Healthier and Happier Changes ~ September 24, 2016

¡Buenas tardes a todos!

Well, this is week of month 13 already. As I say every time, I truly can’t believe how fast time has been flying by.

This week has been a great one. Honestly it was a little more tranquilo. Not very many missionaries have called so that is good. That means the mission is a lot healthier and happier! J Actually it has been interesting to see because ever since President and Sister Gallego said that all missionaries need a dinner contract, the number of missionaries sick has lessened a ton. If we were to put it in a graph it would be like this:



It is pretty awesome. We’ll see how things keep going in time.

This week we also had an awesome opportunity to have Zone Conference with Elder Falabella from the Area Presidency. It was a great experience. He shared about how we first need to be converted as missionaries to be able to help others convert themselves to the Gospel. He then shared about our dedication and how it says in Abraham that we will be tested to see if we “will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command [us];” During all of the conference we focused everything on the talk by Elder Oaks, “Good, Better, Best” and in what things we as missionaries must do to become not just good nor better, but the best missionaries that we can be. Every little thing we do we must think about if it is really the best thing we could be doing in that moment. I was able to reflect a lot on that.

Well this next weekend is already Conference!! It will be so legit! It will be another great moment to receive some powerful inspiration from the prophets.

I know this Church is true. I know God has called a prophet to lead and guide us by revelation. I know that the young boy Joseph Smith saw God and His Son and was given the power to restore His church on the earth. And most of all, I know that Christ lives. He is our savior and the perfect example for all. May we show that love He has for whatever person we may meet.

I love you all.

Love,

~Élder Tyler Hales~

ÉLDER HALES
Secretario de Salud
Misión Colombia Barranquilla

Hi Mommoo!

Well, to answer your questions first. Things in the mission are going well. I am learning a lot and well hoping to apply it all. There is a lot to learn and a lot to apply, and it doesn’t all come at once. About the packet, well it’s like a packet with some missionary study books called “The First Twelve Weeks”, or in other words the training when you arrive at the mission, Adapt to Missionary Life, a book about how to deal with the stress of the mission, and other things like mosquito repellent, hand sanitizer, thermometer, dictionary, etc. The medication names… Yes? I have learned a ton. A lot are similar as in English, they just end in –a or –o like for example, Amoxicillin is amoxicilina in Spanish, or Naproxen is Naproxeno in Spanish. But there are some that are a little different. Honestly I haven’t really learned a whole lot about medicine and all that stuff. Just basic stuff for common pains, sicknesses like the flu and stuff like that. I communicate with Sister Gallego and the area doctor when there is something that I don’t know.

About the 20 thing… Yeah just this week I started to think about that and I realized that it’s already my last birthday in the mission… and I’ll be 20. It is pretty crazy. Time is going really fast.

How is Emma Jemma doing? And Bryce? And your toe? All this week I have been a little worried about that. I have been praying for you all.

Well, yeah I think that’s about it. Just got to keep pushing right along. I’m glad you guys were able to go to support Kim and the family. Oh yeah and I am totally so excited for Conference this next week! I can’t believe it’s already here again! Oh it’s going to be legit!

Well I will be going now. See you, Love you, Bye! :D

Ooooohhhh....... You probably shouldn't have told me that. (Mommoo's Toe) That made me a little nauseous haha. I will be praying for that then as well.
That's good about Emma. I hope she keeps getting better.
Tell Bryce to not faint while he's on that table thingie. That would be bad. ;) But yes, we will figure him out one day.

Oh I forgot to tell you guys, in this leaders council it was decided that we can only listen to Hymns from Motab and the original recorded hymns from the church site. So that means no Marshall Mcdonald or any other artists... but oh well. Just as Nefi said, if it's been commanded, we must obey. I will go and do. So the music Usb won't be needed now.

And yeah, it's ok. I will be obedient.
My health... it's good. Lately my appetite has been mas o menos. My weight is still about the same. I haven't really lost or gained any in these past couple of weeks. I just think it's strange that I'm not gaining from all I'm eating and the time that I'm sitting in the office. Everyone else gains a lot, but me.... nothing.
We'll see how things go.

