como estan todos?!
thank you all for your awesome letters this week. i want to just clear up that i did end up getting your letters last week. i checked later on in the day and i got the ones that you had resent. so that you for those and the ones this week. it really does mean alot to me. its good to hear that everything is going well back at home.
so i think that this week has probably been one of the best ones that i´ve had since being out in the field (besides weeks when i´ve had baptisms). we seriously found the best couple that i´ve met in argentina. their names are javier and viviana martinez. they are seriously so awesome! we found them at the beginning of the week and have basically been going over to their house everyday. its sweet because they work at home. javier fixes computers and stuff, so they are basically always home doing that. so we found them, and they were super excited to hear what we taught because they were actually looking for a church. javier was going to get baptized in another church, but he told me that he didn´t want to because they didn´t keep the commandments or really follow what they taught. but we´ve been teaching them and we´ve already taken out a baptismal date with them. and they´re married! thats something that you never find in argentina hahah i swear. we were just talking and i just asked them if they were legally married and they told us that they were. we seriously couldn´t believe it. so we put the baptismal date for the 13th of february. mortensen and i are pretty stoked. we also took them to church yesterday. they loved it! javier was talking in class about all this stuff that we´ve already taught them and they were just answering all these questions and stuff. they are seriously the most prepared family that i´ve ever met in argentina. and the best part is that they sell ice cream at home too! hahah so everytime that mortensen and i go over, we always end up leaving with ice cream. by the way, the ice cream here is way good. my favorite is definately pineapple ice cream. dang its good! hahah but yeah, we are super excited about javier and viviana. i would really appreciate it if you kept them in all of your prayers.
mom, thanks for the email. i also really like getting the notices about vista basketball. its seriously awesome to hear that they´re doing well. its crazy how all these guys that i knew when they were like freshman and sophomores are graduating already. if you ever see charlie be sure to tell him ¨que tal?¨ for me and that we´re definately going to speak in spanish when i get back hahah. dad, dang i´ll bet that its kinda been a downer for sports lately. but don´t worry because the chargers are going to win the super bowl someday haha...hopefully in like 2 years or something haha. sean, dude it sounds like things are getting kinda busy with school and wedding plans. dude thanks alot for the pictures too. that was way tight to see. paige and bridg have already told me that they are going to be bridesmaids, but dude whos going to be the best man?! can there be a ¨best man in argentina¨? hahah but keep working hard and having fun. realmente, quiero que sepas que te quiero y que eres lo mejor ejemplo para mi. gracias por siempre ayudarme y por ser mi hermano mayor. cuidate che hahah. paige, thanks for the email also. sorry if you´ve been sending me letters and i haven´t been getting them. i don´t know why thats happening, but i did get your email today. it means alot to me. i hope that you keep having fun with dance and everything. and be sure to tell me how cheerleading goes. bridg, i got your pictures and emails today also so thanks a bunch. its cool to hear about everything going on with you. mom told me that you haven´t been loving the storms there hahah. i´m guessing you wouldn´t love the storms in argentina either then. fun stuff for sure hahah.
alright everyone...thanks for everything. mortensen and i are gonna finish up and get ready to go back to work. know that i love you all. keep doing what you´re doing. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
January 18, 2010 - Como Andan
hey everyone,
how are you all doing? i hope that everything is going awesome back in sd. i wanted to start off by thanking you all for all the support that you give me. i was hoping that you could thank keeley for sending me a letter this week. it was awesome to be able to get and it really meant alot to me...it was a bummer to hear that you weren´t able to see her last week but hopefully you were able to this week.
well its been a sweet week here in alto san lorenzo. i´m really stoked to tell you all that maria and ester were baptized on saturday and confirmed yesterday. the baptism turned out really well and i´m just really grateful for all of your prayers. i know that the change that maria and ester have had wouldn´t have happened without all of your prayers and everything. i also really wanted to thank you for praying for elder mortensen and i because i can definately feel it. especially these last 2 weeks i know that i wouldn´t be able to do some of the things that i´ve been able to do without all of you. thank you all so much.
