Transfers!

Hey Yall!

So this week was another great week! It started off with a day and a half of P-days haha my comp and my district leaders comp had to go down to Birmingham on Monday. So me and my district leader, Elder Stankey, were together and took a pday! Then on tuesday we did another spit so I was down in Booneville Area. That day was actually really confusing and we did 2 splits. One with the district leader and one with the zone leaders. So we were a three some for one day haha. But that was the start of a crazy week. This week we were able to get 2 more referrals from mormon.org and we contacted one. We are going to go see him tomorrow. This week we also did a lot more tracting. For whatever reason when I tract no one, I literally mean no one opens thier doors! I dont know why haha sometimes I beg for someone to give me a little hope and open the door then slam it haha that would be better then nothing right?:)

But I have some big news that we found out today. Im getting transferred! I hope I finally get to go to Alabama this time haha but it will be really fun to have new experiences. To be in a new city and with new people. Im going to miss Corinth and the people here a lot. But im also excited to have new experiences! So I will be able to write yall either on wednesday or thursday and let yall know my new address:)

So this week we were still trying to find new people to teach. We have been seeing alot of less active but havent been able to go out of the city cuz we dont have any more miles to use for our car. So because of that this week was pretty slow. But we have had a lot of fishing experiences. Yesterday was the best though. We went to a members house, The Goads. They have a pond with a lot of cat fish in it. And what we do their is cheat haha we throw in dog food to get all the cats near the shore then catch them haha but I actually caught one before we threw in the cat food and I didnt have any bait on either! Haha it was the easiest fishing ive ever done! In total I caught around 10 catfish in about and hour.

Well im sorry this email is kinda sort. Nothing really new has happened hopefully this next week Ill have a lot to write about:) O one other thing. So there is a mormon message that I want all yall to watch! Its called Sunday Will Come. Its Elder Wirthlin. It is such a great little movie! But I love how he talks about the atonement and relates it to everyone. He says that on Friday Christ was crucified. It was a dark miserable day. But on Sunday he was resurrected. He over came death and that day was bright and glorious. Then he says that all of us will have bad Fridays, where we will be suffering in sorrow, sin, pains, But Sunday will come. That day will come when we will over come all of our sorrows, pains, and sins. That with Christs help we can all look forward to that Sunday when things will be alright again. I love that message of hope! When we are right in the middle of the situation it seems hopeless and we will never get out. But we all need to remember Sunday will come!

I know that this message is true! That with Christ nothing is impossible! That we can over come everything and look forward to the Grand Sunday when all the sorrows and pains and sins will be no more! Im so grateful to be helping others come to find this message! To bring to them their Sunday! To help them change their lives and become more like Christ! Other churches teach to come TO Christ, But our church teaches to become LIKE Christ. I love that fact! I love the Church! In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Hope yall have a great week! Be Happy!!:)

Love Elder Hall

Long Week

Hey Yall,

So this week has been a long week of packing and moving and exchanges and lots of everything you can imagine! But I did have some cool experiences. Me at Elvis Presleys House:) Thats down in a city called Tupelo!

So first I want to talk about the week of our move. Hopefully all yall got my email explaining that I moved and have a new address. If you didnt my new address is 1111 Sawyer Rd Apt C Corinth, Ms, 38834. But boy I have forgotten what happens in a move. Not only do you have to move your own stuff and funiture, which for missionaries is the easy part haha, but you also have to scrub the 4 years of missionary crap off of everything! The walls, fridge, floor, baseboards, tub, haha it was so gross but now we are in a newer nicer apt. Its actually the exact same as our old one but only a year old, so that is nice. It took us 3 days to move because we had to clean and get someone to help us move the tables and drawers and big things we had. So that took up alot of our week.

But earlier in the week I was on an exchange with our District Leader down in a city called Booneville. Its the area right next to ours. I spent the first 2 days of the week there. It was fun, and tiring at the same time. Booneville doesnt have a car so we biked and walked around all day which really wasnt bad it actually felt really good, except one thing. I told yall how I got a new hair cut because it was starting to get warmer here. Well one of the days it was around 90 degrees and high humidity as well. Everyone here says that that is nothing. That is really cool compared to what summer will be! Well that concerns me because on that day I was sweating like a pig!! Everything I had on was soaking wet and my DL didnt have a drop of sweat on him haha I cant wait for summer!;) It will be a new experience and Im gonna be sweating like non other. But hope I just get used to it haha.

