Sunday, September 7, 2014

9-2-2014

This is gonna be clippy, apologies! Labor day yesterday means we only have an hour for email today. SRRYYY...

Sounds like you guys are doing wonderfully! With the exception of continued mourning for Nana of course. Keep eating Indian food mama! It will help :)

Seriously sounds like paradise over there though. Cray cray. Not jealous! Though more strongly considering coming for next summer...cause all that fun stuff sounds ridiculous. I got a Japanese language book this week from one of our investigators! So maybe I'll start studying at lunch. :P

Everything here is good! Transfers are next Tuesday, so there's a good chance SVL and I will split up (we've been together for 2) and that I might have some new responsibilities. What they will be has yet to be seen! 3 months and counting today though. Excited to be with you, but also excited to keep fulfilling my purpose here for the next 3 months.

I love you so much! And I will continue keeping you in my prayers.





This is me and Sister Wilkins who went on exchange this week. She makes me feel tall. :)

XOXOXXO

Sister Hale

8-25-2014

Hey hey!

Whew, seriously no time today, due to Demi having an interview this morning and District P-Day this afternoon. So! This will be clippy!

UPDATE:

Doin' pretty well! Back into the trench of finding again though. That's the YSA mantra, always finding...and for whatever reason had a hard time actually meeting with a lot of our investigators this week. But! Hope springs eternal! And we already have some good things set up for next week, so that's awesome.

PROFILE:

Name: Rick
Age: 21
Accessory of choice: Seahawks t-shirt that he doesn't actually like. He just bought it because it was on sale.
How we found him: Son of investigators in another ward!
Bad habit: Muttering weird funny lines under his breath. He thinks of funny things, but then isn't sure of whether or not it's appropriate to say it, so then he just says it real quiet.
Major: History
Thing that brought him a lot of joy this week: Meeting a ward member named Diego who could discuss Star Trek with him
Thing that brought us a lot of joy this week: He came to institute with the aforementioned Diego! And came home smiling. Way good news. :)
Hope for the future! He's not directly all that interested in the gospel right now ('doesn't like to take sides'), but he really enjoys the activities and is reading the Book of Mormon. We hope that as we keep teaching him and bringing him to things, his heart is softened and he will have a desire to keep learning.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Again, it's going to be quick (I apologize). But here it is! D&C 25:10

This is the Lord's revelation to Emma Smith, and in it he advises her to "lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better."

I'm grateful for that admonition. I'm grateful that my faith gives me 'things of a better' world to hope for and to center my joy in. It's kind of hard to explain, but that hope for a better world really does anchor my soul in this world that is often crazy and (if you look at the news, which we don't as missionaries) depressing. I know that the world offers a lot of ways to quick-fix happiness (the newest thing, pop culture, winning awards), but 'the things of a better' offer happiness of a different kind. I know that there is long lasting peace and satisfaction that is found through the gospel and through living gospel principles. I also know that this satisfaction isn't reserved to baptized members of the church. The rewards are available to all who live the principles (of service, repentance, love, etc.). However, the fullness of understanding and the fullness of joy does come through membership and activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One reason I'm really happy to be a missionary for this church.

PICTURE:

Another reason I'm really happy to be a missionary...we have Karaoke parties in YSA wards! :D





And I have companions I can make Book of Mormon Boxes for!


And there's Greek food around! (Which I love. Newly discovered heart-food)




Good life, good life. Also, if you are able, keep my mom and our family in your prayers this week. My great-grandma passed away, and I think some of us are taking it pretty hard.

I love you all!

Sister Hale

8-18-2014

Hey family and friends!

Gosh, I love you guys. It's gotta be a great week when everyone you thought about saying, 'hey! I don't think I've talked to this person in a while! I will write them this week.' then writes YOU, and then you feel overwhelmed and happy because you have all this responding to do to people you love. Heavenly Father has blessed me an awful lot.

