New Amsterdam: Week 6

Hello my good friends!

Well it's always a good week when there's a baptism! Amrita was super excited for it and she's shown a lot of desire. Her baptism went really well! The talks were amazing and you could really feel the spirit. Elder Parisot baptized her and I confirmed her at church on Sunday. 

This transfer already ended and we are both staying in New Amsterdam. The investigators I am excited about right now is Cassie and Carissa. They are teenage girls that came to church but they have been reading and praying about everything and they feel really good about it. They have a baptismal date for the 7th of September. 

I got a sweet alligator scripture case from this guy named Ricky. He makes anything out of alligator or anaconda. I'm thinking of designing a guitar strap and he's making me a wallet right now. 

Funny moment this week was Sunday in Priesthood class. We were with the teachers and deacons and we watched the Book of Mormon cartoon "The Conversion of Alma the Younger" at the end I turned around to see Chris a recent convert tearing up. When he saw everyone was looking at him he began to laugh and say "All yah have hearts of stone!" 

Well I'm excited to stay here at least another couple transfers! I really do love Guyana! Have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Hale

cool

My custom design alligator scripture case :)

Amrita's Baptism 

Baptize!

New Amsterdam: Week 5

Hello friends!

This week has been really good. We have a baptism coming up with Amrite this Saturday. We found her by running into her less active sister Sunita. Sunita is a member but remembered nothing the missionaries taught her. We started teaching her and she has been at church every week since and you can see a big change in her. She told us that since we have been coming and since she has started reading the Book of Mormon her husband stopped beating her, cussing at her, and even stopped gambling. Now Amrite is a pregnant single mother and her husband left her for her other sister... Yesterday she gathered everyone to come to church again. She just has a great desire to be baptized. 

Another really cool thing was we met 3 teenage kids who were very receptive. They walked over a mile to get to church on Sunday. 

The other day we visited a 65 year old member brother Frazier only to see he drove through the front of his house and knocked down the whole wall. The windshield completely crushed by the blocks. I think he forgot to put it in reverse...haha. His family was giving him a hard time and he just said "Respect me I'm a pensioner!" Elder Parisot and I went and got our work clothes and built the man a wall. It was refreshing to do some hard work. Missionary work is more draining believe it or not. 

Funny part of the week was when we went to Edinberg (which is a few miles away) and I looked down to see my pants were completely ripped! From the crotch all the way down to the toe! Just flapping in the wind. We were too far to ride back home and change so I just tied Elder Parisot's bandanna around my leg to hold my pants together. And we went and taught some great lessons. Luckily this lady was able to sew my pants while I was in Edinberg so I went back home completely modest. 

Well sorry this email is a bit short but I'd rather tell the story with pictures! Love you guys!

Love, 

Elder Hale

Amrite's family

Here is Sunita's family

Gone with the wind...

The pensioner!

the wall

New Amsterdam: Week 4

Hello everyone! This week was a little tough but it ended great. Throughout our week everything was really slow. There was a Muslim holiday called Eid and everything was dead. There's this village where we have done most our missionary work and usually it's filled with tons of people. There is like 9 families that are members in there and we keep finding new less actives there. We found a man the other day named Fenton who joined the church in 2004 but left cause he stopped getting visits after his baptism. He became a Jehovah's witness. We had a great lesson with him and he remembered why he got baptized in the first place. His only concern was if he would be welcome if he came back. I thought that was crazy that not one person went to see what happened to him and he is in a village full of members. Pretty sad...

Yesterday our investigator Amrite gathered a bunch of people to come to church. You can see us crossing the bridge in the picture. We taught the priesthood class on Sunday and had all the kids sign up to come teaching with us this week. These future missionaries here have a great advantage because they get to see exactly how being a missionary is. I never knew what to expect.. The members here are great they are so willing to come out teaching. This old man Bro Frazier rides his bike everywhere with us to visit people and he totally biffed it down a hill. Another man Bro Andrew rides all over town as well and he tells us to come get him any time we need him. 

The funny moment of this week was Bro Andrew giving a talk in church. He is a very shy man, he will hardly talk in lessons and his prayers are very short. When he gave his talk he said "Last time I came up here I was really shaking....But not this time..." After a few seconds he started to shake he was so nervous! haha. 

We should have some baptisms at the end of this month if they can make it to church the next two weeks!

Thanks for all the love and support!

Love,

Elder Hale

Guyana

perfecting my curry/roti making skills 

our secret weapon! 

So Much Opportunity

Week 3

Hello everyone! This week we did a lot of work! We have met so many people and set a lot of baptismal dates. On Sunday we went out early to go pick people up on our bikes for church. A few said they were coming but a lot of them flaked out. We woke up our investigator Andre and waited for him to get ready. He ended up being the only one to come! We had 13 people with baptismal dates! We passed by Shamee before church and he was hanging out by a friend and told us he wasn't coming cause he drank last night... So I was pretty upset with him cause he knows better. Our most progressing investigator Seon didn't come because his girlfriend called him and whatever she said made him have a mental breakdown. We went over to his house to see him blasting loud music and drinking vodka. Then he started crying and saying suicidal things... We were just wondering "What the heck happened with all these people!?"

We had Zone Conference and Elder Parisot and I taught for 30 minutes. President Mehr continues to amaze me. I feel inspired to go out and keep working hard. I am excited to work with the a lot of the people we have and there is still so much opportunity in our area. I will probably be here for a good while and I am totally ready to.

Thank you all for your emails of support!

Love,

Elder Hale

this is kevin!

my fall into the trench

random guy on the bus... haha

63 beach... the only beach of guyana

check out that beautiful water!

picture perfect

little nigel mingo