Week 42 Penn State, Latino Lessons and Other Adventures

Hey everyone!

This letter is a little shorter than normal so maybe you are happy about that! Ha this week was a little rough but what can you do! There were some good times and we are doing well! 

Tuesday 

Started the day in Willy walk with Elder Davidson! Pretty solid day and it's always fun to trade the car for bikes. We had an awesome lesson with the Peña family from El Salvador! We brought some great members here in the Ward and taught the plan of salvation! They had a bunch of questions but we were able to answer them all! It was one of my favorite lessons so far on the mission!  Goood stuff. 

Wednesday 

Good day on an exchange with Elder Smedley! We taught some solid restoration lessons that were neeeeded for some people we are seeing! We saw Rob who is one of my favorite people out here! He's going through a super hard time right now and we were able to give him a blessing. We hope everything goes well but man, the mission really opens your eyes. It's amazing the faith that some people have after all they've been through. It definitely keeps me going! 

Thursday 

We were down in State College for zone conference! First of all, State College is awesome. I wouldn't mind serving there someday. Second, zone conferences are always uplifting and make me want to be better. Being surrounded by 50 other missionaries and hearing their testimonies is just so powerful! I thought it was great! We wrapped up the day with dinner at Lu Miller's house! She's been coming back to church and we're so pumped! She's almost reactivated and she's been doing so much for us! It's always great to be over there and bring the spirit into her home. 

Friday 

One of our lessons with a less active was interrupted by a salesman for a Kirby vacuum. It was actually pretty awesome to see this guy at work! A lot of the tactics he was using are really similar to what we do! The only difference is we're inviting people to come unto Jesus and he's inviting you to change how you clean. Interesting. I think a mission prepares you for lots of things and one of those might be a door to door salesman. You never know man!  Brother Leggieri came out with us to find some people whose addresses aren't correct on the Ward list! Boy did we find them. They were the types of houses where you think it will go one of two ways. One being they come out with a shotgun or two, they're the nicest people ever. Turns out they were nice and all is well. 

Saturday 

 We did some solid service with the Lakes family in the morning taking stones out of this little area. It was great! I think their hearts were really softened which is awesome. Service opens a lot of doors! That night we had dinner with the Fuentes family which is always awesome. Chilean barbecue is prime.  We also had an appointment all set up with the Peña family and Brother Fuentes that we were stoked for! We get there and what do you know? No answer. Perfect... Missionary life sure is frustrating sometimes...  

Sunday 

We had a ton of people come out of the wood works and show up to church.  It was great because this has been a rough week teaching wise... We were kind of down on ourselves about it but the Lord provided. It was awesome to see the Lakes family there! We didn't really give them a firm commitment to come to church but we just served them. Serve them and they will come to church. Don't quote me on that... Hah but for real it was a good day! 

Random thoughts 

• Elder Montgomery drives our Toyota Corolla like a Ferrari. I get a lot of headaches. 
• Someone yelled at us from off the street: "What are those!?" Then they pointed at our shoes. Classic.
• We ate at Taco Bell which isn't really important. They did ask for my first name and I froze. After a pause and a ummm I said: "Halls." I think I'm adjusting to missionary life. 
• The Samuelsons only got lost once on the way to State College. I think that's a new record. 
• I saw my first firefly on Tuesday. They're pretty sweet! 
• Andy snuck up behind us at the grocery store. Don't ask me how. He then put his arm around us while saying: "What up my Jedi Masters of the Lord?" Scared me so bad. He has a deep voice and when you're just there to buy almond milk it scares you. I think Elder Montgomery peed a little. 

So yeah. Thanks for all the love and support from back home! Love you guys! Remember who you are and what you stand for. 

Much love from the 570, 

Elder Halls
Pictures: Altoona and Williamsport Zones; Penn State; Baby Matteo Fuentes;