Sept. 20, 2014; Chile's Independence Day!!!

Hey mom,

 It is great to hear from you! I am so glad that the package I sent showed up. I was worrying about it hoping that it would and also hoping that it would show up for the 18 of September so you could get a taste of the Chilean Independence Day! =) I am glad to hear that you liked everything. It looks like that sweater fits Olivia just about right. I was nervous it wouldn’t but anyways with the CD it isn’t "printed" but "pirated". So that is the deal... I realized that after buying it... ha-ha but whatever. I hope each one of you got something that you liked. And yes the jersey I bought for me but I can’t wear it in the mission because it has a beer mark on it. So that is an after the mission jersey. The flag is for you guys if you want to do something with it. Also I am glad that you are enjoying the journal... I put a lot of feeling and emotion into it. It will probably be a priceless treasure in a few years down the road. Did the engraved copper thing of the Easter Islands show up alright? I thought it was a cool thing. 

 We are kind short on time because we had a cool p-day and had to go to a sector a long ways away to get some things done so the answers might not be too long.

                                                                                    Q & A

1. Our week was great. We have been working hard and organizing a lot of the stuff that we have. I have enjoyed being with Elder T. For Thursday, on the 18th our branch didn’t have an activity so we were able to go to Recreo and participate in the activity there. It was so much fun seeing all of my old friends from Recreo. It was a great week. The people were buying their booze early in the week and then for the 17th until tomorrow it is pure partying. When there is one holiday down here for one day that means that it usually lasts for about a week. It is funny. We didn’t go to many places this week. We were mostly in Rancagua. But the cool thing is that this Monday Elder T and I were able to go out and find two new investigators. They are an older couple that are evangelicals, Jose and Teresa. We just talked to them about churches and what we believe and why it is so important. We had a good time teaching and I really like the feeling of being out there and testifying of our Savior and His life.  Today we went to a place called Constitucion. We had to do a couple things there and we took advantage of the situation and enjoyed a p-day there. It is a beach place. We flew kites and hung out next to the ocean. Lots of fun! =) 

 2. I like Elder T. He is a good good person and knows a little bit about everything. There are some things that he does that I am trying to get used to. He will explain something to me and at the end he always asks "entiende?" or do you understand? =) Also he gets in my space bubble once in a while but that isn’t that big of a deal. He is a really smart person and knows a lot. He is the best option that I know of for a commissary. I have enjoyed my time with him. I am looking forward to getting to know him better and spending more time with him. This next week we will be driving a lot so we will be able to talk!

 3. For Chile’s Independence Day we went to Recreo, ate some empenadas de pino, asado (BBQ), and enjoyed the culture. It is a lot of fun and I want to come to Chile with you guys some day! =) I think that you would like it. I love this country!  

 4. The Silva family from Recreo gave it to me for my birthday. The really like me and I love them. They are good people. That was the kind thoughtful gift they gave to me in March. 

 Did dad get anything from the package or grandpa and grandma?  I love you guys!

You look really good in those minion hats! I thought that you would like them! =) I hope the package was kind of a surprise. Sorry that you started crying mom... haha that makes me miss you more... I also packed a hug for all of you in that box and all of my love. You guys are the best. I hope that you continue to do well and I will talk to you next week! =) Love you tons!!!

Love always, 

Elder Tegan Hall 

Sept. 15, 2014; I Love my Work!

Hey Family!

  I am doing great. Sounds like you guys had a good week. I miss participating in all of the activities that you guys do... Cafe Rio... so good! I am glad that you saw Mrs. Crabtree too! She is such a great lady and I love her! She was my favorite teacher =) I learned the most about life in her classes...not just material lessons but lifelong lessons. That takes skill!

