July 14, 2014

Buenas Tardes todos!

So I think I hit a new level of tiredness on my mission this week. I have always been a morning person and getting up in the mornings has never been hard for me, not even on the mission... untill this past week. The alarm would go off and it was like as if my body was too heavy to move. I can honestly say, I have never felt this tired my whole entire life. I just feel like im really old. Yet im loving every minute of it. i dont know if people can tell how tired i am but I know that our heavenly father gives us missionaries the stregnth to keep going. We just get used to being tired and so its like were normal.. if that makes sense. I know that this week i will probably be just as tired but it wont affect me as much because I get used to it. Oh the adventures of a mission :) 

So this past week we have really been focusing on going through our ward list and visiting every single member that is in our area. we have been finding a lot of menos activos and people who dont even live there any more. It is helping clean up the ward list a lot. 

Okay so do you remember last weeks miracle, Sandra. Well... this week we have visited her twice and she is very nice, a bit reserved but still accepting our visits. she is from Peru and has two daughters, who we havent meet yet. She couldnt come to church this sunday but she lives super close to the church so it shouldnt be hard for her. if she is really prepared and interested she will be at church soon. Talking about church so you know how we always have americans in our sacrament meeting who are visiting well.. this week the elders from the other ward offered if they wanted translator headphones, they said yes... then the elders told me I had to translate all of sacrament into this microphone so that the americans could understand. I had never done something like that before. But i was up for the adventure. ha. so I tried my best. It was a bit difficult at first but then i got a hang of it until the last speaker went up and he was speaking really fast because he didnt have much time and repeating himself a lot and i couldnt remember simple words in spanish like "sacrament" for santa cena. Oh boy. but the americans said it was good! i think they were just being nice haha. but it was fun doing that for them. 

so friday ... i lost my wallet. it had my DNI (spain ID), my mission debit card, metro pass and cash. We looked everywhere for it but i think that it must have fallen on the bus or something because i am very aware of my purse and i dont think anyone stole it from me. but so now i have to go throught the whole process of getting new stuff . its a bit of a pain but the good thing is that my home debit card and drivers license was not in there. So due to that incident my companion and i are now getting to know the streets of barcelona bit more than just the underground metro so thats good. 

oh one more thing about sandra, so at the end of our first lesson with her I felt prompted to ask her if she had been recently asking God something very specific. She said yes... I then explained to her how we were guided to her house and how I know that God wants her to hear this message. That moment was just a huge spiritual experience for me as i felt that what i was telling her was true that god loves her and that he wants this for her. She listened very carefuly and looked into my eyes the entire time that i was testifying. The spirit was there and it was touching both our hearts. 

Barcelona has over 2,000 people. and the lord has called 6 companionships thats only 12 missionaries to work his barcelona vineyard. He trusts us so much, its incredible. I dont want to let him down and i know he will never leave us working alone. He is here, I can feel him with me every single moment of every day. 

I am so blessed to be his missionary. 

love you all,

Hermana Hair

We went to the Sagrada Familia today. Here are a couple pictures. 

July 7, 2014

This past week has seriously been absolutely incredible. Full of MIRACLES! Four of those miracles are Madelayn, Loveday, Juan Carlos and Sandra. 

Madelayn: She is a single lady from Venezuela who came up to us on the metro after church. We went all the way to the sagrada familia metro stop (where we were both getting out) we continued to talk, basically she just told us her entire life story and how she came to spain 2 months ago, is trying to study but doesnt have a job and just broke up with her boyfriend who she thought she was going to marry. . . she needs the gospel. she knows it and that is why she talked to us. Long story short she wants to learn more because she said life must have a *purpose* . it sure does! and she asked if there was something that she could study to learn about the church.... YES! the book of mormon! She is super excited and super grateful to have met us and we too are so very grateful that the holy ghost touches peoples hearts and leads them to us too. 

Loveday and Juan Carlos are both menos activos (inactives)! Juan carlos came up to us earlier this week and said hey, where is the church around here... hes been a member since he was 19 and has been inactive for 13 years. the best part is HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY . Loveday is a Nigerian we contacted on the metro , before we even explained who we were he said the whole name of the church and said yes, i am a member. he lost contact with the church when he came to spain he said he moved to spain when he was 19 and three months later in nigeria he recieved his mission call but since he was in spain he couldnt go... but he is great and asked for a book of mormon and speaks english! but cant come to church because he works on sundays but I know if he has faith he can find a job that will allow him to come to church if thats his desire. 

