Jan. 27, 2014

It sounds like the week went pretty well and low key! That is better than something crazy happening right? I bet you guys are lonely without dad... that is kind of a bummer but he will be heading home soon. It has been so weird to think that he has been in Chile while I am in Chile... but he is still so far away!! Wow sounds like the stake conference that you guys had was great! I would have liked to be there. I am glad that you got to hear from such great people and what they had to say about the missionary work. It is so true in this time that we have to hasten the work because every day we are closer to the second coming of our Savior! Everyone needs the chance to hear of the happiness this message has! =) As always thank you for sharing about the week I love hearing about it as you know and I hope you keep it up and I hope you don’t think that it bores me because it doesn’t! I love hearing about you guys! =)

Q & A

1. The companionship is good. Elder A loves to joke. He is always joking. I love him but really I would say he is joking 24 hours a day 8 days a week. (I did that on purpose FYI) but the companionship is good and we do well at teaching people I would say that we are a good team and the Lord definitely blesses us with comp unity which is so vital!!!! Investigators,,, Felipe couldn’t visit with us the whole week. I think he was making up excuses... I am worried for him. We are supposed to visit him today and we will see how that goes!!! Martin, we didn’t get to visit him either. We visited Maximiliano and he said he would read the B of M and was excited about it. Manuel has a baptismal date again for February 15, and we are working really hard with him. If it doesn’t work out, I think we will drop him for a while.... I don’t think that he does his part and he also doubts that he can receive the answer. We have talked with a lady named Fiorella and her brother Renzo lately. They are REALLY good people! Super kind, super sincere, they are searching and are able to accept the teachings. Fiorella is married and her husband is atheist I guess and they have a little girl named Camila (6). They are from Peru. We taught them the restoration and the lesson went soooo well! I felt the Spirit so strong when I gave the quote from the first vision!! It was the best feeling ever!! I love the Spirit and that it testifies of truths! =) They said that they will read the pamphlet and unfortunately they could make it to church because Renzo got sick.... but they really wanted to go to church which is a great sign! =) I think we can visit them tomorrow before they go out of town for 5 days. That is about it. We found a couple new people which could be good. We have yet to visit them =) 

2. On Monday, we visited a recent convert. I asked if I could go into his room and look at the fridge that he has in there because I thought that it was really cool! I then saw a jar full of dry plants... I was like what is this? He said marijuana. Ha-ha turns out he has a marijuana tree he grows out back for his brother but he swore that he doesn’t use it! I took a picture of a leaf and all the dry stuff but then deleted it because I felt uneasy about it. First time I have ever seen a real bush of marijuana and it was big. Ha-ha, that was pretty funny! The worst part is that I think my flat feet are getting to me because my left foot aches all the time. I used the green Dr. Scholls, could you send one?) That has been kind of painful and the other thing is that we didn’t get any investigators to church yesterday! All the plans fell through!!

3. I try to exercise. Sometimes I wake up in the morning feeling so groggy I just don’t want to so I don’t. I need to break that "don’t want to" barrier and just get the gain from the pain!

4. Hey I thought of my favorite scripture! It is Mosiah 3:17. I really really really love this scripture because it really is what our religion is about and everything else is expounded off that scripture! =) 

Thanks for the spiritual thought mom! I really loved it! It really is true and I try to remember that always because the Lord only wants that I give myself to Him and all the rest is just extra! =) and that is what I am trying to do. The weeks have gone so fast. I think I am losing myself in the work. I love it!! I have interviews tomorrow I will let you know how they go! LOVE YOU ALWAYS!

Love always, your favorite son, 

Elder Teg Hall =) 

Jan. 20, 2014; Burning a Tie!

Hey mom! It is so good to hear from you! I am hoping that everything up in Idaho is going great. It sounds like there isn’t that much snow which is good! I am glad that there haven’t been any complications with the snow!  

The weeks have been flying by! It is kind of crazy actually. I am blown away when it is time to plan for the week again and it feels like we just did it yesterday. That must mean that I am enjoying my time right? Time just keeps flying. I can’t believe that I did my senior project one year ago. Where in the world did that year go? Ha-ha I remember when Blake was helping me do my project and he was so attentive in hitting the new slide at the right time. What a great FRIEND!

