Penonome Branch #18: “ONE YEAR DOWN 6 MONTHS TO GO!!!!!!!!”

Hey!

This Thursday I completed one year in the mission. I cannot believe it, I still feel new out here because every single day something new happens. Can't believe it.

Okay also let me brag a little bit about how cool my mission is, that is, the mision Panama, Ciudad de Panama...

We made a goal to get 200 baptisms in June, and this week we will be having the baptism of Brittany, one of the really smart girls! As a misison we are at 340 baptisms for June, we killllled the record for the most baptims ever in the Panama Mission!!! Allllso in the islands of San Blas the craziest things are happening! The elders there went to talk to the head cheif of the islands to see if we could start preaching in other islands, but he was out fishing, so they were waiting for him in his families hut and started preaching the gospel to his family, As the cheif was fishing, a butterfly came and landed on his hand, which in the Cuna culture means that God has sent you messengers to preach the gospel. So the cheif dropped everything and ran back to his hut. When he saw the Elders, he told them he knew it was of God and would believe everything they said and that all the his family and all his tribes!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??!?!?!??!?!!! It's like it was written in the Book of Mormon YEARS ago when Ammon taught Lamoni and Aaron taught the king of the Lamanites. So we are baptizing islands over here right now! We are all soooo pumped!!!

As for my area, we are super starting to progress! We had a toooon of people at church and have so many who are preparing to be baptized! This week, we just worked a whole lot haha, but I am really starting to see the blessings of sacrafice! I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be here especially in Panama! I love you all soooo much!

Love, Hna Hallsted

Penonome Branch Week #17 “Happy Father’s Day!!”

19JUNE2017  

One of our investigators Viviana made me a Pollera haha!

(I looked this up and see that the headpiece is called Tembleque and the overall traditional outfit is called Pollera. I see that style of hat Haley is holding in some of these photos at this link: http://nasvete.com/traditional-headwear-tembleque/)

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Haley sent a package back in December and we just got it. It had a headpiece in it for Brynn. 

Quinn really loves it though!

Hola Fam! 

It was rainy this week, as always!

ALLLSSSOOO Happy Fathers Day!!!!!!!!!! Dad, I love you so much and I want you to know that you're the best dad in the world!!!

I dont remember too much, but at the beginning of the week we had tons of reuniones in our branch. On tuesday, basically the entire day was meetings! We had Ward Meeting Council (I think that's what its called in English) and it was funny because we've been lacking the support of the members lately, so the elders and us went in there super ready to get on them annnd they totally turned it back on us! One of the Elders got really mad and it was super funny, and also kinda sad to see us fighting so hard to get member help. In the end we won, which was great! We've got a lot of plans that I think will really help us!

Thursday the dad of Hna Sofia Vernal passed away, the lady who was with the Jehova's Witnesses when we were there. And I was super pumped because she called us, crying and asked us to come to her mom's house to share something and give support. We were super happy to see that she loves us more hahaha! But it was really cool being able to go see her whole family and share with them about the Plan of Salvation and the BOM. I love seeing the Plan of Salvation really apply so directly and see how it really is a Plan of Happiness!

Later we went up into the mountain to visit a family who the dad has been an investigator for 10 yrs. We started talking about temples and then his wife told us he actually doesnt know anything about the Plan of Salvation. We were so shocked! Turns out he always is at church, so all the missionaries before me have always thought that he is a forever investigator, but really he has never had the lessons! So we are super excited for him! (Gabriel)

That night we also had an activity and Fernando came! He is really progressing, and he is praying right now to know if he should be baptized. Keep him in your prayers!

On Saturday we were walking around, looking for people and we realized that this group Jehovah's Witnesses were following us! Legit they were walking right behind us and laughing at us and stuff. I was pumped thinking "persecution!!" but my comp did not like it haha. We hid out in a chino to get rid of them.

Sunday!!! Remember those super smart little girls?? They came to church! They loved it and they all want to be baptized! We just gotta talk to the parents still haha. Pray for us!

No time, but love you sooooo much!!!!!!!!

Hna Hallsted

Penonome Branch #16 “I forgot to explain Nancy....”

Us at the beach 

We kept forgetting to go pick up our laundry so I had to sleep on just my disgusting mattress for 5 days. Oh and I also signed my name it haha

Hna Viviana did my nails! She is a super cute inv.

Me and Ramiro and Luzmila Vernal haha, they are the funniest!

Picture with Daylin and Nuvia two RC, I love them!

Grandson of Igza, Dylan. He is so cute and looks just like the kid in the Restauracion folleto!!

Hola Family!

This week was great! Im gonna try to go in order cuz it was a super busy week!

Monday we went to Anton and made a breakfast with the only members in all of Anton. They're the Fam Vernal, I think I've mentioned them before, but yep, their really cool! Then We went to a YW activity in the church and it was weird cuz we were trying to play volleyball, but the YM were trying to play soccer at the same time... In the same court. Also we didnt have a volleyball, so we just used an old, flat soccer ball haha. It wasnt actually the best idea, cuz I really bruised my wrist. the President of the branch (pres Pinzon) saw it and told me he could fix it. So he grabbed my thumb, told me to put my shirt in my mouth so I wouldnt scream, and pulled super hard. So now I have a bruised wrist and a broken thumb.

Nah, it's basically all good now! Kinda...

Then that night we went to Serafina and gave her kinda an ultimatum about baptism. She said she would tell us her answer on Wed. She is soooo ready to be baptized, just has fear because her family is against it!

Tuesday we had a zone conference that just about changed my life. I'll talk more about it at the end!

