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 . 

Random fact

I also dyed my hair today!! by myself.. haha well with the help of my compa. The summer sun had really bleached my ends and it was looking a bit fried. so i went back to dark brown! and i gave my companera a haircut and gave her layers. we basically had a spa morning ;) haha

before

after

October 28 2013

Happy Monday Everyone! 

So I am still in the hotel, they did the second fumigation and the piso (apartment) is being cleaned today by a lady from the ward and her son - the mission office didnt want us to clean up the poweder stuff left behing from the fumigation- so we should be able to move in later this week! 

So we were trying to plan this cultural activity for nov 1st but it turns out that day is el dia de los santos (the day of the saints) here in Spain. Which is when everyone goes to the cemetary, so kinda like memorial day? so we decided to change the date to the 23rd of November. We are planning a small halloween FHE for this week, it was short notice but I think we can do it. Halloween isnt nearly as big of an event here as it is in the states. I wonder how christmas will be here. Thats my favorite season. 

So the miracle for this past week was that we were door knocking and this nigerian lady answers the door, she seems confused and her 3 little kids were running around. We ask if we can come in and share a message about God with her and she lets us in (surprised us too- doesnt happen much here in spain) She then sits down and continues to weave her daughters hair. We ask if she can turn the tv off and she looks kind of annoyed and just mutes it (not what i asked, but works for now) then she receives a phone call and starts yelling in this other language and hangs up on the person and doesnt seem to happy, Hermana williams and i kept looking at eachother , like, what the? ha. Oh and she speaks english!  and I remebered i had an english plan of salvation pamphlet, (dont know why, but I did) so long story short, we start with a prayer, she grabs her bible. and gives us her full attention the enire time! we invite her to be baptized and she says yes! She didnt come to church this sunday though and we need her to come at least twice before being baptized so we are going to try and help her get to church. It seems like an easy thing but its really what most investigators struggle with here, getting to church.

Well I will keep you all updated and i appreciate the updates you all give me! I love you all so so much! 

love, Hermana Hair

p.s. I almost forgot to tell you all. But we saw a human castle this week!!! its super traditional here in catalunya. they compete and everything. They have everyone bunch up at the bottom and people just climb up . they have adults , teenagers and then little kids at the very top. it was very impressive. I´ll send pictures. 

October 21, 2013

Querida Familia!! (Y seres queridos que son como familia!) 

I have no idea how I forgot to tell you all this in my last week's email but we have been living in a hotel since the night of my birthday!! :) Its actually the exact same hotel that we were staying in when we first got to lleida, not only the same hotel, but the same room! So what happened was that for quite a few weeks now, Hermana Williams has been getting bug bites on her arms and well everywhere. She was constantly itiching, the poor thing. I dont know why we werent concerned, I guess we thought she was just getting them from outside or something. But then I start to get a rash on my thighs! I put some hydrocortisone cream on it and think its all good. but the rash keeps spreading and starts itching and itching. So I call the Presidents wife and she tells me to send pictures of the rash to a doctor in salt lake. So i do. Then when we wash our sheets that week, they come out all spotted. Scariest part is when Hermana Williams goes to wash her sheets there are little flat like bugs on the corners. So we scoop some up in a zip lock bag and we tell the senior missionaries in our area, the do some googling and print us out 15 pages on BED BUGS! we call the presidents wife and the owner of the piso and had to wash all our clothes in super hot water, take them to the hotel so that the fumigator could come fumigate our apartment. and we are still in the hotel because he is fumigating agiain this week just to make sure it is all well covered. I was super disgusted with the thought of bed bugs and that i was sleeping with them. aparently some people´s effects are just getting itchy welts from the bites (hermana williams) and some people are completely allergic to their meer touch (like me! ) and some people get physchologial effects (hopefully neither of us! ha) But yeah... thats what happened a couple weeks ago, I dont know how I forgot to tell you all that story but here it is. Hope you enjoyed it.

On a happier note, we are planning an activity for the ward! It will be on Nov 1st and its a cultural night!  We had a ton of sisters sign up yesterday next to their country to help out. The plan is to have different tables from different countries and have the sisters put together the decoration (flag, etc) and have a typical dish from each country so that everyone can come and try some and then sit down to eat while dances from the different countries are being performed by either the members from that country or friends they have invited. The idea is to unify the ward and have them work together for this activity and to INVITE friends and family. Everyone is proud of their culture so hopefully this activity will animar everyone to come and to come with friends to represent their country. 

We have also decided to start inviting ourselves over to members home to do a family home evening and asking them to invite a non member friend or neighbor. We decided to test it out with the bishop first so this week we are having an FHE with him in his home and one of their family friends. By the way, if any of you have any fun FHE ideas/lessons/activities, I would love to add more ideas to our list. 

So Our focus as a district is to find new investigators!  I know the Lord is preparing people for us but he wont keep preparing them if he sees us walk staight pass one of his prepared sons or daughters. talk to everyone!!! young or old. Thats our motto for the week /mission :) I also know that every one of us as members are the ones who are the insturments in the Lords hands in order to help prepare his children for the missionaries. Never be afraid to share the gospel, Never be afraid to invite them to activites. and Dont put a time limit on God, If he wants someone to be baptized in 2 weeks then he can do it. One of the things that members do the most often is that they think that their friends and family need time, that they need to take it slowly and from the very beginning they put a restraint on that persons progress. Have faith and let the Lord place the restraints wherever he wants. Some people do need time, but dont limit their progress from the beginning, Dont shelter them from the missionaries. Missionaries and Baptism should be a comfortable topic of conversation, that way when those words actually come up as an invitation, they wont be surprised. Trust the Lord, I know he will let you know what to do and when to do it, what to say, and how to say it, I know this because He does it for me and I know He will do it for you. 

So I want to talk about Iris real quick. Iris is a recent convert's sister in law. She just had a baby and has been to church multiple times. I know that all we need to do is help her gain a testimony of the B.O.M. We want to show her our love by planning a surprise cleaning day with her brother in law and her friend who is a member. We want to get her out of the house and then with all four of us helping, clean everything in an hour, its a small piso , so very doable. She also called us today and set up a visit for wednesday!! (since she had her baby she hasnt picked up our phone calls but says its because she always has her hands tied up with something when we call so SHE CALLED US! milagro!! ) I have so much faith in her. After this visit she will start progressing, I just know it. Fun fact: her baby was born on my bday! and we surprise visited her (unannounced) a couple days after, not knowing she had her baby so we got to see him! I - I cant remember if I already told you all that or not or sent the picture last time... but im sending it now . sorry if i sent it last week as well. 

And the other picture is of hermana williams and I yesterday. We made heart shaped brownies for the relief society with little flags that said thanks for your help and we love you , love the sister missionaries. and they all loved it and love us! (i hope ha.)

Well I love you all!! 

xoxo 

Hermana Hair