Mixed Feelings

What happened Monday to Friday was not near as interesting as what
happened from Saturday to this afternoon.
Friday we went on exchanges with Elder T. He is a great elder
and has lot of fun doing the right things. It was a great exchange
highlighted by teaching R T and his two friends, who both
want to be baptized. We also taught our Jewish investigator how Christ
cleanses us from sin, which was thrilling. Saturday morning  we woke
to 15 missed calls from who? The mission president. He called us 15
times between 2 am to 2:15 am and we slept through all of them.
In case you didn't realize, that's one of the scariest things that
could ever happen to you as a missionary. Our mission president would
not call us more than twice for something unless it was urgent. We
gave him a text and a call and he didn't reply, which made us even
sicker. To be honest, the Elder S, T, and I were expecting
one of our family members to be dead. Finally, we decided to call
Elder C and W to see what was up.
Thank goodness, no one was dead. But my trainee was in the hospital.
He got in a bike crash on exchanges and had some major injuries. The
mission president called us so many times because he was with Elder
W, knocking on our door at 2 in the morning to try and get
inside. Call me a heavy sleeper.
A few hours later we got Elder W back. He obtained a concussion
the moment the face hit the pavement and he can't remember anything.
He has a broken wrist, a fracture in his cheek bone, two in the eye
socket, and one in the nose. His right eye was in bad shape. He
couldn't move most of his mouth. This was the third time he's crashed
in the 9 weeks he's been on a mission. Bless his heart. This one was
pretty major. Elder S and I were more than ready to take care of
him for the rest of the day, but we had 8 lessons set up for that day.
Instead of missing out on a milestone day, Elder C went with
some other missionaries, and the four  of us  covered our area. We
took turns. Two would go out, and one would stay with the injured
W. It was chaos. We ended up bagging five of the eight, and
rescheduled the other three. In fact, throughout all of this, I broke
my personal record of lessons taught in a week. We had more member
present lessons than all other lessons combined.
Also, my companion Elder S finished his two years today, so he's gone.
He was in some bad shape, but things were looking up. The three of us
were contemplating how to make it work. We have so many people
investigating in both wards, there's just no way we could do the work
without some serious planning. It took a bit of brainpower, but with
the help of our Ward mission leaders we created a plan for Elder
W to be watched over as we did the work.
Can I just say, the Old Settlers and Stony Point wards have been
phenomenal in helping us out. We have received many phone calls and
texts from the wards, member after member has brought over ice cream,
applesauce, mashed potatoes, and just about anything you can eat
without chewing. It was heart softening to see people walk up during
church and ask to help him out in some way. And of course, this was
the same week that they asked me to sing a special musical number
during sacrament. Here I was, singing "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief"
solo while my companion is laying on the couch in the apartment with
Elder T. Goodness.
Things were looking up until we got a call today at 10:00. President
called and said he wanted Elder W to recover in his home. He was
sending him home. Oh man. He hasn't even been out for three months. It
was tough. At that point you almost want to say that you 
should have gone home. Like if you were the one that should have got
their face smashed on the sidewalk. You've been a missionary for
eleven months. He needs to be out here! But it is all part of God's
plan. If it was supposed to go down another way, it would have gone
down another way. But it didn't. Friday night I had two companions,
now I'm on an extended exchange with Elder T. Crazy. Don't know
where I'll be or who I'll be with for another couple of days. Rumor
has it we might get a car. With my luck, probably not. The relief
society president felt bad, so she got us In-N-Out. Bless her heart.
I've been stretched for sure. It's a wild, wild life. I'm just glad
that there are absolutes. The mission will continue to go forth. Souls
will be saved. Friends are made, hearts are touched. Having a perfect
brightness of hope is more soothing than a perfect shadow of doubt.
This is an amazing area. This is the most successful I've felt as a
missionary in the past eleven months. I love to obey rules. I love to
serve. I think it's time for me to take a much needed nap. We cannot
stop the work. It will not be stopped.

