Count Your Many Blessins!

Hey Yall!

So I dont got to long to email this week. But its been one cold week here! Ive gotten used to it but no one else has hahaha everyone down here is freezin there tails off. But nothin to much other than that has changed. I want football season to come back so that this town will come back alive again! But this week was my one year mark! We had a celebration. The zone leaders came down and we had exchanges. One of my zone leaders, Elder Johnson, was in my MTC district so we got to be together and party on our one year day! Kinda fun. But we were on exchanges to do 2 baptism interviews. One was for a little girl down in another area, which i did. The other one was for our investigator Carl, Elder Johnson did that one. But it has been a great week!  My one year mark party! haha they were tryin to get me to drink the sparklin cider, but i cant have carbonation or caffine. I havent in 7 months and tryin not to for the rest of my mission. Lets just say it was brutally hard but i managed to come away successful in not drink in it:)

This is me, Elder Hullinger an Carl!:)  Just a couple of highlights this week. One is that as im sure yall know the news with Grampa Hall and know he is partyin it up with the rest of our family, the big family reunion in the spirit world! ha Just a little bit about that day and a really cool testimony buildin experience. That day we were super busy. I got the call from Pres Hanks around noon, and didnt have time to think about it to much. I was able to call home and talk with my family just for a minute. Then we had more apts. Then that night when everything started to settle down I was just thinking about Grampa, Khrii, Telaii, an just about family back home. 

Well after bein strong all day and tryin to not get emotional, i just broke down. I couldnt hold it in any longer. My comp came an sat down next to me and just put his arm around me. Then I asked if he would give me a priesthood blessin. So we got a chair, I sat down, and he asked if there was anythin that he would want me to say. I told him no, youll know what to say, just listen to the spirit. So as he put his hands on my head, immediately I felt the love and peace of the spirit! He hadnt even said anythin yet an i was already calmed down. It was the best feelin ever. Then he continued to give me a blessin. Everything he said was exactly what I needed to hear at that time. I did not want the blessin to end, but it did and we went on with our night. I again have a strong testimony of 1. Heavenly Father and how he knows an loves each and every one of us! 2. He loves us so much he gave us his priesthood power to bless each person on this earth. 3. Each male that holds the priesthood needs to be worthy and ready to be able to bless others. As we do that, all we need to do is simply place our hands on there head and Heavenly Father can do the rest!

The other highlight of my week happened on Saturday. We were able to perform a baptism for Carl! It went so dang well! Us and the sisters got to sing I know that My Redeemer lives, which helped me with the past events. Also our ward mission leader, Bro Posey conducted and kept tellin Carl that the veil was thin and angles from his family were there to watch him. Well i felt the exact same way with Grampa Hall! So onto the baptism. I had gone over everythin with Carl. Then we get down into the font, I say the prayer and as i try to get him to bend backwards he really didnt wanna go. So I had to then slowly force him under the water as he was fightin me back haha well i guess his elbow came up cuz we had to do it again. Well the 2nd time I thought to myself, im gonna get him under this time. So I said the prayer, then basically threw him under and threw him back up! He defiantly went under haha everyone afterwards kept commenting like "man you really wanted him to go under. I saw him hit the floor." haha things like that. But the 2nd one was a lot smoother then the first time haha i just had a little more power into it. Which I actually felt like Grampa Hall was there helpin me the 2nd time to get him under. But none the less it was a great experience and felt so good after all the hard work that has gone into this area! The next day Sunday, we were able to confirm him, the bishop did that, then in Elders quorum we gave him the Aaronic priesthood! I was able to give him that. But Its amazin to see the change in a persons life as they let it over to Christ and follow His gospel! After the baptism, Carl looked so much different. He looked happier and brighter and seemed to have more peace about him!

Well I just wanna say that the Lord is amazin! I testify that through his Atonement we can be changed! Thats what the gospel is, a gospel of change. We dont need to judge others, but look for ways to serve them. I know that as we do simple things every day we can bring about a marvelous work and a wonder. We can help Christ in His work! It all starts now! "We dont need the faith to move mountains, just the faith to move our covers in the morning." Jack R Christensen. Just do little things every day and youll be so happy! I love yall! Hope yall have a great week!

Love Elder Hall

The Best 2 Years!

Hey Yall!

