Week 21 in Sarasota

The beginning of Tropical Storm Kelly. It was raining really hard before then!

We currently have a

Tropical Storm coming named Emily. It should be a direct hit which is

exciting! It's Elder Farrs first. This week was awesome! There were

some amazing miracles that happened! One was with a woman named

Miranda. She's from Missouri and knew what we did but had never heard

much about the Book of Mormon. We taught her about the Restoration and

she had a huge smile when we talked about the first vision. We were

walking in her neighborhood and she saw us and pulled over and

introduced us to her daughter. Her husband is also super awesome. He

asked for a Book of Mormon. The Lord is clearly preparing hearts. We

attended the Venice Ward yesterday. It went really well! Patrick was

there with us and introduced himself to everyone by saying "I'm

getting baptized in two weeks!". We are praying that he will continue

to press forward as he's reading the Book of Mormon. But yes

everything is going super well! It is going to be super stormy pretty

soon so that is super exciting! It's a good break from the heat! Well

I'm glad to hear all is going well! I don't have the picture from Zone

Conference. It might be on the missions facebook page. Things are

going really well! There is only joy that can be found in the work of

the Lord! I hope you have a fantastic week!

Elder Hale

Week 20 in Sarasota

 Elder Hale and Elder Farr

 Yummy lunch!

MLC

This was a very busy and crazy week for us. There's been a lot of

rejection but despite that there's been a lot of good that's come from

it. It's been a great learning experience to see how the Lords ways

our beyond our own. We had MLC up in Tampa and then went on exchange

with the assistants. It was a blast! We met several amazing people

while we were there! It's always fun to go on USF campus and contact

people there. There is people from all over there. I'm sure it's the

same with the missionaries who serve in the College Hill YSA. Besides

the craziness things have been going well! Not much to report this

week. It's been crazy covering more then two areas but it's been

keeping us busy which is a good thing. We had a Zone Service Day

planned with the Red Cross. We all got there but we had it canceled

because of some huge thunderstorms with some tornado advisories out in

the gulf. Despite that though we had a chance to meet with those

volunteers and make some good connections there. Both of the people we

met were named Fred haha. Well like I said things are going well! We

are patiently waiting for those miracles to come. The members have

been doing really well. We should be getting a new Ward mission leader

in Sarasota soon since ours was just called as the young men's

president. So lots of exciting things are going on!! Oh also I forgot

to add Elder Christensen was called to serve as a Zone Leader in Tampa

with Elder Loy. Elder Loy was in my MTC district. It was awesome

seeing him! Well I'm glad to hear you all are doing well! I hope you all 

have a great week!! Love you!!!

Elder Hale

Week 19 in Sarasota

Florida storms! It lasted all night! Just a small snippet of it.

The weather here has been super, super hot!!! But we have been having a crazy

storm each day which will cool it down into the 80s! We had transfers
this week and got to meet all the new missionaries in the Zone when we
had interviews with President Cooper. We had an exchange with the Port
Charlotte Elders. I went with Elder Shakespeare who came out the same
time as me. As we were driving down the freeway there was a ginormous
crash where two semis hit each other and there was huge slabs of
granite all over the freeway. So everyone had to slow wayyy down and
it was pouring outside. We were pretty much stopped but the man behind
us didn't see the traffic and rear ended us. It was very minor since
he was also going very slow. One of his kids in the back seat was even
still asleep haha. He was super awesome though and was actually super
excited to see us. We got his information and the Port Charlotte
missionaries should be teaching him. One of the first things he said
was "there's no such thing as coincidences is there?". Crazy! We have
a family of 6 that we have been teaching. They were supposed to come
to church but sadly didn't show up. But instead we had a former
investigator just randomly show up. He hasn't been for almost a year.
He has a true testimony he just couldn't be baptized because of
circumstances beyond his own. But most of those have resolved
themselves and he really wants to be baptized so we are praying
everything will work out for him. The last time I saw him in person
was over 4 months ago. Another crazy miracle!
Also I forgot to add we just found out since they took the sister's
out of Venice (the area below ours) that we will also be covering that
area. So we are currently serving in three areas! Better to be busy
then not have enough things to do right? Haha. The WML there is
awesome! He just moved here 6 weeks ago and has an amazing story of
what led them here. He actually also went through Leukemia very
recently, it was awesome to see how the Lord will prepare you to
connect with people in ways you couldn't plan for. There's a man there
named Patrick who will be baptized the beginning of August. He's
hilarious! He's super excited about his baptism though. I'm loving the
work and I'm excited for the things to come!Thanks for everything! Love you so much!! Have a great week!

Elder Hale

Week 18 in Sarasota

This week was busy, busy, busy! We went on two exchanges. One was with University Park which is

the area right above ours. Those Elders are destroying it. There a 12 year old boy and his mother they're teaching. They are preparing for baptism and are super awesome. They go to the same building as we do so I got to see them at church this past Sunday. This week is

transfers. Nothing is changing. We are staying the same. However we are losing 3 district leaders in the Zone and a Sister Training Leader because they all finish their missions this week. So we have pretty much all new leaders in the Zone this transfer. It will be crazy! It's sad to see those leaders go but we are super excited to work with all the new missionaries coming this week. We had a miracle with a YSA age woman we have been teaching. She came to church and found out one of

her instructors goes to church too. Crazy miracle! She was only planning on staying for sacrament but changed her mind and stayed for all of it. She loved it! We are hoping she will continue to progress

as she learns more about the gospel. We have seen some  other crazy miracles this week. I loved it!! Well hope things go well this week! 

Love you so much!!!

Elder Hale

Week 17 in Sarasota

Sunset the other day

 

Mali Mali at the 5 star restaurant. It was delicious!!!!

Hey!!! So Sorry our preparation day was changed to today.

It's been super, super hot and humid here. Things have been crazy this week! We had some awesome lessons with several investigators. The Lord has been preparing a lot of hearts in this area. It's been a huge blessing to see. Bishop Dekle came out with us for one of the nights.  We stopped by a less active family and the father who is a non member was home and wasn't planning on letting us in. But when he opened the door he said he had a burning in his chest and felt like he should let us in. It was a very powerful lesson! I love seeing the spirit directly guide us to those who are in need. A member took us to a 5 star restaurant he manages on Siesta Key. It was sooooo good!!!

Other then that some days there were a lot of people out ready to here the message or the next day it would be a lot of rejection. It was a crazy week! 

Say hi to the Robisons for me! Love you so much! Send me pictures from the 4th! We might be going to Justin's today, the one who was baptized in March. He just got engaged with the woman who introduced him to the gospel. Eternal families!! He's doing great! He's already 13 generations back in his family history. I love this gospel! Happy Fourth of July! 

Love you!!!

Elder Hale