Note from Elder Halls Mom - We had the BEST time on Mother's Day talking to Elder Halls on the phone and using Skype! AmAzing!!! It was a beautiful experience for our family!
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| Elder Halls, Squires, and Vanessa singing "Abide With Me" |
May 15, 2012
Long time no communication! Exept for yesterday... haha, Anyway, thanks for the spirit that everyone brought into the home of Vanessa and Felipe and Mario. We have been working with Vanessa, the girl who spoke english over skype, trying to get her to come back to church so that we could also get her little brother mario baptized, but she hasn't had much of a desire. But we kept teaching her and the last two weeks she has come to church! So she is making progress, we have also been helping her to know the importance of prayer, which has been hard for her, but last night, after dad gave the prayer over skype to everyone in that home, we were leaving, and she wanted to say a prayer in English! We taught her a few words, and then she gave a very sincere prayer. She told me to tell dad that he was the inspiration. She said she wants to learn how to bear her testimony in English and read the Book of Mormon too! She was very touched by dad´s prayer, and the spirit it brought, there were also 3 non-members in the room including her Grandma, Mother and her younger brother. So thanks for the help dad! Everyone thought tanner´s song was so cute too! And they couldnt stop talking about how beautiful mom, emily and chaille are! haha, Vanessa thought you were muito simpático mom! haha, so everyone here was touched by everyones kindness and spirit. I think it was also amazing for them to see how close the temple is to our house and to see the reality of it. Vanessa has never been to the temple, and now she has! haha, i love you guys, it was an amazing experience to talk to you all.Transfers are tomorrow, next week i will have a camera, and i will try to send pictures. Elder Jacson is going home this week to meridian, idaho. So we are getting someone here for sure, i hope it is a brazillian so i can learn from a brazillian.
Seeing Elder Jacson go home is making me think about what i want to be, and how i want to feel before i go home. The Lord wants us all to be sucessful and to feel the feelings associated with it. Success to me as a missionary is feeling the spirit work through you and touch peoples hearts, obedience to the rules and how much you love the people. I have also been thinking about what Jeffery R Holland taught us. What makes the busy schedules worth it, and gives the strict rules meaning? It is our love for the people, without that, nothing has meaning, even life. With it, everything has meaning, even death. How we show that love is through our obedience to the Commandments of God, and really seeking to follow them, which commandments encompass every aspect of our life, from Loving God, Loving our neighbors. The reason why we do everything is because of our love that we develop towards God and all of his children, and we see God´s children as that. Children of God. Even if you see someone on the side of the road smoking, drinking, and asking you for money, you can still see the potential in them, they have a Father who commands the Heavens, they have a Father who weeps to be with with them, they have a Father who loves them. If we remember who we are, we can return to him, through the Love and mercy of God, because he sent us his Son, Jesus Christ.
Elder Halls
This is one of my favorite mormon tabernacle choir songs-
In the quiet misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing
And the sky is clear and red,
When the summer's ceased its gleaming
When the corn is past its prime,
When adventure's lost its meaning -
I'll be homeward bound in time
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow
If you find it's me you're missing
If you're hoping I'll return,
To your thoughts I'll soon be listening,
And in the road I'll stop and turn
Then the wind will set me racing
As my journey nears its end
And the path I'll be retracing
When I'm homeward bound again
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow
