ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ!! (ΠΑΝΤΟΥ ΕΙΝΑΙ)

ΓΕΙΑ ΣΑΣ!!!!

Well this week was pretty great! 

Tuesday, we went out again to Mati to help clean up the fires and we had a good time and were able to finish clearing out one person's house so they now just have to scrub it up and then start to rebuild which is cool. Then that night we were able to teach English class which went really well and we got a few people to come out. 

Wednesday I got to teach another English class at the Friendship center to Refugees who didn't speak English or Greek so that was a bit interesting but I think it went well I couldn't really communicate with them so to be honest I couldn't really tell ya.

On Thursday we in the morning got to help out at the park and we made friends with the guy we were working with and his name is Jimmy and he said he would like to come to church sometime which is really cool.

Friday was then yet another great day, we met up with a guy from Africa named Prince and he wants to learn about the church and is super enthusiastic about hearing the word of God so it is pretty cool and we hope that everything goes well for him.

Then Saturday, we in the morning went to the street market to do some service and we talked with one of our friends who owns a shop and we gave her a book of Mormon and she wants to meet up and talk about it which is awesome! Then on our way back we ran into another friend at the park who we hadn't seen since we gave him a Book of Mormon but he told us that he had been reading it and that he loved it which is super awesome and we now have his phone number so we can meet up with him this week!

Sunday was then a great Sabbath day and we were surprised by the members with a big meal for everyone in the branches and it was super awesome and we had a member who was baptized a little bit ago who received the Aaronic Priesthood and that was super awesome to be able to see that and the things that change!

Today was a good day we got to walk around a bit because the metro wasn't working right but it was a really nice time and then we met up with Elders Gaskill and Albertson and headed over to a Mexican place and then a little bit later two more Elders and the Sisters showed up at the same place and then just a bit later the other 4 Elders in Athens showed up at the same place, all unplanned showing up in the same restaurant at the same time it was really funny so we decided to take a pic.

Well that is it for the day, just always remember as my sister has told me before "God is good" and he really is!

ΣΑΣ ΑΓΑΠΑΩ!

ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΟΣ ΧΑΛΒΕΡΣΟΝ

ΛΙΚΑΒΙΤΟΣ

ΓΕΙΑ!!!

Well it was such an amazing week!

Tuesday we again went out to the fires and were able to help out, it was awesome! Then that night we started an exchange with Elders Gaskill and Albertson I was able to head out with Elder Gaskill into their area.

Wednesday we had our exchange and that night we taught our first self-reliance class it went pretty well. At the end we ask the guy that was there if he wanted to find a job and he said "no". So we asked him why he wanted to come and he said he just likes the missionaries so that was pretty cool. 

Thursday was a good day we did our planning for the week and then that night we went out and did the Voice of the Lord survey. It went pretty well as a group we did awesome!

On Friday we had a lesson with one of our friends from the Voice of the Lord he is 19 and Greek! and interested! man it is crazy but we are super excited to continue to meet up with him his name is Giannis.

Saturday we had another awesome lesson with yet another Greek that was 19 and wants to learn and agrees with what we said! It was so awesome to have these two days and to see the hand of the Lord in the work!

Sunday we had a great meeting and a good day. That night we had a whiteboard and it was crazy! We just had so many good conversations it was so awesome! 

Then today we went out with some missionaries and had a good time watching them switch the guards at the capital and then going up to one of the coolest views in Athens!

(yes they do hame pom-poms on their feet)

ΣΑΣ ΑΓΑΠΑΩ!

Πρεσβύτερος Χάλβερσον

A Whiteboard!

One night just walking home and stumbled upon the track!

Rafina Service

"Οταν είστε στην υπηρεσία των συνανθρώπων σας απλώς είστε στην υπηρεσία του Θεού σας."

ΓΕΙΑ

λοιπόν, δεν ξέρω τι να πω απλά να ξέρετε ότι πέρασε μια χαρά η εβδομάδα αυτή!

On Monday we went and had Family home evening with a member and her two younger siblings. Her parents decided to sit in the other room and not join us but we had a good time. Her younger brother who is 14 wants to meet up with us sometime and has the best questions which is awesome!

Tuesday, we had a good day we got to go out and do some service at a place in Greece that was affected by some fires. We helped clean up, it was pretty fun, and it was great to be able to help out.

Wednesday, we had a lesson with Kosta and then to be honest I don't remember what else happened this day. 