1. Elder A is 19 years old and his b day is in June. He is from Belo Horizonte. He got baptized when he was 16 years old by the missionaries and so did his mom. He is a twin but his twin brother didn’t get baptized. Elder A is a great guy. His mom supports him and I am sure his bro does too. From what it sounds like he and his bro are the best of friends. Elder A had a friend who was serving in Idaho but went home. But I thought that was kind of cool! Ha-ha he has his mom who is divorced and his twin bro, and two other half-brothers.

2. Oh this last week with investigators was kind of slow... we have this guy named Maximiliano who said that he is going to read the Book of Mormon and when the Lord tells him he needs to go to church he will go but until then he doesn’t want to go... he is interesting. We will keep working with him because he has a good potential! We are working with the little brother of a recent convert. He is named Martin. He is a cool kid and is 13 years old. We have a hard time getting him to go to church because he likes being outside with his friends and skateboarding but he has been reading the things that we leave for him to read. So I will be happy when we can get him to go to church and get baptized. We are working with this old guy named Manuel who is 82. Felipe, we haven’t seen him for a week because he has been on vacation. We are going to try and visit him tonight but unfortunately we didn’t give him the blessing. I’ll give you more info on him next week! I don’t know if he is going to get baptized on the 1 of Feb. He is really concerned about paying tithing because we learned about the in principles of the gospel...I pray for him a lot! I hope we can continue with him. But we also want to have an FHE with him so he can get to know some of the members too!

3. Ok so on Tuesday Elder A had to go to Santiago with another elder and I did divisions. So we woke up really early so he could head up to Santiago and that was a bummer. On Wednesday, Elder A really did throw a water balloon and the singing lady and I did too... we didn’t hit her though. I think everybody from the apartments hates her. A person was yelling shut up at her the other day! Ha-ha it is funny! She was gone five days but was back this morning... :/  I came to the conclusion that drunk guys are about as common as dogs here. It is RIDICULOUS! Ha-ha. On Friday it was my six month anniversary! So I burned a tie! The worst part of the week is that I about died on Friday from the heat. It was cloudy and humid so I was sweating like an animal. At the end of the day I was seriously wet... :P But life here is good.  

 

So I always see the blessings of the Lord in my life. Here in Chile we haven’t had a lot of luck with baptism, or at least I haven’t. But I realize that baptisms don’t determine my success. When I do my best it is just fine for the Lord. Sometimes I get a little down because it doesn’t look like I am having success but then the Lord reminds me why I am here. i.e. we were contacting and we couldn’t get into any houses... it was frustrating. I was ready to say ya lets go to a different person where we know we can get in. But we kept contacting and got in the house of a guy named Ricardo. I just know that the Lord is real and He is so aware of our circumstances and is willing to bless us when we have proven our faith. I know that to be true! He blesses me daily with so many things! That is kind of the spiritual thought for the week I guess. But I love you guys! I miss you and I hope that you all have a wonderful week! =) I will talk to you all next week! Oh, by the way, I bought some hair clippers last week. They are SWEET! 

I thought of a couple more things I would like for my bday

      Two card games of phase 10, Elder A wants one because it doesn’t exist in Brazil

      Almond Joy

      Salt and Vinegar Pringles

      whatever else you think i would like because I love it all!!!!!  =) =) =) =) =) 

I got a letter today with the talk from Olivia in it! I loved it! She is growing up so much! I will let you know when I get a package! =) Mom I love you. Is there anything I can do for you? Just let me know! =) I will ttyl!

Love always, 

Elder Tegan Hall

Jan. 13, 2014; 6 Months!!!

Hey mom and everyone how are you guys?! Good I hope! When dad heads out I will have six months to the dot! Ha-ha, It is nuts!  How fast this time has gone! Sounds like the FHE went pretty well and that you all had a good time and learned a lot. I love that talk (“You Are My Hands”) from President Uchtdorf! It is a great one!  

Sounds like your week went really good and there were some fun things that happened. That is a bummer for the boys’ basketball but it sounds like the girls are tearing it up! Maybe they will go to state! Well, it seems like life in Idaho just keeps moving right along for you guys. That is great! That is the funny thing about time. It just GOES...  we just have to decide how we want to pass the time because once we decide; the time will either appear to go fast or slow, even though it moves at the same rate always. Crazy stuff!

I have had a great week and it went by blazing fast! I feel like I was emailing yesterday! This week was pretty good!

