11/18/2013

Hey all!

So...a little more time this week, which is lovely. :) I'll do my best to give the update as well as a funny story or two. We shall see. :)

THE UPDATE:

We've had a bit of an interesting week. Sister Ah-Chong has been sick (the climax being my teaching a family at our dinner appointment about service while Sister Ah-Chong up-chucked everything she'd just eaten in the bathroom. Pretty gross.), so that's slowed us down a bit...we stayed in a couple mornings this week, which gave me an opportunity to start Jesus the Christ, but ultimately meant we weren't getting as much done as I liked. We did get an investigator on date this week though! First one in the area...and...we did knock a lot of doors this week. Though the sun goes down at like...4:30 in the afternoon this time of year, which makes things tricky. Still, we're having less active families come back to church and people progressing bit by bit...just trying to be more patient and find the best way to fulfill my purpose while I'm here. It's the end of the transfer by the by, but it's pretty clear that I'm staying. President wouldn't 1 transfer me two times in a row. That would be super cruel. :P

A PROFILE:

Name: Atheist walking Rescue Dog at night

Accessory of choice: said rescue dog

Perspective: This religion, son of God thing, is all pretty silly and not backed up by one shred of scientific proof.

Irony: Believes that Jesus was definitely not the son of God, but that he could possibly be a star-person, or a hybrid star person. There's a PBS special on that's given some evidence of extra-terrestrial life (that star at Jesus' birth? A UFO! Obviously.), and though the evidence isn't super solid, this explanation is still more likely than thousands of years of Biblical history.

Salutation: You girls are very charming, but I've heard the sales pitch before.

Result of Contact: Sister Hale boiling in the car as we drove to our next appointment.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Wish I had one that was more concrete. Well...I'll just do the rather argumentative scripture that I found this week (sorry, you're going to have to bear with)

Helaman 5:10-11

        "...for...the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.

           And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls."

Kay. So the basic Christian argument (sort of the non denominational kind) is that if you have faith in Christ (or if you 'Pray Christ into your heart'), you will be saved. All you have to do is say you believe, and you're good! Christ payed the debt when he died on the cross, and now we don't have to do anything but believe in him. Yes...yes, kind of. As long as that belief is strong enough to move us to repent, to make covenants with him and to keep going, then yes. But if you just 'believe,' but stop short of letting him get the sins and grossness out of your system, then you haven't done enough. It says in that second verse that Christ's power to redeem us comes because of repentance, not because of faith. Pretty significant. Which brings us, ultimately, to the salvation of our souls.

Sorry, that was a little argumentative. Let me make it better by adding a picture of me holding a snake!

We went to the Reptile Zoo for District Pday. Pretty fun. ;)

I love you all. Please write! I love hearing from you, and encourage you to keep doing member missionary work wherever you can. I'm starting to think that it's more fun that missionary missionary work, some of the time. ;P Keep going, y'all are awesome.

Love,

Sister Hale

11/12/13

Best date ever, right? Right.

Alright, because our Mission Prez told us we could only have an hour today instead of the normal two, I'mma do this in...5 minutes! Just to let you all know that I'm still here and breathing and all that.

UPDATE:

Decent week, had our first investigator at church of the transfer (yay!), and kept chugging. Feeling a lot more comfortable in the area for sure and loving the ward. Also my missionary skills are improving (which hopefully doesn't mean I'm becoming more aggressive :P Just...more direct, maybe! More focused on my purpose, there we go. :P).

Spiritual Thought:

So, it's hard to read Alma 5 and not feel like you have some serious work to do...but I'm reading it and feeling alright. Probably because I'm on my mission and have little choice BUT to be a productive little servant of the Lord. (:P) However, this verse stuck out to me this morning...

It's asking how these people could have the assurance they were saved, and it says

vs 13) "And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved."

Pretty awesome. Though God also requires us to be baptized and recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost, our personal change of heart is a crucial part of our preparing to meet God (and 'be saved'--people have abused that phrase). A change of heart is found as we humble ourselves and trust in God.

I know the church is true. It becomes very clear out here in the mission field, maybe because the opposition is that much stronger.

I love you all so much! Thanks for writing, and keep it up!

Sister Hale

11/04/2013

Hey all!

