Changed, Stunned, A New Man

Hey Yall!

So this week has been so good, and bad at the same time! It was defiantly the fastest week ive ever had in my life! The weather started off kinda rainy and dark and no sun, but by the end of the week there was sun for days! It was great:) 

This is my pride land:) hahha  We started off our week with interviews with President Hanks, and for me it was my exit interview. It went very well. Its crazy to look back at the beginning of my mission, seems like years ago, literally haha. But we were able to see and be with missionaries in Montgomery, one of them had not only been out 6 weeks and was sick, i felt bad for him and we joked around about it. Then we went back to Selma and on Wednesday we had district meeting. That went well, and again Sister Williams and I bore our testimony as we are leaving. Then on Thursday we had a pretty neat experience. We went back to the place of a referral in Lower Peach Tree, there were a ton of blacks that wanted Bibles and Books of Mormon and such so we got a group of 6 of them and taught them all about the Restoration and invited them all to church and baptism. They said they want to so we will see as time goes on how serious they are about it. We will go back tomorrow to teach them:) 

Then the bad part of the week for me. Thursday night I was up all night with a really high fever and throwing up all night, I was in bed all of Friday and had no strength at all. But Saturday we were able to get out and teach another family and see the Aitkens as well. Sunday we had a great time at church and I was able to say some goodbyes to people. Me and my little buddy on a skidder:)

I just want yall to know how grateful I am for each and every one of you! Im so grateful to have served the Lord for these past two years! I havent been perfect and ive made mistakes, but I know that the Lord loves me and is proud of all that ive done! The past 2 years have changed me and made me into a new and improved man! Im stunned now that its coming to a close, but every good story has to end somewhere. I cant wait to start a new chapter in my life. Im grateful for Alabama. I just want to let yall know, im sorry but this is the BEST mission ever!!!! haha 

Remember to be happy! Remember that I love you! Remember to "Love life as you live it!" Christ our Savior lives! This is why im out here! 

See yall on the other side:)

Love Elder Hall

Life Goes On...

Hey Yall,

So today I have been very busy with a special project for Sister Hanks, Im doing it in behalf of the other 13 missionaries that are going home. So Ive spent all day doing that. Here is just a quick experience we had this week.

We have been trying to find new investigators and houses to tract on. On Saturday we tracted for 3 hours down one road and knocked on the two houses that we passed. No one answered, but we did get 1 May We Teach You, from it, from a man who pulled over and asked if we were ok and needed help haha so we asked if he needed the gospel in his life, he said no haha.We also were able to invite 3 people to baptism, only was really happy and excited about it. We still have been working hard. We were able to get part of a less active family to church yesterday. We are trying to help strengthen the branch members that are active as well as the LA, and find new investigators. So its over all been a good week.

Remember to be happy, enjoy life and laugh. Love all you come in contact with and dont look back until your finish, get up until you reach your goal or dream. I love yall so very much! Steadfast!

Love Elder Hall

Fresh New Start!

Hey Yall!

This week has been great. Rainy, sunny, cold, warm and everywhere in between. You gotta love the crazy weather here. We have had tornado watches in the mission, and here in Magnolia we didnt get a drop of rain or a sound of wind.... haha I almost got to eat rattle snake this week, one of the members was playing a prank of Elder Arnold cuz he had never been to there house, and when she took it away I asked, "Wait can I try some??" "It has freezer burn and wouldnt be good." She replied haha Maybe before I leave ill get back to try it:) Elder Arnold and I.

This week has had its ups and downs. We had a very eventful New Years Eve... We tracted down a hwy for 6 miles. haha we got one good return apt out of it, but no one was home, they were all in the big towns and cities I guess haha but it was good hard work none the less:) We have been able to follow up on a few investigators this week. One is a couple, Tommy and Rena they had read some of the Book of Mormon and loved how it compares to the bible so much. We also saw Authur. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him. We asked if he still wanted to be baptized. He said he did, and we told him we want to wait til after he gets married to do it. Now he is in his 50's and its his 3rd marriage, but he is excited about this one. He keeps saying how he just wants to do right and wants the Lord to be proud of him. He is still committed to baptism, and understood why we are waiting until after his marriage, so that will either be this month or Feb! He also said he was going to a church on Sunday, the church started later in the morning, so we asked him to come for just the first hour and he did!! What a miracle! Bobby is doing well still and are still working with the Aitkens, the less active family he lives with, to get them all to church! 

