Don't forget to plug it in!!!

Hey everyone!!!

 

It's been great to hear from everyone! Thanks again for the love and support etc that was shown for the seven week break I was home. :) I sure am blessed to have great people. Apparently the little people are just leaving the rest of us in the dust with their indexing too! Oh my heck.. over 10000 each?! Before we know it they'll index as many people as are living in China! 

 

I was so sad to hear about Brady Simon's death. Please give the Simons my condolence and love.

 

So I have spent this week in the Brayton ward! The Brayton ward is right next to the Rabbit Creek ward and due to a recent ward boundaries change the Brayton ward now includes a portion of the old Rabbit Creek Ward, so I was able to see several people I know this this week from my first area which has been really fun! I also was able to see several people from the Turnagain ward including the Wills, S's family! She gave me five great big hugs and told me about her baptism! She told me how warm she felt and how she just felt fuzzy the whole week afterwards! I also got to see L which was awesome! She told me she's been to church three times now!!! That was so exciting to hear! It's not hard to tell that Sister Platero and Clark have been working hard and doing a great job in continuing the work!

 

I've been with Sister Bullen and her companion is with Sister Frazier who came down early for doctor appointments before she ships home to Utah tomorrow. The timing of me getting here couldn't have been more perfect. Sister Bullen came out the transfer before me so we know each other pretty well! She's probably one of my best friends out here so we've had a blast this week!

 

It's been chilly, but has started to warm up a bit! We have been plugging our car in every night though (hence the subject line ;) ) but as I gaze out the window the snow does cover the ground beautifully! Sister Bullen was telling me the snow came pretty much overnight! The darkness is going to take some getting use to though... It was weird driving to ward counsel yesterday at nine when the sun hadn't even risen yet! It looked like it was time to climb back into bed! haha :)

 

So my next area will be the Inlet View ward! My new companion, Sister Dill, and I will be whitewashing Sister Claspell and her companion out, which will be nice because I know they'll do a great job leaving notes for us! I love whitewashing so I was secretly hoping I'd be able to whitewash again just because I love the fresh eyes it gives the ward since we're both new- that wish came true!!! The Inlet View ward is right next to the Turnagain ward, so we'll be in the same district as Sister Platero and Clark (both of which are staying in Turnagain again) so it will be fun to hear about the happenings of those great people! The Inlet View ward is one of two wards in Alaska with so much missionary work that they have a set of Elders and Sisters there to handle it all, I'll for sure be really busy! My old district leader will be in the Inlet View Ward as well so it will be helpful to work with him and his new companion. I'm really excited to work in the ward, I've already met some of the people and I've only heard wonderful things about the ward, bishop, ward mission leader etc. So I'm excited to jump into the work! Sister Dill is really amazing too and I'm looking forward to working with her! She turned down a basketball scholarship to serve a mission, so she's given up a lot to be here, and she's like at least six inches taller than me. haha but it should be really fun! We'll be living with A's who are a family in the Turnagain ward that I know well because he is the High Priest group leader in the Turnagain ward, so that should be great! I'm looking forward to an exciting transfer!

 

So Sister Bullen and I had a neat experience this week! When we were going though the list of people the bishop had asked the sisters to see, there was a lady in particular that we felt impressed to see. We had a hard time finding her because she lived inside of a house.. Her and her middle-aged daughter live together in a little room smaller than the bedrooms in our house with three cats and a dog. All of their earthly possessions are in this room and not to mention they each struggle with medical difficulties. As we were crammed in this little room and as I looked around, this feeling of optimism just radiated from this lady as she sat on her bed and told us about her life. She'd tell us about a struggle and follow up with "but I'm so grateful for the atonement and the healing power it has". It didn't matter if it was a death of one of her children, or realizing her husband has been unfaithful, her knowledge that the Lord loves her was unbreakable. She is inspiring, and an example to each of us that our situations doesn't stem from if we are loved or not, but that Heavenly  Father's love covers each of us.

 

So I'm emailing here at a Mac store that a member in the Brayton Ward owns and this amazing Christmas music is playing.. and no it's not approved.. but what are my ears suppose to do?? But anyways, if my email is a little difficult to follow it's probably because my brain is singing along to Michael Buble as I type this. haha :)

 

So I'm not sure what my Thanksgiving plans are, but I'm sure I will not starve. :) haha, I'll have to let ya'll know what happened next week since I won't be in the area until tomorrow. :) I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! How fun everyone will be together! And hopefully Nano Bead will be able to get over the facial hair phobia, or it might be a interesting week.. ;) haha :) I know seeing that mustache after I jumped off the plane at the LAX sure made my day. I can't believe I'll be skyping ya'll a month from today!!! Wow! It seems like just last week that I saw you guys!.. wait.. haha :) 

 

Well here's wishing everyone a wonderful week and a tasty Thanksgiving!

