constanza and belen - who looks just like jenna

Hey family sorry that this letter is not going to be very long but we got to talk and I sent some pics so I hope that its good enough for ya. Mom to answer your question, no I really haven’t been very trunky. We have been working our butts off and there hasn’t been time to think bout you guys sorry, haha but it is good cause I wasn’t sad. I thought a lot about ya on Christmas day but besides that we have been running all around this country working. So ya.

As you guys can see in the pics that I send we got to go to 2 baptisms. First was with constanza and her family. It was cool cause also there were 2 other little girls who are 8 years old so it was so awesome. I was really excited to be able to see the family that I was able to help. They are so nice and gave me a couple little things for Christmas and also a really nice hat. 

Also the other baptism pics that you have are about belen. Really she looks just like jenna. I don’t know if you guys can see well in the pics but her hair is red red and really long. She is so cute and her family is awesome. They are also going to be awesome members in this ward. We always need all the support we need in the wards. It is awesome to see the wards progressing instead of going backwards. I felt the spirit so strong in the meeting, it was awesome. But when belen went down into the water her niece )the little girl in the photos) started bawling and screaming. She kept on saying that my comp was trying to kill her aunt haha. It was so funny. 

We had a investigator come to the baptism named rosa. When she was in the baptism she just started bawling also. But not because she thought my comp was killing the little girl. She started crying cause she felt the spirit so strong. After the baptism was over she came over to us and said something that shocked us. She said that she wanted to be baptized. haha we were like ya we can do that for ya. So we still have tons of work to do.

Well I am glad to hear that everything is well back at home. I gotta go but hope you all have a awesome week. Love ya tons. Keep me updated on whats going on at home. 

Love ya

Elder hall

a missionary that was tall, white, and a red head…

Hey family this has been an awesome week. I think I have worked harder this week than any other time in my mission. Which is really good cause I didn’t have any time to think about Christmas or anything else so I was really focused and I could work with all my heart. 

First off I will explain why I am writing today. Yesterday we had an activity with the whole mission. We went to a chapel and played basketball and football and other games. Then we watched a movie that the mission put together with pics of all the missionaries and baptisms and all that. It was really cool. Then we had a nice lunch, sang some Christmas songs and came back to work. It was a good activity but because of that we didn’t have time to write the fam or buy food so we are doing that right now. 

Hey fam thanx for the package it was awesome. I love the Christmas cd and we listen to it every night. Also just to let ya know, my comps name is elder lira, not elder lima…haha you guys put that on his stocking but we had a good laugh. Mom, make sure to tell G-pa hall happy b-day today. Tell them that I love them and wish them a happy Christmas. 

This week we saw tons of miracles. We found 11 new people to teach and we were running around all day trying to visit all the people that we have. In the church we had 7 investigators. Needless to say, we are working our butts off. One miracle we saw was with a member. We were going to lunch when we saw a young man from our ward and his friend who is an investigator talking to one of their other friends. We started talking to them and the kid who wasn’t a member, his name is Thomas, said that strange things were happening in his house and he said that he felt weird spirits there. So we told him that after lunch we would come to bless his house. 

So we went to bless his house and him mom came out. She said, just like everyone says, that she didn’t want anything. She already had her religion and she wasn’t going to change. Finally after a couple minutes she let us in. to be honest, I don’t know why or how we got in but we did. So we sat down and explained the blessing and asked if anyone else wanted to come and join us in the prayer…there were. It was a family of 6 people. The mom, 2 sons and 3 daughters. So we blessed the house and at the end of the prayer we look at the mom and she is just weeping…the woman who at first didn’t even want to let us into the house. She said that she felt so peaceful and that she felt a burden lifted off her shoulders. Also at first when me and my comp entered the house we felt something weird. I cant explain it very well but it was like a heavy black pressure on my chest. But at the end of the pray, I felt like this burden was lifted from me too. We taught a quick lesson 1 and they were really receptive. They are awesome and invited us back on the 25th. So we will have to see where it goes from here!!!

This past Sunday our investigator, Belen, passed her baptismal interview. She is really excited to be baptized!!! Also her sister, who hasn’t come to church for like 6 or 7 years came with her little girl. It was so awesome to see this family back in the church after so many years. I also received a letter from the little girl that I baptized in villa sur, Vanessa, and she said that she was still going to church and reading her scriptures. It was so cute and it totally made my day. I was so happy when I found out that she was still active!!! I cant express the feeling of joy that I felt when I read that. Also the other lady that got baptized 5 days after I left there, mariela, is still going to church and has a calling in the primary. She also went to the temple 2 weeks ago to do baptisms for the dead. 

Ok and now to end the week of miracles. I don’t know if you guys are going to believe me or not but its true. So we went to the house of felicinda and Karen, who are going to get baptized next week, to teach them. And every time I have gone there I have said to my self that I know them from somewhere but I could never remember where. So this week we came and we were talking to them and they told me something that blew me away. They told me that about 5 months ago a missionary contacted them and sent her direction to the missionarys here in rinconada. She said that missionary was tall, white, and a red head…they told me that the first time I came to their house they recognized me but didn’t know from where. This week they realized that I was the one that contacted them…when I was in villa sur I did a contact with her and she was really nice and receptive. I sent the address to this sector and now I am teaching her and I will be able to see her get baptized… haha it is crazy to see the impact that a person has on other people. 

So as you guys can see this week has been awesome. I hope you are all well at home. Shae congrats on your new little girl. She is way cute and I cant wait to be able to hold her in a year. I hope you all have a awesome Christmas. I will be thinking about ya. I am kinda sad that I wont be able to eat at brick oven but I will be fine…haha I love you all so much. I hope you guys realized that I really do. I have the best family in the world!!! Have a awesome week in the snow cause it is hotter than heck here. Haha you guys are awesome. 

Love ya

Elder hall

Rosa said to come in and that she had been waiting for us...

Hey family how are you guys doing? Glad to hear all is well at home and that the weather is getting colder. Here the weather just keeps on increasing but I think I will be able to live through it. Summer here goes until about march so I will be fine…I hope. But ya we had a good week and worked really hard. Also landon I wanted to wish ya a happy birthday. I sent ya a card and you should get it in the near future. About the phone call, this Friday we have time to call you guys to plan everything. So I will call the home phone and if no one answers I will call your cell mom. These are the numbers that I remember, so I hope they are correct. If not, I don’t know what we are going to do but ya. I hope that these numbers are still right. But ya make sure that you are ready. I am pretty sure that we are going to call in the morning just to let ya know.