I swear (Even though if anyone should not be swearin its a missionary, but im gonna do it anyway.) every week keeps goin by faster an faster and gets busier and buiser! I dont know how it does but every week its another suprise! This week has been full of rainy, sunny, freezin cold, warm days and everywhere in between. But cant complain none the less! Me and Elder Hullinger are gettin a long great! We have been happy and really doin a lot of work and helpin the area and ward progress! Again I forgot to take a pic with him but ill get it one of these days when i remember!

So now just a little about my week. It was pretty much a normal week, nothin to out of the ordinary happened. Which is actually a surprise seein that you can do a variety of things here in Alabama but from what I can remember nothin to fansy. We were able to have interviews with president Hanks this week as well. Mine went well, and can i just say that i love that man! He has done such great things for me. We have been teachin a ton this week which has been really good! We had swapped investigators with the sister missionaries and got to teach our new investigator Walter. The lesson was good, but it kinda was all over the place. We are plannin on teachin him more which is good. The 2 I wanna focus on a little bit is Mike and Carl.

So Mike, we were able to teach him a couple of times at the Lewis's home. He still has a ton of questions and we are tryin to get them all resolved. We had a cool experience with showin him one of the Joseph Smith movies. After we bore testimony that he was a prophet of God! The spirit was strong and i know he felt it. Know we just need to help him to not over analyze everythin which is kinda what he is doin. He was able to come to chruch on Sunday, and he loved it! It was our ward conference and Mike loved President Johnson, our stake president. Mike is a great guy and I love workin with him. He is commin along great! Slowly but surley.

The other investigator we have is Carl. O man, i dont even know where to start with carl. He is just so amazin. We were able to go over and teach him about the Plan of Salvation. He loved it. We then went over the next day, Saturday, and the ward had a service project for his aunt and helpin her make her house more safe and have less junk. We helped with the service then got to teach him afterwards. We were with our ward mission leader, and we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith, repentance, baptism.... Those things. Then we wanted to talk to him about the word of wisdom and chastity just to make sure that he didnt have any problems with those and if he did we could help him with them. Well when we taught him those things and asked if he had any problem with them, he said the only thing he was doin was smokin. He went on to explain just a little about it. Well I had the impression to promise him that if he wanted to be baptized on the 25 of January, he could and would stop smokin immediately. Well as I thought about it I wanted to make sure it was the right thing to do. Then I got a spiritual confirmation to tell him. So I looked him in the eyes then asked, "Carl, do you want to be baptized on the 25th?" "Yes sir." He replied. "Well then if you have the faith that God will preform a miracle, I promise you that you and your body will no longer have the urge to smoke. Cigarettes will have a bad taste to you and you will no longer enjoy them." Right after that I asked if he would like a blessin. He told me yes, so me and my companion gave him a blessin. In the blessin, I told him some of the same things as well as other added blessins. We left and I felt good about what had happened and had hope for the future and put my trust and faith in God. Well the next day at church we were able to teach him again. I asked him what he did with the rest of the night and how the smokin was coming. He said, "Last night I went outside to go smoke. I started with a half a cigarette, right after I got done with that little tiny one there was a huge pinching feelin in my side, a very big cramp like i've never felt before. I became dizzy and hurt. I looked up to the heavens and told God that, that would be the last cigarette i would ever smoke. I only had one left, but crushed it up and threw it away. The next mornin one of my neighbors asked me if I wanted a smoke, and the very smell made me sick to my stomach." I was so happy to hear that! Heavenly Father really does know all of his children and their desires! He can really help us. The priesthood power that we have in our Church is real and we can preform miracles!

We are gonna do his baptism interview as well as a couple other ones for our district this week! I cant wait!:) That was the big thing for this week. This week we are goin on exchanges and again is another busy week. I wanna leave yall with one quote. "If you want things youve never had, you have to do things youve never done!" If you want new missionary experiences try new things. Dont be afraid of anything and you can do so many great and marvoulus things! I love yall so much and hope ya have a great week!! Remember to be Happy too:)

Love Elder Hall:)

O p.s. I wanna shout out to my awesome brother Isaiah! He is gonna be an amazin missionary and effect tons of lives!:)

Changes, Greatness, Charity!!

Hey Yall!!

