Changes!

Hey Yall!

So this week has been full of changes!! It was one of the fastest and slowest weeks of my life!! Haha again it has rained almost every day here! We actually got told that its rained 26 out of the 29 days in this month! Im pretty sick of it but o well life goes on! Im getting used to the rain and the humidity!

But to start it off the first part of the week was getting Elder Jensen ready to go home. Packing and seeing everyone for the last time for him. Then we headed up to transfers haha it was funny because as we drove up to Birmingham we both saw the exit that we should've taken and both had good and bad thoughts about taking it. Well we past it. Keep in mind that both of us don't have a GPS. Most missionaries do but we just had a map of our area and our experience to lead the way:) So with both of our experiences we went through the middle of Birmingham and made our way and found the stake center. Then I picked up my new companion. My greenie.... I call him that but I guess we aren't supposed to haha the mission presidents have tried for years to get rid of it but its to big of a tradition haha but ill call him my trainee for now;) and we headed back to Highland home.

That brings us to the next part of the week. Trying to get Elder Hodge settled into the mission field and mission life. He is from Lehi Utah. He went to Lehi High school and is 18. He just graduated. Haha he actually told me when he first saw me that I looked familiar well he said that he had seen pics of me on facebook! Haha so hopefully they were good ones:) He is not used to all the trees down here, and says he misses the Mtns haha and he is defiantly not used to the humidity! Which has been funny haha every time we walk outside he hits the moist air and just keeps saying he is not used to this:) Haha but Im so glad to have him here! Im gonna try my very best to shape in into a good missionary hah we will see how that works! I have made sure to work him hard. The definition of southern is an RC Cola and Moon pie! Haha I have tried yet another southern tradition:) And this week we actually had a ton of service to do! I told yall about the member we moved last week. Her name is Katrina. Well 3 days after she moved out decided she wanted to move back to her old house. So on Saturday that's what we did! We helped move her back. Then her sister wanted to move to that trailer so on Sunday we helped move her, her boyfriend and her dad! Haha we have moved a ton the past few weeks!!

Everything has been going well though. I also want to inform yall that I am now a District Leader as well as a Trainer. My district is a smaller one with me and my comp, and 2 sister missionaries in the area right next to us. Which both of them are brand new as well haha but its been fun to be able to help a lot of new missionaries!:) My mind has been going a million miles an hour this week. Haha I have kinda had to switch mindsets from a missionary going home to a brand new missionary. I have to do all the planning by myself and know where everything is because he doesn't. Which has been good not to have a GPS because now I do know where everything is. I kinda feel like a parent, which is weird but fun at the same time haha. I just cant wait for this new transfer and to see how it all plays out!

This week has been kinda strange with teaching as well because of certain people Elder Jensen wanted to go see, and as its the end of the month and we are out of miles we are trying not to use the car at all which is terribly hard in this area!! I don't know how im doing it but the Lord is blessing me so much! We weren't able to see Jerry or Audrey this past week. We have seen a lot of less actives and members trying to get my greenie introduced to everyone! Haha but I do love the members and people down here! They are making things good for me!

One last thing. This email is kinda long. So yesterday our branch celebrated pioneer day! They do this every year and they dress up like pioneers. It was so much fun to see. After church we had a huge lunch! Tables just lined with food! It took me 3 trips to get down all the tables! And that was only taking small portions of everything! The food was amazing and everything tasted really good! And yall will see in the pics a wagon! Well that is a members and we helped him get it from his house to the church! That was another service activity we did! Haha But it was a great Sunday! Most of our branch, some people left before we could take the picture, but a lot of people dressed up! It was a ton of fun!:)

I want to share a quick scripture that I taught about in Gospel Principles yesterday. Its Alma 37:6-7. It talks about how small and simple things can bring to pass great things! I talked about agency in our class. And how all the little choices in our lives add up to large choices. As we use one of the greatest gifts that God has given us and choose righteously with it we can be free and happy in our lives. I want to encourage yall to keep making the right small decisions. Those will influence your life and help you be able to make the big decisions in life. Whether its spiritually decisions like reading scriptures and praying, or life decisions like work and school. Agency is the best gift we could ever be given! Remember not to be like Satan and take away others agency! Be loving and serve!

I love yall! hope yall have a great week! Stay busy! Im going to try and be busy this week! Enjoy ever moment! Time goes by fast! Be Happy!!:)

Love Elder Hall 

Fast Week!!