Elvis's House. One cool experince I had while we were on the exchange was that we went and saw one of thier investigators. His name was Richard. He is an older guy in his late 50's, and is non denominational. He also went to many bible camps and new a lot of scriptures out of the bible. Well as we talked with him he had questions. We would try to explain what we believed but he would just come back at us with a scripture and twist it to try and make his point. Which by the way many people down here do that and non of it makes any sense! Haha but anyways we did this with many of his questions for about an hour and half or so. We were getting a little bit on him but he still seemed to believe in his ways. So after a while we had to go so I said to him, "We have to get going now but I want to leave you with my testimony." And bore my testimony, one of the strongest ones I have born. Then right after I just looked at him as he stared back at me. He started to say something then kind of mumbled and was silent for what seemed like a minute or two. Then he said that we were remarkable young men and we said a prayer and left. It was so cool to see how the spirit can work through us! The spirit put into my mouth the words that I needed to say. And because of that it confounded a man who had years and years of bible study and classes! He had no idea what to say. It was a neat experience and after I reflected on my setting apart blessing. That said to bear my testimony and not fight with other. It really opened my eyes.

One more experince yall might like. Its a funny and crazy one haha.   Me with a repleca of elvis's car.

This was on saturday afternoon. We decided to go around to all our neighbors and meet them and tell them that we could help them with anything and to just give us a call. So we did that with all of them. Then we went down the street and there was an older lady and im pretty sure was her son who was 32? I think somehwere around there. But we talked with them and they were really friendly and nice. The lady, Barbra, her mom would have the missionaries over all the time until she passed away. So we got talking with them as they sat there and smoked haha. The weird thing was that whenever the boy would talk it was really slow and he would stare at your soul! It kinda creeped me out like he had some sort of evil spirit in him. But we said a prayer with them and blessed their home. Then we stood up and he said can I do something to you now? And moved his finger back and forth pointing to both of us. Then his finger stopped at me and I said sure. He slowly came closer to me and raised his hands like he was going to grab my face. Then with both of him thumbs swiped them across my forehead and yelled JESUS! Haha then after that asked me if I felt different. I told him yes. I basically felt the spirit leave me for a brief second. But it was a funny experience haha there are all sorts of crazy people that do stuff like that down here. It sounds like they come out during the summer so we will have to see what experiences I have haha

Thats another pond that we fished at! Alot of people down here have ponds! It just a regular thing!

But I know this church is true. I know that testimonies can be powerful and all yall have to do is share them. "A testimony is found in the bareing of it!" President Packer. We just have to open our mouths and we can not only bless others but receive blessings for ourselves. I know that missionary work is going to progress and that everyone can be apart of it! I love this gospel and love to see how it changes lives. This is the Lords church. He stands at the head and directs the prophets to know how to lead us. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he has restored the gospel back to the earth. Never ever take that for granted. I love yall! Have a great week and remember to always be happy!

Love Elder Hall

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

Hey Ya'll!

So this week I dont have any grand stories for you cuz our one investigator got baptized haha but something that Prez. Holzapfel told us is that we also need to be retaining recent converts and less actives and to spend time with them. Well we usually do that each week, but we did a lot of that this week. We also tracted a ton this week! And it sounds like its just my luck, when I tell missionaries that no one even answers their door when I tract cuz they all laugh. But thats ok! Earlier this week we had a lot of sunshine and hot weather! So we tracted a lot. Only one man opened his door, but he was really nice and let us bless his house. O Im not sure if I have told yall this or not but our mission has been part of an experiment. One mission down in Florida I think had great success with this door approach, which was to knock, say that you were represenatives of Christ and ask if you could leave a blessing of peace and comfort on thier home. So the church wanted our mission to try it out as well and see how much success we get. Well I like the idea and dont at the same time. Personally we have gotten little little success. We are going to try and rephrase it this week and see what happens. But anyways we tracted up in Tennessee on Saturday because it was nice and warm again!  My new boots!!!

But many of yall may have heard of the bad weather down here. On Thursday it was horrible. It was literally a down poor. Alot of homes were flooded, roads were flooded you could hardley see when you drove. There were a few tornados in Alabama and one is lower Mississippi that traveled 56 miles. But non of them touched down so that was good!

