July 28, 2014

This week has been nuts!! We had a ´´mini missionary´´ Annie Deere, President´s daughter.

It was so fun! She is amazing!! Last Monday, I wrote and said what we did for p-day right? Well, our plans were to go to the castle, and we wanted everyone to come. Hna. Samuelson and Morris were at the mall so we went and tried to convice them to come, Hna. Morris didn´t want to... I ended up staying with her while all the rest went to the castle. It wasn´t too bad. It made it worth it to know that Hna. Samuelson could enjoy her time away a little bit. That evening, Hna. Samuelson stayed with the Castillos and Hna. Morris was with us for a while, also Annie Deere came and we had to go on splits. We didn´t end up teaching anyone, but when we all got back together, we had a family home evening with Lucy and Magali. It was super fun. Their little son, who we were teaching to help him get ready for his baptism, is the cutest thing in the world. His name is Elias. I have pictures of him, but it won´t let me upload them. That night, Hna. Morris returned to Hna. Samuelson.

Tuesday we had a normal morning, but then Hna. Grant and I went to Almería (AGAIN) to help with a cosecha. The zone leaders asked us to go and help the hermanas there. It was a great success. Hna. Grant and I were kind of hoping we would be able to stay together and work in the cosecha, but they split us up and put us with Hna Roan and Becerra. I went with Hna. Roan and I think it was a good learning experience. At the first, she didn´t really contact with power and boldness, but with time, we were able to get more information of the people and teach too. Hna. Grant said it was good for Becerra too. As we contacted this one Bulgarian man went to give Hna. Roan besos and he grabbed her and she couldn´t do anything about it, then he came to me and I told him no. He called me rascist. It was funny. Also, another man told me he had heard a few things about ´Mormons´ and he said that Franco was a Mormon. We told him that was absolutely incorrect... haha and we said we would come and explain more about what we believe. Overall, I think they got a good 30 futures, which is pretty good for 2 hours. That night, we were supposed to catch a bus from Granada, but we missed it. We stayed with the Hermanas in Granada that night, and then caught a bus that morning. We were pretty gross, we didn´t bring clothes or a toothbrush, and by the time we got home, we had to go work. We were pretty gross. That morning, I went with Hna. Guerrero to go get her residency stuff done for Spain. We spent most of the morning doing that, but it was fun still. Then for medio-dia we ate with a crazy Argentinian. She talks SO MUCH. I can´t even believe how fast she can change the subject and just talk about whatever. Then, that evening we did splits. I went with Annie and Guerrero and Grant went together. We ended up teaching 8 lessons in total!! It was great! 

Thursday was the 24th of july and my year mark. My 3 companions made such a big deal and it was a great morning.

They decorated the piso and sang and bought a sign that says ´´mission complete´´ then put 2/3 after mission. It was cute! That morning we did weekly planning, with mustaches.

Planning in Mustaches. 

Don´t worry. I have pictures. Then after planning, we dropped Annie off and went to work again. We taught a bunch in English. During one of the lessons with Axis, he told me I have a china face. Then he said that Hna. Grant likes problems and Hna. Guerrero gets mad easily. It was funny. He has a crush on Guerrero and the other black man has a crush on Hna. Grant. I´m just the awkward chinese girl on the side. That night, weirdest thing... Hna. Morris called and Hna. Grant answered, then she asked to talk to me. I answered and she just called to ´´talk´´. It was weird and it really surprised me. I guess we´re alright. Oh... I also burned a shirt that night. It was crazy.

Friday morning we went to teach our muslim friend Terek, and a girl was at his house and she came in to listen. Her name is Erika. She is awesome. We want to teach her more, because she actually is there to learn. That night we did intercambios with Hna Rawle and Anderson. Hna. Rawle came here with Hna. Grant and I. It was good. We taught a lot in English too, but it turned out good. We had such a good lesson with Michael. He is a Nigerian that came to church last week. On Wednesday we asked him to pray to see if the Book of Mormon was true. He came back on Friday and we asked if he had prayed. He said, ´´yes, I did. I felt something really weird. I´ve never felt before. Like ice all over my body´´ We told him that it was the Holy Ghost. He got a huge smile on his face and said, ´´It is??´´ He was so happy and even more because the only thing he wants is to have the gift of the Holy Ghost. He is super prepared and super awesome. He asked us, after teaching the restoration, ´´What are the commandments? Because I want to keep all the commandments of God´´ We ended up teaching all of them in one lesson. He is getting baptized Wednesday! We went to visit Hna Samuelson and we played Uno with her and Hna. Morris. It was fun!

Saturday we taught a girl that moved into a member´s house. She´s cool, she´s pregnant and is from Paraguay. She will be getting baptized soon (: That night was Elias´ baptism.

I think Elias has a crush on someone!

I love that boy. He was super cute in his baptism, of course, at first it was a disaster like always, but it turned out great (:  That night, we went to see Edith. As we walked up to the park, she lit a cigarette, as soon as she saw us, she threw it on the ground. We had a good talk and she said, ´´I haven´t smoked for 3 days and now the only time I went to do it, you girls came´´ It was a cool thing, because we went earlier than we had planned and it helped her know that God is helping her. 

Sunday we walked with Cinthia and Axis (our nigerian friends) to church. Also Michael came and a Jehovah´s Witness and her daughter came!! It was good! (: Another week of miracles. That night we went to see Hna. Samuelson. We played Uno with some of the other Hermanas, then Hna. Samuelson asked if we could share a message with her. I had the idea to share Alma 29:9-10. Wow... it was a really strong spirit there. People were crying and maybe it´s what someone needed to hear. It was super cool!!! That scripture has changed my mission. It´s my favorite and I think if I ever had a doubt of the reason I´m on a mission, that would be the scripture to help me through it. 

I love every second of my mission. How cool it is to be here. I´ve become so much closer to my Savior. I´ve been able to make goals for my future, for the way I want to be. You gotta let the mission change you, if not - you´re not out here for the right reasons.

Love you so much! (: