WEEK OF MIRACLES!!!

This week has really strengthened (quadrupled) my faith in my Heavenly Father and His love for His children, and especially my faith of the power of prayer. I have a million examples I wish I could share with you all! But I´ll just start with the best one :) 

So Monday night I was praying for experiences to excercise and strengthen my faith and not even 5 minutes later we called Erika´s family as we do every night for family prayer. And guess who WILLINGLY (without us even asking her to) said a prayer!! Erika gave the most beautiful prayer I have ever heard! And that was only the beginning. The next day we asked her to pray for an answer about her baptism and she did. It took a lot of coaxing throughout the week but she finally gave us her answer!! Erika and one of the Elder´s investigators were both baptized Saturday night! It was an amazing experience that I could never put into words. Just know that I have seen how the love of Heavenly Father and feeling the Holy Spirit can change a person. Sometimes I don´t even recognize Erika anymore! She is so happy and so excited and so just....whole! I love her so much! I´m so grateful to have been able to teach her for the little time that I had. She has honestly taught me so much. I´ve seen her totally reject our lessons and she´s said more times thatn I can count how she would never ever be baptized. But her heart was softened and she was able to feel the Spirit testify of the truth of the gospel.So incredible. I am just AMAZED every day how much the Lord truly does care for us. And he truly does listen to our prayers and always always always answers them! Never doubt the power of prayer!!

But this week wasn´t easy. I have no doubt that Satan knew exactly what was going on and especially since we were having 2 baptisms, he worked extra hard on trying to tear down our faith. Honestly, everything that could have gone wrong this week did haha.

Just to name a few things (now, I PROMISE I´m not complaining;)

We ran out of hot water, we lost our phone, we lost my companion´s thumbdrive with all her mission pictures, we missed the bus after an appt and had to walk home (we got home at midnight), my debit card hasnt been working and we had no money for the bus, the were no baptismal clothes that fit Erika so we had to run around HOURS before her baptism looking for a dress, etc etc etc! The list just goes on and on hahaha. But the Lord really was helping us every step of the way and even though it was frustrating, we were still able to laugh and everything worked out in the end! Even though this week was crazy, I wouldn´t change anything. I learned so much and I know now that nothing can stop the work of the Lord!! So HA. Nice try, Satan. 

Anyway, yes the mission is crazy but it is the best! I love my companion, I love the people here, and I love Huelva! By the way, apparently Huelva is the place where Cristopher Columbus left to find the Americas! Who knew! The Spanish is still difficult (please pray for me!!) but the Lord is helping me. It´s cool to see the difference between talking to my investigators and talking to people at church or on the street. I am continually humbled because I am unable to understand or say the simplest of the things, but when I am with my investigators I can understand them almost perfectly! And I can teach things I never thought I would be able to say! Its incredible! I´m so gratful for the power of the Spirit.My testimony has grown so much. Oh man I wish I could express myself better! Just know I have a testimony of the Savior and of this work. It is an honor to be a missionary and a servant of the Lord. Until next week!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Hermana Morrow

PICTURES!

If you click on the pictures they enlarge so you can see her beautiful face better.

I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!

This week was crazy, I don´t even know where to begin! 

My companion is amazing and actually knows a lot more English than she let on! I still always have to have a dictionary by me though and Elder Fisher always translates for me when we´re at church etc. The sliver of pride I had about my spanish when I came here is completely gone haha. My companion is fantastic and is so patient with me though and I´m so grateful for her. And so are the adults we visit with and talk to in their homes or at church. I love talking to little kids the most though. They´re not afraid to correct me (or to laugh at me haha ;) and its fun watching them try to explain things in different ways so that I´ll finally understand what they´re trying to say. My favorite is one of our investigators, Erika, who will always shout ¡POR FIN! (finally!) whenever I finally understand what she´s saying hahahaha. I love it. I can´t wait to visit Huelva again and actually be able to talk to everyone!  But the language is coming! Slowly but surely. I just want to be able to understand it all now though!. haha.

