One More Week!

Dear family and friends,

What an awesome week! You all remember Guarina, our recent convert who
was baptized about two months ago? Her husband committed to be
baptized in April! He is so awesome and he really pays attention to
the Spirit when it speaks to him. So we're super excited about that!

We've been really trying to focus on member work lately because it's
so hard to see them frequently because of our enormous teaching pool
(not complaining). It's been awesome to have the members' testimonies
build ours as we teach them. I had to say goodbye to a few and that
was not fun :( We've also restarted our free English classes! We
advertised hardcore last week and 12 new people came tonight! It's
awesome because we share a spiritual thought at the end of each class
and it gets a lot of people introduced to the chapel, the
missionaries, and our beliefs.

I had my exit interview with President Morgan on Monday. It was so
awesome! It feels really good just to know that, looking back on my
mission, I really did try my best. I was never perfect, and I'm still
not, but I tried my best the whole time and I feel good about the fact
that it's coming to an end. I feel like it's been wrapped up
perfectly. Today we are going to the temple with President Morgan and
I'm super excited :) I'll send y'all a video next week.

Love you! Be a member missionary and choose celestial!

Hermana Hall

Pictures:
1. Homemade Utah dinner brought to you by yours truly and my lovely companion
2. We finally found an authentic Mexican tienda in the middle of the
Dominican Republic! Aka my area
3. Goodbye to some of my favorite families

Here are some pictures of my visit to the Statue of Liberty:

Shout Out to Brock Nordstrom!!

Dear family and friends,

Awesome week this week! Shout out to Brock Nordstrom for coming and
taking us out to lunch! And for the going home advice: "The hardest
thing about coming is realizing how evil everyone is" So maybe you
should all take some time to repent over the next two weeks so that I
don't fall right into shock when I step off the plane.

We had an awesome experience street contacting yesterday. I was with
Sister Burnell and it was almost time for us to go, so we decided to
talk to one more person. We stopped a young dominican guy and started
talking. He said that he usually stays away from religion and doesn't
believe in Jesus Christ. Sister Burnell shared the scripture from Alma
32:27 that says "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your
faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a
particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe,
let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye
can give place for a portion of my words." As she finished reading he
started rubbing his eyes and backing up, so we both thought it was
because of the awful wind we had yesterday and that he was going to
say "You know what guys, this stuff isn't for me". But then he started
apologizing and we realized that he was crying. Like sobbing. He told
us that he has been going through a really hard time and that talking
to us made him know that Jesus lives and that he really did know him
personally. We got his info and the elders will be teaching him soon!
So awesome that the Book of Mormon could bring the spirit so strongly
on the streets of the Heights of Manhattan, and that he could
recognize us as representatives of Christ. Sister Burnell had
specifically prayed that morning that people could see the light of
Christ in us that day as we talked with them. So awesome!

We continue to teach and stay busy and hope for the warm weather to
get here... Today I'm going to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island!
Whoohoo!

Talk to you next week! Share your testimony this week and remember to
always choose celestial :)

Hermana Hall

P.s. Did I mention ever that we live in the coolest historical place
ever! The battle of Fort Washington! And a mission clothing swap! And
my hair is growing!

Wicked on Broadway

Dear family and friends,

Wow. Can't believe another week has already flown by. It's finally warm! We're still teaching like crazy. I got the chance to go on a split to the English program on Friday and it was so fun! I talked to a refined Irish woman whose daughter danced with Mikhail Barishnikov, a young student studying medicine at Colombia #personalfavorite, a gangsta woman in the hood, and everyone else in between! It was really fun and I learned a lot from Sister Burnell, who has only been out for 3 months or so. Like President Morgan always says, every generation of missionaries is better than the last. Aka I'm now officially one of the worst missionaries in the mission... Haha

As for us Spanish people, we're working a lot right now with a young girl named Vanessa. Her two young daughters sang the songs from Frozen for us in Spanish last time we saw her. Yeah, they win. But she has so much real intent! She just wants to learn everything about God and is so sincere in her search. She reads every single time we leave her with an assignment and is always so excited to learn. She is praying to receive an answer that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true, so we'll see what happens :)

