Letter #31



Cutest dog, reminds me of Petey!


Hi mom! How are you? I hope you are having a wonderful morning! It's been a great one for me today :) We had transfer breakfast this morning with our whole zone and that was fun. On Saturday we had transfer calls and I will be staying in Grants Pass and continue training Sister Collins. It's weird to think that by the end of this transfer, it will be November and I will have been here in GP for 6 months! I am super happy about it though! We have a lot of really solid investigators and we set a baptism date with one of them Friday!!! It was really amazing! I may have already told you about him but his name is Steve. He is a Veteran and has struggled really badly with anxiety and alcohol addiction. He has cancelled our past 2 appointments but when we met with him on Friday he told us that he had been sober for 16 days and it was visibly clear. He wasn't as anxious and he actually sat down (which never happens with him). We were able to teach him a full lesson and he accepted the invitation to be baptized!! This week we went on exchanges with the Sisters from Ashland and it was super fun! I was with a sister from enterprise Utah and we know a lot of the same people. She is pretty great and I learned a TON from her. We also went and visited with Charley this week. He and his wife Shirley have been reading and praying together!! AND they came to stake conference! It was so great to see them at church. They haven't come for almost 10 months so we were super excited! Stake Conference was amazing!! Elder Christiansen and Elder Bowen of the Seventy came and spoke. They are truly inspired men and the spirit was so so strong. We have been teaching Ron again ( the Native American man) and he really wants to be baptized. We are having a hard time setting a date with him though because there are a lot of things that he doesn't quite understand. One of the counselors in the Mission Presidency had a lesson with him and he said that he would still like to meet a few more times before anything is decided. We also talked to President Young while at Stake Conference about him and he said the same thing. We will see what happens. We just want to make sure that he knows the commitment that he is making. We also met with Jill again and she is doing great! We are trying to really get the ward involved and they have been awesome working with the family! We are still aiming for October for them to be baptized so your prayers for them would be greatly appreciated! And for Steve too :) Oh! and Brother and Sister Butz came to Stake Conference as well! They are pretty much my favorite old people! They are just the sweetest and so humble. We got a new Stake Presidency yesterday too so hopefully they will be just as excited about missionary work as the previous ones! Anyway, this week was pretty awesome! The temple was absolutely amazing. I'm sure you already know but they came out with a new temple video and it was incredible! I would really encourage you to go sometime soon :) Maybe you could go with Janiece! :) President and Sister Young both told me that Trevor is doing great and that he should be back on bike soon. I'm not sure if you've heard anything about how he is doing but thank you for always keeping me updated. I really do appreciate it. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! And I hope you have a really wonderful week! Thanks for everything!

Love,

Sister Lyndsie Hall                                  



Just having fun!



 A missionaries Breakfast :)




             Thee LONGEST hill of my life!

 

  Sister Collins and Me just being silly  :]

 

Me and Sister Collins



Me and Sister Marble...matching outfits!





Letter #30

Hi Mom!!!!!!!! I love you! This week nothing too exciting happened but it was a good week! We found a couple new investigators while tracting and that is always happy! One of them is Helder! He said he grew up Catholic but hasn't really participated. At first he didn't seem interested at all. He started telling us that he just wants to know that he can be forgiven of the mistakes he's made and we were able to talk to him right there in his front yard about baptism and how he can be cleansed from his sins and made clean again through Christ's Atonement. It was a really neat experience and we have a return appointment to meet with him and his wife this week! Also, last night we had about 20 minutes before we needed to be home and it was getting dark out and we weren't really sure what to do. We usually go tracting when we don't know what to do but it was late and school has started so we don't want to knock on doors and wake up little kids who have school the next day. We decided to pray and ask where we needed to be. As soon as we finished the prayer a lady who we met about 3 months ago popped into my mind. We have tried her several times but she is never home but we went to her house anyway and amazingly she was home and invited us in! She told us that she was wondering when we were going to come back. She said she was worried that we had forgotten about her or that we changed our route. That made me feel bad cause we had been going by but she just was never home. Anyways, she said that she has been reading the pamphlets we left with her and she's read them over 4 or 5 times now. She just had surgery and told us to come back anytime and she would love to know more! We are super stoked! Especially because her son is living with her and he seems like he may be a little interested too! Oh!! So, we have been vistiting an in active older couple in our ward that I absolutely love! They haven't come to church in a really long time but they know they need to cause they tell us that they do they just say that they're lazy. Plus the husband has Parkinsons and it's hard for him to get around or sit for too long. BUT the wife came to church yesterday!!!!!!! We couldn't contain our excitement! It was so good to see her there and about 3 other less active people that we've been teaching came too! It was great! We saw Jill and her boys again this week, and we talked to her more about being baptized! She is so excited and wants to be baptized so bad along with her boys. The youngest Nicholas, is actually really mad at the moment because he doesn't like the fact that he can't be baptized cause he's only 6 and 1/2. But we asked Jill if she had prayed about a baptismal date and she said sometime in October!!! I really hope that I will be here for it! Transfers are this next Monday so I'm a bit anxious to know what happens. I've been in Grants Pass 4 months now and I really love it here! I really hope and pray that I will be able to stay at least one more transfer. Anyway, that's what 's been going on with me this week. Nothing too new. How are you and the rest of the family? Will you send me pictures of everyone? You can just send them through e-mail and I can print them off at wal-mart for cheap. Thanks for keeping in contact with Janiece and letting me know how Trevor is doing. I really really appreciate it :) Oh one more thing!!!!!! We get to go to the temple this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I am just realI cannot even wait! It's been way too long since i've been (7 months?) ly excited to be going! We also have exchanges this week so that should be a fun learning experience. I hope you are doing great mom! I love you so so much!

