CONFERENCE IN SEVILLA

"What I like about the mission is even when times get rough, you always know there´s a miracle on the horizon and the harder you work, the faster you´ll reach it OR the more meaningful it will be for you when it does come."------Wise words from my beautiful companion!!

This week has been pretty tough, especially regarding the numbers of lessons we´ve taught. We haven´t had as much success as the past and our animo (energy, excitement?) has gone down a lot. But what I love about companionships is that your struggles and your trials and your problems seem to be cut in half, because you can share the disappointment. But then, your successes and miracles seem to be doubled as you both enjoy them!! What a blessing that is! And I can see that applied to any other type of companionship....husband and wife, families, friends, you name it. Companions are so important, I´m so lucky to have Hermana Lyons--she´s healed me and helped me in more ways than I´ve thought possible and I hope I´ve done the same for her! 

But anyway, the big, exciting, SUPER GUAY ("cool")  thing that happened this week was a visit from Elder Kearon, a member of the Seventy! He and his family live in Germany but he´s from Britain so he has the coolest accent ever (just being able to listen to that  accent for three hours was the best thing ever!) He came to our half of the mission on Thursday so we traveled up to Sevilla on Wednesday night and then took a 3 hour train ride to Malaga the next day. I had the worst cold i have ever had all that week (which is also partly why this week has been difficult blah) and then the entire day of the conference I was SO sick! I had a fever and everything and it just so happened to fall on the one day i couldnt stay home and sleep in our piso haha. But Heavenly Father took care of me and not only was I able to make it through that day and the journey home, I was even better enough by the next day that we didnt lose any proselyting time.

 But anyway, I´d like to take some time and share a little bit of what I learned from the Conference. Elder Kearon and his wife and then our mission president and his wife also spoke and it was incredible. When they all walked in, I just felt a wave of the Spirit come over me. I believe in the priesthood authority of our leaders! I will follow them through to the end, because I know they are called of God! Here are some highlights:

Elder Kearon talked a lot about how we as members, "thrive on resistance". No matter how hard things get, we always get through them and come out stronger, but only if we have the Lord  in our minds and in our hearts. Even if we have to do it alone, we do hard things!

He also advised us to pour out our hearts in the morning to the Lord and then ATTACK the morning--physically with our excercises and spiritually with our studies. /And let me tell ya--we sure did! I´m SO sore still haha)

Sister Kearon talked about the story in Matthew 19 and about asking yourself, what lack I yet? There is no commandment that is only for your physical or temporal well being. its all connected....its all for your spiritual growth too. She also said something I really loved...."He loves uyou just as you are, but He loves you enough to not let you stay that way--He invites us to let things go, free ourselves, and ask: What lack I yet?" PURE GOLD!

Presidente Deere and Hermana Deere talked about not beating ourselves up and telling ourselves things that we wouldnt´ tell any one else. Let go of your spiritual guilt-handcarts! Just repent and decide to do better now!

I feel like I didnt even give half enough credit that these spiritual giants deserved but i just wanted to give you all a little taste of the magnificent Spirit and knowledge that I gained at this conference!

In other news, on Thursday (the day of the conference) we were riding the bus home with the Elders from our District and we all thought it was Thanksgiving (they dont celebrate it here in Spain so we got the week mixed up) so we all went around and shared what we´re grateful for! heres a few: 

Tissues (that one was obviously mine), the fact that its getter colder so people are more likely to answer the door fully clothed, Enya, our families (duh!), having an oven -


my old piso didnt have one), Hermana Lyons and her love of making sweets and letting me mooch off of them, and of course the Book of Mormon, our Savior, and our Heavenly Father. I just want to share my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ and The Lord live! I am so grateful for the gospel in mylife. I feel so lucky to have grown up in a family that was centered on the gospel and the teachings of Christ. But I know that even if I hadn´t, i would have accepted the message of the Restoration if missionaries had knocked on my door and i had felt the Holy Spirit testify to me of its truthfulness. i know it. I´m grateful for my parents, they are really, truly "goodly parents" like Nephi´s. I love my brothers and sisters so much and I will always treasure the time we had together. And I love my Savior and because of Him, I wanted to serve a mission. And I love being here serving and teaching the people of Spain. I love it with all of my heart! 

I hope you all have a great thanksgiving!! I´d love to hear what you´re all grateful for! 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!! 

