Week 16 in Lithia

 Crazy Storm! Again...

Florida Sunset

Hello! I love the pictures from the party! I can’t believe graduation is so close. That’s crazy!!! Things have been crazy busy here.  The members have been absolutely phenomenal. We taught some new people too. Some aren’t too interested in progressing right now but we met  this awesome man this week who knew members growing up. His homecoming date was actually with a member. He’s always in his own words wondered about “John Smith and the Book of Mormon”. We taught him the restoration and once he recognized the apostasy he was blown away. We are seeing him again tomorrow. He asked us after our first meeting outside if his wife could join in. Super awesome! The part member Family we were working with is still doing super awesome. We are hoping to see them during the week. Lots of good things are definitely happening. We had a Zone Activity today hence the shorter and later email. If I forget to respond to one of the siblings please let them know I will for sure email next week. As far as housing goes Logan still sounds good since I’ll be going to school there but Provo Area isn’t bad. Let me know what you end up finding. I’m somewhat leaning toward being in Provo for that year, it makes no sense though haha. Well I hope the week goes well!! I’m so grateful to be in the Lords service and the many blessings that come from doing so. Have a great week!!!

Love you!

Elder Hale

Week 15 in Lithia

Hello HAPPY BIRITHDAY!!!

I meant to say so last week since it would’ve been way sooner but I

forgot..that’s awesome about the badminton set! I hope you had a great

day!

The weather has been Rainy but the storm was far enough off the coast

that it didn’t do a whole lot. It was definitely over us though. It’s

continuing to rain, it’s super humid.

Sounds like time is continuing to fly! Graduation as well as the last

week of school happened this past week for Florida. We are hoping that

means people will be more available now haha. It was definitely a very

busy week. We have received many referrals from members and have been

busy contacting them and scheduling lessons. They are all scheduled

for this week and the coming week. One of the Families has their

daughter just get baptized about a year ago. Their neighbors who

introduced the church to her told us we needed to stop by their

family. The family is super awesome and invited us to come by this

week for desert and a lesson. Huge miracle! Their daughter is off at

college, I’m sure they’ve had a lot of questions since she joined the

church.

Lots of craziness in the district this past week. Everyone is getting

sick. One of them is an Elder who’s had some crazy migraines. We are

hoping it’s not too bad. He hasn’t been able to get out much so we

have been helping them out. He’s such a good missionary so we are

hoping he recovers quick. We were able to go by and give him blessing.

The spirit was very strong.

This past Sunday I had a change to interview a nine year old for

baptism. She is super prepared. I love being able to see the change

the gospel brings in people. She is so excited for her baptism and the

gift of the Holy Ghost. We are going to be going to it. There should

be another baptism taking place in the district. We are hoping it all

works out, it’s with the Elder who just recently is getting sick.

Everything has been going really well. I’ve thought more about when I

should leave for Utah. I’m still undecided. It will probably need to

be two weeks like you said. We have a temple trip so I’ll have more

answers then. Do you have any more insights as far as school and when

I should leave?

Well I hope this week goes well!! Have a fantastic week! Love you!!!

Elder Hale

Week 14 in Lithia

 Stroms comin

 aligator in the neighborhood

 Rainbow between storms

 Sinkhole caused by so much rain

 Storm

 Turtle washed up in neighborhood from all the rain

Another storm

Hello!

Time is flying for sure, sounds like a very good week! That’s a blessing with those allergies not being as bad. The pollen has bothered me a bit this year but not as bad as Oregon. They don’t have those pine trees here haha. 

This week was crazy with the weather. The river that is the boundary between us and Valrico is supposed to flood since it poured every single day this week. Not having a car made it interesting but somehow the Lord made it all work out. We were able to set up some solid lessons and taught a neighbor of ours we have been trying to meet with since Elder Reese got here. He’s been reading the Book of Mormon and his family is looking for a church. Super cool! We also got back in contact with some other investigators in the complex. It was a blessing to see how everything worked out. 

One of these miracles happened when the rain died down and the lightning was further away so we figured we would be fine. We walked for about 10 minutes and saw the brightest rainbow we had ever seen. It was right over our complex. We all felt we needed to go back, as soon as we got back to the clubhouse it started down pouring. After contacting some investigators we walked by our neighbors and he was outside. That’s when we were able to have our first lesson with him. We got to meet with him a couple other times as well. 

The Lord works in mysterious ways. We also had a new ward mission leader called. Brother Alvarez. We thankfully still get to work with Brother Chambers since he’s the elders Quorum presidency member over missionary work. Brother Alvarez was one of the ones that referred one of those families to us so we know he’s already very missionary minded. We are excited for the good things to come! 

Well I hope this week is as good as this one. Love you so much! Have a great week!

Elder Hale

Week 13 in Lithia

Elder Hale, Elder Reese and Elder Shakespeare

Sandhill cranes and chicks

Hello!

