many miracles

Good day friends and family!

         

Well this was my first full week in Curepe and it went good. We just did lots and lots of tracting. Our biggest success was on Monday. We had an appointment with someone on Monday night but it fell through so we just went into the heart of town to contact. We kind of felt awkward there and Elder Reyes wanted to leave but for some reason I just wanted to stand there til I saw someone to contact. After about 10 minutes of standing in one place this lady in the back seat of a car was looking at us and I could tell she was definitely thinking something. They parked next to us and she asked me what kind of tracts we were handing out. Her name is Antonia. I gave her the Restoration pamphlet and set up an appointment for the next day. I went on a trade off the next day but Elder Reyes and Elder Whitlock had an amazing lesson with her. She said she has been searching for this her whole life. We went back on Friday and taught her again and she told us how she had felt something really strong tell her to talk to us the night we met. She had seen missionaries before but never really talked to them. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and committed to be baptized. She is very excited. Unfortuanately on Sunday her son had an asthma attack and they couldn't make it to church. I was sad. But I know she will make it next week.

 

We also met some other great people and got a very less active to come to church. The week was very hard at the same time because we had a lot of appointments fall through and I ended up getting a bad sunburn on my face. But we worked as hard as we could despite all the fall outs and I know we are going to see great success. We already have seen many miracles in this first week.

 

Love you guys! Have a fantastic week and share the gospel!

 

Love, Elder Hale

Week 1 in Curepe!

This was in Penal before I left. Cheers!

Hello folks! This week was really good. They sort of just dropped us off in an empty apartment and said "Have fun." We didn't have a phone, food, and my comp didn't even have his luggage yet. But Elder Reyes and I hit the ground running. We worked really hard and found a lot of people. One man we found has been looking for a church because he wants to come close to God before he dies. He has diabetes and lost one kidney already. The spirit was strong in the lesson with him. And he came to church! So the members already trust us because of that. This new area is a very busy city and I really like it. Lots of places to eat and plenty people to talk to. I have also seen white people! It is really strange for me to see that. But it feels great to be in a ward the members are great. We got fed by a family named the Sookhans on Sunday and they are awesome. It's great to have strong member support. The people here take missionary work very seriously. A recent convert named Bro Mohan goes out with missionaries just about every day. He is very into it.

This morning all the elders from my district went to Maracas beach. We played ultimate frisbee and did our studies. It was very beautiful and the weather was perfect. And to top it all off we had bake and shark. It is a new favorite food of mine. Sorry I don't have too much time today to write but there should be plenty to update you with next week.

Love you guys!

Love, Elder Hale

Nice view

Maracas beach!

studyin on da beach

a lil thing called bake and shark! best ting ever (:

Last week in Siparia

Good day everyone! It was indeed my last week in Siparia. I am being transferred back up north to a place called Curepe. It rhymes with "Europe" fyi. It is by the mission home and mission office. It is a very strong ward with lots of great members so I hear. There will be 8 missionaries in this area now! They have split the sisters area and given us the portion they couldn't reach. It sounds like there is a great opportunity for success there. Plus it's got pricemart which is like Costco and they have a really nice mall. It's nothing like my last two areas. So I'm pretty excited. My companion is Elder Reyes a phillipino from Australia. We are actually blanking the area meaning none of us have been there before. So they got us a new apartment and stuff. I can't wait! My comp is staying in the Siparia and was not too happy about it.

 

I forgot to mention I ate something called manicoo. I'm just spelling it like it sounds. But it is possum. And suprisingly it tasted really good. But it looks kinda nasty.

 

This week we gave Ms. Koylass a Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price cause it will open her eyes even more. She really is enjoying all the lessons. The only problem is she loves to talk and talk and talk. So it's real difficult to stay on topic. The branch is starting to do good though everyone is finally getting involved. We got a couple more people to take us out teaching and stuff. We got the most member lessons I have gotten in this area this week. So I feel good about what I have been able to accomplish here. It wasn't great in numbers like baptisms etc.. But I feel we put out a burning building and reconstructed a lot of it. I am getting a lot of meal appoinments now that I am leaving. I am gonna miss a lot of people here. Church this week was great because President and Sister Mehr came to speak. President Mehr really knows what struggling branches need to hear. He always delivers inspiring talks on the perfect topics. We had a few less actives come that we have been visiting. One named Ousha had not been to church in at least 6 months. She had a really good time. I was really proud of her for making that step.

 

Well that's week 7! Have a great week!

 

Love, Elder Hale

That's what's up!

Hello friends! It was a really quick week but there was a couple cool experiences. President Nandlal came out teaching with us and our main appoinment fell through. He decided to call a less active named Hanifa. She has been in the church 14 years and pretty much been less active for 13. But as we went over there she shared with us that that day she kept feeling promptings to call President Nandlal. She kept putting it off for some reason and she became really discouraged to the point of tears. Then we called and said "Hey we are in the neighborhood can we come by?" She was so happy. We gave her a priesthood blessing and she felt better. She came to church Sunday and bore an inspiring testimony.

Ms. Koylass is our most progressing investigator right now. She has only a couple problems. Her whole life she has dilligently studied this William Branham guy. She always compares something we share with her to something William Branham said. She ended up giving us this pamphlet and I was shocked to see 100 percent false doctrine! It was a bunch of baloney. I was shocked because the things we taught her have contradicted most of what this guy taught but she has agreed with everything so far. Her only concern is that she is not sure if she needs to be rebaptized. But she said once she gets an answer she will do it. So I'm not too worried. She is in Alma right now and we are about to give her a Doctrine and Covenants. She likes everything we have read out it so far.

I should be getting my transfer call Thursday. I am really excited because I'm pretty sure I am moving. And there's always a possibility I could be moving countries! But if not now I most likely will at my year mark when my permit expires.

Today we played a bunch of sports with all the missionaries in Trinidad. Ulitimate Frisbee, Basketball, Football. It's all my game(: It was so fun I felt like I was in elementary school again playing football. I hit my 9 month mark in two days! That's what's up!

Have a great week everyone!

Love, Skyler

Camen! They actually eat these...