Christmas people I know and love!

Christmas people I know and love!

Here are some fun stories from this week:

We had Multi-zones this week. Where 3 zones get together and learn stuff. This time was how to not suck at missionary work. (haha, kidding. It was how to use members in our missionary work, and teaching us how to teach our wards to get involved. Namely, praying for our investigators and finding people for us to teach. )

Leaving Multi-zones was an adventure. We almost got hit by a drunk driver. We were driving and heard the collision of this car against a support beam in an underpass. Smoke was billowing from the engine compartment and right as we were driving to go pass, the driver gunned it in Reverse. Right at us. By the time I had yelled "Oh my gosh, GO!" and Sister Gowans had seen the car coming in her peripheral, we were already shooting forward. We think our guardian angels sat on her foot on the accelerator. Saved us. It was pretty cool. Kinda scary. 

Let's see. We went to the Samoan wards' Christmas party. Holy Cow, Samoan's know how to party! It was amazing! Great decorations. Santa. Amazing food! (Except Chopped Suey. I just couldn't do it. I tried. I ate about half of what they gave me) 

Oh! We stopped by American Tire to get air in our tires (we apparently can't be trusted to do it ourselves) and I was backing my companion out so we could leave and I overheard "Joey, look at her! Go offer her a job!"

"What? WHY?!" 

"She's more useful than you, she knows how to back people!"

So, I was offered a job at a tire place. Haha. Good times. Thank you, AMR. I am a good backer... right?

Anyway, that's about it for time. 

I love you, people!

Merry Christmas! 

Don't forget what Christmas is all about: http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2874125972001&cide=HPFR122013285

All my love and stuff!

Sister Dibe Hall!

Title of a post

This week was an adventure! We started this week with a creeper in our neighborhood. This creeper decided he likes Sister Missionaries. These Sister Missionaries decided that they don't like Creepers. So we barricaded our front door. And when I realized we can't barricade worth a darn, we stayed ready to exterminate him when he stopped by next. (See picture one) 

We then decided to let our leaders know, in case, you know, he murdered us and stuffed us in jars. So Our Zone leaders came over, he wouldn't come out and see them, hung up on them. Then things got funny. He hoped we'd stop by. We didn't. 

So he stopped by when we were there. We didn't answer the door. 

He called multiple times. We didn't answer. 

Finally he started listening for our car alarm when we locked and unlocked the car. We got wise and started locking it by hand instead of the key Faab. 

When we foiled his plan, he just left his front door open and windows open to hear the car start. So he came to talk to us, walked to my side of the car where I promptly broke up with him. (His name is Romeo, and I wanted to quote Romeo and Juliet to him. He's not smart though and wouldn't have gotten it) So I just told him we were through. And to leave us alone. 

I then plan to tell our Scott about him, Scott is a Navy man. He's also very protective of "his girls" (Us!) so if we tell him, he will probably enlist some men and set up a watch for us. Anyone who comes unannounced will leave with a broken face. That's okay, right??

For real, we're safe now. One look at that picture and all would-be robbers or creepers run for cover! 

Also, one of the recent converts we teach, she has a sword. It's heavy. I may not be able to build a barricade, but I could throw the sword at someone and confuse them enough to run away! I look pretty stroke-y there. Not sure why. My left eye gets tired I guess. Or is camera-shy. Who knows. Be it known to the world, contrary to that picture with me and the sword. I have NOT had a stroke. Thank you. 

We also had a moment where we were babysitting the Elder's bikes while they took the car to a meeting in Riverside. That's me next to the bike. I'm not ducking. The seat really does go past my belly button. I had to climb onto the table to get on the bike. I wouldn't be able to stop on it, unless I laid the bike down. While riding it. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that! Nothing... Right? (wrong!)

Lets see. I got sick this week. Puked a lot. Laid in bed. Was miserable. 

We taught lots of people picked up 10 new investigators this week! Broke up with 2. 

Ward Christmas party. Loved that. There was food and things. Who doesn't love that. 

Scott is gainfully employed so we don't get to teach him much anymore. Which we can live with, because we love Scott. But it's also sad. Because we love Scott. So we are hoping to go over on Sundays to help him make dinner for the guys on base. We're thinking we can pick up a few of the guys as investigators too. They've been chatty about the church so we're going to try.

We realized Christmas is next week. Nuts. 

We went and saw this lady in our ward. Sister Maughn. She is 900 years young. (Not true, she's 80 something, but with the wisdom of... someone really really wise...) She is unable to come to church a lot, so we go visit her every week. She has a really cute love story that she recorded on Sister Gowan's recording device. She told me that I was spiky. And that when I meet non members, she can see me grabbing ahold and not letting go, dragging them to the Gospel. People are not allowed agency around me. If I meet you, you will be happy. No choices. 

haha, sad. 

Honorable Mentions:

Sister Pack!

Sister Pyper!

THE SCHNEIDERS!!!! <3 o:p="">

My time is out. Love you peeps. 

Love, 

The Short One

Hi! 

Honorable mentions this week:

MOM! Mumsie! Mommy! The Mother unit! The lady who gave birth to me! She wrote me a letter! 

Good times were had by all!

This week has been... adventurous. 

Monday was Pday. We moved. That was good. Our Home share, we learned she was talking crap about us to other people. Namely the Bishop. So we had to iron out some things there (apparently we flushed some Pumpkin pie down the toilet and stopped it up.... I eat my pumpkin pie! And the toilet was never not running while we were there. Just saying.. )

But we moved and that was good

Tuesday. oh Tuesday... It was a rough day. We crashed the car (dinged it, really with a scratch.) The Uhaul we hit had no damage. None. Tender mercies! But it caused a lot of issues later of broken pride and unwilling to make any mistakes later. So it was a rough week in our companionship. Sis Gowans was convinced her driving privileges would be revoked for the rest of her mission, which meant I would have to drive. I still drive 3" in from the steering wheel, so if we ever crashed, the airbag would knock my head into her lap. So in her mind, her little scratch ended with my death. You can see the drama that was involved. I wasn't dead yet.... 

Although we did go to see someone that day, an inactive member. We knocked on the door and asked if she lived there. They said no. Then the little girl, maybe 18 months old came running, and hugged my legs! The funny part, the Mom was in the background yelling something in Spanish. Our best guess is that she was yelling "NOOOOOOO!! NOT THE WHITE MIDGET!!!!!!" 

We laughed. 

Wednesday we went and tried to have lessons. None were had. 

Thursday we had to go to Riverside to report our car. Sister Gowans was really stressed. I tried to explain that Elder King was a former Sergeant over a fleet of company squad cars. That a scratch wasn't going to even phase him. Sure enough, when we got there, he was sorely disappointed, he thought that we had totaled the car and would be coming in looked mostly dead. He spit shined it and called it good. Good times. 

Sister Gowans went to see a Recent Convert and found out that the only reason she got baptized was for the girls. That was way hard to hear. She's been struggling all week from that. I know sorta what it must be like. When Renay only got baptized and backed out of the confirmation. That sucked a lot.  

Friday we did things... Tried to teach. 

Saturday was SCOTTS BAPTISM! BEHOLD: 

I was really excited, and I'm so photogenic. That's Scott! He's like our other Dad. We get the Dad voice a lot. And Brother Stout is one of our favorite members of the ward!

Bro Johnson too! And I'm Really excited about this one!

Alright, just a normal picture

Scott this week was Baptized, Confirmed, Ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood AND received a calling! He is a Family History Consultant in the ward!! It makes us happy. He's so happy! And he loves us! We're "his girls" on the base. haha. He wore the tie with our faces on Sunday. Everyone loved it. As they should! He's moving to Ohio in January, and he's saying he's going to call President and have him transfer us to Ohio. Yep. He likes us. I told him I wouldn't go there, I'd freeze to death. Hobbits don't do well in cold climates. 

