Coming Along Slowly but Surley

Hey Yall!

This week was another normal week here in New Albany. The weather is still hot and cold. And there is nothing to much different then the news we got about transfers. Transfers are on Wednesday, Me and Elder Black will both be staying. O there is something else that will be different. Ill see if yall can pick up on it;)

But this week like I said has been another normal week. We contact in the stores...... Well really only Walmart. We tried to contact in some of the other stores like piggly wiggly, dollar general, save a lot and their was a total of about 5-10 people combined in all the stores. I couldnt believe it. We have tried going to the park, maybe 1-5 people there. haha i dont know where everyone is hiding. We would tract but this place has been tracted out about 12 different times haha but we are hanging in there and trying to find those that need and want the gospel in there lives. We pretty much walked and biked all week which it was good to get out and be seen by everyone passing us on there cars. One thing thatll be good is that we are getting a set of spanish speaking sister missionaries. Thats good for 2 reasons. One is because there are a ton of hispanics in our area, 2 because there have been a lot of people that dont like Elders but said if we had girl missionaries they would listen to them.

One thing we have been focusing on really hard is trying to strengthen and build up a base for our branch so it can actually grow. We have been working hard with less actives, recent converts to strengthen and help them. We are trying to get the branch excited about missionary work so that they can have the courage to invite their friends. We have been working hard with the branch president and trying to come up with ideas on how to better help the branch. One idea that we have already put into place is starting FHE in the different areas. One thing thats unusual about the New Albany Area is that there are only about 2 families actually in New Albany, there are some in Blue Mtn (about 15 miles north of here), some in ripley (about 22 miles north of here) some in holly springs and potts camp (about 20-30 miles away) and with limitation on how many miles we have and how little the towns are its hard to find people, but anyways back to the FHE. We are going around to all the little towns and with some of the active members we have their we are doing family night. We are hoping as we do this that 1. The members will come, have fun and feel the spirit. 2. Invite others less active, non members, and others to come. and 3. be able to help the branch grow this way and find people to teach.

So thats pretty much been the week. FHE, contacting, trying to start Book of Mormon studies with recent converts. Life is good though. I wish I could tell yall some funny or interesting stores but for now I dont have any. I will hopefully have some soon. I just wanted to let yall know about a 10 step process to help you improve yourself in any aspect in your life. What ever you want to improve on do these 10 things. They come from my favorite chapter in PMG. Chapter 7, Learn the Language:)

1. Be patient with yourself. 2. Be dedicated in your study. (Read AND ponder the BOM every day and it will help you with anything you will be doing) 3. Memorize scriptures, poems, quotes. (This may seem silly or a waste of time, but Elder Richard G Scott has promised us that memorizing things gives us power) 4. Record words or phrases you dont know in a notebook and look up the definition. (this will help you continue to learn new things every day) 5. Actively listen (to others, to leaders or teachers or parents, and most important to the spirit!) 6. Ask others to help you. (We all need help! Just ask) 7. Dont be afraid of making mistakes (they are gonna happen. If your not afraid, once they do happen you can get past quicker and more easily) 8. Learn with your companions, family, friends. (Be able to teach others, and be able to let others teach you) 9. You need to actively seek it. (It being whatever your trying to improve on, you will not obtain whatever you seek without effort on your part) and 10. Trust that the Spirit will help you as you live the way you should and do your very best! (Have faith and everything will work out:))

These can all be found in PMG pgs 128-133. I know that if you apply these 10 steps into improving yourself they can help you! You will improve, and see success more rapidly. You will be happier and also have fun.

This is kinda random but the other change this week is that im adding the "G" back onto my words haha I had a good talk with president Hanks about it:) but anyways hope yall have a great week! Love yall so very much and know that yall are in my prayers every night! Remember to be Happy:)

Love Elder Hall

Whatta Week!

Hey Yall!

