Dear everyone,

So... basically, this place is AWESOME! It's seriously so great! The food is delicious, but might be slowly wearing away the inside of my intestines. And the mosquitos, we need to get some serious West Nile Virus surveying up in here because I think I get at least 6 new bites everyday. It's probably because I eat 400% of my daily intake of fruit because it's so delicious here. American mangos, you have been replaced. Also, I killed two spiders in my casa. The pre-mission fear factor training for millipedes was successful! But for spiders...

My companion's name is Hermana Card and she is from Orem so we have a lot to talk about. She loves eating and working out so basically we're already besties (those are the only two requirements) SHOUT OUT to BRYCE: I'm not the jolly companion! Anyways, we both love to have fun and both love to study and put in a ton of hard work to learn everything we need to, and we both hate being late. Hermana Card is REALLY good at Spanish. She's the one at the airport who said she had been taking it for 7 years. She's good at conversing in Spanish and I'm good at remembering gospel vocab so we're a good team. Also, neither of us like showering so... (don't worry Aunt Suzanne, I shower every other day)

So I have to tell you guys a story of the coolest thing that happened on the first day. They took all of us, probably about 30 missionaries, into a room and brought in an investigator and had us ask questions about her life and try to get to know her worries, needs, and questions in life. The first girl was looking for happiness and as all of us asked her questions and bore our testimonies, the Spirit became SO SO strong. But she said she had only come to do her friend a favor and that she wasn't really interested. Then she left and another investigator came in and as we did the same thing, she started crying and said that she knew that it was true. So then, skeptical Shelby, hehem Hermana Hall thinks that they're just fake because she now knows the in's and out's of the MTC (SHOUT OUT TO ALEC) but later we talked to the head guy who was in charge and he said that they were for sure real and that both of them were now really interested and meeting with the missionaries! HOW SWEET IS THAT!!! That experience just made me want to baptize everyone and bring them the eternal happiness that comes from the gospel!

This morning we went to the temple! In Mexico City!!! WHAT UP Still not quite used to the fact that I'm actually IN Mexico City. Or even that I'm a missionary. The other day we were sitting the auditorium waiting for class to start and two elders walked through the door and I hit my companion and said "LOOK IT'S THE MISSIONARIES!!!!". Not as bad as the time when we were driving through the city and Hermana Card saw green, red, and white decorations around a street sign and yelled "Look! They're already decorating for Christmas!!!!". Ummmm... nope. Those are Mexico's colors. WHOOPS.

Oh yeah the temple... It was SO awesome! The inside is almost exactly the same as the Provo temple, the layout and everything. Too sweet! Oh and I did an entire session in Spanish. Yeah. The ENTIRE session. It was amazing! OH and the other day for a fireside for the entire MTC, I said the closing prayer in Spanish! This immersion thing is sweet. Except, it's really not me, it's the Lord helping me along.

And CONFERENCE?????????? Did you guys watch that????!!!! If you didn't GO DO IT RIGHT NOW!!! GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO WATCH ALL OF IT!!!! (unless conference is on your computer, then you can stay on). It was so good! (understatement) They talked a lot about faith, the healing power of the Atonement, keeping covenants, and MISSIONARY WORK!!!! That's right Gifford Nielsen, it deserves exclamation points!!!!!! P.s. Shawn, if you won't listen to any other general authority, I know you'll listen to Gifford Nielsen, SO GO DO SOME MISSIONARY WORK!!!! EXCLAMATION POINT!!!! But really, my favorite talk was by Timothy Dykes, who talked about how the Atonement of Christ can make us whole. If we have faith in the healing and enabling power of the Atonement, we can take up our beds and walk, even when we feel too weak to do so on our own. Christ is there to help us because He loves us! We just have to come closer to Him and we will help us rise and stand taller than we ever could on our own. ALSO Russell M Nelson's talk was the BOMB.com/awesome, but that's a given (SCIENCE IS FUN)

So remember how happy this gospel makes you and how blessed we are to have families that are sealed together FOREVER. Share that with someone. One of the conference speakers challenged us to reach out to ONE by CHRISTMAS. I echo that challenge and ask all of you to join in the hastening of the work in this day. Everyone needs the joy that this gospel can bring and if you truly loved them, you would want them to have eternal happiness. SO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS! An invitation out of love will never be received offensively. And if we have the charity and pure love of Christ, we would want ALL people to have the gospel because we love them and recognize that they are sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father who wants them to come home! EXCLAMATION POINT!!!!!

I love all of you guys and wish you the best in all of your endeavors!

Remember to always CHOOSE CELESTIAL and NEVER BE ASHAMED of the gospel of Christ.

Love,

Hermana Hall