hey everyone,
so i thought that i should go ahead and tell you all ¨happy new years!¨ right now hahah. hopefully you´ve all got some fun plans. i think my plans are just about set...get back to the pension at 6:30 and stay there all night because we can´t do anything else. yup ¨its gonna be a new years to remember for sure¨ haha. hopefully you all enjoy it for me.
so lets see, i´m trying to think of things that i haven´t already told you...araya just told me to tell you all thanks for the tie and the socks. i wanted to thank you all too for everything that you sent me. it was sweet to be able to open them on christmas morning.
gosh not that much has changed since i last wrote you...i guess i just wrote you like 2 days ago so not many things would be new. umm this is the last week of the transfer, so araya and i are wondering whats going to happen for us. my guess is that he´s leaving and i´ll be staying in alto san lorenzo. It will be a bummer if he leaves, but its just a part of the missionary life i guess.
oh yeah, so i had interviews with presidente asay on saturday. that was pretty awesome. it was just really humbling all the things that he said about me. i told him about some of the things that have been kind of hard for araya lately and i just told him that i´m trying to keep him positive about the mission. he told me that thats why i´m with araya. he told me that the mission needs more missionaries like me. hahah it make me kinda laugh to hear that because i think one elder hall is enough for this mission. i really don´t know if i deserve a comment like that, but i was really humbled to hear it. i hope that he can always say that about me.
alright so i can´t think of anything else that has happened lately...but i want to thank you all for writing me, for keeping my investigators in your prayers. thats huge for me. mom, sounds like christmas was a good one for the whole family. i really did enjoy talking to you all too. dad, i´ll bet you´re pretty excited for uncle jeff to come down to visit. be sure to tell him ¨hi¨ for me and to pass it along to the rest of the fam. tell him that i love em all. sean, don´t have too much fun this week alright hahah. se que tiene que ver un monton de deportes y todo eso esta semana, y que ¨la gata¨ (haha i actually don´t know if you understand that or not) va a venir tambien, pero recuerda que tiene que volver a la escuela tambien. but have fun with the fam and be sure to get some tennis in for me...and hey ¨mandame esa foto cuando puedes.¨ haha i´ll bet paige is ¨stoked¨ to have mom and dad at the new years dance. thats the reason i never went to those dances, i think i had a fear that my family would all show up or something haha. but hey i´m glad that you like them paige! don´t have too much fun dancing while mom and dad are watching. bridg, thanks for telling me that story about rylan (shoot i can´t remember if its rylan or ryland). he´s a capo! haha that whole family is awesome. have fun with brooke this week.
ok, i guess thats about it for this week. thanks for everything. be safe, play some tennis for me, watch some sports for me, play some phase 10 for me, and all that good stuff that we always do. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
December 25, 2009-Christmas Day
hey guys!
ok so araya is talking to his family right now, and since its our p-day today, i thought that i´d just write a little bit to you all while i wait. wow so it was seriously so awesome to be able to talk to you all today! its crazy to be on the other end of the line like that but i thought it was so cool to be able to talk to all of you for a little bit. i think that that was the quietest paige has ever been hahah. but i seriously loved to be able to talk to you all. it sounds like everything is going pretty smoothly back at la casa. dad, don´t give in to paige driving just yet...i know that she´s trying to woo you into it, but don´t break under pressure with only 3 girls in the house. stay strong amigo! haha mom, really i just want to thank you for seeing me for who i want to be, and not just who i am. you have really helped me to get as far as i´ve come. sean, i hope that your playing some ¨from first to last¨ right now hahah (theres your comment that you were looking for) ;) love ya bro. don´t have too much fun with dad watching sports and all that good stuff hahah. paige, i think that was the quietest that i´ve ever heard you haha. que paso mi hermana?!? bridg, it was nice to hear from you too. still a little shy talking to the brothers on the phone though hugh? hahah
ok i´ve got to get going. i love you all. i´ve got p-day on monday again so you´ll all be hearing from me soon. thank you for everything. merry christmas everyone!
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
ok so araya is talking to his family right now, and since its our p-day today, i thought that i´d just write a little bit to you all while i wait. wow so it was seriously so awesome to be able to talk to you all today! its crazy to be on the other end of the line like that but i thought it was so cool to be able to talk to all of you for a little bit. i think that that was the quietest paige has ever been hahah. but i seriously loved to be able to talk to you all. it sounds like everything is going pretty smoothly back at la casa. dad, don´t give in to paige driving just yet...i know that she´s trying to woo you into it, but don´t break under pressure with only 3 girls in the house. stay strong amigo! haha mom, really i just want to thank you for seeing me for who i want to be, and not just who i am. you have really helped me to get as far as i´ve come. sean, i hope that your playing some ¨from first to last¨ right now hahah (theres your comment that you were looking for) ;) love ya bro. don´t have too much fun with dad watching sports and all that good stuff hahah. paige, i think that was the quietest that i´ve ever heard you haha. que paso mi hermana?!? bridg, it was nice to hear from you too. still a little shy talking to the brothers on the phone though hugh? hahah
ok i´ve got to get going. i love you all. i´ve got p-day on monday again so you´ll all be hearing from me soon. thank you for everything. merry christmas everyone!
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
December 21, 2009- The Week Before Christmas
hey everyone,
ok so i´ve got to make this quick. what happened is they changed our p-day this week because of christmas. now we have p-day on christmas day this week. so i´ve only got a little time to write and tell you what is going to happen this week. ok so first of all, i´m going to be calling you around 3 o´clock your time. i´ll be able to talk for like an hour. whats happening is we´re going to go to a member´s house to call families at 3 (your time). araya and i flipped a coin to see who would call first and i won so i´m going to call you first (actually i don´t know if that would be winning or losing to call first hahah but oh well). but yeah so the family where we are calling only has one phone line so i have to call and then araya´s going to call right after. so yeah we can only call for an hour each, but don´t worry, an hour is a lot better than not calling at all hahah.
ok so yeah i think that´s about everything that i had to say. but really quick i wanted to tell you 2 things. the first is that we set a baptismal date with ester. we´re pretty excited because we´ve been trying for a while now and we were finally able to set a date. we put it for the 16th of january so she wouldn´t get too overwhelmed with a baptismal date really soon hahah. we´re still working on maria, but i think that we will be able to baptize her too. we´re going to be working hard and try to get her ready...oh yeah so there´s actually 3 things that i wanted to tell you all. so the second is that we had intercambios (sean i still don´t remember what that is in english haha) on tuesday this week. i stayed in my area with another companion and araya went somewhere else for the day. but it was awesome because i found this family of 7 that we´re kind of excited about. out of the 7, 5 are old enough to get baptized. i really hope that they keep progressing. i would really appreciate it if you prayed for them..they are the gomez family....ok and the third thing was that i met someone in our ward who knows travis vongsawad haha. she served a mission in bolivia (i actually don´t remember her name right now, but she´s from peru) and apparently travis was her zone leader at one time. kind cool hugh. i just keep meeting people who know the vongsawads haha. small world hugh?
ok so i´ve got to get going. i love you all and can´t wait to call you. thank you all for your emails and prayers. i know that you are praying for me because i wouldn´t be able to do some of the things that i´ve been able to do without your prayers. thank you all so much. i´ll talk to you in a couple days.
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
ok so i´ve got to make this quick. what happened is they changed our p-day this week because of christmas. now we have p-day on christmas day this week. so i´ve only got a little time to write and tell you what is going to happen this week. ok so first of all, i´m going to be calling you around 3 o´clock your time. i´ll be able to talk for like an hour. whats happening is we´re going to go to a member´s house to call families at 3 (your time). araya and i flipped a coin to see who would call first and i won so i´m going to call you first (actually i don´t know if that would be winning or losing to call first hahah but oh well). but yeah so the family where we are calling only has one phone line so i have to call and then araya´s going to call right after. so yeah we can only call for an hour each, but don´t worry, an hour is a lot better than not calling at all hahah.
ok so yeah i think that´s about everything that i had to say. but really quick i wanted to tell you 2 things. the first is that we set a baptismal date with ester. we´re pretty excited because we´ve been trying for a while now and we were finally able to set a date. we put it for the 16th of january so she wouldn´t get too overwhelmed with a baptismal date really soon hahah. we´re still working on maria, but i think that we will be able to baptize her too. we´re going to be working hard and try to get her ready...oh yeah so there´s actually 3 things that i wanted to tell you all. so the second is that we had intercambios (sean i still don´t remember what that is in english haha) on tuesday this week. i stayed in my area with another companion and araya went somewhere else for the day. but it was awesome because i found this family of 7 that we´re kind of excited about. out of the 7, 5 are old enough to get baptized. i really hope that they keep progressing. i would really appreciate it if you prayed for them..they are the gomez family....ok and the third thing was that i met someone in our ward who knows travis vongsawad haha. she served a mission in bolivia (i actually don´t remember her name right now, but she´s from peru) and apparently travis was her zone leader at one time. kind cool hugh. i just keep meeting people who know the vongsawads haha. small world hugh?
ok so i´ve got to get going. i love you all and can´t wait to call you. thank you all for your emails and prayers. i know that you are praying for me because i wouldn´t be able to do some of the things that i´ve been able to do without your prayers. thank you all so much. i´ll talk to you in a couple days.
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, December 14, 2009
December 14, 2009- hey everyone
hey everyone,
wow so first of all i want to thank you for sending that package. i got it on tuesday! i was way stoked for that. i tried to do what you said and read one letter everyday, but after the second day i ended up reading them all. but i want to be sure to thank everyone that wrote and sent things- be sure to thank keeley (i got a package from her too so be sure to thank her for that also), the kidds (i got a letter from them also), uncle jeff, aunt krista, kenzie, brooke, aunt julie, brother ord, the vanwagoners, the andersons, the vongsawads, gracie, the livingstons, the rodebushs, the stanges, and the invitations for dylan and brian´s farewell. i hope that i didn´t forget anyone. if i did be sure to tell them thanks a bunch for me. it really was awesome of all of you.
ok so this week has been a little crazy. so we went over to visit lujan on like thursday or friday. the owner of her pension saw us and told us that she had moved away that morning. we have no idea where she went because she doesn´t have a phone or anything. she just told the owner to tell us that she was moving. it was kind of crazy for us. so we don´t have any investigators that are really ready to get baptized. but i feel like something good is going to happen soon. i really feel like there is someone here that is looking for this gospel. its just a matter of finding them.
so one thing that i thought was kinda cool this week...elder araya and i were going through some stuff in our pension and we found a dictionary from some other missionary. but its a dictionary that transfers words from spanish to guarani! elder araya didn´t want it, so i took it. i think its sweet. i really want to be able to learn some stuff in guarani. but i don´t hear it enough to know how to frase sentences. we´ll see if someone from paraguay can teach me about sentences or something haha.
mom, thank you again for putting that package together for me. and also, thank you for sending me that email. it all really means a lot to me. dad, it sounds like you´re doing an awesome job with the missionaries in the ward. keep working hard and i know that you are going to have a lot of success. one thing that i think could really help would be if you asked like every family in the ward to give one reference to the missionaries. one person that they know that doesn´t konw about the gospel. but thank you alot for writing me this week. that was seriously awesome to see. about the accent thing...if i do have an accent, i think its only when i speak in spanish. i couldn´t tell you if i have an accent in english though hahah. sean, dude i´m stoked about everything going on with sports. chargers are on a roll and lakers are tearing it up. its seriously so awesome to hear. but dude work hard this week with finals. i know that you love them alot, but try to have ¨a little fun¨ while you´re at home too. dad tells me that he´s trying to get all the work done right now so that you can all just play for 2 weeks hahah. paige, thanks for writing me also. its nice to hear that everything is going well for ya. i know that you´ve got some tests and stuff coming up this week also. just pound through it so that you can enjoy your break. bridg, thanks for writing me too. i think that it would be awesome if you play tennis. but you´ve still got some time to decide which you love more- to keep doing dance, or to switch over to tennis.
