18th Week in Tampa

 We were invited to a member's

Christmas party before the talent show.

 The bull was on the USF campus.

The picture is from Specialized Missionary Training.

We have Night at Bethlehem this week so I will have to get some picture for you. Sounds

like a blast! I thought you might be out of school when I saw the

weather warning haha. That's crazy! I hope everything works out. I saw

there's a blizzard up in New York. The floor looks great! Too bad

about Gavin's games. I can't believe he stayed up so late! We had

Specialized Missionary Training it was a blast! We saw some huge

miracles on USF campus. We also have seen tons of miracles in our

area. Like random texts from investigators we haven't heard from in

two plus years or the Smith Family getting close to baptism this week.

We also had our ward talent show. We lip synced to the missionary

"hello" parody with the other Elders. Elder and Sister Alexander have

the video so we will get it from them or a member. There are some

crazy talents in our ward though it's hilarious haha. Things are

getting crazy with transfers this week and then Christmas coming up

but it's been good! Also we've been averaging at least 30 miles a day

on our bikes. It might be 40 we aren't sure. Things have been great

though! Elder Christensen and I along with Elder Newbold and Elder

Galliger are all staying in south tampa for another transfer. Elder

Christensen is just killing it out here! I love serving. Miss you all!

I hope to hear from you. Have a great day!

Elder Hale

17th Week in Tampa

 This is what are small district did on the worldwide day of service

I miss going to the nativity festival. We do have something called night

at Bethlehem that our stake sets up. It's huge, they have a large

field on Odessa next to the stake center so we set up different

buildings to make it look like Bethlehem. Then they have actual actors

and animals in the show and it sounds like it's very spiritual.

Thousands of people come from all around to see it. I think there may

be several other church's who help with it. That will be next Thursday

through Saturday. We've had so many miracles this week. 

We have the Smith Family getting

very close to baptism in the next couple weeks. We have had so many

miracles. One example happened on the world wide day of service. We

finished and we got a random call. Turns out the man who called us was

looking for two Books of Mormon and wants to start coming back to

church. Crazy!! We watched the Christmas devotional at the Blue

Star's. He is our ward mission leader. They have two brand new twins

so they have been very busy. I've loved serving out here. The humidity

and rain are back this week but it should be in the 30's this weekend.

Love you all!!!

Elder Hale

16th Week in Tampa

 Elder Christenson and Elder Hale

 the Pease kids

I tried to get a picture of the palm tree with Christmas lights but it was too dark.

We are currently full bike because the elders we were on car share with

had a medical issue so they need to use the car. It's been great

though. We've seen TONS of miracles. Also thanksgiving dinner with the

Pease's was delicious!!! They live on base so Brother Pease came and

picked us up. I did eat 5lbs of food. Possibly more since there was a

gap in between when I weighed myself and ate. Also I may have seen the

civil war as we rode past a store not sure ;) That's awesome

though!!!! We also visited the Wise's on thanksgiving. They've been

amazing fellowshippers for Dennis. We ate steak with Dennis and Sarah

last night. No offense to dad but that was the best stake I've ever

had! We also saw the Smith Family again this week they're doing great!

One crazy miracle of many happened last night. We were biking up a

busy rode and had a drunk man in construction gear flag us down from

the other side of the street. He was explaining how he had just gotten

out of the hospital and was baptized several years ago. He was having

trouble remembering his families information. He knows where they are

and can't remember how he got to Tampa. He was clearly a member and

most of his story added up which was crazy. It was also amazing to see

him chuck his beer when we reminded him of the Word of Wisdom. Not

sure what will become of that encounter. There's crazy miracles that

happen down here I love it! I hope you're having a great day!!

Love Elder Hale

15th Week in Tampa

We have our Zone activity day today so I'm emailing earlier. Also I'm

currently using my iPad to email.  We now have wifi in the apartment

too so I can view any email during the week. I can email all

preparation day too. I don't know if I can respond as much as I was.

President Cooper doesn't want it to be like texting. I don't currently

have wifi so I can't view the pictures. I will in a bit though. Things

sound great! We will be having thanksgiving dinner at the Pease and

possibly the Wises too. Things are moving forward it's been good. We

are currently on car share with the other elders so we have been

biking a lot the past week. Things are going great!
One miracle from this week was a lesson with Sarah and Dennis. They've been doing great and are loving the gospel. They made it to church again. I can't wait for Dennis to get baptized! Also we have the Smith families baptism coming up in December. They have been doing great and are very excited for next month. Also we have the new church initiative video coming out this week so I'm pumped!!

Love

Elder Hale