Letter #14

Sent: Monday 5/27/13 11:18A.M.

Grants Pass is completely different than Albany and I am loving it here! It's in a valley that is covered in trees so when we go tracting, it's in the woods!! It's so weird but awesome! Except my feet have been hurting a lot. This area is a TON bigger than my last area and we don't have as many miles to use the car so we pretty much walk everywhere. I'll be okay though :) My new companion is Sister Marble and I just love her!! She is the greatest! We were in the MTC and both came out together so we're both trying to just learn together and it's been great! It's crazy how much a like we are! Her boyfriend is on a mission right now too! So it's nice to have someone who can relate to what i'm feeling sometimes but don't worry we are staying focused and things are going great! I LOVE THIS AREA!!! The ward is so amazing and missionary minded! It helps so much! We have awesome ward missionaries and we are working with lots of people right now and plan to have 8 this week on date for baptism!!!! When President Young told me that we were going to be companions he said, " I believe that two soft-spoken sisters, will make one outspoken difference" or something like that! He is such a wonderful mission president and he truly is inspired. When he called and told me that I would be going to Grants Pass, he said that his original plan was to keep me in Albany so that I would be in the Salem mission and he would keep Trevor in the Eugene mission. He told me though that he had been praying about it for weeks and that the Spirit just kept telling him No and that he would wake up everyday and my picture would be in the Eugene mission area. Or that's how he felt at least. He told me that the Spirit kept telling him to not split us up. It has made my testimony of prayer, fasting, and even faith grow so much. I have such a firm testimony in all these things and I can't say how truly grateful I am for this gospel, this work, and this mission. I just love it. The people we are working with are so prepared by the Lord and I can tell that this transfer is going to be a good one! I don't think I have ever been so happy! Even on rough days when people yell at us and tell us to go away, I still feel happy all the time!

I hope everyone is doing well back home and enjoying the heat!! It's been kinda cold here lately. I love you all so much and know that you are all in my prayers! Thank you for all that you do for me. it truly means the world!

 

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

 
Love, Sister Hall :)

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Letter #13

Sent:	Mon 5/20/13 11:23 AM

Mom!!! I don't have any time at all right now because transfers are today and I'M BEING TRANSFERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to Grants Pass!!!!! And my companion will  be with Sister Marble!! I was in the MTC with her!! I am out of time but hopefully I will be able to e-mail when I get to Grants Pass! It's about a 5 hour drive so we'll see! I love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!! Thank you for your prayers!! :)

Love,

Sister Hall! :D

Letter #12

Sent:	Mon 5/13/13 2:42 PM

Hello!!

It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good to see everyone yesterday on skype!!!! I loved it!! It looks like everyone is doing great which makes me so happy! I just wish we had a little more time so that I could have talked to you a bit longer. But oh well, it was still awesome to see everyone! I told you how I feel about Transfers and I would like to ask you to please please pray that Trevor and I will both stay in the Eugene Mission. I know that if one of us were in the Salem Mission we'd be able to communicate which would be great but to be serving in the same mission is so so much more special to me because I know that Heavenly Father sent us to this mission and mission president for a reason. Tell Janiece that it's okay that she hasn't written back yet, I just wasn't sure if she had gotten it because it seems like noone gets my mail. Anyway, today for P-day we went on a hike this morning up in the mountains past Lebanon!!!!! Let me just say, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I honestly felt like I was in a jungle!! It was amazing!! I will try to send picture soon of it!! There were 3 different waterfalls that were just gorgeous! Oh!! Also, when we were on our way there, we went through Lebanon and I saw the street where Trevor used to live!!! I know i'm a dork but I just love the guy and think it's cool that we have been in the same areas and meet a lot of the same people! I hope everyone had a good weekend! It seems like all is well back home and enjoying the heat. I love all of you so so so much! Thank you for all that you do for me and for your prayers. It means so much to me :) I love you and i'll talk to next week! Love Ya!

