P-Day 47

Hi Mommy,

Yes I went and got a haircut and it was just to see what I wanted.  (Last week he asked me to send him a picture of himself at our Christmas call.) Also I don't know about the boots. I don't know where I will end up is the thing... I could be back in Hmong, Juneau or like Fairbanks. It depends on where I am if I would need the boots... 

But yup this week was awesome too. Bishop Gray set up an appointment with Stephanie at his house. We got to know her and we taught the Restoration. Before we taught, she talked about her Book of Mormon reading. She commented that she didn't understand everything, but she is learning a lot from it. Because we don't understand everything at once we have to reread them. She also said that when we reread it, different things will be going on in our lives, so the Book of Mormon will touch us in different ways. 

We began teaching the restoration and we got to Joseph Smith and the first vision. She stopped us and began telling us a story of her sisters conversion. Me and Elder White (exchanges!) were very confused because we had just gotten to the good part... But she continued and shared how her sister said that when she went to the LDS church she felt complete inside. Stephanie then said she felt that same way when she went to church that first Sunday! We have her committed to baptism! We are going to pick out a date this week. 

We went tracting yesterday and we were walking up this driveway. It was a house way back into the woods. Two Russian dudes came out about 25ish. We started talking to them. They very standbackish and interrogating. Me and Elder Gentry just kept talking and talking until they felt comfortable. Then we started teaching. They had a ton of questions. One went inside and one stayed out after a bit. His name was Dimitri. We taught him the Restoration in between his questions and afterwards talking about the BoM. He basically ripped it out of Elder Gentry's hands. He said he felt every other church wasn't right. He never investigated Mormons so he wanted to learn it all. We also got a return appointment. There is a lot of potential here as well. 

We taught Hope the restoration again as part of her new member lessons. We tried teaching it a different way. We used the First Vision to describe the character of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and then used the Bible to investigate the church that Christ established and compared it to churches today. Elder Gentry killed it. 

Alaska has had beautiful 70 degree weather. We have gone OYMing at the park all week. The sun doesn't set until about midnight so everybody goes around 7:30-9. We talked to a lot of people, taught lessons while playing basketball and got a lot of people turning around when we walked in their direction. We also got asked to join a picnic. It was a lot of fun and very interesting! We also had to stop by the Susitna River while we drove past it! Pictures below. 

Love you!

Elder Frey

Temple Picture

Sister Herrick (another missionary momma with a son serving in Alaska) posted this on facebook.  

P-Day 46

Hi mommy!

This week was awesome! We had Hope's baptism. The spirit was really strong. Her children came but her husband wasn't there. He ended up coming about halfway through after the actual ordinance. She was super worried about the whole going down into the water and didn't want to do it more than once. Everything was awesome and went smoothly. Then we confirmed her the next day as planned. Luckily, Sister LaVoie of the mission, who does the baptismal records, was there. We were able to give her the record immediately after the confirmation and everything's A-Okay now! 

So we had this media referral for a girl named Stephanie and we could not contact her. We knocked on her door like 15-20 times. Never home. We called. Wrong number. It was a promising referral and she really wanted to learn. We were bummed. We go to church on Sunday and Bishop Gray's wife walks in with a friend named Stephanie. We started talking to her and it is the same Stephanie from the referral! She had randomly shown up for church, started walking in and Sister Gray starting talking to her, found out she wasn't a member and fellowshipped. She's read about half of the Book of Mormon and we set up a lesson with her at Bishop Gray's this week. The work keeps on rolling. Hopefully she is as golden as Hope! 

Me and Elder Gentry studied tender mercies this week and my tender mercy besides Hope's baptism: The Big Lake Elders found a Hmong family and I get to go teach them! Time to refresh my memory of the restoration in Hmong. 

We have made an effort to get out of the car and walk more, so people can see us and we can OYM (Open Your Mouth) more. We did our first day of it yesterday. We ditched our car after church. Well, we made a wrong turn and walked a mile and a half in the wrong direction and was late to dinner, only like 15 minutes late.. Good thing it was the Martin family and they were chill about it. We had a guy pull over and talk with us and got his number! We were walking by the park and OYMed a less active, who was YSA age, and invited him to go to the YSA and their activities. It will be interesting giving up the car for a few days in Wasilla.... 

The work is great, The Book is Blue and the Church is true. Alaska is still the most beautiful state out there and The Alaska Anchorage Mission is #1. 

Peace!
The best son ever

I win the award for best tie ever

Pictures from kind sisters

This week I got an email/picture from the wife of Elder Frey’s mission president.  It said, “We love Elder Frey!  Thank you for your support of him and missionary work!  With love, Sister Robinson"

A day later I got this one from Sister Knappen.  It said, “Grabbed this picture for you yesterday!  They’d just finished doing some service for a member in a different ward.  Hope you have a great day!... We enjoy having him in our ward.  He’s a wonderful missionary!"