Hey Yall!

I hope yalls week was as great as mine! Ha hopefully it didn't go by as fast as mine did though! So much has happened this week and a lot is going to happen!! My old district. The only people staying are the Senior missionaries and me. Ha  But I want to talk a little about the south. So the weather here has been really weird. Right now the past 2 or 3 weeks, it has rained non stop!!! It just keeps raining and raining! So some days its down in the 70's but raining. Then other days its hot and in the high 90's. But almost every single day it rains. Everyone says that last year this time they got no rain at all! I just tell them I brought the crazy Utah weather with me haha. The humidity is high every day though, raining or not. It feels like you are walking in slow motion, walking in syrup all day long haha. And all you do is sweat! Everyone makes fun of me for how much I sweat! haha but im getting used to it:) So Dad would always say that I would go to a place where they would have weird foods because of how picky of an eater I am. Well this area has changed me a ton! Everyone is a huge farmer and they farm and eat all that they plant. So when we go over to eat they have a ton of things I would never in my life thought I would enjoy eating like things cooked with onion, squash, peas in every form ha and a ton of other things:) So ive become a lot less picky:)

So there were a ton of things that happened this week. I want to start out with one of the most exciting things I found out. Transfers are this Wednesday. My companion Elder Jensen will be going home. We got calls and I will be staying here in Highland Home, and I will be training a new missionary strait from the MTC!:) Haha wow I cant believe it! This Wednesday the 23rd will be my 6 month mark which it has gone by so dang fast. 6 months is when your officially not a new or green missionary. So on the very day that I wont be a new missionary anymore I will be getting a greeny! Haha im very excited though! I cant wait! Something else that's kinda sad though is that im going to be the only person in our district to stay. My comp is leaving, and both the zone leaders are leaving! Haha so we will see what happens:) Ill have a lot to talk about next week!

The next thing is that we were able to go to Montgomery to be interviewed by Prez Hanks. While we were waiting to go in Sister Hanks was talking with us getting to know us better! Can I just say how much I love these wonderful people!! Both of them I love so much! My interview went very well! We just talked about my family and how im doing as a missionary and how I can improve! Im excited to train because it will make me improve a lot in areas I need to! Im so excited to go into the future of my mission and see how everything turns out! I love being out here! Pres Hanks and his wife! They are amazing people! I cant wait to get to know them better!

We were able to teach Jerry. We knew he had problems with the Word of Wisdom so that is what we talked to him about. He is such a great man because he listens and just says that he will work on whatever we give him! So he said he couldn't just drop everything at once but slowly he would work on it! We will talk with him this week and check up on him. We are still trying to help him get a ride to church. But with the Lords help nothing is impossible! We also were able to teach a lady named Audrey. She is the mother of the little girl who we went to her birthday party last Sunday. She wanted us to come over and have bible studies. Well the first one was great because I looked up principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Bap, Holy Ghost and Endure to End) and had her read them before we came over. She did and wrote down what she thought. We were also able to teach her about the Restoration and Joseph Smith and she wants us to keep coming over and teaching her! She is great!:) My little bro Landon mentioned briefly that Hostess was back and Twinkies were back. Well I kinda freaked out about it cuz I had no idea that they were. So when I saw them I had to buy it!!

We were able to help a member move into a new home. Im feeling the side effects of that today haha im super sore! But I love service! That is one concept that Pres Hanks loves is serving. But I wanted to just leave yall with one little quote by someone I love dearly;) It is this "Love life as you live it." - Elder Hall. Haha yes that is me. I have no idea how I came up with that but I love it! When I first came out on my mission I was so worried about how long I had left and trying to become the best missionary now! But what I have realized is that its not going to happen like that. We need to enjoy life in the moment. Every moment we need to take advantage of. Carpe Diem! When we do that we can grow more then we can ever imagine! It will relieve stress and worries for the future. So I invite yall to love life as you live it!! As you do that the spirit will be more in your life and you will be Happy!!:)

I love yall and hope you have a great week! I hope yall have a great Pioneer day, or as I now call it Utah day:)

Love Elder Hall:D 

Great Week!

Hey Yall!

