Week 40: Hi!

Hey Everyone!!

We had a good week! We had some super exciting ups, and a couple frustrating disappointing downs. We are short on time too so ill make it quick...

Jaime and Marisol are progressing great and reading in the Book of Mormon, but they didn't come to church yesterday!!! It was such a bummer because they were so set on coming but his boss called him in to work right when he was getting ready for church so they didn't come. We talked about the sabbath day, and he said he wouldn't work even if they called him in, but when his faith was put to the test, he gave in. So we will have to postpone their baptism till the 27th. :(

BUT!!! This week we were able to set a date for May 20th with our investigator Ricardina!! She used to always make excuses to not let us in, and to not come to church, but over the past few weeks she has changed sooo much! She has been reading, praying and coming to church! She said she asked God if the BoM was true and she woke up the next day feeling super happy and knowing that this is the true church! She was super excited to accept the baptismal date and things are going good with her.

Well, I love being a missionary and seeing the great change that God makes in our lives IF we let Him. He has the power to transform us and to make us become more like Him. He has the power to make us happy! He has the power to give us hope and peace in our hard times and He has the power to forgive us and remove guilt and sadness from us. He has the power to transform our weaknesses into strengths. I am grateful to be a missionary and to see His power everyday—both in my life and in the lives of them that I teach!

Have a good week everyone, this church is true!!

-Elder Hale

 A birthday pie that a sister in our ward made me!! It was blueberry.

The compy and I.

You know what it is.

Week 39: A Great Birthday :)

Hey Everyone!!

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!! It was a great b-day. We ordered pizza Saturday night and my ward mission leader bought me a cake!! And the member in whose house we live says that she's making a blueberry pie for me today so I'm SUPER stoked for that. 

We really have had a great week! It's been a busy, week and I'm tired, haha. It's also cold and cloudy now and I don't like it. It rained on Saturday night which caused lots of problems for our investigators to get to church the next morning (people freak out when it rains here because it basically never happens). 

We were able to set a baptismal date with a SUPER awesome couple we are teaching! Their names are Jaime and Marisol, they used to be super active members of an Evangelic church but they realized that it wasn't true so they haven't been going to any church for a few years and when I contacted them a few weeks ago, they were super excited and interested to learn more! They accepted the baptismal invitation and are even already talking about getting sealed in the temple! Haha, they call us their Spiritual Parents!! Haha, which is a little weird but they are super awesome. Definitely a little miracle that Heavenly Father has provided for us! 

D&C 33:2-3 says "...I say unto you that ye are called to lift up your voices as with the sound of a trump, to declare my gospel unto a crooked and perverse generation. For behold the field is white and ready to harvest; and it is the eleventh hour, and the last time that I shall call laborers into my vineyard." 

I have definitely been able to see the reality of this scripture. There are tons of things down here (and all over the world) that are accepted and encouraged by society but are very contrary to God's commandments. Most people will reject us and not believe but God is preparing His children to accept the Gospel in the middle of all this adversity and iniquity. Jaime and Marisol are a great example of this scripture to me and I'm super grateful that I'm called to be one of Gods "laborers in the eleventh hour." I LOVE being a missionary and I know this is Jesus Christ's Church!! Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Hale

One of my best pals, Diego!! Such a cute little rascal.

Thanks PJ for sending me the most delicious item for 7-11, I miss these things.

Enjoying my B-day pizza!! 

Week 38: Baby It's Cold Outside

Hey Everyone! 

Life continues to treat me well here as a missionary in Peru! The weather is getting colder which is a bummer. :( The perfect climate is changing and its starting be gray and overcast everyday. I miss the sun. But there's still sunshine in my soul today!!! Haha! We had a pretty successful week and although we weren't able to set any baptismal dates, we have some great potentials for May! We found a lot of new people this week too so we'll see how that goes.