But ya this week has been crazy. I don’t know if I have told you guys but I have had a ingrown toe nail since before the mission and now it is pretty bad I think… this week I am going to have to go to the doctor to see if he can fix it. My feet are pretty messed up right now but its all good, as long as I can still walk I will be fine. 

This week we had divisions 3 times because my comp is the district leader. One with my old comp, elder zeballos. One with one of the elders that lives in our house, whose name is elder rojas (from Paraguay). And one with elder despain who is my zone leader. Elder despain was the elder that lived with me in my first sector just incase you guys don’t remember. We had a good time talking about the good ol times and we laughed a lot. Also it was fun to have divisions with elder zeballos and to be able to see how everyone in my old ward is doing. 

When we had divisions with elder zeballos we had a miracle happen. We got a reference from the sister missionaries and so we went to find the house. It took us like 25 minutes to find the street that she lived on. Then we looked for another 10 minutes for the number of the house but it didn’t exist. This happens a lot, when people give us their address but they just make up a street name and number. So we decided to knock doors and we knocked a couple without success. Finally I knocked a door and a lady came out. I asked her if maybe the number that we had existed but she said no. she asked us who we were looking for and I said, “a lady named rosa.” Thats when she said, “I am rosa…” and she wasn’t even in her house, she was at a neighbors house. She said that it was alright to come in and said that she had been waiting for us. So we went in and taught her lesson 1 about the restoration and she had all the questions that you want a investigator to have. She said that she thought there should only be one true church and that men need to have the authority from God. She is incredible!!! I know that God leads us to the people who need to hears us. Satan didn’t want us to find her house but somehow we did. 

Also this week President Jones came to interview our investigator named anastacia who is going to get baptized. She passed and will be baptized in a week and 1/2. Our other investigator, Belen came to church and she will be baptized on the 28th of December. Felicinda and her daughter Karen didn’t come to church. So we passed by their house after church to see what happened and she said she didn’t want to be baptized any more. This really shocked us cause she was so happy and ready to get baptized. So we went inside to talk to her and we decided to sing a hymn, “Nearer my God to Thee”. After we were done singing she started crying and told us that really she wanted to get baptized and wanted to come to church and she felt guilty that she didn’t come. She said that she knew God wanted her to go to church and to be baptized and when she didn’t go she felt like God was disappointed in her. She said that she has had a lot of problems in the past 2 weeks. We explained to her that satan doesn’t want her to progress. He wants us to be miserable like he is. She said that was true and that she is going to come to church and follow the savior and be baptized!!! We bore our testimonies and I felt the spirit so powerfully and I know that she felt it too. I was a really cool experience. 

But ya that was my week. It was really good and we are working our butts off. This is really good cause I haven’t felt home sick even thought Christmas is really close. We are going to keep on working and doing all that we can do to find the Lords chosen people. He is preparing people right now that are ready to hear the Gospel. So keep on praying for me and for the people here in chile. I love you all so much. Hope you have a awesome week. 

Love

Elder hall

this old guy named luis looks and talks just like gramp Lamoreaux

Hey family. Oh man we had a crazy week. But it was awesome, we are working our butts off. This week we had 5 investigators in the chapel, the most I have had all my mission. Also we has 4 people with baptismal dates. Their names are Belen, Anastacia, Karen, and Felicinda. They are all really prepared and ready to take this big step in their lives. It is crazy, we are seeing so many miracles in this sector. hey family. the first pic is of my comp elder lira, he is from peru

This is the car that we have in our house. we have permission to use it...if we can fix it haha. ya it is dead but its still my baby.

So I am going to explain how we found Belen. We had this really hard day when everything fell through. We had a bunch of awesome people to teach and no one was home. So we were walking around trying to figure out what we were going to do when my comp said that we should go see a less active.  So we went and started talking this lady and her daughter. She said that her other daughter was sick and wanted a blessing. So we went upstairs and gave her a blessing. Then the mom told us that somehow the missionaries always come when she needs them the most. She said that she wanted to come back to church and said that she would if heavenly father would send her a sign…haha her older daughter also said that she had desires to return to the church. Thats when her youngest daughter said that she wanted to get baptized. Her name is Belen and she is 9 years old. Belen also told us that when she turned 21 she wants to be a missionary…haha they are so awesome and they came to church this past week. So we are really busy and time is just flying by. Also belen looks exactly like jenna. She is pretty white and has long red hair. Everytime I see her I think of ya jenna haha.

My comp and I are getting along better. There are still times when we have arguments and what not but its expected…being with someone 24/7 for weeks at a time can do that to ya. Also in our sector we have a part that is in the country so we hop on a bus and get to take a nice drive out into the country to visit this family that we are teaching. We have done service there 3 times now and man does it remind me of home. Haha I haven’t worked that hard in a long long time. They have a farm and this old guy named luis (he looks and talks just like gramp Lamoreaux) haha it is so funny. He makes me smile every time he talks cause he is exactly like him. hey fam this is why i didnt write ya yesterday. we had to change the pday to go to this musium (dont know how to spell anymore) of airplanes. it was pretty sweet. i love ya all tons. chao

So this week I ended a goal that I have had since the MTC. The first day in the MTC I started reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish out loud and this week I finished after nearly one year!!! It was so incredible the spirit I felt as I read the words of moroni, his promise, his hope and love that he had for the people and for the Lord. I cant explain the feelings that hit me when I finished those words. I love the Book of Mormon so much. It really is the word of God. He loves His children and he will always help them in any way that He can. The Book of Mormon is true. There is no doubt in my mind. If any of you have doubts about this church, just read the Book of Mormon and those doubts will wash away. I love reading the Bible, which I will end the old testament before the end of this year. But the Book of Mormon has a spirit that I cant find anywhere else. This is a christmas tree that i found in the attic. we put lights on it and i bought a star in the feria. it is small and doesnt have a stand thing on the bottom so it falls over a lot but its awesome and its ours

Well I gotta go but I love you guys and all that you do. I hope you liked the pics and the necklaces that I sent. Sorry dad landon and jansen, that I didn’t sent ya anything but I will soon. I think it will be after Christmas but it will be your presents ok? It is hard to find stuff and we really don’t have time to do anything but I will try. Also mom and grandma, I wont have anytime this month to look for nativity scenes sorry. But next year I will buy one for you ok? Haha I love you all tons and I am sitting here sweating my head off in the middle of December. Hope that you guys get snow soon and that you enjoy it for me cause I wont see snow for another year…stinks but its all good. Have a awesome week fam. Love you all more than you know. Chile Rocks and im loving the work!!! ¡¡Chao!!

