if you don’t have the spirit you wont be able to teach

Hey fam hows it goin. All is well in villa sur I guess. Haha ya thanx for writing me you little punks. Well at least jenna and jansen and shae love me…jk but no its all good im sure I will have a couple old emails next week when I get on. Just a perfect way to finish a hard week eh? 

First I want to talk about something that is so sad but it is so true. It says that “if you don’t have the spirit you wont be able to teach.” This is so true and I have seen it in the last couple weeks. A week ago I was able to go on divisions with my district leader. This elder is so awesome. You can tell he has a strong testimony and lives what he teaches. He taught with such power and authority it was incredible. The next day I came back with my comp. I don’t want to bag on my comp, don’t get me wrong. He is a awesome guy and I really love him. But ya, we went to teach a lesson when I got back with him. And we taught about prayer. And my comp never says prayers unless he has to. He doesn’t say them before going to bed, before studying or anything like that. When he taught about prayer and bore his testimony it was so sad. I felt nothing. I could tell and the investigator could tell that he didn’t have a strong testimony of prayer. The spirit wasnt there and they could tell that it was just a 21 yr old boy talking by himself about a subject that he didn’t know very much and didn’t really care about. Without the spirit we cannot teach. Without living the gospel principles we cannot have a testimony. DO THE SMALL THINGS AND YOU WILL BE BLESSED. READ EVERY SINGLE DAY. SAY YOUR PRAYERS EVERY NIGHT AND MORNING. GO TO CHURCH. I KNOW THAT YOUR TESTIMONY WILL GROW AND YOU WILL BECOME SO MUCH STRONGER. The gospel is true and don’t you ever forget it. 

Ya well a couple days ago I was reading in my personal study in alma 24:27. here it is talking about how the Lord works in different ways to save His people. When I read this, a strong feeling came to my heart and I couldn´t stop thinking about Bishop Cummings. I kept thinking about how much he changed my life since he has been gone. Because of him I really have become a better person. Because of his example I have not missed a day of reading the scriptures since the night he died. Just to see how much he has helped me and my life is incredible. But to think of the impact that he has had on others is even more incredible. I am positive that his example and all that he did has helped many people. Also there have been many times that I have used Bishop Cummings in my teachings. His example and his life is still making a huge affect on peoples lives. Its incredible how the Lord really knows what he is doing and he knows all. I am so thankful for Him and for his infinite wisdom.  

This week we got the opportunity to listen to Richard G. Scott as a mission. It was really cool to be able to see and him from a apostle of the Lord. What is more incredible is what he talked about. He said lots of things but something that really stuck out was when he talked about his own mission. He told the story of one comp that he had. This comp wanted to be a painter when he got off his mission so when they were suppost to leave and work he would want to go and paint the beautiful landscapes of Argentina. Also he liked to sleep in and do things that were not approved as a missionary. Elder Scott said that this was really hard for him. He wanted to be the best missionary he could be but with a comp like that it was difficult to do so. 

Elder Scott said that he started slacking off a little, sleeping in a little and doing things a little less than how he knew they should be. He said one day he realized what was happening and he thought, “Am I going to let my comp control what kind of missionary I am and what kind of mission I have?” he decided that he was going to work extra hard and do things how they are suppost to be done. He started waking up on time and getting ready and doing his studies and everything that he needed to do. He was a obedient missionary and he tried his hardest. He said that he remembers sitting by the door all ready to go work and hoping and praying that his comp would wake up and get ready to go. He said in time his comp did and they started seeing success. He said make sure you don’t let your comp define who you are. 

Wow, so that was way awesome to hear. Even an apostle of the Lord had a hard comp and hard time on his mission. Then yesterday I had just a really really hard day. We show up at the church and 2 investigators who said that they would be there, weren’t there. Then out of the 10 recent converts that we have, only 3 came. Then only 57 people came in total to church. When I got to villa sur about 90 people assisted every week. I have seen this sector showly dying even though I am trying my hardest to keep it going. To top that off, all 3 of the families that me and my comp re-activated in my last change didn’t come… 

Oh man I was way way down. Then we went out to work and no one would let us in, not even members. It was so hard. I was thinking about home, and other things and I just was down. Then last night we had a meeting with our bishop and talked about the ward and the recent converts. Then out of no where he starts telling stories of his mission and a bunch of hard times he had. He told us experiences and then told us something that really hit me hard. He said that “no matter what, if you try your hardest, your efforts are never ever in vain. Never! As long as you serve and maybe you don’t get the success that you are looking for, it doesn’t matter. God knows what you are doing and he will help you. He does things in his own time and not ours.” 

