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
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