Our Easter was wonderful! The whole weekend was great!  We had such a fun time!  On Easter day, we had choir practice in the morning (the choir is singing beautiful music for Easter!) then we went to our Bishop's house to watch conference and our investigator Kayla came with her two kids!  Our recent convert David also came which was great!  We had a fun Easter dinner/lunch with them. Then we went to the West Hills church to watch general conference with two of Sis Johnson's less actives she's been working with.  The spirit is so strong listening to the prophets and apostles!  I love hearing their words!

This is my last time writing home as a missionary and there are lots of emotions going through my head!  This week has been such a great week!  Sis Johnson's been here with me and Sister Mickelson and we've had a blast as we've been out finding and teaching the gospel!  Listening to general conference was such a great experience!  I know that those men are called of God to share what HE would have us hear at this time.  

I want you all to know that I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that He wants us to be happy.  I know that He called a prophet to speak to restore His Gospel to show us how we can find "peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come."  I love this gospel so much and I know that it is true! 

Love y'all! See you next week!!

Emily's district

tracting with Sister Johnson

watching General Conference with Kayla and her family, Mollie, Patrick and David

Emily is reporting on her mission on April 19th at 9 AM in the Draper 16th ward.


Life has been really good this week!  Sister Mickelson and I have been working really hard and having a lot of fun doing it.  We have all these grand plans and then they all flop, but somehow the Lord still helps us.  It's slow and steady work, but we're still seeing little miracles and tender mercies all the time.  It's amazing how the Lord is so aware of everyone in their different circumstances.  

I've offically been a missionary for 18 months as of the 25th-- it's great to have these extra two weeks!  This week was my last Sunday at church (since next week is general conference) and it was sad to say goodbye to a lot of people.  I've been in this ward since July 30th!  It's like my home away from home :)  It's neat to see that the ward is getting excited about doing missionary work and how they are so loving and kind to everyone who comes to church.

I hope everyone has a great time at general conference and enjoys Easter!  Be sure to watch the Because He Lives video that's out!  It is so powerful and beautifully made :)  

Love y'all!  See you soon!

Eating dinner before the Women's Broadcast

Great wreath

eating lunch at the park

We love polka dots

Emily is speaking in the Draper 16th ward Sacrament Meeting on April 19th at 9 AM.  The address is 13112 South 700 East.  We are excited to see her!

Dear Family and Friends,

Life is good here in Knoxville!  Corey went out of town to see his mom this week so we were only able to teach him once, but that lesson went well.  He took his Book of Mormon and promised to read it everyday while he was gone.  We haven't heard from him since he's been gone, so hopefully we'll be able to see him soon!

Almost all of our new investigators we found last week dropped us.  Out of 11 new investigators you'd think we'd find some solid ones!  Well, unfortunately that was not the case, so we will hit the road and continue to find!  Hopefully as we will continue to find the people whom the Lord is preparing.

Two of the less active families we've been working with both came to church on Sunday!  It was great to see how the ward is so welcoming to everyone we bring to church.  I love the Pellissippi ward!  On Sunday in Relief Society Sis Curfman said, "You better sign up to feed the sisters because Sis Hales is going home on April 8th!" Everyone was shocked!  So now everyone at church has been saying, "We're going to miss you!" I still have two whole weeks left!  I'm not leaving yet!  But I am going to miss this ward I love the people here so much.

I love my mission and I'm so grateful I was called to serve in the Tennessee Knoxville mission. I know this is where the Lord wants me to be.  

The flowers are blooming in Knoxville.

having fun with these cute girls

Sidewalks are rare in Knoxville

Sister Mitchell and Sister Hales are getting ready for their Spanish class.

Dear Family and Friends,

We've had a great week! Kayla and Corey are both doing well and are well on their way to baptism.  They are both reading the Book of Mormon and are loving it!  It's interesting how they are two separate investigators, but they are often on the same page.  It's neat to see how the gospel has blessed both of them in their different lives.  We were invited to share our testimonies of the Book of Mormon to the 12 year olds' Sunday School Class.  The spirit was really strong and you can tell that these youth are good kids.  The church is really helping prepare the youth as they are developing their own testimonies.  We had a sweet experience this week as we followed a prompting.  We felt like we should see this less active sister who wasn't really progressing.  She's old, and a little bit crazy, and she doesn't really listen to what we say.  But we felt this tiny little prompting that we should see her, so we wrote her in our plans and off we went the following day.  When we were there, we met her granddaughter who is going through a divorce and had a miscarriage not too long ago.  She said she's on a spiritual journey right now.  We knew that we were sent to see her!  We gave her a Book of Mormon and talked about the peace that the gospel brings to us.  She agreed to meet with us again!  It's amazing to see how the Lord is always preparing people for us. 

