gift of tongues is pretty sick

10/10/17

yo sorry i totally didn't know p day was going to be today instead of yesterday. its gonna be on tuesdays from now on so thats cool. no idea why haha but its cool.

this week was too awesome!! so one of the cool things about having investigators that are super cool african people is that we become part of their huge crew of giant scary black guys too. we went to Andre's restaurant the other night and ah man Haitian food is SO good, so good. especially when its legit. but yeah we showed up and all his huge body builder Haitian friends were there and whenever we show up they all go aayyyeeee and give us all the intense man hug and we get treated like royalty haha its so awesome. one of the guys rolled up on this huuuuge motorcycle completely chromed out with a flame paint job and skulls and lights and all that haha all over it, basically with all the things he added, it costed like the same as a nice house haha. absolutely ridiculous, but he loved my reaction and kept talking it up and i was curious where it'd get me and eventually he was like "yo jump on man" and i was like ah man. maybe in two years. but he told me i had to at least sit in it and run the engine and man this monster shook the ground, so nasty haha. but yeah thats the kind of respect we get from being friends with these guys, same with our buddy Emmanuel the barber from africa, we'll show up and be the only white guys in this place and theyll all just swarm and give out yooooo whats up bros and all that haha so fun. they gave me some super sick shoes too for free haha cause i was like noooo way those shoes are SO sick and they were like yooo you like them!? go head man take them. haha too nice. 

we had that service again on thursday and we got another chance to meet some super exotic people and learn new cultures and everything. along with the usual people that come every time haha they're so fun. theres a haitian family that i always find and we just go off talking about everything and they stay and chill for forever to talk seriously guys Haitians are THE best. these old Haitian ladies always yell out "ooohhh my come here my brother!! we missed you!!" haha love haitians. had a cool experience this time with this older lady from Syria, she was waiting there for her ride so i was like heeyy hows it going! and she shook her head haha and was like no french and all she could say was Syria so i was like oh cool Arabic! so i said hello and asked how she was doing in Arabic but that was pretty much all i knew haha so after that we just stood in silence. and then somehow we got into this conversation, i found out when she got her, what its like in Syria and why she came here and we talked about her family and school and everything and then her ride came and i was like whoa your french is actually so good! and she was like ummmm no? and i was like but you've understood me this whole time! and then she looked super puzzled haha and was like yeah you're right whoa… and then i realized i have absolutely no idea what language we were speaking that whole time and how we understood each other and neither did she haha, the gift of tongues is seriously so cool. 

another cool experience with the gift of tongues was the other night at a dinner appointment with the Sevillano family for thanksgiving which was yesterday for some reason here? no idea haha. but yeah we had so much food and then we went around the table saying what we were grateful for and the family did their best in french cause they're trying to learn and it was a beautiful experience. the father has the hardest time with the french so he went through this list while his wife and little daughters helped him and then when we all finished he was like hold on i just need to say what i want to say and asked his wife to translate as best she could and he went off in spanish and at first we were listening to his wife and she was translating best she could and we were getting that he was so grateful for his family and his home and then i looked at him while he was speaking and i could understand everything he was saying and man, it was hard holding back tears. he said since leaving peru to canada, he's seen the Lord's hand in so many miracles. he talked about how lucky he was to be here and how lucky he was to have such a beautiful family and how much he loved the missionaries and he finished by saying "one last time, this home is your home. please come please eat and please know how much of a blessing you have been to this family." haha i don't say that to say whoa look how awesome we are, but how awesome is the spirit to allow me to hear what he said exactly, cause it was what i needed to hear. Elder Johnson had the same experience there, being able to understand his spanish. such an amazing opportunity. and this man is so incredible. in Peru he was an engineer for helicopters and he owned multiple helicopters and he was incredibly wealthy, but when they came here he didn't know any french so he couldn't go into the labor necessary to work again so he's here in this small house working at starbucks trying to learn how to get started. and here he is saying how grateful he is to be where he is and how much the Lord has blessed him. such an amazing family. 

we totally found two more Haitians and i LOVE it!! why didn't anyone tell me Haitians are actually just the most fantastic people?! they're so excited to come to church. and we found out they actually live in a house with ALL their cousins uncles and aunts and they want us to come over and teach them haha I'm SO excited. even if it doesn't go well, what an amazing opportunity. our investigator Ronel from the other week who tied my shoes for me came to church! and he loved it! he sat next to me and one of his only concerns when we gave him a tour and told him what goes down earlier that week was that we sang cantiques and he was so scared to sing. but then in sacrament meeting he was singing so loud and he was so good. such an awesome experience. we're meeting with him this week and his buddy Sony so thatll be a fun adventure. 

