I guess I just can't stay out of the South mission

Hello everyone!! My pdays go SO FAST and I never feel like I have time to write my email but here's a really fast life update!!

Highlights:

- P-day today was SO FUN!!! We went to a museum called Museo del Prado, and rode bikes all around Madrid. The main city is actually in the South mission but we have permission to come here on Pdays. It's so so pretty in the city!!

- Mediodia power naps are what's getting me through the week hahaha

- Had interviews with President and Hermana Eastland!! Those were super good!

- Our fridge is broken so we were told to unplug it for a couple days and then it would work again. Big loss, had to throw away a lot of new food and didn't have a freezer to stick my head in when I was hot lol. Our only source of cold in the apartment was gone. We plugged it back in after 36 hours andddd it's still broken. Now we have to get someone to either come fix it or replace it rip

- If you know me you know that I LOVE babies. There are some of the CUTEST babies in our ward but missionaries aren't allowed to hold them. God really gives his toughest battles to his strongest warriors 😞

- Got a bunch of amazon packages that my dad ordered me. It felt like Christmas. I've never been so excited to receive a yoga mat, 5 sticks of deodorant, and 20 different phone cases (no sé por qué) Thank you dad!!!

- Exchanges again!! This is so fun. Haslam and I always have a good time. This exchange we only got lost once!! As we were about to get off the bus (at our correct stop) the door closed on me. I looked at Haslam and yelled "What's open?!?! How do I say open in Spanish???" She says "Abrir!!" I said "What?!!" "Abrir!!" Soooo yeah we ended up going to the South mission and had to take another bus back

Speaking of the South mission, I've ended up there 2 different times this week on accident. Another because Rob doesn't know the difference between Atocha and Aluche hahaha. Life is an adventure for sure!!

Member meal rating this week: 9/10

Honorable mentions: 

-Dumplings (Tasted like Din Tai Fung)

-The yummiest chicken, rice and potatoes with salsa I've ever had

-Hot dogs LOADED up with not sure what exactly but they were good!

Spiritual thought:

I was reading in 2 Nephi 25 this week and I really like this verse...

23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

Divine grace is essential. It is something that every soul needs to be saved. However, we also believe that grace cannot suffice without total effort on our part. "After all that we can do" - This includes repentance, baptism, keeping the commandments, enduring to the end, etc. We must be willing to put in the work to receive the blessings.

It's always kind of hard to teach people about the 4 laws of the gospel (Chastity, Word of wisdom, Tithing & fasting, Keeping the sabbath day holy) because we often get asked "Why? Why can't I drink coffee? Why do I have to give away money that I worked so hard to make?" And a lot of the time the only thing we can say is "Honestly, we don't know why. We don't have all of the answers. But we do know that we are blessed for it." It's important to remember that we have to put in the work here on earth to receive all the blessings that come after. This includes giving up the things that bring temporary happiness, such as coffee. I know that by doing this, we truly are blessed. We can't be saved by grace alone, but when we put in the effort to be the best we can be, God's grace is abundant in our lives!!!

You are all AMAZING! Life is good and I'm feeling blessed. Don't ever hesitate to reach out, I want to hear from all of you! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

More Photos!! https://photos.app.goo.gl/QBqRnzJBCkan82Bb8

Latinos can dance and Elder Nelson can sing!!!

Hi guys! This week was busy but good! I don't have tons of time but here is a little bit about how it went...

Highlights:

- Played a little too much Secret Hitler last pday (I really missed that game)

-Didn't have to shower in my garments this week!! It's starting to get cooler at night 🙏

-Had 2 weddings for some recent converts! (Almost makes up for the one I missed back at home!)

-Found a good amount of people this week through street contacting!!

-Had a lady tell us she doesn't believe in Jesus while wearing a cross necklace (We ended up sharing a scripture and setting up an appointment with her)

-Couldn't finish the 25 meatballs a member dished me up and her husband told me I cant leave until they are all gone (I still didn't finish them)

-Went shopping and felt so at home!!

