Elder Nathan Hales: Nathan's Letter Dated Dec 18, 2012

Hey guys!!

Well, this weekend was the baptism of Karina Quiroz, the other daughter who wasn`t baptized yet. It was a super sweet service, and I will send some of the pictures. We were in a hurry, and they all came out blurry, but at least you get the picture. I am sorry that I missed the party on Wednesday, but I did think of Lauren all day. And, I told everybody we taught that it was my sister´s birthday. This week went by in a blur, but it was super fun. We had a really awesome activity on Sunday that was for the whole stake. The mission activity of the year was a play put on by the members about the ghosts of scrooge. There was also a really, really good choir that sang along during the play. We probably had over 600 people attend, and many were not members. So, we hosted all of the invites to a gift table where we handed out copies of the Book of Mormon, pictures, and booklets of Jesus Christ. It went really well, and we will be visiting a lot of our new friends this week.

Yesterday, we had a mission conference with all of the missionaries on the coast. My companion and I were in charge of lunch and a thirty-minute training, and it went really well. I also gave a five minute talk about the meaning of Christmas. I shared about a family tradition to always read Christmas stories on the 24th, and I talked about the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Okay, cool story of the week. One day my companion and I stepped into the elevator, exhausted after a long day of work. A lady bustled in behind us, and we started up a conversation. She had a copy of the New Testament in her hand, and we talked about the influence of Jesus Christ in our lives. My companion gave her a little card and I asked her if we could go by her house. She said her house number just as the elevator door was closing. So, a few days later we decided to go by to see if she was home. She wasn`t, but her husband said that she had mentioned her chat with us and he asked us to come back the next day. We did. Cecilia was waiting for us, and she sat us down and began to tell us about her life. She said that she had been looking her whole life to find the church of God. She had attended almost every single church in the area, but never had been to our church.

So, we gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. She said that she probably wouldn`t have time to read, but that she would try. The next day we came back, and she had read everything we had left her and had prayed to ask God if it was true. She felt a huge peace that, in all of her life of searching, she had never before felt. She felt the need to pray and repent of her sins. She went to church on Sunday, and brought her husband to the activity on Sunday afternoon. There are so many people like Cecilia that have been searching their whole life to find the truth, but "who are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it." (D&C 123:12)

I love you guys.

Elder Hales