My Three Week Mission

Being a Missionary is one of the craziest things. On the Fourth of July, a drunk guy was hitting on my companion and I and kept asking us when we get off work. We had to explain to him that we never get off work. We have a 24/7 job for 18 months straight. He was dumbfounded. We had to explain that to people a lot. We also had to tell them that we were there to talk about Christ and his gospel, that was it. They always thought we were crazy, that our church was crazy for asking us to do this. What they didn't realize is that we were actually devoted. We knew so well that this gospel is true, and not just for us, but for everyone, that we asked to do all this. The Church didn't ask us to do it, The Church didn't pay us to do it. We applied. We wanted to do this job. We desired bringing the truth to everyone, and we didn't care where we went, as long as we could do what we came to do.

I realized all of this in the MTC. I met my district, and suddenly we were all best friends. Seriously, it was very rare that all seven of us weren't together. We ate together, studied together, did laundry together, e-mailed together, shared treats and thoughts. Our teachers encouraged this camaraderie. They taught us some of the most amazing things. A lot of things that I will never forget. They taught us how to teach, but even better, they taught us how to serve and love. They taught us the true characters of missionaries, which follows closely to the true characters of Christ. I couldn't get enough. I just wanted to learn all day every day. I wanted to read my scriptures whenever I could. I think I said about 342 prayers a day. We were all exhausted. Elder Shirk pointed out that we should be tired, because our spiritual bodies are bigger than our physical bodies, and because the Spirit is, not only constantly with you, but strongly with you, it uses a lot of energy. I loved that. My spirit grew so much in those 12 days. I was given a leadership position, and while I knew I would be a total greenie in the field, I was so confident that I would be a good missionary. How could I not be? The Lord is totally on my side, I'll be guided by him, so how could I fail?

When we got to the field, I was exhausted. We woke up at 2:30 AM and were on the bus to get to the airport by 4:30 AM. Soon after that we were on a plane to Spokane. I was tired, nervous, and excited. Elder Porter was talking to all sorts of people at the airport and I was totally jealous.

We landed and met our mission president and his wife, the Mullens. They were so great. I was so excited to serve with them. I was a little more nervous, but still going strong. We met our trainers the next day and were off to our areas. Plummer is small, it's an Indian Reservation. It's so humbling and I just loved it.

But after the first day of proselyting I was crying in the car on our way home and I had no idea why. I honestly couldn't figure it out. I thought I was just overwhelmed. We went home, and finished the day, and I couldn't stop crying.

The next day I was crying again. coupled with nausea, and a headache. I realized my body was trying to tell me that it didn't want to proselyte. I tried to calm myself down. I thought I was just stressed so I looked at the adjusting to missionary life booklet they gave us all. On the page with stress levels, it breaks it down by color. It goes Green which is solid, Yellow, which is a little stressed, Orange, Which is really stressed (Call your mission president after 3 days) and Red, which is really bad. You have to call your mission president immediately. I realized I was solidly in orange. I felt terrible. I was so sick. I tried to redouble my efforts and tried to be more obedient. I ate because it was on my schedule, but I pretty much ate a granola bar for breakfast and an apple for lunch. My appetite was non existent. (Thats how I lost all that MTC weight...)  After day 3 my companion insisted I call sister Mullen. I did as she said. I was told to call and make an appointment with a counselor at LDS family services. I called and left a message.

The next day was a Saturday. I had slipped into the Red Zone. I've never felt so helpless in my life. My companion called Sister Mullen who had me call a retired psychiatrist. I did so and he talked to me for about an hour. He told me it sounded like depression. but also told me to get a second opinion. I have never been told I might have depression in my life. On the contrary, I've always been told that I'm so happy all the time, that I'm always smiling. It was so strange.

Sunday was worse. I went to church, we did what we needed to, but I wasn't there at all. I was so far gone. By P-day I was just utterly anxious to talk to the counselor. I needed to get over this bad week so I could keep working. We did a lot of fun things, but I wasn't able to enjoy them. I was nervous around other missionaries, my chest was on fire, and I still had no appetite. We left Ceour d'Alene at 4:00 so we could get to Spokane by 5. We got there and I met Brother Richardson the counselor. After talking to him for a half hour he said he didn't think it was so much depression and acute anxiety disorder. We talked for a long time. He explained some things to me, and then told me that anxiety is treatable in the mission field, but that it's really hard to treat. That my best option would be to go home and get treated. If i wanted to come back after that I would be more than welcome, but again, it was all up to me.

