A Big Adjustment

September 9,2013

9/9/13  P-day Lunch (copied from another missionaries blog)

Hi hi hi!! So good to be emailing you =)Last week when I only had 15 minutes to email you. I was really irritated and feeling ready to give up but then I thought of the people who went on missions a hundred years ago or however long and couldn't talk to their families for two years or so and I thought also of my Savior and He knows the pains that I am going through... so that really helped and I know that the Savior is there to help me through my struggles... but it has been hard. I feel bad saying this but I have played with the idea of coming home a few times but I would never do that... I will finish this mission because there are souls who need to receive the gospel.
Ok time to answer questions (sorry for the poor typemanship)

1. I am serving in a place called Baquedano... it is like really just outside of Rancagua. so it is cool. the people here are super nice. pretty much all of the people we contact will stop and talk to us even if you can tell they don't want to really talk... I appreciate their sincerity because if I just got doors slammed in my face all day I would be feeling pretty down..

2. haha My living conditions. When I first arrived into our house two weeks ago I was like wow... I had life so good in the MTC. It is just a small little house with run down everything. there are two bunk beds. I sleep on top bunk. I have two little cubbies to keep my clothes in.. haha so I kind of have to live out of my suitcase. I live with all Latinos, two are the zone leaders, both from Argentina and then me and my comp from Panama. He is super proud of his country and talks about it all the time haha. Our bathroom is moldy and kind of gross, especially because there are four different guys who use it. =P

3. In the morning I usually have some yogurt and a fruit of some sor. and if I have cereal then I will eat it as well. We are usually always fed by the members here for lunch and that is super nice. I love the food that they prepare but Brady was right. They feed you until you think your going to explode. For dinner, I usually just make a little sandwich or something, not a whole lot. I have yet to find Mt Dew down here.... there's Pepsi but not the same as the good old green juice. =)

4. hahah The running...... it is healthy... but I hate running. Yeah I have shoes for running. I bet that we go about a mile and a half in the morning or so.... kind of hard but I am getting more endurance. 

5. There are a few experiences I can recall right now. First there has been a couple times where the spirit has said you need to go back to that house and when we have the people let us in. We are in the process of teaching this family but we have only visited them once the rest of the time they have been busy... but that was one... We have fasted both the Sundays that I have been here and that has been good, about a 24 hour stretch of fasting. It is kind of hard. We had zone conference this past week and that went well. Elder Viñas from the Seventy came.
There are dogs everywhere... hahah I bet I see close to 50 dogs in a day. Everyone has a dog and then there are about 1000 on the street.  My Spanish is improving but still at times I get so darn frustrated with my abilities because I can't understand and I can't talk. There is this one member who thinks it is super fun to talk to me in English and he says, "What's up ni****" when he sees me... haha it is kind of funny and then there is this other member who talks to me about the NFL. Lots of people/investigators all ask if I play basketball. It is fun to talk to them, well to try to at least. 

6. We email in internet cafes and I can't open audio files and I don't think that there is a way for me to send them either but I can send pictures and stuff. I wish I could hear your voices but I guess I will have to wait until Christmas. That feels like so far away but really the past two weeks here have flown by. 

I think about you guys a lot, probably more than I should. It is just when I can't understand stuff or when we are just walking to appointments, I day dream about home... I hope that gets better when I know Spanish even though it isn't bad to think about you guys. hahah My comp is a go-getter. We work so dang hard and it honestly takes me about thirty seconds to fall asleep because of how tired I am at night. We walk so much. I have worn a callus off on the bottom of my foot. The other night when I was sleeping, I had a dream that I was praying in Spanish and then I woke up and realized I had already said my prayers for the night and it was just a dream. Kind of strange. I find myself thinking in Spanish sometimes too. I just wish we could plug a chip into my brain and I could know Spanish right away, but then I wouldn't value how hard I have to work for it, huh?

I am so glad that you got to meet up with Elder Tidwell and his comp!!! That makes me soooo happy =) I kind of envy his area. (Tegan was in the Mexico MTC with Elder Tidwell and he was called to the Pocatello Idaho Mission, Spanish speaking. We took Elder Tidwell and his companion to lunch last P-day.) I hope you enjoyed him. He is a nice kid and he should be a great missionary. I am glad he felt the same about my comp in the MTC because it is true... it was hard to deal with him... but that is over now and seems like a whole lifetime ago!!! Crazy! Sounds like life at home is pretty relax. Thanks for the pictures. I really appreciate them! Olivia is all grown up... weird...I hope that she is enjoying middle school! I know that I loved middle school! Tell her to hang in there and be a good girl. Man, I miss you guys and not a day goes by when I don't think about or pray for you guys. Thank you so much for praying for me and keeping me in your thoughts. I really needed the uplifting last week and I know that the Lord has blessed me because of your prayers. I super duper appreciate it. Crap, I wish I could just keep talking and talking because that is what I want to do but I don't know what more to talk about. I don't have my camera cord right now so I cant send you any pictures.  Rancagua is a beautiful place.  I love it here. It is spring time right now and the days are starting to get warmer. 

How is everything at home?

bergy? 

chickens and turkeys?

pool (i saw it in the background on a pic)

house

ward

everything

anything new

phips

and most importantly you guys?

Well that is all for now but I have about 35 minutes left so if you get this we can try and email back and forth for a little while.

I love you and miss you all so much!

May God bless you and I will talk to you all later =)

With all my love,

Elder Hall