chapman stick and green smoothies...

 





He asked if we had anywhere to be and we didn't at the time so he said if we wanted he could make us a green smoothie and play the chapman stick for us.

We thought, why not? 

"butterflies in my stomach"

 I kinda got butterflies in my stomach cause I thought, "what if Trevor is here?" I didn't see him until I was standing there talking to one of the sister missionaries and I all the sudden felt someone standing next to me. He stuck out his hand and I think my heart stopped :D Haha! I'm a dork. I know but that's how I felt. He was smiling so big and asked "how's it going?" That's when Sister Young came up to me and said let's go over here for a minute and wait for President. Sister Young then said she had to go talk to him so to go over with the other sister missionaries. I got all my luggage on to the next trailer and then Sister Young asked me how I felt about talking to Trevor. I said I would love to and she said Trev didn't mind either way. President took Trevor and Sister Young took me and we went to one of the rooms of the church. President Young kept saying sorry this is so awkward... but it really wasn't at all. He asked both Trevor and I how we've liked our missions so far and what's been going on in our areas. Trevor looked so happy and I could just feel how much he truly loves being a missionary. President told me that he was making Trevor the district leader in Eugene! It was so great to see him and to see that he is so happy. It makes me just smile so big! :D

Letter #18

 Sent: Mon 6/24/13 12:00 PM

Hi mom!

How are you?? So today is transfers again! Crazy huh?? Time is flying! I can't believe it's almost been 5 months since I last saw everyone! It's just nuts! Sister Marble and I are staying here in Grants Pass!! And there are going to be two other sets of sisters coming into the zone! That will be nice cause Sis. Marble and I are the only ones in the zone besides the two Senior Couples. Everyone is super great though!
This week was pretty good! We were able to meet with quite a few people!! We met with Ron again but I'm not sure how much he is progressing. He wants to be baptized but he doesn't quite understand the importance of the gospel or baptism. He wants to be baptized because he thinks people will accept him more and because it's on his checklist of religions to be baptized in. He's very intelligent (he has like two bachelor’s degrees and a masters degree?) and he has been studying the LDS religion for the past 6 years so he knows everything he just doesn't really understand. When he prays, he prays to mother earth and everything he says always has to be about the native law... Oh, and he said it has to be a full moon when he gets baptized.. I dunno? Anyway, we were able to meet with Monte and Marlow again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaah! I just love them so much! They are seriously the greatest!! We taught them about the restoration of the gospel and they seemed really interested about the priesthood. They have friends that are LDS and also work with some of the people in our ward. After our visit with them, they asked if they could have us over for dinner on the 4th of July so hopefully we'll be able to teach them about the plan of salvation and have their two daughters sit in too!! We have also been meeting with a less active man in our ward. His daughter is staying with him for the summer so we're hoping to be able to teach them both the lessons and maybe even have him baptize her!
We tracted into an excommunicated member two weeks ago and went back last week to see her. She still has a testimony of the Savior and the Atonement but is going through some struggles and just got done with Chemo. This week we are going to see if she wants to be taught and hopefully come back into the church. We met a lady this week named Twila! She's pretty awesome! She is big into genealogy so we're going to see if we can get her involved at the family history center here at the church and then teach her the lessons!!! The people here in Grants Pass are super flakey so it's really annoying and frustrating when we set appointments with them and they're not home or don't answer our calls. But with the broadcast that was worldwide yesterday we are praying that the work will pick up and members will be more willing to help out and we will see lots of miracles. Were you able to watch the broadcast yesterday?? It was incredible!!
Oh! Are there missionaries in our ward back home? Is it Mikki Huddson that just got her call?? That's so awesome!!! I'm so excited for her!! There has been 5 people in our ward in the past two weeks that have gotten their mission calls. It's so cool to see the Lord's work being hastened and it's crazy to think that by the end of the summer there will be 90,000 full time missionaries out serving!

I hope all is well with the family! I miss you guys and love you so so so SOOOO much!! Oh! Will you send me a picture of the family? I didn't bring one.. Oops! I hope you have a wonderful week!! Love you!