Today we're going to see Wicked on Broadway! Probably doesn't happen too often on other p-days... Here are some pictures of us at Central Park Zoo from last week. I love you all! Be an example this week and help someone learn more about Christ because of your actions :)

Love,

Hermana Hall

Hermana Hall at Wicked

Missionaries at Wicked

Sister Baker, Hall, Card, and Maw at Wicked

Páginas en blanco

Dear family and friends,

K lo k. This week we had a giant meeting with two general authorities about using digital media. They announced that we would be taking a break from facebook to refresh and restart. They talked a lot about repentance and how it's a happy thing! When we mess up, God gives us the chance to change and fix what we did wrong. We should be excited every time we get to repent! When a little baby is learning how to walk, the first time they fall we don't say "Wow. You're such a loser." We get excited and help them get back up! And when they fall again we keep helping them until they can walk like a pro. And that's what God does with us! So we will be refreshing and restarting, including a new online training module for missionaries who are returning home soon, but that won't come out for awhile... Looks like I'll just have to stay an awkward turtle when I get home.

Yesterday it rained a ton and we came home soaking wet. We had a lesson with one of our members which really made me think. She talked about how some commandments aren't important and how they just don't matter. I felt in that moment the love that God had for her. She just doesn't understand how many blessings that she is missing out on by thinking that her rationalizations and opinions are right and that God is wrong. They're keeping her from all of the blessings that God wants to give her. President Ucthdorf taught that a lot of times we imagine God locking up all of the blessings in the clouds of heaven, refusing to give them to us until we comply with his strict commands. But that's not how it works! We can use the analogy of us standing in the rain with an umbrella. God is consistently and constantly pouring out blessings upon us (the rain is the blessings) but we stop ourselves, pause for emphasis: WE stop OURSELVES from receiving the blessings through our pride, stubbornness, and disobedience- the umbrella. We are the ones who put up the umbrella, and all we have to do is take it down to receive all of the blessings that God is constantly pouring down on us. I hope everyone understands that as soon as we put away our selfishness and make the will of God our own, we can be truly happy. It's hard to kick against the pricks.

I love you all :) keep up the good work and do some repenting this week.

Hermana Hall.

P.S. This week we're going to Central Park Zoo #madagascar #alexthelion. Then next week we're going to see Wicked on Broadway and then the next week is The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island then a temple trip with President Morgan the next. I love this city!

Hermana Hall at Central Park Zoo

Hermana Hall and Hermana Pounce

Hermana Hall and Hermana Pounce

Las marmotas son inteligentes

Dear friends and family,

Oh my. This has been a crazy week. Sister Dodson went home on Wednesday (may she rest in peace) but transfers weren't until Friday, so I got to go on a split with the English sisters in the zone until then. I had a real American dinner! Yay! And the crazy thing about English splits is that you have to teach the whole lesson all by yourself in Spanish... Let's just say I was exhausted by the end of that day, but it was fun :) Then on Friday I got my new companion Sister Ponce from Logan, Utah. She's legit and all 3 of her previous companions have served with me so she says that she already feels like she knows me from all of the stories they've told her. Uhh... good thing or bad thing?

The rest of the week has gone by pretty smoothly. We continue to find more and more people and we just can't fit them all into our schedule! Every time one of the elders says "Hey we found a woman who is interested! She wants you to go visit her!" We say "Hooray!" but then we look at our schedule and think "uhh... Hermione, can we borrow your time turner?" It's crazy but it's awesome being so busy all of thetime.

I love you all. Keep up the good work and share the gospel with someone this week!
Hermana Hall

P.S. Here's a selfie of us from when we waited for 20 minutes in the living room while our investigator talked on the phone in the back room. #developingpatience.

P.P.S. The marmota was right and we are still freezing cold here. Rub it in Utah..

Sweet!!

Dear family and friends,

What an awesome week! (Do I say that every week?)

