This is AWESOME

 Hey everybody, 

It's Christmas time which means great things for missionary work. 

Time is flying by, I am feeling lost in the work. I want to make the most of every moment that I have left.

My current companion Elder Angus and I are doing really well. We have been striving to rely on the Lord in all that we do and become better missionaries every day. It's so exciting to see the blessings that come when we do our best to be faithful and obedient. All of my worldly cares have fallen by the wayside as I try to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ. I'm happier than I've ever been in my mission and having amazing experiences. I feel so grateful to be serving during this time.

Some cool miracles from recent weeks:

Efrain got baptized! This guy actually found the missionaries, came up to us on the street and said hi. Such a good guy, he's about 20 years old. He lost his mom when he was little and when he learned about the Plan of Salvation and the fact that he can see her again, he just lit up. He was baptized in a month, and now he comes to church early to set up chairs every week. Teaching him was such a blessing because it just goes to show you that the Lord really is preparing people to accept His gospel. Efrain is so humble and kind. Now he's been helping us teach some other people who are preparing for baptism.

We have a ton of experiences that are undeniably from God and wouldn't happen without him. For example, talking to a guy in a park who led us all the way to his house where he lives with a member of the church who referred us to his other friend who we began teaching that day and who just came to church yesterday.

Or how I lost my wallet in the middle of the most ghetto city in our mission and after 2 days of looking for it, gave up hope. Then we were back in the area a week later and a man came biking up to us at about 8 PM. He stopped us as we were about to get in the car and head back to eat dinner and asked if either of us had lost a wallet. I said I had and he biked back to his house around the block, came back and gave me my wallet. He had picked it up the week before, saw my temple recommend and decided that he shouldn't steal it. He had been holding it until he was able to find someone who looked like they fit the description 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints'. However, he had taken all the money out of my wallet ($5) and I just let him keep it.

We still get a ton of people who cuss us out when we try to talk with them or try to bash with us but honestly I just love everybody I serve.

There have been so many cool miracles and I'm seeing how the Book of Mormon has power to change people as well. We began teaching a girl who started out by saying that we could come back if we wanted to, didn't seem too interested, and within a few times of us visiting and reading the Book of Mormon with her, she was arranging her own return appointments and asking what she could do to get closer to God. As she felt the Spirit from the Book of Mormon, I saw her become a more patient, loving and gentler person. I have seen the Book of Mormon leave the same effect on me as well.

We have lots of logistics to figure out with Covid, but luckily we aren't in lockdown. We spend at least 6-8 hours outside every day, visiting, teaching and finding. It's such a blessing to be out, talking to everyone and representing the Savior. 

I feel so blessed and happy to be a missionary. It's cool to work alongside President and be a little bit behind the scenes with a lot of the planning that goes into running the mission. We've seen the mission as a whole being much more successful in the past few months. Covid definitely isn't slowing down the work, the mission has more than doubled its baptisms. I have a lot of love for the missionaries and think it's a blast to be with them and get to work with everyone in the mission.

I know this is God's work and I am committed to moving it forward. I love being a missionary.

我们大家凭着信心，什么都能做到！

Elder Halverson