Hi everyone!! I made it to Spain! This past week has probably been the busiest week of my life and I have lots to share, but I'll try to keep everything as short as I can!
On Tuesday morning at 3:45am I said goodbye to the MTC and all of my best friends!!! I'm gonna miss my district so much but I know that they are all going to do such amazing things out in the world!! We decided that since we had to leave so early in the morning, we were going to pull an all-nighter so that we were tired enough to sleep on the plane. Don't know if that was the best idea but it's ok!
Our first flight was to New York and then we had a second one from New York to Spain. The flights were fast because I took some melatonin and slept the entire time! We lost a whole night of sleep though because Spain is 8 hours ahead of Utah. We left New York around 7pm and got to Spain around 7am but the flight was only like 6ish hours. The time difference has been messing my brain up hahaha
When we got to Spain the first conversation we had was with a security guard and it went something like this...
"Where are you guys from?"
"Utah!"
"Ahh Utah! Mormons!!!"
^^^Even in Spain people know what's up
We waited at baggage claim for like 20 minutes until realizing that they stopped sending bags out. At this point we were missing 9 suitcases from our group & turns out they never made it out of New York! So our 9 bags (including one of mine) were lost for the day!
We met President and Hermana Eastland and they are SO awesome, we are so lucky!! Then we drove to the mission church. At this point I hadn't really slept in like 48 hours and I was trying with everything in me not to fall asleep right there. When we got there, president said "We're going to try and keep you guys awake until the night time to help with jet lag so we are going to go on a whole tour of Madrid!" It's safe to say that I slept REALLY good that night.
The tour was actually really fun though! We got to see some cool things in the area, visit the Madrid temple, try hot chocolate and churros (which apparently is a big thing here), and we even did street contacting, on our first day here. It was kinda scary and all I could say at that point was "Hola! Tengo una pregunta. Usted cree en Jesucristo?" And then let another sister take over the rest hahaha.
The next day we met our companions. I might be biased but I think I got THE BEST trainer in all of Spain. Hermana Robinson is the best and she is so good at what she does. I'm so excited to learn from her. She is such a good teacher and so patient with me. I am so so lucky!!!
Our zone is the Madrid West zone and our area is called Carabanchel which is basically right in the city. The missionaries call this area "The Promised Land" because apparently this area has so much good work. There's so many people from all over South America that live here and their hearts are so open to hearing the gospel. I've met some amazing people already and I'm so excited to teach everyone we can here!
Every single time anyone asks me where I'm from and I say Utah, they say "Ohhhh. The factory" hahaha it makes me laugh that that's what everyone thinks of when they think of Utah.
One thing about Spain is they try to be very clean with the things they use here. Which basically means no dryers, and no air conditioning. Yep! It's 100⁰ everyday here and our apartments have no AC. Definitely one of the hardest adjustments right now. We are constantly walking in the heat and when we get back to our apartment, there's no air conditioning. We have 4 fans that we prop up right next to each of our faces when we sleep and that's about as good as it's gonna get. It's gonna take some getting used to but it's okay!! I just need to power through these next couple of warm months!
Our ward is also so awesome! We had a couple ward activities already and church on Sunday went really good! I had to go up and bear my testimony during sacrament because I guess the new missionaries have to do that! It was scary, but I wrote it all down and just read the paper hahaha. I get nervous speaking in English, so speaking in Spanish to a whole congregation of Spanish speakers is a whole different kind of nervous.
We also love going to the church because it's one of the only buildings here with air conditioning. Bless up!!!
We've taught a couple of lessons this week and they were all super good! Lessons are hard for me because I know that there is so much that I have to say to these amazing people we are teaching, but I don't have the words in Spanish to say it. I just have to sit there and listen. All I can do is say the prayer and bear my testimony at the end. It can be frustrating, but it makes me so excited to learn Spanish so that I can understand and respond to our friends! Hermana Robinson does such a good job teaching. I love watching her give all she has and become so invested in each new friend.
We got 2 people on date for baptism this week!!! Their names are Miryam and Maria Teresa. They both have a lot going on in their lives and I feel so much love for them already.
Maria Teresa was going to get baptized at the end of September but during our lesson last night she basically said "Something is telling me that I need to get baptized sooner, I feel it so strongly. Can I get baptized next week?" Hermana Robinson was so happy!!! And I was too, once she translated the whole conversation to me after the lesson was over!!! The Spirit works in amazing ways and I've felt that so much already. Even though I can't understand what's going on or what people are saying yet, I can feel the presence of Heavenly Father all around me in the room and it's so so cool. We have a lesson with her every day this next week and she's getting baptized on Sunday yay!
I'm so excited to learn and grow here! There's so much more that I could share, but these were definitely the highlights!! Living in a new country is a big life adjustment and definitely something that I'm still getting used to, but it is so good for me. I love you all so much and I am praying for every single one of you. Thank you for all of your prayers to me, I feel them every day!!!
Photos!!!
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