(PS todays my five month mark...where has the time gone!!)

MISSIONARY'S APPRENTICE

MERLY!!

We had the BEST week with her!! We´ve been teaching her consitently these past couple weeks and during one visit, she just turned to her mom and said, "hey, I want to be a missionary! can I go out with the hermanas??" And we just looked at each other like, okay well hey, why not! So we got permission from our District Leader and her parents and we she was able to accompany us!

We had a little test run on Thursday and just took her out for a visit or two, but we gave her some pass along cards and she was contacting people in the street like it was no big deal! I cant believe this girl! I STILL am afraid of approaching people, and she would just walking up to them, point to us, and say "hola, these girls are mormons and they talk about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ" haha! Everyone LOVED it!! She was just so cute, she´s definitely our secret weapon from now on hah!

And then on Saturday we took her out for the whole day, and I mean the entire day! We picked her up at 10 in the morning and then we brought her back at 8:30, almost 11 hours with us! The poor thing, so many people failed us so we walked all over the city all day, I was so afraid we were going to wear her out! But at the end, she was running down the streets and climbing the walls haha while Hermana Lyons and I were dragging our feet! (At one point she did take a quick nap on the bus though, it was so cute! See pic attached) And it was truly a day of miracles with her! A lot of our appointments werent home and at one point, we even had a door litterally slammed in our faces (took 3 months in the field before that happened to me so I´m not complaining) but then the most AMAZING thing happened! After the woman slammed the door in our face, we went to sit on a park bench to pray and at that very moment, the granddaughter of that woman came out of the house and came over to talk to us. Her name is Indara (9 years old) and is the daughter of the Sandra, the miracle family I told you about a couple weeks ago, who greeted me and Hermana RObayo like old friends and listened so intently to us when we explained the Book of Mormon. Well anyway, we asked her how her reading was going and she pulled out her book and showed us where she was and she´s IN ETHER! We visited her about a month ago and she´s almost done with the Book of Mormon! And to make it even better, Merly then took over at that part of the lesson and used the pictures in the front of the book to explain where it came from and what it is. And she was litterally teaching Indara! She would talk about Lehi and his family and then would ask her questions like "Whats his name" , "Why did they go to Jerusalem", and then told her at then end that she was going to bring an abbreviated Book of Mormon book with pictures for her to help her understand. It was a beautiful moment, to see two young girls who havent been baptized talk and teach and help each other to understand the gospel. It just proves to me personally how true the Book of Mormon is--that two young girls, of only 11 and 9 years of age, can feel how special this book is and like Merly, to have the desure to share it with everyone they know. 

 I feel so lucky here in Huelva. As you may have noticed, we´ve been teaching a lot of young girls between 8-14 years of age--Erika, Lorena, Judith, Estela, Merly, Julia, Ramona, and now Indara. And I know she wont be the last. We´ve often wondered about this, why did the Lord lead us to find these girls? Why are they more open to the Spirit and the gosple than their parents? And especially in Merly´s case, why are they so STRONG in their beliefs when they´ve only had the gospel in their lives for only a couple years, or months, or even weeks. I don´t know why, but I´m so so so grateful for this blessing to be able to laugh with and teach these beautiful girls. They´ll always be my girls and I hope to one day see pictures of them on their missions or when they´re married in the temple!! They are such examples to me and make me want to be better!!

Anyway, Estela is doing amazing, we had a noche de hogar (family home evening) with them one night and it was CRAZY! Their family is so insane, I love it so much. EVeryone just yells all the time and they love to dance and sing, I just love it! We made gratitude turkeys in honor of thanksgiving and they loved it. 

My companion is the best! We´ve really supported each other this week during the tough times. We´re both battling being sick with the changing weather but we find that if we pray for each other with faith, once we´re in the street, the Lord blesses us just enough to make it throug the day. And when we´re down, we cheer each other up by singing songs from the Barbie movies (The Princess and the Pauper is our favorite) haha. I´ve never been happier!