Wow what an amazin, sad, fun, hard workin week it has been! The weather is still up and down! Today is cloudy and the wind is blowin like crazy! The sad part of this week is that the Eliasons are headed back to Utah.:( Im gonna miss them so dang much! We were there earlier today and helped them get the last few things in there car and now they are off and away! They did so many good things for the branch, and everyone here loves them! Things here in New Albany are the same and probably have been for years haha just another really small town i love it:)

Just some highlights of the week.

On Tuesday we had the Eliasons last district meetin. I wanted to make it a good one and I try to make each district meetin better then the last. Well I had 2 weeks to prepare for this one and Im pretty sure it was the best district meetin I have ever had! Every single person was included and had some sort of training. Then I was able to train on a few different things. The first thing I gotta train on is our district culture SHOES. I attached a picture of what i laminated and gave to everyone along with 2 silver half dollars. Haha i tried to find silver dollars but come to find out they are super rare, so if you ever find one hold on to it for dear life! But i based it off of the story Prez Hinkley gave about his dad and how they almost stole the poor mans shoes but ended up puttin silver dollars in them. Well I gave them the money and they were supposed to either help themselves if they have a really hard day or help someone else thats havin a hard day. I wanna invite yall to do the same. Look around every day for those you can help! Just one little act can go a long way! I also attached the paper i passed out to everyone. Now these are just some of so many different scriptures on these topics. Feel free to look up the scriptures and to find the strength in the Lord for yourself:) But these things are so key in missionary work. We need not fear, but have faith and courage! And when we are strong and have that faith then the key to bein successful as a missionary is cryin repentance! When we Invite someone we are cryin repentance just as the prophets in the BOM did! When we open our mouths and share a message of the gospel we are then successful! Thats somethin so easy and we can control!:) But overall it was so great and i learned so much from my amazin district!

We have been tryin to find new investigators and tryin to talk with everyone. The only problem is that everyone in this little town of New Albany has already seen and talked with the missionaries hahah but we are gonna keep tryin and keep workin hard! We got to go to the temple on Fri and got to see the new video! O MAAAAN! It was so dang good! I love the temple and the things i get to learn there and how amazing you feel. I would also wanna invite and encourage yall to go to the temple often, if you havent been, the GO! If something is stoppin you, repent and be worthy to go! That is where we all need to be!

On Saturday we got to go to lunch with the Eliasons and then help them pack everything into there car. We also have been workin hard on strengthenin the new converts. We have started BOM studies and actually this week we are gonna start somethin new that im excited for. Family Home Evenin with the branch memebers! Since everyone lives so far away in little towns outside of New Albany we are gonna go to little towns and start FHE with the people there! Our first one will be Tuesday and im stoked! The members are excited as well, so hope it goes well:) And yesterday we had great church meetins! We had pot luck after church for the Eliasons and then went to give the sacrament to those that cant make it on Sunday. It was all so good!

I love that Easter is rollin around, and also General Conference! Hope yall are preparin to have a spiritual thanksgivin in April:) haha cant wait! Hope yall are doin well. I pray for yall every day and night! If you need someone to talk to or are havin a hard time please write me or email me and know that im here, ill listen, i cant promise inspired advise but just know im here for any of yall! Love yall so much!

Love Elder Hall

Hastenin the Work, Open our Mouth!

Hey Yall!

Happy St Patties Day! I hope everyone enjoys the holiday and shares with others:) haha so just a little weather update, it has been nice and in the 60's one day and back to freezin cold the next haha still have the bi polar weather in the south! Today its pretty cold, but hopefully we can find spring time soon!

 

This week has been great! I was able to go interview 2 more people in our distict that got baptized this weekend. I just love doin interviews and its so cool while you do them to be listenin to the responses that they give you and also for the spirit to confirm that they are ready. In every interview i have, its such a neat experience and i am able to feel the spirit so strongly and in a different way then i usally feel it to know they are ready for baptism. I love it!:) We also had zone trainin this week. Probably the best zone trainin ive had on my mission! They trained on a meetin that 1/3 of the mission got to go to. Brothers Donaldson and Littlefield from the MTC came and trained on a new way to teach and help with members and to hasten the work even farther then its goin right now! It was so great! 

