Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

Shout Outs!

Thank you to Tyler, Maddie, Amanda, Chelsey, James, Sara, Mable, Marina, Lucy, Janelle, Bob, Sister Spencer, Kim, and the Summers. I loved the little notes you all sent! You guys are way too nice though haha I might get a big head one of these days ;)

Thank you also to the Summers for the package! Once again you are way too generous and I am excited to open it on Christmas :D

Well to say that it has been a crazy week out here in Kingston does not to it justice!

To start off there was a huge fire on our street! It may have been on the news, I'm not sure but we were teaching a lesson in Tim Hortons by our place when people started talking about a fire and when we looked out the sky was full of black smoke! We stood there for a while not too sure of what to do and then noticed the poor crane operator making his way across the crane to the very tip! AH! So scary! As a result of the fire they shut off our power and evacuated us for the night. Sister Laing and I stayed at Sister Lenard's for the night. She has 3 hound dogs who weigh like 80 pounds and like to sit on peoples laps.... it hurt so bad! The next day we were able to go back to our place though which was nice!

Huge fire!! So glad the crane man is ok.

Just getting my study on at the members home with the dog.

Aside from the fire we also got a legit ice storm! It is SO cool! It reminded me of the ice storm that hit Jill when she lived in Texas. (Looks like the same kind of deal too -J)

->side note: Elder Snelson is also from Texas and he remembers that ice storm too...weird! He's from Huston I believe

Anyways it is pretty much an ice rink outside so contacting was a joy! But actually it was SO much fun! We would approach people on the street and nearly face plant in front of them haha great way to "break the ice" BAHAHAHHAHAHHA! It took us an extra 30 min to get anywhere and by the end of the night our legs were killing us but it was a nice change up from the regular routine.

Queens Campus in ice form

EVERYTHING Froze!!

We had an awesome lesson with Francis this week! We had a good old DTR with him to figure out what his expectations were with meeting with us (we tend to have a few of those a month it seems like cause he's not much of a talker). We found out that he doesn't have a problem with being baptized again and is willing to get baptized but that he first wanted to check out the church. We have taught him all the commandments and he is good with all of them so it really is down to just getting him out to church which has been a struggle. He did however say that he would come to church and we were so excited! Taylor told him that she would pick him up and everything!... then they cancelled church -_- which also meant that Jess didn't get confirmed... gah!  

->side note: I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but a few months ago Francis told us that there was a church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by his home back in Ghana and that one of his friends from his childhood was a member. Once he started meeting with us he found his friend on facebook and told him he was meeting with missionaries! His friend was really excited and told him to learn all he could from us and that if he had any questions he could ask him. Cool Eh!

DTR: Determine The Relationship (I learned this from Jill while she dated Tyson... apparently they had to have a lot of those) (Ooohh pahleeease!! -J)

Now the Best for Last! 

So I like really don't care for bus contacting. Like we walk to places so that we don't have to take the bus, however one night it was really cold and we would be late for an appointment so we had to take the bus. So we get on the bus and there are 3 people on it. 2 old people in the front and a what looks like a university student in the back. Sister Laing jumps on the old people and I make my way to the back of the bus. He has his ear phones in so I sit on the edge of my seat and ask him what he thinks the meaning of Christmas is with a big smile so he notices me. He tries to look away but we make eye contact. HA gottcha! He slowly takes his ear phones out and then we start talking. In no time he starts to open up about God and his beliefs. Then he stops and laughs to himself. I ask him why he is laughing and he says this is so weird cause he has been thinking about his faith a lot recently and really wants to over come his doubts. Then he admitted that at first he thought I was crazy and was trying to ignore me, but said he was glad that he took his ear phones out cause he really needed this!

BAH! Am I dreaming! Am I seriously having a successful bus contact?!

Turns out this guy plays basketball for Queens university and is heading home for the holidays but said he would be down to meet up with us when he gets back :D = new investigator via bus contacting what what!!

p.s his name is Tyrell and Winnie has already claimed him as "her investigator" haha

Line of the Week:

Elder Dewey: "Hey sisters we just wanted to check to make sure you all emailed your families telling them that you are safe from the fire."

Me: "Yep, sure did!"

Elder Dewey: "Awesome! Yea, someone's mom contacted president Scott asking if they were alright so we just wanted to follow up with you guys to make sure you emailed."

Me: "...Yea....that was my mom."

Elder Dewey: "What? Really! How do you know?"

