December 30, 2013

I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Christmas! Mine was great! especially since i got to see and talk to my family. So there are five cute sisters who all work in the primary and well , they were our christmas! One of them, hermana blanca made a christmas dinner for us 4 missionaries at the church on the 24th. then while in the middle of dinner hna, faye and hna Jenny come in with a stocking and small gift for each one of us! We were not expecting that and it really filled my heart with gratitude and love. We finished the 24th making sugar cookies and frosting at the church to hand out to members the next day. (which kind of didnt end up happening). so the 25th hna swenson opened all her gifts. (my family package is still in madrid customs) and we had our studies, got ready then met up with the elders to go over to hna Jennys house (pictures in other email). we played basketball - not as easy when your wearing a skirt but still doable.. ha.- Then after we ate and shared a message we walked back down to las arenas because we were in a pueblo , the elders went to email and we went back to our piso for language study (a very awkward time of the day for me b/c i dont study spanish or engish, which most natives are told they need to learn enlgish on their mission. since i know both languages i kind of use that time to write in my journal, clean or read) After that study time we went over to hna Elenas house where hna swenson and i were supposed to use her comuters to call our families. long story short, there were some problems with the internet and we ended up running to a locotorio to call. It all ended well. then afterwards we went back to hna elenas house, talkd with her , shared a message and then went back to las arenas... and i know it doesnt sound like much but that was our christmas day and it was a very nice day. Our REAL christmas though was when we played secret santa for this very cute family who comes every sunday to church but she cant be baptized b/c she isnt married and her husband is in africa working/studying right now. But she has 3 kids. and lives with her mother in law too. So hna Swensons family sent her 150$ to buy someone christmas and really that is where i found my christmas too. buying gifts and then wrapping them all. carrying them in a big bag, getting on the wrong bus because it was raining and we didnt want the gifts to get wet, contacting a lady on the way, the bus taking us out of our area , then getting on another bus and finding another really nice lady to talk to. then rushing to Paulas house (the family) ringing every one of her neighbors door to try and let them get us into the building, finally getting in. then walking up four flights of stairs just to go running back downstairs, gifts still in hand, because we heard one of the boys open the door then running into the mother, paula, who was coming in from outsde. Caught red handed...... haha so it turned out not to be so secret but man was it worth the trouble. the gratitude and tears that came from that womans eyes are unforgetable. I felt prompted to let her know that this was the christmas spirit of christ that led us to her after we had prayfully thought of someone to use this money on. she was so happy that she said she is going to sleep tonight with a smile on her face and then wake up with hurting cheeks from smiling all night. she is a doll. I am so grateful that i have many many many ways to serve the people here in spain. The most important of course being that I have the opportunity to share with them the gospel, but really, to me , any act of service just screams out our purpose. I am here to serve. to let the lord use me as an instrument in his hands in any way possible. I love being here. I love all the opportunities i have to serve and I especially love all of you , who support me and love me while I am her. I hope you all continue to have a beautiful Christmas Season and that you can make this next year especially special. Happy new years!!! 

Love, Hermana Hair

Christmas Day

This wonderful family invited us over christmas day to eat and hang out a little. We went and played basketball and jumped roped haha. it was so fun and nice to feel like doing a little family get together and to play outside while we waited for dinner to be ready. This familys oldest son is out on a mission so the mom, Jenny, says how much she hopes people are taking care of her on over there so the least she could do was take care of us! how sweet is she. she is a very strong and fun member . I am so grateful for her love. (they are from bolivia.) 

San Sebastian

So last week on preperation day we went to San sebastian! I cant remember if I told you all about this or not or if i sent pictures or not but here are some beautiful pictures of this little place called la concha , its where the ocean comes in and wow its beautiful . the picture of all of us consists of elders and hermans from san sebastian, bilbao, and las arenas. 

 

December 17, 2013

Querida familia y amigos,

Sorry for never having enough emailing time. but i just wanted to wish  you all a grand, happy, feliz, merry christmas!!! 

Yesterday was our Christmas Zone conference and it was absolutely wonderful as usual! but that is why preperation day got moved over to today.  I never get to send much pictures so i think i will just send pictures and write what they are about and that will be my email for this week. ha. Ill apologize in advance for blowing up your email with messages:) 

love you all! take care and dont get sick!

the church is true! 

love, Hermana Hair

Just another view of the river and the hanging bridge. We live on the side that is seen on the other side of the river. that is called Las Arenas. but where we are standing is called Portugalete. Portugalete and Santurtzi (both on this side of the river) are our areas. 

RAMON THE BIRD MAN! we say this man as we were walking through the plaze and saw that all this pigeons were just surrounding him as he walked. he then extended his arm and 3 of them just landed on his arm! crazy. so long story short. we went over to talk to him and asked if we could feed them and they ate right out of my hand! Ramon even knows english because he lived in new jersey and all over alaska and the states training dogs and other animals. How cool! but... he wasnt interested in the church but he was super friendly and took a pass along card anyways! 