 

Love, 

Sister Hedelius

Everything happens for a reason!

Hi everyone!

For those who read my blog, it seems so bare to not include a post this week to update on my life!

I fell playing basketball in April and have had pain down my right leg since then. At first I just thought it was a pulled muscle and would heal but after a few months of it not healing and only progressively getting worse, an MRI was taken to find I have a ruptured disc in my back! My mission president talked to me last Monday and said it was best for me to come home to Utah, have the surgery and recovery here, and then go back to what I love doing most-preaching the good news of the restored gospel!

Being home is strange-it's funny the little things you miss! For me, I am so use to checking to make sure that my name tag isn't upside down or backwards that when I  check and it's gone it gives me a mini heart attack every time! I also had to get use to responding to "Marissa" instead of "Sister Hedelius" but I'm getting the hang of it. :)

Sister Clark, who took my place in the Turnagain ward emailed me with a picture of S's baptism! It happened this last Saturday and I hear it was just incredible! She sure is an amazing girl and I know this step will be something she'll never forget and will bless her for the rest of her life!

From L-R: Sister Platero, S, Elder Stevenson, Sister Clark

I miss the work so much, but I'm grateful to know that everything happens for a reason! I can't wait to get back to doing what I love most and in the place I now consider my second home!

Thank you for all the prayers, thoughts, letters, and emails-I am sure blessed to have so many amazing people in my life!

Love,

Just Marissa (for now)

Christmas has hit three months early!

These Alaskan skies are amazing! :)

Hey all!

First signs of Christmas were spotted by Sister Platero on our drive across town this morning! Snow indeed! :) We even noticed some of the cars already had snow on them when we got to the parking lot!

So to answer some question that left you all hanging:

Talofa is "Hello!" in Samoan! I don't know if I mentioned this before but this is a large Polynesian population in Alaska! Kind of interesting when you consider the weather is so cold compared to the Polynesian islands! There are two Samoan wards in Anchorage and at least one Tongan ward that I know of. The family that has us over for dinner every Monday is Hawaiian! I've been learning a few greetings in different languages throughout my stay here in Alaska. :)

"J" is still looking forward to her baptism this Thursday! She is excited to take this step and mentioned how much happier she is and how much learning about the gospel has changed her attitude. What an incredible difference this will make in her life, it's exciting! Pictures will be coming next Monday!

"S" is also looking forward to her baptism October 5! It's unfortunate she'll have to wait a week to be confirmed, but this allows for her dad to for sure be to her baptism which is preferable. I don't think I've ever met anyone more excited to be baptized!

"N" is continuing to do well! We'll be spending some time at her place this afternoon! (She was the one baptized a few weeks ago) She's still looking foward to being sealed to her family next year! They are truly a wonderful future eternal family! :)

The move was a quick decision so that's why I didn't mention it the week before! Haha we found out we'd be moving Saturday night and packed up and were straight out. I feel like a pauper coming to a palace compared to the difference in the two places. My personal favorite quality of the new place is the washer and dryer! :)

The moose picture was taken from the safety of a car, and using the zoom feature on my nifty camera. Don't worry, I was not as close as the picture makes it seem. :) I've lived in Alaska long enough now to know to not get too close to the wildlife! In fact the very first day we landed in Alaska they sat all of us new missionaries down and we had a special training on how to deal with wildlife and the safety steps to take to prevent us from getting injured. I'm guessing that's a training unique to the Alaska Anchorage Mission! The main message I got from the training was just like Dad says, "Safety first!"

 

It's great to hear things are going well! Things here are great and I am happy! :)

I hope you're all doing well and happy. :) I love you all!

Love,

Sister Hedelius

Talofa!

WE SAW THE MOON YESTERDAY! I was so happy I cried! I didn't realize how much I've missed it!

Hi everyone!

 

Sheesh can't believe it's Monday again, seems like I just blink and the week is over! We had a great week! Yesterday was the primary program which was quite excellent! "S" (our investigator) was part of it :) she did a great job, as did all the other children, and it's fun to look up and see her smiling and beaming while sharing her testimony with the congregation!