Me and my Alabama Gear! Its almost complete just a few more things;) Yesterday was great though for a few different reasons. First we had 2 less active families come back to church! It was great to see them their and hope they keep coming back. One of the less actives we saw we actually visited on Saturday and I got to mow my first mission lawn:) haha it was the easiest thing I've ever done! They had a riding mower and I didnt have to bag anything and their yard was half the size of ours! Dare I say it but it was enjoyable:) Anyways back to Sunday. We had set up to sing with one of our investigators who was not coming to church and is going no where. We figured this might help her. But she didnt show up so it was me and my comp singing Joseph Smiths First Prayer for the Special Musical Hymn. My comp couldnt hit the high notes for the melody part so he sung bass and I had to sing melody. Which for me it was super hard to hit the high notes as well but we sang and afterwards everybody came up to us and told us how much they loved it and how it was the best they have heard in years! Haha that was kinda funny.

One more cool experience that happened yesterday! So we planned on seeing an old couple that was less active but we got going back to church. They have been great and are fully active now, but wanted us over for a bbq and to go fishing at their pond. Well their grandson that is living with them, who we have never met came out fishing with us. He is 23 and hasnt been active since he was 12. But we just wanted to get to know him and hang out with him. Well we had a great time fishing and then we ate dinner. After we shared a thought from conference. He listened to us and agreed with us to come back and let us teach him the lessons! This family and the Holzapfels are really good friends. Prez and his wife have come out to visit them with us. So im sure he will be happy to hear that we could get their grandson back to church! Me fishing! I caught that fish and its as big as my little kids spider man fishing pole:)

This week we have also gotten 3 referrals! I cant believe it because we usually never get any and my comp said he has only gotten 2 referrals since he has been out, about 9 months. I thought that was great so hopefully we will have some new investigators soon!

Now one last thing. I told yall how we have been out tracting this week. How hot its been. And yall know how much of a pretty boy I am. Well I figured out that between the hot and humidity, my hair just poofs. When I use gel it only lasts for minutes. I was getting sick of it, but didnt want to buzz my head. Well after a week of thinking about it, I gave in and buzzed it haha its not to short but it is the shortest its ever been! And you would think that I would be happy to NOT be doing my hair anymore, but the past couple of days ive been stressed out and feeling weird not doing it hahah kinda funny but hope yall enjoy the pics:) It is really nice not having to worry if it looks bad or not:)  I love catfish;)

My district! Anyway hope yall have a great week! I know this church is true! I have a strong testimony of it. In Moroni chapter 7, in the middle of verse 26 it says As surely as Christ liveth....(Follow over to the end of verse 31) Bear testimony of HIM. That is my testimony I want to share this week. Christ lives today! And we need to be bareing testimony of him each and every day to everyone:) I Love each and every one of you!

Love Elder Hall

Wonderful Conference!

Hey ya'll!

Me and my new license plate:) haha This week has been great! On Tuesday we had a zone conference down in Tupelo. After that we were going to go look for boots for Elder Galorath with Scott. He wanted some boots also because the ones he has are really old. After the conference we got a txt from him saying that he couldnt learn all of this mormon stuff and that we better part ways. I hate to admitt this but that got me really down for the rest of the day. After seeing his happiness and growth and love for what we had been teaching him I just couldnt understand why he didnt want it anymore. The rest of the day I just pondered on if I did anything or what could have happened to make this change in scott. After a while I realized that I needed to stop thinking about that. Instead I thought about what we could do. Mom had sent me a picture in a frame that she gave me last easter and gave me again this easter. She said that it would probably be hard to pack so to try and give it away. So I thought why not give it to Scott? So we went over that night and knocked on his door. No one answered so I just left the picture there. The next day we went to the church and noticed that Scott had left his umbrella. We figured we would give it back to him and that could be an excuse to get to talk to him. So we went over to his house and knocked once more. Again no answer. So we left it and thought that it would be best to leave him alone for a couple days or weeks and see if he would just come back to us. Well that next morning he called us and said that he wanted us to come back over. He said that he couldnt sleep for those 3 days. When we went and talked to him, he said that as he sat in his house and listened to us knock, it killed him inside. He said it felt like Christ was knocking on my heart. So after that 2nd night that we knocked he said that he wasnt going to shut Chirst out any more. So he let us come back. 

