Week 29 - How much is the Book of Mormon?

Happy bday fatty! :] I really don't know how old anyone is anymore... -_-

What a needed week. AWESOME.

Last Monday we went out with a member who took us out to eat (at CHILIS :D FTW!) where she has recently been coming back to church. Her life is very rough to say the least and she told us a lot of what was going on. She told us when we called that it got her spirits up. We had a really good talk with her and she seems to be doing better and we'll give her a blessing when she wants one. The church is true.

We were taken out to Chilis! First time I've been there since the morning before I left to the MTC. Awesome.

This is Sister El Cheikh. She's so awesome. She bought us a Cholocalte Molten Cake. OH.

ALSO, a lady called us last Monday while we were playing bball for pday sports and said that her son is coming down and needs more God in his life basically. We had a good talk with her on the phone and met with her later that day. She's very accepting and has a baptism date! She asked "how much is a Book of Mormon?" BOSS. That just means you know they are interested. We've taught her a couple times so far and she has been attached to the lessons and we meet her at the dog park in the mornings. It's been such a cool experience as we've been praying for someone that we can teach to progress towards the waters of baptism. We were then called by Christie this day and then got in contact with "Dave" last Tuesday - a big awesome black dude who was a marine.

Dave is a referral from a sick/good member who said he wanted a blessing. The blessing talked a lot of about 'service within this church' and was quite an inspired blessing. Before we extended a baptismal date, he said, "I'm going to go over there and join the Mormon church." uhm. Holy heck yeah. He had heart surgery last Thursday through a catheter (TMI) and was out the next day. We're excited for his progression and he's incredibly solid. We'll probably have to hit the weights before we dunk him though haha. What a blessing.

Christie texted us one day and said her son said he'd "pray everyday" and also that he's thinking clearly now even after being a huge drug addict. We're excited to work with him. Miracles always happen, we just have to realize them!

One day while visiting a member, we saw 3 people 'signing' to each other. There's a set of ASL Elders in our district that we'll probably be fasting for here soon, so with my 1 years worth of Sign Language I took I HS, I attempted to talk to them....oops. After talking/signing/looking at their crazy hands...we got to the point where we found out one was catholic and one was Mormon! We'll have the ASL Elders check them out this next week. Feels good to not speak English haha. 

This is what the deaf guy wrote in my planner after not understanding his signs..

I've been keeping some quotes from my comp. hahah he's freakin' funny, probably because he's from Samoa:

-"At your wedding I'm going to spice all your drinks."

-*Thunder* "Wow. It must be the angels farting."

- "If I go AP, the church is not true."

- "Can you name your son Lucifer so he can get ex-communicated?"

-If there was reincarnation, what would you comeback as? I would be a tree."

-"Drunk people and babies are the most honest people."

is really has no relation to Tucson...but whatever.

hahaha he's very random, but it brings a good laugh haha. We also wrote a poem one night:

THE ATM

There's this place down here in the ATM.

Where Elder A. and I will rap like Eminem.

Le' go.

We wake up some days at 5 o'clock.

\Right out of bed, put on the Armor of God.

Exercise and study, let's prep for the day.

Time to bike around and hear what they say.

Ten or twenty miles, maybe go a few more.

Just follow the spirit for what God has in store.

You're new to Arizona? Welcome to AZ!

You say you want to party? "Have to go through me!"

Biking and singing that "we understand."

His "Army of Helaman" will do the Lord's command.

All of us are part of one inspired family.

The potential we all have while on our hands and knees.

Two years of our life we give a simple sacrifice.

A small price to pay for their eternal paradise.

It was a good week for us this past week and God answered our prayers. 

Anyone recognize Sister Jones? (family) We ate with them last night and the first things she asked me was, "Are you from Layton?" Her Sister Amy Squires is best friends with my Sister Jolie and pretty sure she babysat me.....so awesome! It was awesome to talk to her bout everything and was funny to ask her, "So how's my family?" haha. Gooood times. They're in our Ward! 

Nehemiah 8:10 

2Nephi28:30

-If we look for faults, we will find them. We're imperfect people striving for perfection. Look for the good in people and our good will become more noticeable and influential.

These phrases and what not usually come to me during church...figured that's a good place to throw some words to together haha.

My comp. says Audi's are better than BMW's....oh man, it's been on since day 1.