Haha. All in all, a good ish week. This one will be so much better!! 

Any prayers in our behalf would be welcomed! We need them!

Love and Peace and things!

Love, 

Sista Dibe Hall!! <3 nbsp="" o:p="">

Can you believe I've been in the field for 18 weeks?! Brilliant! I'm loving this! 

Honorable mentions:

BECCA! Got your card, loved it. 

Sister Larsen. I always love cards and pictures from you!

Sista Pyper! I just love you. 

And BROTHER UNIT! Best day ever!

This week has been a little nuts with Thanksgiving and all. We ate with a lovely family who fed us a lot of good things. Like Green bean casserole. (with ham. that was different) and pies. And Turkey and things. It was delightful. I was full for two days.

On Monday last week, we went and threw knives and things! Yeah,  Action shot!

Oh! Eammonn! I had a dream with you in it the other day!

I was sitting in a restaurant here in Moreno Valley and someone had a seizure so 911 was called. They typical PD, EMS and FD arrive, and then here comes Eammonn, flying a helicopter to the call! You got here, and then your partner (no idea who he was) passed out because of a heroin overdose. I took off my name tag and started kicking him for putting his partner in danger by being a junkie. See. Even out in CA on a mission, I've got your back! It was an exciting dream. But, if you ever decide to fly choppers, learn well.. In my dream... not so good. but you were having the time of your life not flying well. :-)

And, Ry (Paulus) I owe you an apology. Someone tricked me into having a taco with ketchup. It actually isn't disgusting. It's pretty stinking good. Therefore, I must repent for my unkind judging of what I thought was a disgusting meal. Well played, partner friend. It was pretty good!

 This is us on Thanksgiving, at the mall. We were looking into the movie theatre watching the people and the giant screen of previews they had. We look so awesome. That was a funny, funny adventure. 

Also, we got our investigator a neck tie with our faces on it. Yep. It's epic. We'll get a picture of it at his baptism, which is this Saturday.  We're pretty excited! We went and saw him on Friday, he put us to work (read as, we begged for something to do) and we made salad for 60 veterans. No fingers were lost in the making of the salad. No kitchens were burnt down. They invited us back. We're a big deal! haha, everyone there calls us "Scott's girls." We're famous. Or Infamous. I'm not really sure. But they're nice to us. 

This is our District. L to R. Sister Dibe, Sister Young, Sister Stoliker, Sister Dirks, Sister Boyd, Sister Gatrell, Sister Mathews, sister Gowans. Elder Bangerter, Elder McConkie. This is our bottom-toothed smiles! We're so attractive. It's a wonder we're not converting nations. This was our last District meeting before transfers.

In other news, we're moving today. We are just going down the street so I get to learn to budget again. That will be good times. We're excited. We can eat cereal for dinner if we want. And have bagels for breakfast. Good times.

If anyone has any extra watches, ones that can go with any outfit. or is just.. you know.. watch like? That they don't want. I would gladly take it off your hands. (HAHa, get it?!) because my watch finally died. To be fair, it lived a long life. 5 years. It survived shifts on the ambulance. It survived the first quarter of my mission. But now it's in the great clock tower in the sky... *Moment of silence*

Well. I suppose that's all this week!

Don't forget, this is my birthday month. And I request one hand written letter. It doesn't even have to be to me, YOU don't even have to write it. YOU just have to send it to me! hah ha! I'm funny. 

Love and Peace and things!

Sista Hall

The littlest missionary who could!

Why hello, dearest friends and people!!

Fancy meeting you here, on Monday.. the day of the Great Missionary Emails!

Honorable Mentions this week:

KARLIE! Thanks for you SWEET home made card. All who have seen it are envious of my talented crafting friends! (Only my comp has seen it, but she's totally jealous! :))

Anyway, this week was grand!

We learned things, taught people.

