10-20-2014

Hey y'all!

Man, so...a year ago, I was in Clearview. WHEW! The time, the time...

And now I am officially in my last transfer! AND EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED ONCE AGAIN! So, here we go.

UPDATE:

So...! I have a new companion. HER NAME IS SISTER KATELYN STRINGFELLOW! Annndd...I'm training again. Yep! Definitely unexpected, definitely kinda freaked me out at first...but I'm doing better now! So, some cool things about Sister Stringfellow: She is from Olympia Washington, and is actually here on a mini-mission to see if her physical limitations will allow her to serve a full time mission. She has (get ready for me to butcher the spelling) Spineabifita (Yep. Killed it.) which means that her spine is too long for her body, and ultimately means that her legs are really weak. She walks around with these cool little crutches (which she has lovingly termed Doctrine and Covenants), and wears big plastic braces on her legs when we go outside...but though her body may be weak, spiritually, mentally and emotionally she is one of the most prepared and motivated missionaries I have ever worked with. She super wants to be here, and she super wants to finish a full-time mission (as opposed to the 3 months her mini-mission allows {I'm her follow-up trainer, she's been out already a month and a half}), which is great for me at the end of my mish. I feel super blessed to be her second companion and for her to be my last, and am looking forward to seeing the good things we are able to do together this transfer. :)

Also, update on the work, pretty good week this week! It has been a bit of a tricky transition for me to go from working with a well-seasoned missionary who'd been in this area longer than I had and set the pace and things like that (SVL :P) to being the one who knows everything and sets the pace and calls the shots...but I'm trying to do that without 1) chortling with power, and 2) pushing ourselves to obscene limits. Don't run faster than you are able, right? So working on finding the productive balance. Had a great lesson with Brandon this week though, brought him to the church for a church tour and had a super productive discussion. He also came to institute this week, which he loved, and which was an awesome miracle (Quote after institute from Brandon: "There is this crazy energy here. Like...that (pointing to Michael Throolin) is the happiest guy I've ever seen in my life, and there are like five of them here. There's something about this church..." **SWEET!**) So working on that. Christine unfortunately has dropped off again, so won't be making her baptism date for this Saturday. So close...we'll keep working with her and praying that she'll text us back. *sigh*

PROFILE:

Name: Hansel

Age: 21

Accessory or choice: Table full of free religious literature

How we met him: Going contacting in the afternoon at Edmonds Community College, we heard a loud voice reading the Bible wafting from across the courtyard. We went up and introduced ourselves.

Why we met him: I felt it would be pretty dumb (Elephant in the room type scenario) if we tried to contact people in the courtyard and didn't deal with the guy loudly reading the Bible for all to hear.

Why we soon regretted meeting him: He wouldn't shake our hands (didn't want to be 'unequally yoked,' he said), and promptly began to grill us on how we thought our works would save us and how we hadn't been truly converted to Christ. We had a couple investigators and members that we had texted beforehand come over to see us, and he promptly began grilling them on whether or not they were living the commandments, and told them that if they weren't they were going to Hell.

A few quotes from our conversation: At my insistence (after a long time and persistent attacks) that we didn't want to bash, he said "Why won't you bash?!" Uhh...because contention is of the devil? *sigh*

His arguments: 

1)We were doomed to hell because we were trusting in our baptism rather than in Jesus to save us.

2) What if we were wrong? What if we'd devoted 18 months of our lives to the wrong cause, and were condemning all the people we taught to hell? (sowing the seeds of dooouuubt...)

...and there were others.

Why we were frustrated: He obviously hadn't read Preach My Gospel. Had a memorized rig-ma-role intended to make the recipient feel guilty (and I guess in his mind, thus in need of Christ), and if it didn't work he would cajole us until we would give the 'right answer' (didn't know what to do when I told him that no, the commandments weren't burdensome for me to live). He was a terrible listener, didn't validate anything we were saying (it was all bad and wrong), and certainly didn't adapt teaching to meet needs. AND the spirit definitely wasn't with him, that too.

