Monday, November 26, 2018

Ο ΝΑΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝA!!!!

ΓΕΙΑ ΣΑΣ!!!

So it was a great week and so lets get to it.

So last Monday and Tuesday we just went crazy and handed out flyers for the Jenny Oaks Baker concert that we had on Tuesday night. Tuesday we had to go and print more flyers and we went to this 3-D print shop cause it was the only thing we could find and he let us use his printer and then turns out that he was an official Dude there is apparently a religion called Dudeism and he was a dudeist priest. Then that night during the concert I was out on usher duty for the last half and I was able to talk with the security guard about what we believe and gave him a Book of Mormon and he said that he would read it in a month and we told him we would be back to follow up it was really cool!

Wednesday, I kinda forgot what happened this day to be honest whoops.

Thursday, we had a great day we were able to meet a contact from the friendship center named Maesum he is a really good kid and started asking us about Jesus it was really cool and the gospel can help him so much, he comes from Iran and has lost his whole family and it is sad but it is so good just to know that the message that we have can change his life forever so we hope things continue to go well as we meet with him. And then to end it all off we had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner from at the office couples house it was really cool, and just made me think of how grateful I am to be so blessed in my life with so many things and most of all for my family and the opportunity that I have to serve the lord!

On Friday we had an exchange and I was with Elder Ala-Jaaski it was a good day we went to the soup kitchen and cleaned dishes all day and then at night we went and did a whiteboard and all the sudden the whether decided to take a turn to the cold side and I turned into a Popsicle and one guy even tried to sell me his coat it was pretty funny.

Saturday, in the morning we had a youth activity which went really well and then we had a whiteboard in the evening which was pretty good until this guy came and just started dancing right next to us then we had to move but it was a fun night. 

Sunday, we went to branch council before the meetings and got to discuss missionary work in Athens and then we had a great day at church and had a great lesson with the youth about Helaman 5:12 and building our foundation upon Jesus Christ cause he will never fail us. Then we had a baptism and Nikolas was baptized! It was very cool because me and Elder Balser found him together and it was cool to see him be baptized. Then we had dinner at the Hom's then a music whiteboard in the evening and just had a great way to cap off the week!

Then today we went on a "zone" activity (Thess was missing) but we went to the Temple of Poseidon it was really cool and pretty windy but it was cool and we got to see a lot of cool beach which was cool.




Well I love you all and hope that you have just fantastic weeks!

Αγάπη μόνο,

Πρεσβύτερος Χάλβερσον

Monday, November 19, 2018

ΑΛΒΑΝΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΛΙ!!!

ΓΕΙΑ ΠΑΙΔΙΑ

Well what a week it has been!

So last Monday we went out to do a whiteboard and things didn't go to well I got yelled at by some crazy guy for a bit and then some guy tried to tell me to come with him to the Telestial Kingdom cause living a life of sin is just so great but I was able to share some good testimonies and just realize how thankful I am to God for the testimony that he has given me that nobody can take away!

Tuesday! we flew to Albania for the MLC and our flight got delayed and two cars went up in flames on the freeway so we got a bit delayed but it all ended well with some really good crepes so we were all good and I made friends with a lady on the airplane and she said that she was going to go and read the whole thing!


Wednesday, we had our MLC with President Johnson of the Europe area presidency, it was awesome and an amazing experience to be there we were also able to have an amazing Thanksgiving dinner for lunch which was really awesome. 

Thursday we had a great day we went and did service for a day in Albania at an LDS charities wheelchair place and we took the bus and the bus driver told us to get off at the wrong stop and so we got stranded in the middle of nowhere in Albania but luckily one of the guys had the places number and they gave them a call and they show up with 1 jeep and there are 8 of us and they just say "get in" and we piled in and left it was pretty fun.



Friday we had our Zone Conference with President Johnson and it was amazing! I love especially when he told us that to be like Jesus Christ it is pretty simple we just have to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and then we can be like him sounds simple but is so tough but it is a good goal just to always live the gospel!
Elder Halverson and Elder Nelson
Saturday I was HOME!! I got to go back to Thess it was awesome the best part was I was able to go and see Dimitri and Brother Matrapazis! They are doing awesome and it was so good to be able to go and do an exchange with the DLs up there and see the city and how things are going.
Elder Halverson and Dimitri
Elder Halverson and Brother Matrapazis


Sunday was a great Sabbath and to top it all off we were blessed with a spiritual fireside from Jenny Oaks Baker in the evening and she played with her family if you don't know who she is look her up on youtube she is a very good violinist.

Well that is my week I love you all and hope that you do amazing things this week!

αγάπη μόνο,

Πρεσβύτερος Χάλβερσον

Monday, November 12, 2018

πω πω τι εβδομάδα ήταν αυτή;

ΓΕΙΑ!!!