well it sounds like everything is going well for everyone. i hope you all know that i love you. i´m excited that you are all gonna be home together for the next 2 weeks. you´ll have to be sure to tell me everything that goes on. i love you all, again. i hope that you´re all well. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
wow so first of all i want to thank you for sending that package. i got it on tuesday! i was way stoked for that. i tried to do what you said and read one letter everyday, but after the second day i ended up reading them all. but i want to be sure to thank everyone that wrote and sent things- be sure to thank keeley (i got a package from her too so be sure to thank her for that also), the kidds (i got a letter from them also), uncle jeff, aunt krista, kenzie, brooke, aunt julie, brother ord, the vanwagoners, the andersons, the vongsawads, gracie, the livingstons, the rodebushs, the stanges, and the invitations for dylan and brian´s farewell. i hope that i didn´t forget anyone. if i did be sure to tell them thanks a bunch for me. it really was awesome of all of you.
ok so this week has been a little crazy. so we went over to visit lujan on like thursday or friday. the owner of her pension saw us and told us that she had moved away that morning. we have no idea where she went because she doesn´t have a phone or anything. she just told the owner to tell us that she was moving. it was kind of crazy for us. so we don´t have any investigators that are really ready to get baptized. but i feel like something good is going to happen soon. i really feel like there is someone here that is looking for this gospel. its just a matter of finding them.
so one thing that i thought was kinda cool this week...elder araya and i were going through some stuff in our pension and we found a dictionary from some other missionary. but its a dictionary that transfers words from spanish to guarani! elder araya didn´t want it, so i took it. i think its sweet. i really want to be able to learn some stuff in guarani. but i don´t hear it enough to know how to frase sentences. we´ll see if someone from paraguay can teach me about sentences or something haha.
mom, thank you again for putting that package together for me. and also, thank you for sending me that email. it all really means a lot to me. dad, it sounds like you´re doing an awesome job with the missionaries in the ward. keep working hard and i know that you are going to have a lot of success. one thing that i think could really help would be if you asked like every family in the ward to give one reference to the missionaries. one person that they know that doesn´t konw about the gospel. but thank you alot for writing me this week. that was seriously awesome to see. about the accent thing...if i do have an accent, i think its only when i speak in spanish. i couldn´t tell you if i have an accent in english though hahah. sean, dude i´m stoked about everything going on with sports. chargers are on a roll and lakers are tearing it up. its seriously so awesome to hear. but dude work hard this week with finals. i know that you love them alot, but try to have ¨a little fun¨ while you´re at home too. dad tells me that he´s trying to get all the work done right now so that you can all just play for 2 weeks hahah. paige, thanks for writing me also. its nice to hear that everything is going well for ya. i know that you´ve got some tests and stuff coming up this week also. just pound through it so that you can enjoy your break. bridg, thanks for writing me too. i think that it would be awesome if you play tennis. but you´ve still got some time to decide which you love more- to keep doing dance, or to switch over to tennis.
well it sounds like everything is going well for everyone. i hope you all know that i love you. i´m excited that you are all gonna be home together for the next 2 weeks. you´ll have to be sure to tell me everything that goes on. i love you all, again. i hope that you´re all well. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, December 7, 2009
December 7, 2009-hey family
hey everyone,
i want to thank you all for fasting and praying for elder araya this week. he really needed that and i know that you all helped him out a bunch...i can´t believe that evan is home now! you have to tell him congrats for me and that i miss that kid. also be sure to tell erica roth thanks for writing. its awesome to see that i actually understand everything that she wrote me (since it was all in spanish). but yeah be sure to tell her thanks too.
i´m sorry to hear that some of you got the flu back at home. i hope that by now, you´re all pretty much better.
well it´s been a good week here in buenos aires. i´m trying to think of somethings that have happened. i felt like this week went really well for us. we were able to work really hard and find some new people to teach that we´re excited about.
mom, thanks for filling me in on everything that has gone on this week. it was awesome to read you email this week. dad, i really hope that mom´s right and that you don´t get the flu also. but i´ll bet what will make you feel better (if you do get sick) is some rest at home watching the lakers and chargers hahah. Sean, i hope that everything´s going awesome up at byu. hopefully you´re still excited for the sports world this week too. i´ve got a question...when you were in nicaragua did anyone ever call you a yankee? they always call me a yankee here. i was just thinking about that. i met a missionary from nicaragua, but he wasn´t from your area. paige, you´re awesome for still going to school and taking three tests even though you had the flu. keep working hard because soon you´ll have christmas break and be able to relax for a while. bridg, you´re not making mom take jillian out already are you?! hahah just kidding. you know i like to mess around. but i hope that school is going well for you too and that you´re feeling better after that flu thing.
well sorry this is kind of a lame email this week. i really can´t think of something new that has happened this week. its still raining here in argentina every once in a while. but other than that i can´t think of what else to write to you. sorry fam, i´m thinking next week will be better for news to write. but i hope you all know that i love you. keep working hard. i´m excited to be able to call you in a couple weeks, but i try not to think about it too much hahah. we´ve still got some time before that. ok i´ve got to go. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
i want to thank you all for fasting and praying for elder araya this week. he really needed that and i know that you all helped him out a bunch...i can´t believe that evan is home now! you have to tell him congrats for me and that i miss that kid. also be sure to tell erica roth thanks for writing. its awesome to see that i actually understand everything that she wrote me (since it was all in spanish). but yeah be sure to tell her thanks too.
i´m sorry to hear that some of you got the flu back at home. i hope that by now, you´re all pretty much better.
well it´s been a good week here in buenos aires. i´m trying to think of somethings that have happened. i felt like this week went really well for us. we were able to work really hard and find some new people to teach that we´re excited about.
mom, thanks for filling me in on everything that has gone on this week. it was awesome to read you email this week. dad, i really hope that mom´s right and that you don´t get the flu also. but i´ll bet what will make you feel better (if you do get sick) is some rest at home watching the lakers and chargers hahah. Sean, i hope that everything´s going awesome up at byu. hopefully you´re still excited for the sports world this week too. i´ve got a question...when you were in nicaragua did anyone ever call you a yankee? they always call me a yankee here. i was just thinking about that. i met a missionary from nicaragua, but he wasn´t from your area. paige, you´re awesome for still going to school and taking three tests even though you had the flu. keep working hard because soon you´ll have christmas break and be able to relax for a while. bridg, you´re not making mom take jillian out already are you?! hahah just kidding. you know i like to mess around. but i hope that school is going well for you too and that you´re feeling better after that flu thing.
well sorry this is kind of a lame email this week. i really can´t think of something new that has happened this week. its still raining here in argentina every once in a while. but other than that i can´t think of what else to write to you. sorry fam, i´m thinking next week will be better for news to write. but i hope you all know that i love you. keep working hard. i´m excited to be able to call you in a couple weeks, but i try not to think about it too much hahah. we´ve still got some time before that. ok i´ve got to go. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, November 30, 2009
November 30, 2009 - hola de buenos aires
hey everyone,
wow so it sounds like its been an awesome week for everyone. thank you all for writing me, i really appreciate that. it sounds like thanksgiving in utah was sweet. but to tell you the truth, i actually forgot about thanksgiving. i didn´t realize that it had passed until the day after haha. i woke up and was like ¨wow i forgot about thanksgiving!¨ but i´m glad that you all had an awesome time with the fam. its weird though because its snowing in utah and summer is coming up here in argentina (i think the official first day of summer here is like the 21st of december)
you all also commented about the new twilight movie. i actually see a bunch of posters and stuff everywhere in la plata, so i´ve known that it was coming out for a while. its a good thing i´ve never been a fan of twilight (even if sean liked it too hahah).
so this week has been kind of crazy for us. its kind of a bummer because lujan wasn´t able to get baptized. we weren´t able to go the pre-interview with her this week, so we have to try and do it this week. i honestly don´t know when she´s going to get baptized, but realistically, i´m guessing that it won´t be for a couple more weeks. that was kind of a bummer for me, but we´re going to work hard this week....which reminds me, i was wondering if you could all fast and pray for my companion, elder araya, this week. i think more than anyone, he needs your prayers. he´s just really unhappy with the area and has been thinking alot about home lately...too much about home i mean. he had to go to an interview with the president this morning because he just hasn´t had the right mindset. right after their interview, the president told me that he wanted to talk to me also. he said that i need to really help araya out. he told me that i have to kind of be the senior companion. i´m going to do everything i can and i´d really appreciate it if you prayed for him specifically this week.
this week really was not a good week for us number´s wise. it didn´t feel right sunday night. i made a promise that i´ll never have a week like that again. i won´t let that happen.
mom, thanks a bunch for your letter. i´m really glad that you all had an awesome time in utah and that you didn´t all freeze to death hahah. dad, its awesome to hear that things are going super well in the sports world. i´m stoked for the chargers and how they´re woopin up now hahah. its sweet that the lakers are doing what they should be also...just dominating. sean, i´m glad you had an awesome time with the fam up in utah too. thanks a bunch for writing me this week. it means alot to me bro. keep working hard and know that i love you too. paige, i feel like i´ve just been messing around with bridget for awhile, so i think i´ll change it up a bit. twilight isn´t even that good! hahah but i really do see posters everywhere...it always says ¨nueva luna¨ (of course because i´m in a latin country...after i wrote that i realized that that was super obvious that it wouldn´t in be english). but just know that it probably wont be the first movie on my list...its gonna be pretty low. bridg, thats awesome that you had so much fun with brooke and all the other cousins. i hope that you were sure to tell them all hi for me.
well i guess that´s about it for this week. thank you all again for your letters and prayers. mom, i almost forgot, the package that you sent is in capital right now. the people from the offices are going to get it on thursday, but i´m guessing that i´ll get it in a couple more weeks. but thanks again for sending that...ok now i´ve really got to go. thank you all again. keep working hard in everything that you´re doing and know that i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
wow so it sounds like its been an awesome week for everyone. thank you all for writing me, i really appreciate that. it sounds like thanksgiving in utah was sweet. but to tell you the truth, i actually forgot about thanksgiving. i didn´t realize that it had passed until the day after haha. i woke up and was like ¨wow i forgot about thanksgiving!¨ but i´m glad that you all had an awesome time with the fam. its weird though because its snowing in utah and summer is coming up here in argentina (i think the official first day of summer here is like the 21st of december)
you all also commented about the new twilight movie. i actually see a bunch of posters and stuff everywhere in la plata, so i´ve known that it was coming out for a while. its a good thing i´ve never been a fan of twilight (even if sean liked it too hahah).
so this week has been kind of crazy for us. its kind of a bummer because lujan wasn´t able to get baptized. we weren´t able to go the pre-interview with her this week, so we have to try and do it this week. i honestly don´t know when she´s going to get baptized, but realistically, i´m guessing that it won´t be for a couple more weeks. that was kind of a bummer for me, but we´re going to work hard this week....which reminds me, i was wondering if you could all fast and pray for my companion, elder araya, this week. i think more than anyone, he needs your prayers. he´s just really unhappy with the area and has been thinking alot about home lately...too much about home i mean. he had to go to an interview with the president this morning because he just hasn´t had the right mindset. right after their interview, the president told me that he wanted to talk to me also. he said that i need to really help araya out. he told me that i have to kind of be the senior companion. i´m going to do everything i can and i´d really appreciate it if you prayed for him specifically this week.
this week really was not a good week for us number´s wise. it didn´t feel right sunday night. i made a promise that i´ll never have a week like that again. i won´t let that happen.
mom, thanks a bunch for your letter. i´m really glad that you all had an awesome time in utah and that you didn´t all freeze to death hahah. dad, its awesome to hear that things are going super well in the sports world. i´m stoked for the chargers and how they´re woopin up now hahah. its sweet that the lakers are doing what they should be also...just dominating. sean, i´m glad you had an awesome time with the fam up in utah too. thanks a bunch for writing me this week. it means alot to me bro. keep working hard and know that i love you too. paige, i feel like i´ve just been messing around with bridget for awhile, so i think i´ll change it up a bit. twilight isn´t even that good! hahah but i really do see posters everywhere...it always says ¨nueva luna¨ (of course because i´m in a latin country...after i wrote that i realized that that was super obvious that it wouldn´t in be english). but just know that it probably wont be the first movie on my list...its gonna be pretty low. bridg, thats awesome that you had so much fun with brooke and all the other cousins. i hope that you were sure to tell them all hi for me.
