Week 97 HBG's Finest featuring the Caribbean

Hola, 

We said goodbye to Elder Rich on Tuesday and it's weird being in a companionship again. It's been a little adjustment! I've missed Elder Rich, we got along really well and he's an all around stud. Luckily he's still in the zone so we'll see him every now and again! 

We started off the week going 0/3 with our set appointments so we hit the streets. We were trying one of our referrals names Yetunde when I saw a guy sitting on the porch next to us. He didn't look terribly sad or anything but I could tell he was distraught. He had a can of beer next to him and as I looked at him I just knew we needed to talk to him. It was definitely a prompting from the Holy Ghost. It was really cool to get to know him and he was so thankful that we stopped. He said he sees us all the time but had never talked to missionaries. After sharing a scripture he looked a lot better and hopefully we'll get back there to teach him. It taught me an important lesson of listening to the spirit. We pass people on the bikes all the time and even though we wave and say hi, most of the time I'm more worried about not getting hit by a car or hitting something else that I'm not really focused on finding people to talk to. I feel like the Lord showed me that I need to be more aware of the people around me. I don't know if that makes sense, but it was a good lesson to me. 

Wednesday was buuusy. We saw the Rodriguez in the morning in what started as a lesson and then right as we finished Hermana Rodríguez had lunch ready. I didn't complain! We taught the plan of salvation and it went well. We're going through the lessons with Cindy again to review what she's been taught and she does really well. She always has excellent questions and stays super involved during the lesson. She said she still feels great about baptism so we're getting excited! It's coming up soon! 😏 

Thursday was crazy as well. I finally met Joe who we had tried a bunch of times and eventually dropped... We ran into him on Wednesday and decided to set up an appointment. This guy has been through a lot, and is in a pretty dark place right now. I pray we can help him because he's pretty down on life. That night Bro. Troike picked us up and we went and visited some less actives in the ward. We went 3/3 on the people we visited which was a miracle in itself. Bro. Troike is a funny man and I enjoy his Bah-ston accent. There's plenty of people to see in HBG! 

The church initiated a Melchizedek Priesthood rescue initiative and we put it into action this week with Brothers Brown and Major. These guys are so sweet. They're both converts from Caribbean islands so they're definitely my favorite type of people. Brother Brown reminds me of Uncle Drew if you've seen those Pepsi commercials and Bro. Major is a humble man from the Bahamas with a beautiful accent. 🌴 It's really fun to teach them and we had a couple members come out with us to see them and invite them back to church. This initiative is great and I think it has a lot of potential! 

The weekend was pretty awesome and we stayed busy! We met a few more of the less actives in our area which was good. It's sad to see the reasons why people leave the church... I find most of them are for things that shouldn't even matter. One guy we met was offended because some member teased him for the yellow shirt he wore to church. He said he didn't want to come back as long as that member was still there. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around it but I guess some people think this way. I hope we don't let other people stop us from going to church and remembering the Savior. 

Cindy came to church again on Sunday and she's been telling members about her baptism which is awesome! She's committed. I got up and bore my testimony which felt good to do. It's a race for the mic here in HBG so I'm glad I got up there and shared my thoughts. That night we visited a few people and passed out a bunch of literature to a few referrals we had received that weekend. Lots of people around here want free bibles. I think we get two to three media referrals a week which is a lot compared to other places I've been! That night as we were walking home this guy stopped us and started to try and bash. I was disappointed with all his arguments... He tried to tell us God couldn't speak with people in America because he has only ever talked to people in the middle east. Cmon man. We just talked about how if God so loved the WORLD wouldn't that be all of his children? Also, if he is no respecter of persons why would he only talk to them? The answers are in the scriptures we just have to be open and humble to learn from them! It's sad to see people get so twisted from one verse of scripture that they throw out practically everything else! 

Random Stuff 

• These probably 13 or 14 year old girls stopped us in the streets and asked if we were models... 😂 They said Elder Rich looked like someone from One Direction. We'll never let him live that one down. 
• A new ping pong champion has emerged in our newest addition to HBG, Elder Olsen. He's got a mean back hand. 

Well everyone that's been the week. I hope you have a good 4th of July with family and friends! I truly am grateful to live in this great country where we have the Liberty to do so many great things! 

God bless, 

Elder Halls