You should see the computer I'm using... It is STRAIGHT out of the
'90s. I don't have too much news this week either, so don't expect the
longest email.

It's FINALLY starting to warm up. It has been COLD this month.... Today it's really nice
though. Not too hot, not too cold.

Really, this week not a lot happened. The coolest thing though was
that we met a 19-year-old girl (one of our investigator's sisters) who
was visiting from way far. In Bolivia, there are a lot of "pueblos" or
people who basically just live far from the city in smaller groups...
And she's from one of them. The church isn't out there yet, but we met
her when we came to pick up her older sister to see if she wanted to
go to an activity, and she answered the door. We were like "uhh.. We
came to see if your sister wanted to come to an activity..." She was
like "oh, she's not home." We were like "Do YOU want to go?" and she
DID. And she LOVED IT. We wound up giving her a Book of Mormon, a For
the Strength of Youth pamphlet, and the Restoration, Plan of
Salvation, and Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlets. She really ate up
what we talked about and me and Hermana Kofoed kept talking about how
she's "just going to go start the Church out there in that pueblo she
lives in."

But. Yeah. That's it from me. I sure love you guys, and thanks for
being so awesome. :) Have a great week! :)

I don't know if you heard this or not, but on Saturday, the mission kind of took a hit. A returned Elder Merkley (from West Jordan) passed away in a camping accident. He served in this mission, finished the very transfer that I entered the field. He finished his mission in the very ward I am serving in, and everyone here remembers him very fondly. President Willard came to our sacrament meeting yesterday and spoke a lot about him. Send your prayers for him and for his family. 

It's a tradition in the mission that in your last conference of your mission, you bear your "last testimony." On Friday, I heard Hermana Mejia give her "last testimony." ALL of the missionaries that she had trained or started to train, were there to hear her bear her testimony for the "last time" as a missionary. It was a really cool thing to see for me. I love her a lot.

Gordon Rogers is bishop! I don't know how I didn't call that! That sounds like a stellar bishopric. West Jordan 28th Ward is the best ward... Except for maybe Aeropuerto. ;)

Not the most eventful week. One thing was pretty cool though.

We're teaching a lady who listened to missionaries with her family when she was just a little girl. I think it impacted her a lot, because even though she was just a little girl, she still remembers about Joseph Smith, and how happy she was to watch the Restoration movie with her siblings. 

Now she's older, with two children. One is an 11 year old son with special needs. 

 

She is SO loving and patient with her son, which is AMAZING. But it weighs on her a lot. She started to cry and tell us about what she's going through, and we could just see how much love she has for her son. Then I watched my companion with SO much power, testify to her that "her son is an angel." It was a really powerful lesson, and we could feel how much she needed to hear that what she was doing was right, even though it was not recognized by the world. It was the best lesson me and Hermana Kofoed have taught together this far.

 

I guess that's it from me this time...But I love you guys! Keep working hard and being awesome... And I love you to the moon and back!

 

-Hermana Hall

 

 

Okay, I cannot believe it's been a year since I got my mission call. I just remember seeing Bolivia and having no idea where that was or what to expect. And then I thought I was going to a land filled with llamas and devoid of hot showers... Then I got here and I remember that the first time I saw a car I was like... Am I in the right place? 

I love Bolivia. Even though I eat rice, potatoes and chicken every day, I LOVE this place. Especially Tarija. The day I leave Tarija (and Aeropuerto) will be SO hard. I have never loved a group of people so much in my life. They are SO humble, so devoted to the gospel, and so willing to serve those around them. There are so many people that I just love.

I was talking to the Barrientos Family yesterday (the family that the Elders got married and baptized but now they live in our area :D) and I just was so taken aback by how much I love them. They're not even my baptism, but they are such true disciples of Christ. Hermano Rafael (the dad)'s favorite scripture is Alma 48:11, which talks about Captain Moroni and what a good man he was... A man who doesn't delight in bloodshed. His HERO is Captain Moroni. If there's anything about him in the scriptures, Hermano Rafael eats it up. And you can see it in the way he lives, that he is following Moroni's example. 

And then there's his wife, Hermana Rosa, who I will probably miss more than anyone else in this area. She is ALWAYS taking care of us. She's got a soft spot in my heart, that's for sure.