Last Monday we met a Persian Christian named Zia. Zia's family could have killed him because he was Muslim. Apparently Muslims can be murdered by their families if they convert. So he's been Christian for a few years and doesn't regret any second of it. That's dedication to faith. He was nice, we talked to him for about an hour outside of our favorite smoothie place (Juice it up... in case you're wondering... they sell gift cards ... Just saying)

Tuesday: I have a note about a salt lick... I don't remember what it was about a salt lick that I wanted to tell you about. So... For the next week, ponder them. Our dinner Tuesday yelled at us. She's kinda uptight, so we're killing her with kindness (which means I stay clear, because I have no tact. That's fine, Sister Gowans is sweet.) Then I had a migraine, the kind that makes you wish you could send your head back for a replacement. Yeah, that was lovely. So I was stuck in bed for a few. Miserable.

Wednesday, behold, the picture:

 (the one of me old) I got really old. Really fast!

You see, we are only allowed short showers, so some days I dry shampoo my hair. And when that happens, I get REALLY old! REALLY fast. I am about 97 in that picture. Be not jealous! And de-aged shortly thereafter and am back to the ripe young age of 24, with a height of 11.

Thursday, we met Scott. Who is still fantastic. And doesn't hate us yet. We also had to break up with an investigator. And that made my heart awfully sad. She wasn't progressing. Technically, she broke up with us... Sad.

Friday: I read something REALLY important in Matthew 3:4. John the Baptist. Was. A. Hippy!!! Yes!!!! Best day ever. John the Baptist is my new favorite person (aside from Jesus) in the Scriptures!!

We rode bikes 3+ miles. It was grand.

We met Moses from Egypt. It was great. He's nice.

Saturday: A member called us in the morning and said he was having a stroke and asked us to come over. We told him to call and ambulance. He wouldn't. We showed up. He was not having a stroke. That we could tell. Hopefully he'll go to the doctor. I got to critically think. That was good times. We taught 8 lessons after that. Good day

Sunday: I got married yesterday, behold the other photo. His name is Pete-ay. He is from Canada. We had to call it off until the end of the mission. Because I cannot be married whilst being a missionary.

And here we are. What a swell week!

Tune in next week same time, same bat channel! 

Hear ye, hear ye!!!

First and foremost, honorary mentions for letters this week!

Church HeadQuarters! Thanks for my P. Blessing!

Mike Gore! I am honored to be yours and Sarah's FHE activity!

Sister Morgan! You've been home long enough, come back!

Sister Pyper! I got to see you AND get a letter. Great times!

Sister Pack! I got to crash your baptism AND get a letter. I'm lucky!

So. Here's the run down of this week. In Haiku form!

This week has been great

Sacrament is where Scott came

He is getting dunked!

This week is awesome

Gowans and I are superb

We hope you are good!

Okay. So, those Haiku's are what I sent to my mission president as my weekly update. Have you ever done something and then wondered "hmmm. will he think this is funny... or am I getting rebuked?" We'll see how this goes. haha. 

But really. This week was great. We didn't get through almost any door. So we talked to everyone on the street. Laughed a lot. Smiled some more. Danced occasionally. Someone keyed our car. So we called the new car senior missionaries, the Kings. They are HILARIOUS. They are from Florida originally but most recently from Georgia. He was a Sergeant in the sheriff's department in Florida (I think in Florida) He learned about the EMT thing and asked me a lot of questions. Sister Gowans' favorite portion of the conversation went like this: 

"No way! What is the most grotesque thing you've seen working as an EMT"

"Well, we ran a roll over once were the gal had a BAC of .67. Her head was impaled by a 2X4" (that was a Christmas when I first started with RMF)

"SHUT UP! A .7?!" (say that with a heavy Georgian accent)

He yelled that at lunch. We laughed. 

The car was okay, just scratched. They rubbed some tire shine on it and you can hardly see it anymore. 

Other happenings of the week:

We were OYMing an old guy in a parking lot. Some hoodlum came and stole two of the pillows he was selling. Thus ensued a yelling match where a gun was pulled. We high tailed in out of there. No missionaries were injured in the retelling or telling or occurring of the story. Good times... YIKES

The Morgans left on Monday. If you don't know who the Morgans are, that is a sad sad day for you. The Morgans are just the greatest senior missionary couple EVER. And their 6 months of missionary service was over. So they went home to their grandkids. Even though they liked us and our gang the best. They treated us to Panda Express where Sister Morgan and I cried. Goodbyes are lame. Even if it's just "goodbye for now." 

Later that week I ate Turkey tail REAL turkey tail! We went to a Samoan family's for dinner. and we had tilapia, and eggrolls, and turkey tail, and chicken and salad and rice and a lot of other things. And my favorite was the turkey tail! It was so good! I also ate so much but I needed to be rolled from dinner. yum. You know, they say that it is required of missionaries to be polite and eat all their food. I was just performing service, by eating so much. Really! I'm service oriented... (Humble too. Don't worry, I'll repent)

We had a Sister's Gathering. It was a good meeting. There was a lot of talk about being discouraged and looking at ourselves and each other through the lens of "daughter of God." As in, If I am a daughter of God, and acting like it, how would I treat this person.  or, I see through the lens of a daughter of God, how should I see this situation or that person. 

We were told not to be proud and to be humble (thus, the repenting) 

And to work. Working brings more satisfaction and joy than anything else. So Work. Go Forth and Do!

We went to the temple. I love the Temple! It's a small one, like my Denver temple. So I love it. And because it's, you know, the House of the Lord. 

I got to go to Mayra's baptism in Hemet! It was so great! I kind of snuck out of the ward, so it was nice to see people again and hug them. And of course, to see Sister Pack and the Gang! The only people who were missing were the Morgans. (hint, hint! Come back!) 

Mayra is wonderful, and she's baptized now!!

Finally, the biggest and exciting news this week is that we met Scott. 

Scott was a referral from HeadQuarters (Mormon.org or something like that). And what that is, is that if someone goes to Mormon.org, puts in their info for a Book of Mormon or a visit from missionaries, they send the info to the missionaries in that area, and we, like ninjas, track them down and find them. And then hit them with the Spirit and they get baptized. (It almost never happens that way, but that's okay) 

Well, Scott's address from HQ said he lived in a field, and we tried calling and the number was no good. We thought it was a wild goose chase. NOPE! Scott is real! And he REALLY wanted to meet with us!

He's elect. The first thing he asked us was "Please tell me you have a Book of mormon for me!" So, of course, we gave him one. Because... We're missionaries and that's what we do. And he came to church on Sunday, and he's getting dunked on 7 December! Woohoo!!! He's the best. He's a Navy vet and puts up with our senses of humor. We laugh a lot in our lessons. And we're going to make him a tie (because he HATES neck ties) with our faces on it. Anyone know how to do that? I would sure love some help in that endeavor!

The work here is great, it just makes sense. 

I hit a major milestone this week. on 8 November, I hit 100 days as a missionary. It's okay that nobody remembered that. My heart will heal in time. Alright... Truth be told, I didn't know either, my companion told me. I repented of that as well. 

Well, I love you people. Here are some entertainment for your week. 

 Sometimes, I eat sour things. And make really attractive faces. It's a good thing I'm a missionary, I'd have to beat the men away with sticks.... (wolf whistle)

I went to the Temple.

 At Mayra's Baptism. With Bro Leighton. Bro Leighton is the Ward Mission Leader. He's awesome!

 Sis Gowans and I at the Temple. We're companions. And we're at the temple. 

Dear people who I know, like and love!

This week has been nuts! For real. 

We had a confirmation this week. Jamie, who was baptized last week, got confirmed this week. So Now she's got the Holy Ghost power. :) YAY!

We taught a few lessons. Blessed many (Harvest blessings, man. They are brilliant!) Prayed a ton. We've been involved with drama and scandal. It's been good. 