What I learned: How NOT to be. My goodness. Having had that experience (and some experience with the Jdubs in the area), I'm not surprised that some people are sometimes rude to us or expect us to be awful and condemning. I'm so grateful that that's not what I do as a missionary all day, that my purpose is not to 'invite people to come unto Christ by condemning them to increase their faith...yada yada'. I'm grateful that our focus is to invite, add, encourage, lift and bless. I definitely couldn't (and wouldn't want to) do this otherwise.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

I'm blazing through the Book of Mormon in the attempt to finish it before I get home, and here was one of my favorite scriptures that I came across again.

Alma 38:12

"Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness."

So much good stuff jam-packed into one little verse! Each of those little maxims are extremely profound, and true (I can say, having put them to the test). I encourage you to pick one of the 3 and work on it! I know it'll bless ya. :)

PICTURE:

My new compy loves to make tasty food with me. :) SCORE!

Love you all! Don't be strangers! I'm super grateful to be here and for all your support and love.

XOXO!

Sister Hale

10-13-2014

HUZZAH FOR WASHINGTON THINKING COLUMBUS WAS A JERK! Though I'm not sure I agree necessarily, I am very grateful that the state's decision not to hallow this day, because it means I get to email on a Monday Holiday (contrary to a nasty dream I had on the subject). SO YAY.

Also, so happy to hear about all the wonderful things happening in all of your lives. Wonderful things are happening here too, and it just makes me happy to see blessings all around.

OKAY. If you haven't seen/heard of this yet and you are reading this email, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND WATCH THIS TRAILER REAL FAST:

http://meetthemormons.com/#/filter-all/page-1

We haven't gotten to see it yet, but I hear it's REALLY GOOD. Jealous of all y'all who can go...(but we might be getting it in Zone Conference, so PUH! :) )

UPDATE:

Very good week. ALMOST 3 investigators at church, but 3 investigators with pretty solid progress ALL PROGRESSING (almost) and making me happy. :) Great Zone meeting though, some really solid lessons (I'm sorry, I need to be better about details...but see profile below!). Also, it's transfers tomorrow! (short transfer, 5 weeks because of some mission president training thing) So...we should be hearing today. Hopefully I'll hear in time to tell all y'all what's going down (my suspicion: SVL is out of here. But we have yet to see :) )

**Also, just recieved word: suspicions confirmed! Sister Van Leuven is out of here, and I'll be getting a new compie and finishing up my mission YSA. Sad to lose her, but PUMPED to have one part of my mission future secured! Bahhh...!

PROFILE:

Name: Brandon

Age: 31

How we found him: POTENTIALS IN THE AREA BOOK BABY! See? It works. :)

Accessory of choice: Gangsta hat. Doesn't really fit him, buuuuttt...whatever.

Living Room Set-up: Like...6 couches, scattered around the living space. And 2 huge TV's right next to each other (one for football and one for soccer he tells us). Definitely a Bachelor pad.

Religious background: Christian...but starting to question some stuff. Religious he says because living Christian principles (like honesty) have made him feel a lot better and more free in his life.

Point of struggle: A lot of his closest friends are Atheist and Agnostics, and have been telling him that the whole faith thing is a bunch of bunk. He's a very analytical guy, but feels like he's experiencing a lot of confusion and darkness. Looking for an end to that.

Experience with the missionaries up to this point: He's actually been talking to mormon missionaries for the last 10 years...but last Sunday was the first time he came to church (Conference), and he really liked it.

Signs of progress: Came to church for Conference! Lets us in! Says he has to read the whole Book of Mormon to know if it's true! On date for December 13th!

Signs of hesitation: Not used to the missionaries seeing him a couple of times a week, a little weirded out by that...also DROVE TO CHURCH this last week, sat in the parking lot and then chickened out. Ugh! So clooossseee....:/

Reasons I love him (as an investigator, don't get weird now): Very sharp, gets things right away, willing to read and analyze, has a lot of concerns that are similar to past ones I've had.

Reasons he scares me: INTENNSSSEEE...intense. Can be scary. But nice. INTENSE!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

It's gonna be quick, sorry. Quick, but important! 