I went home. I prayed. I talked to Heavenly Father a lot begging for him to tell me what to do. Begging, as i had so much that week for this to go away, and for me to be comforted. I fell asleep with tears in my eyes and a prayer in my heart.

The next day wasn't so bad. It wasn't good, but I thought I might be back in Orange. Maybe now i was going back down. maybe in a week I would be in green!
I was wrong.
The next day I was in Red again. I couldn't even get through personal study. I called Sister Mullen who told me it was time to talk to President Mullen. He asked me what I wanted to do and without knowing what I was saying, I heard these words come out of my mouth: "I have prayed about it, and President, I think I need to go home." I started to cry (again)
President said: "Good, because that's exactly what I think as well."
He reminded me that this was God's plan for me. He told me my parents would call later, and that I would be home in the next two days.

My parents both called me that day. I bawled through both conversations. It was then that I knew I would be better off going home. It was then that I knew I have such an amazing support system.

My last day in Plummer, my companion and I felt urged to go knock on a door. Sister Ridge was so excited to get this prompting. I felt nothing. We knocked the door and the lady who answered was really rude. She was insanely uninterested and we got a door slammed in our face. A lot of the time when things like this happen we wonder why we got the prompting to begin with. Sister Ridge told me this:

Sometimes I think Heavenly Father likes to test out our obedience. He gives us something like knocking on a door so that he knows what we're willing to do for him, just so that when something big comes along, he'll know he can rely on us to do it.

I have thought on those couple of sentences Sister Ridge said to me a lot since I've come home. I may have only served a three week mission. I may have this crazy trial that came from it, but at least, if anything, I have shown obedience to my Heavenly Father. at least now he knows just how much I'm willing to do for him, and maybe he can rely on me for more.

The plane ride home was terrifying. Every ounce of anxiety in my body was on edge. It took every ounce of willpower I had to get on the plane by myself. I clutched the arm rests and tried to relax, but it was so terrifying.

Getting off the plane and seeing my Mom run towards me was one of the most comforting things in the world. We hugged, we cried, and we agreed we would figure this out. A lot of that anxiety build up melted away. I was hungry.

Since getting home, I have felt so much love and so much support. Between friends, families, and acquaintances, I have never felt so loved. I have had so many encouraging words being said to me every day. I have seen a counselor and will continue to do so as long as I need to.
I am trying to do as much as I can without medication. My counselor said she doesn't quite think I need it, and I'm taking her word for that.

For now, I'm taking the time I need to recover. And for now, I'm going to be all right.

Love always,
Haley

Well goodbye MTC, Hello real world!!

My last week at the MTC was seriously so great!! We had an extremely rushed P day, heard from Elder Christofferson and there were 6 General Authorities on the stand. We did orientation with our cute new district and then lots of classes, goodbyes, packing, and cleaning. It was so insane.

After I talked to you guys on the phone, we boarded the plane. There was another district going with us that we didn't know existed. I sat by two of them, and slept a little, wrote a bit in my journal, and of course ate biscoffs. We landed, and went to baggage claim where President and Sister Mullen were waiting for us. We took a million pictures, grabbed our luggage and went to to institute. We met a bunch of experienced missionaries there and did something called "fear busting" which was in fact, scary. Basically one of the other missionaries grabbed us and we just walked around town for an hour doing street contacting. I got super lucky. Sister Sheppard grabbed me, her ukulele, and a Book of Mormon and we were off. We walked around just asking people if we could sing for them, we sang Nearer my God to thee and then asked if we could pray with them. Some people were annoyed, but there were some that were really happy about it and were super grateful. It was pretty fun. 

After that we went to the stake center and had an amazing lunch, started interviews, took more pictures, and then did a training with the assistants. I'm not gonna lie, I may have fallen asleep. but just for a second. My district kept asking me for mints because we had all had about 3 hours of sleep the night before and it helped us stay a little bit awake. 