Here are the members we live with. We also went on two exchanges this week. One with the district leader and his comp and the other with the zone leaders. They both were good. And we had zone training! It was great! Probably the best Ive been too so far. I was able to sing a musical number with another missionary and also got to bear my testimony with two other missionaries as the departing missionaries. That was sad but good at the same time. They trained on something I noticed this week in my studies. In Ether 12:7 

"For it was by faith that Christ showed himself unto our fathers, after he had risen from the dead; and he showed not himself unto them until after they had faith in him; wherefore, it must needs be that some had faith in him, for he showed himself not unto the world."

and vs 12: "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith."

Its amazing that Christ didnt show himself unto the entire world, cuz not everyone had enough faith. He didnt show himself unto the Jews. Then it talks about the miracle of people seeing him. It wasnt until AFTER their faith, that they saw Christ. Its usually not until after the trial or temptation when we need to show our faith and act, when we actually see Christ help and the miracles that happened in that event. Let us have an added measure of faith this New Year and let the miracles pour down from heaven. Wouldnt it be cool the flood the earth with miracles because of the faith we have? Dont let miracles cease because of your lack of faith. Let Christ into your life, Just have a desire to believe... Its that simple and blessings and miracles appear! Its all about our attitude:) So remember to be happy! hhaa

I love yall! Im so grateful for each of you and all the love, help and kindness you show to me! Hope yall have a great week. 

Love Elder Hall

Why do Holidays go by so fast?

Hey Yall!

This week has gone by so dang fast. I dont have to much time to write, just know its been super wet and rainy lately! 

Mrs Irene and I with our fuzzy socks on haha Christmas Eve and Christmas we made cookies to pass out to everyone. We went around to pretty much everyone that we knew and gave them their cookies. They all loved it! Christmas day we had a big breakfast with the Martin Family. 90% of our branch was there haha. It was good though, we had biscuits, gravy, eggs, grits, sausage, and fried Quail... (Yes Mom sorry..... Dad arent ya proud of me!!;)) haha then we were able to go visit with some folks while we passed out the cookies. We were also able to see some other members of the branch. Then they had lunch.. ham, turkey, sweet potatas, mashed corn, and all kinds of deserts! There was so much foood!!! Haha then we went to the church and got to skype with family! That was weird..... but great!:) 

We made cookies and passed them out Christmas eve and Christmas day!  This week we were able to see some investigators, we actually had a Christmas miracle of our own. Christmas night we got 3 txts for referrals in our area!! Then the next day we got another one! We were able to visit 2 of them, and the other 2 we need more bibles to go give to them haha. The funny thing is that every media referral Ive contacted on my mission, think that their media is gonna come by mail, and next thing they know they have 2 Mormon missionaries at their door haha its cool to see the reaction. 

Mr Joe and I with my Christmas Pajamas my parents sent to me:) haha hope this don't scare no one!  Bro Stockman during the holidays passed out a ton of He is the Gift cards. We had gone to one ladies house, Mrs Dumas, and we gave her a 3 steps to a happier family. We asked how she came in contact with it, and she said, "A man gave me a card at Rite Aid down in Thomasville." "That was Me!" Bro Stockman said without hesitation haha it was awesome! Its cool to see how the Lord uses different tools to help people. 

We are gonna follow up with people this next week and hopefully have a good story for yall! O and also we got Bobby to come to church this week! And we also helped Bro Stockman write a talk to give in sacrament. haha

For now thats all. Just a good holiday week:) I love yall and wish you the happiest of holidays. Remember to be happy during them:) 

Love Elder Hall

The two on the left show us how we are supposed to pray, the one on the right shows how most missionaries pray:)

Christmas is Near!!

Hey Yall!

