New Amsterdam: Week 2

Hello friends and family! Oh it is good to be here in Guyana. It's a nice change but I'm still adjusting to it. The people here are very humble and missionary work is so much better. You can just feel free to talk to anyone on the street and there's not too much use for time here. Something funny has happened to me pretty much every day. My first day here this drunk guy kissed me on the cheek and slow danced with Elder Parisot. Oh and that guy is a member and apparently he is never like that.

The highlights of my week have been my bike biffs! My first day on the bike we grabbed onto this truck to get more speed and I hit this huge pot hole in the rode which sent me flying into a trench. I was completely fine except my shoes got soaked and I lost my pen. The next day I was going up a bridge but my tire slipped off the ramp and I took a nice fall. Once again I was fine but I lost my pen... Then on Sunday we were crossing this bridge over the trench and Elder Parisot was like ''Don't ride over this bridge..'' So I got off my seat and started walking when my tire got stuck in a hole in the bridge and some how I fell into the trench and got soaked... I got pics... Luckily I didn't lose my pen. A member washed me off and I had to go home and change. So it's been fun here! The accent of the people is different and I have trouble understanding certain people but for the most part it's far off from Trinidad.

The missionary work here is goin great though. I am in the same district as Elder Carpenter my trainer! He goes home this transfer. When President Mehr called me here he told me this zone is really struggling but this week things really turned around with every companionship in the zone. Being a zone leader hasn't changed much except I just have to make sure everyone is working.

We are working with a lot of cool people we are having a baptism next week with this kid named Nigel. He has been coming to church for a long time and no one asked him if he wanted to be taught or anything. We are working with this guy Shamee that has a baptismal date for the 17th. We told him about the word of wisdom and he got all his cigarettes and threw them off his balcony without hesitation. When I got here we had one person with a baptismal date and now we got 6! Three cool things about Guyana: 1. Best pineapple in the world 2. Everyone rides bikes 3. There's always someone blasting Motown!

Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Hale

ps If you want to write me you can send it to the trinidad address or write me for the Guyana address.

Craziest Week

So last week as you know I had a nice visit to Barbados so I could come to Trinidad and drive. When I got off the plane on Tuesday a random missionary asked me "So when are you flying to Guyana?" I said "What did you just say?!!!" He looked puzzled and said "You need to talk to the assistants.." Haha and then the assistants told me I need to talk to President Mehr. President Mehr called me Wednesday morning and told me he is changing my transfer call.... drum roll.... I GO GUYANA!!! I am serving in a place called New Amsterdam in Guyana as a Zone Leader with Elder Parisot from Tuscon AZ. I am totally stoked! So my plane was set for Saturday.

I got to be a JCAP for a few days and drive missionaries to their areas and to the airport. It was a lot of fun. Except on Thursday Elder Contreras gave me wrong directions and we got lost. We ended up like 30 minutes away from the apartment and we didn't get back til 10:45. To make matters worse the phone wasn't working and it was pouring rain. It was quite exciting. 

The best part of the week was Roger's Baptism! I was sooo happy he made it to this point. Apparently his Mom gave him a really hard time but he still went through with it. I could see a difference in him at his baptism and the spirit was strong. Afterwards we celebrated with Bake and Shark! 

So I flew to Guyana Saturday morning and didn't get in til about 8:30 because of all the flight delays. And I still don't got my bag. I went to church in Georgetown Guyana in a very beautiful new building they have. They talk funny. It's "chorch." I just arrived in Berbice about an hour and a half ago. There is like all kinds of farm animals running around. People have donkeys pulling them in carts. And the currency here is 200 Guyanese dollars to 1 US dollar. That's monopoly money! I don't got any good pics yet but I will next week. This place is a lot different then Trinidad. It is 10x more third world. But it's gonna be loads of fun for that very reason. 

Peace and prosperity mon!

Love, Elder Hale

Roger's Baptism

Bye to Roger

Stranded on a Beautiful Island!

So this week has been crazy we didn't have any baptisms as anticipated but things are still great. Roger should be able to be baptized in the next week or two and same with Jane. Jane took a cigarette so we had to push it back. But she is doing so good we just told her how proud of her we are.

