"I love giving service"

This week ended up being real sweet. I got to teach Rishi a few more times and it is going well. I went over there and he looked completely different. He shaved, got a haircut, and had some color in his face for once. He was actually happy. He said since the last lesson we taught him he just had the best week. He has been reading and praying a lot. On Sunday he came to church and loved it. It was stake conference and they were broadcasting from Port of Spain. It was really sketchy the sound came out like a transistor radio. And when there was musical numbers you couldn't hear anything. At one point the thing just turned off. But Rishi still felt the spirit and invited over later that day. He is making a lot of progress. His prayers are really sincere and he expresses so much gratitude for us being there.

We also took Kerwyn with us teaching a lot this week. He wants to serve a mission but he is really nervous. He asked us to pray for him that he can understand the Book of Mormon. He is in the Isaiah chapters so I told him not to worry. On wednesday he gave us these things that are like plantains and showed us how to fry them. They tasted awesome.

On Thursday we had zone conference at the mission home. President Mehr and Sister Mehr taught awesome lessons and got us pumped for the week. I feel really blessed to be in the West Indies Mission. I am becoming attached to Sangre Grande. We have met some really nice people and I can see a lot of potential. On saturday we went to the hospital to see this girl Avalon we had taught. Her appendix exploded or something. We said a prayer and gave her a Book of Mormon to read with all her down time. She later called and thanked us for coming. It's nice to be able to have nice experiences like that almost every day. I love giving service. We basically built Bishops house in one day. I was all burnt up but then we got roti and that makes everything better. But I love you guys everybody have a great week!

Love, Elder Hale

Keep a Smile & Keep Workin.

So sorry I am a day late! Yesterday was a muslim holiday and every internet shop was closed.

But this week some misfortunate things happened. First I lost my white handbook with all my travel money in it. Then Elder Whitlock lost some grocery money so we are on a tight budget now. Then we took it a step further and lost our phone. But we just keep a smile on and keep workin(:

So there was a parade thing for Kershorn Walcot the Javelin gold medalist. He drove right by our apartment and we went out and videoed it. He flashed his gold medal at us from ten feet away it was awesome.

As far as missionary work everything went great. We use the Mormon Message videos to invite the spirit in to the investigators homes. My favorite is the one with Henry Eyring called "Choose you this day" He talks about the dangers of saying someday and procrastinating serving the Lord. This video definately helped us get the some people to church. When we extended the invitation to come they all wanted to say "next time" or "someday" but choked on their words when they remembered the video.

One person that came to church was Kerwyn's older sister Debbie. We have tried to teach her before but she never really took anything seriously. But after we played the Mormon Messages she finally came and now wants the discussions. It's great to be able to show people the reality of living apostles and prophets today. They have all expressed that they feel something different when they hear those men speak. Nothing like the men on the t.v. that shout "hallelujah!"

But everything is peachy here in Sangre Grande. I love all the Elders in the apartment and we have tons of fun. Elder Whitlock and I have been cooking a lot. We made some pizza and mac pie the other day and it actually tasted nice! There is so many great qualities to attain here and I am soakin it all in like a sponge! I hope you all have a lovely week!

- Elder Hale

High Hopes

So this week a lot happened. I failed to mention one thing last week that was crazy. We went to the hospital to go give this man a blessing and in the front there was this guy that was burnt all over his body. I mean his chest and back had like no skin left. He had on some plastic wrap scotch taped to him and there was some kind of ointment on the burns as well. We asked him what happened and apparently some guys poured gasoline on him and lit him on fire. Then I guess they started beating him with a hammer but some how he got away. And he was leaving the hospital that day! And the people here think it's great they have free healthcare...haha. 

Then another day this week there was this muslim guy walking towards us with a motive. He was carrying his umbrella like a rifle and speed walking. When he approached us we saw he had a flippin rifle under the umbrella! He was clearly hiding it. Anyways it was crazy. 

