Its beginning to look alot like.... Christmas without the snow:( ha

Hey Yall!

Thats me and my trainer, Elder Galorath, (He always does that face in every pic so like father like son;)) and prez Hanks, and the other 2 are the elders that were in boonville when i was in Corinth. The first 3 missionaries i knew haha those 2 are goin home on thanksgiving.

So another week has just flown right by! I cant believe how fast life is goin haha i feel like this is all a dream sometimes with how fast our days go here! And i guess ill say the excitin news first. Me and Elder Bean will be stayin together in North Port another transfer! Im excited to stay here! We will have Thanksgivin, Christmas and New Years here, also the Alabama-Auburn Rivalry and the Championship game I hear are huge down in this town:) haha so im excited. Also the weather here now is startin to chill down! The temperature probably isnt as low as Utah and out west, but the wind here is bad! It chills ya to the bones, even with 16 layers on hah but im happy with it! I love the colder weather! And it makes me happy to start feelin like Christmas time! I love Christmas time!

But this week has been a really good one! My days are gettin more and more busy. But this week started off with some great experiences! We have been workin with Elder and Sister Madsen, a sr couple and teachin a less active family, the Murrys, thats startin to come back and want to go to the temple. They know very little about the gospel, so we are goin over and re teaching them the lessons! Its been so good not only for them to hear the lessons, but for us to be able to teach together! They keep comin to church and everything is workin out great! Then later that day we decieded to bike clear out in the boonies to our ward mission leaders house to get something I loaned him. We tried to see a couple less actives on the way up but none were home.  Yup im in Eutaw alabama:) haha closest place to home!

So we kept bikin, but this time it was goin to be a very long bike ride. We came to a point with a hill that never ended. Usually I can make it up most hills but this one there was no way! So we got off our bikes and walked up it and took a little break. After about 5 minutes, we decided to start again, right after we started, a car pulled up along side me and a man in the car was just wavin and looked very friendly. Well we came up on a stop light and he rolled down his window and said, " Hey I love to see my Mormon friends!" Then the light turned green and he had to take off. Well he stopped at a gas station and so we pulled over and got to talk with him for a while. He is from Bountiful, Utah and suprisingly he wasnt a mormon. He said they lived there for a while and had a callin on the activity comittee. He said his best friend there was the bishop. And they said they knew the man that narrated the Christmas music and the spoken word and they had gone to it for like 10 years. He was excited to see us and wanted us to come over and visit with him! He said, "Now dont try to convert me, people already have." haha but as long as we go over and talk with him and be that good example, you never know what could happen!

The next day, Wednesday, we decided to go find less actives. We met a man out on the streets in West End. Thats the part of T-Town thats all black and ghetto and projects. But he was a street preacher. He told Elder Bean that he was just a baby in Christ, and told me that the Mormons had brainwashed me haha. Its funny cuz the only thing I said to him was that we were all a family and how we need to watch out for each other as brothers and sisters haha. But he was tryin to convert Elder Bean haha. But we ended up not bein able to see any of the less actives. Again none were home. We still had hours til our next apt. We had no idea what to do. So I decided to just let the spirit guide us. Im not really good at that but decided I would give it a try. Well we went to a part of town and the 2nd door we knocked on we gave away a BOM and were able to set up a return apt. Her name was Rachel and she had 2 little girls. I really feel like she will be a very good investigator! We tracted for 2-3 hours and passed out a ton of BOMs and pamphlets and other material. We found 2 potential investigators! So I really hope things here are lookin up!

On Thursday we were able to go out to dinner with an active family that invited a less active family over. The Footes are the active family and the invited the Lavatai family. They are Samoan. Its the parents then they have 2 16 year old daughters a 13 year old and 5 and 2 year old daughter. they are so awesome! We ate and talked and had a really good time! Thats some of the best missionary work you could do! Just inviting people to dinner! They gave me a Samoan name. Its Meauli Malosi Aulelei Fatu Lavatai. Haha and if no one knows what that means, it translates into Black Strong Beautiful Heart and there last name is Lavatai. Haha I kept tellin them that i was black so thats what they named me:) haha

Zone Conference was great! I learned that we really need to get members involved. Just to go over and teach them how to teach others, to be an example, create a relationship and show them that your a representative of Christ. Another thing I learned is to talk about the important things early. Holy Ghost and Baptism. It was a great meetin.

