3rd Week in Tampa

. This was a slower week because we had zone conference and Stake conference. We had Elder Costa and Elder Foster do the training. It took up most of the day. It was an amazing experience and we were shown how to get a level 3 mission. That's having members do most of the missionary work resulting in 300 baptisms a month as a Mission. This is President Cooper's vision. He is an amazing president and I can tell he's gonna do great things for the people of this area. The people in this area are still amazing. My companion and I got sick this past week so we haven't been doing as much contacting. Instead we've been working more with our date-sets. We have several who will be ready pretty soon. I love the work here.

One man, his name is Angel, he was converted after being in Utah for 30 days. We aren't sure if he's a member. All we know is the missionaries before us met him when he yelled from his house he want's to be baptized. He's just ready and already has a testimony in the restored gospel, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He teaches us more then we teach him. For instance we gave him a Book of Mormon and came by the next day to find out he was already in Alma. AND that was without his reading glasses which he lost earlier that week. So we gave him a bigger copy. He's probably done by now. It's amazing how many people are ready for the gospel here. Also the Mission hasn't said this but everyone has been talking about it.

It sounds like there's a pretty big Hurricane headed this way. So I'm of course very excited. I took a screenshot of it from my weather app. If it is coming they'd evacuate the mission. So I'll keep you updated. I promise we're keeping safe. There's been a couple times the spirit has told us to leave places and we did. I don't know why in one specific case but without speaking Elder Ellsworth and I just walked into the car and drove away. That's when you know it's the spirit guiding you where you need to go. I hope all of you are having a great week. Stay safe. I love all of you.

I got a sweet picture of the thunder clouds here. But yeah watch the news for me. Hopefully the Hurricane comes. I love all of you so much. Thanks mom and dad for the example you've been and for supporting me. I hope you have a great day and week in the chilly 70 degree weather.

Love Elder Hale

These are pictures from last weeks car inspections. 

2nd Week in Tampa

Elder Ellsworth and Elder Hale

Roasted from last weeks ward activity

Elder Hale, Donnell, and Elder Ellsworth before Donnell's baptism last Saturday

I promise I'll have pictures next week. I get to start using my iPad this week so I'll have plenty of things to send then. The people here are super kind. We're teaching more people then I can count so I won't list them all. One of them is named Vincent. We saw him riding across the street and contacted him. He got in a big car accident when he first got here so he's in a wheel chair. He came to church though and is making the steps necessary for baptism. There's several other investigators like that. People here are just super open to the message. I've also seen many, many miracles. Like not falling into oncoming somehow. That's a long story. And another instance was coming up to a woman who was outside her house. It was the first time she had been out for weeks because of a hip surgery. So the spirit definitely guided us to her. The people here are definitely super kind. There's a couple apartment complexes we can't go to because one of our really good investigators grandson got shot there. So we've been staying safe and away from those more violent neighborhoods. With the spirit guiding us though we haven't seen or heard of anything crazy since we've been biking. People love prayers here so we get to pray with a lot of people as we're riding to appointments.

The other day I got to go on exchange with our district leader. So I was in charge of the area for a day. It all went really well and I liked the experience a lot. I definitely learned how to be more bold and act as a leader during that exchange. This week is stake conference and we have someone from the 70 coming. The ZL's we see almost everyday said Elder Cook was coming but we haven't heard anything else about him so we'll see.

One last thing is my tendon is acting up again because of all the running we've been doing. So I've been told to just ride the bike and ice it as much as I can. I'm gonna go try and find some insoles for my shoes this week. It hasn't affected my ability to serve so I'm not too worried about it.

My address is 

4711 S. Himes Ave. #1904 Tampa Florida 33611

I realized I never sent that to you guys. I have a favor to ask. Could you send my slides? And then maybe some snacks like popcorn etc ;) 

The only reason I ask for my slides is the fact that Elder Ellsworth was in his bathroom this morning a cockroach crawled up on his foot. It was hilarious. We told the front office but I'm sure we'll see more. So slides would be much appreciated. Also an otter from our apartment complex's pond attacked a woman and her dog. She sent everyone a letter about it. I'll send you a copy later. 

But besides all the craziness I love the spirit here. It's always super strong. My testimony in Christ and his sacrifice for us has grown so much. It makes me sad when people use their agency to decide to not accept the gospel. But it makes it worth it when we find those investigators that were ready for the gospel before we knock on their door. I love serving so much. I love and miss you all. Have fun getting ready for school ;)

Love,

Elder Hale

P.S.

I forgot something else. The thunderstorms and lighting like I said are crazy so you know I love it. There was one day we were driving and couldn't see a foot in front of us with the windshields on high. And like I said Tampa is the lighting strike capitol of the world. So during that storm when we were walking and even driving the lighting and thunder shook the car. I jumped a couple times to Elder Ellsworths amusement. And the lighting is right there. There is no break in between the flash and the lighting. I LOVE it. Although it was scary where there was a huge flash and loud boom when we were walking to the car and the tree I was under had a large branch fall from it. It was pretty crazy. But the weather is getting better then it has been since hurricane season is ending. Still no gators. And otters in our apartment complex. And turtles. And crazy looking birds. I love it here. I don't know if I'll ever get used to the humidity. Final thing is I love and miss you guys. I pray for you every night. Again have a great week!!

1st Week in Tampa

 First night in Tampa at President and Sister Cooper's home.

 Hunter, President and Sister Cooper

 Meeting up with their trainers

 The luggage from all the new missionaries.