Yesterday we were teaching our investigator about the Book of Mormon. As we explained where it came from, she stopped us and said, "I'm really sorry to interrupt, but I have to tell you this". She then told us about how her whole life she had wondered why Jesus hadn't visited any one else besides the Jews. When she had asked people if he had visited the people in the Americas their answer was "No. The Americas hadn't been discovered yet" But she had never been satisfied with that answer and she knew in her heart that Jesus had to have visited other people. She was SO excited to find out that Jesus visited the Americas, and when we showed her the picture in the front of the Book of Mormon of Jesus teaching the Nephites, she was so excited to read the story. I'be never seen someone connect to the Book of Mormon in that way. It was so cool!

Funny moment of the week: I've been really healthy lately (outside of the piles of rice and platanos from members) but doughnuts are my weakness. So the elders gave us 2 doughnuts the other day and Sister Dodson said she didn't want hers, so clearly it was mine. Then halfway through I wondered if she had changed her mind and actually wanted the last half, so I asked her and she said yes. I should've seen this coming... But she grabbed it and ran as fast as she could to the bathroom (the nearest trash can) to throw it away to save me from those empty calories. I don't believe in wasting deliciousness, so I sprinted after her and grabbed her backpack, threw her to the ground, snatched the doughnut out of her hand and ate it as fast as I could while she laid helpless on the floor. It was like a primeval human survival instinct. We sat on the ground laughing so hard we were crying/coughing because I was simultaneously shoving doughnut into my mouth. Once again I tackle my companion to the ground for a noble cause and rise victoriously.

Speaking of sweets... Sister Dodson and I have been trying to get more motivated to talk to people on trains and buses (it's really scary). So we decided that every time we talk to someone we get to eat half of a cookie, which is normally strictly banned according to the two months to twig-skinny rules. Now when we get on buses I imagine people's heads turning into big giant cookies and so I automatically have to go talk to them. Haha not really but it's been a really fun way to keep track of how many people we talk to and to be rewarded by something fun at the end of the day.

Also, our investigator Milagros is going to try to quit smoking! This is the first time I've taught someone who's trying to quit something, so I'm really excited about that.

I love you all! Keep up the good work back home!

Hermana Hall

P.s. We're going to the Museum of Modern Art today :) #shoutouttodan

I'm King of the Rock!!

Dear family and friends,

This week has been really fun. We went to Top of the Rock on Wednesday. It's not a mountain or a geographical feature, it's just the top of the Rockefeller Center where you can see the whole island of Manhattan! Pictures attached. Be jealous. We played around downtown and even made a snowman in Central Park and ate lamb gyros. Be more jealous. Oh and we played chopsticks on the big piano in FAO Schwartz. Any Big fans? Be even more jealous. Did I mention that today we went to the Met? Ya tu sabe.


But anyways, those are just the fun stuff we do in the city on Wednesdays. On Friday we had mission leadership council with President Morgan and he gave us some awesome training. We all had to split up in groups and make a device made of plastic straws and duct tape to safely catch an egg dropped from 10 feet. We only had fifteen minutes. Our group totally won! But then President Morgan made the analogy "How many of you were thinking about home or your girlfriend while we were doing this activity?" No one. When we were completely focused on our end goal of catching the egg safely, we had one purpose and we worked effectively together to accomplish it without distraction. The whole purpose of missionary work is to catch eggs safely, to bring people unto Christ! We can catch eggs, we just have to be focused and give our all. So awesome.

So remember that it's not just the missionaries who have the purpose of bringing others to come unto Christ. If we all work together, members and missionaries, we can save even more eggs! Pray for missionary experiences and seek God's guidance to help you know how :)

Hermana Hall

Hermana Dodson and Hall at the Top of the Rock

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Shelby on The Big Piano at FAO Schwartz

"Blizzard" of the Century

Just kidding. There was no blizzard. We were all prepared with candles and flashlights and extra food to hole us in for 3 days, but it snowed less than a foot. A little disappointing, but we still got to go out and do some good work!