This week has been great! There have been a lot of changes, but change is good! This week has been super cold an really nice haha the bi polar weather of Alabama. I have gotten to help one missionary say his goodbyes to all, and the other be able to meet everyone in the ward. We have had great lessons and times where we dont know what to do. This is all in the great life of a missionary. I love it!! Nothin to much has changed here in Bama. My comps name is Elder Hullinger, he is from PG. Well more like Cedar Hills but lives really close. He goes home in April of this year. He is such a nice guy and funny! He can quote movies word for word! haha so I have him do that when i want to "Watch" a movie haha:) But really smart. There are some things i cant tell yall about him but we are gonna do great this transfer:)

This week we were able to accomplish a lot! On Monday we went back to the apt complex that we tracted last week and tried to find some of the people that said we could come back. Well one man that I wrote down I could not figure out his apt #. So we tried goin to the one that I thought it was and it turned out it wasnt him. But the man that was there let us in. We explained a little about families and the BOM. We gave him one and he said we could come back this week. His name is Scott. So well see where he goes haha. On Thursday we were able to see Mike again with Bro Lewis. We taught him bout the plan of salvation. He always has so many good questions that helps him learn a lot. He had a business meetin last Sunday, but I told him for sure he is commin the next Sunday. Nothin is gonna hold him back haha. We plan to meet with him a couple times this week. The next investigator I wanna talk about is Stephanie. So the sisters went and taught her this week and they said she is doin great! Were tryin to get her to come to church as well. But we figured out on Sunday that now us an the sisters have to swap investigators. We have a single sister and they have a single man, so it would just be easier for us to switch. So she is now there investigator and we got one of theres, Walter. We were able to meet him yesterday an he is a good guy. He is gonna take some work, but he seems super nice and willin and wants the gospel. So im excited to teach him, hopefully this week as well! An now i save the best for last. I told yall last week about a members nephew commin to church. Well on Saturday we were able to go see him. His name is Carl. And we went out to look at his aunts house which is in bad shape, as a ward were gonna help them get it more safe and comfortable to live in. But also we went out there to teach him. When we first got there the first things they brough up is how much he loved commin to church and how he loves our church. Then he said I wanna be baptized! hah wow! Outta no where! We had prayed about a date for him and as we taught him a little bout the Bom and prayer we set a date with him to be baptized on Jan 25th! So now we are workin on gettin him prepared for baptism! Yesterday durin church we were able to teach him as well an we are goin out this week to teach him again! He is such a great guy and I love people who finally figure out how great the gospel can be in there lives and the change that it brings! The area of North Port is now startin to grow so much! And its funny because the members are a lot more missionary minded now and things are startin to happen! HAha Member missionary work is so key!!

So one really cool experience that happened this week happened on Thursday night. A priest named Lathen Foote came an picked us up. There family was havin family night and they wanted us over. So we started headin up there, and we stopped at a stop light. He said "O, Nick Saban lives that way." and pointed down the road. I said I have always wanted to go to his house. Then he said well why dont we go? haha so we headed up there. When we pulled into the neighborhood he said why dont yall go knock on his door! haha so thats exactly what we did. My comp was gonna kill me but i wanted to do it none the less. We didnt want to make seem like we just came to knock on there door, we wanted to act like we had been tractin the whole neighborhood. So we knocked on the door an his wife Terry answered the door. I had a Family Proclomation to the World in my hand and said Hi mam, we are missionaries from our church goin around sharin a message about how to have a happy family." "O well how nice, me and my husband have been married happily for 42 years." Then she went on to explain how to have a happy marriage. We explained the proclomation and handed it to her. She read a little of it, then i asked, "Is your husband home?" "O no he is at work." "Well what does he do for work?" I asked. "He is a football coach, an actual football coach!" haha me still tryin to act like I had no clue, asked "Well whats your husbands name?" "Nick" She responded haha "O well how nice." I said haha i was so dang nervous and probably made a fool of myself. But we talked a little more then left. She was so dang nice, though! And after we left I realized I never even told her about how we believe we can be together as families forever! hha So we ended up goin back the next day and she wasnt there so i left a card with our number on it. haha I dont wanna bug her and make her mad at the church but that was pretty dang awesome to talk with his wife and give her some chruch material!:) haha

Well that was pretty much my week! Sorry i gotta make this a little shorter cuz im runnin outta time, but I watch Elder Hollands talk he gave the last conference. An really loved it! I think we all need to be a lot more Christlike and have more Charity toward everyone! Thats how we can be missionaries, without Charity we are nothin. Moroni 7:45-47

45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail— 

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. 

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

I know that as we have charity towards one another it will not only help them but we can learn an grow so much more! Charity is the definition of missionary work. Its what we all need to perfect in our lives. Practice makes perfect, so let us all practice charity in our lives every day!

