Merry Christmas!

Jesus Christ is basically everything for me.  He is my Savior, my Redeemer, my Brother and my Friend. He has done so much for me just with His example and then He also gave us the best gift that could ever be given and He suffered more than we can ever comprehend so that we do not have to. We can never say "there isn't anyone who understands" and that is because there is, He understands everything we have ever been through. I know this because He has comforted me in my lowest times. He has lifted me when I have needed, and He has made my burdens easy to bear. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. He wants us to come unto Him. His arms are always stretched out to us and He wants us to just come into His embrace and as we choose to do this we will experience joy and peace that we could never be able to have without Him. I love my Savior and I know that I cannot do this journey in life without Him and I know He is always my source fore peace and comfort and that He will never abandon me. Christmas is not about us or gifts or giving. It is about our Savor and His humble beginnings in a manger. As we think of Him this Christmas let us not forget that He is our source of comfort peace and joy that can never be taken from us and best thing we can do for Him is to share it.

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Love,

Brig

Christmas!!!

Hey everyone!

I hope all is well and that you all have a Merry Christmas! This will be my last email before Christmas cause as it is Christmas next Monday I will be skypeing instead of email so yeah.

Ok so on Tuesday we made some cookies and we put some stuff on them for Christmas. Then we took them around to our neighbors and friends and it went really well. We made friends with a new lady called Maria who wants to see us again sometime that was cool.

Then on Wednesday we did finding and had a lesson with our less-active friend Manolis. It went really well he is a really funny guy he is a Greek and just loves Jesus so he loves Christmas it was a good meeting. Also this day we got a call from an unknown number and we got a call from a former Investigator from about a year ago saying that he wanted to meet up that was really cool. In the evening we ran into this guy on the street and talked for like 30 minutes about Greece and why we are here and stuff and we are going to meet up with him sometime this week which is really cool.

Then on Thursday we had a lesson with Athanasios the former investigator that called us and it went well. He is an interesting guy and has a lot of questions so it was cool. He wants to be a member of the church but maybe not for the right reasons we got work ahead of us but definitely potential.

Then on Friday we did a little bit of Christmas caroling with some of the sisters and other Elders. It was an interesting experience but we did talk to a couple people. My companion loves singing so he loved it while I got to talk to some people. Then we went to the church that night and we practiced for a big Light the world devotional that we had on Saturday.

So Saturday we had the Light the World devotional and it was really cool and we all got to let off balloons we had about 100 or so people there which was really cool and a papa from the orthodox church came and we got a picture.
​So yeah saturday was pretty cool.

Then Sunday was a good day we went to church and just had a good day and we also had a lesson with Dharmen and it went really well and he said he is going to read and pray this week.

So yeah it was a really good week and we have a lot of potential for this next week it is awesome.

The message I would like to leave with you guys today is to remember the reason for the season Christmas is about Christ and how amazing he is for us and the best way we can do that is by spreading his love and his kindness to others.

Love,

Elder Halverson

P.S. 

A little doodle on the whiteboard during a lunch, Christmas is great

Training!!

Hey Everyone!

Well this week was for sure an interesting one so lets get to this.

Tuesday, in the morning, we had to go to the church early to go and help the office couple move some things into the sisters apartment. As we were getting ready for the new group of missionaries to come in and then we had a good last district meeting as a district.

Wednesday was transfer day! So I now have a trainee and his name is Elder Gaskill from Payson Utah, he is a singer and super energetic and ready to get to work so we should have a busy 12 weeks ahead of us. That is pretty much it for that day a lot of orientation stuff.

Thursday we again went to the Salvation Army to give out clothes. It was super crazy and we ended up staying an extra two hours to help out. Oh man it was crazy but also good just to serve.

Friday was a day. We tried to visit some less actives but didn't see anyone and then that night we tried to play basketball and it didn't go great. Oh well everyone has those days.

Saturday was a great day, we talked to a ton of people and also made a friend who we are going to visit this week. Then we had a really good lesson with our less active friend Manolis and it was good. Then to cap off a great day we had the branch Christmas party with really good food. We made some sweet ginger bread houses!

Sunday was a good day it was my first day going back to church in English. I won't lie it was a little weird but also cool. We had a primary program with the 8 primary kids it was cool and still a classic primary program.