Me: "I've had 21 years with her."

-> I LOVE you mom!!! :D (Mom is mortified!!!! -J)

Scripture of The Week: Helaman 5: 10

"And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins."

A Haiku for YOU:

He is born

to heal us from sin

our Brother

Sister Hall

         Y.O.S.O

Backing up Sister Waal

Ice Fishers Of Men

Ice Fishers Of Men

Big News Everyone, Transfer calls were last night and............. NOTHING HAS CHANGED! Haha that's right, all the missionaries serving in Kingston are staying the same :)

A few Shout Outs before we begin!

Thank you to..... The Aurinis, Sandra, Hannah, Lochlan, Chris, Darwin, Sue, and the Browns for the kind notes! I love reading them every morning :) It's a great way to start off the day!

Thank you to Aunty Sue! I got your Christmas package and the appartmentship is VERY excited about also getting a gift :) that was too kind of you!

Kerry, I am LOVING the 12 days of Christmas! We just about died at the reindeer nose!

Jill I got your package and I really want to open it!

I really do appreciate all the support my friends, family, and my ward family back home! It means a lot and really helps to keep a sister upbeat :D

Alright so first off, we have the best elders in the mission. Saturday night we had a decent snow fall and it got pretty cold so on Sunday we made sure we gave ourselves enough time to brush the car off and everything. So we get outside to find that not only is our car brushed off, but someone also shovelled a path to our doors.... later at church Elder Snelson kindly informed us that he stank and was supper sweaty from shovelling walkways this morning. It wasn't till a few hours later that Sister Waal clued in and confronted them. Elder Snelson has a really great poker face and denied everything but Elder Dewey cracked a smile within seconds.

Man I am happy to be staying with Sister Laing in Kingston YSA :) I am getting pretty attached to this area. We have the best YSA in all of Ontario, but seriously we totally do. I have gotten to know the best out of all the YSA, Steph and Rachel. I love them both to bits! They are spiritual giants and help our investigators leaps and bounds because our investigators are able to see that normal people are apart of the church and that it is a life style they too can have. Seriously some amazing testimonies come out of these two!

As for the work over, things are starting to slow down. All our YSA are leaving for home and wont be back till the 6th of January. Most of our investigators have been baptized as well.... looks like we will be pounding the pavement pretty soon here. I know Heavenly Father has kept us here for a reason, and I am excited to find that reason!

Right now we are working with Francis, Jacob and Chase.

Francis is from Gahanna and we have been teaching him for a while now. He was slow to progress at first but in recent visits things has started to change! He is pretty quiet so it's hard to gage where he is at but he told us that he is seriously considering joining the church. BONUS! Glad we got that cleared up, and it only took us 3 months ;) He also informed us that he has started to feel guilty for drinking coffee! He also has a date for January 11th!

Jacob is a new investigator who we have only taught twice. He comes from a rougher background and I am so excited for this gospel to change his life. It will be hard for him to open up and let the gospel heal him cause religion was pretty forced on him as a youth, but we talked about the atonement with him and we mentioned how all the guilt we have felt can be taken from us through Christ and I swear his eyes got a little shinny. I just hope that he opens his heart up! 

Chase we havent seen in like a month cause he is so crazy busy but we still keep in contact with him.

So that is your little sneak peak into Kingston YSA missionary work. We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this coming transfer!

Line of the Week:

Francis: "So would I need to be baptized again?"

Jake after looking at the both of us: "Ladies is it ok if I take this one? See Francis, when Joseph Smith found the plates....."

Jake proceeds to explain the whole apostasy and authority to Francis. I almost died of happiness.

Scripture of the Week: D&C 121: 40

"Hence many are called, but few are chosen."

A haiku for You

6 more weeks

oh blessed Kingston

we aren't done

Sister Hall

Y.O.S.O

Epic Fail!

Taking a nap on my Viking

Throw Downs

Throw Downs

Alrighty lets get this email on a role! 

First I would like to let all my little cousins who have been asking me how my mission is going that it is GREAT! I love it and I highly advise that you should all go :) The weather is a little cold but not too humid which is nice :) Not nearly as much snow as you have over in Calgary! 

Now for some SHOOOOUUUUT OUTS! 

Wendy, thank you for the candy you have sent me! I have been sharing with all the other missionaries and they are grateful :)

Thank you Sandra for the awesome toilet paper! I I just about died when I saw it 

Lochlan thank you for the toffees! They were SOOO good! 