Hahaha we almost watched that movie (The Good Dinosaur) a few weeks ago. But now we can't watch movies in the mission either... So when I get home we'll have to watch it.

Well take care of the family. Say hi to everyone! I love you all so much! I hope the salsa is yummy. Until the next time! Ciao!

Year 2 Episode 2 Part 2 ~ September 17, 2016

Crazy week over! :D Yay! 

Wow, so this week was really crazy. Like I said last time, we had the arrival of 17 new missionaries, leaving missionaries, tons of changes with this transfer, and leaders' council. I will inform you all that everything went very well this week. After not having much sleep from late nights and early mornings preparing everything this week we were all satisfied with the results. All of our preparations were able to be shown in action and the presentations for all the meetings turned out superb! 

So here is how all the game plan went:

On Tuesday all the new missionaries arrived and went from the airport directly to the mission home. Elder Hansen and Elder Carreon went to pick up the missionaries to bring them in a bus. In the mission home President and Sister Gallego, the assistants, and I were all there to help the new missionaries learn a little about the Missionary Rules folder and stuff. President interviewed the missionaries, the assistants taught about the rules, and I talked to the missionaries about health stuff and had them sign a paper to give permission to President and Sister Gallego to all medical history and results and things. It all went smooth. While that was going on, Elder Pucha and Elder Salinas were at the stake center with all the missionaries getting ready to go home having their self sufficiency class. After the meeting in the mission home, all of the new missionaries, us secretaries, the assistants, and President's family went to Rodizios for lunch. That was delicious. :) I have been to Rodizios like 3 times more than I have before the mission! (Because I have gone 3 times here and 0 times before the mission haha). Then after that I helped all the new missionaries write an email to their families with the fotos we took in the mission home and Elder Hansen took all the Latins to migration to get their Colombian ID. That was practically Tuesday.

Wednesday. We got up early to go with President to the stake center to set up everything for more training with the new missionaries. In the training President and the assistants trained on a lot of things and we secretaries gave our presentation with some of the matters we cover in the mission. I talked about Health. :D That meeting went until the late afternoon. As well, all the zone leaders and sister leaders from the mission were there to see the training so that everyone would be on the "same page" with all the new changes in the mission. Oh yeah, side note, there are now 7 zones in all the mission when before there were 14. They are zones gigantes! It will be awesome. 

Thursday. Leaders' Council. Another late night and early morning preparing everything in the stake center. The Council was super powerful! We talked about leadering in the Savior's way and in how to help all missionaries reach their potential. President showed us a clip from the movie Facing the Giants when the football player Brock has to carry another kid on his back while crawling across the field. At first he thinks he can only make it to the 30 yard line but the coach says until the 50 and blindfolds Brock. Brock collapses after a lot of effort and with the coach encouraging him all the way saying "Only your best! Give it only your best!" At the end Brock sees that he made it to the other touch zone. It was very inspiring and I think all of us cried. ¡Fue tan poderoso! (It was so powerful!) At the end of the council we secretaries gave our announcements. After the conference we the secretaries came to the office and rested a couple hours by command of President because we were all super tired.

There you have it. The plan. Which probably didn't make ANY sense but oh well. It all makes sense in my head haha. ;) It was a crazy week, but we all lived! We are still a little tired but we're ready to begin yet another week! Not so crazy this time.

Well that is all. I will be going now. ¡Ciaoito!

Love,

~Élder Tyler Hales~

ÉLDER HALES

Secretario de Salud

Misión Colombia Barranquilla

Year 2 Episode 2 Part 1 ~ September 10, 2016

¡Buuuenas bueenas! ¡Elder Hales les saluda!

Wow, another week. So what happened this week? Let's begin...