ok so i actually don´t know if theres just a problem with my email right now because i haven´t gotten any new emails this week. if any of you sent emails to me i just want you to know that it still means alot to me. i wish that I could respond to them because its always really awesome to hear how everyone is doing back at home. but that you, and know that i love and appreciate you all.
oh yeah so i´ve started learning some stuff in guarani this week. there is a woman who´s actually a member but hasn´t come to our ward. she´s from paraguay and her husband is listening to the lessons with us right now. so i´ve been learning a little bit of guarani, but i only know some basic things. its crazy because its not even close to spanish or english. all the pronunciacions for letters are different and stuff. but i´m pretty stoked to learn alot more haha.
mom, i hope that everything is going awesome back at home with dad and the girls. paige and bridget should be back at school now, so i´ll bet you´re kinda sad to see the house kinda empty again. dad, i´m keeping my fingers crossed for the chargers and lakers. the chargers better work the jets. wait, did they already play this week? shoot i seriously can´t remember if you told me that they were playing this week or next week. you´ll have to fill me in next week or something. sean, dude i´ve seriously been hearing so much ¨panda¨ lately hahah. i don´t know why, but a bunch of people just have it on in their houses so i hear a bunch of their music. its definately good, but i doesn´t even come close to music in english haha. but you know, i still hear some english stuff every once in a while though. paige, are you really starting hip hop? its kinda sad that i had to learn that from my old comp, but its still sweet. you´ll have to let me know if you really like it. bridg, shoot i tried to send you all the video of those dogs in our pension, but i can´t send videos on this email. but i´ll send the memory card sometime so that you can see them...which reminds me, mom, i looked in that envelope and never found the other memory card. i looked through everything and didn´t find it. but yeah i don´t know what happened to it.
alright everyone, thank you again for all that you do for me. mortensen and i are looking forward to this week and hoping to take out some more baptismal dates with a few people that we´ve found in the last 2 weeks. know that i love you all. work hard, be safe, and be sure to have fun. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
ps- heres a picture before the baptism. this is of elder mortensen and i, hermano irisari who actually baptized them, and maria and ester (maria is the older one just so you know)
how are you all doing? i hope that everything is going awesome back in sd. i wanted to start off by thanking you all for all the support that you give me. i was hoping that you could thank keeley for sending me a letter this week. it was awesome to be able to get and it really meant alot to me...it was a bummer to hear that you weren´t able to see her last week but hopefully you were able to this week.
well its been a sweet week here in alto san lorenzo. i´m really stoked to tell you all that maria and ester were baptized on saturday and confirmed yesterday. the baptism turned out really well and i´m just really grateful for all of your prayers. i know that the change that maria and ester have had wouldn´t have happened without all of your prayers and everything. i also really wanted to thank you for praying for elder mortensen and i because i can definately feel it. especially these last 2 weeks i know that i wouldn´t be able to do some of the things that i´ve been able to do without all of you. thank you all so much.
ok so i actually don´t know if theres just a problem with my email right now because i haven´t gotten any new emails this week. if any of you sent emails to me i just want you to know that it still means alot to me. i wish that I could respond to them because its always really awesome to hear how everyone is doing back at home. but that you, and know that i love and appreciate you all.
oh yeah so i´ve started learning some stuff in guarani this week. there is a woman who´s actually a member but hasn´t come to our ward. she´s from paraguay and her husband is listening to the lessons with us right now. so i´ve been learning a little bit of guarani, but i only know some basic things. its crazy because its not even close to spanish or english. all the pronunciacions for letters are different and stuff. but i´m pretty stoked to learn alot more haha.
