a tarantula spider in about 10 pieces

Yo fam what is up? Haha everything here is awesome. We had a really good week. It is impressive how fast time is going by. I really cant judge it anymore. I try and try to slow time down but it wont. Every second that I have seems so precious. Before I say anything, tell g-ma hall and lam thanx for the letter and package. They are so awesome to write me. It helped me a lot to get some mail, thanx tons!!! Mom just to let ya know I wasn’t sad last week I just didn’t have anything to write. There are always those weeks were everything is the same as every other week of my mission and so there wasn’t much to say. Also last week mom you asked me if there was anyone who needed help with paying their mission. My convert, maricela, wants to go on a mission so bad. She is preparing and is so awesome. She leaves with us almost every day to go visit people and is always talking with all her friends and even people that she doesn’t know about the gospel. But she is really poor. She is going to be leaving around this time next year and she will need financial help. I don’t know if that answers your question but ya.

Ok so this week I was able to go back to the place where I was born for the first time since I left. We had a zone conference in melipilla!!!!! Oh it was so fun to see my first sector, it is just how I left it haha. It was way fun to walk down the same roads that I walked over a year ago and to think about how much I have changed since then. It was just a walk down memory lane. Also in the conference I was able to talk to all the missionaries that are in my old sectors and they say that all my converts are doing really good!!!! Oh I love hearing that. There is this really awesome family that are having lots of problems cause they are getting divorced and it really shocked me cause they stopped going to church so if you guys could keep them in your prayers that would be awesome. There name is the family habach. Also I heard that one lady that I was teaching there, rosa (it was a miracle how we found her) got baptized 2 weeks ago and is doing awesome!!!!! Man the mission is so cool. 

Haha now about a sister missionary that is in my district. Her name is hermana knight. She is from Oklahoma and is so funny. But the funniest thing about here is that she reminds me of tori so so so much. She is just blonde and says things that have nothing to do with anything haha it just makes me laugh so much and I remember tori and how she is just like that. It is fun to have people who remind me of all my family and friends.

Now about something that happened yesterday. So we are walking along and I see this thing on the ground and I get a little closer and it turns out to be a tarantula spider. So my first thought is that it is just a toy that some kid left outside but then it puts up its front legs and gets aggressive. So at this point I am freaking out cause I have never seen a live tarantula that wasn’t in a zoo or a pet or something. It was just out and about… So I was freaking out and all the sudden my son, elder Maldonado (he is so crazy…) goes chasing after this spider with a stick. He is hitting all over the place but couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn if his life depended on it, which it kinda did. (that is because down here no one has ever played baseball and so no one can use a bat or anything like it.) but ya long story short the spider ends up getting smashed into like 10 pieces and that’s it, the end… haha it was awesome

Ok so this week was so awesome. Maricela, my little convert got two callings. Oh man she is so awesome. The first calling is she is a ward missionary. Now she is going to work with the other recent converts to help them stay strong and also is going to leave with us to visit our investigators and find investigators for us. She is going to be such a awesome ward missionary. Also she was called to be the secretary in the primary presidency. Second, the mom of Carla and Gabriela (who got baptized like 2 weeks ago) got called to be 1st councilor in the primary presidency and is also going to work with the students in seminary. Everything here is going really well. Everyone is just excited to work and to keep on growing. 

Lastly I went on divisions this week. We went to visit one of their investigators and his name is onofre. He is progressing really well but there is something very special about him, he is blind… Wow so we went to his house and I entered and it was like a shack. I could make his house alone in a couple hours… It was so sad, the walls are paper thin and he basically has nothing. There is a tiny room for a bathroom, a main room and a bedroom. But as I taught him and listened to his testimony of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I felt the spirit so strong. It was incredible to be able to get to know this man. Even though he is blind and lives in poverty, he has a faith that the richest of people may never have. He really knows who is Jesus and what he did for him and for every one of us. Never forget how blessed we are. Never forget how much we really have. You guys are so spoiled and I don’t want to make you feel bad but I want to make sure that you don’t take what you have for granted. Never forget who you are. When you want that new Nintendo weii game or you want a better car or whatever it is, first think, am I reading my scriptures every night??? Am I praying or am I talking with god??? Do I have time to worry about the newest pair of jeans or is there someone that needs my help. I love you guys so much. Never forget what we have been blessed with. 

Have a awesome week. 

