Uvalde is Progressing

Dearest Family and others:

I really don't like the cursor I have. We're in the junior college computer lab, and someone decided to change the cursor so that it has ghost like images following it. Walmart is subpar at times. I'm done complaining.

I've made a few personal goals that should help me to "put on the saint" more often in my life. My Spanish is improving, and we had a fair amount of opportunities to teach in Spanish this week, far more than I've had working in Universal City. This area isn't technically a Spanish area, but it's closer than Universal City or Alamo 2nd.

Uvalde is really progressing! We had an exchange with the area leaders, who are Spanish called missionaries with a duty to sustain and help other Spanish missionaries, and to help them improve in their abilities. Because they live so far away from us, both of our companionship worked in Uvalde, which brought about some super results. Elder Goodman and came with Elder Downer and I, and Elder Pope went with Elder Bertelsen. We found a few families that day, including a man who was baptized when he was 12, but went inactive. He was originally hesitant and closed, but his heart opened, and he again accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and meet with missionaries. We hope to teach his family too.

Tomorrow will be another exchange with our district leader. Because Elder Bertelsen is leaving, I'll be driving. I haven't driven a car in more than 8 months. That's crazy! I really don't want to crash, so please keep me in your prayers. I'm hoping for the very best here.

Casey, as he said, is starting to grow in faith. We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and  he prayed at the end. The very act of ending, "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen," was a huge step for him, seeing as he's coming from a very un-religious background. He didn't make it to church, but i don't mind too much. Stake Conference can sometimes go over your head a little bit. He is just young enough that if he were to get baptized, he might decide to serve a mission, which would be fantastic. We'll have to teach him everything we can, so he can make a well informed decision on it all.

We started teaching Daniel and Gina again. Gina is ready. She really wants the gospel; we can feel it as we go to visit them. Daniel is more hesitant, but he has real intent, and he wants to make sure that he can keep going if he were to get baptized. We also taught the neighbors of the first counselor of our ward, and they happen to be next-door neighbors. It was funny, because at first the first counselor of our ward only knew the son's name: Johnny. So when he referred to them, they were Johnny, Johnny's dad, and Johnny's mom. Which we found out their names were Ed and Christina. Christina was struck by James 1 : 5, which she said was eerie, because she was also searching for truth, she thought it was odd we picked that scripture, and she couldn't remember ever hearing it . . .. But their family is golden.

We have a Missionary Activity coming up this Saturday, where all of the return missionaries of the ward will bring a food dish specific to their country and give small demonstrations on their mission experiences. In addition to having empanadas and completos, I'm excited for Casey, Daniel and Gina, Lorena's family, and the other few families we found to enjoy the sweet spirit. We even invited our mission president to come, but unfortunately he was already committed to go to a missionary activity down in Austin. We were just too slow. But he's interested to hear how it goes, and we don't need him for it to be a success.

This one day over five cats tried to get themselves run over -- or in other words jay-walked in front of our car at absolutely awful times. Luckily we didn't hit them. On the exchange with the area leaders we found a random dead rooster in the middle of the road. No road kill can really beat Texas road kill. The animals are way more exotic over here than anywhere else that I've seen.

I also got a letter from Elder Ballif, whom I didn't even know was on a mission. He's in the Philippines, WOOOOOOOOOO! Random mail like that just makes my day.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Is your weather extra warm like ours is?

Random cold snap today, but pretty much warm. I got a sunburn this week doing service -- we were setting up a playground at a members home. How in the world does one get a sunburn in February? One moves to Texas, I guess.

How is your ward doing?    

Doing well. Our ward had Stake Conference, and Elder Wright of the (6th?) quorum of the Seventy talked to us. I almost fell asleep once, it was super embarrassing. So don't tell anyone. ;)

Are Elders Bertelsen and Downer all recovered?    

Heh, almost. At the end of the exchange on Friday, Elder Bertelsen's did not resemble that of one that is fully well. He's gotten sick, AGAIN. Elder Downer is good, and I'm mostly good, just fighting off the sore throat that must have survived it's time in UC, for I still seem to have it.

How has the teaching been going this week?    

Wonderful! We found families to teach, and most of them are tan preparado como posible. I'll let you know more about them if they progress, and they should so expect fantastic news.

What has the Spirit taught you this week? 

During our lesson with Daniel and Gina, or at least initially, I was premeditating my comments before I said anything. I thought of something to say, waited for my turn and said it. But then I realized that I was going converse to what Preach My Gospel says, which advises us to avoid the tendency to think about what we are going to say, but instead to focus on listening, and paying attention to the promptings we receive. After a while I realized my folly, and changed my focus -- from me to them. Everything flowed like a nice waterfall after that, and the mood of the lesson changed immediately. The Spirit taught.

--

-Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

As you can see, Elder Downer is down for the count.

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