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!