Happy Week 8/14/2013

Well funny week!

          So to clear things up. I am in the Princeton Ward. Sister Curtis who served in the mission office in the la mission with Dad, is in the Elk River Ward. The Missionaries in Elk River are in our District  So I have been to her home 3 times on exchanges and the last time I asked where she served her Mission and put it together.  I asked who her Mission President was and she said President Garret. So then I knew cause that was Dad's. BUT there is also Ward Missionaries in the Princeton Ward. They were going to Utah on a trip and specifically to Saratoga Springs. For a family visit,  I said hey can you drop stuff off at Thanksgiving Point. So they did. SO different people. But that was kind of awkward. That was nice of them take my stuff!  Glad you guys are doing good. Hey I did send a letter. Just to Thanksgiving Point. I haven't had the other address or couldn't find it until this email today. 9/14/2013. So just mixin it up. Enjoy those letters! 

Well Debi didn't come to church. We had a terrible lesson with her. Then a good lesson where we all fasted and she said alright I am quitting smoking tomorow. But she didn't come to church. The Sisters just committed a part member 60 year old Santa looking guy named Charlie to Baptism on Nov 2nd. I gave him a big hug on Sunday. It has been a good week. We set a goal with 16 member presents as a District and we got 17!  We made shirts today it was District p-day. Fun stuff. Made tie die shirts. B-ball. Lotsa pizza. Volleyball. Jenga.  Now we are emailing. I get to teach the Nepali couple. Garuna and Pravin tonight they are making Roti and Curry. Sick. Going on exchange to Buffalo for that. Well in our area... We taught some new people. A boy named Elijah 12 years old friends with a member on his football team. Wants to come to Mutual and Church and stuff he is a cool kid. Some other people we will see if they pan out. Oh this new family came out of the woodworks. The Larsons. Mom is a member she has a boyfriend. He told us he was searching. Hopefully Elder Tubbs sees them tonight. District meeting tomorow. Just trying really hard to accomplish things. Our Bishop wants us to work with the members. But referals are like nutso annoying the majority of Baptisms come from missionary finding. We will see. I hugged 5 people this week . That is new- someone committed me to do it cause I commit missionaries to do lots of things. So that is what I did. Things are good. Man that old bike, I am painting it black. It's gonna be LEGIT! Hahaha! And my shoes that I have worn to Church since I was 15, I got white paint on them. So they were kinda like disobedient to wear. But I painted em black. We had a good week. Oh it was leadership too! man.  It is pretty funny. I am only in the Zone for 4 more weeks. They actually work in our area with us this week on Wednesday. I saw a lot of Missionaries at leadership. It is interesting. Most of the leaders have a lot of confidence, but are also cocky. We are really an obedient mission but we are prideful! The weather is cold. Elder Tubbs is cold everywhere. its not cold but I put on a coat a few times. Rainy today. 50's this last week. Some 60s and 70's. It waited til Thanksgiving to snow and stick last year. That would be sweet if it did that again too. I am doing good. Working hard. Tired all the time- but loving it.

 

Love

-Elder hall

I can eat 8/7/2013

Real quick funny story. On Saturday during lunch Bro Juncker, (he is legit) 2nd counselor in the Bishopric took us to a steak house. 18oz Tbone steak was the special, he made us get it. It came with a salad bar. Then came with a decent amount of fries and a piece of garlic bread. Man, I totally downed that. Then our wml wanted to talk to us over dinner before the Priesthood Session. We met at Pizza Hut, I ate half a pizza. Then after the Priesthood Session we had ice cream sundays with bananas. Man it didn't even phase me. I can eat so much. It is terrible. Elder Tubbs was sick after just eating the steak he didn't even have his fries or bread. I am totally gonna try the BW's hotwing challenge at the end of my Mission. Expect me to come home with a winners shirt! Just wanted to let you know I can eat a ton! Mission life...

Hit by a car this week 8/7/2013

General Conference-

      Man so many have asked me what my favorite talk was, and I will tell ya! Elder Dube's Talk. I love how everyone supported our Prophets statement that the missionaries and the members must work together. He was really bold in that talk. He came to our mission with Elder Holland. That was a sweet talk. There were some interesting one's. Like the EXCLAMATION POINT talk that was pretty interesting. Idk why there are catch phrases and stuff, all in all it was a pretty good General Conference. Interesting topics, depression, council of the disposition of the Tithes,  etc. The best part was the theme about members and missionaries working together. I like how the night after the Conference the member supposed to come out with us joint teaching (A once every 3 month commitment) bails on us. So my invitation to you all is this. Do the things that you felt inspired to do. Watching General Conference alone won't change your life. Do something about it. Then the blessings of the Lord will come to you. Be ye not hearers of the word only but doers also! Ya!

       So I made german apple pancakes. They looked kinda weird, then I set em out and they looked weirder and shriveled. Sad. I just needed another pan mostly. But I made corn bread and apple pie. The Sisters brought taco stuff. It was cool. Although we weren't able to get anyone to come to Conference. That was lame. We did find 2 unconventional families last week. Sandra a past drug dealer and daughter combo, who we see today. Also we were knocking a street. and a lady let us right in. We taught her and her grandson the restoration real quick cause her sleepy 40 year old son was leaving. We are goingback over today. It is always good to find new people.

         Ha so I got hit by a CAR THIS WEEK! on my bike. It wasn't bad at all, I was riding through on a green light on the cross walk and the driver of the car was looking to the left for an opening. I saw him go for it. And He saw me and braked pretty hard, I braked too. He barely hit me. Just made me put my foot down. I was fine. But I couldn't remember the rules, we have to call President Clements or the vehicle coordinator for every accident, and Sister Clements. I tried Sister Clements she didn't answer. I just got the guys info. He felt way bad. He was nice. My bike just got a scratch. No damage really. So that was exciting. Then right after that we taught the grandma lady the restoration. So that was cool. Priesthood session online. Did you guys still go to churches? I just figured out the woman in the Church did something for General Conference... haha.

          Well tomorrow I go to Bloomington for Leadership Conference. I am excited cause a ton of my friends are leaders. Some people in the Nepali, Saint Paul district. Elder Shreestha is a Zone leader. Elder Smith is a DL. Elder Ware is a Dl he was just barely transferred out of the district. Our whole Zone was changed. It is crazy. Only us and Elk River areas had no changes. This is out of 12 teams! Crazy. St. Cloud Zone is kind of stinkin. We have a new Zone leader and Elder Bollinger. They are like demanding things left and right. It is interesting. They should just carry IMO. Our district is in a slump too. It is kind of hard out here. I don't know what to do. Any advice? So our p-day is shot, this will be short. We have 3 appointments during p-day hours.   I am doing well. I love hearing about you all. Good Night, and good luck!

Didn't think I knew that did ya Dad. I watch documentaries!

