Random Randy

Randy was very brave to come to Brazil!

Thank you to those who helped encourage him to take 

this giant leap forward with us.

He has been - amazing - and has frankly surprised us with his general "willingness".
Some things are and have been difficult for all of us.  But we also know we are 
learning and growing every single day, in many ways that would not happen 
if we had just stayed home and did the same old things.

  Because of Randy's former employment at the Salt Lake Family History Dept. and the awesome people he worked for and with, we were able to take this opportunity with Randy. He was eventually laid off from that job.  At the time, it was the tragedy of his life.  However, if that had not happened we would not have taken him away from that and brought him here and we likely would have missed this whole thing.  He now is swallowed up in the Family Search effort because of his previous experience.  It's a passion he can 
take with him any place on the globe, for the rest of his life.

Here in Brazil, Randy is affectionally know as "Elder Hallzinho"
which translates to - a small version or Hall junior.

This is his new "private office" (cubicle)
He moved on to the 2nd floor in February.

He just recently got his own phone with headset.  He didn't really want the phone

because "What do I do if it rings?  I might not know what they are saying?"

So I call him sometimes just so he can use it :)

The following is a copy of an email we received in September. 

This reflects the general attitude of everyone who works with or around him.

 His numbers have continued to increase since then.

Elder and Sister Hall,

I thought you would like to know that your son Silas R. Hall is the most productive indexer/arbitrator in the São Paulo Brazil Stake. He has indexed 770 records and arbitrated 4739 records to date this year, and has substantially increased the stake’s indexing/arbitrating statistics. We are very grateful for his wonderful and dedicated work. It is a great blessing to have him labor among us.

Thank you so very much for all you do to support the Lord’s work in this part of His vineyard. May our Heavenly Father ever bless you and your family for the goodness of your hearts.

Sincerely,

  Henrique Serra

   Indexing Manager

       Latin America

 His current number is about  33,000 records


He never seems to get tired of Family History efforts.  We're confident that his ancestors, including and especially his grandparents are very pleased
 and grateful for his Family Search enthusiasm.
He has definitely caught "the Spirit of Elijah"~

This is an extra book project he worked on.

These are all duplicate family history volumes sent from Salt Lake.

He took a field trip one day with one of his co-workers
to visit the public archives.
He felt it a privilege to see this collection. 

We are very proud of Randy.  
He enjoys being at the CTM on Sunday and attending alllll the meetings
 with our English language branch.  We do everything with a Portuguese/English mix.
He participates by singing the hymns in Portuguese, 
staying awake! - chatting with the missionaries, 
helping with the sacrament and just feeling the spirit.  
He has given a few talks and always likes to speak about Nephi or 
Peter, the fisherman.  About obedience and sacrifice.
Even when some meetings are straight Portuguese, 
he is attentive and trying to understand.
And then we get the real pleasure of eating lunch with all the missionaries.
Plenty of good food, every week.
(and someone else does the dishes!)

These are the different country flags at the São Paulo CTM  (MTC)

This is Elder Jack (center) with his companion.
He is from Zimbabwe and speaks English so he's in our branch.
His parents are dead and he wanted to do their temple work before
 he leaves the CTM.  He will serve in Mozambique which is located
in southeast Africa, official language is Portuguese.

Randy was able to help get the information needed and print the cards with the names 
for him to take to the temple on his P day.  
His group went to the Campinas Temple and with help from his friends, they
performed all the ordinances that day, which made him very happy  8)






This was Randy's Facebook profile for a while.
Joining in the attempt to "flood the earth".

Happy to be here on Thanksgiving!

The flowers surround the gazebo in the courtyard
of our apartment complex.

This photo was taken in October (spring :)


Randy is almost always cheerful and agreeable to what we
 suggest and seldom argues or objects.
We are grateful for his patience with us, even when we are "unreasonable".

He is never afraid to walk places, even if it is raining~
and it rains - often and hard during this particular summer season.
We are actually in a "drought" they say, because it isn't raining 
adequately, over the reservoirs, and we are told that 
they aren't good at water distribution.
So we currently are catching extra shower water in buckets
to use for flushing, but no rationing yet.

He ALWAYS takes out the trash and empties the dyer lint and takes his turn with the dishes, and does a good vacuum job.  He's good at hanging his clothes 
and towels and making his bed.  
He sometimes helps with laundry.  He usually walks 
on Friday mornings with his Dad to the "feira" 
which is the outdoor market, to get our weekly produce.

He's good at reading scriptures in the mornings and taking his turn for prayers.

A great bike ride in the park.

Christmas at the beach.  Doing his best to avoid too much sun.

One of our many P-day trips to the city.

2nd level of the Municipal Market
waiting in line for "Mortadela"



Randy is extremely friendly and enjoys interacting with his co-workers,
his Dad's co-workers, neighbors and other senior missionaries.
He enjoys our weekly Family Home Evenings,
especially the treats!  
He sometimes plays games with us, and we watch movies together.

This is Pres. and Sister Kawai and their dog Scott,
at their home.   We love spending time with this family.
He is the current president of our CTM branch.
They live down the street in another apartment bldg.


Randy in Rio

Randy loves to travel and to visit and learn about new things and places.

We went bowling with Bro and Sis Avila.  They are the ones that bought him this shirt.
They are always trying to think of things he might like.  They are the best~

"How are you, Seelus?"

This is the psychiatrist that Randy
has to visit regularly to get his medication.

Her name is Dr. Sylvia, which is her first name and that's how you address doctors here.

On our very first visit, she took us by surprise by pronouncing his first name this way.  
It doesn't bother him at all.   "I know what she means."  

The last time he went in Feb., he gave her a gift
for her soon to be born, baby girl.

This is our friend Octavio Lopes.
He comes to our apartment to meet with Randy twice a week.

Randy enjoys learning from Octavio about the

language and culture of Brazil.

The things he is learning has given him more confidence

to mix with the people here.

And Randy teaches him a few things as well!

Octavio's real job is school teacher and has a lot of 

experience with special ed students.

This is the temple in Campinas.
We took a day trip with the Thomsons, another senior couple.
It took about 1 and half hours drive to do a session
 while our SP temple was closed.

It is a beautiful temple, inside and out.

Randy is becoming very comfortable in any temple.

 Randy misses his friends and his job, but doesn't get upset about it.

We appreciate Randy's efforts here on our mission and are glad he wanted to come.

We're grateful for the sacrifices he has made to take this adventure with us.