Elder hall

not in the mood to write

Hey family it sounds like you guys had a awesome crazy week. Sounds a lot like my week. Wow was it awesome. It has just been really busy and really crazy. We had the baptism of Carla and Gabriela. It was really cool. We had been blessed to see so many baptisms this change it is awesome. Also juan, the first person I was able to interview was baptized on Saturday. It was a really good day.  hey this is the baptism of carla and gabriela. it was so awesome. i was able to baptize carla, the little girl, and elder lee our zone leader baptized gabriela. it was awesome and they are doing well. thanx for everything fam. you guys are awesome. 

My comp elder Maldonado is doing really well. He is kinda trunky sometimes but it is hard at first. We are getting along really well. He is a really hard worker and really smart. He is progressing so fast and it is fun to watch him grow and mature. He is like a big kid and has a lot to change but he is doing really well. 

Fam I am sorry but I really don’t have very much else to say. I am going to send ya photos but I am not in the mood to write. Haha I am not sad or anything I just don’t have much to talk about. I think that my pics that I am going to send say it all. I love you all tons. Everything is going well here. I loved the pics that you guys sent me. You guys look so different it is crazy. Jansen looks like a little punk haha and tori looks like a woman not a little girl. It is crazy to see your pics. Well I love you guys tons. Hope you all have a good week. Keep praying for me cause I need all your prayers. I am praying for all of you. 

Love ya 

Elder hall

the miracle of the water heater

Hey family man has it been a good week. First off yesterday we had the baptism of matias. He is such a good young man and very prepared. He is going to be an incredible leader in the church and is going to serve a mission. He is so awesome and his testimony is huge. But we had a huge miracle so that he could be baptized. So we go to the church that morning and we go to start filling up the font cause it takes about 4 hours to fill up. The janitor of the church here fixed the heater that heats up the water and told us that it was all ready to go and that he was going down south for a vacation. So we get there and guess what, the heater doesn’t work… So we try for about 45 mins to get it to work but nothing. I really wanted it to be a good experience for matias and if the water is really cold it would suck for him. So I went into another room and prayed and prayed that the water heater would work. I came out and guess what…It still didn’t work. So we had to start to fill it up and church was starting so we just turned it on cold and went to sacrament meeting. 

In the middle of the meeting I get this feeling that I should go check the font. So I go out and check it. It is almost full but the water is ice cold. Then I go check the heater, it still wont work. So I hit it a couple times and I was about to walk away when something told me that I needed to push something. I thought, what the heck so I pushed something (I cant even remember what it was) and all the sudden the heater starts up… It was the biggest miracle!!! So matias was able to be baptized in nice warm water. It was the answer to my prayers. Guys just know that God loves us. He knows each one of us and is very aware of us. We mean a lot to Him and he will answer our prayers even if it is something small. Always pray with faith!!!!! He is listening. 

So next miracle, I don’t know if you guys are ready. Maricela, the girl who got baptized is so awesome. She wants to go on a mission so bad. So we taught her a lesson on missionary work. She was so excited. So we gave her another book of mormon (she has already handed out 3) and a bunch of pamphlets to give to her neighbors and friends. So Sunday she comes up to us and tells us that she had talked to every person in her apartment building. Her neighbor was really receptive and so maricela gave her a little lesson on the plan of salvation and her neighbor said “I know that is true, its what I have been looking for my whole life…”! She told maricela that she wants to listen to us and so does her husband and that she wants to be baptized… Haha it was so awesome to see the joy on maricela´s face. She is incredible. 

In other news Carla and Gabriela passed their baptismal interviews and are going to be baptized this Saturday. They are really excited and are so prepared. Gabriela told us that when she turns 21 she is going to serve a mission. All her friends are saying “why do you want to be a mormon” “they are a cult and a lie” and tons of crap about us. She told us that she just bore her testimony and told them that she knows without a doubt that it is true. They all were just dumbstruck and couldn’t respond and so she just walked away… Haha they are such good girls. I am really excited for them and for their faith. Also their dad, at first, didn’t want anything to do with the church. On Saturday he came to pick the girls up from the church and we got to talk to him a little. Gabriela told us on Sunday that her dad said something like this, “those are good young people. When I was talking to them, I felt something inside that I have never felt before…” So we are going to start teaching him soon and I hope that he can continue recognizing the spirit that he has felt. 

But ya it has been a awesome week. We are seeing so many miracles. It stunk that we couldn’t go golfing today but I think that we are going to change a pday in the future to be able to go. It made me really trunky cause the golf course is in a area called “las Rocas de Santo Domingo” and it is a part that is really really rich. It reminded me so much of the states. Then we saw the golf course and I was so so trunky haha. But its all good in a little while I will be able to go golfing whenever I want. Thanx for the pics of easter. It was fun to see you guys and how you are changing. But it was so crazy to see mehkii (sorry for the spelling, I cant remember how to spell anything). She looks so so so so different. It was so crazy. At first I didn’t recognize her and then I realized that it was her. I am scared to get back and not be able to recognize anyone. But ya I love you all tons. I hope you have a awesome week. Thanx for all the prayers and everything that you guys are doing. 