The one thing that ill have time to explain is about the new teachin method. We are to teach the whole restoration lesson in 7 mintues! What you do is you take out the pamplet that we pass out and we use the pictures and ask them to describe what they see and they basically teach themselves! Its so dang fun to do and very effective. As we do this we are becomin more bold! Boldness isnt yellin and screamin and gettin mad, its explainin clearly and as nephi says "According to the plainess in the which I know that no man can err" Bein bold is talkin so plainly that no one can err! As we think about what we are gonna say to people and just say short sweet simple sentences people cant err, they cant make excuses, and this way you start to find those that are serious about the gospel, or those that arent gonna change. Its so great!

We have been tryin to find new investigators. As we go to the stores and just talk with people and breifly explain about the gospel then set up apointments to come teach them we have been successful so far. We have a few we wanna see this week. I just love sharin this and it makes me so happy:) Ive been tryin to get my comp to talk more. He literally wont say anythin which is kinda the new missionary dealio haha but ive been tryin to help him so once he is done trainin and has another comp they both can talk! Ha but life is great! Other than that we have been tryin to see less actives, and recent converts. We are startin to do BOM studies with a RC Camron, he is 12 and we are gonna read the BOM and have him read some on his one until he reads it all the way through. Right now with our branch we are tryin to create a base where we then can build and make it stronger. We are tryin to help the active members be strong and help in missionary work which is startin to happen a little at a time right now!

The message I would leave with yall today is one that you can truley find the most happiness in. That is of openin your mouth and just sharin the joy, love, peace and happiness that the gospel bring you with others. As we do that with boldness, clear and simple, we will find the elect quicker. We will be able to see success and will have more happiness than anything else can bring us!:) I love yall, and hope yall have a great week:)

Love Elder Hall

Exchanges, Learn, Love!

Hey Yall!

So this week has been another crazy weather week! We have had rain, hott, cold and everywhere in between! I just wish it would be sunny every day, but at the same time am not excited for the summer haha good thing its the last one ill have to spend down here as a missionary! But this week it feels like i havent been in New Albany too much because I have gotten to go on a couple exchanges with different elders in my district!

I first wanna talk about the exchanges I had. The first one I went to Amory, Mississippi with Elder Harris. They just opened up the area about 6 months ago and they are tryin to get started. Well everything we had kept fallin through. No one was openin up there doors, or we would get lost on our bikes and be bikin for ages haha but we didnt let that get us down. We picked up carts at wal mart and talked to alot of different people. We went to a few different stores and just got to know people and breifly explained about the church. It was very similar with the next exchanged I had in Tupelo with one of the Zone Leaders Elder Mckay. We exchanged later that evenin and when we tried to get into the one apt we had they werent home. So we went to the mall and contacted again. We had 10 really good conversations with people where we shared what we were doin as missionaries and gave them a mormon.org card and got there number. The cool thing is that we go around to stores or gas stations or banks and just open our mouths and talk. When you do that and just be happy and friendly you may get some no's but you will be able to find the one person that needs you. So the one thing I learned on our exchanges is to just open your mouth. Not to be scared but just share what is so important to you! "Dare to be a mormon, dare to stand alone, dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known!" President Monson.

One cool story is that right before we were gonna exchange, the ZLs told us they were gonna be late. Well that gave us around 30-40 minutes where we didnt know what to do. So I told my comp that we were gonna go walk around our neighborhood. We did and ended up runnin into a few little kids playin b ball outside. Well I stopped and asked if we could play with them. They said yes and we had such a fun time! We played for a while until we had to go back home and go on exchanges. Even though we didnt get a chance to share the gospel with them, we still made friends and left an impression on them. They loved playin with us.

