Week 5 in Tampa

 Luke and Stephanie!

(Don't worry my arm was only touching Luke ;) )

 Backpacks for Refugees 

(Bishop's Kids)

Lots of mixed emotions. I can't believe it's been 2 years so fast. I have loved all the miracles that I've had the privilage of seeing! What a blessing it is to have the gospel of Jesus Christ and the blessings it brings! 

We had an awesome miracle this week with a referral from south Tampa for a 20 year old who had a baptismal date for September. She's already been to church 3 times! So cool! 

Luke and Stephanie are amazing. They had us and some members over for dinner last night. I'm excited to see the many great things they're going to do! 

The members here are awesome! I found out the wife of one of the new couples that moved in served in the same mission as Charlie. She left not too long after Charlie got there but she remembers her. Small world!! Well I can't wait to see you on Friday! I'll try not to get lost at the airport haha. Love you!!!!

Elder Hale

Week 4 in Tampa

 Lightning!

(A member gave us the picture, that's in one of my last areas

We have specialized missionary training on Friday so I will get
it from Elder Cox then. It's for missionaries in training. That's
awesome about Sister Denselys mom. She came out with me so it was
weird when her and the other sisters left. Then especially weird to
see her again haha. This was her last area, we took over after she
left. The Cardwells are awesome! Their son left last July to San
Diego. Super awesome family, their ages all line up with ours.
Sounds like sports will get very busy again. I realized it was his
birthday yesterday. That's crazy! I hope he loved it! Ward Conference
will be awesome I'm sure!
This week was awesome. Miracles are definitely coming. Elder Leslie
has grown a lot in confidence and consecration. It's been awesome to
see. We have been on exchange with all the Elders in the district now
and we are going to go around again hopefully before transfers. They
all have good desires but are all struggling. One companionship seems
to have picked it up. Hopefully we can help them keep that fire going!
The members in Valrico and Lithia have been awesome. The Ward mission
leader in Lithia has been working hard. Things are blowing up! One
miracle was with a woman and her sister who came to the Stake BBQ this
last Saturday. We found her street contacting by talking about family
history. Turns out her sister has been doing family history here at
the Stake Center. They LOVED the BBQ. We are hoping to make a
transition to teaching them this week. They are awesome! Another
miracle happened last night when we got back to the apartment. We saw
a man loading groceries into a wagon. We asked if we could help and he
said it was fine. He's in his 20s maybe 30s. He asked if we were
Jehovah's Witness. We explained what church we were from and said our
nickname is "Mormon". He freaked out and said he wants to be a Mormon
and asked where the closest church is. He's been looking for it since
he moved here. He gave us his address and number and asked for a Book
of Mormon. Crazy! We are hoping our lesson with him tomorrow goes
well! We also got to go to Bishop Birch's home last night. He is in
charge of most of the church ranches throughout the world so he
travels most weeks except for weekends. He has some awesome stories
haha. Their families ages all line up with ours too. Good things are
happening. No pictures this week but we will do our best to take some
this week. Thank you so much for the pin and license. I hope things go
well this week. Love you so much!!!

Elder Hale

Week 3 in Tampa

 Giant Locust

 Storm clouds

 More Pea fowl

 Lightning strike while on balcony

Hello!!!

That all looks and sounds great! I'm totally fine with that many roommates. Honestly I would feel off having a room to myself haha. So $330 a month? That's not bad. Definelty going to be needing a job. Could you send me the name/address so I can find the institute that's closest? 

The only other thing I can think of is any other possibilities for jobs down there and classes I'll need to sign up for, for my major. 

I'm sure it was a huge blast with all the family! Our 4th was very stormy. All week was actually haha. I'll send some pictures later today. Lets just say we had severe weather storm warnings almost every day and got very close to getting hit a couple times. That's Florida for you though haha.

That family should be getting baptized this Saturday! The ward is super, super excited about it! They're both super prepared. There's always something that happens the week of a baptism. Her dad was just diagnosed with a pretty much terminal form of cancer. So super hard. They also have a lot of other trials going on that seem to be packing into this final week before their baptism. With all that craziness we might only be able to see them in person once before their baptism. So we are praying super hard for them. We know it's God testing their faith because of how much they desire those blessings that come from the gospel. They have so much member support so we are very hopeful it will happen!!! They're so Awesome! 

The ward has been on fire with missionary work, this last sacrament meeting was all about conversion and a need to reach out. All the speakers were converts so it was awesome! To add to that a less active who was baptized 2 years ago has been praying a long time and just decided yesterday this is where he needs to be. So he showed up to church which got us all fired up even more. So many tender mercies are happening! 