Elder Richard Hall

1. This was taken before his ride to San Antonio. My first trainee.

Not Quite Finished

Wowee Zowee what a week. Ever since we combined areas with Stony Point
Ward we've had more work than you can shake a stick at. And it looks
like we're just going to get more! This week we used our trio of
missionaries to full effect, going on splits almost every night.
That's one luxury to having three missionaries in a companionship, one
goes with a member with all the set appointments, and the other two
find for the rest of the night. It's a beautiful thing.
Speaking of beautiful things, we have had much success with the T
family lately. They are such a crazy family. I can't decide how to
explain the situation without throwing in too much information, so I
must going to throw up everything about them and see if it gets you
sufficiently updated on the situation.
The husband and wife, R and T, have three kids, E, S,
and R. But, they have guardianship over Seven other kids: T,
B, H, J, and D. J and H are unaccountable,
T and B recently were baptized, R was a member already,
T was recently baptized as well. That leaves five others (D,
As, R E, and S) unbaptized. This week though, we've
made amazing progress. Steven, who almost always leaves the room when
we come, joined in on a lesson with us this week and had a lot of
questions about being a missionary. R has openly expressed that he
wants to be baptized and we are trying to set him with a date as soon
as possible. DJ has decided to be baptized by Elder S. That
creates a few problems, however, because Elder S is going home on
the 27th of May. So what are we going to do? Baptize him on the 26th!
It quite honestly is the soonest we could baptize him, so I hope that
it all works out. His intent is real and he is keeping all the
commitments. We need to get past a few concerns and it'll all work
out. A Wants to be baptized, but is afraid to commit to a date.
She has made so much progress with her in the past week, we are amazed
by her faith. We hope that we can commit her tonight. Wish us luck.
R is going through some major health problems and has has a hard
time coming to church these last few weeks. He just had a spinal tap
and liver biopsy, so we'll get to see what is going on. Our prayers go
to him as well as the whole family.
So that's the T's in a nutshell. A very large nutshell. But hey,
it is great. They love missionaries so much. They are such a great
family. Every time we go there it is a spiritual experience.
This Friday I had an excellent Chance to go on exchanges with Elder
C. He is an amazing missionary, filled with the spirit. We
have served around each other for the last seven months, and during
that time he has made s great impression on me. He knows what is right
and he works hard. We had an amazing lesson with one of their most
promising family, the D. I think it's important to note that is
one of the coolest names for a family ever.
I wanted to take a moment to share a thought I've been having
repeatedly. In cross country, my coach would always run us to death
for 60 minutes, give us a drink of water, and have us run for 30 more
minutes. It was, character building, we could say. I remember that at
the end of every practice, he would say, "remember, champions are made
when no one is looking."
I liked that quote back then, but I love that quote now. I don't think
I understood at the time that a champion wasn't the person who got
first place. Champions were the people who conquered themselves, and
because they could conquer themselves they were able to conquer
everyone else.
As a missionary, we have this idea of success. Getting trust with the
Ward members, baptizing and retaining converts, putting in an all in
effort. This is a successful missionary. This is a champion of
spreading the gospel, as it looks on the outside. But how did that
champion come to be?
I like to think that sometimes, not always, but sometimes, the Lord
cares just as much as the progress you made in who you are just as
much as what you are doing. Actually, Preach my Gospel says, "just as
important as what you are doing, is who you are." Who are we when no
one is looking? That is how you can determine whether or not you are a
real champion. A champion is someone who volunteers to put down chairs
after church, even when there are nonmembers there. A champion shakes
at the appearance at sin, but doesn't let sinners shake him. A
champion doesn't get angry, only motivated. Champions don't get
offended, instead they learn. A champion does the dishes for everyone
in the apartment and doesn't say a word, but not because there is a
rule in the missionary handbook. What we do when no one is looking is
still something we do, so it should be just as important as when
everyone is looking.

Elder Richard Hall

Two Turntables and a Microphone

Wow, what a week. Covering two wards now (Stony Point and Old Settlers) is just insane. We have been doing everything we can to go out and to serve the lord. And my goodness is there work to do.
The T family is progressing really well. They are a family of 10 that are taking lessons from the missionaries. The dad is a member, and the mom and two kids were baptized just a few weeks ago, and the whole family is on fire. Well, most of them. There are two that can't be baptized, and another not interested, but the other four are all progressing amazingly! This week there was seven of them at church- all the members. And three of the investigating children. Holy frijoles! It's a great family to walk into.
We are also teaching a few other families, including the B. I've talked about them in the past. Brother B is a recent convert, and his wife is a Jew. For the past four mons we've been meeting with them, she hasn't been too interested in finding out for herself is Jesus Christ is the messiah. But for these last two weeks she's been seriously praying and studying to see what is true. The big difference has been Brother L, a member of our Ward that has started to tag along. He has done a great job helping us teach. Now she wants to come to church whether or not her husband comes. It's crazy! And she loves missionaries. Every time I go there she welcomes us in and gives me a soda. I can't complain with that.
I was sitting in the sacrament meeting of Stony Point Ward, with the whole chapel filled in front of me, and the first thing that came to mind was, "what a small ward!" It is true that there is 250+ people attending Stony Point Ward, and it is also true that I haven't covered a Ward this small since the very beginning of my mission. In Old Settlers sacrament, all the kids and youth went to the front to sing a special Mother's Day song, and I lost count of how many there were after 120. It just showed me how I haven't really covered an area that wasn't a suburb for a long, long time. I thought to myself, "why are there so many old people in this Ward?" There was maybe 20 people over sixty there, t compared to the 7 in Old Settlers, and a collective 9 in my last area, that's a ton of fogies! It'll be exciting to cover a new area, I'm very glad that I get some more diversity in my missionary work.
Yesterday I and 75000 missionaries around the world got to call or Skype with their families, and even more so, their mothers.
I love my mom! When I was in high school, my works most likely did not show the true feelings of my heart, but I promise you mom, I love you! And I fell like I cleaned up my act in college some.
Anyways, one of my favorite traditions that our family has is to write a poem for mom on Mother's Day. I took some time this sabbath day to write one for her. Last night I shared it over Skype. But I'd  like to share it with others. I feel like it describes my family all too well for others not to see it.
To my Mom, by R. Wesley Hall
Dear Mom,
How are you? I am well. I'm an Elder, can't you tell?
Here I am on a screen looking at the family scene
One in Georgia, another in Canada, two have been living in su casa!
Another in Texas, the Lone Star State. 13 months till his homecoming date!
All these kids with hectic lives plus the old man and his awkward jives
But here's a day devoted to you- I hope your kids have all pulled through
I know you know we're friends- friends forever
This is a tie that will never, never sever
Thorough life you've smacked me like a ball on a tether
Put me in my place, made me tough as leather
Gave me punishment for my disobedience,
Helped me put my crap together.
You're the one that helped me learn myself
That there is a way to arrange CDs on the shelf
I love you mom, cause you're the best I've had
You make good balance with your eternal companion, my dad
The lesson taught by you have been invaluable.
"Eat chocolate, do your best, shut up
Go to school, you're an idiot, buck up,
Save a mission, help others, lighten up"
These are the things I remember most today
To be straight, I wouldn't want it another way
Kind words are heard when through gritted teeth you plea
"I love my family, I love my family, I love my family"
Together we are called to serve, and thank the lord for it
Thank you mom, for what you do
And for raising 5 little Gits.

I would also like to add that the family that offered their home for the three of us (I'm in a trio, in case you didn't know) to Skype together was super cool. The Richmond family is one of the coolest families ever. I found out they go to ACL and SXSW every year. What do you know, to of the most amazing live music festivals in the US! And they said they already have plans to watch Spoon and Radiohead in Austin this year. Lord, please transfer me to San Antonio before the temptation becomes too much. We got to exchange music tastes. I introduced them to Future Islands, they played some Joy Division in return. We then had to stop the music party before it got too wild. But I felt like that was noteworthy to mention that nugget of worldliness.

Man, I love being a missionary. We are going to be so busy, and time isn't getting any longer. Next week is right around the corner and this week hasn't started yet. Who knows what'll be the next big ting around the corner for next week.

Elder Richard Hall

1. This beauty I found while street contacting. I love boat cars so much
2. A recent addition to my collection. An investigator gave Elder W and I four unused tickets to Nolan Ryan's sixth no hitter. Next step- get them signed.

Busy Day

I apologize right now, I do not have time to write a weekly letter, we
have been trying to do so much today. But I'll give you some
highlights.

Transfers happened. I will be covering an additional area with Elder
Whiteley and Elder S. I am the most senior companion. Elder S
is going home in three weeks. He trained Elder H, who partly
trained me, and Elder S and I are currently training Elder
W. It is crazy. Luckily, we will not be changing addresses and
consequently apartments.
This will be my fourth transfer in the area. That's a long time. I
really liked it when I was moving around a lot.

Yesterday we had the same gospel principles lesson that I started with
way back on July 11, 2015. I'm starting to feel very, very old.
I'll send the district photo. Four out of the eleven people in this
photo will be home in 2-42 days. There are a lot of young guns in this
picture though.

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.

Brotherly Love

This week, Elder W was sick. But luckily, we were able to do a
fair amount of proselyting. We saw a lot of miracles out there. I am
always so amazed at the power of God. If we remain faithful in our
actions and obey the commandments given to us, we can always expect
accordant blessings. What usually surprises me about the miracles is
that I never expect the amount of spiritual impact that they can have
on you.
This Saturday we received a referral for a less active member whose
fiancé was interested in the church. They came to church last week,
and honest to goodness, no one noticed. Even still, they really
enjoyed it and came back again this week! We sat next to them, and
this time, it felt like almost every member talked to them. The less
active member is loving being back at church. She sang all the hymns
and intently to the lessons. Her boyfriend, who is covered head to toe
in tattoos, was greeted warmly and like a new member. It is wonderful
to see just how prepared this Ward is to do missionary work. The
momentum is shifting. From when I first entered the area about 4
months ago,the Ward still felt new and a little overwhelmed by the
sheer amount of members who were moving in and joining the
congregation. Now that the flux of new members is stopping, it feels
like the members are looking to get their friends and neighbors coming
to church as well.
Our recent convert family, the C, our doing fantastic. We were
able to watch "Prophet of the Restoration" with them. The movie ends
with the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, a spiritual and powerful scene to
watch with someone whose testimony of Joseph Smith is so young. At the
end, Christina looked over at us with a bit of shell shock, and said,
"That movie was so depressing." Yes, yes it was. But my goodness, it
shows the marvelous life of Joseph Smith so well. They loved it, and
also came to a realization of just how much opposition the church ran
into during the early years. It's wonderful to see people's
testimonies grow.
This week, my thoughts go back to my siblings. Last week my mom, as
well as one or two siblings notified me that it was Siblings day. This
made me think of a few things.
1. We are all sons and daughters of a living God. He created every
single one of us, and we are eternally indebted to him. Because he is
the father of our spirits, we are brothers and sisters in the spirit.
Once we come to realize this universal connection that we have with
everyone, we have an obligation to love and serve them. I love knowing
that we are all given life from the same God, and we find the
remainder, the essence of our heavenly parents within other people. We
can also find the essence of the adversary in those who forgot the
identity of who they are, where they came from, and how to act
accordingly.
2. I have not seen my siblings all in the same place for a while. My
brother Keith notified me that it has been almost two years since we
have been in the same place. It was the summer of 2014 at Yuba City,
California. It will be another 14-15 months or so, until we are all in
the same place again. Perhaps longer. I do miss my siblings
3. I have had the experience of living in a house with multiple
siblings, and being in the house as an only child. There is a
difference. The last sibling other than me left the house when I was
entering high school. At that moment, I felt like our house was much
emptier. I noticed my parents started coming to more of my activities,
and asking more about things that were going on in my life. They were
using a 5-child strategy on a 1-child household. It creates an
interesting effect. Luckily, sibling rivalry came with the
grandchildren. I was jealous, but the competition was healthy. It's
strange. Pride is competitive, but competition is healthy. Think about
that.
4. Our association with our brothers and sisters differs from our
association with people out of bloodline. We all act more naturally
with those we grew up with than with those we meet o the street.
Sometimes wards give themselves an additional title. "The Ward
family," to help unify the congregation as one, and to show the trust
they have in one another. What would happen if we treated all of our
spirit brothers and sisters the same comfortable, accepting way we do
with our physical brothers and sisters?
5. I love my brothers and sisters. Absolutely. 100%. Sure, Todd's a
bum to me sometimes, and Callie made listened to some lame music in
high school, but in the end, it matters not. Or, as I used to put it-
it doesn't care. My family means a lot to me. I get letters from them
every week, and I try to send one out to a different sinking every
week. Sometimes I don't. I apologize. But know I love you. Hopefully
God knows I love him too. And every day I look to improve the love I
have for my brothers and sisters all around us.