This week has been a good week. Like always its flown by and we have been busy playing in the rain. Haha Magnolia hasnt gotten to much rain this year and they need it, well on Thursday, Friday, and Today its done nothing but rain, and we have been walking, biking, and playing basketball in it!:) Ive learned that as a missionary, any time it rains your always gonna be in it, whether you like it or not... haha  Prez and Sister Hanks and I.

This week has been full of biking and tracting and following up with potential investigators. We were able to go back to the Ritics, they are a husband and wife, and teach them the Restoration lesson. They seemed to like it, and told us that they would come to church one of these Sundays, they are big in there church, but the wife said that they would like to come see something new for a change! Josiah texted us this week and said he had been reading the Book of Mormon, but that he wanted to stay in his church for now, but he may change his mind. We txted him back and told him he is still invited to church and activities and we still want to be his friend. Brittany is doing well, she just has a couple problems in her life right now that we as missionaries cant help with, we are getting a couple of sisters in our branch to visit and just let her get things out and relieve stress. And Authur I guess has been pretty busy cuz we havent been able to see him this week. So its been a lot of trying to find new investigators which is what we need!

We were able to have a Branch Christmas party. That was fun, it was a Grinch Stole Christmas theme and we had dinner with Roast Beast, and Who Hash and it all:) haha we were able to do a Nativity Scene and the 2 teenage boys in our branch didnt want to be the shepards so Bro Stockman and I filled in:) haha We were also able to have a mission Christmas party. They split it up into 3 different parties for the whole mission. So ours was on Saturday. It was so much fun though. They started off with a devotional, they talked about how we can serve Christ and remember Him. They found a few different songs that talked on the subjects they were speaking on. They would play the song and we had the words to look at. Each song, Prez Hanks would just keep crying. Well the very last song they played just so happened to be one of my favorite Christmas songs, "God Bless Your Way" by Hilary Weeks.  We had a talent show at the Christmas party and we did missionary Yoga.... This is how we dressed up. #theygo #2by2 #lookingdangattractive :)

I was sitting next to my son, Elder Hodge, and this might be the last time I see him until he gets home, but right as it starts playing I can feel my eyes start to water up, I feel this warm but aching feeling, and all at once it hits me, how short of a time I have left. I just started to bawl. It was no good. The other sad thing was that a sister reach over my shoulder and gave a me kleenex. But it was also a good moment for me to realize that I only have a short time left to help people, to show them how much Christ does love them. So I made another commitment right then that I would continue to work hard for this little time and leave with no regrets. The rest of the party was good, we had good food, a funny talent show, and we got to watch Frozen! haha

Well yesterday Elder Arnold and I were able to speak in sacrament. I wanted to share just a few thoughts on my talk. A lot of it were scriptures linking together. But I talked about why Christ was born and what his purpose was for coming to earth. He tells Pilate "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." Christ Himself tells us that, "I am the way, the truth, and the Life.." The truth therefore is Christ. In Matt 1:21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." And Luke 2:10-11, "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." So Christ came to save us from our sins, and to be our Savior! How great is that! Not only that but Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ did something incredible. Its a question we need to ask ourselves, "And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?" 

Magnolia Branch Nativity Skit:) Do we understand where Christ came from and why He was born? In a talk given by Richard C Edgley, he says a few things, he quotes Bruce R McConkie, "God the Father also condescended by sending His Only Begotten Son to suffer the sins of the world. The Savior is God’s gift to us." Thats a cool thought. Heavenly Father also gave us a Christmas Gift! He goes on, "Christ’s condescension was more personal and visible—for He was the sacrifice. His condescension was manifest by who He was and the way He lived." Then Bishop Edgley says, "So what does this mean for us? Our understanding of Christ’s condescension should take us beyond our feelings of awe and deepgratitude. As members of His Church, being called to represent Him and testify of Him, our great opportunity is to try to emulate Him..." "For us to follow the Savior’s example in our callings, we can be kind to all with whom we come in contact. We can build others, inspire them, lift them, and teach rather than criticize. We can show love, respect, and caring to all those we meet. We can “descend” to be the servant of even the humblest." This Christmas season we can do what we promise each and every week in the Sacrament when we promise to take upon us Christ name, we can serve even the humblest of people. Thats our gift to Christ and Heavenly Father after the amazing gifts They have given to us. Go forget yourself for a minute this season. Let your light be an example and let others see Christ in you.

