8/14/2017
This week was a pretty good one to be honest. We started the week out with the zone conferencias and Sister Palmer gave a pretty bomb talk during it. She talked about her trip to Jerusalem and she related the 3-4 gates there to the mission. She told us that a lot of people don't enter the gates because they are to scared cuz they are the most dangerous parts of this city and a bunch of other stuff. She then said but when you have a guide to lead you through the gate you feel a lot better about it and its a little safer. After all of that she related that to us in the mission field because a bunch of us have been asking about the rules and the changes if we had any. She related all of this to this. She asked us why we should be allowed to play sports and we all gave our reasons, and she said well those are all great reasons but you still can't play sports. It's was really hard to take but it was said in a really funny manner. She then said it is all because we need to be taking people into the gate and leaving the other side with them, but if we are playing sports we are running the risk of never getting to the gate or not making it all the way through. She then said with a bunch of the other rules that we have here is because we need to forget ourselves and see the beauty in the work. It's not about us--its about the people that want to go through the gate of baptism but are to scared. We are the guards that help and guide them through, so they can receive all the beauty in the journey, and wont have any regrets. It was just a great  little talk that she gave to us.

Story one:

So after the conference I went down to go to Piedras Negras to help the missionaries out down there and to see how they were doing with everything. So I left my companion here and the other missionary's companion here as well and we went down to his area. So I just went down with the things I had during the conference so I didn't have any extra clothes our anything else-just my scriptures. And to make it all worse, I was still in my sandals. So I was originally just thinking about going down working with one missionary for the rest of the day and then coming back the next morning. So anyways, I get a call from the ZLs and they tell me that I dont have permission to return to my house until the afternoon.  I was all good with that cuz--yeah whatever. So we worked all day long and it was pouring down rain so that just sucked, and then I get a call saying that I don't have permission to leave the area until the following day cuz a hurricane was coming into the port and it wasn't safe to return. That was the worst news ever. Cuz I didn't have any clothes, and all of my clothes were soaking wet, it sucked. So I just suck it up and I kept on working. So anyways this area has been struggling recently and hasn't had really any success in this transfer. So I got talking to this missionary and he started telling me all about his mission (he has 21 months) because I have heard some stuff about him and not a lot of missionaries like him. So we got to talking and he tells me the story of why people don't like him, and he says that the whole entire situation sucks because the majority of the missionaries don't even know the real story. So he tells me the story and tells me that only like 3 other missionaries know the real story behind it, and how even though he didn't really do anything it was just a crazy chick that had a crush on him in his area and she started spreading the rumors that he had told her that he was returning for her after the mission. And it spread and he got an emergency transfer and he just hasn't cared if people know the real story here or the made up one cuz he's not here to serve the missionaries but the people. So I gained big respect for him when he told me that. And when I was working with him I gave him a new little spark and we just set the area on fire. In two days we found like 12 people and just revived the area. The whole transfer they were reporting '0s' and this week when I called he reported like 5-7 people in church, and all wanting to be baptized. It was just a really, really cool experience. 

Meanwhile in my area my comp just  killed the area. I came back with literally like nothing in the area hahaha. I was really mad but I decided to suck it up, take a deep breath, and reconstruct the area. So I pushed him to the breaking point and by the end of the week we had a pretty good teaching pool and a handful of people in church so that was great. 

Story two:

Got bit by a dog on my hand the other day--it was Friday. It was during a contact and I was just talking to the lady and the dog jumped up and got a good grab on my hand and finger and he tore down and 'boom' got me pretty dang good. So yeah that was just a fun little experience--its actually healing pretty fast. SO, maybe the dog was actually a werewolf and I'm turning into a werewolf.  I'm pretty sure I am. 

So this week I have learned that before you judge a person or label a person due to an other person's comments, you first need to get to know the person and give them a chance. You will find that the person is much more than what you know, and is actually way different than what you originally thought. But you really would have never known if you never gave them that shot to build a relationship. 

Well "the church is true go be awesome"-Anne Bagley

8/7/2017

This week has been a pretty good week, like always. We started off with the ZL getting transferred and getting a new ZL. So now we have two American ZLs and it is actually really really fun. We had divisions on Wednesday and it was an absolute blast. I first thought that this new zone leader was a complete nerd, and just like a weird kid. But then we start to talk and I found out that he is actually like a pretty cool guy. He doesn't look like it right now cuz hes like 170ish, but he played football before the mission. We were just talking and he tells me how before the mission he was actually weighing about 205-210 and was an inside linebacker. I didn't believe him, but he showed me a picture and he was pretty big haha. He has dropped so much weight (like every American kid in the mission), and he doesn't want to waste money on shirts that fit, so the collar is actually so incredibly big on him haha it is so funny. He then shows me another picture of him before the mission and he had long hair down to his shoulders and a full grown beard hahaha. It was just a great day, and we actually got a ton of work done in my area so it was a productive day. 