I don't have much time today—but here are some quick highlights of the week: 

• We found a GREAT new investigator named Carlos! He's a friend of Eliu (who just got baptized 2 weeks ago), and Eliu was the reference from Billy (who got baptized in December), and Billy was a reference from Brayan (who also got baptized in December). So basically what we got going on is a big chain of friends that are sharing the gospel with each other and it is super awesome!! They all hang out together and support each other in church activities and it just puts a smile on my face! I am SO happy to be able to teach them and help grow this web of gospel ties. 
• We did a work visit with the zone leaders, and I got to go with Elder Varney (my pal from the MTC)!!! It was awesome and a good time to work with my pal again. 
• We held an activity night in the church on Thursday and we had about 30 people come! (Which is a huge success compared to the last one we had where only 2 people came). Haha, we are trying hard to help members get excited about missionary work. 
• I FOUND ROOTBEER!! I haven't partaken of the heavenly beverage for about 9 months but I found it last p-day in a store with American products! It was a little tender mercy. :) 

Well, time continues to go by super fast and I love being a missionary! Lost of lessons to learn and improvements to make! And most importantly, taking care of the Lord's vineyard and doing His work! I definitely feel privileged!!! 

Also...some great points of study and learning this week have been from: 

1 Corinthians 13; Alma 42; Ether 12; and "Beware of Pride" by Pres. Benson! 

These are some of the BEST teaching of prophets that I have ever read or listened to. They have really helped me develop Christlike attributes and help me to find true happiness! I hope you folks give them a read! 

Have a killer week!

-Elder Hale

A cone ALWAYS makes for a happy missionary! :)

Just another killer shot of my area (in the foreground) and the rest of Lima in the background.

The work visit with Elder Varney and drinking rootbeer!

Week 37: We Flooded the Church!

Hey Everyone!! 

Things are going good here! We had transfers this week but my comp and I both stayed here in Magnolias! I was a little bummed at first that I have to stay with Elder Onofre, but he is actually stepped it up a notch and is working harder and acting more normal. :) It's for sure a tender mercy. We did have somethin crazy happen this week though...Elder Turley (the blonde haired Elder thats often in my pics) went home this week! He got super super sick and his body started acting crazy so they made him go home. It was a bummer cuz he was a good pal and a great missionary! 

But some good news is that we had a baptism for Juan Carlos on Saturday! He is awesome. He knew the church was true since our first lesson with him. When we asked him if he prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true he said, "why do I have to ask if I already know its true? I've felt it since the first time Ive read it." His parents are still timid about being baptized. They believe the church is true but don't think they are "ready" for baptism. Juan Carlos is a great example for his family and I hope that they follow his example in the following weeks! 

While we were filling up the font, we went to buy refreshments for the baptism and we had to stand in line forever so it took longer than we thought and when we got to the chapel the font was overflowing!! We felt SOOOO stupid but we cleaned it up as fast as we could with brooms and mops. We got it almost all cleaned up by the time that people came. :) Hahaha. 

We found a few great new investigators this week and hopefully next Monday we'll have some new baptismal dates to report! We also had 11 investigators this week at church!!! It was a little miracle for sure! The youth in the ward are getting super excited about taking their friends to church! 

Also I bought some SWEET shoes as an early birthday present to myself this week! They only cost 75 soles (20 dollars)! I'll send you folks a nice pic of em. 

Well...I hope you all have a good week! This church is true and God loves us SOO MUCH! That's why he made the perfect Plan of Salvation for us! I know that we can return to live in his presence again as eternal families. I sure love my fam and am grateful for the opportunity to be with loved ones for eternity. Thanks for all your support and all your emails and letters. :)

-Elder Hale

Just another killer sunset by "Elder Hale Photography"

The best 75 soles I've ever spent!! I feel like a missionary version of Tim McGraw 

with these bad boys on. The guys in my district are jealous of 'em!

Elder Turley right before he left to catch his flight! :/

Looks like some guy took an English class for a couple 

months and thought he was qualified to make this poster! 

If you play eye spy you'll be able to catch some funny errors.

When we accidentally kind of flooded the church.

The Tello family and Juan Carlos ready for his baptism. :)

Anotha one.

Week 36: Another good week of building Zion!

Hey Everyone!!

I hope y'all had a good week and are enjoying all the great conference messages we received last week! This week for us was pretty good!! Nothing too out of the ordinary! We did have the Baptism for Eliu this week though and it was great!! So...a little background about him is that he is an 18 year old that we found through one of our recent converts that's his age! His family are all members of different religions! (His mom is one of the Pastors or leaders for her Evangelic church, and his older brother is a strong member in some different type of Christian church, and his dad is Catholic, I think). Anyways, he has super confused as to what is the truth and he was instantly interested and learning more about prophets, apostles and the Book of Mormon! He has been waking up at 5 am to go to seminary EVERYDAY since we met him! And he's been going to mission prep classes!! He got baptized on Saturday and it was awesome! He is going to be a future bishop or something someday!

And this Saturday we will have Juan Carlos's baptism! He is part of the Tello family that I've talked about a few times. The whole family believes that the church is true and comes to church but the parents don't believe that they should be baptized so soon, and don't think their daughters should either, so they are deciding to wait a little longer! But Juan Carlos is ready and really wants to be baptized now! Haha, so he will get baptized Saturday! He is such a champ! I love that guy. He loveees listening to the Book of Mormon on his phone while he sits at work. He always tells us about what's going on with Lehi and Nephi in the chapters that he's in. 

Transfers are tomorrow! But we don't get the calls until tonight so we don't know what'll happen! I want to stay here in Magnolias but with a different comp. Haha. I have made peace with it and put up with him but I prefer to have a happier, humble-er, more obedient companion! We will see what happens! 

Well, you guys have a good week! Read the Book of Mormon! It will turn a frown upside down and will fill your life with light and direction! I love Jesus Christ and I love His Church!! I love being a missionary!

Love you guys

-Elder Hale

Doing service this week, painting walls and mixing cement

Your boi Elder Hale playing the piano at Eliu's baptism!!

Eliu's baptism! (he is the bigger guy on the right)

Week 35: 8 Months ?!?

Hey Everyone! 

I hope you are all doing great! We had a great week down here! It went by fast!...too fast actually! There was so much that happened this week that we didn't have much time for finding new people. :/ Also, I hit 8 months in the mission this week...kind of crazy!

Well, here's the scoop this week...

Monday—just a classic, relaxing p-day consisting of fried chicken and ice cream!

Tuesday—district meeting and got to do a baptismal interview for some Elders in the district! 

Wednesday—we spent the whole afternoon inviting people to a missionary activity night that we had later that night!! But NOBODY showed up! Only 3 people...and they were members....hahaha, it was a big bummer and awkward. We were going to watch Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration but only 3 people came.

Thursday—we had zone conference, which was good! President shared some GREAT ideas how to find new people! 

Friday—we had some good lessons and found a great new couple! We were walking down the street and passed this couple sitting down and I got a feeling to turn around a I said to him "sorry to interrupt but, do you like to read?" it sparked a conversation and I mentioned the Book of Mormon and he was super interested, he invited us to his house to learn more. He promised to read it and to pray and ask if it is true! Things just clicked so fast with him! It was awesome. 

Saturday—CONFERENCE! I got to listen in English for the morning and afternoon sessions so that was cool! The afternoon sesh was my fav! There are some real good talks in that one!

Sunday—more CONFERENCE!! Today I listened in Spanish with our investigators and they loved it! We had 7 people come! I was super thankful! 

I am so happy and feel so blessed that we live in a time where we have prophets and apostles with the power of revelation and the Priesthood keys restored on the earth! AANNDD we get to listen to them every 6 months! Sometimes we forget how much of a blessing that is in and of itself! 

Well, this week should be a good one! Eliu's baptism is on Saturday and the Tello Fam should be coming up real soon! I don't have time right now so I'll tell you all about them next week! :)

Have a good week everyone!

-Elder Hale

Grubbin on some good ole fried chicken last P-day! 

I NEVER miss an opportunity to get my paws on a cone!!!!!

Service we did for our investigators this week! They made me wear a cowboy 

hat/sombrero so that I wouldn't get sunburnt. It made me reminisce on the good ole times.

Me drowning out my sorrows of our unsuccessful activity night with Oreos and milk! Hahaha!

Me wearing my "special occasion tie" to kick off the conference weekend. 

Also, Elder Ramirez by my side (he was my trainer and now he's in my district, haha.)

Testing out the self timer on my camera.

A guy with a TROUT TIE at conference this weekend! 

HOW funnny!! It made me miss my fishies back in the Provo River, haha.

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!