I'M FAT

8/28/17

This week was pretty fantastic! we've been doing a ton of service and thats been occupying most of our schedule the past few days. we'll have moved four families by the end of this week haha. we started with the family Bezzoli and oh man, i cant exaggerate how incredibly bad the luck of this family is. if you've ever seen the show Hey Arnold, theres this kid Nigel who is known for having super bad luck and always gets the worst of everything and everything bad follows him. the family Bezzoli is basically that but a million times worse. they got kicked out of the house they were renting cause the guy renting it to them sold it without telling them so they had to move out in two days and so this guy Xavier Bezzoli (who looks exactly like Wolverine from X Men but with a super sick french accent and long hair and at his prime) moves all their things into storage units and then called us to get it all into this tiny apartment they have to live in while they wait to buy a new house. well everything you could possibly imagine went wrong with that, like everything broke in the unit somehow because of how he packed it, like paintings with glass frames and bed frames and things like that haha, then he and i finished moving this fat fridge up the tiny staircase of their apartment entrance and finally got it up to find it somehow got filled with black mold in the short time it was in storage. no food or anything, just mold everywhere. so that was nasty. then the oven didn't fit after we brought that up too, then the dishwasher had something weird of course, haha and then just to make everything awesome, it started POURING. like the most insane rain storm ever and it literally came out of nowhere. totally clear all morning then boom trees are literally being uprooted by this storm haha and it just destroys the unit and everything and we were trapped. it was hard not to laugh at how incredibly unfortunate everything was. like absolutely amazing how south everything could go. but yeah we finished eventually and that was fun. the family is doing great. mostly just stoked i met Wolverine. 

the next day we helped one of our investigators Andre, who used to be like a legit body builder Mr Olympia or something. he's disgustingly big haha it was awesome. but yeah that was insane lots of big friers and ovens that were scary moving but it was great. he was very grateful and now we basically can have free haitian food whenever we want. so stoked. 

we met up with Joseph Smith again and he's super excited for his baptism! he's gotten so many more work hours since he started reading and praying consistently like we asked him to and thats increased his faith so much. we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ on friday and it was amazing to see how real Jesus is to him, like he kept saying how incredible it was that He loved him enough to go through all that pain and he got pretty emotional. this is a big guy haha it was interesting to see him get emotional. but yeah he loves it all so much I'm so excited for him. we also met up with Joann again and had a cool experience. we gave her a talk on how to become charitable and talked to her a bit about it all and we talked for a while and we got to telling her our main objective as missionaries and Elder Johnson and i both say in the middle of that something totally change in her and her questions started taking a different turn and she opened up a whole lot more. its cool to see the Spirit work with people right in front of us. but yeah she wants to continue meeting and talking and she's too sweet. we still haven't met her son who was the original referall haha but thats okay. we haven't had the opportunity to meet up with our bench man lady friend, super busy. but our other investigators have been great! Rahina is coming to church consistently so we're working out a date for her. the african family that the family Mouhe fellowshipped couldn't be doing better with all of this! they love church and the kids are all so awesome. I've never seen kids smile so much, they don't say much to other people besides us because their french isn't great but man these kids are absolutely incredible. and Bernard the dad loves the church and everything so much. he actually got pretty sick the past few days so we're fasting for him today and tonight we're swinging by cause he says he would love a priesthood blessing. the opportunity to give blessings has been so amazing here. the difference it makes is incredible. Joseph Smith asked for one the other day and even not knowing fully the priesthood he said he could feel the change and his eyes were watering like crazy when we were done haha. same with a few other people we've given blessings to. its amazing the spirit when we are able to do that. but yeah Bernard's family is doing so great! Brandon the bike guy is doing fantastic too! we're going to pass him off this week to the greenfield park Elders but yeah i have faith in him! all the other investigators we're working with and its going great. its amazing to be able to see the progression in their lives with the Gospel and to see how happy they become over time. you can literally see changes in their features and everything to them.not sure if that comes with being a missionary or what but i love it, the change is amazing. 

friday we had this big party at the park with tons of food and corn and everything and that was awesome! Joseph Smith really wanted to come but he had to work. but Rahina came and Bernard's kids came and it was a super awesome turnout! i ate nine hotdogs and a corn and tons of desserts haha. these were big hotdogs too, not sure if this means I'm fat now or what… our scale at the apartment is broken but I'm pretty sure I'm getting there. the party was too awesome though! pretty proud of our setup and everything. everyone had tons of fun. ill attach some pictures that Naga Mouhe took when he snagged my camera. but yeah it was too awesome! some older ladies with mental illnesses followed Elder Johnson around and kept telling him how beautiful he is haha and one like stroked his face gently and whispered, 'i love you" basically the same way the lady in Nacho Libre says it to Escquilito. too awesome. some guy at the party told me i looked like Pete Mitchell from Top Gun because my hair and sunglasses. that was cool, except Pete has like straight black hair haha but still cool. i had Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins stuck in my head for the rest of the day. 

