P-Day 42

Hi my favorite AZ Mother!

I am doing well! And Wasilla is pretty but the Hmong branch is better! And yes it is (dry enough to go hiking). I kinda have to follow my companion around or he complains so to avoid arguments I just do what he wants to do. So yeah maybe one day. Glad everything is going well at home.  

Hello!

This week we had a ton of service hours. We spent about 6 hours cleaning trash out of abandoned shacks with the zone. Let's just say people are really dirty. Who just dumps diapers in the middle of nowhere... Let alone heroin needles. As well as dead rotten animal carcasses and bones. What a sight it was though. 3 Nissan trucks driving with more trash stacked in them then probably should have been. It was a lot of fun though. 

We also got a call from a lady saying "I need two sheds knocked over." We go over and she gives us sledges hammers and said "knock them down and then burn it." Best. Service. Ever. We knocked down these sheds and had a huge bonfire with the zone and it was service! He had the flames 15 feet high! Only in Alaska can you get away with that. 

We got one investigator on date for May 21st! She's been coming to church for 3 years and reads 4 chapters of the Book of Mormon a day. She knows just about everything. She just finally committed and really wants this. It's sweet!

Besides service, it's pretty much been 3 hours of tracting or more a day. Good thing I love it! Everything is warm. Really warm for this time of year. And it's green! Wow! Alaska is wonderful! Have a good week! 

Love you!

Elder Hayden Frey

P-Day 41

Hi mom!

Hahaha pho*. I've had the reallllllll stuff. So it won't be as good.  Hehehehe but yeah it's all a lie what the Lamperts said 😶 I’m terrible horrible no good very bad.

We had an unfortunate incident with the investigator that went to the temple with the member and she dropped us. (The fellowshipper invited her and she is a little crazy and she knew she couldn't go in but it didn't go through her head right. Wasilla is full of crazies.)  Her heart will be softened one day.

Hope Ronne is still progressing well and we have a lesson today with her. She expressed her plans to enter into the waters of baptism. We are talked with her about prayerfully deciding a date when she feels she is ready. I feel that she may push that off for a few months so we may encourage and talk about her readiness as of right now. But she is
a wonderful, tender mercy from Above.

We had another two investigators experience the humbling moment that has pushed them to meet with us. He was recently laid off from the slope and they want to meet. The Lord's hand is definitely in his work.

Short email this week sorry! Not much happened besides that and chopping a lot of wood. A LOT and zone conference which is a 7 hour meeting... But yeah.

Love you!
Elder Hayden Frey

*Alyssa and I went out to dinner with the Lamperts earlier in the week.  We went to the Vietnamese restaurant that Joanna and I went to last fall and had more pho- a soup that is now one of Hayden’s favorite things. We told him we’ll have to take him when he gets home.

From his general email...

Well this week was pretty uneventful. We had zone conference and we had the opportunity to sit for 7 hours and receive training. Haha not my favorite thing but I got to see one of my favorite elders, Elder Goodsell! We actually did learn a lot about how we can better serve the Lord.

We also chopped a lot of wood. That's what missionaries are for in Wasilla I think... We chop wood! It's a good workout at times and a lot of fun. We got to meet a lot of good people through this service and maybe one day will be open to the gospel.

Our investigators are still progressing well. We have one committed and several solid potentials. Thing seem to be popping with the warm spring weather here. It's been sitting 50-60 degrees and the trees are turning green. This is an abnormally early and warm spring.

Zone Conference

A moose out the window.

When I said I wanted to see him, not a moose, this is what I got.

P-Day 40

Hi Mom!

Oh my gosh when did they go?😜 Haha we had planned that for a long
time! I gave him the time and where it was and we planned it so he
would be there fast Sunday. Mwhahaha we are evil. Hope you enjoyed it
:P and random side note. He doesn't even have the right number :P He
has been texting random other missionaries LOLOLOLOL*

The Hmong people live in Anchorage.** Possibly found a potential Hmong
family in our area though! My shoes are still good. All of them.

This was a tougher week than most but there were several miracles
within it. This was the dreaded “nobody's home" week. We tried and
tried and nothing was coming out of it. As soon as you are about to
give up, that is when the miracle comes. Keep on pushing!

