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

Goodbye Guyana, Hello Tropical Paradise!

Dearest Everyone,

Christmas was pretty great. It was refreshing to skype the family and remember that I really do have one. haha. Your emails do help but I would never know if some imposter chimpanzees had hacked your emails and decided to write me posing as you. If that is the case they sure do know how to uplift and inspire me(: But in all seriousness you all look amazing and it was great to hear what's going on in your lives. 

Christmas day we went and played games at the orphanage. We had candy and toys to give them as well. To be there is a bit humbling. They are so happy just to have us there. Wish I could visit them more often. If you are wondering what I ate for Christmas see the picture below. Mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, jello, corn, green beans, lasagne, peach pie, cherry pie etc.. You would laugh to see the Guyanese missionaries just kind of play with their food. A nibble here, and nibble there...They just want rice! It's pretty funny. 

So transfer calls came on Friday and mine came early. Elder Carter called me in the morning and told me I needed my police report. Keep in mind this is in his North Carolina southern accent. He asked "Did you get the word?" "You are one of the ones moving.." ....."You're going to Barbados.." I was laughing hard because everyone knows that transfer calls are supposed to be confidential til president or the assistants call. I said thanks for the early transfer call and he was like "Just act surprised when they call you." Haha. So sure enough the assistants called and had me guess where I was going and I blew them away with my prophecy that I would serve in Barbados(: My time in Guyana has been great and very quick. But I'm ready to go from this smelly place (which I love) to a tropical paradise. I think I can handle that.. No more cold showers!!! No more mud! But there's much that will be missed. Guyana is kinda like that old beat up truck that everyone loves. Better yet my VW Bus. 

Hope you all have a fantastic New Year. Did you make some resolutions? Hope they make it past week 1. Here's my New Years message. "Remember Lot's Wife.." Love you all. 

Love,

Elder Hale

ps. To add to what I said about people here loving Home Alone. The other day a member told us that there little two year old son Justin said to their neighbour across the street "Merry Christmas you filthy animal!" 

Bye bye Benjamin family.. Bye Bye BBQ. Roy the BBQ man hooked me up for my last meal with an extra piece of chicken, a bottle of his sauce, and the secret recipe!!! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We had the branch Christmas party on Wednesday and it was pretty sweet. I got all the kids together and I played piano as they sang Silent Night. Elder Tilltotson and I had a whistle solo. It was phenomenal.

We mostly just went house to house this week spreading the Christmas spirit. So many people have been complaining about how they just don't feel it this year so we have been fixing that(: Something really funny is how big the movie Home Alone is here. A member named sister Peters was talking about her grandson is just like Kevin. She went into details and stuff and Elder T. looked confused like "Who is Kevin?" I knew what she was talking about without her even mentioning the words Home Alone. And the same thing has happened with like three other people.. They will randomly say something like "Yea my kids love Kevin." or "We didn't watch Kevin this year yet..." It's so funny! I wanted to watch Kevin but the missionaries voted on watching Despicable me 2 for Christmas. So that's cool.

On Sunday hardly anyone came to church and I was asked to speak on the spot. So I simply talked about the birth and life of Jesus Christ. Normally I'd probably be a little irritated with such short notice because I don't have much confidence in my speaking abilities but this time I wanted to see if I could do it. Just see if I could go up there not really knowing what to say and pull it off. So I did and I spoke for about 15-20 minutes. And it went better then I could've hoped. So I was really happy about that.

Today we are going to watch a skype devotional from Trinidad, eat dinner at the Senior Couples, and then watch our movie. Tomorrow I can't wait to see you family! I hope I see you all there. Merry Christmas! I love you all.

Love,

Elder Hale

Brother Thakoor and I 

Back to Trinidad

My dear friends,

This week was one of the most memorable of my mission. I had the opportunity to go back to my home. Trinidad and Tobago! I was thrilled! I forgot how amazing it is. I walked through the mall there and was culture shocked. I almost cried tears of joy when I had so many options at the food court, and then when I chose a sub place they had the choices of cherry coke, vanilla coke, pepsi, A&W, sprite, and more... Seriously I was in heaven. Of course I got to eat my favorite Trini snack which is doubles.

The conference included all the zone leaders from all over the west indies and it was so nice to see so many old friends. Although most of my old friends are home now. As you see in one of the pictures it's President and Sister Mehr with two other missionaries from my MTC group. 

The first night there was a fireside and we had fried ice cream. WHAT!? The next day we were counseling together, role playing, and being instructed by President and Sister Mehr and the Assistants. It was truly edifying! We mostly talked about how we can change the mission culture. Things like obedience and having a firm belief that they will baptize.

President Mehr blew our minds as he taught about Eternal Marriage, Exaltation, Foreordination, and pretty much the most epic things to think about. He also flirted with Sister Mehr half the time.. haha.