17 new missionaries, 10 leaving, and well a conference full of new missionary leaders all in one week. Now actually the 17 new missionaries, 10 leaving, and the conference didn't all happen this week, but all I will say is that this week's work consisted 99% of preparation for all that in this coming week. Simply put, it's crazy. On my part, this week I have been preparing all the kits (including the missionary rules folder, the first 12 weeks training book, adapting to missionary life book, mosquito repellent, hand-sanitizer, and thermometers) for all the new missionaries. As well as preparing their pillows, bed sheets, bed covers, etc. For the leaving missionaries I don't have really a whole lot to do with them, but with the conference I have to prepare my list of needs concerning health in the mission and what things I need help with from the zone leaders etc. We are all excited and anticipating this big week. And well practically that is my week all wrapped up short. Since we have been preparing a lot of things this week we haven't been able to get out to teaching family history so I don't really have many stories about that. We did help a brother in the ward, less-active, fill out a lot in familysearch. We got to see a lot of the old name cards that they had back in the day and well it's a lot harder to search those people because they don't have a code like on the new ones to search, but oh well. It all works out in the end. :)

Now talking about today, pday, well I will say that I have never quite had a pday like this... well I should say my companions have never had a pday like this. Anyways, for our district pday activity today, President invited us to the mission home to spend pday. We went to partially celebrate the birthday of Elder Salinas, Historial Secretary, who completes 20 years on tuesday, and partially to relax ourselves before this next crazy week. Well first off this morning we played soccer with President and a lot of members of the stake, three teams of about 12 players.. a lot of people. And well we can say even though we didn't keep track, that we lost pretty bad.... :( Anyways, after the game President was driving me and my companions to the office and he asked us what we wanted to do in the mission house to relax. He mentioned a movie, have a roast,.... and then something that no one was expecting... to play Fifa 15 with his son Sebastian. We were all like: WAT... So when we arrived at the office President told us to think about what we wanted to do. All decided to go and watch a movie or play Fifa... except me. I was ok with the movie, but I felt really bad about playing a videogame and was determined to not play. We went to the mission house after cleaning our house and we first ate a lot of pizza with all the district, the sister missionaries were there too, and then President proposed the next things we were going to do. Well, to put an end to this long and practically pointless story, I didn't play FIFA, I honestly couldn't bring myself to do it, so I went and practiced piano. I played Master's Hand and played around arranging hymns. :) It made me happy. Later I did play a board game which is practically the same as Sorry!, with President and Sister Gallego, the sister missionaries, and the daughter of president. It was pretty fun. I enjoyed the piano more, but oh well haha. Then we had Oreo pie for Elder Salinas' birthday and it was delicious! And yup! That's all folks! A lot of explaining and talking, sorry. I'm just at peace with myself and a little shocked that I didn't want to play FIFA.... It's like how Matt said, that when I get home from my mission I won't even like videogames like him. It's probably true. Here in the mission I have just come to realize that there are so many better things to do like play the piano or a board game with the family, or draw and paint, or whatever.

Well, that's everything I believe. I will keep you guys updated on how everything goes with all the pandemonium this week. Love you all!
¡Ciaoitos!

Love,
~Élder Tyler Hales~

Thanks mom for the thoughts. It is really true how we must always seek that healing so we may feel at peace in whatever circumstance we are in.
And mom, it's ok about everything that has ever happened or will ever happen. I love you so very much and I will never not love you. You are the absolute best mom ever. I am sorry for having caused you pain before the mission. As I look back now I can't believe some of the things I have done. Especially right before the mission such as not spending all the time with you guys. I shouldn't have left with my friends and girls so often before the mission. The family is the most important thing and the family is what will be with me for the eternities. I hope that I can continue learning here so that I may be a better son.

WOW!!!! That's fun! Say hi to everyone at the party haha.  (Ward Party)

Hey mommoo I actually have a question/concern. So lately, since I have been here in the office. I have lost weight. Really weird right? I believe I am the only one in all of history of EVER that has lost weight in the office! I am doing my exercises in the morning. Eating more than I ever have in the mission, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I'm losing weight. And I can't lose weight as you know. Are there like vitamins or something I need to be taking or eating because sometimes I feel very weak and just skinny, and it's odd. I don't think it's parasites because my stomach is fine and feels the same as normal, and I don't see anything when I go to the bathroom.... I don't know what to do! I need to be getting bigger not skinnier! So yup, that's my problem. :D

¡Paz fuera!