Q & A

1. This week was brutal. On Sunday we went and picked up Elder T. He is from Santiago and a great kid! He has a lot of excitement and lots of plans to help make the mission better so I am excited to be with him. Sunday night about 6 missionaries stayed at our house so they could have their final lunch with President and Hermana Warne on Monday. On Monday we helped run missionaries around to president´s house and we taught Elder T a little bit about our job as commissaries. We went to go pick up mail and I had a package from Christina! That was so nice of her and it made me very happy. She wanted me to say hi to you guys for her. I have so many candies and snacks now. I try to share them with all the missionaries but I think all of our teeth are going to rot out before we eat them all. Bad news... I ate some cream cheese with jalapeño jelly and when I had finished the delicious treat, I stood up with the jar in my hand and it hit my knee, fell out of my hand and broke on the ground... that was a whole jar wasted...but at least I have one more. I was kind of upset but not that big of a deal!...ha-ha just clumsy. Monday night we were pretty busy and got to bed at around 12. I had to wake up at 2 am with Elder L and a few other elders and we had to take missionaries up to the airport in Santiago. Elder L and I were in charge of their luggage. I made a nice bottle of Mt. Dew for the trip. Later I had to go to the MTC in Santiago with Elder L. We got lost for about an hour but showed up at 6:50, ten minutes before we had to be there. We took 6 sister missionaries back to Rancagua but left their luggage because there wasn’t enough room. After arriving in Rancagua, I had to go back up to Santiago with a few elders and get luggage from the airport and MTC. The whole plan for the changes was kind of crazy. On Tuesday I wasn’t too tired. I had had quite a bit of sugar in my system. 

We took Elder O up to Codegua (his new sector) and then came back. On Wednesday, Elder T and I had to take cell phones and materials to all the zones in the missions. Fortunately the assistants helped us out with the northern zones. We went south. It was an all day trip. We drove and drove and drove. Elder T couldn’t drive yet because he hasn’t taken his test. So I drove. In two days it was probably a total of 20 hours of driving and 10 hours of sleep. Ha-ha it was nuts. I was tired by the time the day was over. On Thursday we stayed here in Rancagua and just did some paper

work and my tiredness was catching up with me. Yesterday we did about the same thing except there was a meeting at president’s house for the ZL. Elder A is a zone leader now so I saw him there. He told me that he made Mt. Dew and brownies the previous day and that it was very good. Ha-ha I love Elder A. He is a good guy. Today we have just cleaned the house, gave a missionary couple a ride to get their rental car because the other one is in the shop, and now email. I am kind of tired of boring p-days. I want to do something fun... we will see what next Saturday brings.

 2. My new companion is 21 has 2 little brothers, a member since 13 years of age, from Santiago, happy, positive, creative, intelligent. I have enjoyed being with him. He is very talkative. I think we will have two good changes together and we will be able to make a lot of good changes to the mission. I love this assignment. I definitely am tired a lot of the time but that is just part of the job. Elder T is trying to learn English so I help him out a little bit. 

 3. Missionaries call us sometimes during their proselyting hours for dumb things like their name tags. So we are cutting that off or trying to at least. Also we have a goal to leave the office every day at 6:00 pm if the circumstances allow. We have a sector. We just need to get to know it a little bit. We haven’t had the chance really to leave to go to the sector this last week but we are going to try harder and leave more the next week. I have only taught a couple lessons in the past two weeks but they have gone well. One was with Luis from Recreo. It was good to see him again. Also I saw Emilio from Recreo today too. I talked to him for a minutes. I guess that is one of the perks of living in Rancagua my whole mission because I always see people that I know! I don’t complain. I love this opportunity to serve the Lord. I just hope that I do it well enough. Sometimes I feel like I am not doing well enough but I sure try.

My MTC comp!

I love you guys and I hope that you have a great week. I miss you all and I hope that school and work and everything is going well. I am glad that life has been going well for you. Let me know about all the news at home! I miss you so much and pray for you. Just so you know I took some money out of the bank this last week. I have run out of mission money from paying tolls and parking and I like to eat.... so I didn’t think that you would mind.

I love you guys and thank you for supporting me so much! =) 

Love always, 

Elder Tegan Hall 

Sept. 8, 2014; Happy 4/7ths!

Hey mom,

It is great to hear from you again! This week has just flown by like the rest of them do! Hahah... I loved the package!!! I was trying to figure out what the reason was for not opening it until the fifth... but when I opened it I laughed because it was funny! I had to explain to the other missionaries why it was 4/7! Ha-ha thank you family I loved it!!!! Everything in it. Olivia already looks so grown-up in the pictures that you sent me... it is crazy. I also loved the Mt. Dew, jalapeño jelly, treats, and the Rubik’s cubes! I have given a few of the small ones away to the elders in the office! =) I just have the greatest family ever!!!! 

 Yesterday I had to go to Santiago to the MTC. I met a guy named Elder Moon there. It turns out his wife is a cousin to Garth Cunningham. He asked me where I was from and I said Idaho Falls and he said do you know any Cunninghams and I said I was related to them and he told me the news... that is so sad to hear... I hope that everyone is doing well. I include them in my prayers. Death is a tough thing and it can happen when you don’t expect it to but we have the opportunity to have a life after too. That is a beautiful thing the gospel teaches us. 

