Puppies and parrots and legless lizards-OH MY!

Hey ya'll!

Thanks for the emails and package full of goodies and letters and everything this week! :) Glad hear about the St. George fun as well as Nan's recital! I sure miss those three hour recitals, but I'm sure everyone did great! Good luck to the two little people who are participating in festival this weekend! ;) BIG congratulations to Bryce on the math competition!!! I'm glad I have such awesome siblings that I can brag to everyone about. :)  

So as you could probably guess from my subject, we had an exciting week! Sister Hatfield's birthday was last Wednesday and our district leader invited us to a members house to do service that day-bottle feeding boxer puppies. (cute right?!) So he (our district leader) had told the lady the day before that Sister Hatfield was having a birthday and asked if there was anything she could do. SOO- we just barely introduce ourselves to this lady and she turned to Sister Hatfield and asked if it was her birthday, Sister Hatfield responded in the the postive, and this lady busted out a can of silly string and started singing and covering her all over with silly string! SO comical!!! hahah couldn't stop laughing! it was great! It was at this same member's house that we also held legless lizards and a parrot! She is great! I'll send some pictures eventually. I'm sending some pictures in the mail this week btw so keep your eyes peeled for them.

Dad asked about Allison!!! She's on date!!! We went on exchanged this week so I actually wasn't there when she agreed on a date to be baptized-but I was so excited to hear about it!!! We got a call from Sister Hatfield and Sister Hatfield just said "guess what just happened!!" and I said, "Allison is on date?" (not being completely serious), and Sister Hatfield said, "she sure is!" I was so shocked and thrilled I just started bawling. Happiest moment thus far on my mission-hands down. She also came to church yesterday which was exciting. :) She liked it and is planning on coming next week which is good! Sister Hatfield and I are doing a musical number in sacrament meeting next Sunday so we're hoping that will be motivation for some of our investigators and less active friends to come!

Sister Hatfield with Legless lizard

Well thanks so much for all the love and support! Keep sharing the gospel through your example in your corner of the world! Look up to and love ya'll so much!

Sister Hedelius
 

Wasn't General Conference great?!

Hey all!

 

First off, wasn't conference great?! I loved it! Couldn't help but think of mom on Saturday morning when the women in the choir were wearing purple. Thought she'd like that color. ;) But those talks were great! I especially liked Elder Holland's talk! He is so funny, loved his emphasis on believing and then knowing. I feel like on my mission I have made tremendous progress towards having a firm knowledge and understand of the gospel like I never have before. My conviction of the truth of Jesus Christ and his gospel grows exponentially each day and my desire for others to know the truth is growing so much that it sometimes pains me to think of the people who don't have the gospel in their lives, and that don't have the comforting knowledge of Jesus Christ's atonement for each of us. Grateful to be a missionary here in Alaska and invite others to come unto Christ! 

 

We had a good week! Spent all day Saturday and Sunday contacting referrals! Yesterday we were contacting and we have an appointment to come back next week! Woot! That was really exciting! :) 

 

Guess who I talked to on the phone yesterday? Hilary Weeks. NBD. :) haha her brother is in our ward and called her up to prove she's his sister!! Rabbit Creek is obviously the ward to serve in because everyone is related to famous people! haha :)

 

Also, really exciting news! I got to meet Billy, our investigator we teach over the phone! He was in Anchorage for medical reasons and is actually flying down to Arizona this week to make sure everything is okay so it was unfortunate the reasons why he was in Anchorage, but it was great to meet him and to talk to him in person. Not something I thought I'd ever actually be able to do! 

 

Bernard is still doing super great. As of this afternoon he will be officially passed off to the YSA elders which is good. They're the perfect fit for him as missionaries and the YSA has been good to him, and he's been good to the YSA :)

 

Allison watched conference with us Saturday morning and she seemed to really like it! She thought it was "cool that there was an underlining theme but all the talks were different" haha :) she's really enjoying the Book of Mormon and the stories in the Book of Mormon! P.s. Her boyfriend is serving his mission in Colorado! Made me think of my two favorite Coloradians. Which mission is Broomfield in? 

 

The work is going great! Loving being a missionary. Glad the snow has once again sweeped through Anchorage. :) It's a beautiful day! :) 

 

Love you all! Thanks for the love and support!

 

Love,

Sister Hedelius

Knee deep in the snow somewhere..

Happy April Fools Day :)
 

It was so great to hear about the fun California times this past week! Good luck to the "little people" with the math competition that's this week. Kick some integral! From those pictures I just sent, you can see I was knee deep in the snow yesterday afternoon to knock icicles down! Talk about exciting times here in Alaska! :) haha it's a good thing my boots are as high as they are. :)
 

So exciting news in the missionary work here in Anchorage, two of the people we're teaching have a baptismal date! That's extra exciting because the last time the missionaries serving in this area had anyone on date was August, and now we have two! We're pumped. :) The work is hastening! The first guy is the one we teach over the phone, Billy, and he's so solid. He's actually moving down to Gilbert, AZ this summer which is where Sister Hatfield grew up, but he's getting baptised before he moves to Arizona. So we are so excited for him. He is the one that basically teaches us the lessons because he's been calling into the Bush Branch the past year so he knows a lot and is super smart!

The other one on date is Bernard! Bernard is good friends with a family in our ward but he's 28 so we're passing him over to the YSA Elders, but he's getting baptised! He's the one that just came to church one weekend back in early March and he is just on fire. Seriously, so sharp and just awesome. :)
 

We've got plans to watch every session of general conference with an investigator this week so we are SOOO excited! :) One of our investigators we're watching with we just started teaching a couple weeks ago, her name is Allison. We are like the same person. haha, she loves pretty dress, academics, and music, how much more alike can you get? haha She's incredible, and so intelligent. But we're watching it with her at a member's house Saturday morning and having french toast and bacon so it's gonna be great!! Plus, we'll be being inspired by men called of God! :) haha

 

So here is a funny story :) haha we went and visited a nonmember lady in our ward area and she is darling. She has a pet dog, and her pet dog has a pet fish! That's right. The dog has a pet. haha how cute is that? haha the dog's name is Tuffy and the fish's name is Elvis. :) maybe we should get Poco a pet fish!! :) haha

 

It's been so exciting to hear about all the girls getting mission calls!!!!! It is such an incredible time to serve! Some people may think of serving a mission as a service, others maybe an obligation, but honestly, I can only see it as a privilege. I feel so blessed to have these 18 months to help others see the happiness and peace that comes from following our Savior. The reason I'm out here is really well stated in D&C 4:3, I had that desire to serve God and knew that was what he wanted me to be doing at this point in my life! I can't imagine anything I could be doing right now that would bring me more happiness, satisfaction, and peace. I absolutely LOVE being a missionary!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Don't forget to tune into General  Conference this weekend! It's going to be great! :)

 

Love ya'll!

 

Sister Hedelius

.

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