What else happened this week? Well to be honest I don't remember a whole lot of stuff from this week cuz it went by so fast. But I did have my ingrown toenails cut out once again cuz the 1st doctor didn't really do the job correctly so they grew back and were a lot worse hahaha.  It was actually really funny. And the lady that cut my toenails out was actually really nice and we were just cracking jokes back and forth the whole entire time. And when I looked over at my companion he was just white in the face and put his face in his hands and just stayed like that until we were finished up with it all. Then when I was waddling home I asked him what's up and he said "I felt my arms and legs go numb and I was pretty close to passing out so it was better if I just didn't watch" hahaha. I was laughing so incredibly hard, so incredibly hard. 

So we just spent all of Saturday in the house and also Sunday, and I just have been drawing all day long and yeah its getting my mind going. 

One thing that has happened is there is this sister in the ward, and she is actually kinda depressed, and told me that she really has no desire to live, and she is just waiting for her day to come. Its because her daughter died, and then this week her brother died as well, so it has been pretty hard. She is also like 70 years old and can't do a lot of stuff. So I'm trying really hard to just install a little piece of hope in her life, and I just am not able to get through to her. So I'm trying a new tactic of just talking about dancing and singing with her, because she usually feels a little better when we talk about that, and she just has a light shining about these subjects.

So anyways just know that hope is never lost. When we have lost all things there is still a few things that we still have. We have God, Jesus Christ, and we got hope. so I mean that's a pretty great list right there. Just don't let the world get the best of you, you gotta get the best of the world. ('Boom' make that a Mormon Meme) SO anyways that's all i got for this week.

"Church is true go be awesome"-Anne Bagley

7/31/2017

This week was pretty good, just like always. We started off with my companion pretty mad at me for literally no reason. I was asking him to do practices and then he would say yeah on sec, and then he was start "thinking" for like 10 minutes just to waste time. And I kept asking why and he said I just need to think of a good first question to ask and I just cant. So then I said do you have faith? And he said yeah. I then said don't think. Just give me the scripture and trust that the Lord will give you the words and questions that you need to ask. He then said that's not how god works, and I said that is how He works.  He gives us the questions and the words we need to say--not your brain. He then just kept fighting and I said you just don't have the faith that's required to receive these things. This just kept passing over and over again, and just like everything on the mission it was just testing my patience haha. 

So anyways I finally just was drained and tired cuz I am literally babysitting at this point. One night when I was verifying with the LZ, he said oiga Elder Hall you sound a bit different.  What's the problem? I just said I'm just tired.  I'm just babysitting and dragging my comp to every cita and doing everything. I have tried everything and nothing is changing and nothing's getting better.  I don't know what more I can do. So anyways they didn't say anything but the next morning the LZ showed up at my house at like 9:30 and he had a talk with us--really just my comp. We then had to do an activity to try to help. It was like the stuff you don't like that your comp does, why, and what you want your comp to do and why. So anyways I was just being nice and just really complimenting and he was just went off, and said a list of things I was "doing", but in reality they were all just a bunch of lies to get me in trouble. So the LZ left the house and then shot me a text and said don't worry.  We know that you're not doing any of those things. 

Story one:

Sooooo, I mean not a lot has happened this week so I don't have a good story sorry ´bout that. 

This week I have learned that God just doesn't give you a random little trial, He gives you trials that you need to receive. He puts things in your path to help you grow. For ejemplo, I don't have much patience--or I didn't have a bunch of patience. However, literally every single thing that I have received that involves the mission has been a constant trial of patience. First off, I had to wait a bunch of time just to receive my mission call. And then when I received it, I had to literally wait 6 months just to leave. Boom patience. On top of all of that I have had to deal with a bunch of stuff hear that has tried my patience. But just like a muscle you gotta push yourself to the breaking point to get stronger. You aren't always gonna lift the weights that are easy for you to do because you will gradually become weaker and weaker. So you always got push it and stretch the limit. Its the same with the things in life. If we are always staying in the same place and never actually getting pushed to the limit we will never progress--we will actually be moving backwards. 

God won't give a trial that we don't need. 

Another thing that I have learned this week is to trust in the Lord. He is gonna give us answers to prayers but we have to be ready to receive these answers. I have been praying about a certain subject recently, and He has responded many times. The thing is, I was too stubborn to receive and accept this answer, due to the fear of what others would think or how they would react. It started off with my President saying in my interview "Its gonna be like an automatic door just walk up and it won't open up until you are at the door." So I walked up the this fictional door and made the decision and the next day a scripture came into my head just out of nowhere. 1 Nefi 4. I knew it to be an answer but I was ready to accept the answer. So I continued to pray for another answer to assure the first answer, but all week this scripture was in my head, and a bunch of members and people were giving examples in this life and using this scripture. But I just kept praying for an answer. And I got a very direct answer that was just put right in my face. I went to bed one night and had been praying like no other for an answer and I fell asleep and had a dream. This dream was very very very direct and very vivid about what I needed to do. And it resolved all of the doubts about what would happen after the decision was made. 

So anyways, this just shows the power of prayer. And how we always need to except the answers that God gives us. Just don't be Elder Hall and except the first answer that you receive. Don't give our Heavenly Father a headache by being hard in the heart.

"Church is true go be awesome"-Anne Bagley