Fixed Screen and a Clear View of Life

Dear Family and Such People

Mom, Elder Aguila says thanks for the nuts from Alpine.

Some good news, some normal news, and bad news.  M is still in contact with her member friends, but she dropped us. Her friend suspects that the pressure from family, including the fact that her sister in law became a minister for another church, and that she might have gotten into anti information. Well, it happens sometimes. When her stress normalizes, it might be possible for us to meet with her again. *Sigh*, life happens.

But, in other great news, we met a non-member who is married to a less active member in our ward. V is her name, and she accepted our message with open arms.  She said at one time, "you all came at the right time, and I'm looking for a change in my life." She has a baptism date for the 27th of February. PRAY that she stays strong and faithful even as opposition that may arise, and that we will be able to meet with her husband and reactivate him. We came to meet her with her home teacher, and we didn't catch the husband at home.

I bought a Gyro in a restaurant in the area. Anybody that knows my trip to New York knows that I love authentic Gyros. It was better than the one that I had in Grand Central Station, but not better than the street venders. Much more expensive though.

Otherwise the week was a fairly normal for my mission. I was able to exchange with Elder Mackay, and we learned that we had a lot of similar interests before the mission. We enjoyed good lessons, and scaring away little dogs and deer. There are plenty of deer over there. I grabbed a little cat's tail and pulled it, and it wasn't too happy. Interestingly enough, generally cats don't mind if you pull them up by the tail a little bit, but maybe kittens do. It didn't help my point that I said it wouldn't mind to Elder Mackay, and then it did in fact mind.

And as the subject suggested, I finally got a new IPad screen. It took a couple of days, but I was glad that it finally was done. I was pretty surprised though, because it cost a lot more that I would have expected. 1.5 hundred dollars. Fewf! Remind me not to drop my IPad ever again. I took my notes for the World-Wide missionary broadcast on pen and paper, because I didn't have my IPad back. But then later I just hand typed it into my gospel library app. That took some time, but was worth it.

The broadcast talked a good amount about different principles that we should follow as a missionary. Elder Anderson and Elder Oaks spoke to us, in addition to other people.

Questions and Answers

Have you used the survey again this week, and has continued to help in getting to know the people?

A little bit this week. We haven't had quite as much success as was promised us, but we haven't asked too many people to take it either.

Are you getting any rain and storms headed from the west as we've had them?

Rain, rain, never came, might come by another day. 

How are A and M?   

They've been having some medical concerns, so we weren't able to meet this week.

How is M in the quest to help her be baptized?

Faltering. We might have to pass her along in the future, if she allows us.

How has the Lord's Spirit guided you this week?

You always need guidance during meetings. It was helpful to have it on Wednesday. I liked what they taught that when we ask who people know that might be interested; we ask also, who else do you know?

l love you all. Unless I don't. And that is because I haven't met you yet. J

-Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

Challenges and Teaching

Dear everyone,

First, an interesting street intersection we passed through the other day on the way to district meeting. We're recognized in Marble Falls!  Look closely at the street direction sign on the stoplight cross pole.  Mission Hill or Mormon Hill, which to choose?

M is doing ok. As her fellowship progressed, it seem that her family (who provides financial support for her) found out that she was meeting with us, Her move back was put earlier on her calendar. She was originally going to move later March, but they are pushing her to get out as soon as she can. *sigh*, At times opposition can come from anywhere, even from family. Prayers are welcome, as we will try to allow her to keep her current baptismal date, and bring some fellowship from her new area to prepare her for the move. It won't do any good for her to have great fellowship here, move out there, and then have little to no connection with anybody anymore. 

Another piece of sad news is that her daughter called her out to pet sit over the weekend, and as a result, she was unable to attend church. Go figure. Next week, then.

We are also working with a couple A and M. Those two remind me heavily of Brother and Sister Johnson who passed away. I did say that right? Yes, I did report that. I believe. Hopefully, anyway, they do not have quite the same concerns as the Johnson's did, but it may be a little bit of a flashback.

The other night, I had a dream that I was assigned to speak Italian in addition to Spanish on my mission. Cool, but I don't think I've met a single person, not including return missionaries, who speaks Italian. There were some other weird things that came into my dream as well. But I now can't remember. Everything is bigger in Texas, even the dreams.

I still haven't gotten my journal back from my last area, and it has become increasingly hard to motivate myself to type my journal. The paper to pen experience is completely gone. Hard to know what to do. So I guess I need to just saddle up and write. Write, write, write.

