Sunday, July 3, 2016

How to Level Up Your Faith

me sniffing a flower
Hey. Honestly I don't know how to start this email off... Its 18h07. Now that that's over with, I'll just get strait to the point. I only remember a few of the things we did this week, but it was still pretty productive. 

Funny: So as an office, we call everyone on their birthdays. We have a list and at a point in the day, we gather everyone up and sing to the people. It started off as a surprise for everyone, but I think word has spread so people expect it. It always makes them super happy though, and all the missionaries like it. Well, we called to sing to an elder one day this week, and his companion answered. We are always on speaker phone, but I am the initiator, so I said, 

     "hey is elder so and so there"
     and the one elder said, "no, he's in surgery"
     *silence* "... why?"
     "he has a hernia"

So everyone kind of felt bad but started laughing anyway because laughter is the best medicine. I told him we'd call back later in the week. Well we made our next call and this elder didn't have very good reception. We sang and he loved it and after we were trying to talk to him and he said "you're cutting out". All the senior couples died laughing because I guess its a hernia pun but I didn't understand that because I don't really know what a hernia is. 

elder wade and I needed to settle who is taller... 
He is (that’s why he's playing for Gonzaga and not me) 😉
We also had MLC this week, where we, as office elders do a lot of behind the scenes work in getting all the food, setting up, cleaning up, getting more food, etc. We also got to fill up water balloons for Soeur Brown's activity! Well, it went pretty smooth, and I guess at one point, the assistants told everyone to tell us thank you (which we appreciated very much), but we didnt know about it, we just had some questions to ask some people, so we waited until the end of the presentation out in the foyer, and when everyone started coming out, we were right there and they all started shaking our hands and saying thank you and I was thinking 'what the heck is happening?' but I figured it out, and then felt weird that we were just right there almost like we were waiting for people to come thank us... haha oh well. 

the disembodied leg
Today we spent all morning and afternoon helping one of the best families in our ward, la famille Brenders, move into the other ward. :/ It was fun but pretty tiring. But next week we will be doing more missionary moving out of some closed apartments, so it was a good warm up! At one point, Soeur Brender let slip that she had her dead grandmothers leg in one of the boxes. It was just a prosthetic but we laughed pretty hard. When we took that box out, I asked if I could take a picture with the leg. I'll send it haha, Frere Brenders did a pretty good job in the picture too. While we were unloading all the boxes and furniture into their new apartment building, there were a ton of little Muslim boys that swarmed around us. Some of them were helpful, some of them weren't, but it was pretty funny. They were like monkeys, just being crazy and asking us questions and wanting to play on the moving truck. They are so opposite from the Brenders' kids. They have 6 all under the age of 11 who are the most angelic little things. They sit so quietly in church, in general conference. They are obedient, and so cute. Every Sunday I look forward to going up to their row and shaking their hands and talking to them. They compliment me all the time, but they're my little buddies. I'm pretty sad that they're moving. 

us in walking down the streets of perouge...
We didn't see any of our ami's this week. They aren't answering, though we did do some good porting and contacting. I did a good study this week on faith! In Moroni 7:33, it says "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." Meaning that with faith, Jesus Christ will give us the strength, the determination, the mindset to accomplish the things in life that we need to. As we believe in Him and His Atonement, He can work miracles for us, because He knows that we will recognize them. 

... and a church there
As we continue to act with faith and act on faith, we receive witnesses of His divinity, as well as knowledge of the truth of the gospel. Eventually, our faith will sprout into a nugget of knowledge, and as we grow knowledge, we wont have to consciously work on following with faith, because it will come naturally. We will have a everlasting hope, which with it will bring positivity, optimism, and happiness. We will "believe in God... that he is, and that he created all things... that he has all wisdom, and all power..." (Mosiah 4:8), and we will "...come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power and his wisdom and his patience and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world..." (Mosiah 4:6) Faith is the beginning of knowledge, and ultimately, we are here to gain knowledge. It all starts by following that tiny voice inside thats saying "Trust in Him. Test it out. He can make weak things become strong." I testify that Christ waiting and willing to bless us. I testify of the power that comes with faith, and I can say with a surety that I know Jesus Christ is my Savior.  I know this church is true, and it's a knowledge unlike anything else. 

Have a wonderful week! I will have more to tell you next time! :) 
Avec trop d'amour,

Elder Hall
Your Favorite Missionary

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