This past week was one for the record books or, "Journal entry days," as our mission president likes to say! I got my first taste of a Tornado Warning, for a small town Canadian girl, it was pretty exciting : ). We were eating dinner at a members home, and next thing we know, our phones all start going off about a warning. We thought no way, but then the tv went off too and the cities tornado sirens! Within 5 minutes we went from serving brownies, to peaking out windows, to gathering flashlights, candles, and blankets for the kids. The hail started coming down and was about the size of a ping pong ball, our car definitely took a hit, but it could have been a lot worse! Yup it was pretty exciting, still want to see a tornado someday, but maybe off in some distant field, and not right about the house I'm hiding in!

This weeks been really great as we have been doing a lot of teaching, and helping others develop a stronger relationship with Heavenly Father. Its humbling to be a part of something like this, and its clear to see that God is truly behind all of it, because there is no way I could be able to do this alone! My companions and I are working hard and trying not to perish in the heat out here haha. we've actually been fairly lucky, this summer has been much cooler (95's instead of 105's) than usual, for which I am very greatful!

I love hearing about things going on back home, i hear My cousin tyler is preparing to leave on his mission, and I am very excited for him!! Best of Luck Tyler- your going to do great!- and I am happy to hear that people are watching out for mom and dad. I miss you all a lot, and pray for you every night!!

Well, better go, times a waistin!

Love

Sister Hall

Its that time again : )

I don't know how, but it feels like time is going by so stinking fast, as of tomorrow, I am at my 5 month mark out on a mission! That is crazy, because that means in just one month, I only have 1 year left....That seems so short! Don't worry tho, I'm not distracted by the numbers, it just hits me every once in a while! This week has been another good one, kind of a different type of week, but still good. A lot of our time has been spent doing service projects- my favorite! I love lending a hand to people who need it, especially to those who do need help, but are afraid to ask. You just show up and do it, instead of waiting for them to call and ask : ) the look on their faces is priceless! *if you ever need help, don't feel bad about asking, when you ask, you are giving people the opportunity to help!

The highlight of this week is definitely the weekend, mostly saturday. We spent the morning helping clean a lady's house who was suppose to be moving to California, but she ended up getting damage to her ear that she has had surgery on and was rushed to the hospital. We showed up at her house and helped the ladies from church to clean her house and get it ready for the new renters. It was a great way to spend the morning! We also visited an older lady named Chris- she is 80 years old and is the sweetest thing! She always offers us banana popscicles! haha, we taught her and then while visiting found out that her dog, Shadow, had ran away this week. She hadn't seen him since wednesday : ( I know the feeling of missing an animal, so we felt super bad for her, and told her we'd keep an eye out... after that, we had the blessing of being able to see Yesica get Baptized by her Husband Henoc. Its been amazing to work with them, and I definitely can say that I consider them life long friends. Their family has grown so much and it was just incredible to see them all together at the baptism. I just love being a missionary! After the Baptism we had dinner with the Mendoza's, they fed us Jalepeno Poppers...if you have never heard of them look them up!!! They are so stinkin good! Not spicy at all...or maybe I'm just adjusting to the way people eat their food here (spicy or spicier haha). After spending time at their home, we drove to visit someone on the other side of town, their name just popped in our heads, so we started driving. While going, we drove passed a park, and saw shadow! the dog that Chris was missing! It was the oddest thing! We pulled over without even thinking and tried to call it over to us, but it ran back into the park. So we raced (while keeping the speed limit, don't you worry : P) to go see Chris and tell her that we found her dog! Turns out that she had been praying and crying for the an hour because she missed her dog! We were blessed to be able to help her prayers be answered and get her dog back! All I can say, is that it was a miracle!

I love being out here, seeing God's hand at work, when you are looking for it, you can see so many incredible things happening around you, just like that song, "I saw God Today." Look for miracles people, they are out there! and if you are wanting to go even further, ask God to be apart of a miracle, you never know what will happen!

I'm loving New Mexico, it is amazing, and I'm loving serving as a missionary, yes there are hard days, but the good always outways the bad and I am learning so much ever single day.

I love you all and hope you are good! Adios Amigo's!!!

Sister Hall

 

What A week! In some ways I hate writting this blanket letter because there is SO MUCH TO TELL by the time the week is through that I don't even know where to start, so I'll try to fill you all in as best I can, sorry if I forget something big, I'm only human ; ). If any of you do want to know more....well you can always write me! *hint hint :D

We've been teaching an awesome guy named Danny, we always meet him at this nice park where we sit under a pavilion and watch the ducks and geese in the pond. This day in particular was really stinkin hot, so...we decided to get dilly bars to share : ) we picked them up from dq and headed to the park, where we met up with Danny and a married couple who agreed to come to the lesson with us. Ice cream must have been an inspired idea because what did they bring? Ice cream in a cup from dq too! it was super funny, so needless to say we got our fill that day! Danny is inspiring to me, he's over come so many hurdles, and has so many trials in his life, including not having a home. But he's always smiling and hopeful. I learn so much from the people out here, it makes me never want to complain again!

We got to do a really good service project this week too, we chopped down a back yard full of 6ft high weeds with only one weed wipper (hey did ya'll know that americans don't know what a weed wipper is? they call it a weed eater..silly americans :P) It took 2 hours of pulling, chopping, and clearing before you could actually tell there was a camper in the back! It felt good to be out working hard, and even tho I STILL feel it, i'm happy we could help! To help us recover we also got fed some MEAN enchillada's oh man those were good...woke up at 5 am with bad heartburn...but so worth it.

I got an awesome parcel from my family this week! thank you to the Denna fam for signing the Get Wild shirt, that was awesome! I for sure missed being up there with everyone this year, I always loved going to the Reunion for Donny's Birthday. I have a cool miracle to share about that however.

Last Monday, I was thinking a lot about my big brother, and how I wished I could remember more about him, sometimes I feel like he's around me but I'm sure He's too busy to always be here. Well. Monday night, I was at an older ladies house for a visist, she's the sweetest lady ever and invited us in to have homemade icecream! We followed her in to the kitchen and as I was looking around her house, I saw the most amazing sight. I saw a big jar of Jelly Belly's. For anyone who knew Donny, they know that he LOVED jelly belly's and earlier in the day I had even thought to myself how cool it would be to have just one to eat today. Well I asked this lady if I could have one, and as I did, the warmest feeling came over me, I felt so loved and so at peace that I almost started crying while eating this little candy! This lady must have thought I was crazy haha, but truly my heart was just touched.

If you guys can learn anything from me this week it is this. God answers prayers, He loves us so much, and knows each one of us so completely. I didn't even ask for Him to send me a sign that My brother was close, or ask for a jelly belly, but He knew it meant something to me, and He gave me that experience. Our Father in Heaven loves us, and He wants us to be happy! So if you are struggling, or don't feel like GOd is hearing or answering your prayers. Ask him, ask him if he is there, and if he loves you. You will get an answer.

I love you all. Hope you have a fantastic week, and always remember to...Smile!

Sister Hall