 

Love ya,

Elder Hall

Princeton for Six more weeks 9/30/2013

        Princeton 6 more weeks. 4 1/2 in Princeton son!  It will be good we could get Debi baptized and maybe some other people. No transfer for me. Some people in our District got transferred, but it will be good. So that is that. It is the last week of the month. It was the first week in a while that we were in our area the whole week. But we had no miles. We probably biked 60 miles this week. One day Elder Tubb's got 3 flats. Idk why, I changed them all out except the last one I gave up on that one. Idk if it is from the tire or what. His tire is really loose it almost slides on the wheel, idk if that does anything. But biked like a banshee ,it was pretty sweet. Um, no one came to Church. It was kind of a downer week. Although as our joint teacher fell through last night and we didn't know what to do, we ended up tracting the rest of the night. We found this really cool chill girl named Aisha who we taught the restoration and she said yes to be baptized if she found out it was true. We are going back over on Wednesday. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and also go to Conference. We played some football with these dudes during our dinner Saturday. Played pick up football, that was fun. Got my clothes a little dirty. But baylife. We also talked to some ex drug dealers. One is a member, but I think he was still drug dealing when he got baptized. Tom Loftus 25 year old. Met up with him and talked for a while. Then also a lady we met before named _______ was at the library. She is in Minnesota on parole and getting her life back together. She has custody of her daughter. She was caught with possesion of marijuana, for like 2 ounces when she had 12 pounds she was with a youngster in shotgun (not sure what the purpose of a youngster is),  the big timer was in the back, and they were dealing to the youngster's grandma. Pretty cool lingo. She took the blame for it all.  she is trying to change her life, we are gonna bring her some stuff for her apt. So it has been one of those weeks. But we had that last hour miracle so that was cool. We will go at em again this week. We will give em heaven. Ya Rourke goes home in a week then I am done for. Not too much with me. Still DL, still training, still in Princeton.  The Curtis's in the Ward are going to Utah. I have aquired a lot of stuff. I will send it with them to give to you guys at Home.. They are staying in Saratoga Springs. That will be really helpful. Looking forward to Conference. Have fun eating the traditional German Apple Pancakes. Sharwan you better watch Conference.  Love yaaaa write me. Mom and Dad letters inc. Back to this style of email. Saves like 10 minutes. Nuff saidddd love you all. 

Elder Hall

Zone Training and Exchanges 9/23/2013

Dear Family and friends... just kidding I don't have friends to send this email to.

          You get a good looking email today. Man you are so lucky. Some families are really lucky to have a spiritual child that probably brings his journal to the library when he emails to share all of the experiences that he had this week. Well I haven't written in my journal since I have been in Princeton so don't expect that! (I am busy is the reason mostly:)  But you guys happen to have the brother/son of Konnor Hall, and this is just how I do things.  I will give you guys an introductory paragraph. I will most likely talk about the places that I have been this week, and who I was with.  One of the paragraphs will probably be random stuff.  This paragraph I would consider the most important of the three. The last paragraph is what is going on in the area with me and my Companion, (this might be equally as important as paragraph number two,  just for this week).

      So this week has been pretty good. Monday of last week was pday and I can't remember what we did. Actually, I played a little bit of basketball during it. Our carpet got replaced. It was freaking grosse. So we had to be gone all day. Move all of our couches, desks, dressers (The Princeton apartment has a lot of crap) out on Saturday night and take it back in Monday night. So we did that all Monday. That was pretty fun. So no proselyting Monday night cause we moved in and organized our furniture. Then Tuesday was... decent we found a cool lady from Mexico whose name is Beanay, the spelling I have absolutely no clue. Pronounced 'BNA'.  Kinda funny. She is a new investigator whom we taught the restoration and invited to be baptized. She is really nice and we are bringing a Spanish Book of Mormon to her tomorow. That is pretty cool she was the last house of the street that we were gonna hit up. One of those stories. So if she gets baptized it will be nuts. I actually don't have many stories like that. I thought every door was gonna be like this, one more knock Elder! Then people would just be getting baptized, left and right. Elder Holland said the biggest problem we should have as missionaries should be getting pneuomonia from the Baptismal font. We should be tapping out after a few hours of a Baptism. We are gonna have to step it up. We have an average of 4 Baptisms per missionary on their mission. President Clements is invoking a lot of change and we have gone from 20-30 Baptisms a month to 53 projected in September. He is a really smart guy. He is a little tired from what I observed on Thursday, as he didn't eat lunch at our training and was .... could just tell he was tired. He is really giving it his all, which is a great example for me. So Wednesday we did studies and did some service for Debi about her house, filled some holes with puddi and stuff.  Then we went to Bloomington with an exchange with the Assistants to the President. Which was very conveniently planned. Ha!  Princeton is 30 miles from St. Cloud and Bloomington is about 100 ish. So with a trip to St. Cloud on the following day (Thursday) they really hooked us up.  Ha!  But it was good. Although me and Elder Mcdonough didn't teach, I think Elder Tubbs and Elder Neely did. It wasn't the best exchange Elder Mcdonough was kinda tired, but it was good. He is a good Elder. We got there at 3:30 and left at 6:30 to go to St. Cloud for our training with our Zone and Pres. Clements. Also Sister Clement's trained.  Zone training isn't a big deal like Zone Conference. Lunch is provided at Zone Conference, Zone Training is just tiny as heck. We had a quick interview then exchanged with the Elders from Buffalo.. I went to Buffalo and Elder Ware, a Buffalo Elder (0bviously..), went to Princeton. They saw a less active and taught Debi. They set a baptism date with her.  She still has to give up smoking but she said yes to October 26th. She played the piano at Church yesterday. It is her calling. A Part member we teach named Rinehart who has come to Sacrament about 20 times got a calling yesterday, Gospel Principles Class President. Actually, Co-Pres. with his wife. Bishop is sly because we wanted him to come to all Church meetings so he did that. They came all 3 hours it was sweet. Things are going well. Out teaching numbers were down but not too bad. We only had 4 days basically in our area. A team in the district didn't do anything. For numbers they got 0's on everything. It was pretty bad.
     Things with me are going good.  I have been trying really hard to eat healthy.  Replaced a good amount of meals with shakes.  Even ran on Saturday morning 2 1/2 miles.  Smoked my Comp who weighs 45 pounds less then me.  So I don't know if that is a good thing or not.  Eating tons of spinach shakes. Healthy ... ish meals and whatever I get fed.  My problem is I can eat so much now. And exercise so little. Hopefully I will play some ball today and burn off some steam.  
      So one week from now you will know if I am staying. It seems like a just a little bit ago I was just like,  Ahh I am staying, dang it. THREE months is a good amount of time in Princeton for me. It is a good starting area I think. Get your sticks area out of the way early! Ha, I bet you guys are thinking Konnor needs to have a better attitude and get over being in the stixx. My attitude is great and I work as hard as I would any other area.  It really is just a lot harder out here and I am still not used to it. Princeton has around 4,500 people compared to 120,000 people in North St Paul, the two areas are totally different. Princeton is one of the smallest places in the mish. Good ward and everything, I would just rather work in a place with a condensed Ward and more people. My friends are all home but Rourke who comes home in October. Chris sent me a picture, maybe I will send it to you guys. Hope things are going well. Not sure what is going on with all of you. Usually only moms update... which is skewed probably towards mom's agenda so send me the real update. Via post with paper, son. I'm all about the paper. Email's I forget about. Happy birthday this month Mom. I know it is September something, I just don't remember when. Ha sorry:) Love ya!  Your a good mom.  Brysons or Ben's is the same month. Happy Birthday to you too. Sorry I don't remember. Oh well. Last week was pretty bad with thinking about music and friends and basketball. I got pretty distracted. It's that being out a year thing. Ha I was eating a banana and spinach at Zone Training and Pres. C was just chilling in the hallway with us.  Everyone was eating healthy  apples and yogurt and stuff.  President C was like man you are the healthiest Zone in the mission what is the deal?  I said, "We are all sick of being fat"! I told them how the AP's weigh you before your exchange because they like the surprise on people's face. They get all mad and say that scare is off.  But I weigh 190!!  It is bad. I need some of the extra weight. I would like to be a strong 175.  I think that would be a good weight for me... but idk. I left at 162. Ya math that one! That is a 56 pound gain if i keep it up the rest of my mission. So that is a fun statistic. So a challenge to everyone but bryson:) If you can beat me running a mile when I get home then I owe you something.

