Week 81 - Elder Malm of the seventy

West side!!...of Tucson!! :D

Things are going great all up herr in the missionary lifestyle. Our zone is doing great, and we had a pretty solid week. Because we live close to the mission home, we have brand new missionaries and "dying" or finishing missionaries stay with us. Last week we had some finishing missionaries stay with us and we took them to the mission office where we saw them meet their families!! All the sisters that came out with us, are home!! Soooo weird. But man, I'm glad I have 6 months left! :D

The 3 of us came out here together. We decided to retake this pic. in 6 months. dun dun dun!! Sorry for the face hahah.

Watching missionaries that were in my MTC district see their families when picked up!

This morning, we had MLC in St. David for a couple hours with President Passey and Elder Malm of the seventy! He instructed us and gave us a great council. It was one of the best meetings I've been to on my mission. Wow. The spirit led the entire discussion. President Passey instructed us on how to work with famillies. He brought up some good points, especially for something so important. Elder Malm opened up our eyes on how to see people as "yes-sayers" instead of "no." What an incredible opportunity it was. Tomorrow we'll have a half-mission conference with him for a few hours, and then tomorrow night he is instructing any investigators or new members in a fireside! Woohoo!!


This scripture kept coming to mind with Elder Malm:
D&C138:
56 Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.

The 'miracle walk':
We found a couple potentials named Eric and Cassie, a couple in our apartment complex. At our appointment, they had two non-member friends that were over and they were all smoking...something...luckily it didn't really smell. Nonetheless, we watched the Restoration video as promised and taught a mini-Restoration and committed them to all come to church! Unfortunately, our church is at 8:30 (along with 7am Ward Council), so no one showed up out of 7 or 8 people that said they would be there. Ugh. Next week for sure. ANYWAYS! After the lesson, we started walking to our appointment also in our apt. complex, when a guy walks out of his car and when we talked with him, he told us he would like some Jesus in his life and would like us over! After getting an RA, we continued walking to our app. when a mini-van *Mormon alert* drove up. The mom in the mini-van is a member that hasn't been to church for a while, and her husband is a non-member, but they asked to feed us! We are eating with them tomorrow! Man. Tucson is much different than other places I've served in.... CIVILIZATION!! There's more people here! Which means a lot of talking, which I love. No idea how long I'll serve here for, but no matter what, I'll give it my best shot.

A youth activity we were asked to go to, to find people to teach! 

Another night we had a MIRACLE. We had 20 minutes left until 9pm pumpkin time. We decided to walk to the next door apartments, and then walked through a couple paths and found a couple who were just recently taught by missionaries and want us over again!! Miracle. We'll be going over to Joselyn and Alex's on Wednesday, and we're praying for the best!

The Lord blessed us with a good amount of lessons this past week. Ever since I was transferred here, and with talking to missionaries in our zone, we have all felt that the Lord is ready to hasten this part of His vineyard. In the Gila Valley from day 1 that the work would increase in 3 or so months, but here it feels like it'll happen right away if we take proper action. We've already seen an increase in almost everything. At our zone breakout, we set really solid expectations for the zone and set zone goals to never say negative things (as I'm trying hard to work on :P) to help out our areas, to share miracles with the zone over text, along with a couple other things. I've served with a few missionaries that are in our zone, and we're all super stoked to be here!

We were able to teach:
Kelly who has had a really rough life. Our lesson with her was on the BOM and first vision which really brought the spirit. She'll be at church this Sunday too! Almost set a date with her.
Raymon was a street contact. We taught about the BOM and extended a date, but he wants to read more which is understandable for his situation. He rocks and we will keep y'all updated!
Camela is a former invest. who had a date at one point, but then struggled with cancer and a lot of things. Our lesson with her was solid!

Things seemed to fall into place this past week, and we were able to give out a solid referral for YSA too. Other people came up to us who just want the Gospel more in their life, such as Heather and Jared. A family moved into our ward recently and they are awesome and are coming back to church! They are the Shell family, and also live in our apt. complex. Our apartment complex is on fire!! The Lord prepares people where His servants are living.

