Gutter Chocolates

Hey hey y'all since I've been out for 11 months now I think that have written over 40 of these emails to y'all. How wild is that?!?!?! Pretty darn, I would say. So this week I want to share something a friend of mine who also serving a mission shared with me. He was walking through the streets of Belgium when he stooped down in the gutter and picked up three brand new glittering golden Ferrero Roche chocolates! Talk about a tender mercy! Yum!  It caused me to reflect how often do we feel as though we walk in the gutters of life and fail to see golden tender mercy chocolates around us? There are moments of excitement and experiences that will bring us joy even if our surroundings may look like a dirty city sidewalk and gutter.

My challenge to  y'all,  look for those golden Ferrero Roche moments even if it was a gutter day. I want to share the golden moments from my week with y'all. Because they were there glittering, golden, and made me so happy, oh so very happy.

FERRERO ROCHE GOLDEN MOMENTS:

Monday
I was able to chat a little back and forth with my dad which I loved

A lady in the ward gave us a 8 trash bags full of old clothes to go through and I found footie PJ's and a cute striped shirt, score

We had pumpkin bread yummmm

Tuesday

District meeting was so on point with what I needed to hear, a good reminder of how we develop as missionaries over time but that we commit every day to be out here, daily commitment.

We got to do service at a farmhouse where one of our investigators is going to live with her fiancee (who is a member) they got married on Saturday woot woot more to come on that later. But I loved picking up walnuts and sweeping up the barn and basement in preparation for their new start together.

We had dinner at a members house wirh another investigator who just got married to a member named. Lots of part member scenarios here which are the best!!!! But it was a great night, they had some awesome fellowship and a great conversation about family, marriage, and conversion.


Wednesday

We met a lady at a gas station that remembered receiving a pass along card in her door and accepted a return appt

Even though a lady wasn't all there we said a prayer with her and she sobbed as we hugged her bye and left

I had this aha moment. People around here always talk about how judgmental people are at churches and so they don't want to go places where people are hypocrites. We always talk about  how church is a "hosptial for sinners and not a country club for saints" and that we all have things we need to be better and work on,  and we all pass unrighteous judgment blah blah blah but this was my aha moment: Judas betrayed Christ. Even Christ's apostles weren't perfect and betrayed Him. If we go looking for perfection and christlike goodness all of the time we won't find it. 

Thursday

COOLEST thing, we had to drive to the mission office two hours away to get our car fixed, any way long story short we are in the office and this guy walks in selling wooden crosses to support an addiction recovery group he is a part of, we were able to whip out a resto pamphlet give him an overview and contact info and tell him we could help get him set up with missionaries where he is from in Mississippi it was so cool to have someone just fall into your lap! He later texted us saying he was going to read the pamphlet and gave us his number to stay in touch. It's just so amazing to see how the Lord works through imperfect people like you and me.

Said a prayer to decide whether or not to stay in an area where we were looking for some less Actives no one knows. We decided to stay and we ended up finding two new investigators, the Lord knows where people are and He uses us to find them

Met some members while we were in Knoxville and they were cousins to a kid that I went to high school with that just got home from his mission, what the heck?! Small world...

Friday

Ah man every Friday morning we go to the local food bank  and volunteer there. I just LOVE the cuties we work with men and women all in their 70's and 80's ugh they are my fav. The guys all love that I can talk guns and hunting with them and I always sneak in Book of Mormon verses  when we have the chance they are all pretty set in their beliefs and churches but are also so welcoming and kind, I just love em!!!

