I'za Mormon. I'z Know It. I'z Live it. I'z Love it.

Greetings from Barbados!

 

I hope you all are doing well. We had some great successes this week. We are teaching the coolest Rasta man I've ever taught. He has come to church a few times just because his small son likes to come. He doesn't believe in the Bible but believes in Salasi. Everything we have showed him in the Book of Mormon he has absolutley loved. He has all the deep questions about exaltation and the plan of salvation has been very enlightening to him.

 

All our other investigators progressed this week even the ones that seemed to be stuck. We got the Green family to come to church again and also Margaret who has been taught for almost a year without ever setting foot in the church. So that was big. What was bigger is that Pres and Sis Mehr were in town for District Conference and they spoke on Sunday. I'm telling you Pres Mehr has got to be the best mission president out there. His speaking is how I imagine Joseph Smith or Brigham Yound from what I have read in their discourses. He takes the deepest of subjects and makes them simple and edifying. We went back Sunday night to teach the Greens and we really felt the spirit with them. Definitely one of my favorite families I've met on my mission. I feel very blessed right now for all the success we are having right now. Other then that nothing much happened but I'm doing great, working hard, and having fun.

 

Love,

 

Elder Hale

My first planner cover voted best ever! 

The Green family (left Aleya, middle Dashanna, red top Sheryl) Elder Shariatmadari doing his hair(: Margaret with umbrella

Tanning

"Yea, it shall be an exceedingly great transfer"

Wow this week was a blur! And so much happened and don't know where to start. I guess to start it's already been a transfer in Barbados and I only got a few more now. That is really scary I feel like I just got here. Transfer calls came and we are both staying..gladly! Elder Shariatmadari and I are working great together and I believe this transfer a lot of great things will come to pass. Yea, it shall be an exceedingly great transfer. 

We are working with this lovely lady named Deborah. She's in her 60's and belongs to a Methodist church. But she has been so great to teach she is soaking it all and is receiving answers to her prayers. She just wants to make sure this is the right thing because she has been in her church her whole life. We explained that church would help her get that answer and she would love it. On Sunday she came to church with Sis Patrick which is her long time friend. The talks and classes went really good and Deborah just loved it all she looked so happy. In the class she expressed how enlightening all the lessons have been and how grateful she is to God that she has found more truth. 

We have a lot of fun with this other girl Jalisa that loves to ask questions. She was just baptized last year but she says that she still feels like there is something missing. After our first lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel she really enjoyed it. But when we came back she said she didn't pray about it cause she was afraid of the answer she would get. She didn't want to find out that she was in the wrong place after she has already moved churches a few times. But as we talked she came to realize herself that all those experiences had led her to be where she is today and now Heavenly Father is ready to show her more. She asked the most wonderful questions about the Plan of Salvation. There was certain things that she just couldn't understand... "Just Heaven and Hell??" "What about the people that didn't know about Jesus?" Of course we taught her about the spirit world, resurrection, and kingdoms of glory. She seemed so relieved that her questions were finally answered and they felt right.

We also had a wonderful baptism after church for Nicholas Bourne and there was a lot of members there. 

Clarkson has been greatly blessed this week. He hasn't had any work for years and things in Barbados are tougher then ever now. We promised him that the Lord would take care of him if he just lives the gospel and he certainly has done that. Finally this week someone offered him work every day to do some gardening. He was thrilled!

Have a good week friends. 

You know who loves you. 

-Elder Hale

The puppet show made the papers!

Nicholas's baptism

Birthday in Barbados

Hello.

Thanks for the Birthday wishes everyone I had a great day. We went to this nice Italian restaurant and had some pizza and gelato. Wow, I've been waiting for that my whole mission. The sisters made me some cake and I have been fed by members my last 3 or 4 meals... I was so glad it was fast sunday cause I needed a break from food. We have another baptism this week for Nikolas Bourne. He is the son of the beloved Sherry Bourne. When I first got here I guess she hadn't been to church for a year but now she is totally active and that's how Nikolas is getting baptized now. 

I think I decided that my favorite part of missionary work is tracting. That's usually what every missionary despises but I find it fun. It's exciting to call into a house and have no idea what kind of person is going to open the door. And then having to persuade them in about 3-4 sentences that the message we share is just what they need. I wouldn't call it a game but in a way it gives me that kind of satisfaction! We met some really awesome people this week and also some not so nice chaps. But I love it either way. We had this guy just screaming in our faces spit flying everywhere and we hardly had to say a word to get that reaction. There's not much that can get under my skin anymore I can tell you that. But on the other hand his friends were totally interested in what we had to say. It feels good to stand for the truth. 

