June 24, 2013

Thanks everyone for all the e-mails, encouraging words and pictures! The best part about Mondays is definetely getting to read about all my loved ones and how they are doing. So we are still in the Hotel, they had to extend our stay but I heard we are going to be getting our apt this Wed! so that is very very good news the bad news is that we are getting the Elders apt and they are moving into a different one. That is bad because we have no idea what condition the apt is going to be in.... haha we have told them multiple times that it better be clean and have no unusal odors. They are moving to the new one because it is closer to both of their districts (there is two companionship of elders in one apt) and it is in a sketchier part of town and they didn't want us living in that area. So once we move into our apt I can tell you all the address so if you want to send letters it can get to me quicker than sending it to the mission home. 

So my computer that I am using right now isnt letting me upload pictures so i will make sure to send some next week! Im so sorry but sometimes these computer places are kinda weird. 

So this past week was alright, I still feel like I have so much more to offer to the field and in the work and that we aren't working as hard as we could be and it's hard because Im not sure what we can do or what we should be doing because Im so new so I have this feeling of urgency because Im I dont feel like we are giving our all yet. But little by little we keep getting more work and more citas (visits) and we are doing more getting more work than last week which is great! 

**** I gave out my first baptisimal invite!!! *** and HE ACCEPTED!!! His date is July 6 . He is a 32 yr old spaniard and he is going through a really rough time right now trying to find an apt and stuff like that. His name is Juan Miguel and he has so much faith in God and Christ and tells us that he can feel that the stuff we are telling him is true. He does smoke but is determined to stop and we are meeting with him basically every day in order to help him because he says he never gets the urges to smoke when he is at church or talking to us. I think he has a bit of a social problem or something , like he moves his arms around a lot when he talks but when you talk to him he is completley mentally there and talks normal. He has such a good heart, Im very excited for him. 

We are also visiting a couple families, Jose Miguel and Dani , I think i might have talked about them last week, they arent married and thats the biggest trial right now with their progression. Then there is Alfredo and Iris and they are married!!! which is soo happy to hear that as a missionary because there isnt that trial standing in the way of baptism! but they were old investigators that we werent able to get a hold of and it was so random how we ran into them, we were going to a cita with a recent convert and it happened to be Alfredos brother law and he just happened to be visiting him at that time which is a miracle because our cita with Tomas (the recent convert ) was earlier that day but because of some confusion we had to change the time and it shows how the lord works because if we would have met with tomas at the first time we wouldnt have ran into Alfredo! 

anyways I have much more to say but I am running out of time. so till next week! The members are really nice and feeding us lots and lots! which the Elders are jealous of because they dont get feed as much by the members but i guess the members are just really excited for sister missionaries! anyways I love you all so extremely much! and am so happy to hear you are all doing well! keep me updated on anything big that is going on in your lives and know that you are all always in my prayers!

Con Mucho Amor, Hermana Hair

LLEIDA! April 17, 2013

Bon Dia! (That's Buenos Dias in Catalan)

So I'm here, I'm healthy and I'm safe! - that was for mom 

So after my last e-mail announcing where I as assigned to. My companion and I stayed in Barcelona with some other sister missionaries while we watied till Friday. I found out my compañera was born in Madrid and lived here in spain till she was about four. Her dad is Spaniard but her mom is American. She since then has lived in Ohio mostly but her family is in Califrona right now. So she speaks Spanish pretty well, still with a bit of an american accent but its ver subtle. She is about 5 foot 8 and has short brown hair and pretty blue eyes! We have been gettig along very well, She has only been on her mission for 6 months but its good because that means she isn't trunky (homesick) which ive heard from other missionaries that when your trainer is trunky its really hard and different. I feel like we havent really diven into the whole missionary work yet. but I dont know because this is my first view to missionary work. I feel like there is lots of organization that we have been doing and planning. which now that I think about it is a lot of work and necessary when opening an area. She keeps telling me that this is not how a normal day is, or this is not a normal missionary schedule.... or etc etc. which is good she is telling me that. I do feel like this week we are going to finally get this ball rolling though. We have lots of personal goals and companionship goals and daily goals that are going to help us. 

My district consists of four Elders, Elder Rios (colombian) and Elder Castillo (Dominican) and Elder Cuff (American) with Elder Schwartz (half korean) they are funny and are ver good at making sure us hermanas are doing okay and safe. 

The Barrio (ward) is amazing!!!! everyone welcomed us with so much love yesterday! We basically are being every day this week by a different member, but i have a feeling it might just be like this for the first couple weeks... idk. I hope they give us reasonable proportions of food. ha. Either way I heard it gets SUPER hot here in the summer so I will just sweat it off. Out of all the missionaries here in the District - we are all in the same ward, there is only one ward- four of us are new! so we were asked to bare our testimonies during sacrament and it was good , its a decent sized ward. 