Thursday was a great day we got going and had two lessons in the morning with Kosta and Johnny in the park. Then we headed to the church for a Facebook meeting. Then we started an exchange with the APs I got to go with Elder Goodwin and that night we just went out and smashed the finding. We were able to make a lot of friends at Syntagma Square it was super awesome!

Friday we finished off our exchange. In the evening we had a lesson with our friend Athanasios. He is a good guy just a little confused about what religion actually is.

Saturday we had a good finding activity in the evening with the Voice of the Lord survey.

Sunday we had a great Sabbath day I love it every week we are able to have the opportunity to take the sacrament every Sunday and just feel of the spirit. 

Well that was my week. Also this week we got something called the Book of Mormon Challenge here in Europe. It is for 21 days to read the book of Mormon or just a section each day to answer a question. It is great here is the link to check it out and I would invite you all to give it a try! 

https://www.lds.org.uk/the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng-gb

ΣΑΣ ΑΓΑΠΩ

Πρεσβύτερος Χάλβερσον

ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΑ ΚΩΣΤΑ!!!

ΓΕΙΑ!!!!

Well what an interesting week it has certainly been full of the good and the bad but mostly the good.

Tuesday was a day!  We were in Church most of the day getting some training on the Europe Area Presidency's Book of Mormon Challenge. Then also being trained on doing a Self-Reliance course here in Greece. 

Wednesday we met up with Kosta in the morning and had a good lesson. We in the afternoon were just about to head out to the church because we were in charge of the youth Family History Activity. Right as we were leaving the power went out. Turns out they had a black out and the metro by our house was down so we had a nice hot walk to a bus over a mile from our house so we could get to the church. That night we had an awesome lesson with Stephen he is really starting to develop his testimony about the Book of Mormon even though he doesn't see it yet.

Thursday was a very interesting day, we started with Kosta because it was his b-day and while we were with him I was able to teach our friend Johnny about the plan of salvation. He is a huge LEGEND he is so enthusiastic about the gospel and just wants as many "weapons" he can have to fight against evil it is super awesome! Then we later that day were going to check up on our friend Ralph cause he has been super sick for the past couple of years. He recently had given us a key so that we could check up on him if he didn't answer his phone. He hadn't been answering his phone for a couple of days so we thought we would stop by and well lets just say he passed away on Monday, and we spent the rest of that day with the Police but the police officer was super cool and has a girlfriend who lived in Utah for 3 years. So he knew about us and he was just super cool.

Friday, we met up with Kosta again and then we went out and had lunch with Heidi an awesome Filipino member.

Saturday we had another lesson with Kosta and then we went and saw Manolis. In the evening we did again the Voice of the Lord activity and it went well.

Sunday was a great Sabbath, we were able to have a great lesson with the youth. On the way home from church we were able to give out 2 Books of Mormon and we taught a man named John the restoration it was super cool to see how the Lord always places people in your path.

ΑΓΑΠΗ ΜΟΝΟ

Πρεσβύτερος Χάλβερσον

here is a video of Kosta opening his Birthday present

ΔΕΝ ΣΤΑΜΑΤΑΩ!!

ΓΕΙΑ ΣΑΣ!!!

So it was just a great week! I hope all of you had great ones as well.

So last Monday we were able to go and have a meal again with Tasos and Spyros to celebrate the birthday of Tasos. Gogo the branches grandma came and joined us as well we had a good time with a good message.

Then Tuesday, oh man crazy day, so we had a good plan to get everything done and to get our friend Kosta to a clinic for an interview. But when your friend drinks about 5 to many beers your plans change and it takes all day to get to the center ha ha. It was for sure a fun adventures and things are turning for Kosta which is awesome! That night we had a dinner appointment with the Webb family from America/Honduras and helped with Family History it was really cool to be able to help!

Wednesday was the Fall Easter or the death day of Panagia or the Virgin Mary. So nobody was outside it was a bit weird. But that night we were able to go and celebrate at a members house. We had some good Greek food and also were able to have a really good spiritual thought because everyone prepared before hand. We had about 10 people sharing testimonies it was great!

Thursday was another great day and we had yet another meal appointment! It was so weird and crazy by this point we were like man this must be what it feels like to be a Utah missionary ha ha. We are excited to have more time for some good 'ole finding.

Friday we had a meeting with our investigator Stephen and it went really well. He is searching for an answer on the Book of Mormon and we were able to watch President Nelson's talk on the Book of Mormon and discuss it. It was amazing! Then we met up with Manolis. It has been a while since I saw him last but he is still doing great! That night we did some good finding and made a lot of good friends with our new finding activity. It is kinda just like a quick survey on the Book of Mormon it is cool. 

