The Temple Approaches

Dearest Friends and Family,

For those of you who were unaware, I was able to attend the San Antonio Temple and the baptism of Sister Rubio. It was a wonderful experience. I am hoping their family is well. My only wish is that we could have attended her confirmation. More on this experience later.

The Wonderful Rubio Family

Elder Hansen and I at the San Antonio Temple

A pretty good Christmas week. Hearts were softened and people were the most part receptive. We're still looking to find some committed people who will progress in the gospel. The sad news of this week is that R's baptism will have to be postponed. We don't completely understand the circumstances following the interview, but we'll work closely with him and hopefully he'll be ready later.

As for Christmas gifts, I got a new watch. This watch is able to count steps and monitor my sleep.

It was kind of interesting, we found a lady that pulled into her driveway and loaded her kids out. We asked her if we could show the Christmas video to her, and she accepted. With some technical difficulties, we had a slight delay. About a quarter or so through the video, her husband approached and called her into the home. So when we reported to our leaders that night that we had shown the video 1 and a half times, we got to explain that situation again.

We had wonderful meals at member's homes. We ate breakfast and dinner on Christmas day with members, and a shepherd's dinner on Christmas eve, which basically consisted of a variety of different foods, not gathered in any particular way.

Questions and Answers

Please tell us about your Saturday experiences.

Because I misplaced my journal in the Huebner Creek apartment, I decided to type my journal entries to keep up:

JOURNAL ENTRIES TO RULE

The Book of Hall, Chapter one

Approximately 26 Dec, 2015 AD

Today was a marvelous faith boost to me. We got up a little earlier than normal and met with Brother Coleman at about 7:15 to get in the car and head for the 9:30 endowment session. His name is Peter Shueuerman. If I spelled it correctly, it looks like it could have been a German name. The session was beautiful. I loved the architecture of this temple, and especially the feeling I got in the Celestial room. A few questions I had were answered, some of which I already knew the answers, but need confirmation of one type or another.

While there I met a member from the Huebner Creek ward. I forget his name, but he was kind. There he expressed his happiness to be in the temple. I agree, there is a peace that can never be replicated outside of that hollowed, holy to the Lord, Temple.

Afterwards we headed off to Teka Molino. I felt it appropriate to go there, as it was probably the most impactful restaurant that I ate at in the Windcrest Ward area. I love that place, and especially order #13, Nona's special, whoever Nona is, anyway. Good food and conversation with Brother Coleman. Even better, I saw Brother Farnsworth and his sister and son there with him. I could not for the life of me remember his last name. The 'f,' was the only thing that came to me. He was pretty kind however, and he said, "most people can't remember the first letter." He let me get off clean in that one.

Now a moment of grace. Sister Aurora Rubio was baptized today, and it was definitely a moment that I could have been waiting for at least fifteen months. I can't remember how long it has been. Maybe around that. Anyway, Because Elder Hodasek could not speak a lick of Spanish, or his companion, Elder Duford, I was allowed to conduct.  Hopefully I didn't botch too much. Obispo Vandenburg presided and gave a talk, and Jorge was given the privilege of baptizing his wife. It was a pure moment indeed. I was tempted to take a picture, but that didn't seem quite right. It wouldn't have been, of course. The Rubio daughters seemed pretty happy to see me, which told me that the work that I did still touched them.  So precious a day. I won't forget.

 What more have you learned about the people in the Lake Travis Ward? 

The people here are "muy amable." There are a fair amount of recent converts and converts that live in this ward, but I haven't quite yet learned what occupations are most common in this ward.

How is R doing?

We hope that he has been doing ok. We're going to follow up with him later this week. Or next year. Tee hee.

Have you had any awesome songs in your heart this week? 

Can I hear songs in my heart? I didn't hear any. I'll pay better attention this week and tell you next week.

Have you been able to get Elder Hansen's bike fixed? 

Well, not exactly. He's thinking of getting a new bike, since this one is quite old, and in bad shape. It's a little hard to work on since you need tools to do it.

What has the Spirit taught you this week?

Every missionary has a place and has an impact. And no matter what the impact looks  like in the beginning, it is always significant if we are faithful as we serve.

A couple of fun Pictures

TSAM Christmas 2015 Mission Conference

 

Elder Hansen and a fun apron when we made our own Pizza at a dinner appointment.