Surrounded by UofA stuff EVERYWHERE. -_- 

I love you all! Thanks for the support and everything. Can't thank everyone enough (if you can't tell haha) but the support is just awesome.

Crap time to go.

I really love being able to serve this mission. It has simply opened my eyes to so many things. There's nothing else I'd rather be doing since I know this is the LORD's work and not mine. I've learned to try and "pray as if everything relies on the Lord. Work as if everything relies on us." . It's crazy to think that the gospel will be taught to the world before the 2nd coming and that our tools like Facebook and computers will be involved with missionary work...so we can teach people literally every part of the world. Love this gospel with my whole heart and don't know what I would do without it. There's no coincidences in God's eyes because he know's who we are. I love him with my heart and am grateful for our Savior's everlasting sacrifice that we can relate to in all situations. Sure to love my family, friends, and this Gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Week 28 - YOSO. You. Only. SERVE. Once.

YOSO!

You. Only. SERVE. Once...missionaries are clever.

This past week was my 2nd week in good ol Tucson, AZ. Man it's awesome here to be able to just go outside on the streets and talk to people. 

One of our walking days. I don't really like these bikes a ton, but oh man, it's a Beemer.

Today is going to be an 18 hour day...we woke up at 5am to play ball. I wonder if I'll ever like mornings... maybe one day.

My comp's bike was gone when we came out haha. "dude where's your bike?" "....I guess it was stolen. Alwell" hahah

Last Monday my comp's bike was stolen....freak. So we were on foot for most of the week so we walked generally 15 miles a day or so. It was crazy. My comp. didn't lock up his bike and we're keeping them inside at night because bike theft is crazy here even with locks.

We also had a Zone Conference which means 3 zones get together and we have training most of the day until dinner. It was awesome to be with tons of missionaries. Again, something new from Deming haha. Depsite the circumstance we were able to teach more lessons than the previous week. Trust in the Lord is all you can do.

Our Zone! "East Side!" It's the biggest zone in the mission barely. Pretty awesome people.

Missionaries can't wear backpacks anymore haha. It's crazy, we have to get 'Satchel' type things...should be fun riding them on a bike! O_o shouldn't be a problem at all.They want us to look more 'business' like. 

We've been teaching an atheist 'Chelsie' who we have to refer over to the YSA Sisters which sort of sucks because we were excited to teach her, but that isn't what matters. What matters is her progress! We had a really good lesson with her and the spirit was there. We brought a member with us who had been an atheist once upon a time (who reminds me of the dude that lived at my dad's house for a while..) but it was a very good lesson. I've learned one of the most important things about lessons is asking 'inspired questions' meaning questions that you don't think of. It's crazy, if the spirit is there, the questions are too. Questions that just come to you are usually inspired in such an instance. Crazy stuff. This gospel blows my mind....again and again.

My comp. and I have been quoting 'Fat Amy' from Pitch Perfect all week hahaha.. "Uhhhhhhh......ehhhhhhhhhhh" hahaha oh man. So stupidly dumb. :D

A 3 course meal.

I hear the radio playing somewhere.....MUSIC.

You know you're a missionary when you have dreams where your brother in law gets put in jail for stealing your sister's book of mormon hahahaha. I woke up and was like, seriously? Must be a missionary hahah. Don't steal....BOM's.

Multiple people have told me I have an accent...but not a Utahn accent. I hope I didn't pick up a Hispanic-hick accent from Deming haha. Alwell. If you're going to pick up an accent, a mission is the place to do it! :D haha. My comp. has a sweet accent and people have a much better reaction to hear where he's from haha. Samoa FTW. 

The 'Eminem' nickname continues..

I'm very tired. 

D&C 43:11

This past week was good. A missionary spoke yesterday at Stake Conference and said, "There's no growth in your comfort zone, and there's no comfort in your growth zone." Although people's 'comfort zone' may be different, but I thought it was sweet.

Well all is good. Got quite a lot of support from friends and family back home. Thanks to everyone who takes it old school and writes me a letter :D

I keep forgetting to add this, but I made a list of 10 things I learned in Deming.

1) The roles of a missionary, companion, and any sort of leadership position are 3 separate positions under 1 role.

2)Deming is a hell hole for many people.

3)When someone makes an effort for God, Satan is putting forth his best effort.

4)You will never see progress unless you show support.