Saturday was yet another busy day. We had a meeting with a former investigator in the morning and then right after had a meeting with a less-active. We had both meetings in the mall by our house. Right after we hear someone calling out "Elders"we thought we were hearing things because that wouldn't ever happen where we were but it turns out we ran into some members out here in the outskirts of Athens fun stuff. Afterwords met with our investigator named Awesome (yes that is actually his name) he is a cool guy and really knows that bible and agrees with a lot of stuff that we say and also has other views but overall really cool guy. 

Then Sunday was just a good sabbath day! 

I love the Lord and I love His work!

ΣΑΣ ΑΓΑΠΩ,

Πρεβύτερος Χάλβερσον

P.S. sorry no pics this week.

ΑΘΗΝΑ ΠΑΛΙ!!!

ΓΕΙΑ!!!

ΤΙ ΩΡΑΙΑ ΕΒΔΟΜΑΔΑ!!!! 

So last Monday evening I was able to go to FHE for one last time and see Dimitris and Brother Matrapazis. I really will miss them a lot but it was a good last time with them!

Tuesday was a crazy day, we headed out first thing in the morning for the airport to head to Athens! it was a great day we got there and they had a meal all prepared for us. So we went and ate then we had interviews with President. After interviews me and Elder Balser prepared for Zone Conference.

Wednesday we had Zone Conference it was awesome! Me and Elder Balser talked about receiving revelation and how that means we must qualify for the Holy Ghost it went well. After Zone Conference we headed and went out with the youth is was cool we had a good time in Syntagma.

Thursday we had a busy day, I was able to meet our investigator Kostas who used to live in America but since his mom passed away he moved to Greece. He is a really awesome guy and he loves the message that we give him it is so cool. Then we had some meetings at the church. In the evening I was able to meet Steven our other investigator who is searching for his answer if the Book of Mormon is true and that is also just really cool.

Friday, was a good day. We met up with Kostas again and also with Micheal a less active member, he is a great guy. We went for a meal with Tasos and Spyros they are members of the Greek branch and good guys. They gave us some good food. That night was great! We went to play soccer in this hidden field with one of our investigators. It had a dirt track and one of our investigators friends asked if anyone wanted to run. So I got to do some missionary work while running! It was so sick!

Saturday was a good day, we had a Baptism in Athens the sisters' investigator and her son were baptized it was such a cool experience, the spirit was there and it was very cool. 

Sunday was great, we in the evening went out and tried out a new finding technique with a survey that President Anderson wanted us to try. It went alright but we now know how to make it better so I don't have to talk with a crazy guy for 30 minutes next time, I think I said I had to run about 15 different times during the conversation but he just kept following me it was so weird. 

But that was my week amazing and so full of amazing blessings! I love the work!

ΣΑΣ ΑΓΑΠΑΩ

Πρεσβύτερος Χάλβερσον

Me and Dimitris

Me and Elder Nelson at Zone Conference

Me and Elder Balser teaching at Zone Conference

LAST WEEK IN THESS

Hello to All!

Well what a great week!

I am sorry but I don't remember at all when happened on Tuesday it was a great day though for sure it just disappeared.

Wednesday we were going out in the morning to do some service. We starting talking to this guys and he starting asking lots of questions about the church. At the end he is like well I would love it if you guys could help me out cleaning up parks and stuff so we said yes! We ended the day by finishing off the painting at our neighbors house!

Thursday we went and helped out our new friend Nikos at the park and it was good. He even invited us to come to his house so that we could talk we are excited! Then we went up to Dimitris house with Elder Carroll and were able to have a good lesson it is cool to see the spirit work on him slowly slowly. 

Friday we went up and helped out Dimitris at his house - or really we were able to help his mom with work in the yard. It was awesome. Then we went and visited Brother Matrapazis one last time I am going to miss my big guy. Then we had a meal at Brother Todi's house with Dimitris it went great!

Then Saturday we helped out our friends at the Laiki and then went and visited Vasilios in the evening it was great.

Sunday was a great fast Sunday. We had a great church service and we were able to meet up with the Stilos in the afternoon, it was great. Then we visited our neighbor Marina she is amazing. We were able to give her a book of Mormon and she will be coming to church next Sunday. It is so amazing to see how service can open hearts!

Today has been a good day, a lot of packing, but I also found a store that sells some American goods and so we had a good time exploring there!

I have loved my time here in Thessaloniki sad to be leaving but excited for the adventures ahead, God is really in our lives!

Love,

Elder Halverson(Sorry Greek keyboard broke)