I got my itinerary, I'm sure you all received it as well. Not sure if he's reached out already but I'll need to meet with President Cole on Friday when I get back for my release. Other then that the other things on my mind like I mentioned are school and work. Let me know what I can do on my end. Do you know what week I'll need to leave for Utah?

Thanks so much for everything!!!! You're relieving so much stress. I've loved it because I can continue to focus on the work and especially helping this family who's going through so much. I'm so grateful for the many blessings the gospel continues to bring our family. Love you so much!!!! 

I'll send those pictures later today. Please let me know if you have anything else I need to know/questions. 

Elder Hale

Week 2 in Tampa

 Pea fowl

Hello! 

Sounds like a super fun trip! I'm glad there's so many good members. That is so awesome about Adam and Jamie! Love them! 

This week was awesome! President Cooper came teaching with us this past week. He was able to teach that family that's progressing. They're doing so good! Crazy their baptism is coming up so fast. We are going to start planning it with them. The members absolutely love them! President Cooper loved them as well. Hes planning on coming to the baptism. Also, we were able to go by this awesome part member family. Her bad her family havent been active since highschool, but she still watches conference every once in awhile and definelty has a testimony. We were able to teach her son what we believe. She loved President Cooper and definelty wants to start coming back. Hopefully her husband can be on board as well. 

Also, since there's so many missionaries going home I had my last interview with President Cooper. It was awesome because they had a presidency meeting right before so President Addison (my first Bishop) and President Caceres (from the Lithia ward) were all there. So we were able to catch up and I was able to find out how the Newsome family is doing in South Tampa. Crazy how fast time flies! 

President was able to give me some good advice with the goals I have. I forgot to ask about the MTC. I think I have to be a student at BYU Provo though. As far as other options I haven't heard of anything else. Im going to talk to some missionanries who live in the area and see what they're doing. 

I would be fine with three other roommates. A missionary in my district said he might have room in the apartment him and his friends are staying in so I'll ask him again today about it. That still feels right though as well as BYU pathways for that year. Is there anything I need to do to be a resident besides just living there? Also, we have a men's warehouse here so I'm going to hopefully get my suits repaired. It's not too bad. Also, I have my iPad!!!!!!

That restaurant had it even though we had asked them before I left. So now I won't have to worry about not being able to have it. I'm going to pay for the fee today. Do you have any other questions or thoughts as far as jobs/apartment? One you do find a good place could you send me the pictures/address so I can sign up for Institute? Sorry I know you have so much on your plate. Also, I'm going to be sending my goals/plans to you soon as well as photos. It may be after our Zone Activity day tomorrow. 

Love you a ton!! Feel free to message me again with those questions.

Elder Hale

Week 1 in Tampa

Orlando temple

Goodbye 

 Diseny World

 Rainbow after the storm

Hello!!! 

Glad to hear that wedding went so well! I'm sure it was amazing to be with all that Family!! That's crazy about Karsten. I'm sure she's awesome. That will be fun being so close to McKaylee! Definelty let me know what you find. We do something called My Plan and they wanted me to sign up for Institute but I just wrote I don't know for sure where I will be yet so I haven't signed up haha. It will all work out though. Please thank scott for all the help. Also, thank you so much for all the help! I appreciate it so much! 

If there's anywhere else that pops up let me know! I did have the thought if Provo works out about applying to work at the MTC. We will have to see though. Is there anything else I can do with finding a place/school? 

The Tampa 4th ward is bowing up! That family that referred themselves is doing so good! They resolve all their concerns and have a habit of reading and praying every morning. Theyll come to church with specific questions and get the answers theyre needing. This is all things they were doing before we taught them. Theyre definetly prepared! It's a huge tender mercy. They're all set for baptism on the 15th of July. The members have been eating them up!

It's been amazing to see how the Lord works. They moved here from Australia because several of their family members have cancer. A couple of them actually have leukemia. So with all the trials they've been going through it's been amazing to be able to share my experiences and how the gospel blessed our family during those trials. Such a blessing! 

We also had Zone Conference this week and went to the Temple. It was awesome seeing Elder Reese and Elder Shakespeare and the rest of the missionaries I was serving with in Lithia. We have a chance at our last Zone Conference to bear our testimonies and the spirit was super powerful during all of them. There we a large group that came out the same time I did. It solidified my testimony of the change that happens when we consecrated our will to our Heavenly Fathers. I love serving my brothers and sisters! 

Also, Elder McCubbins is a beast. The ward has been blowing up with the new Bishop. We have had members out with us almost every day and have seen some huge miracles come from referrals from the members. Lots of good things are happening! 

Thanks again for all you're doing. I'm so grateful for you. I hope the week goes well!! Love you!!!

