Raining Referrals

So it's just raining referrals on us right now. We are running around like crazy and it's the best kind of work! We have a very VIP referral right now, Everardo. He has been sent to us by David Archulleta (he was on American Idol, mom). No joke and I also have no idea how to spell his name. Someone Google him and tell me if he's from California cause I'm still a bit confused about how this all came about. We got a call last week from David's aunt while we were enjoying some Panera sandwiches and were told that Everardo was a golden contact and a personal friend of David, from American Idol, and that he wanted updates on our progress. Yikes. Good thing I can speak Spanish perfectly...oh wait, that's right I can't. Good thing I have the Holy Ghost! bam. The lesson went really well, he is pretty golden and he's super excited about our 3 hours of church and reading the Book of Mormon. Aside from famous people's referrals, we have some regular golden referrals we taught this week, so right now we've got a really great pot of really good investigators. It's been a stupendous week.

 

I've completed my first transfer here and I start driving tomorrow. I'm not going to lie I'm pretty excited about that, mainly because my poor companion really just can't drive. Thank heavens we are missionaries and have a protective bubble. I often felt like Gavin Gee with my hands wound so tightly around the door handle. Don't even get me started on our parallel parking adventures. I have to remember that my companion is 21 and despite what we think at that age, we really know nothing. Plus, I just figure I'm getting some motherhood training. Despite the daily near death experiences, she's been pretty great, so I wouldn't trade her if I could.

 

This past week we were in charge of two ward activities. The first was for relief society and it was a hit. We were talking about the Book of Mormon and we built an 'iron rod' course to the tree of life. They loved it. I gave them apples when they made it to the tree. I think they really enjoyed it and I think they actually understood some of my Spanish. Saturday night we had a big ward activity also on the Book of Mormon. We planned this with our Elders and we decided to act out the entire book in a serious of scenes and then break the ward into groups and have them act out other stories. We even made golden plates, which look totally authentic. Latin wards are even worse about being on time so we started about 45 min late and there weren't many people there. The Elders were being super babies about performing and were so sad about the attendance. Good thing I've seen horrible turn outs at plenty of activities I didn't break a sweat. Eventually more people showed up and we had some really great performances, everyone was laughing and having a great time and I think they learned a few things too. I call that a success. It's so weird to be in charge of activities. I'm never getting away from that job. It's way harder in Spanish though, that's for sure.

 

I hear the Olympics are going on. It reminds me of that one time I went to London. haha. It's so weird to not know about anything going on in the real world. We are literally in the world, but not of it out here. It certainly is nothing like I imagined. We do a lot of work, all day long, but at the end of the day it doesn't feel like you really did that much 'work' at all. The Lord pretty much sets everything up for you. There have been so many things out here that have strengthened my testimony of this gospel, this church and the power of God. It's no joke that miracles happen. We see them every day and I feel so blessed that the Lord is allowing me to enjoy that for a time.

 

Thanks to all those who are praying for me. I could really feel the power of your prayers this week and I needed it. Blessings upon you all!

 

xoxo,

Hermana Hall

Picture Time!

Baptisms, bam bam!

Thanks to Lizzy I was reminded how to properly spell In-n-out. I kept thinking as I was writing it last week that it was so wrong, but for the life of me I couldn't remember how. I'd like to blame it on my Spanish, but let's face it, I can't spell any of those words either. Everyone will be glad to know that we did not have any problems keeping the Sabbath Day holy yesterday. In fact, we had two confirmations - just by the hair of our chiny chin chins! The baptisms on Saturday were awesome! They were a tad bit late and my companion was super stressed I thought she might pass out. I don't know if it's my age aka wisdom or if it's just my experiences with utter failures at ward activities but I wasn't breaking a sweat at all. I knew they would make it and I knew everything would be fine and it was. We also had like 60 people attending the baptism including the Mission President and A/Ps, about 3 investigators showed and we now have about 12 really good potential investigators so it was all around awesome. We had a feeling they were going to be late to Sacrament meeting for their confirmation so we decided to drive over there before church and see if we could 'help' them get out the door. I think it worked...a little and we arrived only 20 min late only to find the Mission President sitting on the stand. bahaha. Classic. But they did it and received some wonderful blessings. They just looked so happy and that made me all happy.

