WHERE ARE WE???

Sister Allen and I had the experience the other day of talking to a man over the phone that was making close to no sense and then at one point said in his thick Tennessean drawl "Well maybe when I get some money we can go to Burger King..." I had to bite my tongue and when we ended the call I just looked at her and said "Where are we?"  And then we both lost it, fall over rolling on the ground belly laughter. Ever since then that has become the quote of our transfer, "Where are we?"

Here are some of this week's "Where are we?" Highlights:

Talking to a man up a tree
While tracting we talked to a former investigator who drives a semi and wasn't interested at the moment but assured us he had "our Bible" and said he'd call if he ever had questions. We asked him if he knew anyone around who could benefit from our message he told us about his neighbors one of which was a Hispanic family. Of course we decided to go there! We knocked on the door with no answer... bummed we went to the next house. As we were walking back after getting completely rejected there, we heard a loud pounding sound coming from the sky and looked up at a tree to see a man with a machete chopping off branches. The closer we got we realized he was Latino and so I started yelling to him, he yelled back that he didn't live and was just working there for the day, a little too busy to discuss religion from the perch of a 30 foot tree but was super nice... tracting trees, who knew?! WHERE ARE WE?

Waiting for a man to fix a taillight and talk to us.
 We went to followup with a guy who flaked on our lesson this week. He didn't answer the door but we did find him around the side of his house getting something out of his car (Sneaky Sisters I know:) he asked if we could wait for just a few minutes while he finished up some things, we said of course and went to sit on his front porch. We waited and waited and then heard a drill... after peeking around the corner of the house we see him changing a taillight on his car. Sister Allen said to me, "if you told me a year ago we'd be sitting on a  front porch in Tennessee waiting for a Porto Rican French man to change a taillight before he comes and talks to us... I'd have thought you were crazy!" I almost fell off the bench laughing. WHERE ARE WE?!?!?

300 carloads of food
We went on powerups with the STL's where we both went to their area and split up. One goes with one the other with the other, we help "powerup" their area and learn from them. We went with them and a bunch of nearby elders to a local church's food bank and helped load over 300 cars with food. It was a really cool experience. We'd get a "buggy" (shopping cart or wagon) and workers would fill it with food and assign us a person to deliver to and they would walk out with us and we'd load it in their car or truck. It was extremely humbling and also such a great way to meet people and share about the church and missionary work. I absolutely loved it and again was once again impressed at the way I have repented and changed to the point of being able to immediately show an interest towards and love people I might have once turned away from. Helping a woman with a prosthetic leg get groceries for her family, meeting a disabled young man that told me all about his nerf guns, giving a hug to a woman who needed reassurance. All in the blazing sun... WHERE ARE WE?


Wrastlin marriage advice
Oh this one, I don't even know how to describe... a less active family reached out to us and said they wanted to get back into church and that the dad wants to prepare to receive the Melchizedek priesthood and become an elder... We can definitely help with that!!! So we went over there and had a nice meal and a really good lesson on the priesthood and talked to them about preparing to go to the temple. Of course the conversation eventually leads to the famous question "So how'd y'all meet?" In Utah that usually is the safest question in the book, out here in Tennessee, it can be soo sketchy. But we asked it anyway, the story of how they met wasn't all that bad but when it was followed up by the line (read in your best southern accent "you'uns remember this when you find nice men to marry... we have had a successful marriage of 17 years because we never stop wrastling..." Sister Allen and I both nodded and pulled the "ohh okay uh huh" in that classic uncomfortable sugary sweet voice, because we had noooo idea what that meant! We were nervous it was something along the lines of law or chastity but no no their daughter explained that she has to come in between fights when they start headlocks and flipping each other out of chairs and body slamming each other out of no where... WHERE ARE WE?!

Plarn
This woman, bless her heart has had previous contact with missionaries and loves family history. She said that we shouldn't get our hopes up because she is southern Baptist but that she was interested in coming to our enrichment night on indexing and family search this upcoming week. We were way excited at that but not so way excited when she then went off on a half hour tangent about crocheting and "plarn" (plastic yarn) She ties knots in plastic grocery bags and crochets them into mats for the homeless to sleep on. Pretty cool right? Yeah, until you have a lesson to get to in 5 minutes and she will not stop talking even after you thank her for the visit and stand and start side stepping to the door, ahhh WHERE ARE WE?!?!?!

Learning Chinese
Some recent converts in the ward are from China and we have been trying to get in contact with them for a few weeks now, we met the husband but couldn't get a hold of the wife and then finally did. We visited with her and her mom who speaks no English. We had picked up a Chinese Book of Mormon from the mission office and went to give it to her but she already has one, way to go missionaries!! Anyway we shared with them the classic John 14:27, gets me everytime, so much power in that verse. But we shared it and talked about the peace that comes from having faith in Christ and we learned some Chinese words along the way, peace = Hépíng and love =  Ài... Sister Allen has started doing language study with me and we joked we should just forget Spanish altogether and work on Chinese! WHERE ARE WE?!

Browning fans
We found a member's house just in time for a bathroom break, we were very hydrated and dying while at an appt near them. On their truck was a buckmark sticker and in their home were mounted whitetails, I played the Browning card and showed a couple of hunting pictures, let's just say the ward is shocked at this "sweet sister missionary that's a huntress" I found some of my people out here!!!! And my hunting stories apparently were a topic in priesthood because when we had dinner at our Bishop's house he made it a point to go get his old Browning over and under 22 rifle. He was pretty excited, so was I. WHERE ARE WE?!

Dear Elder Classic
Ok so there is this website where you can write missionaries letters and they print them off and deliver them all around the world. Convenient right? Well in addition to that there is my personal favorite feature on the site the tab: "Dear Elder..." which is a collection of "dear johns" elders receive and submit over time. Ah man I read through a ton of them when I was home one summer. Some are so bad they're sad, some are so funny and some are downright rude. I remember reading one in particular that was from an Elder in behalf of a girl to her boyfriend a different Elder serving in another country. It was very formal and talked about how they were developing a relationship with each other and with Christ and praying about their decision and date... FOR BAPTISM!! It had me hook, line, and sinker!!! I thought it was so well played. But anyway long story short the person that received that letter while in the field and later submitted it is our Bishop!!!! He began telling the story and I knew exactly how it went I was so excited I asked if I could have a signed copy. I'll definitely attach a picture, but what a small world!!! WHERE ARE WE?!?!?!

