HURDLES

First things first, I can´t believe I forgot to say this in my last email!! MY FAMILY¨S MOVING TO GERMANY!! AHHHHHHHH! Not gonna to lie, I was a little sad to hear that I won´t be super close to my family while at BYU but the fact that its GERMANY totally makes up for it. Hey fam, pick me up from my mission? ;) 

Secondly, Week 2 down, here in Jaen! And not gonna lie, it was a GREAT week. Yesterday we were totaling up our numbers for our District Leader and Hermana Seoane and I were just shocked to see how much we had been able to do, especially because we were initially discouraged because we weren´t able to reach our companionship goals.Probably the most successful week of my mission.And it was amazing to see how the Lord guided us and helped us to overcome hurdles so that we could accomplish as much as could! Speaking of hurdles, here are just some a few that made me laugh this week!

First of all, Hermana Seoane and I are proabably the clumsiest people alive! We just bring it out in each other I guess haha! I´ve never seen so many broken dishes, spilled milk, tripping on nothing, in my entire life!! Haha but its so fun, we´ve had a great time laughing at each other this week :)

My first Jehovah Witness Showdown: Alright, it wasn´t really much of a show-down, we just passed by an investigator´s house and these two lovely Jehovah Witnesses were there and we had a nice conversation. We left when it started to turn into a "my horse is bigger than your horse" conversation but we were able to invite our investigator to ask and pray to know which path she should take. Because He knows and loves her and will answer her if she really truly wants to know what He wants her to do.

ANd lastly, the biggest storm I have ever seen!! Thunder, rain, lightning, you name it! We managed to work even though we ended up having to change our soaked clothes  or seek shelter in random places. Oo quick funny story, my comp gave me her agenda to hold on to and I set it down for a minute and then this big gust of wind picked it up and carried it about a quarter of a mile away. Her AGENDA, not just a light piece of paper. Haha we were looking for it for like 5 minutes and wren´t able to find it until we said a prayer. (it was under a car in a puddle :( but we found it!)

SO nothing too crazy, but it made my second week here a memorable one! I continue to love the ward here, they love the missionaries so much. And they are always willing to give us rides back up the mountain and after church and church activites and one member even walked us home late one night after an appointment even though it would be a 1 hour trip for him (Thank you, Andres!) We held a Family Home EVening one night in the chapel and it was the most successful FHE I´ve had in my mission. So many people came and we had a great time playing Ninja afterwards and eating bizcocho and good ol potato chips! The ward supports us so much and they are definitely a huge part of the reason why we are seeing so much success here in Jaen! Members are SO important, more than that, they´re CRUCIAL to missionary work! I invite you all to do at least one thing this week to help out the missioanries in your ward! 

We´ve also been able to find and teach many people, from all over the world. We still have our Frenchies and we´ve now added to the mix people from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Romania, and any Southern/Central American country you can think of. I love it! (Especially the being able to teach in ENglish to those from Africa, woohoo!) 

My new favorite friends are a family from Ecuador! I´ve only taught them once but they´re GOLD! Especially the 13 year old girl (I´ve found another one of my girls!) She´s just so willing and ready, and she´s a great example to her parents. She´s already read in the Book of Mormon and told us that not only does she want to be baptized, she wants to serve a mission too! Holy cow, I am just continually amazed by the faith of children and youth. 

This week we´re having in our mission a Week of Consecration in preparation to recieving Ipads as a mission. We set goals to be exactly obedient and specific goals to find the children Heavenly Father is preparing to recieve the gospel and make the first step of baptism. Pray for us! I cant wait to report back about all the miracles we have seen!

I Love you all!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

Love, Hermana Morrow foevah

JAEN!

I´m here in Jaen!! I can´t tell you how excited I am to be here! AHHHHHHHH! I traveled ALL day Wednesday but the second I stepped into the city it felt like home. Its such a rustic, Christmasy-town sort of feeling that I´ve just fallen in love with. Jaen is a city on the side of a mountain which equals a whole ton of HILLS. Like, I´m-serving-in-San-Fransicso- sort of hills. My second day I already was so sore! But its so worth it, twe have a lot of work here and the ward is SO AMAZING! I´ve never felt so much love from people I dont even know. They were all so welcoming, dont worry, I´ll be taken care of here ;) 

I´m serving here with Hermana Seoane from Galicia, Spain! The only genuine spanish missionary in our mission and she´s mine haha! She just finished her training which means we´ll probably be together for only one transfer :( But I´m determined to learn as much as I can for her, she´s a great example to me and I´ve already learned A TON its honestly been a really humbling experience! She´s super sweet and she cooks AMAZING FOOD. Guys, this has to be a sin...every single companion I have had has been an amazing cook who doesnt mind cooking for the both of us. I¨M SPOILED! I´ve become really really good at doing the dishes hough, dont worry :) haha

We´ve already worked really hard and we´ve met with a ton of people, I feel like I´ve been here for weeks!

