Speechless

Friends and family,

I have no words. NO words to express how grateful I feel to know the true gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I took a phone call this week from a woman wanting a Book of Mormon delivered to her home. I asked what interested her in ordering one. Expecting her response to be something along the lines of, "Well the ad just popped up on my phone," or, "Wait, who am I calling?" She said, "Well, I just went on the internet and I looked up 'ways to pray to God' and this was the first thing that popped up."

I was SPEECHLESS! She started to ask questions, we read Enos from the Book of Mormon over the phone together and invited her to meet with local missionaries. She said she didn't know how her parents would feel about it and I asked how old she was. I was even MORE shocked when she responded, "14". What!!?! Just the cutest, sweetest, most humble adorable teenager requested a Book of Mormon because she wanted to learn how to pray to God? WHO DOES THAT?

I started to think about how my life would have been without the gospel or knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. What would it have been like to go my WHOLE LIFE without prayer? How could I have survived school, personal struggles, or difficulties in school or college without the knowledge of a heavenly Father who hears and answers my prayers?

I am so grateful for my parents who raised me in the gospel and taught me the difference between just knowing the gospel and living it. I think God knows I really needed it. :)

Love you all SO MUCH!! 

Hermana Hayes

Happy Mother's Day!

God's in Charge of It All

Dear Loved Ones,

What a week. What. A. Week!!! I can't begin to describe what it feels like to be a missionary. You feel like the salvation and destiny of God's children falls upon your shoulders, that you may not even feel worthy enough to participate in such a glorious work, or that someone else could do it better than you can. But then you realize--God's in charge of it all.  This week was full of these experiences. 

The first experience was when we were giving a tour for some of the Elders in our mission and their investigator. They were a pair of Elders from my last district so I had actually already met their investigator when she came to church the last Sunday I was in their area. She is SO adorable and prepared!

We started the tour with a prayer in one of the teaching rooms and made our way toward the Plan of Salvation wall. On our way over, she took a deep breath, sighed, and quietly said, "You can feel a lot of peace here." Me, (being the silly, clueless, imperfect missionary I am) responded, "Yeah, no one has come in today, it's been really quiet!" She looked at me again and said, "No, it's not that. Something is different...like a peace in my heart." 

How. Silly. Am. I? OF COURSE, she was feeling the spirit! I felt so dumb that whole lesson hahaha, but like I said, God is in charge of it all. The spirit became the true teacher, and by the end of the tour, she gladly accepted to be baptized on May 19! The first date we extended was actually for May 26, but due to a trip she would be making, she wanted to be baptized a week earlier. WHAT! So amazing. That is just one example of how God works His mighty Miracles despite His imperfect servants. 

I also see the hand of God working with us as we teach those who come online. It used to be that when people requested a Bible or other item from mormon.org, we would basically say to get the Bible it would be delivered through local missionaries who would share a message about Jesus Christ. Although nearly half of the 22 million people that come onto mormon.org per year ended up meeting with local missionaries, only about 1% of those people actually ended up getting baptized; averaging to about 2,000 baptisms per year through online teaching. Which is amazing!!!! Don't get me wrong, BUT I'm in love with the further instruction/revelation we had received directly from the first presidency through Skype last Friday:

"Give them what they want." 

In Alma 17:21-25 King Lamoni didn't say, "yeah sure, you can dwell among this people if 'you meet with local missionaries'." NO! He just gave him what he wanted and served him with all his might because he loved him. 

If those that come to mormon.org just want their item mailed, we'll have it mailed! It's fine! If they want missionaries, then great! But our focus is on loving the people and serving them with all our heart, might, mind and strength. 

My heart was filled with love and just pure GRATITUDE for a living prophet. Tears welt up in my eyes after the meeting and I just couldn't stop thinking, "The Lord is hastening His work."

I feel blessed to be at a Visitors' Center and to be able to see the work of the Lord in action. I LOVE and sustain President Nelson, the quorum of the twelve, and those who give their entire lives to be in the service of the Lord. There is no greater honor. 

I testify that THIS IS THE WORK OF SALVATION! Jesus Christ is the one who leads his church. I'm grateful that although I may be imperfect and mess up time and time again, Christ makes up for my imperfections. 

I love you all. No matter what you may be going through, just remember God's in charge of it all. 

Hermana Hayes 

Ps, here are some pictures from our cute ward Mother's Day celebration and our investigators!! They are just the cutest people ever.