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.)

P-Day 38

Hi Mom,

Okay, Wasilla is alright, but it's not the Hmong branch. I miss it. Elder Christensen is awesome! He is a good young missionary. He is always trying to be better and improve. He is good and obedient unlike my last one.   He's awesome! He's a typical Utah boy. Caffeine is bad, Utah pride etc... He came out after me by like 2 months. He's only been with young missionaries though. So he still is learning. I just had an amazing trainer so I kinda know what to do. He's awesome though. I love him.  We cover two wards: Wasilla and Memory Lake. We have a washer and dryer in our apartment which is nice. 

It was a pretty slow area. Most lessons taught in a week over the last few months was 4... Well after we decided to kick its butt. We have had 13 in 4 days and tracting up a storm with several solid potential investigators. I hate English work though. But the Lord wants me here so I will do it. 

Haha Elder Christensen always calls me "trunky" to leave and go back to the Hmong branch. Haha oops but I still read in Hmong everyday and pray in it. There are a few cool members here :P the Wasilla Bishop is really cool and is always missionary minded. 

Elder Orton** is in our apartment right now emailing with us. He is in my district. Why didn't you tell me that Mckay is in South Korea?? 

Love you!

Elder Frey

An investigator with his pet wolf

**  Elder Orton is from New Hampshire.  He is friends with friends of ours- a family that was in our ward in Massachusetts- the Lewis’s.  Their son, McKay Lewis is serving in South Korea.  I asked if he had met Elder Orton because I knew he was in Wasilla.

P-Day 37

Hi Mom,

So for transfers...... I am leaving.... I am going to Wasilla. My companion is staying and getting another rough companion and is not looking forward to the transfer. Haha he's been complaining saying he knows nobody, speaks none of the language, and is gunna die. I kinda feel bad but I am happy to get a change in companion. Just not area. I gave my departing talk from the branch and it was very sad. All in Hmong to say. The branch isn't very happy I am leaving... They all requested President Robinson's phone number to complain but oh well. I will be back in a few months guaranteed.  

My companion will be Elder Christensen, he was trained in Meadow Creek which is in my zone. So I know him really well. Plus there are 30-40 Hmong families in Wasilla, so yay!! 

Don't worry about me going hungry these next few days! We ate 4 meals yesterday and 4 or 5 for the next few days before I leave. Everybody wants to feed me.. So yeah I will gain back all the weight for sure. I leave for Wasilla Wednesday. And Hmong people aren't happy. That's all there is this week really. 

Love you!

Elder Hayden Frey

P-Day 36

Hi Mom!

I am a lot healthier. I still have a trace if a cough which is almost gone. The nurse thinks it is bronchitis so I have to keep seeing if it comes back or not. But right now I am all good. Yes I read it often (Patriarchal blessing). Once or twice a week. 

We had exchanges this week with our zone leaders and Elder Goodsell, my favorite zone leader ever, came down to the Hmong branch. It felt good to finally do some missionary work. We taught three lessons and had a lot of success that day. We were able to talk to Kong, a 19 year old priest. It turns out that he was going to the patriarch to get his patriarchal blessing and we talked about how it will help him to live up to his potential. We also shared the video, our privilege our potential with President Uchtdorf. 

We also visited Thao Vang with Tsakong. Tsakong served his mission down in Cali and that is where Thao was baptized. They didn't know each other but they got to meet and talk and fellowship. Thao is a less active and Tsakong is a returning LA and they are both in their 20s. It went well. We challenged Thao to read the Book of Mormon more consistently. Next time we will follow up. 

It felt nice to do missionary work for once. The exchange was a lot of fun. It was also my month to conduct sacrament meeting. Things are still a little crazy and there is still work to do. Hopefully we can actually get it done. Love you!

Elder Hayden Frey

Haha Lori had her house set up to do a photo shoot while we were helping fix her sink. So we took turns fixing and taking photos. 

Iditarod

Hello,

There was absolutely nothing this week... I got sick as crap. I was quarantined with no leaving the apartment from Tuesday-Thursday.
Friday I got to leave for Zone meeting but was quarantined for the rest.

Saturday I got to go out for a bit. We had service and we got to help out the Iditarod start! So the Iditarod begins in Willow and goes to Nome. But every year they do a ceremonial start in Anchorage and 25 sets of missionaries went and helped out. It was a neat experience.
The dogs are a lot smaller then you think. And they always look so happy! I wouldn't be pulling a sled for 1,000 miles in the freezing cold. Afterwards I was back to being quarantined and Sunday similar thing. Sunday was the most interesting day of church I have ever been in...

Have a good week! Hopefully I am not quarantined in our apartment for much longer!!
Love, Elder Hayden Frey

P-Day 35

Hi Mom,

Nope things with Elder Meade just keep getting worse.... No matter how hard I try things just don't seem to go well. Saturday and Sunday were the worst... There were giant fights and he is trying to pin me and President Lampert (branch president) to be bad guys to President Robinson (mission president). So President Lampert wants to call and chat and get Elder Meade out of here. It's a big ol mess now.

I was quarantined in my apartment this whole week. My eyes were bloodshot, I have a really bad cough and sore throat. Headache, chills. Etc etc. everything is gone but bloodshot eyes and cough. Headache is in an out still. 

I have nothing to say really.  Sister Her is moving.... That's sad. We did service for the Iditarod start. Pictures when I can get them. My camera was dead and I didn't charge it because I didn't think we were going because I've been super sick. And Sunday was the craziest Sunday ever. In a not good way. That's all for the week.  Thanks for the prayers and quotes.

Love you!
Elder Hayden Frey