¡FELIZ AÑO!‏

Hermana Steffensen and I have had an amazing start to this New Year!! It all started with our investigators Olga and Daniel. Olga´s husband is less active and in the Navy and right now they´re stationed here in Rota. Olga is spanish and is originally from Sevilla. They have two kids ,l one who is also named Daniel. We´ve been trying to get over to their house for weeks now but its been nearly impossible with the holidays--UGH. The only downside to holidays on the mission--no work! But anyway, we managed to squeeze in a time New Years Eve morning (we were very persistent haha) and we took The Guffeys (senior couple in our military branch). And it was so amazing! We talked about how the gospel blesses families and The Guffeys shared how the teachings of Christ and the good principles they taught to their kids have blessed their lives in more ways than they could count. By the end, we were all feeling the Spirit so strongly! And sweet Hermana Steffensen felt the prompting to ask her to be baptized and oh did it shock Olga! Haha but it was absolutely perfect and she said yes! We don´t have a date because her husband is deploying soon and she still wants to learn more but we´re so excited!! They are an amazing family. 

Speaking of baptisms, I got an email from Hermana Lyons saying that Merly´s father finally gave her permission to be baptized and she got baptized last Saturday!!!! YAYYYYY!! This gives me more joy than I thought I could have! Even though I wasnt able to be there I know it was a beautiful service and I can imagine how strongly the Spirit´s presence was felt. I also heard that Merly also participated to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting too--this girls ELEVEN mind you! Holy cow, I love this girl!! What an incredible example to me and to her family. She´ll always be my little apprentice!

I also got to see a family from the Huelva ward. They were in town and we decided to meet up for a little visit! Her name is Maria del Mar and she´s a convert for about 3 years. And she is amazing! We call her the Missionary Mom. She loves the missionaries so much! She goes to the bus station every time a missionary leaves the area and gives them presents haha. After the mission she told me she has a million pics to post on my Facebook page! So that was really sweet to be able to see them and reminisce about Huelva. The missionaries are doing amazing work there! I am proud to have been "born" there!

So now on to the best part! On New Years Eve we didnt get any invites but we ended spending it in the chapel with the District and it was actually really fun! We played card games all night (I taught them Palace--shout out to you Taylor Falkowski!!) and made pizza. Then close to midnight we went to a local plaza where we thought there would be a countdown. But there wasnt a lot of people there and like 5 minutes before midnight we heard there wasnt going to be one BUT some person in an apartment buliding of the plaza stuck there head out of the window and counted down banging a pot and pan haha. And in Spain they have a tradition where they eat 12 grapes, one grape each second after midnight, so we felt really cool participating in that tradition! And no choked haha. But the best part was literally the few seconds of the New Year we spent contacting! We met a woman and her daughter from the States and we were able to get their information--we´ll see what happens!! Perfect start to the New Year.

 One tradition here in Spain is wearing red underwear new years eve---its supposed to bring you good luck or something. So for a week EVERYONE was selling red underwear haha. 

Then the next day we met with Isabel again--she is SO close to baptism, it hurts!! Everything we teach she accepts instantly because she says she feels the Spirit and knows this is the path for her. Like we taught her about Fast Sunday and at church on Sunday she showed up with her little fast offering, no questions asked! We all fasted for the health of her husband and so that he´ll give her permission to get baptized! Please join us in prayer! Isabel´s really nervous and we´re praying for the right time and that his heart will be softened. This week for sure we hope to recieve an answer!!

Thats it for my new Years miracles! I love Puerto already. In Huelva I had my eleven year old girls and here I have my grandmas! Isabel is so sweet and we also visit regularly two other "older" woman in the ward who need to be loved. i try to serve them and love them in the way that I hope other people would take care of my grandparents. 

But just a quick 6 month update: I am officially stating now that I know Spanish! In chruch this week I was surprised to see a teacher from the MTC and I could actually understand her!! It was so bizarre, it didnt even sound like she speaking the smae language that she was in the MTC haha. So YAY! i´m so grateful for all the Lord for blessing me with the gift of tongues so that I might learn Spanish. Of course i still have a long way to go but its so exciting to see such great progress! New Years Miracle, say what? haha

 Quick shout out to Brandon Casper for his first day in the BEST UNIVERSITY EVER! Go BYU! I wish you the best of luck! I know you´ll love it :)

And another one for my beautiful Kenna!! She´ll be heading to Germany pretty dang soon! I´m so excited for her and her example! I LOVE YOU BABE!

Anyways, I hope you all had a great New Year and made resolutions you can keep! (haha). One of mine is reading the Book of Mormon in spanish every day and studying from Preach My Gospel and other scriptures (I´m starting with the New Testament). I love you all!! 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

Eating crepes at a member's home

Celebrating an Elder's birthday.