UPDATE:

It's been...well, not going to lie, it's been a bit of a weird and tough week. Hence the awesomeness of so many great emails! And letters! Definitely manageable, but still a little tough. Wonderful highlight, which I will list out below...but among the tough things, these were some: Demi, most progressing on-date investigator, dropped us. Or rather, her step-dad told us we were pressuring her and not to come back. *sigh* It's not until someone's out of your life sometimes that you really realized you love them. And I do love that little twiggy thing. There's still definitely a chance that she'll come back, but the ball is pretty much in her court. Annnnnddd...Sister Van Leuven and I discovered that
stubborness+hormones+emotions+infinity difficult Law of Chastity lessons=stress! So that was kinda the week. But we are still optimistic and hopeful, and looking forward to more miracles this week. At the end of every day I am grateful for the gospel and for the knowledge that though life can be super rough and nasty, "the Savior has descended below all things." There's literally no depth you can travel to that he can't help you out of if you let him.

PROFILE:

Name: Christine
Age: ...We didn't ask and I can't tell because (read on)
Nationality: she's Asian! Filipino actually. And it's really hard to tell how old asians are. In general.
Accessory of Choice: Cool London shirt and a Blue Jeep
Wonderful miracle: SHE TEXTED US BACK AFTER A WEEK ASKING IF WE HAD A BIBLE STUDY OR TAUGHT LESSONS! ...Why yes, of course we do! :)
Extra miracle: She came to the church for a lesson, and then to Institute afterwards. LIKE A BOSS.
Why she was understandably overwhelmed: Institute is dense. And our teacher teaches at a really high level. Most people are pretty overwhelmed their first time.
Why we're so happy about it: She fully accepted a committment to be baptized! Says she's looking for a home, and wants to make Christ a bigger part of her life. So cool! (plus Bishop's wife is Filipino, and he's like "Bring her to our house. She'll get baptized." Pretty cool. :P) 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This is going to be quick because I'm at 39 minutes to respond to ERRYONE...but here goes. In institute this week our teacher Brother Pickett brought up a really cool point. He said:

Bro Picket: When do we die to sin?
*general hush*
Sister Hale: ...at Baptism?
Bro Pickett: At Baptism! And do we continue to sin after baptism? Of course. But we hate it. It's dead to us. It doesn't enliven us any more.

I thought this was a really cool perspective. Paul says it really well too in Romans 7:15-16 (the JST version)

"But now I am spiritual; for that which I am commanded to do, I do; and that which I am commanded not to allow, I allow not.
For what I know is not right, I would not do; for that which is sin, I hate."

I know that sin being dead to us is one sign of true conversion. It's one indication of a 'mighty change of heart', that 'change of compass directions' that Brother Robinson discusses in his awesome book, Following Christ. Even if I am far from perfect and fail to my natural man every day, I do know I hate it. That I do not revel in sin. And knowing that I've experienced some of the fruits of that real conversion is a comfort to me. To those of you still seeking it, keep going! It makes life that much more meaningful and right.

PICTURE:

Didn't take a lot this week, except for my warty finger. SOOOO...! You'll have to be content with an old one. Sorry!

JK! I have one new one. I ran into Z again! And he still likes me! Super awesome miracle.



I love you all! And hope that you are doing wonderfully well.

XOXOX

Sister Hale

8-11-2014

Whew! How the time does pass. Not going to comment at how I'm 2 weeks away from my 15 month birthday. Cause that's a whole long time away, right?

So I'll just update y'all instead. ;)

UPDATE:

It's been a great week! Man, I really enjoy working with Sister Van Leuven. Probably shouldn't mention that because I've attached her to this email...BUUUTTT...we have a lot of fun. (see picture below) She doesn't let me have what I want most the time. Which makes me angry, then happy. Which is probably a good thing. :P

