An Everyday Mormon

For some reason, these last couple of Christmases have been bit rough.  In 2014 I spent Christmas away from my family in Japan, in 2015 I didn’t get any presents Christmas morning, and this year I battled a week long flu-like illness that kept me bed ridden until Christmas Eve.  Christmas has always been a time to spend with my family and to live out our traditions of Christmas Eve pajamas, Christmas movies and nativity plays. In 2014, I was serving in a small rural town of Takayama, Japan as a Latter-day Saint missionary.  It was cold and dark during that time of year with plenty of snow lining up the streets.  My companion Elder Vaughn and I rode eight hours a day on our bikes in the frigid winter weather occasionally stopping in to 7/11 to warm up.  The last month had been a bit rough as many of the people we were teaching decided to stop hearing our lessons about Christ or completely ignore us.  On top of that it was my first Christmas without my f...

People in the Latter-day Saint Church often talk about the hardships of adjusting to life when one goes out on their two or one and a half year proselyting mission.   New rules, a new place, and sometimes even a new language provide new missionaries with never before experienced challenges.    On top of that young missionaries are hundreds of miles away from their friends and family as they put on hold such important things as sports, hobbies, school or for some even a burgeoning career in order to serve the Lord.  I experienced some of these growing pains myself as a young missionary after having first arrived in Japan.  It was just as hard as it seemed but I eventually adjusted to mission life with the support and prayers of loved ones back home and the missionaries I served with. Members in the church rarely talk about the journey of coming home however only occasionally alluding to socially awkward returned missionaries and jokingly guessing when ...

I have a unique opportunity to serve each week here in Provo that cannot be done anywhere else in the world.  Provo is home to the largest Missionary Training Center of the Latter-day Saint Church.  Before being shipped out to serve a two or one-and-a-half-year mission, 18 to 26-year-old missionaries come to one of the 13 Missionary Training Centers throughout the world to be taught how to best find and teach people the restored gospel of Jesus Christ found in the LDS faith.  The Provo MTC is where all missionaries about to serve in Japan go and is where I get to serve the missionaries there once a week. My MTC District Outside the Provo Temple I once lived in the MTC myself as a young 18-year-old missionary, spending June and July of 2014 there constantly studying Japanese and the gospel with a group of nine other missionaries.  I had never spoken a lick of Japanese before and was there taught by previously returned missionaries not just Japanese words and ...

Most political posts you see on Facebook nowadays try to convince you that one of the candidates is going to destroy America if elected or attempts to tell an unreliable anecdote how their preferred candidate said something smart or did something genuine out of selfless service to his or her country.  None of that biased propaganda will be found here.  This blog post isn’t about the candidates; it is about you and your vote. You got a big decision this month.  Many great men and women throughout the world’s history have fought hard and long for you to be able to have the right to vote.  November 8 th  we get to directly affect the policies our leaders make in our country and help in the decision process of America’s next leaders. With such a big decision looming ahead of us, why are so many people not excited to cast their ballots?  Well, all you have to do is look at the top two presidential candidates.  A loud-...

Today my little sister Alyssa turns 18.  Still can’t believe that she has been in the family that long.  It has been quite a journey for the Hall family with many up and downs that we never really quite expected. Alyssa Carol Hall was born on October 28, 1998, in a local hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada.  I was three and my sister Shelby was five and needless to say, we were excited to be getting a little sister.  Friends and family came from far and wide to see the new addition to the family and while everyone was happy for the growing Hall family, something seemed to be a little bit different. Alyssa was born with the genetic disorder Trisomy 21, most commonly called Down Syndrome, where she was born with a third copy of her 21 st  chromosome.  We quickly learned that we wouldn’t really be able to play with her much and that she needed to be taken care of more than a usual baby.  Before her first birthday, complications in her heart needed to b...

The summer after I graduated high school, my parents left on a week and a half road trip to Canada.   I was then working as a YMCA Day Camp Counselor and though a little bit bummed that I couldn’t go, I was also excited to have the house all to myself.  Some kids my age would have probably looked forward to a plethora of unapproved parties with no parental supervision.  I however used the time a bit differently.  Instead of going to Wal-Mart to pick up some party favors, I would go to the local library to pick up something much more appetizing to me: classic movies. I have a theory that everyone has their own secret hobby of sorts that they really, really love but yet are hesitant to tell others about it because they feel as if they we would be judged for it.  Maybe your friend are hardcore rap fans while you really like listening to country music.  Maybe your friends are all jocks but you like a certain online game t...

Weddings, the fancy event that proceeds enormous amounts of free food; at least that is how I viewed it as a kid.  My mom comes from a family of 12 brothers and sisters and she happens to be number 11.  That places me near the bottom of the cousin hierarchy age wise so I have had the opportunity to go to many of my cousins’ weddings since my childhood.  Although each of them were unique, they all were carried out in a similar fashion. All of my family happens to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which makes all of my cousins’ weddings a little bit different than other American, and Canadian, weddings.  For others, the wedding is most likely held in a fancy wedding hall, a beach side location, a big Catholic church or even just the Elvis Chapel on the strip.  Over 99% of Mormon weddings happen in one of two places: the temple or the church.* Weddings performed in local church buildings are similar to most weddings except for m...

Imagine Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa all agreed to speak at a special conference and each in turn would speak anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes about experiences in their lives and give us, their audience, advice on how to live happier and productive lives.  Can you imagine the lines at the ticket booth for this event?  Can you imagine all the news reporters scrambling around to get behind the scenes info or the photographers with press passes trying to sneak a shot of the three together?  Can you imagine the advice we would hear?  Can you imagine how that event might inspire us to be better people and how it’d motivate us to a more meaningful life?  Sadly, this event isn’t likely to happen anytime soon or even in heaven.  But what if I told you there is something just as awesome and inspiring held twice a year every year? That, my friends, is called General Conference in which leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ...

I found myself in quite a predicament this last Friday morning.  My Dad and little brother were coming up for the BYU-UCLA football game here in Provo later that night but I was short one ticket.  I had been responsible for the first time in my life and early in the week set up a deal with two other students that they would give me their student passes for the weekend and in return I would give them 20 dollars.  Simple enough right?  The tickets for my family were all set until late Thursday night, one of my offers fell.  I was bummed, to say the least, and quite afraid I wouldn’t be able to get another student pass lined up.  It was the season opener and EVERYBODY seemed to be going.  It was especially a big deal for me because, besides the fact that my family and I are diehard BYU fans, I had the once in a lifetime opportunity because I had obtained the fourth spot in line, basically meaning front row seats.  I had told my dad the day before ho...