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