1. Our week was really good. Earlier in the week we took off with finding 7 new investigators! I was way happy and we also had a lot of lessons with too. We only visited Felipe once this week because it has been complicated for him. He has been working a lot to get extra time for vacation. He leaves Wednesday to go to many places in Chile including Puerto Montt! Maybe he will see dad! But we are going to visit him tonight. He has been trying to stop smoking and has been getting better but still has problems. I think we will offer him a blessing tonight to lose the desire to smoke.

I have a funny ish story. We found a guy earlier on in the week. The contact with him went great. He is named Daniel. He told us to pass by again in Saturday. So we did. We yelled ALO about three times and then he appeared in his window and chewed us out because we were supposed to know that he was resting. Ha-ha what a jerk! We ended up walking by his house again and when we did I yelled ALO then we booked it! Ha-ha karma.... ;) but not a ton ended up happening this week. We are working with this 82 year old guy named Manuel. He is trying to gain his testimony. He says he hasn’t received an answer but I think he has. He is just a little closed off. We will keep working with him and I hope that he progresses. Our companionship is great. We have a good comp inventory every week in which we just talk and help each other out. They are really helpful we have also been talking to a guy named Maximiliano. He doesn’t have the desire to go to church and won’t go until he has the desire.... he confused me but that is what he told us!

2. The worst part of the week is that every morning when we do our studies there is a lady outside who exercises in a little plaza and she sings....BADLY. It drives me nuts. Elder Amorim wants to throw water balloons at her! Ha-ha

The best part of my week is that I had a really cool study which consisted of a prayer to Heavenly Father to see how I am doing as a missionary, as His son, and overall. I just felt pure love! It was the greatest and I know that I am doing alright and I will keep getting better! It was fantastic!

The funniest part..... hmmm. I can’t think of any super funny experiences!!! Elder Amorim and I are usually always joking with each other so that is fun! 

3. Yes I got letters last week from you, Amanda Johnson, Kamille, and Aunt Jane! (Thank you for writing him!!!)

4. There was a drunk guy who approached us this week and Elder Amorim just tried getting out of there and the drunk guy told Elder Amorim that he is far away from God and that I am closer to God than Elder Amorim. Ha-ha he was DRUNK!

5. Yes, I thought of a couple things for my birthday package: 

      My wildlife Wednesday shirt, the one with the eagle and the Tetons 

      Twizzlers 

      Maybe more photos, family, friends, whatever you want

That is all that I have thought of. Thanks for doing that for me!! =)  but just FYI there were no pictures on the camera chip you sent me.... must have gotten screwed up in the mail.

Well that is it about it for this week. Thanks for everything that you emailed me! I love reading about what is going on in Idaho!! I went to Jumbo today and there wasn’t any mountain dew.... but I bought Dr. Pepper. I MISS YOU GUYS. I love you guys. Thank you for all that you do for me. Seriously the Lord blesses us so much. He is watching over every one of his servants, including the members!  I really am so blessed to have such a great family and friends! The Lord blesses me unconditionally! I love Him and everything He does for us! I know that the church is true and I am so thankful I can share it with everyone here in Chile!! =) Have a wonderful week! Tell Garrett congrats on the Hoop Shoot and good luck next week. Tell everyone I love them! LOVE YOU FAMILY! Be safe without dad being around. Ttyl! 

Love always, Elder Teg Hall =)

Jan. 6, 2014

Hey mom it is so good to hear from you again. I just love reading your emails because it makes me feel really happy! That is cool that you got to see Ana on the TV! How big is this Pasadena pageant thing? Christina talked to me about it and I said it was really cool but I didn’t realize how big of a thing it was. I am doing really well and I feel a lot better today than I was feeling last week. I will get around to explaining more later so don’t worry.

Sounds like you guys all had a really good week and enjoyed all of the things you did! I am glad to hear that! I can’t believe the last time that I talked to you was last year! ;) haha 

Q & A

1. Our week was really good. It was kind of hard because the first two days I really had no idea of where we were but I noticed that Heavenly Father was blessing us with tender mercies the whole week. For example, we would be walking and then a lady would approach us and ask us to go to her house to teach her kids English (which also means we will share a gospel message too :)) Then one day we were outside the WHOLE day and it was miserable. I was just dead from doing contacts. No one would let us in and I was ready to say lets go to a member’s house or something but like 30 seconds after thinking that I saw a guy watering his plants and then the way he looked at us I just thought we need to contact him so we did and we taught him the restoration! It is exactly like the scripture from Ether 12:12. I love all the tender mercies God gives us day by day! Elder A is a stud. We have already found our teaching groove together and we take good turns teaching. We teach with the Spirit. We are friends. It has been a really good week and I really just want to thank you for the advice you gave me last week. That really really helped me out. Thanks for ALL that you do mom! Love you!