well i guess that´s about it for this week. thank you all again for your letters and prayers. mom, i almost forgot, the package that you sent is in capital right now. the people from the offices are going to get it on thursday, but i´m guessing that i´ll get it in a couple more weeks. but thanks again for sending that...ok now i´ve really got to go. thank you all again. keep working hard in everything that you´re doing and know that i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
November 24, 2009 - Happy Thanksgiving
hey everyone,
well i want to wish you all a happy early thanksgiving! hahah i cool to hear that all the fam is in utah. i hope that you all have an awesome time.
so this week has been another good one here in alto san lorenzo. first of all, lujan is doing awesome and is super excited to be baptized this saturday. we´ve been able to find some awesome new investigators this week also. we had 6 investigators in church this week and none of them were lujan, maria, or ester. we found 2 couples that are progressing really well. one couple is from paraguay...its sweet cause they´ve been teaching me some guarani (still don´t know how to spell that haha). but the dad, carlos, is ready to be baptized. he´s given up 3 jobs already because they asked him to work on sunday. they just moved into our area 2 weeks ago. his wife, yacelin, is evangelica. but we gave her the first lesson and they both came to church with their 2 daughters on saturday. i think yacelin feels alot more comfortable with us because other missionaries have supposedly tried to get her to come to church in other areas and she never would. but they just need to get married. the other couple is a guy named jorge and his wife named gisel. we just met them this week and invited them to come to church. they made it sound like they wouldn´t be able to make it, but on sunday they showed up and really liked it. we´re super excited for them too but they have to get married also. the good news with both couples is that they both have plans to get married.
lets see, so today was tranfers. i´m excited though because both elder araya and i are staying here in alto san lorenzo. it will be awesome to have at least another 6 weeks with elder araya. he´s a good kid. the bummer is that all the people who came with me from the mtc that were in la plata with me are leaving la plata. its kind of a bummer, but i know that they were all called to another area for a reason.
we also had the conference with elder bednar on thursday. wow, it was way good. it was more of a question and answer thing, which was cool. a bunch of missionaries (there were like 600 there) asked him questions, and it was just really awesome. you were able to feel the spirit really strong.
mom, thanks for the emails. it sounds like you´re having a good time in utah even though its kinda cold. i can´t say the same about argentina. its getting hot but i love it. dad, don´t have too much for with uncle jeff. be sure to tell them all hi for me. i also want you to be sure to tell kade, if you can, that i love him. tell him that i think about that kid alot and just i hope that he knows how much i care about him. sean, its sweet to hear that both byu and the chargers won this week. i still have no idea what their records are but i´m hopin that their still both in the races for something. are the lakers still tearin it up? love ya bro. paige, i´ll bet you´re pretty excited to be able to see all the cousins. tell them hi for me and that i love them. bridg, i KNOW that you´re excited to hang out with brooke and the other cousins. thats a given.
well i want to thank you all for your love and prayers. i want you to know that matthew will be in my prayers also. i´m just really grateful for all of you. you guys are the best. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
well i want to wish you all a happy early thanksgiving! hahah i cool to hear that all the fam is in utah. i hope that you all have an awesome time.
so this week has been another good one here in alto san lorenzo. first of all, lujan is doing awesome and is super excited to be baptized this saturday. we´ve been able to find some awesome new investigators this week also. we had 6 investigators in church this week and none of them were lujan, maria, or ester. we found 2 couples that are progressing really well. one couple is from paraguay...its sweet cause they´ve been teaching me some guarani (still don´t know how to spell that haha). but the dad, carlos, is ready to be baptized. he´s given up 3 jobs already because they asked him to work on sunday. they just moved into our area 2 weeks ago. his wife, yacelin, is evangelica. but we gave her the first lesson and they both came to church with their 2 daughters on saturday. i think yacelin feels alot more comfortable with us because other missionaries have supposedly tried to get her to come to church in other areas and she never would. but they just need to get married. the other couple is a guy named jorge and his wife named gisel. we just met them this week and invited them to come to church. they made it sound like they wouldn´t be able to make it, but on sunday they showed up and really liked it. we´re super excited for them too but they have to get married also. the good news with both couples is that they both have plans to get married.
lets see, so today was tranfers. i´m excited though because both elder araya and i are staying here in alto san lorenzo. it will be awesome to have at least another 6 weeks with elder araya. he´s a good kid. the bummer is that all the people who came with me from the mtc that were in la plata with me are leaving la plata. its kind of a bummer, but i know that they were all called to another area for a reason.
we also had the conference with elder bednar on thursday. wow, it was way good. it was more of a question and answer thing, which was cool. a bunch of missionaries (there were like 600 there) asked him questions, and it was just really awesome. you were able to feel the spirit really strong.
mom, thanks for the emails. it sounds like you´re having a good time in utah even though its kinda cold. i can´t say the same about argentina. its getting hot but i love it. dad, don´t have too much for with uncle jeff. be sure to tell them all hi for me. i also want you to be sure to tell kade, if you can, that i love him. tell him that i think about that kid alot and just i hope that he knows how much i care about him. sean, its sweet to hear that both byu and the chargers won this week. i still have no idea what their records are but i´m hopin that their still both in the races for something. are the lakers still tearin it up? love ya bro. paige, i´ll bet you´re pretty excited to be able to see all the cousins. tell them hi for me and that i love them. bridg, i KNOW that you´re excited to hang out with brooke and the other cousins. thats a given.
well i want to thank you all for your love and prayers. i want you to know that matthew will be in my prayers also. i´m just really grateful for all of you. you guys are the best. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, November 16, 2009
November 16-How's It Going Everyone?
hey everyone,
ok so first of all i want to thank the obrigawitch family. thats seriously way nice of them for giving me that check. be sure to tell that how much i appreciate that. it really means alot to me that they thought of me. mom do you think that you could put that in my account back at home? if you can´t do that then you could just send it in the package. speaking of the package, mom do you think that you would be able to send me like my patriarchal blessing, just like a shrunken version? it would be awesome if you were able to do that and then send a laminated copy or something. i´d really appreciate it if you were able to send that to me. if not then thats fine. i also want to tell dylan and travis how proud i am of them. those guys are awesome and they are going to tear it up in the mission. i know that b-pip is already gone but i want to tell him that he definately deserves to be a district leader. to have a companion with a disability is something that would be tough for alot of us. he´s one guy that i know can handle it. i´m seriously proud of all of you.
so this week has probably been one of our best ones this transfer. i´m super excited because we were able to take out a baptismal date with lujan! thank you all for praying for her and everything. we talked to her on like saturday and asked her to be baptized this saturday. she said that she really wanted to be baptized and wants to get baptized this week. but elder araya and i have been talking and i think we might change the baptism to the 28th. lujan still needs to learn a couple things and have a couple more lessons. we just don´t want to have to rush them all. i think that its better if we wait one more week. but we´re going to talk with lujan tomorrow and see what she thinks.
maria and ester and still progressing really well. we weren´t able to go visit them until like friday or saturday morning. we haven´t set a baptismal date with them yet, but i think we could do it this week. it would be great if you all prayed for them...i really can´t believe how much has changed this week. before, we really didn´t have alot of investigators that were progressing really well. but we had a really good day on tuesday and found a bunch of people. since then we´ve been able to find all these people who are seriously awesome. its just been a good week for us and i think its only going to get better.
mom, thanks for sending me those emails this week. be sure to tell dan (i guess thats elder kidd) that i love him and that he´s a capo. it sounded like he had a tough week, but he´s just a hard worker and an awesome guy. it also sounds like you had a good birthday. thanks for eating some cake for me hahah. love ya. dad, i was in a members house this week and i saw some stats on the lakers. it sounds like they´re dominating right now, so thats sweet. what´s going on with the chargers? sean, so it seems like you´re having an awesome time at school. keep working hard bro. have you gotten any new music lately? paige, how´s it going? it sounds like school and seminary have been going well for ya. keep up the good work. bridg, it sounds like you´re having fun with friends and jillian. i can´t remember, are you still doing dance? if you are i hope that you´re really liking it.
well i think i better go. oh and before i forget, i´m pretty excited because on thursday elder bednar is coming to buenos aires! how sweet is that! all three buenos aires missions are going to hear him speak, so we´re all pretty stoked for that. ok now i should get going. i love you all. thanks for everything that you do. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
ok so first of all i want to thank the obrigawitch family. thats seriously way nice of them for giving me that check. be sure to tell that how much i appreciate that. it really means alot to me that they thought of me. mom do you think that you could put that in my account back at home? if you can´t do that then you could just send it in the package. speaking of the package, mom do you think that you would be able to send me like my patriarchal blessing, just like a shrunken version? it would be awesome if you were able to do that and then send a laminated copy or something. i´d really appreciate it if you were able to send that to me. if not then thats fine. i also want to tell dylan and travis how proud i am of them. those guys are awesome and they are going to tear it up in the mission. i know that b-pip is already gone but i want to tell him that he definately deserves to be a district leader. to have a companion with a disability is something that would be tough for alot of us. he´s one guy that i know can handle it. i´m seriously proud of all of you.
so this week has probably been one of our best ones this transfer. i´m super excited because we were able to take out a baptismal date with lujan! thank you all for praying for her and everything. we talked to her on like saturday and asked her to be baptized this saturday. she said that she really wanted to be baptized and wants to get baptized this week. but elder araya and i have been talking and i think we might change the baptism to the 28th. lujan still needs to learn a couple things and have a couple more lessons. we just don´t want to have to rush them all. i think that its better if we wait one more week. but we´re going to talk with lujan tomorrow and see what she thinks.
maria and ester and still progressing really well. we weren´t able to go visit them until like friday or saturday morning. we haven´t set a baptismal date with them yet, but i think we could do it this week. it would be great if you all prayed for them...i really can´t believe how much has changed this week. before, we really didn´t have alot of investigators that were progressing really well. but we had a really good day on tuesday and found a bunch of people. since then we´ve been able to find all these people who are seriously awesome. its just been a good week for us and i think its only going to get better.
mom, thanks for sending me those emails this week. be sure to tell dan (i guess thats elder kidd) that i love him and that he´s a capo. it sounded like he had a tough week, but he´s just a hard worker and an awesome guy. it also sounds like you had a good birthday. thanks for eating some cake for me hahah. love ya. dad, i was in a members house this week and i saw some stats on the lakers. it sounds like they´re dominating right now, so thats sweet. what´s going on with the chargers? sean, so it seems like you´re having an awesome time at school. keep working hard bro. have you gotten any new music lately? paige, how´s it going? it sounds like school and seminary have been going well for ya. keep up the good work. bridg, it sounds like you´re having fun with friends and jillian. i can´t remember, are you still doing dance? if you are i hope that you´re really liking it.
well i think i better go. oh and before i forget, i´m pretty excited because on thursday elder bednar is coming to buenos aires! how sweet is that! all three buenos aires missions are going to hear him speak, so we´re all pretty stoked for that. ok now i should get going. i love you all. thanks for everything that you do. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, November 9, 2009
November 9, 2009-How's It Going Everyone...
whats going on everybody,
mom, i want to be sure to tell you happy birthday right now! i know that i´m like 2 days early, but i thought that i should tell you now instead of next week. but i hope that you have an awesome birthday and that you know that i love you!
i also want to say that i will definately pray for patrick johansen. its really crazy that that happened to him. be sure to tell me how he´s doing next week.
