Week 11 in Lithia

The tripanionship!

Hello! Things have been great this week! I have absolutely loved

Lithia and Valrico. We just got transfer calls and found out Valrico

will be getting its own set of missionaries. Super sad because we have

a super solid investigator there named David. We are going to call and

hopefully see him today. They will be in my district though so I'm

sure I'll be able to see them on exchanges. Also, we are going to be

in a tripanionship. We have Elder Shakespeare joining us. He came out

with me and served in the Tampa zone and Sarasota Zones the same time

I did. We are excited for the good things that will come now that we

can focus our efforts on one Ward. It's awesome to see the diligence

is paying off, there hasn't been a companionship assigned in that Ward

for over a year. They're going to see some awesome miracles!!

We had President Cooper call us Wednesday and ask what we had going on

in our evening. He ended up coming down to Lithia and Valrico to teach

with us. Those lessons were SUPER awesome. We ended up teaching David

and Eddie in our apartment complex. Eddie said he grew up going to

church and was baptized but we can't find his records. We are going to

try again and see if we can find them. It's like he's brand new to all

of it though, he doesn't remember any of what he was taught in church.

Super cool though. We actually have a lot of people we have been

teaching in the complex.

Also, we met a part member family who's last name is Hunter. They have

several streets named after them and everything. They're a super

awesome family. We are hoping to see them again this coming week. They

live on the other side of our ward so it's hard to reach them haha.

Besides all of that I got the results from the doctors this week.  I

will send them in the email. They all look good!!

Elder Reese and I are continuing to love these areas. Can't wait to

tell you about the fun we will be having with Elder Shakespeare.

Thank you so much for taking care of the deferment! I probably will.

When I can I'll start praying about where to live. I've thought of

Provo which makes no sense because of Utah State, if you can look at

options that would be awesome. Also if you could look at more online

opportunities that would be great! I'm sure Scott Bruick has some

great insights. Thanks again for all of that!!! I love the pictures

you sent! So glad everyone is doing so well! Love you a ton! Have a

great day!!

Elder Hale

Week 10

 Look who we found on Bell Shoals!! (Only 3ft long though)

This week was fantastic! We have been teaching a ton of people. I

don't know if I've ever been this busy before haha. Plus it was our

bike week. A recent convert/part member family had us over several

times. They really want to be active and strong in the church and they

are hoping their daughter can start taking the lessons now that things

have slowed down. They are an awesome family! We also are continuing

to work with that other part member family in Lithia. The mother is so

close, we still have no idea why she isn't a member. Hopefully we can

resolve whatever concern it is in the next two weeks. We have been

working very closely with the Ward mission leader to figure it out. We

also had a lesson with a member referral, he's super awesome. He's had

lots of connections with members of our church ever since he served in

the militarily. We are hoping to follow up this week. We also had a

crazy miracle at church this Sunday. Brother Chambers our ward mission

leader in Lithia and I were asked to speak and right before sacrament

started a random man came in. He said he wants to become Christian,

searched our church up on google and just showed up at 9am. It was so

awesome he members immediately started fellowshipping him. Sadly, he

left during the intermediate hymn. He may have thought it was over so

we didn't get his information. We are praying he will come again. It

was a perfect sacrament meeting all focused on the gift of the Holy

Ghost. We also found out Brother Chambers was called into the elders

Quorum presidency. So we are going to get a new Ward mission leader in

Lithia. Hoping he's just as good!! Brother Lauro in Valrico has been

awesome. He's hoping he can get a new job that he just interviewed for

that will give him more time so he can start coming out with us.

We had a lot of other really awesome things happen. Final highlight

would be David in Valrico. We met him a week and a half ago and have

met 6 times! He's so awesome! The members that have come love him. We

are hopping he will be at church this Sunday.

Our Sunday was super busy! We were asked to give that talk, help in

teachers Quorum, Valrico Ward Council that same hour, teaching in

primary and then priests Quorum. We definitely have gained the trust

of the members so we are hoping we don't lose it! It has been awesome

with all of the referrals and people who are progressing. Now we are

hoping to set some baptismal dates this week! Lots of good things are

happening!!!!

Finally, (yes I said this already) Saturday was a mini MTC for 14 and

up in the Brandon Stake. We were asked to help. We were teaching a

class of 9 youth 7 of which were from the wards we serve in. It was

super spiritual! It reminds me of how fast time flies.

Things are continuing to go great! Hoping we can keep a handle on all

these brothers and sisters who are prepared so they can continue to

progress and we don't lose any in the process.

Sorry for the crazy email, lots has been happening. If you have any

questions about anything else just let me know. Oh and also President

Cooper just said transfers are that last week of July. I will get back

late in the week so I can do Sons of Helaman. Not sure about the

Itinerary. Also, just found out we have Elder Klebingat coming again!

So excited!!! It was life changing last time he came. Well love you a

ton!!! Have a great week!!!!!