OHHHHHH MY GOODNESS oh my goodness oh my goodness our long hair guy is not a long hair anymore HE CUT HIS HAIR!!!!! So get this... He went into the mountains to read scriptures and pray and as he read from the Book of Mormon he knew he needed to cut his hair, so he walked to the barbershop chopped it all off, buzzed it, and donated it, HE IS A CHANGED MAN!!!! So incredible to watch. Haha and oh my how can I forget,  he asked what it meant to be an "investigator" because apparently it was mentioned in church and when we explained what it was he was all "that's exactly what I'm doing! Investigating this church, trying it out" he was so pumped up I loved it. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and after we got through with it he said "Wow, how do you guys do this all day? I'm so burned out after that, I'm like way tired."  SO true, I definitely get burned out after an intense lesson, spirtual exhaustion is unlike anything else

We had to use the bathroom at this dumpy little dollar store and it was so disgusting, but before we went in we said hi to this lady who was sitting in her truck. It was just in passing but as we got up to the doors Sister See felt like we needed to go back and talk to her. Turns out she had seen us at her apartment complex when we were following up with people but either we didn't get to her apartment or didn't talk to her, either way we didn't recognize her.  But she was interested in us coming back and talking more with her and her family. We set up a time to come back by and she sped away after remembering she was baking something in her oven. I just love a good u-turn prompting to go back.

Saturday

It was our invrstigator's wedding!!!!! The moment we sat down in the middle of a field under a willow tree with rolling country hills in the background and an Adele song started playing I had this surreal feeling wash over me, part of it was the realization I could be living a scene from a movie, but a larger part was the thought and recognition that I was exactly where I wanted to be. Not just needed to be but wanted to be, sometimes as a missionary those times aren't frequent or pronounced. It's easy to get caught up in the days past, home life, or even future. But watching this couple start their life together and realizing we were helping them start it with Christ at the center. Wow. Nothing I've ever experienced before. And you know what? I know that those experiences aren't unique to me. Something like that WILL happen to you. And you'll recognize it, but something an old wrestling coach told our former mission president's son is "YOU CAN'T CHEAT THE GRIND!" There is no such thing as bypassing hard in order to sit down and relish in the happy and blissful moments of life. We have to experience rough to experience worth it. But the "worth it" times will come, I promise you that.

We tracted an area after going to look for a referral who ended up not being home. We were bummed because she was in a random part of our area so we  made the trip out to find her and she wasn't there. But not all was lost, we stayed in the area, walked down an old country windy road and tracted some farm houses, and double wides, we found two new investigators and ended up coming back to where the referral lived and guess what? She was outside her house with her dog! And we talked to her and she was way cool, and wanted us to come back this week. She has a young family and is super sweet. Wow it just so pays to stick around and see what the Lord will make out of your day. We had prayed for Him to magnify our day because when we make plans it gives Him something to work with, even if all of them fall through it's an opportunity for us to trust HIS plan, because it's always way better, but it takes a heck of a lot of faith to turn things over to Him, gotta beat that natural man, that toddler "I do it" response. As soon as we want to just do things on our own it's like Peter walking on water, we sink and feel like we are drowning, keeping our eyes set on the Savior and our trust in Him is the only way to keep from being beat up from the storms of life or drowning in the depths of uncertainty and doubt.

We had dinner with a less active and her non member husband we are working with. To say the conversation took a turn from where we wanted it to go was an understatement, tangent after tangent story after story all stemming from the question how has Christ blessed your life? We ended up reeling it in by sharing with them the family tradition of good ol' "peaches and pits" sitting around a table in a trailer in backwoods Tennessee eating broccoli pasta and sharing the peaches and pits from our week with this family was an experience I'll NEVER forget.

Sunday

I guess I can't call him our long hair anymore because he is clean cut!!! But he came to church again and during our gospel principles lesson he turned to the investigator that the Elders brought with them (we share an area and ward with Elders) but he turned to this guy and said "isn't being an investigator great?!" He is SO awesome I just love him, everything he says I just can't even handle!

Ok this is a random one but we found this dog at this house we were following up at and it had the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen, I'll send pics it was SO cool! Also at the other house we followed up with the lady called us "darlins" and I just LOVE southern terms of endearment, so cute!

