The Sons of Old PG

Me and Elder Eddleman, the PG boys!

Hey fam! It’s been a good week here in the 503. We’ve been talking to lots of people and having exciting adventures! The weather was wet and cold for most of the week, but Sunday was a beautiful spring day! Anyways, here is what happened this week!

On Tuesday morning an Elder in our zone needed to go to a doctor appointment in Canby (35 miles away) and he’s on bike, so away we went! Hadfield and his comp stayed in the area and this Elder and I made the trek down there. It was a long drive, but I didn’t mind. It’s good I enjoy driving and I have the patience to deal with Oregonian drivers! (After all, I was trained in Utah!)

Wednesday was zone conference! It was a great day of learning and the best part was that we didn’t have to teach anything! It was so nice to just sit back and enjoy the presentations rather than talking all day long. We played the traditional Jazzminton after lunch and it was a ton of fun! On the way home from zone conference, we got a flat tire. Well, good ol’ Fat Pat (the minivan) doesn’t have a spare, so we slowly drove down the highway to Les Schwab. After pulling out two nails and waiting about an hour, we were back on the road good as new! 

Thursday morning was a rough one at the senior center. The activities director decided to make Faberge eggs with paint, glitter, and stick on jewels. It was a mess. Glitter was EVERYWHERE. The residents were a mess and so were we! I guess it was ok though, because they all had a good time. Even Patricia! Later on in the day we were at the food pantry again and it was a ton of fun. I love food pantries!

Friday was a fun day despite the pouring rain! I was with Elder Eddleman, a new Elder out here in the OPM who happens to be from Pleasant Grove! We’ve never met, though we can talk PG to each other all day. We are both passionate about our little hometown so it was pretty fun to talk with each other! We taught our investigator James and he’s doing great! Reading and praying and asking such great questions! 

We also met with Dana on Friday night and it was so neat! We talked about family history and Dana shared with us some of their family’s stories. Her ancestors were slaves in the south. When slavery was abolished and the Civil War had ended, the government promised each freed slave 40 acres and a mule. Contrary to popular belief, that actually happened! Her ancestors really did receive 40 acres and a mule, which they still own today! Unfortunately the mule is dead though (don’t worry, I asked). It was pretty neat to hear about such amazing family stories!

Then Friday night happened. At about 9pm our phone rang. I picked up to hear a very distressed Elder White on the other end. His companion was having issues breathing and they needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. We were the only elders close by that had a car to take them. We ran to the car and I don’t think I’ve ever driven so manically in my life. We flew down to their apartment and picked them up. I drove as fast as traffic would allow me to the hospital a few miles away. We waited until President Bullen arrived to sit with them and handle the situation, especially because we aren’t even their zone leaders. When it was all said and done, we got home at about 10:45pm exhausted and ready for bed. The good news is the poor Elder (who was a greenie, only out about a week) is going to be just fine, and just had a bad allergic reaction to some medication. 

On Saturday we spent most of the day up at the Woodside’s! They just make my day! It snowed on us and the trees we cut down put up a pretty good fight, but we enjoyed our time there nonetheless. I love that family so much!

Well, we are dying eggs as a zone today in preparation for Easter! I hope you all enjoy this week and look forward to General Conference on Saturday and Sunday!

With love,

Elder Hall

   

t tied my tie a little short         

            

They REALLY don’t like missionaries at this complex

There Were Goats and a Naked Guy

Me and my pal Schugk!

Hey family and friends!! You know, being a missionary in Oregon has brought me so much joy and so many crazy stories. Way more than I ever thought I would have! Stay tuned for that...

It was transfers this week!! Holy cow, transfer weeks as a zone leader are THE WORST. But the saying is true, there is calm before the storm. Transfers were on Wednesday, but Monday and Tuesday were semi normal!

On Monday we went as a zone to a new nature park and found a weird little pond we hung out at for the day. It was fun, I’ll send some pics!

Tuesday was pretty good. We taught our investigator James again and it was so good this time! We didn’t bring a member with us this time and Donald Trump wasn’t mentioned, so we actually were able to have a good lesson without it crashing and burning. We read the Book of Mormon and promised him some pretty neat blessings. He’s such a good dude, I really enjoy meeting with him. Not to mention his hobbies are football and fishing! 

Wednesday. Oh my goodness. It was just a whirlwind! Because we drive a minivan we ended up hauling a lot of stuff. I’m talking like, not being able to see out of the windows stuff. It was kind of ridiculous. After 7 hours of driving and 130 miles later, we finally got home at 10pm. It was good to see some old friends again though! Elder Mobley and his companion Elder Osterhout went to dinner with us and it was good to catch up with my old pal! Man, we’ve been through a lot together!

Thursday was a lot of post transfer aftershocks. We did a lot of running errands and getting people settled in. We did go serve at the Murrayhill pantry and it was so much fun as always! Martha and Sy Cook are some amazing people whom I’ve come to love very much! 

Friday was MLC and it was so much fun! MLC is always good food, good friends, good laughs, good spirit, good everything! Elder Hadfield and I had to do a little training and it went super well! One of my favorite parts was something President Bullen said. He said, “We don’t go up, we don’t go down, we go forward.” I think this principle can apply to so much in today’s world! What a great little nugget of wisdom.

Oh man, Saturday was seriously the best day I’ve had in a very long time!! I pulled some strings and we made our way up to none other but Dan Woodside himself!! I have missed the Woodside family so so much. To see Dan, Melissa, Peter, Megan, Addie, Grady, Starlord, and my goats again was just the best thing ever! The second we walked in that little Addie grabbed my hand and we went off to play just like old times. AH my heart melted I love that little girl so much! We had a manly day up there with Dan, cutting down trees, splitting wood, building a bonfire, and herding the goats. It was heaven!

Then yesterday happened... Haha oh my gosh you guys. So there we were, enjoying a beautiful Sunday morning. I’m reading the Book of Mormon when I hear grunting and yelling from outside. There’s a nice little green space outside our apartment so I’m thinking it’s just some guy playing with his dog or something. But then the more I listened, the more I realized it was very aggressive. I got up and walked over to the back porch. There was a man grunting and yelling and thrashing out on the grass right outside. He continued to scream and yell and thrash around. Then in the 40 degree weather, he took off all of his clothes. And then proceeded to jump into the blackberry patch. That kinda sealed the deal that home dog was on some serious drugs or possessed, or both. The freaky part was that out of nowhere hundreds of crows came and started surrounding him. We never see crows here. I called 911 (for the 5th time on my mission now) and the police and paramedics soon showed up. It took 5 fully grown men to cut away the blackberries, drag this guy out, wrestle him to the ground and sedate him (all while this guy is naked mind you). The police came over and thanked us for calling it in. And then I sat down and enjoyed my breakfast. Haha it was insane! 

Well, despite this crazy week I felt something very strongly. I KNOW God is aware of each one of us. If you don’t believe me, just ask Him. The power of His Son is real, and through Him we can repent. The opportunity to repent is a glorious positive that should never be passed up. I love my Savior Jesus Christ!

I hope you all have the best week, enjoy the springtime!

With love,

Elder Hall

 

Resting with Starlord and Grady after a hard day’s work! 

Dan told me the next time I was there I would be in a minivan... and he wasn’t wrong!

 

Beav West Zone!

                                                          

Me, Elder Hadfield, and my pal Elder Anderson!

                                                                                    

  

Me and the squad last P-day        

Trying to look tough in that shirt...

Seussical the....cultural event

March 13, 2017.  It was sunny last year too!

Hello from the beautiful bright spring day in Oregon! It’s seriously one of the most beautiful days of the year today. I’m grateful for a little sunshine! I’ll be honest, I really don’t remember a lot that happened this week so it probably isn’t very exciting. I do remember we did a lot of running people around, getting them to doctor appointments and other things. 

On Friday we had a great lunch meeting with President Bullen and our stake president as well! We had a delicious lunch and pulled great action items for this upcoming transfer. Speaking of, Elder Hadfield and I will be staying in Murrayhill for another transfer! We are pretty excited, especially since we are finally getting a little traction here. It should be good!

Friday night we got permission to go see the play Dana’s kids are involved in! it was Seussical the Musical and you know, it was good! They did a pretty great job. It was the most diverse play I’ve ever seen that’s for sure! Who knew a Hindi Gertrude McFuzz would work so well? Not to mention the Chinese Mr Mayor and Greek Jojo. All in all we counted seven different ethnicities! And there was only 20 in the cast! Haha it was pretty cool.

This week warrants one of my favorite quotes! It’s from Delbert L Stapley, of the Seventy: “Good habits are not acquired simply by making good resolves, though the thought must precede the action. Good habits are developed in the workshop of our daily lives. It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is built. That is only when it is displayed. The habits that direct our lives and form our character are fashioned in the often uneventful, commonplace routine of life. They are acquired by practice.”

I love you all so much, have a fantastic week!

With love,

Elder Hall

P.S. Happy Birthday to Libby this week! I love you sister!

P.S.S. Sorry, no pictures this week :( 

Romans 8:31

I love this happy face!  My boy laughing in the woods!

An Oregon hello to everyone this week! I hope you had an amazing week! I know we sure did. I can’t believe it’s March already! That’s absolutely nuts! Time is flying by and there’s no stopping it. We had a week full of ups and downs, but thank goodness it was mostly ups!

First of all I just want to say how proud I am of Beav West! We’ve been going above and beyond these last few weeks and it’s so awesome! They are a bunch of hard workers and we are seeing dividends! It is a humbling responsibility to have stewardship over them. I always feel honored to serve them!