Before Missions-after Missions photo coming in one year!

New Carpets 9/16/2013

So this week went ok. I am starting to try to lose weight.  I have been replacing meals with Dad's shake and drinking tons of water.  I made a shake today with a banana and the powder, but it had spinach in it.  It wasn't as good as the normal banana one but probably healthier. I was in Elk River earlier in the week. Went on an exchange with Elder Sieler and picked up a Montana accent!  He has a pretty good accent, it is funny.  He was actually Elder Weatherford's MTC companion, so we talked about that a little bit. It was good. Their area is hard!  I was being really bold with people on the exchange and nothing came out of it. They don't teach Gospel lessons much in Elk River and that's gotta change. I don't know what the key is there. We also had New Missionary Training Wednesday where we had the fun opportunity to wake up early and drive down to Bloomington and participate in that. It was good, all the Trainers and their Companions were there. I saw some people I knew.  Elder Crandall is a pretty legit hmong missionary.  He is going home that is the last time I see him!  It was good.  We were there for forever though.

       I love missionary work so much, I don't think I like missionaries that much. There are some funny one's.  It is just interesting.  Elder Tubbs I think has been sheltered from the world.  He is so surprised that so many people smoke or drink. I think lots of missionaries are like that.
      Ohhh funny story. We were at this park last night and we talked to these guys who were about my age they actually reminded me of my friends. They were pretty funny. We were just talking to them about stuff. Found out they drank every weekend. A few of this group had kids. One was going to Jail for about a year in October for stealing 5g worth of stuff. Then they commented, "like man sorry we are probably tainting you guys or something".  Elder Tubbs replied "Well, actually I used to be pretty wild and rebellious". And he was dead serious.   The guy who was going to prison laughed, "Oh I am sure"!  We all started laughing, I was laughing pretty hard as He thought he did some crazy stuff. Elder Tubbs told them how he threw this little tv off of a bridge in the middle of nowhere and then they threw rocks at it when it was on the ground. The guy who was going to prison said "... pretty crazy".  It was super funny.  Elder Tubbs is the guy who you could tell is Mormon if he was in normal clothes.  His favorite word is 'goodness'. So that was really funny. We are driving around a ton cause this week we have exchanges with the assistants in Bloomington. The next day we go to a training up in St. Cloud.  Bloomington is twice as far from St. Cloud as Princeton. ... With Ap's... Hopefully it will be good. We are wrecked for on our miles. Hey how the heck do you get a tubeless stem out of my wheel.  My tire went flat, I went to put a tube in and I don't know how to get the old stem out. 
     The Sisters in the District set a date with a 12 year old last night. I got Debi an Ecig Laniard so she will always have it with her. 

     Oh man Wednesday we got a call from the landlord she said new carpets were coming Monday and that everything had to be out. We have so much crap in our apartment. So we did that Saturday morning with 2 guys from the Ward. We had to literally get everything off the carpet so our closet shelfs are filled and our kitchen has tons of stuff in it. We get to move everything back in tonight. But our carpet is nasty, it is as old as the apartment so the new carpet will be worth it. So that is pretty fun. We have taught some new people and had some cool experiences happen. Taught a lady the restoration while helping her do a puzzle. She was Catholic. We also taught a really sincere lady who has had 9 back surgeries because she had domestic abuse after the first one. We see her tomorow. She was cool. I am not sure what to do hey transfers are in 2 weeks!  Wish me luck.  I'm training but ya never know!  Well that is it with me.   wbu?   guys?

Nepali work was the happiest time of my life 9/9/2013

Sep 9, 2013

All my friends are home. It is kind of surreal. I am doing well. We had district pday. Played some cards bball and went to space aliens A good kinda expensive restaurant alien themed. We even got a pic with the alien! haha. I got a haircut really short. I like it:) We also went to some outlets. I hate going to the nike outlet I love nike stuff! it was fun though. I am going on exchanges to elk river tonight. Debi tried quitting smoking this week but its been hard for her. We made a rap about it that was a knock off of an Eminem song. . We went on a 2 day exchange with the zl in st. Cloud it was a good exchange. Elder tubs comp and Elder saunders Zl got their bikes jacked. We were upset but we went and played bball when we got back e tubs bike was there missing his seat and seat post and light. That was it though. His was brand new so that was good. It was locked to the rack . It worked out ok. Saunders didn't get his but his bike was junk. Man I just got a weird feeling reading my friends emails, they are all home. They sent like their last emails where they are sad. 1 year left. Man them talking about school and stuff I have no idea what I am gonna do. I never wanna go back ha. I hope I can stay out here longer. And go back to nepali work. That was the happiest time of my life I think. I really learned to love people. I will ask for it or something. I don't know what I am gonna do when I get back, I might do slcc or something simple. Work and pay tuition. I think I need to do it. So idk, Dad hook me up with that sports dude. I love sports. Thanks so much I gotta be quick. Emails are always rushed so write me if you have time I will write a handletter back to everyone I get. This week We go to the new missionary training last time I trained I didn't get far enough to that point so this is good I get to go! ha it will be good. Always a revelatory experience. I love you all. Starr got promoted, she is a really good person she deserves it! She is really good with people. Sharwan went to 

college. Colby idk what he does, I don't even know where he lives! Ha. Write me send me updates. The Perry kids wrote me and it was just them! So I know if they can do it, so can you. I love you all.  Sorry this email stinks but deal with it! I love you all.  I am going through the time in my mission that will make a big difference, I have learned a lot in 1 year.  But I have 1 year left and that's a good amount of time.  How I use it will be big.  I am in different positions too so it is interesting.  It just gets harder but it is good for me.  A nap every now and then would be nice.