so its been a pretty good week here in altos de san lorenzo. lujan was able to come to church with her little kid, carlitos, yesterday, so elder araya and i were super excited. we are hoping to ask her to be baptized this week. i don´t remember if i told you the story of when we met here. its pretty funny so i´ll tell you about it...so elder araya and i were coming back from some cita that we had like 3 weeks ago. we were a couple blocks away from our pension. i was about to walk right past lujan, who was taking carlitos for a walk, but i felt like i should stop and talk to her. i started talking to her and when i saw carlitos i thought that he was a girl hahah (because he has super long hair for a 2 year old). but i started asking lujan how old her ¨little girl¨ was, and she was like ¨he´s a boy.¨ i just kind of stood there and didn´t know what to say for a second. then i was just like ¨si claro, entonces...¨ and i kept up with the conversation. so i guess this story goes to show that you can even say stupid things at times, but the spirit will always be there to help hahah. but yeah, we´re hoping to baptize her before the end of this transfer. maria and ester were also able to come to church yesterday, which was awesome to see. they all really liked it. we´re going to try to set a baptismal date with them too. it would be awesome if you could pray for all three of them.
so mom, i want to tell you happy birthday again. i hope that you have some cake or something in my honor. thanks for writing me and telling me about some of the things going on. i really do always look forward to hearing from you. dad, hows everything going?! bridget tells me that you are all going up to utah for thanksgiving. i´ll bet that will be pretty awesome for you to be able to spend some time with sean and everything. speaking of sean, che thanks for sending me those pics. it was awesome to be able to see ya.That's awesome that you´re having a good time and that halloween was alot of fun. i love ya bro. paige, it sounds like you´re having alot of fun now. keeping enjoying school and friends. oh yeah, and elder araya keeps asking for your email hahah...i don´t know if he really plans on writing you but he keeps telling me to ask you for it hahah. bridg, thanks for writing also. i´ll bet you´re pretty excited to be going to utah. be sure to tell all the fam that i say hi. also, you asked me if they celebrate thanksgiving here. thats a big negative for you. argentina is pretty crazy. they actually just had mother´s day like 2 weeks ago. its like the only country that celebrates mother´s day this time of year. so basically, argentina is crazy haha.
well i think that´s about it for this week. i love you all. thank you all for writing me and for your prayers. i hope that you all have awesome weeks. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
mom, i want to be sure to tell you happy birthday right now! i know that i´m like 2 days early, but i thought that i should tell you now instead of next week. but i hope that you have an awesome birthday and that you know that i love you!
i also want to say that i will definately pray for patrick johansen. its really crazy that that happened to him. be sure to tell me how he´s doing next week.
so its been a pretty good week here in altos de san lorenzo. lujan was able to come to church with her little kid, carlitos, yesterday, so elder araya and i were super excited. we are hoping to ask her to be baptized this week. i don´t remember if i told you the story of when we met here. its pretty funny so i´ll tell you about it...so elder araya and i were coming back from some cita that we had like 3 weeks ago. we were a couple blocks away from our pension. i was about to walk right past lujan, who was taking carlitos for a walk, but i felt like i should stop and talk to her. i started talking to her and when i saw carlitos i thought that he was a girl hahah (because he has super long hair for a 2 year old). but i started asking lujan how old her ¨little girl¨ was, and she was like ¨he´s a boy.¨ i just kind of stood there and didn´t know what to say for a second. then i was just like ¨si claro, entonces...¨ and i kept up with the conversation. so i guess this story goes to show that you can even say stupid things at times, but the spirit will always be there to help hahah. but yeah, we´re hoping to baptize her before the end of this transfer. maria and ester were also able to come to church yesterday, which was awesome to see. they all really liked it. we´re going to try to set a baptismal date with them too. it would be awesome if you could pray for all three of them.
so mom, i want to tell you happy birthday again. i hope that you have some cake or something in my honor. thanks for writing me and telling me about some of the things going on. i really do always look forward to hearing from you. dad, hows everything going?! bridget tells me that you are all going up to utah for thanksgiving. i´ll bet that will be pretty awesome for you to be able to spend some time with sean and everything. speaking of sean, che thanks for sending me those pics. it was awesome to be able to see ya.That's awesome that you´re having a good time and that halloween was alot of fun. i love ya bro. paige, it sounds like you´re having alot of fun now. keeping enjoying school and friends. oh yeah, and elder araya keeps asking for your email hahah...i don´t know if he really plans on writing you but he keeps telling me to ask you for it hahah. bridg, thanks for writing also. i´ll bet you´re pretty excited to be going to utah. be sure to tell all the fam that i say hi. also, you asked me if they celebrate thanksgiving here. thats a big negative for you. argentina is pretty crazy. they actually just had mother´s day like 2 weeks ago. its like the only country that celebrates mother´s day this time of year. so basically, argentina is crazy haha.
well i think that´s about it for this week. i love you all. thank you all for writing me and for your prayers. i hope that you all have awesome weeks. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, November 2, 2009
November 2, 2009- Hola Everyone
hey everybody,
thanks for writing this week. it was sweet to hear from you all and to hear how everything is going back home. i hope that you all had an awesome halloween. i actually saw like 2 trick-or-treaters! i was super surprised. i want to tell b-pip that i´m super stoked to hear about his mission call! i actually didn´t know that he was going to puerto rico so it was awesome to hear. he´s going to be an awesome missionary.
well its been a pretty good week. we were hoping to set some baptisms with people this week, but it didn´t end up happening. we´re working hard to find more people to teach here. we did find this one lady, named lujan, that i did a contact with a week ago. she seems like she could progress pretty well. she lives with her little kid who´s like 2 years old. i´m really hoping that she will come to church this week.
so i´m pretty excited because i just finished the book of mormon in spanish this morning. when i started to read it in spanish 3 months ago it was kinda tough for me. now i can´t believe how much has already changed. sometimes there are words that i still don´t understand, but for the most part i really understand everything. but yeah, i seriously learned so much more than i knew before. i´m really excited to start reading other things. i think i´ll start reading in d&c and then once i finish that, i´ll probably start reading the new testament. we´ll see how all that goes.
mom, thanks for telling me about that talk. it sounded like a really good one. i´ll be sure to remember those points that you talked about because its really true...we are all going to run into tough times. dad, i love ya. keep working hard and don´t get too girly on me with only the girls in the house hahah. sean, che i hope that you´re lovin it up at school. i still don´t know whats going on in the sports or music world. all i can tell you is that here in argentina when boca plays river...good luck trying to get in a house hahah. paige, how are you already getting ready to drive?! hahah are you kidding me?!? but thanks alot for writing me and telling me how everything is going. bridg, i hope that you´re having an awesome time too. keep doing what you´re doing.
well i guess i better get going. i love you all. thank you all for everything. keep working hard and know that the Lord is always with you. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
thanks for writing this week. it was sweet to hear from you all and to hear how everything is going back home. i hope that you all had an awesome halloween. i actually saw like 2 trick-or-treaters! i was super surprised. i want to tell b-pip that i´m super stoked to hear about his mission call! i actually didn´t know that he was going to puerto rico so it was awesome to hear. he´s going to be an awesome missionary.
well its been a pretty good week. we were hoping to set some baptisms with people this week, but it didn´t end up happening. we´re working hard to find more people to teach here. we did find this one lady, named lujan, that i did a contact with a week ago. she seems like she could progress pretty well. she lives with her little kid who´s like 2 years old. i´m really hoping that she will come to church this week.
so i´m pretty excited because i just finished the book of mormon in spanish this morning. when i started to read it in spanish 3 months ago it was kinda tough for me. now i can´t believe how much has already changed. sometimes there are words that i still don´t understand, but for the most part i really understand everything. but yeah, i seriously learned so much more than i knew before. i´m really excited to start reading other things. i think i´ll start reading in d&c and then once i finish that, i´ll probably start reading the new testament. we´ll see how all that goes.
mom, thanks for telling me about that talk. it sounded like a really good one. i´ll be sure to remember those points that you talked about because its really true...we are all going to run into tough times. dad, i love ya. keep working hard and don´t get too girly on me with only the girls in the house hahah. sean, che i hope that you´re lovin it up at school. i still don´t know whats going on in the sports or music world. all i can tell you is that here in argentina when boca plays river...good luck trying to get in a house hahah. paige, how are you already getting ready to drive?! hahah are you kidding me?!? but thanks alot for writing me and telling me how everything is going. bridg, i hope that you´re having an awesome time too. keep doing what you´re doing.
well i guess i better get going. i love you all. thank you all for everything. keep working hard and know that the Lord is always with you. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
October 26, 2009- A bonus email with pictures
hey so i thought that i would send a couple fotos also...one is of elder flake and i. elder flake is the one from arizona who knows cameron vongsawad. the other one is of elder araya and i. the next one is of me when i had to give blood (after of course hahah). and the last one is of me in front of the cathedral...yeah its huge .
well i better get going. you asked if i was doing anything for halloween...people here actually don´t celebrate halloween so your answer would be ¨working¨ hahah.
love you all,
elder ryan hall
well i better get going. you asked if i was doing anything for halloween...people here actually don´t celebrate halloween so your answer would be ¨working¨ hahah.
love you all,
elder ryan hall
October 26, 2009 - Hey Everyone
hey everyone,
wow so it sounds like a bunch has gone on at home this week. thank you all for writing, it really means alot to me. first of all, i want to tell daniel and ashley congradulations on getting engaged! thats really awesome. you´ll have to be sure and send me some pictures when they get married in june.
so about eber...its kind of a bummer because we went to his house on like monday or wednesday to talk about the baptism. we started talking to his dad, and his dad told us that he didn´t want eber to get baptized until he´s 18 years old. elder araya and i were both pretty bummed. even worse was eber. i could tell that he was pretty crushed about it. elder araya and i both believe that it´s still possible that the dad and change his mind. we have faith that he can change and that he´ll let eber get baptized. please pray for him...we´ve also found 4 other people that we are trying to set baptismal dates with. 2 of them are these older ladies named maria and ester. this week we were talking with ester and she told us that she prayed and felt that everything that we had told her was true. we were going to ask them to be baptized yesterday, but they didn´t end up coming to church. we´ll see what happens this week. the other 2 are a couple that we are teaching. they aren´t married yet, so they´ll have to get married first. the dad has told us that he believes that everything is true. hopefully we can visit them this week and talk to them about getting married so that they can be baptized.
mom, i thought that your story about your ¨almost accident¨ was way funny. it sounds like everything is going well at home. i love you and keep being awesome haha. also you said that p-pip is having is open house this week but i didn´t even know that he had gotten his mission call! where is he going?! its awesome, but i honestly never even know that he had gotten his call yet. you also asked me what i do on p-days...today we went to the catholic cathedral in la plata which was wayyy awesome. its the biggest cathedral in all of south america. sometimes we just play soccer or something, and one time we went bowling. dad, it sounds like you had a pretty awesome birthday. we´ll have to do a trip like that with the whole family when i´m home. sean, dude thanks for writing this week. it´s definitely a bummer that the cougars lost this week. i was hoping for something awesome. but at least the chargers won. it sounds to me like they lost against denver, but i really don´t know. my guess was yes. but i´m stoked to hear more about the lakers starting up. it sounds like it could be an awesome year. but keep having fun up at byu and don´t watch too many of those chick flicks without me hahah. i´m guessing that you didn´t watch that by yourself so you better fill me in a little more bro hahah. paige, thats awesome that you´re doing so well in school. keep working hard and remember to always have fun with it. it sounds like seminary is really fun also. bridg, so i want to tell both you and paige that ¨no¨, the dog that i have isn´t a stuffed animal hahah. its a really dog. its name is negrito and its a pretty sweet dog. i guess i´m just going to have to send you a picture sometime to prove it. but thanks for writing me also bridg. you´re all awesome.
well i think that´s about it for now. thank you all again for your letters and your prayers. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
wow so it sounds like a bunch has gone on at home this week. thank you all for writing, it really means alot to me. first of all, i want to tell daniel and ashley congradulations on getting engaged! thats really awesome. you´ll have to be sure and send me some pictures when they get married in june.
so about eber...its kind of a bummer because we went to his house on like monday or wednesday to talk about the baptism. we started talking to his dad, and his dad told us that he didn´t want eber to get baptized until he´s 18 years old. elder araya and i were both pretty bummed. even worse was eber. i could tell that he was pretty crushed about it. elder araya and i both believe that it´s still possible that the dad and change his mind. we have faith that he can change and that he´ll let eber get baptized. please pray for him...we´ve also found 4 other people that we are trying to set baptismal dates with. 2 of them are these older ladies named maria and ester. this week we were talking with ester and she told us that she prayed and felt that everything that we had told her was true. we were going to ask them to be baptized yesterday, but they didn´t end up coming to church. we´ll see what happens this week. the other 2 are a couple that we are teaching. they aren´t married yet, so they´ll have to get married first. the dad has told us that he believes that everything is true. hopefully we can visit them this week and talk to them about getting married so that they can be baptized.