ANywya, I hope you all have a great week! I love you and pray for you!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Hermana Morrow

JUST DO IT

Thats been my motto for this week! My companion is amazing at contacting and she´s really helped me and encouraged me to be better! It´s really hard sometimes, especially on the bus when you have an audience haha. But I´ve learned that I just have to do it! I´m not ashamed of the gospel, and I´m a representative of Jesus Christ so what do I have to fear? We contacted about 70 people this week and I´ve never been happier! Even if some people completely ignore us and pretend like they don´t understand me (my accent isn´t THAT bad haha) it´s so worth it. We´ve already seen miracles and we have a bunch of new investigators we´ll be teaching this week!! I think I´ve gained a lot of confidence since I´ve been on the mission. I´m definitely more bold. (Haha sometimes Hna. Lyons and I have to stop and think before we do some things to make sure we´re not breaking too many social norms...haha). But my confidence is not in me, its in my Savior. I´ve given Him all my strengths and all my weaknesses and He´s molding me into the missionary and person i need to become. And if that means I need to go out of my comfort zone and talk to people on the bus or in the streets, I¨LL DO IT!

So yeah this week was great! My companion is LA MEJOR and we have so much fun together! We work hard (reallyyyyy hard--I´ve never been so exhausted in my life!) but we play hard for sure. And I know she loves me and that honestly can make all the difference! Plus, she´s an amazing baker and I´ve reaped the benefits of her brownie, cookie making skills :)

So two crazy days happened on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we had these AWESOME plans. Oh man, I was so proud of them....we were going to meet with a bunch of new investigators and a bunch of people we met through contacting and we were going to set two baptismal dates. But of course, you can imagine what happened.....everything fell through!! And I mean EVERYTHING! Haha it was almost comical! Actually it was comical, it didn´t affect us at all and we were laughing and just went along with our backup plans as if nothing was wrong. And because everything fell through, we didn´t have time to go back to our piso for mediodia (2 hours in the afternoon we go back and eat and do the area book because everyone in Spain is sleeping) so we ended up prsoleyting from 11AM to 10PM. And that last 2 hours, we got drenched and were knockling on doors and no one let us in because we looked like two drowned puppies haha. So why i am telling you all this?? I promise I´m not complaining...I´m telling you all this because even through all of this I was SO HAPPY! We were both just so completely happy! We didnt once get discouraged and we did the best we could. Since then I´ve been thinking about the reasons behind this and I don´t know if its because of everyone´s prayers for us and for all the missionaries or if its because we have the Spirit with us and Heavenly Father is blessing us with peace and joy, as long as we´re doing our best and being obedient...whatever it is, I know its of God and I´m so grateful for this tender mercy!!

But then yesterday, we had a pretty good day numberwise, but we visited one family at the end of the night and they are going through such a rough time....spiritually, economically, emotionally, and physically. And there was literally nothing we could do in that moment. There was a lot of contention, the Spirit wasn´t there at all, and at one point we just had to leave. And it HURT. I have never felt such pain for someone before like that. We both just walked home-I dont even know how to describe it-- hurting, just hurting! Thats the dangerous part of missionary work, you have so much love for people and then as you teach them, the Spirit helps you to love them even more and more and more. And then if their faith is wavering, or if you watch them go through trials in their lives, its devastating! And even though its painful, I´m grateful for thischarity I have for God´s children,its defintiely something I havey prayed for and something thats been given me, little by little. And I know through Savior´s love and with the Spirit´s help, we can help heal this family.

I don´t want to leave on a sad note, so I´ll share a quick funny story. On Saturday after another one of our plans fell through, we were wlaking in the street when we met one of our investigators by chance and he didn´t even stop to talk to us--just said follow me, I want you to meet someone. We followed him a little cautiously but then he led us into this room with FIFTEEN people, and said "Hey grandma, I have some people here who want to talk to you about GOd" and then he jsut left us in the middle of this crowd of strangers,laughing his head off hahaha And we just stood there surrounded by his family panicking alittle but then my AMAZING companion just rounded them all up in a semicircle and sat us in chairs in the middle and we had a lesson! I´ll never get the image of my companion sitting there in front of a group of 15 adults, as if we were having storytime or something haha! But everyone was really nice and we now have a bunch of new investigators and we were able to give away 2 copies of the Book of Mormon, so thank you, Ezequiel (the investigator)!! 

So yup, I love being a missionary! I´m working hard and I love being a representative of my Savior, and its not something that will end when my mission does. My mission will never end!

I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for your prayers!! I love you all!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

NOT IN TRAINING!

BEST WEEK EVER!

Okay I feel bad that thats my title post for this week, I promise it has nothing to do with saying goodbye to Hermana Robayo haha! It was bittersweet to say goodbye to her, but I was and still am really excited for this next part of my mission. IM OFFICIALLY NOT IN TRAINING!!! woohooo! I feel like a real missionary now and the language is getter better and better every day so i can actually communicate with people, woop woop! I can now answer the phone and call people and set appointments without being afraid (even though i sometimes have to repeat myself 10 times because my accent is so thick haha) and I´m just overall building up my confidence! For example in lessons, at first, I would get really nervous and had to form out what I wanted to say in spanish in my mind during lessons, but now all I need to do is study in the morning for my lessons and then just listen to the Spirit! It´s such a liberating and powerful experience, every time. To just be able to listen to the Holy Spirit to figure out the needs of the people you´re teaching and then applying a gospel principle that will help them and bring them closer to Christ. 

SOOOO I said goodbye to my mom on Wednesday and a couple hours later, picked up my new beautful companion, Hermana Lyons!! I love her so much already! She´s from Utah and is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Her spanish is amazing and she is a POWERFUL teacher. She loves to bake and has already made cookies so that helps too haha ;) No but seriously, these past 4 days with her have honestly been one of the best 4 days of my mission. She´s already helped me to be a better missionary and to get out of my comfort zone. For example, we have a goal to contact on every bus we go on and let me tell ya, bus contacting is SO HARD. I love knocking on doors, or even just street contacting but bus contacting  is soooooo awkward. First of all, you have to approach someone almost randomly sometimes and try to talk to them while everyone on the bus is watching and listening to you and then if they reject you, all you can do is awkwardly stand there until one of you get off haha. But we´ve done it every time and we´ve already seen miracles! We met a man who gave his number to the missionaries a year ago and they never called him back (they probably just wrote the number down wrong or something ;) and has been waiting for more "young people to  talk about God" with him. For a YEAR. What a blessing!

Other crazy things that happened this week was that we moved pisos! Poor Hermana Lyons, I didnt even let her unpack when she got here and her second morning here we had to pack up everything in the apartment and moved a couple streets away. But it was a miracle because not only were we able to pack and clean our apartment, but we moved everything down five flights of stairs and into our new apartment in three hours! So then we were able to proselyte and keep our appointments for the rest of the day. And our new piso is AMAZING: I feel like a princess in a castle. The piso belongs to members from the church so they left a lot of furniture for us and I seriosuly feel like I´m living in Oma´s house. Its like culture shcok all over again! I feel like I could walk outside and be in St. George or something. I can´t tell you how grateful I am! 

This next transfer will be so great, I´m so excited! I wasn´t stressed at all with setting appointments or showing my companion around and I know thats because of your prayers, so thank you so much for that!

Teaching wise,.....Estela is still doing great! She has such a love for the gospel that I´ve never seen in anyone as young as her. Everything we teach her she just drinks up and if we she wasn´t doing it before, for example we taught modesty the other day, she´s just like, "okay that makes sense and I feel its true so i´ll do it!". Maquina!!!

We took Merly to church again the other day and she loves it. She´s been going for a month alone now and her mom says she ran up to her after church yesterday and said "I know this church is true, I want to be baptized, I want to be baptized!!" And she will, I have no doubt. Man, I have so much love for this girl!! And i´m so grateful for the faith of children. I have learned more from them than i have learned from adults on my mission. They have so much faith and theyre willing to pray and find out the truth for themselves! 

Sometimes I think as adults we can be just a little stubborn. And sometimes, especially with the trials we´ve gone through, the burdens we´ve felt, and the things we´ve seen, its hard to believe that there´s a God, that He would let these things happen. But I have a testimony that we do have a Heavenly Father and He does love us. he loves us so much, He sent His only son to suffer and die for us. And through His son, Jesus Christ, we can be healed, we can find comfort and strength. I have seen this very Atonement raise people from despair, lift them up in the brightness of the gospel as they discover and embrace the love of their Savior. I love 2 Nephi 1;15. We are never alone and there is always hope! I can and do testify of this! 

So thats pretty much it for this week, we´ve been really busy and working really hard. I havent felt more tired in my life but I love it! Its a good kind of tired, makes me feel like I´m doing something right. I love you all, thank you for your prayers!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!