I ate Rudolph!!!

Hey all!

 

That's right. I had reindeer pizza this week. :) When I saw it on the menu when a member had us out for dinner Friday night couldn't resist ordering it. haha! The pizza was good! Hopefully next Christmas won't be too foggy or ya'll might be out of luck with Santa getting out of North Pole, AK. ;)

 

Animal spottings for this week included three moose and two bald eagles on Friday afternoon! Moose dart in front of cars just like deer do in Utah, the only difference is moose are several times bigger than the deer in Utah so it's a good thing my companion has been trained to watch for moose darting in front of our car or that could have been really "exciting" haha. (Don't worry, it was on a back road and we were going slow.. we are fine ;) )

 

As great as the interesting food and cool animals I'm seeing, the best part about being in Alaska is truly seeing hearts softened and the desire people have to come unto Christ. We had a ward activity this past week and there were probably as many nonmember youth there as member youth because all the youth brought nonmember friends to the activity!!! Amazing! There was also a fireside last night that was incredible and there were a lot of nonmember friends there as well. It's great to see how the members here have stepped up the plate and opened their mouth to their friends and shared the gospel.

 

Glad to hear you've had sunny weather down in Utah. For those of you who asked, it's been snowing pretty much nonstop all weekend. haha! Either someone forgot to tell the weatherman that last week was the first day of Spring, or mother nature decided "April Fools" day should come early. ;) But it's beautiful, I know I always say that about the snow, but I really will be sad when it finally does melt, the snow's grown on me. I was helping Sister Hatfield back out this morning in the car and the snow came up almost to my knees (and it had just been shoveled last night) so that gives you an idea of how much it's just dumped last night!

 

Hope you each have a wonderful week! Don't forget to remember the significance of this week and the sacrifice Jesus Christ really did make for each of us.

Love you all and what you do!

 

Love,

Sister Hedelius

Rabbits in Rabbit Creek?

Happy Monday!

 

Hope everyone is doing great down where it's warm! It was exciting to hear about the 4.0s from the little people and the other exciting happenings down in Sanpete. It's still a little chilly here in Alaska, but the sun is shining and it's beautiful! Sister Hatfield and I were noticing how bright it was last night at 7:00 when we got finished with our dinner! Thanks for the letters and the emails! I got a letter from Grandpa Dalley and Dad last week on the same day and when another missionary asked who the letters were from, I was happy to say they were from my two favorite men. haha ;) Thanks so much for the love and support from all ya'll! 

 

It's been an incredible week! (I feel like I say that every week... haha) the work has really been picking up speed here in Rabbit Creek and it's exciting to be a small part of it. The training sisters go to Zone Leader Council (ZLC) which was this week, so me and the other two sister that are being trained were on our own in this past Thursday. We were told to work in my area and we were planning on contacting some referrals. Since it was my area I was in charge of driving and figuring out what we were going to do, and I kept feeling like we need to try and contact one of the names that our ward gave us, but the address didn't exist. The spirit kept telling me to try a house with a similar address so we went for it and we were able to teach the guy there the restoration and give him a Book of Mormon! He has three kids including a 21-year-old daughter and we have another appointment with him this week! That was exciting to tell Sister Hatfield when I saw her later that day! 

 

Also, apparently our ward is so awesome that we need to just show up to church and potential investigators will be there, because again, a family in our ward invited a man to church and we're meeting with him later this week. He came to Sunday School with us and had such a great perspective on the atonement in our lives and the enabling power that it gives us to improve each second of each day. He's great and we're planning on meeting with him later this week too! 

 

Here's a really exciting story!!! I think I mentioned we were teaching a 60-year-old black Pentecostal woman who is just awesome!! She got hired to serve food at one of her church's events and was overwhelmed with things to do. We offered our service and she needed about six missionaries to help her plate and serve food! So we spent our Saturday serving food at a Pentecostal event! Haha they were very nice to us and thanked us lots for our service. Overall it was really positive and fun, but I can't say I ever imagined I'd be serving tea on my mission! Ah! haha

 

As for my title, we were having dinner at a members house this past week and they had rabbits! Sister Hatfield and I got a picture and I'll try and email it shortly! (if not this week, next week!) We laughed about that for a while. (Since we're the Rabbit Creek sisters and all.. ;) ) 

 

I love you so much! 

