hey everyone,
sorry that im writing this on tuesday instead of monday like normal. it was weird cause the internet just wasnt working. but i wanted to thank you all for your emails. i was able to read them all and they were all really awesome.
so this week i think that the coolest thing that happened was with a lady named mary that we´ve been teaching since before i got to this area. shes a really awesome person, but hasnt been able to get baptized yet cause she has to get divorced and remarried first. but we´ve been teaching her and trying to teach her family since i got here. when i first got to this area, the kids really wouldnt even say hi when we went to teach mary. but with elder lucas, we worked super hard so that they would talk to us and stuff. but now we´re teaching 3 of her daughters. but yeah this week we were able to take out a baptismal date with one of the girls. we were hoping to take out at least 2 but one of the girls hasnt decided yet. she told us that shed let us know this thursday if she wanted to get baptized with her sister. we´re trying to get them baptized within like 2 weeks. the good thing is that one of them has already gone to church 3 times and really likes it. and i think that us teaching mary´s daughters has really gotten her excited to work on her divorce. cause with mary all she needs is the signature from her old husband. the problem has always been that she didnt know exactly where her husband was living. but we talked to her yesterday and she said she was going to the place where she thinks he lives and is just gonna hang outside his house til he comes home. shes a capa. but it would be awesome if you could all pray for her so that she can get the papers signed and that her kids will decided to get baptized.
as far as luis and silvia go, we talked to them about getting married last week. it turns out that they were already wanting to get married. silvia has already gone to the registro civil to try and set a marriage date, but they told her that she had to wait til the beginning of next year to get married. so they wont get married in november but they could definately get married by january. elder gutierrez and i were both really excited about that.
mom, thats really awesome that you saw patrick aspel the other day. if you see him again youll have to be sure to tell him that i say hi and that i hope hes doing well. dad, bummer about the chargers, but hey the lakers are gonna tear it up like we´ve gone fore the past 2 years. so no worries haha. sean, che lo podes creer que ya estamos en octubre?! che tu mision voló asi tambien? hahah espero que estés preparado para jugar tenis y todo eso por que te voy a dominar hahah. paige, it looks like homecoming was way fun! i thought that they had homecoming alot earlier in the school year, but thats way awesome that you had such a good time. bridg, hahah sounds like dressing up as a ninja turtle for halloween is gonna be way fun. youre gonna have to send me a picture of that fo sho haha. and ill definately be taking you up on stealing some of your candy next year hahah.
k guys, my comp and i are gonna head out now. we´re lookin to have a really good week so be praying for us. just know that youre all in my prayers. thank you all for everything. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Thursday, October 28, 2010
October 20, 2010-Hello
whats up guys!
sorry for not being able to write you all on monday. i forgot to tell you last week that i wouldnt be able to write til today. we had to change the transfer day to today, so we skipped pday on monday and made it today. but i wanna be sure to tell dad happy birthday!! the big 5-2 hugh? congrats paps.
so this has been a pretty good week and a half. im trying to think back to all last week. ummm, we took out baptismal dates with 2 of the luis and silvia´s kids. we put it for the same date as them. we´re just trying to get them married and to start coming to church. we also took a baptismal date out with a lady named mirta. we´ve been teaching her for a couple weeks now. we were gonna take 2 more baptismal dates out with her daughters, but they werent there when we taugh mirta. so like its all really cool, but i was actually hoping to take out some more baptismal dates with people. the good thing though it that we´re teaching families now.
we found this one couple a couple weeks ago named ramon and rut. rut was really awesome from the start, and ramon wasnt really interested at all. we taught them both anyways about the power of prayer and then 2 weeks ago we passed by their house again. we talked to ramon really quick and he basically told us that the whole church thing just wasnt for him. so we decided not to go by for a week. but last week we went by again just to see how they were doin. ramon saw us and was like, ¨come in guys!¨ we started talking to them both and ramon told us about what happened. i guess ramon was without work and having a really tough time. but after we went by and he told us he didnt want to listen anymore, he decided to pray one day and ask for help to find work. i guess that that day, he got a call from someone telling him that he had a job. so he really changed and realized how blessed he was by just praying once. alot of people could say that thats just a coincidence, but for me the Lord really does bless us even when we do some of the most simple things. but theyre both really liking the lessons and we´re gonna try to get them to go to church this sunday.
so like i said, this was elder lucas´ last week. i was really proud of him though cause he finished the mission really well. he worked hard til the very end...im now with a new zone leader named elder gutierrez. hes from el chaco, resistencia (its a provincia in northern argentina). but he seems really awesome. hes only got like 13 months in the field, but he seems like a good guy. we´ve gotten along really well from the get go, so im really excited for this transfer. i really think that alot of good things are gonna happen here. i think that sometimes as missionaries, we look at our investigators and say that nothing good is happening. but what we forget is that the Lord is already preparing people and especially families for us to teach. like today i got to see javier, viviana, their son nahuel (whos wayyy big now haha), and another kid, allen, who was another convert of ours in alto san lorenzo. they all came to transfer meetings. it just made me think how important missionary work is. like i dont know, to see such amazing people who are so solid in the church now, its seriously like theyre all my family. i really do consider them like that. thats what im looking for here in el triangulo too...
