Hey everyone! Today I'm writing from Philadelphia! We went to the temple this morning and it was great! Since I didn't write last week I'll do this one in two parts.
Part 1
This week started out with a good appointment with our main man Ujjwal. We met with him right outside our apartment and it was powerful. He says things like "our faith" when referring to the LDS teachings which I love. He really is so pure of heart and has been studying a ton. I was super impressed with all the things he's learned. We love Ujjwal.
We had just finished knocking a door when out of nowhere this guy flipped around to come talk to us. My experience has been when people seek us out it's usually not to say kind things... This guy proved me wrong. His name is Daniel and he didn't come to bash or tear us down but really just to talk to us. We didn't really know what his purpose or motives were but he ended up talking to us a ton about the Hebrew alphabet and just about the Lord in general. This guy was awesome. You could tell he loved the Savior and he had the light of Christ in his eyes. I hope he gives us a chance to teach him! He also sang us Psalm 23 in Hebrew which was super interesting. You gotta love it. 😂
Cindy accepted a baptismal date!! It was awesome. We talked about Alma 32 and the seed and she really liked it. We talked a lot about having a desire to believe and she identified a lot with it! She should be baptized on July 22nd if she feels prepared and ready. I know she can do it, she's already been taught a lot and been to church several times. We're so excited for their family. They are really fun to teach and it honestly feels like teaching friends from back home. I love it!
We had our last zone conference with President and Sister Johnson and boy was it emotional. I felt like I had tears in my eyes the whole meeting and I lost it a couple of times. He put me on the spot towards the end and that's when the tears were free flowing. We were talking about Elder Renlund's quote from general conference a few years back, he said: "Something wonderful happens in a missionary’s service when he or she realizes that the calling is not about him or her; rather, it is about the Lord, His work, and Heavenly Father’s children." That quote has meant a lot to me in my time here in PA. I once struggled to know that this was the place the Lord called me, but after I realized that this isn't about me a lot of things have changed. This truly is the Lord's work and he trusts us to do it. It was sad to say goodbye to the Johnsons. They have definitely helped me become a better person and I love them dearly. It will be hard to see them go!
Wednesday night I went to Camp Hill because they had a Spanish investigator they needed help with. Turns out this family is actually in our ward! Hah they live on the other side of the river in Camp Hill's area, but their records are here in Harrisburg! They seem to have some potential so it looks like we'll be going back to teach them! It was a really solid day and Camp Hill is doing really well right now. Lots of solid people to teach!
We did a lot of service over the weekend helping people out in various ways and also helping out at another run USA race. It was good to get out in the community again and we got to talk to several people! Bert came to church on Sunday as well which was great. He had been a lot in the past and we were happy to have him again. I can't remember if I've said a lot about him or not, but we're hoping things are heading in the right direction with him. Lots of things need to happen!
Pt. 2
Well since I didn't get to write on Monday we'll do this in two parts. Elder Holdaway and I worked while our companions had Pday and it turned out to be a solid day. He had a doctors appointment in the afternoon and this place was loaded with old people. I got talking to this old lady that knew so much about all things Pittsburgh and baseball. It was so funny. 😂 We got talking about Heinz field and her and husband loved the pictures I took. Talking sports is always a good way to introduce the gospel in my opinion. The rest of the day was full of contacting and a lesson with Rene. He's doing really well and making big changes in his life. We love our French speaking friend and pray for him a lot.
We're trying to adopt the Hispanic "siesta" approach by doing lunch, comp and language study in the heat of the day. Hopefully it saves us because we haven't seen too many people out and about when it's super hot. We'll see how it goes. Cindy is doing suuuupeer well. She reads about two chapters every day from the Book of Mormon and takes a lot of notes in her journal. She's awesome and we are praying she feels ready for the 22nd of July! Our mission president asked us a month or so ago to make family history more apart of our work and encouraged us to take two hours a week to work on it. I have honestly been pretty bad at making time for it and haven't really done it. We decided to do it and even though I was reluctant I ended up finding a bunch of people with the help of Elder Holdaway! It was sweet and Elder Cooper threw down on me with this quote from President Kimball: "I hope to see us dissolve the artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and genealogical work, because it is the same great redemptive work!”
We biked 26 miles on Wednesday and it was a beast. Lots of Hills, sunshine, and trying people. We did have a good porch lesson with this lady named Yetunde. Hard to tell if she's really interested because it was really noisy and lots of rap music in the background. You gotta love Harrisburg.
We started teaching a family from Peru and they've been awesome. She's a member of about 6 years and he seems pretty interested in the restoration so far. They live on the other side of the river so it's a good bike ride to get over to their place. The bike and I have become good amigos recently. That night we taught the Patricks and they are amazing people. She was baptized at the first of the year but you'd never know it. She just got called into the relief society presidency and she's loving it so far! It's amazing to see people who are prepared thrive in the gospel.
Random thoughts
- Missionaries have somehow acquired a ping pong table in our apartment and we have definitely been enjoying some fierce games before bed.
- We're currently trying to figure out if Elder Gray is lactose intolerant and it's resulted in some funny experiences. 😂
Love you all and sorry if my thoughts are a little scattered. It's been a crazy couple of weeks!
Brotherly love,
Elder Halls
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