Exactly Obedient

Hello Everyone!

 I am so excited to tell you about this week! I just love you guys so much and I am so glad that you are seeing the blessings that reading the book of Mormon brings! It truly blesses our lives and it truly is the word of God! I love how dad was saying that it can apply to everyone! It really does!

As a companionship Sister Stastny and I have been working on being exactly obedient. It’s a goal that we are striving to work on cause our mission president believes in perfect mornings. So at 6:30 you are on your knees praying and then at 8 you are praying before you start your personal study and then at 9 again with companionship study and then we do 10 in the morning and 10 at night prayers that the whole mission is supposed to be doing and that has been awesome. So yeah it pretty amazing.

So the barn is an awesome place except for the fact that there are scorpions! We had one in a jar named Gus-Gus but he died... I drowned him on accident! They like to chill on the ceilings like spiders.  ALSO road runners are totally real! They are so funny!!! They don't fly but they look really cool and they are pretty fast.

So Jennifer and Clint are doing well (They are not on date to be baptized yet but soon!) and she hasn't been drinking coffee so that's awesome! But Clint had a cigarette and we just told him that sometimes he is going to mess up and it is going to be hard but it will all be okay because heavenly father loves him! And as long as he is praying for that strength and having faith then Heavenly Father will give it to him, and he can overcome this. I just love watching them progress and now even Jennifer is starting to try and dress modestly.  They have a friend living with them who is a nonmember as well and he sat in on the lesson this past week so that was cool.

I got a greenie blessing :) everyone gets one. One of our Zone leaders gave me mine (Elder Thomson, he was a visa waiter from Africa but he was here for longer than a year so he had to stay! (The Lord works in mysterious ways)) and I think it just helped me appreciate the priesthood more cause this was an elder who hardly knew me and yet when he gave me my blessing I felt like it was my Heavenly Father speaking through him to me just like it was with my setting apart blessing and my patriarchal blessing. So that was amazing. The priesthood power really is power from God!!! if you ever need extra strength or comfort DONT BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR ONE!

On the 29th this week, I will be a month old!

We did ride our bikes more this week and to be honest it’s great because you can just stop and talk to all the people on the street whereas if you were in a car, you can’t just pull over and be like, hey want to talk about the Mormon Church?

Today we were shopping in Walmart and we had just finished and were going to go buy some subway when this little old man and his wife came up to us and they paid for our meal! How sweet! They said that they had served 4 missions!!! FOUR. That’s amazing. Anyways that was sweet and today I think we are also doing a zone unity thing where we go do activities and today we are going to a driving range.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! This church is true! It can bless the lives of so many people! Share it with everyone! Invite your friends to church! Invite them to activities! Most of the converts who stay active only do so because they were active in going to their church service!

Always love them into the church! That’s all you can do sometimes. Keep up on the scripture reading and I know he will continue to bless you!!! I pray for you all the time! Be safe!

Love, Sister Haymond

Gus-Gus the scorpian

 Sister Stastny, Sister Haymond's companion

Sister Haymond's desk

My first (almost) week!

HELLO!!!!!

 Sorry if this seems really rushed but I only have like 45 minutes to spill my guts to you through typing. So I've made a list of all the things i want to talk about and first is just the Arizona Weather and Beauty! 

First of all it is really really warm and sunny. which i absolutely LOVE. second, there are these humungous cacti!!!! like over 15 feet tall and its insane. also, we live in a barn... on a dirt road behind a members house XD its pretty sweet.

So I know you are all dying to hear about my companion... Her name is Sister Stastny (the 2nd T is silent)! She is AMAZING! she has been out for 3 months and she is from twin falls Idaho! We were at BYUI together and didn't even know it! haha but she is the sweetest and cutest missionary ever! Right now we cover 4 wards in the San Tan stake. Coronado 1st, Valencia YSA ward, Meadow view 2nd and power ranch 1st. All of the wards are amazing and the members are even better. we are very well fed! we get fed every night by the members and it is so sweet! I love them so very much! anyways me and my companion are very similar! we like a lot of the same shows including Arrow and Sherlock and we both are the oldest of our siblings! She has super pretty curly hair and is just awesome! I just think its funny how we are both greenies together! haha! 

So next item of business is the whole bike situation... My bike is wonderful! I've ridden it a grand total of one time, cause we have a car. but this is only because we are just all over the place sense we cover 4 wards and they are pretty spread out so it would be kinda ridiculous to bike all over creation. but ya it works just fine and its actually really easy to bike in a skirt! 