mom, i hope that everything is going awesome back at home with dad and the girls. paige and bridget should be back at school now, so i´ll bet you´re kinda sad to see the house kinda empty again. dad, i´m keeping my fingers crossed for the chargers and lakers. the chargers better work the jets. wait, did they already play this week? shoot i seriously can´t remember if you told me that they were playing this week or next week. you´ll have to fill me in next week or something. sean, dude i´ve seriously been hearing so much ¨panda¨ lately hahah. i don´t know why, but a bunch of people just have it on in their houses so i hear a bunch of their music. its definately good, but i doesn´t even come close to music in english haha. but you know, i still hear some english stuff every once in a while though. paige, are you really starting hip hop? its kinda sad that i had to learn that from my old comp, but its still sweet. you´ll have to let me know if you really like it. bridg, shoot i tried to send you all the video of those dogs in our pension, but i can´t send videos on this email. but i´ll send the memory card sometime so that you can see them...which reminds me, mom, i looked in that envelope and never found the other memory card. i looked through everything and didn´t find it. but yeah i don´t know what happened to it.
alright everyone, thank you again for all that you do for me. mortensen and i are looking forward to this week and hoping to take out some more baptismal dates with a few people that we´ve found in the last 2 weeks. know that i love you all. work hard, be safe, and be sure to have fun. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
ps- heres a picture before the baptism. this is of elder mortensen and i, hermano irisari who actually baptized them, and maria and ester (maria is the older one just so you know)
Monday, January 11, 2010
January 11, 2010-Hola
hey guys,
ok so i want to thank you all for your emails this week and especially for your prayers. i´ve definately been able to feel them. its been a really great week for elder mortensen and i here in alto san lorenzo. so i guess i´ll just start telling you about it.
so on like tuesday, mortensen and i went to visit maria and ester. ester already has the baptismal date for the 16th like you know. she was progressing really well and kept telling me how she knows that the book of mormon and this church are true. its so awesome to be able to see the change she has had since we first started teaching her...a woman who was afraid to pray in front of us. but yeah so we were teaching them something, and i started talking to maria about why she wouldn´t get baptized also. we´ve tried a bunch of times but she always told us that she had already been baptized so she didn´t need to be baptized again. this time wasn´t really any different, but as we were talking, i told her that it was possible to be baptized again if its not done properly. she was just like, ¨you can be baptized more than one time?¨ so that was seriously so awesome for me to hear, because i pulled out a scripture in acts 19. in the first couple of scriptures of chapter 19 it talks about a group of people who had to be baptized a second time because it wasn´t done correctly. so i shared that with her and after we explained it, i asked her to be baptized. she told us that she would. so we not have maria and ester being baptized this saturday. mortensen and i are both pretty stoked. they both have really strong testimonies of the book of mormon and know that the church is true. i can´t wait for saturday honestly.
ok so its seriously been so awesome having mortensen as my comp. we get along really well (i think its because we´re both pretty weird and outgoing with people. even though i would definately say that i´m the weirder of us 2 hahah). he speaks pretty well. its a little tougher for him to understand everything, but we´ve been working really hard together.
but yeah, mom, thanks for writing me this week as usual. you told me in your letter that keeley broke her wrist. when you see her can you be sure to tell her what a bummer that is for me. tell her that i hope she feels better and that the surgery goes well. she´ll definately be in my prayers. thank you also for telling me about everything going on back at home. i´d like to go to the spanish ward when i get home and just listen to everyone. dad, it means alot that you wrote me this week. thanks for keeping me updated on sports. be sure to tell me what happens with chargers next week. the lakers better keep tearing it up too. don´t work too hard on your days off. you gotta find some time to have fun too. sean, dude i´ll bet you´re way stoked to be back at school now. but yeah bro, trabaja duro, divertete, y quiero que sepas que te quiero (wow that was actually really tough for me because i´m used to talking in vos hahah). paige, araya told me that you are starting dance or something. how does my old comp know these things and your own brother doesn´t even know! that sounds like a lot of fun though. be sure to tell me what you think of it. bridg, one of the dogs that we have in our pension got taken away (of course it was my favorite one...there was a white one and a bunch of black and brown ones. my favorite was the white one and they gave it away). but yeah you´ll have to see the video of it because i still look at it every once in a while and it still makes me laugh. i think thats just because i´m a dork though hahah.
