New Haircut

Dear friends and family,

This week has been a crazy week, full of many experiences that I wasn't expecting to have, but they have all been for the best. My new companion is Sister Smith, from Ogden Utah. She happens to be a hairstylist, so the very first night we were together she informed me that she was going to cut my hair. I didn't realize she meant she was going to cut m hair right then until she started to pull a chair into the kitchen :)

I got special permission to go back to Oak Harbor this morning to attend a funeral for Tiffany Dobelman, one of the investigators that I found and taught in the first six months of my mission. Tiffany died in her sleep his last week, with no apparent reason why. When we first started teaching Tiffany she was Wiccan, and although she was never baptized while I was in the area, she would come to church and I have some amazing memories of teaching Tiffany and her husband Michael as well whenever he agreed to join us. A few months ago I heard from some other sisters that Tiffany had finally decided that she was ready to be baptized! One of Tiffany's main questions that really bothered her when we first started teaching her was "What happens after death?" It was something that really scared her, but something that she overcame as she learned about the Plan of Salvation, so I was a good experience for me to be at her funeral. Her husband Michael said that he has been overwhelmed by the love that he has felt from everyone in the Oak Harbor 1st ward and how much everyone has helped him in the last week. He is still going to take the two little girls to church, because he knows that it's something that made Tiffany happy and he knows it's what she would have wanted. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of me and who has a perfect plan for me, both in this life and in the next!

It was great to see many other people from the Oak Harbor 1st ward at the funeral too. I got giant hugs from Verna and Sandra, and I even snuck a quick hug from Bennett too :) Bennett and Verna got their patriarchal Blessings recently, and are still excited to go to the temple when the time comes. This was the first time I've seen Sandra since she was baptized, and when I hugged her I whispered to her how I always knew that she was going to be baptized, and she just started to cry. The people truly are what make the mission so great.

Hayley's baptism and confirmation was this past weekend! She was so happy. The coolest part for me was in her confirmation, when she was told that she will be a light for her friends and family, and they will notice her example, as not all of Hayley's family has been supportive and understanding of her decision up to this point. Hayley is so strong! Some of her extended family that aren't members came to her baptism, and 3 of our investigators were able to attend as well, so that was really cool!

I'm out of time, but next week I will write about the miracle story of the new investigator Haley that we found this week!

Love you all!

Sister Slade