Week 92: The Lord's Hand

Hey everyone! 

Just a quick update! Things are going well and my kid and I are finally getting used to the new area and not getting lost. Haha! We've found a decent pool of investigators now too so we are happy! This week the highlights were...

We had a ward activity for Mother's Day that was on Friday! It was a big talent show and we had a few investigators that showed up and had a great time. 

Saturday I got to go to my old area to see my old investigators baptism! She's a champ because she has a crazy schedule at her university and work that basically leaves her with zero time, but she even dropped one of her classes to come to church on Sundays.

Yesterday, when everyone was out in the streets partying and drinking, we still had 2 investigators come to church so we feel really blessed about that. :) We were not expecting them to come but the Lord blessed us with a little surprise! I sure love miracles and tender mercies. I've seen that if I sit back and analyze my day, I can almost always see the Lord's hand working and helping us in at least something specific EVERY SINGLE DAY. :) 

I love being a missionary! Haha, have a great week y'all!

—Elder Hale

My investigator (from my old area) got baptized 

and I got to go support her! Great experience.

Week 91: Just Pics

No letter this week, but we did get more pictures. They are worth a thousand words, so I guess you could say Jarett is a prolific writer, haha! :)

Burning a shirt for Elder Ahuanaris year mark in the mish!

View from the top of our area! Looking over Lima.

A cool drawing that was on our wall when we got here.

A service we did this week in the hills! Built stairs so that
a less-active fam can get to their new house in the hills.

Our new area in Comas.

Week 90: New Transfer...New Kid!

Hey everyone!! Well, now we have less time on the internet so I'll keep it short.

I got transferred!!! I'm not a Zone Leader anymore. I got transferred to Comas and I'm opening up a new area and training!! I have a kid, woohoo! Haha, I am pretty stoked about it. He's from Brazil! He speaks basically no Spanish, so I'll be teaching him a lot. He's a convert as of a year and a half ago. He used to be a straight-up thug, haha. But he's got a powerful testimony and is very obedient and humble! I'm super grateful for that! My area is called Vista Alegre and it has a ton of hills!! Haha, President wants me to end the mission with hard thighs it looks like. We had some pretty cool miracles this week too! On Wednesday we contacted a random guy in the street, walked with him to his house, sat down with his family, and he came to church yesterday, read all of 1st Nephi and now wants to get married and baptized!!! WOOHOO! Haha, it'll be a trick to get them married but well see how it goes! Pray for Jorge!

I am now 20 years old! How crazy! Here in South America, they have a tradition of smashing eggs over your head on your birthday, so this morning when we were playing soccer, my pal Elder Ahaunari smashed one over my head when I wasn't lookin. :)

-Elder Hale

Birthday pic last night with my bday cupcakes!! Woohoo, I'm old now!

They smashed an egg over my head in the morning for my bday, haha!

Gangsta shot.

Pic with my comp and the other Elders in the ward.

My kid by the cemetery at the end of our area!

Week 89: Just Pics

(Jarett didn't send a group letter today and only sent three pictures.)

Zone Picture

Eating a filled squash thingy!

My mexi beard after two days! haha

Week 88: Cool Week!

Hey everyone! 

We had some crazy stuff happening this week! We wanted to unite the zone/shake things up a bit so this week we did a blitz in every area in the zone! (A blitz is where the whole district goes to 1 area for 2 hours and contacts like crazy to get new investigators for that area). It was fun and we feel more of a teamwork spirit in the zone now. 

On Thursday, our 2nd counselor in the Bishopric came to us and told us that we were gonna go on the ward campout for the day with them. We looked at him like he was crazy cuz we thought President definitely wouldn't give us permission...but he called, and he said he'll make an exception for us! Woohoo! So we got to go out of Lima (for the first time!!) all of Friday to the ward campout. We played volley with the ward, chess, soccer, and went to the river! I was super stoked about the river cuz I heard there were trout in it but I was super bummed cuz I didn't have a rod!!! So close but so far, haha. But the best part is that non-members went on the campout and we taught them out there and got new investigators!! YEET! And I was just so stoked to see green cuz there is no such thing as green in Lima. 

Well.... another cool thing is that on Sunday I was walking into the church and a guy walked passed and looked in curiously and asked "Hey can I come in??" and I was like "are ya kiddin?? OF COURSE you can come in!!" and we sat him down in sac meeting and introduced him to the members and he went to my gospel principles class and had a good time! It was just a little sabbath miracle! We're gonna visit him tomorrow.

Well, other than that...all is well!! I love the mission!! Although the older I get in the mission the more tired I get all the time! Haha, walkin 5-10 miles a day will get ya. But I wouldn't have it any other way!

Have a great week and sorry for the long email.

– Elder Hale 

Yangas (The ward campout!)

Yangas (The ward campout!)

Yangas (The ward campout!)

Yangas (The ward campout!)

I FOUND A RIVER AND I HEARD THERE'S TROUT IN IT!

Unfortunately, I didn't have a fishing rod.

River selfie with Elder Kunz.

And the cherry on top pic!

Week 87: More Pictures

Corn, cheese, and some Inca Cola...can't complain!

Just a cute little tike!

Went on a work visit and I found a farm and plants!! I know it sounds
stupid to be excited about that, but there is literally nothing green here and no
such thing as open spaces so I had to take advantage and take a pic, I was stoked.

Healthy lookin fridge...

Teaching doctrine principles class + helping
investigators with their babies = killer multitasker

Week 86: Pics and Conference

Hey everyone!

I loved conference this weekend. I think it put a lot of excitement and motivation in the saints worldwide. It was a wakeup on the continuing revelation topic and I am grateful for that! There were fewer talks on doctrine but there were some good ones in there! Pres Eyring gave a KILLER talk in priesthood sesh and I loved Bednar's talk a lot! 

I'm getting old over here in the mission field but we're going strong still!! Haha, my body is super worn out though. Every week I become more and more tired. But I sure love the mish and its bittersweet to only have 3 months left. 

– Elder Hale

Killer selfie!

Billy Joe's baptism! 

Billy Joe's baptism! 

Eatin fancy on p-day.

Another selfie.

Pic with a cool guy in my zone.
I think you can see my love handles in that pic....😬