Alma 34:15-16

"And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about the means unto all men that they may have faith unto repentance.

And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption."

Yep, I know. A whole sermon in 2 verses. I love these though. I love the clarity of the Book of Mormon, especially what it has to offer in clarifying doctrines that have been muddled by the continued translating and editing of the Bible over time. I love that it says that Christ has prepared the way, but unless we exercise faith unto repentance (read: change), we don't qualify and are exposed to the 'whole law'. So get repentin, peeps. ;)

PICTURE:

​Me and Demi, crazy 'gator of a last transfer. She's still coming to activities and things, which is good! Buuutt...she lives out of the mission now, so some other sisters are teaching her. Worked out all for the best I think :)

Couldn't resist another game day. 7 WONDERS ALL THE WAY BABY! Didn't win this time (tried a new strategy), but I did come in a healthy second. :)

Love you all! This is getting serious now; only 7 more weeks to get blessings for writing a missionary. GET ON IT! :P

Sister Hale

10-6-2014

Phewww...Time flies (she says over and over again). Understatement, right? BUT, let me not overlook this opportunity to wish my sweet brother Mason a happy birthday (Hurrah!) and myself, a wonderful half-birthday (hurrah once more!). He's 19 and I'm 21.5. Weiiiird...But without further ado!

UPDATE:

Pretty good week! Some solid lessons, 3 new investigators (very good for YSA), LOTS of referrals to contact, and general happiness and well-being (except for Saturday when I got mad at Sister Van Leuven for loving other sisters more than me. But then I got over it. Let not thou notst believe that missions work out all the imperfections and oversensitivities of the missionaries, for behold, they do not! :P ). Christine had a killer lesson (Law of Chastity and Tithing) where she showed us that she already knew all about these commandments and was committed to live them. SWEET! Only bummer is that then she missed conference, so she can't get baptized this week...but soon! Soooon...that is, if the Navy doesn't ship her to Africa tomorrow. We have yet to see.

PROFILE:

Name: Rachell Cluff

Age: 21

Hairstyle: BIG 'ole bun atop the head

Accessory of choice: Baggy sweatshirts and minnie mouse pj pants UNLESS she's going out, in which case she gets all dolled up. 

Defining Characteristic: Very quiet. Very gentle. Timid, definitely. But very sweet.

Religious background: A little bit of Christian background...but really not much. She's barely been to church in her life before.

How we found her: Referral from the Meadowdale Elders. Yeah boyz.

Favorite hobbies and past-times: (and this is a near direct quote) "Music...and touching people's hair." (she just graduated school to be a hair-stylist)

How she responds to our teaching: Doesn't have a lot of answers to our questions, but likes listening and feels good when we come. She said (in response to Sister Van Leuven asking her what she thought of our teaching her so far) "I like it. Thank you for inviting me to things, even when I don't come." She's scared, but we're working on it. ;)

How SVL and I feel towards her: WE LOVE HER. We also want to protect her from all the bad things. 

Our desires for her: GET BAPTIZED! COME TO CHURCH! Having a really good fellowshipper will help we think, so we're working on that.

What we love: When she smiles. Oh man. She looks so down trodden so much of the time, but when she smiles, it's just like a beautiful gift. So sweet.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Conference was wonderful this past weekend. Whew! 2 years ago yesterday they lowered the age for missionary service? Isn't that insane? That's one of the greatest blessings I think of being part of the 'true and living church'. The foundational doctrinal truths (who we are, where we came from, what we're supposed to do here, where we're going after this life) remain the same, but external policies and practices are always changing and adapting to better facilitate the spread and teaching of the gospel. (age change, missionaries using ipads, mormon.org, all that great stuff)

Here are some of my favorite talks that I'd recommend to you to give a read or listen to:

>Elder Lynn G Robbins (Saturday Morning)

>Elder D. Todd Christofferson (Saturday Morning)

>Elder Jorg Klebingat (Saturday Afternoon)

>Tad R. Callister (Saturday Afternoon)

>Elder M. Russell Ballard (Sunday Afternoon)

>Elder Carlos Godoy (Sunday Afternoon)

>Elder Larry S. Kacher (Saturday Afternoon)

(and here's the link) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/10?cid=HPSU100514465&lang=eng

And if you're not a member of the church and have the question about why we even do all this crazy missionary work, please read Elder Bednar's talk in the Sunday Afternoon session. It's directed towards non-members, and is pretty awesome.

