Aug. 23, 2014; Remember to be Grateful

Hey MOM!!! =) How are you?! I am glad to hear from you. Ha-ha, that is great that you heard “Dust in the Wind” this week. Elder Bednar gave a talk one time about the tender mercies of the Lord and how when he was first called as an apostle he was nervous but the opening hymn was his favorite and he knew that the Lord was aware of him and his needs. I know that is what happens with all of us too. The Lord always shows us his tender mercies https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/the-tender-mercies-of-the-lord?lang=eng. That is the link to his talk.

 Olivia sent me a picture of their horse trip and it is so pretty! I miss Idaho wilderness!!!! That is great they are having a good time on their horseback riding trips! I should have gone more with grandfather but I loved the trips that we had together =)

Spring-time in Chile

Wow, football season has already started again?? About a year ago I was in my last week of the MTC and was so pumped to come to Chile. Now I have been here for almost a year!  I remember thinking about my friends who would be playing in the first game of the season. Ha-ha that is nuts... you will have to let me know how Hillcrest does. I am glad that you have been getting a lot of rain. It has been rainy down here too which is good but it gets cold. The first two days of this week were sooo hot... but the rest of this week was cold. I have enjoyed the weather. It feels tropical and kind of reminds me of Hawaii at times.

Q & A

1. Last Sunday we didn’t have anything to do really so Elder L (the new assistant) and I went on divisions to their sector. We went and taught a lesson to an awesome family. They are great people and the lesson was super spiritual. It was great to teach because it has been a while since I have had a chance like that. I learned a lot and I was reminded of how lucky I am to be a member of the church and also share the gospel message. I may not be the best teacher but I know that if the Holy Ghost can testify through me then that is all that matters. I just hope I can be in touch with the Spirit enough to do that.

This week we were able to move into the new house!!! It is enormous for us and so nice. We are spoiled but it is a multi-purpose house. Missionaries will stay there at times and it will also be a bodega for the materials. Love the house, couldn’t be happier in respects to living conditions. Definitely better than when I got to the mission a year ago!

We are trying to be really organized but there are so many things going on at a time that I feel like I can’t get my head above water sometimes... I try though. Elder O is a big help to me. We gave two houses back this week to owners. We spent a lot of time and money fixing up the houses but in the end they looked really well. The rest of the week we just fixed old houses up and painted and stuff. The weeks have been going by so fast and it is crazy... I don’t have time to write in my journal it feels like but I will start making time.

This last week I feel like I have been a little bit ungrateful... it is a terrible feeling. I have been thinking a lot about what I am grateful for and trying to appreciate more what I have. I really am so blessed and know that without the Lord and great family and friends that surround me I wouldn’t have anything.

Today for p-day we helped some sister missionaries move into our old apartment and we cleaned our house. We haven’t done any fun p-day activities lately.... I need a good fun stress relieving activity. This next week we will be going to the fair so that should be good =) I am pumped for that! 

 2. I can drive down here because I have an international driver’s license. It basically makes my stated license valid in any country where it applies of course. So that is cool but it only lasts for a year! 

 3. No, I am not in charge of paying the rents. We have a financer. (Elder D- senior couple) He is great and we let him know about all of the contracts and the rents and he takes care of the money! So that works out nicely. 

 4. My talk last Sunday went super well. I talked about the priesthood and my life and a shared the scripture from D&C 121:36. I talked about principles of righteousness and how I have learned those in my life. I told about one time when I stole a few Swedish fish from Eastgate Drug when I was a kid and we went home. Later you found out and took me back there and I can’t remember if I had to pay but I was embarrassed for what I did so I learned a great lesson there due to a loving mother who taught me a principle of righteousness. THANK YOU MOM! =) I also shared the pink bike experience. It was a fun talk =)

I love you guys and I hope you know that and more importantly feel that... I am so blessed with a great family. I hope that you have a wonderful week and I continue to pray for you and feel the support from your prayers. I know that Heavenly Father listens to us even if we don’t think so. I have shared an example many times on my mission that happened to me once. I lost my phone on a dirt bike trip to the pumice pits. I realized that when I got home. I went back looking everywhere I had been but couldn’t find it.... when all hope was almost gone, I knelt and said a prayer and I looked up and saw a corner of my phone sticking out of some snow. I had already looked in that spot too. I know the Lord listens to us even in the smallest and simplest things. I hope that you have a great week! I LOVE YOU! 