Guarina is doing awesome and is a whole new person after her baptism. Her husband came back from the Dominican Republic and we've started teaching him. She is the best member missionary ever! We're hoping that he will get baptized so that they can get sealed in the temple next year! Sister Dodson contacted a guy on the train who fell in love with her and wants her to come over and hang out. She says "We would love to teach you about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Is it okay if we bring the elders?" Haha. He called us to chat and got completely shut down. Better than the guy who came up to us on the street and said "Hey, I'm looking for a wife". My response: "Well, we can't help you with that. Would you like to hear a message about Jesus Christ?

Last Wednesday we got to go see the 911 Memorial Museum. It was SO AMAZING. By far the best P-day of the mission. It was awesome to be able to hear the personal stories of the people who suffered from the terrorist attacks and see the reality of what happened here when I was only in 3rd grade. I don't really know how else to describe it... Just that God really does have a plan for us.

911 Memorial Museum

We had Sisters Conference last Friday! That's right, a whole conference for just sisters. No elders allowed. We had some really amazing speakers who talked about how we can have confidence. "Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God".  So if we have charity and virtue, we can be confident before God, and in turn be confident in ourselves because we know that God is pleased with us. And really, nothing else matters. Sister Freihofner shared the story of Ruth and said "If you're not living the story you want to tell, change". 

Hermana Card (my MTC Companion) and Hermana Hall

Hermanas Smart, Hall, and Dodson

Hermanas Dodson, Smart, and Hall

I love you all! Remember that God has a plan for you and a story that he wants you to write.   But it's up to you to do get out and do it!   Have an amazing week and share your testimony with someone :)

Hermanas Dodson, Smart, and Hall

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I love you all! Remember that God has a plan for you and a story that he wants you to write. But it's up to you to do get out and do it! Have an amazing week and share your testimony with someone :)

Hermana Hall

P.S.   We're going to Top of the Rock today. Pictures later :)

Awesome Week!

Dear friends and family,

We had an awesome week this week! Guarina got baptized and we had 4 investigators at the baptismal service! That has never happened to me ever on my mission. And it turns out that Guarina knows 2 of them from a long time ago but lost contact. And then another one is her husband. She's helping us by picking up our investigators for church and giving them motivation to learn more and progress and will be an awesome member present. After going to the service one of our investigators committed to baptism! She wants a brand new start on life and knows that this is what God wants her to do. Lots of miracles!

Keep being awesome back at home! Love you all!

Hermana Hall

P.S.  Here are some good pictures:
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"You distract her, I'll push"

Guarina and her husband

"Nuff Said"

Tu sabe

Soda Kills Living Organisms!!

Dear friends and family,

We had a really good week!

Funny moment: We've been getting feed SO MUCH lately, and despite our efforts of waking up an hour early to go to the gym, our bodies are being destroyed by Hispanic food, but mostly soda. So we made a goal to tell everyone that our New Years resolution is to not drink soda or juice, only water. So our investigator says "Can I get you something to drink?" "¡Agua por favor!" "Okay" she says, but then comes back with two GIANT glasses of red soda. Ugh. So we start drinking and my heart is slowing down and my body is like "Are you trying to kill me?" Then all of a sudden there is a knock at the door and our investigator goes to answer it, and Sister Dodson jumps up and grabs my glass of soda and pours it into a potted plant that was in her living room. Whoa she got brave. But then the soda starts fizzing out of the pot and exploding everywhere! And our investigator was starting to come back! One of the most horrifying moments of my life. But Sister Dodson got it under control and our investigator didn't even notice. We came back 2 days later and the plant, which was perfectly alive and healthy before, is now turning read and dying. Moral of the story: soda kills living organisms.

We've had some really cool lessons with the Book of Mormon lately. We've been doing an activity where we have our people write down a "question of their soul" something they really want to know from God, then they ask God specifically in their prayer, and then we find an answer in the Book of Mormon. We've had some REALLY awesome lessons lately. We even had one of our investigators, who is sincerely looking for the truth, receive an answer that she should go to a different church. So we told her that if God told her to go to that church that she'd better go. Never done that before... But if God wants her to go there there is a reason and we know that she is being prepared to find the truth. It's true that the Book of Mormon can answer any question that we have if we pray and ask God for guidance.

