Elder Spencer Halls

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening!! This week went super quick!! It was a really good one too! Dima's Baptism! On Saturday we had a great baptismal service for Dima it was awesome! That morning we ran over to the branch to start filling up the font and since we live not too far we went back home afterwards to eat and get somethings ready. Then at 9 we were already back in the branch. Then Dima rolled up an hour and 40 minutes early for his baptism!! Haha it was awesome. He was nervous and excited and he just couldn't wait and needed to come to the branch so that's what he did. We had a good group of members come to support him which was really exciting. He was happy that there was a good group. I had the opportunity to baptize him and that was a really special opportunity that I was really grateful for! He was so happy and just bright and smiling after his baptism. The branch really welcomed him and embraced him into the fold. The leaders in the branch are working ha...

Hello my friends This is Elder Halls again! Haha we had a really great week here in Kharkiv and did a bunch of cool things. We had some new ideas that we tried some that worked really good others that worked less so but all in all a really good week!  Творчество ;) We tried some different things this week as a district it was exciting. We tried to incorporate a guitar in contacting I dont know if it was anymore successful than normal contacting but a ton more people came on our activity that day so I'm gonna say that it worked! Haha we basically just had someone play and another sing while we handed out church and english cards to people walking by and tried to talk with them! We got out a bunch of cards! Оливье 🥗 This is like one of my favorite foods in Ukraine and this week I ate it about 3 times so I couldn't be happier. It's actually a salad. It has boiled eggs, ham, peas, carrots, potatoes, pickles, and mayo and I absolutely love it. Ukrainian food...

This week was super great!!!! Woohoo! We had a lot of good things happen and a few fun moments as well!  The forest We've been trying to explore our area a little bit more and our excursion found us in the middle of our area in some forest at 5:00 p.m. which mean it's already dark. We heard some weird birds in the tree. Elder Payne got taken out by the snow on the ground mixed with the downhill slop. (In other words he fell) but he's doing good. It only hurt his pride. The frost This week the cold got us pretty good. I don't know where he came from but he really bites. We did a survey together as a district and we were standing around talking with people handing out cards and we about froze off our hands haha. I think the wind, humidity, temperature combo is a killer. Бабушки The Babushki or "Grandmas" all love us here. The ones in the branch the ones we meet on the street they all really love us. Because they love us they're not a...

Hello everybody, Week This was a really excellent week here in Kharkiv! We are seeing some very exciting things happening. I so loved Zone Conference and the teachings that were shared! There was so much to learn and now to begin to apply into our missionary work. I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue to set goals and improve the work that I can do for the Lord and these people.  At the beginning of this week we had an opportunity to do a little mini exchange with Poltava prior to Zone Conference the following night. This went very well! I was with Elder Hamilton, it was really cool to find out how much he has changed in just a couple transfer since when I was with him in Dnipro. His Russian has improved a lot and he has strong faith and love for these people! He's a great missionary. We were able to talk with many people as we contacted together that evening.  Zone Conference  I really enjoyed Zone Conference this week we talked a lot about how ...

Dear Family and Amigos, As always this week was also another great week! Each one is filled with so many great blessings. I feel like I'm really beginning to feel myself at home here in Kharkiv and that I've finally got a good understanding of who the members are here, who we are teaching, the area, and all that jazz.  Family Home Evening This week we went to the Lobanovi's house on Monday for family home evening. They have 2 sons who were just baptized not long ago. They were getting to know me and I told them that I play the guitar. So they whip out the family guitar and hand it to me and together we sang give said the little stream in Russian. It was a good moment for sure. After that I handed the guitar over to Gleb and Yegor and they absolutely are prodigies I was amazed at how good they play. And they're both like 10 and 12. Skills.. Exchange! We had an exchange with the Novy Doma elders and it went super good! They're absolutely awesome...

Hello everyone! This is Elder Halls now writing you all from Kharkiv!! A little further North than ever before haha. Today there is snow on the ground just not in the center of the area because in the city center itself it's too warm with all the cars and people. So we had to go a little further out and then we could enjoy the freshly fallen snow. We're hoping that more comes our way because Snow is really the coolest. For all you that think you'd like a snowless winter I don't know if you 100% understand what you're saying. All the cold but non of the white snow? Not worth it in my opinion.  This week we spent a lot of time getting to know better the branch, the area, the members, the investigators, and everything in between. So in despite of the fact that there has been a lot of new things to get used to, things are going really good so far! I'm serving with Elder Payne which has been a blessing for sure! I've already learned a lot and we're wo...

Alright everyone! This is Elder Halls coming to you live from Dnipro!!  My Dnipro days have once again come to a close and my mantel of Assistanthood has been transferred onto the shoulders of another and now I will go to walk in the footsteps of my Father Elder Rodgerson and spend my days as a Zone Leader in Kharkiv. With Elder Payne. I can't think of a greater honor. I think deeply of the great missionaries before me who have served in Kharkiv Center and who have brought about such great a work there. We have long awaited this day... great things are about to happen in Kharkiv This week was really good! And then a little sad but all in all really good!! We were supppppeeerrr busy!! I don't think I have had busier weeks. But what a way to go out ;) We had a meeting almost everyday and the days that we didn't have meetings we had exchanges! So needless to say we stayed on our toes in about all that we did. But that kept things really exciting! We had a lesson...