mom, i thought that your story about your ¨almost accident¨ was way funny. it sounds like everything is going well at home. i love you and keep being awesome haha. also you said that p-pip is having is open house this week but i didn´t even know that he had gotten his mission call! where is he going?! its awesome, but i honestly never even know that he had gotten his call yet. you also asked me what i do on p-days...today we went to the catholic cathedral in la plata which was wayyy awesome. its the biggest cathedral in all of south america. sometimes we just play soccer or something, and one time we went bowling. dad, it sounds like you had a pretty awesome birthday. we´ll have to do a trip like that with the whole family when i´m home. sean, dude thanks for writing this week. it´s definitely a bummer that the cougars lost this week. i was hoping for something awesome. but at least the chargers won. it sounds to me like they lost against denver, but i really don´t know. my guess was yes. but i´m stoked to hear more about the lakers starting up. it sounds like it could be an awesome year. but keep having fun up at byu and don´t watch too many of those chick flicks without me hahah. i´m guessing that you didn´t watch that by yourself so you better fill me in a little more bro hahah. paige, thats awesome that you´re doing so well in school. keep working hard and remember to always have fun with it. it sounds like seminary is really fun also. bridg, so i want to tell both you and paige that ¨no¨, the dog that i have isn´t a stuffed animal hahah. its a really dog. its name is negrito and its a pretty sweet dog. i guess i´m just going to have to send you a picture sometime to prove it. but thanks for writing me also bridg. you´re all awesome.
well i think that´s about it for now. thank you all again for your letters and your prayers. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, October 19, 2009
October 19 - hey everybody
hey everyone,
thank you all for writing this week. it was so awesome to be able to hear from everyone in the family, so i really appreciate that. first off, dad i want to wish you a happy birthday! the big 5-1 huh?! wow thats awesome. be sure to eat some cake for me and everything hahah. and i hope you all have an awesome time at disneyland. be sure to tell me about that.
so this week has been a really good one. but to start it off, on tuesday elder araya and i found out that we had to go give blood for some lady in the church. of course you all know me and how i am with needles hahah. if you don´t remember lets just say that i don´t ¨love¨ them. But it was for a good cause so we said we would do it. it was only elder araya and i, and we got at the hospital (i think you can call it that) and neither of us was too thrilled to do it. so we were getting all ready to give blood and the doctor told elder araya that he wouldn´t have to do it because his blood pressure dropped. but i still had to do it! Yeah lets just say that i didn´t love it. but i think i actually held my own. i didn´t start to feel sick. i just decided not to look too much at the needle sticking out of my arm.
so on another note, i´m super excited to tell you all that we have a baptismal date. its with a 13 year old named eber flores. he´s an awesome kid. what happened is we were teaching him and gave him a book of mormon. he told us that one day he was having a doubt about adam and eve. so he decided to say a pray and open to a random part in the book of mormon and read. he opened to alma 40, which yep...talks about adam and eve. he told us that after that, he truly had a testimony of both the bible and the book of mormon. we have the baptismal date for this saturday. i´d really appreciate it if you could all pray for him and that we can help him to get baptized this saturday.
so my area is pretty sweet. i´m pretty excited because its really close to the actual city of la plata. my area is also really cool because a lot of peruvians, paraguasians, and bolivians live there. their accent is really different from the argentine accent so i think its really cool to be able to learn all kinds of different things like that. plus the food from the people from peru is riquisimo.
i want to thank you all for writing me this week. mom, thanks for always writing every week. i really appreciate the things that you say. dad, happy birthday again. hopefully the chargers can get a win for your b-day. sean, dude thanks alot for writing me. i know that you´re busy with school and work and everything, but it always means a lot to me to hear from you. it sounds like all the sports are going pretty well. hopefully chargers and byu win this week. i seriously want to hear that mayday parade cd! and you were telling me that you thought it wouldn´t be good hahah...paige, thanks for writing also. it was funny in your letter because i could never tell if it was you, dad, or bridget talking to me. but don´t worry, eventually i figured out who was writing at what time. but yeah i really appreciate it. keep working hard in school and know that i did what you asked me to do last week. bridg, hey guess what...i´ve got a dog too! hahah yep its true. her name is negrita. she´s a cute dog. i´ll have to send you a picture or video sometime.
well i think that´s about it for this week. thank you all again for writing. i love you all. you´ll be hearing from me soon...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
thank you all for writing this week. it was so awesome to be able to hear from everyone in the family, so i really appreciate that. first off, dad i want to wish you a happy birthday! the big 5-1 huh?! wow thats awesome. be sure to eat some cake for me and everything hahah. and i hope you all have an awesome time at disneyland. be sure to tell me about that.
so this week has been a really good one. but to start it off, on tuesday elder araya and i found out that we had to go give blood for some lady in the church. of course you all know me and how i am with needles hahah. if you don´t remember lets just say that i don´t ¨love¨ them. But it was for a good cause so we said we would do it. it was only elder araya and i, and we got at the hospital (i think you can call it that) and neither of us was too thrilled to do it. so we were getting all ready to give blood and the doctor told elder araya that he wouldn´t have to do it because his blood pressure dropped. but i still had to do it! Yeah lets just say that i didn´t love it. but i think i actually held my own. i didn´t start to feel sick. i just decided not to look too much at the needle sticking out of my arm.
so on another note, i´m super excited to tell you all that we have a baptismal date. its with a 13 year old named eber flores. he´s an awesome kid. what happened is we were teaching him and gave him a book of mormon. he told us that one day he was having a doubt about adam and eve. so he decided to say a pray and open to a random part in the book of mormon and read. he opened to alma 40, which yep...talks about adam and eve. he told us that after that, he truly had a testimony of both the bible and the book of mormon. we have the baptismal date for this saturday. i´d really appreciate it if you could all pray for him and that we can help him to get baptized this saturday.
so my area is pretty sweet. i´m pretty excited because its really close to the actual city of la plata. my area is also really cool because a lot of peruvians, paraguasians, and bolivians live there. their accent is really different from the argentine accent so i think its really cool to be able to learn all kinds of different things like that. plus the food from the people from peru is riquisimo.
i want to thank you all for writing me this week. mom, thanks for always writing every week. i really appreciate the things that you say. dad, happy birthday again. hopefully the chargers can get a win for your b-day. sean, dude thanks alot for writing me. i know that you´re busy with school and work and everything, but it always means a lot to me to hear from you. it sounds like all the sports are going pretty well. hopefully chargers and byu win this week. i seriously want to hear that mayday parade cd! and you were telling me that you thought it wouldn´t be good hahah...paige, thanks for writing also. it was funny in your letter because i could never tell if it was you, dad, or bridget talking to me. but don´t worry, eventually i figured out who was writing at what time. but yeah i really appreciate it. keep working hard in school and know that i did what you asked me to do last week. bridg, hey guess what...i´ve got a dog too! hahah yep its true. her name is negrita. she´s a cute dog. i´ll have to send you a picture or video sometime.
well i think that´s about it for this week. thank you all again for writing. i love you all. you´ll be hearing from me soon...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, October 12, 2009
October 12, 2009 - hola todos
hey everyone,
so alot has happened this week so i´m just going to jump right into it. first mom, be sure to tell erica roth thanks for the dearelder. i understood everything. tell her that the choripan is ricisimo haha.
so elder garcia and i have found about 4 people this week that we would have been able to set baptismal dates with. seriously they were all pure oro haha. but i found out saturday night that i was leaving bosques. i´ve got to tell you all that i´m really surprised. i know that i told you all that i thought i would leave, but as it got closer i really felt that i would be in bosques for a while. i bore my testimony on sunday during sacrament, and ended up telling everyone that i was leaving then. the members were seriously so nice to me. one of the members from the ward went home after church and made me this huugggeee cake. she brought it to a meeting that we had later. another person brought a bunch of facturas, which are like doughnuts (i don´t remember how to spell that anymore hahah). it was so awesome of them. but my new area is in la plata...the area itself is called alto san lorenzo. what i´ve seen of it is that its just outside the actual city of la plata. it seems way way nicer than bosques (which doesn´t take a lot haha). i´ve also got a new companion. his name is elder arraya. i actually new him from last transfer because he was in our zone in florencia varela. he´s got about 17 months in the mission and he´s from chile. he talks fast but i still understand a bunch. from everything that people have told me, lets just say that he´s about the opposite of elder garcia. i think that this is going to be a good transfer. Our pension isn´t as big as the one we had in bosques but its pretty sweet. i think the bathroom is nicer (once again, it wasn´t that hard to beat hahah). we´ll see how it goes coming from bosques, where we had 9 baptismal dates with people and alot more to come, to this area. i´m not sure if we have any baptismal dates with anyone right now, but thats going to change soon...
also, i sent keeley a letter and put the memory card in there. i asked her if she would send it to the family. i´m guessing that she will get that in the next week or so and she can just send it to all of you from there.
one cool thing that happened this week is that i found someone who knows cameron vongsawad. his name is elder flake. he´s from tucson, arizona. he was in my zone in varela, so i talked to him and found out that cameron´s first area in arizona was in elder flake´s ward. small world huh...
mom, i want to thank you for your letter this week. it was really great to hear your story about the girl from the hair place. the truth is that everyone can be a missionary. you don´t have to have a calling somewhere to be a missionary. we should all try to be missionaries. i want you to know that your an awesome example to everyone. dad, keep up the good work and everything. mom tells me that you went with bridg, sean, and uncle jeff to the byu game in las vegas. man, those are fun. sean, i hope that you´re tearing it up at school and everything. it sounds like byu whooped up on lv, which is sweet. but whats up with the chargers?! i don´t hear anything about sports here...other than soccer of course. paige, i´ll definately do what you asked in your email. i´ll be sure to pray...keep up the good work and just remember to be an example for others. you´re buenisima. bridg, thanks for the letter this week too. it sounds like you´re having an awesome time with jillian. i sounds like you had a sweet time with brooke in vegas also.
i want to thank you all for your letters and prayers. you are all so awesome. i want you to know that i love you all. you are in my heart and prayers. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
p.s. i sent the picture of zach woodmansee and i on here too. you´ll have to tell me next week if you get it.
Monday, October 5, 2009
October 5, 2009 - hola de buenos aires
hey everyone,
wow so first of all, before i get started with everything, i want to thank you all for sending me letters and packages. mom, i got the package on wednesday. wow it was seriously all so awesome! the best part by far was the pictures. they were all so good but the best one by far was the one of keeley, paige and bridget. that was seriously the best picture without a doubt. but everything in the package was awesome so thanks a lot mom. i also want you to make sure to thank keeley for her letter and gracie too. they were great. i want you all to know that i love you all. i´m soo blessed to have all.
so its been a good week. general conference was seriously amazing! i´ve never liked conference as much as i did this year hahah...i guess thats what happens when you become a missionary right? but the best talk without a doubt was the talk by jefferey r. holland...wow did he bajó la caña or what?! wow it was seriously so good. i think we all had to pick our jaws up off the floor. i want to just put my testimony with his right now. this church is the church of jesus christ. the book of mormon is true...people have constantly tried to tear down the book of mormon and prove that its not true, but they just can´t. and honestly they never will be able to because its all true. all of the talks were awesome, but his was one of the best talks i´ve ever heard. one thing that i noticed about the talks this conference was that alot of them focused on 3 things: love, family, and the plan of salvation. they are really all connected. we have love because we have families. we have families because they are a part of God´s plan for us.
