Holland!

Elder Holland paid us a visit this weekend. It was epic. I knew he was a yeller based on all his General Conference talks, but in person, 20ft away...he really yells! It shakes you to the core. We all got to line up and shake his hand. I was so nervous about what I was going to say or that I might trip in front of his face, but when I got up there I shook his hand, smiled and said hello, but he wouldn't let go of my hand! He looked me in the eyes and said, "how's that red hair treating you?" I said "Amazing" and then I giggled all the way back to my seat. He loves my hair! An Apostle loves my hair! I feel so special. We had to sit and listen to two other speakers before he got up, it was the worst. I'm sure they were fine talks, but all I could think about was wanting them to stop talking so we could hear from Holland. I've heard the taped version of his talk while I was in the MTC, but it was much cooler in person and he changed some things like saying "San Jose" that made us feel like it was for us. He spent a lot of time talking about Preach My Gospel and how that revolutionized how missionary work is done. I was sitting there thinking how grateful I am that I didn't go on my mission 10 yrs ago because I get to benefit from the fly by the seat of your pants missionary approach. I'm not sure if it really is a lot more work, but I know we have to rely on the spirit and that blesses us and the investigators so much. He talked about how the PMG program, which started with President Hinkley, was designed to change the missionary. He then yelled at us for a minute and told us that we are doing our job right, we aren't getting our 'money's' worth if we do not let this mission change our souls. That seemed really deep so I'm going to ponder on that for awhile. I think it already has, but I really want to make sure I really get my money's worth on this mission. Then I'll come back and tell you all about it every day...all the time...until you all want to punch me in the face.

 

In other news...my Spaniard extended her first baptismal invitation this week and the lady said yes. I was so proud and she was doing a little dance outside the house. So cute. The only problem is this lady is trying to get back to Mexico in two weeks so we are searching for every possible loophole to get her baptized before she leaves. I will find it. ha. Speaking of my Spaniard, yesterday she opened a bottle of sangria that had been shaken ever so slightly and instead of closing it immediately like we do in America...she turned it right towards me like they do in Spain. Of course I'm the one wearing white...yeah I know, I don't wear white, but I was. So here I am at dinner, now dripping with sangria...on my face, my hair, my plate, my lap and my new tie dyed shirt. Good thing this was the last appointment of the day and I've already made a fool of myself at this home so they are used to me covered in red, sticky goo. I guess I need to teach Spain how to open American bottles. She is so precious.

 

The adventures of the Spanish speaking redheaded missionary to be continued next week...

 

xoxo,

Hermana Hall

11 months!

Whelp, we flooded the church this weekend before a baptism. That's right, you actually can flood the baptismal font, we just wanted to test that theory out and yup, it works. Ten minutes before the baptism, I was in the bathroom mopping up as much as I could. I finally told the girls they were going to get wet anyway, we just wanted to give them a little preview. The rest of the baptism went mostly smoothly...one of the girls dresses flipped all the way up, but she didn't seem to mind. President gave me very strict orders to approve the dresses so I was just super relieved he missed that one. Phew. Close call.

 

In other random news, this week at the Pulga a woman came up to our booth asking for the redheaded saint gone wild. Everyone turned around and looked at me with those disapproving eyes...What...who...me (ever so innocent)? Apparently I've found myself a real classy reputation at the Pulga. Don't worry, it's actually a good thing. They like me for my spunk, singing, moderate dancing and smile. Those are all good things, mostly. Not only that, but I'm getting our name out there and isn't that the whole point?