So this week has been great! We have gotten tons of rain though!! It feels like there is going to be a 2nd flood on the earth haha:) There was a lot of things that have happened. It started out with Zone Training on Tuesday. I love those because it just gets me excited again about missionary work. It gets me wanting to go out and see everyone and help them the best I can! Later that night though we were able to teach Elaine. As we taught and asked things I felt like I was the bad guy. Everything that I would tell her she would be sad, or would get defensive. But as we taught she told us that she felt like she didn't need the Book of Mormon. That the bible was enough. Now one thing that she does is that she has us come over, she reads about different churches or has the Jehovah Witnesses come over and talk with her and listens to a lot of different churches. So what I told her is to not listen to anyone else anymore. That she needed to find out for herself which church was true! Then I held the Book of Mormon in my hand and said Elaine I can tell you all day that I know this book is true, but the question is, is it another testament of Jesus Christ. That is what you need to find out. Im not going to tell you what I think because all that matters is what you think. Then I told her to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon was another testament of Jesus Christ. That experience was kinda weird because I have never been that bold or asked questions like that. But afterward I felt really good and confident in what I said.

On Friday we were able to do exchanges with the Zone Leaders and the Assistants. Elder Jensen went with one of the Assistants and I went with one of the Zone Leaders. I love going on exchanges and learning from other missionaries. Elder Gale is one of the new zone leaders and he is doing a great job! An experience I want to share was a learning moment for me. Elder Gale had talked about making sure our apartment and car was clean. I had told him we have cleaned a little each week. Then he asked me if we would really clean it this Monday so that we could have the spirit more. My first reaction to his question was disappointing. I said, "What do you mean? I feel like its clean enough." Then once I spoke those words I felt horrible and without any reaction I said, "Elder Gale, Im sorry that was dumb of me to say. Yes we will clean our apartment and car." I had forgotten what leaders were all about. That experience strengthened my testimony to just say yes to whatever a leader asks you to do. If he is asking you to do it, trust in him and know that it will benefit you. So from that moment on I have made a commitment with myself and with Heavenly Father that I will never question anything a leader tells me to do, but just say yes sir and do it! And if you do that you will receive blessings because of it:) 

Yesterday was a great day for us! Not only did we have a lot of fun but we were able to help a ton of people out. To teach them and to serve them. I don't know if yall remember me talking about going to Olivia's Birthday party, but she had her cousin there, Houston. Well we played with him and I guess he loved us and wanted us to come to his birthday party which was yesterday. We were also invited to come to another birthday party for a little girl named Kailee. Her Dad is less active and mom isn't a member, but we love them and have been working hard with them. So right after church we saw a couple people with the high council man. Then we headed off to Kailee's birthday party. It was fun but we could only stay for a little because we had to head down to Houstons birthday. We had a blast there! Im hoping to get some pics from it that people took haha but we were able to be an example to that family. To show them that we just want to love everyone. The only member of that family is Dyana. She is the recent convert that is amazing! She is truly a pioneer for her family. After we saw some more people.  So I know we aren't supposed to ride horses, which I didn't, but the lady that had these horses saw me over just petting them and said hey I dare you to jump up on it haha so I waited tip we got my camera then I got up on one haha She even gave me a cowboy hat haha

Then we were able to see Jerry. He is a man that was referred to us by his mom. She is an older lady and doesn't come to church, but we visit her every week. Well before yesterday we had only seen Jerry twice. The first visit was to get to know him. Then the next one was teaching about the Restoration. Well yesterday we taught him about prayer, baptism and the holy ghost. Then we invited him to be baptized on Aug 17th. He said yes! It is so exciting! There are a few things that we need to work with him on, and we are trying to find a ride for him to come to church which is going to be a real pain, but I know that as we put our faith in Christ he will make everything work out just fine.

I want to share just one thing I learned in the Zone Training that Prez Hanks talked about. He told the story about the saints back in the 1800's. They had moved to Ohio and were asked to plant corn. The members of the church knew that they would only be there for a little while. They knew that they would leave and would not be able to harvest the corn. Sometimes in missionary work you are asked to go and labor and work as hard as you can. You go out and you plant seeds. Sometimes you leave before you can see the rewards that come from your hard labor. But as you leave new people come in. They work just as hard and maybe they get the baptism or get them coming back to church. Know that your efforts aren't a waste. You helped that person and prepared them until they were finally ready. Just as the saints planted the corn, others came behind them and were able to have food because of there efforts. The scripture he left with us from this story was D&C 51:16-17. Know that any efforts you have put into missionary work are all seen and you will be blessed because of it!

I hope yall have a great week! Keep staying busy! This is a marvelous time in the Lord's work and he has called all of us to help him with it! What a great time to be pioneers in this day to be examples for future generations!! I love yall!!