So it´s really really hot here, I take back what i said last week about it not being as hot as it could be. The heat just drains you. My first purchase here was a cheap handheld fan and I use it EVERYWHERE haha. We even moved our mattresses to the main room so we can sleep in a room with an air conditioner. I can´t wait until fall, hopefully then I´ll have a lot more energy. But I know for sure the Lord is blessing me because we get to sweaty and hot throughout the day but I haven´t had any heat rashes or other health problems that I usually would have.

We taught a lot of lessons this week, but our main focus is Erika. We visit her every day and ask her to be baptized but she has said no more times than I can count! She´s reading her scriptures and praying with her sister every day though. She even goes to all the youth activities and sacrament meetings. We know she has a testimony but she´s just a little shy about the whole baptism part. So anyway, each week I try to work on an attribute of Christ and this week was faith. So at night right before I went to bed I prayed for an experience to strengthen my faith and lo and behold, not even 5 mintues later we called Erika (we call her every night to say a family prayer with her) and MY FIRST MIRACLE HAPPENED! Without us even asking her to, Erika prayed for us!!!!! She has never ever said a prayer out loud with anyone but her sister before and her prayer was so so so beautiful! After we hung up Hra. Robayo and I squealked like litte girls and hugged--we were so excited!! I know our investigators are gifts from Heavenly Father and our faith really does play a part. Investigators have their agency, but as a missionary, I need to do everything I can and have as much faith as I can, for the progress of our investiagors. Faith works. Pray works. And even if Erika doesn´t get baptized at this time, I know she will someday!! I´m just so grateful she´s progressing.

Another experience I´d liketo share happened last night with two less active members. They´re brothers who are both in their 50s or 60s. We´ve been trying to get them to come back to church so we decided to watch The Testaments video with them. First of all, I´d just like to say I love this video! So amazing. My favorite part is of course the endd when the Savior visits the people in the Americas after his resurrection. We were watching this with them and I don´t know what happened but I started crying like a baby! Okay and to preface this a little bit, I haven´t cried once since I left home. Not once. Not that I haven´t felt the Spirit or anything, it just never happened. And so it was really embarrassing for me to be in this house with these two older men that I didn´t really know and to be bawling as I´m trying to talk to them in broken Spanish about the Savior, but I just felt the Spirit so strong! One of the men got a little emotional too and I was able to share my testimony about my love of the Savior and how grateful I am for all that he has done for me. In the end, they both said they didn´t know if they would go to church this Sunday BUT even if they didn´t get anything out of that experience, I did. Its a tender mercy I think when we get to share our testimonies, even if the person doesn´t accept it, because your testimony is always strengthened, even if its just a little bit. 

So yeah! My week has been crazy but I love missionary work! It´s amazing. Continue to pray for my Spanish (please!!!!) I miss you all but i hope you have so much fun with the rest of your summer!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL;

Hermana Morrow

FIRST AREA-HUELVA

Holy moly where do I start?!

 So I´m here in Huelva!! I don´t know if you saw on the Malaga Mission blog already but my trainer is Hermana Robayo! She is buenissima! She´s from Ecuador but has lived in Barcelona (Spain) for the past 12? years. At first, not gonna lie, I was panicking because she doesn´t speak English but its all turned out okay. She is sooooo patient with me! Haha it takes me so long to register what the says and then respond but she´s always encouraging me. If I wasn´t working hard before to learn Spanish, I am now! My goal is to be fluent (as in actually being able to understand people) by Thanksgiving. The accent here is really really hard. Southern Spain in general is difficult to understand but Huelva I heard is one of the hardest. But once I master it I´ll be able to understand any Spanish accent right? haha. Its not too hot here, usually between 30-40 degrees Celcius (I think thats around 85-100 Fahrenheit). You may think thats hot but we went to a Zone meeting in Sevilla which is the hottest place in Spain and lemme tell ya, I wanted to die! Sooooooo hot. We at least have the ocean breeze here.

