The Price We Pay is a Privilege...

T´was a good week! It really started heating up this week, so we broke out the sombreros. Never looked better in my life. 

We found some good investigators this week! One lady named erika, who said she´s interested in reading the book of mormon.. .its just that we can only see her once a week. Then we met a guy named fernando, and he was very involved when we were teaching.. and actually understood a lot about the priesthood.. which is usually a problem for people here. 

I read in "our heritage" this week.. and there was a quote i loved by one of the first saints. He was talking about  all of the struggles from crossing the plains. And he said "the price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay. " Thats something we could all apply. Especially for the mission. Although we go through a lot of hard things, we´re able to grow so much closer to God during this time. and its a privilege to go through trials for such a cause. 

This week i made my comp come with me in the mornings to the park so i could run. cuz let me tell ya... the dulce de leche is takin a toll on me haha. 

We had an activity where we proselyted in a different area to help other missionaries... and it was hard to find determination because it was hot, and it wasnt even our area. But we said a prayer, because i knew that if we could work hard in another area, the Lord would bless our efforts in our own area. And right after the prayer, we ran into an RM, and he led us to his friends house, who isnt a member. He gave us his number and offered to accompany the missionaries in lessons with her. It was a direct answer to a prayer! 

Love, Hermana Hall

Set a goal to share the Gospel

Hola!

This week was a good one. We taught a few people that have a lot of potential, its just that they cant come to church :/ because they have work. But we invited so many people, so I was praying so hard for at least one person.. and we were in the sacrament meeting, and a girl came that we had met at a ward activity on Friday. She's not a member, but came to church because she has interest in learning about what are church does. So we wrote down her number and we´re gonna visit her this week! yay!! Her names Carolina! 

ROCKLETS- my favorite thing ever
They are basically MnMs, but way better  

I gave a talk in church yesterday.. and spoke about faith (referring to James 1:5).... and I made up 5 steps they can do to exercise their faith to spread the gospel. And focused on praying to feel inspired with who needs the gospel that they can share it with. I said we aren't here to go to their houses, eat their food, and then ask who they know who isn't a member so we can baptize them. But rather that we want to pray with them and help them set a goal to share the gospel with the people in their lives who are ready to accept the gospel. I think it went well. 

This week i talked to a man who was very... hard hearted. He doesn't believe in religion But he said he's read the Book of Mormon and knows about our religion but doesn't believe it. But... he studies genealogy a lot, and needed some help, so he went to our family history center. And he told us that he wouldn't ever join our church, but that he was going to be giving a speech at some school about genealogy, and he was going to speak about the Mormon church in a good light. And it just made me happy because even though he doesn't share our beliefs, he´s able to talk about our church to others in a good way! Because we offer family history! 

So I'm way taller than the average person here, and the other day a member said me and my comp (who's a lot shorter than me)... are David and Goliath. Like are you kidding me? Last week I was called Hermana hulk, and this week its Goliath. I guess I take after my dad. Anyway, this was a good week. I´m getting closer with the members and the missionaries. Its gonna be hard to leave this area! Love you all! 

-Hermana Hall 

Hermana Hulk is popular!

I've been focusing on Christlike attributes and I've felt myself growing closer to God. But now because I"m the senior comp I also have to focus on language training, paying rent, planning the day, teaching, and I've been having to teach the gospel principles class on Sundays.. Which its hard to teach in Spanish. But so far on my mission the thing that's changed the most in me.. is just realizing the importance of being consecrated. I think of how I lived before my mission... and now seeing how much more I could have done. I wasted so much time before my mission with my phone and watching tv and just doing useless stuff. Its obviously not bad to watch tv.. but just to have your priorities straight. And God should always be put first. And also just how we should work hard in our callings, and do visiting teaching, and help the missionaries in our area. There's just so many aspects of the gospel that I wasn't understanding, or living fully.  Church shouldn't just be a part of our schedule, but an opportunity to not only worship, but grow our faith, and shape our lives, and motivate us to reach out to others. I guess that is what got me here- but I just had an aha moment.  

We did an activity this week where we had all the missionaries in our zone come to our area.. and i planned out where i wanted to put everyone.. and we all worked for an afternoon to get a bunch of referencias. And we got like 60 names and addresses! I'm keeping the faith, because I'm  sure that God put at least 1 person in our paths during this activity. We had a few good discussions with people this week. One guy we found because we were looking for his friend (who was one of the referencias)... the guy we went to see, just seemed like he wanted to prove us wrong, and would hardly let me get a word in.. but his friend was listening and actually seemed interested. (Ody.. he has a brother who was a member who died 4 years ago!) so hes interested in learning what his brother believed :) 

The latina hermana missionaries seem to like me. I don't know why.  The sister training leaders apparently had a fight over who was gonna go on divisions with me. And they all feel my muscles and think I"m buff.. so they called me hermana hulk lol. 

Anyway, I"m praying for you guys.. and I love you all! and thank you for all the photos.. i love photos :) and have a good week! 

Hermana Hall

Expect Success and Guidance...

Holaaaaaaaa, how goes it? 

This was a week of finding, contacting, contacting, and finding. And its really starting to heat up here.... im sweating constantly. And we´re gonna have to start wearing sombreros now, to block the sun.

We had a good lesson with ariel this week, and he expressed that he really wants to quit smoking, and change.. but its so hard for him, because he says he has no other vice. And he doesnt like to read, so he has a hard time keeping his compromisos. He didnt come to church, but we´re hoping for next week! 

We stopped by and talked to luci, and she said she wants to know what her purpose is in life.. so we told her that if she really prayed and came to church and pays attention.. she´ll be able to recieve an answer. So she came to church!!! 

We had a multizona, which i always love! We talked about different ways to find people.. so one day we followed their advice, and we left some plan of salvations pamphlets in a hospital, but idk if it was effective. worth a try! 

I was feeling a bit discouraged this week but i read a letter from my dad, and wrote down a part of it that says " expect success and guidance. If you dont see it, expect it in some other way or other time. It´ll happen." And then about 30 minutes later, i found a sticky note i had written on during my first transfer.. and it had the same quote written on it. So obviously its something that has struck me before when reading his letter. I need to have more faith that God is guiding his missionaries. and that he sent us here to have success! 

love you all! Have a great week!