First Day In The Mission

Hey everyone sorry I could not email yesterday I was way busy since I got on the plane. We left at 1:30AM for the airport so I just didn't sleep. The flight left at 6:30AM--so I felt like Mom. We had to leave super early because it was the Day of the Virgin Mary, which is the biggest holiday here.  Look it up--it is really fun what they do.

I haven't received the package you sent me Mom and Dad, so I hope I get it soon. I also tried to call yesterday but the airport phones didn't except our American bank cards for some reason.

On top of that, I met my companion.  His name is Elder Angeles.  He knows less English then I know Spanish. So this is gonna force me to learn Spanish as fast as humanly possible in order to survive here. Last night we went to a member's house for 'dinnerish'--it was tomales and tacos made by the grandmother. Then chili in a cup, then horchata in a cup. I ate a lot but, I sweat it all out within the hour. It is way more humid down here then in Hawaii, and its also cold (still like 80).  Last night I went to bed in straight humidity, and when I woke up halfway through the night it was freezing cold.  My companion had turned the huge AC onto my bed--it felt great but extremely cold.  Another fun fact is that I have two baptism already on Saturday!  So that's cool.

I have my second tonsil infection already being out here.  

More fun news is that driving home yesterday (completely packing a taxi), me and my companion started to talk to the driver (mainly him).  Anyways, we are now meeting with him today at 7 and he will hopefully become our newest investigator!.

(This email really wont be much longer cuz I have no clue at all when I am suppose to be off)

So anyways I should be going to the store today and getting some food.  I am been extremely hungry.

Here are some of our mission rules that I honestly do not get at all.

        1. No drinking coca cola at all.
        2. No eating street food. (Like c'mon)
        3. Only drink out of your filtered bottles.
        4. No playing any sports for 2 years--the only exercise you can do it run walk and occasionally               lift. That is the worst one but hey, there are probably reasons for that.

No warm showers at al--but to be honest I don't mind that at all because it feels great with this humidity. And the shower feels like (a dribbling faucet), that's roughly the pressure of the water.

Anyways, I hope all is well and you guys are all good. Keep going and pushing through no matter what--you guys got this.  

I cant wait to email you guys next week and see what you guys are up to.

He's Arrived!!

Hello Everybody....(December 8, 2016)

Hello everybody,

I am finally getting the hang of this Spanish keyboard so that is good. This week has been pretty good, not too eventful though. Let's start off with how the food is going. The food is still not to good!  But I am excited because I only have until Sunday night until I am free. I leave Monday morning at 2 AM for the airport. The plane doesn't leave until like 6 I think. We have to leave super early because its like the Virgin Mary Celebration tomorrow, so a bunch of people walk on their knees to a big cathedral or something in the heart of Mexico City so we aren't allowed to drive on those streets. Another fun thing that I learned this week about Mexico is that we are not allowed to go knocking on doors and are not suppose to street contact that much, so all of our investigators will be referrals from people--so that's fun. I also learned that lunch is at 2 and that's the only time members feed us. We then have dinner once we get back to our apartment, so I'll be making a lot of Kraft Mac n Cheese, and also a lot of peanut butter and jelly--so I am good with that! Every missionary staying in Mexico was given a filtered water bottle because the water is so bad down here. So hey--I got a free water bottle.  However, the water tastes terrible coming out of it. I am most excited to get myself a street taco when I get down there because they look really good (and really unsanitary)--so that's good. I am also hoping for a good trainer that either knows no English or knows it but only talks Spanish unless to answer one of my grammatical or definition of a word questions. 

This week in the CCM started off with our sister district 15D leaving--so that blows.  So we don't have anybody to play volleyball or talk with. However, the Hermanas are going to the same mission as Corey Ballard--so that's awesome!   Tell Jim to tell Corey to look out for 'em--they is pretty cool. On the topic of volleyball--I finally perfected my spike (with the timing and aim) so that feels good. My jump serve is pretty legendary so watch out U.S.A Men's beach volleyball team. No serious injuries this week though so that's no fun. Yesterday we had a pretty competitive 3 v 3 beach volley tournament with a bunch of the 'week sixers'--my team did pretty well so that's good. They also opened up the plaza in the middle of the CCM after it had been closed since June. As a result, I am just soaking up the sun.  Grant also left to Utah this week.  He was way excited. He is excited because the food blows and everyone is just craving some nice American fast food right now. 

