October 28, 2013

Hola!

 

Okay, we don´t have a pet, but we have a stray dog that has stolen our hearts and followed us around for an entire day. It has a broken leg and is the skinniest dog I have ever seen. We fed it some food (he loves pizza) and then he decided it wanted to be a missionary as well. It would wait outside of people´s houses and then continue with us, always following right behind. We now keep a little bowl of water outside our casa incase it comes and needs a drink. Anyway, this week was the most special week in my whole entire life I think. So on MOnday at a family night, we watched the movie about Thomas S. Monson with Mauricio at Miriam´s house. After the movie, he turned to us and said, ¨"I need to get baptized earlier, on Friday!"Of course, we had no problem with that. Then, on Wednesday night at the chapel before his baptismal interview with our district leader, we were trying to solidify a time that could work for our bishop and ward mission leader to be at the baptism, and Mauricio said, "Can I just get baptized tomorrow?!" So, Wednesday night our ward mission leader was an angel and planned a baptismal service, we called almost every member to invtie them, and somehow with divine help it all came together. Hermana Chant and I had been praciticing to sing "O mi Padre" to the tune of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." As the service began, he just kept telling us how excited he was to be able to be a part of the true church. He told us how he had been praying before he met us that he would find a way to become closer to God. He told us that when we met on the bus and we told him we were missionaries, he felt something different in his heart and heknew Heavenly Father had answered his prayer. He was just glowing at his service. As  we sang, of course the Hall crying genes I inherited from my mother kicked in, and the fourth verse was a struggle. As we sang, "Padre, Madre, quiero veros en la corte celestial.. Si, despues yo acaba cuanto tenga que cumplir, permitid me ir al cielo con vosotros a vivir," my heart literally swelled up and it just hit me so strongly how this precious son of our Heavenly Father can now return to live in the presence of our Heavenly Father. My favorite line of that hymn is the end, when in english it translates to "allow me to go to Heaven to live with you." Mauricio can do that now. He was baptized exactly 2 weeks after we met him and had our first lesson. The Lord´s hand is so prominent and visible in our lives, we just have to recognize how close he truly is. My testimony of hearts being prepared by angels was so strengthened by our experience with Mauricio. The very next day after his baptism, he came with us to visit and teach and again on Sunday. He told us he is going to convert all of his family, friends, and then all of El Salvador! He even brought a friend to church, who is now extremely interested in the church. Mauricio is recieveing the priesthood next Sunday and is going to bless the sacrament. How incredible this work is. Miracles happen and my heart is just full of gratitude that I got to be a witness to the reality of how the Gospel changes lives. He told us we saved his life, but I know we were just instruments for the Lord´s love to shine thorugh and touch his already prepared heart.

 

Oscar, an old investigator that we are re-visiting, told us that one day he was feeling really alone and down, and felt like he should read the Book of Mormon (this was during the time that missionaries hadn´t since him for a long time). He told us that as he read, he came across a scripture that touched him and lifted his spirits, and he no longer felt the sadness he felt before. It´s incredible the Book of Mormon´s ability to reach out to each of us and console our personal, unique needs. The Book of Mormon gives us a deeper understanding of the Savior´s atonement for every single one of us. I love how the Savior suffered for the entire world, taking upon Him our trangressions and afflicitions, yet He can be so personal for each of us. He is my Savior and my Redeemer. Ah! A miracle occurred at church yesterday! Hermana MIriam, who never comes to church when it rains, came! She even went to the temple prep class and stayed for all three hours! She is now working towards being able to go to the temple. I can´t wait for that day.

 

I accidentally told a little girl my real name, ooops. We were visitng a menos activo and her daughter, and her daughter´s friend told me her name was Allison, which isn´t too common of a name here, and before I could stop the words from coming out of my mouth, I said, "Oh, that´s my name too!" Then I realized 1)My name right is Hermana Haynie and 2)How strange it felt to say my name was Allison because it really doens´t feel like it right now. Allison or Ally just sounds bizarre. Definitely going to take some time to get used to being that again after my mission. The people here always laugh as they try to pronounce Haynie. If only I had a more Latin last name!

