CHRISTMAS WEEK!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did! Christmas´s are really special on the mission. This one helped me realize to a fuller extent how Christmas is about remembering our Savior and that he suffered for our sins, for our trials and struggles, for our sicknesses and weaknesses and addictions, so that we all have the opportunity to live with our Father in Heaven forever WITH our families! My family has become so precious to me over my time here in Spain. And to not be able to spend Christmas with them was harder than I thought it would be but the tender mercy was that Hna. Steffensen and I were able to spend it with people who were also far from their families. We were able to find comfort and joy in each other and just enjoy celebrating the Savior´s birth together!

 But first, let me talk about the days leading up to Christmas! On Tuesday, we went to the Guffeys house with our investigator, Kat, for Family Home Evening. We made chili for Christmas Eve dinner with her (she´s an amazing cook!) and then shared a message. I love Kat! She´s met with so many missionaries and I feel so lucky to be one of them! She really enjoys having Family Home Evenings and spending time with families, since she doesn´t get that chance too often as she´s alone her in Spain. Sadly, she´s leaving in January but she´s already told us that the first thing she´s going to do when she gets to Norfolk is find the missionaries! She always says she´s never going to be baptized, but we all know with a little more time and love and when the time is perfect, she´ll be ready ;) 

Then the next day was Christmas Eve! We worked in the morning and we actually had a lot of success which was surprising! And then later that day we headed over to a American families house--the Rasmussens! Their dad is deployed (been there!) so us, the Guffeys, the Elders, and Kat just brought the Christmas party over to their house! We ate chili, played games, and even watched a little bit of mr. Kreugers Christmas haha. And then later, Hermana Steffensen and I had the chance to go to a member´s house from the Spanish ward named Belli. Her daughter and her husband were over too with the CUTEST grandchildren and we had so much fun playing and eating with them! Lots of seafood is typical in Spain, so we had lots of shrimp, mussels, and other kinds of meat. Oh man, I have to tell you about jamon sometime! Its basically legs of meat that they just hang in the stores. i cant stand the smell of it or anything and I cant eat it but everyone here in Spain LOVES it!

The next morning the Guffeys put together a Christmas breakfast for the entire ZONE of missionaries and we all made omelettes out of a plastic bag that we boiled in water (who knew right?) and this is where the Christmas miracle came in! Some missionaries were traveling in a group on the train on the way to the breakfast when they ran into these three men who basically asked if they could come too! So here we are, a group of about 40 missionaries making omelettes with these just 3 random spanish men from off the train. We talked to them and it turns out they live in our area! They loved the breakfast and they talked with everyone! They have interest in coming back so we´ll see how that goes! We invited them to church on Sunday but they were all sick unfortunately, but next week for sure :) 

Later that day, we went over to the Miles´s house and had fun eating and playing games and reminiscing about missions (I have some AWESOME pictures of Uncle Scott!) and of course, we talked with our families! AHH! And I only cried a little ;) It was so great and I´m so grateful for the Miles for inviting us over to do that.

And THEN we went over to another member´s house, the Hassle´s and played games with them haha man, it was just so fun. We got an American, Spanish, AND missionary Christmas! I feel so blessed during this time and i´m so grateful i could spend Christmas with all these wonderful people!

Friday and Saturday i got the flu (did you give it to me through Skype or something mom??) and it hit me hard enough where i was in bed for 2 straight days. Poor Hermana Steffensen! She must have died of boredom, she told me she cleaned the piso for 6 hours one day haha. But I´m all good now, thanks to a priesthood blessing from the Elders. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of love and family time! And enjoy the New year!! Make those New Years resolutions!! Speaking of which, I finished the Book of Mormon and am starting it over again in spanish. remember the goal back in Spetember? 

I love you all!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL

Hermana Morrow

BLESSINGS

I´m so blessed. So so so so blessed! This week was rough, my comp´s been battling a never-ending cold and we kept getting failed all week (including our Christmas eve appointment but we won´t talk about that), and then one of our new investigators dropped us which hurt A LOT! We had a lot of hope for her, she´s really nice and is looking for something more in her life but decided our message wasn´t for her. Its in these moments I just want to pick up The Book of Mormon and shake it in front of people and tell them This will make you happy! Don´t you realzie thats all we and God want?? Just a little faith!! But some people just aren´t ready....yet ;)  So yeah, we definitely had a few discouraging moments. BUT BUT BUT we pushed through and did the best we could and I am telling you now that we have felt Heavenly Father´s love a hundred fold and I know that the Lord takes care of His missionaries and His children. 

First, let me start with last P-day. After emailing, we took the train to Cadiz which is the main city here about 30 minutes away. We got on the train and then after almost every stop after, a group of missionaries from our zone got on and it was SO fun. We got to see a cathedral and then we alked up to a CASTLE and just explored for a while. I´m so excited for P-days here. In Huelva, we were an hour bus ride away from anyone so we just spent Pdays chillin by ourselves, but here we can spend P-day with 20 other missionaries here easily. Blessingssssssssss!

Later that night, we had a Family Home Evening with an investigator Kat. She´s young and works on base in the Navy. The Miles family from the American branch was so kind to host it at their house and we shared a lesson about prayer and then played one of those Cranium games and ate brownies. It was SO fun! Seriously one of the highlights of my mission already. Especially since Sis. Miles and I figured out that she served with Uncle Scott in Venezuela!!! SO COOL. They invited us over for Christmas Day too and we´re so excited! I love their family already, theyre great people and their kids are the cutest!

On Wednesday, we had a Zone Conference in Sevilla with two other zones so I got to see Hermana Lyons again! She´s an angel. Seriosuly don´t think I can gush about her enough. She´s an AMAZING missionary but one of those who don´t even realize it which makes it even better. She and Hermana Carmen are my best friends on the mish, it was no accident that we met and were companions and it was even a greater blessing for me that I could see Hna. Lyons once more before she went home. And I´ll see a lot more of Hna. Carmen for sure! I´ve been so lucky with my companions, especially Hna. Steffensen! She´s such a hard worker and SO funny and crazy haha I love it. I´m sure you can see that from the pics I send haha. 

At the Conference, we talked about our mission goals. So far, we have 425 baptisms this year and 205 rescued less-actives. Even though our goal for this year was 600 baptisms, we talked about how that doesnt make the 425 less special. Its 425 more people who have come unto Christ and that´s something to celebrate! I´m grateful for goals that drive and inspire us to find and teach and share God´s Plan of happiness with as many people as we can. 

Later, Presidente Deere and Hermana Deere talked to us about Self-reliance which we all thought was an interesting topic, especially around Christmas time. But I really needed to hear what they said as they talked about living within our means,keeping a budget, saving and avoiding debt. I definitely need to work on that! I love the Deere´s, they truly prepare us for the future. I´ll be sad to see them go, we just got news that we´ll be getting a new mission president this summer: President Andersen from Blackfoot, Idaho. Bittersweet! I love the Deeres with all my heart but am excited to welcome the Andersens!

On Thursday we went to Rota, the community right outside of the Navy base. We only get to go there once a week since its so far away. Its a beautiful little town and even though we didn´t have a lot of success there that day, I´m excited to go back!

On Friday we had the Ward Christmas Party and we were able to take three investigators--Umi, Katti (whose 11 years old! She´s already one of "my girls") and her sister, Elena who was literally stuck to my hip the entire night. Theyre all so cute! Elena especially. The primary kids went up to sing some Christmas songs and even though she hasnt even been to church yet, she went up anyway and mouthed the words, so adorable!! I love the faith and goodness of little children!! I don´t know why I´m so blessed and lucky to teach such beautiful girls here in Puerto and when I was in Huelva too. Heavenyl father must be preparing me for something...my whole life has revolved around caring for and teaching younger kids and especially now that I´m away from "my kids" back at home (yes, Ryan and Kate, you still count too ;) I realize how precious they are to me. I´m so blessed!!

So that was pretty much my week, I wish i had more updates about investigators, but it was really hard to meet with people because of the Holidays and the sicknesses going around. Next week for sure! I believe in miracles!!

I´d just like to end this weekly letter with my testimony that I know my Savior lives. He healed when He came to earth, He has healed people even after His death, He has healed me, and He continues to heal. All we have to do is put a little faith in Him. I´m grateful for His love that I feel every day and especially during this time on my mission. I am proud to be a daughter of my Heavenly Father and I´m grateful for His Great Plan of Happiness and the role that jesus Christ plays in it.  I am so gratful for my life and all the blessings I have recieved from God. i praise Him and will continue to praise Him all the day long.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL! AND FELIZ NAVIDAD!

I wish you all an amazing Chrsitmas as you remember the Savior and get to spend this time with our greatest gifts on this Earth--our family and friends.

I love you!

Hermana Morrow

EL PUERTO

I LOVE EL PUERTO!! AND MY COMPIE! She´s seriosuly the coolest! She speaks English perfectly and I´ve had a lot of fun learning about her. She´s from Norway and has 6 younger siblings (cue in oldest sibling bonding time haha) and the youngest brother is 5 months (SOOO cute!) They all have cool Norweigan names that is nearly impossible for me to pronounce haha. I´m so excited to be with her for this next transfer---she´s seriously A MACHINE: She knows the area and the people really well. I have nothing to worry about! The only thing that made me a little nervous was our Spanish but I learned this week that honestly, the language doesnt matter. We both have about the same Spanish level, so its hard to understand and speak sometimes but so far EVERYONE has been super nice and patient and helpful. And i have such a testimony now that its not us that converts people, its the Spirit. Our grammar and our prnunciation and our accents might be bad, but I´ve seen the Lord´s hand in helping our investigators understand our message. They feel the Spirit and even though the medium through which they are recieving the message is imperfect, the message we have IS perfect. And thats all that matters.

Second big announcement! Root beer!! Our area includes the Navy base in Rota (only a 30 minute bus ride away) so the members and the senior missionary coupe working here (The Guffeys) always give us stuff from base. Like ROOT BEER and peanut butter (6 months is too long!). i´ve seriosuly had one can every day I´ve been here almost. Its bad. We were going to go proselyte there the other day but my comp got sick so we stayed in (I didnt mind, gave me time to work on my talk) but thankfully she´s feeling better now. But we´re definitely going this week!

So speaking of which, yesterday we went to both wards--the spanish ward and the english branch (all made up of military families). I gave a talk (thanks Bishop) in the spanish ward and it turned out okay. Even though I´m pretty sure I blushed pretty bad haha oh well....

And then went to gospel principles class with one of our investigators Isabel who is AMAZING!! She´s about 65 years old and is golden. She´s so ready to be baptized, but her husband doesnt understand and wont give her permission. Please join us in praying that he´ll open up his heart to hear the gospel or at the very least support Isabel! She already has a testimony of the gospel and she´s read the Book of mormon more than anybody i´v ever met! Everytime we stop by or call her she´s like O yeah, I was just reading in the Book of Mormon and then she always shares a scripture with us. I love her! She even came to church even though it was thundering and pouring outside. We were walking to the chapel and then we saw this little lady struggling with an umbrella and it was Isabel! Haha poor thing! She definitely has spirit!

Then we went to the English ward and oh man, it was so special! I didnt realize how much I´ve missed listening to the Sacrament prayers and talks in my own language! I really enjoyed it but in a weird way, it was almost unsettling. I´m really going to enjoy my time here serving the English ward and the military families but I also know i´m here to serve the Spanish people. Its really hard sometimes but I love Spanish and being here in Spain among this language and people is my calling!

After emailing we´re going to take a train to Cadiz, the main city here to go see a cathedral. I´ll make sure to take lots of pics! Fun fact, my comp from the MTC, Hna. Carmen, is also in this zone!! So i´ll be seeing her a lot these next couple months WOOHOO! i love her so much! 

So yeah, this mission thing is so great! Its definitely a lot of work, especially now with learning a new area again (I´m the new one AGAIN, not a big fan of that) BUT its so worth it. I´ve already met so many people that I´ve just clicked with and i know theres a reason i´m here!

I love you all! Have a great week! Dont forget the real meaning of Christmas!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

TRANSFERS

I´m going to Puerto de Santa Maria which is in the San Fernando Zone in Cadiz (about 2 hours more down south from Sevilla, so I´ll be in the same Tri-Zone as Huelva!) My new companion is Hermana Steffensen (sp?) from Norway!!!! I haven´t met her yet but she sounds really cool. She just finished her training so I´m technically Senior companion (AH!) but I´m trying not to think of it like that because first of all, we basically have the same amount of time in the mission and second I DONT EVEN KNOW SPANISH haha so we´re definitely just going to be two newbies running around, learning together haha! I´m super nervous but also excited, its a bittersweet thing for me. I´ve gotten really comfortable in Huelva and then with spending 6 weeks with a companion who not only speaks English but is a MACHINE and knows spanish and how to teach perfectly, I feel like I´ve gotten a little too relaxed lately. I haven´t been pushing myself or being stretched at all but thats about to change, thats for sure! It´ll be nice to have to completely rely on the Lord again....I prayed so much and so hard during my training and I always felt His presence near. But when everything started going well and I became more comfortable as a missionary, I feel like I let go of my relationship with Him a little. Its just like the pride cycle ahhhhh! But I need Him every day and I´ve realized my mistake and I´m not going to let it happen again!

So the bitter part is I have to say goodbye to the beautiful Hermana Lyons! I love her so muchhhhhhh. Seriosuly, we´ve only known each other for 6 weeks and she feels like my sister. We´re completely open with each other and I´ve been able to just be ME around her, a relationship that usually takes years for me to build with someone. So yeah she´s great and I´m going to miss her a lot. I just love how the mission is organzied and how close two people can get while serving the Lord. It´s the best relationship,

And the other bitter part is leaving Huelva! I was "born" here and I can´t even imagine leaving!! 4 months is a LONG time, the ward here is my family and I´ve grown to love my investigators and other people I´ve met so much, so much more than I even thought was possible! I bore my testimony on Sunday and I could see Erika, Lorena, and Ana were crying in the back and it just broke my heart! I NEVER thought that I could have such a relationship with people that I can´t even communicate fully with. It just shows me how much of a difference the Lord and the gospel makes in peoples lives. I don´t feel like I did anything special here, I just tried to share my testimony and bring Christ into other people´s lives and there were definitely times when I feel like I failed.But it was really special to feel so loved from the people I worked hard with every day, gosh I just love missionary work! And I love how people just LOVE missionaries! This whole entry sounds so vain and braggy but I just want to say that I know how special this work is and I am so grateful for the time I´ve served here and the blessings and miracles I´ve seen and recieved. Alright, gush over.

The rest of the week was pretty busy just by itself! We didn´t even have time for P-day, we just split up email time throughout the week. We also had intercambios this week, so a Sister Training Leader came to Huleva with me and I got to take her around to lessons and of course everything FAILED but we made the best of it and the Lord rained blessings on us with our contacting! We got about 16 future investigators in just one day!! BLESSINGS.And then on Saturday, the senior couple from Sevilla came down and we got to do splits with them (they´re SO cute!!) We didn´t have success with them either but they took us to a Wok later that day so i guess that makes up for it ;)

And finally, I´d like to give a little update on my girls, the last update ever! WAAAAAA!

Erika is doing just fine. She´s definitely got a rebellious side but she loves her missionaries, every one of them, thats for sure. We still have to show up at her house and wake her up if we want to see her at church on time haha but she´s working at it! 

Her sister Lorena is amazing. She´s been unfailingly active this entire year, even when she was the only member of her family. I can´t tell you how many times she´s showed up at church alone, having taken the bus all by herself and she´s only 14! Such a stud. She reminds me of Kate so that has been so special for me!

Merly is....oh man, can´t even gush about her enough!! She´s a sponge! She recited the whole Plan of Salvation, three kingdoms and all, to her mom the other day and we all just sat there dumbfounded until her mom jumped up out of her chair and attacked with kisses because she was so proud. Hermana Lyons now teaches her english and piano so we get to see her even more AND she still accompanies us to appointments! What a missionary! She´s going to be the key to reactivating her mom and brother and the baptism of her dad. i have no doubt. We still don´t have a date, but her dad is slowly warming up to the idea as he sees how integrated she is in the church.

Estela and Judith are golden! Sometimes its hard to see them at church because their family often doesnt have enough money for the bus, but members with cars are a big help! They´re both so smart and so dedicated. Did I ever tell you that Estela fasted for 24 hours after we taught her about Fast Sunday?? I could never have done that as an 11 year old! Just wow. This is definitely a special generation!

I love my girls, I love my ward family, and I love the experiences I´ve had here in Huleva. But i cant wait for this next chapter of my mission to begin!! Please pray for me, I need your prayers!!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 17 more days until Christmas!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

love, 

Hermana Morrow

THANKSGIVING AND THE FLU

Surprise! We have companion exchanges later today so we were able to switch our email time! Before becoming a missionary I thought everything about the missionary life was always so organized and perfect haha but its not! You really have to be flexible and just go with it! So for future reference, if I don´t email on Monday, know I will as soon as I can--our P-day probably just got switched!

But anyway, here are some of my highlights and (let-downs :( of this week!

First off, we had to stop visiting one of my girls, Ramona! With my old companion, I had been teaching her English a couple times a week and then we would teach (well, more like attempt) to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. They were always so nice and welcomed us into our home but oh man, all they wanted to do was Bible bash! And we just couldn´t do it anymore, the Spirit was never there and they were never willing to pray to God to find out if anything we taught was true. But they truly are GOOD people, just so good. And I admire them for how strong they are in their faith and I know we´ll see them in heaven some day. They believe in such good and important and essential things, its just little details, like how they believed church was on Saturday, not Sunday, that hindered them from progressing. but I love them so much and it was harder than I thought it would be to say goodbye, but we definitely parted as friends!

Alright, now I need to write about something happy. So it was really cute this week, we happened to walk past a plaza one day in our area and remember Indara (the girl we took Merly to)? Well we happened to pass her in the street and she ran up to us to say hi and then like 20 (no, I´m really not exaggerating) kids from the park, from the street, from their houses, (I have NO idea where they all came from!) followed her and began talking to us and asking questions. They were all adorable and Indara was bragging in a not so humble way haha that we were teaching her and we had given her a Book of Mormon. So here we are, surrounded by 20 adorable, grubby children and we asked them, "yes, we gave her a Book of Mormon, do you all want one too" and they all simultaneously yeleed "SIII!!" It was SO funny and so cute. We didnt have 20 books hidden in our bags, but we did give them all pass along cards and they gave us candy and it was just great. Totally made our day...I don´t know why in this area I´ve seemed to have met so many good and innocent children...I love them all so much! They truly are innocent and so faithful, I think about the story of Jesus telling the apostles to let the children come unto Him so He could bless them. it´s always been one of my most favorite stories about Christ and now i think I´m being to understand why and how much He loves them! Thats something i didnt think i´d learn on my mission!

Alright alright, fine, I´ll talk about our THANKSGIVING! Woohoo! We didnt have anything planned because we´re lame but the Elders really came through this time and they organized a Thanksgiving lunch for our District! We brought mashed potatoes, bread, zucchini soup, fundge, and this AMAZING stuffing that Hermana Lyons made completely from scratch! Like seriosuly, she just whipped it out...just threw random bread things and spices in a pot without measuring and it turned out SO good! Aw man, she´s awesome. And then the elders brought cheesecake, a chicken, drinks, and other stuff that i cant seem to remember. And we all went to the chapel and had our own Thanksgiving lunch! It was short and sweet and we went right back to work but it was perfect!

And now guess what else happened this week, drumroll please.......I got the FLU!

Haha it was so awful and funny though because i had literally just recovered from my horrible cold the night before and I went to bed so happy that it was finally over after a full week of tissues and coughing  and the next morning I woke up with aches, chills, and a fever. Great. I´m already so much better though, and i was able to make it to a baptism our ward had (investigator of the Elders, the mom of Judith and aunt of Estela) which was beautiful and church on Sunday too. And i have honestly never felt so loved! My companion took care of me and all of our plans that entire weekend, the Elders gave me the most beautiful blessing, the mission nurse told me what to take and what to do, everyone was just so sweet. But the sweetest of all was when one of the members in the bishopric showed up at our door with medicine for me, chocolates, honey pastries, and two packets of soup! He then told us that the ward loves us and to tell our families that they take care of us and not to get sick! It was such a tender mercy, hermana Lyons and i teared up in front of him--it was just perfect timing and exactly what we needed! I love this ward!

There´s so much more i want to say but I´ll just have to wait until next week!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving week!! And I hope we can live in Thanksgiving always in our hearts! I love you all!! Happy December!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

P-DAY SWITCH

Kelsey's P-day was switched to Thursday this week due to President interviews.  So check back then for her latest email.