Sweet Haircuts!!

Hi Mom! (and everyone else),

Sounds like everyone is doing pretty good back home! I can't believe that 
Brian is already graduating from high school! And that he already has his 
mission call! I still can't get over that... He is going to be a stud Spanish 
missionary. Speaking of Spanish elders... That is who I am with right now.  They 
have a member who works off of University Boulevard at a place called "Haircut 
200." It is not even like America around this part of town though. Majority are 
Latinos, Africans, and Indians!  The cool thing is that everything is super 
authentic and really good! The downside is I can't speak ANY of their languages.  
And tons of people speak Spanish here so I need to learn it quick so I can refer 
people to the Spanish elders.  Anyway, back to the haircut! This place is 
awesome! They edge your hair with old school razors and with shaving cream! The 
member is from El Salvador and speaks very little English.  So the Spanish came 
and translated for us :) they are pretty good to us.  They kept speaking to her 
though and laughing so I thought they were going to shave off all my hair! But 
it looks good, so I am happy! And she only charges 6 bucks!!! Last time I got a 
hair cut I asked for a gentleman's cut and I got a $18 buzz!  Looks like I found 
my new "go-to" spot!

Things are going great here, besides feeling like I am in Mexico.  We have 
been talking with a lot of people and how gotten a lot of info on less active 
members and also unknown members -- like where they moved to, if they are still 
interested, etc.  We had a couple of bummer things happen, like Robyn isn't on 
date anymore and our investigators didn't make it to church.  But luckily they 
all still want to meet with us and still want to visit the church.  Also, we met 
an awesome Less-Active guy named Philip! He was baptized at 20 in Gaithersburg 
and went to DC and has not been active for 4 years.  He knows where the church 
is and now that we have visited him and brought members he has become excited to 
go! Since he works every other weekend we will get to see him this upcoming 
week.  So that was a cool miracle! Especially since no one knew about him.  As 
we have been working hard and being obedient the Lord has blessed us with many 
miracles in finding people on the unknown member list.  So we are enjoying the 
work and finding new ways to work with the members in the College Park ward. :)

Oh! Something new that I tried this week was vinegar on ice cream! The elders 
said that everyone has to try it at least once, so of course I did! It was very 
interesting! There was strawberry vinegar, raspberry, and even fig flavored!

Coming up we have zone conference, so we are getting busy planning that.  That 
will be this week and we also have a couple exchanges as well.  And then the 
week after that we have zone activity!  The zone is doing amazing! As we have 
been doing the process of purification we have all seen so many miracles!! There 
were 9 baptisms this month in the zone and it looks like a lot will be coming in 
May too! Wow... I can't believe April has flown by so fast. I am really enjoying 
this area and being able to be around the zone.  I love serving.  It always 
makes me really happy to know that what I am doing is the work of God. Even when 
it is hard, and gets discouraging at times... I know that what I am sharing is 
true.

I love you and miss you and all the family and friends back home.  I hope 
everyone is taking Elder Ballard's challenge to invite someone to hear the 
gospel 4 times a year(every quarter).  I know that is a worthy goal for everyone 
to strive for and I can promise that anyone who does so will see a TON of 
miracles and blessings in their life.
Keep up the great work -- love you!


Love,
Sean

Happy Easter

Elder Hansen & Elder Farley

Hey Mom!

Thanks for the email!  It was super great being able to talk to you, Dad, Brian and all the family that was present for the opening of Brian's mission call! I am so stoked for him!! Carlsbad, California!!  It is a good thing I didn't get sent there... all I would think about would be the ocean ha-ha!  He is going to be such a stud missionary.  I am excited for him to speak spanish too!  A good chunk of our area is full people who only speak spanish, so I am trying to pick up a few phrases ;)

Sounds like things for the home ward are doing well!  I will be praying and hoping for those the elders are teaching there will change their lives and follow the Savior.  Speaking of Easter, it was a good one!  I hope that all the family enjoyed themselves.  Out here in the College Park ward our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Turner, and his wife invited us over for dinner after church with them and their two boys. Since there are 4 elders in the ward we all went over and we had a really great time! Oh, and guess what?! Sister Turner served her mission in the Carlsbad, California mission and she was Spanish speaking as well!  Small world, huh? The Turners are amazing and Brother Turner really is doing a lot for the missionaries and to help the work progress in the ward!  