 

I love this work. I love being able to do my best to take care of this little part of the Lord´s vineyard here in Girasoles. I never want to leave! The people are so dear to me and have so much love for us. As imperfect as I am, I know the Lord is helping me to overcome my weaknesses and I am trying to give all of myself to Him so that He can make of me what He needs to.

 

All the love in my heart goes out to all of you!

 

Hermanita Haynie

October 21, 2013

Buenas dias!

Okay, another just fantastic week. This`ll be short and sweet because
ther isn`t much time and we`re going to the beach as a zone today, but
funny story first. I know Dad will cringe and not be very happy with
me about this, but it`s too great not to share. So Wednesday night we
were going home from teaching clases de Ingles at the chapel and there
weren`t many buses running, so this bus driver let us on and we were
the only people on the bus. But, he didn`t make us pay so we weren`t
going to say no. Then as we started heading back to Girasoles, he
pulled over and stopped at a tienda. As we started going again, he
opened a beer and started drinking it while he was driving! We had no
idea what to do. It was either get off in a scary area and walk home
or continue on with this tipsy driver. We chose the latter because it
seemed safer and we made it home! Whew!

This week we were teaching Silvana about the Plan of Salvation. As we
were teaching her about how she lived with our Father in Heaven before
this life, I just felt so strongly of the Savior`s love for this
special daughter of God. It was so incredible to be able to tell her
that I knew with all of my heart that she chose to come to this Earth
and that truly she is a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father. I think
sometimes we take us being children of God too casually. Yesterday we
were visiting a recent convert, Rudy, who was baptized with his 11
year old son. His wife doesn`t want anything to do with the church
right now, but I`m praying she will someday. The little daughter,
Alejandra, requested that we sing Soy un Hijo de Dios, and as she sang
with her whole heart and as loudly as she could, the words meant more
to me than they ever have before. Even though she is only 7 years old,
she knows exactly who she is: a unique and treasured child of a
perfectly loving and merciful Father in Heaven.

Mauricio will be baptized on Saturday! He came to Saturday and Sunday
sessions of stake conference with us and attended a baptism. He used
to be a coordinator for a Catholic church,so it`s all very new and
exciting to him, and yesterday he expressed some fears about joining
the church. But, his fears were resolved during our lesson with him as
he told us he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon
is true. We shared the scriptures in D&C  38 where the Lord says, ¨Be
ye strong from henceforth, fear not, for the kingdom is yours.¨
Mauricio always reminds us that all he wants is to be able to make it
to the celestial kingdom and he knows that in order to do so, he has
to be baptized. I love the scripture in D&C 39 when the Lord says to
James Covill, ¨Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling
on my name, and you shall recieve my Spirit, and a blessing so great
as you never have known.¨ How beautiful is it that our Father in
Heaven has rpovided us with a way to be cleansed with filthiness of
the world and our sins. All He wants is to bless us. We just have to
give Him the opportunity to do so!

I`ve decided I never want to come home, sorry mama y papa! Being a
missionary is the most wonderful thing in the whole world. I don`t
ever want to take off my plauqe. This work is true and it changes
lives. My heart is always so full of gratitude that the Lord is
letting Hermana Chant and I work in a little part of his vineyard here
in Girasoles. One more thing, members are everything. When we have
lessons with members, investigators truly do progress faster and the
Spirit is so special and sincere. It blesses the lives of the memebrs
as well. Get involved mi familia! You all have a plaque engraven in
your heart! One of my favorites right now is Alma 28:14 when it talks
about how there is a reason to sorrow because of the sadness in the
world, but much more reason to rejoice because of the light of Christ.
Christs wins, Satan loses. So, share the beautiful lights and message
of the Gospel!

Que la vaya bien! Brazos y besos!
Hermanita Haynie (everyone calls us hermanitas here)

October 14,2013

Buenas!