Well it for sure was a crazy week yet again but for sure a good one!

Tuesday we went out and met up with two new friends which was pretty awesome and so we go and we are meeting with Giannis and we are trying to do the how to begin teaching and so we ask him a little bit about what he believes and that turned into something really interesting and then at some point he was crouched down in front of us as we sat on a bench and just started telling us how he talked with animals and gave us an example of how he would talk with a cat it was for sure interesting but we know the gospel can change people so we hope things go well! Then after we had some good music finding down in the Center.

Wednesday, well we taught English class in the morning and then in the afternoon we taught some lessons and they went well! We were able to teach Stavros who is an older Greek man and he really likes our message the only problem is that he just takes them all and is like yeah that is what is right and then we are like ok will you do it, and he is just like well I don't know I don't have much time it is kinda funny but he said he is going to read this week which is awesome!

Thursday it rained a little bit but than that night we were able to go out and have some good finding after teaching English Class in the evening.

Friday we went to the soup kitchen and then we went and met up with another friend named Giannis he is a really good kid and we have now got a good relationship going.

Saturday we had interviews with President and then we went out and played soccer with Giannis and some other missionaries and their friends and it went really well and at the end we were able to answer a lot of questions that Giannis had about the church and it was a really cool experience. 

Sunday was a great day so Veli and his family came to church and that was awesome and they were able to witness a confirmation which was just awesome! Also we show up at church and there was a huge group from BYU Jerusalem and I was able to see a friend from home that was cool but also pretty weird and everyone just knew people that I knew not going to lie it was pretty weird being in Greece and having been away from that for so long but it was also kinda cool to see what a small world. Then that night I had a great experience doing some finding I was talking to someone about the restoration and it was super cool and the spirit was there as we talked about the 1st vision and after he was like "wow that is really cool, do you do the cross?" and I said no and then he didn't say another word and just walked away so that was pretty weird.

Today was just a chill day we went to the church and played some ping pong, but sorry no pictures this week sorry.

Αγάπη μόνο!

Πρεσβύτερος Χάλβερσον

Picture Alicia got from her friend with BYU Jerusalum

Elder Halverson sent me this today it is from a couple of weeks ago.  They look happy!

Monday, November 5, 2018

ΔΕΝ ΞΕΡΩ

ΓΕΙΑ ΠΑΙΔΙΑ!!

So it was a good week yet again haha!

Tuesday was a good day we were able to go to the Thornton's house for dinner for Elder Fasa's kinda welcome back party or dinner it was really nice and we had a really good time they are good people.

Wednesday was a good day we had two meetings, one with an Albanian lady named Alma who just loves learning about religion and said she would like her and her daughters to come to church which was awesome! Then we met up again with Veli and his family and talk about the Book of Mormon and the gift of the Holy Ghost it was a good lesson and the spirit was definitely there which was cool! Then that night at a whiteboard I met a man named Ayan also from Turkey and I taught him all about temples and families just right there in the middle of the square which was really awesome!

Thursday, was just a good day of missionary work talking with the kosmo.

Then on Friday we went to the soup kitchen in the morning and I got to know a guy named Hugo pretty well he is from Argentina and so by the end we had it worked out he would just speak to me in Spanish and I would respond in Greek and we had some interesting convos. 

Saturday we went out to the market and met up with Giannis and talked about the BoM and how it answers the questions of the souls and he said he would read it and also how he really likes the church it was a bit weird cause he just talked about nature and so it was a bit confusing but good. Then we went and a dinner appointment and Hedy's house which was awesome! Then we had a lesson that night with Ayan the guy I met on Tuesday and we were able to talk about God's plan for him and it was really cool to see the Spirit bear testimony to him as we were talking you could just see in his face that he was feeling it and that he loved it. 

Sunday we had a good/crazy day. So Elder Fasa met this girl named Zoe at a whiteboard a couple days before and she came to church and it was a good fast in testimony meeting but some things were said that she didn't really like and then for the last our we taught the youth and talked about receive personal revelation which we thought was going to be really good then we showed this video that I maybe the mistake of just reading about and not watching and it talked about the standards we have with movies and with drinking coffee, which don't get me wrong are not something bad, but for a first time investigator it is a bit much and so that was just the start of the digging of the whole and then my comp just kinda left me there to hang dry for the rest of the lesson (30 minutes) and not gonna lie it was a bit rough but on the bright side she said that she was going to come back in two weeks once she is back from vacation so I guess it didn't go too bad.

Then today was a good day we did a lot of cleaning and then we went to the Acropolis Museum and it was really cool.

So that was my week it was pretty exciting this week God definitely does guide his work no matter how many mistakes we make!

Σας αγαπάω πολύ!

Πρεσβύτερος Χάλβερσον

a selfie with me and my quick greek food last night, μπουιουρδι (Boradi)