Snow in Arizona!

I just wanted to share with you all a little bit of Sister Hayes' last email.

What is that Sister Hayes is holding? No Way, It Can't Be!!!

SNOW in TUCSON, ARIZONA

"The weather has been pretty cold for Arizona. In some parts of Oro Valley and Marana they received snow but we didn't see anything falling. It was probably snowing when we were sleeping. But as you can see from the attached picture we found some snow to hold! That day I was wearing 2 coats, a scarf, gloves and we had hand warmers and toe warmers. It sounds kind of dramatic but once you get used to hot weather and then it drops below 32 degrees you get a little cold."

Sister Hayes and her companion also have been having a hard time finding investigators. Their district and zone leaders came down to help out. They "blitzed" some streets in their area and found some potential investigators. Hopefully their investigator drought will end soon. Please keep them in your prayers and also the people they are contacting.

Highlights from this weeks email

So first off we found out Sister Hayes was not transferred. So her address is still

Sister Christine Hayes
12396 N Camino Del Plata
Tucson, AZ 85755-2063

She will be continuing to serve with Sister Bodily. The only difference is that now they will only be over one ward, the Tortolita ward. Sister Hayes also shared sweet experience with us:

"I would like to tell you about a Recent Convert from my last area. So I didn't teach this Sister but Sister Jarrett did. Well, her name is Judith Boyd and she is such a sweetie. She is the lady that would usually feed us roast for dinner and one day we ended up washing her dog. Well, she has had cancer for a little while now and I guess things got really bad. Well on Saturday I found at that she passed away which was really hard to hear but I was also happy. I know that she was in a lot of pain in her last few months. Well here is the cool part. Exactly one week before she passed away she went to the temple and received her endowments. The amazing thing is that she hasn't been baptized for a year yet. She received special permission from the First Presidency to receive her endowments and then she passed away exactly one week later. Can you believe that? That is just a miracle. I am so grateful that I was able to get to know her. She was such a sweet Sister and I am glad that she no longer has to deal with the pain that she was going through."

Isn't that neat. We also learned that Christine is actually going to be able to talk to us on Skype on Christmas day. She is going to be calling around 7 pm (so if you call or stop by the house that is why were are not answering). It will be so fun to talk to her. I am sure she will be very surprised to see how much he little niece, Megan has grown up. Also her only sister Tiffany is excepting twins and they are planning on telling her what gender they are when she calls. I am sure she will be excited to know that she will have two more nieces when she gets home.

We also learned that Sister Hayes is having no luck finding her drivers license which she misplaced about a month ago. She loves to drive and I am sure she is dying to find it. It looks like we are just going to have to get her a new one.

Well that is about it for this week. It sounds like everything is going very well. She can't believe how fast the time has flown by. She will be at her half way mark in Feb. It is so wonderful to be able to see Sister Hayes really get lost in the work. She have truly forgotten about herself and is trying to use every moment she has to serve the Lord. Keep up the wonderful work sister. We can't wait to talk to her on Saturday.

We've fallen behind again!! I am sorry!

But new posts are coming soon!! Please keep checking back!!

And dont forget to send Sister Hayes a little note for Christmas!!

{See the post below for the mission home address!! That is probably the

best place to send something to her this time of year}!!

Where is Christine again??

Sister Hayes has been in the Oro Valley area for a little over 4 weeks. Have you been wondering where that even is. Well here is a little map to help you see where Sister Hayes is right now. I think I remember her saying that Oro Valley is about 40 minutes Northwest of Tucson. In one of her emails she told us what the area is like.

"Well I must say that being in the North West is very different then my last area. Everyone is rich and they are all "comfortable" with their own religion. It is so hard to find people here, they must be really good at hiding.
I really miss my last area because it felt more like home. Everything here is really spread out and you have to travel a ways to get into shopping areas. We have a Fry's Marketplace (smith's marketplace) close by...The only fast food that is close is Mc Donald's and Subway. The other places are about 15 minutes away and we don't want to waste our miles."

It sounds like they are having a pretty hard time finding investigators. The one investigator that they did have was actually baptised last week. She was golden.

"Gloria got baptized this past Saturday. When she had her interview with the District Leader he said that she was ready to be baptized a.s.a.p. Her husband even came to the baptism and came to some of sacrament. Maybe he will be next. She is so excited to go visiting teaching and she also wants to come out on exchanges with Sister Bodily and I... The ward has done a great job with welcoming her in. She even joined the Ward choir. Wahoo!! "

Please keep Sister Hayes and her companion in your prayers. They are hoping that they will find more people to teach soon.

Here is Sister Hayes' current address just in case you want to send her a little package or letter. It is always fun to get something in the mail. Transfers are coming though so if you aren't going to send something this week you might want to wait or send it to the mission home. Transfers will be on Nov. 9th.

Current Address

Sister Christine Hayes

12396 N Camino Del Plata

Tucson, AZ 85755-2063

Mission Home Address

1840 E River Rd, Ste. 102

Tucson, AZ 85718

A Couple of Pictures for the Mission.

Last week in Sister Hayes' email she attached some recent pictures. I just wanted to share them with you all. She said that she would be sending some more pics in the mail soon. I can't wait to get those and see some of her new area.

Baptisms from her first area. Don't they all look SO happy. The gospel is a wonderful blessing!