I am so thankful for this week and my heart is full of happiness and gratitude! It`s bursting! On Thursday we were sitting in a bus o nour way home from zone meetings sort of feeling down because we weren`t going to have any baptisms this month and we were trying to figure out what we needed to do better and a miracle just landed in our hands! This guy walked up to us, asked if we were missionaries and could speak English. We helped him pronounce a word he was having trouble with in English, then started talking to him.His name is Mauricio and he is 27 years old. He was interested in learning about how he could become closer to our Father in Heaven and wanrted to be taught right then. We took him to a member`s home, Miriam, taught him about the restoration of the Gospel and he wanted to be baptized! I know with all of my heart that the Lord truly does prepare people because with everything we`ve taught him, he easily accepts and believes. He believed Joseph Smith was a prophet the first lesson and that the priesthood authority has been restored. He is getting baptized THIS MONTH! On the 26th! He came to church with us yesterday and afterwards told us that the church is definitely true. We were delightfully surprised, to say the least. He doesn`t like coffee, tea, alcohol, smoking, or drugs, (I know, it`s hard ot believe he`s real). While we were teaching him about the celestial kingdom, he looked up after reading a scripture, and told us that he HAS to be there. He said there is nowhere else he can be and he will do whatever it takes ot get there. His enthusiasm and excitement about the Gospel and his desire to reutrn to the presence of our Heavenly is an example to me. His faith is so pure and childlike. Like it says in Mosiah, through the Atonement we can become "as a child, submissive, meek, patient, full of love." His baptism is going to be a really, really special day.

Oh, on a more comical note, Hermana Chant and I made a huge innocent mistake this week that still makes me laugh. One of the hermanos in our ward had told us last week that yesterday was stake conference and it was at 11, so all the menos activos and people we visited, we told them church would be at 11 this week not 8. We even called people to remind them it was at 11, thinking we were being so diligent about telling everyone. So Sunday morning comes around, and we`re in our house doing companionship study when the other hermanas in our ward call and tell us they missed us at sacrament meeting.. We were utterly confused and came to find out that yesterday was not, in fact, stake conference and it was fast Sunday as well. We panicked and tried calling as many people as we could but no onne answered. Another little miracle, Mauricio was already ready to go so we were able to go with him to a different ward so he could experience the sacrament. Everyone kept joking with us that they have inactive hermanas in their ward. Needless to say, I never expected to miss church on my mission!

Silvana is going to be baptized in November and amazingly enough, she had zero problems with the Word of Wisdom and chastity. She committed to live them easily. I don`t know where these people are coming from, but I am thankful for them and how prepared they are to recieve the Gospel! One scripture we shared with her this week that I really love is in 3 Nefi 9:13, when it says "Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?" Christ is asking us to come to Him because He wants more than anything to heal us. How beautiful a promise. Que bonita. Repentance isn`t merely asking forgiveness for our sins, it`s changing our lives so that we can more fully follow the example of the Savior. I am learning that more and more here, and it`s so incredible to be helping these people who I love so much take the steps necessary to repent and change their own lives. We taught this 15 year old boy, Alejandor the other day at Miriam`s, and usually when we see him in the streets he is kind of a punk and too cool for school, but as talked to him about the atonement, he told us how badly he wants to change and be able to stop smoking. It was heartbreaking to see this young man so trapped by an addcition and with a desire to change, but just doesn`t know how. This Gospel shows us exactly how we can change! We are all constantly changing and progressing, trying to purify ourselves and draw closer to our Savior. The moment we stop trying to progress is a dangerous one I think.

Oh, you all will never believe it! I am not late anymore! In fact, I love being on time. It`s funny because here the people don`t really believe in being on time, which I can fully relate to, but I now see why everyone used to get so frustrated with me for my habitual tardiness. My deepest apologies. Puncutality is a beautiful thing to me now! 

 

I am in love with being an instrument for the Lord. It`s going by way too quickly, on Thursday I`ll have been here for a month! The time just runs away. This Gospel is the Gospel of joy and I see that more than ever as it touches people`s lives and fills me with love for these people! All my love and brazos and besos go out to you all. Remeber how the Savior`s love is always there!

MUAH!

Hermana Haynie

October 7, 2013

Buenas dias!

