July 29th, 2013 Stephanie

                                      July 29^th, 2013

Hey Family,

 
      Hey, I don’t have much time this week but, wow sounds like you all have been having a fun summer!!! Dad I am glad to hear that everything went well. Thanks for doing it for your family. We love you so much!!! Mom you have been having more headaches as of late are you doing ok? That’s so cool you get to talk to and hear from Maren’s investigators almost everyday that’s too cool. One day I will share all the stories I have, hah

   Oh, we have a baptism this week. His name is Jonathan and he is the son of a recent convert. Don’t know if you remember Ana Hernandez. But anyway, it’s so cool. It was so hard to get him to talk to us but one day one of his friends, another recent convert,  said just listen for 10 min. It will change your life. So, he did and we had ten minutes with him ... no pressure. It was awesome. We didn’t teach anything. We just tried to find out what he needed and help him see that he needed god in his life... At the end of the ten minutes it was like he didn’t want to go and the difference the next day was night and day. He went from trying to avoid us to ... so when are you coming back. It was amazing. It’s amazing what the spirit can do in the heart of men and completely change them. He has the hardest part in softening the most hardest of hearts. Our job is just to be worthy to have the spirit and bring it with us so others can feel it and he can work on their hearts. I am so grateful for this great gift we have from the lord, to have his spirit with us. I think you will understand the reason after reading my letter for president this week.

Dear President,

    I am not going to lie. This week was hard for me. I was a little stressed. I have never trained before and I didn’t know what to expect and then it was hard to work in a trio for the first time. Just a lot of things happened. I got really stressed and then I didn’t feel the spirit and that stressed me even more. Hah. So I felt like I wasn’t helping Hermana Messina at all and I was worried about that. Finally at the end of the week I couldn’t take it anymore. Hah.  I just, I don’t know, turned it all over to the Lord which I should have done in the beginning.  When I did that, things went so much better. I felt the spirit and we had great lessions and God was guiding us. I just needed to relax and let God take over and not try and to do everything by myself. I thought I learned that lesson so many times but it’s interesting how many times you may have to learn a lesson before it becomes nature and a part of you.

  We are excited to start working with the sisters this week and start with the divisions.  Hermana Herrera ...wow she is awesome. She is ready to go. She teaches great. She just needs a little experience and less fear of silence but she really wants to help each and every person.  She is teaching me so much!!!!
    Thank you for all you do.

Hermana Hale

I am so grateful for the spirit and the power of the atonement that makes up for our faults and mistakes. I am so grateful for great companions that have had a life changing impact on my life and I am so grateful for my daughter....did I tell you all I got a daughter this week. She is so great. She is from Peru and she is a ball of fire. She came ready to go and she is taking the lead in most of the lessons. Oh, and cool experience. So, us as missionaries our job is to invite others to come to Christ through baptism. So, we have the new missionaries invite all the investigators to be baptized. We had a lesson and at the end we, me and Hermana Messina, set it up perfect for a baptismal invitation and we then looked to her to give the invitation. She looked super surprised and she started to talk and didn’t invite him. She looked to us again and we set it up again for her to invite him. Hah. I look bad and it sounds funny but the spirit was there so strong. I put my hand on her back and gave her the nod like you can do it. Hah. I felt so much like a mom it was weird. But she invited him to be baptized and he said yes!! And we put a date and she was so happy after the lesson. She is so great and has such a big heart. She is helping me lots with my Spanish. I have got a couple bad habits and she is helping me get rid of them.

    Oh, another thing that happened this week. We have so many new investigators’ and 4 new people came to church. We haven’t had that happen for so long and it felt good to be a little stressed at church again.  We found a girl. She is the daughter of a menos active (we didn’t know she was a menos active when we started teaching this family) but we found out the mother was baptized and she has a small testimony ... but she hasn’t gone to church for 25 years!!! That’s going to change really fast. Yah, no much tiempo ah. But her daughter is awesome and... oh it was really cool. We have had her in the back of our planners for a really long time and we were walking by where she lived and the thought came to mind to go try and find her. I told this to my companion and at first she was like no we need to go here and here ... but after talking about it for a while we went and when we got there..... She wasn’t there, sad day right.... we were hanging around for like 3 to 4 minutes not really knowing why when she and her mom showed up and they let us in. The lesson went so well and Katarina the daughter came to church!!!!! Baptized!!! (Well in 3 weeks).