  Peace bras

Tender Mercy 9/5/2013

My week. Um, it was pretty good!  Today we actually did a ton of service, even though it was p-day the Sister Missionaries in the Ward received a call about people moving, so we moved some people this morning.  I guess they weren't members but knew a lot of people from Iowa who were members or something and were big into genealogy.  So we moved them at 8 am. Then we went to Sister Kenfield's house in Cambridge and she wanted us to help build a flower bed with brick lining around her tree. So we did it. I am tired. DL training is super tiring. I got to bed right at 10:30:30 last night after doing numbers and evaluations and calls!  It's pretty glamorous... not.  We also had a District Meeting in Princeton and I was out of money so we did potluck, that was pretty fun. Elder Lepannon made some Finish Pancakes (crepes) and I made Curry and Rice and everyone just brought random food. We taught Debi and Joe this week once each. Joe is 78 farmer dude and he is awesome.  He is also progressing at his own pace. Debi knows pretty much the Church is TRUE. Just wavering on D&C 89 a little bit.  We taught and talked to a few new people last night; a really friendly lady named Susan, who is a single mom has a 15 year old daughter and loves God but hasn't done too much as far as religion lately. We taught her and her daughter the restoration and it was fun, she talked for forever! They said we could come back. I invited them to Baptism which they said no, but it was still good, I guess. She believes you can have Church anywhere. She said this meeting right now is Church. Me and brother Foede our member explained, you need the Sacrament and a Priesthood member to bless it!  She believed you could do that at a park. Which is true if the Priesthood were following Christ and blessing the Sacrament as he taught in Scripture.  It was funny. We did a decent amount of less active work and taught nine nonmember lessons and five less active lessons. We are to strive to hit lessons all together while training, so we can get used to a lot of teaching. Teaching 14 lessons is decent.  Especially in the country areas. One time in trio companionship in the Nepali we had like 16 member presentations. 16 lessons with a member there, that was really good. do you guys remember when I went out with that missionary on splits from Brazil when I was like 16 and living in Suncrest?  That was one of the weirdest experiences ever. This mom he wanted to teach got evicted we went to Wendy's twice. He didn't know English super well.  Like his lefts and rights were mixed up. We never taught anyone and it was during Transfer day, so his Comp went to Lehi and he stayed in Alpine and his new Comp came from St. George so I had to wait at night with him until he got there. It was way past when we are supposed to be in and he wouldn't let me go in where they stayed, so he just sat there in our car. Weirdest thing ever. That didn't help me understand missionary work at all. Things are going well. We did tons of service this week. Bro miller our ward mission leader had a little party that Joe and Debi went to that we went to. Just some food at his house and stuff. It is cool today like 55 degrees. It was like in the 90's all week and super humid. All we did, was go bike to Debie's paint a bunch of stuff for her. Then after dinner we helped a member that last minute who called us to move them. It was so hot when we were painting.  I was outside and literally nonstop beads of sweat were coming from my face. It was pretty good. I miss the dry heat but the worst of it is over it has been a cool dry summer. Not looking forward to winter!  Things are going well.  We go on a 48 hour exchange with the Zone Leaders this week.  They do 48 hour exchanges instead of day exchanges because of the new Missionaries. It is a lot of time. Two day exchanges. We both go to St. Cloud so we are blitzing the area. I continue to see little miracles all the time. Luckily my arms are pretty tan.  I even have a gnarly ring tan line.  The rest of me is butt white. So I have something to work with going into the cooler seasons!  Hope things are going well with you guys.  Love ya! 

-Elder HALL

Hot- Good Day 8/26/2013

   It has been a good week! Really hot! I think it is like 115 with the humidity at about 80 degrees. So sweaty. My companion just graduated High School from American Fork, he is the same age as Sharwan. It is crazy. Elder Tubbs from AF, he is funny, definitely a Mormon. He is a good guy, knows the Scriptures decently. This week we went to transfer meeting, Elder Boynton left then I tracted all day in Bloomington. That is what the trainers do while they wait for their new Companions because the Newbies get interviewed by the Mission President and have first day stuff that they do. Then at 5:30 we have dinner with all the new missionaries. A young women named Sister Kendra Curtis came out to the Minnesota Mission this last Wednesday and she is brand new. So I saw her at the Mission home. Ate pizza with her and caught up a little bit. It is super weird cause we almost had a thing once!  Plus she is way pretty. I am not trunky or anything just telling you it is an interesting situation but it was good to see her, she is in a different zone no worries. Plus I am not a Sister guy. I'll send a picture of meeting up or something next week, I forgot my camera this week. A member drove us to the Mission Home, I'll day. He is a stud and saved us like 150 miles. My boy. We had a good first week. Not too much going on but we taught some lessons and some less-actives. Elder Tubbs even invited two ladies to Baptism. So hopefully more of where that came from- coming soon. Can't believe Wany goes to BYUH in two days. I don't know what you are doing sending her there!  Lindsay Lohan threw a party there a few years ago and partied with the BYU-H kids!  Ha that part is true, but that is a good school and exciting!  Sharwan will be a great student.

            I also went and traveled around this weekend. One team in our District had this lady Sister Larsen whose family is all members and she wanted to be baptized. She could make her testimony of everything a little more solid, but she knows Baptism will be good and I believe at this point baptism would be good for her. She lives in Elk River Minnesota, she is a very good lady about 40.  She kept saying man your so young- your like my sons age. I guess he is 22. Wait until she see's all of the interviews coming from 18 year olds in the near future. It was a good interview. She will have a second interview to talk with our Mission Presidency or someone in it for her Baptism. Her Baptism will be Saturday, very exciting.

             I also interviewed a guy named Brady who lives in Buffalo, Minnesota. He is 20 year old and he is really cool. He is dating and is engaged to a member. He had a sincere testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a good interview and he is already inviting people to church. He is getting married in October and Baptized this Saturday as well. He is awesome and will be a great member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So awesome things and miracles are happening. Us or the sisters need to get someone Baptized.  Because Princeton needs some miracles!  It is plowing through the weeds in this area, but we will figure it out! Gonna do some La work too. Joe is an older man, 78 years old that we teach. He has a good testimony of Jesus Christ. He smokes like a banshee. So we are helping him quit. Debi  has an outstanding testimony. Her Faith is low and she is struggling to quit smoking but with faith I know she can do it.  Rine Hart is a part member as well but young maybe 25 years old, he comes to only Sacrament meeting every Sunday and we meet with him every other week. 

Things are going well. I played basketball and did some drills that were way too freaking hard today. I am out of shape.  Start sending me exercise programs or diets!  I love you all. I am grateful for you guys. Society is so crazy. I am kinda crazy but keep it up!  Ya, I will write you back every letter you send to me!  That's a promise! see ya in 1!