I love yall so much! Hope you have a great week! Remember to have charity and that will lead to happiness:)

Love Elder Hall!:)

Year 2014!!!

Hey Yall!

Wow its been quite a year! I cant believe its already 2014! But what a great time of year to look back on your life and reflect. On all the good that you have done, and how you can even add more to that in the next year! Its been really cold here in Bama the past couple of days hah the wind blows hard but missionary work goes on none the less! An interestin fact about alabama is that about 90% of the people here dont celebrate the New Years haha im not sure if that percentage is right or not, but with all the people ive talked to no one said they stayed up and celebrated haha how lame! But Hey i guess i cant complain, I was only able to celebrate til 10:30 then it was bed time for me haha:)

Also some important news. This wednesday is transfers. I will be stayin in North Port and gettin a new comp, and Elder Bean will be goin. So ill be here for at least 6 more weeks!  

Here is me dressed yup in my cowboy stuff haha i got a gun holster, from a less active family in my last ward, an yes I'm sendin it home just incase anyone says anythin haha and the black cowboy hat was from them as well:)  This week has been a great one though. It went by super fast! We have done a ton of service, mainly movin people, but a couple things i wanna share are the lessons we have had this week with some investigators. So the first one is Mike. He is doin great! We were able to see him on Tuesday, and also on Thursday. Both lessons were great, but somethin I want to point out is that one was with a member and the other wasnt. The one on Thursday we were able to go out with Bro Lewis and see Mike. Bro Lewis not only taught a little bit of the lesson, but he helped answer questions, He brought in personal experiences and the spirit was so strong! We could tell that Mike was feelin the spirit stongly, as his eyes were tearin up a lot durin the lesson! We have been able to answer alot of his questions. The only sad thing is that he was sick yesterday an wasnt able to come to church. He is plannin on commin next week though so we are gonna do everythin we can to get him there!

We were supposed to see Stephanie, our other investigator, when we went over to her house, she said she had to get over to her daughters house to help with her sick grand children. We are gonna do a service project for her as a ward and we are gonna go back to see and teach her. We were able to introduce the sister missionaries to her as well so that they could also go an teach her! An the last person is actually a members nephew. Now he is in his 50's but came to church the first time yesterday. We had never met him, he is movin from Baltamore. He said he really loved our chruch and wants us to teach him. So we will be goin over this week to teach him with a member!! We also have done some tractin and maybe have a couple other investigators. I dont know how strong those ones are though.

The last experience of this week I wanna share is on New Years. That mornin we had gotten up and played basketball with our ward. Then went over to a sr couples house, the Champions, and ate lunch with 2 sr couples. After that all of our apt fell through for the night. We literally had nothin for the rest of the night an didnt know what to do. Well Lee, a less active member that we have done a ton of service for, called us up and wanted us to come to his house. We went over and at the start it wasnt the best. He wanted us to get some stuff to eat then said just come up stairs when you get your food. Well we went up there and he had the TV on, his girls were downstairs watchin TV and he is a man you dont wanna offend or make mad. But there was just a lot of noise we were tryin to talk to him and nothin was workin. He just wanted us there to hang out basically. Well that was good cuz it got us out of our apt, but not the best thing. Time was gettin late and we needed to wrap things up. Usually when we go over for service, thats all we do. We dont really leave a spiritual message or anythin. So we had talked about how to help him that way. Well I just asked him, "Lee what can we do for you spiritually? Part of our purpose as missionaries is to teach people and help people grow stronger in there testimony of Christ." He said he wanted a blessin cuz he was sick, we also got him to let us come over an read the BOM with him. But anyway we got him to turn off the TV and I gave him a blessin. Right after he said, "Hold on one sec." Then he called his daughter up, who isnt a member. He said these 2 need to give you a blessin, as she was sick as well. We explained to her what would happen and she finally allowed us to do it. When I got done with the blessin, he looked at her and said, "Do you feel that?" She was cryin and he said I dont know about you but after my blessin I felt better immediately! She said she felt the same way. Then he went on and explained the priesthood to her and basically taught her the first lesson without knowin! It was such a great experience for him, her, and us! I know that apt didnt start out the best way but it sure did end great!

Member missionary work is so important! I know that God will keep his promises with you as you honor your covenants with him! Pray for missionary opportunities! Open your mouth and youll be successful! I love yall so much! Have a great week! Remember to be happy!

Love Elder Hall:)