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.

Week 75: ESCOGIDOS 

(Choice or Select i.e.—GOLDEN!)

Hey everyone....sorry for not writing the past few weeks. It's been quite busy over here. But we've been lovin it!!! We are seeing a lot of miracles in our area. My comp and I are getting along really well. He's a funny guy. The zone is doing well too! Now we have 28 missionaries so its ginourmous but somehow we manage. We have to have 2 phones now to get on top of everything. 

These past weeks we have been really blessed in our area. In December, all of our progressing investigators fell off the face of the earth and we were left with not much. But one Sunday, someone we've never seen before came to church and after talking to her we found out she was an old investigator that came when she was a teenager but never got baptized because she already got baptized in the Catholic church. Even though we taught her a lot about the restoration and Priesthood authority in baptism, she still didn't budge. But one day out of the blue she said that God touched her heart and she knew that she needed to be baptized. She got baptized and confirmed on the 31st of December and now she already has a calling as a Young Women's counselor and she's ALMOST FINISHED the Book of Mormon!! Super escogida!!!!

The next miracle was Fernando. He is a really, really smart guy that's fluent in English. He was a member of an Evangelic church and when we met him and he did NOT believe anything of what we taught him. He always said the Book of Mormon is false and talked about a BUNCH of anti-Mormon stuff. Super stubborn. But one day we were fed up with his stuff and told him to put his doubts aside for 1 moment to honestly ask God if the Book of Mormon was true, without his biased opinion, and he did! And he said that when he was praying he felt the spirit so strong that he started crying. He called us and said that he wanted to be baptized!! He broke up with his girlfriend to keep the law of chastity and turned down a GREAT job offer that we was excited for so that he can come to church every Sunday... He even brings our other investigators to church. HE EVEN ASKED US FOR PASS ALONG CARDS AND PUT THEM ON EVERY SINGLE HOUSE ON HIS BLOCK!! The man is Golden! ESCOGIDO!! 

I am SOOO happy to be a part in this work! I am 10000% sure that this is the work of salvation. No matter what kind of anti-Mormon stuff youve heard, no matter how hard your heart is, no matter how many doubts you might have, The Holy Ghost is more powerful than it all. I am marvled by God's power and His love for His children. I am so happy that I chose to serve a mission so that I can help rescue these precious souls!

Have a great week folks!!! Love u all!

-Elder Hale

Sleeping in hammocks with Will's cousin (Elder Edwards) for a work visit.

Sheyla's baptism.

Fernando's baptism.

Week 74: Just Pictures

Jarett hasn't written for the last couple of weeks. We have just had our Christmas Day Skype, and he's sent some personal emails. But he at least sent some pictures this week, so I'll share those. He is doing fine, just busy.

I'm getting so skinny that my shirts are huge on me! :(

Saw my "kid" this week when we had to go to the offices.

More pizza...sorry!

Coming back from a meeting in the mission offices, there was a lot of traffic that 

would've taken hours to get through. So the mission's chaufer took us over the 

mountains to get to the other side of the mish. Hahaha, it was awesome.

Week 71: Great Week

Hey Everyone, 

We had a great week. Lots of cool stuff going on! We had work visits, meetings and a lot of proselyting. It's gettin pretty toasty down here and I'm pretty content about that. The ward has been getting a lot more excited to help us so we are stoked about that! Now we have members coming with us to lessons every day! And they are taking investigators and referrals to church! YEEET! 

We are a little unsatisfied lately with our investigators that aren't coming to church, that's been our focus over the past couple weeks buts it's barely improving. Everyone says they'll come but basically nobody does!! BUTTT....we did have a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE yesterday. We were waiting at the doors before sac meeting, and a girl walked in that we hadn't seen before, we talked to her and found out that she came to church for 3 years when she was a teenager but her parents didn't let her get baptized cuz their fam is more Catholic than the Pope. But she came back for the first time after 4 years and we are gonna work with her hardcore so that she can get baptized on the 30th!!!! 

Also, changes are today!!! They AP´s will let us know tonight...I feel like I got a 50/50 chance of staying. It's got its pros and cons. I would enjoy a new companion though! This guy is finishing his mission in a month and he's gettin lazy and selfish. 

We'll see though!

Have a great week and everybody watch the #lighttheworld vid if you haven't already, and follow the daily challenges!!!

-Nos vemos amigazos

EATING AT THE DONCS!! I've missed McDonalds!

Classic pizza selfie, work visit with Elder Martinez.

Week 70: Just Pics

Jarett didn't send a group letter this week, but here are some great pics:

When we were looking for a reference at the top of our area.

My comp clocked out on the way home for the leadership meeting.

With members.

We found the rare Lima Lion.

FHE with some converts.

Week 69: Ups and Downs

This was probably the fastest week of the whole mish so far! It's cuz we were so busy, heres the scoop:

Monday—Killer p-day filled with ping pong and foosball.

Tuesday—Special meeting with president about our goals for December and how to reach them.

Wednesday—Temple trip!! It was awesome, we got to do the first session in the morning, then did baptisms for the dead with the ward...they did over 200 baptisms and my comp and I were the witnesses for all of them. It was awesome!

Thursday—Interviews with president—we have the biggest zone in the whole mission so it basically took the whole day. :/

Friday—A big service project to start Light the World! We cleaned the sidewalk of the main highway from one end of our zone to the other! 

Saturday–District meeting, work visits, and trying to invite everyone and their dog to church on Sunday!!!

Sunday—Our efforts were in vain because only 2 investigators showed up...and they weren't even the investigators that we have with baptismal dates. :/ We were a little bummed out...But we HATE losing to the Adversary so this week we are gonna work triple hard!!

Love you guys!!! Have a great week and everyone do service for someone and LIGHT THE WORLD!!

—Elder Hale

Just your classic Temple selfie.

The fist time I've seen a beaut like this here in Peru so I had to take a pic.

Huge service project to kick off #lighttheworld!