 

We just got asked out on a date outside of the McDonalds by some random guy. He came running after us asking me for our number and I was like oh yeah, you'd like to learn more about Christ? He was like what? I said, we're missionaries...oh, I just wanted to know if you'd go on a date with me. Oh no, we can't do that but we'd be happy to talk to you about our church. No thanks, he said, and he walked off broken hearted. Sad times. I try to bring a messenger for happiness, but you know every once in awhile you're going to break some hearts.

 

Yesterday was my first encounter with a two dinner evening. Oh man. We had a little mix up and ended up double booking and we really needed to visit these two part member families so we couldn't cancel on either. So we show up to the first, I ate as light as I could without appearing rude. Complimenting excessively helps. We had a wonderful lesson on families. Then we headed off to the next dinner and the whole way I was just praying I could eat another plate of food. Sure enough I could. It was like the never ending oil pot - a true miracle. We had another great lesson with them on the Plan of Salvation and somehow I managed to avoid passing out do to excessive eating. Mission miracles are legit. Speaking of food, I also had my first serving of pig soup. I can't remember what it was actually called but there was for sure a pig foot sitting right there in the middle of the bowl. The soup itself wasn't bad, but I really could not get over that big squishy foot staring at me. I also didn't really know how to eat the soup. It was a learning experience that I would like to choose never to have again. Ick, just thinking about it now makes me a little queasy. You're welcome.

 

Let's see what else happened this week...oh right, thanks Rebekah for the tip. I do try to keep a list, but keeping something in my planner sounds way smarter - thanks. (ps if you have tips on Spanish ayudame for reals). We spend most of the week getting ready for the baptism and making sure they had all the lessons they needed and we spent a huge part of the week trying to hunt down one of our drunk investigators. Poor guy. We've had some awesome lessons with him, but that jerkstore Satan is working hard on him. The most amazing thing though is every time we go out looking for him, we will randomly run across him on another street or we will run into another person that is interested in meeting with us. That has to be the most amazing thing to experience, being a part of the Lord working miracles. Love it. Also a full time job, turns out. Woah.

 

xoxo,

Hermana Hall

 

P.S. we have our own personal discoteca next door. Turns out it's super good background music to the Book of Mormon.

The Ox was at the In and Out

I had some surprise visitors this morning! I think the evidence of this can already be located on the Facebook. We were getting ready to head to the library when a man appeared at our screen door. He looked really familiar, but I was too worried about a man being at my door that I couldn't figure out who it was, then he called me by name...my first name. WHAT?! It was Cameron! I couldn't believe it. Next, I see running up the stairs Melinda! It was so weird and totally awesome! They were just passing by on the way to San Diego, sneakily got my address and were just thinking they'd drop goodies off at the door. We took a few photos, hugged and they were off. It was so fun. I loved it. My poor companion was really confused. I just reminded her that I'm super popular and I have great friends all over the place! ha.

 

Another surprise - we now have 3 baptisms this Saturday! I just decided one was ok, but why not triple it? haha. That's not exactly how it happened, but that's what I tell people. Really, what happened is, we've been teaching a part member family, and her boyfriend (living in Mexico) decided to get baptized now so that really pushed her towards it. We've also been teaching her mother so I just started pretending like she was going to get baptized then too - and I made a calendar for her and just talked to them both as if they were doing it together. haha I'm so sneaky, but it totally worked! Yesterday when they were announcing the baptism, an investigator of the Elders was like hey, if they are doing it I might as well do it now too. No joke. So now we have 3! I can't believe the success we are having here. The Lord is just doing awesome things with these people and I get to watch! It does make me a tad nervous that my mission has started off with such a bang, it might not keep going that way...eek. But we will keep on working hard and the missionary work will do it's thing - of being amazing.