Love ya

Elder hall

transfers - i could have walked to my new house in about 15 minutes...

hey family how are you guys doin? oh wow did i have a crazy week. first off i am going to tell ya my crazy experience with changes. so i pack all up and the dad of constanca (who is going to get baptized) got a car for us. so we go 45 minutes, to the other side of the city. we wait for about a hour and finally i find out where i am going to go. they tell me that i am going to rinconada, Maipú...it turns out to be the sector right next to my sector. i was kinda mad but its all good. so we drove back 45 minutes and went to my new house. this all took around 3 1/2 hours and i could have walked to my new house in about 15 minutes...but i am not going to complan. 

ok now my comp. his name is elder lira. he is from peru and has about 13 months in the mission. he is the district leader and is a good worker. we hauled trash this week and taught a lot of people. but he is unlike any comp that i have had...he is a little cocky and doesnt accept no for an answer. he talks with everyone, which is a good thing but he likes to push peoples buttons. he is really smart and knows a lot about the bible and other religions. but with this knowledge he likes to bash on other religions. he knows his scriptures and when they tell us what religion they are he pulls out the scriptures and false doctrine that their church teaches...it is really hard. i dont know what to do cause many times he gets the people really mad and then they are going to think we are here to attack people. so if you have any ideas on what i can do, tell me. 

but ya this sector is awesome. it is a lot bigger than my last sector and the members are awesome. they love helping us and leave with us a lot to teach people. the thing that is funny is one time last change i did divisions here and so i know a lot of the members. also we have a investigator named anastacia who we found when i was here on divisions. so i helped find her like 3 weeks ago and now i am teaching her and we put a baptismal date with her. she will be baptized the 20 of december. also constanca, from my other sector will be baptized in this month and i might be able to go to her baptism so i am really happy here. 

we are seeing a lot of miracles every day and working really hard. yesterday we had stake conference and i was able to see all the members from my other ward again. haha it was fun to be able to say goodbye to the people that i didnt have the oportunity to do so last week. 

to finish i want to tell you about another investigator that we have. his name is manuel and he is 18 years old. he is so awesome, really he is probably a better member than i am. he has gone to church without his parents since he was 13. his parents told him he couldnt be baptized so he had to wait until he was 18. during this time he tried to pay his tithing but the bishop told him he couldn´t because he wasnt a member. he reads the book of mormon every day and prays. he is really smart and loves the church. also he is preparing to go on a mission...HE ISNT EVEN A MEMBER!!! haha it is crazy he is amazing and he just turned 18 so he will be baptized in a month or 2. he is my hero. it is incredible the strength of this kid. and tori i think you would think he is cute so in 3 years you will have a awesome husband who your brother baptized haha. 

well fam that was my week. it was awesome and i love it here. i am glad to be in this sector at this time. it is hot, probably in the high 80s every day but i love it here. i cant believe it is already december. it really feels like i left the mtc a couple weeks ago. i cant believe how fast the mision flys. i love you all tons and hope you guys have a awesome week. oh ya, by the way we were working so hard i didnt even realize that it was thanksgiving this week. i totally forgot which probably was good cause i wasnt home sick at all. sounds like you had fun and i will join you guys in 2 years for thanksgiving haha. love you all tons. 

elder hall

the killing of the rincon spiders

hey family i am glad you all got a good laugh out of my experiences. thats what i am here for, to be mocked...haha but ya this has been another awesome week. just to keep you guys updated i checked my weight again and guess what?!? i am up another 5 pounds... haha wow i really dont know how i can fit into my pants. i think i need to go on a diet or i am going to have to buy all new cloths. mom just to let ya know i got the wedding invite but i still havent gotten the package that you said you send like 5 or 6 weeks ago... haha hopefully whoever got it is enjoying my stuff haha. 

ya well just to let ya know i got changes. i was not expecting it at all. i have only been here for 6 weeks but the lord knows what he is doing. it is crazy how close you can get to people in only 6 weeks. i have many ward members here that i really love. oh man, i hate changes. but wish me luck and dont forget to pray for me. i am leaving behing my little friend constanza who will be baptized in 2 or 3 weeks. 

so we had another adventure this week. i dont know why all the sudden all this weird stuff is happening but hey what can ya do? we were in the house and my comp went into this back room that we never use. there are 2 old love seats back there which had blankets on them. my comp decided he wanted to take off the blankets to send them into the office. 

i was reading the Book of Mormon and all the sudden i hear this scream like a little girl... so i go running into the back expecting to see a dead body or something. haha my comp is standing on a seat screaming and pointing at something in the corner...it turns out to be a rincon spider. this is the only deadly thing in chile besided the water and traffic... if you get bit by one of this things you will die in 24 hours. and these things are fast so i was a little afraid. finally we kill the spider but we know that there are probably 20 other rincons in the seats. so we just went insane and started throwing stuff around and killing these spiders. i am not going to lie, it was scary but fun haha. at the end we found 7 rincon spiders and killed them. it was a sweet adventure in the land of chile haha

but ya this week i saw a miracle. about 3 weeks ago we taught this family that lives in our sector and they had a friend there visiting. the family wasnt very interested but their friend was really interested. so we got her information and sent it to the missionaries in a different sector. i didnt really think about it any more cause we never see what happens to the references that we send and this family ended up not wanting to listen to us anymore. so i was feeling bad like it was a waste of time. 

then this sunday we had a meeting in the church. we left the meeting and this member of another ward called us over. i was pretty confused and to my suprize i see this woman who we had taught a couple weeks back...she wanted to come to church but she didnt know what time it was at. she was explaining to this member that she was looking for a missionary who was tall, white, (fat) and a red head. that is when we left the meeting that we had and see saw me...she explained that the missionaries had passed by 2 times during the week but didnt tell her where the chapel was. she wanted to come to church and she somehow found my chapel. we gave her the direction to the other chapel that corresponded to where she lived. and right now she is preparing to get baptized... it is so cool to see that even when you dont know that you helped someone you can. you have a bigger impact on the lives of people that you know. it was awesome to be able to see that i was able to help someone even though she isnt in our sector. 