We live in a really nice part of Huelva, kind of like the scenic, touristy part I guess. There´s lots of stores and our chapel is only a couple blocks away. But we don´t live in our proselyting area and have to take a bus to visit members/investigators. We ride the bus A LOT. Thats how people get around here. The rest of Huelva is pretty poor. The first thing I did, fresh off the train from Malaga, was visit a member´s house in ¨gypsyland¨as one of the Elders called it haha. Oh man I was a freaked out...but now I can actually say I´ve been in a ghetto. Haha but its not so bad everywhere else. Since Wednesday night, we´ve had 13 lessons, 10 with members. I feel like a lost puppy following Hra. Robayo around but its getting better. I feel confident bearing my testimony in Spanish and now I´m working on teaching.

Right now we´re trying to get Erika to accept baptism. She´s 13 years old and lives with her sister and grandma. Her mom died of cancer when she was a baby and her dad is out of the picture. Her grandma and her sister were baptized months ago and now its her turn! I love their family. They´re crazy but I love them. Everyone in Spain (or at least the members) are so loving and touchy-feely. I must have given/recieved 100 besos by now haha (only to the girls mind you ;) My first Sunday was crazy. I met so many people (soooooo many), theres about 80 in the ward. I had to introduce myself in Sacrament meeting which was nervewracking but I think I did okay.

In our ward there is us and two Elders. Elder Puelles is from Barcelona too and he and Hra. Robayo have been friends for years. Elder Fisher is from Pocatello and is angel from heaven because he´s the only person I can speak English with! haha. They had a baptism this week which was CRAZY. We got there at 7;30 to help set up, the baptism started at 8, lasted an hour but when we left at 11 people were still partying! Everyone loves to celebrate haha. But it really was a miracle. Paula is 15 and has been an atheist for years. Her family has all been baptized except for her. But she went to EFY a little bit ago and was instantly converted. So cool.

So I´d just like to say that my sleeping habits have helped me so much in my mission so HA ;) We don´t get up until 7:30 and lights are out at 11:30. We proselyte for about 3 hours in the afternoon before mediahora and then again from 4PM to 10PM. I´m loving it here and I´m not too homesick, which is nice. I just hate not being able to understand! Hra. Robayo has to do all the calling and most of the talking and I just feel useless sometimes but I´m here and I love the people and I have a testimony and thats all that matters!

My favorite phrases I´ve learned this week:

Poco a poco (Spanish will come; little by little)

Toda en la cabeza! (our apartment is on the 5th floor and the elevator is broken so this is how we encourage oursleves haha)

Que te pasa!

Puro y punto.

I love you all!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Hermana Morrow

PICTURES!

I was scrolling through Kelsey's Facebook page and SURPRISE I see a picture of her linked to a blog by another Hermana serving with her!  MADE. MY. DAY!  Isn't she beautiful!

I'M HERE!

I´m here! 

Malaga is so beautiful! We got up at 4:30 this morning, packed up, and said some of the hardest goodbyes I have ever experienced! I´m going to miss it so much by now that I´m here, I feel like it was years ago. It was about a two hour train ride. (The train rides in Europe are amazing btw, I felt like I was in an airplane haha). The eight of us (2 Elders and 6 Hermanas) got off the train and immediately saw Presidente y Hermana Deere, the APs, and a couple other Elders waiting for us. It was so hard not to get emotional! I´m just so so so happy. Malaga is incredible...the coast is breathtaking. I feel like I´m in Hawaii or Florida. I´m in the Mission home right now. I´m fed and just finished my interview with the President. Now we´re just getting a little orientation. Later tonight the trainers will arrive and tomorrow I´ll find out who she is and where I´m going! I can´t believe this is actually happening, it feels like a dream! I love you! Thank you for your prayers! Until Monday!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Hermana Morrow

OFF TO MALAGA!

BEST DAY EVER!
First off....shout out to Dominick!! (A friend of Kelsey's who just received his mission call to the Washington Kennewick mission) I´m so so sooo happy right now!! I never would have guessed but it seems perfect for some reason. And I´m so happy for the Casper family. (Another friend of the family who just finished chemo and found out she is cancer free)  I´ve been praying so hard for them. The email from the Winwards was really sweet too. SO appreciated it. 