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

Swim

Dear family and others,

Great news to start out with, A member from the ward here will be taking us to see the Rubio family baptism back in Windcrest -- That means we will be able to see Sister Rubio get baptized. Better than presents is to be present at such an event. Pray that we travel safely! I might even attend the temple as we will be in the area. That would also be exciting, as I haven't entered a temple since about 18 months ago. Fewf.

Not even five weeks and I'm whisked away to a new area.  Lake Travis. We can go swimming every day. Just kidding. Water can wait. Essential, with Cedar Park covering Lago Vista, the north side of the Lake Travis, I'm on the other side of this body of water. We share the apartment with the Elders of Bee Cave/Barton Creek: Elder Aguila and Elder Blackhurst. First time that I've ever shared an apartment with other elders, and this is the 8th apartment that I've been in. Elder Hansen, the trainee of Elder Hart, is my companion. I'm serving as the junior companion. Funny, seeing as he only has 7 months in his mission. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned in this uncommon situation. There really is a lesson to be learned in all situations.     

Christmas is coming up. No snow, no chill, basically I could close my eyes and pretend that I was in California. Or inside. It'll also be fun to spend the season in a ward almost completely foreign to me. I met, perhaps five families. Or rather, I learned the names of five families on Sunday. The Christmas decorations at some houses were hysterically deep. There was one house that had more decorations that a theme park. Then, on Sunday, we went to a lesson that we had set up earlier, and this house also had a mean set up. We talked to the people there, and found out that in the community, they had a massive festival of parties set up. For 18 days straight, a different residence would volunteer to host a party each night. It seemed like a very Hispanic tradition, with many Hispanics participating later that night.

Luckily, we cover only one ward. There was a ward split not too recently, so the ward is a little bit smaller than the average size that I've seen around here. The attendance was about the same as Huebner creek. A little more quiet in Sacrament meeting because of the size. I'm excited to spend 7 weeks here instead of the normal  6 -- to compensate for the 5 week transfer that just occurred.

There are a few pocketed communities of Spanish people that we sometimes visit. It's a little sad that we aren't able to teach and baptize them, but we have our focus. Another blessing is that Elder Hansen is a Spanish speaker. We will be able to practice together throughout the day. He has already demonstrated a hardy desire to speak Spanish every day. Sometimes it shames me the amount he speaks in comparison to me. I need to pick it up.

I'll need to develop an exercise plan and pace myself if I plan to return home as a super-hunk. Just kidding. Just a healthy body is reward enough for the effort you put into it. It doesn't help that our apartment has an entire drawer devoted to candies and treats sent from home to the missionaries here. There are quite a few in there. I need to pace myself. Did I mention that I need to pace myself? I need to pace myself.

Lots of good news ahead of us; our most progressing investigator is R. He is set to be baptized on the Saturday after the 26th. He seems to already be well acquainted with the members and fits right in. I will inherit the opportunity to see his baptism without really have done much, if any, of the work that required him to get to this point. I'm excited for him though. He's married to a member that was really pushing to help him progress in the gospel.

Questions and Answers

Your new address indicates that you are more rural in your present ward?

Well, I suppose to a degree. The houses here are large like the houses of Cedar Park and Carriage Hills. Many places that we go to are residential. From the looks of it, however, the areas that we cover are more of suburbs.

I know you will tell us about your new area, so do tell, please?  

It's a mid-sized area. I told you a little about the members. It'll take a little more getting to know before I can give y'all a proper description.

What are your thoughts related to this last months of opportunities and challenges serving?

 Time goes so fast. If life continues at this pace at home, which it likely will, my kids will grow up and serve missions before I can lay grasp on the idea. Time is short. I've yet to hate a single area that I've served in, and I've had so many different areas to serve in. Life will likely send plenty of more variety.

I've been impacted by every single companion that I've served with. Directing this to future missionaries, it makes me wonder what impact have I had on others? Will they remember me as the companion that helped them grow, or impeded their growth? What opportunities will I have, even as I approach the end of my mission? (A cat just fell into a Jacuzzi.  Oh wait, false alarm, it was empty of water.   My mind is scrambled.

I'm eager to find as many people as I possibly can. TOUCH as many people as I can.

What tender mercies has the Lord sent you this week of change?

Well, being able to attend the Rubio baptism is a tender mercy. I had in my mind the moment I discovered I would head to Austin that I wouldn't be able to attend it. But, I talked to President Slaughter, and he said that as long as a member took us, it would be appropriate. *Dances*

The frog I caught the other week.