It's going to be a little quick today; sorry bout that. But it's gonna happen! Annndd...you might just get a picture, if my jazzy new card reader works alright. ;) So here goes!

An Update:

Things are going pretty well; not as many lessons as we'd like this week, but lots of less active work, LOTS of tracting (I actually kind of like it now), and some good progress. The Ward is starting to get behind us, and the wheels are starting to churn. Now just have to keep it moving!

A Profile: (this is subbing for the experience this week)

Elaine Hutchison

Profession: Expedia worker by day, Writer by night

Religious Background: QUAKER! She was converted as she did some research on line and relized that everything quakers believe is what she believes. (Katie Stevenson, thank you so much for taking me to so many different churches in my youth)

Accessory of Choice: Limited French vocabulary, reserved for use with her petite French Bulldog (she told us that animals like french more, they like the vowels)

Surprising Discovery: She read the Book of Mormon when she was in 7th grade, believes that it's legit and that God can work miracles in the modern day (hi-5)

Reason she's not in the church (yet ;P): She thinks that if she joined with the Mormon Church, she'd have to accept a lot of things as fact that she doesn't believe (things about women, blacks in the priesthood, etc.). Nary does she know that there are...discussions to be had, and that if she joined the church, she would not have to accept anything that is not true! (like the idea that someone is intrinsically not as good as another, which she probably thinks we believe at some level)

We met Elaine tracting on Tuesday, and it made my day. AWESOME woman, and she was super happy to see us. We have a return appointment for this Saturday; we'll see how it goes.

A Thought:

Found this little gem this week:

Mosiah 29:20

"But behold, he did deliver them because they did humble themselves before him; and because they cried mightily unto him he did deliver them out of bondage; and thus doth the Lord work in all cases among the children of men, extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him."

And thus doth the Lord work in all cases among the children of men. All cases. I love that. It means it works for you, in whatever type of bondage you may find yourselves in. All it takes is for us to humble ourselves and really ask for help, and it'll come. Pretty awesome.

I love you all so much! Keep writing; it gives me so much joy to hear what's going on in your lives.

XOXO

Sister Hale

Mines the crown-looking Temple one :)

10/28/2013

Wow. WOOWWWW...can't believe how time flies. End of October? When did that happen? Almost Halloween, and where will I be on Halloween? Bundled up in our little apartment, temple Jack-o-lantern glowing out front, playing a board game. Just watch. ;) (we come in early that night if you didn't know; don't want to confuse a missionary knock with little trick or treaters (or maybe we do...;) ))

Kay. But! It's been a good week. Kind of a crazy one, with some ups and downs...but here goes:

AN UPDATE:

The work is still going, though not as rapidly as I'd like it (of course). I hear it's a little tricky as the holidays come closer, so I guess we'll come to see if that's true. Clearview is BEAUTIFUL though (especially when you actually have a clear view of what's going on; not common in this cloudy/foggy weather), and we enjoyed it as we were driving to the Library today. The Ward is getting behind us though, and getting more enthused about missionary work...now we just have to get people from the streets to CHURCH.

AN EXPERIENCE:

I'm copy-pasting from my letter to President because time is short.

Svetlana, who is the recently married wife of a less active member in our ward. Brother McGrath is awesome; a cop, returned missionary...seems to still have strong claim on his testimony even though he hasn't been to church in a while (work schedule/family tension he says). Svetlana is from Bella Rouse, and also has a powerful relationship with Christ; seems very happy in that, but is open to learning more about her husband's church. He seems eager for her to learn as well. We brought a rock-star member from our ward to our lesson yesterday, and it went very well. May be a little tricky to see them consistently because they both work a lot...but it was a great lesson, and there's really great potential for growth here.

Had a great lesson with her yesterday though, potential for a really solid investigator (which is what we need), and a real answer to prayer.

A PROFILE (this is new. came to me as we met some crazy crazy people this week):

Name: Ken Green

Approximate Age: late 50s/early 60s, but in a David Hasselhoff kinda way 

Profession: Mmm...computer techie something. Has an RV filled with computers in his yard.