Midnight referral and golden boy
So this is the climax of the email, hopefully you've gotten a good chuckle so far but this one will hopefully bring the Spirit... Friday night we were sound asleep until 12:58 a.m. when a text came in... our ringer was on and so it woke both of us up. I groggily opened it and saw that some sister missionaries in a far off land sent us a referral... a guy had requested a book of Mormon online and when asked why he said "I just wanted to try it out. I heard it does great things for people." To be honest I thought I was dreaming, when I woke up 5 hours later I remember praying that that had actually happened and then looked at the phone and saw it was indeed true. I felt the strongest sense of hope and excitement than I have felt in a long time, I was a little scared to trust it but decided to. We called the number and set up a time to go deliver the book to him, we both felt really good about it when we hung up. After getting lost on the way to his house and calling him again we eventually found him and gave it to him with a brief introduction and overview of the Restoration. He said he would get started reading and that it sounded interesting. We invited him to church and then headed on our merry way. On the drive back we discussed how we both felt "really good about him" that was confirmed when he texted us later asking what he should wear to church on Sunday. We responded letting him know that normally it's shirt and tie attire but he would be welcomed no matter what. We then asked him how reading was going and he said that he had read the intro, testimonies, and first chapters... We grew more and more excited as time passed. Sunday came and we anxiously waited for him to show up, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute... nothing, we texted asking him to let us know when he got there and then he called us, and said he was turning down the street, PHEWF!!! We walked out to meet him in the parking lot and walked in with him giving him a brief overview of the sacrament and how meetings were set up. We sat down and prayed our brains out when the meeting was on girls camp and testimonies. I exercised every ounce of patience when the out of control four year old behind us would not stop whining and was so distracting and kept kicking the pew. Some kids need the classic Travis Hall "BREATHE THROUGH YOUR NOSE" reprimand and some adults need to take their kids outside! My goodness we were dyinggggg. But God is good and the influence of the Holy Ghost is real. Because our investigator said he enjoyed it and after asked "So what's next, what should I do?" We explained we teach the next class and he was welcome to stay and he did. Gospel Principles hasn't been taught in months and so we started on lesson one: "Our Father in Heaven" which couldn't have been more perfect. This guy has been confused about God his whole life, but said he felt something when we talked to him the other day and delivered the book of Mormon. He said he wasn't sure if it was because he hasn't had any coffee (because he quit drinking it when he read we don't drink it.... what...WHAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!) or what but he felt "fulfillment, hope, and clarity." The rest of our lesson was fantastic Sister Allen did SUCH a good job explaining and guiding the lesson to his specific needs, she is becoming such a talented teacher, I'm so mama hen proud of her!!! But anyway it was a good lesson and 3rd hour was combined so he stayed for that as well. It was on welcoming and fellowshipping new and returning members, how convenient. Afterwards the Bishop's wife invited us all over for dinner and we went and had another really good lesson and went over most of the Restoration lesson and answered many of his questions. Someone had mentioned a baby blessing and I felt prompted to explain that, we contrasted the difference between a baby blessing and infant baptism and explained the age of accountability. He turned to me and said "So what happens if you've missed the age deadline of 8?" I reassured him it's a minimum requirement not a maximum age requirement and he said "Oh ok good" and then asked another question. Sister Allen and I made eye contact and were both trying not to let our inner giddiness get the best of us. We know that he is who we have prayed for. I feel so at peace with him and his intent and desire, HE GAVE UP COFFEE WITHOUT US SAYING A WORD!!!! HE HAS READ 20 PAGES OF THE BOOK OF MORMON!!! He explained to us that "if I'm going to try this out I wanna see if I can do it" OHHH MY GOODNESS, WHERE ARE WE?!?!?!

My mission scripture is Alma 26:37

Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

I thought I knew then but now know more than ever that God is so perfectly aware of us.
 We may not understand where we are most of the time but He does ALL of the time.
We may not understand why we are where we are or how we got there but the important thing to remember is that He knows. He has not forgotten us, He will not leave us comfortless, He wants so badly, so desperately to bless us, to show us He is mindful, but we have to be willing to receive the blessings and be changed enough to look for His tender mercies and beg for His mercy and miracles. Every miracle that His perfect son, our older brother Jesus Christ ever performed was preceded by faith. And it is after the "trial of our faith" that blessings come. Sister Allen and I in our 6 weeks in Oak Ridge have seen and experienced the trial, the test, and the great reward of faith. In small ways we are understanding our Savior's life and his own trial, test, and great reward. We know that through faith in Him we can be recipients of great rewards and miraculous blessings.

This is my joy and my great thanksgiving. I, like Ammon, will give thanks unto my God forever, for allowing me to have the opportunities in my life to see and experience change and to be a part of the greatest decision people will ever make in their life: to choose Christ and His gospel.
That y'all make that choice each day is my prayer.

Please have a blessed week!
Remember He's mindful... from Tennesee to Utah and everywhere around and in between He knows, He lives, He cares, He is merciful, He is mindful.

Love,
Hermana Hall


 "I love Jesus"  Say it loud and say it proud!!!


Pastor parking at a local church

LOVE care packages!!!! Thanks Holts!!!








LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE IS TURNING INTO A VOLS FAN AND GETTING HER WISH LIST FOR CHRISTMAS,  boots to send home to mom and rain boots for McKenzie!



And another Browning fan!!!

"You Gotta Believe You're Gonna Catch Fish"

So first of all HAPPY SHARK WEEK Y'ALL!!! I was so pumped to receive a shark week package in the mail from my dear sweet great white familia!!!! I'm glad that they are enjoying shark week, and that the festivities and decor has traveled to Oak Ridge Tennessee. Sister Allen and I are enjoying the shark print pillow cases, stickers, and wall clings. And what's a package without a famous Nancy Hall reusable bag?! Those Wal-Mart people sure are impressed when I remember to bring my own bags and try to save the planet one grocery bag at a time!!! But this week I want to share a lesson I learned in a fly fishing class over a year ago and share a few stories. 