I love the spirit I feel at conference, and the resolve I make to improve as a result. I'm grateful for the Spirit and it's sanctifying effect on me. I understand that now the responsibility is mine, to actually follow through on those impressions and qualify for the blessings God wants to give me. I encourage you all to do the same!

PICTURE:

So many good ones to choose from this week...you might get 2 again!

Exchanges this week! Herman Brunsdale is one of my hipster faves :)

And then this is me in the middle (no duh), Christine on the left and Brittany on the right. Hard not to have favorites when you work with such awesome prepared people :)

LOVE YOU ALL! This was too long already, I apologize. XOXOX!

Sister Hale

9-29-2014

Hey all!

Whewww...where did September even go? *sigh* I keep having weird dreams about going home and being super freaked about all the free time. Probably going to be a reality. But...not if I keep living missionary life after December 2nd!! :D Which I plan to do...to a realistic extent. ;) RM PLANNERS FOR THE WIN! :D

UPDATE:

It's kinda tough after you've been in the area for a while and with a companion for a while to come up with new stuff to put in this update. BUT! We keep chuggin along. :) The ward's doing great, Brittany's doing great (has finished the whole triple and is getting her Patriarchal Blessing on the 6th! :D)...the work is going well! We were able to find some solid new investigators this week, which always grows your faith. Christine drove herself to church this week (to the 9am family ward instead of our 12:30 YSA ward because she had conflicts later in the day...but still!) and is really feeling the fruits of the spirit. More happiness, more peace...she's the 'happy virus' at work she says, since she's been learning with us. And that is happy making for missionaries too :)

PROFILE:

...confession! I've profiled almost everyone I can think of to profile. So guess what you get this week? A PROFILE OF SISTER VAN LEUVEN!

Name: Leah (gasp!) Van Leuven

Age: 21

Nickname(s): Van Lovin' it, Van Lovin, Van Lulu, SVL (my personal fave)

Super power: Not eating desserts for an entire year

Color: WHITE! White white white. But the really stubborn kinda white that drive Red people crazy. :P

Passions: ...Missionary work ;) ...Football. Hangin with the Sisters (at appropriate times). Being OPEN AND HONEST all the time.

Missionary Strengths: Bold. Simple. Conserves energy well for use in our most productive activities. Voice of reason. Pillar of strength ( Yeah, I'm way good at the words of affirmation thing ;) )

Her pet peeve about me: I worry too much, I can get whiny sometimes and freak out for no reason (I'm working on it)

My pet peeve about her: SO INDEPENDENT. Has no needs. She's makes me want to buy a plant, and tell her 'If I don't water it, this plant will DIE' so that she can see that other things/people need sustenance, and sometimes people just need to be needed...

How we've achieved a good balance: I've chilled out (Significantly. Hopefully.) She's learned to make fun of me, which fills my words of affirmation crazy need. And we work hard and at a good pace (in between my natural barebone rations pace and her natural super chill pace)

Why we're still happy after 3 transfers (4 months) of near-24 hour contact with each other: Because of open communication! And because we have complimentary strengths and weaknesses, and have the same ultimate desires and goals (for our area and in our missionary work).

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Reading in Alma 24 today, verse 18 really stuck out to me. This is discussing a group of people who used to be vile awful sinners who are ultimately converted by some stellar missionary work and exposure to the spirit. The verse reads,

"...that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands."