We got our transfer calls and I have been called to serve in the San Juan Santa Cruz area which is the same ward I am in now. But I am what they call a JCAP(Junior companion to the assistants to the president) haha that sounds like the office.. But it's actually really cool I have my normal companion but we also go on splits whenever the assistants are free. My new comp is Elder Contreras from Mexico. I think he is still 18.. But he is the nicest guy I've ever met so I'm excited to work with him. I really wanted to leave Trinidad but when I got this call I was happy because this is the highest baptizing area in the whole mission and I'm honored that they are trusting me with it. So then I find out they have to send me to another island and back so I can drive in Trinidad for 90 days. Or else I would have to get a license and we don't have time for that.

Monday morning they dropped me off at the airport and my plane kept getting delayed and I didn't leave till 4:45pm. But they gave me a voucher for free food because of the delay so I got some subway. So long story short I made it here last night and it's lovely. We went on a run to the beach in the morning and as you can see from the pics it's awesome! And now I missed my flight back to Trinidad cause the senior couple here forgot. I'm stranded on a beautiful island! Haha everyone was like "Oh crap!" "I'm sorry.." I'm just like yea... this is awesome! They are working on another flight for me now but I will most likely stay another day. The only problem with this place is I guess the people are really hardened. So I'm happy to be in Trinidad for now.

Well I love you guys. Have a great week!

-Elder Hale

plane view 

the sun is bright

Barbados

beautiful :)

Pranked!

So this was a crazy week. To start on Monday we had our cow tongue tacos which were surprisingly good. And the biggest story this week is that I totally got pranked! Elder Fauchier and Roger had been planning to prank me for weeks. Roger said he was gonna get back at me after I made him think I was leaving last transfer. So here's the prank...

 

Roger called on Thursday and said he needed to come talk to us for 15 minutes. So automatically I thought it was weird. I thought he was gonna do something for july 4th but he didn't. He came and told me all this mumbo jumbo about how he can't go through with his baptism and the lessons anymore. Elder Fauchier put on this face like he was gonna cry. He just made all these vague excuses that I couldn't really understand. So I basically said it's ok I understand it's your decision..etc So we said our goodbyes but I told him I would come by his house the next day to pick up the book of mormon cartoons I let him borrow. (Which he loves) So we went the next day and he acted awkward. I asked if he watched the dvds he said "No it's ok...I'm done.." So I put them in my bag and he said he had to go. But first he said he had a fairwell gift for me. I opened it and it was a box of cinnabon cereal. (which i love(:) Then he said "This was all a joke.." I said "What was a joke.." He went on to tell me him and Fauchier had been planning this forever! I was like "What!?" I couldn't even believe Elder Fauchier could pull that kind of acting off! I was so shocked and confused. Then that turned into hysterical laughter. I said "Wait what about the dvds?" He was like "Yea give me those back!" I thanked him for the greatest prank anyone has ever done to me. hahaha.

 

So this week cross your fingers for Jane and Roger. Rogers' baptism is supposed to be on Friday and Janes' on Saturday. Jane has completely stopped smoking so we are very happy for her. This could be my last week here so I hope all goes well so I can be here to see these baptisms.

 

Enjoy your week my friends!

 

Love, Elder Hale

Robert's Baptism

Hello everyone! It was another great week. On Thursday we had Robert's baptismal interview with our district leader and he passed with flying colors! He also had to be interviewed by president Mehr on the phone because of something in his past. President Mehr was very impressed with his testimony.

 

On Saturday we had his baptism and I had to give a talk on the Holy Ghost and Elder Fauchier baptized Robert. It was a very nice service and you could definitley see a difference in Robert. On Sunday I did the confirmation which was my first! Elder Fauchier tried to make a cake for Robert to celebrate but he drenched it in sweetened condensed milk and carmel. We told Robert we had a surprise and we brought it to him Sunday night. It was a fail... No one could eat it. Robert said "This indeed was a surprise..." haha

 

Roger also came to church and has a baptismal date for the 12th. He has his doubts but he thinks he will be ready by that day. Today we are going to watch the rest of the Book of Mormon cartoons with him and make tacos! And Elder Fauchier got another wonderful idea of something to cook... Cow tongue! He has it cooked up and ready to put in our tacos... I have a picture but I will spare you.

 

Also we got to see a Hindu wedding! It was pretty cool but there is so many rituals it takes forever so we just ate and left. One guy said they make their weddings so long so they will never want to do it again.

 

Love you guys.

 

-Elder Hale

We found this guy on the side of the road

Robert Hamilton's baptism