P-Day 45

Hi Mom!

It felt great finally being healthy:P Elder Gentry is awesome. He is a stud! He is going through homesickness, like every new missionary but me. But he is really good at teaching. 

People this week have been super rude! We had people cussing and flipping us off. First time I have had that on my mission. 

Hope is being baptized Saturday! She is super excited and ready. Beyond ready. So that's exciting. My emailing skills really do suck but that's okay. I have a time lapse of driving around Wasilla I will send. 

Love you!

Elder Hayden Frey

P-Day 44

Since we had just spoken yesterday, all I got today was a picture of him with his new companion that I had requested yesterday.  This is the email he sent to everyone else...

Hello!

So this week was relatively uneventful.. Again. Tuesday, Elder Christensen was saying some goodbyes and I started to feel really sick. So we went home and I took a nap for a bit but woke up feeling worse. We took my temperature and I was sitting at 103..

I was super worried because Wednesday I would be picking up my boy!
(My trainee). So we called the mission nurse and she told me to stay in a rest. Duh because my fever was at 103.

I woke up on Wednesday feeling alright but right about 9am.. My fever came back. So I hit the Tylenol and go pick up my boy. Well.. The mission president takes one look at me and says, "after you meet your trainee, go to bed." We were supposed to sit in 6 hours of trainings and then go to the temple but I feel bad for my trainee. I met him and then left and went and slept.

So we start heading home to Wasilla. My trainee has to drive (🔴) and I am falling asleep trying to tell him where to go. Then we just got home and sleep. So I wake up the next morning and the nurse calls and said to go to urgent care. So we show up... And I had strep throat....

Also, the urgent care had a bunch of medical stuff and questions translated into Hmong (very poorly I would say) and so I had to ask for a Hmong translator to which they didn't have. I just want to speak to someone in Hmong!

But long story short.. We stayed in the apartment pretty much whole week. First week, my trainee was bored out of his mind.. Well I am better now and ready to go. This week will be awesome!

Have a good week!
Elder Hayden Frey

My boy Elder Gentry (from Ephraim, UT)

Mother’s Day FaceTime

Sunday afternoon we got “the call”.  It was so good to see his happy smiling HEALTHY face!!  He has been so sick 3-4 times since being in Alaska and I hope he is finally on the mend so he can focus on the work.  He has a new companion- Elder Gentry- fresh from the MTC.

I asked him what his favorite part of missionary work was and he said talking to people.  He loves tracting and meeting new people on the street (although he said the “Americans” are so rude and he misses the Hmong people).  He is still counting on the fact that he will go back to the Hmong branch to end his mission.  He reads the Book of Mormon in Hmong every day and listened to General Conference in Hmong rather than English.  He has been looking for Hmong people to teach/talk to since he got to Wasilla.  I had him bear his testimony in Hmong and recorded it.

Family picture

He gave Garrett a hard time about his long hair.  There were quite a few jokes and one liners throughout the conversation.  Once again he had us laughing the whole time!

He is so happy to be in Alaska and serving the people there.  He loves his mission!

Trainer

P-Day 43

Hi mom,

Things are going good here in Wasilla. Transfer are this Wednesday! Hehehe and for the FaceTime. We have church from 7 am to 2pm here. So anytime after that I'm good. And our apartment has wifi. I'll pay Larry 15 to keep saying jokes! 

We had exchanges this week. I went with Elder Carroll to YSA Ward. That was fun. We taught a bunch of lessons. And stayed up to 3 am talking and then was super tired the next day.  Hope is still progressing well and preparing for baptism! There was not a lot to these week really! Besides transfer calls!

Love you!

Elder Frey

Hello!

This week we received our transfer calls! And drum roll please......... I'm training a brand new missionary! I am excited to train and to help a new missionary adjust to the life of a new missionary. Maybe I can train him as well as mine trained me (Haha thanks Ryan!)

Sister Meade, the lady we did service for last week passed away the day after we did the bonfire. She was happy and smiling with us and showing us her village art. It is unfortunate but a part of life. One day we will all see her again.

Besides transfers and Sister Meade it was a pretty uneventful week.
Hope is still progressing to baptism. We tracted a lot. The only out of the normal thing was exchanges with Elder Carroll. I went over to the YSA Ward. We taught 3 or 4 lessons.

Have a good week!
Elder Hayden Frey

Sister Cathy Knappen

   Sister Knappen lives in one of the Wasilla wards that Elder Frey is currently serving in.   On Wednesday night I received this picture and message from her...
“Our new couches are sooo comfy!  They love to come and relax on them.  Got to have them over for taco salad tonight.  We love having them over!"