For the rest of the week we were on exchanges. I went down to Demopolis with Elder Jensen and we had an awesome time! We were able to see a lot of people and learn from each other. Elder Jensen is goin home this next transfer, and I love to learn from older missionaries and apply what I learn. So I asked him about what he thinks missionary work really is now that he has been out so long. Well it lead to a great discussion about how Christ did missionary work. He taught sermons and parables when the people needed it, He healed the sick and gave blessins when people asked, and he was there to comfort Mary when Lazarus died, the scriptures say that "He Wept". Those 3 things are all missionary work, and now we need to follow Christs example and figure out when is the best time for them. Also one other thing I learned from the exchange. There was a man named Bro White. He was black. He is older in his 60's. He was in the nursin home from just gettin outta a surgery. Well he was givin a callin to pass the sacrament every week. He told me it was the best job he ever had and how it paid better then any other job. He had such a strong testimony. Well he is gonna be in the nursin home for 3 weeks. He had already missed a ton of Sundays. Well he was talkin with us and he started talkin bout how he missed church so much. Then he broke down into tears and said, " All I want is to have that trey back in my hand, I just want to hold that trey." He knew how important the sacrament was not only for him but for all those he passed it to! I think sometimes we take for gratnted the simple things of the gospel just as the sacrament. Since this week is Thanksgivin, I want to invite yall to write a list of things you are thankful for in the gospel only. What are little things that you take for granted that are huge blessins? As we realize that we will grow and have a stronger relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!

I love yall so much! I hope yall have a Happy Thanksgivin and stay warm:) Remember to Be Happy:)

Love Elder Hall

Workin Hard, Havin Fun and Bein Happy!

Hey Yall!

This week has gone by so fast! I cant believe another transfer is almost over! Time just keep speedin up! I wish there was more time to get everythin done! But this week has been good! It started off super cold but then ended hot and rainy haha  All the sisters:)

This week we started out by tryin to find more opportunities for servin the city. Well we walked and walked around and found a salvation army. They told us no and kicked us out... Haha not cuz we are mormon, but i guess they had a contract with someone and told them that they wouldnt allow volunteers. But we found a food bank and they told us to come back on Friday. But after we did that we had our first Scripture Study. We had our ward mission leader there and a recent convert. It was a good one. We talked about faith. We are gonna get more people out each week and this'll give members a missionary opportunity.

This is our district. This week we have seen a few less actives, but have tracted a ton! We were able to go to the Food bank and met a kid that had seen the book of mormon play. But he was interested in our message and said we could come back and teach him so we are gonna go back this next week. We also had a day where nothing really was goin right and everyone wouldnt answer there doors. We rode by this one lady and to make a long story short, she was a single mom and her daughter is 4. She said she didnt get to talk to adults a lot, but we talked with her and she said we could come back as well! We invited her to Sacrament meetin and scripture study as well. We are still just tryin to find people. But things are startin to look up from here:)

2012 championship tophy. They also had 2009 2011. The bear bryant museum was awesome:)  Sorry this letter is so short. I dont have to much time. But at district meetin this past friday, I gave one of my best district meetins I thought. It was on our purpose as missionaries. I figured out somethin pretty cool. We only need to focus on 2 things. One is to be a friend. To love, create relationships and have fun. The other is to be a good shepard. In Hymn 221, Dear to the Heart of the Shepard, it is one of my new favorite hymns. We have sang it alot on my mission and I love the last verse. It talks about how the Savior has been our shepard, so we will be others shepards. We need to help people come back into the fold. Bring them out of the rocky, dangerous mtns and back to the nice green pastures. Read luke 15 the parable of the sheep and also Ezek 34 and D&C 6 :32 til the end. They are all great scriptures on it. As we are peoples good shepards, we will want to help them spiritually. We will invite them and teach them true priciples. Sometimes they wont wanna listen. But we wont be dissapointed cuz we have done our part! I learned alot from my district as i gave this trainin!

But i hope that everyone is happy and has a great week! Love yall so much!

Love Elder Hall!

One of Bear Bryants hats

A repulca of bear bryants office

A crystal hat hah

These are the 2012 rings.