My favorite investigators so far are the frenchies! They are four teen boys from France who live in a Boys Home. They´ve been here for only a couple months which means they only know basic spanish. It worried me at first but if theres one thing I´ve learned on my mission is that its the Spirit who really is the one who talks to the hearts of the people. THe language barrier is no problem for the Spirit. I know that these boys feel it too and last week we taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and although it wasnt a perfect (lots of hand motions, at leas we had the pamphlets in French haha) I know that it is bringing hope to their lives.

I´ve met a lot of wonderful people here in Jaen and I just want you to know that I´m going to work hard here! Puerto was a difficult time in my mission, not a lot of outward success, but its amazing how I didnt realize how hard it was until I got here (does that make sense?haha) Its amazing how the Lord loves us so much and lifts us up and strengthens our faith during the difficult times in our lives!

I read something this morning that I just felt I should share, I jst love this quote!

"Prayer is an essential and enabling spiritual link between God and man. Withot prayer, there is no possible return to the Father. Without prayer, suficient faith to understand and keep the commandments is impossible.

Without prayer, the necessary spiritual power to avoid temptation and overcome trials and adversity would be unavailable. Without prayer, repentance, forgiveness, and the cleansing power of the Atonement are unnattainable. With the power of personal prayer, all tings are possible."

I just love this quote, dont even know who said it but is really struck me. Make sure you are doing your daily paryers, day and night! I testify of the power of prayer and I know God wants and loves to hear our thoughts and our desires. Love you all!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love, Hermana Morrow

PS You all have homework! Listen to "You are Loved" by Josh Groban some time this week! I LOVE this song.

BEST WEEK EVAHHH! (Check previous post. I added bday pics)

First of all, we got transfer calls and I´m going to Jaen!! 

All I´ve heard about it is that I´m going to die of heat there because theres no coastline and that its all mountains and hills so I´m going to have quite the barbie figure after these next 4 months :p Haha so we´ll see how that goes. I´ll be leaving Wednesday to be with my new companion, Hermana Seoane, from Spain. I´m so excited but at the same time, sad to leave Puerto. It´s another one of those bittersweet things. I have absolutely loved my time here even through all the rough spots. But seriously, even single discouaging, difficult moment I´ve had here was totally made up this week and
 I´ll tell you why!!

Click on map to see larger
1st area was Huelva-bottom coastline to the left

2nd area was Puerto de Santa Maria (Rota on the map, just south of Huelva)

3rd area Jaen-red dot

First Miracle:

JORGE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! He´s not even my investigator, the Elders in our ward taught him, but I can´t even tell you what an amazing and faith strengtehning, testimony building experience this has been for all of us! Jorge is another Isabel sort of case--he´s been ready for baptism for MONTHS, there were just a couple things to work through, but HE DID IT!!! But seriously, months and months and months the Elders have waited patiently for this day and it came!!! And I know that Isabel is next :) All in God´s own time and in His own will. But anyway, the baptism itself was incredibel too. The most beautiful baptismal service I have ever been to. And it was such a tender mercy to be able to witness that my last week here.

Second Miracle:

JULIO!!! Okay remember Dia de Diamonte like 2 weeks ago where we contacted in the streets for like 9+ hours?? Well, we had knocked on a door that day and this older gentleman named Julio answered. We shared a quick message with him and he invited us to come back another day when he wasn´t busy. Well, long story short, the first time we were able to meet with him again occured 2 weeks ago. Looking back on it, I dont know why we kept trying to meet with him (being bluntly honest here), usally after a month/month and a half of trying to meet with someone unsuccessfully we give up. But not him! We just happened to call him one day and invited him to have a lesson with us in a park near the church and he came! And then SUnday, we met with him again really quickly befoer church. And let me tell you, this little old man is the sweetest, cutest thing I have ever seen. He came with a suit jacket and slacks!  We were so excited, we introduced him to EVERYONE and the members truly took him under their wing. An Hermano even went to sit by him without us even asking him too and explained what was happening the entire meeting. But the most beautiful part of it all was when he stood up to give his testimony at the very end. He talked about the special feeling he felt when we knocked on his door that day and bore his testimony of Christ. Yup, first time he set foot in our church and he bore the most humblest, most beautiful testimony. I bawled like a baby but I dont regret it one bit.I know this won´t be the last time we see him in church :) 

So yeah, ALL ACCORDING TO THE LORDS TIME AND WILL, we just need to be worthy to feel the Spirit and smart enough to follow His promptings. Thats all it comes down too. I bear my testimony that He led us to that man´s piso that day, that He kept prompting us to call Julio and try to meet with him even after months without success, and He touched the members hearts to take Julio in and make him a part of the family. And most of all, I know the The Spirit bore witness yesterday that what he was experiencing was GOOD and it was of God and its the beginning of the path he needs to take. I believe in miracles!!  And they truly do come at the very very last moment. I´m grateful I worked hard to the very end, never giving up hope, so that I could see these two beautiful miracles! Not going to lie, I felt pretty darn discouraged at times here in Puerto, nothing I did seemed to have success and now I finally realize why. Its not my work, its the Lords. 

