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!

November 27 2012

WOW  this week has been crazy! more like the past few days have been crazy, So we will go in chronological order. Saturday, Hna Williams and I were at the church literally all day! we give english classes saturdays at noon so we were there at ten to start getting tables ready for the activitiy the missionarys were putting on that night called, noche de culturas, where everyone brings a dish from their country and then we all share and its a big fun get to know you environment with food and music . anywho. all week we were preparing, making calls, decorations etc in the little time we have between our already full missionary schedule. But saturday we were getting things ready, then the elders had a baptism after lunch and then our activity so we literally did not leave church until 9:45 pm because we stayed to clean the church. the good part was that the activity was a success. some members invited some friends, (which was the main point of the activity) and we found some new investigators that way! Okay so here is the part you have all been waiting for. since we were all at church the Zone Leaders checked their email and we all found out together where everyone was going and I am now in LAS ARENAS! yaaayyyy... ya no one knows where that is at here either... ja. but it is way up north by Bilboa and San sebastian. aka, the prettiest part of the entire mission! and it really is absolutely GORGEOUS here! now i really feel like I am in Spain. It has the cute little colors and buildings and streets , its so historical yet so modern and cute! But I will talk more about it, first i will continue on with my week. so then sunday was church and oh, goodbyes are so hard. I really have fallen in love with all the people in lleida, its my first area and it will always hold such a special place in my heart. The members are so sweet, which explains my schedule for monday. Monday was HECTIC! we were running around , literally, from appointment to appointment, squeezing in member visits in between. Its funny how everyone really shows their love once your leaving... ha. but i ate so much i felt like exploding by the end of the day because every house fed us something. and the members were so kind. Carol, gave me a very nice, warm winter jacket because she said she noticed i didnt have one and that it is super super cold up north and she didnt want me to freeze, how cute! and then an investigator, milagros gave me a cute red peticoat (the same one who threw my surprise bday party) love her. and others gave me other cute very sentimental gifts. I love them all and felt really bad accepting gifts from them. Much tears were shed , but its all a bitter sweet moment. I am sad to leave but excited for the new experiences that await me.

Okay, so now on to Tuesday. I woke up and finished packing then we left, grabbed my last buñuelo from the colombian bakery and headed to the train station. A few memebers and investigators came to say bye and I headed to Barcelona on a 1.5 hour train ride with E. Schwartz (only him and I were transfered from our district this transfer) Once at barc we met up with a whole bunch of missionaries and then from there everyone goes on different trains to all their new areas. So we waited there for a few hours till our train was leaving , I hopped on a train with one other sister and a set of elders and we headed to Bilboa. . . for SIX hours.. Longest train ride ever. . yet. not my favorite but we got to bilboa at ten at night and then had quite an adventure trying to get to our piso. My compañera was there at the train stop waiting for me and her and i with the two other hermanas who were staying at our place for the night went on a little detour on the metro.. we had to hop of the metro unexpectadly twice (remember i am traveling with all my luggage) and lug it up and over stairs to get to the other metro side, (twice) because I guess the metro lines run a bit different at night and one was closed and ya i didnt really understand it all but then we walk out and start walking in the cutest little place ever, go down a really dangerously steep hill for luggage and then cross on a little transport bridge over a river that comes in directly from the ocean (its the oldest transport bridge in the world !! according to my compañera it was built the same year the eiffel tower was built.) and then we just walk across the street and up a little and there overlooking the beautiful river is our new piso! ah i about died, it has such a pretty view and its a brand new piso, my companera and her trainer opened the area for sisters so the area is , once again like lleida, just getting started so its still trodding a long trying to get it going. I am so excited to get working here. 

My companera is so cute, (i feel like i have been using that word alot, but its true, everything here is so cute) She is 19 and from Alpine Utah. she is super bubbly and still learning spanish but she is doing great. She is the oldest of 5 girls and her dad owns the swenson dental place right across lehi high on main street. Her name is Hermana Swenson. and she is super pumped to keep working and sounds like they have just barley started having solid investigators here so we will see what we can do. She came in the same time that Hermana williams did so she just finished her training but i am really excited to be her. My address here is ç

Muelle Tomas Olabarri Nº6,C 48930 Las Arenas, España 

I will definetely send pictures next time. I am short on time right now because we have to go to a visit. But just wait till monday monday monday! :) 

OOOHHHH i forgot to tell you, So remember the baby that is being named Melanie well she was supposed to be due next week but i kept telling them that she was going to be born before i left.. more like, she HAD to be born before i left becuase i really really really really wanted to see her and take a picture with her (her parents say im melanie's aunt.. haha.) AND SHE WAS BORN ON MONDAY! I went to the hospital and got to see baby melanie and left her one of my chapas so she could always remember me. they almost melted when i handed them my chapa... haha they are so cute. they said they would always have it and keep it in her room. I love them. okay i have to go. Pictures next week! love you all 

