Week 51 Training and Travel

Hey everyone! Glad to see the fam enjoyed a nice week at Lake Powell! That's one of the best places on earth and I love it there. Here in PA it's 75 with 94% humidity. It's been raining a ton so that's great.... We had a good week with a lot of travel! 

Tuesday 

There's this older guy in the ward named Mike Trout who has an awesome old car. He asked for some help so you already know we were right there. Pretty sweet taking out a transmission and all that good stuff. The mission can teach you a lot.  It was also Elder Liston's birthday and the Ballard family fed us! They're an awesome young couple and she's from Sojo! Went to Bingham and everything. Miner pride baby! 

Wednesday 

We started off our zone training tour in Pittsburgh. Really good meeting with some awesome testimonies! Gotta love the buddies out here. We had an awesome evening with a couple of golden investigators! One lady named Chrystal is super prepared. She loves the church and just walked in one Sunday! She's all worried that her kids will make too much noise at sacrament meeting which I thought was pretty funny... She should come to Utah.  She said she'll come on Sunday so we'll see! Other guy we met was Merl, Muuuurl or Mirl. We'll have to get some spelling down the road. Awesome guy who has solid faith in Christ. He was pretty funny with some of his beliefs but we can work on that! Some people have their own ideas about church and the Bible! 

Thursday

We went to the training in Cranberry and then headed a few hours east to State College. It's always nice to drive across Pennsylvania and see how green everything is! I love it! We stopped at Penn State to get some ice cream at the creamery which was a great choice. We did some work with the State College Elders and I got to teach a Spanish lesson which was long overdue. Always good to be speaking Spanish.  

Friday

Was the last day of our trainings with the biggest group! We had three zones together and it went really well! I think all the missionaries liked the trainings and the departing testimonies were great. The spirit was poured out while we were there! We headed back to Pittsburgh and got caught in some classic Steelers traffic. I think it was a pre season game and everyone was decked out in the black and yellow. You gotta love it. 

Saturday 

Did a lot of work in the office to prepare for the General Authorities that are coming to the mission really soon! Lots of coordination has to be done to make sure all the missionaries get there on time and efficiently! It's like putting together a big puzzle but it's actually important. Hope that makes sense... That night we saw the Bortz family. It's a mom and her two sons who are typical 13 year old boys. Pretty awkward and think they're wise guys. She's one of those ladies that says: "I hate drama," When we all know she really loves it. Hah let's just say it was an interesting night. She enjoys Keeping up with the Kardashians and that's a good explanation of her personality. We ended up having a good lesson on prayer and the importance of it in the first vision. I always feel such peace when we talk about it! I know that Joseph Smith really did see God the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ. It's amazing to be able to testify that to others! 

Sunday 

We had a few people say they would be at church but we struck out. Always a little disappointing when people say they'll come and don't...  We went and saw a guy named Nic who is an interesting fella. He's had some hard core drug problems and it's pretty much messed him up for life. He's dependent on some medication to keep him going and it was pretty sad! He has a good testimony of the gospel and it was cool to see how it's changed his life around! We had a nice discussion with him and hope to see him coming back to church as well. 

Well, another week in the books. I feel like this one went by pretty quick but that's how it seems to go the more time I have out here! I'm grateful for the Gospel and for the happiness I have because of it. Pennsylvania is the place to be right now and I love it here! Have a good week everyone! 

Under my um-ber-ella, 

Elder Halls
Pictures: Elders Liston and Aitken; My papi to my left and our companions