We finally found some new investigators this week. 'BOUT TIME! And we have a couple solids set up for this next week. Sweet. Otherwise Brittany continues to be a rock star (finished Alma last Friday...and she's barely had the church in her life for a month? Wha?). Demi's moving along pretty well (see more in profile below), in Institute we're studying Paul's Epistles (WHA?!) which I've been wanting to learn more about FOREVER...! And now my new dream is to train the last two transfers of my mission and finish up in this area. Though going North would still be cool. WHO KNOWS?! Anyways, missionary life is good, fulfilling, joyful, entertaining...and all that jazz. As it should be. :)

PROFILE:

(I have profiled this individual before...but here's the update)

Name: Demi
Age: 18
New stylistic decision: Short purple-burgandy hair. Still sporting thick glasses though.
Accessory of Choice: a missionary on either side
Quote(s) that illustrate/s: (speaking to us about the Elders we split the ward with) "I call them my Elders. I call you my missionaries." ALSO (at cottage meeting last night, full of random people she didn't know) "I like being with missionaries. Missionaries are safe. They're not strangers. But they are strange."
Reason she loves the Gospel: Not...quite...sure. She definitely really wants to be baptized, that's for sure. And she really likes how she feels at church, and how friendly the people are. NOW JUST TO GET HER READING SO SHE CAN HAVE MORE REAL CONVERSION GOIN ON.
Real awkward lesson this week: Law of Chastity. Homosexual relationships in the past (and present)? Yes.
Totally skewed misconception: She can have a girlfriend and be baptized, and just be celibate!
Reason why there's hope! We...think she's crushing on a guy in our ward. A very awkward but awesome guy in our ward. In fact we KNOW she was crushing on him, because she told us. And because it's super apparent.
But maybe not: Still has a girlfriend. Thinks crush on guy was just a phase. So confused.

Yep. I hadn't dealt with this particular challenge yet, but being in Washington, I knew it would come eventually. Just praying that the spirit will help us with a paradigm shift for this young one.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

We in the church focus a lot on James 1:5, because, you know, it kicked off the Restoration and stuff. BUUUUUUTTT...have you ever read James 1: 3-4? It's awesome.

"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

Love that! I especially love the part where it says "but let patience have her perfect work." Trials are hard. But in the midst of them, we all have the choice to be patient, or not. If we try to 'let patience have her perfect work' we will try to respond more to her enticings than the enticings of temptation, self-pity and worry, and we will be happy. In fact, we will be "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Sounds way good to me. We can be happy in the now, and forget procrastinating the day of our happiness until future events conspire the way we want them to. I know this is true! Now just to apply it...

PICTURE:


This sums it up pretty well. And is the picture on the back of my planner now. Awesome.



And this is the one I did NOT put on the back of my planner. Cause it was scary.



...and that's all you need from me! Love you all so much! WRITE IF YOU HAVEN'T WRITTEN! At least an email (DALLIN CATIE THOM) so I can know what's going on. :)

XOXO

Sister Hale

8-04-2014

This is bad. I'm beginning to forget who my friends are when I fill in the email addresses to send off my weekly report. I still love you all! I'm just being sucked into the void of LDS mission lyyyyfffeee….

And it's a nice void to be in, thank you very much. READ ON!

UPDATE:

It's been a great week! Capped off on Thursday by Brittany's baptism (and her confirmation on Sunday). I think I've told you some about her already (super prepared? Baptized in 3 weeks, after going to both a conference AND a campout for church? yep.), but she's wonderful. Read through the book of Mosiah and into Alma in the 3 weeks we've been teaching her, and fasted yesterday without any prompting from us or anyone. Truly converted. And fully fellowhsipped into the ward. A pretty rockin miracle if you ask me.

And in other news, Sister Van Leuven and I are still Sister Training Leaders! So that'll be fun. Believe it or not, the thing I would've missed most were I not a Sister Training Leader this transfer was being able to attend MLC (Mission Leadership Counsel; super crazy 6 hour meeting the first Thursday of every month where they discuss EVERYTHINNNGGGG…). Sister Van Leuven said she would've missed exchanges. Go figure. :P

The other exciting thing is our investigator Demi who is progressing well, came to church for the first time yesterday and loved it. We might be moving her date up to August 23rd (it's at September 13th right now). We'll see.