…Oh my gosh it was so awesome. Out of no where the bishop starts saying all this stuff that I needed to hear and he had no idea of our day or what was going on in my mind. There you have it, elder Scott and Bishop Lopez, 2 examples of leaders who somehow knew exactly what I needed to hear without even knowing that I needed to hear those things. I have such a strong testimony of leaders and that they really receive revelation to our needs. WE HAVE TO FOLLOW OUR LEADERS. THEY KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR US!!!! 

I love you guys. Keep going always. It will be alright, God knows all and he is there for us. Kneel and pray and pray and pray until you feel his love and know that you are all right. Keep up the good work and God be with you all. 

Love

Elder hall

Fording the river on main street

Yo fam what is goin on? All is well here in santiago chile. I am loving the mission with all the trials and things that i am going through. I know that my savior is just putting me through the refiners fire so that i can become the best that i can be. He has faith in me and i need to show my faith in Him. 

This has been a hard week with the health. My comp was pretty sick so we had to stay in the house one day to let him rest and get better. We are getting along it is just i have to push him and push him. It is really hard to take care of myself and him but its all good. I have such a strong testimony that my president recieves revalation from God and that i am with elder viraldo for a reason. I just need to look for it and continue forward always and try my best. That is all our Savior asks of us and i am trying. 

My health has been a little iffy this week also. I have had a pretty bad headache and also a sore throat. But its all good its part of the mission. But ya it is awesome, there is this awesome member family that is in this sector. I dont know if i have told you bout them but they are awesome. There are the parents, miguel and maritza, 2 daughters who are like 12 and 9, roxanna and rocío, and a hyperactive 5 year old named matí. They are so sweet. They are really like my familiy here in chile and migue isnt a member yet but he is probably stronger in the church than any of the members besides the bishop. The bishop already told us that he is going to call him to be a councler in the bishopbrick. He is just in the long long process of divorce here in chile and once that is done he will be baptized. But ya anyways, we went to their house and my and my comp were like dead. We were sick and had been walking around all day with little success. We told maritza that our throats hurt and she went and made up this little pocion of water, honey and lemon and said that this would help our throats. So we decided to take a try and it turned out to be the nastiest thing i have ever drank...and it didnt help the throat situation but ya they are awesome anyways. 

Ya well i had my first bible bash this week. It was the first one that i could actually understand what they were saying and reply to it. I realize now that is was stupid but in the moment it was hard cause it has been a hard week and we were walking around all day. So he starts saying how we worship joseph smith, (like everyone says) and all this crap about how the mormons are wrong and we are all goin to heck. So i layed down the law and told him that he is wrong, we dont worship joseph smith. I also pulled out scriptures from the bible and tried to destroy him but i realize now that it was stupid. All it was was me and my brain against this guys brain. I did not feel the spirit and i felt like crap after. Neither of us won and it was just a waste of 15 minutes of my mission. I have realized that is why we have been told not to bible bash. I realized that i cant convice anyone, i cant. I am way to stupid haha. The only thing that can convince the people is the Holy Ghost. It was a cool lesson to be able to learn and to humble myself. 

Also it rained for 2 days this week. It is really hard when it rains cause no one wants to let us in and there is no one out in the streets. But we still worked and worked and it was about 8 and we came to this street that we had to cross called lo oaville which is a main street. And we arrived and realized that there was no way we were going to cross this thing. It was seriously a river. It was a good 2 ½ feet deep and wide and fast. But we had to get to an appointment that was on the other side of this street. So we decided that we were going to cross it. So first i let my comp go in and he steps in and just about gets sucked under because of the strengh of this thing. So i hop in and the same thing happenes to me. But we fought and found and finally made it across this street but our shoes were soaked and so were our pants. So we show up at the appointment and teach them and then leave and it was like 9:15 so we headed for home. Then it hit us, we had to cross the river again... haha so we crossed it, basically swimming and got home and huddled around our itzy bitzy tiny heater that we have to try to get somewhat warm. But all in all we are alive and well. 