 

I just came to the realization a few days ago that the colonia I live in, Girasoles, means sunflowers. No wonder I think it`s the most beautiful neighborhood in Salvador. Well, the time really does fly right by because I feel like itwas just yesterday I was sitting in front of a computer. This week I learned something I know I will never, ever forget. We had our investigator, Ivan, who was supposed to get baptized on the 19th of this month. He struggles with smoking, but a week ago we had a really powerful lesson with him about the atonement and he committed to stop completely drinking and smoking. Everytime we saw him he told us he had stopped and was doing well, but something didn`t feel right. Finally, on Friday, he told us the truth and my heart broke. He had been acting somewhat strange all week with us, then when we visited him on Friday he reeked of alcohol and wasn`t in very good conidition. As we asked him about how he was doing with the word of wisdom he laughed and told us it was good, but I knew it wasn`t. We asked him again and he told us he hadn`t stopped. This means that he can`t get baptized and we can`t visit him anymore. As we told him all this and read one last scripture with him, I was fighting back tears with all my strength and all he said was "Perfetco." At that moment, I felt a tiny, tiny, miniscule fraction of what our Heavenly Father must feels as He watches us, His very own children, make decisions that push us further away from Him. He knows what`s best for us and has proivded a perfect plan to accomplish every commandment. We couldn`t force Ivan to change, no one can. That`s the tricky part about agency. We gave everything we had to each lesson and so many times I know he felt the Spirit, but in the end, it`s about our actions. Actions bring about our testimony and faith. At this time, he isn`t willing to change and enter the waters of baptism to be reborn anew. My heart is saddened for him and his choices, but I hope in the future he will realize that he truly is a son of a living God and can be made clean through baptism and overcome these addictions he is held captive by. I have such a testimony of the Word of Wisdom now and how it enslaves people.

 

As one door closes, Heavenly Father always always opens another! We have a new investigator, SIlvana Valiente, who is getting baptized on the 18th! She lives right nex door and is 28 years old. We are teaching her brother-in-law as well and one day she came outside to talk with us, and we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and began teaching her. She accepted the Book of Mormon whole-heartedly and has read everytime we`ve asked her to! I feel like she explains the scriptures we read better than us sometimes! She really is so intelligent and has such a desire to learn about the Gospel, I pray we can do everything we need to to guide her and in a few weeks see her be baptized and recieve the companionship of the Holy Ghost! We also have another investigator, Leonel, who Hermana Chant felt like we should stop and talk to one day. As we did, he told us he has been wanting to learn about the church and asked us when we could come visit him! Blessings! We visited him last night, and to our delight, he has a family! They aren`t married yet, but he lives with his girlfriend and two precious little daughters. He is absolutely wonderful and I am so excited to continue teaching him. He wants his family to be more united and I felt so grateful that I could truly testify to him of how much joy exists in my family purely because of the Gospel! We also are teaching a mother and daughter, Maggie and Theresa, who may be the cutest things in the whole world! This gospel blesses families. They are everything to our Father in Heaven and my heart just swells up as I look at these people and the potential that exists for their family through the Gospel! We are teaching another family as well, Familia Heren, but the dad has never been home when we are there. The mom was taught like 15 years ago, but `never got baptized. She wants us to help her family, especially with her teenage sons. They are a beautiful family and it`s incredible to see how this one woman practically is raising these 5 children on her own, since the husband isn`t around much. Another miracle we witnessed this week was with Hermana Mirian! She is a less active, mostly she only attends church if it`s convenient and not raining. But, we watched the relief society broadcast with her and she`s come to church every Sunday now and even went to the Saturday morning session of conference! She has a son that lives in Maryland that she has been wanting to come visit her. She told us that a few weeks ago, so we always include it in our prayers with her and pray that he will be able to visit her. On Friday, she was absolutely beaming and told us that her son was going to come with his children in December! She started to cry and told us that she knows it is because of our prayers and our faith that her son is able to come visit. I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, with all of my heart. As we were teaching Silvana about prayer and helping her to understand why it`s important, I told her how in my mission, I can`t pick up the phone and call my parents and tell them what happened or how I`m feeling. But, I can always, always tell my Father in Heaven. I don`t need a phone or a computer or a text message, I have the magnificent gift of prayer. We all do! How lucky are we that we have a Father in Heaven who is forever willing to listen to our hearts, whether they are filled with joy or sadness. I think prayer is key to getting less active back into the church, too. We had a noche de hogar at a member`s home, Familia Flores, last night with an inactive couple, Familia Mejia, and as Hermano Mejia offered the closing prayer, I couldn´t help but cry. We are always Hevaenly Father`s children. That never changes and His love never faulters. This couple can once again feel the love of their Father in Heaven and their preciousness in His eyes as they pray! I am really excited about them. They own a panaderia, so we`ve been trying to become friends with them by buying cookies from them. I`m willing to eat a million cookies if it means they will come back to church! Oh, one more little miracle! We have been trying to find this inactive family, Familia Rodriguez for weeks, but had yet to find their house. AT conference, a sister came up to us and told us she was the cousin of Familia Rodriguez and wanted us to come teach her family! We got their address, and as we were walking back to our casa that day, we started talking to a woman and her son. Guess who they were. FAMILIA RODRIGUEZ! They were probably confused as to why we were so excited, but truly it wa such a blessing! The son is 9 and not baptized and Hermana Rodriguez said we could come see them on Tuesday!

