May 25, 2010-Que Tal

que tal,
sorry that i´m writing this a day late. but i guess yesterday was a holiday and we didn´t really know about it til it was too late. so all the internet places were closed.
wow so last week i told you that we had the best week that i´ve ever had as far as lessons go. well this week we did even better. it was just a really awesome week. we´re working really hard cause when i got here we didn´t have anyone really progressing. now we´ve got a couple people who are progressing well. we´re actually hoping to take out 2 baptismal dates with these 2 kids today. there are always a bunch of kids who come to play soccer at the church every week. so we decided to get all their addresses and go visit them. so now we´ve got some coming to church and stuff. its pretty sweet. we´re hoping that we can take out a couple baptismal dates this week. we wanted to do it last week, but we it didn´t happen. so this week we feel like we could take out atleast 3 baptismal dates.
we had the last zone conference with president asay the other day. it was a really awesome conference, but really sad too. its crazy to think that he´s not gonna be our president in a couple weeks. i´ve gotten to know him really well too. but after the conference, him and i were talking a little bit. he was asking me about javier and viviana from alto san lorenzo and stuff like that. we were both talking about what an awesome family they are and everything. president told me that he felt like i would have a couple families like that in the mission. i really hope that thats true. i know that people like them are there somewhere waiting for this gospel.
mom, let me know what you all end up doing for memorial day weekend. you´ll have to tell me if you all end up going camping or if you just stay and chill at home. dad, i´m definately a bigger fan of soccer now than i was before the mission. these next 2 months are gonna be insane here in argentina because the world cup is starting and soccer is seriously life here for argentines. i´m thinking that it´ll be better for me and the rest of us yankees if US doesn´t end up playing argentina at some time (cause you know that we´d beat em hahah...don´t tell any argentines that i said that haha). sean, dude i think that this is the first time that i´m having a tough time with that band. dude i totally remember the song, but the name of the band isn´t comin to me. its not the starting line is it? i don´t even know if thats a band. dude i really can´t think of the name. i guess thats my guess then. as i´d say if i were on jeopardy, ¨what is ´the starting line´¨? but it sounds like lakers are takin care of business. i´m not surprised that the suns won game 3. i´m not worried though cause that was a desperation win. i´m definately hopin that the padres get some heat going again too. keep me posted dude. i´m way excited to hear some of that new music that you were talkin about too. dude, next dvd...me entiendes? paige and bridg, i met a girl thats in this ward here in platanos who is seriously a mix of you, bridget, and looks kinda like rachel. it was so crazy! i was talking to her the other day and i was just like, ¨you are seriously a mix of my sisters!¨ i wanted to get your email so that you guys can talk. i know that she speaks spanish and you don´t speak alot but i figured that you could translate it or something. but you should definately give me your email so that you can chat or something. her name is mari belen. shes like 13 or something. she does jazz, like bridg was doing. she listens to a bunch of the same music as you two. she plays the piano, reads twilight, and is just as obsessed as paige hahah.
just to let you all know, i wont be able to write next monday either. we have to change next week´s p-day to tuesday. but i´ll write you all then.
well i´m pretty excited about this week. i really feel like elder chavez and i can do some good things here in this area. the Lord has really helped us meet great people. we had a really spiritual experience the other day. it was a really rainy day and there weren´t alot of people letting us in their houses. we had planned lessons, but they didn´t work out. i felt prompted to call a member and go visit him. so we went to his house and taught time a little bit. we asked him if there was anyone that he knew that we could teach. he get really excited and told us that there was. so we went with him to this ladies house. we talked to her and found out that she´s been having some tough times. but i know that we were guided by the Spirit to visit that member and meet that woman.
ok so i gotta get going. i love you all. i hope that you´re all doing well. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall

May 17, 2010-Another Saturday Night

hey everyone,
wow so its been quite that week for elder chavez and i here in platanos. i was about to write alto san lorenzo cause i´m so used to it. i´ve been really liking my new area though. all the people have been really great and welcomed me to the area really well. but yeah its been pretty crazy so far. on tuesday, we went to buenos aires for my comps documents. everything went well even though they tried to tell him that his documents were expired. but we showed em whos boss and got it all taken care of. so then on wednesday, i had a leader´s meeting. it was really good. we talked alot with president and the assistants about how we as leaders really need to step up a little more and set the example for some of the other missionaries.i definately want to be a good example for other missionaries. it was alot of fun though...but even with those 2 days where we couldn´t work that much in our area, we still had one of the best weeks that i´ve had in all my time in the mission. i´m saying that in a good way too -I´m not saying that i´ve never worked before in the mission and that this week was just really good. but we just had an awesome week of lessons even though we were 2 days behind after tuesday and wednesday. it was really awesome to see. elder chavez is a really good guy. he´s a hard worker, but we´ve both been having alot of fun. it makes it alot easier when you have someone like that as a comp. we still don´t have any baptismal dates, but after all the stuff that we´ve done this week, i could see us baptizing some people in the next couple weeks. i really think that in the next few months, this can be an area that baptizes like crazy. so we´re both really excited about that.
we met one family the other day. they are from another area thats like 30 minutes from here called lanus. they´ve been listening to the missionaries there and really like them. the dad and the kids are already baptized, but the mom hasn´t been baptized yet. but she´s really loving the church and is really prepared. so on sunday, we figured that they would go to church there in lanus. but instead, they came here in platanos. we talked to them and found out that they´ll probably be staying here to live now. i don´t know all of the details yet, but it sounds like they´re gonna live with one of the members. so we think that she could get baptized in the next little while, depending on her situation. we´ve also got a couple kids who could be getting baptized in the next few weeks.
mom, i know that you were asking a little about if i was still liking being district leader. and i really do. i like it alot cause i´m able to get to know the other missionaries alot more. i´ve never wanted to be a district or zone leader for the sake of just being one. but i´m really loving it for all that i´m learning. so its been alot of fun and a really good experience for me so far. dad, sounds like the lakers are dominating again as usual. dang, after they win this years championship, they better know that i´m gonna be home for next year. so they better still have everything rolling for this time next year. sean, che i still sing that song every once in a while. of course its from ma band, all time low. hahah so good! i don´t remember what the song title is, but who cares, i think i still win that trivia haha. but dude, thanks a bunch for sending some of those pics too. now i can have a good visual of where you and emily are living. so thanks bro. paige, 20 more days of school! just 20. actually its probably less by the time you read this email hahah. just finish the year off strong and then have an awesome summer vacation. bridg, it sounds like you´re way excited about going up to utah this summer to visit the fam. thats gonna be way fun. you´ll have to let me know if brookie ends up coming down to california to stay for a little while too.
well i thought that i would end with a couple pictures for you all. i don´t know if i´ve already sent the first one to you before. but this is when enzo, from alto san lorenzo, got baptized the other week. i thought that you all might like to see it. the second one is of javier, viviana, nahuel, and i the night that i left. gosh that family is so awesome! hahah
alright elder chavez and i have to get goin. we´ve got some baptismal dates to take out, ya know hahah. but thank you all for all the emails and all the support. take it easy yals haha...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall

May 10, 2010- Mother's Day Phone Call

hey everyone!
wow so it was so awesome to be able to talk to you all last night. it was sweet to actually be able to talk to sean and dad in spanish and be able to understand everything...thanks for the laughs last night too. it was really great to hear from you guys.
alright so i´m officially in my new area. its kind of a bummer to leave alto san lorenzo after more than 7 months. i was able to get to know some really amazing people and just make alot of great friends there. but at the same time, i´m really excited to be here in my new area with my new comp. so the area is called platanos. like i told you last night, its in the zone of quilmes. it seems like a pretty sick area. i haven´t been able to see a whole lot of it yet, but from everything that i´ve seen, i´m really excited. alot of people tell me that this is a really great area. i´ve hear that on average we get over 110 people in church every week, which lets just say, is alot more than we were getting in my old area. it doesn´t sound like we have any baptismal dates yet, but i know that we can start finding some awesome people here. its just a matter of following the Spirit and letting the promptings of the Spirit lead us to the Lord´s chosen people...i´m also really excited about my new comp, elder chavez. he´s a really nice guy from chile. so that makes him my second chileano in the mission. but i´m really excited to be able to learn more of the language by speaking all the time with him. he has about 5 months in the mission. but its actually way cool cause he´s only 18 years old. he told me that, and i was like ¨whatever! thats not even possible! you can´t leave on a mission when you´re 18¨ . but i guess that his dad is a mission president or something in chile. apparently, he was able to leave on the mission early cause his dad is a mission president and he´s finished high school already. so i think that its safe to say that i´m with the youngest missionary in this mission.
mom, i wasn´t really able to read all of your email cause well its pretty long and i didn´t have a bunch of time. but i kinda just read as fast as i could and tried to get the jist of it haha. but thanks alot. it sounds like everything has been really great this week. dad, i´m glad that ¨i´m more important that food¨ hahah. thanks for letting me know that you put me before food paps. sean, dude it was sweet to be able to talk to you in spanish. pero para que sepas, realmente no he visto un pajaro azul en argentina. it was tight to be able to talk to you wife too. paige, that is a sick picture of you and rachel at that disco dance. i´ll bet that it was way fun. it was also really awesome to be able to talk to you last night. you´re one of my best friends too. bridg, you´re just a goof. i thought that it was way funny for you to pick up the phone and react the way you did. plus you sounded a little sick so it was just funny to me.
alright so i gotsta get goin. it sounds like this week is gonna be full of us traveling. tomorrow my comp has to go to buenos aires to do document stuff. so who knows how long that´ll take. then on wednesday i´ve got a leaders meeting. so we´ve gotta work that much harder to make up for that time. but i love you all. thanks for everything. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall

May 3, 2010-Thinking Of You

whats up guys,
so thanks a bunch for the emails and pictures. it was awesome to be able to see how the reception was. its really crazy to see the house and everything again. but yeah thanks alot for sendin all that...i wanna be sure to tell sean ¨happy early birthday¨ hahah. i know that i´m gonna be able to talk to you on sunday, but thats gonna be a day late. so i thought that i should just let you know now. che eres viejo ya jajaj. no just kidding man. but seriously happy birthday. i´m way stoked to be able to talk to ya on sunday.
so this week has been pretty sweet. we had interviews with the president on like friday. it was just nice to be able to talk to him and hear that he´s really happy with what we´ve been able to do in this area. i feel like there is still so much more work that can be done here in this area though. i´m really trying not to think about it, but i really don´t know whats gonna happen to me after this week. this is the last week before transfers. it was like, before i talked with president, i kinda felt like i was for sure gonna stay in this area. the thing is that i just started training and you usually stay with a new missionary for longer time. but i´m not sure after talking with president hahah. he was talking about how this area has turned around alot and stuff and he kinda thanked me for the work that i´ve done in this area. i don´t know, but it just kinda felt like he was saying that i could leave. but personally i don´t care what happens because where ever i am i know that thats where the Lord needs me to be. so i´m just trying to have the mentality that i´m staying in this area for another transfer. but we´ll just have to see what happens.
so we´ve got enzo´s baptism this saturday. thats gonna be really cool. he´s been way excited about getting baptized. he really likes when we come over to teach him. and while we´ve been teaching him, i´ve been learning more guarani. i don´t know why i like learning guarani so much. its such a tight language and just something that hardly anyone knows. the other day i learned how to say ¨we´re from the church of jesus christ¨. its ¨oré haé tupaope ga ñandierara¨ hahah. to me its way sick. i haven´t been able to do a contact with a person from paraguay with that phrase yet, but i´m hoping that i´ll be able to use it...but yeah anyways, enzo´s baptism should be pretty tight.
one think that i´m really excited about lately in this area is that we´re starting to find more youth. we´ve actually been able to find enough that they could start a seminary program, which is sweet. there aren´t a whole bunch yet, but all of them are really liking it and getting to know each other alot better. we´ve got a kid who i already know is gonna get baptized. his name is alan acuña. his parents are inactive members, but we´re trying to help them get back to church. but alan has already told me that he´s gonna get baptized. hes like 14, and the only reason we haven´t set a baptismal date with him yet is cause he wants his grandparents to be there. i can´t remember if i´ve already told you about him. but yeah, he´s way cool.
well thanks alot mom for the email. i really like to just hear about how everyone is doing and what they´ve been up to. so thanks for always doing that for me. dad, sounds like you pulled out some of your ¨rockin moves¨ on the dance floor during the reception. i wish i could´ve been able to see that haha. but be sure to get some tennis in for me now that seans at home for a little bit. and yeah, you guys better go to a padres game or something. sean, dude thats sick to hear about all the sports stuff thats going on. i´m keepin the faith in the padres dude. and be sure to keep me posted on the lakers! we´ll talk more on sunday. and dude about this chargers running back...i´ve never heard of him. i hope that he turns out to be a beast. but i´m way excited about that. paige, mom tells me that you had scripture mastery the other day. i´ve gotta tell you the truth, i´m so glad that i did that now. you have no idea how much that kind of stuff has helped me on the mission. bridg, thanks for the pictures. i´m glad to hear that seans doing a good job of taking my spot in teasing you. if he starts slacking, let me know.
well i definately owe you all a couple pictures. so the first 2 that i sent are of valeria´s baptism. its of elder livingston, me, valeria, and her mom sara. the third one is just of me and elder mclean at some plaza one day. i hope that you like em...well i gotta get going now. i´m way excited to be able to talk to you all on sunday. have fun this week and you´ll be hearing from me soon.
con cariño,
elder ryan hall