Wednesday morning was just so so good. We got to spend the morning at the temple. The spirit was a very tender love from the Lord. i felt a lot of peace! We hit up MOD Pizza after (temple trip tradition) and had a great time with the elders in our zone. I’m just so grateful for the spirit we can feel when we go to the House of the Lord!

If you guys remember Shaun from my email last week, we came out of the temple to a text from him on our phone saying he didn’t want to meet with us anymore. We were devastated to say the least, especially because he was so prepared. We haven’t been able to get in contact with him since. I genuinely hope he comes around and calls us back sometime. That guy felt the spirit, I know he did.

On Thursday we went on exchanges with the assistants. Elder Hadfield went to Market Street with Elder Beck and Elder Coombs came to Murrayhill with me! To say I was excited is an understatement. Coombs and I are very dear friends and always have a great time together! We did a lot of laughing in that 24 hours. 

We hit up the Canfield rest home and did our weekly craft with the elderly. It went pretty well! We didn’t have one leave and everyone actually finished. Pat was still a grouch, but that’s ok! I’m pretty sure she’s warming up to me. We went and served at the Murrayhill Christian Church and their food pantry as well! They are so awesome over there and I always enjoy helping out. And I mean they give us free milk every week in return for our help and that just rocks because milk is FREAKING EXPENSIVE. 

We taught a new investigator named James this week and it was great! He is so willing to read the Book of Mormon and find the answers to life’s questions that he has. We are excited to keep meeting with him!

Friday was a good day as well! We visited some members of the ward having a hard time and it was so good to feel of their strong spirits. One member we have been seeing every week has had a hard 2018 already. Since the new year, he’s lost his wife, his job, and his dog has cancer and has to be put down this week. Sorrow is palpable in that house, but so is the joy of the gospel. It is a unique experience that impresses on my heart every time we go over. 

My sweet Peggy Jo in the ward is doing awesome! Her health is improving and she is able to move around a lot more now! She hopped right out of her bed like a spring chicken when we went over I couldn’t believe it! The gospel is present in her countenance and that is such a neat thing to witness. I love it so much.

Saturday was our day of service! Earlier this week a family in the ward had a pipe burst in their front yard. Of course it was the pipe that was like six feet underground, but they dug down and eventually got it fixed! The next day the father of the family had to go on a business trip and his wife and young family were left with a giant mound of wet clay (it ain’t dirt here in Oregon). We went over and got REAL muddy, but we got it all put back in the holes! It was actually a ton of fun.

Later that day we went to a Referral’s house and did some yard work for this guy. He ordered us a pizza and afterwards we were able to teach him and get a return appointment! It was pretty cool and a lot of fun. I also learned that I HATE the biggest craze in Oregon right now: soda water. It’s freaking nasty. I don’t know how people drink that stuff. 

Ok last thing I promise! The other night we were talking to this guy in his driveway that was bringing groceries in from his car. The house he was staying in was an AirBnb, which is kinda like renting a house but not. I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s people staying there frequently. He says he doesn’t want a Book of Mormon, but we ask him to put it in the house for the other people at least. He isn’t down to do it. Well, he grabs groceries from the trunk of his car and walks in the house. As soon as he’s inside, I stick a Book of Mormon in one of the bags and tell Elder Hadfield to run. We run to the car and drive away just in time to see him look in the bag. It was classic! Kinda sad when this is the humor highlight of your week... Oh well!

You know, usually I try to end on a spiritual note, so I’ll try to end real fast. The Book of Mormon is true. It is the most important message you can hear today. There is literally nothing more important than hearing its message and heeding its counsel. Don’t be ashamed, don’t be afraid to read it. Share it with others. Romans 8:31.

Love you all, have an absolutely wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Hall 

   

      Our zone at the Tualatin Hills Nature Park for P-day

    

                Getting in touch with my inner Oregonian 

    

                      Me and Elder Hadfield at a lake

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

Adventuring in the snow

Dana’s baptism!

   

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My biking pals, Elder Bode and Elder Schugk.  Wednesday morning out our apartment window.

The Book of Mormon: The band-aid for life

I FOUND THE HISTORY OF PLEASANT GROVE HERE!!!!

A good snowy morning from Oregon! We got a good dusting last night but thankfully Mr. Sunshine is melting it all away. We had a really good and busy week over here in the Murrayhill ward! Our zone is going through a lot of challenges and trials right now, and they are pulling through like champs! We are very proud of them.

Elder Hadfield and I set a pretty high goal of handing out 25 copies of the Book of Mormon this week. We quickly went to work and we were seeing miracles! The other night we only had an hour of finding time, so we said a prayer and asked God where we needed to be. In that short hour, we talked to 13 people, and handed out 9 copies of the Book of Mormon! It was super cool and we were very excited about it! Not to mention, we hit our goal of 25 copies handed out this week! We were pumped!