I'm so grateful I get to spend my last transfer here and strengthen the relationships I have with the ward and the area.  I love the Pellissippi ward so much!  Knoxville has become my home away from home :)

well worn doing missionary work

celebrating pie day!

Dear Family and Friends,

What a week we've had!  Our investigators Kayla and Corey are making a lot of progress.  They both came to church yesterday and Corey said he really felt the spirit.  Kayla was a little worried about how her two kids would behave (they are4 and 3 years old and they are about the cutest things!), but we sat behind the Smiths who have twin boys age 6 and triplet boys age 4 so by the end she realized that she wasn't alone ;)  They both have been 

reading the Book of Mormon and feel the goodness from it!  Kayla introduced us to her neighbor and she sat in the restoration lesson again.  When we got to the part about the Book of Mormon she testified to her that the Book was from God and that it helped strengthen her faith.  So neat!  We're trying to help her make the connection that if the Book of Mormon is true, then the whole church is true.  She's not quite there yet, but we hope soon!

Corey is on board to be baptized the end of this month.  We found out that it was a year to the day after his father died that we were inspired to go to his house again after not reaching him the two months prior.  He still has some concerns, but he's showing his faith and trying to make the changes in his life to be baptized.  

It's amazing to see how the gospel can change anyone for the better if we choose to let Him in!  I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that allows us to become better and to live with Him again! 

     My new companion is named Sister Mickelson and she is awesome!! She's from River Heights, Utah (right outside of Logan). She's been out for 6 months, and just came from Athens, TN.  This is her second area and I'm her third companion.  I just love her!   Sister Ramon just went to Hardin Valley so she still lives with us!  It's so much fun :)  The other sister came out at the same time as Sister Ramon so they are both really new, but it'll be good for them.  Her name is Hermana Loper and she's from Oregon.  She's a lot of fun.  Sis Ramon got her visa on Wednesday. The policy is to make the missionaries wait until transfers so she will be staying her until April 6th then flying out to be in Australia when her mission does transfers on the 8th.  I'm so excited for her!  She's really nervous but happy too :)

     It warmed up yesterday and today.  It's supposed to hit the 50's and 60's this week and then go back to the 30's on Thursday, so we'll just have to enjoy it while it lasts.  It's been staying lighter a lot longer here and it's been wonderful!  It'll be nice to have it be so light later after daylight savings time-- people answer their doors more in the light.  But I will definitely miss that hour of sleep! 

     My mission has showed me a lot how the Lord uses us, the members in our wards, to help those around us.  There are so many people who need to feel loved and included and to be strengthened by the testimonies around us. 

Dear Family and Friends,

We are still having ice storms and lots of cold weather.  I found out on Saturday that I'm going to be staying in Pellissippi for my last transfer-- so I'm going to serve here for SIX transfers.  That is CRAZY!! I know that the Lord has a reason why I am here, it's just up to me to figure that out!  I'll have spent 8.5 months here by the time I leave!  It's like home!  It's strange that this is my last transfer as a missionary. 

We had a lesson with the S family, and they are doing so well!  When I was in the Hardin Valley ward, Brother S still wasn't sure if this was all true and had a lot of questions.  Now he's getting the Melchezidek priesthood on Sunday!  They have plans to go to Utah to get sealed this summer and are going to talk to the Bishop about their patriarchal blessings.  So neat!  I mentioned to them that two years ago joinging the church wasn't even on their radar and he said, "now it's completely changed our lives." I am so happy for the chance I had to meet their family and see how happy they are with the gospel now in their lives.  

We also had a lunch appointment with a sister who served her mission in Italy about 15 years ago.  There was only a district in Rome at that time, but the people there were promised that one day there would be a stake and eventually a temple.  It seemed so long off because the people were so unreceptive.  It's neat to see that the Lord's promises always come to pass!

A Buddist Temple around the corner from our house

Shoveling our walk

Beautiful icicles

Hello Family!

So the weather has been kind of crazy this week!   Everyone warned us that a "big storm" was coming Monday, and when we were out grocery shopping we started to get some freezing rain and got a text telling us not to be driving.  So we headed home and camped out there for the rest of the day.  It started to snow later that day and we woke up with a bunch of snow everywhere!  (Well, a bunch of snow for Tennessee!).  Here the snow turns to ice which makes it different from back home.  We had an inch of ice all over our car yesterday.  But we had to make it out so we could go hear Elder Christofferson! He was delayed a lot and we had to cut our meeting short, but it was still really neat. Learning from an apostle of the Lord is always a special opportunity.  One thing he said was, "The Lord leads this church.  He's a very active leader of this church.  Take it from someone who knows."  

