Elder Jansen Hall - January 27, 2014

Hey Yall!

So I dont got to long to email this week. But its been one cold week here! Ive gotten used to it but no one else has hahaha everyone down here is freezin there tails off. But nothin to much other than that has changed. I want football season to come back so that this town will come back alive again! But this week was my one year mark! We had a celebration. The zone leaders came down and we had exchanges. One of my zone leaders, Elder Johnson, was in my MTC district so we got to be together and party on our one year day! Kinda fun. But we were on exchanges to do 2 baptism interviews. One was for a little girl down in another area, which i did. The other one was for our investigator Carl, Elder Johnson did that one. But it has been a great week!

My one year mark party! haha they were tryin to get me to drink the sparklin cider, but i cant have 

carbonation or caffine. I havent in 7 months and tryin not to for the rest of my mission. Lets just 

say it was brutally hard but i managed to come away successful in not drinkin it:)

Just a couple of highlights this week. One is that as im sure yall know the news with Grampa Hall and know he is partyin it up with the rest of our family, the big family reuinion in the spirit world! ha Just a little bit about that day and a really cool testimony buildin experience. That day we were super busy. I got the call from Pres Hanks around noon, and didnt have time to think about it to much. I was able to call home and talk with my family just for a minute. Then we had more apts. Then that night when everything started to settle down I was just thinking about Grampa, Khrii, Telaii, an just about family back home. Well after bein strong all day and tryin to not get emotional, i just broke down. I couldnt hold it in any longer. My comp came an sat down next to me and just put his arm around me. Then I asked if he would give me a priesthood blessin. So we got a chair, I sat down, and he asked if there was anythin that he would want me to say. I told him no, youll know what to say, just listen to the spirit. So as he put his hands on my head, immediately I felt the love and peace of the spirit! He hadnt even said anythin yet an i was already calmed down. It was the best feelin ever. Then he continued to give me a blessin. Everything he said was exactly what I needed to hear at that time. I did not want the blessin to end, but it did and we went on with our night. I again have a strong testimony of 1. Heavenly Father and how he knows an loves each and every one of us! 2. He loves us so much he gave us his priesthood power to bless each person on this earth. 3. Each male that holds the priesthood needs to be worthy and ready to be able to bless others. As we do that, all we need to do is simply place our hands on there head and Heavenly Father can do the rest!

The other highlight of my week happened on Saturday. We were able to perform a baptism for Carl! It went so dang well! Us and the sisters got to sing I know that My Reedemer lives, which helped me with the past events. Also our ward mission leader, Bro Posey conducted and kept tellin Carl that the veil was thin and angles from his family were there to watch him. Well i felt the exact same way with Grampa Hall! So onto the baptism. I had gone over everythin with Carl. Then we get down into the font, I say the prayer and as i try to get him to bend backwards he really didnt wanna go. So I had to then slowly force him under the water as he was fightin me back haha well i guess his elbow came up cuz we had to do it again. Well the 2nd time I thought to myself, im gonna get him under this time. So I said the prayer, then basically threw him under and threw him back up! He definalty went under haha everyone afterwards kept commenting like "man you really wanted him to go under. I saw him hit the floor." haha things like that. But the 2nd one was a lot smoother then the first time haha i just had a little more power into it. Which I actually felt like Grampa Hall was there helpin me the 2nd time to get him under. But none the less it was a great experience and felt so good after all the hard work that has gone into this area! The next day Sunday, we were able to confim him, the bishop did that, then in Elders quorum we gave him the Aaronic priesthood! I was able to give him that. But Its amazin to see the change in a persons life as they let it over to Christ and follow His gospel! After the baptism, Carl looked so much different. He looked happier and brighter and seemed to have more peace about him!

This is me, Elder Hullinger an Carl!:)

Well I just wanna say that the Lord is amazin! I tesify that through his Atonement we can be changed! Thats what the gospel is, a gospel of change. We dont need to judge others, but look for ways to serve them. I know that as we do simple things every day we can bring about a marvolus work and a wonder. We can help Christ in His work! It all starts now! "We dont need the faith to move mountains, just the faith to move our covers in the morning." Jack R Christensen. Just do little things every day and youll be so happy! I love yall! Hope yall have a great week!

