5 Agosto 2014

Querida Familia Y Amigos, 

Today is my last day in Barcelona. Im all packed and ready to catch a train at 4 this afternoon that is going to take me to Valencia, the most south part of our mission. Transfer calls came in Saturday night and when Hna. Benson and I heard the news that I was leaving, It was hard not to look at eachother and not shed some tears... Its hard leaving companions who become your best friend since day 1. 

I honestly didn't think that I was going to leave becuase Hna. Benson leaves for home in two weeks... but they are sending two other hermanas and they will be in a trio for those two weeks and then after that they are basically white washing (when two missionaries are in an area that neither of them know) I just pray that they will still work with everyone we have been working with and that they wont forget the members or less actives who are so important me. 

A small group of women in the Relief Society... not all of them :/

Sunday was hectic as so many members came up to me trying to say goodbye and as I tried to talk to everyone and give them all my love.  Im glad it was fast sunday because I was able to get up and bare my testimony along with two other elders who are also leaving the ward. It still amazes me to see the member's love that they express to you with words, hugs and tears when you are leaving their ward. I read a scripture yesterday in alma 27 Where it says , "for they were treated as though they were angels sent from God" and that is how I felt these past couple days but i dont know why... the thing is I know its not me. that what makes people treat us like that is the power and presence of God that is with us. Its because we live the gospel every single minute of our lives and that allows the spirit to be with us constantly and even when I dont think i deserve it... the people see something that even us as missionaries dont see or feel.... I can honestly say that i dont think i deserve to be treated like an angel because I am far from being one. but I know its something special that God allows us to have and I am so grateful for that love that I feel from the members. and the love that i am able to give back to them. becuase I do love them with my entire heart. Every area is so difficult to leave, they become your family and I love them. 

Im a little bummed that right as we started getting that calendar visit going I have to leave... haha. but i think it was ment to be like that becauase now the new sister missionaries coming in have visits already set and i hope they can love these members here even more than i have.  

Ive loved my mission, every experience and moment... except the bed bugs ... and okay packing and traveling with luggage is always going to be on my list of least favorite things to do- :) but besides that its all the best , especially having friends and family like you who support me and send me lots of love. Thank you!

**Sending a huge hug for everyone with a ton of love**

Hermana Hair

Here is Jose Luis and Sussi.. Remember them?? She is from bolivia and he is from VALENCIA and they just left last week back to Valencia but they are leaving for Bolivia on the 20th. I am going to see if They are in my new area but either way i will be in contact with them and will try to help them get married so he can get baptized! 

What a miracle that Im going to valencia right? I thought i wasnt ever going to see them again. ooohhh im so excited to see them again and keep helping them progress:) 

 

Aleida is a member from Honduras and she has been bringing her nephew , Daniel, for this last 3 months to church. HE LOVES IT. Him and I instantly became best friends. I was always so excited to see him at church. He turns nine on the 15th and his parents finally gave him the OK to be baptized!!! (his parents arent members) the sad thing is that it will be this next saturday and i wont be here. he almost changed it to yesterday so that i could be there but his parents had to work and they need to be there too. we were both sad i wasnt going to be there but man, i just love this kid. Hes number one! and im so happy for his decision he is making. it will bless his life forever. 

July 28, 2014

Hola todos!

This week started out rough but ended with a bang! Hermana Benson and I went on splits and we were able to find 3 menos activos that want us to visit. we were doing the member pass by lists and really i can not believe how many people are on here that havent had missionaries visit them  in forever! Even very strong members have commented on how missionaries havent visited them in like 10 years. i think that even the strongest members need to feel the missionaries love and spirit in their home every once in a while. 

Pretty much with every menos (less active) that we found , we have found an investigator to teach in their home. It is great!  We hope to see many more miracles from these menos activos. 

Another great thing is that in relief society , we passed around a "visits calendar". not a food calander. we were very clear in announcing and letting the sisters know that we want to get to know THEM and that this isnt a food calendar , that we will take even just 15 minute visits if that is all they have time for. I told them they have no excuse to not sign up and that if they want a baked good from us to put a star next to their name ;) haha . they laughed and to our surprise, when we got the calendar back at the end of church we had almost all of relief society signed up ! we have a member visit almost every day for the next few weeks. We also had members (SPANIARDS) come up to us and tell us that they want to invite a friend to the visit. WOW! who knew all these ladies needed was to see that we were interested in THEM and not just their food. I have seen in past wards that the people who feed the missionaries are ususally the same 5 people. and other people might not have time or money to feed us so they never invite us over because they think we want food. Well when we showed these hermanas that what we want is to meet with them they all jumped at the opportunity. Members need love. love. love. love. They are just as important as any person we visit with, they need to see us in action as we teach and bring the spirit into their home and i know we will see many new investigators from this because they will trust us with their friends. Love is everything. Love is what motivates me. I know that God love us all and I know that Love is probably one of the biggest things we were sent here on earth to learn. And we all have a long way to go but i know i have never loved as purely and as much as i have on my mission. I am amazed at how much God and Jesus love us. and I want each one of you to know that I love you and I am so grateful to have so many wonderful people in my life who have taught me about love through their  words and actions. 

LOVE YOU ALL!! 

LES QUIERO MUCHO!!

Hermana Hair :)

July 21, 2014

Hey! 

As usual we are running around from place to place and don't have much time left to email but I wanted to let you all know that I am great! This week has been a bit slow but we have big plans for next week. 

We are really going to work on finding new people to teach this next week. We have been working on trying to find them through the members and less actives but its been pretty slow that way, i know though that when we do the Lords work HIS way that he will bless us. We have been told to really try and find news through members... so that is what we are doing :) 

But life is great! I love being a missionary and wouldnt change it right now for anything. I appreciate all your love and support and all your prayers. I know that they reach my heart in the moments when I most need them. 

One day this week my comp and I were singing "mas santidad dame" which is "more holiness give me" (we sing every morning in companionship study) and I think i sang this song at the beginning of my mission maybe once or maybe i havent at all but this time when we sang it, it really touched my heart. All the words, but especially the ones in the third verse, are all exactly what a mission does/gives a missionary. Its what every missionary stives to obtain every day. I dont know if the words are the same in English but I used to not really like this song much because it said "more" lots of times but now I really like it :) 

Love you all ! 

Hna. Hair

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 !!