pink slippers...yes pink

hey dad and mom and fam!!! 

it is good to hear from ya. i am glad you got the package and everything in there worked. the cd worked right? you were able to get off all the videos and pictures and stuff? i am glad everyone enjoyed their gifts. sorry its not that much but its the thought that counts right? and the "game" the candy that i sent, i love it. it is my favorite candy here. it is so amazing. it is manjar and these cookies and of course chocolate. i bought that box that i sent you guys and it was full of game at first but that didnt last very long. 

and it sounds like you had a great time on your ym campout. Everything here in melipilla is amazing. I am loving being a missionary and waking up every morning and being able to go preach the gospel to the world. It was cool cause with this one investagator we have been having a hard time with her understanding authority and priesthood and all that so i brought my priesthood line with me and showed her and it really helped but i need to get it in spanish cause she didnt understand anything but the names. But i will do that later. 

One thing that i have noticed here is that no one smiles. We were driving in a bus to go somewhere and i looked out the window and i tried to count how many smiles i saw in the middle of the city...i counted like 5 on a long bus ride. It is so sad and i hate it. But now i realize why we look so different to the people here. We have the gospel and we are happy. They reconigze this because it is weird to see 2 ym walking along the street with smiles on their faces. 

We had an incredible experience. We got to go to the hospital here in melipilla to visit a investagators son who has been having problems with drugs. So we went and i was so surprized on how clean it was. I was expecting dirt and grime and crap all over the place but it was a lot cleaner than i thought. It is definately not as clean as the hospitals at home but it was not that bad. Anyways we went and visited this guy and he had been there for a week and he was doing a lot better but he was starting to get bored. So he asked us if we had anything for him to read...we said that we did and gave him a book of mormon and he was really excited and said that he would start reading it imediatly. 

Then we decided since we were in a hospital me might as well go and see if there was anything more we could do. So we went and started walking around. All the sudden this lady comes running out and asks us if we can come say a prayer for her dad cause he is dying. And she wasnt a member, she was catholic but she wanted us to come pray for him. So we did and she said that after the prayer she felt a lot more calm and felt like everything was goin to be all right. So we kept walking around and we went into this room with like 7 people who were just in their beds and we decided to sing a hymn to maybe raise their spirits...or with our singing we could put them out of their misery...jk that was bad but ya it was awesome. We sang and they seemed like they were a lot happier when we left. I dont know wheither or not it was because we were leaving and had stopped singing but they were happier. 

This past Friday was way cool. We did divitions cause my comp is a district leader so he left and this latin missionary, elder villon, came and was my comp for the day. It was so cool cause the only thing he could say in english is “what passes crazy” so for the whole day i had to speak spanish. It was awesome. We had a great day and he understood basically everything i said. It is so crazy how fast i have learned spanish. I have tons and tons still to learn but 5 months ago i could say hola and that was it. Now i can hold on a convo with someone who doesnt speak english. It is awesome. 

We went to this house and i was about to go in when i realized that i had a huge piece of dog crap on my shoe. So i took off my shoes and was about to go into the house and all the sudden this hermana comes out with some pink slippers...yes pink. So i taught a lesson to her less active son in pink slippers. I felt really weird but at the same time something just felt right about it...jk but seriously the mission is awesome, you do everything and see everything.

Last but definately not least, yesterday was the last day of this change. So that means that someone was probably going to leave. So all 4 of the missionaries in our pension were sitting there around the phones waiting to hear who was goin to leave and who was goin to stay. Finally at like 10:30 our zone leaders called and told us that we had changes. Elder mecham is leaving and so am i. I am leaving my home in melipilla. It is so sad i love it here but i think it is time for a change. 

So today for pday i am goin to spend time going to all the members houses and saying bye. I am goin to pack, take pics and get all ready for tomorrow. Then tomorrow at 9 all the missionaries in our mission who have changes are goin to meet in santiago at the temple. The president will give me a name of my new comp, i will meet him and we will take off to our new pension and sector. I am not goin to lie, i am way nervous but excited at the same time. I am pretty sure that i am goin to get a latin comp and its goin to be really hard but i am excited for more experiences. 

And finally i am not a greenie anymore!!!! That is so crazy, i am officially a regular missionary. That is good and bad. Now i know a lot and i know spanish, mas or menos, and i am a lot more comfortable here. But the bad part is now i dont have any excuses when i mess up or do something that i am not suppost to do. I cant say, “sorry i am a greenie i dont know what i am doing” but its all good i am way excited. 

Well that is it for now. I will let you guys know how everything goes and who my new comp is and all the new and exciting experiences i will be having this week. Pray for me please cause i need all the help i can get. I love you guys so so so much. Happy fathers day pops. I dont know when it is but i hope ya have a great day!!!

Love you guys tons

Elder hall

PS. hey mom i just got your letter and it is almost time to get off so i will write ya a short one and the one i sent to dad is for the fam. first of all yes i got my garment tops back so that is all good. but if you wanted to you could send me another pair. it is always good to have garments. i am glad you guys got my package and everything worked. make sure to save the cd and dont lose it cause i am goin to delete all my pics. tell tyson that he is awesome and he is great example for me. tell him i love him and that i know what he feels like. being a missionary totally changes everything in your life. but i love ya mom i gotta go but have a great day.

PPS. mom sorry i almost forgot. it is your bday on the 12!!! happy bday mom. i love ya tons. i hope you have a great day and just know that your long lost son, elder hall, will be thinking about ya. i hope you have an amazing day. love ya tons. you are so awesome. bye mom :)