 I am glad to hear that the FHE went well! I am glad that you were able to see Uncle Kim! If he is still there, tell him hi for me and that I love him and his family. I am glad that you are able to see my friends every once in a while. That has to be fun! I miss them. You will have to tell Karl to send me a pic of his elk! I am glad that he had a successful hunt! 

Q & A
1.  On Monday we had the normal meeting and interviews with President Warne. That went great! After that, we went out to Pichilemu to talk to the lady. We went out there without anything she wanted because we were concerned we might buy something she didn’t like. We got out there without anything and she went berserk. She started to cry and threaten to call the police and denounce us. We finally got her calmed down and told her we would be back on Wednesday with the stuff. It was ugly. On Wednesday we went back to Pichilemu. We had bought everything that she wanted to have but she still wasn’t happy... she is not rational to negotiate with so we ended up talking until about ten. By that time President Warne told us just to stay the night in Pichilemu because it is a 2 ½  hour drive to Rancagua. We slept on the tile floor of the elders new house. It was not comfortable but it was fun to be with Elder M and the other elders there. We came back to Rancagua and that was that. We hope that she doesn’t call again and complain. We did get a picture with her for keepsake!

 Ha-ha we swung by the beach for a few minutes just to enjoy the nature that Heavenly Father blesses us with. I love the beach so much! I am tempted to live by it someday.  The rest of the week was pretty low-key. We had to go to Santiago yesterday to help the secretaries. That is when I talked to Elder Moon at the MTC. Today we had a wonderful breakfast with President and Hermana Warne. It was really American  =) like an IHOP breakfast.  

We went and played with trompos (it is like a top) and then had McDonald’s for lunch! This week we had a few opportunities to go out to the sector and work. We were actually able to visit Luis again! He lives in our sector. That was really cool to see him again and to see Cristobel. I missed them. I am not sure how well they have been doing but I am looking forward to visit with them more. Luis says he will go to church this week. I hope so. We also went to visit the G family. They are less actives and haven’t gone to church for a while for personal reasons. I hope that we can help them. They have four daughters ages 16, 14, 12, 9. It is weird to look at the 14 and 12 year old because they are Olivia’s age and these two girls look grown up to me! It will be strange but awesome to see Olivia after the mission! =) 

2. Tonight or tomorrow I will have a new companion... all I know is that he is Chilean, named Elder Troncoso and is about 6 months old in the mission. I will have more details next week! 

3. At the fair, I bought a cool alpaca jacket, soccer jersey I can’t wear because it is sponsored by a beer company (realized that after buying, but I will wear it at home), a trompo, Chilean music for you guys, a cool hat, and some other stuff. It was a great time! I got good prices too! I was glad that I was able to go and have a good time. The weather was lovely and I couldn’t have asked for a better day! =) I didn’t take any pics of other stands. They had all kinds of stuff! Chilean things, food, clothes, toys, and you name it. 

4. I did order some things from the LDS.org store, a Book of Mormon in Portuguese. I am going to learn! =) It is very similar to Spanish. I am doing fine on clothes. I just have more garment bottoms than tops and some are getting worn out. When I bought them I put your email address so that you would know and you didn’t see the transaction and think someone had stolen my card. =)

5. My health is doing well. I got sick about three months ago, just a cold but I have been doing well. My allergies are fine. They don’t even bother me, (knock on wood). My feet don’t bother me too much because we don’t walk that often. Overall I am great! Just need to go on a diet! ;) ha-ha 

  I hope that you guys are enjoying the nursery. I am almost so anxious to go home and see all of the changes that have happened after two years. It will be interesting and maybe shocking. All will come in its due time but I know that one thing won’t change and that is that you guys are my very FAVORITE AND MOST AWESOME FAMILY! =) I love you guys so much and I hope that you have a good week. Let me know if anything exciting happens.

Well that is it for this week! I hope that you guys have a good week and that you are able to get back in the groove of things with school! Next school year I will be home! Can you believe that? Last year it seemed so weird to me not to go to school. That is all I had done for 13 years of my life but now I don’t feel so different! =) I have started to think about college a little bit. I still want to go to USU. I am thinking about mechanical engineering our aeronautical. We will just wait and see though. I love you guys, hope you have a great week! Tell everyone hi and that I love them!!!