This Sunday we were hoping that our investigators would be at church, since we committed them to come the day before.  We waited outside the door greeting all the members and visitors that were here for easter, but no luck.  Even though they didn't come there were others that came who the East elders are now beginning to teach, so that was a cool miracle!  Our investigators, Oneil and Nadia, are a couple we met a while ago but just this past week were able to sit down and have a really awesome discussion about the church.  We talked first about missionary service and also about the Prophet and the Apostles and how they call both guys and girls out to certain areas of the world to share the gospel.  Following that we taught them about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and they agreed to baptism when they come to know it is true for themselves!  So if all goes according to plan and they start coming to church, they will be baptized on May 18.  (Oh and they didn't come to church because, "the bed was too comfortable" Sunday morning and they woke up late... smh.  -__- )  So we will probably teach them of the importance of going to church to receive an answer... again. ha-ha.

Unfortunately, we were not able to meet with Robyn this last week because she fell and hurt her hip and had to go to the hospital! So it looks like Satan if trying hard to keep her from meeting with us.  But we know she is still interested and we will meet with her soon!  So keep her in your prayers as well please.  

Keep up the Family History mom!! That is so cool!  The mission is making a huge push for all the Elders and Sisters to learn how to use familysearch.org and to teach others how to use it!  A few missionaries in the mission are pretty tech savvy and President has them putting together this production that is getting sent to Salt Lake that will teach missionaries how to use Family History and teach it to those them come in contact with.  I am sure you have seen that as you begin to really get into it, it becomes exciting!  I love that the site allows a section for their own personal stories, memories, and pictures! It is the best :) I really want to get into it out here, and especially back home. 

Elder Hansen and I are getting along great.  We are striving to perfect ourselves each day and to help serve one another, along with our Zone, so that we can be a more unified companionship in leading, teaching and working.  I am very blessed to be able to have Elder Hansen as my companion at this point in my mission.  He is very obedient, helpful and hardworking!  I have a feeling and almost a vision of the great things that are going to happen in this area as we work together!! I am so happy and excited to be out here serving the Lord in His vineyard. I know that there are miracles to be seen everyday!  My brothers and sisters are out there searching, waiting and wondering where to find the truth.  I know that by hard work coupled with faith and obedience is the secret to seeing miracles from heaven.  

I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, and I plan my whole life to be dedicated to serving Him and bringing His children to the knowledge of this great latter-day work.

I love you mom, and tell everyone else I love them too and hope that they are seeing miracles and opportunities to share the gospel back home.  D&C 88:73 - The work is hastening NOW!! Get on board everyone! 

Love your happy son,

Elder Sean B. Farley

I think I am finally starting to learn how to cook and make healthy food taste good! haha

Cherry Blossoms on the Mall

Elder Rushton and Elder Farley, plus two "Shadows in the back seat"!

Hey Mom!!

Sounds like everyone is REALLY busy back at  home, but again it seems to be a good busy.  It always is that way in Spring and rolling into Summer time. I cannot believe Brian's call is coming so soon! And I am so pumped to be able to call and talk with you all for a little when he opens it up! SO AWESOME! And then a few weeks later we get to Skype for Mother's Day! Yay! Best Spring ever. 
Today we went to see the Cherry Blossoms (at least what was left of them anyway) on the Mall in DC.  It was a really great time! Elder Hansen and I got some great pictures that I will send to you soon.  Sorry I haven't sent that SD card yet! I will send it for sure this week.  I will be sure to put it in a envelope today. 
Things in the zone are going well!  The zone has a new 10th Key, which is: letting people know before the lesson that at the end of the lesson, we are going to invite them to be baptized. SO that should really pick up the Baptismal Dates and Baptisms in the whole mission. I really love everyone in the zone already.  Our district leaders are great and all the missionaries who I have gotten to meet are really hard workers and seem to really be enjoying their time out here serving The Lord. 
Elder Hansen and I are getting along GREAT! We are working hard to utilize every tool we have as missionaries to bring more unity between the ward and the missionaries.  We recently went and checked on a potential who's name is Robyn.  She was found because she had an interest in Family History.  So we got to talking about Temples and Genealogy work.  As we talked we ended up teaching her the whole plan of Salvation and inviting her to be baptized on May11th! She accepted and told us that as long as she got an answer before that time, then she would go through with the baptism. So we were really excited for the miracle and to be able to meet her and teach her about the Gospel.  Our next visit, which is tomorrow, we will probably teach her about the Restoration in depth so that she can understand the Priesthood and the importance of Christ's Gospel being restored.  It will also give us an opportunity to share more about the Book of Mormon and it's purpose. So overall this has been a great week!
Tonight we are going to see the A. Family, who are from Ethiopia, and they are cooking for us.  The wife, who is not a member, cooks really good! And she and her sister, who is also not a member, come to church every week.  The unfortunate thing is that there is quite the language barrier between us so there is a lot of translation with teaching.  But little by little is better than none at all! 
Things are going great for me and I am really excited for next Spring in DC to spend with you and Dad! I like that idea better I think :) DC in January isn't that great in the city haha.
Love you and miss you! 
Your boy,

