February 28, 2011-Hello Peeps.....

how are muh peeps back at home doin?! haha
ok so what to talk about first...i wanted to be sure to thank the griffiths family for sending me an email this week. what they wrote meant alot to me and i really appreciated it...oh and be sure to tell the kidd family hi for me this week! i love them all and hope that they have an awesome time on the cruise. tell dan that we´re gonna chat it up in spanish en un ratito hahah.
k i couldnt send any pictures to you guys last week, but im trying to make up for it this week. these are the pictures from cristina´s baptism last week. the first 2 are of us, her, and her family. the 3rd one was the celebratory, ¨post baptism¨ cake that we had. we´ve got a member here whos awesome and makes a cake everytime someone gets baptized in the ward. and the last one is just of cristina, elder gutierrez, and i. i hope you guys all enjoy them!
alright so we officially know whats gonna happen with elder gutierrez and i for the next 6 weeks. do you guys have any guesses first? ill bet that youre all thinking that i left el triangulo. honestly, i think everyone was thinking that. but i think you can almost call elder gutierrez and i a couple cause we´ve been together for so long haha. after this transfer, itll be 6 months that we´ve been comps. but dont think for a second that either of us are complaining at all. we´re super tight and have a ton of fun together. plus we work really hard together. im just really surprised. president stapley was like, ¨ill bet youre kinda surprised, hugh?¨ and i was like, ¨honestly yeah, but just cause i thought that i was leaving the area.¨ i figured that i would be gone from el triangulo after 7 months. but president stapley called us friday morning to let us know and he told me that he didnt feel good about a decision that he had made for me, so we were gonna stay together again. i imagine that he meant that he was gonna send me somewhere else. but im stoked to be staying in el triangulo again!
ok so about the week...we were excited cause we had 4 really awesome investigators in church yesterday. luis went with his son. luis is still progressing really well. we´re thinking though that we´re gonna have to have the baptism on the 19th of march though cause its tough to teach him alot in a week. hes only at home saturdays and sundays. but hes excited and really likes everything that the church teaches...the other 2 that went to church are alot newer. there names are rosa and daniela. rosa is a lady we found a couple weeks ago, and daniela is her daughter. rosa´s got alot of family problems right now, but seemed to like church alot. she made it sound like shell be coming more in the weeks to come.
mom, those apartments would be awesome as long as i can afford em haha. i say that if you can find a place in one of those apartments, id be awesome! thanks for doing this. and i already took care of the email that byu sent. it was just to tell me that they accepted me again for the fall. dad, cooooouuuuugggggaaarrrrrsss!!!!! hahah we´ve gotta be for real to take down sdsu twice. i havent heard anyhing abou the game, but im guessing that jimmer took care of business again haha. sean, dude hows it goin in other sports news? lakers? i hope we still arent thinkin about trading bynum and lamar for carmelo. thats a no go for me hahha. paige, sounds like you had a good show in chorus. hopefully you recorded it so that ¨someone¨ can see it too haha. bridg, that class sounds kinda crazy, but i guess its all good if you do it til you figure out what you wanna do for sports.
aight guys, i gotta go. i love you all. thanks for everything. keep safe and ill talk to you soon.
con cariño,
elder ryan hall