I wish i could tell you all that matias ponce and abril mesa came to church this week, but they didn´t. we´ve had some difficulties with matias and abril´s dad this week. both are going to be baptized, but we just might have to wait a couple weeks. but i want to thank you all for your prayers for them and for all the other investigators that we have.
mom, thank you so much for writing again this week and for the package that you sent. i was thinking that it would be cool if you were able to send an international calling card before christmas gets here. calling cards are expensive here in argentina so it would be awesome if you could send one to me. dad, it sounds like you all had a good time fishing this week. its about time you didn´t catch anything-hahah. it sounds like lately you´ve all be catching stuff left and right. but keep working hard and know that i love you. sean, i hope that you´re doing well too. i guess i´ll just wait to hear about any sports news or anything. but mom told me that you were able to go to conference on saturday, which was probably sweet. i had to listen to the saturday morning session all in spanish. but elder bednard´s talk was really good. paige, i hope that you´re not having too much fun now that school is all underway and everything hahah. but keep up the good work. oh and by the way, everytime i show those pictures of you to people they always think you´re like in your 20´s hahah. bridg, having having a great time with jillian and keep working hard in school.
i want you all to know that i love you. thank you all for everything that you do for me. i am truly blessed. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
wow so first of all, before i get started with everything, i want to thank you all for sending me letters and packages. mom, i got the package on wednesday. wow it was seriously all so awesome! the best part by far was the pictures. they were all so good but the best one by far was the one of keeley, paige and bridget. that was seriously the best picture without a doubt. but everything in the package was awesome so thanks a lot mom. i also want you to make sure to thank keeley for her letter and gracie too. they were great. i want you all to know that i love you all. i´m soo blessed to have all.
so its been a good week. general conference was seriously amazing! i´ve never liked conference as much as i did this year hahah...i guess thats what happens when you become a missionary right? but the best talk without a doubt was the talk by jefferey r. holland...wow did he bajó la caña or what?! wow it was seriously so good. i think we all had to pick our jaws up off the floor. i want to just put my testimony with his right now. this church is the church of jesus christ. the book of mormon is true...people have constantly tried to tear down the book of mormon and prove that its not true, but they just can´t. and honestly they never will be able to because its all true. all of the talks were awesome, but his was one of the best talks i´ve ever heard. one thing that i noticed about the talks this conference was that alot of them focused on 3 things: love, family, and the plan of salvation. they are really all connected. we have love because we have families. we have families because they are a part of God´s plan for us.
I wish i could tell you all that matias ponce and abril mesa came to church this week, but they didn´t. we´ve had some difficulties with matias and abril´s dad this week. both are going to be baptized, but we just might have to wait a couple weeks. but i want to thank you all for your prayers for them and for all the other investigators that we have.
mom, thank you so much for writing again this week and for the package that you sent. i was thinking that it would be cool if you were able to send an international calling card before christmas gets here. calling cards are expensive here in argentina so it would be awesome if you could send one to me. dad, it sounds like you all had a good time fishing this week. its about time you didn´t catch anything-hahah. it sounds like lately you´ve all be catching stuff left and right. but keep working hard and know that i love you. sean, i hope that you´re doing well too. i guess i´ll just wait to hear about any sports news or anything. but mom told me that you were able to go to conference on saturday, which was probably sweet. i had to listen to the saturday morning session all in spanish. but elder bednard´s talk was really good. paige, i hope that you´re not having too much fun now that school is all underway and everything hahah. but keep up the good work. oh and by the way, everytime i show those pictures of you to people they always think you´re like in your 20´s hahah. bridg, having having a great time with jillian and keep working hard in school.
i want you all to know that i love you. thank you all for everything that you do for me. i am truly blessed. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, September 28, 2009
September 28, 2009: como andan todos?
hey everyone,
wow it sounds like its been an awesome week back at home. it was really cool to get to read your emails and hear what you all did last week and what you´ve got going on this week.
so its been a good week here in bosques. i really appreciate that the family fasted for matias to come to church. i wish i could tell you that he was able to make it, but it didn´t happen this week. we still need him and abril mesa to come to church one more time so that they can be baptized. we have baptismal dates with the both of them for the 9th of october, so if they both come to general conference this week we can baptize both of them. speaking of general conference, i´m seriously so stoked to go. we go to florencio varela to watch it, which is like 2 stations down from us. i really hope that we can go to the saturday session. we need to have investigators to go to the saturday session, so i´m really hoping that we can get some to come. but yeah i´m definately excited for sunday, to be able to see the prophet (haha i just wrote ¨profeta¨) speak. its going to be awesome.
we are really close to having 2 more baptismal dates with people. we have this family, familia vizgarra, who is praying about a baptismal date. they are a family of 5 who we´ve been teaching for a while now. we asked them to be baptized on the 30th of october, so they are going to pray about that. we also have 2 other kids that we are teaching, the familia vubadillo. we asked them to be baptized on the same date and the mom told us that she thought we should wait a little longer. i would really appreciate if you would keep them in your prayers.
mom, thanks for your email. i haven´t gotten your package yet, but don´t be worried because we are supposed to get mail tomorrow. i´ll definately let you know when it comes. but i really appreciate you sending that for me. to answer your question, its still kind of cold, but for now i don´t need any warmer clothes. i can last out the rest of the spring with what i have. but thanks a bunch for the email that you sent, it was really awesome. dad, i hear that this week is kind of busy for you work wise. i know that you´re awesome and i hope you know how much i love you. keep working hard and don´t go too crazy with just girls in the house hahah. sean, thanks bro for the email this week. it was sweet to hear about everything going on at byu. dude, i´m stoked to hear that both byu and the chargers won. it may not have been too impressive on byu´s part, but i´ve got faith that they´re going to get it going. but try not to have too much fun with those midterms. i know that you love them so much, but remember ¨they're just tests...they're not love¨ hahah. paige, i hope that you´re doing well and everything. it sounds like everything is going well in school. keeping working hard and remember to have fun with it. bridg, thanks for your email too. it sounds like you´re having an awesome time with jillian. i´ve got to admit, i´m excited to meet this dog of ours someday too.
i love you all so much. thank you all for your emails, prayers, and the love that you bring me. i pray for you all everyday. i hope that everyone is safe and having an awesome time. and remember ¨keep it classy san diego¨ (haha whats up with me and these quotes today haha¨). until next week...
con carino,
elder ryan hall
wow it sounds like its been an awesome week back at home. it was really cool to get to read your emails and hear what you all did last week and what you´ve got going on this week.
so its been a good week here in bosques. i really appreciate that the family fasted for matias to come to church. i wish i could tell you that he was able to make it, but it didn´t happen this week. we still need him and abril mesa to come to church one more time so that they can be baptized. we have baptismal dates with the both of them for the 9th of october, so if they both come to general conference this week we can baptize both of them. speaking of general conference, i´m seriously so stoked to go. we go to florencio varela to watch it, which is like 2 stations down from us. i really hope that we can go to the saturday session. we need to have investigators to go to the saturday session, so i´m really hoping that we can get some to come. but yeah i´m definately excited for sunday, to be able to see the prophet (haha i just wrote ¨profeta¨) speak. its going to be awesome.
we are really close to having 2 more baptismal dates with people. we have this family, familia vizgarra, who is praying about a baptismal date. they are a family of 5 who we´ve been teaching for a while now. we asked them to be baptized on the 30th of october, so they are going to pray about that. we also have 2 other kids that we are teaching, the familia vubadillo. we asked them to be baptized on the same date and the mom told us that she thought we should wait a little longer. i would really appreciate if you would keep them in your prayers.
mom, thanks for your email. i haven´t gotten your package yet, but don´t be worried because we are supposed to get mail tomorrow. i´ll definately let you know when it comes. but i really appreciate you sending that for me. to answer your question, its still kind of cold, but for now i don´t need any warmer clothes. i can last out the rest of the spring with what i have. but thanks a bunch for the email that you sent, it was really awesome. dad, i hear that this week is kind of busy for you work wise. i know that you´re awesome and i hope you know how much i love you. keep working hard and don´t go too crazy with just girls in the house hahah. sean, thanks bro for the email this week. it was sweet to hear about everything going on at byu. dude, i´m stoked to hear that both byu and the chargers won. it may not have been too impressive on byu´s part, but i´ve got faith that they´re going to get it going. but try not to have too much fun with those midterms. i know that you love them so much, but remember ¨they're just tests...they're not love¨ hahah. paige, i hope that you´re doing well and everything. it sounds like everything is going well in school. keeping working hard and remember to have fun with it. bridg, thanks for your email too. it sounds like you´re having an awesome time with jillian. i´ve got to admit, i´m excited to meet this dog of ours someday too.
i love you all so much. thank you all for your emails, prayers, and the love that you bring me. i pray for you all everyday. i hope that everyone is safe and having an awesome time. and remember ¨keep it classy san diego¨ (haha whats up with me and these quotes today haha¨). until next week...
con carino,
elder ryan hall
Monday, September 21, 2009
Que Pasa
hey everyone,
its great to hear that you are all doing well back at home and at school. it was awesome to get emails from everyone. i really appreciate that.
well its been a really good week. i´m trying to think about everything that has gone on. we had 9 investigators in church yesterday, which was pretty good. we were hoping for more than that, but i know the Lord has blessed us with alot of success. we were hoping to have a baptism with matias ponce this week, but he´s going to have to wait a little longer because he didn´t come to church yesterday. i would really appreciate it if you could pray for him. he works as a security guard, so he works alot in the nights. so its a huge sacrifice for him to come to church at 9 in the morning. i would really appreciate it if you would pray for him and the rest of our investigators also.
we are working really hard to find new people to teach. what we´ve been doing is every time we have a lesson with someone, no matter if they are members or not, we ask for names of people that the people know. we´ve been able to find some pretty good people to teach from that. and really the most important thing is that you just talk to people. everyone has something in their life that you can apply the gospel to. just listening to them and getting to know them. one thing that i´ve been trying to do lately is listen to actually understand the person. to listen with a purpose. to really pay attention to what they have to say.
Today is the first day of spring (yeah i know its weird for me too). but today has been one of the first days that its actually been really warm. its supposed to get way way hot in the next couple weeks. but i love the weather alot more now than when it was cold and raining all the time. its time for me to start workin on my tan hahah.
mom, thanks for your email. i forgot last week to thank you for that story about grandpa. that was seriously so awesome and really special to me. but i want you to know that i love you. dad, i hope that you´re doing well. and since everyone ended up telling me about this new dog of ours, i´ve got to ask...what made you give in?!!? and why did you wait until i left to get another dog? i was seriously thought that there was no way that you would get one. i saw the picture of bridg and the dog, it looks like an awesome dog. jillian right? i was hoping that you would name is something like scruffy hahah just kidding just kidding. but thats cool, i can´t wait to meet our new dog. sean, dude thanks a bunch for sending me an email. it means alot to get emails from you. dude, what happened with byu and the chargers. maybe its good that i´m not there right now because i think i would be wayyy bummed right now too. but don´t worry, i´m sure the chargers will still go to the super bowl this year. actually i´m gonna call it right now, they´re going all the way (thats right i´m going all out haha). but all i´ve got to tell you bro is that no, no signs of any bluebirds yet. i´m "keeping my eyes out for them," but so far no signs of any bluebirds. dude keep me posted on all the sports and how everything is going for you. i love ya bro...paige, thanks alot for your email too. it was really great to hear from you. i saw the card of all the fam...wow you all have gotten so much bigger! especially bridg its crazy! i thought i´ve only been gone 4 months, not 4 years. but bridg, how did i lose this bet of ours?! are you kidding me?!? i´m way surprised that you got a dog...i guess that means i owe you 5 bucks. actually i´ll just give you those 5 bucks in pesos. that´s almost 20 pesos, which can get you a long ways here hahah.
well i guess thats about it for this week. thank you all for your letters and everything. you are all in my prayers and know that you are in my heart. i love you all. until next week...
con carino,
elder ryan hall
its great to hear that you are all doing well back at home and at school. it was awesome to get emails from everyone. i really appreciate that.
well its been a really good week. i´m trying to think about everything that has gone on. we had 9 investigators in church yesterday, which was pretty good. we were hoping for more than that, but i know the Lord has blessed us with alot of success. we were hoping to have a baptism with matias ponce this week, but he´s going to have to wait a little longer because he didn´t come to church yesterday. i would really appreciate it if you could pray for him. he works as a security guard, so he works alot in the nights. so its a huge sacrifice for him to come to church at 9 in the morning. i would really appreciate it if you would pray for him and the rest of our investigators also.
we are working really hard to find new people to teach. what we´ve been doing is every time we have a lesson with someone, no matter if they are members or not, we ask for names of people that the people know. we´ve been able to find some pretty good people to teach from that. and really the most important thing is that you just talk to people. everyone has something in their life that you can apply the gospel to. just listening to them and getting to know them. one thing that i´ve been trying to do lately is listen to actually understand the person. to listen with a purpose. to really pay attention to what they have to say.