Ok so last year in preparation for our infamous never-to-be-forgotten-world-class-bent-rod-had-to-be-there-oh-na-na-c'mere-bear-the-name's-tina-have-some-salmon-and-blueberries-only-Hay-will-get-this-super-amazing-Alaskan-fly-fishing-trip my dad enrolled Bridger and I in a 6 week fly fishing course through Davis High with none other than THE Mr. Navodomskis. He is quite a boisterous man who knows everything there is to know about all things fly fishing. Admittedly I learned a lot from his class, I also drew some pretty fantastic doodles during his lectures. However never in a million years did I think one of his personal experiences was going to come to mind and into play during my mission in the middle of Eastern Tennesee. But it did, and it's helped me a lot. One day mid schpill he shared something that I remember jotting down and doodling about.... he was so animated and getting so pumped up about fishing and I remembered he bounced on his heels and yelled "YOU GOTTA BELIEVE YOU'RE GONNA CATCH FISH!!!!" He told us that his son is a great fly fisherman because he honestly believes every time he goes fishing that he is going to catch fish.

Alright let's apply this to the gospel. I need to believe that I'm "gonna catch fish..." WE need to believe we are going to catch fish. We need to believe that there are those being prepared to become caught up in the gospel and to change their lives. Our call as missionaries is to be "fishers of men." My goal is to believe more each day that I'm going to catch fish... we are going to catch fish... Sister Allen and I are going to catch fish . Which brings to mind the chapter in Matthew when Christ calls his apostles and asks them to leave their nets and follow Him... I wrote about that at the start of my mission, about what nets I left and which nets I still need to work on leaving. It's a daily decision, to leave our nets and follow the Savior. I've also written a bit about offering our fishes to the Lord, when we give him all that we have, our 5 loaves and 2 fishes, He multiplies it and works miracles. I say it over and over, He can do so much more with us than we can on our own... Well now I want to talk about another fishing story from the life of Christ.

I recently have had my eyes opened to the scene at the sea of Tiberius, and I want to share what I have learned. You know the background, the apostles had just lost Christ, so they thought... their Master had "gone the way of the earth" so they thought... He had "given up the ghost" so they thought... they were saddened and so what did they think to do? What they've always done, they went back to their nets, they went fishing. And they were miserably unsuccessful (kind of like our week last week, hmm the gospel is just so true and so applicable) they were out all night with no results and were probably pretty grumpy and frustrated by the morning. And as they were out on the sea in their boat: grumpy, unsuccessful, grieving, missing a loved one, feeling like failures, not knowing their purpose, scared, lonely, frustrated, confused... doing what they knew to do, what they thought was best... as they were sitting in this state there came a figure on the beach who called out to them. And what did He say?
"Cast the net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find" John 21:6
And did they want to do that??? I think if I was on the boat I probably wouldn't have wanted to... I'd probably have given one of my famous eye rolls and grumbled, "This wise guy doesn't know we've been out here all night with no success" but I also think and hope I would've then said "But you know what boys??? We've been here all night... let's try it... what've we got to lose?" and then I'dve chucked the net onto the right side... Now who knows if that is what the Apostles thought process was that morning, but we know that's what ended up happening... they casted their nets on the right side... and the result? They couldn't pull in the amount of fishes that were caught! It was immeasurable, they couldn't receive It, didn't have the ability to comprehend the amount, didn't have the strength to hold it all, or the capacity to retain It all, that was how blessed they were. It was as if "the windows of heaven poured out a blessing, and there was no room to receive it" Well It was John who recognized the figure on the shore that called out that inspired advice. He said to Peter, "It is the Lord." And then we know Peter bailed off the side and swam to shore, and we know the rest of the conversation... But I want to stop right there and let that sink in, both to my heart and yours...

                                                                 

You see, Christ DID know that they had been out all night, He knew they were feeling unsuccessful, frustrated, and confused. He knew what they were feeling and He knew how to help. He knew where the fish were. And when the apostles trusted that, they had success... do you get where I'm going with this? When we rely on our own understanding, our own intellect, opinion, and experience, more often than not we end up stuck in a boat lonely, tired, frustrated, and confused. BUT if we trust in the Lord, and do what He suggests, put His counsel to the test, then there will be more success and more blessings than we can even pull in. HE KNOWS WHERE THE FISH ARE, and we gotta believe we will catch them... as long as we are working for and on the right side... literally and figuratively.

So last week Sister Allen and I were on that boat... it was a long dark week, we had been going off of our own understanding, our own intellect and fishing where we thought was best... and we ended up frustrated, confused, and tired. Then someone taught us that lesson, and we put it to the test. We fasted and prayed and cast our nets to the right side and there were blessings... and they are continuing to be caught, not exactly how we expected... but how He intended.

Here are four of them...

A Spanish referral from the Elders in the area next to us. Honduran men at a restaurant, a very prepared but very distraught man and another random investigator at church.

LATINA: So we received a referral our first week here, and never had been able to contact her, but the Elders said they felt like they shouldn't drop her and we didn't want to either until we had met her. We had been over there multiple times with no answer, we called and texted also with no answer. Finally I mustered my courage and left her a very broken Spanish message. And she called back. And she scheduled a time for us to come by. And we went. And it was the wrong time. Doce (12) and dos (2) sound similar but are different, very different ;). But esta bien because she rescheduled for the next day. So we went back. At the right time. I had role played the Restoration lesson  with Sister Allen and felt a little apprehensive but mostly good about it. And then we knocked on her door and started talking with her and she is so sweet! Oh my goodness I have such a special place in my heart for people who speak Spanish!!! This might be bad to say but they are way easier for me to love instantly! Some of these stubborn Tennesseans take my stubborn heart a little, or sometimes a lot more time to open to. Anyway, we started talking to this woman, and the conversation was going well, you know what, actually...  it was going great. She understood, I understood, Sister Allen even applied some of her college course Spanish and understood! But guess what... I didn't teach the Restoration lesson I had practiced... nope on that hot and humid front doorstep I began teaching the Plan of Salvation... not because I wanted to, noooo no. My own understanding and intellect and desire would've been to teach what I had practiced, fish where I knew. But I know that that isn't how Christ taught... He knows where the fish are, and He knows how to catch fish. He knows where she is at in her life right now and what questions she needs answers to and what things she needed to talk and testify about. And I also talked and taught and testified. I trusted Him and did what I could, gave Him my 2 fishes, my broken Spanish, threw my net off the right side, prayed, "I don't know how I'm supposed to teach this but you do, so I'll do what you want me to do..." the result? Well she wants us to come back on Thursday!!! You gotta believe you're gonna catch fish!!!! With HIS help.