Bluebell ice cream came back to San Antonio, just in time for me to leave.

Merry Christmas y'all. Enjoy the journey. Even if it is filled with snow. Or no snow at all.

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

Songfilled Six Months

Dearest family and friends!

It's the middle of December and our companionship is still sporting short sleeve shirts. Last year to do the same, especially with one's back exposed to the chilly wind would have been fairly foolish. While I was guessing the weather this year would be the same or similar, I was pretty much incorrect.

How in the world is it fairing back home, and elsewhere?

Cats, lizards, snails, and frogs. This Wednesday we did service for a member of one of the local English wards. While my two companions helped to fell trees and the other missionaries Elder Hanks and Elder Carter dug a trench in the front yard, I enjoyed cleaning out their pool using this handy little device. It has a net attached to it and it launches jets of water to create a simple vacuum that when attached to the end of a pole can suck up leaves that have fallen to the bottom. I surprisingly enjoyed myself while doing this job. After a while, I found that a frog had been chilling at the bottom and I challenged myself to snag it into the device. It got away the first few times, but eventually I must have tired it out and it disappeared as I approached it. I had no idea if I had actually had caught it, so I continued to clean. Eventually as we emptied the net bag, we found that it had actually been caught. I easily picked it up, as the little fella was exhausted. I showed it to everyone to prove that I had caught it, (the cat episode from a few weeks ago was met with unbelief and criticism) and then released him, lovingly dubbed as Felix, into the wild.

Later that week we found a lizard as we traveled to the club house of our apartment for use of the Wifi. We took a few pictures with it, played around with it, and then let it go as well.

We found a snail at the doorstep of someone we were visiting, and took pictures. Those were not as exciting. And of course, the local cat, Luna, roamed around throughout the week. If I hadn't mentioned, we live in the same complex as our zone leaders do, so we frequently visit them after nightly planning and chill out. Apparently they got into a few scuffles with Luna, and are at war with her.

Elder Pino of the Seventy visited our mission this week, and he told President Slaughter many times of how proud he was of the mission. He taught us in the language of Spanish, and a native speaker translated him for the English speakers. I found it pretty entertaining that when Elder Pino told a joke, there would be two groups of laughs, one from the Spanish speakers, and then one from everyone else. Almost like there was a laugh track installed. He told of the importance of sharpening our axe, or other words, of studying hard every day to sharpen or resolve. He also gave the parable of the melons:

A group of laborers decided to get together and sell melons. They put their money together and bought a reasonable sized truck, filled it with melons that the purchased for a dollar, and set out to sell them and make a profit. They sold the melons each for a dollar, and by the end of the day, they found that they had lost money. They were dumbfounded! The got together and pondered the situation. At last, one of them came up with a solution: we need to buy a bigger truck!

Many of our efforts can be lost and wasted if we do not approach the work in the correct way. An unsharpened axe can take several days to cut down a healthy tree, but a sharpened one, which takes about an hour to sharpen, can cut down the same tree in about two hours. Are we approaching things of a spiritual value with the wrong mindset?

I've had to think the same thing. There have been times in which I have pondered my effort and where it is going.

I've come to realize, that starting on the 15th, I will have exactly six months before I leave this mission in Texas. I learned from my leaders that with the MTC change of two weeks to three, anyone going home after march will have a week extension. My family may disagree, but I'm happy to serve more than a full two years, rather than the earlier anticipated less than two years. I can't remember, Dad, how long did you serve? I'll have six months to also ensure that I come back home in awesome good physical shape.

BIG NEWS to finish off: There was a meeting for the Spanish Speakers of San Antonio on Tuesday night, where many members attended. I saw Brother and Sister Rubio for the first time in a while, and she announced that she will likely be baptized on the 26th of this month. Boy, I was elated to learn of that news. I hope they noticed that my Spanish was better. I want to stay in contact with the missionaries serving there now and hopefully I can attend the baptism. WOOT WOOT WOOT WOO!

Questions and Answers

Have you seen any uniquely San Antonio style Christmas decorations? 

Hmm. Other than the apparent lack of snow down here, I haven't really noticed anything uniquely San Antonian. There's also blow up decorations too, but that isn't terribly unique either. Recently I've notice that some people take a different approach and use the spot light light set of lights that casts an avid array of different lights on a house, rather than the lights being on the house itself. Cool, but maybe not unique either. I have no idea.

All of the people you found to teach last week seems really good - can you give us an update those happenings?

