Week 59 What are you going to do?

Hey fam! 

It's cold this morning in Pittsburgh. We turned the heat on and everything. Fall is here and Winter is coming. 

Tuesday 

We were in the office for most of the day doing reports and what not. First of the month is always a busy time! We got a lot done which alleviates a lot of stress. Elder Parke and I continue to work well together which is a huge blessing. At about 5:00 the other Elders in our ward showed up to the office to turn in some gas receipts and Elder Calaway offered to take us to Chipotle. We didn't have a dinner, so it was an offer too good to resist. Those burritos are so massive.  We're preparing a training for MLC, so we've been going through a lot of talks. The talk "Why the Church" from D. Todd Christofferson is so good! The Lord uses His Church to facilitate gospel growth. It's genius. 

Wednesday 

We had district meeting in the morning and prepared our training for MLC in the afternoon. We talked about revelation through church attendance which is always a good thing. It's so important to come to church! We threw in a cool poem about finding strength in numbers and it's always fun to prepare a training. You can really see revelation flow as you sit and plan it out with your companion. I kinda like it. That night we got invited to eat dinner at this Greek Orthodox Church with some members. They go every year and love it! The food was good and it was a good night! We went and saw the Haners that night and their kids are SO crazy haha. We get there and they're literally shoveling straight caramel into their faces.  It was a little bit of a rough start but it turned into a pretty good discussion on general conference! 

Thursday 

There's an auto repair shop in Pittsburgh called Monro's Brake and Muffler. Missionaries hate going there, but for some reason the mission has an account with them... I don't think I've ever had a good experience at Monro and I'm not sure if I ever will. Anyways, we had to take the big mission van into Monro's to get its emissions and inspections done. We walk in and say: "Hey, how's it going?" Answer: "Busy." Great. Hah so long story short this guy was in a great mood and the van failed its inspection because the brakes apparently disintegrated. Good to know we've been driving that thing all over the state.  It was a bit of a rough morning but it all turned around. That night we met with Justin. For those of you who actually read these, you might remember Elder Herzog and I running into Justin on Pitt campus a few weeks back. He was that super golden guy remember? Well, here we are again and he's still golden. We had an awesome lesson with this guy and he called himself a "truth seeker." Well buddy, we got a lot of truth for ya. It was great and he called us dudes and bros several times which made it all better.  Apparently he plays basketball too so we'll see about that. 

Friday

MLC in Altoona once again. We talked a lot about standards of excellence and how we can improve. I think the mission is in for some changes! We trained on revelation through church attendance like I said earlier and I thought it went pretty well! Coming to church is the main thing that holds our investigators back from progressing so hopefully we can change that. 

Saturday & Sunday

We had stake conference for the Pittsburgh West Stake with Elder Randall K. Bennett from the 70. It was fantastic!! I've been able to be around several General Authorities as a missionary and his teaching style was my favorite. It was so interactive and led by the spirit. He chose three people to give five minute talks and then the rest he just taught as he felt promptings! It was incredible. My favorite thing he did was pose the question: "So what are you going to do tonight?" As we talked about going to the rescue he promised us that names would come to our mind that need rescuing. He asked certain people to stand and share their impressions, what they were going to do, and when. He held us all so accountable and I loved it. Often times we receive promptings and make no plans to do anything about it. I find that those promptings usually fall by the way side. I'm definitely going to try better this week! 

Random thought

• The leaves are finally changing in PA and it's great. 

Pretty solid week. We had a lot to do and we got it all done! This week we don't really have anything to do in the office (cross your fingers) so we'll be out working our area hard!! I'm excited for that! We're going to go find some of these lost sheep which is one of my favorite things to do. 

Also, an Apostle is coming to our mission on November 12!! We are blessssssed.  

Thanks for all the love and support! 

Elder Halls
Pictures: Supply wagon for MLC; Greek food. Half a chicken; MLC; Get up; Pappi with the selfies (My trainer); Pitt West Squad;