Love, 

Elder Tegan Hall 

Aug. 16, 2014; Umpteenth Stroke of the Brush w/ the Lord's Help

Dear mom and dad and Olivia, 

 How are you guys?! I am so glad to hear from you! I know, half-way through another transfer. Can you believe it?! ha-ha it reminds me of that song that goes "I close my eyes, just to feel the moment, then the moment’s gone" I think it is called dust in the wind... ha-ha but ya pretty soon I only have ten more months to go. Tomorrow I will have 13 months in the mission.

 Sounds like you guys had a great week! I wish I could have gone camping. I miss being outside and enjoying nature. I haven’t done that for a long time. We have been able to do little hikes and stuff here on the mission but no camping. I am excited to go back to that campground when I get home! ;) Man, I am glad that you guys are having so much family and friend time because that is important! =) I am glad that Olivia and Casey got to hang out a little bit too. That is so nice of Casey! Olivia did send me pictures of her adventure with grandpa horseback riding! It looks like a lot of fun and sounds like they saw a lot of wildlife! I am so glad that they were able to go and enjoy being outside and being together! =)

 Q & A

 1. So this week we have been BUSY. On the 15th we had to give a house back so for two days we had to work on that house and get it ready to give back to the owner. We painted, and painted, and painted. I painted the dust boards and I was sitting down. By the time I was done my back was hurting! We finally got that house done. There were some gross cleaning details too that I won’t include. I can’t believe the things that I will clean now because before the mission I would have never cleaned those things.... ha-ha so I will be more willing to help when I get back home mom ;) Then we had to paint and put carpet in another house. Initially we were going to have the missionaries who lived there paint it but they mixed water with the paint and the paint didn’t need

to be mixed at all so the paint was ruined. Then the owner showed up to look at the house and wasn’t happy with how the house was... so we had to buy a bunch of stuff to fix the house up. I wish the houses could be better taken care of! But that is ok it just gives us work to do. Then today we had to paint a house too which was our p-day activity! woohoooo! Three houses over the course of six days! ha-ha it has been a busy week and my body is just physically done.... I just need a good old massage chair like the Chamberlains have. That would be nice. So I dedicated a t-shirt to be my painting shirt. I will send some pictures.

Tomorrow I will be giving a talk in sacrament meeting. I haven’t even had time to prepare a talk yet so it looks like I will be doing that tonight. My subject is my life and the priesthood, fairly broad.... I am not sure where to go with it yet.... I have been thinking a lot though. 

 Good news of the week... we found a house for all of the six mission office elders! It is a beautiful house and probably too nice for us. It will also be the bodega and where missionaries stay the night when they have to make a trip up to Santiago and things like that. We are really excited about it. I will send some pictures next week. We should be moving in on Monday.

Also today I learned and have successfully done the Rubik’s cube! All of the time that we spend in the car has paid off! ;) I probably should have prepared a talk a little bit in the car but I don’t like writing when I am in a car. It has been a great week. I am tired.... REALLY TIRED. I look forward to the next week because it should be a little easier going. The Johnson's  (the missionary senior couple in charge of looking for new houses) are finding all sorts of new houses for the missionaries so that means we will have a ton of houses to close and give back which means a lot of work.... looking forward to it. I really have seen the Lord’s help this last week. I was thinking as I did the umpteenth stroke of the brush that I don’t think I could have done all of that work if the Lord hadn’t been there to help me. even though I am not getting paid with money I have felt that I will be getting and am being paid in other terms... so that was nice and kind of a good thought for me. I haven’t had much time to study scriptures which is a bummer..... I really don’t like missing scripture study because I feel out of tune and different when I don’t do it... so I will be making a bigger effort this week. 

 2. Yes I did take out money and I was planning on using it for the fair in September. I won’t spend it all there of course but I was running low on personal money too but that will hold me over for a long while I imagine so there isn’t a big rush to put money on the account. 

 I am thinking about singing a song with Blake when we get back I will try and send it to you. I really like the song. It would be with a piano of course. 

 It has been a good week, lots of water under the bridge and a lot of water coming too. I just got to buckle up and say a prayer and get to work! =) I know that they Lord will help me and I can feel the strength that He gives me and the support that comes from your prayers. I love you guys dearly and I hope that everything is going well. I miss you, wish I could give you a big hug. Mom the other day I got the little videos you sent me for Christmas on the chip to work. lets just say I almost cried and it made me miss you guys. I love you, so thankful for the family that I have, and so thankful to be a part of this glorious gospel. I hope that you continue to work on your salvation with each and every thought, word, and deed. The Lord will help us when we submit ourselves to his will and try our best. Have a wonderful week and I will talk to you the next one!

