Week 84 - #unclestatus

So this morning I went to put my contacts in.....and my contacts and the solution were not in the container....the heck? Super delirious after that.


Congrats to my Christy and Ben to their first lil' kid and first one for our FAMILY!!!!! #unclestatus Man. It's been on my mind and in my prayers recently, and now he's here! I can't wait to hold him and spend time with him!!! Little Bentley!!! (or BMW) :D

Besides the fact of miracles of babies, miracles still came to us this past week! We have been SO blessed for all that's been happening in our zone, I just hope and pray it keeps going this great.

Our Zone Meeting went really well. The spirit was there and guided all of us in our zone on what to say and train on. In preparation for our zone meeting, we were trying to figure out what last thing the zone needed to have a training on....it was the hardest training to come up with than any other one for some reason. After praying, my companion turns to me and says, "Elder Hales, you need to share with us something you've learned about diligence on you mission...." along with other things. The spirit was suuuper strong when he told me that.....I got a flashback to Dave, Todd, and other miracles that I've been fortunate enough to see on my mission.

Doing a role play for part of our ZM! 

At the end of our ZM and testimonies, I shared 3 scriptures as part of it: Jacob5:72--->Alma 29:10---->D&C64:32-34 and the spirit was strong. Elder Lahtinen shared his testimony on accountability and referenced me how I've been able to help him. It was a very humbling experience. I won't lie, I felt a little bit uncomfortable, but the spirit was there and the feedback we had was that it was remotivating for our missionaries. At first we talked about finding with everyone and the faith, trust, and skills/tools that are used in it. I learned a lot, and my eyes have been opened that much more. Weirrrrd.

We did exchanges this past week and I went to Elder Ontiveros/Bryants' area. We did an appointment with the Lord! While driving to the area we prayed about, we saw a YSA girl walk into her house. We walked around the entire block until we came back to that house and turns out, that was the one God wanted us to visit! There was a single mom and her....roommates...who may be lesbian, but nonetheless, the Gospel blesses everyone. Elder Ontiveros is a stud and both areas had cool things happen!

At the Schell's home - a returning family!

Kellie has a baptism date!!!! She basically set it for herself. You know why? Because she read a ton in the BOM!! She said she'd give up nicotine and tea soon enough for her baptism. Holy awesome. She came to church and loved it still! Her BD is for Sep. 27th!!! Andreas also came to church, a YSA who has a kid that we contacted on the street. He asked some interesting questions in sunday school, like, "What priesthood is the Catholic church under?"....it took a different turn as he said he can't deny the Pope haha. But he's coming and he enjoyed church!


The Rabe's came to church too! He said "it was like I never left" because he felt at home. I love that family to death. The first time he's been to church in 10+ years. They are just one of those families that you feel like you're supposed to meet.


Donna's BD dropped :( she also doesn't want a visit for a while....I wouldn't call Satan my BF.


There was a couple Sisters in our zone that we were able to give blessings too. One of them went to the ER too! Luckily they're all feeling better and the work will go again!


It was another great finding week for us this past week, and the people we taught aren't ready for baptism, but they are ready to learn more. One of them is Stephanie! When we talked to her, she brought up some 'anti' type stuff and showed us her anti Book of Mormon video.....joy. The lesson was back in forth in the bible until we finally were able to bring the spirit and commit her to prove the Book of Mormon right, before you prove it wrong. We aren't going back for another week or so, but it wasn't contentious which was great. You must be willing to listen! The less excuses you have, the more humility is upon you. That is great to have when people spit anti stuff at you, like a man who was native American did to us this past week while we were contacting someone.


Today for PDAY we're doing "Zone Olympics" where we have multiple events set up for each district to compete against each other! haha! We have medals, team names and posters, and the winner gets to use their poster idea and we'll make a shirt out of it for them! We never have any time on PDAY's!


Tomorrow, WE GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!! It's my oooold stompin' grounds! It's our first temple trip in 5 months, so we are SO stoked for it.


In our zone, whenever a companionship has a miracle, they text it to us and then we forward it to the zone! It helps us all stay positive! We got one after zone meeting:

"Another miracle!! We stopped by at a less actives house and they were not home. We remembered what we learned today so there was a reason why we were in that area. The neighbor of the less active came out and started talking to us. She thanked us for spreading the gospel and asked if we would stop by sometime soon."

There was a ton of miracles in our zone, and I'll try to share them too!