I can already tell that we'll be focusing a lot on working with members over in this zone. Hopefully we can meet with the Stake Presidency here soon to get some things going. Getting members out with us and helping us being involved with them can be tricky. Our Stake President is great, and I'm super stoked to be serving here.

Doing service! 

Well folks, the awesome church is true. I know that we all accepted God's plan for us and if we look at all of God's children for who they can become, and the plan that they DID accept at one point, we will be able to lose ourself in helping them, without even realizing it. I know that Charity leads to helping others come to the gospel, naturally. I know that God wants to be involved in every single aspect of our lives. From missionary work, school work, family, or exercising. I know that God always wants to help us out if it's for good. I love this church with my whole heart and know that it has saved my life.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Well, this tard has to sign off soon to do zone sports and fun stuff!
Love y'all!!


-Elder Dallin Hales

[Transfers] Week 80 - West Tucson!

Hello world and all who inhabit it!

Packed up this morning, headed out after 4-1/2 months. 

So, long story short.  I am now serving in West Tucson! After a 4 hour transfer van ride, I finally arrived here around 4pm today. There's special reasons for serving here in this zone, but it just means things need to get done! Leaving the EAC YSA's was really hard.....and to be honest, I've never struggled or been so sad to leave an area before. Last night was a huge combined FHE for the YSA's where I was able to see many YSA's again. I sure miss them already. I can't lie, even as I type about serving up there right now, it does bring tears to my eyes, even just after 4 1/2 months. I miss all y'all!!

Our awesome zone! All of us got close, and they still are! I have learned so much from them.

Anyways, besides the sadness yet awesome YSA, we had a great week last week!

We were asked to put this tv in the dumpster on PDAY...after failed attempts, we just took a hammer to it. 

An EAC classic: Christy. She bought us ice cream!

Long story long:
Last Monday to Tuesday our mission did 'the day' where our zones do exchanges and where we focus on a certain missionary aspect, usually finding. I stayed in our area and went with Elder Harris! We went out and contacted a bunch of YSA's. In the afternoon, we did a classic 'appointment with the Lord' where we felt impressed to go to 2 certain spots on the map. Our first spot started out by talking to a guy by his truck, and then it started monsooning on us hard core! I looked over and saw the wave of rain coming near us, "Oh no." hahah so we ran under a tree and then decided to continue onward. The first area was alright where we got a potential and talked to some members about referrals. Then the 2nd area was just a tiny dirt street with 2 houses on it...lame...but a couple streets down there was a group of people outside. YES!! #bingo All of them were not interested, except one let us talk with him about the Book of Mormon and he said we could come back! Guess what? He happened to live in our family ward boundaries! YES!! I hope things go well with him. It was an awesome exchange and miracles happened in every area of our zone.

After helping some members move, Elder Harris' pants ripped. Awesome.

They say a mission is the equivalent to a 4-year communications degree. Pff. Oh yeah.

6am Zone sports!

Let the goodbye's begin..:( 

Brother and Sister Orme, our family ward WML and his wife. Very awesome couple!

Members gave us a referral this past week for a guy named "Angel" who only knows Spanish and French....2 strike outs for me. If anything, my English has gotten worse hahah. Luckily Elder Hughes is a spanish missionary and we invited the hermanas to help teach. They set a baptism date with him after teaching the restoration and then Angel decided that he wants to stay YSA! He is suuuper solid. So excited for him!


Zane was baptized!! Zane was a referral we gave over to the Safford YSA after we gave him a book of mormon a few weeks ago. He was baptized suuper quick! Ah man. He's a stud. Just another person I miss.

Right after Zane's baptism!

