Week 81: Howdy

Hey there everyone,

Sorry again for not writing in a hot minute. Time keeps chuggin along a little too fast down here! But we're enjoying it! We ALMOST broke records this month in our zone. But sadly, two days before their baptisms, 7 baptisms fell through due to flippin oppostion! But it's alright, we still turned out with a good month with19 baptisms in the zone.

In our area, we had a baptismal service for an investigator named Josue on Saturday. Josue is 16 years old and all of his family are recent converts. He hasn't got baptized yet cuz he has hard core ADHD and also a terrible terrible fear of water. We planned his baptism so that there wasn't anyone there to make him nervous, it was only me, Elder Parra, the bishop, and Josue. It took like 20 mins for Josue to get used to the water and all the way in the font. Then we practiced putting his head under water and he was a little freaked out but it went dece. Then we tried to baptize him and he freakout hard core and didn't go under. Sooooo....I got in the font with them! Haha, it was crazy because I haven't ever gone into the font before. I tried to support him and help him go under but it was no use. He ended up getting too scared and we ended it. All in all, we were in the font like 1 hour and a half.....so that was interesting and honestly quite a bummer, BUT!!!!!!!.....sad experiences always serve to teach patience and help us to focus on the positive and be grateful for the blessings that we do have. 

I sure love being a missionary, time goes by too fast so you gotta take advantage of every moment. This is the work of salvation! 

Have a great week folks!

—Elder Hale

Practicing my golpes.

Threw on a corduroy jacket and some new
glasses. Lookin like a hipster Elder.

Soaking wet after getting in the font to try to get Josue baptized.

Week 80: ¡Hola!

I'm doing great...still! :) Haha, I'm sorry that I say the same thing every week but it's true! I really am doing well and am enjoying the mission. I'm happy about my comp and my zone! We had a baptism on Saturday so that was cool too! My zone is going to break records this month! WOOHOO:) haha. Weather over here is FANTASTIC! It's always like 80 degrees. I like it a lot. My area is cool too. :) The ward is very weak but it is improving! We had like 80 people come to church yesterday!

Nos vemos,

–Elder Hale

If you like piña coladas!?

Brigith's baptism!!!

Week 78: Lo Siento

LO SIENTO to everyone because I've been pretty bad at writing lately.

Well, I got transferred...I'm now in the complete other side of the mission! My companion and I are over the Santa Isabel Zone and my comps a real good egg. I've known him for a long time and we've been good pals! His name is Elder Parra, from Santiago Chile. He's getting really old these days, he's in his last transfers. But he's working super hard still so I can't complain! 

Our ward is a LOOTTT different than the last. It's a lot smaller and a lot richer. I haven't been used to seeing houses with finished roofs or parks with trees in a long time so that's a lot different. I even saw an Audi the other day, haha. But sadly, the ward is a lot weaker. Its really small and doesn't have great leadership/organization. We're trying to help out with that and are already seeing improvement! Yesterday 80 people went to church, which is like 30 more than average! And we had 6 investigators come so that was good. 

Our zone is pretty big, which keeps us really busy and we're fighting to reach 24 baptisms this month (something the zone hasn't got in over a year). Hope all goes well!

Have a great week everyone. Read the BoM every day! :)

– Elder Hale

Me and Elder Parra in our new area, Santa Isabel.