Sister Hamel made it to Australia!

Sister Hamel was supposed to leave on Sunday, Aug. 11th to fly to Australia, but she had some unexpected changes. While all alone at the airport, and after she had already called family, her first flight to LAX was cancelled! She only had a little bit of change left for the payphone to try and call the MTC to find out what she should do. She couldn't get a hold of anyone at first and was beginning to worry. The airport was offering her a free hotel room for the night since she had been rescheduled for another flight the following day. After talking with some nice people at the airport and FINALLY reaching someone at the MTC, she was told to take the hotel room for the night. Her mom received an email from the MTC letting her know that an elder would be joining her in LAX to travel with her the rest of the way to Australia. Thankfully, her parents received an email from the mission home on Aug. 14 letting them know she had arrived safely. Here is the letter:

President & Sister Carter with Sister Hamel

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Sister Shailyn Hamel has arrived in the Adelaide Australia Mission safely. Sister Carter and I are mindful of the great trust you have placed in us by sharing your daughter with us. When she arrived, we picked her up from the airport and brought her to the mission office, where she was introduced to the office staff for orientation.

Please note that all mail is to be sent to the mission office:

                Australia Adelaide Mission Office

                Sister Shailyn Hamel

                PO Box 97

                Marden, SA  5070

                Australia

Encouraging letters from home are a great boost to our missionaries. I am aware that the Lord blesses the families of His servants in many special ways. I have no doubt that you will receive significant gifts from the well of divine goodness during this special time. Thank you for your continued support and your influence for good.

The Mission Office email address is 2014556@ldschurch.org. Should you have need to contact us the email is usually the best and quickest method to use. Missionaries check their personal emails on their preparation day which is Monday.

Sister Hamel will be serving in the Darwin City Sister’s Area as part of the Parafield Gardens area of the Modbury Zone. Her current companion is Sister Allyse Marie Eldredge from Spanish Fork Utah. It is exciting to see their enthusiasm and energy.

Warmest regards,

President Bradley D. Carter

Australia Adelaide Mission Office

First Email- Aug. 6, 2013

Hello family and friends!

I have very little time so I will try to do this as quickly as possible!

Before I tell you about the best 6 days of my life, I have to tell you about the only two bad things about my experience here! Constipation and dehydration. Haha but seriously....it's not fun! Now the good stuff! Day one was NUTS!! We had this little orange sticker on our name tags that basically tells everyone that you're new (we call it the dork dot) and it causes EVERYONE to say, "Welcome to the MTC" everywhere you go. Let me tell you, it gets old! Haha anyway, the first day, we met our District! I am in District 67C which has 4 Elders and 5 Sister. My companion is Sister Stoker and the other three sisters are a trio and they are Sister Cotton, Sister Olson, and Sister Tenney! The Elders' names are Elder Richins, Elder Sharp, Elder Cook, and Elder Nelson and I just love them all! We are already like a family and we have only known them for 6 days! I guess that's not hard when you're with them like 12 hours a day! Our teachers are Brother Church and Brother Gill and I absolutely adore them both! They have completely different teaching styles but they are both just SO GOOD!! Ah! I love them!! Haha we have class for 6 hours a day as well as zone teaching and TLC. TLC is where we teach investigators and we have no clue if they're real or not! Cool thing happened! On Sunday we had mission conference and there was a Korean girl that actually got converted through volunteering at TLC! Haha so I guess not all of us new missionaries suck at teaching! Our investigator in TLC is Rachel and she is the BEST! I love her already and we only taught her once so far...yesterday. But she is so ready to hear the gospel and she is so kind and loving! We really taught with the Spirit which we have been really struggling with so yeah, that was awesome! Our other investigator is Jordan who is actually Brother Gill but they seem like two different people to me! I love Jordan so much and we've taught him 3 times! We committed him to baptism in our second lesson and the Spirit was so strong! He has already made some incredible changes and I am so excited for him to continue to grow closer to the Savior!

I got my itinerary on Thursday and I leave on Sunday evening and I'm not allowed to tell you what time because nobody is allowed to see me off but I will probably give the fam a call to tell them I'm leaving and all that jazz! Apparently having my itinerary doesn't necessarily mean I have my visa so fingers crossed...I'll let you all know what happens with that! I haven't had the orange juice so I can't tell you if the legend of the runs is true or not but yes the chocolate milk is amazing and yes I am eating way too much! Gym time rocks because my companion likes to run so we get to run together and yeah. It's awesome! On Sunday we had a fast and testimony meeting with our zone and that was the greatest hour of my life! Seriously, the Spirit in that room was so strong you could taste it and let me tell you, it was delicious! I've already filled 62 pages in my study journal so you could say that I am learning a lot! Haha it's crazy here and a lot like drinking from a fire hose but I have never been so happy in my life! I am so stoked for the work! I love it!! I was meant to do this! The temple is still closed and since this is my only Pday here, I won't get to attend at all. I spent my temple time watching Mormon Messages on LDS.org and seriously all of you need to do that! They make me cry like a baby every single time! I love it!

I love you all so much and I pray for you every single day at least 8 times! I hope everyone is doing well because I am doing great! We are getting a new sister from Japan today and at least one new district in our zone tomorrow so I'm really excited about that because missionaries rule! This is the most fun I have had and the hardest I've worked in my life but it is so rewarding and I know the Lord is helping me! Good luck at school all you cool kids and be safe!!!

I wish I had time to tell you more but I'm pretty much out because I type too slowly! I love you so much! Thank you for all the letters! I'm getting most of my responses out today!!

Sister Hamel

***A little later, she sent this:
By the way, I am definitely headed to Australia on Sunday!! I love you all!! Haha bye!

Trip up to the MTC

Sister Hamel, her mom, her 3 sisters, and her nephew all drove up to Utah on Monday, July 29th. They all enjoyed spending those last moments together before she was dropped off at the MTC on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Sister Hamel, her mom, and her older sister Kaylese were able to attend a live Endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple while her two younger sisters watched their nephew. It was Sister Hamel's first time in the Salt Lake Temple and it was very special.

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The next morning, they all went over to take some pictures in front of the Provo Temple and the MTC. There is a lot of construction going on up there, so the closest she could get to the MTC was across the street.

  

Then, they all headed to breakfast and said their final goodbyes before literally dropping her off at the curb.

   

Goodbye Sister Hamel!!!

Open House

On Sunday, July 28th, Shailyn gave her final farewell talk. She did an amazing job and we all couldn't be more proud of her! Later that evening, there was a wonderful Open House for people to come say goodbye one last time. Many THANKS to Sister Petersen for all of her hard work in putting it together and for hosting it. It turned out great! Here are some pictures of the night.

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Immediately after the Open House ended, Shailyn and her family headed over to the Stake Center and she became Sister Hamel. It was a very special and spiritual experience for the whole family!