   Family I love you so much and want you to know that my testimony of my Savoir is growing every day. The greatness and the unexplainable love our God has for us touches my heart every day. We need to all remember more that love and live in order to be able to feel it every day. We are so blessed with the knowledge of the truth. We know how to feel that love. We know why and how to return to our Father in Heaven. Think about the blessings of that simple knowledge. There are so many people that don’t know and that breaks my heart. The gospel is so simple and when lived the blessings are great. There is no greater joy than to be a part of someone coming to that knowledge and seeing them feel and understand the love of God. Family I would not trade this time in my life for anything. It has been the hardest and most stressful time in my life. But I would not trade the knowledge and understanding and love for the gospel and our God that I have received in the service of God. Boys!!!! YOU DO EVERYTHING TO GO ON A MISSION there is no work greater. I love this work with all my heart....man I am starting to cry in the middle of a cyber in El Salvador ... how embarrassing hah (wiping eyes...) I know that God lives his love ....is perfect and through that love we can be changed. I was reading in 2 Nephi 2 today it talks about how we have agency. We literally choose to become who we are and whom we will serve. How are you using your agency? Every day we must decide to pick up our handcarts and head to Zion. I loved Jacobs’s letter last week. I like how he talked about his daily commitment he made with God. Each morning at 5 I get up and I have to make that same decision and no decision has made me happier. It’s not always easy, many times its super hard but it’s vale la pena (worth it). I know this is true.

Hermana Hale  

July 29th, 2013 Maren

Hello Hale FAMILY!

How are you all doing? How is life? Mom, is your headache better? Thanks for writing anyway, I hope you feel better.

Man it sounds like your pioneer day was awesome! I want to go hiking! Someday. Haha. Our RS president said she talked to mom. haha is it weird talking to the people I am with every day? They're SO AWESOME!

Okay, a quick overview of the week...

We've been able to teach our investigators a few more times and we see great potential in Osmar. Fernando (his brother) has great potential too I just don't think he quite understands the concept of faith yet. He wants to understand EVERYTHING before he takes those first few steps into the darkness. Its kinda scary talking to him sometimes as I often wonder if he really believes in God the same way that we do. Let me explain. I asked him this week what he would do if God stood right in front of him and told him that he needed to do these things... would he do it? He answered that he would think about it, ask a lot of questions, and then if he could see that it was reasonable and the purpose then he would do it... no faith. That to me is scary. But we had a cool moment right after that, we were playing Handball with them and Matt (investigator - getting baptized in august) and the Elders and Matt was listening in on our conversation, I asked him if he wanted to add anything and he testified boldly about Faith and how we can't know anything until we try it out (like playing the piano, your not an expert no matter how much theory you know until you start playing the keys). It was so cool! I can't wait until he is baptized, he really is real growth. The Elders have done a great job with him.

Evelyn told us yesterday that her "husband" doesn't want to meet with us anymore. He still wants to come to church but he doesn't want to feel pressured into doing anything. I don't feel like we were pressuring him but what can you do? Anyways. We'll keep teaching Evelyn and charge the members with teaching him for now.

I am loving life with sister Peacock and am so grateful that she is my companion. We learn and grow so much every day.

Lastly. As this transfer comes to a close I was thinking more and more about what next transfer will bring. Both my 7th and 8th month marks which means I'm 1 transfer away from my anniversary temple trip... that means HALF WAY!!!! how did that happen? It really freaks me out. Time flies. But as I was decorating my planner for next transfer I really wanted to focus on making it mean something and setting the stage for lots of growth. I was reading the talk "Of Regrets and Resolutions" by President Utchdorf and this part really stood out.

I Wish I Had Lived Up to My Potential

Another regret people expressed was that they failed to become the person they felt they could and should have been. When they looked back on their lives, they realized that they never lived up to their potential, that too many songs remained unsung.

I am not speaking here of climbing the ladder of success in our various professions. That ladder, no matter how lofty it may appear on this earth, barely amounts to a single step in the great eternal journey awaiting us.

Rather, I am speaking of becoming the person God, our Heavenly Father, intended us to be.

We arrive in this world, as the poet said, “trailing clouds of glory”4 from the premortal sphere.

Our Heavenly Father sees our real potential. He knows things about us that we do not know ourselves. He prompts us during our lifetime to fulfill the measure of our creation, to live a good life, and to return to His presence.

Why, then, do we devote so much of our time and energy to things that are so fleeting, so inconsequential, and so superficial? Do we refuse to see the folly in the pursuit of the trivial and transient?

Would it not be wiser for us to “lay up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal”?5

How do we do this? By following the example of the Savior, by incorporating His teachings in our daily lives, by truly loving God and our fellowman.

We certainly cannot do this with a dragging-our-feet, staring-at-our-watch, complaining-as-we-go approach to discipleship.

When it comes to living the gospel, we should not be like the boy who dipped his toe in the water and then claimed he went swimming. As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we are capable of so much more. For that, good intentions are not enough. We must do. Even more important, we must become what Heavenly Father wants us to be.