 

 

         -Elder Hall

Repent and see the new Temple film- Training 8/19/2013

           I thought for sure I was out of here!  But turns out I am training in Princeton!  There are 33 missionaries coming to the mission on Wednesday so I guess it makes sense. I am fighting myself on the inside ahhh the stixxxx. Well If I endure it, I will get sent back to the cities. It will be a good transfer I have learned a lot since the first time I trained and hopefully I don't get rid of the first one. Elder Boynton is going to Anoka to open a brand new area with an Elder that is on his very last transfer EB plans on going home the same time as well. I am just glad to get a fresh start with a new companion I have tried so hard to show obedience and missionary work but it just hasn't gone well so I am very grateful for this opportunity. A girl who I knew from home is coming Wednesday as well from the MTC, Sister Kendra Curtis. So I will get to see her at the missionary meeting!  It will be good though our District is pretty fun. I hope my new companion works hard and that we get along.  Man  the Princeton library mascot fox is here, a person dressed up in a big fox outfit. I just pounded it- with it. It was weird man oh man, Princeton. Well look for some success in the next six weeks. Usually trainers are trainers for three months but we will see! I am not a good trainer, but like I said, I have learned a lot since I last did it.

               In fact Elder Cluff the guy whose training I finished is training right now and doing well. He is one of my favorite companions. Elder Shrestha is also going back to the Nepali area and the guy who replaced me is the Zone Leader over there! I am so jealous, I love elder Shrestha!  But I will see him Wednesday and give him a huge hug!  I will send pictures of my new suit!  Well we did a decent amount of finding this transfer, we only really have Three investigators so we do need more progressing investigators. The area is OK the Ward helps out but everything is far apart and we are ahead of ourselves on miles. A guy in our ward is taking us down to transfers and I get my companion later at night.  So I will be hanging out there and he will take us home. Talk about commitment.  His name is Brother Mikkelson.  I love my mission and I have learned a lot this transfer! 1/2 through this whole thing- the Mission- hump day. Hey there is a new Temple video, have you guys seen it?  Repent if not and go see it, I totally wanna see it. I missed it by a week. That is the update with me. I got a rice cooker since I might be here for 3 months and am cleaning things up for Noobie. Love you guys a ton. Best family ever!  Thanks for the letters Taylor, Skyler and Myles.  Mine are coming!  In a few weeks Chris and Josh come home.  You should support them if you can they made a big influence in my life and are great people.

         

 Sincerely,

               

Elder Hall

 

 

ps. don't get used to paragraphs and grammar:)    

Season Pregnant- I almost Forgot 8/19/2013

Dear Family,

I totally was talking about how Season had Three kids really close together in age, at dinner last night with some members who were pregnant. Then I was thinking, wait a second she is pregnant! I totally forgot Season was pregnant!  For a few months! Update me, how far along is she?

Elder Hall

Elder Konnor Hall,

Ha!!! I'm 29 weeks, which means I just started my 7th month of pregnancy. I sometimes forget I'm pregnant too, oh wait, no I don't. It's very apparent that I am. :) But don't feel bad anyways. Love ya!

Season

P-Day at THE BARN

My Zone- Rocking my new Grey Suit

Indoor Barn 8/12/2013

Dear Family,

I have no time to email because we did activities all day with our District. This guy has an indoor big barn thing with ping pong and American ninja warrior stuff, and pads, and climbing things, and a zip line, and go karts that we didn't use. We had a good day. He had a new Mazda, its like Wany's car but 2013.  He built a racetrack outside and took me and one other Elder on it and was drifting and stuff it was fun!  So it was a good day!  Our week went well helping our main investigator Debi quit smoking!  Five investigators came to Church.  Two girls didn't like young woman's because the were taught about moms and one young woman doesn't want to be a mother, but things turned out OK!   I love you all, write me and you will get a personal update!  I got a sweet suit just barely. Transfer p-day next week!!  Wish me luck. Hall out!

Mmmmmmm!

Temple Trip, Training and Cinnabon 8/5/2013

Good Week Everyone,

                This week is for Bryson and it is dedicated to him. I will be talking about in my letter today, a Temple Trip that took place on Tuesday, July 30th, 2013. Me and Elder Boynton got up at 5 o' clock and we had to drive to St. Cloud which is actually in the opposite direction of the Temple, and the church building on the same property where we would also have a Leadership Conference included with our Missionary Leadership Temple Session. Next, I will slightly refer to a Zone Conference that happened on Friday, August 2nd, 2013. Lastly, I will talk about our slower than normal week and the P-day which took place today.  Included in my letter will be miscellaneous matters.

Leadership Conference was really good even though we were out of my area (My area is Princeton in case you haven't heard from me for 4 weeks.) We went to the St. Cloud (our Stake Center) and arrived at 6:20. Elder Boynton tracted all day with another Elder's companion and me and 2 District Leaders (Elder Grakowfski a red head who has never listened to music other than Disney or Church Hymns... in his life, and Elder Chappell who came out with me, (came out with me means that he came to Minnesota on September 26th, 2012). He is a good Elder, a little bit goofy.   Then we drove to Oakdale and the Temple. We arrived at about 8:30 and went into the Temple. Our whole leadership was there, even Elder Gum (Elder Gum is a buff dude from my MTC District who knew Nathan Nuzman from Suncrest) was there and he is serving out of the Country in Thunder Bay, Canada.  It was cool to all be there. We brought in folding chairs and the workers had to do the circle cause the six Coordinating Sisters who were in the Temple couldn't do it. It was my favorite Temple experience outside of the MTC. I think Temple MTC trips are so much better because the MTC stinks, so the Temple is just the best. Then we went to the Chapel in the Stake Center in Oakdale and had our Leadership Conference.   I was able to see pretty much everyone from my MTC District except Elder Lawton. They are all District Leaders now. It was good to see people there and everyone is starting to get really young. It is weird. We brainstormed how we can baptize families and help keep up baptisms with the rate we are getting missionaries, we need to maintain the quality in consistency with the quantity of Missionaries because our quality is going downhill. It was a good meeting. Then before we left we were giving bikes to the other Elders and I brought other stuff for people- and we couldn't find the bikes!   But they were just in a room we didn't check in the Church, someone brought all the bikes inside during the meeting. It was a quick scare. Then as me and the other 2 elders were getting ready to leave, one of the Missionaries I had talked to who served in Edin Prairie were talking to a lady.  She asked about me and they said, well he is right there. She was Rita Pico who is Raylene Anderson's sister and I met her and she is really nice. I will mail you my memory cards and you can find the picture. She probably wants it because she asked if I would give it to Mom. That was good and on the way out Elder Chappel wanted Panda Express and Oakdale is right next to North Saint Paul so I knew where a Panda Express was. Right at the Maplewood mall. Come on now. So we went there and I saw some Mong people and they asked if i knew Mong. I said some random stuff I knew and they were impressed, wow!   Then I said, "That's all I know".  I miss Asian people. But check out this miracle there was a Cinnabon at the mall, right.  I said to myself, I am getting a Cinnamon Roll before we leave. So we go over to Cinnabon on the way out and I take a sample and said out loud,  mmmm. The Cinnabon worker said these boxes are 10$ today, to which I replied "That is just ridiculous!" Then a I looked around at the variation of boxes of Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls. Cinnie Minnies, and also normal sized Cinnamon Rolls. The nice lady in front of me said, "Get a box and I'll buy it"!  So I did. She was an angel!  I am adding her on Facebook in a year. She said pray for her though, so I have been praying for her. But what are the odds!  I love Cinnabon Cinnamon rolls. It took us three hours to drive home at the end of a very good day. End of the Temple trip. 