ya well that was my week. i hope you guys have a awesome thansgiving. i will be down here at the bottom of the world working my butt off... haha shae i hope all goes well with your baby. also it stunk to hear about byu and how they got destroyed but its all good cause i am down here and it doesnt matter. haha i love you all tons. i hope you have a awesome week. thanx for everything fam. 

love

elder hall

the adventure of elder hall

hello family. wow it sounds like you had a crazy week. i hope all is well with all of you now. first, sorry for writting late last week. we had to change the p-day because we went to the zoo on tuesday. so that was pretty sweet. not as good as the zoo in utah or california but it was fun to get away and do something different. also i have noticed on letters and packages that you guys have sent you put "Santiago 2a" it is "Santiago 29". so if you could fix that, that would be good. mom, you said that you sent a package like 5 weeks ago and i havent gotten it yet but maybe its cause the mail office is still trying to figure it out, or it ended up in china...haha i dont know but ya. 

so mom ya if you could send a tie for my comp and some candy and whatever else you can think of. i am sure his parents will send him something cause they live here in santiago but he might be changed this next week. we will see but ya thanx for everything mom your awesome. also i have a question. some members have said that there is a rumor that they are going to get rid of the dollar and change it to some other type of money...if you have any info on the subject it would be awesome to know. i havent gotten the wedding invite for amy´s wedding but tell her congrats from me. 

so this week has been crazy here. well, saturday was crazy, the rest of the week was the normal but dang do i have a story for you guys. 

so saturday we only got into one house the whole day, and it was for lunch. after lunch we left with a member to go to a visit but our investigator was packing up and leaving. so we lost this awesome family but hopefully the missionaries will be able to help him where he is moving. but anyways we decided since we had a member we were going to knock a couple doors and try to get into a house to teach. haha, i am not going to lie to you guys. never in my mission have i had this type of rejections...we knocked 5 houses and every house was worse than the first. people slammed the doors so fast i didnt have time to open my mouth. and when they didnt slam the door, they yelled at us. i felt so bad for the member but at least they know how the mission is now haha.

so after this hard day all i wanted to do was go home and just pass out and go to sleep. so we get to our door and my comp starts looking through his pockets and what does he find? nothing, he left the keys inside the house...haha so after 10 minutes of trying to break into the house through the front we realized that we couldnt. so i decided i was going to climb on the roof (cause there isnt space in between the houses to go to the back yard), go to the back and break a small window in the back to get into the house. simple enough right? wrong, i realized how bad the chilean roofs are when i finally got on top of it. they dont know how to make a roof and i almost died like 3 times. i ended up running the length of the roof so that i wouldnt die. then i jumped down off the roof. at this point it hit me how stupid this idea was... the neighboors who live behind our house were in the back part of their house. if i broke the window they would come out and see some guy trying to break into a house and call the cops...at this point i tried for like 15 minutes to get back up on the roof but i couldnt...haha finally i somehow got up, ran back across the roof and my comp said i was safe to come down...

that isnt the end of the story though...i was almost off the roof when my comp says, "stop, stop, las hermanas..." i look across the street and see the sister missionaries crossing the street. so i scramble back up, hid but my comp is in front of the house alone. he hids behind this tiny tree and somehow the hermanas didnt see him. i jump down and the next day we have to go to the office which takes like 2 hours. but finally sunday at 6 we got back into our house. haha but it was crazy.

but ya that was my week hope you guys enjoyed the adventure of elder hall. but i love ya all tons. i hope you have a awesome week. and i dont know when is thanksgiving but have a awesome thanxgiving. thanx for everything fam. 

love ya

elder hall

PS.  Ok mom this is for the ward newsletter. if you could go through it and spell check it for me that would be awesome. thanx mom love ya!!! 

As i reflect on the last 10 months of my mission and what i have learned one this in particular sticks out. Its what i call my Personal Gethsemane. 

We all know that the savior suffered more than we know during the last week of His life. He was mocked, scorned and spit upon. He suffered unimaginable pain in the Garden. He was scourged and beaten. And finally He was crucified on the Cross. 

I am not comparing myself to the Lord, because i cant even start to imagine what He went through. But i have been in my own personal Gethsemane for a moment or two on my mission. 

While on my mission i have been spit at, sworn at, yelled at, screamed at. I have been mocked, rejected and had countless doors slammed in my face. My Church has been attacked, my beliefs thrashed. I have walked around all day in the rain, the mud, the heat. I have felt so sad and depressed that i wanted to lay down and die... 

But at the same time i have never been so happy in my life. There are days that make every hard day worth it. When you see a family come back to church after 20 years. To see people who have smoked since they were 15 stop and never look back. Every pain is nothing as you watch people totally change their lives and follow the Savior. Those days make every sorrow, pain and affliction worth it. 

The Savior says in Luke "...let him take up his cross Daily and follow me." Christ gave everything and He expects all in return. I know that by doing what He asks we will be blessed. He lives, there is no doubt in my mind about that.

"If we are not willing to walk a step or two in our own Personal Gethsemane, we are not worthy to be members of His Church. I love you all so much. This church is true. Let us follow His example and overcome our Personal Gethsemane in His name, Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Elder Hall

we learn the same way as babies

hey family. it has been another hard but awesome week. we have been able to find a lot of people this week and we are teaching a couple families. when you work the lord really does bless you. he just wants to make sure that you are working are hard as you can. 

so this week was hard because my little friend alison lost her baptismal date. we went to teach her and she came out with her mom. we saw the dad standing in the doorway looking at us and i knew something was wrong. i looked down and alison had 3 book of mormons in her hand. she said that her dad said if she didnt give the books back to us he was going to burn them. it was so sad to see her face. she was so so excited to get baptized and her dad took that oportunity away from her. i know that she will be fine and in a few years hopefully she will have the oportuinity again to listen to the missioneros. 

but my other little friend constanca came to church with her mom and dad. it was so cool to see this family come back to the church. the dad talked to the bishop and he is going to get prepared to be able to baptize his little girl. it is such an awesome feeling to see a family that hasnt been to church together for years come back. they are so excited to change thier lives and come back. it is days like that, that make every long, hot day of walking around worth it!!!!

ok well i have officially gotten my first blisters of the mission. but the weird thing is that i didnt get them from walking... i got out of the shower with my flip flops on and i decided to leave them on even though they were wet. so now i have two great big blisters in between my big toe and my other toe... haha it stinks but asi es la mision. also i havent heard anything about amy and if she is still getting married, if there is a date or anything so if you could update me that would be awesome!!!

ok so mom here is my christmas wish list. 