And finally, We went with some members to a Joseph Smith family devotional where a direct descendent came and shared her conversion story and some family information clarifying rumors and false accusations about Joseph Smith and the church. It was really cool the spirit was so strong and there was a lady who was signing to a deaf person and as we sang the opening song "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" and I watched this woman sing and sign I felt the spirit so strong confirming again that Joseph Smith was truly a prophet of God, the prophet of the Restoration. One thing his great-great granddaughter said (and mind you this lady was amazing she had no idea who Joseph Smith was for a good portion of her life but she discovered him through a family member and went to Nauvoo and also to an Osmond family concert and long long story short the oldest Osmond, Allen? Maybe? I don't think that's right... But anyway he baptized her! How crazy is that, QUITE the conversion if you ask me) but anyway one thing she said that struck a cord with me is "The Holy Ghost trumps EVERYTHING! If the Holy Ghost has testified of truth and you encounter something thst confuses you or causes you to doubt... you need to kick it out the door." It was apparent to me in that mmoment that I just had a reconfirmation experience that I knew Joseph Smith was the prophet of the Restoration, so no matter who I encounter this week this month, the rest of the year the rest of my life I can't let thst DETER or sway me because the Holy Ghost trumps everything.  No one can take away a spiritual experience from you, only YOU can let it go. So don't do it, never ever never.

So there ya go! Lots of golden moments this week. Not to say that there weren't gutter moments too because there were, an entire morning one day... But it's all about the outlook, it's all about perspective and it's all about trusting in the Lord. Because this is His work, His world, His plan. For each one of us. And when we are down in those gutters of guilt, confusion, sorrow, bitterness, offense, sadness, depression, we just need to remember "He who descended below all" He has sunk into gutters much deeper much longer much more horrendous than anything we have and not only did He go there, He got out of there and will help us to do the same. If only we trust in Him.

Keep looking for those golden moments, they're around. I promise.

Love y'all!!!!

Love,
Hermana Hall

"God is Higher than Fun"

Alright to begin this I gotta tell you about this guy we met tracting. He came out and was pretty cool I thought. He had this super long curly hair and told us he had recently moved from Asheville North Carolina which supposedly is very "organic and hippie city." Anyway he was pretty receptive to what we had to say and accepted a pamphlet and said we could come back a couple days later. So a couple days later we were on exchanges on opposite ends of our area and weren't able to make it back to this guy's house, however he remembered and called when we were in the middle of a lesson and left not one, not two, but three voicemails. Asking if we still planned on coming back, saying he was expecting us and wanted to learn more, and finally that it was ok we didn't need to come back he wasn't really interested. But not to fear we called him back and were able to set up another time to go and teach him. That day came and when we got there he had already read the entire restoration pamphlet, which is rare. And he was SO excited to find and read a Book of Mormon, even more rare. So we had a lesson with him and it went really well. He was super receptive and everything went so good. Except for the times when we burst out laughing it was one of the coolest restoration lessons I've been a part of during my time out here. Now to quickly explain why we burst out laughing. At one point when I was testifying about the importance of prophets all of the sudden this guy, who is sitting across from us, reaches out and snatches the air right in front of my nose and yells "SPIDERWEB!!!!" Apparently floating through the breeze was a wisp of a spiderweb but not to worry he got It. I about fell off my chair in fear and Sister See lost it laughing. The spirit took off for a brief second but came right back to testify, especially when we gave him the Book of Mormon and explained more about it. Y'all this guy was elated! Truly as if we had handed him rubies and diamonds. He said he had purchased a note book to write in as he studied. Woohoo!!!!! How cool is that!? Ok but still the other point we started laughing was when he starts talking about "a pretty lucid dream" he had where he was "walking and saw a sign up ahead and as I got closer I read what it said as it came into view and it said in big letters GOD IS HIGHER THAN FUN. That was something I really needed in my life right then and I just really feel like God has been preparing me for this moment right now."

Well dude I couldn't agree more! I love this guy! When he said he would get baptized on December 16 even though he was scared of water but "if God wanted him to" he thinks he could do it, hearing that caused me to feel that happiness that is so unique to a missionary. That true joy that comes when people want to repent and follow our Savior. Then when he came to church and walked through the doors in a flannel, corduroys, and black socks with flip-flops, again the overwhelming joy filled me and radiated, we were so excited to see him. Sacrament spoke directly to him when the speakers talked about dispelling anger, and studying the scriptures, he took notes. I'm gospel principles he answered the question about what the restoration was on point "a time when the authority of God wasn't on the earth and people were confused." Sister See and I fist pumped on the sly, SO proud of him. I would imagine it's a glimpse into what parents feel when they experience their children learning. I love it. I absolutely love it.

