Country, Sticks, Gonna be Good!

Hey Yall!

Wow have their been a lot of changes the past week! But before I go into any of that, I just want to say a BIG thank you to the Canyon Crest Relief Society! I got your package this Wednesday at Transfers haha sadly Im not in New Albany anymore so it took a little while to get it, but that made my week! Thank you for all the letters and food! Yall dont know how much I appreciate and needed that:) Yall are the best ward ever!!  Elder Roseman my new comp and I:)

So for this week a lot has happened, just to recap really quickly, then ill add a couple stories.  This is Carine and Roosevelt, and there family, they are the family that Elder Johnson and I did marriage counseling with. I love this family

• I am officially outta Madison. Im actually gonna miss it there haha funny how we always say that. But I got to say goodbye to a lot of members and investigators we had. 
• Wednesday was transfers, It was so sad to see all my good friends, elders and sisters, go home! But at the same time I was excited and proud of them for all the good and hard work they have done out here! 
• Thursday was my first real day in Magnolia. So the address I sent was an address for Thomaston. Thats about 10 to 15 miles from here. Magnolia is just a road. Thomaston is the biggest town with maybe 1,000 people in it... haha this area has the least amount of people in it than any other area. Its just as country as my past area Highland Home, but Highland Home has many more dirt roads in it. The weather here lately has been super cold, at night time it gets down into the mid 30's! Thats been a little surprising, since I thought coming down south would be warmer, but its almost like we are out camping in the woods! 
• My new comp, Elder Roseman. A little bit about him. He is 18, is from Morgan UT, he has been out for 6 weeks, so I am follow up training him! Its been fun so far, he is different just like all my comps have been, but we are having fun! I live with members in there cabin. We live upstairs and boy does it get cold in that thing haha but the members are the Martins, they are really cool! There an older couple but a good old country couple. The branch down here as maybe 50 records on the roster. Yesterday in Fast and Testimony meeting we had 15 people not including us 2. There was a 2 less actives that showed up, which shocked us, but we were so excited about that! Everyone but the 2 less actives bore there testimony and then we ended the meeting 25 minutes early haha:) 
• About the food.... So we dont have a Wal Mart or any stores for that case. We get fed by Mrs Brenda, Mrs Martin but we call her Brenda, She makes us breakfast and lunch. And its no little thing. She raised 7 kids and still cooks for 7! haha So im trying really hard not to get fat here before I come home! Also for dinner, we get fed either by left overs from breakfast and lunch, or members feed us or just random people that let us in! Its been crazy how much we eat here. Haha my comp has never bought groceries on his mission yet haha i told him to enjoy the food while he can! 

Thats all I can think of right now to tell yall haha just really country and southern, homey, and I love it. Things are gonna be good here! You have to take a different approach then most areas at the work but its fun to be creative.  This is Many and Tiffany. They are not a couple, just neighbors, Many is a less active cop that we found and I love him, Tiffany is the investigator we had:) 

So Just a story or two. On Saturday we weren’t quite sure what to do. We aren’t gonna just go hang out at members houses all day and then come home, Im expecting to get a baptism out of this place, so I told Elder Roseman that we were gonna work and work hard. Well he wanted me to meet a couple people. So we went to go see some Less actives. We got there, and one of their friends lives with them, Bobby. He had a baptism date a long time ago, but it ended up falling through. Well I guess he had been avoiding the missionaries ever since. I didn’t know that when we walked up and started talking to him. We asked him questions and got to know him for a little bit. Then I asked if we could read out of the BOM with him. He said yes. We shared the story of the Stripling Warriors with him. Then I asked if we could come back and teach him. He said he would love that! So we are going back on Tue to go and see him! Then we rode our bikes down and met Jerry another nice man, not a member. Then we saw a 15 year old boy named Dell. Him, his little brothers, and his friend, Jaharee, and us all played football for a little bit. Then we shared a short scripture with them and asked if we could teach them again. They also had been taught by missionaries but havent in a long time. 

This is Armondo and Amber the Texas Longhorn fans that we tracted into that fed us so well. They are some of the nicest people on planet earth! 

So we told them if we play football and basketball with them they have to come to church and they agreed. Then we went tracting. Now tracting down here is a little different. There could be a 5 mile long road with only 3-5 houses on it haha so we made it a goal this transfer to knock of 3 houses a day, everyday, and that way we will knock quite a few houses in the area. We also want to work where other elders havent. Well we went up the road of the church, and started knocking. The first door didnt answer. The next door we knocked on and it was an older man and his family. He told us to come on in and that they were having dinner so we were gonna eat with them! We ate, talked, got to share a little about what missionaries do, and we read out the the BOM with them. We are gonna go help the father do some service next week when he gets back into town! So that day was pretty awesome! Its amazing to me how the Lord blesses us according to our faith. We read it over and over, “You will be healed by your faith, you can work miracles by your faith, Woman thy faith hath made thee whole...” Over and over in the scriptures it mentions that things only happen according to OUR faith! We as a human race just need to realize that and get more faith, not be fearful, prideful or doubtful, and we will see miracles and become like the prophets and apostles and one day like our Savior!

This is Elder Bickley, he is home now, but I loved him. He taught me alot and we got to be really close! The other cool story is one that is very simple, but in my eyes was a huge miracle. We went out with a really nice, kind, awesome member named Joe. He was gonna take us to see a family that come to church off and on, as we were headed there, he hit the breaks and said under his breath, “I wanna go see them.” We turned around and went up to a trailer. Joe knocked on the door, and the man answered. It was a big black man without his shirt on. Haha usually southerner. The first thing out of Joes mouth was, “Hey Jr, these are the missionaries from my church, I wanted to bring them over and let them teach you.” Without any hesitation Josiah said, “For sure, I would love that!” We got down his info and we are going back sometime this week to teach him. Its a simple story with a powerful message. One, Joe recognized the spirit prompting him to see this family. Two, he ACTED! (Thats the hardest part), he turned around, then he opened his mouth and INVITED! Its as simple as that, but there is a Third part to this. When we got back into the car, Joe turned to us and said, “See I am opening my mouth!” He had the biggest smile and you could tell he was so happy! When we do missionary work, that automatically brings happiness! Just like when we obey we have to be blessed! It was so cool to see that down in an area with not very many people, the branch here wants so badly to do missionary work. And areas that have a ton, thousands upon thousands of people they see every day, they take this great opportunity and blessing for granted! Eye opening for me.

Im so dang excited for this transfer! A lot is gonna happen. Miracles have happened and will continue to happen. On my planner for this month I have 2 quotes. The first is “It is impossible to fail when you do your best when you are on the Lord's errand.” -Elder M. Russell Ballard. The 2nd is for this month of Thanksgiving, “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.”- D&C 59:7. This transfer im gonna try to do something Ive never done before, that is to say “I cant, we cant, this area cant...” Im not gonna allow negative thoughts into my head. I am going to see blessings, I am going to be obedient, I am going to perform miracles, I am gonna change myself, my companion, this area, and the work!

I love yall so much! Remember how great and merciful the Jesus is. He loves you! He wants the best for you! He is here for you! Remember to be happy, and grateful this month. Remember that your not alone! Have a great week and make the best of each opportunity!

Love Elder Hall