Then they took us to the mission home, we relaxed for about an hour and a half, playing some basketball, ping pong, and i may have taken a quick nap on the floor for a couple minutes on accident. Then dinner- Sister Mullen is an AMAZING cook. Then we had a quick testimony meeting, and some members came and picked us up to stay the night. We went, showered, and I fell asleep on my journal around 10:00. President let us sleep in (Hallelujah!) THen it was back to the stake center the next morning.

We lined up trainers on one side and greenies on the other. President called a greenie name and then called the trainer and thats how it was done! As you already know (you sneaky parents) I was put with Sister Ridge who is from Southern California (temecula) and SO cute. She really is the nicest girl ever. Maybe a mission does that to you, but I think she came that way. She told me : You're gonna love Plummer, It's like a foreign country."

uhhhh okay.... We had another orientation, then got our stuff, shoved it in cars, and headed to Plummer. 

Plummer is an Indian Reservation. There's a lot of natives around. It's pretty rural, but people are pretty nice here. I'm serving in a branch. I think we need 13 more people to make it a ward so that's what we're working on. 

We have a senior couple serving here with us as well, The Rockwoods are so great. They always make sure we're okay, and give us treats, and offer us rides so we don't waste our miles. 

our area covers a few tiny towns. Plummer is the biggest with a population of 1000 people. Then Tekoa (tea-koh) then Worley, and Tensid and Dismet. We've picked up 5 new investigators this past week, and have 2 on date for baptism. Our main focus is Joe Sowa. He's in his 70's and lives in a trailor in the middle of the mountain, but it's gorgeous up there. He's on date for baptism on the 20th and going strong. He fell off date about a week ago, but he's doing great now. He even bore his testimony yesterday and absolutely loved doing it. He wants to do it again next week. 

He calls us every day or sends us about 10 text just about scriptures he's read. I've never met anyone with a greater love of the scriptures. 

We're also teaching a 14 year old named Anthony who is here for the summer staying with his dad and stop mom who are members. His step mom Crystal is having some family drama right now so last time we went over hse answered the door with a baseball bat and a smile. It was hilarious. But Anthony is doing great. He didn't come to church yesterday so we have to push his date back a bit.

We do a lot of visits and street contacting. It's been really great. It's super hot though! The members are really great and helpful which is nice. It's probably not as hot here as it is down in Utah, but it's up there! 

We got to take Joe to a baptism on Saturday which was really cool. He absolutely loved it. He was talking about it for a long time. It was in Coeur d'Alene so it was about 45 minutes away. But he loved going, and loved the spirit he felt there.

It takes us about 20 minutes to drive from town to town, but i like it. The drives are GORGEOUS!! it's so so fun. 

anyways, i should probably sign off, but I love you so much, Thanks for the letters and the package!! Sister Ridge thinks you're just the cutest parents ever and loved getting a letter from you. 

Love always,

SIster Haley 

Hey Parents!!

I leave the MTC on Monday Morning at 4:30. I bought a pre-paid calling card and will be able to call you from the airport that morning!! I know you get home from the gym around 6:15 so i'll aim to call around then, i can make more than one call though so dad, if you need to get to work, I will call you after Mom. My flight leaves at 8:50 so it'll be between 6 AM and then. Love you both!! Can't wait to talk to you!! 

I know this isn't much of an update, but i'm only allowed to e mail about this since it's not technically my P-day. I'm not sure if i'll be able to e mail you when i get there (i really really really hope i can) or if i'll have to wait until my next P-day. Lovey love love you!!

Sister Haley Hopper

Sister Haley Stewart Week One

Hello  my beautiful family!!!

You know you're in the MTC if:

After a good shot in four square it's hand shakes all around

You only feel three things: hungry, tired, and the spirit

You are afraid of the word "guys" 

I dont have everyone's e mail address on here so if you want to forward this to the family that would be super great.

Let me just give you a bit of a run down since i last saw you at the curb.

After i left you, i followed that host around through about 10 different building picking up various little nick nacks.

I felt so lost. this campus is fairly large and every building looks exactly the same. 