Because I was transferred, I wrote a list of some things I learned while serving in the Gila Valley:


1) When you can help someone, you can share the gospel.
2) If you have the spirit while teaching, you have charity.
3)"A strong person goes through the most. A nice person gets hurt the most." - Tracy Sanchez
4)I've never felt closer to my family in my life.
5)"It takes more guts to do something good, then bad." - Elder Netane
6)If stress comes with no results, you may need more hope.
7)We need to look for answers, not just questions.
8)When we show God our diligence, He blesses us with hope.
9)"If you don't make the small sacrifices, He won't ask you to make the the big ones." - president Killpack
10)If you doubt or question something, that means you have something to actually doubt or question. "doubt you doubts before you doubt your faith."
11)We must understand our privileges to reach our potential.
12)All that can be done is diligence and obedience if God needs an area prepared for miracles.
13) I have loved every single minute I served in the Gila Valley.


I can't believe I'm in my 5th area, and have only 4 transfers left. I wonder what God has in store, but I know it's something. I have a feeling I have another area after this one, so who knows. This zone has had some trouble previously, but the DL's are solid and good friends of mine, and there was a lot of changes. Our zone has 11 companionships, 6 sets of Elders, and 5 sets of Sisters, 2 missionaries are being trained. We were asked to go pick up some concluding missionaries tonight too. Gila Valley and Mount Graham Zones were combined this transfer. My prayers and fasts are with the Gila Valley and West Tucson zones. Elder Hughes and Elder Gosper, I know you'll tear it up!!


Well time to send pictures since there is lots! Man. So many people I'll miss. Sister Matlock and her grand kids made me a blanket!

Finishing off the transfer with some blueberry ice cream at the Bluth's!

Travis! -Man I'll miss this guy.

Sean! We were always joking around. What a stud. He'll probably be married and have a kid next time I see him.

Studly YSA's

Quintana! (right) 

Johnny! "Fosho!" He is the mg 1st ward EQP. One of the coolest guys ever.

Corey! One of our WML's. He was trying to get me to go to EAC...........did someone say ASU???

Mani! We had lessons and dinner with her weekly! :D

YSA FHE!

I love you all, and I know this church is Christ's church. I know with time, we'll see everything God wants us too. I'm grateful for this transfer and the things ahead, whatever they may be. There's a lot of things to do here, but I can tell it's time to kick on the boosters and get things rolin'. I'm grateful for God's trust in us. I love Him with my whole heart.


....mail won't take as long any more.... *hint hint* ahem.

I love you all and am grateful for everything!!


Love,


Elder Hales

D&C64:

32 But all things must come to pass in their time.

33 Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying thefoundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth thatwhich is great.

Week 79 - Everyone is moving back!

Hello everyone!! What's happening? :D

I've learned that I'm horrible at updating the world on how our investigators and members are progressing. So, there's a great place to start.

Monsoon!!

Remember Jesus? He was a referral given to us and we can tell he has a pure heart. We've only been able to teach him once, but he took the Book of Mormon well. He was recently locked up, which is often the best time for change to happen. We're hoping and praying for the best!

Last week a non-member stud named Zane came to our church. He knows Bishop Bluth! We gave him a BOM a while back and then referred him to Safford YSA, and he's getting baptized this Saturday!! YES! It's before transfers, so at least we'll for sure be here for then. So cool!

Yesterday, Wesley came to church! Wesley is one of the kids of 'The Family' and he loved church and might go to camp this weekend with the YM! It was a surprise having him come, but man, all your problems go away when even 1 person comes to church. In our YSA ward we had a member named Isaac come to church who hasn't been in a while. It was so great to see them! Then in Elder Quorum in our family ward, a Brother taught an awesome lesson where he talked about his coming back to church in just the past couple months because of the "example of good friends, family, and missionaries I've been around the past couple months." We've been over to his house a few times, and it was SO awesome to hear him teach. The lesson went great and he seemed happy afterwards. Ah man. The church is true!

Before our zone meeting, we had all the Elders polish their shoes! President encouraged us to keep them lookin' good! 