Conversion is such an awesome thing. Look at all those things they used to do (shed blood, take, be lazy) and all the things they're now doing (give up their lives, give to others, work hard) as a result of their conversion. I think many would argue that you can still achieve those good ends (sacrifice, charity, work ethic) without God and without religion, and it may be true that these good qualities are not restricted to believers. But for me, without the gospel I would wonder at why I was even doing these good things. I would lack the purpose and sustaining peace that the Gospel grants me, and sooner or later my self-motivation would fail me. I am very grateful for the gospel, which changes me from the inside out and inspires me to keep working and keep improving.

PICTURE:

You get two this week! A nice one and a gross one.

NICE ONE!

​Dad you would've loved this place. Iconic drive in with only 6 locations, and SUPER CHEAP and good.

GROSS ONE:

Went on exchange this week to a bike area, and it rained. Hard. Without a break. Fall in Washington is here people!

Love you all :) Hope you're having a great week!

Sister Hale

9-22-2014

Whewwww...alright, the passage of time is looking to be less and less exciting and more and more scary. *sigh* Today marks 10 weeks left, people! Wheww...lucky for me, I got a nice little impression at church that I should look to gain all I can from this context while I've got it, and I can worry about all that other stuff later. Still though. Yikes. There's like a nice happy 'Oh, when I go home I can go on facebook!' kinda feeling, and then there's the scary 'Oh, when I go home I'll have to...watch movies and not be productive all the time and....' ...yeah. Bleh. I know those are all not a 'have to's', they will just be options unlike what they are now. So! So so so...moving on!

UPDATE:

Things are going pretty well here :) Still working to find more solid investigators, but doing what we can with those we have. Finding is perpetually the struggle in YSA, which is why we're going to send around a sheet for active members to receive the first lesson from us! And then refer us to all their friends :) But a few specific detail highlights (cause I need to do that more): Demi came to church, we had some solid lessons (vague, I know...I'M WORKING ON IT)...and 2 weeks ago Sister Van Leuven made me puke in the car when she made me laugh (on purpose) while I was drinking water. Then we had to drive home with the windows down smelling gross post-Cafe Rio puke smell. Enough details? ;P

PROFILE:

Name: Alexa Kiene

Age: 2..6?

Acessory of choice: Basketball shorts. Definitely.

Best friend(s): Her puppy Theo, and her roommate Valerie (former mission companion)

Status: RM, served her mission in texas, highly quality oriented and has crazy expectations for herself (read: Blue)

Struggle: Was so perfectionistic about her service at church that it was driving her to insane stress levels...so she stopped coming (and Valerie too, who has other struggles)

Head-scratcher: We couldn't figure out why coming to church was stressing her out so much...till we got to that perfectionistic thing in one of our lessons, and I think that helped.

Crazy happening: Their apartment burned down. Seriously. Well, rewrite, their BUILDING burned down...and their apartment was saved, but the smoke was pretty thick and was aggravating her allergies...

Future: Because of the smoke and things, she's moving, which is a bummer.

But, wonderful development: They have both been at church the last 2 weeks! Whereas before they were wondering if the church was really the right path for them, now it seems they're more open to the idea of continued activity. Which makes us really really happy. 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

These last couple weeks I've thought about conversion as less of a change of self or change of habit, and more as a change of culture, from whatever dictates their culture might have (smoking, drinking, sleeping around are okay, etc.) to a more elevated, Zion-like culture. Let me give a few examples of present culture vs. gospel culture:

WESTERN CULTURE

Materialism>>>selflessness/not caring about stuff (tithing/consecration)

Hedonism (focus on personal pleasure)>>>Discipline and self-control (Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, etc)

White lies (to be polite)>>>Complete Honesty 

Immodesty>>>Modesty

SPANISH CULTURE (from the little I know about it from the Spanish Elders/Sisters in the mish):

Flakiness>>>dependability

Laziness (that's not coming from me, but other missionaries have commented)>>>work ethic

And the list could definitely go on. There are good things about every culture too, obviously, that may already coincide with gospel values or may not matter one way or another. But the cool thing is that no matter what your culture is or where you're coming from, the Gospel culture is universal and will require change. It's even different than Mormon culture ('mormon standard time' comes to mind as something that would not be in the culture of a zion-like people). Ultimately true Gospel culture is personified by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all trying to be like him, and even if we just move the needle a little bit each day, that's still progress.