Hermana Kofoed is my FAVORITE PERSON. She is the youngest of five, three girls, two boys. She's from Spanish Fork, and she is so darn funny. She is the hardest worker ever, EXACTLY obedient. She makes me be the best I can be, but she does it lovingly. I have learned so much from her. The language is harder for her, but that does NOT stop her from opening her mouth. While I try to use persuasion to get in doors, and in contacts in the streets, she uses pure boldness, like a true disciple of Christ. 

We've had a rough week with Vivian's family. Her dad is drinking a TON. Vivian's kind of just used to it. It'll still be a while I think.

Gloria is moving to Argentina in like a week and a half and we have completely lost contact with her. That's been kind of rough too.

Jenny has been traveling. A lot. We need to have a good, direct lesson with her. We feel like she hasn't been progressing.

This week we met someone named Aide. She's a 25 year old single mom who lives with her sister. She's a referral from a member who is her friend and felt the prompting to talk to her about the gospel, and families. She is SO interested and she came to church yesterday. We have a lesson with her tonight. :)

 

We came back from the leadership conference on Tuesday, and we didn't eat lunch until Wednesday... So on Wednesday we saw Vivian's dad and he had been drinking again. Apparently he had been drinking all week. But he came to church yesterday and so did Vivian's mom which was a huge miracle. I can't believe she went from not signing the papers to going to church with her family. I just really hope Vivian's example keeps touching her family.

Hermana Mejia is still in the zone, she's just training. Again. A bunch of sisters came in this transfer. Me and Hermana Kofoed (spelled her name wrong last week, that's embarrassing) are in charge of the sisters in the zone, but half of our zone are sisters. We're a huge zone of 24 people, 12 sisters. We have to do exchanges with all of them, inspections, etc. Plus if some of them are sick, have trouble getting along with their comps, etc., we also have to help them out with that stuff. We are a very new zone 4 of the 6 companionships are training. Plus, neither of us really have that much time in the mission. I'm really lucky that Hermana Kofoed is a GREAT missionary.

This morning, me and Hermana Kofoed made french toast... Having a gringa companion is pretty great. :)

 

It's been a pretty funny week. Being two gringas walking around Tarija makes for some pretty funny situations. :) I'm pretty excited to be Hermana Kofoed's comp. She's SUCH a hard worker, and such an obedient missionary. I've learned a lot from her already. 

 

I love you guys, and thank you so much for your support. I hope you have a great week. :)

 

Love you to the moon and back!

-Hermana Hall

Hi. So, first things first, Vivian got baptized this week. It was so awesome, Mom. She cried and cried and cried and was so happy... And half of the people that were there cried when she bore her testimony afterwards. It was so sweet. And at the end of the baptism we sang "Nearer My God to Thee," and I got pretty emotional thinking about how me and Vivian are just doing the same thing... Trying to get nearer to the same God.

Okay... Now for the crazy part.

Transfers were supposed to be on Wednesday, right? But last night our ZLs called us, and said "Hermanas we have your transfers!" and we were SO confused because... It was Sunday night. But, they told us that I had to be in the airport at 7:30 this morning, because I had to be in Santa Cruz for a leadership conference with my new companion, Hermana Kopoed (I'm not even sure that's how you spell it). I'm going to be a sister leader this transfer. 

So I'm writing you from Santa Cruz, that's why everything is so weird and why I'm writing in the afternoon. Tomorrow in the afternoon I'm going back to Tarija with my companion.

Hermana Kopoed is awesome. She's from Spanish Fork and has been in the mission for almost 6 months. She's a powerhouse though, and I'm really excited to get to know her better.

Hermana Nahuel is in Santa Cruz with a sister that's going to finish her mission super soon.

What an awesome family we have.... I sure am grateful for you guys... :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMOTHER GREAT. She really is so awesome. Such a good example of class and quiet dignity. :)

Well... I don't have a lot more to talk about. But I sure love you guys, and I love the gospel. I love my Savior and I love being a missionary. :) 

Your favorite, ;)

Hermana Hall

 

This week was crazy and I don't have a lot of time. The internet is HORRIBLE this week. So we'll see how much I can sum up.

This week, on Friday, my poor comp had some trouble with her stomach. Her stomach hurt so badly that she could hardly walk. We took her to the bishops house (which was close) and after calling the mission president's wife, she got a health blessing... Then we went to the clinic. Turns out she has gastrites.... So this week we're pretty much eating boiled chicken and white rice. 