Love, 

Elder Tegan Hall 

  P.S. Elder H went home this last week. It was weird to think that he is home,,, really  home to me... ha-ha. It was sad to see him go. He is a great friend and example. (Elder Harding is from Pocatello, Idaho and served as AP during the time Tegan has been in the office.)

Aug. 9, 2014; Another busy week

Dear family, 

How are you guys?! I am glad to hear from you again. This last week has been a busy one as always and it seems like we hardly get a rest... but it is fun and I enjoy it a lot =) I am sure happy to hear that you guys had a good week. I bet that was a lot of fun being with grandpa’s companion!! Ha-ha that is crazy that they have gotten together like sixty years after the mission... maybe that will happen with me and one of my companions.... in 60 years... ha-ha long time.

Q & A

1. So the week has been crazy. It seems like little problems have just been receiving miracle grow, lots of water, and sun. Ha-ha they are growing like weeds! We had to move all of the stuff out of the bodega this week and temporarily put it in a missionaries house close by. It is kind of a dangerous area over there so we are looking for a new place as fast as we can... we hope nothing gets robbed. Also we have spent almost $1000 dollars repairing a house that was badly taken care of. We are making a huge push to get things better with houses, but it is kind of a tough time when the missionaries don’t really help... but we are raising the bar and changing the mentality of the mission right now. President and Sister Warne are really cracking down on having clean houses; so that is a big help but there is still a lot of work cut out for us. This week we were running around and fixing houses and dealing with owners too. We opened a new house this week too. We have been taking pics of the house before the missionaries occupy it just like dad mentioned. I wish the missionaries who had opened all of the houses before us had done that because it would make our job a lot easier. The construction quality here in Chile is just different and poor compared to the USA. I am really grateful for the houses in the US but it could be a lot worse down here in Chile so I don’t complain one bit. I have been having a good time with Elder O. We have a lot of fun and get a lot of things done. Lately I haven’t been reading my scriptures as much in Spanish and I feel like my abilities to speak are getting worse. I don’t talk in Spanish as much because we are in the office a lot and we don’t interact with hardly as many people. So I need to start reading my scriptures in Spanish more so I can keep up to date on my vocabulary and clean up the sloppy accent I have right now... ha-ha but sometimes I think ahead of myself and I say different words and mix things up just like I do in English a lot. This last week has been good, just busy. And for a day, I finally felt like I was on top of all our tasks that we had to do instead of playing catch up but now I kind of feel like we are playing catch up again. We do a ton of driving on the interstate. I think by the time I finish here in the office I will have driven more than I did with all my time put together before the mission! It is a lot. 

 2. Well we spend the majority of the week is mission dress, I would say about 90% of the time. We do a lot of heavy work in church clothes... that is a bummer. I am always so scared to ruin or damage my clothes. I have had two pairs of pants out of commission for the past couple months because there were holes in them but now Sister D, the senior couple office historian, fixed them for me so now I won’t have to use just two pairs of pants! =) ha-ha

 3. Well.... this last week we ate like pigs. we were always on the go and we had to get food to go so my menu this last week was Papa John’s pizza, hamburger, fried sushi, hamburger, Papa Johns... I felt pretty unhealthy so this week I am going to make a bigger push to eat healthier! I finally bought some gas water to make Mt. Dew! =) I am happy! But just FYI, if we ever come back to Rancagua as a family I want to take you guys to this sushi and sandwich place. It is super good. I don’t like sushi but their fried sushi is terrific and they have good sandwiches too! We just seem to get little discounts here and there for being missionaries. People are so kind to us and I really appreciate it. I am so happy to be in the service of the Lord and I hope I can live up to my calling and I will do everything I can to live up to it. I am about 2/3 of the way done with the Miracle of Forgiveness. It is super good and has changed the way that I think and act. Thank you for sending me that mom! But hey, if there is going to be a next package could you put a rubrick’s cube in it. I am learning =) I really have been enjoying all the things that you have sent me. Every time I look at the stuff I get from you, I just think of you guys and how much I love you. I LOVE YOU GUYS!! =) I hope that you have a great week. Thanks for the pics. They are great. I don’t have any pics for you today though. I am sorry. Have a wonderful week. I miss you guys. 