mom, the lakers tickets for dads birthday sounded pretty tight, im not gonna lie. be sure to let me know what you ended up doing. dad, happy birthday again! i hope that youve had an awesome day. love ya...sean, dude bummer in the sports world. dont worry though cause next year is when it really matters. cause you know why next year is gonna be different hahah....paige, sounds like youve got a busy week full of rehearsals and stuff. have an awesome time. hoping you guys can record some of your songs or something. bridg, haha i dont know if you would have said that im always happy when i was at home hahah. at least the picture didnt show my character of liking to mess with you and paige hahah.
alright guys, ive gotta go. ill be writing you all again on monday like normal, so dont worry about that hahah. thanks for all you guys do for me. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
sorry for not being able to write you all on monday. i forgot to tell you last week that i wouldnt be able to write til today. we had to change the transfer day to today, so we skipped pday on monday and made it today. but i wanna be sure to tell dad happy birthday!! the big 5-2 hugh? congrats paps.
so this has been a pretty good week and a half. im trying to think back to all last week. ummm, we took out baptismal dates with 2 of the luis and silvia´s kids. we put it for the same date as them. we´re just trying to get them married and to start coming to church. we also took a baptismal date out with a lady named mirta. we´ve been teaching her for a couple weeks now. we were gonna take 2 more baptismal dates out with her daughters, but they werent there when we taugh mirta. so like its all really cool, but i was actually hoping to take out some more baptismal dates with people. the good thing though it that we´re teaching families now.
we found this one couple a couple weeks ago named ramon and rut. rut was really awesome from the start, and ramon wasnt really interested at all. we taught them both anyways about the power of prayer and then 2 weeks ago we passed by their house again. we talked to ramon really quick and he basically told us that the whole church thing just wasnt for him. so we decided not to go by for a week. but last week we went by again just to see how they were doin. ramon saw us and was like, ¨come in guys!¨ we started talking to them both and ramon told us about what happened. i guess ramon was without work and having a really tough time. but after we went by and he told us he didnt want to listen anymore, he decided to pray one day and ask for help to find work. i guess that that day, he got a call from someone telling him that he had a job. so he really changed and realized how blessed he was by just praying once. alot of people could say that thats just a coincidence, but for me the Lord really does bless us even when we do some of the most simple things. but theyre both really liking the lessons and we´re gonna try to get them to go to church this sunday.
so like i said, this was elder lucas´ last week. i was really proud of him though cause he finished the mission really well. he worked hard til the very end...im now with a new zone leader named elder gutierrez. hes from el chaco, resistencia (its a provincia in northern argentina). but he seems really awesome. hes only got like 13 months in the field, but he seems like a good guy. we´ve gotten along really well from the get go, so im really excited for this transfer. i really think that alot of good things are gonna happen here. i think that sometimes as missionaries, we look at our investigators and say that nothing good is happening. but what we forget is that the Lord is already preparing people and especially families for us to teach. like today i got to see javier, viviana, their son nahuel (whos wayyy big now haha), and another kid, allen, who was another convert of ours in alto san lorenzo. they all came to transfer meetings. it just made me think how important missionary work is. like i dont know, to see such amazing people who are so solid in the church now, its seriously like theyre all my family. i really do consider them like that. thats what im looking for here in el triangulo too...
mom, the lakers tickets for dads birthday sounded pretty tight, im not gonna lie. be sure to let me know what you ended up doing. dad, happy birthday again! i hope that youve had an awesome day. love ya...sean, dude bummer in the sports world. dont worry though cause next year is when it really matters. cause you know why next year is gonna be different hahah....paige, sounds like youve got a busy week full of rehearsals and stuff. have an awesome time. hoping you guys can record some of your songs or something. bridg, haha i dont know if you would have said that im always happy when i was at home hahah. at least the picture didnt show my character of liking to mess with you and paige hahah.
alright guys, ive gotta go. ill be writing you all again on monday like normal, so dont worry about that hahah. thanks for all you guys do for me. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, October 11, 2010
October 11, 2010-Greetings
hey guys,
wow so a bunch has happened back at home. congrats wayne sleight on getting married! shoot like all you guys are gettin married now. thats really awesome though. i also wanted to wish emily a happy early birthday. i know that its this thursday, but i cant write then, so i just have to tell ya now. how old does that make you? just out of curiousity hahah...
so this week has had its ups and its downs. i think that the best thing that happened this week was that we took out 2 baptismal dates with a couple named luis and silvia. we found them a couple weeks ago and they seem really awesome. with like all their kids that live there with them they´re like 10 or something. i know that like at least 3 are older than 8 so we might be able to take out a couple more baptismal fechas. we´ve got a lesson with them later tonight so well see what happens. it would be so sick to have them all get baptized. i really think that itll happen. luis and silvia are married yet though. we put the baptism for like the middle of november so hopefully they can get married before that. but the really are a pretty poor family. like the house that they live it is really small and really low, which makes it tough for me to go inside haha. i usually just have to crouch down to walk in. it doesnt make it alot easier being a family of like a million either. both luis and silvia work as people that collect bottles and plastic and then take it all to capital. its a really tough job and lets just say that it doesnt make the best money in the world. but both of them are really humble, they like everything that we´ve taught them alot, and were excited when we asked them to be baptized. the wife, silvia probably understands things a little better than luis, but hes really willing to do things that will help his family to be happier. ill be sure to keep you all posted on how they progress and if we can set a marriage date for them soon.