Love,

Sister Lyndsie Hall

Letter #17

 

Sent: Mon 6/17/13 12:26 PM

 

Hi mom!!! How are you?? So last week was so great! We had Zone conference on Tuesday which I absolutely LOVED!!!! I don't think I have ever felt the Spirit so strong in my life, than I did last Tuesday. My eyes were like waterfalls all day, even after the conference. I got to see a lot of the missionaries that I have served with previously and that was super fun! After the conference, two of the sisters from Roseburg came back with Sister Marble and I for exchanges!! They spent the night and were with us all day Wednesday! Sister Marble and I were with each of the sisters so that was really weird. Haha! Not being with your companion makes you kinda feel lost. But I learned a lot from the other sisters :)

 

Oh!! Do you remember that Native American man I told you about that goes all over to different Pow-Wows in Oregon and Northern California? Well, we taught him my first day in Grants Pass and then he disappeared. Anyway, he called us up on Thursday and wanted to meet with us again! He wanted to be baptized the first time we met with him and he still does which is awesome but he is really hard to understand sometimes because half of his body is paralized and he doesn't know how to read or write but he is very intelligent and has been study with the church for more than 6 years! He is homeless and has a dog and kinda smells but that's okay because he is just the greatest!!

 

We also met a lot of people this week who didn't really want to hear what we had to say but told us everything about them. All of their family problems, trials they've gone through, pretty much just all of their problems (some things I just don't want to know) but for some reason they tell us anyways. It's nice to know that even though they may not want to hear about the gospel, we are still helping them in a way. Total strangers trust us and it's just really amazing to be an instrument in the Lords hands. I love it. We met this man named Tim a couple of weeks ago who is super nice and very musically talented! We tried to give him a Book of Mormon but he said he had his own church that he goes to but he did accept a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. We were walking down the street one day and we heard someone call our names, which just doesn't happen unless they are members. It was Tim!! We walked over to him and he started telling us about his chapman stick. It's an insanely cool musical instrument! We also talked about what he does for a job and about his church. We pretty much just got to know him! He is awesome!! He gave us his number and said he had to get going so we parted ways and we planned on calling him in a few days. Well the next few days went by and we were walking down the street again and we see a black man walking down the street with his hands up in the air.. he said now this is no coincidence! It was Tim again :) He asked if we had anywhere to be and we didn't at the time so he said if we wanted he could make us a green smoothie and play the chapman stick for us. We thought, why not? He kind of sounds like a creeper but I promise he's not! Haha!

 

Anyway, Charley the man that we have been teaching, the really sweet old man is supposed to be getting baptized this weekend on the 22nd!!!!!!!!! We are praying that he will follow through with it but he has a problem with tithing. He thinks he can't afford to pay tithing and we have taught him a million different ways about it. He told us that he guesses he just needs to have more faith. We were like YES! That's all it takes. Aaaaah! I seriously just love Charley so much! Please keep him in your prayers. He also started Radiation last week and his wifes son is getting out of prison this week so their family is coming into town so it is going to be a little hectic.

 

That pretty much sums up my week. Oh wait! I saw Trevor's Aunt at the Youth Conference they held at our church!!! It was so crazy! This world really is so small! I was able to talk to her and her family a little bit. It was great!! :)

 

I got your package!!! Thank you so much! I can't believe how much stuff you put in it! I loved the little book with the pictures and it was really fun to see how Sarah is doing! I can't believe she's almost done with her mission!! Thank you again so much for everything that you do for me! I love you so so so much! I hope you have a wonderful week!!

 

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

 

Sister Hall

Funny Story

This morning I received an e-mail from Lyndsie’s boyfriend Trevor’s mom; Janiece.
The subject line read Fwd: Funny Story.
It is kind of a funny story, but I also thought it was pretty awesome and wanted
to share it with Lyndsie’s family and friends. So I asked Janiece if she minded that
I share... and she said “No problem!”
so here, it is….

Fwd: Funny Story‏

From: Janiece Sudweeks

Sent:

Mon 6/17/13 10:10 A.M.

To: kristiek323@hotmail.com My sister and her husband who live in Northern California had taken two of their kids to a multi stake youth conference in Grants Pass. They were at a Chapel there attending some workshops and Cherie (my sister) passed the sister missionaries in the hallway and didn't think anything of it. Sister Hall, who had only seen my sister once when she came to visit last year, thought she looked familiar and stopped to talk to her. Lyndsie asked if her name was Laura (another of my sisters who doesn't live here) which sparked the conversation. Cherie didn't recognize Lyndsie but Lyndsie put the pieces together during the conversation. Cherie was so excited to run into "Trevor's girlfriend" so she introduced Lyndsie toher family. My nephew said, "No way! You’re Trevor's Lyndsie? I just went to your workshop!" Lyndsie had just help teach a workshop on missionary work which my nephew had attended. Attached is the surprise picture that Cherie texted to me of her and Lyndsie! Fun stuff! Have a great day! Janiece p.s. Lindsey says HI!...she says she loves you and that our family is great!

