Dear Family, friends, and everyone else,
My thoughts reach out to you all. In a few days I will have
served as a missionary for a whole year. This year has been one of the fastest
slowest years of my life, and I am excited for another year.
Tony and Stanyelle and two of their kids were baptized the
Saturday before last. I wasn't there for the event, but I am extremely glad for
them. Thank you for your prayers in their behalf!
So this last Tuesday morning I said goodbye to Elder Drennan
and I left with Elder Hart and Elder Bertelsen. As far as I know, he is serving
somewhere close to the boarder. He was both excited to go there, and sad to
leave the people here. It felt almost like an irregular exchange where we
didn't leave the area whatsoever. I enjoyed working with them, and I could
definitely tell that the strength I had was coming from a Loving Heavenly
Father.
Thursday we had transfer meeting. Many missionaries have
gone home this past transfer, and so the mission shrunk rapidly. The transfer
meeting was good. We only had a few missionaries come.
So now Elder Black and I are covering plenty of ground. I
bought a cheap road map on Tuesday, and I've been using it to help navigate us
from place to place. If any of you have used a GPS, don't take it for granted.
I both love learning the roads of our area, and dislike that I get lost. But
that's not a problem, since making a wrong turn doesn't ruin anything. So
really, driving is usually only as stressful as you make it.
For now we're working on keeping the ward strong and helping
people to progress towards baptism: that means teaching them about it, and
helping them to understand why it is important for them. It's easy to get
distracted from this, but as we remember why we are serving, our effort will go
in the right direction. Don't let me forget this important point!
I love this work so very much. It changes us into who we
need to be, not who we think we need to be. And as such, I'm working to stress
less as we go from place to place, and to trust in the Lord with all my heart
(Proverbs 3: 5-6).
Questions
and Answers
We saw that there has
been lots of flooding in parts of Texas- has it reached you and your ward
people?
Here and there, it has. Some of the families Elder Drennan
and I were teaching are affected by the rain more than others. The same thing
goes for the new families I've had the chance to meet with Elder Black.
And how has it been
this past week with the transfers and combining the 10th ward work?
I little bit stressful. The ward was a tad bit disheartened
at having less missionaries, but I know that things will go positively this
coming transfer. A bunch of the work that we've been doing has involved being
representatives of our perspective sides of the ward. I want to learn the whole
north side of the ward right now, but seeing as that isn't too realistic, I'll
be patient and rely wholly on the Lord. It is His work after all.
How is your new
companion, Elder Black?
He's a great missionary. He expresses himself subtly in the
work we do from day to day. While he likely has concerns and things to deal
with, he doesn't complain to me or anyone else. It'll take some time to get
used to the way he works, but I know that he can teach me many things.
What is he like?
He's from Salt Lake City, Utah. He's quiet. He is quite
musical, and he has played the piano since he was about 6.
How are your people
doing?
Sister R and her kids are doing well. We missed Omar this
past week but he is still on our mind. We met with Bro. H's grand kids, and I
felt good about the visit.
Are the dogs enjoying
the hot weather?
They still enjoy barking, that's for sure. The dogs on the
north side of the ward seem to act differently than the ones on the south side.
Elder Black demonstrates every time that we see dogs approach us that he knows
how to respectfully ignore them. They then proceed to ignore us.
How has the Spirit
blessed you this week?
A few days ago Elder Drennan gave me a priesthood blessing
to help me cope with the change and to remember all of the things that I've
learned. The blessing, eloquently and peacefully, has helped me to react better
to things that usually trouble me. Jumping to another experience, one of our
leaders shared with us that trials can stop being trials when we change to
better overcome them. For example, sweeping the floor will seem difficult if do
it with only your pinky finger, but it becomes less of a burden when we learn
to use our hands and our bodies to sweep instead.
How about fun/funny
experiences in this transition week?
When you serve as a missionary, you get used to having a
companion. When you lose said companion, you feel a little empty. Since served
with Elder Drennan for longer than I've served with any other missionary, it
was hard to part from him.
Have you started
using your tablets yet?
Not yet. Coming up this week, we should be getting them.
I'll let you know about it next week.
No pictures this week, unfortunately. I'm hoping to get
pictures from other missionaries, though.
--
-Elder Hall
Texas San Antonio Mission
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