5 Weeks in the MTC

The weather in Mexico sounds pretty amazing right now for us Arizonians! We could use a little break from the heat. Dallin has said several times that when it rains, it pours...literally. He said its like a hurricane; tons of lightning, torrential downpours and very windy. They had a volleyball game out in this weather and poor Dallin was freezing :) He also said they have lots of earthquakes in Mexico!! A little nerve-wracking to hear but it sounds like they aren't major earthquakes. Each time they have an earthquake, they all have to go to "earthquake circles." The sounds of sirens are becoming very familiar to Elder Hazelgren.
The Spanish is getting easier and easier. One night, his companion, Elder Shipman, heard him talking in his sleep and apparently Elder Hazelgren was giving a lesson in Spanish!! One day this past week, he even got scored on his Spanish speaking skills...9 out of 10!
Dallin was pretty stoked he got to play some soccer this week. He LOVES soccer. When he got his mission call, that was one of the first things he said about going to El Salvador.."I get to play futbol with natives!" (Futbol is soccer is Spanish) He said they played on concrete, which is definitely different from grass. Let's hope no one gets seriously injured :/ The concrete they play on is called "the cage" and this is where the all-stars come to play soccer.
Another little eye-opener for Elder Hazelgren besides sirens 24/7 is how these Latinos party! They are a culture that loves dancing and music and when they have a party of some sort, it goes on and on and on till the wee hours of the morning. One night, they didn't get a lot of sleep from loud music all night long. 
Nothing says welcome to Central America like a cockroach in your food!! One Elder this week found one in his beans. Now none of the missionaries eat the beans.
A humbling experience was when Dallin noticed one Elder not eating his food and Dallin was just saying "you need to eat!" when this Elder told him his mom had just been diagnosed with cancer so he was fasting for her. Dallin felt terrible but said he is going to fast with this Elder.
Elder Hazelgren has one week left in the MTC. He leaves next Tuesday for El Salvador! We are so excited for him!
Enjoy some pictures from this past week...A lot of missionaries left this week for their area of service, so he sent home lots of pics with other Elders. (Dallin is quite the poser!!)

                                               Elder Gee

                                               Elders Hatchett & Hazelgren

                                               Elder Hall

                                                       Elder Ashby