Dear family and friends,
Long story short: Due to the frequent robberies... The mission office gave us 2 guard dogs for our compound! They are just tiny and harmless puppies and by the time they are mean and aggressive... I'll be in another area. Ah! I'm so excited! We named one Russell (After our dear prophet) and one Doug (After our dear mission president) My buddies serving in the states have Facebook, smartphones, and washing machines but... We have puppies so it's pretty great over here!! These ones wont become a meal haha:)
I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Nahounou from Ivory Coast. He is hilarious and a great elder! He came to my area so once again... I was the leader for the day. It was by far the hottest day I've ever experienced! We went out and walked and walked and walked but in return... We only had one lesson. The entire day of walking in the hot sun only brought one person!!! The lesson was great but it was by far my least successful day. I was tired and discouraged.....
That night during my Book of Mormon study, I conveniently read in the book of Mosiah. I read about Abinadi where he tries his very hardest to convert King Noah and his people. The marvel of the story is that King Noah has Abinadi burned alive and shortly after... King Noah is also burned... Just as Abinadi had previously prophesied. Pretty amazing story but personally... The best part is how one of King Noah's priests named Alma listened to Abinadi's words and was converted. During my study I wondered, perhaps Abinadi was discouraged as he was burned. I'm sure he was in pain but perhaps he was also sorrowful that he gave his whole life and in the end made no difference. Well little did Abinadi know... He made a profound difference! As we know.. Alma went on to convert 204 people. Alma's son went on to convert countless people and Alma's grandsons continued the work. 2,167 years later, Abinadi's efforts are consistently recognized to this day. Perhaps he was discouraged just like I was but after reading his story... I was comforted. My negative attitude about my efforts then became a positive, uplifting, and motivating attitude. I learned a lot from this simple scripture experience. Every soul is great in the eyes of God. Great efforts produce great impacts. The most important is this: Applying stories from the Book of Mormon to your own life will eliminate discouragement and provide positive personal motivation.
Since a missionary's main tool is the Book of Mormon... I have experiences like these EVERY day. One of our faithful investigators is currently struggling to collect the funds for a marriage license and also obtain his birth certificate so he can be baptized. I recently felt strongly impressed to read with him the story of Nephi and the brass plates. Though it wasn't easy and required multiple life threatening attempts... Nephi didn't lose trust in the Lord. He gave his ALL to obey the commandments of the Lord. As a result, he accomplished the difficult and obtained the plates from the wicked King Laban. The lesson for this investigator: Do your very best and let the Lord take care of the rest! He even got a good rhyme out of it! I love the Book of Mormon. I recently began holding it in my hand as I walk instead of keeping it in my bag. Allowing it to play a massive role in my life has brought me great joy! I know it's the true word of God written by ancient disciples for us... Modern disciples. Don't believe me? Try it yourself!:)
I was able to watch Saturday afternoon session, Sunday Morning session, and General woman's session of conference. I love the prophet haha! He is such a character! I know he was called of God to direct the Lord's church! I'll share more of my thoughts next week after I watch the rest of General conference!
I love you all! Thank you for your kind words and prayers!
Sincerely, Elder Hallenberger
PS: I caught a salamander and a tree frog.
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