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