Also I figured out that Elder Browning's sister actually served with Albert.

Spanish has been coming along.  We are learning subjectives for the rest of the time.  Its confusing and so weird. It does not make any sense, but hey Spanish is one of the 'languages of love'--so watch out. I learned that people from Veracruz speak muy rapido and they do not finish any of their words at all.   Yeah, I do not know or understand Spanish already when people are talking really slow and I'm going to a place where people have a young Tanner Hall Speech Disorder so this shall be fun. 

The Christmas devotional was amazing this week and you guys should all go watch it if you haven't. I will not tell you about it because I do not want to spoil the fun. It was really good though and you will all feel the Spirit when you watch it. Also, if you haven't seen the new Mormon Message that was from Uchdorfs, or however you spell it, you should watch that as well--it is pretty darn good. You will learn a lot from it. 

I have been reading the New Testament and finished Matthew and Mark in one day. I have learned a lot from it such as--did you know Mary  (not his mom) had 7 evil spirits cast out of her by Jesus?   So that's cool. I also learned my new favorite New Testament Story. So a guy had a bunch of evil spirits in Him and he came to Jesus to rid him of them. So He did (according to the guy's faith), and to prevent them from ever going into the man again he cast them into some pigs and then had the pigs pretty much jump off a cliff and die.

This week the CCM has come down so incredibly hard on people. It all started out with a district, (not gonna say what district--it just wasn't mine)--so that's good, had a toga party. And they were playing music that was not church (or really appropriate at all) and they also weren't wearing their garments. On top of all of that, they had a bunch of other districts over as well. So that district all left for the field so they didn't get in any trouble. But the new rule is here that if you are caught even knocking on someone else's door (or at their door), you will be immediately sent home from your mission. 

That's really all I can think of that happened this week. I will email next week.  I am not sure what day I will be emailing them on though so just be prepared. 

Love Elder Tanner Rockwell Hall.

TODAY MARKS MY ONE MONTH DAY (I THINK)!

Today marks my one month anniversary. A lot has happened in this month. I have learned some spanish, not as much as I expected to learn though. I've been working my tail bone off. No joke--my tail bone was bruised for two weeks because we sit for so long. I have prayed more then I ever have in my life and have read more scriptures then I ever have in my life. 

This week has been pretty good. Yhe days fly by in the CCM and I cant even believe that I am almost done with it.  Me and Grant met another kid that had lived in Tualatin for a year--his name's Elder Pizzi.  He was in the Hedges Creek Ward.  

They have started to put up Christmas lights, so thats cool.  They have replaced all the flowers with those super cool red ones, not sure what they are called (They're Poinsettas Tanner!).  My casa has two districts in it and we have decided that we will be doing a Live Nativity Scene.  The cast goes:

Elder Mays (250lbs minimum): the baby

Elder Smith (otherwise known as Dad): Joseph

Elder Hall (Yours Truly): Mary

Elder Clark: The angel

Elder Cunningham: donkey

Elder Bailey: the camel

Elder Dickson: Wise man

Elder Mcneely: Wise Man

Elder Salazar: Wise Man

Elder Higgins: Sheppherd

Elder Browning: Narrating the journey

The rest of the cast hasnt been posted but the first night is tonight

This week we fasted for our teacher Hermano Rincon. He and his wife went to the doctors (on Monday) to see if they would be able to have kids. So we all decided to fast for him on Sunday and Monday as well. After class yesterday he was talking to me, Browning, Leavitt and Olson and he said that for some reason while he was going through this trial he could feel the support and love from our whole district. He told us that the doctor said that they have one chance to have a kid--in three months.  And they are going to try to make it twins (not just one).  The weird thing is that yesterday was his last night before going to work for a bioengineer company, so we decided to all write him a letter (this was before he told all of us this).  So I was writing my letter and I had the impression to write, 'I know that you will be an amazing father to at least a couple of kids, and those kids will be some of the strongest members of the Church'.   I thought to myself, 'Nope! Not writing that cuz he can't even have kids so that'd be weird and touching on a sensitive subject', so I just kept writing. Then I had the feeling again and ignored it cuz that's weird to write. The third time the words came to my head and just said, 'DO IT'.  So I did it and wrote it.  Then I to find out that he actually will probably have two kids of his own in the near future. So that was cool.