other than that, it was kind of a tough week for elder lucas and i. like compared to the other weeks that we´ve been having here, we werent super happy with everything that happened. alot of the people that we thought we were gonna teach this week, werent there or werent able to talk to us then. but i guess that just means that this week is gonna have to be awesome then. i feel like it will. its lucas´ last full week as a missionary, so we both really wanna work hard so that he can end well. im really proud of him cause alot of the missionaries get pretty trunky by the end of the mission, but hes done really well. he tells me alot that he doesnt feel ready to be done. so this week we´re just gonna go all out and try to invite as many people as we can to be baptized.
mom, im gonna take ya up on that albertos burrito hahah. in our pension here, we have 4 missionaries. one is a new missionary from mexico and the other day we made tacos. it was like the second or third time that ive had tacos in the mission. dang they were sooo good. and one of our members here in this ward has an avocado tree, so we made guacamole too. so sweet. dad, it sounds like it was a sad week in sports this week. sean broke the news to me that the chargers lost to the raiders. what a bummer! i guess its better that i cant see any of it this year, hugh? sean, dude be sure to tell emily happy birthday for me. dang that a day to remember cd is gonna be way sweet too. as long as there isnt all that screaming hahah. remember when you would always want to buy the songs where they´d scream alot and i always wanted the acoustic ones or something? well i havent changed at all dude. im stickin with the stuff that isnt like that lame screaming. paige, hope everything is goin well with school and stuff. keep havin fun with cheerleading too. some of the missionaries saw a cheerleading picture of you and i just told them that you were already a gubler, so dont worry hahah. bridg, here in argentina we dont really celebrate halloween. like everyone knows what it is and stuff. but its definately not as cool as back home where everyone dresses up and stuff. only a couple people do it.
k guys i gotsta go. thanks for the prayers and everything. id really appreciate the prayers for luis, silvia, and the rest of their family (i cant remember all the names cause there are too many hahah). i love ya all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
wow so a bunch has happened back at home. congrats wayne sleight on getting married! shoot like all you guys are gettin married now. thats really awesome though. i also wanted to wish emily a happy early birthday. i know that its this thursday, but i cant write then, so i just have to tell ya now. how old does that make you? just out of curiousity hahah...
so this week has had its ups and its downs. i think that the best thing that happened this week was that we took out 2 baptismal dates with a couple named luis and silvia. we found them a couple weeks ago and they seem really awesome. with like all their kids that live there with them they´re like 10 or something. i know that like at least 3 are older than 8 so we might be able to take out a couple more baptismal fechas. we´ve got a lesson with them later tonight so well see what happens. it would be so sick to have them all get baptized. i really think that itll happen. luis and silvia are married yet though. we put the baptism for like the middle of november so hopefully they can get married before that. but the really are a pretty poor family. like the house that they live it is really small and really low, which makes it tough for me to go inside haha. i usually just have to crouch down to walk in. it doesnt make it alot easier being a family of like a million either. both luis and silvia work as people that collect bottles and plastic and then take it all to capital. its a really tough job and lets just say that it doesnt make the best money in the world. but both of them are really humble, they like everything that we´ve taught them alot, and were excited when we asked them to be baptized. the wife, silvia probably understands things a little better than luis, but hes really willing to do things that will help his family to be happier. ill be sure to keep you all posted on how they progress and if we can set a marriage date for them soon.
other than that, it was kind of a tough week for elder lucas and i. like compared to the other weeks that we´ve been having here, we werent super happy with everything that happened. alot of the people that we thought we were gonna teach this week, werent there or werent able to talk to us then. but i guess that just means that this week is gonna have to be awesome then. i feel like it will. its lucas´ last full week as a missionary, so we both really wanna work hard so that he can end well. im really proud of him cause alot of the missionaries get pretty trunky by the end of the mission, but hes done really well. he tells me alot that he doesnt feel ready to be done. so this week we´re just gonna go all out and try to invite as many people as we can to be baptized.
mom, im gonna take ya up on that albertos burrito hahah. in our pension here, we have 4 missionaries. one is a new missionary from mexico and the other day we made tacos. it was like the second or third time that ive had tacos in the mission. dang they were sooo good. and one of our members here in this ward has an avocado tree, so we made guacamole too. so sweet. dad, it sounds like it was a sad week in sports this week. sean broke the news to me that the chargers lost to the raiders. what a bummer! i guess its better that i cant see any of it this year, hugh? sean, dude be sure to tell emily happy birthday for me. dang that a day to remember cd is gonna be way sweet too. as long as there isnt all that screaming hahah. remember when you would always want to buy the songs where they´d scream alot and i always wanted the acoustic ones or something? well i havent changed at all dude. im stickin with the stuff that isnt like that lame screaming. paige, hope everything is goin well with school and stuff. keep havin fun with cheerleading too. some of the missionaries saw a cheerleading picture of you and i just told them that you were already a gubler, so dont worry hahah. bridg, here in argentina we dont really celebrate halloween. like everyone knows what it is and stuff. but its definately not as cool as back home where everyone dresses up and stuff. only a couple people do it.