 With all of my heart,

 Elder Tegan Hall

Aug. 3, 3014; Happiness is...

Hi Family!

 How are you guys? I am doing great on a pretty nice Sunday afternoon here in Chile Rancagua =) Sorry I wasn’t able to email you guys yesterday we had a lot of stuff to do yesterday but now here I am. I hope that you all had a good time at church today and that you learned a lot!

 Thanks for telling me about your week! I really enjoy it every time and thanks for being so diligent with that mom. You are the best! =) It sounds like you all had a good week and that everything went well. Sorry that it is expensive to send packages here though... but I really do appreciate them more than you might think! Speaking of packages I did get one this week! Full of good ol’ treats that I love!=) I loved everything in there and the Rice Krispies were a hit here in the office. Ha-ha I am thinking that I will give a liter of Mt. Dew to Elder A because he loves it. I have three full bottles right now so I am going to give him one. I don’t even have time to go and buy the gas water to mix dew. Can you believe that?! I hope that you continue having great weeks full of awesome things and spiritual progression =) 

 Q & A 

1. The week was great. Here in the office this week is known as the Semana Loca (crazy week). We have the final lunch for the missionaries going home on Monday and then sometimes we have to take them up to Santiago... just depends on how many there are. Then on Tuesday we woke up at four to drive up to Santiago and go pick missionaries up from the MTC. I drove President Warne’s car up and it is a nice car. I felt a little bit of pressure but it is so cool that he trusts us so much. The whole drive I was wide awake and on the watch out. We got the missionaries and came to Rancagua again. They started their meeting and we went back up to Santiago to pick up their luggage. Later in the day we went and dropped Elder M off at his new sector Pichilemu. So we did a LOT of driving today and I got four hours of sleep =) ha-ha Wednesday we had to go to Talca (furthest city south in the mission) and give a house back to an owner. That was about all we did on Wednesday. Thursday..... Man, I’m not sure. The days just start to blur together and we get home with little time to write in journal etc. I am still doing pretty good at writing in my journal every day though=) Friday we had to go give a couple houses back and that was... well an adventure. We had told the missionaries in the sector to paint the house and get it ready to give back. We show up and there are still broken things and things missing and we are there with the owner. She wasn’t too happy but she was understanding that we had no idea the house was like this. So now we have a house to fix up... (That was a lesson for us that we should go to every house no matter what. The missionaries are great but maybe their perspectives of fixed up and clean are a little different than ours). Later we went to another house and talked to the owner’s son. He said he was disappointed with the way the house was (again we had no idea) and he is going to fix the things. So that was a rough day but we finished it off well. We gave the final house of the day back to the owner and she was happy with it. Her son-in-law lived in the states for a while and talked English. It was fun to talk to them. Yesterday we went to Talca to go and paint a house that we have to give back the sixth of August. We painted and painted, painted a little more, fixed a hole in the wall, cleaned a moldy bathroom with Clorox (I thought I was going to throw up) and we finished. But you know I didn’t mind it a whole lot! Elder O and I have a good time =) We later came back to Rancagua and we had to move all of the stuff out of our storehouse (bodega) to a different place because the owner is going to sell the house so we were up late doing that. The place we moved all the stuff too (washers, fridges, dryers, cabinets, etc.) is kind of ghetto so we are looking to have a new place asap. That was the week! But I found myself thinking this last week that I am just so happy and I know why too. It is because I have the knowledge that I do of this gospel and for all of the many blessings that the Lord has given me. I am so blessed and I just love living! =) 

 2. One of the new office elders is Elder L from Utah I think. He is really cool and fun to be around. The other one is Elder P from Brazil. He is great too. He speaks English along with Spanish. Right now I am practicing Portuguese a little bit. It is a cool language and fairly similar to Spanish. But they are great elders. We have a good group again =)

Well I am sure glad to hear that you guys are reading the scriptures and I hope that you can get lessons out of it. I KNOW that the Lord will bless you for your efforts. Have you noticed a difference as you listen attentively? =) You guys are great. Well thank you for writing me. This last week I was talking to Elder M and we realized in less than eleven months we will be heading home.... whoa.... ha-ha that is about all I have to say. Time is flying by but I love it. I hope that you have a fantastic week and I will talk to you all in the next week!! =) Love you so much and I am so thankful that you are my family! I couldn’t be luckier! =D

Love always,

Elder Tegan Hall