Love,

Sister Lyndsie Hall :)

If you happen to send anything in the mail, be sure to send it to the mission office cause transfers are this coming monday.

Letter #29



Hi mom,

How are you today? I hope all is well. This past week was quite the roller coaster. Monday we met a nice man while tracting named Joe. He agreed to let us come back and teach him and we did that same week. We had a very spirit filled lesson with him but i'm not quite sure he recognized it. Our Ward Mission Leader came and was a great help. He is a convert to the church and so it's always nice to have someone with similar experiences go out with us so that people can relate. We also met with Jill again. She told us that she wanted to make sure that what she was getting into was right, especially since she's getting her family involved (Christian is starting cub scouts!) so she did research on the internet and decided that she need to pray about it instead. So she did and she told us of a really neat experience that she had. She said that she wasn't expecting to get an answer so quick but the night she prayed about it, she had a dream and got an answer to her prayer. It was such an incredible experience to be apart of and I wish I could tell you everything. She truly has been prepared by the Lord and I can't explain how very grateful I am to be apart of someone's life and conversion. It brings more joy and happiness than I ever thought possible. We have been meeting with a Less Active man named Michael and he came to church for the first time in about 7 years and is even going to the Singles activities! He is trying to put his life back together so that he can get custody of his daughter so it's really neat to see how committed he is and the change that he is willing to make for his family. Another miracle happened this week.. President Young gave us a referral a few months ago and we contacted them but they were super busy and said they never had time to meet. So anyways, last week, we got a text from the wife saying that she would like to know what time church is and was wondering if we could come by and bless their new home and start teaching them the lessons again! We were ecstatic! We didn't have the best of day the day before so we were praying for a miracle and it happened! I am just so very grateful for all of Heavenly Father's tender mercies and I know that he is so in the details of our lives.

On Saturday, we called Sister Savage, a member to see if she could go with us to Jill's lesson but she said that she was out of town in St.George for a wedding which was for the Perry’s. She asked me for your phone number to call you so that's who that was :) She is a wonderful lady! And is so helpful to us.

So, yesterday we had Zone Conference and it was pretty great :) Although President and Sister Young pulled me aside and told me that Trevor had been in the hospital for the past 5 days and that really worried me. I felt so bad that there was nothing at all I could do. They told me that he is doing fine now but I still can't help but worry about him. I feel kind of dumb because I kept tearing up and the whole time. I just hate not knowing what is going on. It seems like everybody knew before I did and it just stinks A LOT to be so out of the loop of everything.

--Please tell him that I love him so so much and that he is in my prayers always and that I wish that I could be there for him.

I love you so much mom.

Love,

Lyndsie

Letter #28

Good Morning Mom!

How are you?? I loved reading your e-mail today. Thank you for always updating me on how things are going back home. This past week was another great one! We had lots of lessons and barly had any time to go tracting. We have been meeting with a women who hasn't been to church in over 30 years. Friday we talked to her about the Plan of Salvation and focused on the Atonement. She has lived a rough life (it seems like I say that about almost all the people I'm teaching) but it's true. She told us a lot about her childhood and that she wants to find out who her bilogical parents are. She grew up as a foster child all her life so she was very mixed up and confused as to who God and Jesus Christ are and if she even had a purpose in life. We assured her that she does and that we can help her to know and feel of our Heavenly Fathers love. We also met a man named Steve this past week. He has really bad anxiety and is an alchoholic but agreed to let us come back and teach him the lessons. His family aren't members but they said they really want us to keep coming back because when the missionaries a couple of years ago were working with him, they seemed to have helped him with the problems that he's had all his life. Another man we met this week is Steve. We were walking down the street and he asked us what we were doing. We told him that we are missionaries and he started to talk to us about how he doesn't quite know if there is a God out there but would like to think that there is. We talked to him for a good long while and was able to give him a Book of Mormon and he said that he'd be willing to let us come to his home and tell him more about what our beliefs are. It seems we've been meeting a lot of people lately who are Agnostic, and it has really made me ponder about the things they say and has helped my testimony to grow even more. It really is such a blessing to be able to be the Lord's servant. I learn so much everyday from different people and my heart is always so full of gratitude that it just starts to flow from my eyes. Haha! Anyway, we also helped Roberta move into her knew home! It's in a really nice retirement place where there are lots of people and I think that will be really good for her because she has lived by herself for the past 10 or so years and told us that she often gets lonely. It's closer to where we live too so we'll be able to walk to her house instead of driving all the way into town. We have been teaching a man named Michael too and he's pretty great. He's always a little high but he's great. The first couple of times we met with him Sister Collins had no idea that he was on anything and she was stunned when I told her that he was.. It was pretty funny! President Young stopped in on our district meeting Friday and it was really nice to see him. He and Sister Young are so wonderful! Everytime I see them, I just feel the spirit so strongly and I hope to one day have that same effect on people. OH! So, last week I was at the post office and a member of our ward works there. He kinda said to me quietly," I know your secret." I was like what? I guess not only the missionaries in the mission know about me and Trev. My WML told me the same thing last night when we were on the phone. I don't know where they hear it but they all say that they've never heard of something like this happening but they think it's pretty special and to not worry because they know and can see that I am focused on the work. It's just kinda crazy and cool that Heavenly Father has put us in the same mission and knows that we are here for Him. I love serving Him. I honestly can't think of anything else that I would rather be doing. I am so happy all the time (even when I am dead tired- Haha). I know with all my heart that this church is true and that Heavenly Father is preparing people everywhere to recieve the truth. It's such a neat thing to be apart of and I wish everybody had the opportunity to serve a mission. It is also a great thing to know that even those who aren't in the field can be missionaries. Our ward is doing a great job at it and I hope that the rest of the world could see how truly important they are in missionary work. Speaking of, do we have missionaries in our ward? I think i've asked a couple of times but I don't remember if you ever told me. I hope you have the best week and that everything with the fire damage works out. Know that you and the rest of the family are in my prayers. I love you all so so so SOOOOOO much!

Love,

Sister Hall

Letter #27

Hi Mom!

How are you? I hope that everyone back home is dong well. It seems like everyone is always so crazy busy! We've been pretty busy lately too and it's great!!

Bryce and McKenna were baptized on Saturday and it was a really spirit filled program. All of the youth was involved so it was really neat for them to see how much love and support that they had. They have lived a rough life and gone through a lot of family problems that have put their lives in danger so to see the light and excitement in their eyes was incredible! 20 minutes before the baptism there was a situation at their house where they were pretty much held hostage. It really is true that the adversary is attacking the families and trying everything he can to stop souls from coming to the knowledge of the gospel and making it 100x harder for those that have already come to the truth and are ready to take the step towards baptism. It's a hard thing to see but this family is probably one of the strongest families that I have ever met. They also have limes disease so that just adds to the trials and challenges that they are already facing. I am so happy for them and know that they will stand firm in the gospel. We also went back and met with the man that is related to Brodie Perry. His name is Dave and we tried to answer his questions but he used to be a christian scientist so he doesn't really have a belief in anything unless you can prove it. He is super polite and nice but just hard for him to have a faith in something that he can't see. We will be going back this next week to teach him more. We also ran into a man that Sister Marble and I had tracted into about a month ago that was a total bible basher and said that everything the mormons teach is false. When we ran into him this past week he was a bit more open and agreed to let us come back. He has a very firm belief in the bible and says he has a great relationship with God and I can see that he does but he doesn't quite understand who Christ really is and what he has done for us. He believes in the Trinity and we asked him a lot of questions that I think really made him think about some things. We will also be seeing him this week. This past week seems like it has flown by and I feel that time is going by way to fast. I always hear that the longer you're out the faster time goes by and I now know that that is true... Anyway, thank you so so much for the package! I wasn't expecting to get the clothes so that was exciting and I completely forgot that I had all those clothes back home. If you could send me the mint green and peach color cardigan that would be great! I really appreciate everything that you do mom. And I can't tell you how truly grateful I am that you sent a package to Trevor. You don't know how much it means to me. This week we also went to Sisters conference in Eugene. On the way there I was really missing Trevor. I have missed him the whole time but it isn't my focus and we are usually always busy so I don't really have time to think about it but I think it was just because I was just sitting in the car for 2 1/2 hours so my mind wasn't being occupied other than thoughts and memories with him. During the conference President Young started talking about Trevor and his companion and how well they are doing and how they have become bestfriends and that it makes him feel very proud and blessed to have missionaries who are so obedient and loving. I knew that Heavenly Father had heard my silent prayer and am so very grateful for the Lord's tender mercies. I was able to talk to President afterwards and he told me that Trevor is doing extremely well and that he has really become a great leader and that he hopes to be be at our wedding someday!!!!!!!!!!! :D That made my heart super happy! I want to thank you again mom for all that you do. I love you so much!! I hope that you have a wonderful week!

Tell everyone I say Hello! :)

Love You!

Sister Hall