Happy Halloween

This was a week of parties for Aldste Haddon....well as much 'partying' as a missionary can do!

This first party of the week was a Young Single Adult Activity for Halloween. They have 5 young single adults in the ward but had a turn out of over 20! This was very exciting because it allowed for a lot of opportunity to befriend people who hadn't been taught the gospel. He was excited because it showed the ward members that it is easy to fellowship people by just inviting them into our normal activities and sharing our testimonies through our words as well as our actions. He said it was super fun and overall a very successful night!

The Essential Role of Member Missionary Work: Elder M. Russell Ballard

The next party was a night of PALT and Music. Palt is apparently a meal of meat wrapped in potatoes and boiled for several hours until it reaches perfection. This was a ward activity, so families of all ages were invited. They had several investigators and people they had been helping to come back to church in attendance, including the man from a couple weeks ago who's children were removed from him on false pretenses. He said the family had been reunited and he's never seen the father or the children more happy and beaming. It was wonderful to see it all work out in such an amazing way.

Overall, it has been a pretty fantastic week for Aldste Haddon, he ended his email by reminding us that his birthday is this week...as if we had all forgotten or something!

(I mailed his gift 4-5 weeks ago...I hope he gets it!)

Thanks for all of your support!



This is Ty's best little buddy, they even have the same winter coat!

Getting it done

Last week was a little bit of a slow week for Aldste Haddon so they have refreshed and renewed and are back to it this week... They decided to go out there and just get the job done.

They met a less active family who lost their mother and wife recently. The father, newly a single dad has two autistic sons and has been struggling with the loss of his wife. Aldste Haddon said that they are a fantastic family and he enjoyed spending time with them. He said that they were able to help lift their spirits, remind them of the plan of salvation and invited them to come to church.

They did come on Sunday and had a fantastic experience. He said that he is excited to continue the relationship with them and to get to know them better.

They also were able to find more investigators to teach and things are starting to improve more and more in the area. His companion is headed home as well as another missionary in the area. He had a good experience with him and is getting prepared for another new companion!

As Aldste Haddon shares his stories of missionary work, it reminds me of the importance of following promptings in our lives. Recently I have had a couple experiences where following promptings, and seeking promptings from our Heavenly Father has been much needed. It's not always hear to know what we're supposed to do when we're supposed to do it, especially when we're in the heat of the moment and emotions are running high but I do know as we strive to listen to and follow promptings from the Holy Ghost we will be lead to do what is best in every situation.

We can find people to share our testimonies with, we can be lead to help people who need our help, we can know what to say in sometimes scary situations, we can be protected from harm and most importantly we can be given an undeniable testimony of Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Today, I'm grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and the power and strength it gives me daily.

Doctrine and Covenants 8:2

"Yea, behold I will tell you in your mind and in your heart by the holy ghost which will come upon you and shall dwell in your heart."

 He claims this wasn't a full contact kiss...both of these elders are headed home this week!



A little Sicky and A Lot of Hardwork

Today Aldste Haddon's email was short and sweet because he isn't feeling well so he was able to just give us a quick overview of his week...

On Saturday they had a baptism in his new area but have unfortunately lost contact with the rest of their investigators in that area.

Also last week Aldste Haddon was able to go help train an elder in his zone. He and his companion had just arrived in a new area and had basically begun searching and teaching from scratch. So they went out and began knocking on doors and as he likes to call it, 'flipping through the deck of cards until they found all of the aces' (or people who are ready to hear the message of the gospel) They went out and worked hard and put the spirit back into missionary work and brought more momentum to that area. They were able to get phone numbers of five people who are interested in learning more about the gospel and it's exciting to see the work ignite after so much diligence and hard work.

 ...Now he says it is time to do the same in his area.

Upon reading Aldste Haddon's email, I had two conference talks come to mind that I would like to share with you.

The first is from Elder Holland titled "Like a Broken Vessel" he spoke to us about overcoming dark trying times, particularly depression. Although it just sounds like Aldste Haddon had a slow week, I still feel like this message applies to all of us because it reminds us of Heavenly Father's love for us and how He will always provide a way for us to make it through to the other side of our trials.

The second is from Elder Ballard entitled "Put Your Trust in the Lord." In this talk, he teaches us how through trusting in and relying on the spirit, we can and should seek opportunities to share the gospel and work hand in hand with the missionaries.

Both talks are inspiring and uplifting and encourage me to rely on Heavenly Father and trust that as I strive to do His will, I will be blessed with the abilities to fulfill his callings for me and I know that each of us can experience that.

Along with Aldste Haddon's week, our family had a pretty wonderful experience as well...