We had 2 weddings this week! One was for a cute couple in our ward. The way people get married here is through the state of Utah and their marriage is only legal in Utah. Kinda interesting but the church accepts it so it works I guess! It was definitely a different wedding than the ones back at home hahaha but still a super good time!!! The Elder that taught and baptized the lady prior to the wedding had the PRIVILEGE of singing their first dance song and I don't think I've ever laughed harder (it's on my google photos if you need a good laugh)

The second wedding was also super fun!! It was for a couple in the other Hermanas ward so we were only there for the dancing part of it. & when I tell you that latinos can DANCE!!! I was watching every one of them and they all were dancing like they were professionals. It was so much fun. They played some American songs and Spanish songs and we got in dance circles and everything. It kinda felt like I was back at a party with all my friends, but instead with a bunch of Latinos at a church hahaha 

Exchanges! (PT 2)

It's not normally like this but since Hermana Haslam and I are comps with the 2 STLs for our zone, we have more than one exchange a transfer because the STLs have to go on exchanges with all the other companionships. So that leaves Halsam and I to be companions for the day! There were 2 exchanges this week. At first we were nervous because we're both greenies who don't know Spanish. We were truly confused on what we we're going to be able to do all day. The first day though we kinda killed it. We went out and street contacted the best we could and we ended up talking with over 10 people and even got 4 numbers! Honestly, they might have just given us their numbers because they felt bad for us but a number is a number and now they get to learn more about the gospel!

The second day was not as successful unfortunately. People didn't want to listen to us so we didn't feel very productive. We also missed like 3 different busses and that kinda sucked hahaha. On the upside though we went shopping during our lunch hour and that was so fun!!!

Spiritual thought!

Last night we had a lesson with one of our new friends. We were teaching her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end) and we had her read this scripture:

25 And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins; 

26 And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.

Her face lit up after reading this. She was SO happy. Such a beautiful scripture and it was a testament that the power of the Book of Mormon is truly so real. I have seen mounds of blessings here that come from studying it every day and I also see how its power affects other people here too. A small scripture can have such an impact on someone just like it did for our friend last night. The spirit was so strong!!! 🥹

Moral of the story is read your scriptures! I love you all so much! Hope you all have a good week!!

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QBqRnzJBCkan82Bb8

Ate fish and enjoyed it 😌

Hi everyone! This week was so fun and went by really fast! Nothing SUPER crazy happened but here are some highlights...

- I hit my 2 months hahaha. I feel like I shouldn't start counting until at least 6 months but I guess were celebrating because our quad all hit our 13, 5, 10, and 2 months around the same time. So we all went to go get ice cream!

- I left the oven on for over 24 hours while we were gone at zone conference. Seriously the biggest tender mercy that our piso wasn't up in flames when we got back. I looked at Hermana Robinson and said "We should say a prayer and thank God that this building isn't on fire right now" Feeling super blessed after this experience to say the least!!

- We had exchanges this week! It's a little bit different for us since I'm companions with an STL so I only have one other STL to do the exchange with. They were super fun! Hermana Peterson is so awesome and it was really cool to be able to spend the day with her and learn from her!

- Zone conference!!!

My favorite part of zone conference was sleeping in a hotel with AIR CONDITIONING!!! Hahaha just kidding. But seriously, I was on top of the world. Being able to go from a hot shower to a cold room was the best thing since for the past couple of weeks it's been the exact opposite. I think our room was a literal ice box but honestly I've never slept better. Zone conference was really cool!! I met so many people and learned so many important things. Most of the conference was actually in English but there were a couple presentations in Spanish and they had an Elder translate for the greenies hahaha

-Member meals are... so awesome! For real though most of them are actually super good! On Thursday we had a member meal for lunch and dinner. We sat at the table for lunch and the only word I understood from what the lady was saying is "Pescado". Rob turns to me and says "I hope you like fish" When the lady left the room I closed my eyes and said the fastest prayer of my life to help me get through this meal. Then Rob turns and whispers to me "Take big bites and swallow them with water". Well GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS because it literally just tasted like chicken. I told my brain that it's chicken and got through it just fine. Successfully survived my first meal with fish wahoo!! Unfortunately though I don't think it will be my last. Welllll it doesn't end there. For dinner we went to another members house. We've been here before and last time we were here she gave us soup that was really not good and I barely got it down but I tried so hard and was able to finish the whole bowl. Anyways she comes out with the EXACT SAME MEAL as last time. I looked at Rob and said "there's no way I can eat this again"  I took a couple painful bites and Rob said to them in Spanish "She forgot that we had a meal tonight and ate SO much for lunch so I'm just going to finish her meal because I'm still hungry" Moral of the story, I have the best companion because I wouldn't have gotten through that one without her. I honestly don't feel like I'm that picky of an eater. I just don't like seafood and apparently whatever was in that soup. Member meals are definitely a new experience each time!! It really is so awesome of them to feed us though and mostly all of them end up being super great. I do love being able to try new foods too!