PROFILE:

Name: Tessa Malcom
Age: 2…3?
Profession: Nursery care person for her mom's day care
Accessory of choice: mildly explicit joker t-shirts, and VERY COOL nails. She does them herself with different colors…almost daily. Her therapist says it's a good way to express her addictive personality/release pressure
# of missionaries she's been through: …infinity. She doesn't even know.
Reason: She was born into the church and baptized at 8, but since a young age she's basically done everything she can do to NOT be active; including drugs really young, going through a million romantic encounters with both genders…everything. But, a few years ago she hit rock bottom and started coming back to church, and one by one her additions have been rooted out of her life (through some serious effort)
Calling and assignment in the ward: Ward Missionary in charge of the Missionary Dinner Calendar!
Evidence of true conversion: She loves the temple, and she works really hard to stay worthy of it. Plus she's found fun ways to mix a variety of intricate non-alcoholic beverages (can anyone say virgin mamosa?)
Evidence that she still has a ways to go: We brought her with us to an investigator with a similar past…and Tessa still revels a little bit in knowing about all the bad stuff/sharing inside jokes about it. So, good fellowship!--but may need to work on also trying to be a good example.
Why we love her: She loves us, and she feeds us every other Monday (today!). :) And she continues to work really hard to stay in line. Super impressive.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:


PICTURE:



And there's our darling Brittany. Proud parents, proud parents. :*)

Love you all! Keep writing while you can get blessings for writing a missionary!

Sister Hale

Saturday, September 6, 2014

7-28-2014

Wow, how time flies. There it is, obligatory comment! But this time, very true. A whole 'nother transfer under my belt, and what do I have to show for it? Well…that waits to be seen. But, Dustin from my old area got baptized this last week, and we're preparing Brittany to be baptized this upcoming Thursday! Fun stuff. But that should all go…

in this section! UPDATE:

Things are going pretty well! Had a whole batch of sisters come stay with us last night, and they left for the airport this morning (our apartment is really close to the mission office :) ). Sad, and a little weird…and I made them pancake with Bishop's Storehouse pancake mix this morning! But yeah. Still 4 months away for me, which is beginning to feel like a reasonably substantial amount of time. So no panic attacks about going home yet. ;)

ALSO, just got word that Sister Van Leuven and I will be staying together for another transfer! Sweet! Not 100% if that means that we'll be Sister Training Leaders again…(President has a way of mixing things up; doesn't want to create an elite leadership class among the missionaries, so things change fairly often) but I'll let you know. It's been a way fun way to spend this last transfer though, and definitely a blessing to fulfill that assignment.

PROFILE:

Name: James
Age: Undetermined
Accessory of choice: Wolf T-shirt
Relationship to others we're working with: Heather's internet boyfriend/fiance, made real!
Weird circumstance: He was going to come live with Heather (see last week's profile) for a couple weeks, and then propose...but then after last week's experience she didn't want him to live with her, so even though they didn't meet each other till this past week, they're getting married today. Not breaking the Law of Chastity though! ...So that's good!
Circumstance of our meeting him: Heather wanted us to teach him about Eternal Marriage, because she wants to marry him in the temple in a year! :D
What was awesome about our lesson: Had a stellar member with us (who's been everywhere and done everything…and has still come back), took a church tour, and then talked about the Temple and felt the spirit really strongly.
Why I'm a little nervous: They missed our appointment on Saturday, and then we didn't hear anything…so trying to figure out what's going down. Hope that everything's alright. :/ But, we've passed them off to family ward, because married people do not = YSA! So it's out of our hands…but still, I hate that. Lack of control. BAH.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

I am very grateful for the scriptures; grateful for the spiritual sustenance they give me, and can give us every day. I particularly love the Book of Mormon, and it's clarity and power in testifying to us what we need to do to "gain peace in this life, and eternal salvation in the life to come." (BoM intro) It's just one of those books that is really hard to read without changing your life, which is one reason I'm so glad to be passing it along to people we meet. I'll just share one verse from the Book of Mormon that is a theme of the entire thing, and something good to keep in mind wherever you are in life.