This next pictures is of Sister Hayes with some of her favorite converts Mike and Kelli. She loved these people and had a lot in common with Kelli. Mike and Kelli got married and baptised in the same day. Sister Hayes and Sister Jarrett helped out a lot with the wedding including: calligraphy for the invitations, did Kelli's nails, made the cake, took pictures... Sister Hayes will miss them SO much.

Last of all is a picture of Sister Hayes' new companion Sister Bodily (she is from Idaho). What a happy companionship!!

Another Week In The Northwest!

The letter from Sister Hayes was short this week!! She was trying to upload some pictures so she could send them home in an email! It sounds like she got them on the computer okay!! But the email part of it didn't want to work with her!!
So, here is a little exert from her letter home:

Well, Gloria is doing great. She stopped smoking on Saturday and she is
preparing for her baptism on October 30th. She is always telling us how much
she loves us and to drive safely.
Holly one of the ward members brought a friend to church and hopefully we
will start teaching her today. Oh and last night we spent a lot of time over
at a less active members house. We've really been able to get to know him
and we had some brothers from the ward come over to give him a blessing.
Hopefully as we continue to work with him he will come back to church.

There are only 3 weeks left until transfers!! And then Sister Hayes could be moving on to a new area with a new companion!!

***PLEASE remember to keep our favorite Sister Missionary in your prayers!! Also, PLEASE take just a moment to write her a little letter!! It only takes a second!! It doesn't have to be anything long or in depth!! You could say something like "Hi Sister Hayes!! How are you!! Guess what I had for lunch today?? I ate some nachos and green beans!! What did you eat today?? Seriously!! That's all you'd have to write!!
If you are her friend on Facebook you could write something on her wall, or send her a Facebook message!! Or I can get you her email address and you can send her a fast note!! Or I have her mission home address or her apartment address!! Snail mail is awesome!!
Or leave a comment on this post and I will make sure she gets it!! I know she would {REALLY} appreciate hearing from everyone!!!!

Let Me Fill You In!

Sister Hayes has been serving her mission for over 5 months now!! Isnt that crazy?!? She has been through 3 transfers and has had a few different companions!! Do you remember her??

This was Sister Hayes' first companion, Sister Jarrett!! Since I wrote last, Sister Jarrett finished her mission and has returned home. I know that our favorite sister missionary had a pretty hard when she left!! Sister Jarret helped Sister Hayes so much and they had such a close bond!! But missions are all about learning and growing and serving so Sister Hayes has been transfered to the Northwest part of her mission! Her new companion is named Sister Bodily and she is from Preston, Idaho {just in case you didnt know, that is where they filmed Napoleon Dynamite}!! In one of her letters, Sister Hayes said this about Sister Bodily:

"This is her second transfer and she is doing great. The first time I saw her picture in the mission office (before she came out) I just knew we would be companions someday. So I'm excited to get to know her more."

I thought that was cool!! Amazing missionary insight and being in tune with the spirit!! Here are some experts from the letter Sister Hayes emailed home on October 11th!

"So the NorthWest is the same as it was before. We still only have oneinvestigator but she is doing great. I don't know if I told you or not butshe is 62. That's a miracle in itself. Mostly the older people and the richpeople don't want to listen to the gospel."

**Oh, I probably should mention that the Northwest part of the Tucson area is the more wealthy area. It can be hard to share the gospel in that area because people already feel like they have it all!!

"The members here are nice and pretty welcoming, I still don't think theycompare to the Kenyon ward but I'm getting to know them. Just like my lastarea we have two wards but this time the wards meet in seperate buildings.We get to church at 7:30 in the morning for PEC and then that ward starts at9 and goes till 12 and then we travel to the other building and go to churchfrom 1 to 4."

**Busy, busy, busy missionaries!! I think this next story is pretty cool!!!

"Yesterday the needed a teacher for the 14 year old class so thebishop asked us to teach. Oh that was an experience. We decided to teachthem about the restoration. There were 3 girls on the front row who wouldnot stop talking so I looked at the girl in the middle and said would yousay a prayer. She said the prayer and then went right back to talking. Wetried to do our best to teach them and then we just said oh well. That's when the real "Christine" came out. I looked at them and said, "do you evencare about the gospel because it sure doesn't seem like it?" they all staredat me, then I told them I wasn't afraid of them staring, finally we got themto open up a tiny bit. We talked to them about missionary work and onceclass was over one of the girls came up to us and asked us what she could doto share the gospel with her friend. It felt good to know that at least oneperson got something out of our lesson."

**I am proud of Sister Hayes for standing up and letting the class know who important the gospel is!! Sister Hayes also said the weather is starting to cool down!! To the point where she needs some sweaters!! Crazy to think about...... since only a few months ago the tempurature was over 100 degrees on a daily basis!! Sister Hayes and Sister Bodily could also use your prayers that they will be directed to those in their area that are ready to hear the gospel!! They could also use some prayers that peoples hearts will be softened and their minds will be opened!!

And one more thing, Sister Hayes {LOVES} to get mail!! Emails...... snail mail......postcards....... you name it!! Now that she has been transfered, she has a new address!!! {PLEASE} let me know if you need it, or if you need her email address!!! I know if would really make her day to hear from you!!!