people are figuring out kinda what i can do when it comes to houses so we're helping roof a house next week, and painting a place, repairing some light fixtures and working on renovations at Emmanuel's barbershop and things like that! its so fun. i know it could seem like we're getting taken advantage of, but lots of new opportunities come from these services and i love it. we went to the house of the family Nadji Adjim and repaired his dryer machine and then saw a light in the bathroom wasn't working so we got a new bulb and just popped it in and ah man, the reaction of the family was incredible. haha the seven little african kids all ran into the bathroom when they got home and were turning the light off and on over and over again and just dying they were so excited. even the mom haha she was totally with them just having the best time. so awesome to see how just the little things can make people so happy. i feel like i take advantage of so many things, having light for example. we are all so lucky to have what we have, it was an amazing opportunity to learn how to constantly be grateful for everything, even the small things. this family has so little and its incredible their gratitude. i love to think back to the Law family, i hope a lot of you have the amazing occasion to meet this family. but their motto was "gratitude dude." haha i love it, and they had it everywhere i totally remember. so great to keep that in mind, we are so lucky and we owe all of it to God. and the best way to show it is to give to other and show our love to others. Bernard Nadji Adjim is the best at that. he's had this horrible disease that deformed and scarred his face to the point where his nostrils are  covered and his eyes are scarred and exposed at the bottom so when he goes outside it burns his eyes at the slightest gust of wind. but he chooses to walk us all the way outside to the sidewalk every time we visit. just to show respect and love. i truly hope i can become as humble and loving as this man. 

this mission is so incredible, its awesome to teach and see the amazing differences and changes that occur here when we visit people, but i find it even more awesome to see the differences in myself and the numerous lessons I've been learning here from our investigators and people we work with. i love this gospel so much and i love this mission so much and I'm so grateful for everything I've been so lucky to learn and experience here! the good the bad the sad everything. its all been such an amazing blessing from God and its so comforting to always know that He's watching us and He gives us everything. i imagine it must be hard for Him to send the painful things, the big trials we experience. but when He sees us learn from them and become better people i imagine He just smiles and reminds himself He knew we could do it. He trusted us more than anyone else to take these challenges. and He knows we can always become so much better and be so much happier and thats all He wants. what a beautiful plan we're given. i love you guys all so much!!! thank you so much for everything!! your prayers your thoughts and emails and everything!! i couldn't be luckier to have more amazing family and friends. love you guys

-Elder Halliday 

yo no one told me trees could ACTUALLY change colours this is SO cool 

also we went to this super cool trampoline park for p day and we are so sore. it hurts to even breathe hahaha we are so weak. it had some sick olympic trampolines and things though, too cool. 

this is the family Sevillano, honestly i forget where i got called to like all the time. I'm going back and forth on Haiti, Peru, and Africa. 

oh and heres baseball, let me know if any of these guys are like famous or something, everyone treated them like they were and we asked this lady if she could take a picture of Elder Johnson and i and she was like oh yeah ill get these guys! you want them too! no idea. 

Hello from carpinteria!! We just got in last night. I feel like I might have finally mastered this camping thing. :) these girls are just so cute. They get excited about everything. Today we are going to that Dutch town like 45 min away-I hope we can send you some pics from that!  Then tomorrow we are hitting six flags. (First time for the Bennion’s) we have the Bennion girls with us, but the rest of the family heard that we could get them in free and decided to come too!  Just so fun. 

How is the weather?  You finding that you need more gear?  How are your investigators?  We had the sisters over the other day-I really thought the awkward ones were just boys! Haha! They were soooo painfully awkward. But they are teaching a guy on our street, so we really need to go get to know him.  I brought Dee next door some amazing no bake cookies and she dropped off some baklava which was so cool. She is so great. Someday right? 

I’m so excited to see Montreal someday!  It’s sounds so great. And I will eat all the foods. 

Haha, kennadie is reading us a letter from some college that wants to recruit her based on her athletics...she says she wants to reply “excellent “ and included the video where she tries to do a cartwheel and pulls her groin.  

Ok, well, we love you kid. Im excited to hear from you!!! Be safe and stay warm. Love you so much. Love-mom