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!!