So there it is: The PERFECT ending to my four months here in El Puerto de Santa Maria. It made it all worth it. I´m so grateful I could serve here, I truly loved it and truly will miss it. I´ll miss the Guffeys and EVERYTHING they do for us! They truly are amazing, i consider them as family so heads up, fam, we got another set of grandparents! I´ll miss the best district I have ever had! We spent 2 entire transfers together which NEVER happens. They´re all crazy but I love em :) I´ve always wanted an older brother and now I can say I´v got four! (Well, more like 3, the Canadian´s a baby ;) I´ll miss Isabel and Julio and Paula and all of the members and investigators I was able to meet and teach! They were all tender mercies sent from The Lord and I´ve loved seeing the changes that the gospel has helped them made. Changes that have bettered and healed their lives in ways I couldn´t imagine. But most of all, I´ll miss my beautiful hija, Hermana Vigo! She´s been my best friend these past months. We drove each other crazy haha but I had such an amazing time with her and I learned way more from her than she could ever have learned from me. She has such a strong testimony, even though she has only been a member for 3 years and she loves sharing it with EVERYONE. She´s got a love for teaching that I hope to one day be able to match! 

And thats it, here´s to another chapter in my mission. Here I come Jaen!! 

I love you all! Have a great week!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

Hermana Morrow

Roman Ruins

San Fernando Zone

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

ONE WEEK! One week left here in Puerto!! Well, I haven´t actually gotten the official call yet but I know it´s comin. Next Monday I´ll know exactly where I´m going and who I´ll be with! QUE LOCO!!! Stay tuned. This week has been a lot of fun, can´t lie about that!

It all started P-Day when we got to have Family Home Evening with the Guffey´s! We even got to go on the Rota base this time (phew, glad i got that one checked off, thought I would leave Puerto without going on at least once!) It was pretty cool and felt like home. Dang, I just really love the military! Anyway, we had a member and nonmember who were able to come and it was so fun! We shared a messenger and then played Taboo haha! And the best part of the night was when Hermana Guffey invited me to hang out at her house after the mish! Apparently I´m cool to hang around. Made me feel good. And its now on my blog so that makes it official!! 

And then on Wednesday I had my birthday!! IM TWENTY! Whoohoo!! officially an adult! Couldn´t imagine a better place to be to celebrate it than on a mission! So grateful for that opportunity! 

It all started off by Hermana Vigo locking me in our room in the morning during excercise time so that she could SURPRISE DECORATE THE APARTMENT! She did an amazing job and it was the sweetest thing ever! She had even apparently bought a cake when we went grocery shopping and I didnt even notice, I was impressed! Love her so much.

Then, we went and helped out an American family in the ward with cleaning up their backyard and moving furniture and planting flowers and stuff It was so fun! i absolutely lovelovelove the Rasmussen family! My first week here my comp told me there was a family in the ward whose dad had been and would be deployed for a long time and I remember just thinking, I know how that is! I´ve got to help this family in any way I can! It helps that they´re awesome too :) They even made me muffins for my b-day. 

Later we went and ate pancakes with the Elders with Luisa! She´s the sweetest and visiting her was a tender mercy because the rest of the night we had NOTHING. Everybody was out watching Holy Week processions. We accidentally hit a couple throughout the week and it was an interesting sight to see. It´s like a parade but the floats have Virgins on them or a depiction of Jesus on the cross. Theyre HUGE. They´re lead by a band and a bunch of people wearing tall hoods (reminded me of the KKK, not gonna lie) and even some people were walking in chains or what not. Not the way how I would celebrate the birth and resurrection of Christ but it was a cool cultural thing to see. 

On Friday we had Zone Meeting and guess what mission is getting!! IPADS!! Hahaha I was told in the MTC 9 MONTHS AGO that we´d be getting them but its all good. I´m kind of glad I could experience the mission without them. Haha I feel like an old fart because I was totally against getting them for the longest time because i don´t want to have to change or learn how to use technology again but we´ll see! I know its going to help the work a lot here and for that I´m excited! 

And finally, on Saturday and Sunday we also went to Cadiz to watch General Conference which was LO MEJOR because all us greenies were bale to watch it in English!! We spent about 10 hours on Sunday just watching sesh after sesh, catching up on the ones we missed and then watching the live sessions. I LOVED IT. First time I was honestly truly excited to watch Conference and it didn´t let me down. I love the prophet and the apostles and church leaders so much. I support and sustain them completely, and i know they are each called of God.  I encourage you all to watch or read he talks again. I had a bunch of questions that i had prepared before hand and they answered every single one of them. it was incredible and it just shows me the Lord loves us each enough to give us the answers we need if we seek them though the words of the prophet and leaders of the church. 

I love you all!! Happy Birthday to Kate!!!! She´s 16!!! How does that make you feel mom and dad? You have one adult AND a teenageer who can date! (And if that makes you feel old, just remember that you were married by my age. Let that one sink in ;) 

Have a great week and remember to think about Christ daily!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

Love,

Hermana Morrow