Can't believe this is already the last week of the transfer! I would be devastated if I got transferred but I know it won't happen. Time is going too quick... Enjoy your week my loved ones!

Love,

Elder Hale  

the puppet show

Gelato for my bday!

my tourist look today

Clarkson's Baptism & Harrison's Cave

Hello friends on U.S. soil!

It has been a fantastic week! We had Clarkson's baptism and it was very nice. He is a shy guy so he didn't want to promote it too much so we just had about 10 people there and he was happy. After he came out of the water his smile never left his face which is definitely unusual for him. After the baptism he just stood and looked at this picture of Jesus for like 10 minutes straight just smiling. It's so interesting to me that such a simple act as baptism really does bring a remission of sins and changes lives. It has built my testimony to see every person that I have taught and baptized testify of the difference they feel in their life. Clarkson received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday and he may have been even more excited for that. The members have really welcomed him and we are now trying to help him find a job and get into better living conditions then he is now in.

We have seen some great success with other investigators we are teaching as well. We are teaching this Rasta man named Claudius he is from Dominica. He has the Rastafarian pride but he knows and loves the bible so he has been very interested in our teaching. He came to church on Sunday and entertained the members with his funny accent and Rasta mannerisms. He made us lunch after and fed us green papaya, dumplings, and hot peppers all cooked together. It tasted...natural.. He was obsessed with the doctrine of eternal marriage which he learned in the gospel principles class at church.

This morning we went to Harrison's Cave which is one of the biggest tourist sites to see here. It was so epic!!! It was the real Matterhorn! This place was stalactite-tastic! and stalagmite-tastic as well! They had a movie before that talked about how Barbados became an island and how the cave came to be. It was educational. We did the tram tour and I took tons of videos and pictures it was like some crazy dream inside there. I hope you guys can see it one day, it also reminded me of "Goonies." Pictures coming later today for this amazing site.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hale

Forgot to tell you about the puppet show! It went great! We met someone at KFC that night and we saw our puppet show on the news! So my hand was on the news! woooo!!!

Clarkson's Baptism

approaching Harrison's Cave 

They had stops where you could get off the tram and get a closer look (: 

Clarkson: Before and After

Hello friends!

 

So when I first got here this man named Clarkson came to church on his own. Missionaries had never taught him he just showed up and to be honest I wasn't sure if he was homeless and had mental problems or what. No one was really sure because he would just keep to himself. He wore dirty clothes and smelt like campfire. But after talking to him I could see he was actually intelligent but he did have his past with drugs and alcohol which brought him down where he is today. From what it sounds like at one point in time this man had one foot in his grave and the other on a banana peel! But he has cleaned up those things and is trying to get back on his feet. Everyone waits for the New Year to do this kind of stuff. haha. So we started teaching him twice a week and it's been great! We meet him at the church, bring him sandwiches, and he really enjoys the lessons. We watched the restoration movie and after he just looked super happy then he said. "That's the first movie I have seen in years.." So he understands and accepts everything and he is being baptized this Saturday. He really really wants to get some work so we came up with a big idea. We showed up to a lesson and told him if he wants to find work his appearance is going to play a big role in that. We gave him soap, razors to shave, and some dress pants, shoes, shirt, and  a tie. Then we pulled out our clippers and asked him if he would like a trim. He was super excited for that. He hadn't had a haircut for over a year. So we gave him the clippers (which was the small kind for face shaves) and he just went for it! He took his beard off and then just went right through the side of his head. Haha we hadn't planned to cut the hair on his head because we didn't know if the little face shaver could do it but we did it and it worked great! He looks like a whole new man. And when he came to church Sunday no one even recognized him. The Gospel principles teacher asked him when he was baptized cause she thought he was already a member. All the members showered him with love and I don't think he knew what to do with himself. He looked shocked but happy. He just kept telling us that he appreciates everything we are doing for him. I will send some before and after pics when I am at the church later.

 

What's also cool is we got linked up with this pastor of another church that puts on alcohol awareness puppet shows for kids. So all us missionaries are the puppeteers. We are doing three different shows this week so that will be fun.

