Elder Bridger Hall: Breaking the vow

Proof I biked for a day!

Hello family and friends! What a crazy week of adventures it has been for us here in the Murrayhill ward! Between snow, bikes, and even a baptism, the week was pretty eventful! I apologize in advance, this is going to be long, so feel free to skim. I won’t be offended.

Tuesday was a long day. We spent the day “zone leadering” as I would call it. Tuesdays usually become that and it is seriously my least favorite day of the week. We get ZERO time in our own area to work while we take care of everything else. Tuesdays always have me exhausted! We did get to judge the youth’s cake baking competition, but that event was cut short because it started snowing that night.

Which leads me to Wednesday. We were supposed to go to the temple on Wednesday, but due to the 2 inches of snow we received the night before, all mission cars were shut down until the roads cleared. (For those of you that don’t know, Oregon isn’t equipped for snow, and it’s really wet and heavy snow that freezes quickly, so the roads just turn into a mess.) Thankfully, the snow melted by noon and we could go out and get some work done!

As we were walking around a complex looking to contact a guy, we saw a little blue book half covered in snow, smeared with mud, laying in the grass. It was the Book of Mormon we had given to a guy just a week earlier. The book had obviously been outside for several days, and was completely ruined. My heart sunk when I first picked it up. I didn’t feel anger, I didn’t feel grief, I felt love-filled sorrow of sorts. It pained me to see this book of scripture treated so poorly. It hurt to know that someone threw away their opportunity to feel God’s love. But then I stopped, and I realized the only way I would be feeling any of this is if this little blue book was true. In that moment, my love for the gospel, for the Book of Mormon, and my Savior grew! I kept that very book to remind me of that day. I’m STILL drying it out, but I can’t wait to show all of you when I finally get it dried!

Thursday was the day I broke a vow I swore I would never break. I rode a bike again. I know, I know, you’re all shocked. I was too. We went on exchanges and I went to the Reedville ward with Elder Schugk and Elder Bode, while their companion Elder Otteson went to Murrayhill with Elder Hadfield. It didn’t get above 35 degrees, and the wind chill was frigid, but we biked. And I survived. And one day was plenty for me. Haha we actually had a ton of fun together! Schugk and Bode are going to be lifelong friends whom I love very much. They are great guys!

We went and visited a little lady in the ward named Peggy Jo on Friday and I just have to say I love that sweet little lady. Many of you know I have a very special place in my heart for the elderly, and Peggy just fits right in! She is so sweet. The rest of Friday we ended up zone leadering again, but you do what you have to! It’s good I love this zone a lot!

Saturday was the day!! My pal Dana got baptized! It was such an amazing day! The baptismal service was absolutely beautiful and full of such a sweet spirit. She is such a neat lady! I’m very blessed that I’ve gotten to know her and be a part of her amazing journey.

Earlier this week we had double miracles right in a row! We were street contacting in this shopping complex when a member pulled up and told us to meet her at Jamba Juice so she could get us a smoothie! (Miracle #1 right there, we love Jamba but it’s freaking expensive). As we were walking there to meet her, we saw this guy sitting on a bench with earphones in, smoking. We thought we should talk to him but we were in a hurry so we passed him up. It was half an hour later when we walked by and he was still there. This time, we realized God was giving us another chance, so we went over to talk to him. He introduced himself as Shaun. Shaun was from Hong Kong, and after a few years of living here, just had an experience where he felt God was real, and was looking for a church. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and invited him to church! It was so cool.

Throughout the week, Shaun kept texting us questions he had. We met up on Sunday before church and had such an incredible lesson with him! Come to find out, he had read SEVERAL chapters of the Book of Mormon and loved it! We ended up setting a baptismal date for April 7th! The spirit was so strong. Shaun stayed for church and the ward was so amazing with him! He felt welcomed and was enjoying every minute. We are so excited for April 7th!

I’m sorry this was so long, but we had such an awesome week! I hope all of you have a great week this week, and I promise next week will be shorter! Love you all!

With Love,

Elder Hall