love, Hermana Hair

November 18, 2013

So this past weekend was Stake conference and our fecha, Justice, unexpectadly had to work sunday morning and wasnt home when we went to pick him up so sadly he lost his fecha. (they have to be at church at least twice before being able to be baptized) We also rang the timbre (doorbell) of this man who lives in the same building as Justice that we had met the other day but he was not home either.. about this man though. His name is charles and he is from  from Nigeria we ran into him by the elevator. He looked at us and asked if we were Jehova witnesses. we explained who we were and told him that we would love to explain to him more about our church. He accepted and we got his information then we invited him to stake conference in the llotja (His building is right by the llotja) we told the time and said we would come by in the morning and tocar his timbre so he could come with us. - which we did but his brother said he wasnt home, and his brother also denied our invitation through the timbre to join us for church.. Rough start to stake conference right... ha so fast forward to after we missionaries sang and were heading back to our seats , I glanced around and received this beaming hello from an african man sitting maybe a few seats below from my seat that i was heading too. I smiled and continued to walk to my seat in silence, just as president requested :) but the whole time I was racking my brain wondering who that man was...  and it never came to me. so conference ended and this man and another man he was sitting next to came up to hna williams and I and he was like, dont you remember me? and then it hit me! it was charles!! he came to conference! all by himself! with his little bible in hand and everything. He had sat next to a recent convert from zaragoza who is also african and the first thing the RC tells us is , I want him to be baptized like me! que milagro. We are meeting with him tomorrow and if a man comes to stake conference by himself, without even us meeting with him once, then i know he is prepared. the Lord really does prepare the people and place them in our path. 

So earlier this week we finally moved out of the hotel, Yes if we add up up the time from the very beginning of my Lledia time and now, I have spent well over one transfer in that same hotel room.. haha oh boy. but now we are in a small yet very modern and nice apartment. We had twin beds put in for us and we share a bathroom and a small kitchen but it has heating and no bed bugs so we arent complaining! its on c/ d'aragon Nº33 its in a nicer place of lleida, i really like it we are right across from the city library which is a nice old, european building, i really like it. 

so quickly about the weather: its been raining non stop all weekend!! and yes we still go out in it. dont worry mom, i bundle up real nice and last preparation day i bought myself some nice black spanish leather boots to keep warm.and today i plan on buying a winter jacket because all i have is my rainjacket, who knew it was cold in spain. weve had a low of 4º celsius.. but the wind and rain really make it feel colder. but i am well and loving it!! 

love you all!!! xoxo 

Hermana Hair

November 11, 2013

We have a fecha (baptisimal date)! His name is Justice and he is from Ghana, Supposedly he was a reference from the Barc Elders to the Zone leaders here but he ended up being in our area. He however does not remember the Elders in Barc or how they got his phone number. Milagro?:) Well during our first two visits he would not accept a fecha at all. During the second visit he expressed that he wants to marry first and then be baptized as a family. (He is 22 and doesnt have a girlfriend) We reassured him that both of those desires were very righteous and exactly what God wanted for him BUT that he can get baptized now and when he has a wife if she is not baptized then she can get baptized then. He was hard to convince until finally I started to share my experience when I was baptized, he then exclaiemed, "But your not married??" and that is when i think it finally clicked. We asked him to pray about getting baptized the 23rd of November and the next time we met with him he said he had prayed and the he would get baptized on the 23rd! and he also came to church! He is very prepared, very humble, and has a very very good heart. I am so excited for him and pray that he when the day comes we can see him dressed in white with a big smile on his face. 

Well we are still in the hotel but i think that tomorrow or tonight we will be moving into a temporary apartment. The owner of our apartment, after hearing the news that we were going to move out permanently, drove all the way to barcelona from lleida to talk to the mission president. He begged to have the church keep renting the apartment (because we are very good people and dont make noise and always pay) He promised he would get rid of all the bugs for good and fix up the piso, with new paint etc and they would rent a temporary piso for us to stay in for a month and then after that we can move in and try it again.... we said okay. on the condition that we could teach his family the gospel!!! haha. I love how our mission president negotiates. well anyways so that is what is going on for now. Although transferes are the 26th so who knows if I will still be here or not to try out the piso again..We will see:) 

Well I love you all and im attaching a picture of what my companion and I like to get on preparation days. its become a monday tradition.. Bunuelos and pony malta!! Im making her cololmbian;) and no its not beer haha. 

Have a wonderful week y'all! love you!! 

Love, Hermana Hair

November 4. 2013

This week was wonderful with finding new investigators! We were able to find 8 news! and it was all because the new zone leaders were going through their area book and found about 12 antiguos that live in our area. and we received the blessings of finding news not because we found the antiguos but because we went looking for them and on the way we found all our news! It really stregnthened my testimony of anitguo hunting . I learned that we keep records for a reason. Either the Antiguo will be ready later or if they have moved, the address is still in our file becuase the person living there now is ready to listen and accept. The lord really does bless us when we are being obedient and using all our resources. 

So the bed bugs are still in lleida..we thuoght they were gone so we hauled all of our stuff pack to our place, got setteled and slept the night there in new beds and new sheets. AND.... then i wake up the next morning to find NINE bed bugs on my bed... that i could see. these creatures are wild! so what do i do?? I text the mission presidents wife immediately and complain.. haha i know , im horrible but I really dont want to sleep in bed bugs anymore. she immedialtly responded back , with , "thats it we are getting you a new piso (apartment) ". so that is what we are doing now. we are rewashing all our stuff and packing it up and going back to the hotel.... haha. the Senior missionaries are going to be looking for a new place for us this week and we will go from there. But transferes are coming up soon!!! nov 26th. so that week i will be emailing on a tuesday. and finding out if i leave or not. but everyone thinks i am leaving.. haha. ive been here for a looonnngg time. 

okay crazy thought!!! I have been on the mission for 6 months!!! im a third of a way done i only have one year left! i will never ever have another november on my mission :( time goes by too fast.

well i love you all and hope you are all having fun with the holidays. be grateful you dont have bed bugs!! haha. take care!

love, Hermana Hair .