Letter # 16

Sent:	Mon 6/10/13 12:18 PM

 

I got your letter in the mail!! Thank you so much! I feel like i've been a little out of the loop with everything that's going on back home but your letter helped with that :) It sounds like everyone is doing well!

I hope Chels and Blake can find a new place to live and that everything will work out! Tell Ry to not get too burned out with school and work and everything. I don't know why but i've been thinkin about him a lot and kinda worried about him lately... I hope he's doing good though.

That's awesome that Tyler and Stacie got a place closer in town! When you told me about Carter and her potty training, it made me smile and laugh so hard! I can just see her saying that with her little attitude :D

So this past week was kind of a rough one. All of our appointments fell through and it seemed like nobody wanted to talk to us. We did lots of tracting and some people are just plain RUDE!

Plus it's getting miserably hot here so it's kind of hard to enjoy it when you feel like your skin is just gonna melt off.

BUT there was also an incredible miracle that happened. So, on Tuesday we went to see a potential investigator and we talked to her on her doorstep for about 20 minutes. Her husband came home and she said why don't we go inside and sit down and have a glass of water. We went in and they just started asking all of these questions about Mormons!

It was great!! We talked for almost 2 1/2 hours and they told us about this really hard struggle they're going through right now with their daughter. They also told us about this home group that they have each week where they get together with different denominations/ religions and just discuss the bible and what the other faith believes.

They asked us if we would be interested in going to one of them and participating.

We said of course and were super excited about it all! When we left their home we couldn't stop smiling and talking about how great they were and how truly prepared they are to hear the gospel! Anyway, on Thursday we went tracting. We didn't know which street to tract so we prayed and asked for guidance to know where there were people who are prepared to hear about the restored gospel. When we were finished praying, a street popped into my head.

I told Sister Marble we should try Sturgeon. She said that she had already tracted that street a couple of weeks ago but if they weren't ready then, then maybe they're ready now.

So we were knocking on doors when we came to this one house. The guy opened the door and said, "Sorry, but we're having our home group right now, and don't really have time." Sister Marble and I looked at each other. Home Group? We immediately thought of Monte and Marlow (the potentials) and then all the sudden Marlow pops her head out the door and says, "that's them!" She told us that right before we knocked on the door they had been talking about these two girls (us) that had come to their house and answered a lot of their questions. They invited us in and asked if we would be willing to answer more questions from the rest of the group! We were stoked!!!!!!

They had a lot of crazy questions and I thought to myself, where do people come up with these things?? Before we left they told us that we represent the church well and that we should be proud of what we are doing. One of them said he admires our bravery and they all said that they would love for us to come back because they want to know more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we left, Sister Marble and I were ecstatic!! We honestly could not stop smiling! There is no way that was a coincidence! We still have little freak outs about it every now and then.

I seriously love this gospel and this work! I know that Heavenly Father is guiding our very footsteps and I can't imagine being anywhere else at this time in my life.

Also, we have Zone Conference tomorrow and those are always the best!

Oh! And President Young gave us a referral from a previous missionary that is home now and we went and saw them! They are so GOLDEN! They have these 3 little girls that have the most beautiful blue eyes! I am so excited to meet with them! One of their kids might be 8 so that would be awesome if we're able to teach the whole family!

So... remember the guy Kevin I told you about? Well he turned out to be a total creeper so we dropped him :( There seems to be a lot of those around here.....
Anyway, thank you so much for sending Trevor that package! It seriously means the world to me!! I am also so grateful that you and Janiece have been corresponding with each other. It makes me so so so SOOOO happy! You two should go and do a temple session together or something! That would be cool :) I wish I could go to the temple! I miss it A LOT!!

So... you asked what I would like for my birthday. Well, I kind of need some more skirts but I am going to look for some today and see what I can find. And I would really like the EFY 2012 CD and possibly the EFY 2006 CD.  I'm not really sure what I need but I will try to think of some things. Oh, will you send me some of my CD's that were in my car too! Um... i'm not really sure what else. Sorry.

Oh! So another cool thing happened. Last Saturday we got a call from a Utah number and it kinda made my stomach drop, I thought it was someone from home calling but it obviously wasn't. It was a guy named Parker Tripp. He is from St.George and was in Grants Pass for the week and wanted to know what time church was. After we were done talking I was like Hey!