Ok so another point I want to make is something our dear sweet mission president, President Pickett taught me. In a zone conference a bit ago he talked about how in his growing up life he was a "long-hair." The definition being a little bit of a high school rebel, characterized by long mangy hair. We all know one, some of us have even been one, maybe even are one. But President talked a lot about the potential for change in everyone but especially for long-hairs. He shared how many people see long-hairs and maybe nointentionally but also sometimes intentionally judge and even condemn them. He said that he is a long-hair turned around and changed for the better, and as a result he has an empathy for other long-hairs. Often times in home teaching assignments or other callings he was asked to be a friend and a fellowshipper to them. He watched and felt privileged to see many of them change, repent, clean up and cut their hair. But it's more than just cutting hair, it's cutting off bad habits, influences, and experiences.


I know that this church is true, I know there is potential for change in everyone and I also know that God is higher than fun and that he will help us, bless us, and change us.


 I love y'all!

Love,
Hermana Hall

A Re-Write, An Anniversary, A redneck gangster and lost scriptures

This week has it all!!!! Tune in for another crazy episode of the current life of Hermana Hall.

For starters I OWE y'all an apology and an explanation. It was brought to my attention that I had been too severe in my email last week about my red firework emotion. I will offer a backstory and an apology. Most of the time when I write my group emails I like to take quiet time Sunday night before bed and begin to draft, than I look over it the next day and send it home and to mission friends... well that has not been my reality as of lately. Last week I  pretty hastily wrote it in the car while talking with Sister See. Then I encountered spotty Wi-Fi, a faulty charger that caused my tablet to die which resulted in me sending my group email right at the end of pday without really being able to look over and reread it. So I apologize if I sounded way too firey and upset. I guess "distracted" is a good way to describe my pday last week, if I offended anyone I am deeply sorry. I'm not perfect but ask for your forgiveness.

And so I want to propose a rewrite:

RED: the color of my frustration as we helped a family in need clean up their house in preparation for a last minute move. Their home was very cluttered and they were to the point that they said to box things up and tape it shut which meant dumping junk drawers into boxes and taping up trying to label it something like "misc" every time. Those of you who know me know I like things organized so it pained me to do that. However it was only made worse after we cleaned out a fridge that hadn't been cleaned in years (tally that up to dirty fridge number 7 that I have cleaned while out here) as I was scrubbing who knows what off one of the fridge shelves I looked out the window and what did I see? The husband of the home climbing into the dumpster to go after some hot sauce his wife had told us to throw out. He stayed out there for 20 minutes and proceeded to dumpster dive and pull things out he wanted to save. I looked at the chaos around me and saw how he had a child in the back room with the stomach flu, another running rampant in nothing but a diaper, a frazzled wife, and rooms still full of stuff waiting to be packed up. And they were supposed to be on the road headed for their new home in an hour. And I watched him still standing in a dumpster after hot sauce... I was so frustrated, not only by my low tolerance for packrats which I need to work on. But also  priorities. Hot sauce over helping your family get packed up, hot sauce over helping a child who is sick. I looked down to see myself scrubbing the shelf way too hard and knew I needed to look beyond what I could see and just accept that people are different and that they have different needs and priorities. It does cause me to wonder what hot sauce I dig out of the dumpster of my life when there are so many things and people's needs swirling around me.

Hopefully that is better.  That's more of what I wanted to say. Sorry you got the rough draft and the version that wasn't super thought out or reread or considerate. I'll do better in the future. It won't happen again.