Seriously cleared some Ivy off a hillside for a service project this week. It was insane.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Hale

9-15-2014

Whew...

Time! Today marks 11 P-days left on my mission. Haha! I'm actually doing pretty well at staying focused and involved and happy and not trunky and all of that. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm GOING TO DO MY ECCLESIASTICAL ENDORSEMENT TODAY and START SIGNING UP FOR CLASSES in the next few WEEKS and...yeah. No big, no big.

But I'll tell you about all the rocking miracles and greatness we saw this week!

UPDATE:

We finally hit standards this week! :D Standards are a few numbers that President has determined we should shoot for to have a balanced approach to missionary work. They individually are not all that challenging, but getting them all together at the same time can be tricky (it's 4 member present lessons, 2 on date, 2 at church, 2 new investigators). And we hit it! It's been a while. AND I AM HAPPY. (I was happy before I reached an external measure of my success, don't worry. :) )

Also, I realized that I'm not the best at sharing miracles in these emails, so...HERE ARE A COUPLE (excerpts from my letter to President this week):

1) Met some potentials at the church building (referrals from the A1 sisters), brought a member with us, and they became new investigators and one of them got on date in the course of the lesson! Pretty awesome. Trying to reconnect with them now though; hoping Jade comes to FHE tonight.

2) Had a great lesson with Christine where we got her on track for a more achievable date of Oct 11th (it was Sept 27th before, but she hadn't come to church yet). She DID make it for the sacrament this Sunday (had work at 1:30) even through cramps and 'laziness' as she called it. So proud! The partial result of some prayerful and persistent texting, so we're happy. :)

3) Brittany Pollard is just doing phenomenally. In the month and a half since her baptism she's already finished the Book of Mormon and is through Section 105 of the Doctrine and Covenants already. She also taught Relief Society on Family History and temple work this week. Whhhaaa..?! And is applying to go to BYU in the Winter. Both Sister Van Leuven and I feel super blessed to have been here to see her join the church. Definite learning experience that for true conversion, it's the spirit that teaches, not us.

4) Also had some less actives we were pretty worried about come to church for the first time in like...3 months yesterday. So great. And the ward just swallowed them up in a very genuine way, which they needed so badly. They said they had a good experience and will be back. Brought a lot of joy to both Sister Van Leuven and I.

Of course there's a lot about missionary work that remains challenging, but (15.5 months in) I've gotten a lot more comfortable with a lot of things, and am pretty consistently dang happy. So that's good. :)

PROFILE:

Name: Jenni Brown

Age: 19 (almost 20)

Accessory of note: The front of her hair (like her bangs, but long) is dyed purple. Not like, light amber whatever...bright purple. And she has a purple car too.

Obsession of choice: Family History! No joke, it's what has brought her back to activity in the church.

Tricky background: In the foster care a lot when she was young, finally adopted into an LDS family (and baptized), and her mom died soon after. Being adopted has been one of the major drives behind her family history fire.

Where she is in the Book of Mormon (last time we checked): Mosiah 2. Awesome :)

How she was: REALLY standoffish. Wouldn't let us in at all. Pretty rude, pretty brusque, extremely sarcastic.

How she is now: Much more open. Much more kind. Lets people (at least us) in more easily. Still dealing with a lot of hard things (trust issues, etc), but is coming to church for the first time in a long time, and being an awesome fellowshipper and missionary.

Her hopes for the future: She...kinda wants to go on a mission (!!). Definitely wants to stay active in the church...wants to be a good example and change others by her example. So proud. :)

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

We're doing a Zone Read of Preach My Gospel this transfer (80% of our Personal Study. Yep. A sacrifice at first, but I'm doing better now :) ), and something that stood out to me was in lesson 2 of Chapter 3 where it talks about how "we will be rewarded according to our works and our desires." I always thought of that phrase kinda like this:

Not able to do good works (because you're handicapped or restrained to a bed or a prisoner of war or something?) but have good desires? SAVED!