February 21, 2011-President's Day in USA

hey everyone!
well ive gotta say that this was a tough week, but im glad to say that it all paid off. more than anything, we were focused on getting cristina ready for her baptism. and im not gonna go into all the details, but lets just say that when we were doing the pre-interview with her, we found out that she was gonna need an interview with either president or one of his counselors. its not important why...but it was really tough for us to set up an interview with any one of them. like we talked to president on wednesday night, so we didnt have any time anyways. but we talked to him and it sounded like he wasnt gonna be able to, so he had us call on of his counselors. when we talked to the 2nd counselor, he told us that there wasnt anyway that he could do it that week. we started to get a little bummed cause we werent sure what wed be able to do so that she could get baptized that week. and we really wanted to do it on saturday cause we had already announced it in church that she was gonna be baptized. so we didnt want to have to tell everyone that it was cancelled for some reason. on top of that, i got a pretty bad fever wednesday night. i dont know where it came from or anything. but i wasnt able to sleep almost at all that night. and thursday morning, i was still feeling really bad. so my comp thought that it would be better if we stayed in the pension for the morning and let me rest. it was kind of a bad combination of being sick and not being sure if cristina was gonna be able to get baptized that saturday. but i know that we both prayed alot and the Lord has always helped us when we put faith in Him. on thursday, we talked to president stapley again, and he told us that he would be able to do it saturday morning at 10 in the church in adrogué. so we talked to cristina and she really wanted to get baptized on saturday, so she was fine with going over there to do the interview. so saturday morning, we woke up and left at like 8. we met cristina in the train station and went to adrogué. and im super glad to say that the interview went great. president stapley said that she was really prepared to be baptized. i know that she was really relieved also cause shes been wanting this for a couple years now.
the baptism that night went awesome. cristina told us that she wanted one of us to baptize her, but didnt care who. and since my comp was starting to feel sick too, he thought that it would be better if i did it. im always really happy to baptize someone. and it turned out really great. there were alot of people there to support her. i know that its gonna be something that shes always gonna remember. im gonna have to send you guys the pictures next week or something though cause i dont have my camera right now...
it was also cool cause in church on sunday, we were giving the lesson in principles of the gospel (we dont really have a teacher for it, so we always give the class...if someone ever needs a sub in seminary at the end of the year, i dont think id have any problems helpin out hahah). but cristina was talking about an experience she had had with her daughter. its really tough for her cause alot of times her kids dont show her that much love. its really sad to see sometimes. but slowly, they´re changing. but she started telling a story about a lesson that we had had with her in her house, about how i had told her some things that she can try so that her kids start to change. but i guess i told her that she should try to not raise her voice to her kids, even when they drive her crazy and want her to scream at them hahah. but i guess she tried it out one night, and her daughter had a really great time with her, just talking. like cristina tried really hard to show her that she really loved her, and it really had an effect. i just thought that it was super awesome how she was able to take something that i had said to heart. and even better, that it was able to help with her relationship with one of her kids.
other than that, we werent able to do a whole lot of stuff this week. we do have a couple possibilities for people that we´re gonna try and start teaching. we´re gonna see if we can talk to them this week and end the transfer on an awesome note. ill be sure to let you all know what happens to my comp and i after this week. we´ll see if anyone leaves the area, or if we stay together one more transfer haha.
mom, i thought that that story about the returned mission was really awesome. you never know what good something like that is gonna do for someone else. the girl was just saying that she didnt want to go by herself, and it turns out that it helped the kid to kinda turn his life around and even go on a mission. thats awesome. thanks for that story...hey i almost forgot too. so this week i was talking with a friend of mine here in the mission named elder rader. hes going up to byu for the fall also and doesnt have a place to live yet either. we thought that itd be pretty sick to live together at least for the fall. but we were wondering if you and his dad would like talk to each other and see if you cant find an apartment where we can live. here´s his dads email: jeffrader@aol.com . i gave him your email too, so hopefully you guys can talk this week and start lookin around. id appreciate it...dad, bummer about the huge snow storm in cuyamaca. aveces pasa hahah. but its all good cause there will be plenty of fish to catch next camping trip haha. sean, dude im stoked that byu is tearin it up. its all good, go ahead and rub it in my face hahah. bummer that jimmer isnt gonna be there next year though. and dude, that blink cd is never gonna come out. i think youve been waiting for that to come out since you were 8 instead of for just 8 years hahah. paige, ill bet you had an awesome time curled up with jillian on the trip haha. ill bet she gave you a bunch of doggy licks too hugh? haha i remember how much you loved those when i was there hahah. bridg, thanks for the email too. youll have to let me know what you ended up doing today for presidents day. ill bet you took advantage of a day off from school and decided to give dad a full body massage or something, hugh? hahah i mean what else would you do with a full day without school? haha
alright guys, ive gotta get going now. thanks for all your emails and support. youre awesome! keep doin what´cher doin and ill talk to you all again next week. until then...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall

February 14, 2011-Happy Valentine's Day

hey guys,
glad to hear that everything is going well back there in that other country of yours haha. if you get the chance to write kenzie or anything, be sure to tell her that shes awesome for serving a mission and that she is gonna do great in the mission field. shes really got nothing to be nervous about cause if she´s obedient, always listens to the Spirit, and follows those promptings, she´ll be the best missionary that there is. it really is gonna be an amazing experience for her. i was just talking to my comp about how fast she already went in and is now leaving from the mtc hahah. time really flies in the mission. on minute youre in the mtc just getting to know how everything is, and before you know it, youve got 6 months. then 6 more months go by, and then its just like you blink your eyes and the days go by hahah. its crazy and she just has to live every moment and love it all...
hahah so about that story about the world globe...just so that you all know, im pretty sure that that was something that sean got for christmas. i dont know why i would ever want something like that hahah. im pretty sure that i would have asked for something wayyy cooler for christmas when i was littler. im almost sure that that was something that sean got though hahah. but about all the other stuff that you guys mentioned hahah well yeah i did want all that. and its still all awesome just so you know!! that pogo stick was well used if i say so myself. i believe that i broke a couple pogo-stick records with that bad boy hahah. the treasure box, i remember wanting, but i never remember actually getting that haha. maybe im wrong. and the moon boots...well i almost jumped to the moon in those things haha. i think i almost touched the moon when i was wearing those things one time haha. but i just wanna make it clear for you all that i never asked for the world globe. that was my super intellectual brother that wanted to enlighten his mind with more knowledge about our world, aka sean hahah.
alright enough messing around...lets get down to business. the serious stuff...hahah ok that whole serious thing didnt last too long (ive never been good at being really serious haha). but as far as the week has gone, i feel like things are starting to come together. its exciting to be able to see some really awesome things that are happening. first of all, we´ve still got plans for cristina´s baptism this saturday. we have to teach her like 2 more times and then do an interview on friday, and shes all ready. it looks like everythings gonna go smoothly with that. shes a capa too. she always goes to church by herself. like no one has to remind her or help her go on sunday. thats something that i havent seen alot since ive been her. it just goes to show that shes already got a super strong testimony of the church. we still havent been able to teach her kids or anything, but i know that we will all in time. it may take a little time, but what ive learned is that the more we´re around and showing good examples to other people, they gain their own interest to know more. and as long as cristina is always a good example for her kids, they´ll start going and get baptized someday too.
on saturday, we had a really awesome day. like in the last 2 weeks, we had never been able to find and teach luis. he was the guy that went to church with one of the members. but on saturday we had just found a family of like 5 and were both really excited. right after teaching that family, we were like, ¨we should go over and try to find luis.¨ i think that we really did have alot of faith that we´d be able to find and talk to him, which made that difference. so we went over to his house and he was there outside. he let us in and told us that he hasnt been able to talk to us cause he started working monday through friday. but saturday and sunday hes at home, which is awesome. but we talked about the restoration of the church and talked alot about the book of mormon. he was really receptive to everything. and in the back of my head, i was thinking, ¨why dont we just take out a baptismal date with him?¨ but thats kind something thats always been hard for me to do throughout the mission the first time we teach someone. but i know that my comp was thinking the same thing, and with the help of the Spirit, we were able to set a baptismal date with him for the 12th of march. it was really awesome. id love to be here still to see him get baptized...if the Lord needs me to be here ofcourse. but then yesterday, he went to church also and really liked it. hes a capo for sure...
well mom, i hope you guys have an awesome time in cuyamaca this weekend. dad, try to catch a nice, big bass for me. or trout hahah. i think we would always catch rainbow trout, but i cant remember anymore. but either way, be sure to reel on in for me haha. sean, ive heard some rumors about the lakers trying to get carmelo anthony and weird stuff like that. whats up with that dude? if we have to give up bynum, i dont know if im down for it. we´ll see though. paige, just to be sure you know now, i didnt ask for that globe haha. does that sound like something i would ask for? ummm i think we would all be able to answer that haha. bridg, schools not treatin ya too bad is it? or are you having sooo much fun there that you never wanna go home. ill bet its the second one hugh? hahah
k guys, my time here´s up. i love you all. have another great week. work hard, play hard, catch some huge fish, and we´ll be hearing from each other next monday. until then...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall

February 7, 2011-Missing Super Bowl Sunday

holaaaa,
mom, first of all i wanted thank you for looking into some of that byu stuff for me. i really havent been worried about it at all. it still doesnt seem real that ill actually being going back to byu at some point haha. but yeah, ill be sure and have president stapley sign that application sheet...i also wanted to thank you for sending that letter with all the christmas cards inside. its so crazy to see all those families that ive known forever and to see all the kids grown up and stuff haha. its weird stuff. but thanks alot for sending those to me.
well i think that overall, we had another really amazing week. the Lord has really blessed us and helped us to have some awesome experiences. but the coolest thing by far that happened this week was on thursday. i was actually on an intercambio (i forgot that word again in english haha...by bad), so i wasnt in our area. but elder gutierrez told me everything that happened. like so i think ive told you all about cristina, the lady that started going to church all by herself a couple weeks ago. but we havent been able to teach her cause her husband (husband without being married that is haha) wouldnt let the missionaries teach her. he didnt want us to teach her at all. so she just kept going to church by herself and that was it. but on thursday, one of the members from the ward, whos a friend of cristina´s, called us and was like, ¨elders, do you have anything to do right now? ive got someone that i want you to teach?¨ so ofcourse they were like, ¨uhhh tell us where we need to meet you and we´re there¨ hahah. the member didnt actually say that it was cristina until she took them to her house. but it was really awesome. cristina got her husband thrown out of the house. i know that sounds like a bad thing, but he was really treating her and her family really badly. but they taught her that day and were able to take out a baptismal date right away for february 19th. i went and visited her on saturday and shes just one of those people whos really prepared for the gospel. she understands like almost everything and really enjoys it. then she went to church yesterday (she goes every week...capa haha) and took her little kids. shes got a daughter that we might be able to teach also. we´ll see...but sometimes the Lord just blesses us like that. i know that its another answer to our prayers and also your guys´ prayers. so thank you...
we didnt have as awesome of a week for investigators in church as we did last week, but it was still pretty good. luis went again, but we havent been able to actually teach him yet. hes been a little busy with some family stuff and work. but we´re trying hard to find a time where we can go and teach him. and then one of the daughters of a member went to church also. shes not a member either. i think she liked it alot, so we´re gonna try to start giving her the lessons also.
lets see, what else is new? we´ve got interviews with president this week. im excited about it cause we dont have them as often as we did with president asay. now we have interviews every 3 months. but itll be cool to talk to him a little bit. ive been wondering a little bit whats gonna happen to me for the next 3-4ish months. whether ill stay in my area or if i go somewhere else. id say that its more likely that i leave, but if the Lord needs me to stay, im more than willing to do it. we´ve been working super hard here and i think any time a missionary is in an area for a long time, theres always alot of love for that area and especially the people there...aka me in this area and also alto san lorenzo haha.
but yeah, other than that, we´re doin all good. but thank you all for writing me these weeks and everything. i appreciate all the stuff that you guys do for me. i need to get going now though. we´ve got some work to do this week here in el triangulo. so have a great week and we´ll be hearing from each other next week. cuidense...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall

February 7, 2011-BYU Stuff

hey,
im just writing really quick to ask something about byu. i was talking to elder cockriel this week and he was telling me that we have to tell byu that we´re gonna be going back for the fall semester. i tried to go on one of my other emails to respond to an email that byu sent me, but my old emails are all erased after not going on for so much time hahah. so i was wondering if you would be able to call the byu department of something to tell them and to make sure that they know that im gonna be going back for fall. like i also heard that we can start signing up for classes and stuff and looking for apartments, so i was wondering a little more about all that too. im actually planning on living with elder nalder and maybe someone else like elder mortensen (if we can convince him to go up there hahah) for the winter semester, so we´re looking for a place already. i was thinkin that itd be cool to live in an apartment for a semester then they could move in with me too. or if i have to change apartements, its all good. but i was hoping that you could look into some of that stuff for me. thanks...ill write more about the week later today.
con cariño,
elder ryan hall