so there is this man. there really isn't any good enough way to describe this man but i can't tell you guys how legendary he is. Brent Sutherland. Brent is 72 years old, bright blue eyes and long wavy white hair. and he is a legend. first day here Elder Johnson warned me of the biggest trap to ever exist being Brent Sutherland and i didn't understand why at first. but you see, when you're a missionary and Brent Sutherland sees you, you've basically just lost your entire day. he talks non stop its incredible. he doesn't even breathe. and the things that come out of his legendary mouth, are indescribable. he remembers every single day that ever happened in his lifetime and he tells us all of them. and he never stops expressing his love for us missionaries. he finishes everything he says with, "… yeah because guess what. YOU. ARE. AWESOME" haha if I'm ever feeling down i just think of the things he says. he doesn't speak french and he's a less active and he never served a mission because according to him he "never had the balls for it" sorry haha his words not mine, but he goes on and on about his respect for missionaries. yesterday he told us, "if i had two sons that were even a FRACTION OF A PERCENT of what you two guys are, i would put their freaking names on SKYSCRAPERS in neon lights." haha thats the censored version he has a very polluted vocabulary. and he chooses to exaggerate very specific words. and then he goes on saying very seriously, "now you know, i consider your parents, your friends, your siblings, ANYONE that has EVER had the pleasure to talk to you…" then he pauses and nods his head down and whispers, "lucky" haha so amazing. literally the best guy ever. 

but yeah its been an awesome week! Elder Johnson and i couldn't be doing better, if i could sum up our companionship, its 100% Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in episode two and the beginning of episode three. there are times where we both feel the same thing and look at each other and are like, "do you sense that too?" and then we back flip outta there its so sick. but yeah, i couldn't love this work more!! such an amazing opportunity to be out here, I'm so excited for all you guys getting ready to head out! this really is the most amazing thing ever being on a mission. i love the people so much and everything about this wonderful place. love you all so much!! 

-Elder Halliday

the investigators are all doing so awesome! yeah haha its a bit hard leaving them. Joseph Smith especially he's been saying he's going to miss us a ton and that he's for sure going to find a way to visit us in the states haha. he really likes us. same with a lot of the members actually. like i never thought id be getting attached to any of the members from what id seen back home with the awkward missionaries there but seriously I'm like best friends with all the people in our ward. Frére Regimbald and i are super tight, he and his wife have become my grandparents out here. ill try to get a picture with them this week. they feed us all the time. last night he invited us over for steak and potatoes and he loves that i can eat a lot haha. i had two and a half steaks, a TON of mashed potatoes and two ice cream cones haha. i promise he offered all of them, i don't ask to eat a ton. they just lee; feeding us. we have meals with members all week this week! suuuch good food oh my goodness. 

im so glad to hear every things going great!! ah i love caden i need to email him and thank him. bummer about the shipping thing, but its okay! oohh you should totally do that with the personal tie thing! i was wearing that one yesterday actually this investigator Arnold liked it and thought it was from my girlfriend cause of the heart haha then i showed him the MOM on it. too good. I'm so glad all the girls are doing great! its getting real for kennadie thats so awesome!! I'm so excited for her. the family time makes me so happy! I've been noticing a lot the difference in families that are always apart and ones that are close and its super interesting. i wish i had spent more time with you guys. the family of bernard is so tight and its interesting how even though they haven't had the gospel in their lives before, they always had the spirit in their home because of how strong their family unit has been. its amazing, I'm so glad thats going on at home! that'll make the biggest difference for you all. this lady we've been visiting a lot to get her to go back to church Angéle struggles a lot with the family deal, long messy story with her life but she talks a lot of how badly she wishes her family could be like ours. we're working on getting her there. a bit of depression and things like that are making it difficult though. but it'll be good, nothing makes me happier than hearing how strong our family is. REESE IS GENIUS!!! she totally has to do that! wow its incredible how smart these girls are. sol proud of them! they're working hard and smart! thats amazing I'm so excited for them. I'm sorry to hear about the Shillings tragedy. thats really hard. their family will be in my prayers. hahaha yeah i can imagine meeting with familiars on the mission would be suuuuper weird. like yeah haha i can totally picture his awkwardness. your FHE idea is GENIUS!!! totally do it!!! ah that sounds so fun! tell them all i said hi and love them! you gotta sing the song. such a great family. i miss them a lot. I'm glad you're doing so great!! airline clothes haha what thats so cool!! and man all those cheer outfits thats gonna be difficult good luck with that! you're gonna do so awesome! those girls are lucky to have you to do them. hahahaha oh my awkward side hug that scale is too good thats amazing!! i might use that a bit here. scary with Justin, but he'll be safe. he'll be in my prayers also. keep me posted on that. thanks so much for filling me in on everything!! I'm so glad everything is so great back home! i love hearing about it! i love you all so much!!! 

-Elder Halliday