Week 57 Zone Conferences and a Solid Exchange

Hola, 

This week we did zone conference and then some more zone conference. All of the trainings from President and Sister Johnson went super well and ours felt pretty good too! Our training focused on making the scriptures a more central part of our teaching. We taught how to use the tags in gospel library to improve our studies so we hope we can apply it better! I love seeing old mission buds so that was a highlight! It was a lot of work and stress so it feels good to get it all over with. We get a little break before the next one in a couple months!

After the zone conferences I went on an exchange to Oakland with my old MTC companion Elder Herzog! Oakland is where Pitt University is located so it was sweet to walk around there! We went walking around and talked to anyone we could find. We hit up a Spanish store and talked to some Mexicans and then on our way back we found this guy named Justin who talked to us on the sidewalk for 15 minutes! He was amazing. He knows a ton about the church and was at one point studying to be a Catholic Priest. He has a lot of questions about authority so we'll see if we can teach him some more because he actually lives in the AP area. Call that an exchange miracle I guess... 

It was cool to be on an exchange in the YSA area. They do good work! We taught a Chinese guy named Dennis on Saturday and he was so humble! I haven't really taught too many people without a Christian background so it's good to switch it up a little bit. He had so many good questions and his prayer was as sincere as it gets. 

We taught the Bortz family on Saturday and they're a good crew to teach. We're trying to get them to do some of the most basic things to help them come back. They said they will be at church on Sunday so they better be! We just want the best for her and her boys! 

Sunday was the Why I Believe fireside in Erie. I think I've mentioned those before, they're amazing! It's just an hour of music, videos, and testimony from about 40 missionaries. We try and get as many people there as we can because they're powerful! We drove up the 10 passenger van known as "The Bruiser," Hah that thing is fun to drive. It was an awesome night and I'm always amazed at how talented some missionaries are. PPM does it best. 

Random thoughts 

• Jill (a member) took us to Burgatory on the exchange. She's going straight to heaven. 
• President Johnson likes to equate worthiness to how many red lights you hit. If you hit all greens, you must be living right. 
• Driving from Pittsburgh to State College is becoming one of my favorite drives. So much greeeeeen. 
• Saturday morning ball with the elders quórum and investigators is life. 

I feel like this week I've really learned a lot. From all the trainings, finding at Pitt, and why I believe, it's just been a great week. I'm excited for General Conference and the blessing it is to listen to Prophets and Apostles. I hope we can all make it a revelatory experience! 

Here's one of my favorite quotes about conference: 

"Decide now to make general conference a priority in your life. Decide to listen carefully and follow the teachings that are given. Listen to or read the talks more than once to better understand and follow the counsel. By doing these things, the gates of hell will not prevail against you, the powers of darkness will be dispersed from before you, and the heavens will shake for your good." -Paul V. Johnson "The Blessings of General Conference" October 2005 

Have a good one!! 

Just Believe, 

Elder Halls
Pictures: One of three zone conferences; The Bingham squad in State College; Elder Holdaway. This kid is a stud!; Elder Calaway is in the move crew and is our district leader