Elder Hale

Week 9 in Brandon

Storm coming

This week was full of miracles. It started off slow, we had an awesome

exchange though with Elder May and Elder Akers. Then this weekend we

got a call from Spencer Caceres in the Ward saying he has a friend

that wants to meet with us and scheduled the appointment for that day.

It was a powerful lesson. His friend is hoping to be a minister, he

graduates this year. It seemed at first he just wanted to learn for

knowledge. We saw a shift when we started sharing about the Book of

Mormon and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a powerful lesson in the

Caceres home. It ended with spencer inviting him to say a kneeling

prayer. The spirit was so powerful during it! We are going to be

seeing him again this week. We had a follow up appointment with

Effrain afterwards but he wasn't home and we were on foot and turned

around to see this huge storm coming. We started booking it and

somehow made it to shelter right when it started to downpour. And

lighting. It was awesome though because while we were there we met a

security guard who was super interested in the Book of Mormon and

coming closer to God. We got his information for the missionaries in

his area. Super cool!

We also had a miracle with the young women bringing a friend of theirs

who absolutely loved church. She really wanted to come and learn more.

Sadly after a lesson later that night we got a text from her saying

she wasn't as interested. She was given some anti. We are hoping the

young women and leaders can help her overcome those concerns. Most of

the investigators we have found in this area have been given anti

which either means they won't contact us or they just don't

understand. It's been awesome when we can resolve their concerns

though.

We also had a miracle lesson with a part member family. They want us

to come by and teach the lessons. So the boys can learn but also so

the mother can listen in and hopefully have a desire to progress.

She's super solid, she was at Conference this past weekend with her

daughter. She attends church every week. She serves. We committed them

all to read as a family and hopefully in our follow up lesson this

week those concerns can come out. The lesson was super powerful

especially with the father bearing his testimony frequently. He

especially emphasized his testimony of eternal families. We are hoping

their prayers can be answered very soon!!

Finally, the others we have been teaching are still slowly

progressing. Theirs a baptism this week for a woman in the Lithia

Ward. She is awesome! We referred her to the Spanish Elders when we

first got here because her understanding wasn't very good. We are

going to try and get as many people there as possible. Both wards have

a huge fire right now. We have been receiving lots of referrals and

support. The meals are also happening now which has been awesome! Lots

of good things!

Well I hope this week goes well!! Agreed time is flying by too fast.

We are meeting so many prepared people and I don't feel like there is

enough time to teach all of them haha. Hope you have a great week!

Love you!!

Elder Hale

Week 8 in Brandon

 apartment kitchen

 apartment building

Full view

Lunch!

Hello!!

Sounds like a very crazy and awesome week! General Conference was

absolutely amazing. The spirit was so strong during all of those

talks. The Lord is truly hastening his work. During the many changes

the spirit testified to me President Nelson is called by God. I loved

his talk on Sunday about his growing up in a family not in the church.

It reminds me of all the people we are working with and are earnestly

seeking the truth. I actually had looked up the solemn assembly when

President Monson was called several months ago. I couldn't remember

it. The spirit was definitely there on Saturday. It was awesome!

This week was crazy with Easter going on. Lots of rescheduling

happened because most of lie investigators had family in town or were

going out of town. We met lots of good people though.

We met a man last night who was stunned that we lived with God before

we were here to Earth. He hadn't heard of that before. He also never

understood why we need to go to church but believes in God. After

explaining the Restoration, he is super excited to read the Book of

Mormon. We will be seeing him this week! He lives very close to the

Caceres family so he will have immediate fellowshippers.

We also had a street where there was total rejection. After half an

hour we were finally walking back to the car and Elder Reese had the

impression we should knock on one last door. We did and a woman

answered screaming "missionaries!!!". She grew up in Salt Lake and

knows tons of members. Somehow she didn't know if we celebrate Easter

or not haha. So she doesn't know very much of what we believe. She is

also very good friends with members in the Ward so we will be seeing

her again hopefully with them. Crazy miracle!!

Another highlight of the week was Easter morning we were invited to

have a breakfast with our investigators and their extended family. We

got to meet all of them. They're all super awesome. Hopefully theyll

have a desire to learn as well. We will be going back to see those

investigators this week!

Lots of good things have been happening. I'm loving it!!!! Hope this

week goes well. I can't believe Gretchen is an adult. Crazy! Also hope

Gavin continues to destroy it in baseball. The doctors appointment

went very well. It was very weird going back to South Tampa. I have

two more in the next 4 weeks. One for the echo and blood work. The

last is a follow up. Doctor Shah did recommend an eye doctor. Is that

still something you would like me to try and schedule before the

summer time? Also I got the email from Brother Clark. I believe

transfers is the day Sons of Helamen starts...I will ask President

Cooper but that would make it very hard to go. Anyways, I will talk to

you next week. Love you!!!