Today me Elder Balser and Elder Albertson had to finish our residencies. We basically sat outside for 2 hours to wait to sign some papers again it was weird but hey thats Greece for you. 

So something cool from this week in the last General Conference in the talk from President Eyring he said that "Faith always defeats fear." That is something really cool because it is true as long as we have faith we have nothing to fear.

I love you all,

Elder Halverson

#LightTheWorld

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had a great week cause mine was again really good!

Last Monday and Tuesday nothing much happened we did a lot of finding but didn't find anyone.

Wednesday we have a local market that we go to and try to make friends. This week we talked to a lady selling oranges. She liked us a lot and gave us some free oranges it was really cool. In the evening we did a whiteboard with the youth for the light the world program. In Greece we are trying to get as many people as we can to fill out a card about how they can help someone and get a picture of it. It should be cool. The activity was really fun we had 3 companionships there and all of the youth in Athens and it was cool. At first they were scared to talk with people and then as time went on they did better then we did. Here are some pictures.

Thursday was just a normal day with some weekly planning so a good day.

Friday was a pretty crazy day we had 4 lessons! Our first was with an internet referral who just wanted a BoM for educational reasons. Then he just grilled us with a bunch of questions. It was interesting but he is going to read the BoM so we still have a chance. Then we had one with a referral from a Senior couple. It was weird. He was basically a JW and wanted to teach us but we talked about the BoM and gave him one. He said he would read it and wanted to come to church one day so he has some potential. Then we had lessons with some members Ralph, and then the Sankoh family. We talked about light the world which was good.

Saturday was a good day we got to go and clean Mars Hill with the other missionaries. A cool thing is that in the winter in Greece everything gets green again so the hill was starting to get green and it was pretty. Then that night we got calls with President about the transfer, I am going to be staying where I am and training Elder Gaskil from Payson Utah so it should be really cool. I am excited Elder Goodwin is also staying we are going to have a 4 man apartment it should be fun.

Sunday was a good fast Sunday and we had a good day at church. We got invited to a meal at the Thornton's house again. They are awesome and we had a good roast dinner it was awesome!

So that was my week. This week I would like to let you all know that Prayer works. If you have the desire to act when you ask you will see miracles. Well thats all I got for today.

Love,

Elder Halverson

THANKSGIVING!!

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving this week. Mine was really awesome but we will get to that later.

Tuesday there was another metro strike so we did a lot of work just around our house and in the neighborhood. That night Elders Craig and Balser came down from Thess and stayed with us for the night.

Wednesday, me and Elder Balser went early and met up with Elder Albertson. We went and met up with President and went to get our Residency stuff all worked out. Because apparently we only have to do that if we are Americans so it was just us. After that we had interviews with President which went really well and I found out that I am staying in the same area here in Athens to train.

Thursday was a crazy day. To start we had a "Training for Trainers" meeting with all the other trainers in Greece. It was a good meeting. Then we went to the President's house for a Thanksgiving dinner. To start we did a "turkey bowl" or sort of we really just threw a football around on the street.

Then we had a killer thanksgiving dinner from Sister Heder it was really awesome.

So yeah that was a good day.

On Friday we had Zone conference and it was really a good meeting. We talked a lot about how we need to apply what we learn from meetings and stuff into our lives, that is so important. We may learn something cool but then the next day we forget about it we really need to make sure that we remember to apply what we learn everyday! (we also had letfover turkey sandwiches) 

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Saturday was a pretty chill day we did weekly planning and met up with some friends in the evening and actually had a conversation about religion which was cool.

Sunday was a good day. Church was good and I understood more again this week which was good. After church a member Heidi had all of the missionaries to her house for a meal which was good. It was falafel which was actually really good, and then Sushi, it was my first time with that too and I was surprised it wasn't actually that bad haha.

But yeah that was my week thanks to everyone for all of the love and support I love you all.

Love,

Elder Halverson

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WOW!

Hey Everyone!

How are you all doing? I am doing great.

I will start with last Monday, we were walking around and doing some finding as we were walking around we ran into some members from America. They were all women and they were very nice and stopped us. One of them asked if we could give her a blessing because she was really sick so we went and found a nice quiet place. There just happened to be a chair which was awesome and we gave her a blessing. It was for sure an interesting experience but it made me realize how grateful I am to be worthy to be able to do that whenever it is needed.