 

Whelp, now for the ox. Last night, on Sunday, two Mormon missionaries were found in the parking lot of In And Out. Egads! It was me! We had planned to take our two prebaptisimies to the Oakland Temple Visitors Center after church on Sunday, but it was really difficult to get all the details sorted out. We can't drive there and no one here has cars so it was a pain, but we finally go it sorted and headed up about 4 pm. We had a wonderful time, watched all the family presentation, saw the Christ statue, and the Testaments. The spirit was obviously so strong there and it was just everything missionaries could hope for...plus we had a potential investigator with us! (Baptism #4 soon to come...) Anwyay, by now it was 7pm, we had 3 kids with us and none of them had eaten. I managed to catch some discussion of going to get food and my companion looked back at me with sheer terror in her eyes. We've obviously done a great job of teaching the law of the Sabbath Day. But we went and it seemed like we were almost home and the idea had gone. The next thing I know we are puling up into a packed In And Out parking lot. My companion again looked back at me, all the blood gone from her face as if we had walked into a bar. Poor thing, she was helpless to do anything, you know the one of us that actually speaks Spanish, so I was like alright well...here I go. So in the all the strength and Spanish I could muster, I said - well somewhat in the vicinity of, "I'm so sorry, but we can't go in there. We will just wait here." Confused, blank stares. So I tried again, and pointed to our badge and said, we can't go eat in there on Sunday. (or something maybe close to that). At this point my companion got enough courage to clarify and although they were clearly hurt and annoyed, a few went in and the other investigator stayed with us. We had a great chat about the temple and 15 min later out came hamburgers. My comp didn't want to partake, but I figured I already did my job and that burger would just go to waste so the right thing to do was to eat the poor thing. haha. It was good. So there you go. Sometimes you can't control that stubborn ox and now we know we have to do a better job of talking about that little commandment #4.

 

I'm out of time now, but I just also wanted to mention that we had Zone Conference this week and it was super. It was a great chance to recharge and refocus. The President and his wife gave some wonderful words of encouragement. A few things they semi-quoted were about the feet of missionaries - somewhere in the scriptures it says they are beautiful those that carry the word of peace. I loved that. Also, they talked about us being warriors on the front lines. Man, it really feels that way sometimes. I had no idea, but I really can't also explain the wonderful blessing it has been in my life to be fighting on those front lines. Being here, lets me see the miracles that start out tiny and bring about life changing events and saving graces. It's absolutely astounding. I'm really learning quickly it's something you have to look for. We have to look everyday for the ways the Lord is guiding us and when we do, they are often glaring paths marked with more and more bits of blessings and opportunities. This is a glorious work of hope and peace and the Lord will not let it weaken. When we are ready, able and faithful He will pick us up and with us accomplish the miracles He has promised. I really do feel lucky to be here, as weird as it is to be a missionary, the blessings and knowledge are worth it. Look for those things every day, I wish I did, they are there and as you see them you'll see more - what a difference it will make, I promise!

 

xoxo,

Hermana Hall

And it came to pass

Another week in the life of a missionary here in San Jose completed. Check. I try to make a list of things to tell people every week, but without a doubt I will forget something. I really miss the ability to text not only that but there is never any time to really write. It's crunch time here in the library! 

 

The other night we went to the mall to eat because we had a little extra time before a missionary correlation meeting and the Elders were going to be late (of course - ha). It's a glorious mall and I realized as we were walking around that my eyes were about ready to just pop out. It's kind of how I feel every time I go to Vegas. There is just so much to look at, it's overload! The stores were all calling out to me and the theater had a life size picture of Batman which I swear was telling me to come see the movie. Temptations! When we left I had to wipe away the drool and re-wet my eyeballs from all the not blinking I did.