alright well thank you all again for everything. i love you all. keep having fun and working hard. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
ok so i want to thank you all for your emails this week and especially for your prayers. i´ve definately been able to feel them. its been a really great week for elder mortensen and i here in alto san lorenzo. so i guess i´ll just start telling you about it.
so on like tuesday, mortensen and i went to visit maria and ester. ester already has the baptismal date for the 16th like you know. she was progressing really well and kept telling me how she knows that the book of mormon and this church are true. its so awesome to be able to see the change she has had since we first started teaching her...a woman who was afraid to pray in front of us. but yeah so we were teaching them something, and i started talking to maria about why she wouldn´t get baptized also. we´ve tried a bunch of times but she always told us that she had already been baptized so she didn´t need to be baptized again. this time wasn´t really any different, but as we were talking, i told her that it was possible to be baptized again if its not done properly. she was just like, ¨you can be baptized more than one time?¨ so that was seriously so awesome for me to hear, because i pulled out a scripture in acts 19. in the first couple of scriptures of chapter 19 it talks about a group of people who had to be baptized a second time because it wasn´t done correctly. so i shared that with her and after we explained it, i asked her to be baptized. she told us that she would. so we not have maria and ester being baptized this saturday. mortensen and i are both pretty stoked. they both have really strong testimonies of the book of mormon and know that the church is true. i can´t wait for saturday honestly.
ok so its seriously been so awesome having mortensen as my comp. we get along really well (i think its because we´re both pretty weird and outgoing with people. even though i would definately say that i´m the weirder of us 2 hahah). he speaks pretty well. its a little tougher for him to understand everything, but we´ve been working really hard together.
but yeah, mom, thanks for writing me this week as usual. you told me in your letter that keeley broke her wrist. when you see her can you be sure to tell her what a bummer that is for me. tell her that i hope she feels better and that the surgery goes well. she´ll definately be in my prayers. thank you also for telling me about everything going on back at home. i´d like to go to the spanish ward when i get home and just listen to everyone. dad, it means alot that you wrote me this week. thanks for keeping me updated on sports. be sure to tell me what happens with chargers next week. the lakers better keep tearing it up too. don´t work too hard on your days off. you gotta find some time to have fun too. sean, dude i´ll bet you´re way stoked to be back at school now. but yeah bro, trabaja duro, divertete, y quiero que sepas que te quiero (wow that was actually really tough for me because i´m used to talking in vos hahah). paige, araya told me that you are starting dance or something. how does my old comp know these things and your own brother doesn´t even know! that sounds like a lot of fun though. be sure to tell me what you think of it. bridg, one of the dogs that we have in our pension got taken away (of course it was my favorite one...there was a white one and a bunch of black and brown ones. my favorite was the white one and they gave it away). but yeah you´ll have to see the video of it because i still look at it every once in a while and it still makes me laugh. i think thats just because i´m a dork though hahah.
alright well thank you all again for everything. i love you all. keep having fun and working hard. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, January 4, 2010
January 4, 2010-hola de buenos aires
hey guys,
wow so its kinda been a crazy week for me! we didn´t really do anything for new years...but i did see 3 kids try to rob a meat store on the 31st! haha it was way funny because we were walking and we saw these 2 kids running towards us. one of them was carrying this big bag of meat. as they were running, another kid came riding up on a motorcycle to pick them up. but right before they were about to leave, the bag that the kid was carrying broke and all these sausages fell out. i swear there had to have been like 4 or 5 kilos of sausages. but it was funny because he started to try and pick them all up and keep running, but the other kid next to him was just yelling, ¨lets go! lets go! just leave them!¨ so he dropped all these sausages, and they jumped on the motorcycle and took off. it was kind of a bummer because they wasted all that sausage. but it was kind of a cool story to be able to tell haha.