 

This work is incredible. I loved how much obra misional was talked about in conference because we need the members! They are crucial! It`s all about love. If we love Heavenly Father, we want to serve Him. We serving Him by serving HIs children, our brothers and sisters. It`s so simple! Let`s all show Heavenly Father how much we love Him by helping one of the Savior`s sheep who doesn`t quite know the way. Like we read in Matthew 18, the Savior came to "Save that which was lost." That is exactly what we did with HIs life! If we are striving to follow HIs example, we must try our very best to do the same. One of my favorite talks from conference was Elder Eyring`s (we got to watch it in English! MIRACLE!) I loved how he spoke of how there is not one of us that Heavenly Father doens`t desire to save and hasn`t devised means to do so. The truth always remains, that we are His children. I see it everyday with the people we talk to and teach. I can feel the love of the Savior and our Father in Heaven for each one of them. I think that`s why it`s so hard when they drift away. I know the love of our Savior can save all.

 

I now know with certainty what cockroaches look like, and they`re actually much smaller than I had envisioned which was a blessing! They really aren`t so bad and we are lucky in our house that we don`t have too many. We played a rendition of kick the can with the little boys that live in our neighborhood, Kevin, Brian, Roberto, and Carlos, and I think they were dissappointed that we weren`t too fast. They ask us to play soccer with them every night and are the sweetest little boys in the whole world! We gave one of the families a cd of primary songs and the next day they told us how much they loved it! The people here are so giving and have such incredible hearts. I just want them all to feel the joy of the gospel and how much it blesses families! I am incredibly thankful to be here. I know with every part of me that the Savior lives and this is truly His church!

 

Brazos y besos!

Hermana Haynie

September 30, 2013

Buenas!

First, I must explain the subject title. This old man delivering newspapers told us that Jose Smith vive... We were a bit confused and tried to explain that Joseph Smith doesn`t in fact live right now, but Jesus Christ does! I`m not sure he fully believed us, but it was cute his conviction in that Joseph Smith is still alive. Well, this week I had my first encounter with true rejection, and even though I may not understand everything all the time, I understood this. So, on Tuesday we met this little boy Alexis who is 12 years old, and really wanted to learn more about the Gospel. His excitement was so adorable. So, we came back on Wednesday and taught him about how much Heavenly Father loves him, and because He loves us so much, He restored the Gospel to enable a way for us to return to Him! We invtied him to be baptized and accepted with his whole heart. It was so sweet and I understood why Christ always blessed the little children because their faith seems to be more pure than the rest of us. His older brother, who is 18, was really interested as well, so we planned to come back on Thursday to teach him too, since he wasn`t home the first time. We came back with our expectations high and full og hope, and Alexis more than met our hopes when he said he had read what we asked him to read in the Book of Mormon and prayed about it! His brother told us he wouldn`t stop talking about his baptism. Then, their grandma came into the room and told us she didn`t like us. We both kind of stared back and it literally felt like Satan had entered her heart! It so difficult not to cry right there in their living room! But she said she didn`t like what we were doing, didn`t like us as people, and told us we had to leave. The brothers told us to return the next day because their grandmother was crazy, so we did and Alexis cracked open the door just a tiny bit so we could see his face, and told us his mom said no about everything and that we weren`t allowed to come back. It just broke our hearts that Alexis would have to wait a little bit longer to be baptized, but I pray that he will get another opportunity because I know how badly he wanted to be baptized and how badly the Savior wanted him to be baptized as well. I know the Savior will provide a way for little Alexis to hear the Gospel again!

