Last Greeting from Mexico!!

Dear everyone,
Lots of fun stuff this week. I´m split almost exactly 50-50 between raging excitement to leave and extreme sadness to leave. I´ve learned so much here in the past 5 weeks and I am planning on making this week the best one yet!

1. Halloween: who says missionaries aren´t allowed to have fun on holidays? We all bought 10 pieces of candy from the tienda (yeah mom that´s what the 120 pesos is for) and then took turns standing inside the classroom while the rest of us came to the door and said "Trick or treat!" None of us can figure out why that was so much fun for us #missionarydeprivations

2. This week we practiced using imperfect and preterit tenses in describing the first vision of Joseph Smith. MYTH: Everyone who works at the MTC is a member. THIS IS FALSE. I now know this. But, in the days of my innoncence (Wednesday), I walked up to a worker and just started rattling off "Yo sé que Jose Smith era un profeta y vio a Jesucristo y Dios. Él buscaba por la verdad y oraba y leía las escrituras..." Blalalabalabla. Halfway through my rant I realize the GINORMOUS crucifix hanging from his neck. OH CRAP. That explains the absolute blank stare pasted on his face. Good thing my companion was there to save the day. We hobbled back to class laughing so hard that we were crying. Then our teacher, Hermano Hardy, made us go back and give him a mormon.org card. So we did and he said he was interested in learning more "¡Bueno! ¡Tenga un buen dia!" We then go back to class to tell the story and Hermano Hardy was like "Why didn´t you get his information?!!" #missionaryfail #whoops

3. Today at the temple Elder Ramirez brought a Libro de Mormon in which we had all written our testimony and planned on giving it to someone we saw on the bus on the way there. On the way back we passed a guy in a wheelchair and Elder Ramirez got to give it to him! The guy promised he would read it and we all got way too excited... But it was awesome! #mishmoments4life

4. I got a haircut. #horrifying #imissauntsuz but I guess my Spanish was good enough to explain what I wanted because it looks awesome! (pics next week)

5. I ALMOST got through the WHOLE temple session in Spanish! And we have a new district of natives who we are best friends with who are teaching us Spanish tongue twisters. #dondelenguas

6. FUNNY STORY: (background info: "Yo sé" means "I know" in spanish while "Yo soy" means "I am") One time these two elders were teaching a fake investigator in the TRC and they were coming close to the end of the first lesson about the Restoration. One Elder wanted to bear his testimony with great conviction, so he leaned forward, looked the investigator square in the eyes, and firmly declared, "Hermana, yo soy Jose Smith". The "investigator" lost it and bursted into laughter. The Elder realized that he had said something wrong, so in an attempt to cover his mistake, he recomposed himself and once again declared with firm assurance, "Hermana, yo soy Jesucristo".
That was almost as good as when an Hermana in my district told me that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we could be cleansed of all of our past fishes. (pecados vs. pescados)
7. I learned A LOT this week.

a. We can ALL receive personal revelation. I took that for granted for the better part of my life, but if we have the gift of the Holy Ghost (which comes after baptism) God really can talk to us! I was having a really hard time so Hermano Hardy pulled me out and asked me what was wrong. I poured out my soul to him and he said "Okay, kneel down right now and ask God to tell you anything He wants you to know. Then we´ll sit here for as long as it takes for you to get an answer." GUYS IT WORKS!!! As soon as I finished my prayer, everything that Heavenly Father wanted to tell me popped into my mind and heart. I challenge everyone to do this! It´s amazing!

b. Satan makes our greatest strengths seem like our greatest weaknesses. We just have to learn how to get rid of those negative thoughts that he keeps putting in our heads. In fact, we should be EXCITED whenever one of those thoughts pops into our heads because then we can realize EXACTLY how Satan works and exactly how to combat it. Take the exact opposite of that negative thought and THAT is how Heavenly Father wants you to think.

c. The Spirit guides the lessons. God is the one that knows the people who are learning about the Church 1000000000 times better than we do and he knows what we need. This week we continued teaching Renato, who committed to baptism, but never really felt the Spirit since. We went in with hearts full of prayers and just asked him questions and helped him to feel the power of the Atonement. At one point he got teary-eyed and just stopped and said "I can feel something in here" and pointed to his chest. We explained to him that it was the Holy Ghost and that after baptism he could have that with him ALL the time. The Spirit was SO strong and it was THE BEST LESSON EVER. We also taught a new investigator named Danny who believes in God because he was saved from a near-death experience. We invited him to baptism but he declined. He said he felt something good and full of peace and happiness, but he wanted to learn more before he committed to anything. After just one lesson we fell in love with him. I´ve really learned that the Spirit is the ultimate guide and we can´t have ANY success without it.

This week I´ve truly felt Heavenly Father´s love for me and His love for all of His children. He loves you and wants to hear from you, regardless of your situation. He is never far away.

Reach out to others and share the gospel with them so that they can feel the joy that this gospel brings us.

Choose celestial!

Hermana Hall

P.S. Next time you hear from me I´ll be back in the States!