Love always your favorite, 

Elder Tegan Hall 

Aug. 30, 2014; A Flat Tire and a Tender Mercy

Dear family, 

It is so great to hear from you guys! I am doing well. Just kind of tired.... I could use a nap haha but other than that I am great! How are you guys doing? Sounds like you guys had a good week! I am glad to hear that.

Q & A

1. So this week was good. We are still trying to get things organized in the new house but we are doing well there. We have a good time. 

This week we went to Pichilemu (beach sector) and had to talk to the owner there. She is ridiculous and says the house she rents to us is in bad shape but it isn’t. We are switching houses there this Monday so we have to buy new everything pretty much because all the things belong her... that was just a challenge. When we were there, there were two gringos looking for an ATM and so I talked to them in English for a second. It was weird but cool! I also saw Elder M! I miss having him in the office but that is ok. We painted a house in Talca on Thursday. I feel pretty confident in my abilities to drive around to places in the mission so that is good now because I will be the "senior" commissary here in a week. Yesterday we had on office day and just got caught up on some of the paper stuff we had to do so that was nice to take a break and not drive and do physical labor. We had a couple of cool experiences this week.

Flat tire!

Elder O and I were in Talca driving and I felt and heard something kind of pop... it was the tire. Fortunately we had a spare tire and so we put it on. Later we asked the people who were walking by if they knew where a tire repair place was and it turns out we got the flat right in front of a member’s house. So this recent RM from Brazil went and helped us find the place, another tender mercy from the Lord. The other experience is that we met a homeless 14 year old kid named Moises. I felt bad for him... I wanted to have him come stay at our house but I know I can’t do that.... but he was a friendly kid and makes a living by selling mini calendars, poor kid.  

Today we went to the fair! I had to hold myself back after a bit because I was starting to go on a buying craze... but it went really well! I bought a colo colo (soccer) jersey for 11,000 or about 22 dollars. It was a good deal and it is the new model too. I also bought some other stuff. Everything was pretty cheap and I am glad that we went =)

On our way to the fair for P-day!

A guy had the State of Idaho flag as his cover

Elders enjoying some fair food!

I am tired. This week we have gotten home at like 11 or 12 almost every night and then we wake up at seven.... I would like to sleep in for half an hour... but we can’t. Over all it was a good week! Just tired.

2. I should be getting a new comp... it is a 99% chance. So I will let you know this next Saturday because I should know who it is by then! 

3. Thanks for putting more money in my account. I hope you don’t feel like I am imprudent with your money... I feel bad when I spend. Actually I just feel bad for buying a lot of tiny little things.... but I did buy the jersey. It is cool. I will try and send a pic. I looked for a manger set but couldn’t find any.  We will have to wait until we are closer to Christmas. 

4. Well the first thing that I had to do when I got here was write down the goals I have for the mission. I have learned a lot about goals. Often times before the mission I didn’t really write down mini goals, I just kind of went along with the flow. I did have bigger goals though: mission, temple marriage, family, job, education, career, etc. I have learned that if we don’t make goals then things don’t happen how they could. I know that it is sometimes a pain to sit down and think (well at least it is when it is forced upon you) but it is worth it. Every night when we sit down and plan for the next day, the first thing we do is put goals for the next day and then we make plans to complete them. That is life. It doesn’t matter if the goal is "out of proportions" because when you start thinking that, you have all but forfeited or given up. Make a goal, plan, and work for it. If you fall short that is ok because you did your best. This also shows faith to me. You make a goal of what you want, how you’ll do it, work on it, and the rest will work out. We as humans always fall short but Christ our Savior picks us up and helps us the rest of the way. Often times I feel really weighed down by the fact I am human and make mistakes and fall short... but when we put our trust in the Lord those feelings will be washed away and we will be able to continue onward with superhuman strength because the Lord is on our side. That is my testimony about setting goals. I have yet to look and ponder about the goals I made at the beginning of the mission and see how I am doing but I know that the Lord has helped me be better.

5. I did get your package! It showed up in like nine days! Super fast!!! I love you guys so much and for your support. I won’t open it until the fifth. I am excited =) 

Man, I miss you guys... I wish I could give each one of you a long hug... I hope you are doing well. If you need anything let me know and I will do my best to do it for you =) I hope that you have a great week especially as school starts. I am glad that you had a safe summer and a fun one too! For the next one I will be home!! I love you guys so so so much =) Have a wonderful week!! 

Love,

Elder Tegan Hall