Another thing that happened this week was me and my companion gave Hermano Rincon a blessing after one of our progessive investigator lessons. We gave him one because he was had a pretty nasty sickness. His eyes were bloodshot, he couldnt stop coughing, his nose was runny, and he just couldn't concentrate on anything. So after the lesson I had the impression to ask if he wanted a blessing from us.  My companion then shot me a dirty look.  But hey--when you get a prompting you act on it.  So anyways he says that he would love a blessing. So we gave him a blessing and after the blessing Hermano Rincon is just sitting there and he tells us if we can see. And he keeps asking it, and I'm like, 'Oh man, this guy's seeing stuff that's kinda weird'.  But then he says,  'Look--my nose its not even red anymore'.  And then we looked again and his eyes were completely white, he no longer had a sore throat, and he said his head was as clear as can be. He then said that in the middle of the blessing a thought came into his head and said, 'Do you have faith to be healed?'  And he said, 'Yes'.  And in that moment everything went away. So that was really cool.

Something really fun this week was last night. So we were all down cuz our teacher told us he was leaving out of the blue and cuz the other district was just having a rough day.  So I told everyone that at 10pm bring a picture of your family or your mom and a blanket cuz we are gonna have a Sobfest Party.  So anyways we had at least 15 guys in there and I started out the meeting by reading the book I Will Love You Forever.  We all cried the whole book (especially me) so that was fun.  Then I asked two questions: 1. What is your favorite character of your mom, and 2. What is your favorite memory of your mom.  So everyone went around the room and answered those two questions. Everyone was crying and it was just really good. We started that at 10 and time flew by. When I looked at the time it was 1130.  So we finished with me giving a spiritual thought and then closed it. It was pretty dang fun--all of our faces were splochy from crying so much, and our eyes were as bloodshot as can be.  We all woke up this morning with raging headaches--probably from the lack of sleep and the water loss of last night.

That is all for this week love you all 

Tanner Rockwell Hall

11/24/2016 Post

Dear everyone,

This week was good. I've decided to just learn some verbs conjugations instead of words cuz those things are pretty important. This week I learned that one of my night teachers actually was Britta's teacher, as well as Collin's teacher.  Its Hermano Cruz. He was the teacher that gave Britta her scripture case for the her Spanish ones.

The Spanish is coming along fine. Its starting to pick up ever since I started doing that verb stuff.  This week has gone by extremely fast for some reason so that's good. Every week gets quicker and quicker. I had some spiritual experiences which are always great.  Theres a few videos we watched--one is a Mormon Message titled 'I'm a Mormon, Ballerina, and...(I forgot the rest of the title)...but its really good. 

A funny thing that happened this week was that Elder Brownning dislocated his middle finger.  Man it was so incredibly funny. We were playing beach volleyball and Elder McNeely was going for a spike and Browning was trying to block and Elder McNeely hits Brownings finger. His finger was bent back and out at a 45 degree angle. hahaha   He started to scream and sprinted to the Infermeria while he was running he was yelling Infermeria Infermeria Infermeria--it was so incredibly funny. It was the highlight of yesterday.

That's all I can think of right now so I'll email more later--like more of a long email later. 

Love Everyone

Tanner Rockwell Hall III

11/17/2016 Email (6 days late in posting!!)

This week I got into volleyball.  My district and I played volleyball every single day for gym time once we are done lifting. We were planning on having a beach volleyball tournament yesterday but it was pouring down rain (like always).  So instead we just did normal volleyball. I've perfected the legendary jump serve and I'm dropping dimes on the court.  It has honestly been so fun. My dig and bump game is pretty legendary and I set the ball pretty dang well. :)   However, I stink at spiking the ball, but hey--oh well.  My drop shot's on point. We played soccer one day and i thought I had broke my toe.  (I'm pretty sure its broken cuz its even more crooked than before and as blue as can be, but oh well, there's been a chip off that bone for awhile anyways and I've had worse). I also broke a kid's nose in basketball this week. He pump faked and I jumped and he scooted under me. So on the way down I swiped at the ball and instead of the ball I got his nose. It was a pretty solid hit--gave him a huge bruise and a massive gash on his nose--and I cut my arm open on it as well. So hey, if you're gonna foul--foul hard so they cant get the shot off. :(

The language has been getting better. During my last lesson (that we couldn't prepare for) I nailed the language. Wasn't spot on because they haven't taught us any conjugations so I only know present tense. So that sucks. However the person understood what I said so that's good. I found a lot of scriptures in the BOM that are pretty good as well, but the scripture on my plaque is in in Isaiah. I forgot the full thing though. Me and Elder Higgens have been getting closer and closer every day.  Once a week we will just stay up talking about stuff and life in the living room until we have to go to bed, so that's been fun. He shared with me why he decided to go on a mission and that was pretty awesome and an amazing story in and of itself. 

