This week we had a half mission conference with Elder Renlund of the 70.  As always, the Spirit was so strong and I learned a lot.  I was reviewing the notes I took there today and was amazed at how my questions that I had asked before were all answered.  

After the mission conference, we had planned to go finding, and even though it was freezing cold outside, we went.  We prayed that Heavenly Father would bless us. We were trying to be diligent and indeed He did!  We found two new investigators Levi and Scott-- we are excited to teach them!  

Heavenly Father has been blessing us a lot and we are so grateful that He put the three of us together!  I can't think of a better companionship :)

This weekend we helped at a community event honoring the veterans.  While we were there we were able to hand out 24 pass-along cards and help share the gospel to those people.  I am so blessed to know that Christ is the Gift this season! 

putting wreaths on Veteran's graves

Here is Emily's current address if you want to send her a Christmas card: 
Sister Emily Hales
9900 Ardmore Drive
Knoxville, TN 37923
emily.hales@myldsmail.net

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello Hello! 

This week was transfers and a lot of changes happened!  Sis Lee went home, but she seems more resolved about it now.  I heard from her today and she's doing great already :)  I LOVE my new companions Sis Echols and Sis Ramon.  They are wonderful!  Sis Echols and I are training Sis Ramon together, and let me be the first to say that training in a trio is great!  I was so worried and stressed about this transfer, but since the transfer has started, I've just felt so peaceful.  I'm so grateful for Christ's Atonement that gives us strength, peace, and comfort.

Sis Echols is from Orem, Utah and Sis Ramon is from Pohnpei, Micronesia!  She is here waiting for her visa for the Brisbane, Australia Mission.  They told us that they're only moving visa waiters on the transfer, so we get to keep her for at least 6 weeks, which is probably about as long as I'm going to be here anyways.  Sis Echols is sad that I'm not going to "kill her off" in February, but I assure her that her next companion will be great too (just not as great as me ;) )

Sis Ramon has had a hard adjustment to the states and to the food so she has been really sick.  We even had to go to the ER because she was in so much pain (turns out that an ovarian cyst burst).  She seems to get a little bit better each day.  Yesterday she was well enough to go to church, then she had to rest during studies, then we went out that evening for 2 hours, but she ended up throwing up her dinner.  Please keep her in your prayers. 

This week we have our half mission conference with Elder Renlund of the 70 and we are so excited!  It should be a great day! 100 missionaries will all be there.

I love you so much and hope you are enjoying the great Christmas season!  

helping at the Bishop's storehouse

a pretty field by Emily's house

The sisters' gratitude tree

sending Sister Lee home

Emily with her new companions - Sister Echols and Sister Ramon

Hello Everyone!

Sister Lee and I had a great last week together!  It was a little different from our typical weeks with Mission Leadership Council all day Tuesday and Thanksgiving on Thursday and a trip to Rockwood on Friday, but it was wonderful nonetheless. We also go to go to a baptism of the Sharpe kids in the Hardin Valley ward.  I met with them while I was in their ward briefly and they have such a great story.  They live across the street from Bishop Rambo and their daughters were friends.  The Sharpe's knew all the words to "A Child's Prayer" because the Rambo kids would sing it all the time.  The Rambos invited the Sharpes to a ward party and Sis Sharpe asked the missionaries if they could teach her about the church if "they weren't busy."  Sis Sharpe was quickly baptized afterwards in November of 2013.  Her husband took a little longer and was baptized in May of 2014.  He didn't want his kids to be baptized until they really undrestood, but really he still wasnt' sure for himself if the Church was better than his old one.  But with help of the ward and the missionaries for the last year, Bro Sharpe finally felt his kids were ready and was able to baptize them himself on Saturday.  The opening song was "I Love to See the Temple" and when it talked about our families being sealed together, I almost lost it.  Now this wonderful family can go to the temple next summer and be sealed for time and all eternity!  That's been a wonderful miracle to see :)

We had a great Thanksgiving and had so much fun running a 5k! The members were so kind to let us come to their homes and make us feel at home :)  It was a good day!

Yesterday, we went to see a Recent Convert/Less Active-- John who's 17.  He's the only member in his family and he has times where he is super active and really loving the gospel and other times when it is a struggle for him.  But he's doing pretty good right now.  When we were there, his Dad's girlfriend's son, Jalen, was there (also 17) and we taught him the restoration.  He felt the spirit so strongly and committed to be baptized on January 3rd!  It was so exciting!  It's so neat to see people feel the spirit and help them identify what those feelings are! Being a missionary is pretty exciting :)

On Wednesday we are going to be saying goodbye to Sister Lee.  It's been hard for her to leave, but I think she's accepted it now and is excited for this next adventure.  She is going to do great things!  On Wednesday, I'm going to be getting a new companion (I'm pretty sure it'll be Sis Echols) and a brand new missionary that we'll train together!  I am so excited and cannot wait!  

This will definitely be an exciting week!

I Love you all!