Spiritual thought!!

Including the fact that our apartment didn't burn down, I saw the Lord's hand so many times throughout this week. However, yesterday was a particularly hard day for Rob and I. We have been teaching this sweet lady named Miryam and she was supposed to get baptized last night. She was so ready and so excited. (She even spent the little money she had on balloons and cups and plates) It was so cool to see how much her testimony had grown as we had been teaching her. By the end we were honestly impressed at how much she knew about the gospel. Yesterday morning she texted us and basically told us that she doesn't feel ready, and doesn't want to get baptized today. We called her and asked what happened and she said that her friends and family we're telling her that she isn't ready and that there's no reason to get baptized so quickly. We were heartbroken for her. She stopped answering us the rest of the day but the Elders were able to reach her and she explained to them that she still wants to get baptized, she just didn't feel good yesterday. Even though it was hard to see the adversary work on her through her closest friends and family, we know and believe that God's timing is PERFECT and I have full faith that she will get baptized soon and that her testimony of this church will continue to grow. The adversary really does work on us the hardest when we are about to make the most important decisions. I know I've felt this before too. But I also know that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and I know that Miryam will get baptized soon and feel all the love this gospel, and the spirit has to offer her!!

You are all amazing!!! Life is good, I'm feeling blessed and I'll talk to you all again next week!!

Photos!!!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QBqRnzJBCkan82Bb8

Poco a Poco

I made it another week! It's still very hot, and our apartment still has no air conditioning. I fear that that much isn't going to change for a little while BUT regardless it was still a really good & busy week!!!

Highlights:

-Haslam and I got K-baptized! Basically the new missionaries have to eat this meal called K-Bop. (Pictured below) It's so popular here. There's literally one on every street (it was mid)

-We all get in a cold shower with our garments on right before bed because its so hot here (it feels a little bit wrong but it helps cool us off SO much throughout the night. If you are reading this and you're in a similar heat situation try it I promise you won't regret it)

-It rained!!! This was actually the biggest tender mercy. Rob and I were both feeling really stressed and it started downpouring on our walk to the church and it was so much fun

-We taught more English classes! (& by teaching English class I mean that the other Hermanas taught and all the English phrases they were teaching, Rob taught me how to say in Spanish)

-Ate the best burrito of my life (better than Chipotle i'm not lying)

-Forgot that Spaniards have huge lunches and got super full off of some soup at a member meal that apparently was just an appetizer. She brought out a huge dish of chicken and rice afterwards and proceeded to fill my plate up. Let's just say I wanted to throw up after I left because I ate so much food hahaha

-Rob has been my own personal translator. Every time someone says something to me, I look at her with all the confusion in the world and she will tell me what they said. Then I will look back at them and try to respond with my broken Spanish

-Hermana Robinson and I get along in just about every single way. (She even tells members that I'm allergic to fish for me!!!) The only thing that doesn't work is the fact that Rob sucks at directions and I have no idea where i'm going because i've lived here for a week. So we get lost pretty much everywhere we go. One of the nights this week we were out until 11:15pm because we were at a members house 30 minutes from home and had no idea how to get back hahaha. And the other day we were trying to figure out where this store was and Rob says "I know how to get there from the church but not from where we are standing right now" We were literally 10 steps away from the church, I could see the building to my left. We just stop in the middle of the street sometimes when we're lost and can't help but laugh. Eventually we figure it out hahaha. All is well that ends well right?!

Spiritual thought!!!

Last night our sweet friend Maria Teresa got baptized. We've been teaching her every night this past week to get her ready and she is so elect. She bore her testimony afterwards about how she feels the spirit so strong and loves this gospel so much. Even though I didn't understand everything she was saying right then, the presence of the spirit was everywhere in the room. The spirit really does speak in every language and I am able to recognize and experience this every day. This work can be really hard at times. I'm a week in and I can already feel the exhaustion. It's frustrating not being able to communicate with everyone around me, especially when I have so much to say. But despite everything that's been hard, I see God's hand in my life and in the lives of those that we teach now more than ever and it really is the coolest thing. Seeing the light that the spirit brings to people makes every hard day worth it. "Poco a poco" is something that I get told by people here every single day. Little by little I'm learning how to rely and trust in the spirit. Little by little I'm learning how to speak Spanish so that I can say all that I want to say. I've learned that that's the most important part of missionary work, and life in general. Growing little by little each day. "Poco a poco"

I love you all and I'm praying for every single one of you! Hope you all have a good week ☺️☺️