We kind of struggled this week with our investigators just not progressing very much and keeping commitments, so we fasted yesterday and we feel like we need to start anew with a clean slate of people!  he investigators we had were ones who the missionaries had been teaching for quite a while, so it`s now up to them to decide. We still have Ivan with his baptismal date, but it`s been moved because he needs to stop smoking completely. I believe with all my heart that he can do it because of the atonement of Jesus Christ for each and every one of us. Christ knows what we all need! Like in Alma 7:12 when it says, "And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his boweks may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." He knows spritually and physically the pain we fee. But, we have to have faith and believe in HIs healing power and apply it in our lives. Once Ivan comes to believe this fully, I know he will be able to stop. For now, it`s up in the air, we`ve done all we can, and we have to stop teaching him for a little bit. Oh, yesterday a miracle occurred! On Friday we made brownies with a memebr family and made little notes with scriptures for inactive families, and on Saturday we delivered them! (they didn`t taste normal, but it`s the thought that counts right? Hopefully they thought it was endearing.) Anyway, we went to one couple, Gladis and Mauricio, not expecting them to be home or let us in because Hermana Chant said they haven`t gone to church in years and aren`t usually too interested in anything with the church, but to our suprise they let us in!! They are truly a wonderful couple. We shared with them John 15:9-10, about how when we keep the commandments, we get to abide in the love of the Savior and our Father in Heaven! How beautiful a promise is that! There`s nowhere else I`d like to live. They committed to read the Book of Mormon each day for 10 minutes and we invited them to an activity at the temple Sunday afternoon and to our delight once again, Gladis said she wanted to come! Truly a miracle. We went and got her on Sunday afternoon, and it was the sweetest thing because she had put on all this makeup and gotten all ready. We watched the movie about the Prophet Thomas S. Monson and she kept saying how pretty it all was and how much she loved the temple. She wasn`t too happy about all the walking we had to do, but we ate with papusas with her after to make it all better. I think sometimes people jsut forget how special they are to their Father in Heaven and just need someone to help remind them. Going along with our new plan here, we are working a lot with the less actives. We need to rescue those who have wandered a bit and bring them back into the fold! We have been blessed to have found new people who are excited to learn, and one man even said to us as we talked in the street that he has been really curious about our church lately and had been wanting to learn more. I couldn`t stop smiling because we had been praying to find someone like that and there he was! I know that was a gift from the Savior.

On a silly Ally note, I completely misunderstood the word muñeca. People had been saying it a lot to me and calling me it, and I thought it meant neck, so I was always very bewildered and just said gracias because I felt like they were trying to mean it as a compliment. Finally after a week of being so confused all the time why people were either calling me a neck, or complimenting my neck, I asked Hermana Chant, and she told me it means doll. Confusion cleared and I now know that muñeca does not, in fact, refer to neck. Now I know, and so do all of you!

We have lots of new ideas we are executing here in Girasoles! The young women sort of struggle with modesty, which I understand fully, so we are going to have an activity with them where we talk about modesty, and they bring their skirts and we are bringing fabric, and we are going to make them longer! I am so excited. It`s going to be next Friday I beieve. Mom, I now wish I would`ve taken your advice to learn how to sew. You are always right about everything. They don`t have anyone to play the piano for church, so they use a CD player. I am going to practice every chance I get so I can play for them in sacrament meeting. I love the people in our ward. They have such beautiful hearts and strong faiths. I am grateful to be able to work with them and help them to share the gospel with the people in their life! `The whole colonia didn`t have water for about 5 days which was interesting, so familia barrera filled up our filtered water for us last night which was an enormous blessing. People are just incredibly giving and humble.