Alright next item of business... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY PARENTS!!!!! WOOOOO YOU HAVE BEEN MARRIED OVER HALF OF YOUR LIVES!!! AHHHHH!!!!! 25 years!!! That is SUCH a long time but I am oh so very grateful because I get to be here and a part of the Hall family and I wouldn't want it any other way so thank you. Thank you for being imperfectly perfect you. I love y'all to the moon and back and want to quickly share 5 things I've learned from your relationship:

1- You can work with distance: dad's travels has tried you two but you've made it work, accepted reality and kept trucking along. People would always sympathize and say "Oh that must be so hard having your dad gone so much" well I never knew it was that hard because you always showed the "come what may and love it attitude"

2- You can balance schedules: you can reschedule, alter, accommodate and reschedule again to suit the needs of our family. I've needed that skill a lot as a missionary and I've seen the way you have done it with our family 

3- You can compromise: let's be honest, you are different. SO different. But it works. Marjorie Pay Hinkley once said:  "Early on I realized it would be better if we worked harder at getting accustomed to one another than constantly trying to change each other—which I discovered was impossible. … There must be a little give and take, and a great deal of flexibility, to make a happy home.”
You understand that it takes a little if not a lot of give and take. And I have been privileged to be a part of a "happy snappy clappy happy" home... most of the time;)

4- You can have the gospel at the heart: what is one of the things I miss most about home? Family scripture study and family prayer. I miss reading the Book of Mormon at night together and listening to Mom rant about how "vile of sinners the sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger were yet they changed" Though I was often bitter about prayer before school seeing my dad stand at the wall and pray into the intercom system is a fond memory I'll never forget. Prayer and scripture study are important to you both and I've seen it, felt it, and love it.

5- You can love no matter what: I never doubted and always knew I was loved. And that you also love each other. I know it hasn't been easy, no one said it would be. There's no such thing as picture perfect... but I picture a perfect family in the future, in the eternities and I'm glad it's with you both... and Bridger of course.

Ok enough fluffy heart-warming stuff let me tell you about the redneck gangster.

So during a lesson with a recent convert this week all of the sudden her non- member husband came in and began to listen to us read the Book of Mormon with her. We were reading 2 Nephi 2, classic. We began discussing how everything that happens for us ultimately is for a reason.  That no matter what we've gone through it leads us to where we are now. And at that moment he pipes in and tells us all about his past medical E.R. history, crashing his bike in fourth grade and having a compound femur fracture and blood spraying everywhere... (sorry for the gore, but it is my reality, Happy Halloween, tis the season;) and then about when he was in a motorcycle crash coming back from a church softball game and broke all sorts of ribs and vertebraes. And he related all that to playing football how these things happen there's an opponent in front of you and you can crash into it and get taken down or you can sidestep, and what was the word he used???? Oh yeah "juke em!!!"  And I LOVE THAT, I want to juke my trials and prove to the Lord, myself, and others that I can get through them and make touchdowns in life. (Tis' the season also for football references, gotta love it!!!! Go Vols! Pronounced vahls don't you dare say it voles... you WILL get thrown out of the state, just sayin :) Ok back to this guy. So if his stories stopped here it would still be entertaining, but this is the south, there are no pauses for your input. You have to create pauses to be able to get words in, sometimes interrupting as they take a breat. But this wasn't about to happen with this guy, and you know what? Sometimes, sometimes it honestly irritates me to no end... but this time with this guy... it was totally ok I was loving everything he said. I was: completely entertained, completely agreeing with everything he said, completely feeling christlike love for this guy. So when he started talking about how he taught himself how to restore old motorcycles and said he was "basically a redneck gangster" I just ate that right up! Haha! I love that so much! So many times I have looked around me and wondered how to classify people in beat up trucks and cowboy boots blasting hardcore rap. Or the gangster people who still have a thick accent. Ah man I am living in a world of redneck gangsters and I love it. It's the best. And the cherry on top of this whole thing is this is the first time this guy has ever really talked to the missionaries so we know what that means... he is being prepared!!!! And we'll be there when he is ready to accept this amazing gospel that is for any person redneck gangster or not!