On Wednesday, the 31st the Sisters went to Bloomington and grabbed my bike. So now I have my bike and am putting the miles on it!

Oh Friday we had a Zone Conference. We had training by the Mission Presidency, very good training.  President Clements did a training on an acronym RPM restorations, pick 3 up to Church, and Maps. We need to focus on return appointments and getting people to come to church, we teach the restoration like it's hot. Then Sister Clements trained on singing to our investigators and gave us all lyrics to the children's hymns. We got food there and pretend taught (role played) a lot. It was OK. I bore my testimony for the first time in one of those and just told everyone to repent and to change. We got free lunch and went home in the evening and taught an anti, home church, self proclaimed Pastor who tried to prove Mormonism is wrong. It was the worst, I told him we just invite others to pray and invite others to read.   If you choose not to listen,  it doesn't matter. Elder Boynton was arguing with him.  We had a member there too, it was funny. But I have learned tons about the Bible I read the New Testament through and read good books in the Old Testament, a lot. I have learned a ton, it's sweet.

                  

Today we got up early and shopped. Got ready and studied. Then took our laundry to Sister Juncker's who does it every Monday for us. Then we went to St. Cloud. We had pizza with our Zone and watched REMEMBER THE TITANS. It was epic. Afterward we played a 4 on 4 b-ball tourney. I was a captain and picked all the Foreigners! Here is a synopsis of my Basketball team.  We had a super Japanese Elder Meguro who was my first exchange when we were both in the field 4 days. The Elder Leppanon in my District from Finland. Sister Topi from Albania. Elder Jacobson from the Country of Idaho. And Me.  I didn't realize how bad they were, it was so funny!  But we won the tournament.  I even sat out 1/3 of the time. The Score-15 points in 2 games to 11!  Call me a baller!  So that was fun. Then we played 3 step basically FFA dodge ball for 2 hours. 

I did get one package with garments, pants and books contained. I'll keep a lookout for more. No bag yet, I am down to shop for a suit when I go to the outlets in Elk River next Monday so the new Suit fits really well. Idk if my body is totally different or not. It might be hard to guess. I'll send some memory cards home. I like those pics. I'll send the Nepali photo card and my last 4 weeks of photos on the memory card!. 

We have dinner tonight with the Juncker's and have a few appointments, it should be a good night. Ya, we taught only 5 times last week which is really low and had one new investigator. We are gonna go hard this week. Love ya all. Way better experiences this week than twins game that the city Missionaries got to go to... Not!   Love ya!

 

Sincerely,

Elder Hall

               

Missionary clothing requirements change 7/29/2013

      Hope your week is going well. I just got done playing some 2 on 2 football with the Junckers Grandson. She also talked to me a ton about Genealogy trips. She would search URLS for graveyards and find family names. Sounds hard but I never thought about it cause we have the internet. But in the millennium we will just book it around probably digging up the earth or something. Idk if I will ever do genealogy.  Sounds like too much work. I would rather help someone move something. I am doing good. Nah I don't need my bike shipped. I get it tomorrow. We have a Leadership Conference at the  Chapel adjacent to the temple in Oakdale tomorrow.  Then we get to do a temple session with the Leadership. It will be good. I am always drained after I go to the temple on my mission but I am lucky to go. Things are going OK. We need to be smarter about our missionary work in our area. I usually know what to do and I have grown a lot and have a lot more confidence in myself than prior in my mission. President Clements did interviews in St. Cloud this last week so I got to talk to him.  There are some cool people. Our ward Mission leader is Pete Miller. He does Iron Mans and has done a bunch of Lifetime events. some he likes and some he doesn't like. But his Son went to Nepal. Did Himalayan elevation level Marathon and had a forth place finish. He also slipped into Tibet to see a lot of Monasteries. He was off the radar. He stayed at Nepali people's homes even when he didn't understand them.  It sounds like a sweet experience.  I totally want to go to Nepal. When he was in Tibet (now China) the government wouldn't let him back into Nepal. Kick him off buses and stuff. But he hired a driver who drove him to the border in the middle of the night. He is a lawyer and is moving to Dubai soon . He will visit their home here in Minnesota soon it will be cool to talk to him. In interviews we just talked about random stuff. Like getting people to church and teaching the story of the Restoration then committing those people to church or a solid return appointment. But he talked about the new dress code. So new information church wide, when we are proselyting we have to use side shoulder bags.  Like the Xango maroon colored bag that we had. But we have to bike with those too so idk if loose bags would be really annoying to bike with. A nice side bag would be sweet. Not too big just medium sized not as big as Colby's laptop bag either.  https://missionary.lds.org/dress-grooming/elder/dress/shoes?lang=eng at the bottom are examples of bags. Also suits can be lighter. I could wear a light grey suit. Which I want.   https://missionary.lds.org/dress-grooming/elder/dress/suits/?lang=eng     And slacks you could have khaki colored slacks. https://missionary.lds.org/dress-grooming/elder/dress/slacks/?lang=eng as long as they are the same material.  Watches have to be a dark color. My Wallmart one watch broke. But I bought this pink watch. But that is no good now. We also can wear a light blue full sweater if we wanted or red full sweater. So that would be cool. The thing is I can't get this clothing in Princeton. There is nothing here. In St. Cloud we have Outlets. I am wondering if I could get a suit and slacks and maybe find a cheap watch somewhere and a sweater. Just a light grey suit. My grammy suit is way too small for my fat old self and my Mr. Mac suit is pretty used. So I was wondering if I could have some money to buy those things. Those aren't necessary though the bag is necessary.  Do you think Colby could shop for a bag that looks "cool" for my standards and have him get it online or wherever and send it? Those are the only things that I would need from the changes. Ya, idk why the side bag change. I guess it is more business and people might be scared of backpack bombs, this is sad we in America need to worry about this now. Missionaries are gonna look so metro, its not gonna be good in my opinion. A bag with a strap around the waist might be good with biking, as long as it looks good and not weird. Jordan would be tight:)  Apparently by the pictures the can have color in it. But I wouldn't mind black like that one backpack I used to have. I guess on our zone p-day next week we are going to play quid-itch. But we also get to watch a movie, Remember The Titans which will be cool. Although the Missionaries in the cities get to go to the Twins game. I just missed it..... but I have tried running more in order to train for quid-itch  I am freaking out of shape. Although I did run almost 2 1/2 miles in like 20 minutes but it was WAYYY harder than it used to be. I could do that in my sleep before my Mission. I need to be healthy. What diet is Sharwan on?  I have actually been eating healthy too! 

