Week 8 It's getting cold!

My family and friends,

Winter is coming quick here now in western NY, and I'm a little scared. Hah at least I dropped some good money on boots and a coat so we'll see how that all holds up... This week was super awesome. We were of course very busy but it's great! I love when I get home and am just exhausted. I take it as a sign that I'm doing something right! Also it SNOWED. Ugh I couldn't believe it, but I better buckle down! So here's what went down this week:

Monday

We played some basketball with some brothas that the Jamestown Elders are teaching. All super cool guys and very nice! Then we unexpectedly had someone invite us to come have dinner with them and they took us to this way good Mexican place!! I love it when the members feed us haha it's always nice! We're starting to get fed more often which is great! People here really are so kind. 

Tuesday 

We were able to go around and see a lot of different people! I had a cool experience where we were teaching a very less active Puerto Rican. I've started to see a bad trend in this area. I think at some point in time, missionaries baptized a lot of people. Which sounds great on paper, but I think a lot of these people were converted to their friends and maybe just the missionaries. Soooo we end up cleaning up a lot of the mess that has been created because of that. A lot of the members up here have big problems with the word of wisdom and things like that but they honestly may not have been taught it!! Ahh it's crazy and sometimes frustrating! But anyways we were teaching this guy and he was telling us a ton about his work and just kind of going on and on. I felt prompted to share a video that we weren't planning on showing and it turned out to be great. As soon as It finished he totally opened up to us about what was really going on his life so now we can better help him! It was awesome! I'm so grateful for the guidance of the spirit! 

Wednesday

We saw a ton of people from the ward! The days go by sooo fast when we see a lot of people! I'm amazed by how quickly the time goes by sometimes. Holy cow. Also one of the members here in the ward raises mini horses! One of them just had a baby a few days ago and she invited us to come see it! It was adorable haha. It was a horse the size of a dog!! I sent a picture home already so hopefully Momma sends it out! I love the days where we are able to teach a ton. I still haven't taught in Spanish yet but if that's how it's supposed to be so be it! I feel like my teaching is getting better, and I feel comfortable taking charge of the lesson sometimes! I'm learning more and more each day! 

Thursday

We had training as a zone in Erie, Pennsylvania so you know what that means, a long drive! Hah it's all good though, I love driving this time of year when we get to see all the leaves changing colors, it's awesome! At the training we talked about how to respond to opposition and antis because we encounter a lot of that out here! It was super good because I've had a lot of questions about that, and our zone leaders did a great job explaining what we need to do as missionaries. We can't just  "bible bash" with all these people because yeah me might win the battle of proving to them that the church is true, but we lose the war of them being converted by the spirit. I thought that was something really good to remember! Anyways after we went to the beach as a zone which might sound crazy, but Lake Erie might as well be the ocean haha it's so massive! The wind was howling and there were these huge waves crashing on the shore so I felt like I was for real on the coast. You honestly could've body surfed out there! All in all it was a great day and I was able to receive some answers to prayer! 

Friday

Had a good day out teaching my first investigator! Hah it's sad to say that I've been here for 2 weeks and have only taught one investigator but it's very hard out here to find people that are willing to listen and progress. Plus a lot of our work is done with the MANY less actives that we see! Anyways today I wanted to give a little advice to those preparing to serve missions. Start preparing now to be willing to open your mouth! We had a kid from the ward come with us today and he didn't say anything the whole time! We then asked him if he could share with the investigator how the Book of Mormon has changed his life and he said "hmm I don't know." Ahh that killed me. Here we are desperately trying to get this person to feel the spirit and see how the Book of Mormon can help them and our beloved member says nothing! I know it can be scary but when in doubt share your testimony of the principle! This might sound a little preachy but I think as members of the church we have so much more to give! Hah that's my little piece of advice/rant of the day haha. 

Saturday 

Well after what's seemed like forever I finally taught my first lesson in Spanish!! Man am I thankful for my Colombian companion. Haha it's a family of three. An 85 year old Puerto Rican who doesn't speak a lick of English, his daughter who speaks 4 licks or so of English, and her son who is totally fluent! I quickly learned that Puerto Ricans don't say their "s" and sometimes not the "r,"so I was having a real tough time understanding a lot of what was going on! My companion later told me that he couldn't even understand the grandpa haha. But it was awesome. We talked with them for 2 hours! Hah I think they were just happy to talk to someone that actually understood them. But I could definitely see the gift of tongues present in our lesson. I was saying stuff and able to understand the main points of the conversation even though it was different than any Spanish I've heard! I love teaching in Spanish. Even though I know so much less Spanish than English I feel like I'm a better teacher with Spanish. I say that because when all you can do is testify of the things you know simply, it comes with so much more power. I know I need to do a better job of this with English! I'm so grateful that I have a mission where I get to use both the Spanish and the English. It's definitely different and challenging, but I wouldn't have it any other way. This was a bit of rant hah but I'll say it how it is!! 

Sunday

I had church for the first time in the Fredonia group! Haha church is definitely different out here. It goes from 10:30-12:30 and we had 24 people present, which was the most in awhile.  Gospel doctrine goes from 10:30-11:20 and then Sacrament meeting. I'd like to point out that after YEARS of practicing the piano it finally paid off. Haha no one knows how to play here so they've been singing the hymns with a CD player. I volunteered to play and even though I'm super rusty I was able to limp through four hymns! My mom always said that everyone would be so glad to have someone who played and I'm not sure if that was the case but one lady told me she was happy I could play haha! (You better be proud momma) Anyways after that we saw a part member family but it might as well be a non member family! The mom went on a mission but something mysterious has happened to make her forget basically everything that I know she knows!! Ahh it's frustrating. She said: "I think we're raising our kids just fine without religion." The saddest part is her husband is super willing to hear what we have to say and has started to read the Book of Mormon, but it's gonna be hard for him with his wife! All I could do was say what I know to be true, and that the gospel has blessed my family and I. I hope they continue to progress! We will see! 

I would also like to point out maybe one of the best highlights of the week. They have POLYNESIAN church music. Ohhhhh myyyy I was soooo happy when I found that out, I downloaded everything I could. Haha who knows if my comp likes it but hey I'm the driver so we listen to the good stuff!! There's nothing better than jamming to church songs with the ukulele.  I also convinced my comp that we need to play golf today so we'll see if I can limp through 9 holes haha I'll probably have the shanks.... I'll let y'all know. 

Peace and blessings, 

Elder Halls 

Dreams do come true