Sandra was a little miracle from sunday night. we were doing pass bys with a member when we walked past this apartment portal that was a bit more  hidden than the others. as we walked past it and i just had the strongest feeling that we needed to go there...  we kept walking and the feeling got stronger. why dont i ever learn to just act on the first prompting?? the holy ghost has so much patience with me :) I tell hna benson and the member that we have to go to that door. the member asked if i knew someone that lived there... no , i said. so we go to the door and i just ring the third floor no one answers. should i walk away? was this a silly decision?.. i think for a bit and decide its the first floor where i want to go. I ring it and the door buzzes open. a thin women pops her head out of her door and asks who it is. We introduce ourselves, she says she is busy at the moment but we can come back next thursday at four thirty... okay! milagro. She seemed a bit confused at first but after we explained who were for a bit and left her with a prayer there was something different in her eyes.. she was happier. I love seeing how the spirit brings happiness almost immediately into peoples lives. 

I know the Lord guides his work with the holy ghost.. but not just through us but through the people themselves, I know that when people come up to talk to us its because they have felt that little push inside of them to do it. the light of christ is for everyone and touches everyone we just have to listen and obey it. I love this work! I love all the miracles i get to wittness everyday! Its the best feeling ever to help people come unto Christ. 

So I found out my comp is actually leaving mid transfer next transfer on a mini transfer so that she can start fall semester.. which means i might be staying here in barc longer than i thought. because someone new will have to come into the area and i will still have to show them arouond. This might just be my last area... hmm... who knows. we will see what happens. 

I am great and happier than ever! I love you all and wish you all the best week. 

hugs and kisses, 

Hna Hair

At Diana's house, a less active.  She is ecuadorian and made us what she call Humitos but what looks like tamales :) and her husband is colombian and he sells these colombian hats so we put them on for the picture... sometimes i feel like im serving in all of south america. their are SO many people from south america here. ha its funny. 

oh and this is hna benson my compi! she goes home mid august. but she is only one transfer ahead of me. 

June 30, 2014

This week has been quite an interesting week. Im not sure if i can explain how .. but it just seemed like everything was a bit off. but its just another trial and we decided that it was satan who is scared of our killer companionship so he is trying everything to throw us off our game. but its not working. not even with hna benson being sick.. she is a trooper. I really really like her. We just clicked from last transfers intercambio and its a huge blessing to now be companions.I will send a picture of us next week. Then you will be able to see her. she is tall, like six foot and blonde, were look very opposite but our personalities are pretty similar. we get along super well. 

We are still working with Jose luis and Sussi. they are WONDERFUL.II dont know if i explained who they are.. i feel like I would have. but sussi is member who has been inactive for a very long time, 10 years. but now she has met jose luis and wants to marry him but off course she has never been able to deny the church and she knows its true. so she has shared all her knowledge about the church with him and now he wants to be baptized. they found the church and have been coming now every sunday.  They are an artsy and interesting couple but they have the biggest desire to learn and progress in the gospel. they are just waiting for her papers so they can be married. But the other day for our second visit of the week, jose luis pulled out a paper where he had  summed up the main points of the lesson we had earlier that week. apparently he wanted to remember it and wrote it out after we left. how incredible! He is going to be a super strong member one day. He loves everyone and says hi to everyone at church who he knows. Its a bummer though that it takes super long to get married here in spain, especially if they are foreigners.