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Share the gospel with someone :) and everyone!

Hermana Hall

P.S. Did any of you ever watch "Between the Lions" on PBS?

Hermanas Hall and Dodson

Between the Lions

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Ya ta sabe

Dear friends and family,

It's transfer time! I'm staying in Inwood as Sister Training Leader with Sister Dodson (the brunette one) and Sister Smart is going to South Manhattan! Which means I am officially ending my mission in Inwood! Which means I'll be here for a total of 7 and a half months! Good thing too because I love this place. And Sister Smart successfully packed everything into her suitcases! 50 space bags later...

This week has been fun. We've been preparing our investigator for baptism on the 17th and we're super excited! She wants to get baptized so bad and wants to know everything now! We keep telling her that all she needs is her testimony, and if she has that then she will be just fine. We've gotten fed a lot this week because all of the members want to say goodbye to Sister Smart and love is communicated through food. Aka three months to twig-skinny starts today.

I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week and have an opportunity to share the gospel with someone.

Love,

Hermana Hall

2015 Bring It On!!

Dear family and friends,

What a week! Christmas was awesome! We weren't allowed to proselyte so we made good use of our time and made breakfast for all of the sisters in the zone (don't worry there's only 5) and opened presents and then took a 3-hour nap. Best Christmas present ever: sleep. Then we ate dinner with the Gifford family and they're American so we had a real Christmas dinner with potatoes, ham, and homemade rolls! Then I got to talk to the Bevans! I got to talk to Shawn too! Which was super awesome. So good to see everyone. That was my last Skype call home of the mission! What in the world? New Years Eve we had to be home early so we didn't get to party, but we cleaned and did our nails and even made some t-shirts for the zone (picture attached). 

This past week we've been focusing a lot on one of our super progressing investigators (Guarina- the one who had the dream that God dropped her on the mormon church) who has a baptismal date for January 17th. Her husband is flying in from the DR on the 15th so he'll get to be there for her baptism and he wants to learn more too! We had a lesson about the first and second commandments and told her that she had to throw away all of the Saints that are in her apartment. We were so nervous but she understood the commandment very well and promised us that they will all be gone by the next time we come over. She is willing to do whatever God asks her and she feeds us lots of Dominican food. #biggestlosersignmeup

I know that Jesus Christ lives and that it is only through Him that we can gain eternal life and live with our Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful for this holiday season and the opportunity to focus on the birth of Jesus Christ and to make new goals for the next year. I know that we all can change through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, if we let it.

I love you all!

Hermana Hall

Inwood Zone

Hermanas Dodson, Smart, and Hall

A Christmas Miracle!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Two Christmas miracles: 

1. Our investigator accepted a bap date for January 10th! We knocked into her and she already knew that the church was true. She is one of the most prepared person I have ever met. She just wants to do what God wants her to do.

2. I went to the surgeon yesterday! My calcified stool ball is gone, they can't see my appendix, and my abcess is completely disappeared! I don't have to have surgery and my body is completely back to normal. I'm so thankful that God has been taking care of me. I know that He blesses us for our faithfulness. 

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He died for us so that we can be clean of our sins and be able to return to live with our loving Heavenly Father. I know that this gift of His Atonement is real and that every single one of us can have it in our lives. It's real. You just have to accept it.

I love you all! Hope you have an amazing Christmas and remember to share the gift!

Love,

Hermana Hall

Almost Christmas!!

Dear family,

Okay, how many of you still have not seen the video "He is the Gift"? If you haven't, repent right now and go watch it on YouTube or here at christmas.mormon.org

Now, for all of you who have seen the video, what have you done because of it? When L. Tom Perry came to visit on mission tour, he and President and Sister Morgan were sitting around the table and had an awesome spiritual conversation. At the end of the conversation L. Tom Perry pounded his fists on the table and said "After this conversation we can never be the same again! After feeling the Spirit like this, we cannot go back to being the people we were before!" That's exactly the point of the "He is the Gift" initiative- to change people! To help them change their lives. If you don't change after watching it and make some real goals to come closer to Christ, the whole initiative is a failure.