HONDURAN: at a restaurant we were at with our ward mission leader as we were getting ready to go I heard a Spanish accent say "Ah! Missioneros!" Unfortunately I was mid conversation with our ward mission leader and didn't say anything to the guys and we walked out. And when we got out to the car I said to Sister Allen, "I can't decide if we should've talked to those guys..." she responded that she needed to go back in to go to the bathroom so we could talk to them then... in my mind I thought, "Ooh awkward I don't really want to go back, I don't want to make a fool of myself..." And then another part of me thought "Oh well what have we got to lose? I'll trust a prompting if it is one... And if it's not then oh well esta bien" (sound like the ship in Tiberius conversation? Yeah weird I know... I guess I'm predictable;) so we went back in, and it was awkward... no doubt about it, but turns out the one guy recently moved from Honduras AND HE'S MORMON!!!!! WHAT?! Yes! You read that right!!!! So we gave him our card with our Church address and are praying he shows up sometime soon. Once more Christ knows where the fish are! And we have to believe we can catch them!

STRUGGLING SEAMAN: we met another referral who honestly is one of the biggest studs I've ever met in my life. He has investigated and studied the church for 9 years and speaks 7 languages. His grandparents were members and two of his brothers are. He has led a very interesting life with some heavy and intense involvement in the military. He honestly seems like the most prepared person I have met so far in my mission, the problem is, he doesn't think he will ever feel worthy enough to be baptized because of his career and background in the military. That shatters my heart BUT Christ knows how to catch fish and He'll help and guide us.

CHURCH ATTENDEE: well once more we were sitting in church and had a random guy we tracted into show up!!!! The bishopric must get a show at our faces and the look of pure shock and elation when we see a person unexpectedly saunter in last minute. This man, aw man y'all he hasn't been to church in 30 years, AND HE CAME! He said it was very different and a lot of it went over his head... to be honest it was a difficult one for me to keep up with as well, some fast paced Book of Mormon comparisons between antichrists and a pitch on the pathways education system... yikes... But the hymns were powerful! Anyway unfortunately he couldn't stay longer than sacrament but said he'd like to come back next week again! Christ knows where the fish are and we gotta believe we can catch them!!!

To close I want to bear my testimony of the divinity of this work and the perfect example of our Savior Jesus Christ. It never ceases to amaze me how applicable His teachings and life is to our own. As well as how the scriptures truly are "living words" they apply to us at different times in different ways, and I'm so grateful for them! I love the things I'm learning and for the opportunity to learn and grow! I am so grateful for the inspired age change and the opportunity to be out here now learning what I am in the most selfish stage of my life doing the most selfless thing in the world. I'll never regret nor forget the experiences I am having and people I am meeting.

I hope you all have a blessed week and that you examine your life, and find the fishes. Leave your nets, give your five loaves and two fishes. And follow Him. He knows where the fish are and how to catch them, if you believe you can catch fish and trust Him to help you, more blessings await than you have the ability to receive. I know that, now more than ever, and today more than yesterday. This gospel is so true and so real.

Love y'all!!!! Have a JAWesome day!!!!

Love,
Hermana Hall

PS I do recognize it's Pioneer Day hope you have a great one!!!! I'm grateful for those who paved the way for me to he here!!! "Blessed honored Pi-oneers!!!"

 

GET LOST!

So I'm not just calling this letter that because a lady told us that at the door this past week, although that did happen... She was quite a character... one of those "I don't go to church, church is in my heart, but thanks anyway" types of people. It had been a rough day, seriously frustrating, down in the record books as one of the most frustrating days in all my 230 something days of mission experience. I was admittedly a little dejected by the lack of success, the frustration of this area, and people just flat out not taking us seriously... Needless to say I probably could have been kinder to this woman, as we walked away after she shut the door I felt a little bad... it was then when sister Allen said "Ugh we didn't even give her our card!!!" So we decided we'd go stick it in the door... when we got to the porch I decided to knock again, you know following Elder Holland's admonition to be "more persistent than an Avon lady." She came back down the stairs and was like, "Really? You're back?" We explained that we at least wanted to give her our card and she said she'd only take it because she knew it would make us feel better. I asked if I could share a scripture she said "It's a good thing y'all are cute..." um ok? She then went on to explain how she believed in reincarnation that her God loved her and He was ok with her. She said that I had kitten eyes and was probably a reincarnated Sphinx... hmm sounds exotic... We told her that we knew God loved her that we were each part of His family and He is perfect and wants us to become better and return to Him. She looked at me and said "Well if He's perfect why do we have imperfections?" Without even thinking I said "So we can learn." She gave me a high five for that response and said "Dang girl they taught you well..." which gave us the opportunity to explain that we do go to church and are taught but then we have experiences on our own through prayer and find out for ourselves if what we have been taught and learn is true, and that we both have found that it is and that is why we are out here. She softened considerably as we talked more, it ended up being a good conversation she wished us the best of luck warned us about the blankety blank people around and then said in the sugary sweetest voice "Alright girls scat, get lost, and good luck..."

