LIKE A FIRE IS BURNING

 

This. Week. What the heck man there was some stuff that went down.

Let's start with the spiritual fire. We'll get to the physical one later...

TECH FIGHT NIGHT.
We did a combined youth activity this week and it was so fun! It was
an attempt to find new people through the youth. We started the
activity showing a video to all the youth that is good but a little
lame. After the video, I got up and started talking about how
important this fight of life is and about fighting for God. I started
getting a little more intense as I spoke. I started talking about
Moroni and the title of liberty. I talked about how he rent his coat.
Just then, I pulled off my suit coat and ripped it in half! The youth
gasped. (Don't worry mom it was a $7 suit from goodwill). They
couldn't believe it! So with that we started the competition. I ran
around screaming and hollering and those youth got so into it! I had
them eating right out of my hand. Elder Hewitt and I had spent a
little time making the MOST incredible trophy you've ever seen! The
youth shared the gospel with over 200 of their friends. It was so
incredible! So far we got one new investigator and we are looking
forward to more! Woot woot! We started a spiritual fire and it isn't
going out!

Thursday night we had an amazing lesson with our investigator Des! She
is amazing. The spirit was so strong! The bishop came with us and told
us afterwards how surprised he was at her progress. 2 years ago she
hated God. Thursday night she said she doesn't love Him yet, but she
really likes Him. It's progress!

Saturday we went to the temple with Grace and her mom! I love the
Visitor Center so much. Bishop dropped us off and was going to pick us
up when we finished. Grace could feel the spirit so much. It was such
an incredible day! The temple is beautiful. Well, we called bishop to
pick us up and he said, "I'll be there in an hour or so. Go convert
something while you wait" Well, we didn't know what to do because it's
hard to convert someone going to the temple for a session haha! So we
gave tours to the people coming out of the temple! We weren't supposed
to because that's the Visitor center sisters' job, but we were going
crazy! It was a ton of fun.

Now for the physical fire! **DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT HURT MOM.**
Sunday morning.at 3:30am We wake up to two HUGE explosions. I felt the
shockwaves hit me in my bed. We opened up the blinds and every car
alarm in the parking lot was going off and we saw this huge fireball.
We initially thought it was our building so we grabbed our go bags and
important things and ran for the door. We got down our stairs and two
cars were engulfed in this fireball. They were only 30 feet from our
door but man you could feel that heat. We called 911 and they said
they were already on the way. Everyone was outside just watching in
horror. Luckily no one was hurt but both cars are a total loss. You
can't even recognize them. It was NUTS. Our next door neighbor's 2012
BMW just blew up and you know what he's doing? Going Facebook Live and
videoing his car burning. We couldn't fall back asleep for another
hour or so because the firefighters were cleaning up and stuff.
Needless to say Sunday night it was difficult to fall asleep, just
hearing those explosions in my head.

We sang again in church yesterday! That was a lot of fun. We sang "If
the Savior Stood Beside Me" one of my favorites. The spirit was so
strong. We got to teach the 16-18 Sunday school class and I LOVE these
kids!! The youth are amazing!! They've become really good friends. I
can't wait for these kids to go on missions!

I'm so thankful for Heavenly Father and the trials He gives us. It's
because He loves us that He gives us mountains to climb. I hope you
can always be counting your blessings because we are infinitely
blessed! I hope everyone has a Flamin' awesome week!

Love,
Elder Hall

  
 Temple Visit!                                        TECH Night Fight trophy!!

 

  
                                                               The  EXPLOSION!!!

   
What's left of the 2012 BMW                   The fire truck



Flower in bloom at the temple

#BLESSED

Driving the truck!  Woo Woo!

Guys.

I saw the sun this week. And it was incredible!!!! Holy cow I loved
every minute of it. I'll get to that in a minute though!

This week was so fun. We hit the ground running and it was amazing.
Tuesday we went on exchanges with the the zone leaders! I stayed here with
Elder Mortensen and Elder Hewitt went to the YSA with Elder
Hutchinson. The Bethany Ward Elders were sick so we got to use their
truck! It was amazing because not only were we driving in a truck, I
was the driver!! I got to drive the truck for three days until the
other Elders got better. It was the best ever! It was pouring rain all
three days and who didn't care? This guy!! Someday I'll have a car
area and it will be amazing. #blessed

We did some service on Thursday for another church in the area. They
were having a huge fancy dinner for the homeless, open bar and all!
The lady in charge was frazzled and she didn't know what she was
doing. I made a suggestion or two and she kept saying, "that's a
really good idea! How did you know that?" I told her my family has
been doing events for years and it's second nature for me. Right then
she handed me all of the papers she was looking at and asked me to be
in charge. So I took over. We had 12 other missionaries there and we
went to work. I rearranged the whole venue and got it ready in under
an hour, thanks to my work force. She was stunned at how quickly,
efficiently, and happily we worked together. She wrote down all of our
names so she could tell our superiors how amazing we were. I hope she
gives President Monson a call! Haha I just love being able to use my
talents and skills to bless other people. #blessed

A 13 year old girl in the ward next to ours passed away unexpectedly
last Tuesday. Her mom went in to wake her up for school and she was
gone. It's been a big hit to the community and the wards here. The
youth are so close. So, we did our usual sports night Thursday to
help the kids forget their mourning for a bit and have some fun. These
kids amaze me. They really are incredible. They'll never realize how
much I look up to them! #blessed

We found a caterpillar in the church building this week and I decided
to raise him as my own. I've named him Buster Jr. and he lives in a
Tupperware container. People tell me he will become an ugly moth, but
I have faith he can be a butterfly! He's under raps though, because we
aren't supposed to have pets! I'll include pictures! #blessed

This week was dog walking week for us. We thought, hey that might be a
great way to meet some new people! On Friday we walked our Bishop's
dog, Juno! She is a big sweetheart and reminds me a lot of my Buster
Bluth. It was so fun! We talked to a lot of people walking their dogs.
So, we tried again Saturday! This time each of us got a dog. Elder
Hewitt got Grundle, the sweet old dog who poops a lot. I got Geneva,
the crazy wild puppy who doesn't realize her strength. Well, we saw
lots of people and really enjoyed the sunshine! However, Geneva pulled
me through a few mud puddles and I so regret not taking pictures
because I was covered head to toe! I loved walking a dog again though,
I've really been missing my own pup back home. #blessed

Church yesterday was so so good. It was Ward Conference and the spirit
was so strong. We sang some awesome hymns, some of my favorites! We
sang Scatter Sunshine and I couldn't help but to sing it the old Keith
Allred way hahaha (that was for you Maddie!) I was just so grateful
for this incredible ward I'm serving in. #blessed

You never know how incredible sunshine is until you don't have it for
forever. This week it finally came out to say hello and it was
beautiful. Everyone we talked to on the street was notably happier,
and while they didn't want to listen to us, they weren't mean about
it! It was amazing! I'm so thankful for the sunshine. #blessed

As you can see, these are just a few things I've been #blessed with
this week. I hope you can look at your own lives and find the things
that make you feel #blessed. There are often too many to count. I love
my Savior, I love this gospel, I love the sunshine, I love my family
(Buster included). Have an amazing week!

With love,
Elder Hall

  

Driving the truck!  Woo Woo!
This little Asian man fishing at the local pond with like a 40 foot pole!  It was nuts!

  

Green grass and it's February!  I love Oregon!          Buster Jr is alive and well!

JUST CALL ME MOM

Best Friends!!!

Hello everybody!!

It's been a cold, wet, miserable, wet, windy, wet week. It hasn't
stopped pouring rain for like 6 days now. It's the best weather for
riding bikes! I love getting splashed by the tri-met bus as it drives
by! President says you can either laugh or cry about a mission and
crying sucks. So we laugh about it! This week was a little slow,
mostly because no one wants to talk to two soaked missionaries.

Tuesday is pantry day and I love it! It is just where I am meant to
be. I love people! The normal lady in charge (her name is Nancy)
wasn't there and they were scrambling because no one there knew what
she did. Luckily, us missionaries knew! For some reason I was put in
charge. It was amazing! By time Nancy arrived, we had taken care of
everything. She couldn't believe it! I told her that we make things
happen, and that she could always count on the missionaries. There
were tears in her eyes as she threw her arms around me. I love being
the Lord's servant!

This last Wednesday was Zone Conference!! It was so fun! Elder Hewitt
and I sang and Sister Ballard accompanied. It was awesome! And the
best part? The Cedar Mill Zone was combined with Hillsboro and
Beaverton West. You know what that means? I got to sit next to Elder
Wilcock all day!! It was so fun! We had the best time catching up,
reminiscing, and laughing our heads off at old inside jokes. I love
being in the same mission as my best friend!

Friday was a snow day even though there was no snow... So we set up a
sports day at the church for any youth who wanted to come. It was so
fun! I LOVE the youth! They are incredible missionaries and great
friends. I hope Heavenly Father can help them feel how much I really
do love them.

Saturday we got to split wood for the Rutledges! I love that
family. They are the best missionaries! They have become dear friends
who I will always cherish. They are the fellowshipper for one of our
investigators, Des. We had a lesson with her Thursday night and the
spirit was so strong! We talked about the Godhead and how Heavenly
Father answers our prayers. It was so tender to see how bad things can
change to be good things because of the spirit. We invited her to be
baptized and she said she would! She feels like it will be a long ways
off, but we know baptism isn't a destination, it's the entrance! So we
are excited to help her see how close she really is to baptism!

The Super Bowl was yesterday, as some of you may know. Well, guess how
many people want to see you on super bowl Sunday? NO ONE. Not even
members. So we spent the day with Brother Deming! He doesn't watch NFL
so we went over and enjoyed the afternoon together. He told us stories
of his past (they are crazy) and we sang songs around the piano. He
was shocked when I knew pretty much all of the songs out of his
songbook of the 1940s. Hahaha I am so old inside.

Let me explain the subject this week. First off, my comp doesn't know
how to keep a clean anything. I seriously feel like a mom cleaning up
after him. Mom, you would be so proud of me our apartment is ALWAYS
clean! I actually enjoy cleaning though, it's refreshing! Literally!
Secondly, everyone keeps calling me. There's been a lot of sick
missionaries this week, and they don't want to call the mission nurse
so they call me. Every time I ask why they called me they say, "I just
figured you probably would know what to do." Well, thanks to my
mother, I actually did know what to do for everyone hahaha! Thank you
for teaching me all that you have mom!

Well, I hope you all have a great week! Stay dry! Say hello to the sun
for me! I haven't seen it in awhile!

And a shoutout to my cousin Abby! Happy Birthday!! Love you!

With love,
Elder Hall

   
The best doormat I've ever seen.

Checking to see if there's any good fishing in the fountain of our
apartment complex. There's not.


  

Who posed better? Me or the lion?

Finally got a picture of Jesus on our apartment door