Tuesday we started an exchange and I took over the area with Elder Schafer from Switzerland. We had a good night. We went to a members house to teach a lesson. It was also the first time I have had crab it was actually pretty good.

Wednesday, this night we went back again and played soccer with our friends. This time went even better than the last time and they made sure we were coming back it is awesome. Then we got to the metro a little early but they had closed it early so we had to walk home. Luckily we were only two stops from our house and still made it home on time. Also to go with the title there is just this guy at soccer and he just yells wow all the time. I is really funny so yeah.

Thursday we went back to the Salvation Army. This time was really easy compared to other times because it was just pouring rain not everybody showed up so it was really relaxed and a lot easier than usual which was good.

Then Friday and Saturday were both uneventful days except for Friday we got a call and found out that both me and my trainer are going to be training new missionaries coming in the next transfer which should be fun! Also it was weird I asked a man if I could help him with some bags. He just said we could help by doing the cross and we just said sorry we can't and then he just started yelling at us to do it and so we just had to walk away as he yelled at us down the street haha.

Sunday, we had a good day in the Branch. I understood more in Priesthood in that I could actually follow the lesson which was good. It was the Allens last Sunday they are the Senior Couple that worked in the office so we had a meal with them after church and it was really good.

Today we went to Syntegma and looked around. We also got some pictures I will add, there was also, at the metro station, a little art gallery so we thought why not and tried it out. The thing is you can take pictures of the art just not of you with it whoops. But yeah a good day!

This week I have started to read more out of Jesus the Christ and wow we have such an amazing opportunity to have a Savior and Redeemer I want you all to know that I know that through Christ is how we will obtain true happiness.

Love,

Elder Halverson

A Mission Never Has Down Moments!

Hey Everyone!

It was a good week.

Tuesday was pretty exciting. We got a call on Monday night we were asked to go back to the refugee camp again this week and help out there again because the government gave them permission to have one more day to clean stuff out. We went and helped this time with all of the missionaries in Athens it was cool. With everyone there we moved stuff very quick.

After our service we went back had district mee​ting and then we had a mid-point training for all the trainees and their trainers here in Athena. It w​as cool and we also got to do it all in our p-day clothes which was cool.

Wednesday, was pretty uneventful outside the fact that we tried some soccer finding for the first time and it actually went really well. We made 9 friends and also got invited to come and play with them every week so it was awesome for us.

Thursday, we got to go back and help out at the Salvation Army again which was really cool. But again difficult because the refugees don't want what they don't want and are very picky but it was fun.

Friday, nothing super eventful happened just a normal day of stuff.

Saturday, went pretty well we went and did some finding at night and we ending up talking to this guy for 40 minutes. It was just a normal conversation but we talked about the church a little bit and we texted a little afterwards. He said he wants to come by church sometime so that was really cool. He spoke perfect English and Greek which was cool.

Sunday, was another good day. To start in the Greek branch we got a new branch presidency so it was a good meeting. Then after we had the oppurtunity to put on a sacrament meeting for students who were visiting from BYU Jerusalem and it was a very good meeting.

Well that is really it for this week. To end you guys with a good thought I want to share the new finding plan we have in our mission. It is called "Be the Message" and the main point of the finding is to do it how the Savior would in our shoes and also to make true friends not just people to teach. It is really cool but it is also tough to find people to teach that way. The point I want to make is that it is really important just to be friends with everyone because that is what Jesus would do. If we do that we will be so much happier in everything we do. I have seen it here in my mission already it is awesome.

Well I love you all,

Elder Halverson

Here are some more pictures from the refugee camp:

Hey Everyone! (Again haha)

Hey everyone,

Well it feels like it was yesterday I was sending out my last email - ha ha cause it basically was whoops. But as I promised this will be a short one for ya.

So Friday night we went to play basketball. We played with these two guys the whole night as a team of 4 and played a lot of games. It was cool. Then after we talked to them for about 30 minutes and they asked us for our Facebooks so we could be in contact! It was so cool. They were really nice guys so hopefully we can go somewhere with them.