Love,
~Élder Tyler Hales~

Year 2 Episode 2 ~ September 3, 2016

What defines a Successful Missionary?

That’s a good question, right? Oftimes we may put ourselves to think about how much success we are having. And in what things seem to not be successful. Honestly, here in the mission it is hard not to be self-critical. With tons of other missionaries around having tons of baptisms and rescuing less-actives one puts them self to think that other missionaries are just more successful or better than they are. But there is something that I love that is shared in Preach My Gospel. “Your success as a missionary is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the Church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost.” If we feel the Spirit and are doing all we can to help the work go forth, we are being a successful missionary.

It has been hard since technically I have only had a few baptisms in all this first year of my mission. But something that has comforted me and helped me is in knowing that Heavenly Father knows our efforts, and that no one really knows how many seeds may have been planted. The mission definitely has been the hardest thing I have done, but I know that God blesses us according to our devotion in His work. I hope to be able to serve with all I have, even though it may be hard here. And I know that the Family History work for our dead is linked hand in hand with missionary work and that it blesses families and it truly unites them as they recall the sacrifices of their ancestors that were made to make it possible for them to be here today.

Well I love you all very much and pray you all success in all that you do. And as Elder Richard G. Scott said, “Our Heavenly Father did not put us on earth to fail but to succeed
gloriously.”

¡Ciaoitos!



Love,
~Élder Tyler Hales~




ÉLDER HALES

Secretario de Salud

Misión Colombia Barranquilla

Ooooh Labor Day weekend!! That sounds fun!!! I wish I could be there to help with the fun projects. ;) I actually do miss them. This week we have moved sofas and big love seats down and up three different apartments. (Moving out sofas out of the old house of two of the secretaries, moving some chairs to the apartment of the sister missionaries in the district, and then moving a new sofa up to the office!) It was fun. And I sweated like 10 gallons of water every time!

That's funny about Eden, and not so funny about Matt and Karlie... They don't like to invite people to their activities? ;) haha just kidding. That's sad about the garden. :( It seems in these past couple of years the garden hasn't been doing very well. About the English classes that is really neat that you get to help the kids. Elder Hansen and I actually started to teach English on Saturdays after P-Day in the church to the members and the people they invite. It will be interesting to see how well it carries out. I will keep praying for you in your work and in helping the kids. I will keep praying as well that you can find those missionary opportunities. Yesterday we had District Meeting and we actually talked about the responsibilities of the members in the mission work. The members should be the ones helping the missionaries find people to teach and in not only praying for the missionaries but rather praying for themselves to find missionary opportunities like you are doing.

I do remember Evan and Asthon haha. That's fun that they get to go to our school now. And wow I can't believe Chandler is already so big! Everyone there is getting bigger and bigger! Looking at the picture of Gracie, Emma, and Eden, the girlies are getting TOO big! They just have to stop growing. Growing is not aloud for these two years. ;)

Well Mommoo, I love you so much! Thanks for all you do! You are the very bestest mommy ever! Keep up the great work at home and in the school!

From Mommoo
You must also remember that Elder Holland said that true success in a mission is the conversion of the missionary. So, if you are becoming truly converted, then you are finding true success. :) At least that is what President Searle stated in his talk at his Homecoming. :)

It's true. I sometimes have actually gotten myself wondering why I haven't been able to baptize more people. I have technically had 3 baptisms in this whole year... and almost all of them I came to the area right before they were to be baptized. I get frustrated with myself sometimes. But I know that God has a plan for me and for all the people I have contacted. In my Patriarchal Blessing it says that many I teach in the mission will listen and accept the gospel, but maybe that doesn't mean specifically right now, it could be in many years or even after this life as they remember the message.

OK Thanks! I think they will arrive. I actually think I may be here longer than I thought in the office. Yes that would be fine about the music. I can print it from there. Yeah you could send the recipe there too.

Well got to go! Love you so much! Say hi to Dad I didn't get to write him neither the girls. I love them Ciao!