Felipe is legit. We gave him a baptism date for Febuary 1 and he was like, “Yeah, I am down for that.” And to tell you the truth when he accepted it I felt better than when I had my first kiss... hahahahaha not gonna lie! He went to church yesterday and he was telling us he wants the bishop to know when he is going to be baptized. He is progressing really well. He reads his commitment homework. I am pumped for him and his future!!!

2. I am becoming accustomed to my companion’s accent now but sometimes he will say words in Portuguese and I just say I didn’t understand you. But yes he speaks Portuguese and he went to the MTC for 6 weeks in Santiago. 

3. We still live alone and it is easy to maintain the house. I will send some pictures. We do have an oven with a door and a nice hot shower! =) 

4. New Year’s we had to be in the house at 7. So we got home at seven and we started to clean the house and we made a map of the sector. Later a sister brought us dinner at 9. It was tasty!!! We made a sign and took a picture which I will send and went to bed. The fireworks went off at twelve and it was a long show. Let’s just say I slept pretty poorly that night but it was still fun! The 1st of January was dead. No one was out! There was a drunk guy driving that stopped and talked to us in English. He was hilarious! But it scared me he was drunk. 

But that is it for now. I just want to thank you for having so much patience with me and always doing everything I need. Thanks for being so thoughtful! I love everything that you do for me. I love the stuff you sent me for Christmas because it all means so much to me and I love all of the food! It is handy! I LOVE YOU GUYS! I hope that you have a great week and that you have a spiritual experience that will all help you grow closer to our Savior! 

Love you guys!

Love always, 

Elder Teg Hall

PS I am eating mariscos (seafood) and that is a pic with Elder Ag. We did a division and it was great! In total I took 597845 steps in six weeks! Crazy! and I also broke the pedometer because it doesn’t count steps anymore. Ha-ha so much walking!!!!!!!!!!

Dec. 30, 2013

Hey mom! How are you?! Crap, I miss you so much.... I really do.... I am excited for mother’s day and that will probably come up pretty fast! I sure hope that it does! =) That is so cool about the mission calls and that so many young women are going on the mission too! =) good for them! If you see them before they head out can you tell them I wish them luck!

It sounds like your week was a blast! I wish I could have been there with you guys... I miss you and seriously during that whole call of Skype I was so happy but after I got sad..... I miss you guys so much. 

I am glad that you all had such great week this week! I miss having fun with you guys but I am glad that you all enjoyed it! =) that is about it for my comments... sorry it is kind of short... but it sounds like a great week. This past week we weren’t able to do a lot because it was Christmas and it was just a busy time and things were hard to do. Elder M liked to spend a lot of time with the first councilor of the ward so I felt like we have lost quite a bit of time there.

Q & A

1. I got a new companion today! He is named Elder A from Brazil. I am the senior comp but I don’t think that makes a difference really.  He is cool but sometimes his Spanish is a little hard to understand because he has a thick accent. Elder M went to Talca. That was the shortest time ever. I don’t feel like he ever really liked me a ton but I would say that we are "friends". 

2. I live with Elder S an Argentine and with Elder A from Utah. I think that they are moving out tonight because they have to be in a three way companionship in a different house. So it will be me and my comp in our tiny house.  I am really excited to be with Elder A because I knew him when I was in Baquedano. He is a cool guy and I think that he is really spiritual! So it will be cool! 

3. I think that there are about 120 people in our branch that go consistently!

I love the photos that you sent they are all so good! =) I love the shirt that you gave Mady! hahah so funny! =) thanks for being so nice to them and being such great people! I love you guys and I am forever grateful for you examples! 

I LOVE YOU GUYS AND I WISH I COULD JUST EXPRESS THAT WITH A HUG AND A KISS BUT THIS WILL DO I HOPE. XOXO. I LOVE you guys! Thanks for all that you do for me. Talk to you next week! Have happy new years and enjoy your time! 

Love, 

Elder Teg Hall, your son and anything else I might be to whoever reads this email!