Then Saturday to be honest really not much happened. We did do service around our neighborhood which went better than usual. But we are still struggling to meet the neighbors. 

Sunday was a great day though, we had our investigator Alex at church. It was super awesome. We also had 3 less actives at church. There was a guy from Canada there that was a Greek and so he knew Greek. He took over the lessons in Priesthood and Sunday school and just overloaded our investigator with information. It was stressful but luckily Alex is a good guy he was OK with it and is still interested. Then after church we had a lesson with Dharmen our other investigator and we taught really well but he is still just a bit skeptical. But we know when he starts to read the BoM it will be all good he just has to read.

Today we had an interesting experience whilst shopping. As we were waiting in line we were talking with an old lady about what we do here. Then another lady came up and in English asked us if we would give our lives for our church. We said yes, then she just said oh one day we will see and I will be there to see it, it was really kinda creepy but oh well.

Well that's all that I got, the church is true, and I know that the BoM is the key so never stop reading.

Love,

Elder Halverson

Here's a nice picture of the ocean for all you guys too, sorry I got no other pictures this week.

ΟΠΑ!!!

Hey everyone!

Well I am just going to apologize now this is going to be a long one because it has certainly been an interesting and busy week, but I promise the next one will be short.

Ok, so not this last Monday but the 23rd, we made a friend named Aley playing soccer. We are probably going to play soccer with him again on Saturday which is cool.

Tuesday and Wednesday last week were pretty uneventful days, but we did order some Domino's on Tuesday which was good.

Thursday we went and played basketball and made some good new friends which was pretty cool. They were really good at basketball.

Friday was a good day that night we went and played basketball again. This time we played with a girl named Emma and the Sisters. Emma has an interesting story. Basically she is a youth and was baptized this year but then her parents flipped out and made her remove her name from the church. She now has to report home every Sunday to make sure she isn't going to church anymore. It is really sad but she still reads the Book of Mormon and she loves the missionaries. She likes to hang out with us sometimes and she is really cool. It was fun it get to know her. 

Οχι day

Saturday, wow this was a good day it was a Greek holiday Οχι day. It is big holiday because everywhere closes. Luckily we had an activity at the church. It was a good activity about how we need to be strong in our standards and say no to stuff. -oh yeah οχι in english means no. After our meeting the church had some greek food for us and also some Greek music. We had a really good time. We have a crazy old lady in the branch who snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a plate to smash and yell opa because that is what they do. Luckily somebody stopped her but she still was shouting opa all night it was a fun time.

Sunday, was just a normal day with meetings at church and studies. It was a good relaxing Sabbath.

Spot of bible picture

Monday, was an awesome day we got a treat because President and Sister Heder took us to go and see Corinth and a cool city called Naphlia. It was really cool. At Corinth we went to the spot where they took the bible picture which was really cool. We also went up to a fortress that they had on the mountain there and you could look over the city and the ocean it was beautiful.

Then we went to this little city called Naphlia which was the origonal capital of Greece or where they declared their independence. We were able to go to a cool fortress and walk along the ocean it was amazing and really nice to see how old Greece was before they built up the concrete jungle of Athens. It was just nice to get out of the city. That is why I didn't email on Monday.

Tuesday, we had plans to do our shopping and emails. Just as we were about to go out the door we got a call that they needed help at a refugee camp. So we changed and headed out to the refugee camp. They were closing down the camp and they had planned on having a week to move out but it got changed to a day so we went over and moved stuff all day it was a great opportunity to serve.

​That night we started an exchange with Elder Cziesla who was over from Cyprus with his companion who was at the Leadership meeting so he was with us.

Wednesday, we had Elder Cziesla with us all day so we again could not email so other than that is was a regular day.

Today we had a lesson with our investigator Alex at the church. That went really well he is even going to come to church on Sunday which is amazing! Then we had companionship study with President Heder it was really cool we talked about the Atonement and how it is only going to work for us if we accept it.

Well I think that is it sorry again for the long one but it was a good week. Also this week I realized the importance of reading the Book of Mormon everyday some days were super busy and we didn't have time to do any studies but I was able to read just a chapter from the Book of Mormon and it is so amazing the spirit it brings to our lives.

Σας αγαπάω,

Elder Halverson

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