The temple was nice to go to.  Just got back from it and it is a super, super cool temple. It looks like an old Aztec temple. The Visitor Center that they have there is also so incredibly cool as well. I was a solid foot plus some taller than all the workers at the temple so that made it a little tricky. Another tricky thing was the fact that I didn't know any Spanish so that was fun. It was a super spiritual time though. I felt the Spirit a lot and it helped calm me down and get me ready for another week of Spanish!!!

Tanner

FIRST EMAIL!!!

First off, I forgot my camera battery at home, so I can't take any pictures until I get one. Secondly, you should send me stuff through dearelder.com.  Send me food or letters. It will work the whole time I am in the MTC. It only takes a day to get to me.

This week has been pretty good. I've learned a lot of Spanish but it still sucks. My district is pretty lit. We all play sports--almost all of us played football. The only kid that doesnt is my companion. He came in 'fluentish', so he constantly talks down to me and always interrupts me. Once in class he yelled at me. When I memorize I repeat stuff outloud multiple times. He then turns to me and yells, 'Stop saying the same things over and over again retard.' I almost slapped the kid, but instead I nicely said, 'Please stop talking.' :)   I was proud of myself. Another time we were teaching our investigator lesson and I was trying to share my testimony and he turns to me and says, 'Shut up Tanner. You sound stupid.'  In front of the investigator.  So I said, 'Please let me finish.  I'm in the middle of my testimony.'  We were playing basketball and he got the ball stolen and he got so mad that he charged another kid in our district and took a swing. 

I have found two guys that are like my CCM brothers--Elder Higgens and Elder Brown. We all have struggles with the language so we went and helped each other. One day was particularly rough on all of us so when we got back to our casa we went to the laundry room and gave each other blessings. It was amazing.  The Spirit was so strong in that room. and we were all crying cuz we all felt the Spirit and each others love for each other. I know the feeling Alma and the Sons of Mosiah must have had when they were on their missions. 

I also have a newly found love for the Sabbath. Man it was amazing. After a week of constant learning of the language it was nice to just have a day to take a break from it all. I used to hate not being able to do anything on Sundays but man I now love not doing anything on Sundays. 

A few things have been hard though. The first being my companion. I fast every other day that I can see him how God sees him, and that I can grow to love him.  But man it is hard. So hey--if you guys want to fast for that you guys should cuz it is rough. The second being the food. The food bloooooooows here.  It all tastes the exact same--the fish is so cold and flavorless. And man everything you thought about this place is probably wrong. It has rained constantly all this week and the sun doesn't ever shine. Spanish does not come easily--it is hard work and kinda gets you down a lot. The food is not good--so whoever said that is a liar.  :)

On the other hand, there are a few good things here. I have two people that I can consider as my best friends in the CCM and I can tell and vent everything to. It is also such a spiritual place and most people are extremely nice. I have some super cool teachers--Hermana Perez and Hermano Gonzales (or something). We are trying to get them married but with little success. 

I heard Donald Trump won--so that is pretty awesome.  What was even cooler was that there was a protest outside the CCM about it--lots of gunshots--it was pretty cool. All these kids from Utah are pretty.........  I said, 'Oh that gunshot was pretty close.'  And they said, 'Elder Hall its fireworks. The President even said so.'  And my response was, 'Yep you guys. Where is the flash of light? That's not what fireworks sound like.' 

Overall it has been super fun here.  My district loves me because I make them happy when they are sad. :)  Also the whole CCM loves me cuz they all come to me for some laughs!  Don't worry though--it is all appropriate jokes guys. :)

My district loves Mom, and they all know her by name. They love her because of all of the funny stories that I have shared with them about her. So hey mom if you want to send us some stuff that would be great--just make sure you use dearelder.com.   If you dont then it'll take a month to get here. People in my district are

Elder Salazar

Elder Olson

Elder Browning

Elder Higgens

Elder Levitte (my companion)

Elder Bailey

Hermana Ridalch

Hermana Merrick

Elder Dickson

Elder McNeely

I will write you every Thursday while I am at the CCM roughly this time.