Today is the first day of spring (yeah i know its weird for me too). but today has been one of the first days that its actually been really warm. its supposed to get way way hot in the next couple weeks. but i love the weather alot more now than when it was cold and raining all the time. its time for me to start workin on my tan hahah.
mom, thanks for your email. i forgot last week to thank you for that story about grandpa. that was seriously so awesome and really special to me. but i want you to know that i love you. dad, i hope that you´re doing well. and since everyone ended up telling me about this new dog of ours, i´ve got to ask...what made you give in?!!? and why did you wait until i left to get another dog? i was seriously thought that there was no way that you would get one. i saw the picture of bridg and the dog, it looks like an awesome dog. jillian right? i was hoping that you would name is something like scruffy hahah just kidding just kidding. but thats cool, i can´t wait to meet our new dog. sean, dude thanks a bunch for sending me an email. it means alot to get emails from you. dude, what happened with byu and the chargers. maybe its good that i´m not there right now because i think i would be wayyy bummed right now too. but don´t worry, i´m sure the chargers will still go to the super bowl this year. actually i´m gonna call it right now, they´re going all the way (thats right i´m going all out haha). but all i´ve got to tell you bro is that no, no signs of any bluebirds yet. i´m "keeping my eyes out for them," but so far no signs of any bluebirds. dude keep me posted on all the sports and how everything is going for you. i love ya bro...paige, thanks alot for your email too. it was really great to hear from you. i saw the card of all the fam...wow you all have gotten so much bigger! especially bridg its crazy! i thought i´ve only been gone 4 months, not 4 years. but bridg, how did i lose this bet of ours?! are you kidding me?!? i´m way surprised that you got a dog...i guess that means i owe you 5 bucks. actually i´ll just give you those 5 bucks in pesos. that´s almost 20 pesos, which can get you a long ways here hahah.
well i guess thats about it for this week. thank you all for your letters and everything. you are all in my prayers and know that you are in my heart. i love you all. until next week...
con carino,
elder ryan hall
Thursday, September 17, 2009
hey everyone, como andan?
Hey everyone, como andan?
Ok so i´m sure you´re probably wondering why i´m writing you all on Wednesday instead of Monday. What happened was that on Sunday we found out that we would be going to the temple today. The Buenos Aires Temple is actually closing for like 18 months in November, so this could be my last chance to go to the temple here. But sorry that i wasn´t able to tell you that i wouldn´t be able to write you on Monday. I just didn´t have any way of knowing.
Ok so first off, i want to tell Dylan that i´m so proud of him for getting his call. Dude you are going to tear it up in Provo. I´m seriously so stoked for you. and look on the bright side, when i come home from the mission i´ll be able to go to school and visit you...its a win, win buddy. You're going to be awesome.
Last week i got to go to capital with my buddies from the MTC. That was seriously so awesome. Tt was so awesome to be able to see all of them again. They are all doing well. I took some pictures and videos with them, so you´ll get to see all of that sometime.
You also have to be sure to thank Aunt Lorraine for her letter. It was really nice of her. I also got letters from Beehives in the ward, so be sure to thank the Beehive class also.
You´ll never guess what happened at the temple today either. So Elder Garcia and I were a little late for the temple session with our district this morning, so we had to wait until the 11 o'clock session instead. When we went in, guess who I saw...just the Assistant to the President of the Buenos Aires West Mission. Yeah, Zach Woodmansee was there. How awesome is that...and even cooler was that he was in the same temple session as me. It was seriously so sweet. We talked for a little while, and then after we took a picture together. I´m sure by the time you get it he will already be home, but thats cool. After that i went with him and a few others and we all ate across the street. It was seriously so awesome to see someone from home. He´s a capo. The temple is really beautiful also. I took some pictures of all that.
Let's see, its kind of been a crazy week. We´ve been having to do some rearranging with baptisms. I ended up paying for Carlos Fernandez to get married. He set a date for like the 16 of October, so he can´t be baptized until after that. We are going to have to change the baptismal date for familia Oliva also because they still need to be married. They will definately be baptized but it might be a while longer. We also found out that Agustin Dussauge is really only 8 years old. His parents kind of lied to us and told us that he was 9, which would have meant that the baptism would go to us. Instead it goes to the ward. But honestly, with all of this, i don´t care about my numbers. The mission has never been about me and never will be. What matters is that I help to make a difference for these people. I don´t care if i don´t baptize anyone personally. If I help someone get ready to be baptized and then I´m tranferred, I´ll be just as happy as if I was the one to baptize that person. I just want to help with the work.
Thank you all for your letters and prayers. I really appreciate everything that you all do. Mom, thanks for telling me that you sent a care package. That means a lot to me. I´ll be sure to tell you when i get it. Dad, i love you. You are so great. And be sure that if you give in and get a dog, its not a huge dog. I´m with Mom on that one, the smaller dogs are better-hahah. Sean, thanks alot for writing me...i´m stocked to here about the Chargers. I haven´t heard any news about them from other missionaries so I´m kind of in the dark here. Be sure to keep me posted. It sounded like BYU tore it up, which I´m way excited about. Keep working hard up at school. Be sure to keep my posted on the love life too-hahah. Dude it was so funny cause the other day I was just thinking about your little celebratory dance. I can´t even explain it, but was so funny. I don´t know why I thought of it, but it was hilarious. Paige, thanks for writing. Your email was really great to read. I hope that you are doing well and liking school. Bridg, you're awesome. Keep doing what you´re doing. It sounds like i could lose the dog bet...but i still don´t think so.
I love you all so much. Thank you all for your prayers for our investigators. That means alot to me. You are all in my prayers. You´ll be hearing from me soon...it will only be like 5 days now. until Monday...
Con Carino,
Elder Ryan Hall
Ok so i´m sure you´re probably wondering why i´m writing you all on Wednesday instead of Monday. What happened was that on Sunday we found out that we would be going to the temple today. The Buenos Aires Temple is actually closing for like 18 months in November, so this could be my last chance to go to the temple here. But sorry that i wasn´t able to tell you that i wouldn´t be able to write you on Monday. I just didn´t have any way of knowing.
Ok so first off, i want to tell Dylan that i´m so proud of him for getting his call. Dude you are going to tear it up in Provo. I´m seriously so stoked for you. and look on the bright side, when i come home from the mission i´ll be able to go to school and visit you...its a win, win buddy. You're going to be awesome.
Last week i got to go to capital with my buddies from the MTC. That was seriously so awesome. Tt was so awesome to be able to see all of them again. They are all doing well. I took some pictures and videos with them, so you´ll get to see all of that sometime.
You also have to be sure to thank Aunt Lorraine for her letter. It was really nice of her. I also got letters from Beehives in the ward, so be sure to thank the Beehive class also.
You´ll never guess what happened at the temple today either. So Elder Garcia and I were a little late for the temple session with our district this morning, so we had to wait until the 11 o'clock session instead. When we went in, guess who I saw...just the Assistant to the President of the Buenos Aires West Mission. Yeah, Zach Woodmansee was there. How awesome is that...and even cooler was that he was in the same temple session as me. It was seriously so sweet. We talked for a little while, and then after we took a picture together. I´m sure by the time you get it he will already be home, but thats cool. After that i went with him and a few others and we all ate across the street. It was seriously so awesome to see someone from home. He´s a capo. The temple is really beautiful also. I took some pictures of all that.
Let's see, its kind of been a crazy week. We´ve been having to do some rearranging with baptisms. I ended up paying for Carlos Fernandez to get married. He set a date for like the 16 of October, so he can´t be baptized until after that. We are going to have to change the baptismal date for familia Oliva also because they still need to be married. They will definately be baptized but it might be a while longer. We also found out that Agustin Dussauge is really only 8 years old. His parents kind of lied to us and told us that he was 9, which would have meant that the baptism would go to us. Instead it goes to the ward. But honestly, with all of this, i don´t care about my numbers. The mission has never been about me and never will be. What matters is that I help to make a difference for these people. I don´t care if i don´t baptize anyone personally. If I help someone get ready to be baptized and then I´m tranferred, I´ll be just as happy as if I was the one to baptize that person. I just want to help with the work.
Thank you all for your letters and prayers. I really appreciate everything that you all do. Mom, thanks for telling me that you sent a care package. That means a lot to me. I´ll be sure to tell you when i get it. Dad, i love you. You are so great. And be sure that if you give in and get a dog, its not a huge dog. I´m with Mom on that one, the smaller dogs are better-hahah. Sean, thanks alot for writing me...i´m stocked to here about the Chargers. I haven´t heard any news about them from other missionaries so I´m kind of in the dark here. Be sure to keep me posted. It sounded like BYU tore it up, which I´m way excited about. Keep working hard up at school. Be sure to keep my posted on the love life too-hahah. Dude it was so funny cause the other day I was just thinking about your little celebratory dance. I can´t even explain it, but was so funny. I don´t know why I thought of it, but it was hilarious. Paige, thanks for writing. Your email was really great to read. I hope that you are doing well and liking school. Bridg, you're awesome. Keep doing what you´re doing. It sounds like i could lose the dog bet...but i still don´t think so.
I love you all so much. Thank you all for your prayers for our investigators. That means alot to me. You are all in my prayers. You´ll be hearing from me soon...it will only be like 5 days now. until Monday...
Con Carino,
Elder Ryan Hall
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sept. 7, 2009: Hey Everyone Que Tal
Hey Everyone Que Tal,
It's awesome to hear that everything back at home is going well. Thank you for all your emails. I especially want to thank you for your prayers and for fasting for our investigators here in Bosques. I know that you had a huge part in all that has happened. So first off, I'm excited to tell you all that we have 2 more baptismal dates from this week. One is a kid named Matias Ponce. He is about 21ish years old and is actually the son of the Bishop here in Bosques. We've been teaching him for over 7 weeks and he has been progressing really well. He was really excited about his baptism and we are too. We set the date for the 26th of this month. The other baptismal date that we have from this week is with a little 9-year-old named Agustin Dussauge. His parents are members but have been inactive for a really long time. We met them a couple of weeks ago and the dad has been coming to church the past 2 weeks. We are really excited for Agustin and he is really excited because he's been making a lot of friends in the church. One thing that he told me a while ago is that he doesn't have any friends here in Bosques. We are really excited for him. We set his baptismal date for the 19th of this month.
I've got a pretty sweet story that I thought I would share with everyone. So on Friday we had interchanges. Elder Garcia went to El Parque and this other Elder came here to Bosques. He was a pretty sweet Elder from Northern Argentina. He doesn't know much English, but it was still cool. So that day, we were going down this street and I decided to knock on this door...actually we don't knock on doors here in Argentina. Everyone has fences around their houses, so everyone just claps outside the house. Just a fun fact about Buenos Aires. So anyway, I thought we should go to this house. It's definitely one of the nicer places. But we started talking to the guy who owns it and found out that he is in the band Los Dinos. It's a pretty popular band here in Argentina. It's awesome. Then on top of that we were about to leave and he runs inside and comes back with 2 CD's. He signed the CD for me and for the companion I was with. It was so sweet. We got an appointment with him and his family too. We'll see if anything happens with that. I just thought it was pretty cool.
Things have been really hard with Elder Garcia. When we had transfers, I talked to a lot of people and everyone that found out I was his companion told me two things: number one was that Bosques is one of the more dangerous parts of the mission; the second was that Elder Garcia is probably the most difficult Elder in the mission. Neither was news to me - haha. But people tell me that this will probably be my last transfer with him so I think I can hold out.