 

We got to walk around the tiny 'downtown' near our apartment the other day to do some contacting.  It reminded me of all the boutiques in Austin and I got a tad bit homesick. The weather was wonderful though so I knew I was no where near Austin. Cyn mentioned she was jealous of the weather out here, and it's true, it's nice...when you are outside. The truth is most of the time we are inside with families and they don't use AC here...or fans...or anything that prevents you from burning up like toast inside. It might be a culture thing, a money thing I don't know but believe me it's hot up in here. Speaking of the culture, when I was in the MTC they kept telling us that we should spend no more than 30 min per lesson and that 45 should be the absolute max. Well around here that is not happening. We are lucky to get out of some one's house in under an hour and half. They just love to talk. I wish I knew what they were saying. But they are such a loving people. I love that. I think they like me ok out here. My hair certainly isn't getting me anywhere like I'd hope it would. I haven't been complimented on it not once since I've been here - what is up with that?! Maybe they are too distracted by my reflective skin color.

 

Someone...ahem, Lizzy, made a comment in one of her letters recently about how my emails 'radiated positivity'. I promise, I am still me, just like a super righteous version, but I can honestly say the mission has been surprisingly a lot more upbeat than I thought it would be. It might be my supreme level of maturity, but things are really rather grand. That is not to say there are rainbows and unicorns all the time - except when I get a unicorn plastered letter from Shanna who, by the way, wins the award for most sparkly, full color newsletter. Well done and thank you. But anywho, there are certainly some rough moments - this often feels like the most awkward version of life possible - trying to save souls that are pretty content not even looking at you. I am pretty sure I am never going to pop out of bed at 6:25 am (that's right our President likes us to arise 5 min before the rest of those lazy missionaries) and be super stoked to plead with total strangers to find salvation. The wonderful truth though is that God reminds us everyday He is here and this is sanctifying work. Just the other day, I went to grab my daily ration of water and noticed that we only had a few left and 5 more days til preparation day - annoying. Just a few hours later during service however, someone brought me a jumbo sized bottle and later that night another family gave us an entire case. These are small things, but huge reminders of whose work this is, that we are not forgotten, our labor is valued, and we are literally blessed with all we need.

 

For some grand news - we have a baptism scheduled for next Saturday! Woohoo! We also picked up two new investigators this week. We are on a roll! It's such a weird feeling to be on a spiritual high all the time. It really feels like you are walking on clouds. In fact when we walk around contacting, I sometimes feel like I'm in this bubble of goodness and I simply can't understand why no one else can see how glorious the gospel of Jesus Christ is. Luckily, some people do!

 

The Holy Ghost has been my buddy this week. It's remarkable the subtle way in which he directs this work. I'll read something in the morning that will be perfect for a lesson later, or I'll feel like we should go talk to someone or even silly things like stopping to fix my shoe timed us just perfectly to meet up with someone wanting to hear our message. I feel like I walk around with my jaw dropped open all the time at the tiny and perfect miracles that are orchestrated around us all the time. It makes me wonder if I was wearing blinders all the time before the mission, but one thing is for certain, when you can recognize those little blessings He will trust you to send more and thank heavens for that! We sure need all the direction we can get!

 

xoxo,

Hermana Hall

A bear, a bear!

The second week in the mission field has been amazing! I feel so lucky to be in this mission. We are having such success and the crazy thing is it didn't start until I got here...imagine that. haha. The other day in ward council, in the Spanish I could understand, I gathered that just 6 months ago they fasted for missionary work to grow in the ward. A huge rush of love came over me, they fasted and the Lord sent me! I'm a lucky charm! haha. In reality I know it has very little to with me other than I followed the request of the Lord, I work really hard and I'm an obedient missionary. They tell you every five minutes in the MTC that you must be exactly obedient, but I have already gained such a testimony of this. The missionaries that have been in this area have been...well they have been less than totally productive and my poor companion was stuck with a semi-rebellious companion before me so as soon as we hit the ground, things have been blooming up everywhere! We've found 4 new investigators just this week from street contacting - Lizzy asked me about this, it's sort of tracting, but we just walk around town and talk to people, it's so much better than knocking on doors, because I just get to be nice and can usually trick people into talking to me. haha. Anyway, we have those new investigators we are teaching, we've found another half dozen for the English missionaries. We are reactivating several families and I committed my first person to baptism this week! I just can't even believe all the miracles we are having. It's also interesting to see how sneaky Satan is trying to be in all of this. Every morning he tries to get me to not be happy and to feel annoyed by the work or to not want to go out, but I do it and sure enough within the hour we are meeting someone new, having a great lesson or being uplifted with service. These are just some of the mini miracles we have daily. 