Wednesday we had a service and this is where Nancy comes in. Really it's spelled nance, but you say it like nancy. And it is the most horribly disgusting fruit that Mother Earth grows. Im serious, I have to vomit every time I smell the lil thing. We went once last week and this week to Hna Sonia's house to help her pick up her nance, chop down some trees and stuff. She had soooooo much nance!!! it was just acres of yellow horrid fruit and it took hours to pick up the wretched little guys. But the elders let me chop down the top of a mango tree which made it all worth it! And then with Serafina, she says she's ready! She was so cute and told us how she knows its all true and promised us she would be so faithful! We set a date for 24 June! Which Im pretty sure is the same day I got baptized! Just 12 years ago haha.

Thursday. Nicole told us she was moving to my old area in Arraijan!!! We were all crying and stuff and forgot to take a picture, so we were really sad about that. She'll probably be baptized within a month!

Friday we met up with Jose Alberto, the old investigator who showed up to church and he is super ready for baptism! We are really excited, but still need to visit him more to set up everything.

Other stuff that I cant remember when it happened! We have an ex missionary in our branch who actually served in this branch as a missionary and came back and married one of his old inv! Lol, but the cool part of the story is now his wife wants to get baptized! Woohoo! The problem with this is that she wants his dad to baptize her. His dad lives in Guatamala. So our plan with her is just to wait for her Yerno (I cant remember what its called in English and Hna V doesnt know either) to get her, and who knows when that is gonna be!

Also we had a cool experience! We fasted with a recent convert, Hna Igza, and her nieto, Angel. Igza's son hadn't spoken to her in over 3 years and she was really sad. For Angel, it was to ask his dad to be baptized. When we went up to Mosquitero, Igza told us that literally right after she had ended her fast, her son walked in the door! We were so happy! Angel's dad still said no, but fasting helped Angel with his faith!

Serafina didn't come to church because her neighbor and life long friend died and the funeral was Sunday morning. As my District leader puts it "Satan is working really hard to make sure that woman doesn't get baptized". I know she will be baptized soon! She is so ready and so excited for her baptism!

I want to end with the conf we had cuz it was amazing. Pres talked about DiMaggio, some baseball guy who has the most base hits on record. He hit 56 in a row, and then missed the next game. Pres talked about how DiMaggio wasnt done just becuase he had already gotten the record, but kept going. After that one miss, he hit 19 in a row, which is also a lot. Then he talked about being a real disciple of Jesus Christ isn't someone who stops after he messes up. A real disciple is someone who tries. We read DC 49:9 and talked about how the blessings come to those who try. It really helped me to understand that I can't ever give up! I know the mission gets hard. But I also know that blessings come only by faith. and Faith comes only from patience and diligence. I know we are going to be receiving lots of blessings this change because I am trying. So for all of you who are scared, worried, or confused, just keep trying! And for those who are scoring base hits in every game, keep trying!

I love you all sooooo much!

Have a good week!

Hna Hallsted

Penonome Branch #15 “Nancy for Dayz”

Us with Ramiro Vernal

Ramiro with my hair lol

Us and the Hna Leaders

Hullo fam!

This week was rainy!

This Tuesday we had our last 'All out Day' and we really gave our all. We decided to set all our appointments for that day, and wouldn't you know literally every single one fell through! So it turned out being an all finding day! We both feel like we've found some pretty good ones, so we'll see how it goes!

This week Serafina told us that this Sunday was her last Sunday not coming to church and that after this one, she will start coming. We are happy about that!

We also started teaching this cute girl named Fredde. She can't walk very well or use one of her arms cuz she was hit by a car, but she just barely had the cutest baby ever. It's hard for her to take care of her baby, but she does a pretty good job. She wants to be baptized, but just like everyone, doesn't think she can come to church. So we'll see what happens!

We went to the mountain this week to visit Nicole, who we have been seeing for forrreevverrr and told her if she didn't come to church we would stop coming up to visit. And then she came to church! It was a june Miracle! She also went to the baptism the Elder's had this week and really liked it. She is really special because she was a Jehovah Witness and those people are super mean, but she is really cool. She finally has a testimony of the BOM and that Jesus is actually Jehovah! I felt really cool during that lesson, cuz she was super against that idea at first

but the Spirit was so strong and there was no way she could deny it!

On Friday we went to visit the inactive members of Anton and when we walked in their house, there were 2 Jehovah Witness missionaries sitting on their couch. We were like "oh shoooot!" and tried to leave, but they were like "sit down! They're almost done!" So I had my very first lesson with the Witnesses this week! They were super rude, making all these comment how the Mormons are wrong and stuff, but you know me, Im a lover, not a fighter, so we just sat there and played with the kids. I can sure tell you I could not feel the Spirit. After they left, they asked us to share something, so we talked about the Plan of Salvation, exactly what they had been talking about. And the Spirit was soooo strong! Everybody knew where the truth was coming from and then..... This Sunday they came to church!!! It was such a huge testimony builder!

Then today we went back to the Family Vernal and made breakfast with them, so we are allll good!

Saturday we went on divisions and it was not fun.

Then Sunday! We had 4 people at church!! Nicole, this one guy Gabriel, who is always there, but is a forever investigator, this girl who might not be getting baptized, so Im not gonna tell you about her, and this guy Jose Alberto, who was an old inv who just showed up! We are really excited about him. He knows all the members and has read the BOM and I think he came to us super prepared! We'll see what happens!

Well that was this week! Love yall sooooo muchuchuch!

Hna Hallsted