I'm going to get skinnier.

BUT. NOW THE IMPORTANT THING. THIS WEEK I SAW THE BIGGEST MIRACLE I'VE SEEN IN MY WHOLE MISSION. I'm going to take a chunk out of the letter I wrote President. 

"We have an investigator whose name is Vivian. She's 16 and has been investigating the church for a long time... The problem is, her dad has Word of Wisdom troubles, and her mom didn't want to give her permission to get baptized. But Vivian goes to church, prays, reads her scriptures, and goes to seminary. She participates actively in YW, and when she bears her testimony, the spirit fills the room.

And lately, her dad has been coming to church. The ward jumped into fellowshipping him, mostly because of how much they all care about Vivian. She's praying with her dad, reading the BoM with him, and watching church movies. We're starting to see the difference in him too, and that has been a huge miracle in and of itself.

On Saturday, without telling us, she started fasting. She talked to her parents that night about how badly she wants to get baptized... She told us that she was crying, talking to her parents... And her mom told her again to wait until she's 18, and then she can make the decision.

But at 4 in the morning on Sunday, her parents got up to make food for the day (they have a restaurant thing), and her mom told her dad (who told us at church that day) that she's going to give Vivian permission to get baptized.

Then her dad told us "I hope that this will start that the whole family can get baptized."

All four of us missionaries were in the room, and we stood there with our mouths open. We did not even know how to respond. Vivian has been working so hard and so patiently for this for years... And now it's finally happened for her.

We're going to try to get everything in order to get her baptized this week. :)"

 

About my new little golden family... Hermana Gloria started working
this week... She has to travel really far, every day. And I don't
really know how that's going to go over. We've been calling and
calling... And she either doesn't answer, or her daughter answers, but
her mom isn't there. Keep them in your prayers this week.

Also keep Jenny and her family in your prayers. She travels EVERY
WEEKEND for her work, and it has been impossible for her to come to
church. I'm really worried about them, and I'm afraid that they're
going to struggle in receiving their testimony if they can't make it
to church. BUT this week we had a lesson with them, the bishop, his
wife, and the relief society president. It was a miracle because she
has been so busy that it has been impossible to get a lesson with
her.The bishop and the dad (Jose Luis) had met before and had hit it
off, and this lesson made it even better. I'm really hoping that the
Lord helps them to recognize the answers to their prayers that I am
certain that they are receiving.

I sent you like 10 pictures a couple weeks back and then recently I
checked, and they TOTALLY DIDN'T SEND. So I'll try to send them again
next week, if not today. The internet is pretty slow today, so we'll
have to see.

To wrap it up... We saw a pretty huge miracle this week. We have an
investigator named Vivian. She's a 16 year old girl whose dad has some
Word of Wisdom issues and her parents won't give her permission to get
baptized. She lives in the same little house thing (Here in Bolivia,
most of the houses are pretty much just a square of rooms that all
open up into the same open/outside area in center. Your family will
live in a couple of rooms, and share a bathroom and sometimes a
kitchen with the other families you live with.) as our pensionista, so
we see her family pretty often, in passing. They sell food at
lunchtime (also called a pension) and there is always loud music, and
people yelling.... It's just not the best enviornment for their
family. Vivian goes to church every week, participates actively in YW,
and goes to seminary. Half the time, I forget she's an investigator,
because she acts just like a member. But her family doesn't want her
to get baptized until she's 18. She gets along GREAT with Hermana
Silvia (our pensionista) and is always asking her for advice, and asks
her questions when she doesn't understand things at church and all...
But this week we had a POWERFUL lesson with her.... Mostly just
because she is so faithful. And we felt a portion of the love her
Heavenly Father has for her... And I talked about that framed poem
thing you have that talks about how in our hard times we think we walk
alone, but really Christ is carrying us, and I got pretty emotional.

BUT. Her Dad ran into some missionaries in Bermejo (I think he went
there for something work-related) and something they said must have
hit him pretty hard, because he talked to Vivian and said that he
wanted to go to church. I think she was the only person more shocked
by it than we were, haha.... But he kept his word, and came to church
on Sunday. It was a MIRACLE. He told a member "Well, my daughter sure
likes it, so I figured I may as well try it out too." It was so sweet
to see Vivian with her head on her dad's shoulder in Gospel
Principles. Pray for them too... Vivian has been waiting for this to
happen for ages.