Now that was honestly a highlight of that day... we had a ward member chew us out over something dumb, an old man said "we aren't welcome to visit here," a bunch of "I'm Baptist" door slams a handful of "I'm Catholic" door slams, and a whole string of doors just staying closed. At one point both sat in the car venting our frustrations. It was getting close to the end of the night and our expectations as Sister Allen put it were: "at rock bottom." Preach My Gospel says "If you lower your  expectations your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit." That was us. We couldn't understand how we could've gone from going to a Zone Conference a few days before and getting pumped up over the fact that President Pickett had testified that he knew we were foreordained to come to this mission. That we should be so grateful that we had made it and that we had made it with our companions, that we had promised each other  we would get there and do a great work. Sister Allen and I really took that to heart imagining the discussion we had in the preexistence and the excitement we may've felt knowing that we would have the privilege and opportunity of living in the same area and attending the same schools, that because of our choices we played on the same golf team, chose the same classes, and decided to come on a mission where we were given the opportunity to be companions and serve in the Poplar Creek Area. That nothing happened because of coincidence, there is no such thing. We were so energized by that thought, and then we had a down in the dumps day. Wondering: Why? Why are we here? Who are we here to find? What are we doing wrong? Are we wasting our time and the Lord's time? Is our desire not there? What is the matter? Why do people overlook us? Why do they hate what we are and what we teach and represent? Why?

So we said some prayers and kept walking, and said some more prayers and kept driving, said some more prayers and had a pep talk and said some more prayers. Overtime they got more and more sincere and more real and more conversational and it got to the point where we were begging to know, begging to have strength and desire and success. To know what the Lord's will is for us. And did we find the golden investigator? Do we have a baptism this week? Did we find the miracle person you read about in Ensigns?  Nope. But I'll tell you what did happen... We endured, endured it well, we finished the night strong, we went in ready to do our training and have dinner. Our zone leaders came over and gave us some tips on what we could try and reminded us of their training on finding out Heavenly Father's will for us in this area. We assured them we were praying, and then we went to bed... and then Sunday rolled around. And oh my my Heavenly Father sure let us know He was aware of us, every meeting we went to was so inspired. Ward Council had an emphasis on how the ward could be more welcoming and better about fellowshipping and being missionaries. Sacrament meeting was all about faith, gratitude, and compassion, Sunday school's topic was about preaching the gospel, and Relief Society ohh Relief Society... my goodness it was about that darn famous phrase "Forget Yourself and Go to Work" it was titled "Losing Yourself in the Service of Others." The famous story of Gordon B. Hinckley as a frustrated missionary never rang more true, it never struck me more deeply, as I pointed the words out to Sister Allen,

“That July day in 1933 was my day of decision. A new light came into my life and a new joy into my heart.”

Neither one of us could deny the awareness Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost had in our life. We too are in the month of July and are frustrated, and we need that same counsel President Hinkley was given as a frustrated missionary. We need to have a day of decision and have a new light in our life and a new joy in our hearts.

And we will do that by doing as that woman told us and "getting lost..." lost in the work. President Hinkely explains just how to do that when he says:

Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. Lend your efforts to helping people. Cultivate a spirit of forgiveness in your heart against any who might have offended you. Look to the Lord and live and work to lift and serve His sons and daughters. You will come to know a happiness that you have never known before if you will do that. I do not care how old you are, how young you are, whatever. You can lift people and help them. Heaven knows there are so very, very, very many people in this world who need help. Oh, so very, very many. Let’s get the cankering, selfish attitude out of our lives, my brothers and sisters, and stand a little taller and reach a little higher in the service of others. … Stand taller, stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Forget yourself.


 What that woman told us is exactly what I need to do, it's what we need to do it's exactly what Heavenly Father wants us to do, He wants us to get lost in this great work. That might just be part of His will for Sister Allen and I, to forget ourselves and get lost, go trust Him, have hope for those around us, but to get out and serve and love, have the faith to find those that are prepared, the faith to drop people that aren't committed, have the desire to teach, the ability to speak with power and love. And to just go out and work. I'm starting to realize as I reread President Hinkely's quote that it isn't just our purpose and His will for missionaries, this is His will for every single one of His children. We are here to help each other back home, to our Heavenly home. At Zone Conference one of our Zone Leaders answered a question that I feel every missionary has at some point, the question or I guess the frustrated statement of: "Why can't Christ teach this message? If He was here to prove my point and my testimony everyone would believe this is Christ's church, if He were here to teach it would go perfectly..." I've definitely thought that a time or two. But this Elder said something that changed my life and I need to let it continue to... He explained that if Christ were here to do what we were doing He would foil the Plan of Salvation. Because everyone would believe, (there would probably still be disbelievers because there always are) but overall vast majority would believe because of proof, and perfection. And that hinders their ability to choose and find out for themselves and to act in faith. Jesus Christ did something for us that we cannot do and now we are doing something for Him that He cannot do, He cannot have the faith for us or make the choices for us. He needs us to share this message. He needs us to act in faith in Him, He needs us to give and serve and needs us to grow and learn and develop. He needs our help and after all He has done... our zone leader said   "I want to help my Savior and Redeemer."

...Wow... I want to help too, I want to do what He would do and help as He would because He has done everything for me... literally. I want to serve, I want to get lost in this work, I want to be motivated every day, I want to be up and doing, I want to have success and feel like I am doing my part, I want to be happy knowing I have a Heavenly Father and a Savior who are aware of me and want me to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost beside me. So I'm going to keep working on it day by day, I know that it doesn't come all at once that it happens over time, that bad days don't disappear but further strength comes to get through them and greater ability to see the good comes. I know that by overcoming hard days you demonstrate faith, which leads to repentance and renews covenants and promises the gift of the Spirit and continues the process of enduring to the end. This gospel is perfect and so is Christ, He said it best:


‘Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.’ (Mark 8:35.)


I invite each one of y'all to examine your life and find an area to improve, listen to the promptings of the Spirit. Go visit that lady that popped into your mind while reading this, text a friend you haven't talked to in a while, read a chapter in the Bible and another in the Book of Mormon, take your kids to the temple, write a thank you note and leave it for a family member, help someone at the grocery store, wave at 5 cars that go by, take your sibling out for ice cream, shut your phone off for three hours... GET LOST!!!!

I promise you'll find blessings and happiness you didn't know were there. Even on those tough days... it's been said that "service saves lives..." I'd say in more ways than one... it can save yours it can save someone else's and it helps the Savior. So go out and get to work. Go out and serve.