Elder Richard Hall

1. A giant lizard we found while doing service. Those are Elder
Whiteley's hands. Elder Castorena was there with Elder Savas for the
day. I know Elder Whiteley and I haven't sent a picture of us yet. It
will come.
2. The family
3. Good ol' Texas Sky

Streetside Prayers and Other Joyous Occurrences

Tuesday we were biking down AW Grimes on the way to contact a referral
when a woman honked and pulled us over. We had no idea what was going
on. Bible bash? Citizens arrest? Hopscotch challenge? Nope, she wanted
to say a prayer. She was having a rough week and recognized us as
representatives of Jesus Christ, so she asked if we could pray with
her. It actually was a really nice moment and though she wasn't
interested in meeting with us, she did really appreciate that we spent
a few minutes with her.
The week was filled with little miracles. I wish I could describe them
all, but K C(a recent convert) gave Elder W and I
some old baseball gloves, so we're stoked to play some catch. We'll
probably spend the rest of P-day doing that. Having a companion that
loves baseball close to as much as I do is a major blessing. I love
being able to talk real baseball with him. Of course, only after
proselyting hours, of course.
The best part of my week had to come from a lesson we had with little
KN. K is a 9 year old who wants to be baptized so badly!
She reads the scriptures every day with her little brother and she has
all of her pamphlets lined up when we teach her. She is just the  most
wonderful little girl. Her mother is a member, but hasn't been
attending regularly in years. She wants Kiley to be baptized, but has
a hard time bringing her to church. Luckily, on Friday we got to
introduce the Ns to the R family, some members who live
close by. Immediately the two families hit it off. We didn't have to
say a word Until it came time to teach the lesson. And there you go,
on Sunday morning, we saw little K N and her friend at church
with the R, all smiley and happy. We are planning Ks
baptism for May 7th. It's fantastic!
We also had a miracle that you don't get very often. We got a media
referral from some online missionaries about a 14 year old who wanted
to join the church. We gave him a call and set up a time to meet with
him. When he answered the door, he said, "hey, I've been waiting for
you guys." Turns out, he's talked to his mom about it, and she's okay
with us teaching him! He said that the parents will have to talk about
baptism, but you should have seen S's face when we gave him a
Book of Mormon. He was elated to get it. We are having a lesson with
him tomorrow and we are excited to teach him. He is one of the stories
that you'll always remember.
Saturday was a great learning experience for my new and fiery
companion. We had four appointments set up for the day and they all
canceled. Then we got caught in the rain. Then we had dinner canceled.
You could tell that Elder W was getting discouraged. Missionary
work is hard sometimes. There'll be days when nothing goes to plan and
your just want to get out of the heat and forget about the day. But
you know what, we keep going. I told him to cheer up and to have
patience. We said a prayer and started the day over. We ended up
having three lessons and finding someone to teach. What do you know.
It reminded me of one of new favorite mission president quotes. "Watch
the lord bless your decision."
As we live righteously and make accordant decisions, the Lord will
bless us. In the world many decisions are right verses wrong, but many
of the choices you make as a missionary are right verses right. We
must follow the council of Dallin. H Oaks when he talked about good,
Better, and best decisions. What are we doing? Is it good? Good. Could
it be better? If so, make the adjustment, and change. God trusts us.
He believes in us to make the right decision. So don't worry about it.
When choices come and you council with God, and haven't received a
solid answer, think about the council of David A. Bednar "be a good
boy, do the right thing. And move on." The lord believes in us far
more than we believe in him.
Spring is my favorite time of year. I love it so much. The
wildflowers, the sticky heat, the joy of good works.

Elder Richard Hall

1. One of the larger houses on our area. I'm missing part of it in this picture
2. Elder W's first Texas Longhorn. He took 1000000 pictures of
it. This is one of them.
3. A sweet daynaflow parked on a front lawn
4. Me and the boots. Please let me know if I could pull off boots.
These ones I'm wearing are only 649 dollars