 

I want to testify that the Lord truly blesses us as we are obedient and rely solely on Him. I am currently in the war chapters of Alma and Heleman and although they were literally fighting for their lives it has made me think a lot about my mission and our lives here. We are constantly at battle with temptation and that jerkstore Satan, but what strengthens and supports us is our faithfulness, our obedience and our trust in the Lord. That alone is the answer. Heleman's 2,000 young warriors, who stand out  to me like true missionaries, were protected solely because of their faith and obedience. It is truly that simple. My first week and a half of my mission has already proved that to me. I'm grateful for that and I hope to continue to live up to it for the next 16 months. Watch out all ye forces of evil - we are bringing you down!

 

At every lesson, every church meeting, every dinner, they always ask me to pray. I think they love to hear my terrible Spanish and gringa accent, but at least I'm getting really good at praying. The other day we were talking to a member and she was like, "A bear, a bear" (my Spanish friends will get this) and I was like, Where?! Where?!, in sheer panic. After all, it is California and their state animal is the bear. But then I realized she was saying a ver, a ver which is like, 'let's see, let's see" but their 'v's and 'b's sound exactly the same so you can certainly understand the confusion. Ah language humor. I'm enjoying learning more about the Latin culture. It is a lot different than I thought. All the women kiss me on the cheek to say hello, it's nice but the other day one woman got me real good and I walked around all day with a bright red lip mark on my face - not the most ideal for a missionary. tehehe. There was a ward activity last week that we stopped by, the ward is so small and they need a lot of missionary help - there are even another set of Elders! They were playing some great music and I had to do everything I could to resist the urge to get up and dance. I couldn't control my hands though and I participated in a little hand dancing with the family at our table. I loved watching the members get up and dance - they were smiling and having such a grand time. They are such a loving people and my heart was just bursting with love for them. Love, love everywhere!

 

I've already got my missionary tan line growing - well, it's more like a freckle line, but it's pretty intense. I've been kissed by the sun a little too much already and have a nice pink glow as well. Gotta remember that sun screen here in the sunshine state. The weather has been amazing though. Cynthia mentioned that it's a billion degrees in Texas. I bet. I don't miss that and I don't miss the humidity. Even when it gets a little warm here, there is still a nice breeze and there are so many trees that generously provide shade. It's so beautiful here! Well, not our apartment, that is a dump, but we do what we can. I plastered the wall with Book of Mormon pictures so now it's pretty awesome.

 

Several times a week we do service at the Salvation Army. They have BINGO with the old folks and this week I got to be the caller. It was so fun! They loved me. Well...not at first, at first I was too loud, then I was too quiet, then I wasn't pronouncing things right but finally they loved me. That's been an interesting and fun experience. I also get to talk to a lot of drunkards...that also makes for an interesting day. The hard part is making sure they don't hug you. I've gotten really good at that though, they are not too hard to slip away from. My new nickname on the street is Hermana Rosita, which is perfect. I think they mostly call me that because my comps name is too hard to say in English let alone in Spanish - they totally give up, it's Higinbotham. Yikes. Pretty sure she went to Hogwarts.

 

Well, I'm sure I'm forgetting somethings, but I think I've told enough stories today and I'm just about out of time. The work here is hard, but we are seeing the fruits of our labor and they are grand. It's really tough getting people to read the Book of Mormon, it's like pulling teeth! I can understand though, I remember thinking it was so boring...like 3 months ago. We are working on some fun ward activities to encourage the members to read daily because I know when they do, like I did, they will see it in an entirely different light and will feel the power in the words and find answers to all of life's questions. It's a magical book!

 

xoxo,

Hermana Hall