Side story: we were walking the day after we met the bird man and i saw him and he walked right passed us so i yelled out RAMON! and went and shook his hand. he looked at me all puzzled and said i think your confuse.. so i was like uuuuhhh are you ramon? and he said yes. so i asked ramon arenas ? and he said no. embarrassing!!! haha. he totally was not our bird man but it sure was a funny way to start a contnact :)

The green grinch door! We got into this building and wow, i have never ever met the most non christmasy grinch people ever. before we even could knock any doors a lady yelled down from the top of the winding staircase and asked us what we wanted. we said we were missionaries and have a beautiful christmas message for her. she yelled back to go away. that they didnt need christmas and to not knock any doors. we werent going to listen to her but then some of her neighbors came out wondering why she was yelling and she started complaining to them so we decided it was best to just leave. however when we were in the entry way we notice how beautiful our voices sounded in the echoey entry way. so we decided to sing silent night to the whole building. not a good idea. the same lady yelled down at the end of the second verse to stop singing and go home and merry christmas and happy easter. that they didnt need christmas..... crazy huh? we couldnt believe it either. so we left and took a picture of the building for memories and then went and grabbed hot chocolate... haha o boy. 

**hence my face, I was trying to make a grouch face but couldnt help but smile... so it ended up being something in between

The four missionaries in our little branch. (there is a senior couple who are also missionaries in this branch. The Herreros. Elder Herrero was actually the very FIRST missionary ever in spain. He is spaniard. cool huh?)

We had a pretty good turn out. the food was... alright. but the best part was that everyone had fun! such a fun tiny branch. Elder farrah also dressed up as santa and came in running with candy and coal... he is crazy. 

December 9, 2013

Okie-dokes. . so this week was a bit slower than ususal. For some reason on tuesday both Hna swenson and I were just draggin our feets. we were incredibly tired, so tired that it felt like Sunday night where you are ready for preperation day , not like a tuesday morning where you just happened to have a preperation day. I felt like we were both about to come down with something but gratefuly I didnt. but not so gratefuly hna, swenson did :/ which if one companion is down , then the whole companionship is down. the poor thing had a terrible sore throat, a huge headache and whole body ache. She toughed it out for a couple days but thursday came around and she was in bed most of the day which proved to be excatly what she needed. by friday we were out and working again So i feel like we had a bit of a set back but we are going to get back on top of things and have a great week this week (we hope!).

 The cold weather is creeping on us more and more every day which is a great motivator to have our schedule full with visitws so we are inside but makes contacting on the street a bit difficult. Another fun fact about my area is that it is super hilly and has lots of ups and downs. but mostly ups! If all the stairclimbing and walking hasnt already gotten my legs into shape, this area certainly will! 

Our fecha Nilda is still progressing . She came to church again yesterday!! (the hardest part for investigators) and since she has been to church at least  twice she has nothing holding her back from being able to be baptized. She didnt however let us announce her baptism for this saturday at church because she said she needs to think about it a bit more.(not what a missionary likes to hear) Today she is coming to FHE for the singles in our rama and we are talking to her tonight a bit more about baptism and what it means and then just going from there. Her thing is that she has lots of random, yet profound questions . for a 17 year old she is very smart and really thinks about life. She is amazing though. i know she will be baptized and then later when she is older will be relief society president . she is that great! **we talked to her parents and they are completly fine with her being baptized if its what she wants. MILAGRO** 

Our other Fecha , Kairo is being a bumhead and not answering our calls or calling us back but his family has such potential we met his nephew and his sister and want to start working with them. they are a wonderful family! 

So this week we also met with a menos activa (less active) named Carola. She has two daughters a crazy dog and a husband who isnt a member and works all the time. Her father passed away a couple weeks ago and she is still very sensitive about the topic, she has grudges against her family and really needs to be loved right now. I teared up hearing her story but because of her very very very very attention needy four year old and sick dog, who took up most the couch, i felt it wasnt the moment to share my personal experience, the spiriti wouldnt have been felt or appreciated. Before we left I hugged her and told her that I could relate a little because of a similar experience. she hugged me real tight and invited us over for lunch this next week. She is a sweet sweet lady who really needs to rely on the gospel more. I hope we can help her. 