1. electric shave (the green thing that you put on to shave)
2. some byu stuff (surprise me!!)
3. photos of you guys (its incredible how fast you change)
4. chocolate chips (this is one thing they dont have down here, and a recipe so i can make some chocolate chip cookies!!!)
5. 3 things of the auzzi hair gel (the hair gel here stinks)
6. some treats like snickers, twix, recess pieces...

ya well i learned a awesome lesson this week. its the ways that we learn in this life. there are 2 ways and both ways can be described by examples of babies. 

first, is we have to learn by doing. a baby will never ever learn how to walk if it doesnt try. it cant sit there and listen to its parents and watch other babies then walk. it has to get up and fall and get up and fall again. 

second, we can learn from the examples of others. our parents can tell us that the iron is hot and that we shouldnt touch it. the baby can listen to his parents or it can touch it and see if it is really hot. 

we learn the same way as these babies. God knew this also and because of this he sent us to earth so that we dont have to crawl for the rest of eternity. we can walk and run. many times we have to try to see what is going to happen. but the times when we can learn from others examples is just as important. we have parents, leaders, friends, prophets, bishops, companions and we should trust in them. not always but we can learn a lot from others. lets make sure we dont settle with crawling in this life and make sure not to get burnt. 

i love you all tons. hope you have a awesome week. mom and dad i am jealous but have a awesome time in hawaii. kids i love you all. fam, you guys are awesome. keep up the good work. love ya. 

elder hall

Go Cougars

elder hall jr.

hey family. how are you doing? man it feels like it has been an eternity since i have talked to you guys. this has been a good week but hard. the weather continues to rise and we continue to walk. haha in my other 2 sectors it has taken me 3 months to get to know the whole sector and the people. this sector has taken 3 weeks. i am sure i havent walked this much since my first month in chile. 

i think the people here are sick of us. we have contacted the same people over and over. it is sad when we walk down the street and people start running, bolting into houses, jumping infront of cars...haha no its not that bad but close. we have knocked tons and tons of doors and done more contacts than i can count. but hey, at least i am getting a sun tan :) you guys arent going to recongize me when i get back. i am going to be a black round ball with red hair.   

i dont know if this will work but my mission leader sent me this photo of mariela and her baptizm. she is so awesome!!!

i was really disappointed with halloween here. there was no one in the streets, no one. we thought, "ok we are going to be able to find tons of families and people to contact" but no, nothing. there were a few kids here or there but nothing like the states. and ya mom, they dont celebrate thanksgiving here but i wouldnt be suprized if they started in the near future. 

this week i was able to go on divitions with my distric leader, elder hurtado, who is going to leave the mission in 3 weeks...crazy. but ya we were able to go and teach with the sister missionaries in our district. one is named hermana smith from orem, ut... who would have thought. but ya it was so awesome so be able to teach with them. hermana smith has 4 weeks here in chile and speaks incredible spanish. but even more impressive than that was how they taught. i dont know why but they just have a different spirit. they taught and it was just powerful. we taught the law of chastity and it was incredible to see the power of 2 young women, who have lived in such a way that they are pure and clean. you dont see that very much here in chile, or anywhere in the world. how incredible is the gospel and what it teaches us.

but ya, alison, our little investigator is still preparing to be baptized. she is so cute and loves coming to church. we have helper her mom start coming back to church and is suporting her. i love watching people come back to the church, it is so incredible to see the change in their lives. also i dont know if i have told you about constanca but she is another little girl who loves going to church. we have helped activate her parents as well and tomorrow we are going to put a baptismal date with her. 

one other thing really quick is my little amigo named martin. his mom was baptized 2 months ago and he is 7 years old. he is the coolest little kid. he is always asking us when he can come and help us do mission work. we gave him a little mission bag and he loves it. the other night we had a family home evening and he gave the lesson on faith. his little spirit was so powerful. it was awesome to see how strong he is already only being 7 years old. he always says that he is a gringo and he has put his nick name as "elder hall jr." haha he reminds me so much of myself when i was his age. he is awesome. 

but ya i love you all so much. tell gma hall thanx for the letter and the money for halloween. i got it the day before so it was awesome. you guys the church is so so so true. it blesses so many lives and really can change the world. there is nothing else in the world that can compare to this work. i love it, even thought at times i want to die on the spot, i love it. i have grown more than i thought was possible. i thought i was really strong before the mission but now i am 10 times stronger than i was. jansen and landon, get ready because your going to serve a mission. get ready now, dont wait. read, pray, read more and pray pray pray. i love you guys. 

Lyndsie, i love you so much big sis. i am sorry for what is going on in your life right now but you are so so strong. you have been a awesome example of what the gospel can do. i love you. just keep going always. god loves you and so does your family. i am praying and thinking about you. and dont worry, you are beautiful. you are smart, and funny. your awesome. you are so strong and i know that you will be fine. i love you

well this is a long letter but ya i hope you guys have a awesome week. keep on praying for me and for the work. hasta la vista, chao

elder hall

open up the fire hydrants

Hey family. Hope all is well with ya. All is well here in chile. The news about lyndsie really shocked me. I cant believe that they are going to get divorced. I dont know what to say but i hope everything works out for the best. Lyndsie, i love ya sis and i am praying for ya. 

Um, i think you got my little packet of pics but if you could tell me so i can delete them that would be awesome. So tori i wanted to tell ya happy b-day. I hope you have a awesome one and i will have a mini party here in chile for ya. 

So its been another hard week. I figured out that our sector is the smallest sector in the mission. I have been here for 2 weeks and i have the whole sector memorized. It is insane and basically every one is a member or less active or they have heard the missionaries like 5 times. But i am trying to stay positive. We have a couple kids that we are teaching right now. We are going to set a baptismal date with a little girl named alison that we are teaching. She is 11 years old and loves the church. She has assisted 3 times now. Also we are teaching another little girl named... allyson. Haha she is 15 and her sister is a recent convert. Her sister is this awesome member but allyson is kinda lazy so we are working with her. But besides that we dont have many other people who are progressing right now. We have been walking around in circles in this small sector for the past week but hey at least i am getting a tan...well a missionary tan. 