  We taught some teenage girls this week. I was on exchanges again we taught half of Elk Rivers lessons when I was there on exchanges. The Elders there are more on the quite side.  My companion is struggling. He just doesn't want to be a missionary. He doesn't have appreciation for obedience. He will get over it though. I have been super duper obedient the last 3 weeks. but he doesn't care I will probably start to get hard on him! sounds fun. Good thing Elder Waite was my trainer! I am learning a lot. Hopefully I will be outta here soon! Either 3 weeks or 9 weeks I am headed to Minneapolis. At least this is my theory. I am working hard though. Our area needs improvement so I still need to work hard! Always hard work! Best part of being a missionary. I have loved my mission so far. It goes super fast. I am almost on the downward spiral of it. Kind of crazy but (some lady sitting just next to me said, "just typing away there aren't ya?")  And I just said ya.... If only she knew. The old me would have rebuked her and said well this is the only time I get to communicate with my family and friends every week so I better be fast.  But I have learned to be nicer. 

Off subject though. Sky had a b-day recently!   I love her and hope she had a very happy birthday. Camping sounds fun.Sky is a rock star. Literally one of my favorite people in the whole world. Even though she is just 10. 

So many people are set in their ways out here. But I am just really persistent. I think the thing I have said most is why not?  What would hold you back from listening?  I am starting to see the pride of the world that Elder Mumford talked about. Well I love you guys. Work on the stuff I need asap that would be nice although i know you got the package all set up.  It is kind of sad, every time I go to the library the librarians are getting annoyed. No mail again? Nope haven't got any mail! So Please send some. Cause I need a library card. No I will just have sister Juncker write me and I will get a library card with that mail.  My life consists of the same thing but its nice to hear what normal life is like. See ya later!

I know God loves us! 7/22/2013

How is it going Family?

This week has been alright. I went on 2 different exchanges. one was with the Zone Leaders they came to our area and blitzed, 2 teams working in our area. That was fun! I went with Elder Saunders. He has been out 3 months longer than me. It was a good exchange we threw down and taught a bunch of people got some new investigators which we need. Debi is 60 and she wants to be baptized. She has a baptismal date in mind, she comes to church. Other than that, we are doing a lot of finding. Blah. That's OK, you gotta do what you gotta do. People are so stuck with the bible around here and not open to modern revelation and a God who cares enough about his children to keep communicating with them.. But I still get em! I am a little too sarcastic though. I think I can humble people though. I like rebuking if I get a good chance! You gotta be super bold when people are closed off. Then I also went to Buffalo Minnesota on exchanges with Elder Milburn who had only been out 5 days! His first exchange. That was fun. He said his Mission was not at all how he expected. And a lot of missionaries feel that way especially the young ones. I thought there would be more leniency just from what I saw missionaries do before! Our Mission is really consecrated. This is the most obedient I have been on my mission. I am trying to be an example for Elder Boynton he has a hardcore girlfriend. We will change that though. I went to buffalo and I thought all the places in our District would be as stixxy as our area. Nope. Buffalo has like 15,000 people that was like a big city to me. I liked it. It is a lot harder to work here. We taught a lot this week and got people to church but there is a next step we need to take. Elder Milburn was my companion for the day, I helped their area out and we found some small miracles, and even new people that we taught. Also we talked to a lot of people. Got some potentials. He asked me how I got used to everything? I just told him not to worry about it and try your best. Bishop comes back in town today. We have interviews with President and a little Zone training in St. Cloud on Wednesday. Our Zone is so spread out.  Some people call going to zones like this, getting banished. I don't think I will be here too long, 1 transfer would be sweet but we will see. Plus it is probably my last Northern area. Every missionary gets at least 2 assignments to the country:) All my friends are getting home: Tanner emailed me. Kash is home. Chris, Rourke, Craig and Josh are like the last one's left still serving Missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. It is weird, I am way older than most missionaries now. Age wise. Our Zone leaders slept over and I was 2 years older than one of them and 1 year older than the other. Oh we got to bike this week. My bike is actually at the Mission Home so I am using the last Elders Bike. We biked maybe 24 miles on Saturday. It was all flat which was good, I am not very good at flats. We booked it pretty fast. That was a good work out. You get to bike in the stix so that is a fun part about it. We had 5 people to church yesterday which is decent. I wish I would have gotten like cycle cross tires at the beginning of my Mission but I probably won't bike much next year. We will see. Hopefully we can change the culture of this Ward and get referrals. Everyone is so far apart it is weird. I am never gonna live in a farm town I don't like it much. I love the cities even if they are ghetto.  Write me I need a library card!  If not, that's cool.  I am not much of a writer. I'll have to send you my last memory card with all the cool people if you promise to send it back. I really do love people a lot more. Man I can't believe how fast time goes by. Maybe its been forever cause you guys do a lot a lot of stuff I never did! Family camping... ha ha hah- pools and stuff. Plus when I get back I am gonna have to be an adult.  But Missionary work is the best so I will take that. I hope you are all doing well. I think about you all a lot less but I still love you!! I am almost done being sick!! some random eternigator at the library be talking to me... I am learning a lot here. Mostly the importance of being obedient!  I know there is a reason that I am here. I know that God loves us!  Life is hard but we have to get over it and do our best. Have a fun week.

 

-Elder Hall

The Curry Master 7/15/2013

So I am in Princeton. It is nutssss here. The towns are 18 miles apart.  The ward is really enthusiastic and good. We are back to the land of internigators. It reminds me a lot of Malad, Idaho. Corn fields everywhere. My companion is Elder Boynton. He just got done getting trained in the area. They confirmed 2 recent converts this last Sunday. Shane and Ina. Ina wants to know if we have family from Spain Hall's that were in the Air Force. If so then she knew them. But idk i don't know the Halls that well. It is so different here. 

I think last week was one of the hardest weeks of my life. I love Nepali people and I love that area. I said goodbye and took pictures with literally 200 people. We were running and taking pictures and saying that I leave tomorrow or in 2 days. It was sad. I learned how to love people in that area! I liked it a-lot. I am gonna try to extend and ask President at the end of my mission to go back and work with Elder Shreestha in Nepali work if that is possible. I can't tell you how much I love them.

 Things are good here. We have an investigator named Deb. But her and the Bishop met and decided on a date. But we don't know it. Elder Boynton is cool he is nervous about taking over the area and trying to figure out his purpose as a missionary. I am just trying to be an example. We have already had like 3 restorations with people and set up appointments since I have been here. They do like  finding here. It will be good. I am trying to use this area to lose weight. Oh, I am sick too! A cough and a cold and nasal stuff, it is annoying. I am never gonna be "not work cause I am sick" kid though. We have Sister Missionaries in the Ward just in Cambridge. 18 miles away:) We are handing off a lot of investigators to them and split the area. They are good. Super funny. One has a little personality and the other is brand new and is figuring out how to be a Missionary. It is a small town community but we cover a lot. Up by Milaca and down by Zimmerman.  Probably maybe 20,000 people in our area.  North St. Paul had like 150,000 even though there was like 2k Nepali.