I know him! He was in my YSA ward back home! He wasn't at church the next day but on Monday we were walking down the street and these two guys said Hi Sisters! We were surprised cause nobody does that. Haha they came up to us and started asking where we were from and stuff like that.  I told him that he was in my ward back home and that I used to be his wife's visiting teacher. We saw them the next day too. It was kinda funny and weird to see someone from home. Anyway, he said that his wife was friends with me on FB and that he heard something crazy but didn't know if he should say anything but was curious if it was true.  I knew exactly what he was talking about (Me and Trevor serving in the OEM) He thought that was pretty cool and I was like yeah, I know :) jk i didn't say that but i was thinking it!

I love you so much and hope that you have a wonderful week!

I love you!!

Love,

Sister Hall :)

P.S. I haven't gotten your package yet but i'm sure it will come sometime! Thanks mom!!!

 

 

Letter # 15

Sent:	Mon 6/03/13 3:36 PM

Hi mom!

How are you and the fam? I hope everyone is doing well! Oh! Also how is Petey?? There's a member in my ward that has a yorkie that looks so much like him and it makes me just wanna snuggle with him! Anyway, the work here is going good! Last week was kind of slow.... We tracted almost 28 hours! It was nuts! And our area is pretty much all in the woods.. yep, that's right. The woods. Each house is like a mile apart and it sometimes seems like we are hiking up mountains just to get to that one house. It's fun though! We have found lots of cool little creatures and we see deer everywhere! Oh!!!!!!!!!!! So last Tuesday we were walking down the street and this guy was on the opposite side. We said hello and he said, "what are you doing?" we walked over to him and told him that we were out talking to people about the Book of Mormon and if he'd ever read it. He said, no and we said," well would you like to?" He said Yes!! And agreed for us to come back that Friday. When we went back we taught him the first lesson and invited him to be baptized on the 22nd of June!! He said he would and when we asked what it would mean to him if what we were saying is true, he said eternal life! He is SOO golden and has truly been prepared by our Heavenly Father. It just makes me smile SOOOOO big!! We're also teaching a man named Charley. He is the cutest old man ever! He is on date to be baptized the 22nd of June as well. He has pancreatic cancer and his wife has shingles but they are both super sweet people. I just love them! It's crazy how quickly you fall in love with the people you teach and even those you meet but aren't teaching. I just want everybody to know of the happiness and the blessings that this gospel brings. And I want everyone to know how incredibly amazing the Book of Mormon is!!! Aaaah! I can't even tell you how much my love for the Book of Mormon has grown in just these past 2 weeks!! I have learned so much from it and it truly was written for us in these days. I haven't been able to find a page yet that doesn't testify of Christ and that doesn't relate to me. It's just incredible!!!! Sister Marble and I have little freak outs like everyday just because we find new things from them! It's so great! I would encourage everyone to just pick up the Book of Mormon right now and read one verse :) That was my little rant for the day :P Anyway, there is a lot of potential here in Grants Pass and we have met so many awesome people who are so prepared to hear the gospel. There's also a lot of people here who want nothing to do with it. Last week when we were tracting, we saw like 20 no religious soliciting signs and some people even have signs referring to guns... I won't tell you about those. Haha but don't worry i'm okay. Grants Pass is also like weed central. Our neighbors on both sides and below us all smoke it and it smells up our apartment like no other. One night I couldn't fall asleep cause it was so strong but I think i'm getting used to it.... is that bad? Haha! But that's pretty much all that's been going on this past week. We keep seeing little miracles everyday and I love it!! I love being a missionary!!! Except sometimes it gets really hot and then it's kind of miserable and we get really silly tan lines. Thanks for forwarding me that e-mail of the conversation you had with Janiece and Sister Marbles mom! It made both of us smile! I seriously just love her! She is such a great missionary and such a sweet person. I am so glad that I decided to serve a mission! I have learned more than I know I could have ever learned at home.. even in just the 3 1/2 months that i've been out. I hope you all are doing fantastic! I love you and know that you are in my prayers! Thanks for all you do!

 

Love,

Sister Hall :)

 

Pictures from Grants Pass

 

 

no soliciting signs and some people even have signs referring to guns... I won't tell you about those.

Haha... but don't worry i'm okay. (I'm guessing this is what she is referring to)