Another thing that I'm glad to tell you all is that I set a goal that I would memorize D&C section 4 in Spanish in 2 weeks. I'm happy to tell you all that I was able to do it. If you don't know the section, you should definitely look it up - it's a great one.
I want to thank you all for your emails this week. They were seriously awesome. Mom, your email was great as usual. Your story was really great and I hope that something awesome comes out of it. If I've learned anything from the mission it's that we should always listen to the promptings that we have. Even when we don't understand why, just do it because the Lord is guiding you. Dad, I'll be sure to look that scripture up when I get back to the pension. Thanks for keeping me posted on sports and all too. Sean, dude...BYU!!! Are you serious?! How did they beat Oklahoma. That's crazy. I didn't think they had a chance. Wow that's seriously so awesome! Be sure to keep me posted on all that. And by the way guys...what's up with that saying of yours. I've got to say that I got a good laugh out of it - you two are ridiculous. haha. Paige, thanks for writing with Dad and Sean. In answer to your question, you can use whatever you find that was mine. Bridg, thanks for writing again this week. Your dog story was hilarious again. Maybe you can turn those 5 bucks into pesos because I don't think you're getting a dog. But if you do, just make sure that it's nothing like the dogs here in Argentina. They are everywhere and pretty gross. That reminds me, Dad and Sean, I've only been bitten once but it wasn't even a big deal. For the most part, the dogs here only chase you for a block and then they usually leave you alone.
Well, I think that's about it for this week. I want you to know that I pray for you all. I love you all so much. Thank you for everything that you do for me. You are all amazing. Until next week...
Con carino,
Elder Ryan Hall
It's awesome to hear that everything back at home is going well. Thank you for all your emails. I especially want to thank you for your prayers and for fasting for our investigators here in Bosques. I know that you had a huge part in all that has happened. So first off, I'm excited to tell you all that we have 2 more baptismal dates from this week. One is a kid named Matias Ponce. He is about 21ish years old and is actually the son of the Bishop here in Bosques. We've been teaching him for over 7 weeks and he has been progressing really well. He was really excited about his baptism and we are too. We set the date for the 26th of this month. The other baptismal date that we have from this week is with a little 9-year-old named Agustin Dussauge. His parents are members but have been inactive for a really long time. We met them a couple of weeks ago and the dad has been coming to church the past 2 weeks. We are really excited for Agustin and he is really excited because he's been making a lot of friends in the church. One thing that he told me a while ago is that he doesn't have any friends here in Bosques. We are really excited for him. We set his baptismal date for the 19th of this month.
I've got a pretty sweet story that I thought I would share with everyone. So on Friday we had interchanges. Elder Garcia went to El Parque and this other Elder came here to Bosques. He was a pretty sweet Elder from Northern Argentina. He doesn't know much English, but it was still cool. So that day, we were going down this street and I decided to knock on this door...actually we don't knock on doors here in Argentina. Everyone has fences around their houses, so everyone just claps outside the house. Just a fun fact about Buenos Aires. So anyway, I thought we should go to this house. It's definitely one of the nicer places. But we started talking to the guy who owns it and found out that he is in the band Los Dinos. It's a pretty popular band here in Argentina. It's awesome. Then on top of that we were about to leave and he runs inside and comes back with 2 CD's. He signed the CD for me and for the companion I was with. It was so sweet. We got an appointment with him and his family too. We'll see if anything happens with that. I just thought it was pretty cool.
Things have been really hard with Elder Garcia. When we had transfers, I talked to a lot of people and everyone that found out I was his companion told me two things: number one was that Bosques is one of the more dangerous parts of the mission; the second was that Elder Garcia is probably the most difficult Elder in the mission. Neither was news to me - haha. But people tell me that this will probably be my last transfer with him so I think I can hold out.
Another thing that I'm glad to tell you all is that I set a goal that I would memorize D&C section 4 in Spanish in 2 weeks. I'm happy to tell you all that I was able to do it. If you don't know the section, you should definitely look it up - it's a great one.
I want to thank you all for your emails this week. They were seriously awesome. Mom, your email was great as usual. Your story was really great and I hope that something awesome comes out of it. If I've learned anything from the mission it's that we should always listen to the promptings that we have. Even when we don't understand why, just do it because the Lord is guiding you. Dad, I'll be sure to look that scripture up when I get back to the pension. Thanks for keeping me posted on sports and all too. Sean, dude...BYU!!! Are you serious?! How did they beat Oklahoma. That's crazy. I didn't think they had a chance. Wow that's seriously so awesome! Be sure to keep me posted on all that. And by the way guys...what's up with that saying of yours. I've got to say that I got a good laugh out of it - you two are ridiculous. haha. Paige, thanks for writing with Dad and Sean. In answer to your question, you can use whatever you find that was mine. Bridg, thanks for writing again this week. Your dog story was hilarious again. Maybe you can turn those 5 bucks into pesos because I don't think you're getting a dog. But if you do, just make sure that it's nothing like the dogs here in Argentina. They are everywhere and pretty gross. That reminds me, Dad and Sean, I've only been bitten once but it wasn't even a big deal. For the most part, the dogs here only chase you for a block and then they usually leave you alone.
Well, I think that's about it for this week. I want you to know that I pray for you all. I love you all so much. Thank you for everything that you do for me. You are all amazing. Until next week...
Con carino,
Elder Ryan Hall
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
August 31, 2009
Hey everyone,
Wow it's great to hear from all of you this week. Thank you all for your letters and emails. Be sure to thank the Carnohans for their dearelder. That was really nice of them.
So this week has been another great one. We had transfers today. Are you ready to know where I am and who I'm with....drum roll...I'm still in Bosques with Elder Garcia. haha. I thought that would be funny. But I guess no one is really surprised that I'm still here. I expect to be here for at least one more transfer. But Elder Garcia was made district leader. We'll have to see how that goes. But it was awesome because I got to see all my MTC buddies today. Man those guys are sweet. It was so cool to see how they are all doing and I'm also way excited because I get to see them all next Wednesday too because we are all going to capital for a visa thing. It will be way awesome to hang out with them for a full day. I'll let you kow how it goes.
I'm excited to tell you that Elder Garcia and I set 2 more baptismal dates with people. One is with a 10-year-old girl, Abril Mesa, who we have been teaching since I've been here. The other is this guy named Carlos Fernandez. We've been teaching him since I've been here too. Elder Garcia and I were definitely hoping to be able to invite more people to be baptized this week but we are really excited because we have 9 baptismal dates coming up. We had to move the baptismal date of Eliana and Dennis back to Sept. 19 because we haven't been able to teach them a whole lot. But everyone is doing really well and we are super excited for them all. Please be sure to pray for them all.
I want to thank you all for your emails. They were all great. Dad, I'm glad to hear the fishing trip was a lot of fun. How come we never caught 60 fish when I went. haha. Mom, thanks for your letter. It sounds like everything is going great at home. Sean, I really appreciate the email this week. You have to be sure to tell me about all that happens up at BYU and all. Dude you have to keep me posted and don't do what I did and start to not write. Paige, thanks for your email too. I'm glad to hear that all is well. Just remember that I put up with 4 years of seminary and if I can do it you can. Bridg, don't have too much fun at school, ok. It's cool to hear that you have the same teacher that I did. Tell her hi for me.
Well, everyone I better get going. We are going to teach Abril Mesa right after this so pray for her and everyone else we are teaching. I love you all so much. You are in my prayers. Until next week....
Con Carino,
Elder Ryan Hall
Wow it's great to hear from all of you this week. Thank you all for your letters and emails. Be sure to thank the Carnohans for their dearelder. That was really nice of them.
So this week has been another great one. We had transfers today. Are you ready to know where I am and who I'm with....drum roll...I'm still in Bosques with Elder Garcia. haha. I thought that would be funny. But I guess no one is really surprised that I'm still here. I expect to be here for at least one more transfer. But Elder Garcia was made district leader. We'll have to see how that goes. But it was awesome because I got to see all my MTC buddies today. Man those guys are sweet. It was so cool to see how they are all doing and I'm also way excited because I get to see them all next Wednesday too because we are all going to capital for a visa thing. It will be way awesome to hang out with them for a full day. I'll let you kow how it goes.
I'm excited to tell you that Elder Garcia and I set 2 more baptismal dates with people. One is with a 10-year-old girl, Abril Mesa, who we have been teaching since I've been here. The other is this guy named Carlos Fernandez. We've been teaching him since I've been here too. Elder Garcia and I were definitely hoping to be able to invite more people to be baptized this week but we are really excited because we have 9 baptismal dates coming up. We had to move the baptismal date of Eliana and Dennis back to Sept. 19 because we haven't been able to teach them a whole lot. But everyone is doing really well and we are super excited for them all. Please be sure to pray for them all.
I want to thank you all for your emails. They were all great. Dad, I'm glad to hear the fishing trip was a lot of fun. How come we never caught 60 fish when I went. haha. Mom, thanks for your letter. It sounds like everything is going great at home. Sean, I really appreciate the email this week. You have to be sure to tell me about all that happens up at BYU and all. Dude you have to keep me posted and don't do what I did and start to not write. Paige, thanks for your email too. I'm glad to hear that all is well. Just remember that I put up with 4 years of seminary and if I can do it you can. Bridg, don't have too much fun at school, ok. It's cool to hear that you have the same teacher that I did. Tell her hi for me.
Well, everyone I better get going. We are going to teach Abril Mesa right after this so pray for her and everyone else we are teaching. I love you all so much. You are in my prayers. Until next week....
Con Carino,
Elder Ryan Hall
August 24, 2009
Ok so I have a little more time to write really quick. So yeah, we are teaching this family Vizgarra. we were hoping to ask them to be baptized yesterday, but we couldn't fix a time. Elder Garcia and I are hoping to ask them to be baptized sometime this week. About the family Oliva, we were barely able to ask them to be baptized when they told us that they would. It was really awesome. The dad is going through a divorce right now and then the family has to be married, which is why the date is for the 30th.
About being able to speak and understand almost everything in Spanish...it's just what I said earlier: the Lord has truly blessed me with an amazing gift of tongues. That's the only way I can explain it. I was talking with a guy on the train today. I ended up flat out telling him that I'm not here to tell him a lie. I'm here to share a message of Christ with everyone. He ended up crying and telling me about his life. He's been through a lot of hard times. In the end, he wrote down his address for me and told me to come by sometime. We'll see if anything every comes out of that.
That you for all your emails, they were seriously awesome. It sounds like everything is going great back at home. I love you all. Mom, thank you for your letter as usual. Everything that you said was really great. Sean, dude, don't have to much fun on vacation and then at school without me - haha. Paige, I hope all is well. It sounds like you are having a great time. Bridg, thanks for your letter this week. Your dog story is hilarious. I hope that it all works out, but I really don't see it happening. haha. Yeah, I still like to tease ya.
Okay, I love you all, thank you for all you do and all of your prayers for me. You are all inmy prayers as well.
Con Carino,
Elder Ryan Hall
About being able to speak and understand almost everything in Spanish...it's just what I said earlier: the Lord has truly blessed me with an amazing gift of tongues. That's the only way I can explain it. I was talking with a guy on the train today. I ended up flat out telling him that I'm not here to tell him a lie. I'm here to share a message of Christ with everyone. He ended up crying and telling me about his life. He's been through a lot of hard times. In the end, he wrote down his address for me and told me to come by sometime. We'll see if anything every comes out of that.
That you for all your emails, they were seriously awesome. It sounds like everything is going great back at home. I love you all. Mom, thank you for your letter as usual. Everything that you said was really great. Sean, dude, don't have to much fun on vacation and then at school without me - haha. Paige, I hope all is well. It sounds like you are having a great time. Bridg, thanks for your letter this week. Your dog story is hilarious. I hope that it all works out, but I really don't see it happening. haha. Yeah, I still like to tease ya.
Okay, I love you all, thank you for all you do and all of your prayers for me. You are all inmy prayers as well.
Con Carino,
Elder Ryan Hall
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