 

Everything else this week was good just finding and teaching people! This morning we had fun playing volleyball at the beach... So life is good!

 

Love you all!

 

- Elder Hale

Clarkson Before

Shaving Clarkson

Clarkson After

Sis Armstrong is the best cook in Barbados!

Beach Volleyball 

Spiritual Boost

Hi!

It has been an awesome week. Elder Shariatmadari and I are just having a wonderful time and seeing lots of success. So the Green family is super awesome! We lent them the Prophet of the Restoration movie and they watched it like 3 times. Davida the oldest daughter was like crying apparently and she said she was so fascinated by all the sacrifices these early church members made. Our lessons with them have been filled with the spirit and they have just became great friends. On Sunday we came and picked them up and walked with them and Sis Bourne (another member) to church. Eight of the people we are teaching came to church. I think that might be the most I've had. We were overjoyed! It seems everyday we have met new people who are just so sweet. I started talking to this random lady on the street and we ended up talking for like at least 30 minutes about the gospel. She is super excited to have us come teach her. We taught this amazing couple with a newborn about the restoration/plan of salvation and they said that with the new year they had both been praying about which church they should attend and grow their family in and they absolutely want to learn more. I don't know why but everything just seems to be going just right. I'm so happy!

Zone conference was on Tuesday and it was so good to see President Mehr. He absolutley loves this work and loves the Lord. Now that I think of it the spiritual boost I got at zone conference was probably what made this week so darn good.

I had a nice morning at the beach today. We played volleyball and just enjoyed the scene. The weather has just been perfect lately. We are gonna go to the driving range after I'm done emailing.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hale

Pres and Sis Mehr, Shariatmadari, and Elder Creech.

The only thing missing from this pic is a dolphin and unicorn... Check out that rainbow! haha

BARBADOS

Happy New Year! I can't tell you everything that happened this week. Way too much. And this dumb library computer is timing me so I gotta rush. But firstly we flew from Guyana to trinidad and we had a few hours til our next flight. I ran into an old missionary friend Elder Rivers at the airport. He is going to Guyana. So we went outside the airport to get some doubles but the doubles man was not there so I got this strangers phone and called my best friend Roger! He was so shocked I called him but he rushed to the airport and took us to get some nice Trini food. He also had a present that was in a gift bag and everything. A new tie! And boy would it come in handy...(forshadowing) But it was so great to see Roger.

 

So we made it to Barbados but our bags did not. I came a little prepared for that knowing this airline LIAT. lord I am trouble. I stole joke from an old man. But I had a few extra pairs of clothes so I've just been washing those. And I got two ties I've been using. I still don't got my luggage yet but it sounds like the Trinidad missionaries figured it out and it will get here tomorrow.

 

But Barbados is the bomb! I seriously love it more than I thought. It meets the high expectation I had before I came out. I ended up loving Trinidad but it wasn't what I thought it would be. But yea this is real island life. I see the beach pretty much everywhere I go. We get up every morning and take a nice 10 minutes jog to the beach. (I'll have to send pics later) I have seen more caucasion people today them I've seen my whole mission.. not including other missionaries.

 

All the people I have met here have been super nice. The funniest thing that happened was this lady came up to us and said she knows this girl who has always wanted to meet the missionaries so we said sweet let's go meet her. So we go to this apartment and knock on the door. This little girl answers it and the lady told her to go get her sister Aleya. So this girl comes out and just screams and runs out of the room. We were like "What did we do?" Apparently she ran and hid under her sheets in her bed. Her mom came out and was like "She's just nervous cause this is her first time meeting.." then she pointed to us. We were like "White people?" hahaha. She said yea her daughter adores white people it was hilarious.

 

What else... I get a car! And there is so many roundabouts here it's just ridiculous. This old lady said something hilarious the other day. She referred to her granddaughter as a "Jap". I asked why she's a Jap. She said "Because you never know what she's gonna do!"

 

The Branch here is great they got a great chapel and the members are very seasoned. Sis Cadette from Haiti had us over for lunch and she cooks amazing!

 

Don't let me forget my new comp Elder Shariatmadari. He is really cool we have a lot of fun together. He grew up in seatle but moved to Utah more recently.

 

Alright love you all gotta go!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hale

bye bye Bachus family

Roger and I

Roger at the airport 

run to the beach