Buenas Tardes! :)

Hey Everybody! 

I decided to write a good letter today, because everyone else except for a couple people haven´t been getting informed to well! :) I am doing great here in Spegazzini! We had a crazy week with lots of traveling, meetings, and just random stuff, so I am looking forward to this week to be able to get into a routine of working! Elder Chuliver, and I are getting along great, and I getting to know this area is a little tough, because it really is so big. There is more than a third of the area that I have never been in, and it is most likely that in five weeks my companion will leave and I will be the one directing the area! So it is a big chunk of Argentine meat to try and swallow at once! 

The ward here has tons of members, and there are a good 500 members that currently are not attending church, so we are focused completely in on them, and in their families! Because of this new program that our mission is trying, we don´t knock on doors, or contact people in the street, and really our focus is not on looking for new members. It is now focused in our finding the lost members, and helping them remember the love that our Savior has for them, and then getting them back to church, and baptizing those family members who need to be baptized! I really like it, it honestly is sometimes harder to teach less, and inactive members, then it is to teach someone who has never even heard of the church. We have to study harder, pray harder, and honestly be better missionaries all around, to help these families remember the feelings and testimonies they once had of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Already we have seen results and this week I had some special experiences, as we listened to, and honestly shared some of the problems and doubts that these members had, and I know that the Lord used us to help them out. I felt his guidance, and his words, and I know that this family has a different outlook on things. I also know it was because we took the time to listen to them, and then wait for the guidance of the spirit that we were able to help them feel the spirit, and give them the desires to attend church on Sunday. One thing that I am learning now, that is a lesson for us all, is that sometimes, even when the other person really doesn't have a reason to be angry, or to have acted the way they did, we should listen to them first. There are times when it is hard to go into a situation and not drop the cane on someone even when they deserve it, but I know that as we take the time to listen to the concerns and problems of others, and wait for the guidance of the Holy Ghost we will be able to resolve ALL situations, and we will be better people! 

I also have to throw in a Feliz Día de la Madre (even though it is a little late!) to all of the wonderful women who in one way or another were mothers to me! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to speak with my mom (and the family) yesterday, and I can´t tell you all how happy I was to know that they are all doing good, that they are safe, and healthy, and that they are blessed. There is nothing more important in my life than my family, and as hard as it is for me to be away from them, to miss the ball games of Garret, reading a storybook with Russ, the preschool graduation of Laynee, scaring boys away from Mak, talking with my mom every night, and working along side my Dad, I know that it is all worth it. And the joy that I receive from helping other families be more united definitely helps me cope with being away from mine! We ALL should enjoy the time that we have with our family, and with our friends, because at the end of the day, there is NOTHING in this life (when accompanied with the Gospel) more important than our relationships with others. I love you all, and I am so thankful for each and every one of you! Have a great week! 

Elder Hall 

Saludos de Spegazzini! (AKA I got transfered....again!)

Buenas Tardes!

Well surprisingly I got transferred again! I figured my companion was going to leave, but apparently the Lord  needs me in another area! I am now in Spegazzini (Spe-gah-see-nee) in Monte Grande Zone! It is a GIGANTIC area! I swear I went from the smallest area in the mission to the biggest! So definitely a big change in that aspect! My new companion is Elder Federico Choliver from here in Argentina, he is 24 years old, and has been in the mission for one month more then me! He seems like a great guy, and has told me a couple times now, in our whole two hours of knowing each other that we are going to work hard, so I am super excited! 

This week was a good week is Villa Progreso, and truth to be told I was kinda sad to leave! I was just starting to get to know everybody! We were able to end the transfer with a baptism of Ayelen, it was a great experience! I am always so thankful for the people that the Lord puts into my life! Along with visiting the members, and saying good bye we were pretty dang busy, and Elder Herrera and I ended our transfer together good! 

Everyday is a new experience is the crazy life of the mission, and I am always so thankful for what the Lord gives me! We are out of time! Next week will be a better update I promise! Love you all! 

Elder Hall 

 My district in La Plata! Me, E. Rodriguez, E.Peterson, E. Herrera, Hna. Baez, Hna. Tolman! 

 Ayelen´s Baptism! Her and all of her family! Her parents have been inactive for a really long time, but her brother and uncle, are active. Both of her parents came to the Baptism, and to Sacrament meeting on Sunday, her dad even got up and bore his testimony. Her mom told me that they have started praying as a family again, and that she feels a change in their lives! It is amazing to see how the Lord works! 

 Me, Ayelen, Hermano Nefi Salazar, and E. Herrera

 There was also two other baptisms along with Ayelen´s, investigators of the hermanas from El Bosque Ward!

 The primary really helped us out on the baptism! Even though Ayelen moves up to Young Womens next month!

 Renee, Lautaro, and Yaiza, Laura couldn´t make it to church so I didn´t get a picture with her! Renee and Lautaro are members, and Laura is taking the discussions! Really great family that I am going to miss! 

Guillermo Silva, and I with their dog, Negro! Guillermo is preparing to serve a mission, and he is the Elders Quorum President, his dad is the Bishop, and the entire family is great a good friend that I hope to keep in contact with!

