Looking to be a long year. I've realized that in the year
2015, if things proceed normally and I don't return home early, I will not
venture inside of a movie theater, theme park, or a car that I own. But that's
what will make the year interesting and stuff. The older I get the more I
realize that a year is not really very long. So I'll need to make the best of
this one, otherwise I could be doing other useful things back home.
As asked by family, there were a fair few cold snaps that
got us this week. Apparently this past summer was one of the cooler ones in
comparison to past years, and maybe winter has been touched by the cold as
well. We wore coats, sweaters, and we could still feel a chill.
New years eve we attended a ward party held by the elders
quorum in which families were also invited. Tony and Staniel, and all of their
kids also made it to the party. There was good food, and cups which when
combined with a balloon proved to be effective marsh mellow launchers. One of
the youth decided I was his target, and I had to defend myself. But I might
have gone overboard when I stole his ammo and sniped at him repeatedly. And the
Ward Mission Leader's daughter began to target me as well. Needless to say I
became a popular hit for that party, pun intended. Then we played games in a
group, one that involved a single person in the center, saying something that
he/she was wearing or had done, and would try to steal someone's seat as people
who shared that attribute in common had to stand up and switch places. Elder
Vergara singled me out as he said, "has a name tag on." I counter by
saying, "is serving as a missionary with me." It was funny to see
Tony and Staniel drag their youngest son around in their arms, offering as a
slight handicap. Considering new years day isn't too good of a time to
proselyte, we were glad we had the chance to go to this party, and more
especially that Tony and Staniel came. This offered a great chance to
fellowship them with other members of the ward.
Then on Friday we had a lesson with Tony and Staniel about
daily scripture study, and daily prayer. We read 2 Nephi 32 with them that
focuses on these points, and we invited them to be baptized. We told them a
date a baptismal service would be held and Staniel replied, "I don't think
I'd be ready by then, when is the next service?" We both laughed inside
because this completely depended on them. "The next one would be a week
afterward." They did however accept this date, and we hope to help them be
baptized at the end of the month. The only worrysome thing is that we only meet
with them once a week outside of the potential with church. That should work
itself out eventually, however.
Richard is doing well. His wife isn't very interested in
meeting us, however. We'll go over on Tuesday and help him clean out the
garage, and offer him the chance to tour the church, just like we did with Tony
and Staniel. We can only pray that her heart will soften, and try to meet with
him and possibly his daughters too.
Tony and Staniel made it to church. I think it was the
8:30am start time that really inhibited their willingness to come to church. They
came and seemed to enjoy everything, though this Sunday was a fair bit
different. We had fast and testimony meeting, which isn't too often, and
instead of Gospel Principles class we had an introduction to the year, combined
in the chapel. And the best part of it, Tony and Staniel were not the only
people to come to church. This other man, Kyle, who we had never met before
decided to look up a church building in his area and showed up to church
randomly. Our ward members were on him like a hawk, scaring him with pure
charity. And another person we had been working with, Brother Rios, also came
for sacrament meeting. Ramon, who had injured her shoulder a few weeks ago
finally made it to church as well. I'm wondering if the 11am church has some
hidden spell cast on it that makes people less willing to attend church.
Another family we worked with yesterday was Julia and
Brandon. Julia was someone that Elder Loveridge and I met as she entered her
driveway a few weeks ago. She bombarded us with some healthy questions and some
not-so-healthy ones, and we found out that she had fed missionaries years ago
while she attended culinary school. So this week we took her up on her offer
and asked if we could come over for dinner one week. While she asserted that
she "[wasn't] going to convert," we notice that she and her husband
had a lot more potential then she believed. We'll go over to do service for
them sometime this week. She's a really good cook, as you should be able to
expect with anyone who goes to culinary school.
Later that night we knocked on another door and this man
came out and told us for about thirty minutes how much he was proud and
appreciated us for what we were doing as missionaries. He told us that he did
this with all of the missionaries that visit. I began to be impatient with him,
which I regret, but towards the end of his sermon we asked him who he knew that
needed help spiritually. He directed us to two people who we hope to visit
tonight. Moral of the story, listen hard and show people you care.
I'm praying for all of you. I want to get better at praying
by name as well, so we'll see how that turns out. Theirs a saying that whenever
a missionary's name tag lifts up, it's because someone at home is thinking or
praying about them. It's a fun thing to imagine, and it reminds me how much I'm
loved.
Questions (always welcome from any source):
I was wondering how do you divide up your morning study time with
The Book of Mormon, Preach my Gospel, study in Espan~ol, study with Elder
Vergara?
Well, as is the case with most missionaries, likely to vary in foreign missions though, we start at 8am with a personal study. This hour is reserved to study from the scriptures, Preach my Gospel, and the missionary library. We study for investigators, their questions, to increase our knowledge, and as a result, our power to preach different topics, as well as research our own concerns and prepare for trainings (when we teach other missionaries about a topic and practice with them during a meeting.).
From nine to ten we study together as a companionship. We read
from our white handbook (because it is important to know the rules), plan for
lesson we'll teach that day, and study a topic together. We also role play,
occasionally finish planning that we didn't get to the previous night, and make
phone calls.
From ten to eleven I have an hour to study spanish. Whether I
learn vocab, study grammar, memorize a scripture or whatever, this hour is the
only reason why I haven't lost all of the spanish I've learned.
How are Richard and his family and Tony and Staniel and theirs?
Doing well. No meeting with Richard, however. See email above.
Did you get a really cold snap last week on Wed. or/and Thurs.?
Probably, I didn't keep good track of weather comings and goings.
What was funny this week?
We visited this potential investigator nearby and taught him. His
cat came to me, so I started to scratch it's head. Later it decided to
helicopter to my lap and land there. Plenty of animals have decided to sit on
me during pass lessons. I've been extremely grateful that I'm not allergic to
any of them. But seeing as I don't know when my family developed allergies to
dogs and or cats, I might be out of luck soon.
And, of course, please tell us some of how the Lord's Spirit
helped you and Elder Vergara this week?
I've never seen a more disorganized teaching situation than the
one we had with Julia and Brandon. They asked many questions, and we did our
best to direct conversation towards the restoration. Many of our plans that we
made this week were heavenly inspired and allowed us to visit as many people as
we could.
--
-Elder Hall
Texas San Antonio Mission
P.S. Any news on my fellow classmates of 2014? Anyone
getting mission calls soon?
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