Love Elder Hall

Elder Isaiah Williams - January 24, 2014

Hello EVERYONE! i have lots to say so i'll condense it a little!

-All the elders and Sisters are AMAZING

-The teachers say things that blow me away each day.

-My testimony is growing faster than i can keep up with!

-I thought i couldnt love anymore than i already do..

-I was WRONG

-Im not afraid to CHALLENGE people

-I truly know my PURPOSE as a missionary

-The spirit is STRONGER in companionship. 

-My companion is AWESOME!

-Personal study and Companion study are very IMPORTANT.

-IM A ZONE LEADER!

-Leadership is all about serving people, and that's how Christ leads.

-Im already use to waking up at 6:30 and going to bed at 10:30

-The time is FLYING BY and it just keeps going faster and faster

-Im so greatful that i am here

-i don't have anything on my mind but serving the people of illinois!

-the food is oh my goodness oh so amazing, i'll try not to get fat, we'll see how that works out.

-all i do is eat learn eat and learn some more.

-My sacrament is at 7 30 in the morning :'(

-Zone leaders meet at 7 10 :'(

They're kicking me off but i love everyone and hope everyone is doing great! haha Dont worry about me im gonna do just fine! ;)

Isaiah entererd the MTC on January 22, 2014

Elder Jansen Hall - January 21, 2014

Hey Yall!

I swear (Even though if anyone should not be swearin its a missionary, but im gonna do it anyway.) every week keeps goin by faster an faster and gets busier and buiser! I dont know how it does but every week its another suprise! This week has been full of rainy, sunny, freezin cold, warm days and everywhere in between. But cant complain none the less! Me and Elder Hullinger are gettin a long great! We have been happy and really doin a lot of work and helpin the area and ward progress! Again I forgot to take a pic with him but ill get it one of these days when i remember!

So now just a little about my week. It was pretty much a normal week, nothin to out of the ordinary happened. Which is actually a suprise seein that you can do a variety of things here in Alabama but from what I can remember nothin to fansy. We were able to have interviews with president Hanks this week as well. Mine went well, and can i just say that i love that man! He has done such great things for me. We have been teachin a ton this week which has been really good! We had swapped investigators with the sister missionaries and got to teach our new investiagtor Walter. The lesson was good, but it kinda was all over the place. We are plannin on teachin him more which is good. The 2 I wanna focus on a little bit is Mike and Carl.

So Mike, we were able to teach him a couple of times at the Lewis's home. He still has a ton of questions and we are tryin to get them all resolved. We had a cool experience with showin him one of the Joseph Smith movies. After we bore testimony that he was a prophet of God! The spirit was strong and i know he felt it. Know we just need to help him to not over analyze everythin which is kinda what he is doin. He was able to come to chruch on Sunday, and he loved it! It was our ward conference and Mike loved President Johnson, our stake president. Mike is a great guy and I love workin with him. He is commin along great! Slowly but surley.

The other investigator we have is Carl. O man, i dont even know where to start with carl. He is just so amazin. We were able to go over and teach him about the Plan of Salvation. He loved it. We then went over the next day, Saturday, and the ward had a service project for his aunt and helpin her make her house more safe and have less junk. We helped with the service then got to teach him afterwards. We were with our ward mission leader, and we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith, repentance, baptism.... Those things. Then we wanted to talk to him about the word of wisdom and chastity just to make sure that he didnt have any problems with those and if he did we could help him with them. Well when we taught him those things and asked if he had any problem with them, he said the only thing he was doin was smokin. He went on to explain just a little about it. Well I had the impression to promise him that if he wanted to be baptized on the 25 of January, he could and would stop smokin immediately. Well as I thought about it I wanted to make sure it was the right thing to do. Then I got a spiritual confirmation to tell him. So I looked him in the eyes then asked, "Carl, do you want to be baptized on the 25th?" "Yes sir." He replied. "Well then if you have the faith that God will preform a miracle, I promise you that you and your body will no longer have the urge to smoke. Cigarettes will have a bad taste to you and you will no longer enjoy them." Right after that I asked if he would like a blessin. He told me yes, so me and my companion gave him a blessin. In the blessin, I told him some of the same things as well as other added blessins. We left and I felt good about what had happened and had hope for the future and put my trust and faith in God. Well the next day at church we were able to teach him again. I asked him what he did with the rest of the night and how the smokin was coming. He said, "Last night I went outside to go smoke. I started with a half a cigarette, right after I got done with that little tiny one there was a huge pinching feelin in my side, a very big cramp like i've never felt before. I became dizzy and hurt. I looked up to the heavens and told God that, that would be the last cigarette i would ever smoke. I only had one left, but crushed it up and threw it away. The next mornin one of my neighbors asked me if I wanted a smoke, and the very smell made me sick to my stomach." I was so happy to hear that! Heavenly Father really does know all of his children and their desires! He can really help us. The priesthood power that we have in our Church is real and we can preform miracles!