Something cool that they do down here is all the punk kids somehow open up the fire hydrants and start playing in the water. It is cool but it makes a mess and the streets are just flooded with water. I dont know, maybe some day in the summer me and my comp will go for a swim. 

Haha well today we got to do something really cool. We went to this hill in the middle of santiago called el cerro santa lucia. It was really cool. And it reminded me how big the city of santiago really is. It is incredible, you cant even see the end of it when you are in the middle. It just keeps going and going. I am going to send some pics that i took today. 

But ya besided that not much is going on. Me and my comp are getting along...most of the time. Some times he just drives me up the walls but i just got to keep on keeping. I have realized that in the mission you really cant change much, you just got to suck it up and go with it. But ya, i also realized that i am really old in the mission. It scared me the other day but i am going to keep on working and see what i can do to this sector. Well sorry but i cant think of anything else. Hope you guys have a awesome week. I love you all tons. And last but not least ¿Go Cougars?

Chao

Elder hall

Maipû is said just like it is spelled, my poo...

Hey family. Dang am i mad at you all for not writting me. What punks you are. I thought about not even writting you but i didnt want mom to worry so i decided i would write ya. Man what a weekit has been… so you know that this week was transfers and that is when i got my comp. his name is elder zeballos. he is one of 2 missionaries in our mission who is from chile. he is from further north in antofagasta (where the other half of my district in the MTC went.) so i finally got my first latin comp. his dad is actually a member of the quorum of the 70. it has been kinda hard but its all good. this is the first time in the past week that i have been able to speak in english. 

so right now i am in a sector called Las Naciones. it is in the part of Maipû in the city of santiago. (Maipû is said just like it is spelled, my poo...ya ya its the joke here that i have to live in my poo laugh it up...)  Me and the bishop, Juan pablo 

it is a pretty small sector. it is only 3 streets wide but it is pretty long... which stinks but oh well, thats life. and this week summer hit with a vengance, even though it is only spring right now. i have never been this hot in my life. and since we have no one to teach we are walking around all day in the sun. isnt that just my life. i have learned from the mission that you really just work for the elder behind you. you build up your sector and then leave it. and if you come into a sector that the elders werent building up, then you have to start all over again. 

but ya, at least we have our own house. it is pretty big but its just us two. it is kinda weird but its all good. also the stupid shower is broken so we have to hold the shower head as we shower which is so so annoying. haha but ya i am trying to be happy about the situation. its just hard cause my comp doesnt like making desitions and because i dont know the sector or anyone here i cant make them. so i have been getting really frustrated but i am learning to be more pacient. (i dont know if thats how you spell it, i am loosing my english.) Me and the ward mission leader, lizardo. He is awesome

me and my little friend vanessa, my first baptism. oh she is so cute!!! haha well i hope all is well with all of you guys. lyndsie i love ya and hope that you are better by now. jake my buddie i wanted to tell ya happy b-day on the 19th. jansen told me bout BYU which sucks but its all good, i just hope they come out and blow Utah up. but ya thats all for now, i will keep ya updated. just to let ya know, there is a 4 hour difference between us now because of the time change. so right now it is 1030 and there it is like 630 i believe (i never was very good at math). but i love you all tons and tons. more than you can believe. keep on keepin. have a awesome week. and GO Cougars!!!

love

elder hall

I have gained another 5 lbs…

Hello my wonderful family. How is everything going? Everything here is awesome. This was a very cool week. First of all I have some questions that people wanted answered. First off, yes they do celebrate Halloween down here but I guess they do it early so that they don’t get jumped and killed… haha I cant wait, I think me and my comp might go knock doors all night… haha jk but seriously, I love Halloween so if you see anything on the news like “mormon red head caught stealing the candy of little child in chile…” don’t worry its just me!!! Also tell g-ma hall thanx, I did get her letter and the money. Tell her that she is awesome!!! Also tell them happy 50th anniversary, that is crazy!!! Also that is so crazy that you already got the first season snow. Oh man I miss the snow so much. It is night and burning down here at the bottom of the world but its all good. I only have 5 more months of it…

Ok now I am going to talk about my freakin awesome week. It was so cool and I was so happy to finally have a sweet week. First off, sorry that I am writing Tuesday. The president changed our p-day again to Tuesday for changes. I don’t know if it will continue happening every time we have changes but ya that’s why I didn’t write you yesterday. Ok so mariela is incredible. She is such a miracle and it has been so awesome to be able to see her grow. I have never seen someone want to learn and not only learn but to follow the gospel. She has read probably more than I have this past week in the book of mormon. She always writes questions that she has and before we can ask if we can leave her a reading assignment, she asks us. She also has read all the pamphlets that we hand out and doesn’t have a problem with anything (law of chastity, word of wisdom, tithing, NOTHING!!!) I have never found anyone in my life who was more prepared and ready to follow Christ. She is going to be an awesome member in 5 days… Now the downside, I wont be here to watch her get baptized… haha oh man, that is just my life isn’t it? I have changes tomorrow so I will be send to another area before is gets baptized. Dang, missed it by 5 stinking days. She was pretty sad when I said that I was leaving but maybe I will be able to ask permission from the president to go to the baptism. We will have to see… Oh well, anyway I am still so excited for her to take this huge step in her life and she is ready to take it. Me and mariela and her daughter. Stinks that i cant be there but she is going to be an awesome member in the church!!!

Also this week we were teaching bernarda and her daughter isis with our bishop. During the lesson isis came up to me and said, “tio Hall” or uncle, I want to get baptized. Haha it was so cute and I could tell she really wanted to but we are still having problems with her mom and so she will have to wait for a little bit. But its ok in a little bit of time bernarda will be ready and isis will be able to take this step with her mom. So ya it stinks that I am leaving villa sur right when we are having all this excitement but I know that the lord needs me somewhere else and I am excited to have a change. I am a little nervous though cause I think I am going to get my first latin comp. make sure that you are praying for me ok? Haha thanx fam your awesome. This is my chilean family. miguel, maritza, roxana, rocío and mati. oh i miss them.

So this week I decided to check my weight again. It has been 2 weeks since I checked and in the last two weeks I have gained another 5 lbs… haha oh man fam, when I get back I might just be a round ball with red hair. Oh well they say down here that is you aren’t gaining weight your not enjoying your mission… I think I am enjoying the mission way too much haha. Well ya fam I have been on my mission for about 10 months. It has flown by, it feels like I just got to chile a couple days ago and I am almost a year in. its so crazy but I am still working hard and trying my best. 