On Saturday Elder Rios and Castillo had a baptism! It was of a 21 year old girl and Hermana Blanco and I attended and it was good, but kinda sat because it started like an hour later because the Elders were having some problems with printing out the program and only one of the counselors and his wife were there besides us missionaries and NO MEMBERS came!!! It sad because of that. But hermana Blanco and I are determined to change that, new converts need the support of the ward members and maybe its a girl thing but baptisms are a very special day for the person being baptized and well.. lets just say these Elders are in great need of the Sisters touch of making things a bit more special for the new converts. 

Besides that , Hermana Blanco and I have been trying to get organized with our area book and try and contact menos activos (less actives) in the area. and old investigators to get started. Its been a rough start but Im looking forward to the work we are going to do this week. We were able to meet with a family that the Elders were teaching before but are now in our area. They have been having missionary visits for some time now but are in a tough situation where they are not married and its too expensive for them because the wife, Danny, wants her family from Bolivia to be there so she wont get married unless if its in Bolivia. .. at least thats the stroy the Elders told us. The husband, Jose Maria is spaniard and really loves reading the book of mormon and bible. He actually called us yesterday and asked for us to come that night because he had questions about what he was reading. They have two boys, well they arent his sons but Dannys sons, one is almost 14 and the other is 12. They all sit in on our visists, the two we have had so far, and listen and they know how to pray and all of that, Im thinking that even if they parents cant get baptized because they arent married that they boys are ready and hopefully the mom wont have a problem with them being baptized. We still have more to learn about them but they seem very promising. They are very nice and welcoming too and seem to accept all of the gospel and teachings.

Alright, Now to talk about LLEIDA, Its a very small town and has little pueblos that are far from the center. but the main center of lleida is all very close together. we walk everywhere and it doesn´t even take long to walk to all the places we have to go. I've been told that its not the pretties of cities here in the Barc mission but I think its just perfect. it has an old castle that we might go to later today and some old buildings and cathederals that are very cool looking. I love the ancient , old , historic looking buildings. So a little fact about my mission , a part of it is called Catalunya which is an area of lots of different cities but they are the part of spain that is wanting to become thier own country so almost everything in these cities is in Catalan , which is the language they speak that is a mixture of spanish, french and some portuguese. Its really interesting and we are kind of picking up a few words here and there. its similar to spanish but still with a weird twist to it. However mostly everyone speaks spanish, or castalleno which is what they call spanish. We are still in a Hotel its called the Camparan Suites and its on a street called Avenguda alcalde Porrquero (ya thats catalan) I dont have the exact address but if you google it maybe you can get on street view and is kiddie corner to HONG KONG haha a chinese restaurant. I do have the Church's address, C/Enric Farreny #42 Lleida, Spain. 

Well I think thats all that is really new that I have to wrirte about. I still love hearing from everyone every monday and Im glad to hear that everyone is doing great! enjoy the summer!! I guess ill find out how hot it really gets here. I know that im in this area for a reason, that it really is where God wants me and I know that if I'm obedient and try my hardest that I will be able to witness many many miracles!! Keep growing in the Church and the Book of Mormon really does have the answers to everything and for everyone! Search, ponder and pray! 

Love you all so much ! 

Love,

Hermana Hair

My First Area!!

So I only have a little bit of time to write you all and tell you that I am okay! I arrived to barcelona yesterda morning , the ride was actually only 2.5 hrs long. Today I was assinged to serve in LLEIDA and my companion is Hermana Blanco, she is awesome! We are opening that area for sister missionaries! Im super super excited! we dont have an apartment yet though, theyre trying to figure that out still, so we are staying in barcelona with some other sisters and leaving friday to our area and staying in hotel till we have our apartment because President wants us to attend church in the ward this sunday! I´m loving it!!

 

well i will write on pday which is monday! love you all so much!!!!

 

love, Hermana Hair

Bye Bye MTC- June 10, 2013

Okay family, this is it. My time here in the MTC has come and gone. It's crazy to think that i've been gone for about six weeks. 

The plans are that all the Barcelona people are leaving tomorrow morning around six am (theres about 22 of us heading out that way). We are hopping on a train for four hours...(this will be my first train ride ever!!). Then upon arriving we are going striaght to the mission home and spending the day and the next night there, kinda like a big sleepover! and then... I have no idea what happens after that. ha. but I will let you all know next week. 

I am feeling very excited. Excited to meet the mission President and to get assigned to my first area, To meet my first on-field companion and to finally meet the people in the Barcelona area who I have been preparing for and who have been prepared for me!

I know I will be home before I know it because it's crazy how fast time goes by on a mission. Ben can testify to that, he has already ben out ONE YEAR!! (on the 13th). That's so crazy!

Well I love everyone so much and am so grateful to have everyone in my life! I am beyond grateful to have this wonderful opportunity to share my testimony with people here in Spain and to hopefully shed some light into their lives and help them find the direction they have been searching for (even if they don't know that they are searching for it). I know that while having the companionship of the Holy Ghost, He will teach and direct and even create miracles! I am only a tool in the Lord's hands, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, doing anything else, than here doing His work right now.