Elder Hale

Week 18 in Lithia

Hello!!! That's craziness! You all are going to have a blast in Idaho! Hopefully it's not too hot. It's been getting into the mid 90s with 100% humidity. Summer is officially here haha! Sounds great about pathways. And if nothing is popping up Logan is always a good option too. My only other thought if finding work but sounds like with that extra week or two I'll be able to start looking. Thanks so much for all the help! Do you know what options I have through pathways as far as classes to help with my degree? 

Definelty let me know what I need to do to make this all happen. We have a chance to go to the Temple this week so I'll be looking for some extra guidance then. 

I got transferred! Craziness! Elder Reese stayed and received Elder Criddle. Elder Shakespeare went to go help a missionary who had a companion go home. I was transferred to the Tampa 4th ward. Very close to South Tampa. There are tons of Hispanics here so we've been definelty using the little Spanish we know haha. I'm with Elder McCubbins. He's from the big island of Hawaii. He came out with Elder Leslie. He's a very good missionary. Also a crazy good cook. I'm hoping I don't gain too many pounds from being with him haha. 

This ward had some struggles with trust between the leaders and missionaries so with the time we have we are hoping to build that relationship. There was just a new Bishop called and he's super missionary minded. We are pumped about that! 

One huge miracle so far was some self referrals. The wife had come to church last Sunday and brought her husband. They loved it, especially seeing the process of a new Bishop being called! She already has a testimony and she wants her husband, Luke, to know its true as well. During sacrament meeting she was explaining how after they're baptized is when they will partake of the sacrament. She said it's when they'll renew their baptismal covenants. We haven't even taught her yet and she knows all of this! She also made sure we would come by this week to teach them. We are having our first lesson with them this Thursday and we are bringing a family who are relatively new converts. Such a miracle! 

Also, before I left Lithia we finally got to meet a part member family we had tried visiting a couple times. Turns out during 1st through 4th grade he grew up in Corvallis! He went to Hoover elementary. He said he thinks he knows some members which is awesome! They're going to be teaching them. Such a small world! 

I feel a lot better about 3-4 weeks. I'm good with whatever it needs to be though. Also, I need to pay my mobile device fee. I can do it online. My iPad was having tons of issues so I was thinking about just leaving it here. Then the Day of transfers our bishop took us out to breakfast and then I finished packing. Somewhere in their my iPad disappeared. We think something happened to it at the breakfast place we went to. An iPad isn't something easy to lose. Oh well, I guess I'm somehow still losing things...The device fee is $81 so ill transfer some money over to make the deposit so I don't have to pay 351 to buy a new one haha. Besides that things are going great! Said to leave Lithia but excited for the good things to come in this area. Still can't believe how fast time is flying! I hope the trip to Idaho goes well! Love you a ton!!! 

Elder Hale 

Week 17 in Lithia

Brandon Zone Activity Day last Monday 

Hello!

So sorry to hear about Graham’s eye! That does not look good...I hope it heals quickly!
That’s so crazy that Gretchen is graduated!!!! Time flew! Looks like everything went well. Grandpa looks exactly the same haha. They do that tradition here as well. I wish they would’ve done that when we graduated that sounds awesome! 

This week was crazy! It was full of highs and lows. We had an awesome lesson with the man we met last week. The Elders taught him while we were on exchange. He had one last question that he didn’t feel they adequately answered. The next morning we were joking he was a pastor as the huge church here in fishhawk. We checked Facebook and found out he was...shortly after he started that he started texted us with tons of questions. We gave him the answers, sadly he still wouldn’t accept them. He wanted facts about whether or not the church is true. It testified to me that we should be going to God for answers rather then looking for those physical resources. We hope he will figure out the truth eventually. I can’t imagine how hard it would be for him to change when his livelihood is based off of what he’s doing. The spirit was definitely present in our lessons as we taught from the scriptures. We clearly saw a change from his intent following our last lesson. 

We also met some awesome people this week! It seemed everyone was super open. We have a lesson with a family from India tonight which we are pumped about. We also are going to be seeing some of those other families the ward referred to us. It’s been awesome seeing the work hasten. We have seen lots of miracles and we are excited to see the fruit. Satan is definitely working very hard in this area. There’s lot of anti material that turns people away. Thankfully though, those who have real intent haven’t been swayed by that anti and are getting their answers by studying it out. Like I said, it’s been crazy!

Also, I went on exchange to Valrico. We had dinner with Bishop Anderson up there. He’s a beast! They made sure I know to visit again. It was great to see their family!

They just had us start something called My Plan. It has to do with adjusting back to post Mission life. It’s been good so far, crazy to think transfers is this Thursday. We won’t get the call about who’s going where until tomorrow. I’ll make sure to let you know Monday. We are all hoping there aren’t any huge changes with transfers. I would love to stay and finish here in Lithia. Such a good ward!

Elder Hale