Talking about weddings there was a wedding on friday and there is going to be another this friday. They are older ladies in the church too. its so fun to see them find thier match and be happy and get married. In spain our church isnt recognized as a religion that can marry people, only the catholic church can so here the members have to get married civally first and then go to the temple as soon as they can right after to be sealed. Its amazing to see how the people here have to travel all the way to madrid to go to the temple. I have never appreciated living so close to the temple at home, than i do now. members have to pay 50 buck to go on a bus as a ward just to go the temple for one day and then come back the next day. and if not enough people sign up they cant afford to pay the bus so they have to cancel the temple trip.. its happened a few times now in different wards that ive been in. its so sad to see how dissapointed they are when they cant go to the temple after being so ready and willing to go. If anything , i want to encourage all of you who live in utah and do live right next to a temple to take advantage of it and go. I have not gotton "homesick" on my mission but i have gotten"temple-sick" haha. I am one of the very few in this mission who have had the opportunity to visit the temple, and what it did was make me miss it even more. so please, go to the temple, and help the lord with his work on the other side of the veil. we can be missionaries together:) if you go i would love to hear about it and your experience. I know every visit to the temple is a special visit to the lords house. 

I love you all and am looking forward to hearing about your temple trips. 

love, Hermana hair

June 24, 2014

Hello!! 

Wonderful news everyone!!!! IM WITH HNA BLANCO RIGHT NOW!!. She is going home this transfer.. so today or tomorrow. and she stayed the night in our place and oh my goodness is what great to see her because i havent seen her in like a year! She is doing great and its so good to see her again. 

second news, IM STAYING IN BARCELONA!  (although i secretly wanted to go the islands, its my dream to go and be in the islands my last transfer... theres still a possibility ha) but my new companion is hna. Benson. she is tall and blonde and from salt lake. she goes home in 8 weeks. but she is great! Ive been on an intercambio with her and she really is wonderful she has been companions with hna williams too so she says that she feels like she already knows me because of everything hna williams has already told her. :)  This is going to be a great transfer!  Hna nalbandyan is supposed to go to san sebastian but she has a really bad nose bleed and we had to take her to the emergency room because it wouldnt stop bleeding they stuck a foam thing up her nose and has to go back wed to get it taken out and see if she is better so for now i guess we are kind of in a trio ... but she cant leave the house so we will see what we will end up doing. 

Im very excited for this transfer. i have a really good feeling about it but  not just about me and my new comp but about the whole mission. I feel like we are going to see many many miracles this summer. 

and spain actually wasnt too crazy with the whole world cup thing .. but ive heard its because we are in catalunya and they dont really want to be part of spain anyways so they dont make a big deal out of it but i heard that in madrid its a HUGE deal.. . but spain already lost... haha. GO COLOMBIA ;)

I love you all so much! something that hna rackham and i have been talking about this past week is that obedience really means love. and that that is why through our obedience is how we show our love for God. He really has given us everything and even our free agency.. theres no better way to show him our gratitude than using the gift of choosing that he has given us and choosing to follow him and obey him. I love Him so much and I choose to be obedient. I hope we can all strive to be more obedient to his commandments and really show him our love and gratitude. 

i love you all!!! mucho mucho mucho. 

xoxoxo 

Hermana Hair

Okay so here is hna blanco and I last night. ... it was very late and we are tired and ​i had just put my hair up so...we arent looking our best haha but im so happy to see her !!

June 16, 2014

Hello all! 

This weeks email is going to be short because im writing at the end of preperation day and dont have all my email time. But today we had a BBQ with all our zone in a park called Trinidat Vella. its a huge park with lots of open space (not common here in barc) and we just played various sports and ate and took some pictures.. it was nice. and last preperation day we went to park Guell... its Gaudis other famous creation here in barc, it was 8 Euros to enter and not very big... I wouldnt do it again, i think its too pricy for the size but its very interesting and beautiful around that area. there we met an armenian girl who contacted us because she say Hna Nalbandyans name tag and asked if she was armenian. - most armenian names end in "yan"  she ended up tagging along with us and it was great to have a new friend! she wants to learn more about the church but was going on vacation for a couple weeks but when she comes back we will be in contact with her. 

Melisa and Genesis are still doing really good., We bought melisa a new triple and wrapped it for her and gave it to her and she was SO excited. she opened it and was like wooowww... what is it? hahaha we explained to her the different books and then we told her to just flip open and she did and landed on DyC 66:11 which in spanish says, Obedece estas palabras, porque son verdaderas y fieles... obey these words because they are true and loyel...    It was wonderful to see how the book itself was testifying of what we had just explained about it. there is no doubt that the book of mormon , DyC and the PofGP are the word of God. I love little miracles that I get to witness every day! I love it . 