Declaring our testimony of the gospel is good, but being a living example of the restored gospel is better. Wishing to be more faithful to our covenants is good; actually being faithful to sacred covenants—including living a virtuous life, paying our tithes and offerings, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and serving those in need—is much better. Announcing that we will dedicate more time for family prayer, scripture study, and wholesome family activities is good; but actually doing all these things steadily will bring heavenly blessings to our lives.

Discipleship is the pursuit of holiness and happiness. It is the path to our best and happiest self.

Let us resolve to follow the Savior and work with diligence to become the person we were designed to become. Let us listen to and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. As we do so, Heavenly Father will reveal to us things we never knew about ourselves. He will illuminate the path ahead and open our eyes to see our unknown and perhaps unimagined talents.

The more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on a path to regrets. The more we rely on the Savior’s grace, the more we will feel that we are on the track our Father in Heaven has intended for us.

For my planner I settled on the theme of "Become" and put the quote "He will create of you a Masterpiece, you will create of you only a smudge. You will create of you an Ordinary Man, He will create a God." from the 4th missionary talk. This life isn't just about learning the gospel. Its about living it. Its all about becoming like Christ, becoming who he created us to be. 

Jacob your email really hit home when I read it this morning. Wow! You have grown so much! I am so proud of you! I too want to get up every morning and dedicate myself to God. To become who he needs me to be and be his mouthpiece, hands, and feet here in Riverhead. I need to be better at making that commitment and more than that following through. Thanks for teaching me.

I love you Family! The church is true. Just keep doing the little things, they really are the foundation to a joyful life and they will keep you safe on the Lord's side of the line. Read and Pray EVERYDAY! Its so critical! and go to church and renew your covenants. There is nothing to freeing as starting the week completely new and fresh every week. Church has become the center of my week. My favorite part, I think that is something Tania learned long ago. Thanks for being an example sis.

-Sister Maren Hale

P.S. Is there any chance you would be willing to mail me my EFY Medly Piano Music? That would be awesome!

July 29th, 2013 Jacob

                                                                        July 29^th, 2013

             Ok, family so this past week has been pretty good. I`m loving the people here more and more and the work is becoming just part of my day to day activity. Not really work anymore but a routine, which is good. I think. Ha ha! It’s still hard to talk to people randomly, but we had a cool experience this week where the spirit just pushed us to talk to one more person and we found a nice young women. It was right before a DA and we had 15 minutes to knock. We picked a neighboring street and couldn’t find anybody. We knocked about 5 - 7 doors. We were walking to the house for our DA and we saw a girl coming towards us but past the house.  I turned to my companion and just said. "Hey, let’s go talk to her." We had a great conversation and we are now going to be able to meet with her this week. :)!!!!!!!! We have had a couple experience like that and the lord is giving us more and more the more we work.

          Another highlight of my week was an exchange that I had with the district leader’s companion. I got to go over to Edenbridge and stay in a huge house that belongs to some members, super nice house guys. Well the Elder I was with was Elder Simpson and I`ve talked to him before and I knew that he worked for the British/Scottish Marines but I didn’t know to what extent. He told me some stories that were crazy. He was enlisted at 12 into a military academy and at 16 he was put into training and 3 and a half months later he was out in the field. At 16 they can go to college here or go to work. They put him to work. He was on the Special Forces and served for 6 weeks in Afghanistan. He did Jason Bourne/James Bond style ops and was the top operative out of his class. This guy is crazy! I won’t tell you all of his stories but wow! So that was a fun exchange. After my mission he says that I can come to Scotland with him and he will train me. Ha ha! Don’t know if that will happen but I am so hoping it does.

  So in other news our flat is infested...... Nasty right? A couple of times now we have gone to get in the shower and have found winged ants or whatever crawling around all over it, but most are drowned in the water. It’s so creepy. And I have a few pictures of the flat that I`m going to send you guys. :)

   This week I also had the opportunity to go to a zone conference. I love those things with all my heart. The Assistants to the Presidents or AP`s gave the most amazing lesson on Pride. I learned so much and it really made me take a look at my life and what kind of prideful habits I have. I realized this past week, that I really try to prove everyone wrong. I try to be right and only once I exhaust every possible route, do I finally give in and let the person win. Oh, then I accept it and become teachable. But I try to be right that a little contention might come of it. Since, that lesson, I have had the blessing of having my eyes opened to when I am doing that, and I’m able to stop, think if it’s my pride that is compelling me to speak, and then move forward from there. I know that pride is one of my biggest weaknesses and I hope that I will be able to humble myself before the lord does, because the lord WILL have a humble people.

I love you family!!!! So much.  I have you guys right next to me on my bed stand and I can’t wait until I get to take part in your nerf wars again. :) I have them with my companion, but we don’t have the arsenal that we did back home. ;) Ha ha!!!!

It’s good to hear you guys are out hiking still. I miss that so much and wish that we could go hiking or camping or something.