January 31, 2011-81 Degrees At Night

heyyy guys!
its the truth! its been pretty dang hot here in buenos aires the last couple weeks haha. im guessing that that temperature thing that you guys have on the computer is about right...or close. but id say that it feels alot hotter for the humidity. but yeah even at night, lets just say that no one needs long sleeves hahah.
hey so i dont know if i mentioned this in one of my other emails, but i wanted to be sure to congradulate gracie livingston on being engaged and everything. thats awesome! bummer that its gonna be in april instead of ¨another month¨ hahah but thats just for my own selfishness of wanting to be there for it. but be sure to tell her congrats for me.
so i dont think that ive ever mentioned this before, but this transfer, we decided (just as our district, not our zone) that every week we´re gonna pray for a certain area in the district so that they can do better in the week. this week, it was our area that everyone prayed for. and ive gotta say that i believe that those prayers really made a huge difference for us. yesterday, we went in the morning and picked up olga and gisela to take them to church. when we got there, we were expecting that 2 more of our investigators would come for sure. but it was such an awesome surprise cause when church started, there were actually 7 of our investigators. and it was tight cause it was the stake presidency´s turn to come to our ward so they were all pretty impressed and telling us that we´ve got some people to baptize. and thats the truth. there are a couple of those investigators that could end up getting baptized in the near future. hopefully sooner than later. but we also had a guy named luis who came to church. hes from peru and came to argentina last week. hes staying with a member right now and she brought him to church. he seems like a capo too! he stayed all 3 hours and told us that one of his friends from peru is a member. so we gave him the book of mormon and when he said that he wanted to learn more about it, we were like, ¨can we come by tomorrow?!¨ and he was cool with it. so tonight we´re going over to teach him. i have a feeling that hes gonna progress really fast and that he could get baptized really fast also.
mom, ive gotta say that im pretty impressed that of all the people that turned the lakers on, i wouldnt have ever guessed that itd be you hahah. dad, good job giving emily that ¨little gift of yours¨ before you went back home haha. ill be she was stoked ;). sean, all i can say is COOOUUUGGGAAARRRSSS!! dang ive got a feeling that jimmer freddett has alot to do with how awesome we´re playing. and i think you told me that sdsu has been way good this year. like in the top 10 or something. we should be right up there with them. if ive every seen byu have a change to do anything, it looks like its gonna be the year where i cant see anything haha. ill take the sacrifice, but COME ON TEAMS THAT I ALWAYS GO FOR THAT USUALLY ALWAYS LOSE!! DO YOU ALL HAVE TO WIN WHILE IM GONE?! JUST WAIT ONE MORE YEAR, OR ATLEAST KEEP UP THIS AWESOMENESS FOR NEXT YEAR!! hahah i think i made my point. paige, its crazy seeing you and bridg in that picture at the beach. you 2 are wayyy different! its pretty crazy. and hey, i hope that i wont have to tell you again, but your future husband (aka- mi cuñado) sttiiilllll hasnt gotten a letter from ya. que onda?!? paige i feel like im the only one trying to keep this relationship together hahah. bridg, youre gonna have to keep me posted on the big question of whether you decide to play basketball or tennis. either one would be pretty sick.
hahah ok so i think that when you guys all look at this picture of elder gutierrez and i, its gonna give you all a good idea of the type of people that we both are haha. lets just say that it was raining today (it just happens to rain on pday...it was still hot though haha) and we didnt have a whooollleee lot planned for the day haha. we make our own fun. so yeah, enjoy!
other than that, there wasnt anything too new in the week. the truth is that im enjoying everything alot. ive found that the times that ive enjoyed the mission the most were always the times when we were having alot of success as missionaries too. so im really trying to make the most the mission, enjoy it all, and work as hard as i can...ive gotta go now though, but i love you guys alot. thanks for always supporting me. talk to you all next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall