Hey! Glad all is going well!

Well.... it's hot here. Haha I've kind of given up on doing my hair and makeup all fancy in the mornings because literally before I even get to the car it's all messed up! :) I'll be the queen of updo's by the end of the summer! Oh and sweating buckets is a normal thing now- I've never sweat so much in my life. It's kind of gross but thats ok :)

We got two member referrals this week that are really solid- One of them even showed up to church yesterday which was GREAT! Members really do make this work so much more successful. There are so many times where members have helped missionaries find people they would'nt have otherwise found, or soften people's hearts where it wouldn't have otherwise happened. The members are vital!

A lot of our investigators have kind of been MIA lately, so we've spent a lot of this week trying to find them again. We have been trying to get in touch with less actives, former investigators and potential investigators as well, and most people have been canceling appointments or 'not home'. But we keep plugging away and doing the best we can :)

My Spanish is coming along a little better- I can understand main ideas really well and am picking up more and more words. When it's not a gospel topic conversation, I don't understand like anything :P But I'm working on it! My spanish has gotten good enough this week to realize that I've mis-explained things and some people we teach and visit think I'm FROM Brazil, not going there. Explains the confusion when I told them my family is from Colorado.... Ooops! :) But I'm ok being mistaken for a Brazilian- Hermana DeLeon says I look like the Brazillians she knows, and my portuguese accent is SO OBVIOUS when I'm speaking. Fun stuff :)

Hayley in a graffiti alley in Chicago

I think that's kind of it for me for this week! I'm kind of tired right now so I'm not super talkative :P Sundays are probably the most tiring days of the week just because I'm trying so hard to listen and focus during church- I'm surprised how much it takes out of you to try understanding another language! I'm significantly more tired here than I was in Belvidere, and I can promise it's not because we did any less work out there.

I love mission life. I got to have an interview with President Woodbury this week to get to know him. It was great! He truly is called of God to be here and I learned so much from him and he gave me such valuable insight and advice. I really appreciated it. He helped reassure me that I am where I need to be, that I have things I need to learn here, and that I will be fine with Portuguese when I get down to Brazil. :)

I love being able to serve a mission- It's the best! Even when you can't understand what the heck is going on! That's half of the humor we have out here :) Always find the humor in things- It makes everything so much easier :) I love you all, have an excellent week!

Love Always

Hermana Hayley Walton :)