Where was Stephanies letter this week? Did it not come or did I just not get it? I Hope everything is ok with her.

Till Next week Family - Elder Hale

P.S. MOM!!!! Jo loved the present you gave her. She put it on the mantle right about her Teli and she looks at it quite often. I think that I will just have to send you that part of the E-mail she sent. :)

July 22, 2013 Stephanie

                                                          July 22, 2013

Dear Family,

    So this week has been interesting.  We have been trying so hard to get new investigators. We are talking to everyone and visiting with many members and trying to start a plan ....It’s a pretty good plan if I do say so myself. We are planning on going and making cookies with the members and then have them go give them to a family they want to hear the gospel and then the members will invite the investigator over to their house to learn how to make the cookies ....and meet us. Then while they are there we have another cita with them and wha-woo we have new investigators. Kind of excited to see if it will work ...I am learning more and more that this work has so much to do with being social and being friendly. I am trying to get out of my comfort zone a little more here. Man that sounds weird. You would have thought leaving America and going to a foreign land and learning a language would be a little out of the comfort zone... hah. 

     Anywho, I have a lot of people writing me and complaining because the blog has not been updated for like a month. Ha-ha. That’s what they are saying. I don't know how hard it is to get letters up but if you could so they aren't mad at me that would be really great. 

    This week we had a Sister’s conference, right.....so it was the first one we have had being the Sister Training Leaders.  Wow, it was stressful but it ended up being really good. Oh I haven't told you all the crazy stuff that is happening in the mission. Ok, so we have 16 Sisters in the mission right now. This Wednesday we are getting 10 more and the next change we get 9. We are doubling the amount of Sisters in less than 8 weeks. The mission President is having a hard time knowing where to put them all. There are not too many safe areas in the mission for Sisters and so they are thinking of doubling up Sisters in wards. This means that pretty much every sister will be training in the next 8 weeks. Well most of our girls are new coming right out of or still in their training. We have a super young mission. We will only loose one sister in the next 2 months and get like 16. Ha-ha. We as sister training leaders are really only supposed to be over 14 girls and do interchanges with them once a transfer.  So we were pretty sure that the president was going to call other Sister Training Leaders.  Well, just two days ago he told us that he wasn't going to yet, and also told us that we will be training a Sister too. Crazy!!! This will be the first time I will be in a trio in the mission field. I am excited and nervous and stressed all at the same time. We have lots to plan and still have to do interchanges and have the best area in the mission so when the Sisters come they can see how the work needs to be done. This cambio (6 weeks) will be really crazy. I need all the faith and prayers that you can offer.

    Good news our mission just got microwaves and irons and I really hope we get hot showers before I leave. Ha-ha. So we are making popcorn like every night. Wha-woo. 

    Ok, so about the pictures I sent from the sister’s conference. It was so cool. I was stressed out of my mind. We had an hour to give a message and Hermana Glazier told us we were the climax and needed to be last. So it needed to be good. Well, we were trying to plan for our area and for this conference and for Sisters and all that jazz. We didn't get to bed until 2:30 in the morning. Ha-ha. We were so tired. We woke up and got to the President’s house and everyone was a little stressed. We couldn't understand why at first but we didn't start the meeting until like 10ish and it was supposed to start at 9 00.  But, by the end, everything went so well. When it was our turn I was so nervous to try and say everything I wanted to say and have it come across well in Spanish and everything. Woo, but family it was so cool. I just stood up and it was given to me what I was to say. The spirit was leading the whole time and the spirit was so strong everyone was crying. It was awesome!!! It was the first time speaking in public that afterwards I said, “Hey, that was fun!” Ha-ha. Weird, I know, and huge change!!! Ha-ha. What can I say? God works miracles. 

    Funny story we have mice in our house and the bathroom door broke off the wall so we have no door to the bathroom. Ha-ha. The joys of El Salvador. I Love this country so much!!! Each day I almost start to cry just thinking that I will have to leave one day so usually I just don't think about it. I need your help praying for Loli and Jonathan and Amado. 

   I have learned that Faith is a choice and that each day we need to wake up and make the choice to have faith and then through your attitude and thoughts and amino (excitement) you show your faith. I have come to know that we come closer to our Father as we learn about Christ. He is the very essence of the love of God and he came here to show us the love the Father has for us and parts of his character and personality. I love my Savoir. I love my Father in Heaven and I know that we cannot truly know him if we do not serve him. We believe in the law of sacrifice, what are you willing to give to come to know your God. What should you give up? Sacrifice is giving something up to receive something better. We have been talking a lot about this topic. There is so much to learn. I need to be better and give up the things that keep me from feeling the spirit and start doing the things I know I need to that just require a little more effort when I am so tired ha-ha

 I know this gospel is true. I know it. I know God lives and loves us so much. I love you all. 

Hermana Hale