So for this sunday i was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting! of course i didnt have time to prepare anything, although they told me a week in advance, but I never really prepare for any of my talks, even before my mission... haha so i wasnt too worried. I decided to talk on Faith.Its something so very important but something that i feel we dont talk about enough. In the scripture guide in the spanish b.o. m. it says faith is to trust in someone or something. That reminded me of my favorite scripture alma 36:3 and how all the Lord asks us to do is to trust in him and he will support us through all our trials, troubles and afflictions and it made me think about how if we think of Faith as more than just believing and having hope in something that we cant see, that its actually believing AND trusting. Trusting that he will help. Faith really is a word of action. Faith can move mountains, incredible right!? but what good does that do us? faith needs to move US. I know that our savior lives . That he died for us and gave us the example in everything we need to do. I love him with all my heart. I love all of you with all my heart! and I want to wish you all the best christmas season ever! Keep spreading the christmas joy! Thanks for all you do. Thanks for being in my life and for helping me be the person I am today. I am so grateful for every one of you! xoxo

Hermana Hair

Here is my 7 month picture!! 7 months can you believe it? can time please slow down:( 

The other picture is of the whole Bilbao Zone. there is this huge christmas tree in Bilbao , which is about a 20 minute metro ride from las arenas. and we had our zone enfoque, Our district leader also gave us all those christmas hats with the scripture reference 3 Nefi 5:13 on the back!

Here are some pictures from Hna. Swenson, 27 is our zonez baptisimal goal for the month of december. can you say white christmas??:) and that other picture there is of our cute lil place. our little cute tree with the stockings that hna swensons mom sent and our fake fireplace we made last preperation day to hang our stockings over! looks great for a paper fire huh??:) 

cant remember what i uploaded but i think its just of pretty Las arenas!

December 2, 2013

DECEMBER????? whaaattt??? well Merry Christmas Month everyone!!!

okay, so Las Arenas is absolutely beautiful! and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve here. Hermana Swenson is such a big ball of sunshine and I love her wonderful spirit, It was a bit different going from knowing every street and member to not knowing anything or anyone but I love the fresh start and new beginning. Its going to be a wonderful transfer. 

The miracles are already starting to pop up everywhere.. We have two fechas already! Kairo is from Africa and we bumped into him while going to visit a MA (less active). He lives in the same building as the MA. We started talking to him and asked him what piso he lived on. On our way down from visiting the MA I suggested we should stop by Kairo's piso and knock his door. So we did. He wanted to invite us right in but his sister wasnt home so we couldnt. However we got his information and set up a cita for the next day. He is a single man who seemed a little flirty at the beginning so we were kind of iffy on whether we should go back or not. I was like Hna, we will go and invite him to be baptized and that way we will know his real intentions and we did and he accepted! the lesson went really well actually, He was serious and took our lesson in and asked questions and was very professional and not flirty at all. It was amazing! I really think that when we invite people on the first lesson and testify it lets them know our purpose and sets that barrier of professionalism between us because they know what we are here to do and we earn that respect from them that even though we may be younger than them they realize we have something great that they want as well. 

Our other fecha is Nilda, she is a sweet 16 year old girl with many many questions. Hna Liu and Hna swenson have been teaching her but they can never really get through a whole lesson because she has so many deep questions. So when we went in I remembered our specialized training that we had the month before with president and how he emphasized importantce it was to get through whole lesson 1 (the restoration) . so we went in with that goal in mind. She had questions, lots of them , but we would answer them the best we could and quickly get back to the lesson or tell her that her questions would be answered in the lesson (because they would be). we got through the whole lesson and we invited her and she accepted!! Her mother is completely fine with us teaching her (her mom works as interna so is never really home) but we have yet to really confirm with the father about baptism (apperently they have never met him) 

The amazing thing is that THEY BOTH CAME TO CHURCH! Hna swenson said they have never had an investigator come to church (besides a forever investigator who cant get baptized b/c she isnt married. but who is basically a member.) So overall i would say this past week here in Las arenas has been a very good week! oh both their dates are for the 14th of December. 

I am super excited for this christmas season! I can already tell and feel that we will be seeing lots of gran milagros in this mission this season! its the perfect time to talk about CHRIST! Ive heard the christmas spirit is something that spain lacks but dont worry, with all of us missionaries out there, there will definitely be some christmas cheer going around. especially with hna swenson and I out on the loose. She is a nutcase!! in a super good way. haha i love her so so much. we already have so many inside jokes and she really is just so happy and so cute and so open and such a great missionary! I know you all can be great missionaries too! This is the season of cheer and giving. Give something that will last a lifetime.. more like eternity! give someone the gospel. Love you all!! and have a great week! 

xoxoxo 

Hermana Hair 

Spain Barc Mission

So my camera isnt hooking up to this computer.. I know just my luck. so my compañera is going to email them to me from her computer and i will forward them to you. I hope. :) sorry for my lack of pictures. I should try and do better. 

This is literally across the street from our apartment. This is our view! and that is Hna Swenson

Hna Swenson and I take this treadmill/escalator like things that are on big hills in our area. Yeah were in the rich, lazy part of town haha. so random right? They even function in the rain!

and the correct address for my place is actually the same street nambe but instead of just 6C its 6 BIS, C :)

 

love to all!