5)If you want to progress, never be content

6) When our trust in God goes up, our worries go down.

7) Many different ways meth is made.

8) God know's our potential, we don't. We must let him help us.

9) How much I always want a Monster.

10 ) Obedience brings blessings, exactness brings miracles"

There we go! Times up! Thanks family for everything...I'm very tired right now haha holy crap. Love you all! :]

Love you all! 

We'll be on Facebook by the end of the year...anxious to see how that works. We'll have tablets and all that. WOAH. I don't even know what technology is anymore!

-Elder D. Hales

Week 27 - I've noticed every transfer sort of has a 'theme' to it.

Man, I'm so close to some of you haha. EAST TUCSON YO.

This past week was pretty crazy. I've learned how much I really like BMW's, talking to random people, and biking. We bike a solid 10-20 miles a day I bet give or take a few, but it's awesome. It's insane how much water you drink...and never use the bathroom...at least I know I'm not diabetic.

The apartment I came too didn't have a whole lot of stuff....you know you're on a mission when you get entertained by incredibly lame stuff.. :D

We found out our Districts last Thursday. Our district is as big as some Zones haha it's sweet. We have two Elders who are American Sign Language Elders, two Spanish Elders, two Spanish Sisters, a set of English Sisters (one of them being one of the new Sister Training Leaders) and then Elder Auva'a and I...a couple of tards. Quite the adjustment from Deming, but man, it rocks.

Me and my awesome comp. Elder Auva'a. He's Samoan and very funny hahah.

The work out here seems to be a little slow, at least the week I came in. Tucson zones are known for having lots of people to teach and having lots of lessons. We didn't teach as many as we'd like, but set ourselves up for a really good week this week. Did quite a bit of finding and have a bunch of potentials for this week. One finding idea you couldn't do a whole lot in Deming is 'street contacting'....self explanatory. You go out, and talk to people on the streets. One lady, Avon, was walking towards us (hehe) so we attacked her....with the spirit. She had headphones in so it takes a little more effort to get their attention...as we approached her, I held up a BOM and started moving my mouth as if I was talking, she took her headphones out, we talked a bunch, and got an appointment! Heck yeah. Quite a few people to talk to on the streets out here in East Tucson, it's pretty dang rad.

After eating dinner with some members, the dad stormed in and said he needed someone to watch his paint and was very stressed out. We watched paint for an hour haha.

Another person we talked to was "Erich." After an appointment fell through because her dad was beaten by a sledgehammer (wtf. Messed.) so we went and knocked a couple houses. The previous Elders had talked to this guy before and he didn't seem interested at the time. We talked to him and apparently his wife passed away a few years ago so he's lonely...often times when people are lonely, they're searching for something more in their life. We talked with him and introduced the BOM to him and then said a prayer at the end. Afterwards, he turned to us and said, "Gentlemen, I think God did this," referring to us coming by. If we rely on the spirit, people will be prepared. 

One of my favorite things is seeing people's reactions to hearing where I'm from. Soon as I say Utah....I often get some *judging vibes* comin' on haha. Then I say I just got done serving in Deming, that also gets a good reaction haha. Goood stuff.

At a ward activity. Woot!

I've noticed every transfer sort of has a 'theme' to it...meaning that the transfer will teach you something to help better prepare you. This transfer, I feel that my faith and obedience will be tried. Not too sure why, but meh. Have felt that I'm going to have to be very obedience this transfer if we want to progress people towards the waters of baptism. Started reading the BOM again highlighting certain things and what not and came acrossed 2Nephi1:19. Pretty boss. 

ASU>UOA

Spiritualness:

D&C 42:61.

Psalms 30:5

2Nephi1:19

-All throughout our evolving lives, 3 things will never change that will allow us to push through. 1) God's love 2) Christ's everlasting sacrifice 3) Guidance from the Holy Ghost. What more do we need?

Well, time is up and we have to go get our laundry and also find a ride so we can shop....crap. The joys of biking haha. 

The church is true yo. What a privilege to serve. 

Thank you again everyone for the support. It rocks this freakin' world.

Love you all! 

Stay real.

[Transfers] Week 26 - EAST TUCSON

Well I turned SIX yesterday on the mish, it's absolutely insane how fast time is flying by! ...I'm also out of Deming after spending 1/4th of my mission there! 