That night we were at a members house when she got a frantic phone call that her brothers hand had just been chopped off in a dispute by their neighbor. This place amazes me. It definitely keeps things interesting

Right now I am in an upstairs internet cafe looking down at downtown Grande. There is some pan groups playing and today is a holiday! They are celebrating the 19 year old kid that won the javelin in the Olympics! Apparently it's only the second gold medal Trinidad has ever won. He will be passing here soon in a parade or something. He actually lives in my area so I'll have to go pay him a visit. 

So it's been nice having 4 elders in Grande. We went and talked with the Bishop about our game plan. He proceeded to tell us about all the mischievous members in the ward. He was very dramatic but apparently someone went as far as to climbing through the ceiling to break into the Bishops office. Haha. And he has caught people coming in during the week sneaking in the clerks office and trashing stuff. It's ridiculous. He says they do not want the ward to flourish. I have no clue why.

Elder Whitlock and I are getting along real well. It's cause were from Arizona. Our humor is the similar unlike some of the weird Utah kids. He said he has become a dull person because no one could understand his jokes. 

We have a lot of work to do with this ward and we are pretty much starting from scratch. But we have high hopes and we teach well together! 

Well I love you guys and have a great week! - Elder Hale


Finally! Here are some pics:

Kerwin and his fmaily

Sister Drew and her nephews. We go over there and learn to cook good stuff.

"One of the Best Lessons Ever"

So a lot happened this week! We got our transfer calls. Elder Carpenter and I were sure we were staying together so he could continue to train me, but he's not! He is taking off to Santa Cruz after being in Grande 7 and a half months! I am staying here and they are sending another companionship to Grande so it will be a four missionary apartment. This is great because Grande is huge and we just could not cover everything. This is presidents tactics to strengthen the wards.Grande is suffering and getting weaker. No one is fulfilling their callings and there are no activities for the youth. I wish I could help with those things, but it's not my place.

So now I am leading the area because all the new elders have never been here. My new comp is Elder Whitlock from Gilbert, Az. I have met him already and he seems pretty sweet. Another missionary coming in was from my district in the MTC so that's good.

Something interesting happened with Roger and Kandis this week. They moved into a new home far away. They found lots of disturbing things in the house like there was a bag with a human jaw, horns from some kind of animal, and other bones. There was a whole shack full of nasty stuff and the stench was overbearing. Someone before them had clearly been doing some kind of devil worshiping. Roger and Kandis described the feeling in there house like heavy and hot. But they did not know why. Roger burnt all the stuff from the shack and said a prayer with Kandis. When they came back in the house Roger said the feeling in the house completely changed. It felt light and clean. When Kandis came in she confirmed the same thing. So Kandis asked us to bless the home as we left and Elder Carpenter and I felt all kinds of cold shivers as he prayed. We then walked half an hour on this dark scary dirt road back to where we could get transportation. Elder Carpenter was spooked and started singing hymns haha. It was a very interesting experience.

So I had one of the best lessons ever with this man named Rishi. He is going through a lot of depression and heartbreak with some things that are happening in his family. He currently is unemployed and he is drinking more and more. When we got to his house the door was open and he was asleep on the couch. So we just walked in and woke him up. haha. (The people here are different then Americans I would have never woke up an American.) So we talked about his problems and he poured out his heart. So we began to teach him the Restoration of the Gospel. His countenance started to change and the spirit was really strong when we talked about Joseph Smith's first vision. (It's amazing how at first I thought maybe the restoration was a little off topic with this mans problems, but really it is the answer to every problem.) We invited him to prepare for baptism and he gladly accepted.

He then began to tell us how he has been praying a lot lately to get help with his situation. He said he was supposed to be somewhere that day but he felt prompted to stay home. Then we showed up at his door and he said he knew we were there to help him. He began to cry. He truly felt that God was answering his prayers and cares about him. It was a wonderful experience.

Thanks for the continued support! Everyone have an awesome week! - Love, Elder Hale