We are gonna do his baptism interview as well as a couple other ones for our district this week! I cant wait!:) That was the big thing for this week. This week we are goin on exchanges and again is another busy week. I wanna leave yall with one quote. "If you want things youve never had, you have to do things youve never done!" If you want new missionary experiences try new things. Dont be afraid of anything and you can do so many great and marvoulus things! I love yall so much and hope ya have a great week!! Remember to be Happy too:)

Love Elder Hall:)

O p.s. I wanna shout out to my awesome brother Isaiah! He is gonna be an amazin missionary and effect tons of lives!:)

Brad's latest email

Hey Guys!

Well this week has really gone by quickly! We have been really busy with working and I am really exhausted and have been really tired.  Like today we woke up a little early and we drove to the church, and we got to the church at about 6:20 and started running at 6:30.  Our goal was to run from the Kimball building in Caldwell to Marsing and it is about a 10 mile run!! We got to the house in Marsing at 8:45 so a little bit slow but it was cool to be able run that far after only a month. 

We have been doing alot of member visits and we are going from our ward list.  Yesterday we went to 25 houses and only 2 let us in to talk to them!  So some of the members here are really less active and don't want to come back to church! Something we will be working on.  Well I am excited for the 25th because our ward is doing a big huge chili feed so that will be fun! It's been really cold here and I am so tired of the cold! I just want it to be warm again! 

This past weekend I went on exchanges with the Aps ( Assistant to the President ) and we taught alot of lessons. He said that he was really impressed on how I teach and he thinks that I am ready to be a district leader! So maybe when transfers come I might be a district leader! So that would be really cool and so it went good and I guess we will find out!

Well I lost my wallet! Kinda sucks because I need to go grocery shopping and now I can't cause well I dont have any money so we will see how that goes! Haha wish me luck! 

Well I gotta go now I miss you all

God Speed!

-Elder Riley-

January 13, 2014
Elder Dana Sorensen -- Logrono, Spain

This has been a great week. We´ve been pretty busy this week with visits and contacting. Logroño is very nice. I enjoy contacting here because it´s fun to walk through the streets.

 Here´s a little history about my companion; he´s a great example to me. He´s Romanian but he´s lived in Madrid since he was 15 (12 years ago). He was baptized 2.5 years ago by two missionaries that stopped him in the street. He left for the mission a year later. His family doesn´t share his beliefs, so he doesn´t have any family support. He served in Romania for 8 months, then was transferred to the Barcelona mission. He speaks almost no English, so we communicate in Spanish. (Romanian and Spanish are actually very similar.) He´s a great example to me because he understands that we are working on the Lord´s time, so we work all day and don´t waste any time.

We ate out today with a less active. We went to a place where they have 100 different kinds of these "montaditos" (little sandwiches), and on Mondays each one costs 50 cents. It´s very traditional Spanish food.

We live in a piso with Elder Perkis from England, and Elder Westfall from California. It´s not a very big piso (it only has one bathroom), but it´s right across the street from the chapel. The man who owns it is actually an area seventy that lives in our ward. There are also two Hermanas that work in Logroño. Hermana Haglund is from Alpine, and Hermana Foncubierta from... not sure.

The ward here is great. We have the area seventy and the stake president living in our ward. We found a new investigator that came to church this week, and the members just took off with her. She´s good friends with at least 4 relief society sisters now, and they have invited her to all their activities.