 

Speaking of "S", she'll be getting baptized next month! I don't know if I told you the situation with her, but her mother is a member, her dad is not. Her dad was pressured into being baptized, and then because he realized he wasn't doing it for the right decision, he was not confirmed, so you can imagine why he has been apprehensive about "S" getting baptized.  "S" is golden though and she knows the lessons before we even teach her, she 10. She's on fire and we can't wait for her baptism! When her dad said she could get baptized she started tearing up because she was so excited. You could tell how much she wanted it, made me realize how blessed I was to be baptized when I was 8!

 

"J" is continuing to do well! :) She has been bring nonmember friends to young women activities!! (RIGHT?!) Thursday actually worked better for her baptism so she'll be getting baptized the 26th! It's been awesome to see how she's just gotten more amazing everytime we see her!

 

So cool story! There is a lady with some physical disability that we visit regularly and share messages and do service for her. Sister Platero was super inspired to share a missionary message with her and really encourage her to find someone to share the gospel with! So when we were by this week, she told us she wants us to meet her neighbor! We went right over and had a great chat with the neighbor and her daughter and they want to learn more! We'll be stopping by tonight! Their names are April and the daughter is "T"! Pretty exciting!! :)  How cool when the Lord puts people in your path like that!

 

We move places today which was adventurous! We had a couple problems with the place we were at so we moved over! So grateful for a bunch of the missionaries taking their P-Day to help us out!

 

Thanks always for the emails and prayers! So bless to have all of you in my life :)

 

Love,

Sister Hedelius

Moose we saw the other day!

Sunset yesterday.



These people are prepared!

Happy 9/9 everyone!

Howdy!

Someone poisoned the waterhole?! Oh no! I do hope you all get "cleared" to start drinking water again! And in case you're wondering, yes. Alaskan water is delicious. haha :)

Things are still going great! We had Stake Conference  yesterday which was awesome! It was a broadcast out of SLC for Washington and Alaskan saints! Elder Hales and Elder Perry both spoke at it! Also, "N" was telling us that she invited a friend to it so that's pretty cool! We'll be going over there this afternoon, she's teaching us how to do our nails cool (since her's always look cool!) and we'll have to see if she was able to come! But she's doing great! We were talking about going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead and she's wanting to find names to take!

"J" is scheduled to be baptized on the 27th! Hopefully everything "legally" will work out. She's a foster daughter so we'll need consent in writing for her to be baptized since she's a minor, but she's on fire (spiritually, not literally) ! We did a little review on the Plan of Salvation before we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ yesterday and she remember almost every detail!

We were able to stop by and see "J2"again, we shared some of our favorite Book of Mormon scriptures with her and she liked them! Hopefully she'll continue warming up to reading it!

"S" is still doing great! She would get baptized tomorrow if she could, her dad is just a little apprehensive. Her dad got baptized previously but not confirmed because he felt like he was doing it for the wrong reason. But he's fine with us coming over and invited us over for dinner this weekend! Hopefully things will work out so she can take this step soon!

We didn't get to meet with "P" this week :( she's been working two jobs and is really busy! But we texted her yesterday and she said that she'll only be working one now so she's a lot more open! Miracle! We'll be hopefully seeing her tomorrow!!

We saw "C" a couple times this week and met one of his dogs! He's doing okay.. hopefully he's not losing hope :( but I know he can do it. Relying on the Savior and Heavenly Father is key! They are much stronger than we are by ourselves.

The weather has been so nice! It's been in the 50s so a little on the cool side but much perferable to the hot weather! It's also been really raining so my trusty BOGS have been serving me well :) I keep expecting it to snow soon but "the locals" tell us that you know it will snow soon when there is snow on the mountains, and the mountains are still completely bare so my snow boots will stay in my suitcase for at least a couple more days :)

Well I love you all so much! Thanks for the emails and love!

Love,

Sister Hedelius

Turnagain! (again)

Hey family!

The baptism went great!!! :) I just love "N"! I just about cried, I'm so excited to see her as my sister make this step and to know that she's one step closer to the temple and her eternal family!

And as my subject line states, Sister Platero and I are staying in Turnagain again!! I'm pretty thrilled and I'm humbled to be able to continue serving in such a great ward and teach amazing people.