And finally a tragedy happened. I lost my scriptures this week. Oh my goodness it makes me sick thinking about it. I love my beaten up, weather worn, marked to death little maroon quad. And not being able to find them was THE worst. But when an investigator texted saying I left my Bible on her porch, oh goodness the relief that flooded over me was so real. I was on pins and needles all that night then most of the next day until we finally made it back there to go get them. She wasn't there when we knocked on the door but there my scriptures sat waiting on a metal purple chair on a cluttered Tennessean porch.

It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen on my mission. That feeling though... of immense loss, and then ecstatic joy is something I want to address. I don't ever want to feel that loss ever again. I know I physically lost my scriptures (and I would've been fine if they were never found... eventually;) But as I've thought more about it, I don't ever want to lose the way I feel about scriptures. The love I have and lessons I have learned, I don't want to neglect those lessons on a porch in Tennessee and never come back and find them. I don't want that feeling again. But I do want that feeling of relief and joy that came from picking them up and holding them close. I want to, for the rest of my life, pick them up and hold their pages and teachings close to my heart. Because they are precious, like Elder Nelson's conversation with the African king "more precious than rubies or diamomds" I agree wholeheartedly with that.

So I want y'all to go on a hunt for your scriptures whether it be physically digging them out from under the junk pile on your nightstand, or by opening them and hunting for a lesson, a verse, a chapter that speaks to you. For me this week it was Mosiah 14. That's one of my alltime favs, Abinadi quoting Isaiah about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, SO powerful. I love it so much. I promise there are Mosiah 14's out there for each one of you, so go find your scriptures pick them up and hold them close. I've never ever EVER regretted studying my scriptures and neither will you.

Alright that's it folks, have a blessed week!

Love y'all to the moon and back!

Love,
Hermana Hall

P.S.
I was informed by a son of an investigator this week that a dab (the dance move pose thing) is "a structure that holds my coolness" what a redneck gangster






Some Local History






Conference Notes:






Lots of "food for thought"

Like Fireworks

You know when you are watching a fireworks show and you ooh and ahhh and find yourself saying: "Oh that's my favorite..." and then 5 seconds later you say "Oooh that's my favorite." That was how my General Conference experience was.

I want to reiterate what I said in April that General Conference should be called Specific Conference because there is nothing "general" about it! I'll tell you what... I was left feeling like I was so perfectly aware of after EVERY TALK!!! It's just like a fireworks show, how can I even begin to choose a favorite?!?! They all were so amazing!!!! From Elder Zwick quoting my all time favorite Disney The Lion King to Elder Uchtdorf speaking what my heart needed to hear and my spirit needed to feel when he said that when worrying about what others think or say about you "the antidote is REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE." Then there was Elder Rasband who dedicated pretty much his entire talk to one of my fav phrases "there are no coincidences," also when Elder Nelson reiterated President Monson's Book of Mormon promise. Elder Haleck reminded me sacrifice is real and made by people all over the world. Sister Oscarson pointed out that service opportunities are right in front of us. M. Russell Ballard spoke of our remarkable pioneer ancestors. Elder Ellis asked me if I trust the Lord. Elder Ardern said caterpillar in his accent and you couldn't help but smile and cling to his every word. Elder Alonso shared how his family loves one another. And finally when Elder Anderson shared a portion of Elder Hales sweet piercing testimony and also quoted President Monson to the point that it almost was like the experience of Brigham Young when he began to resemble and sound like the Prophet Joseph. As he read his closing piece it seemed to me his mannerisms changed to resemble our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson... It was so cool... SO COOL!!!!

Oh my goodness I could rant and rave for days, I'll just sum it up by saying that the Church is true and the Godhead is good, that's all there is to it.

Alright so continuing on with my week and with the fireworks theme I want to share some of my favorite stories. I want to share a story related to a type or color of firework, does that make sense? Sorry if it doesn't, my creativity might be waning I feel like I've written so many of these. But all is well I am grateful for the awesome responses from people who actually read them, it's an honor really so thank you for taking the time to read into my great Tennessee adventure! Alright here's your firework show.   