Well my awesome family, I think that is basically all that happened this week. I will let ya know about my next sector and comp and how everything is next week. Remember to pray for me and for the people of chile. The lord really is preparing the people, we just need to find those who are ready like mariela and help them along the way. This gospel is so true. I really don’t know where I would be without it. I am so grateful for prophets who guide us today. I never really realized how big of a blessing that was until I got here in chile. GOD SPEAKS TO US. LISTEN TO HIM!!! Haha you guys are awesome, have a great week and que Dios les bendiga. Chao fam love ya tons. And as always, GO COUGARS!!!

Elder hall

I had my first dream in Spanish

Hello family. This has been an incredible week in villa sur. I am glad to hear that all is well at home and that lyndsies baby is doing fine. She looks so precious and I cant wait to see her in real life, but not for a while. First off and foremost, I want to tell you all how much I love you. In elder scott´s talk he told us how we need to always give thanx for the things we have. Many times in life we just don’t realize how much we have until its gone and it is the same with you guys. I love every single one of you so so much and pray for you daily. Dad, mom, shae, lyndz, tori, jansen, landon and jenna. I love you more than words can describe and I hope you never forget it. That goes the same for aaliyah, mekhii, zaraaha (still don’t know how to spell it), chandon, and even chad and jake… haha as well as my grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles. You have all made such a huge difference in my life and maybe you haven’t realized it but you have. Thanx to all of you for everything!!!

Haha ok onto this weeks events. As I said it was awesome. I got to watch all the sessions of conference and I loved every single minute of them. It was incredible how fast the flew by. I wish it could have kept on going. There were some really powerful talks that I loved. But overall I think the talk that I loved the most was by elder Jeffrey r Holland. Elder Holland has come to be my favourite apostol speaker. He always talks with such power and authority and about subjects that no one else will talk about. (if you remember last conference when he basically smacked down the saying that we aren’t Christians and about revelation.) but the things he said were incredible. I have felt so many times in my mission that there was someone right next to me and I have no doubt that missionaries are protected constantly by the angels of the Lord. Also there are angels that we see every day. They are regular human beings but they do incredible things. I couldn’t help but think about bishop Hadley and his family. They are a regular family but always have been angelic to our whole ward and everyone they meet. I am so grateful for the angelic people around the world that help all they see. I hope that each one of us will be able to be “angelic” to our fellow brothers and sisters. 

This past week I had my first dream in Spanish. It was incredible because I understood every single word in my dream haha. My Spanish has really progressed and I am very confortable talking to anyone in Spanish and I can understand almost everything that is said to me. 

Mariella, our miracle reference, is so so awesome. She was able to come to conference on Sunday morning with her daughter and loved it. She said she has a lot of questions and we have a meeting with her tomorrow. We taught her 2 times this week and she expressed her desires to be baptized to follow the example of Christ in the true church. She will be baptized in the next couple weeks. She gave up smoking a month ago, when she was smoking 25 cigarettes a day, when she found out that it was against the word of wisdom. She has already read 4 chapters from 1st nephi and 5 from 3rd nephi. She loves learning and is progressing faster than anyone I have seen on my mission. I love teaching her because of her excitement to learn. It is truly a miracle that I am so blessed to be seeing. 

Also this week we had divisions with our district leader. I left my sector and for the 2nd time in the mission field was comps with elder carpenter… haha he is such a good kid. We ended walking around all day and getting rejected door after door. His sector is really hard. The history behind this sector is simple and can be explained by the last 7 bishops. 6 of the last 7 bishops have gone inactive and the 7th, the bishop right now, is only active because the ward is working with him… It is so sad to see this, but it happens too many times here in chile. We are trying to build up these ward so they can keep on growing and become stronger and stronger. But anyways, finally at the end of the day we got into a less actives house. It was a girl who was about 15 years old. She had surgery on her back so she was laying down in her bed in her tiny bedroom. So me and my comp enter and start talking to her. During this she was texting and a couple minutes later her friend walks into the room. So its me, elder carpenter, and these two girls. So elder carpenter says that we are goin to watch a movie. So I think we are probably going to watch the restoration, finding faith in Christ or something like that… He pulls out Together Forever, which is a movie about dating, marrage, and awkward stuff like that. I couldn’t believe it!! So us 4 sat there for about 20 minutes watching this movie before I couldn’t take it anymore and said we had to go. Haha it was very interesting and I realized that I had my first Chilean date that night. But I promise it will never happen again haha. 

Well that was my week and it was very exciting. This next Sunday we have changes and will see if I stay or go. I believe that I am going to be transferred but you never know. I am glad that you got my package and I hope that you liked it. You asked for hats a month or so back so I sent some. if you could make sure the cds that I send work and keep them safe, then let me know that would be great. Thanx for everything family. I love ya tons. Have a awesome week. Make sure you use the things that we learned in conference in your daily lives and we will be blessed. Keep on praying for me and my investigators. And as always, Go Cougars!!!!

Love

Elder hall

Nothing is impossible!

Hola fam from villa sur. I was so excited to get the pics of my new neice. She is so so so cute!!! I am excited to get to know her in a little while. Lyndz, as always you picked a weird name but so far i like the names that you have picked so we will have to see. I dont even know how to say her name zharaa...? haha but she looks so cute and sounds like she is really loved. I am proud of ya lindz for being awesome. Mom told me bout your missionary work that you are doing with this lady that lived by you and thats so awesome. Keep it up and help out thoes missionaries in utah. They need as much help as they can get. 

So this has been a pretty boring week here in chile. Nothing really exciting happened here so i dont really know what i am going to write about. One really cool thing that happened. This week we had a conference with the mission. We have one every change and they are always awesome. It was sweet cause they always talk about what i need to hear and this one wasnt an exception. 

This past change i have been really down and not had very much energy. I have had to push and push myself to help my comp and keep me going and it has been really hard. So i havent had very much excitement. But that is exactly what they talked about. Also they talked about how nothing is imposible. They showed this movie of a guy who had done the ironman, where you swim, bike and run. He had done it a bunch of times and it is extremely hard to do even for the most fit and strong people in the world. Well, he had a son and he wanted his son to do this ironman just like him, but there was a problem. His son had a spinal disease and he couldnt even walk. But that didnt stop his dad, it made him want to do it more. And by the way, his son wasnt 4 or 5 he was 20 years old.