Love ya 

Elder hall

“by the way, you are the district leader…”

Hello everyone. Wow do i have tons to tell you guys about what is going on here. You are not going to be able to believe it. So first off I got my new comp elder Maldonado. He is Chilean, my second comp that is from chile. He is from concepcion which is down south from here. He is a really good kid. He likes to work and we are doing tons here. His real mission is venezuela but he hasn’t been able to get a visa so in the meantime he is going to be here. We get along well and we are both learning a lot from each other. My Spanish is getting a lot better again. When I have a gringo comp my Spanish starts to go down hill because we are always talking in English but now we are always talking in Spanish so it is helping me a lot. My comp knows a little bit of English and he wants to learn so we are teaching each other. 

Next news. So on Tuesday we went to a chapel in the middle of Santiago to drop off my last comp and there were all the missionaries there waiting to see who was their new comp. so we were all talking, seeing our friends, old comps and all that fun stuff. So I was in a group talking with some elders when president jones comes up and asks if he can talk to me. So I say sure and we go and start talking. He congratulates me for being a trainer and gives me some instructions on the stuff I need to do. Then he says that is it and is about to walk away when he turns around and says “by the way, you are the district leader…” and then he walks away. My heart dropped… haha I was so shocked I couldn’t believe it. So I am training and I am the district leader here on the coast with the biggest district in the mission. There are 10 missionarys in my district and out of those 10 there are 4 new missionaries that just got here. There are 6 elders and 4 hermanas. Man I was freaking out, I didn’t know how I was going to be able to do it. But now I am a little less nervous. 

Two days after I found out that I was district leader I found out that I had a interview to do… So I read and read and prayed on how and what I needed to do. I felt confident that I knew what to do and all went well, it was a very spiritual experience and juan, passed his interview. Then I found out that I would have 2 more interviews… haha so I did those too and they both passed. It was really awesome. The people here are really prepared and really want to follow Christ. Tonight I will have another interview but now I am not nervous anymore. I have found out that it all depends on them. I am just the instrument that God uses to see if they are ready or not, so I don’t really need to do anything but follow the spirit. Also I had my first district meeting and it was really good. I am having tons of fun serving the people in my district and they are all awesome. It is fun to have something new to do. Now I have seen how my prayers have changed since I was junior comp to now. When I was younger a big part of my prayers were just about me so that I would have the help of the Lord. I have seen them change a lot. Now I pray for the investigators, my comp, my family and the members in the district. It is really cool just to lose myself and work my butt off for other people. I love the mission!!!

So the general conference was so awesome. I love conference now, it just energizes me and I am just ready to go till the next one. It goes by so fast when you are on the mission you never want it to end. But it was really awesome. I have to go with mom on the best talk. It has to be by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. I have learned to love his talks. He is just so bold and you can just feel the power coming from him. I have a strong testimony of the Lord´s servants. Also the talks by President Monson, Erying and Uchtdorf were awesome. I hope that you will all take time to go over all the talks again and make sure you put into practice the things that we have learned. 

Besides that the week was very calm. We didn’t have our baptism yesterday because I thingy that heats up the water that goes in the bapt font broke. So they have to fix it and he will be baptized this Sunday. He is really excited and really prepared. Also we will have 2 more baptisms next week and they are awesome. They are named Carla and Gabriela. They are so ready and are seeing a few trial from their friends but are standing up for what they now is right. It is so awesome to see how strong the youth can be. 

I really am loving the mission. It is really hard but I am growing more than I think I ever have in my whole life. It seems like time is flying by way to fast. I cant stop it and I have so much to do. I hope that I can keep on going until the end. Every night I come home just dead from work, we plan and I just fall onto my bed. Then at 7 we wake up and I don’t know where the energy comes from but it comes and we start it all over again. It happens every day, I never think I will be able to wake up in the morning but I always do. It has to be a miracle, there is no other explanation. But ya this next pday me and one of the zone leaders are going to go golfing in the nicest golf course in all of chile. Oh man I am so excited and I cant wait. I am sure that I am going to do horrible since I haven’t been golfing for over 2 ½ years but I am so excited. Well that is it. I love you all tons. Thanx for everything. Make sure you keep me in your prayers, I need them a lot. 

I love you!!!! Chao!!

Elder hall