We started teaching a new girl on Sunday! Her name is "J', she's 14 and a Native Alaskan. She's so prepared for the gospel and it's so fun to teach her! She's adorable and you can just see how much she's craving for truth. She's being fostered by family in the ward and they invited her to take the lessons! She's come to church the past few Sundays and she says she really loves it!

"P" came to church which was awesome since "N" was getting confirmed!! She wasn't able to stay all three hours but we got a text from her on Saturday and it said, "I've been reading this week and I definitely want to talk to you more about this." WHAT?! So she's doing great :) She's got a great desire to know truth and keep commitments.

We also got to see "S" again this week. :) She's so ready to be baptized. She's just about the smartest 10-year-old I know!! Hopefully the necessary softening can take place so she can make this step she wants to make!

We also met a lady named "J". She's investigated the church on and off, and we felt impressed to talk about the Book of Mormon. She mentioned how she's nervous to read it, but as we bore testimony of it's divinity the spirit in that room was incredible, and tears were present. She told us she'll read the Book of Mormon and pray!

Last night we took the brand new sisters on a "First Harvest", basically their first missionary experience! We were able to teach "I" and do some tracting! It's so much fun to see the brand new sisters and the fire they bring. It seems like it was just last week that I was going tracting for my first time! I believe this transfer we'll be up to 19 sisters total! We'll be blessed to be able all attend the temple together this afternoon!

Well I love you all so so much! Thanks for the emails, prayers, and love :) You're the best!!

Love,

Sister Hedelius

Picture: We live right next to a place that has private plane rides so there are a ton of these little planes on the water! We hear them flying around all day as we work!!

Another awesome August Alaskan day!

Hello! 

We certainly have been enjoying the sunshine here in Anchorage this past week. I think that I mentally prepared myself so much for the snow and cold that I never anticipated the beautiful sunshine! It always catches me by surprise, but I’m not complaining. J

It’s been another great week in the life of a typical Alaskan sister missionary! Our investigators are doing well and the Turnagain ward is catching the missionary fire!! "N" is getting excited for her baptism on Friday and we’ll be seeing her and "E" a lot this week to make sure that things are continuing to go well. J

"C" is doing well too! We were happy to see him at church again this week and we’ve had a couple really awesome lessons! The ward already loves him and he’s continuing to do well. I’m always so impressed every time to see him and the huge life changes he’s making.

"I" was at church this week too!! "I" is a less active member (Sister "M" 's son-in-law) and he is so awesome! He’s wanted to come back to church, he is a convert and stopped coming to church after his baptism. He also wants to make big changes. He’s got an adorable little boy, and wants his son to be able to serve a mission and grow up in the church and he realizes how important his example is. It was great to see him at church!

COOL STORY: So every Tuesday night we go and visit the "Good" family. Monday night when we were planning on what we were going to teach them, the thought of teaching the restoration came to mind, so we were like-okay sounds great! So we got to the "Good"s and there was a lady named "P" there. We introduced ourselves and went into the lesson. We felt really impressed to direct the lesson to her and when we were finish teaching the lesson we asked her if she’d like to know more. She said yes and then saw her again on Friday! When we were talking to her she mentioned how she’s had some negative experiences in the past but she feels like within the last week “God’s been trying to talk” to her. So she prayed and asked that whatever He wants her to do, she’ll be able to figure out. She then made the comment, “who would have thought that within a week I’d be at the "Good"’s and you’d come over too.” It’s moments like that, that I realize how much Heavenly Father loves His children and He’s in the details of our lives. He knows "P" and loves her so much, and put us in her path to help her in her life. Pretty neat!! She’s doing great!

We also had a neat experience at a couple dinners this week. The first was at the dinner Wednesday, the couple that invited us over to dinner also invited a part-member couple over too, and after dinner we got into a really awesome gospel discussion. The husband of the couple that wasn’t a member had some questions about really knowing for sure if the church is true, and how to find answers.  At the end of the discussion we invited him to take the lessons and he said yes!

Dinner on Thursday was a similar experience. It was a part member family with a daughter that isn’t baptized. We mentioned the possibilities of teaching the lessons and they said that’d be great! So we’ll start teaching her this week as well as the dad who isn’t a member yet!  

Life is so good! Can’t believe it is once again the last week of the transfers (who knew six weeks could fly so quickly?!) We’ll see where the Lord needs me for the next six weeks, stay tuned till next week! Life is good and I am happy! It’s been the best transfer ever!!

Love you always!!

Sister Hedelius

J Have a great week!