Love,
Sister Hall :)

 

 

Letter #11

Sent:	Mon 5/06/13 1:47 PM

Mom!!!!!
Thank you so so so sooooooooooooooooo much for the package!! I absolutely LOVED it! Thanks for adding in the extra stuff! So.....
Guess what??!?!?!?!?!?! Next week is mothers day and I get to skype!!!! I'm not sure exactly what time but most likely around 3:30 pm!! I really can't wait to see and talk to everyone! I hope all the family will be able to be there!! Anyways, this week was soo slow. All of our appointments fell through so we did lots of tracting. 12 hours to be exact. 4 hours one day! I got crazy tan  lines on the tops of my feet. Haha! We were able to meet with some of our investigators though! One of them being a lady named Joanne. She is amazing! The moment we sat down on her couch she wanted to  know everything about the church! It was great! I love appointments like that,where their asking tons of questions and just wanting more! We also had a lesson with Mike and Stephanie!! They seriously are so wonderful! Mike told us last time that he was envious of our faith and that he wanted to come closer to Christ. And last time we invited him to be baptized when he knows that the things were teacing him are true. He said he would!!! He is so great! He asked us if we would call him every so often to remind him to pray. His wife is a little hesitant to everything. She grew up Catholic but she seems to be opening up a bit more as we keep meeting with them :) So... You know how last week Beverly was on date to be baptized? Well, on Thursday she completely broke down in tears and told us that she just can't make a decision and that she feels hopeless and like she's wasting our time. I kinda fell apart too...... I love her so much and I know that she knows this gospel is true. She knows it. She has felt the spirit so many times and she loves coming to church. We have tried discerning her needs and she just comes up with something else. She has a mental disorder and I think that's part of the reason why it's so hard for her to make a decision. We are not giving up on her though. Another lesson we had this week was with Kiara. She's the girl that is 18 and has been investigating the church for almost 2 years now and wants to be baptized! She has the strongest testimony of a nonmember that i've heard from such a young person. We kinda set a date with her but she just broke up with her boyfriend who was the one that was going to baptize her but now she's having a hard time getting over him and trying to figure out who will baptize her now. She's a strong girl though and knows the church is true as well. It's just that Satan keeps getting in the way of all the people we are teaching. I really don't like him very much. This past week Sister Schrishuhn and I were told that we were going to teach the Book of Mormon Study Class... I'm pretty sure that I learned more from that class than anybody else there. We disected each verse in 4 chapters and I had know idea how much I was missing as I was just reading it. I love that I am constantly learning each day! I can feel my testimony growing and it's just a really great feeling :) Oh! So, a couple nights ago I woke up at 2 in the morning with awful stomach pains like I did that one time. It was horrible!! I only got 4 hours of sleep that night and Sister Schrishuhn said that I was crying in my sleep. But anyways, I really hope that everything back home is going well. I loved the pictures from Weston and Wyatt! They made me tear up a little. I can't wait to see and talk to you guys on Sunday!! Please please try to get everyone there! I LOVE YOU!!! SEE YOU SOON!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Hall :D

Letter #10

Sent:	Mon 4/29/13 3:44 PM

Hi mom, here is my favorite scripture for my missionary plaque:

Alma 26:12.

What picture are you putting on my plaque? Talk to you next week :) Love You!

Letter #9

Sent:	Mon 4/29/13 12:12 PM

Mom! You're e-mail is so long. I don't have time to read it all right now so i'll have to print it out and read it then write you a letter. I HATE that we are timed on these computers!! Anyway I will tell you how my week was and then try to answer all your questions.
WE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE WITH BEVERLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how happy I am about it! I have seen her progress so much in the short time that i've known her and I am so excited for her! She is such a great lady! I can't wait for you to meet her someday! So the two kids that we've been teaching are so ready to be baptized but they aren't coming to  church. And it's a  requirement that they attend church at least twice before they are baptized. We have finished teaching them all of the lessons and now we're just waiting for them to come to church and for the dad to be worthy and ready to baptize them. I love this family so much. They really are incredible and have such strong testimonies. I really hope and pray that they will just come to church and recognize and remember the blessings that the gospel has to offer. Oh!!! Another thing that happened this week... Okay, so we were visiting a less active they have like 5 cats and one of them died last week and they called us to come and bury it..... We went over and I dug a hole and got super muddy and the box with the cat in it was super stinky. Anyway, they offered us cookies I said sure and they pulled a bag out of the freezer. It's kinda dark in their house so I just reached in and grabbed one. It was as hard as a rock and it kinda tasted stale and a little funny.. I didn't want to make them feel bad though so I just ate it. They told us to take the whole bag of cookies with us and when we got in the car to go Sister Schrishuhn asked me to get her one and when I pulled the cookie out of the bag, it was covered in CAT HAIR!!!!!!!!!! I just about threw up! I told you that cats were everywhere here. I didn't know they used them in their recipes too though... Yuck!!!!! Ugh!! The weather here is awesome right now.. It's been super sunny and I even got tan lines! Haha