But having read a couple other talks, I realized that being rewarded according to your works and desires can also mean this:

Doing something good (helping someone out/fulfilling your calling/doing missionary work), but you don't really want to and you have a bad attitude about it? =...not saved.

If we don't repent, of course. And that's the blessing, that there's always room for us to change. If you're doing good works already, you've already won one half of the battle! Now just to pray for your heart to be changed, and for you to develop the desire to do what you're doing (for the Lord or somebody else). Change your heart, and it will be accounted unto you for righteousness. Pretty cool!

PICTURE:

​Tessa (in the middle) was sick this week, and her mom gave her a bunch of masks so that she 'wouldn't contaminate anyone'. Fun. :P

Alright, I love you all! Like I always say, write me now while you can still get blessings for it! ;P

Sister Hale

PO Box 13390

Mill Creek, WA, 98082

It'll be fun, I promise. :P Love you!

Sister Hale

9-8-2014

Hey Peeps!

Sorry for the delay with the email last week; Labor Day kinda killed our email time. But here I am now, with some pretty cool news...!

UPDATE:

SISTER VAN LEUVEN AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER ANOTHER TRANSFER!!! :D ...Wha?! Yep. Doesn't happen all that often. But we're stoked! :D And just with how President has worked the transfer thing, it's pretty likely (I'd say 80%) that we'll be Sister Training Leaders again next transfer, which is nice. I feel really blessed to have been given that assignment in the last little while of my mish. It's so nice to be connected with the sisters that way, and to be trusted with the responsibility...AND TO BE ABLE TO GO TO MLC WHERE WE LEARN ABOUT ALL THE SECRETS!! :D ...jk. I only like the secrets...you know...a lot. Anyway. ;P

PROFILE:

Name: Marvin

Age: 20

Attribute of note: BULGING BICEPS. Obviously likes to pump some iron. Also cool near-emo hair.

Notable accomplishment: Read THE FIRST TWO BOOKS of Nephi even before we met with him the first time. SWEET.

Awesome missionary feature: Real intent! We asked all those missionary questions: "If you knew this was true, what would you do about it?" And he's all "...uh...act? Be baptized?" It's great. :)

Why I love him: He grew up going to an Eastern Orthodox Church with his friend, and he liked it pretty well...but then had kind of a crisis of faith in college, and now is looking for more. We're pumped to give him what we have, and have him come to church and pray about the Book of Mormon!

COOL THING! 2nd lesson, On-date for October 11th. LET'S GO! :D

*Also, side note, he is super smart and really well studied. He knows his Bible really well, but not in a 'this this and THIS prove that the Bible is the ONLY WORD OF GOD EVER,' but like...open about it. And open to more truth. Really cool.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

One of the Elders in our ward shared a really wonderful testimony with us yesterday, and I will paraphrase it and share it with you. He said something along the lines of:

"I remember when I was young and I first tried on a pair of glasses at Walmart. I'd been seeing things blurry all my life, but for the first time, things were clear. And I was like '...WHOA, Walmart!' and then I went outside and I was like '...WHOA, Mountains!' I could see things with so much more clarity. The Gospel is like a pair of glasses. There are many different lenses through which people see the world (Sister Hale's addition: some examples of these=determinism, humanism, secularism, empiricism, ETC). The Gospel is the most truthful set of lenses; it allows for the most clarity and brings the most peace."

I know that that is true, thanks to my experience and the peace that I've received as I've internalized and striven to live the Gospel. If you don't think that's true, or you're open to looking for more truth and peace in your life, try on the glasses! Take the lessons! Even if you're a member and you're searching, ask the missionaries to practice on you! I know I would've loved that at certain stages of my testimony development.

​IN HONOR OF SISTER VAN LEUVEN AND I STAYING TOGETHER! Yep. We had a tea party this week. YSA is way too fun.

Only in Washington. Yep, had to snap that one. :P

Love you all so much! Don't be afraid to write (DALLIN, CATHERINE, ANNIE (always Annie ;P)) while you can still get charity points for writing a missionary!

XOXO

Sister Hale