I don´t have a lot of time but I just wanted to let you know kinda whats going on. I´m leaving on a train for Malaga at 5:45 tomorrow morning. I´ll get to the mission home, meet my trainer, and then find out where I´m headed. I´ll spend the night there and then travel the next day. I´m nervous about leaving, it´s all REALLY starting now and I definitely don´t feel prepared but as long as I have the Spirit with me I´m fine, right? :)

My P-day is now on Monday so you´ll hear from me again next week. 

I have no time but I just want to let you know how much I KNOW that this church is true. I love my Heavenly Father and I´m doing the best I can so that He knows He can trust me. All the "success" I will get from this mission will be a combination of my personal worthiness and God´s will. I just want you to know I will do my very best no matter how hard it is. I love this gospel, I love my Savior. I miss you all but I am so happy and honored to be here. Never forget what Heavenly Father has done for our family!!

I love you!! 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL

Hermana Morrow

MTC COUNTDOWN & DON'T FORGET GOD LOVES YOU!

First of all….HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! I love you so much, I am so grateful for your example….I am definitely out here because of your teachings and your love.

Oh man this week has been so crazy! Our little group all part ways next Tuesday morning. I get to email again on Monday to let you know more details. All I know is that my group (6 sisters and 2 elders) are taking a train to Malaga where we will go to the mission home, meet our trainers, and find out what our first area is!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH! I´m excited to get to work—hasta que duela! But I´m going to miss the friendships I´ve made here with the other elders, sisters, and teachers.  And I´m definitely going to miss the MTC and the temple!

Today was my last time at a temple until I get back home! It was bittersweet. We did the session in Spanish and then walked around the temple and got to see the different rooms. SO. BEAUTIFUL. I will cherish my experiences at the temple forever. Madrid will always have a special place in my heart!

Today we are going to the Real Madrid stadium! My compañera is a big fan of fútbol so I´m excited to see it with her. Apparently it’s a pretty big deal around here haha. Last week we went bowling at a local mall and the week before we took a tour of Madrid—downtown Sol. European cities are so beautiful! I love the architecture. I can´t wait until I can send pics! (which is when I get my package hint hint ;)

I don´t think I talked about the Park in my last email so I´ll take a little time to talk about that. 2 weeks ago my companion was Sister Kondrats´ka from Ukraine. She was so sweet and even though she couldn’t speak Spanish and only spoke little English, she was able to share her testimony with lots of people that we talked to. She would tell me every time we spoke to someone, ¨tell them that God loves them!¨ and then I would translate into Spanish. She was such an example to me. Her companion, Sister Esaulenko told me a story about how when Sister Kondrats´kas boyfriend was in the army she would call him every night and asked him if he read his scriptures. If he said no she would say, ¨No scriptures—no me!¨ and then hang up. He would then read his scriptures and call her back. Haahahaha love her!!

Last week I was paired up with a girl from Seattle (Lexi Jones) who I went to BYU with! Our experience at the park was honestly the most bizarre thing I have ever experienced. We only had time to talk to a few people because we talked with them for soooo long. I´ve never done that before, usually people are in a hurry. We talked to this one catholic man for about an hour and was able to basically share the whole restauracion (Restoration) with him. At the beginning though he kept hounding us about how bad our Spanish was and how did we expect to teach people if we didn’t know the language. But then my sweet companion threw her hands up in the air and proclaimsd, ¨with the Spirit of course!¨ hahaha he couldn’t deny that! We kept talking and he kept interrupting us but we managed to recite Joseph Smith´s first prayer. I felt the Spirit so strong and I know he did too even though he wouldn´t admit it. We ended up getting nowhere with him but left on good terms. And then on the way home on the metro, we talked to this man for two minutes, gave him a BoM, bore our testimonies, and got his contact information. In two minutes! Some people are definitely prepared beforehand for this message!

I love being on a mission and I can feel your prayers! Thank you for all being examples to me!!

¡El reino celestial or nada!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Hermana Morrow