Have yourself a blessed week and bless someone else's week!
Let me know how it goes! I've got faith in you!
Love,
Hermana Hall

Hot dogs and Rain

A WHOLE LOT HAPPENED THIS WEEK so if you're interested here's the details and yes that play by play is accurate and you'll find it isn't even exaggerated.

FOURTH OF JULY FLOOD: man alive the fourth here was: as one of our members put it best: "Lamesauce..." we had hoped to get involved with some community events... go to a carnival, meet loads of people, attend a cookout, and have a grand old time with fireworks of course. Nope it poured rain... All day... there was no parade, no carnival, no decorations even! Apparently in Oak Ridge (where most of our area is, the cities we cover are Oak Ridge, Wartburg, and Oliver Springs the area and ward is called Poplar Creek)  anyway apparently here in Oak Ridge all of the budget goes to the "Secret City Festival" which happened like the week before we got here, and so they don't do much for the fourth other than fireworks. So we spent our day at district meeting and trying to talk to people in the pouring rain at a park, we got so drenched we had to come home and throw our festive red white and blue outfits in the dryer because we had were soaked to the bone!!! We did end up going to the Melton Lake Elders (they share a church building with us but are in a different ward, this area is so densely packed so different than Rockwood there are actually two wards in the building, almost a tiny bit like home... but not really at all;) but we went to their ward mission leader's home for board games, hot dogs... blech, and a mini firework show. It actually was really fun, we played "liars dice" like Davy Jones on "Pirates of the Caribbean" Sister Allen kicked everyone's trash by winning every game we played... greenie fire. Our curfew was extended to 10:00 but the fireworks still hadn't started and we were soaked to the bone again after walking around the park trying to talk to people geared up with ponchos and umbrellas, sadly the spirit of freedom and titles of liberty were not proudly waving. However the band played on and we marched to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" back to the car and came home, changed into pj's, made hot cocoa, and embellished our mugs with red white and blue marshmallows from Sister Allen's mom. We took our cocoa out and sat in our car outside the house and watched the fireworks in the distance. It is a day I will never forget, not typical by any means, not anything I expected, but so perfectly imperfect. I must be in Poplar Creek!


                                                   

                                       

THROWING UP IN THE FRONT YARD: I woke up the next morning feeling extremely nauseous... I kid you not I had just finished reading an email from my girl Sister Sam Sargent who had a battle with food poisoning this past week, and I remember thinking "Awh I relate to the poor girl!" Then within minutes I was hollering for Allen telling her I needed the bathroom and boom I was done for. My morning was miserable to say the least, all I wanted was my mom, but the craziest part is not only was she wasn't there but she has no idea I was even sick, she's just finding out as she's reading this!!!! Just learning that I was sicker than a dog this week! It's such a weird position to be in, to be so far removed from communication with people you love so much and who usually know everything about you. However, lucky for me I have a new mission mama Sister Pickett our new mission president's wife. She is the temporary medical coordinator because our old one is home now. I called her and spoke with her for the first time in my disgusting zombie state... and she is precious!  Compassionate to the point she unknowingly made me cry with relief, I just love her. She recommended I put baking soda in water to calm my stomach. Good tip but we didn't have any... Our cupboards were also empty of pepto, sprite, saltines, tums the normal coping methods. So that meant we had to make a Wal-Mart run. I put on my comfiest dress grabbed the "barf bowl" and headed to the car with Sister Allen at the wheel... I made it all of 10 seconds before she had to pull over, yikes... she was so patient though, I owe a lot to her. She put up with my grandma shuffle through Wal-Mart getting the necessary supplies and meds and then was hopeful that I was in the clear until we made it home and she was unlocking the door and I threw up in the front yard. Real classy... But she was just like my mom and got me a bowl of ice and saltines and poured me some Gatorade and a baking soda shot and sent me to the room. I took a nice three hour recovery nap, ended up calling the old medical coordinator in Idaho who put me on a 24 hour clear liquid diet and then a 24 hour B.R.A.T. diet, don't worry it's not an insult it stands for bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast, and it is horrible. But it worked. I'm all better. We even went out that night and visited with some people. Someone used the excuse of "she can't come to the door she's indisposed..." looked that word up on my dictionary app and couldn't help but laugh and say: hey same!!!! But life goes on, I must be in Poplar Creek!
                      

CARWASH COMMITMENT: We met a lady last week at a gas station in Wartburg who was interested in us coming back up to talk with her. Well we did but we could not for the life find her address! You know at your average car wash you have the wash, the vacuums and usually a little out building where the pumps, pipes and utilities are? Well that little out building... THAT IS WHERE SHE LIVES!!! We had driven past it like 45 times thinking there is absolutely no way anyone lives at the carwash! Well surprise surprise she does!!!! It even has a mailbox!!! But our lesson went amazing, even if her kitten was biting my hand throughout half of it, Sister Allen and I taught with a lot of unity and power and invited her to be baptized and she accepted!!! EEEEE!!! We need to set a specific date but we have high hopes for her! I must be in Poplar Creek.... for a reason!!!

CONSTRUCTION CREW AT CHURCH: we were out tracting one evening and the first door we knocked at no one answered but as we were standing on the porch around the side of the house comes a construction worker, we start talking to him and explaining who we were, what church we represent, you know the casual small talk stuff, then his buddy comes around too and we talked with him, find out they're business partners of a construction company and do chainsaw carvings on the side... pretty legit guys. We ended up chatting about opposition in all things and what a blessing it is that God knows us perfectly and Christ understands us perfectly and through Him we can get through anything. We left them our card and as we were leaving Sister Allen much to my surprise and proud trainer mama self boldly invited them to church. Quite honestly i walked away thinking "another card, another no call, no show" well fast forward to Sunday... We are sitting waiting for sacrament meeting to start when I get an elbow to the ribs and turn to see our construction buddies, sauntering in and plopping down right by us. I had to force my eyes to not be so wide and pick my jaw up off the floor. It was the coolest miracle and tender mercy!!!! These two honestly hoodlum men, reeking of smoke, dirt under the fingernails, earrings, work boots, ripped up jeans and button ups, sitting with us in church. It was the most beautiful and awe inspiring scene. That being said you never realize how relaxed you are at church until you have nonmembers with next to you. Suddenly you're completely on edge at every casual reference to "stake buildings, home and visiting teaching statistics, magnifying your callings, Nephi and Sam versus Laman and Lemuel, wars in heaven, general authorities, and my personal favorite: Michael the Archangel" but we all survived and they seemed to even enjoy it! Ugh It was the sweetest thing... they were on the end of the pew and when the water came around the guy on the end took four cups and passed them down individually instead of the entire tray, Sister Allen and I kind of got the giggles on that one as we stacked our cups and passed them back. But they seriously just warmed my heart and soul, I am SO excited to continue to teach them!!!! I must be in Poplar Creek... for a reason!