So i am ways excited cause tomorrow we get the opportunity to listen to elder Richard G. Scott!!!!! I am way way excited and it is only our mission so it should be awesome. I love listening to the bretheren, they are so wise and really recieve words direcly from God. I CANT WAIT!!! And today i hit my 5 month mark in chile. It is crazy how fast time flies but its awesome. I feel like i just got out of the mtc a week ago. That is why we cant waste a second ever. We have such little time to do so much. 

Ya well this week has been hard and we were having this really hard day and we were walking around and knocking doors and doing all that and not getting into any houses. It was one of thoes days that people reject you, every door gets slammed in your face. So we finally came to a reference that we had gotten and we knock the door. This guy comes out and we had already seen the huge statue of the virgin Mary and so we knew he was a hardcore catholic. Finally i tell him that we are servents of the lord and that we have a very important message. I ask him if we come in and we basically started walking away when i asked him, thats how sure we were of what he was going to say. The guy says sure come in... we were caught off gaurd. I was about to ask him if he was sure that he wanted us to come in, cause we are mormons and if you let us in your never going to get rid of us. Kinda like a dog when you feed it, it keeps coming back and coming back... but ya, before i talked him out of letting us in, we entered his house and found a family waiting for us. They are cool and i see some potencial with them. I love being a missionary even when its hard. There are miracles that we see every single day. 

Well ya that was my week. I hope all is well with you guys. Have a awesome 1st week of school and work your butts off. The church is true and i love you all tons. Keep up the faith and never lose hope. All is well, all is well. 

Love Ya!!! 

Elder hall

“Hello, how are you..”

Good morning family. All is well in villa sur. I am still here and still working my little butt off. This has been another hard week but thus is the mission. It has been so incredible to see how much I have grown in the last 2 weeks alone. I can really see a difference in myself. I think I have become more of a leader and I have progressed a ton as a missionary. It is really hard to be the junior comp and try to be the senor comp as well. But I know that I am here with my comp for a reason. I am going to keep working hard and try to help my comp.

Hey keep me updated on the outside world. The olimpics, BYU and anything else cool goin on. Thanx guys. 

So there is one sentence that every single ”joven” here knows. Joven by the way means youth or something like that. Anyways it is “Hello, how are you..” every single time that we walk past some jovenes they always yell this. Something that is really funny is that a lot of the older people do this too. It is funny to see how immature people really are. Also many times these jovenes decide to be funny. This week we got a lemon thrown at us. Another thing I have found out is that these kids have a very colorful vocab in English… but its all good they are just little punks.

Another thing is that we have a fan group so to speak. They are called snakes. Snakes are girls that like the missionaries. We are use to snakes cause they are everywhere here but we have run into a unusual group of snakes. Somehow they always find us and they aren’t your typical pack of snakes. We are used to the snakes yelling hello how are you, stuff like that. But this group is different. When we pass by they say those same things but once we are a couple steps away from them they start to yell stuff like “God doesn’t exist” or “your going to heck” or stuff like that but in a really deep and devilish voice. Also I think they cursed us but I cant be sure…

But ya the mission goes on. Right now we are trying to find new people to teach. I don’t like this part very much. Our president told of that one day the members will be full time finders and the missionaries will be full time teachers. I cant wait till this day comes. But I want to challenge every one of you to try to find someone for the missionaries to teach. What I have found is that people have a much much better chance to come into the church of God if they are references from the members. Knocking doors and doing contacts takes a lot more time and is not very effective. Help the missionaries please. Thanx guys. 

Mom and dad I want to wish ya a happy anniversary!!! You guys are awesome and have always been there for me. Thanx for your example. Also, congratulate tyler and Tyson for me. That is awesome!!! Shae and lyndsie, keep on marching. You guys will be fine and make sure to send me pics when the little rugrats come k? Torky, love ya little sis and keep on choosing the right. Tell danny boy hi and that if he tries anything I will come home from the mish and hurt him. Jansen, have fun in school sucker haha jk bud school is cool. Landon and jenna, keep up the good work. Keep writing me and do good in school. Everyone else, you guys are awesome. I love you all so much and thanx for the prayers, I really need them and so do the people of Chile. 