so about transfers...like we were guessing, araya ended up leaving. i really did think that he was an awesome guy. but i wasn´t too happy with something that he asked me to do last night. so we were walking home and i was going to call the district leader and give him our numbers for the week. when i was about to call, araya told me to bump up the numbers. i don´t know why he would even ask me that, our numbers weren´t even bad. i was just like, ¨no way am i going to do that! if we do that, why do we even work?!¨ i really wasn´t too happy with him. i wouldn´t do that. i wish that we could have ended on a better note, but he wasn´t too happy with me for not bumping them up...but yeah, so araya ended up going to a place called chascamus. technically, its a part of la plata, but its actually like 2 hours away. but he was really excited and i was happy for him too...and for me, i got what i was kinda hoping for. i moved up to senior companion. my new companion is named elder mortensen. he seems like a really cool guy. i think the only thing that i was kinda bummed about was that he was a yankee (haha i wrote that like i was saying that i´m not). i really do like have latin companions, but i´m excited to be able to try something new. but yeah, mortensen is from st. george. he told me that he played football in high school (he´s kind of a stockier guy). but yeah he seems like he´s a really awesome guy. he only has 3 months in argentina though. from everything that i´ve seen, it looks like he can speak alright. but i feel really honored that president would put this faith in me to be senior companion. i really just want to work as hard as i can. i´m excited because i see that in mortensen also. so i think that this is going to be a good companionship.
as far as everything that happened this week...lets see, ester is progressing really well! i was talking to her the other day and asked her how she was feeling about getting baptized. she was like, ¨i think we´re going to get there.¨ i just told her, ¨i know that you´re going to get there. you´re ready.¨ so she´s pretty excited for the baptism on the 16th.
mom, thanks for writing me this week. it sounds like you had some fun at the new years dance with paige hahah (hopefully not too much fun though haha). i didn´t hear how much dad loved it so i´m guessing that he would have rather been somewhere else haha. and about the memory card, i didn´t see it in the envelope but i´ll look again. it would be awesome if you could send the other thing though (yeah i forgot the name of it again). dad, it sounds like you had some fun with uncle jeff in town. Sean, dude i don´t konw if its alright to say this yet...if not then just delete it, but i´m way stoked for you and emily being engaged! congrats bro! be sure to tell her that i say hi and that i´ll meet her in a year and a half. but i don´t think that chargers played this week so hopefully lakers and still dominating. keep me posted bro. love ya. paige, so i talked with gub-daddy today ...how come you haven´t sent gub-daddy a letter in like 3 months?! if we´re going to be cuñados, you have to atleast write him once in a while. he told me that he can´t write you back until you write him again haha. and you know what...he´s gotten way thinner! he wasn´t bigger before, but he´s definately in shape (just so you know). thanks for writing me this week, but you gotta write gub-daddy too. he´s practically family! oh and by the way, the letter for araya got here...he didn´t let me read it but he said thank you. bridg, it sounds like you had some fun with brooke in town...oh before i forget! i´m going to tell you something that´s going to make you really jealous. so we have 6 puppies that live outside of our pension right now! they´re so awesome! i play with them all the time. i´ve got a video that i want to show you with them...i´m thinking that you´ll get a laugh out of it.
well i guess thats about it for this week. i would appreciate any prayers for our investigators. if you could also pray for me to be able to not just help my companion, but to also be able to lead this area, i would really appreciate it. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
wow so its kinda been a crazy week for me! we didn´t really do anything for new years...but i did see 3 kids try to rob a meat store on the 31st! haha it was way funny because we were walking and we saw these 2 kids running towards us. one of them was carrying this big bag of meat. as they were running, another kid came riding up on a motorcycle to pick them up. but right before they were about to leave, the bag that the kid was carrying broke and all these sausages fell out. i swear there had to have been like 4 or 5 kilos of sausages. but it was funny because he started to try and pick them all up and keep running, but the other kid next to him was just yelling, ¨lets go! lets go! just leave them!¨ so he dropped all these sausages, and they jumped on the motorcycle and took off. it was kind of a bummer because they wasted all that sausage. but it was kind of a cool story to be able to tell haha.
so about transfers...like we were guessing, araya ended up leaving. i really did think that he was an awesome guy. but i wasn´t too happy with something that he asked me to do last night. so we were walking home and i was going to call the district leader and give him our numbers for the week. when i was about to call, araya told me to bump up the numbers. i don´t know why he would even ask me that, our numbers weren´t even bad. i was just like, ¨no way am i going to do that! if we do that, why do we even work?!¨ i really wasn´t too happy with him. i wouldn´t do that. i wish that we could have ended on a better note, but he wasn´t too happy with me for not bumping them up...but yeah, so araya ended up going to a place called chascamus. technically, its a part of la plata, but its actually like 2 hours away. but he was really excited and i was happy for him too...and for me, i got what i was kinda hoping for. i moved up to senior companion. my new companion is named elder mortensen. he seems like a really cool guy. i think the only thing that i was kinda bummed about was that he was a yankee (haha i wrote that like i was saying that i´m not). i really do like have latin companions, but i´m excited to be able to try something new. but yeah, mortensen is from st. george. he told me that he played football in high school (he´s kind of a stockier guy). but yeah he seems like he´s a really awesome guy. he only has 3 months in argentina though. from everything that i´ve seen, it looks like he can speak alright. but i feel really honored that president would put this faith in me to be senior companion. i really just want to work as hard as i can. i´m excited because i see that in mortensen also. so i think that this is going to be a good companionship.
as far as everything that happened this week...lets see, ester is progressing really well! i was talking to her the other day and asked her how she was feeling about getting baptized. she was like, ¨i think we´re going to get there.¨ i just told her, ¨i know that you´re going to get there. you´re ready.¨ so she´s pretty excited for the baptism on the 16th.
mom, thanks for writing me this week. it sounds like you had some fun at the new years dance with paige hahah (hopefully not too much fun though haha). i didn´t hear how much dad loved it so i´m guessing that he would have rather been somewhere else haha. and about the memory card, i didn´t see it in the envelope but i´ll look again. it would be awesome if you could send the other thing though (yeah i forgot the name of it again). dad, it sounds like you had some fun with uncle jeff in town. Sean, dude i don´t konw if its alright to say this yet...if not then just delete it, but i´m way stoked for you and emily being engaged! congrats bro! be sure to tell her that i say hi and that i´ll meet her in a year and a half. but i don´t think that chargers played this week so hopefully lakers and still dominating. keep me posted bro. love ya. paige, so i talked with gub-daddy today ...how come you haven´t sent gub-daddy a letter in like 3 months?! if we´re going to be cuñados, you have to atleast write him once in a while. he told me that he can´t write you back until you write him again haha. and you know what...he´s gotten way thinner! he wasn´t bigger before, but he´s definately in shape (just so you know). thanks for writing me this week, but you gotta write gub-daddy too. he´s practically family! oh and by the way, the letter for araya got here...he didn´t let me read it but he said thank you. bridg, it sounds like you had some fun with brooke in town...oh before i forget! i´m going to tell you something that´s going to make you really jealous. so we have 6 puppies that live outside of our pension right now! they´re so awesome! i play with them all the time. i´ve got a video that i want to show you with them...i´m thinking that you´ll get a laugh out of it.
well i guess thats about it for this week. i would appreciate any prayers for our investigators. if you could also pray for me to be able to not just help my companion, but to also be able to lead this area, i would really appreciate it. i love you all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