At the Baptism last week there was an emergency. You see... We had a baptism at 6ish. Then there was one after ours. Unfortunately, Bishop forgot. And he pulled the plug to the baptismal font. And the water started draining. Rapidly. Very rapidly. The Elders tried to close it with luck, prayers and a broom handle, without any success. It was tragic. 

"Whatever shall we do?!" The masses thought. "Christmas is ruined!!!" exclaimed others. 

"Never fear, my friends in white! All will be well!" Said my companion! As she shoved me into the baptismal font to save the day!! Okay, what REALLY happened was that they were trying to figure out what to do. Who will get in? Should they change into a marshmellow (jump) suit? Who would take the plunge? Finally, I just walked in, skirt and all and plugged the tub back up. I went swimming on my mission! Nuts! 

Then one day, we were OYMing (Open your mouth) where we talk to 10 people a day that aren't counted as tracting or those that we teach. Just EVERYONE that we come in contact with, in the rain. It was cold. We were wet. And we talked to a family who gave us free tamales! REAL tamales! I was frozen on the outside, but the jalapenos put my mouth ablaze. I was warm within. haha. Yes. 

That night drama occurred. We were part of the "Minding my own business" club, doing missionary things. Talking to people. Praying. Teaching. Crying repentance when we got a bone-chilling phone call: 

"Girls.. I need to talk to you... Come home now" Our home share...

You see, our home share has dogs. 3 of them. That are trained to kill. They are well trained, so they haven't yet... you know... killed. But I know my luck. YOU know my luck. So I pray a lot. Finally, when I was so stressed out and living in fear, I talked to Sister and President Smart about what to do. They did their thing, which meant talked to the housing coordinator who told her we are moving. 

We got home, she very calmly told us that we were moving and then proceeded to tell me that having PTSD would ruin my life and that it's a weakness. And then spend 3 days completely ignoring me. (I think she blames me...)

Now... Now they told her we may not be moving. So we're in the awkward limbo where she will talk and love Sister Gowans, and she won't talk to me. Unless she has to. But I don't get dirty looks anymore. Progress. 

The next day, we found a dying rat sitting outside our homeshare. Sewage rats. They're real. This rat was became named Tony. He had been injured by something bad. or big. I'm not sure, I wasn't there when this occurred. So we sang him to death. I don't know what killed him. Our songs or his injuries... Poor Tony. We rescued him from the killer dog. The rat better be grateful! 

At some point this week, my companion and I were rejoicing over Halloween candy and junk food and trading for the good kinds. (We bartered. Candy was shared. It was grand.) Apparently I offered an outlandish trade because I was Whoppered in the face! In the Center thereof! It hurt. We laughed. I told her she broke my nose. She worries. I laughed. Then repented for lying to her. No noses were broken this week! 

Finally, I found in our trunk a treasure! A Book of Mormon in Arabic!!! I will be fluent in the reading thereof by the time I go home! (Not true, I just think it's really cool!) 

I think that's it for now. I still don't know if I'm homeless right now. Loving life out here. Being a missionary is the best!

We're starting a 30 day fast for missionary work. How it works is everyday, a different family will fast in the ward for our missionary efforts in the Moreno Valley Ward. That night, we go to the family's house and break their fast with them. This has led to lots of success in other areas, so we're going to see how it works here. Bishop and the Ward Council were so excited, that they are the first 2 weeks of fasting families. We are lucky to have such a ward behind us. Pres. Monson, Elder Ballard and all others were right, we can't do this work without the ward. We can't do this without members. We need them. The work of Salvation is so important. 

Anyway, peace and love and things!

Love, 

Sister Dibe Hall

My Missionary Commission:

My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and he has chosen me to represent him. To stand in his place, to say and do what he himself would say and do if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me. My voice is his voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are his words and my doctrine is his doctrine. My commission is to do what he wants done. To say what he wants said. To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work. 

Elder Bruce R. McConkie