k guys i gotsta go. thanks for the prayers and everything. id really appreciate the prayers for luis, silvia, and the rest of their family (i cant remember all the names cause there are too many hahah). i love ya all. until next week...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
October 4, 2010-Congrats Makenzie
whats up guys!!
well i wanna be sure to tell kenzie right off the bat how stoked i am that she got her mission call. i was bummed that she wasnt going to lovely buenos aires sur but i know that shes gonna be such an awesome missionary for the people there in missouri. i think the tips that id give her right now would be to read the book of mormon from cover to cover, start reading as much from preach my gospel as she can, and eat a burrito from albertos/philibertos cause you never know if youre gonna be able to eat it for another 1 and a half hahah. i also wanted to congrat ryan carnohan on getting engaged! thats awesome! oh and be sure to tell dan congrats on finished his mission as soon as you see him. dan is such a capo!
well this week here was actually really different from what normally goes on. it was mostly cause all week we were in leadership meetings. like monday to friday we were just all sittin and learning. ive gotta say that i was pretty worn out. it was weird cause i was more tired from just sitting there most of the day than i am from working all day. but it was cool cause like all my friends were there...mortensen, gub-daddy (mi cuñado), nalder (who i dont know if i mentioned it, but came back to the mission like 3 months ago...its so awesome to have him back in the mission again!), mclean, cockriel, palmer, and just like everyone else. i ended up hanging with all of them most of the time. it was so sweet to be able to see all of them again. but like the rest of the week was pretty tough to work. like we didnt have that much time to be in our area. plus with conference, it just made working in the area almost impossible. we actually decided to not go to the saturday session of conference cause we hadnt been able to work that much and we wanted to get a full day of work in. so we had to kinda sacrifice the conference, but its all good.
speaking of conference this week...dang it was sick! like we had some good investigators that showed up for it and everything. but me and a bunch of other yankees went upstairs during the session and we listened to conference in english. it was sick cause upstairs you have the church offices and they have couches there. so we were all just sittin comfortable on the couches and eating hahah. and i really loved the talks! i thought that the apostles and leaders of the church really talked alot about parents and their role and sin, specifically related to the law of chastity. but i thought that they were all awesome! it made me really grateful for having you 2, mom and dad, as my parents. like i know that i wasnt always the easiest kid to handle, but i can say that you taught me and the others well. thanks...
mom, i think that its really awesome that you sent that email the other day. be sure and let me know when you hear back. dad, when m. russell ballard talked about fishing, it so made me think of goin with you on fishing trips and stuff. they showed the rivers and the guy catching the fish and i was just like, ¨awwww!¨ hahah. then when he realed it in, i was like, ¨its not even that big! my dad, my brother, and i would catch a bigger one!¨ hahah were gonna have to make a trip sometime. sean, dude im stoked about chargers. they better get things going now. i was bummed to hear about the padres just missin out on the playoffs. well i guess we shouldnt have gotten our hopes up. just another normal padres year hahah. byu is just bad this year. when i hear that they lost to utah st. i had to hold back from throwing up hahah just kidding. i dont even care if utah st is doing well or getting better, we should still beat them. but for your movie trivia, dude of course its ¨nacho libre.¨ haha one time i was in a members house and they had it on right during that part hahah. i was laughing so hard dude. paige, hope that youre still loving cheerleading at the academy and stuff. mom may be a big fan of some of these guys there in the academy, but as they say here, ¨no los hagas caso¨. maybe dad or sean can translate that one for ya. bridg, thanks for the email. bummer that you had to go back to school today and all, but hey, only like 4 more days and its the weekend again.
well i best be gettin goin. thank you all for your emails, prayers, and everything. be safe and have a great week. until the next one...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
well i wanna be sure to tell kenzie right off the bat how stoked i am that she got her mission call. i was bummed that she wasnt going to lovely buenos aires sur but i know that shes gonna be such an awesome missionary for the people there in missouri. i think the tips that id give her right now would be to read the book of mormon from cover to cover, start reading as much from preach my gospel as she can, and eat a burrito from albertos/philibertos cause you never know if youre gonna be able to eat it for another 1 and a half hahah. i also wanted to congrat ryan carnohan on getting engaged! thats awesome! oh and be sure to tell dan congrats on finished his mission as soon as you see him. dan is such a capo!
well this week here was actually really different from what normally goes on. it was mostly cause all week we were in leadership meetings. like monday to friday we were just all sittin and learning. ive gotta say that i was pretty worn out. it was weird cause i was more tired from just sitting there most of the day than i am from working all day. but it was cool cause like all my friends were there...mortensen, gub-daddy (mi cuñado), nalder (who i dont know if i mentioned it, but came back to the mission like 3 months ago...its so awesome to have him back in the mission again!), mclean, cockriel, palmer, and just like everyone else. i ended up hanging with all of them most of the time. it was so sweet to be able to see all of them again. but like the rest of the week was pretty tough to work. like we didnt have that much time to be in our area. plus with conference, it just made working in the area almost impossible. we actually decided to not go to the saturday session of conference cause we hadnt been able to work that much and we wanted to get a full day of work in. so we had to kinda sacrifice the conference, but its all good.
