MTC #2 "You don't need to be confident in your Spanish, only in your Testimony"

Dear Familia (as they say in the good ole espanol),

First thing is first, Shout out to the coolest bro ever and Happy Birthday!! (@BReton)

The MTC is a spiritual hair dryer that is directed right at your face. I have learned so much and never felt the spirit more in my life! I love it here!!

Last week we had the opportunity to meet our Mission President!! President and Sister Current are so sweet and very inspiring! We were chatting about things old missionaries had told us about the problems of Panama, because it actually has the lowest baptism rate in Central America. President told us, "We are going to let the old Elders and Sisters come to us and tell us what the problem is. We are going to nod and say that's great. But really we are not going to take any excuses. No excuses!" Me and my comp always say it to each other!

I love my comp!!!! Her name is Hermana Campbell (like the soup--the district calls us Soupsted, haha) She's from Sacramento, California, and doesn't know Spanish either. We are actually the only two who don't know any Spanish when we came in. She has a super strong testimony and has taught me a lot through bearing her testimony to me (in English :))

Fourth of July at the MTC is so fun! We had some random devotional about Christopher Columbus and Nephi (which Dad, you should look up stuff about that because it was actually really cool) and sang lots of American songs and then we got to go outside and watch the fireworks!! They announced there was no curfew that night! It was so fun!! We tried to go to bed on time anyways, but it was impossible with the announcement blaring over the PA and the kids screaming and singing and the banging fireworks. Things calmed down by around midnight. It was still super fun :)

My favorite part of the week is the Sunday temple walk. We always leave at 4:00 when the sun is burning hot, but then we get up there and it is so beautiful! Lots of love for the temple. Oh and we saw a couple sitting on a bench so me and my comp hid in a bush nearby and watched them and sure enough... He proposed!! It was so cute! But then we kinda ruined the moment because we were hiding in a poky bush and couldn't sit there any longer, haha. 

This week I made a cool connection. I realized that my Branch President and his wife are the aunt and uncle of two of my roommates from college!! And I met them at Katie's wedding, but just didn't realize it! Isn't that crazy!! My district keeps making jokes about how I am all connected and am on the 'inside' because I know so many elders and sisters here and because I knew my mission and the branch presidents! 

We had our first TRC investigator and it was the worst lesson we've ever had. The language was actually really good! I could understand everything she said and she could understand us. The problem was that she doesn't really want to learn anything. We tried to talk about her beliefs and she says she's catolica, but doesn't know how to pray or what the trinity is, but she loves God. And she's never read the Bible. So everything we tried to talk about just ended with her saying either "no se" or "no intiendo". Ugh. So we will just go really slow and take extremely baby steps, I guess.

 I'm getting really strong because I do not waste my exercise time and my comp loves working out too! 

I think that's about it, but I love you!!!!

Hermana Hallsted