Me, Scott and Elder Galorath! Well im so glad to tell yall that we were able to baptize him on saturday in between the 2nd session and priesthood session of conference! And I couldnt be any happier, and Scott couldnt be any happier! He said that he cant wait to keep growing in the church! Im so grateful to know that Christ is working so much harder and helps bring miracles to my life! He is always on the job and is preparing everyone for us. He helps us bring people back into his fold. He really does care about the ONE lost sheep. He loves each and every one of us personally and in our own special way:)

Me acting like a weirdo with my pocket watch. So not only was that the highlight of my weekend but I also got a cherry on top of the cake with General Conference! Man what an amazing 2 days! It seemed like it just flew by which is wierd for me because usually conference drags on and I dont hardly listen hahah. But this time I decided to take notes. And I wish I could tell yall all the things I learned but that would take days. Haha just a couple things that stood out to me. One is that probably because im a missionary and thats all I hear, it seems like conference was a lot about missionary work. Not only for others but for ourselves as well. Now its really interesting and Ive talked alot this week with other missionaries as well, but as I have taken myself out of the world so to speak, I can see how wicked the world is becoming. And we hear a lot about the last times and how wicked the world will be and how scary it will be. One thing I picked up on is that we need not be afraid. We will have peace through our Savior. Also before conference I had a cool conversation with my comp. I told him that its interesting to see how black and white things are becoming. Not only are things getting more wicked in these last days, but they are getting more righteous! You can start to see a very distinct line between whats right and wrong now and days. You can start to tell that other religions are starting to see how correct the LDS church is. I think that it is so cool! Not only are things wicked but things are also alot more righteous then they have been. Now is the time to pick a side. Now and days your either doing right or wrong. No more gray areas. In conference they seemed to talk about how to prepare for the second comming.

My new pocket watch that scott bought for me. But one of the coolest things about conference that I noticed, is that the prophet and 2 apostles bore very powerful and sacred testimonies about Christ. When Elder Christoffersen came and spoke to our mission and bore his personal testimony about Chirst I wondered why they didnt do that in conference. Well I got my answer. The first one was Pres. Packer. He said, "He lives! I know He lives! Im His special witness and bear record of Him!" The next was Pres. Eyring who said, "I know He lives just as those who saw the reserected Christ, just as Joseph Smith saw him in the grove. Im a witness of the risen Savior and Redeemer." And the last was our prophet, Pres. Monson who said, "Im a personal witness that God lives." His testimony is cool because he is a witness of both Christ and Heavenly Father. But I know that each of the prophets and 12 apostles have seen Christ. That he leads and guides the chruch through them! What an awesome thing to know:)

My new shoes that i bought! They were orignally around $140, i got them for $88:) Now a couple more funny things about being a missionary. Everyone thinks our first names are Elder. Everyone thinks that me and my comp are brothers because we have the same first name! Haha I always laugh at that. The next is that yall know I hate fish. Well yesterday a member made fried fish, fried cornbread, french fries, and corn haha alot of fried food! But the fish wasnt too bad. Mainly cuz i couldnt really taste it over the grease;) O and one more thing. Yall have probably already heard or seen it but if you havent go look up on lds.org lone peak basketball. They made a little clip about them thats really cool! Yesterday they played it in between sessions and I got to brag about my high school a little bit:)

Any ways I love yall! Have a great week! May the sun keep shinning and may our lifes be bright in Christ!

Love Elder Hall

He is Risen!

Happy day after Easter everyone:)

Hope yall had a great Easter Sunday! Down here in Mississippi or (Missippi, how people down here say it), it was a great Easter Sunday. It was cloudy, but I still had a great day! We had fast sunday, and both Elder Galorath and I bore our testimonies. Along with a lot of others in the ward which was great:) Then came the best and worst part of the day. The food! O man can I just say that I have never eaten so much food in my life! It started out with a less active family, the Millmans, that we have been visiting wanted to feed us. So we went up there right after church. She was still cooking so we didnt eat until around 2. Then we went to another less active family that is coming back to church, but they fed us desert again. That was around 3:15. 