We dropped my luggage off in my room and went straight to my classroom only to find that my whole class had left. luckily my teacher Sister Bown was there and took my to a computer lab to do a quick orientation, which i finished quickly and was the first back to my class. Sister Bown was gone, but our other teacher Brother Singleton was there. Then my class/district walked in. I met my companion Sister Peeler who is from Southern California and actually has been at SVU for the past two years. The rest of my district consists of Sister Huang who is from mainland China and has been at BYU Hawaii for 2 years and Sister Day who is from Payson and been at Westminster for the past year. We have 3 elders: Elder Porter, Elder Shirk, and Elder Spendlove. Our district is the absolute best. I was a little nervous at first about being stuck in a classroom with a bunch of 18 year old boys, but something about being set apart matured them very quickly. 

We started in class where we just kind of went over business and introduced ourselves. We had dinner early and then went to a workshop called People and our Purpose. It was basically an entire room of missionaries vs. One investigator. We would just kind of chat with them, ask them questions, and share messages. It was really cool, but also a little intimidating. There were 3 and they ranged from very open to very defensive. After that, we had a zone Conference where we met our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders, did some   get to know you and a quick tour. We went back to the room, unpacked, and then fell asleep pretty quickly. 

Day Two: We were in the classroom for forever. I did the math and on average we are in the classroom for 6 hours a day. Our teachers have assigned us investigators to teach. We are actually teaching our teachers, portraying investigators, but it seems so real. It's amazing what the spirit can do. We are teaching Sister Bown as Ashley. Sister Bown met Ashley through Mormon.org while she was on her mission and has kept in contact with her for 2 years. She's 18 and so ready to join the church. a lot of the time she says things like "you guys have the tightest church". She is so excited. She prayed about the book of mormon and said she  had an emotional overload. We explained that that was the Spirit she was feeling and she was just loving it. The cool thing is, Sister bown calls ashley before our lessons with her and asks her questions, and then calls her after our lesson, and uses our lessons to actually teach her. It's pretty great.

That night, we had a Branch Presidency meeting. We met our Branch Presidency and went over th Mission Handbook. While we did that President Hunsaker took us each one by one in the back and had a quick interview. He called the new  District leaders, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. Sister Peeler and I were called as STL. A little crazy. I was so tired I couldn't even really process it. But I am excited. 

Day Three: Sister Huang got to go to Salt Lake Temple with the other international missionaries so we were in a trio for the morning. We had District Study, in which we found taht we all really enjoy singing hymns together, Breakfast, Classroom time, classroom time, and classroom time. THen we went and picked Sister  Huang up. It took about a half hour to find her and so we missed some class which we were pretty sad about. Ashley Committed to baptism and reading the Book of Mormon. 

We also did a distri8ct reading of 1 nephi 1. We just read aloud and stopped when we had thoughts. It was amazing all of the things that we were able to get out of that one chapter. The spirit was absolutely amazing. That night though, the sisters had a bit of trouble focusing on study. we get a little chatty sometimes and it's something we're really trying to work on. the poor elders put up with so much. but later that night, we had an amazing discussion with the elders about what the priesthood means to them. They really are incredible.

And even though we are obnoxious, they are still so sweet to us. 

Saturday started our day off with service. We cleaned showers and mopped bathrooms for the other residence hall. 

After we changed and spent another 6 hours in class. We started a challenge to stop using the word "guys" so whenever one of us says it, we put a tally on the board and we have to recite the missionary purpose. we're switching to the first vision today. i have 5 tally's on the board, but Elder Porter has about 22 so I don't feel too bad. Our lessons with Ashley always go a little long. We have a half hour to teach, and we've definitely taken a full hour before. After class we had gym for the second time. I'm getting pretty good at four square if I do say so myself. It's nice to have a bit of time to relieve some stress and just hit a ball around. During another distracting Study Session,  I got a migraine, which was really fun. I used the oils and let SIster Peeler and SIster Day talk while i just put my head down for a bit. It receded a bit so I was able to plan still, but I was sure glad to see my bed that night. 

Sunday: We had Branch Council first thing in the morning.  It was all about Christlike Leadership.

OH also, they're having a new mission president seminar here for about 5 days. this means that every single member of the 12 has been here. I have been trying to see them  to no avail. The Elders say President Monson on their way to Temple walk, he rolled his car window down and said: Hello! God Bless you! Adios!

I'm only a little insanely jealous.

But I did wave to Neal A. Anderson and his wife. 

back to sunday: We did DIstrict council after Branch Council and Brother Hill who is in our branch presidency came and helped with that. 