We got a call from one of our wards bishop's wife. She has a friend
that she has been working on and has come to church for the last year
and been reading the Book of Mormon and finally has decided to join
and take the missionary lessons. We went over and taught the
restoration. It was a powerful lesson. She bore her testimony of the
BoM. We didn't need to commit her to read the BoM because she reads
and prays about it. We didn't need to commit her to come to church. So
we went straight for baptism and boom. She said yes. Today we are
prayerfully selecting a date with her.

We also tracted into a solid potential investigator. He is humble and
ready to learn. We taught the restoration and left a Book of Mormon.
We will see this week.

It's been a tough week but me and Elder Christensen are pulling
through and doing our best. Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
might, mind and strength and all will work out. That's what we are
doing. Have a wonderful week and love you!

Elder Hayden Frey

*President Lampert jokingly tried to give me Elder Frey’s phone number.  I said, “NO!  I’m trying to be a good example of obedience!!”

**I had asked if he had met the Hmong people his new bishop is renting to.

President and Sister Lampert

I had the BEST surprise during sacrament meeting today! A visitor got up to bear his testimony, and I thought he looked a little bit familiar but I didn't think much of it. He started speaking about a missionary who he had been serving with back home and how he had come to our ward today to thank us for preparing and sending out such an amazing missionary. He said he especially wanted to thank his mother- ME! I had figured it out about halfway through and had burst into tears, so I'm not sure what else he said. President and Sister Lampert serve as the branch president and his wife in the Hmong branch in Anchorage, Alaska where Elder Frey served for the first 8.5 months of his mission. He loves them dearly (and not just because they did his laundry for him every week!).  
The Lamperts are in AZ for a wedding, and have been planning this surprise visit to meet me for months.  Elder Frey didn’t say a word!

The Lampert’s stayed for all of the block and Sister Lampert attended Young Women with me.  She said she has never served in YW and loved being able to see how we do things.  She really enjoyed the lesson.  After church we went outside in the chilly rainy weather for some photos. The Lampert’s felt right at home, but I was FREEZING!

(This picture is from last September when the Lampert’s joined Joanna and the other missionaries in celebrating Elder Frey’s Birthday with him.  President Lampert had called me that night to make sure they had the right directions to make “cherry gook”.)

P-Day 39

Hi Mom,

No hikes yet. It is warming up and there is mud everywhere so we can't really hike. It hit 67 degrees on Wednesday. A lot better then 20 degrees! Or -15 like it was a in November. 

General Conference we had it at the stake center and at Bishop Gray's house.** We had a lot of less actives and non members when we went to Bishops. It was very spiritual and it helped one of our slower progressing investigators speed up his progression and he asked a lot of questions. 

I still am getting used to the area. I don't know directions at all and we cover two wards so it is huge! Also English work is a lot different from Hmong. Vastly different and I am still adjusting to it. 

I did get a new razor. I don't know what happened to it. All I know is I don't have it and the Hmong elders say it isn't there so I just went and got a new one.. And yes I got the board game. It is called civilization. It is based off an old video game that was a lot of fun. 

We got the new phone book and I think I found some Hmong people in the area possibly! Haha! It's easy when there are only 18 last names and maybe 7 of them are common. Also Bishop Gray has a few apartment buildings with Hmong in them (in Anchorage though) and said he may invite them to dinner. Haha yes! 

Love you!

Elder Hayden Frey

** From an email sent out to others...

The talk on refugees just makes me want to go back to Hmong! I've done all those things soooo many times. It was an awesome experience. But Hollands talk was awesome. I really like when he talked about we get credit for trying. Because we are human, we make mistakes everyday.  But as long as we are trying our best to change and do good. The grace of Christ allows us to be forgiven. It was a wonderful heartfelt talk.  Monson's short sermons were amazing too. He is truly a prophet of God.

We had some non members and less actives at Bishop's house and things went well. One of our slower progressing investigators was asking a ton of questions and seems to be progressing quicker. It's going well!
We had a super solid potential call us this morning and ask us to teach her. So yeah! There's that.

Elder Frey and his new companion, Elder Christensen

(Sent to me from another missionary momma in one of the wards he is serving in.  They had taken them to Arby’s for dinner.)