Other than that, we have just been tryin to look for service and new investigators. We have a couple of potentials that we are gonna visit this week! But life has been great and i cant complain. The other thing i wanted to share was that of love and charity. I have been workin on this alot! Our mission prez always says, "Point your arrows outward." I know that as we have love and charity and serve others we will be blessed. As we give literally our all to the Lord he can and will bless us! We wont need to worry. He gave his all for us, let us give our all for him!

I hope yall have a great week! Be happy and remember, "Sure is a beautiful day!"

Love Elder Hall

Sure is A Beautiful Day!

Hey Yall!

This week has been so cold, and rainy. Which is really unsual for this time of the year, but im enjoyin it before the hott of summer comes and i start to melt again! None the less we were able to have a great week and have many good enjoyable moments! Just a few cool things about our area. Its the biggest area in the mission, we do have a car. Um the towns are pretty small but i love it here. Elder Black and I are gettin along great.

We still dont really have any investigators. We have an investigator right now that basically is at a stand still and wont do anythin. We are tryin to work with her and help her progress. But right now we are just tryin to get the branch presidency and members excited again about missionary work. Its been really rough here for them and they are gettin down a little bit so we need to pick it back up. One thing were gonna start doin is going to visit every member and have a family home evenin with them! That'll hopefully help us gain there trust and get them excited about missionary work again! Right now basically all of New Albany has been tracted upside down and backwards so we are goin around and tryin to just talk to people. Its amazin how many people will talk back if you just open your mouth. Sometimes you dont get to talk for very long or not even about the gospel, but its showin people your friendly.

But the highlight for sure of my week was on Saturday. We got special permission to go see a man up in Corinth. That was my first area. Now this mans name is James. He is in his late 70's and has had a pretty rough life. He has been through many surgeries, even while i was with him and many times he literally died and they had to bring him back to life. While I was up in Corinth at the start of my mission he had a surgery like that. Well he has had many more since i left. About 2 weeks ago he had another surgery. Half way through the Dr's stopped the procedure because he would've bled out on the table and died. Then they basically gave him a termination date. Which James showed me when we went up there on paper. Well I got to go up with my trainer Elder Galorath. I love him so much haha and we had a great time going around seein all the people we used to see, and talkin with everyone we would pass. But back to James. So we went to see him. He is in super happy spirits. He hasnt been active his whole life, but while we talked with him, he said he loves the church and is basically active in his heart. Well before we left he told us a couple things that i wanna pass on.

1. Be Happy and Positive.

The most successful people in life are the happy ones, that view everything with a positive outlook.

2. Remember to keep learnin.

If there is a word that you come across in your scripture readin or other books, stop and look up the definition. That way you will learn more. Knowledge is power!

3. Find your mark, and leave it behind on the world!

His mark is this, "Sure is a beautiful day!" James. He made his own foundation the "Sure is a Beautiful Day Foundation". Im now gonna initiate yall into it. Step 1. Wake up every day and say the quote found on the line above. Step 2 Do everything you can to make it a beautiful day even if it may not seem to be.

Ive learned that life is what we make it. James told us that he isnt scared of dyin. He isnt mad or sad because he has chosen to be happy and to make each day a beautiful one! What a great lesson that is to all of us! Even though things may be dark and gloomy and sad we can still make it what we want!

Well we had a great time with James and what a great man and influence on my life. I have now looked back on my mission and what ive done. I have picked out things that i can do better and ive started to change. I invite yall to do the same with your individule lives. Look back and see all the good youve done. Now try to pick some things you can improve on and follow the council of King Mosiah!

Mosiah 4:10, And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

Start now! Act now! The time is now! I hope that yall have a great week and keep bein happy! Find your talent God has given you and act upon it and share it with others! Love yall so much!

Love Elder Hall:)