After that the sisters went and watched Music and the Spoken Word and then Relief society. We started Relief Society by singing  As Sisters in Zion, but the words were different! Apparently Janice Kapp Perry wrote lyrics especially for Sister Missionaries. I absolutely loved it!! 

After Relief Society we had a New Sisters meeting which was mostly about modesty and appropriate missionary clothing. 

After that we had lunch, and then Sacrament. Then the elders had priesthood and we had companion inventory and temple walk!! I really love temple walk. it's my favorite. we went with our zone sisters and took pictures (which apparently I'll send you next week because I forgot my camera cord...) After Temple walk Sister Peeler and I had a new STL meeting with was so great. It was just about how to make the new sister feel welcome and how to handle some situations. and again, Christlike leadership.It reminds me of your Christlike teachings non. very cool.

We went straight to dinner after seeing as we were starving and somehow found our District. after dinner we went to do our online study which our district had done while we were in our meeting.

I finished mine way before sister peeler finished hers, so I went on LDS.org to find those new sister s in zion lyrics. I didn't find them which was very upsetting but i did find out just how cool Janice Kapp Perry was! After that we were talking as a district about maybe auditioning for a special musical number. We decided we should do a childrens song and were trying to decide between a childs prayer and love is spoken here. as we were walking down the hall sister peeler pointed out that they were both written by Janice Kapp Perry. 

We walked into devotional and were a little disappointed that we didn't see a general authority on the stand. we were chatting and they they announced the speaker. It was: Janice Kapp Perry.

We all kind of froze and just stared at each other. How cool is that??? She had been in my thoughts all day and there she was sitting on the stand with her Husband. Her Husband spoke first and he's pretty darn hilarious. He talked about his mission and to never give up because he started an area with no members and he went back 5 years ago and now there's 700 members.

THen Sister Perry got up and spoke. She had us sing a medly of 6 of her childrens songs. SHe used every single on we had talked about. Then she told us about how her husband had been in one of her classes at BYU and they were passing off playing the clarinet when he nudged her, and said "I can think of a much better use of your lips than playing the clarinet." We all cheered after she said that, he stood up pumping his fist in the air, grabbed her and kissed her right there. Yep, they're in their 70's. we were dying it was the cutest funniest thing. 

Then she talked some more, and had us sing the EFY medly but with you guess it, the new Sisters in Zion lyrics. I was seriously dying. THen the sisters in my district and I stood up. We just felt the spirit so strongly that we had to. within 10 seconds the entire gym was standing. THe spirit was so insanely strong and I couldn't even sing anymore because I was bawling. As soon as they ended, we ran down and got to shake their hands and give Sister Perry a hug. it was incredible. 

We finished the night off with the Restoration movie and then jumped into bed.

Yesterday SIster Peeler and I spent some time in an office. Sister Peelers wallet was stolen including her ID so we were trying to figure that out so she'll be able to fly with us to Washington. We were there for over an hour. At one point someone mentioned that President Eyring was in teh office next door. I wanted him to come in SO bad. after we were finished I told sister Peeler how much I was wishing i had seen him and she goes "Oh... he walked right behind you." WHAT?!?! i was a little (okay a lot) upset. We had Classroom time again, but during gym, sister peeler and I both felt pretty nauseous. We wondered if it was something we had eaten, but decided to push through and that we would be fine. at dinner niether of us could eat. It was sad because we had a TRC planned that night which is a real investigator we would be teaching. We both felt to sick so we decided to cancel. When we went to cancel the lady  said it was a skype visit and asked if we could meet with her for just 5 minutes. We said we would talk about it, said a prayer, foudn a scripture to share, and went in. We ended up teaching the entire Restoration and I felt so much better after about 10 mintues. It was still a pretty rough lesson though.

SIster Peeler was still pretty sick though so she got a blessing from the Elders which was pretty cool. 

Today, we have P day. We'll do laundry, and then a session at the temple. I fly out Monday morning at 4:30 in the morning with my whole district. I'm not sure when I'll be able to e mail next (hopefully when I get there)  but I still love getting letters!! Thank you so much for the letters you've sent. 

I'm exhuasted,  I'm drained, and usually hungry. But those don't come up a lot, because I'm also so filled with love, and so filled with the spirit.  

I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Sister Haley Stewart