I love in Alma 22:15, when Aaron is teaching King Lamoni, and as the king is hearing about the Plan of Happiness our Father in Heaven has so lovingly put in place for us, he cries "I will give up all that I possess, yea I will forsake my kingdom, that I may recieve this great joy." I think this is a huge example for each and every one of us. This Gospel is everything. Sometimes our perspective is limited and it`s hard to see an eternal view, but would we give up everything we have, even a kingdom, in order to have the joy that comes from the gospel and the joy we will recieve as a result of our righteousness? I know that Heavenly Father will always love HIs children and He will always love me, but I want to enable Him to be proud of me. We can all live our lives in such a way that Heavenly Father can feel proud of us as we keep living the commandments that bring us closer to the example of the Savior.

A quote I love that we foudn this week is "In our service to Christ, He comes to us." It`s that simple. He comes to us as we devote our hearts to Him and His work. I love this work. It`s amazing the different emotions we go through each day, but how I can always, always, always, feel the love of my Father in Heaven throughout it all.I know each  of you is a precious child of God and please don`t ever forget that you are a magnificent creation of the master craftsman Himself!

Con amor,
Hermana Haynie

September 23, 2013 Week 7

I don`t even know where to begin! First, El Salvador already feels like my home. It`s amazing how quickly I felt right at home here. I am in the Santa Tecla zone and our area is Girasoles II. It`s ion the coolest part of the mission, so the weather has been great! It rains, but it`s only been extremely humid and hot one day. My trainer is absolutely fantastic! Hermana Chant! She is 22, from Arizona, and has been out for 6 months. I feel so blessed to have her as my trainer and it makes everything so much easier that she has the same desire to be obedient and work as hard we can. I feel like we are constantly running around from one casa to the next. Okay, the people. INCREDIBLE. The most loving, humble people. I think a lot of them are confused as to what two American girls are doing here, but they always have a smile on their faces and most of them are willing to listen to us. Not all of course, but we`ve found that as we talk to as many people as we can in the streets, a good majority of them will let us set up a time to share with them the message of the restored Gospel. Our bishop thinks a lot of the people will say yes because we`re American, but hey, if they change their intentions after the first lesson then that`s okay! The kids here are the cutest! They all love our "ojos" and the girls always like to touch my hair because it`s so foreign to them. It`s heartbreaking the way a lot of them have to live in these tiny, tiny houses, but the amazing thing is that they are happy. They are always so excited to have us in their homes. One of the less active members we visit everyday is Mirian. She is my mama here! She won`t read the Book of Mormon on her own, so we go everyday and read with her. She is hilarious. She isn`t married and has two grown up sons, so I think she loves having us as her daughters. It`s amazing the change I`ve seen in her. She is now starting to comment on what we read and instead of us explaining things to her, she can explain them to us! I love love love her. It`s pretty funny because she uses all these slang terms in Spanish and is kind of like a teenage girl because she loves to gossip, but she has been doing it less and less! Miracle!

We have two investigators with a baptismal date right now, Ivan and Vicky. Ivan is 25 and already I have seen a change in him, even though I have only known him for 6 days. He struggles with a smoking addiction, but the progress he has made is a miracle. It breaks my heart how hard it is for him, but I am so proud that he is trying so hard. We can tell how badly he wants to change, but how strong and imprisoning addictions are. I know he can do it, only with the help of our perfect Savior. Yesterday, he surprised us by coming to church! He told us he wouldn`t be able to, then he walked through the door and my heart just swelled up! ALso, another miracle: he sang the hymns. Hermana Chant says he never, ever sings, that he refuses to. But during the first hymn, I held my hymn book so he could see and all of a sudden I heard a man`s voice singing next to me and it was IVAN! I wanted to cry in that moment. I know it may seem small, but it`s huge for him. Vicky owns the tienda down the street and I know with all my heart that she was prepared to hear the gospel. Everything we`ve taught her she seems to already know and understand perfectly. The Spirit is always so strong in our lessons with her. She is incredible. She is already a member missionary because she tells all of her friends that they need to talk to us and she`s bringin one to church on Sunday! Oh church, bless the hearts of the people here. They have a hard time singing on key and together, so the first time we sang was a little startling, but it`s perfect and they sing with all hearts! I love it.