Thank you to Lucy for the erasers :D

And Naomi I LOVE the bracelet and the little rubber doll you made me! You are SO creative 

Victoria you are amazing at writing poems! I can tell that you are growing up a lot while I've been gone!

Also thank you to Dani, the Jacksons, Cartch, Graeme, Sis. Spackman, The Hughes, Rena, Sister Beattie, Uncle Darcy AND Grandma and Grandpa for the kind wishes you sent me :) it means a lot! 

Man that was a mouthful! 

This week has been absolutely amazing on many different fronts! 

First of all Dieter got baptized!!!!! He had requested that we play "Eye of the Tiger" as he got into the font, buuuuttt we were able to talk him out of it ;) Regardless it was a very special opportunity for us to be able to witness the next apostle being baptized by one of our recent converts who has only held the priesthood for 6 days... needless to say my cheeks were sore from smiling so much! Jake did a wonderful job of baptizing Dieter as well! He didnt need any help remembering what he needed to say AND he only had to put him under the water twice ;) Jake sure is getting in a lot of practice for his mission! 

Dieters confirmation was also a very spiritual experience... oh man the words of council Heavenly Father gave him were exactly what Dieter needed to hear :) He talked about how he had felt the spirit strongly in his life and that he would be blessed with the ability to share his beliefs and his tender feelings with those he talks to. I just know that Heavenly Father has BIG plans for Dieter! 

More good news is that Jess also was able to get baptized this week! This was a very big step for her and we are SO proud of her! She has gone through a lot of trials in her life but I know that as she turns to Christ she will find the peace that she is searching for :) We ask that you would please include her in your prayers this week as well. She has been struggling with her health and we are praying that she will be able to come to church so that she can be confirmed! 

As for the rest of this week, it has been good and busy! 

I cannot describe the transformation that I have seen in Jake and Winnie since their confirmation... it is absolutely incredible and so heart warming to see :) We have had the privileged of taking Winnie teaching with us almost every day this week and I must say she is just as good as having another companion! We might as well be put in a trio :D She has this wonderful ability to bring the spirit with here wherever she goes! In one of Dieters lessons we were talking about the spirit and Winnie jumped right in and explained to Dieter how she feels the spirit. She told him that she felt the spirit in the room as we taught and helped him to identify how he felt the spirit. She shared experiences from her own journey AND testified of blessings.... I pretty much just sat back and enjoyed. 

Her and Jake now have a competition on who can find the next investigator for us. Winnie asked us for 10 pass-along cards and 3 Books of Mormon. She explained that she was going to approach someone on the street the other day but she realized she didnt have a card.... I just about died! Like who are these people! This is just something I never thought I would witness but thank Heavenly Father each and ever day for the blessing it is to see Jake and Winnie and Dieter be changed by this gospel and desire to share it with others. Jake and Winnie are currently both experiencing the pure happiness that comes from sharing the gospel with others and sharing their experiences. In one of Dieters lessons Winnie warned him that once he got confirmed he would have this overwhelming desire to tell everyone about the church because that was what was happening to her :D

Thanks Winnie for the picture!!! "It's lauren when she's about to do a lesson but got a call, she answered it and started spinning around in her chair and playing with the window latch." This is so Sister Hall! Miss this girl!

We had our Christmas Zone Conference this past week as well and it was incredible! The spirit was extremely strong! Often times in preparation for our conferences President Scott asks all the missionaries to study something and then be prepared to bare their testimony on it. This time he asked us to study the birth of the Saviour. We were all sitting in the chapel and Pres. Scott gets up to invite the missionaries he has selected to share their testimonies. I sit back and get comfortable and then I hear my name... 

There is a tradition in the mission that every Christmas conference we get to play Preach My Gospel jeopardy a.k.a it is the only time of the year where the elders are aloud to act like 20 year old boys ahaha! It was absolutely terrifying, I have never seen such an intense game of jeopardy! The Elders were all yelling and chanting and thumping their chests. It is the first time one my mission that I didnt feel the spirit! But it was super fun! As a Kingston Zone we all got burger king crowns and walked in fashionably late. The president had a good laugh over it and everyone else booed us.

I hope everyone's week has been full of Christmas cheer! I really am grateful for all the emails and letters and packages people have been sending it really does go a long way! 