Okay so I want to talk about my first like actual investigators that we have had 1.5 lessons with. They are a couple who's names are Jennifer and Clint. They have a one year old son who was wrongfully taken by CPS but that led them to go to church with his cousins who are LDS and it sparked their interest. she had had encounters with the church and had a lot of questions answered and when we were teaching them about the restoration, she just like gets it and she feels the spirit. its one of those moments where you know they were prepared before hand to be ready to receive the gospel. so we extended the invitation to them to be baptized and she said yes but wants to wait for her husband to be ready. and so last night we had this fireside for investigators and recent converts and we brought them and she was crying and feeling the spirit and then afterwards they wanted to learn about the Word of Wisdom so we just stayed and taught a small lesson and answered their questions and they want to start living it!!!! how amazing!!! they make me so happy!!!! I pray for them all the time! 

So I guess I am doing great and this is my first p-day so i actually get to go buy food instead of just a quick necessities stop. 

 I LOVE YOU!!!! I am having so much fun here in Arizona and i miss you but I know this is where the Lord wants me! I know I am doing His work and I know that you (we) will be blessed! Aaaah, i just love you and tell everyone hi for me okay??? 

Love love love, Sister Haymond

MTC Map

Gilbert AZ LDS Temple

Welcome!

Sister Haymond & Sister Stastny

Anna's in Arizona now

Anna flew out to AZ Tuesday morning.  She was able to call home for a few minutes from the airport before her flight.  She said she was so excited to be going.  We haven't heard from her yet but the mission home did send an email saying the missionaries made it safely.  Here is a picture of them all with the Mission President and his wife.

MTC Adventures

Hello Family!

Oh my goodness I am so excited to tell you all about how much I have grown and learned in the MTC in just one week. 

First of all, my companion is Sister Rigby from Sydney Australia! We are going to the same mission and she has the coolest accent ever!! Our district is amazing. Like just wow. Our elders are awesome and our other sister companionship is so sweet! They are Sister Olsen and Sister Sorensen! Sister O. is from Vancouver Canada and Sister S. is from Brigham city Utah. Our Elders are Elder Kennedy, Elder Bowman(our D.L. from Rexburg Idaho!) and Elder Fairbanks and Elder Alder! District = Family! We are so close just after a week of being here! I cant even believe how much we have learned from each other and how we have been humbled. Today was our first P-day and we just got back from the Provo Temple which was absolutely wonderful! Its so nice to have a break from class and from being so busy! But the spirit here in the MTC is wonderful! I thought I would miss all the worldly things like music and whatnot, but I actually haven't even thought about it at all!  

I miss you so much though! We all had a rough time leaving our families but I just want to let you know that we pray for our families every day! The Power of prayer is so powerful! I hope that you are safe and happy and healthy! 

Anyways.. how do I even begin to describe how excited I am so go out into the field! The MTC has been an amazing and humbling experience and I am excited to go out and serve the people of Gilbert Arizona and bring them the same happiness and joy that I have experienced in my life up until this point. 

This gospel is amazing and it is so true! The Lord loves each of us so much and I know that he loves me! 

Our district has had a lot of time to share thoughts and feelings with one another and someone shared how it feels like they knew us before this life and how it has helped us to grow close together in such a short time. and That was really touching to my mind and heart and  I thought, How could that not be true? how could we have not known each other and have been predestined to be here at this time with these people and having these amazing experiences together. It was some serious P.R. (Personal Revelation- thanks Elder Alder) and It just made me realize how perfect the Lord timing is and how perfect his plan for me is.

 I know that he has a plan for each of you and I know that you are loved so so much by our Father in Heaven. I have seen blessing upon blessing being poured out in my life. 

My spiritual thought for this week comes from a devotional David A Bednar did here a while ago and he say that we need to "focus OUTWARD, not INWARD". I can promise that if you don't focus on yourself and you focus on serving the Lord and his children instead of yourself, you will be blessed! Oh my gosh I love you all and I promise I will send pictures really soon! Be an instrument in the hands of the Lord! 

Love, Sister Haymond (Don't call me Anna, the church owns that name for 18 months! :P) 

PS I saw Elder Lorensen Yesterday and today! he is doing great! and my companion says hello! LOVE YOU AND THANKS FOR ALL THE EMAILS!!

Pictures from week 1 in the MTC

It's official, she has a name tag!

Anna and her MTC companion, Sister Rigby from Sydney Australia.

Anna's District. Five of them (including Anna) are going to Gilbert, the others are going to Cleveland OH.

Left to right: Sister Sorensen (Brigham City), Sister Olsen (Vancouver), Anna, and Sister Rigby