Reason why they're not in the church: He did everything right, stayed a virgin, baptized 38 people on his mission, was in the bishopric, but then was saddled with this crazy depressive wife who he doted on, but it got to be too much and no amount of scriptures would solve it. Plus everyone in the church would think he was a creep for divorcing her if he went back. Plus he doesn't want to waste 4 hours of his life every Sunday sitting under fluorescent lights in church. Plus life on the other side is way more fun, especially with Laurie, his sporty girlfriend from California.

Scripture they reminded me of (Oh I shouldn't...but it's too good): 2 Nephi 28:8 (only because he said that 'if he was wrong, he would take his stripes...')

Accessory of Choice: Cloth hat, folded up above the ears, which we later learned he bought in Australia.

Personal Oddity: Thinks the Sister Missionaries are manipulating him when they tell him he should come to church because they have no friends

A SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: 

So this was cycling around in my head yesterday, but...one of the lessons I learned as I grew from teen-hood to adult-hood (or something close to it) was that (and this may sound dumb) everything comes from something. If a building is there, it's there because someone built it, it didn't just crop up on it's own. If there's a beautiful knitted sweater lying on the couch, it's there because someone knitted it (or some awesome machine did the job), and it's on the couch because someone put it there. This is all obvious and makes sense. BUT...what sparked my attention this week is when I recognized that this is also true of the most glorious things around; the earth and our bodies. The earth is incredibly complex; awesome, functioning, designed. But lots of people believe that it's just kinda cropped up, that it just emerged from nothing, and we're some happy accident sitting upon it. That the sweater knitted itself and laid itself on the couch. This concept makes sense in the micro-view (dinner didn't make dinner, Mom made dinner), but lots of people reject it in the macro-view (that God, {or 'something'} created the earth and the stuff that's on it. Alma's testimony in Alma 40:44 is enough for me though; that in addition to the words of the prophets (the scriptures), "All things denote that there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it..yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." Of course it comes back to faith...but that concept just became real to me this week, and I wanted to share it.

I love you all! Do missionary work. Read the Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christensen. It'll give you the tools and make you want to get more involved.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Sister Hale

10/21/2013

Herro Family and Friends! :D

So. It's been about 5 months on my mission. How crazy is that?! Almost 6 months, and then I'll be a third of the way done. Whaaat?! Seriously feels like I just got out. But not really, because now I get impatient with my trainee about not knowing basic things like...how to recite all the points of the first lesson in two sentences, or...how to get people to actually listen to you. ;) Doing well though, doing well. And as such, here we are!

AN UPDATE

So. SOME would say that this area is not really an easy one. Nary a baptism for the past...2 years, community churches that like to blast against us periodically, and a lot of wealth and prosperity (read: complacency). But! I strongly believe that there is no such thing as a bad area, that if faith and a willing mind and heart are there, the Lord will work miracles in your area. So! We're up-ing the faith ante, working hard and preparing for good things. The ward is getting behind us, and as we've adjusted our perspective about some of the challenges we're facing, we're beginning to love the work here. It's pretty sick.

AN EXPERIENCE

Yesterday we stopped by a guy named Pat McCoy. His wife and kids aren't members, and he hasn't been for a while, but he knows it's a good thing. As he talked to us he told us about his conversion, that coming to learn about the church he'd 'never been so happy--ever.' He said he wanted his kids to know that there was a place to go after this life, that there was a reason for all the goodness and beauty of earth. At one point of our conversation he told us of the chance he'd had to baptize somebody, and he started to cry. He said he hadn't felt the spirit in a long time, but that it was 'a warm feeling,' and that it felt good. It was crazy, because we didn't even do anything; nothing but come up to him and talk some about the church...but he was touched any way. Pretty awesome. We set a time to come back next weekend and teach him and his kids about the Plan of Salvation. I think there's some good potential for that to go really well. :)

A SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

Man, all my thoughts are spiritual thoughts these days. :P Which one to pick? Let's go with...

Mosiah 7:33

"But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."