I hope yall have a very Merry Christmas! I love yall and am grateful for each of you! You have truly inprired me to do great things! Remember on Christmas to be happy:)

Love Elder Hall!

Kinda Awkward.....

Hey Yall!

So this week has been good, just an awkward week like all weeks are around transfers. We were able to go say our goodbyes with those that Elder Roseman got to get close to. We packed him up and on Wednesday everyone swapped companions. Elder Arnold is a good kid, our personalities dont really quite match up, but we are trying to work on that. We still got a long time to work on it haha

This week has been kinda awkward with saying goodbyes and trying to get Elder Arnold to meet everyone and also continuing to work and teach and help people progress. Brittany hasnt had the best week, her and her boyfriend got in a fight and she almost left, but I told her to stay and work it out. Well now they almost lost the house so she is trying to get a job. We will see what happens, I really want to help her, but dont know what to do. But we saw Authur this week, he and his fiance loved church! They didnt come this past Sunday, but we are continuing to work with them and they are still preparing for their weeding in Jan. We have seen Dell a couple times this week. His mom isnt so keen on letting him get baptized here so we are gonna talk with her. What we really need to do is 1. Follow up with potential investigators that we have found and 2. Keep finding every day to get more new investigators. We need new investigators! Lathen Foote and I. He was a kid in the Northport ward that came down on Monday and said hello to me!:)

We were able to have branch conference yesterday which went well. Alot of stake leaders came down and participated. We have continued to work with active members to strengthen them and also with less actives. We saw Bobby a couple times this week. He is doing well, we went to pick him up on Sunday and him along with Bro Aitken were throwing up all night and had fevers. I really hope that what they tell us is true, one because they will get over the sickness, i just dont want to have Bobby quit coming to church, so that is one of my big projects this transfer is helping him to come to church every week, so when I leave he will still want to come out of his own love of God. But other than that we havent done to much this week. Satan makes it really hard for me to just think that I have a little bit of time left and I have worked hard my whole mission, so now i can just relax. But i will not do that. I am not going to be that missionary. 

This week I have thought a lot about the Atonement and the tremendous love the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for all of us! I listened to a song that said these words, "Christ's love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on us!" He is never going to forsake or abandon us! If you feel so inclined, i invite all of you to go to mormonmessages.org and search, "Sunday Will Come" Its a short video from a talk given by Elder Joseph B Wirthlin. He talks about the Friday when Christ was crucified and the Sunday He was resurrected. Just a couple quotes from the talk, "Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays." "But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come... No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come." "May we understand and live in thanksgiving for the priceless gifts that come to us as sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father and for the promise of that bright day when we shall all rise triumphant from the grave.....That we may always know that no matter how dark our Friday, Sunday will come is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." I want to add my testimony to his, I know that Sunday will come, my mission at times has been fun and easy and enjoyable, but being on earth we have opposites. My mission at times has seemed like I can not go on another day, that things are hopeless, that I am alone. I am so ever grateful to be on a mission because of this one fact. I have grown a personal, unbreakable bond and relationship with Jesus Christ that will last forever. I know He lives! I know that we are NEVER alone, that He is there with us always, and when we are going through our "Fridays" He is personally there to help us through. I know this because He has been here with me. I have felt Christ literally put his arms around me over, and over again as I thinks its all lost and hopeless. I have felt alone only to realize who is standing right beside me and his helping me without any asking on my part. Remember and never let go of the Love that the Savior has for each of you! Never let go of your love for the Savior. He lives, He is here with us now, let Him help you is my prayer in Jesus name, Amen. 

Hope yall have a wonderful week. Keep thinking about little Baby Jesus and the miracle of his birth! "Remember always to be happy"- Prez Holzapfel, then "Inform your face!"-Prez Hanks. Love yall so much!

Love Elder Hall:)

The loss of a good friend

Hey Yall! 