 Emily, Sister Lee, and a few other missionaries ran a 5K on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with the Groburgs

Eating at Chick-fil-A after district meeting

Hello Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week we've seen several miracles that may seem small, but help us know how much Heavenly Father really is there helping us.  Kim made it to church this week!  She came right at the last minute and we were so happy to see her there. The spirit was felt and it was a great meeting :)

This weekend was our stake conference which is always a spiritual feast!  I got to sit by Aunt Betsy and baby Lilly at the Saturday evening session.  It was so good to see them!  I am so grateful to be serving so near them. We also got to see Amber who moved to Maryville (she is meeting with the missionaries down there) and I got to see Joe Feliciano!  He got baptized while I was in West Hills-- it was such a good reunion! 

I am so thankful for the blessings of the gospel in my life and the chance to see the gospel change people's lives and hearts.  I hope our actions reflect our gratitude to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for all that they have given us:)

Winter is starting to come in the air!  

This week I got the chance to go to Rockwood on exchange with Sis Benge.  Small towns have so much character!  I heard so many funny stories, I was constantly laughing!  Knoxville is definitely not the norm for most of the mission.  I'm glad I've been able to serve in both the city and the country!

We've been teaching a lot of people who only speak Spanish.  It helps me relate to my brother more to say the least!  I wish I had taken it more in high school, but I'm determined to learn it now and when I get home so I can communicate with and help so many more people.

We were able to see Kim again!  Her divorce got pushed back to February :(  But she is finding comfort through the scriputres and prayer.  We're trying to help her see how the gift of the Holy Ghost can help her in her life as well, but she still wants to wait.  She should be at stake conference next week!

I'm so grateful for the peace the gospel brings!

We've been so blessed this week with so many good lessons.  We taught the restoration a lot and each time the Spirit was so strong.  We taught Lori and Ken  who are neighbors of the Puckett family the restoration this week.  This lesson was a little bit different because Lori grew up in a RLDS church.  She told us that she believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet and grew up reading the Book of Mormon.  They have since left the RLDS church because she doesn't believe in  a lot of the practices.  Ken met with missionaries in the 1980s during his military/drinking days.  We're still not quite sure if he really met with LDS missionaries because he remembers some strange things.  But they could have just gotten skewed.  For example, he was really irked that Mormons didn't eat hot food.  At ward activities the women would have to let the food sit out for 20 minutes before they served it so it wouldn't burn their tongues and hurt their "temples."   Maybe he just confused it with hot drinks, and we do always let the food sit for 20 minutes because we always start late!  He also said the Bishop wanted him to donate one of his houses to the church because as a single man he didn't need two houses, so we're not really sure.  But it was really special to see how the restoration answered a lot of questions they both had and cleared up some confusion for both of them.  They both said they would read from the Book of Mormon and seemed really sincere.  A wonderful part was that the lesson was at their neighbors home-- the Pucketts-- and the spirit was really able to speak to them.  Because they were such good friends with the Pucketts, they felt comfortable there and Lori and Ken really listened whenever Bro Puckett would bear his testimony. 

 One evening I got this prompting that we should go stop by Sheryl's on the way home.  I suggested it to Sis Lee and she said, 'Sure! Why not?' though we were both thinking, we have so much to do and no time to do it!  When we went, Sheryl was home (that doesn't happen often!) and she let us come in and talk with her.  We read from 3 Nephi 11 and she was feeling really down.  She's in her 30s, a single mom, and living with her dad.  She's working at a fast food place and hates her job.  She feels really down and wants to move on.  She doesn't feel that God would love her after all the mistakes she made.  It was so good to help her know that Heavenly Father does love her and wants to help her.  She closed our lesson with a prayer, even though she was scared to do it.  I love hearing people pray so sincerely.  I can just feel that she is a treasured daughter of God and that He loves her so much-- hence why He keeps sending us back to go see her.  We're going to meet with her on Wednesday.  She's one of those people I just have a connection to.  I love her so much and I can see how much the gospel will bless her if she lets it!

We have a lot of exciting people we are working with.  We are so blessed to be busy!  I am very grateful for the blessings we are enjoying right now and I hope we'll be able to help those people continue on the path towards Eternal life!  

This was a great week to be a missionary!  

We had a special training meeting with Elder Kopishke of the 70, and I could really feel how Elder Kopishke brought the love that the prophet has for us, and also the love that Heavenly Father has for us.  The Spirit was so powerful in that meeting.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn from a representative of the Lord!

Halloween was this week so that brought a different twist to things, but we had a great time nonetheless.  On Tuesday we had our Halloween party and had a lot of fun!  So many people invited friends to the party!  There were at least 15 non members there and 10+ less active members.  It was such a fun night and a great chance for people to develop stronger connections!  Afterwards we went on exchanges with the West Hills sisters and I got to be with Sis Johnson who came out a week ago here in Pellissippi.  She has so much excitement and enthusiasm for the work!  It was so fun to be with her for the day!  I love the spirit of new missionaries!  It is great :)  

We also felt the spirit really strongly at church.  One of our investigators, Angel, is Hispanic and only speaks Spanish .  We've been teaching him with the help of members translating for us.  He was able to come to church this Sunday for the first time.  We asked two members to bear their testimony in Spanish and several others followed suit afterwards. The spirit was so strong!

I love being a missionary!  

Hiking in the Smoky Mountains on P-Day

Beautiful fall colors

Elder and Sister Kopishke

Emily and her companion dressed up like each other for Halloween