 Elder Hale is in the background

All the bikes for the new missionaries

Elder Ellsworth and Elder Hale

Things have been crazy! Dad said to just respond to one email so that's what I'll do. Tuesday was crazy. Our big group made it to Atlanta but the 29 people going to Tampa all missed their flight because of the delta flight delays. I was fortunate to be one of the 5 that made it on a flight to Tampa that evening. There were 20 others who were left at the airport overnight. By some miracle though the next day they all got on standby for the remaining 20 seats of a flight that left around 10:00AM. That was a big blessing for President and Sister Cooper since this is their first transfer of missionaries. They're very, very kind. They're both amazing people. 

That Tuesday the 5 of us got to stay with President and Sister Cooper for a couple hours and then we went and stayed with the Assistants. Here we go to bed at 10:00 and wake up at 6:00 so we can do an hour long workout. It's a lot different with the humidity. The assistant's workouts are much harder then the ones I've been doing with my companion. It's a weight loss mission apparently so I'm getting ready for that six-pack ;) 

My companion is Elder Ellsworth, he's been out for over a year. I'm currently serving in South Tampa (Tampa's 1st ward). He's a very good trainer and he's been answering all my questions. I don't get to use my iPad for two weeks and I can only email on library computers so you won't hear from me much. 

Biking has been fun in 95 or hotter. It's very, very tiring but I love all the people I've met. I've already seen so many miracles because of exact obedience. There was a ward Luau on Saturday so I got to meet most of the ward that day. It was a giant pig roast. We got to help set up in the morning since we ran by the building on our morning run. Bishop Addison is the only one who knows I'm a new missionary. This mission doesn't like you telling how long you've been out so I had to be careful and say things like "I've been out less then a year". 

I also got to speak in sacrament with my companion. Apparently it was convincing enough that everyone thinks I've been out for awhile so it worked ;) It was all because the spirit was with me though. 

Also I got to participate in my first baptism yesterday, Donnell Street was the one being baptized. Things just magically worked out so I was able to baptize him. Just one of the many miracles I've seen. They should be posting a picture of us on facebook. 

President Cooper was there so no pressure right? ;) Afterwards he was very suprised when I told him that was the first time I baptized him. I said it quick prayer beforehand so it was all Heavenly Father helping me. And Donnell is 3 times my weight so no idea how I was able to keep my arm dry and pull him up with ease. Again one of the many miracles I've seen. There are so many things I want to say. It's been so crazy. I love this gospel. I hope everything is going great with you guys. I love you guys so much. I have you in my prayers every night. I'll hear from you guys next week. I'll try and type less next time ;) 

Love,

Elder Hale

P.S. Tampa is the worlds city for most lightning strikes so its crazy and I love it. I've seen some otters no gators. The otters are in the pond in our apartment complex. We have nice apartments here. But yeah it's amazing!

Arrived in Tampa...Finally!

Elder Hale was able to call home from the Salt Lake City airport Tuesday, August 8. It was early in the morning for us and the missionaries. Their flight was delayed two hours because of a power outage for Delta on Monday. We were able to chat with him for about 15 minutes then he needed to give the other missionaries a turn with the phone. There were only 28 going to Tampa. Elder Hale did say they might have to stay in Atlanta for the night because they were missing their connecting flight. 

We got an email today from the mission secretary letting us know that our missionaries had finally arrived in Tampa. The last 20 arriving this morning. 

They all were able to meet a park in Tampa with President Cooper, the mission president, and his wife.

 After President Cooper spoke to them the headed to the mission office for some lunch.

After lunch they headed to President and Sister Cooper's home for training and dinner. 

We are grateful that they all arrived safely!

Week 2 in the MTC

Elder Hale was able to email a couple of times today:

This week has been great! We have to check out around 3:00 tuesday morning. We had Bishop Wendell of the presiding bishopbric talk to us during the Tuesday night devotional. It was an amazing talk. I got to sing in the choir during that devotional. We sang "Lead Kindly Light". The music director is amazing and the spirit that was there was wonderful. We also had the missionary director talk to us during the sunday night devotional. It was hilarious yet super spiritual. I'm going to be heading to the temple pretty soon so I'll tell you more later today. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to serve my purpose and invite others unto Christ. I never  really grasped the Doctrine of Christ and it's importance until I came here to the MTC. It shows me how important baptism is and how important full conversion is. I love 2 nephi 31 that talks about the Doctrine of Christ. I've been reading that chapter a lot this week. I'm also serving as a zone leader this week so we'll be doing orientation for the incoming districts in our zone later tonight. We had 1,000 missionaries coming in today. So things will be crazy. I'll message later today hopefully with some pictures and some more stories. I'm glad everything is going great! Tell Gretchen congrats on the license! I miss all of you! 

Love you,

Elder Hunter Hale

Hey so I'm glad everything is great! I'll be able to call you guys at some point on tuesday so just be ready for that. Not sure when I'll be able to email. Like I've said this gospel is great! I love it! My mission I've found out is one of the strictest. I guess before Cusick there was a lot of bad stuff going on. So when he came in he made some pretty big restrictions. Like we can't eat at members houses unless we can get an investigator to come. Also we have to wake up early and workout for at least an hour and have your heart rate at 140 for 30min. Just things like that. Also the whole area is really sparse church membership wise so our areas are very, very large. I'm excited though! I'll update you on my next p-day. Probably two mondays from now. I love this gospel it's amazing! Hope you guys have a great couple of weeks!

Love you,

Elder Hale