It's everywhere, but here's one instance of the Lord speaking to Nephi (1 Nephi 2:19-20)

"And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be lead to a land of promise…And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee (i.e., not keeping the commandments), they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord"

I have witnessed that this is a true promise. What is interesting to me is that the consequence is not "and flames of fire shall be poured down upon your head" for not keeping the commandments, but rather that "ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord." This basically means that those who don't keep the commandments won't qualify for the added blessings, protection and insight of the spirit afforded to those who do keep the commandments. They also feel distanced from the Lord, and don't receive a fullness of the blessings they could've received (the 'prospering in the land'). I know that as I've tried to humble myself and keep the commandments, I have been prospered. Conversely when I have not…not so much. And I encourage each of you to seek those blessings of nearness to God in your own lives, if you haven't felt them much as of late.

PICTURE:





​That's our sweet District (or should I say, Sistrict), basically unchanged in this transfer. And that's the beach we spent our last P-day at; pretty sweet :)

Love you all! Feel free to write, as always :)

XOXO

Sister Hale

7-21-2014

Hey sweet family and friends!

This one is going to be quick...A) Because it was a great, but not overwhelmingly eventful week, and B) ...because I am low on time, and a lot of wonderful people wrote me this week who I'd like to respond to. So, without further ado...

UPDATE:

Pretty solid week! Brittany is still clipping along nicely towards her baptism, and attended the Ward Campout this week (enjoying canoes, a ropes course, and some great testimonies). Sadly the camp out was way out of our mission (and probably not the best use of missionary time) so Sister Van Leuven and I were ward orphans for a Sunday. But it's alright. We found a nice surrogate ward to take care of us (and milk referrals from 0:) ). We also found a fabulous new investigator, detailed below!

PROFILE:

Name: Demi 
Age: 18
Accessory of choice: Thick glasses and emo tee's
How she started learning about the Gospel: Her best friend started sharing it with her in October of last year :) Annddd...she wants to be baptized in December.
Sweet experience she's ALREADY had: Reading the Book of Mormon over the phone with her friend, and crying because she knew it was true. Yeah, I never want to work with unprepared people again. :P
Why we can't call her: She's grounded from her phone! And everything else! Because she didn't graduate high school when she was supposed to! But she will...in a week. So that's good.
Only confusing part: ...see a few lines above. She wants to get baptized in December...in Utah, so her friend can be there. Do we teacher her everything and then ship her down there? I'm asking the MP, but that's the plan for now.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

In my third trek through the Book of Mormon (in my mission that is), I have finally reached the land of Mosiah! And as I was reading Chapter 2 this morning, these verse stuck out to me.

vs 3-4) "And then also took the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses. And also that they might give thanks to the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Jerusalem, and who had delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, and had appointed just men to be their teachers, and also a just man to be their king...and who had taught them to keep the commandments of God, that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men."

First reason I like this is that I love it when it talks about the Nephites keeping the Law of Moses. It's one more thing of the many things that Joseph Smith probably wouldn't have anticipated if he was writing a book of scripture for his own gain...and besides that, is evidence of a God who is very consistent throughout time to his people (even though they were in a different place, they still lived before Christ came and thus practiced the law of that time. Very cool.)

SECOND reason I like this is that last part--that they had been taught to keep the commandments of God "that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men". So cool to think that living the commandments of God can lead us to have joy in our day to day lives, and be filled with love towards God and everybody else. I know that that has been my experience, as I've increasingly humbled myself and willingly obeyed the commandments and mission rules. I feel much more at peace, and much more loving (and less inclined to anger and judgement) towards others. And if it's true for me, it can be true for you too. ;)

PICTURE:



I affectionately call this picture '3 whites and a red'. For those of you to whom I've explained the color code, you will understand. (PLUS for those of who are observant, all three of those are former (or present) companions. Sweet.)