We are getting ready for Dana’s baptism this Saturday! We had a lesson with her this week and she is so ready! We are very excited for her and the knowledge she has gained of her Savior these past few months. The ward loves her and is *almost* as excited as we are for her! 

We went on exchanges this week during Valentine’s day with the Aloha 2nd elders and it was a lot of fun! I stayed here in Murrayhill and Elder Jacob came to party with me while Elder Hadfield and Elder Gard partied in Aloha 2nd. We had a successful day and a lot of fun while doing it!

Just a quick side note, we found out Steph Curry’s godmother lives in our area, so we went and knocked on her door because he was in town for the Blazers game so we thought he might be there. Nobody answered, but we felt pretty cool so we took pictures.

We had interviews with President Bullen this Friday and it was great! I love that guy so so much. He is a good man. We had a very good lunch meeting with President Bullen and President White that afternoon as well. I love taking President Bullen out to restaurants because 99% of the time he has never been to these places and it is super entertaining to help him order.

This week was a tough one for our zone. Two sisters with the flu, an Elder with an ear abscess, one with a sprained ankle, another with pink eye, and we had another sister go home for medical reasons. We are literally hurting over here in Beav West this week! So much sickness and it is always so so so hard to send a missionary home early. Not only that, her companion (my pal Sister Bray) was transferred to another area for the remainder of her mission. It has been tough on everyone, and especially sad for me because my last area, the Farmington ward, no longer has missionaries. 

You know, in all of this our zone of missionaries have stuck together and stayed strong. Despite this pretty sad and difficult week for everyone, we have persevered through it all! I credit all of our success to one simple thing: the Book of Mormon. Goodbyes are so hard. Sickness is so hard. Working out in the whipping wind and freezing rain is hard. Life is hard. But the Book of Mormon makes anything achievable. The Lord will always look out for us! I love you all, have a wonderful Presidents’ Day and an even greater week!

With Love,

Elder Hall

   

My amazing valentine from my mother!             Steph Curry’s Godmother’s house!

The snow this morning!

I'm a Jazzminton Pro!

Teaching at Zone Conference

Happy Monday everyone! I hope everyone has had a fantastic week! I look forward to Mondays so much. The week always goes by so fast, and then you hit Sunday and the day is SO LONG but then Monday comes and the world is ok again! Anyway, we had a pretty fun week!

We’ve been seeing miracles this whole week as we really push to accomplish our goals. Every night last week we needed to hand out just one more Book of Mormon or talk to just one more person and every time we decided to stay out and try until the last moment, we would accomplish our goal! It was super cool and a lot of fun. The other night we needed to talk to one more person and after walking around our apartment complex for like 15 minutes we weren’t seeing anyone. So with only like 10 minutes left in the day, we jumped back in the MAV (Mormon Assault Vehicle) and drove down the road. Someone was walking on the sidewalk so I pulled over and Elder Hadfield jumped out of the car and ran to talk to them. They were super mean and said some nasty words, but we got our goal and made it home on time! It was awesome!

We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was so good as always! President Bullen is such an amazing man who I love very much. We were tasked with teaching how to plan for people and planning for finding people. It was pretty fantastic, mostly because Elder Hadfield and I taught it. Haha! After lunch we were getting ready to head back in for the last hour or so when President and Sister Bullen brought out paddles and birdies for everyone and we all played a huge game of Badminton! (Well it was called “Jazzminton” but pretty much the same concept). It was a huge surprise and definitely a highlight of the week!

On Thursday we returned to Canfield Place to do our second craft with the elderly. We picked out a relatively easy valentine to make and it was a success! Pat was the only one that was grumpy but we found out that she’s actually just really grumpy all the time. I’m pretty sure that she was enjoying herself though, she just didn’t want to admit it. 

Thursday night we were going to check the mail and it was super dark. When we were walking back to the car, I heard the slightest little sniffle. Over in the dark there was a person in a hoodie with a dog that looked like he was hungry and I was on the menu. I walked over anyway and said hello. A young woman looked up at me with red puffy eyes and tears streaming down her face. I asked her what was wrong and she couldn’t get the words to come out. I sat down next to her and told her that God was aware of her and that He loved her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and said a prayer with her. By the end of the prayer she had calmed down and thanked us. She even gave us a little smile. I’m not sure if she will ever call us back or even read the Book of Mormon, but it was a tender moment that I will never forget. 

We met a sweet little Asian man named Ly (pronounced Lee). He was so excited to get a copy of the Book of Mormon and read it every single day! We are hoping to meet with him soon, though we probably will need the gift of tongues to understand that little guy for more than 10 minutes. Hahaha!

Well, I’m just grateful for the time and love that Christ shows each of us. He is real, and He lives! I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hall

Zone Conference