Thats right;)

This is a squirrel head. I tore out the brains and ate them:)

Dad's Commentary - "Not the smartest thing that you have ever done!"  Just sayin'

Busy Busy!

Hey Yall!

So this week has been a busy one! We have had Stake Conference, a Zone Training, Exchanges with the T-Town Elders, and much more. The weather here is still weird. Some days its freezin cold and others it gets back hott again. Haha other than that nothin really new around here. Its just a fun lovin college town! haha

We will start off with the beginning of the week. We were able to have a zone training, and I was able to train on using scriptures while we teach. I use an example, with a quarter. Now hopefully yall havent seen the Alabama quarter, but on it is Helen Keller sittin down in a chair readin a book.... There are flowers next to her as well. Do any of yall believe me? If you say no then I would suggest lookin it up on the internet or findin one.... Or just read the next sentence. If you say yes i do believe you then your correct! haha yes that is what is on the back of an Alabama quarter. And I related that to how sometimes people dont believe what we say, but if we can back it up with evidence, aka the scriptures, then our words are more powerful! I know that if we use scriptures, it will bring the spirit and the spirit can convert! 

Here are some pics of a less active mans house. O and this actually was a really good story as well that I didnt get to share. But we went out with the Elders Quorm president to help him find a less active man named Russell. He was on his home teachin list. Well we found him, but if it was just missionaries goin we would have never gotten in. Since we had a normal human bein with us we could get in talk with and get to know him. Yall can do so much for this missionaries:)  But this man is a hunting guide for all over the world! He goes to 9 different countries. pretty cool:) Especially the giraffe:)

Next is a story of us tractin. We have tracted so much! Haha and its because thats kinda the last option we have right now. But as we were tractin, I saw a boy outside and he was just throwin the football to himself. Well I thought about back home when I had no one to throw the football with me so I walked up to him and said, Hey! and then motioned for him to throw me the ball. Well we ended up stayin there with him for an hour or hour and a half. We passed the ball, talked about mormons in the NFL and gave him a BOM. We went over the next day and his parents said they werent interested, but thats not the point. He now has a good memory of mormons that when he gets older and sees missionaries he will be able to remember the time we had.  Me and Elder Jordan, from T-Town, were on exchanges and biked past the stadium and they were settin up college game day! We stopped for a sec to take some pics:)  Yall should be proud of me. We didn't even go to the game on saturday, and i have made up my mind to wait til after my mission to go to one haha I have bigger and better things to be doin!:)

Like I said before we have done a ton of tractin. Which isnt to bad. We are workin really hard with the members right now as well. We are gonna start a scripture study class like we did in my last area. We are gonna do a fun live mormon.org activity with the members, where we go around and take pics of the family and some of there hobbies, then record them for 30 sec- a minute and put it all together and have a party at the church and show it to them. We are also doin the member missionary work course that the stake started. We will probably start that next week or the week after. So things here are defiantly growin. Right now we still dont have any investigators, but thatll change. All that matters is what your doin. If your puttin in the effort and showin the Lord that you want to do missionary work. That is when He can then come in and bless you in so many ways!

The last thing I wanna mention is our stake conference. It was so good! We were able to go to the adult session and the sunday session. It was all on missionary work. Just a couple quotes from it. President Hanks said that "Now is the time!" A quote from president Hinkley is " The most Potent Missionary tool is a member of the church." We need to have the spirit with us then show love and friendship towards others. We need to get out of our comfort zone, out of the 99 sheep, and go look for the one lost sheep, the one person that needs our help. As we diligently do this we will find people, we will have missionary moments, we will be happy!

I know each and every one of us can contribute to the missionary work in some way. Just keep prayin and lookin and yall will find! Yall have been such good examples to me in my life. Just remember "By small and simple things, great things are brought to past." Just a smile, a wave, a hello, just throwin the football with someone, makin cookies, writin a note, anything like that is missionary work! I hope yall have a great week and stay busy in the most important work on earth! Last quote by Elder Bednar, "This is the greatest time in the history of the church!" Heavenly Father believes in all of us! We are here for a great cause! Remember to be happy:)

Love Elder Hall!

Where does the time go?

Hey Yall!

This week has been a super fast week! Its been full of many different experiences. The weather is chilly now in the mornin and night, and not to hot durin the day. But im lovin this weather! haha everyone says they are freezin and I just tell them, Yall dont even know haha. But this week Alabama had a bye so everyone was home and not doin to much haha. Football down here really is a religion. For stake conference next week, they planned the whole thing around the game. It gets pretty crazy!

