Happy Fathers Day!

Hey!  Happy Father's Day!

I'm glad you all had fun on trek! It was awesome- I loved it. What a unique and special experience :) Sounds like a blast. I was going to say that I hope you took pictures, but let's be honest.... You probably took a billion, I hardly need to ask ;) good thing everyone survived.

Glad to hear everyone is doing well! I'm glad Lexi is taking care of little Schnookums- I totally second that decision :) Tell them thanks!

Thank the girls for my postcards- I got them and I love them :)

This week has been pretty great! The weather is definitely heating up and humidity is a blast. Not something I'm super used to yet. But apparently, the lightning bugs will be coming out soon! The members say their excited to see my reaction to them. That makes me even more excited to see them come out :)

We've been meeting with and finding a lot of people lately! I'm working with several families I just adore, and can't wait to see where this goes :) I find that the longer I'm out here, the more love I have for the people I meet, which is AWESOME. I love these people so much. I come in contact with the coolest, most unique people ever, and I'm not even in Brazil yet!

Speaking of Brazil, I got a call from the office today- Salt Lake FedEx Expressed them some stuff for me to sign ASAP and send back. Don't know what that is yet, but we have to coordinate a way for that to happen and get it off as soon as we can. That's all the visa stuff I've heard of so far. But I'm still enjoying my time here :)

Another thing- I didn't realize there were like a billion versions of the Bible. You learn something new every day! :)  

Sister Ouimette got out this Celtic Women CD that she got for Christmas (I remember Becca being OBSESSED with that a few years ago) and we love it. It's the best. Almost as good as Alex Boye and Andrea Bocelli :) haha Welcome to my life.

I really liked something Pres Fenn said, something about going to bed every night and being able to say to our Heavenly Father "I did all I could do today", and then waking up the next day and commiting to be better. I feel like I've really adapted that into the kind of missionary I am. Every once and a while we have experiences in life where we look back and either regret, or think we could have done better. I refuse to let my mission be one of those experiences. I knew going on my mission that I wanted to come, serve, and go home with the reassurance that I served the best mission I could to the best of my abilities. Because while a mission can be hard, I have 18 months to serve, and the rest of my life to think about how I did. I want to be able to look back and be happy and proud of the missionary I was. And that idea to be able to go to bed every night and say to our God, "I am far from perfect, I messed up a lot... but I did the best I could today and will promise and strive to do even better tomorrow" has really helped me to live up to that goal of serving the best mission I can. Every day, every lesson, every contact, every minute of study. Constantly trying to be more influenced by the Spirit, more aware, more obedient, more patient, more loving, more kind. Sister Ouimette says she prays every night that she did the best she could do, and proceeds to ask the Lord to take her meek and humble offering of her missionary work and consecrate it to do what He needs with it. I do that too. I know my contibution is small and imperfect, but I know its the best I can do, and through the Lord it will be enough.

We share a unique message. We really do. And the best part about it is that it's true! Awesome, huh?? And while we are the ones knocking door-to-door, going to appointments, and studying, it's really the Lord who's in charge. I know where I fall short, I try as hard as I can to improve, and simultaneously find other areas where I fall short, and work on them too. I may stutter at the door, or accidentally miss part of the First Vision (I constantly keep skipping the "pointing to the other" phrase for some reason), but I know that as long as I am doing my best, the Lord is pleased and my performance will be consecrated.

And the nice part about having a message that is true is that people can deny it. But people can also accept it. And even though I mess up, there are people who recognize truth for truth. And they recognize it because they are prepared, and because I am prepared and doing my best. It's awesome. I've had a couple different little experiences with that. The people who are ready for the truth will see it. Maybe not all at once- most of the time it will be line upon line... but they recognize it.

That was a lot. Sorry there weren't any specific experiences. That's just something I've been thinking a lot about lately. I hope it all made sense :P I love being out here. I love serving a mission. Like it says in PMG, I have been called by a prophet of God to share what I know. I know that this message I bring it true. I know the Atonement works... I'm only 19 years old. I have seen and heard  and met SO MANY PEOPLE in some crazy and hard situations in life. It's rough. I've only been out for a few weeks but have already seen so much (and I know I will continue to see and hear more). But what's comforting is my testimony and my faith in the fact that while I am only 19 and don't know a single thing about what any of the people I meet are going through, Christ does. Our Heavenly Father does. And I know that Christ decsended below all so we could be comforted, healed and forgiven. There is nothing the Atonement can't help or heal. I may not know much, but I know that to be solid and true. I have had little glimpses here and there over the past few weeks of that. It's incredible. This church is true, and I am grateful for it. I love being a missionary :)

I love you all so much!!! Have an excellent week! Especially at Lake Powell :) In my honor, I request that you do something super cool and send a picture to me of it. We always do super cool things, but make it extra unique somehow. Like take a picture holding something that represents either me or Brazil on top of a canyon, or on top of Lone Rock, or jumping off a cliff, or maybe a sand castle, or something.... surprise me ;) And if you guys have a request, send it and I'll take a cool picture for you :)

Love Always!

-Sister Hayley Walton