Last week, our dad received a phone call from a man saying that he had spent a lot of time with Aldste Haddon in Sweden and he and his wife would be coming to Salt Lake City for a business trip and would like to meet and share a message from Aldste Haddon. Of course, this was very exciting to our family and we were eager to meet.

So, Saturday morning we went to downtown Salt Lake and met up with Nick, his wife Jaz, and their youngest son Benjamin. Nick had served as a bishop for many years in an area that Aldste Haddon had worked in and had gotten to know him fairly well. It was such a blessing to our family to be able to meet with them and hear how Aldste Haddon is doing, how hard he is working, and how much he as grown spiritually while serving his mission.

They reminded me of a few things that I was grateful to be reminded of...

1. We are all brothers and sisters in the gospel and in the world, we can be from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and even from the smallest little town in Tooele County, Utah and still learn, love and feel the spirit with each other even upon first meeting.

2. Small acts can bless people more than we realize. I don't know if they realize how much it meant to us to be able to meet and talk with them, it was an hour out of their trip that they could have been doing anything else but they were willing to spend it with us. It reminds me to make more of an effort to go out of my way for people.

3. All missionaries need more people like Nick and Jaz in their lives. They have been an amazing support to our brother, son and uncle and have given him a family away from home, and done things for him at times that we have not been able to. This was a good reminder to me to take our missionaries under our wings and help be their families away from home.

"Missionary: Someone who leaves his family for TWO YEARS so that someone else can be with their family forever."

I just want to leave this post today letting you know that I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us and He sends us people and experiences daily that bless our lives. I know that as we listen to the spirit and follow promptings we can bless the lives of others, share the gospel and strengthen our testimony and the testimonies of others. I know that we are not alone in this journey and that we have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior who promise:

 'I will not leave us comfortless, I will come to you'. (John 14:18)
I hope you have a great week! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for our missionary!



A Zone Leader and General Conference

Aldste Haddon has been called to serve about 45 minutes north of Stockholm as a Zone Leader with a great missionary who goes home in the middle of November but who is eager to finish out his mission on a strong note.

They got to watch General Conference this week as well, although it was at a weird time of night, it was an excellent experience. You can access general conference here.

They are currently serving in a ward that is very spread out, in fact, the bishopric is  not even within their area (although they are within the stake boundaries) The ward is having a hard time grasping basic gospel concepts and it is creating confusion and contention within the ward. Aldste Haddon is eager to get to work and help teach and encourage both the members and the non members in the area but he knows that he will have a lot of work to do and that it will not be an easy road.

On Friday, he and his companion went on splits with some other missionaries in the area. Those missionaries had been working with an amazing man with two young children. The mother of the children had not been in their life for a very long time. The family had decided to get baptized and had begun to gain testimonies of the gospel. Then, the mother of the children came back making claims that the man had been 'pinching' the children (which is a horrific offense in Sweden) causing him to no longer have access to them.

The day Aldste Haddon met with this man, it was his son's birthday and he had not been able to talk to him. As any parent would be, the man was feeling very low and heartbroken. The elders decided to teach him about the power of the atonement, and that Christ not only atoned for our sins, but he carried our grief and burdens as well. 

They invited the man to kneel in prayer with them. They sat there for 20 minutes in silence and there are not words to express the strong feelings of the spirit that was present in the room with them. The man knew that Heavenly Father was aware of him at that time, and that things would work out.

Aldste Haddon shared:

"I love what I'm doing here, and i know that it really is what The Lord wants us all to do. I hope you all can have the spirit in your life. And if not, do as prophet Joseph Smith directed, ”One of the most important things in our lives is to Find and Keep the Spirit.” I know that this Church is true and I know that God loves everyone of us personally. He is aware of us, and he loves us more then we can ever understand. I leave that with you all this week in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

A New Zone Leader

Aldste Haddon is being transferred once again, this time to be called to be a zone leader (a missionary over a large area of missionaries in Sweden) and moved to a city that has had a lot of struggles with having Mormon Missionaries there, so it will likely be a challenge but Aldste Haddon is looking forward to the experience and getting to know yet another awesome companion!

(This is his 5th city in Sweden in 8 months)

This week has been hard but good for him. He was SUPER sick on Friday (stomach flu) and he tried to go out and work anyway.... the only detail we got about that was that it "wasn't pretty" so after he got over the bug they were back to hitting the pavement.

He is very sad to be saying goodbye to all of his friends in his current city but he knows that Heavenly Father has called him to serve where he is most needed and where he will grow the most.