The papusas: so much better than that El Salvador restaurant we went to. My favorite is queso with lorocco, which I am not sure exactly what it is, but it`s some sort of green vegetable that looks like cilantro. They are amazing! Muy ricas! Spanish is coming along. Some people I can understand and talk with, but other times I have absolutely no idea. There`s this old man, Gustavo, who slurs all his words together so I can only catch a couple words here and there. The people are always suprised when I can understand, and I`m surprised as well! 

We don`t have running water in our casa, so we shower with a bucket with water from a sink outside and wash our hair in the same outdoor sink, where we`ll also do our laundry. It`s such an adventure! The toilet doesn`t work either, but if you dump water down the toilet from outside it`ll flush no problem. We have a little fridge and a little stove AND a microwave! Hermana Chant said they usually see a ton of cockroaches, but I have been utterly blessed not to encounter one yet. However, the bugs here love me! Apparently I`m allergic because I`ve had a couple bites on my legs swell up into these bubbles, but once again to show how loving the people are, the ladies in the tienda where we buy bananas in the morning gave me allergy cream for them! They were so concerned when they saw the bites all over my legs, and within two days they had gotten cream for me and gave it to me for free! Also, Marisol, a woman we`ve been teaching, took me to the pharmacy and made me get pastillas and crema for it! I can use my bug bites as a conversation starter! Blessings! 

I love it here. It`s exhausting, but there are always blessings as we keep working hard. Always. Like it says in D&C 58:4, "For after much tribulation comes the blessings." We can never give up. We have to show Heavenly Father how much we love Him and completely trust in Him. As we do this, He will bless us! On Thursday, we had a slow afternoon because no one was home and we felt like we were weren`t getting anywhere, but we kept at it and found 2 new families! Both of them are older couples that we`ll be meeting with this week. We have over 15 investigators we`ll be meeting with this week. I can`t wait. This Gospel changes lives and blesses families. I know that because how blessed my own family has been, which I know is a direct result of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was reading in Mosiah 24:14-15, about how the Lord will ease the burdens put upon us and like He did for Alma and his people, "The Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease." We need trials because they humble us and bring us closer to our Father in Heaven, but the Savior will always be there to make our burdens lighter as we believe in Him, have faith in His atonement. and strive to follow His perfecrt example.

I love you all and you are always in my prayers!

Temple activity where missionaries brought investigators

Hermana Chant, Ivan and Allison

Hermana Chant and Hermana Haynie

Companions!

She Made It!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        September 23, 2013

Dear Haynie Family,

We are pleased to inform you that Sister Haynie has arrived safely in the El Salvador San Salvador West/Belize Mission.  We are excited to have her join our mission family, and can see that she is well prepared to start serving.

She is serving in the Santa Tecla Zone, and in the Girasoles 2 Area, with her trainer Sister Chant from United States.

A trainer has a great responsibility to help your daughter develop missionary habits and to continue learning to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Trainers are selected very carefully through prayer.

               

Sister Haynie will be able to e-mail or write to you every Monday.  Letters from home are a very important part of missionary life.  Please write weekly and focus on positive and uplifting things to help her maintain a healthy attitude.  The mail system in El Salvador is very reliable.  If you wish to send packages they can be sent to the mission office.  Address them to:

                                    Sister Allison Haynie

                                    Misión El Salvador San Salvador Oeste/Belize

                                    Apartado Postal #81 Correos Multiplaza

                                    San Salvador, El Salvador C.A.

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At least every six weeks we will be seeing Sister Haynie in interviews or Zone Conference.  We will take good care of her.  We know the Lord will bless you and her as she faithfully dedicates this time to teaching others to follow the Savior, Jesus Christ.

                                                                                   

Very cordially,

President & Sister Hintze

President & Sister Hintze, Allison and Hermana Chant