Line of the Week: So we took Winnie to an appointment. It was the first time we had met this guy and his place was rather smoky. We were just wrapping up the lesson when Winnie throws in the Word of Wisdom AND the Law of Chastity haha

Winnie after we leave the appointment: "I just wanted to throw down on the Word of Wisdom!"

Scripture of the week: Alma 37: 44-45

"For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

An now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promise land shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise."

A Haiku for You: 

Till we meet 

crowned with His glory

home at last 

Sister Hall

Look Jill I'm Flossing! #weeklyplanning #kingstoncrowns

Y.O.S.O

My Toes Might Be Frozen But The Spirit Sure Warms The Heart :)

My Toes Might Be Frozen But The Spirit Sure Warms The Heart :)

This one is going to be a shorter one folks cause there is just so much to do in the Christmas season, even for missionaries!!

FLASH back to OAKVILLE!

1. My daughter is my pride and joy and is an incredible missionary! Yet another of our investigators has gotten baptized! Her name is Jane and she is the one who is from the Philippines. We had been teaching her and her family and she was the one who was really quite but oh so sweet!

But first off just a few shout outs!

My mom did a little project for me for Christmas and went around asking all my friends and family to send write me little notes. Each day in December I get to read a new note. I wanted to thank Sister Fisher, Court, my gangsters ;), Jill, Jasmine, Alex, Nathan! Your kind words and support have put the biggest smile on my face and have made each day that much better! (how has she read that many already??? -J)

All the Christmas letters :D while taking this photo I was doing follow up calls with Elder Strobel... ah good times ;)

So I just have to say how much I LOVE the Christmas season! Thanks to a very caring mother and father our apatmentship has been jamming out to the Josh Groban Christmas CD which has made for some pretty good times. Contacting people on the streets has also been a lot of fun because the Christmas spirit seems to make people want to stop and talk with people and just be kind :)

We actually went carolling with all the YSA for Family Home Evening. It was pretty cute. While the YSA were singing Sister Laing and I would pass out cards to people on the street. Winnie became quite interested in what we were doing so I got her to help me contact a few people. It was SO sweet! By the end of the night Winnie was running after people on the street and I'd have to try and keep up with her ;)

Jake and Winnie are in the missionary spirit and have been asking us for Books of Mormon to give out to people in their gifts they give out for the holidays,.... who are these people!?? Once again it has been such a privilege to see their growth in the gospel! They are already excited to come out teaching with us and have been fellowshipping our less actives on their own! Saying that I love them both just doesn't seem to cut it.

Jake and Winnie had their confirmations this week. Confirmations are probably my favorite part of missionary work because I get to hear our Father in Heaven speak words of comfort and guidance to people who I care very much about. Winnie was just absolutely BEAMING after her confirmation. I later asked her how she felt and she said her heart was pounding, she got all hot and her head started hurting or something like that (she clarified that it was a good hurting though haha). She had the biggest smile on her face and couldn't stop bouncing in her seat. Later that day Sister Laing and I got to witness Jake get the priesthood and Oh man was that ever cool! Later that night Jake had us over for dinner and we asked him his thoughts on how the day had gone and he confided in us that when he got the priesthood he felt really good but also almost like a weight was put on his shoulders as well... like there was a greater responsibility on him... It is seriously freaky how in tune Jake is with the spirit!

Dieter is all ready and set to go for his baptism this Saturday! Ah I just adore him! He is one of the most incredible people I have ever met and will bring so many people to Christ! I know that Heavenly Father has big plans for him :)

Lines of the Week:

Talking to Winnie about enduring to the end

Winnie: "At this point I can kill temptation with my hands!"

In sunday school class

Jake: "Hey what time is it?"

Sister Laing shows him her watch

Jake: "We are late!!! I want to get my priesthood!"

Scripture of the Week: 3 Nephi 6: 14

"And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to e broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year, the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord."

It finally snowed! For exercise in the morning we went out and had a snowball fight :)

Sister Waal and I dressed up in our Christmas outfits for the first snowfall!

The District :D This is right before we had a big old snowball fight

So I've never thought about what I could give the Saviour as a Christmas gift and I think that something the Saviour would very much appreciate is if we all were to share His message about His restored gospel to the people we love this season, SO that is my invitation to everyone. To give the Saviour a gift this Christmas season!

I love you all and hope you are staying warm!

YOSO <3

Sister Hall

PS Sister Fisher you have to email me! I need to talk with you! LOVE YA TO BITS!