Click here to learn about being called of God

As his family, we have seen so much change in Aldste Haddon and we know that this is the place for him at this time of his life. He loves the Lord and is willing to sacrifice to serve Him. He knows that this is the restored gospel that Christ brought to the earth so long ago and he feels blessed to be able to have that knowledge and share it all over the world.

Sorry it took me EXTRA long to post today! Tanner and I are becoming licensed foster parents and it is requiring A LOT of changes to our house...today has been major chore day!



Blessings of the Priesthood

Things have been going fairly well for Aldste Haddon in Sweden.

They have an awesome friend there who always feeds them on Tuesday nights at 8pm...not 8:03, not 8:01, 8PM. Well the other day, they took the wrong train and arrived at 8:06!!! After some gentle "threatening" from the man to take them out back and fight to the death, they had the best Chilean food as well as a great visit with him.

Aldste Haddon has also been told that he may be transferred again in the coming week so they have really amped up their efforts to get the members in the ward actively involved in missionary work. They have begun organizing visits and monthly family home evenings that include both members and investigators so that they can get to know each other and learn the gospel together.

They also have been trying to teach people who are already baptized but have lost the desire to attend church. Recently they have been working with a man who has recently been diagnosed with leukemia...here is the story in Aldste Haddon's words:

 "Well sadly he has been diagnosed with Leukemia, and things were going badly for him. We came over once and he told us how he is going to have an operation really soon, where they can try to get rid of the Cancer and prolong his life. They said it is very risky and he will have to use many types of chemotherapy, which always has not the greatest side-effects. I asked him if he would like a blessing. His face lit up, he said he would love that. He pointed to me and asked me to do it.

As I was giving this blessing I felt so calm and I only said the things of my heart, at one point I told him, “The operation is going to go well, it is going to be very difficult but you but you will get better through your faith in Jesus Christ, and you will be a strong member of the church once again.” I do not know why I said that, all I know was that it was from the spirit. The doctors said he frankly doesn't have much time left. But I knew it felt right.

Its been several weeks since the blessing and the operation, he has fought of the cancer almost completely and had a very hard time throughout. We visited him in the hospital last night and he just looked at me and cried, “Through the pain and suffering and all I have gone through, all I could remember was that blessing that you gave me. I knew in my heart I would be alright. I also have learned how much Christ really loves me.” He is going home in a couple days, and he told me that he will be coming back to church, there is no question about that.

I just want to say I know that the Priesthood really is God's power that he has entrusted with men. I am glad to be worthy to have it. I just want to thank you all again for all the wonderful emails and the love that I feel through them.  I love you all, and see you on the flip-side!"

Click to hear from Elder Oaks about Healing the Sick

 How the Turkish fly everywhere:

Surprise Baptisms and Americans

This week has been a week full of surprises for Aldste Haddon. To start off, they decided to do splits with the other district in his area to give it an extra boost. While they were working, they got a phone call from a man that they have been working with who had at one point, chosen to not be apart of the church, but through learning more about the gospel from the missionaries had chosen to get baptized. When he called, he was ready to be baptized then and there, (he had met with the Stake President and received approval) so they went straight to the church, filled the font and performed the ordinance. It was an amazing, and exciting experience.

 

Surprise number 2 came when they were walking down the street and they heard two men yell: ELDERS!! They turned to see some men about their age walking. When they approached, they found out that they were both returned missionaries walking from Iceland across Asia just to say that they can! They visited with them for awhile and everyone went on their way.

 

A little later came surprise number three.

They were walking along and heard a group of finely dressed business men yell: ELDERS!! (In English) So, they turned and as they began to walk up to them one of the men said that he was just telling his friends about them and the gospel. So they began walking and talking with the men. One of them expressed that he REALLY wanted to learn more about the gospel, and Aldste Haddon began talking to him. He told him about his life here at home, the sports that he played and the scholarships that he turned down. The man was so surprised and asked him why he was willing to leave everything behind and put his own life on hold. Aldste Haddon explained that it is more important to him to be able to share the gospel and help people than to fulfill his own dreams and life during this time. He is willing to give up so much so that others can have what we have and know what we know. That Christ lives, that this is His gospel and that through the priesthood and the sacred ordinances that Heavenly Father has given us, we can have eternal life with Him and with our families again. He wants everyone to know that Joseph Smith restored Christ's church on the earth, and that he sacrificed SO much to give us the gospel and The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

The man was filled with the spirit, and Aldste Haddon has promised to find a way to send the missionaries to him in Kansas and he is thrilled to learn more.

 

It goes to show that sometimes the Lord really does work in mysterious ways; who knew that man would have to come all the way to Sweden from America to learn about the church and find a missionary he could relate to.

Clearly, nothing is a coincidence.

 

Watch this video about The Restoration of the Gospel