Elder Christian Hall in TSAM: 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.

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