I love you all! Hope you have a Happy Happy Holiday season!

Hermana Hall

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17 Christmas Miracles

Dear family,

 I have no idea how to put into words everything that has happened this week. There are so many miracles happening and no way for me to be able to include them all in this email. Just know that I'm extremely grateful for all the miracles that we are seeing this Christmas season, and I'll try to share a few with you :)

First of all, we are slammed with work. We run all day every day. We have double-booked appointments almost every day and we can't find members to come split with us. It's insane. I've never worked so hard in my entire life. It's awesome that there are so many people to teach. We've had to tell people that we can't come see them because we're so busy. It's so hard. So for all you members out there, help the missionaries in your ward! We got a little break

on Saturday when we got to help usher for Carols on 66th St, a stake Christmas concert at the temple. It was so awesome! Just imagine how awesome a concert put on by the Manhattan stake would be. #whoneedsbroadway 

Yesterday it was POURING rain. Like dumping for days. We were walking to the train and as we were halfway there I stopped and realized that I had left my Metrocard at home. So we had to go back and grab it. We were already late for our appointment and now we were gonna be even later! As we were waiting for the train, a man approached us and said that we looked like divas and that we were beautiful! "Who did your makeovers this morning?" #cheerleadereffect Then he saw our name tags and said, "Wait! Are you the Mormons?" He got to talking and told us that he had just had to move here from Boston because his twin sister had just died. But he had taken all of the lessons from the missionaries in Boston and he just kept saying "I know I need to get baptized!" What? You don't just come up to us on the train and tell us you want to get baptized! It was the coolest thing ever. The English elders will be teaching him :) good thing I left my Metro card at home! Milagros pasen :)

Then the appointment we were heading to last-minute cancelled on us :( and we had a member with us to come to the lesson :( so I was really bummed for a second. Then we decided to knock a few doors and we ran into a guy named Junior. He let us right in and we got to show him the new He is the Gift video. He LOVED it! It opened him up a ton and he asked us a lot of his questions about God. When we were leaving he couldn't stop thanking us for coming. He said that the really appreciated it and that he wanted us to come back soon. Tracting milagros pasen!

Church technology update: Why the church is a boss.

At MLC last week the church technology bosses and missionary department bosses came and updated us.

1. Meet the Mormons- to be sold at Walmart, broadcast internationally on local TV stations (they offered to translate the video for free), rented at all 42,000 Redbox locations in the country, available on pay per view and international Netflix (next 3 years). This is BLOWING UP

2. HE IS THE GIFT

Okay. If you're reading this right now and you haven't seen He is the Gift and you don't know what I'm talking about, go watch it RIGHT NOW at christmas.mormon.org. Like really, do not keep reading this email until you have seen it.

If you haven't watched it and you keep reading this email, feel extremely guilty. #theresamonsterattheendofthisbook

This video is such a blessing to missionary work. I've already seen it open up so many people to the gospel who before would've just slammed the door in our face or ignored us. People feel the Spirit when they watch the video and they want more of it. They want to feel closer to Christ this year.

When the original team made He is the Gift, the original draft ended after it says "He is the Gift". They took it to Russell M. Nelson to be approved and he said "Not good enough. Go back." There was no call to action. So they added the words: Discover the Gift, Embrace the Gift, and Share the Gift.

This video wasn't made to be a happy Christmas video to watch once and say "That was cute!" It's a call to action. If you've seen the video and haven't been making changes in your life to discover and embrace the gift of Jesus Christ, then you've completely missed the point. So go back and do it again. Find a way this year to truly learn of Christ and to allow His atonement to enter into your lives. I know that if you do, this will be your best Christmas yet and that you will feel the true meaning of the gift that is Jesus Christ.