Logroño is not very big, so there´s no tranvía or metro (tram or subway). They have a bus system, but we don´t travel to the other side of the city so we just walk everywhere (around 8 miles a day). They only speak Spanish here, as opposed to most of Spain. There are about 7 languages unique to Spain, so although almost everyone speaks Spanish, depending where you are there are other languages as well (Euskara, Catalá, etc.). But here in Logroño there´s only Spanish.

It´s great that you met the McArthurs. I met them in Barcelona when I came in (they were on their way out of the mission). I've heard a lot of good things about them from other missionaries.

I´ve talked to Ander. He says Logroño is about 1hr 15mins from Zarautz, so he can come and visit some time. I´m thinking about inviting him for a preparation day when we go hiking in the mountains with some members (there are very beautiful mountains around here, or so I've heard.)

       

There are some nice mountains in the back there... maybe we´ll go hiking there with Ander this month!

I finished D&C today for the first time. It´s been great to recognize more closely the blessings that come from having modern prophets and apostles. It´s really what sets us apart from other churches. If we didn´t have prophets (the priesthood) and modern revelation, we´d be just another church. I´m grateful for the opportunity to share that message with others.

Thank you for your support, prayers, and letters. I will send some pictures later today when I take them.

Love,

Élder Sorensen

Latest from Elder Clement: 

We had a pretty good week although we weren't able to teach many lessons. 

The hospitals here are like the ones back home. Where we went it was more like a doctor's office building but they still call it a hospital. And yes, I think Elder Chamberlain was surprised when I passed out although I did tell them beforehand that it would happen :) 

I am not quite sure if we are going to get iPads here in Mexico. We haven't heard anything yet but I hope so. It would really help a lot in the work. 

Sorry I am writing two days late, last P-day we went to Guaymas to pick up our visas and we didn't have time to write. It is kind of unfortunate because we had 6 hours of bus rides there only to find out that the system is down, eat a little caesars pizza, and return for 5 hours on a bus. We are going to go next week again to see if we can get them. 

Our new investigator Alejandra is what we call an "escogido". Or in english words, "chosen". She has enjoyed everything we have taught her and she has felt the peace that the gospel brings in her life. She feels that it is true and she has her baptismal date for February first. I believe very much that she will be baptized this day. Thank you for your prayers and help, we have really felt the blessings here in the Centro ward in finding those who "are only kept from the truth because they know not where to seek it. 

We had a great lesson with Liber last week. After we entered his home and sat down we asked him how his family trip was to Culiacan. He said it was good and after he told us about an experience. I think I have already mentioned that with Liber we had the goal of stopping smoking and drinking and drinking coffee and everything by the January first. He told us that the first week was really hard while they were on vacation. He was going strong until one day when he and his girlfriend had an arguement and he was feeling really down. He asked a family member for a cigarette and right as he was in this process, he got a text. The text was from Elder Chamberlain and I. "Hey Liber how's it going? How are you doing with your goals and everyting?" In this moment he said a prayer that he might find the strength to overcome this temptation. Right then, two clean cut young men in shirts and ties came walking around the corner. They were the missionaries in Culiacan. He asked them if they could say a prayer with him and they did. He didn't smoke that day and last Sunday he told us that he has not smoked nor drinken this year. I know that the Lord works in small and simple things to bring about his great and marvelous works. I know that He loves all of His children and that He will help them as they ask for help. I testify that He is there. I testify that He loves us, and I know that through Him we are made whole. 

I have been much more calm recently in the mission. I think I started out really stressed about all of the responsibility that we have and all the people that are relying on us and especially that if everything I was doing was the very most will of God. I think I've found that stress, in the bad sense, can be a form of fear. It is hard for the spirit to dwell in someone who is stressed out. I read a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that helped calm this stress. In section 58 verses 26 and 27 it explains that we should be anxiously engaged in a good cause and that we should do good by our own will. Then in verse 28 it says, "for the power is in them, wherin they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward." I realized that I was trying too hard to focus on the very best thing to do that I wasn't being my own agent and acting in faith. I was too stressed about doing everything perfect that the spirit was not able to dwell inside of me as abundantly and I think this cut off the connection that I have enjoyed so much in my life. Heavenly Father has given us everything we need to accomplish what He asks, even if at times it doesn't seem like it. But he wants us to be calm and happy, not hurried and stressed. 

Thanks for your support and love! I am doing very well and I hope you all are too! 

I love you, 

Elder Clement

Brad Riley's Mission Life

Hi All!!

Well I feel better today! (Brad has had the flu bug for a few days). I thought of something that you guys could do, If you see missionaries at all walking ask them if they want a ride cause its really cold! Or if you see them in a restaurant and they are there for lunch pay for their meal and if you see them in the grocery store give them some money or something or ask them if they need anything! That is really helpful and is always so unexpected, though I really doubt you guys will see missionaries in Alpine because its such a big area, but anything helps! 

This past Sunday we got to teach gospel principals and it was on service and how the season is perfect for service! This is the time of year when we need to be thinking of others and to be more Christlike! People think that the service that they have to do has to be huge, but it doesn't.  It doesn't matter as long as we are thinking of other people and ways we can help them! To go out of our way to make a difference and to touch other peoples hearts is the best thing we can do! 

This week not much really happened! We had been doing a lot of service and had the chance to teach the teachers quarom about welding! That was fun! The people in this ward are really awesome and I love being around them! We are hoping it will snow this week just because the snow here is really really ugly and its been really really smoggy! We are in an area that is huge and the mission doesn't give us enough miles and our ward covers 2 other towns, Greenleaf and Notus. and its farmland and is really really spread out, so that's always tough but at the same time I love it cause I love driving in open country!

So there is a kid out in Notus that lives in the middle of nowhere and it takes us forever to get out there, but he is 15 years old and is extremely less active but he is alot like me minus the earrings and red tips on his hair, but I have been talking alot with him, and I can relate to him really well, but on Wednesday the elders and the teachers are doing a welding activity again so I asked the teachers if he could come. so they are letting him and so I think he will have fun.  His situation is pretty tough, his mom cant keep a guy to save her life, the past 3 years she has had 5 husbands all divorced, one cheated on her and so that sucks but her new fiance is a super cool guy and hes way funny i think that he will be good for her, but they also like to take stray homeless dogs and cats and there house smells like a pet sore and its super gross and there ceiling has tons of spider webs so I try to stay outside.

This past week has been a pretty dang good week! We got a lot accomplished and we had a Baptism on Saturday that was really good.  We felt prompted to ask a very less active member to talk at the baptism about Baptism, and he did such and amazing job.  He had everyone on the room crying, (including me, you guys know how I am) but the spirit that was felt was so amazing. This guy's name is Chuck and he hasn't been to church in 26 years and on Sunday he was there. I asked him when I saw him on Sunday what made you come to church? ( we have been trying to get him to come forever) and Chuck responded to me and said "Elder Riley, when I gave that talk yesterday I felt something, something that touched my heart, something that I haven't felt in over 20 years and it made me realize whats missing in my life". So Chuck has promised us that he is going to not miss a single Sunday unless he is really sick. 

so we are excited to see if he hold up to his promise!

So this week went by pretty quick except Saturday.  I think Saturday was the longest day of the mission, I don't know why, but it was. I was homesick and missing everything and everybody at home and I just wanted to come home. It was a tough time but I'm doing a lot better now!

Last night was way awesome! It was about 7:30 and we thought hey lets go hike Lizards Butte.  So we got our flashlights and started hiking its only a 30 minute hike, but it was really cool because we had companionship study at the top of this butte and it was really, really cool something that I will want to do again! 

So one of the things that made this week so good was the weather.  I It's been a tiny bit rainy but it has been in the 40's and 50's all week! It has been awesome! I'm still trying to get the mission home to give us a Jeep cause we keep getting stuck, but no luck yet.  I'll keep trying though.  When Elder Short sees the car and asked me why the car is all muddy, he will know why and hopefully he will listen too me cause its been hard to get around. 

What I have been reading and studying is the Joseph Smith History! I love it! I love Joseph Smith so much I have such a huge respect for him and what he did for our church and what he went through! Joseph Smith means so much to me! I always get asked, how can you believe Joe Smith? You think he's God and you worship him and the Book Of Mormon is a fake book.  I will bear my testimony and say, "why would someone die for a fake book?" That gets them thinking, so read it its so awesome!!! 

I am hoping that this week will be more interesting! haha

I love you guys,

Elder Riley :)