Elder Sean B. Farley

Happy Pizza Day!!

Back in College Park!

Elder Farley and Elder Hansen

Hey Mom! 

Dang, it has been a really awesome week!  I am now with Elder Hansen, who was in my MTC district, and we are having a great time! Most of Elder Hansen's mission he has been in DC.  He is a very hard worker and very obedient, so he has been and still is a great example to me!  I am really excited for this transfer, and hopefully the following ones in College Park with him.  He likes to workout and learn more about lifting and stuff so that is awesome too! :)  We have a great ward mission leader, Brother Turner, who is really helpful and seems to really have some things figured out. 

Pretty Sure that this picture is for Summer! lol

There are also some other wonderful members I have already met!  While at the Silver Spring Stake center for the 2nd Session of GC & Priesthood Session there was a Pizza social in the cultural hall (which, funny enough, is the same place I had my teeth knocked out!!).  There I met Brother Dixon and Brother Wilson who are in the College Park ward's Elder's quorum.  They both were asking us about the missionary work here and how they could help in "Hastening the Work." We talked about getting the members excited and having them invite friends and family to meals and get-togethers where we would be present so that they could be introduced to us.  In order for us to get to that point where the members would be so actively engaged in the work, we would have to first get the members out with us to teaching appointments so that they could be touched by the missionary spirit. So we are going to be setting many appointments with Less-Active members, recent coverts, and investigators.  We want to make sure that these appointments are solid (easier said than done!) so that each member that comes out with us will be able to see how hard we are working and how exciting this work is, along with how passionate we are about doing this great work.
Sorry about the long explanation! I am just SO PUMPED right now!  I feel as if at this time in my mission, with Elder Hansen, I have the opportunity to progress so much more as a servant of The Lord.  
This transfer the whole mission will be participating in the "Process of Purification."  It is a 40 day fast from the things that are holding us back from having our whole heart, might, mind and strength 100% in doing the Lord's work. It is an opportunity for us to be able to sanctify ourselves and to do our VERY BEST to remove ourselves from the ways of the world.  Personally, I am beyond excited for it.  I know if will be hard and take a lot of focus and praying to be perfect in it.  But with the help of Christ and His Atonement, anything is possible. 
We have a few people we are working with and hopefully some more soon! Right now I am still meeting everyone and haven't even been to church because of General Conference so I will be able to tell you more about our investigators and members then. 
I am very thankful to be able to have such a wonderful family who loves me.  I love you.  I pray everyday for your safety and for your success in sharing the gospel.  We as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have so much to rejoice for and be grateful for because we know the truth.  I know that for the rest of my life I want to be a missionary.  I hope that everyone sees the importance to forget themselves and do EVERYTHING they can to share the gospel.  There is no excuse to shun away from doing missionary work because everyone can!  
Thank you for being such a wonderful example to me Mom and for always doing everything you could to watch out for me and make me happy.  I love you more than words can say.  And I am so excited for the eternity we have to be together as a family!  God truly does love us for creating this way to be together forever.
Keep up the great work in Farmington!  I am excited to hear about Brian's call!  I am so proud of him! Give my love to everyone <3

Love your son,

Elder Sean B. Farley