So the dad ends up tying his son, who is in a small boat, to his back and swimming the full lenght. He made a seat for his son and strapped it on his bike and went the full lenght of that. And ran with his son in a special wheel chair for this ridiculous distance and finished the race. It was incredible to see it, at the end i was in tears. They interview the dad at the end and he looks right into the camera and says, “Nothing is impossible!” that really hit me hard. He is true, nothing in the world is imposible. If we want to do it we just have to work and work to acomplish it. This guy was in his late 50s when he did that and i am sure it nearly killed him. But he had the goal that his son was going to do this ironman and he did it.

Many times in life things dont go how we want them to go. But what are we going to do? Are we going to roll over and die or bite the bullet and do it. I am sure that tons of people told this man that there was no way he could accompish this imposible race with all that extra weight but he did it anyway. What are we going to do when we hit bumps in life? We can make excuses, “its way too hard” “its imposible, we are never going to be able to do it”. Or we can stand up tall and go. Give it our all and then if we cant do it at least we did all that we could to try. 

Life is hard. I am not going to deny that. But we just need to live every day, try our hardest and when we hit the pillow at night make sure we didnt leave anything out on the playing field. I know this church is true. I know it! Please dont forget it. Every single one of you know it as well. You have had spiritual witnesses. Dont forget thoes feelings when it gets tuff. I have seen it so many times here on the mission. People know its true but they forget or just dont want to do it. This church is not for the weak. We are the strongest there are. What other church askes for 2 years of your life? 10 percent of your money? To give up every single thing that the world says in right and good? You are stronger than you know. I love you all tons. I am so happy to have such a loving family. You guys are my joy and i am always bragging about you to every one here. My favorite part of the week is when i get to hear from you guys. I love it so much. You guys are awesome. I cant wait for conference and i hope that you guys just soak up every single word that our savior says through the mouths of his chosen servents. Have an awesome week!!!

Love

Elder hall

Head cheeze

Hello family. I am glad to hear from all of you and to hear that all is well at home. This has been a crazy week for me. First off it was the 18th of september which is like the 4th of july in the states. So this whole weekend there were crazy people having parties and drinking and doing whatever else. So it was really hard cause everyone was with their families and hanging out and drinking so it was hard to get into houses but this week we have tons and tons of new people to teach so i am excited about that. 

So the 17th we had a ward party and it was awesome. We had a dinner and the ward members danced. Also it was so cool cause our investagator, bernarda, was able to come to it and she had tons of fun. She loved the activity and her daughters actually danced in a little dance that the primary put together. It was so cool. Also for our gospel principles class, the teacher put together a little lunch and invited bernarda. So we had that the 20th and it was really good. Bernarda loved it and is having tons of fun with the members. When the members help, the work is so much easier. 

But lastly but definately not least, bernarda was finally able to assist the church this Sunday. It was a miracle but a sad miracle. The 21st, bernarda was at her house and her boy friend came over to see her. He was all drunk and got mad at her and hit her really hard. The cops came and she had to fill out all this paperwork. Finally, she told us that she is done with this idiot guy. So that means that she isnt going to be gone on the weekends. So this was a huge miracle. We have been praying really hard that she would be able to assist and finally she did. A lot of times the lord answeres our prayers in very different ways than we think. But this has really strengthened bernarda. She said that now more than every, she needs the Lord and she is going to keep learning. She is awesome and will be baptized soon so we are really excited about that. 

This week has been extremely hot. The weather here is crazy cause it doesnt change seasons, it just goes from cold to hot. The trees dont change color or anything. It is such a abrupt change. But i knew that it was spring when i woke up at 230 friday morning with a runny nose and sneezing like no other. My alergies have hit with a vengance, i have never had them this bad before. Luckily i had some clariton in my suitcase but i am running low on my supply. So mom, if you could send some, asap that would be awesome. Ya, well i tried making my famous orange julius on Saturday but they dont have orange concetrated cans down here so i took orange fanta and froze it and made it with that... it didnt work out that great but i will keep on trying and see if i cant perfect it. Also this past week i had the privalege to try queso de cabeza. Or for thoes of you who dont speak spanish, “Head cheeze.” But its not cheeze, it is head... they take the pigs head and take everything, the nose, eyes, lips, ears...and put it through a machine and make strips of meat with it. But if it had not been for the fact that i knew what i was eating, it would have tasted pretty good. I have to say it wasnt that bad but i am never trying it again. 

So before i forget, i just wanted to say happy b-day to sister cummings. I believe it was her b-day on the 13th or something like that. I know its late but i just wanted to let her know that her ex home teacher was thinking about her. I hope everything is going well with the cummings family and my bud chris. 

Well to finish i wanted to tell you one last miracle that happened this week. Well about a month and a half ago we got a reference from this guy in a different ward. He has a friend from work that has been interested in the church and she wants to investagate the church seriously. So we got the reference and tried calling like 10 times and did all we could to get in contact with her. But after a while we couldnt get a hold of her or the guy that send us the reference so we got discouraged and gave up. Then yesterday, we were walking back from lunch and i had the feeling to go down a street that we usually dont go down. So we were walking down this street and this guy starts to aproach us. I am usually a little nervous when people aproach us cause they usually want money, are insane, or want to rub my head. So i was goin to avoid this guy but i had this thought come to my mind that said that i needed to be nice to this guy. So i started talking to him and he told me that he was the guy that gave us the reference and that this woman is really excited to learn more. He showed us where she lives and we have an appointement to teach her today. I am really excited and i hope all goes well. Thats my miracle. It may not be something huge but there are small little miracles that happen every day. We just need to listen to the spirit and do what it says. If we do then we will be put into the right places and talk to the right people. 

Well i love ya tons fam and i am glad for all you do. Make sure that you are still doing what is right and following the council that we recieve. I am really excited for general conference and i hope you all are too. WE HAVE A LIVING PROPHET TODAY AND GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIM. LISTEN TO HIM!!! TAKE HIS ADVICE INTO YOUR DAILY LIVES!!! LOVE CONFERENCE!!! Haha i love you guys and think about ya ton. God be with you till we meet again. And as always, GO COUGS!!!

Love ya

Elder hall