Love Elder Hall 

haha so I know we aren't supposed to ride horses, which I didn't, but the lady that had these horses saw me over just petting them and said hey I dare you to jump up on it haha so I waited tip we got my camara then I got up on one haha She even gave me a cowboy hat haha

What a Week!

Hey Yall!

Wow what an exciting week it has been! I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July! Ill tell ya about ours, but lets just say that holidays as a missionary are very weird feeling haha.

So this week we got to go up to Birmingham and meet our new mission president! It was so much fun and it was great to finally meet him!! His name is Richard Hanks. He is the son of Marion Hanks the apostle!! How cool! Ha and he is 6'6'' and weighs 300 pounds! Haha he is one big fellow but he is so loving and caring! We just had one meeting where his wife Sis Hanks talked with us then Prez Hanks talked with us. He also was a part owner of Marriott. He knows a ton about the gospel!  The snapping turtle that we found! Haha I named him Buddy. The reason he is upside down is because he was snapping and clawing at me! Haha I kept him for a long part of the day, but we went to see a member and I left him outside and he ran away! I couldn't believe he could move that fast!

Blakes email reminded me of this, it is the area right beside us, Greenville, and it has a daylight donuts! This is the 2nd one ive seen down in the south!! Just a few things that I wanted to share from what he talked to us about. One is that in life we don't have any competition besides ourselves. We shouldn't judge ourselves by looking at others. You need to be the best YOU, that you can. That's what matters. He talked about different family situations. That if we came from a family that the parents weren't as good as they should've been, maybe your family wasn't too close, to know that you can change that. To decide to be a good parent and have a great family. He said that if you came from a family that was close and you had good parents, to thank the Lord for that. Then earn yourself a new. To go out and earn your family instead of just leaning on your parents. He talked a lot about being obedient and working hard! So it was a very good meeting.

The Fourth of July was good and weird at the same time. We got up in the morning and it was pouring rain outside!! It rained for half the day then was cloudy and dark the rest of the night! But I got to dress up in my cowboy outfit!! I sent pics so hopefully yall can see them. I dressed up as a cowboy us that is how my area is... Very country! Everyone was excited to see me and they loved it so much! We were able to have a bbq with Delilah the less active member we found. She had her daughter and grand kids over and her parents. So we stayed there for a while. I don't know how I always get caught in these situations, but it seems like im always talking with the adults and my comp is over with the kids haha but it was cool because her parents told me so many amazing miracle stories! Her mom has gone through 4 different types of cancers. Her dad had his aorta blow and is still alive to this day! That's just summing it up I wish I could tell you more details and stories but this letter would be super long!! But after we got to go talk with a few people and then that night we were with a family that went and bought just a few fireworks and we had a little show! Our 4th celebration!

So nothing to exciting happened, but that's kinda how my area is haha But I loved it! It was a great day!

This week was just full of teaching people and serving and helping! It was full of rain as well! It rained Wednesday til the rest of the week! And it supposed to rain all of this week as well! And the worst day of rain ironically came on the day that we decided not to use the car and to walk everywhere. Haha it was a down pour for most the morning! Then in the afternoon it would rain then stop and get super humid, then rain, then stop hahaa the south is one of the only places where it can rain and you can be sweating at the exact same time! Its nuts! But this week is better told with pictures rather then words. So I sent a few that hopefully will tell the stories! This week we had 28 lessons! That's the most ive ever had on my mission. And that's amazing for this area seeing as there is probably only 28 families that live here! Haha we have been working so hard!

I have loved working with Elder Jensen. There are some moments where I get really frustrated with him. But I try to look for the good in him! I have loved it because since he is going home im trying not to let him let up at all! To keep working hard and focused on the mission. That gives me an excuse to work hard as well! Its great! Haha I actually would love to serve with more missionaries about to go home for that reason:) haha but again this week has been great!

I want yall to know that this church is true! Im so grateful to be sharing it with others! Im so grateful for Jesus Christ that he can help make everything better! He can comfort us in times of need! I know we all have a plan in this life! Its our Plan of Happiness! Each plan is very special and unique to YOU. One thing that is the same in everyone's plan is that is should be Happy:) Try to be the best you, you can be!! I hope yall have a great week! Choose this day to be happy!

Love Elder Hall

Changes!!

Hey Yall!