speaking of conference this week...dang it was sick! like we had some good investigators that showed up for it and everything. but me and a bunch of other yankees went upstairs during the session and we listened to conference in english. it was sick cause upstairs you have the church offices and they have couches there. so we were all just sittin comfortable on the couches and eating hahah. and i really loved the talks! i thought that the apostles and leaders of the church really talked alot about parents and their role and sin, specifically related to the law of chastity. but i thought that they were all awesome! it made me really grateful for having you 2, mom and dad, as my parents. like i know that i wasnt always the easiest kid to handle, but i can say that you taught me and the others well. thanks...
mom, i think that its really awesome that you sent that email the other day. be sure and let me know when you hear back. dad, when m. russell ballard talked about fishing, it so made me think of goin with you on fishing trips and stuff. they showed the rivers and the guy catching the fish and i was just like, ¨awwww!¨ hahah. then when he realed it in, i was like, ¨its not even that big! my dad, my brother, and i would catch a bigger one!¨ hahah were gonna have to make a trip sometime. sean, dude im stoked about chargers. they better get things going now. i was bummed to hear about the padres just missin out on the playoffs. well i guess we shouldnt have gotten our hopes up. just another normal padres year hahah. byu is just bad this year. when i hear that they lost to utah st. i had to hold back from throwing up hahah just kidding. i dont even care if utah st is doing well or getting better, we should still beat them. but for your movie trivia, dude of course its ¨nacho libre.¨ haha one time i was in a members house and they had it on right during that part hahah. i was laughing so hard dude. paige, hope that youre still loving cheerleading at the academy and stuff. mom may be a big fan of some of these guys there in the academy, but as they say here, ¨no los hagas caso¨. maybe dad or sean can translate that one for ya. bridg, thanks for the email. bummer that you had to go back to school today and all, but hey, only like 4 more days and its the weekend again.
well i best be gettin goin. thank you all for your emails, prayers, and everything. be safe and have a great week. until the next one...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
September 27, 2010- It's Monday
hey guys!
well its been another really awesome week here in el triangulo. things have been going well and elder lucas and i are working really hard to find more people that can get baptized this transfer. one thing that we´ve been focusing on alot lately has been teaching to complete families. i know that the mission is really asking that we do that too because we got a new rule just recently that we cant teach the second lesson to a woman unless we´ve already talked to the husband or tried to teach him. thats really the point of the gospel...to bring families closer together and have an eternal family. so one thing that we´ve been doing alot lately is just trying to talk to all the guys that we see outside of their houses. we´ve actually had alot of success with it.
so we had 2 really awesome experiences that happened this week...on like wednesday, we decided to have exchanges. since we´re zone leaders, we can pretty much do them whenever and with anyone in the zone. so we did it with a companionship, with a missionary thats training this transfer and his ¨hijo¨. but i offered to stay in the area with the new missionary and let elder lucas go to the other area. but now im really happy that i did. so i was walking with the new missionary and we were heading to a lesson that wasnt super fixed. we passed a family sitting outside their house just drinking mate and talking. the dad look at us and said hi. we said hi back and just kinda kept walking. after we walked past him, i kept thinking to myself, ¨why didnt we talk to them?!?¨ then i just had a super strong feeling that we had to go back and talk to them. but i kept walking and wasnt really sure what to do hahah. we got about a block away, and i turned to the new missionary and was like, ¨we´ve gotta go back and talk to them.¨ so we walked back and started to just talk. it turns out that that dad had listened to the missionaries like 7 years ago and he thought that we were the same ones. the wife is a less-active member. but the let us in and we had an awesome lesson. for me it was just really spiritual. one thing ive learned in the mission is that if you ever get a feeling like that, you have to follow it. don´t ever ignore that feeling to do something because its a prompting from the Spirit.
the next experience was actually that same day. so we were both just really excited about finding that family. but we had like an hour or so to just do contacts, so we went to this new area that we started working in like 3 weeks ago. the first door we clap, a little girl comes out and says, ¨my mom´s busy!¨ (trust me thats one of the most common things that you hear here), but i was like, ¨just have her come for 2 minutes...¨ so the girl goes inside to get her mom. the mom comes out and is like, ¨come in!¨ to be honest, it kinda surprised me after what her daughter said. but we went in and talk to her and her son. we had such an awesome lesson. we talked about baptism and everything. they were super excited about it and we could actually baptize like 3 or 4 of them...it was a really awesome day.
mom, sorry i havent been able to read all of email yet so i cant really respond to that much stuff that you said. i just kinda had to skim through it, but im gonna print it off and read it later on or something. but from what i read...i think that the thanksgiving card is really awesome. i really like all the pictures. the one with javier, viviana, nahuel, and i is one of my favorites. that family is so special to me. they gave me one of the pictures right before i left, so i always carry that around with me too. dad, dang bummer week for sports. i think that youre right about the chargers though. for some reason, we can never seem to get things going right off the bat. but i think that we´ll get it going and take control like we usually do. sean, che gracias por el email hoy. en verdad, me ayuda muchisimo cuando escucho de vos (si te voy a hablar en vos hahah porque me acostubre ya haha). pero me parece que te gusta la escuela mucha ahora haha. te vas a divertir. che los deportes van mal ahora porque yo no estoy alla. me van a esperar hasta que yo esté haha. mandá saludos a emily. paige, mom attached a picture of you in one of your games cheerleading. it still really surprises me to see you with dark hair, but i think ill get used to it after a while haha. its just hard to see something different after seeing the same hair color for 14 years. but it looks really good! bridg, thanks for the email from you and dad. sounds like this week was a really good one for ya (cant say the same thing for dad haha). going swimming sounds way awesome! hahah we´re definately gonna plan for some swimming when im home.