Time is up and we have so much stuff to do. The church is true and I'm grateful the Book of Mormon. I'm currently reading it and looking for something specific, and it proves that you can gain a testimony about anything in this gospel by simply reading and praying.


I love your faces.
-Elder Hales

Week 83 - Miracles!

Let's start off with a joke!


....well now I think about it, all my jokes suck. So let's just move on to the good stuff.


First things first. MIRACLES!! The Lord blessed us with an awesome week. While walking one day, Elder Lahtinen said, "Man. This is just awesome. We are seeing so many miracles. This whole transfer!" Basically sums it up! I've learned that miracles can come in the form of blessings to us.


Crap.....the lady just came up to us and told us she's closing due to flooding!! I hope we can email more. Just know that the church is true! Crap.

-----{The next day 9/9/14}-----

Elder Taylor's reaction yesterday to getting kicked out of the library haha.

...well the computers closed yesterday, so they literally kicked us out. We weren't able to get some zone things done, so we have a few mins. on the computer today!

Our zone hike on P-Day! It was so fun and it monsooned like crazy right before. West zone!!

Anyways, continuing on...


Let's start with miracles:


Last week, most of our miracles came through mostly finding, along with potentials and returning member families. Gah. So awesome.


We've been working with a family, the "Schells" and they are rad as. One night they weren't home, but their non-member brother was! He loved the BOM and we set up a time for us to come back! Unfortunately the timing has been bad, but soon enough we'll sit down with him again!


There's been a part-member family this area has been trying to get ahold of for a while now. Finally they had some spare time. Ken, Katrina and their kids Isaiah and Jesus. The lesson was only 25 mins., but they all took the BOM suuper well and we're going back this Thursday!! Three of them are non-members, but seem suuper interested even after one lesson. It goes to show that sometimes things just start falling into place, because of God's time.


Then on Saturday night, we've been trying to get a hold of another part-member family named Adam and Sarina! They are in their 20's which are probably my fav. age group to teach. Adam was randomly home one night along with his recent covert brother where we had a lesson on the BOM and are also going back this Friday! These people so solid, and I only wish we could meet with them multiple times a day!


On Sunday after church, we headed over to try this one guys house who we talked to a week ago...but he wasn't home :( but wait! His neighbors were moving a mattress that was huge, so we helped! Afterwards, one of them asked us about our religion and we ended up sitting down and teaching him part of the Restoration. Paul had a lot of questions, but everything he said lined up with our belief already! He asked for a Book of Mormon before we talked about it and then a little later, he said the BOM seemed 'familiar' to him already, but that he just didn't know what was inside....hmmm. Yup. That's the spirit. Elder Malm pointed out to us how often people can make that connection with this gospel because it has a 'familiar' sound to it. It's because they once knew!! I was about to extend a date for baptism, but then people came inside and the spirit left...but tomorrow!


Another sweet as can be miracle was with a Hawaiin family we randomly knocked on going through a list. The father served a mission but had a little rough patch and hasn't been to church in 10+ years. His wife and 3 kids haven't been for a couple, but you would never guess it by entering their house. The spirit is there with them and you can tell they have a strong testimony just by talking to them by how much they "glow." They have fed us twice now! I love poly's to death. They are one of those families you feel that YOU were sent here for. Our last meal/lesson with them was uplifting. After the dad offered to say the closing prayer, Sister Robe was in tears because she knew it was time for them to go back to church. They are coming to church this Sunday, and I have no doubt that they will. The first night they fed us, someone contacted Bro. Robe and asked him if he was going to church. The person that emailed him helped with the finances of his mission years ago. I love that family to death already.

The Robes!!

We taught Gospel Principles about the Priesthood on Sunday. I love to teach. It's so rad.


Jacob 5:72


Last Friday was our monthly MLC meeting. It was inspiring for our Zone Meeting we are having tomorrow. We're focusing on Faith, Trust, and Skills in Finding along with Gospel blessing families and Diligence and Accountability. It should be a great one. Our mission President's wife will be coming and we're excited to see how it goes tomorrow!


We also have been teaching Donna who has a baptism date for Oct. 4th!


Sorry this week's was short. We're emailing between lessons, so it's time to go!


-Elder Hales

Week 82 - Heavenly Father has prepared opportunities...