So I forgot to tell yall this last week but President Holzapfel left this week. We now have a new mission president President Hanks! It was really sad to see President Holzapfel go but excited to have a new adventure:) We will be going up to Birmingham tomorrow to met Prez Hanks and have interviews with him. It will be super exciting:)

This week was kinda a weird week for us. It was super good but very unusual. As it was the last week of the month and we literally had no miles left on our car we did a ton of walking this week. Tuesday was really the only day we got to use the car and that was because we had gotten a call from the ward to go give a blessing to a lady that lives around 30 miles away from us. So as we were making our journey down to her house we wanted to see a couple different people. One was a referral that a less active gave us. It was her son. He had just gotten out of the hospital and she wanted us to go check up on him and see how he was doing. His name is Jerry. I think it was some surgery on his kidneys, but he shouldn't have lived and he did. Well we saw him and he was a really nice man and said he would love for us to come back and talk to him. He has never gone to our church, so we now have a new investigator! Which is weird cuz in this area we don't find to many new people to teach. Haha but then we made our way down to Delilah's House. That's the lady that needed the blessing. She is less active and we have never met her. Well come to find out she is one of the sweetest ladies ever! She is in her 50s and has such a strong testimony. She has a weird situation and basically has an adopted grandma that has Alzheimer's. She is in the violent stage and hits so that is why Delilah cant come to church. We are going to be visiting her once a week and taking the sacrament over to help her! I also finally met a couple, Jodi and Heather, that have been investigators but I haven't met. We were able to talk with them.

This week has been strange because we had more lessons with investigators then with less actives! I never thought I would see that in this area! But the rest of the week we didn't touch the car once and walked and walked and walked! Now before all yall that have served missions try and say, "O you get it easy. Don't complain about walking, or anything like the sort", Im not complaining, And I can honestly say that even though we have a car we walk a ton haha. To get to the nearest house to teach someone is takes a good 2 hours to walk there. But anyways it was really good for me to walk haha I got way to many comments about me and my intense sweating! Haha everyone is so surprised! Even my comp was surprised when he looked over and saw me dripping into a puddle:) I have gotten used to the extreme heat and humidity down here. I have just learned to live with being wet all day long haha. I wonder sometimes when we go see members or investigators if we stink like none other and just look pathetic. Haha just a quick story. So one day we were walking down a dirt road. It was about 1 in the afternoon. I was pouring down sweat and my comp was sweating. He looks over at me and just laughs. I said whats wrong? He then tells me how I have like 50 flies flying around me head. They are those little annoying ones too haha then I realized he had the same look to him! It was just like in the movies when people are stranded and walking then end up dying haha! We get so tired of swatting at flies that we just let them do whatever they want haha. O and btw if any of yall wanna come down south in the summer just know that there are a million bugs everywhere! I cant believe how many there are!!!

So spiritual stories now haha. Well one thing that Elder Jensen told me is that he has given more blessing the last two transfers then he has ever given! We do give a ton of blessings. As I have looked back on my mission it just seemed normal to me to give so many. But I have gained such a strong testimony of blessings. That the priesthood power is real and it does work as long as we have the authority, but also power! Power in the priesthood holder to be worthy, and power in the person receiving the blessing to have faith. I have come to realize that it is so so important for the person receiving the blessing to have faith, because by our faith we "can be made whole." We were able to teach Elaine again this week. We simply went over and bore our testimonies. The spirit was so strong and we feel like she is coming closer to making a decision on getting baptized or not. But I know that everything will work out. Wayne our other investigator we have been working with a lot got a job and realized that Heavenly Father does answer prayers. He still is the same and doesn't want to change. But we are being patient. :)

Other than that we have been teaching a lot of less actives, serving, shelling a TON of peas, picking cucumbers, moving people! Its a blast! I have just come to learn to be happy in life! To take on each day by itself and to focus on others. That's what can bring us happiness. Now I hope yall were able to read something out of the June Ensign. If not I want you ALL too! It is the greatest ensign ever! All the talks are so great! It talks about overcoming trails, having a happy family, improving prayers, and getting out of roundabout in life! I have learned so much from it! So please if you haven't read it, READ IT! I promise everyone of you will learn something that will help you be more happy in this life and something you can improve on!:)

Well again I love yall! I have been working on my southern accent every day and each day it improves:) Haha ill come back speaking redneck;) haha I hope that yall have a great week! Keep smiling, Keep believing in Christ! Keep serving! May you all be happy!

Love Elder Hall :D