September 12, 2011

FAMILY,
THANKS FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY WISHES!! You will have to thank every one in the ward that wrote me a card. It was awesome. There was some people that I didn't recognize, it sounds like there are a lot of new people in the ward.
I also received a surprise package from Elder Phillips and Elder Benett yesterday. Elder Phillips crocheted me a beanie and Elder Benett sent me a super cool tie. They also sent me pictures of 2 people that got baptized that Elder Phillips and I were working with. It's been a sweet birthday so far.
In the plans for today, the AP's are going to take us out to lunch pretty soon, we are going to get some awesome Des Moines pictures, better than the ones we got before, and we are going to hike to the tallest point in Iowa. There is a skyscraper downtown that is like 50 stories tall. Word on the street is that it is the tallest point in Iowa, which I believe from serving in the outside areas. The missionary record stands at the 37th floor, before security find you and kicks you out. It's a missionary legend that there is a rich mans club on the top of it, or an observation deck, or a restaurant... we are not sure but we are going to conquer the urban mountain today.
So I sent a box home the other day maybe you already got it, but there is a camera card in there and I wrote on it to keep it for now, but I remembered that I need it back so I can add pictures for the slide show when I leave. There is some cool stuff on the card though, I made a music video with Elder chamberlain right before I sent it. There is a bunch of random stuff in the box, and there is a present for mom.
I went to the dentist this week for the teeth cleaning, what a nightmare. I really don't care for dental work so for my whole mission I have brushed and flossed every day, every day, but they said that I have 2 cavities and possibly 2 others. I was really upset with the whole thing.
Some crazy things have happened in our area. The other day an old investigator that we dropped a few weeks ago called us. He had a wake up call, and he wants to come back. A friend of his girlfriend got into a argument with her. Long story short, this friend had a boyfriend that just got out of jail and came to their house and pulled a gun on him for this argument. The cops were called and a police chase ensued and the guy went back to jail. He has a hard time since he lives in the hood, but he doesn't want to be a part of the hood. They both want to be baptized within a month. Cool stuff.
Things are getting better with Elder Grow. We slayed a dragon the other day while we were tracting. It's missionary talk which basically means that we tracked into a guy that wanted to bash with us, so we pulled out our scriptures of truth, our sword of the spirit and the testimonies of an unconquerable restoration and slayed the dragon of false doctrine and carnal security. It was most excellent. I think we bonded a little more after that.
Well thank you for all the birthday wishes, I LOVE YOU ALL. -Elder Hale