The Silva Family and I. I can´t say enough about this family. Hermano Victor is the Bishop, Hna Virma is in the Stake Relief Society, Guillermo (19) is the Elders Quorum President, Virma Hija (22) is in the Primary Presidency, and Luz ¨Nani¨ (16). They are a family who have dedicated absolutely everything to the church, and were baptized only four years ago! (The Bishop was baptized as a teenager, but was inactive for years and years!) Amazing!

Pictures from Villa Espana

These pictures were facebooked messaged to me from the Branch President's wife in Villa Espana, Hermana Mascherana.  I am so thankful for technology and how it is able to connect us with those across the equator and beyond! I do not have any descriptions for these, but I know Elder Hall will be happy to have them!

8 Meses en La Misión!

Buenas Tardes Amigos! 

Well this is going to be a really short email spent alot of time sending out replies to people, and we are about out of time! I hope that you all enjoyed the video! If you didnt get a chance to watch it you can always check out the blog at elderbrennenhall.blogspot.com! Everyone told me that I my english is weird, and that I have an accent! I guess that is what happens when you only speak in spanish, and when the only english you hear, is mediocre at best! haha 

We had a good week this week, and if all goes as planned will be having two baptisms this week! Ricardo, and Ayelen! So we are very excited about that! Yesterday we had a meeting with all of the church leaders here in our stake and the missionaries, my mission and four others in the world are starting a new pilot program to try and rescue members who have left the church. They told us we will never knock on a door again, and that they dont want us to do contact like that. We now are focusing on the inactive, and less active members of our ward, and helping to get the back to the church, and to baptize and complete families, and to focus on getting families to the temple! I think it is a great program, and am excited to watch how this changes our mission! There are also alot of little things that changed, but really only affect us as missionaries, and how we report progress. I really like it though because it feels to me like, this is the way of the General Authorities saying lets clean up our own house before we invite guests over! 

Which leads me to my question, and thought for the week, are our houses clean_ Who of our friends and family, aren´t attending church, and have fallen away. Or how many of us maybe need to clean up ourselves, before we can help out others. We know what we have to do, it is just a matter of getting it done, and with out throwing too much of a larry the cable guy influence to this letter, Its time to git R done! :) Let the Lord help you clean up your house, and then help others to do the same!  Love you all! 

Elder Hall

 Show this to bug! I have her pic, and necklace always in front of me! :) 

(Elder Hall and his baby sister Laynee have always been close!)

 They all love to jump on my bed! So we decided to take a picture! Elder DeYoung was there on an exchange! 

 Kitchen! (With no food! End of the month haha)

 Living room area!

 Beds! haha

Our Desk!

Felices Pascuas! (Happy Easter!)

Queridos Amigos & Familia,

Felices Pascuas! Happy Easter to all of you! Even though it is a little late! I am doing good this week, and hope that you all, had a great easter weekend, and were able to take some time to think about our Savior! We had a good week, and spent alot of time sharing a special message about the Atonement that Christ made for us, and it was a nice week to really get to focus in, even more then normal on Christ. I feel like this time of year the people are at least just a little more receptive to hear a message about Christ! 

I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, and it was a great opportunity to share my personal thoughts and feelings about our Savior, and about His work that I have the opportunity to do everyday. I spoke a little bit about the Savior´s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. Many times we only think about His sacrifice when He was on the cross, but really there was a time much more painful, in the life of our redeemer. And it was when he was in the Garden of Gethsamne. It was there that he suffered for our sins, for our sickness, and for our sadness and afflictions. And in his moments of greatest suffering, he cried to the Lord asking if there was another way, but knowing that there wasn´t He did not His own will, but the will of His father. And he drank that bitter cup, but many times we forget that at his moment of greatest agony an angel appeared to him, to strengthen him, and support him in his time of greatest need. All of us will have trials in our lives, and each one of us will have to pass through our own Gardens of Gethsemane, but for those of us who have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives we know it is much easier, so my message was to them, and to all of you, is that we all can be Angels to our friends and family who are suffering in their own gardens of Gethsemane. We can share the Gospel with them, and bring them into the light, and love that Christ has for each and every one of us. I hope that all of you, as you take the time to think about our Savior, and His sacrifice for us, can also take the time to think about someone else who could use the Gospel in their lives, and be the one to share it with them. Wether it is someone who once was part of the Lord´s fold, or someone new, He wants all of us to be with him. Trust in the Lord, pray to Him, and have faith that he can change your life, and those around you. 

I love you all, I miss you all, and I pray for you all. I hope everyone has a great week! And feel free to check out a video I uploaded to youtube! 

Enjoy! http://youtu.be/2fuu8ZLQlzE

Until Next Week,

Elder Hall 

Otra Semana en La Misión!

(email from 4/14/14)

Buenas Tardes Queridos, 

Espero que ustedes están bien! I am doing pretty good this week! We had a week of cold! (Well the coldest weather we have had in my time here, winter will be much colder!) We had a nice storm that came in and it rained off and on for three days, and then we had lots of wind! So it dropped the temperatures pretty good, and I got a little taste of what it will be like with no indoor heating, and only a little electric heater to keep us warm. I am not going to lie, I am a little worried that this Elder from the Valley of the Sun is going to be shipped home as a popsicle, because I am not sure I can handle cold weather like this! I guess I will just roll with it and see what happens. 

