Light The World

Dear family and friends,

I hope everyone is enjoying the season! This is my 2nd and last mission Christmas and although I miss my family and home, I can honestly say that there is no place I'd rather be than right here serving God's children in this part of the world. It sounds super cheesy I know but after gaining such a strong testimony of the true gift of Christmas... I can't think of a better way to say thank you to my Heavenly Father than to share the knowledge of this gift to those who haven't been so privileged. After all, when we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God. (MOSIAH 2:17) 

Elder Gababoi and I are here in Boystown working hard everyday trying to find many new people to teach. We have truly been blessed for our efforts. We have a lot of good families and people to teach everyday! Especially a 12 year old girl named Debra who saw us walking on the road and called out, "Hello Jehovah Witnesses!" We introduced ourselves and let her know that we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was so curious as to who we were that she insisted we followed her home to meet her mother. Her mom was working hard in the hot sun washing clothes. She was very shocked when after we greeted her, we put our ties in our pockets and started washing the clothes. She was also very surprised when she heard my Liberian English! After we washed all the clothes, we all sat down and had a lesson....

After teaching about the nature of God, I asked a question that usually causes people to think and ponder. Most people aren't able to answer the question! "If God has a body of flesh and bone... why is it we can't see Him? Why does he send a prophet to speak to us instead of talking to us Himself?" Instantly and without hesitation Debra confidently answered, "God wants us to believe before we see!" I know this story would seem like nothing but for a missionary who has been trying for over a year to explain this doctrine... It almost brought me to tears. What always seems so difficult for an adult to understand was so simply easy for a young girl.

My experience with Debra and her mother is one of many each and everyday! This is why I am so happy to be here! It keeps me on my feet! The Lord has blessed me with good health and also a great companion who works hard side by side with me. Don/t worry about me this Christmas! Our apartment just got AC and tonight we are making pizza and tomorrow we are making burgers!

Love, Elder Hallenberger

PICTURES: 1st is my grandfather, father, me, and my son. 2nd is a lot of my past companions. I know the hair is long haha it will be cut soon! 

Multiple Miracles!

Dear family and friends,

We've had a good week in Boystown! Elder Gababoi and I are working hard and trying to find new people to teach. We met one sister who is 19 and catholic. She's very kind and loves our message. She asks serious questions such as, "How can I have a happier family?" or "Do we have a living prophet on the earth today?" These questions help me know if someone is truly interested or not.

We've also been teaching a family who are very involved in their own church. We met them a week ago when Elder Gababoi and I noticed the 20 year old son, Gideon working hard in the hot sun pulling weeds. We helped him and his sister for over an hour until the front lawn was spotless. Afterwards, we greeted the parents who had been watching us work hard in our nice clothes. They welcomed us warmly and we all sat down and had a nice study about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. After the study, they were apparently confused. "I thought you guys worshipped Mormon and Joseph Smith" the pa asked. My companion and I smiled at each other and answered his great concern. "We worship only the Father in the name of the Son by the power of the Holy Ghost." I said, "Joseph Smith and Mormon were prophets just like Moses and Jerimiah." They were so shocked by my answer! "Well people have told me that you guys don't use the Holy Bible and you only use the Book of Mormon." He said. I let my companion take care of that one... "People can say what they want to say but the truth is we are grateful for any word of scripture from the holy prophets we can get! Like the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Chirst." Elder Gababoi replied. The man and his wife were very pleased with our answer. "We have heard many negative things about your church. But all you have said seems very good and godly." He stated. I told this family that we don't expect them to believe us right away but because they have given us the time to explain and answer questions... They now understand. The Spirit can do the rest. We then invited them to pray to know if what we said was true. Soon we will have a more detailed lesson about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I am happy for the opportunity we had to serve this family and talk about Jesus Christ. I believed that we showed them the very core of our doctrine and belief. I knew they studied the Holy Bible well and went to church so we thought it would be good to talk about what they already know and believe. Now we have created a comfortable environment of trust, love, and unity where we will be able to safely introduce the message of the restoration to this family.

I want to mention another miracle that happened just yesterday.... As many of you know I have gotten sick a few times on mission and this time last year I nearly got sent home after being in the hospital for a couple weeks. Well before I got called to train Elder Dabi, I was getting very sick again and it was the worse. I remember after I got called to train, I prayed to God asking for a special blessing that would get me through the 12 week training without getting sick. I wanted to devote all my strength to train a strong missionary in the mission. Well, God blessed me and I was able to work harder than ever without a single sick day. I was able to finish my work in Kakata without a single sick day and I was so happy to be able to leave knowing I finished strong and prepared the area well for Elder Dabi and his next companion. 4 weeks later the blessing was still on its course and I wasn't getting sick! My new companion and I have been able to work hard without illness slowing us down. Well.. Yesterday morning while sitting in sacrament meeting I was suddenly struck with something that made me cold and sweaty and i just wanted to die haha! My head was pounding and I didn't know what to do. In my head I had a small prayer asking God to continue our little agreement for a little longer. Maybe even 7 months longer if possible:) I was very stubborn and refused to return to the apartment. We worked hard and taught many people even increasing our teaching pool and expanding our area. I was so sick throughout the day but regardless... we worked hard. When we got home in the night... I laid on my bed without even taking off my tag. The miracle to this story is that I woke up this morning feeling 100% and ready to jump out of bed! Haha! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Miracles happen everyday in the Lord's work! Whether it's a new person to teach or simply another day of health to work hard... the work is a big miracle. The work is wonderful and I am happy to be here! Thanks for the love and support!

Sincerely, Elder Hallenberger