So Elder Roseman chose my title this week haha but that brings up some important, big news... we got transfer calls on Saturday, it does not feel like another transfer is ending... it goes by so dang fast!, and I will be staying in Magnolia and Elder Roseman is leaving. So I will be getting one last companion. This is my also my last transfer. Its a crazy feeling.Its sad that Elder Roseman is leaving, but im also excited to have one last comp. Compared to every other missionary in the mission, i have had so very few comps haha kinda weird. Now before yall ask if Im getting really trunky, ill give my honest answer. I have my moments, but i will quote Joseph Smith in the Restoration dvd when Emma asks him, "Joseph do you think God ever asks to much of us?" he replies "I do not let myself" Thats my motto. When people try and get me trunk I just say, I wont let myself. Plus we are to busy for me to think about it that much haha there is a lot of work to do in the next 6 weeks! We have 4 baptism dates and we could be getting more!  Joe and I with a tomb stone of Jesus! 

This week has been very good. We have been working hard with some of the investigators that we have baptism dates with. We are trying to help them continue to progress to baptism, I dont want these to fall through because they are such good people! We need to get back to finding every day again though, we have kinda gotten away from that a little bit, we have met new people this week but we also need to follow up with potentials that we have found, just a lot of work ahead! This area has been so much fun to work in because of all the work that the Lord has for us to do! 

We have been able to see Bobby and Mitch this week. We are helping them prepare to get the priesthood to bless and pass the sacrament and also go to the temple! Bobby has changed so much since his baptism! On Saturday we went and talked with him, he was talking so much that we couldnt get a word in! It was crazy. We followed up on us asking him to pray about the BOM and church and get another witness it was true. He said, "I asked the Lord if the BOM and church were true, and after I just felt good." I asked how he felt at his baptism and when we come to teach, he said good. Then I asked what that feeling might be. He told us it was the spirit. Its so cool to watch Bobby who hasnt even graduated high school, and doesnt have a very good education learn and grow in the gospel so quickly and he is understanding it all! 

We also got to teach a man named Clyde the restoration, we invited him to be baptized, he replied, "Ive done been baptized" just like the rest of the south says. Then I asked if God wanted him to be baptized again would he deny him. "Well i guess ill talk to him tonight and ask if I should get baptized again." We are going back this week to see how his "Talk" went. We saw Josiah this week. He has had a terrible stomach virus so we gave him a blessing, he was so grateful for it and we told him that after his baptism he could have the priesthood and be able to bless his family with it. He was excited about that! We will go back this next week and follow up on past commitments. We also saw Authur and we invited him to church, he came with his fiance!! That so cool:) They loved it. We also got Dell to come to church! 

The biggest miracle this week was one with Brittany. Now she is the one with the husband that hates Christians because of his ex wife. He also didnt want to get married and Brittany told him that when he was ready come and tell her and they would get married. Well we went back to see her. Its been cool, because she calls us and every time she does, she asks if we can help her with the house, well we figured out that really mean, "can you come help with dishes, so I can talk to yall" So we take Bro Stockman down there and help her then teach her, well this week we followed up on how she is doing with coffee and tea. 

She told us that over Thanksgiving weekend they were with her boyfriends family, every kept asking if she wanted coffee or tea. She would tell them she was fine and had her Mtn Dew to drink instead! I thought that was so cool, and told her not to drink alot of it, but to drink Mtn Dew instead of the alternatives. We have conintued to teach her and she is very prepared and ready for baptism, her date is Dec 19th, and all she needs to do is come to church twice then get married which could be a while depending on her husband. Well she said "I need to tell yall something that my boyfriend told me this week." We asked what it was. "He told me he thought of a Christmas present, and it wasnt the horse that I really wanted. He said that for my Christmas present we are gonna get married!" WOW! I was so dang excited to hear about that! She said they just needed to save up the money and get something else and in the next couple of weeks they would get married in the court house. That was the biggest miracle because now she can get baptized in Dec! We set another date with her for Dec 27th so she can come to church and that date should be after their marriage! Once again the Lord is showing that He is here in Magnolia helping us. That we as missionaries are his hands, Im so excited for this month of Miracles! :)

Well thats the scoop for this week. Next week will have a lot of exciting things to tell. I love yall, hope you have a great week, and continue to feel the spirit of Christ this Christmas season! Remember to be happy, to show it, live it, and share it:) 

Love Elder Hall