As far as our investigators go, we had a much better week with them. Renee and Laura have decided to get married, and Laura is fighting hard to quit smoking, and the family seems to be pretty happy! We didn´t find Ricardo drunk in the calle (Street) this week, and he really wants to change, and is understanding the importance of not drinking alcohol, and how Christ can help him. And then we taught Ayelen who is 11, this week about the Plan  of Salvation, and it was great, she understood everything, and learned a lot. It was great to watch the Plan of Salvation ¨click¨ in her head, and her to understand why it is that we are here on this earth, where we came from before this life, and where we are going after! 

I am still adjusting to Villa Progresso, it is not the easiest thing to leave a place like Villa España where I love the members, and the people, and the area so much, and to have to meet new people, a new apartment, and a new area! It sometimes can be alot, but I really like it here! And with time I know I will come to love this area as well! :) 

I hope everyone has a great week, your all in my thoughts and prayers, and thank you so much for the emails every week! I LOVE getting to hear from everyone! 

Elder Hall 

 This just goes to show that argentine food is a little strange compared to the US, that is not a cherry tomato on my pizza it is like a marishino cherry that was sweet and for desserts! I wasn´t a huge fan! haha 

 A week of Peruvian Food! The red deal is like a chocolate bar but it is specially used for hot chocolate! That was at least really good! 

 Dinner with Obispo (Bishop) Silva and his family, with the Sisters! It was alot of fun, we made ¨thrucho¨ (fake) tacos for the whole family! They are such amazing people! The Bishop was baptized in peru a long time ago, but was inactive for years and then 4 years ago an elder from AZ and his companion knocked on the door, and with in a few months him and his wife were married and she and their three kids were baptized, within a year they were sealed in the temple, and two years ago he was called as bishop! 

This is like a super famous Peruvian soda, that Elder Garcia had told me about! It was pretty expensive to get, because it is brought in straight from Peru, and they only sell it at one Peruvian Market here in La Plata! I was so excited to try it, and it was gross. Tasted like cough syrup. Dang Peruvians.... hahaha 

Buen Dia de Argentina :)

Hola Queridos Amigos y Familia,

We had another great week here in La Plata,  I am still getting to know the members, but so far I really am enjoying it. The weather has been a little weird this week, (imagine that weird weather in the ¨land of who knows what will fall from the sky tomorrow¨!) when I left Villa España it was starting to get chilly, and then the last two weeks it has been back warm, and this week there was so much humidity! Then for the last three days it has been really windy, dark, and rainy!  So honestly who knows, maybe this storm will finally have brought the cold in! 

We spent two days helping the Bishop and his son, connect, a bathroom drain, to the sanja (wich is like a ditch along side of the streets) so we did a lot of ditch digging in horribly nasty sticky clay! I loved it! You see my companion likes to give me heck becuase he did some kind of military service and is so strong, blah. blah. blah. well Elder Herrera has never been to the Good Ole Shoveling school of Ken and Todd Hall. Let´s just say I kicked his butt in shoveling stuff out. hahaha :)  

This week was also filled with quite a few challenges. Our investigator Laura, whose baptism, and marriage to her husband was supposed to be this weekend, but she unfortunately had some problems come up, and they won´t be getting married until May now, and then afterwards we will have her baptism. And well our other investigator whose baptism was supposed to be on April 11th, we found him drunk out of his mind wandering the street, so we have to continue teaching him, and hopefully we can help him break his alcoholism, because he really is a great guy that has desires to follow Christ. So it certainly was an interesting week, but we ended things on a good note, by listening to General Conference! 

It was so nice to get to sit back for two days, and listen to our Prophet, the Apostles, and other General Authorities of the Church. I was very uplifted, and I got to watch it in English! :)  I think one of my favorite talks was Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge of the 70´s talk about the Restoration of the Gospel! 

I loved the way he expressed everything. I hope that all of my friends and family, both members of the church, and non-members can take 5 minutes and watch this great talk. It expresses so many doctrines simply, and in a short time, that are unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! 

 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/04?lang=eng&vid=3439077335001&cid=7

I also really enjoyed Elder Neil L. Anderson´s talk in the Saturday Morning Session, and how he said that, ¨The Lord will not just glide into the second coming.¨ and there was a few talks about how it isn´t always going to be easy to be a member of the church. The standards of the world are slipping farther and farther away from the standards of traditional christianity, and as the world slips away the trials and persecution of all faithful christians will increase. My prayer is that we really can start to strengthen ourselves, and our families, and defend our beliefs, in a manner that the Savior would approve of. 

How lucky we are to have a Prophet, and Apostles who truly recieve revelation, and are there to guide us in this day and age. I along with all those that were given this weekend bear my testimony that our Savior lives, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that as we study the teachings found in the Book of Mormon, and Bible, we will be strengthened to fight off the temptations of the world! Love you all! 

Elder Hall