Quarantined!!

Dear family and friends,

Okay so this week was amazing!

1. We had comp inventory. The picture below shows how it went.

Okay just kidding Sister Baker had to almost get her appendix out but
then it turned out not to be that... I tried not to be excited but the
hospital is one of my favorite places ever. I did control myself and
didn't steal any medical supplies this time... So we were quarantined
most of the week. I've now officially seen every church movie known to
man. #siquasisiquatote

2. Investigators are popping out of nowhere! One of them is married to
a member and he prayed and knows the church is true because he had a
Hispanic tribe of Manasseh dream and he is SUPER excited for baptism.
He's from the Bronx and Georgia so imagine him saying "OOHH YEAH"
We're also teaching these two little boys, Kelvin and Andrew, who want
to get baptized. They're 9 and 11 and they love coming to church and
meeting with us. They say the best prayers I've ever heard. Last night
we invited the mom to come sit in on our lesson and at the end she
started crying and told us that her kids are being such great examples
to her and shows she needs this in her life too. #ejemplos4dayz Also,
we have another 9-year-old baptism from the Vasquez family. They were
super inactive when we got here but now they haven't missed a Sunday
in a month and pay for 2 taxis to get their family all the way to
church! But they love it and the husband is going to get baptized too!
#milagrospasen They're all so adorable and I love them to death!

3. I think my Spanish is getting worse?

4. Sorry about the Facebook event, because of our emergency trip to
the hospital we're postponing it til this weekend. We invite you all
to participate! Sunday March 30 8pm EST

I love you all! Thanks for your prayers and support!

Hermana Hall

Choose Celestial

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Lessons Learned!!

Dear everyone,

This week we learned that if you don't lock the church door a homeless
man will walk in and permanently destroy the church couch with fecal
odor and then he'll disappear and we'll have to call the elders to
come find him lighting a cigarette in the bathroom and then you'll
have to bleach the entire church building and possibly burn it in
order to rid ourselves of the horrific smell of death.

Also, we almost got killed by a giant pit bull (hunger games status).

Also, we tried to scare the elders in the parking lot after they got
home and Sister Baker may or may not have grabbed a completely random
stranger and made him say a nasty word... But then we laughed like we
were best friends so that was good. #newcontactingapproach

But I'm staying in Yonkers with Sis Baker and Sisters Card and
Livingston so that's pretty fly. Naw mean?

Love y'all,

P.s. Thanks for participating in our Facebook event it was SO AWESOME!
Can't wait to do it again this Sunday!

Choose Celestial

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Sleeping Hollow

Remember the story of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving?   Well Hermana Baker and I went there a couple of P-days ago.  It was legit!!

The legend is as follows: The Headless Horseman begins in a little town called Sleepy Hollow, near North Tarrytown in New York.  In life, the Horseman was a Hessian soldier of unknown rank, one of many German mercenaries hired by the British during the American Revolutionary War.

While fighting in the battle of Chatterton Hill, the Horseman was killed when his head was severed by a cannonball. His headless corpse was buried in a graveyard outside an Old Dutch church in Sleepy Hollow.

Afterwards, many people claimed they saw his headless ghost appearing at night to frighten travelers who dared to walk the lonely roads alone.

One cold Winter night, a man left the local tavern and made the long walk home along the deserted roads. It was a dark night with no moon, and the only light came from his small lantern. His path led him past old Sleepy Hollow cemetery where the headless Hessian soldier was buried.

When the man came within site of the graveyard, it was after midnight. He had heard rumors about a galloping ghost that had been seen in the area and was nervous about passing the cemetery. To make himself feel better, he began humming a merry tune.

Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a white mist rising from a grave in the cemetery. The man’s heart was pounding in his chest and the hair on the back of his neck was rising in fear. As he watched in horror, the white mist formed into a large horse carrying a headless rider.

The man let out a terrified scream as the Headless Horseman came galloping towards him at full speed.  He turned and started running as fast as he could, desperately trying to make it across the bridge before the ghostly rider caught up with him. According to folk beliefs, ghosts and evil spirits will not dare to cross running water.

Just then, the man stumbled and fell onto the muddy road. He rolled into the ditch and the Headless Horseman thundered past him and disappeared into the night.

The frightened man lay in the ditch for almost an hour before he had the courage to crawl out and make his way home. When he reached his house, he woke his wife and told her about the decapitated ghost he had encountered.

By the next day, the story had spread all over town. Some people thought that the ghost must be roaming the roads at night in search of its head. Others claimed that the Hessian soldier was still fighting the battle of Chatterton Hill, unaware that the war had ended long ago. They say the Headless Horseman continues to roam the lonely country roads on dark nights.

Hermana Kendra Baker and Hermana Shelby Hall

Hermana Hall and Hermana Baker

Shelby

Dominican Culture Experience

February 26, 2014




Dear family and friends,

This week was so fun! We had zone conference yesterday so p-day is today. It was so good! Our mission has been focusing a lot on consecration and living the doctrine of Christ. We talked about how consecration is giving up everything you have to Christ so that He can make you into the person that He wants you to be. In the words of Sister Young "he suffered what I might have suffered. And for that, he has permission to change me"

On Saturday we helped this lady in our ward  by singing The Star-Spangled Banner at her art show. The theme was ancient Dominican culture, so clearly it was appropriate to sing the American national
anthem. I attached some videos of our cultural experience.



IF YOU DONT READ ANY OTHER PART OF MY EMAIL READ THIS: 

President Gordon B. Hinckley taught: "So many of us look upon missionary work as simply tracting. Everyone who is familiar with this work knows there is a better way. That way is through the members of the Church.  Whenever there is a member who introduces an investigator, there is an immediate support system. The member bears testimony of the truth of the work. He is anxious for the happiness of his investigator friend.  He becomes excited as that friend makes progress in learning the gospel.

"The full-time missionaries may do the actual teaching, but the
member, wherever possible, will back up that teaching with the
offering of his home to carry on this missionary service. He will bear
sincere testimony of the divinity of the work. He will be there to
answer questions when the missionaries are not around. He will be a
friend to the convert who is making a big and often difficult change.
... The process of bringing new people into the Church is not the
responsibility alone of the missionaries. They succeed best when
members become the source from which new investigators are found"
(Ensign, May 1999, 105-6).

The work can't go on if we don't have help from the members. They
provide the people we teach, the friendship network and support system within the ward and help them develop spiritually. For real guys. We don't tract. I've done that once in my whole mission. But we are using Facebook now and we do encourage you to comment, share, and like our posts. Share them with your friends if they pertain to certain challenges in their lives. Russell M. Nelson said that Facebook was created for the express purpose of spreading the gospel. So use it in that way! The Lord said "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time" (D&C 88:73). It's happening now through new tools! The whole face of missionary work is changing! God gives the best weapons to the soldiers on the front lines. If you engage yourself in member
missionary work, you will find an increased measure of the Spirit with
you. I promise.

Love,

Hermana Hall

P.S. We will be hosting a Facebook chat training on why missionaries
are using Facebook and how to use Facebook to do missionary work. You are ALL invited to join and participate and invite your friends to
join as well. Look for an invitation on Facebook.