Also this week I learned so much and I feel like my confidence and understanding has really grown. During a lesson we had last week we were reading from the scriptures and there was a moment when the Spirit really hit me and I suddenly understood a lot of the things I was confused about before. My heart was so full and is still full of gratitude. I have a firm belief in preisthood blessings and I know that the blessing President Young gave me really has helped and since that day I have really seen myself and my testimony be strengthened. I know  that Heavenly Father answers our prayers and that He knows each one of us personally and I know that I am serving here in the Oregon Eugene Mission for a reason. I also had the opportunity this week to go on splits with the Laurels in a different ward. I was able to take them tracting and it was a real confidence builder for me. They really depended on me to be their guide and I feel like it helped build my confidence so much because I didn't have anybody to rely on but myself and the Lord. I truly want to be the best missionary that I can be and the missionary that Heavenly Father wants me to be and I know that with God all things are possible and I know that if I continue to be diligent and work my hardest he will help me every step of the way.   Another thing I learned this week was to really just listen to what our investigators are saying. I've always been worried about what I was going to say next but this past week I really focused on just listening to them and I noticed that  as I did, everything else just came. I love this work and this gospel with all my heart. I know that my Savior lives and I will do all I can to follow Him and give all my life to him.

I love you so so so SOOOOOOO much and I hope you have a really great week!! I really can't express how much I appreciate all that you have done and do for me!

Love,
Sister Hall

P.S. Sorry this letter is all over the place!

Letter #8

Sent:	Mon 4/22/13 12:13 PM

Hi mom!! How are you doing???

So this past week has been quite the roller coaster. 3 of our investigators with a baptismal date, are no longer on date. We plan to have 2 of them back on date tonight though. The 2 we are meeting with tonight are part of a less active family and the dad has had a hard time with the word of wisdom in the past and is still some what struggling with it. We told him that if baptizing his children is something he really wants to do then we know that he can overcome this challenge and be ready. We talked to him on Thursday and he told us that he really appreciates our concern for him and his family. He said that he truly is striving to be worthy to baptize his children. We know that he can do it! One of the highlights of this week was when we had a lesson with a couple in their 50's. The spirit was so strong and before we could ask for a return appointment, he asked if we could come back again next week!  I feel like I have really learned a lot in just this past week. I feel that I am becoming a stronger person and begining to be more confident in myself. Even though it's hard at times I still wouldn't trade the experiences I've had for anything. People always say that a mission prepares you for the rest of your life, and I truly believe that it does. My relationship with sister schrishuhn has been getting better. we've talked a lot this past week about how we're feeling and that helped. Thank you so much for the thought of sending flowers! That was sweet of you and don't feel bad about me not getting mail or packages. It's not a big deal. One thing you could maybe send me in the package is dried mangos and one of those big bags of almonds from costco? Nuts are super expesive here, i don't know why and i've been craving almonds. Just the plain ones. You're amazing!
Sorry this letter is all over the place,i only have a limited time on the computer and random thoughts just come into my head. Thanks for making this e-mail all bright and colorful with lots of cute icons! It makes me smile :) Mom, thank you so much for all that you do. I really don't know what I would ever do without you! I hope that you are doing well and hope you have a really good week. I promise I will write more in my letter!

I love you!!

Love, Sister Hall

                                                      Sister Hall and Sister Schrishuhn