was really interested. We talked for about the restoration for about 15 min and how we believe that Christ established a Church when he was in Jerusalem. We talked about how His Church was like an intact Jenga tower and when He and the Apostles died, the people couldn't agree on things and would remove and change certain fundamentals of His Church or in other words, removed the blocks from the tower and over time Christ's original Church fell and that is why we have so many churches today. We continued telling him how God chose Joseph Smith to restore that same Church that Christ established and that is why there is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We continued telling him how the Book of Mormon was given to Joseph Smith in the form the Golden Plates and how through the help of God he was able to translate them into what is now the Book of Mormon, and how the Bible and the Book of Mormon contain the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (The 5 fundamentals). He loved it and agreed to everything we shared and we invited him to pray about our message and if it was true. He said he would and that he wants to come to church this Sunday!!! Unfortunately he isn't in our area, but the Sister missionaries can teach him though!!! :)))

_________________________________________________________________________________________

well my hand and brain are dead lol I wrote a lot lol.....

I love you guys and I am keeping you in my prayers....

 

I usually email at 10 am for an hour and then again at 12:30pm for another hour.

 

PLEASE KEEP ME UPDATED AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ALL OF YOU!!!!

Love always,

            Elder Hays