After having our minds blown we had the privilege of bearing our testimonies. Everyone in the room got to and I have to say I have never felt the spirit so strong then from the testimonies that were born of this divine work. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Especially Elder Ramdhannie who is from Trinidad; he thanked us all for building the kingdom in his country. President Mehr practically shook the room as he bore his testimony of everything relating to the restoration of the gospel. It was absolutely amazing.

It was very rainy this week as you can see by the picture of me in the water. Elder Tillotson told me to ride through it and he would take a picture and then it turned out being deeper then I expected. haha. The last pic is my Arizona buddy Elder Moya. This is at the gift shop in the Trinidad airport. The cashier lady was lovin his swag.

Hope you all are having a fantastic Christmas season! Just know if you are reading this you are special and Skyler loves you(: Merry Christmas.

Love,

Elder Hale

Brother Thakoor

Hey Everyone!

This was a quick week.. I'd say the coolest thing about this week is the new first counsellor Brother Thakoor. He is a man that has not been able to read his whole life. Before I got here the missionaries taught him to read the Sacrament prayer so he could bless the Sacrament. We have continued to help him learn out of the Church's learning book "Ye Shall Have My Words" and it has been amazing! He got called to be first counsellor two weeks ago and he has conducted the last two meetings and actually read everything. Everyone knows him and they are shocked to see him up there reading like that. Since he has gotten this calling I told Elder Tillotson I can see a huge difference in him. He looks so much more happy. Yesterday he talked about how before this calling he would just come to church for one to two hours then go home. He wasn't very active. Now he said when he is in the church he feels so much love towards everyone there. Now he is super active and on the ball with everything. I want to make a Mormon Message about him. That's what church callings are all about! You can see a picture of him below as we went out and did visits. He is the indian man on the left. 

The other picture is when we went out visiting with some of the young single adults. We also made some more pizza this week with the Bennie family. Their little kids had a lot of fun and the pizza was really thick! Too much yeast! But it still tasted good. 

So I am flying to Trinidad for the meeting on Wednesday and I'm way excited. So that's about all that will happen this week. 

I love you all and have a Merry Christmas!

Love,

Skyler

Wonderful Thanksgiving

Dear friends and fam,

Sorry I don't got much time this week because I was writing to you all personally! But I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I got my two most important dishes..Candied yams and pumpkin pie. 

So the coolest thing that happened this week is I basically did all the cooking and baking for a birthday party. haha. It was Elder Tillotson's Birthday on Sunday and also our good friend Vicky's Bday. So I got this genius idea that I would get my BBQ man's secret sauce and make BBQ pizza. He loves us so he gladly handed over the secret sauce. We also put on onions and bacon and I tell you this pizza was the best that I've had! I can't remember a pizza that made so much joy come to my soul. And the best part was it was made by my own hands. haha. We also made the Birthday cakes and they looked beautiful. So much so that Patricia (Vicky's girlfriend) asked us to make the cake for her wedding. haha! I know it's unbelievable... 

My spiritual high of the week was my fast of gratitude. I thought that it would be good for me to fast to show Heavenly Father I am grateful for everything I have. And as I did I felt so happy and uplifted. I can see with greater clarity all the blessings I have and I feel rich. 

Enjoy the Christmas season! 

Love,

Elder Hale

Half bbq half normal sauce mmm..

Vicky, Patricia, and neighbor kid

Priesthood Power

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today we are celebrating Thanksgiving in the mission because it's Pday. I made a request to Sister Esplin that there be candied yams so I'm hoping that wish will come true. The Christmas songs have all started and it makes me miss you all. I mean even right now they are playing all these jazzy Christmas songs and I'm all holly jolly. 

We really had a great week. Melissa had a concern about obeying a certain commandment after baptism. It's not that she didn't want to obey it but she has struggled with it in the past. So we had a 24 hour fast with her Saturday to Sunday. She was a bit grumpy at church from fasting which was kind of funny. One thing Elder Tillotson and I have learned lately is that the key to getting someone active in church is to get them a responsibility even if they're not a member yet. So we worked it out to have Melissa assist in primary and it was perfect for her because she loves kids. So she's all excited about that and it looks like she will be well prepared for her baptism.

There was another cool experience with Sister Debbie one of the relief society counselors. We asked for referrals but she said all her friends have their own churches. We talked about the restoration with her and explained that we should still share the fullness gospel with them. So she said ok and we went out and met and taught many of her friends in a place called overton dam. Sister Debbie's testimony and understanding of the gospel was able to touch the hearts of her friends. So now there's a boat load of new people to teach. 

I had a really spiritual experience giving priesthood blessings to a family of 5 that were all sick. We came back a day or two later and every member of the family was back to full health. My testimony of priesthood power increased greatly. 

I do love you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. So remember to be grateful. Gratitude is the key to contentment. It will make life rich no matter what circumstance you may be in. Love you!

- Elder Hale

the sea wall

mixing cement