Week 34: Howdy Ya'll!

Hey everyone!!

I hope everyone over the in the U S of A is having a fantastic Monday! BTW I'm sorry that I didn't write last week, I have to fill out some reports for my district these days so I have less time to write. :/ But these last weeks have been great! And super busy! Peru has had some crazy flooding and landslide problems lately but Lima hasn't been effected too much. Last week we didn't have water for 5 days but thats about it. No flooding or landslides here. :)

Well, this week I was able to learn a lesson about love and service. Over the past few weeks my companion and I haven't been too united, there have been arguments, disagreements and a lot of awkward silences. He has a lot of hate issues and passive aggressive tendencies. It's a little hard to get along and to get to be his friend because he just doesn't talk to you. This Saturday, after a disagreement, I was waiting on my comp to get ready so that we could leave and I thought to read a few scriptures as I waited. I randomly turned to a page and found myself in Matthew chapter 5. I read verse 44 which says "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, be good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." I've read that verse like 50 times but It was kind of a slap to the face at the moment! I realized that we weren't going to get to any conclusion if I continued to keep trying to be "right" or "win the argument". So I just let it go and started to do whatever I could the rest of the day to serve him and make him happy. And it worked!!! Not only did he start to be nice to me and stop ignoring me but I felt healed of the bitterness that I felt and felt love toward him! The healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is marvelous. His Atonement has the power the literally change people!! I am so grateful for Jesus's sacrifice for us so that we have an opportunity to CHANGE. I'm also grateful that I have Elder Onofre as my companion right now because he is helping me to change and to learn life lessons. Even though he chaps my hides sometimes, I am grateful that I am here with him right now! 

I love the mission and I love serving the Lord and building Zion! See you next week folks! Have a good one! 

-Elder Hale

I made french toast for the first time in my 

life the other day! And I did pretty good too!!

We did service the other day for an old lady who cant walk. 

I have never ever seen a dirtier house in my life! 

Tons of trash everywhere! It was pretty sad.

This is me yesterday with the tie that Kyle bought us for Fast Sundays!

Week 33: Peru Flooding

(Jarett didn't send a group email or pictures this week, so below are excerpts from the letter he sent me.)

I am alive and doing well!! It's true that Peru is in some crazy circumstances but we are chuggin along!:) We haven't had water since Wednesday! (But it finally came this morning so we're all good.) All of Lima has been scrambling all over the place looking for every drop of water that they can—it's pretty crazy!

My new place has a good roof so we have kept dry:) There have been landslides here in Lima, but not close to my area though. But by my old area in Comas, there was a huge one that destroyed a school! I've seen the news about huge flooding in Northern Peru though! Bridges collapsing, streets turning into rivers, and landslides! Crazy crazy!

Today I'm gonna go to lunch with the other Elders in my ward, Elder Turley, and Elder Ramirez. (Yes, Elder Ramirez, the same guy that trained me! haha! We are in the same place again and I am his district leader.) I feel bad for Elder Turley. Then we are gonna go shopping, then I'll listen to some conference talks and chill in the apartment!

-Elder Hale

Week 32: Sadly, Still a Super Sweaty Semana

HELLO Everyone!

Beloved friends and family, que tal? We had a very good week down here in the ward of Magnolias in Inpedendencia Peru! It was super hot though! I don't know why it isn't starting to turn into fall yet. I am sure ready for it. And it will sure make climbing up these mountains a lot easier! Haha, well this week we had some fun and good events! Like our activity night on Tuesday! We watched some videos about the BoM, gave a short message, then played some Book of Mormon based games that were super fun and then we had popcorn and juice! It was a great way to soften the hearts of a few investigators that are a little timid and resistant! We had a few leadership meetings and zone/district meetings this week that were great but took away a little time from finding and teaching people. This week we spent a lot of time with members trying to build confidence and trying to get some referrals! The members here are pretty un-supportive so we are doing our best to change that, We also spent a lot of time this week with our top investigators that are struggling a little bit. We didn't have as much time as we would've liked to find new people. 

BUT Saturday night we had a great experience! We were walking down the street and we saw a couple sitting down on some stairs, we walked past them but then I felt like I needed to turn around and talk to them so we went back and introduced ourselves and then he introduced himself and said "well this is my girlfriend, we want to get married and we want to join a church too, lets go to my house for a few minutes to talk." It was awesome!!! The lesson was GREAT, the Spirit was strong and they recognized it too. They appeared GOLDEN. But they promised to come to church they next day but didn't come!! I was heartbroken. We are going to go tonight to find out what happened with them, 

There is more stuff that I wanna say but my thoughts are super unorganized and I don't have time! Haha, but I do wanna say that I love the mission and and very grateful for all your guys's love and support! Have a good week

-Elder Hale

I stood in line for 25 mins to buy this egg, and it repaid 

me by falling out of its package and exploding on the 

ground right when we got home, what a bummer.

This was one of the best buys I made last P-day! 

Super delicious vanilla flavored milk and even 

BETTER is that is has Chewbacca on it!

ALSO  another great buy! I finally found Mountain Dew! Haven't had it in 7 months! 

They didn't have any diet Mountain Dew but hey, beggars cant be choosers!! 

I like to mix it with OJ in the mornin! Yumbelievable taste treat for sure.

Week 31: Crazy Week

Hey everyone!!

This week was crazy!

Monday—We had district Pday and we got to watch "The Cokeville Miracle" and it was awesome. I love that movie—it's a real tear jerker. And Monday night we got transfer calls! My companion Elder Manuyama got called to Comas, I'm gonna miss him! He was hilarious and a good guy.

Tuesday—my new companion, Elder Onofre, came! He's from Huancayo! He's a good guy but he's super super quiet and kinda weird. I don't know if he's always super quiet or if he just doesn't like me! Hahaha.

Wednesday—was my first district meeting as District Leader. I was really nervous at first, but I think I actually did a good job!

Thursday was good because we set a baptismal date for our investigator William Cabezas! He's a great guy—he has had some really really hard experiences in his life and doesn't have much trust in God due to them. He also has problems with alcohol, but he really wants to change!! 

Friday—we set another baptismal date with our "golden fam" that are starting to appear less golden every time we see them. :/  We put a date for the 25th of March on condition that they come to church on Sunday....but they didn't... I was honestly pretty devastated. We went to their house last night to see what happened and I literally just poured my heart out to them and shared my testimony of the Gospel and my love for them as a family. Something is not clicking with them. It's frustrating because I know that they know the church is true and have felt the Spirit but they just aren't recognizing it!!!! Now their date for the 25th will have to be postponed. 

Sunday was a pretty rough day all around. We we had 15 individuals/families that firmly committed to come to church but only 1 showed up....it was a heart breaker. It was a cause for some self-reflection and looking at what we can do to improve. Even through all the difficulties, I am SO HAPPY to be a missionary and love doing the Lord's work. I feel so blessed to be a member of Christ's church and to be one of His representatives. 

Well, love you guys and have a good week! 

-Elder Hale

A great few of Lima from one of our investigators houses!

Us playing ¨Spot It¨ on our district p-day.

I forgot to take lots of pics this week so I just 

barely took a selfie (so mom wont get mad).