I' got transferred too....any guesses?....ya'll suck at guessing......EAST TUCSON :]

Cars. PEOPLE. Buildings. Stores. Life. It's crazy.

This past week was one of the most memorable weeks probably of my entire life. Lots of tears were shed...it was hard no doubt. I felt a good prompting that I was done there, so I was able to say bye to more people. 

Orlando and April and her kids told me I was legitly half black. That's right.

 Orlando and April and her kids. Two of them were gone. This family...wow...so awesome. Miss them a ton. We went over there a ton after Elder Dayley and I felt prompted to go to Sonic one day after our lessons for the day were done. We met these two who invited us over instantly. They are from 'da hood' and have had some sketch things happen to them, but they have felt the blessings from the gospel in their lives and love to read the BOM as a family!

They made me do a duck face... I took a video of them so I'm excited to send that home!

I finished the BOM last week, it was awesome. This past week I felt a prompting to ask a blessing from Brother Sokoloff and Brother Whipple...wasn't sure why since I was very happy with things and felt fine. It was a Father's blessing and it was such an awesome experience. I was wanting to know more knowledge about something I was fasting and praying for (related to mission work right now) and the blessing gave me quite a bit of instruction. Amazing. It also randomly threw in some things about my....family. Blessings are such an incredible thing we have here on the earth. Wow.

Bro. Sokoloff. He is in the Bishop-ric and is such an incredible man. He gave me the blessing before I left.

Brother and Sister Whipple! He stood up for this picture and he can barely stand. So grateful for how much these two helped us.

While on exchanges in the other area, we taught a dude named "Dick" who said he didn't pray and basically didn't believe in God. The lesson was AWESOME and the spirit was there...there was a pause at the end of the lesson, then he just started to say a prayer...it was awesome. He started to tear up. This gospel is incredible.

John. He started living the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity before we had even taught him those. He will be baptized soon enough and told me he'd write me when he is!

The STOCKMAN's! Such a cool family. He played with Josh Turner as a fiddler. He's one of the best in the nation. Bet on it.

So much to write with such little time!!

Christian from the Spanish branch. He is unable to serve because of his turrets and things like that, so he loved to go out with missionaries.

BROTHA QUINTANA! The WML for the Spanish branch. We went over to their place a few times. Man, he and his family rock. He will have two daughters going to the 'U' soon. Woot.

Remember Ashley a former investigator who keeps moving away? Yup! She came back into town! We taught her my last lesson there, and after I said the prayer, I looked up and she had tears rolling down her face....feel bad I was leaving and able to have such a connection with how long I've taught her, but she is in good hands with Elder Allred and Elder Peterson.

Ohhh man.. Brother and Sister Smith. He was our Ward Mission Leader so we worked with him a lot. They supported us like non-other. They are such an awesome family and am going to miss them dearly.

Then we have Brother and Sister Matkin. BOSS. They are some of the nicest people I've met. Going to miss a lot of people.

1Nephi4:6

Moroni8:3

A very creepy building that use to be a cotton place or something.

Brother Mcginnis and his sick family. His wife and baby were in the hospital for a while since the baby was very pre-mature. During a lesson with them, I felt prompted to tell them the baby was going to be completely fine even with the 80% of it having 'downs'. So far the baby is juust fine. He served in Scotland..

This is the Hilton family. He's in the Stake Presidency. They are such an awesome family. I knew their son "Carson" who is now serving on a mish. Such awesome people who make such AWESOME food. Miss them already.

The church is true and I'm so greatly to be serving here now in East Tucson in a bike area. I was talking to another Elder who went home today and he said he had a shotgun pulled on him here once haha. WOAH. We had a zone meeting this morning, our zone is HUGE. It's awesome. 

Our last District meeting of the transfer. Did training on 'obedience'. It was awesome. It was such a blessing to have worked with an awesome district. They are going to keep making Deming explode! They put another set of Sister's in the area after splitting Sister Hale's and Sister Raulinson up. Do work.

One with our ZL's. Yeah.

So grateful for this service and the chance to represent a perfect being. What an opportunity. This church is true and so is the Book of Mormon.

Our last city of rocks trip with our District and Zone Leaders. We decided to try and make an 'album cover' for our future band called "P-DAYZ". Whaddup.

My bro. told me to take an 'awesome pic' with all my comp's....here's the one for Elder Allred and I..

Take care ya'll! :]

-Elder DJ Hales