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