Elder Austin Halls: Week 45: God Bless the USA and Missionary Work

Happy 4th of July everyone!! Hope you have an American day. It's good to be in the USA and in a state where there is so much history. This is where it all began. Proud to be an American and I think we've listened to God bless the USA at least 5 times so far. Gotta enjoy it.

Tuesday

Jackie let us know some of his concerns that he has between us and the JW's... They were all kind of garbage excuses to be honest and we'll have to respond to them more down the road! He is sooo close. The Peña family is doing great! Julio is so down to join but his wife Francisca is dudosa... She has a ton of good questions which is fantastic! We hope she finds some of her own answers in the Book of Mormon! I love speaking Spanish and Francisca was all concerned I wasn't getting along well with my new comp... She says that he looks too serious. I think he's just bored at lessons when he can't understand anything. Weird dynamic of mission life. Hope you kids remember that smoking is bad and don't do it. That's all.

Wednesday

Had a good district meeting and for lunch the sisters put on a hot dog eating contest.... I didn't participate because I take care of my body, but it was entertaining to watch. Elder Goeckeritz and I then went on an exchange! Good times. He's from WJ so it was sweet to reminisce some good memories. We saw Kaley Lakes and she continues to know pretty much everything! Super prepared and she's the perfect investigator. Girls camp did wonders for her.

Thursday

We did some good ol fashioned service for Sister Pentz. Weed wackers were all fired up and we went to work. It was hot, sweaty, and kind of nasty but that's life. I got my companion back for a genuine Poly BBQ. Who said you couldn't get the island love in PA? We wrapped the night up with Dylan who is such a good dude! He started out knowing absolutely nothing about God and he is slowly starting to progress! I think it's just like a little kid learning to speak a language! When the language of the gospel is spoken as the kid grows up, he picks it up and becomes fluent! It doesn't mean that other people can't learn the language later, but it might mean they make mistakes or have an "accent." I've been thinking a ton about this lately, so I hope that made sense. We are here to help people learn the language of the gospel with all the steps and blessings that come with it. Interesting thought.

Friday

Had MLC in Altoona which is always a highlight. This one was pretty interesting as we discussed a lot of the changes with our recent boundary changes. Lots of stuff going on in the PPM! I was called to bear my testimony at the end which was great. Nothing like testifying of the gospel in front of all the mission leaders and close friends. There's some good people there!

Saturday

We had a good lesson with the Smith family that I hope flips things around for them. We have testified sooo much to them of the blessings the gospel brings and at this point they need to find out if it's true! Right now the Joseph Smith story to them is exactly that, a story. I think real power comes as we come to find out that the story is much more than just something we heard as a kid. When the story changes in our mind to an actual event that has changed the world, then we are able to see people change. That is an awesome thing.

Sunday

Fast Sunday was great! We had 3 investigators at church and 3 of the walk Elders investigators shared their testimonies! I think it was great for the Ward to see that we are working hard and great things are happening! I'm amazed at one of our investigators named Lily. She referred herself for a Book of Mormon and has started to read it! We met with her yesterday and she has such a pure desire. She's 15 and already super concerned about religion and wants to be well informed. She's leaps and bounds above a lot of people out here! It's always refreshing to teach someone like her!

Random thoughts

Juan Carlos Fuentes is always giving us advice for when we get home. His wisdom was to travel around the world and date girls from every continent. I hope he funds this adventure.
We took the Joncas family to see their old friend Rebecca. Rebecca and her husband smoke a lot and their house reflects that. Every time we go, we leave smelling baaaad. The Joncas crew took pity on us and bought some febreeze and invisible spray shampoo. That stuff is sweet.
The Poly families in our Ward listen to a lot of the same jams I used to listen to back home... Mission accomplished.

God bless the USA,

Elder Halls