I love you all :) share the gift on facebook and share it with your friends. #sharethegift

Hermana Hall

Choose Celestial

Christmas Miracles

Dear family,

I love Christmas time! The church has released a new video called "He is the Gift" and we are BLOWING IT UP. We've been stopping people on the street and showing it to them and challenging all of our members to #sharethegift with their friends. It is SO AWESOME. If you haven't seen the video yet go to chriatmas.mormon.org. Please share it on facebook with the hashtag #sharethegift.

We had an awesome week this week. We've been trying to combine two areas (hence the trio) and it's been insane! We taught 12 lessons yesterday! We had some help from one of the members who's home on medical release from her mission. She came out with us all night last night so we could split and teach all of our double-booked appointments. It's been crazy but awesome.

This weekend we held a member MTC to help members learn how to be more comfortable with sharing the gospel and it was AWESOME!  President Morgan came and the bishop said it was the best ward activity of the year. We practiced inviting our friends to church activities, fellowshipping new people at church, using facebook to share the gospel #sharethegift, and we had an awesome doctrinal training about why we share the gospel. Success.

Last night we got to one of our appointments 20 minutes early, so we decided to knock the building we were in. We met a few "no's" and then the next door we approached "¡Hola! Somos las misioneras de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de Los Últimos Días..." The lady got a super excited look on her face and asked "¿Los Mormones?" "¡Si!" She said that she had been waiting for us. What? She had a dream that God lifted her up and dropped her on the mormon church. She knew that that was the church she needed to go to and she has been looking and looking and we found her! She's coming to church this week! So awesome. (How many times have I said "awesome" in this email?)

Yesterday was freezing cold. We were out in the rain/sleet/hail contacting for 2 hours non-stop. But I got to thinking about it and I realized how lucky I am. It may be insane, but I love freezing my butt off teaching the gospel to people. It's so... AWESOME.

I love you all! Remember to #sharethegift!

Hermana Hall

Choose Celestial

This is an Ordinary Post!!

Dear family and friends,

This week has been great! SO MUCH HISPANIC FOOD. We never really got fed here until all of a sudden one day EVERYONE wants to feed us. So my stomach is continuously expanding along with my waistline. Whoops. But the food is always delicious so hey.

We found a new family to teach this week! We're still working on getting to know the members and working with the ward more effectively. We're planning another MTC for Members event just like we did in my first area, and it's going to be sweet! As for Halloween, it gets real crazy here so President Morgan wants us to be home by 6. Aka we'll be celebrating with some Halloween Dunkin Donuts.

Health wise, I'm doing great. 100% back to normal. I even went running this morning like a champ (yay for sea level) so don't worry about me! My surgery will be sometime in November or December, so until then we party on.

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

Hermana Alexander and Hermana Hall

This is no ordinary post!!

Dear family and friends,

Sorry about not writing the past couple of weeks. I have a good reason. Ready?

So general conference weekend I started feeling really sick and stayed in bed for a week. My stomach hurt really bad and I could barely even drink anything without puking. The mission doctor and the mission president's wife said that it's definitely not apendicitis because my pain was all on the left side. At transfer meeting I just laid on the ground because it hurt so bad. So I got sent to the emergency room where they said it was either a kidney infection or an STD (we can probably rule that one out) and sent me home with some antibiotics. It got better for maybe 2 days (enough for me to watch Meet the Mormons with the mission! EVERYONE GO SEE IT RIGHT NOW) and then it got way worse. My poor companion went on splits with every sister in the zone. But I still toughed it out and made it to the L. Tom Perry fireside down in south man. I got to meet him and shake his hand! He told Sister Alexander "Take care of Sister Hall now". Apostolic revelation that I was sick? Or lack of makeup and pale face? Finally I got permission to go to  a normal doctor. But the night before I got a really high fever and the pain was worse than it had ever been and it shifted. I woke up the next morning to my mom calling to tell me which doctor takes our insurance and that I have an appointment at 1 p.m.