Red: red was the color of my face when I was frustrated after we had gone over to help some people the elders found who needed emergency help moving their house... OHHH MY GOODNESS IT was a wreck of a place, so much junk, so unorganized, so overwhelming we would dump drawers and shelves full of stuff into boxes and tape it up. It was horrible. However nothing was as bad as when we opened the fridge to clean it up and I took out shelves and was scrubbing them clean with scalding water when I look outside to see the husband of the house climbing into the dumpster going after some beloved hot sauce we had thrown away.... He then proceeded to rifle through a bunch of other trash bags and pull junk out. Ohhhh my fury was real I scrubbed that tray so hard I thought it might crack in half.  I was praying so hard. I have such a low tolerance for packrats and it grinds my gears when people get attached to stuff. Hot sauce... oh you would've thought I had just eaten some hot sauce how mad I was inside. I need to repent and be better but my goodness... dumpster diving for hot sauce

Green: an old woman had a pile of green weeds and dead flowers she was trimming as we went to go talk with her. We asked her the soul searching question of: "if the savior were here right now what would you ask Him?" She loved that, and said she would have to ask her sister and her pastor. We tried to explain that we wanted to know what SHE herself would ask. She couldn't come up with an answer but we had a good conversation. She wasn't interested in our message but enjoyed talking with us. As we were getting ready to leave she stands up from her stool she was sitting on in the grass and there was a hole in the ground that none of us saw until one foot goes into it and suddenly I get a faceful of grandma as she fell into us. Both Hermana See and I were CNA's before our missions so we knew exactly what to do to assist her in falling and standing back up. However I must say that that in my 7 1/2 months of working at the Villas I never had anyone fall on me yet here I am in Greeneville Tennessee picking up an elderly woman up out of her garden. Always an adventure out here, never know what to expect.

Blue: the color I feel when I am lonely even in a busy crowded day. Also the feeling of sadness I get when people can't see how the gospel can bless their lives... How it can salvage their marriage, strengthen their family, provide opportunities and blessings that they cannot even imagine! If they would only give it a try. Sometimes there are quite a few blue fireworks that burst into my day and I feel down. But they are never permanent there is always some other event or experiemce to brighten my day, make me feel inspired, and happy. Blue fireworks don't last long.

Purple: the color of the plants we helped one of our investigators on date had us help plant in preparation for her upcoming wedding. My goodness she is so awesome. She is so receptive to everything that we talk about and says it just makes sense. I just love her!!! She is so cute and has the most adorable little girl ever she loved helping us dig out rocks and shovel mulch for service. Also our investigator "randomly" quit drinking coffee a few months back because she felt like it... hmm no coincidences though am I right?

Sparkle: ooh ok I love these ones where the fireworks shoot up and then almost disappear so it leaves you wondering where it went then suddenly it sparkles and glitters. So that's like when we experience a bunch of tender mercies and then something throws the day off like I don't know someone says something that ticks us off and makes us question the way we do missionary work or life in general. And then suddenly the Lord provides a way for us to go to a lesson with a woman who committed to baptism but we haven't been able to get into contact with her for a few weeks, but when we do go back she says she wondered where we went she has been reading the Book of Mormon and is in Alma!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! There is that sparkle where the spirit comes and everything is ok. The Lord is so good.

Ok so the final thing I want to talk about is you know that feeling when you watch a firework show and as they go off you can feel it in your chest and you feel a little more alive? Well that is how the Spirit feels. That moment when you have a question answered and you know God is aware. You can feel it inside. The time when you sit with someone knowing you just said something that touched them, you can feel it deep within. When you know people care about and support you, it's a deep and inspiring feeling.

Anyway I am grateful for the firework show that was conference I was sad when it ended just as I am often sad when fireworks end. But unlike firework shows we can watch conference over and over again, which I'm so grateful for!!!!

But it's been another good week, I hope it has been for y'all as well.

Hope you keep looking for the bursts of light in your life whatever color they may be they each are there for a reason and are more than just a show, God has arranged them into something beautiful and awe inspiring. And I love it.

Love y'all!!!!

Love,
Hermana Hall