Last P-DAY, at Walmart we ran into a member we worked with in East Tucson, back in September of last year! He moved up here! He said "Hales!" and gave me a hug. Tanner!! He's doing a lot better which is so great to see after seeing him go through a lot of crap. Man. So cool.

There's a family we've been trying to work with that has un-baptized kids. A couple times this past week we went over and had a couple great lessons with them! Missionaries have taught them in the past but for some reason stopped going over. So, we're picking up where they left off. YES!!

Only half our zone came to do our weekly run to the temple! Honestly. What morning exercise is better?

This past week we had zone meeting where we completely focused on how to work with members. The almost 3 hour training went great, especially for the Gila Valley where we work with members most! "When members feel accountable..that's where we start to build trust."

One day while walking outside after lunch, there was a YSA girl on the sidewalk with her bike on the ground. We had the prompting to talk to her and ask if she was okay, and she was just hit by a truck!! The truck didn't stop either. Luckily just a couple scraps and bruises happened, along with a busted bike. Man. We felt so bad!

Helping out our friend who had a hit and run! She was fine at least!

This upcoming week is when everyone is moving back!! I am SO stoked!! Things will get busy again! This next Sunday is when every YSA up here joins together and they determine who is in which ward, and then there's a huge YSA FHE Monday night. We are stoked, it's going to be rad-chaos to talk to as many people as possible. Not many people have the chance to serve in end of a semester, stay through the whole summer, and then see the beginning of the next semester. I took it to the Lord one night to see if it was a good idea to split the area, and there's no doubt after praying, that there's enough work to be done. The Lord is hastening His work!!

For PDAY, Elder Lowe taught us all how to make his DELICIOUS muffins! Best. Pday. Ever.

We had a couple cool miracles happen. One of them being a run-in with a member in our family ward after her work. We were walking and came across her and started talking. She's had some really bad experiences with members unfortunately, but we talked with her and assured her that there was a reason her family is still going strong.

Almost out of time! Gah!

The best snack when you are sick and it's time for weekly planning.

A couple analogies were made this past week which are always fun to think of. One of them was while teaching a Quintana a recent convert from the res. who works at Sonic and often can't go to church because of it. Well, the thought came and we taught how when you go through the drivethru (where she works) you talk with someone you can't see, and you can't always hear them because of the awful speakers, but the closer you get to the window, the more assurance that you have. Just like life! We are all in a drive thru of some kind.

My time here in the zone has been incredible. I've had a feeling I'm getting transferred for a while, but you never really can tell until transfer calls come. I've made a list of things I've learned in the Gila Valley I'll email home next Tuesday. The change that has overcome the Gila Valley zone has been incredible. It's a completely changed zone and the mindset of the members in continually changing towards missionary work. All I can say is how grateful I am to help this work push forth. I know that this gospel is true and that Christ was foreordained to suffer for our sins, and that we were all foreordained for our purpose in this life. 2nephi26:24. I love this gospel with my whole heart!!

1John5:14-15

D&C71:4
Love y'all!! Have a rad week!



-Elder Hales

Week 78 - We will always find joy.

1CHRON 19:13
"13 Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord do that which is good in his sight."

Hello erryone!


We gave up. Normal weeks don't exist in missionary work. But hey, that means there's always work to do! "It is what it is."

Saying bye to Elder Bleyl who leaves in a couple weeks. He's been one of the assistants and he's headed back to BYU!

This past week was pretty good. Numbers wise it wasn't the best for the zone, but we've found that there's one or two of those in a transfer usually. But we had some really neat miracles happen!

Doing service after sharing a lesson for "the Family" - Sister Matlock, and her 4 grandkids whom we're teaching!

Last Tuesday, Elder Hughes and I were saying our prayer before heading out, and we prayed for someone to be put on our "path." Well, after we prayed, we walked outside, took a right, and two people were on the sidewalk...on the same "path" as us. Well then! We got talking with them and one of them is an RM, and his non-member girlfriend wants to take the lessons! She is 22 so we were excited since she's YSA, but they are going to get married, so we passed them off to the right Elders. They set a baptism date, and gave a blessing to them the first lesson, and they went to church yesterday! Man. SO cool. I've really learned that referring people over to other missionaries couldn't be done if we only would talk to people WE could teach. I love helping other areas out with missionary work, and feel the 2nd half of my mission God really wants me to talk with everyone, regardless of where they are living. We've seen so many miracles for people we don't teach. It's been very humbling! Selfishness and missionary work are horrible companions.

FHE last week. We always are inviting people to FHE. It's seriously the best way to fellowship investigators.

Every single Elder, except Elder Hughes and myself (maybe), have ADD or ADHD hahaha. It makes things entertaining. Our zone is full of the best missionaries.

Jason! He's a direct descendant of Joseph Smith! woo!

Last Monday night, President Passey asked us to do a brief training at the upcoming Mission Leader Council. Sweet! Last Friday, Elder Hughes and I gave a training on "The Importance of Our Integrity to the Members We Work With." The training went well with the leadership!

President Passey gave Elder Lowe a shoutout last MLC for being the "muffin man." That he is!

Devin Nez! One of the most solid members out there. He's headed up to NAU today. He was the one that taught me how to put my contacts on haha. His uncle is the only native American temple sealer. 

I've learned that sometimes miracles disguise themselves so we can learn how to recognize them. One day we went up to a inactive member's home whom we contacted on the street one day. The husband walked up shortly after we arrived there, and first things he said, with a beer in hand, "I don't ever want to see you here again! Is that okay?"....well, I then asked him how he was doing, and started talking to him. He threw out a bunch of stuff against Joseph Smith and the Word of Wisdom, but...I just listened....after talking with him for a while, he then said, "Please help me. Please come over. I want to change for my family." God changes hearts instantly when it's His will! We will go over tomorrow night and hope things go well.



This next transfer in 2 weeks, a lot of change could happening up here in the Gila Valley. Elder Hughes and I (if I'm still here) will most likely cover only MG 1st ward, and we'll be splitting the area with probably a set of Sisters. The area has never been split before, but while praying a few nights ago, I really feel there will be enough work for two sets of missionaries. Unfortunately, we will be passing off every single one of our investigators, because MG 1st ward covers campus, and no one lives on campus in the summer. Yet still it feels right. We're excited to see what happens! Things are already starting to pick up with people moving back. Next week is when everyone moves back, and then it will be awesomely chaotic. Boo yeah. SO EXCITED!


"We may not always feel accountable, but we are responsible." - President Passey


Yesterday at our YSA wards, 2 non-members came to church! One of them was Zane, someone that knows Bishop from 1st ward. The day we were able to skype home back in May, Zane was at Bishop's house, so I was talking to him a couple minutes while skyping home. We gave him a Book of Mormon back then, and then he showed up at church! YES! He wants to take the lessons asap, but lives in Safford, so we passed him to the YSA Elders over there. So cool! Zane is a stud and has a bright future.

Elder Harris running away from Elder Hughes last pday sports!

Bishop and Sister Bluth - two of the most incredible people! There's always a few people in each area you really feel you were sent there to meet.

I've been thinking a lot about finding joy in every situation. And, as a missionary, it's much much easier. But I first thought of how Christ volunteered to suffer for our sins...and when someone volunteers for something, it's because they will know at some point, the joy that it will bring. Even though He suffered the unimaginable, I know He found joy in helping God's children. Whenever we try to help someone, we will always find joy.



It made me think of all of the Mormon Messages that are coming out lately, that we can't see. But, what would YOUR Mormon Message be about if God created it? :D Something fun to think about.



Well the church is true, and I know that if we recognize the privileges that each of us have, we will be able to reach our potential. And this gospel in this church gives us so many more privileges!



Love you all!! Receiving letters is always awesome...ahem....


-Elder Dallin Hales