Sister Hedelius

 

Snow for Spring Break anyone?

Happy Daylight Savings everyone!

Thanks for the emails, thoughts, and prayers this week. I hope everyone is adjusting okay to the new time change. ;) Despite the difference in time, it was still light this morning around 8:30! Before you know it the sun will be up before me! :)

So I gave two talks yesterday! One over the phone (betcha can't say you've done that before!) and then the other in the Rabbit Creek Ward!  When we were in church it probably snowed about a foot and it was stunning! The temple is literally in the same parking lot as the church we attend and so the first thing we saw when we stepped out the door was the temple with snow fluttering everywhere. Yes, I live in a snow globe. Don't covet though!!! ;) :) Half of our ward is in Hawaii for Spring Break so they should enjoy coming back to this wonderful surprise! haha

Speaking of the temple, Sister Hatfield and I got to go Friday night (first time going in Alaska)! There was a girl from Sister Hatfield's previous YSA branch in Fairbanks that just got her mission call to Tokyo! I've heard from a number of sources that the Tokyo mission was split though, so I'm not sure if she'll be in the same mission as Elder Larson or not, but anyways we got to go through with her for her first time! We are also going as a Zone Wednesday morning at the5:30 am session (wish me luck!) which will be great as well. :)

We have had some great lessons this week! The investigator that we just started teaching (guy in his late 20s) came to church again for the third time in a row! He was totally answering questions on the atonement yesterday in Sunday School! He's really on fire and it's easy to see his excitement! Unfortunately, none of the people we're teaching are in our area so eventually we'll have to pass him off to other missionaries, but it's still exciting to witness the change and the increasing glow in all of those people we're teaching. The power of the atonement is so real, and at this time of year and always, it's so important to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It might seem a lot for anyone to sacrifice 18 months or 2 years, but Jesus Christ truly sacrificed His whole life for us. I am so grateful for the opportunity and privilege I have to be a small part in helping people come unto Christ (myself included) to find that everlasting happiness that only comes from allowing the atonement to lift the burdens of the world from our shoulders.

Best wishes to everyone and all the excitement that the month of March brings, don't forget to wear green next Sunday! Wouldn't want anyone to get pinched! ;)

Love you all!

Sister Hedelius

Day full of dogs!

Hey ya'll!

Thanks so much for the letters and packageS! I also got several fun letters in the mail this week and those just made my day! I love emails, but there is something special about getting mail. :)

 

Big news for this week.. we helped with the iditarod on Saturday! It was a blast as you can hopefully see from the pictures I sent. :) The people there were hilarious.. people watching has never been better. Imagine a combination of excited Canadians and Alaskans covered in legit fur attire. Awesome right?  



We've had such a great week! We had two of the ladies we're teaching bear the testimony yesterday AND one of the nonmembers that came to church came again yesterday and to the CES devotional last night (wasn't that great btw??) and we're teaching him tonight!! He asked us about the word of wisdom yesterday and specifically about coffee. After we told him a little bit more he said, "hmm I'll have to start drinking hot chocolate then!" Crazy right?  Dressed in white is what we call people like him. He is so prepared to accept the message of the gospel, and is already making changes, and we haven't even taught him yet!!! He reminds me a lot of another investigator we have in the bush branch. Maybe I've told you about him? This other investigator in the bush branch this week read ahead so we taught him both the word of wisdom and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yeah, I brag to all the other missionaries about how cool our investigators are. haha 

Iditarod March 2

We were able to call new missionaries yesterday which was fun! Got to talk to Sister Hewitt which was great! She is adorable and so is the other Sister that is coming out next transfer. It's going to be weird to not be the most green.. haha I guess like Bryce said, I'll be turning blue from being frozen. haha :) 

HOWEVER, about the cold-I'm becoming a true Alaskan already! It was so warm this morning that I only wore my cardigan and I was fine, but then I checked the temperature in the car and it said it was only 28, haha. Utah winters will have nothing on me when I get home! 

We'll I hope everyone has a stellar week. I remember March always being a crazy month with dance competitions, music festivals, and midterms. Good luck to each of you on those fun things! Keep writing, your emails make my whole week!!! 

Love you all so much!! 

Love, Sister Hedelius 

Current Zone