so this week is gonna be good. we´ve got meetings all week so it should go really fast...but thank you all for your emails and everything. i hope that you all have a great week. until the next one...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
well its been another really awesome week here in el triangulo. things have been going well and elder lucas and i are working really hard to find more people that can get baptized this transfer. one thing that we´ve been focusing on alot lately has been teaching to complete families. i know that the mission is really asking that we do that too because we got a new rule just recently that we cant teach the second lesson to a woman unless we´ve already talked to the husband or tried to teach him. thats really the point of the gospel...to bring families closer together and have an eternal family. so one thing that we´ve been doing alot lately is just trying to talk to all the guys that we see outside of their houses. we´ve actually had alot of success with it.
so we had 2 really awesome experiences that happened this week...on like wednesday, we decided to have exchanges. since we´re zone leaders, we can pretty much do them whenever and with anyone in the zone. so we did it with a companionship, with a missionary thats training this transfer and his ¨hijo¨. but i offered to stay in the area with the new missionary and let elder lucas go to the other area. but now im really happy that i did. so i was walking with the new missionary and we were heading to a lesson that wasnt super fixed. we passed a family sitting outside their house just drinking mate and talking. the dad look at us and said hi. we said hi back and just kinda kept walking. after we walked past him, i kept thinking to myself, ¨why didnt we talk to them?!?¨ then i just had a super strong feeling that we had to go back and talk to them. but i kept walking and wasnt really sure what to do hahah. we got about a block away, and i turned to the new missionary and was like, ¨we´ve gotta go back and talk to them.¨ so we walked back and started to just talk. it turns out that that dad had listened to the missionaries like 7 years ago and he thought that we were the same ones. the wife is a less-active member. but the let us in and we had an awesome lesson. for me it was just really spiritual. one thing ive learned in the mission is that if you ever get a feeling like that, you have to follow it. don´t ever ignore that feeling to do something because its a prompting from the Spirit.
the next experience was actually that same day. so we were both just really excited about finding that family. but we had like an hour or so to just do contacts, so we went to this new area that we started working in like 3 weeks ago. the first door we clap, a little girl comes out and says, ¨my mom´s busy!¨ (trust me thats one of the most common things that you hear here), but i was like, ¨just have her come for 2 minutes...¨ so the girl goes inside to get her mom. the mom comes out and is like, ¨come in!¨ to be honest, it kinda surprised me after what her daughter said. but we went in and talk to her and her son. we had such an awesome lesson. we talked about baptism and everything. they were super excited about it and we could actually baptize like 3 or 4 of them...it was a really awesome day.
mom, sorry i havent been able to read all of email yet so i cant really respond to that much stuff that you said. i just kinda had to skim through it, but im gonna print it off and read it later on or something. but from what i read...i think that the thanksgiving card is really awesome. i really like all the pictures. the one with javier, viviana, nahuel, and i is one of my favorites. that family is so special to me. they gave me one of the pictures right before i left, so i always carry that around with me too. dad, dang bummer week for sports. i think that youre right about the chargers though. for some reason, we can never seem to get things going right off the bat. but i think that we´ll get it going and take control like we usually do. sean, che gracias por el email hoy. en verdad, me ayuda muchisimo cuando escucho de vos (si te voy a hablar en vos hahah porque me acostubre ya haha). pero me parece que te gusta la escuela mucha ahora haha. te vas a divertir. che los deportes van mal ahora porque yo no estoy alla. me van a esperar hasta que yo esté haha. mandá saludos a emily. paige, mom attached a picture of you in one of your games cheerleading. it still really surprises me to see you with dark hair, but i think ill get used to it after a while haha. its just hard to see something different after seeing the same hair color for 14 years. but it looks really good! bridg, thanks for the email from you and dad. sounds like this week was a really good one for ya (cant say the same thing for dad haha). going swimming sounds way awesome! hahah we´re definately gonna plan for some swimming when im home.
so this week is gonna be good. we´ve got meetings all week so it should go really fast...but thank you all for your emails and everything. i hope that you all have a great week. until the next one...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, September 20, 2010
September 20, 2010 - worn out shoes
hey everyone,
well im glad that you were able to get the pictures that i sent this morning. by now you already know from the pictures that julian got baptized. it was a really cool experience. he got baptized by one of the members on saturday and then was confirmed sunday morning during church. mercedez was able to go to the actual baptism on saturday, but had to miss the confirmation on sunday cause she couldnt leave her daughter at home by herself. i dont know if i ever told you, but her actual daughter whos like 21 has a brain problem. its where like her brain stopped growing. so its really tough for their whole family. they cant really ever leave her alone cause every once in a while she has some kind of attack and if no one is there to help her, she could die. so mercedez had to stay at home on sunday. but julian was really excited. we were super excited for him too.