Annnddd...that's just about it! If all goes well, I'll see Dustin get baptized this week (one of those we were teaching in my last area) and Brittany baptized the week after that. Pretty awesome miracles. :)

Love you all! XOXOXO

Sister Hale

7-14-14

Hey y'all!

Whew! Crazy good week. Funny how it's a burden to write all you sometimes because I just want to hear how you're doing...and would rather pour over your emails for the 2 hours of time that I have...but I have at least a hope that you want to hear how I'm doing also, so...I'll be selfless and let you know how I'm doin. :)

UPDATE:

These last couple weeks have been really good. WHEWWWw...let's see. Well, first exciting piece of news, we put Brittany on date this week...FOR JULY 31ST (which she will totally make as long as she make it to church the next two weeks...which she will, because she is awesome and the most prepared investigator I have seen on my mission thus far), and she's doing really well. Reading the Book of Mormon whenever she has the chance (already at 1 Nephi 20 after our seeing her...4 times), reading mormon.org so that she knows all the lessons before we teach her...it's cray. She came to church this week for the first time, and really enjoyed it. My only fear is overwhelming her...so I will try not to do that. BUT SHE IS GREAT. And I am so grateful that the Lord saw fit to let us work with her.

ALSO, REALLY AWESOME MIRACLE BELOW! But I will let the profile speak for itself. :)

But first, update: I'm also loving working with Sister Van Leuven. She's white (for you adherents of the color code out there), but a darn strong and stubborn white, who also has a commitment to having good diligent fun, and 'not running faster than we have strength'. I think with my trainees I had fun and worked hard, but I was also super 'in-charge' and I think a little frantic about our work ethic sometimes (not a lot of kindness to ourselves about little infractions--2 minutes late out the door from lunch, that sort of thing)...and not that we're slacking now, but Sister Van Leuven is helping me to understand what stress is needful, and what stress is self imposed and not necessary. And making that distinction is really great. AND I'M REALLY GRATEFUL BECAUSE I'M MUCH HAPPIER (and trying to be more chill). Anyways, moving on to Miracle (see below)

PROFILE:

Name: Heather Rivero
Age: 26
Accessory of Choice: Her 'So it goes' tattoo on the inside of her forearm
Maladies: Bipolar, MS and Fibromyalgia. Rough.
Past Religious History: Went to the LDS church till she was 16, had some good experiences in it, but fell away around then and has been a hard-core atheist for the last 10 years.
Reasons why she hasn't been at church: They are probably many, but one at least (that she told us the first time we met her) is that she's liberal (especially about gay rights) and doesn't think her views would mesh if she was an active church member.
Her experience at church this week: First of all, SHE CAME for the first time in 10 years (!), second of all...she had a really good experience taking the sacrament. She'd been reading and praying all week, and wasn't sure whether or not she was going to take it...but then, after thinking about it, she DID and felt really right about it, and now she's committed to really coming back. WOO! AHH!
Changes she's already making: Reading and praying every day. Awesome. ALSO she asked us for help getting her house cleaned up (her illnesses make it hard) so that she can have a better space in which to feel the spirit.
REASON THAT IT'S SO AWESOME! ...:D Sister Missionaries have been going over for a while, but when we invited her to take the lessons, she accepted! Also, in response to her 'I'm a liberal concern,' I told her I was dating one (a liberal that is), and that it was definitely possible to reconcile things. And that's one thing that has helped her open up to us! Which is so great! Bahhh...

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This is going to be quick because my time is running short. BUT...! Just...agency. It's a blessing and a curse, and something that I've definitely come to better understand on my mission. It actually is a huge relief of stress to endow someone with their agency, and say 'you know, I can share these things with you, and tell you that they've changed my life and that they can change yours also...but ultimately it's you're the only one who can make the choice to act on these things, and I can't force you (though I can invite you to make changes, and follow up on your progress)." So! Seriously though, to see someone's agency at work is miraculous. I'm so pleased to have witnessed (and be witnessing) real conversion in both Heather and Brittany, to know that it is possible, and our job as missionaries is really just to make our invitations as realistic and manageable (and appealing) as possible, so that they can make a correct choice. I darn well hope that this will help me be a good (and more worry-free) parent. But you know, that has yet to be seen. :)

PICTURE:

Oh. Did I mention that we had a cake war this week? Yep. Literally, flinging cake at each other for dessert (we have a very yellow less active we're working with named CJ. His idea.). It was really fun.


Also, the best part is when I stole the opposition's ammunition. See me as a sneaky sneak!






Love you all so much! Don't be afraid to write!

Sister Hale

7-7-2014

Bwa! Time is moving fast. I'll try to stop making comments on it all the time...but seriously, not even sure where this week went. It was an awesome one though! So...I will hit some highlights!

UPDATE:

Very busy productive week for me and Sister Van Leuvan. I love that! Seriously, we have been crazy blessed over the past 2 weeks...just going from like 3 people on the progress record 2 weeks ago to like...8 or 9. Which has been great! We've been blessed to find a lot of surprisingly solid investigators as well, just left and right. I don't know what it is! Sister Van Leuven's faith? Mine? (hopefully) Heavenly Father knowing that we're good teachers and we can help people? I hope so. It has yet to be seen exactly what will come from this up-swell of work and activity, but I'm excited to see what's coming, and I feel a general sense of well-being and happiness at the quality and quantity of work we have to do. I feel like I'm finally figuring things out and hitting my stride...which is a very nice place to be.

Also, Jessica came to church and was swallowed up by the ward in love. Good! Now just to get that girl to the waters of baptism...

I'm also going on exchanges and increasingly trying to discover exactly what my purpose is as a Sister Training Leader. Well! I'll get there. 

PROFILE:

Name: Brittany Pollard
Age (important in YSA): 25
Occupation: Nanny for her best friend's family (husband of family is a less active member)
Clothing article of choice: DR. WHO T-SHIRTS!! (which she says are her only modest options right now; we didn't even mention anything about modesty...pretty cool.)
Very inspired question Sister Van Leuven asked: "How do you feel when you recognize truth?" (led to a really great discussion)
Super awesome thing: She read the pamphlet before she came!
Even more awesome thing: SHE ALSO DOWNLOADED THE BOOK OF MORMON ONTO HER KINDLE BEFORE WE CAME!
And great music that she likes: Chumbawumba. I know because I inadvertently quoted it in the middle of a lesson, and she jammed with me.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Gonna be short today my sweet peeps...but! Cool little thought in the lesson last night with the below member's mom...we were talking about how God is the same, yesterday, today and forever, and somehow the conversation turned to the Family Proclamation...and she said, "Yeah, it wasn't in place before because it wasn't necessary. People understood what a family was." Pretty crazy, but pretty true. I've heard this age described as 'the age of possibility,' meaning that all restrictions, all structures and formats are questioned and we can do anything, basically. And questions and experimenting and figuring things out is good, as long as it's driven by an actual quest for truth and happiness, not a quest for what's going to satisfy our own pleasure or ego. I don't think I really had a testimony of the Family Proclamation before my mission...I thought it was nice, but a little awkward. My heart has been softened though, and I have an increased testimony of that document, that the principles in there are true and that they can bless us as we live them. If you haven't gotten to read it for a while, here you go!



PICTURE:



You didn't know that there was such a thing as root beer tasting and testing, did you? Well...yep! Run by a mormon family too (and apparently they give missionaries discounts ;) ). The one I'm holding there was brewed in Alaska, and had a strangely sour aftertaste...pretty fun. :)

I love you all so much! DO NOT FEAR THE PEN AND PAPER! You only have approximately 4 months and 3 weeks (oh my gosh) to feel that happy pat-on-the-back feeling for writing your favorite Sister Missionary! :D :D!!! WRITE ME!!!

Love love love,

Sister Hale