All of our lessons this last week (except for 2) were with members. It was a lot of fun to be working with the members a lot more this week.  It's been fun to work with the people in Hardin Valley in addition to the Pellissippi ward.  People are making progress!   It's exciting!! 

Sorry I don't have time to write much this week.  Know that I love you!  Hope you had a safe trip to California, tell Aunt Doris that I love her and that I'm praying for her!  Hope you have fun playing ping pong!  Joseph, hope you get feeling better!  Happy Birthday!  

Love y'all!   

ice covered trees

petting a beautiful horse

the Sharp family

Dear Family and Friends,

This week we got the privilege of having the mission department from Salt Lake City come out and train us on Thursday!  It was neat to see a little bit more of the big picture and be reminded of the importance of this work and to learn ways we can share the gospel better.  That same day we were able to meet with our stake president and talk about missionary work in the stake with him.  He was a convert when he was in his 20s and he said that he's still in touch with those missionaries today.  Even though individually we play a small role, everyone's best efforts to live and share the gospel can make a huge impact. 

I'm grateful for the simplicity of the gospel and for the power of the Book of Mormon.  As I've been studying it everyday, I feel the power that it brings!  I know it is true and contains the fullness of the gospel!

Sister Ramon's mom made these dresses for Emily and her companions

Cracker Barrel -  a quinessential southern affair

delicious crepes

Hello everyone!  We were blessed with some nice weather this week!  It's hard to believe that it's January/February when it's sunny and in the 60s!  However, it's snowing right now so that probably makes up for it ;)  

I learned a lot from this 10 year old girl I met this week named Manuela.  Her mother is a member, but Manuela's never been baptized.  Two weeks ago, she came to church with a friend who was staying with their family.  Then when the next Sunday rolled around, Manuela said that she wanted to go to church again.  So the mom calls up her ex mother in law and asks her to take Manuela to church and they've been the last two Sundays!  We went over and taught Manuela the restoration this week and though she was a little shy at first, she warmed up to us and began to ask us good questions about what we were sharing with her.  She wants to know what makes our church different from the other churches around and has a desire to find out what church she should join.  She believes that prophets are important and that we need a prophet today.  She committed to read from the Book of Mormon and ask God if it was true.  What a special little girl!  We sat by her at church and another little girl came and grabbed her and said, "let's go to primary!" So off they went. We found out after sacrament meeting that her grandmother hasn't been active in the church for years.  I think it's so neat to see how someone only 10 years old is influencing her whole family for the better!  Then again, a 14 year old boy's prayer changed the world.  It's incredible what the Lord can do with those who are have a humble and sincere desire to follow Christ!

I'm so grateful for this gospel and for the strengthening power of the Atonement in our lives.  I know that this is the only way we can find true and lasting peace for now and eternity! 

Sister Ramon (from Micronesia) is so excited to see snow!

Hello Everyone! 

We had a fun week!  On Tuesday we exchanged with the Rockwood Sisters and I always have a great time with Sis Benge!  The three of us (me, Sis Benge, Sis Ramon) were able to teach together so powerfully and had great experiences together.  It was neat :)  We were so blessed this week to find 9 new people to teach!  We are hopeful that they will continue to meet with us and that we can help them progress. 

This picture is with Elder Thomas who knew Jon in the MTC!  Such a small world!  (Do you like my new shirt?  it says "I run like a girl try and keep up" I love it!)

This picture is at transfers with my two mission daughters Sis Cox and Sis Ramon :)  I love these two! 

Sorry we didn't write on Monday or Tuesday-- we were on exchanges w ith our sisters and they had emailed on Monday so you get to hear from me today!  Hope you weren't too worried!  It's SO good having Sister Echols back!  And guess what?  Sis Little is living in our house now!  It's so fun to see her again!  It was almost a year ago when we served together in Abingdon, and it's fun to see what a wonderful person she is again :)  She is helping her companion so much!  

We had a lot of fun with Aunt Betsy-- it was so sweet of her to have us over for breakfast on Monday.  I'm so grateful for the chance I have to see her as often as I do!  

We had zone training meeting today and Sis Echols and I got to do a training at that.  We were training about vision, goals, and plans.  I love talking about goal setting and we had a lot of fun.  Afterwards we played volleyball as a zone and I have gotten a lot better at it in the last 6 months!  I need to play on an intermural team when I get home to keep up my skills ;)  Yesterday on exchanges we were able to find 5 new investigators.  That NEVER happens!  It was such a blessing!! We were able to teach quite a few lessons too and taught in unity even though the three of us had only been together for the day.  It's amazing how the spirit helps us as we are doing the Lord's work!  