BAPTISM IN A STREAM: The Melton Lake Elders had a convert get baptized and she requested to have it outside. So we drove through the pouring rain to our Stake President's farm land property and stream. Miraculously after many prayers the weather cleared and the spirit was strong as we sang "I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain, and ponder on the beauties of the earth made clean again, I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain, I want to be the best I can, and love with God again." It was a beautiful service and we were able to meet President and Sister Pickett in person, they are both so loving and Christlike I instantly loved them. President Pickett asked where I'm from because I have an accent... I don't know what that is about some sort of Spanish Southern, Utahn, drawl flair. Cracked me up! I must be in Poplar Creek... for a reason!



SCREEN DOOR RAIN LESSON: if you couldn't tell already it was borderline monsoon season in these parts, one day we were sitting outside at our next door neighbor's reading the Book of Mormon with him when it began to mist, then trickle, then rain, then beat, then pour, then dump. He said that he couldn't bear to see us sit there and get soaked so our method of fixing the situation was for him to sit inside his house but because we couldn't go in we would sit on the teeny tiny porch and finish the lesson through the screen door. To any passerby we looked insane, but to him we were diehards who care and the spirit was there. He committed to writing his testimony of the Book Mormon down in the front of one for us or for him to give away. He said he never considered himself to be a missionary before and the realization brought tears to his eyes it was so worth getting soaked. So worth it. I must be in Poplar Creek... for a reason!

GOLDEN GIRL AT HARDEES: lunch after district meeting was sparse pickings because even though the town seemed to lack the holiday spirit many restaurants were closed for the day. Which left the choice to the elders who chose hardee's.... gag. We followed them there begrudgingly but tender mercies abound because there was our golden girl from our first week here working the register. She was excited to see us and gave us her number and said she hadn't made it back in town for our lesson with her or for church that week. She said her life was a mess and she needs prayers and to talk. We said we could definitely help with that and asked if we could set up a time to meet with Her. She was unsure but said she'd text us, we texted her and got one response but nothing since however we know where to find her. We won't give up. Elder Holland has been known to say: "my wife's Avon lady is more persistent than you!" We plan to be more persistent than any Avon lady. We'll get her, somehow someway, someday. Ohhhh rereading that, I must be a missionary and I must be in Poplar Creek... for a reason!!!

BELIGERENT TEXT: Received a text from someone we had thought requested a Book of Mormon, we've gone 4 times no answer any of the times until in response to us trying to call and text her "Stop knocking on my door it is intrusive, I didn't ask for this, I didn't want any of this, if you continue to do so I'll call the authorities" ohhhhhkay ma'am note taken. Past missionaries used the word beligerent to describe someone that's another word we had to look it up once we did we use it all of the time this event specifically so. I must be in Poplar Creek!

YOU HAVE ARRIVED: I'm so sick of my dumb GPS, actually not completely I depend on that thing with my life at times. However when it takes you to the nuclear energy plant... that's no bueno, there's no investigators there at least not ones we can talk to without name badges security checks and proper licenses and identifications. I must be in Poplar Creek!!!

SWIMMING: the humidity is killer, we feel like we are swimming when we are just walking. Our hair is huge, our makeup melts off our face, but we keep on going, going for gold like Olympic swimmers. I must be in Poplar Creek!

I really am so grateful I am in Poplar Creek! I know I'm here for many reasons I don't know but am glad that there is someone much greater than me who does know. I'm grateful for the Lord's trust in me and for the many lessons I'm learning. The biggest thing I would say I am learning is that the Lord trusts me and I need to trust Him back. It's hard to trust that He'll take a crummy situation and transform it, but if you look at His life that is all He ever did, took hard situations, hardened hearts, hardened people and transformed them. And He'll do the same for each of us, if we let Him. If we trust Him. Like my favorite painting of Him, He is knocking at the door, but the doorknob is on our side. So trust Him and let Him in. And count the blessings and miracles in your life as a result, because they are there.

EVERYTHING happens because of Christ.

Love y'all
Have a most blessed week!
Stay away from hotdogs and out of the rain!!!!
Love,
Hermana Hall

After the rain, comes the rainbow

C'MON MAN & YEAHHH BUDDY

My family's favorite segment on Sports Center was C'MON MAN!  They would play game reels and bash on dumb plays, dumb moves, fumbles, turnovers, and overall "what were they thinking?!" moments, all followed by the famous phrase C'MON MAN!!!! There are some seriously funny moments in sports and if you haven't gathered by now there are some seriously funny moments in the mission field.

Here are some of my game reel C'MON MAN moments from the past week:

We have been trying to reorganize the area and info since we whitewashed, unfortunately the info the previous elders left us consisted mainly of: restaurants in town were good and a note letting us know if we wanted to get rid of their stuff they left behind we could burn it at a members house... useful tips right? Not really. So last Sunday we sat down with the ward clerk and had him print out many of the ward info forms. Lists of prospective elders, part member families, visiting and home teachers, children of record, etc. Then we took all the info and added it in to our digital roster of ward names and info... we sat outside for over an hour baking in the sun and going through nine pages of visiting teaching and home teaching info. All was going great until my tablet overheated and deleted all the changes we had made... C'MON MAN!!!!

