I Can't Remember What Week This Is

This week has been pretty incredible to say the least. Now that we only have one week left I think our district realizes how much we are going to miss it here.   This week started off with everyone getting flight plans!  and guess who is getting visa waited....yep, its me.  I will find out tomorrow or Friday where I will be serving until my visa comes through!  We have a little guessing competition going on in the district and anyone who guesses wrong has to use a super dumb gringo sentence at least once in conversation on their first day in country (the sentence has yet to be determined, any suggestions are welcome).  We have started waking up a little early and running outside in the mornings and as much as I hate it, it is actually a really good way to make sure we are up on time and it makes us less tired during our personal/companionship study.  During language study I have been listening to the Book of Mormon in Spanish just on lds.org and it takes me a really long time but I feel like I am getting so much out of the scriptures because I have to pause after every verse to make sure I understood it right and look up the words I don't understand.  I just finished Second Nephi and pretty much every time I read I find a scripture that applies directly to our investigator!  We did get to watch the temple re-dedication Sunday and it was amazing!!  The talks were beautiful but the best part was singing the Spirit of God in a room full of missionaries!  Then for Sunday study time I was able to read D&C 109 and 110 which is all about temple dedications- go read it! Tuesday night we got to hear from another apostle!  Elder Ballard came and spoke and his message was so simple and easy to listen to.  He didn't read us a talk he had written he just spoke to us like we were his grandkids.  The coolest part was hearing him bear his testimony at the end- probably the most powerful testimony of Christ that I've ever heard.  So the 2nd week here I promised one of the hermanas in our room that if she cut her hair that I would cut mine too.  So after weeks of debating and a couple freak outs (the other sisters in our room were ready to kill us), we both chopped off our hair!  I donated about 10 inches and I kept thinking of my favorite niece, miss Ava Allen!  Fresh start for wherever I end up going Tuesday!!  I am so grateful for this opportunity to teach and serve the people in Panama and wherever else I get to serve!  Guys the church is so true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God, I promise!  I love you all, dont get hit by a bus!

-Hermana Katrina Smith

         

"Not sure where in the US I get to go but I wanted to make sure I had a map picture for it!"