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