HAPPY NEW YEAR

January 6, 2014

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the holidays with your families. I know this Christmas has been one of my favorite in my life. Knowing that I´m here, on a mission to serve my Savior. It´s such a cool feeling! A few things I want to tell you before I start my letter about my week. I want to thank you Mom for teaching me little things as I was growing up. For example, being respectful to everyone. It´s something that I have noticed being here... People respect me more and listen to what I have to say, when I show them respect. I´ll tell you a few more in the letter I´m going to write today! But just know that I appreciate you so much. 

After e-mailing, we went to the chapel and wrote in each others´ journals and watched Mormon Messages. Then we went to send letters. We went to visit C tonight. We taught her a little bit about Goals. We want to work with her so she can achieve what she would like. As we were finishing up, A (a less active who lives in the building that we were by) came up and said that we need to come up to her piso. We didn´t have a lot of time because we had family home evening, but we looked at each other and decided we should. We went up there and taught her a similar thing about goals. She said she wants to quit her job so she doesn´t have to work on Sundays. I taught her a little bit about the importance of the Sabbath Day. I think I was a little bold, but I think she needed to hear it. After the lesson, she told us she felt like she needed to invite us up. I hope she felt good about the lesson.

Tuesday was NOCHE VIEJA or New Years Eve!! We ate at medio dia with G. She is from Columbia and is the Relief Society President. She made us some yummy food, and after we went to visit A. We shared a short message because we wanted to go see someone else, but she said... ´´Do you have to leave already?´´ We stayed and kept her company for a little bit. She´s really lonely so I bet it was a little nice. After going to the chapel to practice our skit for Friday, we all headed to the Ramirez´. We had a fun time with all of the missionaries in our district playing cards and eating grapes at midnight. On every ding dong of the clock, we eat a grape. Elders; Ellsworth and Farrell thought you weren´t supposed to chew them, it was super funny. They kept them in their mouths. It was a pretty fun New Years Eve.

Wednesday we had weekly planning. Probably a good idea, because if we worked we would wake people up or talk to drunk people coming home from their parties. We ate lunch at the Ramirez´ it was my favorite. Soup with chicken and potatoes and yucha. 

Wednesday, we had a lesson with E (less active) and it was going well, we were talking about something simple like goals... then she told us that she doesn´t set goals. It was a little weird. I feel really bad, I want to help her strengthen her testimony, but she doesn´t really want it. After, we saw MR and MC. We taught the Plan of Salvation and MC remembered so much! It was super impressive! MR had a bunch of questions. I guess she was baptized into the evangelicals and Jehovahs Witnesses before being a member of our church. I think she has a lot of conflicting information. I want to visit her a lot more and teach the lessons so she has it clear. 

Thursday we had a lesson with C. We taught the Restoration in the street. She seemed to understand pretty well. After the lesson, Hna. P asked her if she was okay, she started to cry and told us that she is having a hard time with how her life is. The poor girl, she is usually smiling and having a great time, but I´m glad we were there to be with her when she was down. After mediodia, I had a ´´feeling´´ to stop at the churros place.. it was a joke at first, but we passed by and the churros were being made by a man. We said we´ll pass by later, then as we walked away he yelled, ´´Do you know Joseph Smith?´´ We stopped and walked back over to him. Turns out he was baptized in Murcia and moved to Alicante 15 years ago and hasn´t been to church since. He doesn´t even know where it is. But I think the elders in our ward are going to try and teach him and help him get reactivated. He has a lot of questions about Joseph Smith. After we went and talked to an old investigator. He was home alone without a woman. Hna. P walked in, and I stayed in the doorway. It was a little awkward, but I just ended up telling him that as missionaries we have rules and we still trust him, it´s just that we need to be obedient. I am so happy we didn´t disobey that rule. Even though he was really nice, you never know. 

Friday we had to get up earlier and ride a bus to Murcia for a multi-zone conference. It was so nice to see President AND Hermana Deere! We learned a lot. We have a goal this year to baptize 600 people and I know we can do it. President Deere talked to us about using the Atonement as we teach, and help people understand why the atonement was necessary. After hearing them give talks, we ate PAELLA!! So yummy. It was awesome, then we had the talent show. Our district did a skit that was so funny! After the conference, we came home and had a lesson with M. This past week we saw him in the street with an earring. This is the same M that was baptized right before I got here. We decided we´re going to keep teaching him a little bit. After that lesson, Hna P´s feet hurt so we came home. 

Saturday we got up and went to the church to help the youth clean. We started at 10 and finished around 3. As I was cleaning the bathroom, Hna. P came in and asked me to guess who the new SHE was going to be. HNA JOHNSON!!! I freaked out. I was so excited! After cleaning, we ate Paella stuff that was super good. Then Hna P wanted to go to the emergency room. We waited, she got x-rayed, and they told her she has tendonitis. They told her to rest for three days. So that´s what we´ve been doing. After the doctor, we went straight home and didn´t do anything until the next day. That night we got a call from President Deere telling Hna P that she was going to Granada and Hna. N is coming here with me. He also told me a ´´secret´´ that I already knew, that Hna Johnson is going to be the new SHE!!!!

Sunday we finally had church at 10 in the morning! It was so nice! I loved it! (: Half of our district is changing. Elder E is going to La Mancha to be a Zone Leader, his compy, Elder F (in my group) is training! Elder D is going to the other side of Spain. And Elder D is our new district leader! It´s sad, but change is good!! After church, we went to eat at G´s. We were there for a long time, because she was preparing the food. Then after we went home. I tried to do some productive things, but it got a little hard. That night, the SHE´s came over to say goodbye and we ate pancakes, bacon, and eggs! 

It´s time for a change and I´m really excited! (: I´ve loved my time with Hna. P and I´ve learned a LOT! I´m excited to show Hna. N the area and hopefully with the Lord´s help, be able to strengthen Alicante! 

I love you all so much! (; Thank you for your support and love!

Love,

Hna. Sara Brown