We didn't end up taking the elders clothing to the burn pile we took it to the local Habitat for Humanity we volunteer at, as we were chatting with the lady that works there she gasps and points behind us and we turn around to see a lady back straight into our car throw her hands in the air and peel out of the parking lot, leaving her husband in the store... C'MON MAN!!! (FYI the South is so great some random guy walked in told us the plate number but as there was no damage- thanks to a nice bumper shield -our vehicle coordinator when we called him said everything was fine and to let it go)

We had a couple of doozies tracting... one lady barely opened the door a crack and said "What do you want?" Sister Allen: "We're missionaries!" Lady: "No!" (Spoken like Roz from Monsters Inc.) And slams the door... C'MON MAN!!! Another door opens and the man seems kind at first, figures out were Mormons and hands us back our card... Me: "You don't want this picture of Jesus?" Him: "No." Slams door... C'MON MAN!!!

Went with a ward member to a less active lady's house. Sweet lady but good grief there was the most putrid smell coating that place due to urine... not from animals... peppermint was not enough to mask it and even my past CNA work did not prepare me enough for that stench. Oh it broke my heart... C'MON MAN!!!!

Went to go roof a house for service, the guys there gave us a once over and were hesitant at first to let us do anything... C'MON MAN!!!

Now this one is easily the best one of all... Get ready... Saturday night, we fall into bed EXHAUSTED I swear that day would NOT end for the life! I konked out hard and fast, then in the fog of my mind I hear music. I laid there battling in my mind not to wake up, that I would regret it, but the music was growing louder and my consciousness was increasing. My eyes crack open and my ears perk up to hear "Imagine all the people living for todayyyy, youuuu-whoooo-oooo" The Beatles?!?!?! What in the world?! So back up I need to explain... our house is a duplex... we share a house-divided in half two separate entrances- with a less active elderly man and his grandson. This less active meets with the missionaries weekly and reads the Book of Mormon with them, but he has some bad habits... habits that result in our house smelling like skunk because the smoke permeates through the walls, and speaking of walls we can actually hear him snore THROUGH THE WALLS! So anyway John Lennon is belting away and I roll over and groan and check the clock and it is 3:30... 3:30 A.M. Y'ALL!!!! My goodness all I could think of was: "This guy is higher than a kite and I am losing precious precious sleep!" Sister Allen was about to plow through the wall when she finally came to and realized what was happening, I started laughing so hard when the image came to mind of how my dad would react to this scenario, ah man. I didn't do what he might of, I just groggily said "Let's pull our stuff into the living room" and we zombied into the main room dropped our mattresses there and tried to sleep as the music changed to electric guitar something or other. We woke up so stinking tired the next morning... y'all know what I'm about to say... say it with me now... C'MON MAN!!!!

Pretty great huh??? You just never know what you'll get thrown at you out here, but that's what life is like right? President Griffin always would say: "a mission is a mini life" so I'm learning to take what comes, laughs things off, accept what I can't change and change what I can, and focus on the good. And there was a LOT of good throughout the week. We pulled over and talked to a man who waved to us from his front porch and his most repeated phrase was "Yeahhh buddy!" Just picture  this sweet toothless old man repeating that: "yeahhh buddy" over and over, ah he's one of my favs!

I want to wrap up by sharing some YEAHHH BUDDY moments from the week:

Monday we went to Wal-Mart to get groceries and as we were buying some makeup and toiletries we started talking to a lady who was buying hair dye. It never ceases to amaze me how simple and amazing, how simply amazing it is to begin a conversation with casual small talk to a person in a random setting and then transition into religion, faith in Christ, and the gospel... and then watch and listen to the way they will connect and open up to you. There is something about being a missionary, there is something about that moment when you begin to share about what your purpose is or something about Christ, I'm still trying to figure it out... but something happens within the person you are talking to. Some sort of trust is built and they unload their burdens and begin to share their needs and their struggles. It is absolutely incredible! Sister Allen and I stood in an aisle of Wal-Mart and listened to a woman we just barely met talk about her struggles, the death that plagues her family, her broken and dysfunctional home, her kids, her past, her future. And then we gave her our card, gave her a hug, and gave her our promise that she would be in our prayers. I don't know what will come of it, I just know that she was grateful, we were grateful and humbled.... YEAHHH BUDDY!!!!

I mentioned above that there were some men that doubted our roofing abilities... well we proved them wrong!!! The previous elders set up a service project and then bailed out at transfers leaving us to deal with it. We show up at this house ready to work, the crotchety men were doubtful at first but later said they were impressed by our work ethic and willingness to climb up on a roof tear up tar paper, pull nails, lay new tar paper, and hammer more nails. YEAHHH BUDDY!!!!



The day after we had the hit-and-run accident we attended a dedication of a recently completed Habitat for Humanity home, it was at the local Baptist church on our road and we stopped in. We got an over-the-pulpit-shout-out due to our work the previous day and they took our picture for the Facebook page! The pastor even chatted with us, he didn't bash, and was actually really complementary and talked about his own "mission trip" YEAHHH BUDDY!!!!

We visited with a man who is moving out of our ward but quite possibly might be the most solid, strong, and powerful convert I have ever been in the presence of, even if he is sickly and was coughing up a lung during our visit. But really his conversion is so cool he wrote in to Salt Lake wanting to share and to his surpise it was published in the October 1992 Ensign! It's titled "Journey to Truth" and really is sooo good! His words gave me such hope that there truly are those out there that are prepared to receive this message, that are missing something, that have ancestors begging them to listen and ask if it is not true (Moroni 10:3-5). As we left he said to us "I love you both and I love what you're doing" my heart swelled to bursting, what a sweet man, what a humble servant of the Lord. YEAHHH BUDDY!!!

I am humbled by daily reminders of God's love and for the opportunity to write these letters home about my experiences seeing our Heavenly Father's hand in the details. His plan is perfect, it is entertaining at times, frustrating at others, but it is His and it is perfect. The sweet 10 year old in our fast and testimony said it best, "God and life is like an Imax movie theater, without the glasses the picture is blurry. But with God life is clear because He sees the big picture."
I am loving being out here peaches, pits, c'mon man, and yeah buddy moments good and bad. "Everything you are learning now is preparing you for something in the future" (Marjorie Pay Hinkley) I may not see it yet but it will all be worth it, someday, sometime, somewhere, because of Him who went before me.

Have a blessed week y'all!
Love,
Hermana Hall