I hope I don't forget the Nepali I learned. The last thing Menukas husband said to me. Jwala, don't forget the Nepali language. I am totally gonna make sure I get fluent at it some day. Menuka gave me a last goodbye dinner. It was super good. Tofu curry I thought it was chicken. She is awesome. I gave her the biggest hug ever. Chrissy the first person I baptized. IRL was there too. They gave Chrissy and her mom Tika's!  I hugged a lot of people, ha ha. Our area feels so much different.  I hope I am here for like 1 or 2 transfers. I have a feeling I will help Elder Boynton out here for 1 transfer and go somewhere else.  It is weird. I love you all so much. The rules are to send mail to the mission home. So just do that. In fact i don't have a library card and can't get one with out mail:) Feel free to write me a lot!  This family in the ward has pet pigs. Saw some lama's and pygmy goats, and people book it on tractors everywhere. It is nuts. I don't think I am cut out for around here. I'll figure it out though. Everyone sounds like they are everywhere. Sounds different than when I was home. I think I am gonna book it and move somewhere when I get home. I like other places. 

Me and the 2 new Sisters bore our testimonies at Church yesterday. I have improved a lot as a person. I have a ton way to go. I love my mission. I am just gonna haul butt this transfer and throw down some tisms. Good to hear from you guys, I am not going anywhere. Oh if you could send me anything. Maybe a short sleeve shirt. same size 15 1/2 or whatever. And 2 pairs of medium mesh garments. And 1 large / medium thermal depending on how fat you think I am. Ha, I learned how to make curry in Nepali work. Since I am missing my last area I bought a bunch of potatoes chicken, garlic, vegetables, turmeric  ginger, cumin, and curry powder. I am gonna be the curry master in the stixx. Love ya all. This is the best. Write me.. maybe!

Happy Day with Elder Hall's friends from Minnesota 7/16/2013

St Paul Minnesota Temple

St Paul, Minnesota Temple

Happy Birthday- Facebook for Missionaries- Menuka my Nepali Mom is visiting Utah 6/24/2013

June 24, 2013

Hi Family,

Part One:  

21 years old. It feels weird when you are in the body of a chubby teenager! I can't believe it has come. 1 year ago I got my mission call. I was just like whatever, I might as well go on a mission. I didn't have too much purpose in my life. Don't worry I still haven't felt to much personal purpose, but that is OK I know what the purpose of the Lord is. I love meeting people even if they talk forever about anointing oil at the age of 13 and laying on hands and healing the sick. Having visions of Jesus Christ. I have met so many people that say stuff like that and we taught a woman this week who wants to be a minister that said all that stuff. Me and Samir had an hour and a half restoration lesson with her, it was terrible. I even loved meeting her and trying to share the gospel with her.

I don't have plans tomorrow as I am still a missionary, but I am going to be playing soccer with all of the Nepali guys that play soccer. That is something I have wanted to do so I will wear normal clothes and play soccer there! Maybe dinner somewhere else that I requested. I know some people well enough to request dinner and funny thing is they are not the members and Nepali family would love to feed us but hopefully we will have dinner at Jane Walton's. Chrissy's mom! Chrissy is doing OK I don't see her as much as I want, she works a lot and always is tired! Also she is dating  someone, but I have faith she will figure life out eventually! This week was good we had a lot of meetings. No District meetings I don't like giving them. This week we have a District Meeting. But we did have a 3 zone training with our Mission President. We also had the opportunity to attend the Temple again, and then we attended a Leadership/Missionary Worldwide Broadcast from the Marriott Center with Apostles and our Prophet President Thomas Monson. We will soon use the internet in proselyting and they wanted us to work with Ward Counsels and Ward Members a lot better.

  

Part Two:  

Freak- I just wrote 3 paragraphs and deleted them. It was actually a good email better than most I have written lately, but now you all get a crappy email. Just kidding, kind of. Man, I turn 21 tomorrow  Weird feeling especially when you feel like a 17 year old in a 21 year old chubby body! Man being a buck 80 is sweet! Ha ha, I get to play soccer tomorrow and we are playing sports today.  So I will get some workouts in. I don't workout hard in the morning ever. I do crunches like crazy actually but it's the food I eat, that people feed me. This Nepali family fed me 3 servings of food this week in one sitting and it was past 9pm!   Haha Samir had super spicy stuff added to his food. Goat curry. Nothing like it! I am gonna be a curry master when I get home.

Tomorrow I am gonna dress up and play soccer, I just realized I sent that last email so that is slightly re-living my week now, so this is part two. A girl we taught and handed off to other missionaries is getting baptized. Emily Hang- she is friends with a member in our ward and her parents are Shaman spiritual ancestor stuff and they are opposed to her baptism. We had a lesson with her because we heard she was getting baptized and just encouraged her to go through with it on that date. So she is. That is exciting we are actually playing some sports with her at the church today with some member friends.

        

I should probably mention the weather was terrible this week. Like super flash rain and constant thunder! Trees fell over everywhere.  We were at someones house and ran to the car on the street. We were literally soaked as if we had jumped in a pool. I have never seen it rain so hard. Peoples power went out, I realized I left a window open, and driving through rivers was fun! We put on our rain coats and used the light on my bike which Dad sent.  Elder Mumfords old boots helped as we went around the lightless Nepali people's apartments. 

PS a woman named Menuka is coming to Utah this week. I hope you have the chance to meet with her. Her son Paywon speaks English. She is staying in Salt Lake. She is my Nepali mother although she won't admit it. She makes me food. Sews my pants and talks to me in Nepali. She knows no English. You should totally visit her and bring her a Utah shirt or something! Ha, I love her. She said she is really busy while she is visiting in Utah, but would love to meet you guys. I am having a blast guys. I hope you don't worry about me anymore! I am loving my mission. I know all of you played a huge role. Although my Mission is mostly for me and my personal growth, families are essential.  I could still be with my family forever without going on a mission but probably wouldn't have understood it that well. 

Idk we have some Baptisms in July coming up, will send pictures later!  Ya we had the Leadership Worldwide Conference it was good stuff. President Monson had a sweet old school video that I really enjoyed! Love you all!  I am gonna go. Oh ya it is Elder Wolz last p-day. He has been on his mission 25 months and is a really good example and leader to me. He learned the Karen language fluently and he doesn't even have legs. (Barbara Thibaudeau told us a cute story.  When Elder Wolz was a boy his Primary would sing "I hope they call me on a Mission, when I have grown a foot or two" and because he did not have feet, Elder Wolz believed he could not serve a Mission unless he actually grew a foot or two feet:)  He is a stud. The Karen Language is like Nepali no learning material from the Church, no nothing. Bibles that probably talk about the Trinity. It is the best. Oh we didn't want Nepali people to come without a translator, so we practiced translating into Nepali. That is Samir and I and it was funny. It was good practice. I am doing alright at the language, but as District Leader, I study it only two hours a week. But that is OK it is not my priority. There are 50 verb conjugations. I sometimes understand people, it is sweet. The Lord is real and he is helping in his work at this time, I know that to be true.   I love you all!!!

Bye

To Mom,

Thanks Mom,

Yes, I did hear you were at the Broadcast. We will use the internet, probably not for a while.  We are not having a change in our Mission today. Nepali people use the internet, they like it a lot. They type to each other in broken English or English illiterate Nepali. It is super funny. Nepali names are super common, I would hate Nepali Facebook. I'll bet Karen people use Facebook a lot too. Sweet thanks so much!  Looking forward to a quiet birthday. Love ya mom!