Obedience Through Our Faithfulness ~ May 28, 2016

"Strong, proactive obedience is anything but weak or passive. It is the means by which we declare our faith in God and qualify ourselves to receive the powers of heaven."

—L. Tom Perry, "Obedience through Our Faithfulness"

Obedience truly is the declaration of our faith. I truly testify of this. May we all be obedient to the will of the Lord. As it is through our obedience that we receive blessings.Well, so this week has gone by like a bar of soap on a slippin´ slide. ;) Haha. But really this week and well these weeks have been flying by super fast. I´ve already been here in the office for about three weeks! And while it has gone fast, I must say it has been a great learning experience (as I have said in every email since I´ve been here).

Anyways, so this week was quite busy. Lots of missionaries calling with head aches, stomach aches, throat aches, etc. and a few other crazy things. We have also had lots of medical appointments in all sorts of clinics. Must I say that I´m glad we have the kind of medical service we have in Utah... Anyways, we have been going to a dentist with an elder that needs to get some teeth fixed up and we have been having a lot of missionaries going to have blood tests done and all that fun stuff. And well as you all know that I don´t handle blood very well, I´ll just say that I´ve gotten good at distracting myself as the missionaries are having their blood drawn. ;) Oh! We also had a really interesting visit. An elder had an Echo-cardiogram yesterday and well... I got to see his heart! ¡Súper loco! It was like an ultrasound machine thing and you could see his heart pumping and all the valves and stuff opening and closing. It was quite interesting. I´m sure that if I was seeing it from real eyes view I wouldn´t have lasted a microsecond watching it. But yeah, it was interesting. What else happened....? Oh! we had a case of a missionary with a parasite in his foot! That was pretty crazy! So what had happened is that he went running in some sand WITHOUT shoes!! Yeah, Sister Searle was pretty amazed by that haha. I get to have all sorts of fun adventures here as Health Secretary haha. ;)

The work here is going well in the office, as well in the area. I am enjoying it. It is a lot different than being out in the field, but I still have been able to find the joy from it all. This is my first time proselyting in a big city and to be honest it has been quite difficult. It´s not the same as what I´ve been used to all my mission until now; little pueblos with super receptive people that almost always let you talk with them. Here it´s a bit different. It´s hard too because the people often live in big buildings and apartments, so you have to know exactly the number of the apartment, why you´re there, and who you are visiting, to be able to even enter the building. It´s a little crazy. But we do have some people here that are pretty receptive and willing to listen to us. Most of them are people like from part member families or references from the members. So that´s practically how it´s been going with the work here.

Today for Pday we cleaned the house up good, then I went to the Assistant´s house to clean with the AP Elder Muñoz. Then we sat here in the office for a while. And then we watched Zootopia for an activity today in the office! At the first of the movie I was like "what is this?" But it was actually pretty hilarious. It even has Shakira in it! haha. Anyways, that´s not important. We just like to brag a bit that Shakira is from here in Barranquilla. ;)

Well, I think that is about all that has happened so far here. I´m loving the opportunities I am having to learn in this last transfer of President Searle. I will miss him and Sister Searle so much after this transfer. But it will be great with President Gallego as well.

May we remember to always be obedient with exactitud (exactness). Being here in the mission truly has opened my eyes to the importance of that.

Take care everyone! Until the next time!

¡Paz fuera!



Love,
~Elder Tyler Hales~

P.S. Hi mommoo!
I´m doing just dandy! It has been a pretty good experience here in the office. There are I think 10 missionaries here in the office. There are 3 assistants right now. We have a Secretary for Health (me), Historian, Housing, Finances, and executive (for like air flights, migration and stuff). President works here in the office, but a lot of times he is in his office or interviewing missionaries in his office. So I see him every once in a while. I do get to work with Sister Searle quite a bit, because she is over the health of the missionaries. So every time a missionary calls I have to talk to her to see what the missionary should do to get better. But I think that being able to have the experience with Bryce before the mission has really prepared me for this. I have been able to recognize some medical tests and medicines that the missionaries need to take and such things like that. Sometimes I lose a bit of patience with the missionaries when they call with problems that are practically nothing. But i am improving and really trying to be more nice and loving with the missionaries even when it feels like they just call to bother.... But I have been called for a reason and I must work my hardest. Well I love you so much! Take care and say hi to the rest of the family!
¡Ciao!



ÉLDER HALES

Secretario de Salud

Misión Colombia Barranquilla