Hna rackham had a mini missionary.. but she got sent to cornella so... we are in a trio again! :)

I love you all and hope you are all healthy and well.

xoxo 

Hna Hair

Gaudi´s famous salamander and I 

a movie billboard but the title just fits us... there is not two without three... (since we are in a trio now haha)

June 9, 2014

Hola hola:)

this week was MUCH bettter than last week. We have been in a trio, because since, hna nadal went home, hna rackham is companionless so she has been with us. We have been working both her area and our area .it is harder because the area we have to work is now so big but we are doing. We actually have been able to work pretty evenly both areas and we have just been literally running from cita to cita. super busy but so happy! the three of us each have something different to add to the companionship so its been great being in this trio. I have admired my compañera very much this week. If I had to choose one thing I loved about hna nalbandyan is that she really knows how to listen to the holy ghost and then follow those promptings one of the biggest miracles this week was because she was following those promptings. she listens and then just acts, i love that about her. hna rackham is amazing too! she really shows true genuine love to all those around her and she makes them laugh and feel comfortable at the first encounter. what wonderful companions I have! Im grateful for everyone I have the opportunity to meet and work with. 

This week we met Jose Luis y Sussi. Sussi is a less active from bolivia who has been here in spain for about 12 years. Jose luis is a spaniard from valencia. They met about 6 months ago in this art course they are both taking. long story short they fell in love, are now living together and she shared her beliefs and religion and now he wants to get baptized, she wants to be active again  and they both want to get married and later sealed in the temple!! HIM a SPANIARD??!! the lord is preparing spaniards and he is doing it through the members and less actives. We did nothing at all, he just has that desire to be baptized... que increíble! they are just waiting for papers to be able to get married and well this is all thanks to sussi who says even though she hasnt been to church for 10 years she has never lost her testimony , she has never stopped knowing who she is and sharing it with those around her. sadly they wont be able to get married till the beginning of august, if everything goes well but immedietly after they get married he is for sure getting baptized... I wonder if I will still be here in this area to see this gran milagro? I sure hope so!

this work of salvation is the lords work and he is hiring everyone in the church to help him! we are all employed in this labor and its a full time job. and just like any business, we are seeing success when everyone does their part and does it with a smile. The members,the less active and the recent converts are bringing friends and sharing this gospel. i know that this is how the lord wants his work to go forward. and we all have a part in this! we are so blessed to all have this opportunity to help the lord and to all be working together . 

i hope you have a great week! summer is just around the corner, its getting warmer. Happy almost summer :)

love you all!!

Love, Hermana Hair

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June 2, 2014

Slow week, 

Everyone and their companion has been getting sick here in this mission okay maybe not the whole mission but for sure here in the barcelona zone. Theres been lots of sick days/mornings in piso this week, with my companion- she is getting better though. Its felt really wierd. because it doesnt feel like missionary work. but we are determined to come back with fire this week :) the sad news is that the other hermanas in our piso are more sick than we are. compared to them we are very very healthy.I would say im the healthiest right now out of all four of us, im basically all normal. but  hermana rackham (an mtc friend) has bronchitus and her companion , hermana Nadal is going home this afternoon because she has been sick for 6 weeks now and the doctors dont know whats wrong with her. so as you can tell there has been lots of emotions and coughing going on in our apartment... hermana nadal has only been out for 3 months, she is from the south of spain and a real trooper. she has put up with not feeling well for a very long time and has worked when her body has allowed her but everyone thinks that going home and getting better and then coming back to the mission is the best for her, that way she doesnt loose her mission time in bed. we are very very sad to see her go, ive only known her for about 3 weeks but i love her and know that we are going to always be good friends. 

So also this week when h. nalbandyan was feeling better we had an intercambio and I went to l'hospitalet! i was with hna benson who was just barely , the transfer before, with hermana williams!!! she said she had heard a lot about me from hna williams, so much that she feels like she already knows me.. i hope its all good stuff! :) but it was a fun intercambio. 

we also had a flamanco performance in church from a dance company that wanted to have their final performance of the season at our church because it has a big stage. it was interesting and fun to watch and we got to talk to a lot of people that came for it who are not members... most werent interested but hey, now they know where the church is haha. 

well thats about it for this week. here is my 13 month picture... 

love you all! 

Hermana Hair