 

We had an awesome Zone Conference this week. It wasn't anywhere near as scary as the last one where the President's wife talked about secret combinations. Gulp. This time it was focused on the blessings of serving a mission so it was much more upbeat. One of the guest speakers talked about the gifts we get to bring back with us from the mission. The one that stuck out the most to me was a better understanding and appreciation of the love God has for each one of us. Wow. Today marks my 11 months on the mission and if someone asked me what have I learned the most it would be to eat a lot of food, to speak horrible Spanish and most of all that God loves us SO much. Never in my life have I felt the love of God for his children more than in this past 11 months. As a missionary, we get to make the choice everyday to get up and experience a tiny bit of this love for the people we teach and strangers in the street.  I've never loved people more and as I'm doing that Heavenly Father is helping me feel of His great love for me. What a wonderful gift! I'm so grateful for that. I'm also grateful for all the crazies that I get to talk to, they spice everything up.

 

xoxo,

Hermana Hall

Smile!

Someone challenged me to a smile competition the other day at service. That might have been one of the dumbest decisions of their life as they stood no chance in any universe of beating me. We work several hours at a community center that gives away free clothing, it's set up like a store and we are there to help the customers. The object was to get as many people to smile at us in an hour. I chuckled at the task. With these eyes, this hair and my big grin...these people didn't stand a chance! Naturally I smoked everyone getting 80 smiles...the next closest missionary had 30. Losers. haha. My next big challenge...humility.

 

This was a rough week for referrals. We received a ridiculous amount of fake addresses. Some were to houses that existed but other people lived there and were most definitely not interested and the others were just your plain old condemned houses on the corner. I laughed for a good 10 min at the last one we walked up to with spray paint all over the busted windows. They could have just told me no at the Pulga but instead maybe they just wanted me to have a good laugh. That's nice. Speaking of the Pulga, I picked up quite a few referrals this week with my Jesus song and dance. Don't worry, it's very conservative and tasteful...enough for the Pulga. If anyone ever thought Mormons were boring, I have for sure proven them wrong. Nice try Evangelicals! Not to point fingers. Speaking of Pulga adventures...a crazy man got ahold of one of the Hermanas, anointed her forehead with some creepy oil and started yelling some weird saving grace chant at her. The poor thing. Luckily we bring the Priesthood with us to the Pulga and they put an end to that crazytown and blessed her back to the righteous side. Yikes. I bought her some strawberries, I think those helped the most. They were way fresh.

 

Since Spain and Chile can't eat anything spicy...go figure...I have stepped up as the closer for any food they are unable to put down. Me. I eat the spicy food. That is how the mission has changed me. I no longer have a sissy tongue. I am also a better person overall...well at least a little.

 

Can we talk about how cruel Daylight Savings is to missionaries. That one hour is priceless and it was just robbed. It's going to take me two weeks of going to bed 10 min early to make up for the horror that was Sunday morning. Good heavens.

 

We taught the Restoration to a cute Filipino girl the other day who most definitely does not speak Spanish (referral mix up). She prayed out loud for the first time and afterward was so filled with 'goodness' she couldn't stop giggling and smiling. It made my heart burst as I explained to her that was the Holy Ghost and she can feel that any time she wants. I haven't seen someone so happy in a long time. It reminded me once again of the beautiful gift we have of the Holy Ghost. It's a totally legit drug for our almas (souls). She also reminded me how easy it is to feel the happiness the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring. We need only ask for it. There are just so many things in this world that seek only to distract us from the simple beauty of a warm, happy heart, but there is no greater joy. I am so happy that I helped her feel that and I'm so glad she reminded me that I can feel that too. Go get your spirit on...pray hard, be happy.

 

