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This blog distributes my emails weekly to anyone who reads it. If you would like to personally message me, please contact me at hall.richard@myldsmail.net.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Be of Good Cheer!

To my family, friends, and Yankees fans,

Yes, that especially means you, Nikole,

If only I could have your undivided attention to sit down and talk
with you, share the best of the best stories, show you how I've
changed and become something better, give you the best pieces of
advice I have and the most powerful spiritual experiences from this
week, I might be able to finish telling you about it next Monday.
But we don't have that luxury, so I'll do what I can today.
Last Monday the missionaries in the greater Round Rock area got to
sing the national anthem at a triple-A baseball game. The stadium was
really nice for being a minor league place. It was rainy, so the
stands weren't as packed as you would like it. But we got to sing to a
thousand, up to three thousand or so people, my guess is. That's a
very lame estimate, I know, but still, that's a lot of people.
Singing wasn't much of a big deal for me. I'm a theater guy. It was
small potatoes. But being on the field. Watching Willson Ramos, Joey
Gallo, Jurickson Profar, and Jose Ciriaco warm up 50 feet away from me
was amazing. I know, you probably don't know any of these names, but I
knew them! It was so great to see them, and to be in a baseball
stadium again. Baseball is such a special sport to me. I love it so
much.
I also finally got to meet Jeff Kent! Jeff Kent is a member of the
church and also the 2000 NL MVP, and I got to talk to him for about 3
minutes. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous to talk with him. This
guy was in the big leagues! He swung with Barry Bonds, played on the
same fields as Roger Clemens, got to throw seeds at Eric Gagne's space
goggles in the dugout, talk ball with Dusty Baker, he is my childhood
if my childhood was a 6'2 man in a Leather Jacket and boots! It was a
little dream that came true for me to meet him. He almost took a
selfie with me so I could send it to my brothers, but we had to get
going. It's a shame. A real shame. But I did tell him just how much it
meant to me that I got to meet him.
He also said that no one is going to know the real story about the
pressure washer until the millennium.
Alright, so probably about half of you understood what was going on in
the last few paragraphs, but the half that did understand it probably
really appreciated it. Moving on!
We had ten hours of service this week. Between that, meetings, and the
occasional sickness from Elder W, it felt like there wasn't
much time to proselyte this week. Those weeks are always hard, because
when you lose the chance to go out and work, you are aching to go out.
Thursday Elder W and I got the feeling that we need to refocus
our efforts on teaching and having more set appointments with members
present, and ever since we have asked the lord for help in our goal,
and now we have multiple lessons set up for every day of the week,
including tonight. It's amazing to see the power of faithful prayer.
For all those reading: God hears our prayers. We are his children, and
he wants us to be successful. He knows what is best for us, he knows
exactly what are situation is. Don't be afraid to be humble.
It takes courage to be humble. One of our families we are working with
is a great example of the courage it takes to be humble. Nicole is a
less active member of the church, but she wants to start coming back
to church with her nonmember fiancé, Bob. Bob is covered head to toe
in tattoos. He's taller than most people, he drives a Harley, he
doesn't talk that much. But hey, he has come to church for the last
three weeks, and is seriously considering baptism. But you can see
that he has some reservations about getting to know more of the
members in the congregation. If you are familiar with LDS
congregations, you know Bob doesn't look like me. But the Ward wants
to reach out and befriend him. It is going to take courage for Bob to
realize that he is welcome into the Ward family. But courage comes at
a price.
This Friday three people had the courage to be baptized! They were in
the Stony Point Ward. The elders that serve there live with us, so it
has been a great time listening to them come home and talk about how
excited they are for this family. He have been so excited for this
baptism. We attended the baptism. It was fantastic.
Training is the best. Elder W is doing great. He still has some
things to learn, but his fire is unmatchable, and we have the time of
my life.
I'm doing great. The Ward members here are amazing. The work is going
great, our district is flourishing. We only have eight days left in
the transfer. Zoinks! This has been going by too fast! Like,
seriously, by the end of this transfer, I'll be out the same amount of
time that Elder Acor was out when he was training me. That is crazy.
Well, I hope you are all having a great week. Hopefully ours has a
little less rain this week around.

Elder Richard Hall

Picture Time!
1. Elder S, Elder D, Elder W and I at Dell Diamond
before we left. Special moment.
2. Once again, Dell Diamond.
3-6. So, there was one night where we got done from planning, and the
apartment decided to take some pictures. Here are a few of the
results.






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