Love you all so much!!! 

Emily with Sister Echols

I love to see pictures of my children playing the piano:)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been a really good one!  We've been able to have several members come out with us this week which always makes a big difference.  It helps the Spirit be so much stronger in our lessons having another voice to testify of the truth!  I love the members in our ward so much and I'm happy I get to stay with them another six weeks :)  I don't know how I'm going to be able to leave this ward!

We had Mission Leadership Council this week so I got to see a lot of dear friends.  I always enjoy getting together to discuss what we can do to help our friends in the mission.  President Griffin is always helping us strive to reach our full potential and to help those in our circle of influence come closer to Christ.  It's neat to have this opportunity to serve in another way.  

This week I've been trying to pray more specifically.  It's been so neat to see how Heavenly Father has answered those prayers.  Some of them are little things, but some of them are a lot bigger.  One of our investigators we've been meeting with on and off for the last 6 months has never read from the Book of Mormon.  But this week, he told us that he's been reading AND praying!  Such a miracle!  He and his family are doing things at their own pace, but they are definitely progressing as they have been coming to Sacrament each week and are working on marriage plans.

I know this is the Lord's work and that He answers our prayers!  

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year!  I always enjoy a new beginning-- a time to relect on what's happened and what's to come! It was fun to go to ward council yesterday and feel the renewed excitement and enthusiasm they have to help the ward continue to move forward and help further the Lord's work in this little corner of the vineyard right here in the Pellissippi ward.  I'm excited for the part my companion and I will play. 

Yesterday we had so many people at church!  For investigators, we had Travis and Felicia and their kids Gabe and Isis who came for Sacrament meeting. Bethany- David's wife came for Sunday School and Sacrament meeting.  For not so active members, the Marshalls came along with Julie Kennedy! We've been inviting Julie to church since August. With the new time at 10:30, I think a lof of people are more willing to come :)

We had a neat opportunity to teach this week a little unexpectedly.  A man came to fix our laundry room (it flooded last P-Day) and he could tell that we were missionaries (the name tag, the picutres of Christ kind of give it away).  Before he left I invited him to church.  He said he just moved and was looking for a new church.  It's great how the Lord puts people in our paths! 

Hello!

This week was a little different because of Christmas, but we had a great time!  Talking to Mom and Dad was great!  It was weird to talk about when I'm coming home.  Since I hit my15th month mark on Christmas, everyone seems to think I'm going home soon-- I'm not sure what's up with that! 

We spent this week with a lot of member families and battling some illness, but we're doing better now and excited for another week.  We were able to teach the restoration to a 20 year old kid named Connor who grew up Christian, converted to Judaism, and now claims to be atheist.  He and his mom are just searching for the truth and can't seem to find it.  As we were teaching I could feel how much Heavenly Father loved him and wanted to help calm his confusion.  I hope he'll take to heart the invitation to study the Book of Mormon and pray.  

I know that Heavenly Father loves all His children and that He has a plan for all of us.  I'm so grateful for the Spirit to help us know what that plan is.

This is half of Emily's mission at Zone Conference right before Christmas. Emily is in
the second row almost in the middle wearing a pink sweater and a white shirt.
(If you click on the picture it should enlarge.)

This week was a different one!  We had zone conference and got to watch Frozen (that was weird to be watching a movie, but so much fun!).  We went on exchanges with the Rockwood sisters right afterwards and had a good time.  I found out that Amber decided on Thursdaythat she wanted to be baptized on Saturday and we got permission to go!  She only lives 30 minuntes away from us, so that was exciting :)  Afterwards, President wanted us to go to his house.  One of the sisters in Rogersville had to leave this morning because she got really sick, so President asked Sis Echols to go back for the rest of the transfer (3 and half weeks).  He said he felt bad when he realized that he was taking away my companion again  (he should feel bad!) but then he promised us that he would bring us back together for Sis Echol's last transfer. So I'm going to be in Pellissippi for 7 1/2 months! That's a long time!  That also means that I'm going to spend my last transfer in a new area. That's kind of a bummer, but that's ok too.  I'm sad to see Sis Echols go, but I'm glad that I get to keep Sis Ramon and that Sis Echols is coming back! She'll get to come back for MLC too the first week in January, so that will be fun to see her.

This had definitely been a crazy week, but at the least the lows have been countered by some amazing highs.  Getting to see Amber baptized was a miracle and I'm so grateful that the Lord never gives up on His children and that she let the Spirit into her heart.  

I love you all and I hope we will feel love from our Savior and our Heavenly Father during this special time of year!

Amber's baptism

a bridge in Knoxville

Elder Renlund

The Rubix cube was part of the World's Fair in Knoxville

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