This week we will be participating in a worldwide missionary broadcast. Who knows what they will teach us, or announce, maybe there will be many new things going on, or possibly none new, just great reminders of the gospel we already have. It'll be quite fun.

I finally found an iPad repair place in the area. Last p-day, we went to the nearest Apple Store that really wasn't so nearby. When we went in, they told us that they would replace the iPad, and that they didn't do screen repairs. I stomped off, a little singed in the pride, and we found a Japanese grill place to eat dinner. We saw this Pokémon store, and I felt like visiting.

But, we found a place that will replace the screen, so that after I'm done emailing today, I won't have an iPad for a few days, most likely. Might not even have it for the world broadcast, which means I might have to go classic pen and paper for the meeting. That would feel weird, considering how much I've used the iPad for note taking.

Finally, here is a picture of Elder Greene who exchanged with me. He is Elder Jason Bushman's cousin, if any of you know him.

Questions and Answers

How have splits with members worked out this past week?     

It has worked out fine. We didn't get anyone to come with us this past week, but we are getting signup sheets going around in the coming weeks, and we should have to shortage of success with them.

Also, in our district meeting of last week, a proselyting senior couple trained us on the use of a survey that is supposed to help us meet new people. We visit houses or talk to people outside, and share a short survey of ten questions, that by the end should open them up to learning more, watching a video, setting a return appointment, etc. We've only had the chance to try it a few times last half of the week when we had it. We haven't taught anything after it yet, but it does open people up to telling us a little bit more about themselves. After all, people don't enjoy so much hearing about you, but telling you about themselves.

Over the long run, how have your challenges shown you Heavenly Father's love for you?  

   

Well, it's like the weight of an exercise machine. Too much will not work, but just enough shreds our muscle and prepares it to grow.

Y'all probably noticed the somewhat anxious quality of my emails at the beginning of my mission. Through a variety of ways, God has trained me to do more with my confidence, and to displace dark anxiety. Being anxious, isn't completely of itself bad. It can motivate us to work if it is used in appropriate amounts. Now it is manageable, now I can use it to my advantage. Now things work quite well.

Does living in an apartment with multiple Elders make your work different in any significant ways?     

Not too much. It's still the same work. Sometimes it helps to have someone else to bounce ideas off of, or someone to talk to other than your companion, but it generally doesn't change too much. More food in the pantry and more mouths to feed?

Have you seen any lizards lately?     

Why yes, I think I -- no. Just kidding. No lizards.

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

Crack!

Dear family and friends,

Why do all of my things keep breaking on me?

This week I seemed to have a good amount of things decide to stop working the way that they should. Two pairs of pants ripped. My special touch screen fine tip pen broke. My companion broke one of my pens. Pretty consistently for the last four days or so, something has broken/been ruined every day. Yesterday I found a huge rip in the pants I wore. The day before I dropped my IPad and broke the screen (ouch). The day before the special pen broke, and the day before that the normal pen broke. Well, I'd much rather have those things break, rather then, well, I don't know, my face.

Well, my face on my IPad looks broken too!  :-)

Last week we met a wonderful lady named M. She is the neighbor of the member who took us to San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. She moved from Louisiana and she is a spunky lady. A lot of what she says makes me laugh. She has been reading the Book of Mormon, has accepted a baptismal date for the 30th, and she's moving right along with learning about the gospel. The funny thing is she is likely moving into the Carriage Park area in a few months, and will likely meet the members that I worked with just a couple of months ago. While I'd like her to stay here, well, it's ok.

In a phone call to the area I found out that there will be a few baptisms happening there. T, not the one we worked closely with, will be getting baptized. After the Sister missionaries left the area, I think he got refocused on the important things. I didn't really get to teach him ever while I was in the area. I suppose it is ok though.

This week we had the opportunity to go on splits with a few members. I've never really gone on splits all that much. I believe that I went on splits once or twice in Uvalde, but all the other times I have been with my companion, and they were technically just having the member accompany us. We have the goal to go on splits at least three times each week, with predetermined times to go out with people. We taught with members five different times, and three of which were splits. It was an enjoyable week.

We also had zone conference with Elder Reimschussel and Elder Vergara giving trainings. I love those two missionaries a bunch. And worst of all, Elder Vergara is about to finish his mission. No, you can't leave me too! So far, as I've counted, I think at least 5 missionaries that I served with will still be serving after I go home. That's five out of seventeen so far. Wow. I served with a bunch of great missionaries.