This past week started off pretty intense. Elder Malm of the 2nd quorum of the 70 held a half mission conference and a couple other things that day for us. After the conference he interviewed the senior comp. of every zone leader companionship....so he interviewed me! He definitely has the power of God and discernment with him...wow. It was intense. But he gave me some great counsel about some things. Oh man. Anyways, along with the interview and great things Elder Malm, we received referrals this past week! More than any other week of my mission! One of them was Ron and Amy that we taught this past week who were found by Sisters. Amy was raised Catholic and Ron wasn't raised religious. They had some really awesome questions and the spirit has been felt in both lessons with them. Amy almost accepted a date for baptism, but wasn't quite there. Ron would have, but Amy is almost there. They committed to pray and read about it. The members are fellowshipping them great, to answer their questions is a huuuuuuge help.

Blitzing Elders Jewel and Whittle's area! We found a few potentials for them!

Alma 29:9
Jacob 2: 17-19

Yesterday we had 4 investigators come to church! Gah. It was so grreat. Oh man. Kelly was one of them which she brought her 3 grand kids too! #dedication Our lessons with her have been awesome. She won't quite accept a date either, but is almost there! She told us that the times she feels the spirit is when we are over there, when she reads, prays, or is at church.....so, she feels the spirit! Her life is chaos right now, so we're trying hard to help her with the Gospel. She is suuper nice and we won't to go over her feelings about the spirit more with her tonight at a dinner lesson with some members. Fingers crossed!

On the way to church with Kelly's grand kids! 

Along with Amy and Ron, Camela was another one that came to church! We are meeting with her after lunch today to try and help her understood what the spirit means. She prayed about the BOM a few months back, but then got sick with cancer, but told us that something happened when she prayed.

".....Elders....do you have a spare key?" Yup. It's called a crowbar. They ended up calling the Landlord for a key haha.

On Saturday there was a sweet experience with a baptism in our zone named Kenyon! He's in his 20's and the baptism went great. There was non-members there and we were asked to give the '5MTM' - the 5 minute teaching time right after the baptism to fill in the space. We felt to teach the Restoration! Wow. The spirit was there. Right when you start to recite the first vision while not rushing it at all, it brings the spirit every time. I was asked to share an experience of the holy ghost in a talk there as well. The spirit was strong, and the baptism was great. Other missionaries had a lesson with their investigator right after the baptism and set a date with her! So awesome!!

Eating out at a food stand right before a baptism. So. good.

Finding has been something to focus on a lot more in our zone as there's been some companionships struggling to find. That's okay since that happens to every area generally at some point. Today after Camela's lesson we're blitzing a sisters area to try and find some people for them. Yesterday our zone had awesome sports! You can see everyone come more and more together. I'm a firm believer of when a zone has unity, the Lord blesses us with more opportunities to help one another with the work.


As a missionary, church can either be very happy, or sad, depending on who will come to church! Church is at 8:30am for us, and if we don't have ward council before, we're out by7am sometimes trying to get people to come to church! One girl told us to come over at 7 to get her to come, but she told us she drank all night and was still drunk and hadn't even been to bed yet....hahah. Oops. She felt bad though and promised us this next Sunday she'll come. You do everything you can to get people to come feel the spirit!


I don't think I've seen so many things come together so nicely in a short amount of time in an area. People are asking to meet with us, people are prepared for the discussions, it's such a testimony builder. Last night while appointments fell threw of where we were about to teach someone that was Jewish, we decided to check on a member family. Her brother was there and asked us if he could sit in on a lesson next time! Uhhmmm....YES!!! We've invited him before, but he's been hesitant. Some things have happened in his life recently that have helped him feel ready. We intro'd the BOM and got an RA with him.

On Sunday we ate with a member family that were all decked out in Utah Stake stuff....they also knew my Grandma and Grandpa Hales! It was a tender mercy to be able to remember my grandparents who helped so many people. I'm sure they're still USU and Bronco's fans up in heaven :]


Well, time is almost out. Glad we were able to email today with President's permission. This week we have MLC where we'll be discussing a lot of sweet things.


My testimony has grown ladies and gentleman!! I love this work with my whole heart. It blows my mind that I'm only a couple hours from family, and yet the Lord has prepared a mission for me down here in Tucson. I've learned that it truly does not matter where you are in life, but that Heavenly Father has prepared opportunities for you there. This week I will only have 5 months left. I cannot believe it. I'm grateful for God's arm in this work. I continue to have a desire to work and have the urge to never slow down. There's always too much work to do! I know this Gospel's real and that God loves all of us equally.


Love you all!! :D


-Elder Hales

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