It was so great talking to you too! I love seeing how much everything has changed. Crazy how fast everyone has grown! That’s probably what it was.
Don’t worry about it, Elder Klebingat said it’s okay to be thinking about the future. It’s definitely something I’ve been starting to think and pray about. Same here, I’m still not sure why it’s a Friday but oh well. Yes that’s the greatest blessing. I’ll keep you updated with anything new. Thanks so much for all you’re both doing so I can focus on the work. It’s a huge blessing!! These Elders are starting to get a little trunky, not bad but it helps when you’re giving me the support I need to keep on giving my all. I’m hoping that dinner was good haha!
This week like I said was absolutely filled with miracles. My mind is super tired so I don’t remember which ones I shared. Needless to say most resulted from the members giving us referrals and those referrals and others in the area being very prepared.
One miracle I haven’t shared was on exchange this week in Valrico. There was an email I realized didn’t send so we stopped in the shade next to a house. A woman walked outside and didn’t see us until last minute and got startled. She laughed and asked if we wanted some water. She then explained how they used to meet with missionaries and would love for them to come by again. Then, we saw a miracle with a man who’s sons both served missions and one of them is a Bishop. He was super nice and loves family history. He also gave us his card and said to stop by whenever since he’s retired. It was so awesome! We are all loving the work here. It’s great being with missionaries who know what they’re doing. We are praying and hoping baptisms will come from these miracles. We are doing all we can do they don’t slip away!
It was so great to talk to you! Thank you for these great mother you are and the great example you are to me. At the part members home they asked what characteristic we would name when we think of our mothers. Mine was immediately service. You are always giving yourself so freely to us. I love and appreciate it so much! It helps me know what kind of woman I would want to look for in an eternal companion. I appreciate it so much!!
Well I will try and attach some pictures from this week. I hope everything goes well! Love you!!!

Elder Hale

Week 12 in Lithia

 Elder Klebingat and Elder Patick

 Florida storm

Lithia

Hello!!!

Sounds like a fantastic week! Today has been crazy so if I don't get

back to everyone please send them my apologies. I can't believe Hazel

is already 7!!!! Where has time gone?? She's going to be getting

baptized very soon! So awesome! Also, sounds like EVERYONE is

destroying their sport. That's so great to hear!

Things have been a lot different since solely covering the Lithia

Ward. It's been a huge blessing because we are now able to more easily

follow up with the investigators we are finding. We met this awesome

family from India this week. We didn't even get to the driveway and

they were freaking out, super excited to see us. We have met with them

twice and will be seeing them again this coming weekend. They should

also be coming to church. Huge miracle!

Another miracle this week happened late at night. The day was long, we

are on full bike right now. (The elders we are on car share with one

of them can't bike right now, so they are working to find a car so we

can do our exchanges/have a way to get to baptismal interviews). It

was 8:30pm and we felt a need to pray for direction. We had the faith

and set the goal to hand out a copy of the Book of Mormon and set a

return appointment. We began walking toward a members home and saw an

open garage. There was a man inside wearing a BMW shirt. In the garage

and the drive way were some really nice custom made BMWs and an Aston

Martin. We began the conversation asking about the cars, eventually he

asked what we did and we began talking about the gospel. He was very

interested in the Book of Mormon and said his wife would be too. We

will hopefully be seeing them again this week. Such a tender mercy

from the Lord. Faith truly does lead to miracles.

We have been in contact with the Valrico Elders and the investigators

are doing well. We found out one we met a week and a half ago has

already read 50 pages of the Book of Mormon! We invited him to read

the introduction haha. The Ward is going to love those Elders, Elder

Stringham and Elder Call.

Being in a tripanionship has been awesome! The members love Elder

Shakespeare and I do feel it's increased our faith and lowered our

fear to talk to everyone. Hence the many miracles and people we have

found this week.

We had the blessing of Elder Klebingat and Elder Patrick visiting the

mission. It was so great seeing Elder Klebingat again! I learned so

much about how I can be a greater instrument in Gods hands. Elder

Patrick is from the Tampa 1st Ward. He was just called this last

Conference. It was great seeing him again, we always joked around he

would be called as a 70 and it happened!!

Our Sunday was super busy. Elder Patrick joined the Ward Council and

the Ward. The fast and testimony meeting was powerful. They had their

Coordinating council which includes him, all the Stake presidents in

the mission and president cooper. So they call took a break and came

to our ward. Needless to say there were some great testimonies. The

members in the Ward were on fire. All their testimonies were very

missionary minded. Afterwards we had several asking for copies of the

Book of Mormon and asking for us to come into their homes. It has been

amazing to see the missionary fire that has come in the Ward. We are

looking forward to increased fruit as the members are equally yoked in

this work.

We are planning on skyping at 5pm our time. So I will call about

5:30pm our time 2:30pm your time if that works for you? Is church at

11pm now?

We have had a lot of crazy storms too. It's been heating up a lot

lately, I guess that means it's getting closer to the summer haha.

Well look forward to talking to you all this Sunday!!! Happy early

Mother's Day!!!! You're such a great example to me. Love you!!!!

Elder Hale

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