This is King Limhi talking to his people, who have been literally enslaved to the Lamanites for years. And what is he telling them? He's telling them that despite their belief that this is just how they live now, that there's no getting out from under this load of servitude, that they were born this way and they are going to die this way, that despite all this, if they will turn to the Lord and serve him and trust him, they can be released from this bondage of servitude. Really. We're listening to a talk in the car by Sherri Dew that talks about baggage and burdens, and she tells us that it is possible to change, really change. That means change in our circumstance and change in ourselves; change from being spiteful, embittered, jealous, hurt, moody, unkind, sensitive, emotion-less, prideful...it's all subject to change as we try out this God-thing and move towards being a better self. I know that it's possible because lots of crummy things about me have been changed as I've turned things over to the Lord. There's a lot still around that could use a swap for sure, but we are never condemned to be just what we are because it's our nature. Change (being freed from bondage) is possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and that is the good news of the Gospel.

I love you all! Have an AWESOME week.

Sister Hale

PS. I'm not feeling starved for communication, but I found this in the apartment (a 4 page document full of these), and thought you would like it.

"1. And the missionary said unto his friend, Lovest thou me?

2. And the friend said, of course I love thee.

3. He saith a second time, friend, Lovest thou me? And the friend said, Thou knowest that I love thee. He then said, Feed my mailbox.

4. And then spake a third time saying, Lovest thou me? And the friend said, Thou knowest all things, thou knowest I love thee.

5. Then said the missionary, Stuffest my mailbox."

Hahaha! :D Someone had too much time on their hands. OKAY. <3! BAII...!

10/14/2013

Alright!

Literally no time, just a quick note to let y'all know I'm still alive. Just for an update, I'm in Clearview Ward, in a really nice car (Infinity 2013. AWESOME.), and my new companion is Sister Ah-Chong from American Samoa. DIVERSITY TO THE MAX. 

No lie, Whitewashing this new place is not easy. Though there have been missionaries here for months, it feels like we're starting basically from scratch, which has been a little overwhelming in the first week. But hey, I said that my first week of Oak Harbor and then loved it, right? Prayers are still appreciated though. Quick Spiritual thought:

Jacob 4:70-73.

No time to type it in, BUT, this is what it says: We're in the final innings. The laborers (the missionaries and members) are few. But! As we labor with all the might the Lord gives to us and keep the commandments, we're blessed with joy in the work and fruit in our labors. I know the Lord will grant this to me and my companion here in this area of the vineyard, and you and YOUR companions (compadres), in your area of the world/in the things you're working on.

I love you all dearly! Thanks for those of you who've written and sent stuff; it always lifts my spirits when I hear from you.

XOXO

Sister Hale

10/8/2013

Hey you!

:D So. First off, quick apology: the libraries on the island were closed yesterday for some kind of employee training, so anyone who was FREAKED about not getting an email (Mom...;P), that's why. Forgive me. :P But here we go!

AN UPDATE:

In other news...oh my goodness. I don't know what's going on with my mission, BUT, yet again, everything's changed. YEP. After 6 weeks training Sister Mailau in Oak Harbor, I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED AGAIN. And training. Again. I think it's because Sister Mailau is way too awesome and competent. They've asked her to train after only 6 weeks, which is pretty unusual (though not unheard of with the influx of sisters). And training and being transferred means that I'll be whitewash training (both missionaries new to the area) which is what stressed me out so badly at the beginning of the transfer. So! Prayers. Prayers are welcome. As well as well wishes and lots of mail love! I'm anticipating...a package or two this week, so don't be shy about getting those sent. ;P 

Otherwise things have been going very well. 2 investigators on date to be baptized and some great lessons taught this week. We've been blessed to find some very prepared people to work with, and it rips my heart out a little bit that I've only been put in their lives for a brief 6 weeks. But I know there are other people in other places for me to reach. So onward and upward!

AN EXPERIENCE:

Probably my favorite experience this week (though there were many) was teaching this young mom named Brittany. She is so cool. Hip, little tattoo and nose piercing, two twin boys and a cute old country house. Runs a women's clothing store. She's seen missionaries around a lot, but mostly the Elders who often times couldn't go in (need 3 guys to go in a single woman's door). We being sisters could go in though, and had a first lesson with her this past Wednesday. And it was...really cool. We got to know her, just talked about her life and what was important to her, and then, after a little while she asked us to tell her more about the church. What we believed, what we knew. So we did. We launched into the first lesson, taught about God and how he worked through Prophets in the past and the present...but we stopped and felt we should ask her what her relationship with God was. She broke down a little bit, talking about how she'd been away from him for a while. How she wanted him to be part of her kids lives, but was scared to make him part of her own. I loved seeing her thirst for closeness with the Lord, and was also grateful that we followed the impression to break from our lesson plan and delve into what was important to her. At the end of the lesson she said 'Now I want to actually read what the elder's left for me (a Book of Mormon). Very cool. We've (or Sister Mailau and her upcoming companion. *sigh*) got a meeting scheduled with her for this next week, and are excited to help her keep learning about the Gospel.

A SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Wow. So. Conference this week! Fantastic, wasn't it? Oh man. I'm really looking forward to getting the conference ensign so I can rip into some of the talks a bit. But! I had kind of a weird take-away; a theme that really stuck out to me that seemed a little unusual. And that theme was, A) that we chose to come to a fallen world, B) that by definition the world is full of hardships and things that are inconsistent with godly happiness, but C) our time on earth is very transitory, and "if we endure it well" what was "sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption," or that we will be raised in perfection to dwell with God in happiness and peace. Paul talks of this when he says, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8:22-23) Something about life, about being on earth is intrinsically difficult. Not that we can't have joy here and now, but something is missing that can cause our spirits to groan and long for something greater. I know of that something more to be living with God, with the burdens of this life lifted fully from us, as Jeffrey R. Holland discussed in his talk this past Sunday. We can get there and do it joyfully as we stay close to the spirit and it's directives.

I love you all! Thank you for keeping me informed of your lives; it really gives me joy to know what's going for you back home, and especially that you're doing well. Keep it up for another week, and be safe!

Love,

Sister Hale

9/30/2013

Hey all!

Alright, so another good week. It went by VERY quickly, though I hear that that's just how time on the mission goes. Falls past you faster than you would've thought possible. Maybe that's true of a life filled with service and the spirit; it skips past you in the blink of an eye, and you come to meet God all the more quickly. I'll let you know if it starts to slow down. So:

AN UPDATE:

The work progresses! We're getting to the end of the transfer, which means there's a slight chance I may be moved outta here. Probably not though because I've just started (and because I love it here. Don't move me!)...so fingers crossed. The Ward has finished it's 40 day fast (one family fasting each day for 40 days for missionary work, and it's culminating in a big activity this weekend. Hoping to get lots of people out for that. Were able to teach a lot of great lessons and make some really solid contacts this week, which feels good. Had one day where we handed out 3 Books of Mormon, and another super great contact the day after (who we referred to other missionaries). Also got Amber, our new investigator from last week on date for baptism at the end of October. She seems very very ready, if she has some definite struggles she's dealing with. Super blessed to be working with her though. Also very excited for Conference. :)) Get ready for it! 

AN EXPERIENCE:

The miracles we see day in and day out are priceless, and evidence that the work we're doing is true. My favorite one of this past week: Sister Mailau and I were having a companionship moment. Something about not using time well and missing an appointment, etc etc...and we were not really in a good place to talk to people right then. Had our bikes parked and were talking about it, when this dog runs right up to us. 'Augh,' I thought. 'Not a good time.' But! We took a breath and talked to this guy chasing after his dog...AND, he'd grown up in the church and had a non-member wife with a lot of questions. Seemed open to getting back into things. What?! It was awesome. Definitely an example of the Lord leading people to us (rather than us being lead to them in that particular instance).

A SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

One thing I've really been thinking about this last week comes from the 5th verse of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. It says:

Revived his spirit, and supplied

Wine, oil, refreshment--he was healed.

I had myself a wound concealed,

But from that hour forgot the smart,

And peace bound up my broken heart.

That's been so true of myself on my mission. Sometimes we have hurts and pains, and the automatic response is just to meditate on them. To draw in and let them fester until they overcome us and we feel incapable of doing anything. The real answer though to healing these concealed wounds is NOT to meditate on it and focus on ourselves; it's to get out and focus on others. To do our visiting and home teaching, to think about those in our area who need a hand or a listening ear, and then to be that person. I know that as I've done that on my mission, my internal hardships have literally dwindled to almost nothing. Find those opportunities to serve, uplift and bless, and the same will be true for you.

I love you all! Please don't be afraid to write; it's wonderful for me to hear what's going on in your lives.

Love love love!

Sister Hale