I hope you all know that I have a strong testimony of the Gospel. I am not able to speak in eloquent words or talk very beautifully but I know without a doubt that Jesus is the Christ. He is my Lord and Savior. He is my Elder brother. He is my best friends. I don’t know how many times I have knelt down and plead my heart out to him. He knows every single one of us personally. He suffered and died for us. He knows our pains, sorrows, sickness and infirmities. He is always there for you. All you have to do is kneel down and talk to him. When things are hard, when you are sad, when you have no one else to talk to or to help you, he is there. But don’t forget him when things are good, when you are happy, blessed, and everything is goin well. Make sure you are humble enough to go to your knees when things are good or he will bring you to your knees. We cant find peace, joy, happiness anywhere else in the world. It is impossible!! You cant do it. Sure you can find a little fun or excitement or pleasure. But with that comes pain, sickness, misery. Don’t do it. Don’t let satan lie to you. He is so so good at it. He has had many years to perfect it. He knows exactly what you need to hear. Don’t listen to him. He laughs every time you fall. Make sure you are the one laughing at him when he puts that song on the radio and you turn it. When that show comes on tv and you turn it off. When your friends say “its not that bad” stand up, show them who you serve. Who do you serve? Make sure you know right now, before the temptation comes. We can only serve one master. We cannot serve God and Satan. “What side are you on?” this church is not for the weak. None of you are weak. None of you!!! You already choose the plan of God. You already beat Satan in the pre-existence. You can do it again. This church is for the Valiant. Be Valiant!!! I cant wait for the day that we are standing in the presence of God. You look at Jesus and he says “Father, Jordan was on my side. He made many mistakes. He did stupid things. But he tried his hardest. He knew what side he was on.” We will all make it to the Celestial kingdom. We can do it and we will do it!!! I love you all. Don’t forget who you are. You are a son or daughter of God. We cant fail. Nos vemos en el otro lado. LUCHAMOS!!!

Love ya tons. Have a great week. 

Elder hall

i love the rain, NOT!!!

Hey family how is everything? All is well here in villa sur. It has been kinda a hard week. Its hard to go from such an amazing week to such a hard one. Pretty much all of our investagators have died and we are trying to find new people right now. It has been really hard, this part of missionary work is so hard. And to add onto that it has been raining... i love the rain, NOT!!! it stinks so bad to be walking around all day trying to find people and there are no people in the streets cause it is raining. And then when you knock doors they dont want to let you in caue we are soaking wet but thus is the mission. And just to add onto that i have been sick this whole week as well. I have had a headache and a really bad cough but its all good, ill live.

Jenna i heard that you bore your testimony and you want to go on a mission. It is the best thing in the world and if i could go back i would choose to go on the mission in 2 seconds. Jansen and landon you guy are going on a mission, i want you to write me back and promise me the next Monday k? It is the best expirience of my life. I wouldn´t change it for anything else.

Mom, there is this hermana in my ward and she sent you a email a couple days ago so i dont know if you got it or not but if you did then you can try to write her back. The only problem is that she doesnt know english...she wrote ya in spanish so you guys can send it to me the next week or just use the dictionary to try to find out what she said. Its so cool cause her daughter just got her mission call to columbia and she is so excited. It was sweet to see the missionary packet and to remember all the feelings that i felt when i was waiting for mine and when i recieved it. Also mom, if you havent already sent off the package if you could send me some floss for teeth that would be awesome. i have been looking all over chile for some but they dont have any. Ya and you were making fun of me caues i couldnt find my mountain dew, well guess what, they have it. The only problem is that we cant go into the store. But that is were the magic comes in. There is this incredible family here and they love me so they decided to get me some. The members here are so awesome.

Ya well that is it for this week sorry that it is short but it has been a really hard week and there isnt much to say. I am really really sad that i am going to be gone for BYU games but its ok i know i will be blessed. But when BYU season comes around i am going to be trunky but it doesnt matter just keep me updated. Thanx you guys are awesome.

Se que esta es la iglesia de Jesucristo. El vive y quiere que tengamos felicidad y solamente podemos lograr esta felicidad si somos obedientes y queremos usar la expiación. Cuando estamos en el servicio del Señor, realimente somos bendecidos tanto temporal como espiritual. Ustedes son tan increíbles. Todos de ustedes son ejemplos para mi. Siempre siga adelante y algún día vamos a ser una familia eterna. Escocer lo bien. Les quiero mucho y tengan una buena semana.

Con cariño,

Elder hall