Then right after that there is a lady, Mary Rogers, who got baptized in December that wanted us over for dinner at 4. So we went to her house and ate another dinner! Haha I literally had to loosen my belt after that one! We played checkers with her and I could hardly reach the pieces it hurt so bad to bend over! Haha but after that we took Scott out to a play we had been invited to called the Risen Lamb. It was at the Oakland Baptist Church, but we figured we would go. It was a good play. Its kind of interesting how they portrayed Jesus and the messages in the songs and things were kinda different. Plus on top of all of that, Jesus and most the other actors all had a southern accent!! haha it threw me off a little bit :)

Me and Elder Galorath, His mom sent us matching easter ties:) I wore that one half the day and mom's Half the day:)  But I just want to share a little Easter message real quick. First I want yall if you havent already done so to look up the mormon message from Elder Holland. Its called None Were With Him. It is such a great clip that we were showing and have been showing to everyone. But I love a line in there that he says Jesus walked a long lonely path, so we do not have to! What a great message. Sometimes I feel down on myself. I feel like no one understands what im going through that im all alone. I have felt that on my mission at some points. But we arent! The only person that did anything entirely alone was Christ. And he did that so that we wouldnt have to! On saturday our Zone Leaders told us our zone was way over on our car miles and we had to pick either saturday or sunday to leave the car alone. We chose saturday. Saturday here was pouring rain the entire day. As we got on our bikes and headed off into the rain, I started to complain a little bit. I said our zone leaders are crazy and stupid for making us do this when its raining! We rode about 2 miles away then parked our bikes and started tracking. By this time my pants were soaking wet and muddy from the bike, I was wet. But as we walked and knocked doors for a whole hour I couldnt help but smile and be so grateful to be out here on a mission. I knew that this little sacrifice of giving up the car for a day was nothing compared to what Christ did. And I know that Christ blessed me that day to be happy and have a good attitude! There were so many people that told us we were nuts for being out in the rain and told us to get back inside. But we knew that people needed the Gospel. No one let us in to share anything, but I needed that lesson and those blessing in my life so I could be grateful to be out here. To know that God has blessed me so so much to even be out on a mission! And to know we are never ever alone!:)

Earlier in the week we got to go to the Birmingham Temple! What a great experience, but can I just say that is probably the smallest little thing ive ever seen!! haha Just go online and look at the pictures of it. They are life size in the pics, thats how small it is! haha It is only one floor and has a few rooms in it. But i was so glad to get back to the temple! I love the temple! O and I forgot to bring my camera with me so we will have to wait til the next time for me to take pics and send them to yall!

The blanket that the mowers made and sent to me! Thank you Mowers i love it!:) But this week we got to talk to Scott again. Last week I told you that he dropped us then called us back again. So we went over and talked with him. He told us that he wanted to get away for a day or so and compare his church to our church. To see what he was missing. He told us that he didnt want to go back to his church and that our church was 10X's better! He felt the Holy Ghost in our church. We have been able to teach him this week alot and yesterday after we went to the play we went back to his home and taught him. He said that he wants to be baptized on saturday right before the Priesthood session of conference!! What a miracle! He is such a Golden investigator! He tells us all the time how much he loves us! He actually told us that he was going to come visit us after we got home from our missions! I wish yall could met him because he is the most amazing man! But he said he wants us to baptize and confirm him so I can get redemption from my mistake last baptism:) haha but I know the Lord has truly blessed me in my life! If it wasnt for him I would be nothing!

Scott actually bought a 9mm pistol with a laser sight. He kept wanting us to shoot it and it was such a temptation to shoot it, but we couldnt. We got to watch him shoot and it was so much fun! It made me miss going out shooting in mesquite:)

Me and my old and new buddie:) But that was more or less my week:) Hope yall are getting excited for general conference! I cant wait! I love listening to the prophets and apostles! Its such a blessing to have modern revelation in our day! We take for granted that we are the ONLY church that believes in modern revelation and prophets! Its such a blessing so pray for me to stay awake!;) hah but I love this gospel! Its the only true gospel that is run by Christ himself. That through Joseph Smith it was restored. Joseph also through Gods power translated the Book of Mormon which is living evidence that our Church is true! If the Book wasnt true our church would be a lie! Im so grateful for Temples and the ordinances and covenants we make there! Im grateful for the strong spirit we feel there! I love yall! In the name of Jesus Christ, my savior, Amen.

Love Elder Hall

Abes Grill. An amazing town restaurant. Stay tuned for more pics of inside and even Abe the owner and cook.