October 10th, 2011

Hello everyone-

I hope your week has gone well and that this coming week is even better.

Jules thank you for the package. It was perfect. Tiff Tracy, I love you so much. Congratulations. I'll be sending your letter shortly. To Sister Hosking. Good luck in Romania. I am so proud of you. To everyone else I love you. :)

I took a tour of 55 people through the Jail last night. After it was over a lady came up to me and said, "I feel impressed to tell you that you should talk more about the 2nd coming at the end of your presentation. You would get so many more people to join the church if you scared them a little." This was all said in a very serious tone. I didn't really know what to take from that......

The Visitor's center director and his wife do a little history tour twice a year for the sisters serving in the centers. Because I hadn't gone yet, it was my turn. There were 15 of us all together. We started at the jail and then headed to Farr West. It’s such a cool place. If you are looking for the so called "visual site", Farr West is not the place to get that, but spiritually, its perfect. To know that in that small gated area is where saints sacrificed, and a temple of the Lord was being constructed is pretty powerful. It is where Joseph Smith and many others walked.....

We also went up to Adam-ondi-ahman. It didn't look half as pretty as it did in the summer time, but it was still a very cool place none-the-less. To think that that is where Adam and Eve were cast out, and to know that the Savior will come again to that spot is something that I can't wrap my head around. Our tour guide, Brother Tervort, asked us to remember to do one thing, "be worthy". We don't have to move there yet or act like the world is ending now, but we do need to be worthy. Be worthy to enter into such a sacred place and be worthy to enter into the presence of our Savior Jesus Christ. "Be ready and be worthy." It was a very surreal, humbling moment.

For Sister Fie'eiki and I it’s been an "off" week. Unfortunately Fe is still sick. To top it off she has not only lost her voice but it’s completely gone. I have literally been talking to myself all week and have become pretty good at reading lips. Poor girl. Keep her in your prayers.

Because we have had the "opportunity" to spend plenty of time at home this week, we have both gotten some really good studies in. My favorite talk of the week- “The Spirit of Conversion” (I have to train in district meeting on this topic Friday) by Elder Loren C. Dunn. I may just love it because it applies to me as a missionary. But reading it again and again I have realized that it even more so applies to those "without the name tag". Elder Dunn stated this from President Marion G. Romney, "A person who has a testimony may not also be converted. The two are not necessarily the same. He said that a testimony is a witness of the spirit given when a person is taught the gospel. And then, if the person responds to that experience, it causes the person to repent and obey the commandments and thus be baptized. Conversion, on the other hand, means knowing your sins have been forgiven and having your spirit healed. He said that a person will know he is converted by how he feels." This statement made me think of the talk given by Elder Holland right before I entered the MTC last January. He talks about how for so many years we have been jumping over the missionary and going straight to the investigator. But instead we need to get to the missionary first.

I have thought a lot about that this week. What do I need to do to be spiritually converted as a missionary and as a member? Truthfully, it’s something I'm still trying to figure out. It’s not all going to come at once. You can't read the scriptures once and suddenly be converted. It takes time. It’s a continual, enduring process, just as Sister Dalton stated in General Conference, "Be loyal to the royal within you." No matter how converted I am or how much I know, each and every one of us has that "royalty". The Spirit is the one and only thing that can help us become loyal to ourselves, to our testimony and to our conversion. The Spirit is that "royal" teacher, testifier, comforter, and converter. I must do all that I can to be "loyal" to that Spirit. To search, seek, ask, and endure. The two together make that spirit of conversion.

Elder Dunn concluded his talk with this quote by President Hinckley, " In the conversion process, the searching should be so complete and the endorsement of the Spirit so real that there will be no disruptive challenges to the convert after he or she is in the Church." I realize that I am not a literal "convert" to the Church, but what I know today had to be sought after. It started with the example of my amazing parents, friends and influences that I am eternally grateful for. It continued in my efforts of seeking. Through my own "spirit of conversion" I have come to know for myself that this is the true Church. I am exactly where I should be, and as long as I and each one of you continue to be "loyal to the royal within us" that is all we can do. I hope each of us is striving for our best, for the Spirit and for our own personal conversion.

I love each of you. You mean everything to me. Be safe.

All my love.

Sister Hall

If you are able to follow this email at all I will be amazed.

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