But the beginning of this week started out with exchanges. Its weird cuz ive never had to do exchanges with anyone in my district cuz all its been is sisters. Now we have a couple elders so we have to do that. But I was here in North Port with Elder McKinnon and Elder Bean went down just south of us. Well Ive been tryin to think of how I could improve the area and make things effective. We have a map, but it wasnt that good. So we updated the map with pins where people lived, what there names were, there address and if they were active or less active. That took forever but itll help a ton with seein where people are! This is my face with my 1990's hair cut. Haha i went to a black barber and he messed up. Thats ok cuz people say i look like Joey from friends haaha:)

On Wednesday we had district meetin and I have come up with 10 steps on how to improve yourself, out of my favorite chapter in preach my gospel, Chap 7.. Learn the language. haha there are so many good things in that chapt. I will have to tell yall the 10 steps next week cuz i forgot to bring preach my gospel with me today haha. But with our district we came up with another culture. And with everyones ideas, i came up with another acronym.

• Happy
• One baptism
• Work

• Fearless Faithful Family
• Unified
• No one left behind

We want to be happy and work hard. We want to be unified and be a fearless faithful family. We dont want to leave anyone behind, wether that be investigators, LA, Members, or other missionaries, and we want to find the "ONE" and baptize. Our district is so amazin! I have done so many baptismal interviews. This transfers we have had 6 or 7 baptisms. Everyone is just so happy and focused on the work. We know How to have Fun, or thats How we have Fun haha:)

We had a branch Trunk or Treat. We all got our faces painted at the Trunk or Treat! That went really well and on Halloween we had nothin to do. Well the sisters were gonna go to a party and said we could come to. Well I really didnt want that many missionaries there so I said no thanks we will find somethin to do. Well my comp got a little mad. It was rainin we were on our bikes with nothin to do. He obviously wasnt gonna help me now. So I just thought about anything. Well the thought popped into my mind about callin this certain member and askin if we could come over. We called and he said yes. We went over and went trick or treatin with them. They drove around on with a trailer. We just acted like normal people, there were even some non members there. So if anything it was good to show them that missionaries arent weird but normal people haha turned out to be a great night and a lot better then just sittin at home:) I love when Heavenly Father helps us out!

We have also tracted a ton. Now let me make one thing clear. I dont like tractin. I feel like there is always somethin better to do. But I have realized, when you have nothin to do, tractin is what you gotta do. So we have been doin it. Well the first week and a half we were doin the same old borin and mono tone approach of We are missionaries with a message for you. Or somethin close to that. Well I was thinkin of how we could make it fun and challenging. So I took out a Family Proclamation and the next door said, "Hi we are just goin around sharin a message about families and how to strengthen them. Would you like this paper that talks about it?" That way we at least give them something, then they can slam the door in our face haha:) But it works. We have now done it with those, alot of the pamphlets about the lessons in preach my gospel, and mormon.org cards. We have our number on them so they can call. Its the best rejection we will ever get!:) haha but that way it makes it fun for me and challenging tryin to pass out all the stuff! We are gonna go throw back with it and set goals on how many Books of Mormon, Book of Mormons we can pass out in a week! Thatll be fun!

But Last thing is we are gonna start a new member missionary work course. The stake president, Prez Johnson thought of it and we are pilotin it. We are gonna sit down with members and teach them the lessons and do things to get them excited about the work! So ill keep yall updated on that! And last is the CES fireside last night! It was incredible! We need to aline our will with Heavenly Fathers and make sure we have Righteous Actions with Pure Motives! I loved it.

Now one thing I want to invite yall to do. Go to lds.org and look up Hastening the Work. Go to the website and watch the 3 main videos! They are amazin! Its so pure revelation that we know have!! Its a great resource of member missionary work!

Well I hope that yall had a great Halloween! Ill tell yall ive already started listenin to Christmas music. Elder Mckinnon got me on it the day before Halloween so now im hooked haha but Hope yall have a great week! Remember to look for ways to serve love and be an example to the ONE! Thats all we need to look for is the one. Remember to be Happy this week! Love Yall!

Love Elder Hall:)