Then it gets interesting.  I tried to shower. Hardest thing of my life. I sat down on the couch for 20 minutes trying to recover. Then we left. The doctors office was two trains away. Okay Hall you can do this. Just make it up the giant hill to the train stop. I was going so slow and hunched over that everyone was giving us weird looks. Yes we made it to the train. Get on the train and almost hurl everywhere. Horrified looks from everyone in the train and everybody's looking at you. We get off at 145th to transfer to the next train and I just fall on the ground and sit down on the steps and hurl my guts out. Sitting on the floor in the subway puking. Graceful. Good thing my companion was smart enough to bring a puke bag, which she then nicely threw away for me. #charity We finally give up on trains and decide to call a cab. Of course we get in the sketchiest one, but we made it to the doctor's office alive. Kind of. I ran in the bathroom and started ralphing and apparently the receptionists were super freaked out. Sorry. We get back to talk to the doctor and I start blowing chunks right in her office (in the trash can no worries). She freaks out and sends us to the emergency room. She offered us an ambulance but we declined. #regrets So they call us a cab and right when we get in my companion says to the cab driver "So, there's going to be puking back here, but she's got a bag." Poor guy. We made it to the ER, they put me in a bed, ran some tests (CT contrast is gross), gave me some morphine ("Morphine! That's what they gave the guy in Saving Private Ryan right before he died!") and then I sat there and waited and waited and waited. But we got to talk to some interesting citizens of the Bronx (the guy next to me tried to go buy morphine off my nurse, popped like 10 800 ibuprofen and then snuck outside to smoke a blunt #kitehigh)

Finally the surgeon came down and said "You had appendicitis and your appendix ruptured". I don't know if it was the morphine or the fact that everyone had been telling me that that's not what it is for the past two weeks or that I was laying in a hospital in the middle of the Bronx, but I lost it. "Wait, really?" I burst into hysterical laughter. It was ridiculous. I couldn't stop. Everyone in the ER looked at me like I was crazy and Sister Alexander told me to stop, but it was so funny. I composed myself enough to ask "So, can I eat a hamburger?" That got shut down pretty fast. Only poopy jello and liquids they said. So then I got admitted and got some good stuff (IV antibiotics) and laid in bed and got poked every five minutes. The surgeon came back the next morning and was super surprised how well I was doing so he let me eat a muffin. Then another surgeon came down and asked me what I had eaten. "Juice, jello, and a muffin" "A muffin? Is that juice?" We stared at each other awkwardly and I just said "umsjskncbshlaknd..." Whoops. But after that he let me eat big kid food, like a giant bodega sandwich! Then they let me leave Saturday afternoon and we went and spent the night at the first counselor of the mission presidency's house. We basically just hung out with their six-year-old twins and watched FROZEN! Yeah. Seen it. President Morgan said I could. So let it go. Not as good as Tangled, but still love it and sing the songs all the time now.

When President Morgan got back from mission presidents seminar he came and picked us up and we had a real serious interview about my options. We ultimately decided that I wasn't leaving and I would get right back to normal missionary work, which I did and I'm doing awesome. I'll get my appendix out in 6-8 weeks and stay at the mission home while I recover and eat President Morgan's homemade grilled cheese sandwiches. Not a bad deal.


And that's my story. Maybe Heavenly Father wanted to make me more grateful for my mission and for functioning organs in general. Well it worked. I'm super excited to get back to work and kill it here in The Heights! I really do consider this a miracle and I'm so grateful for the protection and health that God gave me.


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

Hermana Hall

One Year

Dear family and friends,

Tomorrow I complete one year of my mission! What?! I can't believe it.
Thank you for all of the support and love. I can't possibly describe
all of the things that I've learned during the past year, but I can say 
that my testimony has been strengthened immensely.   I know that
Joseph Smith restored the church of Jesus Christ again on the earth
and that we have a living prophet today. I have a personal witness
that God loves us each personally and that He is guiding us. We just
have to listen and obey.

 I love you all! Remember to watch General Conference this weekend! Prayerfully bring your questions and I promise you'll receive your answers.

Love,

Hermana Hall

P.S.  Six months to sexy starts tomorrow.


Choose Celestial