xoxo,

Hermana Hall

The Purple Monster

This past week was filled with glorious new experiences with my Spaniard. Since her English is a tad worse than my Spanish we spend most of the day figuring out clever ways to understand each other. I'm also teaching her the ways of American culture like the joys of a Frosty, hamburgers, pizza and shortening unnecessary words like totally to totes. Yesterday I took her to the beach and I couldn't slap the smile off her cute Spanish face. I asked her what the difference between our American beaches and her Spanish beaches are...the translation I took was her's are dirtier and everyone speaks Spanish. I am also making sure to show her the real mission life, like getting doors shut on our faces, bribing children with stickers so they'll get their parents to come talk to us and talking to crazies on the street. She loves every moment of it. I explained that in America, we just have to laugh at everything, it prevents us from going crazy like the totally wasted mustache woman we just passed stroking her cat and talking to herself. I think she got it. I took her to her first Pulga (flea market as you might recall) and I literally pushed her out into the walkway and gave her the thumbs up. She doesn't even need me, she's already a pro. While she was preaching the good word, I was eyeing the merchandise nearby. Next to our spot, gleaming in the sun, I saw this mysterious pile composed of the most beautiful purple color I've ever seen in my life. It was calling my name, but what on earth was it? I must find out so naturally, I sent an Elder over to check it out. My heart was filled with anticipation - I felt like I was on antique roadshow and I just discovered a royal cloak from Europe worth millions! As he leaned down to pick it up the owner shouted $10! The Elder yelled back, "I'll give you $5, Hna Hall, pay the man!" "But what is it?" "I don't know but, I know you want it." It's true, I did. I paid the man and went on our way. Now...my typed words can not do this story justice, but let's just say I fell in the classic trap of greed. What I had just purchased, from the flea market, was a royal purple, VELVET, king size blanket with matching pom-pom fringe on the ends. Yes, fringe. It weighs 20 pounds, is most likely covered with actual fleas and was carted all the way back to my apartment by Elders telling the entire mission that Sister Hall bought a monster from the flea market for $5. However, now that I own such a beauty all I can think about is how on earth am I going to be able to tack this on the wall...the purple monster has truly found it's home. 

 

We had 5 baptisms this weekend. Ahem, I don't mean to brag, but I can't help it. They were amazing. One poor lady had to be dunked three times, she just couldn't keep her arm down, poor thing. I thought after the first she wasn't going to do it again and then after the second failure, I thought I was going to have to jump over the glass and hold her down before she ran out of the building screaming...but she did it. Phew. To balance out all of the baptisms, we decided to drop all of our non-progression investigators which means we are left pounding to the pavement looking for former investigators and any new prospects the Lord puts in our path. I pretend like I'm intentionally giving my trainee a taste of the real mission life, she seems to love it so I won't mention the part about me being a little freaked out to not have anyone set to teach. I know all my English speaking missionary friends hate me right now, but I was given a beautiful gift to be in the Spanish program...they ALWAYS want to learn about Jesus. They LOVE Jesus. It's the water part they don't love.

 

This week in Yerba Buena, I learned how to make pupusas which are the best things I've ever put in my mouth that I made with my hands and I helped my Spaniard make tortilla de patatas which is basically a Spanish quiche. It was divine. She promised she'd teach me how to make paella and I told her I'd teach her how to make American food...at McDonalds. We are so lazy.

 

Now, for the temporal and spiritual lesson I learned yesterday at the beach. We all had a mighty fine blast and knew that we would want to properly document the trip so we all took all of our cameras and while we played we left them there, in their bags on a blanket. After our joyous romps on the beach we headed back to the bus to review our day via image. Thanks to the wind and other unavoidable circumstances...aka Elders...all of our cameras suffered death by sand. All. Those tiny grains of sand found their way into every crevice of our delicate electronics and just destroyed them. (yes, I am fully aware that I am gaining a reputation of having my camera in places cameras should never be, but the beach will never be as horrific as a Turkish toilet.) As I lamented the loss of another camera on the bus ride back I thought about the sand in our lives (I don't want to say crevices because that sounds really crass). Those little sins, those little bad habits...they just sneak right into our lives. They hide themselves and as they do they slowly break us down until we can no longer move. Of course we can be proactive and try to protect ourselves from the sand and wind, but we are human and sand is very tiny. We continually need to shake ourselves and sometimes get a big puff of compressed air to clean out all that junk. Thank heavens for the ability we have been given by Jesus Christ to review and cleanse ourselves daily. Take advantage of it. Use it. Get that sand out, it's so flippin messy and it's really expensive to fix when it goes too far.

 

xoxo, 

Hermana Hall