Big Blessings

Big Blessings

Shout Outs! 

Grandpa you turn 80 today!!! W.O.W! I hope your birthday is one to remember! I'll work extra, extra hard today to find and teach elderly people ;) 

So apparently I am worrying my parents haha! I got an email from my dad letting me know "life does NOT end with the termination of your mission." I’m still praying over that piece of advice ;) But it was funny to read and sister Maeta and I got a good laugh out of it! 

Sister Maeta and I had a very tender spiritual experience last night while we were out and about. We were dropping by a member and after our appointment we felt prompted to stop by Sister Martinez. Sister Martinez is a less active and is SO hard to get a hold of I mean for goodness sake we have been trying for 8 weeks and we got nothing! We walk over to her place not really knowing why we are going there and knock on the door. Silence. We knock again. More silence. We are about ready to leave when she answers the door! Shock! She welcomes us in and it doesn’t take long to see that she has a very strong testimony of the gospel. She lived through the civil war down in El Salvador and the miracles she spoke of that her and her family experienced were incredible! When I asked her why she stopped coming to church she told us that it all started with work. She told us that after missing one week of church that it became easier and easier to find excuses not to go to church but that as she did so she felt a huge part of her was missing. She felt empty inside and sad and depressed.

àThis is where our understanding of why we were prompted to go see sister Martinez that night comes to light. ß

On Saturday night she told us that she asked God to take her life so that she would stop making so many mistakes. When she woke up in the morning to find that she was still alive, she asked "Why! What purpose do you have for me?" That is they day we knocked on her door. The Spirit was so strong! God knew that His daughter was alone and without hope. He sent us over to show her that He loves her and wants her to come back to church. 

This week I got my very first blessing I've ever received on my mission. About time I know haha. Before I go on to explain, Tyson will you fill everyone in on what a priesthood blessing is. (A priesthood blessing is when someone that has been given the authority to act in Christ's name, lays their hands on another head, and gives them a blessing similar to a prayer, but is given with the purpose to heal, comfort and encourage) Thanks! So I have felt for a while like I should get a blessing of comfort and council but I kept putting it off. Classic Sister Hall trying to do things on my own cough *stupid* cough! Finally I gave in and called our District Leader and asked him if he could come down and give me a blessing and he says yes. At this point I have no idea why I’ve asked for a blessing.

à àFast-forward a few hours 

So the Elders are there and I’m sitting in a chair, still not sure why I need a blessing. Elder Anderson asks me if there is anything I want him to think about for this particular blessing and all that comes to my mind is that I just need to hear from my Father. The moment they put their hands on my head I immediately start crying like a baby. Next Elder Anderson expresses that Heavenly Father is proud of the work I have done. Cue the running nose. Sooooo embarrassing, haha! I hadn’t realized how bad I needed to hear from my Father In Heaven. I feel so bad for those Elders! After the blessing I was just a complete mess hahaha! 

Then later that day I get a call from Sister Castro saying when she went to the temple she felt prompted to put my name on the prayer list and was asking if I was all right. Cue MORE tears! 

To top it all off I just received a call from President Clayton while writing this email. For the past week he has been pondering on giving me the extension I've asked for. All week I've been praying that he will be guided by the Spirit to make the right choice. When asking me just now why I wanted to stay out I told him about how much I love my mission, how I wanted to spend as much time as I could out serving etc... At the end of it all he told me that while I was talking he was over come by the Spirit. He told me that Heavenly Father was proud of the work I am doing and that 18 months of service will be enough for me to accomplish all that the Lord has for me to do. Looks like I'm coming home in October. 

What have I learned this week? God knows everything! He knows my thoughts, my desires and my heart. He knows exactly what I’m going to need. This week is proof of that! 

Scripture of the Week: 2 Nephi 9: 39 

"... remember to be carnally-minded is death and to be Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal." 

Don’t forget to Smile this week =)

Sister Maeta and I out on a nature walk! It felt like I was home in Alberta! 

Roasting some dogs at our ward mission leaders place! 

The Big BATH

The Big BATH

I'm going to start this email off with the lesson God has taught me this week: there are things in life that you will have no control over. Stop stressing about those things and focus on what you can control, yourself. 

When I think of Jen I think of hitting my head against a brick wall repeatedly- and I say that with all the charity I can muster. This week Jen affirmed to us that she will never be baptized because being Native and being Catholic are her families tradition and that is who she is. She said she still wants to come to church and have us over to "straighten" David (her soon to be husband) out but that baptism was not an option. At first this ate at my heart for a good 2 days. I was unmotivated and de.pressed. I love this family SO much! I know that Jen doesn't understand the eternal perspective and the blessings of baptism yet. She just thinks baptism is some sort of initiation that makes her become mormon and that's it BUT IT'S NOT! It's the only way to salvation and eternal families but it just doesn't seem to register with her when we tell her! I spent several days earnestly praying and pondering over what we should do and I was just filled with the peace. I know that this is not the end. I don't know if I will ever see them baptized but I do know that we have been able to bring the spirit into their home and that they will all remember this experience for the rest of their lives. And who knows what the future might hold for them :) As for now we are going to keep working with them to soften Jen's heart and help her to see that vision of her family at the temple.  

This next experience is one for the books haha! 

So besides Jen we have been teaching a girl name Charlotte for a while now. She is a very nice girl ~23 years old and her fellowship-er is Steve Redman. Steve got baptized about 8 years ago and he LOVES going out with the missionaries, so it's great having him around! However Steve is also one of those conspiracy, rebellious very opinionated kind of guys with a unique view of the gospel, so taking him teaching is sometimes a gamble. Well we were having a lesson with Charlotte and we were teaching her about the law of chastity. We hadn't had Steve participate a whole lot in the lesson so I figured I'd ask him what blessings he has seen from living the law of chastity. Right before I asked him the thought, "Careful what you wish for," flashed in my head, but I asked him anyways..... stupid! He proceeded to go on this rant about how there are no blessings from living the law of chastity and that you would have to "bang a ton of people every week" to risk getting STI's or risk getting pregnant and since not very many people do that, being clean from STI's and not getting pregnant arent real blessings. He went on and on and on- AH! If looks could kill I would have been sent home for murder. I kept it together and when he was finished calmly looked him dead in the eyes and simply said "your wrong" and testified from personal experience the blessings I have received from living this commandment and highlighted a few scriptures. That shut him up and thankfully brought the spirit back into the lesson. A couple days latter he brought up the lesson and he apologized for what he said (lol) all is well, and Charlotte seems to be doing fine too.  

I had a cool experience this week of being in the right place at the right time. We dropped by a less active who wasn't home so we decided to walk around a little before we saw our next person. That's when we met Sharon. She was just about to head inside when we called out to her and started up a conversation. She was very friendly and answered all our questions but didn't seem too interested. Normally I would have just testified of the gospel and left a card to get a hold of us but something told me I needed to get her talking more so I asked her another question. I don't remember what I asked her but it somehow lead her to tell us that her 13 year old daughter had recently expressed to her that she was gay. Sharon went on to tell us about how this had really shocked her at first but that she felt she needed to support her daughter. She had gone to a few churches to talk to pastors about what she should do and checked out a few pro gay churches. I could tell that she was overwhelmed, confused, and lost and my heart just went out to her. At the end of it all I told her I didn't know if anything I say will help but that I knew God loved her daughter very much. That while he may not like some of the choices we make he will always love us and will always be there for us to help us overcome our trials and that her daughter was no different. Tears started to stream from her eyes and I just gave her a hug. She thanked us but said she wasnt ready to meet but took our card and asked us if she could call us if she needed it. 

There are a lot of things about missionary work that I love, but I think one of the things I love the most are those experiences where you know that God used you to answer someones prayer. 

Scripture of the Week: Romans 8: 37-39

"Nay, in all these things we are more then conquerers through him that loved us. 

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

A Haiku for you:

come what may

despite agency

and love it

Go where God wants you to go, say what he wants you to say, be what he wants you to be. 

Sister Hall

The BATH sandwich :) Bacon, avocado, tomato, and Havarti. All organic and on home made bread... yummmmmm! 

Bridesmaids?

Bridesmaids?

Shout Out! Thank you Sister Brewerton for the Birthday and Christmas present! That was so kind and generous!!! I SO appreciate it! 

Good news everyone! We are staying in Guelph! WHOOT WHOOT!!!! Im super excited to be here so that we can continue to work with our members and investigators. I've developed a unique love for the people here in Guelph that is different from my other areas. I think it comes from having the opportunity to serve the members so much. It really does make a huge difference! Also Sister Tebbs just sent me an email telling me that she got my dream transfer! Toronto YSA! So stinking lucky :) She is going to tear it up! 

Jen and the boys are doing great! David didnt get to come home this week unfortunately because he forgot to fill out some papers.... BUT Jen has been doing a good job of not letting that get her down! Things are starting to get more and more real with this family. Jen talked to the bishop this week about using the church for her wedding on the 9th of August and had a really good talk with him. She has also asked Sister Maeta and I to be her bridesmaids.... 

BAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAhAHAHAHHA! I just about died! In fact this was my thought process..."Wait what?! Missionaries as bridesmaids?! Is that even allowed  Does that mean I'll have to get a dress? I hope I don't have to throw her a party... that definitely won't be aloud! hmmm that means free food though..."

I guess it looks like I will be Sister Hall The Bridesmaid coming up pretty soon. Never in a million years did I anticipate being a bridesmaid while I was a missionary! I guess this is Heavenly Fathers way of making it up to me for missing my sisters wedding haha! 

We have been working a lot with Jen this week. We have seen her almost every day. We are working hard to help her develop a spiritual conversion. She has a sincere desire to be baptized but the motivation is more for a new start with her family rather than an "I know this is the true church of Christ" type of a deal. She is having a hard time parting with the traditions of her culture as well. She views the Creator and God as two separate people and we all know that we can't serve 2 masters cause we will love the one and hate the other. We have our work cut out for us but she is open to things and is willing to change so there is lots of hope! 

As we have been teaching her and the boys their eyes have been opened to spiritual truth as well! Just last night we had a really cool experience with Christian. So Christian is the oldest (15 years old) and is more of an introvert so it's hard to get a reading from him. Last night we taught them the doctrine of baptism and we asked them why we get baptized. Christian raised his hand and said, "To get washed away from our sins?" We quickly affirmed that he was right and continued on. Shortly after he put his hand up and asked the golden question! He said: "If we are baptized to be clean from our mistakes, then why was I baptized as a baby? I didn't make any mistakes.." As those sweet, sweet words left his mouth I saw the heavens open and angels singing :) We used 3 Nephi 11 to help him to answer his own question and it was stinking awesome! 

Well before I sign off I just want to give you some food for thought: Believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.. We are agents to act and not objects to be acted upon. We choose to be offended or not. 

-Elder Bednar

Anyways that's all for now! Till next week, stay sweet and , make good choices because that's who you will end up becoming!  

Line of the week: This is at our meet the president meeting..

President Clayton after kissing his wife in front of us: "Kissing is good." 

cue gawking missionaries who dont know what to do or where to look

President Clayton: "WHEN the time is right elders and sisters!" 

Scripture of the Week: Romans 5: 3-4

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: and knowing that tribulation worth patience; 

And patience, experience; and experience, hope:"

A Haiku For You:

see His face

wrapped in arms of love 

welcome home 

Sister Hall

How Great Shall Be Your Joy

How Great Shall Be Your Joy

Happy late Canada Day! I promise that I did Canada proud- Sister Maeta and I dressed up in red and white and at district meeting we made everyone sing Oh Canada. It was great! 

I had an experience this week that really helped me to realize that I need to work on my pride haha. We dropped by a less active and her older son answered the door. We talked with him for a little bit and I asked him why he stopped coming to church. With a smile on his face he explained that when it comes down to which church is the true church of God its either the Catholic church or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that all the other churches dont stand a chance. In essence either there was an apostasy and Joseph Smith restored God's authority to the Earth or there wasn't an apostasy and the apostolic keys are still within the Catholic church. I agreed with his statement. He went on to tell us that in his research he found that the Catholic church had the truth but that he was always open to a discussion on the matter and said if we had any resources that pointed to an apostasy he would love to hear it. We readily agreed and said we would love to talk to him more about it. He then got this smug look on his face and said some thing to the effects of...."The last missionaries who talked to me were a little overwhelmed by the subject. I think they were fairly new in their missions and didn't know enough to counter my points but you guys look like you have been around a while."

I ignored his comment and affirmed that we would love to talk with him more and asked if we could come back when his mom was home so that we didnt have to talk outside. His smile got cockier and he said, "Sure you can. Plus that will give you some time to do some research to help you out." 

A couple things ran through my head after his smug little comment. First I wanted to get my Bible out and slap that smile right of his face. Then I wanted to pull out all my arsenal and Bible Bash the heck out of him until he was down on his knees begging for mercy. I mean what does he think this is, amateur hour? Is he really questioning my knowledge of the scriptures?! Does he think he is the first person to question me about if an apostasy took place? Boy, dont flatter yourself. Thankfully I had left my Bible at the apartment so I just smiled and said something and left with his number to make an appointment with him. Once we got in the car I unloaded on poor Sister Maeta haha. That very night I started refreshing myself on all the knowledge I had about the apostasy to get ready for my throw down. Once I had cooled down however the spirit helped me to recognize that I was in the wrong. I had always known the way I reacted was not Christlike but I was just too prideful to care. I know that no matter how plainly the Bible foretells of an apostasy and no matter how much evidence there is today that it occurred, none of that would prove anything to this guy. Only the spirit can teach people truth and convince them of their errors. 