oh ok so ive got some pretty awesome news. At least its way cool for me haha...so you all remember javier and viviana from alto san lorenzo? well elder mortensen was sent back to that zone in villa elvira this transfer. his area is actually right next to alto san lorenzo, so i always like to make fun of him for basically being sent back to our old area. but anyways, i guess that the alto san lorenzo ward had a party for javier and viviana last friday and elder mortensen ¨just happened to have to go to the church¨. so he got to see and talk to them and everything. i guess he was talking to viviana and she told him that shes pregnant again! he called me this morning to tell me all of this. apparently she thinks that shes been pregnant for the last month or 2, which means that she could have the baby before i go home. but its actually really awesome because for a really long time, the doctors would tell viviana that she would never be able to have kids. then she had nahuel...and now im gonna be a ¨tio¨ to another martinez child. i was way stoked about it. we were laughing so much this morning saying how if its another boy, they better name him like michael ryan martinez or something.
well now elder lucas and i are working really hard to find more people to baptize this transfer. we´ve got a few possibilities. what we´ve been focusing on doing alot this week is trying to challenge like everyone we talk to to be baptized. 2 people that we challenged to be baptized this week told us that they would be baptized (one being susana), but they didnt want us to put a baptismal date yet. but i really like inviting as many people to be baptized as possible. its really helped us to be able to see whos going to progress and who we can kind of pass by less often.
we had a pretty awesome lesson again with susana this week. the only bummer is that she doesnt like us to come by her house more than like once a week. but we were able to teach one of her sons too. susana has a really bad drinking problem. like ever since her daughter died a couple years ago, shes become an alcoholic. now she really wants to stop and she cant. so we were talking with her and her son. we were telling her that the way God loves all of us is alot like how a family loves each other. then we turned to her son and said, ¨you love your mom dont you?¨ and he was like, ¨yeah of course.¨ but the thing that touched me the most was that when susana heard that she spun around in her chair and looked at her son with tears in her eyes and was like, ¨really?!?¨ im just guessing that that was the first time in a while that one of her kids had told her that he loved her.
mom, i think that sending a debit card is something do-able. or if you really wanted to, you could just put it on my debit card. but i think that either way would be fine. thanks for checking all that so fast for me though. dad, so how is the sports life going? it sounds like you still get to go play tennis with brother waldron alot, which is sweet. its nice to know that youre trying to be ready for when i get home haha. im way stoked to play. sean and emily, whats new with you guys? how do you like the new apartment where youre living? paige, im excited to see some pictures of your first football game. it would be sick to be able to see you cheer. bridg, thanks for sending the pictures and email. sounds like youre having alot of fun with alexa.
alright guys, well thats about it for this week. thanks for all your love and support. have a great week. until the next one...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
Monday, September 13, 2010
September 13, 2010-Greetings
hows it goin guys,
i just wanna let you know really quick that im so glad that kevin johansen and the other missionaries that were with him are all right. its true that the Lord really does bless His missionaries where ever they are. im glad that nothing happened to any of them.
well this is the news on transfer...elder lucas and i are staying together for another transfer! im way excited about it. elder lucas and i get along really well and we both think that there are some good things going on here in el triangulo. it means that im gonna kill him off though cause he finishes up the mission this transfer. im just gonna try and keep him as focused as possible and working hard. hes really not that trunky though so i think itll be all good...but it is kind of a bummer cause elder mortensen is leaving the zone. i was hoping that he would stay, but i guess it wasnt mean to be haha. hes actually heading back to villa elvira where we were together. hes in the area next to alto san lorenzo, called los hornos. i told him that he better be sure to say hi to everyone from the ward cause you know hes gonna see them all.
lets see, so julian is just getting ready to get baptized. we have to teach him a couple more little things this week, but hes getting baptized this saturday. we´re all pretty excited about it. i can tell that hes excited and i know that mercedez is really happy about it too. so things are going all good in that...oh so the other day, elder lucas and i were just walking down this street. there was a lady outside her house so we were walking over to talk to her. we talked a little bit and she was like, ¨so you guys dont believe in Jesus Christ, huh?¨ we just looked at her and pulled out a pamphlet. we were like, ¨who do you see on this cover right here?¨ so we talked about Christ and then started talking about the church. after like 5 minutes she was you, ¨you guys convinced me, where´s your guys´ church?¨it was pretty funny. but we went back to her house like 2 days later and i really think shes one of those people thats just prepared for the gospel. i asked her to be baptized and she said that she wanted to read the book of mormon first, but she really seems like someone whos gonna get baptized soon. her name is susana. one of her daughters died a couple years ago, so we talked about the plan of salvation too. she really liked that and seems super excited to hear more. i really hope that she progresses well. id say that she will. i just feel like the Lord is preparing people for us to find. we just need to keep following the Spirit and act when we feel like the Spirit is telling us to do something.