Big hugs for everyone! Love you all. 

Hermana Hair

June 6, 2013

This is my last P-day here in Madrid! We went to the temple this morning it was awesome as usual but sadly it was my last time going to the temple here in Madrid for a while. I don’t think I’ll be going to any temple the next 17 months because there is no temple in my mission. I am very grateful for the times I did get to attend the Madrid Temple though, It’s gorgeous and my compañera is determined that she wants to get sealed in that temple, we will see… haha. So later today we are all going to The Prado, It’s a famous art museum and I’m very excited to go! The mtc president was able to get us all in for FREE! That kind of stuff is the best.

This past week was went by super quick, which seems to be the pattern of every week here in the mission. It literally feels like just yesterday I was writing you all an email. A few highlights of this past week..

1. Hermano Arjona is the MTC director and he is SO smart and kind and just so spiritually powerful. He is like the encyclopedia of the gospel for the MTC. So whenever we have free study time, if bro arjona is free, we all go and just ask him questions and he shoots out scriptures, quotes, tips, etc.. Something interesting that he said is that the creation is just organization.. I don´t know why that was so interesting to me because if that is true then destruction is disorganizing or unorganizing…. Think about it. – another cool fact about him, nothing and I mean absolutely nothing in his scriptures is marked, underlined, no notes, nothing! Yet he knows exactly where everything is in the scriptures by memory and most importantly by heart. Now that is a whole other level of genius.

2. I was sick for a day.. or two.. or might still be… but no worries, I think I’m getting better. So Monday I was sneezing all day and I had no idea why, so by the end of the day by throat felt raw, I woke up Tuesday with a sore throat and congestion and just super super tired. So the president told me to go sleep all day… so I did! I had no idea by body could sleep like that, I really needed the sleep. I slept for 8 hours during the day then got another 8 hours that night.(obviously my body needed sleep) My companion enjoyed the personal study time she got and my body thanked me for the sleep the next day because I felt loads better and I’m sure the health blessing played it’s part too. Im so grateful to be part of this wonderful gospel where worthy priesthood holders have the opportunity to bless our lives whenever we need it.

3. The two investigators that my compañera and I have been working with both have baptismal dates and it’s the best feeling ever when they say “yes” to our invitation to baptism (even if they really aren’t real investigators- the holy ghost is felt and the feelings are grand, makes me just that much more excited to get out and teach the people of Barcelona) – One of our investigators was a real toughy, but afterwards she gave us some feedback and said that we did really really well, It’s hard to accept compliments like that because in the moment when we are teaching I know that it is not us who is teaching but the Holy Ghost. The power to invite the spirit by living obedient lives still amazes me! Sometimes in lessons after I or my companion have finished saying something and the spirit is felt so strong I kind of have to step back and be like whoa, what just happened… because even when you are feeling the spirit so many times throughout all the day, it is so special and unique each time. It really never loses its spiritual impact even after feeling it over and over again. It’s the exact opposite actually, each time it gets stronger and stronger.

4. We have one more Saturday at the park but this past Saturday was amazing! My compañera was Hermana Floisand and she is such a sweet heart! I think the only reason she hasn´t been translated from this earth is because she doesn´t know Spanish… but once she gets it down she is going to be a power house! But we were able to Talk to 15 people, give out pass along cards get 4 references and even place 2 copies of the Book of Mormon in the span of 2 hours. I really gained a testimony of how people are ready, even though they don´t know it, they are being prepared and are just waiting to hear our message!

5. Last one, The Spaniards that I told you all who got here a last week, they are crazy! Their humor is so sarcastic and they just bounce of each other, I don’t know if it’s the age (probably has a lot to do with it) but I think it’s just the culture here, they are so funny, friendly, helpful and so full of life! I love it though, gives me a sneak peak of the Spaniard culture and life and I really like it so far. And side note- the Elders that are originally from Colombia but have been living in Spain for over 9 years now call me Hermana Prima Hair… Prima means cousin… So I call them Elder Primo (insert last name). It´s funny how Colombians all feel like family, and as I’ve been told there are lots of Colombians here in Spain, I think I’m going to have a lot more cousins by the end of my mission After all we are all family in the end.. or beginning .. ha right?

Well that is all, for now. Thanks for all the love, and emails and pictures! I enjoy them and they always warm my heart. I miss and love you all!!! Keep strengthening your testimony!! The progress and improvement is never-ending however if we stop working at it the progression can stop and start to decrease our faith. Never underestimate the power of your testimony! Even if it´s small, the impact it can have on others is incredible.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GILL AND JESSICA!! I LOVE YOU TWO MORE THAN WORDS CAN DESRCIBE!

Sending my love from Madrid because next P-day I’ll be somewhere else closer to Barcelona! (so anything being sent from now on can go to my mission home which is the address you all have)

Love and hugs,
Hermana Hair







One month Gone!‏