Side note- we texted him the very next day asking when we could see him and he never responded. HA! 

Moving on, remember last week when I said Jen dropped us for a while? Well we have been picked back up again! The miracles just keep on coming! It all started when we invited Jen and the boys to the strawberry social at the church on Friday. We made an effort to inform and give assignments to a ton of members to go up and talk to her and introduce themselves. Everyone was welcoming and Jen seemed to be enjoying herself. We hit the money though when we got Shona, one of our less actives who we are reactivating, to introduce herself to Jen. Turns out Shona is also First Nations AND they are from the same tribe! They totally hit it off and got each others numbers. The boys had a ton of fun playing games and made a few new friends too. We took them all on a chapel tour and they were very impressed with how big and how well kept the building was. When they saw the baptismal font Jen got excited and asked if they were still good for July 20th.... wait what?!? You could imagine my confused look on my face when she said that! I kinda just stood there staring at her until finally I said, "Suuuure?" It took a little longer for me to recover from that one since just days earlier she had told us that she would never change religions and that she would die a Catholic. But hey I'm not complaining! Sunday we arranged a ride for them to come to church and they all showed up except the oldest, Christian. Church was long and Jen kept asking where the coffee was haha but they enjoyed themselves and she plans on coming every week. Later that night we stopped by so that we could finally finish the restoration with her so that she could have a better idea about where the church came from and why she should want to be baptized again. When we got in the door Jen nearly pounced on us! She sat us down and told us that she had amazing news for us. She had been talking to David, her faience, about the church and our visits and told him that her and the boys were getting baptized. Well, David is from South America and comes from a very Catholic background and so we figured that we would face some opposition, but David was totally cool with it! He said that he was supportive of the boys getting baptized and that he himself wanted to get baptized when he got home. We all sat there shocked but this didn't even seem to phase Jen! She went on to tell us that after church she found out David got an early release for good behaviour and that instead of coming home on August 3rd he would be coming home this wednesday. The spirit filled the room as we sat there in awe while Jen cried tears of joy. She told us that he wanted to get married in the church on August 9th and Jen said she wanted to invite all the members to be there. Can you say tender mercies of the Lord? It never ceases to amaze me how merciful and loving our Father in Heaven is :) 

To be honest, Im not sure what's in store for this little family but I know that Heavenly Father is watching over them and wants them to be together for eternity. I have this feeling that there is a lot more that they will go through before they make it to baptism, but I pray and hope they make it through the storm to see the beauty the gospel brings.  

Line of the week: Driving down a back country road

Me: "ITS A WILD TURKEY!"

the car comes to a screeching stop

Me: "Lets see if we can catch it!"

as I jump out of the car to run after the turkey... "Sister Maeta take a video!" 

Scripture of the Week: Alma 28: 10

"And from the first year to the fifteenth has brought to pass the destruction of many thousand lives; yea, it has brought to pass an awful scene of bloodshed." (J- another mistake scripture perhaps?)

A Haiku for You

evidence

the tender mercies

of His love

This week is a prime example of why I would be happy to stay out here and be a missionary forever. Being able to be apart of and witness so many miracles, seeing God's hand every day and knowing that I have been a tool in His hand to help Him with His work, seeing people change and experience the same joys I have has brought me more happiness than words can describe. I have never felt God's love for me as strong as I have on my mission. I have never been so sure of who I am as a daughter of God as I have laboring among His children in Ontario. Real joy. That is what I experience every day and I dont ever want it to go away. 

My invitation to everyone this week is to not just read this letter but take some action. Take the time to share with someone the joy the gospel has brought you. Go out with the missionaries! Give them a referral when they ask you for one! Do your visiting or home teaching! I promise you that as you do these things you will experience the same joys I have been talking about. You will see miracles, you will be reassured of Gods love for you and the trials you are going through wont seem nearly as hard. 

If you aren't a member and you are reading this, my invitation to you is to go find the people with name tags on, talking to people in the street about God and ask them to learn more. I promise that by listening to what these people have to say your life will never be the same. It will forever change your life for the better and you too will experience this joy and peace I keep talking about. 

Alright well my rant is done now haha. God Bless! And remember: "How great shall be your joy" :)

Sister Hall

I love updating records at the end of a long day!

Psych!

Serving The Nations

Serving The Nations

Shout Outs! I just wanted to let the Davidson's know that Im praying for them and thinking of them often! Jorgen is home from his mission! I can't believe it! You are only a few hours away from me now! 

I also love the Leavitt's and Im thinking and praying for them as well! Grandma Leavitt is a warrior! 

Kerry, happy birthday!!! I hope it was full of crazy family adventures! 

Another joyous week labouring in the vineyard of Guelph! I dont know what it is about Guelph, but we have been giving more service to members here in the past 4 weeks than I have in my entire mission combined! This week the only days we didnt give service was on Monday and Sunday. It's been wonderful to get to know the members more personally and develop good relationships but all that service didn't leave us adequate time to go and find people to teach. Oops!  This week we will have to spend a ton of time on the pavement to get me back into the swing of things! I got spoiled with all this service and now I've become more lax with my missionary work. :S 

We were able to see Jen and her boys a few times this week! We started teaching them about the restoration but only made it to prophets. It takes some skill to keep 5 people focused on the message haha! The boys all love soccer so we decided to use an analogy to help them understand why prophets are important. We compared prophets to a team captain and Jesus Christ as the coach. The team captain is the one who has the authority from the coach to tell everyone else what plays to do etc.., without the team captain the players wouldnt know what to do and things would get really disorganized! It was fun and the boys enjoyed it. Then we get a text from Jen saying that she would like to stop meeting for now until David, the dad, gets home in August.... We're bummed but what can ya do! 

Later on in the week we were dropping by some formers and we stopped in on one guy named Chico. He was totally Spanish but spoke English. His grandmother on the other had spoke only Spanish and she kept talking to us in her super fast Spanish. I thought it was cool so I tried to have a conversion with her. I was able to say hello, how are you and thank you. I asked her what time it was and then I was at a loss haha! Regardless she was impressed with the little spanish I knew :) 

So Sunday roles around and we get to church and we start greeting some of the members and the next thing I know Brother Gray approaches me and asks me if I will give a 5-7 minute "testimony". Pffft! A 5-7 minuet testimony?! I though a testimony was a simple declaration of truth! I laughed and said I'd love to. 

Side note-> its hard to believe, but up until that day I had only been asked to speak in church ONCE my entire mission AND they gave me time to prepare! I have been spoiled! 

Sister Maeta and I sat down and my mind started racing. What on earth was I going to talk about?! I flipped through my scriptures and got a couple ideas but nothing really stood out to me. Then it came to me! I would talk about Elder Ballard's talk he gave! I started to organize my thoughts a little but before I knew it I was being called to the pulpit. As soon as I got up there my heart calmed right down. I stared off by informing the bishopric what a testimony was and said that instead I would give a spiritual thought followed by a testimony. They had a good chuckle :) I then shared from Preach My Gospel what it means to be diligent and related that to the talk Elder Ballard gave in general conference on the importance of follow up. I then followed up with the members about the commitment an apostle of our Saviour Jesus Christ left each member to start studying Preach My Gospel AND to invite a friend to take the lessons from the missionaries once a quarter (thats 4x's a year) and invited them to take a moment and reflect on how they have been doing with keeping this commitment. I said some more stuff and ended my talk by highlighting the blessings that we receive through the restored gospel: eternal families, salvation, knowledge of who we are and what our relationship is we God, help through our trials, living revelation from a prophet etc... I compared the gospel to a giant chocolate cake and posed the question that if you had this giant delicious cake, wouldn't you want to share it with your friends and family? The ward starts to chuckle and then I hear the bishop behind me say no. I turn around and ask him if he just said no and that got the congregation going :) I ended by reminding the ward that success is not determined by whether or not they accept the invitation but on if we sum up the courage to actually invite them. All the Lord asks is that we do our part and invite. The rest is up to our friends and family. 

After sacrament meeting Sister Maeta and I headed to primary where we were in charge of sharing time AND singing time... oh boy! If only you could have been there with Sister Maeta doing her best to lead the music despite only knowing the songs in French and me acting out all the songs to try and keep the kids focused. It looked more like an interpretive dance than anything! Those poor kids haha!

Well I've got to run! Love you all!  

Line of the Week: Dropping by a former named Jesus...

Sis Maeta: "Hi we are looking for Jesus!"

Jesus with a strange look on his face: ".... thats me..."

-> im trying to keep it together as we talk with him. As we start walking away I turn to Sis Maeta

Me: "...so Sister, in the Spanish culture they dont pronounce Jesus like we do in English..."

Sister Maeta realizes what she did and we both laugh so hard until we can't breathe!

Scripture of the Week: Mosiah 4:27

"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster then she has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."

A Haiku for You!

on the fly

let the spirit guide

cant go wrong

Sister Hall

A giant Griffin from Harry Potter!