mom, im actually not sure how much it would cost to get my shoes fixed. im guessing that it wont be too much, but id guess around 200 pesos, which is like 50 bucks. im gonna have to change the sole and get them sown on the sides. the only reason i suggested getting new ones from missionary mall is cause i think that getting them sown here will only be a short fix. im not sure if theyd keep tearing on the sides or not. if you all think that that would be the better idea, ill do that though. oh yeah and be sure to tell brance michaelson that i say hi back. dang its been a long time since ive seen that kid...or really anyone else. but ill be awesome to be able to see him and other guys again when im home. dad, sounds like youre gonna have to start practicing some tennis with bridg if shes gonna try out for the tennis team. i still think that she should go out of the basketball team, but you might be able to change her mind hahah. sean, hope everythings going good up there in utah with your esposa haha. im hopin that byu is doing well, that the padres got out of their funk, and especially that the chargers are all ready to go this year. paige, congrats on making the cheerleading team. you guys are definately gonna have to take some pictures of that. but yeah, sounds like youre having fun...im sittin right next to gub-daddy right now and he says that he got your letter. he wrote you back, but hasnt sent it yet cause he hasnt decided what pictures to put with it. operation ¨gub-daddy es mi cuñado¨ is already under way. bridg, bummer about the volleyball try outs. but dont worry about it cause seriously you can always practice and just do it next year. ya know what would help you alot...playing basketball!. over summer, well practice a bunch in volleyball and stuff so youre all ready to go next year haha.
oh before i forget. i got the package you guys sent. thanks alot! i really havent been able to look through it, but i saw the pictures and the miniature pmg. that was so tight! ive always wanted one of those, so thanks a bunch...alright guys, i gotsta go. thanks for all your emails, for your thoughts, and for your prayers. have a great week. until the next one...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
i just wanna let you know really quick that im so glad that kevin johansen and the other missionaries that were with him are all right. its true that the Lord really does bless His missionaries where ever they are. im glad that nothing happened to any of them.
well this is the news on transfer...elder lucas and i are staying together for another transfer! im way excited about it. elder lucas and i get along really well and we both think that there are some good things going on here in el triangulo. it means that im gonna kill him off though cause he finishes up the mission this transfer. im just gonna try and keep him as focused as possible and working hard. hes really not that trunky though so i think itll be all good...but it is kind of a bummer cause elder mortensen is leaving the zone. i was hoping that he would stay, but i guess it wasnt mean to be haha. hes actually heading back to villa elvira where we were together. hes in the area next to alto san lorenzo, called los hornos. i told him that he better be sure to say hi to everyone from the ward cause you know hes gonna see them all.
lets see, so julian is just getting ready to get baptized. we have to teach him a couple more little things this week, but hes getting baptized this saturday. we´re all pretty excited about it. i can tell that hes excited and i know that mercedez is really happy about it too. so things are going all good in that...oh so the other day, elder lucas and i were just walking down this street. there was a lady outside her house so we were walking over to talk to her. we talked a little bit and she was like, ¨so you guys dont believe in Jesus Christ, huh?¨ we just looked at her and pulled out a pamphlet. we were like, ¨who do you see on this cover right here?¨ so we talked about Christ and then started talking about the church. after like 5 minutes she was you, ¨you guys convinced me, where´s your guys´ church?¨it was pretty funny. but we went back to her house like 2 days later and i really think shes one of those people thats just prepared for the gospel. i asked her to be baptized and she said that she wanted to read the book of mormon first, but she really seems like someone whos gonna get baptized soon. her name is susana. one of her daughters died a couple years ago, so we talked about the plan of salvation too. she really liked that and seems super excited to hear more. i really hope that she progresses well. id say that she will. i just feel like the Lord is preparing people for us to find. we just need to keep following the Spirit and act when we feel like the Spirit is telling us to do something.
mom, im actually not sure how much it would cost to get my shoes fixed. im guessing that it wont be too much, but id guess around 200 pesos, which is like 50 bucks. im gonna have to change the sole and get them sown on the sides. the only reason i suggested getting new ones from missionary mall is cause i think that getting them sown here will only be a short fix. im not sure if theyd keep tearing on the sides or not. if you all think that that would be the better idea, ill do that though. oh yeah and be sure to tell brance michaelson that i say hi back. dang its been a long time since ive seen that kid...or really anyone else. but ill be awesome to be able to see him and other guys again when im home. dad, sounds like youre gonna have to start practicing some tennis with bridg if shes gonna try out for the tennis team. i still think that she should go out of the basketball team, but you might be able to change her mind hahah. sean, hope everythings going good up there in utah with your esposa haha. im hopin that byu is doing well, that the padres got out of their funk, and especially that the chargers are all ready to go this year. paige, congrats on making the cheerleading team. you guys are definately gonna have to take some pictures of that. but yeah, sounds like youre having fun...im sittin right next to gub-daddy right now and he says that he got your letter. he wrote you back, but hasnt sent it yet cause he hasnt decided what pictures to put with it. operation ¨gub-daddy es mi cuñado¨ is already under way. bridg, bummer about the volleyball try outs. but dont worry about it cause seriously you can always practice and just do it next year. ya know what would help you alot...playing basketball!. over summer, well practice a bunch in volleyball and stuff so youre all ready to go next year haha.
oh before i forget. i got the package you guys sent. thanks alot! i really havent been able to look through it, but i saw the pictures and the miniature pmg. that was so tight! ive always wanted one of those, so thanks a bunch...alright guys, i gotsta go. thanks for all your emails, for your thoughts, and for your prayers. have a great week. until the next one...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall
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