Elder Vergara and Me at the Training

Other than the breaking things this week wasn't really all that bad. We ate at Fuddruckers this past week. It was funny, because I asked for a pretzel bun, but instead they gave it to my companion. I was denied. And although we intended every day this week, basically, to ride our bikes, we ran out of time every day. Oh, and actually I've been sick with a cold this week. I suppose I can add that to the list of broken things. I was a little disappointed because of overcoming the same general thing back in Huebner Creek, only to have it follow me again to here. Pray that I get better, I'm almost there.

Look closely!  This is actually a cake that one of the members made, not actual Scriptures.

Questions and Answers

How are things going with J? 

He decided to stop meeting with us. He said that he wanted to keep the religion of his father and grandfather, in order to stay close to them. Understandable, even though it isn't the best reason. He did however want to keep his copy of the book of Mormon, so maybe it'll touch him some day.

Where did you say Elder Hansen is from, and what are some things about him and his family?      

Colorado springs, Colorado. He has one younger brother. Young family. I think one of my siblings is old enough to be his parent.

How has knowing and working with your companions and other missionaries and other people strengthened you?

I learned last week that salt loses its effects when it is combined and mixed with other things, say for instance, dirt. The fun thing is that I consider my relationship with past companions to be the opposite -- they imbue me with power and strengths that they have and I lack. We often mix and match our abilities and come out stronger than we were before. Life is grand, I say.

How is your weather by the lake?

I can't really say it's much different in comparison to what it was like in Lago Vista in Cedar Park. It's been getting a little colder here, but not as cold as it was last year.

How has the Spirit guided you this week?

I felt that M needed a MoTab choir cd. Hopefully I'm right. Really, the spirit guides us the most in the finer details of the work, like when we plan at night or as we teach. As we are taught though, sometimes the most important decisions the people we teach make happen when we are not there. So we must set them up for success so that they can feel the spirit when they make the most important decisions.

Loves,

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

Happy New Year

Greetings from the lake,

I finished a full calendar year in Texas! That means for the entire year of 2015 I was in that state. Pretty interesting to think. No short visits home, no excursions, just pure Texas. But that is the joy of it all, isn't it?

R is doing all right. He was able to make it to sacrament meeting yesterday, but he is taking a little bit of a rest. We probably won't meet with him for a few weeks. Which is sad, but he will come back and we aren't too worried about it. We found a fellow yesterday named J. He's a young man and he has accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon, and he may accept baptism in the future. I'm excited to keep working with him.

For New Year's Eve we visited a recent convert, and then left his neighborhood immediately. There we would be sure to run into people that probably wouldn't be the most responsible with fireworks. We took it calm, and some suggested, we went home at the regular 9:00pm time, like we usually do. It was pretty calm. No staying up 'til 12, or setting an alarm for it. I did not miss anything.

Today we went to a member's home in Elder Aguila and Elder Blackhurst ward. We played some racquet ball, and some wallyball. I'm not really quite sure how to spell that. Then, the members let us use their "hover board" or "swagway." Basically it is a platform on a set of wheels. As you lean back and forth the wheels move that direction. It really didn't take too long to get a hold of it. I did quite enjoy using. I probably used it the most of the Elders visiting.  Get me one of these for Christmas! Haha.

Our Ward has now made a change from 2 o'clock to 9 for the block. That was an interesting change. When we got out, I thought for all the world that it was 5. But it wasn't. Time goes pretty quickly.

What else should I talk about? Oh, President Slaughter visited our district meeting with his wife. I'd never had a visit from him to a district meeting. He taught us about our responsibility to teach repentance, and baptize converts. We'll be receiving a telecasted mission training in a week or so, and we are preparing for that.

A little short email, but thank you for keeping up. Keep reading the Book of Mormon.

Questions and Answers

How has the spiritual uplift from the temple helped you this past week?

Well, it reminded me more of my purpose. I felt that it was nice to be reminded also that we are here to bring people to the temple, not just the baptismal font.

How is your sleep monitor working for you?

I'm not sure how hi-tech it is, but apparently I've been usually getting about 7 and a half hours. I want MORE. MORE SLEEP……

Can you tell us more about the 'muy amable' people in the ward? 

Well, there are plenty of families with kids that show up on Sundays. Could you ask in a few weeks? I'll probably have better answers, anyway.

What song is in your heart this week?

"The Harvest," I got this song from Elder Brough. It basically talks about the key that we have in harvesting those prepared. "For all that we've grown, how could we forget, those who don't know, or just don't know yet. Let's harvest this field, from sunrise to sunset. The Master is coming, we are not done yet."

Love's y'all,

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission

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