 We haven't met with Diana and her family. Last night we endured a long conversation with Joel, someone that we found around the same time. I'm not sure if I talked about him last week. He had a lot of concerns on his mind, and we listened, and listened, and listened. Finally we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he committed to read it. He seems to have some struggles in his family and his recovery from sins of his past. He's going in the right direction though.

Do you feel that people's hearts are softened because of the season?

I'd say so. We've managed to share the recent Christmas video with a fair amount of people, and President Slaughter wants us to know that we should take advantage of the season. "The time to act is now" as he said.

How has the Lord blessed you with His comforting Spirit this week?

Earlier in the week Elder Bartier and I got into a fight. He was angry at me, and I wasn't quite sure why. That night I walked into the empty room that houses my closet, laid on the ground and cried for a little bit. The next day we talked things out and I found out what his concerns with me were. I knew that things would get better even as I was sad that night.

Fun Pics:

The only spicy thing you'll really find in Puerto Rico, as a member told us at dinner. Translated, it says "My Mom Bites."

  

Tostones, a native treat in Puerto Rico. Usually dipped in "Mayoketchup,"

 which is usually named "fry sauce" by those of a more American background.

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

Let's tie it all together

Good day to you all,

Have you all seen the new Christmas video, #ASaviorIsBorn? If you haven't, I would urge you to do in soon. If you don't, I will urge you to do it again. If you repeatedly fail to watch it, I will shun you for a while to show you how serious I am about it. There is always a spirit that is hard to replicate that come from the yearly church videos we get. Better yet, how in the world can you reject children? "And they shall call his name, EMMANUEL *head shake*."

I am quite surprised by the lack of cold weather thus far. Only a sweater has been required at the worst of it, and only barely. I haven't yet needed to break out the coat yet. I remember last year in Universal City, the cold snapped at you. Biking down through cold wind didn't really help I suppose.

We had an exchange with Elder Fish. He's an area leader that came out just a transfer after me. He humbly taught and had a pretty spanking-good vocabulary.

Elder Fish in Our Apartment

This last week we found plenty of people to teach. Two families were interested in seeing the new video, and we are set to go by them again. A teenager, D, and her family, and a younger father, J, and his. I will refrain from listing all the names for cause of my laziness. I do not encourage you to follow this example I suppose. It will be exciting to see where the two families go, and if they make it as far as the temple soon. We had the opportunity to share the video with many other people, as it has been a great advantage to carry the video with us, instead of hoping that those we meet have smart phones and internet connection. It's several times easier to share the video this year than it was last year.

The food highlight this week was "Promised Land Eggnog."  It even had a scripture printed on the carton. Does this stuff exist back home? Anybody know? It's probably the best eggnog I have ever tasted. All three of us bought a half gallon jug of it last week. BEST. BEBIDA (drink). EVER. Who needs alcohol when you have eggnog (the problem being that people occasionally put alcohol in the eggnog (grrr.)). Otherwise we had spaghetti for the first time this transfer yesterday. The family that fed us was bilingual, making it a bunch easier for them to consider spaghetti.

The other day the child-lock got engaged on the backseat door. None of us know how it happened. As a result, I had to wait for my companion to let me out of the car. Finally I was fed up enough that I opened the window and reached over to let myself out. Funny thing being, the next day the child-lock disengaged. Elder Bartier and I switch off who gets the front seat every day. With my luck, the child-lock will re-engage when I take the back seat again.

I drove the other day. Our zone leaders needed an extra missionary to go to a dinner appointment of theirs with single sisters in their ward, so I drove that day. We found a few interested people. No crashes (especially into house pillars (I actually think it was better for the house that I hit those pillars. They didn’t have cement set into the pillars, so getting them replaced increased the integrity of them (I only hit one pillar though.))).

I'm hoping that I receive another chance to train a missionary. It makes me glad to invest a little into the future of future missionaries. Who knows what will happen.

Questions and Answers

Is your next transfer date the week before Christmas or after? 

The transfer date is happening a week earlier than normal (on the 17th). I might stay, I might go.

How are J and J?   

J got sick again. We're hoping they get well enough for the Tuesday night event. Elder Pino of the seventy is coming to address the Spanish speakers here in San Antonio. What's better, the event is happening in our zone. We're trying to invite a bunch of people to attend so that they can feel the spirit coming from a Special Witness of Christ. Hopefully those two will be there.

How has the Spirit guided you this week in your service? 

I'm beginning to realize that I'm not as respectful of my companions as I could be. I tend to take their help for granted. The Spirit helped me to realize that by increasing in love for my companions, I can increase in love for those we teach as well.

How is the speaking of Espan~ol going?

Diariamente (daily)! It's great to teach in Spanish, write in Spanish, study in Spanish, and practically think in Spanish. We make it a goal to speak nothing but Spanish after dinner time each day (6pm on). I want to go an entire day without speaking English.

Have a good Christmas season! Don't get too caught up with the commercial aspect.

We went to a restaurant courtesy of a member and bough big smothered burritos. Elder Bartier said he was still hungry after eating it. ???

Still Hungry??

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

I Got A ñack For This Area ñow

Greetings oh ye fair peoples!

Pretty good week. Elder Lawrence has been coughing like crazy, and Elder Bartier finally convinced him to call someone about it. And because I caught a little of what he was sparing with, I got dragged to the doctors too. I'm getting better and I sure do enjoy not coughing up disgusting phlegm. Even the word looks awful.

Thanksgiving in a Spanish ward wasn't at all what I had supposed it would be like. A member and her two daughters took us and the missionaries from the singles ward (Alamo 2nd ward. Does it ring any bells for y'all?) to Cracker Barrel. I had never been there before. We went around the table and said what we were grateful for. I have been grateful for God's gift of air. I bet that air thinks we take it for granted for every day. I declare the awesome authenticity of air. Anyways, I ordered the Thanksgiving plate. I couldn't find myself not eating classic Thanksgiving foodlums. It had turkey, ham, a sweet potato casserole, cranberry something-or-rather, and I order dumplings on the side. Pretty good food! They bought us these pretty cool Texas coasters that I will definitely make good use out of.

We as a companionship were pretty surprised by the amount of English we heard at church yesterday. The youth speaker spoke English. That wasn't too much of a surprise, but then her mother also decided to speak English. Then in third hour, we had a tutorial about the apps the church has made available, and the family history resources we have available. The family history person spoke mostly English as well. Pretty interesting.

Had a weird dream last night where I dreamt that I finished my mission, and I got sent to New York for some reason. I got lost there until I found Elder Scroggs, and then I woke up. Elder Scroggs really needs to email me. I haven't heard from him in forever.

We made some epic fajitas as a companionship. But really, because our kitchen isn't the largest, Elder Lawrence and Bartier made them and I watched form the couch. They were delicious and we called them the Sweet Mango Jamaican Fajitas. We had this hot sauce from Jamaica that we found. Pretty good. By the end of the week we had used the entire bottle.

Some people that we finally ran into were J and J. They had been meeting with missionaries for quite a long time. Because of sickness, however, we barely were able to meet them on Saturday evening. We talked about how they came to know the missionaries, and afterwards they gave us a bunch of pineapple, cereal, bread, butter, and table. They said they wanted to get rid of table, so we somewhat reluctantly said yes. They also gave us ties. Apparently it is a regular thing to come out with many more goods than you enter their house with.

Sweater weather has finally arrived. On Friday we found ourselves dashing from house to car, then to house and back to car. We wised up the next day and geared up with sweaters, coats and such. Because of all the moisture, it cuts right through you. I'm surprised it has taken so long for the weather to drop. Hey, no complaints here!

I found my wallet this week. It's a little bit embarrassing how I found it. It was on the banister of the bed in my room, but it was on the corner that is usually obstructed by the door of my closet. Oh my butterscotch! Thou fool Elder Hall! I was glad, however, that I didn't lose my eagle card from doing my eagle scout, and it came in handy to have my license for the doctor’s visit I had. Please forgive me mom and dad.

Otherwise, things are quite good around here.

Questions and Answers

Did you receive your new wallet?   

Yes. (it was meant to be a replacement, but you know the story.)

Have you seen or had another visit from your stray cat?  

Nope. There is a "neighborhood cat" that we see often. Luna, as it is dubbed, often approaches us as we go to our neighbor's home, the other missionaries, to visit every night. Elder Bartier lovingly pets it, and we wait him to finish so we can get back inside.

Is there really such a thing as dandelion candy?

You could invent it if you wanted.

What tender mercies has the Lord brought to you this week?

I suppose I am mighty grateful for my quick recovery from sickness this last week. Still working at it, but I'll be done soon. I'm grateful for my understanding companions, and their desire to work with me, rather than without, against, or in spite of me.

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission